#ayy first time posting my writing here i think

[chaifootsteps]

Metallica Anon here responding to Taxidermy Anon's roll call. I'm going to be a little more extensive with my post so grab a snack and a drink. I'm a 31 male and I'm 10 months older than Viv. My story began around November of 2019 when I was (and still am) a member of a forum related to a show that I used to love but completely lose interest in. (If you're wondering what show? Let's just say Blitzø would love it. 😉) Then I noticed a few members had this particular character as their avatars. That character turned out to be Angel Dust of Hazbin Hotel. My curiousity grew and I eventually watched the pilot. I was completely enamored with it. I loved the animation, the characters, the voice acting, etc. Not long after, I began watching Helluva Boss and soon became enamored with show as well. For nearly four years, I was quite emotionally attached to Viv's shows, almost at the level of the cartoons I loved from my childhood. For a while, I thought Hazbin and Helluva could be some of the greatest cartoons in history. Unfortunately, as Phil Collins once sang, something happened to on the way to Heaven.

Actually, three things happened. I'll explain each one.

The Long Wait for Hazbin Hotel: I don't know how or why I managed to hold on for so long, but I did. I've endured HH's signing to A24 in 2020, the voice actor replacement debacle in 2021, and the character "redesigns" in 2022. I remember in November of '22, I had two things to be excited for in '23: the new Metallica album in April and Hazbin in the summer. (At least one of the things happened.)

To occupy my mind, I binge watched a cartoons until Hazbin would air, which I assumed would be as early as June. When June came, a lot of us were expecting at least a trailer. What did we get?  A cheap Angel Dust picture! I think this is when my hype for HH began to deflate. Then in July, Viv announced HH would be delayed due to the WGA/SAG strikes. At first, I thought the reasons were understandable, but then found out A24 can promote their stuff during the strikes. This made me feel suspicious on what’s going on. Once summer ended, I officially gave up on Hazbin Hotel… then the trailer came out with a release date, which is JANUARY 2024!

Did the trailer reignite my interest? HAH! No! I’m wasting any more time waiting for this shit! But that’s not the only reason…

The Decline of Helluva Boss: Up until this year, I loved Helluva Boss. I enjoyed the shenanigans of Blitzø, Moxxie, Millie, and Loona. I would always find some enjoyment in every episode, even the bad episodes like “CHERUB” and “The Circus.” However, Helluva had long waits between episodes ranging from two to six months. Yet somehow, I endured because at least new episodes were coming out.

Then came the episode “Exes and Oohs.” I hesitated to watch it at first as some previews and clips I saw turned me off. Then I finally watched the full episode… and I absolutely hated it! Unlike the previous bad episodes of HB, I did not find ANY enjoyment in this episode. Then came the episode “Western Energy “and the same happened again. Hesitated to watch at first, finally watched it and absolutely hated it. I began to question myself on why I am I still watching this. Finally came the episode “Unhappy Campers,” and that episode was the final straw for me. That episode made me so angry that I wanted to smash my head into my laptop. Three strikes, you��re out!

Ever since that damn episode, I swore off Helluva Boss. I have not watched a new episode or even rewatched an old episode. It also got me thinking if HB’s writing is this bad, I believe HH’s writing will be just bad or worse. Now let’s get to the source of the shit…

Viv’s True Colors: For a long time, I did not know very much about Vivienne Medrano, her history, or who see really is. I simply viewed her as a regular person who somehow found success in independent animation…

Then came spring 2023 when I learned of the ErinFrost and KenDraws allegations against her by Ayy Lmao’s YouTube videos. Those allegations really got me thinking and my views of Viv began to change. Later in the summer, I began using my abandoned Tumblr account and I stumbled upon the Viv Critical community… and learned everything awful about Viv. Not only is Viv awful, so is her fanbase. I can honestly say that the VivziePop fanbase is probably the most toxic I have ever been in… and this is coming from someone who was apart of another infamous fanbase back in the 2010s. I mean, I have never seen a creator that encourages their fans to attack and send deaths to anyone who has even the slightest bit of criticism.

*sigh* This post has gotten too long so I’m gonna wrap it up. Fuck Viv, she’s a leper messiah. 🖕

-Metallica Anon 🤘

That was a great story, Metallica Anon. Sucks that it had to happen, but if it had to, glad you found your way here!

[oh-no-its-bird]

came here for the magical girl art and ended up staying for the convoluted Team Ro/Kakashi Warring states era time travel

JDBFKSBFIS THANKS!! Honestly that one is one of my personal favorites I can't even deny it. I think it may have also been the first real fic idea I posted? Could be wrong tho, but if so like, ayy

It ended up getting turned into a fic by @indigosabyss , if you're interested in seeing someone else trying their hand at it !!

I'm ngl I sometimes toy with the thought of at least writing a one shot or smthn for it but I'm already struggling with Chasing Shadows so I won't do that to myself just yet

[asuyaka]

Ayy I'm so happy for you mate! Congrats on surviving another year, Heavens know this one was just as terrible as the other two ones.

Since I'm already here, I'm gonna take the time to say that I absolutely love your writing regardless of the character and trope and I'm so glad to be one of the people to watch it grow ever since the first post in this blog (which btw, was sent by me! >:] ), it's definitely a pleasing experience to watch a small blog grow over time along with the writer/artist, especially one as charismatic and dedicated as you!

Take all the breaks you need mate, heck- go on a holiday hiatus if you want to, I assure you that you've earned it.

Merry Christmas!

- Sincerely, '🌈' Anon.

eeee!! yes yes, m'don really talk about it much, but the fact 've reaced 200+ followers s'so suprisin t'me!! ૮꒰˶ฅ́˘ฅ̀˶꒱ა

the first time m'ever got a request m'literally squealed cause... somebody, wanted t'ask me to write somethin?? in my writin style??? w(ﾟДﾟ)w

but then m'realized that people actually enjoy all the silly stuff m'put out, n'it was a game changer cuz the only person 've ever showed my works to was m'seventh & eight grade RLA teacher (whose practically m'mom now) ૮꒰/ฅ//ฅ//꒱ა

n'even though she said mwas a great writer, little me never believed her cause... m'was in a super dark place at the time ╯︿╰

f'🌈 anon, you'll always (!!) have a special place in m'silly little heart cause m'don think mcould've gotten this popular without your reqs!! ꒰ ⸝⸝ ˊ͈ ˘ ˋ͈ ⸝⸝ ꒱⠀

m'love all, n every single one of m'little bunnies, you're all s'amazin' n mwishin you guys an amazin new years !! ◝꒰ ´ ˘ `♡ ꒱

[yoonieper]

I posted 55 times in 2022

39 posts created (71%)

16 posts reblogged (29%)

I tagged 46 of my posts in 2022

Only 16% of my posts had no tags

#yoonieper updates - 19 posts

#bts - 14 posts

#bts smut - 13 posts

#bts fluff - 13 posts

#bts scenarios - 13 posts

#bts imagines - 13 posts

#bts fanfic - 13 posts

#bts angst - 10 posts

#bangtan sonyeondan - 9 posts

#bts fan fiction - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 32 characters

#please ignore everything you see

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Daydream | KNJ

One man’s daydreaming is another man’s day.

✿ Pairing: Namjoon x Reader

✿ Genre: smut, angst, a tiny bit of fluff, pretty much pwp 

✿ Rated: M for More 

✿ Warnings: A little spice over the phone, handjob, oral (f. receiving), little bit of spanking, this is a tad bit emotional

✿ Word Count: 5.6k 

✿ Summary: It’s late and he has work to do, but for some reason he can only think about you. He misses you so much and after so long, maybe it’s time to pay you a visit?

✿ Author’s Note: Fun fact, this is based off a dream I had a while ago. The part that mattered only lasted for like a second and the rest of the dream was nonsense but ayy I got a fic out of it~ This was supposed to be posted a year ago, I’m so behind omg 🤡… In reconciliation, I will let y’all know that there mayyyy be a part 2, but not in the way you expect so keep an eye out :3

No reposting, modifying. Translating is not allowed unless given explicit permission. Thank you so much :D

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281 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#4

His Majesty | KNJ

Come and serve your King.

・❥・ Pairing: King!Namjoon x Maid!Reader

・❥・ Genre: smut, angst, a tiny bit of fluff

・❥・ Rated: B for Bow 

・❥・ Warnings: cheating, oral (m+f receiving), clothes are ripped, bondage, spanking, exhibitionism, unprotected sex (this the past, but not you <3), joon’s a little too hot in this one, get your fans ready

・❥・ Word Count: 9.6k

・❥・ Summary: His majesty was always fond of you. Little glances here, longing touches there, it was obvious something was going on. When the Queen left the kingdom for a little while, it was finally time. He could finally have you the way he wanted. 

・❥・ Collab: This is part of @erotikkook Kingdom collab! My first collab piece, yay! Thank you so much Levi for finally giving me a reason to write this lol! Please check out the other stories as well! 

・❥・ Now Playing: Earned It by The Weeknd

・❥・ Beta: @xxxanimangxxx thank you so much for reading this so quickly 😭 

・❥・ Author’s Note: HA! I’m back already (hehehehe)~ This was meant to be posted for Joonie’s bday, but things happened… Anyway, fun fact, I got this idea when me and my sister were discussing frozen fanfiction, in particular a very snacky older Hans brother. I owe a lot of these ideas to my sister so shout out to her who helped me come up with this 😩✊🏽 I hope to post a less angsty Joon fic in the near future *hint hint wink wink something might be in the works* :,) Anyway enjoy this y’all ;)

No reposting, modifying. Translating is not allowed unless given explicit permission. Thank you so much :D

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985 notes - Posted November 5, 2022

#3

Snow Blanket | MYG

The warmest place is in your arms.

❅ Pairing: Yoongi x Reader

❅ Genre: friends to lovers, fluff, smut

❅ Rated: C for Cozy 

❅ Warnings: Yoongi is a cutie boy in luv, y/n is deep in her feels as well, very fluffy, yoongi’s a little subby, handjob, oral (m + f receiving), a little hair pulling, unprotected sex (don’t even think about it <3)  

❅ Word Count: 9.5k

❅ Prompt: “Snowed in and huddled for warmth.” 

❅ Summary: Yoongi decided to join you on your ski trip and as a snow storm starts moving in, you retreat back to your cabin, only to find out the heater’s broken. With the storm blowing over and the temperatures beginning to plummet, it only makes sense to search for warmth in every possible way. 

❅ Thank you: Thank you so much @jamaisjoons once again for the banner~

❅ Now Playing: Sweet by Cigarettes After Sex 

❅ Author’s Note: Another one that was part of an event that was meant to be posted a year ago~ Didn’t get to edit this as much as I wanted to, but please enjoy this softness, this literally melted my heart tryna write this so I hope you guys like it! I love Yoongi so much y’all don’t even understand 🥲

No reposting, modifying. Translating is not allowed unless given explicit permission. Thank you so much :D

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991 notes - Posted December 2, 2022

#2

Chronicles of My Witchy GF | JJK

We made our own magic.

✵ Pairing: Jungkook x witch!Reader 

✵ Genre: fluff, smut, crack

✵ Rated: W for Which Witch?

✵ Warnings: little bit of weed smoking, lots of cheesy lines (babies in love), Jungkook accidentally eats something he shouldn’t (twice), lots of crying (in the good way), this shit gets nasty, mentions of food play, masturbation (m), dry humping, thigh fucking(?), pillow fucking, tiny bit of breed kink (it’ll make sense later lol), accidental facial, oral (m + f recieving), throat fucking, face sitting, lots of cum (a lot!), unprotected sex (be smart y’all <;3)

✵ Word Count: 31.8k (get snacks :’D)

✵ Summary: Just Jungkook and a few cute tales about his witchy girlfriend~

✵ Now Playing…: Freaky Deaky by Tyga & Doja Cat, Lay it Down by Steelix, Under the Influence by Chris Brown 

✵ Betas: Thank you so much to the amazing @jessikahathaway and @xxxanimangxxx for looking over this monster fic so quickly <;3!

✵ Author’s Note: This fic is so unserious yall, I don’t know how I ended up writing this 😭 I had plans for a Jimin fic, but I started this hoping to get it done quickly, but this turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be :’) Anyway, I thought I would experiment a little with this type of formatting for this fic~ Hope y’all enjoy, and Happy Halloween! This couple is so cute and has so much drabble potential (I got ideas~)! P.S. Made the banner myself and I’m tryna get better, hope y’all like 😅

No reposting, modifying. Translating is not allowed unless given explicit permission. Thank you so much :D

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2,008 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Helping Hand | JJK

Sometimes all you need is a helping hand.

♡ Pairing: Jungkook x Reader (also a teeny bit of Jimin x Reader)

♡ Genre: Roommate AU, Best Friend AU, Best Friends to lovers, Smut, Fluff, Angst???? 

♡ Rated: D for Down Bad 

♡ Warnings: Lotte concert 2019 Jungkook, PTD concert black swan Jimin (yes these are warnings), Y/N needs some dick, jk is also pretty down bad, mentions of past substance abuse, mentions of depression, mentions of character death, very brief and vague mentions of su*cidal thoughts, this fic is heavy and horny please beware, jk a lil bit of a dummy, masturbation, semi public sex(ish), grinding, car sex, cumming in pants, fingering, oral (m + f receiving), overstimulation, protected sex (follow they lead kiddies), gets cute towards the end I promise~ 

♡ Word Count: 23.4k

♡ Summary: A double blind date was your suggestion. Everything about it should make him happy, but this sinking feeling just won’t go away. All he wanted was to get it over with. 

♡ Now Playing…: X by Tinashe, Backseat by Khalid, and Good Days by Sza 

♡ Author’s Note: A story from the vault of the 2020 works I started but never published! This was meant to be posted on Valentine's Day, but life got in the way so I’m just posting it now instead of keeping it for another year. Let’s just pretend 🤡 Happy Valentine’s Day to all the couples out there, and for all my singles, we’ll get ‘em next year 😩✊🏽 Also a big thank you to @kth1 for the graphics and @jessikahathaway for reading over this for me! 

No reposting, modifying. Translating is not allowed unless given explicit permission. Thank you so much :D

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4,324 notes - Posted June 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[destinyesque]

Might Not Make it Home

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32632597/chapters/80949649

North Imaria has been under the merciless rule of the crown for over two decades and it seems the people have finally had enough. Unrest stirs among even the tiniest towns in the frozen mountains. Main streets grow silent as the noble guard rallies. There's enough fuel for the revolutionary fire; someone just needs to light the fuse.

Vizara is a bard, and a damn good one at that. She's played at taverns all across the north, seen the fight grow in her people. Her whole life has been for this. All the sleeping around, the ale and food and coin-all of it is secondary (not that she doesn't enjoy it). She's going to rouse her people into glorious rebellion against the unjust monarchy, and she's going to win. She just doesn't know how difficult it is going to be.

___________________

A young woman in vibrant violet clothes strummed on her lute, tapping her toe in time to the beat of the lively tavern tune. She directed a wink at a bargoer close to her before leaping up onto his table. Carefully avoiding the empty plates, her purple slippers stomped down on the wood with a soft, but audible thump. She sucked in a deep breath and began to sing. The song, “The Pickpocket's Lover”, was well known here, and soon the tavern patrons were singing and clapping along with the music. The woman weaved gracefully between the tables, spinning and dancing as the tune picked up speed. The whip-quick braid in her hair followed her eagerly, drawing curves in the air behind her head when she whirled around to play for the crowd behind her. Cheeks flushed dark with exertion and sweat dripping down her brow, she drew the song to its end. At the far side of the room, she struck the final chord, took a beer from one of the waitresses, and downed half of it in one gulp. The crowd at the tavern, now some forty or fifty people, cheered. The woman raised her mug in the air triumphantly.

 "Here's to th' North!" she cried, to even more applause, and then made as if to throw the mug to the ground. The waitress she'd taken the beer from quickly stilled her hand, as if she was expecting it. If she said anything to the bard, nobody could hear it for all the noise. The bard shrugged and took another swig. "'right y'all, I just gotta wet my throat a moment, then I'll be right back with ya." She fired another wink into the crowd as she made towards the kitchen, and if she kicked her lute case (already harboring quite a bit of coin) a little further towards the crowd, none of them seemed to care.

