#I can also see this happening with every holiday sans Halloween | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

speedytimemachineflower · 2 years ago

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Its the last day of 2022, and usually on new years I feel quite disappointed, liked I am missing out on something, but this is the first celebration in a little while where I feel good. I even went on a date today! It was great we went to Coronado and had a very romantic evening, It was nice feeling alive again. Its been nice feeling alive again these past few weeks. Last new years was my worst one yet. I had never felt so alone in my life. The guy I thought I was dating didnt want to see me on the holiday because his family had friends over, and when I asked him how his news years was, he said it was boring and uneventful, not to mention the guests left around 6pm. He wanted to spend his new years without me. What was even worse, the next day when I saw him, we fucked in the backseat of his car. It was the last time I would see him for six months, because he practically abandoned me three weeks later.

Theres much to the story, this is only a simple generalization, but he is gone. Blocked, exiled. We ended up spending the last summer together, fucking and whatever kids do. It was exciting and sexy. But so unfulfilling. I got to experience the adult pleasures of late adolescence, but I was missing the justification or the emotional fulfillment. It was fun in the moment, and I am glad I did it. It is the type of shit you can only do at 19, and I am sure I will look back on it at 90 and laugh my ass off, and miss when everything pointed up so to speak. But yeah this guy, he would be there for me, but never really follow through, he was a huge dickhead and I cannot believe I let him around so long.

Although there wasnt a label to break off, I dumped him earlier this month in a coffee shop. After the summer, we continued to speak, we never spoke of a label, but we went to disney and all this coupley shit that it was hard to chalk it up to just friends, or friends who fuck. He left for school, and I sent him things. We would call about every other day, and sometimes have phone sex. It actually felt like maybe we would try to be for real again.

There was always issues with his sexuality, and the fact that there was a lot of it. He never seemed to be able to calm himself down. He had an old girlfriend, they never fucked or anything, that I know of. They happened to be going to the same school, which always bothered me. Especially when his entire social group revolved around her. His friends, were her friends, and every event or speical holiday away from home they spent together.

The first real crack of reality that hit me hard enough was on Halloween. He drove her and her friends around the entire night. God it still makes me angry. He admitted that he still liked her at one point, and no matter how much he said that it would go nowhere it still hurt that he was always choosing her over me.

The second was when he said that they had gone to San Francisco, alone.

The third was when he returned for thanksgiving break and didnt even bother to see me.

After that I stopped calling him, it was time to let the shitbag go.

A month passed. Three missed calls and a few messages later he got the hint.

We work at the same sandwich shop when hes in town, funny enough he helped me get the job back in september, so i decided as a preparatory measure to talk things out so it wouldn't be so awkward.

We met at a coffeeshop, and I basically said my piece and goodbye and left.

He makes me so upset, still. I remember the times when it felt like magic when we first were going out, I cannot believe that was almost two years ago.

Anyways. I have been seeing a couple guys and its making me feel better. I mean there is no sex chemistry at all, no magic like my ex, which I am sure is just cause i havent found right oens yet, like I am not attracted to them, so that feels pretty bad. But its nice getting out and trying things on for size so to speak. Also the attention feels nice. Plus a night on the town with a guy is always exciting.

It makes me feel weird. It is odd to miss the sex with my ex when I am kissing these other guys. These guys are great, but so... flat.

There is this one guy though, I work with him. I have never been so attracted to someone before. He's gorgeous, 6'5 blonde, with a pretty smile, and a good heart. He likes his family, doesnt party too much, and laughs at my jokes, bit of a cynic side to him i can sense, but he seems ashamed of it.

I definitely have a crush on him. I work with him one day a week, and I look forward to it. it is the highlight of my week. I have my dates on the weekend with the other guys, but my friday shift with caden, its my favorite. Guys come into the shop and ask me out alot, once in front of my ex, three in a row, that was a karma filled day. People at work call me the rizzler, and talk about how I should mess with the guys who ask me out as a social experiment because it happens so much. It makes me feel weird because I feel like caden is so out of my league like I know none is perfect, but he just is like my dream guy, I literally have envisioned a guy like him in my dream guy scenario, what I have been looking for. He is quiet, but not mean, and so sweet. Sorta awkward too. Socially, hes sorta pegged in the upper class popular arc but not to be corny, hes just different. Its just strange because everyone at work has painted me into this romance aficionado, and I am sure caden is aware of it, but its funny because in reality I want him. I have no idea if he has feelings for me, god I doubt it, but I would love to have the opportunity to get to know him. I want to ask him out, but Im on the fence. I havent told anyone about my feelings for him, and I want to keep it that way. I dont know.

I think 2023 is shaping up to be great and quite interesting, i can feel it. I needed to get rid of my ex, and I dont think I should talk about him anymore. Im working on music, art, myself, school, boys, and a job. I might even move to Kansas next year if my friend gwen would be open to let me stay with them in their home.

My wish for 2023, or wishes, hell my three lucky wishes for 2023 are that I am able to find my light again, my passion, my existence. My whole, and holiness. I would love to find someone romantically who just works with me, through and through no settling, I am TIRED of it. I dont want to make any sacrifices in my relationships ANYLONGER. I want good sex, good emotions, good vibes, and good hearts, and fun times! and I guess my third wish, is to keep my friendship with Chista, I love her to death. She is my rock, and my best friend in the whole wide world. She is applying to colleges in the fall, I am going to miss her if she goes far away, she is my everything. I think it also would be cool to write a hit song, something that goes viral on tiktok. Ooh, and paint more again! Also for my family to keep our house like we were able to this year, It would be nice to see them less stressed.

This year has been an absolute rollercoaster. And its been the end of an era. That feels like it started yesterday, but that was almost two years ago! The last two years have flown by, and I am ready for my next chapter universe. I love you, I believe in you, and thank you thank you, thank you! for always looking out for me and being on my side, I love you god, or universe, jesus whateva! Thank you for givning me the strength to get through this year, it was the hardest since 2019, and I thank you so much for helping me. I know it was looking rough last spring, and I almost gave up on you, but thank you for pulling me through, thank you thank you thank you. I love you-

<3 Heather

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hetamavi · 4 years ago

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Is America and England’s Relationship Romantic?

Introduction

For this analysis, I’ll be determining whether or not there’s anything romantic between America and England. In doing so, I’ll go into the potential for canonization and tie things into how romance in general is handled in Hetalia.

Because America and England have different perspectives, it’s easier to break things down by giving them each their own section. England will be covered first, followed by America, and then there’ll be a paragraph over whether or not it’s likely they’ll ever get in a canon relationship. Credit for these translated panels goes to Hetarchive.

England’s Crush

England’s side is the less ambiguous side. He’s attracted to America.

Before getting to the strips used for evidence of that claim, his broader behavior will be covered. Nothing about this broader behavior is overtly romantic, but it’s something that can be contextualized by the evidence of romantic feelings presented afterwards. The way he usually acts may not be explicitly romantic, but it is influenced by those kinds of feelings.

When England makes his first major appearance in the manga, his character is established through him harshly criticizing America’s plan against the Axis. Contrasting him with America is used to get across what kind of personality England has and also emphasizes their relationship as an important one. This is also how he’s later introduced in World Stars. Throughout the series, he insults America, teases him, and is over-the-top in criticizing things like his films. It’s not always unwarranted, but that doesn’t make it any less true that antagonizing America is something England seems eager to do at every opportunity he gets.

But antagonism isn’t all that he throws America’s way. America is on the receiving end of some of England’s harshest behavior. But when England is ready to put his pride aside and be at his most vulnerable, it’s usually when America is involved. When England thinks there’s an opening for him and America to grow even a little closer, he’s going to take that opportunity. He’s opened up to America about how hard the Fourth of July is on him, he was clearly touched over America offering to share his rations with him, he attempted to spend his “dying” moments telling him how he actually feels about him, he offered to be his friend instead of a whale…the list goes on.

America isn’t unique in being attacked by England. He also isn’t unique when it comes to getting to see England’s more vulnerable side. But he is unique in that both of these sides of England are aimed at him frequently and intensely. England will rip apart an American film to the extent that his behavior is funnier than insulting. He’ll also come running with Valentine’s Day chocolate when a third party tells him America wanted some from him. England wants attention and affection from America. And he wants it to an extent he’d be embarrassed to admit to. That mixes together with the fact that though England likes to insult America as being childish, he actually isn’t entirely above America’s antics and America often brings out that side of him where he doesn’t want to try so hard to be a mature adult.

England is fiercely protective of his pride. He doesn’t want to be hurt by rejection and he likes feeling mature in comparison to America. But his own wild side thrives off of America’s energy, especially when he’s feeling competitive, and he wants to be closer to him.This leads to a pattern of him usually being antagonistic towards America up until he thinks America would accept his honest feelings in which case, he becomes more honest and vulnerable. With that brief overview of England’s overall attitude towards America covered, it’s time to contextualize that behavior with evidence that the feelings England usually tries so hard to hide are romantic feelings. The first thing I’m going to bring up is, probably not surprisingly, Buon San Valentino. In Buon San Valentino, alongside the main plot that was taking place with Germany and Italy’s relationship, England was given his own short side-story that touched upon his romantic life.

This is the number one moment that’ll get brought up in any discussion around UsUk in canon and for good reason. This moment is canon confirmation of England’s crush. The counterargument someone might bring up is that Valentine’s Day isn’t always between lovers, but that argument doesn’t hold up well at all here. First, this is a side-plot to a larger plot concerning Germany believing Italy is in love with him. It’s an explicitly romantic plot where the only other notable deviations from it are concerning Hungary and Austria’s relationship and Prussia being lonely before overhearing Austria looking for a book on comforting Germans who have failed at romance. If this interaction were meant to be platonic, Himaruya would have done something to indicate that’s the case to distinguish it from that larger plot. He didn’t do that. Instead, England shows up blushing and stuttering to give America chocolate. Second of all, years later in another strip on Valentine’s Day, Himaruya described his understanding of European and American Valentine’s Day as being mainly between lovers, a description that matches up with how he portrayed the holiday in BSV.

The next strip is also really explicit in expressing England’s attraction towards America. This is a scene from the 2011 April Fools Day Event.

Not much to add on here. America was blackmailed into wearing a very provocative outfit. England responded by awkwardly complimenting him. Judging by the motion lines next to his outstretched arm and America pulling back, he might also be grabbing at the apron.

The last strip I’ll go into is “The Long-Deep Awaited Emotion is Ruined”. Explaining jokes aren’t fun, but it’s necessary here. Near-death love confessions are a very common trope. This scene initially seems to be playing that trope straight, England starts by admitting he doesn’t hate America. He then tries to say something else, something that seems much more significant. The build-up is there, but England is cut off before America can hear him out to the end. Then comes the subversion of expectations which are the heart of the joke. Instead of being upset, America celebrates England’s death knowing it’ll wake him back up. All the tension that was previously there is instantly gone.

This scene was absolutely meant to be an attempted love confession. All the build-up matches that of a love confession. Death swooping in to shut England up before he can say anything that’ll shake up the status quo of the series matches up with a love confession. The entire joke is that it looks like a classic death bed love confession up until expectations are deliberately subverted. Romance isn’t at the forefront of their relationship or anywhere near it for that matter. But England has had moments where he’s made it clear his feelings go beyond their usual platonic interactions. If he thinks America is initiating something romantic with him (Buon San Valentino), he’s ready to reciprocate. If America is in a revealing outfit (April Fools Day 2011), England is probably taking in the view. And if England has nothing else to lose (The Long-Awaited Deep Emotion is Ruined), he’s going to at least try to tell America what his real feelings are - even though maintaining the status quo of the series won’t let him. Aside from these moments, since he’s often not willing to be honest in what he wants, these feelings are a large part of why he swings back and forth between constantly antagonizing America and showing his softer side in hopes of becoming closer to him.

America’s Ambiguous Feelings

Now that I’ve laid out the evidence showing that England is attracted to America, it’s time to go into America’s perspective. Or, in the context of romance and England, his lack of a given perspective. To an extent, America’s behavior parallels England’s. Instead of being overly critical and grumpy towards England, he teases him. He makes comments towards him that will get him riled up, prank calls him, and comes up with schemes to get him to do what he wants -even if those schemes get England angry- instead of being more honest with him.

Also like England, he clearly cares for the other. And he cares a lot. He chose England above everyone else to pair up with for his Halloween costume contest, England was listed as one of only two friends of his in an early character description of America, and as much as he complains about having to help England home when he’s drunk, he still does it.

Here’s where a major difference is. Not only is America comparatively lacking in moments where he completely drops the teasing in order to be honest with his feelings, he’ll deflate emotionally heavy moments that England initiates. If England is ready to open up about his feelings, America is ready to shoot him down and laugh things off. A few examples include America shooting down England’s friendship offer, responding to England’s complaints of being cold with “I won’t do anything for you”, pretending to be happy about England dying so he’d wake back up. This combines with how his usual tactless behavior is used to obfuscate his actual feelings like what happened with the costume contest.

Bringing this all back around to the romance part of their relationship, it’s hard to tell where America stands. There’s not really any concrete evidence that he likes England back and he doesn’t engage with England’s more forward moments.

There is some evidence he might not think of England as attractive.

When France brought him to a cafe, one that he didn’t give America any details on, he seemed uncomfortable. He also didn’t seem to appreciate the pass England made at him in the 2011 April Fools Day event. However, in both of these situations, it’s more likely that it was the revealing outfits making him uncomfortable and not that it was England involved in those situations.

The one thing that can be concluded is that he’s aware of England’s feelings. Running back through the strips brought up with England, there’s evidence of that much. He didn’t react all that much to England making a pass at him in his waiter outfit. The comment he made didn’t seem to surprise America at all. It just made an already uncomfortable situation more uncomfortable. He also didn’t seem curious as to what England was trying to say before he was cut off by the Grim Reaper which implies he’s already well aware of where England was going. Once England was back up, he didn’t push the subject at all. And him knowing makes sense. America is not as oblivious as he often acts, as shown in his interaction with Canada brought up earlier where he privately acknowledged Canada’s feelings and that, to a lot of people, his own personality makes him difficult to get along with. He’s very much capable of reading the atmosphere and picking up on the feelings of others even if his behavior doesn’t always reflect that.

There are various plausible interpretations over why America has never directly acknowledged England’s feelings. Maybe he doesn’t feel the same and doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. Maybe he reciprocates, but something else is holding him back from doing anything about it like not feeling ready for a relationship. Whatever his reasoning is, anything I could come up with would just be an interpretation and nothing that can be concretely proven.

That’s the non meta way of seeing America’s perspective anyway.

Why UsUk (Or Any Other Ship) Probably Won’t be Canonized

Let’s take a moment to focus on Hungary. In a series with a by far mostly male cast, Hungary was the first female character and she remains as likely the most popular female character from the series. It’s a status matching the panel time, development given to her, and how long she’s been a part of the series. And there’s a trait that she, again the first major female character, was given.

Hungary really likes cute boys. Not just cute boys as individuals, but cute boys being sexually involved with each other as well. So much so, that she was willing to wait out France assaulting Austria for a bit so she could watch. Hungary is meant to be an audience surrogate in this way. She’s a fujoshi. Hetalia doesn’t really qualify as a BL manga, but it definitely falls into the category of manga that focuses on a mostly male cast, has a lot of fanservice, and there is a lot of potential for romance when it comes to several of the male-male relationships. This is something Hima is very conscious of. The series is not at all lacking in opportunities to see the male cast undressed and there’s even a strip where he recommends “My Neighbor Yaoi-Chan” to readers. Whether or not he’s familiar with the BL genre, he definitely seems to be familiar with its audience.

So maybe this might make the conclusion in the title of this section seem wrong. If Hima is knowingly doing things that appeal to people into BL and the category of manga previously mentioned, then wouldn’t it make sense that it’s likely UsUk and/or another ship could be canonized? Actually, no. The interactions between America and England aren’t meant to seriously build up to a relationship upgrade, they’re supposed to show that the potential exists. The way this is often done in other works is by being really heavy with subtext without any confirmations, but Himaruya seems to have a trend of confirming things on one side of a relationship, but never having the other side respond to those feelings or even acknowledge them. This is not just true for UsUk. It’s true for GerIta and SuFin as well. The former even has an unresolved potential childhood love backstory (something that fans are no closer to getting closure on over ten years after Buon San Valentino was made) while the latter had Sweden’s feelings for Finland directly confirmed by Himaruya. There’s an importance to never crossing the line into relationship territory and that importance is that it would take control out of the hands of fans. The more obvious way in which this would happen is not everybody would like the pairings he’d go with and are instead invested in other pairings involving the same characters. It’s likely that many fans would even drop the series over this depending on how invested they are in shipping. The other reason involves the shippers of the canonized pairing. People who ship a certain don’t necessarily have the same vision for what a relationship between the characters would look like and some fans get very invested in their specific take. By not canonizing any pairings, fans can iron out the details themselves instead of potentially being disappointed. Contrary to what one’s intuition might be on appeasing this kind of audience, lesser is better.

Back to UsUk specifically, it’s not that America’s behavior couldn’t be explained with in character reasoning. It absolutely could. But that lack of response exists within a broader pattern of teasing relationships that never go anywhere. This is something I’d love for Himaruya to prove me wrong on when/if he returns from his hiatus. But unless that surprising turn of events happens, this is why UsUk (or any other ship) won’t be canon.

I’ll end this section with this picture.

Here, you can see that England is using part of America’s uniform as a pillow, a clearly intimate gesture. We know England wanted to use the uniform. He wouldn’t have it if he didn’t. But how did he end up with it? Did America give it to him? Did he toss it to the side and England took it? This question, where America’s feelings are relevant, isn’t something Himaruya is going to answer. Fans are left to come up with their own answer, the answer that makes them the happiest.

Conclusion

There’s enough evidence within the text to conclude England has romantic feelings for America. Buon San Valentino confirmed that much and there are other moments to back that up coupled with a fixation on America that manifests in a mix of grumpy, over-the-top critical behavior and vulnerable, openly affection-craving behavior. America, on the other hand, is more ambiguous. He parallels England in some ways in that he clearly wants the other’s attention, but usually doesn’t go about it in the most honest way. But unlike England, there’s no concrete evidence showing romantic feelings on his part. Even though England has feelings for America, those feelings are unlikely to ever be fully acknowledged in the text itself. The way the series goes about romantic relationships is by indicating there are romantic feelings on one side, opening up the possibility for a relationship but never actually delivering anything beyond the possibility. This makes it unlikely the two will ever get into a relationship.

