#and yes i did finish this just because. the demo came out. what about it.

[todomitoukei]

Japanese vs. English Todoroki Family Finale - A 426 Comparison

Just a few days after Horikoshi announced that there were only 5 chapters left, the so-called final chapter for the Todoroki family came out, as always sparking lots of discussion and bringing forth countless questionable takes, followed by the release of the official English translation.

So let’s take a closer look at the Japanese lines, starting with the Todoroki family’s short conversation before going to see Touya:

「来なくて大丈夫って言ったのに！」

「来なくて ; konakute」-> not coming 「大丈夫 ; daijoubu」-> okay; alright 「って ; tte」-> quoting particle (casual of と) 「言った ; itta」-> said 「のに ; noni」-> even though

= “Even though we said it’s okay not to come.”

「それを言うなら貴方たちもよ冬美夏雄」

「それ ; sore」-> that 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「言う ; iu」-> to say 「なら ; nara」-> that being the case; on the topic of 「貴方たち ; anatatachi」-> you (plural) 「も ; mo」-> also; too 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle 「冬美 ; fuyumi」-> Fuyumi 「夏雄 ; natsuo」-> Natsuo

= “On the topic of saying that, you too, Fuyumi, Natsuo.”

What stood out to me here was Rei calling him Natsuo, when usually, everyone else (except Endeavor) calls him Natsu-kun or Natsu. Calling him by the full version of his first name rather than a shortened version might be done to indicate that things have changed, although not necessarily in a negative way. It's more that there has been a shift.

By the way, I am working on a masterpost talking about how the family addresses + refers to each other. Yes, I am going through the entire manga for that (this is a cry for help). Once the manga is finished I will post it (at some point), so look out for that if you’re interested in finding out exactly how many times who gets called what (yes, I am counting and making graphs)!

「お母さんでも…」

「お母さん ; okaasan」-> mom 「でも ; demo」-> but

= “But mom…”

「それを言うならおまえもだ冷」

「それ ; sore」-> that 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「言う ; iu」-> to say 「なら ; nara」-> that being the case; on the topic of 「おまえ ; omae」-> you 「も ; mo」-> also; too 「だ ; da」-> be 「冷 ; rei」-> Rei

= “On the topic of saying that, you too, Rei.”

I love that he almost fully copies Rei’s phrase here. This is the first of many unoriginal lines that he has in this chapter. It only goes downhill from here.

「義務感で来たんじゃねぇから！皆そうだろ」

「義務感 ; gimukan」-> sense of duty (obligation) 「で ; de」-> with; by 「来た ; kita」-> came 「ん ; n」-> explanatory particle 「じゃねえ ; janee」-> isn’t 「から ; kara」-> because; so  (used to change the other person’s thoughts etc.) 「皆 ; mina」-> everyone 「そう ; sou」-> so; that way 「だろ ; daro」-> right?

= “I didn’t come out of a sense of duty! Everyone is that way, right?”

Usually, a second phrase would follow up the kara, but can also be left out when the meaning of that second phrase is implied enough. Since Fuyumi said Shouto didn’t have to come (if he didn’t want to, didn’t feel comfortable etc.) there is an implication that perhaps he only showed up because he felt like that was expected of him. Ending his clarification of “I didn’t come because I felt obligated” with kara “so” the implied follow up would be along the lines of “don’t worry”, which then gets wrapped up suggesting that all of them are showing up not because they feel pressured to do so, but because they want to visit Touya - since they basically just went around in a circle letting each other know they didn’t have to come if they don’t want to.

「会話は可能ですが一日に数分が限界です」

「会話 ; kaiwa」-> conversation 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「可能 ; kanou」-> possible 「です ; desu」-> to be 「が ; ga」-> but 「一日 ; ichi nichi」-> one day 「に ; ni」-> at; in 「数分 ; suufun」-> a few minutes 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「限界 ; genkai」-> limit 「です ; desu」-> to be

= “Conversations are possible, but a few minutes a day is the limit.”

I’m not sure how long Touya has been in here, but this line indicates that the staff members have been talking to him and I’d be curious to know what those conversations were like. What did they talk about? What kind of attitude did he give them? What was his reaction when he first regained consciousness? These are the questions we want answered, but alas, the Todoroki family plot simply isn’t about him. All the way to the bitter end it shall remain focusing on the most underrepresented group of them all: rich middle-aged men.

「緩やかに死へと向かっている…それが今の轟燈矢です」

「緩やかに ; yuruyakani」-> slowly 「死 ; shi」-> death 「へと ; e to」-> towards 「向かっている ; mukatteiru」-> to face; to head toward 「れ ; sore」-> that 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「今 ; ima」-> now; current 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「轟燈矢 ; todoroki touya」-> Touya Todoroki 「です ; desu」-> to be

= “Slowly heading towards death… that is the current Touya Todoroki.”

The particle e is a directional particle that can be translated as “toward”. Adding the particle to after it adds an emotional emphasis to the part that follows the to particle as opposed to just stating a fact, there is sympathy in this claim.

As for the claim itself - I know that a lot of people are convinced he is going to die because look! Random nameless character #47AAB7 said so, it must be true! But to be honest, I’m not even going to entertain that thought because despite all the criticism I have for this story, Horikoshi isn’t that bad of a writer. If he had wanted Touya dead, he could’ve easily killed him at the end of the last war. It makes zero sense for him to be saved and then pass away quietly and peacefully in a hospital (or whatever that place is).

Even if we were to say that Shouto managed to save him emotionally, so that counts as a win! It’s kind of a shit win if the only difference is that you now get to die “at peace”, which also could’ve been accomplished on the battlefield. At this point, it’s just inefficient and therefore, him dying at this point is not going to happen.

「........ぞろぞろと」

「ぞろぞろ ; zorozoro」-> in droves; swarming 「と ; to」-> adds emphasis

= “....In droves”

Zorozoro is used to describe several beings (can be humans or animals) that appear or move together like a swarm. This certainly is the first time the entire family is together, so it’s not surprising the rare sight is being pointed out in a joking manner, although he undoubtedly means this in a positive way as it contradicts his prior belief of no one in his family caring about him or missing him.

The fact that, upon first waking up after his coma as a teenager his immediate thought was to return and apologize, and now after ten years he finally gets the chance to talk to them and what is the first thing coming out of his mouth? Calling them a swarm. Forever and always the most relatable character.

「ハハ…観光名所じゃねぇんだよ........」

「ハハ ; haha」-> haha 「観光名所 ; kankoumeisho」-> tourist attraction; sightseeing spot 「じゃねぇ ; janee」-> isn’t 「んだ ; nda」-> explanatory particle 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle

= “Haha… It’s not a tourist attraction, right?”

If he was a tourist attraction, Hori better drop the location right now. Please. For research purposes or whatever.

「燈矢」

「燈矢 ; touya」-> Touya

= “Touya.”

「今後の話をしに来たんだ燈矢」

「今後 ; kongo」-> from now on 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「話 ; hanashi」-> talk, conversation 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「しに来た ; shi ni kita」-> came to do sth 「んだ ; nda」-> explanatory particle 「燈矢 ; touya」-> Touya

= “I came to talk about the future, Touya.”

Kongo literally means “after now” or in other words, the future.

「俺はヒーローを引退するよ」

「俺 ; ore」-> I  「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「ヒーロー ; hiirou」-> hero 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「引退する ; intai suru」-> to retire 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle

= “I am retiring from being a Hero.”

He says as though he has a choice. This is also one of those “This could’ve been an email” kinds of lines.

「元より戦いが終わったらそうするつもりだったが 最早自力で立つことすらままならん」

「元より ; moto yori」-> all along; from the first 「戦い ; tatakai」-> war 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「終わったら ; owattara」-> when it ended 「そう ; sou」-> so; that way 「する ; suru」-> to do 「つもり ; tsumori」-> to plan 「だった ; datta」-> was 「が ; ga」-> but 「最早 ; mohaya」-> already; no longer 「自力 ; jiriki」-> one’s own strength 「で ; de」-> with 「立つ ; tatsu」-> to stand 「こと ; koto 」-> nominalizes prior word/phrase 「すら ; sura」-> even 「ままならん ; mama naran」-> beyond one’s control; unable to do as one wishes

= “Since after the first war ended, I decided to do so, but I not I am not even able to stand on my own anymore.”

Mamanaru combines the words mama “as it is; as one likes” and naranai “to be unable to” to create a word that describes that something is beyond one’s control, one is unable to do as they wish or something is not going the way one wants it to. In other words, a great word to sum up Endeavor’s entire life story.

The way he continuously takes over conversations that are supposed to be about the entire family - aka his victims - and makes it about himself while pitying himself - in front of his victims - never fails to impress me. At least he is consistent I guess, but it would have been great to see him actually change in the end. Surely he is done, oh no, nevermind, he keeps talking- 

「ヒーローエンデヴァーは焼かれて死んだ

おまえの炎は誰よりも強かった」

「ヒーロー ; hiirou」-> hero 「エンデヴァー ; endevaa」-> Endeavo 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「焼かれて ; yakarete」-> burned 「死んだ ; shinda」-> died 「おまえ ; omae」-> you 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「炎 ; honoo」-> flame 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「誰 ; dare」-> anyone 「よりも ; yorimo」-> more than 「強かった ; tsuyokatta」-> was strong

= “The hero Endeavor was burned and died. Your flames were stronger than anyone else’s.”

「そっか　ご愁傷様　事が済んでから諂うなよ…卑怯者…」

「そっか ; sokka」-> I see 「ご愁傷様 ; goshuushousama」-> my condolences 「事 ; koto」-> things; matter 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「済んでから」-> after it ended (済む + てから) 「諂う ; hetsurau」-> to flatter; to suck up to; to carry favour 「な ; na」-> na (negative command form) 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle 「卑怯者 ; hikyoumono」-> coward

= “I see. My condolences. Don’t suck up to me after it’s over… coward…”

Here is my beef with the official translation: they keep making Touya say the most random words and phrases, but then don’t make him say “don’t curry favour”?? “Don’t be toady”?? “Don’t be toady, Todoroki” would go so hard… wait… you know what… Here’s a little extra from me to you:

Back to business:

「そうだな　燈矢は誰のことをよくわかってる　ずっと見てたんだもんな」

「そう ; sou」-> so; that way 「だ ; da」-> be 「な ; na」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation 「燈矢 ; touya」-> Touya 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「誰 ; dare」-> anyone 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「こと ; koto 」-> nominalizes prior word/phrase 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「よく ; yoku」-> well 「わかってる ; wakatteru」-> to understand 「ずっと ; zutto」-> continuously 「見てた ; miteta」-> was watching 「んだ ; nda」-> explanatory particle 「もん ; mon」-> because; indicates reason 「な ; na」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation

= “That’s right, isn’t it. You know everyone so well. Because you have been watching continuously.”

「俺に見てほしかったんだもんな

なのに見なかった…」

「俺 ; ore」-> I  「に ; ni」-> at 「見てほしかった ; mitehoshikatta」-> wanted me to look 「んだ ; nda」-> explanatory particle 「もん ; mon」-> because; indicates reason 「な ; na」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation 「なのに ; nanoni」-> and yet; despite that 「見なかった ; minakatta」-> didn’t look

= “You wanted me to look, right? Despite that I didn’t look…”

If I didn’t know any better I would say this was a conversation with a toddler. I usually like to point out that Horikoshi really nails the sibling experience, but he is also, unfortunately, really good at accurately writing how privileged middle-aged men talk. A mangaka of many talents, but at what cost?

「俺はお父さんの子どもなんだから」

「俺 ; ore」-> I  「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「お父さん ; otousan」-> dad 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「子ども ; kodomo」-> child 「なんだ ; nanda」-> explanatory particle 「から ; kara」-> because; so

= “Because I am dad’s child.”

「おまえはエンデヴァーじゃない！！」

「おまえ ; omae」-> you 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「エンデヴァー ; endevaa」-> Endeavor 「じゃない ; janai」-> isn’t

= ”You aren’t Endeavor!!”

Yes. That’s why we love him.

「誰が何と言おうと........　おまえの炎（ねつ）は俺のヘルフレイムだ

あの告発映像を毎日見続けている」

「誰 ; dare」-> someone 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「何と ; nanto」-> what 「言うと ; iou to」-> to try to say 「おまえ ; omae」-> you 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「炎 ; honoo」-> flames 「ねつ ; netsu」-> heat; rage; mania 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「俺 ; ore」-> I  「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「ヘルフレイム ; herufureimu」-> Hell Flame 「だ ; da」-> be 「あの ; ano」-> that 「告発 ; kokuhatsu」-> complaint; prosecution 「映像 ; eizou」-> footage 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「毎日 ; mainichi」-> every day 「見続けている ; mitsuzuketeiru」-> continue to watch

= “Whatever people try to say… Your flames (rage) are my Hellflame. I’ve continuously watched your prosecution video every day.”

This wouldn’t be a translation breakdown if we didn’t have a case of the furigana don’t match the kanji! Essentially what this means is that the furigana - written in brackets - show what the character says out loud, while the kanji shows what the character means. This time, when we get the kanji for flames in the second sentence, the furigana read netsu, which can meat “heat”, but also refer to “rage” or “mania” and since flames are hot, “heat” wouldn’t make it necessary to opt for a different reading, hence Endeavor is saying that the rage of Dabi was, in fact, Endeavor’s Hellflame.

「おどお゙さん見で」

「おどお゙さん ; odoosan」-> dad 「見で ; mide」-> look

= “Dad, look”

You might notice that the words are spelled differently from the normal otousan and mite. Softening the t sounds to a d sound highlights the difficulties he has speaking while being on fire. In addition to the softened t to d, the u also gets changed into an o with dakuten (the two lines on top), which only exist for the sounds that can become softer (t->d, h->b, k->g, s->j), which can’t be done to a vowel like o. In this case, the dakuten suggests that the o is said with emotion and somehow stands out from how it would be said normally.

「これからー」

「これから ; korekara」-> from now on

= “From now on-”

「毎日来る　話をしよう」

「毎日 ; mainichi」-> every day 「来る ; kuru 」-> to come 「話 ; hanashi」-> talk; conversation; chat 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「しよう ; shiyou」-> let’s do/have

= “I will come every day. Let’s talk.”

「あまりに遅すぎたけれど話そう」

「あまりに; amari ni」-> too much; overly 「遅すぎた ; ososugita」-> was too late 「けれど ; keredo」-> however 「話そう ; hanasou」-> let’s talk

= “I was much too late, but let’s talk.”

Both amari ni and adding -sugiru to the stem of a verb can be translated as “too much” and in combination place an additional emphasis on the verb, in this case, being late, which could be referencing anything from the specific instances he showed up to too late (i.e. when Touya set himself on fire on Sekoto Peak) or in a more general sense him trying to show up as a father too late (the only example would be showing up in the hospital here and the fact he has retired and plans on protecting the family from facing any consequences for all of this, although even that is still more the bare minimum of making up for his mistakes rather than being a father but I doubt he understands the difference).

「心拍数上昇これ以上は負担が」

「心拍数 ; shinpakusuu」-> heart rate 「上昇 ; joushou」-> rising; ascending 「これ以上 ; kore ijou」 - > any more; any further; any longer 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「負担 ; futan」-> burden, load 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle

= “His heart rate is rising. Any more will (be) a burden.”

The ga would normally be followed by a verb (in this case most likely kakaru = to put), but is being omitted here as the meaning can be understood regardless.

