#i thought other people may be interested since i was definitely blown away by this article

[himebushou]

So! Suwa Rei has an OVEN:

Which might not feel like such a big deal, except:

[Text from Image 1: Most Japanese kitchens do not have large convection ovens like those common in the West. Instead, they have smaller fish grills, microwaves with built-in oven features, toaster ovens or similar. This difference is due to the traditional needs of Japanese cuisine and the smaller size of Japanese kitchens.

Text from Image 2: There are some Japanese homes with large Western-style ovens, but they are rare. Mostly, they're found in higher-end places and in homes marketed to expats. These ovens are a sort of status symbol, in that regard.]

(Source: escapetoasia dot net, 2021)

Kazuki's such a foodie he probably moved in for the oven alone, lol

But I suppose a Middle Eastern oil baron can afford such luxuries.

[animehideout]

hiii, love your “your mbti, your relationship with jjk man” so i wanted to request infj and enfj if possible? thanks!

Your MBTI, Your Relationship With JJK Characters Part 3

Part 1 / Part 2

a/n: Thank you anon for this request . I really hope you enjoy them 😭🫶🏻.

Also thanks to @nozaki547 and @li-m-ii for requesting INFJ, enjoy 💞

INFJ:

Megumi Fushiguro = Boyfriend.

You crave meaningful and deep connection when it's about love. You want a partner that will commit for life. And Megumi is 100% the man that would make it work. Always keeping a keen observant eye on you to make sure you're comfortable all the time. He fell for your mysteriousness, you were hard to read at first so he found you interesting, but he grew to understand you and your needs. If he senses that you're cold he'll bring you a blanket. Craving something? He's going to make/buy it for you. Like any other introvert you need your personal space, so does Megumi. So both of you respect each other's boundaries but with a protective instinct in case you need comfort. You have mutual values and both of you date to marry, so your relationship is for the long run. You expect a lot from others so he always satisfies your expectations and never disappoints. He's your ride or die.

Okkotsu Yuta =Bestfriend

Yuta is an empathetic person and INFJS value people who are compassionate and supportive during highs and lows. Without second thought Yuta would be the perfect bestie for you. He's always ready to engage into a meaningful conversations with you talking about interesting topics concerning life and your personal growth. You have a healthy friendship since both of you avoid conflicts and always work on solving any misunderstandings. You are supportive and selfless so you always make sure to be there for him and push him forward when he feels insecure. Both of you rely on each other in comforting and making each other feel understood, heard and important.

Ryomen Sukuna = Obsessed with you.

Living in Yuji's body Sukuna always observed your interaction with your friend group. He was blown away by the fact thay you crack others' exterior just by observing them. While in contrast, they know little about you. You didn't only understand them by being an observant but also knew the exact appropriate words to say in order to comfort people around you. So he switches with Yuji to manipulate you to open up. He desperately wanted to know you on a deeper level, your strengths, your weaknesses, your likes, your dislikes, your deepest secrets but as an INFJ you've always been keeping your guards up especially around him. And that what pushed Sukuna to thrive to force you open up to him. Developing an obsession and interest in you and you mysteriousness.

Mai Zenin = Antagonist.

You are a supportive and selfless person who is good at comforting others and making them feel worthy. Mai, is the complete opposite she is rude, egocentric and selfish. You help people up and she brings people down. You remain true to yourself but she lacks authenticity and always fakes her personality to try to appear better than others around her. INFJs are very observant so you couldn't help the discomfort you felt around her, you can't stand each other so you simply ignore her existence in order to avoid getting into fights.

ENFJ

Ino Takuma = Boyfriend.

ENFJs are drawn to people with a positive outlook on life who bring joy and optimism. And Ino is definitely the one. He is cheerful person who contributes to a harmonious, happy relationship. Ino is an extremely nice person, supportive and empathetic which is a common trait in you. He treats you with a huge respect and care willing to risk his life for your safety. He tends to be needy emotionally and with you valuing passionate emotional ties, you would be more than perfect together. Giving each other all the love and care needed to recharge. You're each other's number one fan. Daily encouragement words and notes are a must. He is very expressive and open about his feelings with honesty and that makes things easier for both of you especially solving issues before growing into conflicts. Ino and you consider helping people who are in need as an honorable duty which creates a sense of union and shared goals between you both you. His favorite thing to do is gaming together while he holds you close.

Gojo Satoru = Your teacher.

You're his favorite student there's no discussion in that. He likes your intellectual creativity and curiosity and how you always ask interesting questions, that also benefits other. He is a cheerful person who got a lot of energy so he appreciates the way you're like him, hyping up your classmates in class or before a missions giving them a big dose of motivation. For you it's easy to have him as your teacher, you have a flexible relationship not only the classroom but also outside school. You often hang out together and enjoy teasing Megumi. He is very open-minded and as an ENFJ you're often expressive about your issues, so he plays his role well in giving you the right advice that would help you grow. Both of you turn the classroom into a lively space mixing serious studying with the humor. He urges his student to be like you. He puts you under a lot of tests and challenges, you're a precious student for him so he wants to make sure you're strong and independent enough to succeed in both your educational and social life. Rewards you a lot, he often treats you sweets.

Geto Suguru = Ex-boyfriend.

ENFJs are givers in relationships they always make sure their partner is loved and cared for, they prioritize their loved ones in everything and of course they expect the same. But it wasn't the case with Geto. Even though he loved you he didn't show it, and always put his goals and interests first, even before you, completely neglecting your emotional needs. Being open to discussion you expressed your feelings to him, standing by your opinion but he repeated this dismissiveness leading to frustration in your relationship that ended with a breakup.

Itadori Yuji = Partner in crime.

The dynamic duo, your friendship is the source of joy for both of you. You and Yuji have an adventurous spirit willing to explore new things together with full enthusiasm, not caring about the possible risks you may face. Energetic duo, feeding on each other's optimism to keep going. You do a lot of fun outdoor activities together. A lot of people think that you are dating. During tasks you merge your efforts and skills focusing on your shared goal. Your determination is fueled by your empathy towards others. You face challenges with open arms knowing that you've got each other's backs no matter how complicated the situation could be. You always succeed in your tasks looking at each other with the proud smiles creating lasting memories.

Thanks for reading, remember this piece of writing is just for entertainment purposes, also imo, so it's not necessarily accurate ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡

[zeno-zero]

Avatar Roku rant/rambles:

I love him, I love him in such an insane amount. Had me on chokehold since 10 years old like goodness me! What the fuck H-E-🏑🏑 !!

Nobody understood his character and that would've been greatly fine with me but the amount of mischaracterizations, misinterepations, and wishes that he's more like Kyoshi has always made me upset. Roku is a good man whose position as an avatar is poor in terms of writing and expanding his story further.

Roku outside of being Aang's mentor and guide - he was nothing more than just being kindhearted, wise, and pleasant while also acknowledging his indecisiveness, and faults. He even has a flawed perspective on the four nations, that the four nations should always be remained seperated, and still. Yet, I still continue to adore him a LOT. He have so much potential, there are rooms that people could always explore his character than just on the surface/visual level. His airbending and waterbending teachers weren't even named in the late 2010's until some informations were finally out !!

The gene yang comics are not my cup of tea but Roku telling Aang that he should end Zuko's life because he couldn't bare the thought of seeing Sozin? WOW. His friendship with Sozin has always mean something to Roku - so much so, he trusted him to the point it was his downfall. The thought of Sozin's redemption after he left him with the rubble is definitely what Roku had in his mind. But we're talking about the conflict between the Avatar and the Fire Lord, never Roku and Sozin.

His bending abilities are fucking awesome too !! Destroyed an entire palace with airbending + avatar state alone? Created a massive wave in one single move that sent his teacher flying up all the way on top of the chief's palace? He can even be quiet and and silently burrow to the ground to suprise attack enemies with earthbending? Lets not forget that the entire island that Roku was in used to be a huge one until he cut it into a cresent island !! There used to be two super volcanoes !! There's only one remaining !! His firebending shown on the show is also interesting! His fire made Zhao's crew literally run away while incinerating thd metal chains that Katara, Sokka, Shyu, and Zuko were wrapped around with,, unharmed. Him simultaneously bending all four elements at once without the use of the avatar state? Gosh,, people underestimate him sooooo much !!

"But Roku died to a volcano! He should've evacuated-" He was minimizing the effects of it! He died as a hero in that night because no other people held power his power just like he has. The citizens and his wife would've died if it weren't for him, because while it isn't explicitly explained in his wiki and show -  Lava entering the ocean creates a distinctive set of hazards that have seriously injured or killed unsuspecting people eager to see up close the interaction of hot lava and cool seawater. As hot lava boils cool seawater, a series of chemical and physical reactions create a mixture of condensed, acidic steam, hydrochloric acid gas, and tiny shards of volcanic glass. Blown by wind, this plume creates a noticeable downwind haze, known as "laze" (short for lava haze) <- [From "Lava entering ocean" | U.S Geological Survey - USGS.gov] ||And to also answer the dragon part that died with him? I have no answer for that other than the plot has to move on /or the dragon relies on his orders, and to Roku's dying breath, he would rather stay with him.

And nobody talks about how painful and traumatizing Roku's death is - pyroclastic flow is apart of volcano, he either died burning alive, suffocated, or even buried alive! On the margins of pyroclastic flows, death and serious injury to people and animals may result from burns and inhalation of hot ash and gases. Archaeologists have found that some people perished in a pyroclastic surge, a wave of superheated gas and hot ash that literally boiled their blood and caused their skulls to explode, reports Neel V. Patel at Popular Science. <- [Pyroclastic Flows move fast and destroying everything in their path" | U.S Geological survey] AND ["Mount Vesuvius Boiled Its Victims’ Blood and Caused Their Skulls to Explode" by Jason Delay]

But in a summary, I love Roku and I would die to honor his name. Thank you for reading through all of this. Love you guys !! /platonically 

[silverbladexyz]

Hi love! How are you? How have you been? Sorry for bothering, can I request Chuuya boyfriend headcanons please?

Thank you! Have a nice day/night!! 💞💞

Hiiii I'm alright, just kind of stressed recently because of life :') but I'm surviving! How about you?

The image does not belong to me. It belongs to it's original owner.

TW: Mentions of death, violence, slight suggestiveness. Gender neutral reader

Chuuya boyfriend headcanons

-Let's see... to win Chuuya's love and trust is no easy feat. To start off with, he's a Port Mafia executive, which means that he barely has any time for friendships, let alone love. And to top it all off, he himself has lost too many people in his life, something which made him put up all those walls around himself in fear of losing someone else again

-Be prepared for a lot of denial and internal conflict once he realises his feelings for you. Chuuya is not one that is entirely in tune with his emotions, and to express what he is feeling proves to be an even harder feat for him. He might give shorter and more curt answers back to you, and might even distance himself from you if he's overwhelmed with this foreign feeling called 'love'

-But once you do get into a relationship with him, it is one full of passion and sacrifices. Chuuya's loyalty knows no bounds, and trust me when I say that he will commit everything to you. He holds onto you like you were something that could be blown away from him by a mere breeze, yet he holds you as if you were a fragile treasure, one so hardly acquired and easily lost

-He is quite protective. Desperate to not lose you, he will take extra measures to ensure that you are safe whenever he is not around you. Whether you were another Mafia executive or just a normal civilian, Chuuya will always make sure that another Mafia member was around your area should you run into trouble when he was not there

-It will take Chuuya a while to get used to being in a relationship with you. He's still learning, so he would really appreciate it if you told him what he could improve on or what your opinion on some of his actions in the relationship was. He wants to be the perfect boyfriend for you, and he will try his absolute hardest to learn and make himself someone deserving of your love and attention. Please assure him that he is enough already

-Affection isn't something he is used to as well. Even his friends in the Mafia only did as far as to give him a pat on his shoulder, or even a hug in the rarest of instances. So if you suddenly give him a kiss out of nowhere, or brush your fingers against his lovingly, he will freeze a little bit before slowly reciprocating it. But over time, he does become more comfortable with affection, as long as you don't overdo it

-Now his love language would either be acts of service or quality time. Chuuya isn't the best at words or affection, and he does get you gifts every now and then, but since this relationship is so foreign for him it would take a while for him to use other ways to show his love for you. He would be more than happy to learn how to tell you 'I love you' through actions and thoughts

-Chuuya would definitely be a lot more gentle and vulnerable in a relationship. He trusts you completely, and he isn't one to hide secrets from you as he values honesty. While he may be brash and temperamental, he is also perfectly capable of showing that soft side he locks away in himself, and he shows it to you and you only

-Further on into the relationship, be prepared for Chuuya to tell you everything. His past, his insecurities, his trauma, everything. He doesn't expect you to comfort him or help him, he just wants someone whom he can talk to and not worry about being betrayed or judged. So when you hugged him and assure him of how strong he was and how lucky you were to have him, it's from there on that Chuuya appreciates you the most he has ever appreciated you before

-Chuuya has a few hobbies that he likes to do in his free time, but he is interested in your hobbies as well, and often does them with you as he gets to spend more time with his beloved. His favourite things to do with you include taking you on motorcycle rides, have friendly sparring matches with you, wine-tasting, and even just shopping for exquisite and high-end clothes. He'd involuntarily spoil you since he has a lot of money, but he doesn't mind it if you spoil him too

-Kissing was a whole new experience. He will start off a bit rough and awkward at first, so it is mostly up to you to guide him with small movements of your lips and fleeting touches with your fingertips. Chuuya is surprised at how much he likes to kiss you, and you do note that his kisses do eventually get a bit softer as time goes on

-But if you wanted to make out with him? He's down for it and will mostly take the lead. His hands will grip you firmly but gently on your waist as he dominates the kiss. Spice it up a little by fighting back or by teasingly running your fingers along some more of his sensitive spots on his neck. However, he will get you back for it

-Love him, and he will love you back infinite times more than your love for him. Chuuya Nakahara is but a man; a man who has had everyone leave him; a man who doesn't let his past define who he is. His love for you will forever burn brighter than the flames of passion that consume his very being

So I feel like this was more deeper and serious than all my other posts. Chuuya to me is such a complex and deep character and it gives me a rare sense of thrill to write for him, especially when I get to analyse the other parts of his character that is not explicitly shown or told.

