#borrowing OPs tags and content

[jayktoralldaylong]

Me with FengQing. XD

Do I love them with everything within me? Yes. Do I think they make any lick of sense and would work in an ACTUAL relationship? Not in any life time. 💀😂😭 One day into the relationship they would have a stupid fight over something completely irrelevant like where to place cups after using them and bring their whole house down.

We're talking about the same two clowns that were basically holding WWE entertainment wrestling matches for the whole heavenly court. Every time they started fighting people would gather round, not because they wanted to help separate them or anything like that, but they were legit bringing their popcorn to watch because they found the whole thing entertaining. These Supreme martial gods were legit being treated like clowns. 😭😂 Not even before they ascended were they able to have s single civil conversation without misunderstanding each other. At best this ship gets a few moments of adorable fluff before they start tearing into each other again.

I adore cat X dog relationships but I know very well that this is one cat and dog that would give each other the wrong kind of scars on their wedding night.

as the most hardcore hardcorest shin soukoku shipper, what the fuck do you mean 'domestic shin soukoku'?

what do you mean they've been together for 10 years they would break up after like a week

[aphverse-confessions]

Confessions Masterpost (DRAFT)

Hello!! Please enjoy this carefully curated guide to navigating through these confessions!

First and foremost, if u are here because the confessions annoy you, please be sure to block both this account and the "aphverse confessions" tag just to be extra safe! All confessions include that tag.

I also want to let u guys know that there are a LOT of tags. Like I made this SO hard for myself to keep track of. Please know I try to hit every relevant tag from the list below, but I will 1000% miss a few or more of the relevant tags. The most consistent tags are going to be characters, ships, feels (angies, happies, or sillies), and media tags. Because I remember that all those exists.

Lastly, this is marked as draft because it is missing hyperlinks! I don't feel like grabbing those all rn, but want to post this (finally) so people know what tags mean.

Now, the tag navigations

General Post Content:

Tags that decribe content not under specific character/ship/series tags such as the length or the purpose

NSFW?! - Posts that contain sex, drugs, or other suggestive themes. The question mark is because usually the post is subtle and idk what I'm doing. If someone actually sends me an explicit confession I will probably explode (protip)

Long! - this tag is for any confessions with multiple paragraphs. Entirely up to op (me!) if smth fits my idea of long. We have fun here

Angies - this tag is for all those angry/vent/upset confessions over relatively trivial things

Fandom angies - lots of confessions address the fandom as a whole. This tag is for people complaining abt general issues with the fandom, a subtag of angies

Happies - this tag is for happy/wholesome confessions

Sillies - this tag is for fun and silly confessions

Headcanons - tag for headcanon confessions, I do not do individualized character headcanon tags because I already made myself tag general character, love character, and hate character individual and I do not want to ALSO hc tag characters

Shipfessions - Name borrowed from my sister blog @aphblr-shipfessions (not run by me, only similar premise, hence sister blog like sister location), this includes any tags related to ships

Mys shipfessions, mcd shipfessions, mid shipfessions, and coco shipfessions are the subtags for this (some posts are unclear for what universe and do not receive subtags)

Hate shipfessions is another subtag for this

Series:

Tags grouping confessions by the series they pertain to

Minecraft Diaries (and it's adjacent tags) - for all confessions related to minecraft diaries (VP included)

Mystreet (and it's adjacent tags) - for all confessions related to Mystreet (PDH included)

Phoenix Drop High (and it's adjacent tags) - for all posts related to Phoenix Drop High (FCU included)

My Inner Demons (and it's adjacent tags) - for all confessions related to my inner demons

Side Stories - for all confessions related to the original side stories

Side Quests - for all confessions related to spinoff series of aphmau featuring the mcd/mys cast (ie mermaid tales/royale tales)

That one fucking series - for all confessions related to that one fucking series (aka small quickly abandoned series by aph not related to mcd/mys)

Cocomau - for all confessions related to current Aphmau videos (post 2020)

Nonaphmau media - Many people have used this blog for reach in finding old fics/accs/comics/etc, or confessing to consuming some fucked up Aphmau related media. This tag is for them. This tag also includes references to specific tumblr blogs/users

Media finding - specifically tackles the former use of this

Character Tags:

I try not to maintag characters if any hate is included, so I have devised my own tagging system for characters for u littler haters wanting to scroll through ur least fav characters confessions. I know tumblr’s tagging is generally fucked tho and “[character] tag” may appear in the “[character]” tag. Please block “[character] hate” or “[character] love” for preference.

Also worth noting for convenience I have grouped all divine warriors under the same tag (Shad and Irene do have individuals) and have included the Jesson tag here in the character category.

If ur looking for mcd or mystreet specifically for a character, ur out of luck sorry I am not tagging that. Maybe harass me and I'll think abt it

A-Z (If alphabetized wrong, no it isn't)

-Op spells it LaurAnce and Sylvanna (correct me if double n is canonically incorrect) please notice this in both character and ship tags

-Nana is used to refer to the infamous "Kawaii~Chan" this includes ship names

Aaron Tag (hate or love)

Aphmau Tag (hate or love)

Blaze Tag (hate or love)

Brendan Tag (hate or love)

Dante Tag (hate or love)

Divine Warriors Tag (hate or love)

Donna Tag (hate or love)

Ein Tag (hate or love)

Elizabeth Tag (hate or love)

Emmalyn Tag (hate or love)

Eric Tag (hate or love)

Garroth Tag (hate or love)

Gene Tag (hate or love)

Irene Tag (hate or love)

Ivan Tag (hate or love)

Jesson Tag (hate or love)

Kai Tag (hate or love)

Kenmur Tag (hate or love)

Kiki Tag (hate or love)

Kim Tag (hate or love)

Liochant (hate or love)

Lo Tag (hate or love)

Melissa Tag (hate or love)

Modzilla Tag (hate or love)

Nana Tag (hate or love)

Laurance Tag (hate or love)

Logan Tag (hate or love)

Shad Tag (hate or love)

Sylvanna Tag (hate or love)

Teony Tag (hate or love)

Vylad Tag (hate or love)

Zane Tag (hate or love)

Zenix Tag (hate or love)

Zoey Tag (hate or love)

*character tag is used for ship posts but the love tag for that character is not usually used as the characters are not usually being discussed by themselves in those posts. Please know that to see ships with a character u will have to scroll through the general character tag. Please block the character hate tag if hate for ur favs bothers u (ships popular enough to have a name will be tagged as that ship)

**also not all characters have a hate/love tag, I just like consistency, please feel free to send hate/love to balance out my tagging system

Ship Tags:

The ships lucky enough to get the great honor of recognition by op (me!), for all ship related confessions please see shipfessions tag

A-Z

Aarmau tag (hate or love)

Dana tag (hate or love)

Garmau tag (hate or love)

Garrance tag (hate or love)

Laurmau tag (hate or love)

Vylenix tag (hate or love)

X Confessor tag (hate or love)

Zana tag (hate or love)

Zanvis tag (hate or love)

Miscellaneous Tags:

Op (me!) is feeling silly and making life harder for themselves

❤️‍🔥 - Tag for the Valentine's special, a bunch of ship/Valentine's related confessions

- Confessions op (me!) Thinks are important!!

🤭 - Confessions op (me!) Left some silly little tags on

😳 - Confessions sent off anon!

My confessions - Original posts from op (me!)

🩷 - Posts about op (me!)

😵‍💫 - The old Aarmau countdown posts! An era may she rest in peace

*emojis picked based off op's (me!) commonly used emojis because I don't want random emojis in my frequent list

Op (me!) Is only one person. I will tag things wrong. Please politely leave an ask or comment if smth is missing a tag or has an incorrect tag.

This is a lot also like Jesus there is no way u read that entire thing! But I had to write it and then retroactively add ALL of those tags to posts I had already made! So please be nice to op (me!), I love u guys and am doing my best!

[gendervapor14]

OP Rarepair Month 2023: Week One ~ Only One Bed

hey hey!! taking a crack at OP Rarepair Month 2023 for my first writing event!! starting off strong for week one with one of my favorites ships AND tropes.

title: how to bed your captain rating: T content warnings: none relationship: bell-mère/donquixote "corazon" rosinante additional tags: fluff, humor, pining, sharing a bed, canon universe, but in terms of canon compliant i'd say it's just slightly to the left, marine rosinante, marine bell-mère, light angst, because this is me we're talking about, romance

sample below!! :D

From what Rosinante observed in his many years with the navy, there were two kinds of people. Those who took charge, and those who followed. There was just some sort of natural aura a person had, some sort of drive to lead, or to obey. Try as he might, Rosinante usually fell towards the latter, despite all those inspiring speeches he had attempted to gulp down with questionable success.

There was nothing wrong with being a follower. A leader was nothing without people to support them, after all. Although sometimes, like right now, Rosinante wondered whether he should’ve taken some of those tiresome lectures closer to heart.

“So, so, lemme get this straight…” His captain leaned over the counter of this cozy, family-run inn, probably giving that poor old man the shock of his life from the way she was toying with the top button of her blouse. “You only have four rooms available. You can’t…bump that up to five, by any chance?”

“I-I’m so sorry, miss, but if you want us to board all eight officers, the most we can allow is two people per room. They’re not very large rooms either, usually we only offer one person to stay at a time…”

“Right, but we’re only staying one night. And we’re all coworkers. All, one big happy family.” She patted the chipped countertop, “You stand for family values here, right?”

“Captain.” Rosinante felt the urge to intervene quietly when the frightened older gentleman looked his way for a rescue. “Let’s just, cut our losses and look elsewhere.” He suggested mildly.

And then she straightened up. Faced him square on. Rosinante raised his chin because if he was going to go undercover in the upcoming years, he needed to learn to stand up for himself sometimes, or something along those lines. Maybe challenging his own captain wasn’t a great start at that philosophy.

