#for the record i've never translated anything and i have no idea how to go about it

[transsexualraskolnikov]

hey guys, would any of you be perhaps interested in reading some pretty cool classic slovak literary works? i've been thinking of amateurishly translating some of my faves this summer because i'm more than certain there's no english translation of them and i wanna put them up for free somewhere. just wanna see if any of you would be into that kinda stuff

[katyaromanoffpetrova]

Is this the end? (part III)

Katya is new at SHIELD. When she messes up during her probation, she thinks Fury will send her away. To ease the pain, she distances herself from Nat.

• Natasha Romanoff x Fem!OC • Wordcount: 4.8k • Warnings: angst, mentions of self-harm and (sexual) abuse (both not detailed) •A/N: The final part!! Sorry it took me over a month to finish... Hope you enjoy! Masterlist

Do not repost my work as your own or translate my work!!

"Another lap! Keep going! Keep going!"

Katya's head still spun from the psychological tests they drowned her in this morning, and now they had her doing a military physical test in the Maryland afternoon rain. She completed the obstacle course in record time—as expected—and was now running laps around a muddy track with her lungs burning in her chest.

"Come on! I've seen kids go faster than that!"

Katya clenched her teeth, refraining from yelling anything back to the stupid woman in the middle of the track, with her stupid stopwatch and her stupid clipboard. There were two intimidating looking SHIELD agents, one at the south gate and one at the north, with pistols strapped to their legs, that wouldn't appreciate an outburst like that. 

She knew for a fact that she was going twenty percent faster than the fastest human being. Twenty percent smarter, twenty percent stronger, twenty percent faster. At least, that's what she was told. Who knows how true that all was. 

There were more things she didn't know about herself than she did know. This morning's tests had proven that once again. 

Besides the puzzles, the riddles, the IQ tests, the personality test, and the lie detector loyalty test—the one SHIELD knew she could beat if she wanted to—there was the shrink, the therapist. Katya hated them. Always pretending to understand what she felt, the sympathetic look, the invasive questions; those people could never help her. She didn't want their help.

But answering their questions was a part of this weird test day that she didn't fully understand, but she felt she had to behave for.

So she acted like nothing the shrink said bothered her, talked around things, and tried to fight off the pit of despair in her stomach when he asked her the most basic questions.

"Where were you born?"

"I don't know."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"No idea."

"What are the names of your parents?"

"Couldn't tell you."

Lucky for her, Katya didn't have time to dwell on them like she usually would. She was ordered to put on sports clothes and shoved in the back of a SHIELD van right after the interview ended. And now she was here, trying very hard not to think about them again as all the laps she ran blurred into one.

Instead, she tried to figure out what this testing thing was all about. Because last night, she was still one-hundred percent convinced she would have to leave SHIELD. No doubts. Her bags were packed. She had made peace with it. 

But then they pulled her out of bed at 6 this morning. First to put her in a room with all these tests; figural reasoning, logic-based reasoning, situational judgement. And now to test her physical fitness. All stuff to determine how good of a spy she'd be. 

Why?

Katya mulled over that single question on the journey here, to this SHIELD training facility. 

Why would they be testing her if they were sending her off?

That question spun around and around in her head. It was there as she climbed the rope net, there as she crawled through the mud—inches below barbed wire, there as she dashed across a slim beam, and there as her feet splashed tirelessly in the puddles on the oval track. 

She still didn't have a solid answer. 

She didn't dare to think about the positive answer. 

Nothing in her life had ever turned out good. Her stay at SHIELD—it had felt finite from the start. Too good to be true. She was a tool, one that was meant to work and function. Worthless if it didn't. There was no way SHIELD was going to keep her if she didn't function. The organizations she was a part of before didn't. Why would SHIELD be different? Even here, there must be no space for leniency.

No, they were definitely going to throw her by the side of the road like trash. 

Or—and this possibility started to claw at Katya's heaving chest with terror—they were selling her again. Back to the Russians. Back to whatever party wanted to have her.

Katya hadn't noticed her rhythmic steps had started to falter until a loud voice called across the field.

"Come on! Don't stop! Keep going!"

But she was heaving now, panic slashing through her body when she couldn't catch her breath. She stumbled clumsily, her heart racing in her chest. The ground rushed towards her. 

They were making her go back to Russia.

"Hey! Petrova!"

She wasn't gonna let them. Another life of abuse, of torture. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it.

"Are you hearing me?!"

She'd die before going back there. If she was going to be handed off, she was going to make a run for it. Either she'd make it out alive, or they'd shoot her dead. A win either way. 

"Are you hearing me? I said: keep going!"

Katya abruptly shot up, her eyes spitting fire as she turned around with newfound energy. "Shut up!" She screamed, so loudly her aching lungs burned. "I'm trying! Can't you see I'm trying!" 

Her supervisor blinked a few times, her thumb frozen on the start/stop button of the old-fashioned stopwatch. She didn't look surprised as Katya glared at her. That must not be a good thing.

Immediately knowing she fucked up, Katya turned around again and ran off as fast as her numb legs could carry her. Through the mud, through the soppy grass, with no real destination in mind. There was no way out of this fenced complex, but she didn't stop until she collapsed against the wall of an electricity cabin, black spots dancing across her vision. 

Tears burned behind her eyes. Her breath came and went in short bursts as she tried to fight off an even intenser panic attack. 

Everything was officially over. Yelling at her supervisor definitely closed the book of a life at SHIELD for good. And it was all her own fault. Her fault for not being good enough, and that was a completely new thing for her. She'd always been the best.

Katya turned her face up to the sky, the cold raindrops refreshing on her burning skin. She used them to ground herself, counting them one by one to gain control of her panicked body.

Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine.

Strangely enough, she longed for Natasha. The woman had no clue of her panic attacks, but Katya suddenly felt a strong need to have her by her side, helping her through this one.

Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two.

Her chest ached, but not because of her lungs this time. She would have to say goodbye to Natasha again soon. 

Thirty-three, thirty-four.

Her tears mixed with the rain. All her emotions surrounding the redhead were a confusing mess. Where her whole life and future felt unsure and scary, Natasha was the center of calmness. If Katya thought of her, she felt strong, safe, able to do anything.

Thirty-five, thirty-six.

Natasha brought up emotions within her that Katya hadn't felt in ten years. Genuine happiness, affection, purpose, but most of all, that incredibly dangerous four-letter word.

Thirty-seven, thirty-eight.

But there was also fear, and guilt, and anger, and grief. One minute, Katya was confident of what she felt and wanted. The next, she was sure everything was doomed and nobody ever loved her.

Thirty-nine, forty.

"Petrova!" A voice called from the distance. Katya turned her head away from the sky, squinting through the rain. "We're done for today! Let's go! We're leaving!"

Forty-one, forty-two.

This was the end. But her life at SHIELD was doomed to end the day it started, so what did anything still matter?

~~~~

She didn't apologize for her outburst when she got into the car. The concept of a genuine apology was foreign to her. Nobody had ever said sorry to her. Not for touching her, not for beating her up, and not for starving her to death. So she never apologized either.

Rain, sweat, and mud dripped from her body onto the leather seats and the floor mats down below. Katya felt disgustingly gross, if that was even a thing. Her socks were wet, she stank, her skin felt gross, and her nails were black with mud. It only added to her emotional misery. 

She wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. Her life had known very deep lows, but this must be one of the most painful moments of all. Right when everything was at the tips of her fingers, it fell out of reach. And that happened while she looked and felt like a drowned rat.

Shivering and shaking, Katya crawled out of the car an hour later, eager to take a shower. 

She decided not to wait any longer. After getting clean, she was going to pack her bags and leave. She had waited long enough. This had dragged out long enough. If they weren't going to make the decision, then she would, walking out of the best thing that ever happened to her.

"Fury wants to see you in this office."

That sentence should have instilled more fear into her than it did, but Katya felt physically nothing as she nodded once, turning to the lifts to freshen up before facing the most important man of the Western world.

"Right now."

She stopped and turned back to her supervisor, raising her eyebrows. Some dried mud cracked on her forehead. "Can't I shower first?"

"Now," the woman ordered, striding off with big steps.

Katya suppressed a scoff, sighing deeply as she dragged her feet to the elevators. What a way to get fired. She didn't blame the people that shuffled away from her in the elevator this time. In the reflection of the doors, she caught sight of herself and completely understood their disgust.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Those were not the first words Katya had expected to hear from her boss when she stepped into his office, but she hadn't missed the hint of amusement in his voice and in the glint of his eye. She couldn't blame him either.

Awkwardly, she pushed her damp hair behind her ears. "Maryland rain, sir," she answered stupidly, too paralyzed to come up with anything better.

Fury scoffed a laugh, rustling through the papers on his desk. "You better not drag any of that on my carpet."

"I'll try not to," Katya answered, standing even more still.

It appeared Fury had no rush, because he kept searching for something in the silence that settled into the room. She hoped he couldn't see her anxiety. Because despite her acceptance of the future, Katya's heart pounded in her chest with nerves. She hated it. There was only one emotion that could persist after all this: 

Hope.

Her mouth opened before she could stop it.

"Before you send me away, sir, I would like to say something, if I can." 

Blankly, Fury looked up. He couldn't be thrilled about an interruption, but Katya took his sudden attention and silence as a yes. She cleared her throat and felt the corners of her mouth turn up.

"I just want to say thank you. I know it wasn't generosity that allowed me to stay. It wasn't pity either. I don't know what it was. But you gave me an opportunity to become better, to turn my life around… and that means more to me than you'll ever know."

Now, she was ready to leave. Thanking him was the last thing on her to-do list before she could peacefully go. He was, after all, the first man who had ever protected her.

"Who said anything about sending you away?" 

Katya blinked—once, twice—trying to grasp the meaning of his words. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the world started to spin.

Fury sighed, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his stomach. "I had Romanoff storm into my office on Monday. She's very… protective of you. Said I had no reason to doubt you. That you hadn't lied about anything. Was she wrong?"

"No, sir," Katya answered on autopilot. Her brain was numb, too confused trying to understand what the hell was going on. She was only half aware of what he was saying.

Fury calmly studied her. "I assume she told you that the mission was a test? A test of loyalty."

Katya nodded once. It had felt so unimportant when Natasha told her that. She failed her mission, test or not. End of story.

"See, I can never be certain of the choices someone makes until they are in a life or death situation," Fury continued. "When you joined our fine organization, you were locked up, literally chained to the floor with nowhere to go. It's easy to give up your loyalty that way."

His leather chair squeaked when he sat up straight, folding his hands together on his messy desk. His one eye pierced her skin until it stared straight into her soul. Katya had never felt more like a kid.

"So, I wanted to see if you'd do the same thing again. If choosing to join SHIELD was just a way to save your own ass, or that you really wanted a second chance."

A drop of rain water trickled down Katya's temple and cheek.

"The easy way out would have been to surrender to Hydra, convince them you joined us with the goal to spy on us and report back later. But you didn't. You fought for your freedom, for your return to us."

Part of Katya was hurt and furious that he put her through that. That he emotionally broke her by letting her believe that she messed up. But the bigger, rational part of her completely understood. Fury wasn't the director for nothing. He made smart choices—hard choices—in order to keep his organization safe. 

She wouldn't have trusted herself either if she was in his shoes. She had all the odds against her. Russian, a spy. She'd killed dozens of good guys, grown up brainwashed and indoctrinated. She'd been physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused her whole life, making her the most unstable, traumatized person on the planet.

The only reason she was standing here was because of Natasha. And because of that small, tiny spot in Fury's heart that was soft for lost, broken people like her.

Fury picked up the iPad in front of him, swiping and tapping on it until he started to read from it. "See, today, you gave me the best scores I've seen since Romanoff did the same military course. In dry weather." 

Surprised, Katya's lips parted. Her performance today didn't feel like anything special.

"You ran multiple track records forty minutes in. You're stronger than the strongest guy we have, you are more intelligent than most of the scientists we have down at the lab, with zero mistakes on the tests from this morning. Your aim is impeccable, and your situational judgement is excellent." Fury lowered the iPad, pointedly looking at her. "I would be extremely stupid to let a good spy like that walk out of my building."

Katya could hardly hear anything over the pounding in her ears. She was shaking so violently she feared she was spraying drops of water everywhere like a wet dog. "What are you saying?" She asked, suppressing the hope in her voice.

"That I'm taking a big leap—no a huge leap, by making you an official Agent of SHIELD, but I believe that you won't break my trust."

Katya squared her shoulders, ignoring the huge wave of relief that crashed into her. "I'll be the best, most loyal spy you've ever had."

Something flickered behind Fury's eyes. A smile? He reached for the drawer of his desk, pulling something out. "Somehow, I don't doubt that." 

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed something on the far side of his desk. Curious, Katya took a step closer, stretching out to see what it was.

Her own face stared back at her. 

Katariina Alina Petrova. Level 1.

"Welcome to SHIELD, Agent Petrova."

