#been a while since i saw some quality japan content

[gear-project]

GG and My Thoughts moving Forward:

I've been thinking about writing down some of my thoughts and feelings about this game saga for some time now...

I've been playing this game series since 1998... and there's a lot of things that, I don't think a lot of people realize about this series that often get glossed over and overlooked.

When I think of "The Missing Link" my earliest thoughts are about the sheer grittiness the series emitted.

The rough sketchy artwork, the crudeness and roughness of some of the characters (Potemkin, Sol, even Kliff had a very down-to-earthiness and intensity that you wouldn't see as often in modern character designs).

It wasn't about sexy or attractive characters... it was about warriors fighting in a tournament... with odd weapons, odd character misfit designs, and a very unique "darkness" that permeated the story.

Assassins, a Psycho Killer, a Ninja, Knights who fought in a bloody war... these are the kinds of characters that appeared in the first fighting game.

There were a few contrasts, of course... a wandering Time Traveler, a child orphan girl with superhuman strength, a one-armed Samurai.

This collective roster, combined with the very intense music, fast-paced combat, and visuals, brought a certain intensity and bleeding-edge forcefulness to gaming that I hadn't seen as much in other games around me at that time.

So, when a game like Guilty Gear X came about... while others might say "more of the same AND better"... there's more to it than just that alone.

GGX brought order to some of the chaos, in terms of mechanics, in terms of exchanges, but it also brought with it a higher bar of challenge compared to the first game. Things like air combos, blocking with Faultless Defense, and even Instant Kills got completely reorganized.

While the artwork wasn't as "rough" as it previously was, the feeling I got from the series was still there: images of Sol biting hard on a sword with his teeth, holding chains in his hands... the "almost holy" imagery of the mysterious girl known as Dizzy. The interactions between characters, while still Japanese, were still something of a higher level of spectacle.

Characters now had even more animations, more actions, and even Roman Cancels... and although the story was simplistic at first... it was the first time we began to see some semblance of narrative that didn't follow the typical tournament format.

I remember when "Heavy Rock Tracks" (the GGX music album) first came out... I was completely absorbed in the music. Every single character had their own unique style of rock and metal, and the pacing fit them very well.

Two of the longest tracks on that album were "Bloodstained Lineage" and "Awe of She"... and those two tracks alone emitted their own unique story and narrative... a narrative you wouldn't see unless you saw the nature of the characters in the story.

But, it wouldn't be until GGXPlus until a console port of the arcade game that we got anything resembling a Story Mode.

But even then, it was more akin to old style visual novels or even just a silent film that we were experiencing... so it was nothing like the modern games that now have a cinematic quality to them.

Around this point in time, Japan enjoyed Manga, Small Novels, doujinshi, Drama CDs, and other content that us in America wouldn't get to experience until years upon years later after it was digested.

It's sad to think that in retrospect, I barely knew anything about this game series that I became so absorbed with, only because of things like language barriers, lack of funding to export content, and simply the differences in culture that occur across the ocean.

When Guilty Gear XX (or as some people call it, X2) began to buzz in the Arcades in 2002, my first impression was that the music was now finally getting the respect it deserved. Live concert music.

The new characters (Zappa, Slayer, I-No, Bridget, etc) were all the topic of discussion in the rumor mill... and I remember Zappa in particular being a fan favorite standout because of the bizarre matchups we would see between players.

It was, around this time that a "split" between those who venerated the Arcade Version, and those who focused on the Console versions, was becoming evident.

You could argue that Ishiwatari was partly to blame for that process, because he was primarily involved with the Arcade business, rather than the home console porting process... so those of us who were more focused on the story had less "clout" than those of us who were more focused on the gameplay.

But, if I had to say who was really to blame for the whole issue... I blame Sammy-Sega for their meddlesome involvement in Ishiwatari's works...

I say this because, if it weren't for them, Ishiwatari would have done things his OWN way, instead of focusing on Arcade ports or "Gaiden" offshoots of a series he should have focused more on directly supervising his narrative of.

Of course Arcades as a business are MUCH more prominent in Japan than anywhere else in the world (even by today's standards), but that is also some of the reason why Guilty Gear was still a niche fighting game in other regions.

Those who lived and breathed Arcade Culture would probably argue that the "Arcade versions" were much more venerable, but from my perspective... I wasn't able to have access to nearly half as many Arcade games in existence by comparison (even as a longtime Mortal Kombat fan).

When I think about it now... I had no interest in #Reload as a game by itself... while it was a rebalance... all it did was change things up and adjust a "few" things that were firmly established in the original GGXX game.

But, things like PC ports, hacks, modding, sprite rips, etc, gave way to more ways to access Reload than any other GG game previously... and this was BEFORE the multi-platform Accessibility monster that was Accent Core.

I think, what really drove me forwards as a fan of GG at that time was Guilty Gear Isuka. It wasn't simply a "party game" like everyone else would tout it to be (not for me, at least). It was a game that experimented with new ideas and put them in a fighting game that nobody else considered doing.

Not even SNK, I'd imagine, thought to turn all their entire cast of characters in to a Arcade beatemup protagonist in the form of Isuka's BOOST MODE. They wouldn't come up with that idea until KOF Allstars a DECADE LATER!

To me though... Isuka had other nuances to it that I enjoyed... unique boss fights, team battles... situations that I never had in single 1 versus 1 battles.

Having a partner fight alongside you, having co-op, or having a free-for-all brawl... all of these things AND the ability to change your character's sprite colors to what you wanted... just added more and more fun to the table than I ever previously thought possible!

Most "competitive oriented" players will laugh and look down on Isuka for the very nature it presented... but I'm sure a lot of Smash Bros players will know what sort of game genre it was going for... and perhaps even appreciate it more in retrospect.

Around this point in time... a lot of GG content was getting recycled... we hadn't gotten anything NEW in a while... other than slightly tweaked movelists and the adjustments to frame data.

Guilty Gear XX Slash... while it was something new, wasn't as engaging as previous entries in that regard, though it did have a few curiosities... like Order Sol and A.B.A., among others.

Sadly, Kliff and Justice didn't get tweaked much in Slash... so they weren't very strong or interesting at that stage of development.

For me, I guess... Slash wasn't really that important a game, as I was pretty happy with the music and artwork of previous game entries, though I found the barebones lack of content to be problematic.

It was of course, because SEGA wanted to cash in on GG as a phenomenon that Slash came about... Ishiwatari had (once again) nothing to do with Slash in production (other than a few things in the Arcade version).

It's one thing for a strong creative director to put his hard work in to a game, but it's another for others to muddy the waters and take that game and just "repeat" what has all been released previously like redunance.

It was about this time, people started drawing comparisons between all the endless "Street Fighter Clones" and reiterations.

All I could do was sigh and nod my head.

I was getting bored with the current form of GG.

When Accent Core came about... my first impression was that the entire thing was an "append" or patch update rebalance that meant to address the glitches and stability issues that Slash and older GG games struggled with.

Even with new moves, like Forcebreaks, and adjustments to Force Roman Cancels, and even Slashback as a new mechanic... none of that really engaged me as a player.

What engaged me as a player... more than anything else... regardless of balance, patch updates, etc...

I wouldn't get what I wanted until we at least got Accent Core PLUS.

It started out as an "append disc", just like your modern patch update equivalent...

But they finally decided to tweak all EX characters, game modes, unlocked content, and even STORY mode had a much more cohesive and structured route of stories (instead of the maze of secrets that was older forms of Story Mode).

But... even despite all the content we got... Ishiwatari was STILL not as directly involved. Even if the story got updated, even if the characters GOT STRONGER... everything was still getting "recycled" to an extent.

Well... "recycled" is one way of putting it, but I don't think I would truly appreciate the game until Extra Menu was unlocked as a feature.

Extra Menu, much like System Editor in Third Strike, is the means through which you can tweak the game's very rules.

As someone who enjoyed Game Genie and Game Shark, among other modding tools... this feature fascinated me to no end... and it also increased Accent Core's replay value by a great amount!

Nowadays, you'll hear lots of people who became obsessed with modern ports of Accent Core Plus R... but to me, Accent Core Plus was the "true form" the game would take for many MANY years.

At this point in time... Guilty Gear as a series (for me) was already starting to lose its appeal.

That sounds weird coming from me, doesn't it?

When I say it was "losing appeal"... by that I mean, other people were losing interest in GG... but for me, the "world" of GG itself, the core story and structure of the series... was still deeply rooted in my mind as a fan.

So when GG2 Overture was announced and released, everyone had great expectations for what would come about.

But it seems, because of the complex nature of Ishiwatari's narrative, combined with the execution issues Overture had (along with technology and legal issues)... well, things just didn't go as planned.

By itself, the story and MUSIC especially, as well as character designs, GG2 Overture is a work worthy of the Guilty Gear saga.. if only the gameplay were better worked out.

Nowadays it's actually very hard to think of a game that works out the battle mechanics of a War Simulator, but applying Fighting game mechanics on top of this makes the game even harder to execute.

If GG2 were remade with today's technology and creativity, I'm sure a lot of features could be made even MORE appealing than they previously were... even to the point that even staunch fans of the "fighting game" aspect of GG would have no choice but to acknowledge such a game.

Of course, I'm simply day-dreaming of GG2's true potential.

For me, I actually had no talent to play through the game's story mode... in retrospect, I had to import a save file just to unlock everything the game had to offer!

As sad as that is to admit... I still appreciate the game such as it is... the story was bizarre enough to be engaging, and even showed a side of Sol few had previously seen: Sol as an intellectual!

I've been dancing around the topic up until now... but lets face the Pink Elphelt in the Room: Port offshoots of GG.

The first games that come to mind are GG Club, GG RoA, Dust Strikers, Judgement, and Guilty Gear Petit (Puchi in Japan)... but also GGX Advance, and Chimaki's Bathtime Adventure (Pro Jumper GG Tangent).

Like Sammy Sega before them... this time it was Majesco who wanted to "cash in" on Guilty Gear in the handheld sector of game-making.

Bizarre handhelds like the DS and 3DS... with their stylus and touch screens... can GG even thrive in such an environment as that?

Well, if you ask me, Wonderswan was a bit of a flop as a console to begin with, even if it had a few niche games on it.

I certainly wasn't very interested in GGX Advance... I had a gray brick gameboy... and I couldn't even imagine a GG title on that thing.

Despite my lack of interest in those games... they did produce "something" in the form of Guilty Gear Judgement.

That black horse of a game explored what Isuka's Boost Mode did, and tried to take the next step... but I would argue that a lot of ideas they tried didn't pan out very well.

Even if you picked certain characters in the game, they wouldn't have a staunch advantage against certain bosses because of the mechanical advantages stage bosses had in that game... so a character like Chipp Zanuff would easily get poked to death by the Plant Boss, for example.

Even if you abused advantages like Dizzy's gamma ray or Axl's long range chain attacks... it didn't feel very much like a fighting game at that point. Just some weird idea somebody had that just happened to sell for a little while.

Now even more of a Dark Horse than Judgement was.... sigh... Guilty Gear VastEdge... where do I even go with that game?

What do I even say?

It feels like the worst possible footnote to put GG on.

Like when SNK decided Pachinko Pachislot games were more important than developing fighting games... that's literally the brainfart that produced (or should I say "hell-spawned") VastEdge.

I'm not hating on the idea of a pachislot game specifically... some of them were decently executed...

But, as a longtime Guilty Gear fan... it felt like a slap in the face to me.

When I first saw it, spoilers for the game were already out and circulating, and the story was either badly translated, or basically unrelated to previous story entries and just entirely arbitrary with its plot structure.

I say that... but Guilty Gear Xrd Sign was just around the corner after this.

What's the first thing that comes to mind about Sign?

I remember feeling excited, for the first time in many years, that a new GG was being developed AND directed by Ishiwatari.

Xrd had boatloads of ambition and potential... but it was still held back by the technology of its era... so in a way, Xrd suffered under its own ambitions and lack of resources, much like GG2 had in previous years.

Sign itself had a more cinematic approach to anime-styled art that many enjoyed... but the simplification of the character models reduced the "rough sketchy details" that older fans of GG enjoyed that Ishiwatari's artwork was more known and famous for.

It was a 3D game now... no longer a 2D sprite-fight game... and that still managed to alienate some people.

Of course... in my mind, the world GG created still hadn't changed much... not yet anyway.

I wouldn't start noticing the changes until during the process of looking at the localization of the game (and subsequent updates) later on.

Minor errors, mistakes, neglectful aspects... little things... began to pile up and add to my... growing concerns.

I didn't realize it at first because I was too busy going over the game's content with a fine toothed comb to really observe my feelings at the time, but...

I felt it strongly after Revelator came out... American fans just didn't get the same service that Japanese fans did.

It was things like community updates, news updates, arcade events... just a series of minor things that most other companies would give away their heart and soul to do for their fans... at the time, ARCSys didn't do much for American fans or Europe.

If I think about it now... I did my best to distract myself with my growing interest in characters like Bedman and Ramlethal... and the new music Xrd had presented us... even the netplay encounters were a "mild distraction" to me... but that gnawing feeling wouldn't shake me so easily.

I played people online, and finally started making name and reputation for myself as a gamer in the community of GG.

I could finally say I was a "decent player"... despite all the years of training and playing "alone" on my game consoles years prior.

But none of that really "mattered" to me.

What mattered was the STORY.

The Story of Guilty Gear.

I didn't start to feel it until I saw "After Story" and the narrative of "Revelator".

GG's story was nearing its conclusion, wasn't it?

When Raven spoke his "farewell speech" to Asuka R. Kreutz... I started to see it.

The years had piled up, before I knew it.

Where did everything go?

Where did the WORLD of GG go off to? That it was in this state now?

Where was the world that I lived in?

The question in my mind... when I face a game and story like that of Guilty Gear Strive:

Where is Guilty Gear going now?

Where's the world going to go?

Lots of ideas "changed" lots of presentation "changed"... even the community is a LOT different than it was in previous years.

Even for me... as a gamer... as a modder even... I started "tweaking" the game's features in mods to suit my own "narrative" of what GG actually was... color changes, model changes, music changes...

But is that really GG?

Or is that just "my take" on GG?

The world of GG that I existed in... to some extent that was "my world" and not anyone elses.

My "Absolute World", if you want to reference Bedman and Delilah.

Nothing ever exists the way you want it to... not perfectly... not exactly.

Even in these modern times... I begin to question if GG was "ever truly meant for me"?

That creeping gnawing doubt I started to feel in Xrd Sign.

The feeling that GG was slowly disappearing... the GG that I knew.

The "Heavy Metal" of yesteryear.

The "Hard Rock" of times past.

The "Density" of the game's mechanics and features... all simplified and reduced to mere shades and shadows of past complex notions.

But, even as someone who studied game modding, I realize that even M.u.g.e.n. incarnations... even if a "boss character" version of a character we've all loved.... therein lies a madness that should not exist in a "balanced game".

Unlimited Characters in BlazBlue, Darkside and Gold Boss characters in Accent Core... boss characters in Arcade Mode.

SNK Bosses, "Nintendo Hard" bosses... those sort of things existed in their OWN worlds... long LONG ago.

And I simply became enamored with them as a concept.

My own distorted notions and expectations for a game that has every right to become whatever the devs want it to become.

But, is that something Ishiwatari wanted?

I ask because I don't know the answer to that question... not yet at least.

I'm sure there's things he "wanted" to do... but there are still limitations... ideas left on the table.

The book on GG's story hasn't closed yet.

The future is STILL an uncertain blank page.

Do I have high hopes for GG in the future? Expectations?

It's hard to say if I even do anymore... but... even if I "mod" the game in such a way that it becomes "appealing" to me once more, as the games of the past did...

I will at least have the wherewithal to share my experience with my friends when I can manage it.

Whether that's powerful Gears like Justice who can fire a huge laser Gamma Ray... or a berserker like A.B.A. who can slash enemies with her Shinigami Axe Flament Nagel...

Or, perhaps, I'll play as Asuka, and showcase how powerful "That Man" has become...

Who knows what the future brings?

But, even if some things don't match my expectations... I will do my best to enjoy what comes.

[25thnightbaam]

It has been a few days since the official announcements of the three Atlus games. I have collected my thoughts on them and will be going over them, as well as some speculation and assumptions on Persona 6. Starting with the two Persona games.

First off, Persona 5 Tactica. Honestly, no matter how many times I've rewatched the trailer, I am not interested at all. The only reason being it's yet another P5 spinoff. I am tired of these spinoffs! Yes yes, we know Atlus, P5 is your moneymaker, but ease up on licensing more spinoffs! When I first saw the leak it did not surprise me to see another spinoff. I said this before, but it will not surprise to see a few more spinoffs. If you are looking forward to it, good for you, but it just doesn't interest me. Maybe if I see more gameplay later, I might gain some interest. For now Persona 5 Tactica is a pass for me.

Next, we got Person 3 Reload! Now this I am interested. Admittedly my want for a P3 remake has waned a bit over the recent years. While my want for remakes of the original Persona or the Persona 2 duology have heavily increased. Disappointed it is neither of the latter, but I'm happy the rumors turned out to be true for the former. I liked what I saw.

Though, some more disappointments have come out since the Xbox showcase. Like the whole voice cast being recast, but this quickly became an interest. Especially since KaggyFilms (Alejandro Saab) is in it! It's been years since I last seen any of his videos and, also, apparently he's a vtuber now! After checking out a Youtube video showing off the new voice actors' previous roles, I am intrigued in hearing their takes on the characters. Then there's the disappointment this isn't going to be a remake/definitive edition of P3. After taking some time to think on this, I accepted it. It's fine. I still got the original P3: FES to re-experience the Answer. And if I want to try out as the Female MC, I could get the recent P3P ports. It helps its cheap, especially when it goes on sale. Thankfully, thanks to a Famitsu interview, it has been corrected that content added in the FES for the main game, will be in Reload (https://noisypixel.net/persona-3-reload-producer-clarifies-fes-story-will-be-featured/). Just not the Answer or Female MC. I've seen some of you saying they could be added as DLC. Spending a bit of time thinking on this, I feel like the Female MC won't be. As they said, this is a remake of the original, vanilla version. The Answer has a higher chance, but not good enough to be DLC too. I will not be surprised if they do have the budget and the resources to do so. It is Atlus. Overall I am still very happy to see P3 remade and modernized. Like this new fans that started with P5 can experience P3 with the quality of life improvements P5 has.

Before I move on to the last announced, and best, game, I'd like to give some thoughts on Persona 6. So far, on Tumblr anyway, I have not seen anyone talk about Persona 6 after these announcements. You may be wondering why I'm bringing this up. Well if you haven't noticed or didn't think further on it, who is the team working on Persona 3 Reload? P-Studio! The team formed in the early 2010s to work on the mainline Persona games and maybe whatever other Persona-related project they pitch to Atlus to work on. If I remember correctly in a recent video posted by IGN, they said they started development in late 2019. Basically, Persona 6 is still years off. Who knows, they might have a small group on the side working on pre-production. Either way it looks like we still have to wait a bit longer for the next mainline Persona.

Finally, we have the best game to be announced from the Xbox Showcase! Metaphor: ReFantazio! I am hyped, excited, happy! I thought this project was dead, but so happy to be wrong! Some of you newer Atlus fans might be confused on this game or never heard about it. Sometime after P5 launched in Japan, Katsura Hashino, and some other heavy hitters of Atlus, formed a new internal studio to work on non-Persona projects, as some of the members were part of P-studio. Their first game was teased as Project Re:Fantasy with some art shown years ago. And here it is, alive and well, now officially titled as Metaphor: ReFantazio! I love everything I saw in the trailer. If I am given the choice to only be able to buy and play only one of these three announced games, it will be Metaphor: ReFantazio.

[beautifulsnake2162020]

Ikevamp headcanons after watching Hamilton

Quick disclaimer: Yes I know this is a show about people who had owned slaves and slavery is bad. Having said that there's a reason why we suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and just allow ourselves to be swept into the story. I also love Phantom of the Opera but I also am aware that this is a story that involves an abusive and toxic relationship. The point is that I am aware that there are problems that needs to be discussed, but I still love the music, the story and the shows okay. This is just fan content not meant to be taken seriously and is just for fun. Okay? Now let's proceed.

I'll be doing Will and Arthur first since I'm currently doing Shakespeare's route and was inspired to do this after MC watches Romeo and Juliet with Vincent and I was wondering how Will would react to watching Hamilton. And Arthur is here because he is my husband/main lover. I might do Mozart and Napoleon next.

SPOILER ALERT: For anyone who hasn't seen the Disney Plus version of Hamilton, there might be some spoilers here (unless you already saw the show or know the story that is).

General Scenario:

You don't know how but Le Comte was able to get the filmed version of Hamilton, a musical which you've told Sebastian that you've been dying to see but was never able to because tickets were always sold out and entering the lottery was going to be a little too expensive for someone who lives in Japan and who doesn't exactly have the money or the time to simply fly to New York if in case she won. You were also excited because apparently Le Comte was able to modify the 21st century tech room that you use for your online classes and was able to get a wide screen and high quality surround sound which made you appreciate his efforts. A part of you was also curious as to how the other residents would react. You were scared that some of them might take offense, especially Napoleon who knew one of the characters in the show in real life. Would they react weirdly for seeing people different from them portray people that they knew? You were also wondering if they might even appreciate some of the 21st century slang that you and Sebastian would sometimes slip back into whenever it was just the two of you alone. After talking it out with everyone and explaining a few more things (like how its probably going to be different since it is a series of captured pictures-or at least that's your closest analogy- being played super fast with the synchronized sound of the actors- or what you were almost tempted to call "Techno Magic") during a dinner in which Shakespeare had decided to be present in, they were actually interested in what this show is about. Napoleon convinced you that he's fine and actually someone else playing Lafayette might even help with the suspension of disbelief since its been awhile since he has last met him anyway. Will even mentioned that while he has read and heard about stories from America, this is probably going to be the first story or production he's going to see from it. The only one who showed any hesitation - to no one's surprise - was Mozart, since he is attached to the kind of music he is familiar with (aren't we all?). But after prodding from both Jean, Le Comte and you giving him the puppy eyes, he finally relents. The day comes when everyone was once again free and for practicality everyone decided to have a meal first so that they won't be hungry during the show and also for you, Le Comte, and Sebastian to explain a few things everyone else may need to know to truly appreciate the show (like how the Presidential system and elections worked during the setting, what the word "Rewind" means, what is beatboxing, etc). So finally everyone gathered into the tech room after the meal, the lights were dimmed and once everyone was settled, you hit play. And as self-predicted of you, you find yourself crying in the end.

