#at least i know that his writing style gets better eventually since i have read the final conversation and i thought that was good

[goingmerryfics]

❤️ Your Blog. Can I request something? 🙏 Id love about Law and reader who is very affectionate and caring, e.g. brings him snacks in his office when he's working late, cheers him up when he is upset. All in all reminds Law alot of Cora.

Kind and caring S/O w/ Law

Content: Gender Neutral reader, SFW!

Notes* I love this idea! I got a lot of good ideas when I sat down to write this and it all pretty much amounts to “this man truly needs a break.” which means I went a little haywire with it. Spoilers for Dressrosa/Law's backstory

Happy reading :)

Law

Dating you was absolute bliss for Law

If he was shut up in his room working, he knew he could count on you to come visit eventually

Even if, after responding to your knocking and saying that he was busy, you still enter

You’ve got some lemon water and specially made Onigiri by your own hand all set up pretty in a tray

He tries not to smile too much while you set it down, kiss the top of his head, and quietly urge him to take a break- or at least stand and stretch because how he’s sitting can’t be good for his posture

Normally he wouldn’t pay that any mind, but you had an effect on him that he couldn’t explain. You gave him a special sort of feeling in his heart- a feeling that only one other person had ever given him in his entire life

Law gets up to stretch and to reach for you, that way he can press a kiss to your cheek and tell you he loves you

You’ve noticed he’s softer around you, though he never could quite tell you why

You also notice that whenever you two are sitting close or lying together, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing- he likes to look into your eyes as much as he can

He can’t explain it- it doesn’t matter that your eyes aren’t exactly the same colour as his. They’re kind, they’re caring, just like he is

One day, the heat on the submarine gives out and you seek Law out to ask a favour

“One of my sweaters? Yeah, you can borrow one. Just don’t ruin it.”

The warning means nothing, he knows you wouldn’t destroy any of his things on purpose

So you head for his room while he returns to helping the others fix the heat, shivering in your suit

Law’s room is an organized mess of books, clothes and sheets. He was never the type to keep anything clean for too long, but then again he was a busy man. You didn’t mind it, but you do know how he appreciates it when you can help him out with the little things. First, a sweater. You swear that you’re about to start seeing your breath from how cold it’s getting.

You dive into his closet and sort through his things for that yellow one you like, when you notice something interesting. Something hung up, obviously important since it’s in one of those zippable clothing protectors. A suit, maybe?

The thought of Law in a suit makes you squeal a bit. Now you have to see it.

Carefully, you take the hangar out and your first remark is at how incredibly light it is. It’s not heavy enough to be a full suit set, so you start to unzip it to satisfy your curiosity.

A few loose, black feathers hit the ground before you can figure out what you’re looking at. It’s a full feather coat. It looks like it’s been tailored- the collar has been cautiously cut with a loving hand, which makes you remember the strangely similar style of feather collar on his blue sweatshirt. There are also some messy holes in the back of it.

You hum curiously, and put it back into the protector bag for the time being. Then you grab the sweater you’d come here for, take the hangar, and bring the coat with you back to your room.

The heat returns. Heart Pirates huddle around the heat and try to warm up quickly, but Law has a better idea in mind on how to warm up. He also just really wants to see you in his clothing. But he spots something as he’s headed down the hall that makes his heart drop. A single black feather.

He’s wearing his blue sweater and he hasn't touched the coat. So why…

He rushes first to his room, throws the closet door open and his eyes widen at the missing coat, so he makes a B-Line for your room

It’s not that he thought you would wreck it, but it’s something he’d rather keep safe. Those feathers fell off every time he touched it, and he wanted so desperately to preserve the last item he’d ever have of his beloved Corazon.

When he reaches your room, he barges right in without knocking and finds you holding it up, looking it over. Your room is a mess of loose thread. Your desk has sewing scissors and a little ball with various sized sewing needles poking out of it, and your sewing machine is on.

“See?” You hold it up to him, showing off your handiwork. Slack-jawed, he scans over the once bullet holes that have now been expertly closed and repaired. “I’ve never seen you wear this, but I guess it’s because all those feathers kept falling off, right?”

He’s silent, but he knows just what he wants to say. It just takes him a moment.

“Law?” You ask, smile falling a bit, thinking maybe you’d done something wrong.

“Put it on.”

“Huh?” You take another good look at the coat. “You sure?”

He nods, and watches how you pull it over your shoulders. It’s way too big for you- did a damn giant wear this!? -but you still strike a pose, holding up a peace sign next to your face for Law and grinning wide.

“Do I look good?”

He takes a few steps forward. You open your eyes again and get the quick glimpse of tears in his eyes before he pulls you in for a hug tight enough to crack your spine. You can hear his quiet sobs and gasps in your ear, and it breaks your heart to think that maybe you’d done something wrong.

But he whispers that he loves you, and then he whispers it 3 more times just to be sure. You tell him you love him too, and he takes a deep breath to pull himself together.

“Are you ok, Law?” You ask, eyes glued to him. “I can put it back if-”

“No, just…” He wipes his face, then takes your hands. “I think there’s someone I’d like to tell you about.”

[enchantedsword]

okay im going to try and do as many headcanons/ideas i have for this au(now named stone twin au because i cant think of anything else and im bad with being original obviously) most of these are about wukong since hes the one i think about constantly but i guess i have to start somewhere(also i have a few of my headcanons in here that dont just pertain to this au plus a few things from jttw but i didnt feel the need to have them on a separate post), this is mostly just about sunny's(wukong) relationships with others, not everyone but the ones i can think of for now. i also finally figured out how to do read more.

obviously wukong(sunny) would be the more monkey like of the two, hes about a few inches shorter then mk, he's very clingy, loved to cling to pigsys back growing up and still occasionally does especially when not feeling well, also clings to tang and mk and occasionally mei, when the twins were first found he couldnt speak human(he understood it just fine the same way any other toddler would) and while mk couldnt speak monkey he could understand it and played translator until they taught him how to speak human, he still slips into monkey speach when hes really sick or upset/distressed, he prefers it when others play with/style his hair for him(the whole monkey socialization), loves climbing and being in high places and has very high energy when his health isnt acting up, this has caused a few heart attacks

loves both his dads but is closer to tang(we know why even if he himself cant remember) loves to spend time with him learning new things, always begs for stories of tripitaka and what he can of macaque. tang is the one that taught the twins the basics of what was needed for school, and actually does a lot of sunnys lessons himself when hes to sick to go to school, i dont really have a set job in mind for tang yet but i was thinking a historian of some sort that can work from home especially since he has a sick child. its also because of tang that sunny as such a love of reading and learning

with pigsy he's still pretty close, mk being the one closest to him, but hes still loves spending time with him. sunnys not very good at cooking, but he loves clinging to pigsys back and watching while he cooks(as said above its something he never grew out of), pigsy has made sure that sunny can make the foods he actually can eat though. sunny also shares pigsys love of singing and they will have mini concerts when no ones watching.

mk and sunny are very close and slightly co dependent, mk has a lot of anxiety about leaving sunny alone for long periods, sunny has a lot of guilt about this and self blame for mk not having many friends outside of mei and himself, and while hes just as codependent as mk he does make an effort to encourage mk to go out without him. it used to be worse when they were younger, but they both started going to therapy around 10 at sandys suggestion, they still struggle with it but they do have lives and hobbies outside of each other. obviously since sunny doesnt have his memories he cant exactly teach mk how to use the staff and powers, his advice is more of the sibling "well remember when you tried *random thing thats similar to current situation* when we were kids just try that" sunny is the one that eventually pushes mk to try and find an actual teacher at least to teach him to fight properly.

both twins are very talented artists(a canon fact that i just cant get rid of), like i said sunny loves singing and acting/performing but he does have stage fright bad enough to prevent him from doing so outside of his small group of friends/family(this stems from the trauma that always seemed to happen in front of large crowds in jttw poor baby getting affected by everything even if he cant remember). sunny is also the one that gets the better grades of the two despite missing way more school. due to not being able to run off his energy a lot he channels it into his studies and art and writing, he wants to eventually become a professional artist.

mei is obviously just as close to sunny as she is to mk, both of them are chaos and adrenaline junkies, shes his partner in crime when it comes to pranks, she makes sure that he's not alone even on days he doesnt feel well enough to get out bed or hes in the hospital. they both love cute things, and if mei gets a dress she doesnt want she gives them to sunny, especially if its pink(he has a lot of them). she keeps sunny up to date on all the shenanigans that happen while hes in the hospital, including the stuff mk wont say in fear of worrying him.

sandy is the one sunny goes to when he's feeling suffocated and overwhelmed by his familys hovering and overprotectiveness, he finds him to be a very comforting presence and hes a good listener for whatevers bothering him. sunny also likes to help train the therapy cats.

sunny does have a mean streak, especially when its something negative being said about his friends/family, uses his pranks to get back at whoever wronged him, since he's to weak for a physical fight(hes tried once it didnt end badly only because the other person was to shocked to really retaliate sunny did end up breaking the kids nose and his own wrist). the pranks themselves are never cruel or outright harmful just enough to make the person think twice about doing it again

PIF actually manages to figure out who sunny is pretty early on having seen the small family out and about one day, she does assume wukong has reincarnated into a new life, and as much as shes upset with him over what happened with DBK thats still her husbands little brother and one of the ones that help her son, so she leaves them be, looking in from time to time

for DBK he's still got some lingering resentment for being trapped for 500 years. his first thought on seeing sunny is that wukong is just faking and toying with him, his wife does inform him that that is not the case. after that he cant figure out if he's happy about this or not. on one hand he gets to see sunny be the happy carefree person that wukong used to be though he's upset that it's at the cost of his health, but on the other hand he's lost his little brother and never got to make up. sunny does feel oddly drawn to DBK though hes not sure why but he deems him as immediately safe(much to the concern of everyone else)

red son was obviously very young the last time he saw wukong, so he has no idea who sunny really is, after the initial being enemies thing and getting a few good pranks in on him, they actually get a long well, both being sassy and sarcastic enough to keep up with each other(everyone else is happy that sunny has a new friend even if that friend is kinda of an asshole). red son grew up to hearing stories about wukong both good and bad so he does have some complicated feelings about him, that does carry over to sunny once hes told hes wukongs reincarnation and further complicated when it finally comes to light that he is actually a sealed wukong, in the end red son decides that sunny is sunny and still his friend even knowing who he actually his.

the whole macaque situation goes mostly as canon except macaque thinks sunny is just playing around and pretending not to know anything. mk meets macaque the day before sunny is released from the hospital, he follows mk to the hospital to pick him up which is the first time he sees sunny. the fight goes mostly the same but not, in the fact wukong isnt there to fight him and protect mk, but sunny is basically used as a hostage and accused of playing pretend, its sunny being in danger that helps mk get the powers macaque took back. sunny doesnt really know how to feel about the situation at all, hes had a crush on macaque since he was a kid and that same person tried to kill both him and his brother and claims hes someone that hes not. continues to antagonize his friends and claim he's wukong, and a large part of him still does have feelings for macaque even after all that. hes got a lot of complicated feelsing about it but he is still incredibly pissed that macaque tried to kill his brother and tried to use him to do so. macaque is in for a world of hurt when it comes to the eventual pranks. macaque for a while refuses to believe that sunny isnt pretending, since the alternative is accepting the wukong reincarnated and isnt coming back. overall its very complicated and the family disapproves.

as for sunnys powers and memories and immortalies, they are all under different types of seals and of those there are many keeping them all wrapped up tight. like he could unlock one or two powers but his immortalies and memories seals would be uneffected and vice versa. he does unlock 2 powers during the whole spider queen thing that being his strength and his cloud, however he can't use them for very long without exhausting himself. DBK was the first to notice that sunny had powers during their imprisonment with spider queen, he was able to trigger sunny into activating them which got them free. though DBK did get punched for his efforts, sunny broke his wrist again and immediately passed out, DBK getting them the rest of the way out and bringing sunny to his family

[quinloki]

Birthday Request Event v2024

"It's my birthday and I'll write what I want to \o/"

Gift Details ♥ Reader Style: transmasc Character: Trafalgar Law Vibe: NSFW Yandere AU: Mythical Creature AU Prompt: Sugar Daddy Gift Giver: @remisloves

Summary: Fleeing a restrictive life that didn't allow you to be who you were, you eventually caught the eye of a powerful beast in the forest. This powerful Naga's favorite thing to do is adorn you in nothing but precious metals and jewels.

