#and i thought people would enjoy the hypothetical cool flag

[guinevereslancelot]

why are old people so sad lol

[darthmaulification]

15 with Maul for the Angst Prompts? 🥺

A/N: dropping this at nearly midnight, but i’ve finished it and i’m proud of it so here’s a late night snack. 😤

also, the song that inspired this one was hard feelings by lorde (also technically loveless, which is the 2nd part of this particular audio, but mostly hard feelings) and i do use a lyric from it in my story. 😊

thank you for requesting the prompt, and i hope you enjoy!! 💗

prompt: 15. "i think we'd be better off alone."

content: angst (but a tad more mild), gn!reader, a break up yet again, but also more mutual, like two people collide to share just enough of a relationship that it hurts when they part, but also the relationship is implied to be Toxic, an embarrassing amount of figurative language, slice of life type deal going on here

word count: 1,504

You met Maul when the weather was good. The vast sky had been pulled taut in all directions— a cerulean blue overwhelming in its vibrancy. Most days nothing had broken up the azure, cloudless and thus without rain, but the sun, which followed it’s charted course day in and day out dutifully, bringing with it a near boiling heat.

When you met Maul, the sun had been sitting in it’s throne like a king, at the very peak of the crest it would slope down as hours ticked by. It shone so brightly that it bathed everything, exciting the flowers that rose to meet it and angering your fellow farmers who complained that the intensity was too much for the infant crops. It obscured, only for a moment, when Maul’s ship had passed beneath it.

He caught everyone’s attention, even yours, but only you caught his.

He approached you amidst the wavering haze above flat ground, that tricks the eye into thinking it’s there. You thought he was part of the mirage, how could you not? The strange visitor from his silver ship, his skin a flaming red and tattooed, wearing black robes far too heavy and dark for your planet. You almost had yourself convinced until he closed the distance between the both of you so hastily that it was like he fully intended to be standing amongst the crops alongside you all along.

(Later, Maul would tell you that he had only stopped for fuel, but had caught sight of you in the fields, angelic in your white linens.)

“Hello.” He had said, his voice like the thick purr of a Loth cat and his gaze the molten glaze of honey. He smiled, and his teeth were pitch black and glossy.

(A dye, he would also tell you later.)

“Hello.” You had replied politely, and when he extended his hand to shake yours, you had marveled at how his black-decorated, crimson skin felt like the heat surrounding you, only a living warmth instead. Maul then exchanged his name along with a suave flirt, and you gave him your name as well, gifting him with a blush on your cheeks. That’s when you learned he was bold and did everything with confidence.

The interest only grew from there, of course.

All the while, the sun sat stiff and blistering in the blue, blue sky and the air was dreadfully torrid, made even more unbearable by the lack of a breeze, but there were no shadows in sight, not while you and Maul talked, or when he offered you a drink, or when he walked you to his ship with his arm in yours, or when you both laughed and smiled and drank and swapped stories and even cuddled. 

All in all, a good sign. A very good sign.

Until it wasn’t.

Maybe it was the lack of wind.

You learned very quickly that Maul was not only the charming, intelligent, if not hot-headed and cocky, Zabrak that you had made him out to be. You cottoned on very quickly and abruptly to his aggression, his brutal temper that would flare at the slightest provocation to the thin thread it hung from. Maul demonstrated to you, on multiple occasions, his wrath, and his willingness to kill instead of maim, or otherwise show mercy on his selected enemy. It bothers you as much now as it did then, and you would consider his anger a billowing red flag.

But at the time he was so new to you that you forgave his outbursts and strokes of cruelty because you had thought that since people could change, Maul surely could as well. And to be fair, you did what you could, successfully quelled his fury more often than not. But it was still hard to want to be close to a man who burned so intensely at his core that it hurt to be near.

And that made the dry season even hotter. For better, and for worse.

(Mostly worse.)

As weeks passed with Maul, and the summer reached it’s fever pitch, you and Maul had softened up enough to each other that you shared intimacy and closely-held secrets, often both under the delicate watch of the moon, when the night brought with it security and a tender break in the heat. Nighttime was always easier, you realize now, when there was no pressure from wandering third parties from the village, or duties to attend, or the sun to make you squint.

It made you realize just how difficult daytime could be, how consumed those hours were by work and people, how busy it all was. It made you loathe the dawn, wanting to keep the star-dappled midnight sky for as long as possible because that’s when you didn’t toil away in the fields, and when Maul was yours and only yours, and when you didn’t have to worry about his temper igniting, or the switch of his lightsaber, or the pain he’d inflict, or the crimes he’d—

Thinking of it now, your only good memories with Maul took place during nighttime.

Except one. The last memory you have of him.

You had been drained and tired by the oppressive heat that the sun had wrought during the day, and the almost constant pleading with Maul not to slice down any more of your fellow villagers that were terrified of him. You were drained by the effort of dousing his fire, the glares of your once friendly neighbors who’d believed you betrayed by picking Maul over them, and of course the heat made you sweat the life from you.

And of course, it was that night when the darkness didn’t quell the oven-like heat suffocating you.

You and Maul argued. It was venomous, spiteful, hateful— but you won’t dwell on it, it doesn’t mean much anymore anyways, besides the last few words you spat at one another.

“You are an ungrateful, pathetic bitch!” Maul had roared at you, his lips pulled back in a snarl and nothing but contempt in his eyes. It had felt like a slap in the face at the time, but now when you think of that moment in all it’s infamy, you only sigh and shake your head. Maul only ever knew cruelty, how was he to act without it?

“And you are evil!” You had screamed back like some wild animal howling, sobbing so hard it sounded like shrieking. Maul only laughed, humorless and mean, and he cocked his head, palm flitting to rest on the hilt of the lightsaber that you knew could flash it’s fear-inducing red at the press of a button.

“Have you just noticed?” Maul had cooed, and that was the first time you had ever been scared of him.

“I want you out of my home, my life. I think we’d be better off alone.” How you managed to say that to him when you had been so stiff with icy dread and a wavering voice, you still don’t know.

Apparently though, it may have been the heat that hammered the final nail into the coffin because Maul left, bitterly throwing you one last insult by telling you that being in your house was like choking on magma. You didn’t say anything back, not while the fear still gripped you by the throat, but once he was gone fully that’s when you cursed his name, his bloodline, his everything. You let yourself get as angry as him in the privacy of your home, for as long as your body allowed it, and until you were shaking and raw.

And despite everything and yourself, and how much you knew he didn’t deserve that hypothetical satisfaction, you wept. But strangely, and a bit curiously, it felt more like the relief of the dry season’s long-awaited rain, not the heartbreak of the love, if any had really been there, lost.

It was comforting.

Months later, when Maul is long gone and the wistfully childish part of you daydreams, you think of all the possibilities that could have been, had the heat not been so sweltering. Maybe, in some other reality, a different timeline where different choices were made, you and Maul met when it was raining. Maybe then it could have worked out, if everything had been dampened, simpler... more cold.

But the sun shines bright, sucks all the moisture from the ground and leaves plants wilting and the freshwater low, and it means you are once again sweating in the middle of a crop field tending to the struggling new shoots.

You sigh, a long exhale from your nose, and you wipe the gathered droplets from your brow. The sun rays beam down, infinite and unforgiving, until you walk to the canopy of a tree, to the shade where they can’t touch you. The semi-coolness dimples the skin of your arms with goosebumps, and the drop in temperature is a welcome change.

You sigh again.

I think it’s time to let go of this endless summer afternoon.

[k-sunwoo]

♡ ult groups tag.

tagged by @getawaymp3​ (thanks jess for tagging me! ily !!! take care, sweets ♡)

groups: tbz, skz (and like i’m doing two because doing more than two would be so so exhaustive honestly!)

1. who was your first bias? tbz: sunwoo ♡ skz: jisung !!

2. who is your bias now? tbz: sunwoo, hyunjae, changmin, haknyeon (why stop at 1, am I right?) skz: jisung!

3. what was the first mv you watched by them? tbz: no air. when it came out like back then and I did not stan them? yeah- skz: hellevator! i casually listened to them for so long! and thought the hellevator was an insanely cool song with an insanely cool mv.

4. what’s your favorite mv.? tbz: on the cuteness factor, bloom bloom. on the basis of aesthetics, reveal. skz: (can i please choose a b side? if so, then b me.) if not, i'll choose its prequel: mixtape: on track. i like plotted mvs...a lot.

5. if you could only listen to one of their songs for the rest of your life, which would it be? in a typical situation, the answer is no. because i hate listening to any song for that loooong, but just to humor you. tbz: stupid sorry, or flag. skz: phobia, haven, mixtape #1, #2

6. who would you want to see them collab with? maybe with like svt, or kang daniel. or even gaho!

7. what (mv) concept do you want to see them do? tbz: a crafted story based one? (i'm prolly being biased with my excessive love for story plots but yes- for ref, my favorite plotted one is winner's fool) or i want tbz to do either a monster (by irene and seulgi) concept or jungle by cix concept? or I KNOW! a royalty!au like the enhypen's fever one- skz: please please do some summer tropical vibe bop! or a.c.e's favorite boys?

8. have you ever had a dream with any of the members in it? i haven't. the only dream i have ever had is of nct's johnny (it was a biker!bff au), svt's mingyu (childhood-bff2l!au)

9. if you could spend the day with one member, who would it be and what would you do? tbz: one person??? :((((( well, i would lean to say sunwoo, because he'd be so cool to go grab something at like a fast food place and roam around near some playground. but then i do want to eat out with hak sooooo badly because you must always eat with people that know how to enjoy food and he's that! but on pure language basis, i want to hang out with kevin and probably being two annoying humans in a neighbourhood, walking and talking and laughing loudly and ringing doorbells before running or going and visiting houses just because they have doggos there!!! skz: felix. god, i want to spend a day with felix and i'll get him to teach me baking and have him take anger management classes sksksk!!!

10. which member do you think you would get on with best? tbz: honestly, i personally believe opposite traits get along well because that has proven true in my case so far. so i know, in a hypothetical situation, eric and i would be best friends when i take classes with changmin and have him as my seatmate and go on study dates with him all while i harbour a crush on sunwoo. we are in the same friend circle and changmin and i constantly o]pull sunwoo's leg by prompting horror movie nights! skz: honestly, jisung itself. i do believe in the you bias your best friend like people concept!

11: which member do you think you would argue with? tbz: i know i'll be arguing with kevin moon over something stupid like mint choco ice cream or toppings on pizza or dip it pour concept! skz: minho. minho will see these hands if we were friends irl. my best friend is a scorpio and rest assured, i have wanted to stab him and then myself several times. it is literally: death (affectionately)

12: if you had to let one member scroll through your tumblr, who would it be? tbz: definitely not sunwoo. that i know- maybe sangyeon? skz: i guess, chan. honestly, chan. yeah. the leaders.

i’m tagging: @s-angyeon @sangyus @saltys @sunnew @lhyunjaes @cheolgyu @kdongyoung @chrisbangs @jichangmin and anyone who wants to do it! also, to the people who I tagged, please don't feel pressured to do it !!! this is still a super new blog so i tagged a few of my other blog mutuals. hi, it's rue !!! i hope you are having a lovely day!

[baeyungmin]

Falcon & Winter Soldier e3 Thoughts

- Sam & James more buddy roadtrip goof -1 oof god “hypothetical” please I’m- like i get it, TV show, plots gotta move faster but I dont feel the flagsmasher, stop the serum spread desperation, Sam’s right blew up UN, murdered TChaka, like what. no leads? seriously? not even the gov & CIA, FBI?

- Zemo prison break. It’s aight. still dont like his accent tho. i like the actor tho. a fellow ratman. 

- US Agent John Walker “do you know who I am?” B

- Baron butler sorry dude, i rlly couldn’t tell what you were saying, i like the evil rich guy trope tho

- Madripoor. Indonesian pirate sanctuary. *as an asian man, immediately expects southasian lookin ass ppl* enter looks like ex-pat bar. *no asian ppl* *sorely disappointed* also, black man jokes from Zemo, head writer Malcom Spellman a black man for context IM CALLING YOU OUT AGAIN DENIS, YOU GUYS WANNA USE NEO-ORIENTALISM YOU GOTTA BRING THEM ALIEN-LOOKING ASIAN PEOPLE GODDAMNIT FUCK

- Can’t suspend belief that ppl know a known international criminal been in jail for who knows how long and his disappeared assassin reappear in bar. -1

- chipper british bosslady exchanging serum info hmmm... it’s aight

- sam phone call. almost. same eh humor, but im enjoying this.

- phone txtmsg bounty Wick-style +1

- enter sharon. ex-gov operative abandoned offgrid after accomplice to superheroes? i dunno, you livin p large Sharon. jeez. an art seller and party hoster? jeez i dont know... -1

- party scene. tonal whiplash. where are the damn asian people. -1

- what the hell happened to the damn txtmsg bounty -1

- enter Dr. Nagel. evil gay trope. i mean cool for the nostalgia, sad its what you gotta use to ID the bad guy. sick Sharon fight scene tho, Borne-style, thanks Kari

- 20 vials. *begins death to shown calcs, eyeing the counter* why did Zemo shoot him tho. 

- firefight buddy roadtrip humor. geaugh. -1 bad. also, Bucky scene command really lacking here. 

- Zemo fightender. cool vision of comic book villain action. im doing my best to believe. 

- Karli friend death & bomber terrorism shoulda been weaved closer together imo. she seems nice, sells the robin hood, but feels out of character to actually justify with words firebombing. 

- US Agent/ Battlestar prison convo: I’m honestly really loving Wyatt Russell’s treatment, delivery, writing, direction. He backs arguments with sound reasons instead of quippy excuses. a man of thought and action. no humor. good, humor would have rubbed away at a mentionable character. government lackey, not quite reacting against Flag-Smashers, but a simple man on a mission. +1

- Wakandan +1

it’s an honest effort, but i have tonal whiplash and i am and you are allowed to feel sad abt so-so content. augh. 

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #331

my head hurts way too badly to think up some intro lyrics, so just g’night.