@circinuus @nekokinax @xxsigmakinniexx @xxelfmamaxx @yuugen-benni @ashthemadwriter @lakeside-paradise @catzlivedforbsd @sariel626 @yukitomybeloved @irethepotato @voyagewiththesatan @arisu-chan4646 @chuuyas-beloved

[queerfables]

Hi okay SO. I have been putting off making an introduction post because I'd mostly prefer people to just look at my blog and decide if they want to hang out based on that, rather than making some big definitive statement about Who I Am.

But I'm currently accumulating followers at a truly alarming rate and - look, I don't want to give the impression I'm ungrateful, I am genuinely SO TOUCHED by every single one of you who's interested in what I have to say!! The feeling is 100% mutual, and I am having a blast sharing everyone's thoughts and enthusiasm. It's just that my goal with this blog is to have fun and do my own thing. I don't hate attention but I'm also not looking for it.

On balance, then, I think it's probably a good idea to give people a general sense of what I'm about so that if it doesn't appeal to you, we can opt out of each other's social circle before anyone steps on anyone else's toes.

My general philosophy:

I am here to have fun. I might occasionally have a little kvetch about some fandom trend or another but ultimately, even if your favourite trope drives me up the wall, I'm genuinely so happy that it is out there bringing you joy. I try very very hard to treat everyone with kindness and to avoid getting caught up in drama.

This isn't a clique it's a community. Please leave commentary on my posts or drop me a message if you wanna chat!

I follow and unfollow pretty liberally and never mean anything personal by it. I might consider you a friend but still unfollow if your current hyperfocus isn't jiving with mine. In turn, I will never take offence to anyone doing the same with me. Regardless of our following status, I'm always up to chat.

I don't do DNIs. Interact if you want to, don't if you don't. Good faith questions and comments are always welcome. Malicious behaviour will be blocked.

Primary Fandoms

Good Omens - I have loved this fandom for years and years, since before the TV show as it exists today was even a twinkle in Neil's eye. I ship Crowley and Aziraphale SO HARD and I am completely blown away by everything that we've gotten since the first season came out in 2019. Fifteen year old me could not even have imagined!!!

Supernatural - Literal opposite energy. I resisted this show for its entire run, after watching the pilot when it aired and thinking "if I watch this, I will end up shipping the brothers, and I am just not prepared for shipping the brothers." Fifteen years later destiel came in swinging with the steel chair and I grumbled and decided I'd better watch it to find out what all the fuss was about. And do you guys know what? I was right all along. I came away from that show obsessed with it as a gothic horror story and shipping the brothers hard. So wincest is my otp, but I'm a multishipper and I have a soft spot for wincestiel, destiel and sastiel too. As a darkfic enjoyer, I also dabble in John/Dean/Sam and variants. I'm not, like, opposed to less-dark takes on this, they just don't do much for me. I'm pretty careful to tag ships in this fandom consistently, so if you don't want to see something, you can blacklist it.

Side Fandoms

You might see these occasionally or for short stretches but they aren't currently taking over my brain the same way Good Omens and Supernatural are.

Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth. Queerplatonic Phoenix Wright/Maya Fey. Enthusiastic dabbler in background ships and rarepairs.)

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild+ (Link/Sidon. Link/Gannon. Bemused Link/Zelda ally [I don't ship it but I'm happy for all of you and enjoy the gender bending fanart].)

Ted Lasso (Roy/Keeley/Jamie. Queerplatonic Ted/Rebecca. Rebecca/Sam enjoyer. Pro-finale loyalist. Every single character is my best friend and also my daughter.)

Hannibal (Will/Hannibal. Margot/Alana enjoyer.)

Tagging

I mostly tag for fandoms and ships (although I'm not currently tagging for Crowley/Aziraphale beyond the parent "good omens" tag. That may change if I settle on a tag I like). I wish that I could tag for triggers requested by people who want to follow me, but realistically, that isn't something I can guarantee and trying just wipes me out. If trigger tags are something you need, we may have to admire one another from afar.

At some point I will add a list of useful organisational tags here but for now you can always just browse back through my archives if you're interested.

[victorychest]

Signalis - post mortem (SPOILERS)

What a cool game...

I had a really good time with Signalis. Everything from the presentation and the reimagined combat system, to the surrealist story and clever puzzles, Signalis is certainly one of the most innovative gaming experiences of the year. And though I haven't played everything, from what I've seen/read about, Signalis brings a deep breath of fresh air when compared to other new releases this year!

I obviously enjoyed my time with this game, but I wanted to share a few things that really set it apart in ways that aren't as specific to me.

Level Design/Gameplay Cohesion:

My enthusiasm for Signalis is found in one main accomplishment. I love that the design really makes you feel and understand the way the Elster feels. Somehow, we feel their determination, fear, and even the desire to leave as they feel those things. When you are discovering an area for the first time, the enemies are scary and the level is unpredictable, but when you are solving a puzzle, the game somehow, subtly shifts into feeling like you are in control of that same area as you go to collect items and read notes. Then, as you travel through the depths of horror to save Elster's most treasured person, you feel that need to keep pressing on to find out more, despite your surroundings. This may be a "standard" to survival horror games, but it is so well done here it is hard to imagine any other game having as much success. It may seem silly but I really feel like this simple core element is enough for me to recommend Signalis to people as a must play.

Impeccable Vibe-age:

Another thing that stands out in this game is the world and art within it. The setting Signalis takes place in is not simple in any way at all. I was blown away when I started reading more and more into the lore of this game and how deep each subplot goes. There are many elements to the story and they take off in different directions starting as soon as you finish the prologue. However, the excellent art direction and visual designs end up being the glue that holds the whole game together with each aesthetic decision serving many purposes in the overarching story.

One example of this is something I actually read on TV tropes. The beautifully bleak 90s tech aesthetic that permeates the work station in Signalis is not only used to invoke the classic dystopian sci-fi/cyberpunk/outrun touchpoints we have outside of the game, but it is also used to show the nation of Eusan's hyperfocus on one subsection of technology. The story points out that the development of Replikas and use of bioresonance was the sole focus of Eusan, to the point of practically erasing other parts of tech from the picture.

The way that Rose-Engine is able to craft such an interesting story while supporting it with more than just notes and journal entries is another perfect reason to recommend Signalis to anyone.

Game Feel:

This has been stated many times already so I will keep it brief. The "pick-up-and-play-ability" of this game is truly the best modernization you can ask for in the world of PS1 inspired survival horror games. I know that this is everyone's complaint since the beginning of time, but games need to be fun to play for me to enjoy them. Signalis is most definitely fun to play.

Final thoughts:

With that I just wanted to say thank you for reading and thanks to Rose-Engine for making such an awesome experience. If you had any thoughts about the game, please share them below so we can share this game together!

-VictoryChest

P.S. The art above is by yours truly.

[therealandian]

things i thought about when working on stts but didn't actually wind up in the story:

jon and jonny getting stranded on a planet together and having to scrap together their own ship. i was even going to have it tie back into a bit in redeath where martin mentions abandoning jonny on a watery planet in retaliation for more or less selling him to hereward. originally they were supposed to not get along very well, but the moment i added jonny into the story i realized i could have a lot more fun with him taking jon under his wing. i was still thinking i'd strand them somewhere, including elias once i thought to add him in as well, but the closest i really got was the planet where jon got addicted to drugs lol. the water world bit got recycled and became por'zykev

jon actually learning to play an instrument. i just didn't have the time/a good opportunity to write this in. rest assured that he learned something, though

one version of the end involved jon and elias kidnapping little jon (who is midway through s3), jon replacing him at the institute, and then elias taking him away to some other planet. then martin was supposed to find him and kidnap little jon back before returning to earth while elias desperately chased after him

another version of the end that i did write some of involved elias adopting little jon instead of martin. but since i felt like it would add too much extra with how i'd written it, i decided against it. i may be persuaded to release some of that because there were still some great moments lol

there was a long period where i planned to have jon part from elias because he wanted time to accept that he would never see martin again. meanwhile elias would fuck off to earth. this ties into the 'elias adopting little jon' version, but isn't necessarily the only ending i thought of with this particular piece

the talyn were originally going to be warlords conquering the galaxy, but it was honestly way more interesting to have them just sorta be there as an overarching government that was relatively chill with letting people do what they'd already been doing. after all, a hivemind race would be all about cooperation

there was a whole conversation planned about the pros and cons of being a god with donovan's kids. this didn't wind up making the cut, but that scene did end with elias crying into mashed potatoes, and i think that's hilarious still

this isn't necessarily something that didn't make it into the fic since it's referenced a couple times, but it's important that everyone knows that elias adopted Every Child He Met who didn't have decent parents. there were many.

the bit where jon got dissected was originally 1) on a spaceship, 2) both jon and elias nearly getting blown to pieces by the talyn, and 3) way more graphic. jon actually demanded elias leave him behind and pick him up later, because in that version they already had the dread-not. this was the part where they realized they were friends and had a panic about it. i might be persuaded to post that bit too, actually. i was pretty proud of it at the time i first thought it up lol

there's a scene in my head that i started writing out that wouldn't have fit anywhere in the overall narrative (and i'd already finished stts by then). in that scene, elias has a sudden realization that he's attracted to jon and they have to have a Talk. jon naturally doesn't feel the same, and elias is fine with that so long as jon is happy. it would've probably been pretty cute, but it didn't really fit the pacing, and frankly i wanted to leave their relationship relatively ambiguous. they definitely love each other, but the form of that love is up to each individual reader

jon and elias have fucked at least once out of boredom. whether or not it ever happened again is anybody's guess.

there are definitely other things that i've since forgotten, but i thought it'd be fun to run back through and see what random stuff i'd planned to do throughout everything. it's pretty funny, because while redeath stuck pretty damn close to the original timeline, stts gave me the freedom to fuck around and find out, and i'm deeply proud of the result. sure, there are plenty of other things i probably could've done, adding or subtracting or reconfiguring different scenes and situations, but i feel like accepting that not everything is going to make it into the story with the way the pacing worked out is important. take the sheer amount of endings i plotted out in my head, for example. literally dozens XD

[chaoskiro]

Summer podfic wrap-up

We are now well into September and over this summer I have diverted some of my podfic attention away from my podfic of Vertical Limit to make some podfics for various fests and to try some different things out, and here is what I ended up making this summer (sorted by when I made them):

Beard Burn (12 minutes) a multivoice Check Please! podfic based on FightMeImSmall's amazing story. Featuring a very heated discussion on the SMH bus leading to Dex coming out to the team.

This is a project I have wanted to do for ages, but I really wanted to make it multivoice so I hesitated. I ended up just asking if anyone was interested in participating on a podficcing discord server and so many people joined!! I will be forever grateful to all the people who read lines for this and I was blown away by their performances every time I got a new person's lines sent to me. It was my second ever podfic after Vertical Limit and since this is a very different tone I actually ended up having to record the narration twice, because my first run sounded way too somber for this very fun and a little bit silly fic.

shall i compare thee to a summer's day? (22 minutes) another Check Please! podfic based on dairaliz' (@schitthappens) sweet story. Featuring a very pining Dex on a farmer's market with an equally pining Nursey to match.

This one was made for the Madisonandmore ficfest and it was my first try at adding intro and outro music to fic, something I will definitely do again, but also something I would like to get better at. It was also the first ficfest I participated in which led to me having a bunch of technical issues which were thankfully resolved along the way.

The Way My Heart Bleeds (54 minutes) a Batman podfic of egg_thief's (@thief-of-eggs) story, made for DevilWithABirdDress as part of Summer podfic swap. Featuring Damian as Robin who gets hurt on patrol and gets patched up by Dick.

I looked through a lot of Damian & Dick centered stories before I landed on making this one (I actually got permission to podfic another one as well, which I might just do someday), but this one just hit the spot: It is just the most perfect Hurt/Comfort and I really love reading Damian (Though he always ends up sounding vaguely British, which I can't really explain). It also features some very important headcanons on the batfam's opinions on the Barbie movies, which is always a bonus.

Pay Attention to Me (33 minutes) an A3! podfic of Dokuhan's story, made as part of pod_together. Featuring Chikage who ISN'T jealous when Sakuya and Tasuku start spending more time together (and definitely doesn't have a crush on Sakuya).

This one was a fun one as it was made for pod_together and I thus worked with Dokuhan on this one. It was very fun getting some sparring on my readings of things and thus get some insight on the thought behind different lines. I often, when podficcing, sit and argue with myself on how to read a certain line/what emotion to convey with it etc. and to be able to discuss that with the one who wrote it was very fun.

All in all I am very happy to have expanded my podficcing scope this summer and I currently have two projects I have recorded stuff for on my computer that aren't published (one of them I started in may or something, but am currently still a little scared of, and the other is what I'm focused on at the moment), aside from Vertical Limit of course which I am still steadily working on and will probably have another chapter out soon because I am literally only missing like 30 minutes of editing time which isn't that much compared to the time it takes to make these.

It has been so fun making these and I hope they brought some other people joy as well!!

[ace-reviews]

Anime Review: Trigun Stampede

Originally, when this series won the poll to see which of this season's anime I would review, I was planning to rewatch the 1998 anime in order to better discuss the differences between the two series, since I've never watched the movie or read the manga or seen any of the other adaptations that may or may not exist. I ultimately didn't because I have super important video games to play, but it's probably fine. I'm sure there are plenty of comparisons between the two just a Google search away if that's what you're interested in.

