#i'm sorry for having to pull up the japanese pages

[beevean]

Having Thought again about Hector (and this time I'm talking about the real Hector) being called a child, or implicitly called naive - and how this is an important trait of his character.

Under cut because it's image heavy. Because I cannot and will not shut up :P

The laundry hanging scene is mostly there for fluff after the harrowing Hector vs. Isaac fight, but you can infer a lot from it.

Hector? Oh, you're in the shade again. It's not healthy. Come on! I need your help with something. The clothesline has broken, and I need a man's help. Ahh, you're pulling too hard, Hector! The branch will break!

Rosaly asks for a "man's help", but discovers that Hector can't do so much as hang laundry. He pulls too hard: Hector is a former fighter, so his first instinct is to use a lot of his strength (and he may even be superhumanly strong due to his powers). He probably never had to calibrate it in his life.

Rosaly: You’ve never done laundry before, have you? Well, this should be fine, thank you. Hector: Let me help you… Rosaly: No! Stop! That’s my…!

Then he takes Rosaly's clothes without permission: he really wants to help after that first embarrassment, but he doesn't seem to think that maybe it's a bit rude to rummage through a woman's underwear :P

It's all played for laughs, but it's also sad. Hector didn't have the chance to live a normal life. No one taught him how to live in human society, and then he wasted half of his life under Dracula's service. It's all new to him.

Haha, you’re so funny, Hector. With such pretty silver hair and such a pretty face…

But Rosaly doesn't judge him, doesn't think he's weird: she's honestly endeared by his clumsiness. (get yourself a so that doesn't make you feel bad for being different in common things 🥺) As I said in an older post:

He's not naive in the "easily trusting" sense: he hasn't lived in the human world enough to learn about it, except for hatred and rejection, and even simple things like hanging laundry don't come easy to him. But he wants to learn and he wants to help, much like a child would. And well. Rosaly knows how to take care of children without a home :) Where Hector sees nothing but a curse and sin, Rosaly sees innocence. She's idealistic, perhaps to a fault, but perhaps believing in the inherent goodness of others can pay off.

Rosaly: You’re just like a child… Hector: Where are my armor and sword? Rosaly: No. You've been bedridden for a week and only woke up yesterday. Hector: But I can't stay here.

Yet, interesting that this is when Hector asks for his sword and armor. He explains that he's afraid of attracting monsters again like the werewolf, but I also read shame in his expression. Rosaly means well, but I can imagine Hector doesn't like being compared to a child (especially if he associated childhood with being weak and hated). Maybe part of him even resents that she is right, and his instinct is to wanting to go back, to hide, to fight.

(or maybe he's just hella embarrassed that he was called "pretty" out of nowhere lol rosaly has excellent tastes)

It's also worth mentioning that, while Rosaly is never explicitly called a "womanchild" or naive, she seems to be considered as such by the others. She is called "too nice", because she overworks herself for little, and most importantly because she is allowing a complete stranger inside her home without knowing anything about him, ignoring the danger.

(in fact, Ted here calls Rosaly お人好し, which means "good-natured person" but with connotations of being a fool. This is after she brushed off Ted's concerns about Hector because "he has pretty eyes and birds seem to like him" :P)

Even Hector is unnerved by her attitude.

Rosaly: You were worried about us. Thank you, you are such a kind person. Hector: You take everything as a good thing... No, I'm sorry. Why don't you ask me? Haven't you heard anything from that kid? What did I do, what did I escape from? How did I kill that werewolf? …Who am I and where did I come from?

Rosaly's lack of curiosity and tendency to always assume the best of Hector is terrifying for him. He's waiting for the other shoe to drop, so that she'll know him and then hate him like everyone else. Who does this? Who just allows anyone to help with chores, and then finds cute when they can't do it? Who just welcomes someone in their home without caring about where they came from? It's weird. Rosaly is weird. Just as weird as Hector, a grown man who can't stay with other people and hasn't learned basic matters.

Being in touch with the blessings of the earth, feeling the seasons in the cold water... Seeing everyone’s smiles, having a meal with someone, going to bed grateful that the day has ended safely... All of these are wonderful things that are hard to come by. I have received everything I want from everyone.

Of course, the difference is that Rosaly is not naive due to lack of experience. She chooses to be stubbornly optimistic. She will love everyone to death. You have no choice.

And her relentless optimism is what allows her to see past Hector's barriers and mistery. He's just a good person to her, nothing more and nothing less.

Your name is Hector, you have beautiful silver hair, you were injured, you never did laundry, and you helped me and Ted. That's enough for me.

Another thing is that, Rosaly doesn't need Hector for household chores. She seems to be living alone just fine, and in fact she is the one who always helps others. So this is not really for her benefit: it's for Hector's. It's to give him something to do instead of drowning in his own thoughts. It's to make him feel less alone. There is symbolism in how Hector is still standing in the shadow, not hiding but still not ready to face the human world, and Rosaly says it's not healthy and drags him out to enjoy the sunlight, which he eventually accepts.

Hector is a proud, competent, intelligent man and warrior, but he's also a stunted child who has cowered from the world for years. Rosaly, without knowing anything about him and his upbringing, but sensing that something is different about him, is happy to show him the world and let him grow. Not because Hector is needed, but because he is wanted and welcomed.

My adoptive parents died a long time ago, so now I'm the only one here. So yeah, I would really love it if you stayed here.

Rosaly is used to live alone... but what if two lonely people lived together and helped each other?

In case it wasn't clear, the parallels between the beloveds fill me with warmth and joy :)

PtR gives us a similar concept, but with different characterizations:

"The unspent ferry fare for the Nether Rivers... to make up for it…"

"Worn-out and shiny? Thank you for the thought, but they'll think I stole it... I wonder if you don't know the world..."

Interestingly, here Hector's naiveté is painted in a more traditional manner. Sure, there's the heartbreaking part of him paying Rosaly for her basic kindness, because he is that foreign to the idea that he can be cared for without giving anything in return; and there's the symbolic part where he refers to the belt as pretty much the Charon's obol he had failed to pay, because he had planned to die but Rosaly saved his life so she is the one who gets to be paid. But Rosaly can't accept the gift for sensible reasons: it's too ostentatious, and she can't go around with it without drawing unwanted attention. Remember that this is also a time of witch hunts, and people are growing angrier and more suspicious, secretly due to the Curse.

Hector wouldn't know it. He lived isolated in the castle for years, so isolated that he couldn't hear the scream inside the stone walls. So for him it's a very straightforward reasoning: this woman is showing kindness to me, so I'll pay her with the most precious thing I own. (and even then I have my own ideas about that belt and why he has it)

Btw, this naiveté is not completely gone by CoD. He's surprisingly earnest with Julia when he meets her, revealing his background to a stranger. Thankfully nothing bad comes from it, but she seems to be much more guarded than him. I like to see this as a sign that he mellowed out after Rosaly :) or maybe he's just a gentleman lol.

Anyway I love Hector so much and I find it a more complex, vulnerable and relatable character than most assume 💖

[afyrian]

HII CONGRATS IM A NEW FOLLOWER!!

can I request 🌾☁️ for Shoyo? (Make sure you take care of yourself or I’ll find you 🫶🏾)

a (crush)ed drink shoyo hinata x fem!reader (fluff) m.list | wc: 656 | prompt: timeskip + 'mmh so the weather's nice'

    biting your nail, you stand by the front door, staring at your phone. the little bicycle's icon moving throughout the app, getting closer and closer to your apartment building. going to a restaurant and ordering with what poor portuguese that you have sends your blood pressure soaring. so you've found yourself ordering more food than necessary, just to avoid those moments.

  pacing quietly, you reload the page, practicing your basic portuguese vocabulary. muito obrigada echoes through your head, little whispers coming from your lips as you practice the pronunciation. "uh- cheiro está deliciosa.." it doesn't sound quite right as it leaves your mouth, sounding better in your head.

  looking back at your phone, you notice that the bike icon has arrived at your building. a little sentence at the bottom stating that he's in the building and delivering it. shaking your hands, you let out a sigh, closing your eyes and letting the cool air of your apartment relax you. 

  your heartbeat slows until you hear someone out in the hallway, apologizing in broken portuguese. realizing it's likely your delivery man, you shove your phone into your pocket, awaiting the knock on the door. one second.. two seconds.. time slows as a rhythmic knock resonates in the room. putting on a brave face, you unlock the door and twist the handle until it's open.

  there stands an orange-haired man holding a bag of food in one hand and a crushed cup in the other, "i'm- uh disculpe. you're bebida... esmagado."

  between the broken portuguese, you can hear what you believe to be eastern japanese. a sort of country twang in his voice. a sense of peace washes over you, "wait, i'm sorry, do you know japanese?"

  immediately it's like a light bulb has gone off, an epiphany resting between his ears. his eyes light up like you’ve never seen in a person before, a large sigh leaving his shorter stature. “yeah! i am! oh wow, i can explain this better then! it’s really sunny right now and i had my sunglasses off for a second.. just a second. and it got right into my eyes where i then fell over,” your delivery driver purses his lips, holding out the bag of food that is still intact.

  “mmh so the weather’s nice then? okay, it’s okay! really, i was just practicing ‘muito obrigada’ over and over, so the good and bad surprises equal out,” your free hand grabs the bag from his, your other hand preoccupied with playing with the hems of your shorts. 

  he gives you a warm smile as you take it, your hands briefly grazing each other, “i actually took this job in hopes of learning more portuguese! it is definitely helping, when the order delivering is easy..”

  “actually!” your delivery driver pulls out his phone, ignoring the slight amount of awkward tension in the air, “i can give you my number and we can learn together!”

  maybe he’s more used to the extroverted attitude of the people who surround him, but you immediately notice your palms sweating. the thought of getting to know someone new in a country that you’re still uncertain in makes you feel nervous. however, you can’t help but feel the energy he exudes, the warmth that radiates from him.

  “well shouldn’t i know your name first? you do know mine, from the app,” you bite your lip, holding back the playful smile that wants to appear.

  something about him sends a spark within you, heat traveling throughout your body. you don’t know what to call it, a crush? an infatuation with a man who has the attitude for the ages. “it’s hinata, hinata shoyo! it’s a pleasure to formally meet you!” he holds out his phone, number written across the screen.

  you smile genuinely this time, unable to hold it back any longer, “well, nice to formally meet you hinata, i’d love to learn portuguese with you!”

a/n: thank you for requesting anon!! i loved doing this <33 i did end up taking a very short break but it was great, also if the portuguese sucks i’m so sorry

[abyssalzones]

What's your comic writing process like? I'm starting to get into making my own comics and I really admire your work!!! Any advice?

