#ITS GOOGLE TRANSLATE SO YOU KNOW STARES AT IT LIKE WOW

[killuaisaprincess]

WAHHHH GONKILLU IS CANON SO MANY VAS THE DIRECTOR LIKE ITS A BOTCHED TRANSLATION SURE ITS GOOGLE TRANSLATE BUT STILL POINT IS GOTTEN ACROSS GONKILLU CANON

[junkomc]

クリスマスの試練/The Christmas ordeal

141 x male OC (Jet)/m x m/ rom-com? ? / ghost x jet/ soap x jet / price x jet / gaz & jet

*As usual, this is based on Google Translate, so please forgive any strange grammar or mistakes!

And please don't worry about the details or the chronology of the main story!

(summary: JET(male OC) is suddenly transformed into a black cat for some reason, and is told that he can't return to his original form unless his three lovers say "I love you" by Christmas. Will Soap, Price, and Ghost say "I love you" to him in his cat form...??)

--The night of December 23--

The barracks on the base were on holiday and most people were away to spend time with their families, but some remained on base for special missions or work.

The members of 141 were no exception, and only Gaz was able to take vacation, while Jet, Price, Ghost, and Soap were at the base.

"Gaz, how are you? Are you having fun?"

That day, Jet was talking to Gaz via video call.

It seemed that Gaz was at a local pub, and it was very lively behind him.

"Yeah, what about you? Aren't you being pushed around by three lovers? I'm worried about your body... well, from what I can see, you look fine. Although there aren't many people on the base... well, keep it moderate, okay? Also, make them wear condoms."

"Stop it!! Come on, Mom! Leave me alone."

Jet and Gaz both laughed out loud.

Perhaps because of the alcohol, Gaz's talk today was a bit risqué, but Jet was happy to see a different side to Gaz than his usual serious side.

"Anyway, as long as you're happy, that's fine with me..."

"Wow... you're saying sweet things to me like a lover, aren't you?"

Jet smiled seductively as if teasing Gaz, who was looking at him with gentle eyes.

"You know there's no point in trying to seduce me, right? Look, I'm like your guardian. I'm always watching over you so you don't do anything bad. Even if I'm far away! Make sure you reply to my emails!"

"Okay, I get it, Mom."

"... Oh well... I'll call you again tomorrow, goodnight."

"Goodnight... Gaz."

Jet stared at his phone, thinking about how Gaz had called him almost every day during his vacation, even though he had no ulterior motives, asking how his day was going and if he needed anything (and always forcing him to video call him).

He seemed like the perfect kind and caring husband, so Jet felt ticklish, but at the same time, he felt like a teenager who was annoyed by his parents.

After charging his smartphone, Jet lay down on the bed and mumbled absently.

“Tomorrow is the 24th...what was the plan for those three...?”

Jet was thinking about his first Christmas at the base with his three boyfriends, but before he knew it, he had dozed off, and the next thing he knew, he was asleep until morning.

--The morning of December 24th--

Jet woke up suddenly, sensing a presence, to find a black cat by the window, staring at him with its big golden eyes.

Being an animal lover, he opened the window to let the cat in, leaving a small gap, but he hesitated, wondering if it was okay to just let a cat into the barracks on the base without permission. At that moment, the cat slipped through the gap and into the room.

This is bad!

Jet quickly grabbed the cat and locked it in his arms.

Fortunately, it was a holiday and there were very few people on the base, so Jet thought he'd take care of the cat secretly in his room for a while while he looked for someone to take it in...

As he stroked its fluffy head, the black cat looked up at Jet and meowed briefly.

"Such a cute kitty! What's wrong? Are you lost? You don't seem to have a collar on... are you hungry?"

Just as Jet brought his hand closer to stroke the black cat's chin again., a black cat scratched his hand.

"Ouch! Don't you like being touched that much?"

Jet looked into the black cat's face, and the black cat yawned and stared back at Jet. Then it opened its small mouth again...

"You seem to be a man of many loves. Do you have three lovers? Hmm, do they really love you?"

"...!?!?"

Jet looked around at the sudden voice, but no matter how he thought about it, the only people in the room were the black cat and himself.

Is this a dream or a hallucination? ?

Jet was shaken, but looked at the black cat again, and asked in a gentle voice, even though he thought it was ridiculous.

"Cat... did you say that just now?"

"Yes. By the way, as I said earlier, you have three lovers, but is all that love real? Do they really love you?"

Jet's head was spinning. The fact that the cat was talking. And what's more, it was asking rude and harsh questions straight out.

Looking at the black cat's mouth, which moved as if it was manipulated by CG, Jet felt as if he had been thrown into a comedy movie.

Is this a nightmare before Christmas...?

"Hmm, that's not something I want to hear from a cute cat..."

"Since you seem to be trying to escape reality, I'm going to give you a ordeal."

"Huh? Ordeal??"

"You must have three lovers tell you they love you before Christmas is over.''

“…Well, in that case…maybe we can do it somehow?”

"You're so confident. But there's no way I'm going to give you such an easy ordeal, right?... Close your eyes for a moment..."

"??"

Jet obediently closes his eyes as he is told.

And when he opens his eyes again... he finds himself in front of him for some reason.

Moreover, there is something strange about the height of his line of sight, his bodily sensations, his sense of smell, and his hearing.

What is going on?!

He suddenly looks down at his own hand and sees that it is... a cat's paw...

"You will now switch places with me and become a cat. In cat form, you will have three lovers say they love you. If you can't achieve this by the end of Christmas, you will remain a cat forever."

"Wait! That's impossible! In cat form?? And Christmas is tomorrow!! What will happen to my body after we've switched bodies?! What are you going to do with my body in the meantime?"

Jet pleaded desperately, but all he could hear was the cat's meowing.

However, it seems that the black cat Jet in front of him understands this...

"Don't worry. Until you can overcome this ordeal, this body will be kept safe in a proper place. All you need to do is think about your three lovers. After all, the deadline is tomorrow at midnight."

"...No, no, no, I can't accept this!!"

The moment Jet shouted this, he lost consciousness.

Jet woke up a little later and tried to get up from his bed, saying that he had a terrible dream the day before Christmas. But at that moment, he was hit by an indescribable sense of discomfort again and timidly looked at his hands, his body...

What the...

Jet was still a black cat.

--Soap and the Black Cat--

"Meow!!!!"

Soap caught the sound of a cat's voice coming from somewhere, and was searching for its whereabouts while gently calling out, "Cat-chan? Where are you?" Soap almost laughed at the voice he didn't normally make, but he had seen somewhere that cats were not good at loud and low voices, so he made a high-pitched whisper-like voice. He faithfully followed that advice.

"Meow meow!"

When he heard a particularly loud meow, Soap finally reached the source of the sound. It was Jet's room.

"...Jet? Are you with the cat?"

Soap thought it was strange and knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

He put his ear to the door, but there was no sign of anyone. All he could hear was the cat's meowing and the sound of it scratching the door.

Soap had a bad feeling, so he put his hand on the doorknob and said.

"...Jet? I'll open it, okay?"

"Meow!"

The cat meowed as if in reply, so Soap chuckled and opened the door with force.

Sure enough, the only person inside was the black cat.

"Oh, hello, cute cat!"

Soap said so, picking up the black cat...Jet cat, gently patting its head, and staring at it.

"Meow meow! (Soap!!! It's me)"

Jet was convey desperately, but to Soap it just sounded like a cat meowing.

"You're a cat that meows a lot... By the way, do you know Jet, the resident of this room? Are you his illegitimate child? If so, I need to questioning him! Anyway, I'll play with you until Jet comes back! Are you hungry? You meow because you're hungry, right? Or are you lonely?? You're really cute..."

Seeing Soap's melting smile and his voice that he'd never heard before talking to the cat like a machine gun, Jet forgot for a moment the critical situation he was in and writhed in agony.

I think you're definitely cuter than the black cat...!!

"Okay! Let's give you some milk in my room!"

Soap said, kissing Jet on the forehead and stroking his chin.

"Meow... (Soap...)"

Jet, enchanted by Soap's touch, thought it would be okay to stay like this for a while...

After receiving milk in Soap's room, Jet was picked up by Soap again and placed on his lap as he sat on the sofa.

When Soap noticed milk around Jet's mouth, he wiped it with the hem of his shirt.

"You may look like an adult cat, but you're bad at drinking milk. You're like a kitten drinking milk for the first time."

Soap lifted Jet up to his chest and poked Jet's cheek with his thick finger.

"Meow meow... (Because that's exactly what it is...)"

When Jet meowed dissatisfiedly, Soap made an excuse, "Sorry, I'm not saying anything bad, I just mean that you're cute like a kitten," and stroked Jet's chin.

"Meow meow... (touching that spot is cheating...)"

When Jet saw Soap's gentle eyes looking at him (the cat), he thought to himself, "He is such a kind person, and considerate of everyone and everything."

Why was such a wonderful and handsome man so attached to him, and why did he fall in love with him?

Jet was enchanted as he gave himself over to Soap's massage while asking himself this question, but the next moment he came back to his senses and remembered his "ordeal".

"Meow!! (Soap!!)"

Soap saw Jet, who had been rubbing his face against his hand, suddenly straighten up and sit back on his lap, so he tilted his head and looked at Jet, asking "What's wrong?"

"Meow! Meow meow! (Soap! This cat is me)"

Jet couldn't help but meow, even though he thought there was no way he could understand.

"What's wrong, kitty?...Are you looking for Jet? Are you lonely? Poor guy... Come here."

"Meow... (That’s not right…)”

Soap hugged him again and rubbed his cheek against him. Strangely, when he rubbed his cheek against a human's body, it felt rough and gritty, but when he was in cat form, it didn't feel that way at all. But, he felt his scent more than usual and felt like he was closer to him.

"I'm lonely without Jet too. I want to be with him all day every day. I want to hold him, and spend all day off in bed with him. I know, you too, right? No, wait, when did you start being with him? ?Are you my rival?”

As Soap spoke to Jet Cat like a machine gun again, Jet felt fondness for his lover in front of him even as he chuckled in his heart.

And this time, Jet Cat rubbed his cheek against Soap's cheek.

"Hehe, you're so cute. I love you. But I love Jet the most, so you're second. Don't be jealous. Because among all cats, you're number one!"

"Meow... meow?! Meow meow?! (Soap... hmm? Wait, what did you just say?!)"

He said He love me, didn't He?! This means I've cleared it, right?!

Jet wanted to pump his fist in celebration, but it was impossible for a cat to do so, so instead he jumped off Soap's lap in excitement and started running around the room.

"Hey, what's wrong with you all of a sudden? You're really a moody, unreadable kitten... just like Jet..."

Jet was taken aback by Soap's words and suddenly stopped moving, then jumped onto the sofa and climbed onto Soap's shoulders,

"Meow... (That's right...)"

He whispered in Soap's ear and kissed his temple.

"Kitty...?! You're really... too cute..."

Soap kissed Jet Cat on the forehead.

Satisfied in many ways, Jet Cat got off Soap's shoulder, pushed his head through the gap in the door, and slipped out of his room.

"...Ah, wait up kitty!"

Soap was saying something behind Jet's back, but Jet didn't have much time left so he hurried on to his next target.

--Price and the Black Cat--

Price was doing paperwork in his office when he heard Soap's voice echoing through the quiet hallway... and the tone of the voice was different from usual, so he opened the door to the room.

"Captain! Get that cat!"

"…cat?"

When Price looked down, he saw a black cat gently nestling at his feet.

"What the hell is this cat? Where did it come from?"

Price scooped up the jet cat, held it up in front of him, and looked at him intently.

"Meow... (Captain...)"

"I found the cat in Jet's room... but Jet was not there and his smartphone wouldn't connect... so I couldn't listen to him..."

Soap grumbled and tried to take Jet's cat from Price's hand, so Jet panicked and slapped Soap's hand.

"Meow! (No, Soap!)"

"Ouch... what's wrong, kitty? Come here."

Seeing this, Price chuckled and said, "It seems like he doesn't like you."

"Meow... meow meow meow... (Sorry Soap... I have something to do...)"

"... Still, I can't have this cat at the base. I'll take care of him until we find Jet. Soap, you continue looking for Jet."

"Okay..."

Soap said with a bit of disappointment, "See you later, kitty," patted Jet's head, and left Price's office.

"Meow... (Soap...)"

"Now, what should I do with you..."

Price sat in his office chair, put Jet Cat on his lap, and sighed.

"Meow... meow meow meow (Captain... Price... please notice me...)"

Jet desperately tried to appeal to Price, even though he knew it was impossible. He stretched both his hands (front paws) over Price's shoulders, put his face close to Price, and meowed desperately.

But he was quickly pulled away and put back on his lap.

At that moment, Jet was worried that Price might not like cats.

If Jett doesn't return, a frustrated Price might call the shelter and have someone come pick him up...then it's all over.

Jet was horrified to see Price searching for something on his smartphone.

"Meow... meow meow (Could it be that Captain, you're looking for a shelter??)"

Jet desperately tried to see the phone screen, slipping his head between Price's arms and sneaking a peek.

"Um, I need to find out what cats like to eat, and what not to feed them."

Jet was relieved to see that Price was researching cats, not shelters, and his kindness warmed his heart.

"Meow... (Captain...)"

Jet the cat meowed in a dreamy voice, and Price took his eyes off the phone screen and stared at Jet Cat on his lap.

"You meow a lot. It's like you're talking."

"Meow? Meow! (! Yes! I‘ｍ talking!)"

Jet was impressed by Price's good intuition and kept meowing desperately. Thinking that Price might understand if he meowed closer, he tried to get closer to him and climb onto his shoulder, but Price pulled him away again.

"Calm down," Price said as he tried to put Jet on his lap again, but Price's hand, which was holding his smartphone, hit the button of the photo folder, and Jet saw that there were many photos of himself in the folder.

All of the photos were taken with Jett's permission, but I was a little surprised by the number of them and was happy to feel Price's love for them.

"Meow... meow meow... /// (But Captain, you've taken too many shots... ///)"

"Huh? What are you saying?"

"Meow... meow meow meow (Price, I love you...)"

"Huh? So you like me better than Soap after all?"

"... meow... meow? (... better than Soap... huh?)"

"Yeah? Do you like older men better than younger men? Like Jet?"

"Meow... meow? Meow meow! (Um... huh?... Wait wait!)"

Jet wanted to say a lot of things about Price's words, but he didn't have time for that. Anyway,

Jet have to make him say "I love you" no matter what.

"Meow meow! Meow meow meow...! (come on! Say you love me)"

"Huh? What's going on? You're making a fuss all of a sudden. Calm down kitty, what are you trying to say?"

Price lifted Jet to his chest and stared at him.

Jet gave up trying to get the words out of Price for the time being and started thinking about going to Ghost first...

"Your black fur is shiny and beautiful, just like Jet's hair..."

Price muttered as he began to pet Jet Cat's head.

His big, warm hands felt so good that Jet Cat slowly closed her eyes.

Jet had thought Price didn't like cats that much, so he felt relieved by his actions and the gentle gaze he was looking at him with.

"Meow... meow meow meow meow (Price, I love you....Even if I'm a cat for the rest of my life, please love me right?)"

"Huh? I love you...? Did you just say I love you? No, no, maybe I just heard your meowing..."

"... Meow!! (What!!)"

Jet was surprised and stared at Price with his eyes wide open.

"Meow! Meow meow! Meow! (That's right! I love you!! Say it!)"

Jet made desperate nodding gestures, and Price, who had a keen sense of intuition, looked into Jet's eyes with a puzzled look, saying, "Are you nodding? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Jet narrowed his eyes, licked the tip of Price's nose as he approached, and rubbed his cheek against Jet's beloved fluffy whiskers.

"Meow, meow meow (Price, I love you)"

"You said you love me? We've only just met? But strangely, I already love you, too, nameless cat."

"...... Meow...... (......What...)"

Jet was touched that Price had said the word in such an unexpected turn of events, but a sudden worry crossed Jet's mind.

Isn't this love for cats rather than love for Me?

But now Jet decided to be enveloped in the scent and warmth of his beloved Price, and once again rubbed his face against Price's neck.

"Okay, okay, I'll love you so much that Jet will get jealous."

Price said this and massaged Jet's entire body with such precision that it was as if he knew all the places the cat wanted to be petted.

"Meow meow... (Feels good...)"

Jet thought that there was still a day until the 25th, and that it would be okay since it was only Ghost... and fell asleep while receiving Price's massage.

Then, when he woke up---

For some reason, Jet had been taken out of the room by Price, and was in Price's arms, wrapped in a fluffy blanket. Price seemed to be walking down the hallway and heading somewhere.

"... Meow? Meow meow (Price? Where are you going?)"

"Oh? Cat, are you awake? Don't worry, I won't throw you out. I'm just going to move a little. ...I hope you like him..."

Price stroked Jet's chin to reassure him.

Jet found it interesting that he felt like he was having a conversation with Price when he was with him.

"Meow? (He?)"

"By the way, he's older than Thorp, but younger than me. What do you think? Is he your type?"

"Meow... (Price...)"

Jet narrowed his eyes and glared at Price, but Price, who was supposed to have good intuition, didn't notice his gaze.

After walking for a while, Price arrived at the ghost's room.

Price knocked, and immediately a man in a skull mask popped his head out the door.

"Hey Ghost, sorry for the sudden call, but could you take care of this cat for a while? This cat is probably Jet's, but Jet is missing and Soap hasn't been able to get in touch with him yet. I think it'll be okay, but I'll go with him to look for Jet."

"Jet...? Then I'll..."

Ghost was about to say something, but before he could, Price handed Jet and the blanket over to Ghost, and while Ghost was staring at the black mass in his arms, he quickly disappeared.

"Meow... meow meow... meow meow? (Hi Ghost... do you like cats?)"

Jet looked up at Ghost, hoping that he didn't hate or have an allergy to cats.

"... cat... huh..."

Ghost looked at Jet with a suspicious look, then narrowed his eyes a little and continued to stare into Jet's eyes for a while.

"Meow... meow meow meow meow... meow! /// (...! Stop giving such sexy looks to cats! ///)"

--Ghost and black cat--

Jet was anxious.

There was only one more person left, there was still a day left, and the other two had done well, so he thought Ghost would say that line easily.

But he was quite a tough opponent.

Soap and Price had Jet sitting on their laps and lovingly petting him, but Ghost left Jet on his bed and started tidying his room, cleaning his gun, and even taking a shower.

With such distance between them, they couldn't understand each other.

Jet had forgotten that Ghost was a man who was surprisingly incapable of communication.

"Meow... meow meow meow... (Ghost... you're a dog person, aren't you...)"

While Jet was rolling around on Ghost's bed, Ghost came up to Jet with only a towel wrapped around his waist after a shower. He wasn't wearing his usual mask.

"Meow... Meow Meow Meow (Wow, you show your face to cats so easily...)"

For some reason, Jet felt a mysterious jealousy, but when Ghost's fingers gently touched his forehead, it disappeared in an instant.

"You're Jet's cat, right?"

"Meow... Meow Meow Meow Meow... (No... I'm Jet...)"

"...I wish I could understand what you're saying..."

Saying this, Ghost sat on the bed, picked up Jet, who was sitting, and lifted him up...and placed him on Ghost's lap, who was wearing only a towel.

"Meow! Meow Meow Meow Meow! (Oh! That's not a good place!)"

Jet hurriedly jumped off Ghost's lap and wrapped himself in the blanket on the bed again.

Seeing Jet's state, Ghost muttered, "Do you hate me...?" with a somewhat lonely look in his eyes.

"Meow... Meow (G-ghost...)"

The fact that the ghost was talking to a cat was cute enough, but it was too sneaky to look at me like that!

"Meow... (Already......)"

Jet got out of the blanket and slowly climbed onto Ghost's lap, curling up on Ghost's thighs while telling himself, "I'm a cat now! I'm a cat, I shouldn't think sexy things about people!"

"...Are you back? What a fickle guy..."

As Ghost said this, he began to gently stroke Jet. He carefully stroked behind his ears, around his chin and face, and finally picked up Jet and lightly kissed his forehead. He then lay down on the bed with Jet in his arms, letting Jet move freely on his chest.

"Meow... (Ghost...)"

Jet felt strange being placed on his lover's bare chest (and his nipples were right in front of his eyes), but he told himself "I'm a cat, I shouldn't get excited by people" and somehow managed to get through it.

More than anything, Jet had an important ordeal to overcome.

Ghost was staring at Jet relaxing on his chest, and after a while, he suddenly poked Jet's small cheek.

"Hey, you're Jet's cat, right? How long have you been here? I go to his room all the time, but I've never seen any sign of a cat, and I've never seen cat hair on his clothes.... You're not Jet's cat, are you?"

"Meow!! Meow!!! (Ghost! As expected!!)"

Jet was impressed by Ghost's insight and instinctively stood up. Then, he approached Ghost's face and licked his chin with his small tongue.

"Meow... Meow meow meow! (Ghost... Please notice me...)"

"...What's wrong all of a sudden?"

The ghost must have been ticklish, as he laughed a little and pulled Jet away. When Jet let out a dissatisfied meow, the ghost sat back on the bed, put Jet on his lap and muttered.

"...The black cat that suddenly appeared...Jet suddenly disappeared...Could it be that you...Jet???"

"...Meow! Meow! (...What! Yes, I am!)"

Jet trembled at the unexpected answer of the ghost.

However, what he says next quickly breaks Jet down.

"...No way, that's ridiculous. What am I talking about..."

"Meow, meow meow! (No, it's right!)"

Ghost was about to close the exit door that Jet had just seen, so Jet started to meow in a panic, crawled up to Ghost's face again and started licking his chin again.

"...Meow meow meow (please understand, Ghost...)"

Jet meowed sadly and began to carefully lick each scar on Ghost's face in order.

"...You're really..."

Jet had a habit of kissing the scars on Ghost's face when having sex with him. Moreover, there was a set order, and Jet's cat licked them in the exact same order, which made Ghost extremely upset.

"...If you're really Jet...Kiss my lips...,...What am I saying to a cat..."

The moment Ghost looked down and sighed, Jet Cat quickly kissed Ghost's lips with his cat's small mouth.

"......!!!"

Ghost was speechless and fell back onto his bed again, covering his face with his hands.

"Meow meow meow meow meow... (Ghost, but the problem isn't solved yet...)"

Jet sat on Ghost's chest with his back curled up, staring into his eyes and pleading.

"...Hey, what should I do? Why did you become a cat? Did you do something to make a cat hate you?"

"Meow! (No!)"

Jet instinctively aimed for Ghost's jaw and delivered a cat punch.

"Sorry, sorry. But what should I do to get back? In a fairy tale... a prince's kiss, right? But we just kissed... isn't a kiss enough?"

Jet was smiling inside, thinking that the normally calm ghost was bringing up a fairy tale, and talking about himself as a prince, which was so cute and endearing.

No! This is no time to laugh, as the ghost said, a kiss won't do.

You have to say those words...

"... Meow meow meow meow meow... (If I stay in cat form like this forever...)"

Responding to Jet's anxious cries, the ghost got up from the bed, gently hugged Jet Cat to his chest, and kissed his little face.

"Don't worry, I'll do something about it. There must be a solution somewhere. Even if... you stay in cat form forever, I love you."

"...... Meow...... Meow!!! (...... Hmm... What!!)"

Jet was so entranced by Ghost's words of love that he almost missed them.

Ghost said those words completely, and in the fullest sense of the word.

"Meow! (Ghost!)"

Jet licked Ghost's face in excitement.

"Calm down, Jet... Anyway, you can stay in my room tonight. I'll tell Soap and Price... tomorrow. I'm sure they'll understand... Probably... Anyway, let's all think about what to do next tomorrow..."

"Meow... (Yeah...)"

Jet was a little worried. In his mind, he had imagined Ghost turning back into a human the moment he said those words, but he was still a cat.

I had overcome the ordeal, but would I remain a cat until midnight tomorrow...

Jet was thinking about a lot of things and wanted to cry, but his lover in front of him loved him even in cat form, so he didn't care! With that feeling in mind, Jet gave up and before Jet knew it, He had fallen into a deep sleep in Ghost's arms.

--The morning of December 25th, Ghost's room--

That morning, Ghost couldn't find his beloved black cat, or rather his lover, in his arms, so he searched around the room.

There was no sign of him in the room, but there were signs that he had gone outside, so Ghost quickly changed his clothes and left the room.

At that moment, Soap came out of the room and called out nonchalantly, "Hey Ghost, good morning."

"I finally got in contact with Jet last night...Price was also relieved."

"...Midnight"

Ghost heard Soap's words and headed to Jet's room.

Ghost guessed that Jet had probably woken up in the middle of the night and returned to his human form, and had returned to the room to contact Soap and Price on his smartphone to reassure them.

"Are you going to Jet's room?"

Without answering Soap's question, Ghost went to Jet's room and knocked on the door.

"Jet? I'm coming in!?"

Irritated by the lack of a response, he quietly opened the door...

Then, Jet was sleeping soundly in his bed. The black cat was nowhere to be seen.

Ghost sighed in relief, and Soap asked curiously from behind.

"By the way, where did that black cat go? Wasn't he with Ghost? I have to ask Jet anyway. Should we wake him up now? Look, it's Christmas after all..."

"No. We can talk about the cat later... and he must have had a lot of trouble yesterday. Let's let him sleep a little longer..."

After saying that, Ghost quietly closed the door to the room.

―END―

I wanted to write a follow-up story and a story about the 25th, but I ran out of energy! However, just like the Halloween episode (King's Game), I had a lot of fun writing it. It was a completely self-indulgent piece, but if anyone has read it, thank you!!

[an-aroaces-harem]

Ellis Twilight Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: I just deepl and google translated my way through this because I wanted to know what’s going on, so there are definitely mistakes but I believe I managed the general gist of the story. Anyway, it’s just a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes. Ikemen Villains belongs to Cybird.

Another note: I know Ikemen Villains is set in victorian London, but I will use the japanese suffixes because I prefer them.

(I hope you donʼt find out!)

I put on a hat I had procured in the area, and pulled it down, covering my eyes.

Jude-san and Ellis-kun, both of them having covered their mouths with scarves, stepped into the casino.

(Both of them clearly donʼt look formal, so theyʼre attracting a lot of attention …)

(We havenʼt been found yet, right?)

The people saw me sandwiched between two suspicious men whose faces were hidden.

