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yo9urt · 3 months ago

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more japanese pmd talk! FYI from now on i will be tagging these as #pokemon fushigi no diary

EXTREMELY LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

played through chapters 2 & 3 today (AKA i finished the drowzee stuff and then stopped), which means i got to meet a TON of new characters and read into their speaking styles as i hoped i would!

observations:

CHATOT uses わたし for himself and おまえ for the apprentices. i'll probably puzzle over this for a while longer but my intuition says it makes sense - he can use おまえ since he's super high in the chain of command, and he WOULD use it because he's a guy, but he would also self-refer as わたし because it's a bit more formal and coming from him it almost sounds kind of puffed up to me? not sure though. he also ends a lot of sentences/utterances with さ(あ) and the occasional ぞ; in general his speech feels very rhythmic, not just because he literally has music notes in his text boxes and his head is a music note but i think maybe he has a lot of long vowels too? i also noticed he was pretty informal with the apprentices BUT pretty much every time i looked up something he said to wigglytuff, it was labeled as polite language, which also makes sense

WIGGLYTUFF, interestingly, used きみたち for the main characters (i'm highlighting all the uses of きみ that i find bc i think this pronoun is very underexplained but i hear it a LOOOOOOT especially in music so i'm really curious about it). and ぼく for self (makes sense)

(speaking of きみ, MC calls azurill きみ in his mind - informal male language?)

LOUDRED talks how you expect him to, but even louder than his english counterpart. uses おれ, uses -ら for plurals instead of たち (one of very few characters to do so so far), and most notably (to me), uses the ろ imperative form of commands instead of doing the て-form!

BIDOOF was the star of the show. he ALSO called the MCs きみたち, as well as こうはい/called himself a せんぱい (very cute - i remember in the english version he goes "i was the last to join before you guys...i've never had anyone junior to me before...oh, my!!" and now i see where that was really coming from/what it really meant lol). in the english version i remember they also gave him almost a bit of a country accent - whatever accent he has must be the equivalent of the FASCINATING language he was using. he called himself あっし, a pronoun i've never heard before and that jisho says is "mainly used by working men," and ended almost every sentence with でゲス, which jisho says is an archaic and very polite "to be." i would guess that あっし is referencing 1. his lower status in the guild and how hard he works as an apprentice & 2. his country boy background (as we see in the special episode). the でゲス, though, i have no idea - maybe that's also considered a country thing? maybe he's just being really polite so people will respect him more as he works his way up?

CORPHISH was fun too, for the few sentences i heard from him; he masculinely ends his sentences with ぜ and uses another pronoun i didn't know about: おいら!

SUNFLORA, unlike everyone else on the planet, does not call the MCs きみたち nor おまえたち (i'm noticing a continuing lack of あなた usage); she calls them "name-さん" and also uses です instead of...the various words the other characters use. i guess this makes sense, i remember hearing that women are expected to be a little politer than men in japanese & i've noticed that "informal language" and "masculine language" often go hand in hand in dictionaries

CROAGUNK uses ANOTHER new pronoun: わし, which is apparently used by old men (him being old was completely new to me, i don't know if that was ever expressed in english). i also noticed he said "わしのな" for "my name" rather than using "なまえ" like everyone else was

MURKROW (town npc) ended all her sentences with ザマス which is another archaic "to be" (i imagine a native speaker can hear all of these in accents and understand what they mean in ways i can't)

THE KECLEONS used a boatload of shop language and polite words, as well as singsongy lengthened vowels, and they even used the に that means "and" which i just recently learned about so i was pleasantly surprised to run into it so soon!

KANGASKHAN, most cutely, referred to herself as おばちゃん and had a very obachan speaking style in general, from what i could tell. this is one thing that i think definitely came through in english, i've been playing this game since i was like 6 and for all 16 years i've had a little bit of that comfortable auntie association with her, just from how she talks and how sweet she is to the MCs (i always think of when you come back from the expedition and she says "oh, my dears! you have a new lean, mean look about you!" ahh she's so endearing)

MAGNEZONE spoke entirely in katakana which was a wonderful and sensible artistic touch, albeit much slower to read

i got to do a little bit of artistry myself: i had to pick the team's name! as previously mentioned, i customized the game to be myself as clefairy(/clefable) and my partner as gastly(/gengar) because they just kind of go together, and that was the right decision because i got to come up with thematically appropriate names! i was deliberating over things they have in common (mountains, moon, night, hiding, being kind of weird but also cute, etc.) and in the end it came down to:

月夜 (つきよ） (moonlit night)

夜山 (よるやま） (not a real word, just "night mountain")

しんと笑 (しんとわら） / shintokara (しんとから） (しんと = onomato for '(dead) silent', わら from '笑う' which means 'to laugh' and から from 'カラカラ' which is onomato for 'laugh loudly'); these 2 were because i really love the onomato system in japanese and its undoubtedly immense creative potential and i really wanted to play with it a bit myself! it was very close but in the end i went with シントワラ, "silent laugh(ter)" - 'silent' referring to how clefable has very sensitive hearing and prefers quiet spaces, and 'laugh' referring to gengar's evil laugh/big evil smile and general goofiness. i think it's a really good name for the team :) i also chose to put it in katakana (even though i like hiragana better in general) because i think it fits with MC being from another world + partner being a little bit of an outcast early in the story + it looks really good with how シント kind of slopes down and ワラ are like the big and small versions of each other, almost.

(speaking of other worlds, clefairy is a strangely perfect MC: quiet so won't talk, literally from space like the MC is from human world, has a bizarre unexplained power, etc. also its sprite and portraits are so cute it's almost nauseating. in a good way)

one other thing: in a previous post i mentioned that i'd noticed no one was suffixing anyone's name and i was curious about that. well, sunflora DOES use さん for the MCs, chimecho (also a girl, which i think plays a role) was either using さん or さま to talk to the guild as a group, and everyone calls wigglytuff おやかたさま (makes sense). other than that it's actually a fair mix of pronouns and names so far. i'll be chewing on this for a while too, i'm sure :)

SENTENCES I WAS PROUD OF TODAY (BUNCHES THIS TIME!! i even forgot to screenshot a couple!):

まあこのなかからよわそうなヤツをえらんでこらしめてくれ = "alright, i'll pick some weak-looking fellow for you to punish from this board" (lit. "(maa), this center* from weak-seems-guy OBJ choose-CONN punish-CONN-give.down")

*i can't think of what else なか could be here but chatot was using it to refer to the outlaw job board - unusual use, or am i just underexposed/misunderstanding?

きみたちがここにくるまえはじぶんがいちばんのしんいりだったでゲスよ... = "before you two came here, i was the most recent apprentice..." (lit. "you-plural SBJ here TARGET come-before TOPIC self SBJ number-one CLASS apprentice copula-PST (でゲス) NEW.INFO...")

へい! おまえたち! このあいだギルドにはいったしんいりじゃねえか! = "hey! you guys! you're the new apprentices that just joined the guild, aren't you?" (lit. "hey! you-plural! this interval(of time) guild TARGET enter-PST apprentice (じゃねえ) QUESTION!")

あたらしいどうぐがはいるのわつぎのひになります = "new items will come in the next day" (lit. "new item SBJ enter-NPST THING TOPIC next CLASS day TARGET (なります*)")

*i'm not glossing なります because this is polite language and i CBA to figure out exactly what it's doing i just know what it means lol

**speaking of the gloss i want to clarify even though i have a linguistics degree i am NOT doing formal proper glossing this is more of a shorthand personal style which is also why i keep labeling things differently (especially の - i gloss it differently based on how i interpret its role in the given sentence, in whatever way makes the most sense to me)

おおっ! それはそれは! ささっゆっくりごらんください~ = "ohh! yes, yes! please browse our many items at your leisure!" (lit. "ohh! that TOPIC that TOPIC! various leisurely look please!")

きみたちみたいなおさないこがこまってるのをみたらほっとけないですよ = "if i see little kids like you in a tough situation, i can't just do nothing!" (lit. "you-plural like-NOM? very-little/young kids SBJ troubled-state-exists NOM OBJ see-COND neglect-NEG copula.polite NEW") (fascinating use of の and な, i didn't know you could put な on the end of みたい?)

エデンはたぶんつかれてるんじゃ　ないかなあ= "eden, i wonder, maybe you aren't just tired?" (~lit. "eden TOPIC maybe/probably tired-state-exists not-question-な")

closing thoughts for the day

man i must've played for like 5 hours. maybe 4, or maybe 5. anyway, today really hammered in the value of immersion for me; in the beginning i was like "ohhh godddd more fucking words this is so haaaarrrdddd i should just muscle memory through the whole game i'm tiredddd" but after a little while i almost got into a sort of flow state where i was like "ah...i see...yes...that word...mhm..." and everything just kind of started to make sense. (towards the end i fell out of that state because i was so tired lol but it was fun while it lasted)

i did get boatloads of new vocab today but in particular i felt like my grasp of structures is becoming stronger. don't get me wrong, i am a HUGE NERD and i love learning about structure (remember, linguistics degree) and grammar and it definitely massively helps my learning, but i think it's also important to remember even for structure nerds like me that exposure is important. the more i played, the more i read, and the more i read, the more i found myself grasping sentence structures that i've had trouble with before (the こまってるのをみたら sentence above was a special moment for me because i find conditional sentences a little harder to put together so i was really happy to get it lol).

2 things in particular that i think i made a lot of progress on: こと & という / って / quotative と. i must have seen those guys a BILLION times today and with each exposure i found myself getting it more and more - i can't name an example because i didn't screenshot any of them but there were MANY times where i'd stop and stare at the text box and go "hmm...[x] という...HMMM...QUOTE...hmm...OHHHH!!!" or "X こと...the thing...the こと...of...OH!!!!!!!!!" like, omg, it's all starting to make so much more sense! anyway, today was a lot of fun, and very fulfilling :)

#mine #speaking of onomatopoeias i had had a hunch for some reason that mt. bristle's japanese name would use one #AND I WAS RIGHT #iirc it was...#トゲトゲ. 'sharp/stinging'#ah!!! learning another language is so fun...#i won't lie one thing i'm unexpectedly having trouble with (i forgot this was going to happen) is that everyones names are in japanese #so i keep mixing characters up in dialogue...at least with like marill it was easy hes just mariru #and drowzee is sleeper which is sensible enough but my katakana is really bad #so i gloss over them really fast and then 2 text boxes later i go 'wait who are we talking about?' smh #pokemon fushigi no diary

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quill-of-thoth · 1 year ago

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Letters from Watson: The Boscombe Valley Mystery

Part 3: The Fun Bits

can you tell by the volume of notes that this is one of my favorite cases?

Watson's value as a very patient rubber duck is thoroughly explored with this story.

I cannot fact check whether Holmes' statements about the contemporary use of "cooee" are accurate, because I am not actually sure if it's supposed to have been a word or the description of a whistle. (Pretty sure the Granada adaptation had McCarthy Sr. whistling it.)

The rest of the forensics Holmes describes are fairly plausible, though it hasn't snowed again yet somewhere that I can easily test whether the footprints of someone taking their weight off a bad foot or leg are always less distinct. I have a suspicion that the construction of everyday shoes in the 21st century (generally plastic / rubber soles with built in tread) versus 1890ish would make footprint identification very different in where we look for "definition." McCarthy wouldn't have a distinct tread pattern to match to a shoe (though we'll later see Holmes using this method on bicycle tires) so is Holmes only looking at the edges of the prints?

Anyway the appearance of Mr. Turner proves that the concept of a smash cut far predates film.

Diabetes - reminder that it absolutely was a slow death sentence before the creation of synthetic insulin, and that people have been well aware of it as a distinct disease since at minimum ancient Greece. Turner appears to have reached a stage where his breathing or circulation is pretty damn bad, based on how he's turning blue walking across the room. (Or both)

Once again, this story reminds you never to go to Austrailia, because you will either become a highwayman or get robbed by them.

The historical usage of the word slut appears to have not always referred (directly) to whether or not a woman has had sex or might have it, but to her class.

I cannot find a concrete origin point for the phrase "There but for the grace of god goes [name]" or "go I" (the version I have actually heard used in the wild before,) but the story appears to attribute it to Richard Baxter, an english clergyman of the early 1600's, best known for disagreeing with Calvinists and saying that people aren't born either pre-destined to go to hell or to heaven, and getting jailed for it. (Along with preaching to people in other ways the local calvinists didn't like, or having insufficiently kiss-ass opinions on their interpretation of the bible.)

Literally the only way Holmes would be more into this guy's work is if he were French. He's got the "fuck you people make their own choices" attitude that basically every other writer of fiction or nonfiction that Holmes ever quotes has.

You can tell that where Holmes' taste in literature and philosophy actually overlaps is on concepts and principles, not execution or genre.

Anyway Holmes is able to provide his forensic evidence and probably McCarthy Junior's alibi of having literally just returned to a defense lawyer, which is I think the first one of these stories where forensics, rather than a confession, has decided a case that has gone to court.

