#apologies for the many parentheses

[trungles]

Cross-posting an essay I wrote for my Patreon since the post is free and open to the public.

Hello everyone! I hope you're relaxing as best you can this holiday season. I recently went to see Miyazaki's latest Ghibli movie, The Boy and the Heron, and I had some thoughts about it. If you're into art historical allusions and gently cranky opinions, please enjoy. I've attached a downloadable PDF in the Patreon post if you'd prefer to read it that way. Apologies for the formatting of the endnotes! Patreon's text posting does not allow for superscripts, which means all my notations are in awkward parentheses. Please note that this writing contains some mild spoilers for The Boy and the Heron.

Hayao Miyazaki’s 2023 feature animated film The Boy and the Heron reads as an extended meditation on grief and legacy. The Master of a grand tower seeks a descendant to carry on his maddening duty, balancing toy blocks of magical stone upon which the entire fabric of his little pocket of reality rests. The world’s foundations are frail and fleeting, and can pass away into the cold void of space should he neglect to maintain this task. The Master’s desire to pass the torch undergirds much of the film’s narrative.

(Isle of the Dead. Arnold Böcklin. 1880. Oil on Canvas. Kunstmuseum. Basel, Switzerland.)

Arnold Böcklin, a Swiss Symbolist(1) painter, was born on October 16 in 1827, the same year the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church bought a plot of land in Florence from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, that had long been used for the burials of Protestants around Florence. It is colloquially known as The English Cemetery, so called because it was the resting place of many Anglophones and Protestants around Tuscany, and Böcklin frequented this cemetery—his workshop was adjacent and his infant daughter Maria was buried there. In 1880, he drew inspiration from the cemetery, a lone plot of Protestant land among a sea of Catholic graveyards, and began to paint what would be the first of six images entitled Isle of the Dead. An oil on canvas piece, it depicts a moody little island mausoleum crowned with a gently swaying grove of cypresses, a type of tree common in European cemeteries and some of which are referred to as arborvitae. A figure on a boat, presumably Charon, ferries a soul toward the island and away from the viewer.

(Photo of The English Cemetery in Florence. Samuli Lintula. 2006.)

The Isle of the Dead paintings varied slightly from version to version, with figures and names added and removed to suit the needs of the time or the commissioner. The painting was glowingly referenced and remained fairly popular throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The painting used to be inescapable in much of European popular culture. Professor Okulicz-Kozaryn, a philologist (someone with a deep interest in the ways language and cultural canons evolve)(2) observed that the painting, like many other works in its time, was itself iterative and became widely reiterated and referenced among its contemporaries. It became something like Romantic kitsch in the eyes of modern art critics, overwrought and excessively Byronic. I imagine Miyazaki might also resent a work of that level of manufactured ubiquity, as Miyazaki famously held Disney animated films in contempt (3). Miyazaki’s films are popularly aspirational to young animators and cartoonists, but gestures at imitation typically fall well short, often reducing Miyazaki’s weighty films to kitschy images of saccharine vibes and a lazy indulgence in a sort of empty magical domestic coziness. Being trapped in a realm of rote sentiment by an uncritical, unthoughtful viewership is its own Isle of Death.

(Still from The Boy and the Heron, 2023. Studio Ghibli.)

The Boy and the Heron follows a familiar narrative arc to many of Miyazaki’s other films: a child must journey through a magical and quietly menacing world in order to rescue their loved ones. This arc is an echo of Satsuki’s journey to find Mei in My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Chihiro’s journey to rescue her parents Spirited Away (2001). To better understand Miyazaki’s fixation with this particular character journey, it can be instructive to watch Lev Atamanov’s 1957 animated film, The Snow Queen (4)(5), a beautifully realized take on Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 children’s story (6)(7). Mahito’s journey continues in this tradition, as the boy travels into a painted world to rescue his new stepmother from a mysterious tower.

Throughout the film, Miyazaki visually references Isle of the Dead. Transported to a surreal world, Mahito initially awakens on a little green island with a gated mausoleum crowned with cypress trees. He is accosted by hungry pelicans before being rescued by a fisherwoman named Kiriko. After a day of catching and gutting fish, Mahito wakes up under the fisherwoman’s dining table, surrounded by kokeshi—little wooden dolls—in the shapes of the old women who run Mahito’s family’s rural household. Mahito is told they must not be touched, as the kokeshi are wards set up for his protection. There is a popular urban legend associated with the kokeshi wherein they act as stand-ins for victims of infanticide, though there seems to be very little available writing to support this legend. Still, it’s a neat little trick that Miyazaki pulls, placing a stray reference to a local legend of unverifiable provenance that persists in the popular imagination, like the effect of fairy stories passed on through oral retellings, continually remolded each new iteration.

(Still from The Boy and the Heron, 2023. Studio Ghibli.)

Kiriko’s job in this strange landscape is to catch fish to nourish unborn spirits, the adorable floating warawara, before they can attempt to ascend on a journey into the world of the living. Their journey is thwarted by flocks of supernatural pelicans, who swarm the warawara and devour them. This seems to nod to the association of pelicans with death in mythologies around the world, especially in relationship to children (8). Miyazaki’s pelicans contemplate the passing of their generations as each successive generation seems to regress, their capacity to fulfill their roles steadily diminishing.

(Still from The Boy and the Heron, 2023. Studio Ghibli.)

As Mahito’s adventure continues, we find the landscapes changing away from Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead into more familiar Ghibli territories as we start to see spaces inspired by one of Studio Ghibli’s aesthetic mainstays, Naohisa Inoue and his explorations of the fantasy realms of Iblard. He might be most familiar to Ghibli enthusiasts as the background artists for the more fantastical elements of Whisper of the Heart (1995).

(Naohisa Inoue, for Iblard Jikan, 2007. Studio Ghibli.)

By the time we arrive at the climax of The Boy and the Heron, the fantasy island environment starts to resemble English takes on Italian gardens, the likes of which captivated illustrators and commercial artists of the early 20th century such as Maxfield Parrish. This appears to be a return to one of Böcklin’s later paintings, The Island of Life (1888), a somewhat tongue-in-cheek reaction to the overwhelming presence of Isle of the Dead in his life and career. The Island of Life depicts a little spot of land amid an ocean very like the one on which Isle of the Dead’s somber mausoleum is depicted, except this time the figures are lively and engaged with each other, the vegetation lush and colorful, replete with pink flowers and palm fronds.

(Island of Life. Arnold Böcklin. Oil on canvas. 1888. Kunstmuseum. Basel, Switzerland.)

In 2022, Russia’s State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg acquired the sixth and final Isle of the Dead painting. In the last year of his life, Arnold Böcklin would paint this image in collaboration with his son Carlo Böcklin, himself an artist and an architect. Arnold Böcklin spent three years painting the same image three times over at the site of his infant daughter’s grave, trapped on the Isle of the Dead. By the time of his death in 1901 at age 74, Böcklin would be survived by only five of his fourteen children. That the final Isle of the Dead painting would be a collaboration between father and son seemed a little ironic considering Hayao Miyazaki’s reticence in passing on his own legacy. Like the old Master in The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki finds himself with no true successors.

The Master of the Tower's beautiful islands of painted glass fade into nothing as Mahito, his only worthy descendant, departs to live his own life, fulfilling the thesis of Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 book How Do You Live?, published three years after Carlo Böcklin’s death. In evoking Yoshino and Böcklin’s works, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron suggests that, like his character the Master, Miyazaki himself must make peace with the notion that he has no heirs to his legacy, and that those whom he wished to follow in his footsteps might be best served by finding their own paths.

(Isle of the Dead. Arnold and Carlo Böcklin. Oil on canvas. 1901. The State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg, Russia.)

INFORMAL ENDNOTES

1 - Symbolists are sort of tough to nail down. They were started as a literary movement to 1 distinguish themselves from the Decadents, but their manifesto was so vague that critics and academics fight about it to this day. The long and the short of it is that the Symbolists made generous use of a lot of metaphorical imagery in their work. They borrow a lot of icons from antiquity, echo the moody aesthetics from the Romantics, maintained an emphasis on figurative imagery more so than the Surrealists, and were only slightly more technically married to the trappings of traditionalist academic painters than Modernists and Impressionists. They're extremely vibes-forward.

2 - Okulicz-Kozaryn, Radosław. Predilection of Modernism for Variations. Ciulionis' Serenity among Different Developments of the Theme of Toteninsel. ACTA Academiae Artium Vilnensis 59. 2010. The article is incredibly cranky and very funny to read in parts. Contains a lot of observations I found to be helpful in placing Isle of the Dead within its context.

3 - "From my perspective, even if they are lightweight in nature, the more popular and common films still must be filled with a purity of emotion. There are few barriers to entry into these films-they will invite anyone in but the barriers to exit must be high and purifying. Films must also not be produced out of idle nervousness or boredom, or be used to recognise, emphasise, or amplify vulgarity. And in that context, I must say that I hate Disney's works. The barrier to both the entry and exit of Disney films is too low and too wide. To me, they show nothing but contempt for the audience." from Miyazaki's own writing in his collection of essays, Starting Point, published in 2014 from VIZ Media.

4 - You can watch the movie here in its original Russian with English closed captions here.

5 If you want to learn more about the making of Atamanoy's The Snow Queen, Animation Obsessive wrote a neat little article about it. It's a good overview, though I have to gently disagree with some of its conclusions about the irony of Miyazaki hating Disney and loving Snow Queen, which draws inspiration from Bambi. Feature film animation as we know it hadonly been around a few decades by 1957, and I find it specious, particularly as a comic artistand author, to see someone conflating an entire form with the character of its content, especially in the relative infancy of the form. But that's just one hot take. The rest of the essay is lovely.

6 - Miyazaki loves this movie. He blurbed it in a Japanese re-release of it in 2007.

7 - Julia Alekseyeva interprets Princess Mononoke as an iteration of Atamanov's The Snow Queen, arguing that San, the wolf princess, is Miyazaki's homage to Atamanoy's little robber girl character.

8 - Hart, George. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods And Goddesses. Routledge Dictionaries. Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge. 2005.

[hyrule-institutes-of-health]

So, What Are the Hyrule Institutes of Health?

Chartered by King Gustaf VII over one thousand years ago, the Hyrule Institutes of Health aim to provide medical resources to citizens and institutions across Hyrule. While most of our members are Hylians, we strive to help all races, no matter the species. Queries are accepted through the "ask" feature. We will do our best to answer questions regarding medicine, illness, anatomy, and physiology, but understand that biomedicine is an incomplete science and some information remains obscure or poorly understood. We also have many affairs to attend to, and answering these queries is a lesser priority of the organization, so some may remain unanswered, and there may be no response at all here for several weeks at a time. We apologize for this, and hope it does not cause any issues for you or your kin.

It should be noted that information supplied by the Hyrule Institutes of Health is not intended to and does not supplant advice from your local physician. They likely have knowledge of practice not even found in our archives. Please consult them first.

Additionally, our information and advice should not be construed as diagnosis: again, consult your local physician on this matter.

It is our honor to provide this service for Hyrule. May the blessings of the Goddess be upon you all.

((Hi. Blog owner talking in the parentheses here. I saw all the awesome botw/totk ask blogs and wanted in on the fun, but couldn't decide on a character. Then I remembered I don't have to be a character, and as an autistic nerd looking for some viable way to spend their whole life studying wildlife, i thought this was a fitting choice. Some posts will have art, some won't. Depends on how much time I have, and if people bother interacting. As it says in the description, THIS IS A PARODY ACCOUNT, AND NOTHING I SAY SHOULD BE CONSTRUED AS GENUINE MEDICAL ADVICE. Seriously, I'm just a guy drawing anatomical diagrams of fictional species for fun.))

[teecupangel]

First off, I wanna say, ever since I discovered your work while scrolling down Ezio's tag randomly, I have been thoroughly hooked to everything you have written. Your work is simply amazing!

With that, I hope you don't mind me sharing an idea that's been haunting me for quite a while now.

What if Desmond reincarnated as La Volpe's son? Not biologically his son (or maybe he is but no one knew?), merely, he was found by Gilberto when Desmond was a little kid on the streets and took him in and taught him everything he knows despite Desmond clearly being a young prodigy in multiple skills as is. The man grew rather fond of Desmond, to say the least- and rather protective

(Desmond with eyes glowing purple instead of gold when using Eagle Vision anyone?)

The Thieves Guild knows Desmond (many having seen him grow up as well and befriended him) and are the ones to consider/acknowledge him as La Volpe's heir (Cub or Kit? Idk much Italian for the proper word/term for Little/Baby Fox and I don't trust Google Translate ngl) in this.

While we don't have a confirmation of La Volpe's age (doesn't help his model didn't change between AC2 and Brotherhood), I like to imagine Desmond is only a few years younger than Machiavelli when the two meet. And Machiavelli (a sort of friend despite La Volpe not liking him initially-) is trying to persuade Desmond to try his hand in some sort of apprenticeship or get him into politics even cause it's such a waste for him to remain amongst the Thieves when clearly his skills means he's destined for a better lifestyle- though, of course, Desmond's already quite an asset for the Assassin's regardless.