On the other hand … there was a worry that these two could be mistaken for kidnappers.

Jake: Why did you guys get dressed like that?

Jude: …

Ellis: …

Kate: Ah, umm … I think they got cold after being outside for a while!

Kate: They might not be able to speak for a while because their lips are frozen and their voices are shaky.

I felt like Jude-san was cursing under his breath while I made excuses.

(I could be wrong but I think I heard something like “There mustʼve been a better lie” …)

Jake: Oh my god, take care!

(Good! I donʼt think weʼre suspicious at all.)

Kate: T-thank you. Itʼs not that bad, so donʼt worry!

Jake: Are you physically weak? If you donʼt train properly, you wonʼt be able to perform in the circus!

Jake-san smiled cheerfully and patted Jude-sanʼs shoulder with his large palm.

Jude: …

(H-heʼs mad … Iʼll pretend I didnʼt see that.)

Ellis: …

When Ellis-kun looked at me, he gave me a quick wink as if to say, “Nice follow.”

Jake-san walked deeper into the casino.

When he reached a door with two guards standing in front of it, he took off his hat and bowed.

Jake: Hey, hey, could you please tell the owner that Iʼve brought in another circus friends?

(… The main culprit of the kidnapping might be behind there.)

(Maybe even the victims—)

I took a deep breath and entered the room we were led through.

The eyes of many strong men inside turned towards us.

Jake: Sorry, Iʼm late for my appointment. I had a wonderful encounter!

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Captain-san, Iʼve been waiting for you! Are those the ones you had a wonderful encounter with?

Jude • Ellis: …

(This person is the “owner” of the casino as described by the Captain.)

—If our guess was correct, that meant he was the leader of the kidnapping incident.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Youʼve brought in some very … lively ones this time.

A man wearing silver-rimmed glasses stared at us suspiciously.

(This person is the leader of the kidnapping … right?)

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Both the young lady and the young men, look at their appearance and the luster of their skin …

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: It doesnʼt seem like they were lured to the circus because they were hungry for money or fame.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Why are you interested in the circus?

(Heʼs suspicious …)

The moment I instinctively read the manʼs expression, I heard a click and suddenly—

(The key is in the door of the room …!)

A sense of tension filled the room that made the surface of my skin tingle.

In the tense atmosphere. Jude-san and Ellis-kun walked up to the supposed owner.

Jude: I admired the performance of Jake Grace, who made a name for himself in the big box office.

He spoke fluent Queenʼs English.

His speaking tone was so elegant that it didnʼt have any of its usual harshness to it—to the point I thought for a moment it was someone else speaking.

(Wow, thatʼs a completely different person … If you speak like this, no one will know who you are …)

Jude: However, Iʼm still a little unsure. Thereʼs always a secret behind every good story.

Jude: They say this company will guarantee food, clothing and shelter until the circus is established. Are you the representative?

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Yes. Iʼm the one in charge of investing in Jake. Although there is a superior.

(So this person isnʼt the leader of the gang either …?)

(I wonder if itʼs one of the factions within that group.)

Jude: Are your “higher-ups” also aware of that investment?

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: … I donʼt think itʼs necessary for the group to know that much.

Jude-san glanced at me and Ellis-kun.

Based on my experience of business negotiations and chaos that I had attended with these two, this was a matter of “taking advantage of oneʼs position.”

(That—)

(That means a brawl has begun …!)

The moment Ellis-kun kicked the vase over, I instinctively hid behind the table.

It all started when the gang was distracted by loud noises—

Jude: Detain the glasses guy. Iʼll take care of everything else.

Ellis: Alright.

As the gang was able to communicate for a moment before they raised their guns, Ellis-kun kicked the ground lightly.

The next moment, he was using the table as a springboard to rise above the gangsters.

(… As usual, his movements are amazing.)

The panicked gang members had no time to adjust their guns before Ellis-kunʼs long fingertips touched the head of the man with glasses …

His wrists were tied together with an invisible rope, and he couldnʼt move.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Huh!? W-what is this …?

Ellis: This is the end.

(He was able to arrest the owner in no time. Jude-san—)

As if puffing out smoke, Jude-san slipped into the other personʼs arms and touched their forehead.

Immediately, one by one, the gang members fell unconscious on the floor.

(Thatʼs Jude-sanʼs ability …?)

(It doesnʼt seem like … the people he touched are dead, though.)

The sight of someone losing consciousness and collapsing as if a string had been cut, even though he hadnʼt punched or kicked them, was so strange it sent shivers down my spine.

Jake: W-what? Who are you guys?

(Oh, I totally forgot about Jake-san …!)

He was just being used by a gang.

If thatʼs the case, it would be dangerous to be in the middle of this scuffle.

Low gang member: Damn it! You brought a troublesome guest!

Kate: Ah—

As soon as I saw the gun being pointed at Jake-san—

Kate: Get away …

Jake: Woah!?

I didnʼt have time to think about what happened so quickly, and I rammed into Jake-san as hard as I could.

Jake-san stumbled and I fell to the floor—

Kate: Ah—!!?

Jake-sanʼs huge body suddenly landed on my legs.

I felt a sharp throbbing pain, and for a moment I stopped breathing, before I started to sweat profusely.

(Ouch …)

Jake: Iʼm sorry. Are you okay, young lady?

Kate: I-itʼs fine …

(My eyes are blurry due to the pain …)

I couldnʼt keep lying down, thinking that a gun might be pointed at me again.

Kate: Ng … hah …

I desperately tried to wake up my body, which screamed with every breath.

Still unable to stand, I lay face down on the floor and lifted only my head …

(…! Everyone is unconscious except the owner.)

Jude-sanʼs ability submerged the room into complete silence.

Ellis-kun was pressing a black-bladed knife against the throat of the owner.

(Ellis-kun …)

Ellis: … ah.

In that moment I collided with twilight eyes that were looking at me with concern as I collapsed on the floor.

He looked like he was about to rush in, so I hurriedly swallowed the pain and smiled.

(… Iʼm fine!)

If he let the owner run away, we would be left without any clues of the victims.

Ellis: …—

His twilight eyes were still flickering with anxiety, but Ellis-kun made no attempt to lower the knife.

Jude: Oi, you.

Jake: Huh—?

Before I knew it, Jude-san was nearby and touched Jake-sanʼs forehead.

Jake-sanʼs consciousness instantly disappeared and his body collapsed on the spot.

Kate: Why Jake-san too?

Jude: From here on, itʼs Crownʼs job. If anyone sees us, weʼll have to kill them, too.

(Crownʼs job—)

In my pain-stricken vision, Jude-san moved away.

The restrained owner cursed at Jude-san who was standing in front of him, with his eyes small behind his glasses.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: That dragon with the black knife … youʼre the trader who put one of our executives in jail.

Jude: Whereʼre the victims?

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: … Even if I knew something, I wouldnʼt tell you.

Even though there was no one left to help in the room, the owner had an irreverent smile on his lips.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: If you kill me, they wonʼt be free. I recommend you back off.

Jude: Well, then die.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Huh?

Jude: Even if ya could make it happen, itʼd easy to throw up if ya tortured some lowlife.

Ellis: Can I kill him?

Jude: This guy is the owner of the casino and is definitely the one in charge of the kidnapping incident.

Jude: Based on what he said earlier, his higher-ups of the gang arenʼt involved in this kidnapping.

Jude: Heʼs the person in charge of the crime. If he doesnʼt give out any information, heʼs trash.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: What …!? If you kill me, youʼll make all the gangs in London your enemy!

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: The “higher-ups” wonʼt shut up either!

Jude: Heh, yer estimating yer worth quite highly, aintcha?

Jude: I donʼt give a damn about the members who made a mistake by getting into bad business without telling their “superiors”.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: …

When Jude-san saw him turn pale and speechless, he distorted his voice with an amused tone.

I remembered what Ellis-kun said—“He loves hearing the screams of people he hates.”

Jude: Iʼll tell ya what Iʼm going to do to ya.

Jude: I donʼt like people who can get away with killing someone for free.

Jude: If ya did all that kidnapping and killing without knowing what ya were doing, yer going to regret it in hell, aintcha?

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Guh … Iʼll tell you, Iʼll tell you everything …

In response to Jude-sanʼs threat, the owner opened his mouth.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: The kidnapping was a scheme I started for money!

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: I happened to find Jake drinking because he was down, and I thought of taking advantage of him …!

Ellis: Where are the people who were brought in as potential members now?

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: —All of them were handed over to human trafficking brokers.

Ellis: Where did they go after you handed them over?

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Probably outside the country. Beyond that I donʼt know.

(So, all of Bill-sanʼs acquaintances were sold overseas by shady brokers …)

—If that happened, theyʼll be never able to come back.

Jude: Tsk… outside the country? Itʼs out of our jurisdiction.

Ellis: No matter how hard Victor tries, he wonʼt be able to figure out where they went …

The two voices deepened my sense of despair.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Hey, I told you! Let me go!

Ellis-kun gave a cold look to the owner who was yelling.

Ellis: … Itʼs not like Iʼll let you go if you talk.

Man with silver-rimmed glasses: Ah …

Ellis: Our purpose is to stop the kidnapping incident. Then—

Ellis: —Condemning the perpetrator.

Ellis: We just wanted information because we want to help the victims.

Ellis: Just because you gave us information doesnʼt mean youʼre innocent, right?

Ellis: Thatʼs why I canʼt let you get away … Sorry.

(Ellis-kun …)

I was listening to the conversation between the three people, feeling like I was going to back away from the pain.

For some time, the scenery became distorted, my head dizzy and my knee burning.

But even with all this in mind, I was clearly aware that Ellis-kun was going to get his hands dirty from now on—

For the sake of the people who ordered the mission, for the sake of the victims, and to prevent the number of victims from increasing any further.

Even though I knew it was necessary, I couldnʼt help but feel sad.

Kate: Ellis-kun …

Unable to stop it or watch in silence, I called out his name, and Ellis-kun smiled as if he was troubled.

Ellis: … Sorry.

Ellis: Kate-san—look away.

(—Ah …)

A cranberry jam-like red filled the surrounding area.

Before the smell of blood reached my nostrils—my consciousness was engulfed by darkness.

(… Ah—)

(What happened to me …?)

I felt like I was being held by something warm and was swaying back and forth.

When I slowly regained consciousness—I realized how long I had been in the warmth …

(Where … is that the lab in the basement?)

When I looked up, I saw that a bag filled with ice water had been placed around my calf.

Roger: —There doesnʼt seem to be anything wrong with the bone, but judging from the swelling, thereʼs a high possibility that itʼs a strain injury.

Roger: You need to keep it still for a few days.

Ellis: …

Jude: Thatʼs fine. The kidnapping case has been solved, so ya can rest easy.

A familiar voice drifted vaguely into my ears.

Roger: Well, thatʼs right.

Ellis: … Roger-san.

Roger: Hmm? What?

(Ellis-kun …?)

Ellis-kunʼs profile looked extremely anxious, and my chest tightened.

Iʼve seen him with a worried expression before, but never with such a depressed one …

Ellis: Kate-san—sheʼll be able to walk properly, right?

(… Are you making that face because youʼre worried about me?)

Roger: Ah, sheʼll be fine. As long as she rests properly.

Ellis: Rest properly…

Ellis: … I understand.

(Donʼt make that face. Iʼm fine …)

As I was about to say that, only a faint sigh escaped from my lips.

Kate: Ah …

Jude • Ellis: …!

Ellis-kun and also Jude-san looked surprised and turned towards the bed.

Roger: Hey, are you awake, Ojou-chan? … Did you hear what I just said?

Kate: Yes … Iʼm sorry for getting injured during the mission. On top of that, I wonʼt be able to move for several days …

When I first started speaking, my voice was hoarse and I couldnʼt speak well, but gradually, I was able to move my mouth.

Ellis: … Donʼt worry about anything, Kate-san.

After interrupting my words, Ellis-kun sat down on the bed where I was lying.

A slight squeak rang out, and my field of vision became so full of Ellis-kun that I could no longer see the ceiling.

Ellis: Itʼs not your fault you got injured or that you need bed rest.

Ellis: Leave everything to me.

Kate: … Everything?

Ellis: Yes—

Ellis: Everything.

⤷ next chapter

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

Here the rambles i typed in my notes while i didnt have access to tumblr

On the plane:

I 49 percented this game that was on the screen thing. I originally wantedto 100% it because funny and also it was quite a surprisingly clever and fun puzzle platformer but there was too much bullshit at the end and im pretty sure level 24 was impossible so yeah excuses i ended it at 69 stars

(Game was called rotating castle i think but i cant find it anywhere on the web)

Then i watched a my little pony movie wonka and little woman (greta gerwig edition) in that order and my ranking would be 1 3 2 if the numbers were the order in which i watched them wow im so clear

After another flight we arrive in the city where my mother was born and where her mother still lives and so we arrive there do arrival things we arrive at my grandmothers home and i find out pretty much all social media is blocked so im currently writing all this in my notes app so i can copy paste it into tumblr later or reuse it whatever.

Then the next day i was the first to wake up and even while im writing this everyone else is still asleep. So my grandmother goes to me and she has made breakfast and its this sweet soup of which 2/3 of the stuff in it i have no clue to what it is. (future me extra notes: one of those things turned out to be sea cucumber. So i can say i ate that now. Which i say because i guess i find that weird? Gosh im realizing how white i actually am from inside) And the entire time we just point at things because i don’t speak any chinese dialect so at some point i try and wake up my mother so she can translate, so i go hey mom your mom is super sweet and she has made all these delicious things but i feel like the entire situation is very awkward because we dont understand each other so can you come, but then instead my father wakes up and starts complaining about being tired and to leave them alone so i go back to pointing at things. Then she has made some rice porridge and comes with a bag of peanuts and im struggling to open it so shes like let me do it but im like no i can do it dont worry and i thought i couldnt be more embarrassed with the current situation already but because im an idiot i rip open the bag too much and a quarter of the peanuts spill onto the floor and i can only say sorry which i dont even think she understands and clean the floor and then later she comes with a broom thing idk the english word and im like ill do it but then she points like no you eat and im eating rice porridge with peanuts while shes cleaning the mess i made and i felt so bad.

Shes so sweet to me and im only being stupid and i dont even know where im going with this this is just what happened anyways wenzhou is great i think.

(Its not really the walkability of this part of the city where i am is horrid)

Oh and then halfway through writing this she comes into the room again and starts putting some kind of creme on my face probably because my skin looks very dry and i dont know what to say so i just stare at my phone a bunch and completely butcher how you would say thank you in mandarin. I so wish i was less awkward.

Waking people up took so long that i fell asleep myself

Anyways things happened next morning apparently its workers day or something so thats cool. Grandmother gave me food while i was still asleep in bed a few times. Mother is currently getting her hair cut/washed at the neighbors home, but thats also their like where they have their kapperszaak idk the english word and google translate is blocked here and the other translators i cant get to work but they professionally cut hairs there but thats also just their home and im sitting in their living room rn while my mother her hair is getting cut in the room next to me.

And now guess what then my mom is like now its your turn, like my hair isnt short enough already. I dont need to be bald. And then i just sit there and have my hair cut as well while i hear the rest of the people in the house yell and like idk play a board game or something. But it wasnt a lot of hair that got cut so it was fine okay i guess.

After that i fell asleep again well

Anyways

LOOK AT THESE LOOK AT THESE CHINESE DUCK COMICS I MEAN LIKE THE COMICS ARENT CHINESE THEY ARE STILL DANISH AND ITALIAN BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

The pocket is weirdly heavy. Some crazy paper quality compared to the usual ltb. Idk if theyre all like this or if they did that because this is a special edition. But like its heavy paper.

also got this

Ohohoh life and times and they included other secret???? Letter from home is in here!! I’m SO happy with that. I will force my mom to read all of life and times AND letter from home and its all in the same book. Honestly almost better than the Dutch edition for including letter from home.

And this poster.

And these behind the scenes notes book thing

And for it all being a single book

But like the dutch version is multiple books and thats fancy and we have funny articles written in and all the dutch and italian covers plus slipcase so yeah the dutch version is better objectively i win

A few years ago i was in germany and they had this very fancy life and times book but it was thicker than this chinese one but it was also smaller in like size im thinking about that now. That was also a cool book.

It was also expensive as heck and this one was not so then chinese version wins.

Im not making sense am i? No im not. Anyways cool look at this this is cool such cool guys. I will also force my mom to read dolly paprika ive wanted her to read that story so bad. I need people in my life to talk about dolly paprika the comic story.

Oh yeah funny thing about the pocket when i was in germany i saw the german version too. But it was in a different place. The eh life and times book was on a train station and this pocket was just somewhere between other magazines in some kind of stall thing before a bridge. Wait no i didnt find the pocket in germany it was in switzerland. And it was more expensive because of that. And i didnt know how to properly inducks yet so i didnt know it had a comic i wanted to read. Anyways i got the dutch translation a few months later anyways. Sorry tumblrderders i just need these rambles in my notes im sorry for copy pasting these completely in the post.

Anyways more tales from me the embarrassing stuff gets worse. Somehow i clogged the only toilet in the house and i tried for like half an hour googling stuff and trying to solve it myself but im an idiot (whats new) and just cant get it done. So while im trying my best to let no one know i messed up i message my mom because of course this happens when she has gone to eat with an old classmate and then she messages me back that she has told the rest of the family in the house and theyre gonna solve it. I swear i was going to cry oml. Anyways my uncle came and solved it in ten seconds by grabbing the plunger that i missed because it was blue for some reason and i thought that it was something else. So that happened.

Just thought,

There are so many Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse comics that could be made into live-action movies or tv series with very few changes and they would just… work.

Life and times just needs all the duck references gone, maybe add a bit more edginess and you have an award winning r-rated miniseries.

Take PKNA, replace Duck Avenger with some superhero called the Phantom Knight, then just adapt the comics. (Let his uncle from the life and times miniseries cameo of course) You will have a more successful superhero series than the entire CW Arrowverse.

Do you want money or not disney?

Okay im in hotel rn lotsa stuff happened but i have kinda lost my social media addiction and didnt feel the need to write about this stuff so it was chill and i did not need the writing outlet but this what just happened. I just saw a robot wait for an elevator. It was just standing there. On its little wheels. Waiting for the elevator. Then the elevator doors open. And it goes in. Deadass. The robot waited for the elevator. I dont even know why thats so funny to me and maybe im still living in the past but i had to double check there was no one else accompanying this thing. But it just waited and used the elevator on its own. Was nuts. I laughed for way too long about that. Also because my mother just missed it and i dont know if she believes what i saw. At least my brother saw it too.

Day later and it happened again and this time i recorded it. Still nuts.

(idk how to attach videos this is the best i could do)

No way on the airport back to home (actually the one to beijing but details) i see someone with a donald duck traveling case hes leaving rn so sadly no photo. But its the really dutch one. Pretty sure Nadorp drew the image on it. Ill attach a photo to this from the web when i post it. Just texts in the notes as of rn.

It was this

Luckily i lost my tumblr blog addiction in a few days already so most of what i did i didnt write down so thats thats a thing idk if thats good or bad i think its good.

Its definitely good we dont need to share everything with everyone how tempting it might be.

So that was that plus those duck disney comics here have a few pictures from what is it called? Nature or something idk i took. Youll get as many as tumblr allows because stupid mobile image limit

If ducks were meant to fly, then god would have given us wings

-Donald Duck in that one story i think it was drawn by vicar or something

[melissa-kenobi]

Moon Knight Headcanons

Quirks/Traits

A/N: hollaaaa again, ah so due to high demand, I just smushed all the requests into one and tadaa here ya go! Also I'm super sorry, my jake ones always turn out smutty :'( #sorrynotsorry

Translations - (I used Google Translate, I'm so sorry if its wrong!)

"¡Mentirosa! ¡Mi amor, se suponía que debías hacerlo!" - Liar, my love you were supposed to do it!

"Vamos cariño, sabes que se verá bien. Imagina mi cara en tu dulce-" - Come on sweetheart, you know it will look good. Imagine my face on your sweet-

"Sabes que se sentirá bien. ¿Por favor bebé? Te daré lo que quieras." - You know it will feel good. Please baby? I'll give you whatever you want.

"Si mami, te voy a hacer desear nunca haber dicho eso." - Yes mami, I'm going to make you wish you never said that.

Steven Grant

Steven definitely has a few. Some you adored on him, but some were a slight pain in the arse for you.

Firstly he had such high levels of enthusiasm for anything, and I mean anything. Like you could be telling him that your flowers grew and then one of them died cause you drowned it by accident and Steven would be like "Wow! No way! But I mean at least the others survived so you can look after them too. And of course love, before you even ask, I'm happy to help you!"

Then he'd plunge himself into the story of Gus and how Marc had killed him and bought Gus 2.0 to replace him.

You've noticed Steven has a habit of playing with his sleeve, it's adorable you think. At first you thought it was something he did when he was feeling self conscious about his appearance- to which you undoubtedly reassured him that he looked handsome and stunning causing the poor man to blush and stammer out a soft 'thank you love'.

But after being with with for a few months, you realised it wasn't, it was just a cute habit he had. Like he'd be sitting there, on the couch reading his book with one hand, the other will be fiddling with his sleeves. Or when the two of you are waiting on lunch at the cafe and he'd be holding your hands but his fingers would be fiddling with his jumper.

Another thing you’ve noticed with Steven is his ability to nickname literally everything. If you're out on a date with him, the two if you like to take a stroll along the River Thames and Steven would just be watching the people, giving them all sorts of nicknames. Like this man has no filter, he just blurts out what he sees and sometimes you'll have to hold your laugh in and tug him away before they catch you.

He snores. Like deeply and loudly. Steven would deny it all he wants but when you're staying over, you have to bring your ear muffs because that man snores like hell.

"I do not snore love!"

"Steven honey-

Steven would cut you right off. His hands crossed against his body in defiance, his cute face turned into a frown. "Nope."

"Okay then. Do me a favour and tell me who this is?" *cue obnoxiously loud snoring sounds and occasionally a few grunts.*

Steven's face would contort in disbelief, his eyes already recognising who was in the bed next to you. His arm wrapped around your body as he watched himself snore like shit. "That's Marc. I refuse to accept it."

Marc Spector

Now with Marc, you've noticed that he tends to hint at things he wants rather than outwardly state them. Unlike Jake who will straight up tell you what he needs/wants. Steven's a little shy but he gets it out eventually but Marc, no, he just hints it randomly.

Like if he's hungry for cookies let's say, he'll be talking about the cookie monster, or this thing that reminded him of cookies. Or if he wants some cuddles with you, he'll just stare at you before rubbing his arms together, hoping that you'll notice and give him what he wants.

"Babe?"

"Yeah honey?" He'd look over to you in the kitchen, making some of Jake's coffee before you'd walk over to him.

"You know you can ask me for snuggles right? I adore them with you!"

Marc would blush like a fucking teenager before pulling you to cuddle between his legs on the couch. He'd bury his blushing face into the crook of your neck before he'd whisper. "I know baby. Thank you."

Marc snorts when he laughs. Like really snorts. You know them ones where they don't even realise they're doing it till you give them the look? Yeah that's Marc.

Sometimes the boys will throw a joke around in headspace and then you'll have Marc laughing while he unintentionally throws in a snort. Now you and the boys know about his habit and have tried to help him with it but you genuinely cannot. So anytime Marc laughs, you can't help but join in.

Marc is a total neat freak. Naturally you're a messy person, but you think you've gotten better at it but Marc completely disagrees. It's the clothes strung around his flat, the mugs of tea/coffee left in the sink. Don't even get him started on your own home.

Like he cannot stand your messiness, and he'll happily call you out on it. "Babe, I love you, but you're a complete slob."

"Am not."

"Are too! Have you seen the kitchen?" It would be Marc teasing you relentlessly for the next half hour.

"Jake was supposed to do it!"

"¡Mentirosa! ¡Mi amor, se suponía que debías hacerlo!"

Jake Lockley*

Dios mío, Jake is charismatic as fuck and practically convince anyone to whatever he want. Including you. Which is something you absolutely hate, but secretly love because it's Jake, duhhh.. Although at the same time, he can be so goddamn unpredictable. Like one minute he'll be cuddling with you, watching those telenovas he loves before he gets up randomly and tugs you with him.

"Mi amor, let's go..."

"Go where Jakey? I was so comfy." You move into the warmth he left behind, cuddling the pillow he was sat next to. Jake would have that smirk on his face, the one that told you he was up to something and there was no way you were going to get him to back down from it.

"I wanna fuck you in my car cariño..."

Jake likes to cook for you. He absolutely loves watching you eat his food, the way your face lights up and the way his heart swells up inside. The noises you make when you take that first bite, fuck- it does something to Jake that he can't explain but he want more of it. So whenever he has time, he's always in the kitchen cooking for the two of you.

Now this one was one you fucking loved. Jake always spoke in Spanish to you, and boy did it make your heart race. among other places 😏.

He never does it with Marc and Steven, unless he's angry then he'll let the occasional word slip here and there but with you, it's like 24/7. Now you're a potato, and you barely know Spanish (sorry for those that do). When you first met him, he had a half English, half Spanish thing going on so you could understand him and fuck was it hot. Now Jake just speaks in fluent Spanish with you, and do not ask how, but you somehow can understand.

The mustache. Need I say more? He's been pleading with the boys and you to let them grow one out. Jake is honestly all for it, Marc is a definite no- he doesn't want to walk around looking like a pedo. Steven's on the bench about this so that leaves the vote up to you.

"Vamos cariño, sabes que se verá bien. Imagina mi cara en tu dulce-

"Jake!"

That goddamn smile returned once more on his face, that annoyoing one where he knew he was going to get what he wanted and you couldn't stop him. He inched closer, lips teasing your neck, so you could imagine the feel of it agaisnt you. "Sabes que se sentirá bien. ¿Por favor bebé? Te daré lo que quieras."

"Okay okay! Fine. One week. If we don't like it, you're getting rid of it, ¿comprendido?" Jake would smile in glee, giving the finger to Marc before wrapping his arms around your waist, throwing you over his shoulder and carrying you to the bedroom.

"Si mami, te voy a hacer desear nunca haber dicho eso."

Bonus

Khonshu being an annoying shit and turning up whenever he wants. Like at really bad times.

Khonshu is extremely judgemental, like really badly. Ironic really considering what he preaches.

