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mdelpin · 5 years ago

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Nothing Says Fuck You...Like a Bouquet of Flowers

Sorry for the crappy edit but I wanted to mark the occasion. I have somehow managed to write 100 Fairy Tail Fics since August 2017. I know boys, I’m shocked too! Here is #100 I hope you enjoy it!

For @oryu404 and @becausewhenyoupracticeyouimprove two amazingly creative souls who have always been both supportive and incredibly fun to work and create with! Note: This story is inspired by this post and the infamous bouquet of loathing!

AO3 | FF.Net

Gray was so tired of Erza’s stupid plans to try to get him and Natsu to get along. Why couldn’t she get it through her damn skull that they were as friendly with each other as they were ever going to get and just leave it at that?

He couldn’t even remember the last time they’d actively tried to kill the other. It must have been at least a year by now? If that wasn’t proof that their relationship had improved, Gray didn’t know what would convince her.

But no, she had demanded he buy Natsu something “nice” to make up for knocking him into next week while he’d been distracted talking to Lucy earlier. The way Gray saw it, it was Natsu’s own fault for not being alert. All he’d done was remind the fire mage that he could be attacked at any moment. He’d done him a favor, really.

Gray grumbled, putting his hand in his pocket to pull out his money pouch, snorting as he realized it had been a gift from Natsu from the last time he’d been on the receiving end of Erza’s machinations. Although for the life of him, Gray couldn’t remember what the dumbass had done to earn the punishment. It was actually a pretty nice pouch made out of some sort of soft fabric he didn’t know the name of.

He opened it and poured his scant jewels into his hand, it looked like he had about 300 jewels on him. What could he possibly buy for that little? Maybe he could buy him some food, Natsu would be sure to appreciate that, but he had a feeling Erza would find fault with it.

Gray walked around town, peering into different shop windows, hoping to find something quickly, but nothing seemed right. He was staring into space when he heard someone speak to him.

“Can I help you find something, dearie?”

“Huh?” Gray blinked, trying to figure out where the voice had come from.

“I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been looking into all the shops. Are you looking for something?”

The voice belonged to an old woman who was standing in front of a flower shop. The one place he’d avoided in his search.

“Oh, yeah. I have to buy a gift for... a friend,” Gray explained, not sure what to call his rival. He guessed most of the time they were friends.

“I see, have you considered flowers? Most everyone likes getting flowers,” the old woman smiled as she showed him the shop behind her. “You can say just about anything with flowers.”

“Can you say I think you’re a stupid, good for nothing two-faced jerk who has disappointed me more times than I can count, and most of the time, I’m pretty sure I hate you?”

“My, that’s very colorful!” the woman laughed, not seemingly put off at all by the harsh words. “Are you sure this is for a friend?”

“Yeah, he’s just infuriating most of the time,” Gray muttered, remembering how he’d started to feel every time Natsu hung out with Lucy instead of him. It was just like it used to be before Lisanna had “died” and it bugged him. If he were actually honest with himself, that had probably had more to do with his attack than anything else, not that he would ever admit it out loud.

“Anyway, I should probably get back to it before the stores start closing.”

“Hang on, I never said I couldn’t help you. You can absolutely say all that with flowers,” the woman asserted, looking amused at the doubt on his face.

“Here, I’ll show you,” she grabbed him by the arm and brought him inside her shop.

“Let’s see,” she peered around the bright room until she found the flowers she was looking for, grabbing one and showing it to Gray, “This one here is a geranium, it symbolizes stupidity.”

Gray chortled as he saw the flower came in a shade of pink very close to Natsu’s hair color.

Figures.

Gray knew squat about flowers except that some of them smelled awful, so he was intrigued by the idea that different flowers could mean different things. It sort of amused him to be able to give Natsu an “apology” gift that was quite literally a fuck you. Could it possibly get any better? Even Erza couldn’t say anything to that since he was quite sure the requip mage knew as much about flowers as he did.

He watched with fascination as the woman continued to pull out different flowers, showing them to him and explaining their meaning.

Foxglove for insincerity

Meadowsweet for uselessness

Yellow carnations for disappointment

Orange lilies for hatred

There quite literally was a flower for every sentiment he had jokingly expressed. And the absolute best thing about it all was that it was quite colorful. Hell, the way some of the colors of the flowers blended together made them almost look like bursts of flames. Natsu would absolutely go gaga over them. Gray could not contain his excitement, this might be the absolute best prank he had ever pulled off, and no one would be the wiser.

He felt quite proud of himself for having stumbled onto this opportunity.

“Alright, so say I wanted to have a bouquet made out of these flowers, how much would it set me back?”

“Well,” the old woman hesitated, clearly wanting to make a sale but not wanting to scare him off, “How much do you have?”

“All I’ve got is like 300 jewels,” Gray replied honestly, it wasn’t a huge sum so he wouldn’t mind using it all up, not considering the payback.

“For 300 jewels, I’ll have it delivered!” the old woman chirped. She gestured Gray towards a display of small cards. “Pick one out and write a message for your friend. Make sure to put his name and where you want it delivered on the envelope, and I’ll make sure my delivery boy gets it there today.”

Gray nodded his acceptance and began to look through the cards as the woman selected flowers. “Oh, and can you make sure you add in some of those pink geraniums, he’ll love those.” Gray giggled to himself as he finally selected a card.

He tapped the tip of the fountain pen gently on the table and tried to think of the perfect message, eyes lighting up when he finally came up with what he wanted.

Gray hastily scrawled it on the card, waiting for the ink to dry before putting it in the envelope and addressing it to Natsu Dragneel at the Fairy Tail Guild.

Handing the envelope over to the old woman, he once again removed his pouch, and while ignoring the twinge of guilt that attempted to distract him from his goal, he emptied its contents on the work table.

The woman smiled at him in acceptance, “Don’t you worry, my grandson will have these over to him as soon as I am done!”

Gray nodded, and before leaving the store, he thanked her gracefully, “This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.”

She laughed and waved as he left.

0-0

Gray wandered around town for a bit longer knowing he would go stir crazy at the guild waiting for the flowers to be delivered, plus there was the off chance that he’d get into another fight with Natsu that would make him leave the guild and miss the delivery of his present.

Once he thought enough time had passed, he made his way back to the guild, his entire body thrumming with anticipation. As he entered, he was immediately approached by Erza.

“Did you do as we discussed?”

“Yes, Erza, it should be here any minute,” Gray assured her.

“What did you get him?” she asked, eyebrow already raised in suspicion.

“Don’t worry, he’ll absolutely love it.”

“He’d better,” Erza threatened before moving to their team’s table and sitting down with Lucy, the two of them immediately immersing themselves in conversation.

“Hey, Ice Bastard, let’s go! You and me, right now!” Natsu’s flaming fist was in front of his face before he could protest.

“Boys!” Erza yelled from her table, “Isn’t one fight a day enough?”

“What do you mean?” Natsu complained, “That wasn’t a fight, he sucker-punched me, at least I’m calling him out.”

“I don’t care, I’ve had just about enough out of the two of you for one day,” Erza growled, “Gray, why don’t you go ahead and give Natsu his present so that we can all move on?”

“Oh, uhm, I don’t have it on me. It’s being delivered,” Gray explained quickly, wanting to defuse Erza before she had a chance to get going on one of her rants.”

“Delivered?” Natsu puzzled, “What kind of present gets delivered? Oh! Is it food? Cause I’m starving.”

“I thought about it, but I figured Erza wouldn’t accept that.”

“Oh!” Natsu laughed knowingly, “It’s one of those presents.”

“Alright, well, when is this present coming?” he asked, and there was no disguising the excitement in his eyes. Natsu was still a little kid when it came to anything present related.

Gray looked out the window and noticed a young boy walking around, holding some flowers and a note that he peered at before studying at all the buildings fixedly and finally walking their way.

“Looks like it’s just about to get here,” Gray declared, a smile already gracing his lips at the prospect.

Not one minute later, the door to the guild opened, and the boy entered. “I’m looking for a Mr. Natsu Dragneel, is he here?”

“I’m Natsu Dragneel, “Natsu walked over to him, and the boy handed him the bouquet of flowers which had been covered in colorful paper as well as plastic to keep them safe while they traveled.

Natsu’s nose must have been going into overdrive, for he stood there for a full minute sniffing all the different flowers and peering at their colors excitedly, just as Gray had known he would.

“Can I get your signature to show my grandma I delivered them?” the young boy asked, and Natsu quickly obliged, borrowing a pen from Mira to do so. “Thank you!”

“Wait!” Natsu called out before the little boy could leave. “Lucy, can I borrow some jewels?”

Lucy made a show of complaining, but she placed some jewels in Natsu’s hand nonetheless, and he quickly handed them to the little boy.

The little boy’s eyes lit up at the money, “Thank you!” he called out, bowing to both Natsu and Lucy before running off.

“You got him flowers?” Erza gushed at Gray, admiring the bouquet Natsu was holding. “I didn’t actually expect you to do something nice.”

“Those are really pretty, Gray, “ Lucy added, “the orange and yellow ones especially, they look just like fire. That was really thoughtful of you.”

Gray nodded absently, fascinated by the expression on Natsu’s face, even managing to ignore Juvia’s wails in the background as she realized her beloved had bought flowers, and they hadn’t even been for her.

“Oh, there’s a note!” Natsu exclaimed, grabbing the small envelope and setting his flowers gently on the nearest table so he could open it and read his message.

Natsu’s entire body, all the way to his ears, had become covered in a light coating of fire, which confused Gray greatly, not knowing quite what to make of his reaction.

He thought of the message he’d printed on the notecard.

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Neither of those flowers is in this bouquet

But it still shows how I feel about you….

He’d felt really clever when he came up with it, and he still did, so why was Natsu acting so strangely and why was it beginning to affect him.

“I- I wasn’t expecting this,” Natsu finally said something, but it wasn’t really much help.

“I’m glad you like it?” Gray replied unsurely, still not positive what was going on or why now it seemed like everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch the two of them intently.

Juvia’s wails were only becoming louder, while Cana kept telling anyone who would listen that she’d known it all along, her cards had foreseen it.

Oh, God!

It was then that Gray realized he had not thought this through well enough. It seemed like Natsu, not to mention everyone else in the guild, thought the flowers were some sort of love confession.

Shit, Shit, Shit! He is going to beat the crap out of me for this. This isn’t funny at all!

“I’d told Lucy I was giving up this morning right before you punched me, but now to receive this from you, I- I don’t know what to say.”

Excuse me? What?!

Gray had been about to open his mouth to explain when those words washed all over him. Natsu liked him?! When the hell did that happen, and how come he didn’t know?! What should he do?

He heard a whisper in his ear, “I don’t know what your actual play was here, but I do know If you screw this up, I will make you regret it for the rest of your life.”

He jumped to see Erza give him a threatening look.

“Uhm, it’s no big deal,” Gray laughed nervously, tugging at his hair in the hopes it would circulate some blood into his brain that might help him get out of this unscathed.

“I don’t know about that Gray, I don’t think you even sent me flowers when we thought Lisana had died,” Mira smiled sweetly.

“You never bought me any flowers,” Juvia whined, absolutely positively not helping his case at all.

He could hear muffled snickering from the corner as both Freed and Bickslow attempted to hide their amusement at his discomfort. Before he had any time to do anything other than sending a glare their way, he was confronted by an even bigger problem.

“Oh, hey, Gray, what do the different flowers mean?” Lucy asked as she examined Natsu’s flowers more closely.

“Yes, Gray,” Erza’s arms were crossed in front of her chest, and he could tell from her smirk that she had already figured out what he’d done, “Please enlighten us, we’d like to know too.”

Gray’s eyes darted from one guild member to the next, all of them staring at him with varying expressions, but the one look he didn’t find on any of them was sympathy for his plight.

Unbreakable bonds, my ass!

“Meanings? I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Gray coughed, trying to buy himself some time, “I just, uhm, you know, thought they were pretty.”

“Is that so?” Erza raised her eyebrow at him again as she showed him the card he’d hastily written out earlier, “That’s funny, your message seems to indicate you do.”

Natsu’s gaze was locked on him, and Gray was having a hard time thinking straight. His green eyes were opened wide, and he looked so earnest and damn it vulnerable, and Gray instinctively knew Erza had been right. He couldn’t fuck around with this.

“Uhm the pinks ones are called geraniums, “ Gray calmly began to dig his own grave, what else could he do? Now that Lucy had opened her big mouth, he had no choice but to come up with meanings that didn’t sound terrible, and the others would accept. “I picked them cause they reminded me of your hair.”

That part was at least true. “They’re soft like your hair, too,” Gray blurted out, remembering a job not that long ago when Erza had knocked Natsu out on the train, and he’d ended up on his lap. Gray had spent most of the ride absently running his fingers through Natsu’s hair, feeling utterly relaxed as he watched the scenery rush by.

“Yes, but what does it mean?” Lucy asked again, earning herself her very own glare.

Okay, what could he change stupid to? Fun? Yeah, fun was good, and it was true that Natsu could be stupidly fun at times.

“Fun? Yeah, fun.” Gray tried to sound self-assured, but the way Natsu was furrowing his forehead made him think he wasn’t too convincing.

What were the others? Insincerity, uselessness, disappointment, and hatred his brain supplied helpfully.

This was never going to work, he wasn’t good under pressure. Not with words, anyway. Fuuuuuuuuck! Why did he have to be such an asshole?