Would be even more interesting/amusing if Shaun reincarnated with Desmond somehow. A fellow thief (or maybe a son of a noble that Desmond tends to target- and if Desmond knows its Shaun, welll, who knows. In the end, he's still messing with him regardless) perhaps that believes he's being haunted by a familiar ghost from the past life- but that's impossible! The only ghosts (well, they're real- he long since came to terms that this isn't a dream anywas- is it hell, though? He's yet to decide) he'd had to deal with should've been the Auditores and the Templars- but then... Why does he keep seeing Desmond? (And why does he associate him with purple and even orange instead of Gold, White, and Red?)

(I apologize for the amount of parentheses in this)

(Considering how liberal I am in using parentheses myself, you don’t have to apologize for anything XD)

If you’re alright with messing up canon character’s personalities… we can make Shaun be reborn as Machiavelli instead?

And if Desmond and Machiavelli!Shaun are both around the same age, they’d be younger than Petruccio (at least 6 years for Machiavelli) which means we have the opportunity to mess with both Shaun and Desmond with this.

Because they would realize if someone was changing history if the Auditores live. By making them too young to do anything to stop it, we’re giving them the false sense of confidence that they are the only reincarnators in this story.

By the time they would both have the power and influence to change the plot, they would come to believe that the changes are butterfly effects of their own actions, not because another reincarnator is changing some things under their noses.

For this one, we’ll have Shaun try to push Desmond into going to politics because he believes that La Volpe’s son is meant to die young. That’s the only reason he could think of to why Ezio never saw him in his memories. Any antics or reactions that reminds Shaun of Desmond is simply Shaun’s mind trying to keep him from grieving Desmond’s death too much. Ezio was a constant reminder of his ‘impending death’. La Volpe’s son reminds him of what Desmond could have been had circumstances been different.

In Desmond’s eyes, Machiavelli was simply being Machiavelli. Any discrepancies between the Machiavelli his Bleed remembers and the Machiavelli in front of him is because Machiavelli isn’t treating him like he treats Ezio. Another important thing is that Desmond uses the name La Volpe gives him (your call what it is and if he has a different nickname that’s connected to foxes or a similar animal) because he knows calling himself Desmond would just make Ezio look for him.

And he was trying to stay away from Ezio because, as much as he wanted to help him, he feels guilty because the tragedy in Ezio’s life was all his fault.

To ensure he was born.

So this story now becomes two reincarnators (Shaun and Desmond) trying to change Ezio’s life, all the while not realizing each other’s true identity.

Ezio has no idea that he has two ‘guardian angels’ and is just doing his best with what he’s given XD

[innomined]

Fanfiction One Piece...

In this fanfiction the Queen will lose weight

Characters: Kaido - Queen - King - Jack - Black Maria - Page One - Ulti - Sasaki - X Drake - Who's Who - Orochi - Komurasaki (Hiyori)

Protagonists: Queen - King

Relationship genre: Yaoi

Relationship: King x Queen - King x Kaido

WARNING Forbidden for children under 18 Chapters containing: Foul language - Rape - Sex - Violence - Murder - Drug abuse - Alcohol

WARNING: I'm not English, but I tried to translate my fanfiction as best as possible to give other people the chance to read it too. I know there will be mistakes and I apologize in advance. I hope you like the fanfiction I wrote and illustrated even though there are spelling errors.

ATTENTION! FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING, BEFORE READING THIS FANFICTION, PLEASE READ THE GRAMMAR RULES THAT I DECIDED TO ADOPT WHEN WRITING THE TEXT: - When the text is below (round brackets) it indicates: the third person description of what is happening. It can in fact describe: what a certain character is doing, feeling, hearing or seeing, but the description can also extend to the surrounding environment and the appearance of another character; - When the text is in «quotation marks» it indicates: the character's thoughts (not expressed verbally); - When the text is under {curly bracket} it indicates: either a memory, or a dream/nightmare or something that a certain character feels in their mind. For example, the name of a character that the character in question is thinking about may appear and their voice may be heard (example= Queen: What was it that idiot told me? (She put her hand on her chin trying to remember) {King: Be careful, there's a sleeping "Sea King" over there, if you wake him you could get into trouble} Ah! Now I remember!); - When the text is under [square brackets] it indicates: a specific characteristic to recognize one character from another (mainly used for secondary or unknown characters); - A character's dialogue is indicated without any grammatical checkmarks and the character who is speaking is indicated before the dialogue line (example = Queen: Hey! I'm talking to you!). As long as the character's name does not change, the dialogue line following the description in parentheses is always spoken by the same character (example: King: What do you want?! (His expression was so mean) Can't you see I'm doing something else!?); - The "H"s are used to emphasize the sound a character makes when he or she feels scared or surprised, the more "H"s there are, the more scared or surprised the character is at that moment (example = Queen: HHH!!! Oih! You scared me!); - CAPS are often used in dialogue to indicate that the character speaking has a loud voice or is shouting, but they are also often used to emphasize thoughts or facts in descriptions. LEGEND (AGE TARGET): 🟢: Chapter suitable for all age groups; 🟡: Chapter with violent or sexual content but still quite sober; 🔴: Chapter prohibited for minors under 18; ⚫: Chapter prohibited for minors under 18 containing images that could offend the sensibilities of an adult audience. That said, I wish you a good read 📖.

*Stay with me*

CHAPTER I

TARGET AGE: 🟢

Journey to a Dream, Grandorchestra

Uta's concert had ignited people's spirits, but above all, it had fueled the determination of most of the singers in the world. The most competitive singers began to organize concerts, talent shows and tournaments to see who was the best exhibitionist singer. Among the most famous performers present at Grandorchestra, the largest talent show for singers ever organized, there were Marina Napole, Gild Tesoro, Brook the "Soul King" and many others. Among the most popular participants there was also him, the scientist of the pirates of the Hundred Beasts, Queen the Plague, who had had many problems with the "registration and many troubles from his colleagues who forbade him to go and register due to the many work commitments that being one of the three Calamities in the service of Kaido entailed.

After the many insults in bad taste from King, Jack and all the Tobi Roppo, Queen had the idea of ​​challenging those damned words of shit... Nobody took him seriously when he said that he would become too popular if he lost weight

Queen: But it's my dream! I'm a singer! I want to have my chance too!

King: No, Queen! Life here in Wano is not a game! There are so many things to do and you wouldn't even make it into the top 20 judging by your looks! So there's no point in going to that damn talent show!

Queen: Why?! What's wrong with my appearance!?

King: (He sighed exhaustedly, putting a hand to his forehead) Jack, please, talk to him, I'm losing my patience

Jack: You're fat, brother... In those talent shows, unfortunately, they also look at whether you have a nice ass, muscles and boobs, if you're a woman... in short, having a sculpted body is fundamental... something that you don't have

Queen: HOW DARE YOU! I'm a very handsome man! Aren't you guys!? (He turned to the six smaller figures, the Tobi Roppo... confident he had their support)

Black Maria: OH-!? (She remained silent to contain her acidic response)

Sasaki: HUH!? (He was shocked and couldn't tell him the truth)

Page One: Well- Y-yes? Well (He didn't know what to answer since he knew Queen would be angry at his negative answer)

Who's Who: I wouldn't say so (He whispered under his breath)

X-Drake: ... (There was an awkward silence before a female voice broke the quiet)

Ulti: YOU ARE A BALL OF LARD! UGLY AND BALD!

Queen: WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?! (Her eye sockets shattered the lenses of her goggles as her mouth opened so wide that her jaw hit the floor)

King: See? You'll never amount to anything with that flab hanging around everywhere... Now forget it and get back to work... you'd only tarnish our good reputation.

Queen: I'll show you who isn't COOL!!! If I just lost weight and grew my hair I'd be even more handsome than all of you put together... Even you King

King: Phew! Dream on!

Jack: Sure, right! AH-AH-AH!!! Who are you trying to fool?! It would be a miracle if I lost just one kilo! Let alone hundreds!

Ulti - Page One - Black Maria - Sasaki - X-Drake - Who's Who: GAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!!!

Queen: GRRRH!!!! «YOU DISGUSTING BASTARDS! We'll see who laughs last! I'll be so beautiful it'll take your breath away!»

Queen, driven by his big ego and the desire to shut those assholes up, wasted no time in asking Kaido for permission to go away for a few months to get back in shape and participate in Grandorchestra. To everyone's surprise, Kaido accepted Queen's request, was permissive towards him, letting him sign up and agreeing to the request to let him leave Wano for a few months

Kaido: Mh... If it's your dream, it's no problem for me, Queen, I will accept your request if after the conclusion of this talent show you return to your position, after all it's only a few months, right?

King: «What!?» (Smoke came out of his ears, not understanding why Kaido had given him permission)

Queen: (Her eyes lit up with approval) Yes, Kaido-sama! You can count on me! I'll be back better than ever!

Kaido: And please, at least try to get among the first... make us look good (He gave him a thumbs up, happy for the determination he was showing)

Queen: YESS!!! (She clenched her fists and raised them to the sky... tears of joy were flowing from her strange glasses. Afterwards, she bowed to Kaido and made a face at King who was looking at him murderously)

The next day he left with his ship reaching an island with a hellish climate... There were unbearable temperature changes: freezing cold, scorching heat, freezing wind and hail... It would have been torture to spend two whole months there under stress, but Queen had to show everyone how fascinating her appearance could become if she wanted... and then it was necessary to win at Grandorchestra, she couldn't return empty-handed, she had to at least come third if she didn't want to disappoint Kaido's expectations

Queen landed... the ship would be her home for the night, she would have to get food by herself defying the rules of that island... it would be difficult, but the results would come

The scientist had everything he needed in the cabin: vials for the skin, for hair care... the stretch marks would not appear and her blond hair would grow strong and shiny

Queen: «Here we are» (She looked at the terrible place and slowly walked down the flight of stairs of the ship to set foot on the dusty ground... Now all she had to do was start her training)

Two months later, the agile muscles of someone who had lived a life of survival were clearly visible on Queen's body... all the fat had vanished into thin air, leaving room for smooth and firm skin... the vials had helped, not even a single stretch mark had appeared on the luminous flesh and her hair was thick and soft, worthy of a woman cared for in every detail

The scientist looked at himself in the mirror and a dazzling smile formed as he observed his new sculpted body... he seemed at least 20 years younger than he was, no woman could now ever refuse a man like that and King, perhaps, would have felt that dirty envy)

Queen: Oih oih... my moustache doesn't look good with this new slim body anymore (She took the razor blade and carefully shaved off her long moustache) There you go... Grand orchestra, I'm coming! (She smiled wickedly and when she finished coloring her lips with her dark lipstick, she went on deck to lower the sails, it was time to leave that hell and show everyone the new Queen)

It didn't take long to reach the talent show location, he had left in the morning and by evening he had already arrived at the appointed place. Queen showed the registration and...

Counter Operator: Are you?

Queen: I'm Queen, also called "the Plague", I sent my application two months ago

Counter Operator: EEH!? Y-You're Queen?! (He checked the wanted poster but the man looked nothing like the photo)

Queen: Mmh... (He looked at the guy at the counter impatiently and meanly and then thought:) «Of course I've changed, but I haven't become unrecognizable» (Well, Queen didn't realize it, but in reality he was... He sighed) Here are your documents (He put the identification documents on the counter and then, impatient and tired from the journey, he entered the theater before the man could even say anything else to him)

Counter Operator: (He quickly read her ID and was paralyzed knowing it was indeed Queen "the Plague") It-it really is him! But how did he do it?!

Queen was then escorted to his room... the night passed and the next day everything was ready for the big event... and at the stroke of 9pm the stage lit up

Host: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT'S A PLEASURE TO HAVE YOU HERE TODAY! WELCOME TO THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL TALENT SHOW WITH SINGERS OF ALL KINDS COMPETING! (The theater was packed and the screams of the people echoed in the large room) THE ARTISTS ARE ALREADY FULL OF ADRENALINE! AND THEY CAN'T WAIT TO SING THEIR WONDERFUL SONGS TO YOU! BUT WHO WILL BE THE WINNER OF GRANDORCHESTRA?! WELL! FASTEN UP YOUR SEATBELTS BECAUSE NONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS INTEND TO GO HOME EMPTY-HANDED! THIS EVENING A NEW STAR WILL SHINE! LET THE SHOW BEGIN!!!

The show began and the artists performed one by one... There were exceptional singers, others terrible... but none had an enviable body like Queen's... time passed and now it was almost time for the turn of the Pirate Superstar of the Hundred Beasts and when the presenter called his name...

Host: AND NOW OPEN YOUR EYES PEOPLE! YOU ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS THE MAGNIFICENT... QUEEN "THE PLAGUE"!!!

