#( sonia ; mirror )

[quickdeaths]

@more-than-a-princess

Still confined to her cabin from sundown to sunup, and still bound by handcuffs when in transit, Shinobu wouldn't describe herself as having any abundance of freedom. Yet, the opportunity to sit with someone and eat together was one she'd missed, and among the current conscious inhabitants of Jabberwock Island, there was no one she'd rather take a meal with than Ayaka. The restaurant on the hotel's second floor was mostly empty, with the others not likely coming for breakfast for an hour or so. Enough time for Shinobu to eat and be off to the beach, rather than have to encounter everyone all at the same time, before she was ready. No, it was better to keep it to herself, and Ayaka, as well as Shinobu's Future Foundation handler.

The man from before had gone back home, so this man was someone new to her. They imagined that was much the point - that there be enough churn through their various handlers that there wouldn't be any chance of attachment in either direction. He was supposed to have removed her handcuffs for her to eat, but instead he sat on the other side of the restaurant, jacket pulled back and folded in an unnatural way to make clear the gun at his hip. It was petty, Shinobu thought, but there wasn't much she could do about it. He was to bring her to the restaurant to eat with Ayaka, then take her to the beach and remove the handcuffs so she could fish. How she managed to eat, with her hands behind her back, was her business.

"Hey. Eat." For her part, Ayaka Sato had a bite of a fruit tart on the end of Shinobu's fork, piled high with pastry cream and berries, and her tone of voice made obvious how non-negotiable her request was. "Mm," Shinobu murmured, complying without any resistance. Being fed like a child was embarrassing, but what use was shame, anymore. Ayaka speared another tart with the fork, sparing a moment to glare towards the Future Foundation agent. How she mustered any fire at all in those weary green eyes flecked with pink, Shinobu couldn't begin to guess. "I appreciate it, Ayaka. Your help, and your company."

The chef gave a small grunt that Shinobu took as acknowledgement. "I'm not gonna let you smash your face into the breakfast I made, so it's not like there's anything else I can do." Outwardly, Ayaka Sato hadn't changed. Her tongue was still sharp, and her body wasn't so obviously damaged as her own, or some of the others'. No, Ayaka's scars were inside. "Shinobu," she started, looking back to the archer with a softening expression, "you don't look as tired as usual. Are you sleeping better?" "No." "Right." It was a question with an answer so obvious that there wasn't any reason to ask it, aside from a discomfort with silence. "I had coffee this morning. I'm feeling a bit more energetic than usual because of it, that's all." Ayaka made a face, like she wasn't sure how to take that explanation. "Where did you get coffee here?" There was a cheap instant coffee machine sitting on a dirty countertop only a few feet away, but they'd run out of pods within a week, and to call the coffee so much as 'drinkable' in the first place was, in Shinobu's estimation, undue praise.

"Nevermind-san. The princess." There was a quiet moment as Ayaka looked at Shinobu, seeming to be searching her face for something. When she found it - or didn't, perhaps - she nodded. "Oh. I spoke to her at the farm recently. She said she'd drop some things off for me to cook with." There were a few moments of silence, sporadically filled only with the sounds of eating, when Ayaka brought another forkful of fruit to Shinobu's lips as she asked a question. "What do you think about her being here?" Shinobu frowned, swallowing before answering. "I'm... not sure yet." "Mm." Surely Ayaka had some sort of thought of her own about the situation, but perhaps out of some respect for how Shinobu was handling things, it appeared she'd rather keep it to herself. "Just don't overdo it, if you're not up to something." "Right. Thank you, Ayaka."

It was that conversation that came to the forefront of Shinobu's mind as she saw Sonia walking up the beach in what seemed to have become a semi-regular occurrence. What did they think about her being here? It was strange, to be so near the person she had longed to kill, whose existence had consumed her own for so long, yet not remember why it had been so important to orchestrate her demise. Perhaps they'd had some sort of connection? At the boundaries of her shattered memories, Shinobu could remember so many faceless girls, but it seemed implausible that someone as distinguished as Sonia Nevermind could have been among them.

Or, maybe it was a simple extension of her competitive spirit. The members of Hope's Peak Academy who she'd killed had died so easily, without even putting up a fight, and even top military snipers had proved terribly boring. It might have simple been the case that Novoselic was a puzzle to solve, with a dead princess as the prize. A nation locked tight, with guns and tanks behind every alleyway, where the entire population was on some level combat-capable. The despair that came when their borders were breached and their beloved princess' corpse revealed to them would have been a fitting tribute to Junko.

No... that didn't sound quite right, either, but thinking further on it just brought another headache, prompting the archer to shake their head weakly. At least they didn't have to worry about a collar tightly chafing their neck. Her burns were starting to heal, slathered with ointment that stimulated healing while protecting from the sun. Something else to thank Sonia for, in addition to the coffee. "Hello, Nevermind-san." The fish weren't biting much today, and Shinobu stuck the end of her rod in the sand as she stood to face the princess, even though she still couldn't meet her gaze. Why did she keep coming here? "If you're here to fish, I'm afraid it isn't going well today." Thankfully, there was enough of a stockpile that a day or two with little to show for her efforts wouldn't be much issue.

"Although, if it's just a matter of having some time away from other responsibilities, I'm not in any position to judge." What anyone, princess or not, did with their time in this barely-living world wasn't their concern. Whatever right she had to cast judgment on others had been surrendered long ago. "I've heard you've been busy since you arrived." Having greeted her appropriately, in her mind, Shinobu returned to the sand, fitting hands around the rod even with the knowledge that there'd likely be no tug against the line. "Though, that shouldn't surprise me. This isn't a social visit, or a vacation. No one would come here without good reason."

And good reason, Sonia Nevermind must have had - whatever it was. Not Shinobu's place to pry. "Ayaka - that is, Sato-san - mentioned she spoke to you a few days ago, about bringing some ingredients for her to cook with. I hope she expressed her appreciation properly." Likely, she did, and Shinobu didn't need to make excuses for her, if not. Still... pretending to have any decorum left, trying to adhere in some small ways to things like respect and proper etiquette had its benefits. "I imagine everyone else is getting a little tired of the same few meals." Those who ate much, anyway.

