#infinite star style fairy

[chiriwritesstuff]

The Impossible Man ✨ 1. The Deathwatch Beetle ✨

Modern Day Detective! Din Djarin x Witch! Reader (Soulmates AU)

Series Masterlist

Summary: For someone being born into a magical family, a curse placed on the women of your bloodline means you have mostly avoided witchcraft and its calling for the majority of your life. After a life-altering tragedy, you turn your back on your family and your gift and seek out a more normal, boring existence, devoid of magic, and mostly, of love. What happens when the ghosts of your past threaten your peaceful existence and you are forced to reconcile all that you have lost? Will you let the people you have abandoned in your past life back into your heart? Will the appearance of an impossible man you have unknowingly cursed yourself break the chains of love? Will you let him?

Chapter Rating: M? (for now)

Chapter Warnings: Magical realism, implied mention of suicide, reader and her family are cursed, implied (minor) character death, (some) men are the worst, mentions of violence

A/N: Oh, Hello there.

For Halloween this year, I decided that I wanted to write a little 3-part story featuring my favorite Pedro boy, ✨Din Djarin✨. Inspired by my favorite Halloween-ish movie, Practical Magic, the story follows a Modern Day Detective Din, and our (reluctant) Witchy Reader. This story is not a complete retelling of PM, but a mishmash of other films that I love and cherish. If you're able to spot some of these films, I'll gift you a virtual Halloween candy treat! Happy Halloween, everyone!

Peep the (main canon storyline) Star Wars cameo!

Banner by @chiriwritesstuff ✨ Dividers by @saradika

Word Count: 3.2K

The first time you heard of the deathwatch beetle, you were eight years old.

The Victorian-style house that sat along the edge of Puget Sound was a whimsical sort, with its white picket fence adorned with creeping ivy, its single turret, a spire with the shape of a star on top of it, like a star on a Christmas tree. It had belonged to your family for decades - and was always kept in the same manner as when it was built. It was the home that your mother was raised in, and her mother before her, the house being passed down through each generation. You remember the summers you spent with your Aunt Fennic and Omera, taking the ferry from the port at Capitol Hill to Bainbridge Island, your sister Violet - Vi, for short - with her hands intertwined with yours. Three hundred and sixty-seven days younger than you, and every bit your opposite - if you were the match, then she was the flame; she was light, embodied to your infinite darkness. You would wear braids in your hair and fairy wings as you ran down the corridors of the house, playing hide-and-seek and hoping that you wouldn't get lost in the vastness of it. It was your beacon of light and solace, always welcoming. Now, as you hold your sister's hand while walking up to the porch, dressed in black, eyes still puffy and swollen and lined with tears, your aunts standing side by side, already expecting you both - it had finally become home.

"In this house," your aunt Fennic starts, grabbing the suitcase out of your hands as your aunt Omera bends to pick up Vi, "We will eat chocolate cake for breakfast and not worry about silly little things like bedtimes and brushing our teeth." You chuckle as she winks and leads the two of you inside.

Later that night, as Omera tucked you into bed, Vi having fallen asleep only moments before, she smiled as she kissed your forehead. "We're so happy you're with us, Starshine."

You silently nod, your fingers fidgeting nervously as you try to hide the discomfort of being in a new place, despite having been here so many times before. You look down at your hands, blinking away the tears that were begging to come out. "Aunt Omera, did Daddy die because of the curse?"

She gives you a sad smile. "Yes, Baby, he did." She strokes your cheek with her thumb, wiping away your tears.

"Your mother knew the moment she heard the click, click, click of the deathwatch beetle beckoning for your father's life... she knew that day that he was doomed to die. Every person who falls in love with any of the women of our bloodline is resigned to the same fate."

"Is that why Mommy died? Because of a broken heart?"

Omera's face softens as she brushes your hair away from your eyes. "Yes, my darling girl, she did. She couldn't imagine life without your father..." She pulls the covers over you. "…but that's how you came to live with us, and we will raise you the best way we know how."

You smile sadly, settling yourself deeper into the covers. "Why is our family cursed, Auntie?"

"It was because of your ancestor, Maria."

"Was she a witch?"

"Yes, the first in our family. And you are the most recent in a long and distinguished line."

"What happened to her?"

"Well, my Starshine, she fell in love. She fell in love with a man, her soulmate... but not everyone was happy about it. There was another man, an evil man, who had loved Maria from afar. He demanded that she be with him, and when she refused, he killed her lover in cold blood."

You bite your lip, nodding to yourself as you try to understand. "… but how does that make us cursed?"

"Well," Omera says, "Maria didn't take her lover's death kindly. With her powers, she managed to encase the evil man in a tomb full of beetles, eating him alive. However, before he died, he cursed the entirety of our female bloodline. This curse dooms any being who dares to love us, but it also ensures that we will always find our soulmate. Throughout the years, the appearance of the deathwatch beetle - the same one that consumed the man - is seen as a warning bell. The moment you hear the click, click, click of the beetle, there is nothing you can do to stop the curse. We have carried the weight of this burden for hundreds of years."

"I wish that I never find my soulmate," you whisper, determination etched on your 8-year-old face. "I don't want anyone to die because of me, and I don't want to die of a broken heart!"

Omera looks at you sadly as she kisses your forehead. "Oh, my sweet Starshine." She reaches over to turn off your bedside lamp, then kisses Vi before walking to your door, locking eyes with you, nodding as she turns away, leaving you in complete darkness.

"You will."

“He will hear my call a mile away. He will whistle my favorite song. He can ride a horse backwards.”  You gather the petals of the flower and place it in the bowl, reading the words you have written in your diary aloud, your fingers grazing the page.

“What are you doing, Starshine?” Vi asks from behind you, walking into the greenhouse as she pets Boba the house cat.

“I’m summoning a true love spell. Amas Veritas. Also known as a Soulmates calling.” You pull a rose petal, inspecting it as you turn to your sister. “He can flip pancakes in the air. He will be marvelously kind… and his favorite shape will be a star… and he’ll have a birthmark on him, the shape of a… bullseye.”

“… I thought you didn’t want to find your soulmate? I heard you, last night. When you were talking to Aunt Omera.” She picks up your diary and flips through the pages, her hip resting on the table as you finish gathering the rest of the ingredients, stirring it gently with your hands.

“That’s the point, Vi. The guy I dreamed of? My soulmate? He doesn’t exist… and if he doesn’t exist, I won’t die of a broken heart.”

You walk out and your sister follows, making your way to the balcony as you hold the bowl out into the night sky. Vi gasps as the petals start to float out of the bowl, flowing out like a waft of smoke, fluttering in the air, flying out into the distance, a small smile forming as you look out into the sky.

"Goodnight, Impossible Man." 

The first time you heard the ominous click, click, click of the deathwatch beetle, you were 28 years old.

It was in the dead of night, the clicking noise faint and almost unnoticeable, its distinctive chirps being drowned out by the idle sounds of the crickets and the gently blowing wind.

Click, click, click.

Your eyes open at that, suddenly alert. You shoot up from where you lay, Ben's still form beside you still in deep sleep. You breathe deeply, pushing your hair out of your face as you scan the room, looking for the source of the subtle clicking sound that roused you from your sleep. "Baby," Ben murmurs into his pillow, his eyes half open. "What are you doing up? It's late. Go back to sleep." He whispers, his arm pulling yours gently as you ease yourself back onto his chest, the deep thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat reverberating throughout your body, a reminder that he’s still very much alive. You sigh, pressing a chase kiss on his sternum. "I thought I heard something," you reply, his body shifting as he cages you in, his chin resting on the top of your head. "It's just the wind, Starshine. Go back to sleep," he continues, his fingers gently drawing small circles on your back. "I love you," he finally whispers before his breathing evens, his soft snores lulling you back to sleep.

A few hours later, you’re roused from your sleep once more as Ben's phone starts to chime. You feel his arm reaching out blindly for his phone on the nightstand, a slight groan rumbling from his chest as he squints at the screen.

"Good Morning, baby," Ben whispers in your ear, his voice heavy with sleep. "I have to get up, but you go back to sleep." You feel his breath on your cheeks as he presses a kiss to them, a faint smile forming as he embraces you, the feeling of his body stretching against yours as he wakes. He kisses your sleepy head as he rises out of bed, sitting on the edge of it as he caresses your half-sleeping form. He cracks his neck and silently pads himself into the bathroom, the sound of the shower starting as you burrow yourself deeper into the covers, your body slowly shifting to where his body was only a moment ago, relishing in the residual warmth of your lover it still contains. You wedge your nose into the indent of his pillow, smiling as you inhale his scent. You lay there until you hear the tell-tale sound of the shower shutting off. Your eyes adjust to the warm orange light of the bathroom as he walks out, a towel half slung onto his form as he walks into the closet, pulling on his suit as he dresses for the day, his faint silhouette shuffling in the light of early dawn.

