#if they follow up ill point that out in the main text

[todayisafridaynight]

I’m fairly new to the fandom, but I do have a question if you can answer it! Why do people ship Daigo with Aoki / Masato? I tried looking to see if they’ve interacted before, but couldn’t find anything! Sorry for asking I’m just </3 dumb AND I LOVE YOUR ART OF THEM!!! Nerd looking ahhhhhh

hi ! welcome to the community i hope you're having a lovely time so far and ty for enjoyin my stuff :) no need for apologies it's a very fair question to have :]

i cant speak for everyone (all. ten people into masadai anyway) but Personally To Me i just think the idea of them together is very funny. thats quite literally it im afraid..

[flowerandblood]

The Prince and The Fox (6)

[ modern! • Aemond x friend! • female ]

[ warnings: threats, angst, mention a toxic relationship ]

[ description: After the events of her childhood, despite her best efforts, her neighbor and the younger brother of her friend Helaena, Aemond, does not want to know her. This state lasts until a house party organized by his older brother, Aegon, during which an incident occurs that will change their relationship forever. Slow burn, angst, toxic ex-Alys, rough Aemond. This is several anon requests combined into one fic. ]

WARNING: The main plot between the characters takes place in high school. Yes, in high school. The belief that teenagers wait with an intimacy when they are in love in high school is ridiculous to me. Aemond and the character here are the same age. Don't ask me how old they are, in my country you are of the age of consent in your first year of high school and an adult in the last year of high school, so if it is more convenient for you, think about it that way and decide for yourself. In this story, I am not following the trail that they are magically friends right away, but how they become friends and what that even means. I'm writing this fic to give the perspective of young, lost people, not adult women who want to see exactly themselves in everything they read. If that's all you expect, this isn't the fic for you.

I don't want whining about this in my comments or asks. I will delete these and block you. You have been warned.

Aemond + Evans Series Moodboard

This is my first story that has its own playlist, but yes! Get in the mood!

Story Music Playlist

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Next chapters: Masterlist

_____

Never before in her life had she missed a class for any reason other than illness, bad form or some important trip. As it turned out, so had he. They went into a shop to buy something to drink and sat on a bench in a nearby park, watching people walking around.

She felt that he wanted to tell her something, felt that all this was not without reason.

He grunted after a long moment, opening his can of Coke with a loud pssst, he didn't look at her.

"She doesn't want to give me a break. She keeps texting me and calling me even though I don't answer. She's totally fucking out of her mind." He grinned, taking a deep sip of his drink, she heard the hiss of bubbles inside the can. He wasn't looking at her, just ahead.

She wondered what he wanted to hear.

Friendly advice?

"Why did you two break up?" She asked straight out, deciding there was no point in wrapping her mind around it.

He was silent for a long moment.

"Because she was praising me to the skies one time and humiliating me the next. She made fucking shit out of my brain. If it wasn't for Helaena I'd probably still be in it." He muttered, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees, watching the passers-by.

She blinked, pressing her lips together, feeling a squeeze in her heart at the thought that he was trying to open up to her, trying to let her understand.

To be honest with her.

"Do you want to see?" He asked suddenly, pulling his phone from the pocket of his black sweatshirt, taking another loud sip from his can in the meantime. She looked at him surprised, unable to believe that he really wanted to show her their private messages.

"I've got some interesting screenshots from a few months back." He muttered, leaning back and moving towards her so that their shoulders touched, showing her his display, scrolling slowly through the next messages with his finger so that she had time to read them.

"She had a habit of deleting messages like that afterwards, so I started saving them to remind myself when I missed her what she really thought of me." He chuckled, locking his phone again, tucking it into his pocket.

She felt her heart pounding hard, felt some kind of discomfort and pain.

"How long did it last?" She asked uncertainly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He pressed his lips together, taking another deep sip from his can.

She remembered she had her juice and opened the wrapper to take out her straw, then stuck it in the carton and began to drink with a loud slurping sound.

He shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn't believe it himself.

"Two years. I've broken up with her a couple of times, but in all seriousness it was only a month ago. A fresh case." He muttered lowly, sipping the rest of the Coke he had in the can and crumpled it up, tossing it into the dumpster standing next to his bench.

A month ago.

When Aegon organised a house party.

She lowered her gaze, tightening her lips, hesitating to ask him the question that was pressing on her lips.

She decided she had to know.

"Why did you want me to stay in the room with you then?" She asked in a trembling voice and felt him cast her a quick, surprised glance. He grunted loudly, clearly embarrassed by this memory and scratched his cheek, licking his lips.

"I don't know. I…it just felt good with you, you know. So…tenderly." She muttered, tracing his fingers across his forehead, his head tilted, he was unable to look at her.

Tenderly.

"Do you regret it?" She asked in a tired voice, and he gave her a quick glance.

"What? I… fuck. No. It was one of the more pleasant things that's happened to me in recent times. So… innocent. The kind that when I think back on it, it makes my heart warmer." He confessed with shame, and she lowered her gaze, looking down at her blue orange juice carton, fiddling with it in her hands.

"I don't regret it either."

They said nothing more.

They went back to school for the last few hours and pretended nothing had happened. Driving home from school they listened to music together again on her earphones, sitting with their eyes closed. She saw his display light up from time to time, that his ex-girlfriend kept sending him new messages, desperate. He didn't even read them.

She asked him why he didn't just block her number, but he said he had done that before and then she simply buys a new card. According to her, he was just upset with her and was teasing her, pretending to be interested in someone else to make her jealous because she couldn't imagine that it was possible to stop loving her.

She thought with regret that she had found herself an easy target, a high school student, quiet and closed off, with complexes, who would never share with anyone else what harm she was doing to him and how she was slowly destroying his self-esteem, manipulating him and making him dependent on her.

They said their goodbyes and parted ways to their homes, however, she felt that something had snapped between them and even though she continued to feel uncomfortable and sad, she thought that this time he really took it seriously, that he really wanted to try.

Whatever that meant.

She recognised that they both needed a lot of space and that what they had now suited her.

She didn't hide her surprise when he called her in the evening when she was already lying in bed, preparing for a maths test. She answered with her heart beating hard, wondering what it could have been about, whether he wanted to wish her goodnight.

"She was recording us." He said as soon as she picked up, not even giving her a chance to say hello, despair in his voice, she felt like he was almost crying. She swallowed loudly, feeling a tightness in her throat.

"What do you mean?" She asked, lifting herself up on the bed to sit down, concerned.

"How do we…how do we…I…you know. God." He mumbled in a breaking voice and drew in the air loudly, breathing unevenly. "She's threatening to send this to the school principal if I don't come back to her. To our friends. She sent me one video to show me she's not bluffing. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?"

She pressed her lips together feeling the cold sweat on the back of her neck, her heart pounding like crazy, the seriousness and awfulness of this situation hitting her so hard that she didn't know what to say, what to do.

Of course he couldn't tell his parents or siblings about it.

"I… God, do you want to meet? M-maybe, maybe we can work something out." She mumbled with difficulty, not knowing what else to suggest, how to help him.

"Yes… yes, if you can, please, I can't stand being at home now."

She quickly dressed a warm sweatshirt over her pyjamas and told her parents that she would go out to talk to Helaena for a while.

She left her house and ran across the street with her trainers on her feet, he was standing far from his house, she saw to her shock that he was smoking a cigarette, his one leg moving in a nervous tic.

He was terrified.

She approached him and he threw her a quick, heartbroken look. He chuckled under his breath, rubbing the tip of his nose with the back of his hand.

"I know what you're thinking. I got what I deserved." He muttered in a trembling, low voice, and she shook her head in disbelief.

"What are you babbling about? Don't you have something on her? I don't know, can't you send her the screenshots you have, the ones where she humiliates you and say you'll send them to her friends too? Don't you have any naked pictures of her that you can scare her with?" She asked, speaking quickly, thinking intensely about what solutions he had. He shook his head.

"I deleted everything a month ago, I didn't want to go back to it, and she herself deleted everything from our chats that might be saved somewhere on the internet. Like she fucking planned it." He grinned under his breath in despair and took a drag on his cigarette looking sideways, his eyebrows arched in anguish, despair and regret, a single tear running down his cheek.

"A cyclops and a pervert. Fuck, that's what I needed. Why did I get involved in this." He uttered in a breaking voice, running his free hand over his face, all red.

She walked over to him and stroked his shoulder, looking at him with distress mixed with understanding.

"Come here." She said softly, and he sank into her arms as if without strength, snuggling his face into her neck, embracing her loosely, and cried aloud, her hands stroking his hair and back with tenderness.

"It's not your fault. You trusted her and she took advantage of you. What she's doing now is monstrous and she has no right to do it. You are not to blame." She said and kissed the side of his head softly, his free hand clamped down on her blouse, she felt that her neck was all wet from his tears.

"I'm so fucking scared. I'm frightened that my parents will see this." He whimpered like a small child with a shuddering breath, and she hugged him tighter, trying to embrace his large figure, to give him the shelter in her arms he so desperately needed.

Her heart was breaking.

"I know, I'm with you. We'll figure something out in a moment." She whispered, stroking his head and back reassuringly and felt his lips place a gentle kiss on the skin of her neck. She felt a warmth in her lower abdomen and a pleasant tickle between her thighs.

They stood like that for a moment until he calmed down, and then they sat on the pavement, their knees and shoulders touching. She slapped her hand on his thigh, getting a sudden idea.

"I know! Write her that if she sends this out, you will report with the same video to the rector of her university that she forced you to have sex before you were of the age of consent. You can go to jail for that!"

He looked at her shocked, tightening his lips, thinking strenuously, hesitant, terrified and uncertain.

"But…it's not true."

"How does it matter? She threatens you, so you threaten her! Clearly there is a big age difference between you, what she was doing was just plain grooming. Knowing that you were in high school when she videotaped it and on top of that you were younger than you are now, the police would certainly have taken an interest. Maybe you would have lost your dignity, but she has a lot more to lose. This will make her loathe sending anything anywhere!" She said with conviction, saw him lick his dry lips with his tongue, that he was increasingly convinced of her idea.

"Okay. Then what should I write her?"

She sat next to him looking at the screen of his phone telling him aloud what she thought he should write to sound as confident as possible, when they finished he swallowed loudly and clicked 'send'. They saw that she had read the message immediately and saw surprised as a wave of messages started to come in from her.

They looked at it in silence breathing loudly. She heard him swallow with difficulty, tense.

"Do you think she'll send it?" He asked in a trembling voice.

"No. She is shitting herself with fear."

_____

Aemond Taglist:

(bold means I couldn't tag you)

@its-actually-minicika @notnormalthings-blog @nikstrange @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @k-y-r-a-1 @g-cf2020 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff @chainsawsangel @iiamthehybrid @tinykryptonitewerewolf @namoreno @malfoytargaryen @qyburnsghost @aemondsdelight @persephonerinyes @fan-goddess @sweethoneyblossom1 @watercolorskyy @randomdragonfires @apollonshootafar @padfooteyes

[ad-caelestia]

✧ 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥 ✧

[title: about the witch]

hi, this is an introduction post if you want to know what this blog will consist of and also a little about me. my main blog and the one i follow from is @viginti-tres.

minors please do not interact! thank you.