「冷　夏雄　冬美　焦凍が…　残してくれた時間で話そう」

「冷 ; rei」-> Rei 「夏雄 ; natsuo」-> Natsuo 「冬美 ; fuyumi」-> Fuyumi 「焦凍 ; shouto」-> Shouto 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「残してくれた」-> reserved for us (残す+くれる) 「時間 ; jikan」-> time 「で ; de」-> with 「話そう ; hanasou」-> let’s talk

= “Rei, Natsuo, Fuyum. Let’s talk with the time Shouto reserved for us.

Adding -tekureta after nokosu implies that someone did a favor for the speaker. Here, it means that Shouto reserved the time to talk to Touya for them.

「憎いなら…憎いと　なんでもいい　ぶつけてくれ…！」

「憎い ; nikui」-> hateful 「なら ; nara」-> if 「憎い ; nikui」-> hateful 「と ; to」-> speech particle 「なんでもいい ; nandemo ii」-> anything is fine; it doesn’t matter what 「ぶつけてくれ ; butsuketekure」-> throw it at me

= “If you hate me… hate me. Anything is fine, throw it at me…!!”

「燈矢兄私も…！」

「燈矢兄 ; touya nii」-> Touya-Nii 「私 ; watashi」-> I 「も ; mo」-> also; too

= “Touya-nii, me too…!”

「話したい事たくさんあるの」

「話したい ; hanashitai」-> want to talk 「事 ; koto」-> things 「たくさん ; takusan」-> a lot 「ある ; aru」-> to be 「の ; no」-> explanatory particle

= “There are a lot of things I want to talk about.”

This is about him getting piercings and dying his hair isn’t it. Maybe even taking off his shirt on live TV in front of the entire country. If only we could see that conversation…

「今日は止めにしましょう！！また明日にでも…」

「今日 ; kyou」-> today 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「止めにしましょう , yame ni shimashou」-> let’s stop 「また ; mata」-> again 「明日 ; asu」-> tomorrow 「に ; ni」-> at 「でも ; demo」-> or something

= “Let’s stop for today!! (You can come back) tomorrow or something…”

「最後に一ついいですか　聞きたかったことあるんだ」

「最後 ; saigo」-> final 「に ; ni」-> at 「一つ ; hitotsu」-> one 「いい ; ii」-> good 「です ; desu」-> to be 「か ; ka」-> question marker particle 「聞きたかった」-> wanted to ask 「こと ; koto」-> thing 「ある ; aru」-> to be 「んだ ; nda」-> explanatory particle

= “Can I (ask) one last thing? Because there is one thing I wanted to ask.”

The first panel or first sentence ends in the polite form using desu ka as he is asking the employee for permission to ask one more question. The second panel or sentence, on the other hand, is casual as it ends in da, so without even waiting to receive an answer from the employee, he instantly goes to directly address Touya-nii for this extremely important question.

「燈矢兄　好きな食べ物何？」

「燈矢兄 ; touya nii」-> Touya-Nii 「好きな ; suki」-> to like 「食べ物 ; tabemono」-> food 「何 ; nani」-> what

= “Touya-nii. What’s your favorite food?”

Everybody liked that. It was really great when the spoilers came out and as soon as Shouto said he wanted to ask Touya something everyone instantly knew what the question was going to be. Also a lot of pressure for Touya. Wrong answer and his little brother can pull the plug. 

「......体力の限界ですね今日は眠らせてまた…」

「体力 ; tairyoku」-> stamina; endurance 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「限界 ; genkai」-> limit 「です ; desu」-> to be 「ね ; ne」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation 「今日 ; kyou」-> today 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「眠らせて ; nemurasete」-> to let someone sleep 「また ; mata」-> again

= “This is the limit, isn’t it. Let’s let him sleep again for today.”

「蕎麦」

「蕎麦 ; soba」-> soba

= “Soba.”

These lines are always my favorite to break down. It’s not easy translating such complex phrases so please recognize the years of studying it took to be able to perfectly translate this kind of high-level sentence. Thank you.

I can only imagine him going back to his classmates, looking at Bakugo and saying: “You were wrong. It’s soba.”

「おんなじだ」

「おんなじ ; onnaji」-> same 「だ ; da」-> be

= “It’s the same.”

Usually, the word same is written as 同じ and read as onaji. In itself, these two spellings have the same meaning, however, the more standard onaji would be used in the sense of something or a situation being exactly the same, for example attending the same school as someone or facing the same problem. Onnaji, on the other hand, indicates something has very similar properties and is used more in the sense of the same color, taste etc, which is why this spelling has a bit more emotion associated with it.

So Shouto is saying that it’s the same, but he says so with emotion. Rather than stating a fact, them having the same food holds meaning to him. 

「これ以上は平行線だ　交わるよ　無理にでも」

「これ以上 ; kore ijou」-> from here on; any further 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「平行線 ; heikousen」-> remaining far apart; not reaching an agreement 「だ ; da」-> be 「交わる ; majiwaru」-> to cross; to mingle with 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle 「無理に ; muri ni」-> forcible; forced 「でも ; demo」-> even

= “From here on it’s parallel lines. I will cross, even if by force.”

「焦凍…　ごめんな…」

「焦凍 ; shouto」-> Shouto 「ごめん ; gomen」-> I‘m sorry 「な ; na」-> used to say something emotionally

= “Shouto… I’m sorry…”

If only… Shouto had heard this… and they could’ve talked about this… that would be crazy, right? No, why don’t we focus on the main character again, instead of getting a conversation the entire story has been building up to.

「俺はここまでだわ　悪いけど気持ち変わんない　俺はもう付き合わない」

「俺 ; ore」-> I  「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「ここ ; koko」-> here 「まで ; made」-> until 「だ ; da」-> be 「わ ; wa」-> 「悪い ; warui」-> sorry 「けど ; kedo」-> but 「気持ち ; kimochi」-> feelings 「変わんない ; kawannai」-> unchanged 「俺 ; ore」-> I  「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「もう ; mou」-> already 「付き合わない ; tsukiawanai」-> don’t associate with

= “For me it’s (ending) here. I’m sorry, but my feelings haven’t changed. I won’t associate with you anymore.”

The particle wa is used when reflecting one’s view toward a situation after coming to a conclusion. There is a nuance of confidently affirming the phrase or regretting the situation, depending on the tone, which we don’t have here, but this reads more as a confident statement than one of regret, although it might just be a little bit of both.

「ああ」

「ああ ; aa」-> Ah

= “Ah.”

「彼女と籍入れたい　式は挙げない紹介もしない」

「彼女 ; kanojo」-> girlfriend 「と ; to」-> with 「籍入れたい ; seki iretai」-> to get married; to want to have a name entered in the family register 「式 ; shiki」-> (wedding) ceremony 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「挙げない ; agenai」-> to conduct 「紹介 ; shoukai」-> introduction 「も ; mo」-> also 「しない ; shinai」-> won’t do

= “I want to enter the family register with my girlfriend. We won’t conduct a ceremony and I also won’t introduce you.”

Normally, to talk about marriage or getting married you would use the word kekkon (suru). Here, Natsuo specifically uses the term “to enter in the family registry.” While these two words can be used to mean the same thing (= getting married), entering the family registry differs in that one person enters an already existing family registry rather than creating a new one upon marriage, which is why this can also be used for when a child gets adopted by a step-parent or if a child takes on their other parent’s last name after a divorce.

Again, this can just be treated as a synonym for getting married, but it might also be to emphasize this as an act of removing himself from his father rather than an act of love. It surely feels like an odd time to be thinking of marriage, with the current situation not having him in the right mental or emotional state for such a big step to be smart (he already did the whole “cutting my hair during a crisis” so he should follow that with dying his hair or something else that is going to affect his life less than marriage).

Let’s face it: had he said this while they were with Touya, his big bro’s heart monitor would have gone crazy before he would have broken out of that machine to talk some sense into his little brother.

Also, not to insult Natsuo because he is very sweet, but I just have to mention the irony of him getting married as a means to solve his issues when that was also his dad’s first step. It’s obviously different, but still worth pointing out.

「ああ…分かったな」

「ああ ; aa」-> Ah 「分かった ; wakatta」-> understood 「な ; na」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation

= “Ah, I get it.”

「姉ちゃんは？仕事やめたんだろ？」

「姉ちゃん ; neechan」-> big sister 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「仕事 ; shigoto」-> job 「やめた ; yameta」-> to quit 「ん ; n」-> explanatory particle 「だろ ; daro」-> right

= “What about you, big sis? You left your job, right?”

I do like the symbolism of him standing in the middle of the street, ready to use the crosswalk, while the rest of the family remain on the side of the road, but I am also worried he is going to get hit by a car.

「うんでも　生徒のお母さんが新しい職場紹介してくれてねサポートしてくれるって」

「うん ; un」-> yeah 「でも ; demo」-> but 「生徒 ; seito」-> student 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「お母さん ; okaasan」-> mom 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「新しい ; atarashii」-> new 「職場 ; shokuba」-> workplace 「紹介してくれて ; shoukai shitekurete」-> introduced me (as a favor) 「ね ; ne」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation 「サポートしてくれる ; sapooto shitekureru」-> support (as a favor) 「って ; tte」-> quoting particle (casual of という)

= “Yeah, but the mom of a student introduced me to a new workplace. So she’s being supportive.”

Similar to before, the -tekurete suggests that this introduction as well as the support is seen as a favor.

「........正直責任は果たしたと思う　罰も受けたと思う…もういいんじゃねーの？」

「正直 ; shoujiki」-> honestly; frankly 「責任 ; sekinin」-> duty 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「果たした ; hatashita」-> accomplished; carried out 「と思う ; to omou」-> to think 「罰 ; batsu」-> punishment 「も ; mo」-> too 「受けた ; uketa」-> received 「と思う ; to omou」-> to think 「もういい ; mou ii」-> that’s enough 「ん ; n」-> explanatory particle 「じゃねー ; janee」-> isn’t 「のか ; noka-> question marker particle seeking an explanation

= “Frankly, I think we’ve fulfilled our responsibilities. I think we already received our punishment. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

This line has gotten some negative attention as fan translations have this line directed toward Endeavor, whereas the official English translation has this line be directed toward the entire family. As you can see in the breakdown above, there is no explicit human subject in this sentence to clarify who is being addressed here, in addition to the fact that he has his back turned to us readers with no indication as to who he is looking at.

However, the last person he directly addressed was Fuyumi, who was also the one speaking right before this line. Furthermore, the next line is Endeavor saying that he will ensure to take the blame and whatnot from here on out so that they do not need to face any more consequences for this.

With that being said, to me this reads as him talking to the family, specifically as a response to Fuyumi suggesting that her former student’s mother introducing her to a new workplace and supporting her is somewhat of a favor. While we don’t know exactly why she left her job, there is still a suggestion that this situation has impacted her negatively and that people showing support is somehow worth noting. And yes, Japan has a culture of blaming the entire family when a family member commits a crime, however, Natsuo’s line then seems somewhat frustrated at this, feeling as though they all already faced consequences (like Fuyumi leaving her job), and that they shouldn’t have to face consequences for the rest of their lives, let alone feel overly grateful for any person that still treats them as individuals rather than an accomplice for something they had nothing to do with.

Overall, this line reads more like he wants them to be able to move past this, rather than have this now haunt them after they have already been struggling their whole lives by growing up in the Todoroki household.

「犯した罪の賠償と謝罪を一生をかけて続けていく

見ていなくていい子どもたち（おまえたち）に降りかかる火の粉をできる限り俺が受け止める　生き延びた意味があるとすればそれだけなんだ」

「犯した ; okashita」-> committed 「罪 ; tsumi」-> crime; sin 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「賠償 ; baishou」-> compensation; reparations 「と ; to」-> with 「謝罪 ; shazai」-> apology 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「一生 ; issho」-> whole life 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「かけて ; kakete」-> make; put out 「続けていく ; tsuzuketeiku 」->to continue from now on (続ける+いく) 「見ていなくて ; mitenakute」-> not looking 「いい ; ii」-> good; okay 「子どもたち ; kodomotachi」-> children 「おまえたち ; omaetachi」-> you (plural) 「に ; ni」-> to 「降りかかる ; furikakaru」-> to happen; to befall 「火の粉 ; hi no ko」-> sparks 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「できる ; dekiru」-> to be able to 「限り ; kagiri」-> limit; degree 「俺 ; ore」-> I  「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「受け止める ; uketomeru」-> to catch; to stop the blow 「生き延びた ; ikinobita」-> survived; lived long 「意味 ; imi」-> meaning 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「ある ; aru」-> to exist 「とすれば ; to sureba」-> then; if so; if 「それだけ ; soredake」-> that much; to that extent; only that 「なんだ ; nanda」-> explanatory particle

= “From here on out I will continue to make reparations and apologize for my committed crimes for my whole life. I will catch as much of the sparks that fall on you kids who don’t have to watch. If there is any meaning in my survival, it is just that.”

Again, he says “you” but means “children”. The miteinakute ii is used to say that “it’s okay not to watch”, in other words he does not expect them to keep in touch with him or anything along those lines.

The -teiku after tsuzukeru is used to imply that something will continue from this moment forward. While he didn't make up for his mistakes, from now on he will.

「........地獄だぞ」

「地獄 ; jigoku」-> hell 「だ ; da」-> be 「ぞ ; zo」-> emphasizes the speaker’s will or opinion; can be inviting to the listener

= “........It’s hell.”

「ああダンスの誘いを受けたんでな」

「ああ ; aa」-> Ah 「ダンス ; dansu」-> dance 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「誘い ; sasoi」-> invitation 「を ; o」-> direct object marker 「受けた ; uketa」-> to accept 「んでな ; ndena」-> explanatory particle

= “Ah, I did accept the dance invitation.”

「…初めてだよ　お父さんの事　かっこいいって思えたの」

「初めて ; hajimete」-> first time  「だ ; da」-> be 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle 「お父さん ; otousan」-> dad 「の ; no」-> possessive particle; similar to an apostrophe 「事 ; koto」-> nominalizes prior word/phrase 「かっこいい ; kakkoii」-> cool 「って思えた ; tte omoeta」-> to seem; to appear 「の ; no」-> explanatory particle

= “It was the first time that you seemed cool.”

 Natsuo has called Endeavor by many (disrespectful) names. This is the first time he calls him by the standard/polite term for father. This is not to say that he likes him now. With the whole marriage talk in mind, this feels more like him letting go of his feelings for a second to make a somewhat neutral statement. Neutral in the sense of being able to recognize and view something his dad has done in a positive light rather than letting his feelings completely take over his judgment.

「焦凍は？学校戻るんだろ？」

「焦凍 ; shouto」-> Shouto 「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「学校 ; gakkou」-> school 「戻る ; modoru」-> to return to 「ん ; n」-> explanatory particle 「だろ ; daro」-> I think; right?

= “What about you, Shouto? You’re returning to school, right?”

「うん」

「うん ; un」-> yeah

= “Yeah.” 

「乗ってけよ姉ちゃんも」　

「乗ってけ ; notteke」-> I’ll give you a ride 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle 「姉ちゃん ; neechan」-> big sis  「も ; mo」-> also; too

= “I’ll give you a ride. Nee-chan, too.”

「ありがとう」

「ありがとう ; arigatou」-> thanks

= “Thanks.”