He is so fucking impatient, he acts like a 5 year old sometimes and he's such a pain in yours and the boys arse.

An awful liar.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

soulmate au?????

Soulmate Au where things that people love/hate appear tattooed on their soulmate’s body. If they love it it’ll be on their front, and if they hate it it’ll appear on their back. The more important it is the closer it is to the heart. They can also move around/disappear over time.

Tim Drake is two years old when he receives his first soulmarks. There are two: the names Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain are found in elegant script over his heart.

He was alone when he’d found it, attempting to learn how to button up his shirt, and they’d sprung from his skin. He didn’t bother crying. He’d long since lost hope that someone would come for him if he did.

Instead, he’d waited for a maid to come into the room on her rounds and called her over.

The woman had smiled kindly as she explained soulmarks. How they were actually a good thing. How they meant that he was going to fall in love one day and one day he could get married! Like his mommy and daddy!

He’d seen how his mom and dad were sometimes. He wasn’t all that impressed.

Tim decided that the whole ‘soulmate’ thing could wait. He had a shirt to learn how to button.

~

On the other side of the world, however, Marinette Dupain Cheng is born without any tattoos on her body. Her parents don’t think much of it. She was just older than her soulmate, then. Or maybe she didn’t have one. That was fine.

But then, three years later, a computer appeared over her heart.

Marinette didn’t even notice until she was pulling off her shirt for a bath.

She hadn’t been shocked or scared like Tim had been, instead she’d beamed and waddled over to her mother with the widest grin on her face.

“Maman! Maman! Look! I have a soulmark!”

Sabine had smiled and turned to look but, much to Marinette’s confusion, it quickly morphed into an anxious expression.

Then her mother brought the smile back and she figured it must have been her imagination. The woman had reached out to ruffle her hair.

Marinette had finished getting ready and gotten in the bath, and her mother looked her over for a soulmark as she cleaned her. But there wasn’t one. There wasn’t one on her back and, outside of the one that had just formed, there wasn’t one on her front.

Then what was going on? Even abused kids tended to have their parent’s names somewhere on their bodies. But there was nothing.

The next guess was that her soulmate’s parents were dead. Usually, orphans had their housemates’ names on them, so the kid would have to be on the streets. Could a street kid really get enough access to a computer that it appears over their heart?

Sabine finished toweling off her daughter and pressed a kiss to her head after pulling her shirt on.

“Want to watch Pere bake some?”

The little girl’s eyes lit up and she nodded.

~

Whoever Tim’s soulmate was, they were really good at making friends. His chest was littered with names by the end of their first year of school.

And then there was one name on his back, right over his heart: Chloe Bourgeois. He frowned when he saw it.

For the first time since his first soulmark had appeared, he found himself curious about what was going on.

He pulled out his computer and looked up the name, not expecting to find much.

But, it turned out he did. After running an article through google translate (which didn’t work great) he managed to gather that she was the daughter of the mayor of Paris.

So... his soulmate was French.

(Unless they just had a vendetta against a random 3-year-old. Unlikely, though.)

He pulled up a new tab. It never hurt to learn a new language.

~

Their likes and dislikes slowly cropped up on their bodies as time went on.

Tim had smiled despite himself when he saw the pictures cropping up. A whisk was found on his shoulder, and then a video game console popped up on his stomach, and then a sewing needle and buttons could be seen under their parent’s names. On his back, he could find what appeared to be homework and broccoli. Whoever his soulmate was, their life seemed quaint and pleasant.

Marinette had been happy to see all the little things popping up over herself as well. A circus tent on the sole of her foot, a skateboard on her neck, a camera by the computer. On her back, she could see what looked like playing cards. She thought all their hobbies sounded cute (if a bit random). She was just concerned about the distinct lack of names on her body; she hoped that they were at least getting enough social interaction.

~

When she was twelve, it finally happened: a name appeared!

She stared at the script that had displaced the computer and her eyebrows knit together.

Batman.

Maybe a pet’s name? Human names tended to give a first and last name, so...

She typed it into her phone to try and translate it to French and her eyes widened when it actually gave information on someone in this place called Gotham.

A vigilante?

She laid back in her bed and frowned to herself.

In order for a person to show up as a name, there had to be a personal connection. If there wasn’t, like a celebrity crush, it would show up as a picture. But this was text, so…

Well, she hoped that her soulmate was safe.

Over time, more names appeared. They were all just as odd.

Nightwing?

Batgirl?

A simple google search showed they were vigilantes, too. She frowned slightly.

As long as they were okay, she supposed she should just be happy that they were talking to good people.

Besides, being friends with vigilantes seemed kind of cool. She could understand the appeal. She wished that Paris had something like that.

~

When he was fifteen a polka-dotted yoyo appeared over his heart, displacing their family’s names slightly. He stared at the yoyo for a minute in the mirror and then snickered to himself.

“Damn. They must really like yoyos.”

He laughed to himself and glanced at his back to see if anything changed, and was surprised to find that Chloe’s name had been moved away to make room for…

Was that a butterfly?

“And hate butterflies, apparently.”

~

She stared at the tiny bird over her heart.

Computers, skateboards, circuses, photography, and… birdwatching?

Whoever her soulmate was, their hobbies had range.

~

Tim had been changing out of his Robin costume when the names started disappearing.

Panic filled him. He’d heard before that, when your soulmate dies, your tattoos start to disappear.

But a few stayed, as did their hobbies.

He looked over the remaining names.

Their parents were still there, right next to the yoyo. Their family life was okay…

He stared at the other name and his eyebrows knit together.

Who names their kid Chat Noir?

He shook his head slightly. Maybe his soulmate had a black cat and wasn’t good at naming things.

Tim checked his back, mostly out of habit more than anything, and frowned to himself.

The butterfly had disappeared, and in its place were two names:

Lila Rossi and Hawkmoth.

~

She grinned as she twirled around in the dress she’d made. She was rather proud of it, it had a nice red and black color scheme.

She started taking it off, only to realize something.

Everything was gone.

She looked over her skin, running her fingers over where all the tiny tattoos had once been and felt tears form in her eyes.

Her soulmate was…

And then, slowly but surely, something appeared on her chest.

She wiped her eyes and looked at it, only to frown.

A gag gun that said ‘BANG’.

Nerves rattled around inside her. Something was definitely wrong, she could tell. But how could she fix it?

Maybe she could convince Master Fu to give her the horse miraculous? She could drop into Gotham as Ladybug for a little while and check up on them? Sure, she had no idea who her soulmate was, but she knew who they hung out with. She should at least make sure they’re okay.

A few hours later she was dumped unceremoniously onto a Gotham rooftop.

She looked up at the portal Master Fu had dropped her through and made a rude hand gesture, then pushed herself to her feet. She walked to the edge of the roof, dusting herself off as she went, and looked over the side.

Wow, this place definitely looked like the most dangerous city in the world. She could see a guy holding a gun while walking an old lady across the street it was so bad.

She pulled out her phone and looked up a picture of the vigilantes that she’d seen on her chest. Nightwing… Batgirl…  Batman…

Man, did they have to wear such dark colors? It was night! How dare they do the smart thing and make it hard to see them!

Fine. Time to wonder around and pray, she supposed.

She had been considering detransforming and seeing if she could buy a coffee when she heard a click behind her head.

