#because of like half a page of text that someone shared on here

[justatypicalwizard]

A scrap from your book

Bakugo x reader, aged up, college! au, quirks don't matter, no warnings, just heartwarming

Roommate Bakugo who is forced to share a room with you for about three months due to unexpected construction works in the college apartment he occupied. The whole Bakusquad was moved to random rooms. To make it worse they were all shared ones. You agreed to take in a male occupant.

Roommate Bakugo who tries to spend as much time outside of the cramped college room as possible. He feels like he's kinda invading your privacy as well as just finding the whole situation uneasy.

Roommate Bakugo who has to complete a bunch of assignments but the library is packed in the late afternoon hours, the air thick with gossip, stress, sweat and annoyance. Bakugo finally wandered off to the dorm room to find some peace for his work.

Roommate Bakugo who spotts you always turn off your lamp and tune down the brightness on your laptop when he tells you he's going to sleep.

"You don't have to do that." He grunts, already wrapped up in heavy covers.

"I don't mind, you do the same." Because he does.

Roommate Bakugo who walks on you watching a film he loves. At first he just circles the small room mindlessly, more interested in the unwrapping dialogue between his two favourite characters than the laundry he's picking up.

"You wanna watch?" You ask, pausing the movie.

"No. I was going to do my laundry."

"I can wait, I can buy some snacks in the meantime, I was looking for an excuse to do it anyway."

So the two of you ended up finishing the film together, sitting on your bed.

Roommate Bakugo who talks to you more, geting used to the situation faster than he thought he would. You both sit by your desks working on the boring college stuff. He spotted you were trying hard, not slacking around and keeping most of your deadlines. Even if he didn't want to admitt it, he was impressed. Not that he didn't do the same, it's just rare to find a person who actually cares.

Roommate Bakugo who didn't know how to phrase a sentence. He was working on a piece of paper for the last two hours after an intense day of workout and his brain refused to cooperate anymore.

"Can I ask you for a favour?" Your face appeared from behind your laptop screen.

"Depends on what is it."

"I finished a short essay and I wanted to ask if you could read it and tell me if it makes sense."

Might as well take a break to refresh his mind. Bakugo read through the text and came to the conclusion that you were a good writer. A very good writer in fact.

"How would you say that in other words?" He asked after you were happy with your work, your laptop tossed aside as you lay on your bed scrolling through your phone.

You skipped to him, read through the sentence and gave him a paraphrase, one that he wouldn't think of himself.

"Thanks."

Roommate Bakugo who was eying you book collection for some time. You had a bunch. When he asked the two of you started talking and in went on and on and on. Finally, you stood up on your bed, the sheets dipping in where you stretched out to reach the highest shelve. Picking out a book you handed it to him.

"My favourite."

So he started to read it.

Roommate Bakugo who got a text from you that you wouldn't be back in the dorms for the night. After a shower he laid down in his bed, shirtless, with your book in hand. It was definitely worth it and he was way past the half already. Suddednly the doors opened only to reveal you, eying him up and down.

"The fuck you doing here?" Suddenly Bakugo felt a tad bit embarassed about his bare chest and lose sweatpants.

"My friend cancelled, sorry, you have someone over?" A small sly grin appeared on yoru lips.

"Jeez no, I'm just half naked."

"I don't mind." You shrugged, throwing your bag on the bed.

And what was that supposed to mean?

Nevermind. Bakugo wanted to get back to the story when he spotted something horrific. His hand gripped a nice chunk of the page, torn out of the book. He must have done it when you startled him with the grand entrance. It was readable as he only torn the cream white but it still looked nasty.

"Shit, I'm sorry." He didn't even look at you, opting on eying the damage, embarassement creaping up his cheeks for destroying someone's else belonging. One of yoru favourite belongings.

You came over, looked at the book and started to laugh.

"What's so fucking funny?" From embarassed Bakugo quickly merged into defensive.

"You look as if you killed my grandma. It's just a book." You saw that it didn't make him feel better, in fact the frown in his brows deepened. "I like my books being used. Lets treat it as a memory of you reading it. Give me the torn piece, please." Your hand reached out and he put the scrap into your open palm.

You skribbled something down on it using a pen fished out of your drawer. When you gave it back to him, the paper read 'Don't stress so much, dummy.'

"You can keep it." A smile brightened your face as you turned around to do other things.

Roommate Bakugo who would never admitt to anyone that he kept that scrap in the back of his phonecase at all times.

Roommate Bakugo who would never admitt to anyone that it took you roughly two months to steal his rock-like heart away.

[fallow-hollow]

Heyo! I came by to ask if it’s possible that you could write a Chilchuck x non binary! Reader who has a stutter and hasn’t gotten any help for it since childhood? Like not being able to say sentences properly without suddenly pausing by accident and having moments where the reader struggles on just one word? It’s mostly because I have irl and I don’t see a lot of books about readers that have a stutter as I think it’s used mostly to be cute or uwu- so maybe Chilchuck could try to help them?

cold reading

ft… chilchuck tims x nonbinary! reader

tags… pre-relationship, pining, reader has a stutter, fluff

word count… 882

notes… hope i did a good job! i had a friend who stutters be my beta reader to make sure i did alright, but further notes are always welcome! also fun fact, a ‘cold read’ is a read through or performance of a script or text with no prior practice, so i thought it would make a cute title !!

This may have been your idea, but you were already starting to have some second thoughts about this plan.

Chilchuck was well aware that you often had some trouble speaking, but it was never something he wanted to intervene on without your permission. The man had his own fair share of experiences being babied by those around him, so the last thing he wanted to do was belittle you by acting as if he knew more about what would help you than you did. So, naturally, reaching out about wanting assistance was up to you.

If there was anyone you trusted to help you with this vice of yours, it was Chilchuck. It wasn’t even that he himself was particularly well spoken or collected — no, it was your trust in him from a personal perspective that made it so easier to confide in him. The two of you had always been pretty good friends, and plus, it was rather nice how he never judged you for things you couldn’t control.

Truth be told, seeking help from someone like Falin likely would have been equally as helpful, but if you had to be honest with yourself, you also just enjoyed spending time with the man. Something about his presence put you at ease, despite the standoffish demeanor he had most of the time.

That’s how you found yourself here, trying to read from a book while he sat patiently beside you.

However, this may have been far less embarrassing for you if the book you borrowed for this little practice session wasn’t one of Marcille’s romance novels.

“She tr- trekked across th- across the muddy dirt path, her, her boots… boots covered in…..” Even when reading completely inoffensive narration, you still tripped up on certain consonants and found yourself repeating certain words. Sometimes, you’d even lose your place or space out, and end up unconsciously repeating the end of a word when you ‘picked up where you left off’, so to speak.

Chilchuck stayed silent, of course, not wanting to be rude by calling you out or correcting you in the middle of your sentences, but the long periods of yourself speaking and nothing else did make you feel rather awkward at times. After you sighed and shook your head, signifying that you had given up, he allowed himself to speak.

“Maybe try reading some dialogue instead. It could feel more natural if it’s something you could say to an actual person instead of just narration.” At his suggestion, you nodded, letting your eyes scan the page to the closest piece of dialogue you could find.

…Ah.

Well, it wasn’t that embarrassing. Compared to the other things one might find in a novel like this, it was really rather tame. Yes, you could make this work.

When you glanced up, the half-foot was still meeting your gaze, looking as if he had something to say. You murmured a quick “Yes?”, to which he responded promptly.

“You’ve mostly been looking at the text while you’ve been talking.” One hand gestured briefly to the book you were holding. “I dunno if this is the case, but focusing too hard on the written words could trip you up.”

The statement did ring true, at least somewhat. You’d been very fixated on matching the written words to the pronunciations in your head so as to not mess them up, but maybe that was contributing to this unnatural sort of feeling you’d had while you were reading. Talking to Chilchuck certainly did help you calm down most of the time, so maybe you’d feel more relaxed if you tried that instead.

He didn’t directly tell you to, but you chose to look at Chilchuck’s face while you talked. After reading the words and trying to internalize them the best you could, looking at him was almost a way to relax your eyes. Without focusing on a particular point or feature, you let yourself just… take him in. Register that this was the person you were speaking to. Allow the words to be fully and wholly directed at him.

In hindsight, the method may have been a bit too effective, judging from how the sentence came out almost immediately and with great fervor,

“You have no idea the lengths I’d go to just to see you!”

Hey, why did the man across from you look ever so slightly pink…?

Oh.

“Oh no, no I’m so- s-so sorry! Sorry!” Your hands shot up in an apologetic yet defensive behavior, which seemed to ease Chilchuck’s nerves, judging by the small laugh he let out.

With a wave of his own hand, he responded, “You don’t need to be. Just surprised you’d get so bold all of a sudden.” He then shot you a wink and a point, something that threatened to make you melt entirely. So easily could he touch your heart, yet at the same time it was hard to falter when he smiled at you like that.

“Did a good job on that one, though. Sounded great!”

Either way, if you can one day manage to speak your true feelings to him, then maybe you’ll be able to say all the other things you want to as well.

“Tha…thank you, your help, it, um… it really means a lot.”

[dianamoth]

Project Copy-Knight

Hi tumblr,

I woke up this morning to a new AO3 comment on my most liked Naruto fic, but this comment was unlike any other I ever got before. It will interest fanfic writers around, especially anime fanfic, so allow me to share it:

Hello, Unfortunately, your work may have been stolen by content farms to create YouTube videos here: (link removed by dianamoth) If you have granted permission for this uploader, you can safely ignore this comment. If not, you should report these videos here: DMCA Complaint Form. You should re-confirm the video contents before you file the report. Note that only the original creator for this work can submit a complaint. When filing the complaint, do not select the "Scheduled: Send a 7-day notice" option, or they won't get a copyright strike from you. We recommend that you do not negotiate with the channel before-hand. Remember to include a link to your work in the 'Title' section of the complaint form. Channels like this have stolen many more works from other writers as well, so your efforts in reporting this channel will also help other writers. See full list of stolen works here: Google sheets Your authorship was identified a while ago by an automated detector under Project Copy-Knight, but for anti-spam reasons we could not inform you until we have manually confirmed each case. If you would like us to notify you as soon as possible, please include this text in your profile page to grant us permission. To prevent a build-up of our notification comments on inactive accounts, we will only send you a maximum of 3 messages before you grant us permission. This is message 1 out of 3. This message was sent automatically, but your case was manually confirmed, and replies to this comment are monitored. If you need additional guidance on how to take the video down, just reply to this comment. To learn more about what we do, please read this article or join our Discord server. From Project Copy-Knight, EsquireBot

I did not give consent for my fic to be used on youtube, ofc.