Ah, intrepid traveler, you've done well to journey to this secluded mountaintop spire, in search of the answers you seek. I indeed can provide such forbidden comicmancy knowledge... at the cost of your mortal soul...

coughs. anyway, I'm going to warn you immediately that what works for me does not work for everyone else, and in my experience the way I do things can prove very slow and discouraging for anyone who is more interested in the actual "drawing the damn comic" part of the process. I only do it this way because I enjoy weaving a narrative web that feels not only fully contained but re-readable, but my projects are often so long and my memory so shitty that I can't just keep all of it in my head! It would spill all over the place and make a really embarrassing mess of brain-juice. Not ideal.

but as for my own process, uhh... I suppose a comic would be fitting, right?

a little choppy but you get the idea.

as for turning words into art, I've been experimenting with figuring out the best way to do that for a little while now. Originally what I was doing for something like Ad Astra Per Aspera was to take my "script" and sketch it out on paper very loosely, before transposing that onto my canvas and working from there:

...but, I've found that can make it kind of difficult to space everything around on your standard page-size, and the thing I'm having the most problems with currently seems to be finding the sweet spot of panel-size proportions. So, I've taken to printing out standard thumbnail templates (you can just find these on google) and sketching very tiny panels in those, which seems to give me a slightly better sense of scale... (mild chapter 5 spoilers, sorry ad astra fans)

but I have yet to totally pull through on this, so who knows, maybe I'll try something else in the future!

As for advice, this is probably most applicable to me, but as a disabled artist I have a very hard time managing my workload without literally working myself into injury. I don't think I talked about this publicly but when I was working on that ten year anniversary comic I was literally drawing every single day for 3 solid months. Sometimes, in my case, I really can't bring myself to stop once I've latched onto an idea, and sometimes I find the most rewarding thing I can do with my time is to draw- but I seriously cannot overstate: Do not fucking do this.

You will fuck up your wrist, your back, your neck, your eyes, and probably your mental health. It's a well-known fact that mangaka have a lower life expectancy than the average japanese person due to the intense workload imposed on them by deadlines and personal expectations. Comics are a very demanding artform, and even though I'm not on any sort of mandated schedule there are times where I've toiled away at something when I likely should have been exercising or taking vision-breaks. Therefore the best advice I can give you is to chill the hell out.

Namely, find parts of the process you can be lazy about, and embrace the laziness! You don't like digitally sketching? Don't do it! Skip it, or maybe find a way to traditionally sketch things out in advance like I do. Hate lineart? Don't fucking do it. You really don't feel like wasting your time writing 72k words of comic scripts? ...then, don't be like me. skip that part. I'm a flawed human being and what works for me might not work for you.

The second most important piece of advice I could give is to read comics. Of all kinds. The reason for this is pretty self explanatory: In order to figure out your own comic-making style, you should first pick out bits and pieces from the artist's buffet to add to your plate. Manga, graphic novels, american comics, european comics, weird niche little webcomics, funny papers, anything and everything. This advice rings true of pretty much any art form, but I find it to be essential to honing comic-making skills because so many things you feel will just come intuitively often don't. and that's okay! nobody is born knowing how to leave space for speech bubbles or shape their panels in a way that imitates stretches of time. The best way to figure out stuff like this, in my experience, is to study the "masters", and then after becoming well accustomed to the basics, figure out what rules you want to bend or break to create your own style.

I consider myself to be in equal parts a writer and an artist, which lends itself well to making narrative comics, but maybe you're a bit more of an artist and want to focus on panel-by-panel visual storytelling. Or, conversely, maybe your talents lean closer towards writing, and the art itself is more of a secondary skill. Regardless of your unique blend of talents you can and should make a comic, you should just also be aware of your strengths and try to hone in on those- there will always be opportunities to build up skills you lack, but focusing on what you do best will always lead you in the right direction.

Anyway, that being said, here are some recommendations in no particular order:

Monster, Naoki Urasawa (!!)

Bone, Jeff Smith

Witch Hat Atelier, Kamome Shirahama

The first IDW run of Transformers comics (namely More Than Meets the Eye and Lost Light)

Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (!!)

Through the Woods, Emily Carroll (really any Emily Carroll comics)

Kill Six Billion Demons (webcomic) (!!)

Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo

The Third Person, Emma Grove

Tintin, Herg�� (can be super racist please be wary)

Dungeon Meshi, Ryoko Kui

Calvin & Hobbes, Bill Watterson

Maus, Art Spiegelman

Cucumber Quest (webcomic)

Jellyfish Princess, Akiko Higashimura

Golden Kamuy, Satoru Noda (!!)

Note that I did not grow up with manga so I am seriously behind on a lot of extremely influential japanese comics such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, basically any of the original Shonen Jump comics, but they're widely considered building blocks of the genre so if you love the artform I think you should give them a try! Same goes for classic non-shonen manga genres like various Shoujo, Josei, Yuri, Gekiga, ETC.

same as above applies to a lot of classic DC and Marvel works, I unfortunately am just not a big fan of superhero comics... but I'm sure there's good stuff in there. a couple of my mutuals talk about booster gold and the blue beetle all the time so I'm assuming there has to be something worthwhile.

...and many, many, many more that I'm forgetting! I noticed as I made this list that, to my knowledge, hardly any of these are made by black or just non-japanese-mangaka BIPOC artists, which makes me sad about the gaps in my own comic collection. Therefore, anyone is welcome to add their own recommendations in the replies!

now go forth, and combine images with text!!!!!!!!!!!

[starlightshadowsworld]

Headcannon that a lot of the Orphanage staff were people displaced from the Great war.

People who weren't originally from Japan who found a place working at the Orphanage because of the Headmaster.

He fought with them and gave them a job, a home.

And maybe that's why they turned a blind eye to his methods, or even why they understood them and followed them.

Anyway, this results in Atsushi being multilingual.

As while the staff taught Japanese, a lot of them would speak in their own native languages.

Especially when they were angry, which they usually were. And so the kids learned to picked up on it fast.

You couldn't use "I didn't understand" as an excuse.

It just meant you were ignoring orders.

A lot of the books were ones the staff had owned as kids.

Given they hadn't had the budget for anything more.

And Atsushi spent hours pouring over pages and figuring out details and words.

Atsushi didn't realise that most people don't know more than one language.

For him it was the norm, a necessity, a means of survival.

Because the staff would change their language like shades on a chameleon, and if you got caught out you'd be punished.

He never bought it up, he hadn't needed to given everyone at the Agency spoke Japanese.

So did he.

Sometimes he listen to music on headphones from other languages.

Because it was werid speaking and listening to one language all the time.

Though Atsushi makes an effort to look more into the languages he's learned.

Because he's afraid of losing another part of himself. Esspecially after everything that happens in Dead Apple.

There are clues here and there.

Like how Atsushi watches soaps in his spare time.

Ones his old matrons would watch when they were supposed to be watching him.

Kyouka finds them intresting and sometimes watches them with him.

She doesn't notice that Atsushi only turns on subtitles when she's watching.

However no one knew until one time Fyodor made a mistake with his Japanese.

(Going off of Wan where he struggles with it.)

Dazai laughed at him, Fyodor cursed at him in Russian. And Atsushi, absolutely done with all this man's bullshit.

Proceeded to swear at him in Russian. Full on, rip this man to shreds, curse out his entire bloodline.

Fyodor was completely speechless, as was everyone else.

Dazai looks at Atsushi with the most devious look in the world. "Soo... Atsushi, mind sharing that with the class?"

Atsushi is confused, realised no one else knows what he said and is so embarrassed.

"You know Russian?!"

"You... Don't?"

Eventually, Atsushi quietly tells Dazai what he said.

Dazai falls onto the ground rolling around laughing his ass off.

"Atsushi I have never been more proud of you than I am now."

This post is bought to you by that one manga panel in chapter 13.

Detective Minoura visits the Agency, spots Kyouka and wonders if she's the assassin they're after.

Atsushi makes up a lie about finding her on a mission... And was doing a cossack dance in a wheat field.

Which 1st off, someone teach Atsushi how to lie plz.

And second of all, Google tells me is known as Hopak and is a dance in both Ukraine and Russia.... Sorry if that's wrong.

And I'm like... What an oddly specific thing to pull out of nowhere?

And how the fuck does Atsushi, I lived in secluded and isolated Orphanage in the middle of nowhere in Japan, know what that is?

Someone had to have taught him that.

[jasper-book-stash]

June-August 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

Hey, sorry for disappearing off of the face of Tumblr for uhhhh three months, but I read twelve books in that time and I'm here to complain.

Religious Text

None applicable.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

Moonbeams and Ashes: Tales of Mystery, Love, and the Paranormal | Margarite Stever

I picked this up from some bookstore here in Missouri under the local authors shelf. I wish I hadn't. These stories were all poorly written, and a good chunk had nothing to do with mystery, love, OR the paranormal. They weren't even bad in the fun way.

2/10 - Trash

None applicable.

3/10 - Meh

My Mother Road | Phyllis York

I picked this up from some OTHER bookstore here in Missouri under the local authors shelf. I wished this book had ended 480 pages sooner. The only highlight was at the end when the grandpa physically kicked a guy off of the porch.

Athena's Child | Hannah Lynn

A Greek myth "retelling" centering around Medusa and intercut with Perseus. It...was just mediocre. There wasn't anything interesting about what it did or changed or told, there was no taking the myth and running in a new direction with it, and worse of all we opted for the Ovid's Metamorphoses route but still used the Greek names for the gods.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Crossword Poems, volumes 1 and 2 | Robert Norton

Two itty-bitty volumes covering what were apparently once commonly-known poems that you'd be able to remember based on half of the hint. Decent enough stuff, just kinda boring without that historical note.

Shelling Peanuts and Other Odd Odes | Howard Nelson

Another collection of poems that were ultimately mediocre with a few funny or insightful ones. Not bad, just not especially good either.

Songs of Honour | Noble House Publishers

These were, on the whole, better than the other two, but I knocked it down to 6/10 based on the fact that it took me the entire month of July and a third of August to finish. The formatting was lovely and each poem only took a page, but it was ultimately just "good-to-mediocre" on the whole.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa | Scott McGough Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa | Scott McGough Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa | Scott McGough

While I personally listed Guardian as a 9/10, I figured I should keep the entire Kamigawa Cycle together. This is the story of Toshiro Umezawa, everyone's favorite fuckup self-centered protagonist dealing with the consequences of his and everyone else's actions. There were a couple times when something was referenced that didn't make sense in the setting (such as angels, Hell, or pixies), and you can definitely feel the "early 2000s white man writing a Japanese setting based on vibes alone" emanating from most of the pages, but I had a good time calling Toshi a dumbfuck over and over again.

9/10 - Very Very Good

None applicable (besides aforementioned Guardian).

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

The Tale of Despereaux | Kate DiCamillo

In my book club, we randomly pulled this one as the one for all of us to read at the same time, and let me tell you, this book hits different when you're a queer young adult in your early twenties than it clearly hit the grown women in their 50+'s. Great book, absolutely adorable, and I love the fact that we accidentally timed it to coincide with the release of Bloomburrow.