✧ basics: ✧

✧ luna | 33 years old | she/her | u.s. | neurodivergent & chronically ill | astrolatry | celestial magic | witch for almost 10 years

my practice has been built from the ground up using the influence of ceremonial and planetary magic with a mix of history, science, and folklore (much of which came from texts such as the three books of occult philosophy and the picatrix).

i enjoy writing about it and coming up with correspondences based on science (such as correspondences for the planets based on their elemental makeup).

i also enjoy learning about magical practices that inspired various scientific and mathematical discoveries and theories over the years (astrology, alchemy, the scientific method, etc.).

i think i'm probably best known on here for my bullet point correspondence lists because i am not a fan of reading giant walls of text and i bet some of y'all aren't either.

aside from that, i am very much just a witch in love with the cosmos who likes to research.

here you will find mostly witch stuff and maybe some personal stuff but most of that will be found on my main blog.

✧ important notes: ✧

i am not wiccan and i do not support or believe in the "rule of three" or "threefold rule"

i don't work with deities per se but i do refer to them as a concept or archetype at times

i am not a ceremonialist or traditionalist

i don't identify as a pagan

i don't perform spirit work unless it's related to family

i don't perform or write spells for others

i am against love spells - i promise i have only ever seen them end badly

i don't do readings for others

i don't use astrology for divination but for spell timing

✧ some more notes: ✧

don't steal my posts - while i fully understand that a good chunk of my posts are compiled correspondences that are deemed "general knowledge," the compilation and presentation of said material is my work, research, and time spent: if you copy and paste my posts, i'll find out and do the dmca thing and i'm sure it'll be annoying for both of us so just, don't.

please go away if you are republican or conservative in any way - i don't have time to list all of the atrocities that y'all are responsible for.

don't bother me if you're trying to start drama or be mean. i know i used to be a confrontational, aggressive, petty little menace on here but i've calmed down and changed a lot so, give me some grace please.

anyway, that's all i got for now - i may or may not come back and edit this if i see fit.

if you have a question and it wasn't covered here, send me an ask (remember, MDNI).

♡ luna

[serialsunset]

All the time I wonder why I want so badly for there to be something redemptive in Isaac, some sort of way for him to get a happy ending, something that would make him even deserving of that in the first place.

It goes beyond just appreciating a camp villain who’s evil and doesn’t care (though I also have fun with that). I just want him to be okay and I don’t know why.

Okay the following is just going to be a biblical yap session so I’m putting a cut here

There’s Julia of course, I mean who doesn’t love an evil guy with a soft spot for family. But in all (3) of their canon interactions he’s at best dismissive and at worst abusive towards her. Sure there’s implied stuff, like how he forgave her for running from the castle but wouldn’t do the same for Hector; how he stopped the fight in Cordova town and recalled Abel the second she showed up; the fact that she’s lived in the shadow of the castle for years and has been left alone. But that’s all conjecture, and in the text the only one who seems to care at all about the other is Julia.

There’s also his self-destructive nature. Isaac isn’t kind to himself, he self harms and he hangs naked and vulnerable around the wreckage of his old home. He insists on fighting Hector only when Hector is as powerful as possible, he goes head to head with Trevor and barely scrapes a drop of blood out of him, before deciding later to get as close as possible to him to steal his dagger instead of just killing him from a safe distance. He just clearly doesn’t care that much about his life, and my instinct is to feel bad for him. But, then what? He hurts himself as well as hurting the people around him? Do I feel sorry for him just because he was reckless when going for the kill shot on another extremely beloved character? And again, most of this is just me placing my readings on his actions. If anything, the manga portrays Isaac’s self harm as him just being insane. He’s sitting in the ruined castle, naked, and spying on Hector while he cuts himself, it’s not exactly a sympathetic portrayal of mental illness.

The only thing left I can think of, and kind of the most obvious answer, is that the game exonerates him of his actions pretty blatantly. He’s cursed, there’s a curse that gives you raging vindictive asshole disease and Isaac’s been hanging around ground zero for three years straight. How convenient! Now, it’s mainly Julia championing this point, so you can argue that she’s just biased, but the game seems to treat it like she’s right and even Hector remarks on it at the end, so I’m going to treat it as canon. Isaac got the Evil Curse that makes you Evil and became Evil. So I got what I wanted! Isaac is just a morally neutral guy who became evil against his own will from outside sources, and all he needs is the cure to the Evil disease and he can be redeemed! A perfect sympathetic villain.

But the problem is I really really fucking hate that.

I hate even the implication from the game that the curse is responsible for Isaac’s wrongdoings. I’m fine with Julia coming to that conclusion but it shouldn’t be canon. Taking away any character’s agency in their actions is bad storytelling and if that’s the sole reason Isaac becomes sympathetic I don’t want it, I’d rather he be straight up irredeemably evil of his own accord.

So my main two reasons for wanting to Save Isaac are purely me projecting, and the one that could possibly make sense in the story is one that I reject completely. So why do I still love him and why is he just a poor little baby who needs a hug.

Well, straight up text isn’t the only way to read a story. If that was the case then there wouldn’t be a legion of dorks like me dedicating every waking thought to the stories and the characters of these games. Reading between the lines is how you form a better understanding of the characters. Sure, aside from a few lines saying that it’s not his fault he got Magic Evil Disease the game doesn’t hold your hand and say this boy is good and you should root for him, but you don’t need that. you just need to obsess over things and analyze every single twitch of the mocap actors body until Isaac fits your desired characterization, then you can do all KINDS of stuff with him, like make him a good brother, or force him to work at Walmart (stay tuned).

Also, I identify with Isaac in a lot of ways. He is an other, deemed to be so by society. he can’t help the way that he is and rather than repress it, he goes off to find a place where he can embrace it and better understand it. He presents himself in an extreme way, rejects normalcy and molds himself to look how he wants to, regardless of how anybody will perceive him. And yet despite all of his he struggles with identity, struggles to find a place in the world after the thing he depended on so much is taken from him. He’s also super hot and sexy and cool, just a total knockout, but not like he’s trying to impress anyone or anything, he’s just like that.

So many relatable traits, he is at once someone I aspire towards and someone who reflects the parts of me I wish I could change. I want him to succeed, to get out of his toxic grief cycle and flourish. partly because I want myself to succeed, and overcome the just as important and harrowing obstacles of my own life.

I love Isaac, as a character, as an antagonist, as a little doll that I can dress up and put into different scenarios. And you know what maybe that’s all I really need. I love him and want him to be happy, because I love him and that’s what I want for him. Okay post cancelled I figured it out, only took me 10 paragraphs oh my god.

Sorry this was literal eons long, this is literally just me working through my thoughts in real time

[apiscircensis]

dunmeshi au for my twst ocs bc I fell head first in the dungeon and got brain damage

[edit: a whole wall of text under the cut]

ok so this is set in the dunmeshi world but it's a separate story, unrelated to the main plot and characters

Shipwreck Cove is a dungeon on a cliff by the sea, near a coastal town. it's impossible to reach it by sea, as it's surrounded by constant whirlpools, the only way to get in is by climbing to the highest point of the cliff

great part of it's inner structure is submerged or surrounded by water, but it's still frequented by many adventurers bc the water that flows to the upper levels seems to have slight curative properties. legend says the water at the heart of the dungeon can heal incurable illnesses or even grant eternal life

🦑 Morgan (gnome) has been lord of the dungeon for something around ten years. his original wish is a secret

he was once an adventurer. he's an experienced mage both at healing magic and offensive spells (and has also studied the darks in secret), but his weak legs slowed down the party, who had no qualms in letting him know so, either by reproaching him or straight up letting him fall behind

one day, angry and frustrated, Morgan abandoned his party and ventured deeper into the dungeon by himself. by the time he noticed, he had reached the deepest level and, well, things happened

Morgan has severe abandonment issues. he created the quaintest little dungeon to lock himself in with his close circle. it was a beautiful and safe place, so that people could come and go at their leisure

soon enough, Morgan started feeling like people went more than they came back, so he started tweaking the dungeon bit by bit to discourage people from roaming. changing pathways, setting traps, creating more monsters. generally making it increasingly harder to navigate, until it became practically inhabitable except for the designated safe area, which was still pretty much a little eden

his resentment was such that he would find a way to make people part of the dungeon itself

at some point, tired of his body and of his lack of power over others, he turned himself into a kraken chimera, sealed his demon in a chest immediately afterwards, and has since then lived locked up with the few people he could trap in a wrecked ship at the deepest point of the dungeon, guarded by an ever larger kraken (that's his pet that he feeds other monsters and hapless adventurers to lol)

[only one person was ever able to escape Morgan's dungeon, an elf that used to be his closest confidant. however, just as they were about to step out, Morgan stole and sealed their magic in a locket that he keeps somewhere in his ship-home

this elf lives in a secluded area further than the outskirts of town, where they welcome adventurers to whom they offer incredible things in exchange of them traveling and conquering the dungeon, with the intention of getting back their powers that way]

🐒 Blake (tallman) and 🎇 Jacob (dwarf) are a pair of adventurers that hate each other yet have been working together for years lmao

they're quite successful in their expeditions but they're insufferable, so they're always looking for new members for their party bc the previous ones got fed up and left sksksk

they arrived at Shipwreck Cove following the legend of the water of life, each of them for their own reasons

(I still haven't decided if monkey Jacob exists in this au)

⚫ Avon and ⚪ Alba are a pair of walking mushrooms that are always together. they're funny to look at from afar, but they have a nasty vibe when you get close so adventurers prefer avoiding them

Morgan enjoys watching them tussle, so when more people started going in the dungeon he made them an area where they can still be seen while being out of reach enough from strangers. they've become some sort of a local attraction

(I originally thought to make them half foot florists, but a friend came up with this idea and I thought it was so funny that I adopted it lol)

🕰️ Eri (elf) is an historian. he feels a fascination for the short lived races, so he moves to different towns for periods at a time to document the daily lives of those who live and pass through there

🌻Lucas (kobold) is more of an explorer than an adventurer. he and 🛰️ Xander (dwarf), an inventor, travel the world together looking for strange materials and objects for Xander's experiments

🐻 Björn (tallman, bear beastkin) is an adventurer from the north that likes showing off his strength. he travels from one place to another looking for new challenges and creatures to beat

⏳ Noya (gnome) a scholar with an expertise in magical artifacts, who also studies the development of magic. since he's not allowed to study the origins of magic, he has had to settle for observing and studying how it evolves in every day contexts. he occasionally crosses paths with Eri

💋 Philly (elf) is a criminal enlisted by the Canaries against his will. his crimes include theft and selling of magical artifacts, arson, and murder, but true cause of his conviction was attempting to use the dark arts to extend his tallman lover's lifespan

(he's a die hard fan of the Daltan Clan novels and all the other prisoners hate him bc it's all he ever talks about sksbsk)

🎶 Aedon (tallman) kabru without the trauma is barkeep by day and singer by night. they like watching people and trying to guess their stories

and that's it, that's all I have for now✌️😋

[leonkennedyfanfic]

Resident Theory (Pt. 1)

Summary: Leon is a drummer in a band that's gaining quick popularity. FL is a pastry chef working at a bakery, she is also a band photographer but wants to become a band manager. They meet in San Francisco during a concert.