Content Notes: implications of mind control, yandere, consent is on thin ice but exists, double penetration, two dicks one naga, use of good boy, mentions clit, cunt, and no mentions of chest.

This birthday party is 18+, consensual unless explicitly stated otherwise, and BYOB

The jewels were heavy on your skin.

Cold and glittering, they laid against you because you wore nothing else. The light that trickled in was enough to send glints and glimmers against the dark walls.

Cool, large hands with tattooed fingers and soft calluses, move over your skin, shifting the treasures and gems that you wore. The sensation sends a ripple of goose bumps over your flesh, but you don’t shiver anymore. The room itself is warm enough, but the naga that has adorned you so, always runs a little colder than you do.

Of all the delicate and glistening items you wear, there are two heavy golden shackles at your wrists. His fingers move over them, lifting each one carefully while he checks for any raw spots on your skin. His long tail slides under your legs as he helps lift you out of bed.

You wouldn’t consider getting up without him, not anymore. Not knowing how much he enjoyed bringing you to your feet.

And your knees.

“`Did you sleep well, snow drop?” Law questions, the light in his eyes illuminating more tiny glimmers of light from your jewels.

“Yes,” you answer softly, perhaps shyly, feigning an early morning haze just a little.

“You’re due for some proper sunlight,” he muses, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck and slipping a forked tongue under the golden collar to lick at your skin. “Some fresh air,” he continues, fingers trailing over your limbs, making the gold and jewels clink softly. “A little exercise.”

Your body shivers at the statement of exercise, and a soft gasp of air escapes your lips. Not enough to be a moan, but enough to show some semblance of agreement toward the idea. He unlocks the cuffs at your wrists, setting them down slowly, his golden eyes on you, waiting for confirmation.

“Yes… please.” You manage, as he scoops you up into arms, cradling you to his chest as he slithers through the cave. A long hand over your eyes covers your sight, as always, and the long trip begins.

You have no idea how intricate the cave may or may not be. Only that the room you stay in has some openings too high up the wall for you to reach. Enough to let in fresh air and enough light for you to see by, but as far as you knew the rest of the cave was too dark for you to see anyway.

You feel the warmth of the sun on your skin before you can see it. He sets you carefully onto your feet, soft moss and grass tickling your toes as you slowly open your eyes, taking in the lush green forest and the bright light of the sun in the small clearing near the cave.

The clearing had been your favorite place for years. You’d come here and read, or practice sword forms where no one could find you - or so you’d thought. During that time you’d caught the eye of the Naga that now held you close.

Law circles around you a couple times before disappearing into the thick tree line. You know better than to try and run, he’s not gone, not far enough away at least, he’s just checking the perimeter and making sure that there’s no one nearby to bother either of you. Naga can cover far more ground than a human, as you’ve long since learned.

When he returns he coils loosely around you, giving you a bed of tail and scales to lay on. The two of you bask in the sunlight for a while. He even dozes off enough to be fully asleep, jerking slightly when you turn over, turning your back toward the sun so you don’t get burned on one side.

Once the sun dips low enough in the sky he stirs and shifts, pulling you to his chest, and coiling around you carefully. The scales tickle your skin, sliding between your thighs and pushing your legs apart. A sweet sound escapes your lips, if nothing else, giving into the beast that’s decided to care for you had more than a few perks.

You ate well, wanted for nothing, and didn’t need to hide in order to read or practice your sword forms. The powerful naga had even supplied you with swords. The only things you weren’t allowed were clothes and the freedom to leave.

The ridges of his scales are slick against your clit and you gasp, causing you to lean into the sensation and thus leaning into him. The steady shift beneath you has your legs trembling in just a few short minutes. He tilts your face up with a single finger at your chin, smiling warmly down at you.

“That’sss my good boy,” he hums, the tip of his tail slipping around your wrists and pulling them behind your back as his hips align with yours.

The sweet kiss sinks into your lips, the tender warmth easing your muscles as the heads of two cocks probe against your entrances. What’s freedom in the face of such a tender embrace? What freedom did you have before, denied your dreams and stuffed into a role that wasn’t for you?

The pressure of both heads push against your body more. There was nothing that felt more satisfying than being stuffed full by him. Nothing else that relieved the ache in your soul. The stretch as he pushes into your ass and cunt at the same time makes you cry out.

His lips devour yours, consuming the decadent cry that escapes you, filling the air instead with the soft jingle of the jewels and metals that adorned you. Your wiggle against him, breath hot against his tongue as he breaks the kiss, licking your lips when you moan softly for him.

“Law,” you murmur, pleasure and comfort already making your mind hazy. He was always so warm like this, so gentle. “M’yours.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, his body roiling beneath you, the trembling thrusts shivering down the entire length of his tail. “All mine, my sweet snow drop.” Fingers thread between yours, his tail wrapping around your hands.

You roll your hips, riding him as well as you can in your current position, and he matches your movements, pushing deeper and faster. Soft words of praise falling from his lips.

“Good boy, jussst like that. You don’t have to ask for permission, just cum when you want.” He assures you, free hand holding your face, his finger against your tongue. “Don’t think, don’t worry, I’m here. I’ve got you.” The light of his eyes flickers against your skin, sending glimmers and sparkles off the gemstones against your skin, reflecting back into his gaze.

Back into yours.

What even was freedom?

“You’re mine.”

He never called you the wrong name.

“I’ll give you everything.”

Never the wrong words.

“Just sssink, and enjoy it all.”

Pleasure soaks into your body, and you murmur his name as the soft orgasm saturates every cell of your muscles. He licks the tears from your cheeks, riding you through the pleasure as you tremble softly in his coils.

The haze takes you and you sink into him. You feel his fingers tighten against yours as he cums inside you, the grunt from his lips, the rush of blood in his cheeks, the warmth as you leaned against him, feeling his heartbeat against his chest.

It was a pleasant clearing. Maybe you could ask Law to let you read out here, the next time the weather was nice.

[asher-agere]

I finished reading up to volume 24 of bsd a few days ago and I’ve been thinking very hard about it. I like Aya getting focused on she’s so silly… and Bram is also silly. I like his and Aya’s dynamic. But anyways this request isn’t about Bram and Aya! Though I do plan to request them eventually. This request is about Jōno and Aya! I think they’re silly!! Despite their minimal interactions, I can’t stop thinking about them… Asagiri should write them interacting more. I want Aya and Jōno interactions, pleaseeeee Asagiri? Just a few more? When Jōno comes back (more like IF Jōno comes back but whatever I really want him to return) he should interact with Aya!!!! I need more of their dynamic!!!!

Anyways actual request time. Caregiver Jōno and little Aya! After what she’s gone through Aya deserves to get to regress at least once. And I like caregiver Jōno… I said something very similar to this in my first request to you ever, but I’m a sucker for characters not fit to be caregivers being caregivers. Except Jōno is more complicated then just not being fit to be a caregiver. But if I explained my view on him I’d be typing all day… (not actually. It’d take me like fifteen minutes at most. But I could never properly express my feelings towards his character through text…)

Hi there Sunny! This is an interesting duo and I’m just having chapter 92 up constantly to help me write this… Honestly I don’t think of Aya as a regressor because of her already young age but I can totally see it!

Caregiver Jōno + Little Aya

꒰ঌ ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ. ໒꒱

ᯓ★ Let’s start off with an age range! I can see Aya regressing to like 4-5? I definitely can’t see her as a baby. She wants to do things! I think as she gets older there’s a high chance she’d lean into perma-regression honestly, if her life continues how we’ve seen so far at least. Though it’s tough to say since the manga is still going! I can totally see her being better taken care of, and in that case I think she’d be able to live her life mostly feeling her actual age, just regressing when something triggers her

ྀི Jōno is absolutely a bit of a mean caregiver. Think of like a taunting older brother? (Said by someone who’s an only child) He’ll do things like holding things up out of Aya’s reach, poking her when she’s trying to focus on something, messing up her hair even if she just styled it to look super pretty. Aya always pouts and tells about how mean and cruel he is! But she plays her own tricks back to him of course! She’ll do things like put stickers and googly eyes on his stuff, trade his pens out for glittery pink gel pens, just silly childish things!

ᯓ★ I think they’d like playing a silly game where Jōno carries Aya around and lets Aya be his eyes. He can’t see after all! Yes his heightened senses allow him to know where everything is around him, but they can pretend! He’ll definitely walk into things on purpose so that Aya gets bumped into walls, and he’ll just keep bumping into the same thing until given other instructions! This happens a lot actually because Aya will start laughing so hard she can’t say the new instructions

ྀི Nicknames! I think Jōno would use nicknames like “Brat” and “Squirt” to refer to Aya. Affectionately of course! But still things that make her pout and complain. Though if Aya’s really upset about something he’ll occasionally call her “Sweetheart”, but only if she’s really needing the gentle love! And of course he denies it after the fact, saying that it never happened! Aya in turn comes up with her own mean pet names! Calling Jōno things like “Bully” and “Dummy”, though during their soft moments she’ll call him “Jō”! Though again their soft moments are pretty rare

ᯓ★Jōno is almost always trying to mess with Aya, whether it’s playing mind games during game time or actually pranking her. Aya has her pout mastered really well! Unfortunately if Jōno can’t see her, the pout doesn’t exactly work very well. She always criticizes Jōno for being so cruel, reminding him that’s he’s a government official. Government officials shouldn’t terrorize sweet little children like her! Jōno’s usual response is just to roll his eyes and supply banter of his own to keep their silly arguments going

ྀི Play pretend warriors! Aya brings up the idea of pretending to be warriors of justice, it’s what she dreams of being! And it’s what Jōno’s supposed to be, though Aya claims he’s not deserving of that title. She has a bunch of toy weapons and stuff to use, Jōno however will just give her his sword! He’s there to monitor off course, but it still lets her feel the real thing! He’ll guide her on proper form of how to wield it, and even have her practice swinging at him! Thanks to his ability he can easily avoid injury, so it’s perfect! Probably a bit to much for a little kid reasonably, but Aya is absolutely ecstatic

