#I could not find the font used for the hidden text for the life of me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

speedyposts · 10 months ago

Text

South Carolina primary set to test Biden’s support among Black voters

United States President Joe Biden has been campaigning in South Carolina like his political life depends on it. Longtime analysts say it might.

Despite being all but assured of winning the state’s Democratic primary on February 3, Biden has made South Carolina a focal point of his early reelection efforts, in an attempt to recapture the momentum he enjoyed in the last presidential race.

.adtnl6r-container { display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; width: 80%; max-width: 600px; margin: 20px auto; background-color: #FF3300; border: 1px solid #ddd; border-radius: 10px; overflow: hidden; box-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); } .adtnl6r-banner { width: 100%; max-height: 250px; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 1px solid #ddd; } .adtnl6r-banner img { width: 100%; height: auto; max-height: 250px; } .adtnl6r-content { width: 100%; padding: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center; } .adtnl6r-title { font-size: 1.8em; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 10px; color: #fff; } .adtnl6r-description { font-size: 1.2em; color: #fff; margin-bottom: 15px; } .adtnl6r-learn-more-button { display: inline-block; padding: 10px 20px; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: #0066CC; color: #fff; border-radius: 50px; /* Pill style border-radius */ border-color: #0066CC; transition: background-color 0.3s; } .adtnl6r-learn-more-button:hover { background-color: #45a049; color: #000; } .adtnl6r-marker { font-size: 0.8em; color: #fff; margin-top: 10px; }

Your Path to Online Virality! Reach people through websites, mobile apps, blogs, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.

Advertise Everywhere!

Take Action

Ads by Adtional

But to do that, experts say he has to show that he has delivered for the state’s Black residents, who comprise an estimated 26 percent of the population. South Carolina’s Black voters lean overwhelmingly Democratic: The Pew Research Center found that 78 percent identify with the party.

Biden, however, has seen his support slump across the board, including among Black voters nationwide. Experts warn those drooping poll numbers could spell trouble in November’s general election, where Biden is expected to face former President Donald Trump once again in a tight race.

Lawrence Moore, the chair of Carolina for All, a social justice organisation in South Carolina, said Biden needs to find a way to excite Black voters about the policy gains made during his tenure.

“We don’t have a person like [Barack] Obama” on the ballot, Moore explained, referencing the US’s first Black president, a charismatic figure who inspired historic voter turnout among minorities in 2008 and 2012.

“Nobody’s tripping over themselves to vote for Biden”, he said, “so it will have to be about the issues”.

South Carolina first emerged as a pivotal battleground for Biden in the 2020 primary season, when he was one candidate in a packed field of Democratic hopefuls.

At the time, Biden’s campaign appeared to be sputtering to an ignominious conclusion. He placed a dismal fourth in the Iowa caucuses, then slipped to fifth in the New Hampshire primary.

Media outlets had already begun to write him off as a “distant also-ran”.

But that year’s fourth primary contest — South Carolina — would turn Biden’s hopes around. He rocketed to first place, scoring 48 percent of the vote, far out of reach of his next closest rival, Bernie Sanders, at 19 percent.

Biden’s resounding victory in the state sent his idling campaign into overdrive and solidified his standing as the party’s nominee-apparent. Biden acknowledged as much at a January event hosted by the South Carolina Democratic Party.

“You’re the reason I am president,” Biden said bluntly. “You’re the reason Kamala Harris is a historic vice president. And you’re the reason Donald Trump is a defeated former president.”

Much of the credit for Biden’s dramatic turnaround fell to South Carolina’s Black community. A Washington Post exit poll found Black primary voters favoured Biden over Sanders by about four to one — a significantly wider margin than he had among white voters.

South Carolina has since taken a more prominent place in the Democratic primary calendar.

Last year, the Democratic National Committee approved a plan to make South Carolina its first contest of the primary season, citing the fact that the state is more representative of the country’s diversity than traditional early-voting states like Iowa or New Hampshire.

Biden himself pushed for the switch-up. “For decades, Black voters, in particular, have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process,” he wrote in support of the change.

LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of the nonprofit Black Voters Matter, said her group was likewise concentrating on South Carolina to kick off its nationwide voter mobilisation drive.

“By starting in South Carolina, we wanted to lift up the significance of Black voters not just in the state but in the nation,” she told Al Jazeera.

But Brown warned that voter turnout might be depressed by a sense of disenchantment with this year’s slate of candidates.

“Across the board, people are frustrated with traditional politics,” she said.

Already, poll numbers indicate less momentum for Biden than he had four years ago. A December poll from the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs showed just 50 percent of Black adults said they approved of Biden, down from 86 percent in July 2021.

A recent NBC News poll echoed that finding. Biden’s net approval rating among Black voters tumbled nearly 20 points last year, down to 61 percent.

Maurice Mitchell, the national director of the left-leaning Working Families Party, which endorsed Biden in 2020, credits the drop in support to a “historical lag” in the Democrats’ campaign machinery.

He explained that Black voters are often seen as a sure thing for Democrats and are therefore not courted in the same way as white or independent voters.

Democratic officials, he added, “have not appreciated the work that needs to be done if Black voters are to turn out at the scale that you want them to”.

Mitchell called on Democrats to make “a more intentional, explicit appeal to the broader range of issues that Black Americans are facing every single day”.

“It’s not relegated simply to, like, criminal justice and civil rights,” he said.

By way of example, Mitchell pointed to the growing outrage over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 26,900 Palestinians so far.

Polls have shown widespread discontent over the war and Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel. A higher percentage of Black voters support a full ceasefire in Gaza compared with white Americans, Mitchell noted.

“The issue is a relatively new dimension in the race but one that’s pretty salient, especially with young voters of all races,” he said.

Biden attempted to appeal to Black voters earlier this month with a visit to the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Gothic-style church, with its white steeple and towering stained glass, is a site of great significance for the Black community: It was founded by Denmark Vesey, a celebrated Black leader who was killed in 1822 after allegations emerged that he was planning a rebellion against slavery.

One of the oldest Black churches in the US South, Mother Emanuel was also the site of a racist mass shooting in 2015 that killed nine worshippers.

Standing at the pulpit on January 8, Biden became the first sitting president to address the church as a candidate. He started his speech with a bowed head, acknowledging how the “poison” of “white supremacy” had touched the church.

But Biden proceeded to play up his platform, touting the country’s economic gains, lowered Black unemployment and his efforts to build clean energy, strengthen Medicare and protect voting access. He also reiterated his gratitude to the largely Black audience.

“It’s because of this congregation and the Black community of South Carolina — no exaggeration — and [Representative] Jim Clyburn that I stand here today as your president,” Biden said to a peal of applause. “That’s a fact. And I owe you.”

But Maurice Washington, who served as the first Black chair of the Charleston County Republican Party, questioned whether Biden’s messaging to Black voters has been too narrow and too focused on race.

“Things like white supremacy and voter suppression, those kinds of race-based narratives are no longer working,” Washington said.

He too credited Biden’s dipping poll numbers among Black voters to a lack of emphasis on the economic hurdles they face.

“That percentage drop is Black Americans who are truly taking a look at the bottom line where $100 is bringing home less groceries, $20 is putting less gas in the car, healthcare costs are up, interest rates are up,” he said.

For its part, Biden’s team has made efforts to show his administration is addressing both civil rights issues and economic ones.

Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager for the Biden campaign, told ABC’s This Week in January that he hopes to send two messages to the Black community.

“One, we don’t take them for granted,” he said. “Two, we recognise that we need to earn their support in this campaign.”

In October, the campaign launched a national television advertisement touting the Biden administration’s support for Black farmers, a historically overlooked group. Months earlier, the Biden administration had announced plans to provide $5.3bn to farmers who had faced past discrimination in federal lending programmes.

The Biden campaign has also highlighted “historic” multi-billion dollar investments in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

And in a December speech, Biden said he oversaw the “fastest growth in Black business ownership in over 30 years” and a 60-percent jump in Black wealth since the days of the pandemic lockdown.

“No administration has done as much for the African American community as President Biden and Vice President Harris,” Fulks told ABC’s This Week.

But voters will turn out based on their “lived experience, not on the messaging”, according to Catherine Fleming Bruce, a South Carolina activist who ran for the Senate as a Democrat.

“You may have people knocking on your door and phone calls and text messages and all of these things,” she said. “But these are things voters have seen before, and many feel like there’s no real change.”

Bruce personally gave Biden mixed marks on his policies so far. She applauded his appointment of the first Black woman to the US Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

But she questioned his failure to engage meaningfully with issues like criminal justice reform, gun control and reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black people.

Meanwhile, Biden’s struggle to pass a new voting rights act — one that would safeguard against discriminatory practices — has hit close to home for South Carolina voters.

Black voters and the state conference of the NAACP, a civil rights organisation, are challenging Republican-drawn congressional districts, arguing the new map intentionally dilutes their voting power.

“There has been a lot of disappointment on voting rights,” Bruce said, referencing Biden’s failed efforts to limit gerrymandering and ease election access.

“Those kinds of protections — we really spent a lot of time fighting for and that did not come to fruition.”

Experts say Biden’s true test may ultimately not come in party primaries like South Carolina’s, but rather in November’s general elections.

As a rematch with Trump looms, Mitchell from the Working Families Party warned that any dent in the “diverse coalition” of voters Biden relied on in 2020 could determine whether he wins or loses in 2024.

“When you think about each segment of the coalition — young people or Black voters or Muslim-American voters in Michigan — each one of those pieces of the coalition were essential to the victory,” he said. “Both their presence in the coalition and the rate at which they turned out to vote.”

If 2020 is a harbinger of this year’s presidential election, the race could come down to just a few key battleground states where Biden’s ability to turn out Black voters proved to be a key factor, Mitchell said.

Those states include Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and, perhaps most notably, South Carolina’s southern neighbour Georgia.

The US South has leaned to the right since the 1960s, in large part as a reaction to the country’s civil rights movement. But in 2020, Biden notched a razor-thin victory in Georgia, winning by just under 12,000 votes out of the nearly 5 million cast.

Black voters, who make up a third of the electorate in Georgia, were credited with tipping the scales. Biden’s win in the state was the first by a Democrat since 1992.

South Carolina has an even longer history of tilting rightward: The last time a majority of its voters backed a Democrat for president was in 1976, nearly 48 years ago. Experts acknowledge it is unlikely Biden will flip the state in 2024.

Still, the turnout at the state’s primary may serve as a bellwether for Black support in the US South overall. Biden faces two distant challengers — Congress member Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson — in Saturday’s party race.

Brown, the Black Voters Matter co-founder, described the early primary season as an opportunity for Biden to better attune to Black voters both in South Carolina and beyond.

“This is the time to learn and to listen to the voters and to really shape yourself as a North Star,” she said. “And it starts with South Carolina.”

Your Path to Online Virality! Reach people through websites, mobile apps, blogs, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.

Advertise Everywhere!

Take Action

Ads by Adtional

0 notes

write-lets-do-this · 1 year ago

Text

There have been so many times over the last few years that I’ve shirked the idea of going over things I’ve written before submitting them. In some cases, all this means is that I’ve got a few very rough drafts of novels that I’m probably never going to touch again. In others, it means I’ve got a problem.

You can’t really pursue a career where you have to do any significant amount of writing without the ability to go back over your work and at least do the bare minimum of proofreading it for grammatical mistakes. That said, it isn’t always an easy or enjoyable thing to go back and reread what you’ve written and face the possibility that you’ll hate all of it and have to start again from scratch. Nevertheless, it is an essential skill and there are ways of making it both easier and more enjoyable.

So how do I do it?

There’s the most obvious way of avoiding this: getting someone to do it for you. Maybe you can beg a friend to help, or hand your laptop over to a parent for as many minutes as you can stand to let them interfere with your work. With their advice, the process of reviewing your writing becomes a lot shorter – for you, at least – and saves you from having to look at the whole piece if they give you specific areas where your writing is weaker.

But that isn’t always an option, and of course, having someone do it for you doesn’t actually address the problem here.

Break it into pieces.

With smaller chunks, the workload can be a lot less daunting – especially if you’re working with a novel or a particularly lengthy essay. This is a useful tip for pretty much any decently sized piece of work you have to do, but you can even go as far as separating a particularly difficult sentence out into its own paragraph to make it easier to look at how each it works individually rather than struggling to find the issue with it when it’s hidden in amongst a larger block of text.

Change the font!

This is advice I’ve seen many times from various different sources, but it does truly work. If you wrote in a serif font (the ones with the fancy little caps at the ends of letters,) changing to a sans-serif one changes the appearance enough that it can feel as if you’re looking at a completely new document.

In addition to this, using less ‘formal’ fonts like comic sans can take away some of the pressure of working with a finished document and allow you to make edits and rehash your work without feeling as if you’re tampering with a finished document. Sans-serif fonts are also designed to be easier to read, and have even been known to improve reading speed and accuracy, which is another factor to consider if you’re wanting to think of ways to make the process of editing less time-consuming.

Print it off!

This is another thing that can make your life a whole lot easier. Sometimes, looking at the work you’ve typed out again on a screen can make it feel as if the effort of editing it is all one static process that erases the feeling of progress, especially if you’re someone who, like me, is inclined to check their word count at regular intervals to monitor their progress.

Having a hard copy in front of you that you can scribble all over and highlight as you like far more easily than you could with a digital document is great for longer documents, or really anything that involves longer chunks of text. And, once you’ve got a fully annotated sheet of paper or two, there’s a lot more evidence of the effort you’ve put in.

When you have made all the notes you need to perfect your draft, it is often easier to rewrite the whole piece onto a new document. While it may take a little while longer, it ensures that you aren’t making changes without actually checking that the surrounding text also makes sense after the edits have been made (e.g. if you decide to change the tense of a section and also add a new phrase, it’s possible to simply add the phrase in the desired tense and forget to apply it to the whole sentence or paragraph if you’re just editing an existing document.)

Overall

Along with all these specific pointers, it’s always useful to take regular breaks between working and to find the ways that work best for you to be able to focus, whether that might be locking yourself away in your room with your phone outside the door and working in peaceful silence, or sticking a pair of headphones on at the library. Here, I’ve mostly been focusing on the techniques that make it easier for me to reduce the time that I have to be editing my work and make the editing that I do do more effective.

Of course, proofreading and editing one’s work isn’t such a chore for everyone; even I enjoy it (when it’s not my own writing I’m editing.) If you have different methods that make the process more enjoyable for you, please leave them in the comments!

-Olive Tree

#my blog #writing #writing tips #editing tips #editing #proofreading #novelist #writeblr

1 note · View note

russetfoxfur · 1 year ago

Text

(sees this tag) well let me unleash the Skin of Springtide upon ye! Mostly greens, pinks, and yellows, with a whole host of quality-of-life changes, I’ll highlight editable parameters in bold so that you can change them. I’ll also try to explain what the code does after each paragraph in brackets, but most of this was just me copy-pasting random skins I found, so I warned you where I could find no notable difference.

also @raceispunk, here you go.

Firstly, you're going to want to create a site skin. Now, every site skin has to have a unique name - title it something like [username]'s Site Skin or something with your username in it to make it unique. The page will open on a tab called 'Use Custom CSS'. Switch over to the tab called 'Use Wizard' and copy in the corresponding boxes:

Wizard Settings:

Font: EB Garamond

Percent of browser font size: 110

(The expansion of font size is pretty much just because Garamond is small; if you choose another font, you can adjust size accordingly.)

Background Color: #d8fcd2

Header Color: #C71585

Accent Color: #90EE90

Now switch back over to the 'use Custom CSS' tab and copy this in the box as you please.

div.css.module {

max-height: 20em;

overflow-y: auto;

overflow-x: hidden;

border: 2px solid lightgreen;

padding: .4em .75em .75em .75em;

}

(This creates a scrollbox around the skin edit page that is light green. You can change how long the skin can go for before it creates the scroll box by changing the '20'; you can enter any plain color name in place of 'light green' (such as lightpink, purple, or gray, but you might have to experiment with whether different colors show up), and you can change how thick the border is by changing the '2'.)

#header .primary {

box-shadow: none;

}

(This removes the shadow on the header.)

#header .heading sup {

display: none;

}

(I could not find out what this does.)

button,

.actions a,

.actions a:link,

.action,

input[type="submit"],

.actions a:visited {

color: #2f1b6e;

background-color: #ebb9f0;

}

(The color is the color of the text, which is dark blue; the background color will not be immediately noticeable, but is a light pink.)

.commas li:after {

content: "";

}

(This gets rid of the commas in tags; I suppose if you want something else to be there in the place of the comma, you could put something in the quotation marks.)

h5.fandoms.heading {

color: transparent;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

.favorite a.tag {

border: none;

}

(

.tags li.relationships:nth-of-type(3n+1) a.tag {

background-color: #f299d6;

}

.tags li.relationships:nth-of-type(3n+2) a.tag {

background-color: #f299cb;

}

.tags li.relationships:nth-of-type(3n+3) a.tag {

background-color: #f299ea;

}

(The above change the colors of the backgrounds of the relationship tags.)

.tags li.characters:nth-of-type(3n+1) a.tag {

background-color: #f8b920;

}

.tags li.characters:nth-of-type(3n+2) a.tag {

background-color: #f9c443;

}

.tags li.characters:nth-of-type(3n+3) a.tag {

background-color: #facf66;

}

(The above change the colors of the backgrounds of the character tags.)

.tags li.freeforms:nth-of-type(3n+1) a.tag {

background-color: #57fa11;

}

.tags li.freeforms:nth-of-type(3n+2) a.tag {

background-color: #11fa47;

}

.tags li.freeforms:nth-of-type(3n+3) a.tag {

background-color: #0fd651;

}

(This changes the colors of the backgrounds of the freeform tags.)

.tags li.freeforms a.tag:hover,

.tags li.characters a.tag:hover,

.tags li.relationships a.tag:hover {

background-color: #FF7F50;

color: black;

}

(This changes the color of the tags when you hover. The color changes the text color, while the background color changes the background color of the tag when hovered over with your cursor.)

.region.filtered.works-index .notes,

.region.works-search .notes {

display: none;

}

(I could not find out what this one was for.)

p.muted.notice {

display: none;

}

(This gets rid of the notice that displays when you've muted users in the Archive.)

.blurb .module,

.listbox .blurb,

.icon a {

border: 0;

}

(I could not find out what this one was for.)

li.blurb,

fieldset,

.flash,

.listbox,

li.comment,

.meta {

border: 4px solid #FFB6C1;

: none

outline: 0;

border-radius: 2em;

}

(This creates a rounded pink border around work blurbs, around comments, and around the filtering lists on the right of the screen.)

.blurb blockquote,

.blurb ul.tags {

padding: 0.5em;

}

(This adds a little more space in a work's blurb box.)

#header .menu,

#small_login,

#header .dropdown:hover .current+.menu {

box-shadow: none;

filter: none;

}

(This flattens the colors of the dropdown menus.)

.blurb ul.required-tags li span,

.bookmark .status span,

.actions a,

.actions a:visited,

.action,

.actions input,

input[type="submit"],

button,

.current,

.actions label,

legend,

textarea,

input,

#header ul.main a,

.icon {

border: 1px solid #FFD700;

border-radius: 1.5em;

box-shadow: 0 0 2px #DAA520;

}

(This adds a yellow border around most buttons and icons.)

.icon {

border-radius: 5em;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

.wrapper {

box-shadow: none;

border: 0;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

#feedback .group .heading {

border-top-left-radius: 5em;

border-top-right-radius: 5em;

background: rgba(222, 184, 135, 1);

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

#feedback {

padding: 1em 2.5em;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

li.blurb .tags {

max-height: 11em;

overflow-y: auto;

}

(This creates a scrollbox around long fields of tags.)

input {

width: 96%;

border: 1px solid;

box-shadow: none;

}

(This creates a thin black border around input fields (uch as Additional Tag Filter on a tag page). I might find a way to change the color, but for now it's straight black.)

.actions input[type="checkbox"] {

-webkit-appearance: checkbox;

-moz-appearance: checkbox;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

form.search input[type="text"] {

border-top-color: initial;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

.blurb .header,

.blurb ul.tags,

.blurb blockquote {

background: #90EE90;

border: 3px solid #FFFACD;

border-radius: 1.5em;

}

(This creates a pale green background around a work blurb, with a thin pale yellow border.)

a.tag,

a.tag:visited,

a.tag:link {

display: inline-block;

padding: 3px 6px;

margin: 4px 0px;

border: 2px solid #8A2BE2;

border-radius: 5px;

}

(This creates a dark purple, rounded border around tags.)