I watched several disconnected episodes of Trigun in high school and watched the whole series a few years ago, in the background while I played some video game or another. Basically, while I definitely enjoy and have fond memories of it, I've never had the deep and abiding love of the series that a lot of other millennial weebs have.

I didn't retain much about the plot or the history of the characters, but I remembered that Vash is a plant (though not the kind I originally thought of) who likes love, peace, and donuts; Meryl and Milly were trying to keeping him from causing more property damage; Wolfwood dies; and Knives is yandere. That's about it. Even so, I was put off by some of the seemingly arbitrary changes made for Stampede--mostly the decision to replace Milly with a middle aged alcoholic named after an actor and the introduction of Vash and Knives' backstory in the first episode.

I left the first episode feeling largely ambivalent toward the whole thing, and when the second episode was out I was busy watching other premiers so I didn't bother with it. Then I got caught up with the third episode and was blown the fuck away.

Knives has always ever been "Vash's yandere brother" to me. I remember little about him from the '98 series except that he exists and was the bad guy. When he was introduced in the first episode of Stampede playing piano while draped in that weird blobby shroud thing, I found it a bit silly. Like, "ooooh look at him he's so scawy lmao". Then he showed up in episode three and was fucking terrifying.

The highest point of the series is the episode detailing Wolfwood's backstory, which is presented in a charming picture book style that looks very nice and contrasts nicely with the really dark shit being covered. If I wanted to, I could also write a separate essay just talking about how Knives is the best character and how he was totally right all along (some of the shit he gets up to in the last couple episodes crosses over into 'what the fuck dude' territory, but he is supposed to be the bad guy so it's fine).

The environmental messaging is a bit hamfisted, but considering the current state of the climate I think we're far past the need for subtlety--if anything, we should probably start looking into beating people 'round the head with actual hammers instead of merely metaphorical ones lest this series become based on a future true story.

Ultimately, though, Trigun Stampede is fucking phenomenal. I'm not going to say 'you owe it to yourself!!' to give it a second chance if you bounced off the first episode because the only things you owe yourself are food, water, sunshine, and love, but I doubt you'd regret giving it another go.

[aquaticlime]

JIMMY FALLON INTERVIEW

February 11th of 2024 I was invited to guest star on an episode of the tonight show which Jimmy Fallon. The teaser trailer for my debut film had just been released on February 8th creating a lot of excitement and buzz surrounding my name.

I’ve mentioned this interview before I believe on my BAFTAS post. But it’s the first interview I do in my Fame Dr, in it I almost reveal my celebrity crush on live Television, how girly pop of me! I seriously had so much fun with this idea I’ll probably be so embarrassed by the repercussions of it but c’est la vie! Below is what I wore nothing to crazy, fancy but still comfortable and of course red for the movie I’m promoting. Enjoy!

❝ [Transcript of the interview]

Jimmy Fallon is in bold, My answers are in normal text.

I cut out the pleasantries in the beginning.

"We saw the trailer for your new film, and everyone here was blown away by it. How does it feel to finally be starring in your first full-length feature film?"

“Euphoric is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s all happened so quickly and now I’m a guest star on jimmy Fallon of all things”

"No kidding? I would have thought you'd been in the business for years judging by that trailer. Tell me, is there a lot of pressure working on a big film like this for the first time?"

“I think there should be but I haven’t felt much, I’m still riding the high from everything. Plus everyone I’ve met and worked with so far has been so kind and supportive.”

"Ah, so you've gotten lucky with your first project, then! How do you feel about all the hype surrounding this film? does it make you nervous, excited, how are you feeling?”

“It’s amazing I hope everyone loves the story and my Character Dinah as much as I do. There’s a lot to appreciate in this movie from costuming and world building to the more behind the scenes like camera work and editing.”

“So how did the whole journey of becoming the star of a blockbuster movie happen? Was it something you always wanted, or was it somewhat unexpected?"

“Uhm A bit of both, I hadn’t known want i wanted to do in life til I was 14 or so, once I found acting though I dove straight into community theatre. But for this particular project I had read the book series it’s based on and fell in love with the story, so I practically stalked the authors instagram and found it was in the process of becoming a movie, I auditioned and the rest is history.”

"Wow, you really went for it, huh? You didn't just wait until an opportunity came along; you made your own. And I see that things are looking bright for you. Besides this film, do you have any other roles or projects lined up in the future?"

“I may have something else coming in the near future”

"Alright, now to get to know you a bit more personally. I'm sure some of the people in the audience here want to get to know you better. Do you have any siblings?"

“Yes I have two younger siblings, we’re quite far apart in age though.”

"Oh, really? How far apart are we talking?"

“My sister and I are 5 years apart while my brother is 14 years younger than me.”

"Wow, that is quite a gap, especially between you and your brother. I imagine you were pretty close to your sister growing up, since she was closer to your age?"

“Yeah we definitely were pretty close, she’s at that age now though where she thinks I’m embarrassing and would rather be with her friends”

"Ah, I know how that goes. It can be tough when your younger sibling just wants all their friends around or to be out living their lives. So, for your next question, let's talk about love and relationships. Are you in a relationship right now?"

“Oh haha nope nothing”

"Really? Nothing at all, not even a special someone?"

“You mean like a crush?”

"That's right. Is there someone in your life that you secretly have a crush on, maybe a school crush or someone you met on set?"

“I’m guessing you’re referring to David Iacano, who plays Wardley my characters love interest, but no. There’s nothing like that between us.”

"Okay, so not David. He's a very good looking guy, though, right? Plus, I heard you had some amazing chemistry during filming. Are you sure you don't have a little crush on him, even if you won't admit it?"

“Nope we’re just great friends, I’m sure my saying that isn’t going to change many peoples mind though.”

"Well, I'm not sure you'll convince me and a lot of people out there. But we can drop that line of questioning. So let's move onto the "Celebrity Crush" bit, then. Got any Hollywood actors that you swoon over?"

“Yeah I do”

"Oh? And who might that be?"

“I won’t say, if they know I’ll be so embarrassed. I’m hopeful that I’ll meet him on day and that I can play it cool, instead of freezing or saying something stupid like ‘omg you’re aar-‘“

“next question please”

"Alright, alright, let's leave that for the audience's imagination because we still have some questions about the movie. Without spoiling anything, can you tell us your favorite aspects of this show/movie?”

“Uhm- ooh that’s a good question. I- I would say the world of Wonderland is unlike any other you’ve seen yet. It’s fully flushed out but it changes with Dinah. She’s sort of the lens you see everything through. That might be my favorite bit, the audience seeing the way I saw it when playing Dinah.”

“Where will we be able to watch this movie once it comes out?”

“In Theaters April 20th”

❝ [End of transcript]

˗ˏˋReturn to masterlist ✦ main masterlist´ˎ˗

[dallasareaopinion]

Piggybacking on others work

Yep, since I am not a reporter why not jump on someone else’s article. Seriously though I was reading an article in the Dispatch which was a straight forward piece or analysis of the state of the GOP campaign apparatus since Trump’s people took over 6 weeks ago.

I do not have much to add with substance, just some extra opinionated commentary on the situation. For those that do not know, the Dispatch is quite a bit more professional than this blog and speaks conservative commentary that is not aligned with the MAGA universe.  Basically real conservative commentary. And they are professionals so they even write in full sentences.

There is an accompanying picture with the story and whoa, Matt Getz looks like death warmed over. Granted the picture is credited with being taken in February and most of us white people are relatively pale at this point in time, however Matt appears to be struggling. There are four people in the picture, Lara Trump and MTG are showing some color. Michael Whatley is definitely white, but is more of the I haven’t seen the sun since October. I have seen corpses that appear to have more color than Matt Getz does in this picture. I would like to have seen the panoramic of the whole room because there is an interesting dynamic in this picture. MTG and Whatley are looking to their left at something or someone it appears. Matt is just staring straight ahead rather blankly. Lara Trump is standing at attention with plastered smile also staring straight ahead with that Stepford wives look. Not saying anything, but it looks rather weird.

In the article there is concern expressed by some in the GOP that a ground game for the election isn’t materializing yet and that the one being developed before Trump’s takeover had faded away. Some in the article expressed confidence one was coming, others that it might be a bit too targeted to just presidential battleground states and some wondered about what was coming at all. My thoughts were Trump is in charge so how is anyone expecting a full blown plan. The man is notorious for shooting from the hip and if he is anywhere close to being involved with the strategic thinking I will not accept anyone saying the 2024 election was stolen because ineptitude seems to be more the reigning problem now.

And specifically election integrity is the basis for the gameplan, not boots on the ground campaigning which just further leads to the election stolen gambit should not work. Yet I will bet there will be many in the GOP operatives that know better will stand up in November and say the election was stolen even though they know how shoddy of an operation is being developed.

One comment was that third parties may be hired to do some of the footwork and other campaign activities. And this caused me to burst out laughing. I hope they ask to get paid upfront because if anything the Trump campaign will hire them, then he will keep all the campaign money and not pay them if his history is any indication of what may happen. I would definitely cash the check before doing any work for the Trump campaign.

As always people can change, but I am not betting against the house on this one.

Cheers

[salamifuposey]

Lemonade - Chapter 16 - Ascending

Chapter 16 - Ascending

In the meantime, during Lemmy and friend's venture throughout the Anagi Village, across the other dimension, in Intile City, worry was growing and looming inside Lady Miriam's heart, who was still quite tormented about the fact of losing her son and also having found out two of her people in the headquarters were also missing after someone shared footage of the missing men, who just so happened to be Jayt and Hector.

Her fears of not knowing their whereabouts were growing, since she couldn't tell whether they made it even to a safe dimension, while going through her scientists and making sure their coordinates were found as soon as possible, as she was planning to drop out into the dimension itself, hoping to find her son.

Meanwhile, while she stood on her office, scavenging for information regarding a specific case she wanted to know more about and her eyes having widened, Malcolm then suddenly came storming in, almost as if he got something for Lady Miriam to talk about that she'd be interested in, hoping he could help with her search.

"Miss Miriam!" Malcolm looked as if he was rather uptight, his eyes having found out something from the forensics and other pieces of information. "... O-oh!"

He seemed to have caught Lady Miriam rather off guard, as she looked rather startled.

"... I-I'm sorry, were you doing anything important?" Malcolm then immediately apologized, hoping he didn't distress her by coming in so rushily. "If you are, I could just!-"

"... No, no! I was just..." Lady Miriam seemed rather shocked herself as well, as she found out something that took her breath away, although unrelated to the coordinates themselves.

"... C-carry on." Lady Miriam seemed rather surprised.

"... I look like everything but polite!" She felt flustered about it. "... I-I wasn't expecting anyone really, coming in so suddenly." She also immediately excused herself, looking embarrassed over her lack of professionalism and formality and being seen so casual.

"... Please tell me you've got something good we can talk about!" She almost seemed like she was interrupted in the middle of something, as she dug into information no one else had info about. She then started thinking about something that kept troubling her in the back of her head, something that perhaps she might have regretted.

"... I-I didn't think... To think!..." She seemed rather blown away.

"... If only we had more footage!..."

"W-well, the forensics tried to reach to me and they gave me some footage you might want to talk about!" Malcolm even seemed rather shocked about something he may have glimpsed at out of curiosity.

"... You've got something?!" Lady Miriam hoped this could be about Lemmy's coordinates.

"... It's not about Lemmy!... Or his work partners' locations!..." Malcolm shooed such thoughts, hoping not to raise Lady Miriam's expectations.

"... But! It's definitely still something worth checking out! It's got something to do with one of your working men!" Malcolm then handed a video tape, much to his shock that such relics were still used and he felt nostalgic about. "Something's definitely fishy about this!"

"Gimme that!" Lady Miriam then yanked it off from Malcolms' hands forcefully, hoping to watch it along with him.

"... Er... Sorry about that." Malcolm seemed rather distraught over the lady's sudden eagerness, as she yanked it off from his hands so quickly, while she excused herself while he stood in shock.

"I... get overly excited."

"... Did you find them?" Lady Miriam then interrogated Malcolm.

"... The letters? Yes I have! Several of them!" Malcolm seemed to imply the existence of mail who was addressed to someone else. "Straight out of Dayley's office."

Lady Miriam then stuffed the video tape on her old video tape player that she had on her office to check on any recorded footage of video cameras from any of the headquarters' recorded locations while Malcolm kept rambling, as she nervously sat on a chair in front of the television.

"Apparently, the address is quite... interesting..." Malcolm seemed to suggest.

"... Do you perhaps know of this location, Miss?" Malcolm then wondered, asking to the lady.

"Yeah, I do..." Miriam then tried to recollect her memories from her childhood, of times that were much simpler. "I went there once, when I was much younger..."

"... I used to be like what, 14? It was quite a ride back home, but the folks in there were quite sweet and gentle." Miriam seemed to reminisce a cozy home where a family used to work for Intile City. "It was a awfully big family, very humble, who used to take in school trips."

"... There was a nice sweet boy in there. He must've been what, 12? He was definitely younger than me." Miriam couldn't help but remember something that stood out from him, as she remembered him. "He used to have white eyes in him."

"... He definitely was... quite special." Miriam didn't think much about it and only hoped that the boy was fine after all this time. "He was so quiet and you could barely hear his voice... He was so sweet and caring, he practically couldn't hurt a fly. I wonder where he went."

All of a sudden, the VHS player started to depict some footage that seemed to be recorded from some building, unrelated to the actual V.I.V headquarters, seemingly nothing at first.

"... So, what did you got me here?" Lady Miriam then tried to interrogate him.

"Just keep watching."

As Malcolm tried to await for the awaited moment, Miriam resumed to watch this footage.

A single man then suddenly came, whom she immediately recognized as being one of her own, all on his own, waiting for somebody else.

"...!"