ᯓ★ Jōno is incredibly beyond overprotective. Anytime he hears someone say anything even slightly rude about Aya he’s instantly tormenting them. It’s the energy of “Only I’m allowed to give her a hard time”. He of course never lets Aya know that he was doing something nice for her, but she can usually figure it out, she is pretty smart after all! Again lot of people view age regression harshly, it’s a reasonable assumption that she’d get bullied if anyone found out, Jōno just teaches people to keep their mouths shut

ྀི I don’t think Jōno would like anything that clogs up his senses. Shows or music in the background, moving toys causing vibrations along the floor and air, stuff like that! It messes up his ability to keep an eye on Aya and therefore he doesn’t like it. Aya however views it as a game! She just happens to absolutely adore all of these things that annoy Jōno, and he can’t truly neglect things she enjoys can he? Aya will move around as quietly as possible, always being absolutely overjoyed when she manages to move unnoticed. She especially likes playing hide and seek! A game Jōno despises for so many obvious reasons, but he can’t say no to a harmless game… He does limit the amount of rounds they play though! He refuses to play hide and seek for hours on end

꒰ঌ ₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ. ໒꒱

Shoutout to that one person who’s been liking like all my stuff. I’m not gonna say their name out of respect but like… 48 likes. That’s wild. Person you know who you are, just wanted to let you know you’ve been making me smile so so much these past couple days

[DNI ID: A white box with a red border. Jouno to the left and a kitsune mask to the right Red text reads “DNI if your blog isn’t child safe. I will block NSFW accounts” End ID]

[adamnablelittledevil]

Just finished Part I of The Vampire Lestat and here are my first impressions (I skipped IWTV *for now* since the show has already covered it... I'll read it eventually):

I can't tell yet if I like it or not.

So far, I enjoy the concept and the characters seem to be compelling. In terms of eventfulness, there hasn't been much, but I do have some interest in these people. They all appear to be complicated and have a lot of baggage, which I guess makes them appealing and gives the story potential. Let's see where this goes.

I don't hate, but I also don't love Anne's writing style. I don't think she narrates and describes things very well, she lingers on stuff I don't care that much for and doesn't provide details on things I'm actually curious about? There are some abrupt changes that annoy me sometimes as well.

I do believe this might be an attempt to get ourselves in the mind of Lestat and how he process to the world around him, though? It would make sense considering how chaotic he is.

Another thing I like is how he got so obsessed with the 20th Century, music and theater. The descriptions really give me the idea of someone experiencing the world for the first time (in a while) and considering how isolated he was growing up or after everything that happened with Louis/Claudia, it makes sense that he is so fascinated by all these discoveries. And it's really immersive and sweet to see how he in awe he is with all of it.

He also speaks like he is somebody born in the 1700s. So I give her credits for that as well.

Pretty sure Lestat is neurodivergent at this point (ADHD is basically a yes from me, maybe he has dyslexia and/or autism too).

And his memory is trash. So often he doesn't know if he actually did something, or if it were someone else, or if it was just a thought... I'm like, ARE YOU OKAY (he isn't)? By the way, this is painfully relatable because I also have poor short (and long-term) memory. Heaven help him (and moi).

That boy is a water sign if I've ever seen one.

He cries A LOT. I don't remember ever seeing any (book/show/movie) character cry that much, specially in such a short time lol. And the fact this is coming from a man and not a woman... There you go with defying gender norms, king!

Lestat having Borderline Personality Disorder isn't even a headcanon at this point, but a FACT.

He probably hasn't been hugged enough times in his life and it SHOWS.

Even with the abuse in his family, his frustration with his mother and the "malady of mortality", he manages to stay optimistic in a way that feels so childlike and naive that makes my heart warm and ache for him. I'm like, you deserve better.

Again, I don't know if I'm enjoying or not, but I do like the fact I can imagine Sam's Lestat doing all of this on season 3. Picturing Sam bringing these moments to life is the BEST PART of the reading.

Would I still read these books if the show never existed? That's what I need to find out.

I can see why some people got so invested in this character, though. At least for now. Some stuff hit close to home and I find myself rooting for him. I imagine that for the ones who read it at as a teenager, it must've made them feel less alone and seen to some extent.

At this moment, it's Lestat > Gabrielle > Nicholas for me.

Lestat's father isn't a person I care about, but depending on how the show adapts him, I guess it could be a good opportunity for a blind actor. It would be killing two birds with one stone, because it would develop Lestat's backstory, but also give space for a category that barely gets any job in the industry. I would love to see a powerful guest star that is a an actual disabled person playing a disabled character. Sure, we would hate him, but if someone manages to show their potential, book more roles and maybe even earn an award or nomination, why not?

Whenever Lestat talks about kissing his mother I get confused if the incest is already happening or not lol. Because I normally would just imagine a platonic kiss on the cheek or forehead and I haven't seen anything explicitly inappropriate. I don't know if it's because I'm reading the Brazilian Portuguese version, or if Anne wasn't that clear, or maybe I'm slow and naive, but nothing big seems to have happened? But I'm familiar with those spoilers, so... Anyway, whatever. It's not like I was counting the days to read about incest, so I don't really care about it being evident or not. I just mean that for now they seem to be more of a "parent that didn't want kids, but cares for him in a distant, but still real way and child that seeks for any crumbs of love and affection" kind of relationship.

Speaking of that, Lestat is SO DESPERATE for love, omg. Nicki was basically the first person besides his mother that was nice to him and he told the guy ALL OF HIS LIFE STORY AND FELL IN LOVE almost immediately? Get up!

Peak BPD/ADHD/maybe autistic/water sign/Scorpio behavior. MY GOD.

Still don't know how to picture Gabrielle and who I fancast playing her. I do think I have some sense of who she is now, which is nice. I also have some actors that could pass for Sam's parent and have the appropriate age to play her in my mental library, but I can't form a face yet. Not the face of a real actress or even an imaginary face, it's just a blur so far. Which sucks because I loooooooooove imagining fancasts, specially for a show as great as this one, but I'm just waiting for the revelation to come to me lmao.

[electronickingdomfox]

"Timetrap" review

Novel from 1988, by David Dvorkin. A very short story that could have been an episode without much editing. The writing style is plain, even simplistic, but there's a certain skill in plot building, and it kept my attention at all times. I'm not gonna dissect the plot here. Just a brief outline: Kirk gets lost inside a strange space-time distortion, while trying to rescue the crew of a crippled Klingon ship. He loses consciousness, and upon waking up, he finds himself one hundred years in the future, in a Klingon Empire totally different from what he knows. The Klingons here are kind and civilized, after having achieved peace with the Federation, and they call themselves the "New Klingons". Having lost both his ship and friends in the past, Kirk finds solace in the love of her Klingon tutor, Kalrind. Besides, the New Klingons have a special task for him since, according to their history, it was Kirk precisely who made possible the peace between Federation and Empire. Though of course, things aren't that simple...

The story does a good job of keeping the reader in the dark (or almost as much in the dark as Kirk) by selectively giving information in small doses. And I think the sense of gaslighting and eventual disappointment, shared with Kirk, was effectively done. It's not very difficult to guess there's something else going on, and expecting a plot twist. But what exactly entails that plot twist isn't all that obvious, in my opinion.

Characterization doesn't have a lot of depth, though Kirk and Kalrind are alright. It made me feel bad for poor Jim, his heart break at the end, and all the manipulations he goes through. So yeah, this is one of those "make Jim suffer" novels. It's also interesting to see Kirk changing his opinions on Klingons, for better or worse, and starting to hope for an eventual alliance. As well as see him falling in love with a Klingon woman that, at first, doesn't match his beauty standards, and even terrifies him a bit. This is one of the cases where the romance subplot makes sense in context, and adds to the story, rather than being there "just because". For his part, Spock keeps his Vulcan facade at all times, though there are hints at his rogue tendencies. He's placed in a position of command after Kirk's disappearance, which creates much friction with McCoy (similar to "The Tholian Web", which the novel references on several occasions). McCoy is very, veeeery grumpy in this one. At times even malicious. Must have had a bad day... There's a funny bit where Kirk calls him out on his bullshit about being an "old country doctor", as he points out that McCoy, like everyone else in that era, just went to the medical academy.

In summary, this may not be one of the best novels, not by a long stretch. But it's a fun, quick read if you want the feel of a TOS episode.

McSpirk Meter: 6/10*. Kirk feels pangs of sadness whenever he thinks about Spock or McCoy (and the Enterprise too), since he's lost a hundred years in the future, with no hope of ever seeing them again. It's most noticeable in the case of McCoy; Kirk is said to experience a powerful emotional reaction when he gets reunited with the doctor. And McCoy spends the last chapters being a mother hen for Kirk, and chasing him around to get his much-needed rest. McCoy also feels at once that there's something very wrong with Kirk, through mere intuition and his deep knowledge of his friend, even though medical instruments say otherwise. On the other hand, Kirk is said to know Spock better than anyone else, and noticing subtle gestures in the Vulcan that others can't. Spock, as usual, is disobeying orders (or at least bending the rules) to find the truth about Kirk's fate and save him.

[failing-to-write-again]

The Dancer and the Deadbeat

Part 1 Chapter 3

[Image description: Shu Sakamaki, blonde haired blue eyed vampire. Dressed in a white shirt, tan cardigan, and black blazer. His right hand is holding the back of his head as he looks at the viewer. His eyes are widened slightly with his mouth partially opened indicating shock. ]

(this is the face I kept thinking about writing this, I love the fact his eyes hide nothing lol)

Note to anyone reading this, if you have the time I have a poll on my account asking about the new style for this story. If you could answer I'd really appreciate it!

“I need someone to bring these manuscripts to the teacher’s lounge. Miss Himura, would you mind?” The teacher turns towards me, gesturing to a stack of 20 A4 English manuscripts. She must’ve noticed me zoning out again, hardly my fault I’m stuck in a high school class I’m far too old for. Why the Sakamaki’s, or their father I suppose, chose to cycle through this level of education is beyond me entirely. For the responsibility they'll one day be under you would think the knowledge the princes could gather by travelling through universities would serve them better. Then again vampires have to age, for all their years the triplets resemble 16 year olds in body and mind. Shu and Reiji would fit in but Shu already skips every class and Reiji seems the only one capable of wrangling his siblings. I’d never been in a high school before, I had private tutors for a time before I took on the responsibility of Richter’s heir. I think I would’ve preferred to have never stepped foot in a high school. I gather up the manuscripts while having daggers shot at the back of my head by the class Sakamaki groupie, lugging them out into the corridor and letting the door shut behind me. At least I can finally breathe without someone taking notes to gossip about. Poor Yui, how long had she had to deal with this and she’s an actual teenager. I only hope she doesn’t take it too much to heart. 

