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shalomniscient · 8 months ago

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OH! sevchino thought that i suddenly had. in one of the asks you mentioned that you’re from SEA (me too!) was wondering what arle’s reaction would be if she would to taste south east asian cuisine, would she like them or would she have certain preferences?

omg i love this question !! had to sit and think about this one for a while HAHA for my non SEAsian or even non-msian gamers and moots, i'll add footnotes to the bottom of this post for each dish/food :)) ok last note before we get into the ask, i'm msian myself, so my 'expertise' as it were is in msian dishes (or, the msian variety). SEA is not a monolith and i won't pretend to know every single SEA dish out there, so the dishes i describe in this post won't be reflective of the true breadth of SEA cuisine !! ok disclaimer over tq for listening to my ted talk 😌😌😌

for breakfast foods i am legally obligated to make her try nasi lemak at least once bcos c'mon now. if i don't plug nasi lemak to foreigners i feel like the govt will kick my door down and revoke my citizenship. i usually take mine with fried chicken BUT i feel like arle would like paru (lung) ?? don't ask me why i am operating simply on vibes LOL but aside from that i think she'd be an absolute fiend for kaya on toast which honestly ??? so sexy of her, kaya is so fucking good

main dishes are a little difficult, admittedly, because a lot of them do have a generous amount of spice if i'm comparing it to fontaninan/european standards. i feel like arle has okay-ish spice tolerance, so i think arle could sit down and enjoy a toned-down rendang or an asam pedas that's more asam (sour) than pedas (spicy). anything higher than that like a straight up sambal might destroy her tastebuds LOL unless it's the kind of sambal that's got a sweeter aftertaste, though EYE personally don't like that kind of sambal LMAO as for noodle dishes, can't go wrong with a good ol' laksa or bakso. these are generally not the most spicy (and you can choose the spice level for bakso) as far as i've encountered them, so it's another win for arle !! also char kuey teow !!!! i prefer the dry version over the wet version, but both are FIRE and so fucking good. it's also not the spiciest, like you can get kuey teow that is kinda mild, so arle would be able to handle it 👍👍👍

ok now that we've got main dishes aside it's time to get really into it and go right to the sweet stuff and BOY do we have sweet stuff... i dunno why but i feel like arle would most enjoy semperit ?? maybe because i think it's very similar in taste to what you can find in fontaine. there's also bahulu, which is functionally the same as a sponge cake, just a lot smaller, like cookie sized. moving on from the kuih though we got the heavy sugar hitters like ais batu campur and cendol. i don't think arle would actively seek either of these out, but she will indulge in them if EYE drag her ass out to the night market to get some 😌😌😌 also i would 100% get her to try bandung and honestly i feel like she might like it !! but in moderation, because god that thing is sweet asf 💀💀💀

ok i think i've written everything i got for now so i can cease my rambling sdhlsjdhlsjhd in conclusion i feel like arle would gravitate more to the sweet foods than the spicy foods, but she can sit down and appreciate the spicy stuff once in a while !! in any case, thank u for the ask anonnie !! i think i got a little carried away but this was fun :))

nasi lemak - rice cooked in coconut milk and usually served with deep fried peanuts and anchovies, sambal, fried or boiled egg, and sliced cucumbers. can also be eaten with fried chicken or rendang.

paru - fried beef lung. personally not a fan, but it's usually eaten as a side dish to accompany nasi lemak.

kaya - a spread kind of like jam made from coconut milk, eggs, sugar and pandan leaves.

rendang - slow cooked and braised meat in coconut milk, seasoned with a metric fuckton of herbs and spices. my personal favourite is beef rendang, though it comes in chicken and lamb variations also.

asam pedas - a stew dish that involves fish cooked in with tamarind (asam) juice and assorted spices. usually will also have okra/lady's finger and/or eggplants added in as vegetables.

sambal - spicy chili paste, though some variations make it a little sweeter. sambal has a bunch of different versions, but my personal favorite is sambal belacan, which is sambal made with fermented shrimp paste (it's so fuckign good................ belacan my beloved)

laksa - sour-spicy noodle dish served in broth that contains coconut milk and/or tamarind, with chicken or prawn as toppings.

char kuey teow - stir fried rice noodles, usually prepared with lard but pork-free variations also exist. fried with cockles and prawns, but sometimes also with chicken or beef.

bakso - beef broth noodle soup with meatballs but SEAsian style 😎😎😎

semperit - a kind of crumbly custard cookie

bahulu - small cookie-sized sponge cakes

ais batu campur - shaved ice with red beans, syrup, condensed milk, evaporated milk, cendol, corn and agar-agar cubes. you can also add other stuff but iirc this is the typical combo. colloquially known as ABC.

cendol - shaved ice with green pandan-flavored jelly, coconut milk and palm sugar.

bandung - rose syrup mixed with evaporated milk and/or condensed milk

#sev.responses #sevchino #culture.talk #unrelated but i feel like raiden ei would commit worse war crimes for a bowl of ABC

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nautilusopus · 8 months ago

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Do you have any advice for anyone trying to get into writing?

Not really a motivation thing or anything, just for improvement. Your writing has captivated me, and I felt like it's better to get advice from an author that is reachable than reading a ton of articles online regurgitating the same steps.

Aw, thank you, I'm honoured!

Apologies if this is kind of a mess, I mostly went through stuff I come back to a lot that helps me. Also tumblr seems to have removed the ability to do indented bullets. Fucking great.

In General:

When I'm first starting out writing a story I'm excited about, I usually don't do things in order -- I'll instead pick one scene I can see extremely clearly and am super excited about, one of the things that made me want to write the story to begin with, and then build the entire outline out from there to set it up (what needs to happen to set the scene up exactly how I want it to be? How do I justify that stuff? What would happen afterwards that would add to the scene even more in retrospect?) This not only helps keep the energy going for parts of the story that might not necessarily be fun to plan, but will inherently cause you to start building a story that is either circumstantially or thematically building to something. It can be something as small as a single conversation but it should be the bit that you personally want to see realised most strongly.

On that note, people like when they can see foreshadowing! That's what it's there for! This has been said by other people plenty, but I'll restate it here: the audience potentially being able to piece together your twist after a while is not a failure in writing, it means you put information into a story that allowed them to engage with it and conveyed something that made sense.

I personally sometimes (but not always mostly due to laziness and because I do try to approach shit chronologically so I don't have to double back and do massive rewrites, also due to laziness) like to write big keynote moments of character arcs in full in advance once I have the whole plot more or less laid out. That way, I know what's coming emotionally speaking and can have characters start clearly building up to things, do stuff like plant specific phrases that come back in big ways or are recontextualised later on, and it makes the story feel more cohesive as a whole and helps the scene hit a whole lot harder when you do get to it. Like I said though I'm lazy and I also don't like creating more work for myself if I don't have to, and if by chance the story doesn't shake out the way I thought it would by the time I get to that moment then god is it a pain to rewrite that sort of thing.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mostly I find it helps keep me focused on where it's going. It's a late stage thing though, I don't start doing this until I'm sure I know how the story will be laid out more or less chapter by chapter, which brings me to:

GO BACK AND CHECK IF YOU HAVE A MIDDLE OF YOUR STORY. ARE YOU SURE? GO BACK AND CHECK AGAIN. This is like the number one pitfall I see basically everywhere across any genre, both with fanfiction and professionally (and in movies always winds up manifesting in reviews as "the movie gets kind of aimless after a while/the third act kinda starts out of nowhere after a really slow part). People have an idea for a strong beginning, the rising action and the big dramatic moment when the stakes are raised, maybe a quiet moment in the middle reflecting on all the tension of the plot and how it's reflecting on the characters, a thing that sets off the end, probably an idea how it ends and how things resolve, et cetera -- and they will forget that at no point did they actually create any connective tissue between their plot development points. Travel! Character beats! The actual events in between big beat A and big beat B, no matter how barebones! Go back and check if you've made any!

As someone that writes a lot of heavily character-driven stuff I'm very biased here, but: in my opinion, if you have good, solid characters, they can carry even the most barebones dogshit story because they are the lenses that the audience is experiencing the world from and through, and whose actions are potentially shaping the course of the story, and of course who the reader is getting attached to. Conversely, even the richest, most lavishly detailed world and story is going to land with a thud if your characters aren't any good and don't have any more to them than making various political developments happen, because at that point you don't have a story with different elements interacting with each other to create events and tension, you have a lore wiki, which is not the same thing as a story. Maybe you could use that for a tabletop RPG, but people aren't necessarily gonna want to read it.

RELATED: JRRT was a linguist and historian first and a writer second. Lore is great and all and can help your world feel like it's a living breathing place, but think about if it's a good detail to include onscreen or not, or if it's just there to "flesh out the world". Stop to consider if this actually has a demonstrable effect on the things happening in front of the reader or not, and if anyone would notice if it were removed outright. Can some things be assumed? What might need to be explained?

Keep an eye on narrative voice versus character voice! If I stripped the dialogue tags from your story, could you still tell who was talking? Does everyone just talk like the narration? Like each other? Like you? Everyone is gonna sound like you at least a tiny bit because you're the one writing it, but at least try to keep an eye on how much you're doing that. It can be pretty boring to just listen to one guy talk the entire time across multiple mouths haha don't look at how long this post is getting shhhhhh

Any story (but especially horror, and especially especially cosmic horror), lives and dies by its suspension of disbelief. The rules don't need to be realistic because it is all made up, and they can be any rules you want, and if you establish them clearly then the audience will buy in as best they can because they want to engage with your story on its own terms (or they SHOULD grumble grumble but that's another discussion and not really something the author can control), but then once you've made them you need to stick to them, or when you do break them it should wind up meaning something.

Suspension of disbelief in horror or fantasy can be trickier, especially when it's something weird and the rules aren't even mechanically sound in their own setting. In that case, the important thing to preserve is emotional stakes the audience can buy into, about how this situation might feel to be in, or if there are any things in real life it might feel similar to. This one's more intuitive than you'd think. Sure, you might not know that the veil of reality is flimsy and all it would take to destroy it all is to get noticed by something much vaster than you could ever imagine; but you probably DO know what it's like to be one missed rent payment from losing everything and realising your safety was really all that never sound. I don't even flinch if someone's head explodes into gore in a movie, but I'll always wince and look away if someone has their fingers crushed or their eye pierced, because even though the violence is lesser I can imagine that happening to me and I don't like it one bit!

Horror can potentially struggle with this pretty badly. Unless you're writing a slasher where the point is to watch some dumb teens bite it, your movie won't actually be scary unless the audience can in some way feel endangered, and they won't be able to do that if what is going on is too disconnected from anything a human could experience. Writers tend to get fixated on making a Really Gross Scary Thing(TM) or Biggest Evilest Threat Evar(TM) and assuming their job is done.

There's no one right or wrong way to do something, but be aware that sometimes things tend to come up in stories a lot for a reason. The tools you have are just tools. Complaining a story has tropes in it is like complaining a tree is made of wood.

That said, if you're thinking of your story entirely in terms of which tropes you want to use, it may be time to take a step back and think about what you actually want to accomplish rather than mushing the same paste into the same holes for the 800th time (more on that later).

