#all my birthdays were kinda terrible lol

[leaderwon]

hi! could you please do a part 2 to enha forgets ur birthday? pls part 1 was so good🫵🏼🫶🏻 i just wanna see them grovel lol

non!idol enhypen x non!idol reader

forgetting your birthday pt. 2 !

pt. 1

warnings : she/her pronouns used, cursing, crying, mentions of grief.

luna's diary : this one kinda sucks ugh. HELLA RUSHED because I went to a trip (Singapore + Malaysia) AND THE CELL SERVICE WAS terrible I'm so so so sorry anons this is very dissapointing but I felt bad making yall wait for so long. Promise to edit this as soon as I reach home!

HEESEUNG

After the realisation that your boyfriend, had indeed forgotten your birthday, the birthday spirits you had in the starting of the day had blown away. As promised he appeared to your door step with flowers in his hands as he murmured a set of apologies for forgetting your special day. Saying you were mad at your boyfriend would be a huge understatement. You were furious with a hint of disappointment. "baby I'm sorry please" he said as you closed your eyes felt a few tears threatening to fall. Noticing this heeseung hugged you tight and ran his hands in your head wondering how he could make it up to you. He knew he messed up and this couldn't be mended easily. Like a broken dam, your tears started flowing uncontrollably. "How could you forget hee?" you questioned him finally using your voice for the first time since he arrived. "I know pretty girl im so sorry" he said as his voice hitched and eyes swelling up with tears, his mind running on a marathon trying to find ways to make it up to you. Like a bulb lighting above his head, he left you on the spot and rushed to the living room.

A few minutes later he rushed back ushering you to follow him. Upon reaching the living room you saw a beautifully decorated living room with fairy lights, your favourite blankets with your snacks and your favorite movie ready to play. A smiled adorned your features as you heard him say "i know what I did was terrible but let me try to make it up to you".

JAY

He was at a party with the boys when you made him realised that he had messed up the date. He couldn't believe it. This man was shocked, mind blank wtf type shock. By the time he reached home he was already in tears. But when he saw how dark your house was with sadness evident on your face as you slept in your bed he broke down right in front of your sleeping figure.

How could he mess up the date that marks your creation? He was more dissapointed in him than you were tbh. You were soon awaken by the sounds of your boyfriend's cries. "Baby what's wrong?" You questioned him cradling his face. "I'm sorry princess I'm so sorry i can't believe I forgot your birthday"

He was more heartbroken than you were, his emotions all over the place. "Baby it's okay i promise" Cuddles and kisses you the whole night and clears his schedule for the next day.

JAKE

The whole day you patiently waited for Jake to show his existence to you. It was your birthday and you were excited to spend the day with him. But to no avail, he didn't show up. Deciding to occupy yourself with your phone, you saw a notification indicating that Jake had uploaded a story. The light in your eyes faded away as you took in Jake with Iseul, a junior, on your birthday.

Having done with this, you decided to finally text him. Upon realising what he had done, he rushed home to see you on the couch with a dark cloud above your head. "Hey baby" Jake started slowly. "I'm really sorr-" "Save it Jake I don't want to hear it" You responded cutting him off. "But baby you know Iseul is like a younger sister to me" He started again. He was walking on eggshells right now knowing that if he said anything wrong you would crack. "I get that she's a younger sister to you, but Jake it's my birthday, you could have comforted her tomorrow, but my birthday wont be tomorrow" You replied. "I waited for you so long, try and look at this in my point of view Jake" as you said that his eyes softened. "I'm so sorry, i get why you're mad at me baby please let me try and make it up to you" He said trying to mend things. "Just give me time Jake, i don't think I'll get over this easily" You said as you left the house.

You were back 3 hours later, with jake in the same spot you left him. He expression blanked as he looked at you. You were spooked out by him as you stared back at him for a moment. "Are you just gonna stand there for the rest of your life?" You asked giggling. Hearing your precious laughter he looked at you with a slight smile on his face. "Baby, I'm sorry i really am. I don't know how it managed to slip out of my mind. I swear i remembered it I'm so sorry" He said starting to ramble as you looked at him. His words barely registered in your mind due to how fast he was speaking. "Jake it's okay" "and i get it if you're still mad at me and don- wait what?" He asked confused. "You accept my apology?" He continued as you nodded. Finally moving after hours he engulfed you in a hug. "Thank you Thank you, I'll make sure this never happens again" he said gratefully. "You better not do this shit again" You said.

"Now tell me the Iseul tea"

SUNGHOON

When you asked him if he checked his calendar out of the blue he was confused. Why would you suddenly want him to check his calendar?

Upon actually checking his calendar he went pale realising he forgot your birthday, an occasion that shouldn't be remembered through a calendar. This guy was going through five stages of grief.

"no way i forgot my princess' birthday"

"how the fuck did I manage to forget her birthday?"

"God please let this be a dream"

"i forgot her birthday"

"okay i forgot her birthday, let's make it up to her" He said finally reaching the last stage of grief, acceptance. He rushed to your house to see you not there. He called your name multiple times hoping to get an answer from you finally seeing you sitting in the balcony.

"Hey baby, whatcha doin'?" your boyfriend asked you slowly walking towards you. "Nothing just sitting" You replied slowly, sadness evident in your voice. "Baby" Sunghoon starts again sitting next to you this time. He passed you a chocolate eyeing you to open it.

Upon opening it you noticed a small peice of paper with "I love you" and "I'm sorry" written on it. "I don't know how it slipped my mind, princess. But I will make it up to you, I promise". You understood his point of view, it was common to forget stuff. Though you were still hurt by this, you laid your head on his shoulder and the both of you silently enjoyed the scenery your balcony offered in silence.

SUNOO

The day had ended by the time your boyfriend had finally remembered your existence and decided to text you. You had held a party to celebrate your special day with your friends and family hoping to see a sign of sunoo. When sunoo had first texted you, you were shocked to find out that he had absolutely no idea what party or what special occasion you were talking about. You were devastated to find out that not only did he not know what day it was, but he expected you to tell him.

What kind of boyfriend doesn't remember his girlfriend's birthday and then expect her to tell him? You were mad at him with alot of hurt lingering inside you.

The clock read 1:30 am the moment he stepped inside the house. Looking around he saw leftover confetti, balloons and alocholic beverages yet to be picked up. All of this indicating that there was infact a party held. Sunoo knew that what he had done would not take a good turn and that it would take alot of fighting and apologizing to make it up to you. Spotting you with tears in your eyes, he made his way to you slowly pulling you into a hug and started apologizing.

He was sorry and guilty, you knew he was. But him expecting you to tell him that it was your birthday was where you drew the line.

You were unsure on whether you could forgive him at all. He promised to take you out tomorrow and attempt to make it up to you. You knew that wouldn't heal the hurt this had caused you, but you appreciated his efforts and agreed as you hugged him back.

JUNGWON

Out of all the people you liked in your life, you never expected Yang Jungwon to forget your birthday. If someone told you he would, you would laugh your ass off. But now, you were in tears as you held your phone finally deciding to text him.

You were in disbelief as you found out that he thought your birthday was next weekend. Thoughts like "How can someone mess up their lover's birthday?" "does he care less to not know which day" were running through your head.

He rushed into your home apologizing immediately mentioning how much he had planned and got a date wrong. He was on the verge of tears as you looked up at him rambling.

"Baby i promise i remembered, look I even had some gifts prepared" He said as he sped walk towards your shared dresser in the bedroom opening up a random compartment you had no idea existed. "What the fuck? Since when was that there?" You asked him in utter shock.

"It's always been there baby, you never noticed it" Jungwon said taking out a huge amount of gifts for you. "You weren't kidding when you said you were prepared huh?" You spoke as you scanned the bags. "Since last month" He winked at you as he led you to your living room.

"I'm so sorry, i can't believe I forgot your birthday I'm such a bad boyfriend" Jungwon apologized to you as guilt and shamed swirled in his orbs ( is this even right wtf - leaderwon ).l

"Won it's fine, don't worry" You said as a smile finally made its way on your face. "Now let's see what you got me I'm so excited" you said again as you smiled wider in happiness.

NI-KI

You were raging as you watched him play his video games for the entire day. You weren't an anti of games for you were also into playing. But it was your birthday today, a day he was supposed to spend with you instead of the ps5 Jay had gotten him on his birthday last year.

You were heartbroken as you tried to knock some sense into your boyfriend. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Finally giving up, you took your wallet and coat and left the house to get fresh air.

You could feel your phone vibrate as Ni-ki spammed your phone asking where you were. You decided against on replying and just walked ahead. Soon, you heard your boyfriend call your name from behind as he ran towards you. You tried walking faster since you didn't want to be with him at the moment. But your luck was unfortunate as he had legs long asf and caught up to you within moments.

"baby stop, come back home it's late" he begged. "Go back to your game, it's never too late for that" You said in a monotonous tone. "I'm sorry" "Sorry won't fix the day I lost waiting for you to fucking realise and rejecting all my friends who cared enough to want to spend the day with me" You said almost tearing up and walking again.

"I'm sorry" You heard him say as he stopped following you. You never heard his voice be so gentle in the 2 years you have been dating him. His voice sounded like he was on the brink of having a mental breakdown. "I really am" He said again and your heart dropped. You wondered if you were being too harsh on him.

Frozen in place, you could feel the tension in the air as the cool air blew through your hair. You were trying really hard to stay strong and hard but when you turned back to look at him, you could feel your heart drop to your stomach. You knew you were soft for this man, but the moment you looked at him you could feel emotions that you weren't aware yu could feel.

"Please" You heard him say. His eyes were pitiful with a tear threatening to fall. "I know i fucked up but please please let me try and make it up to you". You couldn't bare to see him like this anymore. "Fine" You sighed and walked towards him again.

You were hurt he missed your birthday, yes. But seeing him like that hurt you more. You knew you were deep as you held his hand and walked to the house the both of you resided in.

© @leaderwon 2024. Do not copy, translate, alter, repost or plagarize in any platform

[savemefromanepicoftimewasted]

Another Year, Another Smile

John Price X Reader

Here you were, laughing at one of the terrible dad jokes that John had made to help lighten the mood and force them to take the spotlight off of him for a few minutes. Simon could see that you were avoiding nearly all the festivities, and while he’d love to tease, he knew better.

A:N: this is for the lovely and amazing @gaylemonshark as it's their birthday! I hope you like this fic since you and Barry share a birthday lol Happy Birthday!

You hadn’t expected anyone to even realize what the day was, considering you did everything you could to ignore your birthday. So, when you found out that you and your captain, John, shared a birthday, you were ecstatic. You could share the festivities with him, but try and keep most of the attention on him since he was your superior. And more, if you were being honest but sometimes that wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Everyone in your task force knew of the relationship between the two of you, and they respected it. It was a nice feeling knowing that everyone could see how happy you were.

Here you were, laughing at one of the terrible dad jokes that John had made to help lighten the mood and force them to take the spotlight off of him for a few minutes. Simon could see that you were avoiding nearly all the festivities, and while he’d love to tease, he knew better. John’s eyes crinkled as he laughed, nose scrunched as Johnny did his best impression of Simon during a mission. You couldn’t help your own laughter, doing your best to hide your smile and hide in John’s side.

“Is funny and you know it!” Johnny pointed an accusatory finger at Simon who, for lack of a better term, was glaring at the Scotsman.

“Oh shut it, I do not sound like that.” Simon rolled his eyes, arms crossed over his chest.

“You kinda do sir, I can’t even deny it.” Kyle threw his hands up as Simon’s glare whipped from Johnny to him.

“You’re all gangin’ up on me, and it’s not even my birthday!” That brought out another round of laughter out of everyone, save for Simon of course.

Everyone began to apologize, while also chastising Simon in the most loving way that you could as well. It was a nice reminder that even with tragedy going on in the world around you, for just a few minutes you could have some peace.

“You know, I think it’s someone else’s birthday too.” John’s gaze slipped over to yours, eyes soft as he stared down at you.

“John, c’mon we promised not to make a big deal about my birthday.” You groaned and laid your head against his chest.

“I’m not! I’m just saying, why don’t we see if we can get a cake? Something to celebrate today.” John smiled and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead.

You wanted to protest, but the thought of cutting the cake with him did sound pretty nice at the moment. Johnny nearly jumped out of his seat, offering to take Kyle and Simon to the store so they could get everything that would be needed. Before either you or John could say anything the trio were gone. You didn’t even have a moment to mention they didn’t need to get any plates or silverware, the mess hall would have everything.

“Oh god, they’re going to get something tacky for us to eat off of, I can just picture it.” You slapped a palm over your face, groaning softly.

“Let them have their fun, they need to let off steam every once in a while.” John squeezed you into his side, palm warm against the skin of your shoulder.

Even if normally you tended to ignore your birthday, choosing to celebrate John’s and put him in the spotlight, it was kind of fun knowing your teammates were happy to help. Kyle had been the only person, besides John, to know your birthday. It was personal preference for the most part, the boys could be a handful and having them make a fuss over the day felt like too much.

You and John would usually swap gifts, just little things that made you think of the other person if you had the chance to get something. There were many times you’d each gotten each other the same item, laughing at how predictable you were. It was a spiral you found yourself wanting to fall into. John was someone you could picture spending the rest of your life with, someone that genuinely loved you inside and out.

The trio announced their arrival back at base by nearly deafening you and John both, although it was almost entirely Johnny’s loud voice echoing inside the room. Simon and Kyle set down the adorably tacky plates while Johnny got the cake ready. They agreed not to put too many candles on the cake lest the sprinklers go off and they ruin their hard work.

“I’d hardly call going to the store hard work.” John muttered under his breath as Johnny began lighting each candle carefully.

He had either gotten the lighter while they were out or had managed to steal Simon’s when he wasn’t paying attention. John was too attached to his lighter to let anyone touch it but himself, it had been a gift from his father that he’d cherished like a child.

“Alright! Might wanna make your wishes quick, these candles are meltin’ faster than expected.” Johnny scooped the cake up carefully, walking it over to where you and John were sitting together.

They began to sing Happy Birthday, albeit quite terribly save for Kyle who didn’t have too bad of a singing voice. Your cheeks were hurting from laughing and smiling, a hand resting against John’s knee as he chuckled. Once they finished singing both you and John leaned forward, blowing out the candles quickly to prevent any more wax from dripping onto the pristine buttercream.

“Alright, we got a cake server so you guys could cut the cake without losing a finger.” Simon held the utensil out towards John.

He took it from the other man before gesturing for you to hold it. You raised an eyebrow confused before taking it from his hand. Once you had a secure grip on the base of the utensil, John wrapped his hand over yours. Your jaw dropped open as you realized what he was doing, you were going to cut the cake together. It felt perfect, John’s grip was both firm and comforting as he helped you cut through the cake, leaning down to press a kiss to your cheek.