“Well, what do you suggest, Lieutenant?” She flexed that title on him as his eyes wandered away with annoyance. “That big grand imaginary inn over the hill?”

“Weather’s not that bad.” He shrugged, still avoiding eye contact. “We could just camp outside for the night.”

“It’s almost freezing.”

“Yeah, exactly. Almost.” When he glanced down at her, Bell-mère looked less than impressed. “Could be worse.”

With a wiry sigh, the old man behind the counter rubbed at his balding head. “I suppose if your officers are okay with it, they could arrange themselves within three rooms and…you could stay in the fourth?”

Bell-mère had a beautiful grin. She used it well to convince the man this could’ve been one of the best ideas of his life. “That sounds like a perfect plan, sir. Thank you for being so accommodating.”

A nervous little chuckle, “Of, of course, Captain. Just be sure you get the room key for, whichever room you decide to borrow.”

“Sure thing.��� Bell-mère cast him a half-assed salute before she departed towards the stairs. Rosinante belatedly trudged after her. “What’s the matter, bud?” The captain eyed over her shoulder, “Look, if you’d rather go out there and sleep in frozen dirt, be my guest.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He disregarded, head down as she made her grand selection of which officers were getting the boot. “Just feel bad about giving that guy a hard time.” 

“Please. I’m sure he’s dealt with shittier customers.”

“Well, that doesn’t really give us an excuse to be difficult.”

For the second time that night, Bell-mère fixed him with a tough stare. With the way that cigarette was perched between her teeth, and the stern glare in her eye, he often wondered what kinds of hell she saw before they were assigned to work together.

“Sometimes, life forces your hand. And you don’t have the luxury to be nice.”

“I get that.” He said lowly, both to preserve the privacy of this little talk, and to remain mindful of any nearby, sleeping clients. “But this…I dunno, didn’t seem like one of those moments to me. But maybe I’m wrong. What do I know, right?”

A tired sigh. She turned away, tugging on the root of her ponytail. “We’ll have this talk another day. I’ll toughen you up yet. Let’s just get some sleep, I’m fucking exhausted.”

“Yeah, agreed.” He nodded along as Bell-mère pushed forth, kicking out two of their once-comfortable officers into different rooms. She stepped into the bedroom afterwards, arms folded as she took in the sights of the place, while Rosinante had to bow his head to pass the threshold of the door.

“Guess he wasn’t kidding when he said the rooms were tight, huh?” She smothered her cigarette out on the corner of the dresser.

“Yeah…” The lieutenant noted quietly, staring at the scarce amenities available. A queen-sized bed. A wooden dresser. Burgundy curtains over the windows.

“Well.” Bell-mère shrugged and let her justice coat glide from her shoulders into her arms. “It’s better than camping out for the night, so, whatever. Let’s just be thankful for what we’ve got.”

“Right.” Who would’ve thought he’d be so spoiled to the barracks at HQ? “I’ll uh, I’ll sleep on the floor, I guess.”

Bell-mère crossed the room, draping her coat over the wardrobe as she kicked a boot up to the polished edge and began to untie her laces. “Yeah, no. I don’t feel like listening to you bitch about a sore back all day tomorrow.”

“I won’t complain.” He raised his hands in defeat, “You’re the captain, you get the bed.”

“I’m not letting my lieutenant sleep on the floor.” Bell-mère persisted. “We’re not animals, we can just share the bed.”

He should’ve expected such a casual suggestion from her. Still, it had him jamming his hands in his pockets awkwardly, craving a cigarette just so he’d have something to bite down on. This was every officer’s dream, really. Every officer who had the privilege of meeting Bell-mère, at least. The pretty spitfire who could drink half the navy under the table and take down half a pirate crew with a rifle alone. And, if he was being honest, he held onto some fluttery attraction for her too, although he kept it repressed deep, deep in the bowels of his mind.

thanks for hosting this, @oprarepairmonth!!

[rimeiii]

Your tone in your reply leads me to believe there may be some things in my reply that you don't agree with. I'll put my opinions and clarifications here, and if we still don't see eye to eye about this, let's just agree to disagree so we don't drag this out much longer than necessary. But if I'm misinterpreting your tone, then I apologize.

To be clear, I do agree with not putting hate on the main tags. I agree with blocking people who only spew hate. I agree that it's best to contact the devs about issues. And I especially agree on being respectful to others.

I'd argue the first point is exactly WHY criticisms are fine in the main tags. Yes, contact the devs, but there needs to be some form of organized action if you want it to be dealt with in a timely and satisfactory manner. At least, that's how it is in the gachas I've played. Buckle in, because I have two games to talk about where player criticism actually led to positive change.

Cygames, the devs for Granblue Fantasy, had a TON of mishaps under their belt while running this over 10-year-old game (did you know that someone in 2015 spent a few thousand dollars for one copy of a limited character in GBF, and this is why the spark/pity system exists and all gachas must display their rates properly?) was forced to immediately give compensation and apologized after the disastrous 2021 summer lottery campaign, with the playerbase all deciding to stop playing while criticizing the devs nonstop. I'm talking 'reached the top of Twitter's trending tab for almost 24 hours' nonstop. Their response was given within 24 hours of the lottery results being posted and this campaign was never repeated in any way, shape, or form. Recently, players protested the TeniSura collab gacha (this was a first, prior to this all collaboration characters were given for free) by not spending any gacha funds on it, and this AGAIN was communicated through the fandom.

As for the second game: Arknights. I play a lot of Arknights - I'd say it's my main gacha - and even though I love Ch'en the Holungday the moment she was released, I know the fandom did NOT love her for a myriad of reasons (one of their criticisms I actually agree with: her original art before it was changed looked more like Blaze, a whole other character entirely).

Was it unpleasant, seeing all the negativity directed towards her? Yes. Were there people who were hateful about it? Also yes. But I know Ch'en the Holungday was emblematic of what was, at the time, insane powercreep and an uncertain future for F2P players like myself - would the meta revolve around Limited Operators now? - and if nothing was done the game's as good as dead. The organized push for change started with experienced players posting their findings about how OP her kit is, and everyone who saw aired out their grievances about her (got to a point content creators were MAKING VIDEOS on why Ch'en the Holungday was a problem), some even deciding to stop playing until HyperGryph, the devs, did something about it. And they did - first, Ch'en the Holungday's art was changed to actually resemble Ch'en (plus she got an absolutely gorgeous L2D skin around a year later). Future characters that were as strong IF NOT STRONGER than her were released in the regular gacha (Mlynar and Degenbrecher being two of the most notable examples). They also reassured players that ALL content, past and future, can still be cleared with no more than one of those super strong high rarity units (that you can borrow anyways). Because of this, the release of the much more broken Wis'adel years later wasn't met with as much dissent as Ch'en the Holungday was.

Clearly, there is a lot of nuance in the 'I hate the devs' sentiment. Some don't want to interact with the games at all, like how people dropped Project Moon games completely after the Vellmori situation. Others hate the devs but love the game, so they still want to see the game succeed, like fans of Bandai Namco IPs that have been consistently snubbed time and time again (how we feeling about the new release drought @ Tales - no the Graces port does not count as the last new instalment was Arise back in 2021, God Eater, Soulcalibur, .hack fans, and more). This is where respectful discussion of complaints and criticism comes in, and how both Granblue Fantasy and Arknights resolved their issues.

“Roses are red, violets are blue

If you leave the fandom, shut the fuck up, and let us enjoy too.”

Srsly though, imagine having like an obsessive ex that dumped you but still comment at every social media updates of yours. Mfk, like at this point just leave already.

If you guys feel targeted, this post is for ya~. If you don’t, it’s not. And seeing this also means you still care about the tag and can’t get over the ex that you dumped~ hehe, further proving my points. Get over it.

[arofili]

week-long fandom events: some tips from a pro

a while ago someone asked for advice for running week-long fandom events, and I thought my thoughts might be useful for other people too!

disclaimer: I am NOT actually a pro, that was just a catchy turn of phrase, lol. however I have run several events for several years, and I’d love to share some of my tips and tricks!

these are tips for tumblr-based events; if you’re running your event on a different site or on multiple sites, this might not be the most applicable to you.

some of these points will also be useful for events outside of the week-long structure, but some will be specific to that structure, as it is the one I am most familiar with!

here we go:

it's really nice to have an event sideblog to organize things; the events I've seen that run on people's main blogs are a little more confusing / hard to promote & follow

make sure you know the most popular tags in your fandom and get your promo posts into those tags! especially for first time events, tag blogs with lots of followers / influence and/or DM them and ask for them to boost the event, even if they're not participating

visual banners will draw in more eyes than posts that are just plain text, so try adding a header to your promo posts

give people enough time to prep for the event. I usually make the first announcement about 2 months before the event, and then schedule regular reminder posts as I get closer to the event. I make a reminder post 1 month out, 1 week out, and 1 day before, and then make sure I'm posting something every day of the event (at least) - the queue function is extremely useful for this, so you don’t forget to post!

themes for each day give people something to plan around / inspire them, I definitely recommend them. I usually just have one theme per day, but I've also seen events that give different themes for different mediums, or a list of themes each day that creators can pick from

have a pinned post with links to important information! this includes prompts, rules, FAQs, a link to an AO3 collection, etc. since blog pages are not accessible on the mobile app, it might be useful to also have post versions of any pages you make, and link to those in your pinned post.

when it comes to FAQs & etc, feel free to look at the pages on any of my event blogs (listed at the bottom of this post) and borrow concepts/phrasing from those if it's helpful for you. if you do this PLEASE credit me, but you are welcome to do so

off-site promos might not be the most wide-reaching, but Discord especially is a good place to draw attention to your event for people who don't track tumblr tags. I know I also post links to my promo posts on Twitter, and I usually catch a couple people there who are like "oh I didn't know that was happening, cool!"

track your event tag AND frequently check your event blog’s activity - tumblr is rotten about notifications, so it’s important to keep an eye on things and make sure you’re not missing any submissions!

reblog every submission to your event to the event blog. this is why the blog is there! this is how you can bost the content for your event and help other people find it! I recommend tagging those reblogs for organization with at least the url of the OP; I will also tag for relevant characters, sometimes relevant ships, and the medium of the post (art, fic, etc), and sometimes which prompt the submission was inspired by. also, I find it useful to tag which year the event takes place so you can track your event’s growth over time.

finally, make sure to participate in your own event; it doesn't have to be every day, but I think it's a little weird if you aren't creating content yourself, even if it's "just" a text post with headcanons or something!

these are all just things I like to do in organizing my events; there are other ways to run things, and you'll figure out your own system as you go on, but I hope this gives you a starting ground!

if anyone has any questions about running an event, I’m happy to give you further advice! send me an ask or a DM with any questions :)

AND check out my event blogs: @finweanladiesweek​ @tolkiengenweek​ @aspecardaweek​ @kilielweek​

happy event planning!