Dialogue. If it's something you struggle with, remember that chances are you're a person that knows how to talk, and so you inherently know how to create dialogue. The biggest pitfall I see is people overthinking it trying to "Write Dialogue in this Story" rather than just typing an idea the way they know inherently that it would be typed. If you wanna try and capture a much different voice, spend time listening to people -- and I mean really listening. People double back, correct themselves, trail off, change their train of thoughts in the middle, do more or less of these things when they're in a certain emotional state depending on their personality.

Frankly I'd spend time listening to real people anyway. Spend too much time online and characters wind up sounding like Twitter threads, or worst case scenario you wind up with perfectly articulated ideas and Therapy Speak. A character might not have the vocabulary you, someone who has been online for eighty to ninety years (est) would to convey specific ideas, and not everyone is perfectly self-aware about what they're saying. Someone's probably more likely to say "fuck you I had a bad day" than they are to go "gosh i dislike how much your own success reminds me of how my own mother held me to impossibly high standards so i have very high rejection sensitivity which is why i'm lashing out". Or, again, if someone does talk like that make it mean something. It could be a good example of someone either being insincere and going through keywords to shut someone up, or someone that's very socially awkward giving a rehearsed speech, and those are all potentially interesting ways to then take a story.

(Sidenote because I see this come up sometimes: Hate to single out a single genre here, but anime and by extent video games but mostly anime is a bad place to learn to write dialogue from -- if you're listening to a dub, they had to translate stuff from Japanese and then make it fit lip flaps on a screen, and if you're watching subs, not only were the subs translated but anime trends heavily towards melodrama and Japanese people typically do not speak that way.)

You gotta know the rules before you can break 'em! Read books. Actual books I mean, not just fanfic. Broaden your horizons. When you start breaking rules it will be because it's what you want to do.

Personal nitpicks, some fandom specific and some not. I'm aware some of these are basic but also you never know who might need to hear this stuff so:

Hentai is not a good place to learn about writing actual sex. It's a great place to learn about sex that is following pure porn rules, in which case go nuts and godspeed soldier, but unless you want your scene to come off as either unintentionally rapey or full of nonsensical leaps of moon logic when you're trying to write an otherwise somewhat grounded setting, you should probably read actual books meant for actual adults about fucking, or pull from your own experiences if you're able.

* This isn't advice but I want it known at this point I've seen at least three fanfics clearly written by a middle schooler that's never fucked before and honest-to-god genuinely seems to think some degree of omegaverse is how actual sex works. So that'll be interesting to encounter going forward. If you aren't committing to porn rules (there's that "the rules can be anything you want so long as they're internally consistent" bit again!) do research is my point.

If you started your character creation with their outfit and can tell me their star sign, bust measurements, the four shirts plus jacket plus socks plus shoes they're wearing, the kind of weapon they can summon, eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, height and weight, their agility score versus their magic score, and their favourite ice cream flavour, and yet you have one paragraph about "personality", your focus might not be in the right place and you are making an MMO character. That's fine for something you're going to be staring at the back of for 200 hours but maybe not for someone you're going to need to live inside the head of. Start with personality, and you can tailor all that fun back cover dossier stuff around who that person is and how it would inform the way they dress.

Bad child dialogue is my biggest pet peeve personally and I will immediately put a book down when I encounter it lol. A bigger portion of people are around children than you think and will notice if you've never interacted with a kid before. Children are not cavemen and do not talk like them. The gaps in their vocabulary tend to come from them having a limited amount of it and adapting new phrases into the few existing frameworks they have. This carries over to their psychology, by the way.

Specific to cosmic horror: you can't just make a Gross Thing, your horrors need actual motivations. Nobody cares how big of a squid you can invent, and going "uhhh it's so scary I don't have to bother can't describe it" can only work so many times and is not an excuse to at least not try to describe something. How it makes the characters feel, what the experience is like, whatever. Now, you don't ever have to tell the readers directly what the motivations of your old gods are, but you the writer should come up with some to shape their behaviour so the readers can see the inscrutable ghosts of clear patterned actions that almost make sense yet remain just outside human comprehension oooooooooo. Also readers can generally tell when that's missing and all you have is Large Squid Scary doing random gross shit so it's not an excuse to skimp.

Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. We have pronouns. We have context clues. We have sentence structures that convey what is going on to the reader. We have nouns. If you are going to constantly refer to your character as The Brunette it better be hugely massively goddamn significant that her hair is brown or it's gonna become clear real fast that you just ran out of ways to phrase things and it's gonna take people right out of the story. If the only way you can think of to describe your character in an intense emotional scene is "uhhh this is the one with the brown hair remember I hope you didn't forget" then that's code fucking red. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets. Stop using hair epithets.

And the two biggest bit of advice I can come up with for people trying to improve their craft that I give out every time:

1 Have a point. Have a clearly identified reason in your mind about what you want to accomplish with this story. This will help you get your thoughts in order when you are stuck, it will help you outline the story if you're not sure where you want it to go next, it will help other people troubleshoot with you if you aren't sure how to start solving a problem, it will help you make decisions about what and what not to include to help it feel complete, and it will help motivate you when you start to lose track of why you even started this project. Saying "well it's a Vampire AU and I want to do Hurt/Comfort with an ambiguous ending and a BAMF!Scrongus with Soft!Cromgle" doesn't tell me a damn thing, either as a reader OR as someone potentially trying to help you whip the thing into shape. That's a bit like asking, "How do I write a Cute yet Cool character?" like bitch I don't know it's your story there are a million ways to write this stuff and yes that is a real question I got asked once.

Instead, have an actual, identifiable goal that is personal to you, what you want to write, and what you have to say. That can be anything from "I have a lot of strong opinions about why gender is, across the breadth of experiences possible with human consciousness, a zero sum game that must be internally and deliberately engaged with before one is then able to determine their own relationship to it" to "oh man i love the idea of Mark from Accounts Receivable one day going apeshit and beating Jake from Auditing half to death with an office chair and the fallout that would generate and maybe also someone FINALLY FINALLY asks him for the first time 'hey dude are you okay do you wanna talk'" to "god it'd be so hot if this guy were bent over a pool table drooling onto the velvet and i am going to do everything in my power to facilitate that somehow". Either way, clear mission statement and goal that isn't just telling me what tags you're slapping on the finished product! If you have that kind of clarity of vision it will come across in your piece and resonate with people because it's a complete thought that the work is able to deliberately showcase, instead of just churning out Content™ that fits certain templates that are popular, even if you like said templates. What do you have to say? Why did this idea stick in your brain so hard you had to write it down and tell the world about it? What parts of it especially did you want to convey so badly? Show us!

2 Writing is vulnerability by proxy. Until we get the technology for brain uploading, you are only going to ever be you in your own head with your own thoughts, experiences, biases, and worldviews. If you think you can write something without exposing a lot of really revealing shit about yourself to an audience that notices it, perish that thought now. Quentin Tarantino and HP Lovecraft weren't slick about it and you won't be either. This is neither a bad thing or a good thing, it just is, and whether it affects the work for better or for worse is honestly dependent upon how you engage with that fact. I will say trying to back away from it generally leads to problems (unexamined prejudices showing up in stories, worldviews that it turns out most people don't share going stated simply as fact rather than being supported by the writing around it). It can also lead to a stronger story, though, if you're willing to engage with it. Engaging honestly with what scares you and why, what you find comforting, uplifting, upsetting, et cetera. All of these require vulnerability, and allowing other people to see that, and it's going to happen with or without your consent because you're the one writing the thing, so you may as well make peace with it and lean in. "But what if it's cringe" too late baby most things are cringe and that shouldn't be your focus. You are fighting a losing battle. We are all cringe. But we are free.

Hope this helps. I just know I've left half a sentence fragment in here that I said I'd come back to and then forgot oh god

#asks #Anonymous #spitegarbage #i will also add the obligatory 'execution is everything' here on the end

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inventors-fair · 2 months ago

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Second Wind: Hope Contest Runners-Up

And our runners-up this week are @bergdg, @bread-into-toast, and @piccadilly-blue!

@bergdg — Cursemute

I won't call this a strictly better Teferi's Protection, but it's not too far off, as evidenced by the second two modes. You already know that, though, and you don't need me to tell you. Modal hope is just what we need, though, and wow, that first mode is even still powerful in itself. Getting to just straight-up slam a creature out of existence is pretty valuable even at rare, and in a format where there's kinda implied to be curses, you got some crazy stuff going on. A one-turn you-can't-lose-pretty-much card is gonna be popular with the folks it's already popular with, and with that precedent, that's all that we need, right?

I had honestly forgotten if there was a Cursemute card already depicted, but I know that there were a few cards from Avacyn's Funky Fun Time set that depicted various moments. I'm in the camp that there could be a boardwipe involved. I'm also in the camp that as more of a retelling kind of card, this does the job as good as it needs to and then some. Fateful Hour, despite being...you know, Fateful Hour, has enough application that this card's won me over on the hope of that. Everyone wants to make FH work, but nobody wants to get below five life. Ain't that a kick in the head?

@bread-into-toast — Reflective Exit

I think that it's right about now in the commentary haze that I realize just how much white there was in this contest. Not that I didn't specifically ask for hopeful/optimistic cards, but wow, there was a lot. I'm glad that weird cards like this are here as well. Sometimes we get an idea that, having played with similar concepts... I'll just say that I know it seems like it works well and honestly this is probably one of the best applications of it. Knowing me, I would have one mana and my opponent would cast a precombat killspell that would leave me at lethal to swings even if I used the exit to save my own dude. BUT. That's the worst-case scenario, and we're here to talk about HOPE.

Yeah, no, this card's great to me. I love this kind of stuff, seriously, I love the gameplay of bouncing and replaying and being in your own little world for a time until you can go nuts and rush in having controlled the board. In terms of flavor, I think I honestly don't need the AD with what you've got here. I recognize the shard, I recognize the goblins as goblins, and I only needed a tiny bit of context overall because your mechanics and flavor did a perfect job of explaining what you're about. There's hope to be had in a brief exit, and even if things ends up not going one's way on the board, we have our brief respite, the knowledge that we kept at least one person safe from harm.

@piccadilly-blue — Archangel's Radiant Feather

Not gonna lie to you, cap'n—the flavor text is a little bit goofy to me. That's really the only thing that's goofin' it, though, because this card's so on-point with what it wants to do that I'd like to commend it. The strict mana cost implies that you want to be deep in the color, and also the ability to recast your angels needs a target—so guess what you're playing if you open this card? That's right, you're in the mono-white pile of core-set wannabes. Gaining life is excellent and that alone would make people consider it, I feel. The wording as it is instantly makes me remember Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and I'm super down for that strictness. Gotta have the restrictions.

Maybe it's that heavy-handedness that gives me the "yeah, I get it" when it comes to the actual hope part of this card. I honestly thought that it was talking about Radiant, the character, or whatever her name was—that Boros one, yeah? But no, it's about angels in general, and I do wish there had been either a bit more specificity or a bit more subtlety there. Maybe more subtlety than anything. The blessing and the ability to rekindle an angel is certainly a sign of hope, so that all checks out with the mechanics, and I would absolutely play with this card. Heh, the Clue typing... I like how, in order to "solve" your clue, there has to be an Angel to bring back. No blessings without someone to bestow them, I suppose.

