#i want to have more comments but i'm humbly in awe

[hekateinhell]

The Coven of the Articulate is a large scale sex work company run by the mysterious Queen and her King. They cater to a multitude of world's depending on what floor or building you go into. Want to go to ancient Rome and find what's in Pandora's box? What about spending an evening in the Venetian renaissance with beauties out of a Botticelli painting? Or perhaps pre-revolutionary Paris with a runaway aristocrat? There's someone and something for every taste from shy and chaste, awaiting debauchery to people ready to break bones along with breaking your back. The employees live in residence and half the fun is had outside of operational open hours between them. You could request more than one and see it some of their fun for yourself, but it's going to cost you.

... I'm going to need the 100k on my desk by the end of the month. Also going to repost over on the kink meme account because this prompt deserves a fair chance. 🙏🏼

[wolfiesmoon]

hey, i wanted to say first that i love ur writing style. Also I wanted to ask (if is not a problem) jade, floyd and leona the prompt “cheek kisses that leave red lipstick stains”

awwww i'm so glad u think so!! i'm not sure if you mean the more silly one or the more serious one but either way i'm very happy 🩷

the reader is gender neutral in essence but they do wear lipstick because it's needed for this fic

jade's is suggestive i suppose????? so watch out for that????

⋆୨୧˚ Jade Leech

"Interesting choice of lipstick. Not in a bad way, of course." Jade commented upon seeing you.

"I bought it yesterday, but I still have something I have to test out." You tried your best to look innocent and nonchalant.

You've had this lipstick for a while actually, but you still haven't tested if it's transfer proof yet. Jade is the perfect candidate to test that out. Atleast in your humble opinion.

"Oh? And what might that be?" he smiled at you.

"You'll see. Like, literally right now." you mirrored his decievingly innocent smile. After you kiss him, his eyes will probably go wide like they always do when he isn't expecting something. Which just so happens to be one of your favourite expressions of his.

You reached your hands out to him and pulled his face close to yours, then pressed a nice, long kiss on his right cheek. You mirrored it on the left one too, of course. Symmetry always looks nice.

Just like you predicted, he made the exact face you envisioned, with slightly pink cheeks as a bonus.

"Oh. I was... certainly not expecting that." he sounded genuinely surprised, smiling happily at you and showcasing his sharp teeth in the process. Knowing Jade, you honestly don't want to know what he thought you were going to do with that lipstick.

"Aw man, it's not transfer proof." you acted slightly dissapointed, but in reality, you couldn't be more glad that it isn't. Hmmm, it kinda feels nice to catch Jade off guard like that. Maybe you should do it more often.

"You don't realise what you've just done, do you?" his smile quickly turns sinister in a way you can't quite put your finger on. It makes you feel all weird, like you're pray getting cornered.

"Done what?" you laughed nervously.

"I do hope that you are good at hiding bite marks." as he said that, he was already grabbing your wrist and dragging you to god knows where.

"Wait... Jade, where are you taking me? Jade?!"

You have a feeling the lipstick might get smudged by the time you're done.

⋆୨୧˚ Floyd Leech

"I don't wanna talk to you..." Floyd sulked, not looking at you.

"He's been like this for the whole day." Normally, Jade would deal with Floyd's bad mood, but he's been causing even more trouble for the Lounge than usual today and was not very willing to be put in a better mood by his brother, so Jade was forced to employ higher forces to help him out. The higher forces being you, of course.

"Right... Actually, I think I might have an idea on how to solve this." You thought of a certain thing you wanted to for a while now but never had the chance to.

"Is that so?" Jade noticed the mischevious smile on your face, amused at whatever you'll come up with.

.

"Floyd, come with me." You pulled on his collar, sounding confident and serious.

"I told you, I'm not going to talk to you..." he glared at you, trying to push your hand away.

"There's no talking involved." You pulled harder and he finally let up, silently letting you drag him to a quiet corner of the school.

Because he's still in a bad mood, he hasn't looked your way at all. This also means he hasn't noticed the lipstick.

Suddenly, you grab a hold of his face and press a kiss to his lips before he can protest.

"Oh... oooooooh!" His face brightened up and it seems his mood has instantly improved. Floyd's a surprsingly simple guy sometimes, isn't he?

But, you're not done yet.

You pepper kisses on each of his cheeks without letting him say anything at all. He lets out strange but not entirely unwelcome noises while you're busy decorating his cheeks with kiss marks.

"There. Are you in a better mood now? Because the Mostro Lounge needs you." you looked satisfied with your work and so did Floyd when he got a glance of himself in the mirror.

"Ehhhh, do I really have to? I feel like squeezing you, not going to work. Especially not now that I'm all decorated with your kisses." he looked annoyed at the mention of work, wanting nothing more than to smother you with love and bonecrushing hugs right now.

Seems your plan kinda backfired since he became a little too happy and doesn't seem fond of letting you go anytime soon.

⋆୨୧˚ Leona Kingscholar

It is a bit unusual for you to wear such a bright lipstick color. He brushes it off, thinking you were just in the mood for a bright color or something.

Why should he care what color your lips are, anyways? Does not matter at all.

"Leonaaaa.... come here, kitty kitty~" you called him over jokingly and he glared at you in annoyance which only made you snort harder. But he still came over anyways, so you call it a win.

He looked at you, waiting for you to clarify on what you called him over for. Better be worth his time.

You grabbed a hold of the two braids at the front of his hair and pulled him into a kiss. Though it was a short(er) one since your main targets are his cheeks.

You made sure to thoroughly decorate them with kisses, turning his head left and right to inspect your work and make sure the number was about equal.

"You done?" he tries to sound unbothered, but you immediately see through it. He's definitely really happy about it.

"Yeah. You can go back to napping now." you let him go, and he lingered for a moment, no doubt dissapointed that you actually said yes. But since he didn't want to show it, he returned to his napping spot under the tree and you went back to studying in the library.

.

"Leeeeeoooonaaaa! Are you here again? Professor Crewel is mad at y- What is that on your face?" Ruggie's scolding session was cut short when he noticed the lipstick marks on Leona's face.

"What are you.... Ugh..." turns out Leona kinda forgot about the fact that lipstick usually leaves marks and that his cheeks were full of 'em this whole time. He groans at the realisation.

Though... they might not be that bad if they were made by you.

"Oh my god, stay still. I gotta take a photo of this. I'm sure your family would be happy to know you're doing well in your love life." Ruggie was about to pull out his phone but was stopped by Leona who swiftly grabbed his wrist. Wait, since when was he standing, anyways?

"Jesus, you scare me sometimes..." Ruggie pushes his phone back in his pocket. "Well, do I go get something to clean your face or what?"

Leona hesitates.

"Yeah, yeah."

[annymation]

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 11- Into The Eye Of A Storm

Chapter 10

The rain was falling down, and thunder could be heard humbling over Rosas.

Aster struggled to free himself from the king's chains that are coming from his staff, but to no avail.

The king just looked down on the star as he held him close to his face, so he began to speak casually:

"So, "Aster" was it? Hehehe I gotta say though, naming yourself just "Star" in Greek? Maybe not your... "Brightest" moment, hum? AH! HA HA HA" The king laughs at his own pun. He completely moved on from the bad mood he was in earlier "OH- I'm on a ROLL today!"

Aster ignores the bad joke as he keeps trying to use his magic to free himself. But their powers aren't responding to him, he's not able to shrink, nor glow brighter, nor unlock the chains, nothing. All he can do is fly and even that feels weaker.

"UGH- Why can't I-"

"Feel your power?" The king finishes their sentence "Dark magic: versatile, easy to use, but somehow oh sooo unappreciated. But I'm sure your magic isn't anything to sneeze at neither, right?" He grabs Aster's face with one hand and makes the star look at him "Care to share a little bit of it? Promise I'll give it back." He says with a very obviously faux gentle tone.

"Yeah right, if you take away my magic you're gonna KILL me!" Aster looks at him furiously.

"Oh you know that? Aw shucks, really thought I could trick ya... But then again" His grin widens "I think you'll come to find that you don't have a choice in the matter"

Asha is still on the top of the building, even though Aster begged her to run.

“LET GO OF HIM!”

Magnifico ignores her like she’s not even there. He’s floating about 2 meters away from where she’s standing.

He’s focused on analyzing the star closely while holding his face “Hmm and what a fascinating form you’ve chosen, it’s like you’re her little hero in cape and everything? How sweet.” He says in a mocking way while pinching his cheek “Though you surely look a lot more… Childlike than I expected, say, how old are you?”

Aster is still fighting but he doesn’t see why not answer the question “Eighteen.”

“18 what, boy? 18 hundred? 18 thousand? Be specific.” The king says nonchalantly.

Aster kinda stops struggling for a second and just gives the king a confused glance “… Well, if you want specifics, I’m 17, but I’m turning 18 in like 2 weeks from now so-”

“Wa-wait you’re serious?” The king interrupts him, staring at him in disbelief. The star nods… Magnifico quickly turns his attention to the girl below them and yells at her in frustration “ASHA! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? MILLIONS OF STARS IN THE SKY AND YOU WISHED UPON A WEAK LITTLE RUNT?! THIS THING IS A BABY” He says while shaking Aster side to side by the chains on his wrists like a rag doll, making the star a bit dizzy.

(A reminder that this man can switch from threatening to comedic at any second and I love it. Like he’s complaining to her like she just got him the wrong pizza toppings.)

“IF THEY’RE NOT WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR THEN LET THEM GO!” Asha exclaims at him, her face is filled with rage.

Magnifico calms down and looks back to the star in his hands like he’s pondering his next move “Hmmmmm… Nah.” He shrugs with a smile “Beggars can’t be choosers I suppose. Besides, this just means he’s too weak to fight back. Isn’t that right, little one?” The king asks with a wicked grin while looking deep into the star’s eyes.

That comment made Aster frown a little.

Even though it’s raining, a few people start gathering bellow where they are to see what’s going on.

Magnifico smiles widely at that. He speaks quietly so just Aster can hear:

“Ooooh looks like we have an audience. Do me a kindness and try to look as defeated and pathetic as you can, okay? I could really use the positive image right now.” Aster has a sad face “Perfect! you’re a natural.” He says like Aster and him are about to perform a scene together in a play.

Asha is looking side to side trying to think on what to do… She notices something on the floor.

The king walks on the air to get few feet down, so his people can better hear him.

(Now let me explain how exactly Magnifico’s flying works, he’s not floating around like Aster does, he’s much more “standing” while underneath his feet there’s a green light, like he just created the steps of a stair. If you watched Onward you know what I mean, it’s exactly like this)

(So I guess Onward reference, huh, who would’ve thought, a Pixar reference at last, took me long enough.)

“REJOICE MY PEOPLE!” the king exclaims ecstatic “Our little “Wish stealing star” issues have been resolved much earlier than expected!” That got a reaction from Aster, his face became furious once again “Like I said, you can always count on me t-“

Aster screamed on the king’s face “THE ONLY WISH STEALER HERE IS YOU! YOU LYING SNA- HMmH!” The king used his magic to keep the boy’s mouth shut.

“Oh-ho and it’s FEISTY TOO! Heheh- GOOD! I was worried this would be way too easy-“

🪕B L A M🎶

“OUCH! AAAH!”

The crowd gasps.

Something just hit the king’s head and made him lose focus on the flying spell. He falls on the floor.

… Asha just threw her Saba’s mandolin on Magnifico’s face, she’s standing on top of the building breathing deeply, relieved that it was a perfect shot.

Aster is free from the chains.

The star doesn’t skip a beat and flies to Asha immediately, holding her in his arms bridal style.

“Hold on tight!” Aster says.

The two fly off in the rain.

We cut to King Magnifico laying face first on the floor.

He didn’t fall from too high up but it was still quite painful.

The crowd is all around him, worried for their king.

Queen Amable rushes to where he is, with some guards pushing the people aside to let her pass.

“DARLING!! OH MY- ANYTHING HURT??” The queen asks genuinely worried, as she sits on her knees next to him.

“… Just my pride.” His voice is muffled, because his face is still laying on the floor. He begins to stand up as he asks “Ugh- quick, how’s my face?” He asks his wife while touching his own face to feel if there’s any injuries.

“As handsome as always, mi rey” The queen coos, caressing his cheek lovingly.

His eyes light up as his excitement returns to him at full force.

“THEN NO HARM DONE!” He exclaims, smiling like a mad man, he’s high on the adrenaline of the hunt.

He stands up quickly to go catch those teens.

“A little bump in the road, sure! But no need for panic everyone!” The king announces to the people around “Just remain in doors and stay calm, things may get a little... Messy hehehe" He chuckles, thinking of all the forbidden and deadly spells he'll finally have an excuse to use.

He uses his staff to run upwards on thin air, he just can't wait to kill those two teens but-

He feels something pulling his cape.

He looks down.

... Amaya is holding his cape, looking at him worriedly... As in, ACTUALLY worried.

He looks at her puzzled, but his eyes for the first time show a gleam of humanity as he looks down on the love of his life.

"... Just... Be careful." She says, glancing at the storm above them.

... Magnus gives her a comforting smile as he removes his cape, it'll be easier to fly without it weighting him down.

He hands the cape to her, whispering softly "I'll be back before you know it."

...

And up he goes.

Amaya is holding his cape tightly...

She has a bad feeling about this.

...

Okay, so now you guys might think Asha and Aster successfully skedaddled from the king's grasp because he took too long on the ground, right?

Well I'm sorry to say but you thought wrong. Here's what was happening with our heroes while this was taking place.

Aster is flying with Asha in his arms, they're going back to the forest, his cape leaves a trail of light.

He sounds quite traumatized as he says:

"HOW DID THAT CREEP MANAGE TO DECEIVE A WHOLE KINGDOM FOR YEARS?? HE'S SCARIER THAN A VAMPIRE STAR!"

(Vampire stars: stars that sucks the outer layers of material from a companion star, stripping their "bitten" victim down to a mere stellar core.

This is a real thing, and now I'm adding to the lore of wishing stars that there are these evil vampire stars that suck away other wishing star's powers... We have fun here.)

"Welcome to Rosas," (🎶Come on, come this way- sorry) "Where everyone just sees what they want to see." Asha says with a saddened expression. She's looking down on her kingdom as they fly away.

She looks at the castle in the distance...

"Wait... Aster, we gotta go to the castle!" Asha tells him determined

The star stops flying abruptly.

"UUUH Why???" Aster asks her in shock, this is kinda deja vu to that other time she suggested they should run to the castle.