His choices were limited. He could come clean now and earn both Erza and Natsu’s wrath, not to mention the entire guild’s for Natsu’s embarrassment, or he could try to make a run for it before he managed to put his foot in his mouth.

Gray was about to bolt when Cana came for him out of nowhere. “Just a minute, guys, I need him for something,” she called out before grabbing him by the arm and dragging him upstairs to the infirmary.

“What are you doing?!” she hissed at him, “You’re gonna blow your chance.”

“Huh?” he blinked at her, having no clue what she meant.

Cana facepalmed, muttering something about boys being stupid.

“Gray,” she began, using the same tone Gray had heard Erza use on Natsu when she was attempting to teach him something she thought a toddler should understand. “Why do you pick fights with Natsu all the time?”

“Cause he thinks he’s better than me,” Gray immediately responded with a scowl.

“Really? Did he think he was better than you when you punched him this morning?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Gray, have you seriously not noticed that you mostly pick on him when he’s talking to Lucy?”

“What, no?!” he protested even though he had to admit there might be something to that, but he stubbornly refused to acknowledge it.

“He’s just with her all the time, “ he declared, frowning at Cana.

“Uhuh, and that bothers you. Does it bother you when Natsu spends time with Erza or Happy?” Cana grinned knowingly.

“Don’t be stupid,” he sputtered, “Erza is Erza, we’ve known her forever, and Happy is a cat.”

“So just Lucy, then?”

“Maybe Lisanna, too,” he admitted grudgingly.

Cana slapped her leg in mirth, “I knew it! You are such a dope.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re in love with Natsu, you dumbass!”

“No, I’m not,” Gray disputed hotly, getting progressively more irritated by the gleeful expression on Cana’s face.

“Oh, yes, you are,” Loke laughed, appearing out of nowhere.

“Am not, why are you even here?”

“I was bored and popped in to whatever is going on downstairs,” Loke shrugged, “By the way, Levy is looking for some sort of flower encyclopedia in the guild library. I have a feeling that information is relevant, seeing as Natsu is holding the nastiest symbolic bouquet I’ve ever laid eyes on. Your work?”

“How do you even know about that stuff?”

“I’m a celestial spirit, I know all about symbolism, kinda my thing. Plus, I’ve bought many a lady flowers.”

No! Damn Levy and her stupid need to know everything! He was starting to get even more agitated.

“Just tell him you love him and get him out of the guild before she finds it,” Cana advised, “I can send Gajeel to distract her.”

“I already told you I -”

“That you’re in incredible denial?” Loke grinned, “No need to tell us, we know. We’ve watched you ogle him for years.”

“I do not ogle him,” Gray insisted, although, okay maybe he did look at Natsu more than was strictly necessary.

“Sure you don’t,” both Cana and Loke teased. “Have you seen how you get when anyone but you messes with him?”

Before he could protest that accusation, Loke grabbed him, putting his arm around his shoulder and squeezing it in solidarity, “Dude, just go down there and tell him how you feel. You already know he likes you. It’s not like you have anything to lose.” Loke advised.

“If you don’t, or Levy gets back before you have a chance to talk to him, he’ll be humiliated, and he’ll never forgive you. Any chance you might have had will be gone.”

“You know how proud and stubborn Natsu can be,” Cana reminded him, “Good luck getting through that if you fuck this up.”

“Ugh, I’m so confused, how do I know whether I’m in love with him or not?”

Loke smacked him on the back of the head with a sigh. “Okay, close your eyes.”

“Why do I have to close my-”

“Close your fucking eyes!”

“Fine, you don’t have to be such a jerk about it.” Gray closed his eyes and emptied his head as much as he could, although the tension didn’t entirely leave him.

“I want you to imagine kissing Juvia,” Loke demanded.

Gray tried to do as Loke asked, but he just couldn’t manage it, the most he was able to muster was a peck on the cheek.

“You done?” Loke asked, and when Gray nodded, he added, “Don’t open them yet, now do the same but with Natsu.”

Gray nodded, and this time there were tongues and teeth, moans and grunts and hair pulls, and he could feel the blood rush to his face.

“I rest my case,” Loke patted him on the back.

“Holy shit! I’m in love with Natsu,” Gray yelled only to hear Cana and Loke burst into laughs.

“Welcome to the party!” Cana cheered, “Better late than never. Now go down there before Levy can ruin it!”

Gray opened the door of the infirmary and ran down the stairs. He could hear Levy coming from the downstairs library, muttering that she had thought the geranium thing had sounded fishy.

Without a second thought, Gray froze up that entire entrance so that Levy couldn’t get back to the main room just yet. He could hear Gajeel complaining, but he seemed more interested in seeing things play out, especially as Levy didn’t really need his help to deal with the ice.

“I’m back,” Gray announced unnecessarily, hearing Loke and Cana coming down the stairs behind him.

“What is going on?” Natsu’s eyes had gone from earnest to suspicious, and Gray cringed, knowing he had very little time left. “Why did you ice that entrance?”

“Look, just forget about the flower meanings, all that stuff is stupid anyway. The important thing is that I like you too.” He grabbed Natsu by the arm and tried to steer him out of the guild, but Natsu refused to budge, shaking Gray off.

“You buy me flowers, write me that message, and then you start acting strangely the moment someone asks you about the meanings,” Natsu accused, and Gray could feel the room heating up around him, mirroring Natsu’s emotions. “You were messing with me, weren’t you? It’s gotta be some sort of insult.”

Now that the initial surprise at the gift had worn away, Natsu studied him carefully, taking in everything about him. Unfortunately, for Gray, he had always been able to read him better than anyone else.

“I am such an idiot, of course, it is!” Natsu yelled, “To think that I-, nevermind.”

“Wait! You’re right. I was pissed at Erza for making me get you something, so I was an ass,” Gray admitted, “Honestly, had you been with me, you probably would have gotten a kick out of it.”

He chuckled weakly but stopped when he noticed Natsu wasn’t joining in, he only looked more upset with every word that came out of Gray’s mouth. Alright, time to put his cards on the table.

“I’m sorry, I will get you a different present if you want, but I swear to you, I do like you,” Gray pleaded, “I just didn’t think you felt the same.”

“Wait a minute, now you’re trying to say you do like me?” Natsu searched his face again and seemed confused by whatever he found there. “That wasn’t part of the prank?”

Gray shook his head, wracking his brain for a way to prove his words.

“Alright, you have one chance to come clean, if I even sense you’re lying to me, we’re over before we start,” Natsu warned, his heated glare not filling Gray with much hope. “What do the flowers really mean?”

“Fine,” Gray accepted the challenge, knowing the only way out of this was to take his lumps. He avoided looking at Erza as he ticked each meaning off on his fingers. “Stupidity, disappointment, uselessness, hatred, and insincerity.”

Gray got the punch he was expecting, although he was a little surprised at the force behind it. Still, he took it without comment, knowing full well he deserved it, but it was what Natsu did next that surprised him.

Natsu roared with laughter, holding on to his sides as he doubled over. “You can say all that with flowers?!”

“You’re not mad?” Gray sputtered in disbelief.

“I mean yeah, a little, but I have to admit that’s pretty amazing and,” he declared sheepishly, his carefree demeanor allowing Gray to relax a little. “I would have been so tempted, too.”

He grabbed Gray’s hand and dragged him out of the guild.

“Hey, wait! Where are you taking me?”

“I want you to take me to that flower shop, I need to get a bouquet made for Gajeel,” Natsu grinned even as his eyes twinkled with mischief.

“We’ll talk on the way, I think we’ve caused enough of a scene for one day, don’t you?”

Gray could certainly agree with that sentiment, and full of curiosity as to what their talk would bring, he let Natsu pull him along.

Off they went, leaving the sounds of the guild behind as they strolled through town with their hands still laced together. Gray had no idea how it had all worked out, but his fuck you bouquet had somehow ended up getting him the one thing he’d wanted but had been too afraid to admit to.

From that day on, it became an inside joke between them to order the filthiest bouquets they could come up with for the other. Gray always made a point of including pink geraniums in the ones he ordered for Natsu.

An homage to the pink hair he adored and to his own stupidity, which had finally worked in his favor.

A/N: This marks my 100th Fairy Tail fanfic, which is something I am quite proud of. When I first started writing fanfic I never thought I’d get to 10 stories let alone 100. I hope you enjoy this one, I really wanted the 100th one to be gratsu since they are my OTP and my first love.

I want to thank everyone who has read my stories and enjoyed them and an even bigger thank you to the ones who actually let me know in some way! I really appreciate your support, it blows me away. Also thank you to all the friends I have made on this journey, I hope we’ll all be around a while longer!

#fairy tail #gratsu #cana & gray & loke #ftlgbtales #ftfanfics #100 ft fics!#attempt at humor

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xseedgames · 7 years ago

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2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #1

It’s time for our first 2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza! We’ve got a bunch of these we’ll be posting over the holiday break, so please look forward to them. Now, let’s roll right in!

We have answers from:

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Liz Rita, QA Tester Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Has selling your games on PC worked out for you so far? I know supporting the PC platform is a relatively recent choice for XSEED. - @Nate_Nyo

Ken: Being on PC has been great for us as it allows us to reach anyone anywhere in the world regardless of region or console. We were probably one of the earlier adopters in terms of bringing content from Japan to PC as we first published Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam almost 6 years ago in early 2012.

Brittany: I love working on PC. The work involved is greater than working on console, but I feel like it's a bigger learning experience, too. For console, the developers normally handle the graphics after we translate them, and they do all the programming and such. For PC, everything falls on us. I wasn't that experienced with Photoshop in the beginning, but I think I've gotten a lot better with it over the years. We can also receive updates instantly, and since I talk with our PC programmer through Skype, it's easier to suss out our exact needs and think of ideas to improve the game or bring it to modern standards.

Question: What non-XSEED games do you praise the localization for? - @KlausRealta

Brittany: Final Fantasy XII. I love everything about Final Fantasy XII's writing. I'm also a big fan of the personality in the Ace Attorney localizations. I'm still playing Yakuza 0, but you can feel the passion of the localization team in the writing. There are some projects where you can tell the editing was phoned in, and then there are games where it's obvious it was a labor of love. All of these games have a color I aspire to.

Tom: Probably going to be a popular answer, and not an especially surprising one, but I've got to give props to Lost Odyssey. It's hard to deny the timeless quality and absolutely masterful English writing that went into basically every line of that game's massive script, with the many short stories being of particular note. That game really does represent an inspirational high bar that I think most everyone else in the industry will forever strive to reach in their own works.

For a more unexpected answer, I've also got to give mad props to Sega for their work on Monster World IV. As a Sega Genesis game released digitally in English for the very first time less than a decade ago, I guess I was kind of expecting a fairly basic "throwaway" translation -- but instead, the game boasts a full-on professional grade localization that's easily up to all modern standards, brimming with charm and personality. It's really nice to see a legitimate retro game being given that kind of care and attention in the modern era, and it makes it very easy for me to recommend (as does the fact that the game is actually quite fun, and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who's played through all the Shantae titles and really wants to try something else along similar lines).

John: I played Okami on PS3 earlier this year (before the remake was announced), and I was awed by how skillfully the team handled text that is chock full of localization challenges like quirky nicknames, references to Japanese fairy tales, and regional dialects. I was especially amused to see a reference to "kibi dango," the dumplings Momotaro uses to bribe his companions in that famous story. We dealt with the same cultural reference with STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns.

Nick: My go-to response is always Vagrant Story, because it’s the game I credit with getting me really interested in a career in localization. Before that point, I had enjoyed games for their story and characters, but hadn’t realized just how much the specific word choices and tone contributed to a reader’s perception of a story as a whole. The gents behind VS’s localization would go on to be industry luminaries, with Rich Amtower now calling shots in Nintendo’s Treehouse department and Alex Smith being synonymous with the highly regarded prose of Yasumi Matsuno’s games – including the cool and underappreciated Crimson Shroud for 3DS, and Final Fantasy XII, which as anyone who’s played it can tell you is a stellar localization. Having spent a lot of time with FFXII’s “The Zodiac Age” remaster this year, the care and attention to detail put into the localization still blows me away. The unique speech style of the Bhujerbans (with...Sri Lankan inflections, if memory serves correctly) sticks with me, because I knew that I myself would never have been able to pull off something like that so deftly. I guess you could say Vagrant Story started a lineage of games that’s always given me something to aspire to as an editor.

Final Fantasy XIV, which I’ve been playing this year, also has a very good localization, especially considering the reams of text that go into an MMO of its size and scope. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and his team have done a bang-up job giving life and personality to the land of Eorzea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how the localization has changed in subtle ways as time has gone on. The initial “A Realm Reborn” localization sort of cranks the “regional flavor” up to 11 with heavy dialects and vernacular, but in subsequent expansions, they kind of eased up on that and have found a good mix between grounded localization and the kind of flourishes that work well in high-fantasy settings.

And, while I haven’t played it in a number of years, I remember Dragon Quest VIII having a really great localization, too, with ol’ Yangus still living large in my memories. Tales of the Abyss was fantastic as well, and both DQVIII and Abyss delivered some really brilliant dub work that showed me how much richer one could make characterization when the writing and the acting really harmonized. I still consider Tales of the Abyss my general favorite game dub to date. The casting is perfect, with not a bad role among them. I also want to give mad props to Ni no Kuni’s Mr. Drippy, just as a perfect storm of great localization decisions. Tidy, mun!