Scaredy Squirrel: In a Nutshell | Melanie Watt

Yes, this is an Easy-level book. But somehow, this squirrel with anxiety and possibly OCD (yes, I'm projecting slightly, I kept going "he's just like me for real" aloud when I read it) is now one of my favorite fictional guys. And when he was having a meltdown, the other characters actually gave him space and respected his boundaries. Do you know how impossible that is to find in fiction? One of my favorite books now, hands down.

[benkyoutobentou]

31 Days of Productivity Reading: Days 14-20

お久しぶりですよね！Sorry for dropping off of the face of the earth(lings). Since I've been so terrible at keeping you all updated, this update will just be a general all around update rather than my typical before and after format. Plus it's the end of the day and I didn't write anything beforehand.

To address the elephant in the room first and foremost, yes I did have a day where I failed my reading goal. There was one day last week where I just had a ripping headache and just went to bed early, having read a grand total of zero pages for the day. And then I slept for like twelve hours. So yeah, it was kind of rough. As usual, the next day was a bit of a struggle because I always feel that twinge of disappointment just telling me that I've already failed, why keep trying? But I pushed through, because failing one day is loads better than just giving up altogether.

Most of the time, I've just been reading my 25 pages and just calling it a day, even if I mean to read more. A lot of that is because I've been reading right before bed (which also makes it less appealing to get out of bed or pull out my phone to write an update when I just want to sleep) and I feel like by the time I get to that goal, I'm tired enough to sleep.

I found the middle section of the book (reminder since I haven't mentioned the title [outside of my terrible joke] yet: I'm currently reading 地球星人 by Murata Sayaka, the English title is Earthlings) to be a bit slower, which is such a death sentence in Japanese for me, but it just started to pick up again and I'm really excited to continue on!

I also did notice that at this pace I will not complete my goal of finishing three novels this month, but I have a plan! The current plan is to try my best to finish 地球星人 this week (I'm just over halfway through), spend whatever is left of the week and the weekend finishing up 憎らしい彼 , and then see how much of 本を守ろうとする猫の話 I can power through in the last week of the month. I did have one more manga series that I wanted to get to before the month was over because it was another that's a completed series that I want to see if I want to continue collecting, but I probably won't get to it unless I end up finishing a novel early one day.

Just a bit more on finishing up 地球星人 , I did end up calculating my average reading speed and seeing how much I would have to read to complete it by the end of the week. I find that Murata has a relatively easier writing style so my reading speed is about three minutes per page. That's comparable to something like キノの旅 for me. With that speed, I have to read about forty pages per day to finish it by Friday, or around two hours per day. That is very doable if I manage my time correctly. Now that I can see that I'm over halfway through the book, though, I'm hoping to finish it before then. Being able to see that I'm in the finishing stretch of a book always gives me more motivation to read and finish it!

And with that, I'm off to read some more before bed.

[c0ffeeboy]

cw: agressive fluff

"hey, are you really this happy 24/7?" he scowls at me. "are you this grumpy 24/7?" i ask in return, pinching his cheeks. "yeah, but you already knew that." he says, slapping my hands away. "yeah, yeah, crabby face." i blow a raspberry at him.

"oi, look at my notes. i made them extra pretty because you were dozing off. figured you'd need them later." i push the wire-bound notebook towards him, flipping it open to the dog eared pages of today's class. he takes it from my hands, our fingers slightly brushing and i pull away too quick. "oh, thanks. i'll click pictures so that you can study later." he replies, pulling his phone out. "its okay! you can take it if you'd like. it's a pity i never study at home." i try to wink, but i fail and it looks uncool as heck.

"yeah, yeah. you never study. and you still manage to come out among the top 5 of the class during tests." he retorts. "oh well, i just write what i remember from class. if its correct it helps me score more!" i smile at him. he snaps my notebook shut and puts it in his bag. "hey, since you lent me the notebook, let me buy you something." "oh? what do you want to buy me?" i chuckle, not expecting a proper answer.

"i don't know, you want to get dinner or something?" he asks, nonchalantly. "you. want to get dinner. with me." i blink at him. "who are you and what have you done to my best friend?" i poke his cheek. "hey, let me be nice to you while it lasts. you want to get dinner or no?" he grabs my hand, not letting it go. "you keep doing these favours for me. let me do something for you too. i know i'm not that nice but, hey, you can let me try. please." he blushes, his voice shakier than normal. i realise that my face has turned beet red too and my heart is racing.

"i mean, its fine really, you don't have to do it because you feel obligated! i don't even need the notebook for a few days now-" "do you want to get dinner? yes or no? its a simple question." he cuts me off, his beautiful eyes staring right into my soul. "i... uhm, yeah. yeah. sure." i stammer out a reply. "see, that wasn't so bad." he lets go of my hand and gets up from his chair.

"where do you want to go?" he stretches, his hoodie riding up and showing a perfect strip of skin. i turn my face away before he realises that i'm gawking. "i don't know, i'm feeling indecisive. what do you want to eat?" i ask, trying to not yell out in happiness and utter disbelief at the fact that i'm getting dinner with my crush at his request. maybe all those times of being annoying and initiating contact really paid off.

he takes my hand and pulls me up from my chair, tugging me along with him outside of the classroom. "there's this new place near my dorm, i went there a week ago and its good. they do fried chicken, japanese food, and desserts. you said you'd been craving karaage and gyoza so maybe we could get those." he doesn't realise it, but i'm willing to eat out of a trashcan if it means i get to be with him. "yeah, sounds great." i smile at him, my heart full of love for this grumpy idiot.

🫀(blackbird)

ps: please excuse any and all mistakes augh! i'm okay now! i'm sorry if this one seems rambly, i didn't put much thought into it. i've been consuming too much romance anime lately and i need a break. i've been reading the mortal instruments too, and i looove magnus bane sooo much. the tv show did his hair dirty. if you ever post snippets if your book, do let me know! :)

excuse me as i go ugly sob from being so incredibly single

AHHHHHHH

that was so cute, like wtf no mistakes at all, i will think about this all week. also YES MORTAL INSTRUMENTS.

and i shall, once i actually start writing-

[bnhaobservation]

esp with the manga series coming to a close how do you feel about the ending?

Hum...

I mostly have mixed feelings.

If we talk about my personal hopes, this isn't how I wanted the series to end.

Skipping the problems caused by cultural clash (when in the story some things happen because they're okay for Japanese culture but not for mine), if we talk about it critically, tossing away my personal feelings... it's mostly what I've said in this post.

Horikoshi had a good plan in mind, a good idea for the ending of the story (as in an idea that made sense and makes for a valid ending, not necessarily an idea I liked). It was constructed well enough in the manga so that most of it won't come out of nowhere but could be based on previous chapters.

However, when he had to execute it... well, here came troubles. Maybe it was an idea too broad and he had no time for it, maybe he was forced to do things in a rush, maybe he had other problems. I don't know.

The result is that even thought there's good in the ending, the ending doesn't win me over.

I've plenty of things I'd like to say about it but since I'm not sure you'll want a really long post or what you'll be exactly interested in discussing, I'll sum everything up with the story of Joki Joki.

Through 42 volumes I hoped for Tomura's (and Touya's, and Himiko's) survival. I was strongly invested in it. Now it's good and well that Joki Joki was saved but Joki Joki isn't a real person but a manga character and I... had zero emotional investment in him.

He was someone who appeared at the last minute, was given an extremely tragic backstory through an infodump so as to pull at my heartstrings, so that I would be happy he was saved but... he's fundamentally a mob character. Works well for the story, to drive home the message that now kids will be saved but... he can't replace Tomura.

He needed more development and 'screentime' to make me get close to him, to make me wish he could be saved if not as much as I wanted Tomura to be saved, well, close enough.

So if the extra pages we'll get in the manga are, for example, about Dai's story... I'm sorry, I'm not really invested in it.

I can understand why Horikoshi might want to give him more space and I don't think it's a bad idea per se but... I'd like to know more about the Todoroki kids, about Spinner, Geten and Compress, not about a new character. I'm not curious about Dai.

But well, that's just me, people might love to see more about a new young Hero.

In the end we can only wait and see what Horikoshi will offer to us in his final volume.

Sorry if my thoughts aren't really clear but I'm just back from hospital after spending there the past three days and I'm a bit upside down.

Still thank you for your ask! I love to talk about BNHA!

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

The Great OC Alphabet Caper: Deceit Edition

(Credit to @sleepyowlwrites for this idea)

For characters introduced in the other books, see these posts: The Unfortunate Moth • Silver Glass • Mine Eyes Dazzle • There Stands a Spectre • The Tempest and the Night

Characters who first appeared in Houses Full of Deceit, in alphabetical order:

Ji-hun

Name: An Ji-hun (안 지훈)

Age/Pronouns: 30s(?), he/him

Brief physical description: Look at Lee Dong-wook in Strangers From Hell, imagine him in 1910s clothes, and you've got Ji-hun:

Brief list of defining traits: Complete monster. The sort of person who kills children, cuts off fingers, and hunts detectives across the world.

Excerpt:

"I was hired to kill that family. I found out they were related to you, so I thought it would be fun to hunt you down too." Yo-han tried to wrap his mind around this. "So you chased me for months… for fun?" An's smile returned. It was almost like talking to someone with a comedy mask tied to their face. "This was the most fun I've had in years. I'm almost sorry to kill you." His finger moved. Yo-han ducked. An shifted his aim to follow. The problem with actors was that they had an irritating tendency towards the melodramatic. Even worse, it was contagious. If Yo-han had been consulted, he would have asked for reinforcements before the nick of time. Unfortunately he hadn't been consulted. Fortunately the nick of time did just as well. Phil flung the dining room door open. She aimed her gun at An. "Drop it!" An started. He pulled the trigger. The bullet buried itself in the floorboard at his feet.

Trivia:

He started out as a minor character in Like Snow on Hungry Graves. I had to cut his subplot, then decided to reuse his character in a completely different setting. (How different? Well, apart from the fantasy versus realistic settings, in TCOSYH he's by far the worst character to appear on-page. In LSOHG, he would have shared most of his scenes with two characters who are worse.)