"You can un-curse wishes!" She exclaimed "You un-cursed my wish! We can save A LOT of people if we go in there and you use your magic on as many as you can!"

Now usually Aster would be more than happy to do just that... But he's still a bit shaken by the whole encounter with the king, he's afraid he might catch up to them.

"Asha... I'm not sure we-"

"We can do this, he flies way slower than you, if we hurry we can get there before him." She looks into Aster's eyes, she's full of hope that they can at least save some of her people.

Aster can see her light shining brighter.

"... Then we better hurry." He gives her a trusting smile.

He turns around, flying towards the castle as fast as possible.

As they're reaching the castle, there's indeed no sign of Magnifico.

They get near the window of the wishes room.

"See? Told you we could do it." Asha says with a smile

"Yeah... I guess I am a lot faster than him." He says while flying to get through the window "Now let's do this quick before- OUCH!" Aster hits something when he tries to get in...

There's a green forcefield that manifested on the open window when Aster tries getting through it.

"What th-" Aster tries to hit it to get his hand through but the magic seems to be as strong as concrete, he groans in frustration.

Asha’s smile immediately fell into a scowl.

“oooOOOH SERIOUSLY?!” Asha screams.

“Why, yes. I do take the safety of my people’s wishes very seriously.”

… Take a wild guess on who’s standing behind them with a smug grin…

As soon as Aster hears the king’s voice he JUMPS and flies to the roof of the tower.

He’s holding Asha tightly as he KICKS the roof with his two feet to push himself away from the castle, thus flying away even faster.

Magnifico simply smiles as he uses his staff to once again summons a green hand.

The hand moves quickly through the rain.

Aster is flying as fast as he can but-

The hand catches him.

Asha falls from his arms.

She screams as she falls down.

“NO!” Aster yells in desperation.

Magnifico is now right next to him, smiling maliciously.

“Ah the stars look so pretty when they fall, don’t they?”

Aster’s legs are still free, so he KICKS the staff from Magnifico’s hand, making the king lose focus on the spell.

Aster is freed and flies down almost at the speed of light

It’s a shame the moment was so quick, maybe Aster would’ve noticed Magnifico almost stopped floating when the staff left his hand for a second…

“… That was close…” Magnifico said under his breath

Aster catches Asha in his arms.

“YOU OKAY??” He asks terrified.

“NOPE” She says shaken to her core. Holding him tightly.

Aster weights their options in his head… If they go to to the forest the king is just gonna follow them, he won’t give up on getting his power…

His power.

That’s what the king wants, not Asha.

…

He’s gonna have to break Rule number 1 again.

“Asha, listen.” The Star calls her attention, sounding more serious than ever “We gonna have to split up again, but I PROMISE I’ll come back before you know it.”

Asha looks at him confused.

“What?”

His animation looks more sketchy, like it’s unfinished.

“I’ll send you to the forest, very deep into it, so he can’t find you, I’ll just keep him busy for a-“

“NO! You can’t fight him off! You gotta stay AWAY from him.” She’s holding him by the cape.

“I know, but it’s the only way I can keep you safe.”

He lets her go from his arms, making her float with his magic.

“ASTER WAIT!”

“I’ll know where to find you… I’m sorry.”

He stops flying away.

And makes his star dust cary her, flying away deep into the forest.

Asha is looking back at him in the verge of tears.

All Aster can do is sigh.

…

Alright.

Time to fight a sorcerer king.

That happens to be right behind him, again.

“You know there are wolves in those woods, right?” Magnifico asks sarcastically as he floats like he's laying down on thin air.

Aster turn around quickly and uses his star dust to make several swords.

He throws them at the king and-

*Poof*

They just disappear into glittery smoke when they touch him.

“PFFT AHAHAHAHAAH STOP IT- I didn’t sign up for a tickle fight! Hahah” Magnifico holds his sides as he laughs

Aster is stunned.

“W-what? How did y-“

The king casted another spell to capture Aster, but this time the star dodges it.

Aster flies upwards.

The king follows with a wicked smile.

Aster doesn't understand, why didn’t that work?... Maybe the king was just expecting it and shielded himself? Yeah. That’s gotta be it.

He tries again, this time trying to do what the king did to him before, creating chains made of star dust to tie him down.

When the chains reach Magnifico, he just dust them off his body with his hand like it’s nothing.

… Aster is pretty peeved to say the least. His animation seems more sketchy and rough.

“HOW IS THIS FAIR? Your dark magic thing makes my powers useless!” Aster exclaims while he flies away from the king.

“Ha! You think THIS is because of my magic?! Boy, come on, I know you’re young, but don’t tell me I actually know more about your kind than YOU do!”

Aster keeps flying away, but he looks back at the king as he asks “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Let me "enlighten you", little one.”

He charges up a lightning spell.

“Your magic is made out of… JOY!

⚡️

Aster manages to dodge the lightning.

“GOODNESS!”

⚡️

Aster barely managed to escape the second one

“AND LIGHT!”

⚡️

“AGH!”

Aster didn’t dodge this last one. Their chest has a hole in it now…

That didn’t feel like that time Valentino jumped through him, this actually hurts... A lot.

Magnifico takes the opportunity to capture him again, this time tying him up with a snake made out of green magic.

Aster doesn’t have time to react before he’s wrapped in the snake’s grip.

There's the sound of thunder near them.

Magnifico approaches him slowly, now that the boy is held still in one place.

“And those things- Well, they can’t really hurt anyone, now can they? Heh heh” Magnifico is now flying right next to the star “So... I’m afraid there's little you can do to defend yourself, or anyone else.” He makes a little pout as if to fake pity.

… Aster never knew his magic couldn’t hurt others… Then again, hurting others was never something that crossed his mind before he met this man.

“… If it’s only made of good things then… Why do you want it so bad?” Aster asks

Magnifico’s eyes light up with the question.

“Oooh because it just needs to be wielded by the RIGHT person, my boy. Yes, in you, this magic is very limited because your heart is pure… But in me and my beloved queen however… We’ll be able to do ANYTHING.” He leans in closer to look at the star straight in the eyes as he adds “And that includes hurting the petulant little brat that wished upon you~”

Aster feels a chill run down his whole body. He couldn’t let that happen.

He tried to struggle out of the snake's grip.

Magnifico is amused by the star's determination.

“Heh heh stubborn just like her, aren’t you?”

“YEAH! SHE IS STUBBORN, AND YOU KNOW WHAT?! EVEN IF YOU DO STEAL MY POWER, YOU CAN’T STOP HER, SHES GONNA INSPIRE EVERYONE IN THAT KINGDOM TO RISE UP AGAINST YOU!” Aster exclaims with no doubt that Asha can do it, even without his help.

“Now what are you blabbering about insp- … Wait” Magnifico looks at nothing as he starts connecting the dots “Don’t tell me- That little performance you two were doing at the plaza…” a smile starts creeping in his face, and he starts trying to hold in a laugh “was -pffff- waS THAT AN ATTEMPT TO- HAHAH TO “INSPIRE” THOSE PEASANTS?!” The king has a maniacal smile.

… Aster doesn’t respond, he just avoids eye contact.

“*GASP* IT WAS! WASN’T IT?! OH- HAHAHAHAH” He lets out an evil laugh that echoes through the storm.

Aster tries not paying attention to what Magnifico says.

He tries looking at anything else, the rain, the lightning strikes in the distance, the king's staff...

Wait.

“OH- oh that’s hahha! That’s too good! OH and let me guess, that was YOUR idea, wasn’t it?!”

Aster already muted Magnifico's voice in his head, he looks closely to the staff... It seems to be made of...

Copper.

Aster hears another thunder.

The boy has a realization… This man is not smart.

Said man holds the star’s face, so he looks at him in the eyes.

“And here I was expecting that the girl got some WISE and MIGHTY guide from the sky! But NOPE! All she got was YOU, a naive little boy that doesn't know ANYTHING about how the world works!" The king has a deranged grin ear to ear as his grip on the boy's face tightens.

"Did you actually think that SINGING and DANCING would change ANYTHING?! Honestly, how much of a FOOL are you?!"

...

The star's face crescents into... A smile.

And the king hear's something that he REALLY didn't expect to hear from the boy.

"...pffft hihihi hi hi he- hehe heeh he heh ahah aahha aha ha HAHAH HAHAHAHA HAHAHA AHAAAHHAHAAHHAHHAHA"

The star boy is just laughing… It’s a youthful and free spirited laugh.

Magnifico's evil glee is replaced by bewilderment. He blinks a few times as the boy keeps laughing in his face.

... Did he just break this kid?... Already? After just knowing him for less than an hour?... Well, that sure is a new record for the king.

Magnifico looks frustrated as he asks "What's so funny?"

Aster calms down, and simply looks at the king with a playful smile as he explains

"Hehe oh nothing it's just that- heh heh yeah, I may be a fool but..." Aster's smile turns into cheeky smirk, and there's a gleam of mischief in his eyes as he says confidently:

"At least I'm not the IDIOT that brought a stick made of copper... Into the eye of a storm."

Magnifico's eyes widens.

And at the same time that realization hits him... Something else hits him too.

And all he has time to say is:

"Oh no-"

(hahahaAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH aaaah… I waited 11 chapters to write this by the way.)

The king’s staff is hit by a lightning bolt, sending shockwaves through his body.

A painful scream echos above the Kingdom of Rosas.

“MAGNUS!!!”

The queen exclaimed in horror.

... Just as she feared... He got carried away.

Needless to say, Aster’s body is freed from the king’s grasp. The boy watches as the man plummets along with the rain drops.

Aster isn’t smiling anymore, even he is shaken by what just happened, even though he saw it coming.

But he has no time to dwell on this now, he has a friend to find in the forest. So off he goes, leaving a trail of star dust behind him, like a shooting star.

…

But we’ll be focusing on Asha and Aster’s reencounter in the next chapter.

Now. Let’s focus our attention on what’s happening down in Rosas.

…

We see the bare foots of the queen running franticly through the dampened streets of her kingdom, she left her high heels behind her.

She's lifting her long skirt up so she can run faster.

Her hair is soaked and messy... Her crown falls on the ground.

She doesn't care, the crown doesn't matter, nothing matters. All that matters to her is finding him.

She’s desperate. An emotion never yet displayed by the relentless queen before.

The guards are trying to keep up with her, as well as other citizens.

She sees people gathered in a circle, the queen pushes through them violently to find what they’re all looking at.

“OUT OF MY WAY!” She yells, her voice is a high pitched screech full of anguish.

The people quickly let her through as they realize who she is.

Amaya finally gets through the people to find…

King Magnifico is laying face first on the floor. Just like before.

“MAGNUS!" The queen runs to his body and hugs it.

He must have used a protection spell, right? He just want to make the star look worse in the eyes of their people, right? Yes, that has to be it.

She tries to take some deep breaths while holding him.

"I-I'm here my love... You may rise now"

No response.

"... Mi vida?... This isn't funny... I know you used a spell to shield yourself... Didn't you?"

She's still not facing him, his face is still laying down on the floor.

A guard approaches from behind her

"... Your highness, we must take the king to the doctor at once-"

"NO- NO HE- he's alright, he-he's just being dramatic, like always ah haha right, my love?"

She starts turning his body so she can see his face.

"Co-come on Magnus, you wouldn't want to keep our people-" She sees his face, a few people in the crowd gasp "... Waiting"

There's a scar.

The king's left eye has a huge scar.

Amaya caresses his face.

...

She hesitates as she places a hand on his chest...

She can't feel a heart beat.

His cold heart stopped.

The king is dead.

...

Final Thoughts

.

.

.

OOOOH I'M KIDDING HAHAHA- this isn't the end of the chapter yet :)

But it could be the ending though, right?

I mean, the villain died, Aster even gave a cheeky smile and a final line the likes of "And everything that comes with it" from Alladin.

In a Disney movie, you defeat the villain and the story can wrap up, right?

What more there is to it?

... Well, this rewrite is meant to feel like a proper Disney 100th anniversary movie, so this ain't your typical Disney movie.

And King Magnifico is supposed to the 100th anniversary Disney villain, so he ain't your typical Disney villain.

No... He has something that no other villain in the Disney pantheon had.

He has love.

And what is love?

Love is, and always will be, the most powerful thing on earth. That's what Disney taught us for 100 years.

So... What happens when the villains have love?

This is what I think happens:

...

Queen Amable’s eyes widen as it becomes undeniably clear… Magnus is dead.

... The rain now is dying down, becoming a drizzle...

She hears the sound of her people mourning for their king, crying and lamenting the tragedy.

...No...

She would not mourn. To mourn would be to accept that he's gone. And she knows him well enough to know that's not what he'd want. No.

She would never give up on him.

All this time she was worried about what these people would think of them, and now here they are, pathetically crying and moaning... They are weak...

She and her beloved don't need them. They never did. All they need is one another. It no longer mattered to her what they thought of her. It no longer mattered if they became afraid of her. It no longer mattered if they didn't love her anymore.

HIS love is all the love she needs.

And so, in this moment. She didn't care in the slightest about showing aaaaall these people... Why in the past they weren't kidding when they called her, well...

A witch.

Amaya suddenly get's up. Surprising the people around with how quickly she did so.

She RIPS the second layer of her long dress, revealing that inside there were many hidden pockets, each one with a small flask of colorful potions that she caries around for emergencies... Such as this.

The crowd gasps in surprise, they all stare at the queen in confusion.

She takes two of the flasks and begins mixing them, her face is cold and focused:

"Phoenix ashes mixed with two drops of scarab beetle juice" The queen says to herself under her breath.

She takes another flask from her skirt

"Newt saliva to heal the heart" She empties the flask and throws it on the ground, breaking it.

Another guard tries to talk to her:

"Uh- umm your majesty what are y-"

"Silence." She tells him, her tone is as sharp as a dagger.

She proceeds to name another ingredient.

"A tear of grief." She says as she takes one tear from her eye, and it really is one single tear.

She stops for a moment as if to remember the next ingredient... She remembers.

Her face turns to the confused citizens and shouts:

"I NEED A CHILD WITH LONG HAIR! NOW!" Her voice echoes, almost louder than the thunder from the storm.

The people are startled, their queen is usually so quiet and gentle, seeing her like this is like seeing a whole different person.

"QUICKLY! I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME BEFORE THE SOUL COMPLETELY LEAVES HIS CORPSE!" She yells at them furiously.

"He-here!" A woman emerges from the crowd holding her daughter, a little girl with long blonde hair and green eyes.

(Because you bet I'll fit in a Tangled reference in this serious and tense scene)

The queen walks quickly to the girl and plucks a strand of hair, which the girl responds with a little "Ow!"