.actions a:hover,

a:hover,

.actions input:hover,

#dashboard a:hover,

.actions a:focus,

.actions input:focus,

#dashboard a:focus,

.actions a:active,

.current,

a.current,

.current a:visited,

.actions a:hover,

.actions input:hover,

#dashboard a:hover,

.actions a:focus,

.actions input:focus,

#dashboard a:focus,

.actions a:active,

.current,

a.current,

.current a:visited,

#dashboard .current,

.actions a:active,

#outer .current,

#header .current,

a.current,

.current a:visited,

span.unread,

span.claimed,

.child,

.unwrangled,

.unreviewed,

.ui-sortable li:hover,

#header .primary .menu .current {

border-color: initial;

box-shadow: none !important;

background: #fc49c9;

}

(This creates a hot pink highlight over most hovered links.)

.replied {

border-color: initial;

box-shadow: none !important;

background: #e2f372;

}

(I could not figure out what this one was for.)

#header .primary,

.group.listbox,

fieldset fieldset.listbox,

#main li.blurb,

.wrapper,

#dashboard .secondary,

.secondary,

form blockquote.userstuff,

.thread .comment,

.toggled form,

#header .primary,

.listbox .index,

form .notice,

form ul.notes,

form.verbose legend,

.verbose form legend,

span.question,

fieldset,

form dl,

fieldset dl dl,

fieldset fieldset fieldset,

fieldset fieldset dl dl,

dd.hideme,

form blockquote.userstuff,

.delete a,

span.delete,

#header ul.primary {

box-shadow: none;

}

(I'm pretty sure this flattens some buttons, but I'm not entirely sure.)

.notice,

.comment_notice,

ul.notes,

.caution,

.error,

.comment_error,

.alert.flash,

.actions a:hover,

.actions input:hover,

.actions a:focus,

.actions input:focus,

label.action:hover,

.action:hover,

.action:focus,

.notice,

.comment_notice,

ul.notes,

.caution,

.error,

.comment_error,

.alert.flash,

.actions a:hover,

.actions input:hover,

.actions a:focus,

.actions input:focus,

label.action:hover,

.action:hover,

.action:focus {

border: none;

box-shadow: none;

background: #facf66;

}

(This changes the background of some warnings (such as the muted notice, probably, if that wasn't hidden already) to be bright yellow.)

.listbox .index,

.dashboard .listbox .index,

form .notice,

form ul.notes,

form.verbose legend,

.verbose form legend,

.actions a,

.actions a:link,

.action,

.action:link,

input[type="submit"],

button,

.current,

.actions label {

border: none;

border-bottom: none;

box-shadow: none;

}

(This flattens some more buttons.)

.actions a,

.actions a:link,

.action,

.action:link,

button,

.current,

.actions label {

border: none;

box-shadow: none;

-webkit-appearance: none;

}

(Flattens buttons.)

.actions input,

input[type="submit"],

textarea {

border: 1px solid;

box-shadow: none;

-webkit-appearance: none;

}

(I could not figure out what this one was for.)

.thread .even {

border-color: none;

background: #befab4;

}

(This changes the color of every other comment.)

div.header.module p.datetime {

font-weight: bold;

font-size: 120%;

top: auto;

bottom: 1em;

right: .9em;

}

(This enlarges and bolds the date and moves it to the top right (I think? Or is it just like that?).)

ul div.header.module,

ol div.header.module {

position: static;

}

(This moves the icons on a work blurb and the date to the very edges of the blurb box.)

ul.index.group > li {

position: relative;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

ul.index.group > li,

li.own.series dl.stats,

div.own.user.module,

div.user.module,

li.skins > ul.actions,

li.own.user > ul.actions,

li.user > ul.actions,

li.bookmark.blurb > ul.actions,

li.showme > a:not([href*="/bookmarks"]),

div.works-drafts li.own.work.blurb ul.actions {

margin-bottom: 2.5em;

}

(I could not find out what this one was for.)

h3.title {

line-height: 1.5;

}

(I could not figure out what this one does.)

.own {

border-color: initial;

box-shadow: none !important;

background: #EFF1AD;

}

(This changes the color of your own works, which will display when visiting a tag (but not on your own works page).)

.blurb ul.series {

text-align: center;

border: 2px dashed pink;

padding: .5em 0em .75em 0em;

}

(This centers the series text and adds a dashed pink border around it. You can replaced the dashed with solid, I suppose.)

.blurb dd.chapters,

.blurb dd.bookmarks,

.blurb dd.collections {

padding-right: .75em;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

.blurb dd.chapters + dt.comments:before,

.blurb dd.chapters + dt.kudos:before,

.blurb dd.chapters + dt.hits:before,

.blurb dd.collections + dt.comments:before,

.blurb dd.collections + dt.kudos:before,

.blurb dd.collections + dt.hits:before {

content: "\A";

white-space: pre;

}

(I could not find out what this one does.)

.blurb li.warnings,

.blurb li.relationships,

.blurb li.characters,

.blurb li.freeforms {

line-height: 1.8;

}

(This adds a little white space around each line of tags.)

.stats-index .chart {

display: none;

}

(This gets rid of the graph chart on the Stats page, because its coloring can NOT be changed and it clashes with the skin's color scheme.)

dl.stats:not(li.series dl.stats):not(dl.series.meta.group dl.stats) dt {

display: none;

}

(This gets rid of the stats labels (such as Chapters: or Bookmarks:) in order to make way for the next few bit of code; except for series stats (supposedly; if you have a series bookmarked, it will not show the labels until you click on the series page. I could not find a workaround to fix this, so it's something you'll have to deal with. Sorry).)

dl.stats dd.hits::after {

content: " View(s)";

}

(This renames the Hits stat to show something like '678 View(s)'.)

dl.stats dd.kudos::after {

content: "Like(s),";

}

(This renames the Kudos stat to show something like '23 Like(s)'.)

dl.stats dd.bookmarks::after {

content: " Save(s),";

}

(This renames the Bookmarks stat to show something like '12 Save(s)'.)

dl.stats dd.subscriptions::after {

content: " Sub(s,)";

}

dl.stats dd.words::after {

content: " Words,";

}

(This renames the Words stat to show after the wordcount.)

dl.stats dd.collections::after {

content: " Collection(s),";

}

(This renames the Collections stat to show after the collections count.)

dl.stats dd.comments::after {

content: " Comment(s),";

}

(This renames the Comments stat to show after the comments count.)

dl.stats dd.chapters::after {

content: " Chapter(s),";

}

(This renames the Chapters stat to show after the chapters count.)

dl.stats dd.language::before {

content: "Written in ";

}

(This renames the Language stat to show something like 'Written in English'.)

dl.stats dd.language::after {

content: ",";

}

(This adds a comma after the Languages stat.)

dl.work.meta.group dd.published:before {

content: "Published: ";

}

(This renamed the Published stat to show before the published date.)

That should be it. Wow this took me a day. I hope the two (two!) people who asked can enjoy it.

the funniest thing about ao3 is that i forget no one else uses site skins. i mean not like reversi but like i have a skin that is pretty much completely different from the default. and then i see screenshots of the archive without my custom skin. anyways if you guys want i can reblog this with my full site skin because it is light mode but if you mess with the hex colors you can get it to something darker. and it is so cute

50 notes · View notes

redbeansoups · 4 years ago

Text

Curiosity

Kaminari Denki x Reader

Includes: fluff, angst, hurt w/o comfort, implied cheating, mentions of alcohol

In which you and Kaminari Denki grow too comfortable in your routines, and weary eyes begin to wander.

Or, Kaminari Denki falls out of love.

***

“I want to marry you.”

His voice is firm, clear, confident. “One day, when we’re older.” Your hands are in his, clasped between the grip of his fingers, enveloped in a warm, lasting pressure. “We’ll get a house together, and a dog, and then we’ll get married.” He pulls you closer–and he’s warm, infectiously so, smiling down at you in a silent plea.

You feel his certainty in every possible way.

So you smile.

“Of course, Denki,” you whisper, heart fluttering.

He chuckles, kissing your forehead. You feel the vibrations of his chest against your own, strong and deep and grounding. “Then it’s a promise,” he says.

You want to hold him to his words. But the memory, prevalent as it is, always seems to present itself in faded reddish-browns, like a story scrawled in sepia-tinted fonts. The longer you dwell on it, replay it in your head, the faster it disintegrates and turns to dust.

Before you know it, it slips away between your fingertips. His promise trickles down and out of your reach, until, finally, you can no longer call it your own.

***

You’d always known him to be yours. Everyone had; the inseparable highschool duo, ever-paired together. Your friends never invited one of you without dragging along the other. He’d met you as a first-year, and had immediately pestered the homeroom teacher to let him sit by your side. The poor woman had had no choice but to comply, relenting only after months of the boy’s pleads.

He’d loved you, right from the start. Kaminari Denki showered you in affection, in handwritten notes and personalized gifts. Wide-eyed and charismatic, he’d done everything just right.

It was the half-hidden glances he shot you when he thought no-one was looking, the grin he reserved just for you, the way he’d pull you close to him every day without fail; it was the way he lit up at the sight of you and radiated with excitement at your very mention. Kaminari was earnest, and infectiously so.

How could you resist?

Dating Kaminari turned out to be an adventure. He’d drag you left and right on his antics—dared you to push your own limits as he did his. He’d take you on midnight drives, morning treks, call you over at the crack of dawn for nothing more than a hug.

You were the careful, calculating counterpart to his thrill-seeking habits, to impulse and grandeur.

He loved excitement, experiences, exploration.

You loved him.

A part of you knew, though, that you’d never quite be able to keep up.

***

“What will you do after highschool?”

It was a question you’d begun to hear increasingly frequently. An emotionally-charged inconvenience, the words tasted like uncertainty and distress, the budding woes of a soon-to-end highschool career.

“Go to university,” was always your answer, ever-practical. Every time without fail, you’d grimace at the words.

His own response, though, was easier. Lighter.

“Beats me,” he’d chuckle, eyes crinkling as his lips turned upward in a smile. He’d sling an arm over your shoulder, pulling you close to his chest. “We’ll figure it out together, won’t we?” he’d say, grinning smugly down at you.

Heart beating, you’d roll your eyes and push him away. “Yeah, yeah.”

Together.

Fearfully, you clung to the word.

***

The two of you throw your caps together at graduation. The navy-blue headwear drifts in the gentle spring air before landing gently at your feet, rustling the grass beneath you. Around you, people are crying. You’re tearing up yourself, but Kaminari is quite the opposite, a bundle of pure joy and glee.

“We did it,” he whispers.

You nod.

You cling to his side throughout the festivities, greeting all your friends with your hand interlaced with his own. Kirishima and Sero, eager as ever, have already begun begging to join Kaminari as his groomsmen.

Kaminari takes it all in stride, cackling all the while. “Bakugou’s the ring boy, then.”

“Like hell I am!” he snarls. In an instant, the two boys have begun an impromptu wrestling match.

You laugh; beside you, Ashido and Jirou do the same.

The antics are familiar, easy. They feel like any other day–yet a sense of finality hangs over you all. The air weighs heavy with the bittersweet realization.

“This is really it, huh?” Ashido mutters, sniffling.

Kirishima sighs. “Yeah.” His eyes are round, shining. “God, can you imagine? We’re gonna be adults.”

“We’ll have jobs,” Sero says, brows furrowed. “We’ll live on our own and pay taxes or whatever.”

Ashido sticks her tongue out. “Yuck.” Another chorus of laughter rings out, and most of the group continues on with the conversation.

Jirou, though, remains quiet. Lips pursed, she turns to you, gaze demanding attention.

“You’ll be moving in together, won’t you?” she asks.

You nod.

“Big commitment,” she remarks. “You sure he’s ready for it?”

You know Jirou, trust her, immensely. But she’s always been Kaminari’s friend–a constant in his life, but never quite your own. They’d been friends long before you’d met him, and they’d stayed that way through the years.

You expect that will never change.

You chuckle. “Well, he’s the one pushing for it. You know him–can’t exactly change his mind when it’s made up.”

“Guess not.” She smiles up at you, lips turned sweetly up at the corners. But there’s something more in her eyes; something distant, wistful. In an instant, though, it’s gone–replaced instead by a look you assume is sincerity. “I’m happy for you two,” she tells you.

The smile widens.

Somewhat uneasy, you smile back.

***

Your shared apartment is cluttered from the very start, an explosion of personal trinkets and accumulated belongings. You opt for separate rooms, a decision you’d made with work and study in mind. You liked peace and quiet, and two rooms seemed a better choice–

Though, as both of you quickly learned, that didn’t stop you from sleeping in his arms every night.

Your studies proceed as expected; smooth and easy, you breeze by your courses without any trouble. Kaminari finds himself part-time work nearby, a little cafe a block or two away. Things are comfortable–you fall into a routine, stable and calm.

Calm, though, has never quite fit him.

Kaminari has always sought the thrill.

***

Things grow busier over time. Schoolwork has you keeling over, bending backward at every moment, rushing to get your work done. The two of you, slowly but surely, grow apart; your routine no longer involves nightly cuddles, but weekly ones; your interactions gradually shrink down into practically nothing.

He tries, of course; he’ll pop his head into your room, ask you to come out, to go for a bike ride, to hang out with him and watch a movie–but crunchtime is brutal, and things never quite work out as you’d like.

You wish things could be easier.

But life, as you learn, slows down for no-one.

***

After a long day, you want nothing more than to see your boyfriend. You want his arms, his embrace, his words–attention, plain and simple.

But Kaminari, as of late, has seemed unkeen to deliver.

You think to go and see him, but there’s a sign up on his door. Busy, it reads, letters written in a bold red.

You disregard them, and walk on in.

“I’m going to bed,” you tell him.

He hardly looks at you as you enter, hardly acknowledges your movements; his focus lies elsewhere, drowned in the blue light of the monitor. There’s a smile there, creeping on his lips, a child-like wonder sparkling in his eyes as his avatar jumps and swerves before him, each movement meticulously trained, controller clutched firmly in hand.

You’ve become familiar with the sight.

“Hell yeah,” he cries suddenly, fist clenched with excitement. “You saw that, didn’t you, Kyo?”

You sigh.

“Denki,” you call again, louder this time. The sound reverbs in your chest, pouring out of your throat; pained, like a wallow.

He continues. You stand there, back against the doorway, arms across your chest.

Finally, he stops. The pause menu appears on-screen, and he swivels around, chair spinning delicately on its wheels–

But he’s frowning, eyebrows furrowed as he tugs his headphones down. They hang over his neck and radiate a faint glow on each side. “Yeah?”

“I was saying,” you mumble, “I’m going to–”

“I heard you the first time,” he says blankly.

“It’s late, Denki. Don’t you want to sleep?”

“Not now.” Another dull reply.

You sigh, run a hand through your hair. “I miss you,” you admit.

“Me too–but not now, okay?” His lips turn upward–but the smile he gives you is forced. “I’m not sleepy. Maybe tomorrow.” Then, without another word, he swivels back around, slides his headphones into place, and resumes the game.

You shut the door and tuck yourself into an empty bed, trying to ignore his cheers, his voice–

And the voice, inevitably, at the other end of the line.

***

He goes out more now; bar-hopping, he tells you, with highschool friends. Kirishima and Sero and Bakugou and Ashido, you presume. Privately, you wonder why he never offers to bring you along like he used to.

You’re busy, though. You suppose it doesn’t matter–

Until, one night, he doesn’t come home.

It takes ten frantic tries to reach anyone at all; Ashido and Sero both seem not to notice your calls at all. Even Bakugou, the reliable one of the bunch, doesn’t seem to have his phone on him.

It’s Kirishima that finally picks up, his greeting slurred and dopey. “Whazzup!”

You sigh. “Ei, is Denki with you?”

“Huh?” Almost instantly, his voice has cleared up. “Isn’t he with you?”

“He’s not.”

“He said he was going home–wait, I’ll text the group and ask…” There’s some fumbling on the other end of the line, followed by some rustling. “Shoot, we left the bar ages ago too–”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. “Just.. let me know if anyone gets back to you.”

“Yeah, for sure.” His voice is breathy, uncertain. “He usually gets home fine–I really don’t know, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Eijirou. Thank you.”

You hang up. Another hour passes–but not knowing what else to do, you shut your eyes and drift off to sleep.

***

You awake to a buzz from your phone. The screen illuminates the ceiling over you; the only remaining source of light.

Denki’s with me, the text reads.

It’s Jirou.

The text fills you with a weird sensation–a foreign taste, somewhere between relief and apprehension. A bitter flavor treads on your tongue.

Thank goodness, you type back. Is he okay?

Plastered, but he’s fine. Should I call him a cab? There’s a pause before her next text. I can take him tonight, if you want. My couch is free.

You ponder the thought. A part of you wants him home, wants him where you can see him. You aren’t even sure why he’d be at Jirou’s in the first place, and the thought fills you with unease. You want to drag him home, question him–

One glance at the clock, though, convinces you otherwise.

Could you watch over him tonight? I’ll come and get him tomorrow.

Another pause. Then, a reply.

Okay :)

You exhale and, tossing the covers over yourself, fall back into restless sleep.

***

You leave to retrieve him the next day. Jirou’s flat is a long journey over, and trek leaves you feeling unsettled. Still, your worry drags you out of bed and across town, coat wrapped firmly around you.

The walk, smack in the middle of winter, is far too cold for your liking.

Jirou meets you by the front door, and welcomes you in before you can even move to knock. “Long time no see,” she says, smiling, pulling you into a hug. She looks better than ever–her face is shining. There’s a happiness in her eyes that is unfamiliar, even to you.

“You look good,” you tell her.

“So do you,” she says–a bluff, certainly. In your disheveled, crestfallen state, you’re sure you look anything but. “He’s still asleep, he’s in the living room… Oh, here.” The girl reaches over to her dining table and hands you a steaming cup of tea. “You must be freezing.”

You smile. “Thanks, Kyouka.”

Just then, an all-too-familiar groan resonates through the room. Kaminari emerges from the couch, bedhead on prominent display, shoulders slouched and slunken. His shirt is crinkled in odd places.

The alcohol, clearly, has gotten to him.

You grimace.

***

You ride the train back home, not willing to brave the cold. Kaminari, still much too hungover to think, seems to appreciate the decision.

The train is crowded when it arrives. The day occurs to you then–Saturday, right at the peak of rush hour. You hustle your boyfriend into the cart and hurriedly rush him into the last remaining seat.

The train chugs to a start, and you clutch onto the handlebars above you. You watch as Kaminari leans his head back, a soft groan escaping his lips.

The sight annoys you.

You lean your torso forward to bring yourself closer to him. “Why were you at Kyouka’s in the first place?” you ask, voice just above a whisper.

Kaminari tilts his head to meet your gaze. His eyes are sunken, tired. “Just wanted to see her,” he mumbles. “Haven’t seen her in ages.”

You sigh.

“You worried me, Denki.”

“I was fine–”

“No,” you snap, cutting him off. “You didn’t even tell me you were going out,” you half-hiss, not wanting to draw attention to yourself. The anger, though, is building, tingling in your chest and fingertips, right on the edge of your tongue. “I sat at home waiting for you to come home, not knowing where you were or who the hell you were with. I had to ask Kirishima where you were–and, apparently, you told him you went home.” You can feel the heat welling in your eyes, threatening to spill. “Is that home to you, Denki? Her couch?”

He doesn’t meet your gaze. “Sorry.”

You exhale and lean back, resting your weight back on your heels. The rest of the ride back is silent.

***

The next few days are tight, tense. There’s an anger you can’t quite quell, a thirst for something you can’t quite quench. You’re torn between wanting an explanation, an apology, a remorseful embrace assuring you things will be different–

But he goes out the next weekend, and the next, and eventually on the weekdays you once spent in each others’ arms. He fails, over and over, to come home, and all you can do now is try your best to ignore the click of the front door at dawn.

Spite. That’s the feeling now. You’re spiteful, vengeful, you want more out of him and less at the same time–but you don’t protest. You keep your lips tightly sealed, and move on with your life. You spend meals apart, nights separate, days distant and alone.