Question: How hard is it to turn in game signs and words to English for Japanese? Is it as simple as going in and editing text? Or as hard as creating a whole new texture for the model? - @KesanovaSSB4

Tom: We refer to this as "graphic text" -- meaning, literally, text contained within graphic images. How it's handled differs from project to project, but the short answer is, yeah, it involves creating a whole new texture for the model. Sometimes, this is handled by the developer: they'll just send us a list of all the graphic text images that exist in-game and what each image says, we'll send that list back to them with translations, and they'll use those translations to create new graphic images on our behalf. For other games, however (particularly PC titles we're more or less spearheading), we'll have to do the graphic edits ourselves. When the original PSDs or what-not exist for the sign images, this is generally pretty easy -- but as you might expect, those aren't always available to us, meaning we'll sometimes have to go to a bit more trouble to get this done.

John: The best practice is to review graphic text very early in the localization process because it takes effort to fix and can throw a wrench in schedules if issues are discovered too late. On occasion, it is too difficult to change ubiquitous textures, especially those that might also appear in animation. This was the case with "NewTube" in SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, which the localization team wanted to change to "NyuuTube" to make the wordplay clearer to series fans.

Question: With the Steam marketplace becoming increasingly saturated and being seen as a greater risk to publish on in recent times, what does XSEED plan on doing in order to remain prominent and relevant in the PC gaming space? - @myumute

Ken: It is indeed getting harder and harder to stand out as hundreds of new titles are releasing on Steam each month. We are working our way towards simultaneous release across all platforms to help leverage some of the coverage from the console version to get more attention to the PC release, so hopefully that's something we can accomplish soon. For PC-exclusive releases it continues to be a challenge, but at least they have a long tail and even if it's not an immediate success at launch we know it can continue to produce sales for years to come.

Question: What was your favorite film that you saw in 2017, and why? - @Crippeh

John: I'm way behind on movies this year (haven't seen Disaster Artist, Phantom Thread, or Get Out, for example), but recently I've enjoyed both Star Wars and Lady Bird. I expect I'll watch my favorite film from 2017 sometime in 2018.

Ken: Wind River. Mainly because of Jeremy Renner's performance and how many quotable lines he had.

Liz: Get Out for horror mindblowing amazingness, Spider-Man Homecoming for genuinely fun comic book movie, and The Shape of Water for Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro should always be a category.

That’s it! Stay turned for blog #2 later this week. Here’s a preview of the kinds of questions we’ll be answering:

Question: Have you ever considered selling the music CDs for your licenses stateside? - @LimitTimeGamer Question: If possible, would you please consider researching and localizing classic Korean-made PC xRPGs? - @DragEnRegalia Question: Do you have any interest in pursuing the localization of any of the large, beautiful Chinese RPGs that have been hitting Steam? Or are you focused exclusively on Japanese titles? - @TheDanaAddams Question: What inspired you all to do this kind of work in the first place? Also, what’s the story behind the company name XSEED? How did you all come up with it? - @TBlock_02 Question: What was everyone's favorite game(s) to work on this year? - @ArtistofLegacy Question: What's everyone's favorite song from the Falcom games you've released so far? - @Crippeh

#XSEED #Q&A #Localization

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Hulu New Releases: December 2020

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As the year winds down, streaming services appear to be taking a step back, licking their wounds from this strange pandemic production season, and looking to a hopefully brighter future. This is all to say that Hulu‘s list of new releases for December 2020 isn’t quite its most inspiring batch yet…and that’s OK.

Hulu’s biggest original title this month is undoubtedly The Hardy Boys. This adaptation of the classic boy detective novels is aimed at younger audiences and will premiere on Dec. 4. Then, near the end of the month, Hulu is bringing a new season of a show that is decidedly not for younger audiences. Season 9 of the very funny and very Canadian Letterkenny arrives on Dec. 26.

Hulu also has some recent movies of note coming in December including Amy Seimetz’s diabolical She Dies Tomorrow on Dec. 4 and children’s movie The Secret Garden on Dec. 6. The real appeal this month, however, is undoubtedly in the older library titles. All three installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy arrive on Dec. 1, as do Eyes Wide Shut, 50 First Dates, and several Bond movies. With those alone, there are plenty of options for cinematic background noise through the holiday season.

Hulu New Releases – December 2020

December 1

CMA Country Christmas: Special (ABC)

Disney Holiday Singalong: Special (ABC)

Lupin the 3rd Part 5: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed & Subbed) (TMS)

30 Days of Night (2007)

50 First Dates (2004)

About Last Night (1986)

Angels & Demons (2009)

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Black Dynamite (2009)

Body of Evidence (1993)

Cake (2006)

Charlotte’s Web (1973)

Cliffhanger (1993)

Con Air (1997)

Diary Of A Mad Black Woman (2005)

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Dr. No (1962)

Dragonball: Evolution (2009)

Euphoria (2018)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)

Goldeneye (1995)

Goldfinger (1964)

Hemingway’s Garden of Eden (2010)

Here On Earth (1999)

Hot Air (2018)

Into the Blue (2005)

Love Potion No. 9 (1992)

Our Family Wedding (2009)

Sands of Iwo Jima (1950)

Shrink (2009)

Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Southside With You (2016)

Strategic Air Command (1955)

Sunshine (2007)

The 6th Day (2000)

The Chumscrubber (2005)

The Client (1994)

The Color of Money (1986)

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

The Fifth Element (1997)

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)

The Hulk (2003)

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The January Man (1989)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor (2008)

The November Man (2014)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

The Young Victoria (2009)

True Confessions (1981)

Two Weeks (2006)

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Why Did I Get Married? (2007)

December 4

The Hardy Boys: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)

Brassic: Complete Season 2 (ITV)

Deutschland 89: Complete Season 1 (Sundance)

My Hero Academia: Complete Season 4 (Dubbed) (Funimation)

She Dies Tomorrow (2020)

December 5

Black Ops (2020)

God’s Own Country (2017)

It Had To Be You (2015)

Mr. Jones (2020)

Waiting For The Barbarians (2020)

December 6

How To Fake A War (2019)

The Secret Garden (2020)

December 7

Valley Girl (2020)

December 8

Nurses: Series Premiere (NBC)

The Fairy Princess and the Unicorn (2020)

December 10

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical! (NBC)

Out Stealing Horses (2019)

December 11

Madagascar: A Little Wild: Complete Season 2 (Hulu Original)

Rent-A-Pal (2020)

Spy Cat (2020)

December 12

Endless (2020)

December 15

Dirt Music (2019)

Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)

December 16

Amy Winehouse: A Final Goodbye (2016)

December 18

The Hero (2017)

December 21

NOS4A2: Complete Season 2 (AMC)

December 22

You Cannot Kill David Arquette (2020)

December 23

Someone Marry Barry (2014)

The Little Hours (2017)

December 25

Soldiers of Fortune (2012)

December 26

Letterkenny: Complete Season 9 (Hulu Original)

December 27

The Masked Singer: Season 5 Premiere (FOX)

American Animals (2018)

December 28

Hope Gap (2020)

Our Idiot Brother (2011)

December 31

Bayou Caviar (2018)

Supervized (2019)

Leaving Hulu – December 2020

December 8

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do The Time Warp Again (2016)

December 14

Baby…Secret Of The Lost Legend (1985)

December 16

The Good Shepherd (2006)

December 31

30 Days of Night (2007)

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A Nanny For Christmas (2010)

A View to a Kill (1985)

About Last Night (1986)

Aeon Flux (2005)

Alien Nation (1988)

Anti-Trust (2001)

Antwone Fisher (2002)

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Back to School (1986)

Barbershop (2002)

Black Dynamite (2009)

Blood Ties (2014)

Broadcast News (1987)

Cliffhanger (1993)

Crimson Tide (1995)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Diary Of A Mad Black Woman (2005)

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Dr. No (1962)

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

Flashback (1990)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

From Russia with Love (1964)

Goldeneye (1995)

Goldfinger (1964)

Good Hair (2009)

Grizzly Man (2005)

House Of 1000 Corpses (2003)

I Spy (2002)

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Into the Blue (2005)

Joe (2014)

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011)

Kicking & Screaming (2005)

Kiss The Girls (1997)

Knocked Up (2007)

Licence to Kill (1989)

Little Giants (1994)

Live and Let Die (1973)

Lord Of War (2005)

Lost In Space (1998)

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

March of the Penguins (2005)

Moonraker (1979)

Mr. Majestyk (1974)

Mud (2013)

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Not Another Teen Movie (2001)

Nurse 3D (2014)

Octopussy (1983)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Pacific Heights (1990)

Platoon (1986)

Raging Bull (1980)

Ronin (1998)

Senorita Justice (2004)

Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Slow Burn (2007)

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)

Thanks for Sharing (2013)

The 6th Day (2000)

The Bourne Identity (2002)

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The Client (1994)

The Color of Money (1986)

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2011)

The End of Violence (1997)

The Express (2008)

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)

The Hulk (2003)

The Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)

The Living Daylights (1987)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor (2008)

The Net (1995)

The Saint (1997)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

The Weather Man (2005)

The World is Not Enough (1999)

The Young Victoria (2009)

This Christmas (2007)

Thunderball (1965)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Wanted (2008)

Why Did I Get Married? (2007)

Wild Hogs (2007)

Wild Things (1998)

William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Working Girl (1988)

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

You Only Live Twice (1967)

The post Hulu New Releases: December 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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coleymari-blog · 7 years ago

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Living Artwork

(Late) Submission for @nalu-week 2017 Tattoos; where one of our lovebirds shares a particular skill set with the other in a rather peculiar fashion.

The laser lights were strobing across the body-filled dancefloor. Electronic covers of popular songs were pumping through the booming speakers and into the humid, crowded club. Lucy, accompanied by her normal crew of girlfriends, strolled through with their painted eyes set on the velvet-roped VIP section. They were regulars in Mira’s boyfriend’s club, named ‘Fairy Tail’, so the bouncers were already expecting the sexed-up goddesses. Heads turned as the five of them took their seats on the plush couches, drink menus already in hand as they got comfortable.

“Laxus’s friends should be here any minute,” Mira cooed, tucking her legs beneath her as she smiled brightly, her silver hair taking on the multicolor spectrum of the light show around them. Juvia immediately looked uncomfortable with the fact that they were going to have to share their section with men they’d never met and fisted her dress as she fidgeted nervously. Cana, due to ‘pre-gaming’ back at Lucy’s, was already well on her way to inebriation. Levy ran her fingers through her wild blue hair, her facial expressions giving away her exasperation. Lucy was fine with sharing as long as the guys weren’t complete douchebags. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t seem likely once they arrived at the pedestal. The ropes parted again for the club’s owner and his friends, the five gentleman sitting down across from the group of women. Mira immediately broke down the invisible wall and relocated to her boyfriend’s lap. “Laxus, introduce the boys, huh?”

The blond huffed at his girl’s request, acquiescing nonetheless. “Ladies, meet my investors,” he groaned. He pointed to each one as he went down the line. “This is Gray,” pointing to a raven-haired cutie with a smoldering glare. Juvia even squeaked when he spoke for himself. The next was Bacchus, someone Lucy recognized without fail. He ran the largest brewery in Magnolia and supplied 90% of the alcohol to Laxus’s establishment. The largest member of their motley crew was Gajeel, a local Rocker whose band played at the club a couple nights a week. Bringing up the rear was a guy simply introduced as Laxus’s cousin Natsu and Lucy could barely keep her eyes off him. He wore a black tank top and jeans but what caught her attention most was a perfectly depicted black and red dragon swirling down his right arm, wrapping around his chiseled muscles.

After a few rounds of drinks, everyone had split off into pairs except Lucy and Natsu, leaving the two alone back in VIP. The silence between them was astounding given the atmosphere but Natsu soon ended it by offering to buy her another drink. They went back and forth, buying each other drinks and swapping stories before the pinket grew bored and dragged his new ‘friend’ to the dancefloor. The song playing was slower than the previous selections, but the bass combined with booze led the two better than they could have done on their own.

Soon their hands were traveling over each other, gripping at whatever they could reach in order to pull the other in closer. The sound waves coursed through them, eliminating the need for speech. They danced together song after song, only resting when Lucy grew thirsty and Natsu refused to let her go on her own.

Settling back in the VIP area with their friends, they saw that they weren’t the only ones who had found company. Gray and Juvia were playing coy, but the attraction was obvious. Levy and Gajeel were cuddling on the couch engaged in an argument on whether audiobooks were better or ‘an embarrassment’. Bacchus and Cana? Yeah, they didn’t even last an hour before they took off for Cana’s place right down the street.

Lucy reached over to grab her drink and was shocked by the warm, rough sensation of Natsu’s fingers sliding over her now exposed skin. Judging by the area, she could only assume he was tracing the black outlined stars that littered her ribcage. A friend had started her design but never finished, leaving them nothing but black marks on her pale skin.

“I like your ink,” Natsu hummed, his fingers still tracing the familiar patterns. “If you ever want more, let me know. I wouldn’t even charge you shop minimum.”

That’s when the name hit her. Straightening up, Lucy locked eyes with him, chocolate brown staring into emerald orbs. “Wait… you’re not, Natsu Dragneel are you?” No way he was the most famous tattoo artist in town.

The handsome pinket grinned, his pointed canines drawing in her attention. “In the flesh,” he remarked teasingly, moving closer in order to lessen the gap between them. “What do you say, hm? Wanna wear my next project?”

A nod was all it took before Natsu grabbed her by the hand, dragging her away from the rest of their group. They wove their way through the crowd, making their way to the elevator to Laxus’s private office. “I was working on Laxus earlier,” he explained, his voice gruff. “So my kit is still there and the room is still set up perfectly.”