#hetalia #usuk #aph england #aph america #hws england #hws america

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yeochikin · 4 years ago

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halloween grump. | p. seonghwa

a/n: thank you anon for requesting this fic! hope you enjoyed this. also, i suck at jealous scenes so uh,,, j just pretend you didn’t see that sdhfjsj

word count: 2.5k+

main focus: seonghwa x fem. reader

warning(s): there might be some inaccuracies in this as i have NEVER celebrated halloween before, so i do apologise for that. also, maybe a really short scene of hwa being protective.

seonghwa never really understood this particular… celebration, you had brought up.

sure, he knows that people of all ages would love to dress up during halloween so they would go trick or treating from door to door in the neighbourhood, along with their friends or families by their sides.

not only that, said male would even notice the variety of decorations being hung up on the walls or windows of their houses, and on their lawns. from fake spider webs hanging on the neighbourhood porches to the carved jack o’ lanterns laying idly on the front lawn he had noticed after making a quick trip from the grocery store with you earlier this week.

but honestly? that was it. the holiday never really excited him in any way possible, thinking it was the same old thing over and over again every year.

however, from the way your eyes glinted a certain excitement in them when you had brought up about the topic while the two of you were cuddling in the living room one day, both of your hands holding the matching mugs filled with hot chocolate, seonghwa knew he couldn’t object the idea of you wanting throw a little costume party during the day of the event with the boys and some of your close friends.

at first, he wasn’t really into the idea that much. imagine the time the both of you have to spend decorating the house to fit the theme, or even worse, cleaning up after the party? heavens above knew full well what could happen every time you would throw a little occasion at your shared apartment with the boys and your friends. honestly, why spend so much time when the two of you could just have a normal gathering for hallo-

“honey, can you please get those balloons up there for me? my hands are quite full.”

your voice interjected his thoughts, shaking his head mentally to regain his consciousness back to reality to see you pointing up at one of the many shelves of the halloween store the both of you had walked in earlier.

he couldn’t help but to release an amused chortle at the sight of your hands filled with the many decorations, wondering to himself just how long has he been in his mind to have failed to notice you picking up every halloween themed decor your eyes landed on. taking some of the decor from your hands to give your tired arms a little relief, your lover reached up to grab on the balloons that you had mentioned, noting how it had little bat patterns from the little picture printed right at the front of the package.

“just how many more decorations do you need to get?” he grumbled, now following you as soon as you started to move once he grabbed the said item in his hands.

“until we have enough, you grump.” you giggled just before stopping in front of the section just where the many pumpkin shaped candy buckets were displayed, eyes shooting up to meet with seonghwa’s unamused ones.

you knew that the idea of halloween would be at your boyfriend’s distaste, but you had completely understood the reason why due to the fact that he never really celebrated the occasion throughout his childhood. hence, why he had seemed to look rather reluctant to hold the party you had suggested. and with you being a huge enthusiast of the said holiday, you were determined to give him the best halloween he had ever celebrated in his life during the party tomorrow.

so, here you are, in the middle of the store shopping for halloween decorations with your grump of a boyfriend.

seonghwa merely shook his head yet you could see the faintest of smiles playing over his lips as you stuck your tongue in his direction, yet he continued to follow you around the store, eyes busying themselves by looking at the various decor the store had provided. it would be a lie to say he wasn’t impressed with the amount of choices the place had.

it took the both of you a little while more to finally walk out of the store, seonghwa offering to carry the bags in your hands. but the both of you knew deep down, your boyfriend merely wanted to hold your hand in his as the both of you made your way to the grocery store before going home.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“love, i'm going to check on the cookies in the oven for a bit. can i trust you to not fall off the ladder while you do this?”

seonghwa asked, his hands resting on your waist to steady yourself on the small step ladder as you busied yourself by hanging the bat patterned balloons on the wall in the living room. smiling, you leaned down to press a quick kiss against your lover’s lips, to which he returned almost out of reflex.

by now, almost the entirety of the living room somehow managed to look like a haunted house you had initially wanted to do. the window panes were decorated with fake spiderwebs, a couple of big toy spiders being stuck on said webs. the doorway had a huge sticker of some type of graveyard with a haunted manor next to it being stuck along the walls. and the night before, seonghwa and you had decorated the ceilings with the orange and black streamers.

“don’t worry about me, honey. it’s not like i could hurt myself.” you chided, seonghwa deadpanning at your words before slowly releasing his hold on your waist.

“says the one who slipped in the shower earlier.” he retorted, eyeing the little bruise on your skin, just a little above your knee.

seonghwa simply chuckled afterwards upon catching sight of your playful pout as you sulked, mumbling that it was somehow… the tiled floor’s fault for being too slippery in the morning. with a roll of his eyes, your boyfriend lightly gave your bum a light pat before making his way into the kitchen, you watching his retreating figure before moving your gaze to the wall, remembering your initial intent earlier on.

carefully leaning up on your tiptoes, you gently attempted to stick the balloons against the wall with the tip of your tongue peeking out of the corner of your lips, a habit of yours whenever you were placing your full concentration towards something. this one, being the bunch of balloons.

leaning back ever so slightly, your irises were set on the position of the balloon, making sure they were in the symmetrical position as the ones next to it. your lips pursed themselves in distaste as the position was a tad lower than you thought, leaning back in to fix the position to make them hang just a little higher from the current position.

however, you seemed to have leaned a little more than you intended to as you lost your footing on the step ladder, letting out a little shriek as your eyes shut instinctively, waiting for the impact to come. yet, it never came. instead, a pair of hands were quick to rest themselves on your waist, effectively breaking your fall.

“i really can’t leave you alone now, can i?” a deep voice reached within your ears, an eye peeking open to look at your savior.

you merely smiled sheepishly up at your lover, encircling an arm around his neck before pulling yourself up to press a gentle kiss on his lips, murmuring a small apology against his lips. with a shake of his head, seonghwa gently lifted you off of the ladder, setting you down on the floor instead.

“why don’t you decorate the cookies while i finish up here, hm? i know that you’ve been wanting to do so when we started baking them earlier on.” he mused, expression softening up at the sight of your features perking up.

with a playful salute, you made your way into the kitchen, seonghwa shaking his head at your antics as a tiny chortle left his plump lips as he started to fix whatever you had left.

it was after a little over half an hour, that the living room was finally done, filled with the various halloween themed decorations being put up by the both of you while the little snack section in the room had plenty of food the invited guests later on tonight. both of your hands rested on your hips as you stood next to seonghwa to give the living room one more glance, a proud grin spreading itself over your lips at the sight.

“now that this is done, i think it’s finally time we get our costumes on!” you chimed, earning a confused look from your lover.

“but we don’t have costumes?” he asked, tone full of confusion at your sudden claim. but with the way your eyes twinkled with the familiar mischief in them, he knew that you had something hidden up your sleeve.

“i may or may not have bought a matching costume for the both of us tonight.”

“love, i-”

but i swear it’s not anything bad!” you quickly added just before your boyfriend could protest.

clasping your hands together and putting them underneath your chin, you gave your lover your best puppy-eyed look.

“please, honey? just this once. if you don’t like it, we don’t have to do it again. i promise!” you pleaded, palms now pressed against your lover’s chest as you still kept the certain gaze on his own serious ones.

seonghwa stared at you in silence for a few seconds before emitting a low sigh out of defeat, leaning down to brush his lips against your forehead with his arms encircling your waist. of course, he just couldn’t say no. especially not when you looked like a kicked puppy with your pleading.

“fine, but if i don’t like it, i won’t do it again.” he grumbled, you giggling in return.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“woah, seonghwa is one lucky man!” wooyoung exclaimed.

the boys had come surprisingly early to your place. you cooing and giggling at the boys’ costumes. hongjoong as a pirate, mingi, yeosang and yunho as hogwarts students, san as a doctor from his favourite drama that he kept impersonating, wooyoung as a police officer, while jongho went as a zombie.

upon seeing seonghwa all dressed up as soon as they walked in, the boys couldn’t help but to tease him, the woosan duo playfully asking if he was allergic to garlic, much to your amusement.

it didn’t take long after that for the other invited guests arriving.

you couldn’t help but to laugh sheepishly as you felt seonghwa wrapping his arm around your waist while the two of you went around giving the guests the food you had prepared earlier. the both of you were dressed in a matching vampire costume, as cliche as it looked.

yet, no matter how cliche it was, the both of you somehow managed to pull off the costume well judging by the compliments you received tonight as you interacted with the guests.

“might i say that you look good tonight, my love.” you heard him whisper into your ear as the both of you made your way back to the kitchen to refill the snacks, you lightly bumping your hip against his.

“likewise, honey.” you winked, bringing the bowl of chips back into the living room while seonghwa stayed back in the kitchen to work on another batch of punch.

arriving to the little food section you had set up, you made sure to clean up some of the spills that had somehow gotten on the cloth of the table until you heard someone clearing up their throat behind you. turning around, your gaze was met with one of your close friends’ friend, kim hyunjae. the both you weren’t entirely close but the both of you shared a few classes on campus.

“oh, hyunjae! i didn’t know you came.” you grinned after throwing away the used napkin into the little trash can next to the table.

“oh i came with donghyun.” your lips formed into a small ‘o’, realising that this was the friend one of your close friends had mentioned he was bringing on the way here.

“plus, i haven’t seen you much lately.” the male playfully pouted as he nudged your side, causing you to laugh.

“sorry, sorry. been busy with my assignments, ya know?” you retorted.

and with that, the both of you started talking and catching up with whatever had happened before this party. occasionally, the both of you would share a series of laughter at whatever joke he had said.

unbeknownst to you, a certain pair of eyes watched both of you quietly from the side as he kept a close eye on you, smiling faintly to himself at the sight of you enjoying the night. however, he couldn’t help but notice the other’s eyes glancing down at your body.

seonghwa thought that they were only a mere coincidence of some sort but with how many times he caught the other kept glancing a little too often, along with the slight uncomfortable expression on your features as the other stepped a little too close to you yet you continued to ramble whatever the topic you were talking about, seonghwa knew that he needed to step in.

while you were busily talking, seonghwa crept up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist, feeling you jump ever so slightly before relaxing as you realised who it was. smiling at the feel of his pair of lips pressing against the top of your head, you tilted your head up as an attempt to meet his gaze.

instead of the usual warm pair of eyes, you were met with serious ones, yet they were focused on the young man in front of you. it was a look you knew too well.

as if feeling awkward, hyunjae excused himself saying that he wanted to find his friend, bowing his head before leaving the two of you alone.

with a roll of your eyes, you turned around in seonghwa’s arms to wrap your own around his neck, seonghwa merely sent you a gentle smile with a shrug of his shoulders, slightly swaying the both of you in place to whatever song that was playing through the speakers.

“are you enjoying the party, honey?” you murmured, a hand reaching out to give his cheek a gentle caress.

turning his head, seonghwa brushed his lips against the skin underneath your wrist. “except for whatever had happened just now, i surprisingly am enjoying the party.”

those words were enough to make you grin brightly, leaning up to quickly press a chaste kiss upon his plump lips that just can’t get enough of, emitting a low squeak from the gentle squeeze on your waist.

it might not be an overly interesting way of celebrating halloween with you, but seonghwa knew just how much halloween meant for you with how your features brightened up throughout the whole remaining hours of the party.

who knows? he might even dress up again next year with you.

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lieutenantcharleslorem · 4 years ago

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Julian Bashir & Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak Characters: Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Jadzia Dax, Jake Sisko, Miles O'Brien, Molly O'Brien Summary:

When Garak asks what Halloween is, he ends up getting roped into a get together to carve pumpkins. Maybe it's more fun that he expected.

Some softness between Garak and Bashir, but nothing happens so could be read as friendship.

---

Garak sat down across from Dr. Bashir delicately, and placed his napkin in the neck of his shirt as he always did. They had opted for Quarks today as the replicators in the replimat had been acting up.

“Apologies for my lateness, Doctor. I was absorbed in a project.”

“Not at all, Garak, I’m afraid I’ve only been here a few minutes myself.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Garak taking a sip of water, and Julian putting some sort of sauce on his sandwich.

After a long pause Garak asked, “Doctor, what is Halloween?”

“Halloween?” The doctor asked almost incredulously.

“If its something private to humans forget I asked—”

“Oh, no, it’s not private at all. I was just surprised you want to know about such things.”

“I don’t even know if I want to know. I know nothing about it. Only that I am making a tail for Molly for Halloween. Normally I would have asked Mrs. O'Brien. She doesn’t mind a chat. But as her husband was with her, I assumed he wouldn’t want to sit through a long explanation.”

“I don’t think the chief’ould minded. It’s a holiday.”

“See, if it is sacred I would understand not wanting to share—”

“It’s not sacred at all. … Well, maybe it depends on your definition or sacred,” Bashir said with a smile. “Some people enjoy taking it very seriously.”

“It’s patriotic then?”

“No. Well no more than any other holiday from one’s own culture. It’s… spooky.”

“Spooky? If memory serve that’s your soft word for scary, correct. Almost playful?”

“Yeah, and that describes the holiday pretty well too.”

“So it is a holiday that is scary… but in a… fun way?”

“Exactly, couldn’t have put it better myself.”

“That sounds like something Klingons would come up with.”

“Not that kind of scary. I don’t think Klingons would even say the word spooky, probably think its undignified.”

“Right… I still have no idea what Halloween is.”

“Ugh, Garak.”

“Well, Doctor, you must admit you haven’t exactly painted me a picture.”

“Okay, okay, so I don’t know if anything I’m about to say is true—”

“What?”

“I’d have to ask the computer, but what I remember is 2 separate things that could just both be myths, but they were that people wanted to celebrate the people who had died that year so everyone went around to the families of people who’d died and exchanged gifts with them. The other thing is this idea that maybe people believed this was a night spirits were able to come to the tangible world, but if we all dressed like we were as scary as them… maybe they’d think we were one of them and leave us alone?”

“O…Kay….”

“But then as things do, it grows and changes, gets taken over by different people, and becomes this very secular cross culture holiday, where children and sometimes adults go around in costumes and knock on people’s doors. They say trick or treat, and the person gives them food or toys.”

“Trick or treat?”

“Yes, it used to mean that if the kids didn’t get something they would do something mean like scare the homeowner, or throw eggs at the house.”

“My goodness.”

“But nobody does that anymore. I think the last time something like that happened was something like 50 years ago when a bunch of teenagers replicated exorbitant amounts of toilet paper and covered the president’s house in it. Of course the president of the Federation was human at the time—” Garak nodded. “And if I remember correctly he wasn’t particularly angry. Just said something like, anyone who wanted to was welcome to take some of it home to recycle through their replicators.”

“So… Give me a treat… or get tricked?”

“Exactly.”

“Forgive me if this is a cynical question… but why provide the treats? Also what constitutes a treat?”

“Well, like I said I believe the tradition changed over time, probably having been more personal in the past, but why we still do is probably not just tradition but remembered tradition, childhood joy, you know? When you’re a kid, you go trick-or-treating, and then you start to get a little older, and even if you’re still going you might go later than you used to and you start opening the door to your house for the little kids who’s parents take them just before dark. And they’re sweet and cute, and you develop these 2 types of fond memories. And you do it as long as you can, and then you grow up, and you don’t think, why should I do this for other people? –you think, oh I can’t wait to see the little kids this year.”

“It sounds like you really like Halloween.”

“Eh… Do I? Maybe it’s just easy to wax poetic when you’re far from home. I haven’t celebrated Halloween since I was at the academy.”

“Cadets still trick-or-treat?”

“Ahaha, no, no at that age it’s usually big parties and bad hangovers.”

“I see…”

“Oh, but San Francisco does do the Spook Parade every year, and that’s what I usually did with Erit. There would be stalls, food and drink, a pumpkin carving contest, not to mention the thousands of people walking down the street dressed as zombies and ghosts and all manner of spooks.”

“That sounds like quite a gathering. If we did things like that on Cardassia one could certainly disappear into a crowd…”

“There’s a lot of commotion. I don’t know how much a spy could learn about anyone at a Halloween party.”

“What ever do you mean? I certainly wasn’t suggesting someone go on some sort of reconnaissance mission dressed as a ghost. I was merely observing that it sounds like bigger crowds than Cardassians are used to.”

“Of course.”

“Now, what was this you said about carving pumpkins?”

“You cut faces into them.”

“But… what’s a pumpkin?”

“It’s like, a gord. Like Bajoran spice yams.”

“… Ah, and you use them to make sculptures…”

“Sort of…”

“Why?”

“It’s spooky. And I don’t know, it’s fun.” Garak didn’t look convinced. “Jake,” Julian, said as he saw Jake walking by, “Tell Garak it’s fun to carve pumpkins.”

Jake stopped. “I haven’t carved pumpkins in ages! When are you doing it?” he asked leaning over and putting his elbows on their table.

“Oh, we weren’t actually planning on anything,” replied Bashir.

“Yes,” said Garak, “I would prefer not to be covered in yams.”

“Aw, but that’s half the fun,” said Jake.

The Chief and Dax walked down the steps from the upper level. Garak and Bashir weren’t sitting far from the stairs and they could hear, “What do you mean, off?”

“I don’t know, it just taste a little off,” replied Dax.

The chief sighed. “I’ll look at it tomorrow.”

“You know,” said Bashir, refocusing them, “Maybe we could make Jack O’ Lanterns together.”

“Did someone say something about Jack O’ Lanterns?” asked O’Brien. “You know my people invented pumpkin carving.”

“I see,” said Garak skeptically. He had heard many humans claim their ancestors did important things. He never understood why, wasn’t it enough that humans did it?

“That’s not just bluster,” said the doctor, seeing the look on Garak’s. “Pretty sure the Irish did start the tradition, but there were a lot of Irish immigrants in America.”

“You realize I don’t know what those words mean.”

“Uh… People who talk like Miles moved to where people talk like Jake.” Garak smiled cheekily, knowing Bashir was really dumbing it down for him. “And, back in the midst of capitalism, where Sisko lived had a lot of social influence, and if they were doing something fun, everyone wanted to do it.”

“What about where you’re from?”

“Well, I’ve heard Britain was a little late on the Halloween bandwagon, but by the time I was born not celebrating Halloween was sacrilege.”

“You said it wasn’t sacred.”

“You know what I mean.”

“It’d be cool to carve some pumpkins,” said Jake. “Not a lot of human activities on the station.”

“Oo! If you’re doing it, I want to come,” said Dax. “I like digging out the guts.”

“We could do it on Halloween, since it’s this weekend,” said Jake.

“Your quarters?” Jadzia asked Julian.

“My quarters? Yes, alright. What do you say, Garak?”

Garak paused. “I have no desire to get my hands dirty.”

“Wear gloves then,” said Jake cheerily as though Garak wasn’t just trying to get out of it.

