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fenomeno00 · 2 months ago

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Blue moon (1/2) (Fanfic Resident Evil)

pairing: jill valentine & chris redfield

summary: At the brink of Jill's sacrifice, Wesker is struck by an epiphany

wc: 1.7k

type: sfw

a/n:

Hello, friends. How have you been? Me? I'm doing well. Quite busy, but well. That's why I didn't expect to be here so soon.

This fanfic wasn't in my plans, not at all. The reason it exists? Oh, I have plans to release a fanfic that retells much of Chris's campaign in RE6, specifically in Edonia, but with another character as the lead: Jill (who, for some bizarre reason, wasn't even mentioned back in 2012). I realized that I had no practice writing about any character other than Chris. After all, all of my fanfics have him as the protagonist or are third-person narrations from his point of view. In any case, writing something without this character would be a huge challenge for me. And since I intend to give my all in this fanfic set during the RE6-Edonia period, I didn’t feel ready yet. Actually, I still think I'm not at the level I want to reach, which is why I'm bringing you this test fanfic.

This is not a teaser for my next fanfic. Nor is it something that will intertwine with it (although it is still an imagination within canon). For this reason, I wrote it with a concept so familiar in my stories (Lost in Nightmares), which I’ve already approached so many times. You can even relate this test draft to one of my fanfics that deal with this period in the saga; that's fine, there’s nothing that excludes it, it just wasn't the original intent.

Initially, this was going to be a one-shot. However, it would be rather erroneous for me to focus on writing with Jill for the next fanfic and not have a narration from her point of view. So, in addition to this chapter, there will be another one, twice as long, more focused on our beloved character from the saga. Consider this more of a draft; there's not much depth, although I still thought it was good enough to be evaluated. Yes, I desperately need your feedback on this, whether the writing is at least minimally decent or not. I'm all ears, which is the main point of this story. I will still post this on other platforms, as the goal is to know where I’m getting it right and where I’m failing the most. So, please, leave comments...

Enjoy this small chapter. I tried my best not to be vague, but also not to go too deep, since there was no reason for a draft/test script to be extensive.

Music: "Blue Moon" – Frank Sinatra (I'm not one to recommend music, although I’ve been doing so in my recent writings. Still, it would be strange if I didn’t. The title of the story is totally inspired by and taken from this incredible song, featured in one of my favorite games of all time: Fallout: New Vegas).

This is the first time I post here on tumblr, I will also leave the link to my profile on Ao3 and Spirit fanfics (Brazilian site) with my stories, not all of them are translated and posted on ao3, but I promise to provide this soon

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“An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious.” Dom Cobb, line of dialogue with Saito (Inception)

The devastating impact could have reduced any other being to a pile of bones and shredded flesh, but for him, it was merely a moment of pain. A fleeting instant of weakness that wasn’t his but of the world that had tried, in vain, to bring him down.

A second passed, then another.

The ringing in his ears finally subsided, like a tide retreating after ravaging the coast. The dizziness of the fall, that sensation of being dragged into oblivion, slowly dissolved, replaced by a piercing pain. Thanks to the inhuman power of the Uroboros virus, even a direct plunge into death couldn't seal the fate of one who was now less than human, but more than anything else. The pain wasn’t ordinary; it was sharp, cutting, a cruel reminder that he still breathed, yet the virus would take care of his wounds before he even realized he had them. If death were a promise, he would have already betrayed it. Similar to the desert of the Rub' al Khali, unforgiving and severe, an ocean of dark stones stretched out around him, cold and indifferent. The sky, distant and aloof, was a dark dome studded with stars, bearing witness alongside the full blue moon, inert, to what could have been a tragedy for any other mortal being. But he was not mortal. He was Albert Wesker, the bearer of a power that transcends human comprehension. His flesh, torn by the sharp rocks, now closed as if it had never been touched.

Still lying on the rough ground, Wesker allowed his eyes to fixate on the figure above him. Jill Valentine, now resembling more of a specter, a dark reflection of her former strength. The blood, which had once been her life, now soaked her, forming viscous pools around her as if death itself were still undecided about taking her. Until the last moment, her arms had wrapped around the man, ensuring that both would fall together from the precipice. Her intent was clear: to make sure the imprisoned demon hit the ground first and that the violent impact of the collision would destroy his life. And she would die with him thereafter.

She knew her strength was insignificant against the absolute power of Uroboros. She knew that alone, she would never defeat him. So, in the moment of greatest despair, when she saw the man of her life about to die before her eyes, she used her own body, a fragile human shell, as a final weapon.

She should have been dead. The fall should have crushed her, should have broken every bone, shattered every organ, leaving only a lifeless body to be buried beneath the stones. But fate, cruel and ironic, had decided that the same force that had dragged her to death would now be her salvation—and her curse. She had wagered everything on her last act of defiance, sacrificing herself to destroy what she saw as incarnate evil. But what she hadn't foreseen was that the demon would not be defeated so easily.

He, Wesker, had survived. And, by a twist of fate, so had she.

Even in her near-death state, Jill fought against the pain, each breath an effort, each moan a scream muffled by a body that could take no more. But those moans were not of despair; they were of a cruel resistance, a stubbornness that refused to give up, even when the end was so near. For Wesker, those sounds were music. They were a symphony of suffering, a melody he wished to prolong. The one who had so often frustrated his plans now lay agonizing beside him, evoking a perverse pleasure in hearing those sounds float through the air like a tragic tune. For a moment, he simply listened, a faint smile playing on his lips.

-- Foolish woman. – Wesker sighed as he disentangled himself from her body.

But then, a name escaped Jill’s bloodied lips, a name that shattered the enchantment of that moment.

-- Chris...

One word. Just one. But its weight was stronger than any fall. Any impact, any pain.