Have you ever become good friends with someone you never met in person? Oh yeah, I've had best friends over the Internet. Hell, I'm closer to many online friends than I am most irl ones. They know "the real me" more. What do you consider your default mood to be? Stressed, probably. Discontent. What’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever kept a goldfish alive for? Not long. Proper goldfish husbandry is a very neglected topic, and I sure as hell never knew how to set up its tank adequately. Have you ever been paintballing? No, don't plan to. It looks like it hurts like a bitch. Do you want a large wedding? No. Did you ever collect any sort of cards? I had a very small collection of Pokemon cards. I didn't collect them avidly. What’re the best and worst books you ever had to read for a class? The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton was the best. The worst was some book we had to read in the 6th grade about a kid during some war that moved around a lot... I don't remember the name or who wrote it, but it sucked. What’s the best meal you had at an amusement park, or If you haven’t been to one, how about a good meal at another place like a zoo, aquarium or museum? I don't know. I haven't been to many. Who, whether a person or company, emails you the most? My PHP therapist emails me a check-in sheet and Zoom link every day there's a therapy session. What kind of sound or noise freaks you out the most and why do you think it scares you? Let's seeeee... I don't know if there's a sound that actually freaks me out. There are some I don't like, but none that like, frighten me. At least that I can think of. What’s the strangest art piece you’ve come across? Biiiitch there's a painting in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs I'm not gonna go into, but shit fuckin wild. What’s the most clever or unique name you’ve come across for a business? I've definitely heard some cool ones, but I don't know about one that really stands out to answer this. If you had to name one of your hypothetical future children after a song, which song would you pick? Maybe like... okay, I'm blanking. Good thing I'm not having kids to name then, right? What’s the last song you heard? "Down in the Park" by Marilyn Manson is on atm. What is your favorite line from a TV show? *shrug* Any current family issues? No. How many hours do you spend online a day? How do you feel about that? I'm doing something on the computer pretty much... always. I hate it, and I hate it a lot. I don't want my life to be tied solely to the digital plane. I want to do more than bounce back and forth from website to website. Do you think that people have the power to make their own lives better? Absolutely, but there are some things they simply cannot change. It's about perspective and how you play the deck you're dealt. What is the biggest problem in your life right now? Right now, the most limiting thing is my physical health, probably. Just walking being torture affects my ability to exercise, and my body is a major reason - if not the biggest, at this current time - for my depression. This also plays a massive role in jobs I can handle. Not to sound like my emo self writing middle school poetry, but my body feels like a prison. Do you feel that you are loved? I know I am by some people, though I have a hard time understanding why a lot. What is the one thing you want most from life? Life satisfaction. Pride in what I've accomplished. A regular state of being content. Birthplace? I'm just gonna say in eastern NC. Do you believe in love at first sight? No, merely infatuation. Love is much too deep for that. Do you think dreams eventually come true? Some can, but usually only if you put effort into making that so. Favorite fictional character? like ummmmmmmm have you heard of this sassy bastard called Darkiplier- Go to the movies or rent? Before Covid, I loved going to the theater. It was something to do, plus a giant screen is nice. McDonalds or Burger King? McD's. I'm not a big BK fan. I only really went there during my vegetarian phase for the veggie burger. Current annoyance? This motherfucking headache. Last thing you ate? I have a meal replacement shake with me right now, if you consider that "eating." I didn't have a proper dinner. The last solid food I had though was some cookies and cream Greek yogurt. Last thing you bought? With my own money, I think I bought Mom and I some cheap McDonald's order semi-recently? Or maybe paying my $100 deposit for my tattoo was most recent, idk. Soonest thing you are looking forward to? For Mom to get her CT scan and find out what's going on in there. What did you do today? It was a pretty average day. I woke up way too early, though. The only thing even semi-unique about today was I played World of Warcraft for a few hours again; I've been quite unattached to it lately, but I went through an episode today of actually having fun playing. Oh, and I've been battling a migraine. It's more of a severe headache now, at least, but it still sucks big time. Do you like to see it snowing outside? Oh yes, absolutely! When you were in high school did you ever have bomb threats? I believe once we did from a very volatile student that honestly caused quite a lot of trouble. He's dead now. Who knows ALL of your secrets? Nobody. Did you have a job before you were in college? No. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have a baby right now? That's a terrifying thought, no. Are you on birth control? Yeah, but just because it tames my menstrual cramps. Without it, they could be debilitating some days. Who is your last sent text to? My best fren. Have you ever eaten at Chipotle before? Possibly? Idr. Do you swear often? Excessively. I had a dirty mouth prior, but my swearing got really bad when I started staying at Jason's house a lot. He and especially his mother swear like mad. Do you own any shirts with a peace symbol on it? No. Do you have your national flag hanging up anywhere outside your house? Not at this house, no. Would you ever go to Japan? Oh, yes. I would love to. It's... very morbid, but I would really like to walk the (public) paths of Aokigahara Forest, nicknamed "Suicide Forest" for the horrible amount of, well, suicides that happen there via hanging. Like, you might just casually run into a dead body. I want to just... feel it there, walk in silence and empathize with people who didn't know what else to do and hope so deeply that those departed know they were never alone in their pain. I know with absolute certainty I'd probably be teary-eyed the whole time and cry a whoooole lot, but it's just an experience I want to have. What was the last thing you went to Walmart for? Some basic groceries. What should you be doing right now? Sleeping, given this headache... I just don't want to yet. Are you afraid of getting your heart broken? I'm fucking terrified of that ever happening again, far more than words can properly express. Have you ever been in a choir? Yes, actually; when I was a Catholic kid, my sisters and I were in the church choir for a year or so, idr. Do you have a Twitter? Yes, but only to like Mark's tweets, haha. Oh, and very rarely enter giveaways I'm interested in. Describe your retainers to me, if you have them, that is. I have a permanent metal one behind my front row of bottom teeth to keep those straight. My upper teeth had one of those normal retainers you take in and out, but I didn't wear it enough, so now it doesn't even fit. Would you like for someone to call you right now? No. I'm tired, my head hurts, and I'm enjoying the song I'm bingeing. It's so weird, I rarely ever go on music hunting trips (no real reason, I just... don't), but I've found great shit lately. Do you like to brush your teeth? No; it's a chore. I only do it because I don't want my teeth decaying, falling out, or getting too yellow, and the taste in your mouth and gritty texture on your teeth isn't exactly great when you don't brush. Have you ever had a surgery? Two. Give out your phone number over the internet? I have over private messages. Do you look older or younger than you actually are? Given my wardrobe (like graphic tees and band shirts), I probably look younger in the eyes of especially older people. I personally say I look my age, though. When is the next time you’ll be up on stage? I never plan to be again. What is the last show that you watched a full episode of? Some cooking show with Mom. Nailed It!, I think? Do you know anyone who lives in Utah? No. I love Utah, though; it's actually a place I'd be willing to live in with just how pretty it is and not super populated. Do you get your feelings hurt easily? VERY. I'm probably one of the most sensitive people you can meet. Do you still talk to the person you last made out with? Yeah. Have you ever seen your best friend cry? Ugh, yes. What kind of vitamins did you take as a kid? First we took those nasty, chalky Flintstones kinds, but as time passed, Mom moved onto giving us gummy bear vitamins that were perfectly fine. Did you get any compliments today? No. Are you friends with your neighbors? Not "friends," no. What towns have you lived in? Three different ones. That's all you're getting. Have you ever thrown up from drinking? No. Done any illegal drugs? No. I mean I've had some alcohol underage, but I've never done anything remotely hardcore. What’s the longest amount of time you’ve been on an airplane without changing flights? Idk. Who have you texted today? My mom and best friend. What time did you wake up this morning? Ugh, like five in the fucking morning. I couldn't go back to sleep. What is your favorite condiment to go with french fries? Ketchup. What do you have a habit of doing when engaging in a conversation with someone? Making shitty eye contact, and I'm one of those people who "talks with [their] hands." I also lose my train of thought a whoooole lot. Have you ever layed in a hammock? Yeah; we had one growing up. Have you ever lost a pet in a tragic way? How did you cope? Well yeah, I've had lots of pets, so thus lost some in particularly painful ways. The most scarring loss of a pet though is as follows: Teddy, my dog, picked up one of our cat's very young, wandering kittens in his jaws in a manner that looked as if he was trying to carry it like Aphrodite (the mother cat) does when she would bring them back behind the couch, where she gave birth/had her little "nest." I absolutely freaked and had to pry the kitten from his mouth, and it slowly died in my hands. I think Teddy accidentally crushed its ribs. I. Was. A. Mess. Then, there was Aphrodite herself. I've told the story before of our former neighbors calling animal control because our cats would wander through their yard, and all of our cats were taken away while I was unaware at school. Came home, and they were all gone. Aphrodite was my baby, so I was devastated. Screaming, sobbing, cursing on the porch for like 20 minutes... It was awful. What type of curtains do you like? I don't... know? I don't know the actual names of any types... What type of quality is a must-have in a friend? I absolutely cannot be friends with someone who thinks they're above everyone else. Are you any good at reading someone's body language? I think I am. What goes good with a nice cold glass of milk? Cookies! Especially Oreos. Dip it in there for around five seconds, and it's perfection. What fruit is too sweet to you? Grapefruit came to mind first. How did you feel after your first kiss? I had butterflies galore and was so giddy and smiley. After the first, I just wanted to kiss him a billion more times. What’s your favorite constellation and why? I don't have one. Shower curtain or door? Curtain. The glass doors are too revealing. Have you ever thought to yourself that you’re the luckiest person in the world? Most deeeeefinitely not. What time of day do you most enjoy looking at the sky? Sunset if there are clouds present, but sunrise if the sky is pretty clear.

[yandere-society]

You’re all such amazing writers that I might as well just give you all my money, I mean, I would, you guys work so hard to get things out despite having your own schedules and personal life. So thank you! I was wondering if I could request where Jungkook kidnaps the reader, but after a while he becomes so dependent on her that the roles have switched. Like he gets nervous when she’s not showing enough attention on her and is pretty much emotionally fragile to the point of breaking down.

White Elephant

It was an accident. A textbook case of wrong time, wrong place. All YN had done was go to a party like every other person her age. How was she supposed to know that her harmless effort to talk to the loner sulking in the corner would be the first nail in her coffin?

The music was loud and the house was packed, sweaty, sticky bodies all pressed together in a single wasted mass. YN needed a break from the jumping and shouting to a song she cold barely even hear, the girl escaping into the nearly abandoned kitchen. Only two other people were there, some dude downing a bottle of water like his life depended on it and another man shrouded in the shadows, scrolling disinterestedly on his phone.

Water bottle dude leaves as soon as he’s done with his drink, diving back into the swing of the party. And then there were two. For the first few minutes, YN twiddled her thumbs, not quite sure what to do with herself. She felt incredibly awkward, entirely out of her comfort zone. But her mother’s words echo in her head.

“It’s college. Come out of your shell a bit,”

The girl clears her throat.

“So . . . cool part right?”

She cringes as soon as her words register. The hooded man doesn’t react, making YN’s skin flush brightly.

“Ah, that’s a dumb thing to say, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I just . . . um, nevermind,”

YN turns to leave, her hypothetical tail tucked between her legs. But before she can escape, the man speaks up.

“It’s shitty, to be honest,” he says.

YN stills. She hadn’t expected him to speak at all and certainly wouldn’t have guessed that his voice would be so melodic.

“So I’m not the only one who thinks so,” YN says, his words encouraging her to continue the conversation.

“There’s a reason I’m hiding out here,”

The man chuckles then, sweeping his hood off his head and ruffling his hair, smiling at her. For a moment, YN is completely flabbergasted, surprised by his stunning good lucks. His hair is on the long side, dark wispy locks curled at the end and brushing his lashes. His jawline is sharp and pronounced, a small scar on his cheek. He raises his hand, offering it to her.

“Jungkook,”

“Ah, I’m YN,” she says, taking his hand.

It’s warm, almost as hot as her cheeks.

For the rest of the night, the two chat in the kitchen, time flying by rapidly as they laugh and crack jokes, becoming fast friends.

But after the party, their friendship continues to deepen. At first, it’s the girl running into Jungkook every so often around campus. And then he appears in a few of her classes, taking the seat next to her with an innocent smile. And before YN knows it, she sees Jungkook every day. He practically never leaves her side, always coming up with an excuse to extend their time together for just ten more minutes.

And before she knows it, Jungkook has her hand in his, grinning at her, words falling from his lips.

“Marry me,”

“I - what?” YN asks, completely stunned.

It’s just a normal day like any other, the two friends hanging out at the local park, sitting on the swings and pushing themselves forward with the tips of their toes.

“Marry me,” he grasps her hand gently, looking her in the eyes with so much emotion a sick feeling rises up in YN’s stomach.

“You can’t be serious,” YN says, trying in vain to pull her hand away, “We’re not even dating,”

Jungkook tilts his head in the adorable way YN usually loves, but all it does now is send her heart speeding with fear.

“What are you talking about YN - ah? We’ve been dating for six months,”

YN tries harder to pull her hand away.“Jungkook this isn’t funny,”

The two of them haven’t ever gone on a single date, haven’t kissed once, hell they haven’t even known each other for six months!

“What isn’t funny? I’m not joking. Marry me. Please. You can’t say no. You can’t,”

With one more final pull, YN dashes away, ignoring Jungkook’s angered shouts calling her name.

And so she begins to ignore him, trying her hardest to avoid confrontation with the man. The space she has from him starts to shed light on the bizarre traits the man has that she ignored. The way he was always where she was, even if there was no way possible he should have known. The way he always insists they meet in places sparsely occupied by anyone else. The way he seemed to know every little thing about her even if she hadn’t told him.

How had she missed the signs? It’s obvious that something is very wrong with Jungkook, horribly wrong. But in her desperation for attention from somebody - anybody, she had closed a blind eye to every one of his red flags.

But who wouldn’t? Jungkook was gorgeous, incredibly talented, and somehow interested in her of all people.

She’d been the perfect sheep, the ideal victim.

But Jungkook wouldn't make it easy for her. He quickly moved past calling her six hundred times a day to knocking on her door while she hid under her bedsheets, praying for him to go away. YN even tried to get the police involved but they turned her away, stating that she’s just paranoid.

But Jungkook has been pushed to his wit's end. So one night when the hole in his heart has consumed him and left behind only anger and bitterness, he breaks into her apartment, standing over her, watching her sleep.

The man sighs, squatting beside her, brushing his long hair out of his face and running a finger down his beloved’s cheek, nearly shivering in delight.

Has long has it been since he’s touched her? The days and night seem to blur together into a single everlasting moment of suffering and loneliness. And so, selfishly, oh so selfishly, Jungkook slides the gleaming needle into her skin, watching her eyes blow open, covering her lovely mouth with his hand to mute her screams.

She struggles but is no match for Jungkook’s superior strength. Every second she weakens until her eyes once again flutter shut and she falls limp. Kissing her on the cheek, Jungkook hauls YN’s body over his shoulder, waltzing out of her apartment and into the darkness.

And when she wakes to his loving smile, beautiful face propped up on his hands, a ring on her fourth finger, all YN can do is cry. And cry and cry and cry.

And while her tears initially hurt Jungkook, he quickly grew annoyed.

“What is wrong with you?” he snaps after a solid week of YN despairing, “Shut the fuck up!”

His harsh words cause YN to gasp, biting her lip harshly to prevent more sobs from escaping. But her eyes water regardless, making Jungkook feel guilt.

Instantly he apologizes, gathering the handcuffed girl in his arms and cooing at her, smoothing her hair.