 The woman slipped through the door to the kitchen, soon followed by the waitress. At the last glimpse of her violet tunic and teal beads, the crowd turned back to their food and drink. The kitchen door swung shut, and that was the last any of them saw of the bard that night.

 ~~~~~

 Past that kitchen door, the bard nabbed a piece of fresh bread from the cook's hands, to an indignant "hey!" with no real malice behind it. She turned to the waitress with the smile of one who knows she has done something quite wrong, but who does not care. Appropriately, the waitress had a rather unimpressed expression across her face.

"Good show, eh?" The bard said through a mouthful of warm bread. The waitress huffed.

"Quite." The bard went on eating, as if oblivious to the other woman's annoyance.

"I'm thinking about addin’ a few more new songs to my repertoire." she said, "I've been writin’ some pretty songs as of late. 'Specially the ones about the coming revolution." She eyed the waitress at the last sentence with a hint of humor in her voice.

"Give me that!" The waitress ripped the hunk of bread from the bard's hands to another surprised "hey!" from the offended party. "You need to keep quiet about that revolution of yours. The only reason anyone here tolerates your ridiculous ideas is that you bring in good business. Step too far out of line, and we'll all get in more trouble than any of us can deal with."

"The crowd seemed to like me," the bard supplied. "It's strange, how the northerners seem to like the North. Can I please have my bread back?"

"Take this seriously! I know you couldn't care less about the rest of us, but if you get arrested, you won't get any work either!"

"I ain't planning on gettin' arrested, my friend. I'm only planning on gettin' the damn army outta here. And you can plan on gettin' business so long as there's any folk left here. Nobody's gonna care that I think the guard should get fucked. Hell, that's what they all think too."

"I hate you," the waitress growled, wild-eyed.

"Should'a said that 'fore you slept with me," the bard retorted, plucking her bread back from the waitress and promptly turning to walk further into the kitchen.

"Also, stop trying to smash my damned mugs!" the waitress yelled before slamming open the kitchen door open and walking back out into the tavern.

"I think you sang real well t'night, Vizara." the cook put in after a moment.

"Thank you!" Vizara, the bard, answered. "I can always count on you t' give a girl the credit she deserves."

The cook sighed deeply. "I do think you should cut back on the whole--well--the things that Melya was talkin’ about." She leaned over to inspect a simmering pot of stew in lieu of meeting the gaze of the bard.

It was a while before Vizara answered her. "I know. I don't want t' hurt y'all's business, really. I'm just damn tired of the damn monarchy and their damned games. So is everybody else. All they need is a push, and then we can get rid of the guard. Don't you wanna be free of kings? I sure as hell do.

Plus, I'm only here a handful'a times a year. I surely can't bring any real suspicion down here. Hell, Melya was just about the only waitress I recognized when I got here. Not that y'all have many other waitresses."

"Sometimes I think you talk just to hear your own voice," the cook commented. She ladled some of the stew into a bowl and handed it to Vizara. "Take one of the cloaks on the wall by the door and head outside for a bit, ‘kay? I'll talk to Melya,"

"Don't want me 'round anymore, huh?" she joked, pulling a cloak over her thin tunic and bare shoulders. "Really, you're the best, Eviah. The only one around here with any manners,"

Eviah made no reply, simply shooing the bard out the door with a roll of her eyes.

 The wind outside was biting cold. It was easy to forget near the fires and warm food of the tavern, but it worked its way through the fabric of the cloak in a matter of moments. Vizara huddled on one of the stairs leading down from the back door, watching for a few moments as her breath turned to mist.

"'bit like a dragon, ain't it?" she murmured to herself. "If only I had a horde of gold to go along with it."

She drew the cloak in closer. "Warm fire'd be good too." She absently cast her gaze around the small, dark alley. There was a bit of snow on the ground, but not enough to cause any trouble to pedestrians and carts, not that the carts could fit into the alley in any case. The overhanging roofs of the tavern and another nearby shop blocked most of the light from the moon, which was probably good, since nobody would've wanted to see the sundry food waste tossed back there. Vizara could hear the quiet rustling of what she presumed was a few rats digging about in the garbage, but far be it from her to take a look. She wrapped her hands around the hot bowl to bring some feeling back into her fingers, a bit numb from both the lute and the cold.

So she sat, eating her stew as the night went on and the comforting bustle of the tavern carried on behind her. After a short while, she set the empty bowl down beside her and took the lute off her back. Soft music began to drift up amongst the scuttling of the rats as she strummed the first few notes to a love song.

“Maybe I’ll play this one next,” she whispered. She leaned back against the door and hummed along to the quiet tune.

Her fingers stilled only a moment later as she heard some odd noise out in the street, past the entrance to the alleyway. The shriek of an animal (or perhaps a child? she couldn't say) echoed off the close walls.

“The hell was that?” She got to her feet, turning her head toward the noise. Again, the same shriek. Certainly the sound of a person now.  

Vizara fumbled in the waistband of her pants for a small knife, not much more than a toothpick. She dropped the cloak from her shoulders and slung her lute across her back once more.

With a deep breath, she crept out onto the street, tiny blade in hand. It was dark; few lanterns were ever out at night. The town was small, its people poor. Still, with a cursory glance, she saw the silhouettes of three or four people cast in the light of the brothel across the street. The screams hadn't stopped—they'd just gotten quieter. They'd become yelps, and then wordless protests, and now, just pained whimpering.

 She could see now—as she snuck ever closer—the small body of a child held down by the much bigger guards. The blade in her hand felt insufficient, useless. She faltered, slowed almost to a stop. The guards hadn't noticed her. She was quiet and they were occupied with the protesting figure in the dirt beneath them. She could back away into the alley just as easily as she had left it, and nobody would be the wiser. The crowd awaited her back in the tavern. She was much better suited to that kind of work—the rustling up, the inspiring, not the fighting itself. But, hell, who was she if she didn’t practice what she preached? And who was getting hurt in her place if she did nothing?

​

The glint of silver mail in the low light caught her eye once more. The crest of the royal family glowed gold on the guards' tunics, splashed with mud and blood and violence. Another strangled cry slipped from the child's lips as he was jabbed with the butt end of a spear. She was only a few lengths away from the closest guard. A full body shiver struck Vizara's body, shaking the little knife in her hand.

​

She started into a run, the movement catching the attention of one of the guards. They shouted to their companions, but the warning came too late. Vizara, much shorter than the guard nearest her, jabbed her knife into his armpit, where she knew was an opening in his armor. He stumbled back with a heavy huff, and the knife was yanked from Vizara's hands. She reached for it again, her left hand up to defend herself from the other two guards. Her fingers brushed the handle, but she couldn't get a good grip on it—she'd sunk the whole blade into his arm. Plus, he and his two companions were getting his wits about him once more. He was going for his spear amongst a slew of curses. It didn't come to that. Vizara heard a monstrous Crack! and then a moment later, her left arm flared up in pain. She fully lost hold of the knife. It didn't matter anymore. Her arm—what happened to her arm? She looked up to the flash of silver as she was struck in the chest with the blunt end of a spear.

​

She went down with a heavy huff. Her arm throbbed and maybe she couldn’t use her fingers? And her face was in the dirt and her chest ached and she couldn’t see anything for the dark and the terror.

​

She looked out over her injured arm, bleary and gasping. The child—a young elf, no older than fifteen—still lay prone on the ground, one of the three guards standing above him. Vizara's vision swam as dread descended.

​

One of the guards kicked her over onto her back and she rolled painfully over her lute. She winced, tried to sit up, but was immediately pushed right back down, slamming her head into the dirt.

​

"Fuck." she sucked in a breath. "Can—can I at least move the lute? Don't want to break the lute."

​

The guard who'd kicked her—a woman who Vizara would find attractive in any other situation—grabbed her collar and none-too-gently yanked her into a sitting position. Another guard maneuvered the lute from her back, jostling her hurt arm and eliciting a rather embarrassing whimper from her. She gathered up her wits and forced the stars out of her eyes.

​

"Ah, thank you." Vizara babbled, forcing a smile. "As a good bard once said 'you can break my bones but not my banjo'."

​

"You fucking stabbed me!" bellowed the guard she'd stabbed, and swung the body of the lute into her head.  

  ~~~~~~

 Vizara awoke with what she at first thought was a bad hangover. She felt groggy, confused, and her head pounded—a situation she'd found herself in many a time before. She moaned in pain and closed her eyes once more, but she found no comfort in sleep, for she had neither pillow nor bed to sleep on. Instead, the surface beneath her was hard, rough, and cold.

​

Her eyelids were heavy, and as her conscious awareness grew, she forced them open. Bewilderment abounded for a few moments. Where the hell was she?

​

The room was dark and small. A barred window above her head cast a square of light on the stone floor and glinted off the edge of a tarnished metal bucket. She recognized the trappings of the room—a prison cell for sure, she’d been in more than enough to know—but it took her a few moments to recall the circumstances that had landed her here. She had been all set to perform at the bar the night before; she'd make a bit of coin, flirt with some strangers, and sleep with even more of them. Clearly, something had gone wrong. Such a waste of a good night!

​

She racked her brain, piecing together all that had happened after her performance: the conversation with Melya and Eviah, the cold alley, and then the sight of the guards kicking a child that had spurred her to action. A grim satisfaction came over her as she remembered stabbing one of the guards in the armpit. At least she'd done some good damage before she'd gone down. Nothing after that came back to her. She must have gotten her ass kicked pretty quick after the stabbing; the pain in her head and her arm could attest to that.

​

She touched her injured arm, and it didn’t hurt terribly. The ambient light described an ugly bruise. Nothing that wouldn’t heal. And her head ached, but she could deal with that. After all, it wasn’t much worse than her usual hangover. Vizara felt across her chest for any more injuries. There was a pain in her left side when she pressed down on it, but it didn't seem to be too serious. She huffed a sigh of relief and immediately winced when her chest took issue with it. All things considered, she’d gotten off pretty easy.

​

With a grunt, she stood up. She could make out the shape of a wooden door in the dim. There was a slit under it through which a bit of light trickled. Probably how food was delivered to the prisoners. The thought of other prisoners stuck in Vizara's mind for a second—what had happened to the child? She prayed to any god that would pay her mind that he had gotten away. Although… if there were other prisoners, maybe she could orchestrate an escape. She'd been learning to rouse the masses for years now; surely, she could incite some kind of prison riot or revolution if she had to. But where was her lute? She didn't need that to inspire crowds, but it sure helped.

​

"If you bastards stole my lute," she murmured to no one. "I'm gonna fuckin' lose it."

​

She looked around the room, but there were only stone walls and one window and a dingy chamber pot. Nothing practical to help her, and no lute in sight.

​

Without anything to do and no chance of getting back to sleep, Vizara spent what seemed to be an interminable amount of time pacing about the cell. She found herself shivering in the cold air, but the movement helped. If she didn't find a way to get out of here soon, she could very well be stuck in this hellhole forever. The law of the kingdom wasn't known for its charity.

 The light from the small window had significantly brightened and then dimmed again by the time Vizara saw any company. She reckoned it was around sunset when there came the clamor of heavy footsteps outside her cell door. She moved to the back corner of the cell to give herself a bit of space once the guards came in; for they were coming in—the rustle of keys and the sound of voices reached her, dampened by the thick door but still clear enough. There was a soft click, and the door swung open, light from the hallway beyond cascading in. Vizara squinted at the loss of comfortable darkness.

​

There were three guards, dark in the doorway, just like the night before. She couldn't tell if they were all the same ones, but she vaguely recognized one of the female guards. They were dressed in the customary mail, with the sign of the monarchy across their chests. The longswords at their hip drew Vizara's eyes—she couldn't brute force her way past them, even if she had a weapon of her own.

​

She allowed two of the guards to approach her and none-too-gently shackle her right arm, hooking the other end of a long chain to a bar in the window. They backed away, now out of her reach, as if she posed any kind of danger to them.

​

"Vizara Whitecrest," the female guard started.

​

"Hello, yes, that's me," Vizara said, a fake smile on her lips. "It seems my reputation precedes me."

​

"I don't care much for pleasantries." she glowered. "I am only here to assess your account and determine an appropriate punishment."

​

"That's just great." Vizara sat down and put her hands in her lap. "I'm sure you know, I was rather very drunk last night, and quite out of my right mind. Now, I had no intention of attackin' anyone yesterday, but you must understand, certain things are bound to happen when one is that inebriated."

​

"I didn’t come here for idle chat and excuses." she said. "No proper bard drinks during her performance.��

 “Now there’s your problem, sweetheart. I ain’t any kind’a proper bard.”

  “You sure as hell didn’t seem drunk when you stabbed Oliver.” The woman harrumphed. “I’ve never seen a drunkard harm a trained guard, let alone one your size.”

 Vizara shrugged. “’Spose I got lucky.”

 “See, I don’t think you did. You knew just where to aim, and I’m damned if your aim wasn’t perfect.” She considered. “You’ve done this before.”

 “I ain’t done nothin’ of the sort.” Vizara insisted, and she could only blame her pounding head when she added “Only time I’ve laid a hand on a guardsman is in bed, and he damn near begged me to hit him.”

 The guard’s face screwed up in something halfway between annoyance and fury. Vizara winced, her smile falling. “I don’t mean any offense or nothin’, course! I’m just—"

 Patience run out, the guard strode into her space and slammed her into the wall, cutting her off with a sharp gasp. Her left arm pinned Vizara's shoulders to the wall, her right pressing into Vizara’s wounded chest. The bard wheezed in pain, and her mask of nonchalance faded into visible distress.

 ​“We both know you weren’t drunk, you stupid fucking half-elf.” She ground Vizara’s shoulders into the wall. “I’m not here to play games, and I don’t tolerate lies. If you’d like to keep your head, you’ll tell me everything. I want to know if you’ve attacked guardsmen before, and what I can do to make you never attack us again. I want to know about every Northerner who so much as fucking thought about going after the guard. Lie to me once more, and I will make sure you never sing again.”

 "I—" Vizara pushed against the guard's adamant armor before she could think better of it. "Fucking—get off me!"

​

The woman moved in an instant, grasping Vizara's left hand in her armored gauntlet and pinning it against the wall. Vizara couldn’t even tell what was happening until the guard’s dagger was flashing against her throat and she was screaming into it. Her head slammed against the stone wall and she almost didn't feel it when the guard let her drop to the floor.

​

She took in gasping breaths as her vision returned. She clapped her hand to her neck, now pulsing with blood. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling. Her throat worked painfully, as if trying to swallow back down the lost blood.

​

“It’s not hard,” the woman said, "all you need to do is sit there and tell the truth.” Then, to someone else, she ordered, “go make sure the windows are boarded for the storm. I can handle her.”

​

She knelt in front of Vizara and grasped her chin in one metal hand. The bard moaned and tried to turn away, but to no avail. She was weak and reeling from the pain.

​

The guard turned Vizara's face toward her own. Vizara saw the other two guards had left them, and the door to the cell was closed. She and the guard were alone now and there was no one there to save her from her suffering.

 “I’m not afraid to carve out your vocal cords and let you choke on blood until I’m kind enough to let our healer seal you shut. And right now, I’m really considering it for the insolence alone.” Her voice was quiet now. Soft. Almost saccharine sweet with the way she breathed into Vizara’s ear. “You’re lucky I’m nice. This doesn’t have to get any more difficult than you've already made it."

​

Even bleeding her brain dizzy, Vizara wasn't fooled. She would suffer more tortures before any of these people had finished with her. Not much of anything could save her now from that. But she was hurt. And she was alone. And she was afraid. And she wanted it to be over.

 "I'm don't know anyone else," Vizara rasped, tasting copper on her tongue. "I'm on my own. The tavern—they don't pay me or anythin' like that. I'm just there to make some coin and they want more business. 's that simple. 'm not from here, either. Don't know anyone here, 'cept a few folks I'm a bit familiar to. Nobody from my hometown's seen me in months. They're innocent in all this."

​

All of the sudden, it was very hard to breathe. There was a roaring in her ears.