[quizzyisdone]

Hello there, you beautiful person! This is my masterlist of all my dumpster fire writing for Call of Duty . Hope you enjoy! (Masterlist last updated June 19th, 2024)

* Means Suggestive Content Contained in the Fic 

** Means Explicit, NSFW Content Contained in the Fic

[AO3 Link]

Blog Header by @efingart & Masterlist Header by @highwayorgantrade <3

🚬 Russell Adler 🚬

Series:

Completed Series, “Guilty”. This is basically my "fix-it fic" for the ending of Black Ops: Cold War (AU set in 1984 in which Bell survives Solovetsky and must face Adler once more) Finished as of January 29th, 2021.

- Part One, “Briefing”

- Part Two, “To the Rescue!”

- Part Three, “Questions Unasked”

- Part Four, “What’s My Name?”

- Part Five,  “Nothing Else Mattered”

- Part Six, “We’re Almost There, You’re Gonna Be Okay.”

- Part Seven, “Regrets and Realizations”

- Part Eight, “Hang On”

- Part Nine. “I Know”

Ongoing series titled “Old Vices”. Separated from the “Guilty” universe, this is a different take on a reconciliation between Bell and Adler set in early 1984. Last updated May 29th, 2021.

- Part One, “You Know Who You Are”

- Part Two, “Lover, Be Good to Me” **

Ongoing Series titled "The Color Red". When Adler finds an agent of his sworn enemy, shot by one of her own, he brings her in, hoping to interrogate her for a lead to Perseus. When conventional interrogation falls short, Adler, blinded by his hatred to Perseus, resorts to brainwashing, much to the chagrin of his handler, Hudson. Slowly, both men fall for this mysterious woman whom they've dubbed "Bell" in a twisted love triangle destined to collapse on itself. Last updated June 18th, 2024.

- Part One, "The Divine Zero"

- Part Two, "Bad Moon Rising"

**This series will contain darker themes not suitable for all readers, will be tagged appropriately.

Oneshots:

Part of the Cover *

Old Scars // Future Hearts *

Adler’s Girl

Ya'aburnee (يقبرني)

Bigger Than The Whole Sky

Headcanons:

Cat Dad

Drunk *

Twice Your Size *

Blind as a Bat

A Mother’s Love

NSFW Alphabet **

Headcanon Series:

Unexpected *

Unexpected Part II *

💥 Frank Woods 💥

I Could Kiss You Right Now! *

Birthday Boy **

NSFW Alphabet **

Old, Hammered Shit

Finding Out About Bell

Photograph **

Take On Me

🕶️ Jason Hudson 🕶️

Inadvisable At Best

NSFW Alphabet **

Girl Dad

Smutty Headcanons **

Blueberries and The Lack Thereof

Be Still My Indelible Friend

💀 Ghost 💀

Series:

Ongoing series, "It Will Come back". When a new member joins Taskforce 141, Ghost finds himself to be inexplicably attracted to them. Feeling as though he is undeserving and his attraction unrequited, he covers it up. However, when a mission goes awry and the object of his desire is hurt, the dominoes begin to fall, and so does Ghost. Last updated April 15th, 2023

**Tumblr shadow banned part 2, so please let me know if the direct link won't work!

- Part I, "Witch Image"

- Part II, "Cirice" *

- Part III, "Spillways"

Series inspired by this song by Hozier :)

______________________________________________________________

🌳 David Mason 🌳

Fluffy Headcanons

NSFW Alphabet **

💯 Alex Mason 💯

Cuddles

Finding Out About Bell

🔪 Helen Park 🔪

I Didn’t Just Kiss Her *

🔧 Lawrence Sims 🔧

Fatherhood

⚔️ Viktor Reznov ⚔️

Lovebirds

🦴 Vikhor “Stitch” Kuzmin 🦴

His Weakness and Strength

Little Bird

🥡 Eleazar “Lazar” Azoulay 🥡

NSFW Alphabet **

🏠 Safehouse Crew 🏠

*Safehouse Crew are collective headcanons that include any combination of Russell Adler, Frank Woods, Alex Mason, Helen Park, Lazar Azoulay, Lawrence Sims, Jason Hudson, and once in a blue moon, even David Mason.

Crying and Comforting

Valentine’s Day *

Love Languages

Terms of Endearment

How They Kiss

Plus Sized

Phobias

Bell is Short

Jaded Lovers

Mother’s Day

"Borrowing" Their Clothes

Reacting to Hudson's M! S/O

❔ Quizzy Does Trivia ❔

Alex Mason Trivia

Frank Woods Trivia

Eleazar “Lazar” Azoulay Trivia

Grigori Weaver & Jason Hudson Trivia

🧐 Quizzy Analyzes 🧐

What if Bell was Jenny?

Bell’s Background

On Russell Adler’s Morality

My Thoughts on Adler/Bell

How Would The 141 React to Bell?

Misc.

Basic Info About BO:CW Characters 

Songs I Think Adler Would Like

[yonemurishiroku]

Ok got OP's permission so today's essay is about Percico and the shipping culture again.

Before I jump into the Answer tho, please just remember that to dislike a ship is, in fact, absolutely normal and totally justified even when there's no reason at all. You don't need reasons to love and sure you don't need reason to feel repulsive at st. It's just feelings that every human has, so there's that.

On to the matter at hand. I'm doing this because I'm weirdly interested in how Percico (and other... less favorable ships) are perceived in this fandom, along with their influence. This is science (as much as I want it to be...) and I'm really trying to be subjective so please don't think I'm defending this or dissing any other ship bc srsly I'm too old for that. 😭

Anw. I don't have any outlive yet, so Imma borrow OP's tags instead.

Tl;dr: the (fictional) dynamic isn't healthy but sometimes it's what get people hooked.

Their unhealthy relationship.

This is actually very simple. When it comes to fiction, your consumption doesn't necessarily always have to be healthy. Of course, it also depends largely on people's tastes, which is also another way of saying that a number of people feel completely fine, and/or are interested in unhealthy dynamics in unrealistic scenarios.

This has been an ongoing discourse among the fandoms for a long time. I suppose it makes sense that someone who's used to healthy, humane, tame content would consider more problematic dynamics absurd. However, sometimes people do find intriguing, fascinating facets in the forbidden, toxic situations. It's the curiosity rather than a need for positivity (and even less of moral) that propels us to indulge in the unethical, specifically (and allowed only) in fiction, those that we probably would run away from at first sight in real life. (And it's because it's fiction, so it does no harm! 🤗)

In fact, the complicated relationship and messed-up history between Nico and Percy is the exact reason why I find them compelling. I like the angst, the unhealthiness of it all, the unique taste that sets them apart from other exemplary relationships in the series.

It's a type of catharsis, I believe. Sometimes you'd like a little tension here and there, just for the thrill of it.

The age-gap.

I actually am in no position to talk about this because ngl, I reckon my comprehension of age in fiction is different from others. You ask another Percico shipper then chances are they would tell you that Nico's age is messed up; Frazel's or Caleo's age gap is actually somewhat the same, with which the canon is fine; 3 years might not be that big of a problem.

I, myself, just straight-up don't care. I have seen worse in other types of fictional content and tbh I see no problem. But yeah this can be a trigger to others, I understand.

Percy's attitude towards Nico.

This should also be grouped into their dynamics in general, yeah? I do admit Percy and Nico don't have the best relationship (friendship-wise or whatever) in canon. However, it's just like I have explained above - sometimes one doesn't see it as a problem, other times it's the exact reason why one engages with it in the first place. It's all about preferences. You find their canon materials an obstacle, another would find it an inspiration.

Hell, Wuthering Heights is so messed up in terms of character relationship chart but that doesn't stop it from becoming a classic piece of literature, which the readers enjoy just fine.

Or another example: the villain x hero trope that has somehow wormed its way into many fandoms at once. Clearly, they don't have the best interactions in terms of intimacy, or even affability, for that matter. And yet, it persists despite the abundant hostility.

On the other hand? The canon doesn't always dictate everything. The official materials are the roots of inspiration, regardless, what's born from it isn't in the hands of the author but rather those of the audience (aka: fans, shippers. etc...). (Well unless you forbid transformative works altogether, but I digress lol). Anw, I'm talking fanfics, or fan content in general, whose Percies and Nicos might or might not be the same as you've come to know, and the story is completely a world away from the canon events.

There, Nico might not never have deceived Percy, Percy might never have strangled Nico, they could have talked it out, Bianca never died, they could just be regular high schoolers, they could be friends and then many more. Nico got his happy ending, and everyone's as happy as a childhood dream.

Believe it or not, Percico has one of the sweetest, most wholesome and most beautiful Domestic Family Fic I have ever read in PJO AO3. In it, Nico deserves better and he does get it, as the writer successfully constructed a scenario in which happiness is possible in their union.

