#i can play chess (<- cannot name the pieces)

[anonbinaryweirdo]

help how does one play checkers im curious

[kenyummy]

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEL ꒰⚘݄꒱ BLUE LOCK

SYNOPSIS : the highlights of the NEL seem to go viral on social media, and it seems the ones surrounding you, as blue lock's dear manager, are the most popular. which are the four most popular?

notes: hey guys u should read wahhh this was very very fun to write

#4 — BONDING TIME OVER CHESS! 2.0m VIEWS

Sitting at a small table, is you and the one and only coach of the infamous German team—Noel Noa. There is a small jug of water on the table in front of you both and also a chess table.

You clutch your chin between your fingers thoughtfully, eyes narrowed and squinted down at the board. Each of you has equal pieces taken away, and he's seemed to have cornered your pieces on the table.

He's watching you with an unreadable expression—you hardly notice through your intense thinking.

A game, all about strategy—It's no surprise you and Noa were locked intensely in a game such as this. It is a game that centres around your team's core values, and there's no substitution for cold, unfiltered logic.

Your eyes light up, and you move your piece on the board. Underneath the table, you cross your fingers as he makes his next move.

It is not long at all before your smile widens and you move your pieces along—collecting his King piece and practically sparkling when you announce, "Checkmate."

He shows a semblance of emotion—shock—when his eyes widen at your moves. It's for such a split second that it was nigh impossible to catch it if you blinked—however, his expression soon reverted back to normal as soon as the reality of his loss sunk in.

"Hm." That is all he has to say. He stares down at the chess board for a few silent moments longer, then says, "I did not expect that. That was a smart move."

You aren't too prideful, but you feel like preening like a peacock at the praise. You smile, placing your linked hands on your lap and nodding, "Thank you. It only worked because I believed you would take the most logical option possible for that next move."

You gesture towards the barren pieces left around his king. If Noa were a regular person, you're sure he would've smiled.

But he is not, so he didn't. "...Good job."

You don't expect the way his large hand finds its way atop your head and how he gives you a singular head pat. You blink incredulously, with dotted eyes.

He pulls away after a moment and you cough into a closed fist. "Master... how about another game?"

He has an indifferent tone—"Sure."—But the way he looks at you fondly tells you all you need to know.

You smile—ignoring the crash and bang of the unsupervised training behind you—and keep smiling as Ness chases Raichi through the room with a kitchen knife.

COMMENTS:

— mimiziiii: THE MOST ICONIC FATHER AND DAUGHTER DUO FRRR

— noastan2234: noa is so hot I want him

— user464637: IM LITERALLY SOBBING THEY PLAY CHESS THEYRE SO CUTE SHSBHSGSHSJ      — user464637: father snd daughter are father and daughtering

#3 — BATTLE OVER THE BATHROOM! 2.6m VIEWS

Aryu and you are at a standstill. Staring at each other, you both are silent and glaring.

You move quicker than the eye can see—rushing forward and using your hand to push the taller man behind you. "Ladies first," you try to say, excusing yourself but is quickly tugged backward.

You screech, lips forming into a nasty scowl at the man tugging your lacy singlet like you're a dog, "WHAT THE HELL, JYUBEI?!"

He winces at the mention of his name, but holds his head up high and huffs, "A glam being such as I deserve to use the bathroom first."

"You and your long ass hair takes years to dry! I need it more!"

Sparkles fly around Aryu and he makes a glam pose, "I don't think so, my [name] dear. I cannot waste a moment to not deter my extreme—" He makes the mistake of letting go of you for a moment to gesture to himself, "—Glam."

His head is suddenly jerked back as you roughly tug it and hiss through your teeth, "Just be a good boy and let me use the bathroom—and I won't make your life hell during training, okay?"

He screams, eyes hardening at you, "You cretin! How dare you touch my hair?! The mop on your head doesn't need any care whatsoever!"

You gasp in offended shock and lunge at him, "Oh no you didn't—"

Five minutes of tussling and petty insults later—it is abruptly stopped by the upward grab of somebody tossing the skinny, spider-limbed boy over their shoulder.

"What... the hell... are you idiots doing?" There, in all his pajamaed, loose-hair glory, is Barou Shoei, holding Aryu in a death grip and staring at you two with an aura of death. His tone is nothing short of dangerous. "You... woke up the entire stratum."

You blink, wide-eyed, while Aryu flips his hair around like a buzzing fly.

"What the hell are you all yappin' about?" Aiku walks in with pants hanging low and shamelessly shirtless—yawning and eyes half-lidded while Niko stands beside him in an oversized shirt with the print, Sleep, Anime, Game, Repeat.

Sendou is walking like a sluggish zombie with a bright pink eye mask on that says, Pretty, with him inches away from walking into a wall, if Lorenzo had not steered him away with a loud cackle.

Suddenly, you stand up and dash forward, "Well, thanks for letting me use the bathroom!" You don't waste a second in flashing Barou a pearly smile and waving as you close the bathroom door.

Behind her, Aryu lets out a loud scream of frustration and Barou snaps at him to shut the fuck up.

COMMENTS:

— barouscleaningspray: OH BAROU SHOEI THE MAN THAT YOU ARE MY MAN FOREVER AND EVER

— cutiepiecoded: AND THEN THEYRE DOING EACHOTHERS HAIR THE NEXT DAY SHSGHSHS I LOVE THEM

— user33535: ubers the only family ever

— animefan222: niko so real for that shirt

#2 — GETTING INTERRUPTED! 4.3m VIEWS

You peek your head into an—almost—empty training room, blinking curiously and surveying the inside. Your eyes light up like stars when you catch sight of something inside the room. The camera pans to show that thing happened to be Isagi Yoichi.

"That shot you made during training was so incredible," you say, taking a seat beside him. A towel is wrung around his neck and he's drinking out of a water bottle like it is the first time he has ever touched water.

Sweat drips down the side of his face—he wipes it away with a large pearly grin and tilts his head toward you, "Right? I could barely believe I did it."

"But you did!" You look to be just as excited as he is, twinkling with joy and smiling wide, "Even Mariele was impressed! You did great, Isagi! If you can replicate it during a game, it will be perfect!"

Isagi stands up suddenly—seeming to be bursting with energy and joy—he situates himself in front of you and you stare up at him, "It's perfect!"

You laugh, standing up in front of him and he places his hands on your shoulders, "It is!"

You both start giggling uncontrollably together—even from a viewing perspective, the energy in the room is unmistakable—and he stares deeply into your eyes with a soft smile.

You look up at him with a similar expression—eyes-half-lidded and squinted upwards—you start to lean in, slowly, when—

"[name]!"

You nearly fall backwards, if not for Isagi's arm wrapping snugly around your waist and tugging you forward. Your head snaps towards the source of the noise in the room—and there stands Gagamaru, with an empty, confused look in his black-hole eyes.

You step aside, away from the egoist—you don't catch the disappointed look on his face as you look towards your goalkeeper—"Sorry, Gagamaru, what did you need?"

He blinks, soullessly. "We've run out of tide pods again."

Isagi is shown rolling his eyes in the background and grabbing his towel.

COMMENTS :

— THEdiva: AHHH THEY WERE SO CLOSEEEE <3333

— cloudycloudss: isagi and [name] have so much chemistry!!! i hope they start dating :((

— soccersoccer888: i hate isagi GOD I HATE ISAGI kaiser is so much better for her i cant

— jellylover3: NOOOO GAGAMARUUUU WHYYYYYY

— isa[name]stan_2626: THE WAY HER EYES LIT UPP WHEN SHE SAW HIM. THEYRE THE REASON I BELIEVE IN LOVE.

#1 — THE FIGHT OVER THEIR MANAGER! 5.6m VIEWS

The video abruptly starts at a strange angle, where Ness has a death grip on the front of Isagi's shirt, "Shut. Up! Die, Yoichi! DIE!"

Kurona and Hiori both leap over to try and pry the screeching boy off of Isagi with panicked expressions. Yukimiya, Gagamaru, Raichi and Kaiser all sit in the back without seeming worried whatsoever.

"Get off me—!!" Isagi pushes the magician away with a snarl, eyes narrowing into a hard glare and face contorting uncomfortably. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"How dare you say that to Kaiser?!" Ness regains his composure with a huff and glare, cheeks puffing out like a small child, "Don't you get it?! If Kaiser wants your manager, she's not yours anymore, she's his! This is his team, not yours, idiot Yoichi!"

A stark silence fills the room and everyone's eyes turn to Ness. He either doesn't notice or doesn't care—because his boiling hot glare directed towards Isagi does not falter for a moment.

"Well, that's incredibly presumptious of you to say." Yukimiya steps forward and pushes his glasses furthur up his nose bridge. "You talk about her as if she is nothing more than a exclusivity, no?"

Kaiser grins, pearly teeth peeking out from behind his slim lips, "Oh? Are you Blue Lockers getting all possessive over your little manager, now? Cute."

"Stay away from her," Gagamaru looms over the German with big wide eyes. "She's ours."

"No way!" Ness snarls, forcibly moving the big man away from Kaiser. "Stop talking to Kaiser like this! He's better than you all! You're just stupid stepping stones for—"

Kurona bares his teeth and frowns deeply, "Miss Manager likes us better, anyways. Anyways."

Kaiser squints his eyes and smiles at the shark-boy, head tilted to the side and smile dangerously charming, "Oh? And who said that?"

"Me, obviously." Isagi looks completely and utterly unaffected by Kaiser's words and stands up in front of him without hesitation. He stares, deeply, into his eyes. "You think, that in any world, she'd choose you, over me?"

His eyes rest and he looks strangely calm, "You're a fucking clown, Kaiser."

"Yoichi..." His voice is strained and hard—brows furrow downwards and he does not get a chance to say anything else when Ness pushes him back and gets all up in Isagi's face instead.

"Die, Yoichi! Die, you idiot!"

"Hey now, maybe we shouldn't..." Hiori raises his hand and begins to try and walk closer to the two—when he is swiftly cut off by Raichi yelling something to start a fight—and a fight he earns.

A catfight hidden by the circle of players ensues in the middle of the cafeteria—just as three figures pass by the open doorway.

You peek inside for a moment—then look right back at the people beside you. "Is everything alright in there?"

"If we walk quickly, we will not be able to see them." An ominous reply, from Noa, and that is all the soccer star says before grabbing you by the hand and tugging you along—forever lost and confused about what was going on in the cafeteria that day.

COMMENTS:

— bereal_hoe: HOW DOES SHE DEAL WITH THOSE GUYS I WOULD ACC KMS

— cherrypiepiepie: THE CUTIESSSSS OF THE WORLDDD THEY LOVE HER SM ITS SO ADORABLEEEE

— nonchalantdreadhead34: i cant kaiser is such a DICK

© KENYUMMY 2024

[inkskinned]

for a while i lived in an old house; the kind u.s americans don't often get to live in - living in a really old house here is super expensive. i found out right before i moved out that the house was actually so old that it features in a poem by emily dickinson.

i liked that there were footprints in front of the sink, worn into the hardwood. there were handprints on some of the handrails. we'd find secret marks from other tenants, little hints someone else had lived and died there. and yeah, there was a lot wrong with the house. there are a lot of DIY skills you learn when you are a grad student that cannot afford to pay someone else to do-it-for-ya. i shared the house with 8 others. the house always had this noise to it. sometimes that noise was really fucking awful.

in the mornings though, the sun would slant in thick amber skiens through the windows, and i'd be the first one up. i'd shuffle around, get showered in this tub that was trying to exit through the floor, get my clothes on. i would usually creep around in the kitchen until it was time to start waking everyone else up - some of them required multiple rounds of polite hey man we gotta go knocks. and it felt... outside of time. a loud kind of quiet.

the ghosts of the house always felt like they were humming in a melody just out of reach. i know people say that the witching hour happens in the dark, but i always felt like it occurred somewhere around 6:45 in the morning. like - for literal centuries, somebody stood here and did the dishes. for literal centuries, somebody else has been looking out the window to this tree in our garden. for literal centuries, people have been stubbing their toes and cracking their backs and complaining about the weather. something about that was so... strangely lovely.

i have to be honest. i'm not a history aficionado. i know, i know; it's tragic of me. i usually respond to "this thing is super old" by being like, wow! cool! and moving on. but this house was the first time i felt like the past was standing there. like it was breathing. like someone else was drying their hands with me. playing chess on the sofa. adding honey to their tea.

i grew up in an old town. like, literally, a few miles off of walden pond (as in of the walden). (also, relatedly, don't swim in walden, it's so unbelievably dirty). but my family didn't have "old house" kind of money. we had a barely-standing house from the 70's. history existed kind of... parallel to me. you had to go somewhere to be in history. your school would pack you up on a bus and take you to some "ye olden times" place and you'd see how they used to make glass or whatever, and then you'd go home to your LEDs. most museums were small and closed before 5. you knew history was, like, somewhere, but the only thing that was open was the mcdonalds and the mall.

i remember one of my seventh grade history teachers telling us - some day you'll see how long we've been human for and that thing has been puzzling me. i know the scientific number, technically.

the house had these little scars of use. my floors didn't actually touch the walls; i had to fill them with a stopgap to stop the wind. other people had shoved rags and pieces of newspaper. i know i've lost rings and earring backs down some of the floorboards. i think the raccoons that lived in our basement probably have collected a small fortune over the years. i complain out loud to myself about how awful the stairs are (uneven, steep, evil, turning, hard to get down while holding anything) and know - someone else has said this exact same thing.

when i was packing up to leave and doing a final deep cleaning, i found a note carved in the furthest corner in the narrow cave of my closet. a child's scrawled name, a faded paint handprint, the scrangly numbers: 1857.

we've been human for a long time. way back before we can remember.

