#First time I've written something about Valen

[bippityboppity69]

Valen/Merlin-Scouting

A request from anonymous for Valen/Merlin smut! I made him quite cheeky~

“Magister, would you like to scout with me?”

Looking at Valen, catching a look in his purple eyes that didn’t match the gentle smile. Catching onto the real reason behind this “scouting” mission. Standing up as they nodded, reassuring Hammie and Chippy that they would be fine.

“Plus there’s yours truly~” Valen stated as he slung an arm over Merlin’s shoulders. “I take my duty as the Magister’s guard very seriously.”

"I think I’ve saved you more than you’ve saved me.”

“That’s because I take care of threats before you have even seen them.”

Shaking their head with a chuckle as they walked beside the Heroic Order knight. He sent one last promise to keep Merlin safe back as the two left the camp. An arm slipping around Merlin’s waist as soon as they were out of sight.

“Stay close Merlin.” Valen whispered as he pulled them close. “Need to make sure you stay safe.”

“Uh-huh. Certainly for no other reason.”

A fake gasp left him, “You suspect me of having ulterior motives?”

Merlin raised an eyebrow at him., wondering how long he would keep this up. They were both a fair distance from the camp. Far enough that they couldn’t hear their other companions.

Getting tugged behind a tree, a sultry smile on Valen. “You’re right, I do.”

Merlin wrapped their arms around his shoulders, “We’ll have to be quiet.”

Hands stroked up the side of their waist, “How long do you think we have?”

“Less than you think.”

Pulling him into a passionate kiss, fingers threading through brown hair. A groan leaving Valen as they tugged his bottom lip between their teeth. Hands grabbed their robe, hiking the fabric up around their waist.

Nimble fingers slid past their underwear, down between their legs. Valen pressing kisses down their throat. Teeth tugging at the ties that held the front of their robe shut. Grinning up at Merlin as he nipped their sternum.

“Ha~ That’s not fair.”

“Oh, it is perfectly fair.” Valen spoke. “Especially with how you’ve been teasing me.”

Merlin gave a soft moan as they felt his fingers slide inside. Pressing close to Valen as he claimed their mouth. A startled squeak leaving as he grabbed their thighs and picked them up. Pushing them back against the tree, grinning at their flushed face.

“Just remember, we have to be quiet~” He teased as Merlin wrapped their legs around his waist. “You said so yourself.”

“You sir-“ Breath hitching as he gently pushed inside. “-are a scoundrel.”

A shaky quiet laugh left Valen as he leaned against them. Purple eyes, dark with lust as he rolled his hips forward. “A scoundrel? Why do you think that?”

“Y-yes.” Merlin panted as they dug their hands into his shoulders. “A scoundrel because yo-“

Words cutting off with a muffle moan as Valen snapped his hips up. Falling into a rapid pace, hands tightly gripping their thighs. Strong enough to leave handprint shaped bruises.

“Maybe I am a scoundrel.” He teasingly said, face flushed as he leaned close to their lips. “But I’m your scoundrel~”

Merlin couldn’t help their smile, “Then my scoundrel better hurry up before the hamster brigade comes after us.”

Teeth nipping their collarbone as a twinkle appeared in purple eyes. Valen kissing them as he moved his hands to their hips. Rapid shallow thrusts causing short harsh breaths to leave them.

Tightening their grip on his shoulders as Merlin moved against him. Burying their face against his chest as a muffled moan left them. Valen hissing out a quiet swear. Both of them basking in the moment, panting as they held one another.

“Feel okay?”

Merlin nodded, shivering as he pulled out and set their feet back on the ground. Holding onto him for a few moments before letting go, smoothing out their robe. Brushing their hair back, combing out the leaves. Using some magic to clean themselves up.

“Well, I think we made good time on our scouting mission.” Valen spoke with a cheeky grin. Offering Merlin his arm. “Shall we?”

Grabbing his arm, “Very well, lead us back…my scoundrel.”

“You never told me why I’m a scoundrel.”

“You already know why.”

“Do I?” He asked innocently before snickering at their expression. “Yeah, I do.”

