#edit: just some mistakes ehhe

[thisispoggers]

G. Stilton x Beastars crossover let’s goooooo

Anyways always been interested how this crossover would go.

So this crossover would be more on the mice and how they live their day to day lives as they are one of the smallest animals to walk in that world.

Rarely exceeding 30 centimetres and have an average lifespan of 43 years, they are neglected by society as they don’t live for that long and are easily killed by one wrong step.

In this crossover, we focus on a peculiar family of mice as they are only known by name but never been seen by any official.

This family runs an extremely popular newspaper showcasing the latest news and trends as well as exclusive interviews with celebrities.

Though what is unique about this newspaper is that the majority of their workforce are mice but they are hidden from the public’s eyes so from the outside, the majority of their hires are herbivores.

Why are the mice hidden from public eyes? Well the family also dabbles in investigatory work as the mice they train are the best in the field.

They are trained to sniff out information from black markets, disable weaponry and electronics, and take down enemies.

They are also the only mice in the country to have access to technology small enough for them carry, which also makes them even harder to detect during the job itself.

This technology is key to how this mouselet is able to survive in his school.

Only about 15 centimetres at 6 years old, Benjamin needs to be careful of where he goes and how he does it as mice are a rarity in Cherryton Academy as he has yet to grow into his adult height.

(Seeing as they only live for 43 years, I assume that they age twice as fast and that means Benjamin is about 12-13 years old)

After a few weeks, he managed to gain the friendship of a cat named Elias due to them having similar class schedules and being seat partners.

Elias is a 14-year-old cat of the Russian Blue Breed, he is around 92 centimetres tall and has a thin athletic build due to his time in the sports club.

He showed Benjamin around the school on his first day and they steadily became good friends over the next few weeks even though he has some complaints of Benjamin’s cheery airhead personality.

While Elias is glad that he is not afraid of huge carnivores, he often wishes the mouse is more aware of where he is walking as he often has to save the tiny mouse from getting squashed by unaware carnivores.

His worry now multiplied tenfold due to a predation incident in the school and the animals have to be separated and investigated as the predator evaded the school security and is now hidden among them.

And during this time, Benjamin is given a mission by his family member that leads the newspaper in which he is the one who should uncover the truth behind the predation incident as the principal refuses to speak to the reporters.

Will he be successful or will he also become the next victim? Who knows!

[restinsodaroni]

Hello I made my own small little thing in a google doc since I have to wait until I get approved on archiveofourown.org on the 23 , thanks for inspiring me ,I'll write more as time goes on thanks for making my interest alive again:))

Fic here : https://docs.google.com/document/d/11vCXbCxQDAWwiUpXUSno6wucNAhc2GXBD_d5b9hgFM4/edit?usp=drivesdk

Those who can't access it and still wanna read:

Familiar surroundings Au

Chapter 1: A new friend in the village ! :O

Note:this is my first ever fanfic ,after I saw "come be lonely with me" which inspired me to make this along with some other that I don't know the names of anymore,grammar things will be corrected along the way, also don't expect it to be too long, or updated daily, see the end for more notes:) also don't expect it to make sense;-;, and if restinisodaroni sees this idk what to think… (P.S. she is my favorite) .

Tags:sun(fnaf:sb), moon(fnaf:sb), reader is mentioned with nicknames only once with y/n, this contains some anxiety from me, sun/moon x reader, sun and moon are separated, sun is protective and careful, moon is soft but still a gremlin sometimes, your close to management of this place, this is called " familiar surroundings Au".

You just arrived at a village with a big daycare that somehow hosts animatronics? Ehh you don't really question it, looking around while in your car trees surrounding the road, you're nearly there. ____________________________

You are in a small grass field that cars appear to park in, so you do as well. You see the big house that has a sign reading" Superstar Daycare" it has a playground and lots of toys scattered around. Inside it seems dark. _______________________________

You enter the daycare and leave your bag on the near counter outside at the entrance then go in. It's very silent, the roof is filled with stars and a big moon, this place is really big for a small village. _______________________________

You wander around the daycare if you can even call it that, at first it looks bigger than expected, it has lots of clouds on the side and the floor is green like a field in the dark. You wonder where the animatronics in here are, you saw at the entrance two celestial-like cartoony figures that looked like a sun and a moon.

________________________________

Some time later as you wander around you hear creaks from the other side where the structures are and something lurking in the big area with bars. Later on you decide to go through a hallway with the sign saying "Naptime Corner", huh that is convenient if you wanted a quick nap as well from all the long driving.

You step in and see some children sleeping on the floor, and try to be quiet to not wake any of them… Putting the phone away was a mistake, you could've used its flashlight right now.

You hear a creek and turn around to meet with white eyes on a slender figure, before you yelp it wraps its arms on your mouth. "Don't be scared friend, we won't hurt you! ", it says in a low tone, you observe it has some rays around its head ,some fluff pants, and green bracelets on it's arms,and some leaves attached to its body in random spots,with some drawings on his face, then it has to crouch down to your level, of course…

_________________________________

After some time you calm down, and then it lets go of your mouth, finally. " Sorry for scaring you, heh, wasn't expecting you to come here so early, your job says that it's not time yet, why are you here? "It tilts its head to the side waiting for your answer.

…………

You sigh and say" Wait, wait, waittt, who are you? "Your question brings him out of his endless gaze" Oh how rude of me, I'm Sun, but you can call me however you want! " Sun… . Interesting not like it's original…. (-_-) .

"Well, Sun…..I'm y/n ,nice to meet you, " you pause then rub your neck"I'm just here to see this daycare before being your good ol' new kind of… management's helper? I don't know what to call myself, but please don't think I'd say something mean! ".Then there was silence…

"Oh don't worry ,I won't take it like that Sunshine! I already know you won't be mean! You look so cute you can't be mean! " Sun says to break the awkward silence, you then stare, never got a compliment, huh? . _______________________________

After a few moments another shadow appears behind him, must be Moon "Sun what are you doing? -" Moon growled then looked at you and chuckled "Oh they're here already? So early too? Must be really worried not to be late then! " it holds back its laughter to not wake up the children.

"Well what can I say, I'm only here to check everything out and make sure nothing's wrong" they looked at each other then at you again.

"You... You think we need your help? " Moon chuckled, "hey don't be like this! They're trying to do their job like us! " Sun added scolding Moon, but he just wandered off leaving you with Sun.

Sun turned to you "Sorry he's just really grumpy meeting new people, but he'll warm up to you in no time" he said looking rather awkward having to crouch. "And I'm sure you'll be good friends with everyone here! Even Moon! " he added. _________________________________

After some time you settled in, naptime was over and the kids woke up as Sun handed them energizing candy, then they started the fun for Sun to clean afterwards, tho just for like a few hours(3-4 hours) before naptime again since they tire out easily.

"Hello, Mr. Y/n! " Hearing a girl ,of course you introduced yourself already, you straightened up from the desk after you tried to read your book, "Hey kid? What is it? " you crouched down and patted her head "Can you draw with us? Pleaseee? " she begged you literally, you couldn't refuse "Okay I will! " You chuckle and follow her to the kids tables, the chairs are too small so you cross your legs. "So what do we draw today? " you say as you wait "Whatever you want Mr. Y/n! We just wanted to include you too! Celestia said she saw you looked pretty lonely, and also my name is Maria! " she said ,quickly handing you some crayons.

"Well Maria I'll draw something with you ,but after I'll go back to my shift, okay? " she nodded, you start to think about what you'll draw. Got an idea, you draw a Sun over a cliff and some ocean waves. ___________________________________

"Okay I'm done, let me see yours too! " you say and she nods, then you flip them to each other to see, she drew you and Sun holding hands"Look Mr. Y/n I drew you and Mr.Sun together! " she chuckled and you did as well, how cute that is.

You see Sun being tackled by some kids, then excuse yourself and get up, approaching him, you hear kids saying things like "Yeah, put it there too, and that one there! ".

You stop a few feet from him, he is full of stickers all over his body, you sigh and raise your finger "Now, kids, that's enough, I'll take care of it, now go play something not including this! " you scold them, and they all go in different directions, you see Sun has stickers over his eyes too, heh. "Hey, there bud, need some help? " You say and peel off some stickers from his face plate, he looks confused, you're pretty close, how doesn't he mind?...

"Oh, yeah thanks Sunshine! You're really kind! " he says, making you feel some butterflies, after a minute you snap out of it and get up.

"Oh, no problem Sunnyboy, just don't let them put stickers on your face again, it looks bad , heh" you say as he gets up.

"Oh dear, I'm not the one to ruin the fun! They just wanted to! So I let them! " oh so that's why huh? "Well it's still no excuse, it's hard peeling them off, even from your rays" you added, seeing the stickers on one of the sunrays.

________________________________________

Note:yes cliffhanger ,sorry but I don't wanna go over 8k words from the first chapter as it's just a plan for now, but next chapter will have 7k-10k words so no worries.

Also Sun is pretty silly ngl, and yeah next chapter you meet Moon!;)(during naptime ofc) How will that turn out huh?

Also this takes inspiration from my village house that is also big , and had to write it to get it off my mind as I've been preparing it for a month now, bye! Have a good night/day!

Awww this was a cute read!! Thank you so much for sharing your first chapter with me!! Sun just being super sweet is adorable lol. Hahaha Moon already trying to be difficult 😂 that's nice of you to say I inspired you (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠��⁠•͈⁠) I hope you have lots of fun creating your fic! Ao3 is a funny place where you have to wait to get on lol. In the meantime, happy writing!! 💫

[caxycreations]

THE HUNGER GAMES: RELAN EDITION

CW: Death, extreme violence, brutality, self-harm, suicide, gore, disease

OUR CAST!

From District 1, we have the SELTZ TWINS, David and Davina!

From District 2, we have THE GREATWOLF, Ryder Trayson and the LAUGHING LACERATOR, Merissa Howra!

From District 3, we have SLIPSTREAM, Trace Parker and the KING OF SNAKES, Kaleb Killian!

From District 4, we have THE KING OF KINGS, Devon Masters and THE IMMORTAL, Cyrus Ferrick!

From District 5, we have THE KAGE, Peter MacTavish and THE GENTLE GIANT Luka Mikaelson!

From District 6, we have THE VELVET HAND, Olivia Mikaelson and JUKE, Moss Seltz!

From District 7, we have THE VEILWALKER, Zephyr and THE WARD, Octavius!

From District 8, we have THE BARON, Alaric Seltz and THE WARRIOR, Aurelio Verenox!

From District 9, we have THE BARONESS, Jane Seltz and THE LADY, Marie!

From District 10, we have THE BREWER, Eric and THE HEIR, David Mikaelson!

From District 11, we have THE SECOND-GEN SELTZ'S, Spirit and Rose Seltz!

From District 12, we have THE MOTHERS, Willow and Lily!

With introductions complete, let's get this underway! We spoke to each champion prior to their journey to the starting platforms, and this is what they had to say!

District 1

David: On our own we're not much, but we've got each other! No way we're losing!

Davina: I never see him this confident, if he's this sure, you can bet I'm twice that confident!!

District 2

Ryder: I ain't got nothin' t'be worried 'bout. These folks can't lay a hand on me. Hate t'be goin' 'gainst folks I know, but that's how th'dice rolled an' I ain't got no way outta this.

Merissa: IF THEY MAKE ME HURT DAVID I WILL RIP THIS ESTABLISHMENT APART WITH MY TEETH!

District 3

Trace: Pleeeaaase, if they can even keep up with me it'll be a surprise! I've got this in the bag on speed and endurance alone!

Kaleb: I believe I will be quite alright. My venom offerss a large advantage, and the other participantss sseem to lack the intelligence needed to make full usse of the environment...

District 4

Devon: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, Get the FUCK outta my face 'fore I shove that mic where the sun don't shine, I got folks t'kill, you ain't boutta slow me down!

Cyrus: I'll be more impressed if anyone here actually manages to kill me than I would be to win.

District 5

Peter: [No comment]

Luka: Ehh...Why are we doing this again? I do not like to fight...

District 6

Olivia: I hope they know I'm not going to compete with my husband...

Moss: If you think the Seltz pack is going to turn on each other over this, you're wrong.

District 7

Zephyr: [No comment]

Octavius: Where am I? Where is Alaric? Marie! Jane! Where are they!?

District 8

Alaric: I'll tear through every last obstacle between me and my family, and that includes you if you don't stop interrupting me, sir.

Aurelio: A chance to fight? How could I pass it up! Enough talk, LET'S GET GOING!

District 9

Jane: My husband will be here soon, you know. He won't take kindly to you paying such attention to me.

Marie: Nevermind them, Jane. We need to find the boys before they get caught off guard and... distracted.

District 10

Eric: Look I just came to deliver some coffee and they shoved me in here, I have...NO idea what I'm supposed to do.

David Mikaelson: [No comment]

District 11

Spirit: [No comment]

Rose: [No comment]

District 12

Willow: WHERE ARE THEY!?

Lily: GIVE THEM BACK!

What spirited competitors! Wow! Well, without further ado it's time to start the games! Begin...

THE FIRST DAY!

Alaric, Eric, Rose, Lily, Davina, Peter, Octavius, Spirit, Devon, Merissa, and Davey have fled the cornucopia!

David and Ryder have found weaponry within, narrowly missing a barely hidden Trace!

Olivia stealing Zephyr's weapon from right out of his hands!

Moss employing expert deception to weed out the competition early on!

Kaleb and Cyrus duking it out, but Cyrus just keeps healing through it, Kaleb is- OH, KALEB HAS FLED!

Luka stealing a mace from Jane by mistake, thinking it was unclaimed! Look at the shock on his face!

And our most brutal death this day, Aurelio severing Willow's head from body in a single swing of a sword, living up to his titles, for sure!

Devon finding safety within the caves, but is he as safe as he feels?

Cyrus finding water, unsure if it's safe to drink!

Trace, David Mikaelson, and Peter hunting as a group to weed out the weak!

Kaleb, trying to pass time by sleeping through the carnage!

Luka searching for a way out, but will he find one before the other tributes find him?

Lily begging for death to escape the brutality, only for Merissa to refuse, offering her a second chance to see tomorrow!

Davina, taking matters into her own hands!

Ryder building a safe haven for himself, something secure to bunker down in!

Olivia, Spirit, Aurelio, and Zephyr found Alaric's camp, and have taken to splitting the spoils!

Octavius, Moss, David, Eric, and Rose have gathered as a pack!

Jane, killing time and finding food in one by fishing!

Our deaths this day, in memoriam, may they rest in peace and find prosperity in the next world.

Devon, showing a rare moment of compassion allowing Cyrus to rest alongside him!

Peter finding sponsorship AND the benefits thereof!

Trace finding comfort alongside Olivia, I wonder how Luka will feel about this?

Moss and Ryder sharing a moment of familial company in the quiet moments between battle.

Kaleb showing a rare gentle side in keeping Spirit warm through the night!

Alaric takes a tumble, loose rocks leading to a deadly fall into a frozen lake!

Lily and Merissa learning about one another, will this make it harder to compete later?

Aurelio humming through the night!

Octavius, David, and Zephyr sleeping in shifts. Does Octavius know the fate of his lover?

David Mikaelson, setting up a makeshift camp, look at the lil guy go!

Rose finding solace in the presence of gentle giant Luka!

Jane and Eric watching over one another and sleeping in turns!

Aurelio and Cyrus, the powerhouses of the pantheon, work together! This could be trouble for everyone else!

Spirit, Moss, Ryder, and Octavius working together to raid Merissa's camp while she's away could mean an end to her survival if she can't replenish stock!

Kaleb, removing Luka from the games with ease! The poor sergal never even fought back!

Lily scares Zephyr away with her best and biggest growl!

Trace hiding in the bushes, ensuring his safety!

Olivia hunting for food!

Eric builds himself a safe haven!

Jane, David, and Rose seeking other tributes! For fighting, or solidarity?

Devon runs from David Mikaelson, certainly not trusting the innocent look to them!

Peter searches for higher ground, he must expect a flood!

Our fallen, may they live forever in our hearts.

David must have won someone's heart! He's earned water bottles!

Eric manages to fight off Spirit, Cyrus, and Aurelio!

Peter, caring for Moss! What an unexpected move~!

Ryder ends Zephyr's fight for survival with a single, well-aimed throwing knife!

Kaleb prepares food safely, remarkable!

Olivia, David, Lily, Rose, and Devon sleeping alongside each other in shifts!

Jane tending to her wounds! [Why it says "his" idk, Jane is set to female]

Merissa camping for the night, safe and sound!

Trace, cracking under the pressure and letting the tears flow!

Trace, Rose, Spirit, and Jane seeking others as a pack! Seek they friend, or are they hunting foe?

Cyrus practicing his archery, training that aim!

Olivia scares away young David Mikaelson, seems she won't be winning any Mother of the Year awards!

Octavius caring for Moss' injuries, ancestor and descendant working together!

Eric searching for water, but will he find any?

Lily, homesick and sorrowful, likely thinking of simpler times!

Aurelio sprains his ankle running from Peter, but this is unlikely to stop the Godcleaver!

Merissa snaps David's neck quietly, reuniting the original Seltz twins once again! A frenzied rage gone wrong, what has she done!?

Devon kills Kaleb, laughing all the while!

Ryder bears witness to smoke, thinking it safer to avoid!

Zephyr, David, and Kaleb have been sent to the gods, may they live eternally in peace!