Wesker’s smile froze, transforming into something cold and dangerous. Chris Redfield, the man who had so long stood in his way. The man who, more than once, had been a thorn in his side, a constant reminder that there were still humans who dared to challenge his supremacy. And now, even on the brink of death, Jill’s thoughts weren’t on herself, nor her pain, but on Chris.

Anger bubbled inside Wesker, a silent fury growing in intensity with each passing second. The name Chris, uttered by Jill in that trembling whisper, was like a poison running through his veins, inflaming every fiber of his being. He felt his fingers tighten, the muscles of his hands tensing, wanting to crush her skull right then and there. That cursed word echoed in his mind, resonating like a curse he could not endure.

For a moment, the urge to destroy her right there, to obliterate the face that dared to speak that name, was almost irresistible. He could feel the murderous impulse overtaking his consciousness, the vision of crushing her skull, feeling the bones yield under the pressure of his fingers, a vivid fantasy that would bring him dark pleasure.

But he didn’t give in. Not yet. Like a flame finding fuel, Wesker’s rage was replaced by something deeper, something darker. An idea arose in his mind, an idea so horrible that he could almost taste it in that wretched instant as if it were eternity. What could be a sweeter revenge than turning this woman, who had risked everything for Chris, into something unrecognizable, a living nightmare? He could already visualize the horror in Redfield’s eyes when he saw what was left of Jill, deformed, destroyed, but still alive—a puppet of his own hatred.

He rose effortlessly, her body in his arms like a broken toy, his hands squeezing where her bones had fractured. He leaned down, bringing his lips close to her ear, and whispered in a low, disdainful voice: — You wanted to die like a heroine, but you will live as a monster. I will make you something Chris can never forget.

Jill let out a brief, sharp moan of pain as her bones protested the movement her tormentor made. That sound, that short, desperate murmur, was a new source of pleasure for Wesker, a reminder that, despite all the power she had lost, her pain was still real.

He looked at her face, a face that had once been a work of art. Now, it was only a reminder of what she had lost. Under the moonlight, her face was pale, almost lifeless, but still carried a shadow of the beauty that once captivated the world. Ten years ago, she had been a force of nature, a subordinate who stood out in a world of men, not for her beauty, but for being competent, fierce, and uncompromising. Wesker remembered the impact he felt when he first saw her picture, amidst so many lifeless résumés. She had stood out, not just for her appearance, but for the promise of something more. Something he had always planned to test and destroy.

-- It seems, this time, your prince won’t come to wake you. – Wesker mocked.

He extended a gloved hand, touching her face with a gentleness that only accentuated the monstrosity behind it. He wiped the blood from her face with a slow motion, almost as if caressing a work of art. He had already decided. Jill Valentine would not die on that shore. Not yet. He would keep her alive, not out of mercy. Wesker knew no mercy. Mercy, to him, was a concept for the weak, for those who still clung to the idea of redemption. And Jill Valentine, the foolish woman who dared to stand against him, would be the perfect instrument to forge the final act of his revenge.

After making a call for his rescue, Wesker began to walk to the marked location. Each step was a promise of pain, a shadow creeping over Jill’s mind, still unaware of the fate that awaited her.

-- Ms. Valentine, – he murmured, his voice dripping with sweet venom, – I have other plans for you. This is not your end.

He would order the best medical treatment, not to heal her, but to prolong her agony. So that she could mend, only to be destroyed again. He was already envisioning the future, in which victory lay in dismantling everything Chris loved, every piece of the world he desperately tried to protect. And Wesker wanted him to watch, helpless, as the one person who could save him became the agent of his own ruin. Wesker wasn’t interested in simple death; he wanted something deeper, more absolute. He wanted to carve pain in its purest form. His true satisfaction would not lie in the final act of destruction, but in the process, the slow decay of everything Chris Redfield once believed in. And when darkness finally consumed him, when he stood at the edge of the abyss, facing the hollow eyes of Jill, Wesker would achieve what he had always sought: not just triumph, but complete disintegration, the reduction of the soul to dust.

The irony of the scene was so delicious that Wesker could hardly contain his laughter. And he laughed, a laugh that echoed through the void under the moonlight. He could hardly wait for the moment when Chris would see them together.

In the demon's arms, Jill Valentine, once an indomitable warrior, was now reduced to nothing more than a puppet in the hands of a monster. Beneath the moonlight, she resembled a captured siren, stripped of her magic and cast into a hellish abyss. With every passing second, with every weakened beat of her heart, she inched closer to a fate worse than death. A fate of which she was still unaware, but one that awaited her with the same inevitability as the darkness drawing near.

After that, there was only silence.

“Blue moon, you saw me alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own. Blue moon, you knew exactly why I was there, you heard me saying a prayer for someone I could truly care for. And then suddenly there appeared before me the only one my arms will ever hold.”

#valenfield #chris redfield #chris x jill #drama #jill valentine #resident evil fanfiction #chris redfield x jill valentine #re5 #albert wesker #resident evil #rebhfun #angst #romance #soulmates #lovestory #tragedy

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nightmare-grass · 6 months ago

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Descendants Rewrite

I got so irked with the lazy naming conventions and lack of coherent worldbuilding in the Descendants franchise, so I took my Disney obsession and made this. Enjoy!

Villain Pairings

- Maleficent/Chernabog (less of a romantic pairing and more of a professional workplace relationship and power couple, they rule the island with an iron fist and plot to break the barrier)

- Evil Queen/Magic Mirror (Grimhilde brought him out in human form for one night to conceive a child with enough magic to rival Maleficent, the only one she saw as a threat to her status)

- Evil Queen/Hans (he wanted to be king, and his wife is beautiful to be sure, but she’s the one wearing the pants in this relationship, he’s the backstabbing boy toy)

- Cruella DeVille/Clayton (he hunts exotic animals, she turns them into stylish outerwear, they’re a surprisingly functional couple who own the Isle’s main clothing production company, it’s more like a sweat shop that employs the poorest children on the Isle)

- Hades/Mother Gothel (she works for him like Meg did but her deal keeps her eternally young and beautiful, plus they’re just similar people, and even gods get lonely sometimes)

- Yzma/Horned King (Yzma uses necromancy to bring Horned King out of the Black Cauldron, now they’re a bony power couple vying for control of the island)

- Gov. Ratcliffe/Queen of Hearts (he’s no stranger to kissing royal ass to gain favor and status, and she appreciates his flattery and his bloodthirsty ruthlessness)

- Claude Frollo/Lady Tremaine (they’re similarly horrible people, both French, need I say more?)