He gets killed off very abruptly for such a major villain. This is because of several plot changes. The denouement was supposed to happen in Scotland, for example, and the lead-up to his death would have taken an entire chapter

His surname is a reference to South Korean actor Ahn Nae-sang, and his personal name is a reference to Ji-hoon/Ji-hun from Psychopath Diary

Avington

Name: Timothy Avington

Age/Pronouns: 40s, he/him

Brief physical description: No specific description

Brief list of defining traits: Tries to start a war for fun and profit (his own, obviously). Arranged the Hastings murders because Mr. Hastings found out too much about his plan. Gets killed off in record time

Excerpt:

The Avington family had prided themselves on living in the most fashionable district in London. Unfortunately, that had been before people started asking awkward questions like "How could you afford those jewels when they cost more than your husband's yearly salary?". Now they had to content themselves with a modest house in an unfashionable district. Timothy Avington hated it. Something had gone wrong with his plans ever since Hastings confronted him. Hastings was dead now, but the bloody fool of an assassin just had to kill the wife and children too. Now the Japanese had lost interest in his scheme. His friend Jeong was suspected of taking bribes. He felt like he was living in a house of cards about to collapse around him. It was a sunny day in early May when the collapse came.

Trivia:

I got his surname from a name generator. His first name is borrowed from one of my relatives

The main change I'm planning for the second draft: giving him more to do! As it is he appears out of nowhere then dies

Mrs. Hastings

Name: Seo Eun-a (서 은아), Una Hastings (adopted name)

Age/Pronouns: 40s, she/her

Brief physical description: None

Brief list of defining traits: Never appears because she and her family are killed in the prologue. Yo-han's cousin

Excerpt: None

Trivia:

Another change I'm planning for the second draft: she'll appear at least once before her death

She's mentioned in passing in Mine Eyes Dazzle (where she's alive and well, because it's a prequel)

Mr. Jeong

Name: Jeong Dong-sik (정 동식)

Age/Pronouns: 50s, he/him

Brief physical description: None

Brief list of defining traits: Avington's co-conspirator. Tries to kill Yo-han. Never actually appears but is presumed to have died off-screen

Excerpt: None

Trivia:

His personal name is a reference to Dong-sik from Psychopath Diary

Another change I'm planning for the second draft: he'll actually appear. I'm hoping to have him and Avington both killed by Ji-hun, which would be very fitting (but hard to work out when they're on different continents...)

Adding the general Case-files taglist: @akindofmagictoo, @sam-glade, @sarahlizziewrites, @oh-no-another-idea, @cljordan-imperium,

@mrbexwrites, @lightgriffinsect (Let me know if you want to be added/removed!)

[ac3th3shark]

I JUST FINISHED BANANA FISH AND IM IN DENIAL SO I WROTE THIS TO COPE!!!!!

!!banana fish spoilers!!

Eiji's sister doesn't have a name, so I refer to her as Fuku bc that's what the random name generator wanted.

idea: Ash survives and comes to see Eiji in Japan

It had been a little less than a month since Eiji had returned to Japan. His injuries had almost fully healed, and he was able to walk around and do things again. His poor mother had been horrified to see the state he was in when he arrived home. She cried so hard seeing him hurt in that wheelchair. He remembers thinking about how upset he was that Ash hadn't come, but he was sure that he would see him again while his mother thanked Ibe for taking care of him and his father yelled at Ibe for letting him get hurt.

About a week after he arrived home, he got a call from Ibe saying that Max had called him, and Ash was in the hospital after getting stabbed by Lao. Max had asked him not to tell Eiji yet, but he thought that he deserved to know what happened. Eiji wanted to go right back to America to check on Ash, but he didn't. He decided that he needed to stay here for a while before doing anymore travelling and he's confident that Ash would be ok, ash is strong. One of the strongest- no, the strongest person that he's ever met.

He was so worried about Ash, asking Ibe if he knew how he was doing every day. He remembers thinking that he shouldn't of came back until he was sure that Ash and everyone else was ok. He was so relieved when a few days ago Ibe told him that Ash had finally been released.

He was snapped from his thoughts when his mother called his name. He looked up from where he was staring at a page of his book.

"Sweetie, someone's here to see you."

"What?"

"I think it's a friend from America. He barely speaks Japanese, but he kept saying something in English and your name so I figured I would get you."

Eiji tried to think of who it could be. What if Ash had gotten into more trouble and someone had come after him again? now, that was extremely unlikely. But who could it be? Max is too busy with his engagement and planning his marriage. He had heard that Sing was working with Yut Lung now, so who?

"Thanks ma" He cautiously got up and walked to the door that was cracked open.

Upon opening the door, he was met with a familiar face, ash. Ash had come to see him.

He just stood there staring and Ash just stared back. Finally, he worked up the ability to say something.

"Ash..."

"Eiji..."

"Ash!"

"Eiji!"

Ash jumped onto Eiji, bringing him into a tight hug, Eiji hugged him back. They both pulled back a little, staring at each other, both of them crying happy tears. Ash moves one of his hands to Eiji's face, gently pulling him into a soft kiss. They both Smile as they pull away.

Eiji grabs his hand and pulls him inside the house, shutting the door behind them. As soon as he moves his hand from the knob its back around ash and they're hugging again. They stay like that for a while before Ash remembers that this isn't his home and pulls away.

"How are you? Are you ok? I heard that you were stabbed. You just got released a few days ago, right? Why are you here?"

"I'm fine now, I lost a lot of blood and ended up passing out from blood loss in the library but I'm ok now." Ash responds, gently taking Eiji's hands into his. "And I'm here because I missed you."

The nice moment only lasts for a short minute because Eiji suddenly turns around.

"Awwww, Eiji! Your so on-edge all the time since you came back! I can't sneak up on you anymore!" Fuku, Eiji's younger sister pouts.

"Heh, sorry Fu."

"who's that?" Fuku and Ash both say at the same time, pointing at each other.

"Ash," Eiji starts saying in English "This is Fuku, my younger sister." He turns to Face the girl better, "Fuku," he says in Japanese now, "This is Ash, my....Friend from America" he blushes a little when he decides not to tell her that they're dating.

"Hehe! I knew that that charm I gave you would work!!" Fuku laughs as Eiji jumps back a little.

"Ahh, that was intentional!?"

"What did she say?" Ash asked.

"r-remember that charm I told you about? She said that she knew it would work." The red on both of their faces intensifies and so does Fuku's laughter.

"Well, if it's that obvious, may as well just own it." Ash says, "You can introduce me as your boyfriend if you'd like."

"Sure."

And they all three smile.

[luckyshotwrites]

Ch. 97 // Reasons // XXX

Contents (Warnings): Drake and Alexander (Angst, slight blood warning, character and monster info as always). Read full chapter on A03

Wordcount: 3,800+

Song I correlate to this Chapter: Farewell Wanderlust - The Amazing Devil Karaoke

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

3 years and several months ago

Drake

How do I put it?

A noose of remorse wound around Drake's neck as he debated his words.

It had been a few months since the incident. He recovered, so did Alexander. They started talking and hanging out a bit more. However, he felt the need to right some wrongs, especially with him. 

What could I say, sorry I tried to kill you? 

He didn't treat Drake any different than the first day they met and onward. Nor did his heart hold any unsteady beats. 

I don't get it. His fingers fiddled with the corner of his book. Despite reading his manga page ten times, Drake couldn't comprehend the images anymore or read the Japanese. 

He set it down on the kotatsu table in his 'hidden' room and got off the floor. Since they didn't catch find or catch, Andras, he wasn't allowed to leave the house unsupervised. 

He took out his laptop and searched the web for designs, apology cards he could print out. None of these look or sound good. He saw one that had a toilet paper roll that said, 'oh shit, I'm really sorry', the next with vacuums saying, 'I suck, I'm sorry', another with screws, 'sorry I screwed up'. All of them seemed to comical for this situation. 

He groaned aloud and pushed his computer aside, I'll just write something. 

He went to his notebook and flipped through his guilty pleasures, mostly fanfictions, those at which he'd never show a soul. He took his pen out from the rings and started to write.

He scribbled down what he felt, what he wanted to say, read it back and then tore it out. He did so for the next five, still unsatisfied with what wrote. 

Why is this so hard to write! He knew what he wanted to apologize for and still couldn't articulate it. 

He moved his pen in between his teeth in absentminded exasperation. His smaller, retracted fangs chewed the flimsy plastic as he pondered silently.

His mind felt like a cleared whiteboard before an apprehensive student afraid of answering the question wrong. Just write it already! He crunched through the upper half of the pen and it's ink—eager to be released—flooded his mouth.

He dropped the remaining pieces and broke into a coughing fit. He grabbed the basket near him with his failed notes and profusely spit into it. 

"That's so gross!" He yelled with a few more attempts to clear his tongue. 

Mostly anything besides flesh and blood tasted stale to him, specifically the blood and flesh of anything other than human. He unintentionally hit his first craving for sentient blood and attacked one after the whole thing with Andras. 

Though, stronger flavors like the pens ink, had a taste, fainter but still effective. 

He spit one last time and threw his head back. His hands plopped down on either side behind him. They held him from falling back completely. His bangs slipped from their place over his eyes. His red hue, met with the red LED's he had at the rooms edges, and then to the few over his cases of figurines from his favorite shows or manga's.

He shouted out, incoherently and threw himself up to get another pen. STOP BEING PATHETIC AND FUCKING WRITE THIS DAMN APOLOGY!

He went to his desk and to the pencil holder behind his right monitor. He pulled out a pen and when he twisted on his heels back to the surface, he heard the click of the door.

He scrambled toward it, pushing off the table, and he slid to fast in his socks across the wooden floor. He almost fell. 

He grabbed the handle and yanked it toward himself to shut it. "HEY! HAVE YOU ever heARD OF KNOCKING!!" He shouted, his voices pitch dropped then rose, embarrassingly. 

He didn't let go of the handle, even after the resistance stopped. 

"Sorry."

The familiar, familial ring from beyond the wood replied quietly. The guilt, Drake felt too, controlled their sound. 

"Why were you trying to open the door, Ulysses?" Drake asked, cracking it open enough to be heard easier. Not that either of their hearing would have been impaired by the door. 

"Mom sent me up here. Her and Dad are with Pete's," they couldn't hear each other's heartbeats, though, his tone held something back. Drake didn't quite know what it was. "They told me to tell you what happened and to tell Wenna after she gets back from Viola's."

"Give me a second," Drake said. 

He created an opening big enough for him to slip through, then closed the door to his 'secret' hideaway. 

Drake peered up at his older brother. There was another conversation he needed to have with Ulysses too. 

Drake's anxious smile dropped. He saw his brothers eyes were lined with a watery gleam and slightly red where there should be white.

He took a step closer, his hand reached out, shakily to grab Ulysses shoulder. "What happened?" 

Ulysses lowered his head, "I know you weren't close to any of them, but they're both going to need us..." His brother put his hand on Drake's and with a struggled sigh, he finished. "Because Olcay is dead."

...

About 3 and a half years ago

It had been two months since he was told about Olcay.

Alexander no longer lived with his dad nor came to their house. 

In his phone, Drake saw the first and only message he sent since last seeing Alexander. It asked him to join his dad's newly made pizzeria.

Alexander's dad found and disclosed his new address to them. However, Pete refused to overstepp his son's boundaries and go there himself. 