Part 1

It has suddenly become a tradition to bring the band i’m working with a dozen cupcakes from my job. They always seem to be a great hit with the band members and they provide a sugar rush for them when they go on stage, which makes my job easier when I have to photograph them. I grab my camera bag, my helmet, the cupcake box and close up shop, this was a last minute gig as one of my concert partners ended up falling really ill, so now I’m covering for them.

I check my phone, send my friend a ‘get well soon’ text and check traffic, luckily the city doesn’t seem too busy tonight so I should only be missing a bit of the opener. I got booked to cover a new band, the second opener Resident Theory.

With the cupcakes secured and strapped on my motorcycle I head over to the venue. It was a quick 20 minute ride through San Francisco and the cupcakes survived, score! Before going into the venue I check to see how much frosting is on my shirt, i’m in luck as there’s a minimal amount.

I take my hair out of my French braid, line a quick wing on my eyes, and finish with some gloss. That’s as good as I’m going to get after working an 8 hour closing shift. I grab the box and walk to the back entrance, at this point I’m pretty sure every security guard knows me by now. I hand over a cupcake to Craig.

“How’s it looking in there?” 

He takes the cupcake and my helmet and stores it by the door. 

“It got packed quick, show sold out within minutes of tickets going live. Bands are looking promising” 

“That’s rad!” I say as I give him a fist bump and head in.

I walk over to the green room where the bands usually wait until it’s their time to go on stage. Seems they are all watching the first opener. I mark the cupcake box ‘Resident Theory has priority’ in hopes that no one else will steal a cupcake before they’ve had a chance to grab one.

I head over to the stage to watch as the first opener starts their last song, I’m in luck as I made it in time. I check all my camera equipment and make sure all my settings are right and that my lens is clean. I take a couple practice shots before heading out to the barricade to prepare my spot to photograph Resident Theory. I see my friend Ashley waiting to the side as well.

“How’s the crowd?” I shout over the music.

“They seem more lively tonight, apparently majority of the crowd are really anticipating the next band. They seem to be the next big thing in the alt-rock scene” Ashley shouts back to me.

“Sweet, well I hope they give me their all tonight” I giggle as I check my camera one more time.

The band finishes and the crowd cheers. I quickly take my phone out and try to look up the next band as they break down and set up the stage. I glance at the name of the members and try to remember who is in which spot. We have Jack as main singer, Chris on guitar, Leon on drums, and Claire on bass. I will say, I’m a big fan of a wild singer but personally the drummer is always my favorite in the band.

I put my phone away and grab a water bottle from the side of the stage, it’s a secret stash we like to keep at all the venues for the photographers. I glance back up at the stage and it seems they set the next band up quick, I respect that they are keeping to the schedule. You don’t see that happen often.

The crowd seems to get anxious and they start to cheer for Resident Theory. Seems they are quickly growing a pretty big fan base from what I could collect from my internet sleuthing. They get louder and within a minute the lights go down. Crap that’s my cue to get in front of the stage. I see Jack take center stage.

“How are we feeling tonight San Francisco!” He shouts to the full venue and it comes alive in response. 

Next the guitarist comes out, followed by the bassist, and finally the drummer. The room is still dark when suddenly the drummer counts down with his sticks. 3, 2, 1… the music blasts, lights flash on and everyone starts to bounce to the music. They are incredible and in that moment I’m entranced and forget that I’m here to do a job. I fumble to grab my camera and start to click away. The singer is so energetic, moving from one side of the stage to the other and passing momentarily in front of me to strike a pose and wink while bouncing away. The bassist, Claire is all smiles as she sings along with Jack, and the guitarist, Chris is so focused on his playing that he will occasionally look up, make eye contact with the crowd, crack a smirk and wink at the fans. They are controlling their audience and keeping them entertained. Two songs pass and I move around to find the drummer.

Finally I get to my favorite spot for the third song and look at the drummer through my lens, he is playing hard and suddenly he glances at me. My heart skips a beat as he flashes the most beautiful smile. His blue eyes glisten and I am hypnotized as I photograph the most handsome man I have ever seen. Suddenly the song ends and I’m still staring at the drummer, Leon. He catches me and runs a hand through his long brown hair while grinning. Shit. I quickly look down at my camera and try to recollect myself.

Deep breaths as I wait for the next song to start before I look up again to continue photographing. We usually get 3 to 4 songs to photograph the band before we have to move to the side of the stage, seems we get 4 tonight so I’m making this last song count. I go from one side of the stage catching as many pictures as I can and the band matches my energy. I’m all giggles with each member as they smile with me. I purposely avoid the drummer as I will try to get the courage to photograph him from the side stage. Suddenly I can feel myself blushing and the song ends as I walk to the side.

Ashley catches me as I walk away from the barricade looking flushed.

“Omg I’ve never seen you blush like this while working, what happened?!” she questions me as the singer shouts something about having 2 songs left and wanting to see the room bounce.

I glance over to her slowly and whisper “The drummer.” 

She doesn’t hesitate to move to the side stage and get a glance at him. She skips back to me, “damn that is a beautiful man” she giggles as she starts to pull me to the side stage. Remember deep breaths , I tell myself. ‘I’m here doing a job, toughen up and don’t get distracted’ and follow Ashley as we take our spots to get a couple more shots in before the last song ends.

Leon and I make eye contact again, and I swear I can see him blushing?! Ashley whispers to me “No way, he is crushing hard for you” I turn to her “No way, plus I have a strict rule of not dating or flirting with band members” I say with a huff. The band finished their set and the audience is going wild. They really are gaining momentum and recognition pretty quickly. I stand my ground as the band starts to walk off stage past Ashley and I.

“You were great and the crowd loved you” I say to Jack as he puts his hand up for a high five. I then get a high five from Claire and a fist bump from Chris. Leon walks up to me with a drumstick and hands it over “Just a souvenir to remind you of tonight” he says as he proceeds to walk away. “Thanks” I shout a little too loudly.

I follow them back to the green room where the other photographers, bands, and their friends are hanging out. “Can you guys grab your cupcakes already so we can have some too” someone shouts to Resident Theory as they walk in. I can’t help but laugh at the sight of grown men fighting over cupcakes. Claire is the first one over to the box “These are so cute and look delicious” as she picks out a vanilla cupcake with pink frosting. Jack and Chris are next to grab a cupcake, Leon looks at me as he stops at the box and asks “Which is your favorite?” For a moment I wonder why he is asking me and then I realize, i’m still wearing my work shirt as he points at it.

“The s'mores one” I say as I watch him pick the very flavor out of the box. I’m once again mesmerized for a moment as I watch him eat a cupcake. How is it that he can make that look attractive. I quickly look away and look for a spot to sit on a couch. Turning my camera on I glance through the pictures. The next band quickly eat the left over cupcakes and start to make their way towards the stage leaving the first band and the members of Resident Theory in the green room. Ashley comes over to let me know she is going to photograph the next band and to come join her for a couple songs. I nod and she is gone.

“Do you mind?” I look up to see Leon pointing at the empty couch next to me, I nod “Go ahead” I say as he sits down. He wipes the sweat away with a towel that’s resting on his shoulders. He glances at my camera, “You seem to have a great eye for photographing and you seem to have been enjoying yourself quit a bit” he smiles.

“Thanks, you all put on such a great show, it was hard not to want to follow the lead” I say without making eye contact. I’m not usually this intimidated by people, why can’t I look at him. Suddenly a hand is in front of me, I finally look up and slowly move my camera towards his hand. He lets out a low laugh “No, your hand, I’m trying to introduce myself.” 

I turn red, quickly put my hand in his and feel a sudden electricity at the contact. I lose my breath as he introduces himself “I’m Leon Kennedy, drummer of Resident Theory” quickly gathering myself, I lightly shake his hand and say “Nice to meet you, I’m Ellie Peralta” We keep holding hands for what feels like an eternity as he smiles at me.

to be continued...

[laxmiree]

[CN] MLQC Lucien’s Rumors & Secrets – Season 2: Threshold (阈值)

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT!! ⚠️

This post contains a detailed spoiler for an R&S that has not been released in EN yet! Feel free to notify me if there are any mistakes in the translation~

Lucien followed the doctor's pointing finger to a line on the report— a small amount of abnormal PTEN gene sequence in the cells.

“Although the abnormal PTEN is only a small amount, irreversible cancer development may occur if your deterioration continues."

"The speed of deterioration is closely related to the frequency of Evol use, so it is recommended to reduce the usage of Evol as much as possible in the future.”

Lucien nodded occasionally, his heart not experiencing significant fluctuations. This day had been expected, and it had arrived as scheduled.

[T/N] It’s advised to read S2 chapter 45 first because this R&S sets between S2 chapter 45 and chapter 51 timeline-wise. I usually translated the main story first but translating this first makes more sense chronologically AND will provide extra pain for S2 chapter 51~

ALSO, after reading the R&S please head up to S2 Chapter 51, the pain is more complete with the main story~

[Chapter 1]

“Professor Lucien, the latest clinical trial report results are out, and they are still not very promising.”

This not-so-good news didn't come as a surprise to Lucien. He nodded and said, “Ah He, you've worked hard these past few days. Take a good rest over the weekend, and next week, we'll come back to discuss improvement strategies.”

“But we've already improved almost every aspect,” Ah He swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue and glanced at Lucien's composed profile. “In addition, two new deteriorating patients have signed the drug trial observation agreement. Here are the records.”

Lucien took the file and opened it, quickly scanning the text inside.

“The first patient is forty-two years old, an Evolver with superhuman vision. Diagnosed with glaucoma seven years ago, their vision started deteriorating significantly six months ago. After genetic screening, it was confirmed that the condition was caused by deterioration.”

As he turned to the next page, Lucien's gaze froze.

....The second patient is a Water-type Evolver, but the symptoms of deterioration are widespread malignant lymphoma.

“Based on previous cases, the direction of Evolver deterioration should be closely related to their own Evol attribute,” Ah He showed a puzzled expression, “and this patient's symptoms were an exception, with a more unstable rate of deterioration than ordinary patients. Perhaps this could be a discovery in the study of deterioration illness.”

Lucien glanced at the photos of the young man again. Although his impression wasn't deep, he quickly found this person in his memory – he had appeared in one of BS's Evol modification experiments many years ago.

“The individual cases don't have high reference value. We need to expand the sample group and continue to watch for similar cases of deterioration.”

“Understood, Professor.”

Back in his office, Lucien spread out the two reports in front of him. The deterioration index line graph in the first report steadily increased over time like most of the patient data he had seen. However, the line graph in the second report suddenly spiked at a certain point in time after a long period of stability.

Lucien unlocked his computer screen, and a medical report appeared on the screen. The diagnosis result, highlighted in red and bolded was glaring and prominent – “Gene Deterioration Detected.”

The deterioration level line graph in the report progressed steadily, almost identical to the first half of the line graph of the second patient on the desktop.

As the report page slowly scrolled upward, a profile picture gradually appeared in the upper right corner.

He glanced indifferently at his own face in the photo, closed the document, and leaned back in his office chair, closing his eyes to rest.