- Ursula/John Silver (these two are born schemers, liars, and cheats, John is just a bit more of a softy than Ursula)

- Scar/Sabor (they’re both big cats, they’re both evil, they both commit patricide to the protagonists, it’s kinda obvious)

- Shere Khan/Sabor (what can I say? Sabor gets around, she’s not the type to settle down)

- Madam Mim/Willie the Giant (both shapeshifters, both chaotic, messy couple)

- Dr. Facilier/Morgana (Call of Cthulhu vibes frame how these two met, Morgana supplies Facilier with magic from the mermaid world, and she can occasionally take on human form or make Facilier a merman, she’s his new friend from the other side)

- Captain Hook/Madame Medusa (both into hunting for treasure, both hate kids, but then one drunken night they sleep together and they panic. They abandon the kid to be raised by Mr. Smee)

Single Villains

- Jafar (I wanna have him steal Jasmine’s and Aladdin’s baby and raise it as his own to turn it against its parents)

- Drizella Tremaine (she’s ugly and ill tempered, and I’m out of young men villains)

- Gaston (he’d probably compete with Hans for the Evil Queen based solely on her beauty)

- Shan Yu (I’m out of female villains who aren’t weak and ugly. Plus I think he’d have a wife among the Huns, I can’t see him getting with any Disney villain.)

- Rourke (I can see him trying to pursue Gothel, but she’s tied down to Hades)

- Honest John (he’s a fox, not sure who I would pair him up with)

- Prince John (he’s a lion, not sure who I’d pair him up with)

Henchman Support Group

- Smee

- Snoops

- Gideon

- King of Hearts

- Jasper and Horace

- Kaa

- Sir Hiss

- Iago

- Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed

- Wiggins

- Pain and Panic

- Lawrence

- Le Fou

VKs

- Mal Faery (Antichrist-like, daughter of Maleficent with magical intervention of Chernabog)

- Dark Fairy powers like Maleficent, potential to get stronger like Chernabog, most powerful at night, can turn into a dragon but that’s a new power by the start of the story

- Eveline Grimhilde (daughter of the Evil Queen Grimhilde and the magic mirror entity, partly raised by Hans of the Southern Isles, goes by Evie)

- One of her powers is brief moments of omniscience, and she’s a little afraid of mirrors but doesn’t know why (it’s cuz she’s got a fear of being trapped)

- Jay Deja (son of Jasmine and Aladdin of Agrabah, stolen and raised by Jafar)

- Has instincts leading him to seek freedom and travel, but also has a complex about making his father proud, basically Rapunzel of Agrabah

- Carlo S’tan DeVille (son of Cruella DeVille and William Cecil Clayton, goes by Carlos, Jasper and Horace are terrible influence uncles)

- Parents barely give him the time of day, likes animals but hides it from parents and uncles, very good at sneaking around

- Uma Silver (daughter of Ursula Triton and Long John Silver, idolizes her mom but was mostly raised by John so she took after his pirate ways)

- Harry Hook (son of Captain James Hook and Madame Medusa, raised by Mr. Smee, has daddy/mommy issues so he’s constantly seeking approval from people who demean him, like Uma)

- Guinevere Gothel (daughter of Hades and Mother Gothel, goes by Ginny, crushing on Carlos, Pain and Panic get saddled with babysitting her a lot)

- Has very few powers from Hades but has lots of knowledge about dark magic and powerful entities like gods

- Dizzy Tremaine (daughter of Drizella Tremaine and an unknown man of the Isle, maybe Le Fou or Wiggins, her actual name is Daisy but she chooses to go by Dizzy for a bit more street cred)

- Her mom treats her similarly to how she treated Cinderella, teaching her at a young age how to cook, clean, and sew, and now relies on Dizzy for most household chores, feigning incompetence so Dizzy feels like she has to do everything herself.

- Celia Facilier (daughter of Dr. Facilier and Morgana, cousin of Uma, works at her dad’s shop, inherited her mom’s affinity for potions)

- Dr. Facilier sees things like it’s he and his daughter against the world, they have the potential to rule it all if they can get the right connections, and that puts a bit of undue pressure on Celia.

- Maddy Fadiddlehoffer (daughter of Madam Mim and Willie the Giant, adept shapeshifter and playful trickster)

- Heartly Crimms-Ratcliffe (daughter of John Ratcliffe and the Queen of Hearts, parents are divorced so she lives with her mother)

- Puts up with her mom’s temper and navigates her moods like her life depends on it, cuz it does. The King is hardly a help in this matter.

- The Bimbettes were so obsessed with Gaston that, when he’s banished to the Isle for his crimes, they willingly follow him. He’s had a son with each one of them, but none of the girls stuck around to raise the kids and now Gaston is a single dad of three strapping boys. Their names are Gerald, Giles, and Gaspard.

- Yzma and Horned King cannot have kids normaly, it’s just not possible with their biology, so they craft a homunculus to rival Mal and Evie, and they call him Churan, roughly meaning savior in Incan

Auradon Kids

- Benjamin “Ben” Beaumont (son of King Adam and Queen Belle of Auradon)

- Golden boy of Auradon Prep, his parents learned from Adam’s mistakes and raised a thoroughly good son.

- Audrey Rose (daughter of King Phillip and Queen Aurora of Auradon)

- Received gifts from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather like her mother, but never faced hardship, never learned humility. Grew up a bit spoiled.