Drake originally planned to do the same. Yet, there he was, knocking at Alexander's door.

This is stupid. Drake said in his head. The essay for an apology he wrote held the same weight as 50 pounds of lead in his pockets. 

He waited until Alexander answered. Drake immediately scanned over the disheveled, weakened male. The hybrids, lifeless eyes with sunken bags, dropped to the floor. He didn't look at Drake.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Alexander's voice, though threatening, held as much push as a gentle breeze in the middle of a vast ocean. 

Drake winced. He couldn't reply—his ears were consumed with the heaviest beats he'd ever heard. They sounded bottomless with thick, struggling thumps like his arteries were filled with tar. 

Alexander repeated his question and got ready to shut the door. 

Drake stuck his hand in his pocket, fumbling to take out his apology. Alexander leaned on the rim for support and waited. 

His fingers traced the paper, and he paused. When I'm upset, what do I do to find comfort? He remembered every time they met, Alexander held a game system. 

"Uh," Drake moved to the phone beside the notes in his pocket. 

He lifted his phone out and tapped the screen. "I was thinking of starting one of those games you liked," He frantically searched for the game system on his phone and showed the first he found. "Since the console is so expensive online, I thought I'd just ask to borrow it with the game."

Alexander shrugged and moved aside. He left the door open for Drake to follow, and he did. "Which game?"

Drake tried to think of what he saw, "the one with that pink moving sphere in it."

"Battle Brothers Ultimate?" Alexander asked. 

"Yeah, that one," there wasn't anything of value in Alexander's space besides a few pillows on the ground, a blanket, and a T.V. with game consoles attached to it. The bedroom looked empty, and the T.V. screen was the only light in the apartment. 

Drake recognized it was the game he was playing at the moment. "Oh, you know...I kinda need to learn the controls. Can you teach me?"

"You can learn on your own. It's easy," Alexander said, about to pull it from its dock. 

Drake sat down with his resolve. "I wanna learn from you so I can properly beat your ass at it." He chuckled. "Student becoming better than the teacher style."

He took a gamble saying that—he wanted to break the awkward tension.

Alexander stared at the screen in contemplation. He gave up and sat down, "okay."

Drake took the controller handed to him. He had never played with a controller, so the feeling was foreign. 

Alexander explained the basic controls in a monotone manner. When the game started, Drake attempted to replicate the repeated combos Alexander lazily threw down. 

The hell!? Drake grumbled. He accidentally threw himself off the platform for the second time.

"Are you good?"

Drake uttered back in dejection, "Fine, just making sure you have a fair chance against me."

Alexander stared back at the screen, and within the next few seconds, Drake lost. The same happened match after match. Alexander held no mercy.

"You don't have to keep jumping off the platform to make it 'fair.'" Alexander cracked a smile. It was the first Drake seen in the last hour.

Drake nudged him with his shoulder, "When I can play this game properly, you're finished!" 

From then on, Drake played every so often with Alexander at his apartment, and eventually, he even got him to join the pizzeria, too. 

Though, Drake never gave a proper apology nor had the chance to talk to Alexander about everything that happened. Anytime it was brought up, Alexander shot him down just like he did the rest of their family.

...

(Present)

Drake

Zetsu escorted them outside their cell when Drake finished saying his shame aloud. And unfortunately for the tall and skinny lad, he didn't shove them both inside when he had the chance. 

He didn't tell me to be quiet or exert his power over me. He's naive and scared; I can hear it.

Lynette's tempting heart hummed sympathetically. Drake would have to make it seem like he wasn't coherent enough to attack. Sorry, Lynette, I know you'll unknowingly play along. 

"I hope that doesn't make you hate me," he said.

"No," Lynette answered sharply. "You wanted to make it right."

"Of course I did." Drake hadn't expected her to respond so fast and to be honest about it. This makes me feel worse for fake fishing for your pity. When his ears caught Zetsu's rhythm, wanting to reach out to him, he realized Zetsu also held an abundance of shame. 

"I was a spoiled brat who never got punished for anything," Drake said, his eyes drifted to Zetsu. "You look like a selfish brat as well." He mocked. 

Zetsu timidly denied the claim, "I-."

"Then why are you guilty," Drake flipped toward him and lowered his head enough to slam into Zetsu's chest. He got the both of them on the stone ground.

"Drake!" Lynette called. 

Drake got on top of him, bringing his head down as hard as he could into Zetsu's skull. It didn't crack; it simply disoriented the twig enough for Drake, with his hands bound, to open his mouth and lunge in for a bite. 

Zetsu barely shielded himself, his arm being bit into instead of his neck. Zetsu howled.

Fuck, he'll just heal it. 

Zetsu barely pushed Drake off and held his bleeding arm. He dragged himself back into the bars of their cage. He looked as full of fear as the several eyes that had soundlessly watched them walk the halls of this dark, musty, and old cement basement. 

He's weak. 

Drake had found the perfect person to exploit. Their chance to kill him and run. 

Lynette intervened, "Stop!"

"Get out of the way." Drake moved around Lynette. She then wrapped her arms around him and over his chest. "Lynette, stop it; go back to the elevator."

She couldn't stop Drake from walking toward Zetsu. Why isn't he healing himself?

"He's innocent! He's not a danger to us."

Drake's vocals spewed with annoyance, "Are you serious! HE'S WORKING FOR ANDRAS!"

Zetsu whimpered, his body slumped, "n-not, my c-ch-ch."

Lynette spoke for him, still trying to keep Drake from getting close and failing. "He's not doing it because he wants to. He's friends with Wicks and works at the C.P.P.A. Andras forced him to work after he killed his brother."

Drake stood over his prey that slowly fell victim to his paralyzing venom. "Doesn't mean shit, Lynette. If he's working for Andras, he's evil."

"You worked for Andras."

"That's-" Drake looked back at Zetsu and then wormed his way out of her grip. "Fuck, Lynette, then what do you want to do? Let him lock us up and leave while Andras kills my fucking brother?!" 

The desperation reflected back at him from Lynette's orbs. He didn't realize he was on the verge of tears. 

Lynette receded. "N-no. I-I think we can work with him to escape." She turned to Zetsu, "r-right?"

She awaited his answer, and Drake thought. It won't work. He'll betray us. For some reason, Zetsu hadn't tried to heal himself. It was almost like he couldn't. He didn't even try to fight me. I can't use magic or my vampire beast form, so why wouldn't he?

Drake sometimes disliked hearing their lies, feelings, and truths. Zetsu was terrified, fearing for his life, and Lynette wholeheartedly believed he was worth helping. That they could all work together.

He figured she planned this before Drake babbled on earlier. 

"Zetsu?" Lynette dropped down to his level and pushed at his shoulder. He twitched in response. His eyes pleadingly looked at her.

Drake grit his teeth, turned his head away, and groaned. "He's paralyzed, Lynette. He can't talk." He moved his shoulders back and forth like he could free his hands from the binds at his forearms, "when it wears off, I'll consider what you said." 

Drake dropped low, and his piercing gaze locked onto Zetsu, "However, I'll be asking the questions, and if you lie to me, I'll tear out your neck."

...

Alexander

It took a lot out of him to find the place dipped within a valley surrounded by mountains. He followed the tether that the seal on the car provided then pursued it. I would have been here earlier if I had been better with spatial magic. 

He stumbled down the side of the smaller mountains until he reached its base. To a human, they'd only see a clear, undisturbed valley—to monsters or magus's like Alexander, the golden barrier was clear as day. It shimmered, a repellant for any humans who neared and a warning to any monsters entering its range without clearance. 

With his eyes aglow, he traced the outside of the barrier. He touched it, knowing it'd alert the creator—he didn't care. He had to study and understand its creation and flaws to enter it without hurting himself. 

Alexander lacked the power to break it outright.

He walked around the edge and finally found the spot he was looking for. The weakest point was always where it was created. 

His hand pressed it, and he slid through it like mail through a mail slot. He was grateful he only received a light sting of rejection. It could have been worse, becoming temporarily paralyzed for the next three days.

He only had a moment to adjust to the sparse forest line ahead because his senses blared when he took his second step.

He launched forward, landed on his hands, and flipped off them. The back of his tank top brushed with the incredible blaze but luckily didn't light. 

Alexander delineated the direction of the clawed flamed hand. It held delicate features, slender and sharp, even as a wild inferno of red. 

"Damn, I missed." 

It wasn't Andras. 

Alexander's eyes dipped to her exposed chest first, then back to her face. She held a soured purse to her lips. The hand receded back and formed her normal human-looking one. 

The trees and ground roasted quietly where Alexander once stood. 

"You're faster than I-" 

Alexander didn't wait; he wasn't here for idle chitchat or 'compliments.' The slits of black in her eyes narrowed in. 

As he closed the distance, the air increased in heat, and fiery red arrow-like feathers surrounded him. It didn't stop his approach—he deflected those in front with gray barriers. The feathers smashed against them and erupted into flowery bursts. 

While those behind him hadn't caught him aflame enough, his cloak protected him. He grabbed the front of her neck and, without hesitation, slammed her into the bark of a tree. 

He held her there and put a barrier over her eyes. Most magic used sight.

"Wow." She said, unimpressed.

His fingertips curled tighter. She had much more resistance than he anticipated, so he figured she was a much bigger and denser monster. "Where's Drake and Lynette."

"You'll see em' soon," she replied. 

He saw her attempt to break her human case. He sealed it faster than she could fully break out. The red scales along her face faded as fast as they appeared.

"Oh, that's annoying." She inhaled aloud, and Alexander's instincts warned him once more. 

He let her go when his hands burned. Her skin smoldered with heat. He couldn't push away in time. His short sweats and compression pants underneath were set aflame. The flesh around them blistered and burned.

He held his tongue, used reversal magic as fast as he could, and recovered them. It helped for now. 

She threw her body up and her arm forward. It flurried out in fire, a giant hand mimicking her monster form.

The base of its flaming palm struck his upper body; his cloak couldn't stop it. It crushed him back through not one but three trees. The third, his back was splinted into. She had the hand pull him from the tinder and squeeze. He suffocated in the burn that threatened to cremate his body. 

She then threw him to the side like an unwanted toy. 

Alexander's orientation metaphorically went out the window. He hit the ground with his back, his knees, ass, and head. The force wasn't enough to kill him, at least. His glasses barely stayed on, though their frames melted.

He didn't breathe. He didn't want to smell any more of his burning, putrid flesh.

He shook, trying to get up even after he had healed his body, clothes, and glasses. She's a dragon. It took him until now, but he recognized what kind. Those that they referred to on Earth as a Phoenix. What Lev's supposed to be. 

Alexander had never fought Lev in a battle of magic—he almost regretted it. She seemed in control enough to replicate her dragon body through flames. 

"Good, you're not dead." She said. She crouched in front of him, fearlessly.

"Isn't your point to kill me." Alexander had created another cloak over himself. 