Lucy’s heart was racing. Not only was she getting a tattoo in a nightclub from a stranger, something that was definitely not her, but she was getting inked by the Natsu Dragneel. The dinging of the elevator bell brought her back to Earthland and she allowed him to drag her inside.

After a rather passionate make out session, the two arrived at the top floor and Natsu’s demeanor quickly changed. He instructed her to stand by a leather chair as he took his knife from the small of his back and cut a piece of plastic from a box. He draped it over the chair and politely asked her to sit down. Lucy watched as he grabbed a red leather case from the desk and set up all his tools on top of more plastic wrap. She wondered if he could hear her heart as it tried to escape her chest because he chuckled right as her pulse spiked.

“I promise I don’t do this all the time,” he remarked teasingly, seating himself atop a rolling stool and wheeling up to her side. He had everything situated perfectly and was ready to go before he gloved up, pulling on black latex-free gloves and snapping them playfully. Without breaking their staring match, he carded his fingers through her honey hair before kissing her softly. “What do you want?”

Go big or go home right?

“Surprise me,” Lucy replied, her voice more meek than usual. It was like she had fallen under some sort of spell, and the alcohol played no part. In fact, she felt completely sober except for the effect Natsu had on her. Could he be considered a drug himself?

Cracking his knuckles, Natsu kissed her again before asking her to pick her shirt up, brushing his fingers against her tattoo. “Mind if I add on?” he questioned, laying eyes on the entirety of her art. There were 12 stars in total seemingly floating atop her milky ribcage. Lucy agreed and the artist sensed the edge in her movements.

Putting down the gun, Natsu took his time and kissed every star, feeling the anxiety leave Lucy’s body with every caress of his lips. After his adoration, he put on some rock music in the background and set to work. After an hour or so of conversation, laughter, and Lucy’s various painful outbursts, the piece was finished and he immediately cleaned up his canvas and his tools. He gently wrapped her entire torso in plastic wrap before picking her up off the chair and bringing her to a nearby mirror on the back of Laxus’s door.

When Lucy stood on her own two feet and had positioned herself appropriately, she had to fight tears from streaking her cheeks. Where a few measly stars once stood, there was now an entire animated galaxy. Swirls of color combined to form the emptiness of space, but he incorporated the stars, making them stand out against the cartoon creations. It was more beautiful than anything she could have ever imagined on her own.

The only way Lucy could think of to properly thank him, was to throw herself onto him, latching her lips onto his. She kissed him with a fervor she hadn’t had before, which he attributed to the endorphin high. “T-thank you,” she breathed against his lips. “It’s gorgeous.”

Natsu smiled, dipping his head down to kiss her again. “Gorgeous ink for a gorgeous girl,” he quipped, causing the both of them to laugh. He brought his fist up and glanced at his watch, noting that it was pushing 2:00am.

“Want to catch breakfast?” he propositioned, Lucy immediately doing mental math.

“No one will be serving breakfast for hours…” she reminded, trying to catch whatever hints he was throwing.

Flicking her forehead softly, Natsu chuckled. “There’s a couple things we can do to kill time,” he offered with a salacious wink. “And I happen to know that the best breakfast in town is served in the diner below my apartment. Think you can make it a few more hours?”

Pulling herself away and pulling her shirt back down, Lucy nodded toward the elevator doors, her smile beaming. “I think you’ll find plenty of ways to keep me up.”

#nalu week #nalu fanfic #nalu fic #[sorry it's late]#;oneshot

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ahiddenpath · 7 years ago

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Nanowrimo Week 1 Update

Hey all! The end of today marks the first week of Nanowrimo! The benchmark for today is 11,667 words total. Yikes!

There’s a progress update and a snipped of my draft below the cut ;)

Okay, first: some housekeeping. My old Nanowrimo word Count Blog Widget done broke on me! I’m guessing there’s an external image issue or some kind of bandwith issue due to Nanowrimo usage? I switched to a simple HTML tag that doesn’t rely on external images. It doesn’t look as nice, but it works, and that is more important, lol. Here’s the HTML to add to your bloggy:

<strong>Nanowrimo Counter 2017:</strong>

Just change 11131 to your total word count, and you’re done! So easy :D

Okay! So, my progress!

My current word total is... 12,774! Which means I’m about 25% done and 1,100 words ahead, so I’m doing alright. One concern is that I think I’m going to run out of outline about 15 days into nanowrimo, so I have to put effort into outlining the last few chapters of Seeking Resonance ASAP, lol!!! Otherwise I’mma hit a wall in a week or so, oh noooo!

Crap, what happens next? I have no idea, lol! XD XD XD WHO’S DRIVING THIS THING?!

So far, the writing has been alright. It hasn’t been flowing super well, but it hasn’t been a tooth-pulling nightmare, either. This is a terrible rough draft, but that’s normal for Nanowrimo (and honestly, normal in general). It’ll shine up just fine later.

If you’re interested, he’s a raw excerpt from Nanowrimo Week One! SO MANY ADVERBS, lol XD Tentative title: In Which Koushiro is Hazed by Children and a Grandma.

Although he had never been to Eimi’s market, her descriptions and an online search had led him here without difficulty. Admittedly, he had expected more than a stretch of stalls lining either side of a cobbled street. It seemed so quaint and sleepy, hardly worth her almost daily visits.

But this is what Eimi-san likes. Koushiro approached the end stall, feeling oddly out of place. The closest thing he had seen to an open air market was news stands and street food vendors pushed too close together in Tokyo, and those were flashier and louder. Instead of a middle age man screaming into the passing crowd, he encountered an old woman dozing in a chair behind the cart. Colorful vegetables were stacked in wooden crates tipped towards the street, a rainbow display of food.

Sweat beads that had formed during the walk merged into droplets that slid down his forehead. Koushiro was so focused on finding food Eimi usually purchased at her market that he hadn’t considered what to buy. He tried to think of what she had served him in the past, but quickly realized that, even with the ingredients, he wouldn’t know how to make it.

Chicken noodle soup. They say that’s good for recovering, right? But what goes into that? Carrots? Onions? Perhaps a salad would be simpler… He checked the lettuce stock and was alarmed to find that the old woman carried multiple varieties. There’s more than one type of lettuce?!

So great was his panic that Koushiro failed to hear the approach of pattering feet. When a high voice shouted, “Aegis!”, he jumped forward, and the crates rattled when he hit the cart. The old woman stirred, straightened, and stared at her customer.

“Ah, good afternoon,” Koushiro said. He tried to smile at the old woman, but most of his attention was the children swarming at knee level. Three kids, a girl and two boys, had materialized, forming a fairy ring around Aegis. Koushiro tensed when the girl threw her arms around the dog, but Aegis sat quietly and wagged his tail. He relaxed, reassured that Aegis wouldn’t jump and accidentally knock the children over.

The taller boy stood on tiptoe to see the old woman over the cart. “Baba, look! It’s Aegis! Why do you have Aegis, mister? Where is Eimi-oneesan?”

The old woman blinked, then leaned forward. “Eh? Is it Aegis, Minoru? I can’t see over the cart.”

“It’s Aegis, it’s Aegis!” the girl cried. “Pretty Aegis! We missed you! Good doggy!”

Koushiro stepped back, unsure of how to behave. His classes were usually offered to students pursuing higher degrees, and he hadn’t interacted with a child since he was one, himself. Although they had different faces, these three seemed identical at a glance. They painted an idyllic picture of children enjoying summer in the countryside: denim shorts, tee shirts, sneakers, tanned skin, messy hair, and the occasional dirt smudge.

The children continued to love on Aegis, which frankly looked like harassment from Koushiro’s perspective, but the old woman was focused on him. Koushiro cleared his throat and said, “Um, pardon me, but do you know Anami Eimi? I’m doing some shopping for her, but I’m afraid I forgot to request a list.”

She stared at him for a long moment before answering. “Yes, we all know Eimi-chan. She’s visited our market most days for years. We were looking forward to seeing her again after her tour, but she never came. We were going to send Minoru over in a few days to check on her if she didn’t stop by. Is everything alright?”

“Um…” Was it his imagination, or were the other vendors watching this exchange? Koushiro gave himself a tiny shake and forced himself to look at the woman addressing him. “I’m afraid Eimi-san took ill a few days ago.”

Minoru stopped mid-pat and whirled around. “Eimi-oneesan is sick?!” he shouted. Koushiro’s mouth twitched into a grimace that he quickly straightened.

The old woman sighed and cupped her cheek. “Oh, the poor dear. There aren’t any colds going around…”

“What’s wrong?!” Minoru demanded. “Will she get better? Can I visit?”

“Um-” If Koushiro inched back any further, he’d be standing in front of the next cart. What was he supposed to say? While Eimi would find Minoru’s concern endearing, Koushiro doubted that exposure to a loud, energetic child would be welcome at the moment. “I’m afraid she isn’t well enough for visitors. Eimi-san was in the hospital, but she’s discharged and on bed rest now.”

The boy’s dark eyes went wide and wild. “Eimi-oneesan was in the hospital?!”

Why does he feel the need to parrot me at screaming volume? “Y-yes, but she’s recovering. She needs some quiet and good food, which is why I’m here.” He smiled at the vendor, hoping he didn’t look as overwhelmed as he felt. He must have failed, because she slid from her chair to her feet and walked around the cart.

While the children fussed, Minoru over Eimi and the younger two over Aegis, the old woman approached and tugged the handle of one of Koushiro’s cloth bags. He surrendered it and watched as she packed it with vegetables. “Like I said,” she began, “Eimi-chan has come here most days for years. Minoru walks Aegis when she’s away on short trips. We all know her…”

She placed a few carrots on top of the growing stack of vegetables, then paused. Although this woman was a stranger, Koushiro was instantly wary of that mischievous smile. “Or at least, we thought we did. Who knew she had such a cute boyfriend?! Good for her! But really, making a young lady walk back and forth alone every day, goodness! You’re supposed to escort her! Honestly, we were all trying to set her up! You had better take good care of her while she’s sick, understood? My oldest grandson is quite handsome, you know!”

Koushiro lifted his hands and moved them in flustered motions, but he was too shocked to string together a vocal denial. “Hey!” Minoru cried. “I’m not the oldest!”

His grandmother tittered and patted the boy’s head. “I’m afraid Eimi-chan is too old for you. Akio is about the right age.”

“Nuh uh! I’m ten!” Minoru stomped his foot and jabbed his thumb against his chest. “That’s double digits! I bet Eimi-oneesan isn’t that much older! Akio-oniichan is waaaaaaay too old!”

“Oh, my.” The old woman grinned at Koushiro and shook her head. “Regardless, it seems we old ladies don’t need to play matchmaker after all.”

Koushiro’s frozen tongue finally came unstuck. “T-that’s not- I’m afraid- Eimi-san and I aren’t- We’re friends.” He assumed this would appease everyone, especially Minoru, but the boy stomped his foot more violently.

“What! Why not! If I were bigger, I would date Eimi-oneesan and take care of her!”

“Oh dear, oh dear.” The old lady tipped her head to the side, but Koushiro recognized the glint of mischief in her eyes. “Hush, Minoru, don’t scold the poor man. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, dear. Here, please take these.”

Okay, so that’s it! I’ll check in again next week! Please cheer me on, and thanks for reading!

#nanowrimo 2017 #nanowrimo #nanowrimo week 1 #seeking resonance

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omona-kyeopta-blog · 7 years ago

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iii. ordinary

graylu week 2017

day 3

gray fullbuster x lucy heartfilia

fairy tail

.. .. .. .. ..

“Do you still remember why we got this tattoo?” asked the blonde girl, showing the mark on the back of her right hand. A guild symbol from her favorite anime show. With its pink color, the tattoo shimmered under the lights.

Gray frowned at her random question. Still fresh on his mind, why and when they got the tattoo. Yes. He also has the same symbol with her but it’s hidden under his clothes. When their groups of friends knew about the tattoo, they immediately got the same mark with a different color. One put it below his right shoulder with red color, the other one is blue and on the middle of her left upper arm, and even the petite one put it proudly on her left shoulder-blade.

In the name of solidarity.

“Do you remember that rock concert on the beach?” Gray asked back casually.

“Which rock concert? Oh, that one!” Lucy let out a hearty laugh as she remembered the concert he meant.

“At that time, I was so dying to see my favorite band but we didn’t have the tickets so we climbed the fence to sneak in. We almost get caught by the guards but managed to escape. Then we jumped into a truck filled with flowers. You struggled with them because you were allergic to one of the flowers but didn’t know which one.”

Gray scowled. “Yeah. They made me sneeze!”

“And somehow… I don’t know why but we ended up at an anime convention! And because of that, we have this matching tattoo!” Once again she showed the tattoo to Gray. A wide grin was clearly visible on her pretty face.

“So much for being reckless at the age of 20!”

Lucy punched his shoulder playfully, “But it was fun! Thanks to you I had an extraordinary day!”

He snorted with laughter and didn’t say anything else. Later, they stood silently in the queue until it was their turn.

“Next customer, please.”

.. .. .. .. ..