"Oh, that reminds me." Decorum. Respect. Reciprocity. "Here." They'd finished it the night earlier, taking a few passes to get used to the cheap ballpoint pens. There were worse ways to fill the hours inside the cabin. Carefully laid inside of her tackle box, to be protected from the elements and kept from creasing or wrinkling, Shinobu pulled out the paper with the ink drawing and held it out for Sonia to take. "It's from memory, and my memory is uniquely poor, so I don't know how accurate it might be. Still, it's some token of appreciation. For the coffee, and the burn cream."

Despite Shinobu's prefaces, the ink portrait of a makango was clearly drawn with a lot of care, the delicate hatching and gentle shading touch making up for poor tools. Given how many failed efforts were in the cabin's wastebasket, she'd hoped it was at least a passable effort. "I hear that the art of serial killers often carries some strange value," she muttered. Why did she know that? "If that's still true, then, perhaps that might be useful to you in some way. A positive takeaway from your trip, or something you could speak of in an interview. You could say that someone else drew it, if that would be easier."

[1tsjusty0u]

man. totk couldve been so good

[kisenth]

Sonia is just so done with Raihan at times like these, there are no words-

[coulrology]

There’s just somethin real special about those St. Ep fearleaders…

[modelsaint]

like or reblog if u save, please 💖

[gen4grl]

hc: raihan and sonia were the ones that found leon unconscious & severely burned atop of hammerlocke from eternatus. that was the first time sonia ever saw raihans cool and collected demeanour fall and raihan saw sonia drop her “i don’t care about leon anymore” facade.

[defconprime]

[multiicolor]

FUCK IT WE BALL

QUEEN SONIA & KING RAURU from TEARS OF THE KINGDOM / canon adjacent.

[lattehearted]

Sb: why do you write d.angan muses, I thought you hated that fandom

Me:

[samuraisharkie]

just finished watching Uncle Vanya for the first time. I think Doctor Astrov and the Professor should kill themselves

[ofcowardiceandkings]

LINKTOBER 2024: MIRROR biro & white gel on brown paper

WELL finally getting a chance to post !!

i loved this years' prompts and was all set to do them, but life stuff happened so i only managed to get this one finished LOL i'll finish the ones i started sketching sometime i hope

1) there were a loooot of parallels in the story of this game 2) Rauru and Sonia are adorable i want more of them and their interactions with Zelda were so sweet 3) ANY time i can adventure with my cool smart gf is a great time 💙 so give me more of that Nintendo i'll sell a kidney 💙💙💙

[quickdeaths]

As Sonia stepped into her bathroom to clean herself, Shinobu was left alone with the cat. "Don't worry," she murmured, as a movement away from the bed to finish setting things out in case they were needed was met with a pitiful cry. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise." It was a silly thing to promise to a cat who surely had no idea what she was saying, but Shinobu couldn't help herself. Taking care of this cat was clearly important to Sonia, and so there was nothing Shinobu could do short of her best.

It was the last refuge of a woman who had read entirely too many books in her life - to hope that there was some sort of thematic relevance to the whole matter. Perhaps if they aided this cat, then it would matter, in some way, to Sonia and Shinobu. Shinobu knew she needed reminders that she contained the potential to bring comfort and support to others - reminders that were not coming from her own subconscious. In Sonia's case, it seemed to Shinobu that she saw herself as irredeemable, tied down by her past as she was. For both of them, Shinobu hoped, maybe doing something like this could be in some way healing.

But, likely not, she admitted as she checked over her things for the second time, storing in her mind where everything was placed in the event she had to act swiftly. Things seldom lined up so cleanly in real life. There was every chance that this cat and her kittens wouldn't survive long on the island, or that they might disappear in a few short weeks never to be seen again. It was a spur of the moment decision by Sonia, and an equally rash one by Shinobu to help, little more than that.

And yet, it made Shinobu feel kind, or helpful, and it reminded her of Seiko. She'd cared about animals like this greatly, hadn't she? They'd heard a story about her, from Miss Ando, regarding how she'd tried to save two dogs hit by a car as a child. "Hey, Seiko," she murmured, half-expecting a vision of her to materialize somewhere in the room, or out the window, just out of reach. "This is something you could be proud of me for, isn't it? Rather than all of that killing." Helping an animal in need. Looking after someone sick.

"Are you hearing yourself?" Anzu clicked her tongue behind her. "It's only been a few months since she was murdered, and you're already trying to get your dick wet with someone who she hated." She slid around Shinobu's front side, hand gliding from her back, to her shoulder, to her chest. "She would be so disappointed in you, Shinobu-chan. But that's the thing about you, isn't it? You disappoint everyone. You let everyone down. You can't play your role, your real personality is awful, and you sit around feeling sorry for yourself so much that there's no reason for anyone to-"

Sonia's arrival shut her up long enough for Shinobu to focus and banish Anzu from her mind - at least while she had something else to occupy it. "I-I see," she murmured, reaching out to softly pet the cat in the manner Sonia had demonstrated. "I wasn't quite sure how to, truthfully. We never had these sorts of pets when I was a child. I only know how to care for pet fish." Admittedly, they also liked to be petted, sort of, even if it was just a pretense to get her hand in the water to pick the crumbs from her fingers.

There wasn't anything Shinobu could add to any conversation about the pain or difficulties of childbirth, so rather than swallow her own boot while trying, it was enough just to stay quiet, and continue to reassure the cat that things would be alright. "I'd already sectioned off the evening to spend time with you, Miss Nevermind, so even if it does take a good number of hours, I don't have anywhere else to be." No, she'd be here until this all concluded, and then probably beyond that. Shinobu couldn't imagine having the energy to walk back to her own lodgings at so late an hour.

Things were quiet for a short while after Sonia finished speaking. They imagined she was thinking of things, and so it was best not to disturb her. Yet, something had been on her mind, something that refused to be ignored. If, perhaps, they were to proceed, they needed to know it was with her blessing. "On that note, Miss Nevermind, regarding being with people who want the best for you," she started. And yet, it seemed by the shifting of the cat and noises she was making that things were about to begin. "Ah, forget I said anything," they mumbled with a shake of their head. "We can return to that topic later, when things have calmed down a bit."

She was hardly afforded modesty anymore. Kirigiri had advocated for some in the beginning, particularly when she and Akane had just awakened and had panicked at the state of themselves and the world. And Mikan, ever still a nurse despite it all, argued for patient confidentiality when she could. But that hadn't stopped some of the other Future Foundation agents from barging into cabins whenever they felt something was amiss: often, it was their boredom at play. Naegi had better things to worry about and Togami...well, it wasn't as if he made any attempt to stop them. To him, Sonia's bare body seemed hardly worth making a fuss over. He'd seen it, after all: virtually, but the Neo World Program had made every effort to recreate the reality the Remnants remembered.