The heart within his chest cavity beat steadily, just like every other day, strong and composed. No changes appeared to have occurred, yet hidden beneath the surface, there seemed to be an undercurrent that was difficult to detect, waiting for an opportunity to stir things up.

His brief reverie was interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

“Hello, Mr. Lucien. Your latest lab test report is ready. Please come to the laboratory during business hours to collect it.”

[If you remember- In S2 chapter chapter 31-1 Lucien mentioned that his situation regarding blood disease is unique. From this R&S I guess what he means by unique situation is that his deterioration wasn't REALLY bad until he started to overuse evol, mainly for the sake of protecting MC. This evol overuse will get worse in S2 chapter 51 :D]

-

[Chapter 2]

“Have you experienced any discomfort in your body recently? Have you used Evol?”

“Everything has been normal. I've used Evol a few times, but not excessively,” Lucien quickly counted the number of times he had used Evol in his mind over the past month.

It was around seven or eight times, within a manageable range.

The doctor pushed the report in front of Lucien with a serious expression. “Your deterioration had been well-controlled previously, but this time, there are changes in various indicators. Platelet count has decreased, and there might be a slight impact on your clotting function. Additionally—”

Lucien followed the doctor's pointing finger to a line on the report— a small amount of abnormal PTEN gene sequence in the cells.*

“Although the abnormal PTEN is only a small amount, irreversible cancer development may occur if your deterioration continues. The speed of deterioration is closely related to the frequency of Evol use, so it is recommended to reduce the usage of Evol as much as possible in the future.”

Lucien nodded occasionally, his heart not experiencing significant fluctuations. This day had been expected, and it had arrived as scheduled.

(T/N: PTEN is a tumor suppressor gene that plays a critical role in regulating cell growth and preventing the formation of tumors. And since his platelet count is decreasing, it'll be HARD to stop his bleeding)

The hospital wasn't far from the bioresearch institute, and he reached his office right on time for work. As usual, he opened his computer and pulled up the latest clinical reports on anti-deterioration medications that he had just received in his email.

Among the patients participating in the clinical trials, 42% showed some level of deterioration control after taking the medication, with 8% experiencing particularly positive results. However, for nearly 58% of the remaining patients,...

The research on the medication had been ongoing for nearly a year, yet it still couldn't achieve the expected efficacy. Lucien carefully examined the data on the screen, tapping his fingertips lightly on the desk.

Incomplete Evol genes could lead to abnormalities in the human body, but why would the highly praised “evolutionary” Evol genes lead to such destructive deterioration?

Could it be that Evol eliminates those who cannot withstand its power? Or is the deterioration of Evolvers, to some extent, a part of the world's evolutionary process?

Some vague thoughts raced through his mind, and Lucien allowed them to linger, making a mental note as he continued to focus on the report in front of him.

As the sunlight gradually intensified, shifting towards the other side of the skyline, Lucien took a deep breath, preparing to take a short break.

Just as he closed his eyes, his ears picked up three quick knocks on the door. The third knock was slightly heavier, a habit unique to Pete.

“Come in.”

The door swung open, and Pete briskly walked up to the desk, handing over a stack of research reports.

“Professor, there have been new developments in the experiment data regarding the neuronal position for maintaining neuron function. Detailed results and data are all written in the report. We can start the next phase of experiments tomorrow.”

Lucien quickly glanced at the data and results on the report, and he smiled.

“The results are even better and faster than I had imagined. After work, you can take everyone out to celebrate. Consider it a team-building event, and the institute will reimburse it.”

“You should join us too; the rapid progress of the experiment owes much to the insights you've given us. Everyone wants to thank you.”

Lucien paused for a moment, then continued nonchalantly, “Make a reservation for one more seat, and thank you for your hard work.”

“Sure thing! I'll go inform the others right away.”

After Pete left the office, Lucien shifted his gaze to the dormant screen. He saw his own blurry silhouette, and the lingering smile on his lips confirmed his fleeting good mood.

Maybe... He agreed a bit too quickly just now.

Lucien shook his mouse, and a dense data set appeared on the screen again. It was an observation report from NW on unusual energy fluctuations within Loveland City, as well as the strange phenomena they had generated. This report piqued his interest, and according to the original plan, he should have worked late to finish this research tonight.

However, occasionally participating in such activities could be beneficial for teamwork. Lucien hesitated for only three seconds before saving the document and shutting down the computer.

-

[Chapter 3]

“Swoosh-”

The clear water rinsed away the remnants of liquid in the test tube, and a momentary daydream washed over his relaxed mind. The scene from this morning when he left home reappeared before his eyes.

As Lucien opened his door, the opposite door also swung open, and a girl rushed out with a box of milk in hand. Her hair was slightly disheveled, clearly a result of rushing and not having time to tidy up for work.

He smiled faintly, but strangely, she seemed completely unaware of his presence and focused on her phone, anxiously waiting for the elevator.

In the next moment, the girl's figure seemed to “disappear,” but the elevator remained on the top floor, not descending.

He was briefly taken aback but quickly realized that this was likely the phenomenon caused by the energy fluctuations he had recently seen in the NW observation report on Loveland City. The unknown energy disturbance in the vicinity had created a “rift” in spacetime, and the girl was merely a projected illusion.

The sound of glass clinking brought Lucien back to reality, and he noticed that the test tube in his hand had bumped into the beaker.

“Professor, are you feeling a bit tired? Maybe I should take care of this for you,”

Lucien smiled in response to Pete's concern and began placing the lab equipment into the washing machine. “No need, nothing is pressing right now. I'll consider organizing equipment as a form of rest.”

Although the work on hand was never-ending, under her supervision, he had already learned to carve out some breathing space for himself.

During moments of complete relaxation, unexpected thoughts often diverged in his mind, which brought him happiness. However, lately, whenever he tried to clear his mind, the girl's image and voice would involuntarily “visit” him.

Seeing the slight, involuntary upward curve of his lips, Pete gave him a knowing look and half-jokingly asked, “Professor, are you going on a date later?”

“She's been quite busy lately.” Lucien subtly concealed the thoughts he had inadvertently revealed just now and continued, “Pete, have you chosen a topic for your thesis?”

“It's almost ready. This time, I plan to research 'Using Evol Energy to Stimulate Brain Cells for Alzheimer's Disease Treatment.' I'll put together a formal document for you to review.”

“I remember you were interested in brain memory restoration and extraction before, and you had many intriguing ideas. Are you not planning to explore that area this time?”

“Afterward, I reconsidered. There's more literature available on Alzheimer's disease, and the current market demand is higher. It seems like a more prudent choice.”

Lucien's gaze shifted slightly, not missing the hint of regret that flashed in Pete's eyes.

“I actually think that if it's a topic that interests you, you should give it a try,” Lucien blurted out his most direct thought, receiving a surprised look from Pete.

“What everyone else is doing may be the safer choice, but it's not necessarily the best choice.”

“Uncharted territory doesn't always equate to a dead end; it's just that, in many cases, people tend to instinctively seek the safer path.”

“But in research, the most valuable quality is the persistence to explore and seek knowledge.”

On the way back home, Lucien continued to contemplate the events of the afternoon.

In the realm of scientific research, aiming for safety was not necessarily a mistake; it often led to higher success rates. So, when he made that suggestion, it wasn't solely from an objective standpoint but also a personal desire that the researchers he had mentored could challenge more difficult domains.

Suddenly, a faintly familiar sweet fragrance wafted to his nostrils. He followed the scent and turned to see her favorite cream puff shop.

“Maybe I should buy one and give it a try.”

A few minutes later, Lucien sat on a park bench holding a freshly baked cream puff. He wasn't particularly fond of cream puffs, but the idea that had occurred to him a moment ago had struck without warning. Before he could contemplate the reason behind this thought, his body had already acted on it.

The cream puff, still warm inside its paper bag, emitted a subtle fragrance. He took a gentle bite, the crispy outer shell giving way to the creamy filling, creating a delicate taste on his tongue.

This cream puff wasn't overly sweet and the sweetness that could be detected was minimal.

This subtle sweetness triggered dopamine, and an inexplicable sensation gradually spread from his chest to his limbs. It seemed like his brain had received this pleasurable signal, making him feel considerably more relaxed.

So, this was what she meant by the happiness brought by sweets.

He slowly savored each bite of the cream puff.

Lucien knew that an irreversible change had occurred within himself.

[This behavior of trying new things and impulsively doing something feels like 'my time in this world won't be too long anyway' :""]

-

[Chapter 4]

Inside the research lab, the mechanical hum of instruments droned on rhythmically, and the stark white lights cast a cold silver gleam on the metal plaques with “NW” written on them.

“Blood pressure stable, sinus rhythm normal, no adverse reactions.”

“According to the drug's suggestions, he will act according to our instructions after leaving this lab.”

Lucien glanced through the glass at the person lying on the observation room bed.

“Conduct thorough post-experiment observations, don't overlook any minor irregularities.”

“Alright. Also, Professor Lucien, your ETL-147* drug trial application has been approved, and you need to sign the liability waiver.” The lab technician handed the paperwork to Lucien, looking somewhat hesitant.

“Are you sure you want to personally participate in the drug trial? Although we've conducted preliminary human trials, we haven't done large-scale clinical trials yet, and there are certain risks involved.”

Lucien quickly signed his name. “Trying it myself is the only way to discover areas that may need improvement.”

[I was right about Lucien experimenting on himself with that drug :"D. Anyway, ETL-147 is the same drug from S2 chapter 45]

“Once you've decided, you'll need to receive the injection within the confines of NW with someone present, as per the regulations.”

“Then let's do it now.”

Declining the researcher's offer to assist, Lucien skillfully rolled up his sleeve and disinfected the area. As he watched the liquid in the syringe decrease, he blinked slightly, concealing some contemplation.

“You can go ahead, I'll observe here for half an hour. If there are any issues, I'll reach out to you.”

He watched the researcher leave and then lowered his gaze to his arm, which had a tourniquet in place. Testing the drug on himself wasn't solely for drug research. He could increasingly feel that something was changing within him, hiding and flowing in the gaps of his nerves, elusive and slipping out of his control.

That's why he needed insurance.

He didn't wait for half an hour and left the observation room. The solemn and cold corridor echoed only with the light sound of his footsteps. Each corner had a circular surveillance device with a flashing red indicator light, watching his unhurried steps. He paid little attention to them as he arrived at Archive Room 8.

“Authentication personnel, Lucien. Authorization Level: Three.”

With a beep of an electronic tone, the door to the archive opened for him.

Rows of gray filing cabinets stood in order. He walked deeper into the room, stopping at the second-to-last row. From one of the shelves, he pulled out a file box.

“Blood Disorders and Deterioration Case Files.”

He opened the lid and browsed through the materials inside. During his involvement in the research of anti-blood disorder drugs at NW, Lucien had seen most of these files. As he turned a page, his slender fingers paused.

“Code **, deterioration level reached as high as 95%, reversed deterioration after ** experiment, and after a period of observation, full recovery of human functions, deterioration level reduced to 7%. Detailed information requires special-level clearance to access.”

Looking at the encrypted data, Lucien's lips curved upward without a hint of a smile. He returned the file box to its original place.

It seemed there were quite a few deals he could make here.