I was skeptical at first (for context, I write OC Naruto fanfics, who the hell would be interested in that on youtube, I thought?), but this is a well-crafted message with all the ways to verify this claim, so verified it I did!

And hello and behold, this is all true! I'm Amazed. This Project Copy-Knight is quite impressive, it seems well organized and everything, so I thought I would share the word about their existence so that people are aware that this is a problem that exists, that someone is working on it, that it's not spam, and how you can participate, etc... I recommend checking the article they mentioned and the Discord server if you have time to help.

Also, for those who might be in the same case as I and want to report a youtube video (because obviously I'm going to, can you believe this? Just read further to see what a mess it is), let it be known that the link above only works if you have a channel. If not, you have to send your complaint to copyright@youtube.com

Now, if you're interested in seeing what a MessTM this is, continue reading about this video that stole my work.

Guys, this is the presentation of the video:

The title (and the pictures) has absolutely NO link whatsoever to the plot of my fic, to be clear.

The pictures inside of the slideshow are about DragonBall Z! XD

But yes, it is indeed a generated "podfic" of my OC fic (but only part of it? it cuts in the middle of a scene at around half of the story)!

When you click on the description of the video, there is a link that actually contains a list of links on fanfiction.net. So they actually didn't steal it from AO3 but ff.net. Writers from ff.net, be aware!

The video has 1,4k views and 37 likes in 2 months. What the heck.

But the comments, guys!

I find this frankly hilarious. I mean, there is so much confusion here. Obviously the basic Naruto fans that would hate on (female) OCs are expected, but someone listened to it long enough to realize it was not the complete story. Respect to them.

Can you believe that with such a mess this channel has 5,37k subscribers? Please people, have some self-respect.

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 78: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Hello hello!! End of the month, just witnessed Harvest Moon high in the sky (the last Supermoon of 2023!), and we're back like clockwork with another chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!! I have to say the release of Clear Card chapters have often coincided with a Supermoon and I find that so funny, as well as fitting....the moon is such a big element in this arc!

And as we have seen in this arc, the moon is also a messenger of love, and there's so much of it in this chapter....feelings, conflicting emotions, but most importantly, talks of happiness. This chapter wrecked me with emotions even more than the previous one, as we finally got the Kaito/Akiho moment of "discussion" that we waited for so long....where the focal point of the entire arc is: how far can we push ourselves to make our loved ones happy? Is it right for us to arbitrarily decide for their happiness? Along the years, I've seen countless of complains for how the events of the story were unfolding, for how some characters did absolutely the hell they wanted and made decisions for others, but as I knew perfectly well, a story is something in constant development and the goal wasn't to show how helpless people are or how it was right for others to act in that way, quite the contrary. And we'll see with full force what that means in this chapter of the climax, which is surprisingly BIG (36 pages long).

I also have to (unfortunately) report a quite annoying translation mistake in the English version that can confuse people and trick them to believe that Sakura remembered about a certain someone. Along with the usual nuances and such.

BUT FIRST!!

Hehe, you know what's coming, right?

Akiho went THIS close to go full Greta Thunberg on a certain someone!!! 😂 Let's find out WHO it is under the cut!!

The Color Page

Our Sakura this month takes the color spread with one of the most beautiful portrayal of our little magician: dressed in a very elegant layered white dress with jewels, head covered by a white veil, immersed by half in a pond, she looks halfway between a bride and a priestess! And yes, I can already hear you screaming "Tsubasa!!1!1!!!!" because she vaguely reminds of little Sakura-hime at the reservoir....😆 But I think what really makes the atmosphere of this color page "magical" is the presence of countless spheres of light, which seem to be emerging from crystal water lilies and converge in a huge sphere, which really looks like the moon....just to go back to the incipit of this blog post, right? 😂 After observing this color page, I couldn't help but being reminded of the spheres of light that were featured in the color pages of chapter 52 and 63 (with respectively, Kaito and SyaoSaku). Back in my post of chapter 63 I had made an analysis about what the common thread between those two color pages could be, and especially the significance of those spheres of light. If they really are representing the feelings of love for your dearest person, then I'd like to think that here Sakura is being represented as a "fairy" fostering and releasing that love in the open, to help and save the people dear to her. Which is totally the image I'm getting not only from this chapter, but ever since we started to see what happened in the "re-written world". Sakura is literally a messenger of love. And I love that for her. ❤️

The editorial text in the JP version is referencing what Sakura told Akiho back in chapter 49, right after her "sister" shared with her the recount of her night walk with Kaito: "To me, you’re someone I want to see happy forever. Because you're my friend, and someone really precious to me"

"Blink To Say Yes"

The chapter starts with me making amends to Kaito for the nth time, asking for his forgiveness for doubting his intentions and emotional state way over what was due: as the dragon keeps flying away, Sakura grabs Akiho's hand and starts going after the creature, of course followed by Syaoran, Kero and Yue. Akiho (poor girl, still with a tear in her eye) notices with shock that the "portal" to the fake moon is completely disintegrating, revealing the real moon behind it. Flying side-by-side to the dragon, Sakura realizes that the creature got finally out of that place to avoid that Akiho would put herself in danger: in fact, with the portal disappearing like that, she might have been trapped inside that space forever! Sooo as usual, Kaito's actions are skillfully framed by CLAMP in a way that will make you misunderstand him and think he's being irrational or getting on everyone's nerves on purpose, but no, he was actually just putting Akiho's safety first, as usual. ❤️ I know there were some interpretations of him precisely doing this, but I thought it wasn't the case because Sakura broke the spell inside the fake moon, removing the pressure and all, so I couldn't see what danger he needed to protect her from: in fact, the looming danger was a different one, and it was well symbolized by those "bzzz" sounds and effects near the entrance when Akiho was getting in. I had noticed them but dismissed them as the instability of Touya's time magic. I should've known better! 😆 Sorry, Kaito. I know that the only one who can make you do anything at all is only Akiho! Therefore I'm still laughing at how Sakura tried to convince him to get out for half an hour, when all Akiho needed was to move an inch forward 😆😆😆 I also think that what she told him, the fact that she was sure to be in front of "her most important person", changed things for Kaito. His reaction was tangible, despite being hidden behind the eyes of a dragon. And therefore I'm still partially peeved and heartbroken at him, because before hearing that from her (and seeing her putting herself in danger), he was fully planning on staying inside that space forever. He was refusing to come out, knowing very well that the portal would've disappeared at any minute, eliminating any chance of saving him. How dare you.

Well. We were saying that Sakura realized the dragon's intentions right away, and we see her shouting, with a face halfway between shocked and fired-up, "This means she's important to you, too!" (good job ENG translation for not messing this up, I guess. I was worried). Damn right, Sakura. She must be so confused by this person dragon's behavior. It is all so crystal clear to her. It's not only in her head, all the signs keep confirming to her that he really does consider Akiho very important, even now, immutably. The time he spent in that cage didn't change anything for him (and that, if anything, makes everything even more heartbreaking because of how agonizing that must have been). Sakura just can't understand why this person is acting like this, since he truly does care about Akiho. Refusing to go back to her. None of the people around her behave in this way and for her it must be something very new to deal with - and this reminds me of what a blessing we had to get these new characters in this arc, so different from what she's used to, who sometimes pushed her beyond her comfort zone, hence expanding her experience and making her grow up.

Akiho seems encouraged by Sakura's firm statement, so she takes the matter in her hands and shouts to the dragon to please have a talk with her. She shuts her eyes tight, as if being desperate for him to listen to her.

And that's it. That's all it takes for Kaito to be ol' good Kaito and stop immediately at Akiho's request, looking intently at her. As if he's saying "I'm at your service". I've said it countless times in my blog posts, how Kaito is someone who really would do whatever he wants and listens to no reason, but when it comes to Akiho, he really cannot deny anything to her. Akiho sighs in relief at seeing him stopping, and she starts talking to him, so tiny in front of such a giant (is he supposed to look scary? To me he really isn't, he's quite cute) creature. Akiho is well aware, from the countless books she's read till now, that the ones who can have conversations with dragons are almost entirely people with marvelous capabilities (the ENG went for "strange powers" for this, I don't think it fits). She's got no magical powers, but she quickly comes up with a clever way of "communicating": blink your eyes to say 'yes', do nothing and stay like that to say 'no'. And so she immediately starts, because she needs to know, she needs to understand. It's her goddam*ed right to do so, and Kaito knows this very well, hence why he's not denying her the opportunity. Akiho fires the first question: "Are you the one who re-wrote the world?" Kaito blinks, admitting it. I can see a streak of sadness in his eyes as he opens them again. This doesn't make any good to Akiho, who looks pretty sad as well, at hearing that. It's like having one fear, and seeing it confirmed. But she goes on, explaining how the world she's living in right now is warm and caring, full of people who support her and dote on her as if she were one of their family. While she states this, we can see Tomoyo following the events from the tablet with a concerned face, and Touya looking more and more worn out by the time magic he's being keeping up, sustained by Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun.

Akiho is very intuitive, so it's easy to guess where the question is leading: "Did you rewrite it because I never had this, before? And for that, were you the one who erased any trace of you from inside of me?" The ENG version here adds a "Did you do it to bring me happiness?" which is not incorrect, of course, but it doesn't exist in the JP text, and as usual it's used to spoon-feed the readers as if they couldn't get there on their own (and to probably fill a bubble with something).