So the fact that Yaguchi looked away was remarkable. As had been her gentle words, her touch upon her back, and how she hadn't hesitated to assist and sit with the cat while Sonia saw to personal needs. Sonia's scars had been fully covered by her swimsuit but nevertheless, she still felt a bit exposed in just that. How odd, that so recently she'd been quite comfortable in much less doing far worse than a simple shower.

"Thank you," Sonia replied, her wrap skirt draped over the back of her vanity's chair before picking up her folded pajamas and undergarments. "I will not be long. Hopefully she will not begin the last stage of the birthing process in my absence." A worry and a warning, if from the way she looked from Yaguchi to the cat was anything to go by.

Only when the door closed behind Sonia, the sound of the shower water flowing and shower curtain rings screeching across the rod as they were opened and shut, did the cat turn her attention to Shinobu. A pair of already-tired, yellow-green eyes looked up at the human beside her, a wet nose having been pressed into her hand and deemed acceptable. Besides, there wasn't much else the cat could do: she'd chosen the most favorable place to birth her kittens, and now lay resplendent, stretched out on her side as the kittens in her belly kicked and shifted, restless in her womb. So was the mother, as she used every bit of effort she had to sit up and lick at her backside the best she could for some amount of mutual cleanliness and relief.

Her body's reaction, however, was to release discharge, a combination of blood and mucus all over one of the towels, staining it through to Sonia's bedsheets.

"Mrow!" The cat yowled pitifully, looking up at Shinobu with pleading eyes. It hurts. Please don't leave me. She wasn't the first woman to beg for Shinobu's help in that cabin, though in Miss Kitty's case she was much better off staying put than being carried to the hospital. An objectionable human? This tall one with the severe eyes was hardly that. Her scent even lingered faintly in the pillows the cat was propped up against.

"Ooh, I think it is starting," Sonia announced after opening the bathroom door. Clad in a pair of light blue cotton pajamas and rubbing her wet hair dry with a towel, she chose to multitask with brushing the tangles out while sitting at the bedside, a close but comfortable distance away from the cat. "You must be wondering what is going on, aren't you?"

Sonia extended her hand towards the cat's head and in return, Miss Kitty pushed her forehead against Sonia's palm, purring only being Sonia's fingers began to rub at the spots behind her ears and on her cheeks, smoothing back her whiskers. "She wants to be pet, I think. She does not want to give birth alone," Sonia remarked, glancing up at Shinobu. "Thank you for arranging things and sitting beside her. You could pet her too, Yaguchi-san: I think she would like that, if she has not tried to find a new birthing nest thus far."

The tired cat's eyes flickered from Sonia to Shinobu, as if to give the latter permission to comfort her too. She whimpered, her tongue partly extended as she began to pant. "Who knows how long it will take. Hours, at least, and we do not even know how many kittens there are," Sonia mused with a sigh, continuing to stroke Miss Kitty's whiskers. "I wonder if I will be in the same sort of pain, when I am to give birth in the future. She's making it look almost tolerable," She nodded towards the cat. As beautiful as it was to bring forth new kitten lives, it was a challenge for Sonia to forget her own reproductive requirements. More so than any woman on the island, there was a distinct interest in monitoring her fertility cycles: to send back to Novoselic, to ensure she could still make the next heir. "At least she is in a safe place with people who only wish for the best for her."

Sonia couldn't say the same about her future predicament: it was made clear that her comfort and well-being would be secondary to the heir. That hadn't always been the priority in royal births, especially at her young age, but the Tragedy had changed things: an heir, or she was to die in childbirth and parliament would move down the line of succession, tracking anyone with Novosonian royal blood to sit on the throne. Anyone besides her.

Her brows furrowed: surely it wasn't the cat's fault, but the situation had a way of reminding her she was good to be bred, good to spend her family's money and access to various resources, and that was about it.

[kisenth]

It's Kira's birthday~!

Funfact : she was put on the spot a bit when she had to choose a gym challenger number, so she went with "8", since her birthday is 8/8~

[unifycurlyfry]

Why do I ship Soudabuki?: A very long jumbled ramble 🎸⚙️

Well, like anyone else, I ship them because I think they’re perfect for each other.

One of my favorite things about Soudabuki is the fact they didn’t have interest in each other at first. Hell, In Kazuichi’s relationship chart Ibuki’s section says “Not interested!” And obviously, Kazuichi had his eyes so on Sonia he wouldn’t even consider anything else. They didn’t think of each other in any specific way. They had pretty little interaction in the game, so exploring their dynamic is more so taking their individual personalities and backstories and clashing them together to see how they’d interact. In my belief, soudabuki does not start thinking of each other romantically until post-canon. Hell, even platonically. I mean, they got along well enough in the game, but they weren’t “best friends.” I think as they’re grieving and processing everything post-canon, they find out that their backstories are so similar and how they process things and who they are as people go together well and they’re surprised at how well they understand each other. So they slowly start having more deep talks together, become friends, and then eveerrr so slowly these feelings crawl in; short and simple at first until it turns into a full blown, out of nowhere crush

I like the concept of Kazuichi being “uncomfortable” by Ibuki because he won’t admit it even in his own head that she is everything he wants to be.

His wary of her stems from jealousy, it so does. Because Kazuichi spent his whole life being something he’s not and constantly trying to cater to other’s beliefs of what he should be and shouldn’t be. He got picked and teased for the things he loved most, his mechanics, and his looks. He changed himself to appeal to others, not for himself. Everything he does is to be a people pleaser or prove a point to himself. He is constantly desperate to be useful and to be good. He wants to be that cool guy people like and can rely on. He gets upset and shuts himself out when something he says or does prove otherwise.

But, Ibuki doesn’t have that issue, at least not anymore. She’s her true self, and she’s proudly herself no matter what people have said about her. She says she got a lot of comments from people too, just like him, but she went about it the exact opposite way from him; instead of taking it and shelling up in herself, she became who she truly wanted to be and is unapologetically herself. She’s happy with her hair, her piercings, her music, everything some people don’t like.