Audience: YES!!!! (They were excited and eager to see the next artist)

Queen: «Okay, it's my moment» (He walked slowly towards the stage, covered from head to toe, he was hooded and covered by a large dark cloak... for the occasion and to give a surprise effect he had specially procured that item of clothing and it was fantastic to imagine what effect it would have on his colleagues when he took it off) «Now you'll see»

Meanwhile, in Onigashima, Kaido had given the order to everyone to watch the show projected by the snail cameras in the square, he had everything set up for his dear subordinate Queen... Many were full of energy and couldn't wait to hear their scientist

Queen's concerts had been missed in Wano and many pirates had been bored drinking without music at parties

The other two Calamities were next to the emperor, sitting listlessly on black thrones and from their looks they didn't seem very excited at the idea of ​​watching their colleague's performance, they knew it would be a flop. King, unlike Jack, had become so tense and nervous in those two months, he didn't want to admit it but the lack of Queen had made his days extremely boring and monotonous... He missed her a lot and the awareness of suffering was humiliating. Watching Queen through a screen, for King, could only make his situation worse

King: GH! Why do we have to watch this farce? That bastard will only make us look like shit

Kaido: Oh come on! Don't be so pessimistic, Queen may not be very pretty to look at, but he's very good at singing... I have good expectations

King: (He huffed and rolled his eyes as he rested his cheek on his knuckles)

Jack: Here he comes- huh? (He immediately noticed the large cloak covering Queen's entire body and couldn't help but wonder why he was dressed like that) But what did he put on?

King: He's still the same show-off, don't mind him- (A loud, enthusiastic laugh drowned out his words)

Kaido: WOH-ROH-ROH-ROH-ROH!!! GO QUEEN!!! (He was so happy to see Queen on stage, if his scientist would win at Grandorchestra, it was an important title to give to his crew)

The music began to ring in everyone's ears and before Queen could utter the first verse of her song, she flung her dark cloak aside to show off her beautiful new body... The audience was mesmerized for a moment and soon a roar of cheers came in response. In Onigashima the general reaction of the audience was not much different

Kaido: OHH!!!? (He froze for a moment, his face in disbelief... that was- QUEEN?! Well! He had to admit, she had done a masterful job with her body) WOH-ROH-ROH!!!! (He burst out laughing, clapping euphorically)

SCRISHHHH!!!

A crystal glass fell from a black leather-gloved hand... it was King's.

King: HHHHHH!!!! (His breath caught so much that he almost felt suffocated... It was the first time his eye sockets had popped out like that... It wasn't possible... Who the hell was that gorgeous man with the fabulous behind?!) W-WHAT-!?

Jack: EEEH!!!!?? (He rose from his throne staring at that gorgeous face projected on the white cloth... And to think that he wouldn't give him a cent... he couldn't believe it) OH WOW!!!

Tobi Roppo: EEEEEH!?! (They were all shocked and amazed by Queen's new beautiful appearance)

Queen: MUH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!! (She laughed out loud, winking at the ladies in the audience in the theater before starting to dance and sing with that ringing, powerful voice that gave you goosebumps) Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom... (Her moves were so sensual now and that soft, voluminous hair was floating wildly, it seemed like it was dancing with him)

Queen continued to perform among the thousand colored lights that painted his body a thousand different colors, he was wild and the women in the front row were in the grip of hormones as they leaned towards him to touch him

Women: AAAH!!! QUEEN!!! MARRY ME!!!

Queen: Sorry... I can't... but I'll sing for you all... OH YEEAAH!!!

The audience roared in ecstasy, and for Queen, hearing all those people cheering her name made her heart explode with pride... it was so electrifying to be so popular... The praise was like a great drug and she always wanted more.

Queen: «OH YES! YES!!! It's me!!! I'm the best!» (He continued his song, letting himself be carried away by the vortex of those beautiful emotions... And finally he concluded with a flourish, doing a pirouette on himself and growling the last melodious word loudly) IS FUUUNK!!!!

Audience: YES!!!! (A thousand cheers echoed as roses, panties and bras began to fly from the stands)

Queen: OH!? (He blushed a little as he smirked grabbing one of the bras that had just landed on his head) IT'S HOT! MUH-AH-AH-AH! Thank you! I thank anyone who listened to me from afar... (He looked with an evil grin at the snail camera knowing that those who had made fun of him were intent on watching... He then waved and before he stepped off the stage) and... a kiss to all the ladies (He put his fingers to his lips and then blew a kiss that made every woman swoon)

King: GHH!! (His eyes turned murderous and his teeth nearly broke from how much pressure he was putting into clenching them) «But how is that possible?! How the hell did he do that?! No! It can't really be him! It's not!» (He stared at every person in front of him, everyone was cheering and exuding joy from every pore, was he the only one who was so damn upset and worried?

He stood up from his throne, his patience running out)

Kaido: Oih King? Aren't you staying to see the end? Queen has a good chance of taking home the victory

King: No (He stared at him darkly, not wanting to be left watching a stranger pretending to be Queen) I've seen enough (He turned his back and walked away)

Kaido: Oh!? (He shrugged and continued watching the talent show with the others)

When all the contestants finished their show, the prizes appeared on the stage.

Host: GOOD PEOPLE! WE HAVE FINALLY REACHED THE END OF THIS FANTASTIC EVENING! ALL THE ARTISTS PRESENTED THEIR BEST SINGLE AND EACH OF US VOTED! INSIDE THE ENVELOPE I HAVE IN MY HAND ARE THE NAMES OF THE FIRST THREE PLACED! BUT WHO WILL BE NUMBER ONE?! THE ONE WHO WILL TAKE HOME THE TITLE OF BEST SINGER IN THE WORLD?! WELL, IT'S TIME TO FIND OUT!!! THE WINNER OF GRANDORCHESTRA IS...

The drums rolled incessantly, but finally the announcer called the winner's name as a cascade of golden confetti fell and scattered everywhere.

Host: QUEEN "THE PLAGUE"!!!

Queen: OHH!!!? (His eyes lit up, confused, still couldn't believe it)

Gild Tesoro: What?! NO!!! That title was supposed to be mine!!! (He looked at Queen angrily... how was it possible that Kaido's scientist had surpassed him in the singing field!?)

Host: DON'T BE SHY, MR. QUEEN! COME UP AND COLLECT YOUR AWARD!

Queen: Ah-ah!!! (A crazy and amused expression appeared on his face as he realized that he had done it... He had won Grandorchestra! It was a dream come true!) MUH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!!! OOOHH YES!!!! YEEES!!! (He climbed the steps and then raised his arms to the sky triumphantly) I AM THE WINNER!!!! (He heard the people shouting his name as the thousand applauses filled the air with glory... Oh fuck! He was so full of adrenaline! Wonderful! He didn't expect that being so popular could be so great... The award ceremony staff gave him the flowers and the big golden trophy... Queen wasted no time and raised the big shiny award towards the snail chamber shouting full of euphoria) KAIDO-SAN!!! I DEDICATE THIS VICTORY TO US!!! TO OUR WHOLE CREW!!!

In Onigashima square a victorious roar rose from the audience, all the pirates cheered and shouted his name in a sign of esteem.

Kaido: WOH-ROH-ROH-ROH-ROH!! (He laughed out loud proud of his subordinate, he knew he wouldn't disappoint him... he raised the glass full of sake and before he could gulp it down, he shouted) TO OUR QUEEN!!!

All the pirates: FOR QUEEN!!! (They raised their glasses to the sky in a happy toast and then danced in celebration of the victory)

King: GH! (He turned towards the noise, sensing the enthusiasm of the pirates still in the square... had that "Queen" really won? He couldn't believe it) Oh my God (He put a hand to his forehead, sensing the discomfort that that victory would bring) And that was it! (He didn't want to face that situation and who knows how much confusion would be created when that bastard returned to Wano... But there was another thing that was troubling him: the mere thought that that might not be the real Queen, scared him... was it possible that only he had that damned doubt? How could that charming man be the ugly Queen he had known?)

If you are too impatient to wait for the other chapters here is the link where you can read the next chapters (But you have to translate them with "Google translator" since it is written in Italian)

I hope you enjoyed the fanfiction...

See you soon... Innomined ❤️

[into-the-fraymotif]

Can I get a combo of a Thief of Heart and a Bard of Blood?

Additionally, only if you want to of course, how about a full team attack of a Mage of Void, Page of Time, Theif of Heart, Bard of Blood, Maid of Space, and Heir of Mind?

Wow, super interesting combo! I will do the team attack also, but that one's going in the queue solo. This, and several other Blood/Heart/Rage destroyer/thief/manipulator combos are what I affectionately call "Partybreakers", because much like a Classpect verbiage, they'll [break the party and break through the party]. Using your allies as weapons is just as viable for attacking the Target as using weapons on your allies is when Partybreakers are involved.

Transe de Troubledour

Thief of Heart [one steals and steals through emotion, essence, and the self] + Bard of Blood [one who allows the destruction of and invites destruction through bonds, connections, and sacrifice]

Transe (French for Trance; a half-conscious state characterized by an absence of response to external stimuli, typically as induced by hypnosis or entered by a medium) + Trouble (difficulty or problems) + Dour (relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance) + Troubadour (a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages; troubadour songs deal mainly with themes of chivalry and courtly love. Most were metaphysical, intellectual, and formulaic. Many were humorous or vulgar satires)

The Thief begins by ripping out the Target's soul. Yup, we're going quick with this one. The Bard's powers weaken the bond between the Target's soul and their body, allowing the Thief to remove it smoothly. The Thief takes the Target's soul into themself, gaining some of the powers and vague self-y nonsense that is attached to the soul (whatever it is doesn't really matter because it's gone so soon). The Bard severs the ties between the Thief and the Target, ensuring that the Thief doesn't keep any of the memories, identity, or affiliations the Target once had, leaving the Thief with just the Target's essence (perhaps resulting in a temporary shift in Classpect or strife specibus, and definitely resulting in a stat boost). This severance will come at a cost to the Thief, but that won't matter for a hot sec. The Thief and Bard then go through and pummel the Target's allies (With Bonus Bard Boosts (TM) (Yes this will be a recurring bit (No I'm not apologizing (Yes this is getting out of hand (No I'm not apologizing (Yes, if you count the close-parentheses and ignore the smiles, it will line up (No I'm not apologizing :) ) :) ) :) ) :) ) :) ) :) ) :) ) by allowing the destruction of the late Target's connection to their very-much-but-not-for-long-alive allies). After the attack sequence, the Bard's abilities will have deteriorated the bonding of the Target's soul to the Thief, and the Thief's hold on it will have weakened to the point where the soul is returned to the Target, with all of the damage and fatigue the Thief sustained hitting them all at once, ending the Fraymotif.

Now, that assumes the Target isn't resistant to the soul-stealing, and it works first try. Some enemies are too powerful for that, so in those cases, it might go down something like this:

The Thief would attempt to steal the Target's soul and fail to do so. The Bard would then try to use their abilities to weaken the bond between the Target's body and their soul to make the Thief's job easier, but there's no guarantee that would work. In such a case, the Thief would have to take little bits at a time. With one attack, they may take a bit of consciousness. With another, some feature that builds up the Target's Classpect (a Sylph's self-assuredness, a Mage's perseverance, an Heir's laid-back attitude, etc.). The Bard, during this, would be able to damage the Target's allies' loyalty to the Target via their powers of "letting things go to shit." As the Thief removes more and more Aspectual Heart from the Target, the more Mind is unhindered (very much like the more Light is stolen from a subject, the more Void is left; or the more Rage is stolen, the more Hope remains, etc.). So, the Target may grow more focused and rational as this continues, which would be a problem if not for the Target's allies being entirely fed up with all this bullshit. The Bard, totally strategically and intentionally, causes the Thief's grasp on the Target's qualities and emotions to fail, knocking the Target off-balance by the sudden return of all their passion and characterization. The Bard, seeing all this go down, may elect to abscond from the fight, leaving the Thief alone and unable to properly steal more of the Target's Heart. The Target, understandably, would be irrational enough to try and go for the hapless Thief, and equally understandably, would be irrational enough to not recognize that their allies have turned on them. The Bard, through attempting to sacrifice the Thief, has actually offered the Target as a sacrifice to their no-longer-teammates, and allows them to do the work of attacking each other while the Thief gets outta there and probably goes to slap the Bard (or kiss?? idk ur party dynamic so don't let me stop you from living your best life) or something like that.

Partybreakers are very silly and fun and not at all volatile or dysfunctional (nightmare nightmare nightmare /pos), fun for the whole party!!! :))))

[imtotallyobssesedwithyou]

i promise to you that from now on i wont contain myself! well, in that category at least. im afraid i might scare you away, honestly. that sounds so silly.. i just get nervous, i suppose!! but i do swear on my heart and lungs that im so so happy to be able to talk to you!!