“Happy Birthday darling, thank you for spending it with me.” John’s eyes were sparking under the fluorescent lighting.

“Happy Birthday John, I couldn’t imagine spending it with anyone else.” You didn’t even notice Johnny take the cake, nor the cake knife away as you and John stared into each other’s eyes.

Maybe this birthday would be one to remember for the rest of your life.

It was simply

Perfect.

[bengiyo]

Cherry Magic TH Ep 1 Stray Thoughts

I'm excited to see Tay and New work together again, and glad they were selected as the ones to explore what GMMTV BL looks like between adults. I had some issues with the way the Japanese adaptation approached sex AND intimacy, so I'm hoping this one handles that differently.

I kinda like Newwie's hair, and I like the way they're contextualizing Achi's economic state.

Oh, good. We're keeping the bit where Adachi/Achibus bad at elevators.

Sing Harit!!

Tay is still just so beautiful.

Jan!!

Not surprised we're getting Japanese language and characters since this is a collaboration between GMMTV and TV Asahi.

I'm glad this show knows that Tay is a not-so-secret luxurious bitch.

Well, this gentleman from the Japanese office seems kind.

I like how much internal monologue we're getting from Achi before the magic starts.

GMMTV has asked me to believe that Newwie is a virgin twice within a year. This is a tall ask.

His first interaction with the power is being judged by a monk! Lol

Another scene on the Thai metro! What changed recently that we're finally filming there?

Elevator scene, my beloved, I'm glad they kept you.

Newwie has really improved over the years. He was really stiff in the beginning.

Hahah! They referenced the manga! I can draw comparison as much as I want now.

I like that Achi is hearing people think kind things about him as well, especially this senior.

Now why are they making Achi bring cake to Karan on Achi's own birthday? What do they know, and are they meddling?

Ah, Karan ordered it. They are facilitators!

I like Jinta. They ported the essence of Tsuge well with him.

That cat is so stressed. Cats are terrible actors.

Oh right! They cast Mark as the Thai version of Minato.

Okay, I like the way they're modulating the office dynamics for Thailand. The bit waiting for the boss to leave was good.

I kinda like the removal of Adachi's desk mats and having Achi stay late so Rock can meet his partner.

Oh wow we're getting to the overnight condo stay in the first episode.

Very glad Cherry Magic original means they're required to incorporate rain into the narrative. Also seems like they used the Sky train because Adachi had transportation struggles because of the schedule.

I lost it during the fantasy bit where Tay has to lower Newwie's big ass onto a bed.

Newwie looks great when he's wet and tired.

Oh my god they kept the pajamas moment!

Okay, I really loved this so far! This kept all of the things about the characters that I thought were really important while attuning them for the local taste. Really solid first episode. I'm having a lot of fun.

[always-sleeepy-headd]

Happy Birthday, Your Present Is Angst Because I'm Tired and Kinda Emo Inside

This was written for Cross's birthday ages ago and I'm only now posting it lol (Sorry!)

Summary:

It's Cross's birthday today, he wants to forget and he tries his hardest too. Although it never seems to work and just leaves him with more scars and more pain.

Cross is beginning to love that pain.

Notes:

Cross burns himself so if you don't think you can handle that I just wanted to let you know.

Also he purges and I know that's a sore spot for a lot of people including myself but I'm tiny bit of a masochist lol (I actually enjoy writing about things that have happened to me or to someone dear to me and projecting on my poor Crossyboo 😔✊)

Don't purge guys, it's not good and can seriously damage your body, and if you have before, I got you babes everything will be alright <3

Even if you're just going through a tough time right now remember everything is temporary, you and I, the world, sadness, you name it, we'll all make it through if we keep trudging on!

_________

Cross wasn't the type for celebrations, it made him nervous and want to hide under something while everyone just chatted it up like they weren't all dead.

He was sure nobody knew this year though, just like the last, and the one before that. A third unnoticed birthday is what he was hoping for when he checked the time this morning, he could go on with his usual day and hopefully not pass out again.

That was really close with Nightmare the other day, he was out training for an especially excessive time and Nightmare came in and had told him to take a break and Cross had barely registered him.

He had turned to the noise but all he heard was a ringing in his ears, he heard Nightmare's voice a second time and he was able to make it out then, "And take a shower or something."

As soon as he heard the door close he had stumbled and blacked out, it was only for barely a minute thankfully. When he got up he found himself on the floor and his heart beating quickly, thank the skies nobody had come in just then.

He had eventually managed to get up and take a shower before being called down to eat dinner, it was a very strange tradition for someone like the Bad Sanses, they always ate meals together. But honestly if you really think about it it makes sense, Horror needed to know everyone was eating, he could go into panic mode if not.

It also made it easier to figure out if something was wrong with someone, that's one of the reasons meals were dreaded in Cross's mind.

That and the fact he can barely handle eating the food, much less keeping it down, and don't get him wrong, Horror's an amazing cook... he just can't. Especially when he's already frustrated with himself.

He barely made it though dinner, Nightmare gave him a few looks but he must have chalked whatever it was up to low self worth and Cross overworking himself, which was what Nightmare thought were the only things wrong with Cross, making it so much easier for him to do what he does next.

Cross's nightly routine always starts hunched over a toilet throwing up his insides and silently crying while doing so, this was easy to do without Nightmare noticing because Dust almost always had at least a small freak out during this time of evening.

Then when he's done throwing up anything and everything he's eaten and kept down he collapses onto the floor and desperately rummages through his box of 'special' things, pulling out a lighter and lighting it across his bone.

The intensity of the heat calms him while at the same time making him restless, he needed something, something.

Anything.

He would burn and burn and he would even shed a few tears at the pain, just to do it again just to feel the heat of reality mix with fiction.

It was like a dream.

A terrible, awful, dream.

That would eventually bring him to today, he was putting on his overly complicated outfit again and would stare into the mirror as he splashed water on his face.

It was cold.

He wanted heat.

The pain of his burns hurt, he wanted more, more, anything for feeling and control, he would run them under cold water and this was the time of day Chara would say something to him. Chara would run off away from him to look for Killer to watch him play video games or mess with the others.

It was always along the lines of, "Cross, this is seriously getting bad," Or, "I think you should let that heal at least before doing it again..."

Cross didn't trust those words, not from Chara, not from anyone.

He walks down the stairs only to see an unhappy Nightmare and a on the verge of a panic attack Dust.

That was not a great thing to start his morning with, oh well he'll just ignore it at least means the attention will stay far away from him this morning.

Cross doesn't bother a good morning, he didn't feel like speaking. Nor did he really ever but that's life.

He walks into the kitchen to see how Horror's doing as he does every morning but Horror seems quite on nerve so Cross doesn't walk too far into the kitchen, it was a small gesture but very much noticed by the big guy.

"Good... morning Cross," Horror starts, sounding a little on edge, "The boss told me to keep everybody occupied this morning... although I know you usually train.. I was wondering if you'd help me out...?" He asks.

Cross was startled but he would never say no to someone asking for help, it's a habit he could never sway, he nodded but in a more 'are you sure?' way.

"Thanks... I asked Killer but... you know how he is..." Horror says, shuffling around, seemingly understanding Cross's not speaking as him not being up to conversation and handing him a bowl and some chocolate.

Cross gives him a questioning look, "Just... heat up the chocolate so it melts..."

"A-" Cross attempts but his voice fails him, "I- Is there a specific reason that I'm heating up... chocolate...?" Cross asks, they didn't usually even have chocolate in the house, let alone anything sugary but it seems Horror either had a stash or got this special to make something.

"Wanted... to make something." That was enough for Cross, he didn't care to question it any further, besides he really just wanted to get Horror's approval.

Cross, without a word, easily heated up the chocolate over the stove, it began to bring back memories of his AU he didn't want surfaced.

The sound of laughter, the taste of chocolate in his mouth, his arms didn't hurt, the worst he felt was a little sore. Speaking to everyone, not holding his tongue, no, actually feeling the urge to speak real words out loud.

The smell of chocolate cake, kind words he'll never hear again-

His palm burning.

Cross blinked in surprise and lifted his arm off of the stove quickly, he had accidentally set it down on the burner and hadn't noticed, the feeling already so normal to him.

Horror looked over at the sudden movement and asked him what was wrong.

Cross didn't respond.

The words were so caught in his throat, they refused to leave, he didn't want to speak, he didn't want to speak, he didn't want to-

"Cross." He hears a powerful and commanding voice that was unmistakably Nightmare's.

Still he didn't speak but his hand fell from where he was apparently clutching it.

"Is something upsetting you Cross? I can feel your emotions you know, so it would be best not to lie, I will know." Nightmare asks, Cross barely understanding.

Nightmare wanted him to speak.

He didn't want to speak.

He turned towards Nightmare, but still he couldn't even manage to get his mouth open.

"Cross, respond to me." He says and Cross could barely even think, his brain suddenly filled with images of his family's death.

A death of his own, maybe.

And then, his lack of food and therefore energy caught up to him yet again, he stumbled and then blacked out.

...

When he awoke he lay on the couch with a damp washcloth on his head and a bandaged hand, he almost panicked but realized his arms had no such care, Nightmare hadn't felt the need to check for other injuries thank gods.

Cross sat up and took the washcloth off of his head, staring at his hand for a moment before a smell hit his nose.

Chocolate cake.

He couldn't handle this, not right now, not ever.

It was his birthday, a day that he dreaded every year now, October 10th, the day Cross was born.

A day he considers to be the worst day of his life.

Celebration was no more, he needed a way out, he needed to get his frustration out, he needed to burn every piece of bone on his body until it was unusable, then use it anyway.

"Cross, you're awake." Nightmare says, startling slightly.

Cross didn't say a word.

"What's going on, you've been strange all week, more so than normal. Your little nightly negativity bursts have been getting larger and more prevalent every night, I think now is when I interfere." He sighs and Cross almost gasps, Nightmare knew something was wrong.

He didn't want to speak, his body would not let him.

He wanted to cry, his body could not.

He wanted to burn, he wanted to burn, he wanted to burn, he wanted to burn-

"Cross. Are you listening to me?" Nightmare's voice suddenly bursts through his thoughts of self harm. "Cross I'm not kidding, have you suddenly gone mute?" Nightmare says, his voice turning stern but softening a second later, "I promise I won't judge if something is bothering you."

Cross manages to open his mouth this time, nothing comes out though. So he closes it, unsaid words threatening to spill out now and that scares him more than not being able to get anything out.

Nightmare sighs, "At least tell me what happened, Horror was terrified..." Nightmare mumbles.

Cross opens his mouth again, but this time it worked, "I... got distracted..." He manages to mumble, his voice hoarse from little use.

Nightmare sighs again, "Distracted how? You end up with a burn on your palm, which you should have noticed right away if you had your hand on the burner by the way, that's really weird and you might need to figure out what that is supposed to mean, Horror is concerned you haven't been eating enough and passed out due to lack of malnourishment, although I'm going to guess it was overexertion, but then again you just woke up-" Nightmare sighs a third time, "My point is, what the hell got you so upset?"

"Ch-" Cross coughs slightly, rubbing his throat, "Chocolate..." He muttered, "The smell reminded me of something."

"...Oh boy." Nightmare says, realizing this was probably a mistake.

"...What...?" Cross mumbles.

"I think I should just show you, follow me." Nightmare says, gesturing to a door.

Cross got up and followed Nightmare without a beat, anything to get his mind off of his-

...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CROSS!" Mostly Killer yells, Cross is suddenly hit with a dump truck of emotions.

"I- I- H- How- I don't-" Cross whispers just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You told me one time when I was upset about something." Dust says, who happens to be covered in colorful streamers.

"And you told me when I was half asleep!" Killer yells excitedly, he's covered in silly string and Cross realizes that Nightmare has a tiny piece of it on his shoulder.

This made him cry.

He didn't cry in front of others, it was so taboo in his brain.

It wasn't sobs, it was just tears, he barely changed expressions.

Everyone looked startled, they had been expecting Cross to say they didn't need to or maybe even get a small smile out of him, not tears.

Killer immediately ran over when he realized what was going on, "Hey, hey, what's wrong? I thought birthday parties were supposed to be happy?"

Cross couldn't explain so it came out in sobs, Killer grabbing onto him while Cross cried on his shoulder.

Killer caught Nightmare's gaze and gave him a panicked look and Nightmare just shook his head.

...

Once Cross had calmed down and there were just occasional sniffles every now and then, they had moved one of the couches, "So... is this why you've been acting strange this whole week then?" Nightmare asks.

"S- Sorry." Cross mumbles.

"Do not apologize for things you are not at fault for."

"Sor- uh."

"Poor Crossy baby, he can't stop being a people pleaser~" Killer says, smooshing his face against Cross's in a manner that could be taken as mocking but Cross knows Killer well enough to know it isn't, still doesn't stop him from shoving him off though.

Killer is undeterred, he just hugs onto Cross harder.

"...Are you... okay?" Horror asks, looking worried.

"...Yeah. I'll live." Cross mumbles an 'unfortunately' afterword that only Killer and Nightmare could hear, Killer squeezed a little tighter at hearing that.

"Why did you pass out...? Do you... know?" Horror asks.

"..." Cross can't bring himself to tell them the way he treats himself when they aren't looking.

"You do know, don't you?" Nightmare asks, his tone only slightly accusing, Cross flinches either way.

"Criss-Cross, are you doing something to yourself?" Killer asks.

"Yes." Is the only word that Cross can manage to get out of his mouth, everyone's frown deepens at the sound of it.

"What...? If I may ask." Nightmare says, even though it sounds like you have a choice, you'll have to tell him anyway, he'll just ask you when nobody is around.

"I can barely eat..." Cross whispers, "And when I manage too, I throw it all up, I can't keep food down anymore, I don't even need to make myself throw up anymore... I can do it on command."

"...What?" Horror says, looking horrified.

"I'm sorry..." Cross says and his voice starts to waver, tears threatening to spill again.

Suddenly Chara's voice pops in, "What about your arms?" They say, "I know you already told them some of your bullshit but every morning when I see them they get worse."

"That's not... the only thing..." Cross mumbles, clutching at his sleeves.

"Of course it isn't." Nightmare sighs.

"..." Cross slowly rolls up his sleeves and a series of gasps and exclaims are heard, one from Nightmare as well.

"W- What the hell are you even doing???" Dust asks, his horror not even hidden.

"Burning." Cross says.

"... How much is there?" Nightmare asks.

"All over my whole body... but mostly my arms." Cross says, wincing.