And I think Kazuichi takes this as some sort of attack. It’s uncomfortable looking at what is frankly a mirror of your ideal self in someone else. She’s like him, and that makes him uncomfortable, because everything he tries to bottle, she opens up. She makes him face everything he was trying to avoid. Which is why one of my fav parts about soudabuki is Ibuki cracking open his shell, and them being their loud energetic selves together. She understands him. And he understands her. Ibuki mentions having been in a band that was not her style and so she left. They didn’t understand the music she wanted to do.

I think this was mentioned somewhere too that I cannot exactly remember, but people were kind of scared of her. She’s flashy and loud. She makes music people deem as “scary.” Ibuki, in her own way, is also an outcast. They find comfort in being “outcasts” together. Their backstories are so similar in that sense, of changing your looks and who you are because people didn’t accept you. They’d make each other less scared of the confusing aspect of change. Ibuki, despite being her loud extrovert self, is so desperate for people to like her; like what she does. If you click on her cabin after her death, it is a jumbled mess of saying something along the lines of “please just listen to one song!” They’re SO similar it drives me nuts. Them figuring that fact out is so. God. I think once Kazuichi starts to understand Ibuki better, and the fact she is like him, he takes more of a liking to her music or at least supports it. Let’s be real, the entire cast of SDR2 apart from Hiyoko was a little rude to her and her passion, lmfao.

Ibuki’s there every step of the way as Kazuichi figures himself out and is so overwhelmingly supportive, that he’s a little less scared every step. She supports him as he wants to bring elements of his “nerdy look back.” She supports him as he wants to get more piercings. She supports him as he starts to get more confident. And vice versa. He supports her as she’s questioning what type of music she wants to do, he supports her as she’s becoming more comfortable in not being so happy and energetic all the time, he supports her in all her different styles.

While this is relatable to many of the characters in the cast, I do think of a deep conversation between them both about remembering being remnants and using what they love most for awful doings. Kazuichi finally fulfilled his dream of building a rocket, but it was used to kill. Ibuki finally fulfilled her dream of playing music on stage to a huge crowd of people, but it was used for despair. I’ve thought of them gently holding hands and Kazuichi chuckles crudely, mumbling something about “We’re both terrible people finding comfort in our own terribleness, huh?” And they laugh, despite it all. It’s a melancholic laugh.

Before anything, they are best friends. They become really good friends before thinking of romance. I’ve often described them as “Best friends who kiss.” Moving on to how they’d act as a couple, their love languages match so well.

Kaz likes receiving physical affection and words of affirmation the most. His least favorite is acts of service.Ibuki likes receiving quality time and physical affection the most. Her least favorite is words of affirmation.

Ibuki is a very physically affectionate person. She's always latching onto Kaz and touching him in some sort of way even if it’s just tapping him on the arm repeatedly as a fidget thing, grabbing his cheeks and peppering him in kisses and sudden hugs and holding his hand while bouncing up and down. Plus cuddling is one of her favorite things ever. Even just to friends she’s always touching them.

She’s a big believer in quality time. I believe their relationship is very lax, as in they don’t get upset when they’re spending more time with the others than each other for a couple of days; Kaz and Ibuki likes to run off and do whatever separately a lot, but the moments where they’re spending time together just the two of them laughing their lungs out or having deep talks or doing shenanigans all mean a lot to her, or rather to both of them. Laughing is also her love language. She’s giggling in every situation and her giggles are almost just her saying “I love you.”

She also feeds off the feeling of Kaz being in love with her if that makes any sense; like the feeling of him being flustered and happy and blushy rubs off on her. Hence why, for example, she sexually pleasures Kaz more than the vice versa, and why she’s perfectly okay and loves being the one that guides them in stages of their relationship most of the time. Individuality is like her entire thing and I think that she doesn’t feel any loss of her individuality paired with Kaz.

Kazuichi really likes giving gifts. Hell, making things is his whole thing. Ibuki does not show her love with gifts and is a terrible gift giver, but boy does Kaz express lots of love by gifts and she loves every single one of them. I think she’s one of those people who puts extreme sentimental value on everything, and so every ring he has made her is kept pristinely clean and organized and the purple flower he spotted and held up to her hair and said “it matches your hair” is long since dead yet still in her drawer. She loves everything she gets and never takes it for granted or throws it to the side.

Kazuichi is someone that needs a lot of reassurance. He’d be that meme where it’s like waking up the partner in the middle of the night and going “do you like like me?” and the partner responds back with “we’ve been dating for five years,” haha. He needs someone who is not annoyed by that fact, and I cannot see Ibuki ever getting annoyed or off-put by it. She is more than happy to give it to him. So while he refuses it, words of affirmation are important to keep Kaz knowing he’s loved. He gets blushy and embarrassed, but so so giddy. On the other hand, if Kaz ever tried to say some of the things Ibuki says to him, she’d fake a gag and/or laugh in his face. To say she never enjoys a little sap though sometimes would be a lie.

They’re a very physical affectionate couple and they both thrive off of it. Ibuki jumping on him and peppering his skin in kisses all over, holding hands, cuddling every night, having sexual intimacy fairly often, their knees touching as they’re sitting, a hand on a shoulder, etc. Ibuki is a loud and proud “toucher” and Kazuichi is a flustered mess “toucher,” but gets more used to it and confident over time. He went from never wanting to engage in PDA to liking it.

“Acts of service” is not too relevant in their relationship. Kazuichi mostly doesn’t care to receive it, as he’s pretty stingy on who touches the things he is working on and gets extremely in the zone when he is working. Ibuki doesn’t have many things he could even service her towards besides always being willing to fix a speaker or guitar. They both are… kind of slobs. If it weren’t for TeruTeru, they’d be eating junk food always and if it weren’t for others on the island their cabins would be a mess. An organized mess, but a mess.

I think they’d have a lot of fun together. While the other members of the cast would need to take some convincing to whatever shenanigan they want to pull that day, they would jump on it right away with each other. It often leads to cartoonish disasters. It would be funny for other people in the cast to be like “Oh my god what are Kazuichi and Ibuki doing today.”

There is so much laughing between the two. So, so much. Laughing is their main love language. Stupid jokes, playing pranks, laughing over stupid faces or over nothing. Ibuki finds Kazuichi very entertaining, especially. She teases him and plays with him all out of love. At first, Kazuichi took some offense to her giggling all the time in certain scenarios, but once he understood that was the way she showed love, he loved it and understood it.