[tldix]

started with Trouble

pt. 2

pairing: joelmillerXf!reader

warnings: this one’s SAD yall, angsty asf. a bit of fluff, some implied anxiety, 2 mc deaths (not joel or reader), some mentions of depression. (as always lmk if i missed anything)

a/n: chapter 2 is here!!! again i am SO sorry for having such a heartbreaking chapter in store, i promise things do get better. only happy endings here. speaking of i have actually no idea how many parts this will be (im thinking anywhere from 6-10) i appreciate all the love, feedback, & support i got on the first chapter. i hope i can live up to all your expectations 🫶🏼🫶🏼

it was warm, it was honestly disheartening. your grandfather was sick, joel & tess started staying at your place. their apartment almost long forgotten, every book joel ever seen you pick up he brought over. most of their things took up the space in the spare room available. they traded shifts with you to watch after your grandpa so you could get some sleep. joel & tess decided it was best if they did most of the trades now, so you’d be allowed more time with your grandpa. this went on for weeks, playing chess with your grandfather, making sure he had his coffee, polishing any piece of jewelry either of you still owned. doing anything possible to keep your mind busy. joel noticed, he just didn’t know what to say. today was the day, you were finally seeing a doctor. it took a lot of charm & more ration cards than you’d care to ever admit but you felt the familiar sting at tears in your eyes as you approached the run down building. tears you’d never let shed anywhere but the bathroom floor of the moldy apartment

as you slowly walked your grandpa up the steps, he stumbles back. a fit of coughing catching you off guard, you quickly find your place at his side. guiding him the rest of the way, slowly entering the makeshift doctors office? could you really even call it that? there were 6 chairs lining the walls, a broken coffee table in the middle. your eyes scanned the room, a group of men a little older than you, bloody & bruised huddled close together. a kid in the corner, no older than 6. his eyes were bloodshot & from where you were sitting he looked like he was burning up. you took a seat, right beside your grandpa. you waited for seemingly hours. finally the doctor called his name

“alright grandpa cmon, i got you”

you say as you carefully help him up,holding his arm as you follow him into the exam room. the room was cold, a bitter cold. one that shook you right to your bones, the doctor asks for his symptoms, how long the pains been going on. you noticed a look the doctor & your grandpa shared. you find your brow furrowing but just as soon as the doctor noticed the gaze vanished as fast as it appeared. maybe you imagined it. after hearing his answers you chose it was best to tune it out. as the doctor examined your grandpa, his only responses were a exhausted nod & a few sympathetic glances your way. you hated doctors, even in the real world you’d have to be drug to one kicking & screaming. you weren’t happy to be here, you didn’t like pity. you especially didn’t like pity if it was coming from a 5’9 ‘doctor’ who seemed to clean for a world like this

you find yourself fidgeting with the hem of your shirt, the doctor steps in front of you. lightly tapping on your shoulder to get your attention

“can i speak with you outside for a moment?”

you stuttered, you didn’t expect him to pull you to the side. if anything was wrong wouldn’t he just tell grandpa? regardless you found your feet hitting the floor, trudging out of the room. you hear the sound of a door softly closing as you whip around, the doctors eyes hold so much sadness. so much pity, it makes you nauseous.

“maam, after my exam it’s come to my attention that your grandpas matter cannot be treated. i’m so sorry”

tears stinging your eyes again, you glance up praying for any sign of joking or maybe even dishonesty. that couldn’t be right, he was fine.

“um i’m sorry what? he uh he just started getting sick. it’s just a cough, he’s got no energy. maybe a virus?”

the doctor, Ben you’ve learned after reading his tag informs you

“i’m sorry maam. i wish it was, it appears your grandpa has symptoms of late stages of lung cancer. there’s nothing we can do from here but try our best to make him as comfortable as possible. if you need anything, stop by anytime”

your world shattered, there was no way. how could this be? the words cancer & no other way kept bouncing around in your mind. consuming you. you felt your knees buckle, the sobs came over you like a tide bringing you out to sea. your knees pressed into the worn concrete.

“ma’am, are you alright?”

ben, now kneeling down. placing a gentle hand on your shoulder. you quickly wipe your eyes, you find yourself nodding your head as you ask

“does he know?”

the doctor nods, not fully meeting your eyes.

“your grandpas been here before, a few months back. he voiced his concerns, he was an avid smoker & lung cancer runs in your genes.”

you tried to find comfort in his words but all you felt was misery, did he really know all this time? is that why he was so reluctant on coming here? coming back? you pushed open the door, eyes rimmed red

“trouble honey don’t cry, it’s alright. oh sweetheart i’m so sorry”

you quickly enveloped your grandpa in a hug, the doctor offers an apologetical nod before turning to find his next patient. you hesitantly walked your grandpa home, you made sure he got in his recliner. bringing him over a bottle of water & heating up a can of soup Joel had found last run.

“i’ll find medicine grandpa. you’ll get better, i’ll start going back out with joel & tess. i’ll find a cure”

your grandpas takes the soup carefully, sighing as he says

“ain’t no need for allat’ trouble. i’ve made my peace. i had a good life. there ain’t no cure out there for this”

the tears rim your eyes again, you plop down in the stool you drug over to sit beside your grandpa. you pick up his spoon & slowly start feeding him the soup; you know there’s no use in arguing with him. it’s clear he has his mind made up. as the night goes on you find yourself trying your hardest to tidy up. anything to distract yourself from the thoughts that threatened to consume you, you walk back to your seat. glancing over at your sleeping grandpa, you hesitantly pick up the copy of pride & prejudice joel brought over. opening it to the page you marked with a big maple leaf. after your eyes skimmed the same paragraph 6 times, you found yourself drifting off. your grandpas soft voice cut through right before the sleep sunk in.

“trouble, you awake hun?”

you quickly placed the book back down, quickly looking towards your grandpa. the sight your met with damn near breaks your heart, his dog tags. his most prized possession (besides you) hangs off the ends of his fingers.

“grandpa what are you doing?”

the tears are back, prickling & fighting for their way down.

“i’m givin you somethin to remember me by, cmon you used to play with em all the time growing up”

you carefully placed them in your hands, flipping them over letting the warm metal settle

“now trouble, when things get bad you get out of here. you don’t stick around. there’s gotta be more out there, a better life for you. one i couldn’t give you”

your grandpas eyes hold such a deep sadness, you weren’t sure how you’d ever missed it

“grandpa, i can’t just leave. you gave me the best life possible. you took care of me when no one else did. don’t say that”

he chuckles, wiping his own teary eyes

“you were my second chance at being the dad i never got to be, my biggest blessing in life. i’m so proud of you kid. just remember everythin i taught ya. things will work out fine”

you engulfed your grandpa in a hug, letting the tears fall as he tries to sooth you. eventually you find yourself scooting the couch as close as possible to him, wrapping your hand in his. as he was sure you drifted off to sleep he muttered

“i love you trouble, don’t accept no life you don’t deserve”

by morning; when you woke. your grandpa was cold, hand loosely holding yours.

-

the next morning, when joel & tess got back he was over the moon to announce the new found meds. well, the meds he traded most of his goods & a few ration cards for. he was practically beaming, over the last few months joel & your grandpa grew extremely close. bonding over how your grandpa was in the marines & how tommy spent some time in the army. your grandpa adored tess, said she was your sister in another life. it’s been a long time; a really long time before joel felt so… happy?

as he stumbles up your steps, tess not far behind he’s not expecting to be met with the corner. his heart drops to his stomach, the dirt around his eyes must surely be playing tricks on him. they were gone 2 days. only 2 days. what the hell happened.

tess steps infront of joel, pushing in the house to see the recliner empty. she trudged through until she found you; weeping in the corner of the moldy bathroom. joel was at a loss for words, how did this happen? wasn’t it just a cold? he rubs a hand through his hair as he takes in the scene, everything was so out of place. why was the couch half way across the room? why was the kitchen even darker than usual? why did that god for saken recliner have to be empty.

he wished he had answers, he wished he could find anything to say. just something that could measure up to the gap that was left behind, joel took in his surroundings. checking through the pieces of paper on your grandpas magazine stand mindlessly, his heart stops. a letter. addressed to joel. in seemingly your grandpas hand writing.

he glances around before hesitantly opening it, his eyes start to water as he begins to read. he couldn’t cry here. you needed him.

Joel,

weird getting a letter from a dead guy right? okay, yeah you’re right maybe it’s not the best time for my old man jokes. i know you have questions; i know you want answers so that’s what this is for. i know it ain’t like sitting in the living room, sharing some whiskey while we play chess but this is gotta do. has too.

lung cancer. that’s what the doc told me, said it was even more common now that the fuckin’ world ended. just my luck, survive them damn creeps just to be taken by something so stupid. who gets cancer after the world ends? in a world like this, things like cancer don’t cross your mind. i wish it had; maybe there would’ve been something i could’ve done sooner.

as far as my girl, trouble. please look out for her joel, i know it’s a lot to ask. i know you really can’t trust nobody no more but i trust you. i hate myself for bein such a coward. once i found out, i didnt know how to even say it. don’t think i wanted too. i dont wanna leave my little girl. promises are useless, you once told me this once & i agreed with you. but this, what im asking of you isn’t useless. call it my dying wish

get outta Boston, grab whatever gear i got & go. take trouble & tess away from here. (all those sewer shifts payed off. check the floorboards in the bathroom) FEDRAS only getting worse & it’s just a matter of time before them fireflies try to start shit here too. find a good life, a life you could all be happy. you’re a good man joel. don’t let this world break you.

love, grandpa.

-

a month had passed, joel mentioned the letter. you decided you’d read it when you needed too, thanking him but keeping it as short. in the front pocket of his pack, he kept it close wrapped around tinfoil so nothing would ever harm it. he took your grandpas last wish seriously. you were cold now, the light that once bounced in your eyes seemed to have vanished. joel returned back to his gruffness, keeping his eyes trained on you every second. a few more jobs, that’s all he had to do so you all could leave boston. tess & him drew up maps, planned as much as they could with you but ultimately decided they could figure it out. you were distant, tess was worried

“you think she’s okay”

tess finds herself asking joel, he decided to move his mattress into the living room. giving it to you & him taking the couch, he hardly slept. always keeping watch over you.

joel grunts as he slides the last few things in his pack, you only had 2 runs left. one for a battery & one for ammo.

“she’ll be helluva lot better once we’re outta here”

he grunts out, tess nods quietly. letting her eyes linger over your face. she notices the way the you grab at the dog tags while you slept, clinging to them like your life depended on it.

-

on the way to this trade, you seemed off. you always seemed off to joel these days, not that he’d ever mention it to you or even admit he noticed it but this was different. forgetting your jacket was the first tell. stumbling on some old rubble was the second. joel watched as you rubbed your shoulders trying to maintain any warmth your body produced. he hesitated, but ultimately without saying a word slides off his pack. taking off his jacket & handing it to you

you raise your eyebrows, the shock written clear as day over your face

“what’s this for?”

joel sighs

“you’re shivering. just take it”

you stare at the jacket for a beat before deciding to pull it over your shoulders. warmth spreading rapidly through that has absolutely nothing to do with the jacket.

the following night, after a successful run gaining their ammo it was called to celebrate. joel seen the light slowly returning to your eyes, you saw your grandpa in everything. you decided it was your reason to keep going, because he wanted you too. tess scored another bottle of whiskey, which was starting to be suspicious to joel. did she have a liquor supplier all this time & he was just oblivious? maybe distracted was the right word. he shrugged it off, quickly deciding if he did indeed know about the liquor distribution it probably wouldn’t have worked out in his favor.

you plop down on the couch, taking joels jacket off & sliding it onto the couch he’s been residing on. you plop down to your old smelly mattress, tess takes a seat beside you as joel finds himself settling into the worn couch.

an idea pops in your head, the led zeppelin cassette joel managed to get you still sat unplayed. after all the chaos with the runs & the death of your grandpa you didn’t feel as if you deserved even a smidge of joy. given the 3 shots you downed, you quickly had a change of heart. you skipped up & found your way over to the cassette player smiling

tess took notice of the way joel’s eyes lingered on you; following you like you were a special plate of china & the world around you was a bull. tess leans over, catching joel off guard as she whispers

“you’ve got it bad, don’t ya?”

despite the irritation, joel can’t help the faint smile tugging at his lips when tess averts her gaze back to you.

-

the last run, joel was estatic. well estatic in a joel grumpy miller way. you had all your supplies packed away. your grandpas dog tags hanging around your neck, the black bandana you found layering overtop of them. tess seemed happier, i mean joel & tess had plans to leave the QZ for months but never acted on it. they both silently agreed they couldn’t leave you behind. wouldn’t do it. so as heartbreaking as it was, when joel read the letter from your grandpa he made up his mind. it was now or never.

as things seem to go, especially since you appeared in joel’s life things were headed south. yep, this trade was going so far south he didn’t know how to handle it; not south in the ways you’d expect. everyone was safe, well everyone but Marlene & her crew. they got attacked. right before you all arrived, she was begging. pleading. if you deliver the kid, you’d get a full car. not just some rinky dink battery you were taking a 50/50 chance on. sounded easy enough. things weren’t ever “easy” anymore though. tess seemed to be right on board, joel reluctantly agreed but you didn’t seem okay with it at all. who brings a kid into this world? did she have anyone looking after her? it’s obvious she seemed pretty cared for but was this a set up? you tried to push down these thoughts, she really is just a kid after all. what’s the worst that could happen?

marlene speaks up, seemingly trying to speak only to tess

“she’s not cargo, she’s important. you just have to get her to the safe house”

you find yourself crossing your arms, the hesitance apparent on your face as you ask

“what’s so important about one kid?”

marlene visibly is getting annoyed, you can’t really tell if it’s that or the fact she has a bullet wound in her gut

“that’s none of your business trouble”

you pushed off the wall, heading out the door & finding a shaded spot near the concrete walls. you pull an apple out of your bag, cutting it in 2 as you snack on it. 5 minutes later, joel’s the first one out the door. grunting & muttering to himself, tess steps out with the girl

joel is immediately skeptical, you’re openly annoyed

“we don’t do babysitting”

he gruffs out in the direction of tess & the girl, ellie.

“especially for teenagers”

you add. regardless of how you feel, you accept the job. joel doesn’t hesitate after hearing your agreement, knowing it’s the best chance of getting out of the QZ they had.

-

from the moment you met ellie, it was clear as day you’d bump heads. ellie’s sarcasm & rebellious nature annoyed you to no end. maybe it’s because you’re used to being the sharpest tongue of the group, always quick with a witty comeback. but this girl? she was like sarcasms final boss.

ellie grins widely, glancing around at life outside the compound.

“so who’s the grumpy old man & the bossy lady?”

you deadpan, eyeing ellie as you say

“don’t matter. im the one wholl leave your ass behind if you don’t shut it”

ellie snickers, finding her steps falling back to match tess

“oh i like her”

tess snickers to herself, letting her head drop to her feet. ellie smiles brightly, maybe things would be more interesting than she initially thought.

-

3 days pass as they make the trek, they have to move through a subway station. it’s not ideal. even in the slightest, everyone knows that but seemingly ellie. you know she’s just a kid, she never had a life outside of this. she doesn’t know what runners & clickers even are really. this is what makes you the angriest, they send this girl to school. teaching her things that were deemed “necessary” but to you, everything she learned was bullshit. why wouldn’t you teach kids about this type of thing? why did they need to know about photosynthesis but not how to shoot a rifle. you shook your head in disbelief but found yourself never uttering a word about it. you’d probably get looked at like you were crazy. who in their right mind would willingly give a 14 year old a gun? yeah, maybe you were officially losing it.

in the subway; you stay behind ellie. joel leads, you make sure she ducks down when she should, turning off her flashlight so it wouldn’t draw the attention of any runners. it was ridiculous, like teaching a toddler to walk. did no one care about this girls safety? joel made quick work of every runner around, deciding it’d be easier to sneak around the clickers than just running into a losing battle. the nod & barely audible grunt he gave you was enough to know this was the plan.

everyone picked up on it, well. besides ellie of course, she charged a clicker. head on, stabbing it in the neck multiple times. 2 more clickers made their way quickly to the group, joel took one down as the other tried desperately to gnaw on tess. you scuffled up, ran over & threw tess your knife. she stabbed it, letting it go limp on her body. as you pull it away you find yourself spinning around to ellie

“do you ever listen? no. you’re reckless kid, & one day it’s gunna get you killed”

ellie chuckles

“yeah well maybe i’ve picked that up from you”

joel leans against the wall, hearing the entire argument he decides to speak up. trying his absolute hardest to hide the smallest smirk falling on his face.

