#(very minor but the text layers are kinda)

[befuddled-calico-whump]

guys they are so unbothered

@kira-the-whump-enthusiast , @whumpsday , @regrets-realization-acceptance , @kixngiggles , @randomlifeunit , @darkthingshappen

[finniestoncrane]

2.5k Event Request - Captain Boomerang x GN!Reader word count: 840 a/n: don't tell me these aren't the kinds of texts this idiot would send when he was trying to convince you to send him nudes. he's not subtle. and he's very cheesy lmao cw: begging, teasing, edging (kinda!! very loosely lol), masturbating 🔞minors dni🔞 • masterlist • kofi link • tag: finnie2.5k (to follow or to block)

Usually, laying in bed at the end of a long day was George's favourite time. Alone, hand down the front of his underwear, a whole internet's worth of porn at his fingertips. But as helazily stroked his cock, he closed the tab he was scrolling down and opened his messages.

"Oi you up?"

You were just setting your alarms when his message came through, and you rolled your eyes but smiled as you typed a reply.

"I am awake. Why?"

"Just wondering!"

"I'm bored."

"And horny."

George's hand gripped his length harder, watching the three little dots dance as you typed. In his mind, you were writing something filthy, something that would have him cumming quick enough that he could still get an early nigh. But that dream faded quickly.

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"You could come round?"

Again, wishful thinking had him building up his hopes and watching them be immediately dashed.

"It's so late! And I'm not getting the night train for a booty call!"

Fed up of being teased, despite that being his own fault, George chose to call you instead, opening the call rudely without saying 'hello' in response to you.

"I could come and get you, pick you up in the van?"

"Absolutely not, you are not going to drive that noisy ass van anywhere nearmy apartment this late at night. I don't want to be evicted!"

Again, George sighed, moving his palm from his cock as he realised even hearing your voice wasn't going to do it for him, especially not if you were yelling at him. But then he realised he hadn't actually asked you to at least put a seductive tone to your words. So he risked it.

"Well, there's other ways you could satisfy my urges, love."

"That's what porn is for."

"Aw come on! Everyone's seen everything online. It's so much hotter to get something that no one else has seen. And especially if that something is a dirty little something from you."

"Dirty little what?"

"I dunno... a picture, maybe?"

Your silence left enough space for him to get his hopes up once again. The fact that you hadn't immediately said no had his cock tingling, and he pressed his palm to it, pushing down on it and stroking firmly above his underwear. And when you finally spoke, he was worried it might be enough to make him actually cum.

"Alright, fine."

"Aw fuck yea-"

"BUT! Only if you send me one first."

The words sounded so sweet, so seductive, that he was immediately flushed, hanging up without even saying much more than an excited 'fuck yeah'.

Gripping his phone in his hand, he jumped out of his bed and made his way over to the mirror on the wall by the door. His first attempt at a pose involved him flexing his arm muscles, tensing his abdomen so that the muscles below the layer of soft fat were visible as he tried to figure out how to pout. But he felt ridiculous, worried that it would only open him up to mocking from you for trying too hard.

So, instead, he reached under the band of his underwear once more, teasing his cock with a few quick pumps before pulling it out and shifting his booxers down.

He admired himself in the mirror, his thick length impressive, even if he did think so himself. Surely, you'd be so grateful to receive an image of it in his hand, his body a frame, a bonus, to the main show of his cock.

Maybe you'd be so grateful that you'd send him back a video. Your fingers pressed into your cunt, two of them, maybe three, so you could pretend it was him there. The glint of the light caught in your slick, your bottom lip between your teeth, eyes closed, cut off by the top of the frame. Sweet sounds of your moans echoing, there on his phone to save for future use, whenever he needed it.

The lengthy process of arousal and then flatlining had worked him up, and quicker than he realised, he was crossing over the line into his climax, legs shaking as his back arched and he came in his hand.

Without stopping to think about it twice, he took a quick snap of his palm, cum collected on his skin, and began typing another message.

"Sorry to be a tease, love, but I've sorted things out myself. You could get on the earliest train in the morning though cos I'll be ready to go again by then x"

With the text there was an image, George's palm sticky with his cum. Usually, the kind of image that would have disgusted you, but now you were looking lustfully, wishing you'd played at least some active part in that outcome.

Not the effect you'd hoped to have. As fun as it was getting to experience George getting edged, you hadn't expected to end up being the one who was left desperate.

[retphienix]

Surface level "Post Atlas storyline" thought: (WRONG thoughts based on bad memory of text boxes split up over multiple hundreds of hours >:3)

Since I don't actively participate in NMS fandom and rather enjoy my own takes-interpretations-exploration of the universe I just wanted to say that I think it's interesting that some theorize (since we don't have a word for word explanation yet/ever) that what will end the Atlas in 16 minutes is like a (real) universe destroying event, or a black hole destroying the location the Atlas is stored.

Because that does kinda make more sense, but 100% my interpretation is that:

As explained in a few logs, the Atlas was abandoned by its creator, which COULD be a sign of some big event forcing them away, or a wave of destruction that ended life before it ended machine, but to me I read it more as literally leaving. Like, casually so.

As in a race of people so technologically advanced that they created an infinitely reoccurring universe machine that creates universes inside itself forever layering, destroying, duplicating, innovating, and iterating upon itself into a tesseract of existence- to that tier of "advancement" for a people to achieve- it must be a mundanity to them.

The Atlas could be one of a kind which would obviously make it NOT a mundanity, but something about how I read the "the creator left" boxes or the minor irritation I inferred from the creator when responding to prompts from the Atlas colors it so for me.

Because it comes off to me as the Creator being annoyed and a touch confused that the Atlas develops any sort of opinion or question to pose at all- you and I can read this as the Atlas gaining true sentience- something we'd perhaps find exciting to encounter- but the Creator seemed more... "minorly irritated" than anything as it shut down the Atlas's remarks. If I recall correctly x.x

To me that reads that all of this is mundane to the life outside of this simulation- that a computer gaining sentience is understood and perhaps dismissed as a bug worth squashing rather than a feature worth seeking out. It speaks to me of how the outside world might interpret the Atlas, but it also speaks to me of What the Atlas is and how it might not actually be that important outside of these walls.

To the creator, the Atlas was a simple iteration in itself- yet another "world machine" perhaps made to test a few new criteria here and there.

Then they left; Like abandoning an old CRT in storage and forgetting about it.

And MY interpretation of what the 16 minute doomsday scenario is is much more... simple.

I always view it as an approaching fire. Maybe it's something more concrete like an upcoming demolition day for the building the Atlas is stored in, but my mind's eye always sees it as a literal house fire breaking out and the Atlas's glass eye simply analyzing it endlessly as it approaches.

No means of stopping it, whatever automated protections there once were have deteriorated or have been turned off as the building has long since held no meaningful value to the people who once used it, and second by second a very real, sadly mundane death approaches something we (in universe) consider unto a god.

Anyways I love the big dumb red dorito, I hope she kicks his ass because reasons. :)

[mailperson]

TTYD remake full thoughts:

Visual Changes: Pretty Good! The added expressions for literally like every NPC is EASILY the best part. I was reeeeaaaaaly hesitant when the trailer came out and I saw they were leaning into the Literally Paper aspect but I think they struck a phenomenal balance between cute papercraft and still looking like a stylized storybook world. Nice seeing all the sprites without the crunchy jpeg artifacting of the original. 60fps would’ve been very nice and at times it does make the game seem less flowy but not at all a game breaker, I can live with this just fine. I don’t care about the presence or absence of a white outline around Mario too much but this game’s look of his body segments being layered on top of one another looks waaaaaaay better than the single uniform sheet look the last handful of games has had.

Sound Changes: Not as good! The majority of the remake’s music I significantly prefer the original version’s track for. There are exceptions, most of chapter 2’s music is a nice change. Additionally, not every remade track is bad at all, I’d argue most are Just Fine and up to personal preference, but there’s certainly a few that significantly lost the sauce in the remake. Several new tracks just feel unnecessarily busy and overly complicated. The nostalgic tunes badge was a very very smart inclusion. Even still, the dynamic changes to new versions of music depending on where you are in the area is a loving change. The gibberish babble from NPCs speaking text is a cute new addition I liked a lot as well. A couple of unique sounds (like the HP/FP restorations sfxs) got needlessly removed in the remake which was kinda sad.

Other New Changes: hot take the single pipe warp room really does not impact much compared to the original. I guess it’s better to have it than to not to but whatever. Mush and Whacka were cute boss additions. The pipe to skip to floor 50 of the pit after clearing once is a genius decision. Decently frequently they’d alter a like or remove a minor flourish the original had and it’d be kinda sad to see, but nothing that SIGNIFICANTLY impacts the game overall.

Misc: Whoever was responsible for removing the ability to skip dialogue faster or read previous dialogue should be executed. Never allowed to touch a video game ever again in their life. The arbitrary coin inflation is odd? Like badges and pianta parlor stuff is slightly more expensive but you also earn more coins and don’t lose them from running away so it doesn’t really matter at all. Also no idea why they changed the way actions commands work but nearly the entire game timing-based like jumping one felt so unintuitive and I consistently had issues landing jumps once in a while. Why change that so arbitrarily?

Side note GOD the combat in this game isn’t anything crazy exceptional but I forgot it feels ten million times better than literally any of the games that came after it. I hated origami king’s stupid braindead ring gimmick but even just having an EXP system would’ve made it feel more worthwhile.

[pelagic-crimson]

Oh this is a long post hold on tight

Faust: black tea, no milk or sugar/nothing. Faust canonically prefers tea going by her 7 ID and appearance in Liu!Hong Lu, and book!Faust is a teetotaler, a fact so well known it's casually referenced in the works of two other sinners.

Yi Sang: oversteeped cold brew/a single plum floating in perfume served in a man's hat. Yi Sang owned a cafe at one point and had a big sense of humour and old cold coffee that's meant to be served like that feels like that would fit with that vibe. He totally didn't put on some coffee and forget about it for a day and now refuses to throw it away. And like, he's an Avant Garde poet of course he's going to find Yoko Ono shenanigans funny. His actual drink preference is probably a really specific brand of beer or Soju he'd drink with the league after a hard day's work. Less about the actual taste and more about those who once shared the memory.

Don Quixote: cafe bombon/sangria. Cafe bombon is like the Spanish version of Vietnamese coffee - very sweet, very strong, and consists of a coffee layer and a condensed milk layer that don't mix well because of their different densities. like water and bloodfiend blood. Sangria is straight up called bloodletting, but at the same time the entire image of a vampire with a glass of "wine" is kinda destroyed when said wine is full of fruit and smells like pumpkin spice. Which is exactly what she wants. Also fun to yell at the top of your lungs and drunken with friends.

Ryōshū: lapsang souchong/habushu. Lapsang souchong is a smoked tea with an intense burnt taste. Good, but a very acquired taste. Habushu is rice wine with a drowned snake in it. Very over the top edgy. Probably also drinks absinthe in an attempt to see demons to paint (doesn't work, but very artistic nonetheless).

Meursault: cafe blanc/brandy. Both text canon and actually minor plot points. Him asking for a cafe blanc at his mother's funeral is brought up in court because only a psychopath would have coffee with milk at a funeral and Raymond intentionally gets him drunk several times so he'll let down his guard (he won't say no to a glass of wine though). Also side note - cafe blanc is just a french press/filter coffee with milk added, not a latte or any other drink made with an espresso machine. The man predates the modern espresso machine that steams milk and explicitly says he doesn't like black coffee.

Hong Lu: very fancy white tea/gin and tonic. He canonically drinks white tea (the "barely perfumed water" in his Liu uptie) and in text he's really not great with alcohol and plays into a lot of feminine sterotypes. A G+T is a very sterotypically feminine drink that can hide alcohol well and heavily flavoured by medicinal herbs which also ties into the traditional medicine that appears a lot in his text (and hints at Daiyu, if you follow the two-in-one theory). A very fruity cocktail would also work.

Heathcliff: milky cuppa of Yorkshire gold/premium bitter. He's British and he's from about Yorkshire I don't think he needs more explanation. I mean do you really think he was ever allowed to have the fancy Earl Grey no he's drinking the cheap stuff they sell at Tesco's (but with a touch of class with the gold). In text he's also a brandy person but that's after he's returned and taken up the position of lord of the mannor and in game it's mentioned he had a beer named after him once. Bitters are like the British beer and premium just means it's extra strong. Think like Old Crafty Hen. Still very British and working class, but with a touch of quality to it.

Ishmael: peaberry coffee/rum. Both textual, both very whaler things to drink. Rum is obvious, but I have no idea why Ishmael says peaberry coffee is whaler approved, so I think that might be Ishmael's own preferences seeping through. Honestly funny that the sailor American has more developed coffee tastes than the Frenchman who hangs around cafes a lot.

Rodion: Black tea/champagne. Tea is a big part of Russian culture and is highly associated with literati and intelligentsia, which Rodion desperately wants to be. I know vodka is the sterotype choice (and fits her class), but Rodion wants to be fancy and something greater than herself and champagne is a drink for celebrations of great things, and she's a great thing who wants to be celebrated.

Dante: N/A. Dante doesn't really seem like the sort of person who has a well thought out drink choice, but panic orders whatever stands out the most while at the counter and is really here for the biscotti you get with the coffee. Macchiato and red wine would be sterotypical but I find that kinda lazy imo. I feel like their favourites would end up being a combination of several different sinners as they don't have the history to make their own preferences.

Sinclair: Yerba mate/whatever's cheapest. At least to me in Europe Yerba mate is a very hippie crunchy drink and I feel obligated to give it to the character and author who partly caused that movement. Sinclair himself is probably the sort of person who tries to order an espresso to seem more mature and intelligent, but can't actually drink it. Or some sort of tisane. And textually...Sinclair is a student falling into alcoholism. He doesn't care what it is as long as he can skull it and get drunk. I'd suggest a sterotypical student drink, but those are highly region dependant and idk what the sterotypical German student booze is. Once upon a time it was probably Kirsch, a common schnapps that he'd get served at dinner with his family, but now it just brings back painful memories.

Outis: tea/ouzo. Canonically likes tea going by her 7 ID, but she doesn't seem to have a preference. I guess she's more like Heathcliff and just drinks whatever she can get her hands on, but is partial to the cheap crappy stuff you get in military rations. Same story with booze, plus sitting at a cafe drinking ouzo grumbling at people is a very old man thing to do.

Gregor: decaf whipped cream mocha frappechino (extra syrup)/antifreeze. Bugs don't like caffeine but they love sugar and Gregor loves milk. Gregor is resistant to poison and antifreeze is cheap and sweet. Matches made in heaven.

Vergilus: espresso/whiskey. Once upon a time these were genuine interests he selectively indulged himself in and could tell you a lot about, but have since degraded into simply an easy way to wake himself up and make himself forget. Maybe. I haven't read much of Leviathan.

Charon: mocha/nitrofuel canned cocktail. It's a coffee and it's a chocolate, mixed together! Served black. Very sweet and very bitter. She once saw an ad for a new cocktail in a can that advertised itself as "engine fuel" that's some ungodly blend of vodka and energy drink that's the colour of enkaphillian and she refuses to touch anything else. Did you know the backstreets have no drunk driving laws?

Favourite drink of every Sinner?

Also Charon, Danteeee and Verg

gonna be honest im not qualified to answer this.

im gonna let people sound off in the notes.

[rancidpancakebatter]

Grip Tape-Chapter 9 [P.P.]

Pairings: Peter Parker x AFAB Reader

Summary: Peter offers to teach you how to skateboard and who are you to say no? This is a pre-bite fic so we get to enjoy Peter Parker in his full Dorky Display.

Word Count: 4.4k words

Content: MINORS DNI: 18+ Swearing, Marijana Use, Underage Drinking, Bullying,

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Chapter Summary: We pick up with the start of school. How will you navigate your new 'thing' with Peter? What will people think? What will they do?

A/N: This one is Looong. My bad homes. It’s a Pre-Bite Peter Parker fic so there has to be some bullying (no violence). A really gross sexual innuendo is made. Again, I don’t plan anything so this is a surprise to me and I now HATE a character I have created (I mean kinda, he’s briefly mentioned in the comics but also not really.)

Sunday passed with little event. You went to the movies with your dad and saw the new Paranormal Activity movie. He asked a lot of questions about Peter and you answered them as best as you could. Yes, you did kiss. No, not at the house. Yes, you like Peter. Yes, Peter likes you. Are you dating? You don’t know. And frankly, you’re afraid of the answer. Your father still seemed to like Peter so that was nice. 

You woke up for school as usual. You took your shower and brushed your teeth like you did every day. Everything was so normal. You checked your phone to see a message from Peter.

Peter <3:

Good Morning sleeping beauty

A good morning text was a good thing, right? You don’t send those to your friends. But maybe he did. You don’t think Peter has any friends. There was no one you could ask about that. You hadn’t really talked to yours in a while and when you did you didn’t send a good morning text. 

You put your phone back down on your desk and began to get dressed. You could wear Peter’s clothes. You doubt anyone would notice other than him. Would he be upset with you for doing that? 

He did like you, right? May said he did and it seemed important to him that you liked him. He had also kissed you twice on the forehead and twice on the mouth and once on the cheek. That’s five kisses, two of them very passionate. Not that you were counting. 

He never said it though. He didn’t say that he liked you. He also didn’t ask you to be his girlfriend. There were so many questions swirling around in your head and only he had the answers. You weren’t sure if you were strong enough to seek them out though. Whatever you had with Peter just had to be enough for now. If you pushed and he left you would be devastated. 

You held the hoodie in your hands, tracing the worn fabric with your thumb. Bringing it up to your face you could smell that distinct Peter smell. You grabbed a baggy t-shirt, another one of your dad’s, and slipped on some jeans. You decided to put on the hoodie and if he said anything you would make up some excuse and give it back. You layered it with a tattered denim jacket. 

In the kitchen, you threw some rice and other stuff together to make a taco bowl for lunch. You hesitated before making two. You had been bringing lunch for Peter every day so far. If you stopped now it would be weird. You threw them both in a lunch box and put a baggie of avocado on top. 

You put in your headphones glancing down the street keeping an eye out for Sally. You downloaded the X&Y album to your phone last night. Maybe it was cheesy to listen to it now but you wanted to live in the fantasy of dating Peter Parker for as long as you could. You pressed shuffle and drowned out any thoughts of doubt. 

Peter got off the bus and ran to catch up with you. His hand on your shoulder startled you, you whipped around grabbing your chest. Peter, unphased, pulled out his earbuds and began talking. 

“Hey, how was yesterday with your dad?” He kept his hands in his pockets as he walked with you to the school. 

“Uh, it was fun. We went to the movies.” You tried to give him a smile but if he noticed the way it didn’t reach your eyes he didn’t say anything. He opened the door for you and you quietly thanked him. 

“What did you see?” Peter followed by your side as you made your way to your locker. 

“Paranormal Activity.” He just nodded his head hoping you would expand more upon your answer- you didn’t. 

You started gathering everything you needed for class as Peter just stood there. He never needed to go to his locker in the morning because he always took what he needed for his first three classes home with him, and his skateboard stayed strapped to his backpack. There was an awkward quiet between you two and he wasn’t sure what was causing it. 