“Yeah, Gar’ or we can do fake ones,” said Jadzia. Julian knew they didn’t care one way or the other if he came. They must’ve just been pushing him for Julian’s sake.

Or perhaps it was just worth it for the look on Garak’s face at the sound of Jadzia shortening his name. He stared at her incredulously, and she stared back, daring him to make a fuss over how she’d addressed him.

Finally he sighed and said, “Oh, well, if you insist.”

“Well if you all are havin’ a little Halloween party,” said O’Brien, “I’m bringing the kids by to trick or treat.”

“Oh, yeah, my dad has been working on some chocolate recipe of my grandpa’s,” said Jake.

“Ah, he’s gonna get the kids all sugared up.”

“I’ll do something non-edible,” said the doctor.

“Thanks, Julian,” O’Brien said patting Julian on the back. He started to walk away and Dax followed.

“Wait, Chief, also the circuits in the…”

They couldn’t hear anymore as they walked out of earshot.

When Garak showed up to Bashir’s quarters Halloween night, Dax and Jake were already there. He felt like he should have arrived earlier. But the good doctor seemed like he thought everything was going perfectly.

“Come in, come in!” He rushed.

‘He’s had sweets,’ Garak thought, as he watched Julian bounce up and down happily. He was relived to see that he had been right in his assumption about the dress code, which was simply spooky and not full uncomfortable costumes just to sit around in Bashir’s quarters. Jake was wearing a hideous orange tunic with a little black pumpkin pattern, Jadzia looked comfy in a loose black dress with a spiderweb print, and Bashir’s long-sleeved turtleneck had the outline of bones.

Garak didn’t have access to anything so kitschy, so he’d worn a normal red outfit but added a black cape. It actually kept him warmer than usual, so it was no inconvenience.

Julian had moved his table away from the wall so they could sit on all sides. It wasn’t as big as Sisko’s but it would fit the 4 of them.

“Well don’t you two look festive?” Garak said as he sat down across from Dax and Jake, trying to be polite.

Julian had disappeared somewhere, but suddenly he was back and pouring everyone a drink.

“It’s black,” said Jake.

“It’s witches brew,” said Julian as though it was the scariest thing in the alpha quadrant.

Jadzia to a sip. “It’s wine.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t…” Jake said sniffing his glass and then taking a taste. “Oh, it’s root beer.”

Garak tilted his glass of black liquid and saw it was a bit more viscous than the others. “Kanar?” he asked. Julian nodded as he placed a large pumpkin down on the table.

“So,” he said, “I ordered these from earth, they’re the genuine article. I also got some gourds from Bajor. And I replicated these little foam ones, so they have no guts, and if we wanted to keep them forever we could, or we can just throw them back in the replicator.”

“I’ll take a gourd,” said Jake, pulling a bright red fruit toward himself.

Julian grabbed him a bowl. “Save your guts,” he told him. “The major wants to make some sort of face mask with it.”

“What?” said Jadzia, “she hates that kind of stuff.”

“I don’t know, she only told me Bajorans think it’s good for the skin.”

Jadzia looked a little annoyed, but she let it go and started pulling the largest pumpkin over to her. “I’m gonna take this big boy.”

“How do you know it’s a boy?” Garak said with a practiced innocence.

“Because I decided he is, and gourds don’t seem to mind what gender you tell them they are. Not like cats.”

They stared at her for a moment waiting for further explanation, but she just picked up a knife and started cutting into the top.

Julian continued to get a few things as they started to work: different shaped knives, cookies shaped like bats, cheese and crackers.

He placed a little plate of chocolate next to Garak when he realized Garak wasn’t working.

“Garak, aren’t you going to carve a pumpkin?”

“That’s alright, I don’t want to take from anyone else.”

“Garak, that’s why you’re here. There’s plenty of pumpkins. Too many, in fact.”

“I don’t want to make a mess.”

“Use a foam one.”

“Well, it’s not entirely free of mess, is it? I—”

“Alright, we all know that you think this is silly, but just try to have fun, will you? Here, we’ll use this foam one,” Julian said, sitting close to Garak and pulling over a glitter covered fake pumpkin about the size of a basketball.

“I’ll do this eye,” he continued, “And you do that one.”

He started cutting into the pumpkin, and Garak felt as though he’d been left with no choice so he acquiesced and picked up a knife. He hadn’t been expecting that they would work on one together, and he tried desperately to hide his smile. They had to be close to work on the same pumpkin, so as they carved, their arms sat against each other. It was warm.

Sitting with the lights dimmed to see the glow from their pumpkins, Garak had to admit he was enjoying himself a bit more than 16:00 hours and one glass of Kanar would usually allow. Julian was just explaining what the Monster Mash was when there was a beep at the door.

“Yes?” Julian replied.

The sound of children singing, “Trick or treat!” came through the com.

Julian got up, a stack of something in his hand, and went to the door. Garak decided to follow.

“Happy Halloween!” Julian shouted as he opened the door. “Now what might you be?” he asked Molly.

There were 5 children standing at his feet, one other human besides Molly, two Bajorans and a Bolian. Miles stood next to them holding a tiny Kirayoshi in a bee costume.

“I’m a cat,” said Molly. “Look,” she turned around, “Mr. Garak made my tail stand up!” Garak smiled.

“That’s amazing, and what about the rest of you?” Julian asked. He looked to the Bolian.

“I’m a bizchin!” Julian believed that was a Bolian bearlike creature, but he wasn’t sure. The boy was covered in fake fur though.

“I’m a princess,” said the other human.

“What about you?” Julian asked a Bajoran in all black who seemed to be wearing red contacts.

“I’m a Pah Wraith,” he said shyly.

“Spooky,” said Garak. “And you?” he asked the other Bajoran.

The child seemed very embarrassed. His face was covered in gray make up and he seemed to have drawn some squares on his face but it was difficult to tell as they were smudged.

“Uh… Molly said that you… be something that scares you…”

“And what’s that?” asked Julian.

The child mumbled something.

“What did you say?” asked Garak, kneeling so he could get a better look at the boy.

“I’m a Cardassian…”

Julian winced. He looked at Garak, hoping this wasn’t going to start something.

“Excellent choice,” said Garak. “Your costume is quite scary. You remind me of some legates I know. Downright terrifying.”

The Bajoran smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Oh, no?”

“No, you’re just a tailor.”

“That’s right, just a tailor.”

“So,” said Julian, “Would any of you like a coloring book?”

They all nodded, and he handed them each one.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got something for you too, Yoshi,” said the doctor lifting up a little ghost. “BoOoOo,” he said to him quietly. “Can you say boo?”

“Bbbbbbbb,” Yoshi imitated, taking the toy and gumming its head.

“Straight in the mouth,” said Miles, “Everything straight in his mouth.”

“It’s clean,” said Julian with a smile, “It’s a teether.”

“Thanks, Julian. Always thinkin, you.”

One of the Bajoran children was still looking at Garak. “I wouldn’t think a Cardassian would want to celebrate a human holiday.”

Garak smiled. “I just like to have fun.”

“Me too,” said the Bolian.

“Come on, guys,” said Molly, “We still have to go to the Cap’in’s and he’ll have food,” said Molly.

“Alright,” said Miles, “Everyone say thank you to the Doctor and Mr. Garak, and let’s go.”

“Thank you, doctor, thank you, Garak,” came a mix of voices as they started to walk away.

“Happy Halloween,” said Molly, and everyone got the idea they should say it too.

“Happy Halloween, Dr. Bashir!”

“Happy Halloween, Garak!”

“Happy Halloween!” Garak called out after them. “…Such a charming group,” he said after the door had slid shut.

“You know you never mention how much you like children.”

“Like children? No more than any other age of humanoid.”

“You sure about that?” Julian asked joining the others in the living area. Jadzia had laid down on the couch and Jake had her feet in his lap so that he could fit on the couch too. The room was still only lit by Jack O’ Lanterns.

“I suppose I… like people whom the universe hasn’t ruined yet.” He glanced at him, and Julian could feel the underlying like you.

As much as Garak complained about Federation optimism, he did grow tired of people full of prejudice, jaded and beaten down. Julian, and children were still fresh.

“I had too much root beer,” Jake admitted.

“May have overindulged as well,” said Jadzia, hiding her face in her elbow.

“Well, if everyone needs to head out and get some sleep—”

“I didn’t say that,” said Jadzia.

“Yeah…” said Jake quietly “You know it’s kinda nice having a relaxed Halloween.”

“Yeah, Curson went to some crazy Halloween parties, but it’s nice to just be… chill?”

“Well, if you’re sticking around, we could watch a Halloween film. I can probably get it up on the computer screen,” said Julian.

“Okay,” said Jadzia, sitting up to make room for him. Jake scooted over too.

Julian sat down on the couch, fiddling with a pad to find something to watch. He patted the empty space next to him.

“Sit down, Garak.”

With 4 people on the same couch they all had to sit quite close, but the doctor didn’t seem to mind.

“Doctor…”

“Yes, Garak?”

“Thanks for… showing me your rituals. For you know, including me.”

“You’re always welcome.”

#ds9 #halloween #garashir #garak/bashir #fanfiction

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rogues-r-we · 4 years ago

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Halloween at the Manor was….quite the experience. Walter Worker Miyasaki, or Miya, learned this the first time she was there for it. The bots really had a big thing for the holiday. Each year, the found and fraternal family hosted a huge Halloween party, the next year better than the last. Miya had arrived at the Manor in the middle of the summer, so she was brand new to the many events that happened during the rest of the year. The first time she heard it mentioned was from Rabbit mid-September. It was time for the porcelain bot’s monthly maintenance, and Miya was the only person Rabbit currently trusted to do it.

“Have you figured out your costume for the party?”

“Rabbit, what party? I haven’t heard anything about a party.”

“The p-p-party is the biggest event at the m-m-m-m-manor! We h-host it every Hallowee-ee-een. You have to have a costume!”

Miya finished screwing in the last part that she was working on, and released Rabbit from the restraints that the bots were put in during this process.

“You b-b-better figure out your costume f-f-f-fast! The party is on H-h-h-halloween!” The energetic bot skipped out of the workroom, shriek-singing at the top of her lungs. Miya decided that it would be best to ask the other robots about this party. Not that she didn’t trust Rabbit, she just needed some more information. As Miya stepped out of the stairwell, she was greeted by four bumbling bots yelling for her. Upgrade, The Jon, Hatchworth, and Zer0 screeched to a halt in front of her.

“You don’t know about the party?!” This was said in perfect unison, which shouldn’t have scared her, but this just showed how fast information traveled in the Manor. Miya began to ask the bots some questions, which is a bad idea. It’s like talking to a bunch of children on a sugar-high.

“Calm down now,” she said, “and talk one at a time, please.”

The bots all looked down slightly bashful, until Upgrade finally piped up.

“The party is the biggest event at the Manor! There’s food and games and a costume contest and of course music of all kinds! It’s totally radical!”

Despite the pink robot’s use of slang, Miya had grasped a better understanding of the halloween party. She walked over to the Hall of Wires and knocked on the door politely. It swung open, and she stepped into the blue-tinted, metallic room.

“Spine? Are you in here? I have some questions about this Halloween Party that I’ve heard of.”

A tired and slightly gruff voice came from the ceiling. “Couldn’t you have gone to Peter or another Walter Worker? I’m busy.”

“Well, I trust you the most to remember information the longest, and you’re probably going to be more helpful than Rabbit and the others.”

With a deep sigh and an exhale of steam, The Spine in his snake form wiggled out of the wires.

“What do you want to know, partner?” Realizing it was Miya, his disposition changed into a more comfortable one. “Ah, it’s just you. I forget you’re brand new to the Manor. Would you like a better explanation?”

She nodded her head yes, and The Spine smiled. He moved himself over and guided her over to his desk, where she immediately sat in the chair. He then disappeared, and after a few seconds, returned in his chassis and took a seat across from Miya.

“When PA Walter I originally began hosting this party, it was an expo to show off his robots and other mechanisms. Slowly, as people found the bots less scary and more entertaining and kind, the later generations turned it into a Halloween party. Six orders some of the best catering, builds fantastic games, has us bots judge a costume contest, and, of course, hires some performers other than us. We do perform, though, I promise,” he snickered. “Anyways, the best part of these performances are that some of our story songs come to life. Both Gomely and the Ghost Grinder are frequent attendees, yet both also require constant supervision so they don’t summon anything. We also occasionally end up with a steamboat in the basement, but that just happens at random no matter the time of the year.”

Miya nodded her head, understanding better what occurred.

“Thank you kindly, Mr. Spine. I appreciate the information.”

He accompanied her to the entrance doors, since the wires were quite the maze. A kiss was bestowed upon her hand, and she exited the Hall. Now, she just had to figure out her costume for the party. Over the next month, Miya created the costume only she could dream of, with the help of the other Walter Workers and one of the local seamstresses in San Diego. The morning of the party, the family was chatting about costumes and other important things. She heard Upgrade lean over to Jon and say something along the lines of “They’re bringing back the bubble room?”, followed by an eager head nod from the golden robot. Quietly, she grabbed a bagel and some cream cheese and headed back to her room to finish up her work for the day, as well as to get ready. That evening, as she touched up her makeup, there was a knock on the door. In sauntered Rabbit, wearing an extremely intricate black and red ballgown with an asymmetrical hemline and a high collar. She paired the dress with red fishnets, black knee high stiletto boots, lacy black gloves, and some stark black jewelry that stood out from her porcelain covering. Her hair was put up in a chignon, and when she pulled her red-painted lips back a pair of fangs (hopefully false) was shown.

“Rabbit, you look….amazing.”

“Thank you Miz Miya, c-c-can I help you with anything?”

“Not now sweet girl, but if I do I’ll call for you, okay?”

She nodded and exited the room. Miya turned back to face her appearance in the mirror. She had applied tan foundation to her pale white skin to give off the appearance that she was still relatively human. Her face was iridescent, shimmering from powders and gels she detailed her face with. Her long blue-black hair cascaded down her back in waves, decorated with a hairpiece containing little glowing lights. All she had left to do was to put on her costume. She slipped off her comfy button up shift dress and socks and then changed, preparing herself for the night she had coming. As soon as she arrived on the main floor of the building, the whole Walter clan (adopted, birth, robot, or otherwise) stared at the gorgeous figure before them. Miya had created a silvery colored dress, with holographic boots to match and beautiful iridescent butterfly wings on her back. She accompanied said outfit with more holographic looking jewelry and a lightly shimmering shawl. Gasps and whispers came from across the room, wondering who the pretty girl was. That soon came to a halt, as Rabbit noticed her.

“Miz Miya, you look incre-e-e-edible!”

The whole clan soon came over and began fawning over Miya’s costume.

“Get ready Mi,” said Walter Worker Camille who was dressed as a bird of paradise, “for the most….interesting occasion you’ll ever experience in this Manor.”

A few hours into the party, Miya was already exhausted. The whole house was completely transformed into a circus of spooks and horror. Many icons that Steam Powered Giraffe had sung about showed up. In the backyard of the manor, though, held the attraction most interesting to Miya. There was a thick surrounding of fog, and in the middle, a graying man holding an organ grinder like you’d see at a fair. The first time she’d approached him, The Spine had appeared out of nowhere and pulled her away, telling her that “it’s a bad idea to do anything with this man.” But now, she would make it to him and see what he had to provide.

Making her way through the thick fog, Miya heard a soft song coming from near where she had originally seen the man. As she got closer, the song grew louder, and she grew more and more drawn to it. Then, she entered the clearing where he was seen for the first time. Surrounding the man were more gray, shadowy figures, women and men dressed in clothing from all eras, dancing and spinning without a care in the world. Unbeknownst to her, this man’s song had been hypnotizing her mind. This was the Ghost Grinder, who brought the dead back to dance, as well as taking new dancers from amongst the living. Miya stepped into the circle of people, and was immediately swept off her feet by a tall man in a tuxedo, who looked curiously similar to The Spine. The music’s spell blinded her, and she was tossed from partner to partner, enjoying every minute of it.

At the party, The Spine had been searching for Miya. He hadn’t seen her since the incident by the Ghost Grinder, and had grown worried. He snagged Chelsea and Camille, and pulled them into an unused room.

“Have either one of you seen Miss Miya? It’s been a while since I’ve seen her and I’m concerned for her safety.”

The two blue haired women looked at each other, and shrugged their shoulders.

“Haven’t seen her, and I’ve been all over the manor,” Camille said. “Do you want us to help you search?”

“Yes, please. The last time I saw her she was out by the Ghost Grinder.”

Both girls took in sharp breaths. “We’re gonna need more people if we have to go down there,” Chelsea murmured quietly.

After explaining the situation, Spine, Chelsea, Camille, Peter VI, and Matter Master David, they headed down there. They all had earplugs in to assist them in not getting put under the man’s spell. Spine didn’t have to do this, for he is a robot and not a human being. All of a sudden, The Spine stopped and stared. The search party looked over, and saw Miya dancing amongst the ghosts, a peaceful smile on her face.

“Miya! Please! Come back!” Chelsea yelled to the pretty girl. Spine immediately groaned and spoke up, “Miss Chelsea, she’s not coming back. Once they’ve been taken, they’re gone forever.”

After staring for a few minutes, the search party headed back to the manor. Rabbit had been escorting the guests out, leading them out to their cars, thanking them for coming. It was around 4 in the morning so it was about time to go. As soon as the group stepped inside, a hush fell over the occupants of Walter Manor who were left. Spine stepped up.

“She’s gone.”

Rabbit shrieked, “who d-d-d-d-did this?” and then immediately shut down completely.

“It was the ghost grinder.”

All faces went pale white. Slowly, one by one, everyone left the room, heading to wherever made them feel best.

“Mr. David, take Rabbit. Make sure she’s functioning,” Spine instructed. David nodded, and rolled the sleeping robot into the elevator for the basement.

The Spine and the two Walter Workers sat there in complete silence, until Spine spoke up again: “Ladies, please put an advertisement out there that Walter Robotics is hiring mechanics.”

The women just sat there, still stunned.

“I said GO!”

They both jumped up and ran out, and Spine was left alone again. His sister lost her best friend, the company lost a valued member, and he lost the person he considered his “child.” Better to forget this.

Okay so this fic was inspired by Ghost Grinder if you couldn’t tell! Thank you to everyone who wanted me to post! Love y’all! Compliments and constructive critiscism are appreciated!

#steam powered giraffe #spg #ghost grinder #steampoweredgiraffe #fanfiction #oc

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ansheofthevalley · 5 years ago

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In one kiss, you’ll know all I haven’t said - Chapter 1 “Late night talks and late night calls”

Summary: It's New Year's Eve, and ace student Sansa Stark has had a great year. She is at the top of her class in the Daeron School of Political Science; she grew closer to her big brother (and now protector) Robb; she made awesome new friends and was adjusting perfectly to the change moving from cold, icy Winterfell to the bright King's Landing. With her family in town, this holiday season was supposed to be perfect for Sansa, but life is not a song. Life, Sansa would learn, has funny ways to show us what we need; and sometimes, what we need is way better that what we ever dreamed of.