It was Jayt, waiting for someone, hidden inside a building, his hands seeming to be empty, almost as if waiting for a task or someone to come on by to tell him a order.

She then resumed to continue to watch the footage, seeing the man waiting for someone else, waiting patiently, even if rather anxious about it.

She fast forwarded, hoping to see as to where this could possibly lead.

"... Right there!" Malcolm then begged for her to stop.

She then quickly noticed someone else coming in, approaching Jayt on that very moment.

To her, it was no surprise, with only one thing in her mind.

"... What are you hiding from me, Dayley?..."

As they both talked and discussed something, Dayley delivered something to him while being recorded in the footage, a pile of letters who he hoped could be addressed immediately.

"... H-hah!"

Miriam gasped seeing this reaction, not knowing it led to such events.

"... It can't be..." She tried to deny it, even though the proof was right there in front of her.

As she tried to rewind and then stop at that very moment, she actually witnessed it.

"... H-hah..."

"... We need to get my son's coordinates!" Lady Miriam then alerted Malcolm in order to proceed to more dire options in order to locate Lemmy and the rest of her villains' locations.

"We need to warn Jayt about this!"

"... And there's more!" Malcolm then showed her a written note, one that didn't seem to have been hand given or delivered to anyone else, despite having a name and a written message in it, that seemed to have been written a long time ago.

He quickly handed it to her, hoping she could read it as well.

As her eyes speed read through the whole letter, her eyes widened in shock.

She was so overwhelmed by the letter, it didn't even cross her to think that's what led to Jayt's betrayal, as she began to tear from her eyes and weeping softly from what she read.

"Lady?..." Malcolm started to question what she assumed from all of this.

"... It's nothing. Nothing important." She merely shook off her tears, hoping he wouldn't see her like this and not wanting Malcolm concerned about it.

"..." She then merely kept quiet all to herself while crying about it.

Malcolm then suddenly became obliged to ask.

"... Miss Miriam, I must beg to ask, but I've always wondered." Malcolm always meant to ask this a very long time ago, but merely couldn't because he didn't want to break her privacy.

"..."

"... Why did you join the V.I.V headquarters?" Malcolm wondered about it, especially knowing her husband Edgar helped to create with, alongside Sean, who worked in accounting and income management inside the headquarters.

To him, it was always a question that remained on the back of his head, wondering if the Lady had any real purpose as to what she wants the headquarters to become or accomplish.

He knew Edgar wanted to found it, alongside his wife, Lady Miriam herself, but he never learned about her true reasons as to why she stuck by her husband after all this time.

"..." She merely stood quiet, wondering the same all to herself.

In the end, all she could do was reminisce one thing from her past that led to her helping her husband with the V.I.V headquarters and reuniting the villains from all over the world, in order to raise awareness of the poor and the oppressed.

"... I..."

"... I'm not entirely sure either." She admitted feeling helpless back in the days.

"... Back then, I was just a young naive girl."

"Who wanted the good for this world."

"... I met Edgar, all red and tinted. He immediately stood out to me and I thought."

"... Wow. There's actually someone like me."

"... I thought I was all alone."

"... I tried approaching him, thinking it would be silly to do so."

"... All alone, thinking perhaps I didn't deserve him and that it'd probably be foolish and selfish to take him all for myself." She felt undeserving of him, but didn't mean she loved him less over it, as she merely wanted to know him better.

"... Then I thought."

"... What does it take to make this man happy?"

"What does it take just so I could see him smile? To have this man, who I barely knew about, to be happy over being just the same as me? Even if I couldn't have him?"

"... Before I knew it, we were a happy couple. He somehow got interested in me."

"Something about how I looked absolutely wild as a person. Although I never considered myself as such." At most, Miriam assumed herself to be a sort of leader.

"After a while, he then came to me with one of the most preposterous ideas yet, after we got engaged."

"... He said he wanted to revolutionize the world, by building a villain corporation."

"One that just so happened to take in villains, while making the most of their skills and while also taking them in as if it were their home. So they wouldn't feel as lonely against the harshness of this cold world."

"And then I was thinking."

"... Hah, that's so dumb. Only you to come up with such a plan and something so silly."

"... Until I realized myself that... I always wanted to just be seen and be acknowledged by people. To become a part of something that helped me nurture myself as a person. Even if I didn't want to."

"To... be helpful. To help those around me. Even if I happen to not have much on my own."

"... To be happy, and to be fair."

"... To bring smiles upon those who also had the same misfortune as well. To make people around me glad and thrilled to have me as a person just hanging about, while being able to socialize as a person."

"... To be treated... Just the same as a person... Nurtured, cared about as a human being."

"..."

"... I never excelled in anything. Or at the very least, I thought I didn't. I just so happened to have something in me that allowed me to become balanced skill-wise. 100% accuracy to be more accurate."

"Most I can brag about is my sniping skills and that's just because it just so happens to be one of my main interests. That's why I just became... better at it, because I legitimately enjoyed it so."

"I delved into it as soon the headquarters were founded and had its own guns, but quite frankly, I always thought snipers looked like the most awesome thing on the planet, to just bring down people's issues silently without involving anyone else at risk. Straight to the point, without harming anyone else."

"The thought of just... being able to embrace the ambient all around you, while you briskly take your time doing so. Embracing your preparations and comfortably holding my sniper tightly, almost as if time stops."

"That allowed me to bring my potential out as a super human."

"At the time, I didn't even know what a super human was, only that I was just not the same as others."

"Edgar explained to me that he happened to be the very first, having heard about this condition a little bit after they ran research on him, of heroes who also happened to have enhanced endurance, speed, strength, you name it. They started calling it the evolution of man itself. Which I wound up being a part of as well."

"... In the end, I guess I also helped create the headquarters to nurture them and bring out the best in people. To make the most of their potentials and unearth any corrupted good that pretends to care about us."

"When they didn't from the very start and just wants us to fall into the face of obscurity just because they don't know or just want to pretend we don't exist, focusing on the more common masses, making profit of their attention, villainizing us and making us feel all we do is cause havoc just because we feel like it."

"... When all we want is to be able to help regardless of who we are as people."

"... And be recognized, not being put in a pedestal, just being treated just the same as them."

Miss Miriam felt like she kept rambling for too long.

"... I'm talking too much, aren't I?" She felt embarrassed sharing such thoughts. She probably assumed Malcolm to be thinking of her as a chatter box, talking on her own.

"I can't help myself." She merely wanted to be part of a society who accepted her as who she was, while wanting to create a society that could help just the same.

"Perfectly understandable, if you ask me." Malcolm wasn't really minding her venting, if only because it wasn't often to hear her speak out in such a fashion, always seeing her conceal herself to others perhaps a bit too much.

"I guess I just want to treat people the same as I'd like to be treated." Although she realized not everyone wants to be treated just the same, many people being different of their own.

"Not treating anyone as if they're just... a nuisance or a burden to anyone, really. Or far much worse." She didn't anyone to be treated as less than human because of it.

"... Hearing myself just talk, it doesn't make me sound like much of a villain, does it?"

"... But I guess some people around the world do still consider us villains for ever wanting such freedom or wanting the very same kind of care as they have as well."

"... Definitely not here to conquer the world. That's not something they should be worrying about."

"I just want to make my men and women happy. Even if it takes me forever to."

"And I definitely can see it." Malcolm had been around the headquarters enough to see the potential of her men and women being brought out to its fullest, seeing them thrilled over having such a chance.

"You might be naive," Malcolm merely pointed out her childish wish, "but I can tell you mean well deep down from your heart. You're not someone who's actively trying to hurt people."

"I hope so." Miriam shared. "It'd be the least I want for my men or all the citizens."

"... Anyway, we're losing way too much time here. I've got a son to rescue." Miriam wanted to make sure to prioritize her son above all, making sure to reach those involved with the teleporters' development.

"I've been stalling for too long and I better see some results. I trust my son to take care after himself, but I wanna make sure I fall in the exact spot he's located, rather than just some random plot of land from some weird dimension and bring him back home safely, along with Hector and Jayt."

"And what about Dayley?" Malcolm then wondered what she was intending to do with him.

"He seems to be missing as well and worst of all, he might be hunting after your son as well! You've seen that footage, your son punched the daylights out of Dayley and I assume he wants to get back at him!"

"... That's something I already have things taken care of..."

In the mean time, Lemmy and his friends were still presencing the Rebirthing, all while Dayley stood by their side, lending his body and energy to fuel the Light of Anagi, in hopes of helping to create more protectors like him, his energy being sent far across the galaxy to spread across all dimensions.

Lemmy, who had just seen him, witnessed Dayley suddenly brandishing white silver eyes, which slightly scared him, wondering how he even got into the village and got his condition treated. He then immediately assumed that the Anagi who was being treated, was in fact, Dayley himself, but Adven not having recognized him.

".. H-hah!... H-hah!..." His anxiety grew, wondering if it meant Dayley was here to hold Naddy hostage and to take advantage of her or something far much worse he had been planning to make with her without Lemmy's knowledge.

Worst of all, he seemed to having gotten better from his shrinkage, allowing him to be back at his full strength, which Lemmy feared the most from him, having witnessed Dayley's powers from recorded footage.

"Dayley?!" He shouted, even surprising his friends, who were simply watching the events of the Rebirthing unfold, not knowing who Dayley was or who Lemmy was even talking about.

Dayley then started looking towards him in shock, his hands still reaching out for the sky, his eyes still seemingly pure silver white as well, his energy simply spreading across the night skies as his hands shivered, his heart almost having skipped a beat over such presence and feeling embarrassed over Lemmy and his friends watching him like that, since not many would see him act in such a way.

Lemmy then started running off, while begging for his friends to come.

"Wait, Lemmy, where are you going?!" Adven then started following him, his other friends following suit, having now left the village going into his pursuit, all while he left anxiously.

"Don't just stand there! We have to head towards the tower!" He shouted from the bottom of his lungs, wanting to get away from Dayley as far as possible, while hoping to reach the Brightburn Tower in hopes Dayley wouldn't get to her, just so he could rescue his girlfriend from him.

"Wait, why?!" Adven then was shook by those words, wondering what her friend felt troubled with, after seeing him speed through the Anagi villagers and leaving the village.

"That was Dayley!" He tried to warn them about this individual. "He's the one that sent me and my girlfriend to this dimension! If he catches me, or worse, catches my girlfriend, we're all through!"

"... Dayley?! What are you talking about? That was Dayley?!" Adven was even shocked hearing about such things, since she witnessed this person not long ago, hugging her out of despair.

"You shouldn't be trusting him! He's a villain! He kills people!" Lemmy even felt short of breath as he kept running forth towards the path that led to Brightburn Tower, all while his friends followed.

"... He's a monster! I've seen him do unspeakable things! You shouldn't even be approaching him!"

"... Huh?!" Adven then was surprised with such wording.

As they kept running towards the Brightburn Tower, which wasn't too far and ahead of them, Dayley then kept himself on that very same spot he was left in, wondering what was going on or what was even happening.

"... Hah..." He felt startled, nearly scared to death, slowly trying to process what was happening in front of him, as he slowly tried to realize that was Lemmy, escorted by his friends, who had just left the village.

"... Huh?"

For some reason, he didn't felt like following them, if only because for a minute, he forgot entirely about Lemmy or why he was even following him in the first place, having forgotten about his vengeance.

"... That was..."

"... Cube brain... The one who hit me back then..."

"..."

He then reminisced and rubbed the side of his face that felt that punch back then on his cheek.

Only to realize that, he no longer felt anything against him.

"..."

"... Sh..."

"... Should I be following them?" He felt divided, especially after having felt that by following Lemmy, that he nearly starved to death, but also, if it weren't for him, he wouldn't have run across his own kin.

"... Was that... the little pink poodle who... took care of me?..." He felt rather conflicted.

"... Hey!" The Anagi woman then approached him, wondering where Lemmy and his friends had gone to, after looking quite startled by Dayley.

"Where did they go?! Did you see where they went?!" The Anagi woman felt quite surprised her new friends having left the scene, as she assumed they were enjoying the Rebirthing as well, feeling it was a quite sudden of a leave and they felt troubled by something or that something had happened to them.

"... Huh..."

Dayley didn't even know how to respond, as he didn't know where they were headed.

"... They... went that direction..." He then pointed towards the path that headed towards Brightburn Tower, surprising the woman with the path that he was showing towards.

"... Hah!" The woman then felt startled about it, frightened about what could happen to them. "They're heading towards Brightburn Tower!"

"... B-brightburn Tower?..." He then reminisced that name, learning about it from that one man he couldn't reminisce, who's head looked almost like a flame. "Now that I remember..."

"... What is it about?" Dayley felt deeply disturbed about it due to its namesake.

"I remember... something being told about wishes..." He tried to reminisce something he overheard much before he even came to the village spoken by the ones he clung with.

"It's..." The Anagi woman then tried to explain.

"... It's what fuels us. But only when we're overwhelmed or stressed."

"... It... calm us... It's what gives comfort to our hearts and warmth." She tried to explain that the tower had existed for a purpose. "It existed a long time ago, helping us go through turmoils... When the Anagi feel over pressured, we can't help but feel... With a dire need or desire for the strength of the flames..."

"... We don't set fires or anything." She didn't want him to think he was maleficent because of it. "We just... like to see the flames of the fire dancing... It helps our spirits..."

"It is also the Tower of Creation as well." The Anagi woman then fell mildly concerned over her friends. "If they go there, something might happen to them! If they anger the Gods, who knows what'll happen to them..."

"The Gods?" Dayley definitely felt uneasy over this.

"... We've remained hidden for a reason. If the Gods get angered be it for any reason, that's more than enough reason to smite us out of existence." The Anagi have been transparent in fear of being erased by the Gods themselves.

"H-hah..." Dayley felt unnerved by all this. "D-does this mean..."

"... I-I could be erased as well?... And all of my village?..." He shuddered even thinking about it, even more after they took him so well and gave him support.