While you're reading this, I'm at a wedding. A nerd wedding! Commentary will be up later tonight once I get my act together. @abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair #commentary #runners up #hope contest

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kingshimura4872 · 1 year ago

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Elan

A/N: Howdy hoe, here we go.

Its a blast from the past: It's from 2022!

This'll be fun to see where it goes. I never finished it, but maybe I can touch it up.

____________

Pairings: None (I don't believe)

Warnings: Overall, kinda heavy, very traumatized reader, etc

Word Count: 2K

_________________________--

"Second years, settle down. I'm sure you've heard since last week, but for morality's sake, let's gloss over it. Any moment now, we will be receiving a new student. She came from a school closer to Japan's outskirts. I'll let her introduce herself, but be kind. I've been told she doesn't like being crowded so please, respect that." Aizawa, a tall man with black shoulder length hair slowly explained. As his voice traveled across the room, his students all shut their voices off to take in the information.

"She will sit next to Bakugou in the empty seat. Jirou, I appreciate you being generous and taking the seat in the back so that she can be closer to the front." He continued.

"Of course. Gotta be welcoming, y'know?" Jirou, a short purple haired woman replied with a smile.

A knock was heard on the door, catching everyone's attention.

"Come in." Aizawa called.

The door slid open and two figures stood in the doorway - Pro Hero: All Might, and you. You held your hands together in front of you, head and gaze to the floor, feet neatly together and facing forward.

"Ah. All Might. Come in, come in."

All Might did so, stopping a few steps in when you didn't move an inch.

"O-Oh. You too, come on in." The blonde hero smiled, holding his hand out. You did as told, silently stepping in and standing by the door. You assumed the prior stance you had, keeping your gaze down.

"Alright class, this is our new transfer. Why don't you give her a warm welcome?" Aizawa asked, not noticing your fearful jump as everyone began saying their hello's rather loudly to you. All you did in response was a simple bow.

All Might slowly leaned down by you, speaking softly. "Do you want to introduce yourself? Or if you don't want to, I can help out."

You slowly took a small glance at him, realizing he was sincere and quietly pointed to him. He took the message and nodded, standing back straight and looking towards the class.

"Class, this is Young (L/N) (Y/N). She will be your new classmate from now on." He beamed. A large but kind-hearted hand placed itself on your shoulder as he explained how you would be with them until you graduated and got your hero license. All the while you kept your sights to the tile flooring and how your uniform shoes reflected the light from the ceiling.

"(Y/N), why don't you take your seat next to Bakugou. Bakugou, would you raise your hand for her?" Aizawa suddenly began, startling you as you had begun to space off. You straightened your back, taking a small glance to look for the person he talked about. You saw a spiky ash blonde haired boy lazily raise his hand for a moment then plop it back down on his desk, rolling his eyes in the process. You swallowed and looked back to All Might for guidance.

"Go on. It's alright." He encouraged. You nodded lightly and padded across the room, placing the bag you'd been wearing on your shoulder off and under the desk. You pulled all your hair over your shoulder and sat down in the seat, hands cupped in your lap and head down like before. The class took turns swapping gazes between your small, frail demeanor and the two adults who were now whispering to one another while turned away from the class. After a minute or two of quiet conversation, they exchanged nods and All Might turned to walk away. You watched from behind your hair as he waved to you and left the classroom, leaving you by yourself. You were now surrounded by a crowd of strangers, unaware of what they would be able to do.

"Now, as long as she's okay with it, and she can answer to her own will, you all may take turns asking a few questions if you so wish. But just know we'll begin class soon." Aizawa finally ordered, watching you from the podium. You looked to him and he nodded, realizing why he added that second part to the sentence. You slightly squirmed in your seat, turning around slowly to see a few students with raised hands. You slowly pointed to a happy looking girl with short brown hair and pinkish circles on her cheeks.

"Uhm, hi. My name is Uraraka!" She smiled. "So, what brings you to U.A?"

You looked down at your hands, mumbling just loud enough for them to hear. "I…I wanna help people. I don't want people to constantly live in fear…"

Satisfied with your answer, she nodded and sat back, allowing you to pick your next student. You did your best to calm your already shaky nerves and pointed to another student - A cheerful red head with spiky hair and shark-like teeth. He looks like he could shred you to bits if he felt like it.

"Why change schools so suddenly? Did you not like your old one? S-Sorry if that's a little personal." He questioned, laughing nervously at the last bit. Your skin went a little pale as memories of your school flushed through your mind. You began trembling a little and shook your head to pull yourself from the void you were about to fall into.

"U-Uhm… It… It got s-shut down…" You finally answered, not realizing you'd been sitting in silence for about a minute and a half.

"I got a question for ya." A louder voice hissed, causing you to turn around a little fast. It was the blonde - Bakugou.

"What's so special about you that they let you in so late?" He huffed, leaning back in his chair. You frowned at the question and shrunk back. "I…I-I don't know… All Might said it'd be a nice school 'n stuff… I trust him, so-"

"So you got in just 'cause All Might said you could?" He cut in. He let out a sharp hiss as the scarf hanging from Aizawa's neck whipped toward him and whacked him on the head.

"Don't be rude." The teacher scolded.

Your lip quivered as you hid your features behind your hair again. Aizawa sighed, annoyed at Bakugou. "I think that's all for questions today. Let's get on with today's lesson and we'll move on from there."

You turned forward in your seat, reaching into the pocket of your blazer and pulling out a small stress toy, fiddling with it frantically to calm down. The voice of the teacher was drowned out by a loud droning in your ear. You desperately began biting at the loose skin on your bottom lip and sratching quietly at the toy as the noise got louder. Your toes curled inside of your shoes and your knees pressed harshly against one another. You took shallow, shaky breaths, each feeling shorter as time went on.

_________________________

You walked behind Aizawa, almost like a lost puppy as he made his way down the hallway. He took a couple turns, glancing back every now and then to make sure you were still there.

"Ah. Here we are. This is going to be your dorm. We made sure to change the door so that you can lock it from the inside and outside. Here." He explained, pulling a pair of three keys on a small ring out of his pocket and placing it in your hand. You nodded, holding them securely.

"And don't worry about anyone coming in unannounced. Everyone in my class, no matter how rowdy, knows to knock first." He continued.

"All Might works here and Hawks will occasionally visit you to check up on you, so if you need me to find either of them for you, don't hesitate to ask. This is a safe place for you." He leaned down to be face level with you, pulling something else from inside his large scarf. A life sized black cat plushie. He held it out for you, watching as your eyes lit up just a bit and you took it in your arms. "To help you get a little more comfortable. Its yours now, so do whatever you want with it.

"It…D-Doesn't have cameras in it, does it?" You asked quietly. He shook his head, which calmed you a bit. You hugged it close and bowed to him. "Thank you…"

"Of course. If you need something, I'll be in my office and you already know where that is. If you don't want to leave here, the students will be more than willing to help out. I'll leave you to get used to the room." He concluded, giving the top of your head a light pat and walking back the way you both had come before. You slowly reached out to the door and turned the brass knob, pushing the door open and stepping inside. You shut the door and took in your surroundings. There was a bed in the right corner already made neatly, a desk parallel to it against the left wall, a trash bin on the floor beside the desk, an open closet on the other side of the desk, a dresser by the other corner of the right wall, a large gray circular rug sat in the middle of the floor and a sliding glass door leading to a balcony directly in front of you. You set the cat on your new bed and tested each of the three keys on your door, locking it, jostling it a bit, then unlocking it to test the next one. You took two off of the key ring, placing the untouched one in your school bag, one in a drawer in your desk, and one in the corner of one of your dresser drawers. You placed the bag at the foot of the bed and glanced at the curtains. They were a soft purple-ish color, not completely opaque, but not seethrough in the slightest. It could allow enough of the sunlight in without exposing you to nosy onlookers. You opened one of the curtains and looked at the lock on the door handle. It pushed close and had a small nub on it that you twisted to lock and unlock. You tested it out a few times, locking it and pulling the door a few times to make sure it was secure. After confirming that it was safe enough, you unlocked it and opened the door, stepping onto the balcony and into the light of the now setting sun. It was around five-thirty by now and evening time. You noticed that there were a row of balconies beside you and across. You didn't exactly like how close the adjacent balconies were, but you knew the doors were safe. You eventually became entranced in the sun. The glossy red-orange color and lighter oranges surrounding it made the sky light up in pink-ish tones, some clouds even turning purple. You loved the sky. It felt like freedom to you - true freedom. You tucked a few strands of hair behind your ear subconsciously, glancing over when you sensed movement from across from you. You took a step back, realizing someone had spotted you and was making their way to their balcony to get to you. You swallowed, attempting to hold your ground.

"Oh! It is you! That's so cool, nice to see you again!" The somewhat familiar voice cheered. It was the redhead boy from earlier. You sheepishly waved.

"O-Oh, sorry, was I interrupting something?" He asked, taking a precautionary step back.

You slowly shook your head, pointing to the setting sun. "S-Sunset…" You uttered. He looked at where you pointed and smiled. "Oh. Yeah, we get the best sunsets here. It really puts life on hold, y'know?"

"Yeah… It tells you you're truly free…" You hummed, gently leaning against the railing as you once again got lost in the beauty of the sunset. He looked over at you for a moment and smiled more as the two of you just sat there in the warm embrace of the sun.

#anime #anime x reader #bnha x reader #bnha x y/n #bnha x you #mha x reader #mha x y/n #mha x you #my hero academia

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freshlybakedspiderbread · 1 year ago

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Chimata if you feel like it!

General opinion/How much I care about them: i dont remember if it was really soon after or if it took some time for it all to click, but i've really come to adore all of th18's cast, and that includes that Chimata who has one of the best designs ever and I am being completely sincere! 🌈 i love everything about her. Her concept as a god of markets and how that was clearly inspired by real life doujin conventions yet still making it make sense in the setting of touhou, and her personal journey of rising back up to power thanks to the really complicated connection she's struck up with Megumu is so compelling and instantly had me and so many other fans running hamster wheels in our brains for years to come...

Also the majority of her dialogue is just really really funny, between bragging about how amazing markets are (She's right) or getting so offended when the player characters insult her card... She's kind of a mess even moreso than the usual touhou character, and that she's also a final boss and super powerful god makes a fun contrast i like a lot.

A ship I love: the obvious one is chimata/megumu though its a bit weird to talk about in this context because personally what i love about the marketeer quartet polycule is how Megumu is at the center and how the other three reflect and bring out different aspects of her (Although at the same time i also think Tsukasa can easily be the 'center' pov if needed to, because they all think the scheming tube fox is cute!). Going into detail on all that would probably steer the topic away from Chimata too much so i'll just say for now that I think Chimata and Megumu, without either really meaning to, brought the 'best' out of each other. Its just that their 'best' in this case meant giving them the means and confidence to take everything for themselves 😄

(also kind of a tangent but ive also always kinda thought megumu/chimata is similar in superficial ways to how i see yachie/keiki from just the previous game maybe with the dynamics reversed a little. But then following on that thought, momoyo is kinda similar to saki, and then i have no choice but to say tsukasa like some inverse mayumi... Its just nonsense but its funny to me think about)

A non-romantic relationship that I love: as of right now, she's gotta be reeeeeally ticked at Marisa right? Chimata had gotten over that whole thing of attacking her market as a robber and turning her bedridden, but then the stuff with the black markets had Marisa being trusted to stop them and then putting it off to enjoy collecting cards instead 😂

But despite all of that, I think Chimata ultimately would still acknowledge that avariciously human spirit which is vital in those who seek to do exchange, and will probably take Marisa off her personal market banlist eventually....