"Come on, Margaery. We're going to be late!" Sansa reminded her friend for the twelfth time in the last thirty minutes.

"Well, yeah, Sans. That's the point" her friend replied, her voice an echo finding its way to the small living-room.

"We don't want to be punctual, we want to fashionably late" added Loras, Margaery's younger brother, sitting in one of the dining chairs, scrolling down his phone. The Tyrell siblings were socially savvy as they were beautiful. And they are really beautiful. "But you are forgiven because -"

"You're from the North" screamed Margaery from her room, trying to finish her brother's sentence. Sansa could picture the bright smile in her face as she said that.

"You guys know that Winterfell is not made of ice, right? And that we don't live secluded from people?" she retorted as she rolled her eyes. The siblings would always taunt her with how different she was from southenerns. "You could totally pass for someone from the Riverlands or even the Reach, but the moment you open your mouth, well, that gives it away that you're a northener" Margaery had told her once, in the early stages of their friendship.

When she first arrived at Aegon University, she had a hard time making friends. She's naturally reserved and missed her friends back home, especially Jeyne. But she found a great friend in Margaery. She first met Margaery in her Political Theory class and has since "been under her wing" as her friend puts it. Both Loras and his sister taught her "the Southern way" to do things. Sansa realized it was not just the climate or the scenery that differentiate the North from the South. It was the people, their way of thinking, their way of doing things. And even if the lesson they taught her was really about how to deal with boys, which trends to follow and how to get invited to the coolest parties, Sansa saw a deeper meaning in it. She always did. That was the reason she was a Political Science undergrad. She knew that something as simple as a word or an action is way more than just that. An action, simple as it may be, could wield great power. Words could easily work as a veil or be what they were intended to be, and Margaery understood this. She comes from a very powerful industrial family, she knows all about words, actions and power. The Queen of Thornes is her grandmother, after all.

"OK, I just had the greatest idea for next Halloween" Margaery exclaimed, coming out of her room in her green bathrobe, barefeet and with her make-up half done. "I'm a genius. We get you a blonde wig and bam, you're Elsa. And I'll be your Anna. I tell you, I'm a gen-"

"I'm going to stop right there" Sansa interrumped her friend before she got too excited by the idea. "It's a hard pass on that one. I'll never hear the end of bad Frozen puns" she quickly added when she saw her make what Loras dubbed "the little rose" face. She'd always make that face when she wanted something, ever since she was a little girl. Since then, that face had seen fair its share of successs.

"Besides, Frozen costumes are so 2014" Loras added, winking at Sansa. Margaery's idea of a Frozen revival wouldn't see the light.

"You guys are no fun" she grumbled, slowly walking back to her room.

"And you're making us late"

*****************************************

After waiting thirty minutes in their aparment for Margaery to get ready, plus the forty five-minute ride (with various agurments in favor of an Elsa-Anna ensamble for next Halloween from Margaery) from the apartment to the house of the Harry guy that was throwing the party, it was official: they were late.

The house wasn't a house, but a post modern-style mansion. There was a fountain just in the middle of the driveway, surrounded by beautiful flowers brought from all the corners of Westeros. There were even some essosi wild flowers. The whole scenery screamed money. The three of them looked at the house, then at each other, then back at the house.

Margaery was the first to snap out of the beauty of the facade. "OK, Jeyne Westerling told me this guy, Harry Hardyng, is like the heir of Arryn Mountain Woods or something like that" she started to explain.

"But since he is new to the game" Loras continued, looking around him.

"And has lots money and space to spare" Margaery said with a grin.

"He now wants to surround himself with the best of Aegon University" Loras finished, looking completely pleased with himself.

"But have you even met him?" Sansa inquired.

"I've seen pictures of him" Margaery replied. "Those baby blue eyes..." she sighed.

"But how do we know he's not... you know..." she continued, gesticulating with her hands.

"A werido? A creep?" Loras finished the sentence for her. "Sans, I admit you got a point" said with more seriousness than what their current conversation required.

"Oh Gods, what if he is one of those who's into feet?" Margaery muttered, "I don't know if I can handle that" horror written on her face.

"Well, if he's one of those, worry not, dear sister" Loras consoled her with a melodramatic, jesting tone. "You have ugly feet" that had earned Loras a slap on the arm. Sansa couldn't help but laugh. She always loved it when the siblings jested. It reminded her of her own family, of home.

"Well, I didn't mean a foot fetish" she laughed, "but how about we go inside and see for ourselves?"

When the trio headed arrived at the double-winged door they were received by a grey-haired man in a dark suit, with a not so amicable face.

"Names, please" inquired the man

"Margaery and Loras Tyrell and Sansa Stark" as always, Margaery was the voice of the group.

The grey-haired man looked at the list in his hand, and, after letting out a little sigh, opened the door for them.

If the facade had dazzled them, the interior of the mansion was a whole other thing. White marble floors, stone-colored walls covered with various abstract and cubist paintings, a great, crystal chanderlier that hanged in the center of the room, couches and chairs in cool shades of blue and a great crystal wall that made way to a pool. The room screamed opulence from wherever you saw it. Sansa didn't like it.

There was jazz music playing in the background, and a whole group of people dressed in an elegant yet simple way, conversing and drinking wine that the Tyrell siblings and Sansa didn't know.

It was in that moment that Sansa regretted listening to Margaery and wear the purple mini dress.

Shortly after, the host approached them and introduced himself.

"Hello and welcome to my humbling home" Harry started. "You must be Margaery and Loras. I've heard a great deal of the beautiful roses of Highgarden" he said with some sweetness in his tone. "And you must be Sansa, the beautiful winter rose of Winterfell". Sansa didn't like how he make them all sound like things valuable only on beauty and influence.

"You have a charming home, Harry" Margaery was quick to respond.

"Your garden up front is beautiful. I've never seen those flowers bloom outside the Reach" Loras added.

It seemed it was her turn to say something nice, even though she wasn't feeling the whole "I shit money" vibe of the place and the host. She was about to say something about the room, but she asked about a painting in the shades of blue and purple hanging near where they were standing instead.

"Georgia O'Keeffe, the Black Iris III. Beautiful, isn't it?" he said as he moved to her side. "You can feel the raw sensuality in the way she uses the colors" Harry said, almost in a whisper.

She had a dire need to roll her eyes at the move Harry was trying to pull. Ugh, just my luck, she thought.

"I like the colors, but I'm more into Impressionism and Romanticism. Monet, Bazille, Janmot, Friedrich..."

"I see" Harry laughed "Fine Arts undergrad, I gather?"

"Political Science, actually. Me and Margaery actually-" she turned around to say something to her, only to find out that she was gone. She could see Loras with what she thought it was a TA at the Naerys School of Fine Arts.

Oh, well. It seems I'll have to do this on my own, she thought.

When she turned, she saw him, really saw him: blond hair, baby blue eyes, perfect smile. The young, handsome, sweet, attentive heir. The guy every girl on campus would and most certainly will fall for. But behind those pretty eyes and perfect smile there was a cunning young man, probably used to get what he wants. And he was sweet, too sweet.

"Politics?" he sounded surprised. "I never thought a pretty girl that knows a lot about art like you would torment her pretty head with... arguing" he said with a charming smile.

Smug wasn't enough, he's also sexist. "Oh, it's not arguing" she commented, starting to move around the room, with Harry quickly following her. "At least it isn't when it's done right" she smiled. "It's all about people. It's about everything that surrounds them" she continued as she took a look around the room "It's about being able to detect their wants, their needs, and the best way to make it all happen" she said as she moved closer to him. Harry was like a hawk, never taking his eyes off of her. "But..." she trailed off.

"But?"

"But it can also be about dangers and how to handle them, how to detect them and neutralize them, in way where nobody gets hurt. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don't" she continued, locking her eyes with his. He nodded and smiled. He seemed to catch what she was saying. She gave him another sweet smile. "I don't want to keep you from your hosting duty" she concluded.

He professed his wish to continue their conversation later in the evening, and left her with a very decorous, and very unnecesary kiss on the hand.

It was official: Sansa hated the guy.

She walked around the room some more, trying to find her friends, only to remain alone in a room full of strangers. But just when she was heading towards the gardens, she saw Margaery with two glasses of what were probably a couple of mojitos. "Marge, where have you been? You left me alone with that... that..." Sansa whispered, trying to calm herself. After all, it was not her friend she was angry at.

"With that hottie?" Margaery laughed.

"With that asshole!" Sansa replied as quietly as she could. "Give me that" she took the other glass and took a long sip.

"Hey, easy. We don't want another..." her friend looked around her before continuing "another Jon situation" Margaery couldn't help but giggle at the mention of Robb's best friend.

"Jon situation? Nothing happened that night" she was quick to reply, and even quicker to redden.

"If your definition of nothing is admitting through tears that you had a crush on him pretty much all of your childhood, then throw up, then pass out, then wake up the next morning in his room while he assured you that you slept like a rock while he slept in the living-room and said he wished you were feeling better and that you two could pretend that what you said never happened..." she said, no longer holding back the laughter "OK, then, nothing happened" she took another sip of the mojito to stop laughing.

"OK, it's true that I'm not a heavy drinker and that sometimes, sometimes, I get a little... soapy" she tried to tell Margaery, but she just kept on laughing. "But he took care of me and never brought it up, unlike some people I know" she pointed out, taking little sips from her glass.

"Oh no, he would never do that. Jon Snow is the spitting image of chivalry perfection" she said in a melodramatic tone, similar to her brother's when he's teasing either of them. "You said that to me for forty minutes before you professed your love".

"Oh, shut up. It's been months since it happened and I want to forget about it. But I can't, because every time I drink something with alcohol in it you 'worry' about a Jon situation" she berated her friend.

"OK, no need to get all defensive, I'm just teasing" Margaery said while hugging her. "Besides, Jon Snow doesn't know shit if he can't see what a great, beautiful, smart young woman you are" she said, in all seriousness now. "So the veredict is final on Harry?" she asked, doing a one-eighty.

"Oh yeah. But don't get me started"

"To be honest, I truly don't know what I expected from the new guy" Margaery started, lifting one of her perfectly trimmed eyebrows, "but it certainly wasn't this. I mean, who invites professors to a party? I just saw Loras flirt with that TA from one of his classes".

"Well, he's not technically a professor, you just said he's a TA. And we definetely didn't dress for the occasion" Sansa said, looking down at her attire.

"Oh, honey, no. The occasion was not for us. We look great" her friend replied. Sansa was wearing one of Margaery's dresses, a long-sleeved purple mini dress with silver high heels. Margaery was wearing one of her favorite ensambles, a shimmery gold crop top with a matching high-waisted mini skirt with white-and-gold ankle boots. Both had their hair down, in a cascade of curls.

(Continue reading on AO3)

#jonsa #jon x sansa #sansa x jon #actuallyjonsa #got #asoiaf #jonsa au #holidays au #modern au #college au #jonsa fanfiction #my fanfiction #my writing #my stuff #enjoy some fluff just in time for the holidays

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sourpunchsims · 5 years ago

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created by: me and @berryconfetti

Like music? Like berry sims? Or don’t? That’s fine too! I introduce to you, a 5 10 11? generation music based legacy

*inspired by @a-kind-berry/red‘s Seven Songs

@berryconfetti basically wrote gens 6-10 as an expanded version of this, so half of the credit goes to them. If you find anything wrong with the challenge, don’t hesitate to let us know! We will also be adding new generations as we get new content! If something isn’t specific, do whatever you want to!

I follow the tags: #lmds & #musiquedessims! Also tag me if you want when you start it so I don’s miss it! I would love to see your challenges!

*The name literally translates to “The Music of The Sims” in French!

This does use quite a lot of packs. If you don’t have something, feel free to substitute in something else! Most importantly, have fun!

Generation 1: Pop

Packs Needed: City Living, Get Together, Get Famous Color: Pink Aspiration: World Famous Celebrity Career: N/A, allowed a part time job to get some beginning funds Traits: Self-Absorbed

You’ve always dreamed of becoming a pop star. You leave your quaint home in the country side to move to the city, to try and make your dream a reality. It’s tough, but you know you have what it takes. You love hanging out with your friends and having weekly karaoke nights, whether they’re at your home or out in the city. Form a band or go solo, it’s up to you!

When you have a chance encounter with a fan, you never expected anything to come of it, but you end up falling in love. Bad fan fiction, anyone?

Live in San Myshuno or Del Sol Valley

Max Singing and Dancing skills

Reach level 5 fame and have a good reputation

Have weekly karaoke nights with your friends, until life gets too hectic from you getting more and more public attention

Marry a fan (RED)

Generation 2: Rock

Packs Needed: City Living, Get Famous Color: Red Aspiration: Musical Genius Career: Entertainer: Musician branch, then Social Media

You inherited your parents love for music and want to start your own band, but you don’t want to be the singer. You’d rather rock out on a guitar any day. With your parents backing you, your band quickly climbs the ladder. But when you fall in love with a band member, things start getting complicated, and eventually the band breaks up and you marry your love and settle down. You’re also very into social media and sharing your life on the web.

Live in San Myshuno starting from Young Adult until you’re an elder, then you can choose to retire somewhere quieter with your family if you wish

Max the Guitar and Media Production skill

Have and update a social media platform frequently- simstagram or simstube

Form a band as a teen

Have the band break up in your YA stage

After the band breaks up, quit your job and enter the Social Media career

Marry a band member (BLUE)

Have at least 3 kids

Generation 3: Karaoke

Packs Needed: Get To Work Color: Blue Aspiration: Joke Star Career: Entertainer: Comedian branch

It seems the musical gene skipped over you. While your siblings follow in your grandparents/parents foot steps, try as you might, you just can’t sing or dance. Instead, you move to Oasis Springs to focus on comedy. You use your name to your advantage, what with your grandparents being famous world wide and the handful that remember your parents’ old band. In your free time, you work on your photography.

Complete your aspiration/max your career

Move to Oasis Springs

Max Comedy, Charisma, and Photography skills

Marry a co-worker (PURPLE)

Have only 2 kids, that are close in age (or cheat for twins!)

Try to get your parents band back together for one last show, if nothing else, before they’re elders

Generation 4: Disco

Packs Needed: Get Together, Jungle Adventure Color: Purple Aspiration: Master Chef Career: Culinary: Chef branch Traits: Dance Machine, Foodie

The dancing gene is back! You want to learn every style of dance, but you also have an intense love for baking. You forced your sibling to help you practice dancing whenever you could, and they were your guinea pig for your baking creations. You maintain a close relationship with them throughout your life, until the death of your parents changes them.

Max Dancing, Selvadoradian Culture, and Baking skills

Meet your spouse (GREEN) in Selvadorada

Complete the master chef aspiration

Be best friends with your sibling, until the death of your parents

Fall out of touch with your sibling for a while before trying to mend your relationship

Generation 5: Alternative

Packs Needed: Base Game, Island Living (optional) Color: Green Career: Gardener- only work from home Aspiration: Any of the outdoor ones

You still have a love for music like most everyone else in your family, but you don’t see yourself pursuing it as a career. You end up in the country, on a farm, raising a garden and a brood family. You like to wood work in your free time, even dedicating a work shop to it. You also love to dabble in lots of different instruments. You know what they say, jack of all trades, but master of none.

Move to a farm as a YA, after getting married

Max Gardening and Handiness skills

Reach at least level 5 in 3 or more instrument skills

Complete the Gardening collection

Complete your chosen aspiration– Renaissance Sim would also be a good option*

Marry your childhood best friend (ORANGE)

Have lots of babies! At least 5 to help with the farm!

Make and use lots of wooden things in your house, for function or decoration

*Optional: Use the off the grid lot trait once you move to your “farm”

Generation 6: Nursery Rhymes

Packs Needed: City Living, Parenthood, Seasons (optional) Color: Orange Aspiration: Super Parent Traits: Childish, Geek, Family Oriented

You loved having so many siblings and now that you’re all grown up you still love playing with toys and doing childish things. You wish you never had to grow up (yay for Peter Pan syndrome!)! You were never good at playing music despite all the instruments around the home, but you did enjoy making up silly poems and songs, which entertained your brothers and sisters. When it’s time to start your own career as a Young Adult you start sending your poems and songs to publishers, eventually becoming a published author of Children’s stories!

Max Parenting, Writing, and Video Gaming skills

Have a baby sitter job as a teen

Complete the Void Critters collection

Marry a childish, cheerful, AND/OR outgoing sim (GRAY/CHARCOAL)

Attend GeekCon every time (or at least every other time) it happens

Go roller/ice skating regularly with your family- you decide how often.

*Could be like a tradition. Could even make it a holiday and have it happen once a “year"

Generation Seven: Heavy Metal

Packs Needed: Vampires, Seasons (optional) Color: Gray/Charcoal Aspiration: Any vampire aspiration Career: Criminal: Boss branch

You hated how happy and cheerful your family always was and want to distance yourself as much as you can from it, and them. Whenever a pop or dance song starts you change it to the Spooky station. You meet a vampire as a teen and become obsessed with vampire culture and their way of life, eventually asking to become one, taking pleasure in singing the Vampire’s siren song for that sweet, sweet plasma

Complete one or more vampire aspirations

Max Vampire Lore, Mischief, & Pipe Organ skills

Become good friends with a vampire you meet as a teen and get them to turn you

Become a Master Vampire

Marry a vampire (YELLOW- not necessarily the friend that turned you)

Move to Forgotten Hollow after being turned

*Optional: Never have contact with your family you left behind- they wouldn’t understand why you chose this

Celebrate Halloween!

Generation 8: Classical

Packs Needed: Spa Day, Vampires, Vintage Glamour Color: Yellow Aspiration: Mansion Baron Career: Critic- Arts branch

You have a taste for the finer things in life brought on by your vampire parents who shared with you the knowledge and appreciation of history, antiques and pretty (valuable/rare) things. You want the best of everything and the best house to show it all off. Your dislike of the common music on the radio has you hire a butler so that they can serenade you with the classical sounds of the piano and violin

Max Violin, Piano, & Wellness skill

Marry a snob or materialistic sim (TEAL)

Fall in love with a human- not necessarily your spouse ooh spicy- and cure yourself to grow old with them

*heir must be human

Collect all the rare collectibles

Go to the spa regularly

Have a butler

Throw a black and white party regularly

Generation 9: Punk

Packs Needed: Get Together, Outdoor Retreat, Get Famous (optional) Color: Teal Aspiration: Public Enemy Career: Politician

Growing up you didn’t always like your parent’s beliefs and had a different outlook on life and love. You pushed the boundaries to get your voice heard! Basically the Rebel™ gen.