William Shakespeare (I'm still doing his route so please don't hate me if I get him wrong. Also no spoilers please).

- He was a bit shocked at first by how exactly up close you could see the facial expressions of the actors as well as the various ways it would cut to another person. He could now understand why you struggled with trying to explain how its played in a theatre but not exactly like the theatrical experience. But as you saw in your periphery, by the time Philippa Soo sings her first line, Will had already adjusted and allowed himself to be an audience and shut off his director and actor mindset (for the most part at least).

- While he didn't specialize in musicals, he found himself paying attention to the story of "the ten dollar founding father without a father." He knows how music could help both the actors and the audience in succumbing to their emotions in a scene and to suspend disbelief from reality. In his productions the words are not overwhelmed by any score but rather complemented to bring out the emotion he wants to evoke and for actors to show. Since many parts of the show has been influenced by the spoken word style without completely removing it from being sung, he has become enlightened with how powerful a show can be when it is done right.

- He not only enjoyed the story (especially the flow of it) and the production (especially some of the more technical details that the other residents hadn't noticed as far as a stage production is concerned), he loved that even the ensemble members had good acting and some of the onstage humor. One of the meta things he enjoyed was the obvious reference to his most superstitious work.

- Once you've seen how he loves analyzing the technical details of the production, you excitedly tell him about a special member of the ensemble who is known as "The bullet" among fans of the show. You could see him being enlightened as he watches the show with you again (this time with just the two of you) and he now sees "the bullet" and the way she interacts with the characters in a whole different light. He was so impressed with this idea that he may have adapted it into one of his new original plays (its not a copy paste of Hamilton's "bullet" but he definitely adapted assigning a member of the ensemble to have a special role that may not be significant at first, but he heavily notes that this member would have to be unique in interacting with any of the other characters).

- He didn't know what to expect from a 21st Century production but he found himself impressed with the prose and writing of various raps and songs. His favorite from Act 1 in terms of rhyme schemes was "Right Hand Man" and from Act 2 it was Jefferson's rap in "Washington by your side". And after settling down a bit his favorite emotional parts were "History has its eyes on you", "Hurricane", and "It's quiet uptown".

- He was impressed with how the double roles was given and how it actually is true for both of their roles in both acts. Ambiguity is one of his favorite things to have in a work, and he gives props to Lin for all the ambiguity he later realizes was in several parts of the show. If he and Arthur had been a little bit more closer, they probably would have bonded over the ambiguity Hamilton's comma in his letter to Angelica (see kids, grammar matters).

- A part of his brain wonders how the real life Hamilton would react to this and if him and Burr would still be enemies. But after some thinking he decides its not worth his efforts of asking anyone to bring them back since a wonderful production of their life has already been made even if it may not necessarily reflect who they truly are. He of all people knew what it's like to be inspired by great figures, it was fortunate that Lin Manuel Miranda decided to make a show about them before he had the chance to.

- You explain that in America Hamilton is one of the lesser known founding fathers of their nation and how it may be because his political opponents later on became Presidents and therefore was able to form the narrative. He becomes inspired by it and begins to search out people or stories who are hidden gems who may not be historically famous but had much more interesting stories than some of the ones he has heard of.

- Afterwards once you are sure that he has gotten comfortable enough with the genre you show him various videos of people rapping to his works and his reactions range from impressed to amused to "that's not what I mean when I wrote that" and you had to calm him down and explain that they can't hear him anyway after he started giving serious critiques on what the text means.

Arthur Conan Doyle

- While he was knowledgeable about many things, America's founding fathers was not one of them. He along with the other residents have gotten used to any rumors or exaggerated accounts of their lives and you and Sebastian have already warned that this is just a fictionalized production of the real person. As a writer of some historical fiction books he argued that he of all people was aware that any work based on history will speak more about the creators rather than the actual people they are writing about most of the time. He was nevertheless interested as to why you have become fascinated with the treasury secretary (and maybe it was with a twinge of jealousy that you began to expressly show admiration to another man even if he wasn't among the residents in the mansion). After all unlike many other residents of the mansion, on the surface it seemed that Hamilton was similar to Theo who mainly played a supporting but crucial role to his brother. He was thankful that you didn't hold it against him and was comforted that you were in a similar place. You even told him that the only thing you really knew about Hamilton before listening to the soundtrack and watching "Animatics" was that he was in the ten dollar American bill.

- And as someone who has delved into writing historical fictions, this was probably one of the most entertaining productions about a historical figure he has seen. He's going to be honest with you in that at first he was wondering if revealing Burr shot Hamilton in the opening was going to hinder him from enjoying the show; but he was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case at all. As a matter of fact it now made him want to find out who the real Hamilton was (although a part of him doubts if the real Hamilton had any regrets at all). According to him, this is why as a fictionalized historical work, the show is a success because it makes you want to find out more about the events and figures of the story (even if it means looking at darker realities that they did). And while the real Hamilton may be a lot different from what was shown, with all the things he went through and all the things he has done (for better or worse), he now wonders why exactly Le Comte hadn't approached him since he seems to be no better or worse than the average resident ("He and Newt could probably discuss mathematics all day."). You then explained that his political rivals (Jefferson and Madison from the show, and Monroe who wasn't shown in the musical) had later on become Presidents and was able to shape the narrative away from Hamilton. "Ron Chernow made Hamilton's biography because he was the lesser known founding father who was fading into obscurity among Americans and Lin read the book and recognized the story of someone who has risen through his writings. And to Lin that was also the story of hiphop." While he wasn't involved in politics as much as Hamilton was, Arthur had enough experience to know what it feels like to have those kinds of people in power. He also knows just how powerful it is to be in "the room where it happened" and how sometimes the real decisions weren't being made in an office but rather in either a private party or the right bar when people in power had their guard down and were more susceptible to being influenced.

- He could relate a lot with Hamilton on many things that he's only comfortable allowing either you or Theo to see. From being just so much more aware of death's inevitability coming for every living thing to survivor's guilt even though a part of him knows its irrational (but sometimes the emotional nonsense just overtakes our perspectives and actions). It's why he could understand Hamilton's need to write as much as he can before he dies. It's why for a time in his human life he had deviated from writing about Holmes and ventured into other genres. He could also relate to the need to prove what type of person he was, and how to go beyond his tragedies to serve people in their own ways. Hamilton did it as a soldier and the creator of America's financial system. And he is doing it as an informally practicing doctor and as a writer. It's a need that he's trying to mitigate since you've repeatedly told him that he doesn't need to prove anything to you or to anyone and to write whatever he pleases. But he also can't deny that it's still somewhere lodged in the back of his head.

- Just like William Shakespeare, in terms of the wordplay found in rap and the ambiguity present in the show and how those things were executed made him amazed and momentarily speechless. He was especially fanboying about "The comma after dearest" and how this essentially shows how important grammar was. It went to the extent that afterwards whenever he would write to you he would address you either as "My dearest, Y/N" or "My darling, Y/N" with special emphasis on the comma (sometimes you could see how there's more ink in the comma than some of the actual words. That's how much he wants to emphasize that you hold the title of dearest or darling). And you excitedly share with him some of the trivia knowledge of the show (like how in real life it was Angelica who originally made the comma mistake by writing to Hamilton as "My dear, sir" in one of her letters and it was Hamilton who was asking her what the comma means and even replied with "Ma chere, soeur") and how Angelica really did reference the Icarus metaphor in one of her letters to Eliza. And even though he wasn't a major musical nerd (he sang for fun), he would now join you in watching Howard Ho's Hamilton videos musically analyzing Hamilton (and would probably try to find a way to use this knowledge to annoy Mozart in some way).

- Speaking of music: Maybe it's because he's biased in his love for you but aside from Sebastian he's probably the one who has no qualms about the hiphop genre and was immediately into the various wordplays that rapping allowed. And because of this his favorite characters in terms of rapping are the ones played by Daveed Diggs (probably more than Hamilton himself even though you've explained that Lin is the one who wrote the whole thing). He even adapts to how Daveed as Jefferson would say Isaac's third law and incorporated it into his "let's tease Newton" kit. That's when you know he really loves Daveed Diggs ("Every action has an equal opposite -" "WILL YOU PLEASE STOP SAYING IT THAT WAY?! I didn't mind the first few times but this is ridiculous Arthur" "It must be nice, it must be nice to have a Newton on your side"). And his favorite character emotionally was Angelica (her raps in Schuyler Sisters and Satisfied may have helped).

- Speaking of the Schuyler Sisters, after watching it with you another time (this time with just the two of you) one of his favorite things to say is that you've got the best of all three sisters within you (Angelica's wittiness and intelligence, Eliza's cares for the more important things in life, and Peggy's humor) with the sexiness of Maria Reynolds. But because he sees all 4 of them in you he has the benefit of not needing to choose among them. Having said that there will be a period wherein he teases you if he makes you "Helpless" or "Satisfied" (and you respond either by kissing him or singing "That would be enough").

- Whenever you would sing as one of the Schuyler sisters he will join you as any of the male characters the moment he masters the soundtrack and could even sing it without the music. His favorite rap songs are "Guns and Ships", "Washington on your side", and of course "Satisfied". He also really loves "Non-stop", "the 10 duel commandments", and "The room where it happened". But his favorite sequence is from "the Winter's Ball" all the way to "Wait for it". Since it has romance, a shocking revelation, and gives insight to the perspective of the antagonist. He's also one of the first people to attempt to learn the choreography whenever he's in one of his mental blocks in writing. Of course he makes sure not to injure himself.

- He posts song lyrics to keep himself motivated in his times of mental block "There's a million things I haven't done. But just you wait" and "I'm not throwing away my shot" frequently appear around his desk.

-And whenever he's feeling low or insecure, just like Eliza you remind him to "Look around, Look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now."

[thetravelerwrites]

Monster Match 33: Futakuchi-Onna

The Traveler's Masterlist

For @artless-whimsy : “I'm a bi cis lady, she/her. During non-pandemic times, coffee shops are my natural habitat. I'm quite small and get cold easily, but love sweater weather. My passions include cat/kitten rescue, reading, long walks, D&D, writing, and mental health advocacy. I write and edit for fun and profit, and I crochet to help manage my anxiety. I'm shy but friendly, and my family says I talk too fast. :p

In a partner, I love wordplay and being able to talk for hours, particularly about stories, but the most important thing is kindness (whether that's something that comes easily to them or something they work hard at). I'm happy to be the talker that draws someone else out, as long as they give me something back. My love languages are quality time and physical touch, but my partner's don't have to be exactly the same.

Monsterwise, I love creatures that are pretty but deadly (or misunderstood)—think vampires, faeries, ghosts, shapeshifters, demons—but honestly? Please just have fun with it; I can't wait to see what you come up with! As for NSFW-content, I'm happy either way and would rather you write what you're inspired to! I do love kisses, and I think I'd prefer more lime than lemon, if you go that way?”

You’ve been matched with a Futakuchi-Onna!

A futakuchi-onna, or "two-mouthed woman," is a type of Japanese monster characterized by their two mouths; a normal one located on her face and a second one on the back of the head beneath the hair. The origin of a futakuchi-onna's second mouth is often linked to how little a woman eats. In many stories, the soon-to-be futakuchi-onna is a wife of a miser and rarely eats. To counteract this, a second mouth mysteriously appears on the back of the woman's head. The second mouth often mumbles spiteful and threatening things to the woman and demands food. If it is not fed, it can screech obscenely and cause the woman tremendous pain. Eventually, the woman's hair begins to move like a pair of serpents, allowing the mouth to help itself to the woman's meals. While no food passes through her normal lips, the mouth in the back of her head consumes twice what the other one would.

TW: Eating Disorder, Abuse, Mental Illness, Hospitalization

“Cute girl!”

“Shut up!”

You looked up from the counter at your favorite cafe and tried to find the source of the voices, but you only saw one woman sitting alone by the window. You could tell when you looked at her that she had been staring at you and had looked away just as your eyes met.

“Talk to her! She’ll leave!”

“Stop it!”

“Hey,” You said, walking over. “Are you okay?”

She sighed and looked up with a strained smile. She was Asian and very pretty, with long, dark hair flowing down her back, though she seemed rather thin, perhaps unhealthily so.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” She said. “I have… a… growth or something.”

“That talks?” You asked.

“Unfortunately,” She replied, turning in her seat. Her hair lifted of its own accord and sitting among the tresses was a mouth, identical to the one on her face, except with sharp teeth.

“Hallo!” It said at you.

You blinked in surprise. “Well then.”

“Yeah, sorry,” She said with a sigh. “I used to hide it, but it’s gotten so loud lately that it’s just easier to explain and wait for people to run off.”

“Well… I mean, it’s unusual, but I don’t see why people would run off in this day and age.”

“If people look human and then aren’t, it weirds people out.”

“I get that, I guess,” You said, sitting down. “So, does it have a mind of it’s own?”

“No, no, it’s just says what I’m thinking but don’t normally say out loud.”

“So you think I’m cute?”

She looked up in shock and blushed hard. “Oh… I was hoping you hadn’t heard that.”

“You’re pretty cute, too, you know,” You said, smiling. “Can I buy you a coffee?”

“Oh!” She said, a surprised, shy smile creeping across her face. “Yeah, thanks, that would be wonderful.”

Her name was Kyoko and she was a yokai, or Japanese demon. She’d apparently once been human and became a demon over time, which is something that happens pretty regularly to both humans and animals in Japan. By the end of having coffee, you’d left with her number and a promise to see each other again.

The two of you went on a few dates together, and it was about a month before you realized something: you’d never seen her eat. Not once. Maybe as a yokai, she didn’t need to eat, but you’d seen her drink coffee and tea and things, so you weren’t sure. You decided to ask her about it.

On your next date, you went to a local park to feed some ducks. The mouth on her head was chattering incoherently. It was doing that more often, you noticed

“Hey, Kyoko?” You began, throwing out some peas and corn for the ducks to peck at. “Can I ask you something kinda personal?”

“Yeah, sure,” She said, holding out a handful of oats.

“Why don’t you eat?”

“Hungry!” The voice in the back of her head said.

“Stop!” She said, smacking the mouth lightly. She took a heavy breath. “I’m a futakuchi-onna. Do you know how my kind are created?”

“No,” You replied.

“It happens after years of under-eating and malnourishment,” She said. “In stories, it’s usually a stingy, selfish husband that causes a woman’s suffering, but for me it was my mom.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mom used to make fun of me because of my weight. I wasn’t even that overweight, but she decided when I was really young that I needed to diet and start fasting. She would make me not eat for days, and then feed me broth twice a day to make me lose weight quickly. She used to say that if I wasn’t thin and pretty, no one would ever love me and that I’d never be worth anything. Around my eighteenth birthday, the mouth appeared. My mom kicked me out when she found out I was a monster.”

“You’re not a monster, Kyoko. Your mother is.” You took her hand and squeezed it. “Why has it been getting so loud recently?”

She looked away. “I haven’t been very nice to myself recently. The mouth eats at night when I’m asleep, so I don’t eat during the day because I don’t want to gain weight.”

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten anything while you were awake?”

She shrugged. “Two weeks?”

Your mouth dropped in shock. “Kyoko, that’s not good! Are you seeing anyone about this? Like a therapist? This is an illness and needs to be treated.”

“I know,” She said, ashamed. “But I don’t want anyone to judge me or…” She stopped when her hair grabbed a handful of the oats and stuffed it in the mouth. “Stop it!”

“Come on,” You said, getting up off the ground and holding out your hands. “We’re going to the hospital.”

“What?” She said. “Why the hospital?”

“You need help now,” You told her. “I’ve been concerned about you since the day we met and this just confirms my fears. I don’t think we should wait.”

“Will you stay with me?” She asked, beginning to cry.

“Of course I will,” You said, pulling her into a tight hug. Her hair wrapped around you. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The doctors discovered that Kyoko was thirty pounds underweight and immediately recommended that she enter an inpatient rehab facility. Kyoko sobbed but agreed to go. You swore you would visit her as often as they would let you.

The two of you visited at least twice a week and talked to each other on the phone every day. Despite the fact that you couldn’t be with each other while she was in treatment, you’d grown very close during that time. After sixty days, she was released. She had lost her apartment during the time she was in rehab, so you moved all her things into your apartment and asked her to stay.

You went to pick her up and take her home, and she threw herself at you, laying a big kiss on your lips. It was the first kiss the two of you had. She looked radiant.

“How are you feeling?” You asked.

“Better,” She said. “The mouth hasn’t spoken in weeks and the staff said it quit trying to sneak food days ago.”

“That’s wonderful, babe, I’m so proud of you.” You gave her another kiss and set her down, taking her hand and squeezing it. “Let’s go home.”

To get your own Monster Match, buy me a Kofi!

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Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[obeyme-kaidii-writes]

Bath

Leviathan x gn!MC

Words - 3713

Content Warnings - some angst, lots of anxiety, LOTS of comfort

Prompt/Inspiration - none

Summary -  You and Levi decide to take your first trip together, and you’re excited about the possibility of finally getting to be intimate with your favorite demon.

AO3

This weekend was going to be amazing. You had planned everything down to the last detail, and there was absolutely nothing that was going to dampen your spirits.

A couple weeks ago, you and Levi had FINALLY started dating. Your confession had been the result of a really awkward text exchange, but it all worked out in the end. Levi was still his shy, introverted self - but he was slowly opening up to you more and more as your relationship became more intimate.

Your current excitement was due to the fact that he had suggested that the two of you go on a trip together - alone - for the first time. He had really shocked you by making such a suggestion, but his reasoning was that if you were alone, he’d be better able to relax since he wouldn’t need to worry about his brothers meddling (especially Mammon). And you agreed - it made a whole lot of sense.

After talking with Lucifer, you had also managed to get permission to turn this into a human realm trip as an extra layer of privacy. Lucifer understood all too well how determined his brothers could be at interfering, so it didn’t take much to convince him that leaving the Devildom was a necessity.

And now the day of your trip had finally arrived and you had just finished checking into your hotel.

Ever the dutiful partner, you had even gone so far as to arrange for your stay to be at a traditional Japanese hot spring inn. The cherry on top being that you managed to reserve a room with its own private open air bath too. You and Levi would get to enjoy the entire inn experience without a single worry in the world about your time together being interrupted. It was perfect.

“This is so amazing!” Levi said, as he bounced around the room, carefully examining all the details, “I never thought I’d actually get to go to Japan! And be here in person!”

You smiled as you watched how enthusiastic your boyfriend was. He was just beaming, and you loved seeing him like that. That smile alone made this entire trip worth it.

When Levi finally managed to pull himself away from his exploration of the room, he saw you had been staring at him and flushed in embarrassment. He knew he had let himself get carried away, but he was so incredibly happy right now he couldn’t help it. Not only was he finally getting some quality time with you, he was living out every otaku’s fantasy date.

The sight of Levi blushing just made you laugh, which of course, only made him blush more. You decided to show him some mercy and slipped your arms around his waist for a hug so he could hide his face if he wanted to. And he didn’t hesitate to either.

“Thank you, this is amazing. YOU’RE amazing,” he said as he pulled you closer and buried his face in your shoulder.

“That’s what I should be saying to you. It was your idea, you know. Thank you for asking me.”

Levi didn’t say anything in response, but instead tightened his grip on you as you did the same. It was such a sweet, quiet moment between the two of you, and you honestly didn’t want it to end.

“Well, I guess it’s time for the main event then, huh?” you teased.

“Th th the what?” Levi lifted his head to look at you, blushing even harder than before.

“The bath silly. You said you wanted to take a bath together,” you laughed.

“Oh. Ha. Right.” You felt Levi relax in your arms. Even though you wanted to tease him a little more about what he had been imagining, you decided to hold off for the time being.

Up until now, your physical relationship had consisted largely of cuddling, kissing, and some very heavy petting. But you had yet to go further than that since Levi seemed to need to take things slow. You were more than happy to accommodate him, of course. You knew how hard he was trying and how much he wanted to be closer to you - he just had a lot of insecurities and a lack of experience to contend with. Just knowing that he wanted to get there was enough to make your heart sing.

Tonight though, was going to be the first time the two of you were naked together. Levi had thought it might be easier since he’d be partially submerged in the water, so it wouldn’t be like you were looking directly at each other. Plus water itself relaxed him. Since you didn’t have any objections, you agreed.

You finally let Levi go and opened up your nearby suitcase, “Here. I’m super picky about towels so I packed my own. I brought robes too.”

You handed Levi a large, fluffy towel and a lightweight, oversized bathrobe, before picking up your own and heading to the bathroom to get changed. While you were gone, Levi quickly did the same.

It wasn’t until he started picking up his discarded clothing off the floor that the reality of the situation finally started to hit him. He was actually naked under that robe. And you were in the next room. Also naked. Maybe even more naked. You might not have even put your robe on yet.

Levi felt his pulse quicken, and his anxiety started to rise. He didn’t have long to think about things however, because you returned just then, bundled up in your robe, and shoved your clothes back into the suitcase.

“Alright, you ready?” you asked, trying hard to contain your excitement. You just couldn’t wait to be able to wrap your arms around Levi and rest your head on his shoulder. You had so much affection you were waiting to give, and now you were finally getting your chance.

Levi didn’t answer you right away, so you took a step closer and took hold of one of his hands, giving it a gentle squeeze, “Hey, why don’t I go ahead and go first? Then you can have a minute to relax, yeah?”

“Mmhmm,” Levi grunted as he nodded his head. Yeah that’s all he needed. Just a minute to take a few deep breaths and to clear his thoughts and then everything would be ok.

“Ok, great.”

