#and then I actually went to draw it and realized oh...oh that wasn't very difficult at all huh

[amanitacurses]

Gerudo Set

[bogkeep]

i remember the shift, when i went from being "some random kid online who likes to draw" to "popular fanartist within a small community". it was on the fan forum for a webcomic nearly a decade ago. i had been posting my art on tumblr for a couple years already, usually getting between 0 and 15 notes on each, with a couple exceptions here and there. as you can probably imagine, being an awkward queer and autistic teen had never made me feel particularly popular before. i wasn't really lonely, personally, though many of my peers are and were, but the idea of many people actively wanting to be my friend and thinking i was genuinely cool - that was incredibly novel.

i have always loved getting attention for my work and find people interested in what i have to say. like, who doesn't? it was a very fulfilling and inspiring experience when it started happening to me on a regular basis, to the point where i could expect it. i went from being constantly apologetic about how annoying i imagined myself to be to others, to feeling confident that at least some people were excited to have me around. absolutely revolutionary to realize that people weren't just pretending to like me, they liked me for realsies, and that putting myself out there and being sincere and genuine in my enthusiasm and interest was actually a positive trait many people valued. wild!!!!!!!!

when you come from a place like that, of course you try to be everyone's friend. that's the scarcity mindset. you have to hold on to every friendship ever offered to you because it's such a rare and precious thing and you don't know when or even if it might happen again. but if you get Popular, well, at some point you learn that you can only nurture so many friendships at once, and that you can't click with everyone. like, it only makes sense. but it sucks!! learning the necessity of rejecting people and letting them down is a harrowing journey, but one that must be made.

there's many deeply lonely people out there, especially online, a space of Connection. connections to other people are so good and necessary and being lonely is an awful thing to be. this means there's a lot of people who can't even imagine not wanting more friends, let alone not be constantly looking for some. it's always a bit of a tragedy when a Very Lonely Person tries to attach themselves to someone Socially Overencumbered, as that's highly unlikely to end satisfyingly for anyone involved.

anyway, i think capital f Fame is like that, but times a hundred thousand. it's deeply fascinating to me how Fame is treated as this deeply aspirational state when it's proven again and again to be a cruel and abusive mistress. like, i understand - don't we all want some attention, some validation, for someone to recognise us on the street with stars in their eyes, like OH you're the COOL PERSON who did the COOL THING and i want nothing more than a HUG and a SELFIE and also i made you this HAND MADE GIFT and PAINTED A PORTRAIT OF YOU... that's the dream, isn't it!! to be recognized for your skill, to be admired, desired! THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE WANTS, ISN'T IT.

but it isn't.

there's a limit to everything. there's a whole spectrum of Getting Attention and Validation between "literally everybody ignores you and everything you do" and "paparazzi follow you everywhere you go" - and i can promise that you can find a lot of fulfilment and joy on the lower end of that scale. it's difficult to explain sometimes, especially to people who get No Attention - it's like telling someone who is starving that the most expensive restaurant in town isn't really worth the hassle, a good affordable sandwich will make you so much happier, trust me. like maybe it's just personal preference and what i can personally tolerate! but i had merely a whiff, a crumb of what they serve at that place, and it's Not That Good. easy for me to say huh!!!!

i'm basically a nobody on the wider web, but i've still had my fair share of unpleasant stranger interactions both of the rude and overly familiar variations. i've been treated as a commodity rather than a person. i've been put on a pedestal and dragged through the mud by the same people. it kinda sucks!! and i don't want to tell people that they should never ever put themselves and their art out there because people might be cruel, because that shouldn't be the expectation! yet for some reason, it is!!!! people experiencing Fame have to deal with all kinds of inhumanely horrible things literally no human person is equipped to experience. many people say that's the price people pay for fame, but that's said by people who haven't experienced even a Fraction of the stochastic terrorism an Audience can do to you if they choose. not all attention is good attention.

i know none of this is a fresh new hot take. i know we all know stalking is unethical and traumatic. but i am still so fascinated by the divide between people who don't understand why anyone would reject any form of adoration and those who have to work very, very hard to keep their boundaries intact.

[dorksmithery]

Bora's Master Adventures, aka I played AkuNeko doodle compilation

Working Title: Lato enamored me with his penchant for violence and extremely polite speech but the designs were so banging that I had to illustrate my silly experience playing this weird but very loveable game. Fennesz is here for moral support.

Note: I only really have read up till the end of the Ball arc. Though I do know some spoilers from watching the stageplay clips and listening to the stageplay album, all the following doodles are my first impressions from the game up until Episode 1, Part 2, Chapter 32 (´･ω･`)b

All translations are my own work.

Obsession at First Mention

"There is a butler who lives in the basement floor called Lato, please be careful around him." "Oh no." "He (Lato) might become my fave" *He indeed became my fave lol

I looked at the red flag Berrian gave us and went "Oh okay. So I'm a bull now ig" It did not help that his design is so memorable but all the butlers have super distinct designs that have so much character packed into them. TBH I think my favourite design goes to Fennesz, the butterfly motif is enchanting and the way his outfit both matches and clashes against Haures is so fascinating.

(We will not talk about how I struggled so hard drawing Berrian. Bro should not be that difficult to draw)

Daimeshi Jamboree

"I'm (Ore) the master of the Devil Butlers!" "Ah.... That might have been too aggressive..." <- Usually uses Boku "M-Masterrrrrr....."

AkuNeko having the choice to play either as a female or male Master is peak actually?? Like it changes nothing lol but just having that option is so good. I use Boku and Watashi as my Japanese personal pronouns of choice so reading the Master option as Ore was jarring www I'm just a polite liddol guy, pwease

I did like the village scene tho. Ammon is probably the character I've changed my opinion fastest about, he's just doing his best and a little bit of an idiot about it. I will hear no slander about him.

The Greatest Honour I can Give

"Wear the outfits please." "A-Alright..."

"U-um..." "So this is the type of thing you like~" (Fennesz is wearing one of Lato's outfits while Lato is wearing one of Fennesz's outfits)

Get in the fucking dress boys

I like to cycle between Fennesz and Lato on my homescreen but whoever is on there is wearing a dress either way. I did indeed use screenshots to build the base of the last photo but one day I really do want to sit down and just try and learn the AkuNeko art style bc its so distinct and the colours pop so well while staying with the gothic aesthetic.

Fennesz is unexpectedly very cute when he blushes....

Animal Ears Gang

Muu is cute methinks. Not as annoying as other mascot characters but theres a lot of potential for him to grow in the story! I hope we get to see him grow up to be a wonderful butler ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

I honestly wasn't expecting to like AkuNeko all that much. I only really got into it because of the stageplay so to realize that the game is just as fun and the art is something I could definitely see myself trying to learn is really nice. The features like the study and stretches is also weirdly helpful? I've been using it every so often and setting up my own 15 min writing sprints with Lato breathing down my neck the whole time is actually kind of funny.

Will I continue playing? Who knows. The fact that my reading comprehension has improved by leaps and bounds since I downloaded the game is irreverent

[noviceaoiryusei]

Oku Tomoya and Inaba Yu Special Interview Minato Shouji Coin Laundry TV Drama Official Visual Book 

Hello! Hello! It has been a while.

Recently, I was busy with real-life stuffs while watching my favorite BL shows or J-dramas weekly as a purifier. OTL So here I am posting after a while and bring y'all something wonderful (I guess).

So here's a special interview translation of my not-so-obvious-favorite-OTP that I'm posting on here and tumblr way ahead of all my pending drafts lined up on livejournal.

Disclaimer: I tried my best to translate it as close as the original itself.

Without further ado, please enjoy reading. (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

「 Oku Tomoya and Inaba Yu Special Interview 」 Minato Shouji Coin Laundry TV Drama Official Visual Book

We interviewed the two actors who portrayed as a pair supporting the side story of the drama to look back on the filming!

――　Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today. As for the characters Asuka and Shu, since the story of Asuka and Shu preceded the drama more than the original story, we think it must have been difficult for you to understand their characters. How did you plan your performance?

Oku:　When I first read the script, my first impression of Asuka was that he was a flirtatious and playful person. However, as his true feelings gradually came out, I realized that there was a gap between the two... So I decided to carefully handle Asuka's feelings when he was involved in between Akira-san and Shin.

――　Do you think that there are high school boys like Asuka-kun?

Oku:　Well... I don't think there's much in real life...

Inaba:　You even said some pretty nasty things. (laughs)

――　What do you mean by that?

Inaba: Before Shin and he got to be friends, there was a scene where he said, "Show me a picture of this guy named Akira". At that time, I was like, "This guy! (laughs)". As a spectator, I was cheering for Shin and Minato-san, and I thought, "What the heck... He's just in the way! (laughs)". But he was actually a very nice guy.

――　Thank you very much. Inaba-san, what did you think about portraying Shu?

Inaba:　First of all, there is a common blueprint called the script, and since we are building towards that, I wondered if it would be better to act first, even though there is no movement in the original work. Would it be alright, so that the fans of the original work won't be offended...

Oku:　That's our concern.

Inaba:　It was nerve-wracking, but the script was something we shared, so I tried to be sincere in my approach this time. It was difficult to imagine how much I could do, so I tried to pick up the human element of "Shu" and the story that was provided to us. I thought it would be better if I played the role with an emphasis on Asuka's relationship with the character.

――　Did you have any conversations with the producer?

Inaba:　I talked a lot with the producer, Kimura-san... I talked about things that I don't talk about with the directors. It was easy to ask him questions, whether it was trivial or big questions and it was a big help. It made me feel like, "Oh, so I can do whatever I want", "I wonder if it can become a good element if I abide it".

――　Kimura-san, what were you told about abiding it?

Kimura P:　To be honest, just because we talked about it, it wasn't a clear idea of how we should do it. But rather, we didn't set goals in a good way, as if there can be possibilities.

Inaba:　He didn't draw any conclusions. Kimura-san didn't say, "I want you to do this as the right answer" but rather, "I want you to aim for this as the right answer" and he would talk with me about the possibilities. So, for about two or three days, every time Kimura-san and I went into the field, we talked for about an hour each time whenever we go to the studio. It felt like the direction of the project was set within me.

――　Is there anything else you would like to add, Oku-san?

Oku:　I also discussed with the people around me what kind of vibe Asuka should have... This was my first time to play such a flirtatious role, so I wanted to cherish the original story, so I asked consulted people about how much I should be faithful to it.

As for relationship advice... as long as Asuka's good qualities come out, I think he'll be fine.

――　Is there anything that you think is different from the other roles you portrayed?

Oku:　I wore the Reebok Pump Fury sneakers that Asuka is wearing in his private life, and I thought we are the same. The difference is that I have a gal with me or not... I admire him for having three trendy gals with him. (laughs)

Inaba:　It is difficult for me to find anything that comes close to being exceptional. This is not because I seem to be a peculiar person, but because I wonder if I could live my life focusing only on one thing.... I admired him because thought it would be difficult for me to devote myself to something and go abroad to study out of a desire to "know". So I portrayed the role while thinking, "That would be nice. In a way, I think Shu is going straight ahead without being distracted by the noise around him.

――　We felt the sense of straightness. The way your eyes open when you perform was impressive.

Inaba:　The director told me to "look at things that aren't human. I sincerely listened to him and did it once, so it was like that... (laughs) I was helped by that kind of direction, and I was able to find the feeling that led to that facial expression. I thought I was able to create something like an attractive force so it was a great help.

――　If Asuka and Shu were your friends, what kind of relationship advice would you give them?

Oku:　Asuka must be very serious, so the way he approaches older people and younger people... he "went offensive!". (laughs) When I talked with the staff during filming, they said that it would be cuter for a younger person to attack an older person with all his might... (laughs)

――　Anything that you want to add, Inaba-san?

