#Magazine (Monthly Spirits)

[czennieszn]

the magic of christmastime | l. castellan ❆

part 1: s(mitten) for you, luke castellan

child of aphrodite reader (Y/N) x luke castellan (fluff, a bit of angst, some anxiety)

It's Christmastime, the season of magic, miracles, and snow in the city. Celebrating their first Christmas together as a couple, Luke and Y/N are eager to participate in Christmas traditions. And what better way to get in Christmas spirit than going shopping in the Big Red Apple, the splendid New York City. There is only one problem, getting the permission of Chiron and Mr. D.

w.c. 2.5K (let me know if you would fancy a part 2!

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I love Christmastime. From the flurry of people that crowd the malls of New York City, to the actual flurries of soft white snow that encase the concrete, making the Big Apple look like a giant snow globe, it's safe to say that Christmastime sparked a little bit of magic in you. Every year after Thanksgiving, a silent countdown would begin; the countdown until Christmas. Thirty days. Twenty-nine days. Twenty-eight days. Time didn't move any slower. But during these thirty days, the Christmas traditions got you through the month.

Baking and decorating Christmas cookies, wearing matching sweaters, drinking hot cocoa, and watching Christmas movies on your old DVD player, were things that you were anticipating doing this Christmas. Except, this Christmas would be different. It would be a little bit more magical, because this Christmas, you had the golden-eyed curly-haired Hermes boy with a crooked smile to spend it with. And you were delighted.

"Luke..." you gently nudged your boyfriend, teasing him with a smile. He was lying on your bed with his hands stretched out, your monthly subscription to Vogue magazine in his hands. Even under the dimly lit florescent fairy lights, Luke looked magical.  His lips were pursed in concentration, and his faint freckles were dotted across his nose. Eyebrows furrowed, he diverged his attention to you.

"Yes Y/N..." he responded in an equally teasing tone. Turning his head, you softly played with his curls as he rested in your lap. He twinkled his eyes like a newborn puppy, a look he knew was impossible to resist. You tried to endure the nonchalant disposition on your face, but the corner of your mouth gave you away. Smiling gently, you looked away and giggled. The effect this boy had on you couldn't be explained by science, it couldn't be explained by the gods. Gods, you were so in love with each other.

"What if we-" you began to say. He jokingly rolled his eyes. "I can't wait for another one of your "grand ideas" again Y/N. The last time you started with "what if we", we ended up in trouble with Mr. D and had to spend two months on stable duty," Luke laughed.

"No wait I'm serious! I promise we won't have to shovel horse shit ever again!" You said, trying not to laugh. 

"That was miserable, never again," Luke mocked you.

"I'm genuinely being serious, here me out!" You playfully eyed him.

"Okay Princess, what is it?" Luke whispered as he stared at your lips.

"What if we go into the city for some Christmas shopping..." you trailed off, unsure whether he would be willing to go with you. 

"Hmm," Luke closed the magazine and returned it to the magazine rack that Aphrodite gave you for your sixteenth birthday. You remember how elated when your mother met with you on your sweet sixteenth and winked at you, urging you to pursue Luke. Now here you were, two years later, with her advice fully followed through. 

There was a pregnant pause as Luke played with your fingers. "I hope you don't mean Christmas shopping at the camp gift shop," he jokingly said.  You shook your head quickly while you laughed, your curtain bangs swinging from side to side. "I've kind of had enough of the Stoll brothers and their practical jokes on these not-so-practical gifts." Rolling your eyes, you recalled last year when the Stoll brothers had slipped you two love potions, giving you googly eyes for Chiron and Luke groveling at Mr. D. It was a whole fiasco, leaving you and Luke thoroughly embarrassed for a minimum of two weeks.

"Noooo," you dragged on the word as you tilted your head. "I mean like, what if we went into the city to go shopping? Wouldn't that be fun," you suggested. "Do you think Chiron would let us?" You lightly breathed.

"Well, there's no way we'll know if we don't ask," Luke grinned. 

"Wait so you'd be willing to go shopping with me?" you held your breath. 

"Of course, anything for you Princess," Luke caressed your face. You were leaping with joy, and you practically ran out of the Aphrodite cabin to stalk Chiron for his permission. 

"Let's go, let's go!" You attempted to drag Luke as he groaned. "I'm comfy here, can we wait until tomorrow to find Chiron," Luke attacked you with his puppy-like eyes. Nope, you weren't going to fall for that now, no matter how impossible it was. 

"Please Luke we should go now, tomorrow morning is in twelve hours, something bad could happen and he may not let us go," you flashed him your best smile in retaliation. Playfully rolling his eyes, he tugged your hand and you fell onto the mattress. Squealing, you lay on top of him, what a goof. But you are so into this goof. Cheekily smiling, he smothered you in kisses: on your face, on your neck, on your collarbone. Peppering all surface areas of your body with love. 

You were violently blushing, turning a shade of red from your cheeks down to your neck at the sudden PDA. All of a sudden, you were self-conscious of your siblings in the cabin. But, they certainly paid you two no attention as they were used to the displays of affection. Awake and animated, Luke's eyes momentarily flickered animalistically, but they quickly returned to his typical soft-golden retriever demeanor. You both knew what he wanted at that moment, but given the circumstances, ew, gross.

"Okay," he whispered, satisfied at the reaction he got out of you. "Let's go," and he tugged you up suddenly as you guys ran out the door. The run eventually turned into the light jog because (a) you guys had just finished dinner and didn't want indigestion and (b) you had already exercised enough for today (the Apollo kids had run an archery obstacle course that was grueling, leaving a dull ache in your arms and feet)

"Chiron!" Luke called out into the distance, as we saw a faint outline of the centaur's shadow. He was going into the big house, probably to put curlers in his tail before he retired to his bed for the evening (Grover's words, not mine). Before he disappeared into the shadows, he gestured to us, letting us know to enter the Big House. Panting, as you were nearly exhausted at this point (don't get me wrong, I'm not unathletic, but the distance from the Aphrodite cabin to the Big House is quite far) At this point, you were going to get appendicitis before you could step into the Big Apple.

"Luke, wait a minute," you said, running out of breath. For a powerful demigod, you certainly had limited endurance.

"Are you okay Y/N," Luke dramatically gasped as he held your hand.

"I'm perfectly okay, just a tad out of shape," you sighed.

"Well Princess, just a few more steps and then we are there," Luke softly replied. Silently nodding your head to Luke's words of encouragement, you two approached the Big House. Unconsciously, you began to peel your cuticles, and Luke gently pried your hands away from your delicate, beaten skin. You deeply appreciated when he did things like that, paying attention to every detail, focusing on you, and double-checking that you were healthy and mentally okay.

The waning crescent that brightly illuminated the night sky depicted your mood; the fading of a bright idea in an endless world. This feeling wasn't new to you, and you could feel your energy waning. All the bravado that you had previously shown to Luke had wilted. Instead, you were now left uneasy, waiting for Chiron and Dionysus to chagrin you for your dangerously silly idea. A sinking pit of anxiety settled in your stomach. Damn, for how often my anxiety just shows up, it may as well start paying rent, you thought, trying to ease the war of emotions swimming in your mind.

Are you sure that you are okay? Luke bent down his head so he could be at eye level with you.

Yes, hopefully, you silently blinked back. He understood the scope of your anxiety, and during the especially bad days when you were left hugging yourself and biting at your nails, he would hug you instead and play with your fingers. Besides being a great boyfriend, he was an even more understanding person, and you loved that part of him.

Alright, gametime, Luke winked to you, as you two crossed the boundary between fun! rainbows! camp! and imminent doom featuring half a horse and an overgrown drunk toddler. The floorboard creaked as you two entered the Big House. Mustering up the remainder of your confidence, you took a deep breath and entered a book room where Chiron and Dionysus were sitting.

"We have a proposal for-," you gestured before being rudely interrupted by Mr. D slurping his diet coke. He raised an eyebrow, challenging you to continue. You momentarily glared at him before resuming your composure.

"Like I said, Luke and I have been thinking of-," you continued before being rudely interrupted for the second time by the overgrown diet coke-addicted toddler.

"Please, Dionysus, respect for the demigods for once," Chiron rolled his eyes, partially annoyed at Mr. D for acting childish, and possibly because we had interrupted his nighttime routine. Hey, if someone asked me to do something if I was in the middle of a manicure, I would also be thoroughly annoyed.

"To state the point that was never said," you pointedly glared at Mr. D and he tilted his head back at you to say fair point, "Luke and I were thinking of going into the city for one day to do some Christmas shopping."

The room was silent. All you could hear was the crackling of the fireplace, and even then as every log burned a hiss of malice escaped the chimney's base. Then Dionysus let out a big guffaw, startling everyone in the room.

"Oh my gosh you're joking are you? You came all the way to tell us that?" Mr. D gasped for breath and wiped his tears as he was laughing too hard. 

Dead silence echoed (can silence echo?) throughout the room. We were serious (for once). Mr. D could sense that no one else in the room was in a playful mood, and soon shut his mouth, a rare occasion. Under different circumstances, I would have probably pointed that out to Luke and given him a sly look, but tonight was not the night.

"Wait, you two are serious," Mr. D gestured to both of us while giving us both a pointed look of disappointment.

"Please Mr. D, we promise to be safe-" Luke began.

"For two senior counselors who have been at camp for a very long time, might I add, you two surely haven't gained any knowledge for all the time that you've been here," Mr. D frowned. 

"Please, we haven't gone anywhere in years. We promise to be safe and take any precautions needed," you pleaded. You just wanted this one thing. It might have been selfish, putting your lives in danger for a silly whimsical idea of yours, but it would make your first Christmas spent with Luke magical.