You pressed a quick kiss to Levi’s cheek and made your way out of the room to the private bath area outside, leaving Levi alone.

But as soon as you left, his thoughts started to race. Was this really a good idea? Was he actually ready for this? You’d be so close to him. What was he even supposed to do? Hold your hand? Hug you? Could even touch you? Or would that be too creepy? Would you be grossed out if he tried to move closer? Where was he supposed to touch you anyways? Would an arm around your shoulder be too friendly? Would a hand on your thigh be too pervy?

And even if he could figure out what to do with his body, what about you? What were you going to think once you saw him? Would you be disgusted by him? What if he didn’t measure up to your expectations? Were you going to want to touch him too? Would you be fine if all he could manage was holding your hand? What if he disappointed you because he didn’t let you as close as you had hoped?

What was he going to do?

————

It had been 10 minutes since you had come out and removed your robe and climbed into the bath. But you had been prepared for that. You knew how anxious Levi could get, and you saw that he was starting to get a little worked up after changing clothes, which is why you decided to give him a bit of space to collect himself.

But as the minutes continued to tick by, you started growing concerned.

15 minutes had passed now. Maybe you should go check on him? You didn’t want to walk in on him when he could be naked (for his sake), but you were more than a little worried now. After weighing your options, you decided to chance it, and just keep your eyes down low while you walked as a precaution. So you climbed out of the bath, bundling yourself up again in your robe, and headed towards your room.

Once you were standing outside your door, you realized that it was still slightly ajar and hadn’t been slid shut yet. Through the crack you were able to hear what sounded like heavy breathing and the occasional choked back sob. Your stomach instantly fell: something was wrong with Levi.

“Levi?” you called to him, as you stepped inside the room. You didn’t notice him at first, but it didn’t take you long to finally find him with his back to the wall, just beside the doorway. His knees were drawn up to his chest. And he had his head buried in his arms, as he tried desperately to calm himself.

“Levi…” He hadn’t acknowledged your presence when you entered the room, so you weren’t even sure if he was aware of it. Seeing him like that made your heart ache, and you carefully sat down beside him, wrapping your arms around him as best you could.

You sat like that for awhile before Levi finally started talking.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I ruined everything…”

“Hey, Levi, that’s not true. That’s not true at all,” you said, sitting up a little so you could get a better look at him. You started to run your fingers through his hair, something you knew he liked and he found relaxing.

“Yes I do. I did. I am. I ruined this.”

“Why do you think it’s ruined, babe?”

“Look at me. I’m such a loser I can’t even get into a bath,” he said, his voice starting to waver again. He had just got himself to stop crying long enough so he could talk to you, and now he was about to start up again. Why did he ever think he could do this? Why did he think this was a good idea? Or that he could make you happy? He should have just stuck to 2D. He wasn’t cut out for 3D. He’d never be able to make you happy at this rate.

“Hey, we don’t have to do the bath. This was supposed to be fun for you. If you’re not having fun, we don’t have to do it,” you said, speaking softly and gently as you continued stroking his hair, “It’s ok Levi. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”

“How can you say it’s ok?! How is any of this ok?!” he snapped. He had never yelled at you before, and even he was surprised at the sharp edge to his voice. Just another thing he had messed up, he thought.

“Because it is. I promise you it is. I’m not upset with you,” you said.

You then pressed a kiss to the top of his head, resting your brow against him for a moment as you tried to figure out what else you could say to reassure him. When you felt him move slightly beneath you, you sat up, watching as Levi turned his head to the side to look at you from under his bangs.

“How can you be ok with this? This isn’t what we planned.”

“I planned on spending a weekend with you, Levi. That’s all.”

“...but the bath…”

“Was a nice perk. But not more important than you,” you replied. You rested your head on his shoulder and continued to comb your fingers through his hair, your arm draped along his back. He was still so tense, but at least his breathing had evened out some and he was no longer crying so hard.

“Would it help if we kept the robes on?” you suggested after a while.

“....could we?” If he was able to do that, it would eliminate a lot of the very things he was so stressed about. He still felt guilty that his own inadequacy was ruining all your plans, but at least he could do something with you this way.

“Yeah, of course we can.”

You stood up first, then offered Levi your hand to help him up off the ground too. He kept his head down, hiding behind his bangs, so you couldn’t see how awful his face looked. But you weren’t having any of that, and you stepped closer and brushed his hair out of his eyes, before giving him a soft smile.

“That’s better,” you said, cupping one of his cheeks with your hand before kissing the other, “I like seeing your face. You ready?”

Levi gave you a small nod before taking the hand you offered him. You led the way to the bath, careful not to walk too fast and to match Levi’s slow, nervous pace. He was still apprehensive about all this, and hadn’t figured out what he was supposed to do once he was IN the bath. But you would occasionally give his hand a light squeeze as you walked, and it reminded him that he was here with you and that was really the most important thing.

Once you reached the bath area, you carefully climbed in, taking a seat, and then waited for Levi to join you. Very cautiously he climbed in as well, being extra careful to make sure his robe didn’t float up as he got in, and then sat very stiffly a few feet away from you.

“Can I come over there?” you asked.

Levi nodded again so you scooched over until you were next to him. He flinched slightly when he felt you up against him, and then instantly felt ashamed of himself for doing so. But you either didn’t notice or just chose not to say anything about it, and instead raised your hand out of the water, palm up, and offered it to him.

“Can I hold your hand?”

He carefully took your hand in his, as you snuggled up next to him and laced your fingers together. The familiar feeling helped him relax just a tiny bit.

“I don’t know what to do,” he finally admitted, in a small voice scarcely above a whisper.

“That’s ok. You don’t need to,” you replied, resting your head on his shoulder, relaxing and leaning into his side.

Your response left him confused. What on earth was he supposed to do if he didn’t even know? But before he could even try to imagine you what you meant, you continued…

“All you have to do is ask. It’s not like you get bonus points for figuring it on your own,” you said with a laugh, “Just ask me what I’m ok with. Just like I asked you.”

Oh. That...made a surprising amount of sense. But even if that was true, it didn’t solve the problems he was having about wondering what was appropriate and what would creep you out. Was it worth the risk to ask about something when it might just upset you and make you want to never see him again?

“How are you feeling? Is this ok?”, you said, checking in with him. You could tell that he was still anxious with how his leg was gently bouncing next to yours, but at least he didn’t seem quite so freaked out at having you close, which was a win in your book.

“Yeah...I think so.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he said, giving your hand a small squeeze and resting his head on yours.

“I’m sorry if I made you feel pressured.”

“It wasn’t you. It was me. I’m the weirdo that couldn’t even take a bath.”

“You’re not a weirdo because of that, Levi,” you said, lifting the hand you had been holding out of the water so you could press a soft kiss to the back of it, “You have a lot of other things that make you weird, but this is not one of them,” you teased.

Levi laughed softly to himself. Why were you so understanding? He gave your hand a soft squeeze, before finally relaxing and leaning into you. Sitting with you like this wasn’t so bad. Sure it wasn’t the fantasy date he had imagined, but it was still quiet and peaceful all the same. No one there to pop in and surprise you. Nothing around to distract him. Just you and him.

Feeling reassured, Levi decided to take your advice and ask you for something, “Do you...umm...can I hug you?”

“Of course. You can always hug me,” you said, releasing his hand and wrapping your arms around his waist in a sideways hug as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders, and pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

That was surprisingly easier than he thought it would be. He felt some more of his anxiety melt away as he held you there, just enjoying the feeling of having you in his arms.

It wasn’t long after that that Levi was finally relaxed enough to talk like normal. The two of you exchanged jokes and laughs. He was smiling again, and your heart warmed at the sight. You had been worried that maybe this entire thing had been a horrible idea after you found him too worked up to leave the room, but he was much more like his usual self now and that gave you hope. All you really wanted was for him to enjoy himself. It wasn’t often you managed to drag him out of the House of Lamentation and you wanted to make the most of it. And even if you may not have grown physically closer during this trip, you knew you had definitely gotten closer emotionally and that Levi trusted you just a little bit more.

After a while, you had started to grow drowsy so you knew it was time to get out and prepare for bed. You still had two more days left of your trip, so you really needed to rest now to make sure you had the energy for all the sightseeing Levi had wanted to do tomorrow.

As you snuggled into your futon, you felt Levi climbing in beside you. You rolled over on your side, tucking one arm under your head as you watched him with a smile on your face. Once he had settled he also turned to lay on his side facing you, and his hand soon found yours, twining your fingers together. Even though it was now dark in the room, Levi couldn’t bring himself to look at you from so close. You wiggled a little closer to him and curled your body towards him until your forehead rested against his, eyes closed.

Despite all the other anxieties he may have, cuddling up to you at night was not one of them. Something about the darkness and the warmth of the blankets made the whole thing so soothing. There wasn’t that fear of feeling like he was being watched either - so even if he was a little flustered it wasn’t as obvious, allowing him to pretend that he was a bit more confident and less of a nervous wreck than he actually was. He wondered if maybe next time he could try things like this...in the dark, next to you, under a blanket.

“...are you sure you’re ok with this?” Levi asked, finally having found his courage. He had been hesitant to ask you again, scared that you might have changed your mind, but he also really did want to know if you were happy right now.

“Yeah, I am,” you said as you lifted your joined hands and kissed his, “Very happy,” you continued, kissing his hand again.

“Even though this is all I could give you?”

That question made your chest tighten. Did he really think this was something you were settling for?

“Levi…” you gave his hand a gentle squeeze, before rubbing your thumb along the back of it, “Cuddling you isn’t some consolation prize,” you said, finding his legs under the covers and tangling them with your own. You couldn’t see it, but he was blushing now.

“I’m really happy I get to be here with you. We have time to figure out all the other stuff later. I’m not in a rush. I just want you. Just like this.” You shifted your body once more so that it was a little closer to his, and unconsciously he did the same, pulling you nearer with his legs, holding your hand just a little bit tighter.

“I know how hard you’re trying, you know. Don’t think I don’t notice it. I do. And that means more to me than anything.”

Levi pulled your arm to his chest, holding it there, feeling your warmth seep into him. You were so warm. As much as he wanted to be ready now, and wanted to impress you, he also truly enjoyed moments like this that made everything else seem so trivial. Why was he even worried so much earlier? You understood him. You didn’t pressure him. You were happy with him how he was. You never asked him to be something he wasn’t. He was safe with you.

“...I love you.”

“I love you too, Levi.”

As Levi started to drift off to sleep, he felt you give him a gentle kiss on the lips and he couldn’t help but smile. You were always so sweet and kind to him, even though he didn’t think he deserved it. He wished he didn’t doubt you, and himself, so much sometimes. And it wasn’t that he was scared of being intimate, he was just so concerned about making himself look foolish or worse, making you uncomfortable. He was still learning where that line was between “ok” and “not ok”, but the more moments like this he had with you the more confident he became. Soon, he was going to make this up to you and show you just how much he loved you, in a way that only he could.

[eryiss]

Ship: Freed x Laxus

Rating: Teen

Prompt: Soulmates

Summary: THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM. A week-long experience guaranteed to find you your soulmate. Laxus had dismissed it as nothing but crap, and brought himself a ticket to prove it. It would have gone well, if it weren’t for the handsome guy running the program who kept catching his eye.

Notes: This was written as part of Fraxus Week 2021, as always hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. Check out their blog to see all the other content.

Links: Event Masterlist ||| Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction

THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM

Year: 2055

Location: Tokyo, Japan

"Laxus Dreyar," A robotically cheerful voice echoed through the room. "Please step into the preparation area."

Rising quickly, Laxus strode through the reception room and towards the door that had lit up. The animated emoticon projected onto the wall followed him as he walked, and the glass door shimmered out of existence as he approached. Once through the archway, the glass flickered back into place, and the emoticon went back to its unanimated state. So far, Laxus had yet to be impressed by THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM.

It claimed to be an experience that will end up matching an attendee with their soulmate. You paid your fee, gave up a week of your life, trusted in the system that it would work, and supposedly you'd end up meeting the love of your life. Laxus was only there to disprove it.

Well, also because Ever had paid for it, and he knew how much it costed. But mainly he went to disprove it.

So far, he'd undergone a full body scan, had his social media accounts interrogated, and submitted a completed questionnaire that covered everything from best first date ideas to how he dealt with the inevitability of death. This was apparently so the algorithm could create a profile for him, and was not reflective of how the program would be. According to the guidebook Laxus had absently flicked through, the morning of the first day was slightly tedious, so to better match him with potential lovers. It all seemed stupid – as far as Laxus was concerned, romance was born out of coincidence and chemistry, not a list of things you liked and didn't like – but he was willing to undergo it all just to prove how it was a waste of money.

Each day, he would go on an 'Experience' with a match. It was a simulation of a first date, purpose built to the two people's shared interests. Some people went on candle lit dinners, some people went into an escape room, some people were stranded in the middle of the ocean with only each other for company. Every experience was tailored to the participants.

At least it would be interesting.

Laxus walked down the corridor, following the neon arrows that pointed him to another shimmering glass door. The pretentious modernism of the building was obvious, and it showed off every ridiculous advancement in technology in the most frivolous ways. It couldn't be a more obvious money-making scheme if it tried.

As he walked through the door, he saw a man standing at a podium. His date, perhaps.

Well, if that was the case, they at least knew his type.

Tall, long legs with some obvious lean bulk to them. Well dressed, in clothing that clearly was trying to highlight his physique but not in an obvious way. His face, looking down at the tablet attached to the podium, was sharp and angular, with high cheek bones and a slightly jutting chin. A mole rested below one of his vibrant eyes, and a long main of flowing green hair hung down to his waist. He was hot and Laxus grinned; at least he would spend a bit of time with a sexy guy.

As Laxus approached, the man looked up with a polite smile. He didn't make a move towards him, as Laxus expected, and continued to tap on the tablet before him. The lights gained a bright blue and the small room illuminated itself.

"You must be mister Dreyar," The man said in lieu of a greeting.

"Yeah, nice to meet ya," Laxus nodded, stepping forward and offering the man a hand to shake. He took it; he had a good grip on him. "Guess you're my date for the evening."

"Ah, I'm afraid not," The man denied, and Laxus frowned a little. "I work here, I'll be overseeing your simulations throughout the week as part of a quality control test. You'll meet the man who you've been set up with in the simulation itself."

"Thought the system was supposed to be automated?" Laxus asked, retracting his hand, and taking a step back.

"It is. A few times a year someone is called to watch over, to make sure it's as streamlined as possible," The man looked back down to his tablet again and began typing, and a small bubbling of curiosity grew in Laxus. Nothing he'd act on, but the face of concentration on the man was an attractive one. "I'm surprised you weren't informed beforehand; I must admit. It's in the contract you signed that this could happen, but the company does like to warn people before things begin."

"It ain't a big deal," Laxus shrugged, looking around the small room. "I ain't really sure how this part of the process works, so maybe you could help. I didn't catch yer name, either."

"Freed Justine," The man introduced himself, smirking ever so slightly. "In a moment you'll walk through those doors," he motioned to the aforementioned doors, "and the simulation will begin. Your date will walk through another set of doors, and you'll meet then. We like to have dates meet for the first time mid-way through a simulation, as it feels more natural than meeting beforehand. Once you've spoken for a while, the activity of the simulation can begin."

"How do I know what the 'activity' is?"

"It's normally fairly obvious. If you were, for example, white water rafting, you'd be placed on a dock with a boat already attached to the rapids," Freed explained, looking up from the tablet again. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Laxus would have rather known what he was getting into before it happened, he felt like it would give him an advantage. He couldn't dwell on that, though, as the floor below him lit up. Pulses of light seemed to guide him to a corner of the room, where an odd glass cylinder stood. Clearly they were informing him that he was to get inside the cylinder and, after a nod from Freed, he did as he was instructed.

The cylinder closed as he stepped in, and a flicker of nervousness dwelled inside of him as the glass seemed to seal itself shut. He glanced towards Freed, who gave him a short smile, before a flash of light erupted from above. It only lasted a moment, and Laxus took a second to understand what had happened.

His clothing had changed. Where once he wore an outfit he saw as worthy for a date, he now wore a tee-shirt, shorts, and sneakers.

"The hell?" He murmured under his breath.

"That's the outfit that best fits what kind of date you'll be having," Freed explained as the glass unsealed and Laxus could step out. "Partly it's to better round out the simulation, but I think it's mainly so we don't get sued for property damage should your actual clothes get stained or damaged."

"How romantic," Laxus murmured, before looking down at himself. "Am I having a date in a gym or something?"

"Yes, actually. One of your shared interests is combat sports, so you'll be placed in a boxing arena," Freed said after looking towards the tablet. He thought for a moment, then frowned. "I probably shouldn't have told you that."

"Glad you did, I like being prepared," Laxus shrugged. "Boxing's hardly romantic, though."

"For the right person, it is," Freed retorted. The lights around the simulation door lit up green, and Freed smiled. "Speaking of the right person, the simulation is ready, so when you're ready please step through. I hope you enjoy your date."

"I'll certainly try," Laxus nodded. "And if I don't, I get to punch the guy."

Freed laughed, and Laxus approached the door and refocused his attention on his goal on disproving the systems worth. He knew that the guy in the simulation wouldn't be his soulmate. If the company was worth it's price, then they would have understood that Freed was a better match for him than some random guy who happened to like to box. Still, once this was over and he'd disproven their complete success claim, he might get Freed's number. It wouldn't be a waste of time.

---

"So he wasn't the love of your life, then?"

That was what greeted Laxus as he walked into the preparation area outside of the simulation. It had been a day since his first date, and Freed stood before his tablet again as if he'd been waiting for Laxus to approach. He probably had.

"Wouldn't be here if he was," Laxus shrugged. "You saw how it went. Hardly compatible."

"I suppose not."

The date itself wasn't awful, in fact it was pretty fun. As Freed had stated, he'd been taken into a simulation of an old-fashioned boxing gymnasium, where he'd met the guy. He wasn't bad looking, and in pretty damn good shape, but they hadn't been destined for a relationship and they both knew it. Though Laxus couldn't say it was time wasted, as they'd exchanged information and said they'd workout together at some point. Laxus had always found it hard to find a spotter who could match his weight, and the guy could certainly do that and more.

"The first dates don't typically be where people settle," Freed continued, tapping at his tablet, perhaps setting up the next simulation. "The first half of the week has a low success rate, honestly. I believe it's mainly collecting information to better inform the matches later in the week, so don't be disheartened."

"I wasn't," Laxus shrugged. "If I'm honest, I don't believe this is real."

"I thought as much," Freed chuckled. "Though you probably shouldn't have told a member of staff that. It might taint my view of you."

"What are you gonna do. Throw me into a simulated volcano?"

"I could," Freed grinned, and it was a pretty nice look on the man. "But the real danger is that you say it to a member of staff who's gone through the program and who met their partner through it. They can get somewhat defensive, and they'll do whatever they can to make you believe it will work, and they'll be rather annoying while doing so. It's something I know from experience."

"You ain't been through it?"

"No, I'm hardly in a rush to find someone," Freed shrugged a little. "I believe that these things will happen when they're meant to, so why force them? And yes, before you point it out, it's hypocritical of me to say that while working here."

"Never been tempted?" Laxus asked.

"Of course. I know you don't believe it but I've yet to see someone leave the program without meeting someone they eventually fell in love with."

Freed didn't seem like the kind of guy to say bullshit like that for no reason, and the honesty in his tone didn't feel as though he was parroting a line from a corporate memo, so maybe he did believe it. Admittedly Laxus hardly knew Freed, so he couldn't make too many judgments about his person, but the fact he seemed to believe that this could find him true love was a little intimidating. A pragmatist like Freed – that's what Laxus thought him to be, anyway – wouldn't say that if he didn't believe it.

A horrible thought suddenly hit Laxus. He might actually find someone who he might fall in love with. That was… worrying.

"You won't need to change clothes today, your date won't require it," Freed said, looking up from his tablet again.

"Good to know," Laxus nodded, trying to ignore the nervousness that was filling him. "You gonna tell me what I'm doing?"

"No," Freed shook his head. "For all we know, if I didn't tell you yesterday, the date might have been entirely different."

"Nah, I don't think so," Laxus chuckled, walking towards the podium Freed was standing behind and leaning on it. He grinned at the man, who looked up at him for a moment before averting his eyes. "Tell me, I'll complain about you to yer manager if you don't."

"What a horrible threat," Freed said sardonically, though he did look down at his tablet again. "It's a fairground with a circus performance at the end. And apparently your date is something of a gymnast, and so there's a high chance that he'll get on stage and perform for you."

"Is that gonna be impressive or is it gonna make me wanna claw my eyes out?" Laxus laughed.

"He's a professional athlete, so I suspect the former," Freed grinned a little.

They chatted for a few minutes more, and eventually the lights around the door lit up again and guided him towards his second date. Laxus pushed off from the podium he was still leaning on, ignoring the teasing comment that he should adjust his posture if he wanted to impress his future husband, and walked through the door and into the simulation of an outdoor fairground. As he crossed the threshold, he didn't notice how his nerves had disappeared completely.

---

"I'm startin' to think your program ain't as good as you're saying it is."

Laxus spoke as he walked into the preparation area, and Freed looked up with a small grin on his face as he approached. Laxus had the slightest falter in his step as he saw that Freed had his hair tied up in a high ponytail, rather than using the low band he'd had on the two previous days. Seriously, the simulation had matched him with two random men and not the beauty before him and yet still claimed to be the best matchmaking system in history. Ha.

His second date hadn't been bad, exactly. The guy was hot in his own way – and someone with a scene/punk interest would have been all over him – and he was entertaining the entire time. But he was a little too much for Laxus. Constantly wiggling eyebrows and euphemisms. Good for the right guy, but not for Laxus.

"We're still collecting data, every date is an improvement on the last," Freed waved off the complaint. "For example, you seemed to enjoy the games you were playing, so a bit of friendly competition is something you'll like in a relationship," Laxus had to admit, someone who could challenge him was a turn on, so the system had gotten that right about him. "That's certainly been taken into account for this date."