“she’s got a point trouble. kids just a smaller version of you”

both you & ellie glare at him, shouting in unison

“shut up, joel”

-

fuck. that’s all you could think when the FEDRA officers stopped you. they grabbed tess aggressively, pulling her to her knees as they check her. making sure she’s not infected, the bulkier officer throws ellie to the ground.

“hey she’s a kid, get the fuck off her”

struggling under the officers weighted grip you try to break away. he pushes you harder, enforcing you to the ground.

“check em”

one of the officers says, an officer joel recognized as a man he often made deals with. a man who warned joel before they left that FEDRA wasn’t playing around, they were taking curfew seriously since they got word of a potential firefly attack.

nick, the officer joel recognizes speaks in the radio

“got 4 here. breaking curfew. armed”

you hold your breath, feeling the familiar sting of the scanner as it shoots through your neck. green. they move to joel, you glance at him seeing the fear in his eyes. why was he so scared? he was always fearless. green. at the last second, as the last officer moves to scans ellie he hears another officer cut through the radio

“kill em”

joel acted before he thought, he quickly took down nick. slashing at his throat before you pounced on the bulkier officer. tess quickly sprung into action helping you take the man down. as you back peddled & stood your face dropped. tess was holding the scanner, only it was red. infected. your hand slaps over your mouth, joel looks at ellie furiously as he quickly grabs his rifle

ellie looks panicked

“wait wait. it’s old. it’s 3 weeks old. it’s healed see”

she raised up the arm of her long sleeve, showing a scar over the bite. could it really be healed? sure there was rumors there were some potential immune out there. you never personally met anyone so you just chalked it up to some urban legend people started to find peace in this bat shit world.

you quickly find yourself standing infront of ellie, almost instinctively. joel hesitantly lowers his weapon as he meets your eyes. you try to signal everything was okay, if it wasn’t it’d be on you. the look joel gave you, was one you hadn’t seen in a long long time. the look of lucifer you called it, he straps up his weapons as he quickly makes his way away from the scene before you.

you jog up to him

“don’t worry joel. it looked healed. maybe she really is immune. she’s just a kid”

joel grunts, not meeting your eyes as he says

“kids can turn too. dont mean shit”

you roll your eyes, sighing as you find yourself back in step with tess. ellie lingering not far behind. she knew you’d find out, she really wanted to tell you but what did that matter now? the truth was out. joel hated her even more, tess seemed so hesitant with her but you? she couldn’t wrap her head around why you ran in front of her. she assumed you & joel were together, if not then extremely close. why would you jump infront of a gun, the man you seemingly loved was holding just to protect some random girl you met only days ago.

as you find your way into an abandoned warehouse; joel turns to tess

“are you sure this is a good idea?”

tess sighs, fighting back her own fears. biting them back, deciding she’d rather choke on them than voice them. she knows the girl can’t handle anymore doubt.

“yes joel, we need a car.”

ellie is sitting on the ground, a few feet from you as she digs out a nicely wrapped sandwich. you look at her in disbelief as she slowly snacks on it, you shake your head turning your attention back to tess & joel

“i mean it tess. if she so much as twitches”

ellie well being ellie, starts twitching. earning her a glare from tess but a quite chuckle from you. joel turns to you, glaring disapprovingly. he could barely handle one of you, let alone 2. he was in a world of trouble

-

tess. that seemed to be the only word your mind would spin around. it wasn’t supposed to be like this. tess was supposed to be here through the end. you were supposed to find a new beginning together. your bestfriend. you feel ellie tugging you towards joel as tess stands before you. she smiles at you, a smile you’d commit to memory. a smile you’d never let your mind forget, as she admits she is indeed infected. how could this happen? there’s no way tess, the only other person in the world you trusted other than joel could die. you’ve already lost too much. she mouths.

“i love you, stay outta trouble for me”

the tears brimming your eyes can’t even begin to explain the rage you feel. the hurt & the misery. tess couldn’t be gone. no. that’s impossible. just yesterday she was helping you braid your hair. the day before she was picking nuts with ellie, teaching her which ones she could eat & which ones would make her deathly sick.

every impossible thing, or seemingly impossible thing your mind wandered too you couldn’t help but admit they didn’t happen. your grandpa died. leaving you alone. you left boston qz. you took in a 14 year old girl to smuggle. tess died.

your minds spinning, you’re running on rage. as the light at the end of the tunnel blares through you make quick work on climbing up to it. breathing in the fresh air, letting the tears fall

joel stays back with ellie, avoiding every question. keeping his eyes trained on your back. he’s hurting, tess was his partner. his bestfriend. but you? god he can’t imagine how you feel. loss after loss. heartache after heartache. he lets his mind slip to how he felt the night he lost sarah, could you be feeling that bad? joel promised himself he’d never let you turn into the type of person he was. a vengeance hungry, rage driven man.

ellie starts her questioning early, like who was tess to joel. who was she to you. he reluctantly answered the first few

“tess was my friend, was troubles best friend. knew her real long time.”

joel decides to keep it short, give ellie enough information to keep her satisfied but nothing was ever enough with this girl

“how long did you know tess?”

joel sighs, becoming quickly fed up. he doesn’t know why he thought he could do this. talk about her like he wasn’t still processing everything that just happened.

“look, kid. we’re setting some rules. rule 1. don’t bring up tess. ever. let’s keep our histories to ourselves. 2. don’t tell anyone about your uh. condition. people out there won’t think twice’ they’ll think you’re crazy or you’re lyin’. rule 3. do what i say, when i say it. no arguing bout it.”

joel looks to ellie, seeing if she’s taking any of this in or just downplaying it

“ellie.you taking this seriously? repeat it back to me.”

ellie sighs as he kicks a rock, she looks up to see you crouching down fishing out your water bottle as the top of the tunnel.

“do what you say, when you say it”

-

joel half expected you to turn cold like you did when you lost your grandfather, seeing you still laughing with ellie or teasing him made his heart swell. he knew you both missed tess, he also knew that there was an unspoken agreement between you two about not mentioning tess. you learned you liked coping with your grief privately. crying to yourself while you were on watch while joel pretended to sleep. he wanted to comfort you, let you comfort him. he wanted you to know he was there, literally right there & he’d stop the world if you asked him too. he ultimately understood, he didn’t pry. he’s no stranger to loss, over the years he just got better at dealing with it.

as the weeks pass on, you & joel both realize ellie’s lack of discipline was a major problem, she confirmed your suspicions that she grew up without her parents. she never really had any idea of authority other than teachers or marlene. no shocker there you thought as you strapped up your boots.

during the journey ellie finds herself constantly wandering off, finding any & everything about the outer world interesting. at first you found it endearing, that was until it often more times than not resulted with ellie in some sort of trouble. once being “quick sand” like mud, the next her being swarmed by runners as she climbed up a tree. ellie always seemed to get out just in the nick of time, it didn’t ease any of your anxieties though. as you drag her away from the sunflower field back to the makeshift camp you & joel put together you turn to her. scolding

“do you have a death wish? or are you just stupid?”

ellie chuckles, finding the scolding more amusing then fearful

“relax mom, i was just looking around”

you freeze, you know ellie’s teasing. even though you can’t deny you wouldn’t mind having such a bad ass kid, ellie was talented. she was smart & witty & super fucking cool. you couldn’t deny it, hell even joel wouldn’t deny it. you find yourself muttering

“don’t call me that”

as you briskly walk away, ellie laughs lightly as joel just grunts. he notices the way your shoulders tensed. the way you were like a deer in headlights, he couldn’t imagined he’d act any differently if roles were reversed. he decided against following you; taking back to his back of skinning a rabbit.

-

one night by the fire, after you finally convinced joel to sleep you found yourself missing your grandfather & tess. you always missed them but tonight was different. you let your mind wander to the “what if they were still here”. you know your grandpa would’ve insisted on playing chess everytime you made camp, you knew tess would find some way to make the situation seem safer. she had such a good way of just making everything feel okay, even if she was intimidating as shit.

you kept seeing flickers of silver in the moon light, you knew ellie wasn’t asleep. her breaths weren’t gentle & she was squirming too much. you glance over to her

“something on your mind kiddo?”

ellie hesitates before she sits up, pulling out the switchblade into your view as she sighs

“someone gave me this. before they, ya know”

you find yourself nodding, understanding the weight of loss. if anyone did; it was you.

“i get it. i carry my grandpas dog tags everywhere it’s stupid but-“

ellie cuts you off almost immediately, not even letting you utter the last words of your sentence. you look up to her shaking her head profusely

“it ain’t stupid”

-

joel finds himself stuck between your fiery personality & ellie’s stubbornness more often times than not. he doesn’t say much, letting the excitement or the argument die out on its own. a few times he’s had to intervene, reminding you of the task at hand. the fireflies. getting the car. maybe finding tommy? he hasn’t brought this up to you yet. he tells himself it’s the fear of you declining but he knows you’d be more than happy too, maybe he need to swallow the truth. what if tommy’s no longer out there waiting for him? the last time he heard from tommy, was from the radio months ago. he knew tommy was apart of some firefly group out west but that’s all the information he knew about it. he hated the fireflies, almost as much as he hated FEDRA. both groups seemed to be good at one thing, ripping is family from him.

as the day moves on, he can’t help but let his thoughts move to you. it’s been so long since he felt any sort of attraction. he tried so desperately hard to shove these feelings down, bury them so deep that they’d never resurface. after losing tess, it just pushed you both closer. he realized he was moving his sleeping bag closer to yours & ellies, he noticed the way he sacrificed anything possible just for you two to have more. food, water, sleep. it didn’t matter to joel, the only thing that did was the hope that maybe. just maybe, you’d eventually feel something for him.

joel watches you with ellie, seeing the way your eyes light up as she sketches any & everything you suggest. the way you smile to yourself as your do ellie’s hair, the way you read a chapter of frankenstein to her every night. he loved listening to your endless bickering. he knew ellie adored you, even if she refused to actually tell you

“you’re good with her, lot better than you think”

did he really just say that out loud? since when did joel speak his mind about any sort of feelings?

you shake your head, averting your gaze past the fire to where ellie lays with her back turned. a small smile graces your face & joel swears his heart grows 3 times the size

“she hates me cowboy”

joel chuckles, half for hearing the word cowboy leaving your mouth after months of just calling him joel or miller. he couldn’t be happier; the other half for how oblivious you are too the seemingly perfect match you & ellie made.

“she’s just like you. that’s why yall clash”

you shake your head, quickly standing & finding your way to your sleeping bag. leaving joel to stand on watch, he loved being on watch. knowing for 100% certain he could protect you & ellie made him content. every bristle of leaves his gaze darted around the forest. in all actuality he knows, you made sure they went so far out that there was no way any things lived out here.

“maybe a fucking bear or two though”

ellie muttered behind you; you stifled a laugh. as joel replayed this memory he’s started by ellie quickly plopping down in front of the fire before joel

“so you & trouble, huh? that’s so bad ass”

joel grunts

“ain’t like that”

ellie chuckles

“sure it’s not”

-

[eastwindmlk]

Another dubbel dip for Jilyweek? Don't mind if I do! The continuation station will depart to a little piece of The Everything Else from TB(itb)US. This little gem does require having read the first 7 chapters for full context. If you want to the full thing is 19.6k and can be found here

Though can be enjoyed as a standalone with a little TL;DR

Lily left Hogwarts in year 3 because her parents emigrated. Years later, she is given a potions apprenticeship with one Fleamont Potter. She moves into the bedroom across the hall from James. With a little meddling of his mother, they realize their feelings for each other. But now comes the hard part. They cannot be together until she is no longer his father's apprentice.

Once again, thank you to @kay-elle-cee and @sunshinemarauder for making all this possible and enabling me to dip back into this.

1.5k under the cut!

It was one of those quiet nights where Lily wanted to do nothing more than waste away her hours brewing. Staring down a cauldron, working towards her graduation, towards not having to sneak around any longer. Afraid to be caught sleeping with her teacher’s son.

But tonight she was barred from the lab and under strict instructions of her her potions master to enjoy herself.

The problem was, she really had no idea what or how.

Initially the redhead had planned go down into town, have a drink at the pub and maybe beat some of the old men at darts. Something that she’d been known to do from time to time. Her name now standing proudly near the top of the leaderboard. But she was about to shimmy into her one dressy skirt as the sky broke open.

Now, could she still slip and slide her way down the hill and have a good time? Sure. But she also could slip and slide her way right into the A&E, which was not something that she was all too keen on.

Which meant she was going to have to make new plans that did not require her to leave the Potter estate.

Lily’d wandered the hallways for a while, making idle chatter with some of the paintings before winding her way up to the small library. In the hopes of finding James there, reading or playing chess with himself. She even found him playing with Sirius over an enchanted mirror once or twice. She usually would slip out of the room before either of them would notice.

But she had no such luck. The room was empty, the fire dying in the hearth.

That was something to do, she supposed, finding the little rack of tools beside the fireplace, picking up the poker. Hoping to bring some life back to the flames, watching the embers glow and crackle at her insistence. Slowly but surely they were spurred into coming alive.

It was then, with her eyes trained on the embers that she remembered James talking about being out for a Quidditch match. She’d even sulked about the the fact that he was going to be out the whole night.

Lily reached up, letting her fingers linger on the spot on her jaw he’d kissed before leaving her with the promise of more when he returned.

When the flames danced brighter now as she placed a few more logs onto it. The warmth of the flames pleasant.

Lily took a deep breath, letting the quiet warmth wrapping around her like a blanket and the crackle of the fire persuading her to stay here. To curl up with a book. Research was almost as good as actually brewing.

It would not even really be ignoring instructions. She enjoyed research and just this room had enough rare books to keep her occupied for years to come. If the house had not offered another, more enticing, distraction she might have made more headway.

But alas, she would have to settle for reading whenever the distraction was too busy to distract her.

And so, gathered some pillows and one of the large throws that were in nearly every room and settled in with a modest selection of books.

Chewing on the end of her pen, Lily was studying a particularly chapter on transmutation when a folly of footfalls pulled her from her reading. Her eyes flicking to the door.

No one should be home until tomorrow. So who was in her house?

Heart hammering in her chest, she reached for her wand before remembering that she’d left it in her room. Never expecting to actually need it when she wasn’t going to be going anywhere.

Shit

Lily’s eyes darted around the room trying to find something, anything, to defend herself with. Landing on the fire and the little rack of tools that stood beside it.

She jumped to her feet just as the door began to rattle and scrambled over to grab the cast iron poker, brandishing it like a sword as she faced the door. She was determined to get at least one good wack in before she would let herself panic.

The door swung open, Lily’s eyes squeezed closed as she charged the fire poker raised up, over her shoulder going for a wide swing.

“Oh ho, ho! Careful there Little Red,” said a familiar voice, a hand wrapping around her wrist and easily stopping the momentum of her swing. “What in Gaia’s green earth are you trying to do?”

Her eyes flew open and instantly narrowed at a incredibly amused looking Sirius. “Defending myself,” she replied with a perturbed pout.

“Maybe next time keep your eyes open?”

“-Gee, thanks for that enlightened titbit,” Lily bit back, masking her embarrassment with snark and an eye roll, jerking the poker from his grip and waving it in his directions threateningly. “What are you two even doing here? I thought you were staying in Oxford.”