"You two are year-long campers for a reason," Mr. D firmly stated. He was correct in that respect, powerful campers like you two attracted monsters from far and wide. With your powerful charm speaking abilities and ability to create illusions of someone's greatest desires, and Luke's incredible sword fighting abilities, and not to mention his ability to bend the air in ripples as a traveling method, you two were quite a dynamic couple.

"Chiron," You pleaded, as you turned to Chiron. Chiron seemed deep in thought, as he pensively stroked his goatee (do I call it a horse-tee? centaur-tee?).

"These two of our campers are some of our best campers. They know how to adequately defend themselves in any situation tossed their way, am I correct?" Chiron turned to you two, the right corner of his mouth fighting a smile. You had never been so grateful for Chiron's existence until that moment (putting aside that time that he taught you the full extent of your illusional abilities, that was amazing of him).

"Yes, yes Chiron," Luke said, as you vigorously nodded your head.

"Yes, we will carry golden drachmas and Iris message you in case anything goes wrong," I tried to persuade them. "Not that we will inherently cause anything to go wrong," you trailed off.

"We will also bring weapons, just in case anything happens," Luke jumped in right away. "We will take care of ourselves, we promise."

"Think of this like a test, if we come back, we live, if not, well, we die. If we can't even handle the city that surrounds us, if we get called to a quest, well, that means we are screwed," you joked, also not joking at the same time. Hoping that this would persuade Mr. D, you gave Chiron a quick thumbs up, a symbol of your gratitude for having trust in you two.

"Hmm," Mr. D hummed for a while. You hoped he wasn't asleep, it was past that groggy toddler's bedtime.

"Well I permit Luke Castellan and Y/N L/N to spend the day in New York City tomorrow, granted they come back with gifts for me as well," Chiron winked.

"Oh yes, yes!" You excitedly said, a wide smile spread across your face.

"Of course, we will buy gifts for you Chiron, and for you as well Mr. D," Luke continued.

"Hmm, alright. And you two promise that you will stay safe?" Mr. D questioned.

"Yes sir," you two responded stoically.

"And within reach at all times?" Mr. D continued.

"Yes sir," you two nodded.

"Well I permit Lukas Clarkson and Y/nN La/N to spend the day in New York City tomorrow, granted they come back with gifts for me as well," Mr. D retorted, horribly butchering our names. Neither Luke nor I corrected him, fearful that he could suddenly have a change of heart and change his mind.

"Thank you so so so much!" You grinned.

"Have a great night!" Luke said, as he practically dragged you out the door.

"We did it! Oh my gosh, we are so good!" You excitedly hugged Luke the moment you exited the Big House. Hugging you and lifting you in the air, you two laughed joyously as you two landed on the lawn. Landing on top of Luke, you played with his hair. You hadn't left Camp Half-Blood without your mother, who would whisk you to some location in New York City for a day-trip gossip session.

"We did amazing, Princess," Luke smiled up at you. He squeezed your waist, causing a tornado of butterflies to travel up your navel.

"Well, we better get a long night's sleep tonight. We have an extremely long day tomorrow," you shyly smiled.

"Great idea babe, but first," Luke cheekily grinned, as he flipped you upside down. Startled, your eyes widened as Luke began to unabashedly pepper kisses across your face, neck, and collarbone. You didn't care that you two were in public, you were just grateful to have a wonderful boyfriend and wonderful people who could trust you two. You couldn't wait for tomorrow. 

comment to be a part of the taglist for part 2!

xoxo, cznszn 𐙚₊❤︎

© czennieszn on tumblr. do not repost, translate, plagiarize, or claim any of my works as your own.

[talonabraxas]

"Thus Lucifer - the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought - is metaphorically the guiding beacon which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for Lucifer is the Logos in its fullness." Helena Blavatsky , HP - The Secret Doctrine, v. II, p. 162

Lucifer Lucifer Magazine 1887 to 1897

[canmom]

Animation Night 193 - Harpier cries: 'tis time! 'tis time!

PREVIOUSLY, in the dark halls of ANIMATION NIGHT, you have born witness to such horrors as these...

Animation Night 25: HORROR, featuring Kakurenbo, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children, and many episodes of Yamishibai

Animation Night 77: Once More, Halloween, featuring Blood: The Last Vampire, Seoul Station, The Wolf House, and Shoujo Tsubaki - and more Yamishibai...

Animation Night 129: Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed..., featuring Hellsing Ultimate, The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb, Mad God, Ujicha's Violence Voyager, and guess what? Yamishibai...

Animation Night 176: The Hedge-Pigge Whin'd, a rather scuffed production which, contra the writeup, ended up just showing the Darkstalkers OVA from 1997. And some Yamishibai of course.

And now, my friends, and now... the witching hour is soon to be upon us once more, and it is time we revelled in the darkness and terror, for tonight is hallow'een, easily the best festival in the western calendar.

Many thanks go to @glitch-critter and @muzothecat, who provided me some excellent suggestions for animated horror that I have yet to see. Not that reruns would be the end of the world, there's some excellent shit on the list above I would be immensely glad to see again.

To begin with, we have the recently-released The Birth of Kitarō: The Mystery of GeGeGe (幾多郎誕生：ゲゲゲの謎). Which provides an excellent excuse to get into the subject of Kitarou. So let's begin our dark and sordid tale... well, it's actually a pretty positive tale, but that's not really in the spirit of things.

GeGeGe no Kitarō is a truly classic manga series dating back to the 60s, created by Shigeru Mizuki. But it's actually older still: the earliest incarnation of Kitarō is in a kamishibai performance written/illus. by Masami Itō and Keiyō Tatsumi back in 1933, called Hakaba Kitarō (Kitarō of the Graveyard). It tells the story of a ghost boy called Kitarō who lives in a graveyard; like many kamishibai it was aiming at straight up horror. Here's a board from the original (photo by translator Zack Davisson, thanks wikipedia):

So, you know yōkai? You're reading this blog, so probably, but just in case, they are the various freaky spirits of Japanese folklore, from kappa and tengu to nekomata and chōchin-oiwa. And the reason why they are such a popular feature of modern popular culture (you all know what a kappa is, right?) is in large part due to this manga.

Shigeru Mizuki, born 1922, had a pretty wild life. He was drafted into the army in 1943 at age 21, and lost his left arm in a bombing the next year; during his recovery he made friends among the Tolai people of New Guinea. He came home after the war, and found work renting out an apartment building and drawing kamishibai on the side; gradually the kamishibai work took over. In 1953, his brother Sōhei moved in after being tried for war crimes (the timeline does not mention the outcome of the trial); in 1957 at age 35 he moved to drawing manga, debuting in rental manga with Rocketman.

Starting in 1960 at the behest of Mizuki's publisher, the Hakaba Kitarō manga adapted the story of the yamishibai, introducing a wider audience to ghost boy Kitarō with his floofy hair and little third eye on a stalk. It proved explosively popular (despite being at first deemed too scary for children), telling the stories of Kitarō's encounters with all kinds of yōkai. The state of English translations is a bit scattershot; some of it is available on mangadex.

In 1964, at age 42, Mizuki debuted in serialised manga in Garo magazine - a name you might find familiar, the avant-garde magazine which also published authors like Suehiro Maruo (ero-guro mangaka, the author of Shoujo Tsubaki) and Hiroshi Masamura (the guy who made the cat manga we looked into on AN188). There, he rebooted the Kitarō manga, starting once again with the story of the birth of Kitarō. Before long he jumped over to the much larger Monthly Shonen Magazine, and retooled Kitarō to be more kid-oriented. From then on it's Kitarō city - and the immense success of the manga gave him the chance to regularly return to the newly combined state of Papua New Guinea.

In 1968, Kitarō arrived in animation land, one of Toei's early projects. It quickly became one of those classic famous Toei anime, you know the type, the kind of thing that every Japanese person of a certain age would have seen on TV. Mizuki himself composed the OP, and it continued to get sequels throughout the ensuing fifty years, with the most recent being in 2018. This is an old and widely beloved anime so there is a lot of it: the 1968 series accumulated 65 episodes, the third series in 1985-88 is the longest at 115, but the others are no slouch either; even the 2018 series pulled out a mighty 97.

As such, it's... perhaps a little daunting! But...

The Birth of Kitarō is a prequel to the 2018 series... and rather than being a spooky-fun kids anime, it's intended as a genuine horror story aimed at adults, presumably adults who grew up watching Kitarō, returning to the earliest Garo-era tone of the manga. Set in the 50s, the story sees salaryman Mizuki arrive in a village in pursuit of a mysterious medicine, where he finds the village ruled by an old superstitious family. Naturally, before long, murders start happening. And a mysterious white-haired man is somehow involved...

Seems like the perfect way to get into Kitarō. I missed the chance to see this film at Annecy this year, but it's already out on nyaa, so let's jump on it.

So that's our first act. What of our second?

Junk Head is a stop-motion scifi film pretty much enitrely solo animated by Takehide Hori who, at age 40, heard about Makoto Shinkai's solo-animated film Voices of a Distant Star (AN44), and was inspired to spend the next seven years working on a stop-motion scifi epic of his own. It tells of a cyborg from a future where humans have lost the ability to reproduce, venturing into a strange underground realm full of freaky creatures that, I'm told, invite comparisons to the art of Giger, Bosch, Escher and Gorey, and the films of Švankmajer (whose Alice we watched on AN50), Gilliam, and the Quay Brothers. del Toro lauded it as a 'work of deranged brilliance'.

Which is to say this is exactly the kind of thing we like to show here on Animation Night. I can't believe I didn't hear of this film before. Sources are not exactly abundant, but I was able to find a hardsubbed 720p version with a few seeds on it, so that's what we'll be watching tonight.