Moss, Rose, and Aurelio sleeping in shifts, Moss undoubtedly not trusting Aurelio with Rose's safety!

Octavius, Merissa, and Jane work together to sever Cyrus' body apart, spreading the pieces around the battlefield to avoid his regenerative powers!

Devon and Lily pass out, unable to take the strain!

Trace, Olivia, Ryder, and David Mikaelson swapping stories, good for morale!

Spirit, Eric, and Peter singing, have they broken under the pressure?

Octavius kills Aurelio, felling the Lightborne!

Peter, Eric, and Rose duke it out, with Eric fleeing as Rose pays the price for his abandonment!

Olivia tricking Ryder, will she escape his scent tracking?

Moss looking to higher ground for safety!

Lily, Devon, Trace, Merissa, and Spirit hunt for new foes~!

David Mikaelson exploring the arena, much like his father did once!

Jane practicing her archery, it may not have helped Cyrus but it may save her!

Our fallen, may they be remembered forever!

Lily comforting David Mikaelson, how sweet!

Octavius, with a dastardly trap, has killed Olivia, Eric, Merissa, and Trace!!

Jane has warmed our hearts, earning an explosive from the outside world!

Moss and Spirit find comfort together, peaceful for now!

Ryder seems quite confident!

Peter has earned the admiration of fans, earning him a medkit!

Devon sleeps off the day, ready for the next!

Davey, Moss, and Jane opt out of the Feast, not wanting to risk it!

Devon showing his brutality and bloodlust, ending Lily's life with passionate glee!

Spirit, Peter, and Octavius narrowly avoid a fight, each grabbing what they want in time!

Ryder, facing blood loss from the last few days, keels over, joining his mate in the halls of the gods!

David Mikaelson has been given a medkit!

Peter, tripping and hurting himself!

Octavius finds water, but is it drinkable?

Spirit tries to nap, as he is prone to do!

Moss found a cave, is it the same cave Devon found initially?

Jane has been given yet another explosive!

Devon shouldn't have risked that river water, it's come back to haunt him and now he may very well haunt the rest of our tributes!

Our fallen, rest their weary souls!

Peter wakes screaming, the nightmares too much for him!

Moss begs to join his loved ones, only to be denied relief by Jane!

Spirit, playing with a knife, has taken Octavius out of the games!

David Mikaelson tends to his wounds! [Why is Davey "her" but Jane is "him"??]

Jane builds shelter while Spirit builds weaponry!

Peter scares away Moss!

Davey is given fresh food by a generous sponsor!

Our fallen, may he dine with the gods!

Spirit earns clean water from a sponsor!

Moss staving off illness with a quick bit of cooking!

Peter and Jane staving off the cold together!

and David Mikaelson treating infection, will they survive?

Peter forces an impossible decision on Moss! Kill their own flesh and blood, Spirit, or that of another in David Mikaelson! Moss unbelievably chooses Spirit!!

Jane has been given a hatchet, but will it make a difference?

Our fallen, etch their name into your heart forevermore!

Jane and Peter watching each other's backs, but will the alliance last?

David Mikaelson enjoying their survival and humming to keep calm!

Moss, treating infection but can they fight it off?

Moss hunts for food!

Jane has earned ANOTHER sponsor's love, granting her clean water!

David Mikaelson and Peter hunt together! Has Peter found a soft spot?

THE VOLCANO HAS ERUPTED!!!

Jane and Moss survive!

Peter dies, sacrificing himself in the process of saving David Mikaelson!!! A NOBLE SACRIFICE!

Our fallen, a hero of the weak to the very end!

David Mikaelson, treating injuries, will they survive alone?

Jane, camping for the night, but is it safe?

Moss, screaming for help! Sorry, sponsors don't like a pity party~!

David Mikaelson surprises everyone, burning Jane with a molotov! Incredible play!

Moss, finally succumbing to hunger and rejoining their pack in the divine domains!

Our fallen, may they dance forever in the world after this!

And our winner is...

DAVID MIKAELSON FROM DISTRICT 10!!!

Congratulations to our champion!!! Your district thanks you! Now go, celebrate your life, live it long and live it well, you've earned it!

@sparrowcraft @moremysteriesthantragedies @thetruearchmagos @a-scaly-troublemaker @that-one-enby-onyx @snakelovingnerd @eldritchx @leisoree @amerylise @profoundlyhauntedclaws @thefinalgoat @leisurelywingedlemon

[peashooter85]

Whisky Review Time --- Robert Burns Single Malt Scotch (Isle of Arran)

I picked up a bottle of this from the online store of the PA Wines and Spirits. They had it on clearance sale for $19.99, 50% off from it's regular retail price of $40. So obviously no one was buying it and they need to get rid of it. For $20 I thought I would give it a shot. Did I make a mistake risking $20 on a Scotch I know little to nothing about?

This whisky is made by the Arran Distillery in Lochranza Scotland. That's located here...

In addition to their regular products, every year they release a limited edition single malt in honor of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who lived and died in the 18th century. Don't know who he is? Well, know this song?

As much as I'd like to do a deep dive of Robert Burns, I'm here to judge whisky, not poetry. According to the distillery, the whisky is aged in ex-bourbon casks. That means they age their whisky in charred American oak barrels that were once used to age Bourbon. They give not age statement but supposedly it's young for a Scotch. It's bottled at 43% ABV.

The aroma of it is very light, so much so I have to stick my nose right in the glencairn I'm drinking from. But I do get pleasant aromas of light sherry, plums, raisins, and other dried fruit. On tasting I notice right away that the flavors of it are not as subtle as the aroma. I get a light taste of the fruity sherry flavor often associated with scotch, but then a very heavy peatiness. It's very smoky and finishes very dry. This peaty smokiness announces itself very loudly and is very in your face. The problem is, I don't know if I like this or not. The flavors are complex and I can definitely respect that but I don't think I like it. I've been trying scotches recently and I've discovered I tend to like scotch that is more sherry oriented, and while I like some peaty smokiness, I don't like it being so in your face. So I tried to tame it a bit by adding a few drops of water. Ehh, it tamed the smokiness and dryness of it to the point that I like those flavors, but eliminated the sherry and dry fruity flavors I enjoy. It doesn't seem like the flavors are balanced. Let me just say for me personally the water trick has never worked, I've never improved a whisk(e)y by adding water that worked with my palate. I'm sure it works with other people, but not for me.

So how do I rate this? Well, to be honest I don't want to rate it. I think it's a matter of taste, and I'm sure there are a lot of people who would say it's great. It's just not for me. If anyone's ever had this before or other Arran whiskies, please feel free to comment and give your rating.

[mephinomaly]

[TL] Coffin Dilemma - Rei Sakuma

Rei Sakuma 4*

Character(s): Rei Sakuma, Eichi Tenshouin, Aira Shiratori, Koga Oogami

Directory

Sniff… T-Tenshouin-senpai… sob sob…..Sa-Sakuma-senpai has…diiiiieeeeeedddd!

Season: Summer

Location: Eichi, Aira, and Rei's dorm room

Rei: Nng~.....

……(Tossing and turning)

……Hhhgh

Time: A couple days later

Location: Third floor of the dorm building

Aira: Hmhmm ♪ hmhm ♪ hmmhmhmm~♪

Ehehehe ♪ This little box fits juuust right in my hands ♪

I had no idea you could buy these limited edition cheesecakes from that store. I normally can’t buy anything because I'm always late to it. Today’s my lucky day!

Going back to my room early, brewing some delicious tea…… spending some blissful time leisurely enjoying the flavour ♪

Location: Eichi, Aira, and Rei's dorm room

I’m hooome~—

UwaAAA!? Wh-what the!?

There’s a coffin in the middle of my room!? Uh, what!?? What’s happening!? ‘Cos this is super scary!

Ehh~...... I was feeling so happy up until a moment ago. I suddenly feel super unlucky…

…Uhh. What to do about… this

Looking all around it, nothing seems out of the ordinary. No matter how you look at it, it’s just your average coffin

Well, the fact that there’s a coffin is pretty strange by default

Right……! Just staring at the coffin isn't getting me anywhere. It’s scary but, I’ll just have to have a peek inside…!

Maybe it’s just someone’s poor idea of a prank——

Rei: ………

Aira: ………

Time: A few moments pass

Eichi: I’m back

Aira: W…wa…waaaaa…

Eichi: Eh? Shiratori-kun, why are you crying? What’s the matter?

Aira: Sniff… T-Tenshouin-senpai… sob sob…..Sa-Sakuma-senpai has…diiiiieeeeeedddd!

Eichi: Sakuma-senpai…? That Sakuma-kun? There must be some kind of mistake

Though I am weak, I don’t think I would die if I was killed like that, so I think it unlikely that Sakuma-kun would have

Aira: It’s the truth…! I saw with my own eyes. He’s lying peacefully in that coffin…! Sniff…

Eichi: ���Speaking of it, I feel as if there’s something that belongs to Yumenosaki in this room

Rei: …Hnng?

It’s been getting noisy in here for a while now. Could you perhaps quieten down…

Aira: Gyaaaaaa!? A zombie!? Sakuma-senpai, please just quietly go to heaven like you’re suppose to~!

Time: A few more moments pass

Eichi: Have you calmed down, Shiratori-kun?

Aira: Yes…… I didn’t think about the fact that he could have been sleeping in the coffin… I’m really sorry for making a scene

Eichi: Good grief. There’s no wonder Shiratori-kun misunderstood. I want you to be aware that Sakuma-kun’s practices are both rare and peculiar

Rei: Dearie me. I’ve created a misunderstanding. I sincerely apologise for surprising you

Eichi: You should have started with that. Haven’t you been sleeping in a bed ever since you got here? Why have you started sleeping in a coffin again?

Rei: It’s because… Truth be told, I’ve been struggling to fall asleep as of late. I wake up in the morning feeling exhausted

Eichi: You’ve been struggling to fall asleep…?

Rei: That’s right. I’ve even been trying to sleep in communal areas in my coffin, haven’t I?

I’m on location for work but I can’t even bring my coffin along with me. I’ve really been trying everyday to grow accustomed to sleeping in a bed

But, wherever I go it’s always beds, beds, and more beds… It’s nothing but beds. There used to always be a sense of freedom, but on the contrary, stress has began building and building~

That feeling of your body being held in a tender embrace…I want to set that beloved feeling free… Sigh…

Aira: Sakuma-senpai… you poor thing…

Eichi: Shiratori-kun, do not be made a fool of

Don’t you feel guilty? Tricking a sweet, innocent junior?

Rei: Err. Is that what Tenshouin-kun is saying…?

Eichi: Anyhow, it’s futile, deceiving others by trying to act like a cute, defenceless little girl. It won’t work on me. And besides, it’s very common for there to be only beds everywhere you go

If you’re going to be an idol, you should get a grip and get used to sleeping in beds

Where did this coffin even come from? If my memory serves me right, I was quite sure that it was being kept in the Light Music Room at school

Rei: Mhm. The office staff were coming to remove it, and I was exhausted, unable to watch on in silence

Eichi: Dear Lord. Being a nuisance to the office staff…

Sigh… Anyhow, were you able to take a nap?

This dorm is a shared space, so I want you to stop leaving such obstacles here. Can’t you put it back where it came from right this very moment?

Rei: How curt. You know it’s alright to feel even the tiniest bit of sympathy for me?

Eichi: If the coffin is still here the next time I come back to the dorm, I plan to come up with some ideas and I will make use of any method to rid of it

Rei: You’re such a devilish man!

Location: Light Music Clubroom

Koga: “―and that’s why. The demonic Tenshouin-kun said I had to return this coffin to the Light Music Room, so I am, alongside this letter. From Sakuma Rei”...?

Even though the club room’s gotten bigger, don’t bring it back~! Bloodsuckin’ bastard!

[cerebralinvasion]

trigger warnings: none!ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

note: just some winter themed fluff! i edited it a little but i didn’t check over too much so possible grammar mistakes? ehhe sorry but i hope you enjoy~ ₍ᐢ.ˬ.⑅ᐢ₎

you pressed your head against kokichis chest, the overwhelming scent of artificial grape flavoring overtaking your senses. despite that you only pressed closer trying your hardest to drive off the seeping cold from outside. Warm was never a term you’d thought you’d use to describe kokichi, however the heat oozing from his form only encouraged you to hold him closer under the huddle of blankets. you turned your face back towards him but his eyes seemed transfixed on the trash TV playing in front of you too. “WOAH, did you hear that (S/O)?? i can’t believe candice just said that!” kokichi exclaimed, jumping up slightly “huh…?” you mumbled half heartedly, you weren’t paying super close attention to the show but you were sure there was no character named candice. “candice, who’s candice?” “CAN DEEZ NUTZ FIT IN YOUR MOUTH” he screamed out immediately, as if, if he didn’t say it fast enough he’d never get the opportunity to. you groaned, burying your head in his chest. why did he always have to ruin nice moments between you two? “i hate you.” you grumbled words being muffled by the fabric of his shirt. “b-but-” kokichi’s eyes began to well up and within a split second you knew exactly what was about to come. kokichi began wailing at the top of his lungs, “t-that's so mean! how could you say that when i love you so much??” kokichi sniffled out through his sobs. “oh shut up.” you turned your head back to the show you’d been ignoring to see some woman throwing a tantrum over… something or the other, you couldn’t truly find it in yourself to pretend like you cared. “okay!” kokichi hummed his smile back and tears dried, if you didn’t know better you’d assume that he’d never been crying in the first place. “This is boring” You sat up and pressed a button on your remote, shutting of the TV. “Let’s do something else.” Kokichi hummed in thought at your suggestion “well what do you want to do?” You shrugged halfheartedly “Wanna go outside and see if anything is going on?” “Sounds good to me!” You slung your jacket over your shoulder and stepped into your winterboats. And kokichi quickly trailed you out of the house. You noticed the soft crunch of the snow underneath your boots as you glanced around, carefully dodging the ridiculous amount of winter themed lights set up outside of your house(set up by kokichi, of course). That was when you realized that Kokichi was no longer next to you. You turned around wondering where he’d gone off to and called out to him, “koki-” thump you stumbled backwards brushing off the cold mass that just got chucked at your face. “whoopsie, did that hit you? my bad!” Kokichi laughed. You blinked the remaining snow from your eyes before scooping up a handful of snow and throwing it at him. “Ow! No fair tha-” You quickly chucked another snowball before he could get another word in. This time he stumbled backwards, the slippery ground causing him to fall to the ground. You quickly stepped over to him, planning to offer out a hand to help him up. Only to also slip on the ice landing yourself on the floor next to him. “Wooow (S/O), you really are clumsy!” Kokichi giggled, sitting himself upright in the snow. “Leave me alone. It’s not my fault. If i hadn’t been trying to help you this wouldn’t have even happened. “Awwww” Kokichi cooed, lifting you up from the snow and pulling you into a hug “My noble (S/O) sacrificed themself to save me, how cute~” Your face flushed as you tried to come up with some kind of retort. Instead you just pushed yourself out of the hug. “You kn- I jus- Whatever! Let’s just go.” You grabbed his arm and began dragging him off.

[wednesdaynn]

the easiest flower to grow

pairing: wanda maximoff x reader 

summary:  wanda is a regular in a flower shop and she seems to be the readers attention grabber...

word count: 748

A/N: this is in 1st person pov so yeah i normally dont like that but ehh... this was also inspired by the dodie song she so yeah. also this is just a short little drabble thingy.

No edit’s. Mistakes and grammatical errors are mine. Enjoy :)

[----------------------------------                             ----------------------------------]

there she walks in. immediately sniffing the fresh scent of the flowers, softly exhaling with a smile adorning her pretyy face. book in her hand, the song of achilles. i couldn’t help myself but look over at her. she seemed to at peace. she holds the door open for a ederly lady, smiling at her.

am i allowed to look at her like that?

as she turns her head she faces me smile never leaving her face. a breathy morning leaves her lips and i could feel my knees buckle. she walks over to the hydrangeas smelling them.

could it be wrong, when she's just so nice to look at?

she’s just so pretty. her blue eyes catching just right in the light. her red hair tied up in a messy bun. effortlessly pretty. these feelings bring me back to my teenage year. crushing on a classmate.

she’s always on my mind. even when she leaves the shop, i can just feel her presence, her scent forever ebbed in my brain. before she comes in i can tell she’s on her way. those butterflys.

She smells like lemongrass and sleep. She tastes like apple juice and peach.

but she never buys anything, she comes to look at all the flora. smell and be surrounded by them. she carefully picks them apart, letting her eyes wander over every petal. noticing every little detail about them. memorizing them. like she has all the time in the world.

but for me. it stops. time. it’s like it always goes in slow-motion. letting me admire her everything. the way she scrunches her nose at stronger smells. when insects come flying by and softly smiles at their antics. the way her eyes widen when she stops by her favorite flower.

she told me, her favorite flower, the first time we met. the first time she entered my shop. i didn’t have them at first, but when i saw her face drop slightly i had to stock them up. i wish i could see her face again when she spotted her favorite flowers for the first time, sending a soft smile my way and thanking me. the way her cheeks reddened at the gesture..

I'd never tell. No, I'd never say a word. And oh it aches. But it feels oddly good to hurt.

i was so caught up in her i didn’t notice a client came up to me, clicking his tongue in annoyance. i revert my gaze to him. “hello? i’d like to buy this please.” he huffs out. i look at him and down to his flower pot. 

