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spaghettificationandpretzels · 5 months ago

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The Glass Merchant Part One

Masterlist

Contains: Fluff, mild angst, slow burn.

4.5K words

The beginning

Hydromora was an unfamiliar place to Kai; he thought he knew the whole universe, but since the Motherworld's defeat, a whole new trade stream had opened up, and so had his job prospects, all be it a little more moral than before the fall. He arrived at the market just as night began to fall, hopping off the steam transport ship at the dock as the water beneath him glowed blue with each movement.

The air was rich with spice, the sound of bartering and coins sliding across wooden tables floating on the wind as he walked through the stalls. It wasn't lost on him that he was drawing attention; the strange looks from stallholders and customers alike making him feel less than welcome.

"Kind stranger." He turned towards the voice, and an elderly man lifted two crocked fingers up to his face, moving them backwards as if to pull a hood away. Kai understood the message, pushing the hood off his face before walking to the stall. The man looked him up and down and smiled. "Can I help you with something?"

Kai nodded. "Ay, I'm looking for a stall selling pretty glass things, clocks to be exact."

The man pointed behind Kai's left shoulder. "Follow the broad path through the wooden wares, you'll see a sign to the glass seller soon enough." There was a coldness in the man's gaze, and he looked Kai over. "You should relax. You look jumpy, and we don't like that."

He got the sense that he was still being watched, even though most of the eyes on him had turned away once his hood was lowered. "Thank you."

The man smiled. "You best be on your way now."

He gave the man one last thank you and walked away, following the directions until he came upon what he was looking for. The owner had her back to him, her curly hair in a bun as she worked, bent over a desk. She clearly heard him as he approached, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side before she returned to her work. "There's nothing for sale here that you can buy."

He loved a challenge, and something in her tone provoked him in just the right way. "I'll pay you handsomely." He looked at her goods, and it was apparent why his employer wanted one of her clocks. Each piece was carefully crafted from fine, coloured glass, from tiny pocket watches to grandfather clocks as tall as he was, and jewellery, where the glass sparkled like stone and knives with their handles and scarabs, inlaid intricate reliefs.

She spun around, and he had to suppress his laugh at the sight, her strange glasses making her scowling eyes look huge. "I only sell to those who will appreciate my work." There was a thud as the glasses landed on the table, and she stood from her chair, her head coming to his chin as she met his eye. "So you see, your statement about paying me is a waste."

She looked like a dream in the warm glow of the lantern, and he remained undeterred. "You got a name?"

Her eyes crinkled with interest. "You don't already know it?" He shook his head, and she blinked up at him, and a rare prickle of self-consciousness came over him as she studied him. "You aren't here on behalf of Magnus Voytek?"

He huffed, offended at her statement as if he would do anything for a Motherworld banker. "No, I don't procure for him. I'm here for a man named Darius, he wants one of your clocks for his wife."

She lifted her hand to her face in embarrassment. "I am sorry for my rudeness. Since the fall, that man has been trying to put his money into whatever he can to keep himself from the gallows, and my work is just his lastest attempt." She extended her hand with a smile. "My name is Minna, by the way."

He took her hand and mirrored her smile. "Kai."

She gestured around as the mood shifted. "Do you have any ideas what your employer is looking for?"

He nodded and pointed to the clock hanging on the back wall. "He said she likes birds." The piece would be well worth her price. It was a scene of tiny bluebirds, fine pink flowers and lush vines for the clock hands.

She lifted it off the wall and held it before him, and he readied himself to start haggling. "Good choice. It's four hundred darams for the clock and a lifetime of repairs."

He sucked on his tongue and shook his head, leaning in with a smirk as he turned on the charm. "That's a bit steep, surely you can drop the price for a man in love?"

She shook her head. "If the man is that in love, he can come and find me himself, and then I'll drop the price. Four hundred is my price."

He pressed his lips together, that just wouldn't do. "Come on now, Love, three hundred and fifty, and I'll throw in one free job from me."

Her smile gave him some hope, he was getting somewhere. "I have everything I need right here, and I want for nothing. You offering your services is a waste of time. The clock costs four hundred; that's what your man will pay, or he'll get nothing."

He sighed and hung his head. "You drive a hard bargain, Minna. Three hundred and sixty."

Her shoulders fell as she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kai, my price is my price. If there's nothing else you want, you'll have to move on, I have close soon."

He decided to be bold, taking her hand and laying it on his chest over his heart. She made half an effort to pull away but stopped when he placed his hand over hers. "I'm a romantic Minna, as sure as my heart beats. You can drop your price for me."

She wasn't sure what to say; between the heat coming off his rock solid chest and the roughness of his massive hand, it was hard to think. "Three hundred and ninety-nine, no less."

He grinned and dropped her hand, and he didn't miss how it lingered in midair, nor the way she wouldn't meet his eye. "You got a deal."

He reached into his pocket and unloaded a pile of coins, counting each one out as he slid them over to her side of the booth, but she stopped him when he was about halfway through. "Half now, the rest tomorrow, I don't have time to pack it tonight."

He was giddy; sure, he only got a single daram off, but he still won. Only when Minna turned her back to place the coins away did he notice that the market had begun to empty out. The thick panels of glass and metal emerging from the ground to wrap around the simple wooden booths was a strange sight, and he realised he may have misjudged the planet as much more backward than it was.

His suspicion was confirmed when the line of people leaving parted to allow two soldiers to walk through. While the expressions on their faces were pleasant, the guns they had slung over their shoulders told him trouble was not tolerated. "Relax, they only shoot at Motherworlders."

"Shite, this place is a little deceptive." He relaxed a little as he watched them help the citizens with their pack-up, and the symbols on their uniforms fussed at his memory as they drew closer.

"You should really have a look around, we are the most technically advanced planet in five systems. We just choose to live a simple life." She waved as the soldiers walked by, and they watched as the glass covering rose up over her stall, only moving away after giving Kai a thorough once-over.

"Ay, I guess I will." He watched her with wrapped interest as she pulled a small cookie out of her pocket and placed it in the lantern in her hand, and to his surprise, the light was not coming from a candle but a cluster of the softest looking creatures that grew brighter as they ate. "What in the bleedin' 'ell are those?"

"Lantern bees." She let one crawl out on her finger and held her hand out as it crawled around her palm, a little bit of cookie held between two of its tiny legs as it ate. It wasn't very large, only slightly smaller than her thumb, but she seemed to hold genuine affection for the creature. "They are wonderful little things. Everyone has a hive in their home; they make sure our crops grow, give us honey and light out lanterns, and in turn, we keep them safe when the storms hit."

She didn't part from him as they started to walk towards the boats, and he made himself comfortable in her company for the short time it would last. "I might be a bit late getting here, seeing as I have to leave my ship and take a shuttle." It was rare that he couldn't land on the planet, even rarer that he had to park on the outer edge and take transport, but with each passing moment he spent there, he realised it was because they had something to protect.

"I can take you to the inn. It's cheap, and you'll get a good meal. That way you won't have to do the shuttle two step." It was getting cold now, and she pulled her coat tighter around her as they drew closer to the water.

"Well that would be grand." Now that they had reached the docks, there were soldiers everywhere now, still just as pleasant and helpful as the first ones. "Why are there so many of them." He paused at her supposition look. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

Her eyes twinkled like she knew a fun secret, and she pointed to a brightly coloured boat painted in the same style as her clocks. "Pray you never have to find out."

When they arrived at her boat, she hung the lantern on the pole at the bow but shook him off when he reached down to help her unlash it. She did, however, accept his hand when she climbed in and only let it go when he was seated opposite her on the boat's second seat. The blue glow in the water he noticed when he docked was even brighter now, so much so that it lit the paths of the boats as they made their way home.

"It's algae, it glows when the water moves." She handed him one ore, then used the other to push away, and they were off, rowing in tandem as she guided them through the water.

He snuck glances at her in the glimmer of the planet's moon, and the mix of blue and purple it gave off gave her big, dark eyes a shade of sadness. "So Minna, is there a fella waiting at home for you?"

She shook her head. "Nope, just my fisher bear. His name is Zephy. Is there a lady waiting on your home planet with the porch light on?" She knew by how he stiffened what she had just done. "I'm sorry, I didn't think."

He huffed, it wasn't the first time his lack of a home to return to had been inadvertently thrown in his face. "No harm done, Love. No, there's no one waiting for me anywhere."

The boat had slowed, and her hand landed on his knee. "We have all been touched by the Motherworld's cruelty, in one way or another."

It was such a simple touch, and despite it being far less intimate than the move he had made to secure the sale earlier in the day, something fluttered in his chest. He dared not question her when he finally pulled his eyes away from the water and gazed at her face; there was something there that was so painfully familiar. "Ay, but the war is over now and we have peace."

She smiled, and the boat went back to its original speed. "Yes we do."

They travelled for another twenty minutes, their conversation consisting of Kai's question about Minna's planet while she laughed and replied to him like he was asking about the colour of his own eyes. When he focused on the water, he could see the fish moving between the boats, large dark shapes occasionally shifting the water more as the boats rocked with their movement. In the distance, on all sides, he could see land and the faint lights, and he couldn't quite put a word to the body of water they were travelling on.

Eventually, the sea in front of them slowly lit up with the lights of houses, and he was in awe as they came into view. Many islands took over the landscape, and the glass-domed roofs of homes stood out against the square berry-covered hedges. There was a land border around each passel of homes, and the pathways were rimmed with more plants.

The boat slowed once more, and she angled the boat towards an island and into a channel. The waterway they moved down was only big enough for two boats, and he could see more of the homes as they moved towards the inn. Every front yard had a small garden filled with strange plants he had never seen, and he could see the glow of the lantern bees in little boxes next to every front door.

The boat turned into a larger house, its fourth level sticking out above the skyline of the rest of the domes. He noticed the inn sign as they went through the open fence before finally stopping next to the boat tie. "We're here. You'll get a good feed and a warm bed, and I'll pick you up bright and early tomorrow."

He held onto a post as he climbed out, finally happy he was back on solid ground. "Thank you, Love."

She smiled and began her journey home. "Goodnight Kai."

He stood leaning against a yellow fruited tree and waved as he left, yelling after her. "Goodnight Minna."

****

Kai hadn't slept so well in decades, he woke up to birds singing and the sunrise in his window instead of the hum of his ship and the endless darkness of space.

Knock knock

"Ay?" Being waited on for no reason other than being a guest was new too, and as the door swung open and the smell of pasties filled the air, a familiar longing swam in his chest.

"Kind stranger, can I offer you breakfast?" He walked to the cart, piled high with a variety of delicious looking items.

He plucked one of the cart, drawn in by the spoon of bright pink jam in the middle. "Sweet berry jam with butter pastry, good choice. Anything else from the cart?"

He shook his head. "No, thank you." Nevertheless, a steaming cup of tea suddenly appeared, and he took it with a smile.

The cart rolled off, and he headed to the chair by the window. He could hear children swimming in the canal, but mercifully, Minna's boat floated into his view before his thoughts had time to drift to the past.

He wasn't skipping towards the boat, or at least, that's what he told himself as he made his way down the stairs with a noticeable spring. He all but jumped into the boat, and Minna shot him a look as she steadied its rocking. "Well good morning, you're awfully chipper."

He made himself comfortable next to her and took the ore in one hand while he continued his breakfast with the other. "Ay, it is a good morning, Minna, it's been a while since I slept in a real bed."