Amaya measures the hair strand with her fingers

"... This will give him about 10 years... Good enough." She says to herself as she puts the hair inside the flask.

A puff of smoke comes out from the flask... The potion is ready.

... It won't be long now.

She walks to her beloved husband, holding the potion in her hands.

She sits next to him... She pets his hair as she looks at his lifeless but still gorgeous face, scar and all. She looks at him with a wistful smile and...

She drinks the potion.

The crowd looks in shock.

Amaya coughs a few times, by the looks of it the potion tasted terrible... But it would be worth it.

She looks back to her king and says in a whisper

"And now, the most important step... True love's kiss."

She kisses him.

The people in the crowd look hopeful, everyone has read in fairytales what a true love's kiss is.

... But Amaya's magic isn't the same as the magic of a fairy... Oh no no no. When it comes to dark magic, you can't simply gain something for free... All dark magic does is take. And it does take something away from Amaya... Something she values a lot.

As she kisses their king, the people start to notice something is happening to their queen...

Her hair get's whiter, with a prominent white hair streak growing from her roots and embracing her whole braided hair.

(Because you bet I'll ALSO reference Anna's hair, from Frozen!)

Not only that, but her hands and face become more wrinkled.

... The queen is aging rapidly.

The people look horrified, worried they might get their king back but lose their queen

(And let me tell ya folks, that would be a TERRIBLE thing to happen because then our boy King Mag would straight up kill everyone in Rosas and then himself... Again.)

But the queen suddenly stops the kiss, she lifts her head up taking deep breaths, exhausted after giving away 10 years of her life to her love...

She looks 60 years old now.

... The king is still motionless...

...

The crowd is staring in anticipation.

...

Magnifico's eye's are shot open.

"*GAAAAAASP* *COUGH* COUGH*"

He sit's up quickly as he coughs while gasping for air.

"Shhhhh there there darling, just take some deep breaths now" The queen coos gently, her previous cold hearted demeanor vanished in an instant, and she's once again the kind and loving queen they all know her to be.

The crowd cheers and applauds the queen for successfully bringing the king back to life.

And said king is... Very lost on what on earth just happened, as he places a hand on his head and his eyes are closed, he seems to be in a lot of pain.

"UGhhh... My head-"

"Does it hurt? I can make something to help with that... Healing your face however, may prove to be more of a challenge." The queen says while petting his back.

The king's eyes widen at the comment, he quickly turns to look at his wife for the first time since he came back to life

"What's that about my fa- *gasp*" He get's startled when he sees HER face.

His queen is changed... She's smiling at him, which show even more all her new wrinkles... The white hair streak is very noticeable on her crown-less messy and soaked wet hair.

Magnifico stares at her incredulous... He starts connecting the dots in his head, as he also remembers what happened to him...

"... Amaya... What did you do?" He says as he places a hand on her cheek gently. His eyes are full of worry.

The queen stops smiling... She instinctively tries covering her face with her hands.

Magnus immediately holds her hands, as he looks her deep in the eyes and reassures her "You are... And ALWAYS will be the fairest queen of all, and no curse in this world or any other can change that for me." He says with certainty.

... Even though it's raining, by the queen's expression it's clear that she teared up with that comment.

The king wraps his arms around her gently, like she could turn into dust at any moment.

"... I'm so sorry that I failed you... This never EVER should've happened... But I swear to you, my love" His voice goes cold "I will not fail you... Ever again."

... He would not let himself get carried away again...

That girl is going to pay.

And that star will be theirs.

King Magnifico realizes they're still being watched... They'll continue this tender moment later. Now, he better make the most of the situation, after all, him being literally MURDERED by the star boy certainly helps his side of the narrative.

The king tries to get up but his legs are still feeling a bit numb, his body is still getting used to the fact that it's up and running again. Two guards help him stand up. And they also hand him his magic staff that was laying next to him

Magnifico is now standing up with his wife holding him tightly.

He takes a deep breath to start one of those long and inspiring speeches of his:

"People of Rosas... It seems even I underestimated just how vicious the enemy we're facing really is... The fallen star thought he could kill the heart of this kingdom, but as you can all see, this HEART is still beating! And it shall remain like this for many years to come!" The king says proudly.

The people cheer in unison. Some saying "Long live the king".

... Probably not the best time for Amaya to tell him she could only give him more 10 years soooo he's not getting past 65.

"Rosas shall never fall! For we are the kingdom of HOPE! And NO force in this world can stop-"

"*COUGH COUGH* Aah"

The king's speech is cut short, as the queen starts coughing and her legs go weak.

"Woah woah Amaya?" Magnifico looks worried as he holds her closer to him, stopping her from falling.

The people gasp in surprise

The king holds her close to him and whispers "Heh heh no need for theatrics my love, th-they're already on our side" Magnifico says, hoping the queen is just being dramatic to gain even more sympathy from them.

"... It's not pretending" She whispers to him "I feel... Weak."

(If this was a movie, the whole internal dialogue that will happen now, as well as Amaya's internal dialogue that happened earlier, would be just their expressions changing from worried to serious in a few seconds, and just by their expressions and the music the audience would be able to tell that this is a "Oh, they snapped" moment)

...

Only in that moment Magnus really starts to process what just happened.

He... DIED.

Just like that... He could've left her... Alone... Forever.

And why did he die?... Because he wanted to impress these people. He wanted to make a big spectacle about capturing that star. They made him weaker.

Not only that, but their love and loyalty was flimsy. It took only ONE GIRL speaking in front of a crowd for some people to start questioning him... Clearly, he and his queen are doing this all wrong.

All this time, pretending and deceiving to gain the love of these people, so they'd trust him with their wishes... But the situation changed. Once he harness that star's power, they'll have no use for these people anymore, will they?

So why be loved... When they can be feared?

It's not like he needs their love anyway.

HER love is all the love he needs.

And so, in this moment. He didn't care in the slightest about showing aaaaall these people... Why he wasn't chosen to be the heir to the throne.

...

The king's face morphs from worried to stoic, as he caresses his wife's hair gently.

The people are looking at him, expecting him to continue the speech.

But instead, Magnifico addresses one specific guard that is standing next to some others

"Captain O'Danohue." The king's voice is emotionless, he's still looking down to his wife while talking to the soldier.

The captain steps forward.

"Yes sire." The captain is a tall and large man with a beard and ginger hair just like Simon's

"Where did that star and that girl go?" Magnifico is still not making eye contact with the man

"They were seen flying to the forest, your majesty."

"Good, good. Send all your men to search for them immediately."

"Right away, your majesty. Do not worry, we'll-"

"And if they're not found til tomorrow night your men will burn that whole forest down." The king added, still talking monotonously.

That gets a few surprised looks from the people around them

The captain of the royal guard is taken aback by this "... Pardon me sire but I think I misun-"

The king finally takes his eyes off his wife to look at the captain with a bored expression "They can't hide in a forest if there's no forest, now can they?" He says like it's just common sense

The captain is perplexed "But- But what about the people that live there? There are houses in the woods."

"They have till tomorrow night to leave then." The king said simply "But of course, if that sounds too hard for you I can burn it down myself." Magnifico shrugs.

The people look shocked... The island's forest has been considered sacred for generations.

The king adds

"Oh, and speaking of "leaving", have your men also burn and destroy all the boats at the docks... No one get's in or out this kingdom until we find that star, was I clear?" He says while looking at the people around him this time.

Simon's father is speechless for a moment... The king seems to have lost his mind, but that's understandable, right? He died a few minutes ago.

The soldier tries to snap him out of it:

"My liege, with all due respect, I don't think-"

"Due respect?" Magnifico interrupts him once again, this time with a hint of anger creeping in his voice "I think you misunderstand captain. You all OWE ME all the respect you can possibly give, not only as your KING, but also as the one who MADE YOU who you are." He doesn't even raise his voice much, those words echo in the hearts of all the citizens that had their wishes granted "I didn't grant your wish of becoming my knight for you to THINK, O'Danohue, I did it for you to OBEY... Was I clear?" The king asks again.

The captain goes stiff.

He bows down to the king as he says "Crystal clear, your majesty."

... A sinister smile finally returns to the king's now scared face.

"There you go, that's a lot easier, isn't it?" The king says condescendingly.

That felt good... He should've done this a long time ago.

He looks down to his queen that he has been holding in his arms this whole time, she's looking up to him, also smiling wickedly.

They're on the same page, they won't pretend to be something they're not anymore.

That girl thought that truth would set these people free? Oh... They're more trapped than ever.

They both turn to look at their frightened and confused subjects.

The king’s glares at them as he says "... I believe it’s quite obvious what will happen to anyone who dares helping the traitor and the star" The green gem on the king's staff starts glowing "Right?"

The crowd all shakes their heads "Yes" quickly, as they know this is a threat.

The gem slowly stops glowing.

"Wonderful, that will be all then." He lifts the staff upward to hit it on the ground "And remember, Rosas... Just keep wishing." He has a subtle smile, this phrase is what he always says at the end of Wish ceremonies.

He hits the floor, creating a huge cloud of green smoke that engulfs him and Amaya, they teleport to the palace.

(I was gonna write Magnifico's reaction to his new scar... Buuuut I think I'll keep that off screen, I think you guys can imagine how he felt about it.)

...

The people of Rosas are at a loss.

Some think the king just went insane and it's all thanks to that star.

Other's think that he's right to take desperate measures to handle this threat.

And a few are now starting to realize that maybe they've been lied to this whole time and the king has always been a bad person.

No one is quite sure what to think of this.

...

Except for a certain group of teens... And a goat.

Who went inside to get cover from the rain just before the king went after Aster... So they didn't see the whole ordeal that just happened.

But they have seen enough to know exactly what side they're choosing to be on... Knowing what they know now.

...

Note that I didn't say how many teens are in that group.

Chapter 12

Final Thoughts

(for real this time)

... So ummmm... That was a lot, wasn't it? hahaha

I swear next chapter will be all about Asha and Aster and there will be WHOLESOME VIBES... After some sad vibes first.

Yeah, they gotta have a little heart to heart BUT it'll be more chill than THIS whole thing that just happened. In fact, from this point forward things should get a little bit more calm... For a while.

But now speaking on this chapter-

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO CHARACTER DESING CHANGE!!!!

THE BROTHER KILLER HAS A SCAR!

THE WITCH LOOKS OLD!

REFERENCES ALL AROUND!!!

I usually don't say this, but ummm if I see fanart of King Magnifico with a scar on his left eye and Queen Amable looking older with a white hair streak it would be so awesome, it would be so cool... Just saying I would go insane, even more than I already am.

And the way I came up with this plot point weeks ago literally is the funniest thing, here's how my thought process went:

I want the confrontation in chapter 10 to feel tense... I'll say it's a cloudy day... Clouds bring rain... And rain brings a storm... And storms brings lightning... And lightning kills Disney villains... I'll kill Magnifico because he had it too good for too long. He needs to take an L. His actions have consequences.

SO THE NARRATIVE ESCALATED FROM:

"IT'S A CLOUDY DAY" TO "THE KING DIED."

LMAO

But seriously though, THIS is a big turning point for the villains.

Initially, they just wanted Aster's power for the sake of wanting it, because it would be fun to have it... Now? Now it's a NEED.

It's a need because they need immortality, Magnifico had a taste of his own mortality, and Amaya is older and weaker, they NEED to have that magic so they can live together forever. Have their happily EVER after, so to speak.

To me that feels more unique and compelling than just "We want power... Even though we already got it."

And speaking of Aster CAREFUL BOY! YOUR PETER PAN SIDE IS SHOWING!!! That laugh Aster let out is supposed to feel like a Peter Pan laugh by the way.

Yeah writing Aster and Magnifico's dynamic was SO MUCH FUN like wooooow you guys have no idea. It's Captain Hook and Peter Pan, it's Alladin and Jafar, it's Hercules and Hades, I wanna fit in all those vibes!!!

But let's address the elephant in the room... So true love's kiss, huh?

I just think it would be HILARIOUS if Disney not only gave us a villain couple for the first time ever... BUT ALSO USED THEM TO PROVE THE POINT THAT TRUE LOVE IS POWERFUL AS HECK.

I mean, they've shown us that

Over

And over

AND OVER

So I think having this classic trope happen, BUT TWIST IT in your 100th anniversary movie, would be pretty neat ya know? like, I think, you guys tell me, I don't know 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, this chapter was LOOOONG and full of emotions, mostly tense ones, but things are gonna chill a bit with Asha and Aster on the next one, I promise!

As always

Thank You For Reading!

[ice-cream-writes-stuff]

{The Tripple Cone Cup!}

《The royal of the renowned cookie kingdom has arrived!》

-

"Your highness, we've arrived." Raspberry Cookie states, her chest slightly puffed up in pride for being chosen to protect you and your fellow cookies. What an honor for House Raspberry!

Gingerbrave stood beside you as the two of you watched the clouds fade away and the air blimp slowly falls to the landing area.

"Wow... Everything looks so amazing!" The younger cookie announced. You let out a chuckle, full-heartedly agreeing with him.

With the aid of Raspberry Cookie, your court, and company help you get off the air-ballon. The garb you wore, was hand-made by Mont-Blanc, who had to choose the colors of the outfit to represent your kingdom.

"Sweet mother of dough!"

"No way!"

"Who is that cookie?"

"They look like royalty!"

Other cookies whisper as they see your group.

You do your best to have your head held high, but all you wanted to do was hide.

Ignoring the whispers or glares some of your cookies throw at passersby. You all head inside the arena.

"My goodness, it's been some time, your highness." Elder Sugar Cookie greets you, you nod to her and Financier Cookie.

"It has, it's nice to see you again!" You reply as she smiles at you.

"You must join me later for some scones and such, it would be an honor, truly."

"Of course, but I'm only here as a spectator with my.." You wanted to say, friends, but you remembered the etiquette lessons you forced yourself to learn to appease the elder cookies of the Crème Republic "Court."

"I see, well, please consider my offer when you have the time."

Financier bows respectively at you, holding in her smile as she accompanied Elder Sugar Cookie back to her chambers.

"Ah! The great ruler of the cookie kingdom, I bow to you with the utmost respect!" A new voice states, turning your head, you see a cookie with a microphone in hand.

"Hello, Gelato Tripple Cone cookie, were you the one that sent the invitation?"

"Yes, indeed! I'm surprised, but utterly great full you accepted."

You wave your hand dismissively, "no I should be thanking you. I've never been to such a place before, the island is beautiful."

"I thank you once more, your highness! Please allow me to escort you and your guests to your rooms."