“yes. sorry.”i take the flower pot and scan the price tag. “that’ll be 9.65 please. will that be all?” he nods and hands me the money. i wrap the pot in some paper making sure it’s covered well so it doesn’t break. i slide it over the counter and hes out the door before i can even look up to say anything

i take a deep breath. in and out. get your head in the game.

And I'll be okay. Admiring from afar. Cause even when she's next to me. We could not be more far apart.

“could i get these please?” a sweet voice says. i recognize it as hers immediatly. she stands there holding three pots of fibrous begonia’s. her favorite flowers. “yes ma’am. place them in a spot with enough humidity and in direct light. dont water them too much either...” safely stuffies them in a paper bag. being extra careful. my hands are shaking tremendously and i pray to whomever is up there she doesn’t notice. 

i put the receipt in the bag and hand them over to her. our hands fleetingly touch and i can feel

"could i get these, please?" i look up at the soft voice and see her standing there with three pots of fibrous begonia's. "yes ma'am, place them in a spot with enough humidity and indirect light and don't water them too much." i put them in paper-bag. "that'll be 30 dollars please." i put the receipt in the bag and hand it over to her. our hands fleetingly touch and i can feel my face heating up.

“thank you, have a good day!” she walk to the door, takes one last look over her shoulder with a smile and a soft wave

Cause she tastes like birthday cake and story time and fall, But to her, I taste of nothing at all..

[----------------------------------                             ----------------------------------]

[the-fiction-witch]

Books

TV SHOW: THE QUEENS GAMBIT COUPLE: BENNY WATTS X READER  RATING: FUNNY + FLIRTY

I walked down the half broken, foul smelling new york streets. Hearing my heels clacking in the pavement as I walked, the swishing of my petticoats and my dress, the small sun trying to peek through the thick grey clouds. I put my sunglasses in my handbag as I arrived at the tall buildings I saw the beaten up beetle parked in the street and the small handful of parking tickets it had under the wiper blade so I picked them up and sighed turning to look down into the ever stretching darkness of the stairwell. I stepped down trying not to touch the handrail to the first level of little doors with some lights and then down the second stairwell into the dark nothing's, it smells like shit down here. 

I got to the door trying to not touch the gross walls tapping in the door as hard as I could hearing the metal echo through the basement.

The door opened tenderly and careful a first as if trying to peak before it opened fully revealing a barefoot, Benny watts. Stood in his black dirty jeans where he'd clearly wiped his hands down his legs for some reason, his black t shirt with his usual chains, his hand fixing his hair out of his eye with a small smile on his lips 

"Hey you"

"Hey" I smiled briefly stepping inside, as soon as my foot crossed into his apartment he put his hand on my waist and gave my cheek a kiss "move your car" I told him pushing the tickets into his chest he took them and I headed inside slipping my Jacket off and laying it over the chair 

"I'll move it in a bit" he says "coffee?"

"Tea" I Answered "extra milk t-"

"Extra milk two sugars I know" he laughs going over to his kitchen setting the tickets down in a forming pile on his kitchen counter 

"You should pay them"

"I should do a lot of things"

"Pay your parking tickets Benny"

"Suck my dick y/n" he says leaning against the counter looking at me crossing his arms over his chest "we both don't do what the other wants us to"

"You make me suck your dick I'll bite your cock off" I sighed sitting at the table 

"I know, I still have the bite mark from Last time" he sighed bringing the cups over sitting across from me with his coffee instantly I took my little hanki from my handbag and cleaned the top of the cup seeing the white cotton turn grey 

"What is it Benny? What did you summon me to the slums of new york for?"

"Oohh sorry, next time should I request an audience at mi lady's palace?" 

"What do you want Benny before I pour this tea down your pants"

"I need your help"

"... Hu. Never thought I'd hear you say that but go on"

"I need your help with something that only you can help me with"

"Right…"

"I wanna write a book" 

"A book?"

"Yes"

"What kinda of book?"

"One with... words?"

"No shit. Fictional or non fictional?"

"What's the difference?"

"Fictional is a story, non fictional is real life."

"Oh, non fiction"

"Okay, do you have a plot structure"

"A who what?"

"What's the plan for the book Benny?"

"I shall write it. And then I shall publish it." 

"Did you wanna edit it somewhere in the middle there?" I laughed

"Eh, you can do that" 

"Okay… so lemme guess this is a book about you? Or about chess?"

"Little I'd both"

"Who's publishing it?"

"Me?"

"Ohh so you have four thousand dollars laying around do you?" 

"What!"

"If you wanna self publish Benny, the basic level is four thousand dollars and that will get you local distribution if your lucky which is about five states out if that." 

".... Uuuughh, I'll publish through a publisher? Your publisher?"

"Eleanor doesn't take non fiction"

"Then she has to know someone who does? Right?'

"She does but then have to pay for meetings which cost roughly fifty bucks per ten minutes, and you have to get an approved manuscript before they'll even meet you, and even though a publisher for international you’re taking nine to ten thousand. Dollars."

"Uuuuuuughhh, wait. It's a chess book so I could get funding for it from the chess federation"

"Maybe, but then they are going to need to approve it first, and the send to a publisher willing to carry it, and then designing, and editing and printing and stocking which could take over five years" 

"Five years!"

"Yep. The novel world is a slow one Benny" I said "besides that's all publishing stuff, you can worry about that when you have a manuscript"

"A what now?"

"Manuscript is like the… actual book pages and all the words that will be on them"

"Ohh, well that shouldn't be too long, bang it out over a long weekend or something"

"You think you can write a book manuscript over a long weekend? Three days?"

"Yes"

".... Okay, so you wanna write a book? Which for non fiction about chess really a good level would be five or six hundred pages minimum, your going to get it written, edited, and ready to send to the chess federation for approval by Monday morning, even though they might reject it or just plain not fund it, you'll be already one thousand dollars in the red, before you add shipping, handling, copywriting, paying me for editing because I ain't doing that shit for free and as it's currently four pm on a Saturday afternoon and you haven't even writen a word yet"

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

"How long did it take you to write your book?"

"Six years, in and off with a full time job and without an editor"

"I'm fucked aren't I?'

"Not fucked Benny. Overambitious" I laughed "do you have a title?"

"No."

"Do you have a synopsis?"

"No."

"Do you have a typewriter?"

"I was going to write it by hand?"

"With your handwriting?"

"What's wrong with my handwriting?"

"Benny, it looks like a spider learnt cursive and then got drunk"

"I don't own a typewriter. May I borrow yours?"

"No. Buy one"

"There like sixty dollars!"

"I will buy you a pre-owned typewriter"

"Aww thank you sugar"

"How are you intending to pay me for being your editor?"

"... Royalties?"

"Awww Benny darling, if you sell your book for a dollar each you'll be lucky to make 25 cents per book in royalties, less if you go though a publisher, and even less if it's being funded by the federation… you'll maybe get about six pennies if your lucky" I explain 

"Then how the hell do you afford your car? Your house? Your dresses?"

"I sell alot of books Benny"

"I'll give you three pennies if my six pennies royalties?"

"Of your not yet existing book? So I'm just meant to wait and see if I get paid?"

"I'll bake you a cake?"

"You can't cook Benny"

"... I will eat you out?"

"No deal"

"I promise you half of all royalties, editor credit and I'll fuck you as much as you want, now will you please just help me?"

"Fine. I'll be needing a deposit payment" I said 

"Alright, you know where the bedroom is I'll finish my coffee and be there in a sec" 

I sat on the leather chair looking at the handwritten chapter structure Benny had given me "Benny?"

"Yeah?" He asks slightly jumping where he had been sat for so long at his table with his notes and the old typewriter I got for him trying to figure out how he loaded paper in it 

"What is this word?" 

"What word?" He asks 

"The something with something"

"Which chapter?"

"Four?"

"The faults with defense" 

"That is how you write an s?" 

"Yes"

"... How do you not write an s right it's in your name?" 

"No it's not?"

"Yes it is"

"B. E. N. N. Y. No s there?"

"Watts?" 

"Ooohh yeah"

"You fool" 

"Also, does this have a E?"

"No."

"And how am I meant to write a chess book without the letter e? I sort of need it? Chess. Defensive. Queen. Benny."

"Antidisestablishmentarianism" 

"That's a word?"

'"yep"

"Can you use it in a sentence?"

"Screw you bitch I can spell antidisestablishmentarianism" 

"A.n.t.i.d.i.s.t?"

"Nope"

"Damn it" he sighed "but I need e how am I meant to write chess without an e?"

"Write an o and then draw a line in the middle?" 

"Fine" he said starting to type one key at a time "Openings… and… tactics… by… Benny… watts" he said but the typewriter had got to the end of the spool "y/n! Why won't it type!"

"Benny just… ughh come here you child" I sighed getting up going over and moving the spool back to the centre so he could write "there. You have to do that at the end of each line"

"Really?"

"Yep. Isn't writing fun" I smiled kissing his head 

I sat listening to the clicking and clacking of his typewriter keys, sounded like music to my ears in his quiet dark and cold apartment

"Fuck!" He yelled breaking me from my relaxation as he stopped

"What?" I asked

"How do I undo?" He sighed rubbing his eyes 

"You can't what happened Benny?" 

"I typed porn instead of pawn" he sighed resting his head in his hands

"You fool" I giggled "you wanna know how we fix mistakes Benny?" I giggled going over wrapping my arms around his neck 

"We we write the whole page?" 

"Nope. White out" I smiled handing him the shall bottle 

"Fuck! That smells like paint"

"Ehh pretty much is"

"Thank you y/n"

"Your welcome" I smiled giving his head s kiss "call me when chapter one is done I'm going for a shower" 

"Uuuuhhh… yeah I'll do that" he says not sounding confident 

"How close to finished are you with chapter one?"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh… next week sound good?"

"And you could bang out a whole book in a weekend" I laughed sitting back on the chair 

"I said I'm sorry! I didn't know it was this hard" he says 

I sat the other side of the table with my lovely blue pen, my leg over my knee, smirking slightly at him as Benny sat on the other side his hands to his face watching me Intently, panic in his eyes everytime he saw me use the blue pen, which I was having to do alot. 

"Here" I said throwing it back to him now I was done "you should probably re write that's a little too much editing for white out watts"

"What's wrong with this?" He asks as he looked over the page 

"You used the wrong there"

"I hate you. Beyond words can express." 

[elektrantchios]

life on mars | two | b.b

summary: y/n tries to remember her past but the longer she stays with Steve and Bucky the less she wants to remember

warnings: swearing, fluff, some angst, mention drowning, slow burn and last of all don't trust strangers even if they are very handsome

word count: 1.6k

A/N: this took longer than it needed but i was actually being social

ill do another edit later just wanted to get this out!

MAIN MASTERLIST | REQUEST OPEN | SERIES MASTERLIST

Though neither Steve nor Bucky said anything, they were definitely having a silence conversation. You watched half amazed half confused how they were doing it.

“You can stay with me” Steve finally said puffing out his chest.

“I-“ you start but were cut off.

“Just until you sort things out, after all I own you one” he said.

You nodded “Okay, thank you”.

As the three of you walked away, Bucky elbowed you, looking at him brows crumpled. “My coat don’t want you freezing up Doll”.

You felt your face heat up with what you told your self was embarrassment, “Thank you”.

Slowing your paste to put in the coat you took a moment to look at your what new friends? Acquaintances?

“Oh and if you own her one for saving your ass then you own me at least 40, pal” Bucky laughed throwing his arm around Steve shoulder lovingly.

When you reached Steve flat, it was just two rooms put together. One was the kitchen and living room combined, a shared toilet was down the hall, a small bedroom at the back.

Bucky said his goodbyes promising to return in the morning with some dry clothes. You tried to give him his coat back, with a smile and shrug he waved it off.

An hour had past and all you had done was stare ahead into the fire you tried to remember anything. It was like you lost apart of yourself in the water. Shivering you pulled Bucky’s coat closer around you. “Here” Steve sat down on the floor next to you handing you’re a cup of coffee.

“Thanks” you smiled holding the cup in both hands , welcoming the warmth. “I need to get out of these clothes before I get sick”.

“You can sleep in my bed, I’ll take the sofa” Steve nodded to a room in the back.

“How about this, we take turns?” you paused smiling, “I’ll take the sofa tonight plus I like the fire”.

Steve happily agreed, wishing you good night shutting the door behind him. You listened to the sound of people settling in for the night in the other flats. You stripped down to your underwear, leaving the dress to dry over the fire gate.

Under the cover you thought about how risky you were being, trusting two men you had just met, what was even more worrying was that you couldn’t remember anything. You knew things, but the fine details were blurry, like you were looking at it through water.

Even with your worries sleep came easy. But in your dreams you were back in the water, you were fighting to get out, kicking as hard as you could. Muffled voice called out to you, unrecognizable but you heard the worry clear.

When you tried to answer them, water entered your lungs, you kept trying hoping it would work. The more you fought the more distance the voice came. Something was trying to keep you still, you try to hit it away but whatever it was grabbed hold of you wrist.

You woke to find Bucky looking down at you.

Seeing that you were awake he dropped your wrist. “I didn’t want you to hurt yourself”.

You carried on staring at him.

Bucky frowned worried. He walked from the back of the sofa and knelt by your side. “You good, Doll?”.

You blinked nodding rapidly. “Nightmare”. You shook yourself pulling yourself into a sitting position. “Did I hit you while I was fighting back?”.

He huffed smiling, “only a little but nothing I can’t handle”.

“You should remember what happened to the last man I hit” you smirked. The smirked fell from your face seeing your dress than disappear from this place. “Where did my dress go?”.

Bucky gasped silently remembering something pulling a large brown paper bag from behind the sofa. “Raided my sister’s and ma’s closets”, he dropped the bag on your lap.

“Did you ask them or am I aiding a thief?” you raised an eyebrow.

“well” he trailed off.

“If it comes down to it, I’ll hand you over, I’m far to pretty of jail” you laughed looking through the bag. Inside was different colour blouses, a few different skirts, and dresses. You looked up at him wide eyed, “you sure they won’t notice, this is a lot of stuff”.

“I have four sisters. This is surprisingly nothing. Sometimes might run a bit small”.

You lifted a yellow blouse from the bag and held it up against you, “I’m quite good with a needle actually, I could fix them” you lowed the blouse down meeting Bucky’s smiling at you.

As soon as you saw him, he looked away with an obvious shade of pink on the back of his neck. “you can get dressed in Steve’s room, he’s out”. He cleared his throat.

You walked across the room holding the brown bag, keeping the cover still wrapped around you. You had a quick look around the room when the door was shut, there was nothing out of the ordinary. A single bed, nightstand and photo lining the wall.

The oldest photo was a couple on their wedding day, his parents. Seeing it felt to personal too fast. You finished getting dress before leaving the room.

“I have a question” you started as you entered the main room again. Bucky looked up from his spot on the sofa. “What will you say to your family when they find out about me”.

He thought about it, “How will they find out?”.

You rolled your eyes, “A strange girl staying with your friend is going to bring up questions, so what will you tell them?”.

“What do you want me to tell them, doll?” he threw his head back smiling.

You shook your head at him. “you’re a tease”.

“I willing to put my money where my mouth is”.

You puckered your lips walking up to him. “Aww darling you wouldn’t know what to do if got the chance” you ran your finger down his cheek as you spoke. He turned a shade darker almost right away. “Might let you one day if you’re lucky”. You wink bating him away.

“Now whose the tease, doll”

-x-

Stood in front of the worktop you question why you had offered to cook. The bread you deemed easy was actually harder than anything you had done before. Working from memory had been your first mistake, you remembered someone telling you how to make the perfect bread but you obviously wasn’t as good.

“Did Steve say when he’d be back?” you asked Bucky.

“Wait he didn’t tell you? He was gone when I got here” Bucky head popped out from the hallway.

“I was asleep remember” you walked to the front door and lent against it, wiping dough down your skirt.

Bucky was knelt down fixing some floorboards, “Thought he told you then you went back to sleep”.

“Aren’t you worried?” question looking down the stairway and to the street below, “he could have gotta into another fight”.

You were shocked when he laughed. “probably”.

You held your forehead in your hand and sighed. “I don’t think I’d get used to this”.

You went back to the kitchen hoping to save dinner, “how’s things going in there?”, bucky called through.

Looking down at the messy dough on the worktop you laughed, “Let’s just say I’m no Sparkles”.

“Who?”

You bent back so you could look at him, “what?”.

“You said ‘I’m no Sparkles’ then I asked who that was”.

It came out before you thought about it, you kept your eyes on the ground trying to remember anything. “She was a friend, is a friend” you murmured. You lifted your head and met his gaze “she was my friend”.

“Do you remember anything else?” you swore you heard a hint a worry in his voice.

“nope” you grin. “How about we swap and you doing the cooking and I do the repairs”. You swayed your hips walking back to him, “come on James, what do you say?”.

Bucky swiped sweat from his brow, squinting at you. “would have to teach ya how to do it first” he tutted.

You got down on the floor next to him. “teach me”.

He studied you carefully before nodding. “be carefully not to hit your thumb”, he warned you. After watching him closely you took the hammer from him. Hesitating you doubled checked you had the right spot, you jumped when you felt Bucky’s hand on yours.

You made yourself keep your face down, the moment you felt his hand on yours heat spread across your face. His breath ran down your neck, raising the baby hairs. “I think I’ve got it from here” you muttered after the second nail.

He took a deep breath making your breath hard yourself.

