#I FORGOT THAT HOES WERE CHANGED TO HARVEST LEAVES NOW TOO

[nexus-nebulae]

i swear to fuck I've been breaking shear after shear on these leaves when all this time i could've been using a fucking hoe

[prof-peach]

If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!

[lil-pine-mha-drabbles]

Can u please write a Shoto fanfic (or could be for multiple characters) inspired by Murders by Miracle Musical? 😭😭😭 The line "all for nothing at all" hits very VERY hard for me. Can u make it as angst as possible too?

Todoroki Shoto x Murderer Reader

I listened to that song a bunch and still my brain didn’t process all of the story in that song, I hope that you will still enjoy this. I did work hard and I think I did ok, but I put my own spin on it.

TW: A LOT of blood, a few swear words, and heavy(ish) angst.

I got too into the storyline I forgot all the actual angst I was supposed to put in.

Here are some people that inspire me, @alpha-bnha-boys and @random-mha-thoughts

There are 2567 words to read below the line!

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Were the woods always this scary?

The leaves rustled and the wind whistled as it sifted through the dark branches. It would have been a peaceful day if it weren’t for the darkness that had been put over the woods. You looked up through the cracks in the leaves to see that the sky was beginning to darken as well. You picked up your axe and wiped of the blood of the animal laying dead on the ground, the blood pooling around your feet. The smell was enticingly sweet, the scent of blood always fascinated you. As you grew older you figured out your favorite type of blood was human, there was something about the fact that there was no fur to get matted when the liquid gushed out leaving you in excitement to see the beautiful color on the white or chocolate skin.

You may be a murderer but you didn’t discriminate. You hoped desperately to find another human in these woods to harvest but you would wait and kill others patiently. The hunt is what you enjoyed; the feeling of raw adrenaline as you ran after your prey.

You had a quirk, and that quirk was a shifting quirk. You could change into any animal; real or fantasy that you could think of, but... whatever you choose you keep the appetite and diet of that chosen creature for a week.

If say, you wanted to be a horse, you would eat grass for a week, even after shifting back, if you wanted to be a dragon, you would be eating meat and spewing fire all week.

But, if you shifted into a herbivore then into a carnivore, you would not only be eating meat AND plants, you would have double the hunger for blood. To most people that would horrify them, but since you drank blood like apple juice, you had no problem going on a killing spree to sedate your desire.

You picked up the blood in the buckets you brought and rang out the already mangled body over the container. Finally you grabbed your shovel and dug by a dried tree. Soil that has a calcium deficiency ate up bodies quickly. If you buried and animal under a tree, the roots would wrap around the white bones in haste to receive their needed vitamin.

After the burial was complete you picked up the two buckets and walked to your cabin.

Now, these woods were special. There was a fountain of mirrors which showed your true inner self but only few have seen it. Those who have are trapped in the woods forever to guard the fountain from others who wish to see themselves.

You sniffed the air and quietly put down your buckets when you smelled it. Fresh prey.

Someone was in the woods whether they’re lost or they’re looking for the fountain, you don’t care, you’ll drink them up either way and leave their bones to the trees of the forest.

You turned into a bunny and jumped over boulders and bushes to reach the heavenly smell. It was sweeter then any human you have ever smelled, but it was surrounded by two other people. Well, you could eat two and save the sweetest for later, like a dessert.

There was a girl and two boys walking with picnic baskets through your woods. The girl was wearing bright pink, easy to spot. One boy had green hair that just made you want to rip out and watch the blood fall from the open scalp.

The last was the sweetest one. His hair was red and white, he would be easy to track down. If he ran you could sniff him out, or look through the darkness for his bright self.

The girl would be easiest to lure, you thought. She would like to chase the cute little bunny, but would ultimately get eaten by the big bad wolf.

You hopped out in front of the girl and her eyes went wide as she squealed to the boys next her how cute you were.

“Hoe, I am gorgeous, not cute.” You thought to yourself bitterly.

You hopped a little father away and the white and red haired boy tried to stop her.

“Uraraka, it’s dangerous in these woods, I wouldn’t recommend chasing the bunny.” He looked through you like he knew everything about you and you shook with anticipation.

Oh, this would be fun.

“Look, it’s cold. It’s shaking so much... please, I gotta help it.” You rolled your eyes and hopped away looking like you were limping. Your sweetest prey just sighed and waved her off like he knew she would be killed by you. The girl smiled and ran after you while the boys waited on the path for her.