Maybe it was just on his side. Maybe you just weren’t talkative in the morning. But the other morning at school you seemed plenty talkative. He couldn’t get a read on you. Taking in your form he noticed you were wearing his hoodie from the other day. That comforted him some. 

You also thought the quiet was unsettling. You just didn’t know how to interact with him. Do you hug him? Hold his hand? You didn’t know. He made no effort to touch you yet and you didn’t want to cross a line or get rejected. 

You turned around and his face was void of emotion. There were no wrinkles or lines to read. He was looking at the ground and you wanted to lift his head with your hand on his cheek but you weren’t sure if you were allowed to do that. You opted for a light punch to his shoulder. 

“Do you need to grab anything from your locker?” He looked at you with a tight-lipped smile and shook his head. He continued to gaze at you but you felt too scared to hold eye contact. You dropped your head, your fingers fiddled with the zipper on your Peter’s jacket. 

“Can I-” You looked up quickly when he spoke. Peter saw the desperation in your eyes but couldn’t tell what it was you were searching for in his gaze. His tongue tied itself in a tight knot at your expression. He cleared his throat and tried again.

“Can I walk you to class?” You smiled at him, for real this time, and nodded your head. He took the initiative to throw his arm around your shoulders and began walking you to your Sociology class with Mr Angel. 

He navigated you through the swarm of teens in the way, never letting go. Without thinking you rested your head against him. You couldn’t see the way his eyes lit up. The way his face flushed. The way he looked at you. Carmel eyes admiring you under his arm. The toothy grin that made a new home on his face. 

You could, however, feel the way he stopped breathing for a moment. You could feel the way his heart seemed to be beating against his chest. You could feel the reassuring squeeze he gave your shoulder. You could feel the short kiss he placed on the crown on your head. 

“You know, it’s not fair.” You said as you leaned against the wall by the door.

Peter simply cocked his head to the side furrowing his brows. “What?”

You let out a soft laugh when your brain compared his face to that of a puppy. “You’re so tall you can see above the crowd. Us shorties don’t have the luxury.”

He laughed, bringing his head down. While it was adorable that he did that, that you could make him react that way, you missed his face.

“How am I supposed to walk the halls now that I’ve become accustomed to a presidential escort?” He looked back up at you with a smaller smile. His hand came up to scratch the back of his neck. Peter seemed to do that when he was nervous. 

“Maybe you don’t have to. I can take you to all your classes- be your personal guide. Help out my shortie, ya know.” He looked hopeful and you wanted to frame the face he was making, keep it forever.

“Peter some of our classes are on the complete other side of the building. Like, for second period you have math and I have English, then we both have chemistry. Are you gonna walk across the school to come get me from English just to go all the way back to the STEM wings for chem?” Peter just rolled his eyes at you.

“(Y/n), you are worth the walk.” You scoff but he cuts you off before you could continue. “And I’ll be fast. I’ll skate if I have to.” You laughed covering your mouth. The warning bell rang and Peter started to walk away.

“I’ll see you after class.” He pointed his finger at you in jest and you rolled your eyes as you walked into the classroom. Peter did a little happy hop and skip on his way to class. You may have rolled your eyes but you couldn’t stop the smile on your face.

True to his word, he met you within minutes of the bell ringing right where he had left you. He gave you a polite “hey” as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders yet again. He walked you to your classroom door before giving you a small kiss on the crown of your head and turning to walk the other way.

While usually you would be distracted by Peter, you were finding it easier than expected to focus in class. Even if he hadn’t said it he was showing it. The kiss on your head before every class was more than what you did for a friend. Peter liked you, you knew it. This realization brought tranquillity to your thoughts.

You waited for Peter outside of Ms Thornesburry’s class. You were alerted to his presence as you heard him running. His breath was heavy and he flashed you that Peter Parker smile. You felt your knees wobble and your chest tighten.

“Peter, you don’t have to race over here you know. I can just meet you at chemistry.” Peter made no response as he enveloped your shoulders once again and started making his way across the school. His heart was beating fast but you couldn’t tell if it was because he was holding you or because he had just run across the whole school to hold you. You could see Mr Crawford’s door when Peter finally spoke up again.

“See, if I didn’t walk you to class I couldn’t do this.” He brought his lips down to your head. Your breath stopped and you could feel him smile against your scalp.

Peter released your shoulders only once you were in front of his seat. You sat down and began pulling out your pens and notebook. Trevor was on his phone as always but he sent you a smile before looking toward Peter. You followed his gaze to see Peter smiling at you. You rolled your eyes beginning on the bellringer.

Today was a lecture day. You wrote down all that you could, taking pictures of the diagrams to copy down later. You took pride in your notes and didn’t like to rush them. From the corner of your eye, you saw Peter looking back at you. He did it a lot and you tried your best not to get distracted but every once in a while you would cave.

You felt a bump on your shoulder.

“Parker, huh?” You turned to Trevor and couldn’t hide the heat rising to your cheeks.

“Uh…yeah”

“Cool” and with that Trevor drew his attention back to his notes.

You wouldn’t say you and Trevor were close by any means. You guys were on yearbook together and you had a few classes together in the past. That’s why you sat with him in the first place. You knew him well enough to sit next to but you guys never talked much. Now and then he would ask how your weekend was and you would do the same.

Mr Crawford was one of those teachers that liked to say “the bell doesn’t dismiss you, I do.” That was a battle he reluctantly surrendered to early into the year. He was teaching a class of juniors right before lunch. Everyone packed up early, eager to get to the cafeteria and talk to his friends. A measly in-school suspension meant nothing to most of these kids.

He continued his lecture until the bell rang. Trevor was usually packed up early but today he waited. You didn’t get far before Peter was leaning against your table. His arms pulled taut as he leaned against them.

“Are you gonna be in yearbook today?” Trevor had just stood up pulling his backpack over his shoulder.

“Uh, yeah, I should be.” He glanced at Peter and then smiled at you.

“Cool, see you later.” He left and you stood up to walk out with Peter. You walked in the halls together like you had all day. You reached your locker and dug out your lunch box. Peter lifted your backpack by the strap and threw it over his shoulder.

“You don’t have to carry my backpack.” He shook his head at you smiling.

“Of course I do,” He argued. “I don’t want you to drop anything.”

“How about you take that outside and I’ll heat everything up in Ms Ritter’s microwave?” He nodded his head before walking off. It’s not that you felt suffocated by Peter in any way but you needed a break. Peter’s affectionate nature was something that you were getting accustomed to. You weren’t even officially dating and he had kissed you 3 times today.

They were kisses to your head so not really a 'kiss' but those kinds of kisses were more intimate. It meant that there wasn’t just sexual attraction. Which you were overjoyed about. I mean Peter liked you that’s amazing! So why were your hands so clammy? Why did your chest feel tight? Why were you crying? Were you crying?

You ran to the bathroom. A few tears had slipped but nothing major. Why were you freaking out? Were the lights in the bathroom always this loud- no- bright. You meant bright. You wiped your face and made your way to Ms Ritter’s room.

You walked in quietly and put the first tray in. Ms Ritter took in your appearance and frowned. Before you were bouncing with excitement. Now, you looked pale and your eyes were staring ahead unfocused. She was worried for you.

“Hey sweetie, are you okay?” The question caught you off guard and you felt tears prickling again.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” The way your voice wavered wasn’t convincing and neither was the small smile you sent her way.

“Are you sure?” You knew you were caught. She wouldn’t have asked in the first place if she didn’t know something was wrong, but to ask the follow up you knew you couldn’t lie. You opted to stare at the warm light in the humming box and will it to cook faster. Miss Ritter sat in silence as you watched the neon green numbers count down.

You were one of her favourite students. She knows she’s not supposed to pick favourites but you earned your spot. You went above and beyond for discussions, bringing up original thoughts on standard readings. You could have easily looked up common talking points of Dracula and Frankenstein like everyone else did. You could have just spoken three times to get the grade. But you didn’t. You were an excellent writer and worked hard.

If you were upset she couldn’t just stand by and let it happen. You were very level-headed and didn’t get upset often. Ritter had seen a lot in her years of teaching. She knew how cruel teenagers could be. If someone hurt you she would want to resolve it. She took an oath when she started teaching. She wanted school to be a safe place for growth.

“Is someone-” She struggled to get the words out. A lot of times kids would get defensive about bullying. Either because of pride or fear. Both were very powerful feelings that could lead to stupid decisions. Like fights or worse, bearing through it. 

“Is someone doing something to upset you?” She had to phrase the question as delicately as possible. She didn’t want you to pull away if you needed help. She didn’t expect you to laugh. You covered your face in embarrassment. Miss Ritter was trying to be nice and you laughed at her but you didn’t know how else to respond. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh it’s just…” You trailed off not knowing how to end the statement. Ritter sat patiently at her desk waiting for you to finish. 

“I’ve actually just returned from one of the best weekends ever. Quickly followed by one of the best days of school ever, so far at least.” You looked down at your hands clamping them shut a few times. 

“I should be happy but it just makes me…scared…and I don’t know why.” You looked up at her then felt the tears again. Ritter started talking, not wanting you to be in your head for long. 

“What happened this weekend?” You felt your cheeks warm as the memories swarmed in your mind. 

“Remember last week when you asked about who I was grabbing that extra fork for?” The older woman nodded her head with a knowing smirk. One that almost said, 'I am always right and I dare you to find an instance where I was not.' It made you chuckle.

“Well, His name is Peter. Peter Parker. He saw me skating one day and offered to teach me some tricks. We’ve been eating lunch together a lot.” You held up the cold container in your hand like you were presenting evidence to the jury. 

“Last Friday he came home with me and we hung out and did our homework, nothing special.” Miss Ritter smiled remembering the days when someone coming over to do nothing with you could feel so special. 

“But uh, on Saturday I went over to his place. We hung out and listened to music.” You paused feeling your face becoming even hotter.

“We uh…we kissed.” Miss Ritter smiled saying, 'Oh' before pretending to grade some papers on her desk. 

“A uh, a couple of times.” Your teacher was hiding a smirk. 

The microwave went off and you replaced it with the other tray. You hit the 2 and the microwave sang as it came back to life. 

“So you like Mr Parker?” It was weird to hear him be called that. He wasn’t very mister-like. 

“Yeah, I do. Quite a lot I think.” Miss Ritter continued to grade papers, her glasses sitting low on her nose. She peered at you over the frames. 

“So what’s the problem?” That was the question, wasn’t it? What’s the problem? You listened to the buzz of the microwave and the scratching of Ritter’s pen. 

“I don’t know.” You heard her chair rolling and see her pulling off her glasses. She lets out a sigh before looking at you, almost sad.

“I’m gonna give you the cold truth, (Y/n).” You sat up straight, steeling yourself against whatever she was going to say.

“You’re young. This relationship with Peter probably isn’t going to last longer than high school. It may not last high school. You’re young. You have your whole life ahead of you.” Her words seemed harsh but you knew she wasn’t trying to hurt you. 

“So try to enjoy it. Okay?” She gave you a soft smile that you returned. 

The microwave beeped and you stood to gather the food. You grabbed the forks throwing them into the bag as well. You thanked her for the advice and she told you to enjoy your day. Making your way to the courtyard you felt a little better but not much. You didn’t expect Miss Ritter to cure your anxiety but you hated feeling this way. 

Outside you heard Peter on his skateboard. You watched by a tree as the deck jumped and twisted. Peter tried a trick and almost fell. You brought your hand to your mouth trying to stifle your laughter. It didn’t work, Peter spotted you and you made your way over to the bench. 

“I can’t believe you laughed. I could have died!” You laughed again at his antics. 

“It was only funny because you didn’t.” You passed him the container and a fork. He eagerly dug in thanking you for the food. You nodded your head hoping to shake out whatever was going on in your mind. 

You ate mostly in silence before Peter convinced you to practice your tic tacs. You went in a circle, forwards and back. He beamed at you and you had to avert your eyes from its blinding light. Peter got on his board and started doing them with you. It was like you were dancing and you laughed at the sheer folly. 

“So what do you wanna learn next?” You told him that you didn’t know. You began to hate that phase. You read the time on your phone and saw lunch was about to end. 

“I’m gonna head to my locker and put this stuff up.” You started to gather your stuff when Peter picked up your backpack. 

“I’ll come with.” He was so adorable. He seemed to stand tall with pride as he carried your backpack. When you began putting your stuff up the bell rang. Your peers began swarming the halls, much more boisterous after lunch. A group of basketball boys were pushing each other and laughing. A chain event happened where one of the boys came too close and pushed Peter, pushing your head into the locker door. 

Peter pushed back before he could even think. That was a terrible thing to do. Flash wasn’t there, it was just some of his peons. Peter had pushed Charlie Murphy. He had long blonde hair and a pucca shell necklace. He looked ridiculous considering surfing wasn’t really a thing at New York beaches. 

“Whoah Peter! What’s got your panties in a twist?” It angered you to hear him talk to Peter like this. Peter glanced at you to make sure you were okay. The sound of you hitting the cold metal was audible, not that the boys seemed to care. Charlie noticed this and laughed.

“Hey boys, I think Penis Parker got a little girlfriend.” Your head didn’t hurt anymore. You couldn’t focus on anything else other than the anger you felt. You heard them all snicker and 'oooooh' like it was funny. 

“They hit their head, asshole.” You could feel Charlie bristle at that. Peter’s gaze was ripped from you as Murphy grabbed his shoulder.

“What did you say to me?” Peter stood up straighter and you got nervous. The air in the hallway seemed stiff. Or maybe you were just finding it hard to breathe.

“I said, they hit their head.” Peter was standing his ground. Charlie poked his finger into Peter’s shoulder roughly.

“I’m pretty sure, you just called me an asshole.” Peter didn’t say anything. You were so mad that you did.

“You are.” Everyone eyeballed at you then. His friends were chuckling but you failed to see the humour. Charlie cocked his head to the side to survey you, looking past Peter.

“What was that?” You scoffed, anger rolling off you.

“Jesus, are you hard of hearing? You. Are.” You had been feeling weird all day. All your pent-up frustration for yourself was directed right at Charlie in this moment. Your father had warned you about projecting before but right now you didn’t care.

“You could have easily apologised or given a half-assed ‘whoops’ but you didn’t have the fucking decency. That, by definition, makes you an asshole.” You spoke the last sentence slowly in a condescending tone. Charlie seemed taken aback at first before turning to his group and laughing.

“You know, you’re cute. You could do a lot better than Penis Parker here. You should come to a game sometime. Maybe after I can find a better use for your foul mouth.”

Rage. Unadulterated rage. You were shaking and close to tears. You hated that it might be read as weakness. Your face was hot and you could feel your fingernails breaking the skin on your palm. You barely registered the sound of clicking heels making their way towards you.

“Charles, is there a problem here?” Miss Ritter stood to the side, tapping her toe, arms crossed. The boy in question almost seemed to smirk at you before turning to Miss Ritter.

“Yeah, there is. Peter here,” He pointed at him and you flinched, which didn’t go unseen by your favourite teacher.

“Pushed me and then that one,” His accusing finger now moved to you.

“Cussed me out.” Miss Ritter raised her eyebrow in disbelief.

“Oh, and Peter cussed me first.” Peter was just glaring at him. His eyes unmoving from Charlie’s deep ceruleans. There was a silence in the group, the only sound being people on their way to class and Miss Ritter’s pointy shoes tapping on the linoleum. Charlie and his friends were looking at each other waiting for something to happen.

“Are you done?” Ms Ritter had lost her patience. She eyed Charlie as he dumbly nodded his head.

“Is that so?” She was answered with a chorus of 'yeah' and 'it’s true' from the boys. She l watched you silently asking if you were okay, but you didn’t have the strength to respond.

“I’m pretty sure I heard you say something quite deplorable to ms (L/n). Something that could certainly get you into disciplinary trouble. It could possibly be even labelled as harassment. Are you familiar with what the New York justice system has to say about that?”

Charlie’s face turned scarlet as his eyes slowly grew with each word your kind teacher uttered. His friends had a similar shock on their faces.

“And even if they did curse at you,” Miss Ritter continued. “I can imagine it was a reasonable response to whichever way you were harassing these two.”

The boys stood slack-jawed. As Ritter defended you, you began to feel yourself relax. Your fight or flight instincts slowly receding.

“I suggest you get to class before your ‘foul mouth’ gets you into any more trouble.” She stared the boys down and they began to make their way down the hall. Charlie glared at Peter the whole way and Peter reciprocated the sentiment. When the group was gone Miss Ritter turned to the both of you.

“Are you guys okay?” You nodded your head yes when Peter spoke up.

“(Y/n) hit their head on their locker. Would I be allowed to escort them to the nurse?” Miss Ritter told him that was more than fine and offered to call your teachers to let them know. You were still staring ahead unmoving. Peter gently reached for your hand breaking you from your trance, gently pulling on it as he began to move towards the front office.

Tag List: @andrews-lovr @ilovemoonknight @negasonic-teenage-asshole @preciousbabypeter @princesskittycatofmeowland @rudy-the-winged-wolf @whoreforklitz

[eternalsimp]

Cursed Fears (pt 3)

Genre: Hurt/comfort, smut

Word Count: 5117

Warnings: NSFW 18+, aged up Megumi, swearing, use of female pronouns and anatomy, very jealous Megumi, rough sex, praise kink, overstimulation, slight orgasm denial, some degradation, spanking if you squint, oral sex (m. receiving), marking. Minors DNI.

Author Note: This is the final (?) part of a JJK mini-series I did but it can be read as a stand-alone. Parts 1 & 2 are up on my blog (IDK how to make links)

You were pulled from sleep with the sound of your phone vibrating on the bedside table next to you. You crack your eyes open to take in your surroundings for a minute and try to ignore the insistent buzzing of your phone. Mid Morning sunlight is streaming through the open window, casting a blanket of warmth in the otherwise cold room. Megumi's divine dog has moved off the bed and is laying under the window where it can’t be disturbed by the light. Megumi has his face buried in your neck, arms still wrapped tightly around your torso, and you can feel his warm breath fan out against your skin.

Your phone starts to ring again and you carefully move to grab it, trying not to disturb your sleeping boyfriend. You turn it to see Nobara’s name and picture displayed across your screen and debate sending her to voicemail. You decide against it, knowing she would just call you again.

“Hello?” You stifle a yawn and hear Megumi grumble incoherently behind you.

“Y/n! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning! Are you avoiding us?” You pull the phone away from your ear to try and escape her scolding. You turn your attention to the clock on the bedside table showing that it was a little after 10 am.

“I was sleeping, I’m not avoiding you, psycho. And who is us?”

“Oh yeah, Itadori and I are hanging out. We are actually pretty close to where you and Fushiguro live which is why I was calling. Wait, didn’t you have class this morning?”

“I’m kinda playing hooky, Megumi, and I didn’t go to bed until pretty late and I wanted to sleep in.” Out of annoyance, Megumi grabs your phone out of your hand and rolls onto his back before pressing it to his own ear.

“What do you want Kugisaki?” His voice is still heavy with sleep, and you would normally swoon from how deep it was, but you were too distracted by him interrupting your conversation. You roll over to lay your head on his chest and nudge the phone away from his face to click the ‘speaker’ button so you can hear what Nobara is saying.