Inaba:　If I were to tell Asuka, I would say, "As long as your good points are shown, I think he'll be fine". When Asuka is with Shu, people around him think, "If he could show this kind of Asuka, things would go better and smoothly," but I think he has a dilemma that he can't show his good side that's why I tell him that. But I don't think he understands, so it's as if I haven't said anything at all.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　Later on, If Asuka thinks, "So that's what this was all about" then that's fine with me.

――　Thank you very much. So what would you think if Shin and Minato-san were friends?

Everyone:　Ah~~~~ (laughs)

――　I'm reunited with someone I've loved for 10 years, but he hasn't reciprocated at all... to Shin, who makes a lot of fried horse mackerel...

Inaba:　It feels like "It's nice". I'll hit "Like".

Oku:　I think I would like to marry.

Inaba:　！？ He isn't your partner, right!? You've just changed the subject... (laughs)

Oku:　To Minato-san "He was just too honest". I'll say that "You should just be honest!"

――　How about you, Inaba-san?

Inaba:　We'll drink and say "It's tough, right~~"! "This feeling's hard, right~~".

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　We go out for a drink and I'm like, "That's tough~ good luck. But Minato seems to be alright... I feel something very strong disposition. I think he's the kind of person who hesitates but makes sound decisions even if he's left alone.

Oku:　Indeed. Minato-san, you really need to snap out of it quickly and straightforwardly... with such a dazzling high school student... you know. I know that your shaken up by Shin.... Even so, I hope that you'll wrap it up and get married soon.

I was grateful that the atmosphere that Oku-kun was creating was so relaxing.

――　What did you talk about during break time?

Oku:　We talked about our school days... Also, Inaba-san seemed to put his hand on my shoulder easily. He would suddenly put his hand on my shoulder, it feels just like Shu getting involved with Asuka then puts it aside quickly so it's like, "Oh, what's up?" or so it seems. (laughs)

Inaba:　Oku-kun, I just thought that you have shoulders are easy to put my hands on. When I was checking the camera position, I looked at him closely and said something like "Your shoulders are great to put my hands on". I said I'm going to destroy his personal space.

Oku:　We also talked that we both appeared in Kamen Rider.

Inaba:　Indeed, it's our common denominator. It's not a work that we did together so even during shooting we would talk about things like, "Is that guy there?" or "That staff member is really nice, isn't he?". We're a bit different from each other, so I thought of looking for something in common... Or maybe I was wrong. (laughs)

Kimura P:　I didn't have that impression that they were talking much behind the scenes, so it was like that. I have no idea at all.

Inaba:　I thought it's alright if I don't talk too much. I don't think it was not my role to control the atmosphere. In this work, I often came in once in a while, did a little work, and left. I wanted to be able to get ready and say "start", "cut", "good job" and so on, all in a relaxed manner. So I don't think it's necessary to make Oku-kun relaxed... Asuka and Shu's relationship is also a highlight.

――　I see. It felt like you haven't seen each other for a while.

Inaba:　That's right. So the scene with Shu is one of Asuka's duality. I don't want him to be nervous, but he will be well prepared for it, and Asuka is the only one that I can't beat in here. (laughs)

Oku:　In this work, I wanted to improve the atmosphere on the site and make it more lively as a team. But there were some scenes where I was able to do it and there were others where I was not so, I also reflected about it...

Inaba:　But I think Oku-kun has helped a lot with the atmosphere. Well at least that's what I thought so.

Oku:　!　Thank you very much.

Inaba:　I was completely outsider in the role. I thought I was given a very important role as a sideline, but the main focus was Asuka.... I was not involved in the middle of the story at all, so the atmosphere at the site created by Asuka... or rather the atmosphere that Oku-kun created at the scene was very harmonious and I'm thankful for that.

――　Have you talked to Kusakawa-san and Nishigaki-san?

Inaba:　(Kusakawa) Takuya and I met, but Nishigaki-kun and I didn't have many scenes together. I felt like he was just greeting from a distance so I didn't do anything apart from greeting him back.... But I thought he was very nice when I saw him on air. I think it is difficult for a character to move forward with that energy because it's a story that won't start unless the character does that. Moving forward with faith takes a lot of energy, and I think it was very wonderful. I have known Takuya-kun for a while...

――　As for Takuya-san, we saw you mentioned about him in an another interview and mentioned that "he was kind to me when he taught me how to dance".

Inaba:　That's right. I knew he was a good guy, but there was a scene where I had to dance... apparently, the Sakuma family's Fukushi-san and I were afraid of dancing (laughs), but since I didn't have much experience and I was worried about bringing up what I had practiced all by myself. So, I grabbed Takuya-kun and asked him if "would it be alright?", he then stayed and danced in front of me... he was of great help.

――　That's so kind! The full video of the dance will be released sometime in the future....

Oku:　Is it full-length? But I messed up with the choreography....

Kimura P:　There's a time wherein Oku-kun bumped his leg, but he was so cute...

――　For Oku-san, how was it working with Kusakawa-san and Nishigaki-san?

Oku:　Takuya-san was a very reliable leader.

Inaba:　It would be better to say that they brought in a lot of food. They brought a lot, right!? Curry, jelly... all kinds of things.

Oku:　That's right. I was surprised when he gave me Godiva cookies during the first reading. I was like, "they even gave Godiva cookies during readings like this!". I was so grateful.

――　What about Nishigaki-san?

Oku:　Nishigaki-san was the closest in age to me, his presence was like an older brother to me on set. We're talking about trivial things like "that ramen shop is delicious". (laughs).

――　It's a very warm place. Were there any scenes that were fun or difficult for the two of you to interact with each other?

Oku:　 The reunion scene with Shu in front of the candy store was memorable to me. Asuka hasn't seen Shu in a long time was fidgeting, and the scene wherein Shu suddenly came closing the distance in between the two of them and said, "do you want to see it?", Asuka was already overthrown by Shu. It was our first time working together so I was worried about how I should go about it and prepared myself for it.... Inaba-san's mysterious performance as Shu....

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　I was told to act strange! I'll be on LINE news! I did it! (laughs)

Oku:　I myself was tossed around by the work, so Asuka was a nice flavor to it. As a result, the director praised me saying, "Oku-kun felt that he was being overthrown around, so your work was good". (laughs)

Inaba:　.... Oh, I have one! One thing... I was about to tell you about that Oku-kun story at the shooting.

――　Please let us know!

Inaba:　On that day, I was on the way to the location quite early in the morning and there were people on their way to work...... Oku-kun went off and suddenly said to the woman, "excuse me!". I thought, "huh..m what was he doing?" and then I saw a tag that was attached on her back.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　With all his might! Oku-kun said, "the tag is still attached". Then, I knew that the costume department was already on site. So they took out a pair of scissors right away... (everyone laughed). Then the staff-san (costume department staff) said, "I'm going to cut it off!" and cut the tag. She said "thank you very much!". It was great that Oku-kun didn't miss the tag. The coordination was also wonderful.

Oku:　That sense of speed. (laughs)

Inaba:　That's right... So I thought I've seen something good, it went well. I didn't even noticed it. Even if I had noticed it... I would have just thought that there's something attached to it and that would be the end. but he went over and told her. The person wouldn't have to be embarrassed when going to its workplace. I thought Oku-kun is a nice kid.

Oku:　When people drop things on the street, everyone just ignores it, don't they? If I turn a blind eye to it, it will stay in my mind for a long time... Even if it takes a few years or even decades, I will definitely remember it....

Inaba:　Tags are just barely safe, there is no harm about it to say. You quickly rushed and call out to her without even thinking about it... he's so nice! I thought, "this guy is so nice! I'm talking about how wonderful Oku-kun was.

――　That's a nice story. Well then, what's Inaba-san's good points, Oku-san?

Inaba:　There's none!!

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　There's none! I tried to have several stories with my co-stars like this but I don't.

――　Like asking them if they could lend you sunscreen behind the scenes....

Inaba:　I'm basically just silent. Oh, there is one more story about Oku-kun. When I do this kind of work, I sign autographs on colored papers... It could be on the set or in this case, at the candy store, I do it as a way of saying thank you for all your help. But Oku-kun still can't do the ratio of his own signature in each sheet of colored paper yet, and it went over the edge.

Oku:　(laughs) I was just 17 at that time....

Inaba:　I was like "are you serious!?" When I had to be on stand by first thing in the morning but I was so sleepy... But then I decided to rewrite it... So I gave him some advice and rewrote it, but when I looked at it, the one that was sticking out was nicer... Ah, somehow I feel like we, adults could be also be wrong...

――　(laughs) Do you remember about this, Oku-san?

Oku:　I definitely remember it! I follow him religiously after all.

Inaba:　But really, it looked better that way. We even said, "that's weird!". Rather than being forced to do so, you could just be carefree.... Signatures are supposed to stick out.

Oku:　No, I want to give something more firm after all.

Inaba:　Yeah, I know it. But... No, it was actually great. You should put that on display somewhere....

I even went to clash it with my own feelings. I said, "I love you so so much!".

――　Are there any scenes in the entire drama that left an impression on you? If you have a favorite scene, we would love to hear about it.

Inaba:　Uhm, why are Asuka and Shu together... Definitely it's the scene wherein Asuka confessed his feelings for Shu was really good. The atmosphere at the scene was really interesting. After all... we were all heading that way.

Oku:　Indeed.

Inaba:　I wondered how it would turn out, but Oku-kun was straightforward and honest.... He did it without any tricks.

Oku:　I also like it... I also prepared a lot for that scene but... for that scene, I wanted to go with Asuka's feelings alone, so I didn't prepare anything and just clashed it with my own feelings of the moment. I said "I love you so so much!". I'm not sure if that was the right decision. But I hope that the viewers would be satisfied with it.

――　That was great. Any opinions, Oku-san?

Oku:　The scene in episode 4 after he fell into the pool. The scene wherein Akira-san said, "do you want to dry your clothes?", "are you asking me out?", "no way!". After that, in the last episode, they did the same scene again at the beach. I somehow felt... emotional or rather it was a passionate development... It fired me up.

――　Were you both on location for that scene or you're just watching the filming from afar?

Oku:　I was still there after crank-up and watched it with the staff at the end.

――　Finally, do you have a message for our readers?

Oku:　The drama version is a little ahead of the original. I'm worried if the content will satisfy everyone, but I hope you will watch us warmly. Please continue to support "Minato Shouji Coin Laundry".

Inaba:　First of all, I thank you for everything. With the original work and the drama, I think that the people who have made it to this kind of fanbook must have really love the work. The original work will still be going on... Would there a sequel? What would go on, is this the end?

Kimura P:　For the mean time, this is just the first part of the drama...

Inaba:　Is there a way to do it?

Kimura P:　It depends on everyone's support... so, yeah.

Inaba:　That's what I meant.

――　Shin and Minato's story has ended....

Inaba:　A margin.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　No way, it's left behind. Especially Asuka and Shu, that part is not yet depicted.

――　Asuka and Shu are there. Shin and Minato are no more than amnesiacs.

Everyone:　(laughs)

Inaba:　If they stick together, there will be lots of problems.

Oku:　And then... It's like a trade-off....

――　You knew it very well! We are making an interesting extra edition of a story that is different from the novel. But it puts quite a burden on the actors... (laughs).

Inaba:　No, I think it'll be interesting if those two would switch places.

――　It starts with "we're chaging places~!"....

Inaba:　In that way, I could imagine what would "Minato Shouji" would be in the future. We do hope that you'd continue to like our work. As someone who was involved in this work, I would be very happy if you could see it through.

――　Thank you very much!

[13eyond13]

Don't know if it's late, but your top 5 fav books (fictions)?