Max DJ, Charisma, & Herbal-ism skills

Have a house fit for dance & dinner parties

Host a dance OR dinner party (different crowds) once a week

*Optional: Become a celebrity with a bad reputation

Be in a club that has mischief, DJing, & the give speech interactions

Have a child from a one night stand (WHITE)

Never marry

Generation 10: Ballads (Love Songs)

Packs Needed: Get To Work, Seasons, Island Living (optional) Color: White Aspiration: Soulmate Career: Own a flower shop retail store Traits: Romantic, Loves Outdoors, Your Choice *Berry Optional: You’re a color shifter and change colors based on your emotions

Your parent didn’t believe in love, but you’re a sap for romance. You dream of finding your soulmate and having the perfect white wedding. You also have a love for flowers, so you start your own flower shop, but after falling in love with a customer and starting a family you want to help more people find their soulmates. You start developing an app where people can share love poems and songs to woo other sims they match with.

Max Gardening, Flowering Arranging, & Programming skills

Make at least one app

Marry a customer and have a family and never divorce

*Optional: the customer was secretly a mermaid

Celebrate Love Day

Generation 11: Disney

Packs Needed: Island Living Color: Coral Aspiration: Beach Life- after completed, Curator Traits: Child of the Ocean, Child of the Islands, Romantic Career: Conservationist: Marine Biologist path

You grew up watching your parents be so in love and you want that kind of love so badly. On the same notion, you feel such a strong connection to the ocean and water in general. You have always longed to visit Sulani and when you see a job opening there, you jump at it. Pack your bags! Sulani, here you come!

Max Logic, Fitness, Charisma, & Singing skills

Complete the Seashell & Buried Treasure collections

*Become a mermaid if you weren’t born one

If you were not born a mermaid, “trade your voice” to an evil sea creature to become one

You “get your voice back” after you complete the seashell collection

Have at least 2 spouses throughout your lifetime- one before you “get your voice back”

Seduce the first one into marriage with your mermaid powers- desperate for love- before bitter-sweetly realizing that kind of ‘love’ isn’t real and wipe their memory and let them go

Whether or not you have children with them or not is up to you

Ultimately end up with a co-worker that loves the island as much as you do

***Gen 12- coming with the Realm of Magic pack***

If you guys do this, tag me in the beginning of it, or use #LaMusiqueDesSims or #LMDS. I’d love to see what you guys do with it! <3

#ts4 #ts4 legacy #ts4 legacy challenge #sims 4 legacy challenge #lmds #lamusiquedessims #LMDS challenge

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handlebarstiedtothestars · 5 years ago

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Wulf Daeg / Wolf Day

So a couple of years ago, along with my epic vintage typewriter, Husband also bought me a book of writing prompts. I found this in the depths of my writing folders and, having updated the dates, HAD to share. One early prompt was to make up a holiday, and write “in the style of a boring school assignment” about its origins and how to celebrate it.

So I made up Wolf Day! Based off actual real (according to the internet) things (the Anglo-Saxons did call it the Wolf Moon, and it really is happening on January 10th 2020). I love wolves and therefore ask - CAN WE MAKE THIS A THING?? I’ve typed it all up below:

Wulf Daeg, or “Wolf Day”, dates back to Anglo-Saxon times. The Anglo-Saxon people called the month which we now call January “Wulf-Monat”, or “Wolf Month”. This was due to the belief that during this cold and gloomy month, people were more in danger of being eaten by the wolves who, ravenous due to the lack of food in the extreme cold, would venture closer to the homestead, ever watchful and prowling. Demonstrating the universality of animal behaviour at this barren time of year, both the Anglo-Saxons and the Native Americans named the January full moon as the “Wolf Moon” in their lunar calendars.

Today “Wolf Day” is celebrated on the day leading up to the night of the January full moon. Traditionally, the day is spent fortifying the homestead. This can take the form of DIY work that perhaps was put off the previous year, to ensure the home is secure and its inhabitants safe from the elements and predators outside. However many people now take a more symbolic approach, putting orange shades on their lights or lighting candles to give the home a warm and safe glow; some will place a small offering, such as a small turkey leg, on the edge of the property to appease the hungry wolves of days gone by.

As night closes in, many families chose to remain in the comfort of their homes, following the tradition of lighting a small beacon or bonfire in their garden to keep unwanted predators at bay. Increasingly though, the braver souls venture out into the cold, dressed as wolves, and head to public spaces or ancient sites. Huge bonfires are lit, and food and drink shared amongst the lupine-clad group. In American celebrations such as this, there is often a Best Costume contest and a howling competition. But, as with Halloween, the British focus is on the darker, traditional elements of the holiday, embracing the cold, gloomy nights their ancestors feared. There are often readings of Anglo-Saxon texts and ancient songs sung, with improvised howling added as the night draws on.

In 2018 the Wolf Moon came early on the night between January 1st and 2nd, and coincides with the “Super Moon”, when the moon is closest to the earth and appears 7% larger and over 30% brighter. This combination led to plans for bigger festivities on the night, with huge gatherings planned at almost every ancient site in Britain, and midnight “Wolf Stalk” parade marches organised in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Many, whether attending these festivities or staying at home, said they planned to stay up to see the full moon at its peak at 02:24am in Britain. Stateside, no one lost any sleep as the moon peaked at 21:24pm ET.

This year, the Wolf Moon falls on January 10th, coinciding with a penumbral lunar eclipse. Whether you choose to stay home to fix that fence panel you have been watching slowly collapse for months, and enjoy a warm drink with your family in the knowledge you are safe, or whether you want to recycle your werewolf costume from last Halloween and stalk out into the cold winter night, Wulf Daeg is a great chance to come together, as a family or a community, and celebrate being alive. After all, you never know when the wolves might come for you!

#my writing #wolf #full moon #wolf moon #wolf day #wulf daeg #can we make it real #please #I love wolves #January #we need a celebration in January #prompt writing

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thegeminisage · 5 years ago

Note

Five Headcanons: Snow, Celes, Faith Connors, aaaaaaaand Papyrus

THANK U

SNOW:

cannot read. haha im just kidding (or am i)

sees people not liking him as a challenge. he wants to be the Most Likable Laid Back Guy Ever. sometimes this works in his favor like it did with lightning and sometimes it’s a little overbearing and creepy like with hope (and noel, eventually)

on the flip side he also has a way of…drawing out people’s badness. lowkey spoilers bc you havent gotten there yet but noel within 5 minutes of meeting him winds up talking about some of his most deeply-held pain. i think if people like snow they feel comfortable telling him that stuff and if they don’t he makes them angry enough that it comes out anyway. so he’s like accidentally a human therapy dog without even realizing it.

i think they might actually mention this in canon somewhere in like some of the start menu infodumps or one of the light novels or something but dude was an orphan so i’m sure he wants like All the children. good thing serah also likes kids

this is a REALLY BAD AND PROBLEMATIC HEADCANON but after witnessing them in game 3 i think that lightning, despite being strictly into ladies the other 99% of the time, would have wound up dating him eventually if he wasn’t, like, with serah. i don’t think she’s carrying a torch for him in canon or anything, because it just wouldn’t occur to her to think of her sister’s fiance who is also a dude that way, but in an alternative universe where he wasn’t her sister’s fiance they would have wound up working out pretty well

CELES:

i think like lightning she’s mostly into ladies so when locke comes along and she’s into him it’s sort of like ??? oh damn okay

i like celes/terra fine but i strongly prefer a sisterly relationship because they’re SUCH good foils. i think when celes was around terra prior to the start of the game she tried to find ways to be kind to her whenever possible and despite the amnesia part of terra remembered that always and so she just likes being around her

prior to the game singing was a guilty pleasure. maybe not opera singing but i think celes really just loved to do it, which is why she made a passable maria

i think as a soldier celes was denied things like dresses and bows and just taking pleasure in femininity so secretly she actually had a lot of fun getting dolled up to play maria, what really killed her was the crowds

having survived her own suicide attempt celes is very good at talking people off of their metaphorical ledges. i think in the post-game world where shit is marginally better people would have less of a reason overall to want to die but i also think she’d make it a point to patrol popular jumper spots and look after anyone she came across because she understands that despair so acutely

FAITH:

my girl faith is ARO AS HELL!! it’s possible she’s ace too (maybe lesbian oriented, or just aro and a lesbian) but definitely aro. is there such a thing as a 3-person QP relationship? i’m really into the faith/plastic/icarus dynamic but like no allo

loooooves junk food. faith probably eats like a horse to begin with because of all the energy expends being a parkour superhero but i’m sure she eats a lot of deeply unhealthy shit whenever possible. so when dogen tries to snag her for dinner with like his fancy-pants roast duck she’s like “ugh spare me”

speaking of dogen, i think faith genuinely cares for him and wants him to care for her in a father/daughter kinda way (and i think in his own way he does, or at the very least by the end she’s earned his respect, which is almost better). he’ll never be her dad, or noah, but i feel like everyone else would be like “he’s a creep” and she’d be the one going “yeah okay BUT”

no one knows what happened to faith and cat when she was little except noah and nomad & icarus is the first person she tells after the game is over. i think she’d tell plastic too eventually but icarus is Better At Feelings

doesnt like or plan on having kids but has a secret soft spot for animals, since seeing them is such a rarity in glass. glass doesnt have a huge population of strays but every once in awhile she’ll come across one and she always feeds it if she can

PAPYRUS:

LOVES halloween. we talked about this in stream a bit the other day but he’d loved giving out candy and seeing costumes and putting together his own costume (and sans’s costume lol) - it might even be his favorite holiday

right-handed! i think most monsters are left-handed to reflect how most humans are right-handed, but papyrus is a bit of an odd duck among his kind and also obsessed with humans, so him being right-handed feels Correct

easily just as OP as sans, except duh of course he doesnt ACTUALLY want to hurt you, so that’s why you don’t ever see anything truly scary out of him. he COULD do exactly what sans does, he just doesn’t want to, and he never will

cat person. evidence: dislikes dogs because dogs like bones. sans is a dog person so it only makes sense that papyrus is a cat person. after the game he adopts All The Cats

papyrus is one of those people who is scarily good at video games. like he knows all the ins and outs of different ways to spin tetris blocks and he can calculate the hit point curve of a jrpg character as they level on the fly and he can break basically any game mechanics down to the raw numbers and figure out the best most efficient way of doing things because Its Just Puzzles and thats what my guy does

(send me a character & i’ll list 5 headcanons)

#liz answers asks #bunnikkila #ask memes #ff13 #undertale blogging #ff6 #mirror's edge #long post

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praphit · 5 years ago

Text

Another Year, Another Recap - “Have a Coke and a smile... :)”

So, we're getting to the end, people. We're about to finish off another year. Personally, this year has been immensely better than the last.

I didn't even want to stay up and do any celebrating at the end of 2018. I just wanted to go to bed and be done with that bleepin year. This year has been a hell of a lot better. I hope that all of you can say something similar, but if not, there's always going to bed early, and putting your hope in the next year.

This past Christmas (and all Christmas', really) I spent time doing a lot of hating on Christmas music; it's a valued tradition of mine. I am, however, always surprised to find a few songs each year that don't bother me all that much. This year, one of them was John Legend's "Baby, It's cold outside" ft Kelly Clarkson

- a rewritten, sans rapey vibe rendition to boot its 1940's something predecessor.

In this version (at least how I interpret it), both people wanted some action that night. John says all of the right stuff ("I'll call you a car", "maybe you SHOULD go"), creating a safe environment, and most importantly, not coming off as sleazy and rapey. He's also protecting himself with this recording:) But, let's be clear... he wants some, and he wants it bad! While Kelly, also wants some, but doesn't want to come off as being a hoe. Nobody wants to be labeled a hoe. So, she says all of the right things as well ("My dad and brother are waiting for me", "I've gotta visit my sick grandma", "Gotta get home to the KIDS") But, at the end of the night, they both make a decision to sing to one another "Baby, It's cold outside, so let's stay in and BLEEP." That's how you do it! No guilt! No #METOO! No wife and kids around. All is well:) Divorces are still rising, and more older people (as well as old as bleep people) are on dating apps than ever before. Consider this song a Christmas gift from John & Kelly to you.

Sexiest man alive in 2019 btw

Congrats. Classic coming-up-out-of-the-water sexy.

There has been some good music in 2019. Good stuff happening. Also some sad and weird stuff happening in music - all things balance out, I suppose.

GOOD:

Lizzo

I am here for all things Lizzo.

SAD & WEIRD:

Maroon 5's Super Bowl performance. It wasn't even really M5's fault; they simply did what they always do. It was more a poor choice by the NFL. A boring and awkward performance. There was a time when all anybody wanted was a shirtless Adam Levine- both women AND men. Even times when he wasn't performing, he would show up places, some random person would announce to everyone "Don't worry, Adam WILL be taking off his shirt tonight." Talk about ME TOO. It was so bad that the old, white, slaveowners of the NFL hired Jay-Z (one of the blackest icons we have) to come and save them. We'll see how that turns out.

GOOD & WEIRD:

Tyler, The Creator - "IGOR"

One of my fav projects of the year. Tyler, the Creator is an odd dude - I mean this as a compliment. I love how Hip-Hop has evolved. There's a lot more room nowadays to be yourself, no matter how outsiders might deem your behavior as weird (sometimes, others NOT saying this as a compliment). I love his creativity, and hope he continues to inspire other artists (especially in hip-hop) to be creative. Heeeee also says stuff like this "I like girls, but I have sex with their brothers." But, also uses the word "gay" as an insult. Who knows?? There's a lot to unpack there.

SAD:

In other news, Camila Cabello might be a racist. Y'all can look it up if you'd like, but some posts of hers resurfaced. I'm a fan of hers, and checked out the posts for myself, thinking "People are prob just overreacting" - they're not, it's bad. She has apologized, saying the whole "I'm older and wiser now" thing. The prob with that is she's only 22.

GOOD & BAD, I GUESS:

ADELE

It's always good to see Adele out and about. These holiday pics show that's she's still alive (I get concerned, cuz she tends to disappear for a while) and apparently a lot thinner. This of course stirs men to say men type things, women to go on the attack, and all genuine compliments towards her to get lost. The good news is, Adele seems to be getting pretty chummy with Santa, and everyone knows that St. Nick is a heartbreaker. Adele should be spurned and back in the studio writing amazing tunes soon enough.

WEIRD:

Kanye

These pics say it all.

... that being said, I love his new music (which is how I stamp all of my conversations about Ye).

GOOD:

Billie Eilish!

Now (like many), one of my fav artists.

BAD:

She just turned 18, so of course, us men being ourselves again say things like "She's 18 now. You know what that means." Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what that means. Nothing says crossing-over into womanhood quite like being objectified.

Speaking of 2019 pervs - R.KELLY!

We can throw MJ and... what the hell, I'll just throw Spacey in there as well (his documentary is coming soon enough, I'm sure).

We were all enthralled by these two docuseries. It's interesting how different races respond to MJ. Both see him as... you know, but most black people are still listening to his music. White people on the other hand are ready to riot every time someone plays one of his songs... except around Halloween - gotta have "Thriller".

We love depressing television.

There was "Chernobyl" as well as "When they see us"

Movies too -

"Joker"

I love this movie, but it's about a homicidal clown, struggling with mental illness.

"Us"

I love this movie, but it's about classism and marginalization.

"Endgame"

It's largely about grief.

It's the best movie of the year, as far as I'm concerned!

It should win all awards!

ALL OF THEM!

Best Horror

Best Comedy

Best Romance

Remember when he sent the message to his wife? Cute, right?

Personally, I think he and Nebula were banging in each other.

... I think that story is going to come out some day. C’mon... they were up in space, alone... they both thought they were going to die. She was like “OMG, I’ve always wanted to bang Robert Downey Jr.

He was like “I don’t blame you.”

But, afterwards, he was like

- you know? He felt all bad, because he’d never get to do that again (that was the last of his energy). Annnnd also because he cheated. Which led to that cute recording for his wife. SEE, it’s all connected!

Best actor in Josh Brolin (Thanos) - the range of emotions (satisfaction, terror, humility, revenge, arrogance, beatin ass, defeat) Leo and Brad Pitt ain't have to do all of that!

Best Actress... hmm.. idk about this one. Many say J.Lo deserves an Oscar for her performance in "Hustlers" - a movie made for strippers, by strippers.

Exotic dancers are making a comeback! Maybe one day, stripping will be going in the same direction marijuana is - just something people do. No more shame! You can actually make a decent living at it - ain't that right, Stormy?

And who can forget this J.Lo quote "This city, this whole country, is a strip club. You've got people tossing the money. and people doing the dance."

There have also been plenty of things in 2019 that I have not understood:

1) Hatin on Greta

Greta - trying hard to do what she believes will make this world a better place for us all.

Certain people - "Shut that bitch up! She's crazy!"

2) Hatin on Megan Rapinoe

MP - leading a soccer team to a World Cup victory, being outspoken for women's rights and gay rights, having awesome purple hair, and trying to be the best leader and athlete she can be.

Certain people - "Shut that bitch up! She's Crazy! Equal pay my ass!"

3) Popeyes Chicken Sandwich

- the gov't test for a new crack epidemic. Sadly, I never got to partake.

4) Allison Mack

- This whole story began being unveiled in 2018, but continued through this year. I still don’t understand how this story has not gotten more attention. Some of y’all don’t even know what I’m talking about.... google it, and be horrified.

5) BTS (and K-pop in general)

-I love them, but... our country's K-Pop fetish has gotten kinda out of hand. All kinds of artists are trying to share the spotlight with them. Next, we're going to see them team up with Kendrick Lamar.

6) TikTok - I just don't get it. What’s the difference?

7) Cancel Culture

To me all cancel culture is silenced by Trump being our president. Where was all of this righteous indignation when we voted him into office? You might say "I didn't vote for him." Yeah, but, WE did - Idk what that says about us, but it's prob not good.

It doesn't even really work - Louis CK is currently selling out venues for an unapologetic tour. I'm not even saying that it SHOULD work (in SOME cases). I'm simply saying that it doesn't work (in most cases). But, perhaps the fear of it working is enough. Or perhaps we should think through how we spend our anger.

BUT, enough of that! It's time to pass out this year's PRAPHIE AWARD!