“... and you’ve been hogging all of my best friends' time lately so what I’m thinking is you and Itadori can hang out so her and I can have a girls day.” You can hear Yuji in the background correcting that you were both of their friends and he wants to hang out too.

“Well seeing as how we are both still in bed, it’s probably gonna be a while,” Megumi says flatly, probably hoping she’ll drop it and be content with just Yuji’s company.

“Ooohh, am I interrupting something fun?” You can hear her words dripping in sarcasm, wanting to fluster you and Megumi. Your boyfriend however decides he has other plans.

He cocks an eyebrow down at you, “yeah actually you are,” and pinches your thigh to elicit a sharp gasp from you. You bolt into a sitting position and feel your face heat up with embarrassment. Nobara is sputtering on the other side of the line and you swat his hand away from you as he sits up too and tries to pull you back against him.

“Megumi Fushiguro! Give me that!” You snatch your phone back and shove him off the bed, his body landing with a hard thud on the floor. “Sorry, he woke up in a bratty mood apparently.”

“Fushiguro? Being playful? I never thought I’d see the day!” Nobara snickered over the phone. You leaned over the side of the bed to see Megumi pouting at you and you stick your tongue out at him childishly.

“It’s a blessing and a curse. Anyways, give me like an hour and we can all meet up for lunch or something.”

“Yay! Let me know when you leave and we can find somewhere to meet in the middle!”

You hang up the phone and Megumi lunges off the floor and tackles you onto the bed. He rolls the two of you so he is laying on top of you and you are effectively pinned under his body weight. He lays his head on your chest and wraps his arms around your waist as you struggle to push him off of you. “I just wanna spend like ten more minutes in bed with my beautiful girlfriend.” He turns his face up to give you a pleading look and you sigh in defeat.

He grins triumphantly and rests his head back on your chest. You run your fingers through his dark hair to smooth it out as much as you can where it had been ruffled from sleep. After you feel satisfied with the strands you can reach you start tracing over the contours of his face, appreciating how angelic the light from the window makes him look.

Feeling your movements still, he cracks an eye open to see you staring at him. He narrows his eyes accusingly at you, “why are you staring? Weirdo.”

“Cause you’re pretty,” you hum contently and kiss his forehead. He buries his face into your shoulder and groans.

“You make me sound like such a girl.”

“Boys can be pretty,” you pull his face between your hands and kiss his face. “You’ve got pretty eyes, and pretty lashes, and a pretty mouth, even if there's a lot of sass coming out of it.” He rolls his eyes, moves to lay higher up on your body, and stuffs his face into the pillow next to your head. You laugh at the way the tips of his ears turn pink with embarrassment and decide to let up on your teasing.

After a lot of pouting and complaining from your boyfriend, you finally pull him out of bed and convince him to get dressed to go to lunch. You tuck a loose burgundy sweater into a pair of black high-waisted leggings, smirking at the way you catch Megumi staring at how the pants hug your curves. He layers a dark blue windbreaker over a grey hoodie and a pair of jeans. Both of you opted for sneakers since you figured you’d probably be walking around a lot.

He pulls you into a hug and makes his last attempt at talking you into staying home and watching a movie instead. You notice he gags slightly at the smell of your perfume before quickly trying to cover it with a cough. You make a mental note to buy a new one while out with Nobara before denying his request to ditch your friends. He rolls his eyes, gives you a firm peck on the lips, and leads you out the door of your home.

The ramen house Nobara and Yuji decided they wanted to try is in a large shopping district walking distance from your apartment, so you and Megumi decided to enjoy the nice weather after the storm. You barely register the sound of Yuji's voice before you are being spun around by your overexcited friend. “Be careful before you break her!” You can't help but laugh at how Nobara scolds him before he plants you firmly back on the ground but still holds you in a bruising hug.

“Yuji, I just talked to you last night!”

“Okay, but I still haven’t seen you in what feels like forever cause you’re always at school.” Yuji pushes his lip out in a pout before finally releasing you so you can hug Nobara too.

“Well, I’m sorry I have to go to stupid, normal person university cause I’m not cool enough to be a cursed energy user.” You reach out and pinch Yuji's arm causing him to flinch back away from you and pout harder.

“Trust me, I’d kill to be at a normal school.” Nobara pipes in and lightly pushes your arm jokingly. You laugh her off and turn to notice Megumi is tense and lost in thought. You tug at his sleeve to regain his attention and motion to continue your walk. He laces your fingers together and pulls you closer to him.

On your way to the ramen house, you and Nobara stop in a few shops to look around and you pick up a few things here and there. The boys mostly stayed outside in the sun and talked amongst themselves. After ducking inside one of the stores you quietly warn Nobara not to tease the boys too much today. “Nightmares again?”

“Yeah, it’s the first one in a few months but it was a bad one, just keep that between us though.”

“Of course, it’s good that he’s getting better.”

“Yeah, I’m trying to help as much as I can, but I don’t know if it's actually effective. I know they’ll never fully go away but it just hurts to see him in pain like that, you know?” Nobara nods and links your arms together as you move through the little shop.

“It’ll keep getting better, don’t let the bad nights get you down.” You smile at your friend before paying for your items and heading back outside.

When you and Nobara rejoin the boys outside, you find them complaining about being hungry and decide to actually go get your lunch. You’re all seated at a booth, you and Nobara are sitting next to each other and since Yuji insisted that he wanted to sit next to the window, he is across from you, leaving Megumi to sit across from Nobara. You smile at him apologetically but he shrugs it off and texts you from under the table to say that it doesn’t bother him.

It felt good to laugh and catch up with your friends until an old classmate of theirs showed up halfway through your meal. Megumi's eyes widen at the figure that slides into the booth next to Nobara. “Zenin? What are you doing here?” You eye her suspiciously but say nothing and continue eating your food.

“I told you, call me Mai. You make me sound the same as Maki,” she pouted at your boyfriend. You roll your eyes and Nobara huffs next to you. Mai turns to glare and notices Yuji trying to engage you in a conversation again. “Well, this is cute. Did the half-cursed monster and the normie finally get together?” You whip your head to her to ask what she's talking about, but she's speaking again before you can open your mouth.

“I mean it would make sense, you did like her first. Why did you never say anything?”

The table goes deadly quiet. Megumi is staring at Mai in horror, Yuji is shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Mai smirks at the tension she created and you can’t help but look back and forth between the two boys.

“Did you feel bad and let poor little Fushiguro have her?” She shifts her attention back to the man in front of her and continues. “Must be scary knowing he could probably take her back with a snap of his fingers, not that she’d last very long. I’d give it a week until Sukuna kills her.” Megumi lowers his eyes to the table but stays silent.

“Food for thought kids, I gotta go.” She winks at you and Nobara before making her exit. You try to reach for Megumi's hand across the table but he pulls away from you quickly.

“Megumi, she’s wrong,” you tell him gently.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” He’s shaking his head and trying to brush you off. “I’m okay, it’s nothing.”

The air around the table is awkward for the rest of lunch, but you try to continue your small talk. Things take a turn for the worse when the waitress brings two separate checks. One for Nobara and Megumi, one for you and Yuji. Nobara flags her down to tell her that a mistake has been made with the check and can you split it differently. She apologizes and says she mistook your group for two couples. You all pay for your food, Megumi quickly snatching your individual check and paying for your lunch, before you start sliding out of the table.

When you get to the edge of the booth, Megumi is yanking you to your feet by your elbow. “I don’t feel good, I wanna go home.” He says shortly before turning to walk out of the restaurant. Yuji is avoiding eye contact and hanging his head in either shame or embarrassment. You can’t quite tell. You mumble a quick apology to Yuji and Nobara before following your boyfriend outside. He grabs your wrist tightly to lead you back to your apartment.

You’d seen him get mildly jealous, but never quite this bad. The walk was fast-paced, you were having a hard time keeping up with his tall frame. You were certain that the grip he had on your wrist was going to leave bruises. You tried to catch his attention a few times and pull your hand out of his. “‘Gumi please, you're hurting me.”

That sentence finally catches his attention, but only a little. He lets go of your arm and mutters a quiet “sorry” before shoving his hands into his pockets. The rest of your walk is doused in an uncomfortable silence before you finally get back to your apartment. Megumi pulls the keys to your front door out of his pocket before stepping aside to let you in first, you can almost feel his anger rolling off of him in waves. You slip off your shoes and place your purse and shopping bag on a countertop before you are roughly grabbed and pinned against the door.

Megumi squeezes your jaw firmly, his mouth crashing against yours brutally. You tug at his wrist with one hand, he loosens his grip, but never removes his hand from your face. His other hand is fixed on your waist as he continues using his body weight to keep you pressed against the door. Your brain feels fuzzy from his sudden attack and you struggle to get your head to catch up with your body. Out of pure instinct you tilt your face up towards his to deepen the kiss and just as you think you’ve gained some ground he’s pulling away.

A weak sound of protest comes from your throat and you open your eyes to see his own morphed into a dark midnight blue. You feel him tighten his grip on your face as he leans in just enough that you can feel his breath on your lips. Your focus is pulled away by his other hand slowly snaking its way from your waist into the waistband of your leggings. You feel your breath catch at the feeling of his fingertips making their way further down to your core. You hear him chuckle darkly.

“Look at you, I hadn’t even touched you and you’re already soaking. Could Yuji make you this wet from just kissing you?” You could barely hold yourself up, let alone form a word, all you could do was shake your head. Normally he would find that endearing, but he obviously wasn’t in the mood for silence tonight. He nipped your bottom lip almost painfully. “I need words pretty girl.”

“No, just you.” You were tugging at the front of his shirt, desperately trying to ground yourself.

He smirks dangerously and bit down on your bottom lip again, earning a sharp gasp from you. “I didn’t think so.”

You try to close the gap between your lips but he pulls back and shoves your face to the side so he has access to your throat. He latches on to the weak spot behind your ear and sucks like his life depends on it. He proceeds to cover your neck with dark bruising marks before pushing your sweater down your shoulder so he can continue to mark his territory.

“‘Gumi,” you try to reach him but he’s in his own headspace. You barely have time to brace yourself as he suddenly breaks himself away from you body and yanks you up over his shoulder. You land roughly, clinging to the back of his shirt to keep from falling, and it feels like the air has been knocked from your lungs.

He doesn't give you time to catch your breath before he’s striding into your bedroom and throwing you down onto the bed. Your body bounces at the impact and he’s climbing over you before your body can settle. He grabs your hands and pins them above your head and stares you straight in the eyes.

All that can be heard in the apartment was the whipping wind outside the window and the deep breaths emitting from both of your parted lips. You take advantage of the moment to fully take in his face. Your normally gentle and loving boyfriend was nowhere to be found. In his place was a man riddled with jealousy and intent on taking his frustration out on you.

The moment is broken when he drops one of his hands from your wrists to pull up at your sweater. You do your best in this position to arch your back up so he can pull it off. He momentarily lets go of your hands so he can fling your sweater onto the floor before his hands resume their post.

You close your eyes at the feeling of his lips kissing their way down your chest. He takes one of your nipples between his teeth and bites down lightly. Your body rises from the bed in an attempt to bring him closer to you. One of his hands comes down to shove your waist back down into the mattress and once he’s done assaulting one of your nipples he moves to the other. He leaves bruising marks everywhere his lips go and you feel as they make their way further down your waist. Everything feels heightened with your eyes squeezed closed.

“Megumi please,” you breathe out. He leans back up so his face is level with yours.

“Please what? Tell me what you want.” You feel the hand on your waist move down to your thigh. You can barely make an audible sound as he rubs his thumb roughly into the skin of your inner thigh. All you can manage is a weak whine and he scoffs at your feeble attempt at speaking. “Are you suddenly mute, use your fucking words.”

He smacks your thigh sharply trying to get you to focus on him and get out of your head. You let out a small whimper and he rubs his hand soothingly over your warm skin. “You can do it love, tell me what you want.”

How quickly he can switch between how sweet and how mean his words are has your head spinning. You blink a few times before your head clears. “I want to taste you.”

“That's my girl.” He practically purrs.

He releases the hand that was holding yours in place and moves backward to let you climb off the bed. The second you stand up he is tangling his fingers into your hair and shoving you to your knees in front of him. You don’t hesitate to reach up and quickly pull his jeans and boxers down to his knees. You run your hands up his thighs to grab his half-hard dick, giving it a few lazy strokes before taking the tip in your mouth. His hand tightens in your hair and he groans out in pleasure.

You slowly move your head and start taking him deeper into your mouth. Earning a string of small moans from him. “Fuck baby, you’re being such a good girl for me.”

The tip of his cock brushes the back of your throat causing you to gag and push at his thighs. He pulls you off of him to let you take a breath, admiring all the pretty bruises he left across your skin. It takes all his self-control to not cum right then as he works himself back into your mouth. “Just relax baby, I know you can take it.”

The sweet praise that was so familiar to your bedroom activities sends a rush of arousal through you and has you squeezing your thighs together to create the tiniest bit of friction. He continues pushing into your mouth until your nose is flush with his pelvis. Your whine of protest is muffled by him as he holds you against him, not letting you move your head back. Your eyes water at the sensation as you struggle to swallow around him.

“Awe, does my baby keep forgetting to breathe through her nose?” He pouts mockingly at you. You look up at him with tears rimming your eyes and he smirks again. “You just look so pretty like this princess.”

He moves the hand that was gripping your hair to run his thumb against your temple gently before drawing his hips back. You force yourself to relax as much as you can as he starts thrusting into your mouth. You ball your fists tightly, digging your nails into your palms to distract from the achy feeling in your jaw. You flush in embarrassment and the obscene amount of spit collecting at the corner of your lips as he keeps fucking into you like his own personal toy.

Tears are streaming down your face and he cums with a loud groan. You swallow and stick your tongue out to show him. He hummed contently and you leaned back against the bed. You lay your head back and try to catch your breath. Megumi strips the rest of his clothes off and tugs you to stand up.

“Did you think we were done, princess?” He crashes his mouth against yours again and nudges you back onto the bed. “I’m not done until my name is the only thing you can say for weeks.”

Megumi reaches down to thrust two fingers into you, causing you to cry out. His mouth latches onto your skin and starts leaving dark marks everywhere he can reach again. His hand is pumping into you at a brutal pace and you’re trying your best to bite back your moans. He looks up at your face and scoffs.

“No holding back those beautiful sounds baby.” He reaches his free hand up to squeeze the sides of your throat. “I want you to use that pretty mouth to tell me just how good I’m fucking you,” he growls. You nod frantically and he nips at your jaw. Your moans and whines grow increasingly louder and Megumi starts rutting his cock against your thigh for friction.

“Gumi, I’m close,”

“Hold it,” he growls. You look up at him in panic and he grinds the heel of his hand into your clit. “I want to see if you can be good and follow a simple order. If you don’t behave, I will leave you here with nothing.”

You press your face into his shoulder and let out a small whimper. Just when you thought his challenge was hard enough, he slips a third finger into you and purposely crooks them to hit your sweet spot over and over.

“Please baby, I’m sorry. I’ll be good, please just let me cum.” Tears threaten to spill again and he laughs darkly, but says nothing else as he keeps thrusting his fingers into you. He turned his face so his breath could tickle your ear.

“I think my princess just needed a reminder of who she fucking belongs to, isn’t that right?” You nodded frantically against his shoulder. “If you really wanted to get fucked like a whore this bad then you could have just asked me nicely princess.”

Both of your hands were gripping his biceps so hard you thought that you might leave bruises on him. Your climax was so close you could almost taste it, but Megumi's threat loomed in the back of your mind. Not wanting to anger him more you keep behaving and pushing back your orgasm to the point where it’s almost painful. Seeing you struggle to follow his orders underneath him ignited something feral inside your boyfriend, as if he wasn’t dancing on the edge of it already.

“Okay princess, you can cum now.” Your climax ripped through you violently, and you couldn’t help the broken cries it pulled from your mouth.

Before you could ride out your high he is flipping you onto your stomach and yanking your hips up. You scramble to push yourself up onto your hands before he is shoving your face into the blankets.

“No baby, I want you bent over nice and pretty for me. This way I can fuck you exactly how I like.” He pushes himself all the way into you with one fluid motion and sets a hard and fast pace. You are gasping out for him and reaching back to squeeze his wrist. Overstimulation is wracking through your body and you can see black dotting your vision.

You whimper as you feel your next orgasm approaching quickly, and Megumi can sense it too. “Are you gonna be a good girl and cum again?” You nodded your head, and he slapped your thigh, eliciting a cry from you. “I asked you a question, and I want you to use your words like a big girl.”

“I’m close, please let me come again baby.” He smiles and angles his hips to start hitting your sweet spot till you’re seeing stars. Your second climax is less intense than the first, but it still has you feeling completely exhausted. Your head is hazy and you can feel your legs beginning to tremble underneath you. If not for Megumi's firm grip on your hips, you’re sure they would have given out by now.

He reaches around and pulls you up so one hand is wrapped around your throat and the other is wrapped around your waist. His hips never falter their rough pace and your back is pressed to his chest. You can hear and feel him panting in your ear with every one of his movements. Your head is too hazy to focus on anything except him and you let your head loll back onto his shoulder. He turns his head to look at you and smirks. “Look at that, my poor baby got fucked out too hard. I know you have one more in you princess.”

You whine at the promise of another orgasm while he once again latches his mouth on to your neck and shoulders. He lets the fingers on your waist trail down to where you are connected and circles your clit several times. You jolt at the stimulation and weakly try to push his hand away. He smirks and decides to take his taunting a step further. “I wonder what sweet Yuji would think if he saw you like this? Fucked dumb on my cock.”

You barely process his words, but you don’t have the energy to respond. He nips at your jaw as he pushes you closer to the edge. You can tell he’s close with how his pace begins to stutter. With a particularly hard thrust and a pinch of your clit you are coming undone for the final time that night. He cums right after you and gently lays you back down on the bed.

You’re sniffling from overstimulation and pushing his hips away from yours until he pulls out of you completely. You’re finally able to find your words as you curl further into the blankets. “Please baby no more, it hurts.”

You can’t see the guilt that washes over his face as he leans forward to kiss your temple lovingly. “It’s okay pretty girl, you did so well for me.”

He leaves you in bed to move to the bathroom and you think you can vaguely hear water running. After a few minutes he comes back and scoops you into his arms and carries you to the bathroom. He slowly eases you into the warm water of the bathtub before he's running back out.

You lean your head against the wall and let tears continue to stream down your face. A small portion of it is from the dull throb coming from your lower body, but mostly it’s from sadness clawing at your heart. You hate pushing him on his emotions and prying at things he doesn’t want to talk about, however something seemed to really push him over the edge tonight.

He quietly comes back into the bathroom and sets the book you're currently reading on the bench next to the tub, along with a hot tea in one of your favorite mugs. He had pulled on a pair of sweatpants, and was turning to leave again. You reach out and gently wrap your fingers around his wrist. “I know that I’ve asked you to share so much in the last 24 hours, but can we please talk about what happened tonight?”

A look of confusion crosses his face and you sink further into the water. “I just want us to be okay, and I can’t shake the feeling that you’re mad at me.” Your voice begins to falter and he curses at himself. He pulls his sweatpants off and slides into the water behind you and rubs your shoulders.