“ehh what’s going on?”, both you and Bucky looked up to Steve who was stood watching at the top of the stairs.

You moved anyway from Bucky, dusting off your clothes standing up. “I was showing James how to fix the floor”.

Steve didn’t seemed convicted as he walked past you into the flat. “Dinner going well?” Steve laughed.

“so it turns out I’m not a good cook” you held up your hands in defence and laughed along. “The dough just kept sticking to the worktop”.

“You forgot to put flour on it” he pointed out.

You put your hand to your head sighing. “That’s what I was forgetting!”.

Steve smiled shaking his head at you, “I’ll sort it out”.

You smiled thanking him. If your memories were really gone, you wouldn’t mind staying here with Bucky and Steve for as long as they’d have you.

[dogin8]

to do list:

write a descriptive piece about all of the immortals on the smp after all the other life is gone

post a crappy little drawing i did of connor earlier done

post the "dsmp if connor had a gun" meme

Never actually catch up on the lore

Make the "okay I'm a sucker for when worlds are sentient and notice outsiders" post, outsider might be karl or connor or Tommy (I'm thinking Disney's soul, somebody noticed that Tommy was missing in the after life)

Try to finally sit down and write a fic, like... any fic

Try to finally sit down and read a fic like... any fic

Don't forget to not catch up on the lore

Predict that Purpled Bedwars will be in tales from the smp "The Pit" mission failed

Predict a bunch of random other stuff and hopefully continue to get really lucky

Finally make that post about the greek mythology AU, maybe change the characters as some of them are outdated but Sam is still Daedalus and Tommy is still Icarus

Write more lore for Connor because I'm lowkey certain he just comes on social media, reads like 4 posts about him and then just picks the lore he wants /j

You better not be catching up on the lore while I'm not looking

Make that one power rangers redraw with the dsmp power rangers.

Speaking of which, decide who I would like to be the pink power ranger (I decided ranboo's colour scheme is closer to black than pink so that's where we're at rn)

And I'm sure I will never do any of these and just continue to spam random garbage in the ConnorEatsPants tag

Make some clip comps and edits

Make the Tommy video essay "Nostalgia and the fear of change."

Figure out where I stand on the morality of c!Quackity and c!Sam

Make that funny post that I legit can't remember done

Make a card: How to navigate my blog tags like off topic and long post and such done

Make a post about how something being "early" always is a bad omen on the smp

Clip comp of Tommy with cavetown Juliet in the background "Why can't I scream"

Make the meme "Just read the youtube comments, worst mistake of my life" ehh, abandoned

[missmaxime]

D L O for the fanfic asks

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic] all my fic? So, I don’t have a fancy playlist like some writers here do, because if I’m not half-listening to the TV on the background I usually listen to hardstyle. The one I listen to the most is the Spotify playlist: Hardstyle by Q-dance.  It’s not even a favorite genre of mine, but the beats help me focus on my writing. I find that when I’m listening to music I like it’s too distracting.  For specific fanfics.  I See Your True Technicolors: Never-Ending Story - Within Temptation I’m In The Dark, I’d Like To Read His Mind: Voices Carry - ‘Til Tuesday Wild at Heart: Far Too Young to Die - Panic! At The Disco The Girlfriend Experience: We Could Run - Beth Ditto Stuck in the Middle: Fuck You - Lily Allen (These could easily change, I went through my Spotify lists real quick tp find something suitable) L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? Like 5-6 times I think? It depends on the length. A 3K chapter is way easier to work through than a 17k one-shot. Usually I have this process: 1. Read through back-to-back 2. Turn on Editor in Microsoft word (and cry when I see how much I have to correct/revisit) - This probably takes the longest. Because I’m so hyper-focused on the text in this process I pick up a lot of typos and weird sentence structures. Editing The Girlfriend Experience took me 2-3 days in this stage, because I did a lot of things at once.  3. CTRL F the words I discovered I used excessively (In TGE I noticed I had used the word ‘little’ a lot - turns out I used it 48 times... ehh.) So I either cut it or change the wording.  4. Read through one more time in Word, put it as a draft on AO3 and check if the codes aren’t wonky 5. Edit on my cellphone (haha I’m sure lot’s of you think I’m crazy, but the small screen helps me focus better for a final edit).  6. Leave it in draft for a few hours or overnight, read it again and post. (7. Read it later and discover a bunch of mistakes and get mad about it at yourself - unavoidable step in the process).  O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters? I think coming up with a story is a culmination of a few things? Up ‘til now I’ve only written Beth and Rio as the main characters, so that’s easy. For the rest of it there’s usually something that inspires the drift of the story. Like me wanting to write a certain genre, trope or story-construct. Which is followed by many many hours of window-gazing until I have the big idea. And then I just start writing, because I notice in myself that when I plan too much I get tired of the idea before I even start.  For TGE I had a way bigger crime-plot in my head when I started writing, but about 4/5k in I noticed it was too big, and distracted from the story. So I reduced the plot to tie in more with Beth and Rio, and the people at the estate, instead of this whole outside plot that was centered more at the crime business. One thing I did do for TGE, because it has a lot of OCs, is outlining their character profiles a bit and what their role is (but a lot of this changed too in writing. Marina and Jay had very small parts beforehand, but was clearly overthrown).  So in short: I do think of the broad strokes of the plot, but it only really comes together when I’m writing it. 

[alucience]

Master Post - Key AU Information

So, I’ve decided that as my blog grows and information about this AU gets buried in old posts, I think it would be helpful to create a master post to organize all the information I believe is important for you to know. I’ll update this as I see fit. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask! 

*Keep in mind that currently on Tumblr, if a post is reblogged by another person and then edited by the OP, the edits will not appear on the reblog - so, for the most up-to-date version of this post, please seek my blog’s description! I’ll keep a link for this there. 

What is this AU about?

In a nutshell: Titled “The Structure of Blood”, this AU explores the story of an ill man known as the Creovorce; a highly intelligent scientist skilled in bioengineering, microbiology, and chemistry. With demented morals and untreated quirks, he used his sharp mind to fulfil his desired philosophy of equilibrium: a balance between life and death. Using a perfect set of similar DNA samples he found and stole (DNA from sextuplets of course; same genetic base with different acquired traits, a perfect variable), he created six living beings. Six living beings programmed to kill, to end life rather than to give. He created a new nature; not one of reproduction or procreation, but one of simply destruction. One wired to see and accept and understand the concept of death rather than life. 

The Creovorce created Otsumatsu, Karumamatsu, Kyoromatsu, Shishimatsu, Kuchimatsu, and Toramatsu (later coined by Osomatsu as their “anti” versions). His perfect little creations were finally awake and curious, quiet and observant as the young little lives that they were. However, it soon became clear that the Creovorce had programmed a flaw, one that could not be undone: for in their beating hearts was a strange bond with their DNA donors. If their original counterparts were to die, so too would their hearts stop. Distraught by his mistake, the Creovorce was desperate to undo this weakness, this imperfection. Taken by his growing episodes of insanity, the Creovorce could not stop the six beings from plotting their escape. It was only 7 weeks after their birth that the oldest four - Otsumatsu, Karumamatsu, Kyoromatsu, and Shishimatsu - successfully broke out of the lab. The youngest two remained trapped, and Shishimatsu vanished. From there, the older three reached out, trying to find their counterparts as soon as possible. Counterparts that didn’t even know they existed. 

The rest of the story is written in my documents (200 pages and counting), but isn’t fully available online or in comics.

Where can I read the comics for The Structure of Blood?

Due to personal issues and my fluctuating mental health, I don’t have much done - even after all this time. I’ve tried to start the comic three times over (all at different points in the storyline), but never finished them. You can read what I have here:

- This was the start of it all. It’s several years old (from 2017, so I was still in high school) and a tad bit cringy, and in the end I was just never satisfied with it. I got farther here though than I did with any of the others, so here are the links! Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 

- This is one that I worked very hard on at the time, and it looks the most official - but I haven’t had the motivation to finish chapter 2 yet. Who knows if I ever will. It starts out with the backstory of the antis, narrated by Anti Kara. (This is from 2018.) Chapter 1

- This is my most recent one, but still a few years old by now (from 2019). It takes place a little later in the story, AFTER the oldest four antis escape the lab and met their counterparts. They were recaptured with the help of Karamatsu (who by this point is acquainted with his anti, Karumamatsu), and Karamatsu is now in the lab with the Creovorce, busy contemplating some harsh lies. This one was drawn on paper in hopes of getting more production, though I haven’t updated it in some time. Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 

Who are the “antis”? (Detailed) 

The “antis” (a term coined by Osomatsu) are the six beings of destructions created by the Creovorce using the original brothers’ DNA. Although they possess adult bodies and the innate intelligence of a regular person, they are only seven weeks old. Despite their violent nature, they hold a child-like essence, being naïve, simple-minded, wide-eyed/curious, observant, and truly lacking bias. They still take naps and have some childish quirks such as rubbing their eyes when sleepy, twirling a strand of hair with their finger when bored or tired, staring at and studying faces closely when curious (like, to the point where they break boundaries), touching others’ faces when analyzing or observing, becoming rowdy right before bed, innocently mimicking others to understand the purpose of an action, and holding no boundaries between themselves and their counterparts (such as grabbing on to them, keeping them physically close, playing with their hair, etc). 

I have a post that discusses their name meaning/kanji, MBTI type, birthday, and general personality/information (plus information on The Creovorce). To read that, click here.

Why do the antis all seem to hate Shishimatsu (Anti Ichi)?

Well, it started at the lab. As the antis were created, the Creovorce spent time and energy day after day studying them, testing them, loading them with information through tubes and wires. With every little flaw he caught - whether it be behavioral, physical, mental, emotional, - he took all of them back into the testing tubes and manually fixed. Although the tubes left them unfazed, it’s not like they liked it (or really the Creovorce, for that matter. Or each other. They weren’t very happy fellas.). So when it became clear that Shishimatsu had the most quirks (often emotional) that the Creovorce saw needed to be fixed, the others were pretty exasperated. Time and time, it was Shishimatsu’s fault yet again. Back to the tubes. Back to the tubes again. Oh, here we go again. The others don’t necessarily hate him for this, but it gave them someone to blame and make fun of.

As for the younger two - Kuchimatsu and Toramatsu - their hate stems from a different reason. When the antis sought to escape the lab and formed together, the plan was that all of them would make it out - it was the only way to defeat the Creovorce. It was all or nothing. None of them could rise against him alone, not when this was a person who knew them better than they did themselves. However, the plan fell through. Shishimatsu made a mistake while attempting to separate from the others during their escape, and the result was that Kuchimatsu and Toramatsu were trapped and left behind. As the others ran free, the younger two were left to grow their hatred together as their lives were put in danger in a situation that was out of their control. All because of Shishimatsu. 

Why didn’t Anti Jyushi or Anti Todo escape the lab at the beginning of the story?

Seek the answer above. 

Why do the antis cuddle with their counterparts when they sleep? Aren’t they supposed to be vicious?

This is a concept I’ve had since the beginning of the story way back in early 2017, but I realize I’ve never actually explained it here. The antis themselves are very light sleepers - they’re programmed to be alert and ready for a fight at all times. They don’t even dream at night. This increase in sensitivity gives the antis a special intuitive ability that aids in their protection: the ability to detect irregularities in a person’s heartbeat. When an anti sleeps with his head resting against his counterpart’s chest, he can sleep listening to their heartbeat. Even during their most vulnerable state, they feel a sense of control when they can unconsciously detect wakefulness, sleep, dreams, anxiety, excitement, etc. It’s commonplace for the anti to wake up multiple times during the night as their counterpart dreams and speeds up or slows down their heart rate. My friend described them as living baby monitors. 

It’s also likely they find subconscious comfort in hearing a heartbeat that matches their own. After all, if their counterpart dies, so do they. Even as violent killers, the beating signifies life and therefore hushes them slightly. 

Why don’t the antis dream?

Again, another early concept that I’ve never explained. It was supposed to be revealed later on in the story, but that’s taking too long. 

During the time that the antis’ bodies were still developing at the lab, they resided in testing tubes in a state referred to as “cunae” where they could not breathe air or experience full consciousness. As their growth progressed closer to their “birth”, the Creovorce took note that Anti Oso (Otsumatsu) had developed nightmares. As the nightmares began taking a toll on his development, the Creovorce saw this as a flaw and - just as he did any other “flaw” - erased it. From that point on, the antis lost their ability to dream. 

Otsumatsu remembers this. He remembers his nightmares. He doesn’t recall seeing or hearing anything, or even what they were about - but he knows he had them, and he remembers what they felt like. He remembers the feeling of helplessness and terror, but nothing more. He also remembers the point where they suddenly stopped. The “flaw” had been fixed. While he was aware that he was the reason they don’t dream, the others grew up not even knowing what dreams were.

What sexual orientation are the antis? 

The antis are being of destruction, and therefore find no use in attempting to procreate. Their sex drive is pretty much as dead as anything else that comes in contact with them. 

Sometimes it’s fun to imagine what a beast one of them would be in bed though~ I don’t blame you for that. 

Is the story for this AU actually finished?

Ehh that’s a complicated question. There are several story arcs in my documents that I continue to play around with and add to. Some arcs are complete, some are almost complete, and others continue to get added to over time.

Worst case scenario: years and years down the road when everyone’s abandoned this story/fandom and I’ve moved on to other AUs, I’ll just tell you guys how it ends (anyone who’s even interested in hearing anyway). I mean, I’ve seen unfinished AUs before and it drives me mad never learning how it ends or what happens. I’m way too nostalgic to do that. 

What is this blog’s relation to the timeline of the AU? 

It’s a little hard to explain. The official AU/story is its own thing. I even update the comic every once in a while (thought I’m not very consistent - which is my bad!) 

Meanwhile on the blog, I like to just pretend that the story already happened and now Anti Oso and Anti Kara (and sometimes the other four in some scenarios) are all just living with the sextuplets at the Matsuno Household. Since they have nowhere else to go, they’re allowed to live with them as long as they don’t kill anyone (and they get their sedatives every night). 

I always like to remind people that the scenario on the blog may be inconsistent with the original story. For instance, if in the AU Shonosuke had died, then maybe he’s suddenly back on the blog for comedic purposes or something. Or if Anti Oso moved to Australia in the AU and now he’s suddenly back on the blog, despite him moving. The blog isn’t necessarily canon - but feel free to ask what is and isn’t. 

Are there any other posts you think are important?

I think each post provides just a little more insight on the lives and personalities of the antis. My Tumblr blog was started in 2017 and has lots of early comics and stories you can scroll through (since this was originally an Anti Kara ask blog). There are some things that are even too old to have been posted on my Twitter. 

If you don’t want to spend a thousand years scrolling, you can see most of my artwork without all the annoying text posts on DeviantArt (yeah I know, we’re in the 20′s and I’m still using DA). I’ve even compiled a Journal entry on my page that compiles a list of questions people have asked me over the years regarding this AU. Check out my DA here.

[bigsnzstanacct]

Richie Robbins

Here’s my first, totally unfinished sneezefic. It’s all about loud sneezes, I haven’t edited it at all and tbh I found it on some random blog that had clearly grabbed stories from the forum bc I didn’t want to dig through all my old computer backups so ya know if it’s screwed up it’s not my fault.

As passionately as he desired to, he knew he wouldn't be able to evade it. It would come, as so many times before: unavoidable, uncontrollable, unstoppable. He closed his eyes, tilted back his head, let the itch like fire at the edges of his nostrils expand to set his whole nose ablaze with a tickle so strong, only a monstrous explosion could expel it. And monstrous explosions were his stock-in-trade.

"hehh...hehh...HEISSSHOOO!" he exploded. His stunned professor stopped her lecture, as the noise rang out through the huge lecture hall, waking up quite a few drowsy (hungover?) students. Flummoxed, she lost her place in her notes, as the boy sitting next to him, a jock, last name Stevens... first name he couldn't remember, muttered, "Nice one, Robbins. You planning to blow any houses down any time soon?"

Richard Robbins waited a moment before he replied, hoping to make sure the one great sneeze had been enough to expel the full magnitude of the tickly sensation in his nostrils. He sniffed before opening his mouth to reply, which was, as always, a huge mistake.

"Yeah, Ste-st... stevens... I... hah... I...iiegh...ieghhh..ihhh...ihhh..." He thought for a moment he'd gotten it under control, rushing a firm index finger to his quivering nostrils, but it was too little, too late: "Y-yeahhhh... ahhhKESHHHHHuuuhh. HEYY-SHEEUUUUEY!" Another of his roaring sneezes rang out through the room, again startling Doctor Renyolds, who had just managed to get herself composed enough to begin lecturing again. And the sneeze came with a brother, a great screaming affair which appeared to have erupted from the very depths of Richie's being, and, luckily enough, had carried with it sufficient force to finally blast out whatever was causing the terrible tickle in his nose.

"My!" Doctor Reynold's voice came, after only a few seconds, "Whoever has been exploding in my has thoroughly put me off my lecture. Were we speaking about Hamlet or 'The Waste Land'?"

Richie sank in his chair. He had hoped to avoid this, this time. All throughout high school he had been known as the school's sneeze factory, variously going by nicknames from Sneezy to Big Bad Wolf to Johnny Tsunami--that particular psudonym coming from a quite unfunny teacher--but in college, he had hoped to avoid being identified primarily by his nose.