You fall into another routine–a colder, lonelier one. Sometimes, behind his back, you catch glimpses of his belongings; the worn winter jackets, the strewn contents of an overnight bag, the notifications from the girl you have always known–

You wonder if, in her presence, he finds the same thrill he once did in you.

***

A/N: went through a really rough spot. my feelings culminated in this monstrosity–it’s been a while, but i hope the writing was okay :)

also, i love jirou. very, very, very much. i didn’t mean to throw her under the bus here. i like to think the reader’s insecurities got to them, and that the cheating didnt actually happen, but that’s always open to interpretation.

#bnha angst #bnha #my hero academia #kaminari denki #kaminari denki x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader angst #bnha reader insert #kaminari x reader #senior year has been kicking me in the ass #on a random note though i got accepted into a pretty good college

230 notes · View notes

preciousthingsareprecious · 3 years ago

Text

That Time Tim Totally Terminated Ra's Al Ghuls Entire Empire Part 1

So. I wrote something very silly. The title says it all, except it doesn't because this bad boy spiraled out to being over 10k and deserving of 2 chapters. Anyway, here is the first chapter featuring all the times Ra's kidnapped Tim because he wanted to recruit him.

Summary:

"Let us not beat around the bush,” Ra’s started, after taking a sip from his tea, “I have brought you here to make you an offer.” Tim nodded, that was obvious enough. Ra's had no reason to kidnap him this time beyond something like this.

“As you know, I’m always on the lookout for enterprising young individuals with both leadership and fighting experience to join the League of Assassins. Right now I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect person to fill a brand new executive role in a new chapter of my organization.”

AO3 Link

Tim wasn’t entirely sure how he’d ended up in this situation. No really. One moment he’d been in Gotham, crouched behind an old BMW that had been in the same spot for a month, waiting on Batman’s signal, the next he’d woken up in some lavishly decorated room. Was that silk? Or maybe velvet? He had no idea what was hanging around the bed he was laying in, but Tim really didn’t care.

What he was concerned about was his own personal state. He raised his arms --that alone was a good sign-- and confirmed that his mask was in place. He pushed himself up on the ridiculously plush bed, -which was unreasonably plush by the standards of a kid who'd grown up rich, and then gone to live with a guy who had both more money and even better beds.

The point was, the bed was so soft Tim actually had a bit of trouble sitting up.

When he did manage to right himself, he finished taking stock of his own situation and his surroundings. His Robin uniform was intact aside from his belt, but he saw that set on a trunk that looked at least as old as Bruce, a few feet away. The room was, as he already determined, lavishly decorated.

Tim pushed himself out of the bed and onto a carpet so thick he kind of wanted to pull off his shoes and curl his toes in it, but seeing as he still had no idea where he was, who took him, or why, he figured that was probably out of the question. He did make a mental note to ask Bruce for some better carpet when he got home. As a kind of gift for surviving a very weird kidnapping.

Instead, he moved to walk carefully around the room. He found no obvious traps, no cameras or speakers or microphones that were either hidden or out in the open, and both doors were unlocked.

The first he opened revealed a bathroom. The second he cracked open to peer out of. His eyes locked on that of an honest to goodness ninja standing guard outside the door. The man locked eyes with him and Tim snapped the door shut with a click.

Welp, that answered the who and maybe even the where of Tim’s abduction. Ra’s Al Ghul. He was pretty sure if he gave the ninja ten minutes to go find Mr. al Ghul himself, he’d have the why too.

While he waited, Tim snapped his belt back around his waist, comfortable to have its weight back, even if being in a League stronghold meant all the tricks in his pockets were basically useless on his own. Still, it was nice to feel fully like Robin again.

After that it was a matter of waiting.

Tim paced an actual trench into the thick carpet as he waited. Batman was of course looking for him. That was a given, he just had to wait for the man to find him. Or for Ra’s to send him home? He really wasn’t sure why the Eco-terrorist would have taken him in the first place beyond a really weird obsession with Batman's various sidekicks.

How come all of Bruce’s baddies seemed to have a strange fixation on Robins? It was weird how many went out of their way to kidnap and attempt to recruit him, Dick, and if the stories were to be believed, Jason too.

Just as Tim was starting to turn that particular thought over in his head, the door to his room opened and Ra’s himself strolled in.

“Timothy.” the man drawled.

“Ra’s.” Tim replied, suddenly totally and completely unsure what to do with his hands, voice, feet, and general self. This wasn’t a fight after all.

He settled for crossing his arms and being terribly glad his domino hid his eyes.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I brought you here.” Ra’s said.

Tim shrugged, “It doesn’t take the world’s greatest detective to guess that.”

The man frowned at him, and Tim started to wonder if maybe he should be watching his words a bit. He wasn’t in Gotham with Batman at his back after all. But then again, Ra’s must need something from him right? So a little sass was okay, what was Robin without a smart mouth after all?

“I mean--” Tim started, unable to stop himself now that he was thinking about it, “I can probably start to guess. You didn’t kill me and I’m not in a dungeon so you’ve got to want something from me right? I bet this is some blend of trying to win me over and also hold me above Batman because you--” he paused for a moment trying to remember if Bruce had been on Ra’s’ trail at all lately.

He dropped his arms and clapped, remembering, “You’ve been trying to break into energy and you want Wayne Enterprise to back you and legitimize your business. So you’re holding Tim over Bruce, but you probably want Robin because you and like half of Batman’s rogues have this weird obsession with teen heroes for some reason."

At some point he’d stopped looking at Ra’s and actually started pacing again. When he stopped talking his feet stilled and he looked back up at Ra's and grinned, ""So, am I hot or freezing cold?”

He expected Ra's to looked angry or irritated, instead he looked amused.

“You are quite warm. Though I would contend the assertion that I have a weird obsession with teen heroes. I am only interested in the exceptional, and you Timothy, are exceptional indeed.”

Tim gulped, “I mean--not really? But thanks.”

Ra’s waved him off, “We will speak more later. You are correct, I do intend to use you as a bargaining chip against your guardian--”

“Dad.” Tim interjected.

The man raised an eyebrow but continued, “However you are not a prisoner in the traditional sense. You may wander the compound with one of my men by your side to ensure you do not get into trouble. If all goes well you will be returned to Batman within a reasonable amount of time. Unless, of course, you do decide you would like to stay and learn from me.”

“I don’t really see that happening.” Tim said, “But I'll be sure and let you know if I make a sudden turn towards world domination.”

Again, Tim expected some kind of retaliation, but he was thankfully ignored. Ra’s left him with a warning not to cause undue trouble and soon Tim was alone in the room again.

He spent the next couple days wandering the compound somewhat aimlessly. He had a phone call with Bruce where he promised his dad that he was totally fine if a little bored, and spent the rest of his time trying to avoid Ra’s. The man was kind of relentless in his attempts at winning Tim over to his side and sought him out at meals, when Tim was trying to train a bit at one of the many gyms, and even once while Tim was wandering a rather fantastic garden. Each time, Tim did his best to wiggle out of the man's suggestions and just get back to wiling away the time between then and getting home.

Thankfully, it was all over in four days when Batman came crashing in with Nightwing and Batwoman to rescue him, and soon Tim was home and settling back into normal life.

He’d actually almost forgotten about the whole Ra’s kidnapping him until it happened again. Once had been a surprise, two times was starting to look deliberate.

This one lasted a week with Ra’s claiming it was because he still really wanted that energy deal and he just couldn’t understand why Bruce wasn’t willing to trade that for his ward (son Tim had ground out in irritation).

Tim almost believed him, until he woke one morning to find a pamphlet had been slipped under his door, it was literally a flyer promoting hiring in the League. Tim looked over it and had to laugh out loud. The text was done in a mix of papyrus and other fonts and whoever made it had used clip art. It looked like someone had typed it up in Microsoft word in like half an hour.

He spent the rest of his time there re-designing the flyer, with a ninja hanging over his shoulder as he used one of the League computers. The new one wasn’t the best flyer in the world, but Tim was pretty proud of it, and it was much better than the first draft.

When he was done, he pocketed the original, then pinned a note to the new one that said: Ha! Not until you get better designers.

Batman rescued him again, and Tim pushed the double kidnapping and Ra’s’ weird obsession to the back of his mind until the next time he was with Steph.

They were in the manor watching a Chopped marathon and Tim was telling her about both kidnappings.

“So he’s super into energy? How come he didn’t nab Dick? We all know he’s Bruce’s favorite.” Steph teased, popping a chip into her mouth.

“Setting aside that obvious lie, that’s the thing,” Tim continued, digging out the flyer he’d kept, “It has nothing to do with energy or Dick. I’m pretty sure Ra’s is trying to recruit me.”

He showed her the paper and Steph snorted, spraying chips out as she laughed, “No. Freaking. Way. I have to tell Cass. Let me show her this, please I’m begging you.”

Tim groaned, “Yeah, sure, but don’t you think it’s weird?”

She shrugged, taking the flyer to look it over, “Of course, but the B-man attracts weird like ice cream dropped on the ground attracts ants. Give him six months, and Ra’s will move onto a different way of trying to piss off Batman.”

“I hope so.” Tim said.

The third time Tim woke up in the elaborate room he was getting really sick of the decor and the headache that came with being knocked out and dragged halfway across the world.

“You know.” Tim started, the moment Ra's walked into his room (and it was actually Tim’s room he’d learned from one of the ninja guards), “You could have waited a month this time, to at least pretend this wasn’t all about your super weird plan to try and convince me into letting you adopt me.”

Ra’s opened his mouth to respond, but Tim wasn’t done.

“Which, by the way, I’m taken already. B did the whole adopting thing, so you missed that window. Though, I guess that probably doesn't really matter to you in the grand scheme of things since you keep kidnapping me. You are aware that kidnapping isn’t the best way to convince someone that your way is the right one, right?”

“Also, would it kill you to pick up some --I don’t know-- books on recruitment or something? I don’t understand how you’ve managed to get so many guys on your side it’s--” Tim started, but Ra’s had caught on to Tim’s mood at this point, conceded temporary defeat, and made a hasty retreat.

Tim didn't see him the whole rest of the day, and by the next morning Batman showed up, swinging in for another rescue and all was fine and good and normal for a while.

Until, of course, it wasn’t.

It was the fourth kidnapping that really set Tim off.

He woke up back in that stupid room with it’s stupid decor and those stupid posters ready to burn the place to the ground. But something stopped him, a premonition. Like if he was patient for just a little longer he’d find a good and proper form of revenge to take on Ra’s for his total inability to take a hint.

At some point two ninja came by to take Tim to meet with Ra’s. As they walked Tim couldn’t help but notice the posters literally lining the hallways they walked through.

They were of two wildly different styles, but both struck a thought of familiarity in his mind. One was obviously a play on the classic “I want you in the army” poster. The other ripped off old “pin up” recruitment posters. Both made him laugh, and Tim pulled a couple of each down to save to show the Titans. He had a feeling Bart and Kon would lose their minds over these.

He had just folded them up and shoved them in his back pocket when they reached an office. Inside, Ra’s sat in a chair and motioned Tim to sit in one across from him.

“Thank you for joining me, Timothy.”

Tim sat and shrugged, “Not like I had much of a choice.”

Ra’s waved him off. As he did, a different ninja from either of the ones who’d escorted Tim to the office came in with a tray of tea. He handed Ra’s a cup, then gave one to Tim, and left the set on a table between them.

The whole vibe was kind of awkward and strange. Tim felt very much like he had one time a year ago when he’d realized halfway through a date that things were not going to work out. He hadn’t been able to end the date then and there, and had spent another two hours awkwardly making small talk and trying to avoid promising a second date.

“Let us not beat around the bush,” Ra’s started, after taking a sip from his tea, “I have brought you here to make you an offer.”

Tim nodded, that was obvious enough. Ra's had no reason to kidnap him this time beyond something like this.

Tim took a sip of his tea in an attempt at avoiding having his mouth drop open in shock. Ra’s sounded like something out of a “Executive success seminar” that was just a veiled multilevel marketing scheme.

“To put it plainly, Timothy, I want you to become my apprentice. I know you and assume you might be hesitant to accept this lifestyle so I’ve prepared for you something of a presentation on what that might entail.”

Tim couldn’t stop a laugh from bursting out of him, but he did manage to turn it into a kind of cough.

“Wait--wait.” he said, almost choking on his tea, “Are you about to show me a powerpoint?”

Ra’s looked a bit put out at that suggestion, almost like he wanted to sigh, “Of course not, it’s more interactive than that.”

Tim held up his free hand, incredulous, “Is this--a job interview Ra’s? I thought you were pitching this to me.”

“No, no. It’s an interactive presentation designed to show you just what you have to gain from joining me.” Ra’s explained, as he did so Tim took another sip of his tea.

He lifted his cup and waved it lightly, “Oh yeah, so I’m just in one of those fairy tales then where you make me do three impossible tasks and at the end I get the happily ever after dip in the lazarus pit?”

“It’s only one trial--”

“So it is a task!” Tim declared, almost standing.

“Timothy.” Ra’s snapped, sounding a bit like Bruce whenever Tim and Steph’s antics pushed him a bit too far.

Tim crossed his legs and leaned back into the chair, “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Irritating the man was a bad idea, Tim knew that, but this was just ridiculous. He wasn’t going to be sent on a wild quest that might end up with him dunked in a Lazarus Pit or whatever else Ra’s had in mind that would supposedly prove how great it would be to work for him.

“If you are not going to take this seriously, then there are other ways of showing you why joining me is a good idea that are not nearly as pleasant.” Ra’s growled.

Tim held up his free hand, “I’d rather not find out, give me your pitch or send me off with your best ninja or whatever you were planning.”

He figured playing along would work for now. He could put off giving Ra’s an answer until Bruce came in for a third rescue. When he was home, they were going to have a serious conversation about ninja proofing the manor. Ra’s could not keep kidnapping him like this, they had to have some kind of security measures in place.

“Wonderful. I’m sure after your tour you’ll have a better understanding of what I have to offer you.”

Tim ended up following someone Ra’s called his “best general” around the compound for an hour. The guy showed Tim the training rooms, the medical suite, sparring rings, a variety of ninja’s actually practicing, and at one point they even ended up in the library. The general had been given instructions to pause anywhere Tim wanted him to, and so they lingered in the library for a bit.

He had to admit, Ra’s had a fantastic library.

The general didn’t seem worried about Tim getting lost, or escaping, and waited by the door while he wandered the massive room.

And boy was it huge. It was bigger than the main floor of the cave, with stacks and stacks of books on two floors. Some of the volumes looked ancient, and there were even scrolls shelved on the second floor.

He gingerly pulled one out to examine.

“That is worth more than you could ever imagine.” a sharp, young voice, declared, behind him.

Startled, Tim dropped it back onto the shelf and spun. Before him stood a kid, probably 8 years old, with tousled dark hair, dark skin, and a face that almost echoed some of Bruce’s school photos. It was startling.

“Hi.” Tim said, dumbly, “I know, it’s Ancient Sumarian right?”

“Tt.” the boy crossed his arms, “You are not an idiot then.”

Tim shook his head, “Nah, apparently I’m smart enough to be selected for recruitment.”

The kid nodded, “So you are Grandfather’s young detective. He speaks highly of you.”

Grandfather? Tim’s brain spun. This kid was Ra’s al Ghul’s grandkid? He ran the numbers, the kid’s mom was either Talia or Nyssa. If he had to put money on it, Tim figured the boy before him looked more like Talia than her sister. And his other features--like Bruce’s?

No.

No. Freaking. Way.

“That is hardly language to use here.” The boy said, arching an eyebrow at him.

Tim hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud, but apparently his surprise had been so great he had. He cleared his throat, “Sorry, I just never expected Ra’s to have a grandkid.”

“It is not surprising to me, I am his heir. Born to inherit the League and rule the world one day.”

Okay, that was a lot to unpack. Just a totally wild amount, but Tim wasn’t super focused on the world domination thing just yet (maybe later when he had a chance to process all of--well, all of it), “Sorry to keep pressing but, doesn’t having an heir kind of--I don’t know, put his whole Eternal Ruler of the League thing in jeopardy?”

“Tt. It is not my place to question my Grandfather’s plans. I simply know what I have been told, that I will inherit the League one day in his stead.”

“Well,” Tim rocked back on his heels casually and grinned, “That might be a long loooong time.”

The kid’s brows furrowed as if he had not really considered that idea before. He opened his mouth to say something else, but seemed to decide against it, dropping his arms to his sides to shrug, “If that is his wish then so be it.”

“True.” Tim said, not really knowing what to say. Instead he settled on changing the subject, “You know, if your grandfather gets his way I’ll be spending more time here, so I guess introductions are in order. I’m Timothy Drake-Wayne, but most people just call me Tim.”

He held his hand out to the kid, smiling at him. If he really was Bruce’s then they’d be getting to know each other for sure. Just not here. Tim had zero intentions on letting Bruce’s child stay with the League. Did B he even know he had a kid? Tim thought he’d better figure that out first before kidnapping his little brother.

Little brother. Just that idea made something flutter in Tim’s chest. He’d always wanted a little brother.

The boy scowled at his hand, and did not take it, “You may be correct, even if I do not see what Grandfather seems to. I am Damian al Ghul, heir to the Demon’s Head.”

Tim bit back a grin at just how serious this kid was. He sounded like a little prince, all imperious and haughty. Damian, even his name fit him. He wondered how Damian would do around Dick? Or Stephanie. They’d figure out how to bring a smile out of him.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Damian.” Tim said, “I know we’ve really only just met, but I’m sure you’ll see what Ra’s does in time.”

Damian looked him over again, then gave a sharp nod, “I am interested in seeing what you have to offer.”

“Damian, I found it, where’d you go?” A voice sounded from deeper within the stacks.

Tim started at the sound of the voice. He knew it. Knew it from nights spent chasing shadows, from recording’s Bruce had watched a hundred times when he didn’t think Tim was watching. From Tim’s own desire to know and learn more about his predecessor. It was Jason Todd’s voice.

But that couldn’t be. Jason was dead.

“I am coming.” Damian returned, his tone more childlike than Tim had heard in their whole conversation. He turned back to Tim, “Do not ruin that scroll, I will see you later.”

Then he spun on his heel and walked away.

Tim stepped forward, reaching out for the kid, “Wai--”

“Master Tim, we really must be going.” Tim’s guide was back, stepping into his view as if from nowhere, and stopping Tim’s chase as short as it had been.

“Can we wait just one more second?” he asked, “I wanted to ask Damian something else.”

The man’s mouth turned down in a frown, “I do not have clearance to let you speak with Master Damian. Come, we have more to see.”

Frustration bubbled up in Tim, but unless he wanted to start a fight he wasn’t going to get a chance to talk to Damian right then. The kid had promised to see him later, so maybe he’d seek Tim out. If not, Tim would find a way.

As he followed the man out of the library, he kept searching the stacks of books for a sign of the others. It wasn’t until they’d left the room that Tim caught sight of Damian again, his small form waving animated at a taller, broader one. One that, while older, was unmistakably Jason.

Before Tim could say screw everything, the two turned around a corner, and someone else was clearing their throat. His guide seemed eager to move on, and so they did.

Tim tuned out most of the rest of the tour, and eventually found himself back in the office from before, once again seated across from Ra’s.

“Timothy, I hear you have met my grandson on your tour.” Ra’s started.

“I did.” Tim said, a bit hesitant to go into detail, his guide had seemed like talking to Damian was a pretty serious thing, and suddenly Tim was afraid he’d gotten the kid in trouble.

Ra’s smiled, “He is magnificent is he not? Already he is a skilled warrior, and well trained in his studies.”

“He said he was your heir?” Tim ventured.

The man waved a hand dismissively, “Of course he is, he is my grandson, but that does not mean he will inherit. The boy is valuable to me, for many reasons. He is an excellent tool to wield against my enemies already, and will only become more so as he grows.”

Anger bubbled up in Tim. There was something in Ra’s’ tone that made Tim sick, to call a kid a tool. To plan to just use him his whole life?

“And what, do you want to do that with me too? You said you wanted me to be your apprentice, but if your Heir is just a tool then--”

“No, as I said I want you to take over a branch of the League. You have talents and skills Damian will not. The boy is--” Ra’s shrugged, “Let us call him a vessel. A shell for me to wield in one way or another.”