"Sh-should I be following them?" He now felt more obliged than anything.

"... At the very least, please follow them. I really don't want them to get hurt or anything." The Anagi woman felt worried something might happen to them. "One of them happens to be the one who took care after you. If something were to happen to them, I'd never be able to apologize myself for it."

"... The pink little girl." Dayley felt flustered over it. "She..."

Dayley then felt obliged to thank his village for taking care after him after they found him barely living, holding on to the strings of life itself.

"... Thank you. I... Who knows what could have happened to me... I could have be dead by now..." He felt thankful, even if slightly guilty of giving them such burden.

The Anagi woman then warmly smiled toward him, the village being thankful over him just feeling safe and only wanting their own people to be happy.

"... No problem. You're one of our own. If anything, we'd feel devastated if anything happened to you."

"... You're one of us. We even cried seeing you in tears, coiling in our hands."

"You were so small, we even held you on the palms of our hands, seeing you tremble..."

"... We kept begging for your name, but you were so worn and tired... You barely could move an inch..."

"..." Dayley felt like he did them wrong by doing such hazard decisions, wondering if what he was really doing was the right decision and feeling slightly less like a monster over it, feeling glad he at least helped them slightly by contributing his energy, even if little for them.

"... By the way, I hope you didn't mind our... unusual treatment." The Anagi wasn't sure if he was used to it, since she realized he was from another dimension. "I know it's not like from your planet of origin..."

"... O-oh! No... I'm just... Not used to it... But it helped, really..." He flustered thinking about it.

"Your eyes have been shining since then. They don't stop glowing white silver."

"Is it really normal? My eyes shining like this?" Dayley wondered if that wasn't unusual.

"If anything, it signals the hope inside you! It's when you are at your strongest." The woman Anagi shared.

"Did you enjoy your dinner? We had it prepared a while back, so it might have run cold a little bit." The Anagi woman implied that Dayley must've eaten a while before the Rebirthing, in hopes he could restore his energy and from his own condition. "We know you've been starving to death..."

"... Yep!" He merely thanked them, feeling snug in his two piece outfit after a warm meal, slightly tapping and hovering his fingers over his waist. "I... really can't say thank you enough..."

"... I'm sorry I've been such a burden. I really hope I can make it up to you." He thought that maybe he could thank them properly some day, even if it might mean he couldn't stay for long on this dimension.

"... As for now, I really think you should check on our friends. If they're not careful, they might accidentally summon the Gods and who knows what might happen." The Anagi then bid farewell to her kin.

"... Please be safe. We'd be heartbroken if anything happened to you."

Dayley even felt a bit tearful, but hoped to push himself toward and shake off those feelings.

"... Thank you!" He then puffed his chest and shook off the slight tears in his eyes.

"... Hopefully, I can find them."

Dayley then carried on, trying to walk in a moderate pace towards Brightburn Tower.

"... Wait, you're not using your speed?" The woman then questioned such decision.

"Oh!... I... It's kind of embarrassing to talk about it!..."

"... I get kind of sick and nauseous if I go too fast with it..." Dayley felt like he barely had control over his powers or anything about him, people never really having helped him on how to approach it.

"... Oh! That actually happens often." She told Dayley wasn't really the only one with it. "You're probably running while doing it, but you can also use your speed while walking with your energy."

"... I can?!" Dayley never thought it could be that easy. "But how can I-"

"Just walk slowly or a fast march and focus your energy on your feet and body. The energy alone can help carry you fast forward and bring you to places just as quickly as normally running."

"Wait, wait, wait, let me try..." He then hoped he could pull it off on his own.

He then immediately tried to walk briskly, while focusing his contained power on his feet, although he definitely wasn't used to this, simply because he didn't knew he could pull this off.

Immediately, he went back and forth and even tried to walk with his overwhelming speed across all of the village, wondering if he'd stay nauseous after holding it for a while, until he made a stop near her.

"... It works!" Dayley actually felt thrilled over it. "I- All these years, I thought I'd just have to live with it! It actually feels exciting for once!" He tapped his boot on the floor afterwards feeling that burn.

"It can wear out though, so be careful." She merely didn't want him to tire himself out.

"I will!"

He then hoped he wouldn't take any longer and to keep his promise to the villagers.

"... Wait!" The woman Anagi then stopped him one last time, with a burning question.

He then turned his head, wondering what it was all about.

"... We never got to know your name!..."

"... Do you mind sharing it with us?" She hoped he could give an answer with it.

"..." He then realized he never really shared it with the villagers and then shared it with a smile on his face, being thrilled over the chance to meet them and explore his potential to his fullest.

"... Dayley! Dayley Sparks!" He enthusiastically and cheerfully shouted.

He then waved towards the village one last time and towards the woman, as he headed to the path that led to Brightburn Tower, all while his cape fluttered along with the wind, with only but one goal in mind, to find Lemmy and his friends, hoping they wouldn't bring the wrath of the Brightburn Tower and with it, summon the Gods and their wrath to destroy the Anagi Village from this dimension.

In the meantime, Lemmy still didn't want to stop, as his friends continued to effervescently run after him, hoping he would stop.

"... Lemmy! Wait up!" Adven then shouted, wondering why her friend was so insistent on going forward, all without looking back or insisting on questioning the Anagi further.

"... Wait? What do you mean, wait?!" Lemmy then kept running, hoping not to stop even for a single minute, as he felt like his life depended on it.

"That guy's been waiting for us! And now, he's coming after us to kill me AND my girlfriend!"

"... Hnngh!" Adven then has had it with him.

"... Waiiiiit!!!"

Everyone then took a bit of a break, everyone panting and being short of breath.

"Oh... Oh... I've had enough running for a while now." Vonderv felt tired of having even run this far for so long, especially after that jungle marathon.

"Running is definitely not my best feat!"

"I came all the way flying and even I'm tired!" Roberta felt like her wings were to fall off.

"What are you doing, Adven?! Are you trying to get us killed?!" Lemmy then haphazardly shouted. "If we don't get to the tower immediately, Dayley's going to be on our tails any minute now!"

"... Okay, first of all, what do you mean by monster?!" Adven has had it with Lemmy not explaining the full story to her. "And second, are you really going in there going completely unprepared for the tower?!"

"We don't even know anything about it!" It was clear Adven's intentions were to clear any problem and avoid any issue they were about to face out in the tower itself, afraid of what might come towards them.

"What do you mean, what do I mean by monster?! Dayley's a monster! There's no doubts about it!" Lemmy just didn't want his friends to get hurt by Dayley, much less by Adven. "He's done terrible things!"

"... What are you talking about?! I've met him! He was absolutely terrified! He was as sweet as an angel!" She even remembered how his hug trembled on her as he hugged her, slightly tearful while he shivered.

"You don't know Dayley! He's a fake person! He's a lying bastard! All this time, we've had him constantly tormenting my own mother and having him mercilessly kill innocent people just because he felt like it!"

"... Hnngrgh!" Adven then felt like she had a gut feeling to her.

"If there was ever any fake person in there, IT'S THE MONSTER YOU THINK YOU SEE IN HIM!" Adven then shouted, almost as if she felt entrusted to defending him, even if it killed her, as she could not deny Dayley's fears.

"..." Lemmy even felt shook hearing those words and to even think of Adven defending a cold-blooded murderer.

"... You've gone insane, haven't you? That guy's totally got you charmed for him!"

"... If anything, he's the one that thinks himself to be a monster!" Adven had it with him jumping into mere conclusions and haphazardly calling him such a thing. "He was shivering back then!"

"What do you think that does to a person?! What do you think you turn yourself into if all you ever think of is being afraid of hurting people, containing yourself?! Becoming the very monster you're afraid of?!"

"How many years did it take for whoever did that to a person like him to turn himself into the monster you created?! How does one absolutely destroys a Anagi mental-wise when they're indestructible?!"

"Did you even help him?! Did your people even bother checking what was going on with him or what was it that was even happening with him?!"

"You don't get it! If it weren't for him, me and my girlfriend wouldn't even be in this situation!" Lemmy then started to defend himself. "Now because of him, my girlfriend's lost in this dimension!"

"Hnngh..." Adven couldn't be able to refute to that.

"... Just admit that you don't know the real Dayley! He's the reason why we're all in this! He's the reason why my mother's been stressing herself out over these last few years!"

"I..." Lemmy then started to stutter and fall apart.

"I... just want to get my girl back..." Lemmy felt desperate to get to her before Dayley ever did anything to her, hoping to get to her just in time to help her.

"... Please, Adven, I need this..."

"... If we don't, I'm not even sure how we're going back home..."

"... It doesn't make me regret the adventures I've had with you, but..."

"... I just want to get my girl back safe and sound..."

"... Please..."

Adven then felt obligated to make up for her promise to him, although it didn't mean what she defended didn't deserve less attention to it, continuing to defend Dayley in her mind and wondering as to what level and lengths people might have mistreated him or what made a presumably strong man lose all hope in mankind.

"... I don't know where you are from or where you're even coming from..."

"... But... Something happened to that man. I'll still stick by my own words! But I'll trust you on this, even if it takes me... I don't want to risk your girlfriend's life because of it..."

"... And hopefully... We're not doing anything wrong about it..."

"... Thank you, Adven." Lemmy then thanked her, appreciating how much patient of a friend he even had, feeling bad that he even had to shout at her, only because he was concerned about her and his girlfriend.

"... Sorry for shouting at you... You didn't deserve it."

"... Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all... I guess I just don't see that in him as of yet..."

"... I don't know his full story, so maybe you're right, I don't know..." Lemmy felt like maybe, he had a reason, even if it didn't forgive Dayley's actions.

"... If you say you saw him like that, I..."

"I can't imagine Dayley even acting like that, much less kind... I have seen him do good actions, but then, stuff started to get unearthed about him and crimes seemed to be covered and done by him."

"... You ever thought that, perhaps, he didn't intend them?" Adven started to wonder if he was just being pressured or overwhelmed by stress. "... What if no one helped him to control his powers?"

"... Killing people accidentally? How would that even work? Not unless he was trying to defend himself or thinking someone was going way too far with something... Or taking advantage of him..."

"... That'd definitely make him think himself as a monster though..." Adven merely assumed, but had no clues about it. "And maybe contain them... That... That sounds so sad come to think about it..."

"..." Lemmy then stood quiet, thinking solemnly about it.

"... Come on, we have to head for the tower." He then hoped to keep going. "Hopefully, we'll find Naddy in there. And then hopefully, find a way back home and bring her with me... I miss her so damn much..."

"... Oh. And Von's friend as well!" Lemmy then remembered his promise.

"... O-oh yeah!" Vonderv felt a bit shocked witnessing that argument, not wanting to interrupt it simply because he didn't know what they were talking about.

"My friend!... Heheh..."

But as he smiled and tried to keep up with Lemmy and Adven, Vonderv suddenly felt a painful jolt run through him.

"... Hnngh!" He tightened the grip of his hand on his chest, on his sniper shot wound.

"... Hey, you okay there?!" Lemmy then felt startled, wondering what was wrong.

"... Y-yeah!... I'm fine!..." He suddenly felt a bit anxious about it.

"... Hey, Von, don't do this to me!" Lemmy then begged. "If something's wrong, you have to say it! I won't do anything haphazardly unless I know something's wrong! You have to tell something!"

"... Huh..." Vonderv then tried to stall but felt like he couldn't keep it to himself any longer.

"... So, huh, you know about how how you rescued your pink little friend there from the Midnight Crawler?" Vonderv then shared something quite unexpected, as he didn't happen to share the fact that he knew about it.

"Yeah, I-" Lemmy then suddenly stopped.

"... Wait, how do you know about that?!" Lemmy suddenly felt startled about it.

"... Hngh, well, I..."

Vonderv then trembled quite a bit.

"... I might have been keeping him inside me for a little too long now..." He seemed to suggest this had happened a while back, long before they even met. "By becoming a vessel of it..."

"... Wait!... You're the Guardian who's keeping him?!" Adven then got shocked by Vonderv dishing out the truth about him and what he kept inside himself.

"Have you gone out of your mind?! Do you even know what the Midnight Crawler is?!"

"Y-yeah, I know!..." Vonderv then stuttered for a bit.

"... Being made out of negative emotions... Smart idea of me to become a vessel for it!..."

"Do you even know what that'll do to you?!" Adven then got terrified of what might happen. "If you keep it in for too long, it'll corrupt you! It'll consume you as a person and engulf your being!"

"You won't even be able to think straight! You're going to lose control of yourself!"

While Adven explained what would happen to him, Von was practically taking deep breaths.

"... Y-yeah, I guess I didn't think of the consequences... I-I guess I just wanted to save the village off from peril or something..." Vonderv admitted he had been in the forest just near Vertigo Village.

"I didn't think I'd meet you eventually!..." He then regretted getting himself in such a situation.

"... We... We need to get to Brightburn Tower..." He said while breaking a sweat.

"... If we get there, I can also get myself a wish!... And hopefully, I can wish myself back to normal... As well as make my friend's wish a reality as well..." He hoped he could make it by then without fainting.

"I sure hope you're right, Von..." Lemmy lamented his condition.

"Von... What if... What if something had happened to you?" Lemmy then felt scared, over possibly having lost his friend back then. "You wouldn't have said a word... And something terrible could have happened..."

"... I'm sorry, Lemm... I know I haven't exactly been truthful..." Von felt divided over keeping him such secrets. "I keep thinking it's for your own good, when in reality, I keep risking myself..."

"I'll make it up to you, I swear..." Von made that a promise.

"... But in the meantime, we really have to head for that tower..."

As they then kept pushing themselves forward, Vonderv kept clutching to his wound, hoping he'd make it there on time, both to keep his promise to a friend he had met a while back, hoping to make his friends' wish a reality and help Lemmy, while hoping to get his injuries healed by a wish as well.