Speaking of the Brothers Quay, who enjoy a remarkably in-depth and thorough wiki page, they have yet to appear on Animation Night, and it's about time we remedied that! A pair of identical twins from the Pennsylvania who moved to the UK in 1969 to study at the RCA, they got their start in illustration before making a turn to stop motion film using bits of dolls and various other materials in the vein of Švankmajer.

They are incredibly prolific as a pair, making shorts in nearly every year from 1979 to 2021 (bar a couple of hiatuses). Most of their films are without dialogue, set instead to the music of Leszek Jankowski and a great many other other composers. They are huge book nerds too, adapting authors from Lem and Kafka to Emma Hauck; honestly there's a ton to dive into here and I will for sure be returning to these guys on a future Animation Night. Tonight, however, our pick will be Street of Crocodiles (2021), a musical piece in which a puppet walks through a desolate realm of "mechanical realities and manufactured pleasures", widely celebrated as one of their best films.

Stop motion seems to be a theme tonight, huh? Somehow, stop motion is just spookier than traditional animation. That theme continues with The House, an anthology piece for Netflix depicting three different stories taking place in the same house. Animated in London, each piece brings in a different director, respectively Emme de Swaef and Marc James Roels co-directing the first, Swedish director Niki Lindroth von Bahr the second and Mexican-British actress turned director Paloma Baeza for the third.

The stories span a few hundred years, from the 1800s to a flooded post climate change future. In each case, the house is the stage for tales of obsession and misguided ambition leading to disaster, whether it should befall anthro rats, humans or anthro cats. Widely praised for its animation and general weirdness, I'm quite excited to see what this mix has in store.

And returning of course will be Yamishibai, the wonderful long-running series of ridiculous cutout-animated creepypasta horror in the vein of old-school kamishibai boards. You know we gotta. And hey, if we're feeling in a really good mood at the end of the evening, I might bring Shoujo Tsubaki out of the vaults too. We shall see.

Animation Night 193 shall begin, with its gruesome course of animated horrors, at seventh hour.... which is to say 7pm UK time, just over four hours from the writing of this post. Be there, or be forever haunted by the ghosts of frames unseen (unless you gotta go trick or treat or something, we understand). The place? Upon the heath... of twitch.tv/canmom!

Hoooohhooohohoohooohooohohoooooooooo!

[mila-stardust]

Mind, Body, Spirit Magazine

Okay, I just have to share this!

So this magazine collection has everything about paganism, crystals, divination, Wicca... It's basically a Book of Shadows in a form of monthly magazines that were around the early 2000s. AND IT'S ALL ON PINTEREST!

Okay but seriously, here's the link; Mind, Body, Spirit Magazine

[cafemagie-magie]

Hi everyone^^

After a ton of work, I’m happy to share that my first GL magazine Blue Camellia will be available on Patreon at the end of this month!

Here are the last cover + contents + sneak peek👀

✨Blue Camellia in a nutshell?

It acts like an artist’s drawing log : you’ll find exclusive little comics, doodles, and sometimes illustrations… made during the current month.

Each month has a theme, and since November is for the majority a difficult period in the year, “Home sweet home” embodies the main spirit of this drawing log.

✨Red Camellia ?

The explicit version featuring a monthly comic strip “ Red Camellia” will also be released at the same time. To check the cover, please click here (x).

These magazines would not exist without my Patrons, I’m very grateful for all the support. Wouldn’t imagine this possible 3 months ago^^

✨Please consider checking my Patreon if you feel it’s something you’ll enjoy, and support an artist’s work, in exchange of many perks to discover on your side :

I don’t know how the content will grow over the next months, if I’ll start to take interest in other GL fandom, the Patreon development, etc… but for now it’s heavy Diakko, LWA, and personal works!

Thank you also for following and enjoying my art here and on @cafemagie , hope December will be a smooth month for everyone.

With love,

Solace

[kolajmag]

COMMUNITY WORKSHOP

Collage Artist Meet-Up

Tuesday, 6 August 2024, 7-9PM at Kolaj Institute Gallery

At Kolaj Institute, we reject the myth of the solitary artist and believe that artists are better in community with one another. In that spirit we invite working artists to join us for a monthly meet-up to get feedback on work, and network with one another. Find out who’s looking for folks to exhibit, meet other working artists, and get the low-down on the skinny of what’s up and up. The event is hosted by LaVonna Varnado Brown at Kolaj Institute Gallery. RSVP is helpful but not necessary. Artists are encouraged to bring artwork to share with the group. Questions? Send an email to info@kolajinstitute.org. Read More

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

Kolaj Magazine, a full color, print magazine, exists to show how the world of collage is rich, layered, and thick with complexity. By remixing history and culture, collage artists forge new thinking. To understand collage is to reshape one's thinking of art history and redefine the canon of visual culture that informs the present.

SUBSCRIBE | CURRENT ISSUE | GET A COPY

SIGN UP TO GET EMAILS

[orion-yyh]

The Demon World Monthly returns!!!

I have been gone for a long time but I have returned to celebrate, though late, the 2nd anniversary of our beloved magazine! This time we feature the ruling family of the territory of former Gandara!

Yomi, Shura and my Oc!

There is also a story video included featuring a conversation between a senior guard and a new guard. Tidbits of my fanfic story can be glimpsed here! Yomi and his family is currently on vacation in the human world (they're not in japan though, since he wants to escape the bothersome spirit world forces-and you guys can probably guess where they are from the clothing) and the fireworks really fascinates the young Shura!

Another note: The poppy flower is August's flower of the Month along with Gladiolus. Orang colored poppy specifically, denotes health and regeneration hinting at the fate of Shura (and Yomi eventually) after almost dying until my Oc finds and saves him. The daisy on her hair on the other hand, alludes to her personality and role as it means purity, innocence, new beginnings, joy and cheerfulness.

Well this is a rather long post but I hope you guys enjoy this illustration. I'm also reopening my commissions if anyone is interested!

[ecargmura]

Delusional Monthly Magazine Episode 4 Review - More Furries

This episode is basically an allusion to the whole Loch Ness monster myth in real life. However, while Nessie doesn’t exist, Nussie, the fictional version of Nessie, does. This episode is basically trying to prove her existence while fighting against the White Pegasus goons; one of them becomes a bear furry and now it’s a fight between furries.

I do feel like not showing Nussie until she showed up in a picture was a bit of a waste. While the episode was about proving her existence, it would’ve been great to see her in the flesh. Instead, all this episode was about was camping and fighting Perch and Noin. Heck, the supposed MOPart wasn’t even one at all; it seemed to be a scale or bone of Nussie in a way.

I was surprised when they used Taro’s supernatural abilities for him to talk to the ghost girl Yasuko. I think using that trait this way was creative. Because ghosts has always been seen as scary looking spirits, seeing a human-looking one does not tick his buttons. Though, I do feel bad that he didn’t realize Yasuko was a ghost until the end. I wonder if she was Nussie or if she became a part of her.

Now that there’s a Motarian on the enemy’s side, it makes me curious on how Noin was able to transform. Does he have a strange tattoo on his arm like how Taro has one on his head? What is the requirement of transformation? Will everyone change into furries as the show progresses? Also, with that mention of Catherine towards the end of the episode, I predict that she might be the main villain of the story…

There are only two minor characters here. Yasuko and the groundskeeper and they’re both voiced by rather prolific voice actors. Yasuko is voiced by Ayako Kawasumi and the groundskeeper, who’s name happens to be Scott via credits, is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama. For a crazy show like this, getting extremely big named voice actors as one-off characters is still crazy to me.

Since the MOPart wasn’t an actual MOPart, this feels like a pointless episode. Though, it was nice to see the gang have some R&R. I also feel bad for the living carrot. Goro, you horrible bastard (I’m kidding). Anyways, since this episode was pretty straightforward, I’m going to end it here. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[wetterschneider]

Collect them all, a steal at $99 or 3 monthly payments of $33. Limited to 45,000 portraits, hurry, before time runs out. Tech deets - first of all I hope IG doesn't flag this as an advertisement but you know it's going to. Secondly - this series is NOT Midjourney, it's Stable Diffusion. MJ has banned the terms "Cronenberg" and "Flesh Monster" and trust me, it's impossible to capture the true spirit of this individual without relying on those prompts. If you scrub back through my timeline/feed, you should be able to pick out which images are made with which engine. Thirdly - I'm a Wacky Packages, Mad Magazine, gross-out humor baby so this kind of stuff runs in my blood.

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

On October 31, 1873, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, written by Charles Dickens, appeared in the bookstalls of America. Dickens wrote the first six chapters while he was alive and the last six chapters after he was dead.

Famous mystery writer Wilkie Collins had challenged his friend Charles Dickens to try the new genre. The novel was serialized in twelve monthly instalments by a magazine, published in Britain, and then shipped to America. For the first time in Dickens's writing career, he had insisted on a contract stating that his heirs would receive royalties if he should die. Dickens passed away halfway through writing the fascinating story.

Three years later, in Vermont, a capricious young man named Thomas James moved into a boarding house owned by a woman interested in Spiritualism. In October 1872, after a year of attending séances in the parlor, James declared he had been contacted by the spirit of Charles Dickens, who asked James to let himself be used by Dickens to finish The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The landlady gave James free room and board until the book was complete. Witnesses testified that the gadabout would go into long trances and write furiously, declaring Dickens was dictating to him.

As word got out, James was accused of fraud by the newspapers who doubted the finished book would appear. But appear it did—attributed to "the spirit pen of Charles Dickens." Controversy over the authenticity of the mystery's solution circulated among the early scholars, each arguing their case based on clues found in the working notes left behind by Dickens and the vignettes on the cover of the monthly installments. The case was investigated by Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle said that James did not have the mental agility to complete the novel without help.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violini, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[magicalgirlagency]

After I saw your delinquent magical girls ask, I dug deep into my brain archives and I found the obscure manga, Sukeban Deka Pretend.