Well, that just made Tim even more angry. Damian was his grandkid. What Tim wouldn't have given to still have his grandparents, and for Ra’s to just--If Tim wasn’t already dead set on getting Damian home, he would be after this conversation.

“You know what, Ra’s. Let me think on it a while. I’ll get back to you on my answer. I kind of want to see Damian in action a bit, learn what this training looks like in someone closer to my age.”

The man considered this for a moment before nodding, “I will let you watch his sparring session tomorrow. For now, I think we’re done. Have a good evening, Timothy.”

Tim nodded, and left. His mind was racing, he wanted another look at Jason. Wanted to tell Damian about his dad. Wanted to make sure both his brothers were okay.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he missed the black and blue clad arm that reached out from behind a curtain and yanked him back. Nightwing put a hand over Tim’s mouth to quiet him, and then pulled him out the window the curtain had been hiding. They dropped, into nothing--except it was solid?

Tim found himself inside the invisible jet. Inside, and flying away from his newly discovered siblings before he could even argue they needed to be rescued too.

One flight with Wonder Woman and Nightwing later, and Tim was home again, being told in stern tones by both Batman and Nightwing that he really needed to stop allowing himself to be kidnapped by ninjas (like he didn’t know that).

Then he was in his room, in bed, staring up at the ceiling, his mind whirring. He had learned two things on this trip. Two impossible things. Two things he was going to leverage as soon as he could.

It was late, and he should be sleeping, but instead he texted Steph and Cass in their little group chat.

Tim: Want to cause some chaos?

Immediately he received a response:

Steph: Always

Cass: Who are we going after?

Tim smiled, his fingers dancing over his phone:

Tim: Ra’s.

Cass: Time to teach him a lesson?

Steph: I've been waiting for this, I’ll get the kerosene

Tim: There’s more.

Cass: Tell.

The light flashed on out in the hallway, Tim could see it flicker to life under his door.

Tim: Tomorrow, lunch at that place with the sweet potato fries. Come ready to plan a kidnapping or two.

The next day Tim found both Steph and Cass waiting eagerly for him at the restaurant, a heaping plate of sweet potato fries between them.

“Spill, Bird Brain.” Stephanie said, as he sat down, pushing some fries towards him, “I want to hear everything about this crusade against Ra’s.”

Tim rolled his eyes, and snagged a fry, dipping it in one of the sauces they’d gotten to accompany it.

“As you’ve probably already guessed, I had another visit to the League compound yesterday.” Tim started, “It was more of a day trip this time, but Ra’s did his very best to sell me on signing up.”

“More posters?” Cass guessed, then shook her head seeing Tim’s expression, “What did he do?”

Tim snagged another fry, “Yes more posters, but more than that he gave me a speech right out of a How to Recruit for Dummies book, then sent me on a tour of the building.”

Steph snorted, “Please tell me you recorded it.”

“I did not, but you will never believe what I found on my tour, or to be precise who.”

Both girls paused their snacking, waiting on him to continue.

Tim dropped the first bomb, “Jason Todd, alive and breathing.”

“What, no way.” Steph said, “How’d he even get there? I thought He was buried here?”

He shrugged, “I don’t have any of the details, but they’ve got a Lazarus pit, and Ra’s is weirdly obsessed with recruiting Robin’s, so I’d say his resurrection tracks.”

“Who else was there?” Cass asked, brow furrowed.

Now this he knew neither of them would be expecting. Tim hadn’t expected it. He still couldn’t believe it.

“Ra’s al Ghul’s grandson, Damian.” Tim said, watched both girls look even more confused, then added, “The son of Bruce and Talia. At least, I’m pretty sure he’s their kid.”

The fry Stephanie was holding dropped out of her hand.

Tim watched Cass processing the information, saw her realization that there was another child being raised in the League, then saw the determination cross her face at her own personal decision.

“We are taking them both, correct?” Cass asked.

“We’re taking them both, and burning the place down.” Tim confirmed, “That should properly pay him back for all the time’s he’s kidnapped me this year.”

Steph’s lips turned up into a sharp grin, “The law of equivalent exchange.”

Tim laughed, “You’ve been watching too much tv.”

“It’s prepped me for this very moment.” she shot back, voice falsely grave.

“Batman prepared you for this very moment.” Cass elbowed her.

“No.” Tim said, “I’m going to prep you. And then we’re going to put everything in action.”

They talked, and planned, and debated the pros and cons of letting Tim get nabbed again over just going himself, and eventually after many many sweet potato fries and sodas they were ready.

It was to be infiltration first, fire and kerosene second. Obviously the place was going to go up, but only after they set the stage for rebellion and convinced Damian and Jason to go home with them. Tim didn’t think it’d be a hard sell for Jason, but the kid was another matter altogether. If Tim couldn’t convince him to come along, they may actually end up having to kidnap Damian.

A key to the plan was that only Tim, Steph, and Cass were in on it. There was no way Bruce was giving the green light for such a thing. Besides, Tim wanted to see his face when they presented him with not one, but two, rescued sons from the League.

Over the next week Tim made himself the most kidnappable he’d ever been. He wandered outside, kept to himself, and tried to look as wide eyed as possible. He lingered in parking lots, and took shortcuts down empty alleyways. Basically, he did everything he could to signal he was alone and vulnerable besides hanging a sign around his neck that said “Take me to your (ninja) leader”.

At one point he even stopped, dead center in the middle of an alley and declared, “Wow this sure is a dangerous place to be! I hope I don’t get attacked and kidnapped by ninjas!”

The only response he got that time was from an older woman who stopped at the edge of the alley and very seriously called out, “Careful, young man. Don’t you know there are killer clowns out? You best be on your way before you get hurt.”

Then, at long last, Tim caught sight of one of the League members ducking behind a shadow. He paused his walk, and leaned over as if fascinated by something on the sidewalk in front of him. By the time he’d stood, the ninja was in front of him.

Tim held up his hands in surrender, doing his best not to actually look excited. Then, he was successfully kidnapped for the fifth --and if Tim’s plan worked successfully-- final time.

#Tim Drake #Damian Wayne #Stephanie Brown #Cassandra Cain #Batfamily #fanfiction #crack #crack treated seriously #multimedia fic #humor #kidnapping attempts #revenge plots #Ra's tries to recruit tim #Spoilers it backfires #what is canon #precious posts #long post #chapter 1

84 notes · View notes

sword-of-stardust · 4 years ago

Text

I love Ranboo’s lore streams so much. All the freaky lore stuff in the Dream SMP is awesome. I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I'm trained for that kind of thing lmao. Anyone else know what I mean?

Like I was super into the Gravity Falls fandom. We’ve been reversing backwards messages and breaking coded cyphers for years. Like we even did a scavenger hunt in real life based on clues from the show.

I LOVE Undertale so much, and that game had so many mysteries for us to solve. Personally I remember researching W.D. Gaster a lot and trying to figure out his whole deal - translating wingdings font into normal text to figure out what he was saying.

I was a twenty one pilots fan, too. We’ve translated morse code and pieced together puzzle pieces on secret websites.

And I was never a big FNAF fan personally, but I loved watching all the Game Theory videos about what the hell was happening in those games. I loved all the little hidden stuff that you had to do to solve its mysteries - like that one time in I think FNAF 3 where you had to press a code into the tiles on the wall like it was a keypad so you could unlock stuff. I loved all the stuff like that.

And hell even games like Doki Doki Literature Club that I was never in the fandom for but I watched YouTubers play - finding weird shit in the game files, stuff like that.

I feel like a lot of us here in the Dream SMP fandom where also in many of those other fandoms, too. And we’ve worked on solving all those past mysteries in those other fandoms, and now we’re here doing it again here - translating morse code for Ranboo, reversing audio for the Egg, theorizing what the effects of Karl’s time-traveling could be. It’s like we’ve all trained for this in those past fandoms lol. This is just another mystery for us fandom-detectives to solve.

Idk I just really like this kind of stuff. Anyone else know what I’m talking about?

#ranboo #dream smp #the dream smp #dsmp #ranboolive

68 notes · View notes

smutandfluffohmy · 4 years ago

Text

Dear Mr.Keating Chapter II

Read Chapter I here Description: This is a story about a closer look into the lives of the Dead Poets Society. Exploring first love, friendship and grief. This story explores elements of the book and film.

Todd Anderson had almost convinced himself that the events of yesterday were all a bad dream. He almost convinced himself of just that if he hadn’t woken up face to face with Neil Perry laying on the other bed across from him. Todd admired Neil, he wanted to be like him, speak without feeling his palms getting sweaty, to speak and have people listen to what he had to say. Todd stared at Neil, he tried to find his secret in the curves of his face. The light shone against Neil’s face, it made him feel calm and forget about what the day that waited for him. He wanted to get up to check the time but he was afraid any sound might wake him. Neils eyes started fluttering open, Todd felt a bit of panic then closed his eyes feeling that he might catch him staring.

“What time is it?” Neil asked with a yawn reaching over to the clock they sat against the windowsill. Technically a clock that belonged to Todd, more specifically a clock that belonged to Todd’s desk set. Todd pretended to wake up from a deep sleep rolling over to look over at Neil.

“Shit. We’re late for breakfast.” Neil said jumping out of bed faster than Todd had ever seen anyone do. The fact that someone had that much energy in the morning outstanded Todd. “How do you feel about today?” Neil asked as he was buttoning up his dress shirt just like he'd done many days before.

“I think I might faint.” Todd said tugging in his shirt

“You’ll be fine.” Neil smiled to himself as he looked for his tie, which he found neatly placed on top of his dresser. “I’ll stay close to catch you if you do.” Todd watched Neil closely while he tied his tie, looking at his hands carefully he tried to mimic the movement. But yet he still failed, one end of the tie far too long than the other.

“Here let me help you.” Neil said shooing his hands away and standing in front of him to do it. Todd felt so embarrassed, it was his first day and he was already dependent on Neil to survive Welton. “There you go,” Neil smiled at Todd reaching over for his bag “Come on we’re late!” Neil said, pushing him out of the door.

Neil talked about the classes they had for today, how to act in classes and if they ran fast enough they could still grab a bit of breakfast. Todd was a ship in a reckless sea and Neil was the anchor keeping him at bay.

They walked quickly down the turning halls, Todd thought all the halls looked the same but he followed Neil without a doubt. Their dress shoes clacked against the stone floor, till they reached an arched doorway.

Chemistry. Latin.English. Gym.

That was their schedule for today. The schedule didn’t sound any different from his old school but yet he was worried. Worried that all eyes would be on him for being the new kid.

Chemistry was uneventful. Latin was difficult, Todd had never taken Latin before in his life; instead he took french and was even then still had a hard time passing that. It wasn’t until they reached their English class that Todd felt at ease again after having to sit in a class where he did not know the language. At least in English class he was sure he would be able to understand.

Mr.Keating, their new English teacher, walked into the classroom after they were all sat down at their desk. He didn’t look like the other teachers, the other teachers wore ties and freshly pressed shirts underneath blazers. Mr.Keating stuck out, with no tie and no blazer.

“ ‘O Captain! My Captain!’” Mr. Keating said, his hands in his pockets, Neil wrote on the first line of his notebook ‘O’ Captain! My Captain!’ there was no knowing what they would get tested on later.

“Who knows where that’s from? Anybody? No?” Mr. Keating asked, looking around the classroom waiting for anyone to answer “It was written, my young scholars,” He said smiling at the boys “by a poet named Walt Whittman about Abraham Lincoln. In this class you may refer to me as either Mr.Keating or if you feel more daring ‘O Captain! My Captain” Keating pointed to the door and walked headed to the door and walked out. They all sat, unsure of what to do next, unsure of whether to follow or stay put. “Well come on!” Keating said popping his head inside. The boys all quickly followed, Todd making sure to stick close to Neil unsure if this was a usual occurrence at Welton. He knew the answer but needed an excuse to talk to Neil. Mr.Keating stopped in front of pictures of previous Welton graduates.

“They’re not that different than any of you,are they? Hope in their eyes, just like yours. They believe themselves destined for wonderful things, just like many of you.” Keatings said walking in front of the pictures. “If you listen very carefully you can hear their legacy. Come on boys listen.” Keating said, urging the boys to step closer.

“Carpe. Carpe Diem” Keatting said in a hoarse voice, Neil smiled at Todd by how odd this all was “Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”

---

Neil, Todd, Charlie, Meeks, Pitts and Cameron all walked together on their way to gym class “You think he’ll test us on that stuff?” Cameron asked furrowing his brows at how odd the class was.

“Come on Cameron,” Charlie laughed “don’t you get anything?”.

Cameron didn’t get anything, not anything that wasn’t spelled out for him in a neat 12 point font, not anything that couldn’t be referenced in a text. They made their way towards the outside to attend their gym class, Todd worried about the way he stood, the way he kicked, the way he stretched, the way he breathed. The class felt infinite but before he knew it he was standing in the showers, trying to wash away the embarrassment of missing the soccer ball when he tried scoring a goal.

“Are you coming?” Neil asked drying off his hair with a towel.

“Huh?” Todd asked, admiring how Neil looked. Todd wished he looked like that, he liked looking at Neil and decided it would be easier to stare at him if they had the same face.

“Study group?” Neil said.

“Thanks, but… I’d better do history.” Todd said, it was a lie he wanted to lie in bed and forget about how he didn’t know Latin and how he barely made the grades to get in here in the first place and he already felt himself drowning in homework.

“Okay, you can always change your mind.” Neil said smiling at him, hoping to see Todd there.

Todd only nodded, not knowing the way to reach the library even if he changed his mind. They got changed, talking about how Knox was due at the Danburrys but Todd was only looking down at the tie in his hand and shoving it in the pocket of his blazer. While they spoke of the Danburrys status and prestige, Neil tugged the tie over his head and wordlessly handed it to Todd and stuck out his palm face up for Todds hidden tie. Which Todd wordlessly complied to. He shared a room with Neil, he had classes with Neil, he spent almost every moment of his day with Neil but somehow this tie nudged him over the edge.

Knox sighed “They're probably old and boring, like my parents.” he said, rolling his eyes at the thought of having to be stuck listening to them talk for hours.

Charlie draped an arm around Knox’s shoulder “Cheer up Knox, anything is better than the food they give us here.” He said laughing.

“What if they give me chowder and,” Knox sighed, preferring Weltons mystery meat over conversations about the old days in the law firm “and what do old people eat?” he asked

“Prunes.” Meeks said with a smile, imagining Knox having to force himself to eat buckets of chowder and prunes.

“What if they give me prunes!” Knox cried out.

Pitts sighed looking at his friends “They’re old not on the way to kick the bucket.” he said.

“Talking about old prunes,” Charlie said, “Cameron asked if he could join the study group.”

“It’s not our fault he’s your roommate.” Knox sighed, grateful at least he won’t have to hear Cameron talk about all the extra curriculars Nolan gave him. This comment made Todd who was following closely behind Neil perk up at the sound of. At least for once, for now he wasn’t the least desirable person in the group.

Charlie huffed “It’s not mine either,” he said “So is he in?”

-----

Knox went back to his room to change for dinner, Todd went back to his room, and the rest of the boys went on to the library to study.

Todd laid his papers and books on his bed, it would’ve all been easier if done at his desk but he couldn’t manage the thought of opening up his drawer for a pen or even just setting his things down on the desk set.

He didn;t get much done, getting frustrated with himself for not knowing Latin and for not remembering when the declaration was signed. Instead Todd looked at their room and then out to the courtyard. It was large but unbearably small at the same time.

-----

“How was dinner?” Pitts asked as soon as he saw Knox making his way towards them.

Neil looked up from his notes to see his friend standing there, his blazer resting on his shoulder and a look of despair on his face “Dear god Knox, what did they tie you up and feed you prunes?” Neil asked.

“Worse.” Knox sighed, slumping down on the open chair.

“Worse?” Charlie said, laughing at the thought of what the old Danburry’s did to Knox.

“Terrible! I met the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life! And she’s practically engaged to that meathead Chet Danburry.” Knox said.

“Too bad,” Pitts said.

“Too bad! It’s a tragedy!” Knox wailed “Why does she have to be in love with a jerk?” He sighed looking at his friends desperately for a reason as to why an idiot like Chet Danburry would have an angel like Chris.

Pitts placed a reassuring hand on Knox shoulder “All the good ones are,” He said “You know what forget her. Take out your trig book and figure out problem 12.” Pitts said pushing his trig book closer to Knox.

“I can’t forget her, Pitts, and I can’t think about trig” Knox said, pushing the trig book away from him. ‘They’ve never been in love that wouldn’t understand’ Knox thought to himself. Which was true, outside of a few mumbling words to girls over summer break they didn’t have any experience with girls.

Meeks walked around Pitts to look at a problem open in front of Knox “You need to use tangent here.” Meeks said pointing at the problem.

“Do you really think I should forget her?” Knox said, pain written on his face at the thought of forgetting Chris, his Chris, future hims Chris.

“You’ve only spoken once to the girl,” Cameron said, gathering up his things “you’ll forget her by morning.” he assured Knox.

“I’d never forget an angel like Chris.” Knox said sighing, painting her face to memory scared of when the next time he would see her might be. The rest of the boys couldn’t help but imagine a Marilyn Monroe or a Brigitte Bardot, and even a Raquel Welch. Neil wondered how pretty a girl must be to have to have him all twisted around. Neil gathered his books in his arms and made his way back to his room.

“We missed you at study group.”Neil said once he saw Todd looking out the window, a forgotten textbook sitting beside him on his bed. Todd didn’t answer and only nodded “Penny for your thoughts?” Neil said, sitting on his own bed, waiting to hear about Todds day. Despite them sharing the exact same day he couldn’t wait to hear how Todd felt about today, how he liked the classes, if he thought Keatings was a little odd.

“Not even worth that much.” Todd laughed flipping through his history textbook trying to find the answer for the next question.

“Bet they’re worth a lot more than you think.” Neil said smiling, Todd looked up to see his face. Todd was surprised when Neil’s face held no mockery and for the first time in his life Todd Anderson felt seen.

#dead poet society #dps fanfiction #dps fic #dead poets society fanfic #todd anderson #todd anderson fanfic #neil perry #Neil Perry Fanfic #anderperry #anderperry fanfic #steven meeks #charlie dalton #gerard pitts #knox overstreet #richard cameron #john keating

36 notes · View notes

lcgacyofages · 4 years ago

Text

trends in tumblr rp that are stupid and need to stop

thin white font on dark backgrounds. Why does it need to stop? It can trigger migraines in people with vision issues and it’s just damn difficult to read. If you’re not sure how to use a dark background and appropriate font, my advice is to not use a dark bg.

Super small fonts. I’ve been near sighted all my life and people expect that to be readable to someone with good eyes? Especially if you do what I said not to do above? Please don’t do that. The best sized fonts are usually an 11 or 12 pt.

Hidden links. No one wants to spend more than a minute finding your links. I know you worked really hard on that theme with the stars or sparkles or random symbols that blends into the background but that shit? Needs to stop. It gets frustrating as hell. On that same vein, do people remember the poems you had to click through to get to the information? Just don’t do that either.

Remember your brand. People naturally associate images with names and vis versa. That’s why there’s so many brand images in media. Your icon, your header, your blog, are all your brand. And a rule with branding is to keep things uniform throughout. (If you want to do a simple color box, my suggestion is to put a simple clipart style graphic on it so you’re easily recognizable for people.)

The really shitty psds. They’re not trendy. They’re not edgy. They just look like someone figured out how to do a threshold and went overboard. They sometimes get to the point of overly harsh and lacking a clear message in the graphic.

Overly formatted replies. Now, Do I wish tumblr had proper indentation? Ofc, but when people go and do things where every other word is a different format, that causes the person reading it to have to take more time to process what’s going on in the post. And it can be frustrating for people who may have disabilities. I remember a trend that drove me crazy when I was studying Russian and that was people using Cyrillic letters as English ones. ( Я is a fucking ya, not an r.) Overly formatted text can have a similar confusing situation for some people as when rpers misused Cyrillic letters was for me.

Trends that are okay in tumblr rp and need to be developed and utilized

Reply banners. Okay, with how crappy tumblr is with it’s formatting of text posts, this actually helps break up the text between replies very well, better than the block quotes for some people. It shows “this is a stopping and starting point.” They also don’t require as much as an icon might, so it’s a win/win for people. My suggestion is to keep them short in height, though, and span the width of a text post.