"Ben," you say softly as he’s beginning to pull on his socks. "It’s early. Come back to bed." You plead with him, your arms outstretched, making grabby hands, beckoning out for him.

"Djarin messaged me saying he has a lead. I’m heading over to meet with him now," He walks over to you, sitting on the edge of the bed as he puts his wingtip loafers on. "We’ve been at a stalemate for months now, baby. I’ll make it up to you, maybe we could go back to Montauk after I close this case. Gideon is so close, I’m finally closing in on him, I can feel it."

You nod as you reach out to rub his back. "Okay. You owe me, though."

He chuckles at that, the corners of his cheeks lifting as he gives you a rare smile. "No, Djarin owes me because I must be insane to leave my beautiful wife all alone. It’s criminal." He smirks as he bends over to kiss you, his lips tracing the side of your jaw.

"I have to go," he whispers into your ear as he kisses your head. "I’ll see you after work, ok? Might be a late night, this case has been killing me," he continues, grabbing his briefcase perched against his nightstand. He hovers by the doorframe, smiling as he turns to leave.

"I love you, Starshine."

He’s gone by the time you whisper those three little words back out into the ether.

Click, click, click. Click, click, CLICK.

Your eyes shoot open once again, the room now bathed in the mid-morning light. You scramble out of bed.

No, you think. No, no, no, NO.

You pace around your room nervously, the clicking sound from the night echoing into the recesses of your brain. You scan the room for the source of your dread, your body shivering in fear. You run to the opposite side of the room, scanning every nook and cranny, every crevice and surface. "Where are you, fucker?" you think to yourself.

Click, click, click.

You realize the sound is coming from beneath you, your eyes quickly shifting to where your feet are planted on the old floorboards of your shared apartment. It’s an old apartment in the heart of Queen Anne, one of those charming wartime-era duplexes painted in pink with its charming crown molding and black and white checkered tiles in the kitchen. Your dream home, you once thought to yourself, Vi’s unit on the other side, her bedroom wall sharing your own - an inheritance you both shared after your mother died all those years ago.

Your mother.

Your heart shudders at her memory, the tears forming as you take another deep breath. You forcibly repress and push those memories aside, centering yourself as you remind yourself of the current problem on your hands. You look below you once again, the gaps of the aged wood showing the earth below. You focus on the gaps, your eyes scanning frantically until you see it - the silhouette of the deathwatch beetle, its obsidian shiny armor scampering away from you, as if it finally acknowledges your presence. You dive onto the floor in its direction, your eyes inspecting the gaps of the floorboards, your line of sight aligning with the death beetle once more.

You scamper back onto your feet hurriedly, running out of your bedroom into the hallway, your feet pounding heavily on the floor as you make your way to the hallway closet, wrenching the door open with hurried force as you scan for the ancient toolbox on the shelf. You yank the rusted toolbox out, spilling its contents onto the floor, not caring one bit about the mess that you’re making. Grabbing a flathead screwdriver, you hurry back into the bedroom, following the now-insistent clicking of the beetle. It managed to make its way above ground, scampering away as you furiously head towards it. It hurriedly makes its way across the way of the floorboards, you diving once again towards it, your hand stretched out as you try to slam onto it. The beetle is quicker and more agile than you, shimmying away from your hand as it falls through the crack of the floorboard. You lay your cheek on the cold floor as you pound on it furiously, willing the beetle to click as you listen intently for it. "This can’t be!" You whisper to yourself, your breath choking out in a panic.

"FUCK!" You scream in agony, grabbing the screwdriver that lay beside you. You wedge it against the edge of the floorboards, prying it open as you scan for the beetle. You start to pry off the boards around you until you make a sizeable gap for you to jump into, throwing the screwdriver aside and forcibly pry more floorboards until they lay haphazardly amongst each other in piles, completely surrounding you as you breathe heavily, the tears flowing freely on your face.

"Don’t do this to me!" You cry out, gasping for air as you crawl into the earth below, your nightgown now soiled as you frantically search around you. The clicking sound is becoming more frequent and louder, its eerie cadence becoming the only thing you can hear in your mind. "Come on!" You scream. "Please, don’t do this to me, not now, not him…. PLEASE! Haven’t you taken enough from me?! Haven’t we shed enough blood? Oh god…" You plead, your voice croaking out in desperation. You suddenly sit in a daze, your hair disheveled, the tears refusing to cease as your heart feels like it’s about to explode in your chest from pure exhaustion, from sheer adrenaline. It's then you realize that you’re suddenly surrounded by silence. You blink, scanning the room once more, the clicks having stopped and the deathwatch beetle nowhere to be found. You breathe a sigh of relief until suddenly the clicks ring out fast and furiously, a crescendo of fear and pain building within you until it ceases once more. You suddenly shudder, your body jolting violently, a single tear falling down the slopes of your face.

You’re still sitting there hours later, as the day has turned into night when your phone suddenly rings in the distance. You slowly climb out of the floor as you make your way to your dresser, silently picking up the phone and answering it, not bothering to check who it is, your hands trembling in fear.

"Ben?" You whisper shakily.

"Hey Starshine, it’s me, Din. Din Djarin?" You hear a deep sigh on the line. "...Are you there?"

"Listen. I’m going to need you to come down to the station… I’m sorry… it’s… it’s Ben." You hear him take a harsh breath as he speaks again. "I’m so sorry, Starshine…." His voice fades as your phone slips out of your grasp, the Seattle Police contact illuminating the screen as it hits the ground, his voice cutting through the silence as the sob you’ve been holding in erupts deep within your chest, you begin to wail and scream, falling to your knees.

"It was the curse, wasn’t it?" You scream as you storm into your aunt's house later that night, pacing frantically in the kitchen. “Because I loved him so much!”

Your aunts slowly walk into the room hesitantly, looking at your shaking frame nervously.

It’s your aunt Fennic who speaks first.

“We had no idea… when we cast that spell…”

“What spell?” You ask as your eyes shift between your two aunts, Omera’s eyes downcast in shame. “What are you talking about?!" She finally looks at you, her eyes filled with tears as she glances at her sister.

“Oh…” you shudder. “You didn’t. Please tell me you didn’t… my own flesh and blood...”

“You were so lonely, Starshine… we just… wanted to give you a little push… we didn’t expect you to fall in love.”

“WELL, I DID!” You gasp, grasping your chest as you walk out, grabbing the spell book from the other room, slamming it onto the kitchen counter as you frantically flip through the pages. “And I want him back!”

“You brought him into my life, and I want you to bring him back!” You say as you continue to flip through the pages. “I’ve never asked you for anything, I’ve never asked you for spells but do this! I know you can, I know you can bring him back!”

“We won’t do this” Omera speaks up as she approaches you. “We can’t do this” Fennic adds, crossing her arms.

“I know you can! I remember I found it here…” your fingers reading through the spell “I found the spell when… when mommy and daddy died.”

“Even if we did bring him back” Fennic starts, looking at Omera “… it wouldn’t be Ben.”

“… it would be something else, something dark and unnatural” Omera adds, reaching out to you.

“I DONT CARE WHAT HE COMES BACK AS, AS LONG AS HE COMES BACK… as long as he comes back” your voice breaks as you suddenly start to sob. “Please! Please do this for me!” You sob as you collapse onto the spell book, looking at your aunts pleadingly. “Please? PLEASE?!” You cover your mouth as you fall to your knees, Omera catching you as you cry onto her chest.

“I’m so sorry, Starshine.” She whispers as she strokes your back, looking at her sister as she turns to walk away.

The first time you hear the ominous click, click, click of the deathwatch beetle is the day you swear to yourself that you will never, ever fall in love again.

Authors Bits:

If you guessed that Ben was Ben Solo, you were right. I admit that I was once a Reylo - not so much now, but back in the day, so including him in this story was a treat... also, because Adam Driver <3.

Speaking about Ben, it's safe to say he's alluded to his death several times to Starshine, and there's several hints that I try to convey throughout. I'll miss our Benji, but we all know what we want, and he's definitely coming...

Taglist: @strawberri-blonde

[grandhotelabyss]

Any thoughts on Byatt, on the occasion of her passing?