-

After dropping off the luggage in your chambers, Gelato Tripple Cone takes you and your friends to the spectator's lounge.

(What you didn't know was that it was specifically made for only your group instead of the other cookie attendees.)

Gelato Tripple Cone cookie finishes his speech before he pays tribute to... Well.. You.

"Many gracious thanks for The Royal of The Cookie Kingdom! [Title] (Y/N) Cookie! May we have a few words, your highness?

Gelato Tripple Cone comes to your both, holding the microphone out to you.

You take the mic carefully, the anticipation in the audience could be cut with a knife.

"M-may blessings be upon you, all of you. Whether you win or lose, just know, that you are still the pride of your school. You worked hard to be here, never lose sight of that. G-good luck to you!"

You wanted to hurl, that speech wanted awful.

Excited cheers and scream were heard all over the arena.

The champions of the event bowing to you with respect. "Th-that was beautiful your majesty!!" Tripple Cone cried dramatically.

-

"Did you see that!'' "I can't believe it!?"

Parfeadia Principle, Crème Kights Preceptor, and Headmaster of Scovilla all stand before you. They bow their heads as their chosen cookies do the same.

"Your majesty, may we humbly request your blessings for our representatives."

Shocked by this, you do your best to not freak out and figure out how to give a blessing without making a fool out of yourself.

-

[Thank you for reading! Comments, reblog and art are appreciated!]

[mynamesaplant]

Morning Light at the End of the Line

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

Summary: Elesa is woken up way too early for an excursion into the train yard, but Emmet and Ingo drag her along anyway. Their adventure leads to a revelation for the twins.

I want to say thank you to @critterbitter for all their amazing takes on SUBMAS (you keep doing you, champ) and to @ingo-ingoing-ingone for beta reading my work (thanks for all the encouragement, Blue). You're both amazing and I cannot thank you enough.

Slight disclaimer: I have a character using neopronouns, my first one ever, and while I'm familiar with them, I've never used them in a fanfic before. If I used them incorrectly, let me know in the reblogs or comments.

Don't like to read on Tumblr? Read it here on AO3!

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

The day that Emmet and Ingo learned that Elesa had never been to the railyard, they were almost insulted. Frankly, this knowledge was unacceptable to the twins. Between their uncle and all the adults working in the yard, everyone had begged them to remain on the platform to spot trains. However, they were at the yard almost daily, a small notebook shared between them that cataloged every train they had seen down to the make, model, and specs of the trains they would watch with dreamy-eyed wonder.

Although neither twin would be willing to admit it aloud, they had their favorites. Ingo was a lover of the classics; he found all the moving mechanisms and billowing white smoke from steam engines to be the pinnacle of train design. Heisler locomotives were his personal favorite – they just had so much more personality in his humble opinion, their movement so musical between the clanging bell and the tack-tack-tack of the wheels and coupling rods, and the iconic star on the nose. Although they appeared much more infrequently than Emmet’s personal favorite, the Gensis models, Ingo never failed to emit a longing sigh when those steam locomotives sat in the yard. So close, and yet so far.

The Gensis locomotives were designed with passengers in mind, smooth and aerodynamic to get the occupants to their destinations with ease and comfort (well, more aerodynamic than earlier styles of locomotives, but not nearly as efficient as the bullet trains of Kanto and Johto). Their sleek metallic shells accented with different colors were frequently dotting the yard as they arrived from all over Unova for repair. Emmet thought it was a slick-looking engine and, although he respected his brother’s (wrong) opinions, nothing could hold a candle to the power and beauty of the Genesis models.

Elesa was completely oblivious to the wonderful world of trains and that was a fact that had to be rectified quickly. That was why they had her up so early, dragging a bleary-eyed Elesa by the wrists through the sleepy streets of a pre-dawn Anville Town. They were going to introduce her to their second love: trains.

“How are you even awaaaaaake?”

Elesa whined, Blitzle nudging his shoulder into her hip to keep her balance while the trio walked to parts unknown. This must have been what a zombie felt like; all of Elesa’s post-apocalypse books always described them as driven around by forces beyond anyone’s reckoning. That was essentially the twins to her. Her question was directed to Ingo, who looked about as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as an Emolga.

Ingo was not a morning person in any sense of the word. The whole region could be in mortal peril and Ingo could (and would) sleep right through it if it was early enough. There were only two things that could get him out of bed this early: Pokémon and trains.

“Who’s to say that I even went to bed?”

“Yep yep. Can confirm. He did not go to sleep.”

There was a fine line between early-early morning and late-late night; it was almost indistinguishable, but very important. Ingo knew he was going to feel awful that evening and would still end up staying awake until three or four in the morning because he was like a Noctowl and he just couldn’t help himself. He knew it drove Drayden a little crazy; that and his newly developing caffeine habits that his uncle had to curb by changing all the coffee in the house to decaf, so Ingo didn’t find himself cripplingly addicted to coffee at the tender age of eleven.

“Where are we going?”

Elesa failed to suppress a yawn, dragging one eye open to get a sense of direction only to find it too dark to really make such a determination.

“Our destination is a secret. You even saved us the trouble of blindfolding you to ensure confidentiality.”

Their friend’s groan was drawn out and miserable, but she allowed them to tow her to the train yard with the full confidence that they would not allow anything to happen to her. Elesa couldn’t find herself in safer hands.

Once the threshold between town and yard had been crossed, two things happened: first, was the heat radiating off the trains like they were so many massive Fire-types, and the second, was the immediate uptick in volume that seemed to hit the trio like a wall of bricks. Perhaps because they lived in Anville Town, they had grown accustomed to the ambient noise, that it only stood out to them once they got within distance.

People and Pokémon bustled to and fro, the screech of steel as the trains began to move along the maze of tracks, conductors yelling confirmations to one another, shrill whistles and booming horns that signaled that the day was starting.

One engineer and conductor duo instantly spotted them, and the conductor was quick to bustle over and try to shoo them away. The engineer was soon to join him.

“Boys, please, I’m begging you to go to the concourse and watch the trains from there.”

“Salutations Mr. Rinehart,” Ingo chirped, no malicious or devious intent in his tone. “Unfortunately, we must decline your request. We shall exhibit the utmost caution while traversing the yard if that is your concern.”

Mr. Rhinehart, a tall, lanky man in his mid-forties, looked visibly pained as he attempted to impede their progress. He, like all the other rail yard workers, really liked Emmet and Ingo. Their enthusiasm for trains was so refreshing after a long day. Mr. Rhinehart and his husband, his engineer who was grinning at the two boys with an amused glitter in his eyes, could personally attest to that, because they had been on the receiving end of the twins fanatical cheering and adoration after a long day on the job. It was truly a wonderful experience to be so admired by young people.

“Micha,” his spouse hissed to him, Mr. Rhinehart having to crane his neck to look down at the love of his life, and immediately regretted his choice because his husband was looking up at him with those gorgeous Lillipup eyes that he could never deny. “Let them explore. They’re good kids, they’re going to be careful – right?”

The emphatic nods did not soothe Mr. Rhinehart.

“Mr. Emerson is right! Yup! I am Emmet, we promise to be verrrry careful.”

Micha Rhinehart wanted to believe them, but he could also imagine Drayden Gray’s meaty arms placing him in a triangle chokehold if a single thing happened to his nephews and he found out that he had allowed them to wander the yard unattended. Not that Eli would allow that to happen to him, but he couldn’t banish the image from his eyes.

Eli gestured for his husband to turn and lean down so he could whisper in his ear,

“They’re old enough. I trust them to be careful. You trust me, right?”

“But Drayden-”

“Drayden doesn’t put enough faith in them.” Micha’s spouse scoffs, rolling his eyes with exacerbation. “Remember when Dakota started taking the trains to Castelia for school? Remember how worried we were for them in that big city? We had to trust them, and they came out a more independent person for it.” The harsher tone softened at the mention of their child.

“Dakota is significantly older than them.”

Micha folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his dark eyes down at Eli. That earned a contemplative scratch of the purple-hued scruff that shaded Eli’s broad cheeks, he glanced over his shoulder at the trio.

“I have a compromise.” Eli did not even confer with his husband before turning on his heel. “You’ve all met our Dakota, right?” This earned more nods. “Dakota has class today, so they’ll be here soon to catch the train to Castelia. I’m going to ask them if they’ll escort you around the more er… Child-unfriendly part of the yard. By that time, it’ll be light out, so me and Mr. Rhinehart are going to trust you to move around the yard.”

The sparkle in the two boys’ eyes was so endearing, the girl tried to look just as enthusiastic, but Eli could tell she was tired. Micha was quick to interject his own two cents before the kids retreated.

“I want you all to promise that you’ll stick close together, and that you’ll be respectful of all the rail workers and that you’ll stay out of their way as they work.”

Emmet and Ingo looked horrified at the mere suggestion that they interrupt the important work going on in the yard. They looked at each other, then to Elesa (who just offered a yawn and a promise to Mr. Rhinehart), before returning their gray eyes to the conductor and engineer.

“We would not dream of it, Mr. Rhinehart. We promise to be on our very best behavior!”

“Yup! Verrrrrry best behavior!”

His twin reiterated with the bobbling nod that looked more like those novelty big-headed figurines you would get from the sports arenas in Nimbasa. Micha had to stifle a little laugh at the sight.

“Good.” He seemed satisfied with their responses. “Now, please, for the love of Kyurem, please go up to the concourse and wait there.”

The two boys offered a salute, something that felt very reminiscent of both their training in Gear Station, and they were about to drag their friend off, before Mr. Emerson called them back. The engineer not so surreptitiously stuffed a few crumpled dollars into their hands. He told them to get some breakfast before sending them off and smiling as they scampered away.

“You’re such a softie.”

Micha said behind him, shaking his head at Eli as he turned around to offer his husband a sheepish smile.

“I can be. Would you be a dear and call our offspring to tell them to get here a little earlier?”

“Oh no,” Micha said, reflexively averting his gaze from Eli before he got the Lillipup look full on, “This was your idea. You can call Dakota.”

“So cruel to me.”

The engineer whined but accepted his fate with a reedy cackle.

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

Dakota was half asleep taking the call from their dad, but they said they would be there early to take the kids around the yard. They tried not to grumble about it; Emmet and Ingo had been rather helpful to them recently when Dakota had caught quite the unruly Purrloin that had been following after them in Castelia The Pokémon kept singling them out to steal their possessions and Dakota had become fed up with it. Although they were not so adept with Pokémon, the twins had been invaluable resources to them as they trained Lin.

Why Lin?

Emmet had referred to the Purrloin as a “little delinquent” under his breath when she had pilfered a not so insignificant number of shiny coins from his bag that constituted the last of his allowance. The utterance had made Dakota snort with laughter, draped over the counter, and wheezing out an apology for the small menace they called their very own Pokémon.

The kids were in the concourse waiting for Dakota at a table in front of a 24-hour café that was mandatory for a place like this, if not for the occasional passengers, then for all the yard workers. Coffee was a ubiquitous need here in the yard, but Dakota could not say the same for eleven-year-old Ingo who was nursing a pale cup of joe that smelled more of hazelnut than coffee beans. Their poor friend Elesa looked just as tired as Dakota felt, a half-eaten bagel with lox and a small cup of green tea in front of her as she slowly tipped toward the table. Emmet was sneering at her sandwich across the table, probably because of the raw fish Dakota figured, and munched on his own torn-to-shreds bagel, dipping and swirling the chunk in a small container of butter before popping it into his mouth.

“Ah! Salutations, Dakota!”

Ingo leapt from his seat upon spotting them, lurching toward Dakota to interrogate them about their Pokémon, their schooling, their train commute, their job at the Poké Mart, and about the routes Dakota intended to take them on for their adventure through the yard. They tried to round out their shoulders as they were currently residing closer to Dakota’s ears than their natural resting position and they took a deep, clarifying breath. They had to remember that Ingo was just an excited child and not a judgy extended-family member.

Dakota offered him a smile, hands tucked into the pockets of their jacket while chatting. Lin was good, but still stealing – although that was in her nature. School was fine, CCA (Castelia College of the Arts) was a cramped campus, but the programs were amazing. The commute was okay, Dakota was always a little stressed about missing the connection in Gear Station running from the Brown to Pink line. The idea of crossing a desert to make it on time to pottery class if they missed their train did not sound too appealing to them. Work was the same. The route was already preplanned for them; their dads had given them a strict map and Dakota did not plan on deviating from the path.

They decided that it was worth waking up so early when they saw the twins’ eyes brimming with fascination and wonder. They were mere inches from the engines, studying every contour and detail with such intensity that Dakota had to gently pull them away and lead them to the turntable where a worker that they knew was waiting.

Parker and zer agile partner, Mienshao, were in the operating booth, pulling levers to usher each engine into the roundhouse after a long day of operation, just like a Wooloo herder. A pink-streaked engine was idling as the table was occupied by a similar engine that was streaked red. Dakota’s arm extended and the kids obediently stopped, waiting patiently alongside their tour guide so they could speak to Parker. Ze had definitely taken notice of the little group, peering at them curiously, zer Mienshao copying his trainer.

With the red line train slotted into its usual spot, Dakota watched zem pick up a radio, zer eyes flitting to the engine to let the engineer that ze needed a moment. A moment later, Parker was strolling out with Mienshao by zer side and zer hands tucked into the pockets of zer overalls.

“Dakota! Don’t usually see you out and about this early. Looking for your folks?” Whatever interest that Parker had for the gaggle of children in their wake, ze waited until Dakota explained rather than diving into an interrogation. Scratching the patchy facial hair that adorned zer face, ze listened to first Dakota’s then the kids’ stories. “Cool. We love trains, too… Say, we have to put a few more trains into the house, wanna watch from the booth with us?”

The eyes of the two boys, Emmet and Ingo as ze had come to find out, somehow grew larger and neither seemed able to verbalize, just offering emphatic nods that made Parker chuckle.

“Thanks, Parker.”

Dakota said in an undertone, offering a half-smile to zem as Emmet and Ingo bolted inside, mentally photographing every centimeter of the booth as if they were going to be tested on it later. Parker winked in reply, offering zer own smile as ze ushered the gaggle of young people inside. The two boys watched over the console, shifting their eyes between Parker and the smudgy outline of the engineer in the cab.

They seemed to know every call that Parker made over their radio and each motion performed by the engineer. Elesa seemed more interested in Parker’s eccentric jewelry and hair beads; she complimented zem quietly when the engine started rolling into the house. With a flick of zer head just to show off the colorful beads, Parker thanked Elesa, flashing her a warm smile before turning zer attention to Emmet and Ingo, who stood by anxiously, near bursting with questions.