Here are the noms:

Jordan Peele

Pedro the turtle

(no need for context, just know he’s awesome)

Baby Yoda

(btw - studies show that if you have access to "The Mandalorian" and you AREN'T watching it, you're an asshole. This is not ME talking, this is science)

Megan Rapinoe (who I’ve already mentioned)

Flying Elbow Guy (Again, this requires no context. It’s Flying Elbow Guy! There is a baseball player who’s name I can’t remember. He took on a whole team, and... you know what - that’s too much exposition. It’s Flying Elbow Guy!

Keanu Reeves

Annnnnnnd! It’s...

...

KEANU!

This year:

Of course JW, Toy Story 4, Cyberpunk 2077, “Always be my Maybe”, plus we found out that he’s down for The Matrix 4, John Wick 4, and Bill & Ted. CRAZY!

Also my BAMF of the year (see previous post)!

We love Keanu Reeves so much, that he's allowed to murder as many people as he wants (as John Wick).

We'll get mad if an actor who's not handicapped is playing someone who is, we'll get mad about whitewashing (as we should), we'll get mad if things are too sexualized, we GOT MAD at "Joker" for predicted violence. But, Keanu can murder all he wants:)

(See the scene above? - that was a McDonald’s before he showed up)

He found love as well. Women are loving that he chose someone closer to his age. Honestly, Idk why it matters. I'd still love this man, even if he were dating 22 year old, racist ass Camila Cabello.

But, he's viewed by some as the perfect man. I disagree. I don’t think that he’s merely the perfect man, but the perfect human.

His career and popularity paths are unique. No one would call him a... GOOD actor, but look at him! And he seems like a genuinely, awesomely, good person. And whatever "good person" means to you, he's at the top! We should all (men and women) be a lil more like Keanu in 2020.

Let's all be as lovable as we can, so we may all get away with as much as we can:)

With each new year, I challenge myself with a slogan to live by. In 2020, it's going to be this -

From Eddie Murphy’s “Raw”- Richard Pryor’s advice to Eddie, concerning Bill Cosby

Telling certain people in my way "To have a Coke and a smile, and shut the bleep up." Sometimes, I might need to be the one to do this, rather than say it - we'll see.

Here was the runner-up slogan (his response)

Magical.

Happy New Year, Everyone! Enjoy yourselves. Be less of an asshole. And be safe... enough to at least make it TO 2020.

Much love!

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hibiki-the-beast-archived · 5 years ago

Text

Questions to Hibiki from fans

Source (I used a translator and only arranged it a little so it makes more sense so it could be full of mistakes.)

- I'm going to ask you some really stupid questions. What would you like to look like if you were dressed as a woman? With what hairstyle What to wear Who do you want to show it to?

Sadako! [I can’t really understand the rest of the reply...xD]

- What do you think about wearing a dress? Can you wear a dress? Can you show it? I'm not sane? Wearing a dress? I think that it does not suit me even a little, so...

- What kind of girl does Hibiki like? I don't really like it... [I don't know what this is supposed to mean, if he doesn't like girls or if he just don't have a certain kind...I tend to say the latter. ;)] If anything, I tend to like people who appear more normal other than showy gals.

- Hibiki, which one are you, S or M? I don't know what to say, which one could it be? Maybe it's totally N! Neutral? It depends on the situation.

- Do you have any rules for living, Hibiki? My rule is...not to hurt people. This is a difficult game, so I don't know if I make it or not. Also, I think that I will not act like bending my core.

- How old are you? About 317 years old [Something with the name 'Saiba buru' is mentioned, but I don't know what it is...]

- Do you have any particular belongings? My favorite item is a ring that I got from my friend.

- Do you have a favorite movie? Favorite movies are Rockers, Rocky 1 & 2, Rambo 1, Prayer to the Dying, Young Gun 1 & 2, Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, Eraser Head, Elephant Man, Inland Empire, Skinny Man, Shining, Cujo, Pet Cemetery, It, Misery, Tommy Knockers, Carrie, Shawshank, Clash, Terminal, Poltergeist, Back to the Future, Goonies, Money Pit, Scanners, The Fly, Naked Lunch, Dead Spirit Harata 1 & 2, Darkman, Night of the Living Dead, Beetle Juice, Scissor Hands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd Devil Barber in Fleet Street Mad Max 1 & 2, Brain Dead, Satan's Sacrifice, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Natural Bone Killers, Desperado, Sid & Nancy, Leon, Jailbreak King, We are not Angels, Taxi Regards Driver, Cape Fear, Untouchable, Good Fellows, Unforgiving, Perfect World, Gran Torino, Interview with Vampire, Seven, Joe Black, Fight Club, Snatch, Oceans 12, Elm Street Nightmare, Platoon, Die Hard, Six Sense, Sin City, Men's Aka ... !

- What is your favorite season? I like every season!

- Does Hibiki make up herself during the live performance? [The translation said 'herself'...well. xD] I make my own makeup.

- Will Hibiki give up if the opposite sex you love only sees you as a friend? I give up and I don't want to approach in particular (I think it depends on how much I like)

- What kind of personality do you often get along with? And what do you do if you fight? Do you often apologize from yourself? I will make friends with rock people and people who think of me properly. If it ’s a fight, if I ’m bad, I ’ll apologize right away and don’t pull it.

- Do you have any fetish? Mouth, hips and feet.

[By the way, it is nice how he ends the blog entry with 'A man who lives at night, Hibiki'. :D]

- What is Hibiki-san hiding in the fluffy hair!? Coin is hidden in my head, feel like a coin purse? [I don't really get what is this is supposed to mean, but the question was so cute. :D]

- Is Hibiki's day-to-day holiday sometimes returning to an ordinary man instead of rock and roll? Yes ... Actually, I'm always a normal single man.

- The hairstyle you want to do (or any color). The hairstyle I want to try is Mohawk! A beautiful mohawk like PUNK! ! ! But I know that my face doesn't look good ... what if I shave my eyebrows completely? ? ?

- What kind of hairstyle do you usually have at home? Is your hair tied? I want to know. I'm spending my life like a hippie in my house ...

- Where do you first look when you see a woman? First of all, the eyes.

- Please tell me your favorite artists! ★ Japanese music ★ thee michelle gun elephant KING BROTHERS BLANKEY JET CITY THE MODS ARB THE ROOSTERS TH eROCKERS The 50 revolutions eastern youth THE BLUE HEARTS maximum the Hormone SOB THE BACK HORN THE HIGH GRIP ← w --- And the sound source of hardcore illegal gatherings ---- participant LAUGHIN NOSE MOBS COBRA LIP CREAM G.I.S.M OUTO BAWS ZOUO BUCK-TICK Merry Go Round PIERROT ★ Western music ★ Arctic monkeys The vines Jet The Strokes The horrors The offspring The Smashing Pumpkins Nine Inch Nails Primus Red hot chili peppers KASABIAN The White Stripes Nirvana MUSE Radiohead System Of A Down Rage Against the Machine Limp Bizkit SlipKnoT Korn Linkin park Mudvayne Rob Zombie Soulfly Tool Pantera Megadeth RAMMSTEIN Bauhaus

- If you can bring only 3 CDs to an uninhabited island, what CD will you bring? I think I won't be able to listen to music on an uninhabited island ... Bring your guitar with you

- What is a girl's favorite gesture? A figure kicking a man's balls.

- Recommended diet method. Oil-free meal, exercise and calorie calculation? The quickest thing is to eat a meal that calculates the calorie intake, fasting for about 2 days, making the stomach smaller.

- What is the ideal way to spend a holiday Smoking cigarettes while looking at the seaside at seaside, smoking cigarettes to the feet ... I want to spend a good time instead of making a fuss.

- What kind of clothes do you usually wear? I don't know what suits me ... What kind of clothes will look good on me? ? Reverse question?

- What is your favorite and disliked food? Favorite food Ramen Salted mackerel Okonomiyaki Tan-SIO Tinjaolose Mabo tofu Spicy curry Natto tomato juice Beer ☆ dislike food Shiitake mushroom Vinegar Konjac Fukujinzuke Takuwan Sweet fried egg Teriyaki in general Grilled meat sauce sweet and sour pork Salad with fruits Dried grapes

- What is your favorite book? ? Favorite book ... I'm sorry ... Actually I don't read books I don't have much time and I'm afraid to make my eyes worse ...

- Hibiki uses perfume, right? I don't add perfume, but I'll add body mist! Victoria Secret This is an endless love guy from the Garden Collection. Perfume is not good because the smell is too tight.

- Do you like horror? Mr. Ramlin I like horror but there are a lot of hits! ! Especially for horror and action ... I thought horror was good Night of the Living Dead zombie Creep show Dead Spirits 1 and 2 (camera work and Bruce Campbell lovers w) Batarian (easy-to-understand development and class B atmosphere!) ring Magic sound Object X from planet Shining Satan's sacrifice Basket case Brain Dead I've seen a lot of other things ... a pattern full of CG that can wither ...

- In about 3 months, Halloween will be, do you have any costumes you want girls to wear? ? If there is a costume you want to wear, please tell me! Costumes that girls want to wear ... Leather face ... It ’s a joke. I want to do leather face ☆ After all a beautiful and erotic zombie style for girls! Or maybe the Adams family! !

- How does it look like in your room? It's a white wall, but I don't have any posters on it. There are a lot of watches that are only at school. The curtains are ivory and gentle colors! Others are single beds LCD TV (AQUOS / Kameyama brand w of the world) TV stand There is only a large dark brown table The kitchen has a refrigerator, an IH stove that I bought yesterday, and an abdominal muscle device. It is surprisingly simple.

- Favorite liquor: My favorite liquor is ... beer! ! There is nothing in particular Actually I don't drink anything other than beer I don't like alcohol Sweet sour liquor, shochu, sake, whiskey, vodka, brandy, etc.

- What is your favorite type of woman? There is no such type. By the way, there is not one female celebrity favorite since elementary school.

- Is there a cool position and design for women to put in a tattoo? Hibiki likes I think it ’s okay if it ’s right for the person ’s character, I think angels are cute! ! Like Natural Born Killers, the main character in the movie was carving next to the navel? ?

- Good evening, Hibiki-san, have you ever cried in public since you became an adult? Have you ever cried in front of a lover? Of course! ! People cry because they are serious Isn't the person who makes it stupid a person who doesn't know much about human pain? In my thoughts, is it embarrassing to cry when you want to cry?

- I like beer but how much can I drink? What happens if you get drunk? I don't think I lose my memory because I'm drunk ... As far as I can remember, I remember drinking about 5 cups of mugs at a tavern. After that, I'm drinking with a dull, so surely more ... If someone does not count it, it will remain a mystery!

#about

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katastroficwriter · 6 years ago

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Halloween headcanon: Kiibo loves Halloween because it's a day where he feels like he belongs because of his looks. Bonus: Kokichi takes him trick or treating for the experience.

Sorry if it took me a while. Some stuff came up. But anyways, here you go!

And since it’s already the 29th in Japan, Happy birthday Kiibo!

“Cool costume, mister!”

Kiibo blinked at the compliment before smiling. “Thank you. Have a safe night.” He set the bowl of treats on the coffee table after bidding the visiting children goodbye.

That was the 31st time someone had told him that, but Kiibo smiled all the same. Halloween was his favorite holiday. The weather was not too hot like in summer, or too cold like in winter. The general atmosphere the season of Autumn carried was all too fitting for such a holiday. Not to mention…it was the only time where he could just relax and not feel judged for his appearance, after all. The children’s smiling faces after he gives them a rather generous share of treats also helps him forget…that little incident during his birthday. That time, they were discussing their plans for Halloween. What to wear, what treats they could get…

————————————————

“It must be nice, huh.”

“What are you talking about, Ouma-kun?”

“We have to come up with Halloween costumes to wear every year, you know? And preparing the costume itself is so difficult~” Ouma sighed. “But you of course don’t have anything to worry about. After all, your usual getup is enough of a costume already.”

————————————————

He knows Ouma’s words wasn’t really meant to hurt or insult him. But he couldn’t help but feel twice as conscious over his overall appearance thanks to that remark. He couldn’t even think of an apt response. All he could offer was silence. Ouma had a point after all. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t have the need to wear clothes due to his armor. And because of that, he had less expenses compared to the others.

Even for something as trivial as clothing, he was different from everyone else…

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Kiibo snapped out of his reverie. He shook his head a little in an effort to ward off his negative thoughts. ‘Now’s not the time to think of such unpleasant things. Today is Halloween, after all. The only time where I can be who I am without being judged.’

He retrieved the bowl of treats from the coffee table and made his way to the door. He took a deep breath before settling for a little smile before opening the door. He froze in his place as soon as he realized who was standing before him.

“Trick or trick~!” Ouma chirped. Instead of toting around a jack o’lantern for his candy, he used his ridiculously large jester hat, which was already half-full at this point in time.

“O-Ouma-kun…?” Kiibo felt faint. Which is funny, considering he’s sure that he’s incapable of fainting.

“Trick or trick!” Ouma pouted, impatiently shaking his hat.

“U-um…trick…?”

“Yoink!” The raven haired supreme leader snatched the bowl of treats from the android. “Sweet! Literally!”

“This falls under the category of ‘Treat’ rather than ‘Trick’ doesn’t it?” Kiibo sighed as he accepted the now empty bowl.

“Hm, I suppose so. But I tricked you into thinking that I’d pull a trick on you. Besides, you didn’t expect me to snatch the bowl from you now, did you?” Ouma punctuates his statement with a wink while sticking his tongue out playfully.

The android pursed his lips, his uneasiness was steadily rising. “…What brings you here?”

“Oh. I was just going to stuff you in a sack and make you go trick or treating with me,” Ouma grinned as if he didn’t just confess to planning out the android’s kidnapping.

“T-trick or treating with you? Why?” Kiibo closed his eyes out of reflex when the other teen had moved to give his nose a flick.

“Because it’s Halloween! Duh!” Ouma huffed. “But there’s no way you’re going out in that.”

‘That?’ Kiibo gave himself a once over, realizing what the supreme leader meant. He looked away, “…Didn’t you say that my appearance could pass off as a costume a few days ago? If that’s the case, then there’s no reason for me to dress up, right?”

“Something you wear everyday hardly counts as a costume, you dumb robot!” Ouma poked him on the chest. “That’s why I brought them with me!”

Kiibo’s ahoge curled into a question mark, “Them? Who are you–”

“‘Sup Kiibs!” Iruma, who was dressed in a witch outfit, gracelessly jumped out of the bushes. Shirogane shyly followed after her.

“Hello Kiibo,” the bespectacled teen greeted. She was dressed as one of the characters from this anime about Servants and Holy Grail Wars, but Kiibo couldn’t place a name for the character as he was still processing what was happening at the moment.

“I-Iruma-san?! Shirogane-san, too? What are you two doing here?” Kiibo asked. He redirected his attention to the supreme leader, but the latter seemed blind to what was happening–he was too busy checking out his candy loot to care.

“We’re goin’ to play dress up. I have just the tools to strip you buck naked!” Iruma was practically huffing from excitement as she made wiggling gestures with her fingers.

“S-strip?! W-wh–”

Shirogane gave the android a pat on the shoulder, “Don’t worry Kiibo, I will make you as pretty as possible!”

“A-ah, wait–!!!”

“Oh so you’ve arrived. Come on in,” the Professor calls from the hallway.

Kiibo turned to look at his father with eyes as wide as saucers. “Professor?!?!?!”

———————————————–

“T-to think that you somehow managed to rope my father into your little scheme…” murmured Kiibo, swinging his little jack o’ lantern from time to time. His pumpkin-esque basket was more or less full at this point. The costume Shirogane has prepared for him was really well-made, and considering the fact that the outfit had fitted him nicely despite not knowing what his size would be without the armor only speaks volumes of her skill as the Ultimate Cosplayer.

It was a unique experience, wearing soft fabric over his frame instead of the cool armor he’s always known. Though the fake fangs the cosplayer made him wear was a little hard to get used to.

“We had to. Otherwise getting you out of your armor would have risked some permanent damage on you,” Ouma ends his statement by popping a gobstopper in his mouth. “He was your creator, so of course we needed his help.”

“I see…” the albino trailed off as he peered into his jack o’ lantern. Various sweets filled his basket, all coming from different households and different people who only saw him as a regular trick-or-treater. He didn’t feel like an outcast, he felt like he was simply being himself.

“…rry.”

Kiibo’s ahoge stiffened into an exclamation point, “Come again?”

Ouma grumbled a little while he was looking away before turning to look at the android. “I said I’m sorry. For what I said during your birthday.”

“Huh…?”

“You’re honestly terrible at hiding things from people,” the supreme leader huffed. “You seemed out of it after I said that. I reflected on what happened that night, then I remembered that you’ve always had this bad habit of hyper-fixating on topics that concern your insecurities.”

‘He’s noticed it all this time?’ Kiibo couldn’t find it in himself to respond.

“Since you’re such a dumb robot, I guess I’ll have to explain it to you in a way that even a child could understand,” Ouma stopped in his tracks. “Tonight–to other people, what you usually wore could easily be passed off as a costume because they don’t know you at all. Like I said earlier, something you wear everyday hardly counts as a costume. When I said that, I didn’t mean that you’re not allowed to dress up too, you know? …But you still got hurt anyway. That’s why I’m sorry. I should have worded it better.”

“Ouma-kun–” Kiibo was silenced by a finger resting against his lips.

“And about that prank I pulled on you that day. I lied about it being my gift to you,” Ouma took a deep breath, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. “This night–the time we spent trick-or-treating together. This is my real birthday gift to you…since…well, you said you’ve never went trick-or-treating before. I wanted to give you something you’ve never experienced before…” Ouma frowned at his candy-filled hat, as if it was the reason why he’s having trouble hiding his blushing face. “S-so…uhm…I know I said this before but…Happy birthday, Kiibo.”

The android blinked once, twice, before deciding to set his jack o’lantern on the ground. He made sure not to squeeze too tight when he pulled the supreme leader into a hug. He was sure that if he was capable of expelling tears from his eyes, he would be crying right now. “…Thank you, Ouma-kun…this is–this is definitely the best birthday present I’ve ever received.”

Ouma stiffened in the embrace, “T-that’s–” he cleared his throat. “That’s f-fine and all but w-we’re still in public you s-stupid robot!” His voice cracked near the end.

“I’m not letting you go just yet.”

“W-why you–?!”

“You can take it as payback for giving me that strange vibrating doll on my birthday. Now bear with this for a while,” Kiibo let out a pleased hum, ignoring the curious eyes watching their exchange. Ouma ended up sulking the whole time after the hug, but he seemed to forgive the android after the latter gave him his entire candy stash as soon as they returned to Kiibo’s home.

#ndrv3 #kiibouma #kiibo #ouma kokichi #katastrofic writing #katastrofic reply #happy birthday kiibo!#spoopy!