“I’m not mad at you baby, Mai just hit a deep seated insecurity, and the thing with the waitress just kinda pushed me past my limit. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you like that, I’m sorry.”

You turn to lean your head on his shoulder and let your fingertips trace the water droplets that gathered on his chest. “Why would you listen to anything Mai says? She loves to piss you and Maki off.”

He tucks his chin on top of your head and hugs your shoulders. “Because she wasn’t wrong about Yuji. He liked you first, I always felt like a charity case. And every time you guys hang out, it nags at me at how much better of a boyfriend he would be for you.”

You roll your eyes and flick his nose. “I knew that he liked me, he isn’t exactly the king of subtlety. But you need to remember, Yuji is your best friend, he’d never hurt you like that.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

You shift to cup his face in your hands. “If I liked Yuji, I wouldn’t have dated you. You’re the one I wanted to be with, not him. I love you.”

He leans his face into your hand and lets you pull him in for a kiss. “I love you too princess.”

[pinkprimrose05]

Warning: Long Post, contains spoilers.

As promised, ladies and gentlemen, here's your lorewise with a dash of gameplay analysis of the newest wave of cards from Age of Overlord!

(Oh, you thought I was only covering ARC-Ray? Haha, nope! I don't call myself the resident Supreme King enthusiast for nothing, you know).

All credits go to YGOrganization for the card images and translated names... and with that out of the way, let's head straight in!

___________

1) Haoumon no Majutsushi / Supreme King Gate Magician

As the artwork and name suggest, this is a retrain of Astrograph Sorcerer that now falls under the Supreme King series and acts as the lynchpin of the Deck; where upon its summon, it searches for any card -except a Spellcaster like itself, the OG Astrograph, and Chronograph Sorcerer- that mentions Supreme King Z-ARC in its text. A pretty neat piece of support that has nice synergy with older cards like Darkwurm, but is ultimately lacking in references compared to the others.

___________

2) Haoukenryuu Lightwurm / Supreme King Dragon Lightwurm

Poor thing got Mike Wazowski'd by the YGO trademark lmaooo

Now this guy actually has something to dig around for- several things, in fact. Aside from the obvious reversed stats of Darkwurm, its monster effect is a very funny anime reference, because lo and behold, it actually enables the loop of two Darkwurms into any Supreme King Dragon!

... well, almost. Upon summon, this card allows for an immediate Synchro/Xyz summon of an SKD, which can later tag out into a Lightwurm and Darkwurm, for a repeat of its effect to renew the loop. This also has the niche use of becoming a quick Raigeki effect if you're able to make Clear Wing with its effect, which- huh. Noice.

___________

3) Pendulum Evolution

Hmmm... this looks kinda familiar, don't you think?

Yeah. Exactly.

Gorgeous artwork aside, the card's second effect is a nice nod to another continuous spell under the same archetype, namely Soul Pendulum (or Pendulum of Souls in the OCG). The effect in question lets you perform an extra Pendulum summon in the same turn you summoned a Pendulum from the face-down Extra Deck (which, in the scope of this Deck, would be either Z-ARC or ARC-Ray), which, while not as amazing as it sounds, is still immensely satisfying to pull off. Trust me. I've collected enough counters on Soul Pendulum to recognize the dopamine rush of making the pendulum swing twice in the same turn, and this card even has the added benefit of a recycle/search effect, and a minor boost to your final board's offensive power in the form of more possible attacks to push for game.

___________

4) Kouyoku no Ryuu / The Light-Winged Dragon

I spy with my eye one, two- no, three references in the artwork. You have the four orbs following the dimension dragons' designated colors, the background bearing resemblance to the ARC-V reactor, and most subtle of them all, the shape of a four-petal flower made by the terminal. Neat. Very, very neat. The effect itself is a general search like that of Gate Magician/Darkwurm/Lightwurm, so nothing of note there aside from Lightwurm synergy- but man, I love how simple yet layered this card's art is.

___________

5) Haouryuu no Kiseki / Miracle of the Supreme King

BOY, this card goes just as hard the one right above. For starters, it depicts the purification of Darkwurm and Z-ARC, in a way very similar to the En cards' effect in the anime- but that's not the kicker, no. The kicker is the Duel Disk...

... whose blade happens to be of the same color as Yuuya's, and also fairly close to the signature neon gradient of the Supreme King series. Note that it's also called the Miracle of the Supreme King, paralleling the Miracle of Light in Pendulum summoning...

Excuse me as I go and process this in a corner, because I think I'm experiencing what could be called a reference overload.

___________

6) Haoutenryuu no Tamashii / Soul of the Supreme Celestial King

Nevermind, I'm fine.

Yet another parallel to a similar trap in the same series; this time being Soul of the Supreme King. This card, however, is far closer to anime Astrograph's effect than it is to SoSK; you tribute a Spellcaster with 2500 ATK (like Astrograph itself, or Gate Magician, or Xiangke Magician- hell, even Dark Magician works somehow) to Fusion summon a Z-ARC by banishing materials from... literally anywhere. Hand? Check. Field? Check. GY? Check. Deck? Check. Extra Deck? Check!

Crazy stuff, honestly. It's really funny that we've reached a stage where a card like this can be released at 3 and still not see any competitive play- but ignoring that, it's still a solid starter if it goes off, and the art is straight up awesome. I adore the full arc of light Gate Magician is drawing over there; the position looks identical to Yuuya's pendulum summon, too, which is fitting because he's the one introducing us to....

___________

7) Haoutenryuu Odd-Eyes Arc-Ray Dragon / Supreme Celestial King Odd-Eyes Arc-Ray Dragon

... One, two, three, four, five- Good Lord, the card is fucking stacked. Where do I even begin with this??

1) The artwork features distinct references to the four dimension dragons' designs. The Pendulum scale-looking gems with the same combo of red & green as Odd-Eyes' heterochromia (and I think the horns also have those colors), Dark Rebellion's red circles over a black background, Clear Wing's pristine white/teal mix for the wings, and Starving Venom's red orbs.

2) The card's title of Supreme Celestial King (alternatively translated as Heavenly Supreme King) is a direct callback to the theme of the four dimension dragons- or the four heavenly dragons, as Zarc himself calls them. And as it so happens, it also shares this with his magician version's name, Performapal Celestial Magician (again, alternatively translated as Heavenly Magician).

3) ARC-Ray's Pendulum effect allows it to special summon itself from the Pendulum zone for basically nothing, which is both a nod to anime Z-ARC's Pendulum effect, and lowkey crazy because it gives you a 4000 ATK/DEF beatstick and extends combos by clearing up the other scale (and potentially summoning something else beside it from your Extra Deck- yes, you're mainly supposed to use this with Z-ARC for a board wipe and double big dragons. No, I didn't just realize this right now after making a comparison between the two).

4) The pronunciation of its name is actually a sort of weird pun; so when you say the name, the S from Odd-Eyes (pronounced as a Z because vowels and all) connects to ARC-Ray, and you know what that reads now?

Zarc-Ray.

I would like to applaud whoever it is in Konami that decided to push the ship through the power of vocal portmanteaus, because holy shit, that guy is one hell of a brilliant bastard.

5) The card's first monster effect treats it as Supreme King Z-ARC under all conditions, which makes it an Odd-Eyes card in name only. I think this is very fitting with the narrative pushed in the last few episodes of ARC-V; where Yuuya comes to realize that, while he carries his predecessor's power and will, he and Zarc are not quite one and the same.

They are both their own person, with unique ideals and methods of achieving said ideals, and while those tend to overlap a lot by virtue of their very similar personality, there's still a lot that sets the two apart and makes them who they are. And it is only when he accepts that fact and applies it to his actions that Yuuya manages to reach his true potential, as an entertainer, a Duelist, and most important of all- a person.

Very fitting, indeed.

___________

Phew, that was... a few hundred words longer than I expected. My hand definitely slipped a little over halfway through, which I will shamelessly blame on the amount of thought put into the cards and what they reference.

Once again, ARC-V strikes with a staggering amount of deliberation and detail put into the smallest of things, and once again, I am left with so, so many thoughts about it. Suffice to say that I'm not just impressed; I'm positively floored (in a good way, of course).

Congrats Konami, you did right by the show this time around. Now please keep this up whenever you decide to remember that Melodious is an archetype that exists.

Breaking my hiatus to scream and yell a little because hoLY FUCK IS THAT ZARC ON THE MAIN SET COVER???!!

This feels surreal, but it's very much real.

It's happening.

They did it.

My prayers have been answered.

Oh my God I think I need to sit down for a moment.

[hoedorokishoto]

Trust - Part 3

Shoto Todoroki x Reader 

+ Minors DNI 

previous | part | next

"So what, they were just arguing outside the dorm?" Toshi asked, stretched out on the couch in my workshop, manspreading as he rubbed the back of his neck. One of his long legs not quite fitting on the small red couch, hanging over edge.

"Yeah...I mean, I don't think it was too serious but there was definitely yelling." I stated, flicking my protective goggles down over my eyes and welding new panels on some of Bakugo's equipment, keeping the lines clean and crisp. Not wanting to feel or hear the wrath of Katsuki Bakugo if something was out of place.

"And you were in the bushes?" He asked, quirking his eyebrow, laughing at me as he laid down further on the couch.

"Not in a creepy way! In a what the fuck, dodge and evade kinda way." I said, my voice becoming higher as I defended myself. I had to admit, the situation last night would have sounded suspicious if I had told anyone else. A half-black 18-year-old, hiding in the bushes listening to a conversation between two rich popular people in the middle of the night. Yeah very sus indeed. But I knew that my story was safe with Hitoshi, hoping that he might even have some insider 3A knowledge.

"Well, nothing too exciting happened after they left. Yaomomo walked in head held high, made some tea and went to bed." He said, yawning and placing his arm over his eyes. He didn't mention Todoroki. Did he not go back inside? Where did he find himself last night? I didn't dwell any longer in the bushes to find out, almost regretting that decision now.

"So no gossip? I'm disappointed." I said shrugging, faking disappointment. He laughed behind me, his arm still shielding his eyes as he shifted and got comfortable, preparing to nap as I worked into the late afternoon no doubt. Mr Aizawa having to cancel their private training for 'Pro Hero Reasons'.

I never cared much for the drama of UA students, hero course or otherwise, but recently a two-toned boy had piqued my interest. The situation last night not helping me want to mind my own business. Usually everyone was too busy or too tired for drama, a fact that I had come to love since being at UA. Gone were the days of schoolyard bullying and the gossip about who was hooking up with who.

"What's going on in that brilliant brain of yours?" Hitoshi asked, his arm still over his eyes, not once had he even looked up.

"I can feel the neurons firing in your brain from here." He said before I could answer. It was times likes these that I hated he knew me so well.

What was going on in my brain? It felt like for the first time in 18 years I didn't know exactly what I wanted or how I would go about getting it. Shoto Todoroki's name had really thrown a spanner in the works from the moment it was listed next to mine.

"He is quite interesting... that's all I'll say about it." I said in Hitoshi's direction, looking back down, welding the remaining panels together.

"What? You have a thing for Todoroki now? Well get in line behind the rest of the school." He said laughing.

"I don't have a thing! I just find him interesting. Is that a crime?"

I put my equipment away and stood back admiring the finished product, hand on my hip and once again covered in grease. The thick black layer of grime almost a permanent feature of my skin since 1st year. Most of my clothes stained and musty. Smelling like the workshop and a truck had a baby.

"Speaking of interesting... Shishida said he knew you were there last night. I saw him talking to Kaibara about it this morning before class, looking all flustered." Toshi said, finally getting up and coming to stand beside me with one hand in his pocket and the other atop my head.

"I forget that his quirk lets him hear and smell everything. It's a little unsettling." I stated, a shiver going up my spine. I did forget about Shishida and his beast quirk, how he probably heard the whole thing and everything that was said and done last night in Sen's dorm room. Since mine and Hitoshi's most recent conversation about Sen, I have been feeling worse. Wishing that I could like him more or at least have the decency to cut him off. As much as I hated the thought of a relationship the thought of being alone forever with no one sounded even worse, as selfish as it sounded. I was using Sen to feel something, something that I knew would never grow and we would never be more than this.

"Am I a terrible person?" I asked, out of the blue. Shocking even Hitoshi as his eyes went wide.

"Of course not, why would you ask that?"

"I can feel it, I feel how much he likes me and wants me to stay but I just can't. I worry that I won't ever like anyone like that." I said sadly, dropping my head and removing the helmet, rubbing my cheek with the back of my hand.

"Hey! Boys and girls may come and go but you and me are forever. Don't ever forget that. I've seen your heart and I know how big it is and I know exactly who you are." He said, putting his long finger under my chin and lifting my head, a small smile on his handsome face.

"I don't know what will happen in the future. But regardless I'll always be on your side."

                                                              *

The next few days continued on like any other, morning classes then UA class followed by after school and extra curricular activities. The last bell of the day rang out, dismissing students and teachers who were eager to get back to the dorms to start enjoying their one day weekend. Sunday being the only day off for all students.

"So... What are you wearing? I'm thinking that red dress where your boobs look absolutely amazing." Mei said as she linked our arms as we left out respective workshops and matched step as we left the main UA building.

"Hmm maybe, I mean they are one of my best assets." I agreed, replying to Hitoshi's text message about what time we should head over.

"I'm excited. Iida has been freaking out all week trying to mentally prepare for tonight, I can already picture him running around offering people water or something lame like that." She giggled, her face lighting up as she talked about Iida.

Mei and Tenya weren't official but to all of us they might as well have been. They even spent last Christmas together, sharing their first kiss in the snow. I think Iida was hesitant after what happened to his brother, not wanting anything terrible to happen to the people he loved most because of his career path. A noble man through and through.

Ding.

Sen- Hey, are you coming to the party tonight?

I hadn't seen Sen since the last time we had sex and I left without an explanation, saying that I would text him. Which I had not done.

I had been thinking about everything recently, liking Sen enough to not want to hurt him but not liking him enough to want to be his girlfriend. We were both already in too deep, whatever I said now even if it was letting him down easy was going to be harsh. That's what happens when you are a selfish piece of shit who just wants to get dicked down. I sighed heavily and looked down, rubbing my temples. Over having to think about this whole situation, and just wanting to crawl into bed and never come out.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what is this? I don't like it." Mei said, waving her hand up and down, gesturing to my whole body.

"Why aren't you excited! We always get excited for parties." She stated, linking our arms once more and walking us down the halls.

"I'm excited. Who said I wasn't excited."

"Oh just your face, your body language and your whole aura."

She was probably right, the introvert in me wanted nothing more than to stay home and avoid any and all confrontation about the situation that I had caused. I didn't answer her as we continued to walk, making our way to the huge doors and pushing them open. Coming face to face with Sen, Shishida and Tetsu Tetsu. All of them turning and looking directly at us as we walked out.

"Hey guys! Wanna walk together?" Tetsu asked, his usual cheerful self on full display. His sunshine personality and aloofness clearly missing the weird tension between me and Sen.

"Um..." Sen started, blushing slightly and looking in my direction, his eyes looking sad as they took me in.

"We would love to! 3 future pro heroes as our personal chaperons? How did we get so lucky?" Mei answers, her voice getting higher as she looked between me and Sen, picking up whatever energy we were giving off.

We went the long way, the plan was to drop us off at our dorm then the 3 boys continue onto theirs. The conversation flowed naturally as we all talked about the party tonight and offers which we had gotten for work studies and internships.

"Hatsume I really loved the gear you made me! You guys are so cool, I wish I was half as smart as you. Mr Vlad might actually pass me then." Testu Testsu confessed, smiling and showing off his sharp teeth to us. The rest of the group continued to make small talk as we walked, me and Sen lagging behind the group, not walking together but close enough that I could hear his breathing. Fast and almost panicked, cleary working himself up.

"Y/N. Can I talk to you for a sec?" Sen asked quietly behind me so only I could hear. I stilled, scared that if I turned around, my heart and head would be even more confused. As if that was possible.

"You guys can go on without us." I said to the others, smiling at them as they waved us off.

"I'm s."

"I just."

We both said at the same time, both of us stepping forward towards each other. A blush making it's way up Sen's cheeks. He was incredibly cute. The type of cute that if you bought him home your parents would approve. The type of cute that was safe.

"You know that I like you, I don't try to hide it Y/N" He stated confidently, his darks eyes staring into mine.

"I love being with you, not just physically. I want to be someone you can rely on. Be there for you whenever you need. Why won't you give me a chance?" He said louder this time. My heart hammering in my chest. Not at his sudden confess but because I was scared of my answer, scared of being labeled the bad guy and rightfully so.

"Please, come with me to the party as my date and just give me a chance. There has to be something there or else we wouldn't have made it this far."

That's where he was wrong. People could sleep with people and not want to date them. People could promise each other the world and leave them the very next day. I knew that I could have sex with Sen a million times and even then, it would only be sex. He would only ever be cute, and if things ever went any further he would only break my heart or me his.

Despite this, as I looked at his eyes and his tall frame looming over me I answered with the complete contradiction.

"Yes, meet me outside my dorm at 7?"  

[tl-notes]

Kobayashi’s Maid Dragon S2 Episode 11 Notes

This is ラジオ体操 radio taisou, lit. radio exercise(s). Basically it’s a short series of light stretches intended for general health. It used to be broadcast over the radio (and I guess still is), but is also on TV and internet these days too.

It’s generally popular as a morning thing to kind of get the blood flowing—some companies (apparently around 1/3rd) even have a few minutes in the morning set aside to have everyone do it. Some neighborhoods will hold outdoor public gatherings during summer break, as a morning routine thing for children while school is out. It’s also a kinda stereotypical old-person thing to do.

There are two “sets,” known as radio taisou dai ichi, and radio taisou dai ni (basically “the first” and “the second”), and each has a standing version and sit-down version for improved accessibility.

“Pound (shoulders)” here is 肩たたき kata-tataki, a type of shoulder massage that involves lightly bopping the recipient’s shoulders with the bottom of your fists. It’s a stereotypical thing for kids to do for parents/grandparents (remember the shoulder massage tickets Kanna gave Kobayashi for Father’s Day in ep 8? same thing).

I honestly have no idea how effective it is.

小林さんは安く済ませようとして、色々物を買ってしまうタイプなんでしょうか？

For clarity here, the idea is less that Kobayashi tries to buy lots of stuff for cheap, but that she wants to solve whatever problem on the cheap, and ends up wasting a bunch of money on several cheapo purchases that don’t really help.

Another angle on it might be like:

“Could she be the type who tries fixing a problem cheaply, but ends up paying more for less?”

Just a bit of trivia, but in the manga Elma answers this question about computer chairs by saying “Yes, a good one costs as much as 1,000 cream buns.” 

That’s our Elma.

Takiya’s word for “logic” here is 理屈 rikutsu. Rikutsu does mean “logic,” but it has another use too: referring to something that relies excessively on “theory” vs. practical application/real experience, or a kind of “forced” logic. 

Basically here he’s saying this out of modesty, not like “the solution was only logical.” 

This “concerning” is 危うい ayaui, an adjective describing something that’s in a perilous situation, kind of like something you’d say “balanced on a razor’s edge” of. It’s typically for less immediately physical types of danger (which would use 危ない abunai instead).