Ah. Fuck.

~~~

Part 1/21, 34k words in all

Next

The version on AO3 was edited by me to make it better (in my opinion) but this is the original version if you'd prefer that

You didn’t really give me any specifics so I’m sorry if this didn’t turn out like you wanted. You were probably expecting fluff but uhhhhhh,,, don’t know why you were asking ME for that --

[masterhandss]

HameFura Manga V6 Bonus SS (translated)

It says “Magical Girl Flag Breakers” and “Our Enemies: The Ruin Four”

Volume 6 Bonus SS - “Magical★Girl Flag Breakers”

Hello! So I snagged a raw copy of Manga Volume 6 on the internet because I was really excited for the bonus story ever since I got raws of Volume 5. For those who don’t know, typically a copy of the manga comes with an extra chapter with Katarina having a dream about different scenarios (V1 was Fortune Lover, V2 is a Highschool AU, V3 is a Fantasy RPG AU, V4 is a Genderbend AU and V5 is a Kindergarten AU), and alongside the chapter of the volume is a image preview of the next story in the next volume.

I couldn't wait to read this one-shot so with the power of google translate, I’ve decided to translate it myself! Please read this one, it’s a very fun one-shot, so much so that I want more of this story XDD (also because it took me half a day to translate this from pictures qwq)

Please do remember to read this one-shot once an official English Release of Manga Volume 6 comes out, and please forgive me for any mistake I made while translating this story to English.

--------

It was a sunny morning that day. I, Katarina Claes, an ordinary high school student, overslept that day and was late for school. While I was dashing to school with a fresh cucumber in my mouth from our fridge instead of my breakfast, was suddenly struck with something hard on the head. I was surprised! I rubbed my head and looked around, but I saw nothing.

I was about to start running again because I assumed that I just imagined, until I heard a voice. "Ouch, I'm sorry I bumped into you", the voice said as I looked up to follow it. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH~~~~" I screamed instinctively as I looked at what looks like a small little doll.

There was a small boy with wings. The boy covered his ears and frowned at my loud outcry. "Oh, I'm sorry" I apologized, also instinctively, but this is turning out to be a really weird situation. What even is this small little boy? It's a really well-made toy or something like that. "I'm not a toy", eh did I say that out loud?

I was surprised to hear a reply, so I asked "Are you a dwarf then?"

"No, I'm a spirit" he said with a matter-of-fact tone. 'Oh, so he's a spirit~' is what I would have said........ 

"Wait, what do you mean a spirit?" I wasn't convinced at all. What do you mean it's a spirit? The little spirit boy begins to explain to me, who was still surprised and flustered, while pointing with his tiny finger.

Well, it turned out to be quite the serious discussion. While a story about an evil organization, the most worrisome part to me was, "So, if the 'planet' dies, what will happen?" I could predict what his answer would be, but it still scared me to hear what the answer was. "If the planet dies, all living creatures here will die" The little spirit replied with an expected answer. When he said that all living creatures will die, does that mean everyone?!

"We will fight and defeat the evil organization with the power we receive from the planet," the spirit declared so bravely. He may look cute like a doll, but he was very cool. I instinctively made a guts pose, "In behalf of everyone, I thank you. Good luck on your fight". "Thank you, but the one who will be fighting is not me--. The spirit boy was interrupted by a loud explosion nearby, where I heard a loud scream saying "Ah! It's a monster!".

When I ran over there to check it out, for some reason, there was something big rampaging in a park just further away. Wait, what? There was a giant bear that appeared out of nowhere?! Around these parts, there could be monkeys showing up, but not bears.

Next to me, the spirit boy was visibly upset. "Oh no, They've already started to appear. I haven't even formed a contract with anyone yet" the spirit boy whispered. What does he mean by a contract? No, its not the time for such questions when something serious is happening in front of us.

"Um, Spirit boy, lets run away, the situation over there looks dangerous". I called out to him, but the spirit boy didn't answer with his eyes growing bigger. "And you, can you help me with my work?" He said as if there wasn't anything happening in front of us. What does he mean help with his work? What is he saying in such a dangerous time like this.

"The Evil Organization".

"?!"

"What happening right now, it's involving the things I've told you about. I need your help, please". "Wait, even if you say it so suddenly like this...." I'm already really late for school, and at this point getting in would be really difficult. I'm in deep trouble. "Please, I can only ask you." I was being stared with such a desperate face and moist eyes, making it really hard to refuse. Aside from that, the noise in the park is getting louder, and I feel like it's really dangerous to stay here.

For now, its best to run away for the time being and listen to him when we get to somewhere safer. I thought and said, "I understand. I'll help you, so lets run away from here first." My words did not even finish until the end. Before I finished, the spirit boy grinned and said, "Okay, then lets form the contract."

The moment I saw his grinning smile, I knew something was weird, but before I could say anything, the spirit boy pulled something that looked like a stick with a flag and asked, "What is your name?" "Katarina Claes". For some reason, my mouth started to move on my own and said my name. Eh, what's going on?

"Then, Katarina Claes, I will appoint you as a magical girl who will help protect this planet". When I shook the flag that the spirit boy had, my body was wrapped in light, and my school uniform changed into a cute and frilly costume. 

"What's this?!" "It's a magical girl costume. Now you have the power to do more than what a hundred normal persons can do".

"Wearing this frilly outfit can make me do that?!" "Yes, that costume has that kind of power. With this, you can defeat the enemy as a magical girl". "Wait, what's a magical girl? and by enemy you mean--" "Ah, it's already here"

As soon as the spirit boy interrupted my words with his own, a giant pink bear doll came out from the entrance of the park.

"What's that?" "That's our enemy. Now, let's defeat it with the power of a magical girl." "Even if you tell me to defeat it--?!"

What should I do? The bear started to launch itself towards us while I was trying to figure out what to do. While it is a stuffed toy bear, it was very big so it's power was quite impressive.

It’ll be bad if I get hit, so I jumped really high unexpectedly in order to avoid it. Wow, the bear looked really surprised by my movements, which are a hundred times faster and stronger than a normal person, and it made the bear look like fool as he gave his all into that attack. What a terrifying bear. That bear tried to attack with a punch again. The bear is very quick for its size. Thanks to this outfit, I can easily avoid his punches, but this can’t keep going on like this.

“Hey spirit, how I can I defeat this bear?”. While trying to avoid the bear’s attacks, I asked the spirit who was watching me jump above. “Oh, that’s right. Point the bracelet at the bear and say ‘Flag Break’. If you do that, you can defeat it”. He seems to have forgotten to tell me this earlier.

I wondered if that was enough, but I did as I was told, pointing my bracelet at the bear and shouted “Flag Break”, and a ray of light appeared from the bracelet. When the light hits and wraps the bear in its entirety, it disappeared after the light.

I coughed while staring at the spot where the bear disappeared, and the spirit who was now next to me said, “Thank you, Katarina. Thank you for your continued support. My name is Raphael”, he said as I held his outreached hand. 

This how I, Katarina Claes, became a magical girl who fights against evil organizations.

And, through this event, I learned that I should not accept unclear requests so easily. I became a magical girl by being convinced in a shocked state by Raphael, and in the months since I became a magical girl, my number of friends seemed to have increased. After several months, I realized that there are more magical girls in my school, such as Maria who was part of the student council and the school’s cooking club, Mary from the gardening club, and Sophia from the literature club. Strangely, all of them are smart and beautiful students. Not only that, they were all scouted by a female spirit named Anne as magical girls. I was only scouted in the heat of the moment, but everyone else are so good at their job, and eventually we all began to get along as friends. Until then, I usually go to school late because I always get lost, but now we all go to school together every day.

“Yes, I tried to turn the flowers in the gardening club as a bookmark, Katarina. If you’d like, please use it”. “Wow. it’s so cute, thank you. Mary has good taste” “Katarina, I’ve brought a book I want to recommend” “You did? I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Sophia” “Katarina, I brought some sweets I made in the cooking club, please eat some if you’d like” “Oh! Thank you Maria. I love your sweets so much because they are just so delicious”

Just like that, we continue to have fun chatting to each other, when suddenly there was a figure ahead of us. “Hello, Katarina and co.”

A beautiful young man with blonde hair and blue eyes appeared before me. “Wow, you’re here again Geordo” I frowned, but Geordo returned it with a smile. “Today, I will defeat you and make you mine”, that’s when he suddenly changed into a black cloak with a mask; the uniform of the evil organization.

Yes, this handsome young man is named Geordo, he might look like a prince, but he is actually one of the Four Kings of Ruin, part of the enemy organization that we, magical girls, need to defeat. I met Geordo after I had become a magical girl, during my third battle. It was Geordo who summoned enemies like the giant stuffed toy bear and released it onto the city. Since then, I had fought him multiple times as enemies, where he continuously says things like “You’ve piqued my interest. Would you become mine?” whenever he approaches me. Is this a new form of attack? When I reply to him with an attack, he would reply with “One day, I will beat you and make you mine”. 

I don’t know if this is a new kind of attack, but Geordo would typically show up every three days, and now that its the third day, it probably means I need to transform into a magical girl again.

“I hate you” “Yeah, please stop disturbing our good time” “Please pack it up”

Mary, Sophia and Maria all said, as they transformed into magical girls too. “You girls are interrupting the moment between me and Katarina. You girls are in my way” Geordo said, as he raised his hand to the sky. Then, a black circle appeared, with people falling out from it.

“Ouch! Geordo, do you know how many time you’ve been calling out to us recently? I was gonna take a nap”, that was Geordo’s twin brother who scratched his head, the snobby Alan who is also part of the Four Kings. “That’s right, I was on a date with a girl” said Keith, the playboy from the Four Kings of Ruin, who frowned and brushed his bangs. The last one was expressionless, but was looking at the pasta who had fallen onto the ground with a sad face. He is Nicol, the final member of the four who has a magical and mysterious charm to him.

“Everyone, don’t be so lazy. Let’s work together and defeat the magical girls once and for all” Geordo said to them, and they all turned to me in a daze. There’s something he didn’t know about his allies when he called them out.

“Yo, it’s been a long time, Katarina. You’re still playing magical girl?” Alan said. Perhaps he was embarrassed that he had just declared that he would take a nap, because his face was flushed red. I met him during one of my battles.

“Katarina Claes, you’re always so free. It’s so lonely to think that you don’t have anyone to date yet,” Keith said. Perhaps he was shy or was embarrassed by the girl he was just on a date with, because his face was also quite red. I also met him during one of my battles so I’m acquainted with him.

Maybe he was called from a place where he was eating his pasta, and now it had fallen to the ground and splattered, because Nicol had a very sad expression. ”................” “Would you like some of these sweets so compensate for your food?” I offered to him. He gave me such a happy and devilish smile, saying “thank you” as he reached out for one of the sweets. I staggered a bit at the sight. I also met Nicol during one of my battles.

“What are you guys talking about so happily with my Katarina? I called you guys here to deal with the other three magical girls who are trying to get in between us” Geordo said. “What are you taking about? You’re the ones who are in the way of our good time,” Mary lifted her eyebrows and snapped at Geordo, who simply replied to her accusation with a dark smile. “That’s my line. You high school girls who just talk about crap without any meaning”.

“That’s rude, it’s not meaningless” Sophia said angrily. Well this is the kind of thing that Geordo definitely won’t understand. He doesn’t seem to have a prejudice against high school girls... wait a minute, shouldn’t we be fighting? Geordo, Mary and Sophia are quarrelling, Alan and Keith are summoned but have flushed cheeks and are looking away, Maria is sharing handmade sweets to Nicol who lost his pasta.

Recently, every time we confront the Four Kings of Ruin, we more frequently fight like this, without throwing any hands. I even started to wonder if I was still a magical girl, so I tried to look around for our two spirits, before I was interrupted by Maria who offered sweets to me. It was so good that I lost all my will for battle.

“Lady Katarina, Lady Katarina, please get up. It’s time for you to go to school”

What happened to the battle? “Battle? Katarina, you’re sleeping. We need to get you ready for school”, Anne said, bringing out my clothes. “Oh I had  a very strange dream. I was transformed into a magical girl. Not only that, the enemies were Geordo and the others. What a strange dream”.

“What’s a magical girl?” Anne gave me a suspicious look while the adjusting my clock. “Ah, um, a magical girl fights against an evil organization--”

“Katarina, I’m grateful for your explanations but we don’t time for that right now, so I’ll ask about it later after we finish your preparations”. Ann told me, and when I looked at the clock, I knew that it was almost time for class and that I was about to be late. I hurriedly cooperated with Anne and started preparing myself for school. My usual day begins as from that point.

--------

That’s it! It’s a very cute one-shot, and I hope after I post this, maybe it inspires people to write stories based on this au qwq. Volume 7′s oneshot is “Detective?! Katarina’s Office” (Tantei?! Katarina Jimusho) so if thats interesting then i’ll translate that too.

Some unnecessary notes from me if you’re interested in reading:

Since Katarina is the hero and Miri is the leader of the evil organization, I guess if this really was a story then the plot twist is that Katarina is her daughter. I can imagine maybe this story takes place in her old world with her old family (mom, dad, grandma, two brothers) but the difference here is that Katarina is adopted or something like that.

It’s interesting that Raphael is Katarina’s fairy partner instead of Ann. It works since both Kat and Raph use Dark Magic in canon lol haha also because it shows how competent Ann is haha

It’s also cool to see the playboy version of Keith liking Katarina.

Sophia and Nicol don’t seem to be related at all in this version of the story, which I’m cool with. They could also have a Hawkmoth-Chat Noir situation where they aren’t aware of each other’s secret identities (though I doubt it myself since they all transformed in front of the boys, but hey i’m just throwing it out there).

Omg rip Nicol’s pasta. Press f to pay respects

[trillgutterbug]

Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus 😊 thanks friend!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

64! only five more to the magic number ayyyyy and then i’m legally obligated to never post another one.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

289,575 apparently??? which seems way way way higher than i ever would have guessed, wow. who knew!

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

31 on ao3, although that’s lumping, eg, all marvel subfandoms together. but i have a ridiculous amount of wips in all kinds of other fandoms that i haven’t/won’t post, soooo.... more than that! and i don’t want to list them all bc that’d be a long boring read!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it serenely disdains to destroy us, a magnus archives fic that, i somewhat vainly note, has been orbiting in the top few top kudosed fics in the tag since i posted it womp womp.

concerning flight, because we all thirsty for thor/loki+gender and i for one support us.

untitled porny snippet (yes that’s actually what it’s called), because same as above. (i see u, kudos-to-comment ratio and i aint mad but.... i see u. all you dirty birds out there shamefully yet silently jerking it. kudos to YOU.)

an experiment in posthumous subsistence, a batman/joker zombie au i wrote fucking TEN YEARS AGO ALMOST. why???? why is this fic so popular?? i’m barely a good writer now and i sure as shit wasn’t one a decade ago! the terrible title alone should disqualify it from being read, but i guess the people want what they want. and what they want is batman and joker handcuffed together, trying to escape the zombie apocalypse  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

all good things, some stucky hydra trash party-adjacent smut regarding piercings. i stand by this one 100%, it deserves every kudo(s?) tbh.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i do, depending on the comment! i don’t think comments like “loved this!” / “thanks for writing!” are written with the intent to receive a response (or at least, when i write them on other people’s fics, i certainly don’t expect one). they’re like an extra kudo(s?), and i appreciate them a lot, but they’re not really an invitation to Discuss. whereas if someone clearly has put a lot of thought into a comment, or asked a question, or made some observations that i jive with, or just seems like they want to engage, then hell yeah i jump in there. love that shit. 

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i guess arguably thine own self, which is some hydra husbands abo. laugh all you want, it’s one of my fave of all my fics lmao. probably specifically bc of the unpleasant/open ending.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

probably moderation is a memory! since it, unlike 99% of all my other stuff, isn’t just total smut, and the whole point of writing it was to wallow as deep as possible in the sauce of giddy teenage infatuation, it got the opportunity to have an actual emotional arc (more or less). furthermore i could not possibly bring myself to break johnny lawrence’s tender little heart ever, that would hurt me far more than it would hurt him.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i only realised while answering this question that apparently.... no i don’t write crossovers! which is not at all a deliberate choice, i guess a compelling enough one just hasn’t occurred to me yet! 

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

shockingly no! by some accidental miracle i’ve managed to fly under the radar so far, despite some of the really buckwild stuff i’ve posted. however, considering some of the stuff i’m probably ABOUT to post.... that clean track record might soon come to an end lmao.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

lmao. uhhhh. almost exclusively, and i guess??? all kinds? this is clearly a question composed by someone who does not write smut.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and i wouldn’t really care if i did. 

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah i think a few....? a number of people have asked anyway and i always say yes, so probably there’s at least one floating around out there somewhere.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have! just once, and we really made it count. it’s called a reptile dysfunction, which should tell you all you need to know. 

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

thorki, probably. i always have and always will come back to it, no matter what. it’s got such a ferociously timeless staying power and so much potential variation, i don’t think i could ever get bored of it, regardless of what level of marvel-exhaustion i might feel at a given time, or what tropes, kinks, or stage of literary pretension i’m at. truly the oh tee pee. 

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

ohhhhh all 836575927 of them, but. there’s this one thorki fic i started almost ten years ago as an experiment with a new-to-me style, which turned out over the intervening years to become my main style, and looking back on that fic, which for many years was a touchstone of writing-to-aspire to for me, it’s actually Not Very Good lol. but i still love the core concept, which is a canon divergence berserker thor au, but not only is it a somewhat inaccessible (admittedly less so since the deadpool movies came out, which was a hilarious pipe dream back when i started writing it) x-force comics crossover, but i wrote myself into a bunch of corners and have yet to dig up the energy to write myself back out of them! i go and reread it every year or so and think “hmm... maybe now...” but tbh it’s just not really good enough to bother! perhaps someday i’ll repurpose the best elements of it into something new.

16) What are your writing strengths?

man, it’s so hard to say. in much the same way that you can spend hours every day staring at yourself in a mirror, yet be utterly incapable of picking yourself out of a lineup, i spend a lot of time eyeballing my writing, but stepping back it seems like a chaotic mass of nonsense with few cohesive throughlines. i’m good at writing smut, i know that much! and in that vein, i think i am good at smut bc i am very good at committing to the bit, as it were. getting into the nitty gritty of experience and sensation (physical or emotional) and rendering largely abstract internal concepts in fairly comprehensible ways. i think my prose is quite decent on a sentence level too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

utterly incapable of finishing anything! or plotting anything! can’t mange a cohesive emotional arc! write myself into overly structured corners or out onto a vast plain with no structure in sight! all the macro elements of storytelling totally elude me, which is very frustrating when i have all this tasty fleshed out micro-level character stuff, but no narrative skeleton upon which to drape it.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?   don’t! unless you are very sure you know what you’re doing, and the other language bits are a) very few, b) easily contextually understood, and c) actually adding something other than a weird flex that you know google translate exists.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

11yo me wrote spock/kirk/janice rand and thought she invented the concept of a threesome. brand been stronk since day one 🤘. (the vulcan salute is right next to the devil horns in my emoji list, so....)

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

i love the (ongoing) better with you series very much, not least because i’m still absolutely flabbergasted that i wrote something that long. i think it’s actually pretty good all things considered and it’s very dear to me on many many levels. but the fic that i just viscerally adore, that i love the style of, and that i had such a transcendent, invigorating, organic Experience writing, is temper its strength, adding honey until quite cold, which is a terror fic with the inexplicable pairing of edward little/hartnell, featuring crossdressing and gender stuff. it just burst out of me fully formed one day and i don’t think i’ve managed to top it yet! 

lowkey tagging @lingua-mortua @pitcherplant @kaasknot @froggy-babyy @deputychairman @nomercyonlytears @clockheartedcrocodile

[forthereaderinserts]

Not as it Seems

-CHAPTER TWO: ARRIVAL-

   My name is Haru Furuya. People always call me “shy”. The truth is that I don’t like talking to people.

   “PLANE B HAS LANDED.”

   The speaker blared, its voice echoing through the halls.

   ‘Oh. [Y/n] should be here.’

   I stood up, heading to the B plane section. Once I reached there, I saw a person that had [e/c] eyes, [s/c] skin, and a [f/c] shirt and gray sweatpants. They were holding a blue suitcase and a pink one.

   ‘That matches the description of them.’

   “Hey, [Y/n]…”

   I tried to call out, but my voice got caught in my throat.

   ‘I’ll have to approach them…’

   And so I did. Every step felt like there were weights on my ankles, my whole body shivering and trembling.

   ‘Why are you like this…?’

   After what felt like a few hours(which was a few seconds), I finally made it to [Y/n], and I tapped their shoulder.

   They turned around, their [e/c] eyes meeting my(mostly) sky blue ones. They smiled, turning around to face me fully.

   “Haru-chan! It’s so nice to finally meet you! How are you?”

   They said, grabbing my hand and shaking it.

   ‘Haru-chan? They called me… Haru-chan? With the -chan?’

   “Ehehe… you too, [Y/n]…”

   I said, heat rapidly coming to my face.

   [Y/n] seemed to pay no mind to it.

   “Hey, Haru-chan, can you take me to our apartment?”

   “Uh-sure! I can do that! Just follow me, okay?”

   “Okay!”

-

 I was currently driving in my car with [Y/n] seated at the passenger seat.

   “Remember how we first met?”

   [Y/n] asked out of the blue.

   “Yeah, I do. I was an artist and you contacted me and said: ‘you’re art’s amazing! I love it!’ That really warmed my heart. I was just a small artist at the time. I used google translate to understand you, haha.”

   I answered, my lips curving upward to form a smile.

   “Yeah! And I started to learn Japanese because I wanted to be your friend!”

   “The first time you tried to talk to me was really awkward, you know. I still felt happy, though.”

   “The number of times you said ‘what?’ to understand me was hilarious!”

   “Your Japanese was really bad, though.”

   “StOp AtTaCkInG Me, YoU bIg BuLlY!”

   “Wait, really? I’m so sorry!”

   “It was a joke, calm down.”

   “Oh. Okay. We’re here.”

   I parked my car, turning the key so my car could turn off.

   “Wow~! Your apartment complex looks really nice! It’s super welcoming!”

   [Y/n] complemented, staring at the complex in awe.

   “Thanks! The rent’s cheap, too!”

   “Really? I would’ve expected it to be expensive…”

   [Y/n] pulled their suitcases out of the backseats, the wheels hitting the ground.

   “To be honest, I was surprised when I found it at a decent price! But when I went inside my apartment… I finally found out why.”

   “What happened?”

   I shivered at the memory, saying

   “When I went inside, it was disgusting. The walls were torn, and bugs were everywhere. It was disgusting. It took around three days with no sleep to clean it up.”

   “Really? I feel so bad…”

   I clapped my hands together, dispelling the memory.

   “Anyways!”

   I said,

   “We should get to the apartment already! Once you get inside, you’re going to be amazed!”

   “I can’t wait!”

   We walked over to my apartment. Once we were there, I pulled out my key and unlocked the door, opening it.

   “Here we are!”

   “Wooooahh!! It looks so amazing!! How long did it take you to design it like this?”

   “A few months.”

   “Really?! That’s so cool!!”

   The walls were painted yellow with pink as borders. The ceiling was a blue with a bunch of clouds, like the sky. There were beanbags and blankets for comfort. Next to the kitchen was a small table, fit for four people. The kitchen was normal sized, with a few cute spoons and forks here and there.

   “Thanks. I put a lot of hard work into this.”

   “You’re welcome! By the way, where am I sleeping?”

   “Ah! You're going to sleep in the guest room. I already prepared a mattress for you.”

   “Nice!”

   [Y/n] skipped over to their room, exclaiming things in their mother language.

   I lightly chuckled,

   ‘It’s kind of cute seeing them like this…’

   I went over to my room, flopping on my bed.

   It was painted the same as the living room, except there was a pink sun rising on the wall and a white ceiling. My bed was in the center of my room while my desk was right next to the bed.

   ‘I… I hope I can be good friends with [Y/n]…’

  -CHAPTER TWO: END-

   NAME: HARU FURUYA

 AGE: 19

 BIRTHDAY: MAY 3

 LIKES: [Y/N](AS A FRIEND), LGBTQ+ HYPE

 DISLIKES: LGBTQ+ HATERS, OPEN SPACES, BEING FORCED TO DO THINGS SHE DOESN’T WANT TO DO

 GENDER: FEMALE

———————————

I love “lgbtq+ haters” instead of terfs/transphobes and homophobes

[wolferals]

🇪🇸jueves🇪🇸

finally fallin' chapter 4

arón piper x reader

(The spanish is all google translate, i wont take responsibility for mistakes)

chapter 4

You were nervous. Even more nervous than on your first day of college. You were so nervous you even thought about what you were gonna say to him as a first greeting.

Insanity.

Besides the fact that you looked absolutely amazing your knees were weak as you were walking out of your last class. You had put on a summery dress with some sneakers and even applied makeup just to look your best for when you met him. Not that anyone should change their appearance for a boy/girl, you felt better knowing you dont look like just fell into a dumpster. And with your usual messy bun and a sweater you did.

You saw him standing in front of the building with his phone in his hand. And he looked fine as hell.

With that cream-colored button up and those jeans he looked like a fucking god.

„Hey." you smiled at him as you got closer.

He looked up and scanned you before replying:"Hola. Cómo estás?"

He gave you that glance you hadnt seen in many boys' eyes. The way he looked at your body made you feel confident, you felt pretty again.

Its been a while for you to feel like a guy really appreciates you.

„You look beautiful! How come there's not 10 boys following you everywhere?" he chuckled at his own joke.

You blushed instantly.

You did feel good because it was him telling you he liked how you had dressed.

„So, how was your day?" you asked as you both were walking down the street next to each other.

„Boring so far, I was just at home. I woke up an hour ago."

Laughing you looked at him.

„Wow."

Arón smiled at you.

That smiled made you feel so incredibly happy.

„Alright tell me something about you before we talk about business." he exaggerated the word „business" as if it was a secret mafia plan or something.

You basically told him the same you had told Itzan the night before. Why you were here, your friends, family and basic hobbies.

He listened carefully and didnt even interrupt you.

When he realized you wouldnt continue talking he spoke:"So how long are you staying here for?"

-„A semester. I started on Monday, October 3rd and I'll be staying until March 16th I think?"

Arón nodded. „No chance of staying longer?"

You chuckled. „Maybe, If I really wanted to I could maybe do another semester but I'd have to talk to my professors here and in (your home country)"

He smiled satisfied with your reply.

You guys continued walking through the tourist-filled streets of Madrid and he told you some things about either sights you passed or general knowledge about stuff when you asked him something.

Then he suddenly smiled at you and pointed at a light blue house across the street.

���We're here; thats my favorite coffee shop."

You followed him into the café, smiling immediately when you saw a little cat on the floor.

„Naw is it a cat café?" you asked and bent down to touch her soft fur.

„Sí, claro." Arón replied and then sat down at the table right next to where you were standing.

„Come on y/n. I need to tell you about the video."

You laughed at him, let go of the cat and finally sat down across from him.

„Okay start." you exclaimed as you were sitting there calmly, waiting for his explanation.

Arón took a deep breath, folded his finger on the table and started talking.

„Okay so, you listened to the song right?"

You simply nodded.

„Alright, i doubt you understood what it was saying so I'm going to explain it to you.

It basically shows that „I" have found someone that makes me happy and she seems to like me too. So the video is going to be very cute and romantic and stuff.

In the first scene my friend and I thought we'd walk through the city, just sightseeing and then maybe getting some food together.

Then we want to take some shots at a bar, dancing and some drinks you know. As well as some shots sitting on a rooftop, cuddling and doing couple stuff.

And if you'd be comfortable with it, we'd include a small kiss at the end. But only if you want to, i think it would be a nice ending as the song fades but if that crosses the line, its totally cool. We dont have to do that."

You had listened carefully and thought about doing all these things with Arón. You didn't exactly have a problem with kissing him but since you kind of had a tiny little thing for him you wanted your first kiss to be in private, not in front of a camera.

But on the other hand you didnt know if he liked you back so you agreed immediately since it could maybe be your only chance to kiss him.

„Oh perfect! Thank you, i think its gonna be a great video." he smiled at you.

You sent him a small smile as well, still thinking about the fact that you were going to kiss this handsome Spanish actor.

„You sure I can do this? I've never acted before."

He nodded and spoke right after:"Of course, you're gonna do amazing. Just pretend there was no cameras."

Slowly you nodded.

„So we're cool on this side? You're comfortable with the scenes or do you have some other ideas as well?"

He suddenly asked after a while, sipping on his previously ordered milkshake.

„Yeah, its fine. I'll think of something."

Arón smiled at you brightly.

That smile made you happier again.

„When are we going to start tomorrow?"

You asked him.

He checked his phone for a quick second and then spoke:"Is 3 good for you? If we do the <walking around, having food> scene fast, we can film the night scenes right after taking a break or something."

-„And where's the kiss gonna take place?" It just happened, you didnt mean to say it.

Arón laughed a little before finally speaking:"We wanted to maybe shoot the last scene at my place, sitting on the couch with a drink and then end the video with a kiss. Dont worry, you dont have to make out with me or anything, just a quick little kiss."

You replied:"No, no i wasnt worried, just wondering how this was going to happen tomorrow."

He nodded understanding.

You guys then kept on talking about pretty random things, had some milkshakes and even shared a slice of chocolate cake. Arón was super into eye contact you figured. He never took his eyes off of you, for you on the other hand it was really hard to maintain looking at him.