A spin-off of tthe classic shoujo manga, Sukeban Deka, the series began serialization in the (also shoujo) magazine Monthly Princess from September 2021 and is currently on-going with 2 volumes released. The plot follows a cheerful 2nd year high school girl 16-year-old Asahi Yazaki who discovers a strange yo-yo that fell from the sky and in turn, causes a mysterious girl only she is able to see, to appear before her, the spirit of Saki Asamiya.

Wanting to be friends with Saki, Asahi follows her until she comes upon a fellow classmate of hers being harassed by a delinquent. As Asahi tries to help, her newly acquired yo-yo reveals itself to have magical powers and transforms her into a sukeban magical girl! After punishing the other delinquent, Asahi starts to use her newfound abilities to stop wrong-doers on campus and solve mysteries.

Apparently, the manga's on hiatus because of some personal stuff happening in the mangaka's life, which I understand...

I've also heard that the plot is inconsistent, and it has that horrendous Student/Teacher Romance trope, so I'll pass! Not to mention that I cannot find the manga available for reading anywhere on the 'net, so it's basically Lost Media!

[filmnoirfoundation]

In case you missed it on Facebook, here it is on YouTube.Film Noir Foundation prez Eddie Muller responds to film noir fan questions fielded by the Foundation's Director of Communications Anne Hockens. In this episode, we discuss NOIR CITY 2024, noir musicals, which city in the U.S. was the most noir, children in film noir, “post-modern noir”, and more. We wind up with a spirited discussion about who we would cast in a THE THIN MAN remake. On the cat front, Charlotte is a background player; Emily and Tizzy won’t come out of their trailers.  Want your question answered in a future episode? We solicit questions from our email subscribers in our monthly newsletters. Sign up for free at https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/signup.htmlEveryone who signs up on our email list and contributes $20 or more to the Film Noir Foundation receives the digital version of NOIR CITY Magazine for a year. Donate here:https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/contribute.html

This week’s questions:  

1. Is there such a thing as a noir musical? —Loren from Chicago    

2. Which city in the U.S. is or was the most noir, and why? —Kathleen from Chicago  

3. Eddie, do you have a favorite movie studio to visit in L.A.? What studio tour you recommend if one could only take one tour?   —Alan, San Anselmo, CA    

4. I have always wondered about Mildred Pierce’s clothing on the day that she is questioned by the police.  She is wearing a fur coat and fur hat.  Is that normal for LA?  Didn't anyone question the choice?  —Elizabeth   

 5. Since Hollywood was still suffering under the code, I wonder if that was the reason the Dix Steele in IN A LONELY PLACE went from a serial killer in print to just another angry male on the screen.  Maybe it was more of the audience not being willing to see Bogie as a strangler of women. —Mark    

6. Can you recommend noir films that feature children, and were there child actors who appeared in several noirs?—Phil, Dedham MA    

7. I'm wondering if the Foundation or TCM have come across a good Technicolor print of SLIGHTLY SCARLET.—Jerry   

 8. Neo-noir spans more decades than the original classic era. If we consider the beginning of neo-noir to be from 1960 onwards, is it fair to start defining neo-noir into different chunks. For instance, I’m starting to hear chatter that there is a post-modern neo-noir period we are living in. —Brett, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada    

9. I'm wondering your thoughts on BLOW THE MAN DOWN and if you consider it noir.—Ryan, Valley Village, CA    

10. Eddie, what was the first noir film you saw? How old were you, where did you see it, and did you realize there was something “special” about it?—Janet

[talonabraxas]

"Thus Lucifer - the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought - is metaphorically the guiding beacon which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for Lucifer is the Logos in its fullness."

Helena Blavatsky , HP - The Secret Doctrine, v. II, p. 162

Lucifer Lucifer Magazine 1887 to 1897

[uknowyato]

Hatori Yoshiyuki no baai volume 1: chapter 1

This is a repost from my old blog. Old chapters will be coming every Thursday until I catch up. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer:‌‌ ‌‌I‌ ‌do‌ ‌not‌ ‌own‌ ‌Sekaiichi‌ ‌Hatsukoi,‌ Hatori Yoshiyuki no baai ‌and the characters within the stories. Please support Shungiku Nakamura by purchasing the official emerald releases. Thank you!

Raw cre‌dits go to the lovely youmeandteddybears ‌on tumblr

DO NOT REPOST THIS OR SHARE WITH ANYONE ELSE.

Vera, Cammie, Rose and Isaac I love you so much <3 <3

It was late December, and the world was enveloped in the spirit of Christmas. Hymns and Christmas songs were being sung here and there, and the lights that decorated the streets were gorgeous. The products on display in the stores were also in line with the season, and they were crowded with customers choosing gifts for friends and family. Although it had become much colder in the past few days, today was a relatively pleasant day. There was no wind even after dark, so it was perfect for walking outside.

It’s a perfect day for a date… 

Looking up at the twinkling stars in the sky, his thoughts went to the meeting and interview he went to in Yokohama today. Since he was walking around the city with his lover, he supposed he could call it a date.

Hatori Yoshiyuki was thirty years old. Ever since he joined a publishing company called Marukawa Shoten and was assigned to the girls' manga editing department, he had been a dedicated editor.

He was not particularly interested in becoming an editor. However, since seeing his childhood friend, who had been drawing and submitting manga since he was a child, win a rookie award and make his debut, Hatori became interested in the publishing industry. He was quite happy when he passed through the narrow gate of publishing companies and got a job offer.

A publishing company was not just a place where editors work.

Between a publishing company and your average company, there was no difference in terms of human resources, general affairs, and sales. So he thought that there might be a job that he could do.

When he entered the company and was assigned to the editorial department, he was a little worried, but surprisingly, the job seemed to suit him. Of course, it didn't mean that everything always went okay.

There were times when he had trouble with work, and there were times when he had trouble with personal relationships.

However, he had gained a good amount of experience and achievements, and now he was in charge of sub-editing a girls’ manga magazine called "Monthly Emerald.”

"This month's progress has been amazing. I haven't seen it this good in years.”

"Do you know when the usual deadline is? Some of the authors are already almost finished.”

The reason Yoshino wasn’t in a dire situation was because, as he said, they usually had plenty of time to get things done. He was in the process of putting in the rough sketches, but from the looks of Yoshino, things were going well.

Yoshino was the type of person who took longer to pick a name than to make a plot.

Even after it was completed, Yoshino would go over it several times, rework it, and then ask for feedback. Hatori's job was to give him his rough and frank opinions. Whether the story was funny or not, he told them straight.

Of course, every writer responded differently.

Some writers, like Yoshino, thrived on being clearly told what to do, while others were more suited to theoretical and detailed pointers.

“I know what you mean. I do things at my own pace!”

“I’m going to die because of your pace.”

“Uh…I’m sorry…But! This time, things are going well.”

Yoshino had a big mouth and said many things as he struck his chest. He must have a lot of self-confidence to say that much.

"If you get carried away like that, isn't it going to be hard to make up for it in the end?”

“Since I’m doing so well, don't you think I should be praised for it?”

“Alright then. I'll believe you when I see it. I'm counting on you.”

“Leave it to me!”

Even if things were going well between the two of them, you never know when things might start looking bleak. The trick was to take Yoshino's big talk with a grain of salt. It was essential to be prepared in case there was a delay.

"Oh, Tori, wait a minute. I'm going to take some pictures there too!”

"Hey, Yoshino! Don't run, you'll bump into someone.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful!”

Hatori watched the back of his lover, Yoshino, as he ran off. He couldn’t help but feel his mouth slacken at the sight of his back, but remembering that he was outside, his face quickly tightened.

“Yoshikawa Chiharu” was Hatori’s childhood friend, along with being the author he was in charge of. It was a little over a year ago when they were able to add another category to their relationship.

After a long period of unrequited love, they were finally able to become lovers. But he still regretted that he got desperate and hurted Yoshino. 

He had done something that could have ruined their relationship. Oddly enough however, instead of getting angry, Yoshino had forgiven him.

His generosity was something that was truly unmatched.

He was a very easygoing person but shouldn’t have forgiven him so easily. At the beginning of their relationship, he couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. Yoshno didn’t show it on his face, but he could sense it.

If he was being honest, there were times when he wondered if he would wake up from this convenient dream at the drop of a hat. One day it may come to an end, but until then, he was going to hold on to this happiness.

Even if the day was to come when Hatori would have to put an end to it, he had experienced so much happiness. Hatori would not have any regrets if he were to wake up from his dream.

If I were to tell Yoshino this, he would be appalled at my negative thinking.

Hatori smiled at his own thoughts. Of course, he wanted to stay with Yoshino for the rest of his life. As long as he was allowed to be by his side, he wouldn't leave. However, he had a desire for that and Yoshino’s happiness.

But there was another thing.

If by chance, Hatori's existence became a burden or had a negative effect on Yoshino, he had every intention of leaving him. It would be a punishment for himself.

“Wait a minute,” Yoshino quickly returned, with a camera in his hands.

He would be turning thirty in a few months, but he was still restless. He was curious about everything and had lots of feelings. Many freelance people were of unknown age, and Yoshino fit the bill. With a baby face and big eyes, he also had a petite physique. When he was wearing casual clothing, he looked like a college student. When Hatori was with him, he felt like he was getting older.

“Did you take a good picture?”

“It's perfect! There was a really strange figurine in the storefront over there, and they let me take a picture of it.”

“Well…” Yoshino came back with a smile, showing him the picture on the camera monitor. He was happy to see it, and he wanted to take pictures of the background.