#Letters from Watson #The Boscombe Valley Mystery #I never expected to spend so much time wikipediaing Holmes' literary preferences #to be fair the first time I read this story Wikipedia was maybe three whole years old

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libbys-braincell-loss · 2 years ago

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Im coming up with a book thats sole purpose is to get banned for representing actual things that could possibly happen in society

Abridged version:

High school kid deals with survivor's guilt, sexual assault, identity crisis, and parents divorcing, all while being a high school junior

If this summary sounds mildly interesting to you, read below

TW // Car accident, assault, homophobia

Theres a boy who tries to save a victim of a car accident with CPR before ambulance shows up, finds out next day the victim died in the hospital, starts feeling like hes the one who killed him

The boy has 3 friends - his best friend, who is a straight ally who loves spray painting graffiti with him, another close friend who identifies as a pansexual demigirl and does photography of their artworks, and this guy who the main boy thinks is REALLY cute but won't admit he has a crush on him (he has a huge crush on him, crush develops more in the story) and this fellas a closeted gay and master of the paintbrush and finer details. Together they make the FINEST graffiti in Maryland

Main boy shows interest in feminine outfits, but is afraid to wear them due to fear of losing his friends and family's respect

The main boy gets sexually assaulted by a girl, he makes her stop, and she starts making false claims that he raped her as "payback" to make him feel bad that he made her stop, and he begins developing trauma (i've seen many portrayals of girls getting assaulted by guys but i've never heard of stories where its the other way around, even tho it can happen, but people will say im being "sexist, this is going against women, it portrays women as bad guys" SHUT. women can do terrible things just like men, they just get away with it more since they're women. If i sound sexist im not im literally a women lol)

Main boy realizes he's bi, comes out to parents, mom is accepting but dad isn't, the parents have had many disputes in the past but them not agreeing whether or not their son can be whoever he wants is the straw that breaks the camels back, and eventually they divorce, and the dad (who had a healthy relationship with his son) cut contact with his own son

Main boy drifts emotionally closer toward his friends, who accept him just fine with no fuss

Main boy FINALLY gets the courage to ask out his gay crush, and FINALLY they end up dating and FINALLY get to hold hands

Main boy is getting trauma and anxiety from past things that have happened, friends and supportive (yet still not fully knowledgeable of his current situation) mom comfort him and remind him continuously that NOTHING IS YOUR FAULT. the person who died didn't die because of you doing something wrong. the girl who assaulted you and claimed you raped her did that, not because you did something wrong. your dad divorced your mom, but not because you did something. And i think thats an important message to have. If you tried your hardest to make things right, then you shouldnt be the one to blame when things go wrong. I think this should be engraved in everyones heads.

Boy gains more courage to be himself, and decides to try new things he always wanted to do, but was afraid of backlash if he did it. He tried on skirts. Dresses. Skinny jeans. Crop tops. Dying hair. Going out in public with this new style he wanted to try. Hanging out with his friends and mom in his outfits and realizing how much he loves this. He still likes his guy clothes, but he loves his girl clothes just as much.

Boy realizes he might not be a boy after all. But he doesn't feel like a girl either. He goes to his demigirl friend for help and they suggest he might be non binary, and he realizes he might be

Our newly-out enby fella comes out to their friends with a new name that he likes a lot more than his og name. His friends and bf still accept them and love them nonetheless

They continue on with their life, they do get made fun of by other people they meet, but they shove it out of the way, cuz thats just life man

Also keep in mind this entire story takes place while this guy is a junior in high school. The entire book.

Basically, this story is just a book about problems in society that get overlooked too much, and it's main message is "this isn't your fault. just because a problem happened to you doesn't mean you caused it", and its also a book that is supposed to be "banned". cuz banned books are better than non-banned books bahaha

if anybody who's experienced these things before would like to give me input on how these experiences should be portrayed in the story (because i have not experienced any of these things before) so i know how it should be portrayed in the story. (you are not obligated to, cuz these are touchy subjects, but if you are comfortable enough to, send it via asks, it will remain in the asks and i wont post a response to it to keep your privacy. And, if you have experienced any of these, just know: i love you, stranger and i hope everything improves for you. and if things have improved already, good on you. <333 im sorry if any of these things happened to you.)

#tw #lgbtq #banned books #writing #creative writing #gay #non binary #demigirl #bisexual #survivors guilt

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seokjinsonlyone · 1 year ago

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First of all, I want to say thank you to you because whenever I feel sad and feel like I can't really chat with anyone about BTS stuff, I come to your blog, and it feels like a safe space where I can be a little delulu and won't be thought of as weird. For me, personally, for a delusional storyline, I created a universe where it is my "canon" universe and then I have a lot of alternate universes stemming from my canon universe (you get what I mean?) Like there is one version where my character is a kpop idol or I create my alternate universe where I have other jobs, jobs that interests me currently such as an OB/GYN or a sculptor sounds kind of cool so then I put that job for my character.

Anyway, my main character is labeled "0125" and I write this character with a romantic storyline with Jimin where 0125 just friends with junior relationship but then begins to fall for Jimin but feels like so scared to tell him because 0125 doesn’t think the relationship would work. Like she hides the feelings from him for like 4 years (because 0125 is a sucker and lots of angst ensue). Then finally after 4 years of hiding, avoiding, and denying the feelings, the climax is really 0125 confessing to Jimin of her undying love for him. But also dealing with not idealizing Jimin because a lot of the time people can become in love with the ideal version of their crush or becomes like a person similar to the boy who cried wolf like always saying we are perfect for one another; we’re going to get together but never truly does. I’m still not sure if I want JM to reject 0125 totally but I do hope that eventually JM starts to fall for 0125 but 0125 had begun to date other people so it's like a push and pull. I have thought of putting them in a semi-danger situation and having a whole drama ass scene where 0125 is trying to sacrifice their life to save Jimin (I mean, who wouldn’t) but then he is like no, you can’t die. But 0125 goes why? Why can’t I die if it means saving you? Her goal is never to make him love her but just move on from her crush by finally confessing so she can have closure. But every time she does try to close that chapter, fate or the universe pushes him and her together. I imagine that if Jimin does eventually fall for her, I feel like he would be the type of guy to fight for her and earnestly confess. But my sisters criticize the character is playing hard to get but I think that the point afterward is that 0125 plays hard to get because she is worried, he is just trying to date her because he feels bad for her. But I only wrote some fluff scenes where they go on a trip to the waterfall and officially confirm themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend with kissing. Or they are at Jimin’s house and 0125 comes out of the room, wearing Jimin’s shirt and Jimin is doing their dishes because he woke up early. She hugs him from behind and then proceeds to make out with him but then the members come into the house because of the party that Jimin was supposed to host for their get together. So, 0125 quickly breaks apart and tries to her face from shyness (because she is literally bare ass naked as she only has underwear and Jimin’s oversized shirt on) and then it’s an awkward moment of her going to get dressed and leaving while awkwardly saying goodbye to the other guys so that’s how the guys find out that they are dating. For me, I think it would be so adorable to give a back hug to Jimin because I feel like he would be very flustered but happy. Plus, I think that back hugs are so cute, and I think Jimin will like them. So yes, I write a lot of scenes of back hugs for Jimin whenever I write any scenes with him in it. But Jimin is such a hardworking guy and I think that is something that 0125 really admires about him, how he trains himself for the dance (even though he really overdoes it sometimes). But I love how big his heart is and his kind words are some of the kindest words I have ever heard. Like Jimin’s words always lift my spirit because it’s so kind, it’s almost kind of a blessing. When I hear Jimin talk about his hard times, it just feels like it would be really nice to be a support person for him, you know? Like he talks about not having friends and feeling betrayed by people who claim to be his friends, like that’s really hard to hear because the fact that he is talking about it means that he was very hurt by whatever actions that they did. I just want to write my character as a stable person who is there for him. So, this is my delulu storyline, hope you enjoyed reading it!

The only other character that I begin writing for is a my delulu storyline with Jin as seen below but it’s not fleshed out and I’m not sure what to make out of it.

0803 from my writing is an extrovert, impulsive but has a really big heart who cares a lot about people. I also think she just loves a good time and likes guy with a sense of humor so I think she would be so attracted to Jin because he has such a good sense of humor but has a strong caring nature about it if you were to pay attention (he’s more than just a guy who cracks jokes) and he has a lot of thoughts despite laughing it off. I think he’s really cool, and I admire him, he’s such a good singer too. Anyway, this character isn’t fleshed out yet, but I see that she thinks that he is handsome, but nothing comes out until they are together filming a tv show, you know like being law of the jungle that Jin was on. I think they will bond during their time together there because they are like out in the wilderness there and like they are sitting by the campfire together, having conversations…. And I love campfire scenes in film because the orange of the fire lighting the actors/actresses’ faces makes it a really intimate moment. I know he’s your bias though so wouldn’t a campfire conversation with him be fun? Just you, him, and the stars.

FIRST OF ALL THANK YOOOUUUU for leaving this lovely ask and for seeing my blog as a safe space 🫶 i really try to make it one like okay reality exists and i acknowledge this but it be fun living in your own little fantasy world like i could be out there doing drugs and having babies but instead i'm online talking about boys and putting them in fictional situations it helps me cope let a girl do what she has to LOL (and you're always welcome to bring your delusions to me i'll keep them safe <333)

NOW LETS GET INTO IT

first things first 0125 is better than me bc ain't no way imma like a man for 4 years 😭 the longest i've ever liked anyone was four months like i got a limit for the lack of progress i can take BUT that being said i've never liked anyone that was even remotely close to park jimin so i'll let her have that one and i'm rooting for her like JIMIN she's liked you for FOUR years where are you getting that kind of devotion from??????? i hope his eyes are opened and he sees the light AND I TOTALLY SUPPORT HER PLAYING HARD TO GET like if a guy don't like their partner more it just seems like the relationship doesn't work so make him work honey make him want ittttt i also am an avid supporter of the jimin back hug agenda like him nonchalantly in the kitchen only in his briefs 🥵 he'd be lucky if hugging him the only thing i do bc i know his moon phase tattoo sitting there waiting to have a stripe licked up it and ugh i see where 0125 is coming from completely like jimin is such a sweetheart and he cares so much about people and just wants them to be okay and it is such a shame that he can't always get that reciprocal energy like he deserves like when i first heard face my immediate thought was who hurt you???? lemme take care of em??? like i was ready to show them what this army do fr 😭 all in all i am very much in favor of jimin and 0125 getting the happy ending they deserve

now when it comes to jin... 0803 sounds like an enfp and i can confirm that intps and enfps get along very well so there's that and i'm sooooo into her being able to see past his comic relief character wall he's built like jin has so much depth to him and it be breaking my heart that people don't be seeing through it but also that's my man so it's okay other people don't need to see kslfkdsjf which speaking of i can't believe you turned this around on me!!!!!! you really made me think about being a campfire with jin!!!!!! like the way i would be in love with him after that is so inane bc it would definitely start off as awkward silence and then one of us would break the ice and then we'd start talking about a whole bunch of things that do not matter at all in the real world but they're actually like surface level topics that reveal deeper matters and we'd just be philosophizing and talking nonsense and gaslighting it'd be so magical i would stake serious claims on him after that like would not let anyone near him at ALL so better hope 0803 make a move before i do bc imma go to war for mine

I LOVED THIS SM THANK YOU FOR TRUSTING ME AND SHARING THIS 🫶🫰

#ask

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unproduciblesmackdown · 6 days ago

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Neither disappointed Nor surprised with the specification like the antithetical villain here isn't in the "guess i was born antithetical like that, oh well" vein to have to be defeated as [concept incarnate] but rather the "sure, i used to be like you" kind where like a bit of versus (potential) self then in this not meant to be interpreted as peak literal story where then it's about not just getting to answer "how do i be Not That" with "well i guess i was born different, i can't be anything but inherently different from my antagonist villain & just have to physically win a battle" & where like, you're just never gonna get a "could Never be me in even any Ways or Aspects. i'm intrinsically different through & through" character in a joe iconis musical & like certainly not deliberately with some major character who's even meant to be the just like, you know, villain. but which is then also interesting in the lack of Just "oh that villain is Always the opposite of the hero in whatever ways or vice versa" or any other particularly clean & inviolate boundaries between them. both Walking A Road, the musician does just kind of up & go "i Will get my sidekick" & not accept anything else & do another musical homicide. lo cocodrilo doesn't do anything particularly heroesque but while doing all the outright villainy things there's the somewhat more grounded aspects & just expressing emotional range at all & the potentially sympathetic elements there just as that evidence like, not an The Opposite Of You / Was Never Like You / Am Not Even Now Nothing Like You situation, which makes him more relevant to an emotional arc to the whole story rather than just like. the practical obstacles. all that is leadup to me being like what would this backstory musical be like lol imagine. however just now i listened to "never heard nothing" again post bsol like okay like bit of Lo Cocodrilo in there potentially lmao. as per the whole "but that's where you're wrong, junior" "mine is just uglier" I'm Just A Potential Version Of You ocity of it all, which, thank god

#like i mean. just Inherently Different / Could Truly Never Possibly Be Me engagement w/a villain like. okay #just wouldn't make anything about that villain relevant to any emotional aspect to this Find The Bastard journey #including like; well nothing the villain could do or say that wasn't like Ah my peak villainy as always just cuz i was born that way shrug #i.e. that would not be relevant either. like when even in bmc we again have an outright Villain (if at first not necessarily villain #antagonist that also isn't even overtly the antagonist. at least partially lol) who is also Not [i used to be just like you] lol #but all the same like; the most Symbolic character vs bsol everyone's more symbolic like that #and just able to both be this facet of Voices In Your Head but also feasibly ofc still interpreted as a character & nonzero sympathetic #while even then being. well a funny little guy in ways too lol But more overtly menacing as per the relatively dispassionate...ness #forgetting like oh yeah ewm squip lol i do not know of him but i'm quite sure it wasn't like ah Warmth or even so much ah Fieriness #lo cocodrilo kind of actually both indeed warmer & fierier at the relevant occasions. only ''cold'' in his Ruthlessness quotient #tangent going wherever it's gonna go....also great we never hear like Directly lo cocodrilo's ''literal'' in-universe music #i was like hm wonder what it would be like but like No. we shouldn't hear it lol absolutely correct to only hear it in the Musical's music #tl;dr going ''what would a song about lo cocodrilo like in that Not So [oh my god could never be me] Origin way be like''#listening to never heard nothing like hey lol :) 🐊 he really did tell them die #also truly like whatever is going on there with henchman steve. kind of exquisite doomed villain/henchman glimpse like ah #doomed b/c like; the villainy. hug it out #bsol #& again like well apply whatever lenses anytime. they can't stop you. & they're going Yeah Go For It #even got the fun of the really like Insistent Beat punches heartbeat broken out sometimes. it's like turkey leg out here ish #anyone heard of this? iconis songs?