CONSIDER ME RIZZED?? IM RIZZED UP!! okay okay....... anyways. cough. i can be rizzful too, trust me! maybe! okay in all seriousness, im not very good at that. its mostly just pouring my heart out with no filter, completely unprecedented. for example.. you truly are special, mina. in an overall way, even. not just to me, or to select others, but in general youre very special. youre the source of light, not me. youre like a daydream. does that even make sense..?

i consider myself very observant — so do a lot of others in my life. i guess its one of my more predominant traits. either way, i notice a lot about people. the way you speak, your typing habits (like how you also use parentheses!), the shift in your tone. i would have more examples, but maybe im losing my touch ):

youre so kind, amour. genuinely. its hard to find someone who'd pour their entirety into people to this capacity, at least how i perceive your interactions with others and me. this might sound a little egotistical, for which i do apologize, but the only other person i know who's like that is myself (dont worry, people have told me im that way; it isnt a baseless claim or anything aushdhdh)

is there anything youd want somebody to know, when theyre first meeting you? on a slightly more intimate level than a stranger or acquaintance though!

— 🎂

You could never scare me away! Your energy and openness are part of what makes you,you. It’s truly a privilege to talk with you, where your thoughts flow freely and your emotions shine through!! ♡

I'm officially honored to have rizzed you up fr. But let’s not downplay your own rizzful abilities! You pour your heart out with such captivating honestly,and I genuinely love it. And yes, what you said absolutely makes sense. You see me as a daydream, yet here you are, turning my day into a dream with your words.

Your observant nature is clear as day, and I think it’s such a beautiful quality to have. To notice the subtleties in people, to pick up on the little things that make them who they are,that’s a gift. I think your attention to detail and the way you cherish those details in others is one of the many reasons you’re very easy to like and adore.

Ah, you humble me, truly. I pour myself into others because it’s how I show care,it’s how I love. To hear you say you see the same in yourself is no surprise at all. You have such a profound warmth in you,and it's adorable.

Now, to your question,what would I want someone to know when meeting me on a deeper level? Hmm, I suppose I’d want them to know that I live for connection, for creating beauiful relationships. While I never actually succeed to make someone love me wholeheartedly (even if someone says they do... Anyway) , I dream of a future where I'll be loved exactly as I long to be loved.

How about you, my dear? What would you want someone to know when they’re getting to know you better?

[disaster-cryptids]

Host's main account (link)

Lizzie's blog that he doesn't even use/lighthearted(link)

Pronouns.cc (link)

I made this account so everyone can do shit. I don't know when it's gonna be used or if it'll be used at all, but yeah. This blog may end up being mostly system oriented.

Introduction

Introduction

we are the Disaster Cryptids, a P-DID system. Our origin doesn't concern you, and we have strayed away from origin labels in an attempt to salvage the host's sanity. With that being said, we support all systems regardless of their origin(s) and how they function.

We will use a tagging system if all of us keep up with doing so, but will always sign off a post by name. If multiple people pitch in, we will try to make it clear who said what. Said tagging system will use emojis. Here's what each tag will look like (minus the names in parentheses). We're still figuring out a good way to go about using this tagging system, so apologies for any inconsistency as we navigate through this shit lol.

Tagging System

Tagging System

🕷️(Allister)

🌺(Angel)

🦌(Alastor)

🎸😇(Adam)

🐌(Eden)

🕯️(Fierce Deity)

😇(Gabriel)

🐕‍🦺(Host, many names)

⚔️(Huxley)

♾️(Infinite)

📺(Intruder)

🌻(Juniper/Link)

🧨(Knuckles)

🐺(Link)

🐍🍎(Lucifer)

🪲(Lizzie/Cade/Cadence)

🎸(Michael)

🦇🩷(Rouge)

☠️(Red)

🔧(Robotnik)

💥(Surge)

💎(Sonic)

🎺(Sans)

🎭(Sal)

⚫️(Shadow)

⚡️🔩(Tails)

🐇(William)

Extra:

❔(blurry: no idea who said this)

🗑️🔥(Legion: more than one person takes credit/is speaking)

We don't have a DNI, rather we will be enforcing a "you will be blocked on sight" list as that is more effective: System exclusionists, queer exclusionists (yes, pissing yourself about lesboys and mspec lesbians is exclusionary), TERFs and SWERFs, anti self diagnosis fucks, and general dumbasses/bigots. Save yourself the time of screaming at us for whatever reason you may have, please and thank you.

[eating-the-inedible]

OH GUYS

I am NOT in fact broken up with by someone i'm not even dating!! I'm in a QPR now even??? like. whaaaaaaaat??? (<-no idea how i pulled this off)

the weekend+monday has been deleted

and we had a talk about feelings and what we want from this

and we even made ourselves a little contract (it's a list) so there's no confusion on what we are comfortable with

we have a Yes column (including things like hugs, cuddles, and pokes)

a No column (which includes pet names (for now) and apologizing and running away (which my QPP put "i'm looking at you ella" in parentheses))

and a Maybe column with only one bullet which is "biting 😂" (yes the emoji is included)

im really happy

and i can't help but think about how many problems my blorbos would solve if they just sat their asses down and had a conversation about what they want

to which i must note—anytime i had an important question to ask but for some reason felt too self-conscious to say aloud, i wrote it down on a post-it note and handed to them to read (we were snuggling during this conversation) and then we'd discuss out loud after the question was out there. I found it very helpful

my point with that is, if the blorbos can't just sit and talk, the least they could do is sit and write/read notes. like. (OFMD S2 Kinda Spoiler below cut)

we all saw how much of an effect stede's letter had on ed

so much so that he angry shouted "YOU WROTE ME A LOVELY LETTER!"

and i stand my belief that the letter helped

anyway. idk how i turned this from a "hey turns out im not dumped, in fact im now in a QPR" to "my blorbos need to communicate" to "now im having emotions about gentlebeard and the finale again"

[unmeisenshi]

Time to be cring. This chapter has a...

SONG

The lyrics will be in big letters. Also, since some of the lyrics are in Spanish, I provided a (rough) translation. Regular lyrics will be open (while the translation is in parentheses right below the original lyrics).

This was also kinda rough for me to write, so I apologize if it's all over the place. It's my first time writing a big ass party happening.

The camp cheered as the fiesta commenced. Traditional Spanish music played as food and drink was passed all around. Many of the Pokemon went to give their thanks to Enrique for everything that he was able to do for them. Audie began dancing near a lantern, the bright confetti reflecting the light and making him look like a disco ball.

Björk kept herself busy, helping to pass the food out so everyone got their share. She spotted Solaris and Florence sitting further away from the group, and she flew over with two plates. “Here. There’s still a lot to go around.” She held out two plates of cake.

“Thank you,” both said at the same time, taking the plates and beginning to eat. After taking a few bites, Solaris looked up. “This party… It’s…”

“I know…” She sighed. “It’s odd to be celebrating someone’s death like this, but… It’s part of tradition. Part of Enrique’s tradition. We celebrate and honor our fallen every year. This is no different.”

Solaris nodded. “I see… I’d… Never think to do something like this for someone who is dying or has died…” He stopped to chuckle. “It’s a neat tradition… Makes death seem… Not all bad…”

“It’s because it isn’t. Thanks to Enrique… We’ve learned to not fear death. It’s a time to grieve, but also to celebrate the wonderful life of the one that passed.”

As the three continued to chat, Enrique stood up and clinked his glass. The talking, laughing, and music all stopped as all eyes were on the Quaquaval. “Everyone… I want to thank you all. For your hard work. For your dedication. For putting your trust in me to take care of you when you lost everything. We may not be related by blood… But you are all my brothers and my sisters. You are my family. And I appreciate every. Single. One of you.”

The entire camp applauded, with some Pokemon beginning to whistle. Some were concerned as Enrique’s voice was beginning to get raspy. After the applause died down, he continued. “Now… I know it’s cliché… But I want to give you all one final performance. To send you all off… And to send Team Destiny on their way.”

The camp murmured as Enrique was given a microphone. “Also I want to do this because I’m just a little bit buzzed.” He added, garnering some chuckles. After some time to set up, Enrique looked down at the band. “La Copa, por favor.” He said, turning to face the crowd. Everyone looked on in anticipation, and Enrique took a deep breath before shouting, “La Copa, amigos!”

The camp began to cheer, and clap to a beat as Enrique began to sing, and the horned instruments began to play.

Do you really want it? (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

Enrique posed as the music began to build up, and the camp began to dance.

Go, go, go! (Go, go, go!)/¡Alé alé alé! (¡Alé alé alé!)/Go! (Go!)/Go! (Go!)/Go! (Go!) Go! (Go!)/Here we go! (Yeah!)

The band then erupted into a samba theme and tempo, and Enrique began to shake his chest and dancing as well. He spotted Björk in the crowd, and gave her a wink.

The cup of life, this is the one/Now is the time, don’t ever stop/Push it along, gotta be strong/Push it along, right to the top

He posed and flexed his arms as he sang, then began to dance once again:

Como Caín y Abel/Es un partido cruel/Tienes que pelear por una estrella/Consigue con honor/La copa del amor/Para sobrevivir y luchar por ella/¡Luchar por ella! (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

(Like Cain and Abel/It’s a cruel match/You have to fight for one star/Go get it with honor/The cup of love/In order to survive and fight for it/To fight for it! (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!))

Enrique once again began to shake his chest and rear, and began to wave his hands in the air.

Here we go!/¡Alé alé alé!/Go, go, go!/¡Alé alé alé!/¡Arriba va, el mundo está de pie!/Go, go, go!/¡Alé alé alé!

(Here we go!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!/Up it goes, the world is on its feet!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!)

The horned instruments played the opening melody once again before Enrique continued

La vida es competición/Hay que soñar ser campeón/La copa es la bendición/La ganarás/Go, go, go!

(Life is a competition/You have to dream to be champion/The cup is the blessing/You will win it/Go, go, go!)

Enrique then began to back up slightly, as he motioned for the crowd to go with him

And when you feel the heat/The world is at your feet/No one can hold you down if you really want it!/Just steal your destiny/Right from the hands of fate/Reach for the cup of life ‘cause your name is on it!/Do you really want it? (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

The Quaquaval then walked back forward while shaking his chest and rear once again.

¡Tú y yo!/¡Alé, alé, alé!/Go, go, go!/¡Alé, alé, alé!/Tonight’s the night we’re gonna celebrate/The cup of life/¡Alé, alé, alé!

(You and I!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!/Tonight’s the night we’re gonna celebrate/The cup of life/Go, go, go!)

The band then went into an instrumental breakdown as everyone continued to dance, sing along, and enjoy themselves. Solaris found himself entranced by the Quaquaval’s dancing and singing, surprised that he could still move and sing as well as he did. The music then grew quiet to allow a reprise

The cup of life, this is the one/Now is the time, don’t ever stop/Push it along, gotta be strong/Push it along, right to the top

Enrique paused for a moment, looking down to the crowd and smiling as he jumped into the crowd to begin dancing with them

Como Caín y Abel/Es un partido cruel/Tienes que pelear por una estrella/Consigue con honor/La copa del amor/Para sobrevivir y luchar por ella (¡Sí!)/¡Luchar por ella! (¡Sí!)/¡Luchar por ella! (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

(Like Cain and Abel/It’s a cruel match/You have to fight for one star/Go get it with honor/The cup of love/In order to survive and fight for it (Yes!)/To fight for it! (Yes!)/To fight for it! (Yeah!)/Do you really want it? (Yeah!))

The musician then built the best up slowly, getting the camp excited as Enrique began to shake his chest again.

Here we go!/¡Alé, alé, alé!/Go, go, go!/¡Alé, alé, alé!/Tonight’s the night we’re gonna celebrate/The cup of life/¡Alé, alé, alé!

(Here we go!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!/Tonight’s the night we’re gonna celebrate/The cup of life/Go, go, go!)

Enrique then held his hands up, throwing one, then two, then three fingers up

Un, dos, trés/¡Olé, olé, olé!/Un, deux, trois/Allez, allez, allez!/¡Arriba va, el mundo está de pie/Go, go, go!/¡Alé, alé, alé!

(One, two, three/Hey, hey, hey!/One, two, three/Go, go, go!/Up it goes, the world is on its feet!/Go, go, go!/Go, go, go!)

The music and dancing continued, with Enrique ending in a pose and cheering

Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

The camp cheered and made room for Enrique to exit the circle, turning to face the camp. “Amigos… Thank you. I wish I could be with you all to the end. But there is a threat… A threat that this team here is going to stop! Give them your full support!”

The camp then erupted into applause, beginning to gather food for the team. Enrique then took a deep breath. “Okay. Take me to Zappa… It’s time.”