When you lead her far enough that the boys wouldn’t see your smallest dragon form, you changed rapidly, stretching over her, your head curled around to the other side so she couldn’t run. You let her scream and then bit.

The blood squelched in your mouth as the neck snapped and your eyes rolled back at how good the flavor was. You sucked and sucked until she was nothing but a dried carcass on the floor.

You flew to the trees in your terrifying black creature form. “The Black Chaos.” The only way to describe this form is it looks like the chupacabra. Black fur that looked like porcupine quills, tail covered in spikes, claws as thin and as sharp as the sharpest knife, and wings that could cut through the thickest tree trunks in your way.

The two boys ran as fast as they could to where they heard the scream only for the green one to start bawling about his love, and your sweet, sweet prey looked around to assess the situation. He looked at all the trees till he locked eyes with you. His left side covered it self in flames and his right put a field of ice around his now screaming friend. You smiled at him, teeth glistening with the blood of the girl. Your eyes stayed on him as you flew up and over the trees.

He breathed a small sigh of relief, thinking you had left until he heard his ice shatter and you fly out, holding his last friend’s neck between your teeth. He was paralyzed with fear while sucked all of the blood from his friend while you locked eyes.

He couldn’t maintain eye contact much longer and turned to the side to throw up. You changed your form into your human body and watched from a distance curiously. Why did he feel sick? You were only eating a meal. Did he dislike you?

You had never felt this feeling before. It was one of dread and confusion, maybe, guilt. You watched him spill his guts for a bit more before he wiped his mouth and looked at you sitting on the ground, legs crossed, head tilted like a confused child.

“Why do you come to my woods, red one?” You asked.

“Why did you eat my friends?!”

“I was just having dinner, what’s the big deal? I’d rather have meals then friends.” You stated to him plainly.

He looked at you funny.

“I’m not afraid of death. When will you kill me?”

“Rather bold of you to think I was going to eat my dessert on a full stomach.” You looked at your black claw-like nails in thought.

“Dessert?”

“Dessert, your starting to get on my nerves. I might just keep you as punishment.”

“Is this some kind of sick twisted flirting?!” Tears streamed down his face, his eyes puffy red, and the darkness around him made you almost purr he looked so gorgeous.

“Is it working?” This time you did purr, your words surprised the boy as he flopped down onto the floor in defeat. “Well?” You asked again.

“Maybe you should have come up like a normal person and asked me on a date instead of EATING MY FRIENDS!?”

“I can see why you’re mad, but what is ‘date’?”

“A date, like where you take someone you might want to marry out to dinner or something.”

“Like a courtship then?”

“How old are you?” He asked curiosity lacing his voice as you purred because of the lovely sound.

“I was born in 1823. Lovely time I must admit, until they tried to burn me at the stake because I was the only person with a quirk.” You rolled your eyes then smile suddenly at the boy in front of you.

“How,” he coughed, “how old were you when you were killed?”

“Oh dear me, no, I wasn’t killed! I escaped into these woods, of course!!” Your smile must’ve grown larger because he looked like he became more uncomfortable. “Sorry, I smile too much.”

“No, you don’t smile too much, I just became uncomfortable because I’m sitting right next to my best friends’ corpses. No biggie.” He said with what you believed was sarcasm.

“I remember the first time I sat next to my best friend’s dead corpse, my father killed her when he found us kissing behind the barn! He wasn’t pleased that his daughter was becoming a ‘whore’. But! I showed him, after years of abuse from that bastard, I sucked his brains right out of his empty eye sockets! Good times, good times!” You laughed bitterly. “You probably think I’m some freak right? A girl can’t like girls and guys, it’s immoral.”

“Well, that’s not why I find you a freak, but you’re fine. It’s called being a bisexual. It’s not super new but it’s definitely more widely excepted now days.” He smiled at you slightly which made you smile a bit.

You two talked through the night like that. He explained that his father was emotionally and physically abusing him, and he had problems with showing emotion because of it. He wasn’t exactly “okay” with you killing his friends but he seemed more excepting then anyone you could think of.

You’d been with Shoto for months now. He was forever forced to stay in the woods. (With you not letting him leave only to go back to his father, it could be quite difficult.)

You talked about everything and anything, he taught you how to cook meat and how to prepare a meal without drinking blood. You stayed in your human form for the rest of the time he was with you and the only animals you were ever allowed to transform into were herbivores, which made sense. You hadn’t eaten raw meat in months and you thought you were doing better.