I read Possession one summer when I was in college and thought it was extraordinary. (Intimidatingly so, which may be why I never read another of her novels, though Possession is generally said to be her best.) I need to read it again. I can't believe it never came back into fashion with the dark academia trend. Maybe it's too brainy, or maybe it's that the (mostly) heterosexual romance lacks yaoi potential à la Dorian Gray, Maurice, and Brideshead Revisited. For anyone unfamiliar, Possession is about two late-20th-century British academics investigating the lives of two fictional Victorian poets (one loosely based on Robert Browning, the other on Christina Rossetti), and both pairs' possible love affairs with one another. Byatt narrates in a sprightly comic style with no little lyric potential, derived, I now see, from her great models George Eliot and Iris Murdoch, but she also parodies every other kind of relevant style with Joycean or Nabokovian aplomb, giving us jargony feminist essays, image-jeweled Victorian fairy tales, fulsome 19th-century correspondence, jagged Browningesque dramatic monologues, dreamy Pre-Raphaelite ballads, and more. The climatic vindication of writing and reading as almost prophetic activities, this against the reductively ideological approach of the Theory era Byatt was writing within and against, should be carved above the lintel of whatever English departments remain:

There are readings—of the same text—that are dutiful, readings that map and dissect, readings that hear a rustling of unheard sounds, that count grey little pronouns for pleasure or instruction and for a time do not hear golden or apples. There are personal readings, which snatch for personal meanings, I am full of love, or disgust, or fear, I scan for love, or disgust, or fear. There are—believe it—impersonal readings—where the mind's eye sees the lines move onwards and the mind's ear hears them sing and sing.

Now and then there are readings that make the hairs on the neck, the non-existent pelt, stand on end and tremble, when every word burns and shines hard and clear and infinite and exact, like stones of fire, like points of stars in the dark—readings when the knowledge that we shall know the writing differently or better or satisfactorily, runs ahead of any capacity to say what we know, or how. In these readings, a sense that the text has appeared to be wholly new, never before seen, is followed, almost immediately, by the sense that it was always there, that we the readers, knew it was always there, and have always known it was as it was, though we have now for the first time recognised, become fully cognisant of, our knowledge.

I was pleased to see a long story by Byatt, "The Thing in the Forest," in the Norton Introduction to Literature, which I used the one time I taught the class of that name, in the ill-fated spring semester of 2020. If you've never read Byatt, this story or novelette is a good place to start. It does a lot of what Possession does in miniature, synthesizing witty metafiction, aestheticized fantasy, and moving historical reality into a work of the latter-day Romantic imagination.

I also want to recommend Imagining Characters, an under-discussed book of conversations between Byatt and the Brazilian psychoanalyst Ignês Sodré about six novels: Mansfield Park, Villette, Daniel Deronda, The Professor's House, An Unofficial Rose, and Beloved. (I've still never read that Murdoch, I confess.) This book is probably why I think of Mansfield Park, Villette, and Daniel Deronda as forming a loose trilogy of 19th-century "problem novels" (like Shakespeare's "problem plays") that challenge any cheap 20th-century talk about the complacency, sentimentalism, meliorism, or all-around naiveté of "bourgeois realism." Plus Sodré and Byatt are superb readers, and it's a pleasure to "listen" to them in conversation.

The Paris Review unpaywalled their interview with Byatt today. I'd never read it before. She says much of interest; she even criticizes Kazuo Ishiguro in the same terms as I have, for writing international literature by subtracting specificity, though she later praises The Unconsoled for its insight into the psychology of the artist. She seems ambivalent about realism, constantly invoking fairy tales, even saying this about Murdoch—

I think Iris learned a great deal from the French surrealists, and then somehow went and sat in Oxford and became a slightly less interesting novelist than she would have been if she had stayed in contact with the world of Beckett and Queneau—she would never have gone into Sarraute-like writings. I think she developed a theory about the virtues of Jane Austen that wasn’t all that good for her.

—and this about herself:

If you asked me what I wish I’d written, I would say Borges’s “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote.” That is a completely pointless postmodernist structure of total beauty that nevertheless has a profound point.

The interviewer notes her nonconformist heritage, what links her to George Eliot as well as to Lawrence and to Leavis. She acknowledges it, but notes as well another way, even within the deep English Protestant imagination:

There’s a Spenserian aspect of Milton that I love. It’s the exotic. It’s the extraordinary metaphors. It’s the luscious sensuousness of him. It isn’t the stern puritan. I think I made something of Spenser that was the presence of stories about unreal things in a serious, real world.

"The Last Spenserian." There are worse epitaphs. Now I just need to read more of her novels.

[2broschlininahotub]

Meet the purrely

Etymology "Purrely" may be a portmanteau of "pure", "purr" and "fairy" while also playing on the word "purely".

There is a theme about black and white in the color spectrum. While white is all colors while black represents no color. This translates to day and night. In the day you see an array of beautiful colors in the sky while you see a stagnant color on the sky.

Meet Purrely

This is Purrely or Purery. This creature is very rare. Supposedly it only accepts worthy trainers. This creature can evolve like digimon. They have a myth that says a once great king had a beast as a pet. That said beast died protecting the king's grave. This beast was said to be the only person that never betrayed the king. When said beast fell, these creatures sprung from it. It is said that if they choose you are chosen for something important. These creatures are only able to be born at the day as when a mother were to give birth to a purrely only during the day if it was at night they would be a Purrely or Purery lily. The time this creature can be born was when the sun is out. This creature has very affectionate,expressive and social butterfly of a personality.

Here is the concept art of this form

This the translation.

This is the evelutions of this creatures. Epurrely happiness is the name of this form. This is what happens when you play and be affectionate. This form has an ability to basically weaken your opponents intelligence and strength by 50% and gain that halved strength and intelligence as attack.

This form is what happens when you create a bond with purery so strong like family or love. It was said this is one of the things that popped out after the beast died representing what happened when the beast still had a living master. This form can be rideable. This form is called expurery happiness. This form has an ability to summon has a phantasmal weapon that is the same as its tamer. This form has the ability to straight up copy techniques of the tamer. The phantasmal weapons are able to hit with the opponent every element at the same time. In theory, this form can be like sif from dark souls but cuter. This form can also glide as it has wing like appendages.

These are the other forms that appear when you do a specific action. Note all forms are temporary in theory if the purery so chooses but can revert to those forms once unlocked.

This form is called epurery beauty. This form is unlocked after a shower and cleaning. This form has access to hydrokinesis and cryokinesis. This form can control water in visible sight. This form acts like a cat that is less mischievous but a bit snob and smug. This form has a bite and claws that can basically freeze anything it has had contact with. This form can only freeze anything in its sight. This form can also control water as long as it can see it. The fighting style involves stalling then going in like wearing the opponent down then freezing their sweat. This leads to a combo attack. This form cannot fly but it can in theory can create a star way made of ice.

This is what happens when you if you overfeed your purery.

This is form is called Epurery plump. This form can be unlocked by feeding your purery food an entire dinning tables worth of food. This form has a personality of a pomeranian who is very hungry. This form has a potential infinite amount of storage in its fluff but the it can only fit two objects inside before going into cool down. This form is very tanky it can turn its fluff into stone like hardness or the sharpness, hardness of an item stored inside of it and weight; and ram it like a battering ram. This form is like a wombat in size and weight.

This is purery lily; purery lily is considered the other half of a purery. There is a misconception that this was what happens when a purery was abused but that is not true this is what happens when a purery is born when the moon is up. There are unique situations when an adult purery or expurery where to give birth when the sun and moon are both up. This just means you get both a purery lily and purery. This form is said to be very much like a cat but not as outwardly mischievous. This form is very shy to people and are nocturnal. This form is very low maintenance.

This is the expurery of a lily. This for is called expurery noir. This form is said to be the other beast that split of representing the great beast protecting the king's grave. This form is said to have magic so powerful it could bend the moon to its will. This form has theoretically has enough power to hit 1% of the big bang. The problem this purery needs to live very very old like 1 billion years old for it to gain the power. Currently the expurery noir has the ability similar to an expurery happiness but with ranged weapons. This form can actually fly with its six wings. This form can summon stars that hit six times. This form has the ability to basically imbue weapons with effects that they normally should like instant brittleness to making you spin like a beyblade at the speed of a tornado.

The purery species generally will for people who tamed magical beasts or where raised by them. Here are the following candidates. They can be found anywhere in teyvat.

(Bennett-Razor, Razor-Andrius,Fischl-Oz, Venti-Dvalin, Yaoyao-basket bunny, Xiangling-guoba, Zhongli-Azhdha, Kuki-Itto, Itto-Ushi, Sayu- daruma, Nahida-Aranara, Collei and Tighnari-Cullein Amber and forest ranger)

[satoshi-mochida]

PLAYISM and Alphawing announce roguelite action game Metal Bringer for PC

Gematsu Source

Publisher PLAYISM and Samurai Bringer developer Alphawing have announced roguelite action game Metal Bringer for PC. It will launch via Steam in 2024 with English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese language support.