Kaito cannot lie to the burning question, and he blinks his eyes. We see appearing a "crease" next to his eye, a clever way from Mokona to show us that he's growing more and more distressed. The pain of remembering how her clan abused her, how they got there because of something he said, the pain that resulted from the decision he made when he was just a kid. And the next question is even more burning.

"Did I wish for it?"

Kaito does nothing, confirming he now understands that in fact, Akiho never asked for this. Never. And the girl herself confirms: "I don't remember (you), but I know. I would never wish for a happiness that did not include you". Kaito listens intently to her. I just can't imagine how it must feel to not remember a single thing about someone, and yet feeling all that love pouring out of you. Simply out of instincts.

I Want My Most Important Person Back

Then, with a very (very) resolute face, Akiho turns to her dear Sakura, and affirms: (JP) "Sakura-san. I want to bring my most important person back". Here it is again, the famous term that we CCS fans all know well, the code for "the person I love", that keeps being changed in the ENG translation to a less recognizable "favorite person", which I'm still not sure conveys the same meaning. Sakura agrees with a pleased smile, she's totally ready to do anything to give her true happiness back to her "sister". Then, she turns to Dragon Kaito, and here we start with the "parallels" that will enrich this chapter of many many additional emotions.

Yes❤️ it's a parallel with Lilie, from chapter 72. Same expression and all. Precisely from when she was telling her the words that Sakura is going to relay to Kaito now: "What is happiness, to you?".

And here I have to introduce probably the worst mess of a translation mistake of this chapter, that will surely confuse people and make them believe things that actually arent' true:

ENG: "Someone asked me that once, too. In a dream. But, try as I might...I couldn't remember who it was. Not until she crossed time and dreams to see me. I think she did that for this moment. And...I think that's why she left me this card in the end, too"

JP: "These are words I've heard in a dream. I can't really remember who said them, no matter how hard I try, but...that person crossed time and dreams in order to come to see me. It was surely for this moment. And...this last Card remained, too...was for this very moment, right?"

I sincerely have no idea how they could mess up and make Sakura say that she actually remembers about Lilie, after she came to see her. Lilie had been so clear about it, in chapter 72, that the Forbidden Magic would've made Sakura forget as soon as she exited the dream, and so it happened, indeed. Why making her basically say that she remembered, afterwards? This is against the script! Moreover, not happy with messing that up, they even made Sakura say that the last Clear Card remained was left by Lilie herself! That's nonsense, that's not what the JP text says! Momo told her that there were some Clear Cards that were protected by her with a spell and they were waiting for Sakura to call them up, that's HOW the Clear Card that we're going to see now is able to be here. Not because Lilie gave it to Sakura. And before anyone points out "yes, but the one who paid for that spell with her ring was Lilie", I have to remind you that Sakura is not supposed to know that. Momo never told her WHO paid that price. So basically this is a mess-up on all fronts. But let's go back to our story because the emotional moments are just escalating. Before Sakura mentions the Card, we can see for a moment Lilie's reflection in the Dragon's eyes. A clear sign that Kaito understood perfectly who Sakura was talking about! And I think it's so beautiful that Sakura, always listening to her intuition (remember how she wasn't very good at this, before? That she dismissed her intuition, and Syaoran told her that his mother taught him not to?), understands that THIS is the moment to get this question out, because here she basically posed this question to Kaito. And this will help him decide in a few pages.

Proceeding forward, we can finally meet the big absentee ever since Sakura secured it back in chapter 33: the Rewind Card!!! One of the most beloved Cards, obviously for its appearance that was based on Syaoran and its cuteness! This card is the last one that still had to appear and that never showed up in Clockland, a sign that Kaito wasn't able to put his hands on it and "drag it" into the fictional world created with Momo's magic. It's the last Card that was waiting to be called by Sakura. And so she does! Syaoran is quite surprised and provides a "Spiderman meme" moment when he realizes that the Card looks just like him! 😂 Sakura explains to him that Record was able to record this Card as well, so that's how she knew of its existence (and not because Lilie gave it to her, once again!!!).

It's time. Sakura announces to the Dragon that she's going to bring him back to "himself". Our girl does so because she wants to implicitly give him the chance to have a say in this. She doesn't really "ask", but it's like she's implicitly doing it, because she wants to make sure that this is something he wants too.

In fact, in a very emotional moment, he and Akiho exchange again a long stare. It's like a silent conversation is going on between them. The dragon is depicted with a painful expression, while Akiho is staring at him firmly and determined. He's still, to the very end, thinking he does not deserve to go back to his human real form and go back to her. But she's unwavering, and uncompromising. She wants him back, and she's going to have him back. Because, after all, under a pile of self-loathing and pain, this is what he wants too. This is his happiness. So, with a very suffering expression, he blinks his eyes one more time to say "go ahead". In his condition, this must have costed him a lot of effort. You know who they reminded me of, in this scene?

Yeah, them. I've been saying it for long time, agreeing with other friends affirming the same in their own posts, how I could see a clear parallel between Clone SyaoSaku from TRC and YunaAki in Clear Card. They didn't exactly go through the same things, but their experiences often overlapped. And this in particular is overlapping really well. As I wrote already in my Twitter thread, he's given a chance to go back, but he's crushed by guilt. He doesn't think he deserves it. But she stares FIRMLY at him, pulling him towards life, a life with her. And he closes his eyes, and caves in. Because in the end, this is what he wants too. To be with her.

So Sakura proceeds. She says that she doesn't know who the Dragon is, but the pocket watch does. And as said pocket watch levitates in the air from Akiho's hands towards the Rewind Card, Sakura explains that it does know him because it used to "weave time" together with him. And so, combining the Card with the watch, Sakura activates Rewind on Kaito, exactly as I expected!

And the moment is absolutely emotional, as we finally see again after 8 long chapters (and relative months), our dear Kaito's face!!! The way the Rewind Card "works" on him is also quite spectacular, from a visual POV, since the pocket watch seemingly "enters" the dragon and frees Kaito from within. The fact is, we don't see the pocket watch after he changed back, so now I'm wondering: did it stay inside of him???

But, whoops, something didn't quite go alright. The black wings of the dragon stick to Kaito's back. Kero observes him and wonders with Yue if he's been a creature like them this whole time, but fear not, Yue dissolves the doubt right away: he thinks he's a regular human magician (the kanji says 魔術師, magician, while the furigana reads ひと, person), it's just that the spell that was active on him (the "Seal of D", as we know) was probably so damn powerful that even borrowing the pocket watch's power (as said in the JP version) wasn't enough for Rewind to bring him completely back to his appearance. Well, you want my opinion? Those wings look FANTASTIC on him and I absolutely want him to keep them!!! (maybe with a little spell he can conceal them when it's not convenient?) 😂❤️ He looks like a dark angel and it's amazing.

Don't Decide My Happiness On My Behalf

But the real, heartwrenching emotional moment starts here. This is also the moment when I started emitting all kinds of inhuman sounds, so I'm grateful I'm not one of those people doing a live reaction on youtube or something because this would be the end of my reputation on the internet 😂😂😂😂

Akiho and Kaito, finally in his original human form, exchange a long stare, again. His face is showing perfectly how he's absolutely heartbroken at what he realized he caused to her. It's guilt adding over guilt. And as she finally looks at the face of the person her heart knows is the one she loves, she can't stop the tears from forming again in her eyes, while she poses the only REAL question that she probably wanted to ask all along:

"Why?"

And as I always do with pivotal moments, I'm going to continue with the direct translation from the JP text, because the ENG added something ("why did you leave me?", which contributes to convey Akiho's feelings and possibly makes this even more romantic) that wasn't there in the original, and I have to be impartial.

Akiho, JP: "Why did you choose to disappear....from the rewritten world?"

I wanted to put the JP version here also because an important verb is missing from the ENG version: choose. Akiho is questioning Kaito about his choice. Because yes, this wasn't a result of a whim, Kaito chose to disappear from her life. And now he has to answer for that. Akiho's face is twisted in pain, as if she's trying to control the tears that now profusely fall from her eyes, and contain an immesurable grief in realizing that her most beloved person chose to remove himself quite definitively from her life.

His reply, though, proceeded to shatter my heart even further, cause it's exactly what I expected and have been saying this whole time.

Kaito, JP: "Because I thought I wasn't necessary to your happiness"

This is the only line we'll hear from Kaito in this chapter. For the rest of it, he'll listen in silence, giving space to Akiho and trying to elaborate. Besides, I want to point out that for the first time ever, he uses "ore" as a personal pronoun while talking to Akiho, and he's also seemingly dropped the use of keigo, the polite speech that he used with basically everyone before. Signifying that he's finally being honest and open, he's being his true self.

In his reply, there's all the self-loathing and hurt and pain he's been experiencing till now. Not recently, but ever since he was a baby. Remember that this boy grew up completely devoid of love in his life, completely abandoned to himself, exploited for his powers by a congregation of criminals. Kaito is, himself, a victim of abuse too, and I would want the CCS readers to acknowledge that more. Because if we have to wonder how we came to this situation, well, this is how. This is the damage that growing up in that kind of environment can cause to people. And we don't have to go that far because, if we remove the "magic" factor from the Association, we can find environments of that kind even in our daily real life. Growing up in that environment didn't stop Kaito from developing attachment to a person. From developing love for them. But, as he grew up not knowing what his self-worth was, being used as a commodity by other people, he's been convinced this whole time that he was nothing to her. That when he managed to accomplish his goal, he wouldn't need to be there because she didn't need him anymore. And I know, I can hear you, "How is it possible that he didn't notice how Akiho looked at him and how she loved him?" That's precisely because of his mental condition that prevented him from seeing or even believing what he was seeing. Kaito thought that he was born alone, and he'd die alone. That no one would ever be able to love him. That's why. And it's heartbreaking that someone would live their life like that.