A breeze flows through the open windows of the hall, I can feel it rustle the hem of this ridiculous skirt. Another sin committed by this hell hole. This uniform was not built for an adult, or anyone with a different build apparently. The blouse was scratchy and fit weirdly, the blazer was even worse but I had been denied the option of the wool jumper by Reiji. The thigh highs rolled down constantly, resulting in teachers reprimanding me for something entirely out of my control. All of this paled in comparison to the skirt, a scratchy, weird fitting, short piece of fabric that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I looked frumpy to put it bluntly with the bags under my eyes worsening the look. Thankfully no one was around to see me. Adelaide had somehow made the thing look passable, not surprising knowing her. That girl is immune to having a hair out of place, I blame the fact Richter took us in when I was 18 but she was 3, she only remembers the aristocratic life. I need to talk to her, every day that passes with us kept apart is a risk and unprogressive in getting us home. That was the other benefit of these random jobs, if Adie does the same we’ll cross paths eventually without interference. Unfortunately so far I’ve only come across Shu sleeping in halls. He is undoubtedly odd. He ranges from crude, almost flirty comments, to rude remarks, to just stonewalling me. Since he figured out I could give back what I got he had upped the ante with the sarcasm, thankfully I was better at keeping my mouth shut when it came to important information. I can’t tell if the enjoyment he gets from it is from me or the idea of food talking back like a cat playing with a mouse. Definitely the latter.

Turning the corner I’m essentially blind with paper obscuring the floor, which wouldn’t be an issue if a narcoleptic didn’t block corridors. My foot snags on a pant leg and I’m suddenly tumbling head over heels as my ridiculous skirt does nothing to protect my legs. Instead of fully falling on my face, a knee raises to brace my chest while the manuscripts scatter in front of me as I fall to my knees. The skirt settles against my skin as I take note of my position. He finally took his shoes back at least, must not be helping much with my left knee pressing down on his toes. I can feel my ankles bent awkwardly resting over his other leg, the rest of my body was between his legs resting against him. 

“You should get less plain underwear if you’re going to flaunt yourself like that.” I pull back so I’m holding myself up, resting my hands in my lap. I turn to face the smug vampire. A smirk tugs on his lips as his leg lowers itself back to the ground he continues, “although better underwear won’t do anything to save you with how ill fitting that uniform is on you…It’s so stiff it's making me uncomfortable, how bothersome.” Of all the vampires to be stuck with, I’m stuck with this pervert.

“Did you hit your head and knock what little thoughts remained from it?” I’ve been staring and silent for far too long.

“No just waiting for you to get bored, you’re lying anyway.”  I keep my voice cool and face blank, hopefully he does actually get bored so I can finish this inane task.

“Lying?” Shu shifts to sit up, his arm reaches out to grab me by the arm. I’m pulled to face him, an arm’s length apart. “Where did I lie?”

“Since when is lace plain?” I sound far too smug for my own good, the face Shu was making was certainly worth it though. He is really bad at handling teasing with a straight face, his eyes go all wide and he looks so much less deadpan this way. His grip tightens around my arm as he pulls himself back together and into his sarcastic ways. The smirk returns as his eyes sweep down to the sliver of thigh visible from my skirt. The silence was palpable, broken by the low rumble of Shu’s laugh. His face suddenly pulls closer, his hand moving to gently hold the back of my neck blocking any escape. Lips a breath’s width apart, his fingers brush the hair at the nape of my neck. His laugh continues low and grumbly. It vibrated through his fingers and in the air around us. It was almost suffocating. I could feel my cheeks warm. I raise my palms to rest flat against his chest but they are hardly effective at putting some distance between us. The solid wall of his chest is not budging in the slightest.

“What a filthy woman associating herself with demons and flaunting her underwear for anyone to see,” his other hand moves while he speaks, coming to rest at my hip dangerously close to my skirt’s waistband. “Definitely not a church girl, that other girl would be scrambling away by now.”

“I told you already, I’ve been stuck around vampires far too long to care about that stuff anymore.” He still doesn’t look like he believes me, how many church girls has he and his brothers killed? You’d think the exasperation in my tone would be enough, it was hard to fake this much exhaustion at his antics.I abandon my efforts at pushing him away. My hands shift to lightly hold his jumper, shifting my weight to sit more comfortably. Before either of us can speak a gasp interrupts us. I whip my head around fast enough to catch a glimpse of the same classmate from earlier run off. Great, now she’s really going to have it in for me seeing me up close with her crush. I chew the inside of my cheek, letting my head fall back.

“Ugh! How are you so good at causing grief for me?” I need to collect those manuscripts and get going before classes end and even more Sakamaki fangirls spot me. Shu simply chuckles, splaying his fingers further tangling in my hair guiding me to look back at him. I give him my best disinterested face but his smirk remains.

“You should really learn to be more afraid for your own sake, demons aren’t nice.”

“I don’t fear heaven or hell, the biggest worry on my mind is what that girl is going to tell the rest of your little fan squad.” He hums tilting his head, half lidded eyes staring up at me. His hand lowers from my waist to the skirts edge, fingers tickling my exposed skin.

“Prove it.” I want to wipe that grin off his face so bad.

“Promise to let me go?” 

“Why not, it’s not as if you will-!” I surge forward closing the small gap left between us, my fingers grip at his cardigan. I can feel his breath catch as he freezes against me. It only lasts a second before I pull back to his gobsmacked expression. Puffing out a breath I giggle. 

“See, if they exist I’m not going to heaven and just did yet another act that’s sending me straight to hell.” I back away grabbing the manuscripts and assembling a quick pile. Just before picking them up I turn to look back at the still stunned vampire. 

“I don’t dislike that expression, just don’t get any ideas perverted man.” 

I stand and make my escape, if I’m fast I’ll be done and back before the bell chimes.

…

What on Earth did I just do!?

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Thoughts on the media my f/os are from!

The MCU kinda sucks these days. The last good thing they put out was GotG Vol. 3, and you know that was all Gunn. Granted, the series's highs are still very high—Iron Man, Avengers 1, all the Captain America movies, Thor 1, Thor Ragnarok, the Guardians trilogy—and there is occasionally some good. And of course I have a soft spot for the Hawkeye tv show. It was good!

The Legend of Zelda is still one of my fave series, and while I did enjoy Tears of the Kingdom on initial playthrough...man, this game sucks. And not even in a bad game way; it's just so derivative. Which like, yeah, sequel literally built off the back of BotW, but there's no innovation. It has all the issues BotW had, but worse. Like, I'm biased of course, but Purah's redesign is legit one of the best things about the game. Like, it's not bad, I like it, but man...and the story! Jeez, what a waste of time...

ENA is weird cause like, I knew about, then my friend showed me it, and I thought it was neat. Still a cool idea and such. It's just I kinda joined when the "original" Ena was ending and stuff with DreamBBQ was starting. My pref is still towards OG Ena, but I'm excited to see where Joel G takes things.

I have an interesting relationship with Sonic the Hedgehog; I don't play his games too often, but I love the lore, and side material like the comics and shows. Sonic Lost World is not a game I played, but I heard negative things about. Basically a Mario Galaxy clone...but Mario Galaxy is good, no? Considered by many one of the best games of all time? I dunno. The main thing is the Deadly Six...like I love Zeena, naturally, but the others. Eh...neutral. There's a reason my sona is Mobian and not zeti lol.

I was originally gonna watch the One Piece anime, but I eventually decided to go with the manga cause I heard it was paced better, plus I always wanted to read manga. Overall, I like it! It's very good. Simple at points, yet powerful too. I just wish Oda was a lil less horny, or at least reeled back the likes of Sanji and Brook. And drew women differently. And fixed Usopp's design. Yeh. Aside from that, it's good.

I haven't played Overwatch! I just think Sombra and D. Va are pretty. Mei, too. And Venture is kinda snazzy. It looks fine. Blizzard sucks but you knew that.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was my first real anime (outside of like the Pokemon anime), and it was good! David Productions really nailed the art style and colors, especially the color choices! Might check out the manga some day, but very excited for Part 7 to be animated!

Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur is the perfect show to watch if you're a Marvel fan and fed up with the MCU. Creative, striking, and actually progressive when Disney isn't banning episodes like the morons they are. I need to watch a few more episodes, but the show is VERY good. Track down that banned one if ya can, it is WORTH it!

I've been a fan of Five Nights at Freddy's since I was a wee lad...never played an entry lol. Yeh I was more into the lore with MatPat, Dawko, 8-Bit Ryan, Razzbowski, those guys. It was fun! I still enjoy it but it def fell to the back burner. The movie was good, prob gonna see the sequel.

For the record I would totally give Danganronpa a chance, but ugh I just cannot do visual novels. There's just not enough "game" for me, if ya get me. No shade to people who do enjoy em, more power to ya. Just not for me. From the gameplay of 1, 2 and V3 I've seen...seems okay. Outdated at parts, and kinda on the nose with its 'hope v despair' theme, but each seems a solid mystery with a colorful cast.

I was late on the train for Kid Icarus: Uprising, but damn when I hoped on, did NOT regret it. Some of the greatest writing, voice acting, voice direction, story, and characters yet to be put to a single Nintendo game! The greatest come back for ANY Nintendo franchise! Gameplay is kinda standard but plays well. A sequel would be nice, but honestly a port to the Switch would be lovely as well.

For five bucks, Pseudoregalia is a steal. N64/PS1-looking 3D metroidvania with great music and solid controls. Plus the main character is my wife. I've been meaning to finish it, but I've been busy...will one day tho!

Indigo Park is another game I haven't played, BUT I did watch MarKatoto play through all of chapter 1, so that counts right? Anyways, cute looking game. Charming. Nice atmosphere. It doesn't feel like it's trying to crib FNAF's style, which is to its benefit. I have high hopes for the game moving forward, especially when compared to slop like BanBan, yuck.

The Mario + Rabbids games, both Kingdom Battle and Sparks of Hope, are the most not-me games I ended up likely. XCOM-esque real time strategy where Mario crosses over with Ubisoft's Rabbids? But it works! I still need to play the DLCs all the way through, but again...busy! Maybe some day...

The Wild Robot truly is a triumph. A phenomenal film with gorgeous animation, amazing voice work, a simple yet effective story, and just an air of coziness to it. It's a nice film. Can Chris Sanders just direct every movie from now on?

I got into Doki Doki Literature Club when mascot horrors were in their peak. Ya know, Hello Neighbor, Bendy, Tattletail, that stuff. Again, like FNAF and Indigo Park, I never played it myself, but seen it played enough to know it well. Maybe it doesn't have the best presentation or execution, but I still feel it's effective at what it's trying to do, all while still having a lovely cast of characters and a very cute art style. Would check out DDLC+, but again...visual novels.

Pokémon...ugh. What a franchise. Most profitable franchise in the world, backed by one of the most beloved and successful gaming companies of all time, all to releases, well...Scarlet & Violet on release day. Gen 7 was the last game I considered good, and maybe I'm biased. Last game you could have every mon in. At the very least, I still love the series for its ideas and designs, and I am looking forward to Legends Z-A. Legends Arceus was surprisingly good, so with how long Z-A is taking, not to mention FINALLY being the long coveted third Kalos game, I'm hopeful.

[violet-prism-creatively]

For Huntlow Week day 2 (umbrella), I was inspired to write a little fic! Plus a sketch to go with it:

Image description: A pencil drawing of Willow and Hunter standing under a tree. Willow is holding an umbrella over both of them and they're smiling at each other.

Read the fic on Ao3 or below! (745 words)

Willow's therapist had told her she didn't have to be the responsible one all the time, but right now, Willow wished she'd been a bit more responsible.