The place was very different in the daylight; gone was the blue glow of the water, and replaced with it was the bright warmth of the sunlight pouring through the clouds. There were larger boats on the water, too, small sailboats with nets hanging from their sides and steamships moving slowly along while people looked out from the balconies.

"So do you row your way everywhere?" Judging by the lean muscles of her arms, the answer was yes.

She smiled and shook her head warmly as if his question was silly. "In winter, when all the water freezes, some of us walk, and we have transport on the larger islands, but yes I row most places. It's good for me."

He downed the last of his tea and looked at the boat. The floor was covered in little mesh bags filled with fruits and vegetables, and there was a pile of colourful embroidered blankets on the third seat. Without her long coat, he could see the forearms; she had the same strange line tattoos that he had seen on others during his walk through the market yesterday, and curiosity got the best of him as he bent his head towards them. "I swear I've seen those on half the people here, what do they mean?"

"Most of the adults have them, it's a tradition from the old ways." Her tone had shifted to something tinged with a distinctive coldness, and she was all of a sudden very interested in the fish swimming by the boat instead of his eyes.

Her evasiveness wasn't missed. "Ay, but that's not what I asked. I asked what they mean?"

She chuckled softly and shook her head. "I'm afraid you don't want the answer to that question."

He raised his eyebrows. "Alright then, keep your secrets. You said there's no fella at home, what exactly do you do in your spare time?"

She sighed. "Lots of things. Why the sudden interest in me? I'm just a glass merchant."

The charm was back on, his blue eyes looking over her as if to hint at his intention. "Ay, but you're a very pretty glass merchant."

Her head tilted, and her eyes wrinkled as she assessed his words, slightly incredulous at his continued boldness. "Does this work for you every time?"

He smiled as he fought the urge to kiss the chilliness from her plump lips. "I don't have a clue about what you're talking about, care to tell me what you're referring to?"

She huffed, and her grip tightened on the ore as she grew ever more doubtful. "You haggle me for my goods, you ask questions that you ought not to, and now you are trying to charm your way into my pants." He didn't respond right away; he was too stuck trying to decipher the expression on her face. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself, sir?"

His cheeks ached with restraint as he did his best to drop his smile. "I don't know; I'm worried if I say the wrong thing, you'll toss me overboard."

It was her turn to struggle away her smile, and she half glared at him. "I find you quite inappropriate." Despite her point, she didn't move away from him, and their legs still stayed pressed together as they rowed back to the market; when they docked, she still took his offer of an assisting hand and only sighed in protest when picked up her goods are carried them to her stall without asking.

It was a slow walk, and he found himself acting as her assistant as she traded the fruits and vegetables from her garden with the other merchants. When they arrived at her stall, he stood there watching, admiring her efficiency until she had him place the goods on the shelves that were empty when he was there the day before. "Are you going to pay me for all my hard work?"

She nodded. "Yes, in lunch." She swapped her workbench for one of the display tables to face him while she worked and sat down with a sigh. "I have a few things to work on before I pack your clock, you can go and explore if you like, or you're more than welcome to stay."

He smiled and took a seat, leaning his elbows on the bench as he watched her begin to work. "Ay, I think I'll stay." He looked around, nodding his head towards a pile of uncut glass and wooden stencils. "Is there anything I can do? I figure I should earn my keep if you're going to entertain me."

She puffed, although her exasperation was tinged with affection. "I'll give you some glass to cut." She showed him what to do, once again shooting him an unimpressed look as he suggested that she should use a more hands-on approach when he misused the tool, but nevertheless, her hand found its way on top of his as she guided him around the tight bends of the design.

She placed a small bowl of light blue squares before him, and the corners of her mouth lifted in a smile. "Bandages, you might need them."

She was right, but he blamed her for his wounding. Had she not looked so beautiful as she worked, he would have paid more attention to the blade in his hand. There was a pause in the work as a man walked by a huge plate of small glistening berries, and she waved him over with a smile. "Oh Kai, you have to try these."

They conversed in their mother tongue for a moment, and he found himself trying to pick familiar sounds from the melodic speech. Before he could ask for a translation, he was handed a small paper bowl filled with the treats as Minna passed the seller a coin. "I hope you enjoy, kind stranger."

When the man walked away, Kai leaned in as if to ask her a secret. "What's with the kind stranger thing?"

"Why, would you rather we call you distinguished guest?" Her tone was tinged with disgust.

He shook his head. "No, that sounds like something you'd call a Motherworlder."

"Exsalty, now eat your candy." He popped one of the red balls into his mouth a bit down, the crunchy crackly of sweet sugar giving away to the same rich flavour as the jam he had on his breakfast pasty. "Good, right?"

He nodded. "It's fucken grand."

That went on for the rest of the morning as vendors walked by with different foods, and there was something comforting about the way she continued to feed him, like he was visiting an old friend who worried about him just a bit too much when he was away.

He felt a flash of disappointment as she pulled the bird clock off the wall, and with all the glass cut, he busied himself looking at some of her wears, his attention falling to a pocket watch that had a rush of memories flooding his brain. The light yellow cascading blossoms were the same ones from his homeland that his little sister used to wear in her hair, and a lump formed in his throat as the memory of the smell of the flowers wafting over him as she hugged him.

He picked up the piece, running his thumb over the smooth glass face as his heart began to pound. He choked down his feelings enough to question her. "Where did you get the idea for this one."

She looked up from the clock, and his heart rate only doubled when he saw the look of sadness in her eyes. "The flowers are from the fields of Saaldorun. My father brought home a cutting for my mother, he never told us what they were called."

He placed the watch down and smiled softly. "True Loves Kisses, they were my sister's favourite."

She huffed and regarded him as if she sifting through her mind to find something to say. "My mother loved them so much she spent hours with tweezers and a magnifying glass trying to retrieve a seed, then a year getting it to grow. It's still going strong today. I have to admit, they do smell lovely."

"Ay, that they do." Butterflies dashed the walls of his chest as if they were trying to break through his ribs as the pang of grief swirled with something entirely different.

A beat passed before she spoke again. "I am sorry, it's a terrible thing to have nothing left to tether you to where you came from." She reached out, her hand opening and closing as she debated laying her hand on his before she decided against it and returned to her work. "It won't be long now, I just have to make sure it works then I'll have you on your way."

The disappointment was back. "Sure thing, Love." When it was finished, she held it in front of him, and he smiled, and it ticked away. "Ain't that pretty."

She packed it carefully and then placed the box on the bench before sighing, her eyes differing to the jewellery. She picked up a necklace, its tiny pendant displaying two, one grey and one bluebird, locked in a mating dance and placed it in a box before wrapping it. He looked at her, a smile on his face and one eyebrow raised, and she shook her head. "I, too, am a romantic."

He grinned at her, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she shook her head at him. "You are doing it again."

His tongue darted out as he leaned into her space. "Doing what, Love?"

Her eyes crinkled as if he should know what she was talking about. "Looking at me altogether too fondly for a man who has known me for less than a day."

He raised his hand in supplication and smiled. "Ay, perhaps I am altogether too fond of you." He picked up the pocket watch from early and held it up, the watch face dangling from the silver chain. "How much for this one?"

She smiled. "Whatever you feel it's worth."

His eyes drifted to her plump lips as he coiled the chain around his hand. "How 'bout a kiss."

Her hand found his cheek as she grew closer. "Yes, a kiss is a fair price." He closed the distance, sealing his lips to hers as she slid her hands into the loose hair at the nape of his neck. She pulled away, and he licked the kiss from his lips as he spoke. "I better make sure it works for you."

He passed it to her, and she tinkered for a moment, sliding a small pin into a hole before handing it back. "All done."

He placed it into the coat and patted the pocket as if to check it was secure before collecting the other packages and paying her the other half of what he owed her. "I imagine my employer will want to thank you for your kindness."

"Does that mean I should expect you again?" He nodded. "Well then Kai, until next time."

Despite the payday waiting for him a few systems over, he was finding it hard to leave, but he took a deep breath and took a step backwards as he began to walk away. "Ay, until next time Minna."

Part 2

#rebel moon #rebel moon part one a child of fire #fix it fic #kai rebel moon #kai rebel moon/ofc #Kai rebel moon/original female character #the glass merchant #charlie hunnam

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dazais-guardian-angel · 1 year ago

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Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

#bungou stray dogs #meta #bsd season 5 #bsd s5 spoilers #alternatively titled 'when you copium so hard out of stewing in your denial anger and grief that it becomes reality'#is it still copium if there's strong evidence for it? idk #i DON'T know what i'll do if the stuff in this finale ends up being canon :))) make no mistake about that #but until the very moment the schrödinger's cat box is opened and i am forced to acknowledge it with my own two eyes in chapter 111/110.5 #i am choosing to stay calm and rational and look at things with a sound mind... and acknowledge all the signs that are there #of which there are so many #Asagiri is a troll. he has always been a troll and this is more evident than ever lately #and he would know that everyone who watched the finale would take it at face value #never expecting it to go completely differently in the manga #and he's so much smarter than what was in that finale. he would never write those things. i would stake my life on it.#i don't care how many flaws BSD does have that i do acknowledge; he is a good writer in so many ways and he is so much better than /that/#i could fill an entire BOOK (ha ha) with all of the reasons why this finale does not work. seriously it is a never-ending can of worms #of ooc characterizations and plot holes and abandoned threads and straight up CONTRADICTIONS with what has been stated before in the arc #with fukuchi's motivations and presentation; with things that were happening in meursault; just.... so much illogical shit in general #THE MACHINE HEALED THEIR WOUNDS??? ARE YOU FOR REAL????#*sigh* but i said i wasn't gonna rant alskdjgfkdls #tbh though the only REAL thing i need to know that the finale was anime only was what the youtuber i watch pointed out:#that Bram magically regenerated all his clothes. because if it were Asagiri Bram would be naked from the shoulders down fjdkslsaskd #...anyway. This theory is real and true. I am manifesting it into existence 🙏🙏🙏#Asagiri my man...... you have never let me down yet in all the years I've known your series. Please don't let me down now.#I'm trusting in you more than ever right now...... and your ability to blow all our minds in the best possible way #(guys i'm really really really scared deep down; please hold me hahaha ahahahahaaaa- *cries*)#this would the coolest thing in the history of ever though if it happened though. I am SO EXCITED FOR THE POSSIBILITY!!!!!#ASAGIRI YOU SICK AND TWISTED MF; HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME BEG FOR MY FAVES TO SUFFER JUST SO THAT THIS BAD WRITING DOESN'T BECOME REALITY!!!!!!#he knows exactly what he's doing *SCREAMS* :))))))))

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butmakeitgayblog · 5 months ago

Note

I really admire the amount of thought you’ve put into understanding the core of both of these characters in canon. Even in your asks it really shines through how deeply you understand them and it makes your writing of them really next level. All of your clexas are so different but all somehow really ring true in a way. How do you decide how to develop/craft each of your clexas in a way that you feel stays true to the base of the original character in a way? Like, are there core characteristics or motivations you try to keep for either of them across any au? Or an element of their arc/development? I know all of your AUs vary wildly but I wanted to ask because it really comes through that you have thought deeply about what Clarke and lexa either would or wouldn’t do etc.

Ok well first of all, thank you 🥺 that's just an incredibly lovely thing to hear. Really, I've had a righ couple days and this was just such a nice thing to read, that you feel that way about these weird little stories 💕

As for your questions, stuff like this is always jard to answer because while I'd love to give some intelligent, big brained answer, the truth is I'm not entirely sure 😅

I tend to mostly just get an idea for a story and then it kind of... idk, it develops in my head in stages? And it's different every time with every story. I don't go into each story looking to purposefully focus on core elements or characteristics, but rather as the story comes together each character kinda - as absolutely pretentious as this sounds - tells me what parts of them fit best in the story?