They pick up so many new hobbies together. Kazuichi makes Ibuki a motorcycle, and she loves it and forces Kazuichi to ride it with her, but unfortunately his motion sickness makes it not a very good experience. As a solution, Kazucihi makes them skateboards. And they have so much fun with failing and trying new tricks and riding around. They would try anything and everything. Kazuichi picks up art, and Ibuki does it with him despite being terrible and not really having the drive to get actually good at it. But creating little characters together heals their inner children. I think Kazuichi actually became the tattoo artist and piercer of the island. He has a very steady hand due to his mechanic work and he already had some art skill building blueprints, so it’s not a far-fetched hobby for him. Ibuki gets so many tattoos and piercings by him.

They’re both, uh, a little perverted. They were bonding over their lustful thoughts and comments over the girls in bikinis in that one scene. I’ve always said Ibuki is more perverted than him, just not shown quite as much since she didn’t have someone she had her eyes on in the game. So in that sense, they’re perfect for each other because I think anyone else would not… appreciate such comments as much or like it as much. Don’t get me wrong, I think Kazuichi “fixes” himself post-canon, understanding that the things he said to Sonia and that whole obsession was wrong. Like said before, he just wants to be a good guy, and I think understanding that he was being a creep would lowkey devastate him and he’d obviously stop. But still. They’re two horny people put together.

This is a more silly reason, but I’ve tended to not ship Kazuichi as much with men just because I think being with a woman is… good for him? Lmfao? That sounds silly but I wouldn’t want to put him with a man as a solution to his accidental-misogynistic comments. Not to say Ibuki “fixes” that aspect of him because she doesn’t, it’s a thing he has to improve on his own. Also I like soudam and sounidai, so It’s not like I’m against that at all.

They both find each other attractive. Ibuki starts to notice the little crinkle in his nose when he snorts/laughs (which she loves the sound of), the ponytail he puts in more post-canon is something she’s into on him, she canonically likes the look of him in his cute glasses, he has a perfect amount of muscles in his arms, his firm torso, his big hands. Once Kazuichi starts seeing Ibuki in a romantic light, he doesn’t know how he didn’t notice how drop dead gorgeous she was. It makes him breathless. Her short hair post-canon is cute on her, her whole face expresses her joy and it’s so pretty, her skin is soft, her outfits are awesome, the different dyes in her hair are sick and admirable, and her eyes are big and colorful. Her body is perfect. Often, Ibuki gets cuteness aggression from him at random times, and she just needs to jump on him and give him so much love. Normally when Kazuichi gets those random moments of “cuteness aggression” (more just being stunned by her beauty and her everything) he just stands there mouth agape.

Kazuichi is not the best at comforting, but it’s perfect for Ibuki. Post-canon, she has more quiet sad days. The last thing she needs is advice, or therapy talk, or pity. She just needs someone there. And Kazuichi being pretty bad with words is in fact a blessing in this case. He holds her and cracks lame jokes that make her giggle through her sniffling. He calms her down by rubbing her back or arm. He allows her to use his tank top as a tissue. In Kazuichi’s case, Ibuki sweet talks him when he’s all weepy and upset. Kazuichi feels comfortable expressing his complete vulnerability to her and Ibuki gives him little head kisses as she softly “baby talks” him or just sweetly says things that make him happy. Again, if Kazuichi did this to her, she’d hate it, but Ibuki loves doing it to Kazuichi. There’s no embarrassment in it. She says very mushy gross things and she makes him know not to be embarrassed of needing it.

I think there is this thought that Ibuki would find anything romance cringy and unenjoyable when I don’t believe that to be the case. I think they’d have a lot of fun figuring out what they could do for dates around the island, she likes being gently woke up in the morning with arms around her and kisses on her shoulder with mumblings about how she is beautiful, she likes kissing and cuddling (a lot), the little metal flowers Kazuichi makes for her makes her smile when she walks past them. She would however hate the stuff like, candlelight dinner or rose petals on the bed. Thankfully, Kazuichi wouldn’t enjoy that stuff so much either.

I talk a lot about Kazuichi being all nervous and shy but Ibuki has those rare moments too. His compliments normally go “your hair is cool” with her responding, “hell yeah it is!!” and “your new tattoo is sweet” “i know right?!!” but ever so often he says something like “your smile makes me so happy…” with so much sincerity and affection in his voice and eyes that Ibuki’s face becomes pink and she lifts the two front strands of her hair to her face as she looks to the side and giggles and squeals. And when Kazuichi either 1. points it out shyly 2. jokingly makes fun of her for it it just makes her redder as she hides in her hair and keeps giggling and kicking her feet.

I said this before, but they’re still their individual selves with each other and that makes especially Ibuki thrive. If Ibuki felt like she was losing herself in a relationship she’d be out of there ASAP.

Ibuki refuses to let Kazuichi shut himself out. Which was annoying to him, at first. Whenever Kazuichi gets upset he tends to just completely walk away from the conversation and go hole himself in his cabin as shown in the game multiple times, which isn’t good for him. He can’t keep running. He needs to express what makes him upset and why. He needs to let himself get close to people. Ibuki is always there. She makes him open up whether he likes it or not. He becomes less annoyed by this and realizes how much she has helped. I like that in the Kazuichi manga, Ibuki is the one to knock on his door and check up on him multiple times. Kazuichi shooed her away mostly. He’s stupid.

Kazuichi becomes a drummer which makes Ibuki ecstatic. He was averse to it at first, but when he tried it, it was like something awakened in him and he understood. He gets into it pretty quickly. And once he decides he wants to get good at something, he will not stop. He is constantly on those things for a couple weeks; Ibuki having to pull him by the ear to get him to sleep. She gets it though, because Kazuichi has had to be the one to pull her ear on multiple occasions when she gets lost in her music or skating or anything else. He releases all his pent up anger on those things and I think that makes him understand her loud music a whole lot better to the point of enjoyment towards it. They have a lot of fun cooking up whatever in that studio. He builds her a good music station, by the way.

Speaking of having fun together, I think they both teach each other how to have fun when there is no point in it. As in, Ibuki wants to show people her music. Kazuichi has always built things solely for other people. When they’re on this island, aside from Kazuichi’s work, there is no point in doing the things they do. They have to re-learn to love what they already did. And they do so together. Kazuichi learns how to have fun without the basis that he’s fixing something for someone. Ibuki learns how to have fun without the basis of showing other people. They do it because they love it and only because they love it. I mean, I do believe that after a few years, a lot of the cast does work for Future Foundation and they have to go to the mainland for various missions though.