[powderrblue]

so i was asked to describe the little Fucked Up Blorbo that i have made out of post escape rainbo. i spin he in my brain Constantly so here's some thoughts. some of them are older things but i'll try to add new stuff too :D

to me they trust charlie and sneeg with their life. and any semblance of normal they had before showfall is eventually Gone because they somewhat balance out the codependency charlie and sneeg have but the way the other two functioned before ranboo came along also becomes a part of them too because sneeg and charlie don't know any different. and after showfall they're all fucked up in so many different ways that some days all they can do is hold onto each other. because even if they hate each other they don't have anything else to fall back on.

and in my head i have a specific look. they have prosthetic eyes and hearing aids and the whole thing from the box. i am wanting to draw it very badly but it's been difficult because i don't know how bad the scars are gonna be around the eyes yet. not to mention the other scars but YUH

(there's gonna be more silly thoughts in parentheses btw because i am Silly with a bit of Whimsy but. post escape ran especially with the aforementioned design. he give such cozy vibes to me. like. sweaters and hot chocolate and woods. don't mind me it's the delulu cabin au using me as its puppet speaking its words)

but back to Angst. i probably said this before in another post but. when sneeg and charlie have days where they fucking hate ranboo he will literally curl up in a corner if that's what it takes to get himself out of their sight. and whether or not charlie gives a halfhearted attempt to defend them when sneeg yells at them it still sticks in their brain and they end up believing him if they didn't already.

and when sneeg and charlie fight they stop it as well as they can. they know they can still try to keep the two from clawing at each other and they do even if they get hurt in the process. they try to comfort the two when it's over. and sometimes when they try to stop the two from fighting it makes them spiral because deep down they don't know what to do or how to help or if they're making a difference in the end. and sometimes they get overstimulated during it and it takes one of the other two leading them outside and reminding them none of them are fighting for their lives and that charlie and sneeg do care about each other even when they act like they're on the verge of tearing each other apart to make him calm down.

they hate wearing masks but they still do when they can tolerate it because they know there's literal holes in their face. and even though they can't see it they hate that charlie and sneeg do. (i also have my insane au where niki tells them they look pretty and they just straight up cry. i might talk about that one later because it's part of my delulu cabin au and i love that one with my whole heart)

and to me they cannot stand anything to do with spaghetti-like noodles because it reminds them of the filter showfall put over them literally digging through charlie's organs. and it's bad. like full on breakdown bad. and charlie doesn't remember it happening so neither him or sneeg know what's going on.

in my head all three of them are so so so emotionally unstable but ranboo is in the quietest way out of the three. they aren't the type to break into fights or yell or ignore the other two the way sneeg and charlie would in their respective ways. with ranboo every time charlie sits them down to genuinely ask how they're doing they cry. when sneeg stops one day to apologize for saying they deserved the box they tell him not to be sorry for telling the truth. they hate showfall with their entire being because charlie and sneeg didn't get to see the sun for their entire lives and they don't realize that anger is there until they're up at three in the morning sobbing because they thought about it a little too hard. to me they could spend a whole day spiraling and sneeg and charlie wouldn't find out.

(side note another au i think about is one where randy eventually escapes and finds rgb trio. i love this one again because both the randy and ranboo interactions but also i enjoy the guitar headcanons implementation. the one where randy eventually gets a house and the kids are there with him. they find a guitar and randy tunes it for ranboo so they can play it, yada yada. continuing on that however in this au to ME ranboo keeps on picking away at it and eventually gets really good. and ough. i love this one so bad)

ough anyways i'm just really insane about them. i might reblog with more because sadly i have said a lot of this before. i will be probably more insane later when i have more time LMAO

[reverieaudios]

are we allowed to just send random bullshit ? i hope we are because your characters give me many thoughts im going very insane and i apologize in advanced on how LONG this ask is gonna be compared to others because its probably just gonna be my barely filtered rambling its late at night man idk .

like . ive nicknamed cyril cereal and dion dawn dish soap ( silly story , some of my friends saw me agonizing over a little concept design i was making for him and under his name i put “dish soap” in parentheses because yeah and my friend read it as “die on dish soap” and that turned into “dine on dish soap” (( would dion drink dish soap …????? )) so now hes just known as the dawn dish soap guy among my two friends that witnessed that 😭 )

while im being an idiot im just gonna spew my other random thoughts here:

analog horror creatures in your universe except its literally just the mimics fucking w everyone . ( i love the crosspoints so much hello can i eat it can i eat the lore please just all of it tbh not just the crosspoints personally i think itd be very scrumptious )

kanes name just reminds me of kane pixels . i just like imagining him staring at a computer like “how to horror how to backrooms etc etc” its probably not in character whatsoever and also thats two in a row about things that are kinda horror related

the crosspoints image kindalooks like something that could be in omegamart tbh ( did i mention how much i love the crosspoints ? i dont think i mentioned how much i love the crosspoints yet . i will eat those hexagons . /j ) . like itd be animated and very cool floor or something ( even if it might not fit in with the omegamart lore it just … the vibes . it gives . )

also cyril is so real for having marina and the crane wives in his playlist i love the crane wivesUHH anyways thats it i think

im . so , so sososososo sorry for the length of this i just needed to get these thoughts out of my head ( nobody shouldve ever let me think thoughts . im like that “full of soup” meme but its “full of mixed fandom shit” ) aNYWAYS HAVEANICEDAYyouresocoolbtwiloveyourcontentKBYEE

This made me grin so much you have no idea lol

I feel like in it's normal, labled container, Dion probably wouldn't eat it. But you know how some people will put their dish soap in more aesthetic bottles that could pass for oil or vinaigrette bottles? I could see some getting tasted on accident. Just a lil taste.

And my background is actually in horror, so I'm loving all these references lol

Thanks for writing all this out and sharing your thoughts, it makes me so happy to know you're enjoying what I've made!

[hsvh-hp]

Rules: In a new post, post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Yay, I was tagged in something that I actually maybe have something worth participating in the game for (my apologies to anything l've been tagged in before; I'm a very boring person, I'm sorry 😭)

Thanks for the tag @indigo-scarf :)

The first one is my only active WIP, the rest are my ideas pile for later. Some I name right away, the ones in parentheses aren’t yet:

(DM5)

The Beating Heart of Rome

Where All Knowledge is Hoarded

The Muggle in the Child

A Knot in the Roots

Pet Monsters

(Snack werewolf)

Twilight Eternal

(Lucius and Arthur fucking with Vernon)

Justice, Absolutely

The Garden of Theseus

Useful Idiot (note: not HP)

I tag @citrusses, @lettersbyelise, @omgkatsudonplease, @oflights, @pl0tty, @valoale, @kittenjammer

[jasonbehrs]

🍱 a delicious conspiracy of luck 🍱

by airauralintensity (aka me, jasonbehrs!)

“Hi hi, Sebentous! Welcome back to my channel. If you’re new here: this is Rakki Seben, I’m Nana-chan, and I love food.”

fandom: incurable case of love, koi wa tsuzuku yo doko made mo characters: sakura nanase, tendo kairi, incurable case ensemble cast in supporting roles ship: sakurendo genres: romcom themes: fluff (arguable), food vlogger!sakura, celebrity chef!tendo, sakura focus, canon-typical angst, gratuitous use of japanese in an english-language fanfiction chapters: 1/2 book: 1/2 word count: 7.5k+ rating: T for depictions of attraction

read it on ffnet, aff, wattpad, ao3, or below!

~~~

A/N (7.16.2023): This fic is dedicated to Zayna, who puts up with so much deranged content from me on a daily basis that she deserved something comparatively normal for a change. Find her on instagram or twitter!

I use a lot of Japanese terms which I will define here for the casual enjoyer of Japanese dramas and culture.

Rakki Seben: romaji for 'Lucky Seven'. The 'nana' character in Nanase's name means seven, which is a lucky number in Japan, so I named her YouTube channel Lucky Seven. (Fun fact, the 'se' character of her name means both 'water rapids' and 'chance' which just… has so many character-relevant tie-ins.)

bentou: commonly translated as a 'Japanese boxed lunch', it is generally any single-portion or ready-made meal. The lunch box you bring to school is a bentou. The pre-made meals you buy at a supermarket on the nights you're too lazy to make dinner are bentous. If you're American and you've had Lunchables, that's a bentou. Nanase names the watchers of her vlog Sebentous as a portmanteau of seben and bentou.

-chan, -sensei, -san, -kun: Japanese honourifics. Read more here: living-in-japan/culture/japanese-honorifics/

yakisoba: fried buckwheat noodles. If you've had stir-fried lo mein from your local Chinese restaurant, it's similar. (Some people may disagree with me on this, and that's fine lol.)

LINE: America has Messenger, South Korea has KakaoTalk, Japan has LINE, and everyone else has WhatsApp.

kaiseki: a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that enable the preparation of the full meal, in which case it is analogous to haute cuisine in Western cultures. Traditional cuisine chefs who have Made It™ in Japan probably got famous for their kaiseki restaurants.

心臓 (ハート): the heart as a cardiovascular muscle in Japanese, pronounced shinzou. However, in parentheses, Kairi says it should be pronounced as ha-to, which is the Japanese romaji for the heart as a shape. This is a common phenomenon in written Japanese known as gikun, which basically lets the author assign a new pronunciation to any kanji as they wish, usually to inject new or additional meaning into the text such as significance or humour.

itadakimasu: literally means 'I will receive'. The phrase was historically said aloud before eating to acknowledge the living things (e.g., chef, animals, plants, etc) that led to sustenance. It has since culturally evolved into something akin to the French 'bon appétit' since it's always said before partaking in any meal.

ochazuke: a bowl of rice poured over with tea and topped with whatever you have on hand, historically used as a make-your-pantry-last-longer meal. This simple recipe can be elevated with fancier ingredients.

dorayaki: dessert sandwich of red bean paste between two small pancakes. It is famous for being the favourite meal of Doraemon in the eponymous manga and anime.

senbei: Japanese rice crackers, a common snack.

dogeza: the word for when Japanese people kneel directly on the ground and touch their head to the floor to express deep apology.

With that, let's get started!

~~~

It wasn't a busy shift at the clinic, just a long one. Nevertheless, Nanase is ready to go home, eat dinner, and check for new comments on her latest video upload.

There was a shrine festival near her apartment a few weekends ago, and she had braved the cold to go. The concept of her video was that she went around to different food stalls selling the same thing and tried to figure out how the chefs prepared the meals differently. She wanted to film in the shrine as well, but it was closed for the festivities, so she went back a few days later to learn more about the god it serves and the shrine keepers. It was equal parts a food review and a culture vlog, so she's pretty proud of this one.

When she logs onto the analytics page for her Rakki Seben YouTube channel, she's excited to see three new comments since she last checked yesterday.

@tamagotamako 1 day ago it all looks so delicious! the shrine near me is having a festival next weekend. i'll order yakisoba when i'm there thanks to you www

@CBYTK 13 hours ago Thank you for showing us the delicious food and introducing us to your local shrine's customs. Great video as always.

@yakini-kun 4 hours ago which looks better, nana-chan or the food? discuss.

Her Sebentous are the best part of her day and the best part of running a vlog. They're so funny and complimentary, and some of them have really cute usernames. She would love nothing more than to host a meetup and get to meet them in person, but she doesn't think she's big enough for something like that yet. Maybe one day!

She likes and replies to everyone with a happy heart, then she does a cursory check of her business LINE account. There are some admiration messages, some hate mails (which she promptly deletes), and some recommendations for restaurants or meals to try (which she bookmarks for later), all of which are pretty typical.

What isn't typical is the message with a preview that reads 'INVITATION, ONE NIGHT ONLY: Tendo Kairi Pop-Up Kaiseki'.

Nanase rubs her eyes to make sure she isn't misreading the characters on screen because no way is this what she thinks it is.

[< cuisinebytendokairi

INVITATION, ONE NIGHT ONLY: Tendo Kairi Pop-Up Kaiseki

Nana-chan-san,

Tendo Kairi-sensei of Peninsula Tokyo's Kyoto Tsuruya will be the host and chef for 心臓(ハート), a pop-up, kaiseki-style dining event this weekend. We humbly invite you to attend as a media correspondent from Rakki Seben. In exchange for a free ticket, we ask for coverage on the evening in your next upload. Please see the attached image for details on the time and location, and please use the form linked below to RSVP and inform us of any dietary restrictions.

Your attendance is highly appreciated.]

It totally is what she thinks she is, and she cannot control her squeals.

Japan doesn't have celebrity chefs the way England has Gordan Ramsey-san and South Korea has Baik Jongwon-san, but Tendo Kairi is still making a name for himself in the culinary world despite not having his own restaurant. He is currently the sous chef at the Kyoto Tsuruya, a famous restaurant in the Peninsula Tokyo hotel. On the night of a prestigious economic conference, the head chef could not provide the highly-anticipated, personalised, five-course dinner for last-minute reasons, and the evening would have been in jeopardy if it weren't for Tendo's command of the kitchen and delicious yet improvised new menu.

For reasons starting with 'any chef who can pull that together on such short notice must be really skilled and respected by their staff' and ending with 'she saw a picture of him in one of the interviews he gave after the event, and he's pretty handsome', Nanase became his fan. He's still working as the sous chef at the Peninsula Tokyo as far as she knows, but she has been waiting for him to open up his own restaurant or get promoted to head chef so that she can try meals that he designed.