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grapejuicefilledpools · 2 months ago

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So I watched Shiki…(spoilers below)

It’s pretty good! It’s engaging for what it is but I do have some issues with it like I do with lots of stuff. This has been on my list for about 9-10ish years so there’s some expectation with that. Plus I’ve heard its main theme for years now and have always liked it. But a short version is: if I had to rate it? 8/10 with the OVA and without a 7/10. All of the ramblings will be in the next paragraph(s).

Yeah I don’t like the art lol. You definitely get used to it and it’s definitely unique. If you see it you’ll know it’s from Shiki so I’ll give it that. I was getting a bit confused on the eyes because the junior monk(I forgot the names already) just has huge ass irises that damn near block out his sclera and him and his mom are the only ppl who have it??? And then you mix it with characters who have blocked out(I don’t know how to word this) sclera but again I got used to it. One thing that I really do like are Megumi’s outfits. My personal favs are the orange skirt with the black skulls, her green and white fit and her blue ensemble.

So I know the whole thing about this show is morality to me at least. Who’s the good guy/bad guy that thing. Now I feel like the vampires weren’t given enough? Like the girl vampire did but I believe a couple episodes beforehand the doctor was talking about how many times they need to take blood for someone to die(it’s around 4 I think? The whole reason why the lady who the doc kept in the hospital died was cause they all feasted on her). So I kept thinking back to that because the girl kept saying she had to kill people to exist? I probably read it wrong so something I did watch everything in one go. That and I never really rooted for any of the vampires at all. It was mainly the humans and stuff. It didn’t really help because characters I fucking hate got turned so, whoops I guess?

I feel like this show would’ve hit harder if I was younger too. Horror anime can be talked about a nauseam so I won’t bother with that. Like it’s not scary to me and the psychological(I feel that too strong of a word to use here but I’m getting sleepy) wasn’t as engaging as I would’ve liked. I’ll probably pick up the novel because without visuals it’ll obfuscates everything a bit because it’s in words. Like there’s potential for it to get into your head because you can’t see/hear the scenes. All of this and when I used to watch top 10 videos this would always be in there and y’all lied.

Oh yeah I don’t like the subspecies of Shiki. I get why it’s there but very prominent characters get it so that’s a thumbs down for me. They seem so far apart from vampires because their abilities just don’t seem vampire-ish. This is me nitpicking a bit because it depends on what values do you want all vampires to have. For me it’s blood and that they can’t go out at night. The show seems like it’s the blood sucking bit. Like the blood sucking for them isn’t even that much of a problem unless they fight others of their kind. Once the guy with the cat ear hair said what they were about I disliked it from that point.

Uhmmm and fuck that one guy the eleventh grader I this I don’t care I hate him. I’ve never hated a character more in literal years I was praying on his downfall the moment he started talking. I would almost say the same for Megumi but her outfits were tea so she gets a pass for about an hour and then it’s fuck her. But I do like all the nurses. Pretty much most of the girls.

#shiki anime #me scrolling back up I typed out a lot #the guy with the blue cat ear hair was almost serving but is hair ruins it so #idk if I’ll ever watch this again tbh #I don’t see myself watching it again because I probably won’t give it my attention #waiting till October to watch when I could’ve seen it like not in this month #I experienced the show I’m not sure if I had fun but I did give it my attention #saw what was recommended on the wiki and laughed I think this genre is cooked #like some these shows are great and others not so much

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capriciouscaprine · 7 months ago

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GOOD MORNING!!!!!

numbers tw (im so excited!!!)

"He said I would marry you but I'm engaged to these aerials and varials And I don't think this board is strong enough to carry two She said bow I weigh 120 pounds, now Lemme make one thing clear I don't need to ride yours I got mine right here"

-Lupe Fiasco, "Kick Push"

I first heard this song when I was a junior in high school, and was disappointed to discover that I was already over this fictional ideal girl's numbers; not by a lot, still within ten of her at the time, and it didn't really inspire me to do anything then (which tbh I am glad about as I had way more going on at the time that I needed to focus on over my size)

however, I never forgot it, and after office jobs with at minimum monthly free donuts, going for a second degree only to get sent home by the pandemic, and getting sick while stuck in a situation where the only food I had time to eat was from drive thrus and gas stations, I was getting close to being 100 more than that fictional girl (my measured highest was 200, but pretty sure I was higher than that at times)

today, my morning check in was 119.2

and if I realllly flex for it? ive finally achieved a t gap, too!!!!!!!!

this is after days when I went over my daily goals twice this same week!!! literally yesterday I had so much I felt sick, and renewed my promise to myself to stop hurting myself in that way and to stick to my plan as a reward to myself, not a punishment

for the record, this took 16 months and 1 week, with a plan slowly evolving with my body from just being more mindful, to swapping my snacks for lower c versions, to buying smaller pre-made meals, to actually thinking about my daily numbers as a whole instead of from meal to meal, to recording those numbers here, to finally getting a new phone and being able to track them with an app

also, steps really do make a difference!! now that I can see and get rewarded for my steps on an app, my step count at minimum doubled, and I credit that heavily with my significant drop (over 2.5$!) in this single past week

going forward, I do plan on going lower! height does effect how a number looks on a person, and on me im not yet inspiring to anyone in our particular community (although I am proud that ive gone down to half my pants size and people do comment on the change!); plus, I want the freedom to go on vacation this july for my cousin's wedding, eat 'whatever' (within SIGNIFICANT reason, lmao, I know this mindset is permanent) without ending up back over this milestone

plus, the kids sections at a bunch of stores have some really cute pieces for several dollars less than the adult versions, and im already a walmart boys and girls large/12-14 in tops, soooooo...........

#cc og #the slimmening #unhinged posting

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lilmissa · 2 years ago

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Little Pink Bandannas

I remember the poorly lit restraint and tearing through crisp tissue paper. I blew out my candles eager to start my 17th year making a conscious fashion choice. Not one that I picked because I knew the brand was popular or to help me conform to the box high school society had so conveniently put me in. I chose it because I was finally captivated by the idea of being me even with the insecurities of standing outside the flow of high-school.

A monumental moment can range for many. Like Taylor Swift becoming the youngest female grammy winner,my father when he passed the bar. Obama when he became president or when that special someone drops down on one knee. As a somewhat invisible high school junior,lacking major confidence, who was just trying to discover who they were, this was my monumental moment.

As soon as I could, I wore it out just to be called a milk maid. and no, not a cute, sexy, “I have a spiritual connection to animals and the world” milkmaid but the “i literally have cow shit on forehead” milkmaid. I was crushed to say the least.

My first exit off of highway “carbon copy teenager” was shut down and the construction crew abandoned it for the time being. So I continued on through high school avoiding exits that could possibly lead me to individuality in fear that those exits would be covered in unfilled pot holes and random construction cones.So instead I coy tuned to coast. It was easier this way. No risk, only the bitterness of the loss of an unknown reward.

Occasionally on days with bright sunshine and a full tank of gas I took those exits. It was a rare occurrence but full of those sweet smelling roses every well-lived person goes on about. The smell of the flower gave me comfort and their intensity gave me power. This gave me the drive to actually act boldly past the simple choices of the clothes that I wore on my body but to the words I spoke.

Yet everytime I took a chance to wear that little pink bandana some of my first thoughts are of those monumental moments. it wasn’t the kind of monumental moment I hoped for but I’ll never forget it. I felt like a child again, shrunk stuck in my that box and stupid. Suddenly I’m transported back in time to where I took off the bandana in fear of not conforming. Embarrassed that I couldn’t pull off the sexy milkmaid. that’s what makes this moment so monumental. As I stripped off that bandana I striped of my thrill of individuality and my courage.

I am not friends with one single person that I was surrounded by in that moment of time but I let them take my power. Now I wear that bandana as a reminder to take my power back. To really feel it, use it, live in it and absorb the happiness I create for myself.

Again I was recently reminded of this huge life lesson when I saw the orginal milk maid caller wearing a “milk maid making” bandanna. At first I felt my heart fill with resentment and sorrow for my past. The version of myself who was so hurt for the words they heard and the scars it left them with. I let myself get stuck in those feelings for a moment until I realized I didn’t have to.

Once again a little pink bandana reminding me to take my power back. So I did, I felt it and I let it go. My story is not this girls story. My heart doesn’t need to dwell on why someone would mock me for an article of clothing just for them to wear it themselves. My power allows me to choose to sit here and write. My power allows me the urge to connect…

hopefully to you :)

#writing #high school

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lucky-dreamfisher · 2 years ago

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So… what exactly from the books is canon? Are the Crackup Comics canon? Is the Illusion of Living canon? I know that the novels have a lot of differences from the games, but what can we even really take at face value from the games anymore???

Bendy and the Ink Machine implies that the actual workers’ souls ended up in that iteration of the Cycle through the coffin easter eggs iirc, the novels proceed to make that canon (although it’s largely only showing us a cast of people not connected to the game, excluding Sammy and some others), and now… Dark Revival is just ignoring all of that? Huh???

I guess Henry… was never real. Okay. What exactly is the beginning/ending of Bendy 1 then? Why would Henry experience something that akin to reality if he was never real?

And not only that, but what’s going on with Joey? Dark Revival’s surface-level narrative portrays him as a man who had done ambiguously flawed things in the past, but that he was ultimately a good and loving person at heart, hence the weird “memory” version of Joey (who is also… made of flesh, or so to speak, and also can be killed??).

And yet, despite this more sympathetic portrayal, if you dig deeper, you find a note implying that he made a variety of sentient Audrey’s and then scrapped them (hmmm, I wonder where I’ve heard that before), which seems like a pretty clear example of him being a complete monster? Like, you created life, and then you decided to just snuff it out or lock it away because it wasn’t what you specifically meant to make.

And yet Dark Revival doesn’t spend much time criticizing Joey for how he seems to have a careless attitude towards this life he’s creating. I mean, I guess it kinda does that in some places, but at the end of the day, the game ends with Audrey inspirationally quoting Joey, and then carrying on his legacy, and the game also has him inspirationally monologue to you twice about how you were his greatest creation.

I've been a longtime fan of World of Warcraft, a game which is over 20 years old at this point, and still gets a new expansion or book every year. With a game of this size, we're used to retcons, and the general rule of thumb is "if new lore contradicts old lore, then new lore should be treated as canon". I'm going to adopt the same rule for Bendy.

I think Crack-up Comics are canon, because they don't really contain anything contradictory other than Nathan being listed as the head of a film studio, despite rejecting the idea in one of his audiologs. That could still be explained with Wilson aka Nathan Junior being the head of Archgate Films and Archgate Pictures being its subsidiary.

TIOL is probably also canon, because it doesn't contain anything particularly lore-relevant.

The Employee Handbook... is more tricky. it definitely had some directions from Mike and Meatly, like that wedding invitation from Allison to Joey. But it also has stuff that was lifted from the Bendy wiki, and the info in the wiki is not always accurate. It literally has my outdated instructions for how to get a scythe, which wasn't accurate and was just me describing all I did in my playthrough until the moment I found the scythe. Half the steps in it is redundant and can be skipped. There's this weird thing with the letter addressed to Henry, where the date is a faded 194- and the stamp is from 1942-1946, but while looking around I found the same stamp on stock image websites so it's hard to tell whether the illustrator was explicitly instructed to use a stamp from the 40s, or just slapped a random oldtimey-looking stamp they found and never expected the fans to look into it. The relevance of that will depend on how serious M&M are about the different timelines concept they've touched on lightly in BATDR.

DCTL AND TLO are tricky... For one they show people turn into ink creatures and back to humans while remaining alive, including Sammy, which contradicts his coffin name in BATIM. Audrey's monologue at the end of BATDR about "Joey's world escaping into ours" made it sound like the ink dimension has always been separate from the real world, yet in the books ink creatures walk around like everyone else. Of course, Audrey only knows what memory!Joey told her, and what she's learned via notes, and like you said the notes and audio logs in BATDR portray a very different situation to the books and BATIM. Whether it's a retcon or a set up for Audrey thinking that she had a nice heroic dad only to find out the truth in the next game, it remains to be seen. There's still that promised BATDS update and the upcoming book so maybe they will shine more light on it.