Ahhh, a good yet very difficult question. I sometimes have very fond memories of books I read years ago, yet they do not hold up for me at all when I reread them again at an older age? So some of the ones I might put on this list in the past I might not feel the same about anymore, so unless I've revisited it recently I don't feel confident enough in my memories to really add them to the list. I went to my GoodReads account and looked at everything I had logged, but I'm quite fussy about the criteria I use for this? As in I feel like the book has to be so beloved by me that it almost feels like it's one of my oldest friends or something. And I just don't feel confident stating that about most of the books I have read, even the ones I've given 5/5 stars. In the end I might only be able to give a top 3 list, but other than 1. Death Note the other two I love the most are: 2. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - I just have such a big crush on Patricia Highsmith's writing style, and I'd say she's probably my favourite writer right now. I don't know how to describe it other than it just draws me in every time with its deceptively soothing and understated prose, and I also love the aesthetics of her settings and characters and plots. This is by far my favourite work of hers. Tom Ripley is one of my all-time fictional characters, and if you're a fan of creepy conman stories and anxiety-inducing thrillers than you'll definitely enjoy reading this one. I had such a good time reading this entire series a few years back and grew really attached to hanging out with Tom, though he really is only at his best and most interesting and complex as a character in this first book, I think. (BONUS RECOMMENDATION: Both the American 1990s The Talented Mr. Ripley movie and the 1960s French movie Plein Soleil are worth a watch as well! I think the 90s one does some interesting things to translate the story from the page to the screen, and certainly doesn't shy away from the homoerotic undertones - also has a fun scene-stealing performance by Jude Law as Dickie. And the French one is just beautiful to look at - particularly because of Alain Delon at his prettiest and scariest, who I unfortunately developed a massive embarrassing crush on as soon as I laid eyes on him!) 3. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice - There wasn't a book in the world I was ever more obsessed with at some point in my life than this one when I was 15/16! I created an elaborate comic adaptation of this story for a book report that took me entire months of my life to make, I was just that obsessed. It just hit the spot for me so perfectly at the time because I was a lonely and confused little thing that was still very much caught between the guilty obligation of my strict religious upbringing and the frightening burgeoning realization that MAYBE I wasn't actually that straight (because boy-oh-boy is the vampirism in this book and Louis's guilty wrestling with his nature very easily read as a metaphor for struggling with being gay, hahaha). I loved Louis so much, I identified with him so strongly and immediately, and I think Anne Rice is just great at painting a descriptive scene and fleshing out a unique universe full of colourful characters and worldbuilding/lore that stretches back for literally millennia. Upon rereading it again older I definitely found the prose to be a bit silly/purple and the melodrama a little eye-rolly at times, but you know what, that is exactly what a Byronic gothic novel is kind of supposed to sound like, too. Lestat is obviously the real star of the show in The Vampire Chronicles, and Claudia is also a stunner of a character, but Louis has my heart simply for being the one to initially invite me into that interesting world, and for feeling like the only bro who truly "got me" during that particularly angsty and guilt-ridden period of my life. (BONUS REC: the 90s movie starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst is a really good adaptation of it as well!)

[phenomenalgirl9]

Renascence: Hwang Hyunjin x OC

Part 6

Summary: The arcanes are everywhere around you they are actually more normal than you think, but what of the anomalies in the arcane like Y/n? It definitely isn't easy. Especially when nature is always out there to get you and the ones you love. Losing a loved one is difficult but when you've done it a couple of times. No matter how many births he took, watching Hyunjin fade wasn't easy for you. How far are you willing to go this time to protect him? Would things be different this time around?

A/n: Happy Birthday Jinnie! a late upload cause of my procrastinating ass!

WC: roughly 1k

<;- Previous

_____________________________________

Ever since the attack you couldn't sleep alone at night. You've had either Minho or Amber to sleep beside you. You felt safer around them, their smell calmed you down.

So here you were cuddled up in bed with Amber, her strong arms holding your torso, as light snores left your mouth. A ringtone sharpened both of your senses as you both jumped up. She stood up and walked to the window with the phone. "San, this better be important," she said as soon as she picked up. "What?! Okay" she hung up "We need to rush to the pack house. They brought someone in" Amber said.

"Brought someone in?" You said rubbing your eyes and grabbing onto Amber's waist and smelling her. "You hungry?" She asked. "Nope" you said, "You just smell nice". Slowly the two of you got up, putting on some jackets as it was way too early to get dressed. You pulled up your hood and left your room to find Jungwon and Jeongin in sweats and Jackets. "Why are you two up?" you asked. "We'll go with you" Jungwon and Jeongin said together. "Were you eavesdropping?" Amber asked in shock. "No but we heard shuffling and you spoke loudly" Jeongin answered and you nodded.

As you inched closer to the pack house (which is huge, mind you) you saw a very familiar car, "she called him too? It must be serious" Amber said. "She called at 5 in the morning, I'd kill her if this wasn't serious" you said yawning. You all exited the car and walked inside. A well known smell reached you, one that you haven't got up close for a long time. You walked in to find Ryujin and Felix with a person tied up on a chair. Jungwon smartly walked up and pulled up the guy's head for and you screamed "OH MY GOD!".

"Ryujin!" You tried to scold her but the girl started explaining. "He was drawing your portrait.. portraits! And that too for DAYS!". "Looks like it's started again" Minho said as he stepped out of a room with Chan and San on tow. "I'll stay out here, you fill them in. They need to know" He said looking at you, and you nodded.

You took one last glance at the guy tied to the chair and walked inside the room again with the others. They all took a seat, Jeongin and Jungwon smartly rushed to the three-seater and patted the middle seat for you. You looked at Amber smiled and took a seat on the other one as you sat between these two. "So um..... I" you fumbled, you kept this part of your life in dark for a long time. Jeongin and Jungwon held onto your hands for support, and you took a sigh. "He is my mate" you finally said. "What?" everybody spoke out almost in sync, everybody but Amber, she knew, not the details that you were about to spill, but she knew.

"He is a muhang and mostly unaware of that.." you went into explaining how you met him for the first time, until he went missing then when you met him a few years later you saw him and the situation. "That whimp is a Muhang?" San said, more like he didn't intend to but oh well. And you nodded. "So is this the first he appeared in 130 years?" Jeongin asked, as he has been with you for that long and never heard of Hyunjin, until you told him a few days back. "No, I have been running away for the past 2 lives," you said, and his face lit up with realization as to why you kept moving from place to place a few decades ago. "But why? And you can't leave this time" Ryujin said and you nodded. "His life was always short when I was in it, I heard an elder say that the luck of my anomaly affects his as he is not an Arcane, Muhang yes, but he is practically still a human. And it's always so painful to keep losing him, especially the last time" you said and took a breath and started.

"There was an underground organisation, they said it was some humans, they were trapping arcanes, mainly muhangs who are easier to find it records are checked it was the mid-1700s." You said and Felix spoke up "After the witch trials and stuff" to make things clear, and you nodded as he motioned you to continue. "This organization was said to be a project that was being handled by generation after generation. They had taken hold of a handful of Muhangs, but those were never seen again to this date. Now, this was around 1750, and the organization called themselves some Black Knights that will supposedly purify the earth. They started actively tracking down Hyunjin. And after a point, they got so big that we started meeting dead ends, and one evening they cornered us, it was either let them take him or we both die trying. He made me" your throat got dry and eyes stung with tears. "I... had to kill him, with my own hands, By the time Seoghwa had tracked me with the help of Minho, it was too late" you said and broke down and the 2J from both sides immediately hugged you. They all wore worried expressions. That was when you heard a commotion from outside and a very irritated Minho saying "Shut up! I swear I'll slit your throat if you make one more sound"

All of you rushed out and you exclaimed "Minho? Why is there tissue in his mouth?"

He whipped head to look at you and pointed at Hyunjin and said "He woke up and started screaming, I had to shut him up"

"Now what do we do with him?" Felix asked, in a deep intemidating voice.

The moment Hyunjin's eyes fell on you they went wide and he fell silent, staring at you soundlessly.

_____________________________________

Meanwhile

"Are you sure he is not at any other of your friend's house?"Yeonjun asked again. As Seungmin passed through the art studio, "Yes hyung, he probably stayed here for the night and went for a coffee, I'll call you when I find him" he said, "the Bin had too many paper" he said to himself when the strokes seemed familiar and he knew why. That was when he saw something beside Hyunjin's workstation, a student ID card that read:

"LEE FELIX"

----------------------------------------------------

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Fic Masterlist

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[aria0fgold]

tags by @wish-upon-the-universe

Oh god, okay-- I was thinking of doing this in tags but I'm pretty sure it'd be too long for that so here it'd be instead. So basically, my initial plans for the design was the star face, middle pair of hands, the tree trunk body, the hollow stomach, and the three halos with star beaded veils. The star face is self-explanatory in a way, for the middle pair of hands though, it was first meant to be in a form of praying, like how people clasps their hands together when wishing upon a shooting star. But then I thought about The Country, and how in a way, it's within the palm of The Universe's hands. So I changed it to them clasping their hands together loosely, I had to look at the mirror to figure out the anatomy of it and noticed that the back of my hands form a star shape, which resulted in that look! The star is meant to symbolize the wish that hid The Country, with The Universe protectively holding it close to their heart. I wanted it to also be a nod to that scene with the red star, where the star that turned red and formed cracks is the same one on The Universe's hands.

For the tree trunk body, I initially added that because of the many mentions of burnt sugar throughout the story, so like, plant! (Also the instances of Euphrasie saying that there's something rotting). But then while drawing it I also thought it'd be a nice way to symbolize a "world tree" in isat (like how myths have world trees!) and a nod to the Favour Tree. For the hollow stomach, it was a nod to the many mentions of Siffrin feeling hungry throughout the whole game despite having eaten Bonnie's snack, and the star in it is a nod to "You feel a tug on your stomach," with the star symbolizing Wish Craft. For the three halos, it initially didn't look like that at first, it was meant to intersect each other with stars dangling from it. But I decided to change that among a lot of other things which is what I'll be talking bout next!

The other two pair of hands wasn't actually part of my initial design! But I was looking at my first draft and thought: "Not creature enough..." and gave them one more pair (which is the bottom pair) but after I added that one, I realized that I practically had 2/3 of the rock paper scissors sign so I added another to symbolize the "paper" sign! (Basically... I added the bottom pair as just to show a star formation with it for the hollow stomach so as to not block the star floating in it). And well, it is The Universe so it'd make sense they have symbolism in regards to the main power system of the universe! The tree trunk body had changes too, it was meant to swirl one way instead of being split in two like that but then I the star shape at the bottom made it difficult for me to pull that off so I decided to roll with it and give them stars there too! The halos had the biggest change though, at first I wanted three intersecting ones, but then decided on only one large one but zooming out on it makes the top look a little empty so I gave them two more there.

The halos were also supposed to have a fully beaded veil of stars but while doing that, found it difficult to tell which is the front and which is the back with the angle I chose. Basically my initial plan for it to be a fully beaded veil is to make the top part seem like the leaves of a willow tree. Scrapped that idea though and decided to just make the front beaded, and instead of randomly putting beads on it, chose to put constellations instead (the beads at the very end had a last minute change before I went to do the colouring in that I discovered the song Sirius' Heart and wanted to add morse code for "I love you" on it). The morse code repeats twice (one both ends, with the middle just having stars). When I was thinking of what to put on the back, I decided on a "cloth" to act as a "scroll." It's meant to symbolize the scripts in which those with that belief follow as a nod to "The Universe leads, we follow."