To learn that he's hosting his own limited-engagement dining experience is already a huge deal, but to be invited? It's too good to be true.

She doesn't believe it even as she gets her brother to double-check that the link isn't malicious ("Good news! It's just a Google Form."), even as she RSVPs and receives her QR code ticket via LINE, even as she's dolled up in the new dress she bought for the evening and standing in front of the event hall where the dinner is being hosted.

The marquee above the front entrance is lit up with the name of the event in both Japanese and English,

心臓(ハート) CUISINE BY TENDO KAIRI

and it takes her an embarrassingly long time of staring in breathless amazement before she thinks to record any of this as B-roll for her vlog.

"Perhaps, are you Nana-chan-san?"

She's startled out of her focus by a handsome young man in a casual suit with the unfortunate air of a new hire who desperately wants to do a good job, and she cannot help but relate. "Hi! Yes, that's me. 'Nana-chan' is fine," she greets as she hastily turns off her camera.

The man sighs with relief. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Nishi Ryusei, and I'm an event staff for Ha-to. Allow me to escort you inside. From this moment until the time you leave, please rely on me for any questions or concerns as they relate to your dining and reporting experience," he narrates as he guides her and her filming apparatus through the security check.

Guests get a personal assistant? These exclusive events are no joke. "Thank you for working hard today, Nishi-san!" she chirps, following him into the small but tastefully decorated lobby.

"If I can call you Nana-chan, you can call me Nishi-kun," he shares warmly. "Would you be interested in checking in your coat as well, or would you like to head into the cocktail reception?"

"Actually," she declines with a sheepish shrug to her shoulders, "may I go around filming a little bit? I will stop if I inconvenience or intrude on other guests!"

Nishi-kun slaps his forehead with major self-recrimination. "Ah, of course! The media correspondent must collect media to correspond! My apologies for not addressing that sooner. Do you need assistance with your camera stand? Do you have special equipment to set up? Do you need to charge anything?" he asks in rapid-fire.

Nanase had commuted to the event hall with mounting anxiety about how she'll conduct herself in such a high-profile setting (and still doubting that she was actually meant to be invited in the first place). Even now, she is acutely aware of how much space she's taking up, the way that her hair is combed but not styled, the fact that this dress is the most expensive article of clothing she owns yet likely costs a fraction of other outfits she'll see tonight… and that hypersensitivity was feeding an additional worry that she won't be able to enjoy the evening to the fullest due to all her worries.

Somehow, though, Nishi-kun's nerves about assisting her does a lot to settle her own nerves about the night. One of them has to be composed, after all. "Would you want to help me?" she offers affably. "If you work here, you'd know the prettiest and most interesting spots to film, right?"

The surprised-yet-pleased lightness to his face makes her smile, and she thinks she and Nishi-kun will end the night as good friends.

As he hangs out with her to film B-roll, Nanase can't help but notice she has a lot less equipment than some of the other camera operators scattered across the venue, which confirms her privately-held belief that she is the most amateur attendant invited to Ha-to. All she has is her little Nikon and a table-tripod to help stabilise her grip, but she can spy camera setups taller than her brother in some corners (along with the local media outlet logos on the bags by their feet).

They intimidate her, but they also reaffirm her resolve. If she was the smallest scale 'media correspondent' in attendance, then that means someone in the event planning process took a gamble on her to provide good coverage of the evening.

She won't let herself down, she won't let her viewers down, and she won't let her anonymous benefactor down either.

~~~

When she finishes taking some atmospheric shots, Nishi-kun offers to take her to her table.

The dinner tables circle an empty space in the centre of the main dining room, presumably where Tendo-sensei will stand to address the crowd. Nishi-kun leads her to a table not too far from the centre, where there is already someone seated. She and Nishi-kun reach an unspoken agreement that they will part ways here, and she braces herself to make another good first impression.

"Ah, I was waiting for someone to come rescue me from my loneliness!" the older gentleman opens with exuberance.

She matches his humour—"Good thing I was looking for someone to rescue."—and it pays off. The well-kept man exuding a kind and paternal air smiles widely at her. "I'm Koishikawa. Tendo and I work together," he introduces.

Nanase's reach for a handshake turns into a pointed finger in her shock. "You're the head chef at Kyoto Tsuruya!" she can't help but exclaim. She's sitting in front of the very man whose personal emergency served as the impetus to Tendo-sensei's rise to fame!

Koishikawa-sensei is mildly taken aback to be recognised, but he recovers easily. "I see that my reputation precedes me," he comments genially. "Have I had the pleasure of your patronage before?"

She blushes. "Not yet."

Nanase would have certainly info-dumped on this poor man about how she's actually a receptionist at a urgent-care clinic near her apartment who definitely could not afford a table at Kyoto Tsuruya without some sort of divine intervention if not for the arrival of two boisterously laughing women holding half-empty champagne flutes.

"Where's your drink?" one of them asks Nanase before they even sit down.

"Do you want me to get you one?" the other follows up.

"Ladies," Koishikawa-sensei admonishes, but he immediately falters then turns to Nanase. "I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch your name."

Oh god, she didn't even introduce herself. She is so embarrassing. "Sakura! Sakura Nanase. It's a pleasure to meet you all," she says quickly.

"Nanako-chan, where's your drink?" the first woman demands again.

"Do you want me to get you one?" Both of their words are noticeably slurred together now that Nanase is paying a little more attention.

"Sakura-chan doesn't need to catch up to you two in order to have a good time," Koishikawa-sensei banters.

"But if she did, she'd have a better time," the first woman rebuts in with a duh in her tone.

The second woman leans across the first one to reach for a handshake with Nanase. "I'm Yuki Sayoko. I'm a friend of the family."

"And I'm Ryuko, the family!" the first one pipes up with a loose, open-palm salute.

Yuki-san leans a palm on Ryuko-san's shoulder, a gesture of familiarity as well as leverage to lean towards Nanase. "How do you know Kairi, Nanase-chan?"

Unfortunately, Nanase cannot answer her because she does not actually know 'Kairi'. If she thought she was in over her head before, she's floundering in the deep end now.

She is currently seated at a table with Tendo-sensei's senior at work, someone she has a sneaking suspicion is either Tendo-sensei's really cool sister or really cool cousin, and a close family friend who understandably presumes that everyone at the table has a similarly personal relationship with Tendo-sensei. And there's still one guest left to meet!

How did little old her end up here?

She frantically looks around—for some water, for Nishi-kun, for a pile of bricks to fall on her and wake her up from this dream—when she meets eyes with one of the most attractive men in the entire archipelago from across the room.

A man who happens to be beelining straight for their table.

Koishikawa-sensei stands up to greet who must surely be Japan's version of Brad Pitt. "Kisugi-kun, you made it!"

"You know how it is when you're running the pass," Kisugi-san says as he returns the one-sided hug. "I'm just glad I didn't miss the introduction to the first course, or else I might as well skip the entire night completely."

"Tendo would have never let you live that down!" Koishikawa-sensei laughs as they settle into their seats.

"He's such a stickler for the 'holistic dining experience'," Ryuko-san snarks as she blows bubbles into her champagne flute, which somehow became full despite no server coming around to top off her glass. "If he didn't seriously know his way around a kitchen, he'd be the most pretentious man in all of Japan."

"But do we expect anything less from the Devil himself?" Yuki-san comments with affection.

"'Devil'?"

All eyes turn to Nanase, who has ruined her ruse of pretending she deserves a spot at this table with one single word.

"You've never heard anyone call my brother 'the Devil'?" Ryuko-san asks with incredulity.

"How did you know Kairi, again?"

Maybe they'll have the grace to wait until she's out of earshot before they start laughing at her. "Actually, I don't…" she confesses to the confusion of every party. She bows her head again, a final introduction now that the whole table is seated. "I'm Sakura Nanase. I was invited tonight as a media correspondent. Please keep me in your favour."

Polite interest is a better response than she could have hoped for from the group. "Media correspondent, hm? Who are you affiliated with?"

"None of the big broadcasting stations. I run a food vlog on YouTube. A small one, really. I'm wondering as much as you are why I'm sitting here," she awkwardly says in an attempt to preempt the elephant at the table.

Surprisingly, Yuki-san perks up. "You're a YouTuber? What's your channel called? How many followers do you have? How many public watch hours have you accrued in the last 90 days?"

"Eh?"

"Sayoko-san works in public relations and media management, and it seems she just found her next client," Koishikawa-sensei observes with amusement.

"Or her next pet project, depending on how you look at it," Ryuko-san jokes.

Nanase is saved from having to react to Yuki-san's enthusiasm by the lights dimming once, twice. Chairs scrape the marble flooring as the lively atmosphere of the room settles in anticipation.

"Email me," Yuki-san stage whispers as she slides her business card across the table to Nanase's clammy hands. She accepts the card with a bow of her head, and that's all she has time for before a man in a fashionable long coat emerges from the sea of tables and stands in the centre of the room.

"Welcome, everyone. My name is Tendo Kairi, and I will be your chef for this evening."

Tendo-sensei spins in an unhurried circle to receive the audience's applause, and Nanase isn't ready at all.

She knew he was attractive, but this is just unreal. From his ear to his cheek to his entire profile, his face is revealed to her slowly like the moon waxing to fullness, and the impact is just as dazzling. Striking, even. Everything about him seems cut into precise angles for the express purpose of carving this moment into her memory forever.

By the time he fully faces her, she has stopped clapping entirely.

His eyes, like everything else about him, have a piercing quality that does not allow her to move, to think, to breathe—a state of suspension she can only experience because he is looking straight at her.

There is a flash of surprise before his expression settles back into a neutral smile of appreciation, and the moon wanes to new once again.

Just in time for her ears to recognise sound, the applause settles in anticipation of Tendo-sensei's next words.

"Thank you for joining me tonight for the first kaiseki dinner plan that I designed and cooked myself. For the experienced, I encourage you to wash away your expectations with your first cup of sake. This will not be your typical evening of seasonal acknowledgements and ceremonial formality. Instead, I chose to honour a different kind of nature tonight: human nature. The multisensory, once-in-a-lifetime aspect of a traditional kaiseki dinner will instead be provided by you all as the recipients of the meal. Every individual will have different reactions to each plate, and every table will have different discussions as a result. I look forward to hearing about them during the after-party, which will be held in the lobby following the final course."

Tendo-sensei speaks with candor and conciseness that somehow completely suits the image of him she didn't mean to build in her mind but has now anyway. There are no unnecessary inflections to his speech. Every intention is plainly stated. Neither breath nor word is wasted.

"Now, I will introduce you to the ha-to as I know it with our appetiser, a bean salad with orange vinaigrette. The beans were harvested in Chiba, and the oranges were farmed from Egypt. I hope you will enjoy it."

Tendo-sensei bows in the direction he happens to be facing, and that's the cue for waitstaff to surge into the room carrying trays of the first plate. By the time everyone has one, he is gone from the centre.

Koishikawa-sensei takes one look at his food and chuckles, only loud enough for their table to hear. Kisugi-san joins him not long later.

"What? What is it?" Ryuko-san asks eagerly, always ready to laugh at a good joke.

"The beans he chose are known for being high in soluble fiber," Kisugi-san explains. "In other words, it's good for the heart."

"Eh? I didn't know that! That's considerate," Nanase can't help but effuse.

"It helps to have two chefs at the table, doesn't it? We'll have the secrets to all of Kairi's dishes revealed by the end of each course. You should do an exposé on your vlog, Nanase-chan."

With Yuki-san's well-meaning tease, Nanase remembers she has a job to do. She really has to get herself together. She can't be distracted by attractive men and imposter syndrome. She's here for one thing and one thing only: good food.

"Ah, would anyone mind if I started filming? I'll keep the camera pointed at me and my food, and I can mute the microphone if it would make you more comfortable."

Ryuko-san leans over to look into the lens of the camera Nanase places on the table, tripod legs set low so that no one's vision is obstructed. "So you put your videos on the internet and then people watch them? If I'm in it, will I get famous?"

"Heh, not really. Only a few hundred people watch my vlogs regularly."

"That's a few hundred more people than who know me now! Please let me be in your video, Nanako-chan. Please, please, please." Ryuko-san bounces in her seat to underscore her insistence.

"I also don't mind being recorded. I trust you to edit out anything personal or unprofessional. Make me look good, okay?" Koishikawa-sensei says affably.

The rest of the table chimes in with their consent, and Nanase doesn't bother hiding the stars in her eyes. Tendo-sensei's friends and family are some of the most kind, easy-going people on earth.

She bows with appreciation then presses record on her camera.

"Itadakimasu!"

(When she reviews the night's footage later, the smile on her face at this moment is the happiest she's ever seen herself.)

~~~

As Yuki-san predicted, it is incredibly helpful to have two chefs around to explain the likely significance behind each course. After the appetiser, there are deep-fried brie wheels drizzled in honey ("high in cholesterol and certainly bad for your heart when eaten in excess"), steaming bowls of ochazuke with tuna roe and chunks of sun-dried pickled plum ("traditional comfort food in Kyoto—one bite and you'll see why"), and a shot of cod liver oil in between courses four and five ("high in omega-3's, but golly, low on taste"). There even is a serving of cow heart in what everyone hopes will be the only literal interpretation of the night's theme.