Of course, when you had a nose as big as Richie's, it was rather difficult not to notice. It was nearly always the first thing people noticed about Richie, either because he was busy sneezing or because its moderately thin but hugely protruding shape, rather like a right triangle seen in profile, was the most commanding thing about his face. And his nostrils: they were great, wide, massive things, sucking up irritants with an unholy frequency, tickling with an unthinkable burning fury, exploding with almost unimaginable, messy force. There were times when he felt his older brothers' insistence upon calling his nose Mount Vesuvius was not wholly inaccurate.

Not that any of the men in Richie's family had room to complain about his sneezes. While Richie may have gotten a double portion, this was surely a family curse: when the six Ritchie men--three older siblings: Tristan, Adrian, and Sebastian, Richie himself, his little brother Max, and his father--were united in colds and allergies, it was a wonder Richie's mother hadn't gone deaf. All six of them complained of unusually strong itches that developed deep within their nostrils, which could only be expelled by their characteristically loud sneezes. Stifling or containing the sneezes would never do; it would only intensify the tickle--and the resulting sneezes--by several orders of magnitude.

No, there was little Richie could do in such a situation besides let himself sneeze and hope that no one would notice. Which, thus far, had never happened.

"Hey, Robbins," the jock queried, "should I send out the storm warning to little pigs?"

After class, Richie walked out onto the campus, on the way to his dorm room. He was hit full in the face by the bright September sun, and by his furious nasal tickling.

"Nodda... hiihhh... nodahhh... again... HEEEYY-SHEEUU! HISSHHH! ehh... ehhhSHIIEUUU!" He let the sneezes erupt into the open air, giving them free reign to bend him in half, three times, each sneeze bigger and louder than the previous, though, for Richie, they were comparatively light, more like minor aftershocks than the sneeze-quake itself. He wished these would've hit in the lecture hall, rather than the nuclear blasts he had actually let out.

"Well, you can't always get what you want..." Richie muttered to himself.

"But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you just might find...!" Sing-shouted Richie's best friend, Adam, who had, as ever, appeared behind him.

"How do you do that?" Richie asked, "Do you stalk men unawares in the night by custom? I'm beginning to think you're practicing to be Batman."

"Richie," Adam paused to say, mock-serious, "I am Batman. And even if I wasn't, I'd be able to locate those sneezes from halfway across the campus," laughed Adam. "But anyway, what's up?"

"Well, I exploded in the middle of my Poetry and Drama class, and I'm pretty sure Professor Reynolds hates me, but besides that, not much."

"Old Vesuvius come back to life? Well, no shock there. No offense dude, but your nose has been permanently set to stun since high school."

"Yeah, I've noticihhh... ihhhh... ihhyahhhhhhhAAESSHUUU!"

The pair began walking down the cobblestone path of the university, presumably towards the dorm rooms, then cut through the quad, where, of course, the flowers begot a huge tickle in Richie's nose. "Oh! W-waaahhh... ahhh..." He tried to get the tickle under control long enough to utter the phrase "watch out," but Adam had long since learned to gage when Richie was about to embark upon one of his voyages to a Byzantium of Richter-scale rocking sneezes, and had promptly set his fingers in his ears, got down on his knees, and, in a grand military manner, announced, "Cannons are aimed! Target has been acquired! Fire at will! Fire at will!!"

The fact that he had never, frankly, fired at will, passed quickly through Richie's mind before the sneeze washed over him, washing away all thoughts other than the sneezes, and all quiet in the quad: "yyeeaaaaaaHHHCHOOOOOOOSSSHHH"

Several stunned students turned around to locate the source of the booming noise, and Adam thought that he heard a "wow," somewhere in the distance. A few birds, it seemed, started from the trees. Adam wasn't even entirely sure that he had imagined the swaying he thought he saw in a few of the trees. There was no doubt about it: Richie could sneeze. Ever since they met in freshman year of high school, Adam had seen Richie's nose at the epicenter of a daily series of frightful detonations. This particular sneeze had been not only monstrously loud but torrentially wet, leading Adam to celebrate his decision to crouch at Richie's side; he did not want to get drenched, as he had been on more than one occasion. Ever since freshman year.

"Geez, Rich, you done?" Adam asked, after giving Richie a few seconds.

"SHEEEOOO!" Richie exploded, if possible, even louder.

"Guess not." he chuckled. After Richie (and Adam) felt sure that Richie's nose wasn't about to go nuclear again, Adam stood up, began walking, and quipped, "You know, I'm looking for a side-kick; before I swoop in and lock up the baddies, maybe I can get you to sneeze and blow 'em down!"

"Shut up, Adam." Richie joked, giving Adam a playful slap on the head, before the two rushed off trading barbs as they went.

—-

Richie reached the dormroom with comparatively few incidents, although he had to force himself more than once to obey his father’s favorite dictum: don’t stifle your sneezes. Don’t even try. Richie’d heard that particular sermon preached any number of times, along with his mother’s story: “When your father went on our first date, he tried to hold those things back, and when they finally came out”—“when she smothered her spaghetti in pepper,” his father would always interject—“I thought he was going to blow everything off the table! He sounded a little like you, actually, Richie.”

So, with his mother’s slightly nasally voice ever ringing in his ears, Richie forced himself to let out a series of noisy nasal explosions, in order to satiate his nose’s uncontrollable need for relief from its buzzing, burning, incredibly tickly itching sensations. Few people could imagine just how strong the tickles in Richie’s nose got; perhaps the only way to truly represent their magnitude was their own self-expression in his explosive sneezes. He felt fairly lucky that he'd only had to give in to three or four on his way back to the dorms, although the gaggle of women who had clearly bathed in perfume were less than joyous at the sudden, shocking explosion of elephantine nasal trumpeting which had suddenly erupted to their near right, and each had jumped at least a foot in the air, much to the amusement of Adam, who'd laughed almost as loudly as Richie had sneezed.

Adam and Richie had reached their dorm room, and were sitting about, not really doing anything, as college students are wont to do in lazy afternoons, after classes but before the dinner hours. Of course, they could have been studying, but who’d want to do that? Richie was busy plotting ways to avoid blasting the cafeteria during lunch (take an extra dose of Claritin, bring a handkerchief, and always avoid pepper like the plague), while Adam sat on the bed, debating with himself about whether or not to take a nap, when he felt a tickle invade his nose. Adam’s sneezes, while certainly not tiny, couldn’t compare in the slightest to Richie’s nasal artillery, and the “ihh… ihhhh…IT-CHEEOOooey” he released was nothing compared to a Richie sneeze.

But Adam’s nose wasn’t done yet; the tickle returned, the previous sneeze having done nothing to alleviate it, but rather seeming to have augmented it: “nyehhh… hih! hih! hehhh…” Adam’s nose vacillated on the edge of a relieving sneeze, its power building with every hitch of his breath, “nighiiee…hiegh… ighhhiee… iiiaaAAAAAHHH-CHOOO!” Adam sneezed, much harder than normal.

“Woah, buddy,” Richie murmured over his shoulder, “You really let that one go; you aiming to start a sneeze fight?”

“No, no, no, no,” Adam said, still feeling a bit lightheaded from the sneeze, which had taken more out of him than usual, “getting into a sneeze war with your nose is like bringing three sticks and a baseball bat to the Crimeahhhh… Crimeaaaaahhhh… Crimean... aayyYAH-SHEWWWESSH!” Yet another draining sneeze burst from Adam’s nose, this time with some considerable spray. “Yeesshhh,” Adam said, “that would would’ve drenched a tissue almost as bad as you would! I’m turning into a fire hose sneezer like y… you… you… Ah-CHOOeeeyyy!” Adam let out yet another sneeze, although this one was comparatively light, more in keeping with Adam’s usual sub-volcanic sneeze level.

Thus far, he’d been able to avoid it, having long since learned that if he was to ever do anything except sneeze, he’d have to suppress his sympathetic sneezing reaction. But ever since he’d been a teen, Richie’s nose had been envious of anyone who let out too many sneezes around him, and desired to experience such enormous relief as came with his hurricane-strength achooeys. Thus, he felt a slight tickle brewing when Adam had released his fourth sneeze, and when he heard Adam hitching up to a fifth—“ahhh… ahh… am… ah… am I ever gonaaaahhhh stahhh… stahhh… stop… ahhh…”—he feared his nose too, would begin to go into sneezy paroxysms.

“Adam, man, ah… ah… can you get a hold on those sneezes… my n-nose is starting to tickle too… hoohhhh… ohhhh…”

Richie struggled to get a grip on the still relatively slight tickle that had invaded his nose, as Adam did his best to hold back his sneezy nose from the delightfully relieving fifth sneeze that he knew was on its way. “ahhhh… ahhhh… I-I dunno… ohhhh ahhh… hah… It ruhhhh… ruhhhheaalllly tickles. Ahhhhh… AHHHH… AYYY-CHEOOOSHH!” He let out another sneeze, the strongest, wettest, and most forceful of the bunch, although not spectacularly loud.

But anyone waiting for a noisy nose would have little time to wait. Adam’s fifth and final sneeze had sent Richie’s sympathetic tickles into overdrive, and with almost no buildup, he reared his head back, nostrils flaring wildly like a bucking horse, and bellowed out an enormous, “CCHHHHEEEOOOOOOOO!” Followed by two more, slightly less loud but torrentially wet, “PLESSHEWEY! IT-CHEWWW!” Each sneeze was a spectacularly loud, messy affair, though they were commensurate to Richie’s normal sneeze volume, which, of course, approached the ear-splitting at close ranges. It was more than enough, Richie realized sheepishly, to sound throughout the entire dorm room floor, and maybe the floors above and below. He remembered to make a mental note to avoid staying up late nights—a late night tickle could easily turn peaceful dorm-mates into irate potential tormentors, irritated by being woken by Richie’s cannon-like sneeze. He realized, too, that he might’ve shaken people from any number of midday naps.

When Richie’s series of explosions were done, an affair which sent Richie’s body completely out of control, rearing back and exploding forward with abandon, his entire body at the mercy of his monstrously powerful lungs, mouth, and most of all, nose, Adam couldn’t resist making a quip. “See why I don’t want to get in a sneezing fight with you?”

“Yeah, I know. I hate those sympathetic tickles. Gotta keep that under control,” Richie said, as much to chide his nose as anything else.

“Under control? Your nose? That’s like keeping a bull in a china shop from disturbing a single piece of porcelain. Really wish I could find out why I was sneezin’ though. Those were pretty big for me, though for you it’d be like taking an earthshaking thunderstorm and replacing it with a light, pleasant summer rain…” Adam laughed, but paused when his joking was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” Richie shouted, fearing that it was an irate neightbor, awoken from a nap. This had been one of his many fears about college; each of his older brothers had brought home several stories of how they had woken up between one and several fellow dorm-mates, roommates and apartment neighbors (not that the Robbins boys needed to be in the same building with a person to make themselves known by their noses; the family’s suburban neighbors had revealed on several occasions that someone, usually Richie, had been audible through the windows). Tristan, the oldest, who had, after Richie, the second most Vesuvial nose in the family, once told the story of how he had woken up, very literally, his entire dorm with a series of cold-inspired sneezes, and how only the awesomely pathetic sight of his sickly state, ensconced as he was in blankets and almost covered in used tissues and hankies, had prevented him from receiving one of his dormmates infamously cruel practical jokes.

Richie hoped to avoid such a situation, and so it was with apprehension (and desperate attempts to remember his self-defense classes) that he opened the door.

“Hey, dude!” Said the surprisingly pleasant and excited looking young man at the door, “was that a sneeze, or did somebody set of a nuke in the room next to mine?”

Relieved as Richie was by the friendliness of the visitor, Adam slightly sluggishly slid out of bed, laughing as he did, “That’s my man here, Richie, the Nose extraordinaire, the loudest sneeze in the west, superman of sneezes, the titan of ticklish nostrils, Sir Vesuvius himself, the leaf-blower…”

“Richard, just Richard is my name.” Richie cut in, eager to cut Adam off before he got to the detested “Johnnie Tsunami” epithet.

“Well, Richard-just-Richard, I had to come over here to see if that nose actually just came out of a person!”

“Sorry, I can’t help it…” Richie said, suddenly blushing slightly, “I hope I didn’t wake you or anything…”

“Nah. I wasn’t doing anything. But really, you just sneezed that loud? You got some kinda supernose or somethin’?”

“Well, it’s not exactly thin, as you can see,” Adam began, with a professorial air, “and the protruding shape and large nostrils provide some explanation as to its loud-speaker like qualities…”

“It’s just been that way since I was a kid,” sighed Richie, mildly put off by the awkward conversation.

“Dude, I haven’t heard a sneeze that loud since, like, ever, probably. Although my dad sets off some real firecrackers back at home… I didn’t think I’d hear anything like that for another few months. Kinda reminds me of home, actually.”

“Well, anytime you get homesick, just give us a ring and bring the pepper, though you might wanna bring some earplugs actually…”

“Adam. Geez, do you ever run out,” Richie inquired, with an irritated air.

“Not really.” Adam replied straightforwardly, "I'm a joke machine. And a love machine. Just FYI, let the ladies know..."

“Well,” the visitor declared, “Adam, Richie, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jerry.” He stuck his hand out, and Richie shook it forcefully, though he found his grasp met with a vice shaking like a centrifuge.

“Nice to meet you, too.” Richie said, wincing slightly from the handshake.

“Hey, dude, we’re headed to lunch soon, wanna come?”Adam asked cheerfully.

“Yeah, totally. I was actually kinda hoping to avoid eating lunch alone,” Jerry confessed, “though I don’t know how you get through lunch, dude. Better warn ‘em: hide the pepper!”

That’s a joke I haven’t heard before Richie thought to himself. But, though not original in his jokes, this new acquaintance wasn’t half-bad, and was certainly an improvement upont the angry neighbor Richie’d feared he’d encounter. And speaking of curing homesickness…

“Are you wearing co-cologne… cologne… ehhhhh… ehhhhhhh… EHHHHHSSSSHOOOO!” Richie erupted another characteristically noisy sneeze, which, at unusually close range, prompted both Jerry and Adam to dramatically cover their ears to avoid the full blast of Richie’s nasal explosion, which was easily a nine on the Richter scale, probably a ten.

“Geez, man, I thought they were loud through the wall!” Jerry said, awestruck.

“Richie’s nose? Man, you haven’t seen anything yet. He’ll blow the paint off the walls before we graduate,” Adam joked, yet again.

“I think I might go ahead and take a shower,” Jerry responded, “I’ll meet you guys in about thirty minutes, alright?”

“Sounds great!” Adam said.

Richie would’ve replied, but Jerry’s cologne hadn’t yet finished with Richie’s surpassingly tickly and tickle-able nose. “hahhhh… HAHHHHH…HEHSHOOOH!” Richie erupted again, thanking his lucky nasal stars that his nose had seen fit, for once, to not let out a great big wet one while he was right in someone’s face. He opened his mouth to say, “nice to meet you,” but what came out was another, “TITCHEWWWEY! SHEWWWWWSH!” It was hugely, horribly wet, and in his zeal to avoid blasting his new compatiot, he had turned and, inadvertently, sprayed a great, big wet one into the face of his good friend Adam.

“Well… um… are you trying to tell me you don’t like my jokes, buddy?”

Now, getting sprayed by a sneeze was usually a messy affair, but getting sprayed by a Richie sneeze was pitched somewhere between “elephant sneeze” and “sprayed by a fire hose”. Adam was drenched, and Richie found himself reflecting yet again as to why he never, never attempted to use a pathetic tissue to hold up against the surpassing force of his all-powerful nasal eruptions, the tickly twin cannons of wind, wet, and sound that had taken up residence on his face, began full-strength operations in high school, and seemed to grow in power alone as their experience increased.

“Well, I think I’ll be taking a shower too.” Adam said, before promptly turning around, grabbing a towel and some clothes, and rushing to the bathroom, letting out an irrepressable, high-pitched, and surpassingly effete “EWWWWWW!” which sent Richie and Jerry into shaking convulsions of laughter.

—

After cleaning himself off from Richie’s hurricane-force discharge, Adam proceeded to the downstairs dining hall to meet both Richie and their new friend Jerry. Of course, he heard Richie before he saw him. “heh… heh… HAT-CHOOO!” It was a comparatively small one for his good friend Rich, but the noise still carried well out of the dining room and into the hallway. Adam often kidded Richie about his sneezes, but half the time he genuinely felt bad for the guy. After all, those massive eruptions that had punctuated almost his entire high school experience weren’t just occasional explosions, they were daily at the very least. Any number of things lit Richie’s sneezing fuse, setting off a chain reaction inside Richie’s nose that led inexorably to a blast of such volume and violence that people often inquired of Richie how such a loud noise could come out of a 45-year old 6’ 10’ two-hundred-thirty-pound ex-logger construction worker with a bad head cold, much less little old Richie Robbins. Every time he sneezed with people around, Richie would blush, shrug, and, Adam knew, mentally wish himself out of the room. It wasn’t easy having a semi-superpower—not that it’d do any good in a fight, Adam mused—for a sneeze. But it was life for poor Richie, and that was simply that.

