#i'm so happy that it's finally done though

[thesevenwondersofawitch]

This this this

I grew up homeschooled in a family where my parents basically had us fend for ourselves, while also discouraging us from doing any sort of activity or maintain friendships, so the vast majority of my life was spent feeling cut off and inadequate compared to my peers

Shockingly, I ended up having severe depression, (as did my siblings) and developed extremely unhealthy coping mechanisms and habits as a young teenager, as well as other mental issues.

When I finally was able to start the process of getting help(which truly didn't start until the last few years, despite me being in therapy a decade) and started to do things outside of my usual habits, such as going to school and also getting a job(despite my parents trying to discourage me on my bad days), I was now an adult and felt like there was so much I missed out on, especially when looking at my friends experiences at the same ages.

It's so easy to dwell on those thoughts and revert back to old habits, and even harder to try and work through them(like pushing myself to get out of bed, or go to a function with friends). So many people I know who don't have depression just assume it's a little bit of laziness and sadness, and act like everything would be fixed if I just listened only to happy music and refused antidepressants because my generation is 'overmedicated'. And while we definitely are over medicated, without those medicines, so many people (myself included) wouldn't be here.

While my depression is better, and thankfully I've been pretty good with catching up on lost time academic wise, I still struggle with depression and the fallout from everything that has contributed to it. I hang out with friends but almost always end up feeling drained or depressed afterwards, even though I'm around people I care about and like, and I know they feel the same, there is always that voice in my head that one day they're going to change their minds and realize I'm not worth it or that maybe they don't actually like me.

Depression takes a huge toll on my body, I am always tired and overwhelmed, and when I am around friends and peers I feel like I'm an imposter just hoping no one catches on and questions the fact I try to mimic others behavior in hopes I blend in better (even if it's something I know to do, I suddenly feel awkward and panicked and act like I've never dealt with it before, thus watching others and trying to copy movements/actions, even if it's something I'm very knowledgeable about/good at)

I am drained because I feel I have to put on a front that everything is fine, and I feel bubbly and happy all the time, because otherwise people think I'm ungrateful/slighting them, or there out of pity(my sister is someone who thinks all of those reasons unless I'm all happy on the outside). Even though so many times, I was looking forward to doing something or spending time with someone, but for no reason I can think of, I get struck by depression when the time comes, but I still want to take part, because I worry I'll regret missing out, so I go and spend the time trying to act how people want me to, which is exhausting.

It's taken years to get used to these bad days, and I am working to let myself have a breather or just listening to what my body needs when it happens, (I've been better lately and I'm proud of that, but I still struggle occasionally). It's taken years to learn to stop comparing my life with what my younger cousin or old friend is doing/has done by my age, (or if they've done even more), slightly less to learn to ignore the timeframe society(and family) deems is 'normal', and since then, my quality of life has been better.

All this to say, depression has ruled my life and I deal with that everyday, and it is hard to ignore the sadness I feel for my young self and all she never got to do. But, I made it to 23 (something my 13yr old self never thought would happen), and even tho I didn't get to experience things on what is considered a 'normal' timeline for people my age, I have a whole lifetime of experiences to look forward to, and while my depression may be a part of those, it won't be for all of them.

You know what people don’t talk about often enough? Playing catch up in life after spending your teens or early 20s suicidally depressed. There’s so many more layers than just being able to say “I don’t want to die anymore.��

The difficulty in academia or a career after spending years thinking you wouldn’t be alive long enough for any of it to matter.

The exhaustion that comes from self awareness and self soothing, with the constant voice in your head saying “don’t go backwards.”

How lonely it is to watch the people your age starting families when you’re just barely learning what stable relationships are, and the sudden societal pressure of being “up against a clock” for these kinds of things.

The judgement from others if you change your image or interests this late in the game just because you finally figured out who you really are under the demons.

Be kind to those who are developing and blooming after years of not planning on being here long. We are living a life we absolutely didn’t think we’d have, and it’s hard enough without society reminding us there’s expectations of our age.

We didn’t get to be young; we were too busy fighting battles few know.

-

[fakesimp]

A Gift — ft. Lighter

Fluff ; Established Relationship

A/n — Happy birthday Lighter, my love, my Champion.

You're stumped, you have no idea, what to give to the champion. Left wondering if he even remember his own birthday, he should be, right? ..right?

And now here you are, feeling restless as you watch him fight in the ring, winning every single one like the champion he is. Sometimes will glance down to you who's in the crowd, watching him landing punches to his opponent.

It's 4 days before his birthday, Burnice somehow slip up a party conversation for Lighter 3 days ago, you didn't know what the party was for until she told you that your beloved Champion's birthday is coming up. Leaving you in slight panic since you had forgotten about it and have no idea what to give him, now you feel guilty for not remembering his birthday.

So now, your attention is divided into two, watching him in the ring whilst also trying to think of what to give to him. And everything clicks after you got everything planned, it's not too much, not too fancy, but you believe this is enough for him. He probably won't be too fond of anything too fancy right?

So a new day arrives, the first thing you do in the morning, is admiring your man beside you, leaving a short kiss on his forehead, before leaving the bed— well that was the plan till he pulled you back down, postponing your plan for a bit.

"Where are you going at such early hour? I thought we're gonna be all cuddly and things today." He said, seeming a bit sour at the thought of you leaving so early. His arms around your waist, preventing you to leave the bed. "C'mon, just a bit longer. M'tired, can't you pity this champion for a bit?" He let out a groggy chuckle at his own words, "You're the one that's being unexpectedly clingy, not that I'm complaining.." You lowered yourself down, pulling his head close to your chest as you ran your fingers through his hairlocks. Earning a satisfied hum from the male in your arms, maybe you can relax for a bit and start your plan a little late.

After postponing for almost 3 hours, huddled in bed with him, now you're on your way to the flower shop in Lumina square, Dew Gardening Shop. Planning to buy a bouquet for him, and will take the bouquet on his special day. You ponder what flower to buy though, it took you a good while to figure out what flower to buy and you end up with multiple, Red Orchids, Red and Pink Carnations, Red Tulips, Edelweiss, and The classic red roses.

They're mostly red, you chuckled at the choices, maybe his red scarf truly made him so identic, you couldn't even go anywhere without associating the color red to him. Red equals Lighter. After you're done, you told Orchidea that you'll pick them up exactly at 27th.

The bouquet is done, now it's the present, you tried to go here and there, for almost 2 days, you couldn't find it, and you finally relents and asked for Caesar's help to find it.

It's a bell, A Guardian bell. For him.

Thank the God's above the girls helped you finding one, and bought one for you, Burnice was so ecstatic when she knew you're preparing a present for him, though you are feeling quite, not well with the choice you did.

"Hey, it's okay, it's the thought that counts. You preparing a gift for him, i bet he's going to feel all giddy receiving one from you" Lucy said, patting your back as you stare at the small gift that's already wrapped tidily by you. "Yeah! I bet Lighter will love it! Maybe he'll even show them off too." Burnice added, the girls truly made you feel better.

"Thank you guys, I appreciate it. A lot."

And so the day of his Birthday arrives, your eyes flutter open at the sound of your alarm, turning it off you turned to the man beside you, who's sleeping facing down, wearing absolutely nothing on the top, exposing his back for your eyes to see.

The sight of his scars adorning his skin, made you slowly trace your fingers on them, feeling his muscle tensed up under your touch. You then heard a grumble coming from him, he turned his head to you. His hair is literally covering his face. Making you chuckle as you brush them away, "Good morning My Champion." You greeted him, scooting closer to kiss his temple. His arm draped over your waist, pulling you close, he pecked your lips. "Morning.." he replied groggily, you can never move on from how hot he sounds every morning.

You ran your fingers through his hairlocks, hearing him letting out a content sigh as he nuzzled his face to your neck. "Are you leaving early again?" He asked, it's because the last few days you really left him at such early hour, leaving this needy man all alone in bed. Though he didn't want to bother you about it, so he let you go. But today he seemed a bit more clingier than usual, he doesn't seem like he's going to let you go anytime soon.

Last night before you part ways with the girls, you asked them to bring the bouquet for you, somehow your guts are telling you in the morning the man himself won't let you go.

And it actually happened.

"No," You play with his hair as you reply in a whisper, "I've done what I need to do, we can spend the rest of the day together." You added, earning a soft hum from him. "Caesar told me that I'm getting a day off today, I don't know why, I can't really argue with her so, I don't know what to do now." He kissed your neck after he explained his situation, it was you who asked her to tell him to get a day off today. You love her and the girls for being such an amazing wingman.

"Well, I also don't know what to do, maybe we'll figure it out as the time goes on." You press your lips on top of his head, now what you have to do is to wait for the perfect moment to give the present.

But when will that time come? Is it okay to give it to him now? You feel the excitement building up for giving him the present, but at the same time you feel nervous for his reaction. Afterall what you bought for him is something small, but as the girls said, it's the thought that counts. And the present you're planning to give holds so much meaning for bikers like them, since they ride so much into the dangers.