"I- I don't even know-" Nightmare says, seemingly astonished. "You know what? Come here, let me heal you."

...

Cross was super embarrassed the entire time Nightmare was healing despite Nightmare telling him that it was fine over and over.

It... went away.

The burn is gone.

He needs the burn, the painfully awful heat on his bones to stab at his regret and shove it so deep down it disappears momentarily.

Nightmare notices his... unhealthy... thoughts and lets out a frustrated sigh, "Cross, you do know you're definitely not allowed around lighters anymore right?"

"Okay." Cross says, his emotionless stature coming back, but Nightmare, being so close to him, could feel the addiction in his aura, the temptation and pain that Cross was so good at hiding.

Nightmare frowns at this.

"Come on, I thought we hit something and you wouldn't be an emotionless robot around us anymore." Killer grumbles and Nightmare sends a glare his way, Cross knew Killer was actually worried about him though.

Throughout his entire time at Nightmare's he's seen everyone but Nightmare cry before, Nightmare obviously has his own problems though, he's seen him flinch when he gets glared at or Killer and Dust's roughhousing gets a little too close to him and a hand goes up near him.

They never seem to notice though, they just keep going and Nightmare will sigh and tell them to be nice and that he's going to take a nap. He never does though, he goes and sits in his library and reads what are 'not' romance novels. Cross had seen it himself, Nightmare was reading a book that Cross had read and of what he remembers it was all schmoopy feelings and smut.

He leaned over and said, "Whatcha reading there?" He giggles as Nightmare flinches and turns his head around quickly, his face turning extremely confused as it was not normal for Cross to act like this at all.

"Sorry about startling you, I just recognized the book you were reading." Cross says, holding back giggles.

The horror that showed on Nightmare's face when he said that was unmatchable with anyone he's ever seen die at the hands of any of them.

"You. Didn't. See. Shit. You hear me?" Nightmare had said, Cross replying with a thumbs up and giggling a little.

Nightmare was interesting, although seeing Killer cry was the craziest thing Cross thinks has ever happened.

Killer was supposed to be emotionless, he wasn't supposed to feel anything at all.

And the funny thing about it was that Killer wasn't crying about regret, or his own sadness, or even for someone dead.

Killer was crying about a fake comic about two cats.

Nightmare's face when he heard Killer's sobs in the corner of the room was completely shocked, Killer per usual was sitting on the bright pink beanbag in the corner of the room that had been there as long as Cross has and longer.

As it was just Cross, Killer and Nightmare home at the time, they both had looked over immediately and seen Killer sobbing over his phone, Nightmare had run over as quickly as he could and asked what was wrong.

"The cat dieddd!" Killer responds, sobbing into Nightmare's shoulder.

"...What?" Nightmare had said, confused as ever.

This was also the first time Cross had heard of Color, apparently Color had sent Killer a link to this super cute cat comic about two cats who were siblings but then a human killed on of them near the end of the comic, Color had also apparently sent that 'watch this being back your emotions' and Killer had been like, okay, whatever I guess I'll read it.

But then the cat died and he started sobbing.

Cross had felt bad but then he realized the hilarity of the situation and started to uncontrollably giggle.

Nightmare had looked at him and given the most 'are you kidding me' face in the world and Cross started to laugh more.

Killer's face when Cross started to laugh was so...

Let's just say there was no words to describe the mix of hurt and then awe at Cross's laughter.

Cross didn't emote, that was how it was and how Cross thought it would always be.

Nightmare was the first to change that, then Killer started to hang out with him after that, Cross never realized how funny Killer was. It was hard to see through the insensitive bitchass Killer was when he first met him.

Killer had... changed in his eyes a lot since then, like right now, with Killer hugging on his arm that had already been healed to the best of Nightmare's ability.

Like right now? Killer was the cutest thing Cross thinks he's ever seen.

Killer and Cross weren't dating, neither of them were good enough with their own feelings to deal with eachothers. They liked each other, maybe.

That's how it was and Cross didn't mind, Killer wasn't as much as a bitchass as he'd first thought.

"My apologies about all the festivities Cross, we just were excited that we finally found out when your birthday was and didn't think about how you hadn't said anything for the past three years, or how it might have painful memories attached to it." Nightmare says, finishing with his other arm.

"... I'm fine, I just..." Cross sighs, "My birthday was never a bad thing before... It's not like I have these terrible birthday memories, it just reminds me of... my AU." Cross says, stopping himself before he says family, he couldn't call them that, it hurt too much to think of how they were gone.

"I understand, if you want us to ignore it from now on we will, but I think it might help if your memories of your birthday are not all of things that cause you pain." Nightmare says and Killer nods and whispers.

"I got you a special present." he says in Cross's ear, seemingly excited about it.

"Okay," Cross says, talking feeling so much easier than usual, "I think you're right..."

"Yay!" Killer exclaims, "I can't wait to show you what we got you~!"

Cross exhales and smiles a little at Killer, who sees it and his eyes light up in a triumphant way. "I knew you could smile." He says, getting in Cross's personal space a little.

Suddenly, Cross knew everything would be okay.

[missmaywemeetagain]

Pink Scarf - Epilogue (Elvis/Austin!Elvis x Reader)

Character/Fandom: Elvis - Elvis (2022)

Requested: kinda

(Read more here--Pink Scarf Series Masterlist!)

Prompt: You are part of Elvis Presley's coveted inner circle, and the currently-disgruntled wife of one of the members of Elvis' famous entourage, the Memphis Mafia. After Elvis' dynamite first performance in Vegas, you find yourself in deep water when his magnetism finally gets to you after all these years.  [ Fem!Reader ]

TW: SEX. FLUFF (!!). Cussing. Historical inaccuracies in the Vegas timeline.  

Rating: Explicit/Mature (NSFW, 18+, so minors Do NOT Interact)        ||     Word Count: 2.6k

A/N:  Oh, lord, here we are. THE END. It seems highly fitting that it all comes to a close on our man's birthday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELVIS DARLIN') 💗 So here's some tooth-rotting, sexy fluff for you because I love them and I love y'all.

I have heard your requests for a paperback/ebook loud and clear (ahhh, thank you!) and can tell you I am writing bonus material as we speak and working on the process of self-publishing through Amazon. I will warn you that the physical book is gonna be HUGE (my estimate is close to 600 pages with the bonus material added 😂), but that does mean the cost of the physical book will be a little spendy (not outrageous or anything) because of the cost of printing. Just wanted to let you know in advance!

Also, I know in the past that people were interested in me dropping in for a Q & A type thing on Discord or Twitter Spaces to talk about Pink Scarf...is this something y'all are interested in still? (If not, totally okay!) Let me know in the comments if that sounds like something you'd want!

I sincerely hope y'all will stick around for my next projects as I try to get my writing career off the ground. I'm hoping to soon have a website and an Amazon page up and running soonish so you can follow my other works. I'll keep you posted! Y'all are the OG's and the best fans a girl could ask for! 💗

If you so desire, you should now have the ability to tip my blog or different chapters in the story! Of course, no one is obligated to do so! If you do choose to tip, thank you so much! I've never had anyone want to pay for my work before, so this is a big step towards my romance novelist dreams. 💜

Finally, and I can't say this enough, I am so FREAKIN' GRATEFUL for every single one of you babies, honeys, and lil' mamas supporting me out there, YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY! I didn't in a million years expect this kind of support and response for Pink Scarf, and your reactions, reblogs, messages, asks, and comments you've given me have been a blessing beyond expression. You all are the best community a writer could ask for! Thank you so much for your support and generosity. I am loving getting to know y'all better! I love every single reaction and comment and ask, and I'm sorry if I don't get back to them all as soon as I'd like but know that I love you all and am so excited to be making new friends! And a big "Hey, Y'all!" to our friends from Elvis Twitter, Elvis Discord, and Elvis Instagram--I see and appreciate you coming over to join us! 👀💋

I also want to give a special shout out to my flower, Daisy, @powerofelvis for keeping me sane (relatively lol) and on track throughout this whole process. Thank you for all your encouragement and love (and for listening to me scream into the void), baby! 💜

If you feel so moved, please let me know what you think or how you're feeling (or send me asks)! I know I'm terribly slow at getting to them but I love every single one!

I imagined this with Elvis in mind, but Austin!Elvis works here, too, whatever floats your boat! 

Apologies in advance if there are any grammatical errors or TW that I didn't catch. 

(I did start cross-posting Pink Scarf to my AO3 account, as well as my NEW Wattpad account. so if you are so inclined, you can check it out/support me over there with kudos and votes and whatnot!)

Graceland, New Year’s Eve, 1969

The mansion you now call home still sparkles with Christmas decorations as you make your way through the throng of friends and visitors, smiling and laughing, sipping on a delicious champagne that you are positive is ridiculously expensive for the way it melts on your tongue. Everyone is rested and in great spirits, as 1969 was a monumentally successful year for Elvis Presley Enterprises and all those involved.

For you, it’s been a monumental year in many ways. You would never have imagined six months ago that by the end of the year you’d be in the midst of divorcing Jack, preparing for your new career as a backup singer, and moving into Graceland with Elvis, who you are wildly, madly in love with.

A whirlwind, to say the least.

Speak of the devil, you feel that telltale rise of goosebumps on your skin, that magical sixth sense you are now so aware of when you know that Elvis is watching you. You turn from your conversation with Joe and his wife Joanie to find Elvis gazing at you from across the living room with a dangerously coy smile playing on his lips and that unmistakable glint in his eyes. The heat of the look sets your body aflame, a flush rising quickly to your cheeks.

Lord in heaven, this man, you think, giving him a furrow of your brow and a disbelieving look back, only this man would be so bold as to want to take me in the middle of a party at his own damn house.  

But damn it if he doesn’t even waver, completely uncaring that any of the guests might see the blatantly sexual, heated intensity of his stare. He calls it “that lean and hungry look,” and you cannot help the shiver that cascades down your spine because you know he’s about to eat you alive, party be damned.

And sure enough, he strides across the room as if no one else is here, and saying nothing at all, grabs your hand and yanks you away from your conversation. You briefly catch the look of surprise from Joanie and Joe’s smirk before being whisked away.

“Elvis!” you whisper loudly enough for him to hear you, “We have guests!” You manage to set your champagne flute on a nearby table before doubling your steps to try and keep up with his long strides.

He gives no indication of hearing you, though you know he has. But he is singularly focused, which sends warmth into your core and wetness already pooling in your panties because you know what’s coming.

He surprises you by not even making it up the stairs to the bedroom, instead pulling you into the half bathroom on the lower level. You yelp at the change in direction and then he’s slamming you up against the door while locking it at the same time.

Your yelp quickly turns into a quiet moan because his large hands and luscious mouth are suddenly everywhere, all at once. His lips crush into yours, then burn down your neck, sending fire into your belly, and you can’t help but respond. Your hands fly to his head, raking through his scalp. His hand grips the outside of your bare thigh, hitching it up to his waist, his hand slipping under the hem of your dress.

He rolls his pelvis slowly and deliberately into yours. He’s already rock hard, and the sensation of his bulge pressing into your core through his pants has you groaning a little too loud, considering you have a house full of people. Elvis doesn’t say a word though, he just smirks and places a ring-clad hand over your mouth.

That action alone has you melting into a puddle because you know, you just know how he’s going to take you: quick and dirty.

“You better be quiet, lil’ mama, or ev’ryone’s gonna know I’m fuckin’ ya senseless,” he whispers, his hot breath tickling the shell of your ear. You can smell the musk of arousal on him, the pheromones so strong they are nearly dizzying. He nibbles the lobe of your ear possessively. This action coupled with his words sends sparks showering through you.

You think you might come apart already, and he’s barely touched you.

His brilliant blues are blown black when he draws away. Free hand snaking up your thigh, his fingers first dance over your soaked panties, then dip them underneath the delicate fabric to graze up through your folds and straight to your clit.

Your eyes roll back, his hand muffling the moans that escape your throat involuntarily. He’s so worked up already, he doesn’t tease you long. Two long fingers plunge knuckle deep into your wet heat, the cold edges of his rings making you squirm a little at the intrusion. You begin panting into his hand as he so expertly thrusts and curves them to give you the maximum amount of pleasure as he stretches you out.

This doesn’t last long, though. He’s too far gone and much too needy for foreplay. A deeply primal instinct has taken over the man you love—you can see it written all over his handsome face. And you welcome it, even as you whimper at the loss of his digits when he unceremoniously pulls them out of you. You welcome it as he spins you around, pushing you up against the door. You welcome it gladly as he hikes your dress up to your waist and rips your lacy panties right off your body.

You gasp, hearing the tearing of fabric as your flushed cheek is pressed into the wood of the door, shivering both from the exposure of the air on your bare ass and for what you know is next. Soon after, you hear the clink of his heavy belt and the woosh of his pants as they thump to the floor and then he’s filling you so completely that you are clawing at the door for purchase.

He can’t stop the growl that comes from within when he sinks deep inside you to the hilt, bottoming out quickly. He’s impatient and does not linger, however, instead pulling back and thrusting into you hard, gripping your hips like his life depends on it.

You manage to keep your gasps quiet as he sets a relentless pace. Your entire body tingles, the obscene sounds from your joining sending you hurtling towards the edge of your own release. He knows your body so well, rubbing desperate circles on your clit that, along with the way he’s filling you, already has your legs shaking and abdomen tensing with pleasure.

Neither of you are going to last long. It’s evident as your breathing speeds up and the coil in your belly snaps, causing you to hit your climax hard with a strangled cry. The wave crests fast,and your walls tense and flutter around him. You love how he still can make you see stars, even in these circumstances. His hips stutter, the rhythm faltering, and he follows soon after you with a relieved and gracious groan, pulsing and coating your walls with his arousal.

Heavy breathing is the only sound in the tiny space. Elvis envelops you from behind, wrapping his arms around your waist and burying his face into your hair as he pulls you close. You live for these moments when he’s stripped vulnerable, his love so evident and overflowing, making even a bathroom quickie more like making love than you’d had in over a decade of marriage.

You sigh into him, and he kisses the back of your head. “Sorry about your panties, baby,” he whispers almost bashfully into your ear.

You can’t help but laugh, “At the rate you go through ruining them, you might as well just buy me the whole store, love.”

Elvis pulls out and turns you around, grasping your chin before pulling you into a deep kiss. It has you melting into his arms, but you know you can’t stay there long, not with a house full of people.

The swell of love you feel for this wonderful, talented, charismatic man is incredible. So many years of shared history has made it easy to slip into a comfortable life with him, so much so that you almost forget what your life was like before. It’s not without its challenges, certainly. He is still mercurial, and you still get locked up in your own head sometimes. The both of you are stubborn as hell, especially now that you’ve taken more agency for yourself in this relationship, more than you ever had with Jack.