​

"Please, I'm beggin' you. Don't hurt them," Vizara felt pinprick tears in the corners of her eyes. "Don't hurt me, neither, please. 'm just a fool of a bard. Wanted t' fight against the kingdom, someway, somehow. And I was stupid. I can’t do anythin’ all on my own. I can hardly defend myself. I ain’t a threat to anyone, ‘specially not the guard. I promise, I didn't want nobody to get hurt, 'least, nobody I cared much about. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t’a done that. I’m so sorry."

​

The cell and the woman before her became watery, submerged in her own tears. The guard straightened up and Vizara waited for a blow to fall upon her. She waited for a reply. Waited for something. Waiting for anything better than waiting.

​

Damn near an eternity passed between them in silence, and Vizara finally peeked out of the shelter of her arms. The guard was looking at her, but not. She had cocked her head to one side to listen to something outside of the room. Vizara listened as best she could between the heaving of her chest and the tiny gasps hiccupping from her throat. There was a roar, she thought, like a great waterfall or a stampede of animals. She heard it faint, but even as she listened it came closer as if to suffocate her in the noise. She futilely clapped her free hand to a sensitive half-elf ear. A sense of dread came over her, but also a desperate hope. If this loud, horrible noise was as powerful as it seemed, maybe it could tear her away from here. Maybe it could drag the guard away. Hell, she’d be glad if this thing killed her if it meant escaping the grasp of this merciless woman. A woman who was now standing in the middle of the cell, paying no more attention to Vizara.

​

Vizara removed her hand from her ear, wincing at the booming, cacophonous sound. She pushed herself to her feet, but as the ground trembled, she fell back upon the floor. She pressed her left ear to the ground and her hand to her right, and she tried to keep the blood from slipping through her fingers. She pulled her legs to her chest and huddled close into herself. The noise was now right on top of her. This is the end of the world, rang clear in Vizara's tangled thoughts.

​

There was a tremendous crash, and everything shook, and small stones fell on Vizara's prone form.

​

And after a time, the noise receded into the distance.

​

And it was deafeningly quiet.

​

Vizara's ears rang and everything that she was hurt. She curled ever closer as wracking cries filled her chest.

​

But at the very least, she was alive.

[imagine-straykids]

★ Sincerely, Lee Know | Ver. 01

★ Summary: In an alternate universe where Lee Minho AKA Lee Know is a sassy blogger. You get to see with your very own eyes everything he documents on his blog, whether that's his thoughts on a recent movie he had just watched, his experience eating at Taco Bell for the first time, or the bitch he almost had to fight, Lee Minho will stop at nothing to get his points across.

★ Discretion: I hope it's not confusing, but this is a roleplay? I thought the idea would be fun. A lot of cursing and mature contents will be discussed, but nothing too over the top. Beware excessive cringe maybe. This is a series. Enjoy!

★ You are currently viewing: About Me

Hi, my name is Lee Know, or I guess if we're getting personal here: Lee Minho. Although I prefer Lee Know because people always get me confused with the actor Lee Minho.

I rant and complain A LOT, but I don't think I need to tell you that, because you'll be finding it out for yourself later. But I have the mouth the size of the pacific ocean, and holding back is the last thing Lee Know does. So if you're a sensitive little bitch, then do not continue any further. If you still do and proceed to come for me, then well... that's between you and god.

More about myself? Well... I'm just your average everyday guy, but better. I like to listen to music and dance on my free time. And when I'm not doing that, then I usually hang out with my crew. They can be real idiotic and sometimes I wonder why am I even putting myself through their shit, but they are the real homies. Have been with me since forever and I know they will always have my back, so watch out.

Why I started this blog? Well, funny story. I got into an argument with Chan one day, btw shoutout to @christopherbangcorner go follow and like his stuff. I know he told me to not tell anyone about his blog but I could give two shit. Anyways, we were arguing and he said to me "You run that mouth of yours so much, why don't you put it to good use for once." so here I am. So if you're interested, keep reading. If you're just coming here to hate on me, then well... that's going to be difficult because I'm quite a likable person if I say so myself. I'm just kidding... ish.

Anyways. That's that. Proceed with caution!

Sincerely, Lee Know.

★ You are currently viewing: Rants

rant #1 2:35 p.m.

I swear, hoes these days be thirsty asf. Me and Hyunjin just wanted to go to the convenience store to get some things Chan's lazy ass ordered us to, and we legit got followed the whole way there. ARE PEOPLE LITERALLY THAT JOBLESS! Leave us alone next time or don't say I didn't warn you when I whip out my asian slipper and slap every one of you so hard you're going to regret ever meeting me in this lifetime. And like, aren't you guys supposed to be in class right now? Go back, Jesus. Bet every one of y'all are failing. How would your mothers feel if she knows you're ditching class to go chase some dicks.

10,334 views | 234 comments

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rant #2 7:02 p.m.

Yo, I just suddenly remembered the rudest customer I ever had. So I used to work at this Boba shop during my high school days, and this motherfucker with his cupcake shaped hair jimmy neutron looking ass came in and started yelling at me for getting his order wrong. Like bro... why you tryna fight a 16 year old about a $4 drink. Chill tf out. There are children dying in Africa. Now that I think about it, 16 year old me was on some adult shit. 22 year old me now would've spit in his drink.

12,943 views | 301 comments

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rant #3 5:12 p.m.

Learn to wear a goddamn mask. I will not repeat myself. You ain't no Rosa Parks, you just a stupid headass. Do all these people really think they're doing sum?

9,135 views | 212 comments

★ You are currently viewing: Photos

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★ sincerelyleeknow has uploaded a photo!

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uploaded at 10:05 A.M.

It likes me, I promise.

24,352 views | 12,842 likes | 563 comments

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uploaded at 2:15 P.M.

Yes, we know we're hot.

30,041 views | 15,624 likes | 784 comments

★ You are currently viewing: Home

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★ sincerelyleeknow just posted something!

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posted at 3:57 P.M.

yo, wtf. people actually read the shit that I write? no offense, but are you guys like... okay?! i sorta created this blog out of spite but now I just might have to roll with it.

13,524 views | 267 comments

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posted at 4:43 P.M.

I'm bored and my inbox are open. Send me something. No nudes or creepy ass messages please. There's a block button and I'm not afraid to use it.

16,223 views | 304 comments

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➤ potofnoodle923 asked: dang shawty, you cute.

sincerelyleeknow replied: tell me something I don't know.

➤ anonymous asked: why are you wearing makeup? that's gay. You're not funny and all of your followers suck.

sincerelyleeknow replied: why you mad bro? I bet you sent that from your mom's basement. go out and get some sunlight my dude. bitter ass mf i know you're scared.

➤ caillou_caillou0 asked: you're cute and all but why your hair be looking crispy.

sincerelyleeknow replied: okurr caillou. at least I have hair.

➤ flowerbeauty7 asked: go out with me?

sincerelyleeknow replied: I might consider if you're paying

➤ anonymous asked: fucking traitor hoe.

sincerelyleeknow replied: ayy chill out Chan. I helped promote your blog.

➤ anonymous asked: your friend on the right of one your photo is cute or whatever. he single?

sincerelyleeknow replied: get in line, sis

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★ sincerelyleeknow just posted something!

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posted at 6:22 P.M.

okay well that was a fucking mistake. anyways, I'm gonna bounce now. prob answer more tmr or whenever I'm not procrastinating. some of y'all weird as fuck.

11,557 views | 242 comments

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~ Sincerely, Lee Know

[azroazizah]

ayy so I’m gonna rant a little bc yes, I’m absolutely petty over this kind of thing, especially if it includes my OTP™ 

so I heard someone just called me and another fellow soma artist a ‘pedophile’ for ‘sexualizing’ SoMa, apparently, and I just want to sort this out.

Firstly, I don’t enjoy making them sucking faces as 13 yo. I ship them, yes, hardcore. But even in canonverse, I headcanon them hooking up at least when they’re 17-18. I feel uncomfortable seeing them in suggestive situations in their 13 yo appearances.

As you can see above, I mostly make it platonic when I draw them as babs.

Most, if not all, of the intimate poses I’ve drawn them in is with them aged-up. In fact, look at my AUs:

Gangsta. AU : Soul 22, Maka 20 (Soul 17 and Maka 15 the first time they met)

Fullmetal Alchemist AU : Soul 24, Maka 23

Perspective series : Soul 11-25, Maka 10-24 (which is about the evolution of their relationship in canonverse) additionally, my hc of their ages when Spartoi was established is 16 and 15, respectively. And they’re 17 and 16 by the time Kid ascended as Death.

Faerie AU : Soul 23-25, Maka 500+

Gokusen AU : Soul 17, Maka 26 (yes, this addresses the age-gap thing specifically)

Deaf pianist!Soul aka Reverb 2020 : Soul 20, Maka 20

Royal AU 1 : Soul 20, Maka 19

Royal AU 2 : Soul 18, Maka 17

Adult SoMa redesign : Soul 24, Maka 23 (including the adult Black Blood dress)

ATLA AU 1 : Soul 19, Maka 17

Goblin AU : Soul 2000+, Maka 17-27

you see, I don’t like to write/draw them in romantic/sexual relationship as children. That’s why the majority of my art is when they’re older.

Secondly, the statement that Soul and Maka is ‘minor ship’. Yes. They were minors. But news flash: Growth is A Thing. They don’t stay 13 forever. There’s a freaking timeskip for a reason, gosh. It’s just that Soul Eater ended before we could witness their late teenage phases.

‘Aging up’ is not pedophilia or sexualization, last time I checked. It comes with nature when you write a story.

And it’s common even with original creators of other franchises. Harry Potter was 11 in the first novel. Naruto was 12 when he started his story. Ed Elric was 14-16 the majority of his series. But when the author wanted to give them serious relationship? They did it when they were older. They aged them up.

Or is it because we’re not The Author? Would it be better if I draw SoMa sucking faces as tiny lil smooshy babies or in sexualized poses like what Ohkubo did with little Crona’s butt? nah, thanks, I’ll pass

If you’re gonna call SoMa a creepy ship bc they’re minors, then I have bad news for you buddy: like 85% of shounen/shoujo main characters are minors. By saying they’re pedo ship, you actually just called out over half of the entire fandom bc like 75% of existing ships involves the kids.

And the majority of other fandoms too, by the way. That reason is not exclusively applied to SoMa.

Which is, why the ‘aging up’ came to play. Why do you think so many SoMa authors write them in their 20s? It’s just generally healthier and worked out better that way.

Also important: people shipping something doesn’t actually mean they want their ship to bone 24/7 y’know.

Thirdly, me ‘sexualizing SoMa’. Please tell me just which part of my art includes sexualization. Because I don’t think I’ve ever post something even nsfw-ish here. Like, ever. Not even in writing. If I had indeed done it intentionally, I apologize.

Jokes, kissing, yes, but sexualization, good god, no. I’ve said it many times: I both love and hate the actual manga bc there’s parts of gross sexualization in it and I thank Bones forever for taking them out.

Lastly, for the ‘pedophilia’ accusation, I suggest for the person in question to check the actual meaning of the term. because I don’t fancy imagining myself in as much as a suggestive situation with brats, thank you very much. Accusing people of pedophilia is a serious thing. Don’t blabber those words easily.

There’s a reason why I prefer seinen series and why my absolute favorite character of all time is Sakata Gintoki.

If there’s someone who find my previous arts of SoMa ‘sexualizing’, I must advice to check yourself on just why you came to think that way when you see two fictional characters who, apparently, you claimed as ‘minors’, in casual romantic gestures. Especially if the artist gave no indication of their situation being sexual. I have to ask you who is the one being creepy around here.

I don’t think the person in question is gonna read all of this, but in conclusion, just say outright that you hate SoMa as a ship rather than being roundabout with stupid reasons and go out of your way to annoy artists who doesn’t even intend to sexualize them.

PS: if there’s someone who has problems with my art, I prefer them to say it directly to my face instead of harassing my friend about it.

[kolachess]

DMBJ Names and Honorifics Explained - Don’t trust the subs!

I’ve no idea if someone has already made such a post, but I really like explaining Chinese as it’s also good practice for me, so here we go.

If you are a non-Chinese speaker, you might have noticed inconsistencies in subs when referring to all the different characters. And / or that the names don’t seem to match up to the sound of the name. 

So here’s a little cultural and character guide to understanding DMBJ names.

Why are there so many names, nicknames, and honorifics for one person in a Chinese drama? To chalk this all up to nicknames is... grossly over-simplifying things. The thing with names / honorifics is very rooted in Chinese culture itself. Chinese culture is one heavily indexed on relations and hierarchy, so depending on your place in the ‘hierarchy’, whether it’s society or family, you will refer to each other as different things. As an example to illustrate complexity, where in English, ‘uncle’ refers to all male siblings of either of your parents, in Chinese, your father’s younger brother is addressed differently from your father’s older brother and also different from your mother’s brother. 

Chinese names and translation to English - Space? No space? Hyphens? Last name first?

So Chinese is a pictographic language. Each ‘character’ is one word, and one syllable exactly. Hence, you don’t need spaces or hyphens or anything in Chinese. Spaces and hyphens when romanized are purely for English speakers’ convenience. 

For example, in Chinese, the names would be written as wuxie, wusanxing, wangpangzi, etc. (And no such thing as capitalization either.) As a general rule of thumb, because for documentation purposes, the surname is separated out, Chinese people generally end up writing the given name all smushed together even if they are 2 words.

And yes, the surname always goes first. Other way is just... weird. Never happens.

Can you space out two words of a given name? Sure I suppose. Probably less seen.

As for hyphens with honorifics... sure? I’m not sure if smush together or hyphen is more official actually... 

What are Chinese names? How do people pick a name?

Unlike English names, Chinese people compose their names. Which means... you can have anything from names that have literary eloquence and deeper meaning，like ‘Wu Xie’, where ‘Wu’ is homonymous with ‘Without’ and ‘Xie’ means ‘Evil’, so Wu Xie’s name carries the meaning of ‘no evil’...

...to names that have little to no deep meaning and sometimes downright stupid sounding, like ‘Wang Pangzi’ which does indeed translate to Wang Fatty lol.

That’s why if you ask Chinese people to provide common Chinese names, they’ll stare at you blankly. Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t some popular names, given people sometimes name themselves after famous people and there are plenty of generic ones as well.

But this is also why, when meeting for the first time, you might hear a lot of people explaining how their name is written (i.e. with which word), because there are a looooot of homonymous words and it’s impossible to tell how write someone’s name without them ‘spelling it out’.

How do Chinese people call each other by name?

Most Chinese names (surname + given name) will form 2-3 syllables (very rarely there will be 4). 

General rule of thumb:

- Using someone’s full name is always generally acceptable (not to be confused with addressing them... that’s a whole different game).

- You never refer to someone with one syllable. Which means if their given name is only one syllable, you pretty much always say both surname + given name together (Hence why Wu Xie is always Wu Xie and never ‘Xie’). If their given name is two syllables, you might call them by given name only if you’re familiar. 

Of course, there are tons of ways to give people nicknames (more explanation below), so you might end up only using one syllable of someone’s name, but in conjunction with another prefix / suffix of sorts.

So yes, the subs say ‘Zhang’ for Zhang Qiling but that’s BS no one has ever referred to him as simply ‘Zhang’. And for that matter, no one ever refers to him as simply Qiling either, though that’s more out of habit than any rules of names. And finally, they rarely refer to him as Zhang Qiling at all... more explanation below.

Basic ‘prefix’ / ‘suffix’ / ‘honorific’ introductions relevant for DMBJ

These aren’t really prefixes and suffixes and honorifics. They’re simply words. But for sake of simplicity, let’s just treat them as that.

-ye (sounds like ‘yeah’) = ‘Grandpa’ of the generic ‘old man’ sense, but also ‘master’ or ‘lord’ to indicate status / respect. 

Example usage: Wu Sanxing (Wu Xie’s third uncle) - People like Pan Zi call him Sanye, which means ‘Third Master’. 

It can also be casually used by someone to refer to themselves in third person and indicate their ‘prowess’. Again, due to Chinese cultural relations, there’s a lot of emphasis on hierarchy, so people often humorously refer to themselves in third person with a title of more seniority (’this ancestor’ or ‘this old miss’). 

Example usage: Pangzi always referring to himself as Pangye. ‘Make way, Pangye is coming in clutch with the bombs!’.

-shu (sounds more like ‘soo’) = ‘Uncle’. This can be an uncle related, or not. 