#graylu week #day 3: ordinary #graylu fanfiction #graylu week 2017 #graylu

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ellayuki · 7 years ago

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05.07.’17

fairy tail, lucy pov

nalu week 2017 - day 5 - mask

the masks and the spells cast over the hall (to change hair color, to change voice, to changes scent) give an air of mystery, of anonymity that makes the masquerade even more enchanting.

lucy looks at her friends around her and she can’t tell who’s who in most cases (juvia and gray are easy to spot, because juvia can’t stay away from him even when she’s supposed to pretend to be someone else, and wendy’s the shortest girl in the guild).

it’s the perfect place, the perfect occasion for some well-meaning pranks, for some innocent dalliances without having to feel awkward the next day.

she wanders where natsu is, though she’s sure he’s going to make himself noticeable sooner or later, because he doesn’t know how to be inconspicuous.

she walks around the large hall, a drink in her hand, making random small talk here and there and trying not to give herself away. it’s fun, more so than she imagined it would be. at one point, the dancing starts, and she’s invited by a few of the guys, and a couple of the girls, too.

by the time she retreats to a dark corner to have a moment to herself and catch his breath, it’s been over an hour and her feet are already starting to ache.

she leans against the wall, closes her eyes and just lets the noise of the hall wash over her, and she loses herself in her thoughts. she barely notices when someone approaches her, so out of it she is, but her eyes snap open when they start gently twirling a lock of her now cherry-blossom pink hair.

‘nice hair,’ he says and his voice sounds deep, and almost playful. lucy takes in his appearance, slightly taller than her, blond hair, brown eyes, dressed like a fairy tale prince, the mask over his eyes black and simple, and his smile as playful as his voice.

‘thanks,’ she says, feeling her cheeks flush a little. her deep-green mask might hide half of her face, but it doesn’t hide her blush and she can’t help cursing herself for not choosing a different one.

‘come here often?’ he asks and she can’t help the snort of laughter that escapes her.

‘that’s corny,’ she answers between giggles, ‘but yes, i do.’

‘it is, isn’t it? well, you seem like the type of girl who likes corny stuff like that.’

‘do i, now?’

‘yep.’

his eyes sparkle in mischief behind the black velvet covering his face, and she can’t help thinking of natsu again. he has yet to make his usual, loud and telling entrance. she pushes the thought of him away.

‘wanna dance?’

she looks out at the dance floor where a few pairs are swaying to a soft ballad.

‘maybe after i finish my drink,’ she answers, ‘i’ve been dancing until just now.’

‘noticed, yeah.’

‘oh, you’ve noticed?’

'yep, sure did.’

he cheeks warm up again at that and she ducks her head, taking a long sip from her glass of cider. she can feel his gaze on her, scorching and intent.

after a few moments of companionable silence, he straightens his back, squares his shoulders and takes her hand in his. when she looks at him, from what little she can see of his face, she can read a type of stubborn determination. it’s familiar, but then again, she’s surrounded by friends, family. so she lets him pull her up a set of stairs and behind a corner.

'well,’ she thinks as her back is pressed against a wall and she’s kissed breathless, 'this is forward. and nice.

it can be any one of her friends, but that’s the charm of this party. it can be anyone under the mask, and it can be anyone you want it to be, and there will be no awkwardness come morning because you won’t know who it is, and they won’t know who you are (again, with the few exceptions).

the kiss is hot, hotter than she ever imagined a kiss could possibly be, and wet, and she melts into it, opens to him and clings when her knees turn wobbly.

and when they return to the party later, she can still feel the warmth on her lips.

(that night she dreams of scorching lips and flashes of pink and she wakes up with half a name on her lips and her hair back to its natural blonde.)

it’s noon when she finally gets to the guild hall the next day, and everybody is talking about the party, trying, and in some cases failing to be ambiguous, and lucy looks around the tables for her teammates.

she spots natsu and happy at a table near the bar, laughing with gray and erza.

when she approaches them, erza notices her first and waves in greeting.

'morning, lucy!’ she says and lucy answers in kind, greets the rest, too, and sits down in the empty seat on natsu’s left.

they talk over lunch, laughing over max and how he ended up, yet again, with a broomstick up his butt (because by now it’s something of a tradition), and it’s a while before she notices she’s being stared at.

when she does, she turns and sees natsu, fist propping his chin up, looking at her like he’s trying very hard to figure something out.

'what?’ she asks, cheeks flushing from the attention. they always do that when he stares at her like that.

'the pink looked good, but as i thought, the yellow suits you the best.’

for a second, lucy is thrown off by the words, out of nowhere as they are. she’s not wearing either pink nor yellow today, so where is this coming from, she wonders.

and then natsu reaches over, pulls lightly on a lock of hair and oh.

oh.

(her cheeks burn, her heart stutters in her chest.

and she feels like hiding but she can’t make her legs move.

and she still feels the warm press of lips on her own, even now.)

well, so much for not feeling embarrassed the next day.

#fairy tail #nalu week #naluweek #nalu #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #nalu week 2017 #by moi #fic #my fic #ellatriestowritedaily #ftfic

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zukadiary · 7 years ago

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Asami Hikaru 10th Anniversary Dance Live Tour 「will」~ 2017

A full write-up for posterity, since I'm never sure I’ll see these things again. It’s gonna be a lot...

10 years out of Takarazuka. Visually I think she’s aged backwards since then, and the girl can still turn out a dance medley without sweating more than a sheer glistening veil of fairy dew that might in fact just be her aura. I’ve watched her Takarazuka career many times over, I’ve seen her in celebratory OG productions, I’ve heard her talk and reminisce with her fellow graduates... but I’ve missed the vast majority of this past 10 years, most of which has been lost to the videoless void. Seeing an homage to that, and participating in the celebration of the career that she’s built as she’s become her fully realized self, was distinctly different and so lovely.

It was also the most intimate performance I’ve seen her in, both in the production of it and the atmosphere around it. At first it felt a bit too short and simple, but the more time I spent bathing in her glow the more deeply I fell in love with it. She had four shows in Tokyo, two in Osaka, and one in Sendai. The fan club organized everything, which, having seen the production quality, is kind of a marvel... and as a result we got the best seats every time, in already small theaters. From more than one of my seven different vantage points I could hear her breathe, see wisps of feather drift off one of her costumes, appreciate the scene-by-scene variations in her flawless lip color. Our staff made custom tickets adorned with gorgeous freshly-shot photos. Flowers were allowed and encouraged (!!) and we teamed up to get big ones with our names on plaques (cursing myself for not thinking to take up a collection from her overseas base). She sang the songs that meant the most to her and danced the scenes she knew meant the most to us. The rotating guests all adored her and expressed as much, each in their own way. I felt like I could see every minute element, every second of work that went into tenderly crafting this show, and every tiny detail was filled with love. The only time I ever felt a more direct exchange of love was when she physically held my hands and looked me in the eyes.

Act 1

Every number in the show is drawn from her OG career. There were four dancers to Asami Live’s two, which is interesting considering Umegei backed the latter and this was self-produced. One was from Asami Live and the other three—two women and a man—were great. Beautiful dynamic dancers that complemented her perfectly when she was onstage glued everything together when she wasn’t. They set the mood and she walks out from the left, wearing a feminine take on a tailcoat: black tuxedo pants, a sleeveless white shirt and bowtie, and a glitter-trimmed sleeveless little vest with a swath of flowing white chiffon in place of the tails (here, she actually graced twitter with her presence while wearing it). She dances a career medley that’s listed in the program as “medley,” so, from memory:

My favorite song from DNA Sharaku (which had beautiful music if nothing else), with Komu, to my delight, singing Naoto Inti Raymi’s part in her range instead of her part which is not in her range

Something I didn’t recognize... but it was whimsical. She takes out a giant rubber ear and pretends to listen very closely to all of us while the dancers smell her and blow her kisses (I don’t know...)

Shakalaka Baby from Bombay Dreams, which I cried over missing even though she had barely any scenes because she bedazzled her very visible belly button. No belly button this time, but definitely some moves I’d longed to see come out of Komu’s body

Me and my Baby blending into Hot Honey Rag. On the last night she got overexcited and mouthed AND MEEEEEEE very dramatically at us before sort of catching herself, as there was not supposed to be any singing at that moment

One Night Only from Dreamgirls (I think this showed up in her first and only OG dinner show). The sharp finale, when the glisten kicks in.

She saunters toward the right wing and trades her fake girly tailcoat for a real one (although still tailored close to her tiny body). How creepy is it that I love moments like this? She’s on stage... it’s not like this process is meant to be completely hidden... but on the days when I could clearly see her change her jacket and sip water from my seat, I got little shivers of anticipation (the smoky red lighting and dark little teasers of a tango beginning to trickle out of the band area probably had something to do with it too). The announcement of four male and zero OG guests made me resign myself to a show firmly rooted outside her Takarazuka life, so I expected no references to it... but here she is doing Jealousy of all things in full kuroenbi with one of the male dancers, wholly and flawlessly in otokoyaku mode. Thinking about it now, it seems natural that in a show so full of love she’d include a nod to her idol Ooura Mizuki, and Dancin’ Crazy was post-taidan... one of my favorite bits of Komu interview, a rare moment in which she actually lets us glimpse her feelings, is on the bonus track of the Dancin’ Crazy DVD. Komu, who did not want to retire despite the frightening degree to which she’d wasted away, says having the opportunity to dance in a show with Natsume, and particularly watching her during the kuroenbi, made her feel for the first time that she was blessed to leave exactly when she did. So here we have Jealousy, and as I never tire of the sight of Komu in a tailcoat, I’ll take it more than gladly.

The remaining 3 dancers collect her and entertain us with the silliest song from Omohide Poro Poro while she changes into a voluminous feathered coat for Kiss of the Spider Woman, which she sang in HER VOICE, bless. UGH, her sustained low notes still shake me through and through, they’re so rich and full and powerful and her. I wish she’d do that show again, I’d love to see her in it. When the song ends she loses the feathers and reveals a red lace and ruffle dress cinched with a black leather corset before jumping into Gimme Love, also from Kiss of the Spider Woman. This was definitely one of my favorite numbers, for the choreography, the continued use of Komu voice, and the diva faces she made while belting “Let’s make looooooove” in said voice. The final number of this costume change is a leggy dance to Habanera with fans and chairs and fishnets. Komu twitter has been grumbling this week that the upcoming Carmen production went to Ohana, and while Carmen is not my favorite story I have to agree I would not be opposed to seeing Komu do more of that.

After an impressive interlude the four dancers become black angels and draw Komu magnetically out to an instrumental Yami ga Hirogaru. The lighting was so cool here... she’s glowing in a white dressing gown and everything else is dark blue and misty. The Elisabeth bit was a little disappointing at first; my heart leapt at the first few notes, but before I could even finish thinking “is she gonna sing it??” the song evolved into something else. She ended up doing a very low-key interpretive dance to an instrumental Watashi Dake ni. It seemed like nothing to me at first; I wanted her to sing it or actually dance, but the more times I saw it the more I realized she was just emoting, and that was the point, and she was killing it. The only ACTUAL disappointment of the show was the Roman Holiday bit that followed; it was nearly identical to the one in Asami Live, AND she’s doing actual Roman Holiday again in a month. As beautiful and packed as this show is, it’s also short... and I selfishly wanted every moment to be precious and new to me.

To close Act 1, she sings the theme song from her post-taidan recital Primary Colors, which is perfect in this spot; it’s nostalgic but its message is future-facing, and it’s uplifting but in a way that kind of makes your heart ache. She wore the white dress that was under her Elisabeth gown with a twirly watercolor skirt, and she radiated palpable happiness and gratitude. I tried to beam happiness and gratitude back at her. After intermission she let out another rare bit of her feelings, telling us that when she started rehearsing the song she cried so hard she couldn’t finish it, remembering how confusing and scary it was to be thrust from Takarazuka into the real world, and thinking about how grateful she is for the life she’s been able to lead since then. Guh </3

Act 2

She comes out in a stunning approximation of the dress she wore in the promo images (easier to move in but still glittering, beaded, and backless) and sings Kare Koso Kiseki from Cyrano before giving her little above-mentioned speech and introducing the guest of the moment. They were Spi, her 15 years younger boyfriend from DNA Sharaku; Irei Kanata, the first to play Rudolf to her Elisabeth; Ishii Kazutaka, with whom she starred in Kiss of the Spider Woman and Amakakeru Kaze Ni; and Ishikawa Zen, Franz to her Elisabeth. They each had a talk with Komu, a duet, and then a solo while she changed. I wasn’t stoked about this segment going in, but every guest was thoroughly enjoyable, and it was fascinating to see her change from guest to guest. Who talked about what is jumbled in my brain at this point, and my comprehension level plummets when I’m faced with high-speed man speech, but here are the highlights I remember from each:

Spi:

Guested twice. He was the only one I’d actually seen perform with her, and I was kind of taken aback by how good their chemistry was at the time. He’s younger than me, half American, and a bit of a weirdo... but endearing in a completely inexplicable way. He showed up to the first talk EXTREMELY RELAXED and Komu had to get into full mom mode.

Komu’s first impression was that she didn’t think they could get along; he was quiet, gruff, and terse and wouldn’t greet anyone properly. He was also the only one of the Edo-period characters who showed up to rehearsal without a kimono—because it “hadn’t arrived from Amazon yet” (Komu said that in a hilarious dudebro voice, drag him girl). But once they got to know each other it seems they got on extremely well.

After failing to drum up interesting conversation the first time around (intentionally... he was unintentionally hilarious), he pulled it together for his second appearance and asked her proper questions. Spi gets bonus points for making her talk about NY. She BEAMED when it came up and went off in giddy reminiscence. Hearing her talk about NY with the level of joy in her voice that I feel when I see her makes me SO GODDAMN HAPPY.

They sang their duet from DNA Sharaku... it was nice, but that song was not made with her in mind.

