#<- kinda. could be platonic too

[waitineedaname]

Teru and Shigeo were not studying much during their study date. They probably should be studying. High school math was a nightmare that Shigeo could not have been less prepared for, and he knew Teru’s history scores could use some work. In their defense, they had started out their study date with actual studying. Shigeo managed to graph a whole page of rational functions, and Teru had made a stack of flashcards for at least half a chapter of notes. But then Teru had insisted on showing Shigeo a cat video on Instagram as a break, and then one cat video turned into ten, and then somehow they’d ended up where they were now, which was horizontal on the couch, Teru’s head pillowed on Shigeo’s chest. Teru was scrolling through memes, occasionally tilting the screen to show Shigeo particularly good ones, and Shigeo was playing with Teru’s hair, perfectly content. 

He was very easily distracted by Teru’s hair. It was just so soft between his fingers; Teru obviously took great care to make sure bleaching it didn’t do too much damage. Speaking of, dark roots were beginning to peek through on Teru’s scalp. Shigeo wondered if he’d be called over to assist with bleaching it again, or maybe Teru would go to a salon and ask a professional to do it. It was getting long these days, and Shigeo certainly couldn’t be trusted to do a good job trimming it. Privately, he hoped Teru wouldn’t cut it. Teru looked so nice with longer hair, and cutting it short would mean Shigeo could play with it less. 

Shigeo had gotten so distracted thinking about Teru’s hair that he hadn’t noticed that Teru had gone very quiet and very still, and had been for a while now. The phone screen was dark in Teru’s hand. “Teruki?” Shigeo asked, voice soft. He tucked a piece of hair back from Teru’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Hm? Oh, I’m fine.” Teru sighed and burrowed further into Shigeo’s chest. “Just thinking about something.” Shigeo hummed softly and didn’t press it. He understood the need to think things through silently before putting them into words. He continued to brush his fingers through Teru’s hair, and after a few minutes, his patience paid off. “Shigeo…” Teru broke the silence, sounding oddly nervous. “Would you… still like me if I was a girl?”

Shigeo blinked. That was an odd question, but not one he had to think about for very long. “I have plenty of friends who are girls. Of course I would still like you. It wouldn’t change anything.”

“Good, because,” Teru took a deep breath, “I am one.”

“You are?” Shigeo was surprised, then a little confused. “But… I’ve seen you without your clothes…”

Teru barked a laugh and then groaned into Shigeo’s chest, as if trying to hide in the folds of Shigeo’s sweater. “God, don’t remind me… No, Shigeo, what I’m trying to tell you is-” Teru gave up on hiding and sat up, looking Shigeo in the eyes for the first time in a while, “I’m transgender.” Shigeo stared blankly. “You don’t know what that is, do you,” Teru said after a few moments of silence. Shigeo shook his head. “Okay. Well, it means identifying as a different gender than the one you were assigned at birth.”

“Oh. Oh!” Shigeo appreciated how patient Teru always was when explaining things to him. This conversation made much more sense now. “Okay. So you’re a girl?”

Teru went a little pink but nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Being a boy never felt quite right. It felt like a role I was performing, and it wasn’t a performance I particularly enjoyed. So I tried thinking of myself as a girl, and…” Teru huffed a soft, embarrassed laugh, “It felt really nice.”

“I’m glad. You deserve to feel nice, Teruki.” Shigeo paused, a thought occurring to him. “Ah. Should I still call you Teruki? And should I use ‘she’ for you, since you’re a girl?”

“That would be really nice.” A pleased little smile pulled at Teru’s lips. “As for the name, I haven’t thought of something new yet. I would prefer Teru over Teruki, though. Since it's more neutral.”

“Okay, Teru,” Shigeo said, just to say it out loud. He tucked some hair behind Teru’s ear, and she smiled, turning her face into his palm then laying back down to tuck her face into Shigeo’s neck. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Thank you for taking it so well!” Teru’s hair brushed against Shigeo’s neck in a way that made him feel slightly ticklish, but he didn’t have the heart to push her away. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, of course. You’ve always been so understanding.”

Shigeo flushed slightly at the praise. “I’ve never thought much about gender,” he said, combing his fingers through Teru’s hair again. “Everyone said I was a boy, so I assumed that just must be true.”