As you pull apart and clean up, you feel incredibly lucky that things have worked out the way they have, despite so many years of struggles to make your way to each other.

Once put back together (though sure some of your guests will know exactly what was going on in the bathroom), you reach for the door. Elvis stops you.

“I was gonna wait ‘til midnight and make it a big thing, but I just can’t,” he drawls behind you.

“Wait for what?” you ask quizzically, turning around.

You gasp and your heart begins to gallop in your chest as you watch him sink to one knee as best he can in the tiny space. He pulls a little black box from his pocket. You’re afraid your heart might flutter right out of your body at the sight of it.

“You make me a better man, baby. I love you so much it hurts sometimes, and I thank God every day that He put you in my life. I can’t imagine tryin’ to go another day without you by my side. Now, I know it feels real soon, but if we’re honest, it’s been a long time comin’, and I-I-I know you’re still in the middle of the divorce and all, but y/n, would you do me the honor of bein’ my wife?” Elvis asks, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Your heart drops into your stomach. It’s both exhilaration and trepidation all at once, flooding every part of you. Part of you screams with excitement: Of course! Of course! Of course, I’ll be your wife!

But another part is filled with latent fear—fear of being consumed by another marriage so soon, still afraid that this man before you will love you and leave you like the rest. Elvis had said many times over the years that he wasn’t really interested in marriage, and you can’t help but think of that in this moment, as much as you don’t want to.

“Elvis,” you manage to breathe, “I thought…I thought you said you weren’t the ‘marrying kind’? That you didn’t want to be tied down? Are you…are you sure?”

You watch something flash in his eyes for a moment before he looks up at you again. He stands and takes your hands in his. “I-I said that cuz I didn’t think I could ever have you. I knew I couldn’t marry anyone else, wouldn’t be right. You’re the only one I ever truly wanted. I-I-I…you’re my soulmate, y/n. It’s only ever been you, honey,” he says quietly, laying it all out for you, as he pushes an errant strand of your hair behind your ear.

A happy tear trickles down your face. You know he loves you—he tells you every day. But this is so much more than that. You didn’t realize he’d put his entire life on hold for you like this. His soulmate.

As much as it scares you, you know it’s true. He’s right. This inexplicable pull that’s been between the two of you for all this time, the pull you tried so desperately to ignore and forget for so many years, is stronger than anything you’ve ever felt for anyone in your life. Every cell in your body yearns for him, and he feels like home. You fit together perfectly. Now that you’re finally in sync, everything just works.

You cannot ignore the truth that finding your way to each other after all these years feels utterly meant to be. He is there when you need him. He brings out a side of you that you never knew existed—in the bedroom, with your music, your unyielding love for him, even in the hardest moments.

The way he gazes at you now, full of hope and love, makes your knees weak. But part of you is still scared that it’s too soon, that you’ll lose yourself all over again.

Elvis reads your mind, sensing your doubts in that intuitive way of his. “The wedding part doesn’t hafta be right away…I know we gotta wait for the divorce to be final anyway. But whenever you’re ready, whenever you’re comfortable, I’ll be here,” he says, pressing his forehead to yours.

This sends a sense of relief through you, a release of pressure. Finally, you find your voice. “Let me be your everything?” you whisper, taking his face in your hands, your eyes searching his deep and worldly ones.

Elvis knows what you are asking of him, and he doesn’t think twice. His lips curl up into that beautiful grin of his as he nods. “Yes, everything,” he says back.

“Then yes, yes, I will be your wife,” you laugh, through more happy tears.

“Yes?” he asks joyfully, just to be sure.

“Yes!” you squeal as he scoops you up in his arms, pressing his pliant and soft lips to yours.

His hands shake adorably when he slides the tasteful yet extravagantly sized diamond on your ring finger.

And it sits perfectly, as though his ring was always meant to be there. You both stare at it for a moment, your hand resting on top of his.

Squeezing your hand, Elvis looks at you with a boyish kind of awe. “Are you happy, baby?” he asks quietly, his long lashes fanning out as he runs his eyes over your face.

A moment of déjà vu hits you. He’s asked you this before, many different times, and those moments flash through your head, reminding you of your deep history together. The history you now remember and share.

All he’s ever really wanted to do is make me happy, you realize. The thought sends warmth blooming through you.

You look up at him, into that handsome face that you want to spend eternity with. “Oh, I’m more than happy, my love,” you respond. And you are. So much so, you almost don’t believe it.  Then you pull him down for a sweet, soft kiss. He drinks you in as if you are oxygen, bringing you closer.

“Are you happy?” you ask as you nuzzle his nose.

“Darlin’, I’m so happy I wanna sing from the rooftop,” he drawls, grabbing your ass. “I’ll marry ya right here in this damn bathroom, if I gotta. Gonna make you Mrs. Y/n Presley. Then I wanna parade you around and let everyone know you’re mine.” He almost growls the last part and presses his long body into yours.

You laugh. “Well, I don’t think we have to resort to getting married in the bathroom, but Mrs. Y/n Presley has quite the nice ring to it,” you say, smiling, putting your hands in his back pockets.

“I love you,” Elvis says unabashedly, suddenly serious.

“I love you, too,” you whisper, kissing him again. “Now let’s go tell everyone how I’m gonna make an honest man out of you.”

He laughs at that, a big and boisterous sound that makes your own heart sing.

And it will do so for the rest of your days.

*THE END*

Please let me know in the comments/DMs/asks if you are interested in me doing a Pink Scarf Q & A type thing on Discord/Spaces! 💗🧣💗

Taglist:

@atombombbibunny @yesimwriting @uselessbutinteresting @mirandastuckinthe80s @dark-as-love

@domaniquessidehoe @im-lame-irl @allybrooke05 @hangmanswhore

@jazmin2211  @kvcssghbjbcd @coldonexx @dudinhahoff @whatstruthgottodowithit @tiredbuthappy  @amiets2  @saintmagx

@kvcssghbjbcd @butlersluvbot @babydollie43 @vainbimbo @meladollsims @wstelandbaby @dre6ming @normatural @ash-omalley @xcallmetaniax @galvz-42 @thejezebel @fullmetal-falcon @robinismywife @dre6ming @seaweedbrain00 @amiets2 @mslizziesblog @heisatroubleinapinksuit @calusussss @dont-feel-so-good-peter @rainydayz101 @pizzaisrelationshipgoals  

@liaaacantwrite @kittenlittle24 @kaitaesupremacy @butler-trouble @eliseinmemphis @russian-soft-bitch  @tattywood 

@sassanoe @re3kin @thella @suspiciousmidge @hiddlepiddlediddlewiddle @carolinesbookworld @juggernort @aesthetic-lyss @stitchattacks @donnamarie23 @ab4eva 

@fic-over-cannon @lacyluver @littlebitofgreen @paigevis @godlypresley @bugg06 @xhannahbananax03

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[thatuselesshuman]

Making Art Until I Learn to Enjoy the Process Again Day 1

So I'm going to start this series where I make art I enjoy and post it until I learn to like art again. I'll put the why under the read more, so you don't have to read all that lol

Boom, day one. This is made out of makeup products (lipstick, eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush, and highlighter) and also nail polish

Looks terrible but i had fun

Why I'm doing this:

This gonna be kinda serious and I'm usually a goofy silly person so stick with me.

As a child, art was my shit. I asked for a drawing tablet for my birthday, and my favorite class in school was art. I dreamed of becoming an animator or a comic artist. Then I hit 6th grade, where I figured out I was colorblind. It's not that serious or even that severe, but it still hit me hard. It seemed like everyone suddenly became sympathetic towards my goal, instead of supportive. They no longer believed I could become a professional artist because I had a disability that prevented me from fully seeing one of the main facets of art: color.

I didn't give up though, because I'm stubborn as hell. That didn't help me any with my art teachers though. My art teachers suddenly became highly critical, seeming to think they were doing me a service by letting me down early. Soon, that critical nature infected me and I started hating my art. It wasn't bad, just typical child art, but I refused to show it to anyone or do anything with it because I thought it was never good enough. I was tired of fighting the fight to convince people of my plan. I stopped trying at art by the 8th grade, and dropped out of art classes entirely by 10th grade.

The story continues however, when I was forced to take an art credit this year at university. I had long since stopped caring about art by then, so I just tried to get through the class. My art teacher, as per usual, was highly critical of my art. She found it childish, and eventually just stopped trying to genuinely critique it. She gave up on me. It didn't hurt me all that bad, but it did make me realize something. I used to love art. Now, it was a chore I had to get through for the credit. That didn't sit right with me for a while, and I finally decided to do something about it today.

Is my art good? No. Does it have any deep symbolism? No. Do I hate to show it to the internet? Absolutely.

But that's exactly why I'm doing it. I'm not going to get anywhere by having such thin skin, so I'm putting it to the fire of Tumblr. I'm going to enjoy making it, post it, and do it day by day (aka when I have time lol) until the comments on it no longer matter. Until I enjoy the art I make not because it's good, but because it's fun.

[yankthoudong]

RWBY questions game

i never get anything for ask games so i decided to just do it lmao. skipped and deleted the ones idk what they mean or i don't want to answer. unfortunately tumblr's numbered lists are silly so theyre incorrectly numbered now https://www.tumblr.com/thuskindlyshescatters/755265757960601600/rwby-ask-game?source=share

Favorite debunked fan theory? Qrowdad no question. I kinda believed it at the time, and the way CRWBY have backed away from it is absolutely hilarious especially if they make poly STR real and Summer/Qrow is one of the only nonromantic relationships on the team. Doubly so if Rosebird Parents comes real.

Rank the soundtracks! 9 >>> 6 > 7 > 4 > 8 > 1 > 2 > 5 >>> 3. i do think v3's is noticeably worse than the others but aside from that and v9 going off there's not much differential for me.

Favorite Ruby ship? HARGH this one has been rapidly changing for me over the last couple months. i love NND and have for a very long time, it might still be my answer, but i've fallen hardcore for gemstones lately too. (artificial gemstones is excellent as well, i think penny/emerald could be really cool.) but i've also gotten very into the idea of post-v9 complicated emotions ruby/neo lately. artificial gemstones if you make me choose.

Pick a design choice for the new outfits! GIVE 👏 RUBY 👏 MORE 👏 BELTS more seriously i'm curious if ruby will have any colors representing those who have fallen. obviously penny is the big one but i also think it would be cool if she has a little rainbow sleeve or somesuch with Summer, Penny, and Pyrrha all represented. Maybe Lionheart, Ozpin, Clover, and Ironwood too, representing the more negative aspects of her guilt. Also Neo

Favorite redhead in the show? Penny.

Favorite lines? "So, when she's ready, I'll be there for her. And, I know we're not as close... but I'm here for you, too." all of Ruby's speeches to Qrow in 6x9 and 6x10 "She'll find herself. One way... or another."

Any characters you wish had lived? Penny, Pyrrha, Roman. that answer hasn't changed since v3 lol.

Any characters you wish had died? honestly, the only characters i wanted to die were adam and jacques, and they're already dead, so...

Favorite soundtrack moments? all the RWBY soundtracks since i got back into the show have released either on my birthday or a few days before and i don't notice them until my birthday. that's been incredible for me, it feels like casey is giving me a present lol.

Favorite visuals/shots? Penny against the moon in V8 i think is the best-looking shot in the show. i also love the moment when the dust clears in blake + yang vs adam, it looks perfect. all of Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble looks amazing, it's the best episode imo. the fight animation in everyone vs ironwood is so smooth and i love it, also crescent rose during the first 10 seconds or so of ruby vs the cat in v9c10. the look ruby gives neo at the end of the fight is really impressive to me too - they managed to animate her expression subtly while giving it as much emotion as a real actor would have. that look says a thousand words of concern and worry and understanding and it's so impressive that they pulled it off.

Best idea for a RWBY crossover? RWBY X Homestuck fighting game. I will sacrifice both Miles Luna and Andrew Hussie to whatever god can make this happen.

Most nostalgic part of Poser animation? i love the way yang's semblance hair looked in the old days. the maya hair is cool too but there's something about how it moved in poser.

Favorite location? visually, the house in TATT. emotionally, RNJRWYOQ's house in mistral still feels so comfy to me, i want everyone to move there at the end of the show.

Theory for the Relic of Choice? it allows you to pinpoint a choice in your life and visualize what would've happened if you'd chosen differently. i don't think it lets you actually go back and change it, though - just take that into account for any future choices.

Theory for the Relic of Destruction? i don't have a serious one but i do think it'd be really funny if it's just like. A Really Good Normal Sword with a spirit that tells you to Kill

Favorite Weiss ship? Bee's Schnees and particularly freezerburn. i'm not much of a fan of bumblebee honestly but freezerburn and monochrome carry bee's schnees hardcore.

What are you looking forward to seeing in Vacuo? Emerald Emerald Emerald i need her character development i need her being awkward with RWBYJ because she doesn't know if they'll continue to accept her

Favorite RWBYxJL character design? imma be honest i didn't like those movies very much. i like jess's design alright.

Characters you want to see redeemed? i would say emerald but she's hopefully not in question at this point. honestly i think all of the villains should get a genuine chance at redemption but my next answer is definitely Neo. my perception of purpose is that, when your purpose is fulfilled and you ascend the normal way (unlike Ruby), your new purpose has to do with bettering your old purpose. whether you had ineffective means or insufficient ends, your target is going to be the same. so i think regardless of whether she comes back as herself or someone else, neo's new purpose will be about ruby. this could be a really cool spin on redemption imo.

Favorite trans character headcanon? urghhh so many characters are so trans in this show. trans ruby is near and dear to my heart though. but trans weiss also kicks ass

What would be your Aura color/color theme? i think it would be pink and green. which one my aura would be idk but they're my two favorite colors and i like how they look together

Favorite voice performance? Lindsay Jones in v9 especially 9x7 through 9x9. they did an incredible job of letting Ruby's emotions pour through and i love how gravelly she got. i've never heard a high-pitched gravelly voice before and it sounds amazing

Favorite opening to sing along to? Trust Love. v7 also has the best intro sequence overall and i will die on this hill

Free space, ask me anything! if you have more questions you wanna hit me with send me asks! i'm always happy to get asked things about my special interests tagging @starlightsaphron @scp-bumblebee. also tagging @yangs-right-arm to be done AFTER she actually watches v9 :p

[raindropren]

I can't help but Headcanon Grian as a Terrible Gift Wrapper

He sees Wrapping paper and Shivers thinking about the terror He feels while Wrapping gifts.