- Jane Fairchild (daughter of the Fairy Godmother to Cinderella)

- Being trained to become the next Fairy Godmother, but is also highly sheltered by her mother, which irks her because of how she doted on Cinderella and let her go to parties.

- Chadrick “Chad” Charming (son of Queen Cinderella and King Christopher “Kit” Charming)

- Parents never wanted their son to face hardship like Cinderella went through, but as a result Chad became spoiled and overconfident.

- Anthony Tremaine (son of Anastasia Tremaine and Robert Baker)

- Had a humble life in the village, but was bullied by his cousin Chad.

- Lan “Lonnie” Fa (Daughter of Fa Mulan and Li Shang, war heroes of China)

- Likes slow paced farm work with her grandparents, and prefers more girly pursuits than her mom did, but secretly feels shame about this because she idolized her mom growing up.

- Jordan (Daughter of The Genie)

- A fickle and temperamental teen, who struggles with shapeshifting and hates that she’s not as effortlessly charming and funny as her dad. Not constrained by bottle magic but will only give out wishes when it suits her.

- Melody Triton (daughter of Queen Ariel Triton and King Eric Caspian, granddaughter of King Triton of Atlantica and great niece to Ursula and Morgana the sea witches)

- Adventurous, loves the sea, often finds trouble without meaning to

- April Liddell (daughter of Alice, official ambassador to Wonderland)

- April and Melody are usually stumbling into new realms and new adventures

- Jane Darling (daughter of Wendy Darling, official correspondent with Neverland)

- First ever Lost Girl, good friends with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell

- Arabella Triton (Daughter of Attina Triton and heir to the Atlantica throne)

- Niece of Ariel, cousin of Melody, Attina is a strict mom like her father before her, but she means well and Arabella knows it

Worldbuilding

- Auradon is a magical country. The royalty of each Disney movie rules a kingdom within Auradon, basically kingdoms are like cities within this country.

- Haven’t decided who made Auradon Prep, but it’s a prestigious boarding school where students learn about the world, how to hone their magic if they have any, and how to rule a kingdom one day if they are royalty.

- Candidates for who made the school are the Fairy Godmother, the Blue Fairy, the Enchantress, or Belle and the Beast/Adam. Maybe it’s a council of fairies, and Belle and Adam were like the top donors since it would be founded closest to their kingdom?

- The Fairy Godmother is the only one canonically who has the power to reverse time, so as a protective measure and to make an example of the past villains of each kingdom, she plucks the villains from their timelines right before their deaths and the council of Fairies combines their magic to make the barrier on the Isle of the Lost, a veritable prison island where the villains could rehabilitate themselves. It was seen as a more humane punishment that made the royals sleep better at night.

- Auradon the country is like a smaller version of Europe with a faster moving history, where technology, fashion, and societal norms progress faster than they did in our world. Ariel and Eric’s kingdom is very Italian inspired, Belle, Adam, Cinderella, Charming, Aurora, and Phillip rule kingdoms in the French corner of the map, Rapunzel, Eugene, Snow, and Florian got the Germany sector, Arendelle is up in the Netherlands/Norway quarter, and there’s an England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales section where the British and American characters came from. Farther off to the East is a land where Agrabah, China, and Kumandra are. In the West, there’s the Polynesian islands, the Americas, all that is pretty far off. It’s like Epcot? Kinda?

- Hades is content with his status on the island because he knows he’s a god, he rules the underworld, and although Zeus has him on a leash now where he can only manifest within the Barrier or in the Underworld, he’s biding his time. He’s immortal, and everyone will fall into his domain eventually, he just has to let the others do all the heavy lifting and then swoop in to claim the throne in all the chaos.

- Chernabog and Maleficent hate being limited, and they’re two of the most powerful beings on the Isle, so it was inevitable that a partnership would develop between them.

- I just realized how many single dads there are in my rewrite. Gaston, Smee, Long John Silver, Jafar, and to some extent Dr. Facilier even though he’s a bit closer with Morgana than John is with Ursula. Drizella, Queen of Hearts, and Mother Gothel are the only single mothers, I guess if you consider that Hades wouldn’t be much of a presence in Ginny’s life. I presume you could also consider Maleficent a single mom, if Chernabog is just as distant as Hades is.

- I really glossed over how the Bimbettes each gave Gaston a son and each left him, he really is the epitome of Manipulate, Mansplain, Manwhore.

- Just like in the movies, there’s an animal world that goes along with the human world events, but they don’t really intersect. Scar, Sabor, and Shere Khan don’t talk to humans except for in very select cases, like Mowgli who was raised by wolves. Mice in themselves have their own special case, where Cinderella and others close to her can understand their language, but they’ve got their whole mouse society thing going on, like with Basil and the Rescuers. This set up is how we get Robin Hood and other such anthro animal characters, and how they’re separate from the main human stories.

- So far Kronk and Anastasia are two of the most prominent former villains to be reformed and brought to Auradon. They were released on good behavior before any of the villains paired up and had kids, and they were part of an early effort to try and reform some of the island residents that ultimately went nowhere. Kronk has a very popular restaurant that features traditional South and Central American cuisine, and Anastasia lives with her baker husband in Cinderella’s kingdom. The other two in this failed experiment were Drizella and the King of Hearts, but Drizella proved unwilling to change, and the King hasn’t done much with his new life of freedom since he lacks direction without the Queen of Hearts. Drizella was returned to the island under Lady Tremaine’s custody and the King elected to return to his queen’s side on his own.