The single-lens reflex digital camera he was using now was a new one bought just the other day. Looking at the fact that he was using it quite well, he thought he must be using it often. He was passionate about escapism.

It was an old promise that he would improve what he did. 

He recalled back in the day, Hatori had a hard time getting Yoshino to concentrate on his studies. There was not one textbook that didn’t have a doodle drawn inside of it.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here today. Would it have been better to take the pictures at a brighter time?”

It would have been better if he had arrived at an earlier time, but Hatori’s work dragged on which resulted in him being late. 

It wasn’t as though he had any work he had to immediately complete, but Hatori took Yoshino’s word that he didn’t care he was late.

I know I have to keep my work life and personal life separate...

Perhaps it was because they have known each other for so long, his relationship with Yoshino caused that line to blur.

He had completed proofreading and had some spare time, but the detailed work kept stacking up and it ate up his time.

“These are good materials. The sky at night is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Well, that’s good to know…”

“I was able to snap a picture of the Ferris wheel earlier. When it’s more empty, I want to get on the Ferris wheel and take a picture at the top, but two guys on a Ferris wheel at this time would stand out too much.”  

“Oh, if you wanted to get on the ride, why did you say anything? I would have waited at the bottom”

At the time now, they should still be able to make it just in time. He was sure the night view would be more beautiful than earlier when the sun was almost down.

“You’re asking me to stand in a line alone filled with couples?!”

“I have a SLR, so I can carry it and get on while collecting data.”

Being in such a date spot with his lover could make them stand out like a sore thumb. However, the camera and notes in his hands certainly mitigates this.

“Absolutely not! Oh, Why don’t you stand there Tori?”

“Why would I do that?”

“You’re still wearing a suit, it looks like you’re still working.”

Hatori had to work until noon, so he was still wearing his suit and coat. He couldn’t help but think that they help him in the midst of working.

He was often told that he didn’t look like the average editor upon the first meeting. But, that was probably because he would wear a suit just like any other company.

When meeting with other companies, it wasn’t uncommon for him to be mistaken for someone in sales.

Editors don’t normally wear suits everyday.

Since being an editor was a relatively flexible job, everyone usually dressed in more casual clothing. Hatori would wear suits because of his own personal commitment. 

When he put on his suit and fastened his tie, he felt more and more serious. For Hatori, the suit was his on and off switch and initially, he decided against wearing a suit, but realized he couldn’t keep it up for long.

He tried to keep work to a minimum, but when he found himself in a pinch, Hatori would take work home with him.

Even at home, he couldn’t help but look over the plots and storyboards from the authors he was in charge of. He would read through the materials and reach out to them when there was something in front of him that needed to be completed.

Even then, Hatori didn’t want to contact them on his days off. He would particularly refrain from communicating with the writers he was in charge of as much as possible.

The only exceptions to that were the writers with significant delays, and Yoshino.

"Hey, are you trying to make me do something I don’t want to do? I don’t know how to properly use this camera in the first place.”

If he was being honest, he didn’t want to handle such delicate equipment without first looking at the manual. He was sure he wouldn’t break it, but it would be disastrous if he deleted the photos Yoshino took today.

“No luck. Well, let’s come back on a free day. There won’t be so many people first thing in the morning on a weekday.”

“What’s with that face? Do you really not want to ride the Ferris wheel with me?”

“No, it’s not like that…” He was quite surprised that Yoshino agreed to go on a date with him.

...Does Yoshino even grasp this concept?

He would promise he would play the next time, just like when they were kids. That was all it must have been to him.

“Ah, Tori, stand right there.”

“Don’t move!”

“If you’re collecting background materials, wouldn’t it be better if people weren’t entering?”

From the way he was holding the camera, it seemed that Yoshino wanted to use Hatori as a model.

“It’s easier to draw the background with people in it when I can compare them to the characters.”

“....I understand.”

Hatori didn’t mind being photographed for collecting materials, but he didn’t like himself being photographed.

He didn’t know what kind of face he should make when Yoshino pointed the lens at him, plus he didn’t think the photograph would look good.

“You need to smile more.”

“That’s impossible.”

Since his mother loved events, he would have his picture taken from time to time until he became a senior. There were still many photo albums in his childhood home.

No matter at what age the photo was taken, Hatori’s facial expressions always remained the same. He was quite impressed at his lack of expression.

Most of the time, Yoshino, who was also in the pictures with him, was very expressive. Laughing, crying, pouting, etc. it made Hatori feel more unsociable.

“Move a little closer to the right.”

“Like this?”

"Don't just stand there with your whole body facing away from me, give off this feeling like we're meeting.”

“Don’t complain. I’m not a model.”

He sighed while Yoshino gave him detailed instructions. As much as he wanted to cooperate with him, he just couldn’t meet his high demands.

“Well then, how about you imagine you’re waiting for my late manuscript?”

Just by imagining what he just said, the frustration came flooding back. Though he knew that it was simply fabricated, that very feeling he had experienced countless times was very real.

Yoshino pointed and gave a drawn out laugh as he stared at his wrinkled eyebrows.

“...I’m sorry. I’ll leave you as is. Now, say cheese!” Yoshino adjusted the zoom and pressed the shutter button several times after his shout.

“Hurry up and finish it.”

Even though it was a weekday, every place was crowded with people on a Friday night.

Everytime the flash went off, it drew the attention of passersby. It was quite awkward seeing as everyone was looking at him, wondering what he was doing?

“Wait a minute while I take another picture.”

Yoshino moved to take another picture of Hatori from a different angle. Oddly enough, in his imagination, it seemed as though he was happy. 

“That’s enough.”

“Yeah, thank you. This helped a lot.”

Hatori was relieved to be finally dismissed from his modeling duties.

“So, where to next?”

They found themselves nearing the station. He wasn’t aware of it, as they were occasionally stopping, but they must have been walking for several hours.

“Let’s go eat Chinese food! I'm just hungry. After all, if you're in Yokohama then you must get Chinese food.”

“Isn’t it a little early for dinner?”

It had been some time, but they still had a couple of hours before it was their normal dinner time.

“I’ve been to all of the places I wanted to go, took lots of pictures, so I think I’m done. It’s been a long time since I’ve walked this much and my legs are killing me.”

“You really should exercise more often. And didn’t you say you bought a meat bun and ate it? And didn’t you say you had a big meal before the meeting?”

Before meeting up with Hatori, Yoshino arrived early and wandered around aimlessly to kill time. He said that he had eaten lunch at a cafe that had recently opened.

In addition, the meat bun he bought on his way to the meeting was quite large, along with the hearty bite he took to sample it.

"I've already digested what I've eaten of the bun before I met up with you. Plus I have a dessert stomach.”

"Isn't that an expression you use when you want to eat something sweet…?"

"Don't worry about the details. You've only had one bite of the bun, you must be hungry.”

"Not that I'm hungry but…”

“Then it’s settled!” With that said, Yoshino pulled at Hatori’s arm enthusiastically. 

“Hey, where are we going?”

“If I remember correctly, there’s this restaurant on the cross street that looked really good. I think it’s over here.”

“You’re good when it comes to these sorts of things…” He was good at taking photos and looking for great restaurants.

“I have a gourmet taste because I grew up with Tori’s cooking.”

“I don’t remember you growing up with that.”

The moment he corrected him, Yoshino laughed out loud. He didn’t know if it was because of that, but Yoshino seemed oddly excited.

Is it because he got hit with the Christmas spirit?

Confused by the change of the atmosphere, Hatori reluctantly followed Yoshino.

He stepped into the alleyway as if he was being dragged, Yoshino eyeing up a Chinese restaurant in front of him.

“Look, this place looks great doesn’t it?”

“Sure.”

As Yoshino said, it was a restaurant with a great ambiance to it. Hatori was rather amazed that he managed to catch sight of the sign in such a narrow alley.

When the two entered the store, they were greeted by a cheerful voice.

“Welcome.” The restaurant was small, but clean and quaint.

“A table for two?”

“Ah, yes.” As soon as they were shown to their seats, Yoshino pondered over the menu in his hands.

“Everything looks so amazingly good~”

“Keep it moderate.”

"I know. Ah, what will I order? Let’s see, stirred-fried shrimp in chili sauce, Peking duck and stirred-fried water spinach. Deep fried prawn wraps, xiaobo bao, juicy buns... Oh, please let me have the seafood soup.”

Yoshino ordered from every menu item that caught his eye.

"Are you sure you can eat that much?”

"That's about it for now. We can order dessert later, right?”

“You’re going to order more…?” Normally if Yoshino was hungry, he would feel a sense of uneasiness as he was picking up all kinds of food.

"Don't worry. We'll eat together.”

“I'm hoping it's…”

While he was reasonably hungry, he thought it’d be better to be prepared today. Hatori tightened his tie a little and sipped the tea that was offered to him.

“Are you going to finish your work by the 27th?”

“Yes I will.”

“What are you going to do this year?”

“Well, my mom and dad are going to spend New Year's Eve at a hot spring, so I'm going home after the New Year.”

Every end of the year, Hatori would usually return home to help with cleaning and make *Osechi Ryori with his mother.

"I see. I think I'll go back at the end of the year too~. I have to work on my manuscript, and if I slack off at my parents' house, they'll nag me.”

“You don’t have to slack off.”

“But, you know there’s not much to do at home.”

“Really? Then maybe you can come spend time helping me clean up.”

“...I knew you’d say that. I’d rather clean my room than clean my parent’s home.”

“You’re right. I should polish every nook and cranny of my home myself at least once a year.”

He wouldn't go so far as to call it a dirty house, but Yoshino's room was terrible.