“You don’t have to be a boy if you don’t want to be,” Teru said, tilting her head into Shigeo’s touch. “You could be a girl if that feels right. Or both, or nothing at all. The options are limitless, really.” Shigeo’s hand stilled, and Teru noticed after a few seconds, popping her head up to look at his face. “Shigeo?”

“Um.” Shigeo had gone rather pink. The slightest bit of curious introspection made him realize he might need to do a lot more introspection, preferably when he could self-reflect in private. “Can we talk about that later?”

Teru, of course, understood what he meant. She just laughed and leaned up to kiss his nose. “Okay. I’ll be here when you want to talk about it.” She sat up in a rush as something occurred to her, a big smile on her face. “Oh! Do you want to see the skirts I bought?”

“Yes!” Shigeo nodded quickly, grateful for the change in subject and excited as always to see Teru’s impromptu fashion shows.

They might fail the tests they had intended to study for, but Shigeo decided it was worth it to see Teru smiling and laughing as she twirled in her most sparkly skirt, happy as can be.

[answermywearyquery]

the theerapanyakul kids: how close are you with each other?

loan’s kinnporsche 2nd anniversary: favourite familial relationship: the theerapanyakul kids (insp: ½+½)

[fumifooms]

"Marchil? I guess I can see it on Chilchuck’s end, but what about Marcille’s? What makes you think she could develop feelings for him?" I’m glad you asked!

The first thing to note is that she does think highly of him

In the page on the right, literally defending his virtues and literally comparing him to Dalclan. And oh…

She does love a brooding mysterious guy who closes himself to love. But surely, Chilchuck isn’t her type at all, right? He’s not princely or knightly at all. In apperances certainly not, both looks wise and demeanor wise, but then that’s why she seeks to know him on a deeper level, to not only look shallowly.

And hmm. Chilchuck really is quite selfless isn’t he? Always looking out for others, and saving specifically her often, always making sure himself and, staying in or even running towards danger for her sometimes. Modesty is often considered heroic…

And can we talk about that drowning one… You can definitely frame the special attention as him knowing she tends to hesitate or be clumsy, and then his insistance on pulling her out of danger that she’s the healer aka the most important to keep alive, but. From the one who says that he just keeps his ass out of fights and won’t help this is a lot of risk to take, and he does die trying to pull her to safety in the dungeon rabbits chapter. And the drowning bit??? That’s when the dungeon collapses. The only reason they DON’T die of drowning here is that the water then gives way to outside. There was NO hope of pulling her to safety here and resurrections would likely not work either, he truly preferred to die with her than try to survive himself.

Sit your ass back DOWN you are in no state, self-sacrifical hero much damn

And Marcille definitely noticed this imo, after all she loves learning all she can about him, remembering things like how he hates waiting on people too. She pays attention to him and what he does and what he says. This to say that it’s notable, whatever reason for it you may think (though we know by this point at least she was already aware he was an adult though it wasn’t internalized), out of everyone it’s Chilchuck’s bed that she wants to sleep in during the Golden Kingdom stay. He’s safe and comforting to her: dependable, the defining trait in her view of him as is shown by the relationship chart in the Adventurer’s Bible.

^ Lending handkerchiefs is a romance trope btw and handkerchiefs have irl history of being used for courting. Especially in old English literature and plays like Shakespeare’s Othello, and personally I do see a lot of Shakespeare in Dalclan (nobility political drama with some romance). There’s how his cowl is a dearly beloved souvenir from his family too, there’s a lot of aesthetic tropes you can apply to him.

All this to say you can 100% romanticize Chilchuck into a princely noble guy if you try and that’s exactly what Marcille does with the wife roleplay. She doesn’t need much in the first place, she latches onto crumbs and makes aesthetic narratives out of details, give her an inch she’ll take a mile.

But what’s interesting about the shift throughout the arc of her and his relationship is that she starts out idealizing him into a little angel of a kid (shapeshifter), and she ends it idealizing him as a virtuous husband and family man instead.

And what’s doubly interesting is that in the former, she’s actively warping who he is personality and demeanor wise to fit the aesthetic, he doesn’t have that bitter pride of not asking for help and the edges have been smoothened. But what she does during the wife roleplay is something else, she acknowledges the flaws and just… Accepts them, rolls with them. She’s aware of his flaws and implements them into the narrative, but the reason why his wife left doesn’t capitalize on them even, rather Chil is chilblivious and his wife loves him very much still, she’s just testing him after having had a night of feeling out of place at his side.