- Ok so there’s a bit of a plothole in my rewrite, and that’s how the Isle of the Lost functions. It’s full of villains, so all the heroes don’t have to deal with them or the trauma of having them killed, so the only people who can be in charge of managing the residents of the Isle within its borders are villains. The good fairies and magic users of the world created the barrier, but they’re not gonna govern the people inside, yknow? So who governs? I envisioned the Isle as being divided into gang territories run by the most powerful villains, but surely the fairies would’ve seen that coming? So they should’ve put someone powerful in charge, at least at first, in the hopes that they’d maintain order. And I think that character should be Hades. He’s a god, he oversees the dead and most of these villains were killed in their original timelines, so he’d be familiar with them and their weaknesses that lead to their downfalls. I think we should give Hades a redemption of sorts, where the Olympians put him in charge of ruling the Isle of the Lost in the hope that giving him something else to do among the living this time will keep him out of trouble, but it’s just another chain weighing him down in his own mind, making him hate Zeus even more, so he decides to rule from the shadows and lets the villains run amok. Mother Gothel is the only one who has an inkling of his true power, on his own he can rival Chernabog and Maleficent combined.

#disney #long post #descendants #Disney descendants #Disney movies

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adistiany · 7 months ago

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STUDIO CABANA: THE TWO SIDES OF LOVE

When we are in love, we will think it is the best feeling ever. The fuzzy feeling that tickles in the stomach, the warm burning sensation on the face and neck that we cannot control, and the skip of our shoes when we walk towards the person who has our heart in their palms.

That’s what Yukari Maki feels for Yuusuke Kusaka nowadays as she steps the stairs to the school’s rooftop. There, she sees how divine Kusaka is in her eyes; his features that are accentuated by the sun, the soft locks of his raven hair sway with the breeze, and, most importantly, when his eyes dart and lock eyes with her, she swears she catches sight of how his dark irises are glimmering like pearls from this distance.

When Yukari Maki falls in love, she falls hard to the point where she scrapes her knees for falling too hard. On the ground, she’s bleeding and winching in pain, not from the fall but from the realization that her heart will never beat in rhyme and sync with his, for his heart is clutched by another woman. This is a story of an unrequited love….

Studio Cabana is an on-going shoujo manga series written and illustrated by Uma Agri. The series was first released on 24 March 2021 and has been serialized in Pixiv Sylph magazine, published by ASCII Media Work. As for now, the manga has six volumes published in Japan, and sadly, the series has not been licensed in English yet.

The story of Studio Cabana begins with a diligent high school girl named Yukari Maki who keeps scolding Yuusuke Kusaka, the rumored delinquent classmate, for skipping class and school duties. One day, she uncovers that he is a member of a band when she follows him into a music studio called Studio Cabana, and she also discovers that Kusaka writes and sings a love song with such a lovely, melancholic singing voice. From that day on, she is enthralled right away by his presence, voice, and heart.

This manga doesn’t deserve my 3.5 stars rating because I still can’t get over the story and characters in it. I believe I have to change it to a higher number like 4 to 4.5 stars. Oh, but I digress. Studio Cabana is a shoujo manga that hits the nail on the head for me; something I’d been craving but didn’t know what it is before. It’s full of drama and pretty complex for a shoujo. Also, it’s a slow burn romance with a focus on the characters relationship and its development.

Studio Cabana does a great job of blending typical shoujo elements with dark and mature tones. We have soft and funny interactions between the protagonist and the male lead, and on the other side, we see the complicated love affair between the male lead and another woman. It’s like, one is a dynamic of sincerity and welcomeness, and the other is poisonous and destructive. One is showing the beauty of the world; the other is isolating the person from the world. One is pure love, and another is toxic love. To see two different sides of love in a love triangle is not something that I expected in a manga.

To shoujo demographics, love is sacred, love is everything that brings good and happiness. When a manga presents that love can’t be all sunshine and rainbows, and love isn’t shown in a perfect or idealized way, that shatters the concept of love in shoujo, in my opinion. It's not every day to see the portrayal of love realistically. In the real world, love can make people greedy, blind, and dependent on it. It’s such an interesting topic because love, as an abstract feeling, can be a very complex concept for humans. This manga addresses a deep subject that can be quite handful to write, but I’m glad the mangaka does it well.

As Nicole mentioned on her blog romancemangarecs.com in her review: “…Love isn’t romanticized in Studio Cabana. We see some difficult relationships, manipulative personalities, tons of emotion and struggles among the characters, and of course an unrequited love. The author explores a really important topic about relationships and the difficulty of leaving emotionally abusive partners.” I couldn’t agree more.

Obviously, the intention of the author is not always making it a sad, tragic, angsty love story. We get to see the main characters having their sweet moments together as they’re slowly progressing their friendship. It’s also a story about self-discovery, self-acceptance, and self-improvement. One needs to learn and grow before they can break free from toxic patterns and unhealthy relationship dynamics. One needs to learn and grow before they open themselves up to new possibilities in love and understand the true meaning of it.

All in all, Studio Cabana is a manga that surpasses my expectations. It's a compelling series that keeps me interested and captivated by the plot, themes, and characters. I can’t wait to see more of it, and I’m glad I discovered this manga. At the end of the day, it’s always stories that I didn’t expect to love!

#manga review #mangareview #studio cabana #studiocabana

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distortedsense · 2 years ago

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Art I made for my fantasy book The Day My Dream Died about a young woman who lives in a world where some people can access a dream realm called the undermind which reflects humanity’s perception of reality. The undermind also breeds dark creatures called fiends which feed on the thoughts and emotions of people. The people who can access the undermind are known as dwellers, and are often relied upon by the people around them to protect, defend and heal those touched by fiends the way a healer wards off disease and helps close wounds. Some societies are more or less proactive in upholding a practice of this tendency, and the view of what it means to have access to the undermind can be starkly different from one culture to another.

Our protagonist, a young woman named Lise, is pursuing her sister who has fled home under the influence of fiends. The problem is, her sister’s fiends seem to have become contagious and spread in the towns she has passed through. Lise finds herself overwhelmed with the number of people dead and dying in her sister’s wake and struggles to catch up in the midst of the terrible chaos. The fiends are devouring people at a rate unseen in recent history. Lise wants to do more than merely survive but even her survival is starting to seem dubious in the face of the fiends’ new developments.