With such a condition, Kaito's intentions were good but he went down a twisted path to make them true, completely missing the right way to go about it. Akiho doesn't know anything about this, but the heartwrenching scene that follows is something that's absolutely in her right to say. It is something I anticipated so so much.

Akiho, JP (lit.): "Please don't decide my happiness for me! Even if it's you! Please don't tear up and throw away my most important person!!"

Sadness and anger are mixed with Akiho's tears while she pours out all of her pain. I wanted to feature the literal translation of the JP text because I think the verb used, 破り捨ててしまう, depicts a very heartwrenching scene in my head. It is a verb that it's akin to when you tear up a piece of paper and discard it in the trash.

This is literally what Kaito did with his existence, when he went through with his plan.

So Akiho here is not only scolding him because he dared depriving her life of her most important person (and she doesn't care if it's he himself, he's not allowed to do that), but also BECAUSE HE DISREGARDED HIS OWN LIFE IN DOING SO. He's treated himself as a disposable object. And Akiho can't stand that. She loves him so much, despite not remembering a single thing about him, that she can't stand the thought of him hating himself to that point. I think, the way the ENG translation portrayed it, focuses too much on Akiho scolding Kaito for not having the right to remove himself from her life, and completely misses the other, implied, darker part of her line.

Akiho is understandably wrecked and she would want to scold Kaito more, but as she says herself, she doesn't even know what name to call him with. He erased so much from her that she isn't even allowed the luxury to remember his name. But I think this scene here might actually be a foreshadowing for him to reveal his true name to her later, so I'm waiting in anticipation for this (I've been actually waiting ever since chapter 51!). In the meantime, to break a little the drama with a funny moment, I think she wanted to call him baka, but as she doesn't even know his name, she can't do that! 😂what do you think???

And as I always say, Eriol suddenly opens the communication with Sakura to bring bad news! 😂Kaho is exhausted and can't hold the time stopped much longer (furthermore, it seems even Eriol is participating to keep the spell up), so he informs Sakura of that and she thanks him with a worried face. Syaoran looks up and notices that a hole is appearing in the stopped environment, signifying that the time magic is wearing off. So Sakura turns to Akiho and asks her what she wants to do from now. Notice that "from now" well, cause it's very symbolic: it's as if Sakura is saying "other people chose for you till now, but now you're given the chance to finally decide by yourself". With a painful face, eyes drowned in tears, Akiho ponders for a moment and then says that she's been really, really happy to be part of Sakura's family, but if that's not real, then she wants to go back, no matter how much hardships and pain is awaiting ahead. Please register how difficult it must have been for Akiho to wish that. Because right now, she's got all she wanted, love, a warm family, friends and even her most important person is here with her. But the fact is, this arrangement was created by someone with magic, it's not real, it's not how things naturally came to be. Moreover, no matter how strong her love can be, she still doesn't remember anything about her most important person and all she experienced with him, and that is something that is eating her soul away, because she recognizes that she lost something invaluable. So she's willing to let go of all this comfort to go back to the life she had before, WELL KNOWING (because Kaito confirmed it to her earlier) that in her previous life there will also be a lot of pain awaiting her. Moreover, she adds that if there's anything she'll be able to change, then she wants to do that with her own strength (again, a detail that's missing from the ENG translation). And then, turning to Kaito with a very assertive face: "Together with my most important person".

Kaito at this point can only stare in shock at her. Because I'm sure that he thought that after making her cry and suffer this much, she wouldn't have wanted anything to do with him anymore. But, as Kaito hopefully will have all the time to find out, this girl's feelings are no joke. It's no flimsy crush. This is the type of love that binds you to your soulmate forever, and gives you the strength to forgive them when they make you suffer, if you can recognize that their heart was in the right place. Akiho wants to grasp control of her life, wants to be the one to completely make decisions from now on, but she also wants Kaito with her, not only by her side but also participating to those life decisions. She doesn't want to cut him off.

Sakura, with the sweetest smile ever, tells her (JP)"If you two will be together....everything will surely be alright". And here I have to point out two things in the ENG translation: that single "together" that sounds a bit overcautious, not specifying who's together, when in the JP text it's clear she's referring to those two (because the context comes from the panel right before), and then the choice to translate Sakura's iconic invincible spell with "I'm sure it'll work out". That's not how the English speaking fandom knows Sakura's invincible spell as, and from what I've been told, it's not even how it's been translated previously! So this makes pretty difficult for the English speaking fans to recognize that she's uttering her invincible spell here!

Especially cause, look what a wonderful and touching parallel they have done...

The one you can see above is coming from Volume 5 of the old manga, and it's the very first time Sakura uttered the invincible spell, releasing the Light and Dark Cards from inside herself. This parallel, where you can see that Mokona sensei strived to redraw the spread exactly as she did back then, really gives off a feeling of "coming full circle", especially cause when you put them one beside the other it's so easy to see how much Sakura grew since then. Back then, Sakura told those words to herself to comfort herself in a moment of panic. Now, Sakura is telling these same words to a beloved person in a critical situation, to encourage her that if she'll be with her most important person, everything is going to be alright, no matter what awaits ahead. It also reminded me of the comforting words that Yukito told Sakura back in volume 12 of the old manga, the night before Sakura ran to the bus stop to give Syaoran her teddy bear. Yukito told her that as long as both she and her most important person wished to see one another again, it would be fine. I can kinda sense that Sakura wanted to comfort Akiho in the same way, that as long as she and Kaito stay together, they can overcome anything ahead. And I found that absolutely wonderful.

Unfortunately, the awesome moment full of courage and love is interrupted because Syaoran notices the time magic has given up and the arrows start attacking them again, as expected. We see a very worrisome panel with Eriol crouching to the ground next to a passed out Kaho (poor Kaho!!!!), while he hold his staff and sends a remote protective spell to shield the kids from the oncoming attack.

Without wasting time, Kaito grabs Akiho and holds her tight in a protective embrace, curling his beautiful black wings on her to shield her, while she's still shocked (and with tears in her eyes). I have no shame in admitting that THIS panel turned my screams in ultrasounds and it's become my favorite one of the chapter!! Especially cause here we have that magician who couldn't even bring himself to touch his beloved Akiho's head to comfort her, now finally not hesitating anymore and holding her in a very tight embrace to protect her (still giving all of himself for her, I guess it's just his way to love her). The situation is dire: Syaoran activates his Fuuka Shourai to fight the arrows off, while Kero and Yue shoot their own attacks, because the arrows just keep coming at them non-stop. Kero tells Sakura that they're going to take care of the attacks, and Yue says that she's the only one at this point who can change radically the situation. Then, Syaoran, our brave hero, says that he will absolutely protect what Sakura wants to protect (I didn't like the ENG phrasing, at all!! "Whatever it is that you want to protect" sounds so dismissing towards Akiho and Kaito?? Is it only me having a bias at this point?), so he urges her to focus on what she can do (to change this situation)!! I found this moment very exciting....everyone is placing their hope in Sakura and they're gonna do what they can to protect everyone, Akiho and Kaito included (and Kaito took personally care of protecting Akiho by himself).

Sakura is left wondering what to do. "To turn things back to normal, then I should use Rewind one more time" but she expresses doubt at it being enough to complete the task, so she wonders what else she needs to do, while the final page shows in her hands both the Time Card and the Rewind Card!

Aaaaaaand this is how the chapter ends, we finally reached the bottom oh my gosh!! 😂 This chapter was so long but also so full of emotions, I really wanted to touch all the important topics and parallels that have been portrayed in these 36 pages. I know the post became infinite, but I wouldn't feel right to know that I left something interesting out.

I am so damn proud of my Akiho girl. Her assertive discussion with Kaito, tinted with a touch of anger, was exactly what I wanted and expected from her. Because she's sweet, yes, but also got a strong personality. And once you get her fired-up, she's not going to stop. She's a bulldozer. I mean, haven't you seen what she did in chapter 52/53 and 58 with Kaito?? She's definitely not afraid to confront people thanks to her strong nature. This finally elevates her character development in this arc. I'm also grateful to Sakura and her empathy, once again, because it's so beautiful to witness what she's doing for these people. And she's so wonderful that even her loved ones are helping her in this quest, because they all trust her and recognize that this is a way to make her happy too. I'm absolutely thrilled to have Kaito back, finally. And my heart bled for him when he gave that single answer to Akiho.

Despite seeming like we're almost at the end of the run, there are still some important matters to fix and explain, especially in regard to the magical artifacts, and how things will be once Sakura effectively manages to "go back". Will they remember, first of all? And will the situation be exactly like before? Because then, Akiho will have the artifact inside herself once again and they'll have to do something about that too. Also, Kaito's lifespan was pretty bad by the start of the Alice in Clockland play, so of course one has to wonder what they'll do about that too. I also expect one more YunaAki moment because we haven't really heard Kaito's version of the facts, the origin of his quest to save Akiho and how that turned into a "I'm going to give her a happy life too", which absolutely seems beyond what he would need to do if what moved him was only guilt for what he caused to her. Of course it's not only that. And I also expect to hear his apologies to Akiho, of course! ❤️ But gradually, because he must be a confused, hurting mess right now. Whatever else CLAMP sensei will decide to give us regarding those two, I'll take it as a blessed present. We're slowly but inexorably going towards the finale. I really can't wait to read the next chapter, which is expected by Halloween on October 31st! And as a YunaAki fan I can't avoid remembering that even chapter 48, when Akiho confessed covertly to Kaito, came on the day of Halloween of 2020! Will we get a real, spelled out confession exactly 3 years later???

As usual, I await your comments here or in my inbox, see you at the end of this month!!

[selfportrait27]

Ween fans of Tumblr. Come over to ween.wiki and help us build a new knowledge base for future fans.