I definitely hope that's the reveal they're setting up, because otherwise the most likely explanation for why Joey's crimes are swept under the rug, while every single JDS employee he victimized is portrayed as a thieving cannibal, is because he's the character most often compared to Mike Mood and the devs pulled a JKR, with that book she wrote where the protag is murdered by the evil twitter crowd after being unjustly cancelled for making transphobic remarks. Let's pray that's not it, because it sure makes it very hard to ignore the real life controversies surrounding the devs, when they insist on putting them in their games.

#bendy spoilers #bendy and the dark revival #joey drew #bendy and the ink machine

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kenbunshokus · 3 years ago

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eggnemies to lovers

nami/vivi, zoro/sanji | 7k words (best viewed on: ao3)

My (20F) Date (21M) keeps getting into fights with a cook at Baratie. submitted 6 months ago by u/throwawaypinwheel

(Or, the one where Sanji is a diner cook, Vivi is their waitress, and Zoro and Nami accidentally became each other’s wingman.)

Zoro glares at his plate as if his omelette has just challenged him to a duel. Nami tries her best to focus on the map she’s working on—this one’s a particularly difficult homework from her Intro to Coastal Navigation class—and pointedly does not look up.

“Holy shit,” Zoro mutters under his breath, poking at the offending egg, “Nami, I swear—”

“We are not having this conversation again—”

“I told you,” Zoro plows on, “that fucking cook is doing this on purpose.”

Nami takes a deep breath. Cartography is a delicate art, and Nami aims to be a professional. She takes her favorite pencil and elegantly traces over the coastline of Cocoyashi Village, poised and collected and calm. She��s not going to take the bait and ruin her map, no matter how much Zoro is sulking over an egg—

She sighs. “Zoro, I’m pretty sure there’s just been some mix-up with the orders.”

Zoro huffs at that, clearly disbelieving. “For the third time this week?”

“This isn’t exactly a five-star establishment,” she points out, and adds, reasonably, calmly, in an attempt to find some semblance of peace, “I doubt the cook of some no-name diner even knows your name.”

The words seem to have brought about the opposite effect, because now there’s a dangerous glint in Zoro’s eyes as he mutters, “well, he’s about to find out,” before standing up and shamelessly yelling, “ OI! COOK! ”

Nami drives the pencil through her map.

r/relationship_advice

My (20F) Date (21M) keeps getting into fights with a cook at Baratie. submitted 6 months ago by u/throwawaypinwheel

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My (20F) Date (21M) keeps getting into fights with a cook at Baratie.

submitted 6 months ago by /u/throwawaypinwheel

I know this sounds really weird, but here it is:

This guy and I have been on a couple of dates. We’d been friends long before we started trying this going out thing, so he isn’t a total stranger to me, and I’ve long known him as a pretty calm guy. Chimes in once a week in the group chat, grunts a lot during conversations, you know — one of those quiet, meditating types. He’s only competitive when it comes to his favorite sport (he’s a professional kendo athlete), but other than that he tends not to care about what other people think about him. I’ve never seen him respond to anyone’s taunts or getting worked up by a stranger’s words.

Except at Baratie.

Any time we’re out he wants to go to this diner called Baratie down in Grand Line. I don’t really care about the food, but the tables there are big enough for me to do work (Maritime Science major here—lots of stationeries and large maps to work with). But that became impossible once he and this one cook started chirping at each other every time we went there. Date complained about his eggs one time, because he likes them a little runny and they were served hard. The cook responded by giving him scrambled eggs. When he brought it up again, the cook served him two hardboiled eggs. It was kind of funny to be honest, but my date wasn’t able to laugh it off. When we left, he was in a bad mood.

This is the crazy part: he keeps going back.

In fact, he keeps going back and ordering eggs and getting into fistfights with the same cook. It’s almost a ritual at this point. He orders runny eggs, the cook serves him some other version of eggs, and then they beat the shit out of each other. We never eat out at any other places now; it’s just Baratie every fucking week. Sometimes he even goes there without me.

I’ve tried to talk to him about it a few times, but he keeps saying it’s a matter of principle. I’ve told him to just talk to the manager, but he just waved me off. Apparently that cook hasn’t yet made him the correct runny eggs, but it’s like he spends the week learning new ways of preparing eggs to piss my date off.

My question is — this is weird, right? Like, I’m not really concerned about the fighting part — he’s never been physical with me and I never once felt threatened by him — but what’s with the obsession ? They’re just eggs, aren’t they?

Is this indicative of something deeper? Should I reconsider going exclusive with this guy?

When Nami looks up from her map this time, Zoro has already stalked off to the kitchen. This isn’t new or remarkable in any way, except the fact that he almost ran into one of the waitresses, who immediately clutched her tray against her chest and watched his retreating back warily.

Zoro didn’t even spare her a glance. What a brute. Nami’s going to add to his debt later for that.

“Hey,” Nami calls out towards the waitress, waving at her to come by her table, “I’m sorry, uh…”

“Vivi,” the waitress fills in with a polite smile.

“Right, Vivi—I’m Nami,” Nami replies, finding herself nervous all of a sudden, because up close like this, holy fuck is the waitress so pretty, with long blue hair and silver-sharp eyes. Nami clears her throat. “Uh, I just want to say sorry about his—his whole deal with your Cook. Zoro—that’s his name—he’s usually really chill, so I don’t know what’s happening here.”

Vivi thankfully chuckles at that, seemingly finding the situation more hilarious than threatening. Good. There’s also something about that laughter that makes Nami feel like she’s fourteen again, full of butterflies and all too small for everything, but she tries not to think too hard about that yet.

“In your friend’s defense,” Vivi says, “Sanji is usually really good with memorizing orders, so he’s totally messing with your friend on purpose.”

As if on cue, the cook’s voice—Sanji’s—rings out from the kitchen. “YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE, MOSSHEAD, I TOLD YOU THE KITCHEN’S OFF LIMITS FOR CUSTOMERS —”

Nami finds herself laughing with Vivi. “You know, it’s actually impressive that Zoro doesn’t get lost on his way to the kitchen anymore.”

Vivi raises her eyebrow. “Nami, the kitchen door is right there.”

“It’s Zoro,” Nami presses, because it’s always fun to see strangers learn about Zoro’s disastrous relationship with directions and maps for the first time. “One time, during our junior high sports festival, he got lost on the running track. For a hundred-meter race .”

That earns her another laugh from Vivi as she takes a seat beside Nami, body leaning forward in curiosity, “really? Is he short-sighted or something? Can’t he just—I don’t know, literally see the finish line?”

“Here’s the thing you need to know about Zoro,” Nami begins, and watching the way Vivi’s soft hair falls over the slope of her shoulder, bright blue and blinding despite the dim lighting of the diner, Nami somehow can’t find it in herself to be mad at Zoro anymore.

u/salveshine • 492 points 6 months ago

This seems like an obvious question, but I have to ask: have you considered going somewhere else for your dates? Most people don’t go to a diner for dates in the first place.

/u/throwawaypinwheel • 23 points 6 months ago

Well, as I said on the original post, it’s downright an obsession at this point. Asking him to go somewhere else doesn’t solve the problem since he’d just go there on his own on a different day.

Also, the waitress there is nice. She’s been keeping me company throughout this whole thing. She’s a godsend.

Vivi appears by her table as soon as Zoro disappears into the kitchen.

“Again?” Vivi asks by way of greeting.

“Again,” Nami agrees, scooting to the side of her bench to give Vivi space to sit. “It’s eggs benedict this time. Perfectly poached. I went to this fancy restaurant a few weeks ago, and they didn’t even make it this good.”

Somewhere from what presumably is the kitchen, Zoro’s frustrated voice echoes throughout the whole diner. “Now you’re not even serving me eggs anymore!”

“What are you—“ there is a moment of stunned silence before Sanji‘s reply comes, equally loud, dripped with utter disbelief. “Are you fucking serious? You thought this wasn’t made of—you’ve never seen scotch eggs before?”

“SHUT UP,” Zoro yells back.

Nami cranes her neck out of instinct, wishing to catch a glimpse of the scene from the window behind the counter—she’s never heard Zoro sounding so flustered before—but Vivi’s voice, small and low and far from the confident tone Nami has started to get used to, pulls her attention back.

“I’m sorry.”

It takes another moment before the words fully register in her brain. “Wh—for what?”

“I mean,” Vivi says, twiddling with her fingers as she mumbles, “this is supposed to be your date.”

“My date?” The question already falls out of her mouth before she realizes, oh. Oh. This is supposed to be a date, because her and Zoro are…well. Sometimes she doesn’t even remember that part—they’re certainly not acting the part, considering they’re hanging out with other people during these ‘dates’. Nami understands, rationally, that she should be mad about this; and yet— “It’s fine. I’m not that bothered.”

Vivi blinks. “You’re not?”

“Nah,” Nami says, waving her hand dismissively, feeling as surprised as Vivi looks. “Well, when it comes down to it, it’s still free food, you know? Could’ve been better—no offense, but a family diner isn’t exactly date material—but considering the menu and ingredients you guys have to work with? Sanji’s practically been making feasts fit for royalty here.”

“Well, I still think you deserve to be treated better during a date,” Vivi crosses her arms and—is that a pout on her face? “Don’t you feel a bit lonely?”

“No?” Nami replies, taken aback. That’s literally the furthest thing on her mind, because— “I have you, don’t I?”

Nami feels her face heat up as soon as the words left her mouth, because that sounded way more presumptuous than she intended. She meant to say, I have you to keep me company , like a friend , in a totally friend platonic way. Except they were talking about dates in a decidedly very romantic way and she should totally take it back—

Vivi beams at that, the kind that makes her look like she’s glowing inside her skin, and never mind, Nami’s not taking it back. Nope. She’s never taking it back even if someone’s paying her a million berries to take it back.

Vivi takes Nami’s hand from the table and holds it in both of her own, and Nami’s heart trips in her chest.

“Yeah,” Vivi says, the words sending a low hum under Nami’s ribcage. “Yeah, you have me.”

/u/mettlemental • 301 points 5 months ago

This is their ritual. Do not interfere.

/u/throwawaypinwheel • 279 points 5 months ago

You know what, I think you have a point. This thing between me and the waitress is also a ritual now, so we’re even.

“Shishishi!” Luffy laughs, eyes practically sparkling. “Sanji is so cool!”

“No he’s not!” Zoro pinches Luffy by the cheek to try to drag him away from Sanji. “I brought you here to defend me!”

“But Sanji’s the one making me delicious meat right now,” Luffy pouts, seemingly unperturbed by the potential disfigurement of his own face, gaze still rooted on Sanji—or, more specifically, the food Sanji is carrying on a tray. “What can you make, Zoro?”

Sanji lights up his cigarette, expression hidden behind his hands, but his whole body visibly puffs up like a peacock. Nami notices how the tips of his ears have turned red. “Finally, someone with taste.”

Zoro tries to grab the tray away from Sanji’s hand, and Nami watches Vivi masterfully maneuver between the messy cacophony of the trio, placing a tall stack of waffles in front of Chopper.

“This doesn’t make me happy at all!” Chopper says, his words nowhere near convincing, considering he’s saying it with the largest grin Nami has ever seen on a fourteen-year-old. “Did Sanji make this one, too?”

“He did,” Vivi says as she takes a seat beside Nami, as she always does. The table settles into a comfortable silence as Chopper digs into his waffles and Vivi absentmindedly plays with the salt shaker, observing the idiot trio from a distance.

“They sure get along fast,” Nami says as she takes out her cartography tools, and Vivi’s gaze sweeps between Luffy, Chopper, and the maps on the table.

“You’re not even trying to have a date anymore, aren’t you,” she points out.

“Nope,” Nami agrees, gesturing to Chopper with her pencil. “Chopper here wanted to try the waffle for a long time ever since I told him all about Sanji.”

“Please tell Sanji I love it!” Chopper adds around a mouthful of sugar.

“And Luffy’s been really curious about you two anyways.”

One table away, Luffy took the last bite of whatever meal Sanji just served, and dramatically announces, “this one’s better than the last one!”

“You always say that after every plate,” Sanji mumbles, but shoves another plate towards the kid anyways, clearly preening from the praises.

“It wasn’t even that good,” Zoro adds desperately, and scowls when Sanji chooses to watch Luffy eat another serving with the same gusto like he did the first one. “Oi—don’t ignore me, Shit Cook!”

It’s...fascinating. Nami never had a habit of watching Zoro—those activities are reserved for those fangirls in their university who barely know him—but she finds herself unable to look away whenever they’re at the Baratie. Whenever he’s with Sanji, to be precise. The chef seems to have brought out so many different sides of Zoro she’s never seen before in all the years she’s known him, and that’s saying a lot, considering she’s known Zoro for a decade.

Zoro has always been a steady presence in her and Luffy’s life ever since he moved into their neighborhood when she was shy of turning ten; he is strong-willed and loyal and eternally dependable, like a safe place they can always come back to. He can be a little hard to read, quiet and reserved as he is, but these days Nami knows where to look, the telltales hidden in the way he straightens his back and carries himself.