[mirai-e-jump]

TV Life, 1/31/2025 Issue ft. Shoji Kohei & Saito Ryu (translations below)

Publication: January 15, 2025

GavvPare! Vol.10 (Shoji Kohei)

-I had to control my racing heart during the transformation scene…-

Playing the role of Kamen Rider Vram and Granute Lage 9 is me, Shoji Kohei! As the third Kamen Rider to appear, I hope to bring excitement to this production. Everyone, it's a pleasure to meet you!

After appearing in the 2020 Super Sentai production "Mashin Sentai Kiramager" four years ago, I get to transform for a second time. It wasn't just for this production, but I had some hopeful thoughts of "how nice it'd be if I could make a guest appearance in another tokusatsu production in some way someday," still, I would've never thought that I'd be appearing as a regular cast member, so I was both incredibly surprised and grateful. It's been quite some time since I've done a transformation scene, and while I had to act out my performance in a "flat" way, I myself was still extremely happy. I had to control my racing heart and keep my composure as I performed (laughs).

My first appearance was as "the man with the hat," and I think I was able to convey a sense of mystery through his outfit. Still, I didn't want to be too dependent on my appearance, so I thought about how I could add a hint of suspicion with something like a gesture or action. I had never played a role where I wore a hat before, but I realized that I could add variety to my performance by putting my hand on the hat's brim, or by using the brim to hide or reveal my eyes, so it became another learning experience for me. On the flip side, after transforming, Vram's visuals are more poppin than I would've imagined, with lots of pudding and caramel sauce dripping, which makes him look very adorable. While retaining his natural strength, Vram's fighting style and weapons are different from Gavv and Valen's, so I think you'll be able to feel his unique appeal through these aspects as well. Vram's role will be to speed up the story going forward. Please look forward to seeing how he'll interact with Shouma and Hanto, as well as Sachika and everyone else. If you look forward to it, I'll be happy and celebrate with three cheers!

Q: What do you want to accomplish this year?

A: I love movies, so I'd like to build my career as an actor by appearing in films outside of tokusatsu productions. And, I'm actually writing short stories. Recently, I've been brushing up on what I've written in the past as well as writing new pieces, and I hope to be able to release them as my own work at some point. Please call me "Shoji Sensei" from now on (laughs).

Off Shot: A photo from my first day of filming at the movie theater. When I wear his difficult to pull off outfit along with the big mouth, it makes it look like I've got a beer belly. Going forward, I'll be more involved in the story, so please support Vram! _

BakuDAYS Vol.22 (Saito Ryu)

-I gave a passionate and rugged performance typical of Jou-

A little boy named Itsuki-kun became Jou's apprentice in episode 40, where I feel that I was able to depict Jou's growth as he continued to take on a variety of challenges as a Boonboomger. Towards the end of the episode, Ishiro says, "He's lacking in coolness. Still, Jou's the most authentic hero among the Boonboomgers," so I was determined to play the role in a passionate and rugged way to match that line. Then, in episode 43, Ishiro's betrayal is revealed. Since Jou's a character who honestly expresses his inner feelings, I put alot of anger into my performance, wanting to speak for the viewers whose thoughts were probably, "No way, Ishiro is…?"

2024 was a year where I ran alongside Boonboomger itself. By taking my role seriously throughout the lengthy period of a year, I learned the basics of acting, and I feel that I have more ways of expressing myself. Boonboomger will continue into this year, so I'd like to make sure that everyone enjoys watching it until the final episode. Even after Boonboomger ends, I'd like to continue to challenge myself with various types of work so that people will think, "Ah, BoonBlack's on TV again!" And, just like how ToQ1gou and GokaiBlue appeared in Boonboomger, I hope that the Boonboomgers will appear in future productions. When that time comes, I want this to be a show that'll make people think, "Boonboomger was alot of fun!" and, "I guess I'll watch it since the Boonboomgers make an appearance." For that reason, I'll do my best to run towards the end at full speed! Along with the future that awaits them, I'd be happy if you'd watch the six Boonboomgers taking control of their wheels until the very end!