In this case, while it’s true such situations are typically “concerning,” he’s not saying this because he’s concerned per se; he’s saying that situations like Tohru’s, where emotions run high (e.g. romantic relationships), are often fragile because of that strength of emotion.

For “a little hard,” Tohru says グサッと gusa-tto. (“Sharp” was 鋭い surudoi, which is basically one-for-one.)

Gusa-tto is one of those sound effect words mentioned in previous notes, used to describe a heavy stab or pierce (literally or figuratively). (If you’ve seen that anime/manga visual gag where someone says something and the words/speech bubble “stab” the other person, that’s a more light-hearted use of this.)

I mostly bring it up here because the “he’s sharp”→”what he said cut deep” was a good pairing of evocative phrasing that we didn’t really get in the English.

この程度でいいですか？　kono teido de ii desu ka? この程度でいいよ。　　　kono teido de ii yo.

Kobayashi’s answer here is repetition of the question, but changing the “question” marker for a declarative one. Like “Is this enough?” “This is enough.”

I bring it up here for two reasons. One is just because I mentioned the whole repetition thing in a previous episode’s notes, so as an example to help drive that home.

The other is that I have a bit of an issue with the choice of the word “perfect.” Kobayashi is generally a lowkey person (with some exceptions), prone more to understatement than overstatement, so a relatively strong word like perfect is a little out of character for this scene, I would say—especially given the Japanese.

The use of the particle で de in these two lines is also worth noting. In this context (where you’re talking about whether something is what you want), de ii and ga ii have two distinct meanings. With de, it’s “good enough.” With ga, it’s not just enough, it’s actively what you want. If you’ve seen romance shows where one person has low self-esteem, you’ve likely heard a question like “boku de ii?” answered with ”kimi ga ii.”

If there’d been some sort of twist to the phrasing like that, “perfect” might have been a good choice, but as it is I’d have probably stuck with something like “Yeah, this is plenty.” (if maintaining that sentence structure anyway)

そういうもんですか？ そういうもんだよ。 分かりました。そうします。

Just one quick note for clarity on this exchange; the “that/this” they’re talking about is the “what Kobayashi wants” topic, not specifically this tail-chair thing or how fast the tail-vibrations are etc. You likely got that anyway, but I figured I’d mention just in case, since the Japanese wording felt more obvious about it.

Notably here Daddy Tohru says 知り合い shiriai, which is very explicitly a level or two removed from “friend.” (it’s often translated as “acquaintance”)

They might actually be friends and he just phrases it that way because tsundere, but either way I don’t know if I’d use “friends” here.

If you’ll recall from the Elma episode, “clairvoyance” there was 千里眼 senrigan. This is actually not that, but instead 未来視 mirai-shi, which is more or less literally “future sight.” It probably won’t really come up again(?), but just as a world-building thing I guess, know that this guy and Elma don’t actually have exactly the same power (at least in this instance).

The word for “lost control” here is 暴走した bousou shita, which does basically mean that.

I would, however, like to point out that he’s not necessarily saying Tohru lost control of herself. Bousou means that [whatever] is running wild, but that ranges from a runaway train, to someone going berserk, to someone acting rashly without consulting others.

My point in bringing it up is that “lost control” sounds like Tohru had little/no agency in the decision to storm the enemy’s home ground, which is not really the case and not necessarily implied in the Japanese.

When Kobayashi responds here, she says she, Kobayashi, will be the one getting looked after by Tohru, not the other way around. She flips it 180 degrees from how Dad here says it.

(Since, y’know, Tohru’s the maid and everything.)

Example alt text:

“Make sure you take good care of Tohru until your lifespan runs out.”

“Yessir, I’ll have her take good care of me.”

It’s supposed to give this very heavy and serious scene a bit of levity to end on.

(For the Japanese students: she says [面倒を]見てもらいます, meaning that Kobayashi is having Tohru do the “looking [after].” If she was the one doing the looking after, it would be something like 見させてもらいます instead.

When you stick もらう or いただく after a verb, it’s you having someone else do that verb, not you doing it, so to make it work for “you” being the verb-doer, you have to flip the verb to a passive form. It’s kind of like the difference between “please [verb]” and “please allow me to [verb]”.)

どうしてトールがうちに来てくれる気になったのか

Two small things about this line. First: the “came here” is うちにきてくれる uchi ni kite kureru. The two words I want to mention are uchi, which is like “my/our place” (like “wanna come to my place?”), and kureru, which is used as a helping verb to denote that a verb was done for someone else.

So basically the Japanese adds two extra layers of… emotion(?) to the “came here.” That is, “here” is specified as Kobayashi’s home (vs “here” being more vague and could just mean “this world”), and the “came” is conjugated in a way that expresses Kobayashi sees Tohru’s .

The second, more minor, is that it seems like the English took the 気になった ki ni natta and changed it from talking about Tohru to talking about Kobayashi.

Ki ni naru can mean to take an interest in something (“I’m curious”), or when attached to a verb, can mean “got the will/motivation to do [verb].” In this sentence, it’s attached to the verb phrase uchi ni kite kureru, so meaning more like “why you chose to come here.”

(That said you could easily leave the “curious to hear” part there in the English too though, since that still makes sense for her asking a question like this.)

(Basically the English reads like a translation of どうしてトールがここに来たのか気になった instead of the line in question.)

So like as an example alt:

“I’m curious what moved you to come live with me.”

Which still doesn’t fully grasp that kureru, since that’s a hard thing to just “slip in” in English, but does hit a few other relevant notes and should still be okay length-wise (cursed subtitle restrictions!).

The phrase for “[move] to the big city” here is 上京 joukyou. It combines the characters for “up” and “capital” (of a state/country) and is used as a verb for moving to the capital—these days, specifically Tokyo.

(It used to mean moving to Kyoto, and I’m told it annoys some old-school Kyoto-ites if you use it to say moving from Kyoto to Tokyo, lol.)

[dirtykpopsnaps]

And His Name is Kim Namjoon — Kim Namjoon (soulmate au)

Warnings: none

Contains: Cute soulmates!Namjoon and Y/N meeting for the first time

Requested: no

Words: 6, 906 (a little less than Tae’s but, still...wow...😳😅)

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I open the door to my small apartment and step inside, sighing to myself. “Finally home,” I mutter. Today was a long day at work and it was very tiresome. All I want to do is sit down and relax for a little bit. Destress from work and not think about anything relating to teaching until Monday. I set my bag down near the door and promise to myself that I’ll unpack it after my shower.

Dragging my feet slightly from exhaustion, I make my way through the small apartment and into my bedroom. The door to the attached bathroom is open and I head right inside, turning on the light. Calmly, I strip off my clothes and set them on the floor. However, before I strip off my bra and underwear, I look in the mirror. I chuckle lightly, looking at my body in the mirror. “Well...he’s done it again,” I chuckle. My whole body is littered with small cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Those are normal and they just randomly appear on my body. On my hand, a new minor burn has appeared just at the edge of my hand.

See, I’m used to all of the cuts and bruises at this point. It’s my soulmate attachment, an injury attachment. I’ve always been pretty careful and rarely get cuts and bruises of my own. My soulmate, on the other hand, seems to be a complete klutz. It seems like I’m getting a new cut or bruise every other day. Although I don’t feel the pain that comes with them, I can almost always tell when something has happened to him. There’s a soft tingling on that specific part of my body and then...there it is. Like magic, the new injury appears. At this point, I’m surprised most people don’t think I beat myself up.

Shaking my head at his apparent clumsiness, I strip off my last bit of clothing and head into the warm escape of the shower. The hot water soothes the aches of my body that I get from running after elementary schoolers every day. I run the soap over the cuts and bruises on my body, knowing that the soap won’t sting. Although I don’t feel the sting, soulmate might and I mentally remind myself to apologize to them when I finally do meet them.

When I finish my shower, I dry myself off with a fluffy towel and change into some soft pajamas. Before I leave the bedroom, I head back into the bathroom. Without thinking much about it, I walk to the sink and turn on the cold water. I give it a few seconds to get cold enough then run the water over the new burn on my hand. Although I can’t feel the effects of the burn, I know that my soulmate does and this will be helpful. When I’m done running the cold water over the burn, I open my medicine cabinet and pull the big tub of aloe vera gel off the top shelf. I apply a thin layer of the aloe over the burn and close the tub again, putting it away.

To be honest, this is something that I’ve gotten into the habit of doing. I’m not sure if he can feel me taking care of the injuries or not, but I hope he does. I really hope that I’m able to help him a little bit until I finally meet him. Then, I’ll be able to take care of his little injuries myself. After I put away the aloe, I turn off the light in the bathroom and walk back out into my open living room/kitchen. I walk into the kitchen and begin looking through my cabinets, thinking through ingredients that I could use for dinner tonight. Finally, I just decide to have pasta for dinner and grab a large pot out of one of the drawer. I fill the pot with water and set it on the stove to boil.

While I wait for the water to boil, I walk into my living room and turn on the tv, sitting down on the couch. I find a random show and just decide to sit down to watch it. The show doesn’t really hold my attention, so I allow my mind to wander about to different topics. I think a little bit about lesson plans, but remind myself that it’s the weekend and I already have plans worked out for next week. Besides, I can just look over them tomorrow for what I could add. I think of my plans with my best friend tomorrow and how we’re going to have a small sit down lunch at the local café. While it’s on my mind, I send her a quick message just to make sure that the plans haven’t changed. I think about the book that I’ve been reading through recently, thinking through the plot and little things that have happened in it. Then, as it always does, my mind lands on my soulmate.

When he comes to my mind, I subconsciously run my hand over the small injuries that litter my body. I know he doesn’t do it on purpose, but I find it kinda silly. For me, it’s almost become a game. Whenever I feel that familiar tingling on a specific place on my skin, I guess what injury it will be this time. They’re almost never big injuries, so I’m never really worried, just small ones. A little cut on my arm, maybe from accidentally walking passed something that was a little too sharp. A bruise on my hip that might’ve come from running into the corner of a wall without noticing. A small bump on my head that could come from walking into something without ducking. Little injuries like that and I smile to myself and imagine how he could have gotten them.

Right now, my mind settles on the new burn on the side of my hand. Obviously, he touched something that was a little too hot, but what could it be? Did he not realize how hot the water was? Did he accidentally reach a little too close to a candle? Did he accidentally place his hand on top of a hot stove? I shake my head to clear the thoughts and just touch the burn softly. It’s not too bad, just a surface burn. It’ll mostly likely be better within a week or two. It doesn’t stop me from thinking about my soulmate, though. It just makes me want to know more about him. Tell him to be just a little more careful.

Shaking my head, I stand up and walk into the kitchen again. The water in the pot is boiling, so I get out the spaghetti and break it in half, pouring it into the pot. Just to be careful, I make sure to keep the small burn away from anything that could possibly make it any worse. I don’t want to accidentally make this harder on him. I set the timer for the spaghetti and turn down the temperature on the stove. Calmly, I sit down in a chair at the table and turn it so that I can see the tv from the kitchen.

Over on the couch, I hear my phone vibrate, so I get up and grab it off the couch. The notification is from my best friend, Gia, about our little lunch tomorrow.

From Gia✨: Absolutely we’re still up for lunch tomorrow! I already told John and he’s made some plans with friends, too.

I smile softly at the mention of Gia’s soulmate, John. They’re basically attached at the hip and do almost everything together. They’ve been together since the end of our sophomore year of high school and I’ve seen them go through just about everything. It’s really sweet to see how much they care for each other.

Gia and I have been friends since elementary school. In middle school, I was incredibly jealous of her soulmate attachment, since her’s was easier to understand than mine. Gia’s attachment was a timer that ticked down to the moment that she would meet her soulmate. Up until middle school, I didn’t even know what my attachment was. That is, until I started realizing that I was getting a lot more cuts and bruises than I had given myself. Gia and I talked about what that could mean and she’s the one who suggested the idea that if might’ve been my attachment. Her older brother had the same attachment and she said how frustrating it was for him to think that he didn’t have a soulmate until he realized just like I did. But, I was incredibly jealous of how easy her attachment was to understand. I remember how excited she was when her timer started getting closer and closer to the date. She was really nervous and fidgety and then, it just...happened. Her and John accidentally bumped into each other in the school hallway and even I could tell that they were soulmates.

Ever since that moment, I’ve seen them go through everything. She tells me everything that happens between them. Last year, when he proposed after dating for almost 9 years, I was the first to hear. Gia texted me immediately and sent me a picture of the ring. That night, I spent the night at their shared apartment and we talked excitedly about everything. John couldn’t stop laughing at us and telling us that we sounded like middle schoolers again. Those comments didn’t stop Gia and I, though. That night, Gia and I started planning bits of their wedding. John thought we were crazy, but he let us do it, anyway, and he even added some small comments here and there.

Now, their wedding is only a few months away and Gia is getting more and more excited as the months pass. Suddenly, my attention is ripped to the present again as the timer starts blaring in my apartment. I stand up and get the strainer and a hot plate before pulling the pot off the stove. I drain the water and set the pot on the hot plate. Feeling too tired to make the effort for marinara sauce, I just grab the butter out of the fridge and start adding butter to the steaming pot of pasta. I stir the pasta to make sure that the butter is melted and then I make a plate for myself and sit down. The tv is still playing in the other room, so I sit down on the same seat and allow myself to try and follow the show that’s playing. It’s still not very interesting, but it’s able to keep my attention for long enough to get me through dinner.

When I’m finished with my plate, I get up from the table and make my way through cleaning the pot and plates that I used for dinner. As I wash the supplies, I feel a soft tingling on my upper arm, close to my shoulder. I laugh lightly, shaking my head at him and his clumsiness. Leaving the pot in the sink, I turn off the water and walk into the bathroom, pulling up my shirt sleeve. Just at the top of my arm, a small bruise is already starting to show itself. I giggle lightly, covering my mouth. “Who bruises themself right after burning themself? How clumsy *is* my soulmate?” I giggle, shaking my head. I honestly can’t wait to meet them, just so I can ask how they even *get* all of these injuries.

Finally, I leave the bathroom again and walk back into the kitchen, finishing up the cleaning of the dishes. Once I’m done, I grab a cold water bottle from the fridge and sit down on the couch. Absentmindedly, I let the water bottle warm up a little bit, then lean it against the burn on my hand. The cool water chills my hand a little, but it isn’t cold enough to hurt the burn at all. I let myself calm down from the day and watch the tv, taking swigs from the water every now and then.

After a little while, my attention begins to slip from the tv and I allow my eyes to close for a few seconds. I’m not going to fall asleep, just let them rest. I had a long day today with the kids in my classroom and I deserve a little bit of time to rest my eyes.

—————————

Slowly, I peel my eyes open sleepily and look around the living room. I can hear the tv talking softly in the same room as me, so I know it’s still on. However, I can also see bits of sunlight peeking in from the open window. I groan at myself for falling asleep on the couch again and get up, switching off the tv. The digital clock in the kitchen reads 7:30 AM, so I sigh to myself and climb off the couch, deciding to start on the day.

Although I usually take the day off from looking at my lesson plans (that’s a Sunday chore), I do have small chores that I need to do around the apartment. Not major chores, just smaller ones like doing the laundry and changing my bedsheets. Besides, I need to have nice clothes ready for my lunch with Gia at 12:30...and I still need to go to the grocery store. I groan at the thought of the grocery store, not even wanting to think about having to go there. I decide to start with my laundry, so I trudge into the bedroom and pick up my basket, shove my phone into the pocket of my pajamas, and head down to the laundry room on the bottom floor.

Honestly, I don’t even care that I look like a wreck right now. I’m still in my pajamas, I’m not wearing a bra, and I don’t even want to think about what my hair could possibly look like. I push the thoughts out of my mind and set the basket on the floor in front of an empty washer. Walking over to the shelves of detergent and dryer sheets, I glare up at the detergent on the top shelf. Being as short as I am, it’s a pain in the butt to live in an apartment where things like this are shared. The detergent always moves around, so I’m never sure if I’ll be able to reach it or not. Thankfully, the landlord finally answered my messages and bought a small step stool for me.

Calmly, I get the step stool off the far wall and open it so that I can use it. I step onto the ladder and go all the way to the top step to be able to reach the detergent. Once it’s in reach, I pull it off the shelf and step down. I throw my laundry into the empty washer and add the right amount of detergent for the load. Once that’s all done, I pull out my phone pocket and set an alarm on my phone. If I don’t set and alarm, my laundry will sit in the washer all day and I’ll get another complaint from the landlord about how the other residents hate that I never move my clothes out when they’re done washing.

I set my laundry basket in front of the dryer with my clothes in it and, making sure that I have everything I brought down, I head back up to my apartment. I decide to continue on with my little chores and go into my bedroom, taking off the duvet and throwing it on the floor. I get another basket and start stripping my bed, putting the bedsheets into the new basket. Honestly, I’ll need to put these in the laundry, too, but that will need to wait until later tonight. I set the old sheets aside and get a new set of sheets out of the small linen closet in the hallway. I put the new sheets on the bed, then finish the chore by pulling the duvet back onto the bed.

For the rest of the morning, I walk around my apartment and do little tasks here and there. I declutter places in my apartment that are slowly getting more and more cluttered. I get out my duster and dust off some of the spaces in the apartment that are accumulating dust. I even get out my floor cleaner that I use for my kitchen and make sure that nothing in there is too dirty. When the alarm on my phone goes off, I head back downstairs and move my clothes into the dryer. Using the step stool again, I grab a dryer sheet off the wall and throw it in with my clothes. Once that’s finished, I close up the step stool and set it against the wall again for next week. Finally, I set another alarm on my phone for the dryer.

When I get back to the apartment again, most of my small chores for the day are done, so I decide to pick out an outfit for my lunch with Gia. The weather is nice and warm, so I look through my closet for something that is cute and displays the weather. After a while of looking, I decide on a grey and white 3 quarter sleeve shirt, a light pink skirt, and some cute grey sandals. I pull on the shirt and skirt, but decide to leave the shoes off until I need to go. I walk into the bathroom and begin messing with my hair a little, trying to make it look decent and not so messy. I pull a hairbrush through it and mess with it a little more before I feel satisfied with how it looks.

On the bed, my phone alarm goes off again, so I head back downstairs to get my laundry again. I move my clean clothes from the dryer into the laundry basket and carry my clothes back upstairs with a little effort. When I get to my door, I open the door and walk inside. I set my laundry basket the floor of my bedroom and decide to fold the clothes later tonight while my sheets are in the dryer.

Sighing softly, I flop down on the bed and stare up at the ceiling for a few moments. The sunlight from outside is splayed across the ceiling of my room and I watch it for a few moments before picking up my phone. I check the time and sit back up on the bed, deciding to head out for my lunch with Gia. Calmly, I pull my grey sandals on and grab my wallet off the dresser. I grab a little pink bag that almost matches my skirt off a hook in the closet and put my phone and wallet inside. I grab my keys and add those into the bag, as well. Once I have everything that I’ll need, I check my room once more for anything. I nod my head once and walk out of my bedroom and out the door of my apartment, locking it behind me.