But with Sanji, Zoro is—he’s all those things still, sure. But he’s also— so much more. There’s suddenly this— kid, lively and boyish and so, so easy to read. Open book, heart on his sleeve. He grins and yells and throws his punches, and Sanji would take them in stride and return them as easily. This Zoro pouts when Sanji doesn’t pay him attention, and scowls when he does; and when Sanji makes him laugh, it’s a loud, open thing.

Sometimes it feels as if the Zoro she knew was an impostor all along. As if there was a pale imitation of Roronoa Zoro with a ghost of a smile, and he’d only come alive in the middle of a fucking diner.

And the worst part of it all is—

“You two?” Vivi suddenly mumbles, seemingly to herself.

Nami tilts her head. “Yeah?”

“You were saying something about Luffy being curious about… us two ,” Vivi says. There’s an odd, pensive look on her face. “Are you talking about Sanji and…”

“You, of course!” Nami cuts in, perplexed.

“You told your friends about me?” Vivi wonders, and it’s baffling. Of course Nami told her friends about Vivi. Sometimes Nami thinks Vivi is all she could talk about. She’s hilarious and smart and a thousand times more interesting to talk about than Sanji and Zoro combined.

That’s a really weird thing to suddenly spring on someone though, so Nami instead says, “Vivi, you’re the best thing about these weekly visits, because that sure as hell isn’t.”

She’s pointing at the dumbass trio; somewhere along the way, Luffy has seemed to fall asleep, and Sanji is smiling at the boy’s sleeping form, looking very pleased with himself. Zoro is fuming behind him, arms crossed and chest puffed, like a child being forced to share his favorite toy.

Vivi laughs at the sight, shaking her head. “Well, boys will be boys.”

The words bury itself uncomfortably in the pit of Nami’s stomach.

Boys will be boys—which is why sometimes (oftentimes, many times, always) Nami thinks she’s much more easily enamored with girls. Nami supposes there is a certain charm in Zoro’s brutish ways, but she’s beginning to learn that it may not be for her—Nami appreciates people who can hold their own in a fistfight, but there is also strength in reigning yourself in despite the circumstances, the way she’s seen Vivi handle difficult customers with a firm tone, graceful and dangerous at the same time.

(What could this mean, then? For her, for them—)

Zoro and Sanji have started fighting animatedly again. Roronoa Zoro, his heart on his sleeve.

And the worst part is that Nami doesn’t even care.

/u/sorcatarius • 334 points 4 months ago

I usually appreciate it when OP updates their posts with recent developments because I’m one of those people who get easily invested in a stranger’s life story, but is it just me or do all of these updates seem irrelevant? Most of them are about the waitress. I feel like I’m learning nothing about the actual date here. Who’s dating who again?

/u/NeonRain15• 137 points 4 months ago

OP is clearly a troll lol.

They are sitting at a corner table in front of the door to the kitchen, because Franky and Robin aren’t even pretending they’re here for the food instead of a show. Usopp told them he would rather ‘see where the danger is coming from ’, but Nami suspects the real reason is something closer to morbid curiosity.

Nami doesn’t fault them. It certainly is hard to look away from what those two clowns are currently doing: Zoro is waving a spatula and a frying pan like he would his kendo swords, clearly breaking several kitchen-related OSHA rules in the process; Sanji puts out his cigarette against the counter—seriously, has nobody here heard of proper kitchen etiquette—and swings his leg in a drop kick.

There’s a loud CLANK as his shoe comes into contact with the pan.

Franky whistles. “That’s super awesome, bro!” He cheers, before turning back to the table with a lower voice, “Seriously, how have they not fired Sanji-bro already?”

“Other than the fact that he’s overqualified as hell?” Usopp asks in between spoonfuls of Sanji’s fried rice.

“Well, they do provide a wonderful source of entertainment for us customers,” Robin observes.

“Sure thing,” Franky replies, “but they’re totally destroying kitchen appliances right now, I mean, look at that roller. There’s no way any normal wood could withstand that —there it goes.”

“Let them be—what’s the worst that could happen?” Robin muses. “Other than a kitchen accident that leads to a gas explosion and the restaurant burning down to the ground, obliterating all of us in the process, of course.”

“Robin,” Usopp squeaks.

Inside the kitchen, the tables have turned—Sanji has somehow regained possession of his kitchen appliances, and he’s now teaching Zoro how to cook. They’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder, heads bent over the stove, and Sanji would occasionally wrap his hand around Zoro’s wrist to instruct him.

Zoro looks like he’s going to spontaneously combust. His eyes are darting between Sanji’s hands (still lightly gripping Zoro’s wrist), Sanji’s face (dangerously close to Zoro’s own), and Sanji’s lips (there’s something there, something he wants to do and Nami knows if she thinks hard enough she can put a name on it) —anywhere but the food they’re actually cooking. Zoro’s own face is now redder than the tomatoes lining up the kitchen counter.

Heart on his sleeve, Nami thinks. Open book, open book.

“I’m going to get some refills,” she announces, suddenly feeling like she’s intruding on something private and practically leaps towards the soda station. She could feel a pair of curious eyes on her back—Robin’s, no doubt—but she’s more distracted by another presence currently standing beside her.

“Hey,” Vivi says, voice light, teasing. She’s carrying a lot of cups on her, presumably the others’, and she bumps her shoulder against Nami’s playfully. Nami could feel the touch fizzle against her skin.

“Hey,” Nami replies, trying to pretend that the close proximity doesn’t bother her at all. “‘Sup?”

Vivi wordlessly helps her with the drinks, and they easily fall into comfortable silence, filling cups after cups, until Vivi nudges her again. “You know, Usopp was right about Sanji being overqualified.”

Nami fills Franky’s cup slower, wondering where the conversation is going. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. You know, I have a secret,” Vivi says, tone playful, but when Nami looks up there’s something in her eyes. “Actually, I own this place.”

Nami stops filling the cup. “What?”

“I mean, it’s mostly on loan, and I’m not halfway done with the payments, but technically, yeah,” Vivi says, tucking her hair to the back of her ear in a nervous gesture. “I didn’t really want to tell anyone because it’s not like I wanted a special treatment from the patrons. And I am effectively a waitress here.”

Nami is suddenly reminded of all the instances when she called Baratie a no-name diner right to Vivi’s face, and feels her stomach sink. Holy shit, she called it a dumpster fire just last week.

Vivi must have noticed Nami’s mental breakdown, because she quickly waves her hand and laughs. “No, no, don’t worry about it—I know we’re still a work in progress. Especially ever since—”

Vivi trails off at that, suddenly looking unsure. She starts collecting all the cups, like she’s giving Nami a reason to back out of the conversation. “It’s kind of a boring life story, actually, I’m sorry for dumping that all to you out of the blue—”

“Vivi,” Nami says, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. She doesn’t usually do this; she knows, better than most, how heavy one’s past could be, and she hates it when people try to pry into hers. But Vivi is looking at her with sad eyes and unsteady hands, and suddenly Nami wants nothing other than to tell her, “I’ll drop this if you don’t want to talk about it, but remember this: I will always want to know more about you.”

She places her hand on Vivi's arm, for emphasis. “I will always want to support you.”

It takes a moment before her words sink in, and Nami could see the moment it does, Vivi’s eyes widening in surprise as her face breaks into a slow-starting smile. “Thank you, Nami,” she whispers, and it’s almost reverent.

Nami’s gaze falls onto Vivi’s lips, and suddenly it’s become very difficult to maintain a conversation.

She wonders how she’d look now, to an outsider. Flushed face and a stupid smile on her face, hands fidgeting with her own hair. Open book, open book . Could they hear, she wonders, the way her heart is hammering against her ribcage—would they find out—

Robin claps her hands together, snapping Nami out of her reverie. The whole group is already standing by the door, waiting for her, and god, how long have they been talking by the soda station again?

“Perhaps we can take the drinks another day. Time to go home, don’t you think?” Robin suggests. Her tone is light, but her gaze is heavy, and Nami has to resist the urge to curl into herself.

Zoro still stares at the kitchen, oblivious to the tension. “Yeah,” he says, almost in a daze. “ Shit — yeah.”

Shit, indeed.

/u/Lanzifer• 975 points 5 months ago

This is a love story.

/u/nashdezus • 307 points 3 months ago

I hate to break it to you but I think your boyfriend is in love with the cook. If this is fake you have written one of the greatest gay romances of this generation, if this isn’t fake I dunno what.

/u/ParkNight • 399 points 3 months ago

Your BF needs to cut to the chase and invite the cook over to your place for some eggs and rough sex.

/u/Cod3Man • 760 points 4 months ago

He has a crush on the cook & vice versa but they’re both living a lie so they fight because it’s the only way to release the sexual tension. Every different way of cooking an egg represents a different sex act.

/u/jakubada • 523 points 3 months ago

Girl, not to wish ill will on your relationship, but you should bang that waitress instead.

“Have you ever heard of Baroque Works?”

Nami pauses. She places her pencil away, knowing that Vivi deserves nothing less than her full attention.

It’s only been a couple of days since the conversation she had with Vivi, but Nami can’t get her mind off of it. She’s been coming to Baratie every single day now after college, and it’s just so convenient that Zoro suddenly refuses to go. It’s simply harder to have Vivi open up when someone else is around, and not because there are other reasons. Like wanting Vivi all to herself. No sire.

She shakes herself out of the dangerous train of thoughts. “Baroque Works? Isn’t that the new restaurant chain down the block? It’s the one that’s taken over that other chain, right? Uh, what was it called—”

“Alabasta,” Vivi supplies, before sighing. “That’s the chain my family used to own.”

Nami blinks. “Wait, you used to own Alabasta?”

Running a diner on her own at her age is already an impressive feat in and of itself, but Alabasta is a whole different beast. It’s a nation-wide chain with dozens of restaurants, and owning the chain is probably equivalent to owning a small empire.

“Oh, no, I mean, my family did,” Vivi quickly adds, ever humble. “It’s not exactly anything impressive. My grandfather ran the business before my father did, and his father was the one who started it—it was passed down the generations, and I was simply born into it.

“As you said, Alabasta went down a few years ago because my father struck a bad deal with a ruthless businessman. It is clear now, in hindsight, that Crocodile was tricking us, but we were naive and perhaps a little too eager to expand. Baroque Works took over, and we were left with the only branch they deemed the least profitable—here.”

“And you renamed it to Baratie?”

“That was Sanji’s idea,” she says, a small smile playing on her lips; it is clearly a much fonder memory than what that businessman—Crocodile—did to her and her family. “At the time, Sanji just moved to Grand Line. His father had a restaurant back in East Blue with the same name, and he told me he would help me build everything back from the ground up. We would borrow the name, acting like we’re a branch of Baratie, and I can rename it back to Alabasta once I can settle all the legalities with Baroque Works.”

Everything slowly falls into place now—the way Sanji is clearly trained to cook dishes much more sophisticated than waffles and scrambled eggs, the freedom he gets to be able to mess around with Zoro, and his close camaraderie with Vivi.

Nami feels a pang of—god, jealousy, if she dares to put a name on it—towards Sanji; for being able to stand by Vivi’s side when she needed it the most. It’s silly, because Sanji has always been kind to her, and it’s not like it was Sanji’s fault that Nami didn’t know Vivi until recently, but the feeling gripped her like a vice anyway, heavy and suffocating.

Vivi seems to have taken her silence wrongly, though, because she looks away, almost shamefully. “You must think this is all stupid.”

“Of course not,” Nami immediately retorts without missing a beat. She thinks of Bellemere, holding her head high despite the judgments from the neighbors. She was alone and penniless, countless doors slammed close in her face just because she was a single mother; but none of that stopped Bellemere from sending Nojiko and Nami to the best school in the neighborhood

So Nami tells Vivi what she has always wanted to tell Bellemere, and what she knows to be true of Vivi, of any women in her life who has never backed down from adversity— “You’re amazing.”

Vivi blinks, cheeks coloring at the words. It takes her a moment before she can reply with a shaky, “Yeah?”

“Yeah? Vivi, you’re—” Nami turns her body to face Vivi fully, grabbing her by the arms, “—you’re the strongest, most hard-working person I’ve ever known. Most people in your shes would’ve turned tails and run.”

Vivi flushes further. It’s the first time Nami has seen her flustered, really cute, actually. And the fact that Nami is the one who put that expression on her face —

“Are we intruding on something?”

Nami almost jumps from her seat, suddenly feeling like she’s five again, getting caught with her hand halfway into the cookie jar. Vivi is scrambling to her feet from her side, cleaning imaginary dust from her uniform as she stammers, “no, of course not! I’m sorry, sir—sirs , can I take your order?”

Nami looks up to see Jinbe laugh and wave at her, signaling her to calm down. Brook is standing right behind him, giving Nami a small wave. “What do you serve?”

Nami tries to return to her map as Vivi starts rattling off the menu, but Brook—wise, old Brook, with his soft voice and observing eyes, goes, “No Zoro this time around, hm?”

Her pen stills. There’s nothing accusatory in Brook’s voice—he would never, none of their friends would never. But she waits for Vivi to be off with their orders still before replying, arms crossed across her chest almost defensively. “What is it to you, old man?”