Ah, whatever! You pouted and shook your head, you poked his back, making the male that's currently on your chest wiggled slightly at that action. "What?.." "Get off for a minute, I need to get something." He didn't move for solid 10 minutes, until he begrudgingly move himself from on top of you. "You're not leaving me again now are you?" "No Lighter, I'm just getting something from the wardrobe. Wait there okay?"

His words made you chuckle, he really such a loveable man. Making you want to spoil him with love, much love. You went over to the wardrobe, rummaging through them trying to find that small wrapped gift for him, after you found it. You hid them away from his sight, you saw him laying there, on his sides, the blanket covering nothing, just from his hips all the way down to his foot.

His bare chest exposed for you to admire, his messy hair, his eyes looking at you with so much love and tinged with curiosity. "What you got there?" He asked, his eyes following you as you walk over to his side of the bed, sitting by the edge, he looked at you. Waiting, for your explanation at least.

But just as you're about to explain, someone's knocking by the door, making both of you just jolted in surprise, "I'll get it, stay in bed." Lighter was just about to hop off before he just lay back down again chuckling.

Closing the door of your shared bedroom, you hurriedly went to the front door, it was the girls, smiling at you whilst holding the Bouquet you ordered from Orchidea, "Thank you so much." You whispered, hugging them for a moment before stepping away, earning a whispered good lucks from them before they leave.

Walking back to the bedroom, holding the Bouquet, standing by the closed door, you placed the small gift in between the flower. You contemplate for a moment, should you just walk in or do you call him to go outside. After a good minute of contemplation, you decided to go in, only for you to see the door swung open with him looking down at you holding the Bouquet in hand.

"I," He blinked, staring down at you. "Wait, what day is it today, did I miss our anniversary—" "Lighter no, you dork." You let out a hearty laugh as you hid your embarrassment behind the bouquet. "It's your birthday, I couldn't get you anything.. so I bought you a bouquet and .. that little gift"

You heard a small 'oh' from him, soon enough you felt his rough hands brushing against yours as he took the bouquet off your hands, he stared at the flowers, and then at the gift. Curiously shaking the tiny box, he heard small jingles. "You didn't have to," he said before leading you and himself to the living room, sitting down by the couch together. He put away the bouquet as he stare at the small gift in his hand, "Is this what I think it is?" He asked, you simply shrugged and smiled at him.

He raised a brow, before sighing lovingly at your lack of response, slowly he unwrap the gift, he was so careful with it as if it was the most fragile thing. The moment he sees what the gift is, you see how his lips parted slightly, taking out the bell, he sway them in between his fingers. Hearing a soft ring from it.

"it's not much but I—" "I love it." He beat you to it, "I love it so much, I, thank you." He look over at you, "I'll place this on my bike," he went over to you, sitting on the floor. He pulled you by the waist, "Lighter—!?" The position is so weird at first, but you work it out, you're sitting by the couch, him literally draping half of himself over your lap, hugging you by the waist. "Thank you so much," He said again,

Oh my god, is he, crying?

"Oh Lighter," You immediately coax him to get up, hugging him properly as he slightly shook in your arms, cooing at him oh so gently as you pat his back and put your hand at the back of his head. "I never thought you're gonna react like this over a bell—" You whispered, you felt his arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you close he whispered. "You will never believe me when I say, I have been waiting for you to give me that bell for so long, I thought, Maybe I should just give it up." He admitted. Making your heart clench, you hug him closer, his face buried at the crook of your neck.

"But now that I have it, I, I don't know what to say," You can feel his body tremble as he took a deep breath, "... Thank you, so much.." He thanked you for the nth time. You then heard another whisper that made your heart skipped a beat—

"I love you, please don't ever leave me."

"I won't, and will never be. I love you too, Lighter, My Champion."

©fakesimp . 2024 ; Do not copy/translate/use for ai

[helluva-squid]

I know there's so much to unpack about the character development of Stolas and Blitz, but I just want to talk about Loona for a sec.

She seems so much happier! And they didn't show that by drastically changing her personality - she's still blunt and brash and a little lacking in tact. But when she joined the gang on their mission, she not only immediately clocked when Blitz was upset, but offered actual comfort. She called him dad, put an arm around him, and even gently volunteered to get the job done for him.

During the fight at the palace, she got stuck right in to help save Stolas - but most of all, it wasn't until Andrealphus was directly threatening Blitz that she brought out her full hellhound form. She almost lost her dad once to that prick, and she sure as hell wasn't gonna let it happen again.

And she has friends! Other hellhound friends! Friends that she invites to holiday parties at her house. Friends that she isn't embarrassed to introduce to her dad, and who in fact seem to like Blitz. Most of all, Loona wanted Blitz to come hang with her and her friends during the party.

Though we don't know the exact details, we do know that Loona had a rough life before Blitz - clearly abandoned by whatever biological family she had, trapped in the hellhound equivalent of an orphanage/residential home, and facing the imminent threat of being thrown out on the streets. During the trial, she almost lost her second family, the one she's been able to scrape together over the years, and I think it made her confront how much she's been holding the world at arm's length this whole time.

I'm just so happy she finally feels safe enough to bring down that prickly shield and let people into her heart. And I really hope we get to see that develop more through season 3, with not just Blitz but Stolas too (can you imagine them bonding over making bitchy comments about the clients that come in to the office I need it directly in my veins)

[bittersweetresilience]

writing year in review

i like those artist summaries my friends are doing so i'm making my own. one excerpt from each month of the year. many words incoming.

JANUARY

metempsychosis (Miraculous Ladybug, 4,935 words)

“Adrien?” Félix asks. He can feel his arms shaking as he pushes himself up, his cousin’s face wide and startled beneath him. He’s okay. Félix saved him. There’s something wet weeping from under the silver platter, watermelon juice on his sleeves. The room smells like iron. Adrien’s breathing bleeds. When he starts to choke Félix pulls the platter away and reveals the seeds stuck to his clothes, the knife stuck between the seeds.

FEBRUARY

never been in love (Miraculous Ladybug, 1,559 words)

Maybe Félix had felt something like that before. It’s since been bled out of his memory. To his father, Félix was a church, an idea, a trophy; there was no room for yearning. He wears his crown of thorns on his finger now, but even so he is empty.

MARCH

silent things (Miraculous Ladybug, 1,379 words)

“Félix!” Adrien shouts. The slam of his hands against the wood is a heartbeat. “Come on! Open the door, Félix!” But Félix wakes up from the dream.

APRIL

watership down (Miraculous Ladybug, 10,965 words)

She’d dropped the memory somewhere between the hospital and the jeweler’s curb, between her fingers clenched white around the driver’s wheel and the set of Colt’s scowl as he pushed into the doors. But what’s one more funeral pyre? What’s one more cross to burn?

MAY

i want to hold the hand inside you (Miraculous Ladybug, 962 words)

Félix opens his mouth, breathes in thickly. Cold and hot, stage lights, his pulse sharp in his throat with sense-memory. It’s not his father. It’s still Félix. The tempered sensation of being held on a leash. It’s not real. Marinette hasn’t done anything.

JUNE

Meditations (Miraculous Ladybug, 800 words)

London, England, 2013. Shale damp firmament or something. You ran into the nesting grounds and startled the mute swans with your sneeze. Mute is in their name but they are not mute, really. Cygnus olor is the Latin. Other Latin words: exitus acta probat, cogito ergo sum, felix. Names don’t seem very accurate because mine is supposed to mean happy.

JULY

浮生若梦 (Honkai: Star Rail, 3,065 words)

Even the cycranes are mute in their nests, wings folded over themselves like mourning clothes. Blade walks along the vertebrae of the streets, and no one approaches him. Perhaps he is invisible. Perhaps he has lost the last of what made him human. People whisper amongst themselves, but Blade doesn’t listen. They wouldn’t know as well as him.

AUGUST

大鱼 (Honkai: Star Rail, 11,572 words)

When Jing Yuan finds himself here, he is always here as a witness. He cannot run; he cannot move; he cannot avert his view. This time, though, a fervency unravels in him, a lurch of desperate wanting. Mingled breath, a sanguinary abyss, and the ground tilts, sending him falling toward the eye of everything. “Jing Yuan,” Baiheng shouts, but it is Jingliu, but it is a dragon, but it is an exhale in his ear, seven centuries in the future, the scattering of stars like a Stellaron bursting under his skin. It is Blade, and it is Yingxing, and he is the one who is burning, and Jing Yuan is clawing at his shoulders, untangling at the seams.

SEPTEMBER

起风了 (Honkai: Star Rail, 7,164 words)

His hands land on Blade’s chest, and he finds himself craning his head up to regain his bearings, to reach—warm skin and scars and the tongue that sweeps into his open mouth, and Jing Yuan pushes up onto his tiptoes, just a bit, forgetting everything. Blade releases Jing Yuan as soon as he’d taken hold of him, so that he lands gently back on his feet. Jing Yuan blinks at him, his lips still parted, startled out of all his feelings. “Sit on the bed and don’t move,” Blade tells him, and then leaves.