Everytime a Hermits Birthday comes around He has to get Gift Bags instead because He literally can't wrap without the paper getting torn and then getting everywhere

teehe

My Grian Design has sharp talons so I think they'd mess up the pretty Wrapping paper and he'd get all sad and >:(

He trys to use them as scissors each time he trys again and it never works because they just aren't.

If he ever has a Gift he just REALLY wants wrapped he gets Scar or Pearl to do it!!

I headcanon Scar to be really good at Wrapping Gifts, He knows all the proper ways to cut and fold the Paper and actually uses Scissors, He makes them all Fancy too, It's really easy to tell when Grian got Scar to Wrap the Gift. I think they'd hang out together while wrapping gifts during the Hoildays and Grian would watch Scar Wrap a gift, get motivated to try again and then fail miserably, Scar would cheer him on the entire time.

I think Grian asks Pearl to Wrap gifts out of Habit, Since I headcanon them as Siblings, Grian and Pearl used to always Wrap Gifts for their Family and Friends together(Before Grian went missing in Evo(Headcanon)) Since they were Kids, It was harder to get Gift Bags and their Parents already had Wrapping Paper so it was just easier to Ask Pearl to help. I headcanon Pearl to be at least Decent at Wrapping Gifts, All tho I also think She perfers Gift Boxes, She likes how easy they are to open and Opening Wrapped Gifts always made her think of how wasteful it could be, She was the one to very nicely open the wrapped gift and putting all of it in a Bag to use next time. She still does it with Gifts she gets. You can find her repurposing Boxes, and Using the ripped Pieces of Wrapping paper as Tissue Paper. Grian always tore up the Wrapping paper with his Talons so they're kinda opposites in that way lol. Grian tends to hang out with Pearl when they just have Gifts to put in Bags or Boxes either way.

:]

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 72: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Hellooo everyone! The plot-train that will bring us to the finale of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc is unstoppable, so here we are once again, at the beginning of another month, for another chapter of the climax of this saga!! April 1st as usual is a very busy and important day in the CLAMP world, as it is not only the so-called "CLAMP Day", but also the birthday of our Sakura Kinomoto (and many other CLAMP characters!)!! Moreover, precisely as I'm writing this post, SakuraFes is being held in Tokyo!! Fans strived hard to get a ticket (I could see the struggle on my TL on Twitter) and while some managed to get one somehow, others were left out....since there's been lots of anticipation for this event, we'll see if it was worth the struggle and if we'll get info about the thing we're all waiting the most for: a second season of the Clear Card anime!! (UPDATE: IT WAS INDEED ANNOUNCED like we all hoped for!! Congratulations to all of us!! 😂)

In the meantime, let's focus on the analysis of chapter 72 because boooooy, it might be one of the shortest chapters ever (I remember chapters this short were released in 2018) but the info that was disclosed in it!!! We're definitely, definitely at the climax and it shows. CLAMP sensei are solving all the mysteries and giving us all the answers one by one. But since this is important info that will help us understanding the story better, let's review this chapter (and its translation) carefully!

And as usual, before diving under the cut and into the chapter, the gif of the month (paying homage to Lilie, lol) !!

The Cover Page

Oooh, what a pretty Sakura we have here!! She looks as if being half-asleep, and judging by the content of the chapter, it kinda makes sense. Sakura stays in a dream for the most of it. The simple dress is very elegant with all those gemstones applied on it. It also looks as if Sakura is creating them? Also, we have once again the black background that's become so common lately in the color pages of Clear Card. With that expression, Sakura looks a little bit more mature, and I really like it. The text in the JP version reminds us again of the last words Lilie said in the previous chapter: "I crossed time and dreams to come to see you".

"I know her very well, and yet I don't know anything about her"

The chapter starts right from where we left off at the end of chapter 71, with our Sakura and Lilie meeting for the first time....or is it?? 😉 Sakura sounds a bit confused at what Lilie said, but as usual (bless her!!!) she's very perceptive and notices that Lilie resembles Akiho a lot, more than actually Sakura herself. Lilie seems delighted and answers "I'm happy to hear that!!" (and not "Thank you!" like she said in the ENG translation). I was all smily when I've read this for the first time, but what came right after threw me in a puddle of sadness, and now you'll understand why. Sakura asks her if she knows Akiho, and Lilie's answer is "I could say I know her very well, and at the same time, that I don't know anything about her. And that makes me terribly sad". That's it. I was all giddy and happy to finally hear Lilie starting to talk, and she had to throw this brick made of sadness at me like that, right in the beginning. 😭😭Because it's clear here she's referring to the fact that despite being her own daughter, she won't survive long enough to see her grow up. Not even long enough to ascertain who she will look more similar to, her mom or her dad. Because Lilie died when Akiho wasn't even 1 year old. She was just a baby. The realization tinted that "I'm so happy to hear that!" we've seen before of the same sad color. ☹️ BUT!! We're not here to get shot down by angst so early in the chapter, so we proceed with Lilie apologizing for making things so confusing for Sakura, and she informs her they're in a dream. Then she finally proceeds to give some explanations on what's she's been trying to do this whole time, at the same time solving one of the BIGGEST mysteries in the Clear Card Arc. The question everyone had ever since chapter 1 was: "who's under the cloak of the Mysterious Cloaked Figure?" And here, my dear readers, we finally get our answer, in the year of the lord 2023, 7 years after the beginning of the manga: MCF WAS LILIE ALL ALONG!!! But let's see her version of the facts. Basically, Lilie in the beginning strived hard to travel through time alone to speak directly with Sakura at the age of 13 years old (HOW F*CKING POWERFUL IS THIS CHILD??), but it wasn't successful because her voice didn't reach our girl. We see a flashback right from chapter 7 with someone dressed with the robe standing right outside Sakura's house. Do you remember that? Yeah, MCF didn't appear only in dreams, but also physically in Sakura's reality. These scenes appeared in the anime as well and in the end we found out that under the cloak there was a sleepwalking Akiho, acting completely unconsciously. As it's typical with CLAMP anime, this turned out to be different in the manga! (But there's still a chance they'll explain that scene of the anime in a different way!) I had the impression, for a long time, that MCF was a different person depending on the dream Sakura had, or depending on whether MCF appeared in a dream or not. Well! Turns out even that intuition was wrong, because MCF was ALWAYS the same person, it's just that...some big mess happened, but let's see how Lilie explained it herself. Since her voice couldn't reach Sakura, and since our girl kept seeing the future ahead in her premonitory dreams, Lilie tried to get in touch with her through the dreams she was having.

But, for a twist of fate (I know you're all laughing right now) Lilie ended up mingling with Sakura's foretelling dreams. Yessir. When we saw MCF apparently "attacking" Sakura, or riding on top of Dragon-chan, she actually didn't have anything to do with it. She just ended up being mixed in the middle of all of that. Sakura sometimes dreamt about a "force" pulling her key away, and Lilie ended up in front of it, thus suggesting that MCF was the one trying to grab it. Turns out, it was Lilie probably trying to talk or communicate with Sakura in some way. But hold on, the revelations aren't over yet, oh no. Lilie explains how that mingling with Sakura's dreams went quite wrong.

Because yes, when one of her premonitory dreams was trying to warn her about Kaito taking the appearance of Syaoran during the play, with the Cat costume...well....Lilie ended up mixing in again, and that's how we got our MCF Syaoran. Hahahahaha! Are you baffled?? 😂Well I have to say I had so many theories as to why Sakura saw Syaoran under the cloak of MCF, some even concerning the psychological side...well, damn. Sakura simply never truly doubted her boyfriend and silly of me for thinking she could 😂 Also, we know now that we can rest assured Syaoran won't turn into an evil pawn or something...it was just a huge misunderstanding. Poor Lilie, I can't really hold it against her even though she ended up making a huge mess, because she really strived hard however she could, and...fate didn't work in her favor, apparently...until the right moment, that is (remember, hitsuzen always knows when it's the right time!) Moreover, Lilie tells Sakura that she already dreamed of this very same meeting they're having now, and guess when that was? Yes, at the end of chapter 6, precisely in the scene I mentioned in my post for chapter 71!!

After the shocking revelation (that made me yell at CLAMP once again for how astutely they FOOLED all of us for 7 years - I'm pretty sure no one thought about this possibility), I started to realize something. Sakura, in her premonitory dreams, pretty much dreamt about things mainly connected to Kaito. The "You won't be able to come back anymore" voice? It was the Association + Squids threatening Kaito with what would've happened if he dared touching the artifact inside Akiho. Dragon-chan? As its shape it's basically the same of the Seal of D that engulfed Kaito right before he disappeared into the artifact book, we can safely say it's strictly connected to him as well. MCF Syaoran? He was actually Kaito himself, disguised as the Syaoran-Cat of the play. I have to admit it, I had started getting signs that one of the MCFs Sakura was talking to during her dreams might have been Kaito, at some point. I knew the height worked against my theory, but when Sakura said "You look....so lonely" in chapter 48, right when Akiho had supposedly the same dream and confessed her love to Kaito through "the moon is beautiful" phrase right after that, I knew the "lonely" one could be none other than Kaito. Maybe Sakura was supposed to see Kaito in her dream, that one time, but Lilie mixed up again. Heh. 😅 And here we get our first serious translation mistake that can easily create confusion. Lilie goes on saying that the Cards Sakura had newly created (thus the Clear Cards) have now disappeared, and her magical powers diminished by an amount corresponding to the power of those Cards. Moreover, the Cards that once were separated from her (the Sakura Cards) are now back with her and their connection to her became stronger than before (well, we have seen it, Sakura now summons Mirror even without a particular reason, just to talk). Here, the ENG translation completely skipped the distinction between the two decks of Cards (in the JP version Lilie clearly talks about "the cards you had newly created" and "the cards that were once separated from you"), making Lilie sound as if she's still talking about the Clear Cards even in the second panel.......when we can clearly see the back of the Sakura Cards there. And right in the next panel, we have yet another translation mistake. They completely made up what the Book did here. ENG: What's more, the book's forbidden magic...can only turn back time so far. It has no power over times before the caster or the target were born. He's younger than me... JP: Moreover, the "forbidden magic" (that originated) after using the Book does not reach further than the (moment in) time when the person who activated it and the target of said magic were born. And "that boy" is younger than me.

Lilie never mentions anything about the Book "turning back time". The "forbidden magic"'s work is to rewrite the memories that were recorded in the Book, it does not turn back time. I wish they made that clearer, it's been messed with even in the previous chapters!

But it's not over, as even the next sentence suggests something that in my opinion is incorrect. Lilie goes on explaining that for this reason, she decided to visit Sakura "now" that she's the same age as hers (she literally says the word 今, which for her is her present), crossing time and dreams to reach her. However, the ENG translation here says "So I've come to you from the time when I was the same age as you", suggesting that adult Lilie went back in time to reach Sakura's age and then went to visit Sakura in a dream. There's nothing that suggests that, in the JP sentence. As she will say herself later, Lilie is capable of seeing the future so much ahead, so it seems convoluted that she'd wait to become an adult, just to go back in time to when she was almost 13 (supposedly Sakura's age) and then cross time again to go see Sakura in the future. It makes more sense for her to attempt this when she was *already* 13 years old. I checked the other translations, and the Portuguese and French seem to agree with me (they translate correctly that 今 with "now that we have the same age").

Anyway. For Lilie it was important to attempt this now, while the Book's power can't reach her and mess with her goal, and while Kaito and Akiho aren't born yet. And she adds "(I've come to see) You, the cute Alice (daughter) of the girl named after a flower who became my friend", and we see a nice flashback of a little Nadeshiko, at the same age when she met Lilie. Sakura in this way understands that Lilie knows her mother. Sakura asks if Lilie came from the past and whether she came to tell her something. Lilie confirms she wants to talk about something that for her will happen in the future, but for Sakura it has already happened. Sakura is unstoppable with her questions (good!) and asks Lilie if she can see the future, to which she replies that yes, she can see the future in her dreams exactly like Sakura. "I can see what will happen just moments from now...what will happen long in the future...and even...what will happen after I've passed on". And here came the other punch in the stomach for me. Because Lilie's expression here is really, really painful. I think I'll do a separate post with all my thoughts on Lilie triggered by this chapter, so maybe check it out later if you're curious.

That's who I am

Sakura asks "Isn't it painful to know plenty of the future ahead?" and Lilie's sorrowful smile is already enough of an answer. But she goes on,

"the things I can do...and even those I can't...make me the person that I am"

I found that extremely beautiful. It is painful, yes, but that's part of herself too. And Lilie seems to be very accepting of her nature and her "gift", as well as her limits. Maybe that's why she's able to remain so positive and strong even in a very difficult situation like hers.

The moment is solemn. Lilie says (lit., JP): "Kinomoto Sakura. Your memories and records have been rewritten". Here the ENG replaced "records" with "life", probably because it doesn't make much sense to include "records" just like that. The Spanish version translated it as something like "(your memories) and the records that keep track of them", and I think that works very well. Sakura is shocked upon hearing that. Lilie here talks in future tense because this is something that for her will happen in the future: "That boy...will lie and tell the guardian of the book, who will one day be named Momo, that his goal is to exchange you with the other Alice". And why will he do that? Apparently, because in this way he won't make Momo think or have any suspicion that he will be the actual target of the exchange magic for the artifact that was inside Akiho. (JP) "Because Momo knows painfully well what will happen if that boy becomes the target, in the state he'll be in at the moment of the exchange". I'm a bit butthurt they removed that "painfully" and went for "all too well", because in the original JP text Lilie uses 痛い程 and its literal translation is "to the point of hurting". And I think that's perfect to describe Momo's feelings. Momo cares about Kaito, a whole lot. And she would've never agreed to a goal like this, endangering his life in that way and ending up carelessly triggering the Seal of D. And this is precisely the reason why Kaito lied to her. Because he knows that. He knows she's a "kind and a bit stubborn" creature. And her kindness towards him would've lead her to stop him, something he couldn't really afford.