Not because you didnt want to, more like because you werent used to a guy „staring" at you for longer.

„How many people are gonna be there tomorrow??"

Your sudden panic came to show.

Arón seemed to notice the nervousness in your voice because he leaned forwards to get closer to you and spoke softly:"Tranquila y/n, not many. Just me, my friend who helped me write it and 2 guys for the camera and sound and all that. Its gonna be fine, I'll be there to guide you, i promise."

<he was going to be there to guide you> that sentence replayed in your head over the course of about a minute until you dared to speak again.

„What if I mess up, what if I look into the camera, fall and bleed or even worse, fall and die?"

Arón bursted out laughing, which made you frown at him.

„Y/n." He placed his big hand on top of yours.

You stared down at your hands for a second before looking up into his brown puppy eyes.

„You wont die, I promise."

[fantranslatorbychoice]

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Vol 1, Chapter 5 - Kakuriyo’s Capitol, Youto**

T/N: I mostly didn’t translate a lot of the names of the ayakashi/youkai, as well as the proper nouns because uhm... They’re basically nouns. It’s like how some translated manga are done. Plus it irks me sometimes when everything just gets transliterated, it kills off the vibe. But that’s just me. Links to references at the end of the post.

Also if you like this translation, you can share the link, reblog, but for pete’s sake DO NOT REPOST ELSEWHERE. I worked hard to finish this thing, it’s not like I just Google-translated this whole sh**.. 

If you need refreshers on what happened, @kakuriyo-translations​ already had the previous translations. I’m just contributing to this fandom. 

OK, here’s the stuff now.

P143 I really don't like taking naps in Utsushiyo**. I always change my sleep time, yet I keep dreaming about a memory that I hate. For me, the memory I hated the most was being inside a dark room, all alone with an empty stomach waiting earnestly for my mother everyday. I never saw my father. Mother was always out and about, leaving me at home. It's what's so-called NEGLECT. I was rolling around on the cold flooring while thinking how hungry I was, while staring up at the ceiling. The very dark ceiling was my only joy and entertainment, because I couldn't find any hope, and I didn't even have enough energy to cry. Come to think of it, there was that day when my mother didn't come home for a week. That time, a mysterious Ayakashi's voice came, and my life was saved. An Ayakashi instantaneously appeared near me, its figure came up from behind, and in the darkness only a vague form of a white Noh mask”” floated above, which I watched closely. Talking with that Ayakashi relieved me of the loneliness that I felt.

T/N: Youto, literally “Fairy Capital” or “Enchanted Capitol”.

Noh mask, what most Ayakashi wear in Kakuriyo. Noh Drama is a traditional play where characters wear masks, contrasting with Kabuki where the characters paint their faces. Think Jiyaira from Naruto. Utsushiyo, literally “The world above/surface world”. Kakuriyo is literally “Hidden world.” Aoi obviously came from the world above.

P144 Not only did that Ayakashi talked to me, but also shared food with me every day. I cannot remember what I sensed because it was fuzzy, nor what the conversations were about, even what food was given to me. It's no surprise that because the Ayakashi was wearing a mask, I couldn't figure out what its shape is. The only thing I can remember until now was that the food it gave me was delicious. More than a week after my mother has not returned, a group of adults that I've never met before came and took me away from my house without letting me take anything else. My mother never came out to greet these people from social services, so when they came back to the house, they went inside immediately to check if she was there. Upon entering the house though, the social services people did not run into the Ayakashi who used to give me food. I thought at first that I really, really wanted to meet the Ayakashi, but eventually I forgot about the whole incident. Whenever I talked about the Ayakashi, people in the orphanage I was in got spooked, and I get teased and made fun at. It seemed that the teachers and everyone else did not understand why I strongly insist that Ayakashi do exist. It came to a point that because of the Ayakashi thing, I was harmed and bullied by the children around me. Which is why I eventually kept a distance from others. This lead me to feel lonely again, in the orphanage. That is why it feels even worse when I'm alone in a crowd. It was around this time that Grandpa came for me at the orphanage and took me home with him. If my memory serves me correct, it was around the second grade. P145 I woke up in a cold sweat, and I soon realized that the surroundings were already getting dark and night was starting to fall. The memories of that time I was rocking myself on the floor without any food all came back to me. "Are you awake?" A voice suddenly spoke. Somehow, I thought it was a voice that brought back memories I yearned for, but it was just Odanna-sama's voice. Amidst the dim and dark, he was sitting on the counters and smoking a pipe. He was holding the camellia kanzashi** and twirling it around his fingers.It seemed that his red eyes and the camellia bud's scarlet color where somewhat sparkling. "Have I been sleeping?

T/N: Kanzashi, imagine a single chopstick with some flowers or something in the end, which you can stick into your hairdo. If you’ve watched that episode in Kimetsu no Yaiba where Tanjirou fought the monster that can split itself and eats young girls and swims inside solids, that one collects kanzashi and stuff.  P146 Oh, it's already evening." I woke up and stood without thinking. I felt so weak. It's horrid dream’s fault. Seeing the outside through the window, the sun has already set and I could see the lavender color of the sky. "It seems that you were having a nightmare." "What, really?" "Did you have a bad dream?" "No, I didn't." I felt like this because I saw a place that I hated. Odanna-sama, who was huffing and puffing on his pipe looked at me, immediately stood up and hid the camellia kanzashi, and went beside me, pulling my arm rather fast. Morover, I felt a sudden pain in my arm and pulled away. "Wait, let go. Odanna-sama, your long nails hurt my arm when you grabbed it." "Is that so?" I was absolutely unaware of that, Odanna-sama was really very suspicious. When he let go of my hand, I saw the nails on his hand. "I'm an Oni**, an ogre, that is the reason why they are long." Yet he still opened his hand. "Oh, so that's why. But still, what hurts hurt. Look, this part of my inner arm is delicate, that's why it still has your nail marks."

P147 As if looking at something weird, Odanna-sama started massaging the part of my inner arm that I showed to him, with his fingers. He spoke: "Humans have weak and frail bodies, with such soft flesh and skin." "Uhm, because humans aren't Ayakashi?" They probably aren't used to such things. "Aoi, what you did today deserves a reward." "What? That's... so unexpected." "About the whole affair with Matsuba-sama, the Tengu. Surely, I did not think Matsuba-sama could have liked your cooking. Come, let us go." He's telling me to go with him. My hair was still disheveled, and so is my one-piece dress from Utsushiyo, but Odanna-sama didn't mind and still invited me anyway. I wonder where we're going? It's complicated to think about it, so I thought we might be going somewhere sophisticated. "I think that it is a good idea to bring the Tengu's uchiwa fan." "Why?" "Why, she says. That uchiwa's power will protect you, would it not?" "It seems like I have no choice but to protect myself, don't I?" P148 It was disappointing. Odanna-sama started laughing and snickering, the meaning was deep within his narrowed eyes. "Because the kind Matsuba-sama gave it to you, I think it is a good habit to always bring it with you whenever you are out. For that is a special uchiwa, if you must know." "Hmph." "To tell you the truth, it is an item that can pay the entirety of Shiro's huge debt, if you sell it." "Well then.... Let's go to a pawnshop!" "Wait, wait.." Odanna-sama hurriedly followed me, and grabbed my collar. "Did you not declare that will pay for Shiro's debts all on your own? You even turned down Matsuba-sama's help. How I think of you.. has actually changed." "This uchiwa's mine, and however much I sell this to pay that debt, I still used my own power for that." I majestically cut him off with such words. I was thinking that I couldn't bear to sell the gift I received, but I will if I need to. I think if Grandpa was in the same place, he would do the same. Odanna-sama sensed it and got flustered. "Hey, wait, wait, wait, calm down for a moment." "I will definitely calm down after this." P149 "This is the Ayakashi's realm. Once you step out of Tenjin-ya, if you wander alone with no regard because you are a human girl, you will get kidnapped and eaten before you even get to the pawnshop. Please go behind me." I wondered how his attitude changed from yesterday, I was suspicious but I still looked at him. "What's that? Yesterday, in spite you saying that you're going to eat me, you extended your help with the Tengu matter. Yes, I may have a weak and fragile human body, but I couldn't just stay out of the quarrels between Ayakashi. Even though my arm can easily get wounded and just letting it be could kill me." Odanna-sama gently brushed off my bangs. After saying that, he placed his hand on my forehead. Yesterday, one of the Daruma's poocelain figurines hit my forehead and had me injured. I had some bandages attached, but that was a while ago. Embarrasingly, some of them were already starting to peel off. "Have your wounds not healed yet?" "I'm fine, the bleeding's stopped." "Ah, I see. That is good." His very different behavior from yesterday just bewildered me. And yet, I still meekly followed him from behind, holding my uchiwa. P150 We passed in front of a very large cauldron, and a splashing sound made me think of paranoid ideas, like "I'm going to get eaten". Just when I thought I wasn't going to snap out of it, ominously, we stopped. We were going to ride a ship. A flying airship. Its sails sails bear the crest of Tenjin-ya, and was decorated with paper lanterns. I could see that this magnificent ship sails a lot. I stared at the ship from its top to its lighted underside. We're going to ride this thing later? "Wow! It's high!" "We use airships as a means to travel in Kakuriyo. In Tenjin-ya, we use cruise ships and houseboats to hold banquets. This small model is called "Kaikakumaru. The small types are our latest cruise ships." "That's marvelous. I love high places, you know." "You are being childish." Odanna-sama butted in while I was staring at something unusual, in high spirits. The night wind feels wonderful, it would be fun to look down from a high place and see how vast the ground is. But what surprised me the most was that it was the first time that I saw Tenjin-ya as a whole. "Wow, Tenjin-ya is a really large inn, isn't it?" The inn was enclosed by a deep valley, thus the surroundings seem so dark wherever you look, but the facade and the main street were all lively and prosperous, and the hanging bridge over the shoreline seems passable. P151 Tenjin-ya's property was vast, and the main building's height and width are both tall and wide. Outside the main building, Tenjin-ya's land is dotted with countless buildings of various shapes and materials. From a distance, I could see that I was in the most central part. The intricate red tiles of the roofs were lighted up by the ogre fire. "Usually, the ogre fire is very flashy. But today, the inn is currently on a holiday break, so business is not as brisk." "That.. is not brisk?" Despite the inn currently on a break, there are so many Ayakashi piling up on the facade's hanging bridge towards the inn. There were those inside who were inquiring and receiving explanations. There were also a lot of Happi coat-wearing Tenjin-ya staff** as well. From above, it seems that Tenjin-ya was business as usual. The hustle and bustle makes the inn spectacularly dazzling and lovely. As Tenjin-ya goes further away from the distance, just as I was thinking of wandering around the ship's interior, the voices of three people suddenly popped up from inside. "Your bath has been prepared, Aoi-sama." "What the.. Nopperabou**?" It seems that the three faceless sisters also boarded the ship. It seems that they have happily taken me in their care.

T/N: Happi-coat - usually worn by staff of restaurants, shops, inns, dancers in festivals, etc. and has the company crest or team logo. 

Nopperabou - faceless woman youkai. P152 Just as before, the sisters carried me and took me away. "Let's have you take a hot water bath." "Let's also put on some makeup." 'Let's fix up your hair." While the sisters chattered unanimously, they then stripped me of all of my clothes and took me to the farthest regions of the ship, after which they washed me up. Well, it did feel rather luxurious. I then noticed a lovely camellia-patterned kimono, and they helped me put it on. Amidst the indigo-colored background, the deep red camellias stood out. The red obi's designs were also very intricate and elaborate, and wearing what seems to be a very expensive kimono has me into a panic. "Wait, why, why this kimono? Is it OK to wear this?" O-matsu-san explained to me as she tightened my obi: "It's nothing, that kimono is Odanna-sama's gift to Aoi-sama." I blinked my eyes in surprise. Why would that Oni give me such an expensive kimono? I was thinking of asking, but wearing a very beautiful kimono and seeing the pattern in front of a large mirror, I was so entranced. The three sisters were so moved. "Ah, that looks good on you, Aoi-sama!" "O-danna-sama will be so pleased." "That pretentiously innocent Young Mistress will groan at how beautiful and different you look." P153 "Hey, Ume, don't spoil our true intentions!" O-ume-san got scolded by O-take-san again. That Young Mistress, the Yuki-onna, the snow lady, I wonder if her presence annoys the three Nopperabou sisters. My hair was done elegantly to the side, and my lips were redder than usual. I was casually looking at myself in front of the large mirror, I was thinking that I am satisfied with everything. Of course, I was wearing a cute kimono with a lovely design. I was happy. "Do you love wearing it?" "Oh, uhm, yeah, I guess." My glowing figure and my giddy self wearing a kimono reflected in the mirror made it how obvious it was, and the three sisters kept giggling and laughing. I loved it, it was clear as day. No. But, could this kimono also add up to the debt or something? "Oh, my choice was not wrong. I thought a deep red camellia suits you." "What.. Wai.. Wait, since when did you get here?" Odanna-sama came when I wasn't aware of it, and he was looking at me over my shoulder, in front of the large mirror. I wonder if he saw my obviously eager face wearing this kimono. "I am glad that you loved it, Aoi." P154 I broadly looked at the other side of the entrance. My face was flushed and I was biting my lower lip. Somehow, I felt remorse. He came closer to my side, and from his sleeves he pulled out the camellia kanzashi. "Well then, use this for the adornment as well. Despite looking so charming, you look a bit dreary without anything in your hair." That being said, he placed the kanzashi on the left side of my hairdo. All of a sudden his large and wide-spanning hands near my face made me feel very nervous, but I didn't want to give in to this nervousness, so after a while the strength went back to my cheeks. "Here, why don't we take a look in the mirror and see?" He held my shoulders tight and turned me around, and as I tried fighting it I saw my side reflected, and saw myself in the mirror again. "See?" Unexpectedly, I realized that with any hair adorned with a hairpin, it felt as if it was a different look. Somehow, did the flower bud seem to have grown bigger? In the beginning, it looked just like a normal camellia bud kanzashi. But now it looks like it has grown a bit, and the petals have opened up. "The petals seems to move a bit. It will grow into a large, round bloom." "Oh, Kakuriyo has such magical things?" "When it reaches the end, the petals will get scattered." His face peeked from behind me as he said those words, full of deep meaning. In spite of myself, I looked at him. P155 "No kidding. This kanzashi has a countdown timer? I might lose it..." In Utsushiyo, I would have gotten a bit shocked. My whole face was lighting up, and his back was turned while giggling. I wanted to ask "What's funny?" "It seems that you love it, and that is what is more important. But once the hairpin's petals fall off and scatter, your debt must be settled too. Well, best of luck." Well that was so sudden, bringing up the debt repayment. "What the.. Isn't this like Beauty and the Beast?" "What's that? What are you saying?" "That story from France called 'Beauty and the Beast'. It's about two very different people who got married." Odanna-sama looked bewildered. Well, I didn't think that the Ayakashi in Kakuriyo would know the story of Beauty and the Beast, but even I'm not that shameless to think of myself like I'm Beauty, to that extent. But really, under these circumstances, it just feels like 'Beauty and the Beast', right? For instance, a bumbling non-human guardian who somewhat gets married, considerably. "It is good to tuck in your uchiwa in your obi**. Always handle it with care." I was groaning as Odanna-sama, in his own terms tucked the uchiwa fan into the back part of my obi, the paperplant uchiwa fan that I received from Matsuba-sama. It was styled like I was going to a summer festival.

T/N: Obi- the belt or sash wrapped around a kimono.

P156 O-matsu-san made me wear a pair of red-strapped geta sandals, and my kimono-wearing Kakuriyo style was complete. "Ah, we're almost here." "Where?" "If you come up the deck you;ll see." When Odanna-sama went to the deck, Kaikakumaru was starting to descend, and the bustling land below, studded with warm-colored lights came to view. Compared to Tenjin-ya's busy pace, this place has it on a whole new level. The central part of the area was a lot bigger compared to Tenjin-ya, and the sky is cut by a very high building, which when viewed from above is surrounded by a row of smaller buildings. The metropolis' four corners had gigantic red Torii gates, and the crossroads was cut by the main road that seemed to shine like it has encrusted jewels, and I realized that the paper lanterns hanging from the buildings below made it look as such. "Wow, this place place is amazing! Where are we?" "This is the Capitol of Kakuriyo, Youto. The building at the center is where the Ayakashi King resides." "Kakuriyo is like a country or something, so there is also a king?" "Of course. The Ayakashi King is called You-ou. In Kakuriyo, the entire country is made up of eight lands guarded by those called the Hachiyo, and it is said that those Hachiyo are connected to and governed by the You-ou. At any rate, we're already at the center of the capitol. P157 Odanna-sama had the ship stop at the capitol's harbor. It seems like a harbor because of the dark valleys and cliffs that surrounds Youto's edge, and that is where the ship was docked. The southern part of Youto's harbor have numerous ships anchored and tied up. and the sky is filled with sailing airships everywhere. "It's Tenjin-ya's Master." "This is bad, this is bad. Those from the evening news are also here." Tenjin-ya's Kaikakumaru is not a large ship, but the large, round crest "Ten" drawn on the sails were sighted by the Ayakashi near the cliffs. When I saw the gathering of a large crowd of Ayakashi, my opinion on Tenjin-ya's Odanna-sama changed: I came to realize that this Ogre god was very famous indeed. I absent-mindedly looked at him. "It seems that Odanna-sama is very famous, isn't he?" "And as my soon-to-be-wife, you dislike it?" "You casually had to push that, I see." "Well then, Aoi. If you do not wear this mask, they will find out that you are a human." Odanna-sama pulled out an Oni mask from his kimono's breast pocket. He was also wearing an Oni mask when we first met in Utsushiyo. He placed the mask on my face. Apparently, being found out to be a human can bring up a lot of trouble. Kaikanmaru then descended to the Southern Torii gate, and entering the capital through here seemed inconspicuous. P158 I followed Odanna-sama from behind in quick steps, and all around I kept hearing murmurs of "Who's that? Who's that?" Wearing this kimono and having an Oni mask on, it's impossible to be found out that I'm a human. The night was busy, with so many Ayakashi walking on the main road, and we started walking here towards the large place in the heart of Youto. The main road was lined up with magnificent stores, geta sandal shops, drapery and curtains, but the theater was  especially packed with so many people coming in and going out. A particular shop that seems to be rather famous was a large shop that had "Glass Shop" written on the shop curtains, and peeking inside the store seemed to have so many beautiful glasswares being sold. The many clients inside seem to be searching for dinnerware or whatnot. The outside of the glasswares had carvings that resemble ink scroll paintings, and the carvings had so many shapes. I've seen a lot of glasswares in Utsushiyo, in Japan, but these ones in Kakuriyo were somewhat different, they were all lined up, polished and state of the art. "Ah, this store Youto's cut glass store." "Cut glass... in Youto?" "Technology and techniques from Utsushiyo are transferred to Kakuriyo, as well as products. Recently, what you call 'glasswares' were started to be made here in Youto, and as such, dinnerware became fashionable." "Really..." Somehow, this capitol that is so Japanese had a store that gives off a Western feel, and the glasses were sparkly as well as giving off a sense of transparency, which made me feel nostalgic. P159 "I was thinking of cozying up our inn's meals with these glasswares, but the rowdy kitchen gang dreadfully detest anything new. But I spruced each room by decorating each one with a little bit of glass. I also had the long windows of the windbreakers made with glass." "Ah, if that's what you're saying, rooms such as the 'Big Camellia' do had round and large glass windows. Flying airships can be seen a lot passing by the windows. If I remember, they're changing those right now." Within the store premises, there weren't many customers and you can only see the lined up products on the storefront, but the craftsmanship of the glasswares are very noticeable.There was a fancy dish made with peach-colored glass that gives off a springtime vibe, covered with sakura patterns, which I picked up. From above the patterns resembled an intricate kaleidoscope, and the red lights of the paper lanterns made the transparent bowl shine so brightly. There were also delicately stacked green sake cups, decorated with hemp leaf designs. I took a long, hard look, I imagined that if I was going to use these glasswares, what meals would I make. Even with just that, I was already a bit pleased. If I could have my way, I would love the transparent, kaleidoscope-ish bowl. "Is there anything you like?" Odanna-sama peeped from behind me and patted my shoulder, seeing me looking eagerly at the glass bowl. My heart skipped a beat and I turned around. "I just think that they're lovely." P160 "Which one is nice? Would you like me to buy it for you?" "Wha-- Why would you do that?" This time I got startled, and I unconsciously looked at Odanna-sama and shrank a step back. I can't forget the stern Odanna-sama from yesterday, and I thought that with his dubious smile, it's now all outrageous and very suspicious. "Do not think of weird ideas. I owe you from helping Tenjin-ya yesterday, and I am only doing this as my way of saying thank you." "It's nothing, I'm good, it's not a big deal..." "You do not have to hesitate. You are guarding your heart too much." "It's because what you're saying is scary." I roughly turned away and headed for the store's entrance, and Odanna-sama was laughing behind my back. but what on earth's funny? "Wait, wait, please do not go ahead of me. Please stay by my side." As if his eyes were looking for me, Odanna-sama came up near me and I looked up at him. Despite being detached, I thought that calmly wandering aimlessly in a crowd made me stand out. P161 With his geta sandals echoing on the main road filled with bustling Ayakashi, Odanna-sama followed suit. Just as expected, everywhere I looked there were Ayakashi all over the place.I wonder what I'll do if I was found out to be a human? At the time I was thinking about it, I unexpectedly had a feeling. Everywhere I turned my head to look, the Ayakashi crossing the street seem to not care about me, and my true nature is not known. My feet stopped, and I got worried and flustered seeing Odanna-sama about to enter a dodgy shop. I wasn't used to wearing the geta, and I quickly fumbled over there. "Waii... Wait up." "Didn't I tell you a while ago that you must not leave my side? If you absent-mindedly do that, you; eventually get lost. If you're not with me by daybreak, they'll find out you're a human, and that's going to cause a huge ruckus. At worst, you will probably get eaten." As he was snickering, Odanna-sama beckoned me to come in. With its black, laquered and plastered walls, the storefront looks like a sophisticated warehouse”“. "Offal cuisine**... 'Iron Club for Oni**?'"

T/N: Warehouse -  old Japanese warehouses ( 蔵 ) have mud walls to prevent fires from spreading, like a firewall, but the facades look stylish with white paint. Some of them are now remade into restaurants and shops or whatnot.

Offal is basically organ meats, like liver, kidneys, tripe, etc. It’s not specified in the book what part was used so I just used the generic version. But personally, I think it’s tripe.

Iron Club for Oni - the Untranslated version is  鬼 に 金棒 (Oni ni Kanabou), kanabou is an iron rod that night watchmen use, but I like puns so I decided to transliterate this lol

P162 "Ah, when Oni who love offal get their food served, those that do, know that this place is high-class." "Offal cuisine..." A real Oni’s words made a heavy impression on me. The large cauldron with blood inside, seemingly filled with fresh, boiling and burbling human viscera filled my head with so much horrifying images. Could it be that I, unfortunately will be cooked in there, deliciously? "Why did you bring me to this place? Don't tell me, when you told me that you were taking me to a place that serves offal, giblets and whatnot, you were going to have me cut up by the cooking staff? Don't tell me, that you'll be having me get cooked for dinner?" After hearing me say those words, Odanna-sama started laughing. "You're saying such funny things." "I'm warning you." I got embarassed after being laughed at and I felt my cheeks burn red. "I did say I was going to treat you to some delicious food. Well, if you're that worried, come here." We went inside the restaurant, and as we waited for a bit, all of the high-end restaurant's staff started lining up. They bowed their heads politely, and the ogre's horns started to grow. P163 So this is what a high-class Oni's place looks like. The inside was a bit dark, even the atmosphere, but I could see why it was indeed an expensive place. We were taken to the second floor's most secluded room. When the window panes were opened, sitting by the window, the capitol's hustle and bustle can be seen. It was a very special room. "You can take off your mask, it's fine. This is a place that I have strong connections with. I have ensured that things will go well in here." "Really? Well, the Ayakashi haven't discovered that I'm a human, but it feels weird that I'm actually like one." Even so, as Odanna-sama said, I took off my Oni mask. I looked at it for a while, and for a little bit I understand why I looked rather scary while I had it on. "That suited you fine. You started to look like a typical ogre's wife." "Saying that this suits a girl may make her happy, but no human would think otherwise." I started to go to my seat uneasily as I let Odanna-sama's suprising praise sink in. He did say that he was treating me to an offal-ful meal, and I wonder what kind of meal that would be. "What the... Isn't that offal hotpot?" In the middle of the table was a pot, simmering gently, with garlic chives and cabbages, some ox offal and other ingredients, all looking delicious, that in Utsushiyo would be what would be famously called offal hotpot. P164 "Even the giblets in here look the same." Odanna-sama's face suddenly popped up. "Well, there's no way to tell that it's offal. That, may be perhaps, but I was thinking that I was surely disgusted seeing so much blood in that food, and I couldn't help but imagine all of the stuff I hate. Ah, but it's offal hotpot. And it's been a long time..." "You like it?" "Whaaa-  Grandpa took me to a lot of trips in Hakata, in Fukuoka, because I loved it. Those times, there were food like pork bone ramen, but we also ate offal hotpot." Back then, Grandpa took me to so many places across Japan. Particularly, we went a lot to Kyushu**, and Fukuoka Prefecture's Hakata was my favorite place. It's because Hakata was famous for their pork bone ramen and offal hotpot. "Hakata, you say? Hm.... When Shirou was a lot younger, we both went to Nakasu to visit." "Hmph. Well, I could see you and Grandpa definitely be going there, you two won't seem out of place." Nakasu is known for having so many fun spots. The riverside has so many outdoor stalls and I could remember that time during winter break, Grandpa took me there and we ate pork bone ramen on the stall's outdoor veranda. Well but.... In front of me is offal hotpot. The fragrance of the shoyu soup base just wafts in the air, and it made me decide to get the serving spoon. "So, I guess I'll serve myself. I'd stop hesitating. Because I'll eat. It's OK to eat, right?"

T/N: Spoiler alert: Yuuma-sensei is from Fukuoka, in Kyushu Island. Be prepared to read more about food lol P165 "I will make you eat, even though I told you I was going to take you to eat here." Odanna-sama's face looked dumbfounded, but I don't care. I served his portion, I got mine, I placed my hands together and said "Let's eat", with much excitement. After taking the first bite, I chewed the offal with gusto. It was beyond what I expected, and I was surprised by the taste and fragrance. "Wow, it's really good. The offal, was it roasted once?" It has already been roasted once, I could see it on the surface of the innards. It's slowly being cooked even more, in front of my eyes. “Yes, it has been scorched. It is cooked first that way, then the excess oils seem to have been added to the hotpot." "Reaally? Then let's start eating!" While reveling in the chewy texture, the melted fat in the soup dissolves in the mouth, and the mellow flavors come out. Also, the undertones of the red peppers had a very irresistable taste. "Does it taste delicious?" "Oh, yes! I was surprised. It is rather spicy, but the mild taste of the soy sauce soup base is something that Ayakashi fancy, don't they?" "Ah, yes, that is why, among Oni, and other Ayakashi, this kind of cooking is indeed a favorite." "So, as expected, ogres prefer food that have offal?" "Of course." "Then.. Is Odanna-sama's favorite food.. Offal hotpot?" P166 "Favorite?" I tried to casually ask. Before, I asked Ginji-san if he knows what Odanna-sama's favorite food was, but he said that he didn't know, and so I have no idea what Odanna-sama's food preferences were. He seemed to think for a bit. "Offal hotpot? I'm afraid to tell you... No. Concerning such things, I would strongly say that I prefer the fresh blood and viscera of young human girls." "Having to hear that from you, do you take me as a fool?" Did he said that in all honesty, or was that a whole-hearted and morbid joke? Even without laughing, he seemed to look pleased. "As for me, up to now I can only say that my most favorite thing is a lady, nothing else." "Is that.. Your lover?" "Are you interested?" "No, not really." Either I was dreaming or it's because of the hotpot. The offal with garlic and cabbages all boiling down was enjoyable. The garlic flavor was just appetizing, how much could I just eat? "Oh, so if I tell you what my most favorite is, will you make it for me?" "I have no intention to do that." "But was thinking of looking forward to that." P167 Odanna-sama seemed to have said those words with a pout. I wonder if he's saying those things in earnest. i just can't make out whatever he's saying, but I can speak harshly too. "Anyhow, for Odanna-sama, such a thing as my cooking isn't even somewhat of a great deal." "Well, isn't that harsh. But you've cooked so many kinds of food for Ginji, have you not? He kept praising your cooking." "What, really?" Him praising my cooking didn't felt like he had ill will. Moreover, hearing that Ginji-san saying that my cooking tasted good, I felt honored. Somehow, somewhat, Odanna-sama didn't seem pleased, and raised an eyebrow. "Because Ginji-san is a kind-hearted and gentle person, isn't he? Thanks to a certain someone during my wretched time in the past, someone kindly brought me food." "Food...?" "Oh, that's a secret I remembered." Hearing me inadvertently blurting out, Odanna-sama closed his mouth and seemed to have detached. He didn't ask for anything in particular. "Oh that, when I said that, what Ginji-san said about me, I already knew that about a while ago. Although, I wonder why." P168 "Have you forgotten?" "What?" "No, never mind." Odanna-sama seemed to dodge the whole thing, and just turned towards the sights of the windows, to the bustling crowds that passed by before his eyes. Might it have to do something with what I said about Ginji-san that I've already forgotten? "You haven't moved your chopsticks. It's fine to eat at your own pace, steadily." "Oh, OK." I wasn't thinking at all, I was just moving my food around. Aside from the offal hot pot, there were also other food such as sliced raw liver and some vinegared offal. The raw liver slices were very fresh, and it didn't smell that raw. I especially loved the vinegared offal, its sourness may be too strong in my mouth, but I appreciate how refreshing it tasted. I felt full from the offal. Because it was indeed delicious, I suppose that the ogre thinks that I'll do an awful job of cooking something like it. Way before Odanna-sama's time, Japanese people during the Heian Period alreay know of offal hotpot, and during this same time many prominent Oni traveled to Utsushiyo and probably brought it with them back to Kakuriyo. Whether it's true or not, I could now understand why Oni have a love for innards. "I apologize for disturbing you." While still inside that daze of eating offals, a voice came from outside the sliding doors. Odanna-sama replied "Come in" and a person came inside. In that case, it was a lovely lady wearing a beautifully styled sakura-patterned kimono. P169 The area around her eyes were colored with a red tinge, and the entire length of her eyes gave off a very strong impression. Even more so is that her wafty, scarlet hair was arranged into two buns on both sides of her head, along with some accessories. Who is this, I wonder? She is like a colorful little flower that blooms in the spring, which gives off a lovely vibe. "It has been a long