Q: What's something the "Police Officer" wants to patrol?

A: Attraction spots in Tokyo. When my hometown friends come to Tokyo to visit me, I really can't think of any places to take them (laughs). I'd like to patrol and search for niche and wonderful places that only someone who lives in Tokyo would know about!

BakuageSHOT: Episode 44 was the first episode Director Miyazaki directed, so everyone was more motivated than usual. Although it was a serious episode, filming it was alot of fun! There'll be more raging developments from here on out. Everyone, don't miss it!

[v-writes]

Howdy! I'm Valen!

I started this side blog ages ago as an attempt to have a place to post what I had written, and despite being able to reread the posts talking about posting something, and knowing what I was referring to at the time, this mostly became a place I reblogged writing advice. but now that I've started writing more again and posting fanfiction, I'd like a tumblr to link that is writing specific.

main: @valen-but-not-tine

ao3: valen_but_not_tine

current wips:

DPXDC

Best Foot Forward

ch 3/? posted, in progress, accidental summoning, no one knows what's going on, but they are figuring it out as the go (or trying to.)

Damiko (working title, may be edited before posting)-entirely in my drafts, almost more fanfic of a fanfic than just fanfic (thank you the price of peace by joylessnightsky and between a rock & a dragon's egg by haleswallows.

currently planned at either 3-4 chapters, tho with other side ideas in mind, because it is almost one long scene I don't want to start posting until it's all done, but ch 1 is complete 1200ish words (pending edits that I won't do until the rest is done) and ch 2 is the main thing I'm writing on atm, as of rn (1/19/25) it's 3700ish words.

tho really I have a much longer idea more clearly inspired by those two fics in mind, i.e. fantasy royalty au with politically arranged marraige, but I want to get a fic that is more easily finishable out there first, before my obsessed with the fantasy political intrigue ass can go fully insane.

TNG

nothing currently in wip status but wanted to shout out the other main fandom I could write fanfic for, esp as "what I am interested in writing fanfic for" is not directly related to how insane about a piece of media I am. (if it were RWBY would be top of this list)

[booksandwords]

Outwards II by Wendigo

Read time: <1 Day Rating: 5/5

The quote: Selvaggia believes my time in the city has had a negative influence on my sense of duty. She's wrong. I've always harboured a strong disdain for the rules. — Mark Koch

It feels like there is a decent gap between volume i and ii. Mark and Stefan are lightly more comfortable in their relationship and their dynamic. But people are noticing. Selvaggia, Mark's older sister, sees something and makes not so idle threats. Stefan gets jumped and accused of trading himself for favouritism (look its not wrong). It all culminates in Stefan, Mark and Boos heading out on an arms drop to prove Stefan's loyalty to The Colony. One thing that has changed dramatically is the unhealthiness of Mark and Stefan's relationship it feels more balanced now. It's a subtle change but its there I really should stop applying contemporary morals to fictional post-apocalyptic situations.

Wendigos illustrations contain a wonderful amount of depth. In this volume we get to see more softness and less violence and aggression. Boos in particular is so endearingly drawn, you can't help but like him. And his blushes are so, so pretty and his trying to smother his crush is written so plainly on his face. On siblings Mark and Selvaggia while they are illustrated in a way that shows that they are clearly siblings similarities in their facial expressions and hair colouring Selvaggia is not simply a female version of Mark. In some ways, she is drawn with harsher and stronger lines than he is. Which works well given her position as a woman in The Colony. I'm pretty sure Mark's hair is longer than hers which I truly appreciate.

Something I missed on my last read, Boos is considered an innocent by the residents of The Colony one of only two who have that label (Valens is the other). That makes that whole scene in the van even more interesting to me, Mark clearly trusts him and his trust causes Stefan to engage. Boos's little touch of jealously just made me smile. Though I do wonder if Mark knows about that little crush and was goading him. Because seriously that would be totally in character. Random little detail from the character profiles, Boos is a redhead look that may become useful later.