「親父　お母さん　俺にはA組（みんな）いるから大丈夫だよ！　俺は自分でなりてえようになれるから！」

「親父 ; oyaji」-> dad 「お母さん ; okaasan」-> mom 「俺 ; ore」-> I  「には ; niwa」-> as for 「A組 ; e gumi」-> class A  「みんな ; minna」-> everyone  「いる ; iru」-> to be  「から ; kara」-> therefore  「大丈夫 ; daijoubu」-> alright  「だ ; da」-> be 「よ ; yo」-> emphasis particle 「俺 ; ore」-> I  「は ; wa」-> topic marker particle 「自分 ; jibun」-> myself  「で ; de」-> with 「なりてえ ; naritee」-> want to become (casual of naritai)  「ようになれる ; you ni nareru」-> to reach the point where; to come to; to begin to 「から ; kara」-> because; so

= “Dad, mom. I’ll be okay because of Class A (everyone). I can reach the point of being what I want to be!”

Just like before we get furigana that differ from the kanji. Shouto says that he will be alright because everyone is there, but he specifically means Class A when he says that.

「地獄でも」

「地獄 ; jigoku」-> hell  「でも ; demo」-> even though

= “Even though it’s hell.”

「おーう早かったな！！大丈夫だったかあ！？」

「おーう ; ou」-> Ooh 「早かった ; hayakatta」-> early 「な ; na」-> sentence ending particle; used to seek confirmation 「大丈夫 ; daijoubu」-> alright 「だった ; datta」-> was 「かあ ; kaa」-> question marker particle

= “Oh, you’re early! Was it alright!?”

「おなかすいた」

「おなかすいた ; onaka suita」-> I’m starving

= “I’m starving.”

「見てる人がいる」

「見てる ; miteru」-> looking 「人 ; hito」-> person 「が ; ga」-> subject marker particle 「いる ; iru」-> to be

= “There is someone who is watching.”

Me. I’m the one watching. But at what cost? The family’s two most used words have got to be “hell” and “to look” . Someone please teach them some more words.

That concludes the Todoroki family interaction in this chapter and supposedly for the story (everyone disliked that). Personally, this does not read as a conclusion so I am going to just treat this as the beginning of the conclusion, instead. And perhaps the final in the sense of the whole family not getting together anymore because Natsuo isn’t going to be around Endeavor anymore.

Personally, my biggest issue with this chapter is the fact that while it’s called final and set up as though the family and we finally get closure by everyone reuniting with Touya, it’s just another episode of self-pitying with a grown-ass man that has still not changed or understood anything despite everything. Yes, he finally managed to talk to Touya, to apologize and acknowledge both Touya’s pain as well as his own accountability in the entire affair. However, the rest of the family could have been left out of this chapter entirely since they said nothing other than “we have lots to talk about” which is obviously a beginning, but I’m sure we all have been waiting patiently to get an actual conversation not just hear them say that they want to talk at a later point, which we then won't ever get to see.

The soba part is amazing, of course, but it could and should have played a bigger role in this chapter.

People have been expressing various opinions in regards to the family’s current situation and their future, though - again - it would be great to see more of that because this chapter only briefly touched on various interesting points and then didn’t explore these points more because if there is one thing this world needs more is privileged people whining about how hard their life is and the many sacrifices they have had to make (= barely facing consequences).

That being said, we’ll see what the final 4 chapters will offer and whether we will see the Todoroki family make another appearance.

And no, Touya won’t die.

[perfectlysanexd]

So, what have I been up to...? Since I was in Tumblr's spam-bot prison for more than 5 months, I thought I would create a little ICYMI post. (That's "In-Case-You-Missed-It" for the old folks like myself that have to look up all these new acronyms.) Basically, I'm gonna highlight/link to some of the posts I made this year, and you can check them out if you like. :) I didn't want to necessarily do a bunch of reblogs of my own content and clog up the system or something...

I finished posting up my 100's of edited screenshots from Advent Children Complete! You can view the archive of 53 different posts, separated by character, here. It also includes a fun side post about the Mysterious Case of Sephiroth's Missing Straps. :3

I confess, I haven't made too many wallpapers this year. But it's September now, and I have a thought rolling around in my head. We'll see. The archive of wallpapers is here.

Speaking of, so many cool wallpapers came out for Ever Crisis, and I've posted them all! Find them here, at the bottom of this archive post. I swear I'll eventually beat TFS season 1, but...they sure made it difficult for people who don't purchase their packs.

Did you know that Tumblr is feeding your posts(including reblogs) to theird party AI? Well, they are, and you can set it to be prevented in your settings. I talked about it here.

Rebirth coming out was the biggest thing this year, and I made my first manipulation for it back in March! You can see the post here, as well as a simple tutorial for it using GIMP(GNU Image Manipulation Program, free at gimp.org) here.

I also made a second manipulation for Rebirth! If you want to see the additional dialogue that goes with it, that's here.

When I played the demo for Rebirth, I noticed that they had changed Sephiroth's eyes, and it reminded me of something...

Did you know that in Advent Children, Sephiroth's gloves are not as tight as in Remake and you can see his wrists? 😏Check it out! What? Of course this is important!

I took a look at Sephiroth and all his forms over the years. Then I did the same for Cloud.

My AO3 sefikura work In Death was finished on April 26th, and came with a special manipulation. That was also the first story where I was accused of writing non-con, when it obviously wasn't, so that was fun. If you need to hydrate, you can go drink that tea in the comments of, I think, chapter 16 and after. Several people have asked about a sequel, and I do have eventual plans. Hang in there.

I made my first(of many) Rebirth memes, which also came with a blank template.

A peek under Sephiroth's jacket, courtesy of Rebirth. 😏Yes, this is important, obviously.

Another Rebirth meme, featuring Sephiroth being badass.

I put my design for Lucrecia's locket onto my edited EC Sephiroth artwork! This one actually got a lot of notes thanks to reblogging. 💕I also put the locket on Sephiroth's EC in-game model.

I wrote a long one-shot as a thank you for 400+ followers! It's based on my most popular sefikura manipulation of all time—a very indulgent work, and my first time writing for Rebirth. Thanks, guys!

Another meme, haha...oops, and another one. Damn, another one? AND a Sephiroth/Cloud arms-crossed companion meme set?

I did another Rebirth manipulation, this time of the famous sefikura hug scene. I added a second part to it here. AND a third part to it here! This set has quickly become one of my favorites. I also gave it some Japanese dialogue+translation here.

I did a little PSA because I've seen a lot of awfully suspicious digital paintings lately...

I made an account on Twitter/X, just in case they never fixed my blog, so if you're over there, follow me @ perfectlysane77 and say hi. :)

The FF7 crew have super hearing, confirmed??

Do you play Ever Crisis and want to join a sefikura guild? Check here. All skill levels are welcome, and you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to.

My first ever edited Rebirth video: "Fill your hollow heart...with me-ow."

And now I've been released from Tumblr spam-bot prison, so I'm sure you've seen even more silly memes from me. So what now? I hope to release the rewrite of Stranger Inside very soon, maybe by the end of the month if possible? The sequel will follow, for real this time. At that point, we'll be back to voting, so you guys will be able to choose what comes after that. I'm really focused on writing now, which is probably why I'm mostly making memes and silly things. Still, if it makes you laugh, I'm happy. 🥰

If you read this to the end, you're amazing.💕

[crazylittlejester]

back again with miscellaneous fun facts. 2day/nite (idk when ill finish editing) episode: GameCube ✨️

ok so funny little thing, part of the GameCube's failure can be partly blamed on 9/11. 'Bea what r u on about' ok so there's this game called Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and this game was intended to be a launch title for the GameCube. Eternal Darkness was actually originally planned for the N64, which is actually pretty important because this game was more known about. A demo of the N64 version was shown at i believe the 1999 E3.

'ok great this was a game that switched consoles during development, why is this important to the GameCube?' youll never guess, my favorite little effect i lovingly call the Resident Evil effect. this was the era were so many games were trying to be darker and edgier to compete *cough* which is why Wind Waker was so controversial *cough* (theres more to Wind Waker but ill get to that in a bit).

back to Eternal Darkness, this game was for one: a third party title, being produced by a Canadian development studio called Silicon Knights. as i mentioned before, this was during the time were third party developer and publishers weren't working with Nintendo nearly as much and choosing to work on titles for Sony's PlayStation. and two: this would be Nintendo's first Nintendo published M rated game. yes other M rated games have been on Nintendo consoles, but none of those have been published by Nintendo.

now enough backstory on Eternal Darkness, how did 9/11 have any effect on this? so there was a character named Joseph De Molay who was a Templar knight. Templar knights were known for taking part in the Crusades (spreading Christianity to the Middle East). Joseph was removed from the game to avoid any controversies or appearing offensive and was replaced. officially it was said Joseph was removed as he was "just a demo character" but he was playable at E3 2001 and was known about all the way back during the N64 development, which is a lot of work for a character who was supposedly a demo character. especially so close from release, and at the same 2001 E3, two other characters were in that demo who were actually in the game proper. (keep in mind the GameCube released November 2001 in the US and September 2001 in Japan)

there was also all Arab writing in texture images removed. this is a lot of last minute reworking for game that was almost completely, which ended up with Eternal Darkness missing the GameCube's launch and came out roughly half a year later.

because of Eternal Darkness not being a launch titles, especially as such an anticipated title, the GameCube was left with pretty much just Luigi's Mansion. unfortunately, Luigi is yk Luigi. People liked Mario and weren't super interested in a Luigi focused title.

i teased it easier, so Wind Waker, definitely a bit more of a known case. at a 2000 Space World exposition, when Nintendo announced the GameCube, there was a clip of Link fighting Ganondorf to show off the GameCube's capabilities (here). and people were excited at the idea of a realistic looking Zelda game only to get Wind Waker a few years later. Wind Waker's toon style, despite being what Eiji Aonuma was so passionate about, was not well liked by the public until years later. this actually directly caused Twilight Princess to turn out the way it did.

originally Twilight Princess was going to be Wind Waker 2, using the same toon style but was changed to try to recapture the Ocarina of Time's success and appeal to the trend of darker more realistic style games (thx Resident Evil effect).

Twilight Princess is commonly criticized now a days for being "just a OoT rip-off" or "dark and edgy" (i can go on a whole rant about that comment but i shall spare yall today) despite the fact that in 2006 that is what was wanted.

the GameCube was unfortunately doomed from the start, and attempts to boost sales/interest in the system ended up in vain.

sorry that was a lot. um. yeahh.

drink water yall :)

adding the failure of the game cube to the list of things caused by 9/11 right up there next to the downfall of Ellen and the Oppenheimer movie

[beatsboy]

8.18.24 / week 8 of being a delusional artist

day 4 of moon time

how did i live like a delusional artist today? maybe in photographing my period stains on my bed maybe in journaling my dream about my ex the minute i woke up at 7am before going right back to bed because i can’t stand to be awake for another moment after having to freshly remember that they’re not here again (these dreams are like waking up to a fresh bandaid being torn off the wound over and over again) maybe in procrastinating, for they say that all artists do this, and while i know this is true, i am struggling to get unstuck and stay unstuck lately. it’s hard to fully break out of the cave, when you’re stuck, when you’re by yourself. sweet pea helps, licking my face (i swear) to remind me to go to the bathroom, to eat, to go outside. all he does is lick my face, so i have to interpret these as signals to get moving. last night, for instance, i was sitting on my computer for far too long, on the couch next to sweet pea. and promptly, as my bladder started to nag at me to go to the bathroom, he started to lick my face, inhibiting me from using my computer.

i’m starting to think he parents me more than i parent him, and i only pretend that it’s the other way around to feel better about my lack of self-sufficiency as a human adult. my fucking goals for tomorrow are to eat 3 meals, first one before 11. like, come on.

i just feel so slow while i’m bleeding, and i know that it will be over soon, but i think part of the reason i need to spiritualize it, to give it meaning, is because it’s just so fucking painful, physically, emotionally, and generally in relation to my gender.

i was supposed to leave the house today, and i did get all ready to do so, another sunday where i put my swim trunks on and waited. this time, it never came time to go, the party wrapped early, and i remained, having spent time getting ready, covered in sunscreen, with nowhere to go. and instead of quickly pivoting to art, which was very possible at that time, i got stuck. i got stuck waiting to go to bri’s to return their keys, for no reason at all, and then got stuck when i got home, and finally unstuck enough to make myself some food at 10pm, do the dishes, change the sheets (i did do some cleaning today, just very slowly, like imagine a slug doing chores, very slowly, and getting caught on corners), and sit here and journal.

i have therapy tomorrow, and tomorrow, i swear to god, i will continue working on music again. i had a good groove of working every day, basically until i finished boypop, which some have suggested i rename (which, yes, maybe, but what?) then, i got out of it, because it is so hard for me for some reason to maintain a consistent practice with my craft while working and socializing fucking still even though i don’t even work a full-time job like that. it’s truly not that i don’t have the time, it’s that i don’t have the energy? the focus? the routine?

healthy habits start small, though, right? i am believing in my future self, that i can make the new dates i’ve set for the release timeline. and i am giving myself these deadlines because i deserve to share my work with the world and i can’t wait any longer. i believe in the artist i want to be, in the artist i will be, because i am building toward it today. i am building my practice. i know i am good at what i do, i know i can do what i need to do to finish this project. i just need to focus and finish.

i’ve never completed an album before (unless you count the collection of phone demos i dropped on soundcloud for the lore) that’s like comparing publishing a fanfic on ao3 to getting your debut novel published, there’s a lot of extra steps that separate the two. it’s all i’ve ever wanted, so why am i waiting? why would i put off becoming the pop star i have dreamt of being since i was a fucking child? i am alone in my own apartment that i pay for with my own fucking money, why am i not spending every second making art in it? this is what i have always wanted for myself, space and time to make art, and i feel like i am wasting it spiraling and cleaning and pinteresting and tumblring and cleaning and looking up if the chemicals in my soap are poisoning me (pretty sure everything is poisoning me at this point)

i want to be fair to myself, i have not been completely idle. i redid the release timeline last night. i made a pitch deck for the next photoshoot the other day. i watched alien, for research (lol, but seriously!) i have been brainstorming the entire vibe/aesthetic/characterization of this persona, trying to mend together what we initially envisioned and what the music video shoot is giving (which are kind of different things but it’s ok)

the thing is, though, these things are part of the art, they are necessary to the art, to communicating the art to the people, to the audience. that does not make them art, though. the job part. the industry part. and sometimes i get so lost in these parts, that i forget that the whole point is to be able to sustain making art for the rest of my life. and none of this bullshit is worth it if i’m not making art. and if i’m not making art, it’s not going to feel like it either.

here is to tomorrow, to getting back to a daily practice, even if it’s in the form of small steps.

[kristannafever]

She Ain’t Gotta Do Much - 2

Kristanna Modern AU Rated: M WC: 3032

Chapter Index

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

The first day on the job was usually a clusterfuck.  Especially with office reno’s.  Most of the time the clients were never fully moved out of the work area – more like shifted out of the way – leaving him and Sven tripping over employees while they tried to get their work done because more often than not, they couldn’t just shut everything down while the reno’s took place. Which was why Kristoff was almost flabbergasted to walk into the completely empty space.  The furniture was even stacked in the middle of the floor where the cubicles had been.  

“Okay, I figure we’ll start demo on the big offices at the back, then… what, what’s with the face?”