“I just love you so much. So so much. It’s driving me insane. Just love me back. That’s all I want. Love me back,”

YN does nothing but sniffle, relaxing in his hold for no reason other than pure exhaustion. Regardless Jungkook is exhilarated, her small moment of ingenuine affection making his heart soar. He doesn’t feel alone when he’s with her. He finally feels something other than pure desperation, total anguish.

But slowly, YN’s feeling of sadness and utter defeat morphs into bitterness and anger, the girl taking every moment to spew out how much she hates Jungkook with a passion. And every time, without fail Jungkook would crumple.

“You’re pretty fucking useless, you know that?” YN asks. Sitting crossed-legged on the large bed as she sucks on a grape popsicle, lips tinged purple, “I asked for strawberry,”

Jungkook’s lip wobbles.

“I - I know. It’s just that the store was out so I thought -”

“Stop thinking, Kookie, it’ll only get you in trouble,”

The man shuts up instantly, sniffing.

“You don’t want me to leave you, do you? I’m sure there are other men who are capable of at least getting me what I asked for,”

She twists the ring on her finger, beginning to slide it off.

“No!” Jungkook shouts, rushing to his feet, “Don’t! Please!”

“Did I say you could get up?” YN asks, cocking her head to the side.

Jungkook falls to his knees instantly, tears glistening in his pretty eyes.

“I’m sorry,”

“Come here,” YN demands, scooting to the edge of the bed.

He does so instantly, placing his head on the girl’s lap, desperate for her touch.

“I love you, you know that? You know how lucky you are? For me to love someone as awful as you?”

Jungkook nods, trembling, hesitantly reaching to grab YN’s hand, sighing when she lets him hold it. He fondles her ring, the cool metal comforting him.

“I know,”

“Good,” she says, kissing his head, “Never forget it,”

And in the end, the beast created a monster much worse than he could have ever imagined.

- 👀

It’s been a while. Enjoy!

[fallout4holmes]

Nuka-World 6

We had a visitor the next morning. Mags Black left her two cronies at the base of the artificial mountain as she took the lift up herself. I don't know what she said to Gage to get him to stay put on the ground, but he wasn't happy about it.

Holmes had just finished his morning cigarette and a minimal breakfast. He stood as she stepped off the lift, "Ah. Ms. Black."

The raider boss raised an eyebrow, "Miz? It's like you're trying to stand out. You're the Overboss now, Mister Holmes, you get to be on a first name basis with everyone."

Holmes lit another cigarette and said with exaggerated politeness, "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Mags smirked, "You can blame it on giving the Disciples The Galactic Zone. I don't know what you're planning, but I want my people to come out on top at the end."

"At the moment, avoiding the animosity of an amusement park full of raiders is my primary concern."

"Bullshit," she said pleasantly. "You're the General of the Minutemen, the frozen vault-dweller that destroyed the Institute. I heard about your almost-war with the Brotherhood too, how you kicked them out of the Commonwealth after destroying their toys." She gestured to me, “Most of the raiders in Nuka-World are from west of here, where the Institute never had a presence. They think your friend is just a nifty robot bodyguard. Creepy, but nothing more. Those of us from the Commonwealth though?” She smiled, sinister, “We know exactly what he is. William and I know better than most. You never did find that janitor that went missing, did you Nick? What was her name, Amelia?”

“Annette,” I corrected, tried not to rise to the bait. “Not usually a fan of kicking folks out beyond the Wall, but in the case of you and your brother I’m glad Diamond City did.”

“Funnily enough, so are we. This suits us much better.” She said it smoothly, nothing but charm, but you don’t last long in my line of work if you can’t tell a bluff when you see one. She turned her attention back to Holmes, “Either your rumored nobility is all an act to get you into a place of power, or you’re going to throw a wrench into the fragile gears of this place. If it turns out to be the first one, you may want to consider showing my people a bit of favor before ugly rumors of synths and interfering Minutemen start circulating the park. If it’s the second one, well. Just know that every Operator in this park is watching.”

Holmes glowered, “I don’t respond well to threats.”

“As long as you respond,” Mags said, and took the lift back down.

As soon as she was down, Gage came up. "Mags pissed?"

"A touch upset," Holmes offered me a cigarette, which I took. "I was a little surprised she remembered you, Valentine."

"Guess it's hard to forget a face like this," I said dryly.

"What the hell are you two goin' on about?" Gage sighed.

"Nothing important," Holmes said, "just the Operators being unhappy with me. They can have the next park, it doesn't matter."

"Giving 'em the next park might look like you were intimidated," Gage said.

"What is the next park?" Holmes asked.

"Figured we'd hit Dry Rock Gulch."

"Hm, the American 'Old West' theme. A fake gold mining operation should suit the Operators, don't you think, Valentine?"

I chuckled, "I think the implication is gonna go over their heads, but we might as well check it out and get it over with."

Holmes agreed and we headed off. We made it to the park’s gate when I heard something moving through the earth, sort of like the sound a mole rat makes just before it leaps out and bites you. Only these weren’t mole rats.

A handful of big red worms with mouths that took up the whole head attacked, surprising the hell out of me and Holmes and earning an annoyed growl from Gage. They weren’t much of a fight, but, “Well that was unpleasant,” I said.

“You never seen bloodworms before?” Gage asked, skeptical.

I shook my head, “We don't get these things back east.”

“Better get used to ‘em, they’re a fucking menace around here.”

Hopefully we wouldn’t be staying long enough for me to get used to them, but I kept that to myself. I glanced around as we entered the park, the Old West frontier outpost aesthetic turned kitsch.

“How’s it go,” Gage sarcastically drawled, “This town ain’t big enough for you and me… ah, never mind.”

Holmes chuckled. “Let’s ask the local law enforcement for information,” he pointed to a protectron wearing a sheriff’s hat.

“Hope y'all are having a good day here at Nuka-World. Ready to saddle up and ride into the old wild west?” the protectron said.

“Great,” Gage grumbled, “More dumb robots.”

The protectron was unperturbed, “I'm the sheriff of these parts, and I need your help getting rid of those no good outlaws holed up in Mad Mulligan's Mine!”

“This is why I hate robots,” Gage huffed. “They don’t even know the world ended, this playtime shit is annoying.”

The protectron’s park personality programming stopped, “Processing: Hostile visitor. Ignore and continue explanation for the sake of the other guests.”

I laughed.

The sheriff continued his job, “The door to Mad Mulligan's Mine is locked up. I got a spare key in a safe by the theater, but wouldn't you know, I plum forgot what the combination to the safe was! You'll need to talk to my three amigos: Doc Phosphate, One-Eyed Ike, and the Giddyup Kid. Prove to them you're tough enough to take on the outlaws, and they'll give you their part of the combination. Good luck, little doggie! And don't forget your complimentary deputy uniform, courtesy of Nuka-Cola!”

The sheriff handed Holmes a costume, who promptly handed it to Gage, who scowled before realizing, “You got a weird ass sense of humor, boss,” and tossed it away. As we walked he asked, “We really gotta do all that, talk to three other robots just to get a key?”

“I suppose we could simply hang a banner and be done with the place,” Holmes said.

Gage shook his head, “Not with the bloodworms. Gotta torch the nest first, otherwise whoever moves in is gonna be pissed to hell you gave ‘em an infested base.”

Holmes made casual eye contact with me. He’d been hoping for a raider-bloodworm showdown.

“I mean,” Gage was still talking, “why do we need this fucking key in the first place? Can’t we just blast the door open?”

“I try not to do anything rash if I can avoid it,” Holmes said, “and surely you don’t think we’ll be bested by a few challenges designed for children?”

“I’m starting to second-guess making you Overboss,” Gage grumbled.

“Perhaps you should have considered that possibility before enthroning a stranger you know precious little about, against his will,” Holmes steely replied.

“I can deal with an ass of a boss,” Gage played it cool, “as long as he gets done what needs to get done.”

We did the tasks for the park protectrons, fighting bloodworms, overgrown crickets, and giant ants along the way. Once we had the key, we headed for Mad Mulligan's Mine… a roller-coaster.

Gage had kept pretty quiet til then, "People actually stood in line and waited for this crap?" He scoffed, "Bunch of suckers."

"Roller-coasters were a popular attraction,” I commented flatly, ���though I can’t say I ever saw the appeal.”

Holmes gestured for quiet as we headed into the ride. The lobby held a souvenir shop and the entrance to the tunnels that would lead folks to the boarding area, decorated to look like you’re walking through a mine out of a Saturday morning western. Back then it probably lacked the dead bodies, of course. Holmes and I had heard rumors of traders who hid from Colter’s raiders in Dry Rock Gulch. We found ‘em. Bloodworms saw to it they didn’t have long to enjoy their freedom.

The boarding area was a massive pit littered with brahmin corpses, bulging with bloodworm larvae. In the middle of the pit was the massive queen herself.

“I believe we’ve found the nest,” Holmes said.

“No shit, boss,” Gage scoffed.

“Valentine and I will take care of the queen, you exterminate everything hiding in those brahmin.”

Gage nodded, “Sounds like a plan.”

I might be getting too old for fighting overgrown monsters in caves… but every time I think that, I know it’s not really true. Or it is, and I’m too stubborn to admit it. Anyway, we got the job done but the queen did a number on my leg. At least we know that Nuka-Town’s got a competent mechanic. I could walk, which is saying something, just going to have a limp until whatever got whacked out of place could get realigned. Gage was going to make a remark, but wisely shut up when Holmes glared at him.

We let the Sheriff know the job was done, got paid, which was a nice surprise, and Holmes climbed up to the top of the theater to hoist a flag with a black heart in a bullseye, bleeding gold.

“Gave in to the Operators after all, huh?” Gage said once Holmes was back on the ground. He didn’t sound accusatory, which was kind of weird, just like he was making conversation. Which was also kind of weird.

“If I have to secure Mags Black’s silence with a token gesture,” Holmes said, “then so be it.”

Gage shrugged, “Just let ‘em know you’re the Overboss, not some do-good General.”

“Gage, you conned me into this mess for the purpose of bringing the gangs together, yes? How does strutting around threatening violence serve that purpose?”

“Because we’re raiders?? That’s the language these idiots speak. You gotta treat ‘em right, but make sure they know you can end them at any time.”

Holmes made a considering sound and headed out of the park, “I often thought that if raiders could ever organize, they would be a force to be reckoned with. It seems I was right.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Gage exclaimed, relieved as if Holmes had finally come around. He didn’t know that every time the topic came up, it was followed with a list of possible ways the Minutemen would eliminate that threat.

Unfortunately, none of the hypothetical scenarios ever involved the General and his partner effectively being held hostage, with no way to call for help.

[lovemesomesurveys]

“I’ve got my fuzzy socks on and I’m ready for summer”

You arrive in New York at 10 AM. What's the first thing you do? Find a nice, cute cafe to get a coffee and pastry from and chill at for a bit while sorting out my plans for the day. You go by your locker & your bf/gf is cheating on you. What comes to mind? I’m not in school anymore, but hypothetically I’m sure I would feel a lot of emotions--angry, hurt, upset, confused... like wtf?? And damn, right in front of everyone, too? That would be humiliating. 

You have to take out the trash & clean your room. Your reaction? I’m 31 years old, you gotta do that kinda stuff when you’re adult. I don’t personally take out the trash because it would be really difficult for me to do in a wheelchair, but I have other stuff I have to do. I don’t particularly enjoy it, it just is what it is.

How many siblings do you have? I have two brothers.

Have you ever made fun of a homeless/ mentally challenged person? No. What a shitty thing to.

Make up a funny word with your first name in it. I don’t know.

Do you like campfires? Yes. I love the smell, it makes me think of fall. And just the coziness of it.

What's your favorite color to write with? Black.

Do you write poetry? No.

When's your 20th birthday? [Day & Month is fine. Year if you want.] I turned 20 back in July 2009.

Do you spit in public? Ew, no. I don’t spit at all except for when rinsing my mouth after brushing my teeth. It makes me gag seeing people spit. I also have to watch out for that when wheeling around outside because I would DIE if it got on my wheels and then me. akjkslfjldsfjkldsfjkl. I’m going to throw up just thinking about it.

Are you in high school/middle school/college? I’m done with school.

How many push ups can you do? Zero.

How would you react if your cat/dog died? I’ve been through that twice before with my doggos, it’s absolutely heartbreaking and devastating. My dogs are my family. It’s no different than losing any loved one; they’re a loved one, too. I had a really hard time when my dog, Brandie, passed. It was so sudden and unexpected. 

Are you trustworthy? Yes.

“when I make it shine...”

Do you play video games often? I’ve been playing Animal Crossing just about everyday since earlier this year. Prior to that, I’ve played a few other games in their entirety since having my Nintendo Switch that I got over a year ago. 

Do you like life, love, funny or boy quotes the best? I like # relatable quotes. 

Have you ever been cheated on? No.

Have you ever had fruit pizza? No.

Would you like to learn karate? No.

Do you think it would have been cool to live in the 80s? Maybe.

Do you think we'll have robots in the future? They’re already a thing, they’re just not like easily, readily available to everyone like a Rosie from The Jetsons or something.

Was the sun out today? Not yet cause it’s 5:54AM and it’s still pitch black, but it will be.

Do you know what 143 stands for? “I love you.”

Does it get up to 100 degrees where you live? Ugh, yes. And higher. D:

When you play video games, do you like the sound on or off? I generally have it low or off.

When's the last time you saw fireworks? Fourth of July.

Do you like Dr. Pepper? Yeah.

Will you be seeing the new Transformer movie? I never saw any of them. Not my thing. 

What made this week, one to never forget? Election 2020 will be talked about forever. This year in its entirety will be, but this election was a huge one.

“Tell me why you’re leaving me”

Did you wear shorts today? I don’t wear shorts.

Do you own a fur hat? No.

Do you still use the old time mail? I still receive mail, yes. I pretty much never send anything, though.

Have you ever played flag football? Yeah.

What color is your laptop? It’s silver.

Do you like Paris Hilton? I don’t have anything against her.

Did you smile at all today? Not so far, but it’s only 6AM. 

Do you have an Xbox? My brother does and I’ve used it.

When you were little did you have a magic 8 ball? Yeah.

Have you ever ate grass or birdseed? Eww, no. I wasn’t the kid that stuck everything in their mouth or ate weird stuff. 

Do you and your friends have secret codes? I don’t have any friends.

Have you ever seen the Lincoln Memorial? Not in person.

What's your profile picture on Facebook of? Me with my It/Pennywise mask on. It’s his mouth.

Do you own a yo-yo? No.

What celebrity is your fashion icon? I don’t have a fashion icon.

“How do you love someone without getting hurt?”

Do you hope you live to be the age 70 or older? I don’t want to think about dying.

Did you go to preschool? Yep.