You thought.

You warned him. “Full moon is coming, stay in the cabin when I’m out, don’t leave. I won’t be able to control myself.” You told him, over, and over, and OVER. He didn’t LISTEN.

You were out in your most dangerous form, the Black Chaos. Wings spread out you hunted without being able to stop yourself. This was the only time of year you physically couldn’t restrain yourself from hurting others, and killing, and hunting.

Over the past hundreds of years that you’ve roamed these woods, this was the only time you were scared of yourself. You hated the way you couldn’t control yourself when you smell the slightest bit of sweet blood.

You had hunted ninety-nine beasts in the forest, bears, wolves, bunnies, foxes, dogs, dear, frogs, if they had meat on them, they were dead. Every time you hunt like this you count how many you kill.

It’s always a hundred. Exactly.

The moon was falling fast and you felt yourself slowly come back but something wasn’t right, you had seen a few animals pass you but you had no intention of killing them, yet you only had ninety-nine.

What was your body waiting for?

You looked out towards where the sun was rising and felt yourself stay on edge. Whatever was happening, Black Chaos still held the rains of your body.

That’s when it hit. The sweetest scent, Shoto.

He must’ve left the cabin looking for you now that the sun had risen, you wanted to call out to him, scream, “run!!! Stay away!!” But no words left your mouth as your body surged forward, bounding on all fours, not even utilizing your wings.

You saw the head of red and white hair in the distance and you finally let out and agonizing scream. “RUN!!!” That was all you could say before your eyes turned red and he turned and ran.

The chase was on.

You could hear his breathy huffs as he ran you could hear the leaves crunch under his feet, his sobs that wracked his body as his tears fell. He was terrified, of YOU.

You were screaming and crying and trying to stop this mess but the thing inside you wouldn’t stop seeking blood, his blood.

Finally after twenty minutes of running and crying on both parts, he tripped and you loomed over him, your long black tongue lolled out and touched his face, caressing it sweetly, wiping his tears as his chest rose and fell rapidly. Not only from all of the running, but also the fear of you.

He always said he wasn’t afraid of death but after looking into your eyes, your eyes that held death, he realized something. He was afraid, but he was in love with death. He loved you. YOU. The one who comforted him and joked with him and learned how to be human from him.

“I love you!” He yelled out as your long tentacle tongue wrapped around his neck, your teeth inches away from biting down.

“I love you so much it aches! I want to live with you forever! I want to teach you to be human and hug you when you’re sad!” He cried and cried and watched as your own tears fell for your eyes.

Then you bit down.

You screamed in agonizing pain as your only love was ripped from you by yourself. You did this. Your human form came back to you and you slammed you fists on Shoto’s chest.

“I love you so fucking much!”

“I’m so sorry!!! I’m so sorry!! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry... I’m so—“ your laid your head on his chest and cried and cried and cried.

Shoto’s hands moved to your face and wiped your tears.

“I love you too. You’re wonderful.”

You hugged him tightly crying harder in relief. How was he alive?

“It’s cliché to say that your love woke me up, but look at where we are.”

You look around and a smile made it’s way to your face. You were in the Fountain of Mirrors. The water had already healed Shoto’s neck.

He had tripped into the shallow pool when you were chasing him and you were too worried about him to see that you were surrounded by the water.

“You’re a guardian now. Of the woods, I mean.” You laughed threw your sobs.

“I know. And I will be forever.”

And so, you and Shoto live in the forest of Murder for the rest of the days of the earth. You looked into the mirror to see yourself a beautiful swan, you were no longer Black Chaos, you were White Savior, helping all people away from the fountain instead of gobbling them up.

The End.

[aardvark-123]

Gensokyo Festival Day 12: The Gospel of Role-Reversal

A comedy about the Aki Sisters. If you read the title, which, well, why wouldn’t you, you should probably be able to guess what sort of hi-jinks they’ll be getting up to.

"Nice potatoes, Minorin. I bet they're not crunchy underfoot, though!"

As always, her sister's smug smile made Minoriko flush with rage. "Don't worry, Shizu-chan, I'm sure your face is crunchy underfoot."

"Well, my face actually looks good, unlike you with your fat, dimpled cheeks," said Shizuha.

"Much like your feet," pouted Minoriko. "If you think your feet are anywhere near as cute as mine, take off those plimsoles!"