“Huh?”  Kristoff realized he’d stopped mid stride.

Sven blinked at him. “Dammit, Kris.  I knew you weren’t paying attention!  What the fuck?!  You better not have fucked up that quote.”

His brow furrowed. “I absolutely didn’t fuck that up.”

“Well, you were clearly somewhere else when she told us she was moving the whole team the next floor up with CEO’s and all that shit while we demo and frame.”

Had she said that? Now that he thought about it, it did sound vaguely familiar.   That was why they were under such a tight deadline to get to the finishing stages.

Sven let out a slow exhale, looking at the ceiling, then back at him.  “What is with you lately?”

“Nothing.”  Kristoff trudged past him. “Let’s get to work.”

-----

It was a long day.  An excruciatingly long day.  

By the end of it, Kristoff’s arms were weary from slinging a sledgehammer and working the Sawzall, even though he did it regularly.   They were too high up to throw the construction waste down through a shoot to a bin.  All of it needed to be hauled down the service elevator which meant multiple trips down to the bin in the alley with a large wheeled tub.  Sven took the liberty of making those runs all day, leaving Kristoff with the heavy tools.

When Sven took the last load down it was two hours after they had planned to quit for the day. Kristoff was exhausted, sweat dripped down the sides of his face as he guzzled from his water bottle.  

“Didn’t expect you guys to be here so late.”

Kristoff choked on his water, thoroughly surprised.  He hadn’t heard her walk up to him.  

“Sorry, sorry.”  She chuckled, smiling her hands up in an innocent gesture.  “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“It’s okay,” he offered, composing himself.  “Just startled me, that’s all.”

“Looks like you guys worked really hard.  I’m impressed.”

Kristoff knew he looked a sight.  He was absolutely covered in drywall dust, dirt and sweat.  Part of him might have cared if he wasn’t so damn tired.  

She was a vision of course. Hair done up professionally, smart suit with a white blouse and sensible black heels.  Makeup that only accentuated her natural beauty, no flashy jewellery, just some small hoop earrings and a nice watch.

“Thank you,” he replied, as Sven came back into the room with the bin.

“Ah, Boss Lady.  Hope your day was good.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Lady?  Really?”

Sven made a grand gesture of bowing.  “Apologies, Boss.  Won’t happen again.”

Her eyebrow arched delicately as she smiled.   Clearly, she was comfortable with the humour.   “You two are quitting for the day now, I hope?”

Sven smiled.  “Yes, these two grunts are all done for today, Boss.”

This was why Sven was the one to deal with clients.  He was so quick with witty banter.  Kristoff was not.  Most of the things that came out of his mouth were straightforward and to the point, which was often mistaken for being rude.  He’d been told on more than one occasion that he had a gruff demeanor.   Only the people who knew him well, knew that that wasn’t true.

Anna said, “Well, I appreciate you working with our tight schedule.   I’ll be checking in with you quite a bit these next four weeks if that isn’t too much of an issue?”

“Of course not, Boss,” Sven answered.  “I would expect you are under a certain amount of pressure to get back to your own office space and out of the big wigs upstairs.”

Anna laughed and it sounded like a melody.  Kristoff found himself smiling.

“You have no idea,” she said.  “Have a good night, gentleman.  Stop by upstairs tomorrow before you start for some coffee and pastries.”

“Will do, Boss.  Thank you.”  Sven made a gesture of bowing again, which she giggled at.

“Thank you,” Kristoff added feebly, suddenly mad that he didn’t have the charm that Sven did.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

 If he thought the lobby a floor down was sleek and modern, the only way to describe the one he’d just entered, was opulent.  The same company logo adorned the front of the massive receptionist’s desk that four people sat behind.  The one on the end closest to the floor to ceiling mahogany doors to the inner offices was the blonde woman who normally worked on Anna’s floor.  As soon as she saw him her face lit up.

Ah shit, not now…

She was all eyes when they had come back to sign the contracts after they agreed to the price, looking him up and down several times, and not being subtle about it either. After their business with the Boss was finished, she’d bid them a farewell at the elevators being as flirty as humanly possible with him, and telling them to come fetch her if there was anything that they needed.

“Good morning, Sven. Good morning, Kris!”

Sven shot him a look. Kristoff’s greeting was much more enthusiastic.  

“Miss Arendelle mentioned you two might be coming up this morning for some coffee.  Let me show you to the break room.”

They followed without a word, passing suit after suit.  Most of them took notice of the two construction workers amongst their midst.   While their Carhart pants and long-sleeve t-shirts were clean since they hadn’t started work yet, they were a stark contrast to everyone around them.  He could only imagine how much more it would be after the filth they wore after a long, hard day’s work.

Entering a large break room that was packed with people, Kristoff suddenly felt claustrophobic. He noticed not one, but several men look over at their entrance and size them up with a confident smirk that told him they were glad that their collars were white.  Wasn’t the first time it had happened to him, and certainly would not be the last.

Turning his eyes down he waited for the secretary to pour them a coffee from the carafe.  She turned to him first, of course, and asked what he wanted in it.  He was perfectly capable of getting his own coffee, he had no idea why she was taking the liberty of getting it for him.

“Black is fine,” he muttered.

She handed him a coffee and he didn’t look up.

“There are a bunch of pastries over on the counter if you-”

“I’m good, thanks,” Kristoff said, and turned around abruptly and walked back the way they’d come.  He all but ran for the lobby and to the stairs. He descended quickly to the floor below where he belonged.  As soon as he walked into the dusty space, he relaxed.  

He was sitting on a turned over five-gallon pail when Sven strolled in with a coffee and two donuts about five minutes later.

He stopped in front of Kristoff and looked down at him.  “What, the, fuck?”

“Leave me alone.”  

Sven just stood there, staring at him.  “Are you okay?  Like mentally?”

Kristoff gave him a look that said to ‘fuck off’.

“Seriously, is there something going on I don’t know about?” Sven asked.

“No.”

“Then what the hell?”

“Look, you might be comfortable trapsing through an office full of a bunch of people that look down on you, but I hate it.”

Sven gave a long sigh and handed Kristoff a donut and sat on the floor across from him.  “Yeah, that office is full of douche bags for sure.”

Kristoff didn’t really want the donut but he ate it anyway since Sven had been nice enough to grab one for him.  They’d talked many times before about how different it was when they shifted their business from residential to commercial renovation.   For a lot of people, there was a clear divide between them and blue-collar men like him and Sven.  Higher educated and higher class than a lowly tradesman.  Not everyone was like that of course.  Anna certainly wasn’t.  But there were enough bad ones that it had made him harbour a little resentment towards the upper-class workers like the ones in the floor above him.

Sven chuckled.  “Should have seen some of the ladies in the room eat us up with their eyes though.”

That brought a smile to his face.  “They get tired of looking at dudes in suits.  Just like the women we date get tired of us in jeans and t-shirts.”

“Ain’t that the truth? Come on, let’s get this over with. It’s going to be a long day.”

They got to work, Kristoff telling Sven that he was going to run the cart to the bin.  His friend didn’t argue.  After about three hours of it he wished he’d just stayed on the tools. It was boring as hell standing in the elevator staring at nothing while it went up and down.  By the time lunch rolled around, it felt like the entire twelve-hour day had already passed.

The blonde secretary found her way into the construction zone as they were finishing their lunch, sitting on a pile of lumber they were going to repurpose.  

“Oh, hello there, Kris. Hi Sven.”

Sven smiled. “G’day.”

“I, oh, well, I see you are having lunch.  I was going to ask if you wanted me to grab you something but I guess I’m a few minutes too late.”

Sven turned his head to Kristoff and remained silent.  Kristoff slid his gaze to see his friend was forcing him to be civil, especially after how short he’d been with her in the morning.

“Um…” He cleared his throat. “Thanks, but we are good here.  We usually brown bag it.”

She looked confused for a moment and then seemed to understand.  “Ah, well, alright.  I’ll leave you to it then.”  She turned slightly, then paused and turned back.  “There’s a bunch of benches in the courtyard to the North of the building. If you feel like some fresh air at lunch instead of uh, in here.”

Kristoff glanced over at Sven again.  Sven’s attention was still focused on him and he was smirking.  The secretary had been talking to both of them but she had only been looking at Kristoff.

Dammit, Sven

Kristoff said, “Thank you, Miss.”

“Oh!  My name is Berkleigh!”

“Thanks then, uh, Berkleigh.”

“You are very welcome, Kris. Anything you need, you come and find me, okay?”

Kristoff only nodded and she finally left them alone.  

-----

Anna was standing there when Kristoff wheeled the empty bin back in the office after the last load of the day.  Sven had been talking to her and she was laughing again.  The corner of Kristoff’s nose twitch with impatience and he wished again he was smoother with his words around people he didn’t know well.  

“What did I miss?” he asked, putting on a smile as he parked the bin against the wall and walked over.

“Ah nothin’.”  Sven waved his hand in the air dismissively. “Just telling the Boss about that time we had to work for that airline company.  Remember?  We were more than half way through and they gave us all those change orders.”

“I remember,” Kristoff said. He remembered it anxiously instead of humorous however.  The job they had lined up after needed to be pushed back and they had almost lost the client.  They had to work fourteens for two weeks straight to get it all done.  Not unlike the time restraint on this job.  The only difference was there was nothing lined up after, which still worried Kristoff.

“Anyway,” Anna said, looking over at Kristoff with those gorgeous blue eyes.  “I was just telling Sven I can’t wait to get back down here and into a normal sized office.”

Kristoff was confused, having not been paying attention when that was discussed.  He knew she was cutting her office in two, what he did not know, was why.  He looked to Sven and his friend read his face and shot him a look with a sight widening of his eyes.

“I understand that, Boss, absolutely,” Sven said, turning to her.  “I also wouldn’t want to take the old CEO office when he moved upstairs without making it my own.”

She laughed. “Right?  Like, what the hell does someone need an office that big for? It’s hilarious.”

Kristoff nodded, like he’d known that all along instead of learning it just then.  

Sven said, “It certainly is, Boss.”

She looked at Sven. “You guys can call me Anna, you know.”  Her eyes slid over to Kristoff and appraised him.  “Not that you say much.”

Sven spoke up before Kristoff could utter a word.  “Ah, Kris is the strong silent type, don’t mind him.”

Anna laughed.  “I don’t mind either of you!  To be honest, you two are way more friendly that half the people upstairs.”  She looked directly into Kristoff’s eyes.  “Even if you don’t say much.”

As much as he tried not to, Kristoff started to blush.  

“Anyway, have a lovely evening, gentleman.  Come on up in the morning again for coffee and pastries.”

“Thank you,” Kristoff and Sven said in unison.

“Have a good night, Boss.”

Kristoff added, “Yes, have a good night.”

“You as well.”  Anna smiled over her shoulder at them then walked out of their construction zone.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

 The next day he was all but accosted by the blonde secretary while he was eating his lunch on a park bench outside.   She had been mercilessly flirting with him whenever he was in her sight, and his patience was being severely tested.  She had spotted him sitting there and made a b-line over to him, which he supposed served him right for taking her suggestion to eat outside.  His stomach twisted and he repressed dropping his shoulders with the annoyance he felt to have her approach him again.

“Do you have Snap?”

What kind of greeting is that?  “I have no idea what that is.”  He didn’t, and he tired to make it clear with his tone that he didn’t care to find out.

“What about Instagram? It’s the best!”

“No.”

“Oh, you should get it! I’ll help you, just give me your phone.”

He looked around the street. Where the fuck are you, Sven?  Get off the fucking toilet already!  “It’s okay, I’m not a social media kind of guy.”

Her face turned into a pout. “Oh, come on!  It’s just Instagram.  I’ll set it up for you quickly and you can add me!”

“I, er, no thanks.”

Her disappointment looked profound, then all of the sudden, it disappeared.  “Then I’m just going to keep bugging you and bugging you until you get it.”  She smiled and turned to walk away.

Kristoff panicked at the thought of her constantly pestering him.  “Fine, fine, set it up,” he said, and then immediately regretted it.  What the hell was he doing?   He should have just let her walk away and told her to knock it off the next time she bothered him, even if his Ma would slap him silly for being rude to a lady.

Berkleigh sat on the bench beside him and waited.  Kristoff unlocked his phone and handed it to her, watching her like a hawk on what she was doing to make sure she wasn’t going to try and snoop through his photos. Not that there was anything incriminating, he just didn’t want to share them with her.  At all.

She asked what his email was and then gave him the phone back to enter all his personal information. When he gave the phone back to her to finish, Sven appeared at his other side, chewing on his sandwich and watching what was happening with interest.

“There!” she said.  “Now let’s take a photo.”

“What?  No, I don’t want-”

“Come on, just stand there and I’ll snap one of you and show you how to post it.”

Kristoff reluctantly agreed if only to get her out of his hair.  He was relieved that she wasn’t demanding to be in the picture with him. There was no way he was going to say yes to that.  He lifted his hand and smiled at his phone, feeling like a complete fucking jackass.

“Done!  Here, look, you can add filters and-”

“No.  Just, post it, or whatever.”

He watched what she did as she babbled on and on about the filters anyway, then asked what he wanted to tag the photo as – whatever the fuck that meant – which Kristoff told her impatiently not to bother with.  After a tap of her finger, his picture was then posted on his brand-new Instagram account. She started to tell him that next he needed to add a profile picture and he tried to grab his phone back, wanting more than anything to be done with this exchange.

“Hang on!  Let me add myself first!” she said, pulling the phone away from his grasp.

Right, because I asked you kindly to do so.  “I really need to get back to work.”

“One second… and… done!”

She handed him back his phone and he stuffed it in his pocket.  He mumbled a ‘thanks’ even though he wasn’t happy about anything that had just happened.

“You’re welcome! Catch you later, Kris!”

She walked away and Kristoff sat back down beside Sven.  His friend was quiet a moment.

“That was awkward as fuck, dude.  Total cringe-fest.”

Kristoff groaned and put his face in his hands.

---

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

[pardonmydelays]

Did you ever watch Idina Menzel (my sweet, beautiful talented queen)'s documentary, 'Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage?' It had me on an emotional roller coaster! If you haven't watched it and you have access to Disney+, then I recommend you watch it, please, and let me know what you think. I think you'll like it! Awe-inspiring, surprising, sweet, sad at some points (especially towards the end)... Babe had a bit of a hard life growing up and was a struggling artist. But look at where she is now and where she started... 🥹🤧🥹 All of that goes to me saying this: I hope Lin-Manuel Miranda drops a documentary similar to what she did, but it's about how 'In the Heights' and 'Hamilton' came about since those are his two most well known musicals. 'Freestyle Love Supreme' needs to be mentioned at some points too! Anyways, I would love to snippets of see his thinking process from writing the lyrics to singing demos to off Broadway, etc. A little bit about Moana too even though we already got quite a lot of clips in 2016 already. And Encanto. I want to get inside this creative music composer's head!