Example usage: Wu Sanxing (Wu Xie’s third uncle). Wu Xie and his peers will generally call him Sanshu, because they’re of the same generation and need to call Sanshu with some level of respect. Of course, Sanye is also respectful, so certainly Pangzi can call him Sanye. But Pangzi calling him Wu Sanxing would be disrespectful. (Zhang Qiling on the other hand, technically can call him whatever since he’s the oldest haha).

-ayi (sounds like ‘ah-yee’) = ‘Aunt’. Similar as uncle. 

Example usage: Chen Wenjing (in Ultimate Note, Sanshu’s former girlfriend). You’ll notice Wu Xie addressed her as Wenjing-ayi. Of course, since she was a bit less familiar with them, and wasn’t always around, he and others will refer to her as simply Chen Wenjing... it’s complicated. The nuances of when it’s ok to leave off the suffix is an art form lol.

-ge (sounds like ‘guh’) = ‘older brother’. Can also be related or not. Can be used alone, or doubled up (which tends to be cuter).

Example usage: Huo Xiuxiu refers to Wu Xie as ‘Wu Xie-gege’ and Xie Yuchen as ‘Xiao Hua-gege’. Pangzi told Yun Cai (the girl he crushed on) to call him ‘Pangge’. And yes! This is the ‘ge’ in Xiaoge. More explanation below.

Xiao (sounds like ‘shall’) = ‘Small’ or ‘Little’. This is often used in creating a nickname and used first before a name.

Example usage: Wu Xie’s second uncle will refer to him as ‘Xiao Xie’. Wu Xie refers to Xie Yuchen as ‘Xiao Hua’, which translates to ‘Little Flower’ and is a nickname based off his stage name, Jie Yuhua. And yes! This is the ‘xiao’ in Xiaoge. More explanation below (because translating it as ‘little older brother’ makes no sense I know).

Lao (sounds like ‘lao’ lol) = ‘Old’. Similar usage as ‘xiao’.

Example usage: I think I remember Granny Huo perhaps referring to Wu Laogou (Wu Xie’s grandfather) as ‘Lao Wu’?  But also, yes, his actual name has that word too.

Numbers - Numbers are very commonly used in nicknames.

Er (sounds like ‘are’) = Two / Second.

San (sounds like ‘san’ lol idk) = Three / Third.

Hence why Wu Xie refers to his uncles as ‘Sanshu’ and ‘Ershu’. (And yes, their names themselves also conveniently carry the numbers...)

You’ll never say ‘one’ though. Instead, ‘da’ or big / large is used.

Names of the characters

Wow so only after all that can we begin to explain the many names... Let’s begin.

Wu Xie - Wu Xie is actually the most straightforward thank god. Most people will call him this, Zhang Qiling included.

AKA Tianzhen or even Xiao Tianzhen - This is nickname provided Pangzi gave him meaning ‘naive’ or ‘innocent’, and what Pangzi calls him most if not all the time. There’s a phrase in Chinese too called ‘tianzhenwuxie’ to mean innocent, carefree, and pure. The ‘wu’ there is a different but homonymous word with Wu Xie’s ‘Wu’, but the meaning and reference is clear (Chinese has looooots of homonyms and puns). This is also why that phrase ‘My lifetime, in exchange for you a decade of innocence and purity.’ from Zhang Qiling to Wu Xie is so heart-wrenching, because those last four Chinese words are ‘tianzhenwuxie’, a poetic play on his two names. 😭 

AKA Xiao Xie - Called by his second uncle, Wu Erbai

AKA Da Zhizi - Called by his third uncle, meaning ‘big nephew’. ‘Da’ here just means the oldest really. Wu Xie is Wu Sanxing’s oldest (but also only) nephew. And ‘nephew’ here too specifically refers to the son of your brother.

AKA Xiao Sanye - Called by Pan Zi, Bai Haotian (from Lost Tomb Reboot). Sanye here is in reference to how he dogs his third uncle’s footsteps all the time. And he’s the younger version so... there.

AKA Laoban or Wu-laoban - Called by Wang Meng, business partners because laoban means ‘boss’.

Zhang Qiling - Whew OK honestly, I don’t think of him as ‘Zhang Qiling’ much at all, because very rarely do any of the other characters refer to him as Zhang Qiling. Most of the time it’s...

AKA Xiaoge - This is what Wu Xie and Pangzi refer to him a lot as. Xiaoge literally translates to ‘little big brother’, but that meaning is weird in English. So don’t think of it that way. Xiaoge is just a generic term for a young guy. Like... ‘lad’? Lol. But he’s all mysterious and stuff so the generic term just stuck. This is also why in Tomb of the Sea, someone referred to Li Cu as ‘xiaoge’, because he was indeed a xiaoge. But in Wu Xie’s heart, there’s only one Xiaoge. ❤️

AKA Menyouping - The name of this ship! Pingxie! This is what Wu Xie referred to him mostly as in his first POV novel. It means ‘stuffy oil bottle’ and communicates the sentiment of ‘poker face’ or just someone with no expressions.

Note on Zhang Qiling: This name is actually a title rather than a name. Qiling is the title given to the Zhang patriarch responsible for handling the spirits of their ancestors... eh it’s complicated and warrants its own post if you want to know more.

Note on ‘Kylin’: I know this is what the official translations had it, but like... wtf. What, no. Like, idk what happened here, but this is a terrible mistranslation. ‘Kylin’ or ‘Qilin’ is the name of the mystical beast of which Zhang Qiling has a tattoo of, but it is two entirely different words from the ‘Qiling’. Don’t let the similarity in English spelling fool you. Completely different words. Some translator thought Kylin might market better probably. But... no. It’s just wrong. I have to do a double-take when I see people writing ‘Kylin’. Come on translators, have more faith in your English speaking audience. Fans can adapt! Don’t butcher the name for sake of marketability!

Wang Pangzi - Yes, ‘Fatty’ is the accurate translation haha. Most people refer to him as Pangzi, including Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling.

AKA Pangye - Referred to by Pangzi himself, but also sometimes people who are trying to suck up to Pangzi.

AKA Pangge - Referred to by his love interests.

Wu Sanxing - Wu Xie’s third uncle. See, I don’t even know what to call him by default because I’m not sure what the subs tend to say. 

AKA Sanshu - Wu Xie and his friends will call him this.

AKA Sanye - Pan Zi and other people in the industry will call him this.

Hei Yanjing - Again, I’ve no idea which name to use as his primary. Translates literally to ‘sunglasses’. Not technically ‘black sunglasses because that’s redundant’. See, even the spacing between his name here is unnecessary because this isn’t his official name, only a nickname. I don’t think we have his real name. But this version is generally called by most others I think?

AKA Hei Xiazi - This means ‘black blind person’, and is what Xiaoge refers to him as... and some others.

AKA Heiye - Just a more respectful reference. Called by Xie Yuchen.

Xie Yuchen - Called by Xiaoge and others less familiar.

Jie Yuhua - His stage name.

Xiao Hua - Called by Wu Xie, as it’s a nickname built off of his stage name.

Huaye - Called by Hei Yanjing and Pangzi, but more so out of humorous flattery than anything. 

.

.

Whew that was a lot. Just be glad this isn’t MDZS where people had courtesy names on top of all these names... I think I’ll stop there, but feel free to shoot me any questions about other characters!

[kagedaddy]

Hi! I'm not sure about your rules for asks, but I was wondering if you could do a 'prom-posal' thing for Akaashi, Noya, and Kageyama? Thank you!!

promposal - akaashi, kageyama & nishinoya

Warnings: none

akaashi keiji

kageyama tobio

nishinoya yuu [masterlist]

thank you for the request, is it prom season already? always such an exciting time and one of the best of high school. hehe

It was Prom season and everyone was busy, as seniors it was your class’s job to organise the whole event, that entailed getting the venue ready, the invitations that need to be sent a week before Prom, the stress of picking the right dress and the pressure of finding a date as a senior student you’d hope for Akaashi to be your date but every girl wants him, a girl can dream. Everyone was staying extra hours in school to complete the elements for the venue. “I’m so tired.”you friend groans beside you and you just laugh at her slumped form you had just finished the decorations for today and were heading to your lockers, “At least you know our Prom will look nice,”she nods her head feeling a little bit more motivated.

“(first name) look!”your eyes follow where your friend was pointing and to your surprise on your locker was a single (favourite flower) with a pristine white note attached to it.

You pick up the (favourite flower) and the note, a smile forms on your lips, this person knew that you liked (favourite flower) it was kinda sweet, examining the note for any signs of the sender but there was none, all that was written.

‘hey. i hope you liked the flower. if you want to find out who i am meet me at the courtyard.’

“It’s leading me to the courtyard, should I follow it?”you turn to your friend who had a wide grin on her lips eyebrows wiggling, “You know who set this up, don’t you?”she just smiles at you before bolting for the exit before yelling, “go find your mystery man, he’s been waiting for you!” You shake your head at your friend and begin your journey to the school’s courtyard and your heart was beating rather loudly in your chest, who’d be waiting at the courtyard for you?

Your eyes widen in surprise and your hands fly to your mouth as you gasp in disbelief, standing under the cherry blossoms, a bouquet of (favourite flower) in hand was Akaashi, fucking the gorgeous setter Akaashi Keiji. Oh my don’t tell me my mystery man is the all too talented setter, you walk up the path leading to him, “Akaashi?”his figure whirls to the direction of your voice, you shyly walk up to the male and such a pretty smile graces his lips. “Am I right to assume you’re my mystery man?”you raise an eyebrow, his gentle laugh makes your heart all warm and fuzzy that you have to hold in a squeal. “Surprise!”comes his sheepish grin and you’re swooning, his free hand tucks a stray strand behind your ear, “I’ve never asked anyone to Prom so please bear with me.”he clears his throat and cheeks tinted a lovely shade of pink.

“(last name) would you do me the greatest honour of being my Prom date? There are thirteen (favourite flower) to represent the thriteen months I’ve waited to ask you.”his voice was soft and gentle, you felt yourself melt and cheeks burning in embarrassment, he waited that long to ask, you had not expected this. Akaashi Keiji of all people to ask you it was unreal, “Of course I’ll go to Prom with you!”you engulf the tall setter in your arms, Akaashi is taken a back but slowly moves to wrap his arms around you, pulling both your bodies closer.

“You’re quite the romantic Akaashi.”

“Uhh (friend name), will you go to prom with me?”

“Yes Jouji!”your friend throws her arms around the male and you smile at the scene, it was another successful promposal, Jouji-kun had asked you to help him set up his promposal for your friend, he enlisted your help because you were close to (your friend) and knew what she wanted. “I’m so happy (first name), thank you for helping him.”Your friend walks over to you bouquet in hand, you knew she was super happy, she would not shut up about the dream promposal she wanted and you were happy that you were able to let it play out.

“Nee (first name)-chan, do you think Kageyama will ask you to Prom?”your friend pulls her seat to sit across you opening up her bento box, “I don’t think so, it’s Inter-high season so they’ll be busy practicing.”you shrug your shoulders before taking a bite of your lunch, “you’ve been helping plan out everyone’s promposal don’t you want one?”you thought about her words, of course you wanted to get a promposal what girl wouldn’t want? But you had accepted the fact that your boyfriend wasn’t the type to do such sweet acts and he was busy with volleyball no way this would be in his mind. “I mean I want one but I’m fine not getting one! It’s fun to help out you know!”you answer truthfully but deep down it kinda hurt, seeing everyone get asked and helping plan out but it’s okay.

The rest of your afternoon classes flew by and it was time for dismissal, as you were packing up your things your friend hands you a stack of papers and you tilt your head in confusion. “Sensei wants you to bring this to the faculty.”a way too big smile sits on your friend’s face, you eye her suspiciously before brushing it off as happy remnants from her promposal. You accept the stack of papers and slung your bag over your shoulder. Heading for the faculty room, “Ah (last name), thank you for bringing them but I remember asking (your name) to do it.”your sensei thanks you in confusion, that bitch I knew something was up, she dumped her task on me. After biding your sensei goodbye you pull out your phone writing a long message to (your friend) before shaking your head and heading for the volleyball gym.

Your push the large grey doors open, “Sorry I’m la-“you cut yourself off noticing that the volleyball court was empty except for your overly awkward boyfriend who stood in the middle of court, hands behind his back and a nervous smile on his handsome face. You quirk an eyebrow at his odd behaviour but he shakes his head, before you could get a question out he beats you to it. “Uh (first name), can you bring me that ball.”his faces begins to flush red and his voice is not his usual stoic tone, you nod your head and picking up the blue and yellow Mikasa ball. Your boyfriend seems to stiffen more and it’s then you noticed the volleyball had words written across the material.

‘I set this up, it would be a nice kill if you were my date to Prom?’

You read over the writing again double checking if you weren’t imagining things, you look to your boyfriend and he held out a beautiful bouquet of (favourite flowers), you can’t help the smile that breaks out on your face. Clutching the ball and charging towards your very flushed partner. “Tobio, yes I’ll be your date!”you excited throw your arms around him, Kageyama sighs happily and returns your embrace, all of a sudden balloons are falling from ceiling surrounding the both of you it was kinda romantic. Confused you looked up to the balcony to find the members of the volleyball club and your friends fashioning bright smiles and teasing grins. “I knew it, you didn’t set this up yourself.”you tease your awkward boyfriend whose cheeks burn a bright red and you can’t help but swoon at the male, you were thrown for surprise but your were so happy he asked. You couldn’t love him more.

“But thank you for asking me.”

Your joruney to the club room was an eventful one, left, right and centre was filled with Promposals. Prom was rounding the corner and everyone was asking each other as their dates even some of your friends had been asked. You weren’t really fussed about the idea of Prom or getting a date for that matter, you were still excited for Prom it was an excuse to doll up with your girl friends and to drool over the nicely dressed men in your class.

Especially a certain libero.

Sliding the club doors open you plop yourself on your usual table, arms sprawled out on the table, “Oi (first name)-chan anyone asked you for Prom yet?”one of the editors in the club takes the seat beside you, “no, I don’t need a date.”you mindlessly scroll on your phone, social feed filling up with promposal posts, it was gonna be that way till the end of Prom season. “Ayy everyone says that but I’m sure you want one. I can be your date,”he teases you ruffling your hair in the process and you turn to him sticking your tongue out, playfully pushing the male and him retaliating. “Alright kids cut the games, (first name) I completely forgot you need to picture the men’s volleyball club for our big article.”you raise your head to face your club president.

“Awwe does it have to be me? I went last time tor the basketball club.”you pout from your slumped form, you were feeling extra lazy and weren’t in the mood for more promposal encounters. “Yes yes, Shuna is busy with another club so that leaves only you also isn’t Noya in the club why don’t you ask him to Prom.”your president crosses her arms and tries to narrow her eyes at you but you don’t miss the mischievous glint in her eyes, what was she up to?

“Now go!”

“Fine I’m on it!”you playfully salute your president and she just rolls her eyes at you, slinging the strap of camera over your head before waving one last time before turning the corridor towards volleyball gym. Standing infront of the doors it was odd to not here their shoes squeaking on the court but you guess it was because they’ll be taking photos. Slowly lifting your hand on the metal door your rack your knuckles before pushing the door open. The boys all jump in surprise and you looked at them oddly, “Hi, I’m (last name) (first name) from the school’s newspaper. I’m here to take your photos.”you bowed your head introducing yourself, their captain, Ennoshita welcomes you.

The boys seemed unlike themselves today, they seemed more jumpy than normal but you ignored it and thought they were just excited for the photos, your eyes find Nishinoya and boy did he look tasty in his uniform. The Captain moves the boys into their position and you take some candid photos of the club, capturing them as they are. “Alright, I think we’re good.”you nod your head before adjusting them slightly and positioning yourself at the perfect photo snapping distance.

“3, 2, 1”

Just as you snapped the was to be picture perfect photo the five tallest boys all of a sudden held out individual letters, putting the letters together it all clicked in your brain it spelled out.

‘P R O M ?’