Spi gets a second round of bonus points for swallowing his bro schtick for a second and saying something so heartfelt and beautiful about Komu I cried: when he was trying to decide what to choose for his solo, he wanted to make sure he went with something that really expressed love—to honor Komu properly—because how could a person be so utterly beautiful unless it comes from a place of deep deep love? ;A;

Spi gets a third round of bonus points for choosing to sing Seasons of Love in English, leaving me wibbling at him with big wet eyes and feeling like I was in on a secret.

Irei Kanata:

Guested twice. He’s also quite a bit younger than her (but not younger than me), and QUITE taken with himself. He was confident and cocky, which was annoying on a primal level but kind of fun in practice because he wasn’t afraid to say anything to her. He also hugged her a lot...

His Tokyo appearance featured Let’s Drag Koike-sensei Part 1. One time he lectured Kanata for 40 minutes and at the end of it he had no idea what his feedback even was.

In Sendai they talked a lot... and weirdly a lot about Urai Kenji who was the double-cast Rudolf at the time. Komu, as a self-described “person who constantly wants to consume delicious things,” often insisted on taking the two of them out to eat.

Komu said that Elisabeth was about the time she started to feel like she might actually be a lady after all. Kanata said she came across as thoroughly ladylike when they met, except for when she’d boss the younger boys around.

They sang Boku wa Mama no Kagami Dakara with impressive emotion considering the silliness of their chatter. When they finished the first time, Kanata whined “Mamaaaa” to lighten the mood and Komu doubled over laughing on stage with a full on raspberry spit.

Probably my favorite exchange was Kanata exclaiming (in slight frustration) something like “why is everyone here so damn classy, it’s throwing me off!” and Komu replying something along the lines of “these are MY flawless ladyfans you’re dealing with!”

Ishii Kazutaka:

Guested once. This was a complete 180 from mama Komu trying to keep her boys in check... Ishii Kazutaka is a very charming grown-ass man and they loooooove each other. This dude wishes her happy birthday on twitter even though she doesn’t have a twitter and won’t see it. Komu was kind of in awe of him, but also a bit flirtatious, definitely making a visible effort to put forth her best self... and he was so adoring and deeply respectful of her. I barely remember what they talked about, other than reminiscing about the roles they had together and how much they’d like to do them again.

They sang a duet from Amakakeru Kaze Ni which I didn’t get to see, but all my fan acquaintances kind of lost it... apparently it was a good one. Komu forgot the lyrics partway through... but even the way she apologized to him and the way he responded was absurdly sweet and adoring.

Speaking of sweet tweets, after his appearance he wrote, “Komu-chan is an expert dancer and constantly seeking out greater depth in her acting. She’s also a pure, unadorned natural airhead (haha). She’s a lady I just can’t help but love.”

Seriously, their energy is something. If they got married tomorrow I’d be like “yeah ok.”

Ishikawa Zen:

Guested twice in the same day in Osaka. WHAT A SWEET KIND LOVELY MAN! I could listen to him talk all day, he’s one of those people who walks around in a contagious cloud of gentle positivity.

They’ve only performed together once, but apparently he and Komu’s older sister (who has worked in some capacity related to the theater business since before Komu entered music school, I had no idea!) were classmates, so they’ve spent a lot of time together at group gatherings unrelated to work.

Lots of reminiscing about Elisabeth, featuring Let’s Drag Koike-sensei Part 2: one time he had Zen practice minute variations in his standing posture for two hours while Komu waited on them (she did an adorable impatient bounce in illustration). This particular drag sesh went on for a good 10 minutes.

Komu described herself as hideous during rehearsal. I don’t believe you, Komu.

Zen had watched the previous Takarazuka versions of Elisabeth to soak in as many viewpoints as possible in preparation for his role. So when he met Komu his first thought was “Oh, Rudolf is here!”

NY came up again. Zen said he saw and loved her Roxie. Me too, man.

Favorite story: one day while Komu was waiting in the wings concentrating heavily and gearing herself up to go out for an intense scene, Zen walked by and yelled a line from Susano-o at her.

They sang Yoru no Boat, and gaaawwwwddd. They got so deep into it they both cried. Zen just has incredible emotive power in his face. His eyes were visibly watering when the song finished, and Komu took one look at him and went WEEEEEEEEEH. The second time she didn’t quite burst into tears, but she said that every time they sang that song during Elisabeth she wanted so badly to apologize to him.

After each guest’s solo, the dance team does a scene from La La Land before Komu comes out for her final number, which is a gorgeous flowing barefoot dance to an original song that the music arranger Mori Toshio composed for her. Her dress is mint and white chiffon with crystals and no sleeves or back... so you can see her amazing boneless arms and beautiful back muscles, and the rest is like water flowing around her. I know I’m beyond hopeless off the deep end fan trash, but I swear I saw her whole career in it and felt all her thanks in it. I LOVE THIS WOMAN SO MUCH IT HURTS.

If anyone made it this far I’m... slightly concerned, but have some pictures from the show’s twitter

#asami hikaru #reviews #will #Dramatic S(ummer 17)

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sarathethings · 7 years ago

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Hey guys, here is my last week for the color week 2017 Fairy Tail end. I hope you enjoy this week color. ITS WHITE ! 😍 WE HAVE THIS WEEK LAST CHAPTER FROM FAIRY TAIL! I hope when I read this last chapter, that I broke up in tears. 😢😢 So I wish you all that we appreciate the work from Hiro Mashima and his future projects. Artwork from Hiro Mashima

#fairy tail #elfman strauss #sabertooth #yukino aguria #king of fiore #Toma E. fiore #avatar #briar #spriggan 12 #august #invel yura #Color Week Fairy Tail 2017

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daleisgreat · 6 years ago

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

I hope you all are as ridiculously amped up as I am for the opening of Avengers: Endgame this evening! It marks the primary conclusion of all major story points from nearly every Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film going back to where it started with the original Iron Man from 2008. It is a cinematic event 11 years in the making and is being forecasted to break all kinds of box office records. This week I have been preparing by watching the latest two MCU films in my video backlog to refresh me with the latest story arcs. I will begin by first covering 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (trailer). Marvel Studios and James Gunn wasted no time jumping on a sequel to the surprise breakout success of the first GotG. As I detailed in my entry covering the first GotG, I still recall being blown away by how won over I was by an unorthodox crew of larger-than-life characters that came together to rescue the galaxy. That same gang returns in an awesome opening piece that sees Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) take on a mammoth of a gelatinous octopus-esque creature while the now fun-sized ‘Baby’ Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) dances away in the background to the requisite 1970s pop-rock soundtrack. It is a goofy dumb sequence that I took gleeful joy in jamming out at home to with a pair of surround sound headphones.

The primary hook in GotG2 is that after vanquishing said blobby monster, the Guardians run into a jam when collecting their reward from the golden skinned race of beings known as Sovereign. They high tail it out of there with Sovereign right on their tale when a mysterious being assists the Guardians in escaping. They meet up with this being who introduces himself as Ego (Kurt Russell) along with his servant Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Ego breaks the big news to Peter that he is his dad and invites the Guardians to join them on his home planet to clear his origins up and catch up on the past. Of course there is more than meets the eye to Ego’s claims, and there are periphery matters happening with Yondu (Michael Rooker) and his Ravagers once again meddling with the Guardians throughout and Gamora and her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) quarreling out decades worth of family disputes too. There are a ton of lighthearted jokes and gags throughout GotG2 like its predecessor. A lot of them hit and crack me up throughout, but the opening half hour Marvel Studios went overkill with them. I could not help but think that even though I was enjoying the heck out of the opening scenes that Marvel Studios could have dialed it back a smidge or two. I have to struggle with this criticism however because ultimately I am talking about a cast of bombastic figures such as a talking CG tree and raccoon and a whole host of colorful, galactic species waging war to a killer ‘70s soundtrack so in the end it may be wise for me to give GotG2 the benefit of the doubt to get away with double-to-triple the gags of the average MCU film. I also settled on giving this qualm a pass because I convinced myself for all future GotG viewings to go into them two beers in and that will help put that nitpick I have at bay and take in the ride that is GotG. I am also 100% down with any film that gives the Zune some love, being an avid Zune user myself to this day much to the ridicule of several podcast hosts over the years.

There is so much in Vol 2 that I loved. I will highlight a few of my favorite takeaways while doing my best not to go into too much detail. Drax had a few nicely timed dry humor moments originally, and Marvel Studios went all in with Drax’s dry wit being peppered throughout with lots of priceless exchanges with Mantis. Baby Groot is over-the-top adorable in his naiveté and cute facial expressions. The in-house faction wars in the Ravagers between Yondu and the astutely named Tazerface (Chris Sullivan) was a fantastic periphery arc that climaxed with a unforgettable exchange with Rocket and later Yondu going all out with another dazzling display of his arrow skills. I would be remiss if I were to forget to mention how spectacular the CG is here. It is in a class of its own with the already high bar established by the rest of the MCU films. Aside from the stunning space dogfights, Ego’s planet is a literal marvel and features some breathtaking use of CG to showcase flashbacks. The final act blows away the already-stellar final act of the first GotG with everything coming to a boil between Peter and Ego in a near half-hour long epic battle to get the hell off Ego’s planet and escape his wrath. Props again to James Gunn hand picking another star studded ‘70s pop-rock soundtrack along with an accompanying heroic original score that kicks in at all the right beats and combines for easily the best aural experience of all the MCU films.

The GotG2 BluRay has the ideal amount of extra features I want on a BluRay. It has a five star gag reel like most of the other MCU home video releases. There are a few minutes of deleted scenes with my standout being more extended love for the Zune. There is a 37 minute behind-the-scenes feature split up into four parts highlighting the soundtrack, visual effects and cast and crew love for director James Gunn, which was quite fascinating to see now in hindsight after the whole James Gunn Twitter controversy that temporarily removed him from the upcoming third GotG until the cast and crew fought vehemently to bring him back. Finally, James Gunn has a solo commentary track for the feature. Minus an occasional lull, he was pretty entertaining and a few quick highlights from it was Gunn referencing his work on the Lollipop Chainsaw game for inspiration for special effects in the movie, getting one of Quill’s big speeches mostly from a dream he woke up from in the middle of the night and Gunn justifying the use of five post-credit bonus scenes and how they all came to be. It is rare for superhero films to meet and surpass expectations, especially sequels. Re-watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 only assured me that those expectations were righteously knocked out of the park. I loved the first film, and somehow James Gunn found a way to make the sequel far better. I am intrigued in how Gunn stated in the commentary how he feels the Guardians films are like independent movies with a big budget because of the near-limitless creative freedom Marvel Studios allows him. It is because of that freedom that these films are in a class of their own and find a way to standout amongst themselves in the constantly rising number of unique MCU properties and I cannot wait to see what awaits the Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend in Avengers: Endgame! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Man of Steel Man on the Moon Marine 3-6 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Days of Future Past

#random movie #marvel #guardians of the galaxy vol 2 #james gunn #dave bautista #batista #zoe saldana #vin diesel #Bradley Cooper #Chris Pratt #michael rooker #chris sullivan

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shell-senji · 8 years ago

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Gajevy Week 2017: A Surreptitious Suitor, Chapter 3

Third chapter of my Gajevy Week story (find Chapter 2 here).

Thank you to all of you who’ve read, reblogged, liked, commented, etc. It is very much appreciated!

Read HERE on fanfiction.net.

Days 3 & 4 Prompts: Pillow Talk and Trouble Twins

Fortunately for Levy, the Fairy Tail gossip/rumor mill had barely enough time to process the story of Gajeel carrying her home before other, bigger news took its place.

Crime Sorcière had been in town, and in the wee hours of the morning, someone—Mira—had caught an extremely inebriated Jellal and Erza in the throes of passion.

In the guildhall.

On Laxus’s desk.

Meredy and Mira were nearly foaming at the mouth happy, already planning a wedding, honeymoon, baby showers, the whole nine yards.

Laxus was threatening to burn his desk, if not the whole damn place, in order to “sterilize” it. Freed had cornered an uncomfortable-looking Jellal and was ranting about them disrespecting Laxus. Evergreen and Bickslow had tried to maintain fierce, disapproving glares, but only lasted about two minutes before dissolving into a fit of giggles over the entire situation.

Erza was the same color as her hair, and she kept apologizing and telling Laxus he could hit her. And of course, Natsu happened to walk into the guildhall at the tail end of that conversation and, being Natsu, had assumed it was an opportunity to fight Erza, Laxus, or both.

Levy felt a smidgen of guilt about being happy that better gossip had overshadowed her embarrassing story, but more than that she was relieved.

With a day off from volunteering and no job with her team at the moment, she opted to let the drama run its course before venturing out and planned to have a nice relaxing day in bed. Just her and a good book or two.

Perusing her own personal library, she spied a title that she didn’t recall buying. Wait, this is an out-of-print first edition! But…how…

Her first thought was Bickslow, as he’d become some bizarre sort of reverse book thief, sneaking books into her stacks at the library. But surely he wouldn’t stoop to sneaking into her apartment.

Besides, this wasn’t some kinky fetish book or a grotesque culinary anthology. This was a book she genuinely wanted, one she would appreciate, by one of her favorite authors. There was no way Bickslow would’ve even known she’d like the book, much less gone out of his way to find a first edition.

Maybe I bought it and I don’t remember? Wouldn’t be the first time. Hmm… Maybe Lu-chan got it for me and forgot to mention it?

Whatever the circumstances, Levy figured it didn’t really matter, though if it was a gift she’d like to thank the person.