I feel like I have so much more to say, but then it'll become a essay of useless words about my never-ending love for these two beautiful humans.

hiiiii!

so i just came here to say that i finished watching the documentary & honestly, the amount of tears i've cried is insane. for someone who didn't know much about idina, i feel like this movie was a great way to start & i would definitely recommend it to everyone. she's literally so cool & down to earth! her love for her son & her husband also made me feel so emotional, she is such a great mom & it shows. i've been literally taking notes because i feel like i have so much to say... i actually mostly knew her from rent (it's one of my favourite musicals), so it's no surprise that every mention of this show & jonathan larson made me cry (especially when she was singing "no day but today", dear lord...). one thing about me is that i've never had a chance to see/listen to wicked (please don't be mad, it's on my list, i swear!), i only knew "defying gravity", because of course, but right now it's something that i definitely need to check out (look what you made me do). sorry for being super chaotic lol i can't control my emotions right now.

with that being said, i will be the happiest & the most annoying person on earth if lin ever drops a documentary like this (i know we had one about freestyle love supreme & i love it with all my heart, but like you said, we need one about his whole life & career). all those interviews with him that i saw will never be enough for me, i need to see more & more... he's so inspiring & i could listen to him talk forever, so yes, please, i need this to happen asap! :(

[moonless-if]

Hello, I just finished playing the Moonless demo! I have to say, the customization options are amazing — the number of options presented honestly threw me for a loop in the best ways possible. I had a blast designing my MC :D

I'm already so excited for what's coming next!! And... a little apprehensive. The game description says MC is an illune, a moonless guard under the royal family — which the current MC is quite obviously not. And the character description for Rainn flat out tells you that they're a figure from your past, and you'll be "reuniting" with them.

(And, from what I've gathered, the illune doesn't even exist yet.)

All things that don't bode well for the grand heist MC and Rainn will be embarking on. ...Well, that's a bit of an understatement. It's practically a stone cold guarantee that their heist will (one way or another) fail. And that MC and Rainn will somehow be separated, going on to lead very different lives in two very separate worlds.

😌😌😌✊🏽 I can already sense the incoming angst of their reunion. Yes, I'm apprehensive, but also. Angst. 😌✊🏽

I also really appreciate the variety of conversation choices you offer — playing an IF is so much more fun when you're allowed to build your character past the basic shy/bold/sarcastic responses :D

I can't wait to see what comes next! I The world you've built in the prologue alone already feels so full and alive. Getting to see it expand is a journey that I'm very happy to be a part of.

Do take your time, though! I'm well aware that writing and coding so many details and variables must take ages. We'll all gladly be waiting 😊 Good luck, and have a good day!! Ah, and though that was quite a few days ago, I'm glad your dog is okay! My best wishes to the two of you💙💙💙

hi and thank you for the ask! seeing it pop up in my inbox and reading about the dots you've connected really brightened my day! 💖

short answer is you're right about 99% of your theories and that makes me so happy! 😍 because while i do enjoy there being stuff to unravel and figure out, i don't want it to be entirely impossible to do it, so... yeah! mc is not an illune yet and the heist will fail no matter what you do (so don't feel bad about that) and mc and Rainn will go down separate roads until they're reunited again in chapter one (most likely ch1 at least)!

the order of illune does exist in the prologue, but it's in its infancy, so very small and not publicly known (mc and Rainn have no idea it exists for example).

i won't go too much into it since i hope it'll become apparent in the game why the order is unknown in the prologue, but the reason why i decided to make the prologue almost a prequel of sorts was both to establish a relationship with Rainn from the get-go, rather than that only coming up in possibly flashbacks or discussions with them further into the story, as well as establish how mc came to be recruited into the order of illune.

and oh yes, there will be angst between mc and Rainn. how much depends on how you want to play it, but you can't avoid it entirely. another reason why i actually wanted to write the prologue in the way i'm doing it, cause otherwise you'd reunite with Rainn again and i'd have to tell you what happened and make you decide in the moment how you feel about it, rather than building it in the prologue and then letting you stew in it for a bit.

when i first started writing the moonless, the prologue was just going to be a brief maybe like 2-5k words glimpse into all of this, but as i got into writing it the story felt very much like "this is mc and they did this and then this happened" and it just felt very inorganic. i realised that because only mc gets recruited and not mc and Rainn, i really needed to show how that happened (or half the reason at least) and why they fall out of touch and don't reconnect in the years between the prologue and chapter one.

and just like you've deduced, to get to that point, the heist will likely fail. honestly, i probably could've had a version where you succeeded with the heist and the rest still works out the way it should, but i don't wanna 😂 both because of the extra added work it would be and because that's not as interesting to me as making you auto-fail.

that's not to say there won't be some variation to how and more importantly when the heist fails 👀 there'll be lots of tiny variations that's basically just flavour text, but if you make it as far as you possibly can, and with the "correct" stats, there'll be a lil something extra in it for you (the reader) as repayment for you (mc) failing the heist 😎 i will put together a small guide on how to get to the "bonus content" for those who want it, but once i'm actually done writing it.

as far as customisation (both appearance and personality-wise) goes, i'm happy you feel like there are plenty of options! 💖 when i release the rest of the prologue (hopefully at the start of this summer, if i can keep up my schedule!) there will be some re-write of what's already out, but any appearance options that might disappear will come up later (i always planned for there to be a pt2 to character customisation in chapter one, for things that might've changed between the prologue and ch1, so if any options are missing, just know that they'll be added later!)

as far as personality/conversation options, those are being rewritten as well, but really only to add more choices, so hopefully the rewrite will only make it better! 🫣

like i said, i'm hoping to be done with the rest of the prologue by early summer, but i still have a ways to go. to compare, my detailed outline for the prologue is around 17k words, which is about the same length is what's already out of the demo lmao!

again, thank you so much for your kind words! it means a lot that you took the time to write down and send me your thoughts on the story, and it's a real shot of motivation for me to keep writing!

[kellanved-ammanas]

TF2 Drabbles: Spy/Soldier - Hidden Sides

Summary: could i request a fic where soldier shows that he's much more gentle than he lets on, and everyone finds out and they're like "what the 😦"??

[A/N]: I decided to focus this mostly on Spy because I really like Freedom Fries.

~

“It’s not my fault, honest,” Scout said. “How was I supposed to know she’d run off like that?”

“Because I told you she would.” Spy had made it pretty damn clear that if his bedroom door was left open, Bijou would get out. Which was yet another reason why he didn’t want anyone in there when he wasn’t around. Not that that ever stopped Scout who seemed to take every locked door as a challenge to pick it.

“I just wanted to pet her. You can’t just keep a cat in your room and expect me not to sneak in to see her.”

“So you left the door open.”

“On accident! And I tried to catch before she got too far but that only made her run away faster. I’m fast and all, fastest man alive and all that but she’s small and can fit in places I can’t so she’s got away. But I came and told you about it as soon as I realized I’d lost her. I think I should get some credit for that because I didn’t have to, you know? I could’ve just let you find out she’s missing all by yourself.”

He had a point. Owning up to his mistakes wasn’t something Scout did often. If Spy weren’t mad at him he probably would’ve been proud.

“Fine. Help me find her. And if anything bad happens to her, I’m holding you responsible.” The area around the base was dangerous for a cat and even if she stayed inside, she posed a threat to Medic’s birds which put her in danger if Medic caught her acting on that threat. Not to mention all the various dangerous chemicals she could get into in Demo or Medic’s lab or she might get her tail or paw caught in one of the machines in Engie’s workshop. Or who knows what else? There was a reason Spy had been keeping her in his room, only letting her out under his supervision.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. We’ll find her in no time, I’m sure.”

~

They didn’t find her in ‘no time.’ Despite searching high and low and eventually getting most of the rest of the team in on the search there was no sign of Bijou anywhere. She was simply gone. Spy was just about to head outside to look for her out there in hopes of her still being nearby when…

“Yo, we found her.”

Spy turned to face Scout. “Where?”

“The shooting range with Soldier.”

Given Soldier’s proclivity for yelling and violence, as well as the fact it was the shooting range where he would be actively firing explosive rockets, Spy didn’t like the sound of that. So without further ado, he turned and started that way, Scout falling in step with him.

Upon reaching it, the rest of the team was inside already, gathered around presumably Soldier.

“… not allowed to move,” Soldier was just finishing up saying.

“You know,” Engie said, “I wouldn’t have thought you of all folk would be the type to who’d be so against the idea of mildly inconveniencing an animal.”

“It is not a mild inconvenience. She is sleeping. It would be un-American to wake her.” Soldier even spoke quieter than usual.

Spy quickly sidled into the group, forcing his way to the front to see what was going on. Soldier sat in the chair next to the table meant to lay out one’s ammo and guns. His rocket launcher was on it as were some rockets. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to using it though as on his lap was Bijou, curled up and asleep.

“Has she been here this whole time?” Spy asked in lieu of letting out a sigh of relief. As odd was it was to find her cuddling with Solider of all people, at least she was safe and not in danger of getting hunted by coyotes.

“Yes. She showed up as I was about to start my target practice. I sat down to pet her but then she jumped up on my lap and fell asleep. I have been here ever since.”

“Thank you very much for keeping her safe.” Spy approached, intending to pick her up. Before he could touch her though, Solider lifted the hand that had been stroking her to block him.

“She is sleeping. Do not move her.”

Spy didn’t like to disturb her when unnecessary either but there were limits. “You are aware she’s a cat, right? Cats can sit and sleep for hours at a time. You can not intend to sit there for that long.”

“If that is how long she wishes to stay, that is how long I will sit here for. Unless an emergency happens like if the enemy attacks.”

“Wow,” Scout said from somewhere behind Spy, “and here everyone was thinking you were just dumb and violent. Turns out you also like cats but I guess who doesn’t like cats.”

“Cats are nice,” Soldier said as he lowered his hand to stat petting Bijou again, very gently and lovingly.

Scout had a point though, everyone including Spy, had discounted Solider as just ‘dumb and violent’. Everyone had sides, Spy knew that well and delighted in sneakily finding the sides people liked to hide away. He hadn’t given much thought to attempting to do so with Soldier though, thinking it’d be a waste of time. Perhaps he should start paying more attention though and finding out what other kinds of depths Soldier has within him. For now though…

“Very well, I will leave her in your care for now. If you would kindly return her to my room after she wakes up and moves herself, that would be much appreciated.”

“Yes, sir. I promise she will be safe with me until then.” He even saluted. How… endearing.

[evelyne-am]

25th march 2023

Day 12

I’ll keep this one short I promise. Today we went in to beat to Lake really went to it, 1971. There’s a few following my stories knew that it’s about the actual war crimes they assaults the rapes. 25th of March is also the day in actually 1971 when things went dark, and so it does in our rehearsal as well. I said in the video there’s a scene that make my insides tear apart. Though the rehearsal first part was going well because of this intensity that is increasing, I was thrown into a surprise in the second half when Sir asks me to read for a part. So far I’ve only been part of the choreography and helping Sir design the music. At the actual moment he asked me to read the lines, my script was in the far end of the room because I was part of the choreography and I thought I don’t need the script right now, and Sir says why Armeen Musa don’t you want to act or are you satisfied with just during the music? I run like lightning speed to grab my script and stumble over those really hard Bangla words. Yes this is what I wanted.

he tells me to prepare the rest of it as well as a brand-new song on the war crimes by tomorrow. I am now on my fifth day of being very little sleep, and today is the day I’m supposed to finish my Coca-Cola duties. I asked my producer for one more day, Even though the 26th is the day that we are doing double rehearsal and it’s supposed to be my evening off but I realise that I am not capable of making a brand-new song and learning the lines for a part and doing other work especially in my sleep deprived state. What actually happens is that I fall asleep. The day that I finally get a chance to do the thing that I’m here to do, try my hand at a new skill, I pass out till 11 pm. I was wearing a sari since I came home because I wanted to try it out in character, so I wake up at 11 pm did a little bit of rehearsal, made a demo of a song. Also cursed myself for messing up my schedule. But here it is a.m., this is what you have been imagining, a chance at doing something that is out of your comfort zone, out of the box for you, let’s cancel everything and anything for the next few days ‘til the casring is done so you can at least have a good attempt at trying your new dream.

[jigensass]

Part 1 - Video Games

Part 1 – Video Games.

The more I wrote this list, the more that I realized I played a lot of games this year. More than average.

First off, the one shot sittings.

Unpacking – made me cry 10/10.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. Best April fool’s Joke ever 10/10.

Papa’s Freezeria Deluxe. 7/10 because nostalgia.

Now, let’s start off with the real shit.

Persona 4 Golden – Yes I am aware this is a 10 year old game. I don’t care.

I have known about this game this its inception, most likely due to the now defunct playthrough from Super Best Friends. But not gonna lie, the pony version of this version was way much better.

I’ve ranted on Persona 5 so damn much but I actually enjoyed this game and the critical issues of the teenage psyche that it delved into alongside the purpose of the main villain, who I am not going to spoil. Even the mascot character was bear-able to hear because you could literally bench the guy since he didn’t become a member of your party until halfway through the game. And Teddy was never in my face on what to do and didn’t creepily live in my house. The game just gave me suggestions when important events would happen to nudge me to say ‘hey, you should probably do this thing.’ Unlike Morgana who kept saying ‘Hey, Hey. We must sleep. Do as I say and obey.’

Overall I just found it more engaging and new mechanics weren’t always being shoved down my face during every new chapter and if there were new mechanics to use, I hardly ever used them because I mostly stuck with the same four core of Yu, Yukiko, Yosuke, & Kanji. I really wish I could have had more time to play with Naoto but by the time she enters your party, the game is nearly entering the final battle and any missed content you forgot to pick up along the way.

And I obviously picked well to romance the goth girl Marie, because I got a secret ending.

Overall, solid 8/10.

Sherlock Holmes the Awakened.

So the Gigachads at Frogwares have done it again and managed to make a sequel to their prequel ambiguously gay Sherlock game and as a remake of one of their first point and click adventures where Sherlock takes on Cthulhu.

Meanwhile in the background of all this madness (and how maddeningly they played the ending to a remake be a sequel to the original), kept throwing this about.

I’m just saying, if they announce the remake for Nemesis, I will live stream it.

And for those who don’t know what Nemesis is, it’s Lupin Part 6, the way it was supposed to be.

There is a demo on steam, the game is very short due to its age and if the old puzzles frustrate you, the game has an entire guide to how to solve Lupin’s shenanigans built in. If you love old point-and-click Nancy Drew like games, you’ll like this.

Giving it a cocktease/10.

Final Fantasy XVI & Final Fantasy Crisis Core (I’m lumping these two together).

Crisis Core is…Crisis Core. It was my first time playing it and because I set it down I believe last year or when it first came out, picked it up again, and finished it in maybe two or three more sessions and a few guide reads later, it felt…eh.  It’s been a while since I’ve played it so since it really didn’t latch on to me like some further entries into the list, I would have been able to remembered some more.

However, I played FFXVI and there are only two things you need to take away from it.

The gays are winning.

Sex on the beach.

TORGO IS BEST BOI.

Cildilfus

No really that’s it. The combat for XVI is certainly something new. And at some points, it did make me cry. But overall because the game was so small and finite, it felt…unfulfilling. I wanted to spend more time in this world to get to know these characters. Yes, I am still a bit petty that when I played the demo before I bought the game they teased that you could also play as Joshua, maybe other characters, but that never came into fruition in the final version. Which makes me believe that this game had a lot more going for it than intended.

Just like the next game on the list…

Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

This game was probably the fastest I had explored a map within one sitting. My playthroughs for FFXVI and AC Mirage were about the same length. The return to form with the old stealth mechanics was refreshing, although I only played a small bit of Valhalla and that main character drove me nuts. However, I could have cared less about the story. It was all about that sweet, sweet map exploration. The very instant I was given free reign after the tutorial, I flipped off the first objective and went off to go explore the entire map. The glaring issues of how little work went into this game showed when I just waltzed up to the final area of the game with ease or how it felt boring that to have to backtrack through the plot to get half the armor and weapon upgrades that I went out of my own way to get on my own. At that point, I just didn’t care and the ending…yeah the ending made no sense to me at all.