The first drop of boiling rain hit her shoe with a sizzle. Willow ducked under the shelter of a tree, not quickly enough to avoid another droplet on her arm. She hissed. She hadn't packed a first-aid kit, or an umbrella, or even a raincoat. It was just supposed to be a little walk in the forest. And now she was stuck in a surprise boiling-rainstorm, utterly unprepared.

Text friends, Clover buzzed. At least Willow's palisman was with her.

Willow pulled out her scroll and sent a message to the groupchat: "SOS caught in rainstorm"

Almost immediately, responses flooded in: "r u ok??" "Take shelter!"

"I'm under a tree," Willow replied, and sent a selfie. "just annoyed that I didn't think to bring an umbrella and now my dads prob won't let me go out alone again for a while"

"I cAN bring you an umbrella,. send location." Hunter's texting style had been getting better since Willow had first met him about a year ago, and at this point, she found the occasional errors endearing. (As well as his nerdiness, and his sense of loyalty, and a lot of other things... but that was another discussion.) Even though he was obviously the only one who could come rescue her, with his immunity to boiling rain, she couldn't help but smile at the offer.

Willow shared her location- a forest not far from Bonesborough- texted her dads that she was okay, and settled in to wait. Clover rested on her shoulder. It wasn't a heavy rainstorm, but drops occasionally filtered through the edges of the tree's canopy, and Willow pressed her back against the trunk to avoid them.

Soon, Hunter arrived on his mechanical staff. He wore a raincoat, but where the rain hit his bare hands and face, it slid off harmlessly like human-realm rain. "Are you okay?" he asked as soon as he'd landed. "I got here as fast as I could, but I had to find an umbrella first- here." He handed an umbrella to Willow.

She opened it, feeling much more secure under the boiling-rain-proof material. "Thank you. I'm okay, but I really appreciate you coming here."

"No problem." The tension in Hunter's body drained away, leaving him standing there awkwardly. He eventually asked, "Do you want to fly back to your house or stay here?"

"I was always taught it's safer to shelter in place till the rain ends," Willow replied, "and besides, it would be kind of hard to hold the umbrella while flying."

"If anyone could do it, it would be you, Captain. Or I could hold it over you if you want- I just don't want to leave you here alone."

Oh. "You could wait here with me," Willow suggested. That... would be kind of nice, actually, she thought.

"Oh yeah. I could." Hunter gave a soft smile.

"Come here." Willow beckoned Hunter closer. "I know the rain doesn't hurt you, but it's cozy under here."

Hunter obliged, and she shifted the umbrella to cover both of them. Their arms were touching... Then Hunter noticed the red mark the boiling raindrop had left on Willow's arm.

"You're hurt! One second, I brought a first-aid kit." Hunter rummaged through his bag.

"It's just a small burn." It didn't even hurt anymore, but Willow was touched by his care nevertheless.

With the precision of a field medic but the care of a friend, Hunter dabbed antibiotic cream on the burn and covered it with a band-aid. Willow tried not to focus on his hands on her skin, how close he was, the intimacy of him caring for her.

Hunter released her arm when he was done- was she imagining the blush on his face? "There you go."

"Thank you." Willow could tell she was blushing too. "I feel so silly for not bringing a first-aid kit or umbrella of my own."

"You don't have to be perfectly prepared all the time. I've got you."

Willow's heart was glowing and blooming and doing ridiculous somersaults. Did Hunter even know he had just said the sweetest thing ever?

"Thank you." Willow tentatively reached out and took his hand. It was warm and calloused and fit perfectly with hers.

And so for a while, they stood together under the umbrella, holding hands, watching the boiling rain.

[sporco-filth]

Superhero to superslob: pt. 1

(I really need to come up with better titles)

Anyway, this story idea was actually suggested to me by @thespiderpig1999 (thank you!)

The request: "I had an idea for a story about a neat looking, athletic built superhero who gets hit by a ray that at first appears to do nothing but over time he starts to get lazy, fat and becomes more slob like! Eventually he loses his super strength and becomes an obese lazy slob and powerless!"

Now, this has to be the most amount of writing I've posted on here with barely a single slobby thing in it. This part is really just exposition and if you don't want to read it, that description above would give you the basic idea and you can wait for part 2.

I couldn't decide on whether to make the villains really evil or more comical, but I ended up making them a bit silly to make it more fun since there wasn't any slob in it yet. But I mean, they are still villains and I mean they probably will still be quite evil in the end. Boh, I don't know. The story will go where it tells me it wants to go, I'm just the author.

Anyway, if you want to read my silly comic opening to this story, read below.

It was a sunny afternoon in Cascade Falls. The crowds cheered as the city's protector, Jupiter, Flew overhead. He had once again foiled the plans of the dastardly villain Corruptor and was on his way home to his secret hideout.

Jupiter landed on the top of a nondescript apartment building and pressed a button disguised as a brick. A hidden trapdoor slid open in the floor, and he stepped down into the passageway beneath. After a few twists and turns, he arrived at what looked like a dead end. Pressing a few bricks in the correct order, the 'wall' opened to reveal a lounge room furnished in a clean, modern style. Jupiter shut the door behind him, removed his mask and sighed.

Back home in his hideout. Or rather, the apartment he used as a 'hideout'.

When he wasn't fighting crime, Jupiter was a regular office worker, his real name being Justin Steele. He undid his supersuit and placed his sweaty clothes in the washing machine. Being a superhero was a demanding job, and Justin was proud that he managed it while also maintaining a perfectly clean house and a perfect body. He flexed his bicep in the mirror as he stepped into the shower and grinned. Of course, having super powers helped, but he still made an effort to go to the gym and eat properly. And unlike some superheroes, he didn't have butlers to handle the menial tasks for him.

After he had washed himself clean and gotten changed into his sharply-pressed silk pyjamas, Justin sat down to enjoy the healthy meal he had cooked for himself. Another win against the forces of evil, he thought, picking up a novel to read while he ate. If only I could defeat Corruptor once and for all; he keeps evading me. I wonder what he's planning now…

Hidden away in his lair underneath the town junkyard, Corruptor paced angrily. This was the fifth time this month he'd lost to Jupiter. "I should've listened to my mother and gone into podiatry," he muttered. "At least with feet you don't get kicked in the face once a week." Corruptor pondered the validity of that statement and then shook it from his head. "GLOB!" he yelled. Immediately, a runty, greasy-looking woman rushed out from the room next door. "Yessir!" Glob replied, saluting. "What's wrong?" "What do you mean 'what's wrong?' Didn't you see that failure out there? It was miserable! Your stupid giant mecha froze up!" "But it's summer?" "Jupiter has freeze breath! I told you, you need to account for these things!" Corruptor sighed and collapsed onto the worn-out sofa, closing his eyes in frustration. "I, uh, have a new plan…" Glob stuttered. "If it involves another giant mecha I don't want to hear it." "It doesn't, it's a giant ray gun." Corruptor sighed again. "Didn't we do that idea a fortnight ago?" "Yes… but this one's different. This one I've designed to make Jupiter weaker and lose his powers." At this, Corruptor perked up. "Really?" "Well," Glob cleared her throat. "It's experimental still. I haven't quite determined if it will have that exact effect but in theory it should." "That's good enough for me!" Corruptor rubbed his hands in glee. "Get it set up! We'll test it out tomorrow!" He rushed off before Glob could utter another word. "I need to work on a new monologue!"

The next morning, Justin was watering his plants when the alarm went off. It sounded innocuous, anyone else would've thought it was just the microwave, but Justin dropped his watering can and rushed to his bedroom (super speed wasn't one of his powers, per se, but his super strength gave him a boost nonetheless). This was his Jupiter Alarm: a warning signal that something bad was going down in Cascade Falls and his help was needed. In his bedroom, he opened a secret compartment in his wardrobe and typed a code into a keypad. A panel slid aside to reveal his supersuit, freshly washed and perfectly ironed. Justin slipped it on and became Jupiter, defender of Cascade Falls! "It seems Corruptor is up to his old tricks again," he muttered, looking at the intel from a screen on the wall. "It looks like he's… stealing coins from the park fountain?" It was suspiciously mundane, and Jupiter's intuition told him not to underestimate Corruptor and his evil plans. Leaving the apartment via his secret exit tunnel (different from his secret entrance tunnel), Jupiter flew off to the local park to confront his nemesis.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Corruptor," Jupiter said, landing softly on the grass. "Looking for trouble? I thought you would have had enough of a lesson yesterday to know better. Today you're days of evil end!" Jupiter was about to leap forward when Corruptor, who had been grinning to himself in a decidedly suspicious manner, cried out "NOW GLOB!" From behind Jupiter stepped Glob holding a strange-looking ray gun. Before he could do anything, he felt the ray beam strike him, causing an odd tingling sensation and a mild case of pins and needles in his left leg. Corruptor laughed. "MWAH HAHA HAHAHA HA! You've fallen for my trap, Jupiter! Within moments my brilliant depowerifier ray will take effect, sapping you of all strength and rendering you weak! WEAK! A mere mortal! For too long you have laughed at me and my failed plans, but now it is I who will do the laughing! HAHAHA! I am laughing! HAHAHAHA! See! It is I who is laughing! HAHA―OOF!!" Corruptor lay on the ground, curled over in pain after one of Jupiter's famous Galactic Kicks. "I think you need to work on your ray guns, and your choice in evil invention names, and your monologues," Jupiter said, standing proudly over his defeated foe. "But this farce has given me my chance to put you behind bars once and for all!" Before he had a chance to grab him, Glob zipped out from the bushes she had been hiding in on a scrappy-looking, oddly-shaped hovercraft-y device. She scooped up Corruptor and flew away, spraying a thick cloud of smoke to obscure her from Jupiter's vision. "Hack! Gah! I can't believe he got away again… maybe I need to cut back on the monologuing myself…"

Meanwhile, aboard their escape vessel, Corruptor was berating his henchwoman. "Your stupid ray gun didn't work! It did nothing: that was one of the hardest kicks he's ever given me!" "I tried to warn you I didn't have empirical evidence of its effects!" Glob shook her head. "This is what I get for choosing to work for a man who majored in theoretical villainry…" After the rest of the ride was spent in an angry silence, they were soon back in their lair. "Well, what are we going to do now?" Corruptor asked. "Don't worry," Glob said. "I've been looking over my calculations again and I think I've worked out there's a 70% chance it still worked, but the effects are just delayed." Corruptor smiled. "I like those odds! How delayed are we talking?" "Between one week and about a year. Two years max." "Ugh! I can't wait that long…" Glob quickly pulled out a small device with a screen on it. "Well, maybe this'll cheer you up? While you were distracting Jupiter with your monologue, I stuck this tracking device on him. We can follow him and discover his hideout." "Yes! Great thinking Glob! This is why I hired you." "I've sent out a spybot, and it's seems he's stopped somewhere. Look!" The two peered over the screen that showed grainy footage of inside Justin's apartment. He was carrying a basket of laundry with his supersuit in it and was beginning to iron it while watching the news on TV. "That's Jupiter?" "I guess so." They watched more. "Wow is this guy boring," Corruptor yawned. "Why don't we just ambush him?" "No! We'd give up our advantage! If he really is losing his powers, we need to wait for the right moment." Corruptor scratched his chin. "Hmm… I suppose so. Plus I'll need a bit of time to recover from that kick to the gut." He rubbed his stomach and grimaced. "A period of surveillance sounds like just what the doctor ordered."