Do you usually wear your hair up when it's hot out? Yeah. I wear my hair up all the time cause I don’t have the energy or motivation to do anything else with it.

Where were you when 9/11 happened? I was bedridden at home because I had spinal surgery a couple weeks prior.

Which would you rather play: guitar or drums? Guitar.

Have you ever gotten detention? No.

When you were little, did you used to watch Franklin? Yeah. Aww, he’s adorable.

What's the most exciting thing that's happened during your lifetime? 9/11 and this pandemic are definitely the most memorable, but I wouldn’t use the term “exciting” to describe them. A few of our blizzards, perhaps. <<< Yeah, definitely not exciting, but certainly major, life changing, go-down-in-history events. 

How high can you count in a foreign language? I could go on and on in Spanish like I could English, but let’s be real I’d stop at 100 haha.

What's the best thing to do on a hot day? Stay indoors with the AC or go to the beach.

Would you like to go to Rome? Sure.

Do you use Febreeze? Sometimes. I prefer my Bath & Body Works room sprays, though.

Have you ever been to a rainforest? No.

How many days of school are left for you? I’m done with school.

How do you usually get tan? That only happens when I go to the beach. Sadly, I didn’t get to go this year. 

“Last name ever, first name greatest”

Snickers or Twix? I like both. 

Have you ever tried to sleep on an airplane? I tried, but couldn’t.

When you were little, did you like Dr. Suess books? Yes. Those are classics.

Are you more afraid of snakes or death? Both are scary to me, but death is just a little more serious...

Would you like to go to Australia? Sure.

Do you like Drake? Yeah, I like a lot of his songs.

What color are your headphones? Black.

Do you live in the past? Yes. :/

When it's spring, do you plant flowers? No. I don’t do any gardening.

Have you ever laughed for 10 minutes? I don’t think I ever have for that long.

Do you help your friends every time they need help? I tried to as much as I could.

Ever seen a Koala Bear up close? No.

Would you rather be blind or deaf? I’d obviously rather not be either one...

Once your done, are you done for good? Really depends on what I’m attempting to be done with.

Does it annoy you when girls wear a lot of make up? No? I don’t why I would care.

“Blow the world a kiss”

Do you live by a river? No.

Do you like being outside when it's storming? I like enjoying it from inside.

Ever thought about becoming a cop? No. A cop in a wheelchair... that’d be interesting.

Have you ever tried sushi? Ew, it’s disgusting.

When you were little, did you use to roll down hills? No.

Do you like store bought cakes or homemade ones better? I’d enjoy either one.

Do you think your a good kisser? No. Now I’m really out of practice.

Do you like long or short sleeves better? I like my sleeves to be like halfway from my elbow if that makes sense. Not a quarter sleeve, but a bit above that. Unless it’s cold, then I like long sleeves. I love when the sleeves are long enough to be able to pull down over my hands, but it’s hard to get the perfect fit when you have long arms like I do.

Do you like the name Jacob for a boy? Sure.

Could you live without electricity? Like, for how long? It would be a struggle, no denying that. I’ve never experienced going more than a few hours without it. I know people have to experience long periods without it sometimes or not have it at all, so I’m definitely fortunate. 

Have you ever ate/drank something that was blue? Blue Gatorade, Pepsi Blue, the blue Mountain Dew, Kool-Aid, blue candies and cakes.

When is your last day of summer this year? I’m not in school, so no summer break anymore. However, summer is over and it has just recently started to feel like fall, so I’m quite happy about that.

Would you rather hang out with people who are loud or quiet? Quiet.

Have you ever had a pet turtle? No.

Do you want an iPad? Nah.

“You look like you want to party”

Are you double jointed? My thumbs are.

Have you ever done karaoke? Definitely not publicly, but at home.

What's your middle name? I’m not sharing that.

Do you wish on stars? No. I did when I was a kid.

Do you recycle? We recycle plastic bottles and cans.

Do you believe in love at first sight? No.

What's something you'll do when your older, but not now? I don’t know. Are you currently drinking anything? I’m finishing a Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink.

What color is your shirt? Black. 

Have you ever played laser tag? Nope.

Does your best friend live within 5 minutes from you? My mom and I live together.

If you got dared to dye your hair purple, would you? No. I dye my hair red and I want to keep it that way. It would be a big, annoying process to do another color and then to go back if I wanted, so nah.

How many contacts do you have in your cell phone? Not many.

Do you own earmuffs? No. It doesn’t get cold enough for them here.

Nothing worse than being sunburnt, don’t you agree? I’ve experienced much worse, but they are awful.

[azvolrien]

Five Vignettes about Asta in Stormhaven - Museum

The Stormhaven museum has been mentioned a few times and is marked on the city map I drew a while ago, but we’ve never previously ‘visited’ it, so to speak. I perhaps inevitably picture its interior as a kind of hybrid between the National Museum of Scotland here in Edinburgh (before the recent renovation) and the Natural History Museum in London, those being my default mental images of ‘museum’.

~~~

           “So that’s it,” said Mia. “It’s over?”

           Asta bowed her head and massaged her brow with her fingertips. “Look… It – sorry for the cliché – it really isn’t you. You’ve been nothing but kind to me and I’ve enjoyed our dates. It’s just…”

           “There’s someone else,” finished Mia.

           Asta nodded. “Not – not physically. Not here. I haven’t been seeing anyone else. I wouldn’t do that to you. But… in here?” She touched her heart. “Yes. I’m still thinking of her, and that’s not fair to you. You deserve someone less… less distracted.”

           Mia sighed, but nodded. “I have noticed you’re not always… totally in the moment,” she said. “If you want to call it a day, well… Fair enough. But let’s finish this last date first, eh?” She lifted her teacup in salute. Asta smiled sadly and clinked her own cup against the rim.

           They said goodbye outside the café and went their separate ways. Asta tightened her scarf against the early spring breeze and crossed the road to the National Museum of Stormhaven. It was hosting a touring exhibition that sounded interesting, all about the ancient royal tombs of Kemet; Calburn had mentioned they had a genuine revenant on display, and those hardly ever left the desert province. She climbed the front steps and passed through the wide double doors into the main hall, a high, airy space that felt more like a temple than a museum, cool, quiet, and flooded with light from the glass roof three storeys above.

           The Kemet exhibition was all that had been promised, though the revenant was so fragile with age that it could no longer move without disintegrating. Asta dropped a half-crown coin into the donation box by the door and wandered off for a look around the rest of the museum, past the mounted skeleton of a huge bull mammoth at the door to the natural history wing, and on into the shadows of a leviathan skeleton suspended from the ceiling by thick hawsers bolted into the supporting columns.

           The escaped slaves who had founded Stormhaven had hailed from all over Stranatir, and that showed in the wide array of permanent exhibits. One hall was devoted to the Hawk Steppes, its back wall dominated by a mural showing a band of mounted hunters facing off against a fearsome thuru and its floor space filled with exhibits from well-used weaponry to a ceremonial caparison draped over a horse mannequin. Another detailed the founding of Stormhaven itself, outlining the story with such artefacts as chains from the slave ship whose wreck had freed them, the slightly moth-eaten original national flag, and paintings of the architects of the escape. Queen Eleri the First stared regally out from her canvas, grasping a broken chain in both hands and daring anyone to take her people back into slavery. The Falkari warrior prince Garaaz toth Kossu folded his brawny arms, but seemed to look over his audience rather than directly at them. Lady Meredith leant on her enormous battle axe, her eyes cast into shadow by the hood of her bearskin cloak and her face painted with woad and kohl.

           Asta paused in front of that last painting for a better look at its accompanying notice. Meredith, it explained, had hailed from the Sea Loch Country where she had worked as a village blacksmith, but Stormhaven had needed her more as a warrior and so she had fought to defend her new home until her death on the battlefield decades later, on the site of what would become the city of Northold. The notice concluded with a quote from Queen Eleri, describing Meredith as ‘at once a stalwart friend and a terrifying berserker’.

           Asta ran the tip of one finger over that final sentence, and carried on to the next room. That one turned out to be about the Sea Loch Country itself. Ancient carved stones circled the walls around a display of other artefacts; the preserved prow of a historic longship loomed over a reconstruction of a warrior’s burial, alongside weapons, tools, harness-fittings and more besides. In one corner, a glass case protected a scale model of a broch. Asta sat down on a nearby bench and, for several minutes, did nothing but stare at the model.

           How could she be homesick for somewhere she had only stayed for a month? It made no sense – and yet, more than a year after leaving, she still missed Dun Ardech so much that it made itself felt as a physical ache in her chest. She missed the smell of the sea, the cry of the gulls, and the main room of the broch with its central hearth and its squashy driftwood-framed couches. She missed the water horses resting on the rocks after dark. She even missed the chill wind, colder than it ever got in Stormhaven. But above all else, she missed Roan. Her cheerful grin and no-nonsense compassion. Her warm, solid presence alongside her at night, curled up together under the reindeer-skin blanket, and the unexpected sense of safety it brought with it. Her tattoos like the symbols on the stones, curving their way across her smiling face and strong arms. Asta shuddered and hugged herself, the memories now rising unbidden. The feel of Roan’s arms around her, Roan’s lips against hers. Her words on the jetty, the last time she had seen her. Forget me, if you have to.

           I can’t do that. Asta hadn’t said it then; she wished she had. She lowered her face into her hands and cried, her shoulders quivering with each near-silent sob.

           “I’d ask if you’re all right,” said a vaguely familiar voice after a while, “but the question seems redundant. Is there anything I can do to help?”

           Asta sat up, sniffling, to see a man looking at her with concern and offering her a handkerchief. She recognised him – he was one of the wizards from the College, and he was a very recognisable man – but they had never been introduced or even shared more than a few words in passing. “I don’t know,” she said miserably. “I just broke up with my girlfriend, and – I don’t know. Probably not.” She took the handkerchief and wiped her eyes as well as she could. “Thanks.”

           “Keep it for now,” he said when she tried to return the handkerchief. “I can get it back at the College later. Would a sympathetic ear be of any assistance?”

           “…Maybe.” She shuffled along the bench to make room for him and he sat down at the opposite end, more than an arm’s length away. “If – if you chat to people at the College much, you probably know I was a slave,” she began.

           “Yes, Fayn mentioned it to me once,” he said.

           “Oh, you know Fayn? I wasn’t sure if you’d have spent much time talking to the non-wizard staff.”

           “Fayn is a little more than a work acquaintance to me,” he said with a chuckle, holding up a plain gold ring strung on a fine silver chain around his neck, an identical twin to the one she had seen Fayn wearing.

           “Oh, you’re her husband? How have I been working at the College for the better part of a year now and I never heard that?” The man – Wygar, Fayn had called him – shrugged, smiling. “Well, so… I was a slave. I escaped, and eventually I got to Stormhaven. But in between those two points, there was this woman who helped me, and, well…”

           Slowly, not fully sure why, Asta told him the whole story from taking shelter in Dun Ardech to stepping off the ship in Seacourt. “…and I have tried to move on like she asked. I have. Got a job. Moved out of Ari’s house once I found my feet. Tried seeing other people. I just… I miss her. I really, really miss her. But then sometimes I wonder – she sent me away. Maybe she doesn’t miss me as much. And that’s… That’s a hard thought to bear.”

           Wygar looked down at his hands, the palms covered by fingerless gloves. “I don’t know this woman,” he said. “I can’t claim to know what she was thinking – though I do like what you’ve said about her style,” he added with a grin, not dissimilar to Roan’s. Asta giggled despite herself. “But usually when a person says they’d kill to protect someone, they’re speaking in hypotheticals. To actually do it is not the mark of a woman who is prepared to just forget about what you had with her. It sounds to me like she cared entirely too much about you to see you in danger, and I expect she misses you a great deal.”

           “Do you think I’ll ever see her again?”

           “I think you can take steps to make that happen,” said Wygar. “Duncraig isn’t terribly hard to get to these days. But all things considered, it might be wise to lie low in Stormhaven for a while longer. Fayn and I were in the Northern Forest last winter-”

           “Oh, is that where she disappeared to? I wondered why I hadn’t seen her for a few weeks. Sorry, go on.”

           “Yes, it was… quite an experience. But we ran into another escaped slave there – an elf from one of the clans, who’d killed his owner and made a run for it years ago. I gathered he’d never left the Forest since, in case he ran into his owner’s family. I don’t see why you shouldn’t return to the Sea Lochs one day – but it might be worth giving these MacArra people a bit time to forget what you look like first.”

           Asta sighed. “Will that ever happen?”

           Wygar inspected his nails. “They don’t sound like the type to look too closely at the faces of their slaves.”

           “That’s… actually not a bad point,” said Asta. “Daro would have recognised me instantly, but the rest… Hmm.” She steepled her fingers and gazed at the opposite wall without really seeing it. “Fayn didn’t send you to look for me, did she?”

           “No, in fact – she and Ari have gone to something at the theatre. I’m just very fond of this museum; it was something of a refuge for me when I was a child. I was looking at the dragon prow over there when I heard somebody crying.”

           “I was trying to be quiet…”

           “I have good hearing,” said Wygar, almost apologetically.

           “Can… can I ask you a question?” said Asta. Wygar nodded. “What does your tattoo signify?” She tapped her own cheek to indicate the blue stripe inked down his.

           “Overconsumption of alcohol,” he said wryly.

           “That’s very irresponsible,” said Asta, frowning.

           “Yes, you’re not the first person to tell me that.”

           “Not you! The tattooist! They should never have agreed to tattoo someone who’d been drinking!”

           “…You are actually the first person to tell me that.”

           Asta half-sighed, half-laughed. “Well… Thank you. For listening.”

           “You’re very welcome. The gods know I’ve had plenty of practice.”

~~~

Asta has seen Wygar enough times for the shock of his appearance - that is, how, like Roan, he is also a tall, fair-skinned redhead with obvious blue tattoos - to have worn off, but this is the first real conversation they ever had.

We’ve never seen Mia before and probably never will again, but she seems like an understanding sort of person.

For anyone who’s interested, these are the two museum interiors referenced in the intro:

NMS:

NHM:

[cantusecho-archive]

(Good lord, episode 7.

Let me just say that it’s pretty crazy that we’re already half-way through the season now? It’s almost overrrrr.

But moving on from that, this episode starts out with Millaarc and Elsa forcing Elfnein to activate what they needed in terms of using Carol’s body.

I’m still really confused on what Millaarc’s ability does and it frustrates me because I feel stupid. Lol. I know it’s clearly mental and dealing with the mind, but it seems like it’s used in so many different ways now that I don’t even know how to explain it.

Regardless, she tries doing this again with Elfnein to destroy her mind. However, Carol literally bursts out of nowhere to stop her.