5/10. Very mid.

But let’s go from mid to god tier and talk about the latest Yakuza- sorry Like a Dragon game, shall we?

Like a Dragon: Gaiden – The Man who Erased his Name

AFTER 7 YEARS, HE HAS RETURNED- No wait this is Joryu Jozuma, but everyone is calling him Kiryu Kazama? WHO IS HE?

Jesus Christ I hope the people at SEGA got paid well for making this DLC into a masterpiece in six months. https://automaton-media.com/en/interviews/20231030-22625/ (link it here)

Not going to lie, this is definitely one of the better titles in the RGG franchise to date up with Yakuza 0 and the original Ishin (more on this in a bit). It’s essentially ‘Yakuza Lite’ for anyone who wants to get into the series. It’s not the best place to start if you want to get invested, but it’s a good swallow pool to get your toes wet.

The story, depending on how much you know about the series, will make you cry during the end. RGG (the studio, not the game), brought their A-game with the animations and it has been a long time coming.

Most of the fan favorite minigames are here so there’s a little bit of everything for everyone. And although most of the game does feel like busy work, which it’s a Yakuza game. The whole vibe it is supposed to give is to get you invested in something so unrelated to the main story that 40 hours later you go, ‘wait, what the fuck was I supposed to be doing again?’

And I’m not going to lie, I’m glad the finishing of the completionist list and maxing out the Akane network to level 30 being completely optional is a breath of fresh air. Because the trophy list was so easy to attain, minus a few snags here and there, I am proud to say that RGG Gaiden is my first platinum trophy on PS5.

9/10.

Meanwhile on the other hand…the meme is dead.

At the beginning of this year around February, Yakuza Ishin Kiwami dropped to the mainstream western audience, officially making it localized. I’ve already played Ishin in its prime form, so to see the state the game was in was…very depressing.

This was the first RGG game to run on the Unreal Engine and it shows that the team was not well-versed with it and the time constraints on getting the game out did not help at all. I believe this game went through six or seven patches before they said ‘enough was enough’ and just let it be.

I even broke a portion of the game on a substory with the final mail delivery race. What happened is that I took a different path than the AI so he went off screen and sooner or later I realized I was kicking his ass. Upon further investigation, I noticed that he had gotten stuck in a loop on a bridge, which was not supposed to happen.

OH AND THE AUDIO BALANCING WITH THE NEW VOICE LINES IS REALLY GOOD WE SWEAR!

Just go find a copy of OG Ishin on Ebay or somewhere. I can hardly read Japanese and still had a good time. I did not have a good time with the clunky combat, the necessity of using the tropper cards (I never used them in my original playthrough in Ishin, why should I have to use them NOW? Shinada card OP.)

6/10. – Because Majima’s lines are obviously re-used, unlike Kiryu’s who got to have most, if not all of them, re-dubbed.  

Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice.

It took me so long, but I did it. Coincidentally, right around the second trilogy announcement for consoles came about. I sat down and played the current final game in the Ace Attorney series.

And what did I think of it?

Well, it’s a mess that is for sure. That fourth cock tease of a trial with Athena may or may not be getting her own game soon…eventually… is possibly the worst case in the entire series. And no, it’s not just because of this is the case that gave the internet the sheer thought of…………….clussy. It was boring, bland, uninteresting, and there were no stakes or ingenuity to use your brain to solve the case.

Apollo? Trans? High probability. I didn’t feel any kind of deep connection to what was going on and the plot twist at the end was…too be honest kind of dumb. Like in the…’oh you had no idea but look at this cool thing we did so it feels kind of empty’ rather than how I felt when it hit me like a truck about the obvious plot twist with Bridge to the Turnabout did. Listen I’m just linking HBomberGuy’s video on Sherlock because the analogy of the 12 hour trial and Bridge to the Turnabout are identical to Moffat’s Sherlock and the OG Sherlock serials. It was his idea first.

Really the only thing I can remember is the one post I made that popped off about Athena calling out Apollo for being flustered about Klavier.

Speaking of posts that popped off…

8. Obey Me! Nightbringer (aka dear god why do I make terrible decisions with my life).

So, the gacha otome game that ruined my life last year is getting a sequel prequel!

I’m not going to play it! The gameplay will probably be just more of the same-

It’s a rhythm game.

It’s. a. rhythm. game.

*audible screaming*

ANYWAY SO NINE MONTHS AND ABOUT TEN THOUSANDS ANALYSIS POSTS ABOUT HOW EVERYONE IN THIS GAME IS AWFUL- (no I’m not joking. I’ve analyzed Lucifer like I analyzed Jigen and dare I say this man is more akin to my inner struggles than Jigen will ever be.)

Don’t worry, the money spending has been a lot more sparse and comes in giant dumps during events of a card that I want rather than a consistent cash flow since the game is more of a way to have fun rather than a way to escape humanity. Due to how much my workload has becoming, I’ve just gone down from playing daily to just playing weekly to play the new story chapters. I’m probably just going to do the bare minimum to get anything out of the Christmas event (the plot is so silly it made me laugh, ngl).

Because the story is ongoing and my opinion on some characters has changed drastically over the course of the last week. I’m just going to make a tier list of how I feel the story have been IN ACCORDANCE TO THEIR ACTIONS. (mild theory spoilers) as well as how I actually see the characters.

PLOT OPINION

CHARACTER OPINION

Overall the game is enjoyable when it takes itself seriously.

But now we must address the elephant in the room aka the big star of this year’s game list?

WHY THE ACTUAL FUCK DO I HAVE 250 HOURS IN AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR?

NO REALLY.

(btw add me on Steam, it means you actually read this disaster piece)

I don’t know what it is with this game just driving around in a big rig blaring country music is so…cathartic. It just makes me hate people in cars even more. If anything, this sparked my love for crappy 90’s country music to a spike. I admit it, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. This is my guilty pleasure game. And judge me for it all you want. My inbox is obey.

But let’s get serious. I was going to just…ignore this game despite… THIS being the release showcase. This is how I initially found about this long game that had been in development and beta testing for many years beforehand. And don’t lie, this is probably how most people found out about it too.

But someone told me that the VA from Sherlock Chapter One was doing some of the moaning during the sex scenes and I just hopped onto the train

Of Baldur’s Gate 3.

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into (I started playing around launch in late August, right around Hotfix #3 with the mirror came out). I knew next to nothing of the main lore of the Forgotten Realms universe, but my knowledge with D&D from college was basic, at best. And I was going to quit playing the game because I really did not like the constant top-down view camera. Until a co-worker, who was also playing said, ‘you know you can move that camera, right?’ So I came back, plugged in my PS4 controller into my computer and I was off to the races.

That was until when I went to go free up some space on my computer, this fucking piece of shit game nearly bricked my damned PC and I saved it with patience and by the grace of fucking Mystra herself because I deleted MY ENTIRE USER FOLDER LIKE AN IDIOT

Disclaimer: I have yet to finish the game because this is an OC simulator, I still want to play the Origin characters, as well as the Durge playthrough. Which, depending on how you play, is THOUSANDS OF HOURS of CONTENT. And there is just so many options and how you can go about things as well as that random chance of RNG.

I currently have four OC campaigns. I have not even touched the sheer tip of the iceberg. Azazel, the buff High Elf Bard who is fucking Halsin. Donna, the sorcerer Luna, the Wood-Elf Druid Burrito, the human warlock. (This is by far the craziest playthrough so far)

I am also writing this after the game awards so congrats to Larian for getting the sweep they deserved. All the other games that were nominated this year were just a blip on the radar compared to what BG3 was doing. The gameplay is not innovative outside of the world of D&D, but they hit a homerun with all of the story that is crammed into this game and did it so well that they continued to update the game MONTHS after the open release with change of life styles and multiple bug fixes that many players enjoyed.

Also all of the voice actors are beautiful. They all did a fantastic job with their work. But you know who this is about now.

(I go looking for one specific video and I find this fucking piece of gold while the game was still in beta access.)

Yes we are going to be talking about Astarion (or for me at first it was A-‘stair’-ion).

What do I think of him? Since I have seen many posts going around that apparently a portion of the fan community cannot separate between actor and the art. I made this meme.

Yes, Neil is a very precious man and deserves more work in the industry after his spring board with Astarion. I do not associate him with Astarion outside of their voices because I hate to love Astarion. The man is a fucking slut of a PROSECUTOR. He would make Miles Edgeworth jealous because he took his husband of an attorney and would make Klavier Gavin foam at the mouth at his sense of style is 10000x better than his. He would be slaying in the courtroom ALL THE TIME.

Astarion is the devil on every player’s shoulder that goes ‘yeah we could be goody-two shoes but is that fun? No, no it isn’t. Spill some blood, just for me kitten.’ And you wouldn’t hesitate to do it.

My bard, Azazel, who was mostly aligned with good, had a neutral relationship with Astarion going into Act 3. Astarion at this point was EVERYONE’S Devil and I blame him for Gale getting into deeper shit with Mystra than he already had been. Azazel would always listen to what Astarion would had to say, but never would be drag along with his shenanigans, despite keeping him around to use as a distraction to try multiply times to steal 10 scrolls of dimension door from the wizard shop in Baldur’s Gate. Did I do? Fuck yes I did. Was it worth it? Hell yes it was.

MEANWHILE, I’m currently going through the game as well, me, as a human warlock. And let me tell you, this game will show you what kind of person you actually are. And truth be told, I’m a decent person, but will go the shady route to get things done. I almost ALMOST sided with Minathra based on looks alone until I found out she sounded like a crazed member of the Alt-Right and was going to also kill the refugees. I pissed some kids off, lied, stole, but somehow in the name of Mystra, just because I fed Gale some magic items and heard him out did he instantly rise to ‘excpetional’ status without me even realizing it. He instantly became an incel because you guessed it, some white-haired vampire seduced me into sleeping with him and THEN the githyanki because I helped HER out of her problems wanted to sleep with me. THEN THE VAMPIRE found out I was sleeping with the githyanki, and told me ‘it’s either me or the gith’.

It was a hard decision: Being stepped on, or good sex.

Obviously I chose the latter. Because I’m a sucker. Though I really do wish I could let this go on.   

[metalindex-hu]

„I’m more into the energy and vibe of a song.”

„I’m more into the energy and vibe of a song.” - https://metalindex.hu/2023/05/25/im-more-into-the-energy-and-vibe-of-a-song/ -

Garry, Jaguar is generally considered as one the first speed metal bands along with Venom, Tank and Raven, do you agree with it?

Well if we helped to invent speed metal we didn’t know we were doing it! We just loved to play fast and the faster we played the more we liked it. We were just teenagers having fun that’s all, we had no idea what was going to happen.

In your opinion, did the band already have a name in the scene before you released Power Games?

     Yes in some places like Holland for example, due firstly to our demo tape then the two              singles that came out before Power Games. We were already regularly playing shows in the the UK and Holland, trying to build up a following long before Power Games was released in May 1983.    

At which point did you start working on the new songs?

We were always writing new songs, that process never stopped and the songs that ended up on Power Games were the songs we considered to be the best when we went in to record the album. I think we were pretty good when it came to writing new songs, there was never any shortage of ideas or creativity.    

You entered the Impulse Studios in November, 1982, to cut the album, were you prepared to record the material?

Yes as prepared as we could be. We had more than enough songs ready to go so we didn’t get stressed about that. The actual recording sessions were another matter though….ha ha! 

What about the recording sessions?

We turned up and were basically told we had five days to record the album from start to finish. We thought Dave Wood was joking but he wasn’t and would not budge when l asked for more recording time. He said ’What do you want to do? Go on a fishing holiday?’…ha ha, this line has gone down in Jaguar history. We did the best we could but what can you do in five days? 

Do you think, that the songs themselves all bear some strong riffcraft and excitement, the song structures are quite simple actually and the music is catchy?

      Yes the songs were quite simple in arrangement and structure but we always tried to    make them singalong and catchy, because that’s what we liked. To be honest l don’t care about complexity and technical skill, that’s not my thing, I’m more into the energy and vibe of a song.

Did the tunes also show great hard rock implementations that fit your image and various examples of straight rock of the mid to late 70s can be traced through some of the material?

Perhaps ’Master Game’ might be an example of that but that’s about it. I don’t think the rest of the songs on Power Games sound particularly 70’s. We weren’t trying to re-create that decade.  

Is Dutch Connection a tribute to Jaguar’s early-career popularity in Holland?

Yes it sure is! We first played there in 1981 and the reception we got was completely overwelming, it was awesome! Every time we played there it was brilliant so we decided to honour our Dutch fans with a song, so we wrote Dutch Connection for them. When we play it there the fans go crazy and so do we! I played it for James Hetfield last year, (2022).    

Ain’t no Fantasy was on the Demo in 1981, was it a renewed version? Did you re-record it?

We decided to re-record it for the album because we felt we could do a better version of it. I think it’s better than the demo version anyway.

Does Power Games have three key ingredients: earthiness, enthusiasm and naïveté, at the same time this is an incredibly fierce, ass kickin’, top-to-bottom classic with nary a bad cut?

People say it does which is great, we just tried to make the best record we could under the time contraints we were given. It could have been so much better if we’d had more recording time.

How do you explain, that musically speaking Jaguar had a unique style and a personal sound?

It just sort of happened, evolved. Of course these days it not cool to talk about chemistry but l believe that’s what we had. Just like all my favourite bands. I also think our sound had a lot to do with the way that my guitar and Jeff Cox’s bass locked together, kind of ’as one’. Jeff was a phenomenal bass player, totally underrated.

Rowdy, rampant, and aggressive, yet tight, coordinated and semi-polished, the loose and unpolished sound of the guitars blend well with the basic nature of the songs, correct?

Ha ha, yes l guess so! That’s down to the way l play and my ’keep it simple’ mentality. 

You worked with Keith Nichol, was he the in-house producer of the Impulse Studios? Did you get on well, was it easy to work him with?

Yes he was the in-house Impulse Studios producer at that time so we had no choice but to           work with him. We got on well and he was a nice guy but we would have worked with someone   else given a choice.           

Is it true, that the label’s financial problems delayed the printing for several months? How long did it take?

There was no mention that Neat had financial problems at the time but yes it took them seven months to release the album. 

Were there any shows or tours in support of the record?

We were always playing shows, both in the UK and in Holland, some of them coincided with the release of the album. I remember playing a bunch of shows in Holland with Raven around that time.

How about the gig at the Siesta Club in Hengelo, Holland, December 17, 1982, that was released on cd in 2006?

That show was never supposed to have been officially released, it’s more of a bootleg than anything else. Majestic Rock Records were going to put it out, Geoff Gillespie from the label called me and said he’d obtained a ’superb’ recording of the show and wanted to release it. They were going to put it out whether we liked it or not and as the band didn’t have the money to legally stop them l was forced into working on the release to make sure we got something out of it. In the end I got five hundred copies of the CD out of them plus they were supposed to pay us £1000.00 but never did. The label went out of business owing us and other bands a lot of money.  

What do you recall of the 1983 N.W.O.B.H.M. scene compared to the early (1979/1980) days?