Her eyes shifted from Sirius to James, who clearly made an effort to not make the same mistake Sirius had and keeping his features schooled into a mask of nonchalance though he could not quite keep the glint from his eye.

James pulled up a single shoulder. Too casual to not be practised, she decided. “You sounded pretty disappointed that I wasn’t going to be around, so I thought we’d move our evening here.”

He said this with such nonchalance, like it wasn’t the most thoughtful thing a boy – man – had ever done for her. And without her even having to ask. It filled her with a warmth that spread from her chest, like a tight embrace.

So distracted by the little gesture by the casualness of it all that she almost forgot that Sirius was there when she threw her arms around James, their lips smashing together unceremoniously for a desperate kiss with too much tongue and teeth but neither of them seemed to care.

It wasn’t until Sirius cleared his throat that she let her eyes leave James’, keeping an arm around him. “Can I help you, Padfoot?” she snipped, turning her nose skyward when he chuckled.

“No, no by all means go on,” Sirius teased in return and gave them a superior look. “I was just under the impression you two were waiting for after graduation. New plan?”

Lily nodded doubtful, James eagerly.

Sirius snorted, giving his head a shake. “Good to see we are all agree here.” He wrapped his arm around the pair of them, the fire poker now laying discarded by the door and he steered them towards the couch. Wedging himself between them, much to the dismay of both of them.

“You two get to cuddle up when you decide what the plan is,” he informed them. Lily couldn’t help but groan, knowing full well this would end up in another argument.

Still, she took a deep breath and answered. “The new plan is the old plan, just because we fell off the wagon once, doesn’t mean we can’t give it another try.”

She could hear James scoff and she knew he was giving her a deadpan stare, not that she was going to look at him and give him the satisfaction of her flustering as he added. “Right, once. Every other day, sometimes twice a day.”

He wasn’t wrong, but hearing him say it like that sounded so much worse than she had compartmentalized it as. Maybe they did have a problem. “Right, maybe it is a bigger commitment than we anticipated, but I am sure we can rise to the occasion.”

“I think James is rising to several occasions by the sound of it,” Sirius quipped and coughed as Lily elbowed him in the side. Offering him her best glaring side eye.

James just laughed and she wanted to be annoyed at it, but is was just too damn funny.

She had to stifle a laugh as she leaned her head against Sirius’s shoulder. “Damn you, Black,” she made a poor attempt at not laughing at the innuendo.

“As long as nothing rises while I’m still in the room, I don’t really see the issue,” Sirius added with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’re both adults, legally speaking,” he paused to give James a look that made her wonder what inside joke she was missing before continuing “, you can make your own decisions.”

Lily was about to say something about her degree when she was cut off with a hand raised. “I understand the academia side of it all. I am not saying run and tell. I am saying, maybe just stop pretending to each other.”

Lily couldn’t help but be somewhat surprised at the thoughtfulness behind the words. Somehow she never quite expected the Sirius Black she knew in third year to actually speak wisely. But people change.

Just as she thought that, he had to go and remind her that they might change, but not that much.

“And me. Not that you could, I could tell by this one’s stupid smirk,” he joked, wrapping an arm around James to pin him to his chest and mess up the already messy hair. Like it would make any difference.

This set the tone for the rest of the night. They filled it with cosy banter and no actual potions. Which maybe was actually what she needed after all.

[journalsouppe]

Here's one of my favorite spreads-- Professor Layton and the Curious Village!! I absolutely love this game and cannot wait to play the sequels!

Writing typed below!

Rating: 8.5/10 Played: Spring 2023 Port: HD mobile (iPad) Favorite? Y Replayable? Y Recommend? Y Series: Professor Layton

Comments:

That tower is insane

Omg I love the memopad, I feel like I'm on Blues Clues

I love the mystery surrounding the tower

omg are we building a robot dog?? -> yes <3 Hot Dog

Omg crash box match puzzle!! ... WHAT THE FUCK

Layton: ew this bottle is so gross. Luke stick your hand in there

What if we were germs in a glass jar and we held hands

Layton you better have Luke on a leash or smth he better not get kidnapped oh my god I am so stressed

Luke is softie for animals T^T <3

A WORM'S DREAM

STACHENSCARFEN omfg not the ace attorney name

veil of night my beloved <3

that old man is BOOKING IT

matthew is the only real one

love the chess puzzles

gorgeous grave statue

these inn items??? T-T

sewer time

Luke: don't worry professor! No one would ever dream of stealing the Layton mobile

Layton: .... Just what do you mean by that Luke

THE FERRIS WHEEL???

Omg layton in a crown

I like how all the tower puzzles are difficult

don't like the creepy lady

is everyone a robot??

YEA A LOGIC PUZZLE

the flying spike ball is insane

He just built the sail??

The ending was SO SWEET T^T

Game Dev Notes:

Beautiful animated scenes

iconic and calming music

stunning 2d art (character and environment)

great range of puzzle difficulty

interactive background and collectibles

different rewards for finishing puzzles

recap questions to see if you were paying attention to the details

great interweaving of puzzles into the story

interesting overall mystery

ability to explore both before the end and after (& gold layton if you solve everything)

Summary:

I absolutely love this game. It's so charming and sweet with a fun story surrounding puzzles. I love the characters and I love their little quips. I love the range of puzzles and how some of them have historical context. It's such a simple concept that was executed very well. Although the story isn't ground breaking, it was still really fun and shocking. It reminds me a lot of an ACD Sherlock story as it's just another one of Layton and Luke's wacky adventures. It is also set up in the perfect way to allow both sequels and prequels (which is what did happen lol). There's a ton of added replayability such as bonus puzzles, finding every furniture piece and arrangements, finding the charms, etc. It's so interactive and doesn't punish the player at all. This is an amazing puzzle game and there's no shame to not knowing the puzzle answers. You don't get full points if you mess up but that's fine as the picarats don't affect main story gameplay. I am so exccited to see how the sequels expand on the characters, especially Flora! She seems like a very unique character and I am so excited to see more of her. I am also just so happy to finally experience the beautiful music I have been listening to for years in the game. The music is so incredible and charming, it makes me want to find a nice, small European town to explore. What a great game and I am excited for what's next! Hopefully in time for the New World of Steam!

All of the stickers I got from Daiso. If you are interested in the materials I use you can check out my pinned post in my blog!

[helios-writings]

Would That I

Knight! Vash x Royalty! Reader

wc: 5.3k

Warnings: brief mentions of blood, losing an arm.

You are second in line for the throne and Vash is your personal guard, after years of pining, you confess your love and loyalty to each other, but cannot be together.

You grinned as you moved the chess piece, ending the game with a swift checkmate. Vash groaned, leaning back in his chair in defeat. You tried to look anywhere but his exposed arms and exposed throat. 

“You win again,” he told you, smiling, “I’m going to have to start practising.” 

You stood up from the chair, dusting yourself off. “Oh? And who would you practise with? You said yourself that Sir Wolfwood’s a cheat and Lady Meryl scares you too much to even try to play against her.” 

“I’ll start picking up books from the castle library.” 

The two of you walked shoulder to shoulder towards the garden’s entrance and Vash had an uncharacteristic frown on his face. 

“You’ve been quiet all day.” You told him, a hand lightly placed on his arm. You could feel his body heat through your glove. 

“I leave tomorrow. I’ll be gone for a month, at the least. Three at most.” 

“Where will you go?” 

He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, some town on the outskirts has had trouble with bandits, we’re being sent to get rid of them. Wolfwood, Milly and myself. A few others.” 

“Can I see you off?” 

“You must, I fear I’d perish without a good luck farewell from the royal highness themself.” 

Three months without your best and closest friend, the aspect made tears threaten to well up in your eyes. “Write to me?” 

He ceased his teasing and took your hand in his, clutching it to his chest, his blue eyes looking into your own. “Every week. I’ll even bring you back a souvenir.” 

“Just bring yourself back in one piece.” 

The air between the two of you was charged with something you couldn’t name, but it faded quickly when he dropped your hand and made his way back towards the barracks. 

You watch him until he disappears from your sight and you wonder how you’re supposed to sleep knowing that tomorrow morning could be the last time you see him.

***

Vash is awake before dawn, the sky still an ugly grey. He’s loath to leave your side, but knows you’ll be safe within the kingdom’s walls. He holds the horse’s reins tightly, knuckles turning white and looks out, searching for any sign of you. 

Wolfwood and Milly are atop their own horses, but it’s the former who says something. 

“We can’t wait for much longer, Vash, the other knights have already left. You sure they're coming?” 

He nodded firmly. You wouldn’t lie to him. 

Like you’d been summoned, you came tearing down the main square in our sleep clothes, a robe pulled tight around you. The sight made his heart swell. 

“Wait! Vash, don’t leave yet!” 

Milly and Wolfwood stifled their laughs as you reached them, chest heaving. “Sorry I’m late.” 

He hopped off of his horse and you pulled him into a crushing hug, burying your face in his chest. 

“Hey,” he whispered, “it’s going to be okay.”

“It doesn’t make sense to send you when you're my bodyguard.” 

“But I’m still a knight.” 

“I want you to stay here with me. What if you don’t come back?”  

He raised your head to look you in the eyes. “I would fight through a million enemies to come back to you.” 

“Remember to write to me. Please.”

Vash kissed your hand before he could decide against it. “Every week.” 

You bit your lip, like you were going to say something and then decided against it. 

“Vash, we’ve gotta go!” Milly called and he sighed. 

You grabbed his arm and you crashed your lips to his. He didn’t get a chance to revel in the feeling before you pulled away from and ran back towards the castle. Vash could feel tears on his face, but they weren’t his. 

***

The months without Vash were hard and almost too much for you to handle, but letters came every week from Vash, just like he’d promised. Every letter had a flower pressed between the pages.

Meryl, though she thought it was annoying that you kept re-reading his letters during her lessons, knew that there were few people in this world as important to you as Vash. Your own family didn’t even make the list. Being king, queen and the heir to the throne meant that they didn’t have time for you.

It was strange to be anywhere without the blonde knight, you went everywhere together. Joined at the hip, more than a normal royal and their knight should be. Where once there was laughter by your side, there was silence.

You wondered if you had ruined everything with that kiss, however brief it was. When he returned, would he even want to see you? Would he choose to return as your bodyguard? Or would he ask to be replaced, effectively never seeing you again? 

He never said anything as such in the letters, but you knew him to be a good liar, a man who never let anyone truly know what he was thinking. He never mentioned the kiss, either. 

For you, it was all you had thought about, even before. You knew you had loved Vash for a long time, maybe not love at first sight, but when you got to know him. Maybe when the both of you had turned into teens, when arms and legs were less lanky and voices were deeper. But the when didn’t matter as much as the why. When Vash was as kind and as brave as he was. Always eager to help others, no matter the cost. Even if the cost was his life. It’s why you had been so scared for him to leave, because if it had come down to saving a life and him, he would always choose the former. 

The door to the library burst open, and a guard stormed in. “Your highness, the knights have returned.” 

You stood, the books piled on your lap spilling to the ground. “Where are they?” 

“The clinic. They were all injured, but no fatalities.” 

You thanked the guard before rushing out the door. You needed to see him, needed to hold him in your hands to make sure he was actually here and safe. 

You slammed the doors to the clinic open, searching the faces for Vash. 

Wolfwood, who you didn’t know too well, approached you from the side. “Vash got a private room. Through there.” 

You thanked him, before taking off towards the closed door. When you opened it, you gasped. 

Vash was on a bed, armour stripped off, fresh scars riddling his body. He sat up slowly. “Told you I’d come back.” 

A sob tore its way out of your throat and you collapsed by his bedside. 

He took your hand in his.”Hey, it’s alright. I’m okay. It’s not even that bad.”

“You’ve been stabbed. Multiple times, how is that not bad?” 

“Well, fighting off millions of enemies to get back to you will do that.” He said with a chuckle and wince. 

“Let’s keep it to one enemy at a time.”

“I got you something.” He told you, rubbing a circle into the back of your hand. 

“You didn’t need to.” 

He shrugged, wincing again. “It reminded me of you, I had to buy it. When I can stand without help, I’ll give it to you.” 

You glanced at the closed door and leaned forward, planting a kiss on the corner of his mouth. 

Vash was silent for only a moment before he opened his mouth to say something, interrupted by the healer entering the room. 

“He’s not supposed to have visitors,” she told you, “even if they are royalty. I’m sorry.” 

You nodded and stood up. “Of course, I’ll come back when he’s ready.” 

The healer smiled as you bid her farewell and once you were outside of the clinic, you let the tears fall. He had come back to you. Just like he’d promised.

***

Vash is young when he sees you for the first time. You’re young too, but the weight on your shoulders is too heavy. Second in line for the throne but you are already weighed down by a crown you won’t wear. 

The knight captain brings him towards your parents and your father nods in approval. You hide behind your mother’s skirts. 

The king beckons you forward and you obey, curtsying when you see him. Vash bows, because that was what he was taught. 

“This is Vash,” the knight captain introduces him, “we’ve already begun training him to be a knight.” 

The king and queen scan him up and down, like he is a horse up for auction. “Perhaps he’d fare better as a bodyguard for our youngest child.” 

You look him in the eyes for the first time, and Vash has decided that it wouldn’t be so bad to protect you. 

It's something he thinks even now, as he fought to stay alive during his mission, as he saw the necklace that reminded him of you, as he read the words you wrote back to him.  

He thinks of the two kisses you had given him, yearning for more, like they were a drug. Like you were a drug. Maybe you were, maybe that would explain how he’d loved you for so long. 

It was selfish, perhaps, to keep you so close to him. To take your hand in his so often, to hold you with the intimacy of a lover. You were so beloved to him, it was impossible to think he’d be the same to you. 

The box was heavy in his hands as he stood outside of the door to your chambers, now allowed to leave the clinic since he’d healed. He knocked once, quietly, since it was late. 

You opened it, your face painted with the soft glow of candlelight. “Vash, I didn’t know you were better, I would’ve come to visit.” 

“May I come in?” 

“You never need to ask.” 

The two of you stood in your room, the door closed and the curtains drawn, no one around to see. 

“This is what I got you.” He handed you the box, his gaze averted. 

“Vash….this is gorgeous.” 

“I said it reminded me of you, didn’t I?” 

He knew the necklace, a simple pearl on a gold chain, wasn’t as extravagant as the other things you owned, but it was still beautiful. 

You handed him the necklace and turned around. “Help me put it on?” 

Carefully, like he was handling a china doll, he clasped the jewellery around your neck, the pearl sitting in the hollow of your throat. His fingers brushed your neck. He wondered what it would be like to press a kiss against the nape of it. 

“How’s it look?” 

“You look….I mean, it looks beautiful.” 

You bit your lip, and without thinking, he reached up and brushed your lip with his thumb. The skin was soft. 

“Vash….” 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“Anytime you want.” You sounded breathless. Stunned. 

He pulled you into a kiss, a proper kiss, and it took his breath away. You were warm against him. The fabric of your night clothes bunching up where his hands sat, the bare skin against his hands scorching. More, more, more, his mind supplied, but he’d never take more than you offered him. 