Now, I originally had a feeling that Carol would make an appearance not only because of where they were, but the summary itself, the top half of it specifically. The portion for the episode I mean is this:

If that which was sworn to be slain is put to words, erase them by plucking the strings from beyond zeros and ones. Discarded as unnecessary and unworthy, echoes of memories once lost linger here.

The “memory” mention is a pretty clear indicator to Carol, as they’re within the Chateau, Elfnein has been trying to reach back out to Carol now that they share the same body, and because Carol’s whole deal was dealing with memories. But what also stood out was the mention of “zeros and ones”.

Carol actually mentions “zeroes and ones” in her battle song (Senkin Dur da Bla) back in GX;

Nothingness is the only peaceful paradise What can I do but believe in that? I’ll expose and extol the providence of all creation With my music enshrined in 0s and 1s

So that just felt like a huge hint there too in that she’d make a reappearance somehow. I just wasn’t expecting it that early in the episode...nor did I expect the end, haha. I love Carol.

But regardless, this stops Millaarc immediately, and seems to end up hurting her briefly in the process.

Also, I was surprised that Miku wasn’t the cocoon thing. I thought she was, since that was what happened to Hibiki, but I guess the divine power didn’t actually go within Miku. Instead, it began to somehow manifest itself instead, thanks to her I suppose?

So, Tsubasa, Hibiki, Kirika and Shirabe go and engage in a fight with the strange deity with Chris and Maria trying to make their way there. But it’s a multi-dimensional being, just like the one in AXZ that I can never fully properly spell the name of.

And what stopped it last time was Hibiki and the so called “god-killer” ability, so that’s what she does. But the odd thing about it is that after Hibiki saves Kirika, she was caught in it. HQ says that it begins focusing energy on her instead, which I assume it was overloading her? But I’m not sure in which way.

Regardless, it’s enough to take Hibiki completely out of the fight, forcing Tsubasa to suggest they all retreat.

This thing looks so gross, haha. It’s like a giant, big headed...baby thing.

But anyway, they say Hibiki’s injuries are far more severe than they seem but no other details than that. Not sure how that is though but suppose we have to wait and see.

Also, Tsubasa’s smile was one of the preview pics for this episode and honestly, it was nice to see her smile...but I was worried about the context.

Something about her smile and comment just feels so off to me. Clearly she’s still not okay, and even Genjurou was surprised by her comment, so this doesn’t mean she’s better. No one knows that Tsubasa is dealing with that whole “seal” thing and we don’t even know how to break it so...I’m just not sure about it haha.

I talked to a friend saying that maybe she’s desperate for some good news or someone telling her she did a good deed? Or she’s trying to think of what Kanade would do? It’s hard for me to explain my feelings on this without making any sense.

After this, everyone on the bridge finally hears the ‘Apple’ song by rearranging the melody that Shem-Ha plays thanks to an idea that Maria had.

Maria makes reference to the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, as that’s where she and Serena are from, which happened in 1986. It’s been officially stated (or at least shown in the second episode of XV) that the show currently takes place in the year 2044. Maria is currently 22, so that makes her born in the year 2022.

So saying that her ancestors have a similar song can hint to a lot, just like how Tsubasa’s comment leads to. Maria (and Serena) very well may be a descendant of the Annunaki/Custodians, or has a connection with them somehow. Now it’s just speculation but still, it has to mean something. They’ve been alluding to Airgetlam and ‘Apple’ ever since the second episode (at least the song they have) so I mean...it’s slowly but surely getting there. Lol.

Plus it was a massive trigger to bring the world together in song way back in G for them to get enough phonic gain to achieve their X-Drives back then.

After this, Hibiki has a brief dream about the conversation her and Miku had in the first episode. I never did talk about the first episode but this conversation was just throwing a whole bunch of red flags from the get-go. Miku posing the question if she was a burden on someone else, would Hibiki stop her but then turns around and jokes saying that it was a hypothetical question.

Of course I still think she meant this as her fear of being a burden on Hibiki (aka Miku’s guilt) but again, this seems like a re-imagining of that conversation.

It’s different in the fact that Miku says that if she’s ever a burden, that she wants Hibiki to stop her, that she’s the only one who can. Hibiki, throughout this whole exchange, is actually really confused while Miku continues on saying that she’s the only one that she “trusts with all I have”. And it ends there. I can see this being a possible dream of Hibiki where she’s re-imagining the scene but replacing it with the details she knows now, or kind of like her fears slipping in?

But then I saw someone else pose a possible idea of her and Miku actually communicating through the same dream since they’re both knocked tf out right now. Not sure which one is true enough but it very well could be Hibiki having a dream.

Okay, this second half of the episode is just pure gold for Elfnein. It’s a lot of little things that stood out to me too, not even just the big reveal at the end. Here’s one:

Elfnein gaining self-worth in herself ever since the end of GX. Elfnein, in her own way, has gotten so much stronger over the seasons and this whole half showcases that I think. But she’s stuck between Vanessa and co. since they’re trying to kill her. But the second she calls out for help---

THE PREVIOUS AUTOSCORERS COME BACK. I swear, I didn’t see this coming. Like, at all. I actually really enjoyed them back in GX, I found them to be interesting, even with their limited time on screen. The OVAs build on them more but I still felt there was enough there for them to be interesting and for us to get a feel on their dynamics together.

The next thing that’s great for Elfnein:

Elfnein being assertive. She decides trying to fight back and rescue Miku instead. It was strong enough to surprise Genjurou so I mean lmao.

Then another thing for Elfnein as a character. Noble Red catches up to them, so Phara and Leiur stay behind to slow them down while Micha and Garie lead Elfnein away.

Instead of apologizing, she chooses to say thank you instead. It’s something simple like that that shows how much Elfnein has grown too.

The next one is a comment that Micha makes. In the OVAs, Micha makes a comment of how it’s hard for her to hold hands with people due to her claws. She speaks about how she’s the “ultimate autoscorer” but she needs the help of Garie to literally do everything for her; collecting memories, holding hands, and even tying her ribbon.

So she was slightly bummed that she couldn’t help escort Elfnein away like Garie could because her hands were too big. 

But Elfnein tells her that she thinks her hands are “really cool” and she loves them. That gave Micha motivation to keep on fighting and made her happy. It was just something so simple and small that was really really sweet, especially knowing how Micha felt about her hands.

Noble Red catches up though, and defeats all of them easily. Garie was the last one to help Elfnein get away. And now that she’s alone, Elfnein is faced with the fact that everyone has helped her, but she wants to figure out a way to help them too. 

She wants to repay everyone back for their help and kindness but didn’t know how. And so, faced with an incoming attack from Vanessa, she ends up doing this:

She freaking summons the relic Dur da Bla and basically...Carol comes back. AND has a new song. Song is called “Echo of Sforzato”.

I was over the moon when this happened, haha. I couldn’t believe they’d actually have Carol come back in such a way? Again, the beginning is the only think I thought we’d get. But this? Good lord. It’s hard to explain my emotions about this episode because it was sooooo good for Elfnein especially in terms of character, same for the autoscorers. It touched on previous things about them in the OVAs, and added more to it, even if they only had small and limited cameos.

Also, one neat thing about the transformation Carol/Elfnein has is that in her hat, it shows the reflections of Leiur, Phara, Garie and Micha. The colors represented them before but the thing about it is that if you freeze frame the scene, it shows them making poses exactly like their “enemies” GX CD covers. 

Luckily someone made a picture of them all on twitter so I can paste them here haha.

There’s two because Micha is the only one that changes twice for both Shirabe and Kirika. This part isn’t even a second long, it zooms by SUPER fast, but the detail in it is amazing.

It’s just a REALLY nice callback that they probably didn’t even have to add in. Plus there’s some other cool “behind the scene” things they posted on twitter (official staff) that even other stuff they made was meant to reference past CD albums (Like Leiur and her “big sister” version of herself was to reference the GX concert cover with Maria and Tsubasa).

Regardless, yeah this episode was great with the callbacks and references. I enjoyed it and got emotional over it. It turned out to be a great episode for Elfnein as a character honestly, which isn’t what I expected but glad it happened. ♥)

[thegizka]

It’s a Date (fic)

Just a few dudes having lunch and reminiscing on the good old days.

Written for Shikamaru Week Day 6:  Bonds.

Read it on Ao3.

“Hey Shikamaru, you wanna grab lunch?”

He glanced up from the mission report he was reading.  The newest Hokage was sticking his head through the door to his office, beaming expectantly.  Naruto always stopped by around this time with the same question.  It was a good way to keep track of how long he had been working.

As far as passing the torch events went, the transition between Kakashi and Naruto in the Hokage’s office had been incredibly smooth.  That didn’t mean there hadn’t been an influx of additional work accompanying the process.  Records had to be transferred, countless meetings arranged and attended, numerous ambassadorial letters of welcome responded to, and, of course, the ceremony itself had to be planned, all of this on top of the regular activities of the village.  Luckily Naruto had begun his tenure with a diligence he had rarely shown in their academy days.

“Yeah okay,” Shikamaru sighed, setting aside the report and stretching as he stood.

“Alright!  Want to go to-”

“Ichiraku?”

“You read my mind,” Naruto grinned.  His friend rolled his eyes as they headed out the door and down the stairs.

“Don’t you ever eat anywhere else?”

“Sometimes, but there’s nothing as good as Ichiraku Ramen!”

“Don’t you think you might be exploiting this free-ramen-for-the-Hokage thing a little bit?”

“Of course not!”  He looked a offended.  “I still pay when Hinata and I go there for date nights.”

“Do you pay for both of you or just her?”

“Both, actually.”

“Are you going to pay for me today?”

“Shikamaru, I appreciate your interest, but I am happily married and would never cheat on my incredible wife.”

“But you’re the one who asked me to lunch.”

“But this isn’t a date.”

“But friends can pay for each others’ meals.”

“Sure, for special occasions, but there’s nothing special about today.  It’s just lunch.”

“I’m only saying that it’s a little weird that we’ve known each other for so long and you’ve never bought me lunch.”

“Oh yeah?  And when have you ever bought me lunch?”

“I haven’t,” Shikamaru admitted, “but I did pay for your share of barbeque last time we had a guys’ night.”

“When even was that?  Two months ago?”

“Four, actually, and you still haven’t paid me back.”

“It couldn’t have been that long ago,” Naruto said, face scrunching up as he tried thinking back on it.  Shikamaru noted that he had ignored the last part about owing him for dinner.

“It was.  Lee was wearing those new leg weights he was super excited about, remember?  And Sai and Ino had just celebrated their anniversary.”

“Huh, I guess you’re right.”  He gave him a quizzical look.  “How do you keep all of that stuff straight?  That seems like a lot of unnecessary information to remember.”

“And that’s why I’m considered the smart one out of the two of us.  You never know when information like that might come in handy.”

“Knowing Bushy Brows’s leg weights might come in handy?” he asked skeptically.

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes.  They had reached Ichiraku.  He ducked inside and away from such a stupid question.

“Naruto!  It’s good to see ya,” Teuchi greeted happily from behind the counter.  “And Shikamaru!  You haven’t stopped by in a while.”

“Been busy,” he explained as they slid into seats.

“What can I get you?  The usual?”

They placed their orders and chatted with Teuchi as he prepared the dishes, asking after his family and sharing in the general gossip of the village.  Naruto was keenly interested in hearing everything he had to say.  Shikamaru was always curious to see him interact with villagers when he was off-duty.  He gave people his full attention, listening carefully to what they had to say even if they were complaining.  For a guy who enjoyed rushing into things, he could be incredibly patient with people.

“Mind if I join?”

“Chouji, hey!  It’s been a while.”

He slid into the seat next to them, grinning.

“I didn’t expect to see you two here.”

“Really?”  Naruto laughed.

“Okay, maybe you, but not Shikamaru.”

“We’re on a date, and he’s paying.”

“I didn’t agree to that!”

They continued arguing the point jokingly until their food arrived.  Shikamaru had been hungrier than he thought, and Ichiraku Ramen was the best in the village.  Conversation didn’t even cross his mind during the first few delicious bites.

“Hey, guess who I just ran into?” Chouji asked suddenly.  The others shot him curious looks and shrugged.  “Genma!  I haven’t seen him in ages.”

“Yeah, I see him once in a while in passing but haven’t really talked to him.  What’s he been up to?”

“Who’s Genma?”

Shikamaru paused and stared at Naruto.

“Genma Shiranui.  He’s a jonin.  He used to be one of the Hokage’s bodyguards, but now he works in the records department, I think.”

Naruto still looked at them with a blank expression.

“Brown hair, wears his headband like a bandanna, keeps a senbon in his mouth because he thinks it looks cool,” Chouji offered, but it didn’t seem to help.  Shikamaru sighed.  For someone who was so attentive when listening to others, the new Hokage was pretty bad at remembering people.

“He was one of the proctors of our chunin exam, the one who oversaw the one-on-one fights.”

“Oh him!”  Finally recognition dawned on him.  “Man, that was a long time ago.”

The others exchanged a wry glance.  Of course the memory of battle would spark his recollection.

“Man, that was a good time,” he sighed, signalling for another bowl of ramen.

“The chunin exams?” Chouji asked skeptically.

“Yeah.  It was fun to finally be able to go all out and not have anyone yell at you.”

“You realize some people actually died during those exams,” Shikamaru reminded him.

“And they ended in Orochimaru attacking the village.”

“Of course I didn’t mean that part of it,” Naruto explained, enthusiasm momentarily replaced by the pain of the memories.  “I suppose when you look at it from that angle, they were a bit terrifying.”  He took a thoughtful bite of ramen.  Shikamaru was almost sorry they had brought it up and dampened his mood.

“You know what?” Naruto suddenly exclaimed.  “We should hold a do-over!”

“What?”

“Well we never finished the exams, right?  So we should hold the rest of the fights and complete the tournament!  It’d be a great excuse to get everyone together, and someone would walk away with bragging rights of being the best shinobi of our class!”  He grinned brightly.

“That’s a terrible idea,” Shikamaru said with a frown.

“Why?”

“Because some of us going all out in a fight would decimate the village faster and worse than Orochimaru’s invasion.”  He gave Naruto a pointed look.

“I’m not sure we could have the Kazekage and a former rogue ninja fight and prevent it from becoming an international incident, either,” Chouji mused.

“I suppose you make a good point.”  Naruto looked crestfallen.  He pushed a piece of pork around his bowl with his chopsticks.  “I guess I just miss having everyone around and not having to care about anything super important.  It feels like the only time I see some of our friends is during mission briefs or meetings.”

“It has been a while since we all got together,” Chouji agreed.  “Maybe we can plan something, like a reunion.  Or a picnic!”

“Yes!  I like the sound of that.”