And this is what separates the idealization vs romanticization, she’s not twisting him into someone else she’s just uplifting what he is and focusing on the good sides.

Marcille: "he has a shitty personality sometimes but if he was my husband I’d still cherish him" "If I were your wife I’d be overjoyed to go out with you and would get myself prettied up while you complain about me taking a long time, your friends would tell me that I’m nice and that’d make me happy, but I’d also be sad because you wouldn’t tell me that you love me enough"

He’s angry and his wife left him, he’s *flawed*, but he’s still worth hyping up, still worth having his own romance story, still has a shot of winning back his beloved. She sees him for what he is, human and real and not a carefully scripted character that fits an aesthetic, and she thinks it’s still worthy of love and admiration and fighting for

And what’s funny too is that you might expect her to cool down on him once she learns more about him but actually she only gets increasingly into his business. You tell her your age and next thing you know you promise to introduce her to your family. Give her an inch she takes a mile. And too the thing is, Senshi is equally mysterious but she doesn’t pester him like at all, asks him ONCE about his succubus and he doesn’t even answer and that’s like… It. With Chilchuck it starts off innocently enough with her wanting to know his age, hometown, the stuff she mentions having asked pre-canon. But it just keeps and keeps going and escalating. Think she’ll be satisfied now knowing you have a wife and kids, maybe she’s disillusioned now? Wrong! She wants to know their names and ages and occupations and hey how did you propose to your wife? Do you think she’ll stop after meeting them? What’s next? What will she want to know next????

She’s… Like it’s not a reach that Marcille is all over him. Like it doesn’t mean it’s romantic but she just is. She is not normal about him idk. Can you not ask him about what tongue technique he used when first kissing his wife, give the man breathing room

Marcille could literally go "if I was Chilchuck’s wife" having deeply pondered and thought out the hypothetical and people would still ask where anyone sees any romantic potential between them. Oh wait

There’s a platonic explanation for everything (almost?) in Dungeon Meshi don’t say I’m saying otherwise, but it’s definitely not like there’s nothing here to read into lol

Going off a bit more under read bc it’s my fave topic

Marcille has a whole theme with the charming prince trope with her idealization and storybook motif and Chil is kinda the "Well someone perfect like that isn’t very realistic and romance is usually more complex and that’s ok and good and flawed people can still be ✨virtuous✨" catalyst

Do you see do you see she starts canon thinking the most romantic thing is a prince charming but her arc in the end has her romanticizing an average, flawed, real and realistic family man, who’s on the poorer side and is on the verge of divorce. And that’s what he needed, too, seeing the positive of himself and the situation instead of focusing on the negative is explicitly what inspires him to hope that he might be able to reconcile with his wife, gives him the courage and self-esteem to shoot his shot.

He IS a prince figure instead that now it’s not about idealizing the grand and overt it’s about romanticizing the small things in real life!! About finding joy and beauty in things that seem normal or mundane and uplifting them to make the world feel kinder!!!!

He’s the devoted virtuous man that she wantsss not the storybook prince that’s unrealistic and could crumble like a script at any time. He’s the perfect example of a flawed realistic but virtuous & devoted & loving man. Far from a prince charming, but not fully detached from it either. Something worth fighting for despite the flawed cracks. Like literally, flawed romance being worth fighting for is literally the finale of Chilchuck and Marcille’s arc on the matter, where their separate arcs and issues intersect at the most crucial moment.

Marcille is important to Chil’s arc not only because of her optimism, but also because of her interest and knowledge in romance & matters of the heart, and that’s what he needs to both open his heart up to hope and to try to reconcile with his wife, like idk sounds gay

Their arc together is literally learning to 1) see each other for how they are and not undermining their qualities capacities etc etc while still not leaving flaws unchecked either and 2) opening up to people. Marcille LITERALLY makes Chil open his heart up to hope like idk man. What do you want from me. He’s literally the guy helping her through deconstructing novels and fantasy and rose tinted glasses and like. Deconstructing the prince charming figure into something more real but still romantically beautiful like KUI KUI STOOOOP STOP I’M ALREADY HOOKED I’M ALREADY-

 Ok fine that’s me reading into the tropes too much forgive me for being storybook brained but like. Speaking his heart out to a lone woman on a balcony, Romeo and Juliette shit, asking if she, too, doesn’t want to meet his family, madly blushing. And like she’s learned with Chilchuck it’s all in the little things, all the implications he cannot speak aloud. She does reciprocate, does blush madly back, and the first thing she does is shower him in flowers and jewelry and what in her heart is coded as romantic gifts