I didn't start the wiki, I just got pissed off a couple of months ago and posted this on r/ween. To my surprise, people actually listened. We now have a few regular contributors, but it's time to start reaching out to the rest of the Ween web, and I'm starting here on Tumblr for a reason.

The fuck-you spirit of Ween and punk rock seems to have actually survived on this platform. Despite Tumblr's best efforts, this has mercifully not become a Nice Normal Place for Nice Normal People. There's a beautifully unhinged quality to all Ween fans that still circulates in the air supply here, that when you see it on reddit for example, you know that it's being allowed to happen.

Anyway, check out my original post on Reddit, or you can read the text below. Then saunter back to the Ween Wiki house and take a look around. If you see anything you think you can help with, go for it. You can find my user page here.

Full text of my post from r/ween:

If you didn't know, there is a Ween wiki just sitting there waiting for us to fill it in.

I know it isn’t very well maintained or reliable. That’s because we’re not using it. It’s a community database, not someone’s personal website. It’s supposed to be maintained by the fan base, that’s the point of a knowledge commons.

Let’s say, for example, if 50 of us make one quick, low-effort change to the wiki in the next month or so. That would already be a big improvement. If it’s the first and last time for you, you will have made a contribution.

Here are some little things you can do anonymously, without an account or a username: 

~Add lyrics to a song.~ 

Change lyrics that someone else added. (It updates instantly, this isn’t genius.com.)

Add a page that you think should be there - you can leave it blank for others to fill in if you don’t want to do it.

Delete something if you think it’s wrong -  you don’t need to have something to replace it with in order to do this. Removing something counts as a contribution. If it turns out to be right after all, it can be put back.

Ditto if you see a citation that you don’t trust - you can just remove the source. Now it’s a ‘citation needed’ situation, which gives others an opportunity to do something.

Correct a minor spelling error, it can literally be that small.

Don’t share private material without permission, but other than that, it can be just about anything at this point, as long as it keeps the ~recent changes page~ ~active.~ Even if you’re new and you don’t know much about Ween, you almost certainly know something that isn’t there yet. Remember you can edit anonymously, so nobody can give you shit if you get it wrong. What they can do is change it.

A few notes:

Why do we need this, when we can just ask someone more reliable? Because it’s too much pressure to expect any person to be reliable all of the time*.* It might sound counter-intuitive, but having a community database that “just anyone” can edit actually creates more accountability, because we’re all responsible for its content, rather than expecting a few people to do all the work and get everything right. This is an opportunity to make a contribution to the legacy of Ween and their fan base, one that’s at least a little better than the stew of info and misinfo that’s out there now. It’s also a chance to help ensure that the good work people are doing on projects like Ween Archived doesn’t just end up getting mixed in with all the bullshit~.~

You don’t need to know what you’re doing. I’m a tech-moron - seriously, my 80-year-old father probably knows how to use Media Wiki better than I do. Even I figured out how to make a few basic edits. We’re going for minimal effort here, so even if you think it won’t make a difference, it will only have cost you a minute of your life.  Do a sloppy, half-assed job. Make a tiny improvement to someone else’s sloppy, half-assed job. Do it now or later - a community database is a long term, ongoing project and there’s no deadline for anything.

But people will just use it to troll? Yeah, they might. They can already do that now. If that’s what you want to use it for, you’re going to anyway. Here’s a couple of things worth remembering:

Nobody needs to put in a ton of work only to risk having it spoiled. There’s enough of us that your individual contribution can be as tiny as you want, and it still counts.

Again, anybody can delete information, so dealing with troll entries doesn’t just fall to one person or a few people. It’s unlikely that we’re gonna have a troll problem that’s too big for the rest of us to handle.

Sorry to be cheesy, but if we’re too scared to do anything, then my friends, the trolls have already won.

One last thing. You can do this and still hate everybody and complain as much as you want, nobody can take that away from you. You can even feel better about complaining, knowing that at least you did something. And if you want to tell me to shut up, who the fuck do I think I am etc, then you’ll still have plenty of time to do that too.

Come on, people. Two children who couldn’t play their guitars yet started a band without a drummer, and we can’t build a better community wiki than this, with all the tools in front of us? Of course we fucking can.

[subwaytostardew]

Maybe for Emmet's date montage you could have Polaroid pictures of what the day was like, there's a picture of the player and Emmet eating ice cream, of them touring the subway, checking out Elesa's gym, riding the roller coasters in her old gym, maybe they watch Emmet battle someone in front of Gear Station, whatever else the date montage has. And man, you guys have a lot to do! Remember to take care of yourselves! You don't wanna burn yourselves out!

That was the plan actually! That's also why we established Joltik's interest in photography back in his 8 heart event buuuut... I'm not so sure about giving Joltik such a big role in his 10 heart event anymore. The focus is supposed to be your date with Emmet... Don't want to be too awkward about a little baby spider watching your every action.

As far as the script goes, we're still working out the details, but I was thinking the first half plays out more normally until Emmet shares his first kiss with the farmer. Then it would speed up into a montage of visuals (mostly because thinking about properly eventing the rollercoaster part scares me). I don't want to have it be too visual-heavy if that makes any sense? Trying to have a nice balance with movement like Ingo's event. Emmet is expressive... I think he'd be clingy and marching around everywhere during the first half where they're boarding a train, multi-battling Hilda and Hilbert, watching a Pokestar Studios movie, eating Castellia Cones, etc.

I posted a snippet of this earlier, but here's the full idea page that I got sidetracked with for Emmet's 10-heart. This was made REALLY early on and pretty much everything needs to be changed to better match the main themes in my head as well as just... Making sense. A lot of my creative process is jotting down what few ideas I have, realizing that I hate them later on, and editing them until I'm okay with it. I did also get carried away spriting a few visuals over Haley's event assets...

But Haley's event didn't really have any dialogue or much interaction during the picture portion. I'm not too sure if I like the Polaroid-esque look alongside the text box... I was considering on expanding the visual dimensions to make it feel more... dynamic? Kind of like watching a movie (which would fit since watching a movie with him is a planned activity anyways)...

But I don't know... Maybe it's okay? I'll figure it out. I'll probably go with the widened visual dimensions since I do want to include a ferris wheel ride in the montage and it looks like it would be hard to fit into the Polaroid dimensions.

[just-another-romantic]

A Pip x Ravi Headcannon I cant get my mind off of

Ok so I finished reading As Good as Dead today (emotional damage) and I am FIXIATED on the “Hey Sarge, remember me?” text. Cannot stop thinking about it. So here’s what I think happened leading up to day 694 and the events afterwards.

Ravi was the first person to tell Pip about the results of the trial.

Pip had probably been getting texts from her family or friends that went unanswered regarding the trial, because they knew she had to be interested in it (not knowing why of course) so she obvi knew it was coming up soon

But Ravi broke the news to her first

If you think Ravi wasn’t involved in the case, you are damn wrong

Obviously he wasn’t appearing at every single trial or obsessively searching for updates on the news (he found himself itching to reload the page again and again on day 92, but stopped himself, because he knew that Pip would tell him not to, that it would leave a trace, it was suspicious)

He would get news updates by glancing at the local newspaper, or having his friends look it up on their phones

Ravi wasn’t there in person when Max was sentenced, but you can bet your bottom dollar that he was watching it on a livestream

The live stream was casted on the TV from his mom’s Facebook, the page titled “Justice for Jason” receiving an influx of comments, likes, and shares. But he was just a watcher, waiting with a baited breath.

His mom sat beside him on the couch, his dad next to her. The Singh family rigid with anxiety, waiting for the verdict again, almost eight years later.

The Judge rose before the microphone, and Ravi’s breath caught in his throat.

“Under a unanimous decision, Max Hastings has been found guilty of the murder of Jason Bell, in first degree.”

The world around him went quiet. Still. Dead. The room was suddenly so small, yet so big. His mother gasped, grabbing onto Ravi, exclaiming that the justice system finally did something good, something right. But Ravi’s ears were ringing. He wasn’t focusing on Max’s reaction, the uproar in the court from the Hasting’s family, or even his father’s comments, all Ravi heard over and over was guilty guilty guilty. Because for him, for Pip, that meant innocent.

The reason why it took so long (three minutes) for Ravi to text Pip was because he was half in shock, half celebrating with his parents, half worried that Pip wouldn’t be interested in the case in him anymore, and half trying to figure out what the fuck to say.

But with the results of the trial and all the bad that led up to it, Ravi wondered if he finally managed to take half of Pip’s suffering. If there was still room for some good.

His thumbs lingered over the keyboard. Ravi ran upstairs after the commotion died down, only wanting to celebrate this moment with one person. What could he say? “You’re innocent, it’s gonna be ok” seemed to risky. Asking “Did you see the news” sounded too detached like he didn’t care, like he hadn’t been thinking about her for almost two years

But he typed it without thinking. His fingers did the work.

“Hey Sarge, remember me?”

Ravi’s heart inflated when he saw the read receipt immediately, the text bubble emerging almost immediately afterwards

Pip had been in class, hadn’t been watching the news for the past few hours. She had an exam coming up, and she used her studying as a distraction

But when she pulled out her phone, she ignored the calls from Nat and Connor, and all of the texts from Cara and Naomi, and her eyes went straight to Ravi’s name

“Give me a sec.”

She said

A few states away, Ravi’s heart deflated a little. Did she not care about the case? About him? Had she found someone else to fill the same never ending void that Ravi held in his own chest?

Her name lit up across his phone screen. The ringtone he had for her was still the same, a stupid Taylor Swift song he caught her singing one day.

Pip held her breath

Ravi’s thumb hovered over the green accept button and tried not to let his anxiety get the best of him.

How much had she changed? Was she safe? Was she all alone at college? Did she still see Jason Bell’s head caved in every time she closed her eyes? Did she hear Ravi’s voice next to her throughout the day, the same way he did her’s?

But he looked at her contact photo, an old one from one of their first dates. It was at Ravi’s favorite sandwich shop. Pippa had two pringles in her mouth, creating the beak of a duck. Her eyes were alive. Bright.