Final note volume ii has the most frustrating ending I've read in a graphic for a long time. This is not the first time I read this. I read it right around when it was released and had to wait a couple of years for the next volume. It was a frustrating and long wait, a month would have been too long. So just know there is that for you to look forward to. Don't let it put you off it is a brilliant end but oh for those of us who had to wait it was a lot.

[scary-ivy]

Very mixed feelings about this...on one hand, it's my golden birthday, the day I turn the same number of years old as the date I was born on (and it's one of my favorite numbers too). And because of that I always had high standards for myself when I turned this age. I thought I would have at least started to get my life together at this point, and of course I haven't yet...but then again, everyone feels this way.

My whole generation feels like we're just treading water and not accomplishing anything and not growing up. And so sometimes I have to look at myself and realize what I've done.

I've half-finished two novels, the first of which I started when I was 14. I've drawn 3 pages of a webcomic I swore I was going to make. I made a Ritchie Valens tribute album, which I had been thinking about doing for 4 years. I've written so many short stories and songs. None of these things are really finished or high-quality works, but I haven't been idle. I've done so much, and someday soon I will do something at least good enough to get a tvtropes page and maybe a patreon, and that's all I really want. I have the skill to make my dreams come true, even if I haven't quite got it yet. And in the meantime, I've made so many new friends, which is something I never though I'd have.

It's alright to not have everything figured out by the time you're 25, I've still got 30 to look forward too, and who knows what I'll have done by then.

i'm turning 25 in an hour and 30 mins...

[books--andt]

Zenith (The Androma Saga) by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

Hey everyone! It's been a hot minute since I've last written to you guys. I haven't read a whole lot, only 3 books so far this year, but I'm ok with that. I read for pleasure, and for myself after all!

So Zenith... If you don't know what this book is about, here's a brief synopsis... It follows our main character, Androma or Andi as she's usually called by her team of marauders. Andi and her team get caught up in a quest to save the general's son, but along the way, past relationships resurface, and a war that they didn't want to get caught up in threatens to swallow them whole.

**This review may contain some very small details of the book, which could be viewed as spoilers if you haven't yet read it**

Now... to be honest I had very (and I mean very) low expectations going into this book. If you've been with me for a while, you'll know I read one of Lindsay's books called The Murder Complex and I haaaaaaated it. I am also not the biggest fan of Sci-fi, but I'll touch on that later. Furthermore, I wasn't sure how the writing and story telling, this being Sasha's first book, would turn out combined with the bad experience I had with Lindsay's previous book. However, I'm happy to say that my expectations were exceeded!!!! I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and I did not see the plot twist coming.

However I do have some problems with this book. Firstly, the characters. Androma is a cut and paste version of Celaena Sardothien. This makes me really sad because I love Celaena! To me, she's the perfect amount bad ass and sensitive. She's a well rounded character. She has flaws. Andi on the other hand, is a bit... How shall I put it... One dimensional? She has this whole "I'm a fierce af warrior, I'm the Bloody Baroness and I will kill and destroy you. I want to see you die!!!" but then on the other hand she has that fake sensitive side, where she mourns the losses of those she's killed and views herself a monster. This is just kind of confusing I guess.

And Dex... he was just too cliche for me. It seemed Sasha and Lindsay were trying too hard to make him that "handsome and strong, misunderstood-hiding-secrets-lover-boy" type of character. When he and Androma had their moment halfway through the book, when they basically mutually say that they've had their time but they can no longer share a life together, I was like whaaa? Andi has found out the truth that he was keeping from her, and they obviously have some sort of feelings for each other, yet they don't want to give it a second chance?

My least favourite character was actually Gilly. Sorry, but I don't think a 12 year old cutesy-on-the-outside, but hungry-for-death-and-murder on the inside, is realistic whatsoever. I don't read many books with younger siblings or characters in them, so when I do I'm very picky. I hate when they are represented as annoying. And to me, that's how Gilly was.

One of my favourite characters was actually the AI, Alfie. I found myself lolling when he and Memory were having their little flirty moments. I hope we see more of him in the sequel, although I am a bit confused as to why he was destroyed? Like, Valen has altered DNA? So his mind controlling ability, or whatever, isn't natural then? Or was the altered DNA the Zenith thing that Nor created? So Is Valen actually not evil, and is just being controlled by Nor???? Someone explain.