She realizes a little too late that it’s an awfully rude response, but Jinbe simply laughs. “Old men, aren’t we, Brook?”

“Certainly older than most,” Brook agrees, eyes shining in mirth, not offended the least. “Hopefully wiser, too.”

“Well, sometimes,” Jinbe says, turning to Nami, “old men like us have the fortune—or the misfortune, some may say—to have loved and lost.”

Nami isn’t quite sure where the conversation is going, but there’s grief carried by Jinbe’s voice, and what comes out is, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all long past, miss,” Jinbe dismisses, not unkindly. “More importantly, what I’m trying to ay is, you and Zoro might have been looking at the wrong places. Love, that is. But there is time to rectify this—isn’t that what you young people have? Time”

Nami sits still, stupefied.

She has the suspicion that Robin knows, but Robin has always had her ways. For Jinbe to notice? Jinbe, who would rather talk about his fishing trips than to gossip? How obvious has she been?

(Open book, the thought resurfaces, unbidden. Heart on her sleeve—)

“Though, Nami?” Brook suddenly says, snapping Nami out of her own reverie.

She suddenly realizes that it’s just the two of them on the table, Jinbe already wandering around after imparting her with some advices. She clears her throat, trying to get her bearings. “Yeah?”

“I have to disagree with our dear Jinbe, I must say. We have loved and lost, but,” he takes her hand and guides it to rest on her heart.

“To love,” Brook says, voice steady, sure as a day. “Is never a misfortune.”

r/AmITheAsshole

Realizing I am a lesbian while dating a guy. AITA? submitted 2 months ago by u/throwawaypinwheel

257 comments share save give award report

Realizing I am a lesbian while dating a guy. AITA?

submitted 2 months ago by /u/throwawaypinwheel

I’m a girl who has gone through a couple of dates with a dude, but I’m falling in love with another girl. Like, I’m having a gay crisis right now. I’m not actually cheating since we haven’t decided to be exclusive yet, but he’s also a childhood friend, so it makes me wonder if this is a dick move?

To make matters more complicated: my date? Friend? Sort of boyfriend? He seems to have fallen in love with someone else too, and it’s another guy, so he might be gay, too.

Yes, I know bisexuality exists. Can’t exactly speak about him but I think I’m not that, so it’s not like I can suck it up and date him instead. AITA?

[deleted] • 725 points 2 months ago

Aren’t you the OP of that one viral post from r/relationship_advice about the Baratie cook?

/u/throwawaypinwheel • 2324 points 2 months ago

Yes, and that’s relevant, how?

/u/alohci • -20 points 2 months ago

LOL you’re clearly a troll. This isn’t r/CreativeWriting, go write your romance novel somewhere else. I’m reporting you to the mods.

/u/cheesus32 • 1739 points 2 months ago

This is better than most shit on Netflix right now

/u/veloace • 1641 points 2 months ago

Communication is key, OP. Sexualities aside—which is a topic for another day—isn’t this essentially a case of the two of you wanting different things from the relationship?

Nami takes a deep breath and checks her phone for the time.

She sees the 1:00 displayed on the screen. Her appointment with Zoro is supposed to be on twelve thirty, which means she’ll have another 30 minutes as Zoro gets lost on the way to Baratie as usual. One hour was his record.

She takes another deep breath and sighs.

This is it. She’s going to tell Zoro the truth.

It’s rare for her, to be so nervous around Zoro, but in her defense, it’s not like there’s an easy way to say, “hey, sorry, this may come out of nowhere but I’m breaking things off between us. Apparently I’m a lesbian and I’m also in love with the waitress at the place where we’re supposed to be going on dates in. It’s not you, it’s me.”

...Nami really needs to work on her delivery.

Her heart stutters in her chest as the automatic door slides open and Zoro walks in with the grim determination of a soldier going into battle. Perhaps Zoro is more perceptive than she’s giving him credit for. She hopes so—it surely will make this whole sort of-break up easier for the both of them.

She has run her line over and over again in her head, but nothing has prepared her to see Zoro sit down across the table, bow down, and says, “I’m sory, but I don’t think this is working out for us.”

She blinks. Wait. Wait—“ You're breaking up with me?”

“Luffy thinks we’re having a fight because we’ve been acting weird around each other ever since we tried out this whole dating thing, and hell, Nami, he’s right—I’ve seen you less now,” Zoro plows on, oblivious to her shock. “And don’t get me wrong, you’re my best friend, and you’re still my best friend, and I want us back. The us that’s, you know, normal. Alsoimightbeinlovewiththecook .”

Oh.

That’s—oh.

Nami is pretty sure her mouth is hanging open stupidly now, but she can’t bring herself to care. “Holy shit,” she breathes, perplexed. “Reddit was right.”

Zoro finally looks up at that. “What’s red—” he seems to take in her expression for the first time since the conversation started, eyebrows furrowing. ‘Wait. You’re not mad?”

“Mad? No, Zoro, god—how could I be when you’re right?” She feels her body slumping into the chair, the weight she didn’t know she’d been carrying has suddenly been lifted. “We are terrible for each other. I have no idea what got us to agree to this.”

Zoro visibly relaxes. There’s amusement in his tone as he suggests, “the copious amount of alcohol?”

Right. They were in the middle of a drinking competition when the idea of a date came up. “You know what, in hindsight, it’s kind of crazy that we got this far with such a stupid idea.”

“I think I was running away,” Zoro admits, eyes unwittingly darting towards the kitchen. “I couldn’t—I had this thing, for the Cook, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. So I tried to make you an excuse for my cowardice.” He bows again. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, dummy, don’t—” she kicks him on the shin, forcing him to stop bowing. “Stop being all bushido on me. I wasn’t any better. I’m—in love with Vivi.”

It’s Zoro’s turn to look at her in surprise. “What, really?”

It’s comforting, in a way, that at least she isn’t so obvious that Zoro would notice. “Yeah. You’re probably too preoccupied with your pretty blond to notice, but I’ve been pretty smitten myself. And I guess I have you and your little crush to thank for dragging me here in the first place.”

Zoro blushes at that, and it’s cute—not in a way that makes her want to kiss him, but definitely in a way that makes her want to tease him until the end days. God, how did it take her so long to realize she never loved him that way?

“‘Dragging” you, huh?” Zoro seems to decide to hone in on that, probably because he could burn himself alive from embarrassment if he keeps talking about Sanji. “This place is that bad for a date?”

Nami throws her head back and laughs. “You’re the worst date ever, Zoro,” she says, in between peals of laughter. “But you’re the best wingman I’ve ever had.”

“Going on a date again this time?” Vivi asks.

Nami looks at her—really takes her in, her smooth long hair and bright smile and long eyelashes. Holy shit, she’s staring at her eyelashes. She is so fucking gay.

She clears her throat. Focus, Nami. “No, actually, uh, can we talk? Like, super serious.”

Vivi immediately straightens up at that. “Of course. Give me a moment."

She rushes towards the kitchen, probably to tell Sanji that she’ll be occupied for a moment; something pulls inside Nami’s chest at the sight, knowing that Vivi would drop everything to be by Nami’s side.

When Vivi reemerges from the kitchen, she’s no longer carrying the tray and the menu. She takes a seat beside Nami and takes her hand. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, kind of, uh,” here goes nothing. “Zoro and I broke up.”

Vivi’s free hand shot up to cover her mouth in surprise. “Oh my god, Nami, I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be,” she rushes to clarify, before Vivi gets the wrong idea, “I did say we broke up, but that isn’t exactly right—I mean, we were never exclusive, Vivi. And I don’t think we were ever dating for real. Like, we’re gay.”

There’s a beat. “What?”

Okay, so Nami could have broken the news much more smoothly than that.

“Zoro and I, uh—I’m gay. And Zoro never exactly put a label, but I’m pretty sure he never even dreamed of banging a chick, and—” she squeezes Vivi’s hand. She isn’t sure she’s doing it for Vivi or herself. “I know this is a lot, but I just—I think we were just very comfortable with each other, and since we are man and woman, we somehow thought we should date. Which is dumb, looking back at it, but we’d never fallen in love before.”

She thinks of Vivi—beautiful, fierce, kind Vivi, who carries the world on her shoulders. Vivi, whose smile lights up the whole room. “We didn’t know how different it was going to be, when it’s the real thing.”

Somewhere behind them, she can hear something heavy hit the floor in the kitchen, which means Zoro must have confessed right about now and Sanji must have dropped something from the shock.

Well, at least Vivi hasn’t dropped anything yet.

“What I’m trying to say is,” she continues, finding newfound courage from the way Vivi looks at her—is that hope in her eyes? “Vivi, you’re the most wonderful, amazing person I’ve ever met, and you’re beautiful and pretty but I like you more than just that.” She takes Vivi’s hand in both of hers now. “Would you go out with me?”

There’s a moment as her words seem to sink in, and Nami feels her blood run cold—what if she read this whole thing wrongly? What if Vivi was straight? What if she was just trying to help out a friend, being the nice person she is?

But then Vivi’s face splits into a smile, soft and golden-warm, the white light of the overhead fluorescence illuminating her almost ethereal-like. “Yes, Nami,” she says, lacing their fingers together, “I would love to go out with you. But only on one condition.”

“Anything,” Nami says without thinking, because it’s true.

Vivi grins, and there’s a teasing edge on her voice as she says, “If you’re asking me on a date in a diner, count me out.”

“Oh my god,” Nami says, finally, finally pulling Vivi in for a kiss, “never again.”

UPDATE: My (20F) Date (21M) has left me for a Baratie cook (21M)

submitted 3 days ago by /u/throwawaypinwheel

It’s fine though, I have a girlfriend (18F, beautiful, amazing, doesn’t get into fights with random cooks) now. Yes, it’s the waitress. Yes, you guys have told me so. I’d love to take the L, but I’m the one with a hot girlfriend here, so am I really losing in this scenario?

#namivivi #zosan #nami #roronoa zoro #sanji #nefertari vivi #one piece #my writing #//#vivi #zoro #op

188 notes · View notes

coffeeman777 · 2 years ago

Note

Hey there! I have a strange question to ask. Would you know of any easy to read bibles that would make it easier to understand the bible as an autistic person? I was just diagnosed with autism last year and finally understand why I struggle so much 😅 As a kid when I would try to read the bible I could never understand any of it but I just told myself I’d probably understand when I’m older. Fast forward and now I’m 27 years old and still barely understand it. I used a junior bible till I was 14 and was extremely disappointed when my parents took it away and gave me a real bible because I can’t understand most of it. I’ve heard of this easy-english bible that was written for people who are learning english. Instead of it being written word for word they more so tried to get the meaning down. I was thinking of maybe using that for my regular bible reading so I can understand but then on days where I’d like to study the bible I could use it side by side with my giant study bible which is in ESV. Also are there any versions of the bible that are bad or wrongly translated that I should stay away from? Thanks <3

Heya!

So, as long as you're reading side-by-side with a solid translation like the ESV, the Living Bible is an excellent easy-reading option. I use it myself all the time. It's a good paraphrase translation. Reading along with a literal translation like the ESV works really well.

Most English translations are acceptable. I don't like the NIV, but it's good enough if you have nothing else. There is one floating around now called the "Passion Translation" that I would be certain to stay away from. It's less a translation and more of a revision. It adds a bunch of stuff in that isn't in the original text.

I suppose it goes without saying that you should avoid revisions like the Watch Tower version, or the "Queen James" Bible. Those texts are corrupted and untrustworthy.

I hope this helps! Be blessed!

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talkfantasytome · 3 years ago

Text

A Home to Claim

Rowaelin Month Prompt: I just realized I'm desperately in love with you.

Rowan assists Aelin in finding a dress for a gala she's attending...with someone else.

No Warnings; Word Count: 1,707

Read on AO3

a/n: My first Rowaelin fic! Thought it would be fitting to try it out during Rowaelin month...even if I do have something else I've been working on for a while now. I'm still new to the fandom and writing them, so kinda testing the waters with more of a vignette.

Rowan couldn't explain it.

He literally didn't have the words, a reasoning behind why he was there. Sitting on some stiff, brightly colored ottoman in the viewing area of the women's changing rooms, crimson purse resting on his lap. Like a simp, as Aelin would say.

Not that he should be surprised. He'd been friends with Aelin for five years, when they met junior year of college. And he'd never been able to say no to her. Not since day one.

It wasn't his fault, though. Aelin was ridiculously persuasive. And he was a brilliant friend. This wasn't the first time she'd dragged him to the mall to find 'the perfect outfit'; he doubted it would be the last.

Working through a game of solitaire on his phone, Rowan barely heard his name being called from the first stall just as its door opened.

"Can you do the zipper up for me?" Aelin requested, walking out into the larger space, not looking like she even bothered to try herself.

Rowan tried not to stare as she glided toward him, the floor-length gold gown cascading down her body as if she were one with the sun, with fire.

Despite her pale complexion and blonde hair, she'd found a shade of gold that complimented her perfectly, its thousands of tiny sequins and beads making the dress truly sparkle. Like a golden version of what Ariel wore when her father makes her human at the end of 'The Little Mermaid'.

Shit. Aelin really needed to let him pick for movie night every once in a while.

"Yeah," he breathed, sliding his phone into his pocket and standing up, leaving her purse on the cerulean ottoman he'd been sitting on. He was happy to have a chance to stand up. The seat had been as stiff as it looked plush.