Without realising it, he’d ended up sitting on a chair, your body above his, kissing him as deep as you possibly could, as close as you could, like you could never be close enough, his hand edging underneath your shirt. It was like he couldn’t get enough of you no matter how close the two of you got. 

You pulled away, eyes heavy lidded and lips swollen. “I love you.”

The words left him breathless, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What?” 

“I love you, I am in love with you.”

He placed his head on your chest, pulling you closer, ignoring how his cock jumped at the movement. “I love you too. So, so much.” 

You raised his head and kissed him again, And again. The two of you spent what seemed like hours kissing. It was all he’d ever wanted.

***

You and Vash had three days of peace before disaster struck. An attack on an allied kingdom had signified an oncoming war and even though it had only been about a month since Vash’s last mission, you could tell he was going to be sent out again, and soon. 

This thought haunted you. This war could kill him and although you know he’d be happy to die protecting this country, and by extension you, you couldn’t allow that to happen. You wouldn’t. 

You cornered Vash in a secluded area of the library, the shelves hiding you from prying eyes. He grinned and leaned in for a kiss, but you stopped him, biting your lip. 

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” 

“You’re going to be sent out on a mission again. What if something happens to you?” 

He pressed his forehead to yours. “Nothing’s going to happen to me.” 

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that. A million armies, remember?”

You were silent for a few moments before you spoke again. “I want to run away. From the kingdom, from everything. With you.” 

Vash’s eyes widened in shock, and he was speechless for what seemed like years. “I….can’t do that.” 

“And why not?” 

“I just can’t, you don’t understand.” 

“Then help me understand.”

When he was silent, you scoffed and stormed off, not caring about how petulant you may have seemed. You can hear his footsteps behind you, but you don’t slow down, not even as you make it upstairs to your room. 

You slam the door to your chambers, only for them to open back up shortly after, the footsteps of your knight stopping behind you.

“I can’t run away with you,” Vash tells you, his voice desperate and tear filled, “if we leave here, you could die and you’re too important. I am not important enough for you to abandon everything for.” 

You whirl on him and shove him so hard, he nearly stumbles into the door. “Damn you, Vash, you’re important to me! Can’t you see that? Or are you blinded by your own sense of duty, of obligation, that you can’t see that I would sacrifice anything to keep you safe? To keep you here? With me?” 

His gaze was averted from yours, hidden by his blonde hair. “I can’t take you away from this life. You have to understand-“ 

“I’m tired of hearing that word. Understand. Understand that I must leave to fight in a foolish war. Understand that you must live your life constantly under guard. Understand that we can’t be together even though we want it over everything else in the world. As long as I remain here we can’t be together, we will always kiss in secluded corners or empty rooms. My running away is about more than you, it’s about being free, being free from the family that doesn’t care about me, being free from the weight that’s on my shoulders, but I want to do that with you. You’re my family now, you always have been.” 

Once again, he said nothing, and you sighed heavily. “Just leave.” 

He opened the door, but before he left, he stopped in the doorway. “I leave a week from now. Early in the morning.” 

The door shut and you heard him walk away.

***

You didn’t see him off, that was all Vash could think about as he rode on horseback through the woods towards the border of the kingdom. He figured you wouldn’t, not after that argument. It’s the longest you’d been without talking to him. 

He did wonder, however brief, what it would be like to run away with you. Would the two of you live in a cottage in a faraway forest, or would you live in a bustling town with fake names and disguises? But he couldn't, no matter how tempted he was. You were the whole world to him, he would kneel to you and fight for you, even if it meant never being together the way he had dreamed about, he wasn’t worth your devotion. Wasn’t worth running away from all you had known. 

He thinks of the letter he left in the hands of Meryl. “In case I don’t come back,” he’d told her, but now he was unsure if that was the right choice. He should’ve given it to you himself, but he was afraid that if he’d seen you, he would’ve abandoned everything he knew and taken you in his arms and ran away with you, wherever you had wanted. 

The loyalty he felt to you was unwavering, but he couldn’t put it above the loyalty he had to the crown. Then again, the crown may have taken him in after his brother disappeared, but it was you that had gotten him to open up, gotten him to smile and laugh. He was a fool to tell you he wouldn’t run away with you, because now that is all he wanted to do. But it was too late. 

“It’ll be okay Vash,” Milly said, coming up next to him on her horse, “I’m sure they just overslept. Meryl said they hadn’t been sleeping lately.” 

“Maybe, Milly. I’m sure they’ll be okay.” 

“You can always write a letter when we get there.” Wolfwood chimed in.

Vash was going to write you a letter everyday, even if you didn’t want them. He would pour his heart and soul and dedication into all of them. He loved you and even if he died in this stupid war, he was going to make sure you knew that.

***

When the first letter from Vash comes, you crumple it and throw it away, only to dig it out of the trash and cry immediately after. Vash was a bastard and you wanted to hate him with every fibre of your being, but you couldn’t. 

You didn’t write back. Even after letter after letter came and didn’t stop. It felt a little foolish, giving him this silent treatment, but the heartbreak you felt wasn’t foolish, it was real and it still hurt, even if it was coming up on a year since Vash had left. 

When the 365th letter had come, you finally wrote back. You missed him more than you were angry at him, and it was slowly killing you to watch the pile of letters grow, unopened but weathered. 

A letter doesn’t get sent back.

You’re not angry, you figured this might be a possibility. He has a right to be just as angry as you were, and you would not deny him that. You would never deny him anything. 

When months pass by with no letter from Vash, you begin to fear the worst. The best case scenario is that he’s alive and angry with you, but the worst ones always have him dead on a battlefield, covered in blood. It scares you the most, losing him like that, where his last thoughts of you are of you being angry at him. You were such a fool, being so selfish when he has only ever thought of what’s best for you, even when he told you he wouldn’t go with you, it was for you.

There’s a knock on your chamber door and you tell whoever it is to come in, not turning from your spot by the window. 

“If I’d have known I would get this warm reception, I would’ve come back home sooner.” The familiar voice dripping with sarcasm.

You whirled around in your chair with a gasp, tears welling up in your eyes. It was Vash. 

You stood up from your seat and pulled him into a hug, burying your sobs into his neck. “I thought you were dead, or worse.” 

“Not dead, but not entirely back in one piece like you’d prefer.” 

It was then you noticed that he was missing an arm and you gasped. “Oh Vash….” 

“Don’t cry, sweetheart. I’m alive, aren’t I?” 

“I’m so sorry…” 

He shook his head. “I’m not. Like I told you. A million armies to come home to you.” 

“They won’t let you be my guard anymore. I can’t let them take you away from me again. I just got you back. I won’t let them.”

He put his hand on your face. “Weren’t you the one that wanted to run away? Well, then let’s run away.”

“Are you sure?” 

Vash sat on your bed, pulling you down next to him. “When I was out there, I did a lot of thinking, especially when I was in the makeshift clinic. You are where I’m safest, my home. And I realised that I want to marry you, I want to be with you, and we can’t do that here.” 

You hugged him, knocking him onto the bed with the force of it and he laughed. “So, you’re not angry with me anymore?” 

You wiped the tears from your eyes. “When you didn’t reply to my letter, I feared the worst and I couldn’t bear the thought of your last memory of me being anger.” 

“Well, I did think I was going to die, but my last thought of you was about how happy you make me, how I finally got to hold you in my arms after so many years of wishing I could.”

“You’re the most important person in the world to me. So, let’s do it. Let’s run, right now.” 

“In the middle of the day? We’d get caught, especially you, you’re the second in line and you stick out like a peacock in the middle of a flock of pigeons.” 

“Tonight then?” 

His hand gripped yours. “Tonight. I can borrow clothes from Meryl or Wolfwood if I have to, you could even wear some of mine. I’ll leave them by your door later.”

“You sound pleased at the notion of me in your clothes.” 

“Of course. I think you’d look lovely in them.”

You rolled your eyes, but frowned. “I have to say goodbye to Meryl before we leave, she’s been a good friend to me lately, I can’t bear to leave her without a proper farewell.” 

“She won’t turn us in?” 

You thought of Meryl’s own relationship with her knight, Milly, and shook your head. “No, I think she’ll be happy for us.” 

Vash nodded. “Alright then, I’ll see you tonight, in the gardens. 

“By our chess table.” 

He rushed out the door and when the door slammed shut, you picked up the most boring bag you owned and began to pack.

***

The night was clear and crisp, Vash could see his breath appear in little clouds before him. He was glad the two of you were running on a night as pretty as this. 

You showed up a few moments later, the pants Meryl’s but the shirt was his, a cloak wrapped around you. 

“Did you see Meryl?” He asked, taking your hand in his. 

“Yes, she said she wouldn’t tell anyone she saw us and wished us luck. She also gave me this to give to you.” You pulled out the letter he had given the woman in case he hadn’t made it back to you. He let go of your hand to shove it in his pocket. 

“Now, we can’t go out the front gate, but we can’t climb the wall. What do we do?” 

You grinned, pulling him along with you until you stopped in front of an old iron wrought gate. “It’s basically abandoned, no one comes back here anymore. I found it when I was little.” 

“Does it still open?” 

Nodding, you let go of his hand and pulled the handle. The gate opened with a loud creak and you quickly ushered him through so you could close it. 

And then you were free, almost. 

He breathed a sigh of relief. “All we have to do is make it to the edge of the kingdom. It’s a few days of a walk, but Wolfwood will be waiting with a horse. The rest is up to us.” 

You pulled him into a kiss, your nose cold as it accidentally bumped his own. “I’m thinking somewhere with lots of people, but not in town.” 

He put his arm around you and pulled you in close. “So, a little cottage just outside of town?” 

“With a dog and a cat. And our horse, of course.” 

He snickered. “You rhymed.” 

You rolled your eyes, giving him another quick kiss before pulling away. “We’re not out of the woods yet.” 

“Then let’s go.” 

***

It took a week to get to the edge of the kingdom, where Wolfwood was waiting. 

He handed the reins to Vash and then bowed to you. “Highness.” 

You shook your head and wrinkled your nose. “No, not anymore. And no bowing, either.” 

The knight grinned. “That an order?” 

You rolled your eyes and got on the horse, Vash following. 

“I’ll write to you when we’re safe.” Vash told him, a grin on his face. 

“You’d better, or I’ll come kick your ass.” 

“You won’t even know where we are.” 

Wolfwood rolled his eyes. “Then I’ll knock on every door until I find yours.”

As you and Vash rode off into the forest, no longer within your kingdom’s territory, you turned and watched as Wolfwood disappeared into the distance, and with it, the only life you had ever known.

Your hands tightened around Vash as you buried your face into his back to stop the oncoming tears. 

“Are you okay?” His voice was soft and kind, full of concern.

You sniffed, embarrassed. “I know it was my choice to leave, but it hurts. I thought it’d be easier, that's all.”

“If you want to cry, I promise to pretend not to hear.” 

You let out a laugh that was thick with tears. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, we’ll get through this together, okay?” 

You nodded. “Together.” 

You stared out into the forest ahead of you, the trees so much like the ones back home but so different at the same time, holding promises of a new future where you wouldn’t feel ignored, where you were more than royalty. Where Vash remained at your side even when you didn’t have any jewels or a crown.

***

You and Vash decide to stay just outside a bustling town that’s right by the sea, in a cottage that you buy for almost nothing. And it is far, far away from home, where no one will ever find you. 

Vash laments not being able to carry you inside, but you silence him with a kiss, insisting that it doesn’t matter, now that you’re with him and that everything is perfect. 

Vash peeks at your empty left ring finger and thinks that there’s one more thing that would make a perfect start to your brand new life. So, early one morning, before you wake up, he heads into the already energetic town to shop for a ring. 

The owner greets him happily, using the fake name he had given the first day the two of you had arrived and offers his assistance. 

“Well, I need an engagement ring. Something to give someone that gave me everything even when I had nothing to offer.” 

“Pretty hefty guidelines there, but I’ve got a few for you, being a seaside town and all, a lot of our rings have pearls, is that alright?” 

He grinned. “That’s perfect.” 

Vash spends a little longer in town, picking up groceries and something else for you, just because he sees it and thinks of you. 

When he gets back home, you’re at the stove, cooking. He goes up behind you and presses kisses on your neck, making you laugh. 

“Went shopping, did you?” You ask, turning your head to plant a kiss on his lips. 

“I got you something. Close your eyes.” 

“I can’t, I’ll burn the eggs.” 

“It’ll be one second.” 

You roll your eyes but comply and Vash presses the gift in your hand, the ring tucked safely in his pocket for later.

You gasp when you  gaze at the gift. A small music box in pale blue. “Oh Vash….it’s gorgeous.” 

“I saw one like it in your room back….well, I know it won’t replace the one you left behind, but I had to try.”

“I love it, I love you.” You kissed him again and again and again. Until the smell of burning made the both of you jump back in surprise, causing you to dump the pan in the sink, dousing it with water while he turned off the stove. 

“I knew I should’ve listened to Meryl when she talked about cooking.” You told him with a sigh. 

He put his arm around your waist and pulled you in close. “It was my fault that time, so don’t feel bad sweetheart.” 

You kissed his nose. “Well, I hope you’re not hungry.” 

The ring was burning a hole in his pocket, but he decided to wait until tonight, for the perfect moment.

***

The dining room is lit only by candlelight as you come back into the house from putting the horse away for the night and the smell of dinner wafting from inside, making your stomach growl. 

“You did all of this while I was out?” You asked, toeing your shoes off by the door and heading deeper into the house. 

“It was simple, but I wanted to do something for you.” 

You sighed and shook your head. “You do enough, Vash.” 

He kissed your cheek. “It’ll never be enough. You’re the love of my life, and I’m going to spend my entire life trying to show you that.” 

“Vash, I’m the one who should be thanking you. You’ve already given me everything.” 

He shook his head. “I’m trying to propose to you, but it’s not going like I wanted it to.” 

Vash reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, inside was a ring, dainty in size, but gorgeous all the same.

A thin gold band and a cluster of tiny diamonds surrounding a pearl. 

“This is gorgeous…. I don’t know what to say.” 

He laughed nervously. “I’m hoping you’ll say yes.” 

You kissed him deeply and he slid the ring onto your finger. It was almost hard to believe you would get something like this in life, that you and Vash weren’t doomed. 

“So,” he said between kisses, “is this a yes?” 

You rolled your eyes. “Yes. And I know just the way to celebrate.”

You took him by the hand and led him into your bedroom. 

***

The ring on your finger glinted in the morning sun as Vash woke up with a stretch, your bare skin covered by the less than luxurious sheets, but you had a content smile on your face as you slept. 

He thought back to all those months ago, when you were royalty and he was your knight, when the both of you thought that’s all your relationship would ever be, kisses in corners and hands held under the chess table. Now you’re both here, where no one knows who you are and where the two of you can be together until you’re old and grey and he can’t get out of bed without throwing his back out. The thought makes him laugh, and you stir awake. 

You grin sleepily at him. “Morning.” 

He grins back. “Morning.” 

“Are you watching me sleep?” 

“Your snoring woke me up, actually.” 

You roll your eyes and smack him playfully. “Bully.” 