OCTOBER

age has never made me wise (Honkai: Star Rail, 8,185 words)

He allows himself to touch Jing Yuan’s face, finally. Wipes the towel very softly over the drying tracks, washing away the tears and the blood and the grime as if they had never been there, as if it had never happened. But he can’t wash away the mark that sits starkly on Jing Yuan’s cheek, nor the shape of Blade’s fingers on the hollow of his neck— —you’re lying, you’re lying— —and Blade pulls his hand away abruptly.

NOVEMBER

tell me we'll never get used to it (Honkai: Star Rail, 2,101 words)

Wants. The word is a strange sort of notion. After all this time, Blade is still getting used to being allowed to want things. Things of his own, things that he can touch and take and keep. Things that aren’t broken bones or drying blood under his fingertips.

DECEMBER

mad wandering man (Honkai: Star Rail, 6,072 words)

Jing Yuan doesn’t have to think about this yet, not when the ending is still approaching. It isn’t something real, isn’t something that will last, isn’t anything more than an idle dream. And he already knows, as does the rest of the Quintet, that dreams are dead things walking.

THAT'S THE END OF THIS VERY LONG POST... will you join me @coffeebanana @ninadove @isabugs @mostmagical @asukiess...

...line break because too many spouses @hartwign @purplecatghostposts @teafig...

[omgfloofy]

Let's just answer the whole damn list.

1: How many fics have you worked on since January?

I've got the ever present dal segno al coda that I've always been working on this year. However, in May, I came up with the concepts that turned into The Insurgent King and this has kind of taken over EVERYTHING in my mind.

I also got a couple of Ys fics out, a pretty dark story for Van Arkride, and a couple of one shot stories for FFXV.

2: What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year?

👏 MAFIA 👏 ADJACENT 👏

Insurgent King has been SO MUCH FUN because it's really delving a lot into the dark underbelly of stuff. I also got to use my AP style from Endless History in a fic with The King's Interview in that series.

But in general, writing has been amazingly therapeutic for me. It was something I started after my mom's death in 2022 as a bit of personal therapy. I think having time to be in make believe worlds writing fantasy and adventure when it sometimes feels like my world is falling apart has helped me more than you can believe.

Additionally, an upcoming story that I've been planning for Insurgent King is straight up a heist story, ala Oceans 11 and so forth. I've never done something like this before and it has been the craziest thing I've had to plan. And it's the one story that doesn't have a shit ton of stuff already written for it, since the heist needs to be so carefully put together.

I'm SO excited for that story to finally get released. I can't wait for people to read it because it's been so much fun to plan.

3: What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.)

Final Fantasy XV seems to be the game to keep on giving me a lot of inspiration for ideas. However, I've been finding inspiration for my stories in so many things all over the place.

Trails Through Daybreak has served as much of a supportive 'vibe check' for Insurgent King, as an example. Watching through Tower of God's S2 anime has reminded me of how COOL that comic is and since I've started writing, I've started finding a whole new appreciation for fiction and other stories all over the place. The biggest influence this year, though, has been from old TV shows ala Lost and Stargate, both of which have been an immense inspiration for the storytelling method behind Insurgent King. Look at it like a serialized TV series and the way I'm writing it will probably make a lot more sense.

4: How many fandoms did you write for this year?

For things published, three: Final Fantasy XV, Ys, and Trails.

For things that are still in my WIPs bin? Lost Universe, No Man's Sky, and Helldivers.

5: What ships captured your heart?

I adore Lunoct - but I fully understand that my bias comes from working on dal segno al coda, which is kind of my baby. I can't wait to start releasing it, because Noctis and Lunafreya are the quintessential power couple in it, and fate does not want them together because of the shit they can do when united in it.

6: What characters captured your heart?

I know this was from something I released last year, but it was at the very end of the year, and it still carried over through this year: Anemona from Ys IX. I would not have written anything for her if it wasn't for the Yuletide exchange.

I've also found myself loving the hell out of writing Gladio in my FFXV fics. He's started to become one of the easiest characters for me to write, even.

Also, writing in the point of view of Regis in The King's Gambit. I want to write something that's far more enjoyable for him than the ball of anxiety he was in that fic. Shit was going poorly and he had to change everything to make it go less poorly in that story. I just want something with him being happy.

7: Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year?

I hadn't written/released anything for the Trails series, strangely enough, until I wrote Cannot Deny His Sleepless Eyes. I have another fic that I've been dabbling with that's Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure, but I'm not far enough to really call anything for it.

8: What fic meant the most to you to write?

The Cordelia Manifest.

This was the first fic of the Insurgent King series. Think of it like the pilot for a TV series. I wrote it based on vibes I got while listening to music from Bubblegum Crisis. While doing so, I realized that I love this setting a LOT and really needed to delve into it more and explain out how Insomnia fell and Noctis became a king of the criminal underworld in it.

9. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Lost and Found.

This was my fic in the FFXV Remix event that happened earlier this year. I had so much fun reading a fic called The new guy by MiraNjell and chose it for my remix fic.

A lot of this was pulled from my own personal experiences from getting a new puppy this year.

10: What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

The Insurgent King.

In this case, not the series, but the fic named for the series. This is my longest published fic on AO3, and I felt so proud of actually getting it done.

11: What fic was the most difficult to write?

ad astra is one of my FFXV wips. I've come and go with it several times, but since it delves very hard into concepts that are "beyond human understanding" and kind of delves a bit into cosmic horror… it's easily one of the most difficult projects ahead of me. I want to read more cosmic/eldritch horror before I try to write more of it, and I really want to become a much better writer to do this concept justice.

With what I released, it would be Cannot Deny His Sleepless Eyes. I've never written whump before and this was somewhat uncomfortable as it has a lot of heavily implied child abuse. It's only 400'ish words, but I didn't want to expand on it any further.

12: What fic was the easiest to write?

Infiltration! I just sat on the ending for ages, and then decided "boom" and knocked that shit out in a couple of hours. A lot of Noctis and Prompto's interactions remind me very much of the same kind of 'two friends who lose all brain cells when together' friendship that I have with my best friend.

In fact, the "be quiet" aspect of Infiltration was actually based on a real bet with my best friend from years and years ago.

13: What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year?

Shortest: Cannot Deny His Sleepless Eyes - 414 words

Longest: The Insurgent King (story, not series.) - 62,638

14: What were your go-to writing songs?

I made a whole ass playlist for Insurgent King.

15: What was the hardest fic to title?

Filed Away. I still am not 100% happy with the title.

16: What's your favorite title of the year?

There's an upcoming story in my Insurgent King series called A Field of Flowers. I love everything about this title. I can't wait for people to see just why it's an amazing title, too.

17: Share your favorite opening line

Ring ring. Ring ring. Ring ring. Click. "Fisherman's Lighthouse." "Good… [afternoon], this is an automated call from Concordo Shipping. Your freight parcel has been scanned in at… [Pier Lots Warehouse] and will be ready for pick up in… [forty-eight hours]. Failure to pick up your parcel… [one week] after its release will see that your parcel is forfe–" Click.

The above is the opening from Observator, one of the side stories in Insurgent King. I love it because I think you can hear the automated voice on the line.

18: Share your favorite ending line

Voices echoed through Regis' quickly fading consciousness. He saw the flash of blue, glimmering magic in front of him. He couldn't make out the words from the woman's voice — it sounded as if he was under water. He had no time. He held his left hand up to her. He needed the ring to be noticed immediately. "Take it." His strength faded fast. "Take it to…" But Regis Lucis Caelum never got out that last word before he died on the steps of the Citadel.

The above is the ending (before the super short epilogue) of The King's Gambit, the third story of the Insurgent King series. Regis' death is a catalyst to everything in the series, and I wanted the story that was in his POV to end abruptly as he died. There would be no more 'voice' for the POV any longer, afterall.

19: Share your favorite piece of dialogue

"It's not home." Noct said as he crossed the room and started to poke through the bag. It's dinner, but instead of commenting on the food, he mused out loud, "I'm surprised, though. Ignis is usually super critical when I'm too lax about hiding my identity." "You could make it easier and introduce me to them as your cousin Gladio Gar." "No." Noct stopped, then looked up. He sounded a lot sharper than he initially intended, but continued with it, "Don't. That's my thing." Gladio leaned back with a smug grin. The chair groaned in protest at the large man's weight from the action. "Yeah, I know." He paused for a second, just for the timing of it. "It shouldn't be." "I have a good cover here." Noct mumbled as he dropped into his own chair and opened the box to look through the food. It was a burger — he was surprised it wasn't Cup Noodles. "It's about as great as a baseball cap." "It works!" Noct grabbed a fry out of the box and threw it at Gladio. He laughed as it only bounced harmlessly off his head.

The above is from A Part to Play, one of my Twilight extra stories that's still in WIP format. I have to be extremely careful with this one because it has some very technical stuff to describe and I need to take my time. It should be out soon, though.