Their relationship is not one of jealousy. I think the entire cast has a bond that toes the line between what platonic and romantic means, so being jealous would be stupid. Kazuichi gets a bit more jealous than her in a situation where a Future Foundation member flirts with her, but other than that on the island, their relationship is chill. They can go days of not having time just for the two of them and not be phased. They love their best friends. They cuddle and sometimes kiss their best friends. I’ve joked before that soudabuki is a dynamic where they both understand they have small baby crushes on other people and tease each other about it. Kazuichi being all giddy and excited to hang out with Hajime and Ibuki teasing him like a first grader about it. Ibuki outwardly says she'd jump Peko’s bones if she had the chance. They get it and it’s mutual, lmfao.

I won’t go into detail here but their sex is very understanding and comfortable and vulnerable. And also very silly. The things they say during it are very cringy to anyone else. It’s fun.

I like imagining cute scenarios with them. Them making out behind the beach house, fighting over the blanket in bed, cuddling and snoozing together, falling asleep in the bath together, giggling in the shower, doing their random hobbies together, pulling pranks on their friends, Kazuichi picking her up and her squealing. Many, many others.

And of course, they have the dynamic of “girlboss x flustered guy who’s madly in love with her,” but I tend to stray away from describing them as such cause it makes their dynamic feel so surface level when it is not (I just spent 6 pages rambling why they’re good together so, LMfao.) But it is true. I like Kazuichi being like a dog and following her around like a lost puppy. His face becomes so red as she teases him and calls him cute. He’s scared to touch her and gets so flustered and embarrassed. Ibuki finds it entertaining and charming.

The way I think they get together is cute. It doesn’t involve an actual confession. They were on the beach, doing various things like making sand castles and splashing and running around and eventually they collapsed on the sand laughing and Ibuki was laying on his chest. The giggling dies down and the air just gets tense, and they’re looking at each other, and then they’re softly kissing. Their teeth clack a bit due to Ibuki smiling so brightly, but it was a sweet kiss. Once they part after 2 or 3 more kisses, Ibuki starts giggling again and lays her head on his chest whilst Kazuichi is looking at the sky completely awestruck. They don’t address it because Ibuki kissed him as if it was the most natural thing ever that they have been doing for a while, and Kazuichi can barely get sleep because the kiss keeps coming up in his mind and he stuffs his face into his pillow, face red and his heart going crazy. He eventually cannot take it anymore and goes on a huge sudden ramble when they were hanging out in her cabin, like, “So, what are we? I-I mean, like, you know. Um. We kissed. Which was okay! Good, even, I liked it! Um… but do you, do you l-like me? Ah… I don’t know….” and Ibuki has to shut him up as she tilts her head and is like “I thought we were dating?” and Kazuichi just has to process that and he blinks at her. They start fighting over the fact that this was never a thing that was established and they’re both blushing (more on Kazuichi’s side, he’s a flustered mess in this moment) and they keep going back and forth bickering about this until it just gets funny and they solidify what their relationship is there.

Plus, Ibuki had been so obviously in love with him and expressing that loudly long before that moment, he is just oblivious. She would run up and wrap her arms around his shoulders tightly and squeal “I love Kazu-chan!” and snuggle into his neck and he just thought it was her being her. In his defense, she is a very loud lover to everybody. It is hard to differentiate it.

They piss each other off a lot, lovingly. It’s one of my favorite aspects about them. They’re both very competitive people so playing something like Mario Kart with them is a loud debacle. Ibuki pisses him off on purpose by small things like flicking his nose to see his reaction. They get into long stupid talks about a hypothetical question and fight over it for like two hours. If you know what the “if your leg gets cut off” meme is, that is exactly how they talk to each other. They share a brain cell and that is love.

In conclusion Kazuichi and Ibuki are in love and they kiss each other and have a very fun time. They’re so perfect for each other that it surprises me they’re a rarer pair honestly! I don’t mind though, shipping a rarepair is super fun. It makes getting content with them and getting people to like them so much more exciting. All I wish is to spread the amount of joy soudabuki gives me on the daily. Shipping them is so fun because they’re so stupid. They’re a very silly pairing.

Also, while I enjoy other ships with them, they are my main pairing. I’m not a big poly shipper in my post-canon, and so like, the others are either taken or not my favorite. Hajime is with Nagito, Peko is with Fuyuhiko, Sonia is with Gundham. Bandaid is a cute ship and I enjoy the content of it but it never really latched onto me. Sounidai is super cute too but again doesn’t connect with me on a super personal level. And again, my post-canon cast is all basically one big queer platonic relationship, so people being in a relationship is not this huge divide between platonic and romantic.

thank you for reading!! 💜💚

[more-than-a-princess]

Sonia's interest was piqued, just as her attention had begun to wane towards the bigger picture: how she would make a positive impact on every one of the former Remnants, how she would convince Shinobu to leave with her for Novoselic to reunite her with Masaru, and the even larger decision than both of the others. That one cast a cloud only she could see over Jabberwock Island, a sense of foreboding that no amount of milk tea could mend.

It was new information about her friend that allowed for a gentle breeze to blow the clouds away, at least for a little while. "Your mother was an artist? That is fascinating, so she must have enjoyed drawing fish!" Sonia concluded, giving her an encouraging smile to continue. "I am in awe of those who can draw or sculpt or paint, or sing, or play an instrument. I am terrible at all of the arts it seems, to my family's dismay. But I admire it in others. I would have liked to see her paintings."

Maybe she'd been too eager, sitting beside Shinobu while the latter seemed to be in the grip of a painful headache. She'd been briefed by Byakuya of course, and Kyoko and Makoto, about what the former Remnants had endured in the Neo-World Program, including how it had been corrupted unknowingly by Hajime Hinata with an AI version of Junko Enoshima. Their memories, she'd been told, were fragmented, by intention in order to preserve feelings of classroom friendship and unity. Blissful high school memories that were, in essence, supposed to defeat Junko's brainwashing. But when thinking about that applying to Shinobu, Sonia had held her tongue: as much as she remembered of her time at Hope's Peak, Shinobu Yaguchi had only held a particular affinity to Anzu Tachibana. Maybe she'd been cordial to some of the others, but real friendship that she cherished? That exclusively belonged to Anzu Tachibana: Sonia had learned that the hard way. She hadn't resented Anzu for it, either: she only wanted her to wake and heal, like the rest of them.