The world this story takes place on is known by many of its peoples as Komalle. It is a planet whose life may seem a little surreal, owing to the fact that a single, full day/night cycle takes longer to finish than 400 of our days and nights. They count days like we count years. Broken into 4 quadrants of 10 weeks of 10 cycles of 10 hours of 100 minutes of 100 seconds. Lise is 18 nights old at the beginning of her journey, the rough equivalent of 23 years old in our world.

Something darker, a spot of perfect darkness, resides behind the mind of Lise. An inherited illness her mother had which she knows only as NON beckons her into a stasis near death. Something deeper than comatose, an undeath, which had plagued her mother throughout her life. For much of Lise’s childhood her mother lay in a cool, near death state. It happened upon Lise herself in her adolescence and she fears how a part of her yearns to return to it and remain in it forever.

tip of the iceberg for u my little tiny captains 🦔 🫡 welcome to a new world

I want the writing and art to be accessible for free on the internet but if you like the story/art and want to support me you can check out the posters I have available below. If you like a piece I haven’t put up there send me a message or leave a comment somewhere letting me know and I’ll add it.

Art Prints

I will end up reinvesting most of whatever I make into the art because that’s basically all I want to do in life anyway. Trying to do a lot with a little here, of course, and I’ll always seek to do more with whatever I have within my grasp. I have pretty severe chronic pain so I’m well accustomed to trying to accomplish a lot within certain limits. I think this project is pretty ambitious for a one person show but when the material is accumulated for everyone to see and all is said and done I think this will really be a great fantasy epic for the ages. It’s got my flair for the distorted and surreal but ultimately wondrous. It is epic adventure and horror and mental anguish and beautiful cursed trees and death and life and other assorted especially cool and radical fantasy psychicologicalphilosophickeries as they say. Please check the story out for free and let me know what you liked or loved. I share new chapters every couple weeks sort of staggered out as I have few readers latching on yet/caught up to what’s already out. Anyway, enjoy!

ART, FOOL! ART!

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pretentious-art-love · 25 days ago

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Comic Reviews #4 - Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida

At first, I watched the anime, but it skips a lot of the story, so I didn’t like it. The manga, however, is a different story, and honestly, it's much better. The story is about a guy who lives in a world where ghouls exist—beings that look human but have stronger abilities and, on top of that, can only eat humans to survive. Eventually, the guy ends up becoming a ghoul due to an accident, and he has to struggle with the fact that he needs to eat people if he wants to keep living.

I felt at times there were too many characters. There was a point when I also felt that the manga had moved away from the core conflict of what it means to be a ghoul and shifted more toward power scaling and gang wars, but then I realized… that wasn’t the point. The point of the manga is the suffering we inflict on and receive from each other when living with other people. Two phrases that deeply impacted me were:

"To live is to feed on others" and "We have to learn to live with the losses."

And I fell in love with the story. By putting you in the shoes of someone who destroys humans to survive, the comic forces you to confront the idea that at some point, you will have to step over others to achieve your dreams, even if it’s just to inconvenience them slightly. The comic asks: what does it really mean to be human and take from others? To make them suffer? And if you’re a ghoul—which could symbolize being a selfish person—how much are you willing to take to justify your own existence?

The protagonist of Tokyo Ghoul goes through that phase where he becomes much more powerful after suffering a lot. Now, yes, maybe this romanticizes a bit the narrative of martyrdom, which we know isn’t the healthiest (if you look up Tokyo Ghoul, what comes up the most is the protagonist acting all crazy, almost like, “Haha, look, I’m the Joker! They made me crazy!” and it’s almost laughable). But even so, the comic stays focused on his story and never idealizes the protagonist, instead showing him as someone driven by his pain. Evangelion tried to do something similar with the hedgehog analogy, but I think Tokyo Ghoul achieved far better results.

8/10

#tokyo ghoul #manga #comic #book review #literature #drama #science fiction #ghouls #psychological manga

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ingo-ingoing-ingone · 2 years ago

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Chapter Fic Disclaimer

Okay, so since I’m about to post chapter 1 of my fic I’ve been working on for a while, I want to make this disclaimer of sorts to make a few things clear to those who read it!

So the AU is a Conjoined Twin AU.

I have seen a few comments that are wary of such an idea, and for good reason! Historically, both in fiction and real life, such people have been posed more as a novelty than anything. I have taken great pains to avoid this.

So a few things I want everyone to know about this fic:

-First off, it has a happy ending. The entire thing may not be written yet, but I do know the entire plot start to end. There will be no track changes. It will end happily. Not bittersweet, not ‘happy in the afterlife,’ but truly happy. I guarantee that 100%.

-I have done research. I am not winging this! My goal is to be accurate and respectful. The thing is, however, that conjoined twins that have survived to adulthood AND have not been separated are exceedingly rare. It’s not exactly a topic with a huge wealth of resources to look into. And, seeing as every set of twins is unique, I have made some decisions that are pure speculation. I do work in the medical field and know quite a lot about biology, so it’s not being pulled from nowhere, but yes, an amount of extrapolation has to be done. I am continuing to research various topics as I write.

-This is still a story about Ingo and Emmet. Their lifestyle looks different, yes, and I enjoy going into that! But this is indeed a story about them as people. Their conjoined-ness isn’t used for shock and awe. They’re still the Subway Masters that everyone, both within the story and in the real world, knows and loves.

-On the other side of this coin, this is a story about Ingo and Emmet. It contains angst, tragedy, and a bit of horror. Of course there is also a boatload of healing, comfort, and happy things, but I cannot deny that they are the protagonists and they’ll go through some shit. The canon characters sure have! (Well, we know Ingo has.) A few chapters (my current guess is 3 out of some large, still unknown number) will be... Rough. I will tag and warn for everything. And no, this won’t be like... gratuitous and repetitive violence or anything perpetrated by ableist people or stuff like that. It’s really hard to explain without spoiling everything. (I have also worked to tone down my descriptors of injuries. I used to write really, really tragic stuff and I assist with surgeries as part of my job, sometimes it just led to a lot.) Please expect this story to make you sad sometimes though like I said, it all turns out good in the end.