The kitchen and dining room were always neat and tidy, as Hatori defended it, and Yoshino was dying to clean up his work room before he called in his female assistants.

However, the walk-in closet called the library was piled high with manga and materials. Lately, what he couldn’t fit in there was starting to invade his bedroom.

“You vacuum sometimes!”

"I do that on occasion. You should sort your mangas. And I was wondering why the windows were fogging up. Give me one day free before the end of the year and I'll help you, get rid of the large mangas.”

“Ser~iously…”

“You know I don’t owe you any help, right?”

“Oh, sorry! I’ll do my very best.” Glaring at him, Yoshino straightened his back. While he was making plans in his head for the cleaning, the food he had ordered was brought to the table.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Here you go, seafood soup, *xiaolongbao, and fried water spinach.”

"Wow, that looks delicious!” Feeling uncomfortable, Yoshino quickly changed the subject.

In truth, the aroma coming from the freshly steamed xiao long bao stimulated Hatori’s appetite. Saliva started to well up in his mouth.

“Ah, I'm going to eat it. Ah, it's hot...it’s delicious! Tori, eat it quickly before it gets cold.”

“Oh.”

He put the piping hot xiaolongbao aside for later and took a sip of the seafood soup. The soup gradually began to permeate within his cold body, and the fried water spinach was so chewy he couldn’t stop eating it.

All the dishes that came one after another were delicious. For a while, the two concentrated on eating the meal in silence.

Yoshino, who was eating the chili prawns that came later, suddenly stopped eating.

“What’s wrong?”

"It's really good, but I like your shrimp chili better. What's the difference?”

“I guess your tongue is just used to it.”

“I guess that's how it is. There are so many delicious foods in the world, but I don't think I could survive without Tori's cooking.”

He looked at Yoshino, trying to suppress his agitation at his casual remark. He tried to reply in a casual way.

“You’re exaggerating.”

“It’s true.”

“Flattery won’t get you an extension for the deadline.”

The reason he couldn’t give a straight answer was partly because of his shy personality, but it was also because he had a crush on him for so long that he tried to hide his feelings from him.

He wondered if one day he would be able to "flirt" with him like other lovers do.

He might call me gross…

He tried to imagine it, and raised his eyebrows at the uncomfortable feeling.

"Hey, is your phone ringing?”

“Looks like it.”

He was rather upset that he didn't notice the incoming call on his cell phone. It must have been a work-related call. Since he was in a “meeting with an author”, he would just call them back later.

Just to be sure, he took out his cell phone from his pocket and raised his eyebrows at the name on the display.

The caller was Nakahara, a new writer who had started working with him a while ago.

What’s going on?

She was currently in her sophomore year of college, and Hatori was assigned to her because she won the Rookie of the Year Award.

After her award-winning work was published, she aimed to complete her second work. This was the first time she and her editor, Hatori, had worked together on a story from the ground up.

The plot was OK’ed a few days ago, and he believed she was working on the storyboard now.

She told him that she would let him check it when it was finished, but Hatori was in no particular hurry. He was sure she knew that.

Even so, the fact that she was calling him on the cell phone he had given her for emergencies suggests that she may be in some kind of trouble.

There have been many times in the past when he had been asked to help an author who was in trouble.

No matter how well prepared you are, unexpected misfortune can strike on any given day. A leak in the apartment building can destroy the physical manuscript, data on your PC can blow up, or you could fall ill with the flu just before the deadline.

The important thing was to make sure you have enough time to get things done and to take care of things without panicking. As long as you keep those two points in mind, most things would work out.

“Is it from the company?”

"No, an author.”

“Maybe it's that newbie again?”

“……Yeah.”

He told Yoshino that he was going to be in charge of the rookie, just to keep him in the loop.

This was not the first time she had contacted him when they were alone. What was different was that it was a phone call, not an email.

The fact that she didn’t stop calling him may indicate that she was in a desperate situation.

“Sorry, it might be an emergency. I'll be out in a minute.”

“Hatori here.” When he turned on his phone, he heard a nervous voice.

“Um, it’s Nakahara!"

“What’s wrong?”

“I'm working on a storyboard right now, but I'm having trouble with it, so I was hoping Hatori-san could give me some feedback. I called your editorial department, but they said you were out of the office, so I had to call you here.”

“Are you asking about the storyboard?”

"Yes! Yes, I'm confused about-”

“You're not in some kind of trouble, are you?” He softly interrupted Nakahara’s words to confirm.

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“I'm sorry. I'm having a meeting outside, so I'll call you back.”

He would love to consult with her, but he was out with Yoshino. His mood was half private, but as the writer in charge, he couldn’t make Yoshino wait any longer.

“Oh, I'm sorry! I hope you didn't mind that I called you for advice. It didn't work out and I got anxious. I'll think about it a little more on my own.”

“There's no need to rush. There's still time, so let's take it slow.”

“Hatori-san…” When he said that gently, Nakahara seemed to calm down a little.

“Can you please send me an email with the part you need help with? That would be great.”

"Okay, I'll email it to you right away.”

“Thank you very much. I'll call you back from the office on Monday.”

“Huh, Monday...?”

He could hear the disappointment in her voice. He understood the desire to move on quickly, but Hatori was simply a company employee.

In that sense, I'm too soft on Yoshino.

It didn’t matter if it was the weekend or a long vacation. He would do anything for Yoshino. In a way, he guessed you could say that he was driven by his own selfish desires.

Hatori didn’t indulge him when it came to work, but when it came to other things, he usually listened to him because he wanted to see Yoshino's happy face.

“I’m sorry. The company is closed on the weekends.”

"Oh, yes, of course! Well, I'll be waiting for your call.”

“Then, excuse me.”

He hung up the phone and let out a breath. He had planned to return to Yoshino immediately, but it took him a while to end the call.

It had been quite a while since he had been in charge of a rookie.

At first, she seemed wary of Hatori, who didn't seem like a typical editor, but gradually she came to approve of him.

Or rather, does she cherish me?

Of course, it was good that she was willing to talk to him about her problems, and Hatori was willing to think about and solve them with her.

However, he felt as though their contact was a bit too frequent. If he gave the OK for one thing and moved on, he was immediately asked for advice again for the next thing.

Well, I guess that's the way it is in the beginning…

He didn’t think there was any artist who didn’t worry about how his or her work would be perceived by others.

Yoshino, who had been an author for almost ten years, was both happy and sad to receive fan letters and awards. 

In fact, the pressure may be greater now that he has become an established and successful writer.

He thought the job of an editor was to steer the ship, so to speak.

Of course, as a commercial work, they order the colors to match the published colors. Hatori asked the writers to show their individuality within that framework.

As the editor in charge, he would give his advice and offer ideas when necessary, but he cannot dictate every step of the way.

The reason why she asked Hatori for his opinion on everything was probably because she felt insecure. He understood the desire to seek someone’s approval.

However, if everything was done in accordance with the editor’s opinion, the work would no longer be her own. He wanted to lighten her nervousness. 

Nakahara was a skillful artist who had lots of talent. Her prize-winning work was published and was very well received. He thought she had a lot of room to grow, but the problem was that she lacked confidence.

For Hatori, who had no interest in drawing, just being able to create a story from scratch was a great talent. He had been doing everything well since he was a child, but in other words, he was average at everything.

Since he didn’t have any outstanding talents or inspiration, he had to do what he could do.

Throughout his life, he had rarely been so obsessed with something that he forgot who he was. That had helped him to develop an objective viewpoint.

Fortunately, he felt that this perspective had been put to good use in his current line of work. He was trying to calmly judge how he could better convey the goodness of his work, but when it came to Yoshino, everything was an exception.

Even before he realized he was in love with him, Hatori’s world revolved around him, and after he realized it, the symptoms became even more severe.

 Now that they were lovers, it was nearly impossible to look at their relationship objectively.

He tried to think as calmly as he could, but the negative part of him got bigger and he only thought about the bad things.

I can’t help myself it seems...

It was difficult to control his romantic feelings with reason. If he was in a position to give himself advice, he would tell himself to calm down.

It had been said since ancient times that love made people go crazy, and Hatori was no exception to that rule.

When he returned to the table, Yoshino, who had been in a good mood earlier, was now in a bad mood, drinking sake.

“I’m sorry, I’m late.”

“No problem. I’m working.”

“You ordered a drink?”

“You didn't come back, so I thought I'd have a drink alone.”

Yoshino usually doesn’t drink much alcohol outside the house. Today, however, he was gulping down a bottle of *Shaoxing wine.

He had never been so pissed off about Hatori sitting on the phone for work, and he knew the contents of Hatori's work better than anyone.

“So, are you okay?”

“Yeah, she wanted to talk about the storyboard to me, so I called her back.”

“She went through the trouble of calling you to ask about the storyboard?” Yoshino seemed to become annoyed when he explained the situation.

“I guess she got impatient because she couldn't do what she wanted. She called the editorial department and they told her I was on, so she called me."

“Hmmm.” Yoshino continued to eat in silence with an unamused look on his face.

He wasn’t sure what to make of that. He knew from experience that leaving Yoshino alone in a situation like this could be troublesome later on.

“What are you angry about?”

“I'm not mad at you." Yoshino replied to Hatori's question without hesitation and gulped down the wine.

“I'm not even mad at you.”

“I'm sorry I left my seat.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. It's your job.”

“Then why did you...?” The waitress put an end to their argument with her words.

“May I bring you some dessert?"

“Oh, yes, please.”

“Are you sure you can eat that much?”

“I told you, I'm fine. I ordered one for you, so don't leave any behind.”

“......"

Yoshino seemed to have changed his mind and was happily eating the Almond jelly that was brought to him. If he pursued him further, it would only lead to more trouble. Deciding that, Hatori also silently reached for the spoon.