For example, MBFW Lexa. Since I've been talking about her a lot lately. Once I knew that she'd be the Jules character, she kind of built herself around the attributes of being devoted and dependable, but jarringly unpredictable at times when she feels it is for greater good. She does things that she thinks are best even when they may hurt herself and other people, because in her mind she is ultimately making the right and rational choice (even if from an outside perspective that may not be true.) With MBFW Clarke, her loyalty and devotion are her driving forces, but also her stubbornness and ultimately her rash decision making when her emotions run high (you'll see 😏). Clarke will go through hell for the people she loves and she is a ride or die bitch, even in the face of her own heartache. That's what she does when she loves someone. So you get these two personalities together that have this intense and unshakable love, but it's one that's also a revolving door of missed opportunities, and staying silent even when they shouldn't for their own percieved thoughts of the greater good, and unwittingly hurting each other in the process. But the love is still there, always.

I guess overall in each fic I just try and go at it with the thought of, "What traits and quirks of themselves would these life experiences have developed most (i.e. moodiness, playfulness, stubbornness, standoffish, nurturing etc.) over the others that they had canon? And ultimately, what about those characteristics would make them love each other in this universe? Because they are still always themselves, even in different universes. And Clarke and Lexa, they love each other. They'll always love each other. But why this time? What about them would draw them together here? What pieces of themselves would connect in this situation? How do they compliment each other in this world?" And then it just builds itself from there.

If that makes sense?

#anon #nice things #got a lil teary eyed ngl

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zopharooni · 1 month ago

Text

"Lament"

A DMAU story, part 3/4 (start / previous / next)

Chaos. That's all that my life has been as of recent.

Now? That's all my life will ever be.

I step into the cult grounds, and immediately I'm greeted with bustling crowds, all working in tandem on one thing or another. Everyone is talking, it's so loud, and yet there is order among them? Strange.

I blend right into the crowds and attempt to locate some building where I can speak to a leader, priest, or someone in charge. I stow my greataxe as to not appear larger or more threatening. I spot a large temple, that seems mostly unoccupied right now, make my way over and slip inside. Immediately, I spot a Rodent follower, clad in better robes than most of the others. They spot me, and immediately draw a sword and rush me, recognizing I am not a member.

I swiftly draw my greataxe, and parry their strike, knocking their sword to the ground. Immediately after, I toss the greataxe to my side, as to show I mean no harm.

"I'm here to join. Who do I talk to?"

"Uh.... We don't really have a leader here, but I'm responsible for educating new members. If you'd like, I can help? First step being... not attacking members." the Rodent meekly states, still on the ground.

"Yes. I wish to devote myself to chaos, and chaos only. Also, you struck first. You simply failed."

The day quickly passes, as I am shown around the cult ground and am outfitted with proper robes, minus the hood, as per my request. I wish for the heretics to know my face. The education process was very fast, as I wish for nothing but to serve Chaos.

The next few months pass by in a blur. I spend this time acquainting myself with beliefs of chaos, and blacksmithing, as to craft my own weapon. One to serve as the hand of chaos. I eventually fashion a wicked glaive to be my weapon of choice. After gaining sufficient trust of the cult, I am allowed to go on solo missionaries. Finally, I can bring the fight to the other cults. I'll start with rogue cults in rotwood, then make my way back to the cults that wronged me.

A year passes, then another, as I hone my skill past that which I was taught.

It's time. I need to go to Ombros and find the cult that caused all these problems. Pestilence will pay. I prepare my bag for the journey, and sharpen my glaive. I won't spare a soul. I leave the cult, and begin my journey back to Ombros.

A few days pass before I reach my destination. I know Rotwood well now, but Ombros I know better. The journey is no challenge at all. I push through the underbrush and reach it.

The cabin.

I... had to know.

Cliff and Spike are almost certainly already gone... but I wanted to check anyways. I'm not sure why. I push open the door, and the cool air inside pushes out, a smell of dust and a stagnant musk lingering. I make my way to their room, and look at the bed. Empty. Don't know what I expected. There's a picture on the side desk.

Its... Us....

Me. Spike. Gid and Cliff. Collecting dust. I slowly grasp it, wipe the dust from the glass... and stow it away. I shouldn't keep it... It will make me weak, but my heart isn't whole without them.

After a minute I check Spike's room. Empty.

I check mine. It's exactly how I left it, so long ago. Except... there's a note on my desk. I pick up the dust covered paper and read:

"Thorne, if you ever read this, know that you were the best sister I could have ever asked for, and it hurts me so much to know I might never see you again. Whatever reason you had to leave us for, I'm sure you were justified. Cliff left us yesterday, and I had to lay him to rest. It hurt me so much, seeing him go, but at least he isn't suffering anymore. I miss you. So, so much. I'm going to venture out to look for help. This illness has me close to the light, but I will push on. For Gideon. For Cliff. For You."

"Love, Spike."

"...I miss you too." I mumble, unconsciously.

I wipe my tears... wait, I'm crying? It doesn't matter. I have a job. I wipe my tears away, pocket the note, and leave the room. It's time to go. As I exit the cabin, I spot it. A grave, a wooden stick marker poking up from it, all surrounded by stones. In the middle... is a familiar iridescent crystal. Said to bring good luck. Good health.

I swiftly push back into the forest, I have a job to do. An obligation. For my family. To get back at the bishops. After a few hours I begin to hear them. Those pestilence heretics. I catch a view from my elevated position. It looks... similar to the layout of the chaos grounds back at Rotwood. Simply with added Ombrosian flair. Rock pathing, rain catchers, crystal decorations.

I make my way closer, and try to think how I want to do this. Take them by surprise in the night? Attack in broad daylight to send a message? The rain is very light right now and a fire might be possible. That's it. I have to strike now. I'll target the ones in charge first, with the stronger fighters following them.

Activity seems to be low right now, so I'll just walk in and force my way to the temple. What if I act like a messenger first? That may do it. I walk into the open cult ground, cloven hooves clicking against the stone path. I see the temple right away, and start making my way over.

Suddenly, a monkey follower lunges at me, with a large sword. I parry with my glaive, attempting to disarm him, but his grip is tight and his resolve steeled. Still, no damage, but he doesn't seem the type to talk.

"I'm here to send a message." I calmly say.

"We don't listen to the falsehoods of chaos!" They bark out, garnering attention from the crowd. This might change things.

They strike fast and aggressively. Not nearly skilled enough to beat me, but enough to give trouble if I want to continue my plans.

Suddenly, a deep bell sound is struck, resonating throughout the cult. The monkey quickly withdraws from our fight upon hearing it. Interesting.

"It seems the leader and his right hand wish to speak to you directly. Lucky you." The monkey sneers.

Two figures make themselves known from the crowd. One hooded, one without, with antlers.

The larger figure removes their hood, and deep purple fur with large ears poke out. Beside him, I finally recognize a familiar set of blue eyes.

#cult of the lamb #divine mortals au #cotl oc #cotl thorne #my writing #uh oh #you better buckle in #next part is going to be wild #anyways yeah i cried again #this time while writing Spike's note

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ambiguouspuzuma · 8 months ago

Text

The Cobbler

Cordelia wasn't supposed to be a pirate. Most pirates weren't, of course, but she imagined that they'd started out as sailors or thieves and transitioned in one direction or the other. For her part, she'd only been a cobbler, a mender of old boots: she'd never stolen nor sailed at all, let alone served as a buccaneering captain. But this ship had needed a crew, and so she'd cobbled one together.

It was all in aid of the mission, or so the prophets had explained. The Caterian Empire had hung for too long like a shadow across their coastline, lurking just across the water from the town where Cordelia had been born, raised, and hoped to one day retire, if they survived this voyage of the damned. Their island was small, and couldn't muster much of an army to slow the Empire's ravenous advance, which had already consumed so many of their peers.

But it could muster her - and she'd pulled together the rest.

"Why have you come to me?" she'd protested at the time, when the prophets appeared at her door. Cordelia had understood their warnings of imminent doom, the threat of conquest, the need for a chosen one to defeat the evil once and for all - she just hadn't understood why that meant her. "I'm not a soldier. I'm a shoemaker, for crying out loud. I'm not the sort of person who wins battles."

"Well, that's sort of the point," one of the prophets had replied, knocking one of a pair of boots off the shelf behind him. "Are you familiar with the concept of langrage?"

"Not unless that's you struggling to speak ours."

"It's a nautical term," he continued, ignoring her. "When a ship runs out of conventional shot, it loads its guns with whatever lies handy: nuts and bolts, cutlery and clockwork, anything that might tear an opposing sail to shreds. Even shoes, in a pinch. Sometimes they even do it by choice, a cannonade of loose ephemera over your traditional balls of steel."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Cordelia stood firm, demonstrating some of the latter. "Why are you in my home? What do you want from me?"

"We've studied the histories," another said, and from the lines around his eyes she believed him. "Any sufficiently potent evil, your archetypical dark lord or dragon, is always defeated by a motley band of unlikely heroes. Always and only. The soldiers on their own can't make it all the way. We don't know why, but something about having a mixture of backgrounds and skillsets works out better."

"Many organisations have found they benefit from diverse hiring practices," the first prophet said. "Why not an army?"

The other shoe dropped, and Cordelia leant against a wall, momentarily deflated. "You want to build an army... of people like me?"

"Well, sort of."

"A load of old cobblers?"

"We thought so too, but it checks out." The prophet paused to stack the boots back up. "But the point is to find people who aren't like you. A real assortment of profiles, you know? Think about all the tools you use in your craft, the rasp and last and awl and all of that. Each serves a different function. That's the sort of effect we're going for."

"But who, specifically?" she asked, still wondering why they'd chosen her. Perhaps they hadn't, and just knocked on a random door. "How will you decide upon this perfect, random mix?"

"Well," they said. "We were rather hoping that you would."

Cordelia tried her best to follow their approach. If she was planning this endeavour of her own accord - perhaps after some trauma to the head - she knew that there were certain people she'd look to recruit for her crew, and others who she wouldn't trust to scrub the decks. But if the prophets had chosen her house at random, she would have to do the same.

Her list of customers was a solidly mixed assortment of potential allies, and she thought about drawing names from a hat, before realising that she already had them in order: she had a schedule of commissions, and figured she'd just press-gang those who'd come to her. It would mean acting out a reverse Cinderella: choosing anyone who had a shoe that didn't fit.

She had to start somewhere, so she started with those who already owed her for repairs, including Aldous, the actor whose boots had been shelved by the door. A career of treading the boards had worn them down. She wondered how he'd feel about walking the plank.

"I've got your boots," she said, once he opened the door. There was no time for pleasantries. They'd have plenty of chance to catch up on the open seas.

"Ah, wonderful." He beamed for his audience of one. "You know, costumes come and go, but you absolutely cannot beat a comfy pair of shoes. One does so much of one's work on one's feet, and people really do underestimate-"

"Speaking of which," she interrupted, wishing to be spared the soliloquy. "Are you in the market for a new role?"

"Well, one would never rule oneself out at first blush, so to say, at least without-"

"Excellent. It's yours."

"Mine? I mean, one's? But what is it?"

"First mate."

"A nautical tale?"

"A pirate adventure."

"Oh, how marvellous! Yes, one always fancied oneself as a swashbuckler, but of course such roles are rare nowadays. When do we start rehearsals?"