Surely it wouldn't make it to the official materials. But again, it doesn't need to. And that is the point. Sometimes, one finds joy in the peculiarity, and it's the drought that makes the rain so precious.

Looking at it in a different way - it might be the compassion for Nico that gets us into Percico in the first place.

Think of it this way - Nico's crush on Percy brought him many struggles, yet it was also shown, through many sacrifices made and a painful confession, that it meant a lot to Nico; hence, as a fan's act of adoration for Nico himself, one wishes for another ending in which he could achieve that love. So they come up with many scenarios, twists, and turns in which the crush comes to fruition. And naturally, it grows into what we call "shipping."

It's just as simple as that.

That's everything I got to say I think. It should be clear that I cannot speak for the Percico nation since I'm not as ominiscient as I'd like to be lmao. Tho I hope this does give, if anything, some insight into another corner of the shipping community. 🥺🤗

percico is the only tag i have blocked on tumblr. i don't even know why i hate it so much but it makes me physically ill to think about. someone please explain the appeal of this ship i do not understand at all

[telmes]

fic masterlist

a growing list of fics that i’ve posted both here or on ao3.

ongoing

when there's lovin' in the air (ahh) - gabenath. gabriel digs a hole and has a realization in the process.

are you ready to bleed yourself (to please her) - eminath. an eminath drabble collection.

completed

i plead of thee, have sympathy for me - gabenath. hanahaki au. (warning for blood mention, character death)

have you heard the story of the rabbit in the moon? - gabenath. gabriel regrets. (warning for character death)

there's no such thing as time to kill - gabenath. five (four) times gabriel almost dies and one (two) where he does. (warning for character death)

see how deep the bullet lies - gabenath. prosecutor/detective au. (warning for implied sexual content, character death)

01:04am - gen. nathalie-centric feels. (warning for animal death)

in the mouth of the sun - sangrestes. eighteen 100 word drabbles. (warning for implied sexual content)

halika na - one-sided gabenath. more nathalie-centric feels (warning for non-consensual touching)

if i kissed you - gabenath. winter/kissing prompts.

gusto kitang isayaw ng mabagal - sangrestes. nathalie and gabriel and emilie dance.

you push me down - mamanath/eminath. nathalie and emilie have a moment.

kiss yourself goodnight - gabenath. gabriel takes a drunk nathalie home.

there’s a thunder in (our) hearts - gabenath. prosecutor/detective au. sequel to ‘see how deep the bullet lies’. (warning for implied sexual content)

you’re fooling heaven - gabenath. nathalie is sick.

how brave the moon - sangrestes. adrinette. ten 100 word drabbles between five people. sorta sequel to ‘in the mouth of the sun’

tell me how he makes you feel - gabenath. reverse hanahaki au. (warning for desc of vomitting/blood/general hanahaki angst). collab w/ @unecoccinellenoire

heartbeat in hand - gabenath/hawkyura. hawkmoth and mayura fuse.

bye bye baby blue - gen. marinette pov think about hawkmoth’s death.

​something about a motorcycle - gabenath. a motorcycle ride and mini-realizations.

sorry for being late - gen. nathalie-centric drabble.

thank you for taking me - eminath. an eminath abo drabble. (warning for the abo dynamic)

sorry for still being here - minor gabenath. post s5 ep1 drabble.

sorry for dreaming - gabenath. (warning for implied sexual content)

january calls (her) a coward - gabenath. various gabenath drabbles for the 'a drabble a day' mini-challenge of the gabenath reverse bang!

post-op conversation - gen. nooroo and nathalie talk.

again, again, again - gabenath. time loop fic. (warning for major character death)

people say i'm jealous, but my kink is karma - amenath. amelie and nathalie grieve for emilie. (warning for implied sexual content)

something borrowed, something worn, something given - sangrestes but not. no miraculous au. nathalie is the agrestes surrogate. (warning for a lot of things but mostly hurt no comfort)

sorry for wanting more - gabenath. er, chapinath. (warning for implied sexual content)

thank you for being mine - eminath. (warning for explicit sexual content)

can we kiss forever? - gabenath. vampire!nathalie and human!gabriel.

and yet - sangrestes. three people orbiting grief.

thanks for strangling me to death, i guess? - gen. (but tagged gabenath because it's somewhat gabenath). the Wish takes hold in one (1) way gabriel did not expect it to. (warning for character death)

events

all or nothing (gn minibang 2020) - gabenath/emigabe. gabriel wins. 

well, of course i’ve tried lavender (gn reverse bang 2020) - gabenath. paris ships hawkyura. chaos ensues.

three minutes till dawn (gn reverse bang 2023) - gabenath. minor eminath. minor gabry?? (gabrielxharry). minor emigabe. a goddess!nathalie, acolyte!gabriel story.

[winnerloser]

idk who needed to hear this today but 

if you use fanart for anything, you give credit for it.

usually i would just implore you guys to at your own discretion but. 

i think sometimes people forget that if you use fanart without explicitly asking for the author’s permission, that's stealing. but obviously no one has ill intent behind it with this hobby, which is why crediting is important. it’s the least you can do.

it doesnt matter how much you use the fanart. even if it only appears on your blog once. even if it’s just a throwaway icon for a gag. even if you replace the icon with new icons from somewhere else. if it was on your blog at some point, and you don’t intend on deleting it, and it’s still on there, you give credit for it.

there’s maybe some leeway if you commissioned the art and/or the artist already cosigned you to using it without giving permission. but that’s the only special instance i can think of.

in that same vein, please just look on artist’s profiles to see if they allow reposting in the first place. if their account says no reproduction/no reposting/DONT USE MY ART.... don’t use it. if the bio is in japanese, chinese, korean, whatever- google translate it. i know google translate can suck but it’ll easily convey what you need to be looking for. 

if you’re one to think that you don’t want to use source media like screenshots or mangacaps because fanart is prettier, don’t ignore the fact that the people providing you the luxury to do so are just that- people, who spent hours to draw what could amount to just one or two icons. who could’ve drawn what you were using as a commission for someone else. who more than likely posted the image without any idea what you’re using it for-- more importantly;

without any idea what you’re using the image to represent, what messages you’re trying to convey- with their image. the fact that the subject is a copyrighted character/isn’t theirs doesn’t change the fact that the drawing in and of itself is still their creation.

it would behoove you to start keeping tabs of the sources you intend to pull from. if you see a piece from pixiv you think you’ll consider pulling from- pluck it, save it, so later when you open photoshop you’re not sitting with the pulled image thats titled computer jibberish with no artist’s signature.

YOU KNOW WHAT? i’ll go you one even better than that.

When you save an image from pixiv - this one for example, by default it’ll save it as 78827921_p0_master1200.jpg.  78827921 is the image ID. https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/78827921 will take you back to that image. Plug in any other ID, and it’ll go back to its source. There you go. Easy if you accidentally forgot to keep tabs.

nobody is entitled to the usage of another person’s art, and if you use the excuse that [just by virtue of OP posting it on the internet, it’s free gain], that’s bullshit.

if you post anything- even a text post or roleplay thread- going by that same logic, anyone should be allowed to reblog it, remix it, go to town on it; it’s on the open internet, after all... right? No. you’re entitled to security in the things you post. you don’t really need to say “don’t/ask to reblog” in the tags for people to get the hint to not or ask first if they feel inclined to. if you believe you’re entitled to that comfort and respect, i don’t see why that mindset can’t be translated to fit the situation of artists. even if you don’t give a shit how your stuff gets circulated, at least try to look at it in the way that not everyone is you.

and not everyone is me, so some may be wondering still why they can’t just go ahead and do what they want so long as they’re not hurting people/keeping it lowkey. i mean, at the end of the day, there’s nothing i can do about it either. you can totally do whatever you want, im not denying that. but just know that you’re not 100% in the clear from getting discovered by somebody. you’re not impervious to being found. and reposting/art being used or transformed without credit or consent is a very real reason that artists get upset or even sometimes lock their profiles, delete, or stop drawing/posting, or stop making their art publically available. this is NOT just a western philosophy. asian artists do this just as well- hell, you could even say that some are even more stringent about etiquette when it comes to treating their works with respect. that includes reposting policies.

if you’re too tired/busy/lazy/forgetful/cursed to credit, that’s 100% not an excuse lol. or if you’re thinking, crap, i have all these nicely done assets that i’ve created but it’ll be too difficult to go back and retroactively find the sources!

idk what to tell u but tough titties bro thats a you problem*

uh, so to end this:

再版ポリシーが破られている場合は、お知らせください。すぐに画像を削除します。このブログから利益を得ることも、失礼することも意図していません。再版は許可されているが、クレジットがない場合は、お知らせください。修正いたします。ありがとうございます、失礼します。

如果违反了您的转载政策，请告知我们。我会立即删除图像。它无意从此博客中受益或无礼。如果允许转载，但信用不正确，请告知我们。我会马上改正的。谢谢，不好意思。祝好

this is in my credit’s page at the bottom. i can’t vouch for the japanese, but i can say with more certainty that the chinese is legible. if someone is better at japanese and has any adjustments they’d recommend, please do so! it’s just saying that i don’t intend to cause harm or disrespect by borrowing the artwork, and that at any of the artists’ discretion, whether i’m violating their repost policy or not, they are urged to reach out to me and tell me to remove their art if they don’t want it on my blog. feel free to snatch it and use it for your credits page, or write something similar in lieu of that. i’m 100% in support of that.

please be conscious and considerate of the people who work hard and do a good deal of the heavy lifting for you to be able to make your blog pretty and aesthetic in the first place. i think the bounty of beautiful and high-quality art for the pokemon fandom- or for any popular fandom for that matter- sometimes makes us forget that it isn’t a commodity. it’s something that when taken for granted, can genuinely affect others who work hard to provide content for people to enjoy. at the end of the day, they do this to make themselves and others happy. seeing others take that work without any acknowledgement to them is demoralizing, don’t think that they’ll get enough recognition from others to compensate for you. that’s frankly not how posting art on social media works at all.

i mean, even if this doesn’t convince you, i can only hope it’ll spur you to be more conscious in the future. 