Back in his apartment, Justin looked up when he heard the news reporter mention the altercation in the park. A ray to depower me? he thought. I definitely felt something, but surely it didn't have an effect, right? Jupiter shook his head. When do Corruptor's plans ever work? I'm sure I'll be fine…

[genericpuff]

How has rekindled impacted your original work? Ive seen some people on the ULO subreddit asking about it 👀

Ouu, great question, but buckle up because that means I'm about to go off LMAO

I'd say it's less that Rekindled has impacted my original work and more like my original work has impacted/influenced Rekindled? Like, there are so many things in the original LO that I can totally resonate with, from its character archetypes to some of its (attempted) themes, so making Rekindled has unexpectedly become a really good fit just because I've been spending the last decade working on a project that now feels like part of the groundwork for it. It's like Time Gate unknowingly became the training manual for Rekindled. Obv that's not 100% true because Rekindled is just a foefiction project I started up out of spite, but the only reason I'm able to write and draw Rekindled as it is now is partly thanks to Time Gate and all the blunders I made and learned from working on it the past 10+ years.

And if you don't believe me when I say that LO and subsequently Rekindled have a lot in common with Time Gate? Hoo boy, there are a ton of big and little things that can be pointed out between them. Whether that means I was always meant to make a foefiction for LO or if Rachel and I are both just that basic, no matter what the underlying explanation is it worked out well and I think it's why I enjoy working on Rekindled so much, it feels like a fresh twist on an old look.

CW: blood, violence, mild mention of trauma

Like, you want the dichotomy between Persephone and her wrathful side? Have some Uzuki and her parasitism.

You want the reluctant relationship between Hades and Persephone who are from completely different worlds and have no business working together? Have some Uzuki and Mitsuhiro.

You want the interpersonal conflicts and contrasting worldbuilding of Olympus and the Underworld? Unifreya (the Light Realm) and the Trinity's Vigil (the Dark Realm).

Shit, we even have a self-insert OC who's a victim of severe physical and mental trauma who doesn't remember what she went through because the guy she's with took matters into his own hands and erased her memories of what she went through, instead of allowing her to make her own decisions in her healing.

And yes, we've got a tyrannical time-manipulating god, too.

Anyways, all that aside, I've definitely been finding people going back and reading Time Gate since I started Rekindled, my monthly view count has also gone up since I went on hiatus with it, so I suppose Rekindled has impacted Time Gate in that way. Though it's no guarantee that if you like Rekindled you'll like Time Gate, it's quite an old series and it's gone through a lot of growing pains LOL but it definitely shares a lot of the same characterizations and themes so it at least has that going for it! See what I'm like when I'm not purely writing out of spite LMAO

Speaking honestly - and just because it's been on my mind a lot lately so your question was perfectly timed - I've been struggling to get back to Time Gate. On the one hand it's been great to work through the burnout by pre-occupying myself with another, fresher project (Time Gate's been on hiatus since about December/January), but on the other hand it's making it harder to get back to Time Gate because that's like asking me to try and squeeze into old outfits that don't fit me anymore? Like, I still love the style and the aesthetic, I still totally want to wear it, but I'm trying to figure out how to transition it into a bigger size that fits better. IDK if that analogy works here but that's just the first thing that came to my mind... and as I said above, it's been on my mind a lot lately.

I'm hoping, at the very least, that anyone who does find Time Gate through Rekindled enjoys it. I'd like to get back to it eventually, I just don't know when that time is. This isn't my first burnout sesh, I know I'm capable of bouncing back as I have many times in the past, but right now it just doesn't feel like a comfortable fit. I need to rest, to do other things, to give my brain something new to chew on. Rekindled is definitely helping a lot with that, especially with all the similarities it naturally shares with Time Gate, it's like I get to have my cake and nibble a bit of it too LOL I owe it a lot for that and I hope I can some day make room for both Time Gate and Rekindled. I have a feeling they'd get along great.

[thr-333]

hi 👋!!! I LOVE your Tmnt mm x 2012 crossover so far! Please continue it!! Your art is also so good! While I’m asking got any writing tips for fanfics?

Ahhh thank you! Actually posted the second chapter just now so I will be continuing. As for writing tips I’ve never been asked that, so this is gonna come out rambly and very much neurodivergent.

I’ll first establish I have aphantasia, meaning I don’t ‘picture’ things so much as I think in words(and in abstract concepts of movement). So when I write I don’t spend much time describing what things look like, I can’t picture it so why would I spend time explaining what it should look like? This means my writing is very dialogue heavy. It focuses on what character are saying and how they sound and what they do when they say it(because of how I think about movement)

So one of my best writing tips is when I get stuck or am slowing down with a scene I’ll start jotting down the dialogue. No actions in between, no they said this or that, no quotation marks they waste time, usually I won’t even note characters names and trust future me to know. Or trust I've written the charcters with strong enough individual voices that it's obvious at least to me. For example later in the fic is this scene:

We actually don't have a last name

Not until we had to go to school then we had to choose one

We didn’t really know what to pick so we settled on Stockman!

Stockman

Yep that’s our cousins last name and Baxter Stockman technically created us so that makes him our uncle-dad

I see, here Baxter Stockman is an associate of the shredder

… yeah we learnt that yesterday, but our Baxter stockman never did anything really bad!

Unless you count animal extermination as bad

Which we do

It’s still better than going with something like Smith

Writing it like this means the dialogue flows better. It also helps my brain out since I don’t have to constantly switch tracks meaning I can write faster. Also lets me move onto other scenes I have the itch to make. Often I won’t come back and fill in the gaps until I’m editing.

Another thing that helps me is using the fact fanfiction comes with prebuilt stories to work on top of. I like having an episode with premade plot points to build off of. My best example of this is another fic I wrote, The Bat Trap which was based on The Parent Trap(a movie I love). In it I had a bunch of one liners and situations from the movie that I wanted to include, so I would follow(and adapt) the plot to fit and follow. While in other places I could go off script so I wasn’t following it word by word. To this day it’s the only longform fic I’ve completed and that's entirely due to following a movie plot, so I had an endpoint I could work towards. Instead of an overeaching storyline I made myself with no end in sight.

And my best piece of advice! Give yourself a voice in your story. Especially if you’re doing something comedic. It’s all well and good to give your characters hilarious lines but ultimately only a fraction of your writing is going to be dialogue. Most of it is that connective tissue, what characters are thinking, where they are, what they’re doing. So think as the ‘narrator’ of these parts as a character equally capable of jokes. Such as my favourite technique the ‘smash cut’. My art for the first chapter is an example of that. 

“They will be fine”

“Mikey was not fine”

It’s a fun way to open a new perspective and I will use it at nauseum because it entertains me. Ultimately it’s fun! Have fun writing, undercut your serious scenes. You want to add something but it doesn't fit the tone? Screw that, write it anyway. It doesn't matter if people don’t like it, because you’re gonna spend a hell of a lot more time writing than they will reading. Eventually that becomes your writing style and people ask you for tips:P

[craw-dacious]

Thats the art of getting by, by sarewolf

Again, new to marauders. This fic 3 that I’ve read. Feel free to shoot me recs, currently looking for ~100,000 word fic with a good angst balance and no major character death.

Summary: Overall this story was INCREDIBLE. I loved the writing style, such a good amount of angst, and an easy to follow narrative. It raised Harry like exactly how I wanted and was so cutey and sweetly and UGH

SPOILERS BELOW BEWARE

Chapter one

I already like the opening quote. Can tell the writing is going to be good.

God the angst is already great

He’s only 24 wild

I kind of forgot just how much he lost that night, like all of his closest friends were dead. Even in canon, with no world star this probably sucks the worst for Lupin.

Okay I’m actually crying already

I’ve been wanting a babyfic since the first one I read

This is such a hard thing to do, parenting is hard without the trauma and sob storying

Chapter two

I wonder how they are going to reincorporate Sirius

And I’m concerned about Harry’s quietness, I feel like that’s not consistent with who he grows up to be

Hoping for some baby Ron and harry content eventually 

I never give Kudos until the end of the fic, this is incredible and I absolutely adore it already

Literally crying from how sad Remus is Jesus

Chapter three

YES love old lady gossip

Neris is so cute delicious

Plus Harry is opening up a lot, so far very happy chapter!

So gay bruh

HARRY BEING SAD TOO IS KILLING ME JUST A BABY FR

This is actually fucking INFURIATING him being like “Sirius never loved us” like BRO I know you’re being LIED TO but I CANNOT HANDLE IT TOO SAD

Chapter four

Now I need to be a depressed widow with a three year old son who loves me

Like I think just having a child would patch my soul

This is actually the cutest thing ever love love love

I think me and remus lupin are the same person

Like gay traumatized werewolf = teenaged girl

“Oh the memories, oh the love” SO ME

YES RON AND HARRY BEST FRIENDS IM GONNA SOB

Damn he’s in love with Sirius fr fr

Can tell this is a shift, so gonna do a small recap

Wonderful characterization

Remus kind of being forced to push forward is great narratively, a little concerned about how it will work with pacing

They write Harry very well, not annoying as children can often be in fic

Chapter five

This is what I wanted, you see James and Lily in harry and remus is just thoughtful and reflective enough to show the audience the importance of this its just MWAH

Oh my god

Baby trauma. He’s so cute and being such a little bitch

Literally so sad, like remus is such a better parent than the Dursleys could ever be but him knowing what harry had makes it sad

If I have to read “angry fucks” again im gonna lose it, say sex please, at least sometimes

YES HE’S FREEEE

Chapter six

God this sucks, like I know they aren’t truly in danger but the emotional turmoil goes crazy

3 chapters till we get Sirius saying it now

Cannot understate how much remus’s pining and distraught connects to me

Like I can tell they were in love but SO TOXIC which, again, is teenage girl core

Not to diminish the relationship, I think the way teenage girls evaluate breakups and romance is like peak human condition and is incredibly poignant amidst the issues of war and death and loss.

YES FUCK YES HELL YEAH INNOCENT INNOCENT INNOCENTTTTTT FUCK PETER HATE THAT SON OF A BITCH

Chapter seven

UGH I know I said fuck Peter but this still sucks ass

When do I get to see Sirius. Ik I said 3 chapters but I didn’t mean it

Damn Petes evil as fuck

The justice in him being DECLARED innocent is so beautiful. I wish that could’ve happened in the books, he died being known as a shitty, terrible human being

Chapter eight

Ok skip this shit and jump to the gay sex I do not want a flashback rn I need TEARS

Jk obviously its important and builds suspense, well written two with good symbolism

Fuck fuck fuck fuck just kiss please I need them to kiss please

Like I actually cannot watch them be fucking roommates ill vomit

Sobbing sobbing sobbing “I hope not” Jesus fucking christ let me suck the authors dick I love this sm

Chapter nine

Just taking in the idea that both Sirius and Harry see each other as a replacement for James in the books, that is such a beautiful like concept with such horrible influences on how they treat each other and I really want to see how its reconciled here, if its relevant at all

Harry with his two dads that barely speak to each other

I do need reconciliation but making sure the weight of tragedy is like there also seems important

But also, please, just fuck already

Chapter ten

Ok remus time to put your big boy pants on and apologize

Like actually nothing will fix itself until you say sorry man

“He’s pack” BRUH harry

Pls having to tell everyone you’re living with this famous not-criminal is so funny I actually am losing it

Pls just be nice to each other for once bruh

Yay!! Nice!!