She sighed deeply, taking another sip of her tea. There was no point in reopening old wounds, especially when the person who had inflicted them couldn't recall ever doing so, or Sonia herself at all. "You do not need to apologize," She replied with a gentle shake of her head. It was something she'd had to come to terms with anyway, well, two things. One, she didn't mean anything to Shinobu Yaguchi at all once she'd become too boring to have in her life, and two, she didn't remember ever knowing Sonia anyway. She hadn't been so candid with Masaru while she debated if she could even attempt what he asked of her, but she'd needed to let both of those wounds fully heal into scars over her heart before she even stepped foot onto the ship. "Not to me, not ever. What happened to you and your current state, those are not your fault." She looked at Shinobu directly, as if the other woman wouldn't take her seriously without her undivided attention. But it didn't matter: she wouldn't even look at her. Sonia gulped behind her encouraging smile: not even genocide and the accompanying memory loss could change how much she didn't care for her company.

Harder, she realized, it would be to get her on the ship and back to Europe but easier, she knew, to not interfere when she eventually would release Shinobu into Masaru's care.

Releasing the fish that now wriggled at the end of Shinobu's line, however, would be far more difficult. "Oh! You have got it!" She cried, paying little heed to the fact that her excitement startled the rest of the people nearby. But her enthusiasm seemed to be misplaced: Shinobu didn't seem proud at all to have caught the rather large fish that now thrashed in her arms. Sonia's smile faltered as she stayed put, watching the scene unfold with more tempered emotions.

"I will watch," She insisted, determined. "It is not the first time I have encountered blood, gore, and death, Yaguchi-san. Outside of a television screen." It was probably a pointless detail to mention: it wasn't as if Shinobu could recall any of Sonia's old hobbies, nor did she care. But sending as much of Novoselic's troops that could be spared across the borders into war zones and having them return in various states of trauma, equally injured refugees in tow, had ensured that the Princess could not stay confined within the Castle walls. Her conscience hadn't allowed it, and thus Sonia had donned her military fatigues to blend in with the rest of the relief effort. Bringing fresh bandages, water, and prepared food, disinfecting wounds, driving in trucks of fresh supplies, finding family members and transcribing letters, she'd done it all and more. She hadn't been permitted to cross Novoselic's border into foreign territory, but the various journalists and correspondents covering The Tragedy had written piece after piece about the Princess of Novoselic's choice to participate in fighting against the Remnants of Despair, in any way she could.

A fish being struck against a pole over and over again until it died paled in comparison, really, to watching a soldier's leg get amputated from the hip bone, infection setting into the limb so severely there was no saving it. Or a refugee becoming blind after shrapnel cut into their face, losing both eyes and gaining a litany of scars in the process. And those were two she'd been witness to: she'd heard of countless more stories of rehabilitation, from those who had lived. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if they were lucky or unlucky.

"I think no matter how friendships are formed, they should be cherished," She said as Shinobu washed off. She hadn't asked her opinion, but Sonia had a habit of giving it. "Even if you all endured such a terrible thing. You all have each other, the former Class 77-A. I hope you all will take some strength and comfort in that." Considering many of them could not. The members of the Future Foundation had lost most of their Class 78 to The Tragedy, and a good number of her own class had fallen too. It was only Mikan, Gundham, Peko, Fuyuhiko, Akane, and Nekomaru who remained alive that she was certain of: the Ultimate Imposter had always been something of an enigma, she didn't know what persona they'd taken on now, if they were still alive.

"Leave your freedom and seeing your classmates to me," She said, giving her a small smile as she emerged from the water. Sonia doubted washing off with salt water felt very clean, but she was in no position to question it at present. "I would wager that they would not oppose your company, but you will have to wish to be their friend too. I know I do. But do not worry: I have abysmal fishing skills! Even if it is wretched to take lives, as you say, you are still feeding your friends here. That is worth the sacrifice of the fish, I think: it may be difficult to kill them, but you are helping your friends get better and stronger, to stay alive. That is a worthy cause, is it not?"

And Shinobu herself too, Sonia thought, but mentioning that eating properly to aid her own healing process was likely something she didn't care about. Sonia's own line stayed still, to the point where Sonia exhaled in defeat and reeled her own line in. "See? I am awful," She told her, smiling at her failure before setting the fishing rod down beside Shinobu. "But I would not want to take up more of your time today if you would prefer solitude now. And if you do not mind, I should like to bring you a few things next time that will be cleared by the Future Foundation for you to have. If that is all right by you."

"I see." It wasn't exactly an uncomfortable conversation, but it was an awkward one. Shinobu felt her thoughts drifting, as though staying in the moment, on the beach, with the princess, was impossible. It was just as well, they thought. The alternative was forcing herself to stay present, fully focused on herself and her life and where it had ended up, all the decisions that had brought her here, and everyone who she had left in her wake. Even being near Sonia required confronting things she preferred not to, and so to allow her mind to wander away seemed safer.

Again, a hook carved into her hand until it drew blood, the pain jerking her back to reality. If Sonia was here to help the remnants, then the least they could do was not make things difficult for the others by being off-putting. She was no good at socializing - worse even than she'd once been - but if making idle conversation with Sonia Nevermind led to better outcomes for her classmates, there was no possibility of not doing it.

"My mother taught me, I believe." Hadn't that been right? The four of them on the beach, once? "She was an artist. An eccentric one." The others had clear holes in their memory - much of high school was a fuzzy black blur, aside from a number of their interactions together. Most else, though, was intact. Shinobu wasn't quite so lucky. "I..." Waves of pain spread from the center of her forehead out to her temples, prompting a wince and a small grunt. "I'm afraid my memory is particularly terrible. There's a great deal I don't remember." Had it always been so bad, or had the Neo World Program taken her existing memory problems and somehow made them even worse?