*i get that things happen and this isn’t meant to shame you if you happen to be one to do any of the things other than credit. but know that you don’t... really have an excuse when there’s so many different options, shortcuts and alternatives available to you. you don’t really cite from a shitton of different sources for your paper and then go back to pick through every individual quote to find where it came from to avoid plagiarizing. you just.. make a note or works cited. it takes like, 15 extra minutes. if you’re going to spend hours on photoshop or writing fancy infoposts, you can spend an extra 15 making a works cited.

[eyes-of-heimdall]

[So since my request box is a little empty, I’m gonna post some random Yakumo headcanons to fill the gap! There may be some spoilers(?) so just in case, I’ll tag those and sorry these aren’t as long as the others!]

Yakumo in a relationship

-Being with Yakumo is never a dull moment. He’s a guy who loves to live in the moment and see what the world has in store for him and having you around makes him want to find all the most romantic places to take you despite the collapse

- He jokes that Louis is the brainiac of the operation but Yakumo’s no slouch either. His skills with building and tinkering brought to life the home base so when he has to make a gift for you? He’ll try to make something you’ve mentioned wanting or needing. He may not be able to draw flowers or write flowery poetry but if you enjoy a puzzle box or you’d like a small jewelry box? He’s off to tinker and make a blueprint for your gift. If you’d like to see an item you saved up an running again? a week or so later, you’ll see it running on all cylinders

- Now if you’re not one for being a social butterfly? He won’t try to force you to talk since he’s met many people like that and even lived with Emily who never was one for speaking up unless it was truly important to her. Yakumo is just as content to spend his time with you with a drink or some good food and you under his arm in a peaceful environment as he is to be in the thick of things because so long as he has you? he has little reason to worry

- Yakumo is definitely one for acts of service because what better way to show his love for you than to do things for you that he knows you’d like? If you'd like any form of help, he’s jumps to your call. If you'd like to try something new, Yakumo is right there to join in the experiments! He’ll even do things that you were worrying over just to see you smile because that’s one less stressor to deal with

- Now that doesn’t mean he’ll baby you. He understands you’re an adult and if you do something stupid, he won’t always agree with you. But to him it matters more if you try to do something because he knows he won’t always be there. If you’re independent, he’s not gonna force you to let him control everything either because after what he went through? Stripping you of control would make him no better than Mido

- Speaking of which, Yakumo is one for nightmares and lots of them so if some days he seems more tired, more angry or just really dead on his feet, it’s usually because of his past and he makes it very clear to you that you’re not at fault for if he’s having a less than ideal day. He knows you can’t fix everything but finding the words to talk to you about what happened would be a start

- He’s always one for indulging in childish fun and wanting to relax after a stressful day so if he say, snags one of Rin’s consoles to use to spend time with you? be prepared for him to playfully trash talk you or eagerly co-op in whatever games he borrowed from her

- Speaking of which, if Rin knew? You two would never hear the end of it but she would find you two so adorable that she would be half tempted to knock him over and hug you for helping make Yakumo so happy that for just a moment, he slows down and enjoys his life and everyone in it, since she too, has had to deal with the horrors of being a revenant and with Yakumo’s particular circumstances; he deserves it

- Same from Emily because for Yakumo? if she likes you? Then he REALLY did good because Emily is the only person left of his old family and to see that Emily is just as happy with you as he is? It brings him joy to know that the people in his life want to see him happy and approval of you is a really big thing for him since he heavily believes in family and would even be willing to start one down the line if you were willing to

- Just overall, with all the ups and downs that can come with being his significant other? It’s always worth it because at the end of the day, this lovable sweetheart is a big softie who wants to provide a happy, stable environment for everyone to live in, especially when it involves the love of his life being there for every step of the way

[minecraftoworymode]

bob the old builders

#OK I KNOW WANDA PAINTED THIS I JUST KNOW SHE DID #WHY DID THEY CUT THIS THUIS SO FUNNY #MCSM #also the steve placeholder.. bro im telling u.. they keep confirming my lore #it keeps Happening #Many Thoughts Head Full. #ok but the fact its Just Fred raises many questions like binta knew about xara and rom but they arent considered on the same level as fred #even though the three of them created the universe together... so is it just like the three divided communities rewriting their own religio #steve here is very likely just a placeholder like hes been in concept art before but like... i have no doubt in my mind soren would be here #i stand by my fucking lore to the grave that the first ever steve avatars were the first builders and soren was a part of them #and thats THAT. on THAT. period.

@b0x​ TO BORROW A PHRASE, YOUR THIRD EYE IS NOT ONLY OPEN BUT SHOOTING DEADLY LASERS (I HOPE ITS OK TO TAG YOU/SHOW YOUR TAGS AHHGHHDFHGDFHGK) I’D LOVE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT YOUR LORE?!?!? N AS AN OFFERING I WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND MY OWN THOTS ON THESE FUNKY LITTLE CUBES

(related to my ideas on classes and worlds)

SO steve n alex do factor in to my mcsm au but they weren’t the first humans (or humans at all for that matter but. thats another post)- those would indeed be the old builders (tho i also like to call them ‘moderators/mods’ bc, ha ha admins and mods... n i kind of like the idea of referring to them collectively as the moderation bc none of them have ANY impulse control except maybe soren and otto once every century or so.)

i think the admins took on (at the very least) three “proteges” among them and we meet most in game. i’ll be naming the groups by the time-honoured convention of ‘shared flawed mindset that bites them in the tushie’.

“WHO NEEDS HEALTHY COPING MECHANISMS WHEN YOU HAVE GODLIKE POWERS? IF I’M HAVING FUN EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD BE TOO!”: mevia, hadrian, cassie rose, with romeo’s favourite probably being hadrian. all obsessed with being extra, getting what they want, and being generally choleric. i mean you couldn’t just sit down and talk things out like a reasonable adult, you had to build a death mansion murder mystery complete with scooby doo style killersona? you couldn’t just keep your games fun and balanced, you HAD to turn it into a minecraft hunger games where no one is there by choice just so you can be amused by the struggles of people you dont see as people? you couldn’t just offer a good enough reward to entice jesse to come to your icy palace of doom willingly, you had to trash their town and then threaten their entire world?? guys, please go to therapy. please.

"I KNOW THIS SITUATION ISN’T RIGHT BUT I NEED WAIT UNTIL I CAN BE SURE I’M MAKING THE BEST AND FAIREST DECISION I- OOPS THERE GOES MY WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY TO ACT. WELP, TIME TO TRIP AND SPILL ALL MY TICTACS”: otto, soren, (binta?? i have no canon justification for this one but making it make sense is,,, another post ghklfHGLKD). as it seems that the old builders all have (or had until it got stolen/destroyed) an enchanted flint and steel, soren having had one would explain his books being in almost every other world the gang visits (including, notably, fred’s keep in the underneath..). though it doesn’t explain why soren’s ended up in a random loot chest. (at least, canon doesn’t- i have som hcs about why soren wouldn’t want to draw the admin’s attention to himself, n using a flint and steel would definitely do that- so in this case it was probably ivor’s crowbrain going “ooo, shiny artifact! might as well steal that too for when i’m done with this whole command block stuff.”)

“I’M ABOUT TO GO ABSOLUTELY OFF THE SHITS AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME. MAY MY PATRON SAINT MUMBO JUMBO BE WITH ME TODAY, BECAUSE THIS MAY OR MAY NOT GO HORRIBLY WRONG. FOR SCIENCE!!!”: harper, isa, (yeah i dont really know who could be the third one in canon- idt ellegaard was an old builder- so this ones a big ole ???), with harper being xara’s favourite. admittedly i’m not sure about isa, she’s only really here because of the eversource- but considering the only others who mention those are the old builders, well... wrt isa’s lack of old builder powers, i think that xara’s old builders liked to try doing things that had never been done before (or any visionary-aligned individuals, really,, hence the name ghklfdhglkd). for harper that was building pokemon red in minecraft pama, and for isa that was renouncing her old builder powers so as to live amongst her people like one of them (tho this was more of a social experiment).

finally, the purpose of the old builders (DELVING STRAIGHT INTO HC TERRITORY HERE)- in addition to having beings to interact with other than the villagers- were to be sort of microcosms of what romeo is/was to the mcsm universe as operator/op, but for individual worlds (bc the admins aren’t going to be in all of them at once, even if they can inhabit multiple bodies). the role of the operator is to be the creator and catalyst, to keep the universe/server running, to introduce new factors into it so that it can grow and become something better than it was before. (this also means that romeo literally cannot die/be killed, bc the universe is dependent on his existence.)

it’s not that worlds can’t take care of themselves, but in the event of potentially catastrophic threats emerging, it’d be good to have someone with admin powers lite to step in and stop things before things escalated n potentially spread to other worlds- tho only as a very very very last resort, bc otherwise how are u gonna farm champions?

anyhow this post is getting. pretty loNG so, on a last note- my stance on canon lore (esp mcsm lore, or what little of it there is) is that they’re more guidelines than actual rules so i’ll admit some of my au (new game +) does just yeet canon, tho i tried to keep the absolute wildest shit out of this post. again, i’d be SUPER interested in hearing more about your own takes on the lore/plot/literally any aspect of this game?!?!?! my hyperfixation level has been at 418% for the past few months and it hasnt gone down and i am. s o thirsty for content... i hoPE IT WASN’T PRESUMPTUOUS OF ME TO MAKE THIS POST N ALSO THAT UR HAVING A GOOD DAY/NIGHT/PERIOD OF THE 24-HOUR CYCLE WE BASE OUR LIVES UPON AAAAAAA

[joeys-piano]

Having someone walk into your life is actually a very astounding thing. That's because they bring their past, their present, and even their future along with them. That’s because someone’s entire life walks behind them like a story and now, you can see how far they’ve come. Their heart is fragile; therefore, it might have been broken. So, too, that heart is coming and with it, all that has yet to heal.