In the mean time, Hector and Jayt, after having left off from the village, frightful of its emptiness, they were heading towards the Brightburn Tower, night having already fallen.

"... That village was giving me the creeps!" Hector couldn't help but feel frightened by it, as he kept running with Jayt following him, who was just behind him, trying to catch up to him.

"... Look, we've made it to the tower! We're almost there!"

As Hector pointed forward, his finger seemed to be pointing towards a ominous tower, with remarkable height, spitting flames from its core and the roof with the flames of its fire burning atop of it.

As they approach, they had finally made it, its height looming in on them threateningly.

"... Wew! That was quite a run!" Hector never felt so spooked in all his life from it.

"... Man, that village was frightening! What's up with that?!"

Jayt then looked towards the tower, who's flames would immediately warm those around it.

"... So this is the Brightburn Tower..."

Jayt then stared at it, cold sweat coming from his brow, looking from down below.

"... I don't like this place one bit..." Jayt seemed rather scared of the eeriness the tower transmitted from the top of it. "It unsettles me for some reason."

"I can get why." Hector quickly understood it. "Don't worry, buddy, as soon as we find Lemmy and his friends, we'll get out of this joint in no time! The least I want is seeing you worried."

"... No time to waste. We need to get inside and try to run a full scope on the situation here." Hector assumed they had to climb to the top of it, but realized Lemmy still wasn't there for the time being.

"Yeah, sure..." Jayt then merely followed Hector as they tried to enter it.

As soon as they made their entrance, they were met with a incredibly large tower seen from the inside, a monument marking its center, with stairs that went all the way upstairs to the roof, its ground floor containing nothing more than a painting just in front of the monument that could be seen from the entrance.

Jayt was met by this painting, feeling unnerved by it all while he stared.

The painting was nothing more than three entities, met with light on the background. One looked like a damsel wrapped in gentle white clothing looking at peace with herself, another a Dullahan warrior with a great arsenal, the third looking like a great bearded elderly bestowed with knowledge.

A part of it seemed scorched from the flames that came from this tower.

"..."

"Jayt!" Hector then called out his own friend, who seemed to be stalling a little bit for too long, hoping he could help him.

Hector, having checked that nothing was on the ground floor, then started climbing up the stairs, hoping to get some answers from this location while hoping Lemmy would come to them.

"... Coming!"

Jayt then proceeded to follow Hector while climbing up these stairs, who spiraled upwards as the tower kept going, its height looming in on them.

Afterwards, Lemmy and his friends had also made it, not too long shortly after Hector and Jayt, hoping to get Vonderv's wishes to come true and to find Lemmy's girlfriend, who was still missing.

"... We made it!" Lemmy then smiled, until he witnessed the full glimpse of the tower.

"Woah..." Adven was then met with shock.

As they were just in front of the Brightburn Tower, burning efervescently at their sight, its glow already having been spotted from afar, its flames incandescent coming from it.

"... That's a big tower." Lemmy was surprised he had to climb all that.

"... Come on, we need to get in there." Lemmy then tried to go ahead while his friends followed, trying to keep his courage and going forward, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

As they made their way inside the tower, they were also met with the same monument that Hector and Jayt had run across as well in the center of the tower, the red drapery decorating this tower all cross the hallways and the rooms.

It seemed to be shaped like a flame orb, transmitting warmth across the ground floor, just in front of a painting Lemmy for some reason felt curious about.

"Hey, is that?..."

As they looked towards the painting, Lemmy was met with interest over these mysterious entities that were depicted in it.

"The Tower of Gods..." Adven then looked towards the painting.

"... That's Amea. Goddess of Peace and Tranquility." Adven then pointed to the woman-like entity on the right of the painting. "Her spirit lives on and carries gentleness to all of our churches."

"... Duran." She pointed to the entity then on the top of the painting, a Dullahan-like warrior.

"... The God of War and Bloodshed. For centuries, he has guided troops and warriors with his immense arsenal, bestowing it only upon those who are worthy of carrying the weapons of a God." To her, it was a God many were fearful of.

And finally, she pointed towards the entity on the left of this painting.

"... Sabre."

"... The God of Wisdom and Knowledge."

"... He shares wisdom to those near the deaths' gate or to those who he deems worthy of carrying such knowledge, blessing them with the gift of helping those with it and travel across this land."

"All these are the Gods of this dimension." Adven ended it at that, remembering most of what the church taught her as the years had gone by, while she was bonding with her sisters.

"... Huh..." Lemmy then felt at awe over these entities.

"... Huh?"

He then realized something about it.

"... What happened to the painting?"

Lemmy then pointed towards the lower half of the painting.

It seemed to be scorched, practically riddened with black, parts of the painting even falling apart, crumbs and ashes falling towards the floor.

"... I think the flames from this tower scorched it." Adven wasn't sure what to make of it.

"... Any way, this tower wasn't the only one that existed. There were actually several."

"But as time went by, the towers had collapsed, people having built in memory of them."

"My church happened to be built on top of one of them, dedicated to Amea. There's a library that was also built from one of the towers as well as another place, a weapons blacksmith on top of another."

"How many were there?" Lemmy wondered and questioned about it.

"... Four? I think they were four. This one's the last one remaining."

"... You think it has something to do with the Gods themselves?" Lemmy thought about it.

"... It makes sense, doesn't it?..." Adven then felt troubled by it.

While Lemmy and his friends were still inside the tower's ground floor, Dayley was actually approaching the tower slowly but surely after using his speed, finally getting to witness it.

He felt his heart being at ease near it, all while he saw the flames dancing on top of it.

"..."

He was fascinated by how the flames twirled around the rooftop, the height of this tower looming over Dayley with its architecture.

"..." A thought then came across him, wondering something about his past, all while he rubbed his temples.

"... So you mean to tell me, that was all a lie then?..." He thought to himself, of something that felt like it belonged to his past, something he couldn't help constantly remember from it.

"..."

"... I still think about it."

"... There's no way I forgot about it..."

He felt troubled by it even after all this time.

He then witnessed Lemmy and his friends, just inside the tower, glimpsing towards a painting from outside that seemed to be haunting them.

"... What are they staring at?" Dayley wondered as he kept watching over them.

As he approached the entrance, he wasn't even aware that a sniper aim was trying to aim towards Lemmy and his own friends, specifically Vonderv from just outside the tower, with his back turned.

As the aim was about ready to lock, the trigger was about to get pulled.

Just as the trigger was about to get pulled, Dayley got in the aim's path.

But before they could hesitate, it was already too late.

The silver bullet was shot and immediately ran across the plains to hit Dayley.

Only for it to not even make a dent, as Dayley's skin seemed to practically ricochet the bullet from him.

It aimed towards the back of his head.

As Dayley felt that bullet, he then turned his head around, searching where it was coming from.

From the aim, the person who had a sniper seemed like it could watch Dayley's white eyes shimmer.

"... W-w-what's up with this guy?!" The aim then started to shake with them.

It was in fact, the Wolf, who got himself out of jail, after being apprehended by the Barochka Special Forces, but having dealt with them by force, getting away from their grasp to run away from prison.

He seemed to be out yet again to get Vonderv and his Half-Faced Charm, which he had in his possession.

Immediately, Dayley, who had seen that the aim was for one of Lemmy's friends, used his speed and instantly approached the Wolf with it, practically almost scaring him half to death and startling him.

"... E-e-e-eek!" The Wolf's teeth then chattered, witnessing Dayley from so up close.

Dayley, who had no reaction to it other than it being a nuisance, then held on to his sniper, clutched it and quickly resumed to crushing it with merely just his hand alone, its shape no longer being recognizable.

"... Ahh! My sniper!" The Wolf immediately regretted taking a shot at this being, thinking of Dayley as if he were some kind of monster. "What did you do with it?! That was my gun!"

"... I merely took it out of its service." Dayley then quickly disposed of it as if it were nothing.

"... Why are you shooting them?" Dayley wanted answers more than anything.

"E-e-eyargh! I just wanted to shoot the pig!" The Wolf felt like his wish had been taken from him.

"... The pig?" Dayley then quickly noticed a rotund purple figure with Lemmy as well.

"... P-p-p-please spare me! I got nothing left! I'll do anything!" The Wolf even begged for his life to be spared, hoping not to get murdered in cold blood by what he assumed to be a true monstrosity.

"P-p-p-please, I just want to live!"

He then grabbed the Wolf by his garb and threw him off to the distance with relative ease, hoping it'd be the last he'd see of him, while remaining composed, flying off afterwards to get inside the tower.

"Yaaaaargh!" The Wolf then shouted as he flew towards the sky and towards the ground.

"... Damn it, I need to protect them." Dayley didn't realize they were in so much peril, what with strangers going after them to hunt one of their own. "If anything happens to them, they'll..."

"... Ugh... What am I even doing here?..." Dayley felt like if they ran across him, that Lemmy wouldn't excuse his actions, especially not after what he did. "Especially not after what I've done..."

Regardless of it, something in him insisted for him to be in there, as to protect Lemmy and his friends from harm, having special consideration over the one that cared about him.

"..."

Dayley, having then made up his mind, flew towards the tower, hoping to catch them, while remaining hidden in the distance.

While Dayley was already making his way towards the tower, the Wolf then got up from his feet, feeling frustrated that someone like that could put a stop to his plans, while shaking off his own dirt.

"... Consarn it! That freak got in the way of things!" The Wolf was practically enraged with the fact that if it weren't for him, he would have been one step closer to becoming a actual God entity.

"... Hnngh, good thing I still have my revolver! But all my bullets were in that thing! And he merely crushed them like they were paper!" The Wolf had just run out of silver bullets as they were in his sniper.

"... Just one more shot! One more shot and that pig will be dead!" He then opened his revolver.

"Even if it's the last thing I do here!" The Wolf then growled as he put his ordinary bullets in it.

To be continued?

[faerie-goth]

Love Bites

It was a day that started like any other - woke up with a batcat purring in my ear, had a quick breakfast with Sherry and Rio, Lynt failing to fight off slumber yet again and nearly face-planting into his porridge, then off to class.  All pretty par for the course in the magical realm, or at least, that’s how my days had typically gone since the day the universe saw fit to randomly chew me up and spit me out in freaking Narnia.  My normally cool and collected boyfriend causing problems?  Not so much.

***

***

“Oi.  Studying by yourself, I see?”

My thoughts were interrupted by one Guy Avari, known pain in my ass.  I glared up at him from my textbook, eyes threatening to bore a hole through his big stupid head.  Is heat vision a thing in this realm?  No, probably should not even attempt that on a prince, as irritating as he may be.

“I was with Sherry and Aquia for a while, but they both had things to do.”  As inconspicuously as I can, I spread out my things in an attempt to make the table look as uninviting as possible.  Too bad, no room for you.  Go bother someone else.

He attempts to place a hand on my arm, something I’ve learned to dodge after dealing with both him and Fenn for quite some time now.  I scowl in return.  Why are all the men here so handsy? Welp, time to go hide in the music room.

He huffs under his breath.  “Come with me,”  he demands rather than asking, once again reaching for me.

“No thanks, I’m perfectly fine in the library,” I deflect, swatting the offending hand away.

Crimson eyes meet crimson, as he glares right back in an attempt to bend me to his will.

“You will belong to Avari,” he hisses.

“I am not a thing to be owned, Guy!”  I prod his chest with my finger.  “And certainly not by the likes of you!”

He shifts, clearly uncomfortable with the presence of someone behind me.  

“Threatening students again, I see?”  Toa remarks, clearly unamused.  The blue haired prince quickly swoops in to stand a respectful distance behind me, but just barely.  If I leaned back far enough, I’d probably bump into his warm…er, cool, broad chest.  Not a good time, brain!

The library was blessedly empty, with most of the higher ranking students in class.  The two princes were known for their spats, and although they never got physical, well, they definitely kept life interesting.

“Tch.  Just offering her some private tutoring in my chambers,” Guy remarks unapologetically.

Really?  Is that what you’re calling it now?  More like borderline sexual harassment.

“Hmpf.  You made no mention of going there to study,” Toa points out.  His hand strokes his chin as he casts a suspicious gaze at the other man.  I quickly make to gather my things, eternally grateful to Toa for saving my hide.  Again.   

“What are you really after, Avari?”  Toa was in full-blown ice prince mode now.  

“Tch. None of your damn business.”  He glances between the two of us, clearly contemplating how much trouble he’d be in for using his more forbidden talents in front of Toa, of all people.

Toa obviously picked up on this quickly, because in a moment he had a firm hand on my shoulder, gently nudging me on.  “Come now, we’ll review what you learned in class over some tea.”

***

***

I was engulfed by a strong pair of arms practically the moment the door to the music room clicked shut.  Toa could be needy at times, but he preferred to save any sort of physical affection for behind closed doors, particularly because we had not quite made our relationship public.  It wasn’t that we were unsure of our feelings for one another, but that we had a mutual dread of the teasing and invasive, inappropriate, indecent questions we’d likely receive from a handful of gossips, friend and foe alike, but especially Fenn.  The man had a way for knowing precisely how best to get under your skin, and had an absolute field day with it.  Besides, sneaking around was fun; at least for now.

When I didn’t immediately respond to his unspoken request for attention, he moved to rest his chin on my shoulder, deviously ghosting his lips over my neck as his hands crept down towards my hips and underneath my blouse.  I inclined my neck to give him better access, but was not anticipating…

"Mmhmm...Toa, if you keep doing that you're gonna leave a mark,"  I warned.

“Ah….ack!  Toa, what are you doing?”  I questioned as he continued his pursuit, all intentions of studying clearly forgotten.

                                                                                    “Mmm...I need...you.” He panted between rough mouthed kisses, slowly maneuvering us to the couch that was at the center of the room.  How we didn’t manage to trip over something with how intent he was on making a snack of my neck was beyond me.  Without his usual grace, he flopped onto the furniture, then pulled me onto his lap to continue his pursuit.