But while doing the lines for it (figuring out how to draw it as flowing with the cursed angle I chose), I was hit with the idea of making it look like a person's face. It was meant to be like-- those silhouette tests about "What do you see first? A face or a vase?" thing but because of the angle-- it's always the angle-- it was harder to pull off so I decided to change the lower part of it to a butterfly as a nod to the sayings about butterfly effect and that a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane. It was also hard to pull off a butterfly shape on it too cuz the angle-- ...it made it look like a mermaid's tail in several past attempts... So yeah! That's basically how my thought process went with designing The Universe!

Finally done with my version of The Universe's design!

[acozysoulwrites]

Je vous aime {I love you}

Description: THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING IV"E EVER WRITTEN OMG ITS SO CUTE HELP ME!!! || Reader and Daryl are walking in the forest and she tries to teach him some French that she learned from high school. No warnings or spoilers!

𐂂

The low hanging fog left a damp feeling to the earth. If you were focused enough, you'd be able to smell the freshly fallen rain and newly upturned dirt. It was one of the only joys of being outside all the time these days. The rain.

She skips up to Daryl's side, realizing a little too late that he had kept walking after she got distracted by yet another newly blossoming flower.

"So" She breathes, "Did you know... that the trees can hear our thoughts?" She asks, almost glowing in the sunlight.

"What?" He frowns, "That sounds like one of your fairytales" He says grinning to himself, his head bowing a little.

"Who says I wasn't talking about one of em?" Her eyes flutter to him for a moment. "See? You thought I actually believed that" She frowns.

"I'm not stupid Daryl Dixon".

No, you're not, you're perfect. He was too scared of what she'd say if he told her how he really thought of her. Surly she knows he cares, he even tried learning wildflower names for her, writing them down or doodling them when he went out alone just to tell her a random detail about them once he got back home. It had made her smile that soft, shy, wonderful grin that made his heart throb and his stomach do a weird thing he worried wasn't normal the first few times.

“Mhm, I know that” he nods, a seriousness replacing the smile he held seconds ago he looks at her until she returns his gaze and like usual, their little dance continues.

Another moment passes, she admires the butterflies and he tracks the trail of a deer he nicked with an arrow a mile back. That was their thing. She was soft, vibrant, alive, and he stood back and watched it all, taking her in, soaking in the way she lived so that maybe one day he saw the world how she sees it, still beautiful.

“Hey Dixon?” She inquires, that shy yet bubbly smile draws itself back onto her face.

He chuckles from his nose. “Yeah bunny?”

He did not—

“Daryl! Don’t call me that” she shoots him a glare and pushes him playfully and he stumbles to the side.

“Watch it girl, yer gonna make me lose the trail” he breathes, realigning himself he finds the stag's wavering footsteps once again.

“Anyway!" Their eyes meet and for a second their pace slows. "...Did you know that the word forest in French is 'silva'?" She questions, adding on the British accent for a smoother pronunciation.

Daryl's nose crinkles and he nearly snorts. "What? Where'd ya hear that?" He asks, looking back down to the tracks for a second.

"In French class, senior year... it's one of the only classes I paid attention too."

That's something he didn't know about her... Something that made his heart skip. She spoke some French... cool.

"OOH!!" She exclaims so loudly that Daryl nearly drops his bow. "Daryl you should try to say something in French, I could teach you" She says, the corner of her mouth forming into a smile.

He wants to say no, because he knows he will mess up and sound like a fool, but how could he? Looking at her lingering smile that she held because of being in his presence.. and in nature made it very fucking difficult to decline. So he doesn't.

"Uh, sure. Go ahead then" He mumbles, his thumb working at the metal on his bow nervously.

"Okay... Say each word after me" She says and they both stop walking and turn to each other.

"Je"

Daryl's cheeks flush. "Je"

Her lips pursed in an attempt to hold back a giggle. "vous".

"Vous"

"aime"

He clears his throat "Aime"

"You did it! Oh and..." She moves closer to him and he watches, confused as she holds his hands in hers. "I love you too, Dixon" She whispers, dropping his hand she reaches up and tucks a bit of his hair behind his ear, eyes remaining locked for a moment.

His heart skips, he feels light and its the best feeling ever and he never wants it to end. This girl just tricked him into saying I love you when he couldn't even bring himself to tell her on his own. He was glad that by not denying it, she might know now.

"So, let's go get this deer and bring it back home so everyone has something to eat hm?" She chirps, her hands dropping from his face as she walks onward.

He chuckles. "Uhm, Bunny? It's this way" He mumbles pointing up the hill on their left where the tracks suddenly lead.

"Oh... right, I was testing you obviously" She shrugs, running to his side.

Daryl smiles, the only thing that mattered anymore was this damn girl and he wasn't gonna stop at anything to keep her by his side forever.

Tag List || please let me know if you’d like to be added!

|| @jodiereedus22 @browneyes528 <3 || enjoy!

[dreamii-yume]

HIS BIRTHDAY IS TOO FAR BUT I can't remember if I sent the ask for him already though sooooo your sinfic on him

You give him his gift but it really wasn't the one he really wanted, those sad eyes again as he tried to convince you to go back to his room, you did agree to doing it again why not now then? It is his birthday afterall and he can already feel that wanting feeling bubbling in his stomach yet again

(This is for Kalim btw)

Oh, you’re just in time, Darling LOL This ask must be referring to the last Kalim Sinfic I wrote, so— birthday crumbs…cRumBS?? Pls this is just pure brain rot post with no plans whatsoever (￣∀￣)

He’s smiling as always as he received your gift, just a humble item that looked like something he would like, or possibly something that you made yourself, whichever of the two applies. But even as he thanked you for your hard work and effort, you felt as though he wanted to say something else. Normal Kalim would have a bigger smile than that after all, active and would even give you a hug in return, a kiss if he’s feeling extra enthusiastic.

But he’s oddly quiet about it, averting his eyes and scratching the back of his head, it was clear to you that he looked quite unsatisfied. At first, you thought it may be because your gift might have been too underwhelming, he did received tons of gifts prior to yours after all. What makes your gift more special than anyone else’s? A tinge of insecurity bubbles up inside you, to the point that you weren’t able to keep your mouth shut about it.

You can’t really ask if he wanted something else since you’re on a strict budget. Kalim’s a good person, so he surely wouldn’t ask of anything that would deliberately put you in a tight spot, but living in such a lavish lifestyle had surely raised his taste for things. So, with that out of the way, you ended up apologizing instead. Sorry that you weren’t able to give him a fancier gift and such, it actually came out way more pathetic than you would’ve wanted…But to your surprise, Kalim frantically denied all your assumptions of him being unhappy with your gift.

Shaking his head and moving his hands in denial because no, it’s not like he’s disatisfied or anything! It’s just that he was embarrassed, he admits very honestly, he was embarrassed because there was something else that he was expecting to receive from you and ended disappointing himself when you never even mentioned it. He laughs it off for expecting something that he knew wouldn’t come true, realistically speaking, but he clearly looks like he still wanted that certain something.

But of course, you were confused on what it is, so you pestered him about it. If it’s something that you can do right now, then you’d gladly obliged to get it for him, just what is it exactly? Kalim stared at you for a moment, his cheeks were becoming redder and redder by the second, his fantasies are probably in shambles and hesitating as we speak. But he leaned closer to your ear to whisper, seemingly secretive and cautious about everyone else that could be listening nearby…Like Jamil just behind that pillar over there.

“Then, would you come to my room please?” Seems simple enough.

But following him towards his room slowly made you realize that this “something else” was not as simple as you predicted it to be at all…Well, it’s not like you actually expected it to be simple in the first place so…But the moment you entered the room, Kalim quickly closed the door and a tiny click of a lock was ensured, making you turn around to see him stepping towards you in restless manner. Before you could even contemplate on what he was trying to do, he had already cupped your cheeks towards him and stole a kiss right then and there. It went all too fast, like your world just stopped the moment he looked like he turned into a different hornii person. He did it so shamelessly too, eager to just press his lips against yours as if its the most natural thing to do once you locked the doors behind you.

The next thing you knew, he’s casually taking his coat off in the heat of the moment, his tounge pushing itself inside your mouth and all. It took a while, but the moment your brain finally managed to refreshed back into awareness, you panicked and tried pushing him off. You weren’t thinking it was something malicious, is Kalim even capable of doing anything malicious? But you were confused, so you tried to give yourself some space, but no, Kalim fought back by pushing you down on the bed…He did pull away after a while though, once you stopped struggling and just let him do what he wants, panting with saliva slick from both your tongues.

“S-Sorry…I just…can’t help it…” Kalim apologized, biting his lip in guilt as he hovered above you. His eyes were shining and concerned, making a quick observation to see if you’re hurt anywhere from how rash he acted. “I appreciate your gift, I’m happy that you took all those time, I really am…! But I…I need something else…A-A different kind of gift, you know…?”

He gulped. “Hey, do you remember what you said before, when we were stuck in the lockers? You said if I do good and keep your secret, we’ll be able to…do that again…” He said, leaning forward in desperation due to the amount of effort he had to exert in order to hold himself back until this moment. It was difficult to ignore him as his crooked smile was pleading for your sympathy, your touch, everything. “I-I did good, right? No one found out and I—I kept my promise too, so…”

You squeaked as his large hands began to slowly massaged your chest through your clothes before laying his head down on it like a pillow. His cheeks were dangerously red, and you worry if he’s okay from all that blood going in his head, but his expression seemed so tranquil in this position actually. He looked like a child, using his puppy eyes to draw you in, but seemed giddier than before. “(Y/N)…” He whispered with a gentle smile. “…We’re in bed now, so…Please?”

“…Do it with me again.” He lifted himself up, coming close to your face and you can just see how his eyes swirls between love and lust at the same time as he looked down at you, excitedly. “That’s…That’s the best gift that only you can give…”

Just give Kalim that Darling Pussy™ Come on. It’s not that hard.

[gothhisoka]

𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕 (𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖔 𝖝 𝕱𝖊𝖒𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗)

Title: Worship

Pairing: Chrollo x Femreader

Warnings: Smut, minors DNI, 18+, explicit content

Word Count: 3116 (I promise it is worth it. Oh god is it worth it)

Note: This is from my cross-published fanfic called Hunter University! It is available if you click here on Wattpad and AO3. My fanfic is x OC, but I upload x Reader versions of some chapters here on Tumblr. In short, it is a dark academia college AU with Chrollo as the main love interest.

Background: You are an artist in college and Chrollo is your fellow classmate. You just returned from a night out at a ball, drunk. Chrollo appeared at the door to your dorm room as he promised he would after you danced with one another at the ball.

Chrollo was surprised you looked so intact. He was sure you would come waddling to the door in pajamas as you did the last time he visited your room. Although it had been an hour since the ball ended, your makeup hadn't smudged a bit. Sure, it was faded, and your hair was significantly messier, but overall you looked as remarkable as you did at the start of the ball.

Your tired eyes widened with surprise at the sight of him. He was just as unimpaired as you were. Though now he was missing his suit jacket. His hair had become slightly disheveled, losing its styled waves. He still had on those signature silver rings and little cross earrings.

You attempt to soak in his sight with your intoxicated brain. He looked even more captivating in this particular state.

“Hi…” was all you could utter.

“Can I come in?”

You realized he was waiting for your permission. He didn’t need it.

You stepped aside to let him in and shut the door. Your room was the same as the last time he saw it, with your drawings hung on the walls and lights strung above the desk. Their small bulbs reflected against the night-stained window.

Upon shutting the door, the tension noticeably rose. It was dark in the small space and you were alone. Chrollo took his black dress shoes off near the door, placing them neatly side by side.

So he plans on staying. You tried to hide a smile. The hour of his visit was surely suspicious. There could be only one thing on his mind.

"So what're you doing here?" you spoke nonchalantly, acting like you didn't just fantasize about what could happen in the next few minutes.