The NOTP: I actually think Chimata would get along surprisingly well with Momoyo but ive no desire to make something romantic out of it. although... maybe if megumu was somehow their driving motivation???

My biggest headcanon about them: i actually dont have anything too substantial this moment if only because her actual canon has been already so substantial and fulfilling... Though i think after becoming bedridden after UM's ending, she was resting at Megumu's place and was helping herself to the fridge and stuff without any hesitation or remorse 😊

An idea for a fanfiction I would like to write/read about them: well i'll just say for now that i definitely want to do a specific story featuring the market quartet sometime.

anyhow, something about her makes me feel like shes a prime candidate for those AUs where she swaps roles with another character (like megumu or kanako) yet somehow retains mostly the exact same personality and mannerisms.

Something that makes me think of them: i will always think of chimata now whenever i purchase goods and services, and remember to thank her for keeping me alive 😊

#tenkyuu chimata #amemenojaku #also ive liked her boss theme from the beginning and apparently thats not a popular opinion i dont think? well i like it a lot 🎵

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bmpmp3 · 9 months ago

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and you know recently i was thinking about the otome isekai vs otome game conundrum (a lot of the tropes and genre staples the isekai stories have in their fictional otome games are not very reflective of real life otome game trends historically) again and like ive mentioned before now that i dont mind that too much (although i do personally prefer my isekais generally to be into a book or a comic or something linear (or of course the classic isekai into the past or an alternate universe is also great) unless the story really goes out of its way to take advantage of video-gamey weirdness. if u die in the game u die in real life!!!!!!! shit like that LOL) but i was also thinking about like. i wonder how an isekai into an otome game would actually look like....

there is the problem that the localized scene is only a fraction of whats out there (although recent years have been very kind to us! but if u ever want good motivation to practice ur japanese, go on vndb and look at the sheer amount of jpn only psp otome games there are on this earth 😔 someday.....................) so if u were going based off the english speaking perception, otome games are like painfully varied genre and setting wise and full of high stakes action LOL we have been getting quite a few lower stakes ones about actors though recently....

alas as implied before i dont speak japanese (YET.......) so my knowledge is only secondhand and you should take everything i say with a grain of salt BUT it does seem in the jpn only psp era we had a LOT of highschool otome games, and it seems like samurai never go out of style. vaguely medieval and vaguely victorian fantasy is also a classic, although unlike most of the isekai stories it seems nowadays most villains will be men (another guy to romance) and villainesses are still pretty rare after like 2005.... but its still difficult to find a common denominator here to play off of cliches

BUT i do think there could be something funny about an isekai main character trying to remember the exact dialogue options needed to not get a random bad end HJWHRJDSHJFs oh fuck if i go left i'll run off a cliff and die!!! or was it right.....

but thats more on the character route-structure visual novel side of things, on the more stat-raiser-y true dating simulator side of things (we dont have a whole lot outside of a few indie games and a couple fantranslations) those seem to be largely fantasy (Angelique and the like) or high school stuff (there were ten bajillion on the psp and some ds ones too!)

many isekais do take the angelique fantasy story route, but it could be fun specifically to play on the princess competition premise. also didnt one angelique game let u play as the rival character? thats a bit intriguing...... but on the later highschool dating sim end of things i guess it makes sense thats not used as a setting that often LOL i mean I was playing storm lover kai like one wrong turn could kill me BUT that is not. the intended experience of these games hkjfdhjrkgfeldjfs but actually maybe it could be interesting for a horror or thriller story.... i just wanted to have fun being isekaied into my favourite romcom dating sim but everyones dying somehow????? this isnt in the programming?????????

i dunno its kinda fun to think about! i think usually among the english speaking audience the general consensus is that if they were isekaied into their favourite otome game they'd probably get killed immediately. if that says anything about the medium as a whole in the localized sphere.

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some-pers0n · 1 year ago

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Something about purple prose makes my bones hurt in a way I can't really describe. Whenever I see it, it just kinda hurts me. It makes the reading a chore and not really too fun.

It's overly complicated prose. Let's establish that real quick. Purple prose gets tossed around a lot, sometimes confused with flowery prose and the like. Purple prose is often a symptom of newer writers trying to look competent and perhaps mimic the style of the classic books. Your Charles Dickens and your gothic literature and all that.

The issue here is that purple prose is more of a poetic device than a literary one. Well, okay. What does that mean, exactly? I'll explain. Poetry a lot of the time is musical and symbolic. It's more like trying to tell an idea through lines and rhymes than with prose, which is telling an actual story. Of course epic poems exist (I've been reading The Rime of the Ancient Mariner), but generally in books and novels they are written in prose.

This would mean that the flowery language of poetry gets sloshed in with the prose. Poems try to explain an idea or theme through lines, whilst prose is trying to, well, tell a story.

In simplest terms, the overly complicated prose makes it more difficult to read and follow along with the narrative, as it puts more emphasis on the idea of scenes by using more complicated language to describe things that do not matter in the slightest.

Examples:

The ebony-haired woman fleetingly observed herself in the reflection of her apparatus, pushing back a coiled lock whilst admiring the extravagant glimmer in her glossy amber orbs.

Wow. That's a lot. So this single sentence when you break it down is about a woman with black hair and brown eyes looking at herself in a reflective device (apparatus is used for some reason instead of what is likely a mirror). She pushes back her hair (described as curly and "in locks") and admires the shine in her eyes.

The thing is that it gets tiring to read. I don't think a single example can really show how bad these things can get. It's the same with my rambles about phonetic accents. One example you can maybe discern and understand, but picture an entire book like this and I'd be shocked if you didn't put it down by page twenty.

So, how to improve this?

Well, I'd simplify it. There's no real need to be all dramatic and fancy when it's just a scene describing her looks.

She turned to the mirror, looking herself over. She pushed back a strand of her hair. It was long and black, curling into loose coils at the end. She then saw her eyes. In the warm amber hues held a sparkle she was proud of.

Still not too great, but I'd say chopping up one sentence of purply prose into five smaller ones, each focusing on an individual part, makes the writing a lot less confusing to read. The subject doesn't flip and flop between her looking into the mirror, then pushing her hair, then saying "damn, I got good eyes" in the same sentence.

I find it makes the writing a lot more dynamic if that makes any sense. Reading one sentence where it's long and flowery word after long and flowery word makes it a slog to get through. If a section of writing gets a bit purply in otherwise somewhat normal writing, it makes it look a bit more interesting. Drawing attention to this specific moment with eye-catching words and vague descriptors.

Purple prose can be good when used very sparingly in my opinion. Of course style factors into a lot of things, and, hey, you might even love this kind of writing! I don't, but you do you! At the end of the day, writing is all about fun and doing what you want.

#SP-rambles

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lizzie-tempest · 4 months ago

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I hope you don't mind me joining, but this looked really fun! :3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

At the moment, I have 23. But there are definitely more on the way!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

443, 916. Wow! I didn't know it was that many!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Undertale. At the moment, that's the only fandom I plan on writing for. Who knows? Maybe in the future, it'll change.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Cookie. Maybe In Time, You'll Want To Be Mine. Lady Fingers. When A Heart Breaks. Gilded Cage.

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

Absolutely! I always love reading comments and responding to them. I love seeing how my readers are reacting to what's happened in the story and chatting with them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oooh good question. This is a hard one, because there have been a few one shots I've written with some real angsty endings. I couldn't possibly choose just one. So I won't. The fics I've written with the angstiest endings are:

When A Heart Breaks, Little Nightmares, Reflection, Goodbye My Sweet Sugar Skulls.

Honorable Mention goes to Gilded Cage. Even though it's technically not finished, it DOES have a Bad Ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

What Is This, A Hallmark Movie?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I mean, there have been some comments that admittedly kinda discouraged me. Maybe it wasn't the commenters' intent for that to happen, but it kinda made me want to give up. Otherwise, no.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No. I wouldn't even know how to start.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Back when I first started writing fanfiction (back when I was in high school), I did actually write a few crossovers. I can't decide if it was the Naruto/Death Note crossover or the Rise of the Guardians/Alice: Madness Returns crossover that was crazier.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. I don't think my fics are that well known for someone to steal them. Not that I want that to happen!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but if someone wanted to translate one of my stories, I wouldn't mind ^_^

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

In regards to fanfiction? I'm a sucker for Sans/Reader. Especially if it's Underfell Sans. I just love Reader inserts in general. In regards to ships in general, well, I could go on all day naming all my favourite ships from different things that I like.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It's not that I doubt that I'll finish. I'm trying to finish every fic I've ever started. It's just taking a while and sometimes I get side-tracked by a new idea. That being said, I think I'll name Spooktober. It was supposed to be 31 chapters of spooky one shots that I started in 2020. I've only done 11 chapters. I have an idea for the next chapter, but when (if) I get it written down, I'll probably mark it as complete. Not how I wanted it to go, but sometimes that's how it goes :(

16. What are your writing strengths?

Writing angst. There'll be times when I'm writing and I'll say to myself "Okay. Now this is a nice fluffy chapter and we're going to end on a good note! :D" and then by the time I've gotten to the end I've written the most heart wrenching angst ever. I'll stare at the page with tears streaming down my cheeks thinking "HOW?! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HAPPY ENDING! HOW DID WE END UP HERE?!"

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes I forget that I need to set the scene. Because I write mostly Reader inserts, I tend to keep things generally vague and so I forget that in some situations, I need to actually put some detail. But then there are instances where I think I can put too much unnecessary detail. And typos! I always find typos even when I read through my work at least three times!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've never really had to, but if I do have to in the future, I'd want to make sure that the phrase I was writing was definitely accurate.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I suppose it would be Gorillaz. I wrote a couple of fanfictions for that back in the day.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

My favourite fic has got to be Cookie. It was the first fic I posted to AO3 and even though it's not finished yet, it's always going to have a special place in my heart ❤️🍪

tagging @emeraldhazeart @sweetlilbird @maxbruiser @rowanmutt and anyone else who wants to have a go ^^

Thank you for the tag @rhodophoria!! :D This was fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Just one (but there will be more soon ;))

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

127,025! I think Ashen Wishes is the longest story I've ever written (and it's still going, holy-)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Undertale. In fact, I haven't written for anything else in years ^^' I need to have a lot of passion for a fandom to get myself to write. Unless the characters live 24/7 in my mind rent-free, no ideas will pop up.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Yes.