For Adam’s part, he’d never been particularly bothered by his best friend’s outrageous a-choos. Maybe he just had ears of steel, but the volume didn’t bother him, and it did provide a decent shake-up during lulls in conversation. Heck, he’d been a regular vistor to the Robbins household, and that was an experience unto itself. Multiplying Richie’s sneezes with a father, three older brothers, and one younger made a ruckus that just didn’t make sense. If anyone needed proof that sneezes were hereditary, well, Adam knew where to bring them. He’d heard the same story from all six Richie men: it’s the tickles. The tickles, itches, tingles, and twinges that invaded the Robbins family sinuses were purportedly unbearable, like a thousand invisible brushes sweeping all the way up the nasal cavity. And the only way to get those brushes (temporarily) out was to let out a blast that could be heard across three counties (or at least a small suburban house… and a few of the adjacent ones.) Their sneezes came from their toes and then some. But the big sneezes were just the only way that they could relieve the incredible pressure and the tickle that built up in their large, protruding nostrils, swishing around their noses with an unimaginable irritation. The ones with long build-ups were the worst. He’d seen Tristan and Adrian, Sebastian and Max, even Mr. Robbins, staring up at lights, forcefully fanning under their noses, doing anything to tip the tickle out of the gate and onto the flight ramp, at which point a sneeze would shoot out from their nostrils of which any elephant would have been proud.

It was thoughts like this that preoccupied Adam as he sat down with Richie and Jerry, who were discussing the finer points of eruption-inspiring allergens.

“For my dad, is the dogs that are the worst, man, get him within ten feet of a dog, especially one of those great big shaggy things, and oh man… it’s time to break out the protective earmuffs, I’m tellin’ you…”

“Yeah, dogs get me bad too, but the cats… oh… waay… wait a second… I’b gonnahhhh… ahhh… HASHOOOEY!” Richie gasped out a “’nother… nothaaahhh” before bursting into a second tectonic shift of a sneeze, “YASSSHOOOOOO! Oh, I’m so sorry, that was a big one.”

“They’re always big ones, Rich!” Adam said as he sat down.

“Can’t argue with you there.” Richie sighed. While he often wished he could just get rid of his charateristic sneez-plosions, Richter rockers, or Richie Roars, as his nasal expulsions were variously called, Richie was grateful for friends that weren’t repulsed, shocked, or amazed by his sneezes, and he felt much less self-conscious about lettin’ it rip when Adam, or, as of today, Jerry, was around. Not that he had much (or any) choice.

“So, you two comparing notes?” asked Adam.

“Yeah,” Jerry said, “so far, we’ve mentioned flowers, pepper, animals…”

“Actually, most spices get me, red pepper worst of all.” Richie began, “In fact, the reason I sat down at this table is because it doesn’t even have a red pepper shaker, thank goodness. But I’ve blown back the fur and feathers on just about any pet you can imagine…”

They continued on talking like this, unaware that at the table just behind them, the very jock that had filled the standard role of Richie’s sneeze tormentor was subtly listening in on their conversation. Ashton Stevens was his name, and he, like Jerry, had also had a big sneezer at home. But he didn’t have such generous memories of his parents’ noisy noses. In fact, he had been driven nearly insane by his mother and father’s constant loud sneezes, which, unlike Richie’s, seemed put-on, fake, as if they both just wanted to announce to the world how noisily they could sneeze. The crowning moment had been that day, the day of senior prom… but Ashton tried not to think about it. For his part, he had rather dainty sneezes, somewhat at odds with his large and muscular build. He, of course, had never been plagued with allergies on the level of Richie’s, but he had gone through an allergic phase as a teen. During that time he constantly focused on controlling his sneezes, squelching them down until they were little more than a semi-audible, “chuh”. Richie’s gargantuan gale winds had brought him right back to that moment at the senior prom, and he secretly seethed inside every time Richie’s nose went out of control and spasmed with a silence-smashing sneeze. But he was formulating a plan, in the back of his mind, that would shame Richie into shutting up, as his parents never would.

Meanwhile, as Ashton Stevens seethed, Richie (predictably) sneezed. “yeaaaahhhh, ahhhh… aaaaahpppppSHEWWW! Uh, another one. I don’t know what’s making my nose so itchy!” The sneeze, honestly, had been the lightest one he’d let out in a while, only audible above speaking voices at the end, indicating a comparatively low-level irritation. Probably a stray flake of black pepper. While he reacted to pepper as much as anybody else, Richie had never had nearly as much of a problem with pepper as he did with dander, other spices, and the dreaded perfume and cologne.

“So,” Adam inquired, “what are you boys up to this evening. It’s Friday night, and ah… ah… HAT! CHOO!” Adam let out a neatly segregated sneeze, a firmly punctuated breath drawn in followed by a neat and tidy choo, which, although somewhat wet, was not extremely loud, as per the normal pattern of Adam’s sneeze. “Woah, I don’t know why I keep sneezing.”

“Yeah, come to think of it, neither do I,” Richie added, “do you think you’re allergic to something up here?”

“Nah, I’m as hardy as a bull, allergens can’t get me down. Try as they might, they cannot invade the fortress of my mighty nasal guard. Granted, they don’t have as big of a target on mehh… on mehhhh… me… as…. BAA-shewww!” Adam sneezed again, with a sound that sounded utterly fed-up with sneezing.

“Any chance you might be getting a cold?” Jerry inquired. Adam and Richie exchanged anxious looks. Each knew what the other was thinking: if Richie caught a cold, his sneezes, seemingly impossibly, would grow significantly in strength, volume, and mess.

“No,” Adam said, attempting to laugh away the possibility, “No way! The last time I had a cold was…”

“The camping trip in eleventh grade. And I promptly caught it and nearly blew down our tent on several different occasions.” Richie finished for him, “And I hope it’s not happening now,” he moaned, “because if you get sick, then I’ll get sick, and if I get sick…”

“Don’t worry, Rich!” Adam insisted, “I’m not getting sick! But so you don’t worry, I guess I’ll take some vitamins, and call it an early night, I guess…”

“No way, man!” Jerry interrupted, “we’ve barely been in college for a week. We’re goin’ out tonight. We’re going somewhere, and if you don’t like it, mister, too bad!”

Adam laughed. “Well, can’t argue with a command like that, sir. Where do we go?”

“There’s a nice bar nearby,” Richie offered.

“No, no, no, I mean a real club: loud music, sloppy drunks, and scantily-clad women.” Of course, at the mention of women, all three hormone-addled brains perked up instantly, and any reluctance at club-going was instantly erased.

And, Adam saw another perk:

“Plus, the club’s so loud, Richie, that it’s probably one of the few places on earth where your sneezes can’t carry. You know, places like construction sites… death metal concerts… one of my sister’s shouting—I mean singing recitals…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But that’s actually a good point, and the sneezes have actually been comparatively light...” but suddenly Richie’s eyes got a distant, faraway look. His nose scrunched up, and the itch exploded in his nostrils like a thousand buzzing tiny, invisible flies, sending his nostrils into a rampage of twitching, his upper lip, his entire face swishing and moving with the enormous need to sneeze that had burgeoned so suddenly in his nostrils. This was gearing up to be a real monster; his breath hitched, “hahhhh… hahhhh…,” his eyes bulged. He reached his hand up to try to scrub away the itch, although he knew it was useless. This was shaping up to be the biggest sneeze that had hit him all day… “hih! hih! ah! ah! ah! ooooh, it won’t come ou… outahhhh… ahhhhhh… ahahhhh… ahahhah…” the sneeze stuck for a moment, leaving Richie’s face in a mask of sneezy agony, the corners of his mouth turned firmly down, his eyes tearing and glancing upwards, searching for a light bright enough to send his brewing eruption into its final stages of detonation, his eyebrows severely arched. His watering eyes rapidly blinked for what seemed an eternity, before he gave his nose one more good sniff and gave in to the inevitable detonation: “hhhhaaAAA-AARRSCHOOOhhh! HAAA-HOOOOOSH-SHOOOOEY! Ahhh… igghiee… hah…" He hitched for just a few seconds before absolutely roaring out the thermonuclear explosion of his final sneeze: "RAAH-SCHOOOOOOOOHH!”

“Woah.” Said Adam and Jerry simultaneously.

The sneeze was so big, it left Richie panting a little after. It wasn’t just the biggest sneeze all day, it was the biggest set of sneezes he’d had in a month! Richie had rocked back and forth with each colossal sneeze, giving his tickly nose complete abandon. The sneezes took him over, and each was a nearly-shouted affair that was louder than most people can shout. Those sneezes seemed to come from his whole body, his nose being merely the epicenter of the eruption. He was completely out-of-control for each massive gusting sneeze, his whole frame shaking and swaying at the mercy of his king-sized schnoz and the unbearable itch that had taken three of Richie’s most powerful sneezes to expel. When he opened his eyes afterward, he was half-afraid that he’d blown the table away!

Adam and Jerry, prepared by experience, had covered their ears, but the rest of the dining hall… well, being unprepared, some had dropped forks, plates, and cups, most had stopped their conversations, and quite a few shocked “what was that?”s sounded around the room. Those had been big even for Richie, far too loud, in fact, for anyone to hear the near-simultaneous soft, tickly “chuhh! ch-hoooh! chuhh! ka-chuuhhh!” that had come from the next table over, soft barely-there puffs of air in comparison to Richie’s Kansas twister sized sneezes, which he swore would have been big enough to send Dorothy not only to Oz, but to the other said of Mars.

“Dude,” Adam said, as the dining room slowly went back to normal, after being rocked by Richie’s “You totally shouldn’t have jinxed it.”

“Ha-ha,” Richie said, not feeling exceptionally prepared for laughing after single handedly—or rather, single-nosedly”—overpowering an entire dining room full of noisy college students in volume. “Let’s just get out of here as quickly as possible. I don’t want another one of those to happen… and I think… there might still be the beginnings of a… ah…” Richie quickly clamped his hands over his nose, hoping that he might fight the tiny residual tickle back before it became another of room-rocker, or at least get outside into the open air to release the beast.

Adam, Richie, and Jerry hurried surreptitiously out of the dining room. At the table behind them, sat Ashton Stevens, face upturned, irritated tears forming in his eyes, but a smug smile on his face, nose twitching and jerking with otherwise imperceptible “chooh! chuh! ha-hushh!” sneezes, with a plate of spaghetti practically drenched in red pepper. His little “experiment” confirmed, he threw the plate away, which promptly cleared up his sneezes, and walked calmly out of the dining hall, but not before slyly sliding the red pepper shaker into his waiting pocket.

--

Richie had, of course, erupted again outside, although once out of the range of the red pepper flakes that were like gunpowder for Richie’s cannon-like nostrils, the sneezes hadn’t registered quite so high on the Richter Scale (“a minor aftershock!” Adam had quipped).  But sneezes that huge left Richie concerned; could he be catching a cold? That would be disastrous. Besides feeling bad, he could hardly go to class, detonating another sneeze every few minutes, sneezes that would rock a three hundred person lecture hall and perhaps even send his papers flying down to the row below, sneezes that would throw even the most concentrated lecturer off of his or her game, sneezes that, in a smaller classroom, would probably disturb not only his own class, but all the classes on the floor! Of course, he’d had mega-sneezes like that before, and it didn’t always mean he was catching a cold, but if he was… well, he’d just take a lot of vitamin C that night. But going to bed early wasn’t an option. Richie, Jerry and Adam were going to a nearby club, Club Z, for a night on the town. After running back upstairs to change (again), the threesome left their dorm and headed towards Club Z, chatting all the while.

“So, Rich, how are classes going?” Adam asked, to get the conversation started.

“Oh, pretty good, when I’m not busy sneezing through them. Sebastian warned me that his sneezes tend to disrupt standard professorial activities, so I knew mine would probably blow out a few eardrums. Not that I’m not used to that sort of thing.”

“How about you, Jerry?”

“Oh, things are going well for me too. Chemistry is kicking my butt, but besides that I’m doing pretty well. That class is so boring! I almost wish that someone would come in there with a great big Richie-cane kinda sneeze. At least that way things wouldn’t be quite as boring!”

“Oh, you would have loved our high school then,” Adam cut in, “Almost every time I fell asleep in class, Richie’s nose would get an itch and once the nasal volcano got going, sleeping was not an option.”

“Whatever, Adam,” Richie said, blushing slightly at the extended discussion of his nasal… ahem, prowess, even among friends, “I didn’t even have a half of my classes with you.”

“Exactly.” Adam replied, smiling. *** Soon, Richie and company arrived at the club. However, they were still several feet away when the perfume started getting to Richie’s nose: “ah…. ahhhh… agghhha… igghhiiie… AAAA-CHOOOOH! heh… heh… AHHH-CHOOOOOH!” he sneezed, blasting out the tickly perfume smell as hard as he could. When Richie sneezed, his whole body was involved; in fact, Adam was surprised that Richie didn’t have a six-pack from all the forceful contractions of his stomach and chest as he roared out all that sneezy air at obscene velocities, and decibel levels.

“Bless ya, buddy. Are there some flowers around,” inquired Jerry.

“Na… no, nahhh.. ahhhhh WAAAAAASSSHOOOO! ARRRR-CHOOAAAYYYY!” Richie screamed out each sneeze. While not as loud as the true Richie-canes of the dining hall, these sneezes produced more than enough volume to echo loudly off of the nearby buildings and turn quite a few heads. Richie was quite afraid that an irate head would poke out of one of the windows of the high-rise apartment buildings on the street to demand that he achieve the impossible feat of quieting down his great lion’s roar of a sneeze.  He’d been asked by more than one teacher (and moviegoer, and theater patron, and restaurant waiter, and even, on one notorious occasion, a few patrons at just the sort of rock concerts that Adam had supposed would be loud enough to drown out Richie’s roars, but then again, not only were all the people there drenched in cologne and perfume, but Richie had left from a friend’s house who had a very furry german shepherd, and Richie had the beginnings of a cold) to control his thunderclap sneezes, but, like the thunder, Richie’s sneezes were a force of nature, and could not be quieted down or controlled any better than the wind.

Hoping he’d gotten his nose under control with that last massive sneeze, Richie ventured to speak, “No… it’s the perfume... oh, wait… ‘nothing one’s cahhhh…. coming…. RAAAAASSSSHOOOOOH! YASSSSSSHHHHHHHH-OOO!” Richie sniffed loudly, as two girls, one of who was probably wearing the sneeze-causing perfume, looked around. The girl wearing the perfume, alright slightly tipsy, half-spoke, half-shouted, “Ugh, I can’t stand it when people exaggerate their sneezes like that! Can’t he control it? That’s just too loud!”

Aside from the irony of the woman commenting on Richie’s loud sneezes with her loud voice (although Richie had to admit that even a trained opera singer would have difficulty keeping up with him in volume when he really got going), Adam was offended by her comments about his friend, and was about to walk up and give the perfume drenched woman a piece of his mind when her friend abruptly did it for him!

“Oh, Charlene, be quiet! They can hear you. Besides, how can you expect a poor kid to control his sneezes when you can’t even control your big mouth!” Adam had to admit that he was impressed, and as Charlene and her assertive friend got in line for the same club as Adam, Richie, and Jerry, Adam made a mental note to “bump into” her at some point that night. Maybe Richie’s wind-machine strength allergies would flare up again and give him an excuse to talk to her?

Meanwhile, Ashton wasn’t far behind the trio, cringing at each of Richie’s elephantine sneezes. He thought to himself, “This is ridiculous! He sneezes even louder than my father! How embarrassing! I don’t even know how those other goons can stand to be seen around him. I’ll teach him not to be so disgusting with his sneezes.” As the perfume got to his nose, Ashton harshly muffled three sneezes by pinching his nostils, “shhhmp! chikkk! ch!” They were barely audible. Ashton fingered the red pepper in his pocket as he watched Richie and company walk into the club. He bided his time for a few minutes, and then, after walking around the block a bit, went in as well.

—-

As soon as the threesome entered the club, Ritchie rushed off to the restroom, hoping to give his nose a good, strong blow to clear his nose of perfume and pollen, so as to head off the sneezes at the pass. But by the time he reached the restroom door, his twitching, tickling nose had had too much, and, bleary-eyed, Richie let it take over for six full-strength sneezes: “HAASSSSSHHHHHOOOooooo… hh… hhhiiiiiIIIIIIIIICHOOOOOOO! Ih-CHOOO! haaahHH-CHOOOOOO! ahhhhhHHH-CHOOOO! HAHH-CHOOOOOOOhhhhheyyy” That last one was a monster, making a gutteral, throat-scraping sound as the normal “choo” was twisted by Richie’s awe-inspiring lung power into a growling, snarling shout of a sneeze, leaving Richie somewhat lightheaded and dizzy. And of course, he immediately connected the number of sneezes (Richie rarely let out so many all in a row like that) to the head cold he was desperately afraid was brewing in his firecracker nostrils, those wide, vacuum-like tunnels where tickles went in, and sneezes came out that were second only to the Big Bad Wolf with a bad cold.

And speaking of colds, Richie was terrified of developing one. Every cold he’d ever had had settled directly in his nose, causing a near-constant tickle that he could only blow out with his biggest, most ear-drum busting, dorm-wall rattling, earthquake-causing sneezes. Even Richie’s biggest sneezes could only provide momentary relief from the tickle; minutes later, the tickle would come back with a vengence, and so would the sneezes, until Richie would deliberately blow them out as hard as he could, just to get the tickle to stop for a few minutes. Richie’s colds were events in the Robbins household (and every house on the surrounding block); he hoped and prayed they wouldn’t become events on-campus too.