Aelin pivoted, pulling her long, wavy locks in front of her shoulder, leaving her back entirely exposed.

The back of the dress was open, the straps as close to the arms as they could be, leaving her shoulder blades and top half of her back completely bare. Her skin looked smooth beneath the light, and the way she was standing had the bones of her blades sticking out slightly, just enough to show a definition in her back.

The zipper started just above her butt, the fabric flapping over itself, tantalizing him with a view of her lower back. It wouldn't have taken much maneuvering for Rowan to get a glimpse of her underwear.

Not that he ever would, but the desire to do so had shocked him enough to give him pause.

Fighting an instinct to brush his fingers against her cream backside, he fastened the tiny clasp and then found the zipper, pulling it up easily, the dress tightening just enough to hug her curves completely.

She turned, his arms dropping as she did, her eyes wide as she took a step back to put the full dress on display as it was meant to be seen.

The elegant gown was surprisingly modest in front, considering the low back. The high neck had a jeweled flower accent at the neckline, which covered her defined clavicle - the design covering the straps that snaked over her shoulders diagonally before they followed the path he'd tracked earlier down the sides of her back. Despite the large, fake gems of the design, it was still incredibly subtle against the fully sequined dress. The bodice clung to her in a way that showed off her well-toned body down to the top of her thighs, where it then flared out just enough so that in fell loosely, pooling around her feet.

Aelin was breathtaking. Completely so in a way Rowan had never noticed.

He knew she was beautiful, of course. With her delicate features and bright blue eyes rimmed in gold. He'd never not thought she was pretty. But, like this…Rowan had never seen her equal. Never even imagined her equal.

The air had been stolen out of his lungs, his heart racing as Aelin looked at him nervously.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, twirling slowly for him.

It didn't help. Only made Rowan even less aware of what was actually going on as he pictured Aelin, in that dress, dancing with him. Tossing her hair back flirtatiously, laughing in that sensuous way she does when she's trying to seduce someone, eyeing him hungrily from across the room as he did the same.

"Uh…what?" he stuttered, blinking in an attempt to shake out the thoughts he'd never expected to flood through him.

"The dress?" She gave him a tentative smile that made him inhale sharply. She never smiled at him like that, a fact that hadn't escaped his notice. He just didn't know how much he wanted her to until she finally did.

He ran a hand through his silver hair before resting it at the back of his neck, his tattooed arm bent in the position. "You look amazing."

"Yeah?" Her face brightened at the compliment and Rowan tried to convince himself to look away, but his pine eyes refused to, completely enraptured by her beauty. "You think Chaol will like it?"

And just like that, reality struck. His fists tightened involuntarily and Rowan felt as if a bucket of ice cold water had been dumped over his head at the question, the mere mention of her boyfriend's name.

Well, boyfriend was putting it strongly. They'd barely started dating. But Aelin seemed smitten. And he was bringing her to some fancy, high-class gala - like the obnoxious private equity investor he was. It was the type of event important, dignified people would attend, spending money on gods-know what, all in the name of some charity they probably would forget the second they left. An event likely filled with people Chaol worked with or was trying to impress, or both, and he'd put Aelin on display at his side, introducing her to the ones he knew, a big step in making her a fixture in his life. They'd talk and dance, and even if that wasn't enough to make Chaol want her for good, she'd then dazzle those same people who barely knew Chaol's name, despite all his efforts. They would smile and chuckle at her quick wit, be enamored by her beauty, and tell 'Mr. Westfall' that he's got a keeper there.

And Chaol would never let her go.

As much as she loved dressing up and dancing, and as much as she enjoyed the thrill of successfully charming someone, Aelin hated those types of events. The fake people and shallow conversations. The absurd amount of money spent on the party itself, instead of the charity it represented. The stuffy, judgmental atmosphere. Sure, she navigated it better than anyone, but Rowan knew she hated doing it. Especially without him, without her friend who would make it a game for her, challenging her to see which dignitaries she could and couldn't enchant.

Still, he knew she'd much rather curl up on the couch with a good book, snuggled into his side as he watched whatever game was currently on TV.

Well, maybe she didn't care about that second part. Or maybe she'd prefer it with Chaol.

The thought nearly destroyed Rowan.

"He'd be an idiot not to," Rowan offered, his voice low and raspy.

Aelin's nose scrunched slightly as she smiled widely, and Rowan found himself wanting to lean down and kiss it softly.

Another thing he'd never felt before.

His mind flashed through five years of memories. Of parties and beach trips, coffee runs, study sessions, movie nights, rock climbing. Bike rides around town ending in a picnic in the park, Aelin laughing freely at Rowan's dry humor. No one else ever seemed to understand it like she did.

Karaoke nights at the local bar. She always had to pick a 'female anthem', as she called them, her favorite being 'This One's For the Girls'. Escape rooms that left them all completely shattered, except Aelin and her damn need-to-know-basis plans. Rowan trying to teach her how to play video games. Those nights often ended with him playing solo, Aelin watching him in amusement.

Bowling, where they'd go to the alley with their friends and always end up split, the guys' lane versus the girls' lane. The constant teasing from the girls for being undefeated, because they never realized that Aedion and Lorcan would throw every game just to see Lys and Elide smile. The boys knew. But not even Fenrys could tell that Rowan was doing the same thing.

Rowan hadn't even realized until just now.

But how could he not, when her smile could light up the entire town? When she would laugh out his favorite song at the joy of a win?

Every happy memory washed through him, taking his mind over completely as he looked at that scrunched up smile. The one she wore out of excitement at the thought of looking good for some other guy. Some prick who didn't know the difference between fantasy-adventure-romance and fantasy-romance-adventure books, and who'd never pay enough attention to the hour-long rant Aelin could easily give on the subject.

"Thanks so much, Rowan!" Aelin moved closer and stood on her toes, kissing him softly on the cheek, the scent of jasmine and lemon verbena freezing him in place as she walked to the dressing room to put her actual clothes back on.

His heart started to pound in his chest, as if it were trying to break free from him and get to her. His hands suddenly became clammy, even as his fingertips chilled, and his legs seemed to shake internally like they did with a bad hangover.

Yet, with all of that, a warmth spread within him. A tingling sensation that innerved him, but also excited him as he let it engulf his very being. A word that echoed through his body, a comfort and a stressor.

A home he desperately wanted to claim, though he doubted she'd let him.

Still, he'd have to try.

How could he not? After all these years? When he finally saw it for the first time?

When he finally realized he was fiercely in love with Aelin.

#rowaelinmonth #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #rowaelin #rowaelin fic #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #throne of glass #tog #throne of glass fanfiction #tog fanfiction #prompt #day 1

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the-scarlet-witch-22 · 4 years ago

Text

Chaconne (Agatha Harkness x Reader)

Summary: You are an aspiring concert violinist who attends an audition for the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra, under the new direction of famous conductor Agatha Harkness

Word Count: 4.2K

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBNquKkKcF4

A/N: Hello! This is an AU fic heavily inspired by one of my favorite tv shows Mozart In The Jungle. This is going to be at least 3 more chapters, and I already have the second part done so it should be uploaded by the weekend. Also, I added a link to the piece that is heavily mentioned throughout this fic. It’s not necessary to listen to it before reading (or at all haha), I just thought I’d add it in for anyone curious :) Hope y’all enjoy! Please let me know what you think, and my inbox is always open for any questions. Also: I do not own Mozart In The Jungle...Jeff Bezos please do not sue me.

You rushed through the bustling streets of Manhattan, silently cursing yourself for not getting a cab. Not that it would’ve made much of a difference; rush hour in the city was horrendous no matter what form of transportation you chose. But at least you would have been sitting in an air conditioned car and not running through the crowded streets. You tightened your grip on your violin case as you hurried across the street, destination clear in your mind.

You had been finishing up your final private lesson of the day when you received a call from one of your old college friends. They informed you to drop everything you were doing, not literally because that would include your very expensive and very fragile violin, and hurry down to symphony hall because one of the first violinists in the Manhattan Symphony had sprained her wrist and they were holding open auditions.

A part of you knew the odds of being selected from hundreds of the best violinists in one of the most affluent cities for music was slim to none, but you also knew you had to take this chance. It’s what you had been working so hard towards during undergrad and grad school, and it would be nice to have a more...stable job. The Manhattan Symphony Orchestra was one of the greatest and well respected orchestras in the world, and you would kill to earn a chair.

You ran faster than you had in months, and made a mental note to add more cardio to your basically nonexistent workout regime because wow, you were out of shape. Rounding the corner, you quickly dodged running into other pedestrians and could see symphony hall a block away. Despite the burning in your lungs begging you to stop running like a mad woman, you picked up the pace and sprinted to the building.

Ever since you started playing the violin you swore to anyone who would listen that you would play in the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra. Your siblings would always ask for concert tickets to see their favorite band, or sporting tickets, but you always begged your parents to take you to the symphony. While your siblings hated it and complained how long and boring it was (and the outrage that they weren’t allowed to bring food inside), you were enraptured by the entire experience.

You fell in love with the sounds of Dvorak, Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. Sitting in the concert hall you waited in anticipation to watch the musicians who had spent their entire lives preparing for that moment; to pour every ounce of their soul into their instruments. Ever since the moment you stepped inside your first concert hall at the young age of five, you knew this is where you wanted to spend the rest of your life.

Shaking those thoughts aside you hurried through the building to where the blind auditions were being held. You silently thanked whatever genius came up with the idea of a blind audition, because you were a mess after running over twelve blocks from your apartment. Following the signs on the walls, you found the warm up room, but was surprised to find everyone packing up.

There were over a dozen people of various ages, and you noticed one of them crying. A woman around your age noticed your disheveled appearance and sighed. “If you’re here for the blind auditions, they were cancelled.”

You felt your heart drop. “What? Did they already find someone?”

“No, because the new conductor is a total psycho,” Someone else said angrily. “She kept yelling about how we’re all wasting her time and she’d rather have her pet rabbit play New World Symphony.” He motioned to the girl who was sobbing. “And she told Megan her tone was so bad that she would personally throw her violin into a wood chipper so no one would have to suffer through her performing again.”

The new conductor he was referring to was one of your favorites. Agatha Harkness. She was beloved throughout the music community and had many fans, but you had heard rumors of her hard work ethic and ability to make people cry in under a minute. You thought back to your undergrad violin lessons where one of your professors told you that your tone while playing Mendelssohn sounded like a dying donkey. Musicians were often times very blunt.

“That’s a bit harsh.”

“A bit?” The guy rolled his eyes. “This job isn’t worth it. I’m going to audition for the second violin chair in Iowa. It might not be as great of an orchestra but at least their conductor isn’t the devil incarnate.”

As the others continued to pack up, you still felt your gut twisting at what could have been. Feeling rejected, you left the room and saw the back entrance to the stage open. From a quick glance around it appeared the hallway was deserted, so you quickly ran through the door, violin case still in hand.

Time came to a stand still as you walked on stage and stared into the seemingly empty concert hall. You dreamt about this moment more times than you cared to admit. There was something so peaceful about being on stage. Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and pictured a scene you had spent years dreaming about. Realizing the opportunity to play in this hall wouldn’t likely come again, you made the split decision to open your violin case.

Staring at your violin, you briefly wondered if this was a good idea. But, you silently argued that no one else was around, and besides, you did run half a mile to get here. It would be a waste to not play and appreciate the gorgeous acoustics. Plus you could feel your fingers aching to play something, anything, to let out the feelings of disappointment from missing the auditions.

Gently pulling out your bow, you applied a generous amount of rosin before grabbing your violin. You took a few minutes to tune, and the moment your bow hit the strings you felt a shiver at how the sound bounced off the walls. You went through a condensed version of your normal warm up and played a few different scales before debating on what piece to play.

Although your friend had briefly explained the audition would be sight reading and then playing excerpts from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, the auditions were over and you wanted to play something else. It wasn’t the flashiest piece, or one of the better known violin concertos, but it felt right. Vitali’s Chaconne arranged by Charlier. You had originally learned the gorgeous piece during your junior year of undergrad for a concerto competition and it had quickly become a favorite.

Clearing your mind of everything but the music, you closed your eyes and began to play. Your bow swept across the string, producing the opening g-minor chord. The melodic sound rang through the empty hall and you felt your heart ache at how good this felt. It had been a while since you had the time to play this piece, but it was like it had been no time at all. Your fingers danced across the strings and you felt all the uneasiness leave your body.

While this wasn’t the most complex piece you had ever played, it required your full attention. The chaconne was structured as a simple sixteen bar phrase that was rephrased and dallied up with different techniques and melodies which made it easy enough to memorize, but hard enough that you needed to focus on the pattern your fingers made.

With every movement of your bow, every run you made up and down the fingerboard, you were letting out the pain and sadness you felt radiating through your body. It was hard to put into words how playing the violin made you feel, but the best explanation you had come up with was that it was your salvation. There was no sweeter medicine than performing. No matter how out of control life was, how bad things got, your solution was turning to music. It saved you.

As you neared the end of the piece, you felt your bow arm gently ache and you knew you had to have complete focus if you were going to hit the upcoming octave slides that led to the double stops of doom. Octaves were never a violinist’s favorite technique, and they were your own personal kryptonite. You had rather tiny hands, which made the stretch from your index to your pinky rather difficult on a good day. You changed the position of your hand to make the reach to hit the upper octave, but briefly winced when you realized you had fallen flat on the lower note.