As if his previous moodiness had been a lie, Yoshino was as normal as ever after leaving the restaurant. In fact, the tension seemed to have risen somewhat.

....Come to think of it, I wonder what he'll do for Christmas this year?

Christmas Eve was in a few days. They hadn't talked about how they would spend it, but they didn’t do anything special every year.

Christmas was a day for Yoshino to eat chicken and cake. If Hatori put a big pile of french fries on it, he would be overjoyed.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t spent time alone together, but that was before they started dating. And so far Hatori had been working his butt off on work that he was behind on, or being interrupted by Yanase.

Bad memories came flooding back… 

Hatori put the not-so-pleasant memories out of his mind and composed himself.

No promises meant business as usual. If he went to Yoshino's house with a gift, Hatori would probably spend the night.

Since this year’s progress wasn’t urgent, there wasn't any assistance coming in and out and Yanase was stuck at *Seinenshi sensei’s place.

“Well then. Go to bed early and don’t stay up late. Good luck with tomorrow’s manuscript.”

“……”

For some reason, Yoshino didn’t try to step out even though Hatori tried to see him off on the road to his home. On the contrary, he picked and held Hatori’s coat.

“Yoshino?”

Yoshino’s slightly red cheeks were looking down. It didn’t look like he was drunk, but was that the afterglow of alcohol?

“You know, normally you wouldn’t go home on a day like this?”

“?”

He didn’t understand what exactly Yoshino was saying, and the former had a perplexed face. In response to Hatori’s dull reaction, Yoshino stamped his feet on the ground.

“So! You’re on your way home from a date!” He looked wide eyed at Yoshino who raised his voice in frustration. Hatori couldn’t hide his surprise at the fact that Yoshino perceived today was a date.

“What’s with that face! You can add embarrassing scenes to a plot, but you can’t do it in real life…” Yoshino murmured those words with dissatisfaction. Hatori rubbed his eyes, trying to see if he was in a convenient dream, but it seemed to be real.

“That is to say, I just want to confirm---”

“In times like this you have to read the room!”

He held his breath while Yoshino glared at him with a flushed face.

Is it…is it okay for me to accept this invitation?

In retrospect, Yoshino was always somewhat strange. He could say it was about to snow, but it would be troublesome if he got angry.

“Can I stay the night?”

“…”

When asked straight, Yoshino’s blush dyed to his neck and he slightly nodded. They were both silent on their way to Yoshino’s house.

The tension rose with every step he took, even with the cool air brushing against his cheek, his body temperature only grew.

“Huh? Where did I put the key?” Yoshino was panicking in front of the door. He looked in his coat pocket and his trouser, it seemed that he forgot the bag on his shoulder.

“Is it in your bag?”

“R-right."

His trembling hands were trying to open the door. Yoshino, who had no sense of control, dropped the key. The sound of the bumpy metal crashed into the hallway. 

“I’ll open it."

Hatori picked up the key and opened the front door. At that moment, Yoshino looked small and he seemed to be holding his breath.

“Th-thank you."

He opened the door and encouraged Yoshino to enter first. Yoshino’s movements in front of him started to look shaky.

The voice asking the question was trembling. Even though Hatori was just as nervous, it seemed as though the tension was infectious.

Hatori assumed he should have gotten used to this, since they had done it so many times in the past, but he didn’t want to look so dismayed in front of the person he loved.

“No.”

“Ah, then how about we take a shower.”

“Ah…”

His pink nape caused the little amount of his reason to dissolve. Hatori held Yoshino’s shoulders, turned him around and forcefully kissed him.

“Nnn…”

Perhaps because of Hatori's brute force, Yoshino’s eyes were wide open. However, immediately, the tension was leaving his body and his eyelids fluttered close.

Eating his lips and twisting his tongue, Yoshino put his arms around Hatori’s back. As the kiss deepended, the more they clung to each other.

“Nnn, n, nn…”

He embraced Yoshino’s body -which was gradually melting- Hatori caved in and engulfed his lips.

He heard a wet sound every time their tongues entangled. He teased Yoshino’s tongue, which was trying to entangle awkwardly and enjoying his mouth that was hotter than usual. Hatori wanted to continue further but when he noticed Yoshino was suffocating, he broke the kiss, feeling his hair getting pulled.

“Idiot, we’re still in the hallway”

Yoshino complained while out of breath. Hatori roughly pulled Yoshino’s waist as he glared up at him with a flushed face and whispered in his ear.

“It’s your fault for enticing me. And you were responding, too.”

“Huh? That’s just a conditioned reflex…”

“Is that so?”

“What do you want me to say!”

“It’s written all over your face.”

He was sulking but there was a sweetness in his gaze. Yoshino showed a sullen face due to Hatori’s embarrassing and sadistic desires.

“What is written, can you carefully tell me?”

“Eh? ---uwa!”

Holding his waist, they headed to the bedroom and fell on the bed, entangled together.

“Hey Tori---”

Fueled by Yoshino’s wet eyes, Hatori kissed him like he was drawn in. He continued the deep kiss and ran his hands over Yoshino’s clothes.

While singing and moaning into the sealed kiss, Hatori pinned him down and felt around his thin body. Rolling up his thin shirt, he touched Yoshino’s bare skin.

Hatori managed to get rid of his coat, and while he was distracted with the difficulty of removing his belt he realized he hadn’t even taken off his jacket.

I seriously can’t keep calm

Internally, Hatori laughed at his own impatience. He roughly stripped off his jacket, which would normally be dutifully hung up, and pulled out his tie.

“Hey, slow down a bit……”

“No way.”

“Then try harder!” If he were to immediately answer, all he would get was a retort from Yoshino.

When he caressed the area where Yoshino’s ribs had previously been, Yoshino stirred underneath Hatori. He was still a bit thin, but he had gained some weight after all of his efforts.

“I’m deeply moved that I’m allowed to caress this.”

“Hey! Hey, don’t rub that…!” When Hatori grabbed his side, Yoshino squirmed ticklishly.

“Then, how about here?”

“Hya-”

He moved his hand up further, gently caressing the top of his nipple with the pad of his thumb and crushed it, hearing a high pitched voice escape from Yoshino’s lips. Yoshino was sensitive there as well. When stimulated, it hardened easily.

“Ah, nnn, ouch, idiot not so hard.”

“You like it when it hurts, don’t you?” When he pinched it, his body jumped.

“Ahh, nnn…!”

When he kneaded it with some force, it became red like a fruit and Yoshino rubbed his knees together as if he was frustrated. It looked like his nipples weren’t the only thing getting hard.

Hatori felt something hard and alluring when he forcibly split his knees apart and pressed his knee against his groin.

“Uh…ah, wait ah ah!” Rubbing it with his thigh made it even harder. Hatori pulled down Yoshino’s pants -which had been loosened at his waist- and his underwear had changed color at some point.

“You’re already wet.” Yoshino blushed to his ears when Hatori told him that fact.

“W-well, I’m not the only one…ah.”

“Maybe so.”

“Ahh……?!”

Hatori ran his index finger over the elastic part of Yoshino’s underwear and lightly pulled it down, revealing his hard member. Hatori traced the underside and scooped the moistened tip with his fingers.

“Ahh, ah…” When he wrapped his fingers around his entire cock and gently rubbed it, Yoshino let out a sweet and seductive voice. The appearance of him clutching the bedsheets and enduring the pleasure was lovely.

How cute.

Yoshino was quick to whine, and he was usually sloppy. But at the root of Yoshino’s character was a stubbornness that absolutely hated to lose. Once he had made a decision, he was not going to change it no matter what.

“Yoshino, take that off.”

“You idiot, get ready first…” While scolding Hatori, Yoshino reached into the drawer on the nightstand.

He had found what he was looking for and was embarrassed to present what would be used against him. He carelessly pressed it against his chest.

“Thank you.”

The bottle of lotion and the box of contraceptives that were ready were new. Hatori wondered what Yoshino’s face looked like when he was buying those things.

Resisting the urge to pursue an answer, he took the contents on the palm of his hand. Making sure to spread it all over his fingers, he wrapped his fingers around his cock again.

“Hya…ah,ah…!”

Yoshino’s moans became even sweeter when Hatori spread it up and down. After feeling its tightness, he probed behind with his wet fingers.

“Mmm, mmm.”

Yoshino moaned when he forcibly pushed the tips of his fingers into the tight opening. He didn’t realize he was making it even tighter, but he still pushed his fingers deeper and deeper.

“Ngh, nghh……”

Yoshino clenched his teeth as he endured the sensation of his fingers probing inside his body.

His opening was not originally designed to accept foreign substances, but as lotion was added several times along the way, he slowly got used to it.

Every time he pulled his fingers in and out, a lewd squelching sound was heard.

“Ah…ah, ah…mm.”

Yoshino’s hands wandered around the bed looking for something to cling to. Eventually, he grabbed a pillow and pulled it over his face, burying himself. Realizing that he didn’t want to let out his voice, he moved his fingers even deeper.

“Ah, ah, ah…!” With more fingers inside him, he pushed hard against the inner wall and Yoshino’s body jumped like a fish on land. He could tell that he was getting pleasure from his pleasured moans.

Hatori already knew all of Yoshino’s sensitive spots. He couldn’t afford to tease him today. Just severly torture the spots where he would surely react.

“No, not there, ahh, ah!”

Yoshino wasn’t opposed to getting pleasured, but when he felt too good, he suddenly got scared.

He couldn’t understand the uneasy feeling like he wasn’t himself. But he had no intention of toning it down.

“Aahh, no, ah, ah--!”

The root of his arousal that was about to burst was suppressed. Yoshino -who was about to come- stared at Hatori with an agitated expression.