The way he'd said the last sentence, with a hint of amusement and restrained laughter, made Laxus nervous. He didn't push the topic, partially out of fear.

"We'll see how confident you are when the week's over and I've turned everyone down," Laxus shrugged.

"You're determined for this to fail for you, aren't you?" Freed asked with amusement, and Laxus didn't deny it, instead choosing to shrug. "Is that why you're here, do you see yourself as the man to take the system down and prove how much of a scam it is? Because we've had literally hundreds of people try that and we've yet to have an unsatisfied customer."

"How do I know they've not been silenced?" Laxus joked, grinning as he walked closer to Freed. "Or worse, you killed 'em, blended their bodies up and sold it as a health drink or something?"

"Because we're not in a poorly written young adult novel?" Freed chuckled. "We actually just burn the corpses, it's much less messy."

"Knew it," Laxus laughed. "You gonna tell me what you're gonna put me through today?"

"Absolutely not," Freed grinned. "And I won't move on that today. Because nothing is going to please me more than seeing your reaction to it."

"Why, it's not weird is it?" Laxus frowned, looking concerned now.

"It depends on your definition of weird, I suppose," Freed smirked, and if it weren't such an attractive expression on the man then Laxus might have taken issue with it. "I'll simply say, I expect it's weighted slightly more towards what your date will enjoy rather than what you're going to enjoy."

"Or you could just tell me what's gonna happen," Laxus prompted, and Freed shook his head.

"You'll require an outfit change."

Laxus sighed a little, apparently the topic was to be dropped. He walked to the glass pod in the corner of the room and allowed it to close behind him, and he turned to look at Freed in expectation. Freed pressed something on the tablet and the light flash of light filled the cylinder a moment later, the same chill running over him as his clothing was replaced.

When he saw his reflection, Laxus found himself more confused than anything. He was only wearing swimming trunks and a large life-preserver. He could swim fine, so didn't know what the hell the point of that thing was, and turned to Freed again in confusion.

Freed, who had apparently been looking at him, immediately turned away, and Laxus could see his cheeks redden.

Huh. Had Freed been checking him out.

"You really not gonna let me know why I need to wear this?" Laxus asked, stepping out of the pod, and lifting one side of the life-preserver. Freed looked back to him, pointedly looking only at his face, cheeks still covered with the slightest dusting of a blush. Laxus wanted to focus on that, and maybe flex his abs to see if he got a reaction, but instead spoke again in a jovial tone. "You know if I drown in a simulation, I'm gonna get a lawyer right?"

"I doubt that will happen," Freed said, seemingly forcing himself to shake off the blush. "It's just a precaution."

"You wanna tell me what it's a precaution against?" Laxus probed.

"No," Freed grinned again. The lights above the door lit up, and Freed's grin widened. "And it seems you'll be finding out now."

Laxus wanted to push the topic more and find out what he was going to endure, and he very nearly ignored the flashing green lights and did just that. He almost did, if it weren't for the fact that he also wanted to take off the life preserver and give Freed an unhindered view of his chest to see what happened, so he clearly wasn't in the right mind to be making decisions. He was trying to disprove love could be found in this place, flirting with the guy was hardly helping his argument.

As he had the previous two times, Freed wished him luck as he approached the door. Thie time, though, it was tinged with amusement, and Laxus felt a swell of anticipation as he walked through the door.

The simulation was… interesting. It took Laxus a moment to realise he recognised what he was seeing, and a further moment to remember what it was. When he was a kid, his grandfather had watched old reruns of a gameshow: Wipeout. It was a ridiculous set of obstacle courses, where idiot contestants tried to win money but usually ended up looking like assholes, falling into water after being hit by giant mechanisms covered in foam cladding. It was cheap entertainment where the contestants were there to be laughed at, and apparently Laxus was going to be enduring the damn thing.

He turned around quickly, watching as the doors flickered out of existence, Freed's smirk being the last thing he saw.

---

The moment Laxus walked into the preparation room, he was met with a bursting of laughter. He crossed his arms, watching as Freed tried and failed to retain his laughter. It took longer than it should have, and it was tempting to shake the bastard. He would deserve it if he was laughing at what Laxus thought he was laughing at.

"It ain't that funny."

"Oh it truly was."

Laxus grit his teeth. His third date had been the most interesting, that was for sure, but it had also been ridiculous. He'd been forced to go through three stupidly weird obstacle courses, competing against his date, who was a loud-mouthed idiot with stupidly pink hair.

Multiple times, he'd been pushed from the course and into the unnecessarily cold water. The loud cackling from his date seemed to be shot straight into his ears the moment he broke the surface of the water, and the man's amusement at Laxus failing seemed to double each time it happened. During the last round, when he'd been knocked down a slope of gushing water by a barrel of all things, Laxus had to stop himself from swimming over to the man and clocking him on the nose. He'd probably be kicked from the system, so he talked himself out of it and instead put his focus onto winning the game. He had, and the brat annoyingly wasn't bothered at all.

"He was fucking annoying," Laxus muttered as he walked closer to Freed. He leant against the podium again, closing his eyes in exasperation. "Good luck finding him a guy to match with."

"Actually he's on his fifth day here, and everyone other than you said they wanted to match with him," Freed informed him, looking over the tablet. He was being cagey in letting Laxus see the screen surely the next date wouldn't be as bad as the last. "So you're the outlier in the set. He's remarkably easy compared to you."

"Honestly, kinda offended by that," Laxus muttered.

Freed breathed out a laugh, before placing the tablet back onto the podium. Laxus didn't spare it a glance, and instead looked towards the clothes-changing pod to see if he would need a new outfit. Seemingly knowing that, the pod lit up and directed Laxus to enter. With a small sigh, he did.

Once inside, the flash went off and his clothes were replaced by the appropriate outfit. Thankfully, this time he'd been replaced by an actual normal outfit. A dinner suit, perfectly tailored for his body. It was entirely black and white and, while he definitely looked good in it, it wasn't exactly what he would have chosen for himself. He liked his clothes to have at least a splash of colour, and suits could have that in a tasteful way when done right.

"Before you ask, you'll be having dinner today," Freed informed him as he stepped out of the pod. "Fairly simple, but I think that's more than earned. Most people only have one peculiar simulation, you've had nothing but."

"Lucky me," Laxus murmured. "Wanna tell me about the guy?"

"No," Freed shook his head. "Though I should say, it's at this point in the program where the system starts to understand what you're looking for. So it's entirely possible that he might be the person you end up with."

"I doubt it," He rebuffed, glancing at his reflection in the pod.

"Just go in with an open mind, that's all I ask," Freed said, typing on the tablet again. "The gentleman you've been set up with supposedly has a ninety two percent match with the data on you we currently have. There's a good chance that this might go well if you let it."

"You know I wanna disprove this, right?" Laxus grinned. "I ain't gonna help you."

"Well, lets make a deal," Freed smirked. "If you go into your date with an open mind, I'll promise not to put this on YouTube."

Laxus went to ask what, but the lights lowered, and a projection appeared on one of the blank walls. Watching the video, Laxus felt his blood run cold and his body tense, and a glare was soon aimed at Freed for what he'd done. The grin, which could only be described as shit-eating, he got in return only went to further annoy him.

The video was of Laxus' previous date. All the instances of him falling off the course, and into the water, had been put into a montage, with ridiculously obnoxious circus music blaring behind it. Laxus looked like a damn asshole. When the footage slowed down, showing him getting punched in the face by a foam-covered fist, only to lose grip of the handholds and fall face first into a pool of mud, Laxus openly growled.

"Delete this."

"Absolutely not," Freed smirked. "You heard my terms. Give your date a chance and I'll make it disappear. If not, the whole world gets to see you looking like this."

"Yer an asshole, you know that?" Laxus asked, though he couldn't help fighting a grin.

"I do," Freed nodded, and Laxus barked out a laugh. "And your date is ready for you. Have fun."

Laxus waved a hand towards him, walking towards the door and adjusting his jacket as he did so. He supposed he would give this date a chance, just to avoid the humiliation of that stupid video being leaked onto the internet. If it went well, then he'd meet a guy he might be interested in. if it didn't go well, then he could spend the entirety of the next day planning some kind of revenge on Freed for forcing him to endure such a night. That would be fun.

---

The date had been… interesting. Freed was right, the guy had certainly been the closest to someone Laxus would consider getting into a long-term relationship with, and that had somewhat spooked him after the date had ended. He'd been completely certain that he wouldn't meet anyone even close to what he wanted, and hadn't allowed for any deviation from that mindset. Having that belief challenged was worrying.

The guy was smart, silver tongued, and pretty sexy. He wore a suit to perfection, knew all the right things to say, and was flirtatious by nature. Which was all good, and certainly wasn't a turn off, but it wasn't enough for Laxus. He was all too focused on flirting, and didn't show off the other facets of his personality, which Laxus had wanted.

But if he had done that, what then? What if he had a good sense of humour, or was passionate about random things and would happily speak of them for hours? Laxus liked men like that, and his date had been dangerously close to that.

What if he'd gotten Laxus to match with him? What would happen then?

Those thoughts were plaguing his mind as he walked into the preparation room. He hadn't prepared himself for actually meeting someone, certainly not someone he wanted to get serious with. Laxus didn't get serious with guys, he was more of a love them and leave them kind of guy. It was part of the reason he wanted to disprove this place; not everyone was looking to find a guy to settle down with, and Laxus saw himself as one of those people. But the entire selling point of THE S0U1MATE SYSTEM was that it matched people together in relationships that would last.

Who even was he when he was in a relationship? Would he be one of those people who obsessively cleaned their home to impress their partner? Would he have to constantly be thinking about dates and things to do? Would he have to buy the guy flowers? He didn't know how to do that shit. He didn't think he even wanted to do that shit.

"Laxus," Freed asked, cutting through Laxus' growing panic. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, fine," Laxus lied. He didn't say anything else.

Freed didn't push conversation, apparently noticing that Laxus wasn't in the mood for their conversations. Laxus walked to the small sofa that he'd previously ignored, sat down, and listened to the gentle tapping of Freed's fingers against the tablet. He closed his eyes and tried to drown out his thoughts.

He wasn't ready for the date this time, because if they were meant to get better each day, then the guy he'd be matched with next might one day become someone important to him. What if he fucked the date up and the guy didn't wanna match with him? What if the guy was perfect for him and he didn't feel anything? Maybe he'd spent years sleeping around, never being with the same guy for longer than a month, and it'd fucked him up somehow.

"If you'd like to enter the pod," Freed prompted, and Laxus looked up to see the clothing pod lit up.

Doing as he was told, he walked into the pod and waited for his clothes to change. After it happened, he felt that his pants had been replaced by something uncomfortably clingy, and he frowned a little. The frown turned to a grimace when he saw his reflection.

"The fuck?" He demanded.

He was dressed in all green, wearing tights and a slightly sparkling tunic. He looked fucking stupid; even more stupid that he had on the damn Wipeout video. He gaped at his own reflection, not entirely sure what to say. The whiplash from emotional turmoil to embarrassed confusion was overwhelming.

"The fuck!" He repeated.

"You'll apparently be performing as Peter Pan for your next date," Freed informed him, and something close to dread built inside of Laxus' stomach. What the fuck? What the fuck! How the fuck had anyone thought that was something he'd enjoy? Who could think he'd wanna be with someone who wanted him to… to perform on stage while looking like an asshole?

"I fucking am not." He snapped.

"The system states that you'll have a very high matching rate with her," Freed replied, before frowning. Laxus also turned to look at him. "You only wanted to be matched with men, didn't you?"

"That's right," Laxus nodded, voice low. It had set him up with a woman?

Freed looked down at his tablet, face scrunching slightly for a moment as he swiped and tapped at the glass, and Laxus tried not to enjoy the sight. He seemed to understand something, flicked on the screen a few more times, and the pod Laxus had left lit up again. Laxus frowned, looking towards it in confusion before turning his gaze back onto Freed.

"There was a blip in the system. Apparently your date and another man's date were mixed up. If you'd like to step into the pod again it'll give you your actual outfit."

Relief flooded through Laxus. There were certain things that he would have outright refused to do, and making an ass out of himself on a stage, dressed like a glorified pixie was certainly one of them. But the contract he had signed said he was obligated to undergo all simulations if he didn't find a match, as not doing so would harm the reputation of the company unfairly. Would Freed had forced him to do it if he hadn't noticed? Laxus hoped not, but he couldn't be sure.

The new outfit was a lot more simple. It was normal clothing, with a large winter coat and, he realised a moment before he tripped, his shoes had been replaced by ice-skates. He knew how to skate, so it wasn't a problem, and compared to what he'd nearly had to undergo, this was perfect.

"Would I have had to do the fucking performance if you didn't notice it?" He asked.

"I'm sure the system would have picked up the mistake before you went in," Freed dismissed, tapping on the tablet, and lighting the door to the simulation room. "You should go now. Don't want to keep him waiting."

Laxus glanced towards Freed, not commenting on how obvious Freed was being in his dismissal. He walked through the door to see an ice rink empty of everything but one man, who was skating towards him. As Laxus skated towards his date, all he could seem to think of was how much better this was than Peter-Fucking-Pan.

His previous nerves about the date were the last thing on his mind.

---

"So here's the thing," Laxus said as he walked into the prep room. "I think you lied to me yesterday."

"Lied about what?" Freed asked.

"This is supposed to be the most successful, most advanced matchmaking system in the whole world, right? It's unmatched and has years of coding and advancements in technology inside of it, right?" He asked, and Freed nodded. "So it kinda seems a little bit bullshit that it wouldn't understand that a guy who's gay would only wanna go on a date with other guys. Feels like that's one of the basic things it should get right?"

"That would be a fair assumption."

"So, if that's right, then it seems unlikely that it'd just happen to me. Seems even weirder that it'd happen conveniently when there's a guy watching over the sessions to pick up the mistake," Laxus walked towards Freed, maintaining eye contact. "All seems coincidental."

"I suppose it does."

"Yeah, it does," Laxus nodded. "So why don't you admit that you're the reason it happened."

"If you already know, what would me admitting to it do?"

Laxus laughed. He didn't know what he had been expecting when he decided to confront Freed with his realisation, which had happened half way through the date with the guy, but he hadn't thought he'd get an honest admission without a moment's guilt.

He wasn't angry about what Freed had done. If he'd gone on the date wearing the costume then he'd certainly be pissed off, but in reality he'd only worn the stupid clothes for a minute or two, and Freed had quickly replaced them with what he was actually meant to wear. In reality it was just a weird thing that Freed had decided to do for a reason Laxus didn't quite understand.

"You really just wanted me to look like a jackass?"

"No, that was coincidental," Freed admitted. "A happy coincidence, mind you, but not the reason I did it. You clearly had gotten overwhelmed by the possibility that the system might actually work, and you were getting in your own head about it. You needed to be shocked out of your own self-doubts, and it was the easiest way to do it. A simple ice-skating date is hardly a challenge when you've just avoided something ridiculous that you'd never enjoy."

Oh, that was actually kinda nice. Weird, but nice. Not what he expected. It was almost flattering, in a way, that Freed had chosen to help him at all.

Of course he couldn't actually say that. He'd entered the room with a build-up of energy, having expected he would need to force the truth out of him by repeatedly asking him. He had been so certain that it would take their entire time together, and it would end with Freed laughing and Laxus trying to salvage his own pride back. He'd half thought that his costumed self would be edited into the fucking Wipeout video to further add to his embarrassment. A kind, if not slightly odd, action was hardly what he expected.

"So, is it actually automated?" He asked, instead of voicing his thanks because it was the only thing he could think of saying. "Or have you just been saying it is while doing everything yourself."

"No, it's automated, but I can override anything should I want to, which is what I did."

"Show me," Laxus demanded.

Freed nodded, moving slightly so Laxus could stand beside him in front of the tablet. Laxus stood behind him, trying to ignore the fact that this was the closest he'd been to Freed, and he could almost feel the heat radiating off him. It was hardly an appropriate thing to think, particularly when he was going to be on a date with another man damn soon.

He focused on the interface. He saw a quick flash of what his date would be – another meal with a guy – before Freed overrode the system. He pressed a few buttons and ended up controlling the clothing pod. He loaded the program up, and was given a large interface of different outfits, all with pictures to show what they'd look like.

"It's surprisingly user friendly," Freed said, pressing a random outfit and loading it into the system. "Now if you went inside, you'd be wearing that."

"So even I could do it, then?" Laxus asked with a grin, and Freed faltered beside him.

"I suppose."

"What you did for me was pretty nice of ya, but I still ended up like an idiot in a costume because you made me wear it," Laxus mused aloud, and Freed audibly sighed beside him. "So if you think you're getting away without me turning the tables on ya, you're an idiot."

"I probably should have expected that," Freed murmured to himself, and Laxus laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder, and gently guiding him towards the pod. Freed didn't fight him.

"You should have," Laxus agreed, pushing him into the pod before Freed could second guess anything.

He stood at the tablet a moment later, knowing Freed was watching him. He swiped down the hundreds of outfits before inspiration struck him. He pressed the button for the search bar, typed in his idea, looked over the ten or so options before picking the one that looked the most ridiculous. He added it into the system, pressed the apply button, and grinned as the pod flashed with light. A moment later, Freed was revealed, and Laxus burst into laughter.

Freed looked ridiculous. Dressed entirely in an old-fashioned jester's outfit, purple and yellow, with a stupid hat covered in golden bells. He looked at himself in the mirror, crossing his arms unimpressed as Laxus guffawed at him.

"Holy shit," Laxus cackled. "What kinda date would need you to be dressed like that?"

"The system needs to cover all bases," Freed grunted, expression showing annoyance, but Laxus felt like a smile wanted to break through when the bells on his hat jingled. "Can I have my own clothes back, please?"

"We've got a couple minutes before the sim starts, that's enough time to have fun," Laxus grinned, scrolling through the recommended costumes. He found one, applied it to the pod and activated it.

A moment later, Freed was dressed as a circus clown, and Laxus spluttered into laughter all over again.

"Very mature," Freed mumbled sarcastically, though his words were slightly nasally because of the large red nose he wore. "I'm glad you're having fun."

"I am," Laxus grinned, holding back sniggers as he took in Freed for a moment before he began scrolling again.

This was an opportunity that he couldn't waste, and he'd get the man in as many stupid costumes he could before the date began. He quickly settled on a vampire costume that looked equal parts cheap and ridiculous. Once he applied it, he was slightly disappointed to see that Freed managed to pull it off with startlingly good looks. It was twenty-fifty-five, nobody should be able to look good while wearing a cape.

"The fact you're not complaining about this kind of takes the fun out of it," Laxus teased. "You like dressing up or something?"

"Not particularly, but I'd rather you be doing this than stressing about your date," Freed shrugged, seemingly all too comfortable dressed like a vampire. "Night six has the highest success rate. I thought you'd be panicking, this is better."

Laxus paused for a moment, but didn't say anything. He instead found another costume, and grinned when he saw how little it suited Freed. A clean-cut man like Freed didn't make a good caveman.

He fiddled with the tablet for a little while longer, flicking between costumes. Freed managed to make them look better than he had any right to do, but some of them looked ridiculous and Laxus decided to enjoy those as much as he could. A small timer at the bottom of the screen told him the simulation would be ready within the minute, and in a scramble to further annoy Freed, Laxus quickly picked a random outfit from the selection of superhero costumes. He had applied it before the lights to the simulation lit up, and smirked.

The smirk fell when he looked towards Freed. He'd expected it to be a cheap thing covered in cushioned muscles. The reality was… snug. Too snug for Laxus sanity, truly. He'd expected that Freed was hot as well as handsome, but having it clarified wasn't helping things. The guy was muscular, had a tight body, and biceps that strained against the fabric. Laxus pointedly didn't look down. That would be too much.

And he managed to pull off a bright red cape too. How? Capes were stupid. Not hot.

"You've had your fun," Freed said, and Laxus found solace in looking at his face rather than his very, very visible body. "May I have my own clothes back before you start your date?"

"Why?" Laxus asked as he stepped away from the podium. "Can't you do it yourself while I'm in there?"

"No, I can't," Freed muttered, and Laxus grinned.

"That kinda sounds like a you problem," He smirked, and Freed's face darkened for a moment as he stepped out of the pod. His cape billowed behind him and Laxus smirked. He patted the man on the shoulder. "I don't wanna leave my date waiting, after all," Without any reason to, he actually winked at Freed. "Enjoy your walk home, Superman."

As he entered the sim, he was fairly certain those few seconds of seeing Freed blushing unabashedly would be better than any date the system had in store for him.

---

"Is there something wrong with me?"

The high of messing with Freed hadn't lasted throughout the date, and the feelings had been replaced with a maudlin sense of nothingness. That was a feeling Laxus couldn't seem to get rid of throughout the day, and had persisted as he walked into the preparation room for the last time.

On paper, his date was his perfect man. He was intelligent and suave, well lived and happy to talk about his passions. He was hot, had the long hair that Laxus had always favoured on men, and had been pretty good company. He knew the guy was into him, and he felt like he should have reciprocated the attraction. This man should have been ideal for him, and yet Laxus had felt like he was going through the motions. It made him wonder, if that man wasn't right for him, then who the hell would be?

"What makes you say that?" Freed asked, who had been hunched over his table, furiously tapping at it before he'd entered.

"You said most people match with their sixth date. The guy was nice, good looking, we had interests in common," Laxus muttered. "Didn't feel anything for him."

"That doesn't mean there's something wrong with you."

"Maybe," Laxus didn't believe it.

He'd wanted to be the person who ruined THE S0U1MATES SYSTEM'S reputation. He'd wanted to be the person who proved that soulmates were pointless because they didn't exist, and even if they did, a computer program wouldn't be the way to find them. He just hadn't realised that, if he did prove that to be true, it would feel like a punch to the gut.

The system had a complete success rate! Everyone who had ever been involved found love. It was fact. Laxus was apparently going to be the exception to that. He was the first unlovable person to enter the program, and he would be the idiot who couldn't get a boyfriend no matter what.

It was shit. It was just fucking shit.