Genre → Psychological Thriller/Suspense Themes → Death, Loss of Innocence, Moral Ambiguity, Revenge, Hope, Moving On Content Warnings → Organized Crime, Dubious Ethics and Morality, Implied/Explicit Descriptions of Violence Status → Character Studies & Short Stories; main writing will begin later this year Reading Availability → Tumblr/AO3

Story Trailer

For every drop of blood that stains the pavement, it came from someone who had every right to be alive.

Whether it was through carnage and death, hope and despair — there was more to humanity’s nature than what could ever be experienced on the battlefield. From the depths of his heart, Fukumori had known this to be true.

He had known the sweet innocence of love and how it burned as quietly as a flame. He had known the somber voice of pining and passion as it had stretched on, for months beyond days. He had known what it meant to be weak, to have wandered down a road when the end was guaranteed. He had known the stillness of a mid-afternoon when justice had turned the other cheek. He remembered that moment as if it was only yesterday. As if restless nights and twelve long years had been nothing more than mere echoes of what felt like a nightmare.

Beyond the crackling flames underneath that October sky, there was absolutely nothing that Fukumori could say at the time. Even now, there was still nothing as a bouquet of lilacs dressed the foot of a grave. Although the name had already faded, it had yet to do so within his heart.

Who are we, as a society, to decide who gets to live and who gets to die?

‘Do for others what they can’t do for themselves’ — three years ago, following the death of the previous Pakhan, Diana Petrova announced that the Hearts would no longer partake in the bloodshed of their past. Despite initial opposition and even confusion from the members, themselves, Petrova neither wavered nor silenced herself. For the sake of its future, for the sake of its surviving members and for their well-being, the Bratva needed to move on from the violence that had stained its history. Accompanying her thoughts to the very end, Petrova concluded with a soft request. She asked for the Hearts to drop their arms and to use their hands for good, rather than for killing, instead.

This was by no means a simple request, and Petrova had already known that before the words fluttered from her lips. Aware of what she had brought to the table, she had no qualms if she was to dine alone. However, if others were to join her for the feast, Petrova would see to it that the death of yet another had no reservation at her table.

When we take justice into our own hands, we bear the heaviness of its price.

If they were to renounce themselves as a monster, Rosencrantz had made it certain that no one ignored the one growing inside of them. Regardless if there was anything to be found or not, wasn’t it better to be thorough when it was all said and done? ‘I agree,’ said the light bulb before it died at Rosencrantz’s feet. Shattered from the whims of its dangling wire, the room plunged into darkness. And yet, nothing different came over Rosencrantz as they moved on with relative ease. A soft rhythm cascaded from their fingertips as bits of twisted metal slipped from an opening in their hand. Like solemn tolls from a church bell, they ricocheted and faltered as soon as they struck the ground. Then and only then, an acrid stench of copper caught up with them.

Nothing, not even their own breaths, felt familiar to them. Nothing, not even their own hands, could forget what had been done. From grain to wheat, from harvest to fall, all of this had been their design. This casualty would just be one of many, and there were many pawns to get rid of before they could checkmate the Queen. This was all part of the plan and yet, a scarce bit of humanity had caught up and forbade them from continuing with the rest.

This was the message, uttered at the struck of midnight when Rosencrantz didn’t pick up their phone: “I know this is the last thing you’d want to hear, but listen to me. Find a new purpose. It could be anything at all. Find something new to pursue and follow where it goes. This revenge you’ve been yearning for, it’s not going to heal the gaping hole in your heart.”

So I’ll ask one more time: Why do you kill?

Cast

Mr. Fukumori |♟️| Former I.A., Hunting Dog “If you need a mystery, I recommend the human heart.”

Ishihara Akiko |♟️| Hunting Dog “We’re like a bunch of stray dogs, all living on borrowed time — hoping, that it’ll last forever.”

Diana Petrova | ♥️ | Former Special Ops Agent, Pakhan “You must be mistaken. It’s the Devil that has agency in this world, not me.”

Irina “Guildenstern” Dimitrova | ♣️/♥️ | Former Marksman, I.A and S.O.H. “I’ve never regretted the things that I’ve done, only the things I didn’t do.”

Mikhail Ilnyckyj | ♥️ | I.A. in Training “Can’t help but wonder to God, why He couldn’t create a world without sin in the first place.”

Fedosia Baranovskaya | ♦️ | Former S.O.H., Pakhan “No matter how powerful it becomes, a pawn is just a pawn. Even after it grows up.”

Archie O’Fallon | ♣️ | Former Chief of the Special Ops Division, Pakhan “Forget about your debts. Nobody, but you, remembers what they were.”

“Mimic” | ♠️ | Underground Physician, Pakhan “The moment you give someone your true name, bear in mind that they can use it against you. A name holds power, so don’t give yours up so easily.”

Ruben “Rosencrantz” Sadowsky | ♠️ | Former Hunting Dog, Rogue “It’s a bit hard to get information from someone when they’re not breathing.”

If you’re interested in this work and would like to know when updates, character studies, or short stories are getting posted, DM or reply to this post and I’ll add you to the tag list. Thank you so much for your support.

Notes

+This WIP has been in development since March 2017, and I would like to give my sincerest gratitude to @porkcutletbowltrash for encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone and write something that genuinely interested me.

+The characters in this story were originally created for a mafia fanfic that I was working on at the time. There was so many backstories and interpersonal arcs going on behind the scenes that I wanted to create an original work where these characters could truly shine. Since then, with the help of @feu-eau and @porkcutletbowltrash, this project became more than just a pipedream. It’s finally real.

+The idea of this story was inspired by a very simple concept: what if there was a mafia that didn’t kill? Curious and intrigued, I wanted to learn what events led to that moment and what was the reasoning behind that choice.

[xzacloudx]

No no, here's an idea... Everyone should put their thoughts & feelings into the main Post text box itself (Both OP in the Post, & rebloggers adding their thoughts/feelings in Comments). If you don't want to add onto the post, then just leave Replies (if OP allows them).

It's worth it to your followers to see what you feel about a post you're reblogging, if you want to add more than your already implied "I love this" that comes from reblogging; chances are good that they're following you because they like how you express yourself.

And the same goes for people who make posts. If the main Post was worth sharing, then complete your thought in said post, not putting 25%-95% of the content on the tags. Because when that post is reblogged, people will only see the tip of the iceberg. Or be forced to clean up your mess by adding screenshots. Then someone else going through the trouble of transcribing it to alt text to make it listenable. And even then, good luck to countless people who night not be lucky enough to receive a reblog chain that contains those cleanups... :(

Use the Tags section... for TAGS! (To organize your posts for yourself as well as to help visitors find what they want. That's it. That's why they were invented.)

We shouldn't have to do convoluted copy-pasting or screenshots (way too time-consuming & difficult, especially for folx with disabilities) to reply to someone.

People who go "prev tags" are practicing self-care, sparing themselves from a problem the poster they're replying to created. Though that, in turn, passes the problem down to their own visitors. Either way, problems are being created for no good reason, & people are making each other miserable.

How about instead, we just.... STOP making this problem? 😢

The perfect (and INTENDED) solution to this problem y'all DECIDE TO CREATE, is right in front of you: The text box meant SPECIFICALLY for entering TEXT. And with the push of a single button, we can reply to each other & build on what was said there in our own text boxes!

It's right there. Please use it, instead of blaming other people for having unsteady hands, bad vision, exhaustion, mental illness, and/or not much time/energy. Or who just plain don't feel like putting themselves through labor that YOU GUYS push onto US when we're already taking the time & effort to value your guys' words enough to want to engage or share. Don't punish people for CARING about what you have to say, guys.

---------

If we're keeping with the metaphor. the modern "scribes" here on tumblr are writing a good-quality book, but with like 10 pages, then scribbling out 200 loose-leaf papers containing the actual meat of the story/guide, in hard-to-read chicken-scratch with run-on sentences, scribbly symbols, & weird sentence interruptions, & just close it into the back of the book.

Then of course, when the purchaser gives the book as a gift or lets a friend borrow it, the loose pages are bound to fall out & blow away in the wind. Taking with them most of what OP/the scribe said. Leaving only the tiny hint of a story in a now very skinny book not worth what was paid for it.

It's not fair to expect someone who bought that book to run around & retrieve all the pages as they scatter to the winds. Book discussions will be awkward & awful if the newer party didn't get to read the loose pages.

Another equivalent is how creators may retroactively make characters LGBTQIA+ after the series/movie is completed, or talk about characters' history without writing it, without a hint at all in the story itself. Like, that's not much for representation, & those & many more examples are cheap ways to make up for writing they SHOULD have done. We shouldn't have to follow authors on Twitter or Instagram to get the full story.

Scribes, if you have things to say, say them in your books, bound & secure in their covers. So future readers will truly understand, enjoy, & engage with your words.

Listen im just saying scribes 'prev tagging' their manuscripts is part of how we lost countless classical works but those who copied out the tags preserved fragments that r sometimes all we have so :// choose which side of history you want to be on

[bvckysmanbun]

Honey

Older!Damian Wayne x Fem!Reader

Request: Can I request a Damian x fem!Reader in which she is a mute musician and is invited by Bruce Wayne himself to perform in one of his galas and she plays the piano so skillfully, putting the whole room in such an hipnotic state that it ends up catching Damian's attention?

I hope you enjoy this, love bug! As always, comments highly appreciated! @jinxfangirl

The song that the reader plays is Chopin’s Nocturnes, Op. 9, No.2 in E-Flat Major

Tags: @dammianwayne, @jaybirdxarsenal, @theshortegg, @perforabuntsaggittis

Masterlist 

Word Count: 1.7k

The soft yellow-white lighting illuminating the manor contrasted against the starless dark night. Cars pulled up to the front of the manor, valets opened doors and held their hands out to the women as they carried themselves gracefully out of the vehicles, large smiles plastered onto their faces.