"The ship is being readied as we speak. We leave at dawn, two days for now." Then, because it was important to maintain a sense of fun. "Please bring your own costume."

It hadn't been how she'd pictured it, until the prophets had explained. The Caterian Empire was a fortress, their borders well-defended, and even a small band of adventurers would struggle to sneak all the way into the palace at its heart. But sea was a different matter, and every now and again the Emperor found the need to travel to one vassal isle or the next, placing himself uniquely vulnerable to attack.

"If you challenge them under the flags of this island, there will be reprisals here first," they'd said. "But under a black flag, you can operate in the shadows. Befriend the others who live there, if you can. Form a pirate fleet, guerrillas of the sea, chipping away at the Empire's naval strength. If they can't leave the mainland, their armies are irrelevant. That is how you'll win."

"By starting at a disadvantage."

"The heroes always do. They're never under an official flag, the admiral of their own armada. They're rogues, rascals, underdogs against overwhelming odds. The less likely your victory, the more inevitable it will be."

Cordelia's next recruit came to her, which was convenient, although she wouldn't have chosen her in a million years. Janina worked in the citrus orchards, and was famously all fingers and thumbs with anything smaller than a clementine, but she just about managed to knock on the door with a pair of shoes in her other hand.

"I'm sorry to bother you with this," he said, handing one over with some gratitude. "But I'm afraid I've done something awful to the laces. They'd unravelled when I came to put them on this morning, and I seem to have made more of a mess trying to rethread them. Sorry, I know it's a difficult one."

"Mhm." Cordelia held her tongue, and inspected the eyelets around it. She didn't know much about sailing, but she suspected a pirate's life involved some quantity of ropes and knots. If she was choosing a crew from her customers, she might choose those who tied the neatest bows. But the prophets had stressed the hodgepodge nature of successful groups, thrown together by fate. She would have to trust in the randomness of shoe entropy.

"Oh, thank you so much," Janina said, once the first aglet was successfully laced back through. "I don't know what I'd do without your help. Is there anything I can do to make it worth your while?"

"Funny you should say that," Cordelia said. "I'm looking for a quartermaster, and a bulk order of oranges. have some concerns about scurvy."

So it was that she formed her makeshift crew. Aldous and Janina were followed by Leonore, a smith whose steel toecaps had come loose, and Florian, a draper who had simply lost his sole. As the prophets had insisted, they were a diverse mix of characters as well as trades. Leonore was a pillar of the community, as straight-laced as they came, whereas Florian had been a misfit his whole life - although Cordelia had given him some insoles to help with that.

"Have you ever made a sail before?" she asked, making her own stitches where the rubber had come away.

"I have many customers," he said, taken aback.

"No - I mean for a ship. I'm looking to commission one. I'll need help with the installation, too."

"Oh, well. Yes, I could certainly help with that."

She felt a bit of a heel, fixing his shoe for so great a cost, weaving him into her multicoloured tapestry. None of these people knew how to fight, or sail; life at sea would be hard for them, even without the dangers of rebellion . But she was in the same boat, and supposedly that was the point. They were bystanders turned to weapons: collateral damage that went the other way, a human sword instead of a shield. That was what the prophets said would work.

So it was they assembled two days later, arrayed across the deck like cards of different suits. The prophets had arranged the ship, and dubbed it in her honour: the Shoemaker’s Levy, for the rabble she'd been able to rouse. Not the island's most seaworthy individuals, nor the most skilled, but those who'd had the most trouble walking on land.

Those who hadn't already been assigned were quickly shoehorned into roles, but it would take a while before they could be called a crew. Even Cordelia would struggle to adjust to life as their captain: she'd always been a sole practitioner, only used to working with winklepickers and brothelcreepers, not actors and blacksmiths and the rest. She wasn't supposed to be a pirate, let alone their leader. But they would have to learn the ropes together, just as she'd once learnt about shoes. One foot after the other. One step at a time.

#writing #short story #writeblr #creative writing #original writing

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wundrousarts · 1 year ago

Text

Various Wundersmith thoughts and things I've noticed after rereading the book for yet another time:

This one is significantly longer and a little bit more random than my recent Nevermoor reread, but who cares 🤷 the more the merrier!

There are things both serious (theories, thematic parallels, etc.) and silly (jokes, personal reactions). This time around I discovered the annotations feature in Apple Books and had a lot of fun with that, so I'll try to include the bits I highlighted when necessary. Enjoy!

— I don't mean to have a shippingbrain, but it feels impossible to view Jupiter and Israfel as anything but exes/folks that had a Thing in the beginning, omg.

—— Israfel throwing the "old friend" back at Jove..... my note for this one was "#gay"

— I like the interest Mog has in Bohemia, and I'm interested based on that one Silverborn snippet for her to return (and eventually explore other parts of the city as well)

— Jupiter referring to the junkies as "they're not patrons of the fine arts" feels like a nice little set up for the Museum later on. Thought of and admired as an art piece, but the rich folks at the auction don't actually care about the work put into it.

— Do you think the folks at Wunsoc that organize the little show that welcomes 919 are a little peeved that the Fireblossom's being reignited means that they can't perch creepily in them anymore lol.

— I wonder if the Wunsoc Oath has a pre- or post- Massacre origin

“The nature of Miss Crow’s unusual –" she paused, seeming to catch herself before calling it a ‘knack’ – "situation.” (Ch2)

—— Elder Quinn hesitates to refer to Mog's power as a knack, so I wonder if that's just a general thing of Wundersmithery being different, or if knacks are a post-Massacre categorization

— I love how this book really starts to solidify the theme of family in Nevermoor... Wunsoc, her Unit, the Deucalion, Wundersmiths, the Crows, her mother..... AAAHHHH!!! I can't wait to see where it all goes.

— A "note sealed with silver wax" from "the Celes-" ..... YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!! 😁😁😁

—— Likely about Cassiel but even that and beyond could tie into a lot of other Silverborn Theories..... Noelle..... The Silver District....... I will keep this all in mind

—— Also, updating my SIlverborn Masterpost posthaste ✍️✍️✍️

— It likely doesn't matter and will never be explained, but I wonder if the room between student's houses and their hometrain station is part of the Gossamer, and like a thin place between worlds

— Miss Cheery's first outfit is so y2k I need to draw her. It makes sense because she's like 20 in this book.

— The Wunsoc circle diagram has always interested me since I first read it. I wonder if the size of the circles ever means anything??

—— Could it relate to the probability (?) of the knacks? Mundane is the most common to occur, Arcane more specialized, and then Wundersmiths are very, very rare

—— Something I often forget is that folks in Wunsoc that weren't Wundersmiths have always existed. Were there more than 9 of them in each year? Were there always 9 non-Wundersmiths? Did the trials always exist? What was the relationship between non-Wundersmiths and Wundersmiths like?

—— On that note, did C&D only become the Wunsoc motto / purpose post-Massacre? Or did they do that before as well? If the motives of Wunsoc have changed over the years, has what they look for in students changed as well?

“Everybody at Wunsoc has a job to get on with – every junior and senior scholar, every graduate, every teacher, every patron, every Elder and every Master.” (Ch5)

— I am still forever curious about what Masters are, and why they are on the same level or possibly even slightly higher than Elders

—— Are they previous Elders? Are they people who excel in their craft? I'd like to say there could be a connection to Wundrous Apprenticeships but 1. those seemed like a natural given, 2. likely aren't really around anymore, and 3. I'm not really sure why they would have so much authority if so.

—— I like to headcanon that senior scholars do internships/apprenticeships

— Something that makes me laugh is that I will famously agonize over something, in this case the Wunsoc academic school year, only to discover upon a reread that it is explicitly stated how it works. lol.

— Brilliance Amadeo and her predecessors are referred to as "First-Line Wundersmiths." This likely relates to the chambers in the Liminal Hall in Sub-Nine that we see in Hollowpox.

—— Knowing Jess, I bet that either Mog or Squall are part of the Ninth Line

“Your kind are … all … dead," continued Professor Onstald. "And if they’re … not –" he blinked his watery eyes at her and took a long, rasping breath – "they should be.” (Ch6)

“My duty is not … to save you … from yourself. It is to show you … that you are … beyond saving. All of your … kind … are beyond …” (Ch6)

“If you were half the Wundersmith you ought to be by now, it wouldn’t be possible for me to tap into your power like this. (Ch24)

— I've had a theory post on the progression of Wundersmiths in society towards the Massacre in the works for awhile that I've postponed until after my Hollowpox reread, but:

—— What if it was a group effort?

——— There's a part in one of the books that's like, "Squall led his fellow Wundersmiths in a coup, and then turned on them" and as much as Wunsoc likes to spin and fabricate things, I think that this could also be true. What caused Squall to turn? That's a mystery we'll have to unravel later...

———— This book is heavy on Squall controlling and manipulating folks, both literally with Wunder but also mentally with words, so could be interesting if that played a part in the revolt

— Regardless, something spooked Onstald enough to turn from admiring and studying Wundersmiths and their ways to hating them, and I'll forever be interested in what happened.

—— I think there could be some slight truth in him viewing all Wundersmiths as bad, because some stuff, like Mathilde's Morbid Museum (lol), could indicate some darker inclinations by folks other than Squall

— Maybe I'm an idiot for not realizing this before, but I don't think it was Jupiter that got Mog/919 into the Maps class.

“I have dedicated my life to taming this monstrous city, and I love her with every fiber of my being.” (Ch8)

“Goodness. You’ve only been here a year? And yet you and Nevermoor seem to go hand in glove. It’s almost like this place was made just for you.” (Ch8)

—— So Squallish. I wonder if anything he said was coached.

—— Do you think this is how he got him on his side? Did they bond over both being obsessed with Nevermoor?

— I think a lot of Mildmay's problems would have been fixed if he had simply been more proactive about networking instead of turning to a life of crime. I mean, he's only 19, just out of school! Way to quit early, dude.

One bite brought on the specific sensation of bittersweet late-summer nostalgia … which sent Francis straight back to the test kitchen, as he’d actually been aiming for the carefree abandon of a mid-summer music festival. (Ch9)

— I wonder how much of Francis's knack/what he cooks/cooks with has a Wundrous origin. I'm also often reminded of the Smoking Parlor.

—— I like to relate it to my Communication "Art" but alternatively... does remind me of Israfel's voice. Curious about how Celestials and Wunder interact.

—— Alice Frankenreiter of 915 is mentioned as a shapeshifter..... how Masquerade-esque. Another point for the "knacks being related to Arts" theory?

——— I also have to point out how funny to me the "Franken-" is with the knack. lol. (makes me think about Frankenstein)

— There is a "noise like a thousand tinkling bells" when the Ghastly Market is revealed. This noise also shows up in the other two books during the Christmas Eve battle. In a world where magic by Wundersmiths heavily involves singing in order to use Wunder, I like the further comparisons of magic and sound. Will keep an eye out for more during Hollowpox.

—— We see this as well with this line:

Her fear and revulsion and rage swelled inside her like a symphony (Ch16)

which I just annotated as "music/art comparison. slay."

——— On that note, I feel like the connection between Wundersmiths/Divinities and the Celestials being explored more could be interesting, as both of their powers involve singing. I'm curious how/if their magic overlaps.

— The fact that the Loyalty Trial was from the Elders and thus they were the ones who asked Cadence to humiliate Baz will never not be funny

— Chapter 18 mentions a "Polaris Hill." Named after Griselda Polaris?