Parker had only ever heard about the twins through the grapevine; ze found the brothers enthusiastic and answered all their questions with the kind of patience developed over the lifetime of someone who had dealt with many children who were chock full of questions. They reminded zem of zer kids, all six of whom were displayed in a photo worn by sun and dust that was taped to the bottom corner of the glass windowpane along with pictures of all the other operator’s families.

Ingo’s second question was actually about the row of photos, Parker swiveling in zer chair to point at each of zer kids in turn.

“Tasha, Stavon, Dominique – we call her NeNe for short – Dion, Jalin, and Kamer – Oh, wait, Kiara. We’re still getting used to Kiara’s name change.”

“Oh! She settled on ‘Kiara’, then. I knew she was trying out a bunch of different ones.”

Dakota slid their phone from their pocket, tapping on the contacts as Parker confirmed that indeed Kiara seemed quite happy with her name. They changed the contact and sent their friend a few Drifloon and streamer emojis in celebration. She must have made her decision last night, after agonizing about it for three weeks.

“We don’t think it was an easy decision, she wanted it to be right for her.” Parker replied sagely. Ze knew from experience that being certain was important for someone as they wrestled with identity. “Would you guys be okay with us taking a picture? We don’t get many visitors, especially none as enthusiastic as you two, and we want to commemorate it.”

“Oh, yes! It would be quite the honor!”

Ingo beamed, his hands flapping in front of him in his excitement just before he felt Emmet tap his shoulder. His twin was nervously tugging on his pant leg and fiddling with the hinge on Tynamo’s ball – Dakota had asked them to stow their Pokémon away in the busy yard, which all three kids complied with. Ingo leaned close to Emmet, his voice soft and restraining the hope of the request that he was too nervous to ask Parker himself.

“Um, Parker,” ze had asked the kids to forgo any particular title and to just call zem ‘Parker’. “May we… May Emmet-” Ingo felt an elbow connect with his ribs and he shot a disapproving look to his twin, who looked at him pointedly. He could tell Ingo wanted to sit up there too, but he also knew his brother didn’t want to press his luck by asking if they both could. “Ahem – may we sit in your chair?”

For Parker’s part, ze arose from the operator’s chair and crouched down before them, zer expression gentle as ze looked first to Ingo and then more directly at Emmet. Ze did not take offense when neither made direct eye contact, they reminded Parker of zer NeNe, and ze knew to take it slowly and carefully with them.

“You may, but may we hear it from both of you? We know it can be hard to talk to new people, but we promise to patient, so there’s no need to be nervous, okay?”

Emmet shifted on his feet, toeing the stained laminate they stood on, and plucking his pant leg uneasily. He offered Parker a stiff nod. Swallowing hard and raising his eyes to a point just over zer head, the commitment of actually locking gaze was a little too overwhelming to consider at the moment.

“Ca-Can we…” He trailed off before taking a deep breath and saying far too fast, “Canwesitupthere?” Another breath. “Can we sit?”

He indicated where with a jerk of his head and he breathed a sigh of relief when Parker nodded. The boys clambered up onto the chair, their eyes reflecting all the glowing lights on the panel before them. Emmet’s fingers delicately caressed a worn handle of a switch, exhibiting excessive care to make sure the machine remained undamaged by his novice hands. Beside him, Ingo looked just as reverent, tracing the bumps and ridges that were each flashing diode like it was intricate braille that only he could understand by mere touch.

“Thank you,” Emmet murmured, the burn of tears stinging his eyes as all his emotions began to consume him.

He was so happy, but so overwhelmed. He swiped at his eyes with his sleeve, sniffling to prevent the trickle of snot from getting on the panel.

Dakota was glad they snapped a picture of the duo at the panel before Emmet started crying.

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

When Emmet had calmed down, his brother taking him to the side and murmuring in his ear with Emmet taking in gasping breaths, Parker offered them the opportunity to board a train that would be heading out within the hour.

“Finn should be starting her checklist, but we’re sure she wouldn’t mind showing you the inside.”

“F-Finn?” Dakota squeaked, their calm and collected demeanor vaporizing at the mention of the name, but only Elesa seemed to notice. “I, uh, didn’t realize that she was promoted.”

Parker nodded, shooting a squirming Dakota a knowing smile.

“Ms. O’Finnegan got promoted a few weeks ago.”

“That’s… C-Cool!”

Dakota, unable to take Parker’s look, quickly ushered the three kids out and towards the parked trains in the house. Finn was not hard to find, her shock of curly, red hair stood out in the dingy interior of the roundhouse, and she had a smile as bright as the sun that was directed at a flustered Dakota.

“Kota!” She bound toward them and scooped them up into a tight Bewear hug, this earned a squeak from them. “It’s been an age!”

“I-I’ve been busy with school.”

The kids temporarily forgotten about, Dakota tried to avoid her eyes, a mossy, amused hazel color that Dakota frequently found themself sketching in the margins of notebooks. Finn’s expressions were just so big and exaggerated that she made the perfect subject to use as reference – or at least, Dakota tried to tell themself that.

With a brief catch-up out of the way, Dakota introduced Emmet, Ingo, and Elesa to Finn, who beamed at them and was quick to assist them into the cab of the train. She asked them not to touch anything as she was still going over her checklist. If Emmet and Ingo were excited before, they looked moments away from exploding as they watched Finn’s every move with laser focus. Their intensity was almost visible in the very air around them – that’s how focused they were.

“This is spectacular,” Ingo was forcing his voice to be lower in the small interior of the cab. Although the dashboard wasn’t nearly as complex as that of a steam engine, Ingo had to admire the sleek, minimalist look of the glossy screens and polished buttons. Ms. O’Finnegan took very good care of her cab. “Elesa, observe!”

Although she tried to do as Ingo asked, she found she just couldn’t keep up with the in-depth explanation that he launched into. She registered the words ‘throttle’ and ‘brakes,’ but admittedly not much else.

 Emmet nodding along and extending his hands in a fashion that reminded Elesa of those infomercials that she saw on the nights she found she couldn’t sleep. The ones where the jewelry always looked so sparkly and the women had even, unremarkable voices.

“What’s your route?”

Elesa asked, mildly impressed with the engine, but not nearly much as her friends.

“I’m taking her out toward Driftveil. Nice and easy for a newbie like me.”

Finn self-consciously scratched the back of her head and sheepishly laughed, sparing the young girl from the two boys who were looking at her dashboard bug-eyed. Dakota watched on with a fond smile, tucking a lock of their purple hair behind their ear while the engineer patiently listened to the lecture on her own equipment.

“She’s pretty.”

Elesa said, almost completely unprompted. Dakota’s face flushed a deep red and quickly turned away, but they couldn’t help but agree with her. They’ve had a crush on Finn for ages, and they were pretty sure the feelings were mutual, but they were too nervous to ask outright.

“Mmm,” was Dakota’s noncommittal hum as they felt a buzzing in their pocket.

Shit. Was it already that time?

“Well, this has been fun, but I’ve got a train to catch. Let’s go everyone. Say goodbye to Finn.”

“Thank you very much for letting us into the cab. This experience has been a dream of ours. Not only that, but it’s been a rather enlightening one!”

“Yep! Thank you verrrrrry much!”

“My pleasure. Oh, uh, Kota?

Dakota was already on the ground and helping Elesa down, trying not to look at their phone for the time.

“Yeah? Ow!”

For their part, they were too distracted to notice what Elesa clearly had – hence the sharp elbow to the side. Finn looked quite nervous as she stammered out her request. Lunch in Striaton. Clove’s restaurant and gym was delicious, or so she had heard, and she wanted Dakota to go with her to see if the rumors were true.

How could they say no?

They were glad they didn’t because Dakota wouldn’t have wanted to miss that expression for anything. The wrinkle of her freckle spattered nose, the glitter in her eyes like a brilliant diamond on a bed of moss, the small curve that shaped her lips in a clear indication of equal parts happiness and relief…

“I’ll see you on Saturday!”

Although they heard Elesa snickering, Emmet and Ingo were completely oblivious to their older companion’s stupefied expression, tottering back in the direction of the station with the three kids in tow. They appreciated Dakota’s patience and time this morning, they would not forget it when Lin was attempting to claw their eyes out when her trainer asked for help bathing her from whatever eventual trouble she would find herself in.

Last time she ended up in the roaming cart of the Casteliacone vendor, who was not too happy with the Purrloin trying to make off with his coin purse. The dried ice cream had ended up drying in clumps on her fur and Dakota had already been scored with their fair share of claw marks.

On the platform, they offered a wave before ducking into the train, the conductors on either end swiftly performed their final safety check before disappearing into the interior. The doors closed with a hiss, a bell rang out sharply, and the serpentine train jerked forward on its journey to the south.

Emmet and Ingo waved as it disappeared into the distance, both grinning in their own respective ways just as Elesa released a loud yawn that she had been attempting to hold back all morning. She loved to hang out with the twins, they were the only people in the whole region who seemed to understand her, but they woke her up at six in the morning. They woke her up even earlier than she had to be up for school.  Her full intention was to shut her blinds, clamber back into bed, and sleep until noon since there was no school today.

“I’m headed home, guys.”

Although disappointed, Emmet and Ingo seemed to understand, and even offered to escort her home, but Elesa declined. She loved her friends dearly, but she didn’t think she could absorb any more train facts. They went their separate ways, Emmet and Ingo absolutely unable to contain the excitement of being in different parts of the yard.

The twins had taken many train rides to and from Opelucid, but they had only ever been in the cab when the engine was silent and cold; to feel the rumble – no, the purr – of the engine was a dream come true. Watching the diesel come to life system by system, with the panel lighting up like a Christmas tree to indicate everything was ready and safe for travel… There was nothing like it.

“The turntable-”

“Yes, a little old-fashioned, as is the house, but I find that charming.”

“Yep! Charming!” Emmet said, smiling so much that his cheeks began to hurt while his hands flapped. “Ms. O’Finnegan’s cab was great. Verrrrry clean and well-maintained.”

“I would expect nothing less from an employee of UTrak.”

The standards for the major rail company in Unova were high, but that was because they wanted to offer top-notch services to their customers.

That was their dream – well, it was one of their dreams. Emmet and Ingo wanted to work as engineers with UTrak, but they also wanted to battle professionally. The professions didn’t exactly mesh, which the twins spent hours agonizing over whenever someone asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.

The question usually ended up being so distressing because they were so torn that Emmet and Ingo became teary eyed with a frustration that they did not know how to verbalize, or at least how to verbalize it without adults minimizing their feelings.

Elesa understood. She had grandiose ideas for the future just like them, but Elesa still ended up being defensive about her hopes and dreams because adults didn’t seem to think they were practical.

It was then those questions arose that they fell back on to a familiar career that they had loved as long as they loved Pokémon battling. They would work for UTrak one day. That was a promise they made to themselves after mother asked them and, once they told her of their ambitions, she laughed. She was quick to stifle it and gently, or as gently as Kaita could manage, told them that she didn’t think her sons were cut out for it.

Well, Drayden had taken personal offense to this statement. Whether it was testament to his faith in his nephews’ abilities as Gray’s or because took it as slight from his sister and he wanted to prove her wrong, Emmet and Ingo were allowed to watch and read all sorts of supplemental information on Pokémon and battling.

It was thanks to Drayden and his pushing that they had their Pokémon so early. Sure, Emmet and Ingo really did want partners, but there were usually restrictions on that sort of thing. Drayden filled out all the necessary paperwork to permit early partners. Drayden always told them that if they put 100% of themselves into anything, he knew they could accomplish anything – just like him.

No matter how outlandish their ambitions – their uncle supported them.

“Ingo?”

“Yes, Emmet?”

“I am Emmet. I think to reach our dual goals, we must rethink our path.”

“You think?” Ingo asked with a tilt of his head, his frown deepening in thought. His brother nodded. Both knew Emmet was not suggesting abandonment of their goals, only a restructuring of how to reach them more efficiently. “I concur. I think its time we invest into research of the requirements to become engineers.”

“More school.”

Emmet said with a groan. Neither were particularly good in the classroom. They liked to learn, but both twins had a tendency to procrastinate on tasks that did not strike them as particularly interesting.

“Yes,” Ingo agreed. “However, I think we will find that schooling more enjoyable than what we are learning at the current moment.”

The older twin couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose in disdain, just at the thought of the teacher who got frustrated with him for using words that were “too advanced” for his age bracket. The other students were snickering when Ingo sank lower in his seat. Meanwhile, Emmet was called out for not being particularly vocal, while also told he was being too blunt when he expressed his opinions. He still flinched when someone brought up the art class incident where he made a girl, one of the popular ones, cry by telling her painting was “ugly” and that he preferred Elesa’s.

He didn’t just say that as her friend either, it was genuinely better, and he felt like he needed to point that out to everyone.

In higher education, they wouldn’t have to worry about all these issues. They could focus on their studies and excel because they weren’t being forced to do subjects that bored them to tears. They wouldn’t have to worry about upsetting anyone.

“Verrrrry enjoyable.”

Emmet agreed.

“Next time we encounter Dakota, we should ask them about their college.”

“Yep! Good idea!”

With that, Emmet and Ingo released Tynamo and Litwick respectively, Emmet lightly scratching the spot between the Electric type’s eyes and Ingo stooping down to scoop up the Fire type.

Took you long enough to take me back out.

Litwick harrumphed, suppressing a wiggle of delight she felt deep in her wax when Ingo drew her closer and gingerly modeled the wax out of her eye.

“Apologies, Litwick. Emmet and I were discussing the future.”

Sounds boring. What are we doing today?

She interrupted before he could get into the rhythm of conversation.

“Training.”

Emmet said, his focus was on the wriggling Pokémon butting into his hands, but his mind was elsewhere. In a future that had yet to be but seemed incredibly bright. 

[solradguy]

Recently I've started to try and study a lot of the artwork for Guilty Gear, particularly the artwork by Daisuke. I was reading your translation of the notes in the XX artbook and I realized that on a lot of the artwork I really liked, Daisuke mentioned mistakes he made. I found this odd since, again, most of them I thought were absolute masterpieces.

I know that people always say "You're your own worst critic", especially to artists, but I guess that it never really set in until I was reading those.

I get nobody's art is perfect (Daisuke is no exception, there are pieces in the artbook that even I could see were rather flawed), but the fact that I am staring in aw at some artwork and I then read that the creator of it was upset that the perspective was all off feels insane. Kinda makes me think about how I critique my own art when I have so many people in my life who think I'm an amazing artist.