They’re so like fucked up its messy brother

Chapter eleven

THIS IS SO CUTE IM GONNA KMS

The dog plushie, the memory album, literally everything god I love Christmas

Omfg. Sweater. Sobbing.

AND HITTING ME WITH ANGST AT THE END. This is such a good joy-depression balance

Like its SO SO SAD like irrevocably depressing and filled with grief but also like LIFE and CHILDHOOD and JOY and bruuuhh

Chapter twelve

evil

Chapter fourteen

Basically skipped twelve and thirteen

Jesus Christ

That was gay sex fs

The dementors kiss scene was fucking heart breaking, like devastatingly sad but obviously Peter deserved it

Actually idk, soullessness is so horrific

Then THE KISS and the SEX and everything it was so raw and good and Jesus fucking christ

I want to have sex with eric again bruh

Just so sad, and so happy at the end with the talk of learning to live with it and just UGH amazing I love it

Literally cannot think of a critique atm, im sure ill have some at the end though

FULL RECAP

Yes I know I skipped 16 and 17 and I'm sorry.

Overall this story was INCREDIBLE. I loved the writing style, such a good amount of angst, and an easy to follow narrative. It raised Harry like exactly how I wanted and was so cutey and sweetly and UGH. I will say I wish there was more to the plot than “everyone is sad and trying to not be anymore”While that is a completely reasonable story, it does make it a little boring. But because this fic is fairly short it works out alright. My only true criticism is going to be on the pacing. I am not sure at all when Harry and Remus were introduced to each other, or how far after that Sirius came into their lives. I also think Harry and Sirius’ connection, while amazing, was a bit unrealistic at the beginning. For a child with this much past to IMMEDIATELY latch onto someone like this is kinda wild, but it works for the story so no big deal honestly. I think characterizations were good, not great. However, this is a situation we haven’t seen marauders in and I’m not super familiar with how marauders are usually characterized outside of reading the books and watching movies, so I’d reevaluate characterization stuff once im more engrossed in the fandom.

This is something I just thought about while adding tags, having moody in this fic was nice. He's a character I'd like to see more out of what I've read so far in marauders

9/10, truly loved this one

[pbandjesse]

I am feeling just slightly stressed out. I think I am just very tired. I am feeling better but I am just exhausted.

It was a pretty good day. I slept alright. And woke up feeling fine. Getting up was hard. But I got myself together and James made the bed and gave me my lunch and offered to carry my drinks to the car but I was alright. I just wanted to leave with them.

I was surprised that the car had frost all over it. I didn't want to scrap it off the glass so I waited for the car to warm up and watched James bike off. I didn't have to wait long.

It was a fine drive to camp. I don't know why but I did not wear my puffer jacket and I was very cold outside even with a sweater and a fleece. I would be inside for the majority of the day though and would be fairly comfortable.

I drove up to arts first to drop off all my large stuffed animals. Some will probably still come home but for now at least they have a safe place to be. Once those were put away I went back down to the office.

I could see over at the nurse's office there were some work trucks. I wasn't sure what part they were working on but they were doing something.

When I got to the office I microwaved my breakfast and set myself up. I drew the card for my neighbor's. I wrote out some well wishes and told them I was sorry I couldn't do more. It was nice to draw. I was in a drawing mood.

I would actually do some more prep work for my daily sticker project. Just getting some early work done so if I fall behind I will have something to fall back on. Especially since everything is so busy right now. And it's only going to get worse. Not at work but in life. And it was nice to work on the style I'm going for.

As I was drawing I saw the men from the nurses office walk over. They came in the office and said they needed the nurse key and that they would be back to work in the basement. They were very nice. I texted our office group chat and told them we had men in the basement. Which is the most ominous way to say that. But it was true!

Eventually everyone else came in. I told them about the detectives coming to my house. And the card I wrote. I had James print that to give to the neighbors and apparently Jessica thought it was incredibly sweet. I'm glad no one thinks it's weird. I just felt like it was the least I could do.

It would be a nice day. I would have emails to write and some things to create for sending interest emails out for staff. Me and Sarah would also do a bunch of research to find vendors to email about possibly being a part of our music festival. That took a surprisingly long time because we had to find emails and not everyone made that easy!!

I did get a lot of reading done today too. I finished my book about the 1793 yellow fever endemic. It was very interesting and honestly while it was sad it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. There was some hope at the end. I do wish they did an epilog like the Dear America ones do but that's okay. I still enjoyed it.

The day would go pretty fast. At one point Dad asked me to call and we discussed some house stuff. And he asked if I could try installing zippers in some of his pants. I can sure try! He's sending them with Mom tomorrow. And I will do my best to get that done ASAP. It was also just nice to talk to him. He sounded healthy. And he's really proud of us about the house and that feels good.

I am a little stressed though because Jennifer, the loan processor, asked for some information from me but when I followed up with what I think is what she's asking for she didn't say anything! I wish she would send confirmation emails but she didn't with the last documents either and it just stresses me so bad. Especially on a holiday weekend. Like girl. Please just tell me this is what you need so we aren't going to have to push back the closing. James thinks it was the correct info though so fingers crossed I guess.

I am excited though. Like it's happening. That's so cool. I'm going to miss this apartment a lot but this is new! This is going to be great! And if I keep that energy it will be true even if it is hard.

The end of the day came pretty fast. I was ready to get out of there, mainly because I was excited to go hang out with Callie. I said goodbye to everyone and they reminded me that MLK day is Monday. But I already don't work on Mondays so it didn't matter to much. But I hope they all enjoy the extra day and I'll see them Tuesday.

On my drive my blood sugar felt incredibly low. My hands started shaking. I sent Callie a text I would need to run to the grocery store to grab a piece of a pizza. And she was totally cool about it. I just couldn't think and needed food immediately.

As soon as I parked I saw her and we walked over and I quickly got my pizza and basically inhaled it. I was actually able to talk and focus once I ate and I was slightly embarrassed that I got that bad. But she was cool about it and she filled the air while I couldn't talk.

We went over to amazing glaze and I finished eating my pizza and we decided what to paint. She picked a tiny trinket dish and I got a pasta bowl/plate. I have done this shape before buts its one I go for at home a lot so it seemed right.

And I had so much fun painting. She filled me in about school. I filled her in about the house. She painted a bunny and I painted a bedroom with little beads all tucked in. I impressed the workers which is all I'm ever trying to do. And while we were there for 2 hours, and I for sure could have been there longer, I am super proud of my piece.

I really enjoyed Callie's company. We talked about camp and life and she offered to help us move because she's great. And I had a very good time.

We finished up a little after 630. Just as the rain started. We hugged and said goodbye. And it really felt like we left at the perfect time because right after I got home the storm picked up and got very heavy and very windy. I was happy to be home.

But I was in a weird mood. While me and Callie were painting I texted James something time sensitive and they didn't answer me. It was going in 40 minutes and I finally called them and asked them to answer my texts and I hate the this is something we continue to struggle with. It's literally the only thing in our relationship that makes me angry. And it's because it makes me feel like I can't call them in an emergency. And it upsets me really bad. And they felt terrible but it doesn't fix it. And I just want them to try to be better.

So my mood was sour but I'm sure I also was just tired and it made things feel worse. James did tell me they knocked on our neighbor's door and gave them my card and apparently she was super grateful and told James if I didn't call her husband could have died. And I am horrified that it was that bad. I am glad that he's home. I'm glad I was able to help. I still wish I could have done more.

James was in the kitchen doing something for a long time. I opened the mail and texted my mom about tomorrow. I'm really excited to have her and my aunt visit. I just have to be well rested for it!!

I took a shower. I was hurting a bit. My lip has been doing better and I didn't wear a bandaid today. But then I hit the wound with the zipper of my fleece and it hurt so deeply and continued to hurt for hours. Cleaning it in the shower also hurt but I am still trying to baby it. It's getting better but it's still split. At least it's not as swollen.

I am in bed now. And I am very very ready to sleep. We are going to have a long day tomorrow.

Mom and aunt Nadine will be here for brunch. And then we are going to the visionary museum. And I'm really hoping for a good day. I hope you all sleep well and have a nice day tomorrow. Be careful in the heavy winds. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[estellamiraiauthor]

The Stars May Rise and Fall: The Annotated Re-read (Chapter 24)

This is another LONG chapter, and again I think it’s interesting to see how my writing style sort of evolved during the writing of this book. Of course I went back and edited the whole thing many, many times, but I didn’t really notice the way the chapters get longer and more complex as we go, and even if I had, it’s not necessarily something that needs to be corrected. But in the first half, basically, each scene is it’s own chapter, but chapter 24 feels more like an episode of a TV show, with multiple scenes and plot lines going on.

As always, spoilers under the cut!

It also introduces a couple of new conflicts after the relative peacefulness of 23. Teru has decided that he needs to tell the band about his relationship with Rei, since it is affecting them too, but he almost doesn’t because Minori is in a pretty terrible mood in the first scene here. I do wish I had kind of introduced a LITTLE more foreshadowing about the family problems that eventually lead to Minori deciding to quit the band, but there’s a little of that going on here. We can assume the phone call he gets in the middle of the band meeting is related to that, and I think his frustration with Rei wanting to include Saki’s song on the album and then not even showing up at the meeting to discuss it is related, too. He knows this album might be his last chance to make it as a musician, and Minori is a good enough composer AND businessperson to know that Rei is better at BOTH of those things than he is… in other words, working with Rei is his last, best chance, and it understandably annoys him when Rei doesn’t do everything he possibly could to make it a success.

But Teru does come out anyway. Looking back at this, I kind of wonder why I didn’t have him talk to Rei about it first… he probably should have, I guess. But I guess I didn’t think about it at the time because Rei IS “out”? Maybe not specifically to the band members, whom he doesn’t know that well, but I don’t think he’s actually HIDDEN his sexuality for a long time. So Teru isn’t really outing him, per se (again, he sort of is to the band, but because Rei is openly gay to anyone who cares to ask, it’s not the same as outing someone who’s closeted). And Rei DOESN’T mind, in the end, that Teru does it… but I guess if Teru were a little more worldly he probably would’ve realized that he should’ve asked first, just in case. 

The band’s reactions probably aren’t too surprising. Seika already knew, and as someone who’s been there, done that, is proud of Teru for coming out. Nao doesn’t know Teru that well, and doesn’t really have a reason to care (unless he was a raging homophobic or something, so at least we know he’s not). Yasu is… just being Yasu, I think. He’s an allocishet guy, and he’d assumed that his best friend was too, so his mind’s a little blown. It takes him awhile to get used to the idea, but he’ll be okay with it in a few chapters. He sort of jokingly asks how old Rei is… Yasu’s defense mechanism is always to kind of joke around, and while this isn’t particularly funny, I think he’s pretending to care about something that everyone knows he doesn’t really care about, because the questions he REALLY wants to ask are ones he needs to really think about first to make sure he’s not being rude.