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cardcaptorcoconut · 7 years ago

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Sakura Fest 2018

Sorry it took so long to write this up! I’m finally on a proper “weekend” break for the first time in nearly 2 months (thank god for comp days!) so this is my first chance to really sit down and write up the rundown of Sakura Fes 2018. It’s been a few weeks since the event happened, but I typed up a bunch of notes that night to make sure I remembered as much as possible. :)

This post is really long and text heavy, so apologies in advance! Also, please keep in mind for those of you who have not caught up to the halfway point in the anime that there are heavy spoilers for the first half of the season.

For the Japanese rundown of with some additional photos during the event, there is a link here with some.

[EDIT] There were mispellings for Saori Hayami’s name. I’ve fixed it now.

This year’s Sakura Fes was held at Maihama Amphitheater, right next door to Tokyo Disneyland. It’s so close by you can hear and see the park rides. This was a much larger venue than last year’s event at Rune Kodaira Hall (total capacity in the large hall there is 1,229 people vs Maihama Amphitheater’s 2,170) and much more centralized in Tokyo. As with last year, there were two performances - the afternoon one and the evening one.

Tickets for the event really blew me away this time around. I didn’t win the lottery tickets early on, but waited for the general ones to go on sale. The morning they did, tickets for BOTH events FULLY sold out within only 10 minutes! I tried to get tickets for the afternoon event, but they disappeared just as I was buying them. Luckily, I snatched up ones for the evening event this time (and am SUPER glad that I did!).

#1) Before the Event

Even though I was going to the later one, a good friend of mine in Tokyo had lucked out and gotten herself a lottery ticket for the early show, so I met up with her before it started. I loitered around outside with her until it was time for her session to start.

There were TONS of people waiting around for the goods for the evening show to go on sale, and apparently a lot of stuff had sold out quickly for the early show.

I waited where I thought we were supposed to line up for a bit, but then someone with a megaphone instructed that everyone for the evening session’s goods line needed to form a different line elsewhere - it was almost like a stampede getting to where we needed to go! I managed to get sort of close to the front of the line somehow, but even so by the time I got into to buy goods, some stuff was already sold out!

Here are a few photos of the venue, goods, lobby, & how everything looked on the day:

List of goods on sale:

The line for entry wrapped around the building:

Kero-chan flower arrangement from Good Smile Company!:

Easter Display:

Fanmail boxes for Aya Hisakawa, Junko Iwao, and Sakura Tange:

After wandering around and taking as many pics as I could, I made my way inside (my seat was in the very, very back of G Block in the theater).

#2) Event Intro & Cast Introductions

The stage itself looked like this from where I was sitting. Take note of the location of the magic circle on stage:

Once everyone had settled in for the event itself, the lights dimmed and the stadium made an announcement about the rules (no photography, filming, etc, so unfortunately I don’t have any photos or videos for this reason aside from the ones above).

Then suddenly, from where Sakura’s Clear Card magic circle was shining on the stage, the floor sunk down and opened up leaving a huge hole where it was. It rose back up seconds later with the life-sized Kero and Suppie mascots dressed up on it. Suppie had on a pair of bunny rabbit ears on his head (Kero did not). Behind them, they had a whiteboard about Easter (much like they do in the Kero-chan Explains It All segments at the end of every episode).

As always, Kero (voiced live by Aya Hisakawa) greeted everyone with "Konanachiwa!!” After getting the audience to do it back, they dove into an explanation about Easter. Unlike Halloween, Easter is not a commonly celebrated holiday in Japan even in the secular sense (Easter Bunny, egg hunts, etc), and the majority of Japanese people don’t know what it’s about. Kero started by explaining that Easter is a Christian holiday and is about resurrection and coming back to life. He started going deep into the religious origins of the holiday, but Suppie held up a sign saying “Don’t give such complicated explanations!!”

Kero gave up and said that if the religious meaning of the holiday is too complicated for everyone to understand, then there is a secular meaning too. He said that the Clear Card Arc is the resurrection of the Cardcaptor Sakura anime, which is why they chose to hold the event as “Sakura and her Friends’ Happy Easter” this year. He also explained that bunnies and eggs are a motif of the holiday and that’s why Suppie was wearing rabbit ears. Kero said that it was time for the event to begin and they both waved as the big monitor above cued up.

The platform they were on descended below again as Maaya Sakamoto’s “Clear” and the opening visuals for Clear Card Arc started playing. As the opening credits progressed, the platform rose back up and all of the CCS cast members participating in the event were on it this time:

Sakura Tange (Sakura Kinomoto)

Junko Iwao (Tomoyo Daidouji)

Aya Hisakawa (Kero)

Motoko Kumai (Syaoran Li)

Megumi Ogata (Yukito Tsukishiro / Yue)

Minori Suzuki (Akiho Shinomoto)

Natsuki Hanae (Yuna D. Kaito)

Everyone waved at the audience and as the theme ended and the platform stabilized, they walked back to the main stage area, but didn’t take their seats just yet. The emcee came out at this point and went through a brief introduction of each cast member. They were in this order from left to right on the stage: Ogata-san, Kumai-san, Hisakawa-san, Tange-san, Iwao-san, Suzuki-san, Hanae-san. [Note: I can’t remember if Kumai-san and Hisakawa-san were sitting in this format, but if not they were switched seats - everyone else was for sure sitting like this.]

The emcee brought up that this year’s theme is Easter again and did another explanation of it for the audience. She said again that it’s originally a Christian holiday, but that in Japanese it’s known as 復活祭 (”Resurrection Festival”) and they wanted to use it because CCS came back too.

At that point, everyone went to sit down in the chairs provided and the emcee gave each staff a chance to introduce themselves. During Tange-san’s turn, she said when they were downstairs before the platform rose up earlier, the Kero-chan mascot was dancing to Clear and was a pro at it. Apparently it was really cute and she really wished she could’ve recorded it (which reminded me of the Cherryblossom viewing chapter with The Record). Hanae-san’s intro was the funniest to me - he said he had a yakiniku bento for lunch and was super energized for the evening show, lol!

This was where it became apparent that the evening show was the “fun one” of the two: After the yakiniku bento comment, Hanae-san said よろしく (”I’m in your care”) to the audience in Kaito’s voice and made a point to sound “sexy.” Everyone laughed but around the same time Suzuki-san was readjusting herself on her seat cushion and sort of absentmindedly said 気持ちいい (”That feels nice”). As soon as she said that everyone in the audience started laughing super hard because it was so unexpected. She immediately got flustered and apologized and said “No, no no! I meant the chair is really comfortable and soft!! That’s all...!!” and laughed with everyone.

#3) Question Time

“How did you feel about Sakura and Syaoran’s reunion?”

As everyone was seated, the emcee opened up for question time. It started off with the question asking how Tange-san and Kumai-san felt acting out the very first SyaoSaku scene of the new series - the cherryblossom reunion. The question showed up on the monitor and then they played a clip of the scene (and said that the clip was only played at the evening show - slightly different from earlier).

Tange-san said she was shy about it from the very beginning when she had to record it. Kumai-san mentioned that during the recording session, she was nothing but happy with how it was written and how they performed it. However, having the scene itself played in front of SO MANY people that day was embarrassing.

The cast on a whole then examined Sakura and Syaoran’s dialogue in that scene. The main part they looked at was when Sakura said she had so many things to tell Syaoran, and he reciprocated that he did too. They the looked at the following exchange in particular:

Sakura: 教えてね！全部！(”Tell me everything!” - The word 教える can be translated as either “Tell” or “Teach” meaning-wise) Syaoran: ああ。(”Yeah.”)

Ogata-san out of NO WHERE, turns to Kumai-san and goes “So I’ve gotta ask, but... What do you mean by 'Yeah' in response to 'I will teach you everything'? What is this 'EVERYTHING' you’re gunna teach her?” The cast and audience lost it again laughing.

Kumai-san got shy and couldn’t answer fully, but goes "Well uh... yeah... you'll have to ask that to CLAMP..." and the cast reminded us again that because we we’re at the evening event they were being goofy and making suggestive jokes like this that they couldn’t at the more “family oriented” afternoon event.

“Tomoyo records lots of personal moments.”

The next scene they examined was where Tomoyo appeared in the SxS scene above recording their reunion, and then in their date episode just before they entered the aquarium (the “This is my best shot!” scene).

The question this time was directed at Iwao-san, asking if she thought that Tomoyo’s recording sessions were growing in scale and becoming more extensive. She replied that “Yes, they are. It’s because (she sees) the love growing (between Sakura and Syaoran) and wants to capture it along with their happiest moments.”

I think it was Ogata-san who jumped back in saying something along the lines of “I wonder just HOW MUCH (of their love) you’ll get to record, heh heh heh...” and everyone lost it again. I was kind of surprised at how much they were implying, haha!

“Have Kero and Touya finally acknowledged Syaoran?”

The next question was whether or not Kero and Touya finally recognize Syaoran as someone who is an ally and cares about Sakura. They played clips of the scene where Kero and Tomoyo were skyping during the date episode, and during the “ruined date” scene where Syaoran retrieved the soggy bento and Touya looked at him and sighed.

Hisakawa-san said that before, Kero would always say things like “You wanna go, brat!?” and try to pick fights with him, but now whenever he says “brat” there’s some love and affection in it. They went on to say that Touya has also started to recognize him a bit and that neither he nor Kero do as much as they used to in protecting Sakura anymore. I read this as meaning it’s not that they don’t want to, but they realize that they have extra help in Syaoran now.

They said that Yukito, Yue, and Touya don’t do as much anymore, but Tange-san said that no matter what everyone helps "Sakura” and that makes her happy. But the reason they don’t do as much now is because “Sakura” has grown up and is more adult.

Something interesting got brought up here with regards to the voice recording sessions - the scenes are recorded in A and B parts separately. Meaning that some of the cast who are in scenes together will record their lines, but don’t know what happened with the other casts’ parts in previous or simultaneously occurring scenes.

Ogata-san said that sometimes when recording their B part, they say to each other “Jeez, what on earth did they do in the A part!?”. It then got brought up that they are close to the end of recording for the anime and they sort of gave the impression they know how things will be finishing up. It was not clear and they avoided mentioning if this “wrap up” was just for the “season” or if there would be any more series to follow.

“Have Syaoran’s techniques stopped working?”

The next clip was from Episode 12 where they caught the Hail card. It was when Syaoran’s fire technique didn’t work and he had to use his other “secret” power to stop the card.

They asked Kumai-san what exactly it was that happened there, but she replied that it’s too much of a spoiler and that they’re not really sure themselves. It seemed like maybe the cast DOES know and just can’t say it because of non-disclosure.

When she was asked, she simply said “I’m not sure if it’s okay for me to say... but I think we have like 3-4 episodes left to record?” Tange-san jumped in signaling "Nooo!” with her arms and corrected Kumai-san saying that they had “several” episodes more to go at that point.

“Is Yue an “Agokui” Type?”

[顎クイ “Agokui”: Suddenly lifting someone’s face by their chin in an aggressive, yet sometimes romantic fashion]

Ogata-san talked about how she has played many "cool type / handsome guy” characters in the past. They then played the scene where Yue says to Sakura “Tell me anything that happens, even if it’s something small” and touches her chin.

She said that during this scene and others, she was just acting it out naturally and how she thought would be a normal back-and-forth between them. However, some of the lines that would just come out without thinking were deemed as not appropriate by the directors. She said that the way she acted the lines came out naturally because as a woman acting out a male role, she was just saying what seemed appropriate and not thinking of what “male feelings” might be like in this situation.

For example, at the end of one of the Facetime/Skype sessions with Sakura, she would say おやすみ (”Goodnight”) as Yue. After about 2 or so times of this, the directors pulled her aside and commented that “It’s a little suggestive saying ‘goodnight’ like that to a middle schooler...”

As such, she had to tweak how she replied in that scene. She went on to say that she talked about it with Tomokazu Seki (Touya) as well on how they needed to act in certain scenes.

Apparently even at the Sakura Fes event, the staff was instructed not to ad-lib dialog anymore. Hisakawa-san had done it at last year’s event and they were warned not to do it as much this year, but overall ad-libbing was too much fun and it’s something the audience audience enjoyed, so it couldn’t be helped.

“Who are the new characters?”

The next topic up was the new characters: Akiho and Kaito. The scenes they played were Akiho’s self-introduction at the school and her competing against Syaoran in badminton. They also showed the scene where Sakura and Tomoyo come over to her house and meet Kaito for the first time.

Suzuki-san and Hanae-san talked about how it felt to record their lines. Suzuki-san in particular said that during the badminton scene, Kumai-san helped her match up the timing by playing air badminton with her in the recording booth.

They also talked about how Hanae-san constantly keeps reassuring everyone Kaito’s not a suspicious guy. He said everyone suspects him and that the cast had asked everyone at the afternoon event what their opinions were. Everyone reacted that they think he’s definitely shady.

Suzuki-san said that even SHE thought that and when she was acting out Akiho’s lines, the directors told her she had too much doubt in her voice. The instructed her to reassess and act her lines out in a more Akiho-like way - that she loves him and thinks he’s a really good person, even if Suzuki-san herself doesn’t think that.

Hanae-san chimed back in and emphatically goes “But I am a good person!!!” and tried to convince everyone again.

“The new Key, new Magic Spell, and new Wand...!?”

The last scene they put up on the monitors was Sakura releasing the new key into the sealing staff and using her new spell. Cue a shameless plug for the new Takara Tomy Clear Card wand toy that has voice recordings from Tange-san.

The cast collectively was like “YES, TAKARA TOMY EVERYONE. OF COURSE” and I got the impression they were a bit sarcastic like they had to advertise it as part of their job, but were a little like “Yeah, we know this isn’t what you’re here for, lol.”

They brought out the wand and had Tange-san use it. She asked the audience to say the “Release!” chant along with her and said if we did that maybe some magic would happen. When we all said “Release!” together, the stage platform opened up again. She asked us to help her seal the stage back up and everyone repeated the sealing chant together. Upon shouting “Secure!”, the stage went back to normal.

After this, the emcee made the annoucement for the “Sakura Hoeeee” Mori Arts Center Gallery Exhibition in Roppongi Hills later this year in October. They asked everyone to please look forward to the event.

Apparently, this is where the live stream ended for the afternoon event, though there was no live stream for the evening event.

#4) Live Cast Voice Acting Performance

Now it was time for a live voice performance from the cast. The emcee explained that the story would be how Sakura and her friends spend Easter Sunday (that very day). What surprised me the most for this was that for the sake of the performance, all of the characters seemed to know each other and of each other’s existence. This meant that Kero was interacting in scenes with Akiho and Kaito.

Sakura spoke first and was humming along while doing something in the kitchen. Tomoyo chimed in asking what she was up to. Sakura replied that she and Akiho were making eggs/omelettes because that’s what’s done on Easter.

Akiho said she wasn’t good at cooking, but wanted to try her best. On hearing this, Tomoyo said that she wanted to record them cooking and Sakura gave a loud “Hoeee..."

Sakura asked Akiho to go and get the eggs out of the fridge, but when Akiho opened it they were no where to be found. Everyone panicked a little bit, but then Kero appeared. He said “Well did you know that on Easter people like to hide eggs! So all we need to do is go find them.”

Kaito said “Let’s go look" and Yukito agreed with him. The whole group then traveled all over the world looking for the eggs! They ended up in a strange place... EASTER ISLAND!

Syaoran remarked saying “What is this place?” when they saw the monoliths on the island, so Kaito jumped in explaining that these were the Moai of Easter Island. Kero then explained that the Moai were mysterious carved figures shrouded in mystery.

But the group couldn’t find any eggs on the island, so they moved on. The next place they appeared was somewhere they initially thought must be “far away” from Japan. They thought that it must be overseas, but then found it out it was the “Land of Dreams” - AKA Disneyland right next door! They decided to split up and look for the eggs.

Sakura and Syaoran were paired off and while looking around and each found a matching egg. Their eggs’ image was shown on the monitor and were green with pink designs. Together they made a pair.

Syaoran once again saw some helpless foreign tourists and whipped out his English skills again. (Kumai-san has really mastered the “Do you need any help?” line lmao). He also said “The cat is in Disney Sea” in English. Sakura went CRAZY about the English and was like “Syaoran-kun, what did you say!?” so Syaoran ad-libbed and said “Ahh… well if I do a direct translation… I said 'There’s a cat in the Land of Dreams” (which was a reference to Geratoni - a plush stuffed cat of Tokyo Disney’s Duffy & Friends collection.)

Sakura was impressed and begged him to teach her English again. They had basically the same exchange as the date episode and he said “I'll try, but I don’t know if I can teach you anything useful...” to which she responded that she already remembered the word for “cat” so it was okay. As always, Tomoyo suddenly popped out of nowhere recording them and they got embarrassed.

The scene switched to Kero and... Yue! Yue was in full form and searching for eggs too! He said he could search better in this form and was doing it to assist his mistress. Kero remarked that “Well it's true that in Disneyland, people will just think you’re cosplaying someone, so I guess it’s fine. But wait! I should be in my true form too! I will change now into my--”

Yue cuts him off saying “Don’t you dare! If you do, you'll draw too much attention and you'll get petted and hugged and kicked by all of the children here!!” Kero was like “Ahh... oh man... you’re right... Maaan, but I would look so cool if I did!!”

The scene changed again, this time to Akiho and Kaito. They were searching for eggs on their own and she thanked him for helping her. Kaito said that he was “just happy that you seem to be having a good time with everyone.” All of the sudden they both stopped and said “What on earth is that??”

Akiho and Kaito had discovered the BIG GIANT EGG...

While the cast had been performing, a larger than life egg shaped... thing(!!) had risen up out of the rising platform floor again.

Everyone approached the egg and were like “Whoa! You could make a HUGE omelette with this!” However, the egg was so big that they couldn’t take it back home. So Kero said "Well one thing that is done on Easter is egg decorating! We should all decorate it...”

Then they temporarily stopped the voice acting session and the whole cast moved up to the egg. It turns out that it was a giant egg shaped whiteboard. Right next to it on the platform was a cart with lots of markers, cherryblossom petal shaped stickers, and decorative balled up tissue paper. The emcee explained the cast were going to be given 3 minutes to decorate the egg and the started playing a little tune while we watched them bustle about. But in the end they had so much fun that they went a bit over time!

One of them dropped their mic during the decorating session, but I couldn’t see who it was. Everyone jumped though, haha.

Hisakawa-san and Tange-san drew two Suppie faces: One was regular Suppie, and one was “evil Suppie.” They said that without knowing it, they had both drawn Kero at the afternoon session, so during the break between the two they decided to do Suppie for the evening session.

The cast drew a Momo, a random crab using cherryblossom petals for claws, happy faces, a cherryblossom tree, and a panda. But the best part was that they also wrote a few inappropriate things!