 Dresses of all colors were floated all around, men in black or dark colored tuxes accompanied their dates; soft hands decorated in jewels sat on crooks of elbows upon entering the large doors of the Wayne Manor. The chatter and click of heels echoed through the home, laughter mixed in here and there. The echoes grew softer as the crowd made their way into the large ballroom.

 As they entered the ballroom, the crystal chandeliers were softly lit, giving the entire room a delicate and creamy sentiment. It was all soft. Servers danced around the crowd, foods and drinks on their trays, warm smiles graced their faces as they floated through the hundreds of bodies. Servers gave each other knowing smiles as they would go back and forth from the ballroom to the kitchen area, refilling the contents of their trays.

Women were glowed as they unknowingly boasted their attires and the jewels and gems that decorated their skin, around their wrists, necks, and ears. When they were done, they’d move on to topics of their relationships, their families, and then the gossip of the other women who would not show up or had arrived just yet.  Men would smile at each other as they brought up conversation about the newest knowledge on their businesses and negotiations. Some would speak of the manor, gloated that they could probably build larger manors or that it didn’t count because Wayne inherited the manor. Hypocrites, the Wayne boys would have thought when they heard the men.

 Lingering at the doors of the ballroom were the Wayne brothers, small and warm smiles displayed on their faces as they welcomed and thanked each guest for coming to their father’s event. Their smiles looked sincere enough to be believable.

 Soon, the number of guests that passed into the ballroom died down and the boys began to head in. Jason and Dick roamed around together, each taking a glass of champagne from the closest server. Tim looked at Damian as Damian looked around for his father. Tim followed Damian’s eyes, landing on their shared father. Tim patted Damian’s shoulder before nodding towards the center. The crowd had formed a circle around the center of the piano and the mic next to the piano.

 “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” Bruce spoke into the microphone, a welcoming smile was splayed across his face. Damian made his way to the center edge of the front, not paying attention to his father’s reason behind tonight’s gala or the backstory of some girl. As Damian finally positioned himself in the front, in a place where he could see his father face, he looked around in search of his brothers, not noticing the girl walking to the piano.

 Damian’s neck strained to the right, spotting Jason who was talking to a girl in a red gala dress. Damian rolled his eyes. Typical. Just as he moved his gaze to the cuffs of his tux, fixing the gold cufflinks that his father had gifted him for his eighteenth birthday, a single note from the piano caused him to freeze.

  His eyes lingered on the cufflinks as more notes joined. He couldn’t move, his mind and heart would not allow it. If he was to look up, he’d see nothing more than the black piano. Damian moved his eyes to his right and to his left, taking note on how he was not the only one frozen. People all around him seemed to have caught their breaths in their throats as they watched the pianist.

 He could not recall how long it had taken him, but his head finally moved up, his eyes catching sight of a girl with her eyes closed. Her face was relaxed, a couple twitches here and there in her eyebrows, but her facial features remained relaxed, her body moving side to side as her fingers danced along the keys, acting as a dance floor of her hands.

 His eyes were glued on her fingers as he watched them make their way over the keys, never tripping over each other. They moved on their own, it was muscle memory. His eyes trailed from her fingers and up her arms to her neck and finally on her face. His eyes softened, and he let out a deep, but quiet exhale. He did not want to interrupt her, he did want the god-awful sound of his breath to mix with such…beauty was an understatement. It was the sounds that gods played when they bathed in fountains, it had to be.

 But it was not just her music, no. His clouded eyes cleared as he took in her appearance, another breath caught itself in his throat as she hit the higher notes. Her hair was pinned up, but not like a ponytail or bun, no; it was an up do that did not allow her fringes to curl around her face. Her face itself bore no makeup, at least it appeared not to, not to him. His eyes traveled to her neck and there laid a single, thin gold chain with a small heart as it’s pendent. Her dress was the most mesmerizing, not counting her fingers which were littered in rings. Her dress was black, and it had shimmers; she had taken the stars from the night sky and borrowed them for the evening.

 A smile creeped on to Damian’s face as he watched her fingers slow, the tune slowly died down to an end. She finally opened her eyes and a warm smile placed itself on her lips. His eyes met hers as she stood from the bench. He felt an unfamiliar heat on his cheeks, which caused him to tear his eyes away from hers; his eyes focused once again on the cufflinks.

 His father’s voice was heard again through the microphone, as he told everyone that the girl…[Y/n] he called her, was one of the many young adults with raw talent. Damian’s eyes flickered back up just as she bowed, her cheeks were brushed with a very thin layer of red and her smile never left her lips. He felt a smile tug on the corners of his mouth as their eyes connected once again. Her smile grew before her walked towards his father, her hand held out. He watched as his father grinned at her when he took her hand in his.

 He felt a ping of…this could not be jealously. No, he had not even learned her name. His ears perked when he heard the crowd’s applause die down. When did it even start?

 [Y/n] walked away, she smiled politely as she nodded towards people; they commented on her performance with wide smiles as they stepped aside for her, creating a path. Damian watched her until she passed the doors that took her into the corridor. He pivoted from her direction to his father’s, his strides were fast yet elegant.

 “Father,” he called out quietly as he got near. “Why was she not properly introduced?” Bruce raised an eyebrow towards his son.

 “[Y/n] was introduced before she even started playing. Did you not hear me?” Damian stared at him with blank look; Bruce took that as a no and he looked at his son in confusion.

 “Tt, your microphone was most likely off then,” Damian scowled, his eyes roaming back to door to see if she had walked back in. No, she had not. Damian’s eyes shifted back to his father, who now had a mischievous grin on his face.

 “Whatever you say son.” Damian narrowed his eyes at his father’s teasing tone, his eyes shifted towards the door one more time and this time, she stood there. Damian clicked his tongue and excused himself. He offered small smiles towards his father’s guests as he made his way towards the girl.

 He stopped in right front of her and watched as her small smile grew a little bigger. Heat built up in the flesh behind the skin of his cheeks. He held his out towards her. She placed hers in his as if they were about to shake hands. Damian grinned as he flicked his wrist, moving her hand so that it sat in his cupped hand and brought it to his lips, placing a small kiss onto her knuckles. Her blush grew brighter and she ducked her head, but her eyes still connected with his.

 “Damian Wayne,” he smiled against her knuckles. She giggled quietly as she gingerly pulled her away and reached into her small hand bag, He raised an eyebrow as he stood straight; he resisted the sudden urge to click his tongue. She pulled a small card out and handed it to him. His eyebrows furrowed as he took the card from her fingers, the same delicate fingers that hypnotized him mere moments ago.

 “[Y/n] [L/n]. I am a mute pianist. If you are patient and understanding, you will still get a conversation out of me. Thank you,” he read aloud from the card. His eyebrows shot up and he looked at her with both shock and adoration. He gave her an amused smile and held his elbow out for her.

 “Well, if you allow me, I’d love to have a conversation with you. Any girl who can play the piano, hypnotize me, and be so frank in such short words is a girl I’d like to get to know, if you allow it.” Damian smiled at her and then moved his hands, her eyes widened in shock as she understood what he gestured. “I do hope you allow me,” he signed.

 [Y/n] gave him a playful smile before she signed “I’d love to,” before she moved her hand to the crook of Damian’s elbow.

 From the sides, the rest of the Wayne siblings, along with their father, watched as the youngest of the family paraded around the ballroom with the pianist for the rest of the night; large and real smiles plastered onto their faces.

[l0chn3ss]

Motel Mishap

Written for @souleaterpolyamweek Soul Eater Polyamory Week 2018 Day 6- Cuddles

Soul Eater Evans, Maka Albarn, Death the Kid | Day 6 Read on FFNET or AO3

“You could have booked any other hotel, but no, you went for a friggin’ motel in the middle of nowhere!”

“It looked bigger in the pictures,” Maka whispered. She leaned over to unzip her boots, and after a good look at the carpet, she decided against it.

Soul grumbled, “This is why I told you to read the description and the reviews. Why didn’t you just let Kid book the hotel?”

“He was busy perfecting our cosplay,” she tried. “Right, Kid?”

“Don’t drag me into this.”

“Erm, are you still working on it?”

“No, I left it in the car. I don’t believe this room would be… suitable for any fine tuning.”

Exhausted and irritable, the three were in mid commute to their next convention. It was Maka’s idea to drive from Nevada to Southern California rather than book three plane tickets, and it was Soul’s to not attempt a straight shot drive. After a series of arguments and finally with Kid as the mediator, they all settled for two days of driving, one in the evening and one early morning just before the con.

When he examined the state of the motel though, Soul wished that he’d managed to convince Maka to buy plane tickets after all. It was raggedy at best; The curtains were large and looked like it harbored layers of dust, and the room didn’t have a full room light either; it had just two wall lamps by the side of the bed, hoods cracked and discolored, and the bathroom’s light. Soul was almost afraid to look into there out of fear of finding mold or worse.

Instead, he propped up their overnight bag onto the suitcase stand and took a deep breath-- but not too deep.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you booked the place yourself,” Maka said behind his back. “But you were--”

His glare stopped her in mid sentence. “Busy with packing everything else that we needed? Checking to make sure that the car had gas and was maintained so that it could make the ride? No please, go on.”

She looked down sheepishly. “I was busy, too. With checking the events and making sure we could fit in all of the meet ups and photo ops,” Maka said quietly. “Sorry. I shouldn’t’ve jumped the gun.”

Kid chimed in, “Well, it’s certainly in budget, and with Soul’s careful planning, we’ll be sure to get plenty of sleep before we need to leave again. It’s fine, it’s just for one night.” He patted Soul’s shoulder. “How bad can it be?”