~~~~

Katya pulled her knees tighter to her chest, closing her eyes and enjoying the hot water that cascaded down her body. It wasn't only cleansing her skin, but her heavy soul, slowly washing away all these months of insecurity and tension, revealing the person that she forgot existed underneath. It felt freeing, like a rebirth.

Another violent tremble shook her so badly that her teeth clattered. For this reason, she had to sit down to shower. It started once she realized she was safe, shedding her muddy clothes on the bathroom floor. First, she'd thrown up her lunch in the toilet and nearly fainted, and then the trembles started. It was just her body's way of getting rid of all the tension.

Katya didn't even mind it. She was too ecstatic to be bothered. Her sobs bounced off the tiled walls in relief, in disbelief, in happiness. She sobbed until her lungs hurt. It felt so good.

There was only one person on her mind who she desperately wanted to share the news with. The only reason she hadn't stormed over there immediately after getting her SHIELD ID was because of the way she looked and smelled. And because of the way Katya had been treating her these past few weeks… 

It took an hour for her body to calm down enough that it was safe to stand up. Katya got out of the shower on shaky legs, made herself look presentable, and then snuck to the kitchen. Her stomach felt queasy, her throat raw and dry. She chugged a whole bottle of water and stuffed a sandwich down before stealing something out of the special cabinet.

Even the hallways of SHIELD HQ felt different as she walked through them. She saw things she'd never seen before because she had been too anxious, too focused to see them. She'd never fully taken in all the details, because why would she do that if she wasn't sure that she could get to stay? Like a foster kid that didn't dare unpack their clothes until a few months later because they weren't sure if their foster parents would want to keep them.

Katya sat outside, by the river, on one of the only recreational benches that were placed there. HQ was built on such a small island that there wasn't much space around it. And all the space that was there, was used efficiently. Agents that wanted to go on a stroll in the fresh air had to cross the bridge. 

But Katya wasn't looking for exercise. She was looking for a quiet place to drink. Was that a smart idea on a sensitive stomach? No. Probably a very bad idea. But even though she felt on top of the world, the reality of her actions also came down on her in this sudden clarity of emotions. 

She'd treated Natasha like shit. Avoided her, yelled at her, ignored her. And the redhead had deserved none of those things. 

Katya's heart ached when she thought about it. She couldn't help how dark things got when she fell into a depression like that, but it didn't mean she shouldn't take responsibility for her actions. It wasn't an excuse to behave like she did. 

But it was so, so hard to talk about. Emotions, feelings, they weren't supposed to be spoken about. They were supposed to be hidden. She was supposed to be stronger than those raging feelings in her body. Look where it brought her if she gave in.

Katya shook her head strictly and took another sip of vodka. Those were toxic thoughts. Things they programmed her with. She was human, and humans had feelings, and feelings were meant to be felt. What she was about to do went against everything she was taught.

She was going to apologize to Natasha. 

By the time she managed to muster up the courage to knock on Natasha's apartment door, she'd finished half the bottle of vodka. It had done little to nothing to ease her nerves. Her hands still shook as she pushed her ID deeper into the back pocket of her jeans and fiddled with the cap of the vodka bottle.

Katya was prepared for anything. If Natasha wanted to slam the door in her face and yell mean things at her, then she deserved that. Honestly, she expected it. Anything slightly better than that would be too generous.

Her heart threatened to burst out of her throat when she heard shuffling on the other side of the wooden door. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she should just send a text message. But before she could actually bail, the door swung open.

Natasha froze in place, her eyes widening. "Kat," she breathed in surprise. It must have come out different than she wanted to, because she shifted her weight around and added a more casual, ''Hey.''

She must have seen the difference in Katya's demeanor right away, right when she laid eyes on her. The dark war flag had been taken down for one of surrender. Usually, it was a shame to wave a white flag. But in this case, it was bravery.

"Hey," Katya answered with a trembling half smile, avoiding Natasha's gaze in a way that was meant to be nonchalant. Stupidly, she hadn't thought of what to say. Who the hell came up to give an apology and didn't rehearse what to say first? "I have something for you."

As disoriented as she was, Natasha took the bottle of vodka without thinking. When she held it up to study it, Katya realized what an incredibly stupid gift it was, and how she deserved a slap in the face for this terrible attempt at an apology. It's just as soon as she was in front of Natasha, all the words left her brain.

"Yeah, sorry, I drank half of it," Katya said sheepishly when she saw the odd look on Natasha's face. "I needed some courage to come talk to you.''

Her vulnerable confession came as a surprise to both of them. Natasha's expression visibly softened while Katya fought the urge to run away or make a joke to cover it up. She'd never felt this uncomfortable, but she rooted her boots into the floor and refused to give in to it.

Natasha turned the bottle over in her hand, reading the label on the back. "Where did you get this?" Katya was grateful she didn't comment on her confession.

"The kitchen."

The redhead's head snapped up. "You stole this?" Her eyes flickered left and right into the hallway, the blood draining from her face. She looked afraid. "Kat, one foot wrong and you're out—"

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that anymore." With a sly smile, Katya pulled her new SHIELD ID from her pocket and held it up. 

The rest of Natasha's scolding words died in her throat. Her mouth closed, and she slowly raised her free hand to take the ID. It was obvious that Katya had surprised her. So many different emotions crossed over her face but they were gone too quickly to nail down. She was too hard to read. Even for Katya right now.

"When did you get this?'' She asked distractedly, reading the words on the very plain, very boring ID. Katya's headshot wasn't even pretty. They took it right as she came out of the isolation cell, when she had barely seen the sun in weeks. 

''Two hours ago?'' She nervously chewed on her lip. She couldn't tell if Natasha was happy about it. What if she didn't want her to stay anymore after this week? Oh gosh, what then?

But then, right as Katya couldn't take it anymore, a smile broke through on Natasha's face. ''Well, shit.'' She gave a disbelieving chuckle, her green eyes sparkling proudly as she looked her childhood friend in the eye. ''Congrats. I knew you could do it.''

Katya felt tingly all over. The first person to believe in her wasn't herself, it was Natasha. For a long time, it was only Natasha. It made her want to hold her chin up a bit higher, and try a little bit harder. For her. 

''Thank you.'' She ignored the heat in her cheeks as she stuck the ID back in her pocket. Receiving compliments was an art she didn't master, so she covered it up with a joke. "A lot of people aren't going to be happy with this decision."

Natasha scoffed cockily, stepping aside to let Katya into her apartment. "Screw that. You belong with m—us now. I always knew, but now it's on paper too." She shrugged her shoulders after she closed the door, placing the vodka on a cabinet to the side. "Or on plastic, I guess."

Puzzle pieces fell into place. Peace settled over Katya like a warm blanket in the winter as she looked around Natasha's plain apartment. This was her home now. She was officially safe. She had friends who had her back. She belonged somewhere. She could breathe.

The emotions were so overwhelming. The urge to curl up into a ball on the floor and cry happily was so strong. Twenty-three years of living and she finally had a place in this world.

"Natalia.'' 

Natasha was already looking at her, but Katya felt the need to say her name, to make sure she was listening. That she knew something serious was coming. Uneasily, the blonde shuffled in her spot, staring at Natasha's stomach instead of looking into her eyes. She wouldn't be able to say what she wanted to say.

''I'm sorry.'' Her throat felt tight. The words were hard to get out. But Katya pushed them out and threw her heart at Natasha's feet. ''I really thought Fury was going to send me away. I tried to make it easier for myself by distancing myself from you, to try and make the heartbreak hurt less. It was stupid, and unfair, and I hurt you, and I'm really sorry for that."

She sucked in a shallow breath. That was the most open she'd been her whole life. But it felt good to get that off her chest.

"It was stupid," Natasha said. Shocked by her bluntness, Katya forgot her nerves and looked up. "Stupid to think I wouldn't follow you out that door if you left."

Katya quickly shook her head, refusing to acknowledge the weight of those words. "I would never want you to give all this up for me. It's the reason I didn't come to find you in the first place.''

''Looks like I don't have to give up anything now.'' Natasha looked so sure about her decision that Katya didn't even try to argue any more. She just observed the woman standing in front of her. The one she didn't deserve in every lifetime.

"I'm sorry, Talia. Again. I fell into old habits."

"Don't beat yourself up. You're already forgiven,'' Natasha said softly. She glanced at the floor, sliding her hands into her back pockets. ''I also want to say sorry, for the way I reacted when I found you in the shooting range.'' She shook her head, as if she disapproved of herself. ''That could've been done way better. I was just—you scared me.''

Katya mirrored her depressing mood, shame washing over her in waves. She was so far away from that state of mind right now, that it was hard to understand why she wanted to dig that knife into herself to begin with. ''That was the first time somebody was there to stop me,'' she muttered, immediately beating herself up over saying that when Natasha's face saddened further. 