Shikamaru tried not to grimace as his brain quickly compiled a long list of logistics they would need to sort out--the venue, the food (A LOT of food), invitations (open to spouses and children? senseis and students?), tables and chairs, decorations (Ino would insist on decorations), activites (that preferably wouldn’t damage people or property), and a host of other considerations.  He had to admit, though, he did miss their friends.  Jobs and families kept them all busy, and he wasn’t in the habit of scheduling social time with anyone.  (How strange that socializing would need to be scheduled, as though it were an appointment or part of one’s job.)  The last time they had all been together might have been Naruto’s inauguration, and he had been too busy supervising the event to really enjoy anyone’s company.  They were a rowdy bunch when they did get together, and he wouldn’t mind the chance to cut loose with people he liked.

Of course, finding a date that would fit everyone’s schedules would be the biggest challenge if they were actually going to go through with this.

Chouji and Naruto were still excitedly discussing this hypothetical picnic when a white and black bird burst into the shop and circled their heads.  When he saw it, Shikamaru’s heart sank, but he nudged the Hokage to draw his attention.

“It’s one of Sai’s.”  Why hadn’t it gone straight to the office like most messages and reports?  This couldn’t be good.

“Anyone have an empty scroll?”  When his companions shook their heads, Naruto grabbed a napkin and spread it out.  The bird nosedived and splashed onto the open space, the ink reshaping into words that all three of them read quickly.

A moment later they were all rushing out of Ichiraku, shouting promises to come back and pay when they were done.

“His return route should have taken him through the western edge of the forest,” Shikamaru relayed.  Without a word, they adjusted their course, running through the village.

“Should we tell Ino?” Chouji asked.

“I can send a shadow clone.”

“No, she’d just end up worrying over the worst possible scenario.  With luck, we’ll get there before there’s anything to actually worry about.”

Shikamaru didn’t like keeping his teammate in the dark, but he also knew her incredibly well.  If she heard Sai had been jumped by a group of rogue ninja on what should have been an easy recon mission, she’d freak out and either burst into tears or insist on coming with them.  He was not going to allow both of Inojin’s parents to be in danger at the same time, not until they had a better idea of the situation.

If Sai needed help, these rogues likely had an unexpected power or overwhelming numbers.  He trusted Sai to fend them off long enough for backup to arrive, but red flags were popping up in his mind over the fact that they weren’t geared for battle and had only the bare minimum of ninja tools with them.  But Sai was a comrade.  He was practically family.  Shikamaru wasn’t going to spare a second to detour and collect his gear.

Besides, he had Chouji and Naruto with him, two of the people he trusted most, both of whom he knew were excellently skilled ninja.  He was already formulating plans to play to their strengths and end this quickly.

“Come on,” he cried.  They sped ahead.

XXX

Shikamaru was bone tired as he trudged home that night.  His instincts had been right.  They had reached Sai quickly and easily defeated the rogues, capturing a few for questioning.  Their friend had suffered mostly minor injuries, though a gash on his leg needed stitches.  As expected, Ino had freaked out when she met him at the hospital, but the fact that her husband was alive and in one piece was a huge relief and tempered some of her emotions.

When he and Naruto finally made it back to the office, they had missed two meetings, received four urgent messages that needed replies ASAP, and lost several hours of work time.  It would take a few days to catch up again, which was a drag.  Shikamaru had stayed later than usual to do what he could, but he had had difficulty focusing after the excitement of the afternoon.  He was looking forward to getting home and relaxing the rest of the night.

But first he had something to take care of.

When he pushed his way into Ichiraku, it was buzzing with customers and warmth.  His stomach growled.  Having arrived during the peak of the dinner rush, it took a few minutes to catch Teuchi’s eye.

“Shikamaru!  What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to pay for my lunch.  Sorry for rushing out like that.”

“Don’t worry about it.  Naruto stopped by and explained everything.  I’m glad your friend is alright.”

“Thanks.  How much do I owe you?”

“Naruto already paid for everything.”

“He did?”

The ramen chef nodded.  “Your food and Chouji’s.  We’re all squared away.”

“Thanks,” he said, repocketing his money.

“Don’t thank me, thank Naruto.”

“I will,” he promised.  “Have a good night.”

As Shikamaru ducked back out into the street and resumed his walk home, he couldn’t help grinning cheekily to himself.  “And he insisted it wasn’t a date…”

[guinevereslancelot]

why are old people so sad lol

[deuce-duce]

I enjoy writing this because I mean we can't read eachothers minds... right?! I wish I could sure would make things helluva lot easier...! I want you to consider something and then were going to discuss a few hypotheticals... first, knowing what I have explained previously you might realize I never asked to be who I am... or to rise to the level things have gotten to. I guess sometimes you just don't get a choice as to what piece you are in the game of chess... unless you choose to be a pawn that position is always chosen! But pawns can chose who they want to be when they make it to the other side... That being said the only reason things have reached the level that they have which im sure you might not agree with, but I believe its primarily because of a broken society... and an unreliable 🍇. I mean since when has gossip ever been true?? My experience starting in grade school, gossip was always used as a way to discredit someone or make them look like a fool. Not only that but the amount of inconsistencies and nonsense associated with this situation should have raised some red flags... lets say those flags were raised and a lot of you were thinking hmmm something just isn't right here it doesn't make sense, things just don't add up! Were half way there, in what world/society do you get these red flags and choose to not even ask or say anything to the person involved... Really?! Especially when your told not to tell me that you know who I am... Idk about you but I'd like to live in a place where things like this don't happen at all... but thats simply not reality. But when something of this magnitude is occurring there shouldn't be some type of uncomfortable stigma surrounding the person in question... i think you catch my drift.

Hypothetical time... please appease for a moment. lets just say hypothetically that everything i have told you is true. If thats the case I'd say that whats occurring and those that are involved are wrong and is really fucked up! Right?! The crazy part is what I have laid out for you is only the half of it!.

What do we do?! Turn a blind eye and just hope we are more diligent next time? Thats a viable outlook and requires the minimum amount of effort and individual consequence... so i get it... i can't take it anymore personally but all I can do is my best. Not that there weren't people trying to help which I appreciate but sometimes "we become the cancer that were trying to remove"

a common theme that people like to promote is one life one world one opportunity!! Even one of my my favorite artists Eminem, (got me through my childhood) specifies you only get one shot!! "If you could cease everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture it!?? Or just let it Slip!!??: I couldnt agree more!! The controversial side of this is that your thoughts on what shot i should be taking and the actual shot I'm taking are very different! A big influencer in my decisions is the craft created by NF "I wanna look at my kids in the face when I'm older

And say I've been something admirable

Fast checks, fast women, that don't inspire me, no!

You don't wanna know what's goin' on inside my personal life?

Then get out my diary" I just don't understand why no one else sees it! I dont think anyone in history or anyone ever again will have the opportunity i have! Or that we all have as a collective. Do we harness it or just let it slip?? To be perfectly honest it is more meaningful and more challenging then anything any of us will ever face again! If I fail then I guess we will all have something in common in the fact of... at least i tried.

Last night was interesting i wont go into details but this dude was trying to tear me apart by talking about me inadvertently to a friend of his... saying oh I wish i was that smart... but i go to such and such college... I tried to make small talk becayse although I knew he was talking about me he couldnt say anything to me directly. Shooting the shit atarted out ok... but I don't think my mind is geared that way... it wasnt long before i was talking about running for president for 2020 my slogan being Enough is Enough. He said that was somewhat abrasive and wished me luck! It wasn't long before i realized he really couldn't stand me and was there to belittle me and well lets just say if theirnot with ya, then their against ya. Definitely in my situation. But I told him oh I see what your side your on... he said what side is that...? It doesn't matter well if your just going to judge me and create a bias then this conversation doesn't mean shit... i said thanks for saying it for me... he didn't like that! But realized I had made the right decision. So I feel better about how things went after that. Becuase all he was trying to do from that point forward was make me jealous... too bad he's actually queer!! And for some reason is either jealous or threatened by a homeless bum...So i don't even know why i let it bother me.

Cool thing though we talked about society and how most eat whatever their fed. now i could into some long winded analogy explaining how this takes place with not only the food we need to nourish our bodies but also the food needed to nourish our mind and soul. And because we dont bother to do the research or find out the truth we continually pollute our minds bodies and souls... After I told him that the conversation was pretty much over I could tell he was mad and talking to myself loud enough for anyone around me to 👂 I said dude I'm fucking brilliant and I'm going to win... this is when he thought it clever to go buy the women that i complimented drinks... oh well!

Another person I met was cool finance major had something eating him up and he asked me what my advice was on the matter. I told him what I thought, which I think was good advice then changed it a little bit because bearing your soul isn't easy! Which is what would have been happening. I told him how much i wanted to conform and be just like the rest of the population here but for some reason my mind literally puts up blocks... he said thats because your not supposed to get the easy road... but i want to yelling at this point and he said nope you gotta take your cards and flip em!! He said that because i told him about eminems song beautiful and he knew exactly what album it came from which was impressive but Em says no one asks to get the bullshit hands were dealt we have to take the cards and flip em ourselves and not to expect any help! Gave him my card which is the only one without a # !?!?!?!?!? Ikr cray!

This really pretty girl I talked to for about a total of thirty seconds complimented her hair and made a couple wise funny comments/questions... then said have a good night and fled... like always.... ugh...

Haha other then that i was trying to find a place to sleep which was difficult but finally found a place. And what do you think i did??? I'm sure you already know so ill spare you!!

Good night

P.s. had another conversation with a psych major. After discussing Maslow's hierarchy I was curious to know how one knows when they have reached the summit of the pyramid?! She didn't know either. Told her it would be a good question to ask her professor and went to catch my bus. After boarding I looked it up there are 9 principals or characteristics that will be prevelant once acquiring self actualization. Thats it just thought it was a cool discovery ✔ it out!!

[squirenonny]

Hey, I got caught up in the periphery of some tumblr drama and ended up running into some aphobic stuff. Do you have any aro or ace headcanons for Team Voltron (and friends)?

D: I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve run across some aphobic stuff myself lately, so it was very cathartic to get to write these headcanons. I hope they make you smile, as well. Because good news! All the paladins are ace/aro-spec. All of them.

Pidge – Aro/Ace

The Oblivious!Ace. Literally does not consider sexual/romantic attraction as a viable explanation for someone’s action until well after everyone else around figured it out

Didn’t realize Shiro and Matt have been dating since before the Kerberos mission

“Pidge, you literally walked in on us watching rom coms together.”

“Anyone can like rom coms.”

“I was sitting in Shiro’s lap. We were sharing a blanket!”

“I thought you were cold!”

Is super cuddly, but has learned that being cuddly, especially with boys, is a Romance Thing and so mostly only does it with family. Loves that Hunk will hug literally anyone, no strings attached, and was ecstatic when Lance immediately took the cuddles as a Sibling Thing instead of anything else.

Mildly sex repulsed, but super supportive of whatever sex life anyone else wants to have, so turns into an awkward vague-support monster.

*buries face in hands* “Guys, I love you and I support you and I want you to be happy, but please just don’t ever tell me. Anything. At all.”

“We weren’t planning on it??”

“Cool. Be safe or whatever.”

“Pidge!”

*puts on headphones and Does Not Think about whatever may or may not be happening*

All the Ace Puns. All the Aro Puns. Unironically into the cake jokes, and uses the ��sounds fake but okay” line on anyone who starts getting sappy about their S.O.

Loudly and repeated points out that the Green Lion is already aro colors (green, gray, black, and yellow). Painted Green’s claws and tail in the black/gray/white/purple stripes of the ace flag.

The original Space Ace

Hunk – Pan/Demi (+polyamorous)

Used to think he was 100% ace/aro because he’s never dated and never really wanted to. Kinda started to develop a crush on Lance leading up to the start of the show, but it never went anywhere, and Hunk wasn’t inclined to push it

Was mad that everyone else was teasing him about Shay because he legitimately didn’t feel anything romantic toward her.

It’s like three months later after they’ve been space-Skyping nonstop that he sits back and realizes, wait….

Not really sure what to do with any of his feelings, completely flustered by everything, and it only gets worse after the Weblum incident when he realizes, oh, wow, hi Keith. Hi. I guess this is a Thing now.

Used to go to Pidge about ace/aro stuff until the two of them slowly realized that Pidge doesn’t have the context to help him figure out anything. So he’s in completely over his head and trying to figure out how anyone does?? Anything???

There are apparently rules for dating and people apparently know how to get from crushing to dating, but Hunk does not know any of this and it’s frustrating as heck

Cue lots of moaning into a pillow while Pidge pats his foot sympathetically but offers no real advice.

Shiro – Gray-Asexual/Biromantic

Shiro has always been on the ace spectrum, and found the ace community a few years before Kerberos, but has a hard time pin-pointing where on the spectrum he falls.

Was largely sex-neutral (wouldn’t instigate things for his own sake, but would follow his partners’ lead and/or do stuff for their sake)

His perception of “what is sexual attraction” vs. “what is romantic attraction making me want to do something I know they like” is very cloudy, and it’s only made worse because he’s at least 90% sure he has experienced some degree of sexual attraction where Matt’s involved, just… not consistently or predictably

It’s confusing

After his year of imprisonment he has a hard time with intimacy, especially physical intimacy

It’s a very complicated issue—part of it is that he’s self-conscious about his scars and doesn’t like taking off his shirt where anyone can see. Part of it is that if he’s in the wrong headspace, any kind of touch is stressful, painful, and/or panic-inducing, and it certainly doesn’t turn him on.

Reluctant to identify as a-spec now because so much of it is tied up in his PTSD. Generally tries not to think about it, except to be grateful that there’s no pressing need to address these particular questions

After they find Matt, he and Shiro have a long talk about it, and they agree to be non-physical for the time being.

Doing romantic but non-sexual things (fully-clothed cuddles, holding hands, long late-night conversations, making dinner together, star-gazing, ect. ect.) helps with Shiro’s anxiety, even if there are days where he’s pretty sure he’s sexually attracted to Matt but still too sex-repulsed to act on it.

Just in general, Matt is the best supportive bf and always takes the time to reassure Shiro that they’re doing good and Shiro’s happiness and comfort is more important to Matt than sex

Lance – Bi, Idemromantic or WTFromantic

Okay, so Lance has always known he’s bi. Because. I mean. People are really pretty? And he’s def been attracted to all sorts of folks

The weird part is romance because, like… Huh?

He figures for a long time that it’s just because he doesn’t have a lot of relationship experience, but he dates a few people and it’s still

Weird

It’s very hard for Lance to distinguish between platonic and romantic feelings. He needs it to be Clear

I flirted with you and you flirted back: *ding* Romantic

You flirted with me: ….processing….processing… *ding* Romantic!

We are rivals! *bzzt* Not Romantic! Not at all Romantic!

Basically Lance depends on context clues to figure out if a relationship is romantic or platonic, which usually boils down to “If we didn’t start out with pick-up lines or other overtly romantic things, we’re friends and we will always be friends.”