I don’t recall an awful lot about the scene in 1983 as we were in the process of changing our style to the more melodic ’This Time’ era. What l do remember though is it wasn’t as exciting as the earlier years. Maybe it was just what we were going through that made it feel less exciting.   

Is the album a kind of late-to-the-game N.W.O.B.H.M. classic, but on the other hand is a landmark of that era?

I think it was kind of indicative of the ’second wave’ of NWOBHM, after the Maiden and Saxon etc wave. Us, Raven, Fist and all the Neat bands, I suppose you could call it the Neat Records era.

How do you view, that you were probably a year or two late in getting your debut out to make much of an impact?

It’s possible that if it had been released earlier it may have made more of an impact, yes l agree. It could have been released a little earlier than it was though because as I’ve said Neat Records sat on it for around seven months before they put it out.  

When it comes to being underrated, Jaguar may as well fit the description…

Ha ha, I agree, well l would say that wouldn’t I! Perhaps we are but there again so are Raven, a criminally underrated band, Diamond Head too. There are a ton of underrated bands who don’t/didn’t get the success they deserved. 

Garry, thanks a lot for your answers, any closing words to the interview?

My pleasure, I’m always surprised and grateful that anyone remembers Power Games after all these years. So thanks for asking me to talk about it….keep on rocking!!!

[zhongrin]

I suppose that make sense considering GI take at least a year to add a new world/archon lol. From my understanding, they tend to base things in real life? Like I've heard that `Sumeru is based on the Middle East and South Asia? Oh, that doesn't sound too bad then and it's sound quite ethnical, at the end of the day GI want to make everyone happy lol which is probably why they made the game for free. I've seen clips of the Windblume festival and it seem like it hit the viewers in the feels? Lol, I don't know but I have seen gifs of it on here. Maybe, GI thought they would be safe since the game is free. I get where you're coming from though, it would be a massive turnoff for the hardcore fans. Yes, I'm nowhere near finishing, I still have a lot of things to look forward too ^^ That sound neat! Yh, I would imagine that the PC version would be the best one to play but again apparently it's lags depending on your system. It's probably because of the IOS update? It works better on the newer models but GI is only available on the Apple Store, it's not available for Non-Apple users so I'm not entirely sure, it seem like their focus is more on Windows users. What phone do you have now? I have the iPhone 11 ^ I'm sure that the adapation will be in good hands since it's Ufotable, I would hate to imagine what would had happened if Netflix got their hands on it lol. That's a short time to catch up with the game! You must really like it then, how long did it take for you to meet Zhongli? That still sound like a good range of characters! It must be fun to have Itto though considering his demo/personality. I download the game last year in the summer, I have Thoma, Noelle, Gorou and another one? I can't remember their name though. I found Thoma to be the most useful one, I was pulling for Itto but I didn't get him ;-; - Moon Anon

yeah... at least they have events and such tho! ahh there's a lot of opinions that goes for sumeru's origins and what it's based on so i'm not gonna open that can of worms, but yeah you're right! all the regions are based on certain countries and cultures!

windblume festival was nice! i liked lantern rite more but i'm probably biased bc liyue is my favorite nation lol

it's good! your journey is still far from over!! you mean GI is not available on mac? yeah, it's not (mac user here lol) haha not too sure why since it's available on iPad and iPhones ;;;

i just changed to iPhone 13 early this year bc my iPhone 7 was getting far too slow & its battery can barely last an hour if it's used hahah

honestly, i don't watch netflix original series so i'm not sure about their adaptation quality, but i have heard many bad things... given hyv's background tho, i feel like that option isn't something they would explore?

hahah i think the fact that previously i've played on my brother's account helped a lot! i was already familiar with the controls, characters, and a few other things. for zhongli, i've met him on my brother's account but he only came home last august in my account haha (he made me pull out my card ;;;;)

i love thoma! i wanted him to be my main pyro dps but he wasn't built for that... and my brother was like "he's no good don't build him" ;w; BUT with the dendro reactions he's a good party member now!! >:)

[artairwave]

I think. A normal amount. About these two dancing.

In Stars and Time belongs to @insertdisc5 !

[shiroichiban]

Aaron T being head over heels for the reader (Female) and it’s just fluff

me not realising my ask box was open but this ask is just too damn good to pass up, we need more aaron content and I am here to deliver! sorry for not being able to deliver too well female reader part though since my writing style just flows better with gender neutrality 😗 (also yes the 4Town members are teenagers and all attending high school in my fics because i can’t for the life of me write them as adults when they look like that)

Aaron T x Reader

you were quietly reading a book that was due for your english assignment tomorrow on the front steps of your school as you waited for your parents to come pick you up. it was wednesday so they had to work a bit later, meaning they had to pick you up a bit later. but you didn’t mind since you always had a welcome distraction come your way, “in about three… two… and one.” you mumbled as you stared down at your watch before lifting your gaze to the school doors as they swung open to reveal your so-called ‘distraction’.

“hey!! how’s my favorite girl!” aaron t smiled as he bounded his way towards you in what looked like a mix of a bunny hop and running, it was cute how energetic he always was even after school. you smiled at him before extending your arm out, gesturing for him to sit next to you like always. it had become somewhat of a routine for him to join you after school every wednesday, your schedules coincided with you being picked up late and him having no rehearsals on the same day.

“what’cha reading?” he asked cutely as he tilted his head to the side to stare at what you were reading at, “ugh mister adams’ reading assignment? i haven’t even comprehended that yet!” he pouted cutely, resting his chin on your shoulder, “is it any good?”

“mm… as good as a school sanctioned reading assignment gets.” you shrugged causing the brunette to groan and immediately pull out what you know to be his ‘lyric notebook’. “then don’t focus on that and listen to this new rap i came up with! it’s way better than any old classic book mister adams makes us read!” without waiting for your reply he immediately starts drumming a beat on his lap as the lyrics flow out of his mouth and you find yourself nodding along. aaron t was genuinely talented when it came to rap lyrics and you could never say no when offered to listen to them, in fact you felt honoured that you were the first one he ran his demo lyrics by.

after finishing with an exaggerated breath he looked at you excitedly, “well? well?! what did you think!” whenever he got all excited like this he resembled an extremely excited puppy to a t. “it was great!” you smiled as you gently patted him on the head which immediately made him go into overdrive, “alright! y’know i wrote this with you in mind so i tried to make it extra cool!” he looked so proud of himself while clearly asking for you to praise him it was adorable.

“hm, you tried to be cool but you came off more cute to me.” you said teasingly, making him gasp dramatically, “well maybe i was trying to be cute for you!” aaron t exclaimed this while leaning his head on your shoulder, “i’d say it definitely worked!” with this revelation he looked satisfied as he then moved to sit closer to you, “y’think it’ll work for the new song?”

“any kind of rap you do works for your songs t.” you reassured him gently, giving him a little pat on the head which made him smile as he made a little excited sound before lifting his head from your shoulder, just then a small ring resounded from the inside of his bag, taking his phone out he opened it and you could glimpse a small text message but not make out what it said.

whatever it was though made t upset really quickly as he pouted and looked at you, “aw man we‘re getting a last minute practice session in.” he mumbled disappointedly before his eyes lit up again, “kiss me on the cheek for good luck?”

laughing at how cute he was in the moment, the sun slowly setting behind you and t giving you the sweetest puppy dog eyes as he asked for kisses you couldn’t help but nod. “close your eyes.” you said and he followed obediently, gently you leaned in and pressed a small peck to his lips making him gasp as his eyes shot open when he pulled away to look at you.

“I gave you one on the lips for extra luck so break a leg at practice ok?” you smiled which immediately had the boy jumping up and down happily to the point you thought he was gonna do a spontaneous backflip or something, not that you doubted he would but you just worried that he would hurt himself. “alright, alright t calm down, don’t you need to get to practice?”

“oh right, that!” he immediately grabbed his bag before looking at you one more time with the biggest grin on his face, “once we see each other tomorrow you’re gonna give me more kisses for doing a good job right?” you almost wanted to burst out laughing at the fact that he was negotiating for more kisses now of all times, “i will, i will, i promise.” you smiled, “now get going before you’re late!” making quick shooing motions with your hands the boy took off down the sidewalk and you had to witness him almost fall on his face twice.

-

it was a bit later at night when you suddenly got a text from aaron z,

did you give him… sugar or something?

immediately flashing back to your kiss on the staircase you smiled and replied,

‘no something a little better 😚’

EUGH, was aaron z’s immediate reply afterwards. safe to say your boyfriend was a menace at practice that day.

[lonelyasawhisper]

Putting the Crown on Queen

Jon Tiven, Zoo World, 20 December 1973

ALL OF ENGLAND is abuzz with the news of a hot group with all the majesty of Led Zeppelin, a group that delivers superstar appeal even before they've played a major London venue. The name of the group is Queen, the guitarist's name is Brian May, and I had the distinct pleasure of being able to chat with him in his London apartment on the eve of the first album's release. Brian is a friendly but quiet fellow, proud of his guitars and his music in a very humble way. Yes, like the name of the group itself, Queen's members thrive on ambiguities.

"I'd been with Roger, our drummer, in a group called Smile, a Creamish band. We'd jam all the time, getting our experience in clubs, but we never got anywhere — no matter what we did, we seemed to be fated for obscurity. Our single on American Mercury Records did nothing, we had a horrible manager who took all our money, it seems that everyone's had one of those. Really terrible... we ended up suing Mercury, and the manager got all the money, so we broke up. Roger and I got together with Freddie, our singer, who had lots of ideas for songs, and the whole idea/concept/image/music of Queen was formed at that time. Most of the songs which appear on our first album were written in the first two or three months of Queen's existence, we were all keen and enthusiastic. Freddie and I write separately, but we finish off the songs together, and Roger's written some things for the new LP.

"We had trouble with bass players, just couldn't find the right one. We went through about five, finally meeting John through a friend, and he was right, so we've been knocking about for threeish years.

"We were very cautious because of what had happened before. Having been around so long and gotten nowhere, we played a lot but only seemed to reach a few people. So we acted as if we were going to play to the world from the start, it was somewhat snobbish, actually. We played special things and a few college gigs every fortnight, we always assumed that we were to be a recording band. If we didn't make it that way, we wouldn't make it at all. I knew some people from De Lane Lea Studios from ages back, and they asked us in to help them out, which we did, and they then offered to make us some demos. They were good 16 track demos, we mixed them ourselves and brought them around to record companies. All of them wanted us except EMI.

"But we knew John Anthony from Smile, and he was getting a deal together with Trident. He said he'd try to make a deal with Trident as a production company, and he came through. We did the album with John and Roy Baker producing, and then the finished product went round the record companies again. Eventually, Jack Nelson did the deal with EMI — it's worked out alright, although it's taken a long time."

Such is the tale of Queen's formation, a band born out of time and continuous effort. Unlike many contemporaries, Queen are not the teenage boys who dropped out of second grade to play rock 'n' roll — they've been very cautious all the while. "I got a degree in physics, and I've done about five years' work on an Astronomy PhD. I'm still writing it up, actually — about a word a week. It's a strange situation, as we've all been doing that sort of thing and waiting until it looked as though the time was right to be musicians. I think it's a good idea, because we're still fresh in a way. You can only get so far playing year after year to audiences that don't understand what you're doing, and if you don't work things properly you'll end up playing $15 a night gigs forever."

The question then comes up, is this Queen band a bunch of homosexual rockers a la David Bowie, or has the title to do with something other than the pansy connotation? "I don't know why the New York Dolls comparisons are coming up, but I haven't heard the Dolls at all or seen them, so I shouldn't say. Our stage act is a show, more rock 'n' roll oriented than the album, actually, as at this stage of the game, if you go onstage and people don't know your material you can get boring if you do all your own stuff all of the time. So we do more heavy rock 'n' roll with the Queen delivery to give the people something to get hold of — get on/sock it to 'em/get off. Give 'em a show, but don't make anything but the music your foundation. We do some R&B things, Bo Diddley's 'I'm a Man', Elvis Presley's 'Jailhouse Rock', as well as Little Richard's 'Bama Lama'. Apart from that, we do our heaviest numbers, we regard records and playing live as two separate things.

"We're not afraid to put everything we can on a record, making it a big production. Obviously there's a connection between records and performances, but they don't have to necessarily be the same. It's very regal and dignified onstage, I don't know quite what to think of the name now. There's some ambiguity there, now that the whole glitter rock thing has exploded, and we're caught in the middle. We knew we were going to get reviews calling us glamrock, but when people come to see us onstage they'll find out. We keep numbers fairly short onstage, we're more into playing songs as we did the whole jamming thing in the old band. Jamming is great in a way, cause it gives you great experience in playing with someone and playing what you're thinking all the time, but to watch a band do that you see it as self-indulgence.

"People have told us that we are better suited for American audiences than English audiences, although all of our knowledge of America is second hand. I get the impression that the market is different there, as in England you get classified as either teeny-bopper or "underground." If you're somewhere inbetween, you're treading on dangerous ground... and we are. We're not adverse to writing hit singles, as we consider it an art form, but there's the danger in England of getting classed with The Sweet and Marc Bolan, whereas in America you get accepted for what you are.

"The Sweet are a funny band... I think 'Hellraiser' is an amazing single. It's great and very well produced, extremely tight. I know what it's like trying to get a heavy sound that's exciting out of a simple pop song without making it sound too smooth. It's difficult to do what they do, and to do it as well."

Besides being a fine songwriter and a superb guitarist, Brian has been a longtime fan of English rock 'n' roll. His influences are about as diverse as they come, and he doesn't hesitate about flattering the styles of others.

"For me, my main influences were Hendrix as a guitarist and the Beatles as songwriters and as a single unit. I was a Yardbirds fan way back, Clapton and Beck especially, and I still like their work... we've got the heavy influences, but we're more melodically inclined. And I like a few old guitar players, Freddie King and Chuck Berry. I really enjoyed The Who, and the other Shel Talmy group, the Creation, which was a bunch of art students including Ron Wood from the Faces.

"I do like the Jackson Five, that singer's great whatever his name is, and they've got the sort of rhythm section I go for, nothing can touch it. And they're so young, and we're old, I'm 26. I love the Miracles, and I admire Stevie Wonder and love his production, although I get bored with his songs when they get to repeating the riff over and over. I've gotten sort of sick of him as my neighbors play them all the time. I liked the Velvet Underground, bought all their singles. The Herd were a nice band, I saw them at the Marquee when they were supposedly doing something 'different' but they got caught up in the pop scene, someone was obviously trying to mold them."

Then a wide smile takes over Mr. May's mouth when he talks about one of his all time favorites, the Nice. "We used to go see them at The Marquee every week, and I was very sad when David O'List left. David O'List was very impressive in those days because he was so obviously not following what everybody else was following. He sounds terrible on the albums, and I don't know why, it just doesn't come across like he did it live. It sounds crude and scruffy, and onstage it came across much better. Very often he would sort of flounder around for a few numbers, and then get really settled in and do amazing things. He could always put a note inbetween things, like Emerson's going around all of the time as he's the star of the show, but O'List was throwing in the odd chords and was simply amazing. He was with Roxy Music just before they made the big time — he always seems to leave at the wrong time, I think he's a very highly-strung person who gets fed up with things.

"And Syd Barrett I like as well, he's left his mark all over. The funny thing is how much of Syd is still in the Pink Floyd, a lot of the good things they've got left are derivative of things he used to do. I think they have done quite well, considering. It's a funny borderline between insanity and genius. He used to just stand there and make these funny noises back in the early days, it was just him thrashing at his Telecaster and the other people trying to make themselves heard.