-As always, I focus on human emotions, both the good and the bad and the resiliency of such. If you have read my other fics, it’ll be written in the same style. I will touch on very real feeling topics and reactions, but as I am not a fan of miscommunication, these characters are for the most part good at talking about things! And, as always, there is a huge focus on familial love <3 These characters matter to each other!

-Please... Remember that I’m a hobby writer and a person. :,) I am terribly, HORRIBLY nervous to post this fic because I am afraid I will mis-portray something and someone will get angry or hurt. If I mess up something, please be kind, okay? Absolutely let me know, but I ask you to not jump to the worst conclusions. Like I said, I am dealing with a lot of unknowns that even research cannot always fill. But believe me when I say I’m trying my absolute best and putting my all into this fic.

That is all, I just wanted to outline all of this for everyone! This is fiction, things happen and conflict occurs because there is a plot, but I am treating all these characters as fully rounded people and hope I am doing their story justice!

I will link this in the main AN of the fic and will add it on in a reblog to all of my update posts in the future. I will add onto this post via clearly noted edits if I need to as well.

#submas #submas angst #ingo #emmet #submas fanfic #submas conjoined AU #<-- that is the tag to block if you don't wanna see this au!#also! i would definitely love asks about it if you have questions!#please don't feel shy either #my anon is always on <3 #but again please please please be nice #continuing to do research! both into the science here #into personal stories #and also other media portrayals #above all though #i hope everyone likes this fic #<3

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puppiesandnightlock · 10 months ago

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Link: A Robin’s Song Chapter 5

summary + additional info: here

The song had been finished and recorded without the help of his brothers this time, however he would delay in posting it.

How would Jon react, if he knew that HE was actually Robin, the same Robin Jon followed on everything and fawned over.

This was a good plan, in his opinion. After all, they’d made a pact to go to every school event in high school, and if they didn’t have dates, they’d go together.

It was right before lunch two weeks before the dance that he noticed Haisley with a ukulele and had a sinking feeling in his gut.

Two of the cheerleaders from her team came up behind her with a banner between them as Haisley began to strum out the opening notes of ‘I Do Adore’.

He watched Jon’s inner turmoil before smiling and pecking her on the cheek, accepting the promposal. The bile began bubbling up, leaving the other teen feeling both disgusted at himself and the display.

He bid them goodbye with congratulations and went to hide in the library, his default setting at this point.

He bemoaned his woes to Akira, who had been sitting with Skylar, the girl talking their ear off. It seemed as though they’d been cornered and forced into human interaction that was not with a chosen being. They’d both stopped to listen to Damian, sympathetic looks on their faces.

“Are you still going to prom, then?” Skyler asked, with a hopeful look on her face.

“Jon asked me to come even if he went with Haisley so i guess so. He wants to set me up so that I'm not going alone.”

Akira stifled a laugh before settling their features. “Sorry, sorry. Just tell him you have a date, he’ll accept it.”

“But I don’t?”

“Go with us!” Skyler chirped. “I’ve been talking Akira up about coming and i think i’ve got them convinced!”

Dark brown eyes held an expression of suffering as they gave a nod. “If you come, I’ll go, but you have to promise to suffer with me.”

“Deal. I’d rather you two over a random person I don't know.”

And so, our protagonist was roped into going to what is usually the big plot point in most high school centered stories.

He had posted the song, the feedback intense as people psychoanalyzed the latest from him, speculating the more upbeat and hopeful tone of the song.

“I hope this means Robin is closer to getting their person.” Jon sighed one afternoon, as they went through the Kent’s attic in search of hand-me-down suits.

“Unlikely.” Damian scoffed bitterly. “Life isn’t a fairytale, and I highly doubt this will work out for this Robin person.”

Jon rolled his eyes, the beginning of a scowl tugging at his lips. It was odd, the immediate sense of defensiveness in the air.

“You don’t always have to be so pessimistic, Damian, and besides, I’m not an idiot, don’t treat me like one.”

“Why are you so defensive about this?” he shot back, pissed at himself for taking the bait.

“Because if Robin can’t get their happy ending, what guarantees I'll ever get mine!?”

The silence that followed was painful, and Jon swiveled around, continuing his now angry search through the boxes.

Damian felt a pang of guilt, this had been happening more often than it used to, and the idea that their decade plus a few years friendship was breaking so easily made him panic.

“Hey.” He said after a beat, a tad awkwardly. He reached for his friend and placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” The response came too quick. “I’m sorry too, I shouldn't have snapped like that. I’m just…wound a little tight right now.”

The tension dissipated a bit, the suits they’d been looking for were found after a few more minutes. The attic was more of a mess then it had originally been, and they struggled slightly to get down.

Before Damian left to go home, in a bold action, he grabbed Jon’s hand, the taller one looking down in surprise, twin blossoms of pink appearing on his cheeks.

“You’ll get your happy ending.” He told him, all the sincerity he possessed in the words. “And when you do, I'll be there with you to push you forward.”

Even if I'm not the one you have your ending with.

Jon watched him, some emotion that Damian couldn’t place shadowed in the deep blues, contrasting the smile that appeared at the words.

“I’ll hold you to it, Dame.” He said, squeezing their entwined hands.

The night of the Prom, everyone gathered at the Kent’s, Haisley and some of her friends, plus Damian, Akira, Skylar and Colin, who turned out to be a mutual friend of Jon’s. They would be taking two cars, but not before the customary pictures.

There were framed ones of Damian and Jon going to several dances together or with a group to dances around the house, and this last one would serve as a closing point.