-

[Chapter 5]

“To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower. Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour. A truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent...”

(T/N: From the poem Auguries of Innocence written by William Blake. For Blake there's such thing as white lies. Because 'A truth that's told with bad intent' is worse than any lie, because some lies can be well-intentioned)

Under the camphor tree swayed by the autumn breeze, he softly recited verses from the book. Sensing the girl in his arms gradually breathing deeper, he closed the book and gently brushed a strand of hair from the corner of her eye.

In the warm breeze, Lucien slowly opened his eyes, gazing at the familiar cold white ceiling of his office, feeling a slight sense of déjà vu.

This was the fourth time in these seven days that he had dreamt of her.

Since the deterioration, he had hardly experienced any physical discomfort. However, the frequency of thinking about her had increased significantly. He didn't resist this feeling; in fact, every time he thought of her unintentionally, the neurons in his brain transmitted a sense of pleasure to every cell.

He ran his fingers over his knuckles; the wounds from his struggle with GR had scabbed over, but she still applied bandages to them cautiously. Lucien pressed his temple to clear his mind a bit, then returned to his desk, opened a document, and entered the latest date.

“Dreamt of her in a dream, vivid memory of dream content, but ruled out as a recollection.”

After recording this, he opened his email.

This was the latest data on energy fluctuations within Loveland City. On the vast map of Loveland City, there were numerous unusual energy fluctuations. After comparing the fluctuation charts for each period, he noticed the locations where fluctuations were concentrated at different times.

Approximately 36 days ago at around 18:39, Central Park. He and the girl had gone to the night market in the park after work, and they had dinner at a street food stall.

Approximately 27 days ago at around 12:25, the Life Sciences Institute. She came to bring him lunch and, in passing, asked him about the topic for the next program.

15 days ago at 23:48, his apartment. To celebrate the upcoming weekend, they stayed up late watching a movie and didn't return home until very late. She stood at his doorstep and bid him goodnight.

Nine days ago...

The light from the screen reflected a coldness in his pupils as he stared at the map with red markers blinking in different locations.

The center of the fluctuations, once again, was that source of power that had captivated countless people—CORE.

The more beautifully the flower bloomed, the more it attracted annoying flies.

A sudden sense of irritation welled up within him.

What would it take to keep those ill-intentioned insects away from this deeply-rooted flower?

“Snap.”

The light sound shattered the silence as the pen fell to the ground and rolled twice before coming to a stop by his feet.

That sudden absurd idea had torn away all pretense, revealing the raw instinct in its entirety.

— If she had her own path, she shouldn't be trapped by him.

— Don't restrain yourself with rationality, look at your true heart.

Perhaps that dream had already given him a hint. The scales in his heart had gradually tilted away from reason, moving in an unexpected direction.

— She withstood all the wind and rain that came her way, growing resiliently into someone he found truly remarkable. He couldn't encase her within his protective glass cover.

— Are you really don't expect it? Really don't want to possess her? Humans are inherently greedy. Indulgence is human nature.

Lucien felt as though there was a consciousness from a deeper layer detaching from his body, standing at a higher vantage point, watching with keen interest as the two voices in his mind continued their ongoing debate.

Perhaps his own deterioration graph had already started its inexorable ascent towards an unpreventable height, progressing towards the final moment that could arrive at any time.

He suddenly realized that he wasn't as averse to facing that moment as he thought. All the changes in his body were intriguing, both evolution and destruction.

Cells and genes evolved over countless years to adapt to their environment, giving birth to more complete species. However, the incompleteness of the Evol gene led to human deterioration, going in the opposite direction of evolution.

Perhaps Evol held a meaning deeper than “evolution” and “power,” a meaning that no one, including him, had yet to comprehend.

His phone vibrated suddenly, bringing the storm in his mind to an abrupt halt. The girl's name accompanied a text message that appeared before him.

“Do you have time tonight? I found a new barbecue place on Huapu Street.”

“Of course, I'll pick you up after work.”

Perhaps he shouldn't see her now; if he did, this imbalance might intensify rapidly.

But why not indulge in something that brought him happiness?

Lucien closed his eyes.

This self-observation finally introduced more significant variables.

-

NEXT STOP-> [S2 Chapter 51]

[hearts4golbach]

The Night Shift.

Johnnie Guilbert x Fem!Reader.

Chapter 22.

my head pounded as i dug through my bag, praying i had some sort of pain killer in that damn thing. unfortunately, i didn't have shit. i leaned against the counter and texted johnnie.

me: johnniee

me: Are you up?

johnnie: yeah babe what's up

me: Are you coming tonight?

johnnie: Of course

me: Would you mind bringing something for my headache? it's starting out to be a terrible night, lol

johnnie: yeah ill head that way soon :)

me: Thank youuu

i turned off my phone. the bell on the door rang, and i greeted the customer. "Welcome in. what can i get for you?" Hearing the same repetitive phrase angered me tonight, way more than any other night. i cleared my throat in an attempt to calm myself down.

"Can i get a latte, please?" the girl requested.

i hummed. i turned around towards the espresso machine. i packed it and slid the container into the slot. i pressed the on button, expecting it to work, but it didn't. "you've got to be fucking kidding me." i said under my breath, hoping the customer didn't hear. i turned back around. "im so sorry, the espresso machine is broken."

"Oh, no worries!" she gave me an awkward smile before looking up at the menu.  "Can i get a medium vanilla cream hot coffee?"

"yes ma'am, so sorry for the inconvenience." i picked up the coffee pot, which i had made a fresh batch not long before she had come in.

she finally received her drink. she paid and left, leaving me alone in the cafe once more. i poured myself a cup of cold water and chugged it, hoping it'd dull the pain.

i discovered that the espresso machine had just unplugged, but it was still a bitch to plug back in. i opened the cabinet and moved the extra bags of coffee beans. the plugs were in the very back of the cabinets. i was torso deep into the cabinets, trying to fish the cord out from behind the small opening in the back of it whenever johnnie walked out.

i heard a chuckle slip out of his lips. "You okay over there?"

"Yeah, just trying to plug something in." i mutter as i finally reconnect everything.

i stand up and turn to find johnnie holding a small bouquet of about 5 light pink and white tulips. i purse my lips and try to hold back tears.

"Awe, it's okay, y/n." he smiled softly, coming behind the counter to hug me. i held onto him tightly, feeling as if some of my problems had washed away. he rubbed my lower back and pulled a small container of painkillers out of his back pocket. "Here are those, if you wanna take them real quick."

he kept one arm wrapped around my waist as i did. "Thank you so much," i pecked his lips, "im so glad you're here."

he pulled up a chair behind the counter to sit with me, "What's been going on?"

"It's just that nothing seems to be working. It's just been a weird night. i have a massive headache, and my temper is super short tonight. of course, the thing was unplugged, so i had to fix that. but im only an hour into the shift, and i know the rest of the night is going to be shit." i rambled, dreading the following hours.

"Can i help around the store again? maybe that'll take some shit off of your shoulders." he offered. "What all do you have to do tonight?"

"Well, take orders, obviously. i need to sweep and mop out here and go do the last of the day shift dishes, then i need to wipe down all the counters and tables. we need to take down the valentines decorations, too." i listed off all of the main tasks that came to mind.

"Where's the broom?" he asked with zero hesitation.

"Since you really wanna help, the broom is in the closet right over there." i pointed to my right, "but really, you dont have to help."

"i wanna help, love." he replied before taking out the broom and beginning to sweep the floors.

the next hour worth of orders went smoothly. surprisingly, tonight was a busier night than usual. i decided to stop complaining, as i was getting more money, the more people that came in. johnnie then wiped off all the tables and counters, leaving them spotless.

"youre actually the best." i called from across the cafe. he smiled and gave me a thumbs up before returning to the last few tables.

"You ready to take the decorations down?" he asked, wiping his forehead after tossing the dirty rag in the dirty bin.

"Yeah, let's do it." i climbed up on his shoulders, figuring it'd be best to get the hard shit to take down out of the way first.

"There's a party me and jake were invited to this weekend. Do you wanna come with me? i think tara is going, too." johnnies thumb gently rubbed my thigh.

"Uh, obviously," i stuttered. i tossed the small stack of heart cutouts onto the floor before moving on to the next one. "Why wouldn't i want to go?"

he shrugged. "i dunno."

"My parents are coming to town soon. i told my mother about you, and she wants to meet you." i mentioned. i was anxious for his response. "Do you want to?"

"Uh, yeah? of course i fucking do." he giggled.

i sighed, "i just need to warn you, im not sure if she'll like you. she's very judgemental."

"Then I'll earn it. dont worry, y/n."

"You'll earn her liking you?" i raised my eyebrow even though he couldn't see.

"Yeah, I'll find a way." he patted my upper thigh.

after i picked the last heart off of the wall, i got off of his shoulders. he placed a soft kiss on my lips. i replied, "im sure you will."

[rassicas]

can I ask what goes through your head while translating ? like, do you read through the text, understand what it's about, and then start translating it ? or does the understanding happen throughout the process ?

hope you're doing well !!

i like to be open about the fact that im not a fluent JP speaker at all, at this point im like... intermediate at most. this isnt me trying to be humble or whatever i am Serious. the only reason ive translated so much splatoon stuff is because i have enough knowledge to not be stumbling around clueless, and (biggest reason) because almost nobody else was doing it. also its fun to figure out how to convey an idea across different languages.... where differences in culture and the way the language itself works creates these gaps that need to be remedied with a translation note or a looser translation/localization... i got a degree in lingusitics i think this shit is incheresting i still got plenty of gaps in my grammar/vocab/kanji knowledge, but im literate enough to get the main ideas of a passage. occasionally ill be able to fully understand it without checking a dictionary or anything and then i type up a translation. but often times the understanding is something that happens throughout the process. process is as follows: parse text to the best of my own abilities. If i'm confident i can read it ill just type up the translation. if i cant fully comprehend it all... ->if its text in a book or something, use google translate's scan function to get a digital transcription -> fix transcription if there's issues -> run text through both deepL and jisho.org. DeepL is much better than google translate at making intelligible auto translations, but it sometimes gets overconfident. sometimes i can understand what a sentence is getting at but im not sure how to neatly convey it in english, and then it's like. wow the machine did it for me. -> cross check the auto translation with the original JP text. again, i'm not fluent, but i can read enough to know what all the parts of the sentence are, and i can tell where exactly the machine translation messed up -> if i dont like how the machine structured a sentence ill rewrite it -> if there's words, idioms, grammar points etc. that i'm unsure about, i'll look into them further on jisho or find more information elsewhere online

tldr my japanese is pretty Mid but im good at researching

[m0ssycobblestone]

Thinking about a Trigun au I made a while back that is super self indulgent with a side of projection /pos

I called it the Stale Donuts AU after the donuts I would sometimes get from H-E-B as a kid that, as far as I can remember, were always vaguely stale.

It is at its core, a modern AU–Cryptid Vash–Vashwood story hybrid hodgepodge thing that was also!!! Very much inspired by multiple fics I had either read or was reading at the time!!! And of course full of yummy delicious self indulgence and self projection with bits of me spread throughout like the stale donuts thing!!! Yippee!!!!!!