"Actually, we all stopped listening to new records after Hendrix, and it's only recently that we've gotten back to listening. Actually, I'm frightened to hear Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells because from what I've read, it sounds very much like what I've wanted to do. Very worrying when you have ideas for a long time, like a lot of the things we wanted to do even as far back as with Smile have been done. Smile recorded a few tracks with multitracked guitar before anyone else had."

Queen is currently recording their second album, as well as singles, and they aim to keep the two separate. Brian feels that if you release a single and then put it on an album you're cheating the public, and Queen aims to stay away from that in the future, as there's enough of good material on the album. They're recording the new album in pieces, although the whole concept has been mapped out by the group and producer Roy Baker for some time now. "We're all egomaniacs, so we each want to produce the album ourselves, but at the same time we're cautious as a lot of people try to produce themselves too soon. The new album will be a lot like the last production-wise, with much re-recording and remixing, until we get it perfect. The next album will sound even more orchestral, with more complex guitar arrangements — I think that's the way we're going, doing albums as an artistic production and then doing a stage show of exciting rock. We never use a synthesizer or effects such as Maestro units or Leslie cabinets, all of the sounds are produced by the instruments or the studio itself. We really enjoy blending things, as there are eight guitars on the single, 'Keep Yourself Alive'. We're recording the second album with quadrasonic in mind."

Queen is not only a metallic band of the present, but they're a hard rock band ahead of their time. They should be over in the United States sometime before Winter's end... miss them at your own expense.

Retrieved from rocksbackpages.com

[fanficshiddles]

My Sweet Rose, Chapter 1

From the imagine on imagine-Loki here.

Summary: Rosie got a job working at The Avengers tower with her cousin, Pepper. She’s only been there a week when Loki comes live there, to make up for his past deeds in New York. But this brings a lot of problems for Rosie.

Loki was her Daddy Dom. Who vanished one day without a word, leaving her completely broken and lost.

Note: Daddy/little dynamic & Flashbacks will be in Bold. I’m not sure how long this story will be, I’m thinking no more than 5 chapters though. But I saw the imagine and omg I love it, had to do something with it. Haven’t written anymore of it yet but just HAD to share the first chapter so far, oops! lol. 

-

Rosie had been working and living in the Avengers tower for a week now, it was going really well. And it was helping to keep her mind occupied, getting her back on her feet after such a rough year.

She was a PA for Stark, and the other Avengers if they needed anything too. It was helping her cousin, Pepper out a lot. As Stark was very demanding nowadays and the others were becoming that way too.

It was also good for Rosie. She’d had a really tough year. She met someone a few years ago in a BDSM club, it had been her first time there after spending months building up the courage to go. She was a little, and had been wanting to find someone that she could feel safe with to explore that side of her.

She met a man, who was charming and handsome. Kind, funny. They fell in love, or so she thought anyway. He was the perfect Daddy Dom for her, teaching her everything and looking after her. She adored and loved him so much. Which is why when one day he just vanished, it was all the harder for her.

He just never returned after saying he had to go home to visit his family, who lived in Iceland apparently. But he did that regularly and always returned to her. But not that time. To say she was heartbroken when there was not even a call or a text from him explaining why was an understatement.

His name was Loki. And it became clear what happened a few months later after his disappearance, she saw him on the news. Loki, the God Of Mischief, was trying to take over the world. She couldn’t believe it and thought she was dreaming when she realised it had was her Loki. He looked different in the heavy armour, he looked scary.

But she thought no wonder he left her, he was a God and a Prince after all. What would he have wanted with her in the first place anyway?

She had tried a couple of times to date someone else, but never made it past the first date. As they just… weren’t him. No matter how often she tried to just forget about him. It was difficult.

She’d fallen into a downward spiral, not even able to go to work. So she had lost her job and was on benefits for a while. She became really anxious and nervous.

But here, in the tower, she was trying to turn herself around again. It had been one man, even if he had been her first true love, in her heart anyway. She knew she would heal, in time. Even if it had been over a year.

Rosie had been so engrossed in sorting out some paperwork for Tony that she never noticed the newcomer coming into the kitchen. She barely even registered Thor introducing her to him. ‘This is Rosie, our PA, she’s new here.’

Not until she heard an all too familiar voice responding that sent shivers down her spine and sent her heart racing.

‘Rosie… My sweet Rose?’

There was only one person who had ever called her that.

Slowly she looked up, eyes widening, standing before her was Loki.

‘Oh my sweet Rose, you’ve done Daddy so proud.’ Loki purred gently as he cradled her in his lap.

She felt so safe and secure, curled up against him as he wrapped a blanket around her naked body. Knowing how cold she always got after they’d played together quite so intensely.

Loki rocked her back and fore softly as he ran his fingers through her hair, soothing her. She was trembling a bit after her orgasms, Loki had pushed her almost past her limit, but he knew. He always knew when to stop at the right time.

He was an intense Daddy, and could be really strict at times. But he was fair and ever so kind. He had his goofy moments and was extremely playful too, which she loved. He was never angry with her, always calm and collected. Even when she misbehaved, not that that happened often.

She clung to his shirt so tightly, never wanting to let go. Loki had to carefully remove her hand from his shirt just so he could change them into a different position, getting them both under the blanket so he could have her snuggled up next to him. He knew she would fall asleep soon.

‘Daddy.’ She whispered quietly, sounding so vulnerable.

‘Yes, my little one?’ Loki asked, engulfing her small hand in his large one.

‘Can you sing to me?’

Loki smiled. ‘Of course, my sweetling.’

He began singing to her in Asgardian, but he had told her before it was Icelandic. She had no reason not to believe him, especially since he told her he’d grown up there with his parents.

But he had a beautiful voice, she always loved to hear him sing.

She felt so loved as he she drifted off to sleep to the sound of his voice. She faintly remembered a gentle kiss on her forehead just before she fell asleep.

Thor was confused at their interaction, especially as Rosie said nothing at first. Just stared at Loki in utter disbelief.

‘No…’ She shook her head and took a step backwards. ‘You… You don’t get to call me that anymore.’ She said quietly, her voice trembling as tears came to her eyes.

‘Rosie? What’s wrong, did he hurt you?’ Clint asked upon seeing the reaction.

Rosie grabbed the pile of paperwork off the table beside her and she ran off out of the kitchen, with tears falling down her face.

Clint turned to Loki. ‘You’ve got some explaining to do.’ He snapped at him.

‘I have nothing to explain to you, Hawk.’ Loki snarled.

Natasha and Pepper saw Rosie running out of the kitchen in floods of tears, they ran after her into her room. Natasha managed to grab the door before it closed on them.

‘Rosie? Rosie, what’s wrong?’ They both asked as they rushed in to her.

Rosie threw the papers on her bed and she started pacing back and fore, shaking and crying with her arms wrapped around herself. Pepper grabbed her and pulled her down to sit on the bed.

‘Rosie, please speak to us.’ She pleaded with her cousin as Natasha sat at the other side of her.

‘It… It’s him…’ She sobbed.

‘Who? Loki? Did he scare you? I told him not to be an asshole to anyone.’ Natasha said angrily.

‘He… He’s the one. Who I dated before.’ She blurted out, making Pepper and Natasha go silent in shock.

‘But… how?’ Pepper asked.

‘I met him one night in a club. And we dated for eleven months. I was in love with him, utterly and completely. I thought he was with me too. But then he just vanished and never came back one day. Then a few months later, I saw him on the TV… I didn’t tell anyone it was him, because I thought no one would believe me anyway. And what did it matter? It wouldn’t change anything.’ Rosie blurted out between crying.

‘Oh, Rosie. I wish you had told me.’ Pepper pulled her into a hug and cradled her head against her. ‘It’s ok, shhh, shhh. It’s going to be ok.’

Natasha rubbed her back softly. ‘If we had known, we would have warned you he was coming here. I’m so sorry.’

Rosie shook her head and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. ‘No… It’s my fault, I should have told you. I just… it’s a shock to see him face to face.’

Natasha and Pepper nodded in understanding.

They stayed with her for a little while, then when she told them she was ok and was going to take a shower before bed, they left her to it.

But it ended up being the longest shower ever. She kept thinking about Loki and what they had together before.

Kept thinking of when they first met…

Rosie was super nervous when she walked into the BDSM club. But after months of talking herself into it, she finally had the courage to do it.

She didn’t dare tell any of her friends what she was into or what she was doing, perhaps foolish in a way as no one knew where she was. And she was on her own. But she was too embarrassed to tell anyone. Her friends wouldn’t understand.

She relaxed a tiny bit once she was there, noticing other people on their own as well. Getting a few drinks down her helped with her nerves too.

Some of the people she spoke to briefly were really nice. She met a lovely couple at the bar who asked if it was her first time there. They told her if she needed anything to feel free to ask them, not to be shy. That everyone there was really nice and friendly.

There were various demos on that she watched, there was a lot more to some scenes than met the eye. It really made her realise how on sites such as Fetlife and others, it was easy to get sucked into the wanna-be-Dom’s who likely had no idea what they were doing. Or how much safety came into it all.

‘Excuse me, I don’t mean to bother you but I was wondering if you’d like to join me for a drink?’ A beautiful voice came from beside her when one of the demos on aftercare just finished.

Rosie turned and her breath was taken from her as she gazed up at an incredibly tall and handsome man.

‘I… I… Yeah, I would like that, thank you.’ Rosie stammered out, nodding over enthusiastically.

He grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth as he put his hand out towards her. ‘My name is Loki.’ He introduced.

‘I’m Rosie.’ She smiled up at him and put her hand into his. That’s when she noticed his gorgeous hands, so big and he had such long fingers. She blushed hard when he raised her hand up and he kissed the back of it, making her skin tingle like crazy.

‘Pleasure to meet you, Rosie.’ He said charmingly.

Loki gave her his arm and led her over to a free table near the bar. She was really nervous, and Loki could tell. But he soon had her at ease, just chatting away to her calmly and making her laugh almost straight away. She slowly began to relax in his presence.

‘Is this your first time here?’ He asked after buying them both another drink.

‘Is it that obvious?’ She cringed, making him chuckle.

‘Kind of. You did look a bit like a deer in the headlights. But that’s normal for first timers.’ Loki winked at her.

‘So, I’m guessing that means you’ve been here before?’

‘It does.’ He nodded. ‘Not often, it’s probably my fourth visit. Mainly just trying to meet new people, meet anyone that may potentially be interested in a Daddy Dom.’

Rosie’s eyes widened and she suddenly fell shy again as she looked down at her glass and swallowed hard. Loki raised an eyebrow, instantly realising that she was a little. He suspected she was a sub, but hadn’t been sure about the little aspect or not.

Loki leaned forward over the table towards her a little more. ‘Let me take a quick stab in the dark here… But I am presuming that you are a little?’

Her mouth opened and closed again. Then she just opted for nodding in response instead of trusting her voice to actually work.

Loki smiled softly. ‘Nothing to be shy about, sweetheart. That’s why lots of people come to these clubs, to meet their person.’

‘I… I guess so.’ She agreed.

They continued to talk for over an hour, not much about BDSM which Rosie found quite pleasant. He didn’t seem to want to jump straight in so quickly, which in turn made her trust him more and relax.

At the end of the night, Loki handed over a small card with his number on it. ‘There’s absolutely no pressure at all. But I’ve really enjoyed my night with you, Rosie. I would love to take you out on a date, perhaps out for lunch Saturday? But there’s no pressure, I don’t need an answer right now. Just text or call me to let me know. But if I don’t hear from you, that’s ok too. I totally understand.’

Rosie’s heart was racing. Could he get any more considerate? He wasn’t pressuring her at all, not asking for her number. Not even expecting her to contact him if she didn’t want to go on a date with him. Not even needing an answer straight away, what a gentleman.

Loki walked her outside the club and hailed a taxi for her, he even paid in advance for her, not taking no for an answer.

‘I just want to make sure I know you’ll get home safely. And I can’t help it, it’s the protective Daddy in me.’ He shrugged and chuckled, making her giggle shyly.

‘Thank you, Loki.’ She smiled widely at him as she got into the taxi and he closed the door for her once she was in.

He waved her off and she couldn’t stop smiling the whole way home.

Of course, she did text him the following morning to say she would love nothing more than to go on a date with him on Saturday. If that was still what he wanted, too.

Loki replied within a minute, with a time and a place for their first date.

-

‘How DARE you!’ Pepper roared at Loki and launched for him, slapping him across the face. It barely made him flinch, but he clenched his jaw as he glared at her.

Everyone was surprised at Pepper’s outburst.

‘Woah, what did he do?’ Bruce asked.

‘HE is the one that broke my cousin’s heart. She was head over heels in love with you, asshole. Then you just disappeared on her, left her alone without even an explanation. No note, nothing.’ She snarled at him.

Loki narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I did what was right. To protect her. She was better off without me.’

‘You did NOT do what was right. You have no idea what you’ve put her through this past year, how heartbroken she was. Still is!’ Pepper screeched.

Loki faltered. ‘Still is? Did she not find another, she’s a beautiful, incredible woman. How could she not find ano’

‘You are such a fucking idiot!’ Pepper screeched angrily and so wanted to slap him again, but she knew it was pointless.

The guys around him all put their face into their hands.

‘What?’ Loki asked, looking around.

‘That’s a low blow, man. Not even leaving her a note.’ Said Tony.

‘I… I thought I was doing the right thing.’ Loki said, looking at Thor.

Thor nodded. ‘I did not realise that your Rose was this Rosie… But yes, Loki thought he was doing right by her. He was in love with her, adored her. Never shut up about her. But when he discovered his true heritage on a short visit home, he decided not to go back to her. In fear of hurting her.’ Thor explained.

Pepper ran her hands down her face.

‘Well, you failed on that. You probably hurt her more by not at least saying you were over. You have no idea what she’s been through this last year.’ Pepper shook her head in disgust at Loki.

The team all murmured between them and left the room, leaving Loki with Thor.

For the first time in a long time, Thor saw his real brother back. He saw true emotion on his face again, sorrow and guilt.

‘I… I did not mean to hurt her.’ Loki said, still a bit confused. ‘I loved her, Thor… I do love her. I never stopped thinking about her, never loved another.’ He whispered.

Thor sighed and walked over to him, patting his shoulder. ‘I know, brother. I know.’

Loki thought back to the first time she had called him Daddy. How much it made his heart happy that she trusted and wanted him so much…

Rosie and Loki were snuggling on the sofa together, watching some cartoons that she loved. Loki wasn’t overly fond of them, but it made her happy so he always obliged. He was just happy to have her on his lap, comfortable and relaxed in his arms. Where she belonged.

He was lightly stroking her back underneath her top, making her skin tingle. She was in utter heaven, and Loki couldn’t get enough of just simply touching her. He needed touch in some way, whether he was just holding her hand or had the tips of his fingers on her skin, he needed and craved the intimacy with her.

Loki’s fingers trailed a bit too far to her side and up a little, making her squirm and giggle.

‘Daddy, that tickles!’ She laughed and tried to grab his hand to stop him.

But he had already stopped, freezing at what she said. That was the first time she had called him that, even in little space.

The biggest smile spread across his face and he buried his face into her hair and squeezed her tightly to him.

‘Sorry, my sweet little one. I forgot how ticklish you are.’ He purred.