A lady, stashed away in a high tower by her lonesome, waiting for someone to call out to her from below… Romeo courting type shit with an offer, a heartfelt spiel, implicit confession from underneath her balcony. Offering him flowers because he succeeded in calling out to her heart…….. And they have to climb to her too…. Crazy

Doesn’t it sound like a proposal. One that’s both so storybook-like and not, contrastedly real and grounded, all about the implications rather than in your face grand gestures, "Don’t you want to meet my family?". They literally have an arc about the topic of romance and this is the climax/pinnacle of it like god?? This is @ the woman who said "Chilchuck is a shy/bashful man so I know he wouldn’t tell me he loves me, but…" btw

To quote a friend, truly the shiny secret unlockable dating sim capture target : THE DUNGEON LORD BIT WAS SO FUNNY BECAUSE HE KNEW SHE'D TAKE IT HOOK LINE AND SINKER HES THE ONE WHO GOT HER TO TURN AROUND COMPLETELY SHES LIKE. WIDE EYED FLAG RAISED???? FLAG RAISED WITH CHILCHUCK 👀👀👀‼️����👀‼️👀

And the way that this is the culmination of their arc together… Like people are not ready for the ‘Chil calling out to dunlord Marcille on the balcony has Romeo and Juliette romance novels imagery’ take. Or the ‘their arc is about growing to see beauty even in the non-idealized, in the flawed and in the real’ take which makes it so so perfect if she were to lower her ideal from a charming elven prince to a virtuous halfling man (which she does end up romanticizing)

So there, you got to witness in real time what happens when I think about marchil for longer than 2 minutes, there are so many layers it’s a deranged rabbithole. I saw the necronomicon of subtext and it’s driving me to madness with forbidden knowledge that no one else sees

……. Like what if I told you she implicitly picked Chilchuck over a "unrealistic prince charming who’s actually disingenuous" much earlier in the story already. If she was given the choice to think through going with a guy that seems perfect and chivalrous like her succubus she’d pick Chilchuck over the other actually. If I sound insane rn tune in for my full analysis on them coming this month hopefully thank youu. Interwoven arcs of fantasy vs reality and idealization vs pessimism I love youuu

So now you know the general thesis of my planned analysis about the importance of the prince charming figure in Marcille and Chilchuck’s arc, where she romanticizes things to a sometimes worrying degree or idealize people into something easy and digestible and poetic (like Chil being a kid, and then him being a virtuous ✨✨✨husband), and how she needs to value aesthetics less and actual acts and facts more, be more grounded (like seeing people for what they are flaws and all, and accepting that people need money and not pulling through on principles of honor or unity shouldn’t get Namari shamed) and a part of that is accepting that Chilchuck is BOTH flawed and virtuous, a loving husband that still has shitty moods and fumbled his marriage so bad etc etc. So it’s like, her image of perfect prince charming that will whisk you away on an ethereal romance -> realistic flawed middle aged dad with personality issues and a failing marriage but he still is worthy of love and having his cute grand romance story and his happy ending. Ik I keep repeating the same point through this but I need it to be burned into everyone’s brains it has its grip on me I can’t do this. They are so special……

[kindaasrikal]

Since Jay proposed to Nya and almost accidentally accepted Kai’s (practice) proposal, that means he moved to both smith siblings. Who’s to say that since his new forbidden minifig is with Morro’s in the leaked new set, that he won’t be trying to move to both of the Wojira duo too.

And its because he also looks similar to Nya, like how Kai does.

Jay: man for some reason you look really attractive.

Morro, who looks similar to early seasons Nya: what the hell.

Bonus+

Jay: i really wanna make out with you for some reason :(

Morro: you are a MARRIED MAN.

[shima-draws]

Soooo twirls my hair out of pure curiosity and not for any other reason tee hee. What fandom would y’all like to see me do more art of 👉👈

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Asunder

slow-paced high fantasy

a woman who has a contract with an eldritch entity allowing her to see the dead & survives by taking various jobs

when a job searching for stranded smugglers in a cave goes wrong, she ends up with the soul of a dying stranger bound to her shadow

along with a scholar and her old childhood friend, they travel to his home country to find a way to unbind him and save them both

dark fantasy world with gods, demonic entities, arcane magic, and semi-sentient beasts used as transport

[hpdmguy]

soft cuddles!!