"Laxus, they're just dates," Freed said softly, placing a hand on Laxus shoulder in a comforting gesture. It felt like fire against him. "We dress them up with fancy technology, and we can explain the science in a way that makes it sound impressive, but a date is just a date. When you get two people together, they can fall in love within a moment, but they could also hate one another. That can happen to anyone, no matter what the statistics say."

"The statistics ain't got it wrong with anyone else."

"And you don't know that they have with you. People wait for the seventh night, and it works out for them," Freed assured him, the hand now gently massaging him. It was electric, and Laxus could almost allow himself to be thrilled by it. "And even if the man isn't the person you end up with, you'll find someone at some point. Don't put this on some kind of pedestal, all you'll be doing is meeting a man for the first time."

"The guy's meant to be my soulmate," Laxus scoffed. "It ain't exactly like meeting for coffee."

"It is what you make it, Laxus," Freed placated him. "Not matching with him isn't a failure of personality. It's just a thing that has happened, and it doesn't shape you."

"I guess," Laxus muttered, not exactly confident in his own words.

"You will find someone Laxus," Freed said firmly. "You're fun, intelligent, confident, good looking. A man is out there, and he will find you. Just give him time."

Freed didn't say anything else, and instead patted Laxus on the shoulder and returned to his tablet to do whatever it was he did. Laxus looked down at the floor, his nerves and self-pity only slightly at bay as he tried to agree with what Freed had said. He had come into the program wanting to prove that it was false, and he should have known this would be the outcome.

Focusing on his own problems, he didn't notice the slight change in posture from Freed. His eyes had widened, and he was tapping somewhat manically at the tablet. His teeth were gritting together and his heart hammering. A moment later, he stood up, and Laxus frowned when he saw how tense he looked.

"Don't overreact to this," Freed demanded, voice too calm. "This is a glitch, nothing else. The system has flaws, this is apparently one of them."

"What?"

He took a moment before speaking again. "Apparently you haven't been matched with someone tonight," Freed spoke quietly, almost under his breath, and Laxus felt as though he had been shot. Freed was quick to speak before Laxus could spiral. "This is the program not being able to work as intended. It is not a reflection of you. Do you understand me?"

"Fucks sake," Laxus growled, running a hand through his hair. "Fuck!"

"It's not you, Laxus," Freed tried to tell him, but Laxus was walking towards the door. He needed to leave, to get out of this damn place as quickly as he could. Why the hell had he gone there? He was an idiot. He shouldn't have gone. "Wait. Laxus, don't leave."

"Why the hell shouldn't I?"

"Because I don't want you to," Freed said quickly. "I don't want you to feel like you're… whatever it is your feeling. Because whatever it is, whatever you're telling yourself, is false."

"How the hell do you know?"

"I've watched every date of yours, Laxus. I know you, and you are a good man, and anyone would be happy to have you," He insisted, stepping towards Laxus, and placing a hand on his forearm. "If I'm honest, I found myself somewhat jealous that those men got to be with you. I'm sure I could find hundreds of men who would feel exactly the same. Truth be told, I had to stop watching you talking with that little blonde ass last night. It's unprofessional, I know, but it must be said. You are a man who, one day, will be adored and you will deserve it."

Laxus scoffed. "Sure."

"You're incredible, Laxus," Freed stepped closer, placing a hand on Laxus' cheek. Laxus blushed at the action despite himself. "And if this program has made you think otherwise, even for a moment, then it is pointless. Do you understand me?"

"You think I'm incredible?" Laxus asked, voice a little raspy as he looked down at Freed.

"I do."

"Then do something about it," Laxus whispered because he needed Freed to do this.

And he did.

Freed leant forward without hesitation, tilting up his head and slowly, cautiously pushed his lips against Laxus'. His hand remained on Laxus' cheek, and slowly he started to move his lips in tandem with Laxus', opening his mouth slightly as he pushed himself up against him. Laxus wrapped an arm around Freed's waist, and felt himself clinging to the man as if he were a lifeline.

The kiss could only last a moment, and when Laxus pulled away and was met with the slightly flushed, kiss swollen expression of Freed in his arms, all of his doubts seemed to flow away. This was more important.

"Damn," He whispered, and Freed breathed out a laugh.

"Yes," He agreed. "Damn."

"Wanted to do that from when I first saw ya," Laxus admitted.

"And I you," Freed confessed, smiling. "I must admit, watching you with those men became somewhat torturous by the end."

"Would've stopped if you told me," Laxus shrugged.

"Then you might not have come back, and I didn't want that any more than I wanted to see you match with someone," Freed chuckled.

They stayed in their embrace for a moment, Laxus gently stroking Freed's lower back with his fingers in a slow and comforting gesture. Freed was still cupping his cheek, and it was a delightful sensation that Laxus didn't want to break. He would have to at some point, and he found himself at a loss of what to do next. For a moment he considered asking Freed to set up some kind of simulation for them both, but he felt he'd had enough of the damn place for now.

"You wanna maybe go somewhere and get something to eat?" He asked, and Freed pulled back slightly with a smile.

"That'd be nice," Freed agreed, though then smirked. "Though are you sure it's not too boring? Wouldn't you rather ice skating? Or maybe a boxing match? Or an obstacle course that you keep failing at?"

"Don't be a dick," Laxus laughed, pulling himself off of Freed. "Or I'll drag you back to the pod and you'll have to go to dinner dressed as batman. Dunno how happy a restaurant is gonna be with the Dark Night's cape falling in the soup."

"I'd rather avoid that. My roommate already thinks me odd after what you did yesterday, I don't need anyone else agreeing with him," Freed laughed, and Laxus grinned at the confession. He wrapped an arm around Freed's waist as they began to leave the room. "Though, if I could get you in the Peter Pan costume again I couldn't complain. Those tights were rather flattering."

"Didn't realise you were lookin'," Laxus smirked.

"I was more subtle than you were, then," Freed grinned, and Laxus laughed.

As they left the room, the simulation unused, neither man noticed the screen of the table lighting up with an updated message.

Laxus Dreyar.

Profile = Matched.

Soulmate Level = 100%

[kurinoot]

[day 4] four priceless treasures | sawamura daichi

-> the pandemic sure has limited us from meeting our loved ones physically, but even the pandemic can’t stop you from showing your love to your boyfriend this valentines’ day.

pairing: daichi x reader

themes: fluff, post-timeskip, pandemic au, flashbacks and all that stuff

word count: 2268 words

note: struggled a bit on this one bc I had to change a bit on specific parts of this fic after proofreading :) + my proofreader friend by the name of @msmeowski​ (who is a HARD daichi stan) didn’t allow me to post this one until it’s p-e-r-f-e-c-t lol but anyways, tell me what you think about this! and lastly, don’t forget to stay at home and be safe! also, I included a spotify playlist as a hyperlink somewhere in the story to add to the experience while you’re reading :)

You stared at your phone, texting your dad about your quarantine situation about giving him an update on your status before he replies with a ‘take care, I’ll see you soon.’ as you toss your phone on the bed and strode to the hotel balcony, taking in the solace of the wind blowing through. Luckily, it was your last day in quarantine and no symptoms have been detected so far. All you were waiting for were the results of your lab testing, and if affirmed negative, then you’re free to go back home.

You were then disrupted when your phone rang an oh-so-familiar tune that was meant only for him. With haste, you lay on the bed as you answered the call.

“Da~i~chi~!”, you teased with a short giggle “Did you receive my gift?”

“About that...can we have a video call?” Daichi asks as he clutches the parcel closer to his body. You hum in response, signaling a yes to at least see his face and see him open your gift. Giddiness fills your inner being before switching to a video call.

A few seconds later, your boyfriend graced your screen, still wearing his police uniform. Noticing you appearing, he flashes you a warm smile, happy to at least see you again albeit virtually. You gave him a warm smile, grateful for this opportunity that you got to see him again, and oh how you want to see and feel him ripped in his police uniform in the flesh.

“It’s a box.” Daichi replies as he closely inspects your gift for him for the day. You gave off a laugh as you rolled on your belly, kicking your feet on the air by his response.

“You sound rather disappointed,” your lips smirked with a mischievous thought in mind for him, starting with the box. “Were you expecting something more?”

Daichi flushed red as he looked away from the screen. “Not that I’m selfish, but I was expecting you. I really miss you, you know?” You could not help but get flustered at his honest response, since you’ve been away from Japan for a couple of years now.

Daichi clears his throat. “Are you doing okay? I know it’s been stressful for the past months.” while he lethargically removes his police vest. You can tell by the way he removes the vest and his dark circles under his eyes.

“I'm fine where I am, Daichi. No need to worry.” You calmly reassure him as you walk to sit down on the balcony chaise, looking at the sky while listening to Daichi's sexy voice. He chuckles as he weakly throws his police vest somewhere in his room, feeling the exhaustion taking over.

You look at him with concern, “The pandemic’s definitely taking a toll on you. Are you even getting enough sleep?”

He slouched as he ran his hand over his face, fatigue from the workload and the strict measures from the pandemic, answering your question.

“Look, as much as I miss you and really want to talk with you today, I want you to sleep. My surprise, I would say, require some walking.”, You say as your boyfriend who now wears a mask of doubt in his face.

“Anyways,” you continue. “Don’t open the gift yet! At least for today. I have a surprise for you tomorrow, that’s why you better sleep well tonight!”

You can see the slight scrunch in Daichi’s face as he replies “Aren’t you still overseas? And considering the situation, you won’t be back home easily.”

‘Ah of course, he doesn’t know that I’m already here in Japan, yet.’ You smile internally, feeling the anticipation and the adrenaline more as you already lay out your Valentines’ surprise for him in mind.

“Well, I had some help actually!”, you bounced back in reply. Remembering that you had your sibling’s help while you were still in transit from overseas.

“Look”, you say with a stern tone. “As much as I really want to talk to you tonight, I also want you to get some quality sleep. I can tell from here how tired you are, my dear Daichi.” You can hear Daichi let out a deep sigh, stuck between wanting to continue talking to you and wanting to take a good night's sleep.

You continue further with concern and underlying excitement, “I don’t want you to be so tired by the time you get to see my surprise tomorrow. You deserve it so much.” Daichi could only feel giddy as he became flustered at your concerned gesture, before agreeing and deciding to sleep.

Daichi wakes up the next day, feeling rejuvenated from the short conversation you both had last night. He’s fortunate that he has the day off work, as being an officer in these trying times can be proven stressful, and the distance between the both of you is definitely not helping the mental strain. He stares at the ceiling for a moment before he feels the familiar buzz of his phone. He opens his phone to the view of your text message.

You can open the box now!

Without any second thoughts, Daichi picks up the unopened parcel beside his bed. He grabs a cutter from his table and immediately cuts the package open. He slowly unfolds the flaps of the box to find a piece of paper and a used red radio he knows too well.

It’s my old radio... Daichi thought as he pressed the switch, and to his joy, it played a familiar song, albeit slightly static. The music then conjures a special memory of him riding his bicycle as you perched on his back when you were both still in high school. Furthermore, he could see the all-too familiar red radio dangling on his bicycle, playing the songs you both like.

You watch as the view of the Miyagi prefecture passes by, watching the sun set in the distance as Daichi pedals the bicycle on the way home with his old radio dangling on the right handle, playing Bread and Butter’s Summer Blue. Your arms tightened around his waist as your eyes closed, relishing the warmth of his broad back as your head lay on him, inhaling his mixed scent of salonpas and sweat after volleyball practice with hints of cologne. A smile plays on Daichi’s lips as he feels your warmth surging through him.

‘Summer blue, summer blue…

Sora dake ga aoi...’

The music started to fade in the background as it continued on to the next song.

He can’t help but clutch his chest in happiness and love, as he feels a surge of contentment in his veins. He closes and smiles as he immediately thinks of the precious memory. A tear then slips through his eye, missing your physical presence. He then wipes the tear that has threatened to pour more before starting to prepare for the day ahead. Relieved from the catharsis, he pulls out the piece of paper from the box earlier and reads a “Here’s your clue for the next surprise!” along with a haiku:

‘The smell of warm broth

Shared by the ramen couple

In the cold autumn’

If his memories were correct, he knew exactly where it was. You were regular customers ever since high school, there’s no doubt that it was the ramen shop that you and he used to go to almost every week, and your shared love for shoyu ramen somehow gave you both the reputation of the ‘shoyu ramen couple’ by the owner, as he calls it.

He saw the same shop from years ago as it exactly was as the smell of the broth enticing him to enter the old place.

The old man who owned the shop recognizes Daichi as he enters before greeting him behind the clear protective cover of the counter, as per safety measures as he went to the kitchen to prepare a special meal, ushering Daichi to an empty seat where they usually sit.

His eyes wandered around the empty place, looking for the possible next clue of the next gift. The owner then comes out with a bowl that has a recognizable smell and serves it to Daichi.

“Here’s your shoyu ramen,” The owner winked at Daichi, hinting at something before continuing, “Specially made, requested by your girlfriend.” Daichi, albeit somehow surprised, folded his hands together with an “Itadakimasu!” before quickly slurping the ramen he loved so much in contentment.

“That girl...her sibling came by saying that your girlfriend has a ramen request.” He chuckled before Daichi stopped to listen to his story. “She thought that you might be too busy to come by so she went ahead and paid for it as your gift.” The owner laughs as he resumes cooking, leaving Daichi in disbelief at the owner before looking at his bowl of shoyu ramen, reminiscing a memory.

As the leaves fall while you are walking down the street in a cold autumn afternoon, you pull Daichi’s hand, leading him to the familiar street right after he had volleyball practice.

“Let’s go to the usual!”, You smiled at him as he followed suit.

The place has seen its years with a smoke coming out from the ventilation shaft with a thick warm smell that led you and Daichi come in further, the owner greeting the both of you as usual with a smile before you two sit at your usual spot near the window of the shop. The owner was familiar with the both of you, eating at his place almost every week, and knows what both of you would order.

“Two bowls of shoyu ramen for the couple!” He teases that left you and Daichi flustered at his statement.

“A-anyways, the ramen w-will get cold if we don’t start eating now.” Daichi says, seeing his cheeks redden as he looks away before he digs in to avoid the awkwardness. You gave off a laugh, making his eyes gaze to you that somehow made him flushed even redder as you perched your chin on your hand, looking at him tenderly.

“Somehow...it makes me happy that we’re a couple.”

The owner tells him as he wipes the counter clean, “Keep her. You don’t find women like her nowadays.” He chuckles as he slips a piece of paper in front of the eating policeman, “She also requested to give you this.”

After a few minutes, Daichi had already finished the bowl cleanly with no traces, quickly grabbing a handkerchief to wipe his mouth afterwards.

“Thank you so much for the food!”, he thanks and waves at the owner before he leaves the establishment to go to his next destination.

‘New Year approaches

As the bell tolls from afar

We pray for good luck’

He chuckles as he reads the paper. “She never fails to impress me with her surprises...”, he breathes optimistically as he wears his mask and wraps a scarf around his neck before going outside.

As he arrived, he noticed the familiar shrine wearing down from the years, but was still being taken care of. A few women, mostly high school girls, prayed for the special day while holding each of their own stashes of chocolates. Daichi went up to the shrine, paying his respects before wandering around, looking for the next clue.

“It really brings back memories.” He whispers to himself as he looks around the place, a smile forming on his lips.

You both stepped in front of the shrine after you both celebrated and lent your wishes for the New Year, with hands and eyes closed in prayer. He could only look and stare at you still, hands and eyes closed in prayer. He smiles at the sight of you earnestly praying.

‘I pray that we would always be together.’

Daichi saw a paper dangling on the tree along with the other wishes, taking what seemed to be your final clue.

‘As the storm passes

Spring has finally come home

Awaiting blossom’

His eyes widen in realization as he rushes back to his house, only to find it unlocked. He catches his breath as he opens the door, without any second thoughts, he removes his mask as he enters to look for the final gift. He finds a couple of luggages sitting in the middle as well as a paper he knows too well. He inspects it further, shocked to see your name along with the words negative written in the results.

Daichi then scrambles as he hears the sound of the nearby bathroom door open, only to see you wet in your towel. You immediately went red in embarrassment before Daichi, overfilled with longing and excitement, rushed to ensnare you into a tight embrace despite your towel-clad body. You hold your breath further as he places a deep kiss on your lips, immediately tasting the shoyu ramen you know too well. You could only drown yourself in his kiss as you slowly close your eyes, wrapping your arms around his neck.

You both break the kiss afterwards, panting as Daichi pulls your head over his chest, longingly hugging you.

“I was expecting that you would be home a little bit later. I even haven’t dressed for you yet!”, you pouted as you rested in the comfort of Daichi’s arms.

Your boyfriend could laugh, flustered with the state of your undressed state, “I missed you, Y/N. I missed you very much.” You could only hug him tighter as you both smiled.

“I’m home.”

He smiled before kissing you again, but this time passionately as he embraced you once more.

“Welcome home.”

back to valentines masterlist

[lyn-rambles]

Did you know? || Yaku Morisuke x Reader ||

Hello again my fellows

Ok so this one shot is part of the Haikyuu Headquarters server collab  we all very happy to show our works, so please check out other works and give all the writers and artists a look uwu. If you want to see more of this type of content please use this.

I hope this time it gets posted because tumblr has been eating this thing ;-;

Pairing: Yaku x reader

Prompt: You woke me up at 3am for this?

Altern Universe: N/A

                                                                 PoV: Second person 

Warnings: None

Word count: 2.5 K

Yaku had a rough day, practice with the Japan National Team had exhausted him, he could barely walk to his shower to get off all the sweat from his body. He had been staying at the Japan's volleyball Association’s Dorms while he got arrangements done to stay in a more comfortable place. The cool water felt great against his sore body, they practically cleaned the gym floor that day doing drills and receives most of it. He was amazed to see that Hinata had gotten better at them and also was glad to see some old friends and known faces, he was also happy to see Kuroo again but he wasn’t going to tell him that out loud… He had a reputation to keep.

He closed the water and stepped out fresh, and feeling better, maybe not less tired but a bit more comfortable with his body. Yaku slipped on his pajamas and looked at his phone. The little LED had twinkled the whole afternoon, the color red immediately made him think that he must be out of battery and as he unlocked it he found your message. A smile grew in his lips. After his graduation you both had tried to keep contact. At the time you were still a second year but you got to be acquainted quickly. You had lived near each other, yet, you didn’t attend the same middle school it wasn’t like you an Yaku had talked too much, until you became a first year at Nekoma.

“I don’t know if you’ll see this before training but I wanted to show you this” and then showed a photo of the new samples you had prepared for your bio class. You worked as a teacher on a Junior High School, and had talked him about your plans on using plant samples to teach about the common tissues on them. He smiled at how proudly you had shown him the images from the microscope. He replied to you congratulating on the quality of them. He remembered how fascinating you found the world around and how happy you were on telling others about it. You had always rambled facts about animals, space, plants, the solar systems, name it you probably had a fun fact about it. It was that hunger for knowledge and the love of spreading it was what drawn him to you on first place. You were part of the science club. Professor Murakama, the bio teacher was in charge of your club, and Morisuke hadn’t talked with him outside from classes but Kuroo had insisted on him to help him getting some works they had delivered and he wanted a revision even though he almost got a perfect mark.

“Hello there!” he greeted them. He had lifted his safety glasses. And the small circle of students that surrounded him turned to them. Morisuke didn’t know most of the people there, since most of them were first years, but he waved at you. You returned it. Of course you knew Yaku, he had lived next to your house since forever but you had never actually been close. Kuroo got to the professor and he just stood awkwardly on the door frame as everyone returned to the working tables.

The professor muttered something to himself. As he checked on Kuroo’s worksheet. “Yaku, why don’t you join our experimentation while I go to the teacher’s lounge with Kuroo?” he asked him. “You can use my lab coat and safety glasses while you are at it.”

Morisuke put on the equipment as he reminded everyone to be mindful of the lab rules pasted on a cardboard on the wall behind Yaku. The students divided on partners and you sat on a work table alone.

“What is it (Y/LN)? Why aren’t you working with anybody?” Yaku asked as he sat down next to you.

“We are an odd number of students, so today is my turn to work alone.” He turned to see one of her classmates mouthing to her that he was sorry. “You are free if you only want to watch, since you don’t have rubber gloves.”

That day seemed so long ago, he had watched as she prepared the acidic solution in a beaker and added drops of phenolphthalein before adding a strong base and watched in awe how the liquid started to get a hot pink color.

“Wha- Whe- How?!” he had asked you.

Since then, it was history. He had sometimes went at lunch time to see how were you doing, being a first year was tough. And you sometimes met him at the cafeteria before getting back to your friends. Then he got your number and that’s when the rambling about random science facts became constant. He always had at least one image and a new fact, such as “Hey! Did you knew that elephants are the only species with 4 knees?” He always had a smile at that and he didn’t notice when he started to look at them with fondness until his teammates pointed it out. And then it happened, one day he just didn’t get the random fact of the day as you two had started to call it, by your second year, even he had started to send you those kind of things or whenever he found out about some new exhibit. His friend urged him to already ask you out as he clearly had signs of endorphin rush whenever they mentioned her or Talk saw her. Up to this day he never knew why he didn’t do it, even more when he got so concerned that you didn’t even saw his text, since you always answered quite fast. He walked outside of the VB team staff room and walked to the entrance alone. And he rose his gaze and you were there under a tree, with your head between your arms. He rushed at your side, without knowing what to do, he put his hand on your shoulder.

You shot your head up only to see his face. He looked as your face was tainted with tears.

“Hey, (Y/N),” his voice wavered. “What happened?”

You only cleaned your eyes with the corner pf ypur jumper. And used a napkin to clean your runny nose. “Nothing… I am fine, Morisuke.” You managed a constrained smile, he stood up and offered his hand.

“Come on, let me walk you home.” You took his hand.

That day you were supposed to tell your feelings to your crush. You had been harboring feelings for him since you met him on your first year and today, you (with Yaku’s help) had worked enough courage to tell him. You had crafted a love letter to cite him on your classroom and tell him there after school. He had also helped you (he almost did it all) to bake some small cookies to gift him.