For everything.

His heart squeezed watching Haisley and Jon take couple-y pictures, but he laughed and smiled and heckled with the rest of them, playing the part of the good best friend.

Anyone who looked close enough could see that it was fake, but the night dragged on until they were finally piled into two cars and dropped off at the school ready for a night of cliche and most likely spiked punch.

Haisley, as predicted, went over to mingle with her other friends, leaving Jon with Damian, Akira and Colin, Skylar having been dragged off to look at some art piece or the other.

Jon and Colin chatted idly, Akira sipping some drink Skylar had offered her and sending meaningful looks to Damian whenever there was a pause in the conversation. He ignored such looks nearly the entire time.

“I’m going to go get some food.” They pronounced loudly, after several ignored looks.

“Cool.” Colin paused, looking at them curiously, Damian sending them a death glare.

They kicked Colin in the shin, looking between Jon and Damian. He mouthed an “oh” and turned to Jon.

“I’m gonna go get some food too, just gonna ah, go..” He jogged off to follow Akira, whose voice was heard sighing.

“I suppose subtlety is not a word in your vocabulary.”

“Well.” Jon’s mouth quirked. “You have any idea what that was about?”

“Absolutely none.” Damian made a soft clicking noise, turning back to Jon with a small grin.

“How do you like this so far?” The blue-eyed boy nodded towards the filled auditorium.

“It's…alright, I suppose.” he shrugged, looking around. He scowled as he turned to see colin and skyler turn around like they hadn’t been staring at them, Akira taking a sip of her drink and nodding towards the dance floor.

He flushed, and ignored them. He and Jon kept up the idle conversation, until one of “Robin”’s covers came on and Jon looked at him, eyes shining. Damian inhaled, and opened his mouth, both him and Jon speaking at the same time.

“Hey, do you wanna…”

“Will you..”

They dissolved into giggles. “You first.” Damian laughed, heart pounding.

“You wanna dance?” He asked, stumbling over the words in a rush to get them out.

Damian felt his stomach flip and a soft smile played on his lips.

“Of course.”

They made their way to the floor, a few cheers coming from Damian’s “wingpeople”, which were yet again ignored.

The two mingled with the rest of the crowd, eyes sparkling and laughter ringing out. They twirled and bounced around, and for that time, Haisley was gone, the worries were gone, the ever-present weight that was bringing down their friendship was lifted.

“Okay, students, it’s time for the first slllooww dance of the night! I’d like to crown out Prom King and Queen,”

The smile faltered as the dance floor cleared and Jon and Haisley walked up the steps.

His other friends surrounded him, offering sympathetic smiles or a hand of the shoulder.

They would have made it either way, as the high school’s quarterback and the cheer captain, they’d been the it couple since they’d gotten together.

This was normal and it shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did.

Both with shining plastic crowns, they took their places as the opening notes of a slow cover of a song played.

Damian startled as he heard his own voice coming through the speakers in a soft, honeyed tone.

“Wise men say, only fools rush in…but I can’t help falling in love with you.”

They began to dance, and he blocked out the entire room, focusing only on Jon and Haisley, marveling at how the lighting made them both glow. It truly seemed like the ending of a fairy tale, the couple dancing in the moonlight as the screen faded to black.

He could hear the soft sigh, the “Oh, Damian….I’m so sorry..” and his own voice painting a sweet picture of a couple this song was never intended for.

The cover he had done had been after a night going down memory lane, pouring over the pictures both families had kept, strawberry ice cream and cuddling together and all the things that he loved so dearly about their relationship being shoved into those few hours.

None of this was ever intended for Haisley to be included in, not his life, not his relationships, none of it. But there she was, in the spot he wished he could be in.

This only solidified what he knew all along.

That life would never be his. Could never be his.

“Like a river flows, surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things are meant to be….”

Not them. They weren’t meant to be.

The hand on his shoulder reeled him back to the high school dance and he wrenched away from the grip, turning away from the scene. His back was to the couple and his friends held back.

“Let’s give him some space guys.” Akira said, moving them away.

“If you need a ride, let me know, man.” Colin pointed to his phone and followed Akira.

Skyler gave him a cupcake from one of the tables surrounding them and followed the rest to a spot in the back.

He kept his eyes downcast making his way through the crowd, all of couples now heading over to join the Prom royalty.

The hot prickling at the corners of his eyes was becoming more and more irritating and he broke out into a run as he made it out of the Gym.

Dryness turned to tears, burning hot trails down his face. His vision blurred and he slowed his sprint down, coming to the football field. He stayed behind the bleachers and pulled his knees to his chest, angrily scrubbing at the tears.

This was always bound to happen, and he knew for a fact that he never should have held out for a happy ending he knew would never come.

It was funny, however, he supposed, that this happened on prom night. Just like any ordinary cliche high school romance. This was reality, though, and in reality, no one got their happy ending.

‘If I were a girl, I would say I was crying in my prom dress.’ The thought popped in his head and it was so absurd for the moment that he laughed, a small, tearful noise.

His fingers tapped out a rhythm without his consent and hesitantly he tried out the words, startled to find that out of his misery there was perhaps something in for it.

Damian inhaled deeply, and took out his phone, telling the people to be on the lookout for a new song releasing sometime next month, titled ‘Prom Dress.’

He brushed himself off and decided if he was going to wallow in the disaster that was his life, he would do it in comfort.

Rubbing at his eyes, he reached for his phone and hesitantly let Colin know he’d like a ride. It would be only in his benefit to extend some more trust to these friends of his, after all, what did he have to lose anymore?

He woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, fuzzy images of the night before in his head.

Rolling over, he picked up his phone, ignoring all the notifications from his ROBIN accounts and going directly to his messages. There were two numbers he didn't know, from both Akira and Skyler telling him they got his number from Colin and asking if he was alright.

One from Colin asking the same, and several missed messages from Jon.

<-- J