Get the details below.

About

Samurai Bringer, Alphawing’s previous game, is a Japanese roguelite action game released in 2022, where you play as Susanoo and defeat world-famous Japanese samurai as you collect combat techniques to create your own fighting style. It has received over 800 reviews on Steam with a Very Positive rating. Metal Bringer is the second game in the Bringer series, and this time, the setting is completely different—in this game, you fight in a science-fiction world with androids and giant robots in horde-based combat that’s even more satisfying than the last game, and of course, your combat actions will evolve as you fight. The Steam page is now up, so don’t forget to wishlist the game!

The Story

“The sky is blue, infinitely high, and infinitely vast… Whose words were these again…? Ah, I remember… It was about a virtual reality Rudra told me about. A fairy tale. How many years has it been since humanity took refuge underground? No one alive has ever seen a blue sky. And now, I’m trapped in the depths, in a small, lifeless room. Just how long have I been here…?” A young girl named Suria wakes up in a laboratory and finds out that she has been put in cyrosleep for 1000 years without her knowledge. In order to search for the rest of humanity, she builds Labor with her trusty Buds, and sends them off to investigate…

Highly Customizable Player Characters

Build and control android soldiers called “Labor,” or have them pilot giant machines called “Arms.” Each and every Labor and Arms you build is highly customizable. You can change the color and appearance of their features, or swap out parts to change their fighting styles. The sheer variety in character customization will allow you to create and fight with the mech of your dreams.

The More You Play, the Stronger You Get

In Samurai Bringer, you could mix and match combat techniques to create every step of your very own action combos. But in Metal Bringer, you instead collect “disks,” which contain apps that are installed onto your Labor. These apps strengthen your character and power up your actions in an easier and more intuitive way, making it all the more exciting and satisfying to mow down hordes of enemies as your character keeps growing stronger.

New Technologies, Both Visual and Audio

This game uses the same voxel art style as Samurai Bringer, but just like Samurai Bringer, it also implements a real-time pixel art generating system, and will also feature the newest raytracing technology for beautifully lit environments. The music too is made with the newest technology, as it is played in real time and changes according to the situation.

All-Star Creative Team

The key art and Suria’s character design is done by Suzuhito Yasuda, and on the writing team, we have Sami Shinosaki on board!

Suzuhito Yasuda (Twitter) – Illustrator, manga artist, and character designer for multiple popular games and media, such as Durarara!! and the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor series.

Sami Shinosaki – Novelist. Known for the novelizations of the Armored Core and Fire Emblem series.

Word from the Developer

Hello, I’m Takahama, the development director at Alphawing. Metal Bringer is set in a completely different world from Samurai Bringer, where you can use humanoid robots called Labor and giant mechs developed from heavy machinery called Arms to wipe out waves and waves of enemies! We’ve developed new technologies for this game, such as a technique that renders pixels in real time, and another technology that plays music in real time to make it feel as if you were accompanied by live music! Right now, we’re preparing a demo that focuses on the battle aspect of the game. We hope a lot of people will stop by our next event to try out the game!

Play the Demo at PAX West 2023

It’s been four whole years since PLAYISM last participated in PAX West, but this year we’ll be there in Seattle, from September 1 to 4! We’ll be showcasing the very first playable demo of Metal Bringer at the PLAYISM booth, so please stop by the Seattle Convention Center to try it out! Everyone who tries out the Metal Bringer demo at the event will receive a special postcard.

Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.

Announce Trailer

English

[purplesurveys]

1927

flower crown: when did you last sing to yourself? On the way home around lunch time earlier. I think I was singing to For Us, by V.

fairy lights: if a crystal ball could tell you the truth about anything, what would you want to know? How many people I've left a touching/helpful impact on, and what it is I did at that moment. I'd like to feel selfishly good for once.

It'd be that, or asking for the day I'd die and what would cause it, lol.

daisies: what is the greatest accomplishment of your life? Well, choosing to remain alive has to be up there.

1975: what is the first happy memory that comes to mind, recent or otherwise? When I put up a tent at the rooftop for me and my friends to watch 2021 Muster. It was my first BTS Anything™ as a fan wherein I really knew what was happening (as opposed to when they did 2021 Bangbangcon and I had no clue what was going on, I was just happy to be there LOL) so I prepared lots for it. I had a tent, snacks, a huge dinner, fairy lights...every time I want to think of happy memories, it's always the first image to come up.

matte: if you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? I'd resign from my job and spend the rest of the year with the pets and take myself to eat out everywhere I've ever wanted to eat at.

black nail polish: do you have a bucket list? if so, what are the top three things? Go to Wrestlemania, see BTS, own a Mini.

pantone: describe a person close to your life in detail. She's got long, straight hair; has a beauty mark on her face; an inch or two taller than me. She's always been smart in math and science and ranked consistently high in our batch, something she's carried over to the present day as she took up architecture and got her license this year. She has an infinite load of patience, has impeccable style, and makes everyone feel like family around her.

moodboard: do you feel you had a happy childhood? No, I didn't. I know everybody tried their best, but I didn't have the best childhood.

stars: when did you last cry in front of another person? Last Thursday when I openly teared up with Dev in the room. She's the only one I can cry in the presence of at work because she's the only one in the same position.

plants: pick a person to stargaze with you and explain why you picked them. Maybe my dad? We haven't done anything like that together ever, and I feel like such a moment would give rise to many meaningful conversations. Maybe I'll get to learn more stuff about him I never knew before.

converse: would you ever have a deep conversation with a stranger and open up to them? I feel like I could but it would depend on their personality. If we're on the same wavelength, humor- and thought process-wise, AND if I knew I'd never see them again, I might just open up. I'll be picky about who to overshare with, that's for sure.

lace: when was your last 3am conversation with someone, and who were they to you? I never stay up that late with anyone lol. If I reach 3 AM awake, 100000000% I'd prefer to be alone by that point.

handwriting: if you were about to die, and you could only say one more sentence to one person, what would you say and to whom? "I'm sorry we couldn't spend more time together, but I am happy with all the moments we had and even happier that you were healthy throughout all of it." To my dad.

cactus: what is your opinion on brown eyes? I...just don't have any opinions on eye color altogether, haha.

sunrise: pick a quote and describe what it means to you personally. "Life's a soup and I'm a fork." People won't always like you and you won't fit in everywhere. Get over it and just live your own definition of what it means to be happy.

oil paints: what would you title the autobiography of your life so far? No idea. If I wrote an autobiography, I'd probably leave the title as the last task because I feel like it'd depend on the content of the book.

overalls: what would you do with one billion dollars? Buy a penthouse in BGC - literally all I need. Then I'd give a little less than half to my parents, a little less than half to animal shelters all over the country; then whatever's left can be just to sustain me until I die. 50 billion pesos is very impossible to imagine.

combat boots: are you a very forgiving person? do you like being this way? No. I am more at peace like this, yes.

winged eyeliner: write a hundred word letter to your twelve year old self. Eh sorry, this sounds like so much work to do right now lol.

pastel: would you describe yourself as more punk or pastel? More pastel these days.

tattoos: how do you feel about tattoos and piercings? explain. They're fine as long as the tattoos aren't offensive. Piercings I don't have much of an opinion on.

piercings: do you wear a lot of makeup? why/why not? I wear it for a practical purpose, i.e. I only put on what helps my face look cleaner (bb cream, foundation, blush). I don't use makeup to like self-express or exercise my creativity/imagination or whatever.

bands: talk about a song/band/lyric that has affected your life in some way. BTS came in clutch and saved my life at one of the last possible moments they could have. It's a big reason why I'll always feel a strong sense of staying loyal to them and fighting for them no matter what – they helped me want to start fighting for my own life.

cry baby: list the concerts you have been to and talk about how they make you feel.

Paramore (2013, 2018): They're my favorite band and have seen them twice. Both concerts were a blast, although I enjoyed the second gig more because I was literally at the front row. It was the first concert for which I made the active decision not to pull out my phone, and to this day I don't regret the decision because what I have in exchange are very vivid memories of the show.

One Direction (2015): I was equal parts happy (by the fact alone that they were 1D) and bummed (because Zayn wasn't at the show; and a few days after, they announced he was leaving...), but this was a fun, very surreal experience. I still can't believe I can get to say I saw One Direction considering how short their stint turned out to be. This show was on concert grounds so the only thing that sucked about the whole thing was that how no one saw anything if you didn't have a VIP ticket – but my parents got the tix for me and my sister so I never complained about it.