Maka sighed and fiddled with the tag for complimentary toiletries at the small table. “I don’t know if that matters anymore since the bed is…” She trailed off.

“Small?” Soul finished for her. He crossed the small distance to check under the covers for bugs or stray hairs. Brandishing the lint roller, swept across the sheets and checked the pillow cases. “At least it’s not deplorable. Dunno how the heck we’re all going to fit, though.”

“Two on top and one by the feet?” Maka suggested.

“We’re not sacrificing any one of us,” Kid said, going off to check the bathroom.

“I mean, it’s my fault this happened, so I mean…”

“I said no.”

Soul eyed the chair, determined it to be too small, and then turned to the floor. “Yeah, we’re not putting any of our heads on this. I’d like us to be as far away from it as possible.” He wrinkled his nose. “Can any of us fit into the bathtub?”

“No.” Kid reemerged. “God, no. No one go in there.”

He stiffly walked to his backpack and pulled out an arsenal of cleaning products and a “disposable” hand towel. Soul stiffed, grabbing two pairs of gloves from the bag’s side pocket and his personal can of Lysol. The both of them steeled their faces and tackled the bathroom together.

“I am so sorry,” Maka called to them. For good measure, she added, “So fucking sorry, guys.”

Once they settled down for the night, the question still stood: how were all three of them going to fit on the queen sized bed? Kid suggested that they changed the orientation of the bed and slept with their heads on the longer stretch of the mattress, but couldn’t convince Maka to let her feet dangle off the side. Soul went back to the original idea, to have one person sleep at the foot, then backed out once he remembered that both he and Maka kicked off the covers if it got too warm.

No idea seemed to be the right fit, so they resigned to the shoulder-to-shoulder method, sparking another argument over who was going to be sandwiched in the center.

“Maka should be in the middle. She’s small,” Soul said, crossing his arms.

“Hell no, I like my space. Plus you both would overheat me.”

“Soul?”

“Haven’t I suffered enough?”

“Well, which side do you want then?” Kid yawned.

“Far away from the dusty A/C,” was his answer.

Maka rolled her eyes, “What’s wrong with it?”

“Didn’t you listen to me? It’s dusty; management probably hasn’t even changed the filter in years.”

“Does that really matter? We’re already all in the room.”

“Plus it’s closest to the door.”

“Again, why does that matter?”

Kid hummed, “Actually, I agree with that.”

“See?”

“Not with you, Maka. I mean, if someone were to break in, the person closest to the door would be the first to die.”

“You guys are ridiculous.”

Soul clapped his hands together. “Right, so now we know Maka doesn’t mind danger, so she can have the left side. I definitely don’t want the middle--”

“I’ll take the middle. Let’s just get to sleep,” Kid said, already climbing over.

Maka followed suit, dropping onto her side and making Kid airborne for a moment because of her impact. “Sounds good.”

Soul frowned, but the other two were already pulling the covers over themselves.

“Get the light, wouldja?”

“You two are annoying,” he grumbled, but did it anyway. He felt around in the dark, bumping into the side of the bed with his hip on his way back. However, his struggles were short lived since a hand reached over to guide him. “Thanks.”

“Just get in,” Kid said, eerily close to his ear.

He laid down and turned away from Kid and Maka, tucking the blanket up to his chin. “Night.”

“Good night,” Kid said, following suit.

“Night-o,” the last one said, turning away to face the window.

Silence fell over the room and their eyes began to fall shut. However, before anyone could drift off too far, Kid began to complain.

“I can’t get comfortable. You’re both pulling the blanket over me, and I can’t relax my shoulders.”

Maka groaned. “I thought you said you could handle the middle?”

“I said I’d take it, not handle it.” He moved onto his side, snuggling into Maka’s back.

Hearing the rustling, Soul whined, “Hey, I want to do that too.”

Kid switched over reluctantly to quell him, but didn’t mind the change. It was equally as comfortable to him. Maka, however, took full advantage. She rolled over and across to meet with Kid, fitting herself into the pair and bundling the blanket up with her.

“Better?” Maka asked.

The two had to readjust themselves and their position, but once they found a suitable place to put their arms and legs, they agreed.

With Maka big spooning the both of them and Kid sandwiched in between, Soul was a happy burrito, though he would never admit that out loud. Droopy and warm, he felt himself melt away into their arms. Forget the motel mishap, Maka tried her best. He knew that she probably felt guilty from the way she reached to hug both Kid and Soul, and he understood that she wasn’t a fan of messy rooms or dirty spaces either. She was simply making the most of what they had.

Kid was an even bigger trooper than both Maka and Soul deserved. He compromised and took charge when everything slowed to a stand still. Though he was detail oriented, he was also careful to keep everyone content. Taking the brunt of the driving before, it was expected that he would be the first to knock out.

Soul gave a soft smile to the dark and closed his eyes one more time. Perhaps tomorrow, he would take a small detour and drive them out to breakfast.

Prompt-

An ot3 must share a ridiculously small hotel room. The floor is horrible and there is no couch or cot. The only bed is a single cue fighting over who has to lie at the end of the bed and who is what spoon

Borrowed @mrsashketchum’s headcanon with permission ♥

Small spoon: soul is a fanged shark boy but he's a soft bean Middle: kid just cant with life but wants to feel their warmth Big: maka's just like a cuddle master

[aja154ever]

Miyano Mamoru「THE LOVE」12 Songs Self-Liner

The first album released in 2 years, 6th album「THE LOVE」

12 songs facing the big theme of love head-on

My attempt on translation. Interview article from Anican Vol. 184

1. EVER LOVE

First of all, I told the composer Jin Nakamura-san the feelings that I wanted to put into this album, and that I wanted to begin it with a suitably happy one. I also told him things like the brightness of the melody, the tempo that I wanted for the rhythm, and so on. I wanted to personally convey my feelings of gratitude so I wrote the lyrics myself but when I met with Jin-san, it wasn’t in the precise form yet. So when I listened to the finished song, I felt that I was able to take it from the things we have discussed together.

2. SHOUT!

This song involves sighs, breaths, and the like, which were done when I was preparing and checking the condition of my voice for the recording. I have worked with STY-san regularly and this is not to say that this was done secretly (laughs), but there are times when the recorded sounds are later used in impressive parts. So when I first heard the finished work, I still get surprised saying, “So this one was used on this part.”

3. 恋されガール

Singing about the blossoming of love, it turned out to be a very pure and lovely dance number. This is a really cute song so I want to make it feel like a world in a shoujo manga. The story goes like, because I love that girl so much, even if the people around say things like “Why that girl?”, I know that this girl is lovely more than anyone else.

4. Now and Forever

I worked on a dance sound that I have never done before. I created this one while thinking how nice it would be for this to be a song that can be expressed coolly in a live. The theme is “Believing is love.” Freeing oneself from the darkness, precisely because there is someone who believes, and heading towards the light – it’s that kind of outlook.

5. Uhh

The title may be unique but this “uhh” expresses the youthful and quite festive vibe of summer. This album was released in time for summer so I wanted to put in a fittingly refreshing song. In addition, from the moment I got this song, I thought, “This is a song in celebration of getting a driver’s license” (laughs). I have also wanted a drive song so I’m glad that I was able to do it this time.

6. HOW CLOSE YOU ARE

This is the ED song of the TV series “Ajin”, but under the「THE LOVE」theme, when you hear this song you would think, “Ah, this is a song about love” and I felt like hearing another good aspect of it. At first, when this song was being composed, I was conflicted if the word “love” should be put in it. After all, in the series, the aspect of friendship was prominent. But then I thought that the relationship between friends, the involvement with the people within your circle, is also love. When I realized that, I no longer got conflicted with putting a strong word such as love in the song. Now when this song got included in this album and as I listened to it again, I was convinced once more that putting the word love was a good thing.

7. Space Travellers

It may sound intense with the speed, but during live performances, this kind of songs becomes important. “That’s really cool!” was my reaction when I first heard this. It’s like… it makes you think that something unexpected will happen as the intro gets your ears captivated. According to DJ first, he composed this song with the grandeur of game music in mind.

8. テンペスト

As the OP song of the anime Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Legend Star, I wrote this while thinking of the important people involved in the series. Now that I think about it, that is precisely love. This was written in collaboration with Agematsu Noriyasu-san. While my style is to put bold feelings as is into words, Agematsu-san’s words add to the poetic element. To do that and create one musical piece together is a relationship of trust, and I think that is also love.

9. 僕のマニュアル

Up to now, the songs I have produced with Ishikawa-san have an inclination to jazz. In line with that, this time we have created a number with a Showa-like mood, but actually has a black music feel in it. The result was a song with a nostalgic and gorgeous feel in it.

10. 愛溢れる

With the theme of unconditional love, this was actually made in time when the lyricist and composer Yushio-san was carrying a child in her womb. I really wanted to sing a song on family love on this album, and while also borrowing Yushio-san’s feelings, this song was created. It is precisely because of that time that the irreplaceable feelings could be felt, and the overflowing love was made into a song.

11. The Birth

This is the theme song of Ajin’s final movie. In the album, I felt how this one is overflowing with energy and resonated as a very powerful song. Though this is about liberation from suppression, I think that one can never arrive there without love. This song was put on the 11th so that as the end of the album nears, the rising feeling of wanting to love more could be felt.

12. POWER OF LOVE

As a song to embellish the end of the album, I wanted it to be one where bond can be felt.  Sound-wise, I wanted it to have a gospel tune. I also have the thought that in the live, everyone would join their voices and sing together. I think that because of the connections I have with the people I meet during live performances, and those who have been supporting me, I have been able to do all these things. And so I want us to sing together as “Love becomes power.” Through soulful and powerful singing, I would be glad if the feelings would reach you.

Billboard at Takadanobaba station, Tokyo

Translation and photos mine. For similar original posts, you may follow me or track the #my original content or #my works tag on my blog.