19: Share your funniest line

This time, the roles were switched. Luna took hold of Noctis' wrist and walked ahead to lead him, instead. "What's the worst he could do to us?" "To you." Noctis didn't fight being pulled along. "He wouldn't do anything to you." A beat. "He'd just kick my ass in our next training session." "If he's kicking your ass," It was so weird to hear Luna repeat his own words. She always knew what to say and the perfect way to say it, when Noctis felt he fell short in that skillset. Luna quickly glanced back to say, "Then you just need to…" She paused, as she seemed to search for the words, then continued, "get good and show him what for." Noctis thought, at first, that he must have not heard her right. The words and Luna's voice just didn't sound right together. After running that over in his head again, he finally laughed. "I'm sorry. Who are you and what did you do with Lunafreya?"

This is from Date Night, my little 'preview fic' for Noctis and Lunafreya in dal segno al coda.

This fic is a single night of events that just didn't fit in the full narrative of the main story and is Noctis and Lunafreya having an evening out together in Insomnia. (takes place during part 2)

I really have a lot of fun with Noct and Luna in segno. I know I said it before, but I'll say it again: I really can't wait to get comfortable enough to start posting it, because I want people to really have fun with what the two are capable of in that story.

As I said before, they are very much a power couple in dal segno al coda, except there are points here and there when Noctis and Lunafreya just have the chance to be the people they could never otherwise be.

20: What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

I would go as far as to say that the sudden idea behind Solus popping into my head was a big surprise. It doesn't change the overall story of the Insurgent King, but it does add more to it, I feel.

There's also a contender for biggest 'surprise' that came about from writing part 2 of segno. This wasn't this year - I think I wrote the scene last year, even - but I'm still trying to contend with it. I feel like I have to fight over 'how far is too far' with the idea.

It changed a LOT of segno and triggered a lot of rewrites, as well. However, it was very much a case of 'Lunafreya wants what she wants, and it's not necessarily what the author originally wanted.' LOL

21: What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand?

I started using Google Drive, but I was introduced to Ellipsus this year and I love it so much. So I've started migrating my works to it.

While it's not the main parts of the story themselves, I have a plnner for dal segno al coda, that I use to keep track of dates in it and what happens around said dates.

I also have been carrying a tiny composition book in my purse to use when I get ideas while away from home.

22: If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

I would actually put that towards The King's Interview and when I looked at the finished product on AO3. Not so much the writing part of it, but the design work and workskin editing. Since I have a web development background, I really love playing with AO3 workskins and think they can be a very powerful tool in storytelling.

That header image was made from two different stock images, and intended to illustrate the interview, as you would see on a news site or newspaper.

I also did something like it for the Epilogue for The King's Gambit. I made a faux newspaper front page in InDesign, complete with making a believable printed halftone look of the front of the Citadel. There's so much more of that layout than what I showed.

I've also got a story that's doing something like this further down the line in segno - so I may have just lifted that idea from there. segno's 'front page' is a little more complete than this one, however. Complete with extra fake headlines and snippets of other articles and stuff.

23: Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

Not necessarily. I think the only real time to celebrate finishing one would be when I finished The Insurgent King - the story, not the series it's named after. This is probably due to the nature of the series, though, since I was immediately in my files and making notes of where to go with the next story and what had to be revealed in it (as well as what I can't reveal yet).

24: How did you recharge between fics?

I might just pull up a game and play a bit. Nothing too fancy.

25: Did you create fanworks other than fic?

Not really, no.

26: How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!)

Just one, really. It was the @ffxvremix. I wrote Lost and Found for it.

27: If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

I'd thank, of course, @firefallvaruna for being my amazing beta reader. I'd also thank @snifftheraven. He's been the best sounding board for a lot of my ideas. He's also super honest and tells me when my ideas are too much, or if I have gone down a path that I probably wouldn't want to take.

28: What's left on your to-do list for 2024?

Sadly, my to-do list included getting part 1 of segno done. Then I got sideswiped by a whole new AU called The Insurgent King. Which is on point for that AU's version of Noctis.

I might celebrate the end of the year by working on segno a bit more and maybe pushing that 75-80% completion a little closer to 100%.

29: What would you like to write next year?

Getting segno's part 1 done and started to AO3 is definitely on my planned list for next year. I'm also continuing onward into Insurgent King.

I know the ending to both series. I should be able to make it.

A slightly revised version of last year's questions! Two ways to play: Reblog and have your followers send you numbers, or answer the whole list!

How many fics have you worked on since January?

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year?

What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.)

How many fandoms did you write for this year?

What ships captured your heart?

What characters captured your heart?

Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year?

What fic meant the most to you to write?

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

What fic was the most difficult to write?

What fic was the easiest to write?

What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year?

What were your go-to writing songs?

What was the hardest fic to title?

What's your favorite title of the year?

Share your favorite opening line

Share your favorite ending line

Share your favorite piece of dialogue

Share your funniest line

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand?

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

How did you recharge between fics?

Did you create fanworks other than fic?

How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!)

If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

What's left on your to-do list for 2024?

What would you like to write next year?

[sweet-s0rr0w]

⭐️🎄 Merry Christmas and happy holidays! 🎄⭐️

How do you think drarry celebrate the winter season? ♥️

Ah, Merry Christmas to you too, and thank you for the ask, which really made me smile :) I came up with about a dozen different replies, then thought the most fun way to answer would be to have a think about some of the Drarrys from my fics, and what they'd be doing over the festive period!

Drarry from Nor All That Glisters spend Christmas in Europe, or possibly up in Durham seeing Lee, who's off at uni doing Chemistry. Sometimes Harry has to work, and Draco spends a few days at the Manor, helping his mum with cutting back the Shrivelfigs, and renewing all her anti-frost charms. They'll get to the Burrow at some point, though probably on one of the quieter days; the holiday season's not the easiest for Draco, and though he'd never say it (and it's probably in his head - the Felix negative after-effects should be long worn off by now ofc), he still sometimes feels a little out of place amongst Harry's closest friends. Harry though, Draco never doubts.

Kept in Cages Drarry are in Kenya, of course, and it's Erumpent mating season, so there's plenty of work to be done keeping the local Muggles from being accidentally trampled/exploded, and fending off poachers, and not much time for festivities. I expect they do manage to do a Christmas lunch of a sort, though, with Christmas music, and probably some crackers that Ron's sent over (the kind that go bang, for the non-Brits), and green beans rather than Brussels Sprouts.

Among the Elements Drarry are definitely at the Burrow, where Scorpius is thoroughly spoiled by Molly and Narcissa both. Scorp's doing brilliantly; at three years old he's still a little dot, but bright as a button, and knows exactly how to get his way. Ron and Hermione are expecting their first now, and Draco can't help feeling nervous at the sight of her barely-visible bump, thinking about everything that happened. He doesn't say anything to Harry, who he knows is one day hoping for a sibling for Scorp, but he's not quite sure yet if that worry will ever go away.

And Waking Up Slow Drarry are at Narcissa's of course, for their three hundred and something-th Christmas dinner of the year! They try to make the real one a little more special, which usually means that Harry does end up dancing; he's getting pretty good at it now, if he does say so himself! Draco's shop reopens between Boxing Day and New Year (there's a little trade from the tourists visiting Bath over Christmas), and then they'll be locking up (and set some surreptitious warding spells) and heading off by Portkey for some sun and a well-deserved rest. They're friends with a few magical families in the local area now, and they'll all take turns to go see Narcissa while Drarry are away.

This was so much fun I cannot! Thank you so much!

Me, I've had a manic Christmas hosting many people and ferrying my children hither and thither, and staring longingly at all the brilliant works that are appearing in my ao3 inbox. I'm looking forward to finally sitting down and catching up on: soft by @garagepaperback, Falter by @skeptiquex, Better not pout by @maesterchill, The Chosen Bun by @hoko-onchi-writes... and finishing off my Christmas re-read of O Come, All Ye Faithful by @toomuchplor!

I'm actually going to tag a few friends to see if they're interested in doing this too: @tackytigerfic, @epitomereally, @fluxweeed, @citrusses, @the-starryknight, @wolfpants, @lqtraintracks, @oknowkiss (plus all tagged above ofc, and anyone else who fancies!!) - any updates from any of your Drarrys, and what they might be up to this holiday time?

[sass-ruby]

okay. HOLY FUCKING SHI-

Sun² (dark sun) looks like he's thriving LMAO 😭

Let me just say, THANK YOU MOON FOR BEING SO CURIOUS

I'm curious too, so this satisfied me so much

We got A LOT of information, and one VERY jaw dropping one

So.. sun² created a paradise for himself and others, most likely suns but not every sun. That- that honestly sounds so sweet 😭 I'm pretty sure by psychotic, sun² meant like- do things without thinking, go insane, kill for no reason ect ect.. since he doesn't like violence from what I've been able to gather. The violence he has probably committed, I am guessing was necessary because sun² thinks reasonably

But I wonder- do suns go there when they die? Like, heaven? There are already people there.. but are those people suns or random people??

His dragon is there to be a protector so, it's most likely dead suns I think..? To protect them? That'd be so sweet, I hope that's the case

Goliath died, oof 😭 I never cared much about him but that ONE THING he said to sun once;

"You..might be pathetic, but you're so much more than them."