Hanae-san wrote 真実の愛 (“True love”) and Suzuki-san wrote right beneath it 夜だから (“Because it’s night time”). And - echoing what she’d said earlier about how saying “goodnight” was inappropriate - Ogata-san wrote おやすみ (“Goodnight”) in really big letters.

Regarding the panda, Hanae-san said he drew it because he was wearing a panda pin. Everyone had asked him at lunch why he was wearing that and the reason was really cute. He said he was confused about what Easter was and thought that it was a holiday where any animals would be appropriate, so he wore a panda instead of a rabbit.

After that, they all returned to the main stage to resume the voice acting performance. A staff member wheeled the egg off and put it on the side of the stage.

Sakura and her friends were all happy as they finished decorating the egg. I think Syaoran said “Where do you even display an egg this big?” but no one knew the answer.

Then Kero said part of the Easter tradition was that God would choose whichever designed egg was the best and grant the person who designed it a wish. That wish would come true. Everyone reacted saying “Oh wow, really???” (I was sitting there thinking thinking “wtf that doesn’t sound right...”), but then Yukito spoke up saying “I’ve never heard that.” Kaito joined in saying the same thing.

Kero laughed nervously and said “Ahaha... I’ve been found out...” indicating he had made it all up. Tomoyo said he was just like Yamazaki lying to them like that. But in the end, they all had a nice time decorating the egg and doing the Easter egg hunt.

(I don’t fully remember how this came about, but) there was a part where Yukito said to Sakura that she was very adorable and she reacted by saying “Hanya--n!!” (I was hoping Syaoran would react somehow, but he didn’t so I guess he is very secure with their relationship now ♡). They then said they should take a photo with the egg to commemorate the day.

There was a pause again in the session and the emcee announced that the cast would be taking a photo with the audience from the stage. Since it was a huge amphitheater, they were taking 3 or so shots - left, center, and right side of the seating area. They said that anyone who was shy and didn’t want to be in the photo could cover up their face.

Center stage was first, then the left side, then the right side. After that, they finished up the voice acting portion of the night:

The scene changed back to the Kinomoto residence. Everyone had gone home for the evening and it was just Sakura and Kero.

Sakura said there had been a lot of tough things that happened earlier, but that it had been a fun day. She said “Oh, I even forgot we were supposed to make eggs today!”

Kero replied saying “What? You couldn’t find the eggs? But, I’d taken them out of the fridge earlier and I put them back...”

Sakura raised her voice and said “WHAT!?” and Kero replied “Yeah, they’re right here...” revealing that they’d been hidden in the fridge the whole time.

Sakura then ad-libbed in Kansai-ben and said ケロちゃん！！！なんでやねん！？！(“Kero-chan, what the hell!?”)

The cast finished up at that point and thanked everyone for watching. Then they said “You gave us an Easter photo together with you, so we will give you a present also!”

Suddenly, tons of paper stickers/notes from the cast began falling from the ceiling! I think they were egg shaped, but it was hard to tell because I was in the very back. They fell into the audience and a few lucky people got them. Some people rushed out of their seats to get the ones that had fallen into the aisles.

Some of the “gifts” fell onto the stage too, so Ogata-san and Tange-san helped pick them up and give them out to people in the audience. Ogata-san was really awesome and shouted out “Are there any little Sakura-chans in here!?” and called for any kids present to come up and get the stickers. One very happy little girl came running up and received one directly from Ogata-san. After that, she asked if there was anyone present who had been at both the afternoon and evening performances (I think there might have been a couple people).

After handing the remaining gifts out, all of the seiyuu thanked the audience again and left the stage together.

#5) Live Musical Performances

Maaya Sakamoto

Next, they introduced a special video message from Maaya Sakamoto on screen, who unfortunately couldn’t be at the event because it overlapped with her own international tour dates. In the message, she said she was so happy to sing “Clear” as the theme song.

The show runners gave her the theme of “clear things” for her to use for direction when writing her song. She explained that the word “clear” has multiple meanings: “transparent” or "definite and precise” or "to succeed with a goal”, so she wanted to write a song with all of these meanings rolled into one.

She let us know that she was so happy to be part of CCS again and although she wasn’t there, her colleague Saori Hayami was and would be joining us as the representative today.

Saori Hayami

The emcee came out with Hayami-san and said that as the second half of the season would be starting the next week, it was time to pass the baton over to the new OP and ED singers.

Hayami-san explained that everyone has little things that shine in their hearts and are like “Jewelry of the Heart.” After her explanation, she gave a live performance of the “Jewelry” ED.

To be honest (and I hate to say this), but I didn’t think that Hayami-san was very energetic in her performance. She seemed a little lacking in enthusiasm and just walked one circle around the stage, but as always the song itself was very nice.

While she performed, they played clips of the anime on the screen and showed the Jewelry ED clips as well. At the very, very end, they FINALLY revealed what Sakura had seen on her smartphone at the end of the ED (where she’s showing Tomoyo and Kero and they all smile): It was the “photo” they just took earlier that day on April 1st -- the official artwork for Sakura Fes this year.

The text message she had gotten read “Thank you for taking a photo with us!”

When the performance ended, the emcee came back out and thanked her. She reiterated that they were “passing the baton from next week.”

Kiyono Yasuno

Kiyono Yasuno and Minori Suzuki came out on stage. Suzuki-san had changed her clothes from earlier to red outfit and yellow shoes. The emcee introduced each of them and they talked about CCS and what they liked about it.

Yasuno-san said she’s watched CCS for a really long time. The very first time was when she was really young and her grandpa watched it with her. To her, it was like a dream being chosen to sing the new OP and that this was her first single.

The emcee asked who they thought was “cool / good-looking” from the series. Hayami-san said that she thought Yukito and Eriol were attractive. Yasuno-san had watched the CCS syndication in elementary school too and was the same age as Sakura through it. Because of that, she thought Syaoran was the coolest guy. Suzuki-san also thought the same.

Hayami-san then “passed the baton” and they left the stage to let Yasuno-san perform Rocket Beat.

It was my first time (and all of the audience’s too) to hear Rocket Beat and right away I thought it was an awesome song. It really seemed fitting for CCS. In addition, Yasuno-san was super energetic and gave a very spirited performance. She was actively all over the stage. As before, her performance was also synced up with scenes from recent anime episodes.

When she finished, Suzuki-san came back on stage and the figuratively “passed the baton” again.

Minori Suzuki

Suzuki-san is in charge of the new ED “Rewind” and also gave a really awesome performance. The song was super cute and (as everyone knows by now) clock themed.

She did motions of the clock while performing, syncing up with the “Tick Tock, Tick Tock” lyrics. More clips from the series played, but nothing new to that point.

#6) Closing Out the Event

When Suzuki-san finished her song, the whole cast came back out on stage. The staff then wheeled out a birthday cake again in front of Tange-san - just like last year. Once again, the audience sang Happy Birthday to Sakura and Tange-san blew out the candles.

They talked about what birthday this would be for Sakura, and Tange-san confirmed that this would be Sakura’s 13th birthday. She then said “These past 20 years – Ahhh! I mean... it’s been 20 years but Sakura’s not 20! She’s definitely 13!” and laughed.

They showed an image of the cake on screen and it was the one that was currently being sold by Animate. They then said it was time to close out the event and the audience started groaning, so the emcee had to apologize for how “short” the event was.

Everyone said their goodbyes, starting with Yasuno-san. She said it was a dream come true to sing the theme song for an anime she had loved so much as a child and that exactly one year ago on April 1st she had started her singing career. She promoted her first single (a mini album came out just before this).

Hayami-san said her Thank You’s next for everyone enjoying Jewelry.

Hanae-san was third, saying “I will do my best, and from here on it’s going to be Akiho Akiho Akiho taking center stage!”

In response, Suzuki-san said “I will do my best and so will Kaito-san! I’ve loved this anime so much! Last year at this time, I was wondering ‘who is going to play Akiho’ and never thought that it would be me!!” She said she feels so lucky to be both a seiyuu and the singer of the second ED for the series.

Ogata-san was next, but was caught off guard and sort of spaced out. But she said thank you to everyone for all their support. She said that at last year’s Sakura Fes, they found out really soon after it ended there would be another one this year. So she shouted out to all of us “that means THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER ONE NEXT YEAR RIGHT (EVENT SPONSORS)??”. She said that even in this industry, it’s super rare for the whole cast to come back for a show’s reboot and that really demonstrates how beloved CCS is.

She passed the mic to Kumai-san - who was also spaced out and wasn’t paying attention again. But she also said thank you to everyone.

Next was Iwao-san who said thank you and did a mini-voice over of Tomoyo saying 超絶によかったですわ！(“It was absolutely fantastic!”).

Hisakawa-san was next, and like Ogata-san, she said that last year she got a call about a week or so after Sakura Fes ended asking her to save the date for this one. She said “I mean, after today, I’m sure that just a few days will pass and then I'm sure I'll get another call… Hahaha! You guys want another one right!?” and everyone cheered.

Finally, it was Tange-san’s turn and she said they almost made it through the whole thing without a "Kero-chan Check.” At last year’s event, they always seemed to come out of nowhere and no one ever knew when to expect it. She begged Hisakawa-san to do one and Hisakawa-san laughed. She got a bit shy and was like “For real???” but in the end shouted “KERO-CHAN CHEEECK!” as Kero. Tange-san then thanked everyone for their support and for loving Cardcaptor Sakura. She hopes everyone will continue to love it in the future and bowed.

The cast came out into the circle stage to say one final goodbye and then they waved and departed the stage from both sides of the main stage. The emcee left last after deep bow. The Jewelry ED came on the big screen and played through to the end.

After the song finished, the Kero and Suppie mascots once again rose out of the platform floor. BOTH of them were wearing rabbit ears this time. Kero-chan started to talk about how awesome it was that he grew another pair of ears too.

Suppie had a new card this time that read “Just say what you have to say!” so Kero started talking at super-sonic speed thanking the cast and staff in batches:

The singers

The companies that made it possible

The seiyuu

And said thanks to all of us for watching him be awesome every week

He said to tune in next week for the start of the second half of the season, and also to keep watching him be so awesome in the Kero-chan’s Corner segments. Suppie violently shook the sign!! lol!

Then gave one last “thank you” to the audience and brought the event to a close, saying “We definitely kicked up even more of a fuss than ‘some place’ that’s right next door” (again, Tokyo Disney lol).

The platform lowered, bringing them back down underneath the stage, and just as they disappeared there was another final “Kero-chan cheeeeck!” shouted. The lights went off and then came back on with the ending announcements.

As I was leaving, I made a friend who was a big fan of Suzuki-san from when she was in Macross and had only just recently started watching CCS because of her. This fan had only seen Clear Card Arc so far, so I said to definitely watch the rest of the series!

I hope if there’s another Sakura Fes next year, I’ll have the chance to go again. :)

以上、さくらフェス2018の報告でした！(That’s all folks!)

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura clear card arc #card captor sakura clear card arc #clear card arc #sakura festa 2018 #sakura fest 2018 #sakura fes 2018 #sakura festival 2018 #sakura tange #junko iwao #aya hisakawa #motoko kumai #megumi ogata #minori suzuki #natsuki hanae #maaya sakamoto #saori hayami #kiyono yasuno

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dave-northern · 6 years ago

Text

Marikina Horror Story

It’s going to be Halloween very soon, and variety shows on TV are already looking for horror stories. I thought that I’d chime in with one of mine.

It was late September about two years ago. Me and my friends were going home from an afternoon of drinking in Marikina Riverpark. It’s this plot of land that goes from Montalban, San Mateo, all the way across Marikina from one side to the other.

There was a place near Riverpark that Typhoon Ondoy destroyed. It’s called Tumana, and it has the lowest standard of living among all the places in Marikina. Many houses there were made from wood and light materials so almost nothing was left standing after the typhoon. It also suffered the greatest casualties.

There was a shortcut from the Riverpark to the main highway connecting to the town proper, and that was Tumana. Walking through there gave us an eerie vibe, not just because of its history with the typhoon but because of its high crime rate. Drinkers and topless tambays of all stripes were outside that night. It was that kind of holiday.

There was a part of Tumana where the street lights tapered off into nothing. It’s a place where the homes weren’t reconstructed and it was just left a wasteland. It was the shortest way to the main road.

There were one or two strays passing through, but even as we passed them they paid us no mind. They had this empty look on their face like they were hollowed inside. Their faces were half-down, like they were mulling over something troubling.

A minute or two of walking and we already felt like we were walking down a provincial road. The street lights faded farther and farther behind until we can only see a twinkling of them. The people became fewer and fewer until we found ourselves alone. We passed through a forest-like part of the town, with trees that have branches hanging down like people, right in front of the road where cars would hit them if only they passed by. There were things that we thought were people until we hit them with the flashlight on our phones and realized we were just scaring ourselves.

But there was something that happened, and up until today I can not forget it.

After about ten minutes of walking without street lights, my friend Jeff stopped and said he’s seeing something in front of us. Off into the distance, about 40 meters or so, there was a man. Or at least it looked like a man. He stood there perfectly still, staring blankly upward.

I thought, what the hell, this would make a perfect opening to an anime about vampires. Teens getting infected and all, trying to hide it from their school and their parents. It’s going to sell in Japan! I was making myself laugh out of this oddity. At least I thought so.

We paused a little bit and tried to compose ourselves. It’s probably just another object that our brains are interpreting as a man. That’s what happens when you put yourself in scary situations, your brain convinces you that what you think is happening is real. It’s a defense mechanism and a damn good one.

I convinced them all to wander closer, and if it was indeed a lunatic, then we could just scram. We walked closer, and closer, and closer--and as if in a blink of an eye, we saw its head rapidly turn toward us.

I almost had a heart attack. Its body didn’t move. It was like one quick inhuman motion. Its arms were raised upward, like running from a disaster, and I can’t help the feeling of dread and hopelessness to fall upon my being.

All of a sudden, I wondered “What are we doing here?” I wanted to be at home with my kids. Then I stopped myself, because I knew I didn’t have kids. I wondered how I could think that.

We walked closer, and closer, and closer. Our hairs raising every minute we get nearer, until finally, we can light it up with our flashlights. One glance, and we already knew what it was.

It was a mud pile that didn’t even resemble a man up close (though it sure did from a distance.) It was three piles, actually. A big one in the front that formed the torso and head, one at the back that formed the arms, and one further back that formed the legs and the mouth.

You see, it seemed like half the mouth was disconnected from top half. From afar, it almost looked like it was screaming with its mouth agape.

We gave ourselves a laugh and made some coarse jokes about who’s a pussy, who’s a BIGGER pussy and who’s the MAIN-BITCH pussy of that mudman among us. But then we pressed on walking.

We were walking farther down the road and we saw the clouds parting. The moon lit up a part of the stretch we were walking on. We thought, thank goodness. At least some of the creepiness can rub off this town. We really couldn’t take anymore.

A few more minutes of this and we just fell silent. We just wanted to get out of this road and into my place, where there was coffee and pancit canton and unlimited horror movies. My place was like a safehouse for strays that don’t have anything to do on holidays.

I kept thinking why I thought I had a family. I can picture the faces of my kids, they were so clear. It was as if I could go home and find them waiting. But the home I had imagined was different. It was a shanty, wooden, tarpaulin on the windows hitting against the rain... when suddenly, I was woken up by these forceful pushes from Connie, one of the people I was with.

She had this pale, stone-faced demeanor. She was trying to say something.

“Dave, wait. Dave--look, wait--”

I tried to make sense of it.

“Look at what? What are you saying?”

“The man--BEHIND!”

Immediately, my head swung behind her, and I can see what looked like the mudman only significantly CLOSER. It was like 10 steps from where she was.

For the amount of time we walked, it should have been long out of sight. I felt this sinking feeling in my chest. I felt like there was impending doom.

Connie was nearly in tears and I consoled her. The rest of the group stopped and looked at the brown effigy with barefaced disbelief. How could it have gotten here without us seeing it? We couldn’t have passed another mud pile or we would know. There was something Connie said that struck a chord with me.

“I have to go home to my kids.”

We thought she referred to her cousins that she was taking care of at the time.

We walked a little further on and made a deal that one of us must keep eyes on the mudman at all times. First it was Connie, then Jeff, then Sai, then me. I took the first shift because Connie was still shaken up. It still looked like mud and stone, in a configuration that made our brains trip up. It got farther and farther until it was Jeff’s turn, and then Sai, and then Connie.

A little further down the road, it was Sai’s turn again, and slowly, she started screaming.

“Hey, hey, HEY, look at it--LOOK AT IT!”

In the distance, we saw the mudman, and I’ll never forget it.

Out of the shadow the cloud, we saw it emerge, and it was running toward us. We heard its footsteps colliding with the dirt road. And I remember this horrific shriek coming toward us in the distance. It was like a man unhinged, like he was burning.

I also remember smelling something foul during that time. Like a pig getting burned alive. I looked around and there was that feeling again. Impending doom. Like I’m about to die.

Jeff started to run and so did we. We ran so frantically toward the main road that we began dropping things.

When we reached the main road, people were looking at us funny, like they didn’t want to talk to us for some reason. I came to a table in front of a sari-sari store where there were people drinking and I said,

“Hinahabol kami! Merong baliw don!”

But they just looked at us suspiciously, and said,

“Balot kayo ng putik.”

And they were right. I had mud all over my shoes and pants. How did I get it? The road was dirt but it wasn’t wet!

Then the tambays told us,

“Wag kayong dadaan d’yan pag dis-oras ng gabi. Nananaginip ang mga patay.”

I asked them, what does that mean?

They said,

“Akala ng mga patay buhay pa sila, kaya sinusubukan nilang umuwi sa mga mahal nila.”

I said,

“Bakit nila kami gustong habulin?”

They said,

“Nakakalimot na sila. Kumakapit lang sila sa lahat ng buhay para makaraos. Sa ngayon d’yan muna sila sa kalsadang ‘yan, pero kinabukasan, lalo na para sa mga kinukuha na ng ibaba, alam nilang wala nang oras.

Naghahanap lang sila ng kasama.”

And that was it. Me and Jeff spoke about that night in our school but no one seemed to believe us. Just a short while later, we were convinced that it didn’t happen and chalked it up to our imagination.

But some nights, I still hear the laughter of children in my dreams and then I smell the stench of mud. A lot of Marikenos have traumatic dreams about what happened in Ondoy but most of us just keep it in the past.

Jeff once told me that he woke up to a bump downstairs when we were in fourth year, and it smelled like there was something burning in the room. Strangely, he found traces of dried earth outside his windowsill the next morning. It was like someone had stepped there with a shoe.

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