Google Docs. Tumblr is not good about allowing pages to be shown in their app. (Which is the dumbest thing in my opinion. Why would you allow pages on the website but then not be able to access them on the app?? It’s counterproductive and they could have that accessibility but they choose not to for some unknown reason.) Having the google docs is an accessibility option for people who may not be able to gain access to a computer. But the forms need to be careful not to fall into the above mentioned pitfalls.

Pinned posts. A good thing tumblr actually did. Using the pinned posts is another way to make information accessible to mobile users. Pinning your rules and some information about your muses is a definite help for people who are mobile. (Maybe eventually tumblr will allow pages to be accessible in their app.)

#Not A Legend { OOC }#I have a lot of feelings about this stuff #I'm literally studying this stuff #this is only a fraction of my thoughts #But I have literally discussed some of these trends in classes #and my instructor has been shocked because THEY ARE BAD #and should not be done #there's a reason why there's accessibility standards #for web and graphic designers to follow #disclaimer: I'm still working on my blog's stuff #so I'm not 100% there myself but soon enough

79 notes · View notes

cheri-translates · 4 years ago

Text

[CN] Lucien’s Revelation Date (Eng Translation)

🍒Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for a date which has not been released in English servers!🍒

Note: I translated this because Lucien hasn’t been given much love on this blog 😂 I’ve actually been struggling to pin down his personality, much less like him as a character. This date seems to the most recent release on the CN server, so I thought it’d be helpful in the creation of future text post memes to properly sit down and understand his psyche.

I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did! I hope you will too. Without further ado, please enjoy this rare Lucien content!

A week ago, MC found out that when Lucien was still studying in the UK, he rented a small farmhouse in Hampshire which has a large manor adjacent to it. The lease expired, so Lucien needed to handle the cancellation matters in person. Given this opportunity to travel, MC happily tagged along.

At present, it is the second day that MC and Lucien are at the farmhouse. They have woken up especially early to make a sumptuous English-style breakfast.

When MC thinks that she is more or less done, Lucien comments that MC has missed the most important thing – milk tea. He takes out a small pot and pours two cups of water into it.

Lucien: Come, let me teach you how to make milk tea.

MC: Eh?

Both of Lucien’s hands encircle my waist from behind, wrapping me in his arms.

MC: … But I know how to make milk tea.

My small refutation is completely ignored. He lowers his head and plants his chin on my shoulder, leaning on me even more.

Lucien: The first step to making milk tea is to put the tea leaves in after the water has boiled.

After a while, bubbles start surfacing in the small pot. Lucien places a paper bag of black tea in my hands. He holds my hand and gently pours some leaves into the pot.

Lucien: Now, we need to wait patiently for a while.

As soon as the tea leaves make contact with the water, a light aroma permeates the air. I lean on Lucien while looking around the farmhouse with curiosity.

Even though Lucien hasn’t been here for a very long time, it appears that someone has been maintaining the place. The furniture is clean, and the flowers displayed at the windowsill are fresh.

MC: Lucien, when did you rent this place?

Lucien: After I graduated. I was doing some research back then and needed a place where I could concentrate on writing my thesis, so I rented to this place.

He explains that there a housekeeper has been tending to the home, which is why it is still in such a clean condition.

Considering the peaceful atmosphere and how leisurely they have been spending their time at the manor, Lucien jokes and says it’d be great if they could live such a life every day, and that early retirement doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

After breakfast, MC suggests that they spend the rest of their morning drinking tea and reading books in the attic. Lucien thinks it is a good idea, but says he needs to find something important first.

It turns out that “something important” is a time capsule – two envelopes that MC and Lucien had written a while back when they visited a bookstore. They were asked to randomly pick questions related to their emotions, answer them in a letter, and then leave it in the bookstore for safekeeping. They bring the envelopes to the attic.

MC: I remember the bookstore mentioning that we could collect our time capsules after 99 days, right?

Lucien: They did give me a call, but it happened during the time our relationship changed. I should have given them your contact details, but I was selfish. I requested that they send the letters to this address. It was to prevent me from opening your letter… and to give myself a chance. If there was ever a chance for us to return to this place, I would want to open my letter in front of you.

His voice is calm as he gives me a brief overview of what happened. After saying this, he smiles and takes a sip of hot tea. I smile gently while looking at him.

It is like having two people insist on going opposite directions, painstakingly treading through an arduous winding path, only to realise that the goal was always right there. So there’s nothing else they can do but look at each other, laugh in resignation, and quietly berate each other for being the silly one.

MC: … Back then, the reason why I insisted on us writing our letters was because I wanted to see your response too.

After all, being with him meant that I had to rationalise many little emotions I had. I had to assuage my own worries, and get used to sudden bouts of longing.

Lucien is the most difficult problem I have ever encountered. He perplexes my mind. I always end up eagerly hoping that he can give me an answer.

Seeing that I have become quiet, Lucien takes my hand in his, his low voice radiated by sunlight.

Lucien: I shall reveal the answer to you.

We open our envelopes at the same time.

I take out the question card that I had randomly picked, which had been folded several times as I was afraid Lucien would sneak a peek at it.

Written in fancy fonts on the exquisite card was the question: What did he/she teach you?

I arch my neck in curiosity, only to find that Lucien had gotten the exact same question.

He calmly takes out his letter, and on it is just three words. His penmanship reflects how the answer required little thinking.

MC: “Lack of freedom”…

After reading those three words aloud, Lucien laughs lightly.

Lucien: Why are you reading it in such a somber tone? When I was writing the answer, I didn’t mean it to be unhappy at all. Although after knowing you, I experienced being perplexed about things I had never been perplexed about in my life, for example…

He considers it solemnly, and I unconsciously stare at him, making sure to etch into my heart every sentence that comes out of his mouth.

He lets out a small sigh before laughing to himself.

Lucien: For example, what to have for lunch and dinner.

MC: Huh?

I am left stunned at his unexpected words.

Lucien: Another example would be how I can’t help but notice the flowers of Spring, the rain in Summer, the leaves in Autumn, and the snow in Winter. Another example would be how I feel perplexed when watching a good movie alone, and feeling a need to share interesting things I find with someone. The strangest thing is, even my private time is becoming less and less interesting.

During his slow-paced explanation, Lucien’s eyes carry with it a smile as he watches me and my expression as it morphs from puzzlement to amazement.

Lucien: Is my way of thinking strange?

MC: Well… In my eyes, you’re always…

I can’t seem to find suitable words to use. Rational? Strong?

MC: You look like… You wouldn’t have the same troubles as me.

Lucien captures the hesitation in my eyes, and asks seriously.

Lucien: “The same troubles”… What do you mean by that?

He uses a slow tone of voice mixed with a smile. Evidently, the real answer to this question is clear. I am about to make a joke, but sensing the anticipation in his eyes, I can’t help but tell him what is in my heart.

MC: It means no matter who you meet, what circumstances you face, where you go, you wouldn’t involuntarily think of a particular person. This kind of involuntary… lack of freedom.

Lucien: … [laughs lightly]

A leisurely smile hangs on Lucien’s lips, and he looks up at the roof. A soft white cloud is reflected in his eyes, melding with his violet, creating a sense of tranquility and brilliance.

Lucien: Yes, they are indeed the same troubles.

At this moment, I slowly reveal my own sheet of paper. Coincidentally, there are also only three words written on it.

Lucien: “Having no fears.”

After Lucien reads the three words aloud, I can’t help but laugh.

MC: Why are you using such a melancholic tone? Are you worried that I was feeling wronged when writing this answer?

Lucien doesn’t speak, but his slightly raised eyebrows reveal that this was indeed his initial thoughts towards my words.

MC: Far from it. Back then, I was thinking that no matter what we face in the future, I would be willing to face it.

I pause for two seconds, worried that I was speaking too gravely. I flash Lucien a silly grin.

MC: Well… Basically there’s nothing worth being frightened of, and I’ll be fine when faced with anything.

My relaxed tone causes Lucien’s eyebrows to crease. He avoids my inquisitive gaze and seems to be deep in thought. In the end, he responds with his usual smile.

Lucien: There is still some milk tea left, shall we bring it up?

My instincts tell me that his understanding of what I said was different from what I actually meant. I hurriedly reach out and stop him, wanting to make crystal clear what is in my heart.

Lucien: What’s wrong?

Lucien gently tucks a stray hair behind my ear and looks at me with his usual warmth.

Lucien: Is there anything else we should bring to the attic?

I hold onto his face and look directly into his eyes.

MC: When I say that I’m not afraid, I don’t simply mean not being afraid to open up to you. I mean that I’m not afraid of anything. I’m not afraid of the secrets you keep, and I’m not afraid of accepting the real you. I’m not afraid to stand with you to overcome setbacks and difficulties. And I’m not afraid of the responsibilities and costs that come with being together with you. It doesn’t matter what it is. Being able to meet you, being able to have this moment... It is enough for me.

I say all of this in one breath, and realise that my heart rate has accelerated quite a bit.

Actually, these words should have been said a long time ago. I should have told him everything that was on my mind once I was certain of my feelings…

Just like the answers that were hidden in the envelopes, my words were long overdue.

Lucien looks at me quietly, his eyes expressing shock - something I have never seen before.

A warm, bittersweet aroma wafts out of the cup, permeating the air.

After a moment of silence, he gently frowns.

Lucien: Am I a supervillain in your eyes? Why does being with me require you to summon so much courage to overcome challenges, to bear costs and consequences… Is being with me really that difficult?

He reveals a troubled expression.

Lucien: I even thought what you meant by not having fears was that you did not have the same fears as I do.

He pretends to be secretive, dragging the last few words of his sentence. I can only respond by playing along and probing further.

MC: “Not having the same fears”… What do you mean by that?

All of a sudden, Lucien pulls me into his arms, lowering his voice and speaking into my ear. His voice sounds like a cloud, gently spreading across my heart, shining like sunlight after rain.

Lucien: It means not being afraid of anything when you are with me.

#mlqc #mlqc lucien #love and producer #didn't expect his date to make me feel things #mlqc spoilers #mlqc cn

121 notes · View notes

xiaomoxu · 4 years ago

Text

MLQC CN Lucien (Xu Mo) Nostalgia Date

SPOILER AHEAD!!

PART 1

MC: Sweet and sour short ribs, black pepper beef tenderloin, boiled cabbage soup are also cooked, complete!

I checked the recipes in the phone while checking the dishes in the bento box.

Recently, Xu Mo's research institute was working on a new project, and he stayed in the research institute for several days and did not go home.

I studied several new dishes in my spare time, but I never had the opportunity to try it with him.

So I took advantage of the rest day to cook and made a bento. Of course, I was able to see him out of selfishness.

I happily took a few certified photos of Bento, and marked “Professor Xu’s Love Bento” on the photos in a beloved font.

When I was about to go out, I received a text message. When I opened it, I saw that Xu Mo had sent it to an unfamiliar address.

MC: ?

Was it the wrong message? I dialed Xu Mo's phone with doubts.

Xu Mo: Did you receive the address?

MC: Yes. Where is this?

Xu Mo: This is where I am now.

Xu Mo: I guess you will come to me for lunch.

MC: ?

MC: How did you know?

Xu Mo: Because...

Xu Mo: Black pepper beef tenderloin, sweet and sour short ribs, boiled cabbage heart.

MC: ...Xu Mo! Are you working on a mind reading project?

His light laughter came from the other side.

Xu Mo: This project sounds very interesting, but you seem to forget my research field is brain science.

Xu Mo: If you want to know the answer, you can open the photo album now.

When I hung up the phone, I opened the phone album in a busy time, and a buffering icon appeared in the middle of the screen.

After a few seconds, my album was automatically updated with a photo I had never seen before.

The photo shows an exclusive courtyard with wooden log door frames and a red brick wall. At the foot of the wall, a row of old-fashioned labor tools are displayed.

In the middle of the yard is parked a 28-brand bicycle, and the simple wind of the 1970s blows across.

Under the noon sunlight, a person's shadow was reflected on the wall. I almost recognized it at a glance. It was Xu Mo.

"Ding", the phone received another text message.

Xu Mo: Do you know the answer now?

PART 2

After Xu Mo's reminder, I finally realized that there was a problem with my mobile phone last week, and I needed to verify with another cloud account.

So I temporarily borrowed Xu Mo's account. After the account was restored, I forgot to log out.

In other words, during this period, our mobile phone uses the same cloud account, and the album is also in a shared state.

MC: Isn't it...

On the way to the exclusive courtyard with my lunch box, I asked myself for my carelessness in my heart, and repeatedly checked the "stock" in the album.

Xu Mo must have seen the recipe that I kept in the photo album, and the certified lunch photos taken before the release were not spared.

I sighed, tapped my brain a little, and suddenly reacted.

If our mobile phones have been shared for more than a week, does that mean that all the photos I took this week

I quickly sent a text message to Xu Mo.

MC: Xu Mo, have you seen any other photos in the album?

Xu Mo: For example?

MC: For example, something that impresses you...

Xu Mo: Are you saying that the subject is my photo?

My fingers flicked subconsciously, and Xu Mo's new reply popped up on the screen.

Xu Mo: I forgot to say that next time you can take the photo openly, so that I can take more poses with you.

really!!

I usually secretly took photos of him reading books and doing experiments, and he saw them all!

This crafty man!

When I arrived at the alley where the small courtyard was located, I saw Xu Mo standing at the door of the courtyard waiting for me from a distance. I quickly waved to him.

MC: Xu Mo, is this research difficult? Did you not eat well again?

Xu Mo took the bento in my hand and looked at me with a concerned look, and his narrow eyes were bent.

Xu Mo: It won't be difficult.

Xu Mo: As for whether to eat well...

Xu Mo: If the standard is this bento, then I really can't claim to have a good meal.

He took my hand and led me through the door.

When I stood in the courtyard, the sense of precipitation of the years became stronger.

MC: By the way, Xu Mo, why are you in this place? Is it related to research?

Xu Mo: Well, this research project will be clinical trial here.

MC: This is actually a new research base?

Xu Mo: To be precise, it is a temporary research base.

MC: What about the others in the institute?

Xu Mo: The study will officially start tomorrow, and today we will give them a day off.

MC: It turned out to be so, but how could the research base be chosen in such a yard with a sense of age?

Xu Mo did not answer. He took me to sit down at the square table in the courtyard.

Xu Mo: Based on my understanding of you, after I answer your question, your curiosity will raise more questions.

Xu Mo: So before this heart-filled bento cools down, let's eat first.

Xu Mo: After this, I will show you a good tour.

PART 3

After supervising Xu Mo ate the lunch, he took my hand and walked into the second floor of the courtyard.

The style of the building is consistent with that of the courtyard, and it is even more difficult to tell what era I am in now.

The green leather wall is painted with "work hard" with four big red characters, and the dark gray fur has a light cement smell.

The three classic furniture pieces restore the old texture and the rest of the daily necessities also exude a strong sense of age.

Xu Mo: how do you feel?

MC: Although I haven't experienced that era, it seems to have really gone back to the past.

Xu Mo: The research institute spent a lot of time restoring this place to what it looked like in the 70s.

MC: What you said is even more curious to me. What kind of research is it that you need to construct a venue like this?

Xu Mo: It is a study on the healthy brain of the elderly. For the elderly who suffer from Alzheimer's disease, or who have hidden risks of the disease, perform clinical observations.

MC: I heard that there is no effective medicine and treatment for this disease, is it true?

Xu Mo: Well, Alzheimer's disease can be said to be a serious challenge facing modern brain science research.

Xu Mo: Even this research can only focus on early intervention before the disease, while observing the quantity and quality of brain cells.

MC: So why do you want to restore this place to the 70s?

Xu Mo: If the brain of the elderly is often stagnant, the brain will easily degenerate.

Xu Mo: Recalling the deep things in your own impression can stimulate the vitality of your brain.

Xu Mo: The most impressive experiences of the elderly who will be staying here are concentrated in the 70s, which is the most meaningful time in their lives.

Xu Mo: It is the basis of this research project to stimulate their brains in a familiar environment.

MC: Use memories to wake up the brain and prevent them from getting sick... That's it.

MC: It would be great if more people could know this method.

I looked around and suddenly a flash of inspiration.

MC: Xu Mo! Can I use the lens to record this research?

MC: This can attract more resources to invest in.

Xu Mo didn't speak, and there was a little smile in his eyes when he looked at me.

Realizing that my request was a bit abrupt, I quickly changed the subject.

MC: It doesn't matter if it can't, after all, it involves the confidentiality of research.

MC: But our memories can be recorded with the lens. In this way, when we are old, we have more memory material.

He is still silent, but the smile on his face is deeper,

MC: What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?

Xu Mo: No. If you want to shoot, I can ask the patient's family for their opinions.

Xu Mo: I think they will agree, because what you want to do is also very meaningful.

MC: I thought you would think that my ideas are too bad.

Xu Mo: I'm just happy.

Xu Mo: It turns out that you have planned so far for our future.

After visiting the entire two-story building, Xu Mo took me to the backyard again. In the middle of the backyard was a dense wisteria frame.

There was a breeze in the early autumn afternoon, and the sun overhead was also swept away most of the hot temperature.

The backyard shrouded by wisteria is concealed in a shade of shady vines swaying leisurely in the air, making it particularly cozy.

Obviously this is my first time here, but I inexplicably feel a sense of familiarity (deja vu)

Xu Mo: What are you thinking?

MC: ....It’s weird to say it, but for a moment I felt that this scene seemed familiar.

Xu Mo followed my line of sight and looked at the piece of Wisteria.

Xu Mo: On the scientific level, you have a visual experience.

Xu Mo: But I have a more romantic explanation here--maybe our soul ran out in a dream, and then we met in a yard in the 70s.

He turned his head to look at me, a deep pool of water hidden in his dark eyes.

Xu Mo: Maybe they were there and spent a peaceful life.

His tone was calm and determined, and his words fell in my heart.

MC: Xu, Xu Mo, you lied to me seriously again...

Xu Mo didn't seem to care about my dismantling, there was still light in his eyes.

Xu Mo: If you doesn't believe it, would you like to try it?

MC: try what?

Xu Mo: Had a peaceful dream in the yard of the 70s.

MC: Like our souls, spend a lifetime in a dream?

As expected, I subconsciously believed Xu Mo's words, but the instigator smiled and nodded.

Xu Mo: "Life" is a subjective term. How long a life is is up to you to feel and decide.

Xu Mo: So as long as you want, we can spend our "life" here.

Perhaps I was moved by Xu Mo's romantic theory, or because I hadn't seen him for a long time, I eagerly agreed with this proposal.

MC: Now that you are going to live a slow life in the 70s, let's be more involved!

I took out the headphones and mobile phone and placed them on the stone table in the backyard.

MC: Ask Professor Xu to confiscate these modern contraband.

Xu Mo nodded clearly, and took out the phone as I did.

Xu Mo: It seems we have to find something to seal them in the "future".

He said that he found a wooden box and put all our electronic products in it. Then turned around and reached out to me.

Xu Mo: Welcome to the seventies, little girl.

PART 4

After autumn, the weak and feeble sunlight shone into the window crookedly, like a silhouette painting for us.

And we don't have the mind to appreciate it carefully, we are devoted to the time being slowed down.

Xu Mo seemed to be prepared, and the activities proposed were endless.

He taught me how to light a kerosene lamp and took me to try an old-fashioned sewing machine.

We played the fans leisurely together and listened to the squeaking and squeaking of Suzhou Pingtan on the radio.

Time seems to have really slowed down for us, obviously we have done a lot of things, but the sun outside the window is still mild and bright

After listening to a pingtan, I eagerly looked at Xu Mo

MC: Xu Mo, what shall we do next?

Xu Mo: Is there anything you want to do?

MC: May I decide?

Xu Mo: Yep.I also want to know what you think of a slow life.

MC: um, I...Can't think of it for a while.

Xu Mo: It’s okay, just let it go. Rather than using your brain to think about what to do, it’s better to leave your feelings to your heart.

Xu Mo: The deliberate content does not necessarily conform to the meaning of slow life, the current feeling is the most important.

MC: Then sit on a recliner to enjoy the sun? But is it too plain?

Xu Mo: I think this is a good idea.