“W-why.”

“You can hold it in a bit more, right?” If he made him come first on a tiring day, he would often fall asleep immediately after that. As expected, it would be a problem if that were to happen today. He was already painfully hard and it wouldn’t be easy to take care of it by himself.

“You have to take responsibility for the invitation.”

“Ahh……”

As he pulled out the fingers that were probing inside, a sweet, trembling voice escaped. He had feared it might still be a little tight, but his patience had already reached its limit.

“Are you ready?”

“……suit yourself.”

With Yoshino’s permission, he spread his knees apart. He restlessly loosened his pants and pulled his excited self out of his underwear.

He quickly put on the condom and when he pushed into the prepared spot, he could vividly see his cock throb.

“Ah---” He pushed the tip in with a huff. Running out of patience, he shoved it in mercilessly.

Although it was still as tight as he thought, it had already learned Hatori’s shape and accepted him without refusal. He secretly let out a moan from the pleasure of being wrapped around his tight entrance.

“Nghh…why…why is it so big…ngh.” Yoshino glared at him resentfully with tears in his eyes.

That might have been him whining rather than him complaining. He was embarrassed to hear him complain about his body’s physiological reaction. It wasn’t something that could be controlled by will.

“Of course it's because I want you. There isn’t any guy who’s not excited about holding someone he loves.”

“Idiot……ngh.”

It was unreasonable for him to be verbally attacked like that even though he answered his question. In a fit of anger, he forcefully pushed it to the root, and cloudy whiteness was scattered by the force.

“Ahh……ngh.”

He seemed to have come just by stimulation because he was made to endure it earlier. The bodily fluid overflowing from the explosion was scattered across his thin abdomen.

“I didn’t say you can come first right?”

“B-but……” He wiped the overflowing bodily fluids with his fingers and smeared it on Yoshino’s arousal. He rubbed it hard, and with Hatori inside, it got tighter.

“Ahh, ah, no, I’m gonna come again……”

“That won’t do. It's better if we come together right?”

“Yeah ... but ...ngh.”

“Can’t you hold it in for me?”

“You’re so mean Tori……Uh, ah, ah, nghh, ngh!” 

When Yoshino said not to do something, it was really him saying what he wanted you to do. The reaction inside changed depending on the intensity of the stimulus. As he was enjoying the change, Yoshino was complaining, while he was on the verge of tears.

“No, idiot, don't play anymore……ngh.”

“You want me to focus more here?”

“Ahngh!?” He gave a hard shove at the place where their bodies connected.

“No, ahhh, ah, ah……ngh.” He put himself into the root and shook up their connected bodies. Every time he sent his hips in, Yoshino's body jolted and trembled.

He grabbed Yoshino's waist and held him up, bending his back, and mercilessly stirred his lotion-soaked insides.

“Ahhngh, ahh, no……ngh” While greedily gouging out the tight entrance, he drilled into the back again and again. When he sent his hips into the right place, Yoshino gasped as if to cry.

That voice and expression further fueled him. Hatori threw his self-control away and within in his lust, he thrusted into Yoshino. 

“Agh,ahh,ahhng,aah!”

At first, Yoshino was at his mercy, but gradually he started to move. It was unintentional, and probably unconscious.

It was a pleasure that threw away all reason, and he was trying to get more of it. Even if it was an act of instinct, it didn’t change what the expectation was.

What Yoshino wanted, he just gave him exactly that.

I’m really cunning

Every time he held Yoshino like this, he felt an indescribable elation and guilt.

All Yoshino must have felt for Hatori -until the later revealed his hidden feelings- were the feelings of comfort, friendship, and trust of his childhood friend.

There might have been some sort of monopoly, but it probably wasn't that of love. He dragged Yoshino to this side, imposed his not-so-pretty desires on him, and instilled his lust.

Even if Yoshino had had such experience, it was with the opposite sex and he was not in the receiving position. As a man, there must have been some confusion for him.

Nevertheless, it was thanks to his generosity that he had accepted the position of being embraced on the receiving end.

He might not be aware of it himself, but Yoshino was the one who had the courage when the time came. Hatori's prudence was a mask to hide his mean, negative and cowardly self.

“Ah! Not there, no, aghn, ah, aghn!”

“Can't you say anything other than denial once in a while?”

“Sh-shut up…..nghh.” When Hatori pointed out his lack of vocabulary, he glared at him with wet eyes.

He usually had a face that didn’t seem to have anything to do with sexual things. But when they were having sex {t/n: embrace is the orginal translation. Embrace= to have sex}, he had such a face, so he couldn’t stand it.

As he repeatedly thrust into the back, the connected part became looser. At that moment, he pulled himself out as much as he could and pushed back in.

“Aaahhh……ngh.”

With each extraction, the voice that spilled out became sweeter and sweeter. As he continued to gouge out the tightly-clung inner walls, Yoshino's face became distorted with pleasure.

“You like it here right?”

“Yes, it feels good……ngh.”

The reason why he deliberately asked the question when his reason had failed was because now he could hear an honest answer.

“Here?”

“Ughhh, ah,ah, ah….ngh.”

Yoshino, who was writhing and gasping, was driven into even harder. When he squirmed and swayed, his thin body slid up on the bed.

“No, nghh, agnh, ah, ah……!”

Vigorously pushing his hips closer and thrusting even deeper, Yoshino also tangled his legs around Hatori's waist and his hands clung to his back.

Yoshino’s lips came close to his as if they were pleading. Biting and kissing, he devoured them on impulse.

“Nn,n,n,nn……ngh.”

As he rocked his hips with their bodies close together, Yoshino's erection -which was overflowing with semen- rubbed against his abdomen. It seemed that his limit was already in sight.

When he parted their lips, there was a face that looked like it was about to burst into tears right then and there.

“Tori……ngh, already, I’m coming, please……nghh.” In the blink of an eye, a single tear fell from Yoshino's eyes. He thought he’d tease him some more, but looking at his facial expression, he changed his mind.

“I know.” Immediately, he increased the pace and caught up with Yoshino.

“Ahh, ahh, ah……ngh.”

“----Chiaki.”

“Ah------!”

After an intense urging, they came almost simultaneously. Yoshino's lower abdomen quivered sporadically, overflowing with white turbidity.

“Ah, nn……ngh.” Then, after Hatori poured all the proof of his desire into Yoshino, pulling himself out.

They remained silent, waiting for the heat to recede from their bodies. As he closed his eyes and surrendered to the pleasant exhaustion, Yoshino opened his mouth, roughly breathing.

“……I've been meaning to tell you this for a while.”

“Hm?”

“It’s foul play to call out my name like that!” Yoshino caught his breath, then paused, and grudgingly complained in Hatori's ear.

Footnotes: 

Xiaolongbao: A is a type of small Chinese dumpling that gets its name from the basket it’s steamed, a xiaolongbao.

Osechi Ryori: The traditional food enjoyed during new year’s in Japan. They come in an assortment of colorful dishes packed together in special boxes called jubako, which resemble bento boxes. Every dish of these traditional foods has a special meaning in welcoming the New Year. (Taken from this site)

Shaoxing wine: A traditional Chinese wine produced in Shaoxing (eastern China). Mainly used as a cooking wine and a beverage in Chinese cuisine.

Seinenshi: Magazine for adult men

[a03feed-theborgias]

The Wanting of

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YJPQ381

by liriaen

Prompt: Flame of Burnt Brandy ("This colour was a combination of the oranges, yellows and blues from the actual flame of spirits alcohol on fire. In 1821, the magazine Lady’s Monthly described the colour as a combination of lavender grey, pale yellow and dark lilac."

Words: 100, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Borgias - Ambiguous Fandom, Cesare (Manga)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen, M/M

Characters: Cesare Borgia, Micheletto Corella

Relationships: Cesare Borgia/Micheletto Corella

Additional Tags: Drabble

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YJPQ381

[heliavaz]

GIFS FOR EVERYONE

Having basked in the beauty of gift-giving her whole life, and practicing it daily still with the spirits, Helia loved giving out small things between the 24th of December and the 1st of January, having made her own tradition of the gift-giving tradition. She adores finding small things for those close and far from her, the ones she thinks need her attention.

FOR REZA this year she has found a pair of cool looking motor cycle pants that look like they've come right out of some kind of futuristic movie.

FOR CASEY, a new Witch within her city, she has bought a book on potions, it is one sold everywhere, but that's the beauty of it, because Helia knows the potions work.

FOR EVANORA, another new Witch in town, Helia has gotten two tickets to the local spa, because she figures this young witch can use a day where she is pampered and nobody is expecting anything of her.

FOR ROXY Helia has gotten a collection of face masks and hair masks from one of her favourite brands that have cute dance pictures on them.

FOR CHAE this year Helia has gotten a fresh batch of new silk expensive face masks and some new product she's found that should help against allergies.

FOR ALDEMAR this year she has collected a package of medicinal herbs that one can put around their house and are said to drive away evil spirits and at times even give a person a glimmer of recognition.

FOR JOEL she has bought a package of special beers from Belgium this year because she didn't know what else to buy.

FOR ZACH, who was clearly taken in by her collection of magazines, she has gotten a subscription to five magazines of his choice, all he needs to do is fill in a list on the internet and he'll be delivered a monthly collection at home.

FOR AXEL, a new Witch in town who she has rarely spoken to but knows exists, she has bought a small gift box for the creative mind, with pencils, notebooks, paint, brushes, and much much more.

FOR SALIM, a new Werewolf in town, Helia has gotten a small booklet with tickets, discounts, and so forth to get him acquainted with the city.

@caseyconner @adimuses @joelrojas @oh-chung-ae @mischicvous @evanoraray @xsalimxosullivan

"Happy holidays!"