Looking around the restroom and finding it (thank goodness) empty, Richie marched to a stall to give his nose a few of his patented, honking nose blows. While not quite commensurate to his sneezes in volume, those bass-note honks of his could certainly send a rumble through any room, and Richie was glad that the room remained empty as he did his best to keep his nose free and clear, so as to minimize sneezing episodes.

Meanwhile, Adam and Jerry were on the prowl, and getting shut down all the time. Jerry had offered to buy drinks for no less than three women, with no success, while Adam’s jokes were falling unusually flat, perhaps owing to the volume of the music and the near-impossibility of hearing anything (except perhaps for Richie) over the thumping bass and wailing noise of the speakers.

So it was that Adam and Jerry had given up and begun dancing their way into the morass of people at the center of the club, when Richie went searching for them. Of course, hidden as they were in the mass of people, Richie had no hope of finding either of his friends, and sat down at the bar, quickly flashing his (fake) ID, and ordered a beer. He figured he’d wait until he found Adam and Jerry to start dancing, and he was sure that his nose would give him ample opportunity before then to test Adam’s theory that the noise of the club would muffle the rumbling explosions of his nose.

In fact, as the bartender slid Richie his beer, Richie felt his nose flaring into life. His breath hitched, his face contorted, his nostrils assuming control of his face, twisting this way and that as though they had a life of their own, reacting to the bucking bronco of itch that had, as always, brushed ferociously against the twitching walls of his sensitive nostrils. And as Richie’s face contorted, his watering eyes slid closed in preparation of the great big sneeze to come…

…and Ashton Stevens saw his chance. He’d been sitting at the bar, plotting how he could cause misery for Richie at the club. Luckily, he’d been at the bar while Richie had erupted in the restroom (especially since the only thing Ashton found more disgusting than sneezes was nose blowing), but now he was sitting not too far from Richie, and had been spying on him out of the corner of his eye since Richie had sat down. Now was his chance. He slid the small shaker of red pepper out of his pocket and sent a cloud floating up into the air, knowing that the strong air conditioning in the room, as well as the breeze from the constantly opening front door, would waft the tickly spice straight into Richie’s all-too-combustible nose.

And he was right. Seconds later, Richie froze, as he felt the tickle in his nose multiply exponentially. The itch in his nose, already monstrous, became a thousand buzzing flies, scurrying through his nasal passages, wreaking havoc on his sensitive sinuses, creating such tremendous pressure in his nose that he knew that the only way to get any relief would be to blast out a sneeze at full-strength. He felt it gearing up to be as big as the one in the dining hall, if not bigger. Out of his watery eyes, he took a quick glance around him: there was no way he’d get to the restroom before his Vesuvial nose gave an eruption that would put Mt. St. Helens to shame, and the way his nose was feeling, it’d be wet enough to outshine Old Faithful. But there were so many people around. Richie had been warned about it time and time again, and he knew he shouldn’t… but he didn’t want to spray any strangers! So… he stifled.

“ahh…. Ahhhhhh… AHHHHHHHHH… AGGGHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAA…” He wound up, with huge, powerful breaths, and then… “chhhmmppppppppppp!” He sneezed, somewhat wetly, but contained, and with nowhere near enough volume to be heard over the noise of the club. Stifling successful.

But his nose was on fire. It was as if he had quadrupled the already unimaginable tickle. If he was going to fire off one eruption before, now he was preparing for a twenty-one-gun salute. Finger struck firmly beneath his nose, Richie rushed to the restroom as fast as he could, pushing past the clubgoers in the crowded club, afraid to give so much as an “excuse me” for fear that speaking would tip the sneeze into the uncontrollable zone. Richie forcefully pushed the door open as he marched into the restroom, which was, of course, filled with people. In the already small, echoing restroom, Richie’s sneezes would probably reach ear-splitting volumes and annoy, if not terrify, every patron in the restroom. But it wasn’t as if he had any choice; he had to let the monsters loose.

Richie quickly swung a stall door open and closed as his breaths became audible, and grew louder, and louder… “iiihhhhhh… HHHHHiiiiIIIHHHHHH… HAHHHHHH… HAHHHHHHH…. HHAAAAHHHHHHHHH…HAAAAAAAAAAAAA-SHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! BAAACCCHOOOOOEEYYYY! HASSSHHH! HAHHSSHHHHuuhh… OOOO-SHOOOOOOOH! USSSSHHHHHH-CHHAAAHHH! Ahhhhh… Ahhhh… ahhhhh…CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

They came, sneeze after sneeze after sneeze, outrageous in volume, hurricane like in spray. Richie heedlessly swung backwards and forwards, gulping in air to fuel each massive explosion. He knew now why his parents had warned him to never, never hold in his sneezes, because this was the result: a constantly seizing nose in a fit that would last for minutes.

The reaction of the men in the restroom, as expected had been vocal and noisy. The already somewhat drunken patrons had no trouble voicing their disapproval: “What the hell?! Did somebody drop a bomb in here? Shuddup in there, I can’t hear myself think!”

But Richie, whatever he wished, he no ability to shut up. His nose was in control now, and it was going to blow, and blow, and blow until the pent-up tickle was blasted out, full-strength.

“Hehhhh… ehhhhhh… EEHHHHH-SHOOOOOH! EH-SHOOOH! Eghhhhaaaa… haaaa… haaa… YAAAAAAA-SHHHEEEEEWWWWWWWW!  SHIISSSHHHHH! ISSHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHH-SHOOOH! AHHHHHHHH-SCHOOOO! AH-SHOOOOH!”

The sneezes just kept coming, unbelievably loud, unbelievably powerful. This was one of the longest fits Richie could remember (though probably not the worst he’d experienced). Gradually, the sneezes grew farther apart: “haahhhh.. hahhhh.. HA-SHOOO! Ahhhhh… HA-SHUU! iiSHHHIIII-OO!”

Each sneeze, though still loud enough to echo through the restroom, was at a more manageable volume. Still, Richie was exausted from firing off sneeze after sneeze, and as his nose finally let out its final “heh… heh-chhh-EW!” Richie just wanted a nice long nap. He sat in the stall for a moment to survey the damage. He had been right about the spray; he could see the glistening drops decorating the entire stall door as though it had been hit with a hose. He still heard the men grumbling and muttering about his sneezes, and he was sure that those who were in the restroom (and probably those near the door) would spread the word to their friends about Richie’s incredible eruption. Sometimes, Richie just wished that his nasal curse could just go away. Why was his family cursed with the world’s most massive sneezes? Why was his nose the epicenter of such eruptions? But, as he sniffed gently, preparing for a nose blow to clear the last bits of congestion in his nose, he was glad for one thing: the tickle was completely gone.

Meanwhile, Ashton had been standing near the door, and had heard Richie firing off sneeze after sneeze after sneeze. He was red with rage; that fit had been exactly like the one his dad had blasted out at Ashton’s senior prom, in the middle of Ashton’s prom king acceptance… all over the prom queen. She dumped Ashton within the week.

Turning violently on his heel, Ashton marched out of the club, certain that he had a new secret weapon to use against Richie: if he could get him to clam up those sneezes, just once, then he knew Richie would fire off a show of sneezes so loud that Ashton could use it to embarrass Richie in front of anyone within earshot; in other words, Ashton grimly laughed to himself, anyone within a five-mile radius.

—-

Ashton, however, had not been the only person close enough to the restroom to hear those gale-force blasts trumpeting out from Richie's nostrils of fury. In fact, just as Richie was beginning to launch into a fit for the ages, Jerry had decided he ought to slip off to the restroom; no need to "break the seal" yet, but Jerry had anticipated he was in for a fairly long night, partying with his newfound friends, and--hopefully--with a few more newfound "friends" from among the club's very attractive female population, and as such wanted to make sure that his tiny bladder would not interfere with his very large-sized dreams---oh, alright, fantasies---of what would go on that night.

But Jerry was pretty far from the door when he heard that tell-tale eruption coming from the men's room. He quickly stuck his head into the restroom and knew immediately the source of the disturbance. He would scarcely have believed that even Richie could sneeze so forcefully. He was putting up a good fight with the music in the club, and that was deafening as it was. Heck, at close range, Richie's nose could have outdone a shotgun, a leafblower, a small nuclear explosion... but in the midst of these musing, Jerry noticed Ashton. Unlike everyone else in the restroom (and nearby), who were scrambling to get away from the noise, Ashton seemed transfixed. He was just standing by the restroom door, not going in, didn't seem to be coming out, and he had the most peculiar, almost devious expression on his face. Of course, Jerry knew Ashton somewhat---Ashton was touted as one of the most talented football players of the freshman class, and at their D1 school, that meant a lot. But this threw Ashton in a completely different light. Why on earth was he just standing there? And what was that strange look that passed across his face each time Richie bellowed out another monsterous, "HHHHHEEEEEESSSSSSSSCHHHHHOOOOOOOOoooooh!" Jerry was not a suspicious person by nature--and as Richie's twenty-one gun salute went on, he knew he had to check and see if Richie was alright--but he filed that instance away in his mind as yet another strange happening of college life.

The more important thing was to check on Richie. When it finally seemed that Richie's nose had calmed down enough that he'd be able to speak, Jerry ventured forth a, "Hey, man, you alright in there?"

"Jerry?" Richie responded, fearing the worst, "oh, god, don't tell me you could hear me all the way out..."

"No, no, man, I was just heading to the restroom when I heard the big bang from outside the door, don't worry. But what happened there? I didn't think you were ever going to stop!"

"N-neither did... oh, god, h-here ihhhh... here it gooohhhh... ohhhhh... oohhhhhh... ahh... HA-CHOOOOH! Man, thought I was done there," Richie give a liquid sniff, "but the aftershocks just sneak up on me."

"And speakin' of sneakin', there you guys are!" Adam quipped.

"Are you just everywhere?" Richie asked, half-laughingly, half-exasperated. Adam had the strangest habit of popping up everywhere.

"A magician never reveals his secrets, young Richard." Adam gave a sudden gasp before, "Ha-chooOOSH! Huh... hashhhooo! Ugh, must be in the air," Adam said, as he grabbed a tissue from the sink counter to blow his nose. He was a bit of a nasal honker, and his blows were decidedly louder than his generally quiet, gentle sneezes (although, in comparison to a Richie-cane, your average elephant was pretty quiet and gentle), and were much louder when he had a cold---because he didn't have Richie's almighty, head-clearing sneezes, he relied much more on forceful nose-blowing to blast out the itch from his nose, and still had far less success--unsurprisingly--that a full-force sneeze from Richie, even without a cold or that dreaded red pepper.

Richie, however, wasn't so sure that something was "in the air"; the humongous fit he'd just succumbed to made him almost positive: he was catching a cold.

"No, Adam, it's not 'in the air'--we're sick, and I'm going home." Richie declared. Adam was somewhat taken aback at his friend's unusually forceful tone, but he knew that, as always, he could joke his friend out of his resolve.

"Oh, you're not sick---granted, a 300-pound body builder with a bad head cold and a wind machine up his nose probably can’t compare to the ‘ol schozz-cannon you’ve’ got… but those, my friend, were not cold sneezes.”

“How do you know?” Richie demanded.

“I still have hearing in my right ear, obviously.”

[chiyoumen]

“Don’t get so touchy.”

Shenmue II

Ren x Ryo 

Angst/Mutual Pining/Unresolved uh… Tension (Not Explicit, but, mild suggestive themes, basically.)

[So, inside the Yellow Head Building there was a moment where Ren kicks Ryo out in front a guard that’s surveying the halls. Ren then pops out and attacks the man, effectively knocking him out. Ryo then scolds Ren for putting him in that position, but Ren plays it off by teasing him. I want to take that further, so it spirals, fitting this deleted scenario into it. This will play off the headcanon that Ren is an orphan. The would technically be set before Two Faced. Thanks for reading! Apologies if it’s not up to par with my previous work, hopefully I’ll have an easier time in the writing headspace again soon.

Also I might have listened to Halsey’s Graveyard too much while writing this. Seriously. I mean, that last edit didn’t help.]

Sneaking through the halls of the Yellow Head Building wasn’t the most dangerous thing neither Ren nor Ryo have faced before - but that didn’t make the situation any less tense. After being handcuffed together for days and chased by criminal upon criminal, ducking in and out of places they shouldn’t be, this still felt like more than that. They were finally on to something more than chasing the ever-burning trail of Yuanda Zhu and Lan Di… Unaware that they’d soon be facing some of their greatest fears. But first, they had to find their way, and deal with the seemingly never ending amount of guards prowling the dilapidated halls.

…And that last part wasn’t exactly exciting. 

While Ryo had pushed Ren back, Ren disregarded his need to keep themselves hidden and peeked out around the corner anyway. Around the crates just over the corner of the hall, he caught sight of a guard heading their way and took a defensive stance - moving back behind Ryo. Ryo was ready to fight, but suppressed any kind of a sound when he felt a boot met his lower back. Ryo stumbled, catching himself and glaring back at Ren. Ren gestured his hands together in almost a punching motion, as if telling him to fight the damn guy. 

Ryo turned his attention to the surprised guard. While Ryo was about to defend himself, Ren flew forward, flanking the guard’s side with a kick, then another and another to his face and neck - effectively knocking him out. 

Ryo, with a snarl, turned toward Ren, shouting his name and catching the man’s attention. Ren kept his eyes on the unconscious guard for a moment longer before looking to Ryo, shifting his weight to his other foot. His nonchalant reaction only fueled Ryo’s irritation. 

“I was getting bored.” Was Ren’s defense. 

“You-” Ryo’s voice trailed off, and all he could do was glare at Ren. It was taking everything in him not to do something stupid to his ‘friend.’ He was afraid of this situation ahead, unable to keep grounded in reality over his nerves - despite his usually stoic demeanor…

Ren faced him completely, allowing his body language to go slack, but he raised his chin in superiority to his comrade, “I was only having some fun.” There was nothing on Ryo’s face that made Ren believe he would actually lash out - especially when neither of them were hurt… But the younger man was still pouting like a brat, “Don’t get so touchy.”

Ryo clenched his fists. Something more than just anger fluttered in his core upon the meeting of their eyes, something mimicking the heat - but not the pain, “Stop fooling around-”

But Ren stepped closer. His stance was nowhere near intimidating, the way he languidly pulled closer and lingered his face near Ryo’s. Ryo was unaware of how quickly his chest was rising and falling… and it was not with as much anger as he initially believed. Ryo stared at Ren, not quite realizing that Ren had paused, looking directly at his lips. Their breaths mingled for only a moment, and Ren knew he had to pull away. He made his way around Ryo with a spin, and Ryo’s eyes widened when he realized how close he had just been.  Ren just had to say something to push away that feeling of closeness - and Ryo’s attempt at being intimidating. 

“Oooo! I’m so scared!” Ren taunted, keeping his head down as he continued down the hall. 

Ryo couldn’t calm down, and turning around to follow Ren was a mistake. The moment his eyes set on the back of Ren’s jacket, black ponytail bouncing with each step… he couldn’t resist the urge to jeer at him. 

“You’re like a child.” Ryo stated, keeping his usual stoic tone.

“Am not.” Ren scoffed, turning to look back at Ryo over his shoulder, and Ryo took that brief pause of his to walk past him. Ren kept his eyes on him, “You’re the kid here. You wouldn’t even give up one of those stupid little toys for that orphan kid. So not only are you a kid - you’re a selfish kid!”

“As if you’re any different.” Ryo grumbled as Ren tried to catch up with him, “And I didn’t have any of them on me.”

“Please!” Ren scoffed, gesturing grandly behind Ryo, “you know you stopped to get more just before we snuck in.”

“Did not.”

Ren rushed forward and dug a hand into Ryo’s jacket pocket, causing him to cry out and try to push him away. Ren didn’t hesitate to yank out a small NiGHTS into Dreams figure when he felt it. Ren laughed and took several steps back as Ryo attempted to pursue him. 

“See!” Ren snickered, holding it up into Ryo’s view, causing him to stop in his tracks mid-stride. 

“That… That was already in there from before.” Ryo protested. 

“Uh-huh.” Ren snorted, shoving the toy in his pants pocket before pointing to Ryo, “Yoooouuu lied.”

Ryo groaned and turned around, deciding that this just wasn’t with the effort. 

But Ren scowled at his reaction, following him quickly, “What, you don’t want it back?”

“We don’t have time for this.” Ryo stated bluntly, knuckles turning white from the tension as he stormed ahead. 

“Hey.” Ren tried to catch his attention, and failed, “Hey!” 

He raced after Ryo and caught him by the shoulder. The audacity of this guy, really! Ren already knew Ryo could only take a certain amount of teasing before taking things way too seriously, but he didn’t actactly care to remedy the situation. Ryo really needed to lighten up already! If he didn’t, he was going have a heart attack before he could even face Lan Di. 

“Hey-” Ren repeated, yanking at Ryo’s jacket collar once he caught up to him.

Ryo turned and batted his hand away, growling a little at him, “Enough-”

“You can’t keep being so serious all the time!” Ren sneered at him, “Damn, did you even laugh as a kid?”

“We don’t have time for-”

“What, facing that you have no emotions other than, gee-” Ren stood taller, mocking Ryo with stiff shoulders, a monotone expression and blank voice, “I’m Ryo Hazuki. I must find Lan Di. My dad was strict and never told any jokes so now I’m super serious all the time and I must avenge his death.”

Ryo stared at Ren with discontent and malice, a frown peaking at his lips. Ren knew he’d gone too far.

Right up until Ryo responded, “At least I had a father.”