Chrollo opened and shut his mouth, his response escaping him. He turned back to you and used his eyes to convey a craving far deeper than any words could admit.

"I said I would come to find you, didn't I?" He said lowly.

He had begun to walk around the room, absentmindedly stopping at a piece of art from time to time. You were too tired to care. The collection included nature scenes, portraits of people he didn't recognize, anatomy studies, and...

He paused, noticing a drawing on the wall behind the place where the door would otherwise be covering.

It was a full-body anatomy study of yourself. To be specific, it would fit further in the category of a glorified nude. It was on a miniature piece of parchment sketched in charcoal. It was obviously you: the woman had your (hair color) hair and distinct mouth and nose. The paper was hardly noticeable amongst the scatter of papers. You wouldn't see it unless you had a careful eye such as that of Chrollo.

You hardly noticed when he reached the particular spot on your wall. Your tiredness had waned significantly with Chrollo's entrance, but it still fogged your mind.

Additionally, you had long forgotten about your secret behind-the-door location for your drawings that were not meant to be seen by a single soul.

Chrollo attempted to hide a mysterious smile. He turned to you, “You draw wonderfully.”

“Thanks?” you reply, with more question in your tone than you hoped to show.

The heat in the room shot through the roof. You were sure if you checked the temperature it would be well above its normal chilly state. Perhaps it was the heat in your cheeks that was causing such a change.

“So…” he began.

“So,” you replied, trying to avoid eye contact. Please, just let it happen already.

You thought you had a good idea of why he had come to your room at one o'clock in the morning after a night of drinking and questionably close dancing. You couldn't be certain, though, because that was just how he was: unpredictable and exceedingly complicated.

You didn’t think him so complicated as to not be able to admit why he was at your room, though.

You waited as he thought about what to say next. This is taking too damn long.

Luckily, you prepared an excuse. You never failed to come ready for something you could expect. And this, the direction in which your encounter is headed, is inevitable. You had been rehearsing the line in your head for the duration of their conversation like reviewing terms for a test.

This was the only way to test if your assumptions are correct.

Blame it on the champagne if I am wrong. But I really hope I'm right.

You look directly at him. Time to be daring.

You took a breath and did your best to look directly at him, "Well, I actually do need some help. You see, this dress is quite difficult to take off by myself..."

Walking towards him, you place a hand at the hem of your dress. Your delicate fingers wrap around its lacy fabric.

Chrollo looked amused. He sizes you up, looking from your hand holding the hem of your dress to your unfazed expression. Unfazed, yet your cheeks were slowly turning a shade of scarlet. Nice try, Chrollo thought.

He gestured, "Turn around."

You obeyed. You desired something far more than the unzipping of your dress, but you were not presumptuous enough to say it. The expression on Chrollo's face told you that he was hoping for the same thing. He hid many emotions well, but being turned on wasn't one of them.

Chrollo brushed your hair away from the zipper, delicately placing it over your shoulder. His fingers purposefully grazed your back as he did this, causing your breath to hitch slightly.

His hands moved to the zipper, carefully pulling it down. It went past the clasp of your bra to your lower back. There was complete silence. Both of you were still. Are we still hesitating?

Chrollo was the first to move. He pulled you close to him so that your back was touching him. His left arm wrapped across your chest possessively, holding you in a tight embrace. With his other hand, he brushed your hair back from your ear. He smelt of sweet alcohol. Clearly, he was slightly drunk as well, for the next words he said couldn't be uttered by a sober man.

His whispered breath tickled your neck, husky with the threat of sleep, "I want you so bad right now."

You tensed with a sudden surge of desire. Your impression had been right. He let his strong arm remain around you, patiently waiting for a response.

You choked out your reply, "The feelings' mutual."

Under his touch, your streak of audacity from earlier dissolved into compliance. You suddenly wanted nothing more than to submit to his words.

With complete control, Chrollo took your shoulder and turned you around. Your dress was now loose on your shoulders. He placed his hands around your hips firmly. He looked at you under his thick eyelashes and slowly leaned in. The pressure was growing to an unbearable level, but he still wouldn't go all the way.

Then his lips crashed against yours with the force of weeks of pent-up desire. This kiss didn't speak of courtesy, of patience. This was raw passion. It was furious and messy. you preferred this to sensitive steps around the intensity they both craved.

"You must still be drunk," you said playfully as you both pulled away to catch your breath. You held your hand to Chrollo's chest. His heart was beating surprisingly fast.

"If I'm drunk, then what are you?" Chrollo said with a lazy smirk.

"I'm drunk as well."

Chrollo threaded his hands through your hair, pulling the long strands through his fingers. He pulled you in close again with his hand at the back of your head.

You opened your mouth to allow for Chrollo's tongue to slip in. He lessened the intensity and slowly moved his tongue against your own tongue and lips. You couldn't help but let out soft moans that made Chrollo weak at the knees.

He pushed you against the wall to deepen your kiss. Drawings fluttered down, becoming detached with the sudden movement. Including that drawing.

Chrollo pulled away, much to your shock. You were left panting with reddened cheeks. Please don't let this end now.

He displayed a shit-eating grin. Even with his ego, in the current moment, his expression made you melt. His face was inches from yours, looking down into your (eye color) eyes.

He shifted his gaze down to the floor and said, "Nice drawing you have there."

You finally noticed what he had been so smug about. Shit. Your face flushed ten different shades of scarlet.

Chrollo leaned in as he did before and murmured in your ear, "I wish I could see the real thing."

You failed to not show your excitement. The way your eyes lit up exposed you. "I can arrange that."

At that, Chrollo leaned in again, this time moving to your neck. His lips fluttered down your throat to your collarbone. You leaned your head back and tried to control your uneven breath.

His lips reached the edge of the neckline on your dress. He raised his eyes to meet yours, asking for permission to go further.

You let out a breathy, "Yes. Please."

What you wanted to say was, Please, take me now.

It could be too soon for him. But based on how this was going, you expected it was leading to something more. Whatever that was, you wished you could know right now. The growing tension between your thighs began to ache.

Chrollo slipped his hand across your skin to the hemline of your dress, moving it completely off of your shoulder and down your arms. Your black see-through bra was now in full view. Your nipples grew hard at the sudden exposure.

At least I went with my fancy bra. You suddenly grew very shy. The last time you went even this far was years ago.

He evidently liked the lingerie for his hands immediately traveled to your breast to caress it as he continued to kiss you.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered against your neck. Your heart fluttered at his words.

Chrollo then moved his lips progressively further down as he slipped your dress off of your body. Soon your underwear came into view, then your feet. He helped your step out of the dress.

"Your turn," you said, unbuttoning his shirt. All the while he continued to distractingly leave lazy kisses upon your face, one on your forehead, your cheek, your lips.

After an agonizingly long time, you pulled off his shirt. Fuck.

You knew he would be defined. But him, this boy standing in front of you, resembled more of a greek statue than an actual human. It looked like his body had been sculpted by the finest stone on earth. He had a six-pack, defined pectoral muscles, and prominent collarbones. His biceps flexed as he leaned his hand against the wall, bracing himself. It was you who needed to brace yourself. Your breath hitched again at the sight of him.

You ran a hand up his firm body as you planted your lips upon his once again. This time Chrollo put his hands beneath your thighs, his fingers pressing into your soft skin. He picked you up easily.

You wrapped your legs around him as he brought you to the bed, kissing him all the while.

He dropped you down gently, releasing his grip off of your thighs. You took this time to look up at him and admire the beauty of his aroused state. He had a dangerous and wild look, with tousled hair and a constant smile playing at his lips. His heavy-lidded eyes were lazily focused upon you.

You continued to make out on the bed, its white silk sheets creating an angelic halo around you. Chrollo couldn't stand looking at you like this, underneath him. It was far too much power for one man to hold.

You reached to your back to undo the clasp of your bra. You threw it to the ground. Chrollo immediately began to touch your naked tits in a way that made you want to dissolve. He moved in circles around your nipples first, watching as they grew harder under his expert touch. Then he moved his mouth to the sensitive area, playing with you and biting slightly. You audibly moaned at the gesture. Damn the neighbors.

Chrollo sensed your desire to take it further. He looked up, grey eyes filled with lust, "Y/n...let me pleasure you."

It wasn't the suggestion you were expecting, but you were satisfied nonetheless. You didn't care about anything in the world besides what he could do to you at this moment, whatever it may be.

"If you say my name like that you can do anything you want to me," you said breathily. It was exactly what he needed to hear.

Chrollo smirked and moved to take off your soaking underwear. Under his pants, his dick grew visibly harder. He threw the underwear onto the floor.

Gently placing his finger at your throbbing core, he began to stroke. Upon receiving his touch your back arched involuntarily. You were beyond eager.

"Fuck... Chrollo..."

This served as encouragement for him to insert his finger deeper into you, curling it slightly. It hit your g-spot repeatedly, eliciting ungodly sounds from you.

As he was doing this, he slowly positioned himself on top of you, grabbing onto the bed frame with his spare hand. He just wanted to look at your face as you opened your mouth in delight.

He inserted one more finger which caused your arousal to heighten. God, he really knows how to do this.

Just as you felt the heat in your core escalating, he slid his finger out. You whimpered in protest.

Chrollo looked down at you with a wicked smile. "Beg for it."

Oh fuck.

You gladly would. It was more your instincts speaking than any coherent thought.

"Please... Chrollo..." you said between breaths.

You wanted to not only plead for him, you wanted to worship him.

"More."

This is what you had been missing out on all those weeks. And oh god, did you eat it up.

"FUCK please do that again," you exclaimed.

It was enough to convince him. Chrollo moved his face towards your slickened pussy.

Is he about to...

He pushed his hair back out of his face with his clean hand, his forehead tattoo revealed. For only a second, he raised his eyes to gaze into yours. You fell for him all over again at that simple glance.

Then he entered you. His tongue made you want to weep. He devoured your insides, soaking up the salty juices. You couldn't help but hold his head, pulling it closer to your body. You ran your hand through his soft black hair. There was so much heat between them that you were both perspiring.

You began to shudder." I'm going to... oh... fuck," you gasped.

You felt the sweet release of cum spread below you onto the sheets and Chrollo himself. You felt self-conscious for a moment. That is until Chrollo began to lick up your juices. He ran his tongue up your soft thighs.

"You taste so fucking good, darling."

Chrollo looked at you like he had fallen all over again as well. You grinned back at him. Your cheeks grew even redder, if possible. Your heart screamed to continue but you were too physically exhausted to move. Still, wouldn't Chrollo want his turn?

You laid there, naked and panting on the silk sheets. Chrollo flopped next to you, unaffected beside his flushed cheeks and a wide grin.

The lights were still low in the little room. Looking out the window, you saw that the sun had yet to rise. This was a positive fact because the only thing you needed to do now was to sleep. And preferably, cuddling with the boy next to you. You hoped he would stay. It was more than hope, really. Your body couldn't spend any more time away from him after that.

Damn. He was good. He was really, really fucking good.

He knew his way with words, to begin with. He said exactly what needed to be said to escalate your arousal. You wanted to worship those fingers, the way he so expertly felt around you like he had memorized a map. And his tongue was even more worthy of revere.

You flipped over to your elbows. Your breasts brushed against the bedding, noticeably making Chrollo gulp. You boldly reached to touch the front of his pants.

"You don't want a turn?" you smirked.

"This was more than enough for me."

He stared into your eyes as if he was calculating a complex math problem rather than looking at the person who just received the best head of their life.

You yawned, despite yourself. Your body ached with all the action of the night.

"Go to bed, sweetheart. I'll be here."

Those were the last words you heard before your eyes drifted shut. Exhaustion stilled your naked body. Chrollo reached over you to turn off the bedside lamp.