Lilie can't help but muttering "blockhead". Yeah, in Japanese it's the same わからずや "insult" that Momo used at the end of chapter 70, precisely as he was disappearing engulfed by the artifact book. (And the ENG should've kept the translation of that term consistent between the two chapters, which was "dolt" in chapter 70 and turned into "hardheaded" in chapter 72). This made me wonder whether Lilie was the first one using that term for him, and so Momo took it after her, or if she simply saw that moment in a dream of the future, and quoted Momo's words. One thing is for sure, the JP fandom used that terms quite a lot after reading chapter 70. 😂 Lilie continues saying (still in future tense) that Momo will want Sakura to stop the forbidden magic, so she will give her a hint, but that will end up being incorrect, precisely because Kaito will lie about his real plan. So, what does this translates to, for us readers? When we were thinking that Kaito wanted to exchange the girls, we weren't completely wrong. Or, rather, we weren't lead to that theory without good foundations. It's just that Kaito lied to Momo and made things seem that way on purpose, so his real goal would've come out only at the last moment, the moment of activation of the forbidden magic. When Momo couldn't do anything about it anymore. He really mislead all of us. Because he wanted things to go this way so badly. Because he wanted to be the one to take into himself the thing he inavertedly caused Akiho to be engraved with, and which was about to kill her soul. I sense a profound, desperate sense of guilt from this. It's no wonder Momo was so mad and ended up crying, at the end of Chapter 70. She did what she could to protect "her children", but she ended up losing one anyway. Because, just like in the most common relationship between a teenager and their parental figure, he deceived her and still had it his way, stubborn and oblivious to how much suffering he would've caused to the people who loved him the most. No wonder CLAMP called him more than once "immature" in their Twitter Spaces. This is the reason why I see Momo as a strong parental figure for both Akiho, but mainly for Kaito too.

What is happiness to you?

So Momo's hint ended up being incorrect (remember the "world where no one remembered Sakura"?). But Lilie says "But even so, it's still the same. What's happiness to you?" Because, as Lilie says, the answer is the same even for the other Alice by Sakura's side. And in this very important moment, there's another difference in translation.

ENG: "Even if it makes someone else happy...imagine living in a world where the people you held most dear are gone. Could you call that happiness?"

JP: "Even if someone told you that's happiness/even if someone told you they're happy like this, can you really call it happiness if they live in a world where they lost what they didn't want to lose?"

It's painfully clear what Lilie is meaning here. Even if Akiho looks (and maybe even affirms to be) happy and cherished in this new arranged world with her memories rewritten, can she really say to be happy if the ONE thing she didn't want to lose the most....is gone? Sakura thinks hard about that. Even if Lilie doesn't mention names specifically. And just as she's thinking hard about the answer, the dream starts to crack. Sakura is about to wake up and Lilie knows it. (JP) "I come from a time where the forbidden magic can't reach. But you're right within its range. Once you wake up from this dream, I guess you will forget about meeting me. But, you have the magic that you've been preparing yourself. You just need to realize about it. I believe...in the two Alice"

And just like that, Sakura wakes up in Syaoran's arms, on the floor of the school grounds. Syaoran is visibly stressed and nervous, so much that when Sakura wakes up with a "Oh..." he goes "Don't "oh" me! You suddenly fainted!!" 😂 although this is a tense moment, I laughed at this scene because the stressful moment made some of the old, "rude" Syaoran come back 😂yes, there isn't any translation mistake this time around. The nervousness made Syaoran a bit snappy with Sakura 😆 Sakura, still in his arms (kyaaa), says that she had a dream, and she had the impression Akiho appeared in it. Syaoran helps her standing up, trying to defuse the situation joking that "that's what they call a sister complex, Sakura", and that Tomoyo told him about this term 😂😂(I've already seen some of my Japanese mutuals on Twitter saying Tomoyo teaches Syaoran stuff she shouldn't teach him 😆) Sakura doesn't really answer the joke, as she's still quite dizzy and confused by the dream. Syaoran goes back to be serious, seeing her like that, and asks if she's ok. Sakura says she is, but she holds her head almost as if she had a headache, so Syaoran asks her if she had a premonitory dream. Sakura isn't sure, you can really see she's trying hard to remember the content of the dream, but she just can't. Although, there's one thing she remembers. That this was a dream telling her something very important, both for her, and for everyone else.

And this, dear readers, is where chapter 72 leaves us, ready to advance the plot once again in the next chapter. As I said in the beginning, this chapter was short but finally explained some important things that were torturing us ever since the beginning. But not only: the just released volume 14 featured a change of script in chapter 70, when Momo is talking to Kaito after the forbidden magic was activated. Instead of asking him "what about you?", she tells him "You even lied to me, the guardian of the book, about the subject of the rewriting" which is directly connected to what Lilie said in this chapter. It was a "last minute change" (that normally happens between the Nakayoshi version and the tankobon version) probably to justify better why we were lead to believe that Kaito wanted to exchange the two girls (and thus not giving the impression CLAMP were playing us for fools completely). Moreover, it sounded strange that Momo would've let Kaito go on with his plan if she knew he would've ended up triggering the Seal of D. It looked pretty OOC for her, so maybe Ohkawa wanted to fix that. I was a bit confused by this change in the beginning, but now I completely understand why she did it.

Furthermore, there's the mention of the "magic Sakura has been preparing" that really intrigued me. Is this about the usual "zettai daijoubu da yo", or is it something more complex? Could Sakura have been preparing a spell that would activate in a certain circumstance before the play happened, in case she needed it later? Of course her memories now have been rewritten, but Lilie's words suggest that she will soon remember about preparing this magic. And I'm super excited to find out what it is. It would give Sakura a really good development, and show she can be planning things too!

At the end of the chapter, Sakura forgets about meeting Lilie. And while that might seem as once again an unnecessary stepback, I don't really think it is. If this was played in this way to give Akiho the agency she needs later, then it makes a lot of sense. Especially when many of us are hoping to see her remembering about Kaito on her own. Because it would be particularly significant. If Sakura remembered this meeting, and the fact that their memories had been rewritten, and about "Momo" and "that boy" who lied about exchanging them, logically the first thing she would do is to inform Akiho about it. But is this how things are supposed to go? Is this how Akiho is supposed to find out a truth that concerns her very closely? If Akiho is meant to remember Kaito on her own, because the void he left in her life will soon feel larger and larger, suggesting her that she's not truly happy and that something/someone is missing, then it makes sense for the narrative to hold things back for a short while. Sakura can always remember about this meeting on her own later on, thanks to her magic. While Akiho will work hard to grasp the true happiness she wants, with the help of the people who care about her. And I suspect that might happen as soon as next chapter. And then it'll be time to understand what to do to bring Kaito back, or to reach him where he is.

While here we keep praying hard for a happy ending in the manga, in the meantime I bask in the happiness of the freshly announced sequel of the Clear Card anime!!

Next release dates for what concerns chapter 73:

April 30th, on CLAMP’s Youtube channel (digital, JP and other languages) May 2nd, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP)

Kodansha announced for May 10th the launch of a new simulpub platform directly managed by them (K-Manga), where it's very likely it'll be possible to read Clear Card in English digitally and simultaneously with the Japanese release. Although, that service will work only in the US (for the moment).

Alright, see you at the end of this month!! 😉

[libras-interactives]

Do you have any OC’s for Lackadaisy who didn’t make it into the fic or who were made after you started writing? I love hearing about all of them so much

;v; wagh

So 2~3 of these kitties are connected to Devil's Moon characters but probably won't show up (or at least, will only be mentioned), and two arent related to it at all.

Viviana Carmina Holst - Slyvester's wife, who Ive thought so much about but may not even show up "on camera" LOL. A calico with auburn hair she keeps in a fairly old-fashioned style, to match her more modest dress. She's thin and has big, bright green-brown eyes.

She's quite sociable, observant, easygoing and a terrible cardshark. She loves company and doesn't get it nearly as much as she'd like; they live in a modest yet well-decorated home outside St. Louis city limits. Carmina comes from a large Italian family. She was the first of her siblings to be born in America. She's always been known as Carmina to them (there were already three Vivianas in the extended family), and Vivi to her husband.

Because she and Slyvester could not have children, they adopted three nephews after the boys' parents passed (Carmina's side). The boys are now grown and the two oldest are quite successful. The youngest still lives with them to help his mother, as Carmina is disabled and Slyvester works a lot, and they've yet to find a live-in nurse that suits them.

Carmina and Slyvester grew up together in the same Italian-majority neighborhood; his family is Danish and was one of the few non Italians on the block. Carmina's parents approved of him bc he agreed to convert, they knew he wasn't a drinker, and they were relieved their sickly daughter was able to get married and have someone take care of her for the rest of her life.

Flynn's Family - I've thought a lot about them but I don't think they'll be super relevant or come up, alas. His older brother Seamus is fairly important to the business, but rarely makes himself known. He has some pretty bad physical and mental damage from the war, so tends to be anti-social, plus years of Flynn's emotional manipulation have taken their toll. Tomas was the youngest and the golden child, died in the war. Flynn couldn't stand him. Sorcha was older than Tomas but younger than Flynn, I'm still unsure what happened exactly, but she's not around her parents anymore. They didn't really dote on her like they did the boys, or Tomas.

Their mother was tall and slender, while the father was more stout and broad, and a little shorter - only Seamus had his build and coloring, the rest of the children were looked and were built like their mama. All of them had orange and black markings but the Flynn we know is the only chimera.

I keep wanting to think of more for the family - their history, and appearances and whatnot, but then I pull back because it "won't be relevant" in Devil's Moon ... well, might do it anyway bc I just like writing family dynamics and drama, lol. I already wrote a ton about Carmina so might as well.

Okay these two are 100% not UTDM related and from an Arkham Horror board game/kinda tabletop bc we rp'd it a ton. The setting is 1920s anyway, and I forced my friends to play and make lackadaisy OCs (it was my birthday damn it 😂). These two characters rotted a crater in my brain for 2 weeks straight and I still like em a ton. Sister Marguerite was mine and Father Elijah was initially my partner's but I have since stolen him haha.

Sister Marguerite, formerly Adelaide Whitaker. Wheeww... so much to say here but I'll condense it. Originally from a wealthy East Coast family, she was forcefully sent to a "wellness and manners" sort of school for "esteemed ladies" that was really just a ruse to hide her pregnancy. It wasn't a Magdalene asylum/laundry, though. She lost the child, but a handful of nuns showed her such kindness (and she'd had religious-fixated OCD for years that her family actively made worse anyway) that she converted to Catholicism and began the process of becoming a nun once she was old enough. She's happy with her current life, enough that her OCD has lessened somewhat, but ofc there are still bad days. She often fixates on physical purity, baptism and "healing water"; most of her sisters chalk her "peculiarities" up to her extreme devotion and are willing to overlook her bad, spiraling days bc shes v dear to them. She's a good-hearted woman, quiet, and doesn't scare easily. Puts others before herself again and again.

As a cat, she's white with unsettling sectorial heterochromia, big slender ears, and an odd face. Lackadaisy cats are generally pretty cute but she's meant to be more "homely". Her eyes are more unnerving than striking. This is the photo that was the first inspiration for her, though this kitty is very cute, haha. If she were human I think she'd have bright eyes and a very plain face. I've drawn her but my art is pretty oof! I need to keep practicing bc her face and headshape in particular are kinda different.

Actually considered reworking her backstory to be one of Jack's many siblings; he did have a sister who ran off, but thats kinda irrelevant in UTDM rn. If anything itd be mentioned in an epilogue.

Father Elijah - A handsome man from a good Midwestern family. They were disappointed when Elijah joined the church, feeling like he was wasting his potential. He's always felt close to God and wanted to help others, but he's also a deeply scholarly person and loves theology, even if some things he studies would be considered heretical. This doesn't necessarily mean he's open minded, especially to those he considers "irredeemable", but he's always polite, protective of his flock and usually a pretty affable guy.

Elijah certainly has some kind of mental stuff rolling around in his noggin; I don't want to call it disorder or illness, especially since he doesn't really have a name for it at the time period (like Marguerite with her OCD). In the tabletop, they came to Arkham together as allies and quickly became rather ... obsessed with each other. He's very fixated with Marguerite, believing her to be a pinnacle of what a godly person should be, and later believing she can actually speak to angels (or is one??). He wants so much of her attention, to hear her opinions and interpretations of faith. To say he puts her on a pedestal is an understatement. Calling it "romantic" interest isnt the whole picture, and too simple for... whatever the hell he's got going on. Marguerite admires him deeply but in a more "inspired" way. Platonic is also too simple for what she's feeling, but her attachment certainly isn't as deep as his.

As a cat he's an orange tabby with pretty blue eyes. Meant to be a really tall good looking dude, a contrast to Sister Margy. Maaany women in the church have admired him but he's never considered or indulged in feelings like that until Marguerite; he doesn't even consider his appearance much. Just tries to keep tidy. I also terribly drew him real quick for the tabletop. I think his ears should have kind of a cute shape and he's got extra fur around his face :3 Still not sure on what sort of tail he'd have, though.

Shoutout to tabletop!Father Elijah who dual wielded a pistol and giant crucifix on the regular, constantly threw himself into danger to save Margie and slowly became twisted by the dark powers he was trying so hard to stop 👍🏽 One of my favorite scenes was both of them jumping into a portal together, then getting separated bc we rolled poorly and they both got HP/Sanity down to 0. Elijah woke up in the hospital in extreme pain, left without fully restoring HP and ran all the way back to the church to find Marguerite. They held each other at the altar for a while and she gave him her rosary bc he lost his crucifix in the void. and they promised to never leave each other again and stayed attached at the hip in spite of the usual eldritch horrors. normal arkham horror things. I'd love to make Arkham LCG cards for them; theyve already got custom cards for the 2nd edition board game (but now my other fixations and nerdness is showing so ill stop here).

(shoutout to that poor eldritch-corrupted NPC who sister marguerite believed needed a baptism to restore him, so father elijah held the dude down while he almost drowned and margeurte prayed over him and one party member witnessed all this and told the others so EVERYONE avoided "those catholic freaks" for the whole session sdkdskfs)

[critter-rarepair-reccs]

Hey friends, happy Wednesday! To kick off the month of May, we have seven fics set in or that otherwise have the vibes of spring! As always, you can find them below the cut and if you check any of them out, I encourage you to leave kudoes and comments to spread the rarepair love 💕

i’ll illuminate you by orphan_account (539 words, Teen) Pairing: Fresh Cut Grass/FRIDA (Loveletters) Warnings: None

FCG and FRIDA visit Zephrah for Orym and Dorian's wedding. Flower crown adorableness ensues.

Reccer Says: One of the cutest fics I have ever read. The phrase "aeormapartner" is goofy and so fucking adorable.

a star fell from your heart and into my eyes by glossolali (1,959 words, Teen) Pairing: Mollymauk Tealeaf/Essek Thelyss (Shadowmauk) Warnings: None

It's Molly's birthday and all he wants is to flirt with Essek and sweep him off his feet. Little does he know that Essek has a terribly romantic surprise of his own in store for Molly.

Reccer Says: It is so so cute, with an excellent Molly POV (seriously, his inner monologue is adorable and feels So Right) and the sweetest ending. Essek's gifts to Molly are the most romantic things ever and I'm obsessed with it. Also celebrating Molly's birthday on the day after Cognouza's defeat when he woke up in the Grove is perfect and I love it!!! ALSO druid Essek beloved!!!!