After getting Xu Mo's affirmative answer, I also fantasize about me and Xu Mo persevered in the sun together.

But soon my illusion was disillusioned, because we searched the entire yard and found that there was only one recliner.

Xu Mo and I stood under the wisteria frame in the backyard, looking at the narrow lounge chair in front of us.

MC: So... why don't you lie down for a while? Let's take a turns?

The moment I blurted it out, I felt like I had said something silly. I blushed and was about to fight for myself, but he reached out and pulled me into his arms.

Before I knew what he was going to do, Xu Mo grabbed my back waist and gently closed it, and the warm breath of each other instantly intertwined.

Before I could speak with his deep eyes, the center of gravity suddenly fell into a soft embrace.

My gaze moved down slightly, and I found that we were sitting on the recliner at this time, and my legs encircled his body without knowing when.

The large motion shook the recliner, and he shook it slightly. I couldn't find the center of gravity for a while, and subconsciously hooked Xu Mo's neck.

MC: Xu... Xu Mo?!

I struggled to stand up, but Xu Mo released the hands that were fixed to my waist, and I had to tighten the hands around his neck.

There was a warm breath between the bodies close to each other, and the scorching sensation reminded me of the hydrogen above the asphalt road in summer.

Xu Mo: It's boring to be alone in the sun, I think two people will be better.

MC: There is nothing boring in the sun...

Fearing that it would make him uncomfortable, I held on to myself, not to let myself collapse on him.

Xu Mo: You can relax a little. This chair is enough to carry the weight of the two of us.

MC: I, I am very relaxed.

Xu Mo: Is it...

I heard his low and dull noise in my ears, and I hung my head even more flushed.

He stretched out his hand, pressed the knuckles of his right hand against my chin and gently lifted it up,

The next second, a soft and light kiss fell on my lips

I instinctively closed my eyes, and in the sweet silence, I could only hear the buzzing tinnitus in my head.

Although it was only a soft kiss like a dragonfly, time seemed to slow down for this kiss. When we were separated again, it seemed that we had really spent a lifetime.

Xu Mo: I can be sure that you are really relaxed now.

When I blushed and didn't know how to react, Xu Mo's cell phone rang in the wooden box.

As if I had caught a life-saving straw, a carp stood up and rushed into the room, and his laughter came from behind.

MC: Answer the phone quickly! I'll go to the bathroom!

Xu Mo: I know, I'll go back soon.

When I came out of the bathroom, Xu Mo's call was just ended. He saw me coming and waved his mobile phone apologetically at me.

Xu Mo: Sorry. There was a problem with the preparation of the institute, and I needed to return to the institute to discuss it together.

MC: It's okay, you have been with me all afternoon. I'm already very satisfied.

After returning everything in the yard to its original position, I reluctantly took Xu Mo's arm and prepared to leave with him from here.

After spending a day with Xu Mo in the exclusive courtyard, I even felt a little bit reluctant for this place.

Perhaps after seeing through my mood, Xu Mo stopped walking.

Xu Mo: Maybe we can slow down our departure.

Following his gaze, my gaze fell on the 28 bicycle in the middle of the yard.

MC: You mean, can we ride this?

Xu is: It doesn't matter, I can find someone to send it back tomorrow.

Xu Mo stepped forward and patted the horizontal bar in front of the bicycle.

Xu Mo: But this time I still have to feel wronged by you sitting here

I couldn't help but think of our experience of cycling in Canada. At that time, I was anxious to ride the bike firmly, but my hands and feet were frizzy.

Xu Mo: Want to revisit it?

Xu Mo supported the handlebars and the body, his slender and powerful arms supported the bicycle steadily.

I nodded, holding his arm firmly into the "seat"

MC: I won't be as anxious today as I was that time.

After confirming that I was sitting firmly, Xu Mo also stepped on it. He held up his hand and wrapped me in his arms, and there was a reassuring warmth from my back.

MC: Because... I hope this road can be longer.

The white crescent moon took over the setting sun early, and the sunset was like peach-flavored soft candy.

In a busy city, Xu Mo and I were riding a two-eight bicycle that was out of place. The diagonal red stretched our shadows very long.

Accompanied by the two shadows, they swayed towards the next tomorrow.

#mlqc translation #mlqc xu mo #mlqc lucien #mlqc spoilers #cn server #nostalgia date #Lucien #xu mo

39 notes · View notes

bybdolan · 4 years ago

Text

EDIT EXPLANATION - FOLKLORE SONGS AS BOOKS 1

1. the last great american dynasty

The main inspiration for this cover were movie posters from the 40s, specifically the lettering of this one and this one. I just wanted it to feel bold and bright and fun, while evoking a very specific time period. Though it wasn’t necessarily intentional, I love how it seems like Rebekah is reaching for something. It makes the whole design more dynamic.

2. illicit affairs I created this one on a whim and was immediately staisfied with my first design. I wanted to keep it simple and romantic but with a punch. It looks so sweet and sophisticated at first, the bubbly font, the soft pink, but then you read the tagline and it hits you that it’s all just a facade; that the romance is a lie. I also wanted to keep Taylor’s name very small, to highlight that she has to be hidden, that she is a secret.

3. my tears ricochet Concept-wise, this is my favorite cover of this set. I interpret my tears ricochet as a song about celebrity culture (even though I know Taylor likely didn’t intend the song to be about that) and wanted to create a cover based on that theme. I’ve always found the term “celebrity worship” super interesting and evocative, so I chose to combine religious imagery with images of celebrities. Originally, I wanted to make the collage more detailed, featuring more celebrities (I had Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson on the list), but when I added the pictures of Kurt Cobain and Marilyn, it all just kind of fell into place. I feel like Kurt and Marilyn are also some of the most obviously “tragic stars” out there, in that people tend to think about the bad aspects of their lives before thinking about their work as artists. The gradient effect was just me playing around - I was inspired by the bold two-toned concert posters of the 60s and ended up with the red/purple combo because I liked how “violent” it felt. There is also a bit of an X-Ray vibe going on, which I love considering it can be linked to how we try to peek into famous peoples’ lives.

4. seven Oh look, it’s baby me! Inspired by this truly stunning edit, I looked through my own private childhood photgraphs to see if I could find something that matched the vibe of seven and - lo’ and behold - I got lucky. I love the tension in the picture and tried to further highlight that tension by turning the image sideways and using a rather aggressive chalk brush for the text. seven at it’s core is a song about love and innocence and not understanding the bad stuff in the world yet, and I feel like this picture evokes that. There is a bit of a “red riding hood meets the big bad wolf” vibe going on; I love the childlike curiosity mixed with a bit of underlying violence. Something about the red ball in the dog’s mouth and the fact that you can only see his muzzle makes him look dangerous (even though the dog pictured was a gentle giant in real life), and that sliver of fear that he might drop the ball and attack the child sells the cover to me. (The dog is meant as a symbol for the dad of Taylor’s friend in the song.)

5. mad woman Originally planned as a book about female rage in art, this cover also thrives off of the artwork used. I stumbled upon Matt Cunningham’s collage art while reasearching images that encapsulated the idea of the mad woman, and I was immediately hooked on his work. The 50s advertisement painting style juxtaposed with the animal face perfectly visualizes how women are forced to keep their emotions locked away, and it also visualizes how the calm vibe of the song is contrasting with the insanely bold, truly MAD lyrics. I tried to keep the 50s theme going with the simple font, but hand-scribbled the “A Novel” to ~spice things up~ a bit. Is it lipstick? Is it blood? Who knows.

#edit explanation #graphic design #rambliiings

28 notes · View notes

itsafanficthing · 5 years ago

Text

Lights Up

Oh how life changes when you look at it from a different perspective.

My arm was twisted and I wrote another part of “When the Light Fades”. You can read Lights Up by itself, or in paring with “When the Light Fades”.

A03 Link is here

(also @notevenjokingfic is the greatest and we should all appreciate her all the time)

Shame. She was ashamed and embarrassed. Why did she say anything? She’d ruined them. She should have just kept her mouth shut and now she had lost it all.

But how could he not see? How could he not see the way that she looked at him? She thought it was so obvious and she was so tired of carrying around her love for him. He told her that she had a glass face, so how could he have missed this?

She hadn’t thought about it, she had just gone to him, barely remembered to grab her jacket and before she knew it she was standing in front of him. What a mistake that had been.

How could he not know?

She had to tell him. It was nearly Christmas, and maybe she had watched too many terrible Netflix specials about Christmas, but it seemed like tonight was the night for a Christmas miracle. It always worked out in Christmas movies when the protagonist suddenly realised that they had what they wanted all along- so why shouldn’t it work out for her? She would tell him tonight and that would be that.

Provisions. She would take provisions. It would just be a casual hang out together and then she would tell him. She didn’t know how he would react, but she was going to tell him. It was her cancelled date that sealed the deal. Fate- some would call it. Her date canceled on her, and she didn’t really mind all that much. It had to be done, she had to tell him- she couldn’t keep living with this stupid secret.

“I bought pizza, I bought beer, I have ice-cream, biscuits, wine and I have a terrible Christmas movie that we should watch.” Claire stood in front of Jamie with her arms full of bags with her provisions. She smiled at him and loved the smile that she received in return.

“Seems ye’ve thought of everything then, haven’t ye?” Jamie stepped to the side and Claire passed him in a rush. He smelled like a bonfire, smokey, dark and subtle. It was an effort not to inhale him as she passed.

“I am nothing, if not prepared.” She made her way to his kitchen without asking. They were beyond that now. Friends for so long, if she really told him how she felt it might ruin everything. Maybe there wasn’t Christmas magic in the air. Maybe she shouldn’t say anything.

“I thought that ye had a date tonight?”

She noted that Jamie was scratching the back of his neck which he only did when he was nervous. Was he expecting someone else to come over? Maybe she should have called. He did say that he was going on a date last night- Christ what if she was still there and Claire had crashed their date.

“He canceled,” She answered stiffly. She didn’t want to think about Jamie on another date when her own had cancelled on her, especially when she was going to tell him how she felt tonight. She didn’t want him to think that she was only saying it because hers had canceled.

“His loss,” Jamie grunted and she felt herself blush slightly. She couldn’t help it. Jamie brought something out in her that she loved about herself. He made her better and he didn’t even know it.

She opened a beer and handed it to him. “Exactly. I’m a catch.”

Jamie shuffled on the couch as they watched the movie, occasionally his leg would brush up against her own and at one point his arm had slung across the back of the couch. If he shifted it any closer, she would probably be cuddled into him. She didn’t think she could hold back the confession if he did that.

Jamie audibly scoffed at a scene in the movie and Claire snorted with laughter.

“Will you shut up and watch the movie?” She chastised him. She didn’t mean it. This was part of the fun of watching terrible movies with Jamie- the way that he would pick them apart and leave Claire gasping for breath with laughter.

“I’m sorry, but she’s meant to be a journalist. She types in “Christmas Surprise” and only one result comes up, and she says it’s a dead lead. She’s a shite journalist. Look what happens if I google it.” Claire rolled her eyes at him as Jamie pulled out his phone to prove his point. The movement sat him up higher on the couch and away from Claire. No chance of his arms going around her now. She was disappointed.

“See, I’ve got five videos of someone giving a christmas gift. I’ve got a news article about a pensioner brought to tears because of some gift, wait there’s one- two- three- four stories about that. I’ve got book results for bairns, and a… a fuckin’ article about Kim Jong Un’s Ugly Christmas Surprise: A Return to Threats of War. Shite. I should read that later.”

Jamie’s forehead wrinkled as he looked at the news article and Claire scoffed with laughter.

“She looked up one result and it gave her a sentence in response and she says that lead is cold,” Jamie huffed. He sounded so put out by such a simple part of the movie that Claire couldn’t help grinning at him. There was so much to love about Jamie and this was definitely high on her list.

“Yes, because that’s the most unbelievable part of this movie. Not the fact that she’s carrying around a three foot wooden carving of an angel that is supposed to help you to fall in love. No. Googling one result- that’s the flaw in this movie,” Claire said sarcastically, baiting him to continue with his outrage. True to her prediction Jamie continued.

“Also, why is the text on her computer size 42 point. What person aside from 90year olds have their font at 42point?” Jamie sounded aghast. He was her best friend, she loved him deeply.

“So your major concerns for this movie are centered around the computer?” Claire looked over at him and saw that he was frowning at the television.

“She’s a journalist. It’s meant to be a plot point for her and she’s using the computer like it’s the first time she’s ever seen one.”

Claire laughed loudly and she saw Jamie smile at her. The smile he gave when he knew that he had said something funny and it had really got to her. He had a few different types of smiles. A cheeky grin when he was trying to entice her into doing something she didn’t want to do (and inevitably ended up doing). One when he was sad, but he didn’t want her to know it, it didn’t quite reach his eyes and the corners of his mouth dipped slightly. One (like the one he did just now) when he knew that he had really made her laugh and he was satisfied with her entertainment. A smile when he saw his sister and brother-in-law, pure joy at seeing the people closest to him. Claire had only seen him look at her a few times with that smile, specifically when they were around his family and she wasn’t really sure if the smile was actually for her, or for the fact that he was surrounded by people that loved him- Claire included- and much more than he knew.

“There she goes again. Better increase that font size sweetheart, ye almost have one full word per line.” Jamie tried to get Claire to laugh again and she shook her head as she picked up her half full glass of wine.

“Shut up and enjoy it.”

“I’m not sayin’ that I am’na enjoyin’ it. I’m just sayin’ it’s ridiculous,” Jamie mumbled as he threw his phone back onto the coffee table in front of them.

“That’s the point of Christmas movies. They are supposed to be terrible and predictable, and the girl finds the prince, there’s an old man that just appears everywhere, and he’s Santa and there’s a misunderstanding and everybody’s heart is broken. But wait, what’s that? A letter in a hidden desk- everything is saved!” Claire loved Christmas movies. They were always just so terrible, so predictable, but everyone was always happy in the end. Everything always worked out and if her life could be like a Christmas movie for just one night- tonight specifically, when she told him how she felt about him, all would be well in the world.

The movie showed the woman looking around her desk, finding a hidden stack of letters and calling out to the male lead and Jamie burst out laughing.

“Have ye seen this one before?”

“No!” Claire answered in surprise, she hadn’t actually been paying attention to the movie and noticed that the woman was now holding a stack of letters. “I’m just very good at Christmas movies.”

“They’re unbelievable,” Jamie shook his head. “Imagine if I just showed up at a cabin unannounced, when ye hadn’t even given me an address. Ye’d have me arrested.”

Jamie didn’t hate Christmas movies, but he didn’t understand the hopefulness that Claire found in them. Still, if Jamie did turn up at a cabin in the woods to confess his love for Claire, she thought that she would probably be alright with it.

“I know you. That’s not that surprising. I think I’d let it pass.”

“Aye, but if we’d only been datin’ for a week and then I turn up.” Jamie scoffed the words as if it was the most unbelievable notion he’d ever heard. Him and Claire dating - ridiculous.

Dating. They had never dated. They never would date. Claire’s Christmas miracle movie idea of confessing her feelings for him came crashing down around her. She was an idiot to think that it would be a good idea to say something to him. The idea of them together was clearly ludicrous and she was stupid for thinking that they could ever be anything more.

“We aren’t dating.” Claire said stiffly, more to herself than to him. They weren’t dating. They never would. She sat up slightly on the couch, moving away from him to pick up her wine and throw it back as quickly as she could. As soon as the movie would finish, she would smile at him, she would pack up her things and she would go. She was an idiot to think that they could ever be anything more than friends.

Days passed and Claire tried to go on another date. Tom. He was nice enough, he made her smile but important things were missing between them. She knew what he did (Science Teacher), knew about his family (Father, Brother, Sister), knew what he did on the weekends (lesson planning, visiting his Brother, exercise) and she didn’t quite understand his sense of humour (he laughed at things that were mildly amusing, nothing hilarious and he hardly understood any of her terrible dad jokes and puns). There was no spark there. Nothing that made her want to come back to him. They hadn’t kissed. There was no chemistry to even warrant trying. She hadn’t kissed many of her dates. She was waiting. Waiting for someone to spark her interest enough to want to kiss them. No one had done that since she was 17 and he also happened to be her best friend. Not ideal.

Jamie was free to see other women. Of course he was. Why shouldn’t he? She didn’t have rights over him. But the more that he told her about the dates that he went on, the less she wanted to hear about them. She didn’t want to hear about the girl that had gotten completely plastered and thrown herself at Jamie, begging him to take her home. She didn’t want to hear about the girl who’s cleavage nearly knocked Jamie over when she turned to ask him a question. Nor about the girl that he was seeing again because she seemed nice enough and Claire would like her because she reminded him of her.

She had been so close to telling him how she felt. She was actually surprised that he hadn’t said anything before about how obvious it was. Jenny certainly liked to point it out often enough, though Jamie just laughed it off. They hadn’t even made that pact- the one where if they were both still single at 40, they would marry each other, just for the company. They were beyond that though, and they probably would spend their lives together- just not how Claire would have liked. They would be platonic friends and Claire would go to the grave with her secret. She was desperately in love with her best friend.

She knew that Jamie was on a date. She didn’t want to see him. Claire wanted to wallow in misery and the best place to do that was McWilliam’s. She and Jamie had more than a few drunken nights there, the live music was always good and the drinks flowing. Jamie had described this newest date as “quiet” so she was sure that a busy pub would be the last place that they would be. Of course, McWilliam’s didn’t really start getting good until much later in the evening and the Irish Pub around the corner, O’Malley’s, had cheap enough drinks to sustain her until she could go where she really wanted.

Claire sat in a back corner early in the afternoon nursing a glass of red wine. One glass turned into two, two turned into three and three turned into a pint of beer, a vodka soda, a gin and tonic, and a shot of tequila for good measure. Claire knew that she was beyond a little bit tipsy, had been in the pub for far too long and if she wanted to even have one drink at McWilliam’s she would need to leave now. Checking her watch, she almost sent Jamie a message asking him to meet her for a drink before she remembered that he was on his date. Nadine… Mavis… no, M… something starting with M. Claire didn’t care. Whoever she was, she hoped that it didn’t last. The last thing Claire wanted to do was meet the girl.

The walk to McWilliam’s was short and the crisp evening air helped her to clear her fuzzy head, at least a little bit. She could hear the thump of music reverberating against the windows of the pub and she felt herself relax a little bit. The self pity dissipated for a moment. This was a happy place for her, and she could have a few quiet drinks before she went back to her flat and tried not to drunk text her feelings to Jamie.

Her sense of calm and peace was shattered approximately 6.8 seconds after walking through the door of the pub. A frigid breeze swung the door open as she entered and she gasped a little as the biting chill worked its way under her scarf. She turned to close the door behind her, the singer strumming lazily on a guitar while he sang Johnny Cash’s cover of a Nine Inch Nails Song - Hurt. Ironic, that he should be singing a song like that when she saw them.

Claire would be able to pick Jamie out from a line up in a Jamie look alike contest. She knew him well, knew his posture, knew how he brushed his hair, had helped him choose almost every outfit in his wardrobe and she would have picked him out in McWilliam’s from a mile away.

(I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain. The only thing that’s real.)

Shit. He was on his date. His date was leaning closer to something that Jamie was saying before smiling and nodding. Claire took a step closer. Like a car crash- she couldn’t look away, except she was the car crash, she was the injured, she was the dying, she was the one who’s heart was going to stop beating. Jamie looked hesitant. Claire was only two tables away from them. She could call out to them, grab his attention, stop this from happening, but as it was as if in slow motion she felt her walls come crashing down around her.

(What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know, goes away in the end.)

She had never seen Jamie kiss someone before. Occasionally on the cheek in greeting, she’d seen him have his arm around his latest girlfriend but he always kept the PDA to a minimum around Claire. For a moment, when Jamie’s lips found his dates, Claire was shocked out of her body as she imagined that it was her sitting next to Jamie, it was her chin that he was tilting towards him, it was her lips that met his and then she blinked and she was exactly where she had been standing, staring at a couple who were blatantly making out in front of her.

(And you can have it all, my empire of dirt, I will let you down, I will make you hurt.)

Snip, crack, shatter, crush. The newest version of rice bubbles was Claire’s heart. Broken she turned quickly and left the way that she had come, turning at the last moment she saw Jamie’s date picking up her bag and her coat. Shit they were going back to one of their places and Claire had witnessed the kiss that had set it off.