''I'm sorry.''

Katya shook her head. ''I don't want you to feel like you have to keep me alive or something.''

''I don't feel like that,'' Natasha answered with conviction. ''But when you ever feel that urge again, will you come to me?''

''I can try.''

The redhead nodded once, then straightened up and took the vodka from the cabinet. ''Enough of the heavy stuff. We should celebrate. Have you been to the roof?'' She asked mysteriously, a smug sparkle in her bright eyes. And just like that, the conversation was over and they were all good again.

''No…?'' Katya answered warily.

Natasha smiled, swinging the door open. ''Let's go then, Agent Petrova.''

Katya chuckled as she passed through, watching Natasha take a big swig of the liquor as they walked down the hallway. ''You do realize you're going to be stuck with me forever now, right?''

''It's the only way I wanted it.''

[sinner-sunflower]

Lucifer AU idea- Rabbit Hole

Y'all know that Rabbit Hole by Miku song with the animation trend? Imagine Luci doing that dance ugh

---------------------------

The song is Angel Dust's first official music video that he wrote after breaking free of Valentino's deal.

Ozzie had offered him a job to Club Ozzie's first Pride ring branch and Angel never felt happier.

He got into music as an outlet for his emotions, releasing 'Addict' and 'Poison' to the public via Al's radio show. (He managed to convince Alastor to do it cos it would make his ratings skyrocket past Vox and Alastor loves nothing more than kicking Vox when he's already down)

After the success of his first 2 songs, Angel decided that maybe the 3rd one should have a music video.

With the help of Ozzie as his producer, the project is a go.

Writing the song was the easy part. Angel wanted it to sound fun but also resonate with his past experiences (just read the translation of the lyrics! The one angel wrote is from this Cover!)

One day, he and Ozzie were brainstorming at the Sin's office at the Pride branch.

Ozzie: Angel, this is your first music video! It must be grand! Showstopping! Jaw-dropping! Never before seen! Revolutionary!

Angel: But how do I do that, big dick boss man? I don't think even being greatest porn star Hell has ever seen will wow people now. I've done lots of things and I can't think of anything else.

Ozzie: Hmmm

Just then, Lucifer enters the office.

Lucifer: Ozzie! Just who I'm looking for. I need you to do some inspection regarding your crystals. I just talked to Belphagor and she said that her team just confiscated a whole ton in some imp warehouse in Greed. I know I don't need to meddle but I wouldn't be worried if it was anywhere else. Who knows what Mammon is doing with those and- oh! Angel!

Angel: Heya, Short king.

Lucifer: What are you doing here?

Angel: I work here, baby~

Lucifer: Oh! I knew that haha. And what's this?

The King of Hell gestures to the board they were using for notes.

Angel: Don't tell anyone, but I'm gonna be releasin a new song and it's gonna have a music video!

Lucifer: Really?! That's great! It hasn't been that long too since Poison, wasn't it?

Angel: Yeah, but we wanna catch these motherfuckers off guard

Ozzie: That's why we're brainstorming how we can wow these desensitised demons. I still think we can do-

Lucifer: Why don't I do it?

Angel and Ozzie blink in surprise at the King's words.

Angel: Do what?

Lucifer: Act! In your music video! You know, instead of you, I'll be the uhhh 'rabbit girl'? Not that- you're uh- not enough I just mean that uhm- I think the last thing they'd expect is the King of Hell a sinner's music video.

Angel: Babe, you do know this would be a not safe for work type thing, right?

Lucifer: Yeah? I know? I know you better than you might think, you know.

Ozzie: You sure? Cos Charlie might see this.

Angel: Yeah. I know I don't wanna see my dad basically naked dancing to music.

Lucifer: You can go through it with her if it makes you feel any better. But I'm up for anything.

The two others in the room just stare at him with their mouths wide open.

Lucifer: But if you don't want I...

Angel: Hell no! We are doing this!

Ozzie: Hell won't know what hit em.

---------------------------

Charlie gave it a green light cos she's so excited about her dad finally socializing and breaking out of his cocoon to really realize what everything is about. Angel wants to record a reaction of the hotel for research purposes.

A few weeks later, the video is done and it's dropped out of nowhere.

Ozzie invited the Sins to the hotel for an exclusive live viewing (he and Angel ofc knew what time it would be released and set the whole thing up)

Everyone sat in the lobby in front of a giant projector (No, Alastor, you can't watch a video on the radio!), and as the clock struck at 9:13 AM on a random Tuesday, the video played.

Let's just say that it certainly did leave mouth agaped and caused mass panic.

---------------------------

Ozzie anonymously sent a copy to Heaven and somewhere in a bright glowing building, 6 archangels lay unconscious at the ground due to shock,

---------------------------

If you guys want me to write some dialogue for that first reaction in the hotel, drop the comment!

[imagitory]

Review: Wish (2023) [SPOILERS]

Evening, everyone! Tonight my mother and I went to go see Disney's most recent film, Wish, which fortunately came to theaters in my area right before its formal American release date. I'd been very curious to see how this tribute to Disney's last 100 years of filmmaking would turn out, and now that I've seen it...well, I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I want to be very clear both that I was going into this with a rather sunny outlook and that there are things I really liked in this film...but overall, it felt like a lot of the good ideas it had were only half-baked, and I found myself -- forgive me -- "wishing for something more" than what we got.

For a more comprehensive deep-dive...a cut!

The Good!

+The single best element in this film for me was Chris Pine's performance as our villain, Magnifico. There are definitely some things I can critique about Magnifico's overall storyline and "character arc" further down, but Chris was clearly having a grand old time being an egotistical, sassy jerkwad, and it totally showed. Even in his villain song This is The Thanks I Get?, which just screamed "passive-aggressive abusive parent," you can hear how much fun Chris was having in the studio, recording it. I just about always enjoyed when Magnifico was on screen, and I actually did really like the idea that a lot of his villainy is rooted in him being obsessed with control over everyone and everything. In a weird way, Magnifico's turn to the Dark Side parallels Anakin Skywalker's in the sense that he lost so much in the past that he's determined to never lose anything important to him again -- especially the power he's accrued to make himself feel strong, after having felt so powerless. I find that very interesting, and I kind of wish that aspect was really highlighted more in the story, but we'll talk about that later.

+Asha was a likable enough heroine, even if I found her to be a lot like a two-way fusion of Mulan and Anna placed in a vaguely Snow-White-ish role in her clearly Seven-Dwarf-inspired friend group. Ariana DeBose portrayed her rather well, both acting and singing-wise. I also liked the "social justice" bent to Asha's character where she wants better things not just for herself and her family, but also Rosas overall -- in the French translation of her main song "This Wish," they even push this further by having Asha wish "to see the world happy again someday." We haven't seen a heroine really express this kind of desire for a positive change in the world since Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and that's cool! Plus representation in mainstream media for previously underrepresented groups is always nice. ^.^

+As much as I don't think they all got enough focus as individuals, I liked Asha's friend group! Especially the fact that it is a friend group made up of people that are around the same age as our protagonist, which -- let's be honest -- isn't that common for Disney heroines. Often with "sidekick groups," you're more likely to have situations like Cinderella with the mice (who are more like cutesy sidekicks than equals) or Snow White with the Dwarfs (who are all quite a bit older than our heroine)...so a friend group made up of peers with their own personalities and motivations was kind of fun.

+The setting of Rosas itself could be pretty. I liked a lot of the Mediterranean-inspired architecture, especially inside Magnifico's tower.

+The combination of 3D and 2D-esque animation was also interesting! It really served to give the film its own distinctive visual style that sets it apart from other Disney projects, which I always appreciate.

+Star was...cute. Obviously just designed to sell plushies and definitely reminded me way too much of Kirby, but cute enough. I do think it's kind of cool that they're never gendered at all in the entire movie, because it'd be silly to think of a sweet little androgynous ball of stardust as being specifically male or female.

+I liked the idea of Simon "betraying" Asha, only to be turned into a pawn by Magnifico in the process, but not being treated unsympathetically by the story for it. Didn't love the full execution of the idea, but hey, that's what the negative section is for.

+The idea of everyone finding the power inside of themselves to stand up against Magnifico (because they're "all stars," and presumably all have the magic needed to make their wishes come true) was a little predictable, but still sweet. I have problems with how the film wrote it (which we'll get to), but the idea itself was wholesome and fitting.

+I like several of the songs, just on their own -- I added This Wish and Knowing What I Know Now on my ITunes as soon as I first heard them prior to the film's release, and now I've added At All Costs too: it's a really pretty duet! (Gorgeous work, Chris and Ariana!) I'll leave my praise here, though, because sadly the soundtrack is going to get a lot of discussion in the less positive section.

The Not-So-Good...

+This film being "Disney's 100th anniversary film" really got in the way of this movie telling a compelling and unique story sometimes. The whole movie really twisted itself into a pretzel trying to check off all the usual Disney tropes, and there were points that certain choices made the story seem incredibly stilted. For instance, one common Disney trope is a dead parent, so of course Asha has lost her father -- but we learn so little about him and he ends up playing such a small role in Asha's arc and story that it seems like an unnecessary detail. Asha's grandfather honestly plays more of a role in Asha's motivation throughout most of the film, so it would've made just as much sense to have Asha's grandfather be the one who believed in stars having power, rather than her father. Another example is the concept of the cute animal sidekick who's just there to make jokes -- as much as Valentino the goat didn't annoy me personally, he added just about nothing of value to the story whatsoever aside from comic relief, in contrast to other funny sidekicks like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid or Olaf from Frozen, who also serve a plot purpose and have a developed relationship with the protagonists. Then there's Asha being cut from the same "naive, awkward, wide-eyed idealist" cloth as many of our Disney Revival heroines like Anna, Rapunzel, and up to a certain point even Mirabel are; Star being in a similar vein to cutesy, innocent sidekicks like Pua, Crikee, and Baymax while Valentino is more akin to sassier, comic ones like Mushu and Sisu; her friends literally being based on the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White; our heroine getting a pretty standard "I Want" song and the villain getting his own solo number that doesn't really take any risks...oh yes, and we mustn't forget the trope of the Storybook opening, which (I'm sorry) I know was supposed to be a reference to Snow White, Cinderella, and Enchanted, but just gave me Shrek vibes the entire time. I was waiting for Shrek to rip out the page and use it for toilet paper any minute. It just felt a lot of the time like the movie was very paint-by-numbers, rather than throwing in much that was surprising or different.

+This isn't even touching all of the pointless meta references to other Disney movies. Asha wearing the Fairy Godmother's cloak and getting a wand like hers at the end -- the mushrooms crowing "we love crazy!" the way Hans did in Love is an Open Door -- Asha riding the reindeer the way Kristoff did in Frozen 2 -- Magnifico using green smoke hands a la Ursula -- the ending with those obvious Wendy and Peter Pan look-alikes, come on, really??? That was just painful.