I liked reading from so many different POV's. It made the pacing of the book quite fast and you got to know these 6 (there were 6 POV's) characters better. I actually liked reading into Nor and Klaren, because you didn't fully know what was going on until the end of the book. So I thought that was well done. I didn't have a favourite POV to read from. They were all pretty neutral for me.

I thought that the writing was good. I couldn't tell when it was Sasha or Lindsay writing, which was actually something I was looking for all while reading. I feel like co-authoring brings about many new challenges; what if you don't like how the other author wrote or changed something but they love it? It's great that their words and ideas flowed.

I do think however that there were some repetitive writing styles, specifically these poetic descriptions. They weren't bad in my opinion. It's just nice to see some variety.

Overall I thought this book was really heavy on cliche YA tropes. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm trash for certain tropes, but they have to be done well. Does that makes sense?

I was reading some reviews of Zenith on GoodReads and my god!!! People were being so harsh!! I understand that this book isn't amazing, but sheesh people! I read one person say they think Sasha should finish College before writing another book. Like how rude???? To any young aspiring author out there- YOU do NOT have to put your writing on hold until after you finish your education. Writers write. That's how they practise. Of course, you will learn and get better with an education, but it's not like thats your golden ticket to start writing a book.

For the most part, other reviewers agreed that Androma tried too hard to be like Celaena, but other critiques were that she was boring and one dimensional. Some said the first half of this book seemed more edited than the second half, and after pondering this I can say that I agree. However there was a lot more action in the second half, so not as much room for the fluffy poetic descriptions.

Another critique was that the book itself didn't need to be as long as it was. I definitely think there were some parts that shouldn't have been included. There were like 50 pages left when Andi and her gang went to that Ucatoria ball and I just felt like it was an odd time to be having a ball, and introducing new characters, so late into the book, and nothing was even resolved! I guess, that created the climax, and the last few chapters of the book were super short and easy to fly through. One part that, in my opinion, should have definitely been edited out, was when Andi is reunited with her mother. Firstly, her father had previously said she was ill or something, so that was confusing. Secondly, it seems that it was just put in place to show how bad of a relationship her and Andi had together. That could have easily been done with some sort of flash-back chapter. In fact, the whole family dynamic seemed really strange to me. When Andi is first reunited with her father, she has these mixed emotions, about wanting to be strong in front of him, and also wanting to crumble and be held by him. When she meets with her mother, she is so infuriated that she threatens to skin both her mother and father alive, and hang their skin like a flag from her spaceship. I mean!!! What!!!!!

Something else I need to touch on is the fact that so many people were offended that Sasha was handed this opportunity "on a silver platter". Sasha makes youtube videos in the booktube community, so obviously, she has a following and can easily get her voice out there. I have to admit, when I heard they were # 1 New York Times Bestselling Authors, I rolled my eyes. If every one of Sasha's subscribers bought her book, then of course she'd become a bestselling author! But I'm not upset about this. Sasha loves books! Her youtube channel (Abookutopia) is dedicated to that. To me, I have so much more respect for someone who's written a book from the youtube world, if they actually genuinely enjoy reading and writing. I would much rather read a book from a youtuber who makes videos around bookish topics, rather than some beauty guru or daily vlogger. So there. Get over the fact that her following probably had a big hand in getting her and Lindsay that title.

Writing is a process. And it takes time to find your voice. I think this book read too much like a knock-off Throne of Glass book. I'm kind of confused with myself because in a way, I think that's why I liked it?? LOL. I'm not a sci-fi person, but this book didn't really read like a sci-fi book. It was totally more fantasy just set in space.

I think that's all I can say for now.

3.5-4/5 Stars.

If you are getting into Fantasy/Sci-fi (that isn't super heavy on the Sci-fi lol) then I'd really recommend you read this! If you have read tons of YA fantasy and are looking for something different, well, this may not be the book for you.

Thanks so much for reading! What are your thoughts on Zenith???

- T