He saw that and knew.

He accepted the call and brought the phone up to his ear.

“Ravi?” Pip breathed.

And in that moment, nothing else mattered. The trial. The distance between them. That all consuming darkness.

Ravi’s face broke into a grin. “Hey Sarge. It’s me.”

States away, in the security of her dorm room, Pip had the freedom to cry. So, upon hearing Ravi’s voice again, she broke.

She caught the sob in her hand, muffling the cries through the phone.

Ravi heard her. “You ok there, Pippus? You sound like you’re crying.”

Pip couldn’t lie to him. Not to anyone. Not anymore. No more lies, it just fed the void.

She sniffed, “Just happy.” Which said everything. I’m free. You’re ok. You didn’t forget me. I missed you. I love you. I want you back.

Tears were rolling down his cheeks too, tasting salty on his lips. “You big softie.”

Pip choked on a laugh. The first one she had let out in a long time. In the 694 days since she heard his voice, he still sounded the same.

“Yea, I can say the same for you.”

The next question lingered in Ravi’s throat. Come home. But he couldn’t ask that of her. To return to the town that had broke her. To a place filled with so much evil and hatred. She was too good for all of that ugly. She needed something good.

Pip beat him to it. “I don’t have classes tomorrow.”

The way her voice trailed off at the end answered Ravi’s question. The silence said everything. It always had said everything for them.

Come see me.

“I can be there by tonight,” Ravi said. The distance between us is too great, but feels like nothing all the same.

Pip let herself cry freely at this point. She whispered, “Drive fast.” I never stopped wondering if you were okay.

“I will.” I would be there right this moment if I could.

“There’s a sandwich shop you’ll really like on campus.” I never stopped thinking about you.

“I can’t wait to try it, Sarge.” I can’t wait to see you.

“I’ll see you soon.” I’ve been waiting for this moment for two years, and I would have continued to wait for it my whole life.

“I’ll text you when I’m on my way.” I don’t want to hang up. I missed your voice.

There was no stopping the next words. “I love you,” Pip said.

Ravi felt like he could fly. “I love you too Pip.”

And that night, when Pippa watched Ravi’s car pull into her dorm parking lot, she knew she was home.

[koolades-world]

hi i just saw your update thing on your du x reader book thing and i just wanted to say du era was crazy im so glad its over now. i love your writing and i hope youre doing well now!!

OMG HIIIIII (wall of text incoming under the cut about my previous fandom)

wow hi omg im literally stunned that someone actually read that update chapter and actually checked out my new page (new in air quotes because I think it’s been about a year and a half since I’ve had this blog? not too sure) thank you so much for making the effort to reach out 😭 i didn’t expect anyone to actually listen to me. im doing pretty good! fall semester starts for me tomorrow. we probably both feel old now. I hope you’ve also been recovering from that era and have found a better place to be. honestly if you’d even like to chat, I’m still in contact with a few people from the fandom, some of which you’d definitely know if you knew me. Wont say any names but my best friend is the one who made the infamous sarcastic, if you catch my drift. sorry that’s so incredibly vague but im wayyyy too afraid to say anymore out in public. so! hit me up in dms or something if you’d like! I promise we don’t bite and it would be nice to talk to someone else who suffered through that and think about just how crazy everything was. my writing isn’t what it used to be but I still try my best, I feel like I definitely matured with my style and the content itself which makes sense. I still think about that infamous oneshot that was 60k words that I somehow wrote in a week all on my phone, and how the hell that was even possible. actually, I don’t think I ever shared this with you at the time, but that was actually the shortened version. yeah. I know. let’s not talk about that haha. Now, I can barely get out 2k in a week LOL. I hope you’ve been equally as well and have found a new, more healthy fandom :) thank you for reaching out again!!

for anyone that has no clue what any of that message means (I hope that’s all of you) I will not share what the letters du stand for for your own good lol but before I was here on tumblr, I was a wattpad girlie for another fandom. sorry haha. but I always have been a x reader author lol. I won’t get into it becuase that old fandom was WILDDD I’m sure anon understands me but I can’t tell if it made me who I am in a good way or did irreversible damage. probably both now that I think about it. I actually think that book just hit 70 or 80k reads. 14 year old me would’ve been losing it if I heard that

thank you, my long time fan. even if you don’t give two shits about obey me or any of the things I like now, thank you from the bottom of my heart. back in the day it was so rare for me to get any sort of feedback period about my work, except for the ridicule kind. it’s so crazy to find ex du fans out in the wild, I wish you the best in life!!!! I will not be offended if you don’t want to reach out, by the way. Just the mutual understanding of the fandom culture and environment is enough for me. if you do though, you can send me a dm and I’d be more than happy to give you my discord! HUGS AND KISSES ANON YOURE THE BEST STAY BEAUTIFUL

[queen-tashie]

Writeblr Q& A

Tagged by @mrbexwrites as usual lol. Thank you!!

Gentle, non-obligatory tags to @ftmerriweather, @ahungeringknife, @elizmanderson, and anyone else that wants to jump in! (Remember to tag me so I don't miss your responses!)

1. What motivates you to write?

If I don't I will explode.

I have ADHD and because of it I am just filled and overwhelmed with ideas. I've started keeping a 'thought dump' list where ALL my half-baked ideas go, and when I get more ideas for that same concept, I pull it off there and pour my heart out onto the page.

Writing has been one of the few hobbies that has been easy for me to jump in and out of because of my ADHD. Painting is great but there's clean up after. Writing, I create a new doc, or open a blank page in a journal and have virtually nothing to clean up or put away later. It's the most accessible hobby for me because of this.

And because I keep doing it, I keep developing skills and each time I write I improve a little. It's a piece of immense stability and pride in accomplishing something that it gives me so much purpose in life. So it compels me to share what I have to say through the medium of fiction. :)

2. A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

For all its first-book flaws, I think this line from The Quiet Forest goes hard.

Runnicka stood before her home and knocked on the door. She didn’t know why she knocked, maybe Farewai didn’t feel like home anymore, like she was a traveller passing through.

3. What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I used to say fight scenes. While I still think I'm pretty good at those, I think that's been overshadowed by my ability to write concisely. I am an underwriter, but once I've edited and beefed up a story, I think I have gotten pretty good at giving detailed and vivid information in few words.

4. What do you enjoy most about the Writeblr community?

I tried for years to make friends on the twitter writing community. Everything felt so superficial there, similar to instagram. When I finally stopped using twitter so much and focused on what I could enjoy on tumblr, I ran into the Writeblr community and made friends quickly. Within months. Trying to be part of the community feels effortless here, and so much more welcoming and genuine. Thanks Writeblr for giving me a place to belong! :D

5. A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Blank writing docs to create a thought dump, outline, and each version of my WIPs' drafts. Plus, additional info if needed like worldbuilding. Anything that helps me keep my thoughts on the project organized. Oh, and folders.

6. A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

I've always thought that stories where a bloodline is cursed, or someone is blessed with powers, are one and the same, just depending on one's perspective, or the intended outcome. So in Copper Frames, my current WIP, I created a ritual magic system where a 'curse' is a 'blessing' gone wrong, or a curse is a blessing that the recipient didn't want, and vice versa.

7. What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

Take a break. Your writing and your desire to write will be there when you come back. Not just 15 minutes, take a vacation from it. Go do things, recharge your creative well by experiencing new things. Take a walk in a new park, watch a new movie, read a new book, hang out with friends or family you don't often see. Listen to what they have to say and ask questions. Inspiration strikes when you least expect it.

And always have a way to write down those ideas when they come to you.

[lily-janus]

Someone Like You - chapter 2

Chapter 1 | chapter 2 | next

Summary: Roman is being... nice? And he seems to want to work with Janus? ...what's going on here?

Pairing: pre-romantic roceit

Warnings: disabillity, mentions of murder in the context of the play. I think that's it for this chapter, be sure to let me know if I missed anything.

Word count: 1,059

The second chapter is here! Still written by @prince-rowan-of-the-forest , not me yet, next week my part will start at the half of chapter 3. Hope you enjoy! @tsspromptmonth

It had been a few days since then. Janus had texted the number Roman had given him at lunch that day, since he didn't really feel like eating, Roman had replied with an indistinguishable string of emojis that Janus still had no clue the meaning of.

They had arranged to meet up at a local coffee shop that weekend to work on planning, he wondered why the hell Roman seemed so eager to meet up with him to work on this, usually his partners would get annoyed with his constant backwards talking and pessimism and give up on working together at all. This was new to him and he couldn't help but think this was some kind of long-winded trick.

He was just about to take a bite of his sandwich when he felt a tap on his left shoulder- his blind side. Completely on instinct Janus dropped the sandwich and whirled around as best he could in the chair and lashed out at the attacker, who yelped in surprise.

"Woah!" he said, "Sorry for startling you!"

And of course it was Roman, perfect, great, absolutely fantastic.

"I thought you would've seen me coming," Roman said sheepishly.

"Yes well being blind does make that slightly difficult," Janus said with a shrug before picking up his dropped sandwich from the table, "Did you actually want something or did you just come over here to make a fool of me like everyone else,"

"Make a fool of- no! Oh whatever, I came over here because I had some ideas for our project that I wished to share with you!" Roman said, "And also I noticed you were sitting alone which is kinda depressing so I thought I'd come over here and make you look less like a loner,"

"Gee thanks," Janus said, rolling his eyes, "Whatever would people think of you if they saw you with someone like me?"

"Not that I need anyone's permission or approval to talk to you," Roman said, sitting down on the table next to him. Janus shifted so he was just a little further away, "But I told my friends I was coming over here to work on our project so, no-one who matters actually cares,"

"Right… and what was so important that you had to interrupt my lunch to tell me?"

"Well!" Roman said, opening his bag and pulling out his notebook, before pushing it over to him, "Have a look!"

Janus raised an eyebrow at him before shaking his head and taking the book before pulling his glasses out of his pocket and putting them on. At least he’d remembered them today. .