+As much as Magnifico was an awesome idea for a character and Chris Pine's performance was beyond entertaining, the movie did not always write him as well as they could've. From the very start, we see this guy is an egotistical control freak -- obsessed with his own image, incredibly hard-to-please, arrogant, vain, desperate for attention and unwavering praise and adoration from all of his subjects, and determined to keep an iron grip on everyone else's wishes because of the power it gives him. He's ALREADY a terrible person, from the start -- and yet the film tries to introduce this dark magic book that gets no explanation or backstory whatsoever and has no real characterization or presence, so it leaves no real impact on the audience corrupting him and making him a bad person, when it didn't need to! Magnifico was already the villain this film needed! Just let him fall head-first into madness without the book prompting anything! Even if Magnifico "lost everything" in the past, that doesn't make him a good person, if he takes everyone's wishes away from them and hoards them all to himself, only to grant a few now and again when it would make him look good.

+This above point actually leads nicely into one change I really, really wish the film had been ballsy enough to make -- have Asha already be Magnifico's apprentice, not trying to become it at the start of the story. Give our villain and hero a real relationship, with history that started before the events of this film! Asha lost her father at the age of 12...how interesting would it have been -- whether to make Magnifico more of an anti-villain or show how manipulative he really is -- if he'd tried to fill that fatherly role for our main character and twist her to serve his ends? What if At All Costs was rewritten to be about Magnifico not just being determined to hold onto all of the kingdom's wishes, but also this apprentice he sees as an extension of him and his legacy, while Asha is determined to protect this Star she's accidentally summoned and the suppressed wish of hers it represents? This change would've made Asha's break with Magnifico so much more powerful for both of them -- it would've both justified Magnifico's descent into madness and given Asha more reason to feel like it was her responsibility to stop Magnifico. You even could've then played more with Asha's relationship with Queen Amaya too, in this kind of a scenario.

+Oh yeah, and on that note, Queen Amaya. OOH, this really annoyed me -- okay. So this woman is supposed to be a good guy, in this story. But as I touched on earlier, Magnifico was already a pretty awful person, hoarding people's wishes away in order to make himself powerful. Was Amaya truly so blind to that? Did she truly never question anything, ever? But no, really, she only turns on Magnifico after he starts using the dark magic book and actively threatens her. Only that makes her turn from him, and it's pretty damn immediate. Now okay, I hear you saying, it's like Amaya sings in Knowing What I Know Now, right? "The good in him, I've watched it melt // I was blinded by the love I felt"? Excuse me, lady -- but Magnifico wasn't a good person, before. He was just playing a part so as to stay powerful and adored by the masses. And if the story wants to claim otherwise, and act like that dark magic book was responsible for Magnifico going bad, then why would our Queen decide to keep him locked up in his staff's crystal forever? If the book was responsible, then Magnifico would be the Frodo or Golum to the book's One Ring -- he'd be a victim, in such a scenario: one in need of help and pity, not punishment. So either Amaya is a selfish person who only cared about her husband's mistreatment of others when it affected her, or she's a needlessly cruel person who decides to punish her husband for a vice that anyone could fall prey to. Either way, I don't want this woman ruling anyone! Make this woman a straight-up villain, same as her husband, and have the whole monarchy come crashing down after she and Magnifico both go down in flames! VIVE LA RESISTANCE! (Playing into my idea with Asha being Magnifico's apprentice all along, maybe there could even be a twist on the Evil Stepmother trope with Amaya, where she's jealous of how much Magnifico has tried to groom Asha as his apprentice, rather than spending time and/or starting a family with her or something.)

+As I touched on earlier, there wasn't even close to enough time to develop all of these characters properly. Since our heroine and friends are most similar to Snow White and her friends the Seven Dwarfs, let's compare cast size. Snow White is 83 minutes long and has a cast of ten (Snow, the Prince, the Queen, and the Dwarfs) -- Wish is 95 minutes long and has a cast of fourteen (Asha, Magnifico, Star, Valentino, Amaya, Asha's mum and grandpa, and our seven Friends). This results in us getting the vague idea that "Grumpy" role Gabo is sweet on our "Bashful" role Bazeema, but no time to develop their relationship or give it any kind of conclusion; the others saying "Sneezy" role Safi apparently loves the castle chickens with no sympathetic explanation why, to the point that he gets super excited about a chicken growing to a giant size for no real reason; "Doc" role Dahlia having a crush on Magnifico that is then dropped immediately after Asha turns against him; oldest kid and "Sleepy" role Simon feeling incomplete without the dream he gave Magnifico and "betraying" Asha as a result in an attempt to get it back, only to get stabbed in the back by Magnifico, and then have no time for a proper redemption after he's unhypnotized; Asha's grandfather turning on a dime about whether or not he wants to know what his wish was if Magnifico thought it was dangerous; Magnifico getting some justification in his backstory for his bad behavior, but Amaya's backstory being a complete black hole before she married Magnifico when you'd think it'd explain all the more why she stuck with him so long; and Asha's mum having her wish crushed to dust by Magnifico and then given back without us EVER LEARNING WHAT IT EVEN WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE, even after we see just about everyone else's wishes as soon as somebody picks it up and Asha's mum's wish gets picked up multiple times!! Come on, if you're going to set up NOT showing it, you may as well have a pay-off for it!! At least give us some moment where Asha's mum hugs her in relief and acknowledges that her daughter was her wish! That would've been a nice "aww" moment for everyone!

+Okay, I said I was going to talk about my problem with the songs, so here goes. As I said before, I listened to the soundtrack before watching the movie, and even when I did, I could immediately sense a problem: these songs did not tell me much of anything about the movie, just on their own. Welcome to Rosas, which is pretty much just an exposition dump about the kingdom and how Magnifico founded it, didn't really paint a picture of our setting or characters much at all, the way opening songs like Belle or The Family Madrigal do. This Wish, although pretty, was something I could hear just as easily on the radio -- it didn't feel as tied or necessary to understanding our heroine the way something like Part of That World does. I'm a Star, quite frankly, felt like a lot of inspirational word salad, rather than anything particularly memorable or revelatory -- why else wouldn't it even be worthy of a musical salute in the reprise, where Asha remembers that she and everyone else are stars during the climax? Even after reading summaries of the plot and spoilers from the storybook for this film, I could not figure out for the life of me how At All Costs would fit organically into such a story, being sung by our villain and hero. It wasn't until I saw the film that I saw how the filmmakers decided to fit it in and honestly...the song didn't help tell that particular scene at all. It's a really pretty song and I like it a lot -- but it lacked any of the irony or contrast that kind of a scene that introduces the difference in focus between our hero and villain required. If the scene itself is needed to understand what's supposed to be going on while the song is playing, then the song is not effectively telling the story and is therefore unnecessary. There wasn't even a particularly Spanish or Mediterranean flair to the soundtrack to help set the stage, aside from the occasional flourish of castanets -- instead it sounded very contemporary, which I guess is appropriate, since it was largely written by pop composers rather than any musical theater talent.

+There were also points where the songs felt the urge to shove in a bunch of extra words just because, rather than have the words flow well and really mean something. I'm a Star is most guilty of this, of course, but even in This is the Thanks I Get?, we hear Magnifico gripe that "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent" -- mate, THAT MEANS THE SAME THING! If you live somewhere for free, then you are NOT paying rent!

+Knowing What I Know Now is a bop and I like it (aside from Amaya's stupidity), but I'm sorry, all I can think when I hear it is "This is clearly trying to be Ready as I'll Ever Be from Tangled the Animated Series, but that song blows this out of the water." However fun the song can be, it would've been so much stronger if it actually addressed the contrast between the characters and revved us up for a big final battle, instead of it just being our eight underdeveloped characters psyching each other up.

+The idea of everyone being stars was a lovely idea, but the execution of Asha remembering this fact and using it to defeat Magnifico was terribly handled. First off, there was no revelatory phrase or action that prompted Asha to remember this fact, so her suddenly saying that "they're all stars" came out of nowhere. Second, even putting aside that there'd be no way any of her friends could hear Asha from all the way up on the tower if they're stuck in the courtyard below, there's no reason I can see for Asha's friends or family to know what the hell she was even TALKING about. They weren't there when the I'm a Star number happened! And the way that number made it seem, just based on the visuals, it looked like the "star" power came from a person's dream, since it's the same glow that returns to Asha's grandfather when he gets his dream back, but most of the town's dreams have been already yanked out by Magnifico at this point! I think the idea is that since everyone is a star, even with that big piece of them and the power accompanying it taken out, they still have enough stardust inside of them to be powerful enough to chase their heart's desires...but yeah, I'm sorry, for all the word salad I'm a Star threw around, this world-building aspect was really not made clear, and because of that and the lack of a proper callback to this plot turn, the climax didn't hit as strong as it should've.

Overall, this film felt a lot like a batch of unbaked chocolate chip cookies that someone decided to throw a bunch of brightly colored sprinkles on top of, just because they could. A lot of ideas just don't feel like they were fully developed, and there was a lot tossed in that didn't contribute to the overall taste or bring the disparate elements together in a cohesive whole, instead feeling more like a distraction than anything of actual substance. That doesn't mean I couldn't eat it -- I like eating cookie dough as much as the next person -- but that doesn't mean it felt like a complete, finished product worthy of great praise. Instead I'm left looking at the wasted potential and wishing the movie had carved out its own path more, one distinctive to itself, rather than just be a mashup of previous Disney concepts and tropes. I won't act like there's nothing to like here, nor that it's completely lacking in heart: I actually would love to see fandom for this movie re-imagine it in ways that could've improved the story and characters, because there were SO many good ideas here...but for me personally, this movie left me colder than it should've and -- like Asha after meeting Magnifico -- a bit disappointed.

So I make this wish...to have Disney make a film better than this.

Overall Grade: C-

[irelandseyeonmythology]

DIAS Black Friday Sale

Once a year, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), offers a sale for Black Friday -- DIAS is one of the major publishers for Celtic Studies, many of the best studies of medieval Irish material have come through there.

Some books that I recommend, personally:

Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (26.25 Euro, normally 35) (THE introduction to law in medieval Ireland)

"", Early Irish Farming (26.25 Euro, normally 35) (Everything you wanted to know about day to day life in medieval Ireland but were afraid to ask. Literally. Everything.)

Medieval Irish Prose

Fergus Kelly, Audacht Morainn (18.75 Euro, normally 25)

Are you planning on becoming a medieval Irish king? Do you want to know what you should do to involve the total destruction of the natural order? Then this is the text for you! Now with English translation!

In all seriousness, this text is used a LOT with regards to studies of ideal kingship in medieval Ireland.