There you stood with your crush in front of you, you had told him. You had done it, this is the moment where he accepts and-

“I like you, as a friend, your intelligence is quiet intimidating and I can’t see you as more than a friend because of it.”

Morisuke had heard your story, as you started to sob again. You were sitting on the sidewalk in front of your house as he took out a napkin and scooted near to you as you kept crying, his left arm grabbed you by the shoulder and he embraced you. Your violent breaths calmed and he let you go. His uniform now had moisted with what you called “nose tears” (“Morisuke! Did you knew that when you cry some of your tears go down on your nose and that’s why you have a runny nose every time you cry?”) but he could wash it later. Right now the only important thing was you.

“Morisuke, you are my friend, right?” He nodded. “is my-“

“No” he had answered right away.

“But you didn’t even let me finish” you pushed him with a playful manner.

“I knew what you where gonna ask and my answer is no.” He searched on the paper bag and handed you a chocolate filled bread. “I know your favorites are caramel ones, but right now you need something to raise your serotonin levels.” You took it and looked at him, you had sent him that fact when you had suggested to make the cookies. “Besides if he feels intimidated by something as petty as that, he doesn’t deserve a the time of day, he doesn’t deserve you.” He grumbled. You had stared at him wide eyed as his face started to get pink and bid you farewell as he slammed his house door. You smiled as you clenched the bread.

And then his graduation came. You had sneaked from cleaning duty thanks to your best friend (“Go get him, (Y/N)!”) He had also been encouraged by his friends this might be the last time he could tell you about his feelings. His family was throwing a small dinner and they had invited you since you had started to spend more and more time with Morisuke. His mom had made Stir-fried vegetables with other dishes. All his family gathered inside as you two talked on the same sidewalk, you both had been sharing some good old laughs.

You still held your stomach with your arms at Yakkun as he rubbed his leg after slapping it while he laughed. He had the sting of tears of laughing and of pain on leg, but he kept going. Until both of you had calmed and the small faint dread of bursting out laughing again came back.

“Ok, now in all seriousness, (Y/N)” he tried to regain his composure and you snorted at him as he bit his lip to suppress another laugh. “I have something to tell you- please breathe… slowly” His gaze was heavy with feigned disdain as he turned around to not laugh at your violent rapid breathing caused by another burst of laughs. You inhaled deeply trying to calm yourself.

“So?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Have I told you the reason why I never accepted the two confessions I ever received?”

You gasped. You had been pestering him, one of your best friends into telling you but nothing had worked. “No! But please do tell me! I can’t believe it is finally happening!” you grinned at his question.

He breathed in slowly, as he started the word vomit, he saw your grin slowly disappear. As your eyes slowly went down. His heart his head started spinning. His face was becoming red, he wanted to turn back and get inside his home like that afternoon all those months ago. His whole being felt as if he had his guts stolen.

“And I didn’t worked up the courage up until now to tell you.” He sighed, for the first time, defeated. “I like you more than a friend, I-”

His eyes went wide when you hugged him by the neck and kept pressing pecks to his cheek. Then that hollowness became a party of elephants dancing on his gut. He finally turned to you, on your face shined the biggest smile you could manage.

“Yakkun, I was supposed to confess to you today, you stole my idea.” If he could have turned an even deeper shade of red he would have, he worked his hands up to your face and kissed your temple and smiled through his embarrassment.

Months passed by fast, as he had made the arrangements to move to Russia and play on the Super League. Lev had been helping him to make the contacts. You were currently on your third year, and whenever you could go home early you helped him studying Russian, you helped him craft flash cards and as you said the word in Japanese he answered always making a different grin. Much tp your laugh. You also helped him on his writing… you both sadly sucked at it. You tried to have non-study-dates-because-you-also-need-to-stop-worrying-about-me-and-school. Yakkun also helped whenever you found problem in a class… which wasn’t really often, but he was glad whenever you asked him for advice. Days after you got your college acceptance letter from college, he left Japan.

Yakkun had fallen asleep remembering the times you had stayed awake studying as he made you company over a video call or he had stayed awake after a particularly rough training just to have a “meal” with you.

His phone buzzed, once, twice, and the third time he picked it up. A pool of drool had formed under his face. He squinted his eyes at bright screen.

“(Y/N)?” he asked with a groan.

“Salutations, Mori!” over the speaker he heard the car engine.

“What is it?” He yawned as he stretched his arms and some of his joints cracked.

“I-” you hesitated before answering. “I found something really cool, I was wondering if you could join me.”

He rubbed his eyes, before turning to see his phone screen.

3:00 AM

He sighed with defeat. “Sure, just let me put a shirt on.”

You drived off, he took the copilot seat and dozed off yet again. You felt guilty of waking him in the middle of the night, but you had been waiting for this the whole week. Earlier you had called Kuroo just make sure the team had a free day before resuming their training. You side eyed him as how he curled on the seat breathing softly. The light of the city were getting behind as you approached your destination. The small lights of the highway and your car illuminated the way.

“Mori, we are here.” You gently shaked him. You were parked on a resting spot. In front it had a small hill covered with grass. The moon cleared the way. Mori had just woken up again and was getting out as you unloaded the trunk. You got some small snacks in a bag and a blanket.

“You woke me up at 3 AM… For this?” he was ired. And his expression showed clear dissatisfaction. “Listen, (Y/N) I know it is- Are you even listening?”

You had turned your face up and a teeth smile crept on your face. You lowered your face and moved your hand up so he could see. A meteor shower painted the sky as he looked up in awe and the it hit him, you had been mentioning this the whole week.

“You forgot, didn’t you?” He looked at you his face had softened as he approached you.

“I’m sorry (Y/N).” he murmured grabbing taking the bag. You turned your head side to side.

“You’ve been working to the bone lately.” You took a step nearer and cupped his face with your free hand. Your eyes locked with his soft gaze as he smiled fondly. His forehead rested on yours and then he pushed his lips to yours, your skin started to get goose bumps as you exhaled , you had been yearning for this.

“Did you know it was worth to get up at this time?”

[only-fools-fall-1996]

Classmate!Yuta x Reader

Written By: Baby🌸 or Hailey🌸

Genre: Fluff (I think??)

Warnings: None (I don’t think?)

Brief mentions of Taeyong and Haechan

This was the first time I wrote anything for the NCT boys, any of them. So I’m not sure of the quality. But Fruityutas likes them. I hope others will, too. ^-^

These little stories were also based off of a conversation her and I had before I wrote these.

~~~~~

Having given it to him back when the two of you had worked on a class project together, Taeyong apparently gave your phone number to Yuta. Because he was texting you to invite you over that night to work on the project together.

Much to your displeasure though, there was a party when you got there. Apparently Haechan had other ideas and threw a party to welcome Yuta back after his trip home to Japan and to welcome him to the school. However, most of the boys, including Yuta, were pretty sure that Haechan just wanted to throw a party and to cause some kind of chaos.

You followed Yuta through the house as he took you upstairs to his room. But before you could even reach the stairs, you let out a sigh. There were so many people, so much noise. Which of course your sigh did not go unnoticed.

"You okay?" Yuta asked from halfway up the staircase.

You looked up at him and saw that he was leaning forward slightly, his arm against the wall jutting out from the floor above to stabilize him.

"Do you not like it here?" He asked another question, referring to the party.

"Huh? No, I don't mind. It's just-" you admitted, giving another sigh. This one small and light. "I can't concentrate on my work when there's too much noise.

And this," you gestured around yourself as you looked away for a brief moment at a sudden noise that came from across the house, and then back to him. "This is definitely too much."

Yuta just kinda stared at you as he listened to you. He thought for a moment and then looked past you. Haechan's excuse for the party was that it was for Yuta. But surprisingly, no one was paying him much attention. Other than you, that is.

"Okay," Yuta finally looked down at you again and gave a smile. "Give me a few minutes?"

You weren't sure what he was going to do now, but you smiled and nodded. Yuta's smile widened and he headed up the stairs as he had intended on in the first place, leaving you there at the bottom of the stairs.

~~~~~

A few minutes later, Yuta came back down to you. To your confusion, he had his backpack but also what appeared to be a duffle bag. You raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask, but he only smiled and walked away to go find his friends. It wasn't long before he returned to your side. The two of you went outside. He practically threw his duffle bag into the back of his truck. Having a laptop in it, his backpack was placed in the back carefully. Before you could get into the truck, he took your backpack for you and opened the door. Soon as you were settled in your seat and buckled in, he gave you your backpack and closed the door.

And with that, the two of you left. Your place was on the way to where Yuta wanted to take you, so you had him stop so you could grab a couple of things that you realized you had forgotten at home.

As you gathered your things, you heard a car door close. Figuring he was getting into the truck while he waited for you, you opted to ignore it and continued to get your stuff. Only to hear a tailgate a few minutes later. Wondering what in the world he was doing now, you stood up from putting something into your backpack and went to your bedroom window. Only to find Yuta standing in the back of his truck, on a big comforter blanket as he threw pillows onto the blanket. There was actually about three to make the truck comfortable to lay in, but you couldn't actually tell from your room.

Wondering what he was doing now, you raised an eyebrow at him as he got out of his truck. But he didn't seem to notice. In fact, he didn't seem to notice you at all. Eventually, you left your window and finished getting your stuff. You got your backpack and a jacket, and went outside to find him already standing there at the passenger side of his truck. Seeing you, he opened the door for you, taking your backpack like he did earlier. Not exactly surprised because of him doing it before, you got in and took the backpack as he gave it back to you.

~~~~~

The rest of the trip was quiet. But somehow it was a peaceful quiet. For a while, you were leaned up against the door, curiously looking out the window at everything you passed.

Eventually, you two got to where he wanted to take you. You were on a hill that overlooked the city you lived in, the hill itself surrounded by trees. He had parked his truck backwards so that you would be able to see the city and the nighttime sky now that it had gotten relatively late. Once parked, he got out of his truck and, rather quickly, he went to your side and opened the door. He took you to the back of the truck to show you where he brought you. All you could do was marvel at the scenery in front of you.

Your thoughts were interrupted when Yuta opened the tailgate of his truck and jumped up on it.

~~~~~

The two of you were laying down in the bed of the truck. Yuta had gotten his laptop and started working on some of the project. Somehow it felt natural to the both of you, so you didn't think much of it when you curled up against him to look at the project better, your head on his shoulder while you had started to hug his arm. Feeling you against him, Yuta smiled. He continued typing whatever you told him to type since he wouldn't let you do it yourself. Not when he likes having you cuddling up to him and holding onto him. You just thought he didn't want you to touch his computer for some reason. So after the fifth try and Yuta just laughing and continuing to type anyway, you let it go.

You two had been there for a few hours now. It was well into the morning and Yuta hadn't even realized how late it was. Or that you had fallen asleep. On multiple occasions, you had gone into a peaceful silence for minutes at a time throughout the night. So he thought you were just doing that again. Until you took in a deep breath and let out a contented sigh, somehow curling into him more than you already were. Feeling you move against him, Yuta stared at his computer screen for a moment longer and then looked down at you. He smiled again when he noticed that you had fallen asleep and were curled up to him so nicely. Deciding the two of you had done enough for the project, Yuta closed his laptop and put it to the side by your backpacks.

Just as he had settled down, a gust of wind blew over the truck, causing you to shiver slightly and to try to move closer to him because of him keeping you warm. So he leaned over to grab the other end of the blanket. He pulled it over you and wrapped it around the two of you. As he did, he layed down. You curled up to him again now that he wasn't sitting up slightly to deal with the blanket, Yuta wrapping his arm around the back of your shoulders. Once you both were settled in again, Yuta noticed that the gust of wind had blown some of your hair into your face. So he caressed your cheek, moving your hair from your face.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Reviews: Force Sensitivities

I love Star Wars. I have since i was a kid. It just missed the Trinity of my Childhood, Spider-Man, Godzilla, and Transformers, by inches but i hold it in high regard. I’d say that it’s only a step behind the big three, along with the Alien franchise. I enjoy both franchises for a lot of the same reasons; Expansive lore, impeccable world building, and fantastic characters. I have a strong emotional connections to all things a galaxy far, far, away so the past few years have been difficult to witness. Under the “guidance” of Kathleen Kennedy, i watched my space wizards and cyborg warlocks, decline considerably. I saw all that creativity and inspired storytelling fall by the wayside in favor of identity politics and ego driven agenda.

Then, The Mandalorian dropped and everything changed. There’s been an infusion of quality, a resurgence of the creative, and one of the things to come out of this brand new inspiration is Star War: Visions. Visions is an anthology series of original stories, created by some of the top anime studios in Japan. That, alone, is enough to pique my interests. I love anime and the world Lucas created, lends itself to the medium almost effortlessly. It finally released yesterday and i was able to check out all of them, twice. Is this thing everything i dreamed of? Kind of? Sometimes?

The Duel

The first of the shorts presented and easily the most visually striking. This thing is a CG animation, usually kind of wonky but not so much with this short. I’m more a fan of traditional cell animation but Kamikaze Douga does a fantastic job with the new computer flavor. That expertise is put on full display with this Kurosawa inspired epic, an irony not lost on me. Old Kurosawa films like Yojimbo and Seven Samurai were direct inspirations for Star Wars so seeing it come full circle like this, is very rewarding. Overall, i liked this entry. It’s a great introduction for the anthology and delivers a strong viewing experience.

Tatooine Rhapsody

True to it’s anthology nature, the very next episode delivers something completely different than the last. This entry, made by Studio Colorado, is traditional animation with a heavy, heavy, influence from Leiji Matsumoto. One can definitely make the argument that this is what Interstella 9999 would look like if i had a Star Wars skin and i wouldn’t fight you about it. That’s kind of the art direction being leaned into with this short, that Captain Harlock/Galaxy Express 9999 look. I’m a sucker for that classic aesthetic so i kind of loved it. Didn’t care for the music but seeing a stylized Boba Fett was a real treat. This one is the most original of the anthology, so far from the overall Star Wars theme, and i think that hurts it some. As it’s own thing, though? Fantastic.

The Twins

This one is top tier for me and not just because it’s the first entry from Trigger. This one is good. It’s the first to really nail that more kinetic feel of the prequel lightsaber duels and, if you know anything about Studio Trigger, of course it would. These people gave us Kill la Kill and Brand New Animal. In fact, the overall look of this thing has shades of both Dead Leaves, Gurren Lagann and Promare all over it. It reminds me a great deal of the conflict between the Solo twins in legends. This thing is beautifully animated and tells it’s story with with skill. That said, it’s to one of my favorites. I love Trigger but this one, i think, doesn’t really live up to the Star Wars standard. Still, there is a lot of cool sh*t in here. Kyber powered Sith armor is something to behold, for sure.

The Village Bride

This one is the one for me. I f*cking LOVED this entry. I think it’s the nest of the lot for a lot of reasons. This thing feels the most like a Lucas or Filoni entry into the franchise. It delivers u to an alien world where we get to see the people interact with their surroundings. It delivers a personal conflict juxtaposed against a very real, very, worldly danger. It grounds us with great characters and does so with a beautifully rendered style. For me, The Village Bride is everything i want in a Star Wars story and i need to see more of these characters, more of this world, more of F, herself. She’s f*cking amazing! The Lady Jedi does some sh*t with her lightsaber that left me in awe. Kinema Citrus animated this one in the style of Katanagatari and it really works for this style of narrative.

The Ninth Jedi

This one is real special. It feels right at home in a Clone Wars narrative or something from the Old Republic. I adore the look of this one. Its one of my favorites, after The Village Bride and Lop and Ocho, but is far more action oriented than those to. This one focuses on lightsaber duels and delivers the best of the anthology, in my opinion. This f*cking thing goes hard to deliver that visceral, aggressive, fancifal style you see in the Prequel films  but completely stylized in this wonderfully fluid animation. The overall narrative is pretty simple but loaded with potential and i hope we get a continuation in the inevitable second season of Visions. Production IG really did their thing with this entry and i really hope it becomes something more.

T0-B1

If Astro Boy took place on Tatooine, you’d have T0-B1. This thing really leans into Tezuka’s style and is all the better for it.  I can’t say i really enjoyed the overall narrative but the look of this thing really stays with you. It’s incredibly distinct from everything in this anthology mostly because you don’t see the Tezuka style all too often nowadays but this entry definitely has more heart than most of it’s contemporaries. I was surprised by how much emotion was packed into this little cartoon and can definitely recommend it on the strength of that, alone. While not one of my favorites, i can definitely appreciate what Science SARU delivered.

The Elder

I didn’t like this one. The pacing was too slow and the characters were forgettable. I kind of hated the overall aesthetic and the narrative told was one we’ve seen from this universe a few times. That said, it has a dope ass lightsaber duel toward the end. That’s really the only good aspect of this short, in my opinion. Interestingly enough, this is the second entry from Trigger which makes it incredibly disappointing because they usually kill it. They did not kill it with this one. Not at all.

Lop and Ocho

This one was my second favorite of all nine shorts. It is the most “anime” of the lot and really leans into that genre with gusto. It also feels a lot like Star Wars as far as narrative is concerned. Similar to The Twins, this is a story of forced sensitive sibling, clashing over ideals, told through the crossing of their blades. It’s definitely interesting to watch, especially considering our heroine is an anthropomorphic bunny, something you don’t see too often in the Star Wars universe. I really enjoyed Lop and hopes she garners enough popularity to explore her character further in either a second season of Visions or an actual series dedicated to her personal journey. Geno Studio really impressed with this one.

Akakiri

This one might be the weakest of the lot, until you realize what you’re watching. All of these stories focused on Jedi and their perspective on the world but Science SARU went in a different direction. This is the story of how a Jedi falls. It’s an amazingly emotional watch once that revelation is delivered, putting everything before into perspective. It’s deftly told and works, for the most part, but i feel like this one needed an extra few minutes to develop fully. Still, as the booked to a rather excellent anthology, Akakiri does it’s job well.

The Verdict

This thing is pure Star Wars. It's everything that made Lucas' magnum opus fantastic. Some of these entries hit harder than others, my favorite being The Village Bride, but the overall content in this anthology is f*cking spectacular. I love the different animation styles and how these bite sized stories are told. Some of them take a great many liberties with he world rules whole others are fantastic homages to the genres that make up the Star Wars skeleton. Visions is work of love and passion. These shorts are made with care and not only revere the franchise which came before, but really lay the ground work for potential future exploration, which is what Star Wars has always been about. I still think Mando is the best thing to come out of Favreu's era, so far, but Visions is something very special and is a fantastic example of what can be coming next. If you love Star Wars, you'll love this show. If you left the fandom over Kennedy and her polarizing rhetoric, Visions is a great point to jump back in. Star Wars: Visions is f*cking exceptional and everyone should check it out if they can.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 6-Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Hey ho person reading this blog. I am continuing my journey through Ranma 1/2, this week on the sixth episode. This one looks to be the end of this little two-part story arc, something I knew without having to look at the episode guide because I’ve never forgotten what happens in episode seven. I...legitimately don’t know what’s going to happen with this one, aside from Ranma learning about Tofu’s thing for Kasumi, and getting to see the two interact. Next paragraph, I’ll have rewatched the episodes and will be ready to regale you with what occurred.

As expected, this episode starts right where the last one ended. Though unlike I was expecting, Akane just flat out tells Ranma it’s Kasumi that Dr. Tofu likes rather than drawing it out further. Ranma isn’t sure how she knows that, but then the doctor himself shows up and starts helping Ranma with the baseball injury that sent him there. Dr. Tofu jokes about the injury clearly being from Akane, only for her to say something to confirm the idea. She’s clearly bothered by the implication of it, that she isn’t a very feminine person, but Dr. Tofu clearly doesn’t mind that she’s more of a tomboy.

Then Kasumi shows up, and the old lady waiting her turn in the lobby books it. As she leaves, she runs into an old man who was going to see Dr. Tofu, and tells him that Kasumi is there. It’s clear that Kasumi’s effects on Dr. Tofu are common knowledge to his patients. What are those effects? Well, she enters the room with him, Ranma, and Akane to give him back that book mentioned last episode and to give him a present.

In a millisecond, Dr. Tofu goes from being a kind, seemingly wise doctor to an utter buffoon. Any iota of good sense in him vanishes when Kasumi is in his presence, causing him to do things like addressing his panda assistant as Ranma or mistaking a present’s wrapping for being a mask. Akane leaves right away, and Ranma ends up following, but not until the silly version of Dr. Tofu has bent Ranma’s neck in a weird direction.

Akane is out on the edge of the water of a...river? Stream? Reservoir? I never know what to call those things. Anyway, she’s tossing rocks when Ranma shows up, and he’s clearly trying to cheer her up, following her around to try and help. It’s then that Akane perks up, asking Ranma if he actually likes her. He denies it, but she seems to be in better spirits, tricking Ranma into activating his curse by abusing the fact he tends to leap without looking where he’ll land. There’s a moment when he sees her laughing that the show focuses on, something Ranma really takes notice of.

Instead of heading home, Akane asks Ranma to lend her money for food, and they get some fast food together. Not long after sitting in a park to eat it, Akane’s mood sours again. She can’t help comparing herself negatively to Kasumi, and tells Ranma more details about how badly Dr. Tofu loves her, how it makes him act. This is when Ranma says the wrong thing, making an idle remark about her heart being broken, and that is it for Akane. They start arguing, Akane clearly hurt by Ranma’s cavalier words, but after Akane shuts down his attempts to offer comfort, Ranma bluntly tells Akane she’s going to have to get over it. She tells him that he has no clue what she’s going through, which seems to strike a nerve for Ranma, who asks how she knows that’s the case. Akane leaves, telling Ranma not to follow her.

Ranma goes to see his dad for hot water, and he uncurses himself with it as well, asking what’s gone on between Ranma and Akane. Genma makes it clear that the problem at hand is that sometimes one of them says something that hurts the other without them realizing it, and that he knows that pain. For an example, he tells a story about some girl who he was dating when he was young, who he broke up with. In the process, younger Genma talked on and on about how much better his new girlfriend was, getting him conked in the head in the past and the present.