The title page for their project was tabbed with a thin pink post-it note and upon opening it Janus found that the page had been decorated with colourful artwork that referenced the play, the three witches, a castle turret, some blood and a knife, he hated to admit it but it looked very pretty. Underneath the title Janus identified the writing as both of their names.

"Did you do all this?" Janus couldn't help but ask, pointing at the artwork. Roman nodded, "Where the hell do you people find the time for these things…"

"Turn the page!" Roman said with a smile, he seemed to be attempting to contain his excitement. Janus just shook his head and did as told. On the double page spread he found a title that read 'Roles and Costumes'.

"Is this- us?" Janus asked, looking at the two figures drawn onto one side of the page, he noticed that the drawing of him had his signature bowler hat that he wore everywhere and the picture of Roman had a little floating crown about his head.

Janus supposed those were to mark who each of them were, because the rest of the figure was just a base with no details, based on the title he could guess it was so they could experiment with the costume ideas.

On the opposite page was a list of the play's characters in order of significance and next to them, written in pencil, were either Janus' or Roman's name.

"I can't believe you put this much effort into this," Janus huffed. He had meant it as an insult, because who in their right mind puts this much effort into an English class project, but it only made Roman smile more. Janus hated to admit it made his heart flutter.

"Yes, well! I thought it might be best for us to go together on Saturday to have a look at a couple of locations I had in mind for filming, and I thought it might be helpful to have a vague idea of which of us would play each character beforehand,"

"You pegged me as Lady Macbeth?" Janus said, raising an eyebrow.

"Indeed! She's the cunning mind behind the murder plot after all," Roman said with a wide sweep of his arm, "And besides, I believe you'd be able to perform her soliloquys and muster her attitude better than I ever could,*

"And also you want to be Macbeth, Mr Main Character," Janus said, a small smile subconsciously pulling at his lips, Roman went red.

"Well- maybe…"

"And I see you get to murder me on multiple occasions," Janus pointed out where he was listed to play both Banquo and King Duncan.

"Hey! You get to murder me too! Don't you make out that this murder is one-sided!" Roman cried, pointing at where it said Janus' name next to Macduff, Janus smiled.

"Alright fine," Janus said, shaking his head, "You can have your way,"

"Yes!" Roman cheered, "So I think we should keep the more important characters consistent, but as for side characters, we'll need to switch around based on who is in the scene," Roman explained, Janus nodded.

"We're definitely not going to struggle with acting this out as just us two," Janus said, closing Roman's notebook and handing it back over.

"I'm sure we can find a way! Maybe we could use- puppets, or something, I dunno yet," Roman smiled, standing up, *Don't worry your pretty little face about it, see you Saturday!"

And he turned and walked off into the lunch crowd, leaving Janus staring after him. What the hell did that last statement mean? His face was anything but pretty, and he wasn't little, thank you very much.

[deadheaddaisy]

14, 17, 30 for the fanfic ask please!

14 - where do you get your inspiration?

The short answer is, “anywhere”. It could be just something I had floating in my head that solidifies after the umpteenth time I’ve watched an episode.

Sometimes it’s an idea or scene I’ve seen elsewhere that I think might work for the characters with a bit of tweaking. Or, how they would behave in a given situation if the circumstances were just a little different, or if something happened to make *them* a little different. Sometimes it’s a prompt, or the desire for a slice of life, or someone will be talking about *their* characters and it’ll spark a thought of “but what if...” for *my* characters.

Also, how I’m feeling plays a role. Contented me tends to bring out the happy, silly, fluffy/crack ideas. Angry me brings angst and the desire to kick butt (generally Harris, if I’m completely honest). 

Anyway, TL;dr: I find my inspiration in daily life, throwaway lines, and other media I consume.

17 - talk about your writing and editing process

Oh lordie, I’m not sure there’s a process, as such.

Sometimes I am able to start a story right from the beginning and it just flows in a linear fashion - witness Nothing To Fear and Outrun; they hit the page running from the very first sentence and took on minds of their own. I barely had to make any changes bar a word or two to tighten the flow here and there or as suggested by my beta readers. 

Then I have scenes that hit the page but where it’s clear they’re a one-and-done; those tend to be slice-of-life fics instead of big ideas (such as On The Edge Of Dreaming). 

It’s the long, multi-chapter ones that are proving difficult. Better the Devil You Know started out as just a one-shot, i.e. the first chapter, and then a revenge chapter was needed, but I wanted something to make sense of it in between, and found a couple of other half-written scenes that I thought might fit, and now it’s taken on a life of its own, but it is certainly not linear like the others. 

In general I am able to write reams with the minimum of effort for editing; but when it comes to the editing, I can spend several weeks refining the text to get it just so before I publish. I tend to ask beta readers to check my ideas, but the editing I’ll run through probably 10 or so times before I’m satisfied (and yes, I will still tweak after I’ve posted).

30 - share a fic you’re especially proud of

Oh, that’s hard. I’m proud of all my fics! Tell you what, I’ll choose two of my favourites (not hard, since I’ve only published seven). 

Calling the Shots was my first smut, and I love it because it shows Malcolm and Hoshi’s somewhat naughtier personas but also - and this is important - how comfortable they are with each other. It’s about trusting each other, the give and take of control, and having fun in the process, while staying true to the way I see their characters. And, yes, they can get explicitly spicy and enjoy it without degenerating into crudeness. 

My other favourite is also smut. Outrun - Outtake comes at it from a different POV, it’s very much happy, fun and comforting smut, wanting to show you how easy they are with each other, move past the honeymoon phase and straight into “we just fit; we just are”. I like to think I captured that ease, that warmth, the way you are with Your Person when words don’t always have to be said. 

Thanks for the ask!

[haldenlith]

Some people are probably tired of me shouting into the void about this, but my mind is buzzing angrily about it.

Quick context: I am going back to school, so I can have a nice shiny piece of paper that says I'm a "Super Legit Know What I'm Talking About, I Paid Thousands For This Stupid Piece of Paper" Graphic Designer. (To be fair I've actually learned a lot so far.)

I'm in this one "distance learning" (ie online) class, "Typography II". We were given a big project that was very obviously our Final at the beginning of the year, in January. It was to write/research and design an entire book, 40-page minimum (including covers and table of contents). It came due last week. (I was very much done and submitted before then, because I was very In The Zone with this project. Unsure about sharing it here because it has my name on it, but I might share the link in a DM if you ask. I think I wrote a pretty compelling typography book.)

We're then assigned people to do critiques on (to ensure everyone gets critiqued by two people). I check so that I can do my critiques.

Let me tell you what. I just about hit the ceiling. Five-ish people, including myself, turned the assignment in. (Or at least turned it in on time.) Hell, of what was turned in, I think, aside from myself, only two other people put any amount of research into their book topic (WHICH WE CHOSE, they weren't even assigned! We got to pick whatever we wanted as long as we could relate it to typography!). And honestly, only one other student, from reading their book, felt like they put any actual effort into it at all. (Her book was simple, but very nice.) The other... read like he got bored half-way through his own research, because he had like a handful of sources and a whole bunch of paragraphs that were just him repeating himself, just paraphrased, in a very obvious "I need to hit the 40-page minimum" attempt.

Another person had a nice looking book, but it was filled with Lorem Ipsum filler text. Another was maybe two pages of research, and then the entire rest of the book was just a picture book.

I just... what.

We had three months -- THREE MONTHS -- to do this. Three. Tres. Ninety whole ass days. We had FOUR check-ins during the course of those three months, to show our progress and how we're doing, and a FIFTH optional check-in that wasn't graded. It was there so that we could ask for help if we needed it. The professor even asked the class if the due dates were too tight (we also had other exercises and projects to do in the meantime while we did this in the background), if the class was going too fast, and they needed more time... Short of doing it in interpretive dance in front of a neon flashing sign, I don't know how more obviously she could've asked, "Hey, this is your sign to speak up if you're having issues."

This is technically an upper level course. This is also a class you can't take without taking Typography I, which was set up THE EXACT SAME WAY. This is also an elective class specifically for Graphic Design Degrees at my uni. You're not here unless you intend to be a designer.

It's just insulting to see, en masse, everyone just go "nah". They're wasting my time because I have to struggle to critique whatever is going on with those that DID submit. They're wasting the professor's time by sitting in her class and not doing the work. They're wasting another student's time by taking up a seat that could've been filled by someone else. They're wasting their own time being there and going through the motions (some of them had some really interesting progress shots to show of their book during the check-ins), but not following through.

They're also wasting money, because the class is like... $400-ish, so, you know.

It's also insulting considering the sheer amount of work I put into my own submission. It feels like researching and making a gourmet three-course meal to the best of my ability to impress a cooking show judge with, but then looking over and seeing half the competition hasn't even bothered to make anything, and the other half has a stale, cold burger off the McDonald's dollar menu.

I know I shouldn't care, because it doesn't entirely affect me at the end of the day (though I do have to suffer through trying to critique it or get marked off). But still, it's just... mind blowing to me.

[thefandomcassandra]

[Image Descriptions: Five images. The first is a page of fullbody and bust pencil sketches of Ebiwara from Mob Psycho 100. They have fluffy hair, a thick sweater, thick eye bags, and under their left eye is a cross-shaped scar. The text next to them (some of it cut off) says "Division 3 Head X-Gen[sic] They/T[sic] Specialty: pressure points - can lock up opponents energy and movement by forcing energy in[sic] pressure point". The second is a page of fullbody and bust pencil sketches of a fat, dark-haired woman in a tracksuit with diamond-shaped scars on her cheeks like dimples. She is labeled as Tsūren. The third is a page of fullbody, bust, and profile pencil sketches of a a skinny girl with an undercut and bangs covering her left eye. She has a scar on her head, above her right ear, more visible in profile. She is wearing a loose t-shirt that says "BANG!" in an explosion-shaped bubble. She is labeled Seiteki. The text next to her says "-uses aura like a tazer[sic] -battle junkie -big fucking airhead". The fourth is a page of fullbody and bust pencil sketches of a thin man in a black suit, wearing a blank white mask. His face beneath the mask is plain-looking with dark hair and dark, emotionless eyes, a scar running down the left side of his mouth to his chin. He is labeled as Zenkishi, the text next to him says "-puppets corpses/uncoscious[sic] people -D-list terrorist -so fucking boring he wears a blank mask and suit to stand out (it doesn't work)" The fifth is a page of fullbody and bust pencil sketches of a stout woman with short hair in a button up shirt and dark pants with suspenders. She is wearing round glasses that obscure her eyes and has a scar across her throat. She is labeled as Kosa. /End ID]

Info about these OCs and their powers (and spoilers for Champion if you care) below the cut.