You ended with a flourish of your bow on the final g-minor chord and let out the breath you had been holding in. You stood there for a moment, soaking in the afterglow of your performance and enjoying the quiet that radiated throughout the spacious room. Just as you went to clean off your violin and leave before you got kicked out, you heard the sound of slow clapping from within the hall. The hall was dimmed and you saw a figure sitting far up in the upper rows. The mystery figure continued clapping and they stood up and walked down the steps towards the stage. There in all her glory stood Agatha Harkness, the newest conductor of the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra.

“Not bad, but your octave slides could use some touching up,” Agatha offered as she stood at the bottom of the stage. “You tend to go flat on the lower notes.”

You felt your breath hitch as you saw the famous, and apparently very scary, conductor staring at you. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was still here.”

“Ah so you aren’t here for the auditions?” Agatha questioned, arching an eyebrow up at you. “What are you doing here then, breaking and entering? I’d hate to have to call security on you.”

“What? No, no I’m not...” You stammered, feeling your cheeks turn red. “I came for the auditions but I was told they were cancelled.”

Agatha laughed, and you noticed how it was more of a cackle. “They were. But believe me dear, I’m sure you would have done the same if you were in my shoes.”

“One of them said you threatened to throw their violin in a wood chipper. Isn’t that a little mean?” You pointed out.

“You did not have to listen to that imbecile butcher the opening of Mendelssohn,” Agatha argued, folding her hands across her chest. “Throwing her violin in a wood chipper would be the least I could do to ensure no one else suffers hearing that disgrace of a sound ever again.”

You stifled a giggle that threatened to escape. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

Agatha waved her hand in the air. “Maybe. But you,” she pointed a finger at you, intrigue colored her features. “You were good. Vitali’s Chaconne is a personal favorite of mine. Everyone always chooses to play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, or Mendelssohn, or Brahms, or something big and flashy. I’ve always preferred a more subdued piece like Vitali. Violinists don’t take enough time to appreciate the beauty of a chaconne.”

You stared at her in disbelief. Almost no one had even heard of Vitali’s Chaconne, but she did and it was her favorite. “Thank you, Miss Harkness. I-“

“Ah ah ah,” Agatha waved a finger to silence you. “I’m not finished. You were good, but not great. Your octave slides were flat. Your bow hold is giving me a headache, you need to relax more. Your vibrato is too fast, we need to work on slowing it down. Didn’t your teacher ever tell you that? And don’t even get me started on your opening chord.” She eyed the younger woman before continuing. “But despite all that, you have promise.”

You were speechless. She wasn’t yelling at you? “You think I have promise?”

Agatha nodded. “Which is why I’m offering you a job.”

“I got the position?” You smiled. “I can’t believe it.”

Agatha’s eyebrows furrowed. “What? No, don’t be ridiculous. You’re not ready to play with the Manhattan Symphony.”

“But you said you were offering me a job,” you repeated the words of the older woman.

“And I am. As my personal assistant,” Agatha explained as if it was the most obvious answer.

“You want me to be your assistant?” You said in disbelief. “Miss Harkness I’m not so sure if I’m qualified-“

Agatha cut you off again. “If you’re serious about being a violinist, especially being a violinist in my orchestra, we need to work on your technique. Natural talent only gets you so far my dear.” She shrugged. “And I may have just fired my newest assistant for being entirely incompetent.”

“I don’t know what to say,” You admitted. This certainly isn’t how you expected your day to go.

“I’m not going to force you to work for me, dear,” Agatha drawled out. “You can walk right out that door and continue on with your presumably simple and boring life.”

“And if I stay?” You prompted, already knowing what you were going to choose.

Agatha slowly walked up the steps of the stage and approached you. “Well then I’ll have my work cut out for me. As will you, darling. I’ll be working you quite hard.” You blushed at her suggestive tone and she smirked at your reaction. “Blushing already? I’ve barely even started.”

You cleared you throat before nodding. “Alright. I’ll do it.”

“Then let’s get started.” Agatha smirked. “This is going to be fun. Now, let’s take it from the top.”

Working for Agatha was interesting. She was very hard to read, and you could never tell if she was mad at you or if she was just in a mood. You had spent the past few weeks helping her prepare for the first symphony rehearsal of the season. Granted you weren’t doing much to help, all she was asking you to do was make copies of parts and to organize folders for each section.

Today was different. You entered the mostly empty building with a drink holder containing two cups of coffee in one hand and your violin case in the other when the sound of Agatha’s heels came click-clacking down the hallway. From the moment she rounded the corner, you could tell she was in a foul mood.

She was mumbling something incoherent but she stopped when she spotted you. “You’re late.”

You chose to not comment on the fact you were an hour early and instead carefully set down your violin case to hand her one of the cups of coffee. “Bad morning?”

“Hayward is an asshole,” Agatha seethed. “I had the entire season planned out but he thinks I’m not appealing to our investors.”

Well that explained it. Tyler Hayward was CFO of the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra and was a Grade-A asshole. You only had a few interactions with the man but they had all been quite unpleasant. He was less than pleased to discover Agatha had fired the assistant he hired and chose to hire you without consulting him. Luckily Agatha had all but kicked him out of her office and told you to come to her if he gave you a hard time.

“How is Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 not appealing to investors?” You asked in confusion. “Everyone loves The New World Symphony.”

“That’s not the problem. He thinks I’m playing it too safe with the soloists,” Agatha explained and you thought of the soloists selected thus far. You could see how they would be safe options, but who doesn’t love Joshua Bell?

“But it’s too late to get out of those contracts without losing money,” You pointed out. “Does Hayward not know that?”

“Oh believe me, Hayward always gets his way,” Agatha spat out, and you noticed she appeared to be growing angrier. “He’s still mad I was voted in as music director by the board instead of his choice for the position, so he’s punishing me. And now I have to deal with Maximoff.”

You made a mental note to address the first part about Hayward later when Agatha wasn’t as grumpy, but grinned at the mention of the famous pianist. “Maximoff as in the Wanda Maximoff? She’s-“

“A wild card and not the soloist I envisioned having,” Agatha finished for you, glaring at the mere thought of the woman as you both walked towards her office.

“But she’s an amazing pianist,” You argued, remembering the one time you had the opportunity to watch her perform live with the Royal Philharmonic. “The way she plays is beautiful, and magical, and-“

Agatha growled and glared at you, picking up the speed she was walking at. “And she has no control. She doesn’t listen to direction and thinks she’s always right. Her ego is her downfall.”

You arched an eyebrow. “Wow, that sounds absolutely nothing like you.”

Agatha let out a laugh but still sent you another glare. “Don’t push it, darling,” Agatha warned you as she unlocked the door to her office. “I am nothing like Wanda Maximoff.”

You rolled your eyes after she turned around. “Right. So I’ll take the Beethoven parts out to make room for Wanda’s piece?”

Agatha sighed and combed her fingers through her wildly curly hair. “Well I’d rather just tell the little Sokovian princess she’s not allowed anywhere near my orchestra. But since that would be frowned upon, yes put the Beethoven back. Her agent should be emailing us the parts later today.”

You set off to prepare the dreadful task of reorganizing each folder while Agatha studied different scores. She had her baton out and was mindlessly conducting as she went through the fourth movement of the Dvorak. Over the past few weeks you had started to fall in love with watching her conduct. There was something so mesmerizing by the way she could bring different pieces to life with the mere movement of her hands. You watched her right hand lightly grip the baton and noticed the position of her fingers lightly grasping the silver object while her blue eyes scanned the score.

She felt your staring and smirked as she continued conducting. “See something you like, dear?”

Blushing furiously you went back to your task of sorting music, but every once in a while you allowed yourself to take a break to watch Agatha conduct, and although she smirked whenever she noticed, she didn’t make any more comments. Eventually you finished the work and put the folders away while filing the Beethoven in the cabinet.

“Good, you’re done,” Agatha said as she stood up. “Now it’s time for my favorite part of the day.”

You internally groaned and realized what she wanted. “Where you make one of the interns cry and go get lunch?”

“Close, dear. But no.” She motioned to your violin case. “Come.”

This was your least favorite part of the day. Now, you were used to receiving constructive criticism, and even just good old fashioned criticism. Over the years you had less than kind violin teachers, and you shuddered at the memory of Stefan throwing a chair across the room when you only had three pages of Mendelssohn fully memorized two months before your recital preview. He kept yelling in Russian that he would not be the first faculty member to have a student fail a preview. Or the time Jacqueline caused you to have a panic attack right before your sophomore year concerto competition because she didn’t ‘like your stage presence’ and went on some insane rant, and then yelled at you more while you were sobbing. Ah, the fond memories you had of college.

But there was something so intensely nerve wracking about performing in front of Agatha that it made all of those encounters seem like fun and games. You weren’t sure what it was about the woman, but there was just something about her presence that constantly had you on edge. What made it ten times worse was that Agatha seemed to be aware of the effect she had on you, and did whatever she could to make you blush.

You took a few moments to tune your violin and roll your shoulders back while Agatha made herself comfortable in the audience, but you both knew she wouldn’t stay out there for long.

“Now darling,” Agatha called out from her seat. “I want you to remember what we’ve been working on. The first impression you set when your bow hits the string needs to be dominating. I want to feel like you’re pinning me down on the stage. Make me want it.”

You stared at her incredulously and shook your head, trying not to visualize what she just said to you. “Right...pinning...dominating,” You murmured as you straightened your stance and took a deep breath. Setting your bow on the string, you made sure it was positioned at the frog.

“I can see you tensing from all the way out here,” Agatha said in a mocking tone. “Do I need to come up there and help you relax?”

You knew her coming anywhere near you would do the opposite to relax you. “Nope. Just stay where you are!”

“Oh, are you the one giving orders now, my dear?” Agatha teased as she slowly got out of her seat and made her way towards the stage. “I’m just trying to help. You need to relax your shoulders, otherwise you’re going to end up with a hunchback.”

“I like the Hunchback of Notre Dame,” You offered weakly as you watched her stalk her way up the stairs, her heels clicking up each step.

Agatha rolled her eyes. “Of course you do.” She closed the distance between you and put her hands on your shoulders. “You need to relax.” She examined you closer and arched an eyebrow. “And breathe, my dear. Unless you want to fall in my arms.” You had taken to staring at the floor of the stage until you felt her hand gently cup your chin, forcing you to gaze at her. “Am I that hideous to look at that?”

“Ha, you’re so funny,” You managed to get out before taking a deep breath, and once again tried to relax your shoulders.

Despite your best efforts, you still felt tense, and Agatha noticed it as well. Letting out a gentle huff she moved behind you and began to rub your upper back. “Jeez, have you ever had a massage? It seems like you need one.”

“That’s a bit above my current pay check,” You quipped and blushed when you heard her responding chuckle.

“If you’re asking for a raise, you’re going to have to do better than that,” Agatha replied, her breath tickling your ear and sending delightful shivers down your spine. “You need to let go, darling. This much tension in your shoulders will do too much damage to your posture.”

She hit a particularly hard knot and you couldn’t help but moan at the sensation. You thought you heard Agatha mumble something under her breath but you were so lost in the sensation you didn’t ask her what she said. Agatha continued rubbing your shoulders and you slowly felt yourself relax into her touch.

“That’s it,” Agatha murmured. “Good girl.” Your eyes shot open at the praise and you heard her lightly chuckle. “Relax, dear. I could do this all day.”

Your shoulders eventually loosened up and you couldn’t help but groan when Agatha took a step away from you. “Quit your whining and play that chord,” Agatha demanded as she turned away from you, clapping her hands loudly. “I want to be wowed.”

Taking a deep breath, you fixed your stance before setting your bow back on the string. You were hesitating, and Agatha knew it too.

“Any day now. It’s not like I have anything else to do,” Agatha’s words were sharp but you knew she meant it as encouragement.

You let go of any fears you had of what would come next as you positioned your fingers on the string and rolled your bow to produce the g-minor chord. Your left wrist was loose enough to slow down your vibrato and you went through the first section without any interruptions from Agatha. As you began the next phrase you remembered what Agatha had told you about making it bigger and better than before.

“Always leave them wanting more,” Agatha had instructed her. “Make each phrase slightly different. No one wants to suffer through ten minutes of the same few notes.”

You added more vibrato for this phrase and changed the dynamics so you were growing in sound until you heard her calling for you to stop.

“Stop! Stop, that’s enough,” Agatha yelled as she walked back towards you. “That was...better.”

“Dare I say you sound surprised?” You joked causing her to glare at you.

“Fishing for compliments, are we?” She questioned, but eventually relented. “You’re getting better.”

You grinned wildly at her praise. “That was the nicest thing you’ve said to me so far today.”

“Keeping score?” Agatha mused, a smile threatening to tug at her lips at your enthusiasm. “Like I said, you’re getting better, but there’s a lot of work to do. I want to hear those octave slides and not feel like my ears are bleeding from your intonation. Chop chop.”

#agatha harkness x reader #agatha harkness imagine #agatha wandavision #wandavision #agnes x reader #agatha harkness x you #marvel au #wandavision au #orchestra au #Agatha Harkness

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