Still, with that idea in mind, Ranma heads home. Akane is training, trying to settle her mood, when Ranma starts lightly sparring with her. When she gets annoyed he isn’t taking it seriously, and defending the fact that she likes to be angry sometimes, Ranma tells her she’s actually really cute when she smiles. This stuns her enough for him to poke her, and we cut from her getting annoyed in the moment to her ruminating on it all afterwards, in the bath. Akane seems surprised at the idea that anyone would find her attractive, or that smiling helps, even smiling in a mirror afterwards in her room. Ranma appears in the window, makes a snarky comment, Akane punches his lights out, end of episode.

This episode was a lot better than I expected going into it. I hadn’t forgotten any of the Dr. Tofu stuff, which I’ll just say right now I’m not a huge fan of, but the Ranma/Akane aspects of the episode were very strong, at least for me. I feel like there’s definitely a lot of Ship Teasing, though considering the rest of Ranma’s harem hasn’t been introduced yet, that’s to be expected.

This was the second time so far, that I can remember, where Ranma jumped without looking, only to realize he’d be landing in water. It’s a gag, sure, but it reinforces the character trait of Ranma’s that he’s a literally ‘leap before he looks’ kind of guy. It’s easy to then tie that in to his behavior that makes their argument worse, the same thing he often does to set Akane off: he leaps without looking. Ranma has a tendency to just say things without thinking through how the other person might feel about it first, and that often leads to him touching other people’s vulnerable spots without realizing it.

There’s also a bit of symmetry between the two of them: Ranma taking in that moment of the happy, smiling Akane, and Akane thinking back to Ranma telling her she looked really pretty when she smiled. Even as it becomes clear they have a lot to get past, there are more hints that each is starting to grow to like the other.

More fodder in that department can be seen when Ranma gets annoyed that Akane assumes he has no clue how she’s feeling. While one can read it as general indignation, it can also be seen as him getting annoyed that she has noticed he is feeling the same kind of thing. Namely, that Akane is so in love with Dr. Tofu that she isn’t really noticing him. I could be pulling that interpretation out of my shipping ass, but it’s just something I saw this time around. Sorry that most of my content for this one was about Ranma/Akane stuff, I can’t really control my inner shipper.

For this week’s character spotlight, I decided I might as well get Dr. Tofu out of the way now. I feel like I’ve kind of made it clear already, but I don’t really care about Dr. Tofu that much. He’s a fairly bland character, especially for this show, and the fact that, as far as I can recall, he basically slowly fades from the anime over time makes sense to me. I get what they were going for, and he does elicit some interesting development from Akane, but as a guy in his own right, he doesn’t do anything for me.

Still, this is his spotlight, so let me look into his voice actors. In the English Dub, his voiced by Ian James Corlett, who...did a lot of 90’s stuff? Honestly, not a lot there that peaks my interest. Oh, wait, what? His daughter Claire Corlett, who is a voice actress, is Sweetie Belle? ...that is pretty cool. Technically speaking, he was only the voice of Dr. Tofu for the first six and a half seasons, after that someone else took over, but I genuinely don’t recall that happening so we can discuss that when we get to it. In the original Japanese, he’s played by Yūji Mitsuya. In contrast to his American counterpart, Yūji has been in a billion things, including once again Japanese dubs of American media. In Yūji’s case, he was Marty in Back to the Future, Jack in Will & Grace, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from Amadeus.

What are they like as this character? Well, to compare and contrast, Ian plays Dr. Tofu as more warm and kind, but otherwise normal sounding, even when he’s in Kasumi-induced silliness. Yūji instead gives him a higher voice, and when he’s being ridiculous, that adds a lot to the idea that he’s now just a blundering buffoon. Their performances actually do feel rather distinct, and trend that character towards slightly different readings. I’d say I mostly prefer Ian’s, but that’s just because I don’t get a lot out of the humor of Dr. Tofu anyway, so the more silly Yūji performance doesn’t do a lot for me.

I should also say here that, to my amazement, Tofu is not his last name. His name is apparently Tofu Ono. This kind of baffles me. When people, at least here in America, talk about a doctor, they use the last name after the Dr. prefix. And in the Japanese version, I thought they were calling him ‘Tofu’ a lot, but as his personal name rather than his family name, wouldn’t they be more likely to call him ‘Ono’, since that’s generally what people do in Japan? Am I missing something? I’m probably missing something.

Name issues aside, the thing I will say I appreciate about Dr. Tofu is that, well, I get why Akane likes him. Aside from being a marital artist (though that quality of his remains mostly told and not shown), he helps people, and he doesn’t try to tell Akane she’s wrong for being who she is. As much as Akane is down on the fact that she has more masculine hobbies and doesn’t always act ladylike, Dr. Tofu calls her ‘spirited’ and compliments those aspects of her personality. The very fact Akane’s oldest sister is the ultimate picture of traditional femininity probably hasn’t helped her, and Dr. Tofu’s overt affection for Kasumi probably just makes that worse. Nonetheless, the doctor appreciates Akane for who she is, rather than who she could be.

Going into this episode, I was expecting to set it down at the bottom of the pack, but I’m such a sucker for the chemistry between Ranma and Akane that I have to put it higher. How high? Well, I’d say it’s the second best episode so far, only topped by the second episode because that one was just so dang delightful. That puts the current rankings as:

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

The odd numbered episodes haven’t been faring as well, that’s for sure. I don’t think that streak will continue though, because next week is episode seven, “Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’”, and oh boy I cannot wait for that! See you all then!

[daphncfm]

wow  i  can’t  believe  i  got  an  intro  out  in  a  reasonable  period  of  time     !     love  that  for  me     !     hi  angels  ,  i’m  aly     (     she  /  her     )     chilling  in  mst  but  you  can  ignore  that  because  my  schedule   is  lowkey  all  over  the  place  .  what  do  you  need  to  know   about  moi     ?     i’m  an  angst  whore  and  drama   queen  yet  i  some  how  created  the  soft  bean  that  is  daphne  , ugh  my  mind  .  JKJKJK  .  really  i’m  a  nerd  and  i  make  too   many  outdated  references  .  but  you  can  find  out  more  about   daphne  below  and  if  you’d  like  to  plot  give  this  post  some   ❤️  or  drop  me  a  message  on  discord     (     𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑎𝔬𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫#8950     )

content  warning     :     drug  mention

𝑖.   𝑎𝑝𝑝.

new  york's  very  own  daphne  larson  was  spotted  on  broadway  street  in  nike  air  force  one  sneakers  .  your  resemblance  to  kendall  jenner  is  unreal  .  according  to  tmz  ,  you  just  had  your  twenty  -  second  birthday  bash  .  while  living  in  nyc  ,  you've  been  labeled  as  being  uninhibited  ,  but  also  worldly  .  i  guess  being  an  aquarius  explains  that  .  three  things  that  would  paint  a  better  picture  of  you  would  be  a  field  of  dandelions  dancing  in  the  summer  breeze  ,  an  overflowing  crystalline  glass  of  champagne  and  blissful  laughter  .

𝑖𝑖.   𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑠.

full  name     :     daphne  isobel  larson nickname     :     daph age     :     twenty  -  two birthday     :     january  twenty  -  sixth astrological  sign     :      aquarius gender     :      cisfemale pronouns     :      she/her sexual  orientation     :     bisexual     (     only  publicly  dated  guys     ) location  of  birth     :    new  york  city  ,  new  york char  inspo     :     caroline  forbes     (     tvd     )  ,  love  quinn     (     you     )  ,  sharon  tate  ,  bubbles     (     powerpuff  girls     )   char  labels     :     the  halcyon  ,  the  icarian  ,  the  vagabond  ,  the  quixotic  ,  the  aesthete  . char  traits     :     sanguine  ,  dreamy  ,  escapist  ,  emotional  ,  philanthropic  and  idealistic  .

𝑖𝑖𝑖.   𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦.

her parents  are  known  philanthropists  ,  along  with  her  dad  being   a  high  profile  lawyer  /  law  company  partner     (     like  a  nicer  harvey  specter  ,  ngl  i’ve  only  watched  half  of  one  season  of  suits     )  and  while  her  mom  is  heavily  involved  in  nyc  drug  dealing  /  trade     (     think  rebe’s  mom  from  elite  ,  high  profile  clients  and  the  best  stuff  on  the  block  ,  etc  ...  shh     )     . daphne  was  sheltered  from  the  whole  drug  world  for  ..  a   while  ,  we  shall  get  into  that  .  her  adolescent  summer’s   were  spent  with  her  dad  jet  setting  around  the  globe  ,   giving  her  an  adoration  for  traveling  and  the  beauty  of  world .  she  also  picked  up  an  appreciation  for  art  and  a  bitch   loves  a  good  museum  lbr  .  her  dad  is  a  big  part  of  the   reason  daphne  is  a  softie  as  they  spent  the  majority  of  time together  while  her  mom  was  otherwise  occupied  but  firmly   reminded  daph  to  take  off  her  rose  colored  glasses  often   driving  a  wedge  between  the  pair  .  it  wasn’t  until  her  mom’s first  arrest  that  started  the  divide  between  daph  and  her  dad  ,  and  her  first  introduction  to  the  whole  underground source  of  wealth  .  around  fifteen  /  sixteen  at  the  time  off gallivanting  the  streets  of  new  york  daph  arrived  home  to   the  police  stationed  outside  her  the  building  they  lived  in  , trying  to  get  in  before  she  saw  her  mom  being  whisked  away   in  handcuffs  and  her  dad  furiously  following  .  from  there  the whole  situation  became  a  blur  for  daph  aka  i’m  too  lazy  to   dissect  the  whole  scenario  SLKDFJS  .  but  due  to  the  swift   work  of  her  dad  and  his  connections  everything  was  all  but   swept  under  the  rug  in  less  than  a  week     !     and  by  that  weekend  ,  her  mom  was  back  in  business  while   her  dad  sat  her  down  and  explained  the  whole  situation  .

this was  an  obvious  turning  point  for  daphne  ,  she  was  pissed  at the  deception  from  her  parents  but  was  understanding  of  it     ;    but  knew  what  it  meant  ,  keeping  a  big  ol  secret  and  frankly  it’s  something  daph  is  NOT the  best  at  .  give  it  a  week  before  she  was  spilling  her   guts  to  some  of  her  friends  ,  bringing  it  back  to  her   parents  that  they  were  interested  and  insert  another  stream  of income  for  the  larson  clan  .  in  a  sea  of  students  figuring   out  just  how  much  fun  partying  can  be  ,  daph  basically   became  the  hook  up  for  a  good  time  .  while  her  relationship   with  her  parents  strained  ,  especially  with  her  dad  ,  daph   put  that  big  ol  heart  of  hers  into  friendships  /   relationships  ,  she  gets  really  invested  OKAY  🥺     !     anyways  ,  daph  probably  threw  some  pretty  fuckin  legendary   parties  as  well  ,  mostly  because  her  parents  loosened  the   reigns  on  her  since  ...  she  could  BASICALLY  send  them  to  jail  ...  not  that  she  ever  would  because  soft  .

let’s insert  glow  up  here  and  daphne’s  parents  realize  that  she   could  really  become  the  face  of  their  family  foundation  ,   which  lead  to  fashion  designers  asking  for  her  to  walk  on   their  runways  just  for  the  publicity  .  this  opened  up  a   whole  new  stream  of  clients  and  revenue  for  the  larson’s   and you  could  say  that  her  parents  were  actually  rather  proud  of their  daughter  ,  much  to  her  dismay  LSKDJFLS  cause  really   the  last  thing  daph  wants  to  be  is  like  her  parents     ?     but  at  the  same  time  she’d  ...  do  anything  for  them  bc  to  her  that’s  what  family  is     ?     she’s  TROUBLED  okay  .

where  are  we  at     ?     daphne  is  currently  studying  art  history  at  columbia  while   being  the  primary  face  of  her  family’s  foundation  .  she  still has  a  working  relationship  with  her  parents  and   occasionally  does  some  modeling  ,  still  mostly  runways  and   typically  for  charity  .  hasn’t  dropped  her  high  school  party   ways  ,  she’s  just  more  mature  about  it  now     !     going  to  clubs  ,  getting  wine  drunk  ,  you  know  classy  things  .

𝑖𝑣.  𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠.

while daph  really  hates  what  her  parents  do  ...  she  can’t  deny   she  hasn’t  tried  the  product  every  so  often  .  quality  check   ,  you  know  .  but  she  smokes  a  lot  of  weed  ,  A  LOT  .   being  stoned  and  laying  in  the  grass  or  fuzzy  carpets  ...   it’s  a  thing

her  passion  for  traveling  and   culture  hasn’t  diminished  at  all  ,  but  daph  can  be  so   irrationally  spontaneous  sometimes     ?     catch  her  flying  to  italy  or  israel  or  japan  for  a  little  getaway

daph’s all  about  getting  the  most  out  of  life  ,  like  she  just  ... wants  to  have  the  best  day  everyday  like  a  child  man  .  it   can  make  her  a  bit  flaky  and  unreliable  sometimes  .  but  the   one  thing  you  can  rely  on     !    being  late  SLDKJF

she’s  just  a  whimsical  drug  pixie  okay

and  an  aquarius  ..  y’all  know

𝑣.   𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙  𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.

i   ...   am  really  drawing  a  blank  on  uh  good  ideas     ?     what  a  flop  lMAO  but  i’m  really  up  for  anything  ,  and  MUCH  better  at  brainstorming  ngl  .

[theliterarywolf]

So... Let's talk about Hetalia. Controversies, Specifically.

Tagging @apply-force-too-begin since they’re the one who was interested.

Hetalia was one of my first big fandoms outside of 'The Big Three' anime (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece) and outside of video games (mostly whatever wee babby weeaboo me could get on the Gamecube).

And, you know what? It's a dumb, silly anime about stereotypes, poking fun at the absurdities of History, and one's relationships with clashing cultures. It's dumb... But, remember, we all need our daily thirty minutes of dumb. And some of the characters are cute.

And, you know what? Most of the most engaging aspects of the fandom were those who used the initial shallow splash of history that the anime gave them to actually research and make engaging, well-written, culturally-sensitive content.

Of course, I'm not going to ignore how... Over-the-top some members of the fandom have been. We've seen how, whenever recent political conflict or natural disaster have occurred, we have to remind younger members of the Hetalia fandom to not cutsiefy it with the Hetalia characters. Examples that come to mind are: when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was surging up, kids kept trying to draw art of 'Russia just wants his big sister back~!', and the last major earthquake that hit Japan that had people making fanart of the Japan character which, while some was tasteful and was meant to bring awareness and donations for Disaster Relief, not... all of it was...

Hell, that’s not even bringing into account the last time I went to Anime Expo (way back during Hetalia’s hayday), I was walking around and saw a bunch of Russia and Baltic State cosplayers being interviewed by the news and the one dressed up in a USSR uniform was holding up a Communist flag and shouting ‘Whoo! SOVIET TAKEOVER!!’

However, one thing that I have noticed, while researching for this write-up, was this:

Most of the controversies and pieces of fandom-wank that have surrounded Hetalia and its fandom... Aside from one instance... Are the results of the Western-fandom and Western-localization of the anime  via Funimation.

Aside from one... Most of the issues surrounding Hetalia are due to the West and not even the source media in of itself.

So, with that in mind, let's talk about the main controversies of both Hetalia and its fanbase.

Controversy 1 – The South Korea Controversy/Protests

As I recently answered a question about this, so I'll just pull that answer for this segment:

'To summarize it: there’s a Hetalia character meant to represent South Korea. As every Hetalia character has a gag related to them (America gorges himself on fast food and constantly proclaims himself to be the Hero, Italy is cowardly, Germany is constantly angry, China constantly builds Chinatowns wherever he goes and sells bootleg merchandise, etc), so did S. Korea.

His gag was calling all the other Asian countries ‘big brother’ as well as groping the chests of male characters (China and Japan mostly), proclaiming ‘these mountains belong to South Korea, da ze!’

Of course, people would draw pictures of S. Korea doing his thing but one day during a meeting between a bunch of South Korean politicians and representatives, someone brought out a piece of fanart that depicted S. Korea groping Japan’s chest with the latter looking embarrassed and what not.

They interpreted the character as being an offensive, lecherous stereotype that was somehow belittling S. Korea’s worth as a country.

There were a bunch of small protests until, finally, Himaruya Hidekazu (the creator of Hetalia) just decided to say “you know what? Fine! I’m not getting rid of the character but he’ll never appear in the anime adaptation, okay?!’

So… Yeah! Fun times…'

Magnitude of Controversy – MAJOR

Like... In what universe is 'this meme hurt my feewings, we need to take VALUABLE TIME DURING GOVERNMENT FORUMS to talk about it RATHER THAN OTHER PRESSING ISSUES' a good response? And the fact that people took to the streets to protest? Come on, guys! There's so much more to worry about in this world...

Controversy 2 – Emperor Heliogabalus and Himaruya's 'Transgender Erasure'

There was a section of time where Himaruya Hidekazu, rather than focusing on the nation characters of the series, made chapters and updates about certain historical figures. They were all done for laughs while interspersing various bits of trivia and facts about them.

One of these updates centered around the Roman emperor Heliogabalus (or 'Elagabalus'). And this is where certain portions of this hellsite got soooooo upset...

You see, Himaruya titled the update centered on Heliogabalus as 'The Emperor Who Tried to Live as a Woman... Even Though He Was Really a Guy'.

Almost immediately people were typing up callout posts about how 'transphobic' Himaruya was for the title and 'how dare he misgender my precious trans baby~!' or 'this just goes to show how ignorant Japanese people are to Western history' and so many more, all because Himaruya didn't use out-and-out female pronouns for Heliogabalus.

Now. Mm, two things!

One! This was during the time when Himaruya had an open blog where, not only did he post pictures and updates about where in the world he was traveling and what he was researching, but it also had an inbox that was open for people to send insight to him.

So, if people were really incensed by this, you would think that they would use such a means to let a creator know 'hey, this is kind of problematic; can you edit it to show this information', right?

Right?

NO ONE tried to inform Himaruya of their upset; they literally didn't want an answer, they just wanted to be upset!

But, here's the kicker: the guy that all of these people were stanning for? Emperor Heliogabalus?

WASN'T FUCKING TRANS!!

The real Heliogabalus was a sadistic little shit who was connivingly put on the throne by his mother via a bunch of espionage and assassinations... Who, as thanks, had his own mother murdered once he was emperor. Other wonderful exploits of this 'icon' that tumblr kids decided to stan was:

Getting politicians and countrymen drunk and then, while they were passed out, brought in lions to kill and eat them

Deciding 'fuck Jupiter, Helios is my husbando – We're all going to worship him now!'

Completely wrecking Rome's monetary system

Promising favors to his lovers (whom he called his 'husbands' despite not making anything official) that strictly contradicted favors to his other lovers

And just generally being a hot mess

So... why were tumblr children so insistent on him being a transgender woman?

You ready for this?

Okay.

Because he occaisionally dressed in women's clothing and called his male lovers his 'husbands'.

Yeah.

One of the earliest case of tumblr children trying to ruin someone's life because they didn't follow their headcanons.

Magnitude of Controversy – Honestly, this was just fandom-wank. But it was one of the earlier instances of fandom brats using serious terms (transphobia) to justify being upset at a creator not following their headcanons.

Controversy 3 – The Passover Photoshoot

…

…

I'm sorry, just...

Everytime I remember or have to go over this one, I have to stop and reflect; maybe grab a drink.

…

Okay.

So, pretty early into the Western reaches of the Hetalia fandom, a group of friends and Hetalia fans decided to meet up together at a mall for a cosplay photoshoot.

Okay. Cool. Fine.

They were all dressed up as their favorite characters from the series! Germany, Austria, Hungary, P-Prussia, Holy... Roman Empire...

Ahem. Okay. Cool. Fine.

So, they get to the mall and start taking pictures. But then someone in the group gets the amazing idea for everyone to do certain poses.

I... You know, why did I start this, I could have just not done thi--

Nazi salutes. You had a bunch of dumb kids dressed up as Germanic nations. Performing Nazi salutes and shouting 'Heil Hitler'.

Now, as bad as this was... you could have just drawn it out as shitty edgelord humor; we still have plenty of that going on today.

H-however. There were two factors that made this photoshoot 50 Shades of Tasteless.

Number one. This photoshoot took place during Passover.

And number two. The mall that this photoshoot took place at...

WAS JUST A HOP, SKIP, AND A JUMP FROM THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MUSEUM!!!

This is the one, THE ONE, instance where, anytime someone talks about 'lol, young Hetalia fans are so cringey', this is what pops into my head.

Those of us older members of the fandom can never fucking forget this. Yeah, the perpetrators were called out; yeah, they learned their lessons, yeah it opened up a conversation about appropriate behavior in fandom. But this one event will always remain as the big 'Ooh, baby, nooooo! What are you doing?!' moment in the fandom.

Even moreso than what the current batch of hatedum is about.

Magnitude of Controversy – Huge. The South Korea controversy was discussed on a governmental scale, but the Passover Photoshoot is what remains as the biggest mark on the fandom.

Controversy 4 - FUCKING FUNIMATION!!

Okay, I... 

This one is so infuriating because it’s the result of Funimation just not giving a DAMN.

So, Hetalia got popular enough to be localized! Yay... And it was going to be handled by Funimation. Yay... They do quality work... Sometimes.

*kicks the Black Butler dub into the sun*

So, they dubbed Hetalia. And, you know what? So many questionable decisions went into this fucking dub. 

You have Vic Mignogna! You! *clap* Have! *clap* Vic! *clap* Mignogna! You could have easily put him as one of the Axis characters or the Allied characters and you...

Don’t use him...

Until three seasons down the line...

And then you have him as Greece. 

A character who barely says anything.

... And this was WAY before the clusterfuck of KickVic, so they really had no excuse. 

Oh, also! For China, who is a main character, maybe we should have an actual voice-actor?

Pssh! Fuck that shit, let’s just have some random chick from accounting voice him. 

... They literally had some random-chick from accounting do an overly stereotypical Chinese accent and said ‘yeah, that’s fine; print!’