— Have to say: Between being excited about a killer flytrap and teaching 919 swears, an underrated Mahir trait is that he is actually very silly.

— If you've ever seen me call the Gossamer-Spun Garden the "Wundergarden", please know that the Murdergarden is 100% why lol

— I hope hope HOPE!!! we get some proper definitions someday for the Wundrous Act Classifications. Like Spectacle, Phenomenon, Singularity, etc... I hope we get to learn what they each are someday!!!

“To do just what a Wundersmith does," One corner of Squall’s mouth twisted into a quarter-smile.” ... "To grant your fondest wish. To give you the thing you want more than anything else.” (Ch19)

— I feel like this line is often overlooked and is an underrated hint at what a Wundersmith's role in society was like

— I'm a bit of a pessimist (SORRY) about the movie adaptation, and once thing about this book is that I'm mourning that it'll probably never get adapted.

—— I think that the idea of Nevermoor as a movie musical works so much better with Wundersmith because there's so much more magic and music and singing in this one, with both Israfel and the first Nocturne lessons. I could see it the integration of the non-diegetic (?) songs that the characters sing and the themes of the movie/books work better with this book than the first one just because of that.

—— Also the theatricality of characters such as Squall and Mildmay is off the charts in this book! I'd even throw Dearborn and Murgatroyd in there as well. I think they could make for more interesting characters in a movie musical than the general supporting cast of the first book.

—— I'd say that perhaps they could mix and mash stuff from both books 1 and 2 into a single movie, but I don't know if they have rights past the first book.

Squall cocked his head to one side, a deep frown etched into his forehead. ... Squall took a step towards her. He looked like he was remembering something. (Ch19)

— I wonder why he recognizes the song!

—— Curious if anyone else has their own theories on this they want to share. I brought this up in the discord a few months ago and have yet to make a proper post but here's my idea:

——— Squall's song and Mog's song are very similar in a few ways, so perhaps one of the songs was influenced by / is “descended from” so to say from the other, or they have a common ancestor.

——— Could explain why Little Crowling is familiar to Mog and Morningtide’s Child is familiar to Squall

... into the cold embrace of a capricious and unknowable city. (Ch19)

— This is like, baby's first comparison, but I do enjoy how this refers not only to Nevermoor but also Squall just a moment earlier. They are sooooo linked. I wonder if there's other moments like this in the book that I've missed.

— The Jemmity Park stuff is interesting to think about because I think Odbuoy is the youngest Wundersmith present at the time of the Massacre.

—— The idea of him being the youngest I feel then fits with him making the park only work for children, as that seems appropriately mischievous.

——— Because of my (outdated tbh) Eventide theories, I had a silly theory he was 7 when he made the park, but when you think about that more, it falls apart. A little funny to think about though, ngl.

— Anyone else think that the Elders should have told Jupiter about Sub-Nine in case he wanted a part in that? I feel like as a patron and adoptive father figure of a Wundersmith, he might want some access to Wundersmith history and culture. His excursions to the park and Cascade Falls really prove an interest and he could be helpful to the group.

— Morrigan compares Squall's Séance Synchronicity to Coven 13 in the Fright Trial... are these magics connected at all, or will we learn more about the different magics in the world at some point?

Squall held his hands out – palms downward, twisted into claws – and made his fingers dance like a puppeteer twitching strings. (Ch24)

— I find it so funny how the Puppeteering (also known as Marionette) parallels– the statue in the Elder's hall, the stunt with the Charlton Five on the platform, and this scene– were so obvious, and yet it took a solid 2 years after Wundersmith's release (right before Hollowpox was out!) for somebody to bring it up for the first time. And now everyone accepts it as basically canon lol!

— Wonder if the Wundrous Arts sign got changed to Wretched Arts before or after Squall's exile, in order for him to know about it. I have some theories on the timeline of all that that I'll share at a later date.

— I often forget and I think it's often overlooked that the Magnificub growing was Squall's doing, not just Mog's.

—— Wonder if he was stalking her that night as normal OR detected her intention and swooped in OR was there already due to the auction

— The way that Squall bows dramatically to tease Mog and then Mildmay does the same a chapter later is so funny.

“There are far greater monsters –" his eyes flashed – "and far greater dangers. Miss Crow, we have a shared enemy you could never imagine. If the Wundrous Society doesn’t take you off the leash, if you aren’t given the freedom to grow, to become the Wundersmith I need you to be … then terrible things are coming down the line. For both of us.” (Ch24)

— War in Arc 3 pleaseeee

—— It's interesting because it seems that Nevermoor/Free State has been relatively peaceful ever since restructuring… but the Wintersea Republic has had the same amount of time to build up! And now they’re looking to take the last slice of the pie…..

“There. That feeling. That fire in your heart, that spark of anger and fear. Focus on it. Feel it. The flickering, burning anger inside – THAT is Inferno.” (Ch24)

— What if each of the Arts are bolstered by an emotion? Doesn't seem so but 🤷 could be a fun AU idea perhaps

— A lot of the description of Inferno in this book– a flame or firework in Morrigan's chest– reminds me so much of Howls Moving Castle (2004) that it's on my eternal to-do list to draw.

— Between Mog's lessons in this book and Goldberry's circular breathing, I think it's interesting how much of Inferno relates to breath

—— "Breath of life" ?

—— Could relate back to music/singing, which is needed to summon Wunder

—— Do any of the other Arts (excluding Nocturne and Inferno) have any connections to breath that we know of? Or even are just aligned with a specific part of the body? If anyone has any thoughts on this, please do share!

— Anyone else like to think about the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow and the way the Hollowpox hunted? No? Just me? Okay

—— I think that Wundersmiths definitely probably have specialties– and these are based on natural affinities, NOT lineage– and Mog's is likely Inferno whereas Squall's is likely Veil

He took a deep bow, still laughing. (Ch25)

— My note for this line and the whole scene was simply, "🖕 WORST 19 YEAR OLD EVER" lol

“You saved my life tonight. I find myself in your debt." He watched her for a moment, pressing his mouth into a line. Morrigan could tell he wanted to say something more, but wasn’t sure if he should … or perhaps he couldn’t quite find the right words. Israfel breathed a deep sigh. "You’d do well not to mention that to the folks at Wunsoc. I shouldn’t be in your debt.” (Ch27)

— What does this all meannnnn

— Interesting how Jupiter mentions that he thinks Cassiel's disappearance is unconnected to all the Ghastly Market stuff

—— I've mentioned before (maybe not on here, sorry) that the timing could perhaps line up in order for Cassiel to be the Celestial that Noelle's knack is stolen from, if we want to go with that theory

— Mog saying that Squall said something funny, as in weird, yet Jupiter's first response is to ask if he said something "funny haha" is so funny to me. Why is that his first response.

— Folks have mentioned it before, but I'd love some more bonding between Mog and Lam based on the fact that they're both from the Republic

— Elder Quinn refers to Mog as "our Wundersmith" as in like, just another brother and sister in Wunsoc, but it could be interesting if that wording is ever brought up again to try to use Mog, or make her do something no one else can because of her powers, like in the days of old

And finally (about 3k words later):

— Lam is referred to as "the smallest of all of them" in terms of 919. Not to me! While I wholeheartedly believe she is certainly short, she's not the shortest for me. #ShortMogSupremacy.

#nevermoor #nevermoor reread #nevermoor theory #wundersmith #this is 3k words including the quotes so ummmm sorry lol. buckle in I guess!#if anyone has any thoughts after reading this or any theories of their own that they want to discuss: my inbox is always open!#I am insane about this series and you should be too <3 #incapable of ever writing anything that isn't exceedingly long and rambling though. and for that I am sorry.#I also feel like my reading(s) of the book(s) is often prob unintentionally biased bc it's filtered thru my own theories and headcanons #so I always love hearing what other folks have to say. esp bc sometimes folks will say stuff that have me realize that I'm wrong lol!

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cuddlebetter · 6 months ago

Text

Wilson Percival Higgsbury x Reader (DST) (comfort from a panic attack :3)

Y/N's feet almost left the ground as Wilson spots them running down a hill, keeping quick on their feet they duck out from the jaws of a Terrorbeak- darting past the bite of a crawling horror as fearful eyes scan what's in front of themselves

Y/N runs into Wilson- falling backwards they hit the ground and wince from the sharp pain of the fall as Wilson stumbles backwards " Y/N!-? What are you doing running like that!? " he huffs, his eyes fixed to Y/N's fearful stare

" . . . Y/N? " his voice grows worried, darting up to the faint flickers of a Terrorbeak's open jaws above Y/N as his eyes widen- his hands quickly snap up as he draws out his spear, stabbing at the air where the terrorbeak's faint outline was to him- causing it to screech as it fads from his view again

" Terrorbeak's . . . Y/N are you feeling okay? . . . " his eyes slowly meet Y/N's once more- Y/N still sitting themselves up shakily, fearful eyes darting around as Wilson moves closer . . .

Wilson's voice softens as he sits on his knee next to " Y/N look at me- Hey, Hey!, what's wrong? Y/N?- " tears begin falling down Y/N's face as a panic attack begins to set in, their sanity having dropped to next to nothing as fear seems to overwhelm their mind

Wilson stands himself up, thinking quick on his feet he begins picking fist fulls of flowers close by- snapping his head up to Y/N ever few moments as he begins to craft something, running back over before sitting back down onto his knees- softly placing a flower crown on Y/N's head

Wilson's hands slowly move down from the top of Y/N's head to the side's of their face, making Y/N look towards him " Look at me, please- Your safe now, I promise- Breath with me, nice and slow- okay? "

the two seem to stare at one another for a few moments before Y/N shakily breaths in, Wilson copy's Y/N- waiting until Y/N exhales before he himself exhales " Now- Again, Your safe- I promise you as a scientist, Your safe now- okay? " he gives a warm smile to Y/N . . . Y/N stares at him blankly for a few moments, sniffling and trying to wipe away their own tears before Wilson pulls Y/N into a hug, resting their head on his chest as he softly pets their back

" This isn't really something I studied for but, Fear is . . . Relentless- powerful even, it can alter our mines and change the way we see things- change how we act as well, I've been here longer then you have and had my fair share of Fearsome days but unlike you I didn't have anybody to help me, and I don't what that to happen to you- okay? "

y/N lifts up their head a little- staring at Wilson as he stares down at Y/N in his arms, Y/N slowly nods- wrapping their arms around Wilson before nuzzling their head back onto his chest . . .

" As long as I'm alive, fit and fighting- I'll do my best to keep you safe, even when Fear tells you otherwise " Wilson speaks with a soft tone- still petting Y/N's back softly as Y/N shakily breaths . . .

" Your safe . . . Your safe . . . " he humms again, softly as always with Y/N- even giving Y/N a small kiss on Y/N's forehead as Y/N now sits on his lap, still wrapped up in his arms- what fear Y/N had within their mind seems to have left, at least for the most part . . .

[ End ] ( not 100% sure how well this turned out cause I don't know a lot about panic attacks, this is also my first Character X reader thing I've made )

#dst wilson #x reader #dst

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playroom-sekaii · 1 year ago

Note

Hello!! could you do some little mizu & cg ena hcs if thats okay (>^ω^<)

Alright, here you go! :D

-Mizuki's the epitome of a chaos toddler, normally slipping to around 3-4 years old. They can go a bit younger if they're feeling especially bad, but Ena's there to help them feel all better!