Cecile O'Rahilly, The Táin from the Book of Leinster (26.25 Euro, usually 35)

I'll be real with you, lads: I hate Cú Chulainn. I hate him. I hate his smug, misogynistic face. His creepy multi-pupiled eyes. The shitty way he treats Emer. The way that his presence is like this black hole in the study of medieval Irish literature that means that the Ulster Cycle can get a prestigious yearly conference held in its honor while the other cycles are left with either crumbs or outright dismissal. I think the Táin is boring and episodic as a piece of lit and I've never found anything overly redeeming about it over any other piece of medieval Irish literature, especially since imo other pieces of literature do women (and homoeroticism) much better and get much less praise for it.

...that being said. It's important. It IS iconic, both as a piece of medieval Irish literature and, in general, to Irish literature. Its status as The Irish Iliad means that, if you want to study medieval Irish stuff...you have to read the Táin. And this is a version of the Táin that you might not have gotten, translated and edited by a master of Old Irish, with commentary.

"", Táin Bó Cúailnge: recension I (10 Euro, normally 35)

See above.

Early Irish History and Genealogy

T.F. O'Rahilly, Early Irish History and Genealogy (30 Euro, normally 40)

So. On the record, a lot of what he says here is absolutely not currently believed in the field. Just. No. BUT. There's a reason why I always recommend him anyway, and it's because if you're serious about doing a study of Irish Mythology, whatever we take that to mean...you will not be able to avoid this man. His ideas were very popular for decades and still often are to people who don't really focus on mythology. It's better to know where these ideas come from and to identify them than not, and O'Rahilly, in his defense, had an *excellent* knowledge of his sources. It's dense, it's difficult (rather like the author himself, from the accounts I've heard), but it's necessary if you really want to attack this.

Joan Radner, Fragmentary Annals of Ireland (22.50, normally 30)

There is so much weird shit in the Fragmentary Annals. So much.

Welsh

Patrick Sims Williams, Buchedd Beuno: The Middle Welsh Life of St Beuno (22.50 Euro, normally 30)

I know what you're thinking: "Why the FUCK are they recommending this book about a random Welsh saint? Answer: Because this is how I learned Middle Welsh. The introduction to Welsh at the front of the book + the VERY good index at the back is still one of the best ways to learn Middle Welsh. Also if anyone was watching the Green Knight film and going "Why is there a lady with her head chopped off?" this answers that question.

 R. L. Thomson, Pwyll Pendeuic Dyuet: the first of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, edited from the White Book of Rhydderch, with variants from the Red Book of Hergest (15 Euro, normally 20)

Once you've gotten enough of a hang of Middle Welsh to know the basics, it's time to dive into the classics, and what better way to do it than with the Mabinogi, starting at the very beginning, with the First Branch? Personally, I dislike a lot of Thomson's orthographic decisions, but, hey, it's the First Branch, and that's Middle Welsh orthography for you.

Ian Hughes, Math uab Mathonwy (22.50 Euro, normally 30)

The Fourth Branch, my beloved. Incest, rape, bestiality (well...pseudo bestiality, really), creating a new life while not being willing to deal with the consequences of it...it truly has it all. Not for the faint of heart, but absolutely worth the read if you can stomach it because imo it handles its themes very well and it's incredibly haunting.

And a lot more -- go in, shop around, see what's available. Even with the older books, they're often things that we're still referencing in some way into the present.

[jasminebelle096]

The Welcome Home website is back let's gooooooo!

Let's just say I didn't waste any time and immediately got into it. And I came back with some screenshots.

SPOILERS AHEAD GO LOOK AT THE WEBSITE BY YOURSELF BEFORE READING MORE

First of all, when I clicked on the link partycoffin posted, I got welcomed by our dear Home who looks so adorable!

Then our silly Wally with...strange little symbols I must say

But whatever, it's probably nothing, it's just to fit the Christmas theme.

Even though Christmas was like...3 months ago or something.

Then we have this:

Apparently, from what I understand by reading it, the people behind the website got rid of the little bugs that were roaming around. You know, the bugs who leads us to audio files when clicking on it.

That's funny because there's still this one small bug below which we can't still click on it for some reasons.

And why are they acting like it's Christmas although, once again, THREE months ago?

When checking on the neighborhood, there's more of the little symbols.

As well as one in Wally's canvas

(why does this one looks like the lamp from Aladdin?)

Apart from that, it's nice seeing all our neighbors again. I missed them not gonna lie.

I took a look at the stickers and the snowglobes are SO cute! You guys should see them.

Nothing changed about the guestbook, it's still closed

But hey, there's new audios! Some little songs and records. I absolutely ADORE the one with Howdy and his family! That's right, we got to meet Howdy's big family and it was so funny and adorable.

Poor Eddie who have to deal with Julie's recklessness, even though it's part of Sally's play. By the way, Sally is still an icon, I can assure you about that. Like:

Juliette, I fell from the sky, you fell from a house...Come on! Walk it off...

Girl, never change

And Frank who is just tired of this mess lol, as well as Home who is playing the reindeer?? I have no idea how it's possible and at some point I don't want to know.

Also, Julie can hibernate. I mean, yeah, I kind of forgot she's a rainbow monster, so it's not that surprising although still a bit for me.

Anyway, everything was normal I guess, except for the little symbols that were everywhere. So I went to the merchandise section and I came upon this:

Yeah, it's Crispy Sweets but Christmas. And there's a second image with it I'm gonna take a quick look-

Hold on

Hold on a second

Are those...the symbols that are scattered around the website?

Wait are you-

Are you TELLING ME

That those symbols are secret codes???

Upon discovering this, I tried to "de-coding" those symbols using the translator, but it didn't mean anything much. Like, it was just random letters and not words. I tried to use the letters in the website link to see if it could bring me to some secret dark page like the site is known for, but nothing.

I don't know about you, but there HAVE to be something with those codes. I can feel there's something in it but I can't tell what exactly.

Interesting thing, remember the Aladdin lamp? This symbol translate to the letter "W".

"W" for "Wally"...huh...

Well I guess Wally sure likes to mention himself huh, the little silly guy.

But wait, there's more.

I went to the News section and this is what it says:

From prying eyes

MMMMM NOW THAT IS A CHOICE OF WORDS DON'T YOU AGREE

Yeah they literally kicked poor Wally out of the website lol

I mean not gonna lie after the mess he did last time, especially with the stickers...

But then:

I don't know about you, but doesn't it sounds strange?

Like, how can you still assume we're in December while three months have passed? Like, how can you not realize it? How did you not notice that time have passed?

Common mistake or not, it's sure is strange. Are they okay?

Also here's this on the FAQ thing, I don't know if it was already there but I'm putting this just in case:

So yeah...that's all I could find.

Go look by yourself and see if there's more, like if I missed something. Not gonna lie, it's the first time I've felt so INVESTED like this lol

Anyway, good job @partycoffin and thank you for this update, rest well you deserve it

[pricechecktranslations]

Seven Crimes and Punishments Interview (2015)

There are a lot of interviews that mothy has done over the years that aren't published in official Evillious material. I can't promise to find them, and I have very little desire to translate them, but if people point them out to me I'll try to make a quick summary of their contents like I've been doing for his blog.

This one's from the Japanese entertainment website "Natalie", linked [here]

Content summary under the cut

basic info on mothy, that he's a song producer who's been there since pretty much the beginning, a pioneer of VOCALOID novels, etc etc. Ichika is also present for this interview, as his main illustrator. At this point it's been 7 years since Daughter of Evil came out.

-He had no idea he'd be going this long. mothy had no intention or expectation of making money off this when he first started, viewing it instead as a hobby. He admits that he still feels that way even now that he's successful.

-Seven Crimes and Punishments, however, was planned in advance. He'd figured that he wanted to release something that compiled the Seven Deadly Sins songs at the 7 year mark, and was conveniently approached by a major record label to do so (even if they hadn't reached out to him he would have done so anyway).

-He really likes being able to concretely show the songs are connected.

-This isn't new information but mothy didn't originally have all of Evillious in mind when making Daughter of Evil. All he'd conceived of was the setting for Daughter of Evil. It was only later that he started making things connected (this is another thing he likes--having stories that seem to be unrelated at first and then revealing they're in the same world). He got the idea around the time he was making Evil Food Eater Conchita.

-mothy has always liked fantasizing about stories, but never had an outlet for them before. Hence why he went so overboard when making the songs.

-Ichika found it easy to illustrate Daughter of Evil because of how clearly the song told its story.

-mothy's affinity for telling stories in songs is at least partly inspired by Western heavy metal music. In particular he cites the bands Helloween and Stratovarius (who tell fantasy stories with their music). He also mentions the early works for Makihara Noriyuki (a JPop artist), which also had stories to them.

-He also talks a little about the historical basis for telling complex narratives through music, such as medieval minstrels, opera, musicals, etc. So he doesn't think there's anything special about what he's doing; it's just that such music isn't popular anymore.

-Mothy talks about Cloture, which was his first time writing a novel. Neither he nor the publisher thought it would sell, so he didn't feel pressured at all when writing it.

-He had a lot of material to make Cloture with from when he was making the setting for the song, thought it wound up being more of a foundation for him to work off of than the complete story itself. Ironically this has resulted in him coming up with so much complex plot and setting that he now struggles to fit it into his newer songs, having to promise himself he'll write whatever he can't fit into another novel.

-Ichika always tries to preserve the tone and atmosphere of the songs whenever she makes illustrations for mothy. With the songs in particular she tries to follow not just the instructions she gets, but also keeping in mind the information mothy has already made public for his story. She avoids putting her own interpretation or spin on the art, just following what mothy has in mind.

-mothy recounts how there was some debate over making novels of the songs (which he didn't mind). People apparently thought it would detract from the ability of readers to imagine their own stories with the music. But novels are derivative works of the songs, and he felt like he could write it as he wanted to as the song's author (slightly unsure what he's saying here). The attitude towards "novelizing" has changed now, of course.

-Ichika was happy to work on the manga, being able to illustrate things that didn't get shown visually in the novel.

-they discuss how mothy's fan base (and VOCALOID in general) seem to have a lot of younger people in it now, like teens and pre-teens (he would have expected an older fan base given he's been making songs for 7 years). He talks about how he's had to keep this in mind when making his work--that his songs need to appeal to kids and teens who don't know much about music, and not just to music enthusiasts and adults.

-They also discuss how mothy doesn't tailor his songs to project a cool image (and use the Onigashima song as an example, being an enka song and thus not exactly Jpop). He doesn't view himself as a "cool" person in general, and so is looking more at what's in demand in what he makes.

-mothy would doodle stories and concepts and characters for himself in elementary school, but dropped this as he entered middle school and got into music. He thinks that it's better for him to work on these things as an adult because he no longer has much pride to get in the way whenever his imagination gets the better of him.