“uh, (first name) will you rolling thunder with me all the way to Prom?”a red faced Nishinoya walks up to you, a large (favourite flower) bouquet on one hand and the other rubbing the back of his head nervously, you were taken a back cheeks just ablazed as his. “Yes I would like that.”as soon as the words left your lips the gyms erupts in cheers and Nishinoya jumps in excitement handing you the flowers and trapping you in an embrace. Your ears pick up the sounds of camera shutters and you turn to find the newspaper club members with a shit eating grin snapping photos of the promposal, all the more your face flushes and it dawned on you, they had set you up! But your attention turns back to the Libero, his handsome face adorned with the most cute smile and reddened cheeks, this beats all the promposal you’ve seen. a little bias, maybe.

“I’m so glad you said yes!”

//

hi hi! i love this really like this idea, it gives me the feels haha! i was only asked to prom once it wasn’t the most extravagant but i thought it was sweet. well hope you guys enjoyed it and gave you the warm feeling haha! leave a like and comment, have a great one! jaa mata!

the late valentines special will continue tomorrow. check out the other specials here [masterlist]

happy birthday akutagawa ryuunosuke 💕

my twitch

all the love xx

[makotoscoffee]

Laurent song by song part 3

Hi everyone!! Long time no see! I’m sorry I haven’t updated the masterpost in a long time, between the server and the rapid growth of the playlist and well, life, i haven’t been motivated to update it. I was close to finishing it, and the entire thing got deleted. It took a long time to get back on my feet after that. But i’m here now! I hope you’re still enjoying the playlist? We’re at 24 hours now! 382 songs! So much has happened between last time I updated and now and I’m excited to finally get this out. Due to safety reasons, this post will cover 215-261. A part 4 and possibly 5 will be on their way (Tumblr loves to delete my posts if they get too long)

215. Space Ghost Coast To Coast by Glass Animals. @ehh-gg​ sent this in the server as a Laurent and Makoto song (not ship, but rather their over-all dynamic) I love the vision and the song is really cool “I said to you, "Why did you do it?" Touch the glass, I'll feel ya through it Against the wall with the bracelets on You look bizarre in the apricot You think that you're Space Ghost You're wanted coast to coast Fuck that shit, now I go My way and you go yours Gotta be all that coco, ayy? Playin' too much of that GTA Playin' too much of that Dr. Dre Doom, Quake, where'd you get the gun from, eh? Really think that metal gonna make you safe? Playing peek-a-boo with the devil these days Black cap back with a trench coat, ayy Living in the valley cuttin' porno tapes (Living in the valley cuttin' porno) “

216. Who Are You, Really by Mikky Ekko. @creepth​ sent this in the server and it is perfect. This is a song about Laurent (specifically Makoto POV.) “So you feel entitled to a sense of control And make decisions that you think are your own You are a stranger here, why have you come? Why have you come, lift me higher, let me look at the sun Look at the sun and once I hear them clearly, say Who, who are you really? And where, where are you going? I've got nothing left to prove Cause I've got nothing left to lose See me bare my teeth for you Who, who are you?“ Moths has had a huge influence on the playlist, so moving on I’ll simply write their name (or whoever showed me the song) next to the title:)

217. Waiting Room by Phoebe Bridgers, Moths. This is the first of a few Phoebe Bridgers songs on the list! Think Edaurent angst  “If you were a teacher, I would fail your class Take it over and over 'til you noticed me If you were a waiting room, I would never see a doctor I would sit there with my first aid kit and bleed I want to be the power ballad that lifts you up and holds you down I wanna be the broken love song that feeds your misery And I can wish all that I want, but it won't bring us together Plus I know whatever happens to me, I know it's for the better And when broken bodies are washed ashore Who am I to ask for more, more, more? But you're breathing in my open mouth You're the gun in my lips that will blow my brains out“

218. Paul by Big Thief, Moths. This is a Laurothy song; “Paul, I know you said that you'd take me any way I came or went But I'll push you from my brain See, you're gentle, baby I couldn't stay, I'd only bring you pain I was your starry-eyed lover and the one that you saw I was your hurricane rider and the woman you'd call We were just two moonshiners on the cusp of a breath And I've been burning for you baby since the minute I left“

219. Garden Song by Phoebe Bridgers, Moths. This is an Edaurent healing song to me, think post case 4 or 5 (generally a while into the future,) them starting a life together. “Everything's growing in our garden You don't have to know that it's haunted The doctor put her hands over my liver She told me my resentment's getting smaller No, I'm not afraid of hard work I get everything I want I have everything I wanted“

220. Moon Song by Phoebe Bridgers, Moths & Shai. This is Laurothy angst but also Edaurent angst, overall kind of vague you just need to let it speak to you. “You couldn't have Stuck your tongue down the throat of somebody Who loves you more So I will wait for the next time you want me Like a dog with a bird at your door Mmm“ “You are sick and you're married And you might be dying But you're holding me like water in your hands When you saw the dead little bird You started crying But you know the killer doesn't understand“

221. Sweetheart, What Have You Done To Us by Keaton Henson, Shai. This is a good, general sad Laurent song. Leans more Laurothy, in my opinion (”I turned my back and you turned to dust, What have you done?”)

222. cellophane by FKA twigs. This is that sad, bittersweet missing Dorothy moment.  “And I just want to feel you're there And I don’t want to have to share our love” When you're gone, I have no one to tell And I just want to feel you're there” “All wrapped in cellophane, the feelings that we had”

223. Reel Around the Fountain by The Smiths. THISSSS is the story of Dorothy. How she changed Laurent’s life and shaped him into the man he is today.  “It's time the tale were told Of how you took a child And you made him old You made him old” “Fifteen minutes with you Well, I wouldn't say no Oh, people said that you were virtually dead And they were so wrong“

However; this is also Edaurent. This is Laurent taking whatever Makoto will give him, broken down inside from rejection and losing everyone he loves.  “Oh, reel around the fountain Slap me on the patio I'll take it now Ah... oh... Fifteen minutes with you Oh, I wouldn't say no Oh, people see no worth in you Oh, but I do” “I dreamt about you last night And I fell out of bed twice You can pin and mount me like a butterfly But "take me to the haven of your bed" Was something that you never said“

224.The Boy with the Thorn in His Side by The Smiths, Moths. We are approaching a sad and melancholy lull in the playlist. The next bulk of songs were all added the same night, everyone was sharing music in the brand new server. Something I resisted for a long time was really getting into the nitty gritty, I was just listening to a very high energy playlist everyday. But since adding all these sadder songs, I’ve learned to slow down. Something both me and Laurent needed. After Moths suggested this song, I decided to listen through The Smiths’ discography to find any Laurent songs I had missed. And boy were there a ton. So, please bare with me as we enter “the Smiths pit.” 

NOW FOR THE ACTUAL LYRICS THAT FIT HIM: “The boy with the thorn in his side Behind the hatred there lies A murderous desire For love How can they look into my eyes And still they don't believe me?”

225. Dead Inside by Younger Hunger, Shai. Laurent not being fully fulfilled by con-artistry. It only filled the loss he’s experienced in his life. “I’m all talk with a thorn in my side I've got a real big heart That I'm willing to hide You ask me what I want from life I said to make a lot of money And feel dead inside“

226. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths. This is Edaurent. This is Laurent losing Dorothy, needing genuine connection. Waiting for Makoto. Wishing for him to love him back. Every line is spot on for him. 

227. I Know It’s Over by The Smiths. I think you’ll get why I put it in there fairly easily. Oh and I headcanon that Laurent’s singing voice sounds like Morrissey. “Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head And as I climb into an empty bed Oh well, enough said I know it's over - still I cling I don't know where else I can go Over...“

228. Frankly, Mr. Shankly by The Smiths. This is one of those Laurent and the targets of his cons songs >:)

229. I Want the One I Can’t Have by The Smiths. The title alone screams one-sided Edaurent. Makoto being a ‘source of youth’ to Laurent, if that makes sense. “On the day that your mentality Catches up with your biology (Laurent’s psyche catching up with his age, the wear and tear of his life) I want the one I can't have And it's driving me mad“ “A tough kid who sometimes swallows nails Raised on Prisoner's Aid He killed a policeman when he was thirteen And somehow that really impressed me And it's written all over my face Oh, these are the riches of the poor“

230. The Headmaster Ritual by The Smiths. This one, like, made me think about Laurent’s education? He loved school, but Emma’s death must have been a hard blow. Literally orphaned/parent-less, he would be raised at school. What did that look like? Even if this doesn’t describe his literal educational experience, it serves as a metaphor for the hardships he went through in his adolescence. The song is about facing abuse by school faculty, in a broader sense it shows the pains of strict discipline. I put it in here as a way to explore the hardships Laurie went through as a young boy. “I want to go home I don't want to stay Give up education As a bad mistake“

231. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now by The Smiths. Will he ever feel whole? This one doesn’t have an über-specific explanation, it’s mostly for vibes.

232. Just Like You by Falling In Reverse, Shai. A short interlude before we continue with The Smiths🥵 At first when I recognized what song it was, I thought Shai was taking the piss. But then I realized every fucking line hits.

233. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle by The Smiths. This one, I can’t really put into words. I’ll rely on you to understand. 

234. Pretty Girls Make Graves by The Smiths. This is Dorothy’s impact. “I could have been wild and I could have been free But nature played this trick on me She wants it now And she will not wait But she's too rough And I'm too delicate“

235. Suffer Little Children by The Smiths.  “A woman said "I know my son is dead I'll never rest my hands on his sacred head" This, in a way, is from Emma’s perspective (...in heaven) “Oh, find me, find me! Find me! I'll haunt you when you laugh Oh, I'll haunt you when you laugh You might sleep But you will never dream!“ This is Laurent plagued by his Dorothy visions. You’ll notice a reoccurring theme of haunting.

236. Stop Smoking (We Love You) by Car Seat Headrest. Laurent making sure to check in with Makoto as he watches him slowly change from the life he leads (see: smoking habit he developed in case 4.) 

237. A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours by The Smiths. “They said: "There's too much caffeine In your bloodstream And a lack of real spice In your life" I said: "Leave me alone Because I'm alright, dad Surprised to still Be on my own" This is Laurent having to grow up on his own, raise himself, as well as the emptiness inside him post-Dorothy. Then the song goes from  “don’t mention love” to  “A rush and a push and the land We stand on is ours Your youth may be gone But you're still a young man So phone me, phone me, phone me” to “I think I’m in love”  This is Laurent watching Makoto’s development. The song is his journey of reinventing himself and finding a purpose, a love, outside of his past. The “phone me” part is also a nod to how they don’t spend time together between cons.

238. Cute Thing by Car Seat Headrest. This has a very ‘young’ queer energy, rebellious, so to speak, which isn’t necessarily very Laurent. But it just connected with me for Edaurent.  “I got so fucking romantic I apologize Lemme light your cigarette“ “Dog (dog) Give me one little chance (chance) I can make you a man (man) I will be your rock, Dog (woof woof) When you're rolling your eyes“

239. Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before by The Smiths.  “Oh, who said I'd lied? Because I never, I never Who said I'd lied? Because I never And so I drank one It became four And when I fell on the floor I drank more“ That’s all I have to say.

240. First of the Gang to Die by Morrissey. This is the only song by Morrissey I will ever listen to, because it is legitimately beautiful. This is about Makoto and his potential death, from the perspective of Team Confidence.  “We are the pretty petty thieves And you're standing on our streets Where Hector (Makoto) was the First of the gang with a gun in his hand And the first to do time The first of the gang to die Oh my“

241. Still Ill by The Smiths. Laurent exploring his sexuality in his youth. The song has a similar theme, in my interpretation; “Does the body rule the mind Or does the mind rule the body? I dunno... Under the iron bridge we kissed And although I ended up with sore lips (A hidden kiss that gave him sore lips feels very much like a metaphor for a same gender kiss) It just wasn't like the old days anymore No, it wasn't like those days Am I still ill?“ (Questioning whether you are “ill” is a very common metaphor for questioning your ‘forbidden’ sexuality.)

242. I Don’t Owe You Anything by The Smiths. This is a bitter Laurothy reunion, where Laurent is sort of forced to act like nothing happen. Sort of like if they just got back together as a couple. “Did I really walk all this way Just to hear you say: "Oh, I don't want to go out tonight" x2 Oh, but you will For you must I don't owe you anything, no But you owe me something Repay me now Too freely on your lips Words prematurely sad Oh, but I know what will make you smile tonight Life is never kind x2 Oh, but I know what will make you smile tonight”

243. Rubber Ring by The Smiths. First of all, any song that mentions a ring is a big bonus. This is about Laurent floating through life like a ghost, only getting older, and his depression post-Dorothy. “The passing of time and all of its crimes Is making me sad again The passing of time and all of its sickening crimes Is making me sad again But don't forget the songs that made you cry And the songs that saved your life Yes, you're older now and you're a clever swine But they were the only ones who ever stood by you“

244. This Night Has Opened My Eyes by The Smiths. This is Laurent realizing how deep he’s in with Dorothy and what he’s signed up for. The song is about the subject’s friend abandoning her child that she had with an older man, introducing him to the cruelty in the world. I feel like you’ll understand what I mean by including it.

245. Don’t Get Me Wrong by the Pretenders, Shai. Shai said that this is Edaurent but she doesn’t exactly know why. And I agree! This is a cute vibe song, Laurent POV Edaurent.

246. Mind Body Problem by Dorian Electra. This is that erotic sultry unspoken attraction Edaurent. 

247. Scrawny by the Wallows. This is that Team Confidence side of Laurent where he’s just some scrawny dude in his 40′s. At the same time it has the hint of Laurent’s inner workings of some sort of apathy. He could die tomorrow and he knows it. Wear a Hawaiian shirt.

248. Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales by Car Seat Headrest.  “It comes and goes in plateaus One month later, I'm a fucking pro My parents would be proud Or fall asleep on the floor Forget what happened in the morning There are notes in your handwriting But you can't make it out“ This is Laurent trying to navigate how he was left post-Dorothy. “It's too late to articulate it That empty feeling You share the same fate as the people you hate“ Laurent’s con side slowly integrating itself in his core as he has to befriend his targets. I really love the scene between Oz and Kim, where Oz said;

“The longer you’re undercover, the more you lose sight of yourself.”

“No matter how horrendous the target, a friendship builds between you.”

249. Turn the Lights Off by Tally Hall, Moths. At first I didn’t get it, but the chorus is a cool TC vibe  “Everybody likes to get taken for turns To see how bright the fire inside of us burns And everybody wants to get evil tonight But all good devils masquerade under the light“

250. I’m Gonna Win by Rob Cantor, Moths. THIS IS SOOOO Laurent, I’m obsessed. I love how the melody changes and the lyrics are great, the way there’s a slightly off-putting element to it.

251. Lovefool by The Cardigans. There’s a distinct difference between Laurothy and Edaurent, and it’s caused by when they each occur in Laurent’s life. The over the top announcing-his-love Laurent we know and love only formed after he adapted parts of Dorothy’s personality. He wouldn’t have this type of personality with Dorothy, but he’s more like this with Makoto. This is also because Makoto is so annoyed by him hehe. Everyone claims THEIR favorite otp/fave effeminate male character is Lovefool, but they are WRONG. It’s Laurent. 🎶love me, love me, say that you love me🎶

252. Your New Cuckoo by The Cardigans. Picture this: Laurent randomly sees Dorothy, the REAL Dorothy, across the street. What would that look like?

253. Choke by The Cardigans. Ever think about how Laurent had to be quiet when he saw his fiance get shot? He couldn’t cry, or scream, or yell her name. yeah me too

254. Shampain by MARINA. The drama... This is camp

255. I Can’t See Myself Leaving You by Aretha Franklin. I believe the world would be a better place if everyone listened to a little bit of Aretha in the morning. Anyways. This is Edaurent, this is Laurent just sort of being like “haha Edamame you’re so cute... you can do whatever you want, but I’m sticking by your side. I’m not quitting you”

256. You’re a Sweet Sweet Man by Aretha Franklin. Some solid good Edaurent vibes <3 

257. I Take What I Want by Aretha Franklin. It is simply the truth! He takes what he wants! 

258. Mr Loverman by Ricky Montgomery. I caved, guys. I added thee tiktok otp song. This is Laurothy. Like... Laurent, completely crushed without her.