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

Yeah, I love to! I really appreciate when someone takes their time to leave a nice message :] I always try to reply as soon as possible, or at least within a day.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I currently have a few one-shot ideas that have rather angsty endings, but I couldn't bear writing a whole longfic that ends on a sad note. ...I think.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Ashen Wishes will have a pretty happy, positive ending, so I suppose that counts (?)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, I never have :)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Well... not really. I've given it a shot a few times and I have a couple ideas, but I don't think I can bring myself to post anything too explicit at the moment.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I've never written one! I've always found them too difficult to execute well.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so...? Though I never looked for it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, but I wonder what that would look like! Although when it comes to writing fics, I'm much more comfortable writing in English than my native language.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet, but it sounds fun. I have friends who help with brainstorming sometimes, if that counts :)

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

I've never been into shipping characters that much. Sometimes I come across a ship and I genuinely like it, but then I move on. My reader-insert craze just never left me enough, I guess.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I strive to finish everything I start, even though it might, uh, take a little more time. I really hope I won't ever abandon my fics.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogues? Maybe? Those are usually the first things that pop up in my head when I'm trying to figure out a scene, and I build everything else around them. But I'm also really obsessed with pacing and trying to find a healthy balance between the events in a story. I'm not saying it's necessarily working, I just tend to pay more attention to it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm very, very slow. I can linger on a single sentence for ten minutes because I can't get over how awkward a sentence feels, so I just stare at the screen trying to figure out how to fix it. Also, describing environments. I can't make them sound fun for the life of me. I feel like they always end up being very dry and unimaginative :/

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't run into them often, but I think they can spice up a dialogue sometimes. I especially like special short phrases that give the conversation a deeper meaning.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oof, uh, Hollow Knight, if I remember correctly. I don't plan to post any of my older works though ^^'

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ashen Wishes is probably the fic I've put the most effort in so far, and it's currently my favorite, too!

@imtrashraccoon if you'd like to join, but as always, no pressure! :D

#writing game #writer's game #fun #lizzie speaks

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m-jelly · 2 years ago

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if reqs are still open id like to send one :>

I was wondering if you could write a kind of Levi x flirty reader wherein their dynamic is the flirtatious teaser(?) and the "shut up but I won't do anything abt it cuz I don't hate your attention" but then maybe while they were eating at the mess hall and reader slips a flirtatious line that kinda embarrasses Levi (nothing too bad our boy don't deserve that!)

so Levi takes her aside and kinda blows up at her saying stuff he doesn't mean like "don't you ever just shut up" and storms off but Levi thinks he may have gone too far and wants to apologize but he opens his office door to find reader (maybe with a gift?) already there to apologize and confess then boom they talk it out and just a fluff scene in general and you can take it from there💗 :D

PLEA- SORRY ITS SO LONG HAHA feel free to change anything <3

@kenkopanda-art

A little flustered.

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Tags and genre: Canon world, romance, crushes, confessions, fluff, cute, Levi learning to talk.

Concept: You're a flirtatious person and most of the time it's directed at Levi because you have a crush on him and like him. During lunch in the mess hall, you make a flirtatious comment to Levi and it flusters him so much that he drags you out of the mess hall and has a stern word with you and storms off. He walks around the training grounds in the forest and realises he overreacted. He goes to his office and finds you with a gift. You both chat about what happened and air out your feelings.

You walked over to Levi and sat down with him and the other vets. "Afternoon Captain, it's so good to see you. You always brighten my day with your handsome face."

Levi blushed. "Tch, shut up."

"You know, you're more wonderful to look at than a sun rising over the rolling hills beyond the walls."

He groaned a little. "I'm not...stop."

You downed some of your tea. "It's been a nice day today, hasn't it?"

Erwin smiled a little. "It's been a delight."

You ate some of your food. "We should do something fun instead of all that training. Maybe go to the lake for a swim?"

"That sounds like a good idea. You are in charge of soldier welfare."

You winked. "Perfect! I'm so glad you agreed." You looked over at Levi. "I do hope you join us, Captain. Show those cadets what a real soldier looks like, yeah?"

Levi grabbed your upper arm and dragged you out of the mess hall. He threw you away and paced. "What is wrong with you?"

You folded your arms as you watched him. "I was just-."

"Just what!?" He snapped at you and stood before you. "Don't you ever just shut up? I don't want to hear it! Fuck sake!"

You jumped as he stormed off. "Wait! Levi!"

He hurried off to the woods and started a walk. He slowed down and started reflecting on how he'd acted. He let out a long sigh when he started to believe he had overreacted. He liked you, he liked you a lot and hoped your flirting was for him only, but part of him believed it wasn't. He wanted to keep you as his own and he just got flustered and frustrated with himself for snapping.

He turned on his heels and walked back to his office and thought about how to say sorry. He stopped when he saw you holding a cute bag. He softly said your name. "What are you doing here?"

You blushed. "Levi! Oh, I'm sorry. I'll get out of your hair. I just wanted to bring you a gift and say how sorry I am." You placed the present on the side. "I will drop this off and leave."

"Don't go."

You nibbled your lip. "Okay, well I guess you should open your gift."

He walked over to his desk and opened it to reveal the nice tin of tea. He smiled softly. "It's a new one I've never had before. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He put it down and looked over at you. "I shouldn't have snapped at you, I'm sorry."

You sat down on his sofa. "I pushed you too much." You nibbled your lip. "I flirted too hard and you're not used to that sort of thing."

He sat next to you. "It's all playful, right?"

You blushed and laughed a little. "No, no, it's actually very serious. I have feelings for you, so my flirting is very real."

He blushed bright red as he gazed at you. "Really?"

You nodded. "Yeah. I really like you. I guess my flirting did the opposite of my intention. I was hoping it would hint I like you, but instead, you got annoyed. I'll stop."

"Please don't." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I really like you and I'm glad you like me just as much." He reached over and held your hand. "I umm...I thought you just flirted with everyone and it flustered me and frustrated me, but now knowing that you want me like I want you...it...it changes things. I'm still deeply sorry for snapping though even if you didn't."

You leaned over and kissed him making him flinch a bit in shock. "Too much?"

He cleared his throat. "I-I liked it. Again?"

You kissed him again and smiled at him kissing you back. "You have very soft lips, I like it."

He sighed. "Tch, you are flustering me so much."

"Bad?"

He shook his head and pressed his face against the crook of your neck and sighed. "Good. Just keep it between me and you, okay?"

You played with his hair. "Promise." You kissed the top of his head and hummed. "Want to cuddle for a bit or try the tea?"

"I would like to try this cuddling."

You shifted and lay back on the sofa and propped yourself up with the arm of the sofa. "Come here."

Levi slid over and used your chest as his pillow. He hummed as he held him close and your scent washed over him. "I really like this."

"Good. We can do this a lot if you want."

"Please." He lifted his head. "I would like to hold you next."

You giggled. "Deal."

#aot levi #levi ackerman #levi #snk levi #fanfic #aot fanfiction #levi fanfiction #levi x you #levi x y/n #aot x you #captain levi #levi attack on titan #levi aot #levi ackerman x you #levi x reader #levi fluff #attack on titan fanfiction #levi ackerman x reader #jelly fanfics

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laximpulsion · 2 years ago

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Director's Cut Commentary, Ch. 2-6 oh, she's the one i should hate

Since I'm just about at the end of what I had originally planned for this story i thought it might be an appropriate place to pause for some reflection... more under the cut because it got kinda long and i dont want to inflict blog-length posts on your dash without warning lol

So I thought this was going to be just like, some la-di-da high school romcom AU that would never get very feelings-y or anything, and i CERTAINLY did not expect to have actual character development lol. but it got kinda real??? I mean obviously compared to other things i've written it's still pretty la-di-da and im not planning on having any big-time angst, but i've ended up really invested in it and enjoying a lot of the turns it's taken for both fatin and leah.

i think i've said this before but i'll say it any chance i can get... i have loved getting to show this from both of their POVs; i think it's worked out well and it's been such a great, rewarding challenge to weave the story together through both of their eyes. i love that i get to draw parallels between how and what the two of them think about each other, and i like getting to dig into what moments cause shifts for each of them; what do each of them fixate on; how do they interpret the same event differently... it's been really fun.

and just in general i cant overemphasize how much fun this one has been to write. i almost always enjoy writing, whether it's angst or fluff, whether it goes slow or quickly, even when im feeling uninspired/stuck, it's satisfying to just get some words down. but theres a difference between enjoying it/finding it satisfying, and like, literally being entertained by it. and this one i am just...having FUN! and it's awesome. i think it also helps that my frame of mind going into it was that i wasn't going to take it super seriously (vs. my s3 fic which i am arguably taking TOO seriously and need to loosen the fuck up about) so it's easier for me to roll with the punches when things get off track.

speaking of which... things got off track! little miss leah rilke refused to cooperate with me, which is such a bizarre sensation because i know i'm the one writing her, but it really feels like a couple times this fic she has literally just rebelled against me. the first was when fatin presented the revenge scheme; i intended for leah to hop right on board but instead she got worried about it being traced back to her. which i think makes sense because the way she's been this fic is very concerned about what people are saying/thinking about her. the other time just recently happened while i was writing the next chapter and now it's leaving me kind of at a crossroads wondering if I want to stick to my original plan or go with what Leah seems to want me to do lol.

and obviously the first time leah went rogue I adjusted the story so that they don't do a really big revenge scheme, and i dont regret that, i think it makes sense and i have one more revenge plan related plot beat that i think will wrap it up nicely. so honestly im thinking I'll just adjust things again...because it kind of feels like this is what's supposed to happen anyway, like, i'm letting the characters call the shots instead of trying to shoehorn them into my own plotlines. maybe? something like that? ok, this is getting a little pretentious lol sorry...

what else...mmm...i think thats actually all for now! until next time...

EDIT: oh yea actually i have more. i had to "kill my darlings" a couple times for this fic, i.e. get rid of a scene/plotline that i really liked but that i just couldnt justify keeping after i decided to go in a different direction. i'd never had to do that before and it's harder than i expected it to be! the first one was that i changed the party scene, which was not a huge tragedy bc i think it was the right choice but there are a few lines/ideas from that that i was sad to lose. i'm making myself feel better about it by tacking it on as a bonus chapter at the end so at least i didn't write it for nothing lol. the other one i'm even more bummed to let go of because it is so dumb and messy and i love idiots and mess, but if i go in the direction that leah seems to want me to, i don't think it'll make sense to keep it. i am optimistic that i'll be able to work the general idea into another fic, but it won't be quite the same. so maybe i'll offer that one up as another bonus chapter.

#red corvette commentary

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savagesbonergarage · 4 years ago

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Nightsister OC pics and backstory ❤️

So I kinda got my Nightsister oc worked out today!

Meet Eilantha!

No makeup and with makeup since I like both. :) I know her outfit is Rey’s, but it turned out to be the one I liked best after going through all of them. This was so much fun to do! I’m on mobile rn so I don��t have a link, but search ‘rinmaru star wars avatar creator’ and it should be the first result.

The nightbrother is also an oc called Sever. He’s more bulky in my head and his tattoos are different and more brown than black, but whatevs. Also he looks more like a teenager here, which is NOT the vibe, lads. Mans is in his late 20's-early 30's. 👍

I know I’m sorta biased and all since she’s mine, but I’m in love with her? I’m not a huge fan of the Nightsisters and their misandry and general terrible-ness, but this girl is the exception. 💕 Learn more about her under the cut if you’d like. :)

She was born in 46BBY, making her around 27 in the final year of the clone wars. From the time she was a youngling it was clear that she had a natural affinity for magicks and spellcasting, which allowed her to participate in more advanced rituals and rites from an early age. This inevitably caused some contention among the sisters in her age group that felt this privilege was wasted on her, and therefore she had few friends during her time within the coven. She didn’t really mind, as she preferred to spend her days on her own anyway, learning as much as she could about whatever she fancied (usually spells that piqued her interest whose texts she discreetly snuck from within the cavern).