There was only so much worse Ryo could have said, the way that Ren’s features softened and fell made Ryo’s heart sink. In that instant of sheer reckless stupidity between the two, Ren swung his arm – backhanding Ryo on his scarring cheek. He didn’t try to hit him as hard as he could, but he was still lashing out. Ryo didn’t even think, and found his hands grasping at the lapels of Ren’s jacket. Ren groaned at the impact of his back hitting the wall… But he knew he deserved it, and Ryo’s expression told him some tale of remorse. Neither of them knew what the Hell they were doing… and they realized that rather quickly. 

Ren’s eyes darted over Ryo’s face, studying the soft features of his skin - only for him to dart them away when he realized Ryo was doing the same. Suddenly this harsh pinning to the wall was no longer the end to an attack, and had turned into… what could be considered intimate. 

“Ehh…” Ren grimaced, keeping his gaze averted as he felt Ryo’s warm breath across his jaw and neck, “Can’t take that back, huh?”

“It wouldn’t make a difference now. For either of us.” Ryo stated plainly as ever, clenching the lapels of Ren’s jacket again. 

Ren sighed, even just that slight pressure against his chest made him release a shiver he couldn’t bear. He reached up to place his hand on Ryo’s wrist with the intention of prying his hand away - but instead, it simply lingered, just as their faces did, only inches apart. 

Both of them were too stubborn to outright apologize in this bizarre relationship. They were… stuck. Unsure how to proceed. But at this point it was far more than just a reckless abandon in their anger - no, it was far more than that… And neither of them wanted to acknowledge how close they’d been pulled together, 

“Are you gonna move?” Ren asked rather simply, voice rough. His statement could have been taken in multiple ways.

Ryo didn’t answer, he only released Ren’s collar, slowly. Yet, he stayed put, keeping their same intimate distance. Ren felt a sting of disappointment, but he wasn’t about to say anything about it. Ryo was stupid, they were both stupid. They was nothing he could do about the way that touch made him feel - nothing he wanted to acknowledge at least. Except try to make him feel that same sting of disappointment he just felt… If he could feel anything at all, the bastard.

“At least you fight like a man.” Ren snorted, doing as he initially intended and making light of the situation. 

“You fight like a drunkard.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Ren said with a smirk and tilt of his head, pressing his hand to Ryo’s chest to push him back a little, but kept a grip on his jacket. He stepped forward, having pushed Ryo back just to move closer and take him under his own control - pulling him closer again, “Let’s just hope you’re enough to beat Lan Di.”

Ryo’s eyes narrowed, some minor redness creeping across his cheeks. He was so close again. Ren knew what he was doing, and Ryo didn’t want to admit that any of his suspicions were true. The way Ren smirked and grazed his hand against his chest made Ryo internally beg for himself to pull away - but also for Ren to continue with the pursuit of his oddly affectionate gestures. Although he initially found Ren’s teasing and cockiness to be insufferable, on some level, they understood each other more than they realized, and it brought them closer. 

But Ren released a chuckle, blazing straight past Ryo and the argument they just had as if that bout of fear, recklessness, and rage, had never existed. They did not need to speak forgiveness, they merely accepted it. Ryo didn’t want to question anything deeper than what was necessary to get to his goal… But of course, how was that different from any other time? But… Ren could handle himself, and was too damn stubborn to be pushed away. He doubt it would last long, Ren would move on once he realized there was nothing more to gain from him. Ryo was sure of that.

As Ren moved away, lifting his arms up to walk in a leisure manner with his arms behind his head, Ryo could only watch and follow. Neither of them wanted to admit that the fluttering in their stomachs and the warmth buzzing in their veins wasn’t just anxiety due to the battle ahead. 

[bowcrazy]

Tsurune Blu-ray Vol. 3 Drama CD Translation

This was long overdue but we’ve got volume 1 translated now! I must confess the entire time I worked on this after everything that’s happened lately I kind of just. Forgot the title of the track so I had to run and dig it out as I’m posting.

As always please ask for permission before using our translations! But otherwise please enjoy~

Tsui ni Kaikin!? Kaito to Masa-san no Naresome

(arrows being shot) Seiya: (claps)* I’ll retrieve the arrows! (leaves) Kaito: Nanao, could you come and look at my shooting form? In case it isn’t flowing smoothly* again. Nanao: Hmm~ It looks fine though? Kaito: It feels like my arrow tip droops down the moment I become unaware of it. Minato: Maybe try it while being conscious of your whole body? Kaito: Huh? Minato: I mean, things like the method, angle, or the amount of pressure, just forget all that and do it how you’d like. Kaito: (hesitant) Minato: Er, how do I say this...maybe “looking at it in perspective” works? Ryohei, nervous: Minato has a point, doesn’t he..!* Nanao: Yeah, yeah! On the other hand, it’ll be just as bad if you get too hung up on it. Kaito: Alright. Ryohei & Nanao: Eh- Kaito: What’s with that ‘eh’? Ryohei: Eh, no, well- it’s just... Kaito: Huh..? Narumiya, your hakama’s slipping down. Minato: Eh? Ah, true, it’s gotten loose. Thanks, Onogi. (rustling fabric, probably Minato fixing his hakama) Nanao: Somehow, it’s like Kacchan and Minato are… Ryohei: Getting along..? Kaito: Hah? You’ve got it wrong. Nanao: No, no, compared to before, you totally get along better! You’re even exchanging advice with each other. Kaito: Advice like this is nothing, isn’t it? Minato: But I’m still glad you told me, if I got caught on the hem and fell, it wouldn’t be good.* Kaito: The preliminaries for the prefectural tournament are coming up, so it’s best you quit it with those amateurish mistakes. Minato: Yeah. Seiya: (walks back in carrying arrows and returns them) I’ve finished retrieving the arrows. ...Er, did something happen? Ryohei and Nanao are grinning. Nanao: Hmm~~ Not really~ Ryohei: We were just talking about getting along and doing our best at prefecturals! Kaito: Oi… Minato: That’s right, for Tommy-sensei and Masa-san too. Ryohei: Oh now that you say that, when Masa-san came here to be our coach, Kaito called him “Masa-san” too, didn’t he? Kaito, hesitating a bit: ...Yeah. Ryohei: Are you and Masa-san close? Did you know each other? Kaito, smug: You could say that. Ryohei: And Minato only met him at Yata Shrine this year… Minato: Ah, yeah. Ryohei: What about Kaito? Kaito, really smug: I knew him much longer before that. Ryohei, excited: Ehhhh?? Around when? How’d you meet? Nanao: Well, that was a story from when Kacchan’s face was cuter and isn’t as scary as it is now, wasn’t it? Kaito: Don’t say gross things. Nanao, acting narrator: On the morning of that day, Kacchan was running late so he ran with all his might… In-story Kaito, running: Oh nooo~ I’m going to be late~! (bumps into someone) Ah~! Owwie… Nanao: Kacchan, who turned the corner, bumped into someone and said... In-story Kaito: Watch it! That could’ve been dangerous! (~gasps~) In-story Masa-san: Are you alright, little flighty one? In-story Kaito: (sparkling sound effect) My prince..? Nanao: And that was the start of Kacchan and Masa-san’s relationship.*  Kaito: Tha- Ryohei: Ehhh!! It’s kind of like a manga, isn’t it?! Kaito: Because it is from a manga! Don’t just believe it! Ryohei: Wha...eh? Minato: It isn’t true? Kaito: I just told you it wasn’t. Nanao: (laughs) Sorry, sorry~ I was just messing around a little. It really went like… (raining) In-story Masa-san: I see, so you were abandoned? In-story Kaito: (kicked puppy noise) Nanao: That abandoned puppy was- Kaito: I'll knock you to the ground! Nanao: (laughs) No way~ I didn’t even say anything yet~~ Minato: Eh? So there wasn’t any abandoned puppy? Kaito: Didn’t I just say it wasn’t that kind of story!? Seiya: Then when did you and Takigawa-san meet? Kaito: …Fifth grade. Ryohei: Fifth grade?! Ehh, that really is from way back! Kaito: I guess so. Ryohei: How did it go? Kaito: ...That’s- Nanao: On that day, it- Kaito: You don’t get to talk, Nanao. You don’t know anything about it! Ryohei: Eh, Nanao doesn’t know either? Nanao: He just told me “Masa-san saved him” and that was it. Minato: If you don’t want to talk about it then, it’s fine, you don’t need to force yourself. Kaito: It’s not like I don’t want to. (various noises from the bg) Kaito: It was during the summer of fifth grade when I went to a fireworks show that he saved me. Ryohei: Ehhhh, that’s cutting it too short! Seiya: Saved you from what? Nanao: We need all the details.* Kaito: What I mean is, Masa-san saved me when I got caught in with some delinquents. Minato, concerned: Delinquents? Even though you were only a grade-schooler? Nanao: (sighs) Ah… Kacchan, you hit your growth spurt around then, right? You could’ve maybe even passed for a middle-schooler. Kaito: I was already really antsy since I lost sight of my parents, and those people just casually came over and got me involved. Nanao: (laughs) You were totally misunderstood, huh? Ryohei: Like, “What’re you glaring at, bastard?” or something? Kaito: I wasn’t. Minato: And then? Kaito: Well, after that, there wasn’t really...The way I saw it, there wasn’t anything else I could do but run from there, but then someone carrying this long stick spoke up, saying, “Now, now, calm down.*” (huffs) ...I don’t remember the rest of it that well! Ryohei: By ‘long stick’ you mean…a bow? Kaito: Yeah. I didn’t know anything about kyuudou that time. When I saw a hakama I’d only think of kendo and stuff like that. Seiya: If you were in fifth grade then that means, Takigawa-san was a college freshman? Nanao: Masa-san as a uni student, huh...somehow, I can’t imagine it! Minato: Is that the reason you started kyuudou? Kaito: I only learned Masa-san did kyuudou a long while after that. Even if I asked him to teach me, he’d turn me down and say, “There’s no way a university student can teach you.” Ryohei: Aww… Kaito: So I only properly started archery when I got into middle school. Seiya: You didn’t think of trying out other clubs? For someone of your build, there’d be a lot trying to recruit you, right? Nanao: I even tried inviting him to soccer once since a face-off between cousins sounds fun, doesn’t it? Kaito: I’m not interested in things like that. Nanao: Seeee? (disappointed tone) Kacchan’s this kind of person. Ryohei: Didn’t Nanao pick kyuudou over soccer too though? You went to different middle schools right, so wouldn’t it be fine to pick different clubs? Nanao: That’s because there’s no way I can lose to Kacchan, is there? Kaito: Nanao you… Nanao: Well that and ever since the summer of our fifth year, up until we got into middle school, aaalllll he’d talk about was “kyuudou this, kyuudou that” so much that even I got brainwashed into it. Kaito: Hah? Who’s brainwashing who? Seiya: Somehow...I think I know what you mean. Nanao: Right?? Minato: I wonder how Masa-san drew his bow when he was in middle school or high school. I wish I could’ve seen it. Kaito: I’m definitely sure he hit the target a lot. Ryohei: Maybe there’s pictures from that time! Nanao: I’ll ask Ren-san about them next time~ Minato: Thanks. Kaito: If you get some, send them over to me, okay? Nanao: Heh~~ Does Kacchan want to see them as well? Kaito: (sputters) S-Shut up, ‘s there a problem with that!? Ryohei: Ah, he’s turning red! This is what they call “tsundere”, right? Kaito: Idi- you- I don’t- You’re wrong!! Nanao: More like he hit bullseye, didn’t he~? You targeted Minato so much at first because you rejected* the fact that Masa-san accepted him, right? Kaito: That’s not it! It’s got nothing to do with Masa-san at all. Narumiya was being indecisive and it annoyed me, that’s it. Minato: Ah- I’m sorry!! Kaito, struggling: ...It’s this part of you that I can’t see eye to eye with! Ryohei: Ehh~~ Nanao: (laughing) Yes, yes~ Seiya: I understand how you feel. Minato: Eh? Seiya: (softly scoffs) It’s great that we were able to find out how Onogi and Takigawa-san met. It really was a shoujo-manga-like meeting, wasn’t it? Kaito: It was not a shoujo manga!!

Notes: -Not exactly a translation note but more a kyuudou tidbit: you gotta clap as you say you’re about to go get the arrows so the people know to stop shooting and well. Not shoot you. -My old friend 水流(mizunagare)/flow of water. There’s a lot of stretching for context for this one folks but I went with the assumption of Kaito thinking his form isn’t ‘flowing’ well. -This is usually written as ‘some truth’ but that doesn’t really sound like Ryohei imo -I can’t find for sure what Minato said back there but I’m going intelligent guess it’s that, if I happen to figure it out I’ll edit it properly right away! -Since Nanao was poking fun at Kaito here yes that is exactly what he said, the word is 馴れ初め(naresome) it’s also in the title~ -Nanao literally said ‘5w1h’ aka the who/what/when/where/why and how of a situation. -Usually I would use just “now, now” or “there, there” for まあまあ but leaving it as just that seemed really incomplete. -The word (反採用/hansaiyou) Nanao says in itself doesn’t exist as a ‘word’ per se in japanese though literally it means ‘opposite of acceptance’ from 反(han)/anti-, in opposition and 採用(saiyou)/acceptance, appointment so. Rejection.

[thrushpot]

You asked for it. I’m sending you all the zodiac signs. ;)

I did ask for this didn’t i😂 thank you so much !

aries: when have you felt the most confident in your writing? when have you felt the least confident?

hmmm I’d say I feel confident in a story when I feel like I’d enjoy the hell out of it it if I were someone else. I love making a character goofy and dumb to add a lightness to it and if I pulled it off I’d feel really good ! I’ve felt the shittiest when I put hard work into it then tumblr messes it up and won’t let it show up in search. that happens every other time I’ve posted and it makes me feel so hopeless that I’d even think of scrapping it all together. if it doesn’t show up in search then NOBODY reads it and it makes me feel like complete garbage

taurus: how long will you spend on a story or scene before you give up?

man sometimes I’ll spend days writing bits and pieces then going back a few days later and scrapping/changing a lot cause I have a better sense of it when I take a step back. and for others I write a whole story in a day and that can take up to 2hrs

gemini: how often will your plot change throughout the course of writing?

for me it’s kind of a roll of the dice, I’d have a whole bunch of details that I’d want in but don’t actually end up making the final piece. maybe I’ll change a few lines and reactions and little things but 75% of the time I just stick to my script in my head

cancer: how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the characters feel?

I love writing super raw, vulnerable and tender moments. it makes me think back to times when I’ve felt just as bad and beaten down and I incorporate it in there.

leo: what things will show up in every book you write? do you ever feel like a one-trick pony?

lately yes! I get self conscious that all my stories sound the same, but I know it can’t be all true because of course I’m writing the same character, so he’s gonna have the same tendencies and reactions and stuff. what I like to sprinkle in all if not most of my works is tons of swearing, humor, bantering, food. and I super super wish that the Duffers would’ve provided more insight to Steve’s family/home life, because then I would feel more confident in writing his attitude better. with Billy, I know his relationship with his sister and his dad and absent mom, etc, so it’s a lot easier to imagine it because I watched it.

virgo: are you very critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during the writing or after the fact)?

so so so critical. I feel like I fuck up present tense and past tense all the time, or I’m like “he would literally never say that”. and sometimes I’d like to write crazy au’s but I just have no knowledge whatsoever about anything so I feel like it’s bullshit and no one will wanna follow along and read it. I edit a ton afterwards even after I post it and get so mad if it’s too late to fix a mistake, but then I remember that when I read fics I never focused on those things, I just read the story and enjoyed it for what it was.

libra: how do you balance writing and life? do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing you have to do?

I....hardly even know how to balance lmao it’s so difficult when I have a fat essay to write for college while I do want to write but I’d rather not have it be some stupid argumentative paper that I already wrote in highschool. I do get overwhelmed sometimes, since I just started out posting about a month and a half ago-ish? and getting attention and reblogs and compliments is still so different and shocking to me hahah

scorpio: how much research did you have to do for your current wip? what was the weirdest thing you had to google?

I haven’t written anything on it quite yet, but I just googled ‘funny stories on how people have gotten a scar/injury’ and reddit gave me fucking hilarious ones that I’ll have no choice but to work with later omg.

sagittarius: do you find your writing humorous? do you have any comic relief characters? what do you do if a scene gets too serious?

I love writing cute silly stuff, for me it just adds a lot to a story cause if it’s nothing but crying or sex, those things are entertaining to read ngl, but I much prefer when characters take a sec to joke about whatever situation they’re in:)

capricorn: what does your writing schedule look like? how often does it take you to write a chapter?

since I started getting requests, I’ve been posting ehh probably every 2 days. I’ve taken a slight break from my series and I’m still working on the chapter, but when I was super eager to pump more out for it I’d be writing a new chapter every other day, and it’d take about an hour or two.

aquarius: what is the most unique thing about your current wip?

I have like 6 or 7 works that have yet to be fully developed and all of them are so weird and at an awkward stage that I’m stuck at. one is a modern au which I’m excited to explore, and another is this mythology one that I feel like I’ll have to make shit up for cause my knowledge is so poor on certain things that even extensive googling just does not help me out lololol

pisces: how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

when I first think about it, I usually visualize what I’m writing and try to write kinda what I see if I can find the words for what they’re doing with their face and their body n stuff but sometimes I just vomit up lots of plot if I have ideas that are all over the place.