Minori’s reaction is a little more complex. Teru tells Rei that night that he seems angry, but his initial reply is just kind of curt. I don’t think he has a problem with Teru being gay or even with him being with Rei, but again, it goes back to the idea that this is the band’s last chance in Minori’s eyes, and now he knows that choices are being made for emotional reasons that have nothing to do with good creative or business sense. I think he also feels a little like he’s being pushed out of his own band; it’s sort of become the Teru and Rei Show, and this is maybe where Minori decides he isn’t really needed anymore.

There’s also a passing moment earlier in this scene where Minori mentions a couple of new planned concerts: this big countdown on New Year’s Eve, and a “three-man” on January 5. A three-man is just a show with three bands instead of the usual six or seven, which means they each get a longer set but also have a higher ticket sales quota before they make a profit, so it’s a good indicator of success.

Super observant readers MAY notice that the date of this three-man is also the anniversary of Saki’s death, and that the show is NOT at Rock Eden, meaning that Rei probably isn’t going to attend… Teru doesn’t make the connection until later, though.

After all of this, Teru goes home and has a fight with Rei… there’s not much to add beyond what’s on the page; I think he’s just sick of having to carry out all of Rei’s arguments with Minori on his behalf, and wants Rei to come to the meetings and rehearsals himself. On Rei’s part, I think he’s partly starting to feel jealous (which he’ll admit to later on) now that the band is starting to have some success, and starting to feel some of the physical effects of overwork, which is both causing him pain and making him worry about his own future. So even though they’re only partly frustrated with each other, they say some pretty terrible things to one another here. 😢

The next scene is Teru telling Kiyomi that he’s dating Rei… not everyone loves this. I know a lot of people don’t really understand why Kiyomi thought the relationship was so serious when they’d only been on a few dates… and honestly that reaction blew my mind, because this scene is PARTLY autobiographical. It was in the Kabukicho Doutor, not the Shibuya Starbucks, but I once showed up for what I THOUGHT was a coffee date with a guy I’d been out with a few times and REALLY liked, only for him to tell me he couldn’t “hang out with me” anymore because he’d gotten MARRIED since our last date. Like Teru here, he CLEARLY knew that I considered the relationship more serious than he did (otherwise he would’ve just not contacted me again, right? No need for the one-on-one confession?), and while I have to admit I pretty must just cried and left, rather than spilling coffee and ripping off jewelry like Kiyomi does, when she says “Give it all back”? That’s what I remember thinking at the time… that he’d taken something from me in the emotional energy I’d been putting into him while he’d clearly been having another more serious relationship all along. (I later found out he’d met his wife the same night he met me and just kinda… dated us both until he decided which one he wanted to focus on.)

So. Kiyomi isn’t being super mature here or anything but that wasn’t the point. Yet again, my fictional book is not a manual for how to have healthy relationships! 😬

Kiyomi does actually show up to work the merch tables at the band’s next show, which IS pretty mature of her. 99% of the reason she’s working for them in the first place is to get closer to Teru, but even when that falls through she does show up to work one last show and tell Minori she quits in person. She’s still really young and inexperienced and can do some really socially inept things, but this was supposed to be Kiyomi growing a little.

Teru’s also really worried about Rei during the show… this is where we sort of start to see the effects of Rei not taking great care of himself. He blames the weather, which is probably a part of it, and he definitely definitely didn’t help anything by falling into a table during the fight with Teru earlier in the chapter, but he’s also got about a million repetitive stress injuries that are definitely getting worse as the result of working on the album 24/7. And I think this TERRIFIES Rei. Up to now, he’s at least been able to rely on his left hand, but because he’s overusing it to walk with a cane, to type and play the keyboard all day, he’s starting to realize that he might not have that forever, either… so he’s starting to see a future in which Teru gets more and more successful while he gets more and more disabled. And that’s understandably scary. Of course, we all end up disabled someday (I mean, unless we die young, and that’s not exactly better.), and Teru is nothing but genuinely worried about Rei… but Rei is beginning to see the possibility that he might not be able to help Teru in the same way forever, that he might be more of a burden on Teru instead… and that obviously influences the awful, awful thing he’s about to do.

[feminexisting]

The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner

I’ve presumably owned this book for several years now, but I don’t remember getting it. There is no price sticker on the book, so I don’t know where it came from or how much it was purchased for. Maybe it was one of the advanced copies I got in junior high? I chose to read this book because I thought it could be interesting and I liked the colors on the cover. 

The premise is that one day 13 year old Atticus “Tick” Higginbottom gets a mysterious letter in the mail, promising danger and adventure in the coming weeks and months, and that this can be circumvented by burning the letter, but at the cost of never finding out why the letter was written, or by who. Tick has to uncover the secrets of the letters to find out what’s in store for him so that he can eventually save his life and, potentially, the lives of everybody in the multiverse, along the way meeting new friends and making new enemies, all on the countdown to the coming adventure. 

If there’s nothing else I can say about this book, I can at least say that it helped remind me that I prefer science fiction over fantasy - well, I suppose this book might technically fall into the realm of science fiction due to its multiversal happenings, but it’s written so whimsically that that much is easy to forget. Listen... this book was. Fine. I guess. But it had nothing great going for it. Nothing really stood out about it. Sure, it had interesting parts, but, like, the writing style wasn’t great, the characters weren’t particularly endearing, and the journey wasn’t particularly enjoyable. It was just... a very middling book. 

While reading fantasy, it’s important to have a healthy suspension of disbelief. This is how you come to accept things like, for instance, being able to want something so badly you can alter a timeline just by thought, or by believing that preteens would be better for situations like this instead of adults. That said, some of the things in this book just couldn’t be overlooked. Mainly the fact that no children/preteens/teens have ever spoken Like That. I have to wonder if the author has ever been 13 or has ever met 13 year olds. I also have to wonder, based on Tick’s dialogue with his sisters (especially his older sister), if the author was an only child, because siblings Don’t Talk Like That. 

In every book, I allow myself a sort of wishlist, you know, the things that I want to happen. In this book, I hoped that Tick would grow up to be gay. Now, there were a few things working against me - namely, the fact that this book was written in 2008, and the fact that it was written for children. I know that the likelihood of Tick growing up to be gay is highly unlikely. That said, since we never saw a glimpse into the future (at least, not in this book), it could happen! And I want it to happen, because from the way Tick was written, it’s apparent that he really idolizes the men in his life while simultaneously not caring much, if at all, for girls. Even Sofia, the girl who is the most likely one for him to be interested in, was very firmly just a friend to him. Compare this to Tick’s interactions with, say, Sato, and I have to say, I see more romantic chemistry there than with her. 

I thought it was interesting how Tick opted to tell his dad everything about the letters. In most YA novels I’ve read, the protagonist doesn’t confide in their parents, and only occasionally in their friends, so the fact that he felt comfortable enough to tell his dad about what was going on was a really cool direction. That said, I kind of feared and kind of hoped that his dad would try to burn the letters when he learned about everything that was happening. I understand that he trusted his son, and maybe he thought Tick was the only person capable of stopping things, but... I don’t know, how can you see your child get viciously attacked by a swarm of metal gnats and then still send him on his way, y’know? 

I guessed that the Mr. Chu from Chu Industries was an alternate version of Mr. Chu from school before it was revealed. Not much to say about it, just that I was proud of myself for figuring it out, haha. One thing to note, though - at one point, while Tick was thinking about the Chu Industries Mr. Chu, he briefly considered whether it were time travel, but dismissed it because he didn’t think Mr. Chu would travel back in time just to antagonize his students. I have to disagree. If he were one and the same person using time travel, then in the future wouldn’t he have known about Tick’s involvement working against him? Wouldn’t it have been far easier to travel to the past and make Tick trust him, just so he would have a chance at getting him to join him or, at the least, throw him off his game long enough to beat him?

I didn’t like how everyone was being so unfair to Sato. Why shouldn’t he be suspicious of everybody and everything? Tick, Sofia, and Paul all had the luck to find each other online, but Sato didn’t find them, so he has no reason to trust them. Plus, he was whisked away from his home in the middle of the night to a strange and dangerous new place. Isn’t that scary? Isn’t it understandable why he would react like a cornered dog? And, of course, that isn’t even to mention his past and his trauma surrounding Master George and his family’s deaths (I didn’t mention this part because the kids weren’t aware of it, either, so I won’t blame them for it). 

There was one point, after everybody met up in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, where Master George reveals that he was the one who set loose the Gnat Rat on Tick and played other tricks on the kids. The kids are, understandably, very upset and uncomfortable at this prospect, and voice their discomfort, only for George to belittle them for it. He explained that he only did it to weed out the people that couldn’t handle it, but, I don’t know, the fact that he screamed at them over it and tried to make them think it was completely understandable and reasonable to attack children like that... I don’t like that. Maybe George is the lesser of two evils, but I still don’t trust him at all. This is a moot point, I’m sure, because I doubt in the future he reveals himself to be evil or whatever, but it was a part that sat uncomfortably with me and made me wish I could grab the kids and run away from him, because who knows what he might say or do if they did something he didn’t like?

At one point, Sofia, the rich and presumably white Italian girl, calls Paul, the black boy who doesn’t have money enough to buy a flight to Alaska (beyond that, we don’t know his financial situation), a “talentless bum in every reality.” I really, really didn’t like that. She also was very unforgiving towards Sato, the Japanese boy. I don’t know, I don’t think we had to have her being so mean to the only two people of color in the book. 

I didn’t like that Sato chose to stay with Master George in the end. It felt kind of manipulative, George saying that he doubted Sato’s foster family would even notice he was gone. Sato accepted the invitation too readily, almost like he trusted George at that point, rather than wanting to stay close to keep an eye on things. I wish we knew more about Sato... and I wish he could get a therapist. At least he trusts Tick so much now, though. I thought it was sweet how comfortable he was around him after Tick saved his life. 

At the end of the book, I wish all four kids had shown a possibility that they could control the mysterious new power, rather than just Tick. I know he’s the protagonist, but I hope it’s something that everyone can eventually harness. 

One final thing I didn’t like about the book was the fact that Tick never dropped the nickname Tick and instead went by his real name, Atticus, and that he never stopped wearing his scarf, which covered his birthmark that he was embarrassed about. Earlier in the book, he had lost his scarf, but while sitting with Sofia, he realized he didn’t mind it, because she wasn’t treating him any differently, and he had explicitly thought to himself that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to leave the scarf off, only to crush his own spirit and tell himself that he needed to keep it. And, of course, the nickname is terrible; it was given to him by his school bully and instead of retaliating against it or hating it, he just accepted it and wants everybody to call him by it? Isn’t that sad? Isn’t it sad that his self esteem is so low that he can’t lose his scarf crutch and he goes by the name of a disease-ridden, blood sucking insect? Shouldn’t he, as the protagonist, be allowed freedom from these after a time? 

The book was... fine. That’s all it was. Not fine enough to be a true middle fine, but fine all the same. 2/5. 

My bookmark for this book was a lime green ribbed ribbon with knots at both ends.