When she wasn’t studying, she loved music - writing, playing, and singing. It wasn’t anything like the typical malicious sounds of tribal chanting and drums you’d hear from within the grotto; not that she didn’t appreciate that also as she practiced it well, but her heart leaned toward a softer, more soothing genre of arias and melodies, bordering on lullabies based on her wanderlust, and, though she’d never admit it, her loneliness.

As she reached adulthood, she underwent the trials for her dark baptism as all Sisters did, which consisted of returning from a challenging hunt to add a token from her kill to the Water Of Life, and receiving her ichor tattoos that signified her coming-of-age before being ritualistically bathed in the ominous liquid which sanctioned her as an active member of the Nightsisters.

After this, I have two different routes (or however many, depending on who I’m shipping her with at the moment 😅 bc I ship her with everyone, no lie) that I like to take with her story. The first is expanded upon in the fic by @fallenrepublick here (still my favorite thing!) where she starts sneaking away into the nightbrother village and befriends Savage and Feral before they go through Asajj’s selection trails. This is the nicer, less-traumatic arc.

This next one gets really, really dark. I'm not going to post it all here bc honestly this post doesn't need all that angst, so I'll save that for later. Essentially, I like to think that Eilantha did at one time have a nightbrother of her own (Sever) that she actually loved, rather than treated as a slave. As you can imagine it doesn't end well, but we're not gonna get into that. We'll talk about how they meet. :)

Instead of sneaking away to the village, Eilantha is pressured into conducting her own selection trails by Mother Talzin. She doesn’t inherently have any reason to object, after all, she was taught that this is was simply the way of things. Part of her even looked forward to obtaining a manservant, whose loyalty would belong to her and her alone.

Perhaps he’d be a useful asset when it came to sneaking spelltomes to and from the vaults, and maybe he’d even be the only one staying by her side while she practiced her songs. What if he’d even appreciate them? Not that he’d have much of a choice, but the thought was comforting nonetheless.

From the moment she stepped foot in the village, all she could focus on was the feeling of the uneasy and fearful gazes of the men who undoubtedly knew more of what was to come than she did. She chose her roster at random, unsure of what she should have really been looking for or what she actually wanted from a servant. Even before the fighting, she knew deep down that she didn’t want to inflict any unnecessary harm on them…but why? From what she’d overheard at home, the violence was half the fun.

It wasn’t.

She evaded and blocked every blow with ease, yet avoided retaliating and taking the offensive in any manner that would prove fatal, causing the battle to go on far longer than anticipated to the point where Brother Viscus insisted that she take the next opening for the kill. With reluctance, the blade of her weapon collided with the ribs of the next brother to reveal himself a target. She watched in horror as the light faded from his hateful, reflective eyes, and she was nearly sick. She didn’t want to do it, but it had been done, and it couldn’t be undone. His body thudded against the ground and she screamed.

“Enough!”

The battlefield went silent, and as she came to her senses she attempted to save face.

“I’ll have none of them!”

Before Brother Viscus could interject with any alternative propositions, she was gone. She ran, fleeing as far away across the rocky terrain as she could. She didn’t cry; at least not until she was certain she was alone. She felt so pathetic - Nightbrothers were meant to be disposable, yet she couldn’t handle killing one. Her shame shifted into heartbreak, and she crouched low and wept for the death of the brother she’d just caused, as well as for all those who came before him. All the needless, thankless, mindless deaths of these men whose lives may not have mattered to the Sisters, but they mattered to someone.

As night fell, she trudged along the jagged landscape and thought of what explaination she’d give to Mother Talzin upon returning home. She had run in the opposite direction of where her speeder was stationed at the base of the village, so she had plenty of time to consider on the long journey back. She casually hummed a tune to herself in some meager attempt to self-soothe, which served to distract the shadow that had been trailing her for some time. The sound of a twig snapping in the rocks behind her alerted her to the presence and she confronted him.

"Are you lost?" she asked in a derogatory tone after he revealed himself.

"I'm not."

Of course not, this was his home, after all. She couldn't say the same for herself, however, she pressed him further.

"Then why are you following me? I never asked for an escort."

The amber-skinned nightbrother looked as though he were choosing his words carefully, though if his aim was self-preservation he'd done a terrible job of it.

"I saw you crying."

Eilantha was hit with a pang of embarrassment, though she feigned otherwise as her eyes met the ground.

"Well, you can forget what you saw. Now leave me alone."

She turned away, but the brother remained there in quiet contemplation before he spoke again.

"I've never seen a Sister cry. I've never seen a Sister feel."

Something about those words struck her directly in her heart. The confirmation that she was inherently considered to be a heartless monster in the view of these villagers hurt a little more than anticipated, though she had no right to refute it. No amount of apologies would ever remedy the divide that separated the Nightsisters from the Nightbrothers, regardless of how she felt. She clenched her fist as she turned to face him again.

“I said, leave me alone. Don’t make me-”

She actually choked on her words, unable to say the rest.

Don’t make me put you in your place.

Despite her partial warning, the nightbrother stepped closer. He grabbed the edge of his already tattered tunic and tore a piece of it off, inspecting it for cleanliness before holding it out to her. Eilantha froze, uncertain of what to make of this interaction.

“You aren’t done,” he explained.

She hadn’t realized that her hot tears continued pouring down her cheeks during her retort. She accepted the cloth with some reluctance, her dainty fingers lightly brushing against his as she took it and dabbed it against her wet face. He promptly turned and started walking away, as instructed. This strange...kindness, or rather, strange act of servitude via obligation perturbed the young witch, whose thoughts were now fixated solely on the zabrak male.

“Wait, Brother,” she implored.

He paused, resuming his attention to her after hearing the endearing use of “brother” from a Sister’s lips for the first time. She continued, an unusual softness in her tone.

“What is your name?”

“It’s Sever,” he revealed, “May I ask yours, Sister?”

She repeated his name in her mind, determined never to lose it.

“Eilantha.”

He did the same, only out loud. Gods, it was an enticing sound.

"Will you be returning?"

This was a question she wasn't prepared to receive, and one that she herself didn't fully know the answer to. Her reply was engineered from a concerned sigh.

"I'm not sure. It might be problematic returning to the coven empty-handed. I may come back, I may not. I don't know what the future holds."

Sever pursed his lips slightly.

"If you do find yourself here again, will you..."

He coughed into his fist and centered himself before continuing.

"Will you consider me?"

Her eyes shot up to meet his hopeful gaze, a golden yellow in the night. She had a hunch as to what he was alluding to, but a little clarification was needed.

"Consider you...?"

He swallowed, his countenance displaying concern that perhaps he was stepping too far out-of-bounds this time, but he wanted to know all the same.

"As your mate."

Eilantha clutched the piece of fabric in her hand. This man was offering himself to her. The images of all the nightbrothers staring her down when she first arrived with fear in their faces raced through her mind, revealing the dread the men felt when they were met with her kind, and yet this one was volunteering. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered or angry, as any other Sister likely would be at a savage that dared to seek special permissions. Of course, she wasn't like that.

Imagining him as her mate, however, was certainly...something. She thought of how she would discover just how much of him was tattooed and he would learn the same of her. She could claim him right then and there if she wanted, and he would be obliged to obey. It would solve her worries about returning home if she decided on a servant after all, although, her soul was unsteady. Though she was entitled to any male she desired, she couldn't allow herself to do it. Even though this man was offering, it would weigh on her conscience knowing that even a part of him would only be with her out of fear and obligation, rather than his own free will. This nightbrother wasn't free. None of them were.

"I'll consider it," she replied genuinely.

This news seemed to please him to some extent, a tiny smirk curling at the corner of his lip.

"I'll look forward to the possibility of serving you, Sister Eilantha."

She watched as he turned a final time and disappeared further into the darkness, leaving her alone with her busied mind.

The course was set for the Nightsister temple once she finally got to her speeder, servant-less. She looked over her shoulder to see multiple pairs of glowing golden eyes quizzically prying at her in the darkness, and she smiled before taking off.

It was a long journey home, and the entire trip her mind was occupied with thoughts of the intriguing zabrak male who saw her for what she truly was. She pulled out the tattered cloth from her pocket and pressed it against her chest as the wind rushed all around her before bringing it to her lips and kissing it.

It became her greatest treasure.

That is, until she finally had the real deal in her arms months later when the separation became too much to bear, and they arranged to meet in secret during their first rendezvous of many.

Sever, my treasure.

#Nightsister #nightbrother #star wars ocs #Eilantha x Sever #savage opress #feral opress #dathomir #maul #darth maul #mother talzin #tcw #brother viscus #oc x canon

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rikumorimachisgirl · 4 years ago

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Title: Seal the Deal

Characters: Bokuto x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 1,848

Author's note: So, I haven't written in a long time and I know I'm kinda rusty. Please bear with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu!! and the characters, but I own the plot for this fic.

'Congratulations! You have been selected as one of the winners in the Bouncing Ball Corp's Monster Generation giveaway. A limited-edition Nendoroid and a special surprise will arrive at your delivery address. Please confirm if you are available to receive this tomorrow by responding to this message. Thank you.'

You must've read the text message over a hundred times in the last twenty-four hours, but it still made your heart skip a beat. Setting your phone down, you stood up and tried to straighten up the flat that you had just moved into last month. It wasn't much - a cozy one-bedroom apartment with a small living area, which usually doubled as your dining area on days when you could eat a nice meal at home. It certainly was a far cry from the lavish three-bedroom apartment you once shared with your ex-boyfriend, but at least it was easier to clean.

Your ex-boyfriend - the wild, and oh-so-adorable big baby you'd loved since high school, the same one who broke your heart a few months back when he couldn't choose between you and the sport he loves, and the reason you sent in several entries to the Bouncing Ball Corp's giveaway. You sighed. If your friends found out you'd won a limited edition Nendoroid of that same person they had worked so hard to help you get over, you knew you'd be done for. But how exactly does one get over the sweet summer storm that is Kotaro Bokuto? And besides, you thought, at least a Nendoroid won't leave you unless you throw it out.

** Ding-dong **

The sound of your doorbell snapped you back to your senses. "Just a minute," you called out as you quickly tied your hair and hurried to the door in an oversized sweater and shorts. You could feel your heart beat faster at the thought that your precious Nendoroid was within reach. 'Oh, and the text message said there was a special surprise, too,' you thought quietly. Maybe, if you were lucky, you'll also get his signed jersey. That wouldn't be so bad, you thought again as you unlocked the door and pulled it open.

You gasped, as the person waiting right outside the door greeted you with the warmest smile and his signature line.

"Hey, hey, he -," he paused halfway through upon seeing you. "Y/N-chan?"

Hearing him say your name almost made you cry. You had missed how he always managed to make it sound so beautiful. You also missed his naughty smirk that usually came with calling your name. As you gazed at your reflection in his golden eyes, you wondered if - like you - this beautiful man thought of you, too. You had no idea how long you've been looking at each other, but it wasn't until you heard your neighbor's baby crying that you both shook yourselves out of your reverie.