Shrugging, she curled up in bed and cracked open the newly acquired addition to her collection, sighing happily as she began reading.

Three or four days later, after things had wound down from the “Great Desk Defilement”—as Laxus had taken to calling it—Lucy bounced into Fairy Tail, a wiggly Plue at her heels.

“Good morning, everyone!”

The cheerful blonde received a few waves and greetings in response, but her cheer was dampened when she spotted her friend Levy.

The bluenette was seated at a table in between Jet and Droy, which was perfectly normal. What wasn’t normal was the fact that Levy had her shoulders slumped, head down with her forehead grazing the table, her hands tangled in her hair and her signature headband in a crumpled ball on the floor next to her. Lucy could swear there was a dark cloud hovering over her.

Lucy made a beeline for her friend. “Levy-chan? What’s wrong?”

Levy lifted her head and stared blankly at Lucy, her eyes glassy and lips pressed in a flat line.

“Vendor error. Back-ordered. Don’t know availability date,” she said brokenly.

The celestial mage struggled to make sense of what Levy was saying, and then suddenly the proverbial lightbulb went on.

“Oh, Levy, no! They messed up your book order?”

Levy nodded briefly before dropping her head into her arms on the table.

“I know I’m overreacting, but I’m just so bummed. Let me wallow in my misery for a little bit longer, ’kay?” The edges of her lips quirked up slightly.

Relieved that it seemed her friend would recover, Lucy nodded and patted her on the back before walking over to her team.

Just as she sat down, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hey, Bunny Girl, what’s wrong with the shrimp today?”

“Oh, evidently Book Land messed up her preorder of two new books coming out this week that she was really looking forward to. Said they’ll have to back-order them from the vendor, so she’s not even sure when she’ll get them now.” Lucy gazed at her friend, feeling both sympathy and disappointment. Truth be told, she’d been looking forward to borrowing them after Levy was done.

“What books?”

She stared at Gajeel, eyes wide. “Ehhh? Umm, one was Lazuli Le Fer’s new novel, Pillow Talk, and the other…” Lucy pursed her lips, thinking. “Oh! Dr. Flint Azure’s Trouble Twins, a study of twin archetypes in mythologies around the world. Why?”

The iron dragon slayer shrugged. “Just wonderin’ what was so special about them that she’s so bent outta shape.”

Lucy twisted in her chair to glare at Gajeel. “Listen here, mister. She’s entitled to be upset, even if— Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”

Gajeel smirked. “C’mon, Lily. Let’s go take care of that, uh, job we snagged earlier.” Then he scooped up his Exceed and strode toward the door.

“Whaaa— Ch-chotto matte!”

Gajeel didn’t pause to explain, just kept walking.

A week or so later, around 10:30 am, Lucy pushed open the doors to Fairy Tail. She’d barely stepped a foot inside the guild when she was attacked by a pint-sized, blue-haired, overcaffeinated whirlwind.

“Lu-chan! Finally! I thought you’d neverrrrr get here, and I would’ve called, but I didn’t know what time you got in last night, and it would’ve been totally rude to wake you up just because I never went to sleep last night, so—”

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you go to bed last night?” Lucy interrupted.

The wired solid script mage thrust two books into Lucy’s face so excitedly, she almost smacked her friend square in the nose.

“Wow… Okay… I can’t read the titles if they’re that close.” Lucy backed up a step, refocused, and then her eyes grew huge.

Pillow Talk and Trouble Twins

“Are you serious?”

Levy nodded vigorously, somewhat resembling a bobblehead doll, before speaking rapid-fire. “Lu, they were in my room when I got home from volunteering yesterday, must be from that mysterious admirer of mine, and gods, you have no idea how good they are! Pillow Talk is precious and hilarious—precarious! No, that’s already a word, heehee… But you’re going to love it. And this!” She grabbed Lucy’s arm and dragged her over to a table.

There, Levy flipped open Trouble Twins, turned to a marked page, and stabbed her finger at it enthusiastically.

“Look—it’s about Gemini! I mean, it’s a tiny section, and they acknowledge that not much is known, but can you believe it? It’s about your spirits! Though they don’t cite you as the current contract holder, which is probably good…”

Lucy squealed excitedly in the middle of Levy’s outburst and hugged her friend’s arm. Then a thought occurred to her.

“Matte, Levy… Don’t you have to work at the library today?”

Levy twirled a piece of her hair around her fingertip distractedly. “No…”

Lucy gasped. “Levy! Don’t tell me you lied and called in sick!”

Levy blushed scarlet to the tips of her ears and planted her hands on her hips defiantly. “I didn’t lie, okay? I just told them I had trouble sleeping—which is technically true, except I never actually went to bed—and asked if they absolutely needed me today. They said no, not to worry about it.”

Behind them, Gajeel burst out laughing. He’d been eavesdropping and observing their antics—the whole guild had—and Shorty’s forced confession of how she’d weaseled her way out of work without technically lying had been too much for him to keep the “gi hi hi” from escaping.

“Oi, Shrimp, how much coffee’ve you had, anyway?” he choked out between chuckles.

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” Levy huffed. “Mind your own business.”

When his amusement had faded and the ache in his sides from laughing so hard had subsided, Gajeel called out to her.

“Hey, Shorty.”

She and Lucy had their heads pressed together, leafing through the book, but only Levy glanced up at him.

He gave her a genuine smile, one so rarely seen. “Glad you got your books. Nice to see ya smile.”

Then he left to browse the job postings without awaiting her response.

Levy felt her cheeks grow warm and butterflies take flight in her stomach.

I really hope it was you, Gajeel.

Author’s Note: As I’m guessing you figured out, these books don’t actually exist (to my knowledge). And I hope you’ll allow me the bit of leeway taken with Jellal and Erza, since alcohol does loosen inhibitions and getting them both laid, finally, pleases me to no end…

#gajevyweek #gajevy week #gajeel redfox #levy mcgarden #fairy tail #gajevyweek17

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meggybetho924-blog · 8 years ago

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Laxus and Lucy Ship Week 2017: Day 6

****WARNING!! THIS WILL BE RATED M!!**** Still not feeling the best. My hands are so stiff and swollen (Arthritis sucks). Gotta love being 21 and feeling like you're 83. Anyway, I did my best. It really hurts to type, but I am stubborn almost to a fault. Wanna know what else sucks? Trying to write while your brain whispers at you. I've told you all before how my brain likes to make things difficult. I managed to get 900 words into this prompt before I literally couldn't write anymore. In defeat, I deleted the whole damn thing and gave in. The words whispered? Write smut. Do it. Don't be a wimp. Smut. Smut. Smuuuuuuuut. This will be my very first lemon, so sorry if it sucks. Please be gentle.. Day 6: Falling. ___ He should have known that coming to the guild today would be a horrible idea. Not only was Magnolia experiencing record breaking heat, the woman he'd constantly fantasized about was working the bar in Kinana's place for the day. He'd heard the excited whispers. The perverted male members of Fairy Tail were absolutely thrilled at the aspect of the blonde bombshell serving them. To beat the heat, Lucy Heartfilia was waltzing around in one of the shortest yellow miniskirts he'd ever seen along with a bright pink bikini top. The triangles of fabric struggled to contain her ample breasts and the entire ensemble showed off more skin than the Dragon Slayer could handle at the moment. Slender shoulders, cinched waist that led to deliciously flared hips, thick creamy thighs, and every movement exposed the bottom of her perky ass cheeks separated by the lace of her stark white thong. Her golden locks had grown out over the years and now reached her waist were pulled into two low pigtails, creating an image of innocence that contrasted greatly with the raw sexiness of the rest of her appearance. The combination of everything, amplified by the fact that she was the star in almost every single wet dream he'd had since she'd joined the guild, left him with a semi-erect member throughout the entire day. Laxus never took his eyes off her for more than a few minutes, and his team had long since given up on interacting with him, instead moving to a different table where his heated stare didn't make them feel uncomfortable. Every once and while, she'd catch him watching her and send him a small smile, or his personal favorite, a playful wink. It was nearing closing time, and he was considering leaving for the night when the world around him came to a standstill. Leaning against the bar, Lucy was taking a break to help cool her overheated body. Never once had Laxus envied a popsicle more than in that moment. Plump, pretty pink lips closed around the frozen treat that disappeared inside of her sinful mouth. She slowly pulled it back out, and he nearly moaned as her little pink tongue poked out to gather the flavorful juices by gliding from bottom to top. He had to physically tear his gaze from the image, pressing his palms hard against his closed eyes. His member now throbbed with painful need, pressing uncomfortably against his pants. Time moved agonizingly slow as he tried desperately to will the evidence of his arousal away, when his sensitive ears picked up a conversation at the bar. "Thanks for the help today, Lucy! Why don't you go collect Laxus's empty mug and head home?" "Alright! It was no problem, Mira. I have no idea how you guys do all of this on your own." Lucy chirped, the sound of her footsteps growing closer. "Shit." He muttered to himself, straightening in his seat and hoping to whatever god was out there that she didn't notice his reaction to her unintentional seduction. She smiled sweetly at him as she grew nearer, and his heart stuttered a bit in his chest. He knew this would be a slightly awkward conversation on his end, but he was not prepared for what happened next. It all happened in slow motion to him. One dainty foot accidentally stepped on the back of her flimsy sandal as it was lifting to take another step forward. The thin material snapped easily, and her body went careening forward… …falling face first into his lap. A strangled groan tore from his throat without his consent as her hands pushed against his still aching member. With curious innocence, he watched as she peered down to where her face had been moments before, searching for the hardness she had felt there. At the pleasured grunt that left his lips when she adjusted her hands so that she could stand, the small blonde froze. Eyes growing wide with sudden realization, her entire body flushed in mortification when she met his hooded gaze. "Oh my…I'm so sorry I…I need to go…"She stuttered, ripping herself from his lap and exiting the guild so fast she was nothing but a blonde blur. But there was no mistaking it, the heavy scent that followed her. It was like warm honey that mixed gloriously with her usual strawberries and cream fragrance. Eyes darkening with the knowledge that touching him the way she had aroused her, he stood from his chair, determined to finish what she'd unknowingly started. }{}{}{ Lucy had just made it through the door, when a heavy body was suddenly pressing her against the wall. Before she could even make a sound of surprise, hot breath fanned against her ear, lodging the sound in her throat. "Did you really think I'd let you get too far after that little display?" A shiver ran down her spine at the low, husky quality of his voice. "Laxus? What are you – oh god." Her voice trailed off into a low moan as his hot tongue licked a path down her neck before trailing back up to nibble on the lobe. Heat pooled to her lower belly, further saturating her panties with fresh desire. Almost instantaneously, large hands were gripping her ass and hoisting her up so that she instinctively wrapped her thighs around his hips, and the door was kicked shut. His hands kneaded the firm globes, while hers found their way to tangle in his spikey blonde locks. Her grip tightened when pointed canines nipped at the sensitive spot below her ear, hips impulsively bucking as a low growl reverberated through her body. He hissed at the delicious friction the heat of her thinly covered core grinding against his strained arousal created. "If you want to stop, now is the time to tell me. If we continue, we're seeing this through to the very end." He said, thrusting slightly to emphasize his meaning. Dainty hands pulled his head so that they were gazing into each other's lust filled eyes. "Don't you dare stop." She commanded, and then her mouth was on his. The kiss quickly became a heated battle of moans, tongues, and teeth. He nipped at her lips and tightened his grip on her full backside as he blindly made his way to the pink bed in the far corner of the apartment. Dropping her unceremoniously on the bed, she giggled as she bounced a few times, but sobered immediately at the sight of the Adonis of a man in front of her stripping down to his boxers. Spotting the rather large tent in the undergarment, Lucy suddenly felt as though she was wearing too many clothes. Never before had she felt such need. Her sexual encounters were incredibly limited, only doing the actual deed twice. They felt nice, sure, but paled in comparison to the burning that flowed through her veins. And they hadn't even gotten to the good part. Laxus smirked at her blatant ogling, taking the opportunity to crawl over her on the mattress. No words were exchanged as their mouths met once again, the heat between them building up so fast it left her desperate. She broke the kiss, panting, rubbing wantonly against the hips settled against hers. "Please…" His mouth trailed openmouthed kisses down her throat, untying the bow between her breasts with a single tug, and sucking the newly exposed rose-colored bud between his lips. Arching into his mouth, she breathed his name. "Tell me what you want, Blondie." He growled, shifting to nip at the neglected mound. Lucy fought to form a coherent sentence, lost in the sensations he was creating. When he received no response, his hand slid down her supple skin, pulling aside her lace panties to lightly stroke her slick folds. Hips jerking into his touch, he smirked against her creamy skin. "Tell me." Slim fingers grasped his hair, forcefully pulling his face to hers. "I want you to fuck me, Laxus." And with that, his restraint shattered. The sound of tearing fabric echoed in the dark room, her skirt and panties rendered useless scraps of fabric. Dainty feet hooked into the band of his boxers, sliding them down until her legs could go no further, and he kicked them off the rest of the way. Lucy whimpered as his bare arousal slipped through her slick folds, coating the appendage in the natural lubricant her body was producing in spades. Thick muscular arms slid under her shoulders, grasping her tightly to his chest. Her legs wrapped around his tapered hips tightly, digging her heels into his firm cheeks in an effort to bring him closer. Just as she opened her mouth to beg him to stop fooling around, he lined himself up at her entrance and buried himself fully with one hard snap of his hips. Both blondes groaned simultaneously, and Laxus stilled for a moment, reveling at the way her walls clenched around him. "D-damn, you're tight." He hissed, pulling out nearly all the way before thrusting forward sharply. "Y-yes. Mmm…" She moaned, nails digging into his back as he set a grueling pace. He attacked her mouth with his, pounding forcefully between her thighs, and all she could do was hold on for dear life as the cord coiled tighter and tighter inside of her. Unfortunately for him, he had been sporting a hard-on for the majority of the day, and he felt his end nearing a lot sooner than he was proud of. Reluctantly leaving her mouth, but determined to give her an experience she wouldn't soon forget, he slipped from her warmth to kneel on the bed. A keening whine escaped her at the loss of contact, when large callused hands gripped her hips, pulling them up to enter her with one hard thrust. The new angle drove him in deeper and she screamed his name as his tip kissed her cervix, the mix of pleasure and pain tightening the coil inside of her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. Laxus grit his teeth as her walls fluttered around him, and he knew he had to work quickly. Reaching a hand between them, he found her clit and started rubbing hard and fast circles over the sensitive nub. The result was immediate. Her body went rigid and she clamped down on him so tightly his eyes nearly rolled up into his skull. "La…oh… yes… Laxus." She cried, undulating uncontrollably as she rode out her high. Her walls milked him and his rhythm faltered before speeding up until he was pounding wildly into her constricting heat. A pleasured groan left him as he gripped her hips tighter to him, burying himself to the hilt as he released. He thrusted gently, still deep inside of her, as white hot pleasure ripped through his body. When he finally came down from his bliss, smiling softly at her small moan as he slid his spent member out of her body, he collapsed next to her panting form. "That was…" She trailed off, and he pulled her into his chest. "Yeah." He chuckled, reaching down to pull the pink comforter over the both of them. The petite blonde nuzzled into his chest with a content sigh. "Remind me to fall face first into your boner more often." Laxus grinned into her hair. 'Cheeky little shit.' ___ Was it bad? It was bad, wasn't it? Oh well. Constructive criticism is welcome. How else does one learn? See you all tomorrow (Cough. Later today. Cough) for the final day of Laxus and Lucy ship week 2017!