-He worked on the short story at the same time as he was making the 4 new songs for the album. He struggled a little with the setting at first because he wanted all of the main sin characters to show up in it, but they all live in different countries and time periods (this is my own speculation, but this may be why he chose to have the end of the world play out like it did)

-Ichika talks a little about the appeal of the story, that each character isn't totally good or evil, and so they all have ways they can be likable. The story is made up of a lot of smaller events kind of compiling on each other, which makes what-ifs and the like interesting to do. Her favorite characters are Conchita and Gallerian. She also talks a little about designing the album jacket.

-they discuss the trend of making novels about VOCALOID songs--mothy noting it took off way more than he thought it would (he expected a bit of a trend, but not to this degree). He doesn't mind that he was going against the grain when he started, but he thinks it's a little overboard now (he seems to be saying that he thinks there's this pressure to make novels when really it's okay to just stick with making songs). Still though, he tries to keep to himself and not worry what other people are doing.

-Ichika has similar thoughts, where she hasn't been paying close attention to the "novel scene", but she has noted some people getting into reading through VOCALOID, or getting into VOCALOID through reading, that it serves as a good gateway genre, as it were.

-He says he's planning to keep going for at least another 5 years so he'll have been going for 12 years (for thematic reasons, of course).

[muffinrecord]

What translations are you looking forward to, as of now?

Excellent question! Let's see... Oh I'm counting "translated" and "recorded" as the same for this.

Main Story stuff

I'm really looking forward to the last parts for Puella Historia. I wanna know how it all ends!

I forgot which chapter it is but I REALLY want to see the main story part where Juri + Yuna raise Ao as a baby asf;laskfoa

I also never read the event doc for Toyo's thing, so I'm excited to see that. People seem to have positive feelings on it

Event story stuff

I've been looking forward to the Swimsuit Mami event cause Mami content! Apparently it also has aliens in it? Which is... kinda weird. But I guess Kyubey is an alien, so....

I'm really curious about Only Dreamers (Kushu release) because her MGS totally made me interested in her character, and it looks like it has Ikumi and Yukika in it? Whom I love.

Ashen Revolution looks to be pretty good but it's stuck in review hell right now I think.

Akari's event looks interesting and kind of classical mahou shoujo (oh no my love interest is in love with my cooler adult magical girl self!) so the premise is interesting. Hotaru is also in it and I'm really fond of her.

RAINBOW COLORED SUMMER looks fucking FANTASTIC.

Magical Girl Stories stuff

Yukika-- I like her and I'm curious as to what her mgs is about.

Swimsuit Mami-- as mentioned above, gotta have that mami content. The only thing I hesitate on is if it involves Nagisa somehow 'cause I don't really enjoy their dynamic (I maintain that mami needs an older friend who lets mami be a kid, not a stupid baby character). (I don't hate Nagisa, I liked her in her Wish event)

Konoha & Hazuki-- I liked their event waaaay more than I expected and tbh the Azaleas feel super nostalgic to me; it's going to be a treat when their mgs is recorded!

Asahi-- I barely know anything about her so I'd love to get to know her better

Perenelle-- tbh her character doesn't interest me too much but the idea of a wandering hundreds-years-old magical girl who is aloof and may or may not help out other magical girls is very appealing to me. I'd love a spinoff just on that concept alone-- a woman who has seen it all and stays the same no matter how much history changes.

Mikoto-- I'm not sure what her magical girl story is about, but I'm hoping that it's about her pre-witch. She seems super fascinating

Heruka-- she captured my heart and I wanna know more about her. Her event was my favorite PH! Although apparently it was also the hardest one to translate, so I'm not gonna hold my breath on it

Amaryllis-- she's a dear and I'm excited

Historia Yachiyo-- gotta see what the star^2 girl is all about.

Quotes Stuff

actually I was gonna write here but god that list would be so fucking long, this would be unreadable. hmmm but some highlights would include:

Anime Mami

Matsuri Hinata

Seira Mihono (all the theater girls really)

Rui Mizuki

Swimsuit Mami

Tsuruno & Felicia (Delivery)

Nayuta Satomi

Anime Tsuruno

Rabi Himuro (and her kimochi ver)

Darkness Kanagi and Mitama

Chizuru

Olga

Heruka

Masara & Kokoro

Amaryllis

Historia Yachiyo

Devil Homura

I promise that this is just the highlights, I wanted to include so many more

Thanks for the question! This was fun to look through.

ALSO just to make sure: no rush to the translators, reviewers, or JSONers!

[heterophobicdyke]

I don't know if you're taking more asks for the woman who doesn't like being a woman, but I'll share my perspective:

I'm probably one of the few women in this world who has never wanted to be male. Even when wanting to be stronger or faster, I'd still wish and fantasize about being a stronger woman, not a man in any way. Even periods, while annoying never convinced me that being a man was a better option. I like being a woman; I guess I like our body parts better than male sexual characteristics, I wouldn't want to deal with having a penis or getting erections and having something coming out of my genitals every time I masturbate. I don't like the idea of having a higher sex drive, being more aggresive, wanting to dominate and having a higher probability of getting bald lol.

Another thing is I'm glad I don't have to deal with male-on-male aggression. Don't get me wrong, women get the short end of the stick when it comes to males sexual aggression, yet I don't interact with men much and more importantly, I don't have a boyfriend even though I'm straight so I basically don't have to deal with that often. Men do have to deal with other men whether they like it or not (unless they become hermits), and the things I've heard and witness when it comes to intra male antagonistic encounters is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. People sometimes say "men just beat each other and get on with life, women might not fight but they will destroy you socially", but I could never see how physical altercarions are a better deal in any way. Not to mention that nowadays is very common for men to use the same tactics that some people blame only women of using: men gossip, back stab, spread rumors and ostracize each other if necessary (very recently a study found out that men actually apply these techniques more often than women do to move socially, so it seems to be a stereotype fuelled by the male-dominated media that this is a "woman thing").

And finally, I also like feeling that women trust me by default. I've read testimonies from transmen talking about how, as soon as they start "passing" as male, women suddenly began avoiding their gaze on the street, didn't smile at them anymore, moved to the other side of the street to avoid them, and would suddenly start walking faster when they realized this "man" was behind them, constantly looking over their shoulders to see if "he" was still behind them. Some transmen talk about this with understanding even though it hurts them, since they remember acting exactly the same with men before they transitioned. Some act indignant and talk about this being yet another proof of "misandry/transandrophobia". And you know what? I get it in a way, I wouldn't like it that half of the population (the important one to me) doesn't trust me by default. "Cis" men also whine about this, some also understand it's because of men terrible track record with women, but others can't accept that women just don't trust them and cry unfair treatment.

I always go to a woman if I ever need anything. If I'm lost and need help finding a street, I avoid every man until I find a woman. Ive noticed many other women do this too - even when there's a lot of men around, they still go to me for help or advice even if I look much younger than I am thus technically I should be more ignorant about life than the many grown men nearby. But they don't because they prefer to get help from another woman.

This is part of why men talk about feeling "invisible" to society - many times society translates to women and the fact that they don't get much attention from them. They do realize many women prefer each other to them, the myth of women always looking for men for protection and help crafted by media and such is shattered by reality. In a weird way I do empathize with men in certain things, even though they technically dug their own graves. And thats probably why I can still enjoy being a woman over being a man, even though it does have a lot of disadvantages too.

I think the higher sex drive thing is made up and women are just socialised to dissociate from their sexual selves. I also have never wanted to be a man - and I think any woman that does want to be a man moreso wants their social power than actually having a penis and male-patterned balding.

But I agree with pretty much the rest of what you said.

[sidhewrites]

Fourteen! (forteen? 14.) I am legally required to include Ruby in every single writing project I make ever, and this is no different. I hope you like my misanthropic bibliophile :0

Project Info

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

It's Josie's idea to research the guy possessing my cat. She texted me a little after breakfast to meet up at the library and see if we can find any record of this Magnus guy. I would rather do literally anything else, honestly, but I'm starting to think my best bet is to just do what she says at this point, especially with how suspicious I am of my cat's every move.

I watch Renfield closely, phone in hand, ready to record any odd behavior, but he seems to be back to his normal kitty self -- for now. He waddles around, sniffing at his salmon pate before lapping it up with as many nasty slurping sounds as possible. Then he makes his way over to the litter box before finally trundling up the little ramp to his bed on the windowsill

He paused, looking at the view. For a second, I think Magnus is back. I picture Renfield's head turning around like in the exorcist, and opening his mouth to speak backwards. But nothing happens. He just adjusts his position, lays down, and starts to snore.

I shouldn't be so on edge right now. It's my cat. I've had him for five years now. I know his routine by heart. I can translate his meows to know if he wants a treat or wants pets.

With a sigh, I text Josie back. I don't want to go to the library, or research, or do any of this. I shouldn't have to do any of this. I want my cat back, but I still drag my feet on the way out the door.

Let the record show, however, that I'm not scared of the Sutton University Library. 

True, its old and creepy, and I always feel like I’m being watched the second I walk through the door, but that’s because it’s one of the oldest buildings in town. I only avoid it because I'm not the biggest fan of research, and, also, [something punchy and silly]. During Sutton’s mining boom, an old rich widow moved in with her only child and commissioned a place for her hundreds of books. For the longest time, it doubled as a school house for local kids, not that she ever taught anyone. Legend says that she was so scary that she made kids cry just by looking at them. Kids wrote in their journals that she could even turn you to stone. 

According to legend, she died when a bookcase in the basement fell over on her, and crushed her. Even if her daughter later sold the building to the municipality, legend says that the Librarian never left, and she still reshelves books in the night to this day. 

I don’t think that’s the case, honestly. Or. I didn’t. I’m starting to doubt myself which I kind of hate since being overconfident and stupid has always been my thing.

But I'm not about to start acting different just because of a little thing like my whole world view being shaken. No, I waltz right in through the old doors, pleased as punch, and look to my right. Josie, done up in all black with a spiky leather duster vest, follows in my footsteps with far less gusto. "Do you even know where you're going?"

I wish I had the right to be offended. I really wish I did. But it's not like I'm known for being bookish and worldly. "The microfiche is down in basement level two," I inform her confidently, with only the slightest hint of bitterness, and head on to the stairs. There's an elevator, but it was installed over fifty years ago, and no matter how many annual [ safety exams] it's passed, I wouldn't trust that thing with a coffee mug, much less my own life.

So we take the stairs down into the depths of the old building, past the first landing and its creepy door, and down to the second. The doors seem to close on their own, and seem determined to creak no matter how much WD40 they slather on the hinges, so we enter the basement with a low, ominous groan.

"This place is creepy," Josie says.

"Ayup."

I make myself waltz in, carefree and unbothered, because, even if ghosts are apparently now real and also have been all along, this creepy basement is neither haunted nor supernatural. It's just creepy.