I know this is gonna sound stupid and corny but I wanted to get this out of my head since it's been in there for at least a week or two now. Probably didn't word this the best since it's getting a bit late since I decided to stay up to listen to the new (and by new I mean two years old) Red Hot Chili Peppers album while drawing and I thought of this again.

Also thanks for translating the art book. Although the artwork by itself is still great, the comments (as I have stated) were really insightful for me personally. You really are a rad guy, at least in my eyes.

When I first translated Artworks of GGX 2000-2007, I thought Daisuke's harshness towards his art was possibly a Japanese cultural thing, since it's not uncommon for creators in Japan to kind of talk down their own accomplishments ("kenkyo"; [1] [2]). But then I got a bit better at Japanese and read commentary and autobiographical works by other artists—Hirohiko Araki, Kentarou Miura, and Ryoko Kui [3]—and they're much more positive about their creations. They're still humble about it, as any professional generally is, but they certainly aren't as critical as Daisuke is in Artworks 2007. It's definitely odd.

Artworks 2007 is an updated/expanded reprint of an edition that came out 3 years earlier, Artworks of GGX 2000-2004, so a little over half of the captions in Artworks 2007 were written between 2000 and 2004. If it wasn't kenkyo that made Daisuke critical about his art, then, I thought, maybe all the work he had on his plate leading up to the Sammy-Sega merger, which threatened the Guilty Gear IP as a whole[4], had him in kind of a depressive/hyper-critical mindset? That still feels like it could be plausible; his more recent (>2010) commentary is a lot kinder.

It is reassuring knowing that even incredibly skilled artists like Daisuke can still fall into being mean about their own art. Some things never change haha Here's hoping, like Daisuke, we all crawl out of that hyper-critical borderline self-loathing art pit 💪

Thanks for reading the translation!! And for the compliment. Artworks 2007 was my very, very, first large scale GG translation project and I'd like to redo it some day, some of the translations are a little wobbly.... I didn't make a Japanese manuscript for it though, which means I'll have to rescan every page again to get the text off them 😵‍💫

~ https://sakuratips.com/2020/10/20/humble/

~ https://interculturalwordsensei.org/kenkyo/

Hirohiko Araki is known for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Kentarou Miura for Berserk, and Ryoko Kui for Dungeon Meshi

~ https://www.siliconera.com/arc-system-works-now-owns-the-rights-to-guilty-gear/

(sorry for the ~ before the links lol tumblr really wanted to turn them into embeds...)

[swearyshera]

Thank you!

This may end up being a long, rambly post because I'm a little emotional. But bear with me.

I am so incredibly thankful for all the love you've sent this week, and it humbles me to realise how much this silly little parody blog meant to people. Thank you for reading, liking, reblogging, commenting, asking, going absolutely unhinged in the tags... I read them all, and they've spurred me to keep going through 32 months, over 5000 posts, 40GB of screenshots and the wildest, most brilliant time of my life.

I'd love to thank people individually, but there's so many of you that I would inevitably miss someone out and that seems unfair! But I will say a special thank you to the She-Ra Uncut team, who I'm proud to consider some of the greatest friends I've made through this fandom, and whether we make many wonderful things, or never make anything again, I hope we can consider each other friends for life.

(Sob story time, feel free to skip!) In 2015, I had a huge breakdown. I was off work for 8 months, in hospital for a week, had therapy twice a week for a year... It was fucking awful. And though I got better, I never really felt like I had a reason to, and that I was just treading water until the darkness came back with vengeance. Then, as She-Ra ended, I made some silly posts that ended up as Etheria Nine-Nine, which led me onto what would become Sweary She-Ra. I had no idea how much this would change my life.

The response to this blog led me to write a script for a She-Ra Uncut trailer, and I loved it. I wrote more and developed a love for the craft, that I wanted to continue. It became a joy, and gave me a dream for the first time I could remember. So I kept writing, I kept learning and improving. In September 2022, I was sat in the Lowry theatre in Salford surrounded by the laughter of an audience watching a play that I wrote. That was the most incredible feeling of my life.

And I wouldn't have had that without thinking "Catra should be allowed to say fuck".

So while, it may be over (and it was pointed out to me that Sweary She-Ra ran for longer than the actual show did!), it's hopefully not the end. I'm very keen to make an audio sequel if I can, maybe several, and I'm not going to disappear into the ether. And hey, I don't know what the future will bring.

But there is a future.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, everyone.

Alice.

(PS - Hi Crew-Ra, if you're reading this as I maybe suspect one or two of you may be. I am sorry but also not sorry, but also hire me when the strikes are over 😁. Thank you for making She-Ra, I love you!)

[cum-villain]

in the middle of endeavor vs afo, and im really thinking about endeavor's arc. i've had some thoughts in the past on parallels with bakugou, but i didn't quite see how they were paralleled in any grand narrative. but i'm starting to see what horikoshi is trying to say.

see, we have to think of the demographic bnha is meant to appeal to: teenage boys in japan. plenty will be looking to be some combination of normal and awesome. the best of normal society. not someone strange or weird, but someone lots of people look up to. and, more than being angry fire-type quirk users with an inferiority complex they used to express through hurting others, they fit those ideals. they want to be the greatest heroes, and have the power to be in the top (excluding anyone with one for all). additionally, though, both of them are a type of warning, for different stages of life.

bakugou is someone who learned to be better while he was still a teenager, before he really did damage. we're introduced to him as an awful bully, but it's important to note that that incident is the very worst he's ever been, it sets the bar for the very lowest he can go; he'd never said something as cruel as telling someone to kill themselves before, it was so out of the ordinary his friends commented on it.

and in the early chapters, he goes from a big fish in a small pond (in his early years) to a big fish in a lake full of big and giant fish (u.a. high school). over the storyline, we see him learning to humble himself, to recognize his inferiority complex, to grow past it before he let it fully consume him. he's still a rude bastard, of course, but hes an otherwise decent person as his core, and he stays that way.

so, what does bakugou show? he's the pinnacle of being young, popular, talented, smart, with a bright future and the ambition to make use of those traits. however, that by itself isn't enough. he needed to learn to recognize his own weakness, not focus so much on being the greatest and learn to accept the times he feels inferior. nobody will ever truly be the best at everything, and some humility is vital to learn. and most importantly, that it's possible to change into a better person without losing what makes you uniquely cool. even as hes a better, more mature person, hes a rude bastard.

but what about endeavor? well, he's a warning for what happens when you don't come to terms with your own limits before its too late. he's also talented, he become the 2nd ranking hero, hes extremely successful and should be able to be happy. except, he isn't. he doesn't come to terms with his limits and doesn't curb his ambitions until after he's destroyed his family. his children either hate him, or in the case of fuyumi, cling to hope of a normal family as a way to cope with the terrible home he created. his toxicity eventually made his wife lose her mind, not even mentioning how he took advantage of her family's problems to coerce her into a quirk marriage for his ambitions. with his son being one of the protagonist's friends, a typical storyline would involve him being defeated. however, we know that didn't happen.

instead, he too learned to humble himself. again and again, he was confronted with the harm his actions caused. touya revealing himself when he did was extremely significant in terms of this; he had been on an upswing, trying to make amends with his family, became the recognized number 1 hero, it was almost possible to forget that in season 1 he was almost an antagonist. however, with touya, both he and the audience were reminded, the past never dies. he had still done much harm. he still had much to atone for.

however, despite all of this, his story is still one of healing and redemption. and one of the reasons for that is because, as time goes on, many of those teenage boys will grow up without fully maturing, and they well become someone similar to endeavor. of course, it is ideal for them to not become those sorts of people, but when they do, what next?

when someone becomes the abuser, it is very important to not get stuck in a sunk-cost fallacy of "well, i'm already monstrous and will never be able to redeem myself, i might as well continue being this way." instead, like endeavor, it is important to do what they can to heal themselves and fix what can be fixed, without expecting forgiveness, but simply because it is the better thing to do. endeavor still has a future, and he's lucky that some members of his family will be willing to accept he's trying to change for the better.

in short, both are warnings for the demographic of teenage boys; bakugou's story says "look, you can learn and grow and it isn't lame at all", endeavor's story says "even if you made mistakes, even if they cant be forgiven, you can still move forward and do better". and i think those are incredibly important stories to tell.

[solarwynd]

Hi!

Thank goodness I was "able to catch you" while your asks are still open. I'm new army (does being into bts for a year and half now count as "new"?) and I've noticed how armys or other members' solos seem to always have a problem with jimin specifically? Yesterday pjms were talking about how jimin was dragged last year for appearing on the big screen at yoongi's show only for it to turn out that Yoongi was the one who wanted it

Now I've noticed that it's always Jimin who gets such reactions. When he goes to support one of his members, they say he's an attention seeker trying to steal the other's shine. I saw the Hobipalooza reactions live, when it was reported that Jimin was on his way to see Hobi, people were so mad. They were sure he'd try to take over Hobi's stage and make the show all about him. Also when he was seen with Jk on the streets of New York, they called him a leech. And when Taehyung had a show (I can't remember what it was but it was when Taehyung had the silver hair) they said the same thing

I haven't been in the fandom that long I think but Jimin has never once struck me as the kind of person to be envious of others and deliberately take their spotlight or turn attention towards himself. Instead he is the one who supports his members the most and doesn't ever differentiate between them.

What breaks my heart the most is that you don't see such reactions when it's any other member visiting the others and supporting them. I've never seen others being accused of trying to steal a member's spotlight when they go to visit them while they are busy with a show. You might see a member being called a leech but it's only done in regards to a ship. "Oh he's just doing this to feed the delulu" but never the way Jimin is accused of doing.

All the members solos don't always have a problem with each other's faves. But when it comes to Jimin it's like they've all established that he's the enemy. Jjks and kths never hate on each other's faves the way they hate on Jimin. Rapline stans claim to have a disdain for Maknae Line for being privileged since debut and being overrated while their faves are overlooked, but if you see their hate tweets, it's all directed at Jimin while the other two seem practically non-existent to them. They were just vile and awful during FACE era accusing Jimin of payola and getting fraud achievements, they'd be at it for WEEKS, but when Jungkook actually got all that it was silence. The few who did speak out about did it with such a nonchalant vibe like they were obligated because they don't wanna be called out as hypocrites by pjms. And they only spoke of it once while for Jimin it looked like they didn't sleep just to keep the trend going.

It's just so bizarre and very sad. How there are so many people who are unable to see how Jimin is being treated, baffles me. Because even during my first week getting into BTS I'd find comments that would make me side eye. Jimin would be praised and armys would have a "okay can we move on" vibe about it and even comment "ooh you should see Hobi. Now that's dancing/JK has the most beautiful voice/Taehyung has the best stage presence" and the classic "ALL members are good on stage, ALL of vocal line have unique voices, ALL of BTS suppor each other not only one" but when any other member is praised they enthusiastically agree and even talk about more stuff said member is good at or their "iconic" moments, there's no comparison, no "but" no "all of them" comments. How does anyone else not see this?

Why is Jimin treated like a rival of BTS instead of one of its members? What did he do?

He didn’t do anything. People fear Jimin’s gravitational pull because it throws things off balance.

Rational people know Jimin has never been and isn’t an attention seeker. He’ll highlight and praise people ahead of himself (often at his own expense) because he’s humble. But irrational people find him the complete opposite and it’s not to any fault of his own, it’s just because people are naturally drawn to him. He’s an attention hogger. That’s what these people are really getting at. He doesn’t have to do much to have all eyes on him and that’s to the detriment of the other members whose stans feel like they’re superior to Jimin but don’t command that same interest as he does. (There’s even an older video of th calling him out on needing to tone it down) That’s why people think Jimin purposefully tries to upstage the other members, but it just turns out that way because he’s the best performer out the bunch. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Best example would be that same yg concert you mentioned. Jk went the day before Jimin and there wasn’t that much noise, (outside of armys). Then in comparison, when Jimin came the next day, the hype and anticipation was astronomical. Hit tweets everywhere. Everybody was talking about his LC stage and that Tony Montana pop up. And that’s where the insecurity started to seep through from different corners. Nobody had any reservations about Jk performing the day prior yet with Jimin all of a sudden it became an issue. Yg stans kept reiterating how jimin was at his sold out tour. Armys acting like jimin was a stranger that yg graciously allowed to perform, and of course jjk’s who were pissed because jimin’s day made more noise than jk’s did. (Also that the infamous “I heard you guys are having more fun today than yesterday line) I never took it as a direct jab at jk, obviously. He was referencing what yg said earlier I believe, but he still wasn’t wrong. You watch the vid of his LC performance and you listen to those fan chants? You can tell that they were it’s just the truth.

Another non bts example is something that recently happened at a Dune premiere with Zendaya and Timothee where she got that really cool robot archive pull. There was a Timothee stan that got mad because Zendaya was the talk of the night and nobody was really paying attention to him. Calling her an attention seeker as well and claiming that she did it to get people to focus on her. But you see how crazy that sounds? Zendaya is known for her outstanding looks just like Jimin is known for his performances and stage presence. They don’t have to put any extra effort into getting seen. Everybody was already gonna be focused on them anyway because of who they are. Neither one of them can help that they’re impactful, but people take it as a negative because they believe that they’re taking up too much attention and they feel like the person they stan is getting left behind.

It’s just like in the initial years of when BTS was really blowing up and you’d see kpop stans every under hit tweet or YouTube comment. Trying to promote their own favs get some recognition. Or when they’d get mad when whenever somebody mentioned kpop all they’d know was BTS. Exactly why you have all these ex armys running around so resentful towards them because they were obsessed with the underdog story. BTS didn’t fit that mold anymore. They went to find a group that was unknown and realized they’ll remain that way because BTS and kpop still go hand in hand. Some people are adverse to super popular things. They always have to tear it/them down. Nitpick and find something to devalue it or claim they don’t deserve their spot because someone else does. That’s why people hang onto jimin’s vocals for dear life and over exaggerate their response to any mishap he may have. They need something to knock him down a peg and keep him at ground level. It’s basically a way to placate themselves by framing it like it “he might be popular but he’s still imperfect as a performer.”