259-260. Out Like a Light + Out Like a Light 2 by The Honeysticks & Ricky Montgomery, Moths. These songs are exactly the same, except #2 has a spoken part that goes;  “(Ricky's aunt, Mary Lou) A very beautiful dignified lady I was small, y'know, so old And I always admired her fingernails they were blood-red She always had them painted beautifully And she was- and her hair was coal black and beautiful She was graceful And she, she had anything a woman could want A good husband and money and a nice home But she met this jailbird and they married And so she gave all that up and found out that she wasn't happy She was packing to leave and he got out of jail and came home and found her and hacked her to death” The first version is Laurothy, the second version is Edaurent.   “Did your mother always seem to hate me?“ Oz joked that Laurent would be a terrible influence on Makoto. How would the dynamics be if Miki was still alive? 

261. I’ve Never Been To Me by Charlene. Wow. This song... This is my favorite Laurent song, and I don’t know if you’ll understand? This just... is so personal to me. I first heard of this song in my favorite book, Part Of One: A memoir in 21 songs by Dave Holmes. He wrote, “I've Newer Been to Me" by Charlene, In which a dissolute woman bothers some lady on a bench and launches unbidden into the story of her life.” Of course I had to check it out. Epiphany. This is as he/she Laurent as it gets. Laurent the lover. Laurent the woman. Laurent living a life. I hope you get why this is a Laurent song, because I really really love it for him.

[naralanis]

Fic Writer Review!

Thanks @mssirey for the tag! I totally didn't have a crisis with the very last question, not at all bwhahaha

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

41, soon to be 42. ASJKLDBLAHSDSD how. And also why. But mostly, how.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

565,934 EXCUSE ME WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. I was going to check my unpublished works but ya know what. Maybe I've written enough akdjsa

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

Technically speaking, I've written and published fics for five fandoms. However, I only have one story for OUAT (and I have @shadowdianne to thank for that... or do I?) and one for Captain Marvel. Mirandy was my first love, Cissamione the second, and Supercorp has burrowed in my brain and just won't let go.

I've also technically written for Xena, Legend of Korra, and Criminal Minds, but since I never published those, we're going to pretend they don't exist!

4. Top 5 fics by kudos?

Only two are WIPs! YEAH! They're the top two, but WHO CARES, here they are:

1) Perhaps, aka my baby, my child, my darling, the apple of my eye. If I ever had to choose to finish only ONE of my WIPs, this would be the one. This story has grown with me, and I think you can tell when you read. Or maybe not!

2) For the Better. If the former is my baby, this one is like... my moody teenager. I love it dearly, but... it takes a lot out of me. An ode to one of the first fandoms I actively wrote for, it sits unfinished, but nearly, oh so nearly done. I will finish it, damn ittt.

3) The Date. Honestly, this one really surprised me -- it's one of my oldest one-shots, and something I definitely dashed off between lectures back in Scotland, maybe alternating with FtB chapters. It's one of my first attempts at humour, I think.

4) Bits and Pieces. AYY, I wasn't sure Supercorp would make the cut, WOOOT! This one was the second Supercorp fic I ever wrote, and I did it because Lena Is Baby and the idea just wouldn't leave my brain.

And lastly, the fabulous number 5... Perfect. AKA Nara's First (published) Explicit Fic, featuring Praise Kink and an Enchanted Dildo (for... reasons). I'm not gonna lie, I am so HAPPY this one made it, because it has a special place in my heart. It's where Soft Butch Hermione comes to life, and if you don't love Soft Butch Hermione, I'm sorry, we can't be friends. I love her.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

Eeermmm... some? I do want to respond, but I'm terrible with keeping up with comments, I really am. For whatever reason, even when I do my best, I don't really love responding directly on AO3. I also turned off all email notifications for AO3 because turns out my brain WILL be distracted by even a single one.

I'm much more responsive on Tumblr, I promise!

6. A fic you've written with the angstiest ending:

Any of my Narlily works, I guess? Like... All Flowers Wither or Carry On.

Unshackled would be another one, though it's Cissamione... but I caved and made a happy(ish) second part for that one.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Nope! Crossovers just don't do it for me, generally speaking (reading or writing).

8. Ever received hate on a fic?

EvEr rEcEIvEd hAtE-- yes. Oh, yes. I've been told my writing is terrible, I've been told my stories were a 'waste of time,' or 'overhyped,' I've had people tell me there was only One Way to write a certain pairing and my way was definitely Not The Way.

The list goes on.

It used to really, really bother me--still does, but in a much smaller way. Delete/Block buttons are my friends.

9. Do you write smut?

I write an absurd amount of smut. I just don't publish any of it because. Fear.

My pretty, pretty pens have created some filthy, filthy things.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

A couple of times -- only once or twice like, straight up attributed to someone else who acted like they were the one writing it. The other times were reposts or translations (without my permission, so still. stolen).

11. Ever had a fic translated?

I've authorized a couple of translations of a few of my DWP works. I'm usually cool with people translating my stuff IF THEY ASK ME FIRST and GIVE ME PROPER CREDIT.

9/10 it's some Brazilian who translates it to Portuguese without my permission and then gets upset when I, another Brazilian, do not endorse it and politely ask them to take the thing down. Thankfully it's been a while. ASK ME, DAMN IT.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nothing published bwhaha!

13. All-time favourite ship?

Right now SuperCorp is definitely barking a little louder, so to speak, but I don't really have one favourite overall. It depends on the fandom, sometimes! Cissamione is very dear to my heart, because it's just so fucking out there and literally every one in this ship has some of the most fascinating headcanons for this pairing and it's just. So wonderful.

14. WIP you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

Eeeeuuughhh.... Right now? Probably The Appraisal. I forget what I wanted to do with it, I'm not sure if I'm still feeling the premise... IDK.

I think the same could be said of For the Better, but I PROMISED to finish it, and GOD DAMN IT, I am so close I can't throw in the towel just yet.

15. Writing strengths?

You want ME to say good things about MYSELF? I'm still learning how to do that asldkjbasdn it's a work in progress. But I think I'd say... maybe world-building, at least on my longer works?

I would also like to think I do pretty OK in... IDK, some of the punchy stuff? The 'oh wait a minute' moment? IDK if that makes sense!

16. Writing weaknesses?

Organizing. Plot (HAHA IKR). Consistency. Editing (which is rich from someone who literally edits shit for a living... but go figure). Pacing. Weirdly long sentences? Commas for DAYS.

I could go on.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I am a-OK attempting it in French/Spanish/Portuguese. It may not sound natural, but it will be correct. If I'm trying another language, I'll definitely get help! But I've got no problem with it.

18. First fandom you ever wrote for?

Harry Potter, Dramione specifically, and you'll never find a shred of it. I was like 12, and almost a decade later I figured out Hermione was much better off with Draco's mother.

19. What's your fav fic you've written so far?

DON'T MAKE ME CHOOOSE asdkljasdl I CAAANNN'TTTT

I mean, obviously Perhaps is one of them -- it is my baby, that has been established. I think Little Bumps in the Road is also up there, because it was just a random writing exercise that got out of hand, and honestly? I'm here for it. Andddd.... I GUESS I'll put A Valentine's Evening up there as well, because it was the first time I didn't second guess every word I wrote when posting smut. I just... felt it, went for it, wrote it, and it felt really, really good to release some of that into the world lol

WHEW, this was a long one! I'll be tagging @intheinkpot, @shadowdianne, @delirious-comfort, and @16-pennies because I am a curious bastard. But, as always, feel free to treat this as an open tag. Go nuts!

[awkward-txrtle]

I posted 359 times in 2021

27 posts created (8%)

332 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 12.3 posts.

I added 172 tags in 2021

#cnco - 42 posts

#joel pimentel - 25 posts

#christopher velez - 24 posts

#erick brian colon - 16 posts

#richard camacho - 16 posts

#cncomusic - 15 posts

#joel deleon - 12 posts

#zabdiel de jesus - 11 posts

#joel de leon - 8 posts

#fanfic - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 82 characters

#i was a camp counselor and a bus counselor and oml some of those songs were stinky

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

My thoughts, watching the Tan Enamorados MV for the first time

Brooklyn Bridge! Ok it's the city (new york/manhattan) santa i know him

I love Erick's outfit

I was originally an Erick girl

Wait why are there fences and barricades inside a building??

The black & white is cool, I'm here for it

I am literally only 20 seconds in this is going to be so long

Ayy Zabdi (he looks like a cholo though, can I say that?)

Oh dang that's a nice car!

Ok there's models in this video & from what I can tell they all look the same

BANDANA JOEL I MISSED YOU

Joel's driving, didn't Chris almost crash the car in a past music video? Am I remembering that right?

Ok yes these girls all look the same no offense

I like the one with the french braids though

Were they doing donuts in that parking lot? We all see those tire treads on the ground 👀

They put Chris in the back, maybe he did almost crash a car idk

Chris looks good too (who am I kidding they all do)

The way Erick leans over the fence in that one shot 🥺

Sorry Richard I'm not trying to neglect you but it looks like you have a mullet in this era and respectfully I am not a fan

Why Zab grab the fence like that

I love when they're lowkey doing weird little dance moves (affectionate) in the background I love that

The way Chris stuck out his tongue oop

I paused the video and it looked like Joel was scratching his ass or somth idk

Richard's voice, that's the tweet

The little head wobble thing he does sometimes

THESE BOYS NEED TO STOP LEANING ON THE FENCE AND ITS BECAUSE THEY LOOK GOOD WHILE DOING IT PLS

Also I didn't comment on Zabdiel's amor mio but that just goes without saying

I jUST NOTICED THE BACKGROUND PICTURES ARE OF THEM WHY DID THAT TAKE ME THREE WHOLE MINUTES

6 notes • Posted 2021-11-29 08:00:52 GMT

#4

I'm sorry but is this man wearing pants??

7 notes • Posted 2021-06-17 02:24:25 GMT

#3

Fanfic?

So I have this CNCO fanfic I’m writing on Wattpad. It’s (unsurprisingly) about Joel. It’s a bit goofy, has some drama and spice, there’s subplots re: mental health and family issues and more. If anyone’s interested in reading what’s already posted and giving feedback or just enjoying it, please lmk and I’ll drop my wattpad username.

I’m really self conscious about my writing, so this means a lot to me. It’s almost like my baby lol. Thanks for reading

15 notes • Posted 2021-05-30 04:21:24 GMT

#2

I just watched all to well... oh my god she was so young. I wasn't expecting her to be only 20 in that relationship.

And the line I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age

Sick. Just sick.

16 notes • Posted 2021-11-15 11:57:51 GMT

#1

The Boys & Getting a Puppy

I’m assuming this hasn’t been done yet, so let’s go! (I’m also including Joel)

Chris

ok so it’s definitely another white little fluffy dog like Ollie

maybe a bichon frise or a maltese

like he would insist on it

“Amor, just imagine having two of them!”

and he holds up Ollie right in front of your face

and you say that they would look like a pair of slippers

not that you don’t love Ollie

Chris just laughs

you end up giving in at the pet store

the new puppy is so fluffy and cute

it just has this look in its eyes

you know when they say the puppy dog eyes? that kind of look

sure enough they do look like little slippers

but Ollie and the other dog are adorable together so it’s ok

Richard

I’m thinking maybe a rottie?

or maybe a mixed breed

he wouldn’t be super picky about it I think

Aaliyah would be so excited, she’d go with you guys of course

you’d probably go with a german shepherd rottie mix

Aaliyah would think it’s adorable

and Richard breaks at the sight of this puppy

“baby his paws are so tiny, and look at those spots above his eyes”

it’s like you’re at the shelter with two little kids

the puppy instantly starts licking Richard when he holds the puppy

and Aaliyah gets a big sloppy kiss on her cheek

and Rich just has the biggest smile on his face

with their reactions, you all know it’s the one

Zabdiel

I feel like Zabdiel is also a cat person so maybe you already have a cat?

but ever since that puppy interview he’s been thinking about it

“Bebe, we should get un perrito”

you’re a little surprised but you agree

so you guys go to the pet store

Zabdiel instantly falls in love with this goldendoodle that’s sleeping

“Zabdi, she’d sleeping just like you”

but he barely hears you because he’s looking at the puppy with heart eyes

so of course you adopt the puppy

as soon as you get home she goes from sleepy to crazy

running around and jumping and trying to play with everything

and she pees on the floor

it’s chaos, but after a while she falls asleep with you guys on the couch

Erick

I’m getting pug vibes from Erick?

like for some reason he just loves their little scrunched up faces

“Erick, they have breathing problems”

he doesn’t care, he just thinks that they’re cute and he wants to get one

you guys go and he instantly falls in love with the first one he sees

“You don’t want to look at any of the other ones?”

nope. this is the one.

he names it something like brownie, idk

I’m getting chill dog vibes

like not super playful but not completely doing nothing either

I feel like the dog is maybe 2, so not a puppy anymore

Erick will just sit with the dog and give scratches

and the pug just rolls over onto its back so he can scratch its belly

and this happens almost all day every day

Joel (bonus)

Joel’s really particular about the dog he wants

like he has this idea in his head of the perfect dog

you don’t completely understand what exactly he’s looking for

you guys go to all the pet stores and shelters in the area

and even look online at breeders

but nothing is good enough for this shit

like just when you think he’s found the perfect one

“no, this one’s not it” literally every single time

you’re convinced that you’re never going to find the perfect puppy for him

but one day you guys are out and you find a little aussie puppy with no tags or id or collar

you guys look for missing dog signs and check the local facebook pages, but there’s nothing so you take him home for a few days

Joel’s hesitant at first, but slowly warms up to the puppy

the day that you’re supposed to take the pup to the shelter, you catch Joel snuggling with him

when he wakes up, he tells you that this is the one

19 notes • Posted 2021-06-14 05:48:36 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[mooifyourecows]

hi moo!! I am also in distress bc of stress :/ just came here to say that ur posts throughout the day give me life. tell me more about ur stories! idc which one. u choose. it’ll make me happy either way :)

hey there anon, i woke up in the middle of the night, immediately stressed myself out (ayy solidarity), and haven’t slept since so let’s talk about ‘Force of Impact!’ 🤙

Okay so ‘Force of Impact’ is actually one of the first original stories I began in this era. (we don’t talk about Moo’s previous eras of writing okay shhhh just move on)

So let’s start with the characters of this story and some basic info on each of them:

Conrad Savage (main)- 24 years old, half Korean/half Jamaican, born in Boston, professional MMA fighter (injured)

Nash Boone (main)- 20 years old, Caucasian, unemployed, student

Peyton Baines (side)- 18 years old, Caucasian, student

Layla Love (side)- 18 years old, African American, student

Milos Love (side)- 30 years old, African American, big brother of Layla, professional MMA fighter

Cassie Leigh (side)- 34 years old, Caucasian, police officer

Mani Najafi (side)- 69 (nice) years old, Pakistani American, retired vale tudo fighter

Lane Gage (side)(derogatory)- 28 years old, Puerto Rican, Professional MMA fighter

+others

Also, here is the Playlist for this story in case you’re interested. I really like this playlist because I used a lot of Nick Murphy and he just VIBES HARD with the mood of the story, especially Conrad as a character in general (i can’t listen to Dangerous or Believe (Me) by Nick Murphy without thinking about this story and hnnnnnnn help):

Force of Impact Playlist

Alrighty, alrighty

So, the story begins with Conrad moving to a new house in a different state... right across the alley to his old coach, Mani, in hopes of convincing him to coach him again. Mani had been Conrad’s old high school wrestling coach who also trained him in other various martial arts outside of school and is basically the sole guy that got Conrad into the UFC world. He retired from coaching when Conrad turned twenty and earned his first Championship middleweight win, making him the youngest champion since the establishment of weight classes. 👀 Mani was like “wow, i trained the youngest champion, time to retire before things go downhill”

But nuh uh, like Conrad was gonna let him go that easily. He held his title for the next three years and then suffered his first loss against Lane Gage in a fight where he also injured his shoulder. The injury put him outta professional matches for the next year and he now thinks he’s ready for a comeback. But he blames his injury on his previous coach and wants Mani back because the old coot was like... aggressively about that personal upkeep/health stuff and always made sure Conrad wasn’t overexerting himself and yada yada

Alright so Conrad moves into the house literally right across the alley from Mani and is like “be my coach” and Mani is like “no” and Conrad is like “be my coach please” and Mani is like “no” and Conrad is like “be my coach or i’ll never ever leave you alone ever again” and Mani is like “ugh fine.”