And she gave us such... wonderful line-reads as: during the Hetalia movie Paint It, White! --

“SUCK BALLS! I knew za fortune cookie today was bad ruck~!”

But as bad as the dub got sometimes (Oh God, I’m having war flashbacks of Russia...), the exchange from the dub that people constantly point to as ‘see! This show was antisemitic all along!’ were these: 

Exchange 1 - 

S. Italy/Romano - ‘Hey asshole, I have a surprise for you~!’

Germany - ‘What is it? Another Jew?’

And, you know what? As asinine and idiotic as that brief exchange was... 

IT WASN’T IN THE ORIGINAL MATERIAL!

Funimation, in their infinite wisdom, wrote that in and thought ‘yeah, that’s fine; print!’

So, there goes another issue of ‘problem that only existed because of the idiocy of a Western presence’.

Magnitude of Controversy - Well, people are still talking about it, despite it literally being because of Funimation’s laziness, so...

'Controversy' 5 – The Civil War fanart

So, this segment will be short because it doesn't even need to exist. But, you may have noticed an upsurge in people hating on the series again; even going so far as to raid Discord servers for fans of the series with gore.

Hell, I even scrolled past one person doing a 'call to arms' for people to spam any server that has to do with Hetalia as a big 'gotcha'.

And you wanna know where this fandom-wank started?

Someone on tumblr re-posted an old piece of... questionable chibi fanart of Confederate!America and Union!America. Union!America is hiding a slave woman behind him while shouting at Confederate!America to 'Pick your own damn cotton!'

(deep breath... okay)

And, while the art in of itself is... not great, the fact that it is an old piece of fanart and that someone posted it onto tumblr for the 'lol, look at this cringe' lolz, is what rallied some people to start shitting on fans of the show and raiding servers.

There also may have been some drama over on picrew by some teenage LGBT user lashing out at the whole 'stop spamming Picrew with gay shit' sentiment and then some edgelord over on this hellsite screencapping their game and talking about 'lol, of course it would be a cringey Hetalian to post some dumb shit like this; get off the site, queer' but, honestly, this last one, while being the reason why people are acting dumber than usual, is the most inconsequential.

Magnitude of the Controversy – It would be minimal at best, especially compared to the other ones in this write-up, but like I said, it does have some trickling into the current hatedumb.

So, yeah, here was my little write-up/mini-dive into the madness. You guys can let me know if you want more insight or if you have any questions, and I love you and buh-bye!

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 6/8/20

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 26 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The fall season has begun! Furuya is wearing the ace number and dominates the first game, much to Eijun’s distress, since he’s still suffering from “the yips” after striking a batter with an inside pitch. Thankfully, Miyuki and Coach Kataoka arrange for Chris to drop by and teach Eijun a new trick, which seems to help get him out of his doldrums. Meanwhile, Furuya’s performance begins to deteriorate, rumors about Coach Kataoka’s imminent departure begin to circulate, and the guy who’s been observing them (but who is probably Kataoka’s replacement) plans to focus solely on cultivating Furuya the ace and objects to how much time and effort Kataoka devotes to the other players. I mean, I can only assume that this guy is going to get sent packing at some point, but I definitely appreciate that Terajima-sensei is able to make me this anxious about his presence. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 3 | By Kazuma Kamachi, Yasuhito Nogi, and Kiyotaka Haimura | Seven Seas – The first half of this volume is a giant flashback, and you know those are always bad in the Indexverse. Expect dead kids, dead adults, and a whooooooole lot of evil science. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot here that relies on the reader knowing one of the antagonists is from New Testament Vol. 11… which we have not seen in English, and might never see. Too much continuity. Junko continues to be laughably retroactively strong, going toe to toe with a level 5 here. And there’s the bond between her and Misaki, which may be “master and servant” but is also a close friendship (and yuri tease, as Misaki herself demonstrates). Railgun fans will like this. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 8 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The eighth volume of The Girl from the Other Side is unbearably sad—so much so that I struggled to finish it, as watching Shiva come to terms with losing Teacher is a shattering experience. Compounding my sense of anguish were the final chapters, in which we learn why the Inside world was so desperately interested in Shiva. The parallels between her situation and our current health crisis are impossible to ignore, reminding us about the human cost of capitulating to fear, ignorance, and superstition in the face of a pandemic. In a less fraught moment, I’d be inclined to recommend The Girl from the Other Side for the lessons it imparts, but I think it’s OK to decide that Nagabe’s allegory is a little too on-the-nose to offer insight or comfort right now. – Katherine Dacey

Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, Vol. 3 | By Aki Irie | Vertical Comics – After two messy but interesting volumes that see-sawed between mystery and travelogue, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest finds its groove in volume three. Michitaka—who disappeared from the previous volume—takes center stage in the latest installment, as Kei inadvertently stumbles across some important clues about what happened to his aunt and uncle back in Japan. Though Kei’s discovery propels the story in a new and unexpected direction, the latest plot twists feel earned; the sometimes awkward shifts in tone and genre that characterized the first two volumes are smoothed over by new revelations about Michitaka, and a new sense of urgency about solving the trail of gruesome deaths he’s left behind. The result is a compelling story that has the trappings of a Scandinavian crime show but the soul of an X-Files episode. Recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 3 | By Kouji Kumeta | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Whereas Zetsubou-sensei made a point to seemingly attack everything in the world for leaving the author (and, by extension, Nozomu) in despair, Kakushigoto is zeroing in on the manga profession in particular. Here we get mysteries answered, such as why are the pages of weekly magazines colored differently, who determines the order the stories go in, and what is the exact nature of a deadline? We don’t get real answers for any of these, as it turns out things are very fluid. As for Hime, she’s still cute, and still investigating things with her not-Zetsubou girls mystery club. And there’s still that flashforward threatening us with the death of Hime’s father. Will the series get that dark? – Sean Gaffney

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants, Vol. 1 | By Shu, Kayaharuka, and Yoshinori Shizuma | Square Enix – This isn’t my usual fare, but I hoped it would help with my Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun withdrawal. And it actually did! Anoth Voldigord was the all-powerful demon king, but sacrificed himself to end a perpetual war with humanity, pledging to reincarnate in 2000 years. When he does so, he’s invited to a school attendend by his many descendants but nobody believes he’s who he says he is because his magic is too vast to be measured and all of the facts about his reign have been distorted or forgotten over time. Anoth isn’t too likable at first, but the fact that his smug announcements of superiority garner no reaction, his jokes fall flat, and he must deal with a pair of doting and dimwitted human parents all help to humble him a bit. I guess it sometimes pays to venture out of your comfort zone! – Michelle Smith

My Senpai Is Annoying, Vol. 1 | By Shiromanta | Seven Seas – Thankfully, the senpai is not annoying in the way that I feared—this is all on her. Futaba is a new OL at a company who is so short she looks about twelve years old. She also has a near-terminal case of tsundere. This mostly comes out when around Harumi, her senpai at the company, who is huge, nice, helps her with her work and occasionally lightly teases her, and she is absolutely not ready to deal with it. This manga has one joke—Futaba is embarrassed and gets mad to hide it—and if you like that joke, it can be fun. It’s also based on a webcomic, with most “chapters” being about two pages. Towards the end, there’s longer original content, and that works much better. Recommended for those who like 4-komas and tsunderes. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 9 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – You got the sense that Kou wasn’t going to stay in France forever, and sure enough, she’s back by the end of this volume. There’s some nice stories here about not-quite-rivalries between her and Aoba’s friend Hotaru, and of course the inevitable yuri tease between Kou and Rin, which will never rise above a certain level but that level is pretty damn high. Other than that, a big part of this volume features the danger of farming out parts of your game to outside companies to complete, as they’re harder to control and can easily affect quality in ways that need to be fixed somehow. We also see Aoba continue to grow into her role as a real adult, even as she continues to never quite take the starring role. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Primitive Boyfriend, Vol. 1 | By Yoshineko Kitafuku | Seven Seas – Kamigome Mito is popular with the boys at her school but feels nothing for any of them, finding them all insufficiently manly. Mito is lamenting her circumstances while working on the family farm, when she suddenly receives a visit from Spica, Goddess of the Harvest. Mito’s hard work has not gone unnoticed and as a reward, Spica sends her back in time 2.5 million years to meet her soulmate, a member of the species Australopithecus Garhi. He takes care of Mito, she falls for him, and when she’s sent home just as his life is in peril, she’s desperate to return. It’s pretty fun, I guess, if you don’t let yourself get bogged down in the realities of how their relationship will never work. Thankfully, it’s also only three volumes long. It’s short, it’s unique, and thus I will keep reading to see how it all plays out. – Michelle Smith

Species Domain, Vol. 8 | By Noro Shunsuke | Seven Seas – The series has now reached the Culture Festival, and seems like it might slowly be gliding to an ending, which in a series like this means pairing up more people. The “joke” confession that wasn’t in the last volume gets revisited here, with much embarrassment all around. Kazamori’s desperation for other girls to be attracted to Ohki may end up getting her in trouble down the road. Mikasagi explains why he isn’t ready to commit to anything, etc. There’s also an extended bathhouse scene, for those who like fanservice, which includes discussion about where Mizuno should be, on the men’s or women’s side. Again, I appreciate the care they’re taking with this character. Fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 3 | By Kousuke Oono | Viz Media -As I have said in previous reviews, you read this series for its one gag, and should not expect more than that one gag done extremely well. Beyond that, here we see that our househusband is not the only former yakuza trying to make a living doing mundane everyday things, and that it’s much easier to change what you do than how you act. We also see why he’s such a good husband, manipulating things a bit so that his wife can meet some live action Pretty Cure actors (or rather the non-copyright violating Pretty Cure knockoff). That said, I think it’s Santa’s appearance that is absolutely the highlight of the volume, along with the stunned reaction of all the children. Hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

By: Katherine Dacey

[eternaljouska]

Over the Narita Sky - Choi Seungcheol

Pairing: Seungcheol x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1,842

Notes: 1. This was supposed to be for his birthday :) 2. This was supposed to be finished yesterday :) Well, at least here we have it done, and it’s still August :)

“Hey, Cheol! Over here!” you shout out as soon as you catch the glimpse of your long-time boyfriend behind the masses of men that are his band members and crews. He finds you instantly and his face lights up, seeing that you’re skipping your way through the busy airport towards him. Seventeen has just wrapped up their activity in Japan with a three-day mega concert in Tokyo Dome and now is on their way to Las Vegas for BBMAs. You can see the exhaustion framing Seungcheol dark eyes as well as the other members’. They always remind you how easy it is for their excitements to freshen them up again, but still, it’s a hectic schedule. The most rest they can get is the one day off before rehearsal. And for this reason, you’ve turned down your boyfriend’s original plan to pick you up in Seoul and then fly from there to McCarran International Airport. Because that, you imagine, would be such a great hassle.

You’ve been waiting in the gate only for about fifteen minutes when you saw them marching in. You didn’t really pay attention to your surrounding, only facing up once in a while from the captivating video you’re playing on your phone, fancams from last night’s concert. It was so sad that you couldn’t attend any of those three-day concerts because you’re doubling as your cousin’s wedding organizer and bridesmaid, which you would consider as an insanely terrific experience because how could someone do that? You’re planning a wedding but then you’re basically leaving it be as if you’re certain that nothing could ever go wrong and you could just stand and look pretty as the bridesmaid. But you made it.

And so did Seungcheol. He made it through the concerts with no injury and with a high spirit still—credit goes to the pictures of you on your salmon pink bridesmaid dress. But to be perfectly honest, you not being there took a toll on him, and pictures could only do so much. Sure, he’s a leader you could count on to and he’s also good at hiding what he’s actually feeling if he wanted to. But when it comes to you, he’s just a complete baby. And even right now, he’s walking to you in childlike strides and with a pout on his face.

When he arrives in front of you, the pout on his lips turns into a straight line which makes the dimples on his cheeks more prominent. “Babe,” he whines as he stares at you, who had stopped too many steps away from him.

You understand right away what he tries to express in that one word, his expression telling you everything you need to know. He missed you, and he came to the airport with an expectation, which you obviously didn’t fulfill.

 “Why didn’t you come up to me to hug me or something? I thought when we’re on the phone you said you missed me,” he grumbles and in turn, you laugh.

“I was distracted. I just finished watching the videos of a special someone spitting fire on last night concert and the pouty baby in front of me is such a polar opposite to that person, you know. I wonder how that’s possible.” You nudge him when he deliberately trying to shy away from your gaze.

“But still, how could you not run to that person when he’s literally a few feet away from you.”

“Oh my god, see! You’re such a baby! Did you miss me that much, huh?” You let out an airy chuckle before you stand up and link your arm with his. “Come on, let’s take a walk around. We still have, what, twenty, twenty-five minutes before check-in? I’m sure once your members get the timing right and circle us, they’re gonna tease you to death.”

You walk hand in hand visiting every shop with no intention of buying anything. There’s one that looks like a mini-market, and it has all kinds of instant noodle you can imagine. You audibly gasp and point at the stacks of noodle packages excitedly. “Cheol-ah! Look at that! It’s- Oh my god, that’s a lot of noodles!”

And then there’s another shop that sells assortments of soft cakes and chocolates. They have banana cake in the shape of a sliced banana, hello kitty soft cakes, Dorayaki, which you love, and various others. Again, you don’t buy anything. You just take the small pieces of cakes the shop assistant offers you. Seungcheol insists that you pick something, but of course, you insist back, saying that something is too sweet or not of your taste or that you don’t really want it at all. But it’s just that you don’t like him spending money on you. This whole trip, it’s on him, and you don’t want to add more to that, however small the addition is.

Seungcheol knows of this, but he can’t really do anything. Well, at least, anything other than buying you stuff behind your back. Just like how he secretly booked you your flight ticket here, he bought you a pack of a dozen Dorayaki. Only one, though, so that he can fit in inside his already-packed backpack. He can already see the way you’d sigh and scold him because of it, but he can save that image for later when you actually do sigh and scold him. Right now, he’ll just revel in the way your eyes light up at the littlest thing that piques your interest as you continue your walk.

And then you sigh, and Seungcheol feels that he’s on the border of panicking, thinking that you’ve caught him, but that was until he notices the contentment that framed your sigh. “I always love this airport,” you begin and Seungcheol let go of the breath he’s holding since a few seconds ago. “It feels airy and light. All these glasses and high ceiling. But you know, there’s always a downside to everything. Somehow, even though I’ve been here, like, at least thrice, I still have a hard time finding the restroom, like, all the time.”

And Seungcheol bursts in laughter, classic Y/n.

“That’s true! Really! It feels like they’re too far apart or whatever,” you say, laughing with him as you see the comical quality of your sentence. Seungcheol frees his arm from yours only to wrap it around your shoulder, and you feel grateful for the proximity it offers. “Anyway, I want to live here,” you start again after some time, earning you one surprised look from your boyfriend.

“What? Here? As in this airport?”

You shoot him a look before answering, “No, you silly! In Tokyo.”

“Why? Because the airport is good?”

You shoot him another look, causing him to chuckle.

“You hate living in a big city, though.”

“Well, then, Kyoto?”

“Is it a small city?”

You giggle at that because you don’t know, and as you exaggerate a shrug, you tell him just that. “I don’t know. I know nothing about anything, you see.”

He looks at you incredulously and asks, “Then how do you come up with Kyoto?”

“You know, there’s this poet. He wrote a piece of Tokyo and another of Kyoto. They’re beautiful, the way the pieces are connected to each other. And, uh, Tokyo and Kyoto, you reverse one and you get the other. Tokyo, Kyoto, Tokyo, Kyoto,” you explain while flipping your palm up and down after you say the name of each of those two cities.

“Is… that why you like the poetries?”

“Hey,” you whine, “I told you they’re beautiful! That Tokyo-Kyoto thing just adds to its value for me. I’ll show you later, you’ll see just how beautiful those pieces are, ugh. Anyway, I like the Kyoto one better.”

“So… We’re moving to Kyoto because of that?”

“Uh”—you stop walking and turn to face Seungcheol—“are we now?”

He follows your action and replies bluntly, “No.”

Then you both laugh together before falling into a comfortable silence as Seungcheol tightens his arm around you and the two of you walk back to your designated gate.

“Cheol-ah, look at that, it’s beautiful,” you say, motioning to the sky outside the plane’s window beside you. “The clouds are so neat and white and pretty. And there’s just the perfect amount of sunlight, in addition to the shade of blue that the sky has. It’s so calming. Somehow, everything’s so calming.”

“So it’s Tokyo?” Seungcheol prods.

“Huh?”

“The one that makes you feel calm.”

“Huh?” you say again, not quite comprehending his words.

“Not me?” he finally asks the core of his previous question, prompting a chuckle from you. But then instead of answering further, you look out the window again, settling on a rather mellow expression.

Seungcheol sighs as he reaches for your hand, knowing exactly what you have in mind. “Hey, I’m sorry that you’ve never had the chance to go beyond the airport, not even to our hotel. But next time, we’ll travel, yeah? Tokyo, Kyoto, wherever you want, hmm?”

You snap your head around to face him. “Cheol, that’s not- You don’t have to—“

“Shh.”

“But I don’t want you to—“

He cups your face and runs his thumbs on your cheeks, their warmth immediately paints red on your face. “I want to,” he states firmly before he falters, “And, uh, you’re wrong.”

“Huh? Wrong? About what?”

One of Seungcheol’s palm releases your cheek to straighten the line forming on your forehead. “About knowing nothing about anything. You know a little thing about something. And that’s the only thing that matters.” He chuckles when that line only grows deeper at the end of his sentence.

“I know a little thing about something? What? That sounds weirdly complicated, Cheol,” you protest.

“You know a little thing about me. In fact, you know almost everything about me, every little thing.”

You scoff, “Impossible!”

“Well, will you continue to learn then?”

“As long as you’ll do the same.”

“Easy thing,” he shrugs, bringing his hands away from you and folding them in front of his chest.

You raise your eyebrow at him, completely amused by his answer. “Uh-huh?”

“Yeah.”

“You cocky little man.”

“What?!” he exclaims in half a whisper, “You sure you’re talking about me?” Seungcheol wiggles his eyebrows and nod towards the seat behind yours, which as it turns out, is occupied by one sleeping Jihoon. Your eyes grow big in terror, but you can’t help the laugh that’s coming out of you, and neither does Seungcheol.

“Alright. Come here,” he says in the end, bringing your head to his shoulder, “and, uh, I might have bought a box of Dorayaki for you.”

“Seung—“

“I want it, too, okay? If you don’t want it then I can eat everything.”

You roll your eyes at him. “Whatever you say,” you mumble as you throw your gaze outside the window again, biting down a smile at how his palm mindlessly rubs at your arm and his head comfortably rests atop of yours.

[putschki1969]

Hello!! It’s great to see someone else as obsessed with kalafina as I am lol ^^ I just want to know, where do you get the content and stuff? Like the gifs you put with some of your posts. And just other videos of just kalafina hanging out? (Pretty much is there a kalafina equivalent of bts’s bangtan bombs?) I’ve seen a few videos of the three of them looking for costumes in their early days and one of them celebrating Hikaru’s birthday in LA but that’s it.

(Sorry this is a little continuation) and even when I found those, I had to dig DEEP into YouTube. I also saw two behind the scenes videos of their mvs (fairytale and progressive) but they were in really bad quality and no English subs (I’m trying to learn Japanese). It seems like their fan base isn’t big enough to Where ppl translate stuff. Also on the making vids, they said they got the video form their website, so I dug into it but couldn’t find it? Sorry this was long lol

Hi there!

Haha, I am definitely a very obsessed fan, however, unlike most fans I am more on the quiet side so I am not particularly vocal about my obsession.

I get content by working hard and constantly researching. ᕦ(ò_óˇ) The hustle is REAL! I also know a couple of amazing people who continuously help me with stuff that I can’t get due to various reasons. I would say that ever since I became a fan I have been collecting their stuff religiously. Throughout the years my collection has grown immensely. I have also tried my best to find all the super old stuff.

I am sorry, I have no idea what you mean by “bts’s bangtan bombs”. Are you asking for a comprehensive collection of content? A Kalafina-hub so to speak?Unfortunately there is -currently- no such thing. Kalafina stuff is scattered all across the internet The fandom isn’t what it used to be and there are hardly any dedicated people left so yeah, translated stuff is hard to come by (at least when it comes to English translations - Chinese and Russian translations are a different story).

That’s not to say that Kalafina stuff is impossible to find. There is actuallly so much floating around on Youtube, Facebook, VK, Bilibili and canta per me. You just have to invest a bit of time to look for it. But it’s not really hidden away so you won’t have a hard time finding those things. It might sound strange but it’s in fact a very good time to be a Kalafina fan. Sony used to delete so much content back in the day but nowadays they don’t seem to care anymore.

Doing a bit of self-promotion here: I take a lot of pride in providing as much Kalafina content as possible. I always share everything on my blog and while I mostly focus on recent stuff, I also regularly post old and juicy content. On top of that I have started uploading content to Google Drive to offer it permanently to all of my fellow fans. In the past I didn’t have enough storage space but just a few weeks ago I upgraded so I would be able to provide more content. It’s a slow process though since I have a full-time job and it seems like these days I am spending all of my free-time replying to asks. XDAnyways, I am sure you can find a ton of amazing stuff by simply following me and browsing through my archive. Please give it a try!

As for the making-of videos you are talking about, I actually just recently got an ask related to that topic. The anon was wondering if I had any of the PV making-ofs.Not sure which videos exactly you watched (there are a lot of uploads for those making-ofs) but none of them have good quality so you will just have to deal with that. A lot of Kalafina content has never been available in good quality unfortunately. In almost all cases the original source does no longer exist. Some stuff was only ever available in Japan so fans had to depend on generous people willing to share that stuff. If that stuff happened to have low quality you just dealt with it, it’s better than having nothing at all. There is actually quite a bit of Kalafina content that has forever been lost because no one ripped it (e.g. that final SPICE Kalafina broadcast *forever sad*)

While not many Kalafina videos ever got translated, there DOES exist a subbed version for both the progressive as well as the fairytale making-of!! They are very easy to find.