He wasn't nearly as tired. He could've gone for a couple more rounds, perhaps take it a step further if you so desired. But he knew you needed the sleep. Most of your makeup had rubbed off, displaying the dark circles under your eyes.

He slipped off his pants and threw them onto the floor with the rest of the clothes. He found the soft sheets and pulled them across you and himself. The bed was small but cozy. His strong chest was flush against your back.

Your (hair color) hair smelt of a summer day, like sunlight and wildflowers. He took this opportunity to feel up the rest of your glorious body. He ran his hand lightly from your shoulder to your hips, to your thighs. All of it was angelic to him.

He moved you closer with his arm, protectively wrapping it across your front. Somehow holding you like this felt far more intimate than any sexual activity. The way the moonlight graced your skin was majestic.

How had he fallen so hard, so fast? It was unlike him to act with such recklessness.

Through it all, he still had his mind. you had no way to tell the extent of his feelings. He made sure of this. His libido could act one way, that was clear from tonight. But he was an expert at controlling his outward emotions. You would never know. If you did, it would be over for him. All the planning will be for naught.

He closed his eyes before he could fall upon any more worries. He had already pondered the issue for many sleepless nights.

He fell into a dreamless slumber with you safe in his arms. You both slept soundly until the sun peeked through the window.

[vikab]

I didn't want to clog my post caption longer but I wanted to put additional notes about my process etc

also: [youtube mirror]

So yeah exactly 2 weeks ago, I was on a drive back home from a camping trip and while I was offline I couldnt stream any music, I decided to give some old songs a listen by Ling tosite sigure, my favorite band of all time. It's been a while, I wasn't too fond of their recent releases so I haven't listened to my favorites songs by them for a while.

My favorite LTS tracks btw...

Of course then make up syndrome song came on. I'mperfect album by LTS is how I discovered them (through Psycho Pass OP song Abnormalize) and I love that album a lot, then I started thinking about animating a music video - as one does when listening to something and imagining your favorite characters to the song. Happens often, BUT I usually never act upon it.

I know animation is a lot of work, I didn't study animation at all - I have some random animation experiences but they're not a lot. I know how use Premiere Pro and After Effects, but thats it. I didn't know how to use the Clip Studio Paint animation feature. But I had just recently finished reading ORV... and was obsessed. The themes, the characters, Kim Dokja. I couldn't stop thinking about how good the song is, and how much I wanted to animate some parts of the song (particularly main chorus and some parts towards the end).

I began thinking of a storyboard. Didn't actually end up drawing out, I kept the whole idea in my head (I did write out some text details into my notes but that's it). Next 2 hours in the car I've spent obsessively replaying the song and imagining animation parts. I wanted... a lot of details and animation on that lol. More TV anime style, like an anime opening, looking legit 😅 But as I edited the song into short version (no way I would have finished this if I had done the full song) I opened after effects and started setting up my timeline. I broke it down into 13 segments and realized... oh boy. That's a lot 😅 Maybe I would just stick my own artstyle and do my best.

Through week 1 I began working on scenes I had more clear in my head and knew what specific effects I need. But still a lot of "after effects [effect i was thinking of]" in my google search bar, I havent used AE in quite some time... I downloaded few free plugins and templates but it was mostly a boil effect and chromatic aberration... some AE plugins are so expensive!!

Work week was busy but I utilized my time well. Then by the weekend I went crazy and got sooo many drawings done. They're all quite quick, I tried spending less than an hour on each, but still had to do like 5 redraws on some of them because I was not happy with some cuts. Running animation cycle at the end was most insane work I did because at first I was like "surely this cant be hard" spoiler alert: it was hard. I drew 8 frames for running and realized it was very... slow running effect. So I cut it into 4 frames, reducing my workload since I had to detail the running silhouette into HSY and YJH. yay?

anyway..... this was a lot of work. Week 2 I finally started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I knew my limits, I hibernate A LOT on drawing regular illustrations throughout the year, how am I supposed to animate a whole video. So I knew I had to push myself to finish by end of the week otherwise I will be too tired to ever finish it. I did become a bit frustrated with my work, I had left the most difficult parts for last, and I was worried I am not doing my best work. But I really wanted to finish this, actually finish impulsive desire to make animated music video to media I'm obsessed about. It's hard for me to put into words how well ORV did what it did, so I can only hope to convey my emotions thru my art.

Uhmmm that's it!! Hope you enjoyed. I struggle with confidence about my work so I was very surprised when my KDJ drawings popped off on here. I wasn't even done with the novel but somehow I hit a nail on the head I guess. I dont expect this to pop off at all tbh, im not good fighting the online algorithm. This was a passion project through and through, but I also feel mega cringe about it 🙈 This project ended up being a lot of drawings.. so many assets. My project file was messy, and my laptop was struggling with some effects. So when I rendered video last night for over an hour, I could finally view the video in proper HD definition (my AE viewport is Quarter quality) I noticed bunch of timing mistakes and had to fix it... then set to render the video while I sleep 🙈 thankfully when I woke up in the morning I havent spotted mistakes and decided yipeee im freeeeee!!!

(free me from orv brainrot)

song: make up syndrome - Ling tosite sigure (edited into shorter version)

[nightshade-minho]

-Sleep? What’s that?-

Warnings: unprotected sex, degradation, master kink, praise, breeding kink, mentions of cheating, light exhibitionism, roommates au. jisung makes an appearance.

Word Count: 1.7k

Seungmin couldn't take one more second of this torture.

This was the fourth consecutive night where he lay awake, your moans gracing his ears and leaving him with blue balls.

It wasn't like you were being very loud...the walls were a little too thin in this apartment ever since he'd moved in. Even his headphones couldn't quite mask the sound of your moans right. He tossed and turned in bed, the fact that this was going to be yet another sleepless night making him grumble in frustration.

Usually, after you masturbated, you'd turn right around and go to sleep. However, a room away, Seungmin found it terribly difficult to fall asleep...the raging boner he was usually left with made sure of that. In the mornings, he'd always consider bringing it up...he prided himself in his straightforwardness, but somehow when it came to you, all that was thrown out of the window.

It didn't help that you looked especially cute in the mornings...all messy hair and blushy cheeks, clad in your soft pyjamas and bunny slippers.

He sighed, covering his ears. At that very moment, you let out a whimper that sounded so heavenly, that Seungmin just couldn't take it anymore.

He threw the covers off, standing up and walking over to your room quickly.

He threw the door open. You screamed as you scrambled to cover yourself with the blankets, pulling your fingers out of your pussy.

"Seungmin, what the fu-"

"Shhh." He said irritably. "It's 2:30. Let's not wake all the neighbours up."

You sputtered in disbelief, clearing your throat. "I...um, please don't barge into my room like that...you woke me up so suddenl-"

"Cut the bullshit. I know what you're doing in here, Y/n. In fact, I've known for the past four days. Either stop, or choose another time to do it. One that doesn't prevent me from getting my valuable hours of sleep."

"I..." your cheeks heated up, as you adjusted the covers. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You're like a 13 year old girl who discovered how to touch herself for the first time. It's all you've been doing."

You felt the embarrassment heat up your cheeks as you finally looked up at him.

Wait.

Your eyes landed on the bulge in his sweatpants, making you let out a loud gasp. Was that a boner?

Seungmin flinched at the sound, following your gaze to his pants. He rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic about it. When you're forced to be exposed to someone's moans for hours on end, this is what happens."

You rubbed at your flushed cheeks, unable to believe that this was actually happening.

Somehow, though...the embarrassment and humiliation you were feeling was slowly drifting into arousal as he continued glaring at you. You opened your mouth and then closed it, wondering if you should just say it.

"What? Spit it out."

You remained silent. Slowly you moved the blankets off of you, Seungmin raising an eyebrow as you did so.

"Wow. You've gotten bold."

His eyes slowly travelled from your face to your soaking pussy, bared to him. Unable to hide the small groan under his breath, Seungmin decided to throw all caution to the wind as he climbed onto the bed.

"What do you want, hm, princess? Don't you think this is a little too slutty, even for you?" He chuckled. As another second of silence passed, Seungmin's smile slowly disappeared.

"I can't read your mind, slut. Speak up, or I'll make sure you regret it."

Your eyes widened. "Um, I'm sorry. I...I want you."

"You do, huh? How exactly do you want me?"

"In any way. Please, I just feel so sexually frustrated and I haven't had a good orgasm in months." You whine, pouting at him.

"Fine. All you want is an orgasm, right? I'll help you get yourself off. Acting like a fucking bitch in heat." He mumbled under his breath, moving further up your bed before grabbing you, pulling you onto his lap.

You looked down at him, the arousal making your whole body feel hot. You couldn't believe you were going to fuck your roommate. It felt a little wrong, but to be honest, you didn't really care.

His eyes slowly travelled from your face to your pussy, narrowing as he felt your wetness soak through the material of his sweatpants.

"Fuck, you're a little whore, aren't you?"

You sighed softly as he grabbed your hips, forcing you to grind down on him. He groaned under his breath at the feeling, lifting you up slightly to pull down his sweatpants.

You gulped as you noticed he wasn't wearing any underwear, letting out a small squeal as he pulled you down, letting the head of his cock brush up against your folds.

"We don't even need any foreplay, do we? That little wet cunt is dripping and ready for my cock~"

You nodded desperately, swallowing as he smirked, his grip on your waist becoming rougher as he slammed you down onto him suddenly, a guttural moan escaping you at the action.

The sudden intrusion rendered you speechless as you gripped his shoulders, your eyes clenching shut. His gaze softened a little as he observed your expression.

"Aww, looks like the little baby isn't used to being stuffed with cock like this? That's okay, darling." His grip on you tightened as he stood up suddenly, taking you over to your window and pressing you up against it. "From now on, you're my little whore and I'm going to teach you just how to be a good cocksleeve for your master, okay?"

Your eyes rolled back in your head as he started thrusting into you, lips attaching to your neck. The moonlight washing over his face made him look so ethereal. He couldn't possibly be human. As his thrusts grew sharper, you were struggling to keep your eyes open, but you knew you had to. You wished you could stare at his beautiful face forever.

"Can't speak, darling?" He cooed, lips trailing down from your neck to your collarbone. He pulled down a strand of your top and started marking you up, leaving soon-to-be bruises all over your chest.

"That's alright. I know I'm fucking you dumb." He pouted at you, fake sympathy filling his face. "It's alright."

He looked down at the spot where you were connected, the sight of your pussy sucking in his cock drawing a grunt out of him. "Fuck...you're a good girl, aren't you? Taking in my cock so well."

The validation was all you craved. You mewled softly, your eyes big and needy as you clenched around his length, letting him know you were close. His hips stuttered as he realized he was nearing his high.

Seungmin narrowed his eyes suddenly as he looked past you. He brought his hand up to grab your cheek, moving it to the side and forcing you to look outside.

"Isn't that the dude you were seeing? Why's he here?"

Your eyes widened as you saw the figure holding a bouquet in his hands, dawdling about in front of your building. Jisung.

"Fuck- I broke up with him ages ago when he cheated on me. Why's he- oh fuck, Seungmin, right there-"

"Shh." He placed a finger on your mouth to silence you. "I'm your master now, baby. And listen to me..." He frowned as he recalled all the times Jisung had been a dick to you, cheating on you multiple times and being a general ass. Yet you always went back to him, falling for his feeble apologies. Not this time. Seungmin was tired of watching from the sidelines. He couldn't let you get your heart broken again.

"...you're not getting back together with him. You need to show this dick that you're over him, once and for all." He growled, watching as the man below entered the building.