Coldplay (2017): I wasn't a legitimate concertgoer because I watched from the top floor of a parking lot well outside of the concert grounds lmao, but it actually gave me a fantastic view of the show and the boys so no regrets. I went with my ex so this has some bitter associations, but I still love Coldplay and I don't regret going because I really really like a lot of their songs and seeing the attendees' bracelets (or was it lightsticks? idk) have coordinated lighting for all the songs was such a comforting sight.

Agust D (2023): Where do I even start? This is literally seeing BTS in the flesh; I could never complain. Ticket-selling was a bloodbath and my friends weren't even initially successful. Apart from Angela's lucky hand that got her ONE ticket, we had to essentially look everywhere and speak to anyone to get the three other tickets we needed. It was by an extreme stroke of luck that ALL my friends and I got to go.

Concert itself was great; Yoongi's condition hadn't been at its peak at the time and his voice had been raspy/struggling for like 40% of the setlist but he fought through it like a champ. Bangkok crowd sucked ass and I got confirmation that I wasn't just being a condescending older fan when he himself lightly called our crowd out during his post-concert live and asked the future audiences to be more noisy.

Se So Neon (2023): This was such a pleasant surprise! I never in my wildddest dreams expected them to have a stop here, so when I saw the announcement there was no hesitation to get a ticket. This was my first non-mainstream concert, and the show was held at a tent that could house only 1000 so I was super excited to see what the vibes were gonna be. The band knocked it out of the park that night – Hyunjin was oozing charisma, Soyoon's voice smooth as glass.

If anything, I only felt bad because I don't memorize their Korean lyrics and could only silently watch them while bobbing my head and occasionally swinging my arms to at least let them know I was having a blast. The rest of the crowd wasn't good with the lyrics too so it felt a bit too quiet at times.

Seventeen (2024): My first PH Sports Stadium concert! Baptism by fire. Holy shit. As if I didn't feel like enough of a sacrificial lamb just yet, our seat was also JUST TO THE RIGHT of the EXTREMELY HIGH control booth so we literally could not see the entire left side of stage for the whole show. The only thing missing was steam coming out of my ears from how piss the infrastructure for this show was. But the show itself was a lot of fun and the boys' energy was off the goddamn charts – they could really keep a crowd engaged!!! They also had their moving trolley thingy come up to our section so I got to wave and have a good look at each of them :) Next time though I'll aim for a different ticket if I can make it happen, because the view really was disappointing and felt a bit like a waste of money.

grunge: who in the world would you most like to receive a letter from and what would you want it to say? I'm good, thanks.

space: do you have a desk/workspace and how is it organised/not organised? It doesn't have much of a personality to it, really. It just has a pen/knickknacks holder my sister got me; the rest of the space is for my laptop.

white bed sheets: what is your night time routine? Brush my teeth, wash my face, put on a face mask, then browse through either Reddit or YouTube until I feel tired.

old books: what’s one thing you don’t want your parents to know? How often I've tried to beepbeepbeep, which was just happening in my room.

beaches: if you had to dye your hair how would you dye/style it and why? Dark green. I haven't done it yet.

11:11: name three wishes and why you wish for them.

A new job offer: So I can resign.

A better economy/job environment: So my dad doesn't have to work overseas to begin with and I can experience having a complete family all year long.

Longer lifespan for dogs: So I can have more time with all of ours, including Kimi.

lightning: what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done while drunk or high? Trying a cannabis vape while already drunk.

thunder: what’s one thing you would never do for one million dollars? Eat someone's puke.

storms: you on only listen to one song for the rest of your life, or only see one person for the rest of your life. which and why? I'd go with the person. It still offers more variety than the one song.

love: have you ever fallen in love? describe what it feels like to realise you’re in love. Yeah. It's scary for the most part but very relieving if you find out the other person feels the same. Like hitting the jackpot.

clouds: if you’re a boy, would you ever rock black nail polish? if you’re a girl, would you ever rock really really short hair? I'd pass on the short hair.

coffee: what’s your starbucks order, and who would you trust to order for you, if anyone? Brown sugar soy milk iced shaken espresso. Angela would know this; I get this all the time, whether we're together or not.

marble: what is the most important thing to you in your life right now? My mental health and the road to my resignation.

[devotedlydelicatetrash]

Ephemeral Love

The only sound is a soft breeze rustling through the evergreen trees in peaceful woodland beyond human corruption. A broad and unbroken field of snow-covered ice lies ahead, stretching further into the horizon until it approaches the gloomy, chaotic barrier of dense woodland on the opposing coastline. Above that woodland, darkness reigns, pitch black skies speckled with far more stars than anything you could ever deem imaginable. A linear blur of green light glows lustrously in the northern skies and gradually morphs into leaping bolts of scintillating and iridescent rays of light that race over the vast darkness of space. The Aurora Borealis.

     Slowly, the curvature of the earth starts to rise in the east, followed by its oceanic contours and a glowing disk of luminescence. Lastly, with a radiant burst of golden shafts of light, the sun begins its ascent in the east. The rays of golden light illuminate the clear and calm blue skies, casting eccentric patterns of light and shadow around the forest. The only creature who has made any noise at all is a blue jay perched on a broad leafy tree by the lakeside, singing joyfully at the top of its lungs. Solitude.

     "Are you okay?" A soft voice guides me out of my trance.

     "Yeah" I whisper back just as gently, afraid that even the smallest of sounds would break the silence.

      I fall back into my thoughts, this time they are trained on the beautiful black-haired boy beside me. Vante's characteristics sometimes remind me of origami. He's all angles and sharp edges. Sharp triangular jaw line sanded over gently, very gently, to give it a softer edge. In some perspectives, his eyes appear fox-like, with sharp ends that soften when he smiles. Oh my, his smile is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. Like a curtain peeled back, it unveils the show stopper: his dimples. His lips are carved in the style of a doll's, the upper lip a little deeper and plumper than the one below, placed so very delicately. Skin as pale as porcelain, he reminds me of a prince. His aura cannot be mistaken for anything less than royalty, exuding immense power and fiercely intense confidence. His thick set of brows give him a mysterious and stern appearance. With a voice as deep as the ocean, it reminds me of a cold glass of vodka, piercing but soothing, as if all your worries are washed away with one sip. He is gorgeous, like a fairy from your dreams: ethereal.

     Invisible waves of bittersweet euphoria ripple through my entire being as I am cast into the infinite depths of paramount darkness before me. My heartbeat quickens its pace as the booming sound of laughter echoes through the wilderness across the lake, piercing through the tranquility and peace of the quiet break of dawn. With every reverberation I feel myself becoming more and more entranced as I perch myself against the bark of the tree and let myself smile.

     Sometimes I wonder if this is what true love looks like—pure and untainted by lust. A beautiful and blooming rose. Then, I remember that you cannot see love, you feel it and you will know when you feel it, or rather, the lack of it. One taste and you're addicted, falling into the dark abyss of greed. You crave to taste more, obsessed until you can't survive a day without it. Love. Such a beautifully treacherous thing. Love. The feeling that consumes me whenever I let my mind wander towards the boy next to me. Now I have the answer to my question, this was true love–permanent love.

     It all feels like a reverie now, too good to be reality. Maybe it is. Maybe I made him up in my mind, desperately seeking redamancy, the feeling of someone loving you back the same way you love them. Perhaps he is a figment of my imagination; a product of my eunoia, but I do not care. He is the nepenthe helping me forget my lacuna.

     "I'm sorry" He says, looking at me for the first time since the dawn of the new day.

     "I know" I reply, the smile on my face turning melancholy.

     "Can you grant me one last request before you leave?" I find myself asking.

     "Promise me that whenever you think of me, you'll think about the good times that we had. Before you stopped loving me." I wait for him to tell me that he takes back everything he said, that he loves me still, but it never comes. All that is sent my way is a somber nod before he stands up.

     "I love you" I said for the last and final time.

     He doesn't hear me as he makes his way out of the woods and out of my life forever.

     "I still love you" I muttered one last time before I was left alone to ponder my thoughts.

      My love for him runs so sickeningly deep that its thorns are rooted deep in my lungs. White roses prickle my organs as the sinfully gleaming blood cloaks the white of these flowers. They bloom whenever I see him, making even the softest of petals feel like icicles that grow in the winter. The love I feel for him is still true love–permanent love. It would have hurt less if he was truly just a part of my fantasies, it would have hurt less when I had the epiphany that his love was not true–it was ephemeral. 