My funny little OCs for Champion (and also a canon character I pulled to make the antagonist). Say hi to the Third Division Scars!

Ebiwara is an actual Scar that you see for like...half a second in the World Domination Arc and, sure, the wiki says that he is a dude but it's my world here and I decided I wanted to have someone who uses they/them. (Also he doesn't have any kind of canon specialty so I made one up lol. You can see me lifting from ATLA here.) Plus I realized halfway through that Ebiwara's Third has one (1) man and that was funny to me lmao. "I don't care about Ishiguro's little den of perverts and freaks!" They say, unaware of the irony.

Tsūren was the first I developed and, as a pattern you'll see going on with all the Third, I kinda patched together her name. Hers is a combo of "pleasure" and "pain" because she's a mean fucking bitch and also her aura is bruising and raw meat. Her specialty (cut off the page) is telekinesis used as restraints and to pull limbs past the breaking point. She likes causing pain. She looks cheery and sweet, sure, but she isn't and that's the point lol.

Seiteki was the second (alongside Zenkishi) because I thought "what if someone could use their aura like a taser?" and then i spelled it wrong on the page. She's fun coz she's a little punk and she likes getting into fights. Hence her hand-to-hand combat style and her frustration when someone isn't "fun". Unseen here is that she has dental piercings, a fact that, when I shared it with my friend, got an "eugh". Her name is a combination of "energy" and "accurate".

Zenkishi (once referred to as a "slenderman looking ass") was a little more of a joke than the rest of the Third. Because he wore the mask and suit, I decided he was just so boring and plain to look at that the suit/mask combo was an attempt to stand out among his peers. It didn't work because he's just...there a lot of the times, but it's a funny attempt. My friend is the one who called him a "D-list terrorist" lmao. His whole deal is "what if Mukai's skill but instead of puppets it's people" and then I made his aura beige lmao. His name is "former" and "dirt".

Kosa is the one whose design I plan on reusing coz I like her whole vibe (her vibe being gaslight girlboss). Her power was to kinda mirror Muto from the Seventh Division as the psychic who manipulates people into joining them. But while Muto has his illusions, Kosa has something more insidious: she can change one memory you have of a single moment, influencing your emotions at the time to change how you feel at the present. That's why her aura is the impossible colors one (stygian blue, hyper orange, magenta). She's unassuming until you get caught by her. Her name is "grit/sand" and "liar"

[arwamachine]

For the ask game for fanfic writers: 14, 20, 29, 45, 47 💞

Thank you for the ask!!

14. what’s your worst writing habit?

I continue to think that the first draft has to be as close to perfect as possible - like, all research done, all characters named, 100% of words on the page with perfect punctuation and grammar. I have massively improved upon this line of thought and am waaaaay more comfortable than I used to be with just putting a [name character here] or [end this scene somehow] or [insert fight here] into the text and moving the hell on, but it's still a bit of a struggle

20. what is your favorite trope to write?

Bed-sharing. I love it. Can't get enough of it. I love every single aspect of that trope. Give me more. Give me all of it. Nom nom.

29. give us a spoiler for one of your stories.

John is able to accomplish the Fiver Plan, although it doesn't quite go as expected

45. name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

Oh god oh god oh god... Three??

I feel like I'm pretty much a @discordantwords stan at this point, although that could be because we're secretly the same person. I have so much respect for @calaisreno's works, which are insanely creative and wonderful and have me thinking about more complicated philosophical topics than most professionally-published works I've read recently. I feel like I also need to include @holmesianpose (bittergreens), because their fic Thirst was one of the first I read in this fandom and was the fic that got me thinking that yeah...I'm gonna start doing this fanfic thing too

(oh god but also itsallfine and darcylindburgh and atiki and caitlynfairchild and wordstrings and cwb and standbygo and hudders-and-hiddles and simplyclockwork and PoppyAlexander and and and...)

Future Arwa edit: I always feel like a jerk listing favorite authors, because I feel like I always forget someone (like, since posting this I remembered like half a dozen fantastic authors I omitted). I'm just going to plug Silvergirl's (one of the fantastic authors I omitted) Getting to Know Johnlock Writers collection, which is essentially a collection of all the fantastic authors I omitted

47. what story are you most proud of?

Indefinite Lines, simply because that thing was a BEAST and was fairly involved and needed me to weave past and present-day timelines and also involved a fucking cypher and so much specific and sketchy research that likely ended me up on multiple watch-lists. I love that fic to pieces, though, so it was all worth it ❤️

[leonsrightlations]

[table of contents]

about the novel

The Earth is Online by Mo Chen Huan is a Chinese danmei (BL; gay) webnovel. Although it has romance, it's fairly slow to arrive. The plot is the main focus. The novel's genre is more like sci-fantasy/horror imo. Also, comedy. Here's the summary from the back of the book:

"Ding dong! On November 18th 2017, players are welcomed to enter the game.

Announcing the Black Tower's three ironclad rules -

First, the Black Tower has the right to decide everything.

Second, 6 to 18 o'clock is game time.

Third, all players please strive to attack the tower.

[Loading...]

Ding dong! Have a happy game!"

Further summary from me: The earth's entire population is either eliminated or forcibly recruited as the playerbase for a deadly game. This game is controlled by the Black Tower, an ominous structure that has appeared by the thousands across the globe. Tang Mo, a librarian, is one such player. After entering the game, he awakens a strange ability and gains a powerful prop that links him with another player.

about the translation

This is a casual translation mainly intended as a way to self-study written Chinese. I've decided to post my translations because it's a lot of work to never share with anyone. Please be aware that I'm going to be slow to post and that the quality might not be perfect. Not only am I translating from scratch at a very novice pace, I also work full time and have other things going on in my life. There are other translations available so you don't have to wait if you don't want to.

I'm translating from the official print version of the novel. Since I've never read the original raws, I don't know if there are many differences between the texts. One difference I AM aware of is that the print version has much longer chapters. The first volume is 350+ pages and has only seven chapters. I'm going to do chapter headings based on where the MTLs break off under the assumption that this is where the original webnovel chapters ended.

I started by doing half a chapter a week and I'm currently doing a full chapter a week, but that's subject to change if it becomes too much work or if stuff happens irl.

If you notice any mistakes please feel free to let me know. I would rather someone tell me I got something wrong than continue on in ignorance.

On the off chance anyone thinks about doing it, please don't link me on NU or other similar websites. It's fine if you want to share links informally but since this is such a casual translation project, I don't want to build expectations in others about update speed/completion. I also don't want to get it taken down for copyright violation. Please buy the raws if you can or the official English translation when it becomes available. The print versions come with bonus illustrations (see my icon)! ^_^

[jeonqkooks]

i couldnt agree more with you! i really dont understand why everyone is so hyped over seven. i have to admit it kind of disappointed me with its shallow lyrics. and i dont understand the purpose of the explicit version? i really hate it. and i think its okay not to like every single song they put out, being an army definitely doesnt mean you have to agree with everything they say, do… but i really hope that the rest of the songs in his album wont be so shallow and i really want them to be more unique like the rest of their songs… i feel like with songs like seven you can listen to them a couple of times and then get bored (but maybe thats just my opinion idk). tbh i think jk is just trying to show us something different than what he showed us previously and i dont blame him for that. but im definitely more looking forward to the songs that he will actually write because im sure that he is capable of writing deeper and more meaningful lyrics. and even if the whole album is in english it doesnt necessarilly mean its going to be completely westernized, right? he did say he wants to try new genres… i think he just wants to challenge himself to try something new and i think a fully-english album is a part of that.

either way, i really wish him all the best because i genuinely believe he’s a bit lost and lonely without other members. to me, it seems that the hiatus definitely had the biggest impact on him? but at the end on the day, 2025 is not THAT far away and im excited for when we can see them as a group again💜 jk even said (recently) that after hiatus they will come back even stronger and i think these words are definitely worth lookig forward to💜

p.s. im sorry for such a long message🥲 i just wanted to share my thoughts on here… and i apologize for my poor english😬

if Watt wanted a no brainer song then he succeeded 😂 and yeah i don't like the explicit ver lol someone i follow here said it sounds like they only did it for shock value, which i kinda agree with. the explicit ver cheapened a song that barely had any meaning to begin with (y'all do not come after me for this. you know it's true) but i guess people really wanted to hear him say fuck 😂

true. jk is definitely trying to show a different side of him and good for him, honestly. but i don't think it necessarily reflects in the quality of the songs yk? i think this is more about presenting a new image rather than exploring the sound.

when you say just bc it's in english doesn't mean it's completely westernized, that is also true. but then considering the people he's working with, i'm not holding out much hope for that 😔

the hiatus... yeah :( they raised him, he literally spent half of his life with them and this is the first time he has to be apart from them in like 13 years. also i feel like there's this kinda pressure for them to all release a solo album before enl*sting, so idk if this also plays a part in him not taking the time to focus on His sound himself but yeah just putting this out there

do not apologize for the long message!! i love it i truly truly do. you could send me 50 whole pages of condensed text and i will still be left wanting more. i love that we can have respectful conversations about this :') and what r u talking about, your english is flawless!!