We should just kiss, like real people do by CupOTeaHatter (910 words, Teen) Pairing: Veth Brenatto/Caleb Widogast (Widobrave) Warnings: None

Veth and Caleb, apart and unable to sleep, muse on the rain and could-have-beens.

Reccer Says: The angst and yearning is delicious

Sunflower by ShadowCrw (1,264 words, Teen) Pairing: Keyleth/Pike Trickfoot/Vex'ahlia Warnings: None

Post-canon, Vex and Pike garden while Keyleth recovers from an injury.

Reccer Says: Nice post-canon slice of life! The shenanigans towards the end with Trinket and the water are especially cute.

she wore flowers like a crown by orphan_account (896 words, General) Pairing: Jester Lavorre/Yasha Nydoorin (Yashter) Warnings: None

Jester makes Yasha a flower crown. Yasha has emotions about it.

Reccer Says: Yashter is such an underrated pairing and this fic is a lovely little microcosm of them <3

after the storm by allmadeofstardust (2,352 words, General) Pairing: Orym/Will Warnings: Survivors Guilt

Three times Orym is caught in a rainstorm, each with a different person.

Reccer Says: Only the first third of the fic is Orym and Will but that section is so lovely! As is the rest of the fic, I love Orym and Imogen’s friendship and Orym’s guilt and grief over Laudna’s death so much.

Air Ashari Floral & Ink by SociallyAwkwardFox (12,563 words, Teen) Pairing: Orym/Dorian Storm/Will (Dorymwill) Warnings: None

A series of vignettes as Dorian falls in love with and begins a relationship with the owners for Air Ashari Floral & Ink, Orym and Will.

Reccer Says: It’s very sweet!! The relationship is so cute and they really do just Fit together. It also kinda has the vibe of a non-linear narrative despite being linear, which I think is neat, probably a side effect of the vignettes in a fun way! Takes place over a span of time, not just spring (the only mentioned point in time is actually Winter’s Crest lol) but with all the flowers it’s got real springy vibes throughout.

Thank you for joining us this week’s recc list! All the love to everyone who submitted a fic 💕 All enclosed recommendations were submitted by the community via our submissions form, which you can find here. All fic information is as it was provided by the reccer, so it may not be accurate to the author’s intent or the precise contents of the fic itself. Please assume good intent from all parties 💕

Submissions for next week’s list are already open! We’ll be featuring Jester Rarepairs. If you have any you’d like to highlight, you can send them in here. The week after that, the theme is Alternate Universes and the weeks after that we’re taking recommendations for Hurt/Comfort and PC x NPC! Submissions for all of these themes are currently open.

If you want more rarepair fic, check out @cr-summer-wildflowers and their event collections on ao3! If you want some friendship after all this romance, take a look at @critter-genfic-events and their recc lists! And if you’re interested in everyone’s favorite wizards, you can’t go wrong with the lists at @aeor-is-for-reccing !

Thanks all and have a lovely day/night/timezone! 💕

[epicmilly]

oc lore!! (asked for by @written-in-the-stars135, go check her out she's super cool!!)

yapping under the cut vvv

so.. where to start?

Meet Amy! Her family moved to [insert town name] when she was six, and she's been living there ever since! She's super extroverted and is friends with about everybody. Amy loves music and baking (her cookies are literally the best) and plays her dad's guitar! She likes to think that she's an artist, but she's absolutely horrible. She tries.

Meet Max, Amy's next door neighbor and best friend! He's very, VERY shy but doesn't act like it around Amy. He's super kind and caring, and a little bit of a goofball. He's lived in [town name] his whole life, but before Amy his only friend was his older brother.

The day Amy moved in, Max knocked on her door to meet her, and they instantly clicked! During the summer they met, they hung out a bunch and played together a lot. I have a few scenes from when they were little planned out, if you want I can share those :D

Between when Amy moved in and the main story, there are lots of various scenes and stuff, also Amy's dad died when she was seven or eight. He was a musician and loved playing guitar, Amy picked up his guitar soon after his passing and discovered she was actually pretty good and she loves writing her own songs!

The story takes place when they are both in 9th grade (both of them are fourteen, Max's birthday is in February and Amy's in August). Amy starts having weird creepy dreams about this dark world and falling (it's all very vague and unplanned right now lol) and one day she gets all feverish and passes out in class and Max has to help walk/carry her home (they live like five minutes from the school and walk to and from school together). When she wakes up she learns she has psychic powers when she almost burns her house down.

Amy keeps having these odd dreams, full of her worst fears, when one night a bunny appears in her dream. The next morning, there's a bunny cuddling her in her bed. She names him Luna, and takes him in as a pet. A few days after getting him, Max starts appearing in her dreams, a creepy dude with a knife poised over him.

Then, Max disappears.

She goes on a quest into her nightmare world to find and save Max, Luna at her side and a bucket load of magic powers to discover. In the end, Amy ends up finding Max in this evil wizard/king (or something idk), brainwashed and a slave to his royal majesty. Max ends up dying or something and Amy gives up her life to save him with a rare power, not knowing if she'll make it out alive.

Max wakes up in his room, no memory of the king, but a bad feeling that something terrible had happened. He goes to Amy's house to tell her about it, but he can't find her. He tries calling her. No response. He does find Luna, who somehow made it back to Amy's room. Luna helps guide him to where Amy is found, laying peacefully. Max checks for a heartbeat.

Nothing.

Amy wakes up anyways lol, they go back to school and they totally don't get traumatized!

And uhh yeah that's kind of how it will play out? I'm sure you can tell how little I actually have planned, it's just a vague storyline right now, but I do have a lot of random but very specific scenes planned out if you'd like to hear! Just got to find a way to work them in to the story lol

And my very unreasonable dream is to eventually make a show.. but we'll see how that goes LOL

and thennnn here are a bunch of old drawings of them! I haven't drawn them much recently so ignore that the art is kinda bad on some of them

(the fluffy guy is @koterkot's oc pluto)

i don't think i've uploaded any of my fav drawings to my chromebook lol

but anyways yeah!! :D those are my lil sillies c:

[lenny-rambles]

About "When All the Embers Die"

Title: When All the Embers Die

Author: MelodramaticCoffeeAddict

Update 21: Chapter Twenty (Then)

Relevant tags: ZoLu, angst, modern au, acesan, ongoing, the swords are dogs, happy ending (allegedly)

A modern au ZoLu fic in which the crew were friends once, and now Zoro's not; and about why is that.

IT UPDATED! IT UPDATED! IT UPDATED!!! Thank you so much author for updating!!! I adore this story and it's been a blast. Truly, the angst and hurt/comfort are so well managed that I can't help but get really into it. Everyone should read this fanfic because it's effin fantastic.

All right, first of all, I am a big fan of MelodramaticCoffeeAddict's works. I've read a lot of them, and the ones I haven't is because I'm scared of the feelings they'll give me. Most of them are very angsty and Zoro-centric, which means I'm very drawn to her works. But I'm digressing.

All right, spoilers for the fic and OP Marineford arc, (though that last one is kinda a stretch but whatever) BEWARE!!

We start basically where we left the "then" part of the story, which is great because I can't get enough of Zoro and Luffy's reaction to the reveal. Like, Zoro, my man is Destroyed, he is basically in hell right now, his only lifelines are Wado, Luffy and Ace. (Which is so sad now given what we know about "now") (OHHHH I HAVE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THAT!!!)

I want to talk about Ace's role in the story before I continue. Or at least, a little thing that popped up when this beautiful fic was invading my consciousness and not letting me study: Zoro doesn't get to keep his older siblings for long. An that's so sad!!!!! Like, the foreshadowing for Ace's death being to save Zoro, who could very well be trying to save Luffy from anything (or at least the way I understood it) Is So Tragic. This would be the second Older Sibling that sacrifices themselves for Zoro, I think that would break him. That's what gives him the permanent stutter in the "now" portion of the story.

This last part actually relates to the author's comment about a hc where Zoro just, buries his emotions instead of dealing with them, because then he would break. If Ace's death is Zoro's "fault" that will be what finally breaks the dam. He will not come back from that. And we know so!!! Because he didn't!!!

All right, back to the scenes in the fic

Sanji's been giving them food but Zoro doesn't want any, I understand this so much, this is so sad :c. Luffy eats it (haha), and Ace very much acts as the ultimate support for everyone. Let's go AceSan, I just really like how Ace doesn't neglects his role as everyone's support in favor of someone else. Even Usopp got some support! I love you Ace <333

Luffy reminding Zoro it was not his fault got me by surprise!! I sometimes forget this is a ZoLu fic ('cause of the plot) lol. This is such a nice way of giving a sweet scene that doesn't shift terribly the tone of the chapter, I really liked it.

More Zoro angst!!! He's blaming himself for the short trip :c Even though Luffy already told him nothing is his fault and he doesn't own anyone anything (some chapters ago), he still thinks he's the worst because he's ruined his friends fun!!! I WANNA CRY

Some more situational fluff: Luffy gives Zoro a ride home, and only Zoro!!!! I know this has Plot Reasons, it also has Ship Implications and I'm here for both. I really like Zoro and Luffy's relationship here! I don't remember getting a Luffy POV in this fic so far, I'll have to re-read, but I'd like to see their relationship through Luffy's pov.

The moment I've been waiting for ever since the birthday chapter is finally here!! Zoro calls Mihawk dad!!!!!! I was expecting this but it still made me feeeeel for them. I'd say I really like their relationship in the fic, but I say that about everything relationship in the fic. I just really like this fic and the way the author handles the characters in a very unusual setting, but makes it make sense for the canon counterparts!!!

Mihawk comforting Zoro part 1, thank you Mihawk for giving it your best to be a good dad, even if it doesn't always work out as intended. Your efforts have not been in vain because it's Your House where Zoro feels safest, not his, not Luffy's, not Ace's, Yours!!!

A short rambling about the dogs!!! They know what to do, I really love the dogs in this fic. They are *in character* for like, 2-3 lines of dialogue we've from canon, but in all honesty, I eat up any anthropomorphization of Zoro's swords (even Oda's, but we don't talk about Oda's take on that) but this is one of my favorites!

Oh yeah, the post dissociation clarity is weird. Like, as someone who also has the bad habit of "keeping big emotions under the rug" I have now added "to ACTUALLY check on them later" to the strategy, because it suck feeling a stranger to your own trauma. Hopefully Zoro learns this, but the way the story is headed, I don't see it happening in the "then" chapters...

On this, I haven't been through something similar to what's on the story, but both God and my psychiatrist know that the line between hyper rationalizing your feelings and just ignoring them blurs terribly quicky. So Zoro being like "I have to BE FINE, because if I AM NOT FINE then this would be terrible, the most horrible thing to ever happen, and that can't be true, because I don't think I could survive that" is very close to home for me, I just wish he went to therapy.

More angst (thanks) Zoro's issues with self worth and him being a waste unless he is excellent and strong and how I relate to that because of Internalized Family Expectations that were Not Met. Not much to develop on that, I just think about this take on Zoro's character and wonder what it means to myself.

Not wanting to eat because of anxiety for something totally unrelated to food is also very personal to me. The moment when eating stops being the Joie de Vivre to become A Chore is when it's known something's wrong, so seeing it in action for Zoro is great.

Mihawk comforting Zoro part 2, thank you Mihawk for loving your son. Perona also loves Zoro but she's a bit (a lot) lost right now. I think Mihawk wants to give Zoro a sense of normalcy through his panic attacks and all, so he keeps calm. And Perona knows that being dramatic is almost always more fun than being stoic, so she is. But my poor Zoro ends up confused about how to properly react to stressful situations thanks to these two, and by stating that on the fic we now know why he is Like That. I hope he gets to calm down more soon.

Ussop!!! I love it when we get his POV, I really like Usopp's POV in general for Fics, but this one serves also for an "antagonistic" narrative in the story. My man is too wrapped up in his own insecurities that he can't see that the way he and Zoro protect themselves from trauma is basically the same. They both create and project an image of themselves that has it more together than they actually do, the only difference is that now Usopp can't call Zoro's bluff and viceversa. They are both too into their own heads to even think that someone has issues as bad a they do. (Because why would they? Everyone else is so very much incredible! They are just the lesser friend, the one that's disposable, the useless one) They are all liars trying to get the best of themselves out, so that none of their wonderful friends ever finds out about what they've got within.

But they did!!! And it's Usopp's fault for not respecting Zoro's boundaries!!! Zoro's exposed everytime that happens and Usopp Can't Get Enough of it, because now he is not the weak one. He can call the bluff and regain some sort of validation towards him and his way of projecting out. What good it does to him though, because his bluff's also been called by everyone but Zoro. It makes sense for him to finally stop and think about what he's done for a change. Ding dong mtherfcker, it's consequences of your actions!

Side note, I really like Luffy paying for Usopp's phone but still too mad at him to actually talk to him directly, that's Luffy if I ever read him.

Usopp apologizing because he fears his friends stopping from being his friends and not because of him actually being sorry (even though he knows he's in the wrong) is peak Usopp behavior. In fact, it is very much canon, since that's basically how the end of the Water 7 saga goes. (until Zoro makes Luffy understand and so Usopp understand that half-assed apologies won't do). Let's hope he doesn't have to get punched anymore to be all right with the crew again.

Ah, Usopp being petty because Zoro apologized is funny, and very interesting for things previously mentioned.

And then the fic ends. It was a very good update! I'm So Glad the author is still updating! even though it' stated to be somewhat more of a bore now (than it was at the start :c) I await the next update expectantly because I can't get enough of this, and sincerely hope the fic gets to be done, because this is such a good story it'd make me sad if it were to just, stop. So once again, thank you so much author for all the work you put through and take your time!!!

Oh well, this is a great piece (haha), I think the fic is very non shippers accesible, because most of the moment can be interpreted as platonic (but why would you?) or plainly Not In English (I love that, I really like those but where they flirt in other languages, they are such dorks omg). So I believe any Zoro fans should read it, if you like modern aus, because it is a really good Zoro fic, and fic in general. I'm biased but I'm right!!!