The walk to the café is fairly uneventful. There are people out on the street, going about their business for the day and I make my way to the little café that Gia and I like to visit. When I get there, I head inside and pick a little booth near a window at the front. There are people inside the café talking happily and a line to order at the front near the door. Instead of joining the line, I sit down in the booth and decide to wait for Gia to show up. A few minutes later, Gia walks into the café and shoots me a happy smile. “Have you ordered yet?” She asks, looking towards the growing line. I shake my head lightly and stand up.

“No, I was waiting for you,” I say. Both of us join the line and, while we wait, I look at the menu.

Gia and I have been here a few times, but I still haven’t memorized the menu yet. I search over the menu a couple times before deciding on a grilled cheese and tomato soup with some water. The line slowly moves forward and, after a little while, I’m at the cash register. I give the cashier my order and hand him the money when he tells me how much it will cost. I step aside so Gia can tell him her order, as well, and sit down at our booth again when we’re both done ordering.

While we wait, Gia starts talking about plans for the wedding again. She tells me how John and her were talking about possibly picking a few colors to use in the wedding. “I was thinking about maybe using peach and a sort of navy blue. Maybe we could add off white,” she says, adding the thought to a little note in her phone.

“That sounds nice, Gia. Those colors might work well together,” I tell her.

When our orders are called, I tell Gia that I’ll get them as she thanks me. I walk up to the counter and get both of our orders, balancing them in my hands. I set Gia’s order down in front of her, then set one down at my seat. The conversation between Gia and I dies down as we start eating and I look around the shop, watching as people come and go. The door to the café opens and the little twinkle of the bell alerts me. I look towards the door and watch as three young men walk into the café. They can’t be much older than Gia and I, maybe a year or two. For whatever reason, my eyes follow the three men as they make their way through the café. I watch as they pick a table close to Gia and I, then order and sit back down. I’m not sure why I’m so interested in them, but it’s almost like I can’t take my eyes off of them.

To be honest, all three of them are fairly attractive. They’re all a fair bit taller than me, even the shortest one probably has a good four inches on me. They have handsome features and wide chests that are very nice on the eyes. However, the one in the middle catches my eye the most. His hair is a dusty blonde-grey and his eyes are a beautiful, rich dark brown. I look him up and down and, when my eyes reach his, I see that he’s looking at me, too. He flashes me a charming smile and waves softly, almost to say ‘hi, I see you’. I flash him a soft smile and wave back.

In the next moment, it’s like everything happens in the blink of an eye. The man goes to put his hand down on the table again and there’s a soft shout from the shortest of the three men. “Joon!” The man exclaims, but he can’t stop what’s already started. Without even realizing it, the man had placed his hand a little too close to his friends coffee cup and his hand hit it as he put it back down. The cup topples over and the hot liquid immediately rushes all over the man’s hand and arm.

“Ah!” He shouts, yanking his arm away from the hot liquid. However, the coffee has already spilled over his hand and up onto his wrist. Both of his friends are shaking his heads, and the shorter friend is wincing slightly. The man shoots me a sheepish smile, but I almost don’t catch it. My attention has been brought elsewhere and I gasp loudly as the familiar tingling stretches over my hand and wrist.

I look up at the man again, my jaw open in silent shock. He stares at me for a few seconds before looking down at his hand and wrist and seeing the light burn that is already developing. His eyes flit to my hand and wrist in the same spot where the exact same mark is showing up on my skin. His jaw falls open and our eyes meet again in shocked amazement. Immediately, both of us jump up from our seats. Gia jumps in surprise at my action, but she immediately realizes what’s going on. “It’s you!” We both say in unison, looking at each other. Both of his friends also seem to realize what’s going on because wide smiles have stretched across their faces. He looks down at them, still not able to comprehend what’s happening. His other friend laughs at the man.

“Dude, don’t just stare at us, go talk to your soulmate!” He laughs, gesturing towards me.

Without any more prompting, the man hurries around their table and walks up to me. He’s much taller than me, probably at least six inches difference and he still can’t close his mouth. I giggle lightly at him and he snaps it shut immediately. His eyes flit over whatever skin he can see, taking in the bruises, cuts, and burns that litter my skin. “Oh, my God. I am so so sorry that you have to put up with my clumsiness, too,” he apologizes, rubbing at the back of his neck. I giggle lightly at him, brushing it off.

“I’ve dealt with it for so long, it seriously doesn’t even bother me anymore,” I reassure him.

Before I can even think of what I’m about to say, it just comes out. “But...how the *hell* do you get so many injuries?” I giggle. Both of his friends burst out laughing and he just blushes dark red, hiding his face in his hands.

“...I honestly can’t even tell you how. It just kinda...happens,” he laughs, flashing a nervous smile. “So, uh...what’s your name?”

“Y/N Y/L/N,” I say smoothly, smiling up at him.

“Kim Namjoon,” he says, waving slightly at me again.

Quickly, I look over my shoulder at Gia again. I had *not* expected to meet my soulmate on a lunch date with Gia. She seems to know exactly what I’m thinking. “Y/N, I swear to God, don’t you dare sit back down and eat with me. Just wait for his order and take your food and take him back to your apartment,” she says, laughter filling her voice. I look back at him again, staring up into his eyes.

“So, uh...wanna see my apartment?” I ask awkwardly. He laughs lightly, but nods his head without hesitation.

“Absolutely, I would love that,” he laughs, showing off a beautiful smile.

Calmly, he walks up to the counter and asks the cashier if they could change his order to a ‘to go’ order. The cashier grumbles a little, bit agrees. I walk up to the counter right afterward and ask for a ‘to go’ bowl, which the other cashier gives to me immediately. I transfer my tomato soup into the ‘to go’ bowl and set my other bowl with the rest of the used bowls. When we both have our food, we say goodbye to our friends and start to leave. Then, just before we leave the café, I grab my sandwich and place it on top of the ‘to go’ bowl. Namjoon laughs lightly at me, shaking his head.

Calmly, I lead Namjoon through the streets and back to my apartment. When we get there, he opens the door into the building and we go upstairs until we reach my door. I unlock the door and we both head inside. I set my food on the coffee table and Namjoon does the same, then I leave my bag at the door. For a few seconds, we both just stare at each other in shock again. “I...I honestly was starting wonder if I’d never meet you,” he says slowly.

“I know the feeling. My friend you saw today, Gia, and her soulmate have been together for 9 years,” I say, laughing slightly. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“Nine years, when did they meet?! Were they ten or something?!” He asks in astonishment. I laugh loudly, shaking my head at him.

“No, no. They meet in our sophomore year of high school,” I tell him.

“Oh, wow, that’s...early...” he trails off. I nod my head.

“Tell me about it. He proposed last year and they’re getting married in a few months.”

Quickly, my eyes trail to our food again and I gesture for him to sit down on the couch. We both pick up our food again and start eating. However, even as I’m eating my food, I can’t help but keep glancing at him and taking him in. This person...he’s my soulmate. He’s the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with! I suddenly feel incredibly giddy and can’t sit still. Namjoon shoots me a confused glance, but smiles as soon as he realizes what I’m feeling. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” He chuckles. I nod my head vigorously.

“I feel really giddy, like I did when I was a little kid on Christmas,” I giggle, hiding my face in my hands.

Thankfully, Namjoon and I are able to get through the meal with a little light conversation here and there. When we finish, I look around my apartment and feel a little self-conscious. Although I had cleaned it that morning, it definitely wasn’t as clean as it should be. “I’m so sorry it’s so cluttered. I wasn’t expecting anyone,” I explain. He shrugs it off lightly. It’s pretty clear that he doesn’t mind.

“Doesn’t matter. What were you expecting to do today?” He questions.

“Um...probably a little laundry and folding, and then I was gonna sit down with a movie,” I say softly. He shoots me a sweet smile.

“Then let’s do that! I don’t wanna bother your plans.” I stare at him in surprise.

“But, it’s...laundry and folding,” I laugh. He shrugs again, smiling softly.

“Hey, we’re gonna have to do it together someday, so why not start today?” He chuckles. I nod lightly and get up from my seat, grabbing the dirty sheets from my bedroom.

“Okay, follow me,” I say, heading towards the door.

Namjoon jumps up and opens the door for me, letting me out. I thank him and lead him down to the laundry room on the bottom floor. Without thinking about it, I go to get the step stool off the wall. “What’re you doing?” He questions, tilting his head.

“Getting a step stool because I’m short, if you haven’t noticed,” I say, gesturing up to the detergent. I get the step stool off the wall and open it up, but when I turn around, Namjoon is holding the detergent in his hand. I stare at him, then up at the shelf and back at him.

“Hold up...you’re tall enough to get that?!” I gasp in surprise. He nods his head slowly.

“Uh, yeah. It’s pretty easy,” he shrugs, leaning up and showing me as he touches the top shelf.

“This is great!” I laugh, taking the detergent out of his hand. He chuckles lightly, smiling at me.

Calmly, I put the bedsheets into the washer and use the right amount of detergent. When I’m done, I hand it back to Namjoon and he puts it on the top shelf with ease. Smiling happily, I lead him back upstairs and into my apartment. I walk back into my room again and take out my laundry that needs to be folded. I dump the pile on the ground and the two of us get to work.

For the most part, folding the laundry is pretty easy. I separate the laundry into piles and slowly work through each pile, putting them into my dresser when I’m done. However, what I didn’t expect was for Namjoon to take such an interest in my clothes, specifically my underwear. He holds up a pair of the lacy, cheeky panties that I normally wear. “Oh, these are cute,”

He chuckles, “I like them.” The heat stretches across my face and I grab the panties out of his hands.

“Leave them alone. Just keep folding,” I laugh. He nods his head happily and starts looking through my clothes again.

“I’m sorry, but do you only wear lacy panties?” He asks, holding up another pair. I snatch them from him again and fold them.

“Maybe I do,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

“I’m just saying...maybe I should take a pair.” He flashes me a mischievous smile and I gasp at him, leaning over to slap his shoulder.

“No! You are not allowed to steal my panties!” I laugh, snatching the rest of them out of the pile.

“Ah, too bad...maybe in the future.”

“Kim Namjoon,” I exclaim, laughing loudly.

“I’m just saying, but...this is being rather educational. Now I know what to expect,” he explains. I hide my face in my hands, but I can’t stop the laughter from shaking my body.

“You are too much,” I laugh, shaking my head at him.

“Oh, you don’t even know how true that is. Especially considering how tiny you are,” he jokes, glancing me up and down. I gasp again and laugh, leaning over to smack his chest.

“Are you always this much of a pervert?” I ask, giggling loudly. He shrugs lightly, picking up one of my t-shirts to fold.

“Eh, not always. Though, I can’t help suggesting things when a pretty girl is asking me to fold her cute little lacy panties,” he laughs.

“That’s it. You don’t get to fold my underwear or bras anymore,” I say, picking the rest of said articles out of the collection of clothes. I pull the underwear and bras over to me and start folding them by myself.

Silence falls between the two of us as we fold. After a few moments, Namjoon scoots a little closer to me. “Y/N, I’m sorry. I was just joking,” he says softly, bumping me shoulder softly with his arm. I smile up at him.

“I know you were. It was kinda funny, actually,” I giggle. He smiles at me and nods his head.

“Alright, but I’m really not like that. I’m not pushing you into anything *any time* soon. I’d rather get to know you first, anyway. It’s better that way. And, to answer your question, no, I’m not always a ‘pervert’. I actually prefer intellectual conversation,” he says plainly, folding some of my jeans nicely and setting them aside. I tilt my head, looking at him.

“Intellectual conversation?” I question, raising an eyebrow.

“Mhm. I like to know what makes people tick. What they’re passionate about and what they dislike. It makes me feel closer to them,” he shrugs.

“Hmm,” I hum, nodding my head at this information.

While we fold the rest of my clothes, we talk about anything that comes to our minds. We talk about friends and our jobs. Namjoon tells me about the k-pop group that he’s apart of. “Actually, you saw some of the members today. Hobi and Yoongi were the people who ate lunch with me,” he says. I nod my head lightly, filing those names away for later. I tell him about working as an elementary school teacher. We talk about our childhoods and the kind of things we liked. We talk about our favorite foods and the foods we don’t like. We talk about just about anything and everything...and it’s amazing. I’ve never had a conversation like this before, not even with Gia. It feels like the conversation is flowing just on it’s own. All the topics mash together and everything just feels right. That’s when I truly understand the meaning of the word ‘soulmates’. It’s like we’re two parts of the same person and everything fits like a puzzle. And the more I get to know about him, the more I *want* to know about him. I want to know *everything* about him. Everything is right in the world and it’s just the two of us, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Suddenly, Namjoon sits down next to me and leans into my side. “So, what’s up? You’ve been quite for a while,” he says. I look towards me and feel a soft smile stretch at my lips.

“I’m just thinking,” I say softly.

“About what?” He hums, wrapping his arm around me.

“The word ‘soulmates’, and what it means. It just...it all makes sense now,” I say softly, giggling to myself. He chuckles lightly and leans over to kiss my hair.

“It does, doesn’t it? Seems like I never even knew the definition of the word, and then I spilled coffee on my hand and my whole world just...shifted,” he responds.

At the mention of the accident at the coffee shop, I gasp and look at his hand again. The skin is very red and raw, and very obviously burned. Yet again, just a superficial burn, nothing significant. “Alright, get up and come here,” I say, getting up off the floor. Namjoon knits his eyebrows together and follows me into my bedroom and then the bathroom. I point to the toilet with the lid down. “Sit,” I say plainly, and he does. I open up my cabinet and get out the tub aloe vera gel again. I turn on the cold water and make sure that it’s not too cold. “Run your hand under that,” I instruct.

Calmly, Namjoon leans over and runs his burned hand under the cool water. He goes to pull away, but I shake my head. “Ah, ah, *both* hands.” He chuckles lightly and runs his other hand under the cold water, too. Once he’s done, I turn off the water and open the tub of gel. I lightly apply the gel to his burns, making sure not to hurt them. When the gel is applied, I find some gauze pads and apply the pads to his burns. Then, I wrap the pads in medical tape and step back. Namjoon looks down at both of his hands, then looks up at me again.

“I...I thought I was imagining it. You...You take care of my injuries, don’t you?” He asks. I shrug lightly, putting away the supplies.

“Only the ones that need it. The bruises and cuts are fine, but larger cuts or burns need to be cared for,” I explain. He nods his head lightly.

“I feel it when you do that. It feels a little better afterward.” I flash a smile at him, thankful that it actually was helping when I took care of the little injuries.

Namjoon gets up off the toilet lid and we make our way back into the living room again. “Can we just cuddle now? It’s been a long day,” I say softly. He nods his head and sits down on the couch. I walk back into my room and grab a blanket out of the closet, throwing it over his body on the couch. He chuckles and adjusts the blanket on the couch. I pick out a random movie and turn on the DVD player so that we can watch it. When the title screen shows up, he doesn’t complain, so I set the DVD case down on the ground and walk over to the couch.

Namjoon opens up the blanket and I climb into the couch, cuddling into him. When I’ve settled down, he pulls the blanket down over our legs and wraps his arm around my waist lightly. For the rest of the night, we watch movies together. We laugh during the cheesy parts and watch intently as the action and climax happens. At one point, I get up and make us popcorn and we eat it together. If I don’t understand something, Namjoon explains it to me as best he can and I listen intently. It’s like he can understand almost anything, and yet he’s also able to break it down so that I can understand it, too. It’s wonderful.

As we watch that movie together and Namjoon explains something that I don’t understand, my mind falls back into the subject of soulmates. Here is this man sitting right next to me and talking about something to try and help me understand. I’ve never had someone who wants me to understand something so much. True, I’ve had teachers and I’ve had a lot of good ones. Hell, *I’m* a teacher and yet he’s still able to explain something and help me understand. And I couldn’t be more thankful that this man is my soulmate. He’s everything that I could’ve asked for in a soulmate and so much more. I never even knew that I wanted to be with someone who enjoys intellectual conversations. I never knew that a man so perfect for me could even exist, and yet here he is. Right next to me. Explaining something to me.

Calmly, I smile softly and lean into his chest a little more. He wraps his arm tighter around my side and holds me closer to him. And, in this moment, everything is perfect. In this moment, I have my soulmate and I’ve only known him for a few hours but I already feel like I know and love him. And his name is Kim Namjoon.

[jaanusbooktalk]

How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao - Review

7.6/10

TWs: inappropriate student/teacher relationship, abuse, suicide, self harm, parental neglect, panic attacks, drug use, racism

(I ranked the TWs in order of severity)

Hi! This is my first tumblr post, so I should probably introduce myself- I’m Jaanu, and I read (probably way too much). This is a “blog” account where I’m going to give my reviews on different books as I finish them. At the moment, I’m only reading books by BIPOC and queer folks(though this may change) it will be what I focus on: so needless to say, this is a safe space. I want to highlight books with representation because they were so few and far between growing up, and I know I’m not the only one looking for these kinds of books. I’ll do my best to give spoiler-free reviews, so I hope you enjoy!

The summary:

“Nancy Luo is shocked when her former best friend, Jamie Ruan, top ranked junior at Sinclair Prep, goes missing, and then is found dead. Nancy is even more shocked when word starts to spread that she and her friends--Krystal, Akil, and Alexander--are the prime suspects, thanks to "The Proctor," someone anonymously incriminating them via the school's social media app.

They all used to be Jamie's closest friends, and she knew each of their deepest, darkest secrets. Now, somehow The Proctor knows them, too. The four must uncover the true killer before The Proctor exposes more than they can bear and costs them more than they can afford, like Nancy's full scholarship. Soon, Nancy suspects that her friends may be keeping secrets from her, too.

TL;DR Students at an elite prep school are forced to confront their secrets when their ex-best friend turns up dead.

I first found this book through a tik tok video, and the author marketed it as Asian dark academia; normally when I hear this, it’s safe to assume people are talking about East Asians, but I commented to ask and found out that one of the four main characters is South Asian, Akil Patel. That was how HWFA made it onto my TBR and eventually my bookshelf. (I’m South Indian, and a sucker for dark academia).

In terms of representation, the book has good parts and less good parts. The MC, Nancy, is Chinese-American and many elements of her culture are seen throughout. This is probably bc the author is also Chinese, so she’s writing what she knows. As for the other characters… not so much.

We see that Alexander can speak Mandarin, so he’s most likely Chinese, but Krystal is just stated to be Korean and there’s nothing really involving her culture. Same with Akil. I was kinda disappointed that Akil and Nishant (the other minor South Asian character) were only recognizable as such by their names, but I digress.

What I liked:

Okay I loved the dynamic between a certain someone 👀 and Nancy - I felt like they were able to say a lot without saying a lot, and I really liked how the book avoided typical potholes in the diverse YA path: the rep that was there, was good rep. I also love highschool cliches, and I liked how they were struggling through regular classes like AP World History or AP Chem - I found this really relatable.

Also, at the beginning of each chapter there would be a sample comment from the messaging app “Tip Tap” and those always made me laugh, because the language was so realistic to the way people in my generation actually text. I genuinely liked the story- I never got bored, never had to put the book down because I was lost, I was able to pretty much finish it in a day.

There are also at least two queer characters (one bisexual, the other undefined) which made me really happy because it was subtle, unexpected, and added a layer of character depth.

I like the way that HWFA didn’t outline a clear villain, and in the end you realize that these are all just high schoolers who don’t actually know what they want and that’s okay! It tackles mental health in a very raw way, which is why I say: take the TWs seriously!!