"Seu- I mean, M-master..." You whined as he hit your sweet spot repeatedly. " We should stop- he's going to be here any second now- fuck!" You cried out as his cock relentlessly abused your pussy, making you moan incoherently.

Seungmin's ears perked up as he heard the doorbell ring, a smirk growing on his face. "Ah, finally. Now baby, what do you say to getting rid of that bastard once and for all?"

You couldn't respond, letting out a breathless whimper as Seungmin peeled you away from the window, still fucking up into you as he walked through your apartment to the front door. You didn't have the strength to protest anymore, your face buried in his shoulder as your ears registered the sound of him opening the door.

Seungmin found himself relishing the pure shock on Jisung's face. Fuck, he wanted to take a picture of his expression. This was what the asshole deserved.

"Sorry, Han. Get it through your thick-headed skull- she deserves better than you."

Seungmin aimed a particularly rough thrust right at your sweet spot at that very moment, and you keened, your orgasm washing over you so suddenly and solidly, you were almost blown away. The man let out a groan at the feeling of your walls clenching around him, his own high approaching rapidly.

"I think it's safe to say her taste in men has evolved." Seungmin said apologetically, slamming the door on Jisung's shell shocked face.

He pressed you up against the door, pounding into you as he chased his orgasm.

"Ah...I'm going to cum in you sweetheart- fuck, my good little princess, aren't you?"

You nodded slightly, your body weak. You could barely formulate a thought, let alone a sentence as Seungmin rammed into you, his cock feeling like heaven itself.

"That's right. And you'll always be my baby, my angel...shit- I’m going to fill you up with my cum. Maybe you’ll have my babies. How does that sound?" Seungmin hissed as he stared at your fucked out face, falling over the edge as he came, painting your walls white.

He collapsed against you, slowly dragging the two of you down to the floor in exhaustion.

You opened your mouth, a million words resting on the tip of your tongue as you stared at Seungmin, his breathing rough as he came down from his high. His fingers brushed against your entrance as he pulled out, pushing his cum back into you. “Now, now. Wouldn’t want to waste any of it...” He mumbled, lifting his finger to your mouth for you to suck. His gaze was soft as he gathered you close to him, pressing a kiss to your cheek as he shushed you.

"You don't have to talk now, baby, it's fine." He stood up shakily, taking you to his room and laying you on the bed. He got in with you and spooned you, kissing the crook of your neck.

"You're mine, from now on." He whispered, stroking your skin as he nuzzled closer.

"Only mine."

[dannyphantomtransfemau]

Grave layers of misunderstandings chapter 3

Danny turned around, he wanted to think of a lie about his identity but he decided it would be rather hard to keep track of 3 secrets all at once, plus jazz was part of the advanced psychological classes, so she might be able to help him and tucker deal with their current predicament. "Yeah… It's me, i have a lot of explaining to do, meet me at Sam's house in about an hour, I'll explain everything" Danny said exhaustively. Jazz stared at Danny "why an hour?" just then lanced walked up, "because she has detention along with miss Manson here", jazz frowned at Danny "ok, an hour and there better be a very good explanation on why you got detention". Jazz yelled at Danny not unkindly as she was walking away, she didn't want to accidentally out Danny's second secret, she knew about his life as Danny phantom but she didn't know of any ghost that could do this to her brother, tucker ran to catch up to her since they were walking away.

"Now, it's time you do your time" lancer stated harshly. They got to the detention room, which was really just lancers classroom, dash and Paulina were sitting in the back and Valerie was sitting in the front at a separate long desk by lancers looking at her phone, dash again looked to be drawing something, not the ghost kid this time, Danny couldn't really see what it was but from dash's hand movements it didn't seem to be in a human shape, Paulina was in the back filing her fingernails humming the tune “Habanera” lancer pointed to a desk “sit down and be quiet” he ordered, “what's the new kid in for?” Valerie asked. “She made another student miss most of her class”.

That was a good enough of an explanation for Valerie as any, Danny sat next to Paulina this time, “what are you in for?” Danny whispered to Paulina, “a kid was being bi-phobic to me, so I put them in their place, then lancer showed up in the aftermath, it's not like I punched the kid or anything i just threatened to ruin their social status if they ever did it again, but apparently that's considered a form of bullying, I tried to explain to Lancer what happened but he didn't want to hear it, he never does.”

Danny looked surprised “wait your bi?” Paulina stared at Danny, “really that's all you got out of that story?” Danny shook his head “no, so what did the kid say that was bi-phobic?” Paulina looked at her nails to inspect the job she was doing “you know the usual, that I'm selfish and that i only care about the attention, which is untrue. I care about family and friends, not so much about what others think of me” it was at that point lancer marched over “what do you two not understand about being quiet? do i need to separate you?” “no” Danny hadn't realized his voice had raised while talking to Paulina.

He went back to whispering “let me guess it was Mr.personality over there who said it, right?” Danny pointed at dash. “No, it was your cousin’s friend sam, but they apologized after they realized they were being a jerk so we are back on good or at least normal terms, don't be too hard on them, everybody makes mistakes.” Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing sam saying something Bi-phobic, it just didn't seem like her to say such a thing, but he was glad sam learned her lesson.

Danny then felt an urge he was dreading he would have for the whole day, he knew he shouldn't hold it, he once overheard a conversation between his mother and his sister about how to avoid UTIs and other unpleasant things. He never thought he would have to put that information to use, also he thanked his lucky stars that he took health class so he could understand what the abbreviation meant, “Mr.Lancer, i need to use the restroom is it alright if I go?”

Lancer made a grunt that could be taken as a go-ahead, Valerie followed after “why are you following me?” Danny asked walking to the restroom, Valerie sighed, “it's my job to make sure you go where you say your going, come on let's go, so we can get back” Danny finally reached the restroom, he only caught a glimpse of himself before, he was preoccupied with all the stuff he needed to do, this time he got a full view, and to his surprise he was actually pretty happy with what he was seeing, to him it was like a curtain had been lifted, like something inside of him finally broke free.

A door had been opened he could not close, Danny then rushed into the stall, “oh god, i can't do this, im...im supposed to be a boy, I'm not supposed to like being a girl” Danny began to panic he felt his breath quicken, he felt like the walls of the stalls were closing in on him, he slid his back against the wall of the stall and sat down and folded his arms in front of his chest,” what the hell am I doing?” “what am I going to tell my family?”, what am I going to tell tucker?”, his mind was racing with these sorts of questions and his stomach was flipping inside him.

Then Danny heard a knock “hey new kid, are you ok in there?” Danny gathered what little breath he had “no,” he said in a rather meek voice that surprised himself. ‘Want to tell me what's wrong, i might be able to help. No, no you cant Danny thought, but what harm could it do, “i...wasn't, wasn't born a girl” there was silence for a moment. “There's nothing wrong with that, there are plenty of people who will tell you so, but you seem rather, um developed for someone just starting their transition.”

Danny sighed “no, i mean this afternoon I was a boy, then I heard a strange voice and then I wasn't” another moment of silence, “what did this voice sound like?” Valerie asked. “it was a girl's voice, but it had a foreign accent to it, one i cant place”Danny explained. Desiree Valerie thought to herself. “Don't worry kid, I'll hunt down this ghost and get her to change you and whoever else she messed with back” “no!” Danny yelled. “No?... don't you want to be put back to norm...ooooh” Valerie realized what was going on then, “kid what's your name? and you can use a made-up one if you want as well. Something new” another pause “Danielle, i think that's going to be my new name, or at least a placeholder” Valerie then knocked on the stall, “may I come in Danielle?”

Danielle opened the stall, while still sitting, “come on, let me help you up ''ok, do you want to use she/her pronouns from now on?” Danielle nodded, “yeah that would be nice she said quietly, “ok, I'm going to tell lancer your not feeling well and should be sent home, do you have anyone you can call to give you a ride, and can i use the right name and pronouns for you while talking to them?” Danielle nodded her head, “my sister, she just got her driver's license, here's her number”.

Valerie dialed the number “Jazz... Yeah, it's me, i have your sister here… yeah sister.. Your gonna need to come and get her… yeah her, look i’m sure she will explain everything to you and i think she’s going to need a lot of support from you and her friends…. Well I'm glad to hear that” Valerie smiled, “your gonna be fine, your sister seems really nice, also I'm going to leave and tell lancer your not coming back and please use the restroom while i’m gone, I know this is probably difficult for you since your new to it and everything will be a shock, but I'm pretty sure that will wear off in time” Valerie then left. Danielle finished up and walked outside and Jazz was waiting for her in their parent's car, “hey sis, get in” Danielle got into the backseat she knew that sitting in the front seat made jazz nervous.

“You… you don't have to tell me anything yet, you can tell me in your own time” jazz said from the front seat “thanks Jazz for understanding” Danielle knew she still needed to find Desiree for tucker just because she was happy this way did not mean he was, Jazz drove to Sam’s house and before opening the door, “don't worry ill think of a lie for now, for mom and dad” and with that Danielle went inside.

[zombiiesque]

Nocturne Alchemy Valentine Mini-Reviews

Originally published 3/8/2019

Hey, y'all. I know it's cutting it close to when this collection goes down, so I want to make sure these reviews go up today. They've extended the deadline until Monday, so if something sounds appealing to you, there's still a little time!

I recently did a little swap for Candied Egyptian Musk, and my swap mate kindly sent along a few decants from the current update for me to try out as well. And as an extra, I've got my bottle of Vanilla Wedding Cake that I haven't yet reviewed. I got my swap on Monday, and they definitely needed a little rest, so I wanted to give them enough time to recover to be able to properly review them.

So let's jump right to the full bottle, from the Candied line. I was really interested in these, they honestly all sounded very appealing, but I was most interested in the two musks, Candied Crimson, and Candied Egyptian Musk. And I was having a difficult time narrowing it down, so this little swap took the indecision away for me! Big thanks to Hannah! When I first got them, I am just like everyone else, I cannot resist for the life of me opening them straight away and sniffing. Okay, let me be totally honest, even swiping a bit on for quick testing. I could smell in the bottle that Candied Egyptian Musk was gorgeous, really appealing, but when I went to test it, it was pretty travel shocked. Here's a perfect example of why we shouldn't toss these into the nope pile the day you get them, because on my skin, it turned pretty powdery, and I couldn't get a handle on it - smelled nothing like the bottle. Luckily, I've learned not to give up on these out of hand, because even on day two it was powdery. I set it aside, and tried to be patient. Wednesday night though I put on my sweater that I wear when it's chilly, and caught a whiff of something pretty glorious on the cuff of my sleeve. I realized it was Candied Egyptian Musk, and I was SO glad to get an idea of what it would properly smell like with rest! Eeee! (SO. MANY. EXCLAMATION. POINTS. Sorry, y'all. I'll try to restrain myself.) Ahahaha, moving on. Here's the Candied base notes: Victorian-style Sugar-Candied perfumes infused with Lime Zest, aged Orange slices, Raspberry Essence, Pear Essence, Sugar Accord, Lemon Zest, Vanilla Extract, Pink Sugar, Bourbon Vanille Absolute, Crystalline Absolute and Vanilla Bean. Using Absolute versions from the Studio Limited Originals. Candied Egyptian Musk: Candied Accord with Egyptian Musk Absolute. So in the bottle, I get a big waft of citrus - yum! I love their citrus notes. Very realistic. A little sugary note floats along with it, and at the base, their Egyptian Musk. Wet on my skin, the fruits are accented by a touch of vanilla and sugar, I'm definitely getting sugar rimmed fruit, with a little creaminess. The Egyptian Musk comes out to play a few minutes in. I love the Studio Limited scent, it's a soft, beautiful, clean, tranquil musk that floats fairly close to the skin, but obvious enough that I get a lot of compliments from people when I'm wearing it. Here, it's really beautifully paired with the candied fruit. I am loving where this is heading! Once this is fully settled into my skin, this isn't a strong scent. It lasts a long time for me, I definitely get a full day's wear from it, but it stays about as close to the skin as the SL does - which is soft, for sure, but it leaves a sort of trailing scent, not as personal of a skin scent as for instance Bastet Amber. The fruits are pretty melded with the sugar and vanillas, I don't get a clear reading on what the fruits are now, but they're a lovely, obviously juicy mix of fruit, sweetened with sugar and "cream". I wasn't sure how these would all play together with the accenting notes, but the Candied accord is a lovely accent to Egyptian Musk, neither overwhelms the other. Instead, they give you a really beautiful, different tone to a familiar scent. I can see this being something I reach for quite a bit in the warmer half of the year.