time, Tenjin-ya's Master, Odanna-sama." "Ah, how are you doing, Suzuran?" "I am doing well, thank you. Suzuran has been working hard to improve her talents, althought not there yet, I am still doing my best to grow and be a better geisha." "You've grown even more lovelier. I heard that you're now famous here in the capitol." "That... I heard that Odanna-sama was visiting so I came all the way here, to see you. " "Well, I am glad to have you here." I just looked at the two, earnestly while eating some hotpot. Surely not, but could it be that Odanna-sama secretly has another lover, and that because he thinks I'm already aware of that, he's going to introduce her now? "Ah, this here is Youto's very famous geisha Suzuran. She is our head clerk, Akatsuki's younger sister." "What? So.. You're an earth spider, a tsuchigumo? No way." P170 "It is not a lie. What you said is true." I stopped eating, stared at the smiling Suzuran, and I blinked my eyes countless times. Her brother's eyes with small irises lack warmth, but here in front of me is the younger sister, all nice and lovely. "Suzuran, this is Tsubaki Aoi. He is Tsubaki Shirou's granddaughter," "Ah, Shirou-sama's..." As soon as Odanna-sama mentioned Grandpa's name, Suzuran's facial expression instantly brightened up, and her cheeks started blushing. She seemed so joyous, and yearning, yet her face seems to be in pain. "So, Shirou-sama is also here, in Kakuriyo? I.. I have to see him no matter what." "Uhm, Grandpa is..." "Shirou did not come here to Kakuriyo. It's just Aoi." Odanna-sama interrupted me talking, and Suzuran just oh-ed. My mouth just slacked. Somehow, it seemed better not to say anything about Granda passing away. "Oh, I see.. Though when I saw your face, even though he's not here, it's as if I already met him." Suzuran turned around, and fixed herself on the tatami mat, her lovely eyebrows beckoning. At that point, in my eyes, I could surmise that Suzuran is not Odanna-sama's lover. "So, in this case, Shiro-sama's daughter is, I should say, Odanna-sama's bride?" "Yes, she is." P171 "No, it isn't like that." Odanna-sama's laughing face confirmed Suzuran's question, while my grim face denied it. Suzuran titled her head on one side and looked as if in agreement. "Aoi here is a really stubborn girl. She said that she is not considering marrying me until she has paid Shirou's debt fully. Right now, she is currently unemployed." "Please saying that I'm unemployed. Also, somehow don't change the story. It isn't that I won't marry you until I paid the debt, it's because I don't want to marry that's why I am paying it on my own, that's the real reason." "What kind of condition is that? If I was offered to get married, in all honesty, I won't have to go through all that toiling and labor..." After refuting entirely the conditions I said, albeit in a childish tone, Odanna-sama sighed, and drank some wine poured for him by Suzuran. "A lady going to all that trouble under Odanna-sama, that seems to be a very unusual condition, isn't it?" "As expected of Shirou's granddaughter, she's like that." "Yes. Aoi-sama resembles Shirou somehow. This brings back memories." I stared at Suzuran who seemed to be longing for the days gone past. When our eyes met, she broke into a smile then a laugh, and I kept my laugh as much as I could. The Ayakashi who knew my grandfather all told me "You're just like Shirou." The Ayakashi that easily forgot him did, to some extent recalled him and would even attest that they knew him. P172 "Say, Suzuran, it has been a long time since you have played your Shamisen for me. Do you have the time right now?" "Yes, it is for that reason that I came here." Suzuran, with her Shamisen on her back went to a corner of the room. And then I was startled by the numerous, fluttery reflections of her obi's feathery decorations, which resembled and reminded me of spider legs. But it wasn't a frightful feeling. As the shamisen was being played, the atmosphere of a lady singing beautifully washes over us. Eating delicious food while hearing this girl play is just luxurious, and I think that at that time, the mood was uplifted. "Wah, that tasted really good. As expected, delicious food is the best, right?" "I had you accompany me here because you will finish up the delicious food prepared for you." We left the restaurant afterwards, and I was in really high spirits. So was Odanna-sama as he leisurely inhaled from his pipe just like before. I was in a situation that had me smiling. I was so glad to have been treated to delicious food. But his cold attitude yesterday reminded me to reconsider the calculations I had of him. "By the way, isn't Suzuran quite lovely? Cuold she possibly be your lover?" P173 After I asked him that question, Odanna-sama raised his eyebrows. "Lover? That's impossible. Suzuran is Akatsuki's younger sister. Besides, to me, there is a particular granddaughter's existence..." "What. You're saying that again.." "Actually, I have no other lovers." "You're lying. Wait, the young mistress, the Yuki-onna, there's a rumor that she's your lover." "Yuki-onna? O-ryo? That can't be." After saying that, Odanna-sama's facial expression delicately changed, pretending as if he was laughing at something. As expected, his attitude became suspicious, but I couldn't fathom his true intentions. "Would you like to go get some dessert?" "OK, let's go eat some." To an abrupt suggesting of eating some dessert, I whole-heartedly agreed. To avoid having to converse, I just agreed without a doubt, but inside I really didn't have any other ideas. I put on my mask and the geta that I'm still not used to, and followed Odanna-sama without any other choice. "Oh!" Again, beyond my line of sight, I had a strong feeling. I was walking a bit along the main road, and within a large crowd of Ayakashi crossing, P174 I got mixed into it. At any rate, my vision was sensitive to the Ayakashi in front of me. That sensitivity is thanks to the fact that they are alive, which is a good thing. I unconsciously stopped and looked back. At that moment, a giant fish-headed Ayakashi bumped into me, which made my Kanzashi fall into the ground. "Owww.. My hairpin..." As I crouched in a panic to pick up my hairpain, an Ayakashi child bumped forcefully on my back. Like an absolutely sudden gust of wind, the crowd parted to make way for a bunch of Ayakashi children running about. Their pretty pinwheels were whirling around making screeching noises, but I can't look at that for very long. "Oww.. They're gone now." I pushed on my hips and stood up. My Kanzashi was safe, but I was an inconvenience to have been crouching in a crowd. I looked around me carefully and started to go pale. It's because I had no idea where Odanna-sama headed to. Probably, that's exactly it, I suppose. No matter how dubious I think that guy is, when I'm alone with no other person that I know around, in an instant I feel hopeless. P175 Let alone this is Kakuriyo.This is the Ayakashi's realm. Right now I'm wearing a mask, and I could hide being a human, but other than that, in this world, I am still an outsider. "Hey, stop dilly-dallyin'!" I stood still, it was a loud yell from a red-faced bearded three-eyed man. He was holding a bottle of liquor while wavering, and was probably drunk. I fled the scene in a panic, going along the main road from side to side, until I ended in a smaller pathway with very few people. and walked on the side of the road. Within this wispy and dodgy atmosphere was a back alley. There were paper lanterns that slowly lighted the surroundings, and it was likely that because there aren't that many Ayakashi here, I won't be running into one. "This isn't good... This isn't good..." Murmuring and grumbling, with sweat dripping on my face, I was desperately breaking loose in this labyrinth-like back alley. Unfortunately, the more I walked and moved forward, the more I got lost. I was surrounded by houses that seem to have a dull, dense air around them. I stared nervously at the surroundings. Whenever a small sound pops up, it was as if there were a lot of nasty Ayakashi running around. Whether they were large or small, they were hidden by the darkness. It's good that I still had my mask on. However, along the way, I stumbled across an unexpected place. I slipped and fell on my backside, and it felt chilly. P176 "Ice?" Falling on the ground were spherical ice that seem to pile up and spread like water. I just noticed it because of that. It was a good thing that I still have the uchiwa fan still tucked on my back, so I pulled it out in a hurry. As it continued, a mysterious apparition appeared. Even though it was a spring evening, multitudes of snowballs started piling up in front of me, and I fell backwards. It was at that moment that the mask I was wearing slipped off. "It's a human..." "A human girl.. Looks delicious..." Once the mask has come off, it felt like the breaths of the Ayakashi drew nearer and nearer. Holy crap, I thought, and I stood up and started to run and flee, but because I was unaccustomed to the geta sandals I couldn't escape fast enough. Anyone who had an afterthought could have moved fast with their limbs, and I knew that I shouldn't have worn these clogs but I still did.This is bad. This is AWFUL.** "Gaaaah let go of me! You HOOLIGAN Youkai!" Spitting out those words, as if coming out of a daze, I swiped and swung the paperplant uchiwa fan thoughtlessly. Instantly after that, something unexpected happened. A strong whirlwind sprung up, and all of the Ayakashi surrounding me got blown upward. They were all yelling as they rose upwards, eventually looking like stars.

T/N: I was doing my best not to translate this part into ‘It was at this moment, I knew I was f****d.’ But that’s the feeling lol P177 In an instant, there was a strong whirlwind. Indeed, I just realized what had just happened, and I stared slowly at the leaf-looking uchiwa fan in my hand. I couldn't speak. OK, however I swing and move this fan, it seems that it creates a really strong gust of wind. "Thanks to this uchiwa, I was saved. I couldn't think of eating this now." I smiled a bit painfully as I wiped the sweat on my forehead. But, I sensed something again in my peripheral vision. It seems that no matter where I go, uneasiness follows me. I quickly turned my head when I saw a face, and hurriedly followed it through the dark back alleys, around every corner. Just as I was about to turn around a corner, I would stop and see if I'm about to head into walls. As soon as I could see who I was, I just cannot stop running and chasing. "Wah, Ahhh!" I peeked at the corner, and as soon as my face became visible, the person jumped backward. It seemed like I couldn't lose sight of that person anymore, and that person removed their straw hat. "Are you.. The Yuki-onna?" That person was Tenjin-ya's Young Mistress, the Snow lady O-ryo. Her white kimono was a bit disheveled as she collapsed into the ground. P178 "Whaa.. What're you doing? You may be a human, but you're so uncivilized!" "Hey, that's my line. You were the one who made the ice spread on where I was standing a while ago, wasn't it? But the snowballs flew off. When my mask tore off, the dangerous Ayakashi came to eat me there." "Miss. Humans here in Kakuriyo are just hoodlums, and it's a good thing that they'd get eaten. You and Odanna-sama may have gone out, but you're a thousand years too early." "So that's it..." I suddenly saw O-ryo's eyes in front of me. She was showing here true feelings in her face. She was probably jealous of me when Odanna-sama and I went out, and followed us here. "Could it possibly be that, you rode in the Kaikakumaru? By your own accord?" "How I got here is none of your business." "Don't feign ignorance. Could it be that you abandoned your post? Isn't a Young Mistress expected to be prim and proper?" My reply seemed to have shocked O-ryo. "But.. It's not like you're not doing anything!" "But I'm nothing like the inn's staff." "Don't pretend like you have no connections like that! This is why I hate human girls!" "Alright then, but I hate Ayakashi too, you know." P179 In that time, that place got filled with sounds of squawking. In the innermost part of the back alley that we were in, we started hearing hoarse yells of "Wait!" "Don't you dare run away!" O-ryo and I stopped our verbal fight.  The dark alley only has one street, and on the other side, the sounds of someone wearing geta sandals can be heard in the darkness, and it seems like a geisha was running towards us. She was wrapped in a flowing sakura-patterned kimono, and I recognized her. "Suzuran-san?!" It was Suzuran-san, the geisha. She also noticed O-ryo and I. "O.. Odanna-sama.. Is he not here?" Looking pale, Suzuran went towards us and clang onto me. She seemed to have been chased, and her body was trembling. From the farthest part of the back alley, I saw Ayakashi pointing their fingers and yelling "She's here!" I had no idea what the situation was about, but I thought that we must escape, in a bit I pulled Suzuran's hand and as if in a daze we ran towards the other side of the road. We turned toward several corners, and we hid within the shady parts in-between the buildings, and for a while we concealed our breaths. The footsteps of Suzuran's pursuers eventually sounded as if they're already far away, and already dispersed. "Are you OK?" "Yes." Suzuran replied as she nodded her head. P180 "I'm sorry, Odanna-sama isn't here. I lost sight of him." "Oh... I see..." The geisha's kimono was beautiful, but probably very heavy, and yet no matter how heavy it was, the decorations attached on the feathery obi were still intact. Suzuran running fast wearing such garb must have been a very extra-ordinary sight. "What on earth Suzuran, who were you running away from?" She was just simply perplexed, and didn't say anything. "Wait up, I'm going there too." The Yuki-onna O-ryo was following us from behind. It seemed like she came down from the sky, and with her white kimono swinging in front of me, she looked like she was fluttering as she flew down with a thud. "The Ayakashi chasing Suzuran were the Ittan-momen from the large drapery seller, Yahata-ya. They say that Yahata-ya is from the Southwest Hachiyo, they have money and power, aren't they an influential and long-established store? Suzuran, I wonder, could you have angered Yahata-ya's master?" "O-ryo san..." It seems that O-ryo and Suzuran knew each other. Nevertheless, Suzuran was still shaking. In any case, I was thinking that it was inevitable that I send the girl home safely, but she just couldn't move. P181 "I was sold." "Really?!" With a grim expression, Suzuran began talking about her circumstances. "Lately, Yahata-ya's young master whom I receive patronage from, insistently keeps dropping by, and a while ago when I went back to the geisha house, the boss that I trust so much commanded me to marry into Yahata-ya. 'That is for your own happiness.' he said. I detested it, and they know it, but they can surely get paid a very large sum of money, so they sold me off." She braced her face, and clutched her fists to her chest. "What is that, it's not the worst. The Yahata-ya's young master who spoils and pampers, is a young man from a rich family. He is famously known to go crazy over any girl he fancies. Even in Tenjin-ya, there is someone who does whatever they please." O-ryo reminded me of something I hate, and I frowned. Suzuran just kept her head hung. "The geisha house is just in front of Yahata-ya's property. I pretended to pack up my belongings, and I jumped down from my room's window. I fled as if death was surrounding me." The girl's expression was grave. Somehow, I could relate to Suzuran's situation after hearing her circumstances with regards to being stalked by a rich guy. No, it's a more complicated story than that. It's because Suzuran could lose her livelihood because of this. P182 "Oh, I see..." Our shoulders shuddered when we heard a voice other than ours, from somewhere. I thought they found us, but I saw that black kimono and the black haori, it was no other than Odanna-sama. Suzuran called out "Odanna-sama!!" considerably, and felt very much relieved to be safe. As for me, I could only say a few words. "You, where have you been until now? You left me behind!" "You disappeared! These back alleys were dizzying, and you were sitting and hiding in the dark spaces in between these buildings. Anyone who tries to find you won't find you. Rather than they finding you, I found you instead. I want you to compliment me, at the least," Odanna-sama uninterestedly retorted. I wonder if he's angry. But for sure, I got here in this place despite myself. Could it be that, he was relentlessly searching for me? Oh well, whatever it was I don't care anymore. "Oh my.. uhmm.. Alright, I'm here." No, it's not alright, there's someone else here. It's the Yuki-onna, O-ryo. She was hiding her face behind her sleeve and was about to run away in haste. But Odanna-sama has sharp eyes and found her. P183 "O-ryo, why are you here?" "Oh, that, uhm..." "I was sure that you said you were attending your duties in Tenjin-ya." O-ryou lightly and furtively watched Odanna-sama's facial expressions, and shut her mouth completely. "I hope it's not what I am thinking, but could you have abandoned your duties and came here?" As soon as Odanna-sama spoke those words, the entire surroundings suddenly got cold. The Yuki-onna's eyebrows twitched, but while seemingly agreeing, her facial expressions became unreadable. Moreover, I realized that our hair and our clothes were starting to get covered in snow. This snow lady, who threw countless snowballs at me, in an instant, why am I just shaking things off. "Well, whatever. Suzuran is here. Suzuran, since you have already escaped from Yahata-ya's gang, for the time being, it is a good idea to go to Tenjin-ya. It is safer there, and you can tell me everything that happened." As soon as Odanna-sama spoke to Suzuran, she felt relieved. That was the extent of her dreadful thoughts. "Odanna-sama, I apologize deeply." Odanna-sama spoke again, to Suzuran in a gentle voice. P184 "What are you apologizing for? You are our head clerk's younger sister. To me, you two are like two adorable grandchildren. Even though you were forced into a marriage proposal, we cannot be silent about it. Come now, let us go back to Kaikakumaru." After that, I patted Suzuran's shoulders and hugged her, and we just exchanged looks. As I nodded in approval, a low voice from the Yuki-onna came from behind. "Alright then, I guess I'm going home too." O-ryo seemed exhausted.Odanna-sama's eyes may have darkened, but I think she needs to pay for her mistakes. I was exasperated. "Yuki-onna, before we were found by Odanna-sama, were you thinking of going back to Tenjin-ya?" "You.. You shut up! You have nothing to do with this!" "Well, that was expected of you." It was like a time when a parent goes out of a room and leaves the child unattended, and when the kid quietly leaves to play hooky and wander about gets caught in the act. A while ago, the Yuki-onna was up on her high horse, as if invincible, but now she's disheartened, and her shoulders dropped. I think she looked like melting ice cream. P185 As wispy clouds drifted past, daybreak has begun. The Ayakashi's activities have ended, and in a little while the shops started closing for the day. We, on the other hand will be returning over to the Southern Torii gate, to ride Tenjin-ya's ship. "Ah, she's there! She's boarding Tenjin-ya's Kaikakumaru!" In that moment, we were definitely found out by the Yahata-ya's henchmen. Those guys seemed to have searched the entire harbor relentlessly for Suzuran, and for a very long time. Everyone had white hair, and all of Yahata-ya's guys had a human form. Each of their faces were covered with a white cloth with "Han"** written on it, making their expressions unreadable, but their impatience can be easily seen through their movements. Odanna-sama left Suzuran in the care of the three Nopperabou sisters, who came out to take her inside the ship, as instructed. Odanna-sama and I stood leisurely in front of the ship while we casually looked at the Ittan-momen. "The Ittan-momen have a strong image of being a long, single piece of cloth, but these ones have a human form, don't they?" "Ayakashi usually change their forms. Whatever Ayakashi they are, they have a human shape." "So when you say that, the earth spiders, even Ginji-san, you all have a human form?"

T/N: Ittan-momen - they’re long pieces of cloth youkai, that strangle humans. The “Han” ( 反 ) on their faces also form the words for drapery, as ittan ( 一反 ) is a unit of measurement, mostly for cloths. P186 While we were casually chatting, a powerful voice boomed out. "Tenjin-ya's Master. Please hand over the geisha, Suzuran to us. We legally and formally received her!" In the middle of the Ittan-momen stands a young man, surely from a rich family. A young man wearing a very gaudy haori. With his long, white hair flapping like a flag, his face was strongly expressing a smile. Beside him was a terrible-looking red-faced man-servant, who seems to be surrounded by a lot of underlings. The other Ayakashi in the main road, and those who were returning to the harbor to board their boats who seem to be so elegant were all going "What's that? What's going on?" and started to look at the scene. On the roofs were some guys' camera shutters going off. Odanna-sama on the other hand faced the nervous Ittan-momen, and did his usual smile. "Hey there, aren't you the young master of Yahata-ya, whom we were always under the care of? What happened to you, your facial expression has changed? Suzuran is our head clerk's younger sister, and they always have been by themselves, so I'm bringing her back to Tenjin-ya so they could be together." "How shameless! Even though you say that you're always under our care, the truth is that Tenjin-ya has never used our fabrics!" Odanna-sama's retort insulted the short-statured man-servant. P187 From the side, Odanna-sama was stealthily asked. "Doesn't Tenjin-ya use Yahata-ya's products?" "Our yukata were provided to us by the owner of Shikiidou. Yahata-ya may be old and established, but aren't their products fairly expensive?" "Ah, about that..." This was different from that time with the Tengu. Especially when it comes to a point that there is no customer-client relationship, the rivalry just gets worse. Once again, with his usual smile Odanna-sama spoke to the young master. "Moreover, young lord, Suzuran awfully seems to not like you. A marriage obtained unreasonably, isn't that selfish on your part? Hmm... My opinion is there's nothing more useless than a loveless marriage, isn't it?" "Wha... What did you just say to me?!" The young master's face showed his anger, and went to his man-servant. Selfishly, he retorted, "You have insulted me. I am declaring a war! By any means!" But to me, seeing as there is no other choice, with a smug grin** Odanna-sama replied "Well, if you say so." That is no joke. With a nonchalant face, Odanna-sama commanded Kaikakumaru’s crew to get up and sail.

T/N: Shit-eating grin is a better translation but Odanna-sama’s too pretty for that lol. P188 What, we haven't gotten in, are they going to leave the harbor? "Hey, stop! Tenjin-ya's ship!" As Kaikakumaru slowly and steadily rose, from everywhere a flood of Ittan-momen started lining up, preparing their bows and arrows, and assumed their shooting stance. The tips of their arrows were covered with an oil-soaked cloth, with pyres filled with blazing yellow enchanted fire in front of them, and the dangerous army faced Kaikakumaru and started to shoot. I was dumbfounded. With a sudden and loud gasp, Odanna-started to defend us. Standing with an expressionless and unchanging face, the arrows flying towards me were received by him with one hand, and fiercely blew out the enchanted flames like trash that gets thrown away. I think it's a flawless defense. However, several arrows hit Kaikakumaru , and the sails started to catch fire. Not just Kaikakumaru, but the other surrounding boats were reached by the flaming arrows, and everwhere the flames started rising up. The screaming and panicking voices of the Ayakashi were audible. It was terrible. It was merciless. It was inhumane! That was what I was thinking, but those guys were Ayakashi. As for Odanna-sama, he was still blowing on his pipe with a composed face. Seeing that again, the Man-servant got excited and the Yahata-ya’s Ittan-momen squad once again started to aim, towards us and prepared for shooting their flaming arrows. P189 This time they were aiming towards Odanna-sama. If this continues, I'll be in danger. "Oww!" A small burning piece fell down and grazed my arm. Instantly, I remembered in that moment the Tengu's uchiwa fan. "Fire!" The Ittan-momen squad pulled back their bows and released their flaming arrows toward us again. Without any hesitation, I leaned forward in front of Odanna-sama and deliberately fanned the uchiwa fan upwards, and I put a lot of power in fanning it. A strong gust of wind blew wildly. The flaming arrows flying towards me were all extinguished, and flew towards and beyond the Southern Torii gate. After that, the numerous human-bodied Ittan-momen of Yahata-ya were halted and then like paper were blown away. Even the ox-cart that they were using also got turned over. Only the young lord and his man-servant were left, desperately clinging onto a pillar. "Ohhh.. You defended me, Aoi!" "No, I did that to save myself." Odanna-sama may have spoken in joy, but I was just stating the obvious. I was changed, and I understood the power of the uchiwa fan. I stared at it begrudgingly. P190 "Looking at this leaf, it's an awesome uchiwa fan! I was only going to use this for serving seafood dishes, but definitely not anymore." "Yes indeed, it's good that you don't. There's nothing as precious as that treasured fan." Odanna-sama's retort definitely hit. The Yahata-ya's Ittan-momen started to pull back. "Isn't that the Tengu's treasured uchiwa fan?" "What on earth is that little girl?" I heard so many whispered voices. So many Ayakashi were gawking. At least, the wind brought the Ittan-momen down. Their young master, with his long hair disheveled by the blowing wind, and his body equally in distress, pointed at me and yelled with anger, "What did you just do, little girl? Who are you? Are you a Tengu?" "No, I can't say who I am.." Right now I am a human girl. Incidentally, unemployed. I am not a Tengu. But Odanna-sama relaxed his lips. He pulled my waist and magnanimously started to proclaim, "This is Tsubaki Shirou's granddaughter, Tsubaki Aoi. I am Tenjin-ya's master, and she is my bride!" "Whaaaat?" My face spelled "What is this man talking about?" After his proclamation, he pulled me close and from where we were standing leaped up, and with a strong force flew up towards Kaikakumaru’s wooden deck. P191 It was like riding a jet coaster, I was mentally unprepared for it as we landed. At the back of my mind, the harbor was adrift with an eerie silence. But that silence was broken by a high-pitched scream, as I was looking down my voice just exploded. "Move to port side, steer to port side..." As my consciousness fled that place, there were other Ayakashi in their cruise ships. "Oh, hell, no, Kakuriyo is doomed!" Why were they expecting Kakuriyo's demise, my head couldn't wrap around it, that some Ayakashi were so serious. "That Tsubaki Shirou's granddaughter, she is the wife of Tenjin-ya's ogre-god?" "Isn't that a tragedy?" It seems that the sudden interest can't be suppresed, it was the topic of discussion among the lowly Ayakashi while having their booze and appetizers. "Go back! Go back! The news' evening edition must be replaced!" "There's no time! We'll just hurry it up for the afternoon edition tomorrow!" The news item about a celebrity scandal seems to be catching on, and from beyong the large Torii gate, Youto's crowd was broken up by Ayakashi that look like news reporters. Odanna-sama's proclamation was a shocking target, it seems. To the Ayakashi, Tenjin-ya's Master and Shirou Tsubaki's granddaughter "getting married" was obviously horrible, scary and revolting, and it created a huge ruckus. P192 "Say, Odanna-sama, why were those Ayakashi shocked? Are you a celebrity?" "I'm not a celebrity, I am Tenjin-ya's Master. But, well, I do hold the title of a Hachiyo. Being one gives fame and power. Each of Kakuriyo's remarkable Ayakashi, there are a lot of stories when it comes to sudden marriage proposals, whether with a daughter or a granddaughter." "Hmmmph. So up until today, you were single?" Even though it was a dodgy question, Odanna-sama confidently agreed. "Well, that's it. Which is why in Kakuriyo, it’s common gossip to ask who shall be my bride. Those are what people talk about me. A powerful person, particularly an Ayakashi who holds the position of Hachiyo, news about their marriage are always a subject of public interest by the populace in Kakuriyo." "Interest.. But, I don't think anyone would be happy about that." “Haha, it's not really a pleasant matter. Surely, it is a public announcement, and because Shirou's granddaughter was involved, everyone was absolutely caught off-guard. It's probably the worst." Odanna-sama's way of speaking sounded dubious. I titled my head. "That's.. because Aoi is Shirou's granddaughter." P193 Looking at my face, with a sneering smile, Odanna-sama's remarks about Grandpa seem to have a strong impact. To Kakuriyo, Grandpa is a very influential person. Even amongst Ayakashi, he is the scariest. From the soles of my feet, a cold chill crept up, and I looked below. Yahata-ya's Ittan-momen were creating a noisy argument. They stopped, and other than being unable to wave their hands to us in the boat, they could only stare at the slowing rising Kaikakumaru in vexation. Even as Kaikakumaru’s sails were ablaze, it was still rising up. Despite that grave 10 minutes, the ship's deck still standing, the commotion that happened below, no matter how much I think about it, I still can't understand it. Odanna-sama seems to have lost interest in what happened before, and started instructing the ship's crew, who were desperately extinguishing the fires on the sails here and there, and the blazing flames of Kaikakumaru’s sails were eventually extinguished. The beautiful sunrise from the east has come. Normally, this would be a silent time in Kakuriyo. But today, Kakuriyo's capitol had an early-morning disturbance. While thinking about the myriad of things that happened today, the day started brightly as before, and I rubbed my eyes. P194 A while later, I realized what happened, and the next day, Kakuriyo's Metropolitan Newspaper reads "Bride from Hell went Haywire", among other things, I was decorated with a very typical and one-sided title. From then on, without me knowing it, I was known as the rumored "Tenjin-ya's Wife from Hell."

End of Chapter 5, Volume 1.

Volume 1 Translations by Kakuriyo-translations

Prologue               Chapter 1            Chapter 2      Chapter 3       Chapter 4

References:

Wonderful site for the youkai references

Other stuff I used to do this: Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary (you can buy here, I’m not sponsored btw). I was about to buy the older edition but then the newer one came out 2013 so I bought that instead. Worth buying since I was able to find nearly all of the words I needed just by stroke pattern alone.

Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English Dictionary (the red-covered 1996 version is apparently out of print right now). This is what I have been using for a very long time, I bought it when I was still a fetus (yes I am old so what lol), and after so many years, when compared to newer editions, I still prefer this one since its entirety is Japanese-English, the English to Japanese gloss are just 16 pages tops, so you get more Japanese words for your buck. But that’s just my opinion, maybe other people prefer the Jap-En x En-Jap IDEK.

Basic online dictionary, Jisho. Knowledge of verb conjugations  and other words are necessary since not all have entries.

If you can read Japanese, you can buy the whole set in Amazon Japan, they’re shipping worldwide now, I think.

[izbiz333]

The Very Sad Race pt. 1

Description: So you are a girl and you hide yourself to go to an all boys school. It’s all good until something goes wrong.

A/N: Hi umm, this is my first au. So there’s not much anything yet. This is also based off a dream, and continued so the plot is unplanned but to be continued. 

Warning: Heavy Language, shitty writing

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You start your strut to school, almost shitting yourself in worry. It’s just an average day in your not so average life. You check your hair. Perfectly pinned up. You check your chest. Wrapped up as tight as can be. There are no signs that you were female. What would all the boys think or even do if they figured it out? They won’t, you tell yourself as you approach your almost all male private school.

You learned to shut your mouth ever since you got to that school. If any of them heard your high-pitched voice, you’d be fucked. Figuratively and literally. You never spoke to your friends but still communicated physically. You learned sign language in middle school in hopes of meeting someone with the same ability, and you succeeded.

You walk in and meet Davey, Jack, Race, and Albert all sitting in the cafeteria, vibing to Fergalicious. You sign ‘hey, what’s up’ to Davey, the smartest of the four men. He repeats it aloud for the rest of the boys to hear. “Jammin’ out,” the blonde hair, blue eyed boy wasn’t lying. You blush at the comment and cover it up with some sign language. ‘it’s so fucking hot in here.’ You know they’d think you meant the temperature, but it was just Race. You’ve had a crush on him since you met the kid in science class.

You walk to homeroom with Albert, listening to his girl problems. You couldn’t even respond if you wanted to. He would have no idea what you signed, making him easy to rant to as well. You sign all of your feelings about Race and being a girl, and Albert would just watch the same way you would listen. “You know, you’s just the funniest person to me. You’s and your google translate chats are just hilarious. It’s too funny.” He looks at you and notices your confused expression. “I mean like Siri or whatever its name is, it just sounds so stupid answering about human anatomy and shit.” You wanted to laugh so hard, but you couldn’t make a sound. You just smile and keep walking.

After a few classes with the boys, you head to science. This class always took the most out of you. It was only you and Race, since you two were the only dumbasses in the school when it came to science. You never got anything done and were always fooling around. “Yo, Mute.” You can hear Race’s voice down the hall, as you try to stuff your emotions away. You nod your head in a ‘what’s up’ fashion, seeing as that’s the most common non-verbal way of saying hello. “Mr. Brear ain’t here today, and there’s a note on the board telling us to have a study.” You choke in his words. It’s just you and your crush.

“Shit.”

His head goes spinning your way, jaw wide open. You cover your mouth in disbelief. You blew your cover. Either you get soaked by the kid for lying to him, or you tell him the full truth. You knew you’d be fucked either way. “I- I- I can explain.” You high pitched voice makes him even more confused.

“What the fuck?” he pauses to think before figuring out the truth. “Ohh. Fuck! You’s a girl. Wow.” He stares at you in awe of the accomplishment. It makes your heart flutter in feelings.