The woman swayed, "How much I'd love to, one, you're not worth eating. And most importantly, Andras ordered me otherwise." She pulled her arm back, "so are you giving up? Or do I have to keep burning you?"

Dragons excel in their element. He reminded himself, I can't outdo her using water, Earth to smother the flames, nor wind to blow them out. She overwhelmed Alexander in that regard. I can't make a shield strong enough to counter her, either. 

Comparatively, she had more energy than him at this time, too. He traveled to countries to get her; it took way too much out of him. 

I can win if I seal her magic in her human case for a few minutes. He got ready to move. He sensed the roots underneath him and where they led. I'll need to touch her seal to do something that complex and pray I get everything right.

The ground rumbled, and she knew his choice. 

Her hand launched, ready to slam down on him, but those roots sprouted from below, wrapped around his wrists, and yanked him out of the way. His soles were still lit. It flicked him onto his feet. 

I can't be reckless. I have to conserve what I can.

The garden's green erupted into flames behind him, and he saw the circling spikes at his back. He threw up another barrier to prevent them from hitting him. 

She used that time to send her other hand forward in flame. Alexander dropped to the floor, then rolled out of the way as she slammed it down. She almost crushed him like a bug.

A blazing trail lingered in the air across the stone path that led through the garden. The imitation of her real forms, hand covered in flame, swiped into him like a cat with a mouse. His cloak shattered as he was sent airborne. 

He spiraled up and out of control. His glasses came off in the process. Everything mashed together, the green and brown with bits of red from below, and what he believed to be above, white and blue.

He did what he could to stop himself with a barrier, missing at first by putting one below himself, then finally in front. 

He banged into it, at least stopping his acescent. Right before he started to fall, he saw the red ball spread out, and the heat hit him before she did.

She successfully wrapped her human-looking hand around his ankle and part of his calf. She pulled him higher by it, and his world began spinning again. This time faster as her burning grip melted groves into his flesh.

He couldn't stop her with the flames engulfing them both. 

At this rate, he felt like the muscles and tissue helping hold his femur in the socket were being stretched thinner and thinner. He could almost feel it on the verge of popping out.

He assumed the velocity satisfied her, as there was one last spin before she sent him downward. 

He preemptively healed himself, then felt the erupting pain shoot up his spine and along every other part of his back. He'd imagine if he didn't, he might have been crippled.

I have to end this. 

His rattled mind echoed with the ringing of his ears in the background. His form didn't want to get up. He was on the verge of shifting into something ugly. I can't let them die. 

His sight was shit, and he had to hope she didn't come down after him yet; she didn't. Because if she did, he might have teleported into her body when he used his spatial magic to close the distance. 

He hadn't shown her that he could do this. Most Magus couldn't as young as him, not that he was impressive doing it. He was subpar at best; it took far too much for him to perform. He didn't excel in it like Wenna or Wicks. 

Though blurry. Her flames made it easy to spot her. So, he used his magic to propel himself up, almost in a blink of minor teleportation that relied on 'sight'.

He could tell he surprised her, as she didn't instantly attack. 

He threw his glowing hand out to touch the seal at her chest, but his fingertips barely touched her hot skin. He didn't go up high enough.

Shit.

The woman with the open dress shirt then brought her two flaming hands up and went to smash Alexander between their palms for his misjudgment. 

...

Hey, you, thank you so much for reading. I'm glad I put out a story that people can enjoy! I hope you continue to enjoy it as WE have a LOT more to go! YOU BETTER KEEP PROSPERING! (Nonnegotiable, as always~).

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What I’d do for a Livable Income Part 2 (Synopsis/Chapter - List)

[montydrawsstuff]

I FORGOT THE PROMPTTTT i am so sorry 😭 younger espio being a bit feral. he bites vector. chews his hand. little beast

ahhh... good idea

how about some feralness from fear, maybe a fresh relationship and broken trust type o deal? let's give this a go

Vector sighed as his vision began to focus.

He didn't mean to fall asleep in his chair, but it was the comfiest place at the moment. Hopefully he could find an old mattress on the roadside or at least a worn out couch sometime soon, so he didnt have to keep sleeping on a stack of flattened cardboard.

There was of course a worse alternative- he looked pointedly at his new roomie who stood in the doorway. The lizard child he had recently taken in was odd, always sleeping while standing bolt upright and waking at any small disturbance. Vector still had no idea where he came from or even how old he was, just that he was desperate... and very small.

"Good mornin to ya!" he called out, grimicing at the kids shocked recoil at first. "Hey, chill. I'm not gonna bite!"

He shook his head, at least the little guy wasn't pointing his knife at him with every word. The food probably helped...

"C'mere! Yea you! Let's talk a second." he rapped his fingers on the desk as the lizard slowly approached at his nod. "C'mon slow poke.. hey there, so now that you're living here, I ought ta ask you some stuff.. like..."

He was a bit put off by how empty those big yellow eyes seemed when looking at him, but pushed on.

"What's your name?" he pointed straight at him, hoping the gesture would help him understand. Empty staring back wasn't the response he was after.

Vector was fine with someone being shell shocked, hell, he knew how rough it could be living on the streets, no one to care for you. But there was a limit to his patience, this kid hadn't said more than a peep for 2 weeks at this point.

"Okay, I'm just gonna assume you just don't got one.. Don't worry, let's just call ya..." he scanned around the room for an idea, landing on the TV "Pana- .. Sonic, let's call ya Sonic... ugh that's garb, we'll get ya a better one later..."

"Sonic" sneered a bit at the name, Vector didn't blame him.

"So... Sonic, Lemme get a good look at ya.. huh, I know lizards can be pretty small but... Eh don't worry, you'll get bigger when you start eatin'..." he noted the little face beginning to tense up "Where did ya come from? I mean you were by the docks.. were you in the city? I don't think I've seen those kinds of shoes in seaside tho..."

Vector felt his patience wear ever thinner as "Sonic" continued to be unresponsive, but he was beginning to understand a bit more about the little guy just from the visual cues.

"Ooohhhh... you got no idea what I'm saying, do ya! You ain't dumb, You're foreign! And if I didn't know better I'd say you were some kinda stow away! Did you hitch a ride on one of those fishing boats? You're Japanese, aren't ya!"

Vector scrambled madly around his desk for anything he could use to help with his new deduction, sliding a newspaper across the desk to where the young lizard could glance at it.

"Oh there's a Japanese section in there! Something about that scientist bozo who's been screwing up the place so he can build... I don't even know... Some guy called... Egg something..."

Vector lifted the paper and turned to the page, hard to make out the article with a large coffee ring stain over it but he smirked at the grainy photo and pointed to it

"Get a loada' this fool! What is he wearing?"

The kid snatched the newspaper and stared at the picture, panic clear in his eyes.

"Hey gimme that, I'll read it to ya"

He recoiled sharply.

"Gimme, ya little shit" he reached for the paper, not waiting for confirmation.

He pulled away as "Sonic" hissed at him.

"Okay that's it, that's not even yours you little bastar-!"

Vector cut himself off with a shriek as teeth dug into his hand.

"WHAT THE- WHAT THE SHIT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" he tugged to get his hand back, but the bite force of this small chameleon was far more formidable than he could have imagined. His gloves were torn and reddened by the time he recovered his hand from the feral creature he, for some reason, let into him home.

They came soon to a stare off, shock and fear echoing in each other as the adrenaline wore out, Vector keeping a tight grip on his wound.

Finally, the small lizard rattled off his first words to Vector. It would have meant a lot to the young croc if he understood a word, but there was no signs of english in any of it. It was strange for someone Vector's size to be afraid of a mere child, but something in how furious the words came out and the rapid succession in which they did was enough for him to get one thing.

This kid had been through... something....

[ginza-division]

Eiji's Thoughts on Okinawa Division

Ace Douglas

"The son of the U.S. president? Here?! ...Wow, this is... definitely shocking. Especially considering that I had to ban this young man's father from PROFILE. I didn't want to do it, but some of the comments he made were very insensitive towards certain ethnic groups and were deemed insulting by the site's A.I., who had warned him numerous times to mind what he was posting or responding to. His son seems to be better at following the rules. Honestly, his PROFILE page is one of the most followed on the site. I don't know if it's cause he is the son of the president, or something else, but he is very popular. Perhaps I should invite him and his friends over for dinner."

Evelyn Rose

"Ah, I know of her, as well. She, along with... Miss Takahashi, are in the top 10 of the people with the most followers on PROFILE. From what I gather, the majority of her followers are American with a few Japanese in the mix. In contrast, Miss Takahashi's followers are mostly Japanese. Despite America having a much larger landmass and population than Japan, more people use PROFILE here than in America. Of course, that's not really much of a surprise considering PROFILE was started here. I've been trying to popularize it more in other countries, and it's been working, but I know it can be better. Perhaps I should make another trip to another country. Perhaps, maybe..."

"...Ah, sorry. I was rambling. Anyway, as stated, both women have approximately the same number of followers, which is surprising. I've heard about their rivalry against each other. I'm just glad they're keeping it offline. The last thing I need is people debating over which woman is the hottest. The last time we had a battle like that on PROFILE, people were suing us left and right, accusing us of not being diligent enough to stop it." Eiji sighs, shaking his head.

Rashaad Young

"Ah, Rashaad. A good man, and an even better bartender, if I do say so myself. Not discounting other bartenders out there, but they should take a lesson in how to run a bar from this guy. I mean, he's not Japanese, but his bar is one of the most popular bars out there, not the least because he calls the place 'neutral territory'. I've gone there numerous times, not only for a drink, but also to meet with several company owners to either negotiate a deal, or to "mend relationships", so to speak."

"Besides that, Rashaad's got a pretty decent PROFILE. Did you know the guy, once or twice a month, does this little recording podcast where he shows everyone how to make some recipes for drinks and Puerto Rican food? I tell you, I'm a bit surprised his page doesn't have more followers cause of that! I have a reminder saved each time he makes a video!"

Liberty Guild

"When Otome-sama announced that an American team was joining the D.R.B., I, like everyone else, was not only shocked, but also a little skeptical. What reason could an American team have to participate in a rap tournament? I mean, not discounting the fact that they were foreigners, but American rap differs a lot from Japanese rap. But hey, they managed to silence all their critics when they had their first battle. I'll admit, I was expecting them to lose, but when they pulled out a surprise victory, I was shocked!"

"They haven't had any battles since then, but I'm definitely keeping a close eye on them. I have their entire battle against Kyoto Division up on PROFILE, and it seems like I get 100,000 watches a day from it!"

[yutanology]

Promise Me | Yandere! Nakamoto Yuta X Fem!Reader

Warning : 18+, possessive, foul behaviours, sexual content(nothing biggie), mental illness, death, etc. No proofread. Please, don't be too harsh on me. I'm still new and this is my first ever one shot/fanfiction here :)

Word count : 2.4k+

"Could you just stop?" Y/n whisper shouted at her seatmate who had been bothering her since this morning.