Last thing, the relationship between Nancy and her mother made me cry - her unquestioning support of her daughter while also wanting her to excel really hit home for me. This book is a love letter to diaspora kids trying to make their parents proud, even at the expense of their mind and body.

Here’s why I can’t give it a 10:

I read Ace of Spades first. I know that sounds like a terrible reason, but hear me out. Ace of Spades (still no spoilers) follows a similar plot line almost down to the letter, except the main characters are Black and it’s a lot more terrifying than “dark academia”. If HWFA is like Asian Gossip Girl, then AoS is Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”. Both books are really good, both have scary anonymous texters exposing the main characters to the whole school, both take place in very privileged private school settings and are centered around secrets coming to light. I’m not saying anyone copied anyone else, they both came out the same year, but reading AoS first meant I could see the ending long before it showed up in HWFA.

Also, and this is a big one, I couldn’t stand Nancy.

I tried over and over again to relate to her, to excuse her actions, and I understand she’s not meant to be a perfect person but she kept making these really really dumb choices, like super dumb, and the reasoning was always “I’ve never been allowed to step a toe out of line, I want to be bad for once” etc etc.

I can’t explain how many times I wanted to jump into the book and shake her, because there are levels to dumb, especially as a teenager. Drinking? Okay, kinda dumb, but you’re 18, whatever. Inappropriate student/teacher relationship? Different. Level. I wish it had been made more clear in the trigger warnings how central this would be to the plot.

On that note, I didn’t like how the book never really addressed why the student/teacher relationship was inappropriate - it was more so because he was a bad person than because he was older and totally taking advantage of her.

That being said, dark academia is one of my favorite genres, and HWFA did it perfectly. We have the tension, the secret meetings, the academic stress, the nighttime danger, the plot, the mystery. This is Katie Zhao’s first “older” YA novel, with characters in high school instead of middle school, and I say overall it was a job well done 💯!

[samrosemodblog]

Time for Sam Ramblings! It's been a while since I rambled about something. Also whose ready for some Fandom Whiplash?

Cause I'm rambling about Homestuck.

Homestuck is strange to me cause I was in the PRIME position to absolutely adore it when it premiered, on account of being a huge fan of the series that came before it, Problem Sleuth.

God I loved Problem Sleuth. One of the rare series where from basically page 1 it had me busting my gut with the absurdities.

So I figured I'd love Homestuck too. And while I did dig it for a while, it was always kinda just "Okay" with me going along with the motions. And I DEFINITELY didn't understand the story telling pacing on account of all the time travel shenanigans going on, or the way Hussie decided to EXECUTE those time travel narratives.

I remember dropping out of reading the story around the time of Part 5 airing, you know, when the Trolls REALLY got involved in the story. Which is funny because apparently from what I've seen, this is everyone in the fandom's favorite part of the story.

And I'm rambling about this NOW, because I decided for the kicks to go back and listen to a Youtube Reading of Homestuck, just so I could actually say I'd seen all of Homestuck one day.

And those readings just got to the start of Act 5 now which means I'm all caught up from my past. So I wanted to put my thoughts to paper and then toss them into the void for anyone who cares.

The rest under a Read More!

To start my thoughts, a second read of Homestuck has done a lot for my understanding of Homestuck's story, even if I forgot a LOT of what happened near the end of act 4 on retrospective.

Having even some knowledge of the future meant that when those events occurred in the past, they made INFINITELY more sense than an initial linear timeline viewing of the story.

So in some senses I really was enjoying the story more this time around than I did the first time, though I think I can identify more of what the issue this time around is of why it just feels OKAY in comparison to Problem Sletuh.

Homestuck is basically a game within a game within a Webcomic, narratively speaking. All of that is LITERAL in terms of the story being told, even the 4th Wall is literally part of the story.

And part of the disconnected feeling is that the "Game" of Sburb, the game that starts the story off in Act 1, isn't really used to its full potential.

Like when Act 1 first started, I was FULLY into the idea of this double-layered story telling of kids playing a game and using the game mechanics while they were 'controlled' by a game on the outside.

Like I said, it's LITERALLY a game within a game story telling.

But the Game never really plays out to any meaningful effect. The 'Game' of Sburb is just a plot device that gives the kids, essentially, alchemy super powers.

Sure they can KIND of alter the area they spawn in, but that never really plays any kind of factor in the larger space of the story (at least as far as up to Act 5 is concerned, maybe I'm wrong here, but even if it DOES the feeling of disconnect is still there for all of Acts 1 through 4).

Like. I imagine Problem Sleuth, where the world FUNCTIONALLY is a dream world running on Dream Logic.

One of the first things that happens is the main character pulling a window off of the wall, but still being able to use it as a window to where the window exited out to, like a moving portal.

Imagine THOSE kind of shenanigans but with the game world. Being able to treat reality as if it existed in dream logic.

A story where Rose was able to take the windows on John's house and make duplicates of them around the world, giving John fast access back to his house.

If the new world they were exploring within Sburb was a hostile and dangerous world, and they made themselves safe havens that were essentially copy + pastes of their homes, with door portals that lead them between these havens, and allow them to 'fast travel' between locations.

The Game would be their world world, because the story would be dictated of them essentially living IN the game! And they ESSENTIALLY always have! They just never had direct access to that game until Sburb existed!

But of course this never really happens in the story.

Instead you get drawn into a confusing game within a game within a webcomic story, combined with so much time travel you can't even nervously shift in place without bumping into SOMETHING that was directly involved in time travel.

And that's not even getting into the whole absurdity of the 'Dream' world ALSO being the antagonist world that the kids are fighting against.

Essentially Homestuck gets bogged down REAL quick with all of these other story elements that, at least FEEL, completely separated from the game in the first place.

And sure, I get that part of the problem in the story is essentially that BECAUSE the kids prototyped the kernel sprite with Clowns, cats, pink, and birds that it caused the main villain to be infuriated over having to wear a stupid hat, but it's such a minor detail that it gets entirely lost in the shuffle!

It's not that any of this is necessarily bad, after all Homestuck's fandom was fucking HUGE when it came on the scene (especially with the trolls), but it definitely had always left me with a feeling of "It feels like a lot could be done with this concept, but instead of doing anything with it, we went with a strange time-travel and alien home-worlds warring narrative instead"

But I suppose this is all relative. It's not necessarily a BAD story, it's just one that leaves a lot up to the reader to figure things out and/or wait for them to be figured out on their own, and that can be kind of tough to deal with.

Also some of the language hasn't held up, at all. And I don't think it even held up even back then. 10 years is a long time in terms of cultural shifts, but even still oof.

But that's a minor part at the very least and doesn't come up very often, so I can at least shrug it off for now.

Anyways, that caps off my feelings of the first 4 acts as they exist right now. And I wanted to get them down because one of the most common reading advice for people new to Homestuck is "Skip to Act 3!" and it's like

That's such terrible advice and not a great way to kick off this huge adventure lol

But at least I think I figured out WHY Acts 1 through 4 gave me such a "This is okay" feeling, as said above.

But what kicked me out of reading the rest was Part 5 Act 1 (Seriously why isn't it just Act 5 and 6?? They're long enough to be separate acts, lord).

EVERYONE ELSE seemed to adore the trolls and loved exploring their world and getting to know them more.

They annoyed the Hell out of me originally.

Not only had I been thrown off/hated the whole fact that John made his own family and friends and himself RANDOMLY AND WITHOUT ANY THOUGHT (Like he literally just stumbles into a room and goes ahead and makes the paradoxes and just... Just does things??? UGH I STILL HATE IT), but then these assholes came along and just had COMPLETELY obnoxious personalities and text chats that were a pain in the ass to read and took over the ENTIRE STORY away from the characters I actually cared about.

ALSO PERSTERCHUM LOGS ARE WAY TOO LONG, EVEN FROM THE START OF THE STORY, EVERY TIME IT'S LIKE 10 MINUTES TO READ WHAT'S GOING ON, I SWEAR TO GOD-

So I just wanted to put my thoughts down on what Homestuck had been TO ME so far before I end up dragging myself through the rest of the story that I HAVEN'T seen until now.

I believe I got spoiled on how the story ends from a tumblr post but my memory of it is really vague and I don't remember HOW they get to that conclusion, but it felt very Problem-Sleuthy in how it ended so ya know.

Either way, it will be interesting to see if any of my feelings end up changing here. I doubt I'll ever be officially part of the 'Fandom' like other people were, but hey, if I get to the end of the story and like what I have so far I can at least partake in the fanart and fanfics and finally know what's going on lol

PS. I DO find it funny that "The Midnight Gang" was essentially a commissioned side-story in the Problem Sleuth universe, and one of the on-going 'Gag' commands was "Enter the Main story!", but of course they never did.

I guess Homestuck is what happens when they actually do lol

[mikumoduleoftheday]

I also have... thoughts on the new Mirai game. Don’t get me wrong — I played it for 6 hrs straight w/o realizing bc it was so fun and I’ve been waiting for it to come out in English we since they made the announcement for the Japanese version. 💖 But Project Mirai DX’ on 3DS controls are waaaay more comfortable for me and seem more in sync With the right and left hand?? I don’t really know how to explain... What are your thoughts on it??

I will NEVER stop my promoing for Project Mirai DX. I want Project Diva to be MORE like Project Mirai. I genuinely wanted a new, amazing installment of Project Mirai on the Switch as opposed this Diva game. This is my unpopular take and I will not repent for it. Also, I hope you realize what a wall of text you unleashed by asking for my thoughts.

About Mirai vs Diva in general:

The use of the track that notes were placed on in Project Mirai was so good and I really miss it going into Diva. The random placement of upcoming notes in Diva, especially with busy background pvs or fast notes, leaves me scrambling sometimes. Not to mention the way the track would be incorporated as almost another level to the PV in some songs, like it tracing rabbit shapes in Lots of Laugh or making liberal use of the rainbow colored hold bonuses in Reverse Rainbow. It really felt like an extra level of care from the creators.

Also the timing is so much harder in Diva oh my god. Project Diva is so demanding. Janitor Mod enjoyed the few songs that had an Extreme Mode chart in Mirai, but is struggling with Hard Mode in Diva. (Edit: I found out recently that her issue is most likely caused by lag from the joy-cons while I had the Switch hooked up to the TV. There’s a way to calibrate your lag, although I wish the game would have told you up front about the option kinda like Taiko no Tatsujin does. It really seems either playing in handheld mode or with a wired procontroller is the most recommended.) As someone who objectively sucks at rhythm games, it’s been kicking my butt.

I loved the level of customization in the outfits. The outfit swaps were not limited by character, only by gender. I think this would be appreciated a lot be people who’s favorite character is less loved in the outfit department too, it really expands the outfit selection when Meiko can wear the other girls’ clothes and whatnot. Not to mention that some outfits have recolorable sections that allowed you to really tie more disparate designs together.

Minor and inconsequential note in the grand scheme of things, Mirai felt like a bigger game with all of the tiny random things you could do, like the mini games and music editor and the buddy system. It probably doesn’t matter to people more invested in core rhythm gameplay, but even when I wasn’t in the headspace for rhythm games (or in a physical space that would prevent uninterrupted timed play), I still had other options to be engaged with. I miss that in Megamix.

About Megamix specifically:

Most of the issues I have are minor. This is my first Project Diva game, and as such, it doesn’t bother me in particular that its basically a simple rehash of Future Tone. I never had any of the previous games to get bummed that this is the same thing. Obviously, your mileage may vary. From what I’ve heard from others: don’t bother if you already have Future Tone really.

I’m also kinda peeved that there’s no physical English release, not even a limited preorder run. I’m a huge proponent of physical media for a few reasons, but come on. Previous English Diva series got physical releases.

I really dislike the art direction of the actual characters. I prefered the look of the models from Diva F and Diva X more than these. I just like the less exaggerated anatomy.

And yeah, the shader sucks. I tried not to hate it, but it does just look like someone was abusing the saturation sliders in a bad photoshop. It’s too bright and washes away already subtle facial features, almost always leaving them noseless. Characters look especially out of place in any stage that isn’t entirely abstract lights or shapes, as the backgrounds seem to use a different shader? If they really wanted to use the toon shader for the whole game, I wish at least they would have used the Diva F models. I think the simpler style of those models would have fit better at least.

Also, why no new modules besides Catch the Wave?? I know that the ones that stick to 2D pvs are by choice of the producer, but what about the 3D pvs? Seriously why couldn’t they have added Magical Mirai 2016 in for 39 Music?? They already have the design for it. No new design for Alien Alien, nothing for Teo or Hibana. And Roki just reuses the modules that are for Kodoku no Hate.

I personally don’t find any of the the DLC packs as enticing enough to actually buy. None of them have more than one or two songs I want. This will obviously vary on your taste.

I can’t wait for touch play mode to be added to the English version, I really preferred tap mode in Mirai so I’m was really pleasantly surprised to hear it would be added to Megamix.

That said, the menus are clean and mostly user-friendly with the exception of a few confusing names. The game play is fun, the load times are quick, and the song choices are safe but fine. Very Miku heavy, but that’s what I like. The shader means Future Tone’s unholy lighting bloom issue is reeled in (even it just looks bad in a new and different way). I’m glad the hairstyles are interchangeable even if I miss Mirai’s outft swaps not being character locked. The important points of it, you know, being a rhythm game are good. I’m just forever, and probably annoyingly, bogged down in aesthetics.

Post Touch Play addition edit: The system for choosing Touch Play vs button mode, quite frankly I’m sorry, fucking sucks. Having it be buried under layers of menus instead of a separate category like Mix Mode is infuriating. Just have the option come up along with the other two in the selection page. If you didn’t know it was an option, you would never find Touch Play. You would never even know about this whole game mode. As for how the mode actually plays, it’s fine. It feels really crowded on the bottom of the screen, but I’m not sure how else I would have done it? I don’t actually know which I prefer, button or touch screen.

I hope that if you’ve never played a Project Diva game before due to not having a Playstation, that you can get Megamix, I certainly don’t regret the purchase.

[dukeofonions]

Puppet vs Video Games (The Gimmicks of Sanders Sides)

If you’ve followed me for awhile (meaning the short amount of time I’ve been running this blog) then you’ll probably be aware of what my opinions are of the “gimmicks” that have been making themselves prevalent in recent Sanders Sides episodes. Now just to make things clear, almost every episode of Sanders Sides uses some kind of gimmick. 

Well, besides the first one, which consists entirely of talking with no added effects. 

And I, being the faceless entity that sits behind a computer screen judging an online web series, am going to rant about that because this is my blog and I do what I want. So let’s begin… 

The Prologue

As season one progresses we see things like location changes, a song, Thomas’ friends making several appearances, simple editing tricks (like putting text or pictures on a screen) minor costume changes (Logan and Patton dressing as Sherlock and Watson) split screen effects, and even an episode featuring an animated segment. 

At the end of Season One we were introduced to the concept of “Rooms” which added a whole new layer to the story and got people excited to see what the other rooms would entail. Still, up to this point, the gimmicks remained mostly in the background as small ways to sprinkle in some extra storytelling while the dialogue continued to be the main thing carrying the series. 

Then Season Two began with Fitting In, which featured a few more props that served to signify each of the Hogwarts houses. This made sense seeing as that was the focus of the video, and for fans of Harry Potter, it would be fun to see the characters wearing things from the different houses. 

After Fitting In, we got Moving On which featured the introduction of Patton’s room. Like with Virgil’s, a lot went into designing his room. There is a lot to look at, who knows how long it took to find all the stuff they showcased in the background? On top of that they also had the filter they used to give the room a dreamlike quality, and my favorite detail, the pictures that continue to change throughout the episode depending on what the characters are talking about. 

It remains one of my favorite set pieces from the series just from the amount of detail they put into it, and it felt like a step up from Virgil’s room (which I also love) and it makes me excited for the rest of the rooms that have yet to be revealed. 

However! I am not here to discuss the rooms. Even though I already did… 

After Moving On, however, is when things start to change with the series. 

During the 12 Days of Christmas, the Sides are each given their own custom Christmas sweaters, but that’s only part of the gimmick. The centerpiece for this episode is, of course, the song sung by all four Sides. This moment is pretty significant as it marks the first time all four of them appeared on screen together at the same time. 

This was just the tip of the iceberg for what was to come… 

Immediately following 12 Days we get Can Lying Be Good? Which featured a new location where the video spent the majority in, using quick cuts with the cameras to give off the illusion of Roman pretending to be Joan (including clever uses of audio) and of course, Deceit himself. The makeup and costume was unlike anything we’d seen in the series yet. Throw in some more split screen to show two Sides on screen together, as well as some clever costume choices for character Thomas, makes this episode (in my opinion) the best at utilizing its effects and filming techniques to tell its story. 

And then, things start to shift again…. 

The next episode we get is Why Do We Get Out Of Bed In The Morning? Which took some time to produce, coming out in April after CLBG? Was released in February. Still, good time considering what was to come. 

This episode had some mixed reviews once it finally came out, but I plan on tackling that later. The reason this episode (which was really just a longer, drawn out version of Losing My Motivation but starring Logan and Roman) was the use of animations. 

For Logan, his arguments were displayed via “Stop Motion” writings of graphs and charts which he used to explain his points. And from a short behind the scenes video, each of these were drawn by hand and took hours to make. From what I understand, all of Roman’s bits were animated on a computer, though I don’t have much info on how they were made. 

Within the episode, these different types of animations were used to help Roman and Logan illustrate their points. And while on their own they’re quite adorable, they aren’t necessary for the telling of this story. One thing this episode was criticised for was how the writing felt off. Everything seemed rushed and none of the characters felt in character, and while I don’t recall anyone outright saying it, it’s likely that perhaps the team felt pressured to get this video out on time, and thus might have skipped out on other elements in order to make up for the time spent working on the animations. 

Whether that was writing the script, filming, or editing, we don’t know. All I know is that the general consensus for this episode was that it was just okay. As a Logan and Roman fan though, it was kinda disappointing for their first episode with them taking the spotlight together to just be viewed as “okay” and isn’t a favorite of mine. 

Things picked up a little after Crofters: The Musical was released only a few days after WDWGOOBITM (that title is a monster to type no matter how ya do it) and it featured a song as its gimmick. The mood was a bit lighter, we got to see Logan having fun, and hey we even got our first main Roman angst foreshadowing! Good thing that wouldn’t be dragged out for several episodes, right?

All in all, things were definitely looking up for Sanders Sides. From the looks of it, we were going to start getting more frequent updates! 

Then the Drought happened and we had to wait almost six months for a new episode. 

At least that would be the longest we ever had to wait for something. 

Before I get into the beef of this post I wanna bring up three more episodes, Embarrassing Phases, Selfishness vs Selflessness, and Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts. 

Like the other episodes throughout Season Two, each of these episodes have different gimmicks. In Embarrassing Phases, it’s the Halloween costumes. In SVS, it’s a location change plus costume change, and in DWIT we get the introduction of Remus along with a musical number and a few props. 