“Umm… can we’s go somewhere private please?” You didn’t want anyone in the classrooms near you to hear anything.

“You’s voice is beautiful.” His piercing eyes stare at your lips. You stare at him, looking from his muscles, to his eyes, to his blonde curls. You guys both just stare. You don’t move and neither does he. Time had felt as it had slowed down, and you could stand there forever. Until the bell rings, breaking the trance.

“Shit.” You realize that next was lunch, with all of the boys. Race started to panic. You both knew he was a terrible secret keeper, and he wanted to talk about everything.

“Ummm… It’d be too suspicious to not meet up with them.” You both know that’s the truth. You nod in response and start out of the room. “Wait Mute.” You turn around to see him wondering. “What’s you’s real name?” You walk back in and write ‘[Y/N]’ on the board. You look at Race who’s back to staring at you.

“Come on, fucker, let’s go!” You whisper to him as you leave the room.

As you two walk the halls to the cafeteria, you contemplate how to tell Jack, Davey, and Albert. It’s better if you announce it rather than Race let it out. You look at him as you put a finger over your mouth. “So I should shut up? Do you’s have this covered?” You nod and make a sad face.

“Are you’s okay? Did I do something?” Race starts to worry and rush his hands through his hair. You shake your head. You point at Race and make a sad face again. “Ohhh. I should act sad.” You nod your head with a partially thought out plan in your head. He smiles in return, making your shiver in your feelings.

“Hey, Hey! How was science?” Jack looks at Race. He notices Race’s sad expression and darts his head at you. “Mute! Wha- What happened? He’s never sad.” You look at Davey to respond. Chills run down your back, as you know you’d be lying to your best friends.

You sign to him ‘Okay, so I need to tell you something. Don’t freak out, start off by telling Jack a lie of what happened.’ Davey turns to Jack, hesitantly before saying “He- he found out he was failing the class so bad that he’d have to stay in senior year, and couldn’t graduate.” Davey obliged, and was very interested in more information from you.

“Sorry man, you’s must be in some deep shit.” Albert patted Race’s back trying to cheer the kid up. Race looked up to you, and you slowly nodded in response. Race was an excellent actor. He made you sad, even though you were literally writing his backstory.

You turn to Davey to continue with the truth. ‘Don’t freak out. But I can talk, and am a girl, but Jack and Albert can’t know. Race already knows so, come up with another lie.’ Davey is just gawking at you with his mouth wide open. Davey turns to Jack an begins to lie about stupid homework assignments and such.

You look at Race and draw a tear down your cheek. He glares, but knows this is the only thing he could even do. He looks at Jack and starts to water his eyes. “Let’s go to the bathroom and give you’s some space.” Race nods and the five of you walk to the bathroom across the school, where no one was to be seen.

As soon as you arrived Jack began comforting Race, until he saw Race’s large grin. “What the hell?” Jack looked at you who still seemed nervous. You clearly weren’t worried about Race, but about telling Jack and Albert. You nod your head at Race, cueing the truth.

“So. First of all, I’m not failing science or anything. I’m doing just fine. But the reason Mute and I brought you here was to tell you’s something. I want to let Mute do the honors.” Everyone turns their heads to you in confusion.

“Hi.” You watch as Race stands up, just in case either Jack or Albert want to get a punch in. You let down your hair and all four boys just stare in awe at your beautiful dirty blonde locks. “I’m [Y/N], nice to meet you.” You all just sat in silence. No one could even form words. So you decided to break the silence. “This is probably the last time you’ll see me at school. You know, no girls allowed or anything. So, goodbye fuckers.”

“Wait.” You turn around to see your blonde haired best friend grabbing at your wrist. “Don’t go. It’d be fun to have a girl around here.” He meets your glance.

“And what about the rules, dumbass?” Albert feels sick to his stomach. He’d been telling this  girl about his girl problems. You knew who each and every girl was too.

“Well, we’d break them. I do it all the time and I turned out fine. Mostly.” Race giggled. It was the hottest thing he’d ever done.

“And what makes her any different than any other girl?” Jack couldn’t believe that Race wasn’t just as angry as he was. This wasn’t normal Race tendencies. If this was anyone else, Race would have left you out on the streets feeling betrayed.

“She’s kinda cute.” Race didn’t feel betrayed. No, he felt lucky. It gave Jack a laugh, but they finally all gave in. You were ecstatic. You worked out the rules of staying at the school. You’d continue as Mute and even got to dorm with Race and Albert.

[369sec]

anon:

hii im sorry idk if its weird doing this submit thing but u have anon off for asks and i dont have tumblr, i wanted to tell u how much i love ur art 🥺 its so so so so so so amazing, the way u use colors, and lines, and backgrounds, and different textures, and the way u have such a distinct style but its still always instantly recognizable as louis its so cool!!! i literally just spent like 30 mins scrolling thru ur drawings and stopping to stare at each one and admire ur concepts and all the little ways that ur art is beautiful, i wish i had more words to tell u how perfect it is cause really i just love it sooo much 💙💙💙💙💙💙

its almost impossible to pick a fav cause theyre all pure talent and wonder but: https://mynameisrainbow.tumblr.com/post/629707431301267456 this one???? ohhh my god i literally could look at it forever its so pretty and soft and sweet im literally obsessed with it. ive met louis once and ik it sounds weird but that drawing literally captures his actual energy. like i realize its a cartoon kinda thing but somehow it just does. and all the details in it are so pretty to me, the little bubbles (?) in his hair omg 🥺 adorable 🥺🥺

im sorry for writing this whole essay im sure i sound insane lol i just really hope u know how talented u are and how much ur art is appreciated!! 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

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Hiiiiiiiiiiii ✨✨✨✨

first i wanted to say that my english is terrible, so i’m using google translate asjhd.

going through it, wow. 🥺

that's the sweetest thing I ever read about my art. warmed my heart. 💖💖 I have no words to describe how much it meant to me!!!

and God, what you said about the drawing capturing the real energy of Louis, made me so moved. 😭😭😭😭 I hope that one day I will get to know him too, and through my own experience I will be able to pass that energy even more through my drawings.

don't be sorry for sending me those sweet words. everything you said will be keep with me!!!! thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart, for you taking a little time to come to my blog.💙✨ I really appreciate this!!!!! motivates me a lot ☺️

you made my day, my week, my month, my year and etc.. ✨✨✨✨✨✨

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Higurashi New 2 | Wandering Witch 2 | Moriarty 1 | Taiso Samurai 1 | Kamisama 1 | Munou na Nana 2 | Golden Kamuy 3 1 (25) | Yashahime 2

I’m trying a seasonal challenge this time...so that means I have to leave some Crunchyroll anime to the side. That’s why I’m putting in the tags now.

Higurashi New 2

Apparently, now this Higurashi is called “Gou”…I dunno what that means in the context of this series, but *Saitama face* OK.

Is this girl…Rika? Or this Hanyuu girl I heard of on ANN? Update: Wait a bit from that point. You’ll get your answer.

Do they ever examine why the girls in Higurashi are what they are? Rika seems to have something supernatural going on, but Rena…is just a psycho girl right now, so it’s hard to care.

LOL, I was wondering where this “nipah” Rika meme came from, but it is present in the dialogue.

I predicted that Gilligan cu-er, transition far too easily…

Why is that kid’s face so tanned (?) in comparison to the rest of him???

How did these girls get up the building so fast??? (LOL?)

Wow, the cicada noise was pretty loud there, so…props to the sound guys for making that sound stifling.

Can we really trust what Mion is saying about Tomitake…?

I thought we were going to see Watanagashi in ep 3, but…okay.

Satoko speaks rather formally. She says kochira de gozaimasuyo! instead of kocchi! or kochiradesuyo!.

Who’s that blonde lady? Someone from Umineko?

The bright colours really help to sell the ominous nature of this ED and anime. I don’t think I understand everything that’s happening in said ED, though…

Gonna pause it here because I heard you need to watch the OG and Rei to understand this, now that the new Higurashi is operating under its “proper” name.

Wandering Witch 2

…Elaina’s a bit full of herself still…

…what the heck was that instrument playing over the titlecard? Bagpipes…?

LOL, it’s the Attack on Titan world!

Did Elaina lose her hat when she fell? That must be a very stable hat indeed.

Ooh, particle effects! However…there’s CGI here, although it’s only kinda noticeable.

Have you never heard of money…?

Wait, witches get discounts???

It seems Saya comes from Japan.

LOL, this is basically Quidditch without a snitch!

I like mushrooms, so I don’t get why people kick up such a fuss about them.

Saya seems to act like this is yuri bait…*sigh*

Saya’s crying like her sister died…c’mon, it’s not that bad!

I’m hitting pause. If this is actually how the series is, then it’s primed for a drop, but I can’t help but keep it on for the spectacular visuals and the fact it’s basically anime Harry Potter.

Taiso Samurai 1

I keep swearing I’ll finish my old simulcasts…but then new ones pop up like daisies…(I guess it’s better than having no anime to finish, right?)

I just realised how pretty Jotaro’s eyes are…! The fact he just sort of splats and then doesn’t get up shows how weary he is, unlike Sakura from Moon Land, who would’ve probably gotten up and never tried doing gymnastics again if he were in the same position.

Just by glancing over the results when I google for this Montreal gold, it seems it was done by a Kouhei Uchimura, but I might be wrong on that front…oh wait, there are 3 golds, so it’s not necessarily just that one…

You can tell this is 2002 because of that flip phone.

Intai Zamurai…it’s constructed the same way as the anime’s title. Two characters and then “samurai”.

BB (Big Bird) on the side there is so goofy, he’s…kind of distracting. <- Note the official website refers to Big Bird as BB, hence my use of it.

I was wondering if Rei was the daughter or the wife…so it’s the former.

Kinugawa Ropeway…it rings a bell, somehow. Maybe the Boueibu crew went there as DVD/BD extras.

…does everyone know that a ryokan is like a mini hotel with a traditional set-up?

*snorts* LOL, Keanu (Reeves, obviously).

That montage was a bit worrying…maybe the CGI took out part of the budget? I was a bit worried when I could tell there was CGI in that one starting segment.

…LOL, wut. Agent Smith (from the Matrix)?

Yamakasi seems to be a parkour thing which has its own movie.

…I’m sort of wondering: was that ninja a woman? If Jotaro gets another wife…I dunno if I’ll like the anime as much. Things could become far too dramatic if he did. Update: You do find out later in this episode.

I think – from lip reading – the ninja used -de gozaimasu. I remember getting it drilled into me that people don’t use that these days, but in the time of ninja and samurai, they did.

…another anime set in Ikebukuro. I knew from the station, but…’bukuro must be a nice place if people are reppin’ it all of a sudden.

Was Tomoyo an actress…?

“Kinugawa, as in the river where ogres get mad?” – See, that’s the pun I made about Boueibu’s Atsushi years ago…

This Takizawa guy’s so expressive, LOL.

Gotta love a man in a suit, yes…

…they keep building up to this retirement, only for him to not retire??? Which is it?! (LOL) That declaration works better in Japanese because the -shimasen goes at the end of the sentence so the weird sentence structure in the English translation actually makes Jotaro look like he really messed up due to nervousness speaking in front of crowds. Update: He just sounds like he stopped in the middle of a sentence in Japanese, which he obviously did.

There’s no time travel for sure, but there are ninjas! Plus dudes in jumpsuits!...plus, of course, gymnastics! It could still work, but I keep swearing there’s something supernatural coming around the corner for this…Also, this “gymnast trying to retire” thing seems to be drawing me in because of my whole current lack of direction in basically everything, much like Rikuo of Sing Yesterday for Me.

Kamisama 1

Hmm…Kamisama ni Natta Hi…it doesn’t say the subject stating this became a god, so the pronoun could be “she” or “you” rather than “I”, which seems to be the current standard for it. Update: It says on the title card “I”, so it should have an I then…I guess(?)

There’s a fish on the logo.

…this girl, I already know her name is Hina. That’s the 2nd Odin this season (the first is in Sigdrifa…or however it’s spelt)…she’s gonna be annoying, isn’t she…?

What’s this about a date…?

There are two Izanamis this season, too. The second is Hifumi from HypMic.

Looks like there was an accident, according to one of the signs.

…This feels exactly like a visual novel. I’m surprised it’s an original.

I was wondering why “Key Ramen” (Kagi Ramen) sounded weird…then it hit me. Key! You motherf**kers!!! *shakes fist* You were hiding right under my nose all along!

Hey, Potato-kun! (I know his name is Youta, but…eh, aside from having a possible girlfriend candidate and being a Nice Guy, he’s still a Potato-kun.) Stop staring in disbelief and do something!

…Why Potato-kun, anyway? Is it because his name means “become god”???

…This Izanami is so emotionless…it’s hard to imagine her cheering, Youta was right on that front.

…that style in Hina’s background…I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it for Sailor Moon Crystal, but I’ve forgotten what the artist’s name is (the one that inspired that artstyle)…

I almost expected Hina to interrupt the confession, like Leo from Taiso Samurai.

I kinda just shrugged near the end of the episode and finished it just to see if the confession would be interrupted, so…big fat drop there. I must not like much Key beyond Angel Beats (and even then, it’s only okay because it’s the relic of a time gone by).

Moriarty 1

I’ve been picking up Sherlock-related things left and right ever since I was a fan of Detective Conan…not Sherlock, Elementary or that Robert Downey Jr. movie, but the stuff Conan Doyle had his hands in. (I’d also like to keep an eye out for that Miyazaki movie, but I don’t know if I can/should go out of my way for it.) Therefore, I was a pretty easy mark for a bishonen Moriarty.

Who’s this “El” guy anyway?

…That OP is basically Black Butler all over again. I admit I went, “Oh, stuff this” for a second when I saw Rasmus Faber’s name on credits – when I went to entire series for him, they always ended badly for me – but I couldn’t stop watching the episode (since I skipped forward to the actual episode due to background noise), so this might be the anime to change everything.

I’ll be real with you – aside from Japan, America and China (the former two of which I’ve gone to and the latter I’ve technically gone to Hong Kong, which I have stronger ties to anyway), I honestly don’t have anywhere on my bucket list. That said, anime (obviously, the London arc from DC was a big factor) and this one movie called What a Girl Wants have been pretty instrumental in making Great Britain…almost make the list of places I want to go to. Key word: almost.

…I want a dub. With accents like Princess Principal.

Also, I forgot Soma Saito was our Moriarty…LOL.

“…for Man of Standing” (sic).

Turn the other cheek, Mr. Tailor.

The eyes really tell you everything about a person in this anime.

Ooh, this has absolutely no holes in its logic. It’s a strong contender!

Yashahime 2

Holy s***, is that Kagome’s brother?(!) He kinda reminds me of Takagi from Detective Conan for some reason…

Come to think of it…writers like Takahashi don’t normally have androgynous leads like Towa, do they?

That was…not the best fight scene, man.

Ooh, naginata. I’ve read a bit about them, but I’ve never really seen one used in an anime before…not to my memory. Not even the naginata in Touken Ranbu (plural) can help with that.

…this Rainbow Pearl business reminds me of Sailor Moon’s…uh, whatever they’re called…Rainbow Crystals, that’s right.

There’s something oddly comfy about predicting the “it won’t be my crying face, it’s yours you’ll get!” line, as bad as that sign may be for predictability on the whole.

I’ve felt in the years leading up to now, the progressive nations are slowly causing the entire gender binary to unravel. The more I think about my own relationship with my concept of gender – I accept gender-neutral third-person pronouns because initially I wanted to be anonymous on the internet, but now I’m just generally fine with it, for instance – the more I can agree and yet also disagree because of the progress the LGBTIQ+ community has made in recent years.

Munou na Nana 2

Ah-hah! People were calling it that the enemies of humanity were actually the superpowered kids and this proves it.

Ah, I think this Shibusawa is Masuda. I was here for him, so here he is.

Nana just says konnichiwa, which is the most basic of Japanese greetings. I don’t think it was phrased as a question, so…why did the subbers go with that?

Nana keeps breaking her chopsticks by leaving a bit at the end.

Lemme guess…Shibusawa’s talent is actually reversing time, not stopping it.

Is…that Shibusawa Nana’s giving flowers to…?

Golden Kamuy 3 1 (25)

If this is episode 25, was this always planned as a split-cour with season 2? I wonder…

Lingonberries! Oh, lingonberries! They’re those berries Ikea puts into their jam, right? (I’ve never tasted a lingonberry, but…yeah. That’s how I know of them.)

The sign says “Hurep Honpo” (backwards, as some older Japanese/Chinese things do), so it really just says “hurep” (since “honpo” = main shop). Update: Hurep actually means “lingonberry” and not the berry wine like I thought it did here, so it says “hurep wine” after all.

Thank goodness for 2D bears! (LOL)

Ratel?...uh, honey badger! That’s what they’re called in English!

…uh, and then it turns out to be a wolverine. I don’t know my Mustelidae, it seems.

There’s nothing like someone throwing a wolverine to know this is Golden Kamuy…(as weird as that sounds.)

…what was that random line about boobs about…? (Maybe it was just said to be random…?)

…ohhhhhhhh. These yellow eyes work much better than the standard red eyes you see in Munou na Nana or Moriarty. They’re so sinister.

Why did it suddenly change to an interview style…? Weren’t we waiting for a fight? Update: Seems the answer is “padding”. Not that I mind, I think it was interesting actually. Do more of that if you can.

[oscar-lettjohanssonloveme]

Glide (Miss Venable x reader)

a/n: hello :3 here we have another song fanfiction whoohoo- uhm Glide (by Lxandra) don't expect too much haha.. its angsty i guess lol :7 oh and its really long-

summary: I am really bad at this holy shit.. I guess its about the “"relationship” between you and Miss Venable (relationship is a weird word-)

warnings: alcohol, talking about depression and suicide (but nobody's actually depressed), notes of sex 

google translate :’D

"So, Miss Y / L / N", Mister Langdon finally said as he stepped around the table to stand in front of you.

"After telling me about your homosexuality, I would like to know if you are currently in love?"

You narrowed your eyes at the man in front of you.

"What kind of stupid question is that? Is this the part where we braid each other's hair and talk about our high school crushes?"

"Answer. My. Question.", the Man growled.

"Okay okay," you muttered quickly. "Uhm, well let me think about it for a minute."

--------------------

It all started when Miss Venable heard you scream one night.

You had been at Outpost 3 for a few months at this point and in all that time you hadn't spoken a lot and spent the entire time in your room except for meals.

The others didn't know much about you. They knew, you were one of the youngest residents of the Outpost and that you had left your family behind. And of course they knew your name. But that was all.

You spent a lot of time thinking about your family. Your relationship with your parents wasn't ideal, but you still missed them. And if you had known a year ago where you were today, you would have done a few things differently. Celebrating Christmas with them one last time, vacationing with them, simply spending the time peacefully with them instead of arguing.

Usually you cried quietly to yourself, with your head buried under your pillow, hoping, that everyone would forget you existed,  but crying wasn't enough tonight and after dinner you snuck into the kitchen to steal a bottle of the red wine, that you smuggled into your room afterwards.

It was now 1 a.m., the bottle was almost empty, and hours ago you had started tossing the items you had in your room. Your clothes were scattered on the floor, while you had tossed the boring books from the library against the wall. Your bed was a complete disaster and in all your anger you had torn the sheets. There were red wine stains on your pillows, which had almost slipped into the blazing fire of the fireplace after you tossed them off the bed.

And now all you could do was scream.

"Fuck you!" You shouted as you staggered in the room with the alcohol in one hand.

"Fuck you all! Fuck this apocalypse, fuck this outpost, fuck-"

"Miss Y / L / N" interrupted you a loud voice behind you and made you turn around.

Miss Venable was standing in the doorway in front of the locked door, staring at you in confusion.

"Ever heard of knocking?" You grumbled and hid the bottle behind your back.

"I knocked," Miss Venable hissed, her gaze wandering angrily over your chaos.

"And if you hadn't screamed so loud, you would probably have heard it. What the fuck do you think of making such a noise here at night? Stealing alcohol as well?"

"I uh- caught," you muttered as you put the bottle on the round table in front of you.

"Do you know what's really funny? We don't have anything to eat, but there is no end of alcohol. Whoever came up with that must be pretty stupid."

"It was my idea. I am in charge here, in case you forgot."

"Oh right," you sighed and slapped your forehead with the palm of your hand.

"Shit, well, i'm sorry, but what was your name again?"

"You forgot my name?" Asked Miss Venable sharply with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," you muttered before collapsing onto your messy bed.

"But I know it was something weird."

Miss Venable glared at you, which of course you couldn't see because you were buried with your face in your blanket.

"Hopefully you realize this will be punished," she growled.

"Oh suck my dick", you grumbled. "You enjoy punishing others, don't you? You are a little psychopath"

You laughed softly into your blanket and noticed how you became more and more sleepy. You almost fell asleep if Miss Venable hadn't tapped her stick loudly on the floor.

"You will start cleaning up here immediately, otherwise it will be the last night you spend in this outpost."

"Oh shut up. You are totally mean to me," you moaned and pouted at the angry woman.

"Why are everyone always so mean to me? I haven't done anything wrong."

You got up on shaky legs to walk past her to the door, but you tripped and fell against Miss Venable.

"Wow," you mumbled as you stared into her brown eyes with your glassy ones and grabbed hold of her hips.

"I may not know your name, but I know,  that you are really pretty"

"What the fuck is wrong withyou ?! "

Wilhemina pushed you away from her so that you stumbled backwards and landed on the floor.

You stared out at her with hurt eyes as tears welled up in your eyes.

"I didn't do anything," you yelled at Miss Venable, who was still leaning on her stick in front of you.

"It's not my fault, that you're beautiful. Be happy, others are ugly."

"That's enough," growled Miss Venable as she took a step towards you and grabbed your arm to pull you up.

"You're going to bed now."

"I'll do nothing," you mumbled and tried to pull yourself out of her grip, but you were way too drunk to use enough strength and she could push you like a doll on the bed.

You laughed again.

"Guess what, my bed is big enough for both of us, isn't that funny?"

You looked up at her playfully, or at least you tried.

"You beautiful woman. We-"

"Your behavior is disgusting," she interrupted as she leaned over to grab your chin. Immediately you fell silent.

"And my name is Miss Venable."

She looked down at you dangerously and you saw fire in her eyes when you started laughing out loud.

"Haha Miss Venable, I told you it was something weird," you shouted before you started screaming out loud.

"Miss Venable is beautiful whohoo. Can you all hear me? Miss Venable is beautiful. She-"

"What the hell", Miss Venable cut you off again and took her hand from your jaw to put it on your mouth.

"Are you going to be quiet at last?"

"M'sorry," you hummed against her hand and Miss Venable could see from the wrinkles around your eyes, that you were grinning under her hand.

"I want you to go to sleep now and clean up the chaos here tomorrow, do you understand me?" She asked in a sharp voice. But you just glared at her and wanted to bite her hand when she repeated her question.

"Do you understand me?" She barked louder and this time you nodded quickly.

"Good," she said happily as she took her hand from your mouth and straightened up again.

"Fuck you," you mumbled quietly and watched unhappily as the woman went to the sofa across from the fireplace and sat on it.

"Can't you just go?" You moaned as she leaned her cane against the edge of the sofa.

"Oh I'll go," she replied while staring into the fire.

"When you fell asleep."

You groan in annoyance.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Oh come on," you sighed and pulled your blanket over your head so she couldn't see you.

It was actually your plan to wait for her to go away, but at some point (who knows how much time had passed) you actually fell asleep.

Living my life in a bubble

Sometimes reality's too much for me

(I trip and fall into a dream)

Your love it gets me into trouble

Sometimes your gravity's too much for me

(It gets me weak in the knees)

------------

A week had passed and not much had happened. The next morning you woke up alone and with a big hangover and barely remembering what had happened the previous evening. Miss Venable had forced you to clean up the mess in your room after she had punished you for stealing the alcohol and as attractive as this woman was, she seemed genuinely angry about what had happened, even though it was actually nothing special. At least that's what you thought, but you couldn't remember either.

The world had ended and her problem was, that you had stolen a bottle of wine and ravaged your room. You wondered how fucked up her life must have been before the apocalypse, if that bothered her. And she wasn't the only one you wondered about.

The other residents of the outpost were all disgusting.

"Why do we have to eat this shit?"

"When are we getting out of here?"

"Why is life so unfair and let me be here with you idiots?"

You hate those ungrateful assholes. Everyone was dead and their only problem was, that they were still alive.

Other people deserved it so much more and the fact that mankind's only hope was in these conceited, stupid assholes seemed like a joke.

When you lay in bed that day and stared lost at the ceiling, you had lost all reference to reality. You didn't know what day it was or what month you were in. You also didn't know whether the last meal you ate was lunch or dinner, although a glance at the clock would have been enough. But you got tired of staring at the clock and watching the second hand, hoping something would happen.

Nothing changed anyway. And all you felt was that big feeling of loneliness that completely filled you. You were a very emotional person and all you wanted was someone who was normal. But everybody in this outpost was a huge disappointment. Conceited assholes, intimidated Grays and Miss Venable, who enjoyed punishing people.

Probably you would have started talking to yourself, but thank god you weren't there yet.

Sometimes you thought, it might be easier, if you opened up to others. But your body had become like a prison and you kept every thought trapped deep inside you because it did not match those of the others. Stupid assholes.

And while you continued to sink into your self-pity, you would probably have fallen asleep, if you hadn't been bothered by the sudden knock on your door.

"Fuck off," you moaned while staring angrily at the door, but the person standing in front of it only knocked one more time.

Asshole, you thought before reluctantly climbing out of bed to open your door.

"I said you should f- Oh Miss Venable," you stared at the woman in front of you.

"Are you here to punish me again for something pointless? If so, I can assure you it won't be necessary .. The wounds from last time still hurt, if you care."

Miss Venable screwed up her eyes.

"Well, Miss Y / L / N, actually I don't care, but if it still hurts, you seem to have learned your lesson," she replied coldly and you just snorted in annoyance.

"What do you want from me?"

"You are obviously depressed-" she started and you interrupted her immediately.

"What is that shit supposed to mean? I'm not depressed, I'm just sad. And since when have you been interested in how I'm doing?"

You glared at her with narrowed eyes, but her face still had the same deadly serious expression.

"You've been sad for a long time, don't you think?"

"I- uh".

You looked at her confused.

"All my friends are dead, it's only logical that I feel that way .. I find it rather questionable, that I'm the only one here, who feels that way."

"So?" Miss Venable raised an eyebrow, which made you even more insecure.

"I don't really care how you feel either. I just don't feel like wiping your blood off should you decide to kill yourself."

"Suicide isn't always bloody," you muttered.

"And because we don't have any doctors here-"

"By the way, that's the stupidest thing of all. You know, we have a hairstylist, but no doctors, you also notice that it doesn't make any sense, right?" You interrupted her and crossed your arms in front of your chest.

And again Miss Venable ignored your words and finished her sentence, which you had interrupted.

"..I thought that would help too."

Your eyes widened when you saw what she was pulling out from behind her back and immediately you started laughing.

"Are you serious? First you punish me brutally for stealing a bottle of red wine and now you come to give me one?" You laughed and stared down at the bottle she was holding out to you.

"What's worse is, that you think alcohol is replacing therapeutic treatment. That's pretty sad to be honest, Miss Venable."

Wilhemina narrowed her eyes.

"It's not sad, I just prefer red wine stains instead of stains from your blood," she growled.

"You can't possibly be serious," you mumbled and suddenly had to grin.

"You enjoyed punishing me, right? And now you're coming, because you need a reason to do it again."

"Oh come on," Miss Venable rolled her eyes.

"Take the bottle or don't take it, it's just an offer."

You were still staring at her in amazement. What was wrong with her that she thought this action would solve your problems? Another proof of how fucked up everything was and that the only person you could count on was yourself.

"Uhm, well thank you, Miss Venable," you stuttered and reached for the bottle.

"If you come over every evening and bring me a bottle, your diagnosis may work and I will have very different problems, than my sadness."

"Not funny," muttered Miss Venable, her lips pressed together.

"Well, good evening, Miss Y / N."

She turned around and started to leave and you could only stare after her in confusion. Evening?

Then you actually had dinner earlier, even though you could have sworn it was only lunch.

"Maybe you want to join me-?" You asked suddenly and were just as surprised by this question as Miss Venable, who turned to you.

"What?"

"I don't think getting drunk on my own would be fun," you added, stepping nervously from one foot to the other.

"You did it a week ago," replied Miss Venable and in the torchlight you could see the lines of confusion on her face.

"But I never said it was fun," you smiled crookedly as your grip tightened on the neck of the bottle.

"And I think it would be nicer to do that, in the presence of another person. Especially since you've already seen me drunk."

You looked at Miss Venable expectantly, although you did not know exactly what you were doing. It was probably just your desperate attempt to get someone's attention, simply because everyone, who has ever cared about you was dead. And you knew Miss Venable might not be the best choice. But while the others complained aloud about their suffering and argued about who was worse off, Miss Venable didn't show such feelings and kept her thoughts to herself. A circumstance with which you could somehow identify.

"Okay," Miss Venable finally muttered, surprising you one more time that day.

"Well, great," you said before stepping out the door frame to go back to your room. You sat on the other end of the sofa, across from where she sat a week ago. In your hand there was still the bottle of red wine and for whatever reason you were ashamed of this situation. Miss Venable brought you alcohol because she thought, you could use it to manage your sadness, or depression (as she called it). And if she had actually meant well, which was actually questionable with her, then you had to make a pretty pathetic impression on others.

"You cleaned up the mess," you heard Miss Venable's voice behind you, but it was more of a determination than an acknowledgment.

"And I just noticed that we have no glasses at all".

Your shoulders sagged at her words and for a moment you were afraid she would leave. But you heard her close the door behind her before she went to the sofa and sat down on the exact same place, that she had been sitting on a week ago.

You watched the woman confused, leaning her cane against the sofa.

Her gaze lifted to you and she stared at you as expectantly as you looked at her confused.

"What are you waiting for? Go into the kitchen and get glasses," Miss Venable uttered.

You blinked in surprise.

"I- I didn't know that was a request," you muttered before jumping up from the sofa to run from your room into the kitchen.

When you ran back to your room 5 minutes later with two wine glasses, Miss Venable was still sitting on the ugly fabric sofa just as she had done a few minutes earlier. And somehow there was something aesthetic about it.

Personally, you thought it was ridiculous, that everyone had to adapt to the Victorian style, just because she wanted to. But it was perfect for Miss Venable. As if it was made for it. Her red hair, which she always pinned up so strictly, then her almost black eyes and the lipstick. Also her pale skin and her cane. Even her strict personality perfectly matched the style of clothing.