[bridoesotherjunk]

To the tune of that one scene in Steven Universe-

Shadow, mockingly:: What, do you care about me or something?

Sonic, on the verge of tears:: Yes!!

Shadow:: *nervous shock*

[majorbaby]

trapper and klinger... they have their own kind of solidarity that i think is linked to some gnc stuff. not 'gnc' as we know it today (altho what we have today isn't totally divorced from what MASH was doing back then) but as rebellion against patriarchy, the way it was written into early MASH both of them not adhering to typical masculine stereotypes. hawkeye and klinger get this a lot, but in a different way because theyre both a lil femme <3

trapper's more masc but not traditionally so. he's comfy with himself enough that he isnt concerned with being "the man" all the time. and klinger, wears dresses but is also comfortable in a suit and is a bit traditional about love and romance but not in way that comes off as toxic, and even if it could be, pre-soon lee there is very limited romance for klinger that the show takes seriously (ain't love grand is the exception, not the rule).

(they also have textual solidarity: after HawkTrap, Klinger is the most vocal about thinking the army is trash... he's the the most visible about it for sure, but HawkTrap also play at this, both of them showing up in their robes or civvies for reveille etc.

and who could forget trapper standing up for klinger when he's accused of being a pervert because trapper knows nothing can come of it.... i am stretching that to trapper using his rank, job and class status to protect klinger but there's also his deuteragonist privilege...... aaaaaa <3)

let me paint you a picture: two flirty bros... smoking together after a long shift... klinger shows off his new slip or whatever cuz he knows trapper will appreciate the quality or whatever else you can imagine trapper appreciates...

[titanbabyeams]

okay but how insane would I be if I admitted I was curious about the ship dynamic between The Ghoul & Norm?

The only issue I foresee is that, in my head, Norm is the younger brother and cannot possibly be over 22 years old… but boy, does that little worm in my brain bring up the ship every time I write.

Sometimes I just think it’d be so interesting? Norm has gained some backbone by the end of the series and I really think he wouldn’t be afraid to just… say what he thinks to The Ghoul’s face. He’d also have none of that ‘Vault Dweller Goodness’ that The Ghoul has associated with Lucy. There’d be a strange combination of respect and animosity… plus, I think he’d appreciated Norm’s dry humor.

Imagine: Lucy & The Ghoul are traveling together and Norm joins them at some point. Norm is keeping records of all the Wasteland creatures he comes across because he’s genuinely interested in how the surface has affected things and people…

…which leads him to asking rather probing questions to The Ghoul. Does he have genitalia? How long did the process take to become a ghoul? Are they experiencing radiation exposure just by traveling with him or do they have to be in closer proximity? Is he semen irradiated?

Purely scientific, of course, but The Ghoul would turn it right back on him and ask if he wants to experiment to learn these things.

Norm is disturbed, initially, cue crisis…

Who knows who knows.

[gingacd]

He likes to be tall

[sophaeros]

Just need more fab/nick fics like for some reason I ship them so hard like that one interview where it describes them as a comedy duo or something

BRO FOR REAL. fabnick is a happier place than casamond honestly theyre so besties forever. in rock & folk 2011 iirc nick says he and fab hung out almost every day in the years between fioe and angles 💔💔💔💔💔 not to mention nick taking so many photos of fab during early tours that people called him nick's muse IM SICK im sure theres a compilation of pics nick has taken of fab somewhere in my fabnick tag. if not i might make one sometime this week

my friends and i actually do have some fabnick aus..current favourite is the good ol college au with fine arts major fab (i just realised he went straight for a sculpture specialty irl but i think it might suit his character arc more to not specialise in anything yet? tbc) and photography major nick modelling for each other's projects 😋 fab didnt even have a project due he just panicked and lied so he could hang out with nick more

in this au they only meet in college. nikolai decided to go to this one specific college known for its arts programs for english literature, julian followed him to stay close to him and went for political science (stroke of genius on my part if u ask me it's so funny. hes the only non-arts student in their group and extremely annoying in seminars), and nick followed julian. fab and nikolai are roommates and nikolai introduces him to the other two whereupon fab gets a crush Immediately. meanwhile in the background of fab and nick's meet cute albert and julian are roommates again and having their domestic drama love story. oh and nick's roommate is ryan BSJFJSN i think hes a business major lmfao

this became less about fabnick than i intended oops. hope my mutuals dont mind me sharing this au we were talking about i really wanna draw or write something for it bc it's sooo cuteeee. learning how to value yourself for who you are and that youre deserving of unconditional love via seeing yourself lovingly rendered by someone who loves you. the slope of your nose in clay or the unconscious turn of your body in a candid photograph. that one james baldwin misquote the role of the lover is exactly the same as the artist. if i love you i must make you aware of the parts you do not see.