The fact that EVEN goliath, someone so egotistical, sees sun's morals.. yet others cant and just see it as being cowardly

Our sun has been proven to be the most empathetic among all suns. He HAS done bad, but hasn't continued to do so, he tried his best to make it right. I love him sm I swear

But oh goodness. There is one MOST important jaw dropping lore we got out of sun².

Oh my fucking gosh.

Oh my.

The fact he chose this sun specifically.. BECAUSE HE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT HIMSELF.

We already knew he was like sun, but moon broke him. Just like how it usually goes in dimensions, here's the thing, though. Even if he did the same back to him, he could NEVER kill him.

Now there's more space to understand why he did it. He couldn't do it, he wanted to give other suns a chance.

Holy shit. Holy shit.

This is too shocking for me I'm sorry

I did not think that SUN² COULDN'T KILL HIS MOON

I guess that was a thing that truly connected all suns before sun's² whole thing

The fact our sun was the first, THE FIRST WHO WAS ABLE TO AND THAT IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT.

Finally. FINALLY IT'S BEEN PROVEN HE'S SPECIAL IN SOME SORT OF WAY

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG

The "I hate him, but couldn't kill him" thing reminds me kinda of my mother and I, just with different context 😭 like- I hate her but can't hate her completely. I have mommy issues QwQ

I literally sometimes get so mad at how she treats me that I hope she dies.

Although- lets not get into that

The point I was trying to make is, even when you swear you hate someone close to you... ESPECIALLY YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, you can never completely hate them.

That is only what I've been able to gather from other things like that

ALSO ALSO ALSO aLsOoOoooO

Why did sun² sound so unsure.. at that one part.

"I suppose nexus could sure try, if he was still around. Mumbles if he was still around..."

WHY DID HE SOUND SO UNSURE.

I wouldn't be surprised if he said it like that because he's seen how many times villains come back in this dimension ☠️☠️

LITERALLY I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED

But if nexus comes back, SHIT.

A part of me believes he will. It's after Christmas, and the new tradition is that shit happens after Christmas because the October takeover tradition ended

AAAAAAAAAA

I'll be kinda happy about it, ONLY BECAUSE THE ANGSTTT

YAYAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAA

Another also and another woa!! >:D

"why does EVERYTHING have to be US"

"you think I have that answer? Heh, even with my intelligence.. I can never answer that one."

EVEN SUN² ACKNOWLEDGES IT

Because the show runners need to feed us, that's the answer <333

Their lives are something else 😭 they have to deal with something new everyday. They can never catch a break

That would be all. BUT HAHSHHDD I LAUGHED SO HARD SEEING SUN² FLY HELPPPPP

He had his "I was a fairy" moment 🎀 NDNDJSJMS

okay now it's all :3

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[starvu]

Crosswords and Cuddles || s. reid

where you and spencer spend some quiet and peaceful time together after he comes home from work

pairing: spencer reid x gn!reader (if something doesn't seem right to gn, please let me know)

genre: pure fluff

content warnings: none

word count: 1,8k

a/n: my second fanfiction, we're on the right track!! still sorry for my not so good english, i'm struggling not to repeat myself too much and use different adjectives, but i'm having a bit of trouble with that for now. anyway, i hope it won't bother you too much, have fun :))

You and Spencer loved spending time together and tried to spend as much time together as possible. Even though he spent most of his time working for the BAU on new cases and your job was demanding. That's why after two years of being together, you moved in together so you could share as many small, mundane moments together as possible.

Spending time together, you didn't even have to exchange much conversation. Your mutual presence was enough in most cases. The awareness of each other's warmth and care, a feeling that was clearly felt in the air, even if it was unspoken. You simply loved to accompany him in everything, and he loved having you around.

This evening was no different. Spencer didn't have any demanding cases this time. He could work with the team at Quantico. They didn't have to fly anywhere far, so he could come back to you every evening. You never knew when he would fly out again, so you were always happy when he could be home. Your peace was never certain. They could always have a new, demanding, brutal case that would cause him to disappear to the other side of the country, neglect sleep, drink more coffee than usual, and give no signs of life.

You were lying on the couch in your dark apartment. The apartment smelled of old books and coffee. This was the smell of your home now, it reminded you of the place you returned to and lived in. Your coats hung next to each other on the hangers in the hallway, your shoes were lined up neatly on the shelf, and your mugs were waiting in the kitchen cabinet. Your cup of coffee, which had way too much milk in it, stood on the dark brown, oak coffee table, accompanied by crosswords books, pens and scientific books from many fields from the library.

You two had brought those books by the kilos in canvas bags a few days ago. You couldn't even carry that many books from the library and you just made gooey eyes and a slightly bribing smile at the old lady librarian. This poor old woman, after so many of your visits, was already giving in to you. Spencer even tried to go above and beyond for you and just put some books away, but you fought for them. You were absolutely happy to have them in your bags, sitting on the subway, and riding home. Okay, actually you both were really excited to read all of these books.

You were wrapped in blankets, slightly sleepy the couch, even if the living room was lit with warm, not too bright light from a lamp. You had probably done everything, you had cooked dinner, you had read, you had done crosswords and looked up nonsense on your phone, you had even rearranged the books on the shelf, but not enough to disturb Spencer. You simply couldn't wait for him to finally come home, You yourself came back from work earlier than usual, so you waited a while, and the afternoon without him seemed so long.

As you were slowly dozing off with one eye, you heard the sound of a key turning in the lock of the door. You got up from the couch, still a little sleepy, but your expression brightened when you saw Spencer walking in front of the door. After he quickly hung his brown leather bag and navy coat on the rack and took off his sneakers, he wrapped his arms around your waist and hugged you tightly, resting his chin on the top of your head, feeling at peace after the whole day. He finally breathed a sigh of relief as he felt your closeness and your familiar, calming scent.

"It's good to see you." He mumbled, adding nothing more. That was enough for you to understand how his day had gone. It had gone hard.

You smiled as you rested your head on his chest, you were glad he was finally around. You didn't ask about his day right away, you didn't want him to have to deal with it even at home, in his quiet place.

"It's good to see you too." You said quietly in a sleepy voice.

He recognized your sleepy, tired voice immediately, and he pulled away slightly but still held you close, running his fingers through your hair. “Did you sleep, sleepyhead?” He smiled warmly.

"Uh no, no. I was just waiting for you. Tired after a whole week of work, you know how it is." 

He just nodded slightly in understanding, leaned down slightly and kissed your forehead. “Don’t overwork yourself, please.”

His concern always warmed your heart, you appreciated the care like nothing else, but it also worried you a little. It worried you that he always worried about you more than himself.

"You really shouldn't worry so much, I'm fine, Spence." You always repeated the same words, trying to reassure him and make him not worry so much, focus on something else, something less worrying.

He just sighed quietly in disapproval of your words. He knew perfectly well how you felt about his concern. He also knew that you were strong and could handle yourself perfectly well, and yet he wanted to make sure that everything was okay.

You quickly disappeared into the depths of the apartment, accessible, undemanding conversation, occasional laughter and the sound of forks clinking against plates filled the silence that had previously reigned throughout the apartment, only broken by the ticking of the clock in the living room.

Empty plates sat on the edge of the coffee table, even if it irritated Spencer in some way. Your coffee had long since gone cold, and you fidgeted a bit as you lay together on your completely too-small couch. That was the way you spent your time together without words. You were lying on opposite ends of the couch, buried under blankets, each of you with your own crossword puzzle and pen in hand, although sometimes you just preferred to glance up and watch Spencer concentrate, maybe stare a little. But that wasn't a bad thing, was it? Especially when he seemed oblivious to your actions. Sometimes you would nudge him in the ribs a little with your foot.

You really enjoyed these moments, sometimes when you relied on Spencer's intelligence and wanted to get a hint for your crossword, you had to pay a price for it, in the form of a quick kiss or a peck. You weren't even sure which of you preferred this way of rewarding for a hint more. In truth, Spencer always believed that if you put in the effort, you would find the answers to your questions yourself and that you were capable of more, but he didn't argue with you much. Instead, he would often start blabbing about the topics you asked about, telling you more about them, and you listened devotedly.

This time, however, Spencer noticed that you weren't very active on your crossword puzzle and paused his own for a moment. Well, you were just tired and your brain wasn't working at a very high level anymore.

"Hey, is something wrong, are you okay?" He asked with genuine concern and warmth in his voice. "You seem off."

You shook your head. "No, everything is still fine." But instead of staying on your end of the couch, you put the crosswords and pen on the table and, fidgeting a bit again, turned completely the other way. It's very possible that you'd crushed Spencer's side a bit with your leg in the meantime. Now your head was right on his shoulder, you were lying on the same side. He smiled slightly.

"Oh, you’re really clingy."