He pulls you into his chest and kisses the top of your head. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

Vash always thought that when he looked at you, he saw his future. And he was right.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers CHAOS LINEAGE ー General Prologue

ー The scene starts inside a mysterious chamber

*Thud* 

Karlheinz: Checkmate.

Socrates: ...!? How? Once again...

Karlheinz: Seems like I win.

Socrates: ...

Karlheinz: I had a pleasant time again tonight. Our final game was a great one.

*Rustle rustle* 

Socrates: Leaving already?

Karlheinz: I must proceed with my plan.

Socrates: Running away after winning, huh? 

Karlheinz: I would love to continue playing as well.

However, you should know very well why I cannot, no? My dear friend.

Socrates: Yes, I understand. That is exactly why it is so vexing.

Karlheinz: Do not say that, my friend. My life-long wish is for a new species to be born into this World...

We shall need Adam and Eve for this wish to come to fruition.

Socrates: Yes...

You have selected a candidate for Eve for quite some time now, have you not? That girl who possesses a special heart despite being a human.

She fulfilled her duty by falling in love with a Demon. 

Karlheinz: Then the one chosen by Eve...The Vampire who captures her heart, shall become Adam. 

That moment is finally upon us.

I have rewinded time again and again, doing everything within my power...

Success is currently right in front of our eyes. 

My friend, I never once felt bored because I had someone I could have long conversations with. 

Socrates: It saddens me to say goodbye...

Karlheinz: Oh come on, we can always meet again in our next lives.

Socrates: ...You’re right. See you in the afterlife. 

Karlheinz: I must get to the final preparations. ...Well then, if you’d excuse me now.

ー Karlheinz leaves

Socrates: Karlheinz...I suppose we shall never meet again in this life...huh?

Monologue

A Vampire going by the name of ‘Adam’. 

And the human girl called ‘Eve’.

Once the two of them tie the knot and give birth to a new species,

Karlheinz’ plan will undoubtedly reach completion. 

...However, in return for that,

I will lose a dear friend. 

That is incredibly saddening. 

Aah, how lonely I feel...

I threw a glance at the table’s surface.

The black and white chess pieces are lined up on top of the chess board. 

The remains of the fun game my friend and I were playing just now.

Socrates: My dear friend, are you certain that the man who was chosen is truly fit to become Adam?

Monologue

There should have been plenty of potential candidates. 

Was it inevitable that he would be the one to be ultimately chosen? 

Perhaps the true Adam can only be found,

if all of them are given an equal chance,

by meeting Eve,

under the same circumstances? 

...I am not yet convinced,

that this man in question will become Adam.

In which case, it is up to them to prove themselves,

and convince me. 

Socrates: This is a game where they will all fight over the same pawn being ‘Eve’. I shall create the World which will serve as the chess board through my magicーー

And lock the potential Adam candidates as well as Eve inside of it. 

While Adam has already been chosen, I could easily alter their memories somewhat.

Let us conduct an experiment where all of them have been given the same conditions in terms of memories, abilities and status. 

To see who will truly win over Eve...

They can fight over her in their little fabricated world, until but one player remains.

Well then, let us commence the game. Until it’s checkmate. 

Or alternatively...Until somebody breaks the game’s rules.

Until only one person remains on the board,

and as long as nobody commits foul play...

This experiment will remain ongoingーー

Monologue

Where on earth am I? 

I was wandering through the darkness. 

When I tried to remember what had happened,

I could not remember anything, as if a fog had clouded my mind.

The silhouette of a certain someone popped up in my head. 

It felt as if this loving, nostalgic figure,

looked at me with gentle eyes. 

However, I do not know who they are.

Who are you? 

Furthermore, who am I?

As if they were answering my question,

I could hear a man’s voice echo from somewhereーー

???: Good morning, Eve. Do you know who you are? 

--> This is where you get to input the MC’s name.

???: No, that is not your name, Eve. That is your past name. 

Yui: Eve...This is my name...

Monologue

‘Eve’ ...It had an incredibly familiar sound to it. I part my lips to pronounce those two syllables 

Yui: Eve...Eve...Eve...

Monologue

Every time I recite it, I grow more and more self-aware that this is in fact my name. 

???: You shall soon awaken. 

Our story begins right after the precious Supreme Ruler has passed away.

Three different houses will wage war against each other, fighting over you.

Monologue

The prophecy told by this man whose name remains a mystery to me...

I simply took all of it in...

I did not doubt his words in the slightest. 

After all, at this time, I was still incapable,

of experiencing a sense of ‘doubt’. 

I was not capable of breaking through the illusion. 

Any illusion which cannot be destroyed, will therefore become reality.

???: I call forth the light...

Monologue

At the same time he spoke those words,

a single light flashed right above me.

While weak, it was definitely shining.

I reached out my hand towards it.

*Thud*

As I heard the sound of a new game commencing.

ー The scene starts inside the Church

Yui: Nn...

( Huh? ...Where am I...? )

( There’s large stone monuments lined up...The horse and castle shapes remind me of the pieces of a chess game. )

( The windows are decorated with beautiful stained glass... )

( While the building itself appears to be rather old, it is in good condition, so somebody must have been taking care of it. )

A holy atmosphere lingers in the air...

( This feeling must mean it’s a...Church...I suppose...? )

( In which case, the place I was sleeping on is...the altar? )

Why am I here...?

*Dingー Dingー*

Yui: Kyaah!

The Church bells...? That startled me...

???: So the seal was broken at last? It surely took its time.

Yui: Eh...?

Bespectacled man: While this was stated in the legend as well, I have to say that you are hardly impressive. Oh well, I suppose that is fine.

Given as you were here at this Church, there is no mistaking it.

Yui: A-And who might you be...?

( While he does look very proper and his demeanor is polite, his sharp gaze is somewhat terrifying... )

Bespectacled man: Let us keep any self-introductions for later. Unfortunately, there is no time for those right now. You shall be accompanying us to our manor.

Yui: What do you mean by that...? Where are we in the first place? How did I end up heーー

Bespectacled man: I see. ‘You are completely ignorant’...correct?

ー He approaches her

*Rustle*

Yui: Kyaah! L-Let me go!

Bespectacled man: I do not know if you are speaking the truth or simply acting.

Either way, this does not alter the fact that you will be coming with me.

Yui: ( I’m being kidnapped!? I have to run! But he’s too strong, I can’t shake him off... )

???: How cruel to do such a thing to a poor little girl~ 

*Woosh* 

Bespectacled man: ーー!?

*Cling*

Man with hat: You just barely managed to dodge my attack, huh? I suppose I should have expected as much from you, Reiji.

Yui: ( A dagger came flying at him!? Is that man the one who threw it...? )

Reiji: Haah...Just as I thought, there were other people with the same intention as us.

So the Violet House has decided to send Laito as their messenger...And it would appear that Kou is here as well. 

Kou: Ahーah. You noticed me? I thought I was doing a pretty good job concealing my presence. 

Yui: ( There’s another guy carrying a dagger... )

( The one holding my arm is Reiji-san...And the two people over there are Laito-san and Kou-san? )

Kou: Listen, won’t you hand over Eve to us? Carla-kun really wants her, you see.

Reiji: I refuse. The next Supreme Overlord shall be none other than me after all. 

Laito: Geez, the oldest sibling of the Scarlet House is so stingy. Wouldn’t you agree, Eve-chan? 

Yui: Eve...

( Right. I am Eve...I wonder why I forgot? )

( These people are fighting over Eve...over me. )

Reiji: I would have liked to have gotten this over with quick and easy, but it seems like some people insist on getting in the way...

You should step back for a bit.

Yui: Ah...

Reiji: I shall be your opponent.

Laito: Oh? This doesn’t seem quite right? You’re acting like a noble knight protecting the princess. 

Kou: Exactly, spot on! Even though it’s obvious that Eve will come to our house.

Right, Eve? You will, won’t you? 

Yui: T-That’s a tough question. I don’t even know you guys...

Kou: Then you can just get to know us! At our manor, that is. 

Yui: ( No way, what should I do...? )

*Rustle*

Yui: Ow...!? 

( Someone pulled me in stronglyl! )

???: You’re coming with Yours Truly. You don’t have any other choice. 

*Rustle* 

???: I promise to take ‘good’ care of you. Until I get sick of you, at least.

Yui: ( Another stranger...! )

Laito: Ehー? Ayato has made his appearance as well?

Reiji: The third son of the Orange House...I suppose this is how things ultimately played out.

To think all three Houses would show up right after Eve’s awakening. 

Yui: ( Three Houses...? )

Ayato: The Church’ barrier disappeared. Of course we’d come to check what’s going on. 

And I was right to do so too. It’s just like how that one legend goes.

Yui: ( Legend... )

Kou: The Church’ barrier will be dispelled after the Supreme Overlord perishes. 

The one who wakes up Eve who is slumbering there with a kiss, it will open the path to becoming the next Supreme Lord...That’s the story you’re talking about, right?

Laito: It’s the story of Sleeping Beauty.

Yui: ( Barrier...Legend...Supreme Overlord? What on earth are they all talking about...? )

Reiji: It would seem that you have no clue about any of this.

Kou: So she’s completely ignorant to the fact that she’s Eve?

Ayato: Aah? Cut me some slack! Do you have any idea how long we waited for you!?

Laito: I mean, she was asleep this whole time, so we can hardly blame her, can we?

Although it seems like we’ll need to take our time to fill her in on everything.

But to do that, we have to take you home with us first.

Yui: ...!

( They’re suddenly giving off a different vibe...? )

( They are glaring coldly at each other. Do their eyes even seem to be glowing red or am I just imagining that...? ) 

( No, more importantly, the weapons they are holding, are they actually real...? )

Reiji: I suppose we should get started soon.

Ayato: Che, finally.

Kou: Who will get to claim Eve? 

Laito: The battle commencesーー

Yui: Battle...!? Don’t tell me, you’re actuallyーー

*CLANG CLANG CLANG*

Yui: ( The four of them are swinging their swords at each other...Wait, noーー )

( There’s only three of them. One has disappeared...! )

*Rustle* 

Yui: Kyah!? W-Who are you!? Please...Let me go!

Monologue

A figure suddenly snuck up behind me.

I attempted to fight back, but ‘his’ arm wouldn’t even budge.

I had been successfully captured by him.

Exactly, the one who seized me wasーー

[REIJI --> SCARLET HOUSE PROLOGUE]

[LAITO --> VIOLET HOUSE PROLOGUE]

[AYATO --> ORANGE HOUSE PROLOGUE]

[lucdrawsthings]

Sorry to bother but what is the makai gambit project?

Not a bother!

just a fun little project, pretty much! possibly gonna become a game or vn, possibly just going to be a massive fic with accompanying art, but whatever it ends up being, so much love is going into it that it's a blast.

Currently it's in its very early stages, but I can give a full teaser and summary here:

Juusandom. A Netherworld cluster that exists beyond time, beyond space, beyond the reach of any regular demon. Split into thirteen territories, two in particular often come into conflict…

Absidion. The country of black. A wild and ruinous place, a Netherworld built for a real demon's demon. Its Emperor is beyond a tyrant, instead boasting his status as something far more unpredictable. Much of its territory is filled with the ruined homes of former inhabitants, as the bulk of Absidion's land was snatched from the control of its neighbour. There is beauty in the untamed, even with the obvious dangers posed to the weak. Survival of the fittest reigns supreme here.

Elebestar. The country of white. A peaceful and well-cultivated theocracy, at the very peak of which rules a benevolent Emperor. Tensions flare at borders, where land is claimed and made ashen by the brutes of the neighbouring country. Even so, people's needs rarely go unfulfilled here, and those who live in Elebestar are happy in their captivity. For make no mistake, they are captive as they come. Those who live within Elebestar know their lives will end when their rulers call for it. A gilded cage for a willing livestock. Is that any way to live?

Absidion and Elebestar, political rivals and tactical nemeses. Emperor Fornelius, the Primordial Chaos that seeks desolation, and Emperor Benetrectus, the Sublime Archdevil that seeks eternity. One knows nothing beyond lust for power and destruction. One knows nothing but a craving for control. At odds with one another, their conflict has spanned millennia. Territory claimed under the banner of Fornelius is tainted in black, and this stain cannot be removed.

For the time being, there is stalemate. After reaching the limits of his siege's power, Fornelius has ceased his advance for now. And after losing three of his four "children" to the Black Emperor's sealing power, Benetrectus has pivoted to doting on his youngest "daughter" while she remains with him.

Fortebracciiio, the Third Child, stands at her "father's" side as Empress. And beside Fornelius? Discordia, Primordial Temptation. It is by her hand that the advance was orchestrated, and it is by her hand that it is paused. One could perhaps name her "Mastermind" in this tale… if that title didn't fall to another.

...Sooooo, that out of the way. Set in a pair of warring Netherworlds in the Netherworld Cluster of Juusandom, Makai Gambit is an in-universe spectacle, advertised as a sort of battle royale created by a third party to end the conflict once and for all. Through a strange power, figures from throughout the Makaiverse's history are summoned to play the role of 'Piece Incarnations' to help settle the score.

'Piece Incarnations' is a term created by the capricious, mysterious organiser of Makai Gambit. A Piece Incarnation is a being summoned in place of an official for the territory rulers, taking up the 'role' of a chess piece.

Piece Incarnations cannot kill other Piece Incarnations of the same legion, nor can they land a finishing blow on the Emperors / Empresses. Piece Incarnations, however, can kill any normal inhabitants of Juusandom. The only option they have is to unite with those on the same side as them, and aim for the win condition...

Kill the opposing King Piece.

(portrait art by Shuga)

The pieces do not choose to be here. They do not really want to be here. Mostly, they just want to go home and get back to their loved ones. Some are willing to go to more extreme lengths than others to get back home.

also we have a middle evolution Christo-Lamington!

[ofaflower]

𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐄 (𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍) - 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄́

The following are lyric based starters from Rosé's debut full length studio album, rosie. Mature subjects implied within, so please use with caution. Feel free to change pronoun usage as needed. Minor edits may appear to sound more natural for dialogue.

NUMBER ONE GIRL.

tell me that i'm special

tell me i look pretty

say what i'm dying to hear

i'm dying to hear you

tell me that i'm relevant

tell me that i got a big heart, and back it up with evidence

i need it and i don't know why

isn't it lonely?

i'd do anything to make you want me

i'd give it all up if you told me that i'd be the number one girl in your eyes

so, what's it going to take for you to want me?

i'm going real big places

even through all the phases, tell me you'd accept me

i'm dying to hear you tell me that you need me

tell me that i'm loved

tell me that i'm worth it and that i'm enough

3 AM.

i just saw a red flag, gonna pretend i didn't see that

is it really, really that bad that i need you really, really that bad?

so, can we keep this story rolling?

nothing's really perfect like that

i just want it to be you when it's three a.m. and i'm losing myself in my mind again

the world can roll it's eyes but it's no use cause i want it to be you

even when i'm putting you through hell, say I'm not like nobody else

you're everything i need and it's so dumb

even when you're putting me through hell, you're not like anyone else

TWO YEARS.

how'd it all fall apart?

you were right here in my arms but now you're invisible

the heartbreak's physical

got a place, moved away somewhere with a different code, different state

it still feels miserable, god - it's so chemical

all that i know is i can't let you ho

it's been two years and you're still not gone

it doesn't make sense that i can't move on

i try, i try, i try, i try but this love never dies

been two years since you've been in my bee

even had a funeral for you in my head

another night, another vice

i'll always hate the fact that you ruined everybody after you

i'm always coming back to you

maybe i'm just sick and this is how it's going to be

this is all i know and i know it's not you, it's me

TOXIC TIL THE END.

call us what we are, toxic from the start

can't pretend that i was in the dark

when you met my friends, didn't even try with them

i should've known then you were jealous and possessive

so manipulating, that it's honestly impressive that you had me participating

i said i never want to see your face

i couldn't wait to see it again

we were toxic till the end

when i said it was over, you heard 'baby, can you pull me closer'

his favorite game is chess, who would ever guess when your playing with the pieces in my chest?