[donaviolet]

Friendship is the most special thing in the world because no award could be give me bigger happiness than jumping around in my room and smiling because my pookie asked me if I wanted to match pfps

[tea-cat-arts]

Mihoyo may have forgotten Su is just as big a nerd as Bronya and Kosma, but I sure haven’t.

Really feels like missed comedic potential though. Like, maybe they could’ve had Su desperately trying to hide that he actually gets Kosma and Bronya’s references, but he keeps having to translate for them, so everyone else is slowly catching on to Su (meanwhile Kevin knows damn well about Su’s mech phase and is desperately trying not to laugh at him). Or maybe have Su be like one of those anime nerds that was really into Akira and other older anime and tries to bond with them over it, but he hasn’t seen anything that was made in like the past 15 years so all his references are incredibly outdated.

Or for other occupation related humor, he could just have extensive knowledge of poisons and dangerous chemicals that just comes up in casual conversation and concerns everyone else around him. Or give him a sorta back and forth with Vill-V on what would or wouldn’t kill a man, but in like the most casual/deadpan tone

I haven’t really thought about this point well enough to articulate it well, but you can derive comedy from someone just being enthusiastically nice. The best example I can think of this is Tanjiro from Demon Slayer

Idk, it just feels like Mihoyo just doesn’t really know what to do with Su a lot of the time

[queennai714]

Random hcs I have because I may be cringe but I'm free part 27 (Ninjago)

More platonic oppo (but still mostly Kai centric) because their friendship has infected my brain (strap in, it's a long one)

Ok so this one is kind of a mashup of 3 different headcannons, the Chinese Kai hc, the "oppo are best friends" hc, and the one im gonna talk about here that possessed me to write this in the first place, but hear me out-

(Tbh, this could take place at pretty much any point in the series but I usually imagine it somewhere between seasons 4 and 8)

Just take a second to imagine, Kai peacefully going about his life as his proudly bilingual self, until he realizes: outside of Ignacia, its insanely rare to find someone who speaks Mandarin.

This, in turn, sparks two more revelations: One, that just makes the fact that he was born and raised speaking Mandarin all the more cool, and two, that he would have virtually no chance to use/show off his first language with someone other than Nya or Zane, and he would only ever get to use Ninjargon.

This motivates Kai (desperate to keep his spot as one of the most cultured on the team) to learn THREE more languages, those being French, Italian, and Spanish (as any reasonable person would do)

The only person he ever outright tells is Wu (seeing as he's fluent in like every language ever so he's great to practice with) and he mostly keeps it a secret from the others so that he can keep surprising/impressing them by pulling another random language out of nowhere whenever its needed.

What he didn't expect however, was how Zane would react.

Turns out, being a total bookworm and a literal walking computer means that not only does deciphering other languages come easy to Zane, he also absolutely adores studying languages in all their forms. So, when he heard from his friends that the criminal they were supposed to go question didn't know any Ninjargon and that Kai had managed to hold the rather intense interrogation entirely in French, he was beyond delighted. Once he had finished cleaning up after dinner he practically ran to Kai's room to talk, and of course, he immediately insisted Kai do all his explaining in French for the rest of the night.

From that day on, anytime the two of them wanted to have a private conversation and couldn't just pull the other to the side (or, more commonly, if they just randomly felt like it) they would simply start talking in one of the four languages and fall into easy conversation with the other as if they hadn't just simultaneously stopped making sense to anybody else around them.

TL;DR (and the simple seed from which this essay of a hc was born)

Kai talks shit about people to Zane in different languages

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

The Day Death Stopped

NA contemporary fantasy

in a world with witches - most of whom have random insignificant powers - one per generation is the Zaro, the magical leader with almost endless power, until the power was born into two people

Claire is perfectly happy being a stage magician, pretending to be a normal witch, while the other is raised to be the next Zaro - but when he casts a spell to stop death (entirely, in the worst kind of way) to ‘protect her’ she has to get involved

nonlinear storytelling, quirky omniscient narrator, footnotes

ace MC