- They're a voluntary regressor, usually after having to go to school they'll use the evening to relax and feel small. They don't usually like letting others be around them when they're little though (not only from thinking it would be like their other secret, but I sort of headcanon that they've had bad experiences in their past telling others that they're an age regressor, making them even more nervous about letting anyone know), but Ena is working to help them feel more comfortable with it. When their anxiety over their secret gets especially bad, they involuntarily regress, which is normally when they allow Ena to step in and help.

-Ena is currently one of only two of Mizuki's true friends that know about this part of them, the other being Rui. She wants to do everything she can to help them when they're small, wishing to support their mental health however she can. Though she'd never admit it, she spent a lot of time researching how to be a good caregiver for them, along with thinking about when she was younger with Akito.

-Ena's quite good at telling when Mizuki's trying to hide that they're regressed. Their voice gets a bit mumbly, their teasing doesn't hit as hard as it usually does, they tend to fidget with looser parts of their outfits. Even if they try to deny it, Ena will tell them that it's okay, and try to take them somewhere more secluded if they're in public or start a private Nightcord call if they're not physically together.

-Little Mizuki absolutely loves playing dress-up, it's their favorite thing in the world! They let Ena pick out special outfits for them to wear, and then they put on a little fashion show for her! Sometimes Ena gives them small makeovers as well, and she occasionally lets Mizuki do the same for her (sure, her little one's attempts at doing her makeup make her look like a clown, but she's proud of their hard work!)

-Ena enjoys getting to do arts and crafts with her small one - coloring, drawing, finger painting, she absolutely cherishes every piece Mizuki makes while little. They really like watching Ena draw as well, she can make almost anything, it's like she's magic! There have been a few incidents of Mizuki coloring on Ena's walls, and while she was quite proud of her little one's art, she didn't want to get in trouble with her parents so she had to scrub it off-

-Sometimes Mizuki will want to play games with Ena, be it board games or things like hide and seek, but they're quite a competitive and sneaky small one. Making up rules on the fly is quite common, much to the annoyance of Ena ("An' I can go a extra space!" "What?! Why?" "Cuz I'm special!" "I mean, you are, but..." "Hehe~")

-Mizuki still teases Ena a bit while they're little, though their attempts don't hit as hard as when they're big. Ena likes to pretend that they're the most insulting things she's ever been told, though this sometimes makes Mizuki worry that they've genuinely upset her ("Ena you butthead!" "*gasp* Goodness, Mizuki! How dare!" "Wait Ena no-")

-Cuddles are very abundant! Whenever Mizuki's upset or tired, or just randomly, the two of them will end up on Ena's bed surrounded by plushies, it makes Mizu feel especially safe and happy <3

-Mizuki's favorite stuffed animal while little is a cat Ena got them that they named Amethyst (though they sometimes struggle with the pronunciation, simply calling her Ammy), they take her everywhere with them. If Ammy goes missing you will not know peace around little Mizu until she is found.

-Ena is somewhat overprotective of lil Mizu, she always tends to go the extra mile to make sure nothing happens that could cause them to be hurt or upset. Mizuki thinks she's being a bit silly when she worries like this, but they truly are grateful for how much she cares for them ♡

#project sekai agere #mizuki akiyama #ena shinonome #mine ♡

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888xiicos · 8 months ago

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Tomimi Ideal City Wig Process

As usual, I forgot to document most of this process, but I can at least draw out steps I didn't photograph.

This is probably one of the more complex wigs I've styled, tying for first place with Tsumiki Mikan, solely for the amount of wefts and chopping that wig took. This wig is the first wig I've used pigtail/ponytail clips for and the first time I've done an ahoge! I'm incredibly proud of how it turned out so I can't wait to show how it started and pieces of the progress.

This has been in my drafts for almost a year now, so I may as well post it.

Pics, process, and final photo can all be found under the cut!

The humble beginnings..

I grabbed the basic supplies I figured I'd need and laid them out in easy to reach places.

[Supplies in image: Sewing thread, pin cushion, sewing needles, sewing pins with colorful round heads, wide tooth/wet hair comb, 1 hair claw clip, craft scissors, thread snips, pen, reference images, wig(s), Styrofoam head.]

[Supplies not shown in image: Hair cutting scissors, Got2B hairspray, hair crimper/flat iron, 2 smaller hair claw clips, 3 alligator hair clips, , permanent marker, wire, clear packing tape, glue gun, Elmer's glue (white craft glue), and a make shift wig stand]

To start, I ordered one Clair Classic in Silver (CL082) and a single Short Clip Classic in Silver (CL-082) from Arda Wigs. The Silver colorway is a little more gray and subdued than the Pure White (CL-083) color way. I like it because it looks a bit more natural. Stark white and heavily saturated colors wash me out pretty bad, so I try to go for a more natural color option whenever possible.

I chose this specific wig because it had plenty of hair and plenty of layers near the front, which meant I had plenty to work with for Tomimi's bangs.

Arda Wigs, though a little pricey, has really thick wigs that feel like butter in your hands. I've worked with cheap Amazon wigs and other brands before, but Arda is still my favorite wig seller (even if it's by process of elimination since Match Wigs vanished into the void never to be seen again..... Match Wigs I miss you.....).

Because the wigs are so thick and have so many wefts, I knew I'd only need one Short Clip to use for both of Tomimi's pigtails. However, this is my first time using any form of wig clip, so it was a very new and puzzling experience for me! I'll explain more about wig clips further into the process below.

When I start styling wigs, the first step is always to give it a good brush through with the wide tooth come to detangle it and get out any loose hair fibers. Once it's soft and tangle free, I strap it onto my foam head and pin it with colorful sewing pens that are impossible to lose in the wig (so I don't stab myself with them later on).

These styrofoam heads are usually smaller than an actual human head, so I don't recommend doing any head circumference reliant styling on them without adding padding to it! I mostly use mine when brushing it out, cutting the long parts of the wig, or fixing the part.

For this wig, I decided to try crimping for the first time. Arda wigs are great for crimping and the technique adds even more volume and makes the fibers more manageable in my opinion. Arda wig fibers are super silky and soft, so it makes holding them or maneuvering them sort of difficult. Crimping gave them more texture and allowed me to move the hair where I wanted it to go.

I crimped the bottom layers of the whole wig (bangs too!) and left the top layers un-crimped to retain a nice smooth texture on top.

Now, it's time to start trimming. Before I even thought about doing any cutting, I sat down and figured out the different sections of hair that make up the bangs. For anyone not familiar with sectioning off hair, drawing over the sections in different colors like this can really help!

Marking out the sections also helped me figure out where the part would go! Tomimi has one layer of a heavy sweeping bang and then a layer of hair that sort of fold over on top of them. One section of the lower layer actually tucks behind her ear, so I planned to leave that longer so I could easily pin it back under another layer of hair.

I also took this time to section off parts of her hair to pull back under the pigtail clips layer to make it look more natural. I've drawn over it in bright pink below to show what I mean.

Once things were held back with clips and sectioned off, I pulled that bad boy off the stand and put it on so I could start trimming the bangs. I did not realize they were as long as they were, but it was for the best in case I messed up. I gave a rough chop at around the bottom of my chin and slowly trimmed the lower bang layer up above my nose. I curled the hair with my flat iron as I went too avoid cutting off too much.

Sloppy before and after pic featuring the tendons in my bony little hand STRUGGLING to hold up this heavy monster of a wig. I admit, I'm not too skilled with teasing wigs, so I wasn't able to get the upper layer of the bangs to stick up like they do in the art, but I left the fibers loose enough that I could go back later and do it once I learned the Technique™. Silly anime hair vents will one day be possible for me.

As you can see, this wig is all silver, no black anywhere. I used the simplest method out there and flat out just added that black stripe with a permanent marker. Since it was in an area I didn't have to worry about coming in contact with my face or any bodily fluids like sweat, I did not seal it. If you use this method anywhere that may come in regular and frequent contact with your skin, fabric, or liquids, seal it or just use a weft to avoid staining anything.

I sectioned off a thin strip of hair from the upper layer of the bangs and pinned the rest of the hair back so the roots were visible. Then I just moved the marker up and down over thin layers of the hair until it was a solid black. You can also use alcohol markers, diluted acrylic paint, or acrylic ink for this, but a Sharpie easily does the trick for a section as small as this.

Now it's ahoge time. Here's how I did it (Step by step diagram is under written instructions):

Step 1 This wig has a thick but soft top to it that allows things to be pinned or pushed through the top, so I used some thin jewelry wire to make the outline of the ahoge. Twist the bottom closed and curve it to the right shape. Don't trim off the excess wire at the bottom just yet, because you'll want it for stabilizing purposes later.

Step 2 Once you've made the outline and have it bent, you'll want to cover it in something clear you can attach hair to. I used clear packing tape, but it was honestly a little too stiff and sort of fussy to work with. You can probably use regular clear tape or even sticky plastic wrap. Whatever you use, be sure to trim the excess so you retain the same shape.

Step 3 Cover one side with hot glue and start adding your base layer of hair. I used the extra hair I trimmed off my bangs. They were closer to the length I needed and let me waste less hair! Once the first side is dry, do the same to the other. The hot glue sticks to plastic-y surfaces well enough to give you a base to build up off of. Be sure to pull/brush off any stray hairs.

Once you've finished your base layer, grab your white craft glue, a cup of water, and a brush you don't cherish too much to put glue on. What you're gonna do now is slowly build up the hair until you can't see the tape or the wire. The best way to do this is to put a thin coat of glue then a thin coat of hair and repeat until you get the result you like. Between layers, I recommend blasting it with a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. I sat mine a safe distance away in front of a small space heater while I worked on the pigtails to save time.

Step 4 Once you've built up as much hair as you want, it's time to stick the extra wire through the top of the wig. I stuck mine right into the middle of the center part. If your wig does not have a thick top or a skin top, you may want to sew in a thin piece of fabric to the inside of your wig before you do this step.

Step 5 Once you've stabbed your wire through the top of the wig, it's time to bend it! I like to make a little three-leaf clover shape since it's easy to tuck the ends of the wire back into the lace/fabric on the inside of the wig so it doesn't stab you while wearing it. I bend it to stat one leaf is pointing toward my forehead and the other two are pointing towards the back of my head.

To add extra stability, add a couple stitches at the very tips of the "leaves" with thread that matches your wig.

Here's the few pictures I remembered to take of this little guy, plus a bonus of him drying in front of the heater, just for fun.

At this point, all that's left to do is curling the long part of the hair and adding the pigtails.

For anyone unfamiliar with wig clips, they're basically mini wigs wrapped around hair claw clips. The "claws" of the clips go through netting the wig wefts are attached to and then an elastic string sewn into the outer edge of that netting is tightened to hide the clip. I was dumb and did not take a pic of the pigtail before removing the clip b because it was a struggle to get it out. But I have pics of the finished versions below with the clip's inserted, so check further down for what it looks like finished.

For now, here's how I separated the pigtail into two:

First, I counted the wefts to ensure I'd have an even number in both halves (Spoiler alert, I counted right, but still marked and cut the wrong spot lmao). I decided to cut it horizontally (side to side) so the wefts wouldn't fray. From there, I pulled the elastic through so that I could find the middle of it and place it over where I marked the halfway point of the netting. I cut through the elastic strings first and clipped them out of the way before carefully cutting the netting.

I used my thread snips to cut the net since it allows for more precise cuts and helps me not make so many mistakes. The picture below shows the cut elastics and then the two separated halves.

What you can't see here, is that the bottom half of the pigtail's wefts were sewn the same direction as the top half, but I need to flip the bottom half upside down, meaning the hair is going up instead of down. For this reason, I wouldn't suggest this method, but also don't have a better one. Just know I struggled to get it looking close to the other one with lots of time spent flat ironing individual wefts and adding wefts.