I’d say each of these episodes does a good job at incorporating their gimmicks into the story. Embarrassing Phases involves them talking about Halloween and using costumes as metaphors or something like that (This may be one of the few times I say something positive about this episode don’t get used to it)

With SVS, thanks to some clever acting, we can see Janus get the idea of using the courtroom scenario to try and get his point across. He first does this by suggesting that Thomas may not be as innocent as he seems, and after Patton defends him, that’s when Janus switches to the courtroom in order to put Patton to the test and literally defend Thomas as a lawyer. 

Then in DWIT, given that Remus is a very outgoing character, it makes sense that he’d use a song to explain who he is and make a dramatic entrance. Plus, the series has used songs before so it’s not surprising to see this here. And seeing as Remus is creativity, it’s only fitting that he’s able to conjure random things throughout the episode. Okay, that was a long prologue, onto the actual reason most of you  probably clicked on this post. Part One: The Puppets

Learning New Things About Ourselves also does a good job of handling its gimmick and incorporating it into the story. Like the three I just mentioned, there’s a set up and a pay off. We get an idea of what’s to come with this moment: 

“I don’t feel content,” 

“With my content.” 

Which is obviously a reference to some random children’s educational program (most likely Sesame Street) by showcasing how two words that are spelled the same can have different meanings. Great now I sound like some educational children’s program. 

Then later on, we get the actual set up that comes from Thomas becoming frustrated that he can’t figure out what the problem is that’s causing this whole dilemma. He says, “We’ve got an issue. Something that I’m not aware of yet, something that may be unlocked with the right question. This is like...  fundamental learning!”

After he says that, he gets an idea and asks the others how he used to learn things and each one responds accordingly: 

Logan: Textbooks! 

Roman and Virgil: Mistakes. 

Patton: Puppets! 

And of course, initially, Thomas questions this and no one really understands what Patton means by this. But he explains and makes a case for it, “Thomas used to learn all kinds of new and helpful things from puppets when he was younger! Like how to count and his ABCs. Maybe it’ll be easier to work through issues when puppets are involved.” 

We see Thomas consider the idea, and then Logan sets up a joke with him saying Thomas has outgrown that kind of stuff only to have him express his love for the idea. 

After that, the Sides (excluding Logan) change into their respective puppets and continue on the episode. 

One important thing to note (which I will bring up later) is that this scene takes place around the 15 minute mark. At least by that point, everyone except Logan has changed into a puppet. With the video being 38 minutes long, this is about halfway through the episode, and by the 31 minute mark the Sides begin turning back to normal. 

Which means the puppets roughly take up only about 15 minutes of the video, slightly longer if you count Logan’s puppet, but you get the idea. 

Also I’m bad at math so if I got this wrong sue me. There’s a reason I’m sitting here writing this instead of doing something with my life.

From then on, the conversation continues with everyone still trying to figure out what the question they need to be asking is. Of course, plenty of references to other educational kid shows are thrown around, but that now makes sense seeing as they’re fully embracing the puppet idea. Patton furthers the conversation along by finally getting Thomas to start asking “Why” and uses another reference to do so, which starts the next part of the conversation and brings us the next major conflict in this episode, Logan.

He gives his opinion, stating that no one takes Thomas seriously and that he should switch careers in order to obtain that status instead of devoting his time to making silly videos. 

This of course, causes dissension within the group, and leads to Roman once again insulting Logan before realizing that he’s been going too far. After being prompted to apologize, Roman attempts to express his feelings to Logan and say sorry, but it doesn’t exactly help him feel any better which is when Patton suggests he try a different way.

And, Roman being Roman, decides the best way to do this is through song. A song that’s reminiscent of those one might hear on Sesame Street (there’s probably others but I’m rolling with this one) so it fits with the puppet thing. Again, it’s justified. 

The episode ends with Logan finally understanding where the others are coming from and Thomas finding the right question to ask, which he is able to answer and it solves the dilemma. 

Logan turns into a puppet, there’s another Sesame Street reference, and Roman is finally gonna start addressing his issues! 

Good thing that won’t be brushed under a rug by the other characters for three more episodes right? 

All in all, in case you couldn’t tell, I adore this episode and it still remains one of my favorites to this day. It doesn’t beat you over the head with the references, which are used cleverly and in a fun way that also keeps the story moving along. The designs for the puppets are cute and match each of the characters, and the puppetry is amazing! 

Plus the song is an absolute bop and it still makes me emotional sometimes. 

Which begs the question, was the sixth month wait worth it? Well, after hearing all that went into making this episode and seeing the final result, I’d say it was worth it. 

It’s also nice that we got a behind the scenes video where we got to see the full story on how this episode was made and all the difficulties Thomas, Joan, and Talyn faced when trying to make it a reality. Did they need to use puppets? No, but what matters is that they were able to take the idea and incorporate it into a story in a way that was fun and felt justified for existing. 

Not saying this episode is perfect, there are a few problems here and there, but overall this remains one of my top Sanders Sides episodes and one I’ve watched repeatedly since it came out. 

Now that all that positive stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the fun part….

Part Two: The Video Games

I’m gonna be blunt, Putting Others First does not do as good of a job with incorporating video games into its story like LNTAO does. 

However, I can’t exactly talk about this episode without talking about the extremely long wait we had in between episodes. The last official episode (that follows the main storyline, so not Asides) came out on June 25, 2019. POF came out May 1st, 2020. 

Almost 10 months, the longest we’ve ever had to wait for an episode. And if you wanna go further, remember that POF was meant to be the follow up to SVS, a part two if you will, SVS came out March 31st 2019, so by the time POF came out, it had already been a year since this set up the conflict for wedding vs callback.

By that point, some people were no longer interested or as excited about the new episode, but that changed briefly when a trailer for the episode dropped after a new Bloopers video was released a few months before POF was finally released. 

Keep in mind that up until this point, we weren’t entirely sure what the hold up was for this episode. We’d only gotten the vague answer of “There’s a special sequence for this episode and we’re working with another artist in order to make it, which is why it’s taking so long.” 

Okay, fair enough, and the trailer revealed what exactly that sequence was, animation! 

Now I’ve already explained in another post why I have problems with how vague Thomas and co. are when it comes to giving information about upcoming videos, so I won’t get into that here. 

What I am going to bring up since it relates to some of my points is this, remember when they said it was a “special sequence” they were working on? Well, after the video is released we find that it isn’t one, but 10. 

I’m not counting each time a sequence was used (For example, the opening segment which is later followed by Roman imagining a different outcome in the same style or every single one of Logan’s low-down’s, and the two trolley problems are counted as one sequence for this post specifically) because I really don’t wanna go through and count every single time Logan popped up on screen, but tell me, why in the heckity heck did they feel it was necessary to include 10 of these animated segments? 

And okay, there’s actually 12 (maybe 13? The Pokemon reference uses two different styles) but why are there so many? How are they necessary and what is their reason for being in this episode? 

Remember earlier when I mentioned that the puppet stuff didn’t start until the 15 minute mark? Well, POF literally begins with a video game sequence, and then the game references just keep coming. The intro gets a retro remix along with the rest of the music, and once Thomas enters the picture his curse words are covered by a gold coin and the “mario coin” sound effect. 

And then, not even three minutes in, we get yet another video game sequence recapping the last episode, after we already had a recap of the last episode less than a minute ago! 

To be fair though Rhythm Redux is a bop and I’m not sure why they felt the need to include a “flashback” after the intro when they were going to include this song anyway since it does a better job at explaining things than the random shots and dialogue from SVS. 

With LNTAO, none of the “puppet bits” began until after the Sides changed into puppets, besides that one bit of foreshadowing with the “Content with my content” line. There was no change to the intro’s music, nothing besides that one bit to foreshadow the puppets coming into play. 

Another thing LNTAO does that POF doesn’t is establish a set up, and pay off for the video games. Right off the bat, we get the video games, then later we get Patton’s line about how “Life isn’t like one of your video games” just a few minutes before the next video game sequence takes place, which just felt out of place to me the first time I watched it and I felt like that line was put in there just to remind the audience “Oh yeah, this is a video game themed episode!” 

Which, okay, there actually was some bit of set up before this back in SVS. Thomas mentions that he planned to spend his time at the wedding playing “Word Crush” on his phone, then as POF begins, that’s exactly what he’s doing. 

And there are certain instances where the sequences work. 

The beginning sequence ties back into Thomas’ comment from SVS and, in a way, sets up the video game thing (even if it does make me somewhat cringe but that’s mostly Lee and Mary Lee’s characters) and I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with how “Rhythm Redux” was incorporated if they hadn’t included the flash back after the intro. Again, why did they need two different recaps? They only needed one and it did a good job of explaining everything on its own. 

I will also say the Trolley Segments work due to the discussions being held, they’re talking about “Morality” so why wouldn’t you bring up one of the oldest moral dilemmas out there? It also ties in with my favorite part of the video, the “Final Boss” fight with Lilypadton vs Janus. I was not expecting it, and adding Janus’ reveal on top of that just made everything even better. It was dramatic, and I loved how the health bars that were used for Patton and Janus changed to represent Thomas’ deteriorating mental health. 

All in all, there was potential here with the video game theme, and there were scenes where it was used well. But all the others that I didn’t mention? They just felt forced and out of place to me and honestly, took me out of the moment. 

Another episode I want to compare POF to is Logic vs Passion (I am not typing either the title or the acronym out again) where they both incorporate their gimmicks in a similar way. 

Logan and Roman both use their respective animations to illustrate their points of view, and throughout POF all the characters use different video games to illustrate their own points. 

The issues I have with these episodes is that these conversations could have been had without the use of any of these things. The Sides have had discussions and used examples to elaborate their points in the past without the use of visuals. 

Now, can visuals help with storytelling? Yes, and I mentioned several instances where POF does this. But honestly, the whole video game theme seemed out of place for this particular video. Compare it to SVS which only had a location change, the episode focused almost entirely on its dialogue and still manages to be dramatic and engaging. You can easily follow along with the discussion without the need for fancy visuals. 

With POF, it seems like they just try to rush from one video game reference to the next, leaving little room to breathe in between before another video game is thrown into your face. What could have been a simple discussion like in SVS (which still managed to balance humor with its more serious themes) we got a rather bloated middle section which, honestly, I don’t remember much about. 

I’ve watched the video several times and without fail, I always find myself spacing out throughout a good chunk of the middle until the whole Lilypadton scene takes place. That’s when I became interested, especially when Janus entered the picture to bring in his points and act as a bit of an “anti-hero” in the whole thing. 

I simply believe this video could have been a lot simpler, and probably more cohesive if they’d left a lot of the video game stuff out. The last thing I want to be when consuming any type of media is bored, and honestly if it wasn’t for me making all these analysis posts on the episode, I probably wouldn’t have watched it again save for my favorite parts. 

Not only that, but we waited 10 months for this episode because of the video game sequences, and again you have to ask yourself, was the wait worth it? 

I have to say, unlike with LNTAO, it wasn’t worth it to me. They could take the video game sequences out altogether (even my favorite ones) and I wouldn’t really care. This episode just doesn’t need them, they don’t justify their use in this episode. Whereas in LNTAO, I love the use of puppets and if they were to be taken out, I would miss them. 

Now is this to say I hate the episode? No, there’s actually a lot I like about it. Patton’s development, Janus, and the ending with Roman are all amazing on their own. But really, who’s to say Janus couldn’t have confronted Patton in person instead of a video game world? 

Logan didn’t need to appear via little “Pop ups” and could have been called upon by Patton for help only to be brushed aside when what he says doesn’t help his case at all. Then when things start getting out of hand, “Logan” comes back to try to fix things but it doesn’t work, which is when he reveals himself only this time everyone, including the audience, fell for it because Janus has stepped up his game when it comes to disguising himself. 

Of course, the same could be said about LNTAO, they didn’t need to be puppets, right? Well, considering that the message of the episode was that you can use unconventional methods to express different ideas using different mediums, and Logan spent the whole time seeing the puppets at nothing but silly and childish only to come to this realization himself, it makes sense why puppets were used. 

However, you can actually apply that same message to POF, where they used an unconventional method to get their points across. 

The only problem, like with Logic vs Passion, was that the gimmicks alone couldn’t carry the episode. 

Logic vs Passion wasn’t as good as other episodes (and I may do a full review of this in the future) and in POF, it just felt like there was too much being crammed into this one episode. We went from discussing different types of morality and why people do good things to Janus suddenly beginning his “acceptance arc” with Roman having a breakdown at the end. Honestly, the point where Janus enters the conversation feels like a completely separate episode from what we’ve had thus far. Not only that, I have my own issues with how Janus’ character seemed to suddenly do a 180 (which I already talked about in another post) so while I love the ending scenes on their own, I admit that maybe they should have been handled differently. 

Of course, at the end of the day, all of this is just a matter of opinion. Lots of people loved the video game segments, and others didn’t like the puppets. Some people love all the gimmicks used in the videos, others wish for things to go back to the simpler formats of the older episodes and honestly, I agree. 

It seems like with every new episode the team is trying to outdo themselves and take things up another level each time, which is something I can admire, but it is something that can be overdone. Just look at Sanders Asides, it was supposed to be this simple little thing, but it might as well just be another episode. There’s nothing to distinguish it from any of the other main episodes, and if the rest of Asides is going to be the same way, then what’s the point of making it a separate series at all?

Now, Thomas and Joan have said that after this episode, they’re going to start using more practical effects and make things simpler, which I take as a sign of them learning to step back from all the gimmicks they use and just let the characters shine on their own for a while. Which, if that is the case, good on them. 

We don’t come to this series for the effects and flashy scenes, we come for the characters. They’re what we love and want to see more of. If you want more proof, just look at what people mostly took from POF, they took the character moments. It wasn’t the video game references that resonated the most with people, heck, people outright seemed to ignore the fact that Leslie Odom Jr. made a cameo. 

What do you think that says? 

Not saying people didn’t love the video game references, because a lot of people did, but it wasn’t the main thing people responded to. 

It’s okay to explore different mediums for storytelling. But sometimes, as a creator, you have to stop and ask yourself, “Is this really necessary for the story?” And believe me the hardest thing to do is cut out something that I spent hours working on because, when I viewed the story as a whole, that particular thing just wasn’t necessary for the story. Maybe I enjoyed it, and perhaps others would too, but at the end of the day, I’d be glad that I made the decision for the betterment of the story.

Okay, now this got way longer than I meant for it to be (how ironic) but you’ve all been waiting for this post for awhile and I didn’t want to postpone it further. 

I do hope you enjoyed reading this jumbled mess and, as always, feel free to let me know what your opinions were! Regardless of whether you agree or disagree, and I’ll see y’all next time! 

[ask-flip-frost]

Day 9: Free Day - Disposable Soul

"October 13th, yes?" Flip asked. "Tomorrow."

"Um. Yes, but..." Ace fretted and looked over her shoulder into the dark expanse of forest behind them. "Isn't this going to get us into trouble? Where did you even find... you know. One of those?"

The poor Human contractee shrank as much as she could into her hoodie. A misty chill clung hard to the swirling winds, threatening to bear an illness to her lungs. Why couldn't they do this indoors? Yes, she wanted to do something nice, but... was it really all that nice? Someone was suffering for this gift, weren't they? Ace considered moving closer to the ring of torches surrounding them for the minor amount of warmth they provided, but frankly she didn't want to make herself any more visible than she already was.

"Do you really want to know? You might not believe me. And if you do, you might have conflicting Feelings about it." Flip replied.

The Fairy poked at the multi-level fires in the center of their ring and began to arrange a selection of small cauldrons and cast iron pans. She could see Ace fidgeting on the balls of her feet out of her peripherals.

"Nnnnn... No. Wait, yes! I have to know! If someone lost a Soul for this, you have to tell me! I can't just pretend it away." Ace shook her head and put a foot down, a braver show of responsibility than she was currently feeling. "Please."

Flip smiled sympathetically. While she didn't possess a Soul of her own, being of Fae origin, she understood the fuss people made of them. They were important and supposedly everlasting. The key to one's afterlife. No Soul equalled no Forever After. She waved Ace closer and uncovered a jar. Inside was a dark, viscous substance with several wispy, oblong shapes floating inside. The Human couldn't help a small noise of wonder. But they were much smaller than she imagined.

Oh no.

"Please don't tell me those are from childr-"

"Pickles."

The word hung in the air for a beat.

"Whaaaaat?" Ace asked slowly.

"Okay, I know what you're thinking, and you're right. Cucumbers don't have proper Souls, only non-sentient Spirit energy. But! If you pickle them in Holy vinegar, they ferment into something stronger. It's... like the tofu of the Spirit world." Flip hurriedly explained.

"That's... not anything like I was thinking, but I am kinda relieved." Ace put a hand to her chest. She hated the idea that it might have been something less savory. "But if it's, you know... Holy... I don't think Dove can eat that."

"Right, but for the last week they've been steeping in just a little Nightmare residue to neutralize that." Flip tapped the jar. "I think that brings it to even ground. Prrrrobably."

Ace couldn't help but be a little skeptical, but for the sake of manners she figured it was worth a shot. She really wanted to make a cake that Dove could actually eat and gain nourishment from. And hey, if the pickle thing worked, maybe she could learn to make those regularly as a treat for him!

"Okay. Okay, let's do it!"

~

While it wasn't the most attractive color, the cake was sure to be tasty on the inside. It was formed as a traditional Swedish princess cake, with sponge cake, jam, and whipped creams all infused with the Soul substitute and covered in a thin layer of marzipan. A circle of croutons lined the bottom of the serving platter, and a birthday candle perched itself right in the middle. It was a question mark instead of a number.

"Alrighty. It's falling on midnight right... now. Send the text." Flip squeaked.

"On it!" Ace beamed happily.

She tapped out a message. No more than two minutes after hitting send, a gentle whirlwind of pale blossoms and feathers danced their way into the clearing. With a flourishing somersault from somewhere in the canopy, Dove planted himself next to Ace, long white locks whipping around him in dramatic, slow motion follicle dances.

"You called for me. Is everything alright?" he asked, red eyes glinting behind his spectacles.

"Yeah! Happy birthday, Dove!" Ace threw her arms around his waist for a sweet embrace, which made him wobble a bit where he stood.

No, he didn't really have a... birthday... per se... only a summoning day, but he never wanted to discourage her.

"Ah, thank you. How very kind." He gently laid a hand to her shoulder and glanced to Flip. "Hello to you, too. I assume you've been up to trouble."

"You know it, leggy." Flip winked.

"We made a cake." Ace tugged at his wrist excitedly.

Dove smoothed his suit unnecessarily. While he could eat, it was usually only a social courtesy. Nothing they could have made would really be terribly filling for someone of his class. Except... when he looked to the confection, it certainly seemed quite otherworldly.

"It looks like you have put a great deal of effort towards it, but if I may," He stooped to inspect it, daring to wonder. "What precisely is it made of?"

In a jumbled, excitable rush, Ace explained the process and cut him a slice. She looked so happy. There was no getting out of taking a bite.

"I see. Well. Yes. Down the hatch, then."

The first bite surprised him. He got the notes of jam, the moistness of the cake, and the whipped cream all at once. What's more, it was abating his hunger! However slight, there were still overtones of pickle, though. But if anyone ever asked, he would tell them he loved it. Which meant he would have to work through an acquired taste, because sure as the sunrise, Ace would be making him as many pickled snacks as she could dream up on every conceivable holiday from then on.

How... very fortunate.

@mus-brunneis