"Oh, uh. Did you need anything?" You asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Yes, I'm here to personally deliver the prize from Kenma. Kuroo asked to go, and this was the address he gave…," your ex-boyfriend said as he fumbled over his phone, looking for the exact message his friend has given. Glancing back and forth his phone and the number on the door, he scratched the back of his head. "See, it says 2404 -"

"Yes, Bokuto-san, I won the contest," you finally admitted, as you felt a blush slowly creep up your cheeks.

"You did?" He flashed you a dazzling smile, his eyes sparkled and you looked away. When he noticed your eyes move to the paper bag he was carrying, he cleared his throat. "Uh… yeah, this is for you…"

"Uh, thanks," you replied shyly, as you took the paper bag containing the Nendoroid of the very same person you were talking to now. Your gaze darted from his handsome face to the suddenly empty hall outside your flat, and you could tell he was feeling just as awkward. "So, uh…"

"So, uh, this is where you moved to?" He asked as he took a step forward to peek inside your humble abode.

"Uh-huh," you replied. "I-I'd invite you in, but…"

"Don't mind if I do," he said, stepping inside your pad. Even with his back facing you, you could tell that he was surveying your space, and you felt more and more flustered by the minute. "You have a microwave. I need to get me one of those."

"You have a microwave, Bokuto-san. It's top-of-the-line, and it was working fine when I moved out," you quipped, as you watched him from behind.

"Was it? Then I must've destroyed it the other day when I tried to use it to heat water," he said casually, as he looked around your pad some more.

"Your couch looks comfortable. I should probably buy one for my bedroom."

"What's wrong with the sectional? If I remember correctly, you had it customized by Fendi," you retorted.

"Did I? There must've been a reason I did, but I can't remember," he muttered, turning his attention to the wall. "Oh, this is a nice painting. I need one of these."

"That's just a painting I bought at a trift shop," you said, cocking an eyebrow at your tall ex-lover. "You have original Murukamis on your walls, Bokuto-san. We bought three of them in the fundraiser that Kuroo hosted."

"Oh. Of course," he sighed. "It's just that… well, your place is -"

"Small?"

"No, it's not that," he responded, as he gazed upward as if trying to find the right word.

"Tiny? Minuscule? Compact?"

"Hey, those all mean the same thing," he whined before plopping down on your couch. You quietly watched as he leaned back and stretched out his legs, trying hard not to bump the coffee table, but he still managed to do so. Something about the scene before you were so endearing, you found yourself smiling before you could stop yourself. And right about that time, your dashing ex-lover happened to look at you and smile back. Lifting his hand out to you, he said, "I'm just saying your new place sorta gives off a certain kind of vibe, you know."

Raising an eyebrow, you stared at his hand and thought twice about taking it. It wasn't like you never held hands before, but now that you've broken up, it all seems so weird.

But you wanted to take it. Oh, how you've imagined holding his hand a thousand times since you broke up, so just before he pulled away, you moved forward to grab it, and fell on his lap in the process. As you struggled to stand up, the dashing MSBY Outside Hitter put his arm around your waist to keep you from budging. "Ah, now this scene looks awfully familiar."

"Stop it, Bokuto-san," you said, hitting him on the chest so he could loosen his grip on you a little bit.

"Oh, but don't you think seeing each other after several months is fate?"

"More like a certain capitalist's underhanded scheme," you retorted, as you tried to wiggle your way out of his grasp.

"Just… just let me hold you a little longer, Y/N-chan… please?"

You stopped squirming as you listened to his silent plea, and you slowly turned your eyes met his. "Bokuto-san…"

"You could do better than that," he said, as he lifted one hand and traced the side of your face with his long fingers. "I… I missed you, Y/N-chan. I know this was all my fault, I just didn't think you'd up and leave."

"That's what usually happens when you say you love your career more than your girlfriend, Kotaro," you managed to reply, as you thought back to that fateful night when you had come home from attending another one of your friends' wedding stag because he had practice. He was watching one of their games against the Adlers, paying close attention to Ushijima and Kageyama's quick attacks when you sat beside him and recounted how beautiful the ceremony was and how much more fun it would've been if he had attended it with you. He'd usually humor you - asking you to tell him what you liked best about it, how the food was, and listen intently to what you had to say - but lately, he'd neither had the patience not the drive to hear you out and on that night, you weren't having it either. After your stories were met with silence, you decided enough was enough. And on that same evening, you called your old roommate to let her know you were staying over.

"I didn't mean it like that, Y/N-chan. I was under a lot of pressure before," he said, drawing you away from your thoughts. "I was under a lot of pressure. You knew a lot was riding on winning the championships."

As he looked at your blank expression, he huffed and pouted. "I know, I know… I could've chased after you - and believe me, I wanted to, but… uh..," he trailed off.

"But I wasn't your priority," you deadpanned.

"To be honest, I thought you'd come back the next day, and when you didn't…"

"You got angry and thought you shouldn't come after me?"

"No… more like I thought you'd come back the day after or the day after that, and before I realized it, so much time has passed and it was too late to chase after you…"

"So you decided not to?" You watched as he nodded silently, admitting defeat, and you sighed. If this were someone else, you would easily doubt what he said was true, but this guy wouldn't lie to you if his life depended on it. The tightness you had felt in your chest started to ease up, and rolled your eyes and clicked your tongue. "That's so like you, Bokuto-san."

"And there's no one else but you for me, Y/N-chan," he replied, holding you steady in his arms. "So, what do you say, do you think you can give me another shot at this?"

"At what exactly?"

"At this," he gestured to the both of you. "At us. Please? I'll be a better boyfriend. I'll attend all the parties you want to go to, or I'll listen to whatever you want to say to me - even when you repeat it several times, I'll do whatever you want, Y/N-chan, so please…"

You could feel your heart melt as he pleaded with you, and you silently scolded yourself at having your resolve crushed so easily. You knew your friends were probably not going to be happy, but you also knew no one else would do for you.

"Y/N-chan?"

You sighed and turned your attention back to him. "I suppose you are cuter than the Nendoroid," you said haughtily.

"So, will you date me again?"

"As long as you promise I'm your priority from now on."

He squeezed you to his chest and squealed. "You don't need to worry because you're the only one that matters," he said before his lips met yours to seal the deal.

The end.

#haikyuu #haikyū!!#haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fanfic #hq fanfic #bokuto x reader #bokuto kotarou #iris writes #my first fic in months #i'm sure this sucks #please be kind

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bearpillowmonster · 3 years ago

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Horizon Zero Dawn Review

The game that critics have been raving about for years and I just haven't played. I heard a lot of people say "this needs a movie" but they say that about any game that dares to be a little bit cinematic because I personally disagree.

That first part is rough, the story seems so in your face, predictable and bland but I think the problem is that it didn't know how to put in its exposition. I think it naturally builds up as it goes on, getting bigger and broader, it's just those first experiences that can be a slog because you're pretty much learning what style you're going to play in.

I got more or less everything I expected, crafting, a skill tree, various weapons. What I didn't expect though are dialogue options. You can choose normally up to four paths, an intelligent one, a compassionate one, and a straightforward one. You don't have to worry about the stress of trying to reach a specific ending because there's really only one, the only thing that affects it is the amount of people that are in it. So does that make the choices irrelevant? Yes and no because there are different dialogue options and like I said, which means that you can get certain characters to like you more given the option you choose but not in the same way that relationship points work and I definitely felt the draw to do that whenever I came across my first side-quest.

Side-quests are interesting, I love tracking things in games, though it's rare that you actually get the chance to do it and here you have a good amount of opportunities. Is that all though? Far from it. I actually found myself searching for side-quests because the first two were so satisfying. It really only began to show its hand a bit more after those quests. As I mentioned, there are a lot more RPG elements than I first imagined but it starts to send you on scavenger hunts, especially that Dreamwillow one, that one I actually laughed out loud at every time I was turned away. It also starts to gatekeep to where it recommends that you be a certain level which is...odd? I mean at face value it looks like you could rock basically any combat situation that isn't context sensitive. Leveling up gives you abilities but they're more like Deus Ex on that front, where it's just for preference and upgrading, not necessarily strength. The only thing you improve on offense wise basically boils down to having the right materials or units to buy weapons then a matter of finding modifications. Other than that, leveling up seems to just increase your health. It really just depends on the quest too because I'll play one above my level and be fine then play another that's actually under my level and feel stuck.

Now I only played it on normal mode so something like "Ultra Hard" is bound to be more demanding but as far as actual side quest content, I feel like they have potential but just need tweaked, give me more stuff for major characters that affects their standing with me. Rather than having each quest be contained in its own story, have it affect you later in the game, let your actions be shown, give it rewards and consequences. There are some really great side-quests but there are also some crappy ones, it doesn't pass that threshold that most RPGs fall under or anything. However, I did find myself doing side-quests at my own free will and the ones that I didn't like or couldn't do at the time, I just skipped and focused on something else, I felt a lot more freedom with this game, like I didn't feel forced to grind or do a certain number of side-quests or really do anything. It encourages you to explore and play the way you want to play and I respect the heck out of that. Maybe it's different for other players though.

Perhaps my favorite actual side thing was the Cauldrons for those who actually played this, you'll know why. For those who didn't, just know that it's cool and let it be a surprise for when you go to one. You might expect these big set-pieces and bosses like Uncharted or GoW, but it's not really like that. I genuinely think that this is more video-gamey than it lets on which certainly takes up its runtime. One addition to side-quests that I would like to see is one where you don't know it's happening. For example, in this game, you'll come across random hunters who are attacking or being attacked by machines but rather than just going on about your day and them going on about their's, I want to fight off the machine and the person say "You saved my life, my name's Jara, I live in the town nearby and want to repay you." so you go there and there's trouble so it starts up a side-quest. Now don't get me wrong, there are PLENTY of instances of people getting attacked actually being a mission but most of the time someone in town will just tell you "I haven't seen this person in a while, can you go check on them for me?" It's the art of subtlety and also just doing a good deed and getting rewarded for it. It's a conscious choice and split decision rather than just another checkmark on your list to complete.

Now I won't bother listing the characters and rating them but there's a certain aspect that has me really enthused So, Aloy is an outcast and a lot of these side missions and scenarios reflect her, you'll see the way she can relate with other characters, making it almost poetic in a subliminal kind of way. Then they add this tribal and futuristic setting to it where Aloy acts as the medium, there are parts of the game where she questions the tribe because they cut themselves off from technology and just don't know any better and we as a viewer know that but having the main character view things in 'our' lens is pretty genius. To top that off, they give her enough personality to be her own character while giving us enough power to influence her so that we ourselves can REFLECT WITH HER. It's not her character that I'm impressed with, it's the layout of the story.

So, how is the main story? It's kind of like the Flood scenario in Halo if I'm being honest. I'm not going to spoil anything but it's passable, like I said, it's not like an Uncharted and it's not like a movie. The visuals just look good at times (I took all the pictures in this review myself and so much more!). I'd call it a futuristic/tribal mix between Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Skyrim but I see elements of a lot of things. (Also since it's post apoctalypic, you find items that we see in modern day, like how they call keys, "chimes"! They think they're windchimes because there are no more cars! I love that!)