"If you think you can crunch through autumn leaves and stomp in the mud with half as much beauty and majesty as I do, put some on!" snapped Shizuha.

"Beauty?! Majesty?! All you do is paint a bunch of stupid leaves! I call forth the nourishing bounty of nature!" Minoriko threw her basket of sweet potatoes at Shizuha's feet. "I bloody dare you to eat one of them and tell me I'm not the true queen of the autumn."

"Uncooked? Are you trying to poison me?!" Shizuha kicked the basket into the bushes, scattering sweet potatoes far and wide. "I've had it up to here with you! Come on!"

"I'll rip your face off, you good-for-nothing cow!" roared Minoriko, charging at Shizuha.

"I'll shove your hat up your bum, you ugly daughter of a mongoose!" roared Shizuha, charging at Minoriko.

"Stop it! Will you two please stop it?!" a voice boomed from on high.

The goddesses both jumped. They shuffled their feet guiltily as a plump woman marched towards them. She was crowned with a circlet of seaweed, and her short geta sandals appeared to be made of chocolate.

"Um," said Minoriko.

"Um," said Shizuha.

"This rivalry of yours has gone on far too long. I can't hear myself think!" the woman in chocolate sandals ranted. "Is it really that important which one of you is 'the best'? You both do an important job, and that should be enough for any goddess. I mean, I don't pick fights with Sakuyahime over who has the most important job..."

"You're a goddess too?" asked Shizuha.

"Of course. I am Uke Mochi, goddess of food," said the stranger proudly.

"Wow, really?! I always wanted to meet you!" Minoriko's eyes lit up with joy. "Please try one of my sweet potatoes! I'll go and get you one!"

"Wait just a minute, will you? I'm not here to eat potatoes." Uke Mochi's face was grave. "I'm here to put a stop to your feuding. The seasons have been messed up enough this year, and management don't want either of you causing more trouble."

The Aki Sisters gulped as one. "Management" meant Lord Izanagi and Lady Izanami, and they took everything seriously.

"For one week, you will both switch jobs. Shizuha, you'll be in charge of bringing about a good harvest; Minoriko, you'll be in charge of painting the leaves red. If either of you refuse, I shall place a curse on your respective food products for the next seven years," said Uke Mochi.

"A curse?" Shizuha grinned evilly. "I think I'll go and take a nap now. Have fun with your cursed potatoes, little sis!"

"Autumn leaves are also food," said Uke Mochi sharply. "Do you want to be run out of Gensokyo by starving insects, Shizuha?"

"Um..." Shizuha glared petulantly at her majestic plimsole-clad feet. "No."

"Good." Uke Mochi smiled. "While I'm here, want any Turkish delight?"

"Ooh, yes!" cried Shizuha, licking her lips.

"NO!" wailed Minoriko, who had heard which orifice Uke Mochi usually got her Turkish delight from.

The following day, Shizuha got up at the crack of dawn to fertilise the sweet potatoes.

Actually, no, that wasn't strictly true. Minoriko practically had to drag her out of bed and force-feed her strong coffee. After a miserable, hour-long breakfast, Shizuha finally ran out of excuses and trudged out into the back garden.

"Right..." Shizuha inspected the sweet potato patch. All she saw were rows upon rows of leaves in rich brown earth. "Um, Minoriko? Minoriko, where are the sweet potatoes?!"

"Underground!" Minoriko shouted through the kitchen window.

"Oh." Shizuha knelt beside one of the sweet potato plants and moved a few handfuls of earth out of the way. She soon uncovered a small tuber, dusted brown with mud. "Right, then. Hey, Minoriko, what the heck do I do now?!"

"Fertilise them!" replied Minoriko.

Shizuha gritted her teeth. "And exactly how am I supposed to do that, sister dear?"

"Use your imagination! You're a goddess!"

"I'm the goddess of AUTUMN LEAVES, not bloody fertilising and stuff!"

Minoriko stormed out of the cottage and thrust a wooden basket and a pair of battered gardening gloves into Shizuha's hands. "Use manure or leaf mulch or something. Make sure you work it into the soil, then water it thoroughly."

"Ah... Work it into the soil?"

"Stomp on it or something!"

Shizuha's eyes widened. "You do that BAREFOOT?!"

"I'm a harvest goddess, remember? I have divine feet," said Minoriko heavily.

"Well, if I do that, the potatoes will probably wither. Got any decent boots?" asked Shizuha.

"Um, no..."

Shizuha sighed. "A hoe, a spade, anything?"