So if someone… hypothetically… wanted to move from the “friends” category to the “boyfriends” category, they would… hypothetically… need to say so explicitly, otherwise Lance just

will not

switch mindsets

Found the word idemromantic while searching for an answer to the question, “Am I just weird, or do other people get this, too?” But has a deep spiritual connection to the term “WTFromantic” because it accurately sums up his love life

Often confused for the Straight One in any given friend group, but that’s because he’s learned that dude + dude is automatically platonic, so he doesn’t even go there, and flirting is enough to cement him as allo in a lot of people’s minds

The other paladins lowkey thought that too when they first met him, so Allura was stunned when Lance admitted to her that he (a) likes dudes and (b) doesn’t understand romance at all.

Keith – Arovague

(Arovague being an ace/aro-spec orientation that’s highly influenced by neurodivergence.)

Because Keith is autistic

specifically he’s touch-averse and has other sensory issues that make anything sexual or even largely anything remotely physical very much a no-go for him

and he doesn’t get social cues in general, romantic norms in particular, and just. People. As a whole.

Oh, and also alexithymia (difficulty identifying your own emotions and putting them into words)

He doesn’t usually think about romance/sex because it just gives him a headache and he has better things to be doing

Like he’s not… opposed to having a relationship? In theory? He’s not sold on the sex thing, but he can see the appeal in having a boyfriend. He’d like a boyfriend in the same way he’d like more close friends like Shiro. He just doesn’t know how to go about finding either.

Also he’s just not really ever had many people he likes, let alone is attracted to

Even when he experiences attraction, it takes him a long time to realize it because he has a hard time sorting out his emotions anyway

He’ll figure out pieces of it—like that he gets nervous when his crush is around or that he’s happy when they’re together, but it just… doesn’t process as attraction?

Or he’ll consider that it might be attraction, then second-guess himself, then spend all night wondering if he’s making things up

It’s exhausting, and Shiro has honestly probably heard way too much of Keith not actually ranting about his love life (if only because Keith doesn’t think it IS a love life.)

Vents to Pidge a lot and Pidge, who wouldn’t recognize attraction anyway, is 100% on board with ace/aro Keith, which of course only further cements Keith’s belief that he is Free from the Chaos of Sexuality

Never really figures out if he’s actually experiencing attraction, but enjoys his relationships anyway, whatever they are—romantic, platonic, or something in between.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Ao no Flag v1

Since I just imported this, and the next chapter should be translated in a day or two, I figured I may as well write up my thoughts on the first volume. I was gonna reread it to refresh my memory, but I didn’t get around to it, so I might be forgetting some things.

This isn’t really, like, a professional review, or anything, just my ramble-y thoughts.

TL;DR: This is both adorable and kinda heart-breaking and I love it. This hits basically all the right notes for me. It’s also a shounen rom-com/drama that has actual major LGBT characters so that’s pretty great! Seriously you guys read this manga. It’s already really great.

More under the cut.

Before I say anything else, let me just say that Taichi, Kuze, and Touma are my new fictional children and I adore them with all my heart. I’m basically a complete sucker for main character trios like this. Which is part of why I also enjoy stuff like Pandora Hearts and The Promised Neverland so much. We haven’t seen a lot of Masumi yet but once we do, I’ll probably love her too.

Also for the record I call her Masumi because ‘Itachi’ is way too confusing in a manga that has a protagonist called Taichi, lol.

Anyway, this manga is just great. I have a huge soft spot for this genre as a whole, but even then this one just speaks to me deeply. I haven’t even read anything else by this guy but I already like his style. This hits a really nice balance between drama and comedy and romance that not a lot of things hit.

Normally I tend to not care for the main m/f ships in these sorts of manga, but oh man I already love Taichi and Kuze’s entire dynamic. They’re such sweet, pure children and I just want them to be happy. They both feel like, well, actual teenagers who are still trying to figure out how feelings and relationships work. It’s really endearing. I especially love how determined and earnest Kuze is about her crush on Touma. But I also love how Taichi is just a bit of a mess who doesn’t really know how to reach out to people properly. They’re great. Also, I love the fact that they’re both super short. I was not at all prepared for the part where Taichi sees her from afar and is like ‘wow she’s really tiny’ and then he walks up to her and he’s like ‘jesus christ we’re basically the same height’. That was hilarious.

But of course, I can’t help but feel weirdly guilty about liking them together because that just gets us into the whole Touma thing. Oh boy. Touma, my sweet wonderful gay child, I feel so bad for you and all the drama I see in your future. I’m basically bracing myself right from the start for him to go through all sorts of angst in the future. It’s gonna be rough. Obviously I also ship him and Taichi together, but that’s probably not gonna work out, which kinda breaks my heart a bit.

Seriously though I just love Touma so much, he’s amazing. And I can’t stress enough how meaningful it is to have a major character like him in this sort of manga. It’s not like it’s never happened before [I think Love and Lies has a similar set-up??? Not sure. And then there’s other cases like Makoto from Fuuka and whatnot]. But it’s still important! It always warms my heart to see stuff like this happening more and more. I especially appreciate how Touma as a character, and his crush on Taichi, is already being set up as a surprising pivotal part of the whole story. It’s at least this major time-bomb being set up that’s gonna affect so many things. But I mean, it plays a huge part in his entire dynamic with Taichi, and I can only imagine how it’ll shake that up once Taichi finds out. It’s already setting up a whole lot of dramatic irony with how Taichi’s hung up on how Touma comes across as being ‘perfect’ and completely disconnected from him as a person, which is obviously not quite the case. There’s also a whole lot of dramatic irony going on as well with the fact that Kuze’s whole ‘I have a chance with Touma so I’m gonna pursue him’ attitude is just set up to fail now. And her whole plan to date him is already a pretty big part of the story, so once the other shoe drops then things are gonna change up massively. Especially since Taichi at this point is mostly bonding with her in terms of basically being her wingman. And, of course, it looks like Masumi knows about Touma being gay [and vice versa, I suppose], so if they’re gonna start their own little friendship then that’ll be a part of it.

I dunno how to put it, it’s just interesting to me that Touma’s sexuality isn’t just a joke, or a really minor thing off to the side, but a genuinely important part of the story that’s gonna shake things up massively once the other shoe drops. I like it.

I also appreciate that he’s designed as being conventionally masculine, and in a way that’s not done in a joke-y, exaggerated way for comedy. I feel like a lot of characters like Touma in shonen manga get depicted as one extreme or another, so it’s really cool to see how “normal” [for lack of a better word, I guess] he’s portrayed thus far. It’s just nice to see a gay teenage boy being written as an actual human being and not a stereotype. Obviously there’s a bit of contrast going on with how his outer persona doesn’t really match what he’s going through internally, but it’s more of a dramatic thing than a comedic thing, if that makes sense. In general the aspect of him being seemingly perfect and super popular and put-together but secretly having his own insecurities and struggles is really compelling.

Which is why I really liked that one scene with the tomato plant, which was also probably the scene that convinced me that he was indeed gay, and that the author was going to handle it well. I just love the delicacy of the writing in that scene, especially in hindsight. It’s a wonderful depiction of the kind of moment where you see someone’s mask drop a little and you get a glimpse at who they are inside, but you don’t know enough about them to know what’s going on. It was also a nice scene to help establish why Kuze’s so into him.

I’m also excited to see more of his brother and his brother’s wife [though I guess we technically haven’t seen his brother in person yet at all, I think]. They seem cool. There’s not much to say about them yet, but I do find it a bit amusing how it kinda feels like his brother’s wife was designed to fit Touma’s made-up ‘type’. It makes her feel like a bit of a red herring to make people think he was telling the truth, even though that got almost immediately shot down. But at the same time I don’t remember the story ever, like, going out of it’s way to be all wink wink nudge nudge about it, which I appreciate. It really works as a twist on the reader’s assumptions. I saw a fair few people elsewhere assume that Touma had a crush on her, so I have a feeling that was the author’s intention.

Basically Touma is just my child and I want to hold and protect him. I hope he gets his own happy ending by the time this wraps up, one way or another. He deserves it. I could live with him just being happily single by the end, even if that’d obviously be the depressing option. Even if it’d be bittersweet in it’s own way, it’d be nice to hypothetically see him decide to move on, and end up with an entirely different guy. I feel like manga aimed at teenagers in general tend to act like your first crush is, like, the only person you’re ever gonna have feelings for in your entire life and if it doesn’t work out then WELP SUCKS TO BE YOU, so it’d be neat to see this sorta manga make it clear that even if you have unrequited feelings for someone it’s not the end of the world, and you can move on and find someone else to love in the future. We’ll see.

Mostly I just really hope that this doesn’t end with Touma and Masumi hooking up as some sorta weird consolation prize. In general it’d feel too neat and easy if the main four can get paired up into convenient pairs like that, and I feel like Touma’s whole deal would just be more . . . compelling, I suppose, if he’s exclusively gay, and not bi. I mean, him being exclusively gay would also really drive a wedge in Kuze’s whole plan of action, like I said above, and that definitely seems like what’s being set up. So yeah.

I don’t really have a whole lot to say about Masumi since she hasn’t had a lot of screen-time, but we’ll obviously see more of her now so that’s nice. Obviously I also really appreciate the fact that she seems to be a lesbian, even if her feelings also probably won’t work out in the end. It kinda surprised me how, uh, vicious she got with Taichi, but I like that she apologized afterward in her own awkward way. That’s nice. I hope she gets to become part of the main gang.

I really REALLY love the entire scene between them on the roof-top at the end of the volume. That was great. I actually got vaguely spoiled about it in advance but I didn’t know the full context of it so the scene still surprised me when I read it. I wasn’t expecting them but to all but spell out that both of them are gay by the end of the first volume. They even had to do the dramatic ‘scene goes silent right when important thing is said’ trope right when Masumi probably literally spelled out that Touma’s gay. I really wasn’t expecting how goddamn dramatic it was. Like wow. You could basically feel the tension going on between them. I wasn’t expecting to see Touma be absolutely terrified by the idea that Masumi might have outed him without his consent. That kinda tore at my heart. I feel you so much, Touma, I really do. Thankfully she didn’t, so that’s nice. I’m glad she’s agreeing to keep it a secret for him.

I also love and adore how she pretty much laid out exactly what I’d been thinking, and immediately spelled out the fact that he was lying about his ‘type’, and that the only truthful part was the black hair bit. I’m so glad that got called out by the end of this volume instead of being dragged out unnecessarily. It was pretty dang obvious, at least. Although it does make me wonder exactly how Masumi ‘figured it out’. She doesn’t seem to be close to him as a person, and his crush is mostly obvious to us as the reader. So I wonder if maybe she’s been observing him for a while, and has been piecing it together.

It’s pretty interesting to look back over the entire volume now that it’s over. I mean, it was fairly obvious from early on that Touma is gay, but still, it’s REALLY obvious now. There’s a lot of parts that pretty overtly lay it out. The part in chapter four, I think, where we get the flashback to him and Taichi as kids, and we see the actual moment where Touma lied about his type, it’s SUPER obvious what’s going on. What with him basing his preferred type directly off of Taichi’s height [with an extra amount added], the dramatic close-up of him staring at Taichi when he talks about liking black hair, him immediately turning away afterward and rattling off some other traits to throw him off the trail, etc etc. And other than that you have stuff like the tomato plant scene and so on. There’s also the fact that the cover of volume one is of the main trio standing in a triangle with Kuze looking at Touma, and Touma looking at Taichi, and the insert page thing at the start of the volume is of them making a triangle with their fingers. It’s not exactly subtle, lol.

Anyway, I guess I should talk about predictions and stuff for what’ll happen next, now that we’re right about to get into v2. I guess I don’t have a lot to say other than what I said about how once Taichi and Kuze figure out what’s going on, it’s gonna REALLY shake up their relationship with Touma. Which will be interesting to see. But I feel like it’ll take a while to happen. Other than that . . . well, obviously I want to see more of Masumi, and I hope that Touma’s brother and his brother’s wife end up being recurring side characters. That’d be neat. I’m also wondering if the baseball element might get more important later. It looks like the author’s mostly done sports manga in the past, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes more of a big thing to the story.

Oh yeah, and everyone should read the bonus pages that recently got translated, that came with the first volume. They contain a really short preview for v2, which is already hinting at a whole lot of angst and drama. There’s not really a lot to it as a preview, but one kinda surprising thing about it is that it looks like Taichi is notably taller. Like, a few inches taller. I kinda wasn’t expecting that, but I guess it makes sense. You can also kinda see it on v2′s cover, a bit. We also got a glimpse at what seems to be a new character in the last panel of it. Not sure what her deal is but she looks upset about . . . something, lol.

Also the bonus pages contain a short bonus chapter about how Taichi and Touma first met and I swear to god it’s the cutest thing in the world. I probably should have expected that they first met and bonded over their battle pencils. But seriously, holy shit, little schoolboy Touma blushing and talking excitedly about how Taichi is the coolest person he’s ever met is just! so! ADORABLE! AAAH! I wonder what bonus things the other volumes will contain.

I’m glad that the scanlators have access to the digital raws for the rest of the series now, so we don’t have to wait until each volume comes out for them to translate it. I’m really excited to see chapter six come out in a day or two. It’ll suck when we catch up and have to deal with the two-week release schedule this has in Japan. Oh well.

[I dunno where to fit this, but as a side note, I LOVE how the volume covers for this series look, thus far. Now that we’ve seen the first two. They’re all so beautiful and delicate and sorta watercolour-y. It’s not a style you see often in manga volume covers. But I love it. Honestly like 10% of my reason for importing this series is because I love how the volumes look. I’m kinda superficial like that, lol. The aesthetic this series has in general is really nice]

And yeah as I said at the start of this, I just ordered the first volume of this today from CDJapan. I made a post a while ago about how I was going to import every volume of this if it followed through with the LGBT representation, so I’m sticking to my word on that. This is gonna be the first Japanese volume of manga I’ll own, so that’ll be neat! I’m not really interested in importing a lot of stuff in general, so for the most part I’m sticking to importing different types of manga with good LGBT rep in them, since I’m passionate about this sorta thing. I just want to financially support these types of manga in whatever way I can. Which is also why I’ve started importing Shimanami Tasogare, which is basically one of the best LGBT manga out there. Also manga is just way easier and cheaper to buy/import than something like, say, anime. Sure I’d love to import the Japanese blu-rays of Yuri on Ice but holy shit I do not have the money for that. Even getting the English release of that is gonna be tight. But yeah it really doesn’t cost me a lot to import manga like this so I figured I may as well. It’s gonna take ages for it to get here, but that’s fine.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #220

“as long as god in heaven dwell, your soul, your soul shall scream in hell.”