Frozen tears stung her eyes as the early December chill shocked her system back out on the street. Hailing a taxi she simply asked him to drive. She gave him directions to her house, but at the last minute changed her mind and set a course to Jamie’s apartment.

Call it drunken decisions, call it a jealousy fuelled rage- she was going to tell him how she felt and damn it- he was going to listen.

Somewhere between paying the outrageously expensive cab fare and standing in front of Jamie’s front door- Claire had lost her nerve. She was shuffling from foot to foot, trying to calm her racing heart. She needed to tell him, she needed to get this off her chest, because it was crushing her and it would start suffocating their friendship soon. She’d shed a few tears in the taxi and tried to discreetly dry her eyes on her coat. She probably looked a mess and she saw the cab driver look her over twice when she finally stepped out of the car.

This was it, it was now or never. He might not even be home. He might be at Matilda’s…. Whatever her name was.

Claire knocked.

It took longer than usual for Jamie to come to the front door and Claire had a terrible sick feeling at the thought of Jamie needing to find pants to answer the door. She heard his heavy footsteps coming down the hallway and she tried to steady herself.

“Claire? What’s wrong? Are ye alright?” Jamie looked genuinely surprised to see her (she couldn’t blame him, she had shown up unannounced) and he was thankfully, still fully dressed.

Claire didn’t wait for an invitation, marching into his apartment, past him and waving away his questions with a brief “I’m fine, fine,”. He smelled like mossy, deep green forest and Claire almost closed her eyes at the comfort and familiarity of the smell.

She didn’t bother taking off her jacket- this would only take a minute, she just needed to get the words out. Claire’s eyes focused on the single glass of whisky on the coffee table. No second glass? Was Muriel here?

“Would ye like to take a seat?” Jamie asked. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked somewhat alarmed.

Claire probably looked a mess, the wind had done a number on her curly hair and she could feel her hair-tie holding together for dear life.

“Is there anyone else here?” She asked, ignoring his question, still focused on the single glass. She was too agitated and she started to pace. Not the cool, calm and collected appearance she wanted to exude, but here she was.

“Just me,” Jamie paused and she could feel him studying her. “What’s going on?”

Her eyes darted quickly to his and he took a step closer to her and she took an involuntary, stumbling step away from him. This would be easier if there was a bit of space between them.

“Are ye alright?”

“I’m fine. I told you. Fine.” Claire mumbled the words as she tried to sort out what she wanted to say, how she was supposed to say this. “I saw you tonight, at the bar, with your date.”

“Aye.” A short sharp grunt from Jamie. He didn’t sound mad, but the date wasn’t here. What had happened between them?

“How did it go?” She tried to sound casual, as if this was a completely normal thing that she did all the time. Dropping by unannounced and telling your best friend that you saw them on a date, oh, and coincidentally, that you were also in love with them.

“Fine.”

Fine? Fine? That wasn’t an answer. She saw them kissing for goodness sake. More than kissing… that was… they were… someone might have been getting lucky with a kiss like that.

“Fine was it? Fine when you were snogging her? Was that fine?” Claire’s voice broke at the end and she coughed to try and cover it. Her emotions were already running high and Jamie’s answer of “fine” was simply not good enough.

“I suppose so,” Jamie shrugged and Claire wanted to hit him for how casual the gesture was. “Claire, I dinna ken what is goin’ on.”

Claire was speechless. Was he truly so clueless about how she felt about him? Was he so unaware of the effect he had on women, that he could kiss someone like that and then when asked about it, just say it was “fine.”

“I just… how can you… we’ve been friends for so long…”

“Aye, we have… ye are’na makin’ any sense. Ye ken we both go on dates…” Jamie sounded perplexed and Claire was sure that if Jenny was there she would have whipped him with a tea-towel by now.

Of course they both went on dates, but it was entirely different seeing the man you love snog another woman in front of you. How could he not see that?

“I know, yes, you do, I mean we do. We have. But I’ve never seen you on a date before. I haven’t seen you kiss any of your other dates before,” Claire blurted the words out before she could stop them. Whatever filter she usually had around him, seemed to have crumbled with the word “fine”.

“Aye, that generally happens when ye go on a date… ye kiss.”

“It just surprised me, is all. I didn’t realise that you were that serious.” Claire tried to regain some of her control. It wasn’t working.

“It’s not,” Jamie answered bluntly and Claire felt her temper start to flare up.

“But you kissed her,” Claire argued. How could it not be serious when a kiss went like that?

“Aye, I’m sure ye’ve kissed yer dates.”

Claire shook her head- she couldn’t look at him. How…how could he be so unaware? How could he not know that Claire had only loved him and that the people that she had kissed, paled in comparison to what she felt for Jamie? “I’ve been waiting.”

“Waiting?” Jamie repeated stupidly. “Waiting for what?”

“You don’t know?” Claire looked up at him and half mumbled the words. Of course he didn’t know. If he did, he would have said something by now. There were no secrets between them, except this, of course.

“I don’t know, what?”

“I should go.” She was stupid to have come here and think that she had the bravery to tell him how she felt and she was stupider to think that maybe, there might be some small part of him that felt the same way. She ducked her head and tried to leave.

“Wait, what?” Jamie turned quickly as Claire tried to pass him. “Claire, I dinna understand anything that is going on right now.”

She was going to cry. She knew it. She hated crying. Did anyone really enjoy it? “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have come here, I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t…”

“Please, tell me what’s going on.” Jamie’s voice was soft and gentle and Claire paused for a moment. Perhaps there was something there. Perhaps he was just waiting for her to say it. Claire took a deep, shuddering breath.

“How can you not see it?”

“See what?”

“I love you, Jamie.” She could barely say the words above a whisper, as if saying them too loud would make them less true.

“I love ye too, Claire. Ye ken that,” Jamie said as an automatic response. She should have expected that. They had told each other that they loved each other before, but it was always “you’re my best friend, I love you, I don’t know what I would do without you.” It was never this.

“No, Jamie.” Claire took a deep breath and looked up at him. It was now or never. “I… I love you. I always have and you just… you don’t see me like that. It kills me. I want to see you happy and if dating other people makes you happy then I should be alright with it. But I’m not.” Claire’s eyes darted away from his and back. The blue of his eyes seemed to shrink as his pupils expanded in surprise. “I want you to be happy, but I want you to be happy with me.”

Jamie’s mouth opened and closed a few times at the confession. He looked like a fish and Claire briefly fought off the grin that threatened to come to her face at the sight. But then he didn’t say anything…. And he still didn’t say anything and anything that could have been funny about the situation dissolved very quickly.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it, I should go.” Claire turned quickly to leave. She shouldn’t have come. She shouldn’t have said anything. He clearly had no idea and he clearly didn’t feel the same for her. Now she had ruined their friendship as well. Perfect.

“No, wait, don’t go.” Jamie finally said something and Claire paused with her hand on the door knob. She was trembling and she flexed her hand, trying to stop the shaking, though it was vibrating from her core.

“I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m surprised.”

Claire sighed heavily and shook her head. “I wasn’t expecting you to suddenly confess these deep down, unrequited feelings for me, Jamie.”

She hadn’t been thinking that he would suddenly fall at her feet or take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, though that would have been nice. But now she just felt ashamed and embarrassed that she had said anything at all. “I just… I needed to tell you. I couldn’t hold onto it anymore, but… you’re happy, and it’s not with me and I guess I’ll be ok with that… I just need some time. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come.” Claire twisted the door knob and started to let herself out before Jamie grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Claire, I just… we should talk about this. Ye can’t just walk in here, tell me ye love me and then leave. Ye have to let me react.” He sounded angry and Claire couldn’t really fault him for that, but her embarrassment was eating away at her and now she just wanted to leave, go home and lick her wounds.

“You don’t know how to react and that tells me volumes. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship and it feels like I’ve just done exactly that. I should go and leave you alone for a while.” Claire sniffed and quickly wiped her nose on her sleeve. She needed to get out of there. Her face was burning with shame and embarrassment. She should have known Jamie better, she shouldn’t have said anything.

“Damn it, ye haven’t given me a chance to say anything. Ye just come in, confess these things and then just breeze on out of here. That’s no’ fair.” He was angry, she could tell. Why wouldn’t he be?

“This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Claire tried to shake her arm free from where Jamie was holding onto her. It was the only connection they had at that moment, Jamie touching her and part of her didn’t want him to let go. How could they ever go back to being friends now?

“Why did ye? Why now?” Jamie’s voice was rough and Claire winced.

“Call it too much to drink, call it seeing you with someone else and an overwhelming sense of jealousy, I don’t know, but I don’t think that I could have held onto it for much longer. But I should go. This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Claire felt like she was on the edge of breaking down. Her body was suddenly exhausted and she just wanted to go home, curl up in her bed and forget that she had said anything in the first place.

“Why are ye trying to run away from me? What’s the point in telling me that, only to regret it and run away?”

“Because running is easier, you know that, you know me.” Claire sighed heavily.

“I do… I do know you, but I didn’t know this.” Jamie sounded defeated, betrayed almost. And why wouldn’t he? They told each other everything and she had held onto this for so long. He thought that he knew everything there was to know about each other.

“And now you do.”

“Aye. Now I do.” Jamie was frowning and Claire glanced up at him quickly. She couldn’t look at him. Did he know how much it had cost her to say anything? Their entire friendship. She had cost them both an entire friendship because she couldn’t keep her secret, because she couldn’t not fall in love with her best friend.

“Just let me go Jamie. I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and regret saying anything.” She tried to soften the blow. Maybe if she passed it off like a crush, they might be able to move past it. Maybe if he thought it was a passing whim, years from now they would be able to laugh about the night that Claire got too drunk and told Jamie that she loved him.

Jamie flinched and Claire wasn’t sure why. “Will ye? Regret sayin’ it?”

Shrugging and finally removing her arm from Jamie’s grasp, Claire shook her head. “I know you Jamie. Better than anyone else. I know the type of woman you like and I’m not it. At least I got this off my chest but probably at the cost of our friendship and I just… yes I regret it.” It was a half truth. She regretted telling him and costing them both their friendship, but at least she didn’t feel like she needed to hide it from him anymore.

“For,” Jamie’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat, “for how long have ye known?”

He clearly wasn’t buying that this was passing whim, a crush that she would get over on the weekend. Claire shook her head. How much more embarrassment would she have to endure? Though perhaps it was her comeuppance for dumping this so unexpectedly on him.

“How long?” Jamie repeated, sounding like a calm sort of anger had settled over him and that was far more terrifying than if he had just yelled at her. She may as well tell him, she’d already dove in head first, what was the point in not following through?

“Do you remember when we went for a drive to Aberdeen, when you’d just gotten your license?” Claire asked slowly, she couldn’t look at him. It was such an old memory, so many years together. “And we went to that garden… Seaton Park. We were sitting on the grass near the lake. You’d just started seeing that young blonde girl, Laoghaire and you said… you said that you wished your first kiss was better, that it was sloppy and all over the place and that was how Laoghaire kissed.” Claire remembered Laoghaire. Blonde, blue eyes, voluptuous, loud, carefree- everything that Claire was not.

“And I said that my first kiss was a disappointment as well. And that we should have just kissed each other and dealt with the awkwardness then so that our future kisses would have been better.” Frank. All tongue, so wet, not remotely enjoyable. It got better over time, but still- first kisses were awkward and messy. It would have been better with Jamie.

Claire glanced up at Jamie to see that his jaw had dropped open, his mouth making a comical little “o” shape. She could see him trying to remember what she was talking about. He probably wouldn’t. Why would he? Nothing had changed for him that day, but Claire knew. Sitting next to him, laughing about their tragic love-lives at 17 years old, she knew that she loved him, and he would never feel the same about her. It was a discovery that was all at once exciting and heartbreaking. Finding the person that was perfect for you in every way, to know that he would never feel the same.

“You laughed at me and we never spoke about it again. But I knew. I knew then that I wanted to kiss you and only you. But you… you didn’t want me...” That was the truth of the matter. He didn’t want her. He didn’t then, and he didn’t now. Claire could feel a sob starting to well deep in her chest, but she refused to cry in front of him.

She should go. Jamie was clearly in shock and wasn’t going to be able to respond any time soon. “Goodbye Jamie. I’m sorry for this. For everything.”

She waited a moment for Jamie to stop her once more, but he was lost in his own thoughts. She looked at him, trying to memorise him- as if she would ever forget- and she almost reached out to hug him. Maybe to pretend for a moment that he could love her back and that this night wasn’t wasted, but she couldn’t. Hugging him would be heartbreaking and she didn’t want to put herself through that.

Claire quietly opened the front door and let herself out, sealing her heart behind her in Jamie’s apartment. He smelled like the earth, fresh and new- he smelled like home.

Claire walked down the darkened streets rather than wait outside Jamie’s place for a cab. He might run after her, and she didn’t think that she would be able to deal with that. She had spilled her heart and left it with Jamie. She wasn’t angry at him for his reaction. Not at all. She had dumped a lifetime of hidden emotions on him and he was speechless. Who could blame him?

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Jamie was calling her. She let it go to voicemail. She needed time. He needed time. She needed to go home and cry herself to sleep. He needed to figure out if he could still be friends with her, knowing that she loved him more than he loved her.

Her phone continued to buzz with calls and messages from Jamie, begging her to pick up. When she finally made her way home, safe in her apartment, tucked into her bed with tears leaking continuously from her eyes, she replied to one of his many text messages.

-I just need to be alone for a bit. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’ll call you later.-

Shame. She was ashamed. Why did she say anything? She’d ruined them. She should have just kept her mouth shut and now she had lost it all.

How could he not know?

Just as she was starting to fall asleep she was startled awake.

A knock on her front door- gentle at first, she thought that she might be imagining it. The gentle tap, tap, tap became a steady pounding when she didn’t answer. And then her name, said in desperation- “Claire, please. Open up.”

#Outlander #Outlander fanfic #Outlander Fanfiction #Outlander fan fic #Jamie Fraser #claire beauchamp #jamie x claire #Claire perspective #Best Friends #Love #First love #Other point of view #Claire POV #part two

201 notes · View notes

elaz-ivero · 4 years ago

Text

It's an Honour to Eclipse | {New WIP} |

[image description: a storefront during midday with the sunlight bleaching giving the photo an orange tint. the glass door has a 'yes we are open sign' on it but the door and windows are behind iron bars. a rainbow is painted on the front of the building, on an angle white text in bold Garamond font reads, 'It's an Honour to Eclipse' beneath it in smaller font, 'A novella' is typed over the image. /end id]

Genre: LGBT +, Young Adult, Mild Mystery

Setting: Wellington, capital city of New Zealand

P.O.V: Third Person, Omniscient

Synopsis: Neveah after leaving university and moving into her first apartment is reinventing herself, discovering the city she lives in, finding the short-cuts, the cheapest restaurants, shaking her head. But when her estranged ex-boyfriend Oka disappears, no one seems invested in his disappearance, no one seems to be looking for the boy she stopped loving and yet his name keeps appearing, turning up in the margins of her life and Neveah is forced to confront the twisted history and secret life of the boy she intended to leave behind.

CW: Religion, drug use, smoking, police violence

[image description: a skyline at dawn, the bottom of the image is cluttered with the tops of colourful houses, hotels, stores and apartment buildings, the sun brings out warm tones hidden in the paint. Above the tops of the buildings, a great blue sky stretches upward and clouds tinged with the yellow of a rising sun. Over the clouds in the centre of the images words in white bold Garamond font that read, 'WIP Beginnings' /end id.]

Frequently my subconscious approaches me with a set of storylines, a character name and a set of random scenes, It's An Honour To Eclipse was a small series of ideas that naturally grew the more I thought about them. I suppose this story came as the result of me moving into a boarding facility in the middle of the city and having to adapt to the fast-paced individualistic world of the great city. My own fear of the housing crisis and the crime rate of a busy city translated neatly into my main character whose whole life surrounds her trying to perfect some form of self-preservation.

The main drive of this story is her relationship or now lack thereof with Oka, a mysterious unfinished boy who drifts in and out of the story. I still don't know where this novella might leave, maybe Oka's captured by an underground secret society of 'face stealers' or people that replace talented local artists. I honestly have no clue but for now, I'm putting it under the vague category of 'mild mystery'. Often, when writing I don't have a firm understanding of my characters or of the ending that is about to surface I follow the flow of expectations and allow my characters personalities and ambitions to drive the story toward its conclusion. Right now Oka takes over the passages, slips into chapters not intended to be given to him, simply because he is a mystery to me and I want to figure out why this boy disappeared and the clues in his behaviour, in the known parts of him.

[image description: a pale arm is turned toward the camera, the cuff of a chunky knit mustard coloured sweater can be seen at the top right-hand corner of the image. At the centre of the image is a coloured tattoo, a renaissance angel holding a branch of baby's breath and wearing a brown and creme-tone cloth himation. In the bottom left-hand corner of the image white bold Garamond text reads, 'Characters' /end id.]

[image description: two images are collaged together, one portion of the image is a close up of a women face she has dark skin and brown eyes, the other portion of the image is another woman on public transit adjacent to a window showing a brick apartment passing by. Slightly central is text in bold white Garamond font that reads, 'Neveah' /end id.]

Neveah, the main character, Spanish and the first female in her family to graduate from university. She's stuck in a cramped apartment and her style consists of what she finds for free on the sidewalk and the brightest clothing at the second-hand opportunity shops. Committed the relationship sin of getting matching tattoos with a boyfriend she couldn't introduce to her parents, a tattoo of the window of their shared apartments in Neveah's there is a sunset in Oka's it's a night full of stars. Neveah is cautious and constantly conscious of how she can improve her situation and herself and tries to best facilitate her own growth.

More points:

Loves sparkling peach and mango juice

Deals with her problems mainly by listening to audiobooks all night and visiting the aquarium to feed the manta rays and stare at fish for hours, at least their coping mechanisms that aren't too harmful.

Neveah has an obligatory shrine to Jesus with the little framed photo...well painting of the son of God sent to her by her parents.

Dangly earrings and platform sneakers are her ish.

[image description: an overexposed photograph of two people, a girl and a boy in a lounge. The girl is sitting up on the couch, a blanket piled over her, one bare leg is extended in front of her. A boy leans against the couch, shirtless and with curly brown hair he looks off into the distance a pillow balanced in his lap. There is a pot plant on a small coffee table in the upper right-hand corner of the image and the ends of some pale curtains fall in the frame at the top of the image. On the bottom left-hand corner text in white bold Garamond font reads, 'Oka', there is texture on the image as though some tape had been laid over the left edge or a rip has been repaired. /end id.]

Oka is a mess, a boy reliant on Neveah's help to get dressed, make the bed, do the groceries. He's tall with brown hair he dyes grey and when he first meets Neveah he's almost quit smoking but crashes back into his addiction when they start dating and every week picks up a bulk box of discontinued unfiltered cigarettes. His dealer likes Neveah and gives her chocolate as a part of the deal and Oka made his living by picking up odd artistic jobs, being a nude model every Thursday, volunteering at an art club and working as a waiter at a local bar. Absolutely hates his Art history degree and will fight their landlord if the rent rises.

More brief points:

Thinks he's super cool for owning a white zippo.

Unironically owns two cowboy hats.

Is actually a pretty good artist but rarely finishes a piece.

Likes ginger drinks and strawberry milk.

Is temporarily nocturnal.

[image description: a wall of framed photographs and paintings, they are organised together in a way that is both scattered and organized. In the bottom right-hand corner there are two lit candles and on the right of an image, a monstera plant is in the corner of the cream-coloured walls. Someone holds a mug in the bottom right-hand corner. In the centre of the image text in bold white Garamond font reads, 'Planning Excerpts. /end id.]

A set of opening lines;

[image description: Over a dark image of pale pink roses growing against a white concrete wall. White text over the image reads, 'For two months all I could think about was diluting detergent- She took the time to change herself, paint thick lines around her eyes and contour muscles she didn't have. She remembered, however, the intricate way that he took up space-" /end id.]

[image description: A city skyline against a greyish blue sky, the building are in tones of brown, red, orange and yellow. In the upper right-hand corner orange text in Garamond font reads, 'Oka took his time, hours to get dressed, hours to eat, every day was half-lived from midday till three hours before midnight.' /end.id]

I see this story changing and developing the more time I put into it but for now, it is made up of its central characters, the colours I associate with the grand city and the mysterious implications of finding someone yourself.