Armys also don’t do the unanimous ”they’re all good” for BTS out of respect for them as a group, because (as we’ve seen) they have no issue speaking in hyperbole for other members. They just have to neutralize the praise jimin gets because it’s a way to take away from the spotlight put on him so he doesn’t shine as much. Another tactic kpop stans used to use, but armys conveniently act like they haven’t also acquired. They’ll use the guise of the OT7 umbrella to make it look like jimin getting his dues doesn’t bothers them, but realistically they know each bts member does not have equal talent. Some have their strong suits and in other areas they lack. With Jimin, people can talk about that encore all day and barring the unwarranted hate boner towards him, they still can’t truthfully say Jimin can’t sing at all because he can. His vocal color is unique and pretty. (people can have their preferences for others, not a problem.) and it caries a certain Je ne sais quoi that makes him that much more alluring.

Jimin’s just a powerhouse all on his own. Hybe knows it, armys know it and kpop stans know it. That’s why they all restrict, undermine or berate him at every turn (respectively). As long as Jimin is Jimin, he’s gonna be a threat and the anomaly, similar to how BTS was but on an individual level.

[diacripticcomplex]

I saw your yandere fic and I was wondering if I could request the same but this time with Shu but like no smut I prefer more blood and gore if that's oks w you. Thanks!

Shu’s POV:

Sigh...I did not want to be in the game room with all these loud idiots but I was dragged in. I sat back on the chair, I closed my eyes but even with my eyes closed I could envision everything perfectly. It was Subaru's turn, throwing darts, he wasn't too bad at it..if he worked on his form he would've done better, I opened one of my eyes for a brief moment to observe his form..good, that was much better. He got a bullseye in one shot. I close my eyes again. I didn't care much to play or even watch but sometimes I like to observe. "Since we're all here, maybe we should play a game together?" even with my eyes closed I could tell which annoying mouth that came from, Laito of course. "What do you say Ayato?" he asked his even more annoying triplet. "what will I get when I beat all your sorry asses?" he asked with much confidence in his voice, he's so irritating..."The prize will be Little bitch~ You don't mind right Shu?" Laito chirped, he said my name but I didn't really pay attention to what he was saying. I just stared blankly at him. "What? No way, I'm with Shu. I can't be the prize." The prey said, 'I'm with Shu." How hilarious, she's not with me. I haven't even defiled her man eater lower body yet...

"So are you in Shu?" one of them asks me I don't even care to acknowledge who. "No, it's a pain I can do without.." I mumbled. I heard a scoff from Reiji. "I figured you would postulate that sort of statement, he's a good for nothing deadbeat, if you look up the word spineless in a dictionary you would see a picture of him right beside the definition." ouch, Reiji always says such hilariously crude things, regardless I have to show him who's the eldest after all. I get up. "Fine I'll play.." I say. Much to everyone's shock, they're so dramatic it's not that serious, just doing some humbling to my younger siblings. I get in my form, I've always been good at darts...even taught my old human friend how to play..great times. I focused and landed 3 darts into the bullseye. "No way, this bastard actually won??" Ayato whined, Laito awed in amazement. "No fair!" Kanato cried, "Well I guess he is the eldest after all.." Subaru commented. Reiji said nothing, what could he say..? Losers can't talk.

"Shu I'm so glad you won, congra-" she began to say, what a slut..she wanted to be the prize afterall, she wanted me to fight for her, it's rather pathetic but I will make my point clear and instill this into the minds of all my annoying brothers. I grabbed her wrist and turned her, pressing myself up against her back. Of course she began being problematic and moving around so much trying to break free, but I held her firmly, I took one of the darts and held it to her eye. "Make another move and I'll poke your little eye out.." I gently tell her, meaning it. I wouldn't mind gouging out her eyeball and crushing it under my foot..."You were excited to be made the prize for this, weren't you..?" She squirmed and tried to deny it, its honestly pointless. "Shu what are you doing?! Don't engage in such filth down here..!" Reiji nagged, I smirk at all of them. "Hush now, losers can't talk.." I remarked, then glided my tongue on her nape, she was so hot her skin was practically steaming, she was getting turned on by this..? Dirty girl. I won't complain. "No..please let go..!!" she kept panicking, well it was now or never, I bit into her flesh. And it tasted like nothing I have ever tasted before...it was like a hot meal on a cold day, it felt life changing.

I think it was the fear and embarrassment she felt, that's why her blood tasted so good, she definitely wasn't like other prey. I understand now why she was brought to us. Well brought to me. After tasting this blood, I don't think I will be passing her to my brothers, I don't understand why I feel this way..I couldn't care less about any of the sacrificial brides before, but this one...I want to defile her, break her body and suffocate her in a world of pain and despair. I noticed her clenching her silly little rosary. "No ones coming to save you." I whispered in her ear, then teleported us into my room. Her blood is like a drug, I want more and more of it.

This blood was giving me energy to do so many things to this body of hers..I take the knife from my nightstand and press to her cheek. “Take off your clothes” I tell her, “no..! I can’t do that!” She yelled, her disobedient yells were irritating me. I took the knife and sliced her clothes off. She quickly covered herself with her hands, her undergarments looked pathetic, lacked so much sex appeal, you’d think she’d have better undergarments, being the slut she is.. “Please Shu…don’t do this..” she cried, that wasn’t a bad face, I liked her crying face it was contoured with a hidden lust. I slice her chest, lightly and so much blood poured out, I lapped it up. She kept trying to fight me so I took the knife and stabbed right through her wrist and the scream that came with it was delightful, I could listen to her screams all day…she let out her tears and cried uncontrollably at this. “Take it out..! Please it hurts so much..!” She panted out. I rip the knife out her wrist which gave her even more pain but I did what she wanted. I lick the knife, then proceed to drinking the blood from her impaled wound on her wrist. Yea she’s not going anywhere…

[emotional-support-demon-crowley]

Hello! I just wanted to say that your fic Terminus is still one I think about a lot. I was one of the people who would comment every week, I loved and still love that fic so much. I found it around chapter 5 and it posted for most of the last few months of high school for me which was a difficult time, and I still remember how much it helped me get through those months. Even if I had an awful week, I knew it would update, and that helped so much.

Additionally, it also inspired me to keep writing. I was pretty close to just giving up on writing but your writing inspired me so much, it made me go "I want to write like that, I want to write in a way that makes people feel what this story makes me feel". Now I have two long fics I'm working on quite a lot, and I think I'll end up finishing at least one of them, maybe even both. I also want to be an author again.

Long story short, that fic probably changed my life. Thank you for sharing your writing. It's really made a difference in my life. I hope you have a wonderful day. <3

This is... this is stunning. I am ever humbled and more than a little emotional.

Writing was a dream I abandoned for a very long time and I told myself that was okay. I tried to believe it didn't hurt to give up on something that felt like it was a part of who I was supposed to be.

Good Omens and the fandom helped me figure out how to do the thing I always wanted to do. And I shared it because of everything you wrote here. I hoped that people might read my words and feel the things that I felt when I wrote them. I didn't dare to dream that someone would be inspired, would find their own way back into loving the craft, would find something that they needed when they needed it.

I know you shared some of this with me already, but I'm so grateful that you decided to take the time to say it again. I always looked forward to your comments, they brought me so much joy. You have encouraged me so much with all of your kind words. You have made a difference for me as well. You matter.

You have my thanks, now and always.

[velmashaircut]

Here is a list of subreddits I don't like because this week is my six year anniversary on reddit. I should say I don't mind the subreddit itself, but I don't like it's members. Also I would like to say I'm not adding subreddits to this list out of spite due to being banned or because I lost an argument to someone on there.

opmfolk: most people on this subreddit dislike the changes made in the manga, which is fine. I agree with a lot of things they say. I dislike the sub because of the awful attitude they have; they act like Murata killed their kids because of the changes to the plot that began to appear in the MA arc. I don't know if ONE is also behind the changes, but if he is, no one on that sub thinks he should be blamed for it.

It's ironic the people on that sub hate the long breaks in between the releases of the manga chapters because it delays the plot, but seldom complain about the lack of updates in the webcomic, how many years has it been since the current webcomic arc began? They say Murata has gotten lazy and checked out of the series, but by their own logic, they should be saying that about ONE (I don't think either of them have).

I think too many of the members of the sub are bias and throw around childish insults, so that's why they're on the list. The concept of the subreddit is fine. I bet a lot of them will change their minds when the chapters they talk about hating get animated.

ao3: I like to start off by saying I read and write fanfiction. I think people on this subreddit are hypocrites, they love to preach 'don't like, don't read' but cannot keep the same energy themselves. Many posts in this sub consist of users screenshotting sections of fanfictions or fanfic blurbs or whatever just to complain about how they hate how it was written or when authors do this particular thing in their writing and so on. Going out of your way to take a screenshot of someone else's work to go complain about it in an echo chamber doesn't sound like 'don't like, don't read' to me. The users would go batshit insane if someone did that to them.

The sub also have a prevalent us vs them mentality, mostly towards tiktok fanfiction readers. They say they're more cliquey and rude, but I don't think the subreddit is any better in that regard, they love to dogpile just as much as tiktok ff readers. The A03 subreddit love to say 'I'm too old for drama!' yet there are always posts about them being caught up in drama in their respective fandoms.

They are also easily offended or seem to assume the worst out of comments. It’s so bad, some users post the comments they want to send to the author so the people of the subreddit can approve if it’s suitable or not, and they are often told to bulk up the praise. And if the writers of the sub themselves do receive a hate comment or a comment that isn’t overly positive, they feel the need to make a post to discuss it too. You can just block and move on if you're that upset. If you're not grovelling, their whole world falls apart. A lot of writers don't want interaction, but endless praise. I feel like many of them forget that readers do not owe them kudos, comments/ save. Writers can choose whether or not they want to publish their works, but readers can also choose whether or not they want to comment or kudos their fanfic.

They also humble brag by asking questions like ‘my fic has been up an hour and has 200 kudos, is that good??’ Like come onnn.

BridgertonNetflix: This applies to the smaller subreddits are created for the main couples. The Para social relationships on these subs are outrageous. So many of these people don't realise acting is a job, the way people reacted to Simon's actor leaving the show was wild, the actor still gets flack for it years later. I don't see what the issue is - his season was over, and he wouldn't have had a prominent enough role in future seasons to stick around. Loads of fans were upset because they blamed him for the lack of Daphne's appearances in S2 and her no show in S3, but you should get more mad at the writers if anything for not being able to write scenes where Daphne makes appearances without Simon, it shouldn't be that hard to do since the Bridgerton's are her family, not his. The hatred towards Simons actor is so unnecessary, and the snarky comments fans make about Anthony's actor being able to still appear despite his various projects are stupid as well. Anthony is head of the family, and the show is about his siblings, its expected that he's in every season. The same does not apply to Simon, it's not hard to understand.

Other weird para social relationships include the protagonists of Queen Charlotte - like stop shipping real people who are in their own relationships together. Beyond disrespectful and the fans made it seem like it was appropriate?

However, what I hate most about this subreddit are the Kate and Kantony stans, which sadly, most people in the subreddit are. You can make a post about how, despite all the excuses the show throws at you, Kanthony were still in the wrong for having an affair under Edwina's nose, or god forbid, point out that Kate is not perfect, and people in the comments will call you racist, sexist, trying to create discourse, having a vendetta against the actress...and multiple posts pop up to defend Kate. I wish I was joking but I've seen this happen multiple times, it happened today actually. A line her stans love to use is 'here we go again' when someone makes a post about disliking Kate, but if someone said that about the endless Kate appreciation posts they would accuse of creating a hate brigade. There's a reason why only so many posts about Kanthony get locked...their fans are crazy.

Any UK subreddits: So xenophobic and racist. This could political UK subreddits or casual ones - all are influenced by politics in some way which is annoying. I dread reading the comments on these subreddits but I still end up doing it. These subreddits usually have articles attached to the posts, but everyone in comments they're dumbass opinions based on the rage bait title instead of reading the articles contents. The jokes are so unfunny too.

Unpopular opinions: I've said this before but they just hate women, so many posts are like 'women are superficial' 'women online are awful' but one post making the same generalisation towards men and suddenly its 'not all men are like this' and ''sexist'.

Most unpopular opinions are not unpopular either, or are just factually incorrect. People use the upvoting system wrong here too, you're meant to upvote unpopular opinions, but basic and tame popular opinions tend to mostly be the most upvoted.

Sixth form and uni subreddits: I find the people on these subs annoying because many of these people worship STEM and look down on humanities subjects. Many people on these subreddits also believe any uni which isn't Oxbridge or a Russel group uni is awful. And I'm saying that as someone who does stem at a Russel group. For the uni subreddit especially, everyday there's a post where someone is upset they failed a year of university or got caught cheating and want a way to get out of trouble, but upon reading the post, you realise its 100% their own fault they failed. Like come on bro. I don't like other uni students at my university so I think I project my hatred and insecurities onto the subreddit.

[spiderfreedom]

What if I'm wrong?

I think it's healthy to ask the question "what if I'm wrong" as a matter of course. We all get wrapped up in social movements, status, and become so expert at answering dissenters, that it's easy to think we have it all figured out. It's a good question to ask - what are the consequences of my belief system/politics being wrong? and then, if the consequences are serious, how can I move forward and responsibly?

The "what if I'm wrong" question was one of the things that caused me to seriously question my involvement in 'gender affirming medical care.' If I was right about it, then I was helping a group of people with a severe medical illness live lives using a relatively low cost treatment. If I was wrong, I was supporting the sterilization and medical alteration of gender non conforming and neurodiverse people.

As someone who is rad-adjacent, I must also ask myself "what if I am wrong." If I am wrong about the causes of gender dysphoria, then I am complicit in keeping people with dysphoria from a treatment that would help them live their lives.

It's worth noting there's no easy out here. Being wrong in either direction will hurt you - some group of people will be hurt.

I try to remember that because it's way too easy to get swept up in these arguments and talk about the TRAs and how "they" are controlling things and look at this awful person on twitter. One of the most significant questions at hand is about medical treatment.

How do I know if I'm right? I don't know if I'm right, any more than the people on the 'other side' do. I had a set of information that once convinced me medical transition was the right treatment for gender dysphoria; I've since been exposed to information that, at best, problematizes that original information. But there could always be new information that problematizes what I already believe. And how do I know if my reasoning is solid?

I try to read about things that are not gender because frankly, it all drives me mad sometimes and I would prefer to not spiral. When outside commenters (that is, people who are not heavily invested in the TRA take, or the radfem take, or the conservative take) share the same concerns I have regarding the medicalization of children, I find it a sign that, at least, the reasoning that I have used to arrive at that conclusion is not so bizarre that I'm the only one thinking it. Other people have looked at the same information (or similar) and come to similar concerns, and also found the counterarguments unconvincing. It's a sort of sanity test - I am not making an extremely unusual leap in my argumentation.