It's not like this is new to her or to anyone in their class but today, he seemed to be more clingy and touchy than he usually was and she found it quite unusual.

By the time she stepped into the school campus this morning, he abandoned his game with his friends on the soccer field just to greet her with his dashing smile and a nice warm hug.

She didn't mind it at first as she was already used to it but when she thought he's going to leave her alone after that, he followed her around instead like a lost puppy. She could almost see a furry tail happily wagging behind him.

Everywhere she goes, he's there right beside her. Either his hands were holding hers or his arms were wrapped around her lower waist. Some people were jealous or happy when they thought they're finally officially together and when someone questioned their relationship, Y/n would immediately respond saying they're just friends while Yuta would say otherwise, leaving them confused.

He was still attached to her during her classes and even ditched his just to be with her. The teachers could only sigh in defeat and shake their head. They knew that whatever they say, there's nothing they can do to make the stubborn guy follow their orders.

At the end, he'd always get what he wants.

The Japanese boy glanced at her side profile. His head was laying on top of his other hand. Seeing her brows furrowed irritatedly, he stopped for a moment before continuing to twirl a few strands of her silky hair between his long fingers.

It doesn't look like he has any plans of keeping his hands to himself at all. She'd been trying to get rid of him for countless times and she failed with all of those useless attempts. She's so close of getting angry at him but she doesn't want to lash out on him and seem like a bad person.

With her another sigh passing through her soft reddish lips, she looked at the clock on the wall. ‘Just five minutes more, Y/n. Just a little more patience, you can do it.’ she tried to convince herself. By those five minutes, she let Yuta play with her hair.

When the school bells rang and echoed around the campus, she immediately fixed her things and rushed out of the classroom before the teacher could even dismiss them. The corridors are already crowded and she could only hope that Yuta wouldn't be able to follow after her this time.

She decided to go to the restroom and stayed there until she was certain that Yuta's nowhere around her. He's really acting weird and she couldn't understand why. Whenever she asked what's wrong with him, he'd always say the same thing like 'I'm fine. It's all in your mind.’

His gaze, the way he looks at her also felt different this time. She felt something uneasy somewhere in the pit of her stomach or maybe there's something wrong with 𝘩𝘦𝘳. Maybe she's just overthinking way too much since that's what she always do mostly when she doesn't get enough sleep and she stayed up late last night.

That's right... these shit are all just in her head.

She released an exhausted sigh and turned the faucet on to wash her face, hoping that it would also wash her frustrations away. She reached for a handkerchief from her bag and wiped her face dry as she made her way out of the comfort room.

Her heart almost jumped out of her ribs when she found Yuta standing just a single step from the exit. She gasped and her hand immediately flew to her chest in surprise. "Yah! Stop scaring me like that!" she yelled and he only chuckled in amusement.

"I've been waiting for you. What took you so long?" he asked her, locking his hand on hers as he lead her to the canteen. Eyes of the people they passed by were immediately on them like they're more interesting than the lessons that their teachers taught them.

"Wait, why were you waiting for me?" confusion was evident on her face.

"So we can eat together for lunch, of course. Come on, we don't have all the time. Classes are going to start after forty minutes." he casually said, pulling her closer to him when they walked passed a group of boys and he didn't fail to notice the way they looked at Y/n.

He didn't like it, not even a bit.

Y/n seriously couldn't count how many times she sighed at how she always end up letting Yuta do whatever he wanted to do with her. From the simple hand holds to sudden random kisses that he pepper on her face. No matter how hard she tried to push him off, he'd always stick himself even more closer to her.

It was like that for the passed weeks and it was honestly so tiring as hell. Yuta just won't leave her alone even when she goes to the restroom, he would insist to wait outside the cubicle that she had to push him away and lock the main door of the room.

She could barely talk to other people peacefully as he would shoo them away immediately and ask them to leave her alone. It was so frustrating and she's getting fed up of his unexplained foolish practices.

She's well aware that the guy likes her more than just a friend and she also can't deny that she's attracted to him but these behaviours of his are just too much for her.

The said dirty blonde haired Japanese guy was sitting closely beside her, his chin rested on her right shoulder as he watched her turn pages of the book that she's reading. He wasn't paying attention to the words written on the dead leaves. His eyes stared at her small hands, wondering how they would feel like around his cock—

"Yuta." the guy's ears perked up when she said his name. Snaking his arms around her waist, he pulled her to his chest and planted a kiss on her neck. Her cheeks heated at the unexpected skin contact but she tried her best to ignore the butterflies that he's giving her.

She's planning to finally confront him and she had to make him stop whatever he's doing cuz it's no fun at all. It's not entertaining and she's not amused at all. "Yuta." he hummed, his kisses getting wet and he started to graze his teeth on her skin, lightly nibbling on them until he finally bit hard enough to leave a mark.

A whimper tried to escape her mouth but she's fast enough to bite her lower lip, trapping the sound until it disappeared on it's own. He was disappointed when she didn't make any sound for him, thinking that he didn't do well enough to make her feel good so he ran the tip of his tongue on her neck.

His hot minty breath heated her skin and tingles spread around her body when he blew her sensitive ear, nibbling her earlobe and placing a kiss on one of her flushed cheeks. His hands wandered under her blouse, caressing the side of her hips with his thumb.

He slowly dragged his large hands up under her breasts and just when he was about to touch them, Y/n pulled away from him. A low whine and groan simultaneously erupted from him, complaining at the lose of skin contact from her.

Y/n looked around the library if someone saw them and she was thankful that no one was there but only them. She straightened her blouse, closing the book and stood up. "Where are you going?" he also stood up from his seat, ready to follow her wherever she's going.

She didn't answer him. She slung one of her bag's strap on her shoulder, walking away with the book and placed it back to where she took it. Yuta was quick to keep up with her steps, confused of why she was suddenly in a hurry.

When they finally got out of the library, she stopped at the nearby bleachers where students barely pass by and turned to him with an exasperated sigh, "Yuta, seriously, what's wrong with you?" the way she questioned him came out more stressed out than how she wanted it to be.

Yuta blinked his eyes a few times as if he's trying to figure out what she meant. "What do you mean, what's wrong with me? I'm totally fine. Are you okay?" it was his turn to ask her, walked close to her and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Are you sick? You don't seem fine to me. Let me take you to the clinic—"

"Yuta, stop." she stepped away from him before he could even hold her hand. He halted, his brows met as his eyes stared at her worryingly.

"Stop whatever you're doing to me and please, leave me alone. I also need some time for myself and other people around me, alright? You can't keep me from interacting with anyone. This is honestly suffocating, Yuta. We can't keep doing this."

He felt like his heart shattered into tiny pieces. His chest tightened and his airways narrowed, making him unable to breath properly. Without him knowing, tears were already streaming down his cheeks.

Y/n was taken aback at this, immediately feeling guilty for making him cry. She didn't expect him to be this emotional for his appearance.

"Look, I'm sorry but—"

"D-don't you love me anymore, Y/n?" He didn't let her finish her words, leaving her speechless at the question.

Her mouth left agape, struggling to find the right words to tell him. "Did you find someone else better than me that's why you're planning to leave me, is that it?" more salty water poured out of his eyes.

"Yuta, w-what are you talking about? We're not in a relationship to begin with."

"Then let's be together officially! Just you and me, Y/n. I'll do anything just to be with you. I promise, I'll be the best boyfriend you'll ever have. I'll give you everything you want—" he held her arms, "—just promise me I'll be the only one you'll ever love and want to be with. Promise me, Y/n. Promise me!"

Yuta secured his arms around her, holding onto her desperately. Scared that if he lets go, he might lose her. He can't let that happen. Like what he said, he'll do whatever it takes just to have her.

All for himself.

"Y-you have to promise me, Y/n."

Her head was clouded with a lot of thoughts. She was barely thinking straight and her emotions also messed up with her. She really likes Yuta. The increasing speed of her heartbeat and the butterflies flying around her stomach with euphoria whenever she's with him didn't lie at all but it felt wrong.

These feelings didn't feel right.

She pulled herself away from him and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Yuta..." that was all she said before she left him without even looking back at him.

She had no idea how it broke him and how it made him do things that a normal person wouldn't do. He saw nothing but red after she disappeared from his sight. Everyone who tried to touch or talk to her the next day suddenly disappeared, a minute after they left somewhere else.

At first, she didn't think much about it until the number of people disappearing quickly increased and made everyone alarmed. All schools around the place were forced to close for a moment and people were told to stay at home with tight security to keep them safe.

Everyone was scared including Y/n, of course.

It made her so anxious that she could barely sleep at night. One morning, a knock on her door echoed around her silent apartment and she panicked, quickly hiding on her bedroom.

She almost peed her pants in fear when the knocking and ringing of doorbells continued for minutes. Her phone went off on her nightstand and she ran to it. Yuta's calling.

Without a second thought, she answered it with trembling voice. "Y-yuta..."

"Y/n, are you okay? Please open your door for me, I have to make sure you're safe. I'm the one outside your house."

And that was all it took for him to be with her. Make her scared to be outside, convince her that everyone is dangerous and he's the only one who can protect her.

Whenever he goes outside to buy food and other necessities for the both of them, he'd always return with a small cut or bruises and it made Y/n scared that she might lose him too.

He's all she had left.

He made her thought of that. He's all and everything she could ever need. She'd be nothing without him.

"Do you love me?" he asked and she nodded silently.

"If you really do, promise me that you'll love me and only me, Y/n. I wanna hear it from you." Yuta looked at her straight in the eyes when he said those words.

"I promise." his heart raced inside his chest.

A smile stretched out on his plump lips. "I love you, Y/n. So much than you could ever imagine." He meant it. He always had and always will. He leaned his body closer to her, locking his lips with hers and they moved in sync.

This is paradise to him.

He couldn't explain how much happy he's right now. With her here in his arms, it's the only place where she's safe. He watched her drift off to sleep, he kissed her forehead when her eyes finally closed.

He could look at her like this forever. The love bites that he painted on her skin looks so beautiful. She's like the most beautiful painting he'd ever seen and she deserve to be placed on his art gallery but she's only for him to be looked at.

He sighed dreamily as he continued to press more kisses on her neck. He successfully made her love him. There's nothing he could ask for, now that her naked body is already tangled with him under their soft blanket.

He could only hope that she'd keep her words and stay true to him.

Feedbacks are pretty much appreciated and requests are open! Feel free to share your thoughts!

I will not always be active but I will try my best to attend each of your requests and to also interact with y'all.