I ended up folding over the bottom wefts to add to the tube the elastic was fed through around the edge of the netting so it would hold more tightly to the clip once I put them back in. I had two smaller clips from a long time ago I that fit perfectly into these smaller pigtails!

This is how they looked after I finished them:

Now for the long part of the wig! All I'm going to do for this part is gently curl the ends inward. For this, I combed through in small sections and curled it with the flat iron. Because the wig fibers are plastic, they only hold their shape if they are in the desired shape when the plastic cools after being heated. Think of it like heating metal until it's flexible and it keeping the shape once it's cool.

To do this, I put the wig back on the head and attached it to my makeshift wig stand (I used a wreath stand you can buy in the floral section of a craft store because it's the best thing I had on hand, I don't recommend this, it's so wobbly...).

The last step is to attach the pigtails!

I didn't photograph my progress, so please accept my diagram instead!

I didn't trim the part I pulled back simply out of fear of it coming undone and being unable to clip the pigtails back. Not shown here, but I used a thick weaving needle I've had for years to thread the black ribbon through the pigtails as the final touch.

Aaaaaaaand here's the finished wig!

I'm super happy with how it turned out and can't wait to wear it. If I don't get good pics of me in this cosplay during the next con I wear it to I will cry.

#arknights cosplay #tomimi ideal city #Cosprogress #cosplay tips #tomimi #arknights #Costutorial

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modern-day-bard · 10 months ago

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Worth The Feeling

Note: I’m still having issues posting this as quick as I would like, I’m sorry! To anyone who has read the first two chapters or left a note, thank you so much! 🤍

Content Warning: 18+

This story includes explicit smut, intimidation, and an age gap relationship (MC is 26, Javi is in his 40s). Minors, do not interact.

Chapter 3:

Knowing that Barb was not kidding about the coffee, I make sure to stop at a cafe on my way to set. I also made sure to toss a spare t-shirt in my trunk this time, just in case. Luckily today's call time was a very late 6:00am, so I had an extra hour and a half of sleep under my belt. Hopefully that will make the possibility of mistakes lessened today.

For most of the day, things go off without a hitch. We're filming a couple of reshoots from yesterday's scenes, as well a couple of more indoor shots of another part of the CIA set. Nothing too crazy. By noon, I'm depositing Lloyd's dog, Pebbles, back in his trailer and heading into the soundstage again. I find my place next to Lana by the craft service's table right before they start the next take.

"Okay..." Lana mumbles out of the corner of her mouth. "I may have been wrong."

I glance sideways over at Lloyd and the producers seated behind the camera. I've been chewed out once for talking during a take, and once was enough.

"Wrong about what?" I keep my voice at the same level.

"Javi, how he wouldn't remember your little encounter yesterday."

My back stiffens.

"Why do you say that?"

Lana pauses, either to think over her words carefully – a rarity for her – or because she wants to make sure we're not overheard or scolded.

"Well, every time Lloyd calls cut, he looks over at you."

I feel heat rise to my cheeks immediately.

"We're standing in front of crafty, Lana. He's probably just hungry."

"Depends on what he's hungry for, I suppose." I can practically hear her suggestive eyebrow wiggle. I lightly slap her on the arm, trying not to draw any attention to ourselves.

Though a part of me can't deny the bubble of excitement I feel at her words, another part of me knows that Lana is my best friend, and she is kind. Kind enough to give me some hope, and maybe a boost of confidence. My last relationship didn't end well, and I met Lana only a few months afterwards when I was still a mess. She's pushed me to go on a few dates since then, but the Los Angeles dating scene is beyond bleak. Plus, it's hard to emulate Lana's optimism when her and Mia have been happily together long before I even arrived in L.A.

"Cut!" Lloyd calls out, "Martin, I'm going to need you at least five paces to the right before Javi delivers his line."

"Aaand cue look..." Lana snickers next to me.

I look up, and sure enough, I make eye contact with Javi as soon as I do. He doesn't look away instantly like I assume he will, and neither do I, like I thought I would. We hold each other's gaze for a moment longer, but his expression gives nothing away. For all I know, he's simply dissociating. But then, I catch the corner of his mouth tip slightly upward, and he peels his eyes away. I mean, he could have been smirking at Lloyd's directions, but I'm not sure.

I hear interference over my walkie.

"Repeat." I say into the mic.

"Hey Ava, it's Dwayne. Talent requested escort to and from their trailer."

"Copy. Who do you want me to escort?"

"Javi, please. You should break for lunch soon, be sure to bring him to his trailer and confirm that his lunch was delivered."

Javi requested an escort?

"Copy. Thanks, Dwayne." I secure the walkie back on my belt.

Lana is gaping at me.

"He requested you to escort him? Ava, take a hint!"

"He didn't request me specifically. He requested an escort. I'm one of the more seasoned PAs and Dawyne probably knows I'm least likely to get lost."

"Right. Sure." Lana says in a tone that is anything but agreeable.

I don't have time to reply before Lloyd calls for lunch. I grab a water bottle and an apple off the crafty table behind me and walk over to Javi, who is just stepping out of the set.

I can keep my cool.

"Mr. Gutierrez, I'm here to escort you back to your trailer?" Oh god, why did it come out like a question?

Javi smiles that same warm smile as yesterday.

"Hi, Ava. Sounds good." He claps his hands together, startling me. "Let's go!"

"Right this way." I lead him out into the sunshine. We walk side by side for a few moments before he breaks the silence.

"How long have you been a PA?" I glance up at his tall frame, which is bent slightly toward me in seemingly genuine curiosity.

"Four years and counting." I give him a polite smile.

"Ah. And do you enjoy it?"

I shrug. "It has its ups and downs, like any job. I do love the film industry, but I could do without the early call times." I'm not sure if I should be this honest with an actor, but his brow has knit together in a way that felt that he wanted the real answer, not just the pleasant one.

"But there is something else you would like to do." It wasn't a question.

"Um...yes. I'm actually in graduate school currently. Online, and I double up on classes when we're on hiatus."

"What are you studying?" He really is curious.

"Film Production. I'd like to be a director someday, or possibly an editor. Later down the line, producing would be my ultimate goal."

Javi raises his eyebrows, nodding slowly. We're almost to his trailer, so he probably is realizing that he has asked me enough questions–

"How old are you?" He blurts out.

It's not totally unusual for talent to make small talk, but that seems like a personal question.

"How old are you?" I counter without thinking. We're stopped in front of his trailer now. I'm holding my breath, unsure if I've offended him.

But then his brown eyes are alight with humor, and I know that I haven't. And then, easing my trepidation further, he laughs. His laugh is bright and breathy. It makes me giggle for a moment too, though I'm unsure why.

"You could just google me." He points out.

"Googling you feels inhumane." I say honestly.

"Inhumane?" He is close to laughing again.

"Yeah, I mean, you can't Google me to find out. But I can do it to you."

"I don't know, you have a pretty Googleable face." He is staring into my eyes now, and I have no idea how to take that or what he just said.

"Well, regardless, it just feels dirty." I walk up the three steps to his trailer and open the door for him.

As he steps inside, so low that I almost don't hear it, he murmurs, "Dirty isn't necessarily a bad thing."

I keep my face turned away from him for as long as possible so he can't see how red it just became. I remind myself that he doesn't know for sure if I heard him, and that my face could also be red from the heat.

I poke my head inside to see if he did indeed get his food. It looks like it's already been dropped off on his table.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Gutierrez?" My hand is on the trailer door, ready to go eat lunch myself.

He regards me for a moment from his chair.

"Yes. Two things. You could call me Javi, and you could join me for lunch."

I hesitate. I wasn't expecting that. His gaze is mostly friendly, but with something else I can't place. No one from talent has asked me that before, and I'm not sure if it's breaking any rules. But, with walking back to craft services to get my own lunch, and then needing to come back and get Javi again to walk back to the soundstage, it would actually save me time to eat here. As in, I would actually have time to eat at all.

"Please, I have plenty." He says, opening up the takeout box on the table.

"Okay, thank you." I take the chair across from him, placing my apple and water bottle on the table.

He takes a large bite of his burger, and me a bite of my apple. Then his eyes go wide and he hunches dramatically over his plate.

"Shit!" He says, mouth full. "I forgot I'm still in my wardrobe." Javi stays in that hunched position as he finishes chewing, clearly being careful of where to put his hands. I get up instinctively, moving to the small kitchenette and grabbing a paper towel for him, but when I turn around he is right behind me, apparently doing the same thing.

"You don't have to do that." He says, grabbing his own paper towel and tucking it into his collar.

"It's my job." I try not to focus too much on his fingers tucking the towel in his shirt as I respond.

"You're not a nanny. I invited you to lunch." He smiles as we sit back down.

"An actor acknowledging that I'm not a nanny is somewhat of an enigma around here." I smirk and take a swig of my water bottle, slightly less worried he will take offense this time.

He puts his hand on his heart in mock-hurt.

"You think so low of my community?"

I chuckle. "Your community has a long way to go."

"If I offer you my fries, would that help our case?" He pushes the plate toward me.

"Possibly..." I accept one of the fries, remembering that I haven't had time to eat all day. I can't help but close my eyes as I take a bite. I really am hungry.

I open my eyes to take another, and I realize that Javi is staring at me. He hasn't taken another bite of his burger. His brows are knit together again, his mouth parted slightly. I feel my breath catch in my throat, and I fake a cough to cover it up.

"I'm sorry, by the way." I keep my tone casual, picking up another fry. "For the other day. I should have done my research on the castlist beforehand."

"Aren't I the one who made you spill your coffee?" He raises an eyebrow. I'm beginning to think there is hardly ever a time where humor isn't filling his eyes.

"You can't be held responsible. It was way too early for any of us to open doors correctly."

"Well on behalf of all actors, I'm sorry too. It doesn't sound like we've made a very good impression."

I shrug. "Some of you aren't too bad. Especially the ones I didn't realize were actors." I smile at him.

"Now I'm offended." Javi takes another bite of his burger, clearly no truth behind his words.

"Well, unless you want to get lost on the way back to the soundstage, you should toughen your skin."

Javi chuckles quietly.

"First you clearly don't watch any of my work, and now you would abandon me?"

"To be fair, I have seen one of your HBO shows. The Passage Of Time, I believe."

"My character wasn't memorable enough for you, huh?" He quirks an eyebrow again.

"I was too focused on the blonde, Huston Katz, at the time." I take a long drink of my water.

"At the time..." Javi repeats back, almost absentmindedly. "So I have a chance at becoming memorable?"

I highly doubt he meant for those words to be filled with the same level of innuendo that I feel now. Luckily, I don't have a chance to respond before he speaks again.

"Besides, I wasn't worried about getting lost. Maybe I just wanted some company."

"Maybe I just wanted some fries." I say, taking a large handful. He laughs, pushing the rest of the plate toward me in defeat.

- - -

By 5:00pm, I'm finally winding down my responsibilities. I have a handful of things to deliver to Barb and her team, and then I should be able to go home. I almost drop everything in my arms when I hear rapid footsteps sprinting behind me, and then two hands grip my shoulders.

"Tell me everything." Lana says breathlessly.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I don't care. How dare you not find me first before all this." She gestures to the stuff I'm carrying.

"Before my job?" I can't help but laugh.

"Yes!" She has no shame. I love her. "Now tell me!"