You just looked up, giving him a slightly exaggerated, scowl, even if you weren't mad at him for saying it. He raised his hand, letting you rest your head on his chest. He still held the crossword puzzle in one hand, the pen in the other, but he kept making sure you were comfortable. You felt at peace when you felt the warmth of his chest and the familiar rhythm of his heartbeat. He felt the same way when it came to your closeness. He slowed down his pace of solving the puzzle, letting you answer the words you already knew the answer to. 

He usually solved crosswords as fast as he could, beating his previous results, but this time it was about your peace. Even when both of his hands were occupied, he held you close and tight, kissing the top of your head with every clue you knew the answer to. And sometimes with a clue he knew the answer to. You suspected that he was just looking for an excuse to some extent, because he actually kissed the top of your head when you were thinking about the answer, or for no reason at all.

After solving a few more sheets, he put what he was holding on the table. He wrapped his arms around you and you didn't protest in any way, you let him. You knew that sleeping on this couch wasn't good for either of you, your backs and well-being, but everything indicated that this was where you would be sleeping. After a moment, he snuggled up to you even tighter, shifted slightly and put his head in the crook of your neck, placed a few lazy kisses there, drawing patterns on your back with his fingers. At that moment he was more laying on top of you with his whole body, but careful enough not to crush you and put his whole weight on you. With each situation like this you felt like you loved this man even more.

That didn't stop you from teasing him a little, referring to his previous comment. "Who's the clingy one now?" You smirked.

He raised his head slightly, staring at your face, even secretly admiring it, although he remembered every detail it hid, every mole, eyelash and freckle. He wanted to defend himself somehow from your words, but in the end he lowered his head and went back to holding it in the crook of your neck. "Okay, maybe I'm guilty." He admitted, but he didn't loosen his grip around you one bit.

"Yeah, you are."

"Is it bad?"

"No." You even replied a little quieter than usual.

It wasn't a bad thing, you loved his clingy moments. You slowly raised your hand to run your fingers through his messy, slightly overgrown hair. He didn't have to ask for it, you knew it would ease his tiredness after the whole day and he would fall asleep faster without the agony he often had before going to sleep. Somehow you felt his growing calmness and sense of security as you made all these little gestures.

[maleyanderecafe]

The Menhara Rabbit and the Yandere Wolf (Manga)

Created by: Hayu Shiori

Genre: Romance

@erednayy translated a whole entire thing for this one, so this is going to be a long journey of typesetting. I was a little skeptical of it mostly because I'm not super as into the older manga style, but it actually is a pretty good time and the development of the relationship between the yandere and the main character, Tsumugi and Itoshi is actually pretty interesting, as it shows the struggles and happiness of their relationship as a whole. On the first day we'll also be just dumping the first volume on everyone like a late Christmas gift. If you like our stuff, please donate to us on Ko-fi for more yandere stuff.

The story starts out quickly with Tsumugi looking through her boyfriend's phone before her boyfriend, Shouma, finally breaks up with her and kicks her out. Tsumugi begs for his forgiveness, with Shouma complaining about her menhara tendencies: being too emotionally intense, clingy and otherwise hard to deal with. We see that the reason she developed into a menhara was due to her first boyfriend, who confessed and then pretty much immediately dumped her for another girl, causing her to become extremely anxious over her future boyfriend's feelings and being more of a doormat to please them. Shouma attempts to beat Tsumugi for everything she's done, but she is saved by her neighbor, Itoshi, and brings her to his room to give her some clothes (as she was kicked out in only her undergarments). After some introductions, Itoshi comforts Tsumugi for what happened with her ex-boyfriend, telling her it's not her fault for the situation, even stating that he would be happy to have such a cute girlfriend as Tsumugi. Tsumugi, misinterprets this kindness as flirting and tries to kiss him, but Itoshi pushes her away. This causes Tsumugi to lash out at Itoshi for being kind to her and begging him to stay as she's incredibly scared of being lonely after being broken up with. Itoshi is able to comfort and Tsumugi, as she cries, eventually falling asleep. It's then that Itoshi reveals his yandere tendencies, taking a picture of her as she sleeps and promising to make her happy, no matter what. Upon waking up, Tsumugi finds out pretty quickly that Itoshi has been stalking her, as his phone has photos of her and her password is based off her birthday. She freaks out and starts to spiral believing that she can never be loved and that her failed relationships are all her fault. Despite finding out that he's her stalker, she still wants to be with him as he accepted all of her flaws. We get a flashback of Itoshi's point of view, seeing him get dumped by an ex for being too stalker like in front of Tsumugi's apartment. Here she comforts him and he falls for her. As a neighbor, he can hear her and Shouma's arguments and love making and due to this he becomes more and more obsessed over her. Itoshi after finding Tsumugi promises to delete all of his photos though Tsumugi stops him and realizes how similar they are, both being people who go too far and don't feel like they're loved. The two of them kiss, though the latest chapter ends with Itoshi crying and trying to strangle Tsumugi.

I have actually done the typesetting for a couple of the chapters as of current, so although it's not fully translated on our end there's a lot of things that happen even past the first volumethat are pretty interesting. I will try to refrain from direct spoilers, but I will say that the relationship between Itoshi and Tsumugi develops relatively quickly which is pretty surprising, since many yandere stories take a while before the couple gets together (see stories like My Yandere Neighbour for example). It's also really cool to see Tsumugi recognize and understand certain behaviors that Itoshi has as they are things that she herself had to deal with in her previous relationships and improve herself because of Itoshi. It's also incredibly fast how Tsumugi finds out that Itoshi is a yandere, literally two chapters in and the reasoning for why she accepts him is pretty solid the more we learn about her background and menhara tendencies.

In terms of yandere, what we see so far is pretty light, implying that Itoshi has been watching Tsumugi for a while, likely because they are neighbors, making it pretty easy for him to track where she's going. He's also pretty protective, immediately going to protect Tsumugi after being kicked out and almost calling the police on Shouma (at least until Tsumugi prevents that from happening). I can see Itoshi more as a bit emotional, as he seems to show a lot of expression and feelings towards Tsumugi even when not showing off his yandere form, as well as maybe a bit childish considering his reactions, though mature enough to know not to take advantage of Tsumugi's emotional vulnerability after she broke up (because boy would a lot of yanderes jump at that chance immediately). It does make me curious why he does that though, so he's probably much more of an respectful yandere (for lack of a better term) than we'd initially think, because again, a lot of yanderes would have just jumped at the opportunity to become their obsession's lover. Even past this, we later do see Itoshi become very possessive and jealous when it comes to Tsumugi later down the line and he can be protective over her as well, though compared to many other yanderes he's a lot more kinder and the couple strikes a good balance.

Personally, because of How to Train Your Handsome but Overbearing Boyfriend, I actually have taken a liking to yandere and menhara couplings since they work really well in terms of their desires. Menharas desire attention and yanderes love to give unlimited undivided attention to the person they love, so I think that this relationship will be similar where while they might run into some troubles, the two of their desires match up pretty well. Whether or not this will be some balance of unhealthy and healthy or just plain unhealthy is yet to be seen, but I think either way, I think that the story would be really fun to read and explore either or even both ideas.

Overall, a pretty good start to a manga series. This one is pretty lengthy actually, spanning around 14 volumes, so I'm sure there will be many situations for these two to get into and be able to properly develop their relationship.

[aspoonofsugar]

So if you're into Wicked, how does Nessa foil Glinda and Elphaba?

Hi!

Sure! As per usual this analysis is a patchwork between the movie and what I know of the plot of the play, so it might not be entirely accurate. Also spoilers, obviously.

Nessa is meant to be a dark foil to both Elphaba and Glinda.

NESSA AND ELPHABA

Both Nessa and Elphaba are reduced by others to a physical trait.

Nessa is nothing more than her disability. She is "the poor girl on a chair" that everyone tries to protect and must be kind to. Elphaba is instead the green ugly monster everybody avoids and is wary of.

The sisters are dehumanized, which is why they end up becoming the two Wicked Witches of Oz. Nessa becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, whereas Elphaba ends up as the Wicked Witch of the West. It is telling that both their titles make them nameless, in opposition to "Glinda The Good". By the end of the story, neither Nessa nor Elphaba are seen as people. They are just evil witches.

However, the prejudices they face are opposite:

Nessa is seen as frail, vulnerable and tragic. She is treated as a poor creature that must be handled with care. Her father, her teachers and her friends all treat her like this. Even Elphaba to an extent.

Elphaba is instead seen as malicious, evil and scary. Her father, Glinda, the other Shiz students all treat her like this. Even Nessa to en extent.

The difference is that Elphaba never truly gives in to the mask others force on her. She almost does in No Good Deed:

No good deed goes unpunished All helpful urges should be circumvented No good deed goes unpunished Sure, I meant well, well, look at what well-meant did All right, enough, so be it, so be it, then Let all Oz be agreed I'm wicked through and through since I can not succeed Fiyero, saving you I promise no good deed will I attempt to do again Ever again No good deed will I do again!

However, she is able to pull herself together and simply chooses to leave Oz to live peacefully with Fiyero.

Nessa instead ends up defined by the persona others decide for her.