I apologize for not being word-perfect in English. English sadly ain't for me—

[honouredsatoru]

JJK Characters x You on a date

notes : I tried including Gojo's love for Digimon since I also grew up watching Digimon and loving the anime with all of my heart, also because Gojo's seiyuu, both Japanese and English versions, voiced for characters in Digimon, so I wanna pay homage to the both of them. other than that, I also included my love for arts and history, something I tried to incorporate into my writing, just to make it like.. lilith's style, ya know?

extra notes : also I wrote megumi for Elli, just because haha.

warnings : slight cussing. not proofread lol. other than that, none. 100% fluff!

characters : gojo satoru, fushiguro megumi, kugisaki nobara, nanami kento, itadori yuji.

Gojo Satoru - Arcades, vintage shops, especially collectors, especially Digimon, comic book/manga stores.

[Your name]! [Your name!]! Look, look! It's the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 series! All 9 of them! Let's get in!"

"Ahh hold on. Towu! We're supposed to visit the cat cafe, you promised that you would go with me and take pictures with the cat hairband on! And I'm starving!"

You jokingly scowled at him, tapping your Doc Martens feet on the ground, arms folding.

"Fucking adorable. Let me see if I can tease her more, hah." A smirk soon appeared on this blue-eyed darling of yours.

"Let me get the manga and I promise, I'll go to this cat cafe with you, baby. Hm?"

"Oh alright."

"I love you, sweetheart. I know how much you wanted to go there but the manga. I- ahaaaa"

He started pouting as he kept pointing in the direction of the Digimon manga by the window. You quickly opened your camera, taking pictures of him sulking, emitting a soft giggle that actually made his heart squeezed with joy.

He presses his lips against your forehead, thumb circling your cheek, gently squishing them before opening the door, yanking you into the comic book store with him. You vowed to hide the comic books once he goes on a mission. After all, he made you wait a month before the two of you finally get to go to this cafe you always wanted to visit.

"Baby, I can read what you're thinking. Your face shows it too. Hehe. Watch me hide your panties."

Taking in a few gulps of air to deepen your breath, you opened your eyes, to meet the love of your life's own eyes, snickering at you, his large hands on the crown of your head before ruffling your already messy hair. There is no way you can stay mad at this man, as childish as he is, you know he loves you and deep down? He knows you love him too.

Itadori Yuji - Thrift stores, internet cafes to play online games with you, cinemas.

"Candy! [Your name] love! Don't! Make! Me! Ahhh cover up for me! I am gonna lose! I am gonna-"

He turns around to face you with soft eyes, his eyebrows slightly droopy before looking back at the computer, taking in the seconds in his head to register the fact that he lost in his mission with you in Inferno.

"Awww sorry babe. I mean.. you just started playing CSGO, so tell me, why- again- damn it- you wanna- AH. Damn it! Throw the fucking grenade! I mean why you wanna play this game, you need more practice- FUCK YOU."

Gentle chuckles were heard, emitted from his throat, his soft, peach toned lips landed on your cheek repeatedly as he rubbed soothing circles around your back.

"Breathe, bunny baby. You're so feisty whenever you start having online matches. Breathe. I love you, and I don't want you to get your blood pressure rising because of these dumbos, hm?"

Your lips curl into a faint and appreciative smile, nodding while your eyes are glued to the screen, ignoring the fading laughs and snickers from the people acknowledging your mini rage.

"I love you too. If I win, I'm getting us boba and chicken nuggets. So let me fight them, okie?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Megumi - Museums, art galleries, photo exhibitions, aesthetic cafes.

"Oh Gumi bear, look at that! That is the Raft of Medusa, it was done by Thèodore Géricault, he himself interviewed two survivors from the shipwreck."

He looks over your eyes that shine with excitement and pure happiness.

"Art"

Was what he thought every time he laid his sight onto you. God knows that he falls in love with you every single time he is blessed with your presence. Resting his arm around your waist, pulling you closer, inhaling the scent of mixed berries and wild roses, he swore he heard his heartbeat increasing every two seconds in a span of one minute.

"Oh really? What do you think this painting is all about?"

Glancing at him before returning to the painting, you puffed your cheeks, pressing your lips together with your index finger curled on your chin and your thumb under it.

"Lord, she is so cute whenever she does that. Can I kiss her? Should I? No wait, she's trying to tell me her own interpretation of this painting. To me. Oh wow. I'm gonna kiss her... later. I can't interrupt her." That is all he could think of. You. He is deeply, madly, beautifully in love with you.

"In my opinion, it tells me the ways of how men, or human beings, seek out in order to survive. When we are at the brink of desperation, insanity, happiness, greed, lust, desire, wrath, grief, don't we all do things unimaginable to help us go through the day? They even resolved to cannibalism. I think even I would commit to that if I was in an extremely dire situation."

You looked at him, a wide smile on your face, emitting a soft giggle that entered his right ear and stayed within the chambers of his mind. He closed the spaces between the both of you, sealing his lips onto yours, with the intention of making this very moment last a little longer heavy within his heart.

"Art."

Was what you thought of him.

Nanami Kento - Theatres, historical museums, fine dining restaurants.

You squealed, lightly clapping your hands as you ran to a block of marble, your foot tapping against the floor. He chuckles, hands in his pocket, taking fast strides towards you.

"Namnam! Look look! That's the Parthenon Sculptures! It was founded in hm... Athens, yes! If I am not mistaken, around 438 to 432 BC. These sculptures decorated the insides of the Parthenon, it is a temple located at the fortress of the Athenian Acropolis. It is said that this temple was built to appreciate and worship the Goddess Athena, she was the deity worship in Athens. Also, ah ah! Did you know that the word parthénos means "maiden", "girl" or ‘virgin"? And I-"

You look at him, your magnificent lover wearing a dark brown trench coat, with ecru brown trousers and a black turtleneck tucked in, his neck layered with white gold necklaces. Your hand unconsciously scratches your sideburns, giggling at the side of his stoic expression, eyes piercing yours beneath that yellow-green glasses he constantly has on his chiseled face.

"Oh... I am sorry... I didn't mean to bore you. I was just so excited because you know me! I love anything that is related to ancient greek history and mythology. I can't seem to get enough of it and it is absolut-

"I'm not bored, [your name]. I was just paying attention to every single word that pretty lips of yours uttered. It's magnificent that you knew all of this. It shows just how smart, curious, bright your mind and soul is. And darling?"

"Huh?"

"I am lucky to be blessed with someone like you. With Gojo constantly following me, there is no way I can read the books I bought for myself. However, having you around, breaking the ice with your random history tib bits, I feel like I am reading the pages, savouring each word, alphabet, sentence, thus expanding my quest and love for knowledge."

You looked down. Normally, you're not the type to tear up this easily but seeing how this man, this angel of a man, appreciates the little things you loved and adored, you can't help but let the waterworks out. You lifted your head up to meet his gaze, the tip of your nose slightly stuffy. You grabbed his arms, clinging onto him, the difference of height and size makes it sweet to the eyes of strangers surrounding you both.

"Oh Namnam. Thank you so much. This means the world to me. Shall we... go and see the best of Ramesses the Great? I've loads to tell you!"

Nobara - Shopping malls, ferry rides, beach dates, parks with cherry blossoms.

"Baby... tell me, have you ever seen anything as joyous as the ocean?"

You two stood by the seashore, fingers intertwined, your head resting on her shoulders, the sound of the seas splashing against the rocks and the warmth around your foot, it tingled but it feels good at the same time.

"I don't want this moment to end, [your name]."

"Why is that, pretty one?"

A faint sigh leaves her lips, you feeling her body loosen up.

"I just.. school is sort of stressful so my time spent with you liberates me from the pressure, fatigue, and image of curses embedded in my brain. Walking with you... through this airy womb of skies and clouds, don't you know it makes me happy?"

You leaned closer, pressing a soft peck on her cheeks, earning yourself a pair of scarlet cheeks with a gorgeous smile from the one next to you. You turned yourself to face her, hands on her shoulders, bringing her body closer to yours.

"Whenever and wherever you need me, I will be there. I might not be perfect, but I am gonna do my best to be the one you can always count on."

You pressed a kiss on her left cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss on her right cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss to the lips of the woman whom you shared your entire universe with.

"To the moon and back, I love you, Kugisaki Nobara."

The end.

tags : @tojisveryown @sookyshima @megumifushi @sixeyesgojo @sirthisisa-wendys @sasso-oda @fushigurocockslut @nkogneatho @kotarousgf @noritoshiikamo

[rekilogy]

falling for you

pairing: reki kyan x fem!reader.

warnings: none, pure fluff.

request: Hello, I just discovered your page and found that we have a lot of things in common! I am also a 16-year-old cancer with fluency in both Japanese and English!! Additionally, can I please request a scenario where the Reki is helping his s/o to decorate her room (hanging up posters, stringing lights, etc.) and s/o falls off the chair when she is decorating cz this happened to me last night lolll Thank sm and wish you have a nice day <3

note: omg my first request jhkblg, tbh wasn't expecting it so early hehe. anon, are you perhaps my long lost twin? i actually spilled my coffee this morning oof. hope you didn't hurt yourself, have a nice day/night too.

“reki! could you hand me the fairy lights?"

“i can't find them y/n, where did you put them last time?" your boyfriend asked as he looked for the fairy lights you both bought for your room.

here you were, standing on a chair as you decorated your new room.

“they must be on the couch" you said as you slowly got off from the chair, reki sighs when he sees you get off from the chair.

“why are you sighing?" you raised a brow, still looking for the fairy lights.

“you forgot?!" he gasped dramatically, holding his chest like he just got shot.

you rolled your eyes playfully, trying not to laugh. “i told you to always be careful when you're standing on heights! you could fall"

you listened to your boyfriend pout and rant about how it's important to be careful not to fall, luckily you found your pretty fairy lights.

“i will be careful, okay?" you smile earning a nod from reki as he went back to his phone to order some food since it was getting late.

you again stood on the chair holding the long wires of fairy lights in your hands, before you could even stand up fully, your feet got caught up in the wires and you lot your balance. you yelped and closed your eyes, already knowing you're going to get hurt but the loud thud you were waiting for never came.

instead, you felt like you landed on something else than the hard floor. “i told you to be careful y/n" reki said, making you open your eyes and realize you landed on his chest.

“are you okay?" you ask, eyes filled with worry. “yes, you would've hurt yourself if it wasn't for me though" he smirked.

“i'm sorry" you apologize.

“what for?"

“not being careful enough"

“what?! no, you don't have to apologize for that! why would you apologize for falling for me?" he cheekily asked.

“god you're so cheesy" you reply to his cheesy comment with a smile.

you slowly get up from his warm chest and hold your hand towards him to help him up.

but reki only pulls you back down on top of him making you shriek, he laughs at your reaction and holds you even closer.

“reki babe we need to get the fairy li-"

“shhhhh, let's stay like this for a little longer, i missed this" he hushes you, finding comfort in your sweet scent that he could never get enough of.