It actually does a pretty good job at being an open world considering that there are tons of things to do on your routes as well as collect but it's not so much so that it seems unfeasible, as I said, I found myself doing a good chunk of the side stuff just because it was fun to do and I'm not even close to a completionist for any game. If you mess up, healing plants will still be there. As long as you save, enemy parts will still be there. A place can be cleared out and conquered so that enemies don't come back. The actual towns are peaceful so you can't get mangled by any bots outside of scripted instances.

The graphics are pretty good but I can see some error here and there, nothing necessarily game breaking but the animations and AI are definitely janky at times. It's pretty obvious from the get-go but I'll do my best to specify and give constructive criticism on what I found wrong with certain aspects of the game. Rost is slow, like slower than walking speed but that's not to speak for all NPCs, some run, some you don't need to follow, it was really just him. I've had NPCs who fight but miss every single time on simple enemies (that might not be a bug, that might just be a funny bit that someone decided to add in). Sabretooths have jumped through walls (granted the walls were kinda broken but I'm not sure if those big boys can fit when they can barely find the entrance) I found myself jumping to a ledge or on a rope but not land it and just drop (it really boils down to loosening the hit box for that). Which to add on to that, I would like more places to climb and jump to in general (other than stupid mountains). I felt like there wasn't really enough that I could climb and the places that I could, could've been a bit more obvious that I could, maybe even make it viewable with your focus if you don't want it to be visually outstanding. There's a day and night cycle and while I like that, I found some of the contrast to be annoying because I could be staring a ladder right in the face and not even know it sometimes because it would be so dark. I'm not going to complain too much about it because I didn't turn my brightness up, I just left it at default and I would assume the PS5 version fixes some of those little things.

Now, this one is kind of a gray area: Hiking up mountains. Skyrim, Fallout, and Death Stranding went too far and gave little to no barriers. They had you looking for sweet spots that weren't there in order to cheese your way through an area either on or off a beaten path. But I would compare this to something like GTA where it's not as bad and does have its limits but might need tightened up some more because I can certainly get to places that lead to nowhere.

I've made headshots that don't make contact or damage while using precision. Part of that problem was that they could be high up in a tower (which have spikes sticking out) and I would hit ABOVE the logs, to make a headshot but since it was in that vicinity, it registered that as the spikes' hitbox so it wouldn't cause any damage and just alert the enemy (same if I was in the tower, looking down). Input lag where I hit up button on the D-Pad to regain health and I have to keep pressing it. If I had to guess, you have to meet the requirements of not taking damage, staying still, etc in order for it to actually work but it doesn't really have a reason to do that and it doesn't "tell" you that those are the requirements (as far as I know).

During the final boss, one of the enemies hit me into a rock wall, trapping me inside of it and the boss was already half health so I really didn't want to have to restart (I also didn't know how far back the checkpoint was) so I kept shooting stuff and eventually the boss destroyed the wall, allowing me to get out (timed section, by the way). There have been a few times where a tree or leaf or something is obstructing a cutscene and sometimes there will be a mech in the background screaming over the NPC talking, which I'm sure is due to the cutscenes being real-time which is still pretty impressive. Now are these errors all the time? No, not at all, I'm just pointing out that some times these things happened and that I felt it needed ironed out but I wouldn't call this half baked or an unfinished product or anything, it's nowhere near that level. I get that there are so many NPCs that it's hard to account for them all with facial animations but whenever they're talking, it seems pretty static and sometimes the lips don't line up. There's this one guy who says that he got lost in a sandstorm but he's standing in snow. Again, little nitpicks in an otherwise great game.

Now, I got this game for free as a Playstation promotion but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be great, I played a little bit of that Ratchet & Clank reboot that was offered and I wasn't impressed, I quit after the first few worlds and was glad I didn't buy it at launch, (despite being a classic PS2 R&C fan) but we're not here to review that. I also played Abzu and loved it but it was short so it was definitely worth a play but maybe not 60$ (I actually think it's 20$ at this point though). With this game, it's the whole complete edition with DLC and everything, it has the length, so it really just boils down to "Would I have spent money on it otherwise?"

I think I would've if I knew more about it because I think it just got better and better after that first part of the game. It's marketed a bit differently than what I ended up getting but I found myself pouring hours into this game and loving it for one reason or another. I actually bought Shadow of the Colossus along with it (which is considered a cult classic) but I liked Horizon so much better, definitely worth its full price in my opinion. (So your promotion worked on me Sony, congrats) It has its problems but the potential is there and I feel like a sequel would probably iron out a lot of my troubles with it, so it's definitely a franchise worth investing into.

If you're interested in what I thought of the DLC alone (if you didn't get the Ultimate edition and are wondering if the extra content is worth it) I have a separate post that goes into that here.

#hzd #horizon zero dawn #review #game #4/5

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lucifer-hot-as-hell · 6 years ago

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MagicCon 2019

I'm on the train home from MagicCon 2019 in Bonn and this is the 3rd time I try to post this.

I think much has been posted already. So I'm gonna go for personal experiences.

If you have any questions feel free to ask though.

So I had a silver ticket, autographs of all the Lucifer cast and a photo with Tom.

MagicCon is just hilarious in general. The moderators are actually actors (from New Zealand which is not anywhere slightly close to Germany but magiccon was originally pretty much about lord of the rings so it makes sense) and they do comedy panels and improv. And there are not many rules regarding photos and videos on this Con. So it was really relaxed.

On Friday I saw Rachael's panel. She is so sweet, funny and kind. She asked everyone for their name and remembers many people's names...

The opening ceremony and the comedy panel were so funny and weird. Tom played a horse's ass. I went to the party, left after midnight...

On Saturday there were so many Lucifer panels. Each of them was wonderful. Tom performed a song by Damien Rice, which I already posted. I got my artwork signed by Rachael, D. B., Kevin and Lesley-Ann. They were all so sweet. I made keyrings for them and gave it to them at the autograph session.

When we were at the party at night, Rachael and Tom were in the vip area of the piano bar. We were sneaking around on a standing table, trying to act normal... Like pretend to take a selfie when your actually try to take photos Tom. Sean Harry was there as well in suit (on days he wore cosplay) he talked to Tom and Rachael and hugged Rachael when she left. So I read that as a good sign regarding LUX 2 in Birmingham 2020. I left the party at around 1.30 am, shortly after Tom left.

Sunday... The final day. In the morning I realized that I had lost my artwork at the party. It fell out of my bag under the table. So I went a bit crazy freaking out slightly... Nearly bitching our whatsapp group, posting on Twitter... But then the lovely lady at the information desk of the hotel called 3 colleagues and one really found it... Probably in the trash but it was packed in a box so it's fine. I got the call it was found when I was in line for my photo with Tom.

The photoshot was amazing. Tom was in such a good mood and I was as well. I made this shirt for me and one for Tom. And I go up to him and show it to him and ask him if he could wear it. And Tom takes off his glasses, puts the t-shirt over the one he is wearing. This guy watching over the photoshoot is getting impatient... But in German. And Tom doesn't care and I don't. He asked me if I'm alright and said "I don't bite" to which I replied "yeah, I know" we were looking in each other's eyes, then look to the camera. He asks me if he can keep the t-shirt. I hugged him to thank him, when the photographer calls me back, because there was a huge reflection in my glasses. So Tom probably looked better in the first picture because he was also pointing at my design but the reflection was really all over my eye. I saw it for a short moment before it went into the to-be-destroyed box.

So afterwards I collected my artwork, had coffee with fellow lucifans and then went to get the final autograph by Tom on my artwork. He had just come back from a bathroom / cigarette break and was humming while signing. When he signed and complimented me on my work, I said that I also made him a shirt and he said he was still wearing it below the one he was wearing. I actually didn't believe him because he was wearing the shirt he had worn before. I also gave him a bottle of Bavarian craft beer "in case you run out of beer" to which he replied "oh, I've got plenty"

The panel with Tom and Kevin was so much fun. I'll never ever going to be able to hear Kevin Alejandro without thinking "Alejandro, Alejandro" (the song by Lady gaga) I dared to ask a question. I don't know if I came around a bit bitchy when the were joking about the microphone being too high for me. I said "well not everyone can be as tall as you" I asked if they would like to do theater like on the London west end. And they both said absolutely as it was their roots.

There was a panel by the "moderators" and on their panels they do improv which is so much fun. Rachael, Lesley-Ann and Alexander vlahos joined and it was just too funny. Lesley-Ann is just so physical and they all had really dirty minds.

Lucifer panel next...so Tom comes in and he wears the shirt I made for him... And nothing under it... So he had probably told the truth earlier. I got him size L and it was really tight. The panel was great.. Just the spirit. We made Tom ride a trycicle like in the episode and he crashed. There's videos on Twitter. I really liked the first question when there was fan who has cerebral palsy (rather mild form affecting the hands mainly but I didn't see until they mentioned it.. And I usually do. She was dressed as Maze and could flip the knives like... Wow) and she asked if maybe they would want to have a character with a disability on the show. I really liked this question. Lesley-Ann suggested a deaf person as she knows some sign language. But they said the good thing about Lucifer is that Lucifer and Maze's sexuality (first sie said Tom and mine and then corrected it) is just there... It's not a big deal and a disability would probably not be as well.

In the closing ceremony Tom performed 2 songs.... I had goosebumps and tears were running from my eyes... So emotional. I have it on my camera... But I'm sure it's on Twitter soon. They all went crazy on stage, Kevin danced in the crowd, Rachael and Lesley-Ann pretended to make out...

We left the panel and said goodbye to the ones leaving. And suddenly Tom passes. I just went to him (well, he literally went by me so I didn't have to go anywhere) and I just thanked him for wearing the shirt. And he hugged me. It was so lovely. 2 hugs with Tom Ellis on one day...

But convention is not only about the stars... The fans make it what it is. I met people I knew from Brighton. There is one lady of our group who I totally adore because she is so super mature (she's a teacher) and yet such a crazy fangirl and she is a fanfiction author and people came up to her and complimented her on her work. It was so sweet. Like she could have done autographs as well. On Sunday I sat in the bar and restaurant for 5 hours with @adragonstale, his friend, my dear and slightly crazy friend who I had met in Brighton and 2 ladies from our group. We talked about Lucifer and "deep stuff" (pretty much the meaning of life and how to survive in this world... I love this kind of conversations) there were a few people I met only pasding by. Sorry @draco9236 I was in a bad mood before getting my drawing back on Sunday. @omgluciferlover (Why did I think you were Italian after Brighton?) Kinda left in the middle of a conversation but it's okay. I hope everyone had as much fun as I had.

Lucifans are lovely people and it was just lovely. The cast is so kind, sweet and funny and they all really seemed to enjoy it.... Even if for some reason they weren't allowed beer on stage anymore from Saturday afternoon on (not that Tom cared... He brought some when he had a bathroom break...)

I already start missing everything and everyone and this has certainly not been my last Lucifer convention. Look forward to meeting everyone again

#magiccon 2019 #lucifer on netflix #tom ellis #kevin alejandro #lesley ann brandt #rachael harris #d. b. woodside

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