[Transition]

The librarian down here is tall, and gorgeous in that way that feels dangerous. High cheekbones, piercing blue eyes, and a gaze that says she'd murder me for thinking too loud.

"You're back," she says,

[stuff]

"Uh, Kaz, who are you talking to?"

"Miss Lark. She's in charge of the historical records?" I feel like if anyone knew [the historical librarians] by name, it should have been Josie, not me.

She gives me a look.

[Rambles about the librarian] and oh my god, she's a ghost, isn't she?"

Josie purses her lips.

I look to the librarian. She's looking at me like my very presence offends her, but, to be fair, that's sort of always how she looks at me. "So..."

"Did you want something?" the librarian asks. Or, I suppose, the Librarian with a capital L.

“Uh,” I say, because I’m very cool in the face of uncertainty. “Did I ever get your name?”

The Librarian gives me a look. I kind of want to die on the spot, but I think i would only end up haunting this place with her for eternity. 

“Microfiche?” Josie whispers. 

Why couldn’t she have been the one to be able to see and talk to ghosts? I don’t want this responsibility. 

Researching is as painful as always. You'd think that trying to find the guy possessing my cat would keep

“Hey look at this one,” Josie says, and steps back to let me see the obituary of Magnus Sunthorpe, one of the earlier residents of Sutton, who funded a lot of the town’s growth. He was extremely rich, with six children. Apparently it was a freak logging accident that got him, while they were felling trees to clear space for the mine entrance. He would be dearly missed, claims the writer, but I had my doubts. 

“You think he’s our guy?” I ask. “He might not be the only Magnus who lived here.”

“No, but I think it’s worth a shot. so far he’s the only one who fits the bill. Of course, this would be much easier if we could ask someone who knows more than we do.” She gives me a pointed look. 

“What?” I ask. 

She raises her brows, then sighs and spells it out for me. “The librarian?”

“Oh. Uh.” feel the blood drain from my face at the idea. “Not another seance though, right? We’re not gonna….?” I make a few obscure gestures that hopefully get across the process of setting up candles and raising the dead. 

[Josie talks her into it]

I feel like I’m back in grade school all of a sudden, being stared down at by my evil history teacher in tenth grade. The Librarian clearly hears me approaching, since she very pointedly picks up another book and slowly puts it back on the shelf. I briefly wonder what this must look like to Josie, then wonder if ghosts have the power of murdering people based off vibes alone. 

“Um,” I say. “Uh.” My mouth is dry, and suddenly my head is too filled with thoughts that can’t quite form into words. It takes more than a little effort to clear my throat and try again. “Excuse me, ma’am?”

She stops, book in one hand, eyes still on the shelf where it belongs. 

“Hi. My name is Kaz. I think you already knew that, but, uh, you know. Thanks for all those times you helped me find the right book for my research papers.” It was part of the urban legend, I realize now. She leads you to the shelf that has the book you need, then disappears when you aren’t looking. Frankly I just thought that’s what librarians are like. She never made much sound walking, but I do my best to silence my footsteps whenever I’m down here as it is. "So, I kind of need your help now, too. We're trying to find a specific guy. See, I think my friend's cat got possessed by a ghost. Um. Spirit. Uh..." I swallow hard, and gesture awkwardly to Josie behind me.

She waves, and shoots me a look that says she's as entirely at a loss as I am.

"Jose," I whisper, as if the Librarian can't hear me. "Is it rude to call them ghosts to their faces?"

She shrugs and gesticulates in a way that really emphasizes that, yes, she is as much at a loss as I am.

Right. Cool. Cool, I'm so cool.

But by the time I turn around, the Librarian is turning into one of the poorly lit aisles, and I stumble to catch up to her. I feel like I'm losing my mind. The Librarian had helped me out a hundred times before. Her outfit was vaguely vintage, or retro, or something, but it was far from unusual in a college town like this. She never exactly walked through walls or floated a few inches off the ground.

Wait.

I glance down. No, she's indeed walking around like a normal human would, with pants and shoes and everything.

Thank god I was looking at her feet, because she makes no sound as she pulls to a stop, and I manage to just barely fall short of walking into her. Through her? Fuck, man, I don't know. She gives me a pointed look, and nods at the shelf in front of her.

"Is that the droid we're looking for?"

Her already sour expression turns angry.

"Star Wars? No?"

[Brief conversation]

"It's not that I can't speak," she says, and a cold wave of dread shoots down my spine. It's her voice that gives her away -- a strange, whispery voice that sounds as much like a woman as it does a stack of papers rustling in the wind. "I just hate people." The flickering light goes out entirely, plunging me into darkness for juts a second. When it returns, I'm alone.

The filing box falls off the shelf with a thud.

I jump back with a shriek, and a ghostly Shhhh! echoes out of the shadows.

"Kaz?" Josie rounds the corner, walking slowly. Like she's been following the whole time. "Are you okay? What happened?"

I vaguely remember that when it comes to the supernatural, time can be wonky. If that's truly the case, I'd like to throw the towel in now. That's it, universe. I'm haunted, I'm seeing ghosts, and now I entered into some weird afterlife dimension where no time passed in the real world. I'm done, and I want to go to bed. But instead of saying all that, I point to the overturned box at my feet, and say, "Ghost box."

Tag List

@adaughterofathena

@ambreeskyewriting

@carnelianflames

@feather-dancer

@halfbloodlycan

@nadunacreates

@serenanymph

@vigilantdesert

[masterofrecords]

Storytelling for shits and giggles

Figured with all the stuff that's been going on I should probably make a proper pinned post for those of my new followers who are not, miraculously, bots.

So yeah, hi, Master of Records here, and I love storytelling in various forms, from running Pathfinder and other TTRPG games to translation and to writing. You can find most of my non-fandom work on my website (it's a work in progress, but it finally exists!)

Translations:

I currently translate the White Cat Legend manhua (and sometimes donghua) over at @whitecatlegend. A story of political intrigue and Tang dynasty court drama inspired by the real historical events of Wu Zetian's reign - come check it out, it's a good (if more than occasionally bloody) time.

I'm also slowly making my way through the end-cards of The Ravages of Time donghua and the related historical notes on the episodes. Here's a masterlist for that, there is plenty of fun stuff about the Late Han and the Three Kingdoms period even unrelated to the donghua!

I also sometimes complain about translation work on this blog, under the #masterofrecords translates tag

Original fiction:

I don't have as much time for it these days, but I occasionally write some stuff based on the big Pathfinder campaign I ran for over two years for my friends. Check out my Angstober 2022, Angstober 2023 and Angstober 2024 masterlists for that!

Games:

I've had the pleasure of writing the script for a wonderful gay vampire visual novel Once upon a Stormy Night as a part of Weird Birds Studio. Check it out - the character art is gorgeous, and even if I didn't have the time to write the scene of the cat familiar cheating at cards, I did write the polyamorous ending.

Fanfiction:

You can find my AO3 here.

Currently I only have posted works for Twisted Wonderland

Any wips and updates are usually posted under #masterofrecords writes tag

Aquarium (Ashenviper, T, 100k words and growing slowburn, updates regularly every 1-2 weeks well not anymore I guess)

Jamil had always found Azul's attention annoying, but after the overblotting incident the merman became downright insufferable.

That's when Professor Crewel gives them a group assignment. How much can change in two weeks? A lot, apparently, and what was supposed to be a simple alchemy project turns into something more complicated, involving a heist, personal drama, good food and surprising revelations, not necessarily in that order.

One caring gesture at a time, feelings grow.

Aquarium fanart masterlist

Covered Faces, Bared Souls (Ashenviper, T, only 1st chapter of 3 is currently posted, will update at an uncertain date)

Azul had never had many chances to dance, especially on two legs. In preparation for the masquerade ball he employs Jamil's help - whether it was a good idea or not, remains to be seen.

When things get particularly bad, I sometimes draw shitty stick figure comics about everything wrong with my life tagged as #mor's silly penguin comics. If you think I haven't posted anything of worth for a while, check them out, they might have answers on whatever mental health malady had befallen me this time.

Feel free to drop an ask if you have questions about any of my writing/other work!

[dyaz-stories]

Hello author! I am not an English speaker nor do I write in English so I am using Google Translate to leave the comment, sorry in advance if there are any errors in the translation! This is the first time I've left a comment for a writer but I just wanted to tell you that your writing is so beautiful, sweet and soft and you represent the characters so well that they seem to be taken from the same series! I don't get tired of reading any of your other works, you are very talented at what you do and I would gladly read everything you write, please don't be discouraged by the comments, maybe people are also shy like me to leave a comment! A question: Would you write a story about the reunion between reader and Hyun-Su during the apocalypse or about the time they were in high school? I will look forward to your next stories! A big greeting from Argentina!

Ah thank you so much for this lovely ask, I appreciate you doing this so much 😊 Also for the record, English isn't my first language either and I'd never judge someone for the way they speak it! And ah, you have no idea how happy reading this made me 🥹 I love writing characters and their emotions and I'm so so happy if this feels like it could directly pulled from the series 😁

I really get that not everybody is going to leave a comment — genuinely, I understand that, and I don't ever expect all of my readers to do it. I also don't want anyone to feel pressured or blame them. But to be honest, I've never had to resort to asking for comments that way either, it's just that I had reached a point where I would be sadder after posting than I was before and that just isn't sustainable, you know? As a writer, comments, or interactions like this ask, tell me that people want me to keep going. If I'm getting so few interactions, it just feels like people are consuming my writing without caring about it, and without anything to give me fuel to keep going, I get exhausted. I wasn't sure everyone realized that, though I feel this was understood in fandoms I was a part of before, so I wanted to say something instead of just dipping out of the fandom without a word. I hope this doesn't feel too ranty or in any way like a criticism on you because I'm seriously so so thankful that you took the time to write and send this in, I just. I've been having a lot of feelings on this subject ;-;

And yeah I'm super down to write about both of these topics!! I've thought about it quite a lot but wasn't sure there would be much interest for it so I'm thrilled to know you'd be interested 😁 I'll add it to my list of things I want to write about!

Thank you so much for your ask and for your kind words 💕

[akashadarkblade]

20 Questions Fic Writer Tag

Tagged by @krankittoeleven thank you for the tag!

How many works do you have on AO3? 14

What is your AO3 word count? 38,116

What fandoms do you write for? Currently, I have fics on AO3 for The Last of Us, The Evil Within, Murdered: Soul Suspect, and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. I also have WIPs I've written for Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Dishonored, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, along with a few others.

What are your top five fics by kudos? Bloodied Axes and Blooming Flowers (161), Page Turner (121), Papa Wolf (97), Dozing (85), Healing Hearts (Also 85)

Do you respond to comments? I try my best to.