But this doesn't mean I'm right - it only confirms my suspicion that my suspicions are logically valid and require some answer.

Working in this space involves dealing with uncertainty. Even if I had a change of heart in the middle of the night and went back to posting all the same trans memes and saying I disavow radblr, there would still be a voice in my head, just as there is now - "and what if you're wrong about medical transition?" There is no epistemic stance I can take that will utterly that voice. There are political stances that would make my life more comfortable, but the voice would still nag at me.

The only thing I can do is to make my peace with uncertainty and try to be honest with myself, and not delude myself as to reality because I want something to be true. To not revel in cruelty in the certainty that I Am Right. To be humble both epistemically and socially.

[thana-topsy]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @mongoose-bite ! Thanks so much, crunchy. :)

I'm tagging whoever else wants to chime in! I lose track of who all on here I should be tagging lol. Or who might actually want to participate in such a thing.

----

How many works do you have on AO3?

38

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 643,096 words Mostly written within the last 5 years!

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Breathing Water - My flagship fic for the longest time. It still holds up 4 years later! And I'm still simping for Neloth.

Halfway to the Sky - Coming in with only about 30 kudos less than BW, I'm always tickled and humbled and just so honored that so many people like this story.

The Shadow Over Solstheim - This one had the most kudos for the longest time just because it's my oldest multi-chapter fic. Baby's first foray into something more than a smutty one-shot! My writing is unpolished and my lore knowledge is amateurish at best, but it's just so full of verve.

Hollow Men - A fic I honestly didn't expect many people to read due to the subject matter, but one that's near and dear to my heart.

Invictus - The bonkers, off-the-rails sequel to Shadow Over Solstheim in which Topsy discovers TES Lore in real time as they write. I don't think I could ever write something this free again even if I wanted to. I'm too burdened by knowledge (much like Teldryn).

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

I try to respond to almost every comment, but sometimes I get stuck with Comment Paralysis and they just pile up in my inbox until I'm thoroughly overwhelmed. I read every single comment and blush and kick my feet excitedly, though.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm... I don't really do angsty endings. I like pleasant, contented endings, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes open-ended. But I guess Dreamers, my Hadvar/Ralof fic as it currently stands, has the angstiest ending. At least until I manage to finish the final chapter...

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Uhhhh... They're all pretty happy, from my perspective at least. Maybe Finding Mara takes home the gold for happiest ending. (Erandur takes home the gold, too -snerk-)

7. Do you write crossovers?

I have written exactly one crossover and it's the oldest fic on my AO3 (from 2014). Otherwise, they're fun to think about, but nah. Not really.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

If you count an entire series of callout posts, years of harassment, and people jumping to conclusions over a fic they never even read, then the answer is yes.

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

Yes. All kinds, but generally smut with a purpose. "Porn with plot" as they say. I write smut that zooms into the characters' heads, prys open their wants and desires and fears and insecurities. I write smut that can get a little hyper-realistic, to the point of sometimes being kind of gross. I write smut as a form of raw expression, people at their most vulnerable, literally stripped bare. It's one of my favorite things to write because it is an endless exercise in character study, in boundaries, in what it means to consent, and how the lines between who we think we are and what others perceive us to be get so easily blurred.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, they've gotten away with it.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, once! Someone asked if they could translate the first chapter of Halfway to the Sky into Russian.

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

Yes, back when I first joined the TES fandom. Two of my fandom bests at the time co-wrote a couple of stories with me. One is posted to AO3 (Ceasefire), and the other was a horny, whirlwind, feverdream of a fic that the other author and I mutually agreed we would probably never share with the greater world lol. We are still bests to this day and I often revisit that fic in awe and bafflement of our energy.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

It's so tough to choose, honestly, but I gotta go with Neloth/Teldryn, because it just took me by surprise and spun out into something so wild and wonderful.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I never say never with my WIPs. If I've learned anything over the past 5 years in this fandom, it's that I'll pick an old WIP up on a whim. I do wanna get back to my Arvel the Swift WIP at some point. I also started working on a Dark Brotherhood-centric fic last year, too. And so help me Talos I am going to finish Dreamers.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. People talk in my head and I just write it down. It usually ends up sounding pretty natural. And pacing. I feel like I manage pacing pretty well and can make good calls as to when a scene is dragging or we need to skip forward in time a bit.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Wordiness. Relying too much on "feeling" words. Telling instead of showing more than I need to. Repetitive sentence structure. My goal in 2024 is to become more direct and succinct with my writing style.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Eh... I've done it before. I threw in a lot of Dunmeris and Ta'agra back in the day when I was first writing TES fic, but I'd say just use italics and translate what's being said. Or, alternatively, if the POV character can't understand what's being said, don't even use dialogue, just mention that it's being spoken. It's all gobbledygook to them anyways.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Yu Yu Hakusho (in 2004)

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

I'm monogamous with my fandom currently, so I'd really love to write something with Cicero, because it's been a long time coming.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

That's really hard to choose. They're all my favorite when I'm writing them. Each fic is its own little relationship for me. I don't write things unless I'm absolutely in love with what I'm writing. So they're all my favorite, in that sense.

[autumnleopard]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag @amidnight--dreary!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

Currently 46. No doubt there will be more to come, once I manage to actually finish any of my WIPs.

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

234.084. I'm a little disappointed in myself right now.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The bulk of my AO3 fics are for the MCU but I have moved on from that and I'm mostly writing for Peaky Blinders right now (and possibly in the future as well). I have two unfinished MCU fics that I will eventually finish, I swear. There's also a few fics written for other fandoms but it's usually single fics.

4. Top five fics by kudos

In order: The King Is Dead, Long Live The King, Winter Butterfly, A Simple Act, Early Bird, and Sleepy Head.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes. Though I'm sure I have missed some...

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

Oh, hm. I think it would be Dead Boy's Poem, which in my not so humble opinion is a great story, it's just that it ends very badly.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm sure there's a few that qualify... At the top of my head I'd pick there goes my mind racing, just because it's a story that's very dear to me and one I actually love to reread. But honestly, there's probably a few fics that qualify, A Simple Act would be one of them for example. Winter Butterfly might fall in that category once it's actually finished...

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I think I remember getting some way back when but I can't remember what it was about, not that it even matters. I do recall having a brief argument with the person, I just deleted the comment thread. Nothing since then I think... I hope it remains that way.

9. Do you write smut?

Ah, well, not really. I have tried my hand at it but it wasn't anything explicit, basically everything but, so right leading up to the steamy stuff. I felt a bit awkward writing that, so I probably stick to hinting at stuff etc. But who knows, perhaps in the future...

10. Craziest crossover?

Well, I don't think I've written crossovers. As far as crazy stories go though, it's definitely the two stories involving the Avengers and resurrected dinosaurs. (Don't ask.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so, which is good. Hopefully it won't ever happen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly not. I have translated my own shit though. Well, one. I wrote it in my native language and later translated it to English to post it. That's also one of the first fics I ever posted on AO3, way back in 2019.

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

Yes! Winter Butterfly is a project of the wonderful @worstloki and me, which we really have to finish at some point... I recall that we talked about it at the end of last year, and I forgot to check on the fic since then... Sorry.

14. All time favorite ship?

Ah damn. I have to say that it's probably Tofie (Tommy and Alfie from Peaky Blinders). It's the ship I write mostly for now and also the ship that kind of has stolen my heart, so to speak. I just love bisexual disaster gangsters. It used to be Frostiron. It's the one I've written most for and it still is dear to me but unfortunately it has been dethroned.

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

Oh. At the top of my head it's a fic called "When Dragons Cry", which I haven't posted and it just sits in my docs and judges me. It's Frostiron and Loki is a dragon and his egg has been stolen. There's convoluted lore to it as well.

But also a fic/series called "here I am alone between the heavens and the embers" which is about Tommy from Peaky and ghosts. Do ask me about that. Maybe if I talk about it, I will actually fucking work on it. It's so ambitious in my opinion, and I don't know if I am confident enough in my abilities to actually write it. I mean, I have started it and I do like what I've written, but damn...

There's probably more... Now I feel awful for all the abandoned projects... Anyway!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I cannot answer this because I don't know. Even if I think longer about it, I probably won't be able to come up with a satisfactory answer. It's probably something others are more capable of answering for me.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Honestly, same answer as 16. Though I guess I could say smut because it's just something I haven't practiced as much.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I think it's good. Though my language knowledge is very limited. I have used some in the past but it's usually very simple phrases that even a translator cannot fuck up.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

I've had that question recently and my answer is still not any more definite. It's probably Naruto, NCIS or Warriors. Though the more I think about it, the more I believe it was Warriors. But can't remember honestly.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

There's a bunch but if I have to pick, I'm gonna pick Lest We Forget again because it's a fic I'm very, very proud of and which deserves more attention in my not so humble opinion.

Tagging some writers, hope you don't mind, also no pressure obviously... @poormeowmeowcollector @justhallucinating @rabentochter @whentommymetalfie @justrainandcoffee @andtherewerefireworks

[genshinemblem564]

Intermission I: Festival

Occasionally in my stories there will be chapters called intermissions, where the focus will be on interactions between characters and are used to move the story along, as to not linger too long at a certain point. As a rule, intermissions hold no plot points, but that doesn't mean that the points brought up won't be touched upon later. Essentially, these can be seen as filler. Intermissions are formatted like headcanons for the sake of efficiency.

Hilda x Marianne ship hinted at

Childe and Tartaglia used interchangeably

Not proofread

• Once Xinyan started playing, everyone was in awe. You had tried to explain rock to them before but could never find the right words, and it was made abundantly clear why from this performance.

• Hu Tao spent a great deal of time listening to Mercedes's ghost stories, enamored by the feeling of a chill running down her spine from words alone.

• Xiangling was having the time of her life. Not only was Raphael willing to taste test almost anything, but Dedue was more than willing to share some Duscur recipes.

• Ashe and Xingqiu hit it off almost immediately. How could they not while they both hold a burning passion for literature, chivalry, and justice? They've both commented on how the other seems like a hero from a story they read, one of noble birth and one of humble origins.

• You already know but I'm going to say it anyway. Felix and Childe got into a fight. It was actually closer than you'd think, Childe still won but he was so impressed that someone without a vision could do so well against him. Offered to be Felix's sparring partner again in the future.

• Beidou, Catherine, Jeralt, and Alois are now drinking buddies.

• You shared your reward money with the others, not having much use for the sheer amount and also knowing you wouldn't regret it as Ningguang has already discussed a meeting schedule with Alfonse and Sharena to discuss a currency exchange rate.

• Dorothea, Manuela, and Yun Jin discuss how operas of their respective worlds differ, the two divas hoping to give the current opera singer any pointers they can. She likely doesn't need any, but she's so curious that she wouldn't say that out loud.

• Hilda, finally having some mora thanks to you, decided to try on some fancy Liyue dresses, and Hilda's fashion choice combined with Liyue's style of clothing left Marianne a blushing, stuttering mess.

• Ferdinand was enthralled by Teyvat's many weapons. Even just the polearms had a variety of designs and it sparked his collector's flame, and when he heard some people had signature weapons unique to them, without being sacred artifacts or heirlooms, he wanted to explore all of Teyvat at that point just to see these weapons.

• Seteth, Flayn, and Rhea were interested in Liyue's religion and history, but not wanting a glorified children's tale they asked around and were led to Ganyu, who was surprised but thrilled that someone outside of Liyue's devoted was so interested in its history to the point of wanting the facts without the fluff.

• If you thought Shamir and Yelan would get along, you were wrong. They don't hate each other, but Yelan can't stand how blunt and work focused Shamir is. It's more of a one-sided thing as Shamir actually doesn't mind Yelan's "outgoing" attitude. (I had to close the game because I was not expecting this woman to whisper in my/Aether's ear during the last Lantern Rite event.) However, they both have mutual respect for each other's efficiency. Their interaction was brief, so they didn't really get to know each other.

• Dimitri, Edelgard, and Yuri wished not to offend any Liyue citizens and to not be cheated like the tourists they are, leading them to Yanfei, who was more than willing to teach someone about Liyue's laws and how to avoid scam artists.

• Claude wants to learn about Liyue's culture. Being the idealist that he is, he hopes it'll help him find a way to convince Almyra and Fodlan to stop fighting. This leads him to ask around, starting conversations with countless familiar faces.

• The two Byleths were keen to bring Sothis to a food stall, as the goddess has only recently attained a physical form thanks to being summoned. The two were met with a fist to the gut each after commenting on how cute she looked while eating.

• Arval, being in a similar position as Sothis, is also accompanied by the two Shez's. However, they seem more interested in physical activity like dancing or making their own lantern.

• Hubert, while keeping an eye on Edelgard from the shadows, was scared half to death when he realized he was being watched by a masked spearman. While their face was covered, he could feel a glare that threatened to pierce his entire being. Truly, none can escape the eye of The Vigilant Yaksha.

• Lorenz could be found trading poems with Xingqiu or Hu Tao.

• Jeritza was accompanying Mercedes and was practically being harassed by Tartaglia's requests to spar after hearing about him from Felix.

• The Traveler and Paimon met Constance and Hapi. They were kind of put off by Hapi's seemingly uncaring tone, but it was cute how her tone would shift when talking about her Coco. Constance was bosting about house Nuvelle as usual. When the two groups parted, Paimon couldn't help but comment on how familiar Constance's behavior was, but she couldn't explain why.

• Ingrid had lost sight of Sylvain, and when she found him, he was talking to Shenhe. Assuming the usual was taking place, she grabs Sylvain by the ear, apologizes, and drags him off, leaving Shenhe confused, as they were just talking about flowers.

• Monica is attached to Edelgard at the hip, constantly trying to get her to wear some accessories she thought would look nice on her.

• Bernadetta, still on the boat, decides to paint the harbor as the lanterns lit up the city enough for her to see it, and her window gave her the perfect view.

• Linhardt tried getting books from Wanwen bookhouse, but he couldn't tell fact from fiction, as in he couldn't read Teyvat's writing. Due to language not being a topic of interest for him, he gives up.

• Caspar and Ignatz had left the city. Caspar had too much energy to stay in the harbor, and Ignatz wanted to paint Liyue from a good angle. Both had a chance encounter with Kazuha, who complimented their respective qualities.

• Balthus had told everyone about Genius Invokation and suggested it to them as well

_______________________________________

If someone is absent from this, it means I couldn't think of anything involving them. My knowledge of certain characters is limited( I had to dig for Lorenz's poetry bit. ). Also, I know Yelan isn't really like that, but I put that in because I thought it might get a chuckle out of some people.