Nanase falls in love with every dish she tries—except the heart, admittedly, but she has always wanted to try animal heart, so she still loves that she got the opportunity. The magic of the menu is not just in their flavour profiles, but also in their mouthfeel.

Almost everyone has flavour preferences, but she didn't discover she had texture preferences until she started Rakkk Seben and wanted to describe the experience of eating to her viewers. She loves when food is so crispy that it reminds her of the first leaves of autumn; she loves surprise chewiness in an otherwise melt-in-your-mouth dish; she loves when there are beady foods like beans or tapioca because she likes organising them in between her teeth for an even bite.

The Ha-to menu manages to capture all of that and more in a delightful manifestation of everything she'd want to taste or experience in a gourmet dish. Each recipe has a way of bringing out the essence of each ingredient, so even the simplest of dishes are layered with complexity. It's the most decadent meal of her entire life, in more ways than one.

Every course is introduced by Tendo-sensei in his same straightforward, succinct tone. He usually describes the ingredients and sometimes an anecdote about the preparation, and Nanae revels in his appearances as much as she does in his food.

The company is equally as compelling. Koishikawa-sensei has been a warm presence ever since their first interaction. Kisugi-sensei—as she has started calling him in her mind ever since she learned he is a sous-chef at another fine dining establishment she is too poor to try—doesn't say much, but she learns a lot whenever he does. Ryuko-san and Yuki-san are the ones keeping the conversation lively, and they're good about including others in their banter. (By others, she does mainly mean herself.)

Throughout the evening, Ryuko-san is definitely the one Nanase ends up interacting with the most. The older woman keeps popping into the frame to wave at the camera and speaking to viewers like a natural vlogger, and it gives Nanase an idea.

After the cod liver oil, Ryuko-san—who works as a sake sommelier but considers herself proficient in all alcohols—wishes aloud that it were a shot of Cognac instead, and Nanase uses the opportunity to tentatively invite her as a guest in a future video where she recommends alcohol pairs for street foods and they try it together.

The evening proceeds exactly like that: Tendo-sensei introduces his next course, Nanase becomes a little bit more enamoured with him via his food, and the conversation at the table rarely stops. She is so glad she has a camera recording all of this; otherwise, she'd be worried that she dreamed everything.

The next time Tendo-sensei steps out, he announces, "This will be our final course for the night. For dessert, I present dorayaki made out of store-bought pancake mix and canned red bean paste."

The entire hall titters with confusion. After several plates of high quality ingredients and sophisticated cooking techniques, he's serving something a college student or perhaps a very independent four-year-old would make for a late-night snack?

Nanase sneaks glances at her seatmates with the hopes that one of Tendo-sensei's closest friends and family would have an innate understanding of logic behind this choice, but the table seems as surprised as the rest of the hall. In fact, Ryuko-san is full-on pouting with the loss of a delectable confection.

She looks back to Tendo-sensei, who hasn't bowed yet to end his speech. He isn't reveling in the confusion either, as she suspected he might. Someone like him wouldn't end the night so anticlimactically without a very good reason, and she has the passing thought that the reason is simple shock value.

Instead, he is just standing still, head hung low and microphone clutched in his hand like he is searching for the will, or the courage, to do something.

He is facing her side of the room. When he finally raises his head, there is melancholy shadowing his angled features. Nanase tries to remember if she could have recognised it before, if it was perhaps there the whole night, but her memories of his face are only cast in dazzlement.

"I do not like sweets, but dorayaki is my favourite dessert. Maybe it is only my favourite because it was what my wife used to make whenever she wanted to celebrate something. The thing is, anything was cause for celebration: doing the dishes she let pile up for a day too long, finishing a book I've been meaning to read, small things like that. It's a taste that I've personally come to associate with a warm smile and a happy home. A full heart, as it were… I probably would have had dorayaki later this evening if not for the fact that my wife passed away eight years ago."

The hall is silent. Even the distant clamour of metal against metal that has been intermittently slipping out from the kitchen has ceased. It is so quiet that Nanase fears her raging heartbeat will upset the solemnity of the moment.

"Of course, I had other ideas for tonight's dessert; but no matter what I planned, I kept thinking to myself, 'I still don't get to eat Minori's dorayaki by the end of the day…' But I can try."

He extends one arm outwards, and the waitstaff flood into the room with their giant trays balanced on their shoulders as they have done for every course. "This is her dorayaki, replicated as close as possible to how she used to make it," Tendo-sensei narrates as the diners receive their plates. "As you eat, I encourage you to think about your heart: who lives in it, where it is telling you to go, and how you will get there."

At the end of his speech, a waitstaff places his own plate on the palm of his outstretched hand. Tendo-sensei pockets his microphone and picks up the dessert. With an inaudible prayer, he takes a bite of the dorayaki. It is the first time he partook in his own menu all evening.

He is still facing her direction, but Nanase cannot clearly see his tears.

"Sakura-san, are you crying?"

"Is there anyone in this world who wouldn't cry upon seeing that?!" she defends while being a sniveling mess.

"Now, now," Koishikawa-sensei cuts in. "It's a moving story, no doubt. Here, clean yourself up, Sakura-chan,"—he offers her a handkerchief from his pocket—"and let's all enjoy the special dessert Tendo-kun prepared for us."

"Is this special? I could buy the same thing at the FamilyMart across the street, and it would probably taste better than this," Ryuko-laments even as she rips a bite out of her dorayaki.

"I will say, though, isn't it rather nostalgic?" Yuki-san muses with a slightly full mouth. "My parents made dorayaki for me when I was little, and it tasted a lot like this, clumpy batter and all."

"This was actually the first thing I ever learned to make," Kisugi-sensei says. "I was 5, and the Showa brand pancake mix had easy-to-follow instructions… Honestly, if I think about it, it's probably the moment that set me on a path towards culinary school."

"Maybe that's why dorayaki is my favourite dessert," Nanase murmurs. She doesn't really expect her tablemates to hear her; but when everyone's heads turn towards her, she is prepared to expand on her thought. "It's really easy to make, right? Simple, too. No one can mess it up. It would probably be more difficult to make it taste bad."

"You say that, Nanase-chan, but you also haven't seen me in the kitchen."

"There's a reason Sayako-san is the only one at the table unaffiliated with food," Koishikawa-sensei jokes.

"One time, she…"

Ryuko-san trails off from her story at the gradual hush that overcomes the event hall. Without prompting, the five of them turn towards the centre, where Tendo-sensei has since finished his dessert and has begun silently bowing to the guests. Once he finishes his round, he straightens and heads out to the lobby.

The table slowly turns to each other in confirmation before gathering their things.