[anyhao-archived]

for the fourth year in a row, we here at infinite star welcome back our style fairy. last year was a special interview and modeling edition -- this year, we focus on the amazing year our favorite artist has had. from us at infinite star, happy birthday, minghao! #SideBySideOnTHE8Day

interview/quote credits (x) (x) (x)

[keep-ur-head-low]

Ghost Quartet Animated Movie Concept

So I really fucking love Ghost Quartet and if I had even a scrap of artistic talent I would totally make animatics for it but for now, here are some concepts for a fully animated version of the live album. 

In this hypothetical animation, each storylines has its own unique artstyle so that the viewer can distinguish the four storylines just a bit easier. Zero changes are made to the lyrics or song ordering, cuz the album is already perfection and altering it ruins the fun of it yknow

1. The Tale of Rose and Pearl

- This one’s easy. Give it a cool japanese-esque fairytale style, similar to Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya. The animation can start off super pretty and colorful and pastel in The Camera Shop, but it gradually gets more and more muted and dark as the album goes on.

- You know that scene in Princess Kaguya when the princess runs out of the palace and the animation style suddenly becomes all intense and unclean to represent her distress? Do that but when Rose goes on her “fuck your books” rant in Bad Men.

- Rose can have her sexy red cloak and a rose in her ear and Pearl can have a cool white dress and a pearly necklace. The Astronomer should have nerdy lil suspenders and The Bear is just a fuckin Bear

- The Telescope should just be the most psychedelic sequence ever, stars transforming into dancing characters and shit

- Not sure if Soldier and Rose would be in the same art style since it doesn’t fit in any other story, but the dancing would admittedly look beautifully somber and melancholy.

2. The House of Usher

- This one absolutely needs to be in black and white. Put in spooky lil glitch effects and a smaller, boxy aspect ratio to replicate being watched on an old television set tape. If not 2d animated, then maybe stop motion????? Corpse Bride or Coraline vibes could be awesome

- I’m thinking every time The Son is in the frame, a little wooden bear carving could be emphasized to visually represent his alternate self as The Bear.

- When Roxie rises from the dead, she flickers between her Roxie self and herself as Rose but in the Japanese fairy tale animation style. Crimson red blood streams down her robes and it’s the only color that ever appears in the Usher plotline.

- This shit needs to be terrifying

3. Arabian Nights

- I’m thinking this could have a geometric animation style like Song of the Sea or The Secret of Kells, but with the same vibe of what one may find in an ancient Islamic painting.

- In Monk, have young Scheherazade and Dunyazad’s dance be a visual parallel to the Soldier and Rose’s dance. Also show The Pianist playing the piano but not what’s behind the door ofc

- In Tango Dancer, when we meet ancient Scheherazade, she could be in a veil that stretches out infinitely and eventually wraps into the sky, with little cartoon stars inscribed into it that all glow when she describes her young and blissful self. Just go full surreal with it. Have the conversation between Rose and Scheherazade be an obvious visual parallel to the camera shop conversation.

- Have Shah Zaman’s room just be covered in bear stuff. Bear rug, bear paintings, bear statues, etc. I don’t know if it’s historically accurate but that’s the last thing Ghost Quartet cares about lmfao

4. The Subway

- This one’s definitely the least figured out for me. Maybe live action?!?!? I really hesitate to say that but basically this storyline needs to have a claustrophobic, indie feel to it that contrasts heavily with the other three. Perhaps a different, more modern cinematic aspect ratio?

- Not sure what The Pusher’s bear visual would be here. Maybe a bear tattoo or grafitti on the wall that appears whenever he’s on screen.

- The Victim’s monologue on the tracks needs to be intercut with Lady Usher’s final moments before Roxie bursts through the door. I have a very strong image in my mind: When she says “I let the train rip through me,” we get a split screen visual of Lady Usher kneeling on the floor in the left and The Victim kneeling on the tracks in the right and the camera zooms in on both until their faces match up.

- The Shop Owner’s outfit would be the outfit that Gelsey wears in the actual production. Maybe the same could go with the other three in this timeline. 

- Hero could either be in this style or somehow in all the styles. Have visual train imagery be used constantly throughout so that it becomes all the more poignant when she gets metaphorically run over here.

- Have Midnight be in some random bar, and that’s the same bar where I Don’t Know, Any Kind of Dead Person, Four Friends, and Prayer take place in. These four are just drinking and having a blast, remembering the many lives they’ve gone through in this bittersweet song cycle.

[shiftingfornoct]

shifting script:

full name: sibele nox lucem

nickname: LILIE!! ,princess , sweetheart, pumpkin, darlin, honey sugar CUPCAKE beautiful muffin cutie patootie doll buttercupp sparkle sunshine kittie OK ENOUGH BUT UGETIT

gender: cis female

pronouns: she/her 💌

age: 9teen

bday: march 29th !!

race: white

ethnicity: half european ,,native american

height: 5'2 , 1,58cm

weight: 37kg

languages: english , brazilian portuguese, french, korean, japanese n russian !!

accent: american

money status: infinite muney (*´ω｀*

wardrobe: infinite !! every fit / clothes i desire will appear

physical appearance :

face shape: oval

eye color n shape: brown glints of yellow, almond -shaped

eyelashes: 3d , long and doll-like (> ω <

lips n cupid's bow: cinnamon roll-ish thin, rosy pink lips

teeth: perfect, healthy n well aligned teeth (!!! lil' gap in the upper center) NO gingivitis, tartar, periodontitis, cavities, wisdom teeth, pain etc

nose: petite , smol nose . little hint of redness on tip

jawline: well-structured, firm n defined

eyebrow shape: neat , plucked and well trimed . almost straight , slight arch in the brow tail

nails: curved , moisturized full mani-pedi n everything .

foot size: 36 aka 5.5

body: angelic n smooth neck , smol , feminine shoulders . thin and dainty upper / lower arms, tiny firm shaped waist, almost as if fairy-like . flat stomach, slim and rounded hips (!!hips are wider than waist , but SLIGHTLY), sexy thighs with thigh gap n well toned, delicate long legs .

scent: 🍓 , miss dior n designer perfumes

hair colour / length: warm n sunkissed light brown , chest length smells like strawberries

hair texture: 2b , wavy but sometimes i can straighten it with a flat iron

hair style: layered w thin bangs , vry cute

body hair: NO BODY HAIR!!! (!!!except lashes , hair n brows)

breasts: smol to medium sized , perky and sexy

skin tone: white but slightlyy tanned

acessories: lotssss of girly stuff , hair bows, dainty jewelry, pearls, PINK . frilly n heart socks , designer purses.

personality :

sexual orientation: bi

positive personality traits: creative, kind, hardworking, smart, logic, mature, independent, childish etc

negative personality traits: quiet, impatient, insecure, people pleaser, introverted, shy etc

turn ons: noct

turn offs: not noct

likes: plushies , fashion, makeup, hobbies etc

dislikes: toxic ppl, sex*ual topics / themes , imagery, being or feeling alone

favourite meal: pancakes (✿^‿^

favourite colour: yellow, pink , cream n baby blue

clothing style: coquette , dolette messy french girl , it girl n girly

hobbies / talents: singinggg , dancing, writing, drawing, studying ,journaling n cleaning

personality type: infp

star sign: aries

nervous ticks: biting nails n peeling skin of fingers

relationships and love life :

friends: iris n luna

best friends: noct ,iggy gladdy n prompto

siblings: none! !

father: cassius

mother: diana

crush: NOCT.

past romantic relationships: none .

future romantic relationship(s): noct

physical and mental health :

blood type: O- (universal donor)

allergies: none .

mental health: stable , but prone to getting worse if there r any triggers

disabilities & disorders: none .

mental illnesses: borderline personality disorder, anxiety, agoraphobia, body dysmorphic disorder , an0r3x1a

physical health: extremely perfect physical health , NO HEALTH COMPLICATIONS OR DISEASES . NOTHING!!!!!!

personal history :

backstory: http://txti.es/8jp2l

birthplace: tenebrae

current residence: insomnia

powers: http://txti.es/esxxx

EXTRAS :

safeword: bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

BASIC DR SETTINGS :

✿always smell good

✿cant get pregnant until/unless i really want to

✿always have money

✿don't get my period

✿clear skin

✿don't have skin imperfections/diseases like wrinkles, fine lines, acne, melasma, flakiness etc

✿endless closet

✿anything i’d want is in there

✿all my clothes fit perfectly/the way i like

✿always have good hygiene

✿immortal (can never die in DR)

✿can only feel moderate/slight pain

✿immune to any illnesses and mental illnesses unless specified

✿semi-fast/fast metabolism

✿walk and run easily, wont get tired and worn out quickly

✿cant get too badly injured/hurt

✿know how to fight

✿wont experience any major trauma

✿everyone understands my humour

✿will have my/a phone

✿for every year that pass in my cr, six months pass in my dr

✿TIME FREEZES WHEN I LEAVE AND RESUMES WHEN I COME BACK!!!!