On to the bits and bops of the au itself in a very rambling way (I'm sorry):

Wolfwood is Mexican American and the main pov of the thing. He lives in an apartment with Livio, who's going to the local college (go girl go, get that higher education ✨). Wolfwood drives a motorcycle because why wouldn't he BUT he ALSO owns a motorcycle place where you can get shit repaired and customized an shit like that (I don't know vehicle things ITS A COOL IDEA I DONT KNOW IF ITS ACCURATE). Meryl also probably works there with him, because in my mind I can't for the life of me separate the thought of Meryl and driving things probably because I watched Stampede first but that's besides the point—we're ignoring that. Livio, Wolfwood, Meryl, and Milly were all friends in highschool (maybe they were in a shitty band?? That's a thought for a different day) and stayed friends into their adult lives (they all care about each other so much guys). ALSO this whole thing takes place in Texas, so AT SOME POINT one of them worked at Whataburger and one of them worked at a DQ I don't know WHO WAS WHERE but at LEAST ONE OF THEM I SWEAR.

Anyways

On his way to the motorcycle shop, Wolfwood passes the H-E-B and has to drive over a short bridge. Guess where he finds Vash.

One day he's coming home from work, and as he's crossing over the bridge he suddenly stops because JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING. Illuminated by the motorcycle headlights, a large, feathered...something startles and crawls over the edge with a sound of pain, leaving behind a trail of blood. Yippee!! Vash makes an appearance!! Of course Wolfwood's freaked the fuck out by the bleeding thing under the bridge, yet for some reason he follows it anyway (I haven't really thought of anything except hey that thing looked kinda hurt and Melanie raised him with compassion ig so)(and I love stupid men). He sees that this giant bird is 100% actually kinda injured (imagine getting hit by a car) and manages to calm it down enough to help it out at least a little, but he's also kinda on his way home and can only see with a flashlight, so there's not much he can do. He does toss it a snack he found hidden in his jacket tho. After that whole cryptid nonsense, Wolfwood stops at H-E-B! (YIPPEEE!!) Livio sends him a text. "You should totally get me a donut from the bakery"

"Still can't believe you actually like those" he sends back, still getting a plain glazed for himself. He offhandedly wonders if the bird thing would like donuts.

The next morning, now armed with a first aid kit, he buys a donut and stops at the bridge, hoping the creature from before is still there. Oh hey look, the creature from before! Now that it's daytime, Wolfwood can clearly see that yeah, that thing is definitely hurt. He says hi, and the creature seems to recognize him from the night before, but still won't let him get close enough to fully see anything other than feathers and old scars. Donut time!! The perfect distraction!!! I don't know what kind of injuries Vash has, but whatever it is Wolfwood manages to patch it up at least a little bit while he's munching on the donut. I like to imagine he's at least a little bit good at caring for animals (specifically birds) because Tristamp Wolfwood taking care of Thoma chicks makes me ill (/pos) so uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhh chickens. And maybe like, a cockatiel for fun. Miss Melanie had chickens and a cockatiel that the kids would help take care of. It ends up becoming a routine where Wolfwood stops at the bridge to chill with the bird cryptid every morning and evening. Eventually he ends up telling Livio, Meryl and Milly about Vash. He also very quickly figures out that Vash has human level intelligence and isn't just a giant freaky animal and Vash manages to communicate what his name is!!! Yippee!!!

In this Vash has the Big Bird™ cryptid form and a normal human one, but can't switch between them when he's injured (like being hit by a car) so it's really great that this random human guy is helping him out.

The first time Wolfwood sees Vash de-birdified is hilarious because he goes to the bridge like normal and sees feathers everywhere, no giant bird in sight, and a vaguely familiar naked blond man chilling in the middle of it all. As soon as he sees Wolfwood, his face lights up and he starts excitedly waving.

"Wolfwood!"

"Needle Noggin?!"

"Look I'm all better!!"

Plot wise, no fuckin clue where it goes from here, vibe wise fuck it we ball. All I know is hijinx ensues and it's great fun all around YIPPEEEEEEE!!!

I think that's all I got for now, might post more if I think of anything✨✨✨

[sleepy-vix]

What would your ideal book be like (as in, what theoretical book would be your absolute favourite) what genre, page count, setting, characters, etc would it have?

oohhhh this is such an interesting ask. hmm i'll have to lay this out in dot points

BE READY FOR LOTS OF TEXT!

also i am indecisive and messy so my opinions will probably change idk T-T

alr here we go

- genre: psychological novel? im not exactly sure what the genre is but i love when books follow a mentally ill character that's just trying their best to navigate through life, and the book is about the way they interact with their surrounds and respond to issues and cope with their past and come to decisions, iykwim?

BUT I WANT FANTASY in it too so it will be epic. i love fantasy world building and i love when it makes so so so much sense. it would be cool if they had elements and got sorted into elemental groups too- that is so satisfying and fun to read.

- page count: probably 500. personally i think a normal book is 300, and it seems daunting when it's got like 700 pagesz but considering that this is my ideal book, i think i'd be sad if it had less than 400 pages (cus the story would be over soon) so i'd say 500 pages is the perfect amount.

- setting: in terms of time, i never really cared for it. i realise that i should probably have a preference on which century i like to read, but i find that characters can be mentally ill and epic no matter if they are from the future or the past.

in terms of location, hmm i wouldn't want to read about a character being anywhere with tropical or summery vibes. i like my characters knee deep in snow and drenched from head to toe in rain. it keeps them depressed and relatable ^^ (/hj....?)

oh also it would be cool if the country and places were mad up, since that this is a fantasy.

WAIT OR asia. i am obsessed with books that focuses on/is based off asia :)

- characters: trios are the best and i will die on that hill. ok like i dont need the trios to be together 24/7 but i need there to be THREE main characters if you know what i mean. one of them can be an antihero idc. it just has to be THREE.

oh also i love to read in the perspective of characters who are ambitious and feisty and impulsive because they're the opposite of me. but also i'd like them (idc abt gender) to be cunning, witty and good at making plans.

another character that i need in the trio is the smart one. there HAS to be a smart side character or else i will NOT fall in love with the book. i need the character who makes all the entensive plans. i need the character who is a walking dictionary. i need the character who hates to fight and would rather be learning but is somehow good at it and therefore forced to fight alongside the makn character. (oopsies im just describing the poppy war. but that is not a crime ;])

if its a soldier poet king trio i will be obsessed with it forever and ever

ok so for the stuff that u didnt ask but im gonna include:

-writing style: advanced. work my mind to death but enrichen it at the same time. i dont mind a difficult and layered magic system- in fact i LOVE THOSE, as long as they make sense and they are creative. do not give me that "she let out a breath she didnt know she was holding" bs.

i want "the night circus" level description when it comes to settings. i need to see taste hear smell FEEL the fucking surroundings

-vibe: doomed from the start. i dont want my characters to be happy. make me fall in love and then break my heart and do not apologise for it :,) (shit am i masochistic? damn)

- others: it would be cool if it is somehow relevant to our present irl current political state/ real world problems. it would be even cooler if it somehow fits a ton of mitski songs. also gayness is very welcomed

yeahh thats all i got for now. oops i wrote alot. at the start of my reply i was thinking along the lines of solitaire and crime and punishment and no longer human, but then it was all scrapped and i based it all off of the poppy war trilogy because it did fantasy and character dynamics/personalities/backstories SO RIGHT.

tysmmm for this ask. i would love to ask it right back, but i dont know who you are :(( ahsvsj feel free to tell me anyways tho in my askbox as an anon !!

*this was not proofread

[your-divine-ribs]

Red Part 9

Words: 2.5k

Y/N is trying so hard to stay away from Van but she can’t avoid him forever… no warnings for this part ❤️

Red Masterlist Main Masterlist

You can't go on like this... you have to end things with Van...

You repeat the same few lines over and over in your head like a mantra over the following two weeks, almost like it's a sacred incantation that might somehow ward off these feelings that haunt you. It doesn't work though, your heart lurching every time your phone vibrates with a text message. Van's insistent, that's for sure. His texts start out flirty with plenty of innuendoes, but by the third day of you blanking him they take on a more serious tone.

Van: This won't go away just because you're avoiding me. I need to see you.

Van: We need to talk. You can't just keep ignoring me.

Van: I miss you x

The last one just rips into your heart brutally, and from that point on you hit delete quickly every time his name flashes up on your phone screen, trying not to read the contents of the messages. It's safer that way.

Of course ignoring Van doesn't mean that you automatically stop thinking about him though. He lingers there in your mind frustratingly, refusing to budge. He's the first image that pops into your head on waking and the last thought intruding on your mind as you battle with sleep. His whispered seductions in your ear, his hot breath fanning against your neck, the plushness of his lips as they press feverishly against yours... and those eyes... captivating and impossibly blue in the sunlight, drawing you in.

You've stayed away from Larry's ever since the day after the party, feigning a mystery illness, even going as far as insisting that Larry steers clear of your house too in case you infect him. He argues at first, but you insist. After all you are sick. Sick with guilt.

For the first time in all the years that you've been together you find yourself imagining a scenario where you two break up, playing the scene in your head like a movie. Larry shocked and disbelieving, pleading for you to reconsider through his tears. Van there waiting in the wings to move in and claim you, the duplicitous victor who steals you right out of his best friend's arms. No matter which way you play it, the outcome is always the same. Heartbreak for all involved.

You just can't do it.

"You can't still be ill, surely?"

Larry's tone is disbelieving and you're glad that you're on the phone and not face to face where he could see your flushed cheeks and guilt-ridden expression.

"Honestly, I've never felt so bad in all my life. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"But Sophie says she saw you in town yesterday, you were just coming out of that cafe on the High Street. You can't be that bad if you're out and about."

Sophie.

So she's still on the scene. It surprises you and that familiar jealousy comes flooding back, but you remind yourself that you have no business feeling it. If you don't want Van you're going to have to get used to seeing him with other girls. It's actually a good thing.

It doesn't feel good though.

"Errr... well, I guess I am starting to feel a little better." You flounder at being caught out. "I only popped out for a moment."

But Larry doesn't seem concerned that your excuses could be lies, he's got no reason to think that you'd be so devious in trying to avoid him. He just sounds happy, his voice raising up in excitement.

"Ah great, if you're starting to feel better then you'll be okay to come to the gig on Friday night."

"Gig? What gig?"

"You know... the lids are playing the O2 Academy. It's gonna be great. Tickets sold out in about 5 minutes."

"Oh..."

You're struck with anxiety at the thought of seeing Van again, but you know that you can't hide away forever. Sooner or later you're going to have to face him so it might as well be sooner. And he'll be up on stage for most of the night which should make staying out of his way even easier.

"Yeah... yeah. I should be alright. I'll come. Should be a good night."

You try to inject some form of enthusiasm into your voice but it's strained, not that Larry seems to notice. He's off on an excited rant, enthusing about what a good opportunity this is for the band and his best friend. It twists your heart to hear how proud he is of Van, and this just confirms to you that you're making the right decision by ending things.

"Ahh yeah it's gonna be class, and Dan the manager reckons this is just the start of it. He's just in talks with some of the major festivals and there's a good chance they'll be booking loads over the summer. They're really going places, I can feel it. Next year is gonna be immense! And Van's writing some quality tunes at the moment... proper anthems. Hopefully he might play one of the new ones on Friday."