But who lives right next door to Conrad’s new house? That’s right. 

Nash.

Soooooo, Nash is a twenty year old guy who just so happens to still be in high school for personal, tragic backstory reasons. He’s got ADHD and has a problem with getting REALLY INTO something, swearing it’s something he’s gonna do for the rest of his life, maybe as a career, but then completely drops it a week or two later. That’s just his thing. He comes home like “I’ve decided I will be a professional baseball player” and then quits the team two weeks into the season. Then he throws all his money at painting supplies like “I’m the next da Vinky, just watch” and they wind up growing mold and dust in the corner of his room after just a few failed attempts.

Nash is a quitter. He knows he’s a quitter. Everyone does. Nobody really expects much from him at this point. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.

First thing Conrad notices about living next door to the Boones is that they’re fuckin LOUD. Right from the get go, Nash is yelling and his dad is yelling back and doors are slammimg and glass is breaking and holy shit Conrad is like “should i call the cops?”

But it’s fine, it’s okay, that’s just how they communicate. Seems pretty toxic but hey who is he to judge? He hasn’t spoken to his parents in years so he’s not really in a position to judge other people’s familial relationships, is he?

Anyway, Nash and Conrad bond pretty quickly. They’ve got really similar personalities, even if they express them differently. Nash is loud and unabashed and Conrad is lazy and relaxed but they are both mentally and emotionally immature and overly passionate. They’re both well-intentioned but flub the landing more than stick it.

So Conrad begins training with Mani and Nash insists on watching/participating because why not, he’s interested and has nothing better to do anyway.

Thus begins Conrad’s journey into getting back into shape in order to redeem himself after his humiliating loss to Lane.

But it’s not easy.

Like, not at all. 

Because on top of having the shoulder injury that threatens to come back at the first sign of strain, Conrad is also like, kinda, really, depressed.

He tries to hide it. Like ahaha ain’t nothin’ to see here, buddy boyyy, just a sexy man growing a beard and drinking lukewarm beer in his back yard at ten a.m. like sexy men sometimes do hahaha...

Turns out, the shoulder injury did more than kick him outta the fighting world for over a year. It also reminded him that he’s a high school drop-out who has dedicated his entire life to a career he’ll be too old for by the time he’s in his thirties to early forties. And then what? What next?

Nothing. There’s nothing next. Because since Conrad first started fighting, that’s been the only thing he’s cared about. Fighting and winning and fighting some more. It doesn’t matter that he’s just 24 years old, got his whole life ahead of him. Fighting is his life and he doesn’t know how to do anything else. The thought of giving it up terrifies the shit out of him.

So while Conrad is training, doing well, getting fit, feeling great, everything is awesome.

But at the slightest hitch... it’s time to spiral.

Mani is careful not to let Conrad push himself too hard and aggravate his injury but the idiot is a little desperate to get back into the game. He can’t help it. If he’s going to make it back to that level of prestige he held for three years, he needs to start winning. He needs to get people talking about him again. It’s the only way to make it up in the ranks. That’s how the UFC works. You need connections, you need a record, you need to win and garner people’s favor to even qualify. Since he’s been out for over a year, he has to prove that he’s still worthy. Granted, he was a popular fighter before his break. Fans loved him, his fights were entertaining, and he was good.

Honestly, he’d probably make it back in, easy peasy, without too much effort. But he wants to be extra certain. So he starts accepting fights against rookie fighters trying to make a name for themselves.

It’s just to get him used to it again, he swears.

On average, UFC fighters only do a small handful of fights a year. But Conrad is like lol nah I can do more than that.

So dude just starts winnin’ left and right. Look at him go. Good as new. It’s like he was never injured. People start noticing. He’s being talked about again. Everyone is excited for his comeback.

He gets confident and accepts a fight against Milos Love, a trans man who has been makin’ waves in the MMA world.

Aaaaaaand Conrad gets his ass kicked. Damn. He forgot how it felt to lose. Sucks man. But it’s alright. Because even though he lost, the fight was a good one and everyone is buzzing about both Conrad and Milos. They would loooove to see a rematch one day.

So Conrad has pretty much secured himself a spot in the UFC again.

Sweet. Things are going so well.

So well.

Until...

Welp. One day in training, Conrad injures himself.

Fuck.

He’s so frustrated and pissed at himself that he goes to a club and gets drunk. Nash goes with him to try and keep him out of trouble but Conrad refuses to listen to reason. He blows up at Nash, calls him a child who needs to keep his nose out of adult business. They cause enough of a scene that Nash gets kicked out of the club. Instead of going home though, he sits on the curb and waits, stewing in his anger, swearing to really give Conrad a piece of his mind when he finally comes out.

Well, all that planning goes out the window when Conrad does finally stumble out onto the sidewalk, drunk, in pain, crying. Nash sets his anger aside and helps get Conrad home. He gets him inside and into bed and just as he’s about to leave, Conrad apologizes. “You’re not a child. Sorry. I’m sorry. You’re more of a man than I am.”

Because see... this is a sore subject for our buddy Nash.

He’s stuck in between, after all.

And there’s some tragic reasoning for this.

First of all, when Nash was in the first grade, his ADHD was misdiagnosed as being “not emotionally prepared for second grade” and he was held back. Okay, no big deal. Whatever, right? He didn’t mind being a little bit older than his peers. He was immature, after all. He had fits of anger and got into fistfights on the regular, even though he’s weak and always got his ass handed to him. It was fine though. He bounces back quick.

Then, in the summer of what should have been his senior year of high school, Nash and his little sister were staying with their grandparents for a few weeks. One day, he argued with his grandparents and decided to stay behind as they took his younger sister to the zoo. Unfortunately, on the way there, there was an accident on the bridge and their car was sent over the side and into the river. None of them survived the accident.

Due to the traumatizing nature of the accident and the events surrounding the accident, Nash was plagued with survivor’s guilt and had to miss the first several months of his senior year of high school. He decided to take the entire year off instead of try to make up for the lost semester, thus making him twenty years old and not yet graduated from high school.

Nash now feels torn between adulthood and childhood. He’s still treated like a child by his teachers and the other “adultier” adults he faces because he’s still in high school. But he’s also treated as more of an adult than his classmates. Not to mention he’s had to “grow up” following his little sister’s death in order to be there for his parents, who did not take the loss well at all. In a way, he had to be their caretaker over the year following the accident, all while still being infantilized by pretty much everyone else.

He’s in between. Not quite an adult but so much more than a child. He doesn’t know what he wants or needs. Ideally, he wants to erase the past few years, go back, have a do-over to do it right, without the trauma and growing up too fast. But he can’t do that so all he asks is to be recognized as the adult he is and respected as adults expect to be respected.

“Just drop out then. Get a job.” is what he’s been told, over and over again by adults he calls out for treating him like a child. “don’t be playing a child’s game if you don’t want to be seen as a child”

But he perseveres. Nash is a quitter, but he can’t bring himself to quit this. He wants to finish high school, no matter how long it takes him. If for no other reason than to prove it to those stupid adults that look down on him that he’s not stupid, he’s not pitiful, he can do it, so shut the fuck up.

Conrad is different though. He’s not like other adults. From the beginning, there was solidarity and understanding between them. Conrad never treated him like he was some naïve little kid who doesn’t know anything about life. But he didn’t treat him like an old, jaded adult either. He was just... Nash. A guy he had a lot in common with. Who he enjoyed hanging out with. Who he respected as someone also in his twenties, just 4 years younger than him, facing his own, important troubles.

So hearing Conrad call him a child hurts more than when other people say it.

He hates it way more.

Especially when his feelings for him start budding romantic. He doesn’t want to be seen as a kid by the guy he wants to kiss, man. That sucks.

When Conrad calls him a child, he thinks, “ah man maybe i don’t have a chance with him like at all.” 

And that sucks. It triggers his defense mechanism of alienating people before they can disappoint him first. Following that night, Nash tries to separate himself from Conrad a little bit, even though he apologized and took it back.

Still.

Damage was done, homie.

So Nash decides to be a prick. Says some shit to piss Conrad off. But Conrad sees straight through him. He can feel the insincerity. And he refuses to take the bait.

Stupid hot bastard.

Well fine. Nash will continue to be his friend. But he won’t expect anything more than that. It won’t happen anyway so-

And yet.

It’s inevitable, ain’t it? They’re better together. Do not separate.

Anyway, through their relationship, they develop as humans, of course. Nash finds passion for something he considers worth sticking with. Conrad finds the relief of letting go of something he used to think was the only thing that mattered. 

There are twists and turns, obviously. Nothing good comes easy.

And the other side characters have their own little journeys. 

Milos falls in love with Cassie and works to woo her. Peyton challenges her personal view of feminism after growing close with Layla, who represents everything Peyton’s internalized misogyny rejects. Mani finds joy in coaching again and realizes it doesn’t matter what note his career ends on if it never ends in the first place. Lane gets his ass kicked. Maybe more than once. Nash’s parents take steps to moving past the mourning they had been holding tight to over the past year and a half after the death of their daughter and are able to support Nash the way he deserves.

Etc. etc.

Obviously there’s more story stuff I’m leaving out for the sake of not giving it ALL away... but that’s the gist of the story!

Okay okay okay okay I dunno how good this explanation actually is but ehhh don’t mind me, I’m tired but drank coffee so I’m up for the day now.

Hope you like the synopsis, Babe! Thanks for your interest 🖤 I kinda wanna go make Conrad and Nash on artbreeder now 🤔

[su-univeralai]

What are the names of your dunebabies' bison? Can you tell us about their experiences of getting them, naming them, etc? Did any of the other non-airbending children want to have a pet bison too?

omigosh!!! This is such a good question!! And one that I have very little information written about yet. I'll give you some tid-bits of my thoughts now, and when I have more world building done, I'll write a few chapters about it.

So, to start off with your last question (because I think that's really important to answer before diving into the names and backstories of them getting them), yes! Some of the non-airbending kids do get a pet bison, but not all of them. As we know, the bison chooses their companion, so I think Toph and Aang bring all of their kids to visit the sky bison around the age of 6 to see if first, any bison take an interest in them, or not. Some of the dunebabies aren't fans of sky bison, so they don't get them while others really connect with them. at around age 8, Aang will bring them there again and the bison will choose their companion.

Toph isn't a huge fan of bison, so after the first few kiddos get their bison, Aang takes them alone.

Now, onto all the dunebabies and their opinions, names, and experiences connecting with their sky bison! Gonna put a cut here since it'll be a long post.

Gyatso: Gyatso actually found his companion when he was 6, the first time he visited the Bison with his parents. Gyatso immediately jumped out of Amma's arms and jumped into the pile of baby bison playing. They quickly accepted him as one of their own and what was meant to be a quick trip, turned into a full-day adventure of Aang and Gyatso frolicking around with the bison while Toph sat in the shade with Lin and Tenzin. Aang gave Gyatso an apple, like his namesake gave Aang when he got Appa, and held it out to three of the baby bison who followed him around most of the day. The one in the middle came forward and ate his apple before nuzzling into the kid.

Aang told Gyatso that he had to think of a name by the time they got home so he could learn his name and be trained. As they landed, Gyatso decided to call his bison Baram (wind in Korean).

Lin: Like her mother, did not enjoy being around the bison. When she first went at 3 when Gyatso first got Baram, she cried until she, Toph, and Tenzin moved far enough away from them. Sky bison seem to like Lin, but she doesn't like them. This is noted when all of her siblings' bison is home for a family get-together, the bison all lick Lin and sometimes follow her around. In short, Lin does not get a sky bison, but she does have a saber-tooth moose lion that she names Ji.

Tenzin: Unlike his twin, Tenzin was interested in the sky bison at age three, but he was too young to play with them, so had to still with Amma and Lin for the day. When he turned 6, she met a few of the bison, took a liking to the young airbender, but none choose to be his companion yet. When he came back when he turned 8, the new crop of baby bison took a big interest in him. One immediately found kin in him and decided to be his companion. He of course named her Oogi after Shushu Sokka said it so often about his parents and other Shushu's and Ayi's.

Suyin: Suyin, has the opposite problem as Lin; she loves sky bison, but they aren't really fond of her for some reason. When Aang takes her to meet sky bison, none of them approach her, which is upsetting. Luckily, Amma had a surprise for her, suspecting that something like this would happen. When Su got home, a baby badgermole was waiting for her to care for. She named him Ping, and he traveled the world with her.

Songa: Similar to Gyatso, Songa was one with the bison and enjoyed playing with them for the day and got her animal companion when she was six. She named him Mochi, after her favorite dessert from the Fire Nation.

Kera: The bison liked Kera, almost as much as her airbending siblings, but with her staying in the Fire Nation so much, she didn't want a bison to take up so much space. Those who detested the Avatar would also try to capture bison, so she ultimately decided to not have one, even though a few wanted to be her companion. While she studied with Mai and Ty Lee, the two gifted her an Eel Hound named Bongcha.

Choekyi: Choekyi was not as mature as his siblings were at his age and had a bit too much energy, even for sky bison. He had to wait until he was 10 until he was calm enough for a bison to want to be his companion. He named his bison Bumi, after the Earth King who is as wild as Choekyi is.

Gyun: Both Gyun and the sky bison are indifferent towards each other. They neither like nor dislike the other. None of them really wants to be his companion, but they sniff him a lot because they interest him. In the end, Gyun chooses to not get a bison. He's gifted a songbird though, which he names Xue for its snowy white feathers. He likes to sing his melodies to the bird and have then sung back. He also acquires a flying lemur that he calls Katsu.

MeiLin: She and the sky bison's want for traveling the world made a great match. The bison sensed her untethered heart and jumped to be with her. The bison could feel her want for exploring and that was attractive to them. Both she and Tiao Wu were popular among the baby bison, but the one who ultimately chose her had a feisty spirit like hers and claimed MeiLin as their companion as soon as her hand opened. MeiLin affectionately named her bison Penipu (Peni for short).

Tiao Wu: While Tiao Wu was an earthbender, his strong spiritual ties made it easy for him to connect with the sky bison. He and MeiLin ended up getting their bison together, even though they are three years apart. The bison loved him and flocked toward when he came over. Being five when his bison picked him as their companion, she was named Lychee after his favorite snack. Lychee was also the fruit he offered to the bison when it came time for the choosing to begin.

Ok, so long post for ya, but I hope that answered all the questions you asked! They are really good ones! I think they all have animal companions, but not all of them would be bison.

[bomberqueen17]

ayy what is happen

i got like six new followers today and like a dozen over the previous week and i was like oh hm bots? but I just went to look and see if I had to block anybody and... you’re... all... apparently, people?? uh hi but whence and also, like, wherefore, this is kind of an odd choice y’all.

I’m not the kind of person who usually notices my follower count but it was a lot of new follower notifications. Hi! Welcome, I don’t mean my suspicion to be off-putting.

Oh, relatedly-- people have done some fun end-of-year memes about their fic, and it got me to go look at my stats. I was sort of cringingly wondering if my coping mechanism this year being a whole shitload of Witcher fanfic would mean I’d have this insane wordcount, but it turns out as of now, 2020 is in fourth place in terms of wordcount posted to AO3, after 2016, 2014, and 2015, in that order.

But then I looked at some of the other statistics. Hits, comment threads, kudos.

I’m not a mathematician so the extent of my analysis is that ostensibly all the numbers should go up or down together, right? Listen I have dyscalculia bad enough that I’m not even sure when a number is larger than another number so when I say I have not analyzed these, I am not kidding. But. I have a thesis, here. And some of it is likely due to the pandemic, people are reading more fanfic but are also engaging with it more, is my thesis? IDK.

Here are the raw numbers and my conclusions, but tl;dr all y’all Witcher pandemic buddies have been wonderful generous readers and I love you all, and if I get my ass in gear I can probably make my 2020 totals move up this leaderboard, it’s kind of a close race in wordcount anyway.

In 2016 I published 411,584 words of fanfic to AO3. That’s a lot; it includes all of Home Out In The Wind, and all my Star Wars stuff, back when TFA had just come out and we were all afire with possibility. (Oh yeah and Found Cat, that one was cute.) Yeah, the first ten months of that year were pretty great. But there’s SG:A and MCU stuff too that year, I was busy. I got 79,581 hits that year, on all my works. Total kudos 5,955. Total comment threads on all works 1,416.