✿i will remember everything!!

✿i know every combat style of fighting

✿i know how to use every weapon

✿im a pretty crier

✿im a pretty sleeper

✿im confident

✿i have a high endurance

✿i have good communication skills

✿i don't have motion sickness

✿i have an attractive voice

✿i have no gag reflex

✿i never get left out

✿i can play all instruments

✿i don't have a double chin

✿i have amazing handwriting

✿i can come up with the smartest insults and comebacks

✿my lips never get chapped

✿drugs dont have a negative affect on me, they only affect me in a sense of euphoria

✿all food tastes good

✿everyone finds me attractive

✿my friends and loved ones cannot die as a result of violence, injury, or illness

✿i always have perfect posture

✿i have fast reflexes

✿i do not have any unwanted body hair or odor n do not fart, sweat burp etc

✿selfies and pictures taken of me always turn out how I want them to

✿if someone lies to me, my nose itches and i recognize this as a sign that they are lying

✿i have the lifa app

✿anything i order from the lifa app will be immediately delivered to my wardrobe

✿no one can see my lifa app interface but me; if someone looks at my phone while i'm on the app, to them it will look like i am on google or facebook

✿no one gets tired of me

✿everyone tries to help and support me and they like doing it

✿my friends, family, and romantic interests are always loyal to me

✿any feelings of attraction that i have are always reciprocated

✿i will never be cheated on or betrayed in a relationship

✿my partner will never be physically or psychologically abusive or toxic

✿my partner will always be loyal to me and pay attention only to me

✿my partner will not fantasize of other women or consume things like that (!!!!ex : p0rn0gr4ph1)

✿noct doesnt die saving the world

✿when the wind blows, my hair flows perfectly

✿i don't get things stuck in your teeth

✿there are no racism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, life threatening sicknesses, air water or land pollution, natural disasters, global warming, covid 19, cultural appropriation, stalkers, non consensual filming, r*pe, sexual harassment, misogyny, sexism, misandry, p3dophilia, trauma, animal abuse, abuse in general

✿my hair is soft and never tangles

✿my phone has unlimited data

✿animals like me

[fluorescencefuture]

Hwayugi / A Korean Odyssey Episode 5 Review

No one really reads these but I just want to put my hot takes out there

And also I changed the way I’m categorizing it again! Gonna list negatives and positives:

Negatives

The child acting is not the best in this show. Not a lot of special effects in this one, thank god

Apparently, this minor character Alice is supposed to be the White Dragon-Horse. What I'm saying is they shafted the horse again

Wukong’s favorite color would not be green it would be peach get your shit right

I just...do not care for the main leads’ romance. I know the whole thing is that they actually do love each other but pretend it’s just a product of the golden bracelet, but their “real love” scenes legitimately feel forced. His attempts to ask about her interests seemed more like an interrogation than genuine affection.

I swear it's not just me refusing to see it, I’m trying my best, but the chemistry is just not that good, to the point that I keep skimming through their nighttime bench scenes because I know it's just the same old platitudes that mean nothing to me because they really do not work together

Hwayugi reinforces my belief that if you're gonna do a romance involving Wukong he's better off as the subject and not the object. Like, he should be the protagonist focus character instead of the love interest himself.

Or have him being the one being pursued instead of the one pursuing. I feel like he'd be the type to either be completely aware of someone's affection but refuse to address it, or the type to be extremely dense when someone feels deep romantic love for him and realizes it a mite too late

I know romance isn’t Just Like That in K-dramas, because I’ve partially seen What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim and Crash Landing On You and I can still tell they did the “hate-love” dynamic in those shows better. I’m honestly slogging through the romance because:

Positives

The side cast is great and I love them too much. The best scenes are really when everyone’s hanging out with each other. I love that ever since Wukong gained co-ownership everyone started crashing at the mansion more

Mr. Lee noticing the weird ongoings but still sticking around Samjang, what a king

White Bone Demon is adorable. There were two filler dance sequences she had in this episode but she was cute so it doesn’t matter too much. I really hope nothing bad happens to her, she’s so wholesome

Summer Fairy still a queen and General Winter still a king, best advice friends

Wholesome homemaker Wujing I love him and I hope nothing happens to him too. Hot!Bajie grew on me, his attitude is hilarious

Even the OC dog demon secretary got a moment with her shitty sketch of the ghost

Now Demon Bull King was the stand-out this episode. Him waiting for people to praise him for the award he got but nobody knows/cares about it was hilarious.

So Princess Iron Fan here was cursed to live miserably and die painfully every reincarnation, and Demon Bull King can only save her by becoming a deity as fast as possible. Their star-crossed love is infinitely more interesting than the main couple. I wouldn’t want the show to have it as the main focus, but I sure want to see much more of it

That scene of him saving and patching up her reincarnation in the 30s, and she doesn’t know who he is, and he doesn’t try to tell her because he knows she’s going to die...like dude, he loves his wife so much =,(

Maybe I’m face blind but the lead actress is unrecognizable when they put her in less dowdy outfits. Even if she's still too pretty since it's TV, there's a noticeable difference. A lot more believable and less lazy than the American style of “just put her in a ponytail and glasses”

Honestly, I would redraw parts of this or draw the outfits but like, with my designs of the trio. South Korean fashion is really great

Some top dialogue exchanges this episode:

Demon Bull King: Why are you here cooking side dishes? Aren't you supposed to have two meetings later?

Sha Wujing: Yeah, I just wanna feed my boy before I leave

-

Demon Bull King: We share the house, we don't share the stuff in the house. Stop letting the zombie watch the home shopping network, please let your friends apply for a parking sticker before you invite them over, and stop using my lotion

Sun Wukong: Hey congrats on the award you got, pretty cool

Demon Bull King: Here, let me show you how to apply the lotion properly

-

Sun Wukong: I'm kinda depressed today

Demon Bull King: It's low blood sugar, here eat some candy and put on this facial mask before you go to sleep

[maxwell-grant]

Sherlock Holmes for the Listing meme?

favorite thing about them

I have some pretty mixed feelings on Holmes where I never quite got into the character as much as I could or may have liked to, but at the same time, he's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember (I grew up legitimately thinking he was a real person and only discovered otherwise in my early teens, and Conan Doyle may have been the first big-name author I remember reading).

I guess if I had to narrow down something more personal, the idea of Holmes as this really smart, incredibly knowledged person, who nevertheless could be insensitive, awkward, lonely, disinterested in relationships or social occasions, and still be a well-respected hero with strong friendships and a noble purpose, might have been more important for me to read about back then than I gave it credit for at the time.

A lot of people are very attached to the idea that Holmes is autistic or "coded" as autistic, and I have some misgivings towards that idea (mainly because often times it seems to me like "coded" is just a replacement word for stereotype), but in retrospect, it kinda was important for me to read about a character who was a little more like, well, like me basically, than the usual adventure hero. I guess it's kinda why I distinctly remember being sad upon learning that Holmes wasn't a real person, even though by that point I really should have known better.

And to an extent I think that's also part of why Sherlock managed to effectively sustain the kind of popularity he had, that he felt "real" to begin with. That he appealed to audiences worldwide in ways even they didn't quite understand at the time. He was not the most published character worldwide, possibly not even the most popular one in his time, but he was modern and vivid to an extent that's allowed him to outlast the Nick Carters and Sexton Blakes and Nat Pinkertons of his time, and become not just THE touchstone of 19th century detective fiction, but also a popular and modern character today. Holmes appeals a lot to people who can't quite see themselves as an outgoing action hero, but who can use their intelligence and reasoning to improve conditions for others, and I definitely think he owes at least some of his iconic popularity to that thoughtfulness.

least favorite thing about them

Definitely when adaptations have him be rude or belittling or dismissive to Watson, that's easily the fastest way to get me to dislike a Sherlock adaptation, and sadly that's been a trend even in the earliest days of Sherlock adaptations or fanfic (which, back in the day, were basically the same thing). I'm also really not a fan of the more asshole takes on Sherlock that comically exaggerate how rude and insensitive he is, or takes that just make him a crimefighting Sheldon Cooper, and-

Actually I'm just gonna say BBC's Sherlock and call it a day.

favorite line

My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generation, and leading to the most outre results, it would make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.

brOTP

Well, duh. I'm also fond of the idea of him and Arsene Lupin having a more-friendly sort of rivalry, even if they can't quite be on the same side and I still ultimately prefer that Lupin takes the win (or at least the spiritual victory). And of course I have my pet headcanons about him and The Shadow being acquaintances.