You find yourself zoning out, Larry's words becoming indistinct until you hear something that makes your ears prick up.

"I'm just hoping this gig'll sort him out. Honestly I don't know what's got into him at the moment, he's been moping around with a face like thunder, ignoring Bondy's texts, shutting himself away in his room... he's been a bloody nightmare. Sophie says he's been snapping at her too..."

You close your eyes and screw up your face, your gut twisting as you listen to Larry's account of Van's mysterious uncharacteristic behaviour. What the fuck have you two been playing at? You're not just risking messing up your own lives, but also dragging other people into this whole sordid mess.

You need to rid yourself of this notion that you're somehow falling for Van. It's lust, that's all it is. Plain and simple. And you can soon put a stop to that. You just need to control your urges and see Van for who he really is. It wasn't so long ago that you were disgusted as he paraded a string of lovestruck girls into his bed. He's only on his best behaviour right now because he's on a mission to bed you. And that's never going to happen. Never. Never in a million years. It's over.

Gig nights are always accompanied by a mixture of emotions. Bob and Benji are a bag of nerves even though Benji tries to play it down, a contrast to Bondy's quiet, chilled confidence. Van's always hyper and tonight's no different. He's pacing back and forth in the back room of the venue, practically bouncing off the walls. At least the excitement is overshadowing the awkward moment that you two first clapped eyes on each other. Your train of thought had been utterly derailed and you were rendered speechless as you'd pushed through the door and seen him standing there, your breath catching in your throat as he'd greeted you with a rush of words which sounded very much like relief.

"Y/N! You made it. I really didn't think you'd come but here you are!"

"Here I am," you echo weakly when your power of speech returns, immediately dropping your head down to study the floor to hide your red cheeks. Thankfully everyone's so caught up in the pre-gig excitement that they don't appear to notice Van's eyes lingering on you and your obvious discomfort, but you announce that you're going to the bar nevertheless, keen to be released from Van's stifling gaze.

You turn quickly on your heel, head still down, making for the doorway that you've just come through. Various cries sound out from the lads, placing their orders, but you don't turn around. You just carry on walking, through into the corridor where you stop, taking a deep breath and leaning up against the wall, tipping your head back and closing your eyes.

Fuck... you hadn't been expecting the strength of emotions that had come crashing down on you when you'd seen Van. It had hit you like a ten-tonne truck, a wave of longing and craving and pent-up desire, a rush that made you feel weak, your head still spinning as you curse inwardly, trying to compose yourself.

"Are you okay Y/N?"

The female voice catches you by surprise and your eyes flick open quickly to see Sophie standing there, eyes wide and brimming with concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... good... really good actually. I just felt a little... I don't know... faint I guess. It's so hot in there." You fan yourself with a hand, glad to have an excuse for your scarlet cheeks.

"Larry said you'd not been very well so I thought I'd come and check on you. It's not like any of the lads would think to… am I right?"

She rolls her eyes and grins, linking an arm through yours, friendly and conspiratorial. You smile back, pushing your body off the wall, letting her turn you both in the direction of the venue foyer and bar.

"Yeah, guys are shit like that aren't they? Completely wrapped up in themselves."

"Totally! Oh god, especially Van. Sometimes I wonder whether he notices that I'm even there at all!"

You can't help the satisfaction that floods you at her words and you hate yourself for it, pushing it away and playing the understanding confidante, glancing over at Sophie as you walk along.

"Oh, well that's Van for you, he's so easily distracted. So... are things not... errr... going that well with you two then?"

Sophie lets out an audible sigh as you arrive at the bar, both leaning on it with your elbows. "I don't know. He's so moody at the moment, and it's like his mind's always somewhere else entirely when we're together."

Your mind goes to the frequent text messages you've been receiving. You dig in your bag for your purse, ordering pints for everyone. "You do realise that the band always comes first don't you?"

Sophie shrugs, shaking her head slightly, her glossy brunette locks falling perfectly to frame her face. She really is gorgeous, Van must be crazy.

"I know that... and I mean I know we've not been together long, but sometimes I wonder whether he's just stringing me along. You know, until something better comes along."

"Well I don't know about that..." you begin, but Sophie talks over you, eager to tell you her woes, reaching for the first freshly poured pint.

"I mean you did warn me didn't you? About what Van was like? Maybe I should've listened... but I keep finding myself going back for more. He's just so bloody gorgeous it's like I can't help myself. D'ya know what I mean?"

You almost mumble out an agreement before you stop yourself, dipping your head to take a sip of your own pint instead. Sophie's not waiting for an answer anyway, she's on a roll.  And what she says next shocks you.

"It's funny really, I've fancied Van for so long. I tried to catch his eye for ages, turned up to all his gigs, went to all the same parties, then after months he finally noticed me. I thought it was like a dream come true, but now I'm not so sure. I'm beginning to think that maybe Van's not the real catch here... maybe it's your Larry instead!"

You splutter in surprise, nearly spraying her in a mouthful of lager, swallowing it too quickly and making yourself cough. "Larry?" You croak, wiping the drink that's dripping down your chin.

She throws her head back with a hearty laugh, a hand reaching out for your arm. "Oh my god Y/N! You should see your face! Yes Larry... your Larry! There's not many Larry's around here last time I checked!"

You crack an awkward smile, setting your drink back down on the bar. "Yeah, I guess he's a good one."

"The best!" Sophie giggles. "Honestly, he's such a sweetheart. When I got upset over how Van was acting the other day he was so lovely. And he's hilarious too, he had me in stitches telling me stories of what the guys all get up to when they're touring."

Her eyes are all lit up as she speaks and you suppose you should feel threatened that this gorgeous girl's so taken with your boyfriend, but you don't. You just listen on, smiling and sipping your drink as she tells you a story of Larry picking her up from a party when she'd had too much to drink as Van wouldn't answer his phone. You hadn't realised how close they'd become in such a short space of time.

Suddenly she stops mid-sentence, eyes wide and cautious. "Oh bloody hell, listen to me going off on one! I hope I'm not over-stepping the mark. You do know that Larry adores you right? I really don't think that he'd even so much as look at another girl. Ahh shit I feel bad now! Me and my big mouth!"

"No, no it's fine," you assure her. "Larry's one of the good guys, nothing's too much trouble for him. He's like everyone's best mate."

Sophie's wariness evaporates instantly. "Yes! That's just it!"

"Alright ladies?"

You feel an arm on your shoulder as you hear the familiar voice in your ear and you whip your head up to see Larry's wide grin. He's got his other arm curled over Sophie's shoulder and she shrieks excitedly on seeing him.

"Larry! Oh my god, we've literally just been talking about you! Bet your ears were burning!"

"Hope it was all good," he grins, giving you a kiss on the cheek, murmuring a quiet "hiya love".

There's a flurry of greetings and hugs, and again you marvel at how seeing Sophie obviously so close to Larry isn't setting off alarm bells in your head. Maybe it's because you're so secure in the knowledge that he'd never stray. Or maybe it's something else. Maybe the spark really has gone from your relationship, that giddy breathless feeling that Van gives you, so addictive that you're always left craving more.

As Larry picks up the pints that you and Sophie can't manage and you all turn back towards the green room, thoughts are thundering through your head like a hurricane. You know damn well that you'd be foolish to think that the rush of excitement from a new relationship can be sustained, and the comfortable companionship that usually ensues is really the ultimate goal, but you still can't shake that disquieting feeling that your relationship with Larry has run its course.

But this isn't the movies. There won't be some dramatic scene accompanied by emotional turmoil that ends up in life lessons and everyone living happily ever after. The fact remains that not only are you a dishonest cheat, you've done the unthinkable and embarked on a illicit affair with your boyfriend's best friend.

Again the words ring through your head, and a quiet determination blooms inside you.

You can't go on like this... you have to end things with Van...

[night-dark-woods]

15, 21, 23, 24!!

THANK U ECHO this got so long oops.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

hmmm not destiny-specific (i dont have any d2 specific gripes i dont think) & i mostly follow cool gay & trans ppl so this is much less of an issue than in the wider fandom (every so often some Main Fandom Art makes its way to me and i do a full double take) but like. i knowww they are almost all the same character model in-game but can we please get some characters who arent super skinny supermodels in here. please.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

not to sound like an edgelord but. the traveler. if we can acknowledge that the Darkness isnt ontologically Evil, i think we can (PLEASE) acknowledge that the Light isnt inherently good. and im not talking about the superpowers we get, they've (narrative team) made it quite clear that individuals choose to do what they will with based on their own morals. but the traveler is, imo, positioned as a Morally Good Agent Of The Light far more than the witness is Of The Darkness, and i think we need to talk more about the traveler's agenda!!! again, this complexity isnt completely absent from the narrative, but it doesnt feel like those interpretations are... metatextually supported igss? like zavala's frustration with the traveler leaving feels more like a very christian (as someone who was not raised religious) test of faith that zavala (and the canonical YW) have Passed and will be Rewarded.

where's tevis my best friend tevis. we need more characters with that pov. god is real god resurrected you god gave you a second chance at life with no memories of your past and a guardian angel (a "chattering oversoul," to quote toland) to tell you where to go and who deserves to die and raise you every time you fail just to throw you back into the divine crusade. like. lets talk about that a little more!!!

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

this is hard bc i am in general very willing to "yes-and" ANYTHING with a hint of chemistry or a fun dynamic. it may not compell me but if you can point out a narrative similarity btwn characters i will almost always be down. unless its one i hate ("hate" being a strong word. really its just the strongest possible apathy) bc i contain multiudes :thumbsup:.

i can't think of a pairing i started out disliking and then changed my mind about due to fandom unfortunately. the closest would be igss that i hate crow/amanda as its written in the text BUT my perhaps controversial opinion is i think transitioning could fix crow specifically the version of crow i have in my head who did not get uldren's memories back. SotL was so good for the overarching plot of d2 but so so so bad for the type of awoken-enjoyer i am & imo the like... thesis statement of what a guardian is lol!

so unfortunately i dont have an answer for this one (i dont think "i like the pretend version i made up in my head" counts as coming around on a ship lmfao), bc you can pair any two destiny women and ill be like yeah for sure! and i have curated my online space well enough that i rarely see any other kind of ship, and when i do its gay men (o14, uldren/jolyon, someone i follow is cooking something with saladin/drifter which is inspired. i love whatever is happening there) which is like cheering absently for a sports team idc about but support on principle.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

mara. its always fucking mara. literally spent an hour and a half last night rehashing d1 mara-course in a server with someone who has not read any lore. which is fine! thats a fine way to engage with the game! its a valuable perspective! but use i-statements and accept that you are coming to the table with 10% of the facts about the character.

honorable mention goes to anything about redemption arcs (and savathun specifically)- most recently that fuuucking saint killing sav repeatedly lore tab. and if you (general) cant be assed to care about evil women (skill issue, but whatever), thats also backsliding YEARS on saints characterization and i dont even care about saint!!!

so really the answer is misogyny lmfao.

[dmmdconfessions]

[Image text: I’ll be honest here, I was so hyperfixated on the idea of an Aoba/Madoka crossover (Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica), being both like siblings.]