"Oh, of course! They're in the shed."

"Good. Wait, we have a shed?!" Shizuha's eyes widened. "Where, exactly?"

Minoriko threw her hands up. "Just bloody look for it! I can't solve everything for you, can I?!"

"If you tried to solve everything for me, we'd both be dead!" snapped Shizuha.

"Shouldn't you be off painting the leaves, anyhow? They need a bit more orange and yellow."

"Leaves? Oh, my days, I forgot!" gasped Minoriko. "Um, how do I-"

"Figure it out, you lazy, good-for-nothing tosser!" Shizuha slung the basket over her shoulder and marched off in what she thought was the direction of the shed.

After a brief but frenzied search, Minoriko had managed to find some autumn-tone paints and a few rather tatty brushes under her sister's bed. She changed into a frilly paint-proof apron, packed herself a bento box and strolled out into the forest.

"Right... Leaves..." All around her, the trees were crowned with green and gold. A few dead leaves crunched beneath her feet, but most of them were still on the trees.

Did Shizuha also have to make the leaves fall? Minoriko had never bothered to ask her. It would probably add to her workload quite a bit, so Minoriko decided she wasn't going to bother. She still had to paint the things, though. How would that work...?

Minoriko approached a tall oak tree and flew up into the branches. She seated herself on a sturdy, knobbly bough, unhooked her hat from a low-hanging branch, rested her pots of paint on a flat bit and set to work.

The first few leaves did not end up looking good. Minoriko had painted them orange all over, leaving them plasticky and artificial-looking. She managed to blend her colours on the next half-dozen, but they still looked nothing like proper autumn leaves. Minoriko threw her paintbrush down onto the forest floor, plucked a few hairs from her head and set upon the next leaf with grim determination.

"Damn it, I give up..." A few leaves later, Minoriko had lost what felt like half her head to the sticky paint. Her hands and clothes were covered in the stuff.

"Bit early for that, ain't it? The tree's still alive." Komachi was leaning nonchalantly against a neighbouring tree.

"What? Um, no, sorry. I wasn't literally damning the tree..." said Minoriko sheepishly. "Say, you're a woman of the world, aren't you? Do you have any idea how I can paint leaves properly?"

"Eh?" Komachi squinted up into the tree. "Wait, you're the other one... Ain't your sister around?"

"Uke Mochi forced us to swap jobs for the week. I'm on leaf-painting duty," explained Minoriko.

Komachi burst out laughing. "That's so like her! I bet she gave you the old 'These orders come straight from the top!' routine too..."

Minoriko gasped. "You mean she might've lied?!"

"'Course she did! She means well, but she can't keep 'er nose out of no-one's business. Just like my own dear, sainted Lady Eiki," said Komachi. "You should go an' knock some sense into 'er. Someone needs ta."

"Ah... Perhaps not," said Minoriko, who had only one decent spell-card to her name. "Thanks for the advice."

Komachi shrugged. "Suit yerself."

Minoriko shifted to reach the next leaf. Her knee connected with the jar of dark orange paint, sending it tumbling down to earth in a wide orange splatter. After a moment's quiet contemplation, she put her head in her hands and cried.

"So..." said Minoriko.

"I would not call that a runaway success," sighed Shizuha.

A long, miserable week had passed. The sisters were stuffing themselves with sweet potatoes in front of the fire. Minoriko was orange, yellow and red all over after a couple more paint spillages, but even she had to feel sorry for Shizuha, who had two big holes in her foot following a rather nasty accident with the garden fork.

"Painting leaves really is hard..." Minoriko sighed as well. "I don't know how you manage it."

"A lifetime of practice, I suppose." Shizuha took another sweet potato and chewed it thoughtfully. "How do you cope with all that gardening, though?! There's so much to dig up and bury and water and fertilise and pull up and- and it's just so incredibly, mind-numbingly boring!"

"Probably a lifetime of practice here, too," said Minoriko. "I don't even know which one of us has the most important job any more. If we're going by difficulty, though, yours is definitely the hardest."

"Oh, no, gardening is way harder than painting!" cried Shizuha.

"Well, it's easy for me, because I've learned how to do it. Much like you with your painting, right?" said Minoriko.

"I suppose so..." Shizuha glowered at her perforated foot. "There's one thing I'm sure we can agree on, though."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Uke Mochi needs to die in a fire."

Minoriko smiled. "I think Susano-o's ahead of you there..."