Saying "don't leave", you stole that line from me

i can forgive you for a lot of things, for not giving me back my tiffany rings

i'll never forgive you for one thing my dear, you wasted my prettiest years

DRINKS OR COFFEE.

this was boring, til i heard your name and now i'm staying for you

is this just me starting to see you in a different light?

i know we can't say what we mean, but i'm happy that you're here tonight

i'm feeling so good at a bad party

we don't have to talk, i know that you want me

gotta keep it nice, we cannot be naughty

we could drinks or we could coffee

is it so wrong that i've been thinking about you all day, yesterday and tomorrow?

is it so wrong that i've been bending the truth all day, yesterday and tomorrow?

i know we can't say what we mean, but you know what i mean it right?

drinks or coffee - just call me, yeah?

APT.

[ your name ]'s favourite random game, game start!

kissy face, kissy face, sent to your phone but i'm trying to kiss your lips for real

come give me something i can feel

don't you want me like i want you baby? don't you need me like i need you now?

sleep tomorrow but tonight go crazy

all you have to do is just meet me at the apartment

turn this apartment into a club

i'm talking drink, dance, smoke, freak, party all night

hey, so now you know the game, are you ready - cause i'm coming to getcha

hold on, hold on, i'm on my way

GAMEBOY.

if crying was fun, i'd be having the time of my life

if loving you was a jump, i probably would have died hundreds of times

i gave you my favourite memories

i hate the way i let you inside just so you could take it for granted

two years, and now i understand it

you'll always be a gameboy but these days i don't wanna play, boy

say what you wanna say, you're never going to change

you'll only ever be a heartbreak

you got a little too good acting like a good guy and i bought it for a minute but this isn't what you made it look like

you got a cute face and that kept me entertained

the way you say my name, i won't lie, it felt amazing

you took my love for granted, and it took me two years to understand it

shame on me, should've known better but i let you play me, whatever

somethings just aren't meant to be, kinda like you and me

i thought you'd love me forever, i should've known that you'd never

STAY A LITTLE LONGER.

take a little longer to pack your bags, you're moving too fast

make me wanna hate you, so i don't have to miss you - make a mistake, so someone's to blame

i can't stand these four walls without you inside them, build us a castlle than leave me in silence

what if i tangled some rope around your feet, into the ocean cause i'm in too deep?

please won't you stay, stay a little longer, babe?

don't walk away when i'm here calling your name

i'm fragile, i'm speechless, don't leave me in pieces - already having enough trouble breathing

walk a little slower, stand a little closer so i can convince you the minute i kiss you

speak a little softer so i don't have to answer

NOT THE SAME.

say what you want to say, but you know you're talking in circles

tell me lies, like we're okay, promise til' your face turns purple that you're gonna love me, that one day you're gonna love me right

shame on me for trusting you once, for trusting you twice

we had only and nothing but time, but somethings just change overnight

i don't know who you think you're kidding babe, cause you're not the same

we had good days and light on our side, but you fucked up and you know that i'm right

pick it up, come and drop your keys - get your stuff

find a new heart to confide in

did letting me down get tiring?

i keep on walking through all the memories i had with you, and i don't miss it - the way you broke me, love

oh, what a shame - nothing's the same

all of my love and you put it to waste

you can keep pointing your finger, but i thought it'd be us - go figure

CALL IT THE END.

we're at a crossroad, and we don't know which way to go

part of me lost home, and part of me just can't let you go

we said we'd cross those bridges when they came, now it's time to give it a name

let me know, do i call you my ex or do i call you my boyfriend?

do i call you a lover or call you a friend?

should i call you the one or the one who got away, someone i have to forget?

do i call you every night you're gone, or never call you again?

do we have a future, or do we call it the end?

we were a moment and you were my one true oasis but now all those oceans are falling down on our faces

so, if we don't see it through, i'm a better me because of you

are we lovers or friends, is this as good as it gets?

TOO BAD FOR US.

and it crept up on us, in the way that it does and the moment disappeared

in the desert of us, all our tears turn to dust - now the roses don't grow here

i guess that love does what it wants, and that's just too bad for us

was it all just slight of hand, another trick that fate played on us again?

two heads in the sand, i hear you talking but i just can't understand

caught in no man's land between the wires, coming under friendly fire - can't go forward but can't go back again

flying high with both eyes closed, almost touched the sun but i guess we got too close

now i'm dancing on my own, but the music's not as good when you're alone

we wanna talk but we don't wanna listen

we play pretend but we both know what's missing

if love burns too bright it burns out in a minute, at least that's what i tell myself

DANCE ALL NIGHT

two little birds came and sat on the ledge and they asked if i'm doing okay

one of them asked me if there was anything i would change, and i didn't know what to say but i would dance all night

i would not obsess over all the little things i regret, instead i'd dance all night

dance all night, i'll be there for you tomorrow

you can dry your eyes, we'll laugh away the sorrow

when the morning comes just promise me you'll stay forever young

VAMPIREHOLLIE (BONUS TRACK).

stupid words, lot of back jokes, angel hearts and a cute name, hate that i can remember every evil thing that you say

preying on my weakness, do you even care?

now i'm stuck with this feeling and it's so unfair

why am i letting you win? let you get under my skin?

every tear that i let fall, you can claim them all

tell me, is there something i've missed?

can't take this anymore

i can't let you break me like this

two a.m. in my hotel, on my phone and the walls start caving in

you took a clean shot to the one thing i hold close

i should be stronger than this, shouldn't let your words hit like a bullet and i hate that i did

[le--fruitcake]

When you get this, answer with five things that make you happy, then send it to the last ten people in your recent activity :)

Oh, joyous day, a lovely correspondence! I shall endeavor to do my best!

Swords! Most anything to do with them, but specifically, the creation, use, and mythos surrounding them. Swords are a near-ubiquitous weapon, and there are so many legendary swords— Excalibur, 三日月 (Mika[d]zuki), Murakumo/Kusanagi, Kikuichi-moji, and Nasuada's Sword of Light, to name a few. Knowing how a weapon is made, or even better, making it yourself, gives you a sense of oneness with it that is almost sacred, and knowing how to use it makes it an extension of yourself— not just in body, but in soul. Or something.

Writing is fun! Putting thought to word can be challenging, but the right word choice and setup can make a piece of writing impactful and emotional. I find no shame in admitting my own writing has made me cry on multiple occasions, but I am of course biased. The other side of the coin would be...

Reading! You cannot be a writer without first being a reader. Reading inspires me to write, and gives me ideas besides. There's something special about cozying up with a good book, especially in a cold room with a warm, soft blanket.

I'm partial to a good game! Most kinds, but especially video games, card games, and chess. I prefer a challenge, but an intelligent one, so a human opponent is always better than a machine. No one wants to play Yugioh with me bc my deck is too good, lol. (This is a cry for help— PLEASE reach out if you play Yugioh. I Crave The Game.)

Rabbits, shockingly, make me very happy! Rabbit-based characters, too, like my beloveds Miyamoto Usagi, Mitamoto Yūichi, Mirko, Lop, and others I cannot think of at the moment but exist!!

Thank you for the ask!

[aliquistis]

Hi! ♥ I hope you're having a wonderful time wherever you are!! I am here to sing your praises and ask some questions about your writing process! First of all, Witch Ways is such a great piece of writing. Every 5 minutes I'm like [origin character name here] would totally do this! or that's so [origin character], and twirling my hair, giggling like a 13yo with a crush. I can't help but be endlessly amazed at how well you write each character: the way you depict actions, feelings, analogies, etc., like you're aware of what's going on all the time and direct our attention toward the important stuff. It's all very cinematographic and painterly. And that awareness guiding our attention feels like you're shaping scenes with just enough detail, or broad enough strokes, that reading becomes really pleasurable, and not dense at all or like everything is up in the air. It's a perfect balance. Gale, as written by you, is *chef's kiss*. Also, an honorable mention goes to Astarion; your portrayal of him is so on point I'd jump at the opportunity to read anything you write with him in it. Chapter 11 has Astarion pull some emotional 3D chess stuff on Gale to make him open up about his relationship with Echo, and I think that is so ingenious! Another thing I've noticed is that you're really good at knowing when a relationship/character has had enough time in the spotlight and it's time to let other relationships/characters into the picture - all in a very natural and reader-friendly manner. And I'm a baby writer, but I know our characters/plotlines can only be as developed as we are experienced/well-read, in a way. Naturally, I've got some questions and they are as follows: 1) What are some of the things/techniques/approaches that help you with characterization/keeping characters effectively in character? I just feel like, you're so good at reading characters and knowing what they'd do next. Developing that skill probably took you time and effort!!! So, any words of wisdom, book, webpage, or anything to help guide me a bit through the process of acquiring the skill? 2) is there anything that's helped you become a better writer? Especially in terms of developing and maintaining this 360° awareness when you write (they should be doing that with their hands, they should be feeling this but also a bit of that, this is the right amount of [character/relationship], this explanation/description is ok and if I add more to it I risk being insecure/overly preachy, etc.) Thank you so much for sharing your writing!!! ♥

Thank you so much for your kind words! I really am having a great time writing this story and I'm very happy that people are enjoying it. The best general writing advice I can give is simply to stick to it. Don't get hung up on comparing yourself to other people. It can take a long time to find your own voice and it took me personally a long time to realize there isn't one "right" way to write. Writing is hard and you have to try and be kind to yourself. Don't be afraid to make mistakes or to get crit. I cannot tell you how much time I wasted being terrified of showing anyone my writing, when I could have been using that time to grow as a writer.

Specific answers under a cut bc I babbled on for awhile!

1) So for characterization, just play through every possible conversation you can have with a companion/npc. I look up videos for choices that I can't make (like late game evil playthroughs) and I have like a million saves before conversations, events, and areas that I might need to revisit. When I'm looking for a certain reaction (like how does Wyll talk to you if you're mean to him? If you're nice to him?) This is probably why I'm so comfortable writing Astarion, since I romanced him on my first playthrough and I got to see a lot of content for him.

So I load up a conversation with the emotion I'm looking for, and really pay attention to their speech patterns. Then, during writing, I do two passes: the first time I write out what I need from the conversation, then the second time (during editing) I read the conversations out loud and try to see if I can hear it in the character's voice. During this second pass, I change a lot of wording and inflection to better fit how a certain character speaks. Reading dialogue out loud in general is a great idea bc it helps you make sure you're writing in a way that people actually talk.

2) Workshopping helps so much. I majored in English so I had to take a lot of writing classes and just getting another set of eyes on your writing who can tell you "hey this doesn't make sense" or "hey I had to read this twice so it's probably not flowing how you want it to" can really, really help. Since having a ready workshop isn't always possible, writing fanfiction can help in the same way! Really anything that keeps you writing and practicing will keep you developing.

More specifically for picturing scenes, a lot of times I will have to physically do the things I'm writing so I can better see how to describe it. For emotions, I listen to music that evokes the same feeling I'm trying to write out. It sounds weird to say it, but study fiction and the stories you like. Think about why story beats landed how they did or what you'd do differently to flesh something out that you liked, but could have hit better if some things had changed. (I feel like we have all been watching a movie and gone "Why didn't they say/do [this] instead!") Editing is so important, so hard, and so (imo) boring but it is integral to getting the feeling in a scene right. You really can't tell if something is coming off right until you've gone back over it and cut down/filled out the parts you need.

Doing a warm up can help too, especially when the words aren't coming to you right away. Pick a prompt or think of a scene that you're really excited to write and give yourself fifteen minutes to just hammer away at that. In my writing classes, we always did a warm up for the first fifteen minutes of class and it can really help put your brain in the right condition for creating. Another exercise we did in writing class (which might help with the scene awareness) was taking a scene from a movie and writing it out in prose. It can help you pay attention to what movements need to be narrated and how to describe expressions/inflection.

I hope some of this helps! Unsurprisingly, it also helps to write stuff you have fun writing. Even if you think it's a trope or cliche or whatever, who cares! Write what you like. I started both of my big fanfics simply because I couldn't find the ship dynamic I was looking for in the pairings they feature. So if you write what you want to read, chances are there are people in the world also looking for it <3

[daybreakrising]

@avaere: the last time he encountered the doctor it was under far different circumstances, odd gambles and chances that the halovian's hand had dabbled a little too deep into - and despite that, there'd be a smile offered there he'd come to lock gazes with the familiar figure, hands in dark pockets.

he got out too, the ever so well known veritas ratio, he whose reputation in regards to intellect went both far and wide. now, sunday could not pride himself a scholar, nor someone whose education had been in line with the achievements of the doctor, but even he had come to hear the great tales of that intellect. with such feats under his belt sunday couldn't help but to wonder... how much had he deciphered of penacony? how much had he, this bright mind, managed to understand before even entering the doors to a dream?

it was intriguing, perhaps even a bit intimidating to think about, and yet it wouldn't stop sunday from approaching. he had long shed the bright colors of the dreamscape, life and name now tied to the scripts of destiny's slave. " doctor veritas ratio , i cannot say i am surprised that you found your way out of the dreamscape ; such a shame we did not have more time to debate and discuss during our last meeting ... i would have loved to hear your take on penacony's everlasting dreams."

but of course, perhaps sunday could have started with a simple hello.

There is a stark difference that he notes immediately within the Halovian - and not simply down to the altered manner of dress. Sharp eyes miss nothing, and neither do ears finely tuned to the task of gathering intel. If knowledge is power, then the doctor is a formidable man indeed. The fate of the Oak Family's former head has been the subject of much debate for those in the know of what transpired within Penacony.

How... interesting. He had not expected to find himself approached by the man, and it certainly tugs at his endless well of curiosity. It is enough to drag his attention from the game of chess sat before him - he regards the other with a subtle incline of the head, acknowledging his words with a faint curve of his lips. "A shame indeed, Mr Sunday."

He leans back in his chair, gestures with one hand to the vacant seat opposite him. "Alas, we both had our own specific intentions for that meeting, did we not? Our parts to play." Fingers deftly pluck a piece from the board, execute a strategic move. "Hardly the time for lengthy debates, as tragic as that is."

He considers the board for a moment longer, then lifts his gaze again to the fallen angel that stands before him. "Do you play, Mr Sunday? Perhaps you'd like to join me." Sharp eyes miss nothing. "And we can see about answering some of those questions you are practically brimming with."