Would people consider you more immature or mature? It depends on the context. Emotionally, I think I'm considerably mature. As far as eligibility to be a proper adult goes, yeah. No. Would people consider you more funny or serious? I personally don't think I'm very funny, but I'm not super serious, either. Are you currently in love with someone? Who is this person? So... I'm quietly pondering over whether or not I'm just biromantic, not bisexual. I genuinely think I'm in love with my girlfriend, I do, but we have so, so little actually sexual experience that I don't know if "bisexual" fits me. I totally adore her romantically, I know that, but maybe sexually, I'm not into her? I don't know. It's hard for me to say because when I picture doing certain "things," I can't really tell what I feel. I don't take that as an "I'm not into it" though, considering I've wound up liking things with a guy I didn't think I would with anyone, something I only discovered by doing it. This whole situation was driving me insane a few days ago to the point I felt sick, but I've calmed myself out of it to where I've accepted I just have to wait and learn, being long-distance. I'm still entirely invested in us and am going to be honest learning about myself. I haven't actually talked to Sara about it and don't want to unless I come to learn this hunch has credibility. Which room in your house are you in? What color are the walls? My bedroom; light puke green, Why God. What is your absolute favorite hobby? Who got you interested in it? I don't really know about my "absolute favorite." It depends on my mood, really. I think maybe watching my favorite YouTubers tops the list, something Jason actually started with PewDiePie; or RPing, which I got into myself thanks to Meerkat Manor. Would the people you know say you have a nice singing voice? Barely anyone ever hears me sing, so idk. I personally feel my voice suits only few songs. Would you say most of your friends are older/younger than you? Ummm, good question. All but two are very close in age range, but most of my friends/closer acquaintances are kinda split around either side. Were you named after anyone famous or anyone on television? Nope. Are you listening to music right now? If so, who’s singing the song? Yeah, I'm listening to Khemmis' cover of "A Conversation With Death." It's the intro song to that new game Man of Medan and is so badass. All the comments are like "came here from so-and-so's LP because this is epic" and same. What is your dream career? What inspired you to pursue this career? Probably meerkat biologist if I could handle the heat and was okay with moving, or paleontologist if I wasn't opposed to heavy travel. I love meerkats and dinosaurs v v much. If you have a significant other, do you get jealous of people a lot? No. What would you say is your favorite holiday? Why did you choose this? Halloween bc spooks and costumes and candy. Does it feel odd being around your friend’s parents? Why or why not? If I'm alone with them and don't know them very well, sure? What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Is there one in your city? Sonic, probably. And no, but in our neighboring city. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Is there one in your city? Olive Garden. See above. Do you ever take pictures with family members around the holidays? Mom pretty much forces it, lol... Have you ever thought you were adopted because of opposing interests? Y'ALL not kidding I legit asked my fucking mom if I was adopted in elementary school bc I thought she hated me one day versus my little sister lmfao. I went through a phase of feeling like she couldn't be "this mean" to her legitimate child. Are you more interested in indoor activities or outdoor things? Hm, that depends on the activities available. Most outdoor things are more fun, though. When is the next time you’ll see someone you’re crushing on? We were just talking a couple days ago about our next visit, actually. If I can financially, I'm probably coming up to see her for her birthday again, as that's when I have a decent break from school. Speaking of which, how many people are you crushing on right now? Lol I mean it's been just shy of two years, a "crush" doesn't cut it. Have you ever played Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo DS? Was it fun? No, actually. I didn't grow up playing Mario games. What exactly is your favorite gaming system? Do you have this system? The PS2. It had a giant graphical leap, contains SOOOOO many goodies, and you can still play PS1 games on it. How often do you talk on the phone? Who do you talk with the most? Very very rarely, pretty much only ever with my mom or dad. I hate talking on the phone. Do you normally do what other people around you want you to do? Depends. What does your trick-or-treat bag or pail look like? I don't have one anymore, but it used to be an orange, plastic jack-o-lantern. How old will you turn on your next birthday? 24... wow. What are your plans to celebrate? Probably just go out to dinner with family. What floor do you live on? I only have one floor. Do you have a balcony? No. What is your favorite fall drink, if you had to pick just one? None. Which X Factor audition(s) was/were your favorite? I've never watched it. Were you a straight A student in spelling and grammar? I'm pretty sure I was in my entire school career... Damn dude, proud. Were you a straight A student in math? HA hell no. I could get a C sometimes. Were you abused or do you know anyone who was abused? I wasn't, but I know people. Are you a Democrat or Republican, or neither? Neither. Independent. Who would take care of you if you needed surgery? My mom and dad, as far as bills go. Do you think you have an accent? Not really. Sometimes you can hear it, though. Have you been told you have an accent? Only when I was younger. I had a SERIOUS one. My family in NY couldn't even understand me sometimes, lmao. Where do you live (country or state)? North Carolina. If you could start a church, what would it be like? I wouldn't. Are there any shades of blue that you don’t like? If so, which ones? Nah. What is something you want to accomplish before you turn 30? Get a goddamn stable job. Do you know what your purpose in life is? Spreading the love and respect of animals and conservation. If you live in an apartment, what is the maintenance man’s name? N/A What are some fall activities you would do with your kids? Hypothetically, if I had/wanted kids, I'd enjoy carving pumpkins with them, obviously taking them trick-or-treating, autumnal crafts would be fun together, and watching Halloween/scary films appropriate to their age would be a nice experience. I'd decorate the house with them. Oh, a hayride would be cool together, I love those. AND DON'T FORGET JUMPING INTO LEAF PILES! I have a lot of ideas for someone who doesn't want to be a mom. Have you ever seen a fox? Yeah. At least one alive, a handful as roadkill. What color are the squirrels where you live? Brown. What do the trees look like where you live? Pine trees. Pine trees. What was the best vacation you’ve been on so far? Disney World as a kid. What is the best class trip you’ve been on? I really enjoyed the trip to Beaufort to an island of wild horses. The water was rough that day, and goddamn... watching the ocean in its aggression was unbelievable. Did you like field trips when you were a kid? UM, DID ANY KID NOT????? Do you find museums boring or interesting? Very interesting! Gimme a science museum and I'm SOLD. What are three issues you are passionate about? GAY RIGHTS, wildlife and nature conservation, women's rights and the pro-choice argument. What are three countries you have no desire to visit? North Korea, Iraq, and... uh... idk. I guess the Middle East in general. That shit's rough. Do you like your country’s flag? Sure? Stars r dope? Would you ever wear a shirt with your country’s flag on it? NO. What’s a medicine that makes you sleepy? Oh. My. God. When I was on three Klonopin a day (I'm now on just one and don't even take it every day), I literally could not function. There was one day in particular (I was on three very briefly bc of this) where I just slept until evening. I physically could not stay awake. I remember I was in the middle of watching a Game Grumps' Mario playthrough, and I'd only last like, ten minutes before I HAD to lie back down, and I'd fall back asleep in like, a minute. That was one of the most awful days ever, I was miserable. Do you like bath bombs? Sure, they're pretty. Who is your favorite neighbor? I don't actually know any. Who are your favorite small YouTubers? He's not very small, I think he's at about a million and a half subs, but Timmy Timato is so fucking iconic. He is an Actual Mood. I have no interest in what he actually posts; I just watch for him. As well, Johnny Paranormal is cool; he's a fuckin awesome guy and is chill and relaxing to watch. I don't watch him religiously, though. Rarely, actually. Who are your favorite big YouTubers? HAVE U HEARD OF????? THE MARKIPLIER GUY??????? What was your favorite girl group when you were growing up? I think it was the Pussycat Dolls, fuck off, don't say shit 2 me "Buttons" is still dope. Do you like Disney movies? Blocked & reported if you don't. What’s your favorite superhero movie? Man idk, I enjoy a lot. I enjoyed The Avengers, and Logan REALLY tugged at my heart. Do you have any credit card debt? I don't have a credit card. Have you ever been really late for work because you slept past your alarm? No. What was your favorite way to spend a summer day as a kid? Swimming. What’s the longest you’ve worked without a day off? Probably like... two days, lmao. It's not like I have a lot of experience. Have you ever been scammed? I don't think so. Where were you the last time you kissed someone? The airport. How’s your mental health? Are you feeling well? It's fine. Do you struggle with acne? No, not anymore. Do you have any uncommon interests or hobbies? RP is definitely the "strangest." Have you ever fostered an animal? No. Are you the clubbing type? Definitely not. Never been, not interested. Bar goer? No. I don't trust strangers + alcohol, and I'd be really scared of being hit on. Song you can’t stand? I don't think there's a song I've heard that I hate more than "Welcome To The Machine" by Pink Floyd. Well, correction, "Friday" by Rebecca Black. That autotuned to all fuck voice is just... major ew. Is your ex sexually attractive to you still? Jason is. Well, if he looks the same as last time I saw him, which was in 2017. Juan doesn't look half bad. Aaron's cute. What is unattractive about them? Jason: fucking communication skills. Juan: his reckless streak. Aaron: nothing that I know of, he's a sweetie and on a great path. Your hottest ex’s name starts with the letter what? J. Pick two highlighter colors: Yellow, Pink, Blue, Purple, Orange. Pink and orange. Has anyone ever written on you? Who hasn't been written on by friends with markers as a kid? Have you ever dated a fat person? Yes. Have you ever dated someone with a fine ass body? I mean this with total respect and love towards her: Sara's body is genuinely sexy. Her figure is amazing. Have you ever had any article of clothing tailored? What for? Yeah, for prom, as well as my sister's wedding. Do you welcome people back when they say they have returned? Yes. What are two foods you think taste good with whipped cream? I fucking hate whipped cream. How long would it take you to walk to the nearest fire hydrant? I've never paid attention, actually... Do you own anything that has the words or picture of ‘mustache’? Well my Mark tribute tat has the Iconic pink mustache on it, and the texting screen background on my phone is also a pink mustache collage-y thing lmao. When you see a feather on the ground, do you ever pick it up? Yeah, sometimes. If you eat it, what is your favorite way to eat beef? On a burger. How would you feel marrying the man you love who has already a son? I don't love a man, and I wouldn't marry anyone with a kid. Have you ever played Roller Coaster Tycoon? What did you think of it? No, but I had SeaWorld Tycoon or whatever it was called. I loved that game. When you are chopping onions, does it really affect your eyes personally? I've never cut an onion myself, but when I'm in the proximity of someone doing it, I feel mild irritation. How long can you hold your breath for? Is there anyone who is better? Idk, I don't feel like testing it. When was the last time you had a pet goldfish? What was its name? I couldn't even try to guess. Are you insecure about your height? What made you think this way? No. Do you enjoy mayonnaise with French fries? Why or why not? Um that sounds disgusting. Did your last significant other have a huge temper? Actually, he warned me that he can and he was nervous about me ever seeing it. I, thank Christ, never witnessed it, though. I would've broken the fuck down, I can't handle angry men. What was the topic discussed in the last meeting you attended? I don't know the last time I went to a "meeting." Honestly, when’s the last time you genuinely liked someone? Now. Are you Team Jacob, Team Edward, or you just don’t care? I've never been into Twilight, but I find Jacob way more attractive. Do you like it when questions are long and make you think? Yes. Have you ever had love at first sight happen to you? No. Do you think Avatar is really all that great? I'm assuming you mean the movie and not TLA? I never saw the full thing, but I would love it. Love or trust? Trust, I think. You can't love someone in a healthy fashion if you don't trust them. What do you think about sexting? Not about that personally. That'd be so awkward. Have you ever done it? Those days where RP mating scenes on YouTube were over private message, timeskipping wasn't a thing... oh boy. It WAS uncomfortable. Would you ever swim with dolphins? Yeah! Have you ever believed a stereotype? Probably at some point. Have you ever tried marijuana? No, though tbh I probably would (but not through smoking it) for anxiety and panic attacks if it was legal in my state. Is there any reason you should be in jail right now? Can you go to jail for illegally downloading, or it is just a fine? Idk. Did the house you grew up in have a big yard? I mean, it was decent. What has been the most difficult class you’ve ever taken? Latin. That shit was so hard. Do you have any medication that you keep with you at all times? Yes, for panic attacks. What’s something that’s much more difficult than a lot of people realize? Heartbreak. Were you raised by both of your parents? If not, then who raised you? Yes, but Mom played a larger role. Did any of the classes you took in high school count towards uni credit? No. First thing you wash in the shower? My hair. Do you plan outfits? "Not unless it’s a special occasion." <<< Are your parents strict? No. Would you go sky diving? Probably not. I'm afraid of heights, and I'd be really scared the parachute wouldn't deploy. Who sits behind you in your math class? Quite honestly, a bitch. She always has shit to say under her breath. Do you have good vision? No, it's awful. When was the last time you watched a show for people younger than you? Last I was with Sara. We're watching Avatar: The Last Airbender together. Have you ever snuck someone into your house before? No. Is there something your significant other does that bothers you completely? She's competitive and admits to it. A lot, particularly in writing, is a "mine needs to be better" thing. When was the last time you kissed someone on the cheek? When I saw my niece and nephew at my nephew's birthday party. How many best friends do you have? One. Did you ever get bullied as a child or were you the bully? Neither. Would you rather eat grape or strawberry jelly or jam? GRAPE. I hate strawberry jam/jelly. Do your parents ever send you to do their grocery shopping for them? No. Do you know anyone who has a speech impediment? I don't think I do personally. If you have your ears pierced, when did you get them pierced? When I was like... 11-12 or so, maybe? Possibly younger? Have you ever had a significant other who hit you? Fuck no. Do you own any exercise machines? No. Do you still leave/receive voicemails? If I need to, sure. School leaves me voicemails sometimes if I miss a call. Do you live in your hometown? No. Are you a festive person? Do you enjoy holidays? Not very festive, but I mean, I enjoy 'em. Did you/Will you attend college? I'm back in college now!! You’re feeling down - do you listen to sad music or happy? Sad. Listening to music fitting my mood helps me feel related to and not alone. You’re looking for some new music - what’s your preferred way to discover? YouTube recommendations. Do you watch the news? No. What hooks you to a television show? The most important thing is A GOOD PLOT!!! It needs to be really interesting to me, bc I do NOT get into shows easily. As for funny shows, they need to be fuuuuunny. I don't think I could ever get "hooked" on a show again, though. I just don't watch TV. Have you ever received anesthesia or morphine? Yes. On the morphine occasion, it didn't do jackshit. I don't think they gave me nearly enough. Is there anyone that makes your skin crawl? The #1 thing that most fits the definition of "skin crawling" to me is seeing a fetus move from outside the stomach, especially the further the mother is along. It's fucking alien-esque and actually makes me scream and panic. Are people more likely to tell you to tone it down or to speak up? It can be either. Do you have a dining room in your house? No. Do you know the alphabet in any other languages? Very close to all of German's. I blank and aren't sure on a couple. How many people have you had sex with? One. Have you ever been surfing? No.