Next up, statistically, is 2014. That’s the year I whiplashed from SG:A to MCU. Why? Winter Soldier was a good movie and it suckered me in. I know. I read Hawkeye too. It was a weird time. I published 381,701 words to AO3 that year. I got the most hits I’ve ever had in a single year, I think because one of my SG:A stories got recced in a non-Tumblr rec community I don’t know anything about; it remains my highest-hits work ever. So, 158,501 hits. But, I think the readers on that comm weren’t big AO3 people; most didn’t comment and not many left kudos. (Maybe because the series is unfinished? People got mad and dipped? IDK. I’m not linking to it, for that reason.) So total kudos 8,160, and total comment threads 994.

Third, statistically, is 2015. I hit my stride in MCU and put out a bunch of stuff that, for me, was pretty popular. I published 372,819 words of fic that year on AO3, and I had 108,608 hits on it. Readers left 6,695 kudos, and started 979 comment threads.

This shows kind of a funny trend in hits and kudos and things, doesn’t it, if you put those years in chronological order? You’d think like, I was growing an audience or something, but. None of those things trend any direction, really. I think there are too many variables to really know what’s going on. Maybe that’s the weirdest thing about Internet “fame”-- I have no context, I don’t know what’s a lot, I can’t tell what’s a normal amount of engagement.

(I do know that these are insane wordcounts, by most standards, and if you are a fellow-writer reading this, please do not let this make you feel bad or something, writing fanfic is what I do instead of having any kind of life or like, a TV or other hobbies, so. My low published stats for 2017 and 2018 and 2019 are indicative of my actually having done some things not on the computer in those years, though in some cases the things not on the computer weren’t actually good things either.)

So, now, 2020. Here on the 20th of December, my stats stand at: 364,063 words published. All of these are Witcher stories. Total hits: 106,026. These stats are in line with previous years. But here’s where 2020 stands out: Kudos are 13,060, and comment threads: 2,640.

Y’all, that’s what’s getting me through. Thanks for taking this ride with me.

<3

[authortango]

“One day, the sun rose in the west and set in the east.” - Prompt #39

This is my first Reedsy Short Story! I’m going to try posting these here semi-regularly until I run out of short stories to post and I have to write new ones. I hope you enjoy them! I would love to hear what others think of my writing in this format!

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal

Word Count: 2,993 words

6:00 am, Lookout Mountain, Golden, Colorado.

One dark, dewy Colorado morning, a group of campers emerged early from their tents for their anticipated sunrise hike, organized by their group leader, Cathy. Cathy inhaled the  cool morning air with tingling satisfaction. To her, there was nothing better than this. The wet morning air was way better than the first cup of coffee. 

As her yawning crew of eight got itself all together, she smiled cheerily and quietly said to them all, 

“Good morning! I hope you all slept well last night. We’re going to hike to this cliff right here,” She pointed, everyone's eyes following to a cliff on the east face of the mountain. “And then we are going to watch the sunrise before we get to breakfast. Everyone ready?”

The group nodded collectively, some more enthusiastically than others, and soon they were on their way. They became more alert as they climbed the side of Lookout Mountain, wide-eyed as they experienced the gentle sounds of nature’s morning song. As they arrived with Cathy on her chosen cliff, she checked her watch and was satisfied to find that they had made it on time, and that the sun would rise in the next five minutes. Turning to her group, she whispered,

“Get comfortable! Sunrise starts in five minutes!” As everyone huddled together to keep warm until the sun arrived, Cathy found a nice spot a little aways from them and eagerly set her eyes on the horizon. She felt these moments to be meditative, and while her companions might prefer to sit together, she felt there was something special about feeling the chilly air turn warm in the rosy glow of Earth’s star. 

Five minutes passed. The area around them seemed to grow lighter, but the sun was not yet visible. Cathy looked up in the sky, a little confused. Could it be too cloudy to spot a sunrise? No, she had checked the weather in the area, and there definitely weren’t any clouds above them. Maybe the sunrise was later than the forecast had anticipated.

Fifteen minutes passed. Cathy felt the air around her start to get warm, and she was grateful for it. But she was a little unsatisfied. She still couldn’t see the sun on the horizon in front of her. Then, she heard a gasp from one of the women behind her.

“Look!” Turning around, she was shocked to see the sun right behind them, continuing to rise into the sky. She took out her phone and rechecked the compass. The cliff they were on was facing east, which meant, somehow, the sun was rising from the west.

9:00 am, Palo Alto, California

Enrique, two states away from Cathy and her hiking crew, did not wake up early enough to see the sunrise. In fact, he barely woke up early enough to be on time for his job. He spent the fifteen minutes he had in his morning trying to find clean clothes in his messy apartment, brushing his teeth, and stuffing a plain untoasted bagel into his mouth before longboarding his way to work. 

At work, his busy morning got busier, as everyone stopped by the barrio coffee shop on their daily commute to work, and it was tough to catch a break when orders needed to be filled. When the workflow finally trickled into a lull, he spent some time chatting with his coworker, Isla. 

Enrique really liked Isla. Mornings with her were more bearable than others, which was why he tried his best to schedule his shifts with her. She was pretty, her bow-and-arrow lips stretching from ear to ear as she excitedly told him about the newest thing she’d learned that day, her large, kitschy earrings flashing like her beautiful brown eyes. Today her earrings were turquoise painted with orange dots. Enrique loved the wrestler mask earrings she would wear during WWE season, or some of the pretty hand-beaded ones she bought at craft stalls. For special occasions, she would wear a pair of cherry earrings, and when Enrique thought about asking her out he would think about those earrings and blush. They were truly his favorite pair, and he often wondered if one day she would wear them for him.

Today, Isla’s face flushed with excitement as she told Enrique her news. 

“Did you hear? The sun rose in the west today! They’ve never seen anything like it!”

“What? No way. The sun’s been doing it’s thing in the east for millennia! It can’t just change it’s habits like that.” Enrique laughed.

“You would think, but NASA even confirmed it on the news! They had satellite footage and everything. They predict it’s only for today, but who knows? The way the world works may change because of this! And it’s only the first day! Isn’t that so special?” Isla exclaimed, beaming at him. Enrique beamed back at her, shrugging. 

“Y’know I guess it is very special. Does that mean it’s setting in the east today instead of rising in it?” He asked. Isla nodded.

“That’s what the weathermen are saying. Hey, a bunch of us are getting together after work to go to the Foothills and watch the sunset. You could join us! It’s gonna be a great big party to celebrate the world possibly changing and all that. You wanna come?” Enrique’s heart beat faster. Pretty Isla was asking him if he wanted to watch the sunset. With her! If the world was changing and Isla was the one asking him out, then today must be really special.

“Absolutely! I get off my shift at five, but I’ll be there! When does the sun set?”

“I think they predicted it to set around 7:30, so we’re gonna be at the park around 7. Don’t be too late!” Isla said before returning to the kitchen.

“I won’t!” Enrique called after her, hoping she didn’t see his ears burning with delight.

3:30 pm, a small adobe house in Palo Alto, California

Being one of the pastry cooks for the coffee shop meant that since Isla got to work early, she also got off of work early. Today, she was off early enough to fret about her party with Enrique that night. In her small childhood bedroom, Isla rummaged through her closet, barely glancing at the outfits as she muttered worriedly to herself.

“What was I thinking? What if he doesn’t like my friends? We don’t really know each other outside of work. What if we get there, and it’s all awkward, and we have nothing to talk about?” 

Her mom, walking past with a laundry basket and, noticing her daughter frantically throwing clothes, stopped, and said,

“Mija, you need me to do some laundry? I’ve got the basket right here.” Isla groaned in frustration.

“No, no laundry. I just can’t figure out what to wear.” 

“To what?”

“I’m going out with a group of friends to watch the sunset. Remember, it sets en el este today? And I invited Enrique, and I can’t figure out what to wear!” 

“Oh chica, you have some nice dresses you could wear! Or you could rummage through my closet if you wanted something más caliente.” her mother said, giving her a little wink.

“Ayy mamí noooooo!”  Isla wailed, flopping on her bed and burying her face in her pillow with embarrassment. Hearing her cry, Isla’s father appeared in the doorway, surveying the mess of outfits.

“What’s all this?”

“Isla’s invited su enamorado to her fiesta tonight, and she can’t figure out what to wear.” 

“Aaaaah. Is this about that Enrique? Kind of a pretty boy, isn’t he?” He asked.

“Very pretty.” Isla’s mom nodded. Isla made another sound of disgust and frustration at her mother. Her father returned his attention to her and smiled.

  “Mijita, su enamorado is going to love whatever you wear. Wear what you feel comfortable in, and don’t do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.” 

“Also red is a good color for meeting boys. It’s very lucky, and distracting. Especially on the night of your special sunset!” Isla’s mom added. Isla groaned again, and both parents finally left her alone. 

When the coast was clear, Isla lifted her head and stared vacantly at the mess around her room. Maybe her mom was right about the color red, but she didn’t want to wear too much. Then, she spied her yellow dress tossed next to a pair of red flats, and knew immediately what she wanted to do.

She only hoped her date would be as interesting as her look.

5:30 pm, Bodega Square in Palo Alto, California. 

Enrique had just exited a flower shop in a shopping center that Palo Alto called ‘Bodega Square’, with a bouquet of sunflowers, and was now strolling down the street. As he walked past the shops and corner-stalls, he window-shopped for something else Isla might like. Something that showed her that he cared about her, and would like to take their friendship further. 

As he was about to leave, he happened upon a very small shop, run by an ancient looking man. The shop stand was no higher than Enrique’s knee, and he couldn’t help but notice the flash of the gold jewelry, all made with the same enchanting orange stone. Immediately, Enrique knew he had to get something for Isla. 

“Excuse me,” he asked the man, squatting so as not to talk down to him. “What kind of stone is this?”

“Ah! This is called a sunstone! It is a very lucky gem, especially on days like these!” The man cried with enthusiasm, waving his arms to draw attention to the jewelry. His accent was unfamiliar to Enrique, but it all made for a very engaging conversation.

“Is there a piece you would recommend? I’m thinking about getting something for a girl I’m seeing tonight.” Enrique asked

“Ooooooh for a girl! Well you could do a necklace, but honestly, every girl gets a necklace, and eventually it becomes just another trinket. Here is something truly special.” The man said, turning around in his small shop for the item. He then showed Enrique a ring, fashioned to look like a small sun, with a beautifully cut sunstone set in the middle.

“This one is a very special piece, and especially in this, the day of our beautiful sun’s awakening!” Enrique looked thoughtfully at the ring. It was charming to be sure.

“Are you sure this will show her how I feel?” He asked.

“Absolutely! As clear as the sun speaks!” Enrique wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but as the man was so enthusiastic, and it was pretty, so he bought the ring. Once purchased, he strung it on the surfers necklace he wore to match his shark-print Hawaiian shirt. Bidding the man goodbye, he hopped aboard his longboard to make up for lost time, rolling through the busy streets of Palo Alto with ease.

The sun’s orange glow bathed the city in light as he rode along, and suddenly, he started to hear a whispering. The voice was far off, but it sounded like someone was trying to speak with him. He stopped his board for a moment, and listened, but there was not a sound around him. At least, not of talking. There were sounds of traffic, both cars and people walking, but not a voice like the one he had heard. Slowly, he began to board again, wondering if he had imagined it. 

When he emerged from the busy street and turned towards the Foothills park, he heard the voice again, this time a little louder. The sun was in its full glory, the golden hour settling on the town before sunset. Enrique could hear a woman speaking, just enough that he could make out her words, but not enough to make sense of them. Instinctively, he reached for the shark tooth necklace to help him think.

As soon as he touched the ring, he heard the woman’s voice loud and clear. It was as if he had put on noise cancelling headphones, and all he could hear was her. 

“Microorganisms are fascinating. It’s funny to see all the things they do when their routine changes. I mean, it wasn’t so drastic a routine, was it?” 

Immediately Enrique let go of the necklace, shocked and confused. The voice stopped, and he looked down at the ring resting on his chest momentarily, putting the pieces together as the sun glinted off of its likeness.

The man had said, ‘As clear as the sun speaks’. 

Quickly, Enrique fiddled with the clasp on his necklace, slipped the ring off of the string and onto his little finger. The voice came back again, in the same comforting, warm tones of what Enrique assumed had to be the sun. He stood there for a moment, listening to what she had to say.

“Are they ever warm enough? I can never tell. It takes so much energy to send them warmth. It’s why half the year I can only warm one side at a time. Thankfully they figured out fire.

“It seems we have a new listener. It’s so enchanting to know someone else can hear me for a change. Hello microorganism! Can you hear me? How was your day? I’m glad you found a stone to tune in with. Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Enrique, startled, felt as though she was speaking to him directly. And he did have somewhere to be. Cautiously, he started to longboard again, listening to the sun’s idle chatter as he did.

“It’s amazing, these microorganisms cover a planet so small and yet their lives end up being so huge. They’re not huge to everyone, but it’s hard not to become invested when you’ve been looming about ninety-three million miles away from them for so many millennia. I wonder if they feel the same, and that's why they get so excited over a routine change. I should stop startling them so, but it’s so funny to see how they react. I wonder how fast the earth would spin once one of those satellite people got their hands on a sunstone gem.” 

This is crazy! Enrique thought. I wonder if she can see me. How can she observe anything when we’re so small?

“Observance is nothing. It’s not hard when every other life form in space is either non-complex, non-existent, or inhabited by your brothers and sisters. When I observe microorganisms…how do I explain it? When microorganisms use that dish to look at something even smaller than them, the clear one? The one that sometimes sets things on fire? I use something like that, although much bigger. It’s nice to follow your followers. I’d been following the Mayans for centuries because it was so flattering that they noticed me. It’s a shame they died out.”

Enrique, fascinated but overstimulated, blocked the sun’s jabbering out of his mind. It was close to setting, and he had just reached the Foothills. He scanned them briefly, eager to find Isla and her group. He spotted a large group to his left, and, assuming it was them, headed in their direction. He was correct, and when he saw Isla almost stopped in his tracks. The sun crooned ,

“Ooooh, she is very lovely. I can see part of why this one likes her. I hope she likes the ring.” 

Isla caught Enrique’s gaze and smiled bashfully. She wore a yellow sundress that flared out around her knees, and was patterned with little white flowers. She wore a golden headband with little metal rays like the sun, and her red flats matched the cherry earrings that made Enrique blush. If the sun wasn’t setting above them, Enrique would have sworn it felt like high noon without a cloud in the sky. She was stunning to him. She approached him excitedly and exclaimed,

“I’m so glad you made it! And look at those lovely flowers! You really shouldn’t have. Come on, come join the party! I’ll introduce you to my friends.” Enrique remembered himself and smiled enthusiastically back at her. 

“That would be excellent! But first, I got you something else. Hold on.” Enrique pried the ring off his little finger and delicately handed it to her. But Isla did not take it. She blushed so hard, that for a moment he thought he had embarrassed her and that she did not like it.

“Oh Enrique, you didn’t have to get me anything.” She breathed, enchanted by the glint of sunbeams bouncing off the ring.

“Do you like it? I’m sorry if it’s too much. I thought because it was a special day, it might be fitting. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want it.” Enrique explained.

“No no, I love it! I- I just wasn’t expecting a gift, and I don’t have one for you.” Isla stammered. This was so awkward, just like she had feared! She was stumbling for words, flustered, but she did like the ring. Luckily, she didn’t have to think of anything to say..

“Isla, you want to know something special about the ring?”

“What’s that?” She asked. Enrique took a breath, trying to clear his head so the right words would come to him. At that moment, he thought of the old man, and smiled.

“It’s perfect for you, because you both shine as clear as the sun speaks.” Isla smiled, a feeling of relief settling in her chest. There was no awkwardness between them, just easiness. She allowed him to hold her hand, blushing at how gentle his touch was as he slid the sunstone ring on her finger. Then, her eyes widened with wonder as she heard the sun speak. Enrique beamed at her, relieved that they both shared this secret, this new bond between them. And as the sun set over them, Isla heard her say,

“Ah! Lovely. Perhaps I’ll do this again sometime. Goodnight Earth. Enjoy tomorrow.”