[itsfrenchfornothankyou]

Hey @spoonergodofspoons has gotten far enough in one piece for me to start recommending fanfics so I thought it would be easiest to post them here! Consider this my one piece fanfics rec list for people who recently got halfway through dressrossa

Part 1: early asl reunions

Look I am a sucker for these fics, and aren't we all a little in denial about marineford?

A present that's a mystery (giving you your history) by midnightluck you might see that name a couple of times here, I love their fics so much idk if they have a tumblr

Anyway this is about 5.5k of sabo getting his memories back early (because koala found embarrassing baby photos of him for his birthday) and reunion fluff, one chapter for Ace, one chapter for Luffy

Wish by spirit and if yes by midnightluck LOOK I TOLD YOU THEYRE REALLY GOOD AND I LIKE THIS ONE EVEN MORE THAN THE LAST!! it's an au where the RA send someone to keep in touch with the whiteboards every now and again, and now it's sabo's job! This fic has my favourite reunion of all time and I won't say anymore because if there's one fic on this list you should read it's this one - 32k

Twin flames by soccersarah01 , again, no idea if they have a tumblr

Ace calls sabo his twin while in impel down and this has .. consequences. Reunion! Gol D Sabo! Fucking with the government! What more could you ask for in a fic! 66.666k

Speak up boys! By @plantwithoutplot , a solid contender for just being one of my favourite fics ever, it's currently sitting at about 69k (nice) and chapter 9/31 and look I know it's incomplete but it's SO GOOD

it's a time travel au, where the asl bros end up on Gol D Roger's ship. Ace is trying to commit patricide, Sabo is trying to be the reasonable one and Luffy is... Luffy. Everybody is having a rough time of it and auuugggg the angst of being reunited but knowing you have changed so much and what if you don't know them anymore and what if you are no longer the person they loved and AHHHH go read it!! Read it now!!!

Chasing the remnants by @29rynoah sabo goes with dragon to loguetown! This one moves a little slower than the others in terms of how long it takes for the characters to actually be reunited, but the writing is really good!! The payoff when they finally get to see each other again? The character work? Incredible, 40k and I know I said it moves slower but when I was reading it I swear it only felt like 10k

Being together we are stronger than ever by starryyah

Body swap! ASL can have a little body swap, as a treat! I'm sure nothing will go wrong! 13k

Part 2: Lawlu!

Okay, I know I'm a big proponent of platonic lawlu and I cannot see Luffy in any kind of romantic relationship I really can't- however some people are writing really good lawlu and I am a little bit closing my eyes and saying yes it is queerplatonic. To me.

I Love Luffy by missdreamgirl32 you know what I just want to steal one of their tags to sell this to you: Law tries to play three-dimensional chess against two guys playing go fish and loses

The character dynamics in this are so fucking good, I'm also actually just going to steal the summary right from the work because I get way to lost trying to explain everything else which is cool about this fic if I try to synopsise it:

After hearing Luffy off-handedly mention he has a boyfriend, and worried there might be some misunderstanding, Ace and Sabo decide to track the guy down and invite him out to dinner

Anyway it's really fucking good check it out it's only 10k I have read it... Many times (could be read as romantic, I do not)

The mysterious Torao by spooky_vallimo

This one is romantic but it's so fucking funny, spare 3k words worth of time to read this drabble, au where Luffy and Trafalgar met as kids, if you enjoy it there are some more works in the series

Come to sea with me, where we can be free by siojo

This is the only au that's set in a completely different world on this list, I guess I love Luffy is a different world but it's not fantasy different, its more a modern au

Anyway siren AU!

this one is again, a lil different to the others on the list, which are largely character studies

This one is on the list because I'm a little obsessed with the story aside from one piece characters? It's just really well written and has interesting lore and world building

It's also kind of a sad/bittersweet fic, and some of the characters do eat humans (because siren) so yeah, this one has a different vibe to the other fics on this list but it occupies a certain space in my brain, only 8k

Part 3: Miscellaneous!

This is ASL stuff that isn't necessarily early reunion, or is only about one or two of them

The world doesn't deserve you by dezace

Okay so what if I told you there is an au where asl brothers are pirates together as children? And that it was 47k and had other works in the same universe?

Great, you're on board? Now, this is the only fic on this list to have made me cry

It is HEAVY ANGST and Spooner I know I'm making this list for you but it will HURT YOU and you may not want to read it, the ASL bros may be alive but they were the only survivors after a buster call was made on goa, and everyone else on the island died, and everyone believes the trio to be dead for a very long time

But if you do decide to read this fic which will hurt you, the emotional catharsis at the end is REALLY GOOD!! and there are many more short stories in the universe!!

But if this all seems a bit too ouch, the this author has a different, more light hearted series: Luffy was raised as a marine and makes it everyone's problem, which is a fun good time where Luffy knows marine codes and uses them to save ace, among other things

Man I wanna go reread the world doesn't deserve you again

On brotherhood by @ladycrimsonandblack

This is a lovely little fic where Luffy is the elder brother, just over 4k

There's this very specific fic niche where Luffy is older and he meets up with Ace while Ace is unwillingly being recruited onto the whiteboards and I just love it, this is the second one I've read and now I'm going to see if I can track down the other

Update this is it

Anyway yeah this is a very specific genre of fic, but it turns out I'm very fond of it

Whatever you can still betray by midnightluck

Have something short fun and fluffy! In this fic Haruta of the whitebeards thinks Ace is a marine spy, but that's fine they're going to keep him anyway! 6.5k, one of my faves

[jasdiary]

“They say the most vulnerable piece in chess is the queen…would you like to play a game so I can show you who’s really vulnerable?~”

Full Name : Maria Regina Alarik

Nicknames : Mari, Mary, The Queen, Blood drinker, Reine de sang(Rook), Lamprey(Floyd), Lady of Red/Crimson Lady(Vin @authoruio ), Bloody Annoyance(Vin) Darling/j(Ellis @starry-night-rose )

Jp Va : Rie Tanaka

En Va : Lauren Landa

Age : 19

Height : 6’6 (200 cm) *204 cm with heels*

Homeland : Rose Kingdom

Birthday : November 2 (11/2)

Zodiac sign : Scorpio

Species : Beheaded being

Hair Color : Buttery Blonde (wine red highlights)

Eye Color : Wine red (Black scleras when using magic)

Gender : Female (She/Her)

Sexuality : Bisexual

Family : Amélie Alarik(mother)

Occupation : Student at Night Raven College, Member of Terrovania dorm

Twisted From : Bloody Mary from Identity V

Dorm : Terrovania ( @terrovaniadorm !)

School Year : 3rd Year

Class : 3-C

Best Subject : Poison Making, Conjuration

Worst Class : Animal Languages

Club : Film Studies

Dominant Hand : Ambidextrous

Favorite Food : Roasted Poultry

Least Favorite Food : Vegetables

Likes : Artwork, Fashion designing, Making her own clothes, Drinking, Chess

Dislikes : Her poor handwriting, Overconfident men, Being judged based off her looks

Hobbies : Horseback Riding, Gardening, Decorating random areas

Talents : Harp playing, Dancing, Singing, Speaking multiple languages

Personality :

Maria’s known for being self-confident, mischievous, and even comes off as cocky sometimes. She’s pretty popular and many people know her as she’s a genuinely easy person to talk to if you try! Maria is very much aware of how she looks to people : Intimidating and sly. Maria get’s visibly down and upset when she notices people steer away from her, she tried not to show it or talk about it but it does hurt her. Due to her mothers image and presence, people do tend to have some kind of expectation of her. Overall, Maria can be snarky, lovingly mean and a big tease!

Unique Magic :

Blood Stained Glass

“I’ll call checkmate now, hope that’s fine. Now, feast your eyes upon this Blood Stained Dome of mine!”

The user has the ability to summon a dome of mirrors surrounding them and those around. The user will create an image of themselves and can enter and run through any mirror, mirroring the original user's movements. The user and their image cannot touch, or the image will disappear leaving the user’s original body to travel through the mirrors. When this power reaches its limit, all the mirrors will shatter with blood seeping through the cracks and onto the glass. Drawbacks from this power are blood loss, dizziness and loss of reality.

Backstory :

Maria grew up with a loving and lavish mother. Amélie Alarik was known as one of the greatest magic wielders in the Rose Kingdom, always being rivaled by Iracebeth Rosehearts. Maria’s mother didn't care for rivalries, note the fame she has. She simply cared about providing the best life for her daughter, promising to love her forever.

As Maria grew and went out more, she always wondered why people would avoid her. While her mothers influence had been a reason, her blood is what makes her feared. The Alarik family is made of these supernatural beings , specifically beheaded ones. Once a child in the family reaches a certain age, their head will fall off and get stitches to reattach it. Amélie wanted to avoid telling this to Maria for as long as she could since she was a late bloomer to magic, she also always covered her neck up so her stitches weren’t visible.

Then it happened.

Maria felt sleepy that evening after school when her head started to droop. When she tried to snap awake, it was her head that snapped off. Maria could see her own headless body sitting on the couch, body shaking violently. All she could do was scream and cry.

Her mother ran into the room and regretted her decision to keep this family curse a secret. She did her best to calm Maria down while carefully picking her head back up and placing it on the other half of her neck. Amélie brang out her sewing kit that she kept on hand in case she needed a thread change or if…this happened. As she gently sewed Maria’s head back on securely with thick, crimson red thread, she explained to Maria what was going on and apologized for keeping such a secret.

Maria’s life was flipped upside down, she could barely look at herself in the mirror. Eventually, she grew up and matured. She accepted who she was and her flaws. Maria’s happy with her life, and she couldn’t love herself more. This was only the beginning of the Queen whose hands were stained as red as her lipstick.

Random Trivia!

Maria doesn’t get her height from her family genes, she’s just freakishly tall.

The Magic Mirror said her soul was split between Terrovania and Pomefiore, but ultimately decided on Terrovania.

She drinks non-alcoholic wine due to being under the legal drinking age.

Maria loves picking people up like a long cat. She enjoys watching them shut down.

She originally started making her own clothes because no clothes she liked would fit her tall ass.

She’s called “The Queen” because of how she quickly rose up to fame and power in her first year at NRC.

Maria and Vil are extremely close friends. Maria visits Pomefiore’s dorm on a daily basis just to talk shit with Vil.

She’s slightly protective over Riddle, knowing how his mother is.

Another Alarik family gene is black scleras and stained hands. Using any kind of magic will cause them to appear.

She may seem tall and lanky but she’s actually an undercover beefcake. She can definitely carry two people with each arm.

Maria, Vin and Alice( @starry-night-rose ) are usually all seen together, though the two ladies seem to poke fun at poor Vin all the time…

[weebnotheree]

A Winter Night | Enjoyment [Genshin] Trailer

Play the song as you read the trailer. {Words: 1040}

{You gave them all their nicknames(the ones in the parenthesis bar thing "[]")}

A hellfire butterfly flew its way through the ice stormy wind.

A soft melody of a girl singing could be heard. Soon hearing a soft whisper in her ear "Still singing beautifully as always. I can hear it all the way from here." She smiled more and sang a little louder. 

Columbina[Damselette] {Secret Little Girl}

The butterfly landed on a black fallen chess piece. There, a man stood. "The sage think themselves to be all-knowing. But we alone are wise to the virtues in those acts of folly," he says as he then began moving the white horse piece with telekinesis, knocking over the other. "In this war, not even a single pawn may be spared..." He held out his hand as the hellfire butterfly landed on the fallen chess piece. "Because on this chessboard, 'checkmate' is not where the game ends."

The Little Girl continued to sing. (tbh idk who they[he] was talking abt but imma put m/n in it)

Pulcinella[The Rooster]

"We are gathered here today to remember our dear comrade. And in honor of our other dear comrade, her sacrifice, all work should have a halt for half a day as the nation mourns their passing."

Chuckling could be heard.

The man had a closed eye smile grasping his hands together.

Pantalone[Regrator]

"Hehe, merely half a day... People say the Northland Bank's true currencies are blood and tears... But mayor, even speaking as a banker and against his word, that seems a little unconscionable."

A girl moved forward a step clearly annoyed at the Mayor's wording.

Arlecchino[The Knave]

"Rosalyne died in a foreign land...Perses was sealed away by that despicable Lord. But you heatless businessmen and dignitaries-- Always with a convenient excuse to remain in the comfort of your homeland... Not wanting to help. You couldn't hope to understand. So why dont you keep your mouths shut! We dont want to make the children cry.."

Chile sitting down in one of the seats(they're in a cathedral) chuckled.

Childe[Tartagila]

"Hey, c'mon now, even I dont think this is the right time or place for a fight. I'm sure we all know he's not actually gone..just..out there somewhere."

A little girl(or small woman) was sitting in a (compared to her)giant metal hand, that was holding her.

Sandrone[Marionette]

She scoffed. "Utterly risible!"

The guy next to the two began speaking as well.

Capitano[The Captain]

"Though her methods tarnished her honor and his dimed ways, Lohefalters sacrifice is a great pity. Her loss shall not hinder our progress. We already found indications on Perses. But Dottore... What of Scaramouche and the Gnosis from Inazuma? And any other traces on Perses?"

Dottore[The Doctor]

"Conventional wisdom holds that Divine Knowledge cannot be rationally comprehended. After conquering the Divine Gaze, he will make his next move..with a little help of course," he said as he lightly kept mixing the liquid in the capsule.

Another, seeming to be the head of the group walks out of the shadows, stepping up to the coffin.

Pierro [The Jester]

"It's time to end tonight's foolish theatrics. Right now, you have no captive audience. Let every worthy sacrifice be carved in ice, and with this nation endure for all time."

There was a space between Childe and Arlecchino. No one ever got in his spot ever since he was gone..I mean except for a newcomer harbinger that was too disrespectful that one of the harbingers ended him.

"In the name of Her Majesty and God of Destruction, the Tsarista and Perses, we all seize authority from the Gods..."

"Absolute peace"

"Such as the gift from Tsaritsa, such as Her Majesty's benevolence."

"Now you rest in this coffin, encased in layer upon layer of ice." 

The same hellfire butterfly flew down towards the coffin and landed on the corner of it.

"But, Rosalyne, I promise you... We will find him for you. And your resting place will be the entirety of the 'Old World'," the butterfly vanished.

"I must say, you're looking very young today, Doctor." a girl's voice was heard. A male voice agreed in a flirting tone.

"You're right he is pretty gorgeous for his own good isn't he?~"

"You know very well that I do not take that as a compliment." Doctor responded.

"Oh, come on Doctor, dont be like that. It's the truth~ Right C҉o҉l҉l҉e҉i҉?~" "Yeah![pauses]So, where's the Segment in the prime of his life, then?" A flashback of a tree burning –fire everywhere with him standing nearby.

The Doctor huffed. "Heh, he's busy with...a little experiment in 'blasphemy'. The other...following right along.[grins]"

Somewhere else. [GASPS] . . . ."Collei, time to head out on patrol" Tighnari called out. "Ah,[stands up]okay Master Tighnari!" she answered back..before looking at her hand. "What was that...?"

Another place. M/n looked in the direction of The Doctor..before he grinned.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Guess you found me~"

A curtain purple-haired boy stopped and looked back at the white-haired male not saying a word.