[Full text: I’ll be honest here, I was so hyperfixated on the idea of an Aoba/Madoka Kaname (from Puella Magi Madoka Magica) crossover being both like siblings (like the entire whole older brother shtick where he has like a clumsy, insecure younger sister who’s secretly a girlboss deep down, who literally turned into a god in the Rebellion film).

Plus, their colour palettes/designs, schemes and all are adjacent to the Gumball/Anais (from The Amazing World of Gumball) colour palette scheme, meaning they would resemble them a bit. Their interactions would be really sweet together as I know Aoba would have this small, pink-haired fluffball of hope consistently follow him everywhere Aoba goes, and would try to get him to as he goes to Junk Shop Heibon to complete his daily working shift while Madoka just goes to school like an ordinary schoolgirl just the way she is.

Aoba sometimes comes home and buys Madoka a lesbian flag she can hang up on her wall, and makes dinner for her a lot. She introduces her girlfriend Homura to Aoba and he’s like “aww, that’s sweet.” I feel like he’d grow accustomed and fond to her, and I feel like he’d grow an ever-loving desire to protect her from falling into despair so much so that she turns into a witch.

One of the funniest things I can imagine Aoba doing is having one of his alters (Sly Blue for example), fronting and then she gets a call from him and he takes her on a little ride while Madoka brings Homura, her beloved, with her to the retail park that is extremely far away from both of their locations. He then lets them play on one of those Beatmania arcades, and he goes to the cigarette bar to get a quick smoke and to accompany his younger sister and his girlfriend, and they both win so much on the Pop'n Music arcades while they start to finish off and get ready for the bowling venues.

Sly sits on one of these chairs and watches his younger sister Madoka and her girlfriend go off at these bowls, and claps and cheers when Madoka manages to succeed at taking one of these bowling pins all in one go. And after that, Sly fronts back to Aoba, the main host of the system, and then he calls back for them to come back so they can go in there to explore the garden, town pebble streets and more amusement parks for their own excitement, so they can have pretty picture taking time.

I can imagine Aoba loving Madoka like he’s his own daughter and doing Madoka’s hairstyles every morning like crazy while on the phone trying to listen some deals that Haga-san made to him, putting small ribbon hair clips in Madoka’s hair, and making her breakfast and making sure she’s at least well fed and happy.

I want her to be happy after the shit she has gone through. My precious baby daughter. My daughter, she didn’t deserve all of this, she deserves to be all happy and to be all pain and trauma free. It’s not a matter of comparing “yaoi vs yuri” of which series is pure or fucked up or whatever. I’m not simply here to compare them. I’m here to illustrate my point cohesively that Madoka would view this mentally ill skinny 23 year old gay boy who has had a never had a good day ever in his life, and she would go “I’m going to view that man as my older brother. He seems nice.” and tries to hang around with him to try to get more information from this gay boy who has a shit ton of unresolved BPD that would end up with him being sent to a mental asylum. It’s about the potential, it’s about the silly sibling shenanigans of Madoka trying to wake her older brother up so he can take her to school. It’s him seeing that she is going down a dark path full of magical girls. Whatever. I am so mentally ill about them. Madoka Magica changed my brain fundamentally and mentally and I needed to thus propose this like crossover even further because I want to say it out loud.]

[mdhwrites]

Do you have any tips on how to avoid the planet of hats trope?

Overly Sarcastic go!

I've set it to specifically when Red begins talking about tips on how to worldbuild because she's not wrong: Worldbuilding is how you avoid this most completely. Why am I not saying that?

Well... Because Worldbuilding is 100% my biggest weakness as a writer and I will admit to that. The reasons come down to two reasons, one that has to do with my style and one that has to do with my illness. I'll put in bold text though after this section though "My Method" for my specific advice for potentially how to do it if you're like me. Red points out that her way is her way and I am more than willing to admit my way is my way.

The first is just that I rarely write things down or plan in depth on my stories, especially before I write them. I can expand on a concept rapidly and you bet your ass I have plenty of elements of Rich Witch's world I could tell you NOW but I didn't when I began and I rarely do as new cultures and characters are introduced. Worldbuilding demands much more of that concreteness of plans and setting than I usually work with which is probably why it's best that I stick either to generic fantasy or modern fantasy for much of my storytelling because it means I don't have to worldbuild as much. I DO have a method of worldbuilding but we'll get to it and it's certainly uneven and awkward and more prone to hattiness for many reasons Red brought up here.

The second is that, well... I want to tell my stories, not have design documents. I already struggle to write my stories. I have a 40k work from June that now sits fallow, probably dead, and it's nowhere near done. My brain is fickle and angry and doesn't care how much I've invested into something so I'd rather have SOMETHING to show for my effort and, you know, actually get my ideas out there. I don't count a worldbuilding document to be that because that's the easy part. It's telling a story in that world that's hard. This is why anyone who tells me "I'm a writer too," but only because they're considering a story and have a 20k word doc planning the thing INFURIATES ME at this point because I have heard so many people respond to me saying I'm a writer, with published works, with that. Like Red says: Worldbuilding is fun... Partially because you don't have to make it entertaining to show it and essentially prove it in battle. Not until you tell a story in it.

So what is my method for worldbuilding? Well, it essentially just follows my normal method of story creation but is the one drawn out the most when it has to be done. I start with concept, then I decide on character archtypes that would fit that concept, and then I bend everything around that archtypical decision while keeping the concept true even if it shifts tone.

So that sounds like I just use hats, right? Well, here's the thing: The character bedazzles the hat before they put it on. Instead of having the hat because I want this culture, I have this culture because it happens to be useful for them. As such, it actually influences the character less than the character influences the culture. They still will have their own interests, opinions, way of speaking, stuff like that because they're their own interesting individual before anything else, which fits for me being a character focused and character first writer. The few times I have let the point of a story, or what I'm trying to do with a setting, force a character into one direction have always led to some of my worst writing. I have written a boring ass main harem protagonist because he was just meant to be a statement for the whole series than an actual character and it showed. It is my worst book because of it, period.

And because the point is character first, culture second, but not entirely devoid of culture, when others of the culture come in they're allowed to be their own people even if they one or two signifiers for themselves. Who they are is at least as much determined by their personal backstory and personality than it is by where they're from. This admittedly does not work great for side/bit characters who get to just say hi and bye but like... Even outside of a world of hats, those characters are going to be mostly a gimmick, archtype or their job because they're a bit part that's just helping facilitate things.

It also means that when a character tells a story, it's not, "MY PROUD RACE DID THIS!" it's instead, "Oh yeah, I had a buddy Jack once, complete dumbass, who taught me this because he kept wanting snacks and so figured out how to hotwire vending machines so he could have food wherever he went." The story is personal and attributed to them rather than trying to claim it as indicative of an entire people which keeps it from feeling like this person is just the skin of their people.

The true hats in my stories then actually from families. Is a character poor but well meaning? They'll probably have a hard working parent who does their best. Are they pressured and rich? They have parents who apply that pressure and are probably not around much which leads to them doing everything they can to prove themselves. Crises Girlfriends is the one I'm thinking most of here because the rich girl in it is constantly trying to square having suicidal depression and coming from a family that tells her she is supposed to be the best and that only success proves your worth and that's kind of not making the depression better as you imagine. Even then, the family essentially only exists to help better inform and round out why this character is who she is but she still has her own personal ways of doing things, including things that she hides from those strict parents.

But as a final note, like Red said... Planet of Hats can also be fun and useful. If you're at a planet for a single chapter or episode, just making them over the top and with a ton of personality is a great way to help them be a memorable little lesson or concept, even if they don't feel like a real people. That is essentially one of the biggest things one must remember with any trope. Yes, Planet of Hats can be bad and is rightfully called out. However, there are also places where it is fine, fun or useful. So, you know, figure out what you need specifically and what works for your way of telling stories.

See you next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[a-lonely-dunedain]

Starting out with an out there option -- Margim!

(for this ask game where you send in one of my OCs, and I give you a synopsis of what it would look like if they were the main NPC in a tutorial quest)

oh interesting! torn on weather this would make the starting zone Mordor or Dunland (or somewhere in-between). hmm I think we'll go with Dunland, bc Mordor would basically just end up as either "Bitter Ash and Stubborn Flowers but You are Celeair" or "Stout-Axe 2: Electric Boogaloo" lol

So your character is traveling through northern Dunland, as one does, and encounters a gleaming white stag. It runs away when you approach, but stops before it gets out of eyeshot and looks back at you, almost as if it's expecting you to follow. So you do follow it, briefly lose sight of it, and find yourself on the outskirts of an encampment of clanless Dunlanding brigands. You see someone else besides you lurking outside the camp and quietly approach them

She introduces herself as Margim, and you learn that she was led here in the same way you were. The quest text would make note of her strange and somewhat unnatural appearance, but weather or not your character actually knows what the yellow eyes and ashy skin mean is left ambiguous. (she is still wearing her armor from Mordor, but at this point she's scuffed off any eye emblems denoting it as such, so the PC would only notice that it seems badly damaged) Regardless, the quest tracker would read "remain on guard" while you're talking to her.

She will tell you that she has been watching the camp for a little while now, and saw that the brigands seem to have captured some people from a nearby village. While she's not sure exactly why the stag led you both here, she guesses it might have something to do with that. She will mention that she has not been in Dunland for very long and has found very little welcome from its inhabitants, but that "it's understandable" and she holds no ill will towards them, so she wishes to help the captured people. Your character, of course, agrees to help her rescue them. Because even if you don't trust her, There Are People Who Need Help and what kind of adventurer would you be if you passed that up?

(This bit is unnecessary, but it would be funny to have the classic "let's have a quick sparring match to see if you know how to fight, here's my spare [Your Classe's Weapon] you can use, just [Right Click] on that satchel-" etc etc. while you're like, right outside the camp presumably trying to be sneaky. It's somewhat immersion breaking but also I think it would be funny)

anyway, you go in, kick ass, [untie prisoners: 3/3] and regroup outside. The people, who you learn belong to the Stag Clan, are grateful but still seem a bit wary of you, at least until learning that you were both led there by a visage of a White Stag. They don't know exactly what that means either, but evidently the White Stag is a Big Deal to them and one showing up is almost always a good omen. They then invite you to Lhan Tarren so they can properly thank you for helping them.

short timeskip, you've arrived in the village and had a small feast to celebrate the return of the captured villagers. Margim will mention that she found it a little overwhelming to be around so many people, but she is grateful that, for once, she seems to be welcome somewhere. "At least for the time being", she adds. Now that everything is winding down you're both getting ready to leave, but are approached by Elain, who offers to let you stay in her house if you would like to remain in the village a bit longer. (They just get so few visitors you see, and she's very excited to hear about all your adventures!)

the player character respectfully declines (they have to go Looking for Adventure), but Margim just looks genuinely shocked and goes

"..." "...I'm allowed to stay?"

and the instance basically ends there.

it might actually work similarly to the River-Hobbit intro, being a short adventure your character does on their way north that eventually ends with you arriving in Mossward (although for it to work with the timeline your character would need to stay in Mossward/somewhere between Trum Dreng and Mossward for a few years before the orc attack that sets everything in motion lol)