It is subtle and done unwillingly at first:

Bock: Listen, Nessa? Nessa: Yes? Bock: Uh, Nessa I've got something to confess, a Reason why, well Why I asked you here tonight Now I know it isn't fair Nessa: Oh, Boq, I know why Bock: You do? Nessa:It's because I'm in this chair And you felt sorry for me Well, isn't that right? Bock: No! No! It's because, because Because you are so beautiful!

Here, Nessa is actually trying to fight Bock's prejudice. She thinks Bock asked her out because of pity and is ready to call him out. Tragically, though, it is this very remark, which prompts Bock to find Nessa pitiful. The result is his inability to be honest with her, which leads to their very tragic and one-sided love story.

In short, Bock is initially unable to leave Nessa because he does not see her as a person, but as an extension of her disability. It is this dehumanization, which plants the seeds for Nessa's later spiral. As a matter of fact, Nessa being treated as this "thing" to protect by all the people in her life makes her thirsty for love:

How do you think that feels? All of my life, I've depended on you And this hideous chair with wheels Scrounging for scraps of pity to pick up And longing to kick up my heels

Nessa ends up resenting her disability so much she reduces all her problems to it. This is made obvious in her last scene, where she reproaches Elphaba for never "helping her". Then Elphaba enchants her slippers, so that Nessa can walk. Nessa's reaction is of utter happiness initially. She calls Bock and is convinced he will finally love her for who she is. However, Bock sees the change as a sign he can finally leave her:

Bock: Nessa Nessa: Yes? Bock: Oh, Nessa Surely now I'll matter less to you You won't mind my leaving here tonight Nessa: Leaving?

This turn of events breaks Nessa's heart and prompts her to try to literally "steal" Bock's, but she ends up shrinking it instead. So, Elphaba is forced to turn Bock into the Tin Man to save him.

In short:

Elphaba never lets others reduce her to the color of her skin and never truly becomes "the wicked witch" others see her as. Moreover, she is loved by Fiyero for the person she truly is. Her actions unwillingly leads to him almost dying and she turns him in the Scarecrow to save him. Despite this, Fiyero keeps loving her and the two are together in the end.

Nessa ends up blaming all her problems on her disability, so once she gets "cured" she thinks everything will be fine. Once it turns out the root of her problems isn't her disability, but rather who she is as a person (aka her mistreatment of Bock and the other Munchkins) she is unable to cope with it. Moreover, Bock never loved Nessa and forces himself to stay close to her because of her inability to walk and his sympathy slowly changes into hate. By the end, Nessa almost kills him by mistake and Bock is turned into the Tin Man. Differently from Fiyero, Bock doesn't forgive Nessa and leaves her alone.

NESSA AND GLINDA

Both Nessa and Glinda are spoiled and never called out on their actions because of who they are superficially:

Nessa is seen as weak and meek, so people coddle her. Her father gives her everything, from his attention to his late wife's slippers. Elphaba is protective of her and always ready to put Nessa's needs above her own. The two sisters may be close initially. However, there is no doubt their relationship is asymmetrical. Elphaba is ready to satisfy Nessa's requests, is sympathetic towards her situation and overprotective. Nessa instead doesn't seem to care much her sister is facing discrimination for the color of her skin. If anything, she is said to be ashamed of Elphaba and the movie shows she is annoyed her sister is staying at Shiz, as it spoils Nessa's chance of a new life.

Glinda is seen as perfect because she is beautiful and charming. She is "popular" and has almost all of Shiz grovelling at her feet. As a result, she can easily present herself as the "victim" of Elphaba's bullying, when it is really the opposite. Not only that, but this dynamic gets deeper and more complex in the second part of the play. There Elphaba, who is the real prodigy fighting for the well-being of Oz, is hated as wicked. Glinda, who is unable to perform magic and has sold herself to the Wizard's propaganda, is instead celebrated as good.

As a result of this, both girls struggle with taking responsibility for their actions, until they are faced with a similar struggle: a broken heart.

Bock tells Nessa he loves Glinda and asks her permission to leave, so that he can finally pursue his true love.

Fiyero chooses Elphaba over Glinda and leaves after breaking up his engagement with Glinda.

Both girls are upset over this and end up lashing out against Elphaba.

Nessa uses magic to try and have Bock fall for her, she almost kills him and eventually blames Bock's transformation on her sister:

Nessa: Then what do we do?! This is all your fault! If you had not shown me that horrendible book

Nessa: It wasn't me! It was her! I tried to stop her! Bock, please, I still... It was Elphaba!

As a result of her actions, both Bock and Elphaba leave Nessa alone:

Nessa: Elphaba, please don't leave me! Elphaba: I've done everything I could for you and it hasn't been enough. And nothing ever will be.

Glinda is so upset by Fiyero's choice that she ends up suggesting using Nessa to get to Elphaba. What she doesn't realize is that Morrible is going to kill Nessa to hurt Elphaba. It is symbolically after this moment (and their iconic cat-fight) that Glinda truly realizes how deep she has fallen. It is after the death of Nessa, her dark foil, her shadow, that Glinda is eventually able to choose "goodness" and rushes to warn Elphaba of the witch Hunters coming after her. She even admits her share of responsibility and guilt in how things turned out:

And just to clear the air I ask forgiveness For the things I've done you blame me for But then, I guess we know there's blame to share And none of it seems to matter anymore

Thanks to this gesture, Glinda and Elphaba are able to reconcile and end the story as closer as ever.

Like a comet pulled from orbit (like a ship blown from its mooring) As it passes a sun (by a wind off the sea) Like a stream that meets a boulder (like a seed dropped by a bird) Halfway through the wood (in the wood) Who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better And because I knew you Because I knew you, because I knew you I have been changed For good

In a sense, Nessa is Glinda's cautionary tale. She is who Glinda risked to become, if she had not learnt to take responsibility for her actions in time. Nessa tragically fails to grow and spirals into wickedness. Glinda is instead able to grow and blooms into Glinda the Good.

THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST

Nessarose: Save him please, just save him My poor Boq, my sweet, my brave him Don't leave me 'til my sorry life has ceased Alone and loveless here Just the girl in the mirror Just her and me, Wicked Witch of the East! We deserve each other

And Goodness knows The wicked's lives are lonely Goodness knows The wicked die alone It just shows when you're wicked You're left only On your own Yes, Goodness knows The wicked's lives are lonely Goodness knows The wicked cry alone Nothing grows for the wicked They reap only What they've sown

Nessa's story-arc is tragic because it is the one that more than others fits the description of "wickedness" Glinda and the Ozians sing about in No One Mourns The Wicked. Sure, we can read Glinda's stanza as her singing about herself, as she is now alone. However, Glinda does manage to reconcile with Elphaba and is finally pursuing goodness, which will hopefully bring her more true love and companionship. Fiyero and Elphaba have left Glinda physically, but are with her spiritually, as the finale proves:

Glinda: Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But Elphaba and Glinda: Because I knew you Crowd: No one mourns the Wicked Glinda: Because I knew you Elphaba and Glinda: I have been changed

At the very end, Elphaba is still singing together with Glinda in her heart.

Nessa is instead left alone by everybody. Her father dies, Elphaba leaves her after a huge fight and Bock abandons her after coming to hate her. She is even indirectly killed by Glinda and she dies alone for real. The only consolation is that even in her case, it is not true "no one mourns the wicked". Elphaba does mourn her. Nessa may have become "the wicked witch of the East", but she is still Nessa, Elphaba's little sister, a person behind the "wicked". So, it turns out even the wicked is mourned. That is because every person has the chance to be much more than just "wicked" or "good".

[mahou-furbies]

First impressions on Champignon Witch

This manga isn't really magical girls, but there is a witch in it (duh) and no way I'm not gonna talk about it. I saw this in a compilation of anime that's coming out in 2025 and from the promo art alone I knew this was going to be my manga (from the mushroom witch hat with ornate decorations), and so far it has lived up to expectations.

The story is set in a fairytale style world, where the black witch Luna lives in her little mushroom house in a forest with her magic familiars, and makes various powerful medicine out of poisonous mushrooms. People fear and hate her because she emits poison, and even the few merchants who will do business with her and treat her in a friendly way wear protective items around her and will scrub clean everything she has touched after she leaves. Luna continues to create medicine for the townspeople though, because she has few other ways to feel connected to other people outside seeing everyone all happy about the anonymous source's cures, even if she knows that nobody would want them if they knew they came from the poison witch. Also unbeknownst to the normies the poison she radiates is actually beneficial, because she involuntarily sucks up this vague evil bad vibe energy around her, and turns it into a more manageable form.

The first volume or so is spent following Luna's life, and it isn't until later when she finds the turbo poisoned boy Lis, somewhat cures him and takes him as an apprentice that the main story actually starts. The council of the black witches wants to kill him, because it is speculated that his poisoning will eventually take over and he'll cause large scale ruination, and only allow a limited time for Luna to teach him to manage his own poison.