He shot me a pointed look before proceeding to affix himself to my neck like a freaking lamprey.

“Fuck!  Toaaaa!”  I winced.  “Are you trying to out us or something?”

He pulls back, smirking like the Cheshire cat, then rubs soft circles with his thumb over what I assume to be a pretty large hickey.  “That’ll teach Avari to keep his hands off what does not belong to him.”  

I glared right back, although it was incredibly hard to stay mad at him while I was still straddling the man, that devilish look on his face, those long navy blue lashes that kissed his cheeks like a butterfly with each blink of his eyes….Why does he have to be so damn gorgeous?

“Toa…” I start in a warning tone.  “You do know there’s no way you’re getting this past Sherry, right?  Not to mention that once Letty knows, Fenn knows.”

The blue haired man waves his hand nonchalantly.  “Once they know, you can be properly protected from Guy and Fenn.  They’ll be annoying for a while but…no, wait, Fenn is always annoying, and Guy is...”

“The bane of your existence?”  I grin, pressing a kiss to his nose.  “Okay, but you owe me for this.  I would have preferred to tell my friends on my own terms and deal with the chaos later, not everything all at once.”

“Okay, I know the two of you are…involved?  But…gwrrr…okay, technically you’re already in Toa’s private room.  This is going to take some getting used to.”

“Urk!”

Knight chooses now, of all times to enter the music room with the tea trolley.  Thankfully he is only pushing it rather than handling something fragile, because if he had, it would likely be in pieces on the floor.

***

***

I shook my head, setting my tray down in the spot next to her.  “Nope.  Had some trouble with Guy in the library earlier.  Toa had me hide out with him in the music room for a bit to evade him and blow off some steam.”

As usual, Rio had insisted on the usual gang having dinner together, so I made my way to the dining hall after my intensive makeout study session with Toa.  Lynt was nearly sleeping in his soup, while a frantic Tino attempted to arouse him enough to get some food in him.  Sherry was animatedly telling Rio about a magical accident that had befallen some poor unfortunate soul in her potions class earlier, while Rio was absolutely shoveling bread and some sort of roast meat into his mouth.

“There you are!”  Sherry exclaimed.  “I was beginning to worry about you.  Tough lesson?”

“Is that what we’re calling it now?” The Invidian princess shot me a knowing look, her golden eyes twinkling with mirth.

I sputtered.  “It’s Toa.  We had some tea and cookies, and he reviewed a couple things with me.  Nothing happened.”

She giggled.  “Are you sure about that, Lysandra?”

Rio, dear sweet clueless Rio, suddenly looks up from his meal to form a rather delicate question.  “Say Lys, did you get bit by a mosquito or something today?  You have a big red mark on your neck.”

“Uh…mate…” Thoma, bless him, attempts to put an end to this awkward conversation, but it’s too late.

“Not unless mosquitoes are six feet tall and have blue hair,” Sherry says through a fit of laughter as she pulls a tell-tale strand of blue hair from my collar.  “Rio!  That’s a hickey!”

“A what now?”  

Poor Rio.  Poor me.  My face must be on fire by now.  Tino blushes just as furiously, but refuses to comment on the situation.

“A love bite, Rio!  Surely you must know what that is?”

Lynt chooses now, of all times to look up.  “Lysandra has a paramour?”  *Yawn*  “Mmh.  Well, as long as you’re happy together.”

“Lys is courting someone?”  Rio asks with a confused look on his face.  “But when would she even find the time?  If she isn’t with us, you’re usually holed up with Toa in the music room, aren’t you?”

“Ah.  So that’s why he’s been in such a good mood lately,”  Lynt remarks, smiling softly.  “You’re good for him.”  

“Wait…so you and Toa?”  Rio finally gets it.  “But that mark…Toa’s the prim and proper sort.  I can’t imagine him doing that sort of thing.”

“Ahhh, but that’s love for ya,”  Thoma reassures him.  “Toa must be absolutely smitten.”

I sigh in defeat.  There’s no getting out of this one.  “He caught Guy harassing me in the library.  Toa’s a bit…”

“Possessive?” Sherry is positively beaming.

I grimace, absentmindedly covering the mark with my palm.  “I was going to say territorial, but that works too.  Especially when it comes to Guy.”

“Those two do get on like a fox in a henhouse,” Rio murmurs in agreement.  “I’m glad it’s Toa though.  I would be awfully fretful if you were stepping out with some lad who might not treat you right.”

“I for one am eager to hear about what he’s like when you’re alone together,” Sherry gives me a conspiratorial wink.  “Drinks in my room with Letty later?”

[13uswntimagines]

Cutie Pie (Christen x Reader)

Request: christen x reader one? Maybe where the reader has a child (1-2 years old) and the Team doesn't know. Reader and her child are at a game right behind the bench and the kid accidentally drops his paci down to the bench and the teammates there interact with them without knowing that it's christens girl? Reader also is really tall and fit and a tomboy!

“Alright half-pint, you ready for this?” You asked the little girl in your arms, bouncing her just a touch as you stepped through the stadium gates. 

“Yeah, Mama!!!” She cheered around her pacifier, staring around the stadium in awe and wiggling excitedly. 

You were happy that she loved coming to games so much, as they were kinda a big part of your life. You weren’t quite sure what you would do if she didn’t. She was your soul and a certain soccer player had your heart, and you were glad that you didn’t have to choose between the two. 

You smiled indulgently down at her and kissed her slightly chubby cheeks. “I’m glad baby,” 

She wiggled again, her little bounces getting more and more wild with every step you took in the stadium. You hadn’t really planned on having Riley, but now you couldn’t imagine your life without her and her wonder at everything around the two of you.

“Chris?” She asked as you passed a giant poster of the national team, pointing towards where your favorite forward’s blinding smile was blown up 100 times its normal size. 

You would be forever grateful for how amazing your girlfriend was with your daughter. 

She came into your life nearly a year and a half ago, and you had been extremely reluctant to introduce her to your 6 month old (You didn’t want either of them to get attached before you knew it would work out), but Christen took the role of parent very seriously. She treated your little girl like she was her own, and the two had an unbearable bond. You knew that even if things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to, Riley would always have a friend in the forward. 

“You bet. I’m sure she’s super excited to see you!” You said, glancing down at your ticket to and looking for the right section, navigating through the crowd without issue (something you were used to considering how private you and Chris were about your relationship, the only person on the team who knew about you was Tobin). 

“She score?” Riley questioned, her pacifier bobbing adorably in her mouth and her little eyebrows furrowing. 

“I’m sure she will, just for you kiddo,” You smiled, blowing a raspberry into the little girl's neck, and earning a giggle. “Now, do you think you can help me count the rows so we can get to our seats?” You asked as you passed under the sign with your section number and the pitch came into view. 

Riley nodded, puffing her little chest up. She may only be 2, but you and Christen had been working hard on her colors and numbers. She still needed help, but she was super smart for her age. 

“Alrighty then baby, let’s go,” 

*****

The team wasn’t usually this distracted. They were a group of highly competitive women who were at the top of their game, which meant that they could usually block out all of the noise from the stadium, even if it was just warmup. However, the cutest kid they had ever seen was sitting just behind the bench, being held by a very attractive lady. 

“Oh my gosh, have you seen the little girl?” Kelley asked, slinging an arm around Christen and Tobin’s shoulders, nodding towards the toddler in the stands. 

A gooey smile (something that didn’t go unnoticed by Tobin) broke across Christen’s face the second she saw her two favorite people. She noted how you had dressed the little one in the jersey she had gotten her for Christmas, a bold 23 visible every time she flashed her back towards the field. There was just something about having a part of herself visible (something tangible) on the girl she thought of as a daughter. “Yes, she’s absolutely adorable in that jersey,” 

She wiggled her fingers at the little girl who squealed excitedly and waved back. Her mom wrapped a protective arm around her belly to prevent her from accidentally wiggling under the guardrail. 

“Too bad it’s got Press’ number on it” Megan laughed, wrapping her arm around Christen’s other side, nudging the woman’s ribs. Christen rolled her eyes and shot the little girl another little wave, giggling when she bounced wildly in her mother’s arms (Christen might have also greatly appreciated the way the girl's reaction forced you to flex to prevent her from falling). 

“And her mom doesn’t look too bad either,” Ashlyn added, wiggling her eyebrows. 

The woman behind the little girl was tall, and the black ink that swirled up her arms only served to make her muscles more visible (Christen would call her drool-worthy after she finally told the team she was dating her). 

“You’re married, remember?” Ali grumbled, slapping her wife in the stomach. 

“Yeah, but If I wasn’t…” Ashlyn shrugged, cackling when Ali hit her harder. Christen frowned, suppressing a sneer. You were hers, even if the team didn’t know yet. 

Tobin smirked, gently grabbing her training outfit to prevent her from moving forward. “Come on, you can go flirt later. We have to get changed for the game,” She laughed towards Ashlyn, subtly pulling Christen towards the tunnel. 

The rest of the group laughed and followed after them. There would be plenty of time to say hi to the small child later after they had won. 

The forwards still sent another small wave towards the toddler clearly frowning now that her favorite person was walking away (she also may have winked your way just for kicks). 

*****

You could tell that Riley was having a blast. Her little hands wrapped around the bars of the railing so she could be as close to the action as possible. She waved to every player as they passed her (no matter how many times they did) and giggled exuberantly every time they waved back. 

It seemed that the team on the bench was far more interested in making your little girl laugh than watching the game (and you could only imagine how it would be when they finally realized that one of their teammates was basically her second mom). 

“Babe, you gotta stay a little away from the edge alright?” You said softly, tapping her shoulder when her little head went just a little too far through the bars. 

She definitely had your tendency to get in over her head. She ignored you, too enamored by Christen darting down the field, and shooting the ball. It sailed right past the goalie’s hands and before you could grab your little one she was leaping up and down, head still through the bars screaming “Goal!!” as loud as she could around the pacifier. But her enthusiasm caused the small object to fall out of her mouth.

“Uh oh,” Riley said, turning to you, her bottom lip trembling. 

You scooped her up, and she immediately nuzzled into your neck. “It’s ok babydoll,” you murmured into her hair, bouncing her and looking over the railing.

You leaned over the side, only to see one Kelley O’Hara holding your daughter's pacifier and rubbing her head. “Lose something?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow up at you. 

“Sorry, she got a little excited,” You said blushing a little bit. A little smirk graced Kelley’s lips you looked absolutely adorable with some red in your cheeks and paired with the backward cap it made you practically irresistible. 

“Don’t we all when Pressy scores a goal?” Megan winked up at you, wiggling her fingers at your little girl when she peeked up from your shoulder. 

“That’s fair, but she’s a very big fan,” You smiled, bouncing the little girl in your arms and blowing a raspberry just under her chin. 

“Well in that case, why don’t you two come down on the field? You know, so we can return this?” Ashlyn asked, grabbing the pacifier out of Kelley’s hand and jingling it a little. 

“What do you think babydoll?” You whispered into your daughter’s ear, as she was suddenly too shy to look at the soccer players who she had been interacting with not even minutes ago. 

“Wanna go,” she mumbled into your neck, just loud enough for the girls on the ground to hear. Kelley smiled wildly. “Well, little miss speaks after all!”

“Come to the stairs and we’ll get security to let you down. The games about to be over anyway,” Megan said, pointing towards where a little stairway was located. 

You nodded and headed in that direction, unaware of Christen’s furrowed eyebrows on the field. 

*****

“Oh my gosh, that kid is freaking adorable,” Alex said, trotting up beside Christen just as the final whistle blew. Christen turned towards where Alex was looking, awing at the sight before her. 

Riley was shyly standing behind you, clutching the back of your tank top so tightly that it was pulling down the collar (simultaneously showing off some of the swirling lines she knew spread across the skin of your shoulders). 

She would peek out to get a glance at one of the soccer players vying for her attention, and then tuck back into you the second she realized they were looking at her. 

“Isn’t she?” Christen smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. She might not be biologically related to your daughter, but she was 100% her other mom. She loved that little girl so much it hurt  (even when her pigtails were crooked- you were great at a lot of things but hair certainly wasn’t one). 

“Your gooey is showing,” Tobin said, nudging the forward. Christen opened her mouth to respond but was cut of by a very excited squeal. 

“Chris!!!” It yelled, just before a little body collided with the forward’s legs. She quickly bent down to lift the little girl up, throwing her in the air before allowing her to settle on her hip. “Missed you,”

“I missed you too babydoll,” Christen said into your daughter’s hair, holding her tight. She absolutely loved her job, but one major downside was that she couldn’t take you and Riley with her all of the time. At least she had Tobin to keep her up to date most of the time since you lived in Portland, but there was absolutely nothing like holding her two favorite people in person. 

“You better at hair and clothes,” Riley mumbled into her neck, pulling back just a bit to wave her hand around her head. You tried. You really did, but there was a reason you always kept your hair short. You weren’t into bows and frilly things, but your little girl absolutely loved them. So you did your best and were very grateful that Christen was so good with that kind of stuff. 

Christen threw her head back and laughed “I know baby,”. She rubbed Riley’s belly “Did you enjoy the game?” 

“Yeah, you score goal for me and mama,” Riley cheered and kicked her leg as if recreating the goal. Christen laughed again and began walking in your direction. “That’s right. I scored just for my favorite girls,” 

“Hey I scored too you know, and I want some baby bear hugs,” Tobin said, appearing over Christen’s shoulder. 

Riley wiggled wildly in Christen’s arms, practically throwing herself at her favorite aunt. “Aunt Toby!!” She yelled as Tobin dramatically spun her in circles. 

Christen watched the two with a wide smile, only looking away when she felt a presence beside her. 