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hentaihunblog-blog · 7 years ago

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Pokemon Go Gen 3 Event End Upcoming New Update – OtakuKart

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2018/01/04/pokemon-go-gen-3-event-end-upcoming-new-update-otakukart/

Pokemon Go Gen 3 Event End Upcoming New Update – OtakuKart

Pokemon Go seems set to get a massive advancement as the game prepares to launch in one of the last remaining major markets.Already having seen the launch of Gen 3 updates, a whole new region of Trainers looks set to open up to the game very soon.

It has now been announced that the popular AR title will be launching in China, although no release date has been confirmed.John Hanke, the CEO of developer Niantic, revealed the news during an interview with the Financial Times.“We absolutely intend to bring our existing games into China,” Hanke revealed.

“Beyond that, there are opportunities to build games in China, both for China and for the world.”Niantic will be working with NetEase to launch Pokemon Go in the region, with the Chinese games company has already worked with other big company, such as Activision Blizzard, to launch titles like World of Warcraft and Overwatch in China.No further information has been provided on how Pokemon Go in China could function differently to the existing version.

Cold water was initially poured over the idea of Pokemon Go launching in China, due to the country’s Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association dubbing Pokemon Go a “threat to geographical information security and the threat to transport and the personal safety of consumers.”

But however the game does eventually launch, it will only help to boost its strength in both numbers of players and concurrent audience.Pokemon Go trainers have had a bumper few weeks, with new Gen 3 Pokemon added to the hit smartphone game and the Christmas event kicking off once again.The Pokemon Go Christmas Gen 3 event saw the return of the festive Pikachu, complete with its cute Santa hat, as well as extra bonuses.Special boxes have also been available from the in-game store since December 21 2017.

These boxes included special items such as Super Incubators, Lure Modules, Premium Raid Passes and the all-new Star Pieces.But now the festive fun is set to end, with the Pokemon Go Christmas event 2017 finishing this week.The seasonal event will finish in the iOS and Android smartphone game on January 4, 2018, but no end time has been given yet.

So, if you’re still looking to catch that festive Pikachu – you better head out into the wild and break out your Poke Balls as you don’t have much longer left.The San Francisco-based developer is also working on a Harry Potter AR game, entitled Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which is set for a release this year.

We can clearly see Niantic is actively expanding the Pokemon GO development team to build many more amazing updates in 2018.“Stay tuned for news next week about upcoming improvements to certain features.” and as a trainer, I hope we get something much better than a global event.What are your thoughts?Lemme hear you guys out in the comments or you can get connected with me on Snapchat-Vibsz16 and Instagram. Stay tuned.

Here is the list of Top 10 Gen 3 Pokemon That Are As Strong As Legendary Pokemon, and can help any player to capture and attack gyms.

Number 10 – Milotic

MAX CP- 2542 ATTACK – 60 DEFENSE – 79 STAMINA – 190

Milotic is an aquatic, serpentine Pokémon with a primarily cream-colored body. It has red eyes with long, pinkish antennae above them. Additionally, there are long, hair-like fins above its eyes, which begin thin and thicken towards the tips. These eyebrows extend to almost half of Milotic’s body length and will be longer on the female than the male. On top of its relatively small head is a straight spike. The tail consists of four large, blue fins with pink ovals in their centers. Each of the tail fins overlaps the next slightly, causing it to resemble a fan. While it has not been depicted, Milotic’s scales are said to change color depending on the viewing angle.

Number 9 – Flygon

MAX CP- 2458 ATTACK – 100 DEFENSE – 80 STAMINA – 160

Flygon resembles a slightly insectoid, bipedal dragon. It is primarily light green and has a pair of large rhombus-shaped wings with a red trim, toeless hind legs, and skinny arms with three-clawed hands. Its tail has several dark green stripes and three small green rhombus shapes with red trims at the end. It has large eyes and a pair of green antennae that point back. The eyes have red covers that prevent sand from getting into its eyes. With its wings, it kicks up sandstorms to hide. Its wings make a “singing” sound when they are flapped, earning Flygon the name “The Desert Spirit”. It lives in the desert.

Number 8 – Gardevoir

MAX CP- 2341 ATTACK – 65 DEFENSE – 65 STAMINA – 136

Beginning its life as Ralts (the Pokemon that kinda looks like male genitalia), it’s a little surprising it turns into Gardevoir – who looks a lot like some kind of elegant dancer (and a lot of other things, if you dare to venture into Google Image Search – which reminds us: NEVER GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH ANY POKEMON EVER BUT ESPECIALLY NOT GARDEVOIR). Apart from its traumatic internet legacy, it’s a pretty solid Pokemon (now one of the added Fairy-types), and its Pokedex entries indicate that it would do anything to protect its trainer. Always nice to know your Pokemon has Stockholm’s Syndrome.

Number 7 –….

CONT READING….

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krystisyaandwine · 7 years ago

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Reunited, the latest book in Colleen Houk’s Reawakened series is coming out on August 8th! I couldn’t be more excited for the book, and I’m thrilled to have Colleen on the blog today to give us all the details about the magical creatures that can be found in this captivating series!

About the Book

Title: REUNITED

Author: Colleen Houck

Pub. Date: August 8, 2017

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Pages: 446

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads

After surviving her otherworldly adventure, Lily wakes up on her nana’s farm having forgotten everything. Her sun prince, her travels to Egypt, and her journey to the Afterlife are all distant memories. But Lily is not the girl she once was. Her body is now part human, part lion, and part fairy. And if that isn’t bad enough, she must now harness this power of three and become Wasret: a goddess destined to defeat the evil god Seth once and for all. With the help of her old friend Dr. Hassan, Lily departs on her final voyage through the cosmos and across the plains of Egypt. On the journey, she will transform into the being she is destined to become. Reunited is the heart-pounding conclusion to the Reawakened series. It is time for Lily to find her sunset.

Author Guest Post with Colleen Houck:

Magical Creatures in the Reawakened Series

I love adding magical creatures of all kinds into my books. Some are based on mythology while others are film or television inspired. A few come straight from my imagination. Here they are in no particular order.

Unicorns-My unicorns are the color of the sand and sparkle ground mica, though they do have a variety of shades. They gave up the right to their alicorns and so they look like simple desert horses but these horses have wings and can fly through dimensions. They are naturally at odds with lions as the two magical species have been at odds for quite some time. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Mummies-You can’t talk about Egypt without referencing mummies. I loved The Mummy movie franchise and thought it would be fun to twist it around and have my mummies be the good guys. There’s still plenty of scary mummy action for the purists out there. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Fairies-This is a strange one when considering that I’m writing Egypt. For those who have read my tiger series, you know I love fairies. Ashleigh came from the frequent niece requests to have one of them be a fairy. Well, that plus I found an amazing picture of a fairy tree on Pinterest and it fit the image of Ashleigh in my mind. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Biloko Demons-This one came from a mythology book. Biloko are crocodile-like demons who walk on two legs but still have a tail. They are either white or, in my case, invisible. (Find image here.)

Zombies-You can’t have a necromancer without zombies. In Reawakened, my mummies fight a powerful necromancer who raises a zombie army to fight for him, including crocodile mummies. (Find image on Pinterest)

Falcon/Ibis/Crane-These are the avian versions of my Egyptian princes. They have the ability to transform into giant birds that are common in Egypt. Amon’s golden falcon was a gift from Horus and is, in fact, an actual independent creature. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Sphinx-My sphinx follows the Greek version more than the Egyptian. The sphinx is female and has various abilities including sharp claws, wings, and the ability to control the wind. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Shabtis-These are clay figurines placed in tombs to act as servants. In my books they can be used to summon actual servants bound to do the bidding of the summoner. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Giant Crocodile-My necromancer villain in Reawakened, transforms himself into a Godzilla-like giant crocodile that terrorizes my heroes. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Fire Scorpions-These creatures are bound to the Netherworld where they serve the Queen of the Dead, also known as The Devourer. Their exoskeletons burn red hot and they can shoot fire from their tails. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Fairy Trees-These are special trees, cared for by fairies. The trees are sentient and communicate to their fairy keepers. They also produce a special healing sap and can hide people inside their trunks for safety. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Reapers-A cross between a grim reaper and a white hornet. My reapers work for the Queen of the Dead harvesting crops of ghosts for her to consume. They are hive centered creatures who carry sickles but can also sting. Their mandibles clack as they work. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Serin-An evil version of a mermaid, serin live in the Cosmic River where they hunt for creatures that traverse the waters. They can be distracted by a gold coin which just happens to be the price to ride the ferryman’s boat. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Menfishers-Underwater spiders who fashion sticky nets they use to trap ships and other prey. Once the net has caught something, they rise from the depths to finish off whatever unfortunate creature wriggled in their dripping web. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Apep-The giant snake that lives in the cosmic river. His eyes are so mesmerizing, he can convince his victims to walk right into his mouth. He particularly loves chasing Cherty’s boat and swallowing the ghosts that cling to the sides of his ship. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Jackals (hellhounds)-A large pack of jackals, otherwise known as hellhounds, live in the Netherworld and are subject to the Devourer. They can cause their bodies to dissolve into smoke which makes them nearly impossible to kill. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Giant spider-In Reunited you’ll meet a cosmic spider. Once her web connected the stars but she was cast out for eating all her kind to absorb their power. A seer in her own right, she creates giant webs depicting the lives of her victims before she sucks them dry. She was inspired by a mixture of African folklore and the spider in The Lord of the Rings. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Banshee-Banshees sing beautifully. Sometimes they are called sirens but my sirens don’t sing you to your death, they sing of your death so listening is both terrific and terrible. They cannot die themselves for they have given up death so they sing to others as penance. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Sky Demons-A cross between a bat and a gargoyle, the Devourer uses sky demons as warriors to battle our heroes. They have sharp talons and a sky demon’s skin is very tough to penetrate. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Ghosts-Since the Netherworld is the home for the dead, it is full of ghosts. Some journey there to learn to slay their demons while others struggle futilely, unwilling to let go of the thing that tethers them to the soil. (Find image on Pinterest.)

Giant Worm-The necromancer sends a giant worm to battle our heroes. He is purple and blind but he had sharp teeth in a wide mouth and spews poison clouds. He was inspired by the worms in Dune. (Find image on Pinterest.)

About Colleen

New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she’s not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.

Enter the Giveaway!

3 winners will receive a finished copy of REUNITED, US Only.

Follow the Blog Tour!

Thanks so much to Rockstar Book Tours for hosting this tour! Be sure to check out their website here as well as the other amazing posts on this tour!

Week One:

7/31/2017- YA Books Central– Interview

8/1/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review

8/2/2017- YA and Wine– Guest Post

8/3/2017- a GREAT read– Review

8/4/2017- Two Chicks on Books– Interview

Week Two:

8/7/2017- Tales of the Ravenous Reader–Review

8/8/2017- Ohana Reads– Guest Post

8/9/2017- Seeing Double In Neverland– Review

8/10/2017- The Cover Contessa– Interview

8/11/2017- Riddle’s Reviews– Review

Have you started reading the Reawakened series yet? What is your favorite creature from Colleen’s bestiary?

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Author Guest Post: The Magical Creatures of the REAWAKENED Series Reunited, the latest book in Colleen Houk's Reawakened series is coming out on August 8th! I couldn't be more excited for the book, and I'm thrilled to have Colleen on the blog today to give us all the details about the magical creatures that can be found in this captivating series!

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