The after-party has begun.

~~~

The good food doesn't stop at the after party. The finger foods, just sugar cookies and senbei, are refreshingly simple after the complex flavours from the kaiseki. Plus, they're cut into heart shapes! Nanase loves commitment to a gimmick.

The people at her table naturally split up after the dinner to catch up with other colleagues or people they happened to know, so Nanase was left to herself for the after party. She doesn't mind. She just takes some snacks to a spot out of people's way and enjoys the ambiance. When is she going to have a chance to attend something like this ever again?

"How was the dinner?" someone asks from her side.

"Nishi-kun! Did you not have any?!"

He laughs. "No, I did, but you're the food reviewer between the two of us. I wanted to hear from you."

"Well, it was amazing, of course," she effuses, hand demurely covering her mouth as she finishes chewing her cookie. "I have a lot I want to say, but all the words are just floating around in my head. I think I'm gonna be up all night just trying to make sense of my emotions."

"That good, huh?"

"The best."

"I'm really glad to hear it. Between you and me, I think Tendo-sensei was pretty nervous about how you'd react to the food."

Good thing she finished with her cookie or else she would have probably choked. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's hard to explain," Nishi-kun says as he crosses his arms, "but I was keeping my eye on you throughout the dinner—in case you needed something, you know—and he was always around. And he was always looking at your table."

Nanase lets out a relieved laugh. "Oh, you've got it all wrong. His sister and his mentor were at the table, too. He was probably checking for their reactions. Everyone at my table was actually really close to him. I'm pretty sure I ended up there as a mistake, or at the very least not on purpose."

He tilts his head to the side. "Tendo-sensei seems like the kind of guy who does everything on purpose, doesn't he?"

"Sure, but was he the one in charge of seating?" she retorts with raised eyebrows.

Nishi-kun scratches at his chin. "Now that, I don't know…"

She pats him on the arm, absolving him of the responsibility to continue the topic and indicating that she wants his attention for something else. "Speaking of Tendo-sensei, do you know if he's allowing interviews during the after party?"

Nishi-kun considers her request. "The after-party would be your best bet, but I can't say for sure he'll be able to do an interview."

They both turn to look at the small group praising Tendo-sensei for the evening and then to the line that's pseudo-forming behind them. The after-party wasn't supposed to be a meet and greet, but it's turning out that way. Nanase and Nishi-kun slowly meander to the ill-defined line, not really intending to join it but moving forward anyway as the queued guests finish their interactions with Tendo-sensei.

When they're a few turns away, someone breezes past the line and straight to the man of the hour.

"When can we go home, Kairi?"

"You can go home whenever you want. I'm still busy," he says with a gesture towards the next guest he meant to meet before Ryuko-san interrupted.

She looks over at the line with pout, which immediately brightens as soon as she sees Nanase in it. "Nanko-chan! What are you doing over there? Come here and meet my brother!"

"Eh?" Nanase casts a worried glance to the other people in line, who look at her with disdain or judgement. She is prepared to reject the older woman's well-meaning offer, but her hand pulling on Nanase's wrist won't let her. All she can do is grab Nishi-kun's wrist and drag him along too.

"Kairi, this is Nanako-chan! Thanks for putting her at our table; we got along great."

"Eh?" "It wasn't like that!"

Nanase had planned to avoid looking directly at Tendo-sensei's face, but this is the second time the seating arrangement has been brought up since the end of the dinner. She can't help but look up in verification of Ryuko-san's statement. (They may have just met, but she's proven herself to be a very authentic person. Nanase is inclined to take her word over Tendo-sensei's.)

Tendo-sensei, for his part, looks very agitated. "Listen," he says. "You were a party of four, and these tables seated five. We did that a lot, putting solo attendants wherever there was space. If you guys got along, it was pure luck."

Nanase nods to herself. That makes a lot of sense.

"Rakki Seben kind of luck?" Ryuko-san quips.

"Huh?"

"That's the name of her vlog! 'Rakki Seben'. Nanako-chan invited me on it, and Yuki's gonna be her manager."

Tendo-sensei whirls on her, and Nanase feels strangely chastised even though she didn't do anything wrong. "I don't know about the Yuki-san thing, but the rest of it is true. I run a YouTube channel. It's actually why I was invited tonight," she explains weakly in the face of his intense stare.

"Say, you should be in it, too, Kairi! Give her an interview or something she can use in her video."

That happens to be exactly what she wanted, but to receive it without her asking is rather overwhelming in the moment. "Only if you have the time! I don't even mind waiting until later in the night, if you're willing and not still busy," she hedges, but Ryuko-san speaks over her.

"You."

Nishi-kun looks around to make sure the finger pointing at him isn't meant to be pointing at someone very near him. "Me?"

"Can you drink alcohol?"

"I'm, um, I'm 25."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Y-Yes, I can drink alcohol."

"Let's go get some, then!"

Ryuko-san wraps her arm around his and leads him towards the open bar. Nishi-kun looks back at Nanase with equal parts fear and apology in his eyes, and she can do nothing but send him pitying looks in return.

"I have a bad feeling about that," Tendo-sensei comments lowly from beside her.

She hasn't known Nishi-kun for long, but she still confidently defends, "Don't worry. Nishi-kun is an absolute gentleman and won't do a single thing to Ryuko-san."

"He's not the one who gives me bad feelings." Before Nanase could unpack that, he turns to her with a raised eyebrow. "So, what's this about an interview?"

There is something on the tip of Nanase's tongue about pretending an interview was never mentioned and apologising for wasting his time, but her resolution from earlier in the evening makes a convenient reappearance in her mind. She won't let herself down, she won't let her viewers down, and she won't let her anonymous benefactor down either.

She bows ninety-degrees in a desperate attempt at professionalism. "Yes! I am Sakura Nanase, and I have a YouTube channel called Rakki Seben! I humbly request to interview you as part of the video review I will give about tonight's event!"

"'Nanase'?"

Hearing her first name said so admonishingly snaps her upright. "I only need five—no, three—minutes of your time!"

He spends a long moment staring at her, silent and discerning, and the state of suspension from earlier in the night is back. She almost can't feel the legs she's standing on.

"Let's get on with it, then."

He offers a polite bow to the guests who hadn't yet given up on the meet and greet line then heads for a door on the opposite side of the room. Nanase starts after him, backtracks to give the people in line a deeper bow because it felt wrong to leave without doing that, then hurries to make up for the lost seconds. When she bursts through the door she saw Tendo-sensei heading towards, she finds that she entered a quiet service hallway.

Quiet because there is no one else there but her and Tendo-sensei. She gulps. "Right, well. Just, um, you can stand over there—or really, wherever you want—and um, I'll stand over… Here. I'll stand over here." She adjusts her camera on its tripod with shaky fingers, and it takes her three tries to turn it on. "Okay, start whenever you're ready… End whenever you're ready, too," she hastily adds.

Tendo-sensei leans against the wall behind him and crosses his arms. "And what would you like to know?"

Why was I invited? is the first question that pops into her head, but she physically shakes it out of her mind. She does have a real question she wanted to ask him, and she only has one shot at this. "Could you talk about the inspiration behind your courses? Except for the dessert, you mostly talked about the ingredients or the recipes. The guests at my table made guesses about why you made what you made—like, it's good for the heart, or it's bad for the heart—but why did you choose to make those recipes over other recipes that would have maybe expressed a similar statement?"

He quirks one eyebrow at her. "Sounds like you'll need more than three minutes of my time, Sakura-san."

Crap, he's right. She should have thought of that. She's so embarrassing. "No, I won't!" she maintains. "I have other questions! Like, uh… Which was your favourite course to work on and why?"

She grimaces. It's a really basic question, not at all on par with the kind of journalism that some of the other media correspondents would have pulled off if they were in her position. In fact, she can even hazard a guess at what his response would be… but it can be answered in three minutes or less, which is all that matters.

He turns his head to face down the hallway, his handsome face impassive yet undeniably radiating annoyance. She tries to ignore the silly worry that she has somehow disappointed him in favour of coming up with a better three-minute question, but then he says, "The dessert, of course, but you already knew that."

Agreeing with him is probably the right answer, but it also makes the fact that she asked the question at all look rather foolish, so she doesn't say anything.

He sighs then faces her again. "I'll start with the appetiser, then."

She wince. "Thanks for keeping me in your favour," she says with self-recrimination.

He offers her a hum of acknowledgement but nothing more on the topic of his time. "Beans are a natural choice to suit the Ha-to theme, but they're a versatile ingredient that could have appeared in any course. Rather than saying they best suited the appetiser, it was more like no other ingredient I wanted would…"

As he expounds upon his thought process and menu development, Nanase feels her superficial crush on the man developing into something a lot more substantial. He's so diligent and intelligent and magnificent.

Nothing like her, who was so nervous about filming the interview that she forgot to set the white balance before it was too late.

Everytime she glances down at her camera view to make sure her shaky hands haven't moved Tendo-sensei out of frame, she could perceive slight differences in colour temperature on the screen. She had hopes that the lighting of the hallway would help keep it more-or-less consistent, but that was evidently too optimistic.

She's pretty bad about adjusting levels in her video editing software, but she can probably just put some apologetic text on screen asking Sebentous for their understanding. It's not like asking him to start over is an option.

"Is my explanation not what you wanted to hear?" Tendo-sensei's harsh voice cuts through her internal monologue.

Her head snaps up. "What? Of course not! I'm so grateful for your insights! Cow hearts over fish was an inspired choice!"

"Then what's with that face? You look… dissatisfied."

Great. On top of incompetent, he must also think she's ungrateful. "I'm very sorry about that. I can… I can wear a mask?"

He looks at her with so much exasperation that she thinks that a bow may not be enough. A full on dogeza in this dress would be awkward, but not undoable.

"Forget it. If you're going to say stupid things, I'm just going to go." With a dramatic flutter of his coat, he stalks towards the lobby.

"It's the white balance!" she blurts out before he could reach the door. The truth is unfortunately another stupid thing, but hopefully explaining herself will at least prevent his opinion of her from getting worse.

It works, for the most part. He stops abruptly and whirls to face her with an unimpressed "Huh?"

She hesitates for just a second before scuttling over to him, camera outstretched so he could see what she's talking about. "I don't know how much you know about videography, but there's this thing called white balance, and…" Whether it's his stare or her hypersensitivity, she could sense that her rambling is losing more favour than it's gaining, so she switches priorities. "Basically, the footage we just shot is usable, but bad."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, it's really easy! All I have do is—"

"Do it. I don't have time to repeat everything I was saying, so I'm just going to answer your dessert question."

That is so okay with her. She's lucky he's even giving her a second chance. "Thank you so much!" She stops the current recording, diligently checks the white balance and aperture and other settings she neglected the first time around, and starts a new file. "Alright, we're rolling," she says as lifts the camera up. "So, sensei, what was your favourite course to work on and—why…?"

She looks quizzically up at Tendo-sensei, who has gotten close enough and lowered the camera enough to indicate that he isn't quite ready to record.

"I've done a lot of talking tonight. I think it's your turn, Sakura-san."

Too bad Tendo-sensei looks so mind-numbingly attractive right now that it makes her forget she knows Japanese.

"Did you enjoy the dinner?"

She nods incessantly.

"Which was your favourite course?"

"All of them." It's not even a question.

His upper lip curls a little in distaste. Her self-preservation isn't strong enough to ignore the flash of white teeth that's revealed. "Why?"

She loves each of them for their own reasons, of course, but one thing they undeniably have in common is that, "They were all things that I like eating."

Tendo-sensei tsks, steps away. "Aren't you a food vlogger? Can't you do better than that?"

Between his reprimanding words and lack of proximity, the daze she was stumbling through clears enough to give her back access to her pride. "Of course! I just… needed to collect my thoughts."

He walks backwards and leans on the wall again, and pieces of the voiceover script she was writing in her mind the whole night helpfully organise themselves into something intelligible.

"I often highlight the mouthfeel of the foods I eat to my viewers, and I really enjoyed the textures of your dishes. Even though each course was consumed individually, I think they would have also worked really well together if they came out all at once like they do in Korean restaurants because of the diversity. Coupled with the different flavour profiles that you created, it was a complete fulfilment of the senses, and I am very grateful that I was invited to experience it."

She punctuates her spiel with a decisive nod, feeling confident and articulate and insightful… but the way Tendo-sensei is only looking at her is slowly making her question that self-assessment. He hasn't reacted, positively or negatively. Maybe he regrets asking for her opinion at all.

"Right, well—"

"—Anything special to say about the dorayaki?"

"Hm?"

He crosses his arms and looks away for a moment, tapping his shoe mindlessly against the linoleum floor. "One of your vlogs said that it's your favourite," he gets out after a few more beats. "The Odaiba one."

She knows what he's talking about, sort of. She does have a vlog where she went out to Odaiba to enjoy lunch on the bay on a nice late-winter day, but she doesn't particularly remember talking about dorayaki in that one. Nor does she know why Tendo-sensei, of all people, would know that, unless…

"You watched my videos?"

"Video. Single," he scoffs as he straightens out from his not-quite-insecure hunch. If she didn't witness him crying nearly thirty minutes ago, she would think that Tendo-sensei's face only has two settings: neutral and unimpressed. "And of course, I did. You're a nobody YouTuber, and this is the biggest professional achievement of my life. You weren't going to be invited without being personally vetted by me."

Now would be the perfect time to ask him why she was invited at all, but an event staff bursts through the hallway door at that moment. "There you are, Tendo-sensei! We've been looking all over for you. You're needed back out in the lobby."

He nods in acknowledgement. "I'll be there in a few minutes. I need to finish my interview first."

Nanase is still facing the staff member, prepared to apologise for keeping Tendo-sensei from his responsibilities, which is how she can see the confused look on their face before they bow and retreat.

She turns back to Tendo-sensei to give him one last chance to back out of having to give her any more of his time, but he's standing up straight and fixing the collar on his coat to prepare for the take. Whatever opportunity to react to anything that happened in the last ninety seconds is long gone.

Indeed, she's here for an interview with Tendo-sensei. She should just get this over with. She's been on edge all night, and this is the last thing she needs to do before she can go home and still be satisfied with how she handled the evening.

Ordinarily, she'd give herself a quick slap on both cheeks to fortify her resolve, but she's made enough of a fool of herself tonight in front of the no-nonsense chef. She has to settle for checking the settings on her camera one more time.

Okay, she can do this. "So, sensei, what was your favourite course to work on, and why?"

~~~

A/N (7.16.2023): Second chapter is the last one! It's already complete, I'll upload it in another week. :)

[tarysande]

The other day I sent an email to my co-chair with so many parentheses that I immediately followed the email with a text message apologizing for the unhinged number of parenthetical asides in the email he was about to read.

[xaurianqueen97]

My au is that the weirdly powerful beings whom we will never know the name or species of whom originally created Sgrub/Sburb never finished it because they eventually realized that creating a "game" that erases a universe, even in order to create a better one, is kind of fucked up. So they shelved the idea.

Scratch found it somehow and uses it to hunt, he is a being that either consumes or gains power from suffering.

A new universe can never be created. The game is unfinished, any "new" universe is the game trying to restart so that it can be finished correctly, but it can never be won or ended because the coding just isn't there. (This is also why the kids in sburb don't seem to miss anyone from their og planet except like, celebs. The only "real" people were the guardians/ancestors and the players. This part of the au could get a little weird (I was thinking an alternative could be something along the lines of sburb destroying and consuming universes as it goes, but then where would the sburbian ruins come from that Jade and Aradia live near? Feels too complicated) so I'm not getting further into it, I'll give myself a headache. The important bit is that the Beforans were the first victims of Scratch.)

(Where did the human players come from? Idk man I'm not writing a fucking thesis I just want a fix-it fic that doubles as a crossover with my original bs ok. I am but a girl. A nearly 28 year old girl.)

(That was too many parentheses and it's distracting, I know. I apologize. But not for this one in particular, this one is just me being obnoxious for fun.)

The game being shelved is also why it's so buggy and fucked and can be messed with in certain ways. The horror terrors I don't have an explanation for, they are not a creation of Sburb, I think they just wiggled in there cause they thought it was weird and interesting. Or something. The cephalopod brain is unknown to me.

Feel free to take whatever bits of this you like, I've got a way I'm "fixing" it in my au, if you find this interesting or it gets your muse going that makes me happy.

[lilyaceofdiamonds]

2024 READING LOG

I’ve seen people make lists like this and i decided to make one myself! I got back into reading Published Books in January 2024 after a long time only reading ao3 (admittedly quite a lot) and started a list in my phone so i didn’t have to remember what books in a series i’d already read (always my downfall as a kid at the library). We’re going by author because that’s easiest.

First up: Rick Riordan! (Was the release of the new PJO show a month before the catalyst in all this? Probably. But i never turn down a good reread.) Over the year i made it through all five Percy Jackson and the Olympians audiobooks, all five Heroes of Olympus audiobooks, the three Kane Chronicles books, and the first Magnus Chase book. All rereads, many times, with the exception of Magnus Chase. Hopefully in the next year i’ll get caught up on the rest of the Riordanverse.

Next up is Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series! I took the first two paperbacks to a family reunion and then have been devouring the rest as fast as the library app will allow. So far i’ve read through book twelve (and 7.5) in the series.

Next up is Lev Grossman, because i read all three of his Magicians trilogy for the first time after i rewatched the Magicians tv show (not for the first time).

I also read Sally Green’s Half Bad trilogy this year after yet another rewatch of Netflix’s The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself, just to see what the original source was.

I started dipping my toes into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld with the Watch series, and i’ve made it through the first four of those.

Megan Whalen Turner’s The Queen’s Thief series has a wonderful audiobook narrator, and i’ve listened to the first four of those too.

I started the Game of Thrones books because why not (not based on a tv watch this time, although i should maybe finish that series at some point) and have made it slowly through a Game of Thrones reread and Clash of Kings first-time so far.

Also got Penny Louise’s mystery crime series recommended to me and i read the first one, Still Life, which was good enough that i’ll add the series into the library holds rotation.

Speaking of rec’s, the only non-fiction book i read this last year is Madeline Pendleton’s I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy Tshirt. An actual finance book memoir for the struggling broke people? It was excellent.

I also read Katy L Wood’s Poison in the Blood several times in actual paperback form, a post-vampire-apocalypse book with western vibes. Which is an off the walls description but it is also very good.

And i read the first book in Diane Duane’s wizards series, because i was looking to see if the library had her Middle Kingdoms books and they don’t (yet) but they did have So You Want To Be A Wizard available and it brought up nostalgia from reading that when i was like twelve. So i read it again, and loved it all over again.

Last but never least was the Fellowship of the Ring audiobook, which is so often my ‘i can’t sleep so i’ll listen to this with my eyes shut’ series that it was surprisingly difficult to Pay Attention to the Actual Words.

48 books in a variety of audio and ebook and paperback. Some months i read nothing, some weeks i zipped through four or five books.

I apologize for how long this post was, and the overuse of parentheses.

What were you reading in 2024? Leave a comment, send me a rec, tag me in a post of your own!