That's an Honour To Eclipse in its rough beginning stages, I'm looking forward to sharing its progress.

-E

#wip intro #wip excerpt #amwriting #writeblr #writingcommunity #novella #ya novels #novel #character analysis #my characters

2 notes · View notes

kytea · 5 years ago

Text

The True Nature of Deltarune

Deltarune Chapter 1 has been out for over a year now, and being the big UT/DR fan that I am, I’ve been slowly mulling over both games, reading many fan theories and putting together my own interpretation of what I believe the nature and goal of Deltarune will be. This will be a long one so grab some popcorn, put on your matpat hats and click to keep reading!

So what is Deltarune? Is it a sequel to Undertale? Is it a prequel? Is it an alternate universe? Is it the coming of age story of a bunch of teens? Is it a complex meta-narrative on the nature of video games?

The answer is yes to all of the above. And to begin delving into this we must first understand the creator of this game: Toby Fox.

I won’t toot Toby’s Fox’s horn too much, we all know how talented and hardworking he is, but he’s also very emotionally perceptive and empathic. His general disposition is reminiscent of avant-garde artists that push the boundaries of artistic creation in a medium.

Toby loves mysteries, and in the early version of Undertale there was an included file that disparaged hackers and went on to say that it’s difficult to add mysteries in games these days due to data miners and such.

Thankfully, this did not stop Toby from lovingly adding quite a few big mysteries to Undertale that have yet to be resolved. Knowing Toby and his strong desire to share his story, a story that according to him, kept him awake at night:

“For the past 3 years I've been waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep because I've been thinking about the scenes that happen in the game. Even though so many details are still hazy, I really want to show you the things I've been thinking about.That's really my only reason for making this game. If I don't show you what I'm thinking, I'll lose my mind.“

I don’t believe Toby will let these mysteries go unanswered, and it is here that we can begin to understand what Deltarune is about.

The Mystery of W.D. Gaster

Truly, the biggest mystery of Undertale is that of W.D. Gaster: former royal scientist, creator of the CORE and the Determination Extraction machine.

A player can go through the entirety of Undertale multiple times and never even hear word of Gaster’s existence. This is because all the events that pertain to him are hidden behind a value in the game’s files known as the “FUN value”. Outside of actually manipulating this file manually yourself, it is, to the average player, random. The FUN value can trigger multiple different events throughout the game, some of which include running into “Followers of Gaster” or even Gaster himself.

While the latter has nothing to say before he “boings” out of existence, the former Followers all tell an eerie tale of a scientist who fell into his own creation and was scattered across time and space.

But hold on. Time and space? Why does that sound familiar?

Ah yes, during the Sans battle he speaks about an “massive anomaly in the timespace continuum”.

And during this battle Sans says a lot of other cryptic things without context, for example, he laments not being able to “go back” somewhere. But where or when is he referring to?

He mentions how he and others were monitoring time-lines and their readings showed them stopping and starting, jumping left and right, and eventually ending. Who was he monitoring these readings with? This all seems incredibly scientific and sci-fi, I thought Sans was just a silly skeleton, is he some kind of time cop? (he does have a “badge” in his workshop) He also uses skeletal weapons known as “Gaster Blasters”.

What…? Gaster Blaster?

Okay, now we KNOW Sans DEFINITELY has some connection to this mysterious scientist W.D. Gaster, but what? Well, for starters W.D. Gaster is short for Wing Dings Gaster, a type of font that he also speaks in.

Who else is named after and speaks in specific font types? Sans and Papyrus of course!

Furthermore, in the concept sketches for Papyrus, Toby wrote and redacted parts of a message that says: “has a brother named comic sans and a [BLANK] named [BLANK]”.

Who is this mysterious redacted person and what is their relationship to Sans and Papyrus? The easy money is on a family member, and for sake of argument lets use the prediction most of the fandom has already concluded and accepted: that Sans and Papyrus have a father named Gaster.

So Sans and Papyrus have a long lost father that was a scientist. This explanation would begin to explain why Sans has a weapon named after him, and why he wanted to “go back” to some place or time, perhaps in an effort to save him from his fate.

There’s a hidden event in Undertale where if you reset after listening to Sans speak about LOVE and EXP in a pacifist route, and initiate the conversion a couple of times in a row, he’ll catch on by the expression your face that you’ve heard it before and will surmise that you’re a time traveller and give you secret code words to tell his past self.

This will lead to him giving you the key to his room which ends up just being a prank at first.

But then you find a key to the secret workshop/basement hidden behind his house.

Once you enter the workshop, you’ll find some blueprints written in symbols you can’t read (wing dings?) and a curtain covering a machine that doesn’t seem to be working, among other things.

Toby Fox tweeted a message regarding this machine a few days after Undertale’s release around the time people were figuring out FUN values and the secrets surrounding Sans and Gaster.

“You’ve all seen the happiest outcome. Neither of them could fix the machine, no matter how hard they tried. No one can.”

This tweet seems to imply that if the machine could be fixed that Undertale could have a happier outcome.

And this my friends, is the gateway to the nature of Deltarune.

Deltarune, according to Toby Fox, is a game for players that have completed Undertale. But what does it mean to complete Undertale, and I mean, TRULY complete it? Toby often expressed that he wasn’t happy with how people told others how to play the game, that it is best played completely blind. Having played Undertale blind myself, and having watched others do the same, the natural way the game is meant to progress is that first players will experience the Neutral Ending, followed by the Pacifist Ending, and Finally the Genocide ending. This is because the game cruelly plays against your expectations of how an RPG should work and this almost guarantees that you will kill at least one monster your first play through. As if the fact that the fight button is always the default position in battle isn’t enough, in the early parts of the game you are told that you may need to weaken a monster before you can spare them. This naturally brings to mind the systems of Pokémon, where you have the best chance to catch a Pokémon if it’s at low health. Well, if you try this during the Toriel fight, as most do, you’ll find that as soon as you get close to critical health, you’ll instantly kill her.

Poor goat mama..

Difficulty-wise, the neutral route is the most easy, because you can level up a little and gain more HP. The Pacifist route is a bit harder because your HP is lower, but with the experience you gain from the previous route, it should prove no problem. Finally the Genocide route is the most difficult because it takes a concerted effort that implies knowledge of the previous routes to kill every single monster.

So an ideal Deltarune player has knowledge of all three main routes of Undertale, and may have experienced or heard of Gaster.

Is this player you? If so, ask yourself, what would a “happier outcome” look like to you? And be honest. Many fans in the Undertale community have already answered this question in the form of fanworks. Some of the most common elements among them are as follows:  

1) Frisk and all the monsters are free from the Underground and living on the surface with humans.

2) Asriel is revived.

3) Gaster is revived.

4 )Chara is revived.

The revival of Asriel, Chara, and Gaster are the undisputed holy grails in terms of happiest endings that the UT community dreams of and creates endless fan works to explore the possibilities. Toby knows this well.

Using a speech pattern attributed to Gaster, Toby teased the release of Deltarune Chapter 1

“I LOOK FORWARD TO CREATING A NEW FUTURE WITH YOU.” stands out quite a bit to me as the prospect of a “happier outcome” is already tied to Gaster and Sans, now a “new future” is connected.

And when Deltarune released, and fans had a chance to play it, they found:

1) All the monsters are free and living on the surface.

2) Asriel is alive and well and living his best life.

3) A voice with the same speech pattern as Gaster (based on Japanese text) brought you to this world and attempted to give your own vessel before…

4)…a voice with the same speech pattern as Chara (also based on Japanese text) discarded it.

Right off the bat Toby seems to have given fans what they wanted, a perfect future ending. But as you continue to play, you begin to realize that this may not be the world you dreamed of.

First, while all the monsters are living on the surface, they aren’t the same people from Undertale, for example: Undyne has never met Alphys, and the amalgamates that went to live with their families at the end of Undertale are deceased in this world. And while Asriel is alive, it’s not THE Asriel we were so determined to save in Undertale.

Gaster’s presence permeates Deltarune so thoroughly it would take awhile to point out every example, but it seems clear that he’s present in some form.

And Chara? You only need to see the ending cutscene of chapter 1 to know that they are around in a similar fashion as when they possess Frisk in the True Pacifist after a Genocide ending.

But their presence is also present in subtle ways. For example, if you attempt to play the piano in the hospital in Hometown and then speak to the receptionist, she comments that Kris’ playing isn’t the same as usual (Likely due to our control), but it seems that Chara may be good at piano. Interestingly, on the cover artwork for the official Undertale Piano Collection 2 book, Frisk can be seen holding a knife playing a key on a piano in the judgement hall filled with bones.

So for better or worse, what appears to be the original Chara and Gaster from Undertale are present in Deltarune, in some meta form or another. And maybe that’s the key: “Meta-characters”. After all, you yourself as a player are a “Meta-character”. You can ask the inhabitants of this new world questions that only someone with knowledge of a True Pacifist route would have, such as being able to ask Undyne about Alphys. Asking her this only makes sense if you yourself completed a True Pacifist route before playing Deltarune.

Ralsei, the lonely prince.

Toby being the trickster dog he is, he didn’t just give us 1 Asriel and call it a day, no he gave us 2.

Ralsei is quite clearly meant to be a version of Asriel because not only do they have similar or identical dialogues, but he was also was meant to look more like him before Toby decided to give him his Black Mage look.

There are even strong parallels obviously meant to create an emotional response and connect Ralsei to the feelings people had for Asriel in Undertale by giving the players the option to hug him.

Ralsei is quite the mystery on his own. And while he’s most certainly sweet and lovable, there’s undeniably some disconcerting things about him such as:

-Why does he know Kris and Susie’s names?

-Who did he learn the prophecy from? “Foretold by time and space” isn’t a good answer (or is it?).

-What did he say to Kris when the player SOUL wasn’t present in the prison?

-When he’s KO’d in battle, what does he become? Apparently he can still eat to regain HP when in this shrunken form.

Ralsei seemed to be under the impression that violence wasn’t needed in this world, but upon nearly being defeated by the King after mistakenly healing him, Ralsei says “This isn’t a world where kindness always wins, is it?”

The way he says this seems to imply he knows of other worlds and that they have different rules. Perhaps he comes from a world where someone being kind to everyone they met had great results?

There are definitely things that Ralsei is not telling us, whether this means he’s up to no good will remain to be seen, however, I would like to take this opportunity to make a prediction based on the previous understanding that the original Chara and Gaster are present in this new world in meta forms, and assert that Undertale Asriel, the final piece of the perfect ending puzzle is present in Deltarune in his own meta-character form of Ralsei. Perhaps the form he shrinks into when KO’d is one we know well...

There is that unused Flowey face...

Add glasses and a hat and...

but that’s just a game theory!

And I can't help but wonder about the dark heart on Ralsei's chest and this merchandise in the Deltarune section of fangamer that specifically features a quote from Undertale about the prophecy of Delta Rune (that turns out to be about Asriel in the TP ending, and Chara in the Genocide ending) "There is a prophecy. The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface... They will return. And the underground will go empty."

It's also the Deltarune game logo

Because the merchandise is called Darkheart, it made me immediately think of the dark heart on Ralsei's chest, and having an Undertale quote about Asriel/Chara makes it all the more mysterious...

Regardless, in just the first chapter of Deltarune, the elements of the “happier outcome” connected to Sans’ machine are present. But how do they all connect? Well, let’s look at the other characters in Deltarune, starting with:

Lancer

Oh Baby Santa Claus, how we love you so. It’s hard to overlook how similar Lancer is to Sans. They’re both hilarious in their own way, both ride bikes, have similar color-schemes, both have a love for tomato-based products, and both have some scientific/engineering affinity (Sans and his workshop, Lancer and his “Lancer Industries”).

But that’s not all, the door to Sans’ room is identical to the warp doors found in the Dark World that Lancer hails from, and Sans’ warp ability also makes the same sound effect as these doors as well.

Lancer is a member of the FUN gang (remember the FUN value?), that, as far as we know currently, has 3 other members besides himself: Kris, Ralsei, and Susie (with the possibility of Noelle and others in the future).

Speaking of Susie, her name (or a version of it) popped up in Undertale prior to Deltarune’s release when the game was released on the Switch. By speaking to the Gaster Follower “Clamgirl”, you can learn of a girl named “Suzy”, that you will meet her soon, and that “in life’s grand scheme, she might be why you came here in the first place...”

Upon receiving this dialogue, checking the drawers in Sans workshop will reveal a card with a drawing of 3 people smiling and the words “don’t forget”.

“Don’t Forget” is the vocal theme of Deltarune sung by Laura Shigihara, and the melody from the ending verse,“Don’t forget, I’m with you in the dark.”, is leitmotifed throughout the entire Deltarune chapter 1 OST. The connections between Sans, the FUN gang, Gaster, and by extension Undertale and Deltarune are quite apparent. Perhaps the actions of the FUN gang in the Deltarune world will have an affect on the FUN value in Undertale.

Based on all the evidence we have now, I am going to make a bold prediction:

Lancer is literally a younger Sans.

That’s right, Toby Fox made Baby Sans before Disney and Sega made Baby Yoda and Baby Sonic.

Deltarune’s Dark World is the past from the perspective of Sans and Gaster (or a recreation of it). How Lancer becomes Sans will likely be a very large part of Deltarune’s narrative, and once he becomes Sans, he will exist as a separate meta entity that can traverse different worlds, even if versions of himself already exist in some form there (similar to Ralsei and Asriel).

We’ve seen that if characters are exposed to elements that make it clear they live in a video game world, whether this be Determination for humans and Flowey, a time-space accident for Gaster, or a strange man whispering to Jevil, these characters become something wholly different, more powerful, and begin to become more similar to players with the ability to SAVE, RESET, or use abilities that seem beyond the scope of the game (e.g. Photoshop Flowey, Jevil’s ability to speak, etc). Undertale and Deltarune are video games about video games.

So if it is to be believed that Gaster is Sans’ father, and that Lancer is a younger Sans, then it stands to logical reason that whoever Lancer’s father is, that they must be Gaster.

No, not the King, there is another. A “Lesser-dad”.

Yes, Rouxls Kaard.

“GOD DAMNIT”

Rouxls Kaard, or “Rules Card”, or if you rearrange his name “A Dark Soul Rx”, wait, Rx as in prescription? As in a doctor? Dark Soul as in Mr. Darkness Gaster himself? Too much of a stretch? Maybe. Although you can’t deny they have similar appearances.

If Rouxls Kaard is Gaster, and therefore the father of Sans and Papyrus, then he’s undeniably similar to one of his sons. Rouxls Kaard seems to be quite passionate about puzzles, (despite not having a natural predilection to them). I could see Papyrus gaining an affinity for puzzles by being raised by such an individual, they both have quite flamboyant personalities. And let’s not forget that there are also hints that Rouxls Kaard may be inclined to creating scientific devices such as the “Control Crowne” he uses to control K.Round.

Hmm, controlling other people… sounds familiar to what we the player are doing to Kris… and who was it that was initially going to give us control of a vessel before we lost said control to Chara’s intervention? Control seems to play a big part in Deltarune doesn’t it?

Also, isn’t his manner of speech is reminiscent of a silly ye olde knight. Wait, wasn’t there a Knight causing trouble in the Dark World? Hm.

So something is going to turn Lancer and Rouxls Kaard into Sans and Gaster, respectively.

Now remember the CORE that Gaster built? This one?

It turns geothermal energy into magical electricity via an unknown means with one of the byproducts being ozone, which is corrosive and could potentially make someone very melty. This is what it looks like on the inside.

Lots of blues of varying hues with white accents. Kinda reminds me of Rouxls Kaard and the other “card” people’s color schemes.

What a coincidence! Oh and apparently the layout of the CORE can be re-arranged or something:

"I work at the CORE. The inside is a maze made of swappable parts... That means we can shuffle the layout at will." - Hotland NPC

Almost sounds like a sliding puzzle…

Finally, Gaster is referred to as “The man who speaks in hands”, likely due to his Wing Dings font that contains a lot of hand symbols, however, it isn’t a stretch to also apply that epithet to Rouxls Kaard, after all, the Rules Card speaks in hands as well. Hands of cards.

Susie

Can’t forget Susie. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can say about how her role in all this will play yet. If we are to believe that the “Suzy” that Clamgirl references is Susie, then it’s clear that she’ll be key, perhaps as a catalyst for all the big changes some characters will need to undergo...

I will say that I think it’s interesting that toby specifically has a character in Hometown comment that humans are made of blood (and implying the monsters are not),

and Susie says:

“Everybody bleeds, right?”

From our understanding of monsters in Undertale, monsters don’t bleed, they turn to dust. But, maybe Darkners can bleed. If we believe Sans is a Darkner, it may explain this:

It could be ketchup. It could be a Darkner thing. Lancer does mention blood casually. But if only humans and Darkners bleed, then why would a monster like Susie say “everybody bleeds”?

So what is Deltarune you ask? I think it’s:

1) A story about Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster’s past and future. We get to experience their past in the Dark World, and speak with their future selves in the Light World. But these future versions of Sans and Papyrus may not be as far into the future as the Sans and Papyrus we meet in Undertale. Remember, Sans had an Ice-E’s crossword in Undertale? Ice-E’s-P’E’zza is a restaurant in Hometown. Papyrus may also be younger than he was in Undertale because Sans, an adult who runs a grocery store, thinks a teen like Kris should hang with his little brother, and it would be “weird” if he were there with them.

2) A story about post-Undertale Asriel, Chara, and Gaster. Asriel/Flowey maintains his new form as Ralsei thanks to the power of the Dark Fountain. He now lives in what is/was Sans’ childhood home. Whether he knows this or remembers the events of Undertale is unknown, but it is my belief that he holds a deep connection to the Asriel we all wished to save. Chara resides within Kris in a similar manner as they did at the ending of a UT True Pacifist Ending after surrendering the red SOUL to them in a Genocide ending. Does this mean that Kris’s body or “vessel” is Frisk? This seems to be heavily implied by Kris’ outfit taking on the same color scheme as Frisk’s UT shirt while in the Dark World.

3) A coming of age story for a bunch of teens. Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, Lancer, and all the friends that may join on their adventures are still people regardless of what grand meta narrative is at play involving the nature of their reality. They still need to go to school, fall in love, and worry about growing up and going to university. Noelle will undoubtedly play a large role with Toby’s tease of her as “Lost Girl”, and considering how attached most of the community has already gotten to these characters, it hurts my heart to think about what may befall them as they try their best to live their lives. Does this mean Deltarune’s world is doomed? I hope not... but those save file screens sure are creepypasta...

“IT WAS AS IF IT WAS NEVER THERE AT ALL.”

4) A story about video games and the control (or lack thereof) we have over them. It’s quite clear that we, the player controlling the red soul, is able to influence this new world based on knowledge from Undertale that should have no barring. For example, we can name “Onionsan” who has forgot their own name. One of the options is “Onion”, but why? Is it because we know their name is Onionsan in Undertale? How do we even know if that is actually what this version of them is really named?

Deltarune is so close to the perfect Undertale ending we wanted, but it’s just a little bit wrong. Would it hurt to force Undyne and Alphys to meet and fall in love? To get Toriel and Asgore back together? To make Bratty and Catty friends? If you were given the option in game to do it, would you do it? What if it made their lives worse…? I believe that the fact we are able to influence inhabitants of Deltarune with our Undertale knowledge may have some unforeseen consequences, and perhaps, be what begins this whole situation in the first place. (Paradoxes are the best time travel stories!)

Toby Fox said that Deltarune was the game he originally wanted to make, but whether it was too ambitious or time consuming, his idea evolved into Undertale. Now that he’s creating the game he always wanted to, I believe that he will connect everything we know about them together and resolve the mysteries, after all, Gaster has been waiting for this chance.

And maybe, with a little luck and determination, we can create a new future with a happier outcome. If I’ve learned anything from Undertale, it’s that you must hold on to your hopes and dreams, because dreams are the goal of “Determination.”

#undertale #deltarune #spoilers #sans #papyrus #gaster #asriel #chara #frisk #kris #toriel #sans undertale #theory #the true nature of deltarune #noelle #fun gang #susie #toby fox

75 notes · View notes