They shook their head, resisting the urge to smack at the side of their face in Sonia's presence. "I think she used what we caught for her paintings. Inspiration, perhaps. Or reference. Or, perhaps not." Something else to contribute to how untethered she felt. Her childhood memories were in tatters, and her high school memories were fuzzy and uneven. What did that leave? Middle school, among the most awkward and uncomfortable periods of her life? The years she'd spent as a serial killer? Classroom days with people she'd barely tolerated, at the time? None of those seemed a proper foundation upon which to build some kind of identity.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter much either way, at this point. Though, should I forget parts of our conversations, Nevermind-san, allow me to present my regrets in advance for doing so." It seemed unlikely, but then again, didn't most things? It was unlikely that all of this had happened in the first place. Her gaze drifted over, not to Sonia, but near her. "And, as far the lures... Mm, I can promise not to use them in such a manner." Nicking her hands with the points was one thing, but they weren't any use for any more serious wounds. Besides, her assigned agents were to keep her alive, not keep her from pain. So long as she didn't perish, what did they care if she drew blood?

About to say something else, their attention was drawn, abruptly, back to their own rod as it began to tighten. The fish was well-sized, bigger than most, and with a fight that made Shinobu simply want to snip her line and let it go. Instead, she focused on the mechanical, rhythmic process of tugging her rod, cranking the reel, adjusting her posture back and forth, and jerking until the thrashing fish was safely in her hands. It was hard to slip her fingers into the gills, owing both to the size of the fish and its relentless desire to free itself from her arms. Even if she could, Shinobu imagined, it would take more force than she could easily manage to snap back its neck. Which, left only one method.

"I'd rather you look away, Nevermind-san," Shinobu murmured as she stood, nails pressed into the fish. "Though I'm in no position to tell you what to do, so, I suppose do as you like." It took a few firm strikes against the metal pole where her collar had once hung to be sure that she'd killed it, and the fish had fought her the entire time. Blood had splattered onto her cheek, and the collar of her shirt, and all across her fingers. The fish nearly slipped as she stepped over to the basket, letting it simply fall in. Another life ended at the hands of the world's most prolific killer.

On shaky legs, tired from the difficult catch, Shinobu waded into the water. "Honestly, Nevermind-san, I think I have few friends here." The Future Foundation guard was watching her intently. She could feel his gaze boring into her from across the beach, though there was no reason to be concerned. Even as Shinobu wanted to submerge herself beneath the waves, she only gathered water in her hands, using it to clean her face. "My classmates and I weren't close, with a handful of exceptions." Anzu, mostly, and Ayaka. "They're simply stuck with me now, after all we've done together. Friendships of... necessity, perhaps. Or convenience." Shared trauma, and shared isolation. No one would have any of them except each other, so it was important to stick together.

After a minute or two, she trudged back to the sand, seawater still dripping from her hair, her face, her hands, as she sat back down. Rather than move to re-bait the lure, or once again cast the line, Shinobu simply sat, eventually looking near Sonia again. "And, as you can tell, I don't have much freedom, so I could hardly see my classmates, even if I wanted to." That, in itself, was a complicated question. Isolation was alluring, especially if she had no future to speak of. "If you want to spend time here, I won't pretend to understand why, but neither will I refuse the company. But, I should hope you don't catch anything. It's wretched to take lives."

[salemoleander]

solving counting sheep webweave

MCYTblr AU Fest Summer 2023 // sources under readmore

Created as a treat for the absolutely stunning fic by @theminecraftbee!

What is a webweave? Previous art: Third Life | Void Falling | Attempt 33 | Martyn | Limited Life | Nightingale Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | singing songs to the secrets behind my eye | A Hundred Things We Had Not Dreamed Of

Pt. 1: The Specialist’s Hat, Stranger Things Happen p.63  / Kelly Link ◆ Requiem Angel / Daniele Valeriani via @satanasaeternus ◆ Maschera Venetian Joker Mask / Atelier Marega Mask ◆ Macbeth 1.5.57-61 / Shakespeare ◆ Watch / Carol Milne ◆ Excerpt from Salt Is For Curing / Sonia Vatomsky via @geryone ◆ Carved Damascus Steel Bird Knife / Robert Mayo ◆ Excerpt from STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE, Calling a Wolf a Wolf / Kaveh Akbar ◆ off to finish it at the source / @catcrumb ◆ Excerpt from The War of Vaslav Nijinsky / Frank Bidart ◆ Having a cat is great tweet / @premeesaurus ◆ Secrete / Kate MccGwire via @snailspng

Pt. 2: I am asking you to endure it. / @intactics (Deactivated 12.31.21) ◆ Hi! You have great eyes / @illness (Deactivated 3.25.18) ◆ Taste for Independence Cat / @alisonzai ◆ Support Mental Health pin / @snailspng ◆ A Barn at Kronetorp, Skåne / Gustaf Rydberg ◆ Living: There is a period when it is clear... / Jenny Holzer via @funeral ◆ Neighborhood Plague, Fjords I / Zachary Schomburg ◆ Ugly, Bitter, and True / Suzanne Rivecca ◆ It just keeps happening / @mothcub ◆ Shepherd with Flock of Sheep / Anton Mauve ◆ No Longer Evil cat / @b0nkcreat ◆ Excerpt from All Our Futures / Jody Chan via @geryone ◆ Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stitch / Carol Milne via @knithacker ◆ Deep Dark Fear (9.29.2013) / Fran Krause @deep-dark-fears

Pt. 3: Read more pop-up / @screenshotsofdespair ◆ Combination of Painter Javier Palacios and Enoch 18:14 /  @mountainqoats ◆ Wandering Albatross ◆ Diomedes ◆ Forgive dead players: OFF / @screenshotsofdespair ◆ Inktober52 Angel / @lastmousequeen-blog ◆ The Heavenly Host / Violet Oakley ◆ Excerpt from No Rush / Todd Dillard ◆ I will not go gentle magnets / @carpethedamndiem ◆ Excerpt from cain / José Saramago via @ilumark (Deactivated 2.5.22) ◆ Excerpt from Salt Is For Curing / Sonya Vatomsky via @geryone ◆ Purple / @ungfio via @sosuperawesome ◆ Excerpt from Lessons on Expulsion / Erika Sánchez via @geryone ◆ The Practical Companion to the Work-Table, Containing Directions for Knitting, Netting, & Crochet Work / Elizabeth Jackson via @knittinghistory

Pt. 4: Excerpt from A Ghost is a Memory / GennaRose Nethercott via @tolerateit ◆ What’s done is done / @thatsbelievable ◆ Excerpt from Ante body / Marwa Helal via @geryone ◆ Minor Resurrections / Elisa Gonzalez ◆ Mirror ◆ Coming back / @ungfio ◆ Candlestick ◆ Flame