"Do you want to stay in the door frame and stare at me, or are you finally coming now," Wilhemina hissed suddenly without moving even an inch and immediately a slight blush rose in your face.

"M'sorry," you muttered and quickly closed the door before going back to the sofa. After you sat down, you put the glasses in front of you on the table, where the wine bottle was now.

"I was just wondering," you explained as you poured the wine into your glasses.

"Why the Victorian style of all things?"

"Why not? It looks good," replied Miss Venable, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Well," you began before turning to give her her glass.

"The world is ending and you make us wear 10kg dresses, because you think it looks good?"

"Any better idea?" Miss Venable asked back, putting the glass to her lips.

"Uhm I, i don't know," you stuttered and watched Miss Venable as she drank her wine.

"Don't we have to be prepared somehow or something like that?"

You heard Miss Venable laugh quietly into her glass.

"Prepared?" She repeated with a small grin and put her glass back on the table.

"On what? For the aliens to come and get us out of here?"

You shrugged your shoulders.

"I don't know," you mumbled before you put your glass to your lips to take a sip of the bitter liquid and while you were drinking you could feel her gaze digging into your skin.

"By the way, I also find it very questionable what kind of people live in this outpost," you added, setting your Glas next to hers on the table.

Wilhemina let out a laugh. It was one of those laughs that you couldn't tell whether it was meant honestly or sarcastically.

"I'm not surprised you say that," she muttered.

"Is my dislike of the others that obvious?" you asked confused.

"I don't know if obviously this is the right word .. But what I do know, is that you always look disgusted when you see them, so I'm assuming you don't like them and to be honest, I like them neither.

Your confusion turned to laughter.

"Well," you said.

"With you it is obvious that you don't like any of them."

"These people are just as competent as they were poor. They are only here because of their money," she said disapprovingly.

You sighed thoughtfully.

"It's kind of sad, that money was the way in here. Scientists would have been so much more valuable. I'm only here because my grandfather had the money."

"What did you do before the apocalypse?" She asked you and you were surprised by this honest question.

"I went to college to study history," you replied when your gaze wandered into the fire.

"So I can  judge that the Victorian style wasn't the most practical choice."

You heard Miss Venable snort in annoyance and you couldn't help but grin.

"And what did you do before the apocalypse?" You asked, turning your gaze back to her. Miss Venable seemed as surprised by your question as you were by hers.

"It's a little tricky," she began. "Basically, I built human robots."

"Robots?"

"Robots."

For a moment you stared at her in amazement. Miss Venable had averted her gaze from you and directed it to the wine glass in front of her.

"M'sorry, but if you've built human robots, why are you letting real people, the Grays, work for us? Wouldn't robots have been revolutionary in an apocalypse?"

Unlike you, Miss Venable seemed totally unaffected by this.

You watched as the redhead reached for her wine glass and took another sip of the blood red liquid.

"You are asking too many questions for my taste, Miss Y / L / N," said Miss Venable softly, putting her glass back on the table. And even though she kept her voice low, you could hear her indirect threat.

"To be honest, I'm amazed, that I'm the only one asking questions," you replied, trying to make eye contact with the woman next to you again, but Miss Venable's gaze was tied to the blazing fire in the fireplace and you could see a dark glint in their eyes.

"You shouldn't get involved in things that are none of your business," she said suddenly in a monotonous voice. "All over the world there are survivors and it is not your job to question my system, nobody has the right to do so. You are just one stupid survivor of many, nothing more"

You and I, we just glide

Through the night

We just drive, we get by

We just glide

----------------------

"Oh c'mon," you moaned and ran your tousled hair.

"God must hate me".

You stood on shaky legs from the library floor, that you fell on after stumbling into the room. You brushed the dirt off your skirt and realized with gritted teeth, that it was ruined.

"Seems like someone is having a bad day," you suddenly heard a voice say and immediately your mood worsened.

You straighten up again to meet Miss Venable's eyes. The woman sat on the right of the two leather sofas and with one hand clutched her cane, which was propped on the floor.

"Fuck you", you hissed before you let yourself fall on the sofa across from her.

"Oh, someone is having a very bad day," added Miss Venable, and you didn't have to look at her to see, that she was amused by your behavior,

"Yes, my day sucks and guess what, it's all your fault," you growled and glared angrily at her stick.

"When I got up this morning and wanted to leave my room, I got stuck in the door with my blouse and the whole sleeve was torn. Did you also notice, how much you sweat in these clothes? It's really hard to go at the toilet with these clothes .. I'm sorry, but what the hell was your idea, when you decided to give us a Victorian dress code? Did you have to make our life after the apocalypse even harder ? "

You pressed angrily your lips together and screwed up your eyes.

"You are the only person who complains about it," said Miss Venable and sounded not quite as amused as a minute before. You let out a dry laugh.

"The others are too scared of you, to tell you that," you said bitterly.

"Besides, what the hell are you doing here?"

You tore your gaze away from her stick to look directly into her dark eyes.

"Why shouldn't I be here?"

"Because you're never here and you didn't look like someone who'd like to hang out with Mr. Gallant or Coco."

"Well, neither Mr. Gallant nor Miss St. Pierre Vanderbilt are here right now, right? And besides, I could ask you the same thing", Miss Venable replied indifferently and somehow she was right. It was also a rarity to see you in the library as you actually spent most of the time in your room.

"I suppose my great sadness is over now .. or as you called it 'depression'. I'm more in the mood right now, that I don't care and I am angry at everything and now you are my victim. Your lipstick is smeared by the way", you sighed, although that was actually a lie, her lipstick was perfect as always. But in fact her eyes widened slightly and you couldn't help but enjoy this view.

"You're lying," hissed Miss Venable and you had to grin.

"Maybe".

You shrugged your shoulders.

"Maybe you'd better go and see, or you risk the others seeing you ruined makeup."

It was obvious that Miss Venable was a perfectionist woman and she wasn't going to let her position of power be challenged over a smeared lipstick. On the other hand, you were an extremely bad liar and Miss Venable wasn't stupid.

"You're lying," she repeated, only with her lips pressed together, giving you the sense of achievement you wanted.

"Mhh Miss Venable," you hummed as your eyes found her stick again.

"This cane .. when I saw you for the first time, I wondered if it was just a symbol of power or if you really needed it-"

"..And then you saw me walk with it," added Miss Venable with a bitter tone in her voice.

"Oh no," you quickly shook your head.

"It wasn't your walk that gave me the confirmation that you really need the stick. It could never be your walk, you walk so majestically with that stupid thing, that even people, who don't really need a cane and only use it as an accessory would look handicapped next to you."

It was probably a rather desperate attempt to put the whole thing in a compliment and Miss Venable did not answer your words either, but you could see in the glow of the fire how her pale skin turned a light red shade and that was enough for you.

"It was your grip to be honest," you continued.

Miss Venable frowned.

"My grip?"

"Yes," you nodded and started playing with the fabric of your skirt.

"Your fingers are always clenched so tightly around the handle, as if you wanted it to break through. As if you were trying to strangle it or something like that, i dont know."

The furrow on Wilhemina's forehead only got a little wider with your words.

"You seem to spend a lot of time watching what my hands are doing," she mumbled and this time it was you, who blushed.

"It was just an observation, that I made on the side," you stammered quickly when you realized, that from one moment to the next the conversation had taken a completely wrong direction. Miss Venable did not answer again and you did not have the courage to look her face again and so the next few seconds were filled with an embarrassing silence, although you could imagine that Miss Venable was enjoying your discomfort.

"May I take a look at your cane-?" You finally asked to break the silence.

"You want to take a look at my cane?" Repeated Miss Venable, surprised with raised eyebrows.

"Only if it's okay," you said quickly.

"You are the first person, who asks me that".

Miss Venable looked thoughtfully down at her cane, which was still in her hand.

"As I said, the others are too scared of you-"

"The others don't care," Miss Venable interrupted, and you didn't know if she was sad about it or if she didn't care. But we're talking about Wilhemina Venable, she probably didn't care.

The red-haired woman sighed before holding out her stick to you.

You grinned and tried to grab the staff, but before your fingers could touch the wood, Miss Venable pulled it back again.

"How can I be sure, that you won't break it up and use it to make firewood?", She asked you and you looked at her in horror.

"I would probably be the last person to do that," you said indignantly.

"On the contrary, I think you would be the only person in this outpost who would dare to."

Miss Venable held out her stick to you again and this time she let you reach for it.

You immediately noticed how light the wood was in your hand as you carefully ran your fingers over the stick.

"What kind of wood is that?" You asked quietly without looking up from her walker.

"I guess it was blackthorn".

Your fingers moved on to the handle of the stick, which was probably the most interesting thing. A metal handle in the shape of a raven skull served as a support for the hand.

"Doesn't that hurt?".

You lifted your gaze back to Miss Venable, who obviously didn't understand what to do with your question.

"Well, if I had to support myself with all my weight on this skull, it would hurt," you added and Wilhemina just shrugged her shoulders.

"Uhm, it's a beautiful cane," you muttered, handing it back to her.

"May I ask why you need it?"

"I don't know what this should have gotten to do with you," replied Miss Venable, not sounding as nice as before. If you could call it "nice".

"Okay okay, taboo subject, I got it," you said quickly, desperately searching your head for anything to keep the conversation going.

"Do you actually enjoy it? To have control over everyone here? And know that, that almost everyone is afraid of you?", You finally asked and leaned back against the sofa.

"You asked me that a few weeks ago, when you were drunk," remarked Miss Venable, looking down at her gloved fingers, which were wrapped around her cane again.

"Really?" You asked confused.

"More or less. It was more of an accusation."

"An accusation?"

Miss Venable hummed in agreement.

"I told you, that you would be punished for your behavior and you said I would enjoy it."

"I understand," you mumbled, still staring hard at her face.

"What else happened that evening?"

A smug smile danced on Wilhemina's lips and she took a moment to consider your question.

"Well, you made fun of my name," she finally began as she drummed her fingers on the skull-like handle of her stick.

"And then you said, that I was pretty and that I should be happy about it, because other people are ugly."

Your eyes froze as her words entered your brain.

Wrong turn. Wrong turn.

"Uhm .. You know, when I'm drunk I tend to perceive things a lot more intensely than they actually are and then I exaggerate occasionally," you tried desperately to get yourself out of this situation, but Miss Venable just let out a loud laugh and you realized, that you had failed miserably. You cleared your throat briefly and sat up straight again.

"You haven't answered my question yet," you said, trying to change the subject again.

"I wanted to know, if you enjoy all of this."

"Do I enjoy it if you don't obey my rules? No, I don't enjoy that, why should I?" Miss Venable said and again had that indifferent sound in her voice. Of course you knew that she had bypassed your question and that was enough to prove, that she enjoyed her monarchy in Outpost 3.

"You said earlier, that you had got over your grief. That's good to hear," said Miss Venable, and this time she was the one who changed the subject.

"I thought you didn't care what I felt".

You smiled contentedly and cocked your head. Somehow you liked this game of mutual debunking.

"I don't care either, I just wanted to be polite."

Your smile widened when you saw her fingers clench a little tighter around her stick.

"Miss Venable and polite, I don't think this is a well-working combination," you teased her and in the glow of the fire you could see her roll her eyes.

"You were a lot less tiring, when you were crying in your room all day," she muttered disapprovingly.

Why should it be such a struggle

When it means so much to you and me?

(I trip and fall into a dream)

Built like a ship in a bottle

Gotta handle you so delicately

------------------

I don't know what we got

But I know what I want

The silence is killing me softly

What. The. Fuck.

When you arrived at the Outpost a few months ago, you couldn't even have imagined in your deepest dreams, that you would ever end up in this situation.

You lay on your back, still staring at the ceiling with wide eyes as you tried to stabilize your breathing. Only now did you notice, that you had your arms wrapped around your chest and that your fingernails were digging painfully into the flesh of your shoulder. Your body lay rigid in her bed and you couldn't move an inch. You desperately tried to put the things that had happened in the right order.

Was it a stupid idea to go in Miss Venable's Bedroom? Yes, definitely. In retrospect, you didn't even know what exactly you wanted there. And actually you should have disappeared, after you saw that Wilhemina hadn't even been there. But no, of course your curious ass had to inspect her entire room.

And by the time Miss Venable came out of her bathroom in her pajamas, you had already started counting in your head how many punches Miss Mead was going to give you as punishment. You had definitely crossed the line.

But it turned out very differently than expected. Miss Venable had been angry anyway, very angry, but her anger was not expressed in words. The woman had pressed you against the wall and before you could do anything about it, her hand had slipped under your skirt, between your legs and Miss Venable had broken her own rule.

Of course you could have pushed her away, but it felt so right. You wanted so badly for someone to pay you attention and Miss Venable had kind of given you just that, when she pressed you against the wall and fucked you senselessly.

The whole thing was just so emotionless. You hadn't been able to look at her. You were ashamed of every sound you made, and if Miss Venable hadn't put her hand over your mouth, everyone in the Outpost would probably have heard you scream.

Which wouldn't have been so practical, because this man had come here a few days ago and you knew he was interviewing all the residents for the sanctuary and it wouldn't have been very beneficial for you if he'd caught you, breaking you down Venables rules. Regardless of the fact, that she had broken her rule herself.

Miss Venable hadn't said a single word about what had happened a few minutes ago, as if she had absolutely no need to justify herself.

She hadn't even looked at you when she took her hands off you and wiped them with a kleenex.

"You can sleep here tonight," she had muttered.

"It would be noticeable if you left my room now."

And now you lay next to her in bed and tried to understand all of this. Your dress was messy on the floor and all you had on was your underwear. After your fingers relaxed, you had pulled the blanket, that she wordlessly gave you over you and clung desperately to the fabric.

You had calmed down and could now hear her breathing next to you. The fact, that she was just lying next to you and probably sleeping was disturbing. At least, she could have apologized, right? Although, that didn't make sense either, because you obviously enjoyed what had happened.

You carefully turned your head towards her and saw, that her back was turned to you. And you wondered if she was really sleeping or just pretending. Miss Venable had become your most private contact in the outpost and you didn't really know what that actually meant.

You wanted so badly to touch her, but you didn't know if you had the right to do so. Only now did you notice the scars on her back, that shone through the light nightgown. Add to that the snake-like curve of her spine and suddenly you understood why she needed her stick.

"You have scoliosis," you said your thoughts out loud and you heard her hold her breath.

"Congratulations," she hummed miserably.

"You figured it die out."

You nervously began to chew your lower lip.

"Did I make anything wrong?" You asked quietly.

"Ask yourself how you got into this situation, then you will know."

"I- do you want me to go?", Your voice sounded sadder than you actually wanted.

When Miss Venable didn't answer, you felt tears welling up in your eyes as the feeling of fear grew inside you. You screwed it up. Probably the next evening you would end up like Stu as stew.

"No," Miss Venable suddenly whispered before turning to you. The red-haired woman had a blank expression on her face while she watched you cry.

She raised her hand as if to wipe the tears from your face, but she lowered it again and you had to do it yourself.

"M'sorry," you muttered.

"You're stupid if you apologize," Miss Venable replied bluntly.

"That was more than just unprofessional of me, I should have let you go and tomorrow you would have been punished."

You looked at her sadly.

"That's the only solution, isn't it? Punishment."

"I don't know exactly what you're getting at? It's actually quite simple. Those are my rules and whoever doesn't stick to them will be punished for it", Miss Venable looked at you unimpressed and you returned her gaze thoughtfully.

"What about Michael Langdon? Does he have to obey your rules too?" You finally asked.

"What does this mean?"

"Uhm well, I guess I've known you for 18 months now and the first time you seem scared."

Miss Venable raised her eyebrows.

"You don't know anything about me. I'm not even remotely an emotional chaos as you are."

Emotional chaos. Okay she had a point. You blinked a few times to force the tears, that were still glistening in your eyes back down.

"I don't know if emotional chaos is the right word," you muttered.

"You should think less about your stupid feelings," Miss Venable sighed, turning away from you again.

"They've only got you in trouble so far if you ask me."

You pressed your lips together and had to suppress an angry comment, that would only confirm her accusation. Your eyes stared at her back again. The red curls of her long hair had slipped behind her shoulders and were now curling on her back. You would have loved to stretch out your hand to touch it. You would have loved to curl up in her arms to feel safe for the first time in over a year. You wanted to kiss her. Or at least hold her hand. Anything. Just a little bit of their affection would have been enough and you would have been happy. It probably all sounds kind of selfish, because she fucked you a few minutes ago. The whole thing just wasn't particularly loving. You felt like a disgusting animal and now you wanted her to show you, you weren't. Miss Venable was only a few inches away from you and all you had to do was hold out your hand and you would feel her warmth. But while it was actually only a few centimeters, you realized, that there were worlds between you and this woman and that she was probably never further away from you than at this moment.

You and I, we just glide

Through the night

We just drive, we get by

We just glide

Maybe we're just fooling in foolish imagination

Got no destination in sight

You and I, we get by

We just glide

-------------------------

Wilhemina Venable had a great talent at pretending everything was fine.

As if nothing happened. Nothing had changed in the days after that night.

Since Michael Langdon was at the Outpost, she avoided private contact with you and the fact, that you had shared a bed didn't change that. In addition, she was just as disgusting to you in front of the others as always and that was nothing new either. And while Wilhemina no longer seemed to care about what had happened between you two, at the same time it almost killed you.

You actually expected, that she would want to talk to you about it again, but nothing had happened and that made you angry. Miss Venable would always deny it, but she was the only one who cared about you. And you appreciated her weird way of paying attention to you so much.

The only problem was, you couldn't even begin to imagine, what was going on in her head. While you were acting like a lovesick teenager, the only thing you saw of her was her deadly serious face.

Oh and Miss Venable was right, you were a fucking emotional mess. Since you woke up the next morning in her empty bed, you have cried a lot again and spent a lot of time in your room, but this time Miss Venable would probably not come to offer you alcohol as medication.

It was the afternoon of any day and you were sitting on the floor, leaning against your bed. In one hand you held a pair of scissors, while in the other you held the skirt of your dress. You were still not used to wearing long skirts after so many months and you still kept poking around at yourself, when walking through the outpost, so you decided to cut your skirts short. Of course you knew, that Wilhemina would probably kill you, if she saw you, breaking her sacred dress code, but fuck Wilhemina. At least you could finally walk properly again.

The triple knock on your door made you look up from your work and you got up to go to the door. You probably should have known it was Miss Venable who knocked. Who else has been interested in you, in the past few months?

"We need to talk," said the red-haired woman firmly, without looking at you.

You just nodded and stepped out of the door frame to make room for her.

For a brief moment you were afraid, that Miss Venable would get angry about the dress, that was lying shortened on the floor next to the scissors, but she just ignored it and stood across from you.

"Well, Miss Y / L / N, I'm just here to ugh- "

Miss Venable was interrupted by you when you, you stupid idiot, reached for her face to angrily press your lips against hers. The kiss only lasted a second in total, because Miss Venable immediately pushed you away from her and the next thing you felt was her hand lashing angrily against your right cheek. A horrified gasp escaped your lips and you looked at Wilhemina in horror as you rubbed your cheek.

"If you do that again, I'll kill you," the redhead growled, glaring at you angrily.

You looked at her hurt and felt tears start to sting in your eyes.

"M'sorry," you muttered.

"Oh of course you are," hissed Miss Venable.

"What the hell were you thinking of?"

"I just- I don't know," you stuttered desperately.

"I think I love you".

Miss Venable's eyes narrowed and she looked like she was going to punch you again.

"This is not love, this is despair, you stupid thing."

"Despair?" You breathed in horror.

"How else would you describe your behavior?" She spat and angrily started knocking her stick on the floor.

"I mean, look at you. You are a total mess. Either you cry in your room all day or you are angry at everything and everyone. You are the only person, who ruins her clothes. You are the one which most often breaks my rules, just because you are too unable to deal with your feelings. You know, everyone can handle what happened, except you, because you are so damn selfish. But you have to wake up.. Do you think, that was what I wanted, when you cried into my bed a few days ago? Oh no. And I know that, was my fault too. You know, everything what I want, is that you obey my rules, but that seems to be too much for your incompetent ass ", Wilhemina scolded and angrily knocked her stick on the floor.

"And now you come and say you love me."

She shook her head.

"As I said, this is not love, this is despair. And I don't know what kind of answer you were hoping for, from me, but let me be clear: In my opinion, of all the residents of the Outpost, you are the most pathetic and I hate you, I really do and you're sick if you even thought it would be different. "

You stared at her in shock. The feeling, that rose in you at that moment was indescribable. A mixture of disgust, shame and anger. But also the feeling of betrayal. And you couldn't say who these feelings were for, for you or for Wilhemina.

"Y-you hate me?" You stuttered, wiping the back of your hand over your cheek to remove your tears.

"I hate everyone in this outpost, that includes you too," hissed Miss Venable.

You shook your head in disbelief.

"I don't believe you," you whispered.

"I still believe, that you are scared and that is why you act like that."

"Mister Langdon will interview you tomorrow," said Miss Venable without responding to your comment.

"If you tell him anything about what happened a few days ago, I promise you will wish you were never born. With your condition, you probably won't be in the sanctuary anyway, but I will don't let me spoil this opportunity from you. Do you understand me? "

You shook your head.

"I don't understand what your problem is suddenly ... I asked you that evening if I should go and you said no."

"The whole thing was a mistake, nothing more", Miss Venable growled quietly and stepped past you to go to your door.

"I hate you and you hate me, that's all that's between us, you understand?"

You wanted to say something, but you decided not to, it didn't make any sense anyway.

"I understand," you said softly.

"Good," replied Miss Venable before turning and walking out of your room.

You stared after her sadly. Of course you didn't understand why she was suddenly so mad at you, but how could you? Miss Venable had wanted to end whatever was between you, so that she would not feel guilty if you were to be murdered by her in a few days. She had never meant to offend you, but she had to make it clear to herself, that she didn't love you. She just couldn't love you.

Show me freedom

'Cause love don't cost a thing

Give me freedom

Yeah don't just let me leave

--------------------

"Miss Y / L / N", Mister Langdon barked and slapped the table with the palm of his hand. You winced and looked disturbed into the blond man's eyes.

"I asked you something".

He leaned down to you and his face was only a few inches from yours.

"Are you in love?"

You swallowed and blinked a few times, before you whispered softly:

"I am not."

The man leaned back and looked at you thoughtfully for a few seconds.

"Well, Miss Y / L / N," he finally sighed.

"You can go."

Without looking at the man again, you got up to run out of the room. You tripped and if you hadn't held onto the wall next to the door, you would have fallen. For a moment you leaned against the wall with your eyes closed and took a deep breath.

This man was disgusting and a little too intimate for your taste, no wonder, that no one liked him.

You opened your eyes again and realized, that Miss Venable was staring down at you as she leaned against the railing.

Your eyes were lost in hers, her almost black eyes in which the light of the torches is always reflected. You wanted to say something, but you were afraid, that she would leave and you didn't want that. Miss Venable had put on her indifferent expression as always and, as always, you did not know what was going on inside the woman.

Your lips formed a mute "fuck you" when you saw her turn away from you to move. And the faint tapping of her cane proved to you, that she was indeed leaving and you knew that she would not come back.

Maybe we're just fooling in foolish imagination

Got no destination in sight

You and I, we get by

We just glide

[prtgniiist]

all the numbers 👀👀

 ⤿  roleplay habits  | not accepting 

i’m grateful but jESUS that’s a lot 

what’s a grammar rule you find yourself breaking or ignoring a lot? 

answered  x 

are there any languages besides english in which you think you could comfortably roleplay?

nope. i know filipino and japanese too but i don’t think i can fully write using those languages roleplaying as i’m not fluent anymore

how often do you reach for a synonym dictionary when writing? how about mentally?

oh lol i have the thesaurus.com opened on a separate tab while writing. though i find myself not using it as much, only occasionally. 

how often do you need to translate your own or the other’s writing with a dictionary or google when writing and reading replies?

uh not a lot? not anymore. sometimes though i have to double-check if i spelled certain words correctly but other than that, i don’t really check. i get too distracted if i look through a different site/page while writing, i have to continuously write otherwise i’m gonna lose my train of thought

do you listen to music while your write?

answered   x 

do you have ideal writing circumstances when you can do a lot of drafts or tackle really long ones very easily?

its not very specific but i feel like writing more early in the day ( though unfortunately since i work a 9-5 job i don’t get enough time being on here ). i also get into the right mood writing long ones after reading something ( i usually read some novels but lately, i just read some fanfictions )

are you a morning, day, evening, or night writer?

morning

how does tiredness affect your writing?

it affects me a lot. being in a good mindset helps me write so when i’m feeling meh because i’m exhausted i just don’t feel like doing anything/write anything

have you ever written a serious reply intoxicated?

nah, i only drink when i’m with friends or when i’m at a party. and i usually just pass out in bed as soon as i get home 

how much do you proof-read as you are writing vs. proof-read at the end?

hahahaha none at all. after i write it, i just always go “FUCK IT” and hit reblog/publish and then after maybe an hour i reread what i wrote and then cry internally when i find any typos/grammatical errors

when you are writing a reply, how much ahead in the thread do you plan?

it depends on the plot of the thread + the overall mood. when its more on the fluffy, lighter side i just go with the flow. sometimes its fun to see how a thread progresses as i write it on a whim. but if the thread is more plot-based  ( something that i have already plotted out with a partner )  i try to implement everything that was talked about in order to go specifically to where we want it. one time i wrote ( physically write with a pen and paper !!! ) all the bullet points that i have to hit in my reply

is there ever been a time when you’ve had to drop a roleplaying partner because you’ve found their writing style exhausting?

yeah, once. not on this blog though, it was a while ago so i don’t remember much. i just remember that they wrote in this specific dickens-esque purple prose style that was just super exhausting because haha wow what are you even saying 

does writing roleplay things in public spaces make you uncomfortable?

not really. i used to write replies while i was in a lecture in uni lol as long as its not nsfw then i’m completely fine with it

what do you do after you see a person has replied? do you read it immediately, or do you wait for it to show up on the dash? do you like it, draft it immediately, etc?

i read it first and then draft it ( unless i’m already on the computer when i see the reply ) 

how often do you need to change the icon in your reply while or after writing the reply?

actually not that often. what icon i’m gonna use is usually the first thing i know before writing the reply. i internalize the emotions first before replying and since i sort my icons/graphics in order of emotions  ( like one would be named smile1 or sad2 etc ) i know exactly what to use

do you first get in the “zone” when writing, or do you start writing and “enter” it that way?

i get in the zone first! by reading something  ( these days, its fanfiction )  just to get in the mood. otherwise i just stare at my drafts for an hour and then i just go play minecraft

what is your biggest obstacle to writing every day, if time doesn’t count?

laziness. depression. minecraft. but mostly its time... my work takes so much of my time, especially considering i don’t drive so i commute everyday and that takes most of my day

what’s your inbox count currently? what did you do to get it so high/low?

atm there are 2 i haven’t replied to

how many drafts is a paralysing amount?

more than 30! especially if its for different partners. i just feel really bad 

if you are writing a wrong reply that’s not working out, do you save what you have to be continued at another date, or do you scrap it and rewrite?

i save what i have written and then try to continue it when i’m in a better mindset/when i can better write what i want to. but now after the tumblr update, for some reason, if the thread is already in drafts then i write my reply but i want to save it as draft again, it publishes it? idk why that happens. has that happened to you?

does making icons give or take away energy to write? what about other graphics?

it makes me feel calmer so it gives me energy? but it also enables me to procrastinate because after spending hours capping episodes + make icons, i just think to myself “okay at least i was productive its fine” i don’t actually make my own graphics. i commission graphics mostly ( like my theme background right now! ) 

longest reply you’ve ever writen on mobile?

i used to roleplay on kik  ( ahaha ah the good ol days )  so that’s the only time i roleplayed on mobile. i don’t write replies for threads on here while on mobile because for some reason, i don’t really know why. 

does the total amount of threads you have going on matter to you, or just how many you owe?

uh yeah it makes me really anxious 

what’s your thought process when you format? any unspoken rules you follow?

i just really do CAPS + bold for emphasis and that’s pretty much my “aesthetic formatting”  i used to do this whole                     i write in small line                    like its a poem                     because i used to be a                      p r e t e n t i o u s  dude   

how does your follower count affect your mood?

doesn’t affect me at all i think? i don’t really look at my follower count  it does affect me though when i see a partner/or someone i wanted to interact with deactivate