Candied Crimson: Victorian-style Sugar-Candied perfumes infused with Lime Zest, aged Orange slices, Raspberry Essence, Pear Essence, Sugar Accord, Lemon Zest, Vanilla Extract, Pink Sugar, Bourbon Vanille Absolute, Crystalline Absolute and Vanilla Bean. Using Absolute versions from the Studio Limited Originals. Candied Accord with Crimson Egyptian Musk Absolute. I probably love Crimson as much as I love Egyptian Musk. It's somewhat stronger than its sister, but not as forward as Kashmir, their other red musk. Crimson is a red musk, and the oil is tinted a pale, almost watery red. I finally picked up a bottle last January after realizing I absolutely loved it in blends, and I would probably really enjoy having the single accord on hand - and I do. Musks are something NA does very well, and this one is no exception. If you're looking for something a little less sexy and forward, say, than Kashmir, possibly more appropriate for day wear, I would recommend it. Again, this is lovely paired with the Candied accord! I get a burst of citrus when I open the vial, and Crimson following quickly behind. As with Candied Egyptian Musk, Candied Crimson opens on the skin with the fruits - I should mention that you get a real meld of fruits on the skin, not just the citrus. It's almost like a fruit bowl, if that makes sense, with a little sugar and cream. The Crimson pairs really well right away with this. If you've ever tried Green Tea Crismson, it's a little like that, if you added Sugarcube - but obviously more fruity/creamy, with no tea. Crimson adds a bright, smooth, clean, almost softly purring musk with the candied fruit. With long drydown, the two aspects complement each other, neither one overpowering the other. This lasted a good full day on me as well.

These two are both so good, I kind of wish I'd been able to try all of them!

Teak & Sandalwood: Indonesian Teak Absolute, Santalum Absolute, Australian Sandalwood, Spices of Pink Pepper and Nutmeg, Ember Vanilla Cream, Butter accord, Caramel Accord, French Vanilla Bean Absolute, Vanilla Milk accord, Vanilla Orchid, Crystalline Absolute and Vanilla Sugar. Okay, this was the other sample that came along with my swap. I absolutely love the Bastet's Ice Cream accord, but these are a little different from previous incarnations - they're wood, spices, and cream. I was really curious what these would be like. I tried this on my skin, and found it to read pretty masculine. I love pepper, as well as teak and sandalwood, and I can usually pull off scents that run in the middle. I know it's just my skin, but on me, though, I tried it and it read pretty strongly towards the other way, so I decided to try this on my fiance, Jody. And oh, wow - it's absolutely mesmerizing. At first, it's a little sweet on him, which made him nervous. I'm not sure if y'all have read some of my early entries, but Jody is pretty firmly in the "I hate vanilla" camp, which is really, really rare. He does love the more resinous ones, like Ember Vanilla or OP Pakhet, though, so I made him wait a bit before darting to wash his wrists. Hah! It settled very quickly on him, and it's dead on intoxicating. The teak and sandalwood blend so beautifully with the peppers and ice cream accord, the strong wood balances with the sweetness to just envelope the senses. It's really sexy. I mean, I drool now every time he's put it on - we had errands to run both yesterday and today and I could smell him all day long. It kept my attention. The pepper adds a great little kick in the background, too.

Vanilla Wedding Cake: Vanilla White Cake accord, Sweet Almond Elixir, Sugar Cream, Bastet’s Ice Cream Absolute and Crystalline Absolute. I usually don't go for more foodie scents, but Bastet has really started to draw me in, just as she's done with florals. This is no exception! And it pairs well with so, so many scents. I got this last year, so mine's had plenty of time to age. This one is pretty straight forward for me, but oh, is it good. The white cake is just...yummy. Smells just like a rich, moist white cake, not too dense, not too dry. I don't get a lot of the almond on my skin, and there's a lovely, white, slightly buttery frosting. Creamy. The almond is an accent, and it's perfect here. It's actually kind of uncanny how well this is created as a perfume, it's absolutely perfectly balanced, and I can describe it as I would actually eating a slice of wedding cake. I get a long wear time from this - it will go on for a good ten hours. It's not as powerful as my well-beloved resins, but I would give this a medium throw. I wanted to see how a little more almond would smell, so I paired this with Speckle Bunny, and I am here to tell you it was a pretty amazing layering combination. I've also done it with Egyptian Peach Blossom, Coconut Milk, Pteranodon (because I have to try layering that with everything, goodness) and even Camarasaurus, which I have to say is so, so gorgeous. Honestly, I don't think, if you wanted to try it with other scents, there's much it wouldn't go with - I did it with a coffee scent, and with White Tea Vanilla - it's just extremely versatile.

I just remembered I have a partial of Bastet's Ice Cream: Tibetan Crystalline. Santalum Absolute, Crystalline Absolute, Nag Champa Accord (Halmardi Resin, Incense, Sandalwood, Patchouli, Plumeria essence), Vanilla Crystalline Cream, Butter accord, Caramel Accord, French Vanilla Bean Absolute, Vanilla Milk accord, Vanilla Orchid, Japanese Vanille Incense accord, Crystalline Absolute and Vanilla Sugar *different NG accord for this blend than the Studio Limited Original. I don't have enough room on my skin right now to give this a proper testing and evaluation for a full review, but very quickly, this is definitely different than the SL Tibetan Crystalline. It's gorgeous, and really eye-rolling good. The creaminess of the ice cream accord is just so smooth with the nag champa! I haven't done a side by side yet, but I might even love this more than the SL. Intoxicating. I will try to come back to this tomorrow morning, if I have time, to do a more solid side by side and full description.

[jacxkelly]

Prompt: Jack likes to sing loudly in the shower at five in the morning and his neighbor Crutchie is just trying to sleep in. So Crutchie goes to confront Jack but wasn't expect him to answer the door in just a towel

Thanks to long car rides and important people in your life to help me find the right song for this one. Also thanks to Shrek 2 for existing and making this song hilariously popular 

“I need a hero~!”

Crutchie’seyes flew open, finding himself staring at his bedroom ceiling in the dimlight. The sun wasn’t even up yet, and this was becoming an all too common occurrence.Mentally he cursed the paper thin walls of the apartment complex and turned hishead to glare at the wall to his right. Whoever laid out the building didn’ttake into account that some people sang obnoxiously every morning at five a.m.,and that it probably wasn’t best to have a shared wall be between where theshower was and where the bedroom was next door.

Sometimes hewondered why he even bothered to purchase an alarm clock, or why he even set itfor seven every morning. An extra two hours of sleep was gone every night, withso much consistency that he began to go to bed earlier even.

“He’s gotta be strongAnd he’s gotta be fastAnd he’s gotta be fresh from the fight—“

Naturally his neighbor had to pick the catchiest song in existencethis morning. It would be stuck in his head all day no doubt. Maybe he shouldslide a note under his door asking for a slightly updated taste in music so hewouldn’t have to suffer through infectious tunes that left him humming allthroughout the day’s activities.

The blonde turned his head finally, his next glare aimed atthe clock on his nightstand.

5:07 it read.

After suffering through a few more verses sung in a falsetto hisneighbor’s voice shouldn’t entirely be in, Crutchie heard the shower shut off.He sighed in relief, closing his eyes and trying to at least fall back asleep.

It would have been easy, if the song hadn’t started up again out of the shower.

Enough was enough. Crutchie hauled himself out of bed,grabbing the crutch where it leaned against the wall and tucking it under hisarm. He liked to think himself a considerate neighbor, he didn’t cause too muchtrouble or make a lot of noise. He was mindful of those around him and howsound traveled, he even said hi to everyone whenever he saw them.

It didn’t help any that Crutchie liked his loud neighbor as aperson, but now his sleep was in jeopardy.

Sweatpants and ratty t-shirt be damned, the young man flunghis front door open and limped out barefoot into the hallway, taking the fewsteps to the door beside his and raising his hand, knocking sharply.

Mentally he had it planned out to give Jack Kelly a piece ofhis mind. Sure, he was the nicest neighbor he had. Always smiling and sayinghello back to Crutchie. He even helped him carry his groceries up once, alwaysmanaged to be around without sounding like he pitied him. He was a good guy,but being an unnecessary alarm clock was uncalled for. Crutchie had to draw theline somewhere.

What Crutchie had not accounted for was that this man hadliterally just been in the shower. It took a few moments for the door to open,and when it did his mental script went flying out the window.

Suddenly he found himself face to face with a very shirtless,very soaking wet Jack Kelly. His hairwas clinging to his face, the towel dipping dangerously low on his hips. Forthe first time he noticed how fit he was, and it seemed highly unfair. Crutchie’seyes widened, drifting over his body noticeably in surprise before snappingback up to Jack’s face.

“Whaddya doin’ up at this hour?” Jack questioned, as if itwere completely normal to be standing there more or less naked and drippingwater onto the floor.

“Uh….thin walls.” The stammered reply sort of made sense inhis mind, but it was taking Jack a few moments to fit the pieces together.

“Come again?”

Crutchie blinked quickly, clearing his throat in an attemptto clear his head as well. “You’se were singin’.”

The brunette before him raised his eyebrows, then made a soft‘oh’ of a sound. “Ah…right, yeah. Didn’ mean ta wake ya, I’ll keep it down.”

“Right, uh…thanks. Dat or update yer music a little. Ya takerequests?” Crutchie was babbling before he really realized what he was saying.To his surprise Jack actually laughed.

“Sure, yeah. Gimme a list I’ll give it a try.” He grinned athim, “That all ya dropped by to say?”

He was fighting hard to keep his gaze from drifting onceagain. It was difficult with Jack just standingthere looking great without effort. Suddenly the rundown apartment complexfelt like the best damn apartment complex in the whole world. Crutchie focusedin on what was happening suddenly, his brain clicking together that somethinghad to be said in reply to Jack’s question.

“Yeah—yeah, that’s it….” He cleared his throat, “Have a goodmornin’, Jack.” He shifted, to make his leave and his escape quickly to thedoor just a few paces away.

“….You know you’se welcome to join.” Jack said, slowly.

Crutchie froze, turning back around to stare at him. “Me? Tajoin? Join what?”

“Singin’. You’se know…like a duet, I can pick duets next time.”

So not joining him in the shower then, wouldn’t that havebeen something else. Still, a duet sounded an awful lot like flirting, orasking for a date.

“Sounda like you’se tryin’ to ask me somethin’.” He voicedhis thoughts, then mentally kicked himself for doing so. Nice going, Crutch.Great way to creep out your neighbor.

“….Yeah, a’right, I am. I get off work at eight, lemme bringya dinner? Your place or mine they ain’t exactly a far walk apart.” Jackshrugged, passing a hand through his wet hair and making an attempt to act likethis was the most casual thing in the world.

Slowly, Crutchie smiled, shifting his weight. “Mine. An’, uh,I’ll work on a playlist.”

Jack laughed, finally closing his door after a promise to seehim tonight.

So maybe an unnecessary alarm clock was good for somethingafter all.