"Okay, okay, just keep it on the downlow. Keep in mind this means nothing to him."

"I completely disagree, but continue."

"Well, I escorted him to his trailer and we had lunch."

"If you don't give me actual details I swear to God I will stab you with my walkie."

"Okay. He's... warm."

"Like his skin?" Lana's eyes widen.

"What? No! His words, or I don't know, his personality was warm. Jesus, Lana."

"I mean if you're not going to worry about your sex life, I have to." She folds her arms and I can tell she's growing impatient with me. I'm not certain if she's impatient over how I'm answering her questions, or simply that I didn't have sex with this man in his trailer the moment we were left alone.

"How did doing my job turn into worrying about my sex life?"

"I can just tell these things. And Ava, let's face it, you need to get laid."

I stare at her in shock, my mouth agape.

She shrugs. "I'm just looking out for you. Ever since you and John–"

"The Traitor, you mean."

"Right, The Traitor. Ever since you and The Traitor broke up, you've barely gotten back out there. And now this nice, beautiful man is showing you attention and you don't even want to acknowledge it." Her voice is softer now, and I know that she genuinely wants me to have hope in this situation with Javi.

"I know, okay? I know I haven't really gotten back out there, and I love how you're looking out for me, I really do. But, and it's a very large but, we don't actually know if he is interested. So until we have some concrete evidence, can we just go about our days? Please?"

Lana watches my face for a moment.

"Okay. Fine. But when we do have that concrete evidence, you need to promise me that you'll go for it."

And whether it be the need to finally put down the collection of crap in my arms, or maybe the possibility of a tiny glimmer of hope within me, I nod my head.

"Okay, I promise."

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

Series Masterlist

#pedro #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal fandom #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x original characters #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #the mandalorian #tlou #narcos #javi gutierrez smut #javi gutierrez fanfiction #javi gutierrez x reader #javi gutierrez x you

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blowflyfag · 3 months ago

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WWF RAW MAGAZINE: JUNE 2001

On Top of his Game

The More Triple H Is Hated, the More He Loves It

By Aaron Williams

Triple H knew this was his chance. For years, he had studied his craft, honed his skills, and prepared for the day when he would be given the opportunity to be one of the top Superstars responsible for carrying the World Wrestling Federation. As the fall of 1999 approached, he knew that his time had come, and for better or worse, his performance over the next several months would either make or break his career. Looking back almost two years later, not even Hunter’s most ardent supporters could have predicted the success he has attained. From refining his character, to pulling off matches thought impossible in today’s sports-entertainment environment, to playing an integral role in the behind-the-scenes activities of the Federation, he has, in many ways, changed the way the game is played.

There comes a point in everyone’s career when learning one’s craft takes a back seat to applying what has been learned. For Hunter, that point came in the fall of 1999. Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin were hampered by injuries, and he and The Rock were given the ball and asked to take the Federation to new heights. While he definitely felt pressure of being put in such a high-profile position, he also felt that the timing couldn’t have been better.

“In the months leading up to that point, I was preparing for it to be my time,” Hunter recalls. “When the time came, it was really on myself and The Rock. I think that there was a feeling of a lot pressure because some very important people were gone and we were still expected to draw. But I work best under pressure, and at that point, there were really no restrictions to what we could do. It was full steam ahead for both of us. I don’t think there was ever a question of whether The Rock and I could do it. We were ready.”

Hunter didn’t always feel this way, and if he had earlier, he questions whether he would have done as well. Although he studied the business from the moment he first stepped into the ring, in the early part of his career he was more concerned with “Enjoying the business” rather than really learning it.

“I was into the business, and studied it a lot, but I didn’t apply what I was learning as much as I could have,” says Hunter. “There was a point in time when I was still learning, and I just wasn’t ready to be where I wanted to be. I knew that, and I was really more set on enjoying the business. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it now, but it was more just going along and doing things. I knew it wasn’t my time, and I knew I wasn’t ready.

“Until I was ready, I didn’t want to do it. So I spent time learning, sitting back, being a young guy in the business and enjoying all the perks that come along with it,” he continues. “Now I'm much more serious about it. Believe me, it’s a dream job and I'm thankful everyday for what I do, for the honor to do what I do. But at the same time, I’m very determined and focused and try not to leave any stone unturned.”

[“My goal is to be the one who can have matches with anybody and be able to make those matches great; to make them mean something. And when the matches are over, I want to be able to say I brought out the best in both of us.”]

Today, rarely a moment goes by when Hunter isn’t thinking about the World Wrestling Federation, and if he isn’t wrestling or working out, you can be sure that he is working on future storylines or the nuances of his character’s actions. Always searching for ways to improve the Federation’s product, Hunter spends countless hours watching matches. He understands that even though he is more in the application than learning stage, the learning process never really ends. So he watches other Superstars’ matches with a keen eye, always asking questions that go beyond the ordinary, probing deep into the psychology and philosophy of the business.

Instead of simply admiring moves or asking just how a particular move is executed, he asks questions such as, “Why are they doing those moves at this particular time?” and “How do these moves fit in with those Superstars’ particular angles?” and “What kinds of things are the crowds responding to?”

As a result, he has earned such monikers as “The Cerebral Assassin” and “The Most Intelligent Superstar in the Business.” More importantly, he has earned the respect of his peers who admire his instincts for and knowledge of the profession, and his boss who appreciates his work ethic.

“You can learn from everything. Even daily things like watching a movie might spur an idea,” says Hunter. “I try to incorporate everything I do back into the business, and that’s why I think people have given me those nicknames. That’s how the whole ‘Game’ nickname started. Vince [McMahon] used to say that I was the biggest student of the game. And then it came down to the point where they thought I wasn’t just a student anymore, but ‘the Game.’”

Hunter spends most of his time studying the business by himself, but he is very open to others and their ideas. He believes that no one knows everything, and they day you stop learning is the day you will cease to thrive in the business.

“Even the guy who made it all, Vince McMahon, listens and watches other people,” Hunter remarks. “I can watch guys doing a dark match, guys who maybe have had only 20 matches, and i learn from what they are doing. Learning from someone doesn’t necessarily mean you see someone do something right. You can see someone do something wrong and learn just as well.”

As a result Hunter has become an integral part of the off-camera activities of the Federation. He takes part in television production meetings, often talks to the writers, and often serves as a conduit between Superstars and the writers. He enjoys thinking of ideas that will work either for himself or others, and he’s not shy about voicing his opinion. Of course, he understands that not all of his ideas will fly: “Believe me, if they think my ideas suck, they don’t use them.”

Years ago, it would have been unthinkable to have a sports-entertainer involved in the business the way Hunter is. In the past, there was a perception–if not a reality–that it was the boys against the office. “Today this is no longer true,” Hunter says. “We’re all in the same business, and we’re all working for the same thing.” According to Hunter, today’s Superstars understand this, and his involvement in the behind-the-scenes activities has been beneficial for the entire Federation.

“I think at one point when I first started to get close to the behind-the-scenes stuff, there was a fear that I was going to have a ton of heat with the other guys. But I honestly believe that I don't have heat with most of the guys. I believe that’s because they understand that I'm just trying to help everybody. I’m not in there saying, ‘to hell with that guy, give me the push.’ I’m trying to think up good ideas for everybody. If I think of a good idea for Jericho, I push it. Also, sometimes some of the guys might have an idea, and if they don’t have a good relationship with [the writers], or they feel funny talking to the writers, a lot of them ask me to tell the writers. So they can use me in that way, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Hunter’s open relationship with Vince McMahon has also proved beneficial to the Federation, and after spending a few moments with “the Game,” it becomes apparent how much Hunter respected his boss.

“I know I’m going to sound like I’m kissing my boss’ ass but I really think that Vince is a genius. How can he not be? Look where he’s taken this business. He’s made it larger than life, he’s made it into a billion-dollar industry, and now he’s gone to the point where he’s taken over his competition. He’s won the war. Beyond that, he’s a good person. He’s interested in having quality human beings working for him and being involved in his product. He’s extremely passionate about what we do.

“Sometimes people say negative things about him, but I believe it’s because when you are a businessman. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions,” Hunter continues. “It’s not personal, it’s business. Trust me, I don’t envy his job because it’s so difficult. But as far as working with him, you can’t think of a greater honor than to sit next to probably the smartest guy in the world about this business and pick his brain about things all day.”

It’s been Hunter’s ability in the ring and in front of the camera that has really distinguished him in the past two years. One of the hardest things to accomplish these days is to remain a heel for an extended period of time. Heels do a lot of ass-kicking and trash-talking, two activities that tend to endear Superstars to fans these days. Instead of generating hatred, heels often earn the respect of today’s fans and become fan favorites whether they want to or not.

Hunter, through his smarts, has been able to avoid this pitfall. For the past two years, he has been able to keep fans hating him, a fact in which he takes a lot of pride.

“It’s very hard to keep fans from liking you, and that’s something that I’ve worked very hard at. In the last two years, I’ve been one of the few guys who’s been able to do that. I’ve had a long, long run just being hated by the fans. It hasn’t been by accident. I want it that wat. I’m very in tune to when my fans start cheering at things, and I’m very cautious with my prompts in terms of what I say and how I say it so I won’t be cheered. I’m very cautious. I think about everything I do; I don’t do anything just because.”

Other accomplishments that Hunter takes pride in include his ability to take part in long-running feuds, and his ability to work in any type of match and have the and his opponent come out better for it. Observers of the business claimed that the days of long-term feuds were over, but Hunter has proved them wrong with his conflicts with The Rock, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. These same observers also claimed that today’s fans would never enjoy a 60-minute match, but Hunter and The Rock proved them wrong again with their epic Iron Man match at Judgment Day in May 2000.

Also, his well-documented relationship with Stephanie has provided hours of entertainment for Federation fans and enhanced his status as a great communicator. Their never-ending scheme to control the Federation has been a high point of Federation programming and if one didn’t know better, one would think they were two veteran performers who had worked together for years.

“I think that when you get two people who are very good at what they do, things work out pretty well. There are certain people in the business who you just have good chemistry with, and Stephanie and I have that chemistry. It’s no different than an opponent who you always have great matches with because there is great chemistry. There’s a good chemistry between us as far as everything we do on television. It’s easy for us to play off each other, and it worked out well.”

Life as a heel isn’t always easy. Sometimes fans forget that Hunter is a Federation Superstar, and that in real life he is a much different person than the despicable heel he plays when the cameras are on. People often confront him, and others have a negative attitude toward him. At times, this bothers him, but he’s wise enough to know that these negative perceptions have come about because he has been so effective in the ring and in front of the camera. Still, being a heel can have its advantages.

“It's a horrible thing when you have people in your face or you’ve got people who believe you’re what they see on television,” he says. “But there are other times when you don’t really want to be bothered and just want to be a regular person. It makes it a whole lot easier to tell someone to get lost when they think you’re an ass anyway. Trust me, I love the fans, but we’re all people, and I put my pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else. Sometimes you just need some time for yourself. In my position, sometimes they expect me to turn them down, so it can be helpful.”

Despite being mentally drained at times, Hunter couldn’t be happier. After all, he’s living out his childhood dream of being a World Wrestling Federation Superstar.

“This is going to sound corny, but I get to wake up everyday and live my dream. Being in this business is what I wanted to do. There are days when I need to get away for a little bit, but it’s very rare. For the most part I get to do what I love to do every day, and what could be better than that?”

#triple h #hunter hearst helmsley #magazine scan #magazine transcript #WWF RAW magazine #WWF RAW magazine 2000s #2001 #2000s

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