[br1ghtestlight]

Bob's burgers beginners episodes

if you want to start watching bob's burgers but aren't sure where to begin with over 265+ episodes i have compiled a small list of episodes that i think are a good introduction to the series and characters!!

it is an episodic sitcom so i wouldn't worry too much about starting with season one episode one. you won't really miss out on too much context except for some secondary character introductions, and in my personal opinion the earlier seasons aren't the best introduction for the characterization and humor that the rest of the series has and probably aren't the best to start out with watching. i will try to include at least one episode that focuses on each of the main characters :)

Bob Belcher and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Kids (season 11, episode 6)

in my opinion this is the best episode to start with if you've never seen an episode of the show before. it was the 100th episode special and so it does a good job at introducing the characters, settings etc as if it were a rewritten version of the pilot episode AND it's a lot funnier and more enjoyable than the actual pilot episode!!! it does a good job at introducing family dynamics and characters and also has a really catchy song lol

the plot of this episode is that there's an annual festival on ocean avenue and bob is hoping it'll be good for business but due to a series of events the kids end up setting the restaurant on fire, and end up getting up to some shenanigans to try to make it up to bob while him, linda and teddy try to get the restaurant in good enough condition for them to open for the lunch rush (also there's a fun plot twist at the end of this episode)

The Hurt Soccer (season 8, episode 12)

this episode is really funny and enjoyable and doesn't rely too heavily on secondary characters that were introduced in earlier episodes for it to make sense

the plot of this episode is that bob and linda accidentally signed louise up for a soccer team (which she absolutely DOES NOT want to be on) and she ends up having to compete in the final game of the season with bob as the coach and tina as the assistant coach, but louise's soccer team is kinda terrible. gene and linda end up opening a musical production in the restaurant bcuz they are both huge showbiz performers. Weirdly enough this episode ALSO has the restaurant catch on fire but i swear to god that isn't a consistent thing on this show it's just these two episodes </3

Eat, Spray, Linda (season 5, episode 18)

this is a pretty simple episode about linda's birthday where the kids and bob try to give her a happy birthday but EVERYTHING seems to be going wrong for her. it's a cute episode and has some interesting insight into linda's character and her relationship with her kids without feeling overwhelming!!

Stand By Gene (season 6, episode 12)

this episode features A LOT of secondary characters but I don't think its too confusing if you just go into it with the understanding that these are the kids friends from school and they appear in many episodes before and since this one. besides that it's a very fun adventure-type episode of all the kids going on a small adventure to find a two-butted goat at a nearby farm and explores a lot of interesting friendship dynamics. the subplot is a silly restaurant game between bob, linda and some other minor secondary characters but it does a really good job of showcasing their relationship and support of each other (while also being super compeitive) if you don't want to watch EVERY episode where a secondary character is introduced right away this is a really good one to start with. it's sooo charming and fun

The Laser-inth (season 7, episode 18)

I'm slightly biased because this was one of the first bob's burgers episodes i ever watched but i do think it's a really good one to start out with!! the main plot is about bob taking gene to a rock concert where he ends up getting sensory overload bcuz of the loud music and lights and is a good protrayal of bob's parenting style and how he is as a father. the subplot is linda taking tina and louise to an american girl style doll restaurant and it's mostly silly fun but also a little bit sweet at the end :) AND they help a spy doll escape from being killed. genuinely a very wholesome and fun episode with so much heart. also one of the episodes that explores the "it takes a village" type parenting style that is so important in bob's burgers worldbuilding (specifically in the subplot with gretchen)

Wharf Horse (or How Bob Saves/Destroys the Town) & World Wharf II: The Wharfening (or How Bob Saves/Destroys the Town) (season 4 episodes 21 and 22)

THIS is a huge two-part season finale that is a good introduction into the more high-stakes episodes of bob's burgers and the world that surrounds them. it's almost a prequel episode for the movie (which i maybe wouldn't recommend watching RIGHT AWAY but it is really good) and is super enjoyable and tense!!! i can't even begin to describe the plot of this one but basically mr fischoeder (their landlord/guy who owns everything in town) is convinced by his brother to sell wonder wharf so they can build condos and. things happen!! VERY TENSE!!!

also maaaybe look at the trigger warnings for this episode if you dont mind spoilers and think you might be triggered by certain situations because it is a bit darker than most episodes (not darker than the movie though lmao)

Mother Daughter Laser Razor (season 3, episode 10)

this episode is an earlier one but really good and explores linda and louise's dynamic. linda thinks that louise doesn't like her and signs them up for mother/daughter parenting classes which louise ABSOLUTELY hates. good episode about meeting your kid where they're at and provides some more context for later louise and linda episodes (where their relationship is definitely improved). the subplot where bob teaches tina how to shave her legs is also really sweet and I love how understanding and empathetic it is towards tina as a neurodivergent teenage girl <3

Mission Impos-slug-ble (season 8, episode 20)

this episode is another low-stakes episode but it explores the relationship between louise and tina (which has been explored before in earlier episodes and will be explored again!!!!) and also is just generally a very fun more school-focused episode. it does have a lot of wagstaff school staff members as secondary characters which might be a bit confusing if you aren't aware of their dynamic?? but honestly i think it's pretty easy to understand even from within the context of the episode and what's provided onscreen. also has some rudy screentime and other characters from louise's class (rudy is louise's best friend which is pretty much the only important thing to know here). the subplot is about bob giving a eulogy at a funeral but i can say the character who died is not a character who had been introduced previously despite how it might seem. He's just a guy they made up for this episode but it's a fun subplot

The Hormone-iums (season 6, episode 14)

this is a cute tina episode and has bob being a great dad too :) there isn't a lot to explain it's just an episode about tina wanting the lead role in a play type thing and having a crisis of morality and wanting to fit in with her classmates. the subplot is also very funny AND involves a transgender/drag queen plus-sized women's shoe store so you know it's good

Poops!... I Didn't Do It Again (season 10, episode 20)

episode focused on bob and louise's relationship as father and daughter where louise is going on an overnight field trip but she can't poop unless she's at home (ITS SO MUCH MORE HEARTWARMING THAT IT SOUNDS. bob is such a good dad) and in my opinion an episode that does a great job of showcasing louise's personality and fearlessness while also showcasing her internalized anxiety that she mostly gets from bob lbr

the subplot is about linda and the kids trying to make a stupid video for linda's parents anniversery and its entertaining enough BUT im absolutely not giving any context for the pickle costumes. it's so much funnier that way. They just have those don't even worry about it <3 we call this episode two in The Pickle Costume Trilogy

Driving Big Dummy (season 12, episode 4)

teddy episode!! I wanted to include at least one on this list because he's the unofficial sixth main character and has an important role in this show (you'll notice he's had an appearance in almost every episode I listed here) and this is one of my favorite episode of his :) there aren't any secondary characters and no real context is needed outside of the main six characters. bob and teddy go on a roadtrip together to pick up some equipment for the restaurant etc and have conflict bcuz teddy is outgoing and blah blah while linda and the kids compete to become the employee of the day (aka linda brags to the kids about how she's the best employee at bob's burgers. which she is. and then lets them win anyway because she loves them). fun episode and a great introduction to teddy and bob's relationship dynamic even if it wasn't intended to be

there are SOO MANY other bob's burgers episodes that I think are great and required viewing when it comes to this show but I wanted to make a short list of episodes for anyone who might want to dip their toes into the Bob's burger water without having to commit themselves to 14 seasons. by no means is this an inclusive list of every episode new viewers should watch. it isn't even 5% of them and honestly i would recommend watching through the whole show eventually bcuz every episode is somewhat important but this is a good starting point if you think you might enjoy this show!!

(I didn't include very many episodes from the more recent post-movie seasons not because they aren't GOOD. they're some of the best in my opinion. but because almost all the episodes are experimental storytelling or require a lot more context of the characters and their relationships and 14 seasons in they aren't really writing these episodes to introduce new viewers to the show. like imagine trying to introduce someone to the show for the first time using the amazing rudy or amelia lmao)

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

Bring back Jungkook's Golden team. They know how to make the songs sound good, at least.

Never thought I'd hear you say that lol

Lmao. It's not like Golden is full of masterpieces, but it's definitely very well produced in the sense that Jungkook sounds good in every track, and all the tracks sound finished and polished. The production is smooth, sophisticated, modern, obviously done by Grammy-winning or nominated producers (not that the Scammys mean much, but yeah). Even basic songs can still sound pretty great when they're well produced and recorded/have good sound engineering. I'm sorry, I don't know enough about music to explain haha.

Take Too Sad to Dance - it has cringy lyrics and it's pretty basic; it's objectively not a much better song than Never Let Go, which has better lyrics and a somewhat interesting chorus. Yet, Too Sad to Dance is way better produced, so it doesn't sound unfinished and amateurish. JK's vocals sound a lot better (and more interesting, the saving grace of the song), and the whistling adds a little extra to the song too.

Another example - My You, which was just Jungkook writing lyrics and recording over a melody the company had given him the year before. It was initially supposed to be a surprise during his birthday live, so at the time the company had given him 3 melodies they had lying around - clearly nothing they would miss. He couldn't finish recording the song during his live so he recorded it the next year for Festa. Yet, despite the uninspired melody, the overall result was still pretty, because the lyrics were sweet, the vocals sweeter, and the song had heart. Never Let Go is a lot like My You - kinda basic, with cheesier, yet sweet lyrics - but the production is genuinely so terrible that it sounds so much worse.

Why is there a voiceover in the beginning, a guy and a girl??? It's so annoying and the guy is talking about money??? How is that related to the song? What am I missing?? (EDIT: THOSE ARE 2 DIFFERENT PRODUCER TAGS!!! WTF?! They sound like actual verses. Who lets producers do that to their songs? It's not subtle at all and really not worth the shitty work they did.) It's truly astounding how so many people were involved in such a weird, low quality release. It doesn't even sound like a JK song. It has all the elements he likes, but his actual songs, like SWY, My You, Stay sound way better. Never Let Go sounds like a song he didn't have time to finish himself and trusted to the wrong people, because Hybe are a bunch of dumbasses, so they just ruined the song.

Thanks for the ask! What do you think about the song?

[youremyheaven]

I agree, and yes both of my parents are hoarders lol and that was a bit of a nightmare since we already had a teeny tiny house, I shared a room with both of my sisters and we had no room to even walk on the floor lmaoo, but hey I like that we were close. Whenever I feel bad I always remember that in a tribal setting we would've been doing golden lol- close knit, very safe since if something happened to any of us we're literally right next to each other.

I'll say my Naks but it might expose me lmao because I talk about stuff on here too, but that's okay. I'm not trying to be too secretive. I'm Jyeshta Sun, Rohini Moon. I do have Mars in Uttarabhadrapada which is interesting.

My upbringing was kinda weird, kinda beautiful in some ways but by modern standards it was rough- I have a hard time saying it was bad because I know I was loved in a lot of ways too and that's more than some people can ask for. Just abusive shenanigans, but abuse can be weird because abuse isn't always as simple as someone just being terrible- like it's never okay but I mean, the same person who abuses you can also be the person who throws you birthday parties and makes them super magical and genuinely loves you. My mum in particular had a rough life herself, at 6 years old she immigrated to Australia and not long after was put into a children's home run by nuns because her mum was deemed unfit or something. She's Bharani Moon of course.

I went a bit wild when I was around 14 because I wanted to do anything I could to escape from home, so I would hang around a lot of strange men and drug people since they're aaalways out- after school, 2am, 12pm; there's always a group of a few of them around the area just messing around. So I could simply sneak out and go hang out with them lol. I guess I craved the adventure too, but most of all I just didn't want to go home. Even though we were not well off, we lived in a very wealthy area so I didn't relate to most of the kids around, I think that's part of why I gravitated towards the 'junkies'. They understood rougher conditions a bit better.

I ended up getting taken advantage of a few times which made me veer away from that scene for good, stop smoking weed, etc. but I was still looking for some way to get away from home.

I ended up in a relationship with a 30 year old man when I was 15, I stopped going to school much and started living with him. It was ghetto lol...

My mum passed away, so my sisters and I had to move states to be taken in by a relative. I was about to be 18 by that point so I had a choice on whether or not to come, but I was like bruh I'm not having my little sisters in a different state to me, that's madness- so I came along. Our relative was really strict and religious. She's lowkey rich but not the kindest person. She told me that I had to either get a job or study, or I'm not allowed to live there. I tried working and stuff but everything was just too fresh, I couldn't do much without crying :') so I was a dumb dumb and I decided maybe if I became a *dancer*, I could make money fast so that I could move out. I didn't end up doing it, I realised I'm too shy and sensitive for that kinda thing- I got on the stage for like a minute and had to get off because it was so spooky. The eyes of all the men, yikes.

Anyway, I got kicked out for the dancing thing and just in general being scandalous (by a religious rich lady's standards lol- bless her), and that's how I became homeless since I was in a new state and had nowhere to go that I knew- but it was for the best!!! I got taken in by a refuge, and they were so kind to me. I got so attached to the workers, they cared for us and treated us with such kindness.

Eventually I got a place on my own within the system. Then I met my partner & moved in with him to be freed from my ghetto life (jk I kinda love my life).

Sorry if this is very erratic, I'm never sure how to tell the story in a clear cut concise manner. I feel like it's going to take me a lifetime to sort out how I feel about a lot of things, but at the end of the day I'm not sure it even matters.

Just gotta keep making art, keep learning and loving, life is good- and people are strange, lol 💓💓

sorry for the delayyyyyed response but thank you so much for taking the time to tell me about your life's journey 🥺💛 you've lived a very tumultuous life and I'm glad you're in a more stable place now, it makes me hopeful about my own journey<3, so tysm <3

May your mom's soul rest in eternal peace 💛

"Just abusive shenanigans, but abuse can be weird because abuse isn't always as simple as someone just being terrible- like it's never okay but I mean, the same person who abuses you can also be the person who throws you birthday parties and makes them super magical and genuinely loves you."

this is the most Lunar thing ever

but also I will say as someone who has been in multiple abusive situations with very "loving" people, it can be very confusing to wrap your head around why someone can be so sweet, loving and kind one minute and tear you apart over nothing and yk...be aBusiVe the next minute. the truth is nobody irl acts like a textbook villain, the people who are capable of immense cruelty are the regular seeming people all around us. it took me so long to cut off toxic people because i always tried to justify it with "oh but they're also sooo kind and generous...." yada yada yada but its unhealthy to be around someone who is unpredictable.

My toxic ex bestie would imply I'm a whore today and then bring me muffins she baked at home tomorrow, if someone praised me in front of her, she'd stop talking to me for the rest of the day, sometimes she'd skip classes the next day and switch off her phone and i'd feel sick to my stomach with anxiety over her unpredictable behaviour and then she'd bring me earrings she bought for me??? and take me out to lunch?? crazy times but i think a lot of abusive people kind of overcompensate for their meanness with loving actions. they feel guilty so they overdo it and then the cycle continues. i've always felt bad about labelling certain experiences as "toxic" bc like you said i feel like it could be worse or that it wasn't so bad but at the end of the day "loving abuse" is still abuse.