I like how the whole series has a rather somber tone, which mostly comes from the characters wanting and failing to be close to one another, and trying to make peace with having to give up on someone. Like Luna has lost several of her black witch friends to witch hunt executions. The story also has a difficult relationship with love, since love is "poisonous" to black witches and messes up their magic, and also Luna has to live in isolation anyway. But it doesn't seem like this is a "love conquers all" kind of romance, because it has a side character give a speech on how it's condescending of outsiders to think that life without love is somehow incomplete.

I really like Luna, aside from the lovely character design she also has sweet quiet personality and it's easy to root for her to get through her self esteem troubles. I also like that she is already an experienced witch at the start and not a newbie who is baffled by everything. I'd say my biggest complaint about the story is that lately it has been a lot more about characters other than Luna, I wish she'd come back to the spotlight soon!

Since Luna's character design is what drew me to this in the first place, I was extremely happy that she wears a lot of memorable "medieval fantasy" type outfits. Quite many of them in fact, she has a new one almost every chapter! And sometimes multiple in the same chapter! And you know how I often like to draw collections of animu outfits with the character standing there in a neutral pose, here the author has done my job for me because almost every chapter ends with a good reference image full body pics of the major characters' new clothes! Even the ones that only appear once on a cover! It's like this was made for me.

Finally it should be mentioned that eventually Lis falls in love with Luna; it's somewhat complicated how old he is because he keeps getting aged down by magic so he is chronologically older than how he looks (and so is Luna for that matter, this is a "magic people stop aging" kinda series), but if that's a dealbreaker to you then maybe steer clear.

[idlingmoons]

cw: suggestive

merry christmas everyone! have sun and moon in ribbons, because what is christmas without some lovely presents?

ocs under the cut because what's better than two robots tied up in ribbons? six of them!

happy holidays!

bloodmoon and apricot!

daydream and sungrass!

i love sun and moon very much, and i love my ocs dearly as well! i honestly wasn't expecting to get this done before christmas (very tight timeline) but it was, and i'm merrier for it :)

[lilybug-02]

Bribed with Chocolate. The way it should be.

Part 22 || First || Previous || Next

--Full Series--

More to come as this is a two-parter. But you know how I am with schedules.

Bonus:

I think this was an equally possible reaction from Chara.

[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 171 spoilers and thoughts but i'm mostly just going "YAY I LIKED THIS MOMENT" and more below the cut

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DEMON KING LLOYD HELLO. HELLO?? WHAT. WHY?? BUT WOW. HOLY SHIT. I REALLY REALLY LIKE THIS

I LOVE WHEN CHARACTERS GAIN WINGS AND HORNS AND . GHGHHGHGHHG AAAHHH ITS MY FAVORITE THING if you didn't already know dragon lloyd was like one of my favorite all-time panels so this is VERY AWESOME FOR ME YAYYY YAAAAYYY HAHAHA

LIKE SERIOUSLY LOOK HE GOT FANGS N SHIT AND. OH MY GODD THE SMOKE SLIPPING PAST HIS LIPS IM SO??? THAT'S SO COOL. I LOVE WHEN THEY DO THAT WITH SMOKE AND MONSTROUS FORMS OF CHARACTERS

genuinely i need to draw this asap. pacing issues aside i am obsessed with how sick this is. i love this a LOT

ok ok back to the top bc theres some stuff i wanna touch on from before demon king lloyd got revealed! because...

"master lloyd taught us". "master lloyd taught us". "master lloyd taught us". "master lloyd taught us".

EXCUSE ME WHAT

YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT OFF SCREEN, LLOYD TOOK TIME OUT OF HIS BUSY ASS DAY. TO TEACH THE KIDS HOW TO PLAY SOCCER. AND THEY HAVE PLAYED ENOUGH TO BE FAMILIAR ENOUGH TO PLAY ON THEIR OWN. WHICH MEANS THAT LLOYD . PLAYED SOCCER WITH THEM . AND WE FIND THIS OUT. NOW?? I. GGHH. THATS SO. CUTE. IM GOING TO BITE HIM. THE FUCKER. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME

the fact that they go up to ask him im going to EXPLODE?!?!?

he looks so nonchalant abt it here im cryinf

AND LOOK AT THEM GO THIS IS SO SO SWEET IM VERY GLAD LYRA GOT TO PLAY WITH THEM I LIKE THIS A LOT

this scene, and the beginning scene where the adults were just so casual with her and treating her as a living person with feelings and someone that they can talk to was so so heartwarming i oooghhh my heart

AND THEN THERE HE IS. SMILING IN THE BACK. YOU ASS.

I SEE YOU BEING KIND AND EMPATHETIC AND SELFLESS LLOYD. YOU LOST THE NONCHALANT WAR. YOU CAN'T ESCAPE

christ. i fucking HATE him /j /aff

it is also VERY silly that they're so casual abt. destruction like that HELPPP they got it from someone sob sob, though i imagine since most of the estate consists of people who have done construction it probably isnt that big of a deal when things get destroyed every now n then

and lyra looks so damn happy,,, god im so glad she had a good experience, she really needed one :')

also i completely LOST it when the kid got mad at lyra for not responding with a yes or no HELPPP JESUS CHRIST

again they,,, got it from someone HAHA though honestly i think it tracks. kids can be straightforwardly brutal in their language, especially when they don't really have biases or cares for who they are speaking to. as crazy as this instance looks (LMFAO) i think this fits well with the context of the straightforwardness of children and considering the person who they look up to at the estate. i think it was good for lyra to meet a human child her age who can speak straightforwardly and not skirt past things, if that makes sense? i hope it does!

AND THE DEMON KING TRANSFORMATION i already talked abt it above but i wanna point out this blue system box here

a power outside of the system?!?? what does this mean for the protagonist of the new prequel bk_moon is writing?? is the weather forecasting included in this???

my first assumption right now is that the demon king power is just an in-world power system while everything else (ie the weather forecasting) is external, blue-textbox system. maybe? so lloyd got the demon king power which comes with skills separate from the ones that the system can provide? that would explain why there's no indication of lloyd trying to use the weather forecasting, he probably can't use it,,,? except i dont know why artanis can use it in that case. most likely i am overthinking it LMFAO

semi-related, i am a little confused as to why artanis did this? i guess she really, really trusted him w this power? or maybe her weather forecasting noted that this would be something good to do i have no idea,,, it Does feel a bit sudden i won't lie, i'm not sure how earned this is

also javier and everyone else not reacting that much to the demon king status. SENT ME HAHA "... nothing's changed." LOL

deadpan humor never fails to make me giggle ily javier

also loved the moment where the two of them were bein serious for a sec,,, they've got a job to do they've got people to protect. lloyd will stop fate and javier will be right besides him...

i think showing them at emily's wedding really cements how much they really, REALLY need to fight fate now. the novel events happening is very very bad, but it feels like now that so many people, emily especially, have found THIS much happiness in their lives,,, failing to stop fate will hit even harder. i really like the analogy of a taut bow that the dragon king used when he first described it, bc it's really REALLY showing how much the repercussions will hit if they fail. im praying they succeed,,, please,,, i need a happy ending or i will curl up and turn into an actual shrimp irl.

and now the demons have to build the pantara railroad,,, artanis's expression omfg

she really didn't,,, know,,, she trusted him that much,,,, girl,,,

but it's ok. it'll be a net positive trust! that's how lloyd does things!!! and then soon we'll get the happy ending where we can get the eye of summer and beat up fate and then silly fun times YAYY <- probably copium

some other thoughts of note that i had with a dear mutual (hi sprout :3) about this ep:

we were talking about how the plot seems to be paced right now, and honestly i'm of the opinion that while yes its Technically moving, the way they're ending each ep in this current arc makes it feel like it's going both very slow and very fast, that is to say it feels like it's not moving at all

bc they're like "okay NOW we're gonna do the build project" and it's been like that for several episodes now. pieces are moving but we're going past the point of it all too fast (especially the whole demon king thing. mentioned this before but while cool, doesn't feel as earned simply bc we're both tackling each point and yet blowing past all the points, so it's a lot less satisfying than it should be (despite how awesome it is,,, oh lloyd you give me so much internal conflict </3))

it does make me a lil worried that they're gonna timeskip the hell out of the pantara railroad build. however this episode, although it still has a weird pacing/movement issue, does feel a little bit better than the last two imo, so i have hope that it'll turn out okay, that it'll start heading up! i'm actually really excited to see where they go with this and i'm sure that even if the pacing is still goofy i'll have some kind of fun with it (seriously the panels this ep were wonderful HAHA)

anyway that's all for this week! extremely excited for the next ep,,, ill see yall then,,, lets go pantara railroad arc!!!

[smallblueandloud]

WE HAVE REACHED THE FAITH INTRODUCTION. CAN I GET A HELL YEAH.

my first reaction to meeting her was just: she's so… teenaged. i am so surprised and charmed by how gangly and loudspoken and immature she is. i think i expected them to try to make her ~sexy~ but she's really more of a tomboy than a femme fatale. and i love that so much.

[shigarosie]

I want to go back to bed but I'm being Responsibility Girl and getting my car looked at (AGAIN)