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Two Days or No Happy Endings are probably my most angsty fics. They both end with Major Character Death.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? tbh, not really sure lol

Do you get hate on fics? Nope, never have.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes. Mostly M/M and M/F or Polyam stuff.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I do! As for the craziest one, that would be a WIP I've been working on since 2019 called Dark Hearts. It's a Kingdom Hearts fic that crosses over with a lot of my favorite videogames. It's a BEAST as well, as it's currently sitting at almost 155k words, and I am nowhere near the ending of it. The craziest part about it though is the fact that - admittedly - I've never actually played a Kingdom Hearts game, or even watched a walk/playthrough of it xD I've seen parts of it, I know the general idea behind the series, and I think I understand a good bit of the lore, but not the whole series. Which is why I will NEVER post it. Because it's mostly just me being silly. Why did I start writing it? Don't ask me lol the idea got into my brain and wouldn't leave me alone, so I gave in and started writing it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so?

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? No, but I might consider it.

What’s your all-time favorite ship? That is a TOUGH one, I have so many ships lol

What’s a WIP you’d like to finish but doubt you ever will? The Kingdom Hearts fic I mentioned above, Dark Hearts. I love it to death and I want desperately to finish it, but I think I burned out on it. As well, even if I did finish it, I most likely would never post it. Mainly because again, I've never played a Kingdom Hearts game. So even though it's fun for me to write, idk if KH fans would enjoy it.

What are your writing strengths? Being able to write a lot in one sitting. Once I get going, I get GOING and can write for HOURS. On record, my wordiest writing session was 16k words.

What are your writing weaknesses? Definitely the inability to finish anything. Mostly due to the fact that I try to write a lot of long fic, but end up having my hyperfixation shift before I can finish it. Usually because I've begun to fixate on a new fandom.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I personally don't think there is anything wrong with it, especially if it's something the character does in canon.

First fandom you wrote for? I'll be honest, I don't remember. I think it might have been either Devil May Cry or Hellsing.

Favorite fic you’ve ever written? Probably Dark Hearts. It's my baby and I love it so much. Just wish I could finish it lol

As for tags, if you wanna answer these questions to, feel free too and please tag me!

[wandering-night19]

20 Questions fo Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag and allowing me to procrastinate @jesuisici33 and @welcometololaland

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

15

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

90,518 which seems insane to me. I'll definitely be at over 100k by the time The Weight of Grief is finished.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

911 Lone Star now, but have written for MCU, Teen Wolf, Hawaii 5-0, CSI, and Harry Potter.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It's all my old fics because they've been around so long! But Silence and Gloom is inching it's way into top 5 territory soon.

Words and Sounds (we're falling together) my very first Teen Wolf fic

For the Record my second Teen Wolf fic

Mea Aloha my very first Hawaii 5-0 fic that was a birthday gift for someone

Meet You on the Other Side another Hawaii 5-0 fic that was won in an auction and I was given a prompt to fulfill.

This Means Something another Hawaii 5-0 fic

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

I always do now. I want everyone to know how much I appreciate every comment. I used to not because someone had made a post once that responding was just a way to fake out readers that you had more comments on your fic than you really did. But I got over that haha.

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

I don't think I have one? I like happy endings. They at least all end hopeful. My angstiest fics are probably To Be Okay because it deals with the aftermath of rape. And then The Weight of Grief.

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

Probably Green Eyes, Blue Skies because of the reunion scene.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't on AO3, but at the beginning of the summer I was dealing with some anon hate, but I just delete and block.

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

Yes, a little. I don't feel like I'm very good at it and I've only ever written one fic where it's the main focus.

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

I haven't, but I daydream about them a lot haha.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Way back in the fanfic.net days, but not anything recently.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

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

Yes and it was so fun and I can't wait to do it again! It was with @whenshereads and it was I'll be here if you will only come back home

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

TK/Carlos and Derek/Stiles

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

I have so many Teen Wolf wips that will probably never be finished.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Ugh...I don't have any...maybe dialogue? That's what I get complimented on the most.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh everything. I'm terrible at expecting everyone to know what's going on inside my head, but not helping them get from point to point. Also, if I get tired of writing a scene I'll just end it.

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

I do it, but sometimes I just write it all in English because I worry about anyone that can't read the language being taken out of the story.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Nothing anyone here would know...

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh this is hard. The Weight of Grief has required the most skill and is really making me work hard, so I appreciate that. But then I had so much fun writing Green Eyes, Blue Skies because it was purely a fun idea that I really wanted to read, so I wrote it myself.

Open tag to anyone that wants to participate! Tag me so I can get to know you!

[todayisafridaynight]

LISTEN I KNOW HOW IT SOUNDS BUT I SWEAR HE WAS DISTINCT FROM RGGJO STILL 😭😭😭 HIS DESIGN WAS LOUD IN A DIFFERENT WAY 😭😭😭😭😭 though As A Whole it was probably the result of someone saying he should go full RGGJo in 8 several months prior to when I had the dream, so not wrong. But it would be fun to see a shift from "Nothing in life matters...😞" to "Nothing in life matters! 😎" would it not...

I've always thought Drink Link was meant to evoke Social Link? Because in Japan it was called #DRAMA. I was never the biggest fan because it's one of many "translations" in Y7 that are just changing something that was already in English and doesn't require cultural context to understand. Like IMO whether it's seen as an improvement or not, it's just not the localizers' job to "improve on" the original; let them be cringe and let them be free...

And also it gave ammunition to Persona fans who refuse to experience anything but P5 and decided to go "wow! it's just like P5!" at every little thing Y7 did from the VERY FIRST trailers onward (including BE AN RPG) And That Shit Got Old Fast </3 Sorry </3 But I do think this one's very much on purpose, localization-wise. So I forgive you :)

RANTING ASIDE. OR. SEGUEING INTO MORE RANTING. Literally like I don't even care if it's as part of the Kasugang or Kiryu's Geezer Squad... Give Jo five minutes with Tendo or hand him over to me so I can make sure he's enriched and well-nourished... these are my demands... that man is my everything......

Because it would be SO funny both ways. We don't know who all will be in each party, so either he's stuck with Adachi (Definitely A Character) (Affectionate) (Also Has Already Told Him He'd Rather Kill Him Than Send Him To Jail So. Awkward) or maybe with Kiryu's he'd have more people around his agw, But if not, The Inherent Comedy of two bitches called Jo and Joryu who have almost the same haircut 💀💀

Exactly though, nobody in the Arakawa Family is neurotypical and I FULLY believe Jo would be at his best when put into Situations, like Mine is. It's something I reeeally miss from RGGO because of the pre-finale scene with RGGJo and Mitsu having a drink at their favorite bar... they haven't been there in a while, and RGGJo doesn't wanna spoil the mood, so he's not hostile in the slightest... and when he gets up to leave he says he "forgot his wallet" and makes Mitsu foot the bill (ICONIC for completely different reasons depending on whether he's telling the truth or not)... whereas in Y7 I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE ARAKAWAS HAVE A FAVORITE BAR

it could be funny- whiplash inducing, but that'd undoubtedly be why it'd be funny wouldn't it ♪(´▽｀) he could've been some sacred third thing- just more RGGJo influence injected in Y7Jo mayhaps..

anyhow it dont sound like you forgive me when you just got mad at persona players for makin comparisons and here ive gone and done such a thing LMAO（；´д｀）（；´д｀）in any case, i know how you feel about translations so i wont press the topic: if it aint broke etc etc, i understand how you feel so it's ok (❁´◡`❁;;)

double 'jo' def woulda been funny, if not has always been a small thing worth jokin bout that ive had in the back of my mind (though ive already said that: i have a broken record of a brain at this point, if not that it just points out how silly i find the idea) LMAO. i've always enjoyed antag-turned-party member anyhow, so it wouldve been fun to me regardless of what it brought ♪(´▽｀)

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 3x07 Civil Defense thoughts (I'm re-watching, so there may be future spoilers)

Kira's disbelief at seeing the recorded message. She has the best expressions.

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?" "Not unless you have a level nine Cardassian security clearance." "Let's see. I think I have everything from levels one through seven." Of course Quark is good for security codes XD

"This is the safest place on the whole station." Aw, Quark trusts Odo to keep him safe

When are they gonna ask Garak if he can help?

I tried to listen to Dukat's monologue. Not the most interesting, but it's very in character - #I'mNotARegularGulI'mACoolGul

Sisko's the best dad, even under pressure - "Don't tense up, relax. Now just take a deep breath and try again."

Talking the "less subtle" approach with a PHASER when there's counter insurgency measures? Is that really wise??

Well, I thought that was gonna be a lot worse than just discovering a forcefield 😅

"I was just finally starting to think of this place as home." Awww, there's a lot of that going round. First Sisko and Jake, now Julian.

"I mean. *tap* we're trapped." XD

"You're telling me I'm stuck here... with you?" "No, I'm stuck here with you." XD

Sisko is that strong? gosh!

Miles' grin at being given some tools XD

Garak!

I love how they run as if Kira would fire while they were still there if they weren't fast enough

Waiting in suspense for what level three is... The tension on their faces is real

"Give me that before you hurt yourself." Odo didn't have to say before you hurt yourself but he did, he really does care about Quark in his own way.

"Home is where the heart is but the stars are made from Latinum" - Interesting that this rule is taking an English saying as the starting truth and then subverting it. Unless it's the UT translating a slightly different Ferengi saying that means the same thing and making it English.

"I've never met one more devious" Awww, you sap, Odo

"Would I lie?" Pretty sure you have on the past, but if you are it's just to make him feel better :3

"but I can't do anything about it" - the tight annoyance on Garak's face as he admits this

"What a creative idea" - oh, he's very impressed by Jadzia

Julian's smile as he lurks behind Garak - he's so fond of him! :3

"What exactly is making you smile?" "You, Garak." THEY WENT AND SAID IT??? HOW IS GARASHIR NOT CANON???

Oof they had to kill a random guy we don't know about just to show how dangerous this is?

Dukat... I hate you but enjoy you so much. He's SUCH a GOOD villain!

"You can all rise"... Fuck you Dukat for enjoying this

Interesting that turning off the replicator doesn't make the system react to whatever command codes were input

That's such a hard choice, I feel sorry for Kira even if it's all of a minute she has to wrestle with this for

Boy I'm so looking forward to Dukat's smug smile being wiped off his face in 3...2...1...

"This is outrageous!" Yissss render him speechless!

Kira and Garak's initial amusement at Dukat's floundering

Dukat's embarrassed spluttering at Garak spilling his secret crush on Kira

Kira suddenly stands up straight on alert at that implication. I'd forgotten it had been said out loud and wasn't just subtext in later episodes.

"I'm going with you." "Alright." Sisko's proud dad smile <3

"It's because they knew you were an honourable man." QUARK

Jake's so worried, my guy <3

I love how Odo and Quark did nothing all episode but we kept cutting to them being kind of nice to each other just because we could

"Your brother, Rom." Odo really knows which of Quark's buttons to press XD