“Hey superstar, you looked amazing out there,” your smile was evident in your voice as you wrapped your arms around Christen’s waist from behind, kissing her ear and resting your head on her shoulder. 

She signed happily and leaned back into you for a second, before spinning in your arms. “Hey darling,” she said, leaning up and placing a kiss on your lips. 

“Wait, you know Christen?” A voice appeared very close to you, and you reluctantly pulled away from your girlfriend to look at one Kelley o’hara’s wide eyes. 

“Well she’s my girlfriend, so yeah,” Christen shrugged, leaning up to kiss you again. 

You hear Kelley and several other team members sputter, but you were far too preoccupied to actually care. That was until a little voice joined the mix. 

You pulled away when you heard little feet approaching you, squatting down to catch your very excited little girl. You stood with her in your arms, unable to stop you smile when Christen wrapped her arms around the two of you. 

“Yes baby?” Christen asked, running a hand down your daughters back to try and settle her excited wiggiling just a little. 

“Mama, mommy, we go eat with aunt Toby?” Riley asked. And Christen’s sent her an indulgent smile blinking back tears (you were happy that Tobin was so accepting and great with your babygirl). Sure Christen might not have been biologically related to her, but Riley was 100% hers.

[glassessence]

Elriel Hint and Analysis - includes analysis of Feysand & Nessian (ACOSF Spoilers)

I’m pretty new to the fandom, but I am currently obsessed with Elriel. This is my ship and I will go down with it until the day I die. As a fairly casual reader, I honestly had zero doubts the next book would be Elain’s and that the couple would be Elriel. 

Then I discovered the existence of the extra POV chapters and Azriel’s threw me in for a bit of a loop. Especially with the ending (which I genuinely believe is a red herring. I lean very heavily into the lightsinger Gwyn theory).

However, stalking Tumblr made me come across this again: 

Life and death and rebirth

Sun and moon and dark

Rot and bloom and bones

Hello, sweet thing. Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn. 

Love me, touch me, sing me.

And then my brain accidentally vomited an essay on the symbolism in each sister’s journey... 

Life and death and rebirth so clearly symbolise Feysand’s journey. Feyre leaves behind her life of poverty for a brand new one with Tamlin. She journeys Under the Mountain for love of him and ultimately succeeds in saving not just him, but all of them. In the process, she dies. Not just in the physical sense, but spiritually too. Feyre the human perishes, giving rise to Feyre the High Fae. In a purely physical sense, this is definitely a rebirth. But it’s stilted, incomplete. She’s the newly born phoenix - young, fragile and yet covered in the ashes of its fiery death. Her spiritual rebirth lags behind her newly changed body. Like a bird in a cage, she is trapped in Tamlin’s realm, unable to finish developing, to spread wings and fly. 

That all changes when she is whisked away to the Night Court. She learns to read and some of the ash falls from her body. She makes friends and some more ash is brushed away by the Inner Circle. The final remnants of ash are blown away by the taste of freedom and the kiss of wind, and Feyre’s rebirth is finally complete. Spiritually and physically, she is changed. She becomes Feyre the High Lady. From life back to life, she is returned through the power of love. Take note that while love is important in all the sisters’ journeys, it is the focal point and highlight of Feyre’s. She is someone who has never been loved in that wholesome, selfless way Rhysand loves her. Tamlin was possessive and abusive; Nesta was barbed and sharp. Elain was fragile and ethereal. Love was something she had never really known and consequently something she desperately, desperately needed. That’s why the phrase that symbolises her is love me.

Sun and moon and dark refers very much to Nessian. Nesta is the sun and she is burning. Has been burning for a long, long time. She is aflame, nothing but ashes inside, and her words are fire. She scalds anyone who dares approach, just as everything melts before the sun. Like Feyre, she has had her physical rebirth, but not her spiritual one. She is trapped in her own head, locked behind her own self-hatred, her own raging inferno that yields to no one. Like Feyre, she is also a phoenix, but one whose fire never stopped. In that sense, she has never died. Her spiritual rebirth is not simply incomplete; it has never happened.

Until she starts training with Cassian. Until she starts befriending Emerie and Gwyn. This is what marks the death of Nesta the human and the emergence of Nesta the High Fae. (I use the term ‘human’ loosely here, mostly as a way of conveying my point about her spiritual journey rather than the state of her physical being). She loses her solar flare, that inner blaze that was killing her and blackening her soul. She mellows from unapproachable sun to a softer moon. It’s here that she stays a while, seeming to progress and regress in her healing journey as the moon waxes and wanes. It’s not until the hiking scene that she finally breaks. She weeps despite Cassian’s expectations to the contrary. Through her tears, she finally extinguishes the long-raging fire and hatred that has been destroying her. No more blazing sun, no more wavering moon. Only darkness to cradle her, and acceptance. Through Cassian’s ceaseless efforts and her friends, her journey reaches its apex. She finally becomes Nesta the Valkyrie. 

Her journey hinges heavily upon the fact that nobody could reach her through the flames. Nobody had kept trying after getting burned again and again. Nobody except Cassian. He reaches out, time after time, even when she hurts him. Even when she burns him. Until he succeeds and touches her soul. That’s why the phrase that symbolises her is touch me.

Of course that leaves only the last line: rot and bloom and bones. I wonder who this could symbolise! Surely not the Archeron sister who is associated with roses and has a complicated romance dilemma with someone from the Autumn Court (rot) and someone else from the Night Court (bones)! Surely not!

Jokes aside, I strongly believe this line reveals Elain’s journey. If we continue thinking of the words as a progression, I think it makes a lot of sense. Keeping in mind the theme of life, death and rebirth, this is how I think of it: 

Life / Rot / stagnation, the start of the journey

Death / Bloom / change, the start of healing

Rebirth / Bones / ascendance and acceptance, the start of the future

There are several interesting things to note about the sentence: 

The word bloom is nestled among rot and bones

Elain’s two potential love interests both have strong associations with those words

I’ll address each point as we delve into Elain’s analysis. 

Let’s start with Elain the human. As previously established, this is when the character is at their worst, blind in the dark before the dawn. I see this as Elain’s forced transformation by the Cauldron. Everything she knows is ripped away from her and her marriage crumbled to dust. She is thrust into a world both unknown and at war. She emerges changed and cursed with powers she cannot control and does not understand. Her life, once a slow-blooming flower, has just rotted into nothing. She is lost, confused and deeply depressed. Her physical rebirth may be complete, but her spiritual rebirth cannot begin until she gathers the shattered pieces of herself back together.

This happens slowly. So slowly, in fact, that it’s hard to notice and easy to dismiss. She befriends Nuala and Cerridwen. Begins gardening again. Talks to the Inner Circle and buys them gifts for Solstice. Slowly, so very slowly, she is starting to piece herself back together. Off-page, she quietly unravels Elain the human and emerges from her cocoon as Elain the High Fae. Like a wilted flower that has dropped its petals, a new season has come, bringing with it new buds. She is blooming, opening herself to new possibilities for companionship, love and for a new self to rise to the surface. But blooms are fragile, newly born things. Elain hasn’t dealt with the full force of her trauma, of her lifelong lack of choice (I’m not going to delve into this as there are so many amazing analyses out there!). She is a trembling fawn, still trying to learn how to walk.

But her spiritual rebirth will remake her. Bones. It’s so different from the previous two words that it really leaves an impact. Blooms rot and fade. Flesh breaks and dies. But bones are strong, the frame that holds up our entire beings. Bones are unyielding and solid, taking no other shape like blood nor bruising like flesh. I see this as Elain standing up for herself, unswayed by external forces that have always governed her life and breaking away from the fragile flower people have always thought she was. By cutting away the rotting flesh, she will reveal the backbone beneath and ascend as Elain the Kingslayer/Seer. 

Of course, closely tied to each sister’s personal growth arc is her love interest. For me, I don’t see it going any other way than Azriel. 

SJM chose rot not only to represent the ‘life’ section of Elain’s personal journey, but also to represent Lucien. He has connections to the Autumn Court, a season that is often associated with decay and rot, but also with harvest and bounty. Highlighting the negative aspects of autumn invokes a strong sense of wrongness. Lucien is not right for her. Not to say anything bad about his character; he’s just not right for Elain. His presence in the books eats away at her newfound boldness; he rots away the path she is trying to carve for herself. 

On the other hand, Azriel is closely tied with death, with blood and bones and shadow. He’s not only Rhys’ spymaster, he’s also his torturer. His association is with bones, a word that invokes a sense of everlasting, of persevering beyond death. Bones is also used to describe the ‘rebirth’ section of Elain’s personal growth arc, the final aspect that leads to ascendance, and acceptance of one’s past and present. Meanwhile, bloom represents Elain herself and the ‘death’ portion of her story, the aspect that heralds change and healing. 

Rot, bloom and bones represent both her personal journey and her love interests. It’s all intrinsically linked. Lucien is ‘life’ and stagnation, Elain is ‘death’ and change, and Azriel is ‘rebirth’ and acceptance. As a progression, this is how I interpret the sentence: 

By rejecting the bond with Lucien, she is stepping into herself and forging something everlasting with Azriel.

Lastly, let’s not forget that the phrase symbolising her is sing me. This didn’t make much sense to me until I read Azriel’s bonus POV. In it, he confesses to Gwyn that he does sing. Why include this if it’s not a subtle callback to this prophetic paragraph in ACOMAF? It feels like a treat to hardcore fans who like finding all the little connections (since they’re the ones most likely to have read the bonus chapters). The fact that Gwyn also sings signals to me there’s an important plot point regarding song. Maybe homegirl Elain will be forced to throw a hardcore metal concert to save Az XD Wouldn’t that be a plot twist HAHAHA. 

I don’t know when SJM started planting seeds for Elriel in any serious capacity, so perhaps I am reading WAY too much into this. Either way, I am super keen for the next book!

Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts! I am desperate for Elriel right now hahaha. Thanks for reading! 

OH, BUT ONE MORE THING. 

The greetings are really interesting. Sweet thing obviously refers to Feyre. Lady of night and princess of decay are clearly meant for Nesta. 

Fanged beast and trembling fawn are left for Elain. It’s easy to write this off as being about her LI and herself, respectively, but I don’t know. The sentences build upon each other. A single moniker grows to two - the first separated by a comma, the second expanding to use an and. It’s something you see a lot in poetry, generally used to emphasise a point. I’m not entirely sure what the point is; it might just be a nice writing flourish, but wouldn’t it be interesting if both those statements were referring to Elain herself? Wouldn’t it just be juicy? 

[squidwen]

Match Up #4

⚡️Sebek Zigvolt⚡️

For the lovely @sugarandmelody

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Your rambunctious and escapist personality have this royal retainer not knowing which way to look! Of course, you can’t expect a relationship with this man to be a walk in the park, but you definitely will be able to hold your own.

First of all, your protective nature is something he’s drawn to like a moth to flame. He relates a lot to you when it comes to wanting to protect those he admires, so be prepared if he corners you one day and asks demands you train with him to refine your fighting skills. Perhaps he can turn you into Malleus’s next retainer? But if you play around by adding dance moves to your attacks, expect him to scold you while blushing bright red.

(BONUS: Lilia will be howling with laughter from the ceiling beams. Don’t be surprised if the mischievous fae orders Sebek to dance with you in those moments. It would then be your turn to play teacher since Sebek is not used to loose and gentle movements!)

Furthermore, if you ever are in a situation where you’re about to battle someone for dissing your friends, expect Sebek to be there quick as lightning to defend you. But…if you defend him…oh my word… He would be blown away. Being half-human as he is, Sebek is still strong thanks to his fairy genes. So to see a complete human, such as yourself, weaker than he is, not even hesitate to protect those closest to them, has him questioning all his morals. Aren’t humans supposed to be greedy and pathetic? Wait… does this mean you’re not human? Put simply, you enrich Sebek and slowly start to deconstruct all the prejudiced assumptions he’s developed from being told stories of the fae-human war.

I also think that, despite his propensity to scold and nag people, he does take great solace in your jokey and friendly demeanour. You counter-balance his harshness. He may question interrogate you on your past, since you always are so jovial whenever telling your anecdotes. He loves seeing you laugh and smile, and he’s extremely interested in the customs of other cultures. The only time he would draw the line would be if you used self-deprecating jokes. As your partner, he has duties to you now: to dote on you and uphold your dignity and wellbeing. You yourself are no exception. He would immediately challenge you speaking ill of yourself and lecture you on how you’re only giving other people permission to say the same things. He won’t abide it.

And your fondness of literature is a deal-breaker. Sebek claims he only reads for the sake of deepening his cultural understanding, but I bet he totally gorges on fairy tales! Reading offsets the stress of having to defend Malleus, much like your bubbliness makes him less austere. If you’re interested in a particular author or genre, expect him to pay frequent trips to the school library to get books he thinks the two of you would like. And as someone who likes to criticise things, Sebek would love it if you could share your thoughts on the things you read. You’ve already broken down so many perceptions he had of humans, so he’s intrigued to hear everything you have to say.

Finally, if you injure yourself in any way, shape, or form, expect to be given an earful by Sebek. How are you so accident-prone? Should you be wrapped in cotton wool just in case? His words may be harsh, but his touch less so. Since he’s a trained guardsman, he’s also practiced in healing (in case the battlefield demanded it). Expect every scrape to be dressed with upmost care. But if you hurt yourself training with him/if he hurts you, he’ll panic. It’s his job to protect you! You might have to calm him down and tell him you’re okay. And if you get back up and say you want to continue, he’ll praise you on your tenacity and progress.

All in all, it’s a solid match. The pair of you are like yin and yang, two sides of the same coin. After all, a partner is supposed to be your ‘other half’; someone who accepts all of you while showing you things you’ve never seen before, and that’s just what you are to Sebek. You present him with an outlook on life completely foreign to what he’d originally perceived, and you are the pause in the midst of all the turmoil that’s demanded of him.

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