OTP

None in particular. I like the popular headcanon that Holmes is asexual, and this doesn't exactly mean he can't have an amorous or sexual relationship with anyone, but generally I don't think of Holmes in those terms.

nOTP

Irene Adler. I think it kinda goes without saying too.

random headcanon

I'd like to play around with the idea of Sherlock often trying to find healthier outlets for his boredom and attention span, that aren't crime-solving or cocaine (largely thanks to Watson bugging him), that he spends an adventure trying to get the hang of while doing his thing, and may or may not turn out to be revelant

Like he's discussing crime scene details with Lestrade while balancing a broom on his foot El Chavo-style, and he remarks that, yes, of course this is research, the robber may have disguised himself as a janitor in order to sneak past police headquarters, and without fingerprints, he needs to try and measure the size and weight of the man by gauging the available brooms at the police station they could have used.

Lestrade doesn't question anything Sherlock does anymore, and Watson is trying very hard to keep a straight face because he knows it's not true, Holmes has been at this for over a week now at home, but it's been a slow week and he'll encourage anything if it keeps Holmes off the cocaine (can't make promises on nicotine though, but, baby steps).

unpopular opinion

I guess the closest I'd have to one would be that I actually prefer Holmes as more of a side character rather than an active protagonist and that I don't think the premise of "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century" is the most idiotic thing ever and I am very willing to give the show a chance when I watch it.

I think maybe my real unpopular opinion as a Sherlock fan is that I don't think Arthur Conan Doyle was unjustified in his hatred of Sherlock's popularity, considering that he was dealing with an aggressive fandom long before people had an idea on how to deal with that sort of thing, and he could not have possibly predicted the sheer influence his character was going to have on fiction as a whole.

Also, he was right about some of the things he believed in. Yes, that includes the fairies. No, it doesn't make him any less gullible for having fallen for that trick.

song i associate with them

None in particular so instead I'm going to present the theme from The Great Mouse Detective, which I'm sure goes without saying is the best adaptation of Sherlock Holmes alongside those starred by Jeremy Brett, and DEFINITELY has the best version of Moriarty by a country mile.

favorite picture of them

For the moment I'm going to say this illustration by Jess Miriam. I love it's usage of shadow, it's background, the light coming off the pipe and the smoke encircling Holmes, and I love the scene it depicts from "The Man With The Twisted Lip", where Holmes at once seems to perform an act of utmost kindness but is, in reality, solving the mystery through a most unorthodox and yet ingenious method, all with the smallest of gestures. Definitely speaks a lot to what I most like about Sherlock Holmes

[darkpoisonouslove]

Ranking the Winx Club Finales

I recently finished my rewatch (and first watch of a season and a half) of Winx Club and wrote out my thoughts on all of it. However, to send off a year that was in experience a lot like watching this series - meaning, generally frustrating and downright disappointing whenever I got excited over a thing with a few highlights that actually stuck the landing - and to get out any remaining feelings over the series, I have decided to rank the finales from least to most favorite. I just have a lot of rage to spare over season 8′s finale and needed an excuse to do so. Plus, I am being thematic here goddammit! Here we go:

8. Season 8

Yeah, I really spoiled that already. To sum it up:

But let me elaborate. Like I already said, this finale enraged the living fuck out of me. I just cannot comprehend whatever possessed them to write a finale so, so... excruciatingly devastating... to a season that started out with a lot of promise and had some extremely solid decisions (except for the art style, which is just NOT IT). This finale is an absolute disaster in every way. First, there is a new plot point introduced mere minutes before the finale and it is never tied into the overall narrative of the season which doesn’t do it any favors, especially after the two halves of the season already have trouble connecting together into one overarching story. The reason they brought in the creatures from the Dark Dimension was to distract Valtor while Winx make their attempt at stealing the stars which could have very well been a role filled by Arken confronting Valtor in an opportunity to clear up all the muddy details around their partnership and bring together the two halves of the season. The Winx’ plan had potential that was completely wasted by their own interruption instead of seeing each girl (provided Layla was playing Icy, Stella - Darcy and Musa/Tecna - Stormy) doing her best to pretend to be the Trix she’s posing as to give the Trix the due role they should have had in this finale. Instead, we get an Icy that is a complete opposite of the character we’ve known her to be for seven seasons all for the sake of a wish she doesn’t even get fulfilled despite her decision to help. Her motivation is a direct contradiction to the original plan of the Trix and disrespects her character from all previous instances of her being on the show for absolutely no reason as she is left with nothing in the end and the whole backstory they invented for her out of nowhere and couldn’t fit in any way with anything previously known about her was in vain because it was never resolved. Winx essentially manage to defeat Valtor once they wish for their own power-up and are gifted powers they haven’t really earned only to be pronounced great heroes who even get their own constellation in the sky. Come again? There was no narrative tension in this episode, no big climax to resolve what is supposedly the biggest threat in the universe at the moment, and no actual emotional conclusion to the season. It can’t even be called a messy wrap when so many threads were left hanging in there. A true disaster on every front.

7. Season 6

Even if you count both 6x25 and 6x26 as the finale of season 6, the structure is still lacking big time. Acheron who is the main drive of the entire season is defeated before the end of 6x25 and the Trix who are the other main villains were also more or less neutralized at that point to leave absolutely no stakes for the last episode so they had to pull some bullshit to fill it. The Winx are useless for the entire episode, including Bloom whose battle with the Trix is an absolute joke. Like, they can’t even think of syncing their attacks so that she can’t protect herself from all three of them with her ridiculously small shield and Bloom couldn’t even bother to actually buy herself enough time to leave the Legendarium. The only saving grace of that fight is the little emotional moment it causes for Bloom but that was also not really set up at any point of the season so it was just out of the blue. Selina changing her affiliations permanently even after the imminent threat for her life was neutralized made about as much sense as her turning evil in the first place and the fact that they needed her to lock the Legendarium made everything 1000% shittier because of how convenient it was that she just decided to turn good again without any justification for her course of actions. That coupled with the lack of consequences for any of her actions (she nearly killed Flora for heaven’s sake and no one even brought that up?) plus the dreadful info dump monologue they gave her just brought the whole thing down. The wrap-up of the season was also underwhelming after they had an entire episode that was mainly free of villains in order to close the other storylines... but, of course, there were no other storylines. Pretty disastrous.

6. Season 7

Just like in season 6, Winx were pretty useless here as they really didn’t do all that much for the plot. Luckily, the fact that the Trix were brought in allowed for the villains to have a battle that was more intriguing and provided some action as for a finale. The other key elements of the season (fairy animals, Trix, wild magic, Kalshara and Brafilius and the time travel) were actually woven together pretty well to make for a pretty satisfying finish to a season that really lacked any solid plot. The mini worlds and the Tynix transformation did not have use in the last episode but that wasn’t too catastrophic. There was actually a pretty emotional moment between the fairy animals and Winx that would have been even better if their relationships had been better developed throughout the season... You’d really think that since fairy animals were the main point of the season and there was no solid plot to account for, they would have taken the time to pay attention to Winx bonding with their fairy animals but nah. I am still impressed with how touching their goodbye was given the fact that they didn’t really have all that much time to actually become close so bonus points for that. The very last scene is a little generic but what else to expect from a season that has sung all its songs already (thank god that there were no musical numbers in this because I have a feeling it would have been even worse)?

5. Season 5

Season 5 could at least pat itself on the back for dealing with the main villain of the season even if there were a couple iffy things about the whole deal. I’m taking away consistency points for a) the fact that the Throne was supposed to be activated with the seals from the Pillars of the Infinite Ocean, yet suddenly stealing a random Sirenix would do, b) Tritannus being defeated by simply having his trident taken away even though he literally grew in body mass implying that the power of the Emperor’s Throne had seeped inside of him (also confirmed by Mystery of the Abyss) and c) the mutants inexplicably turning back into people once Tritannus lost his powers even though they never turned back during his times of relapsing back into a human thanks to running out of pollution. His defeat was just ridiculously easy and Bloom got to do it even though Layla was the one with the personal connection to Tritannus and the one most directly impacted by his actions as her family fell prey to him. Instead of getting to shine in a season that focused heavily not just on her home world but on the environment from which her powers come, she got benched in favor of Bloom getting to do everything again with only mild assist from Layla’s cousin. They should have kept it in the family and left Layla and Nereus deal with Tritannus. The Trix were blasted out of the narrative extremely conveniently and the rest of Winx were saved twice by the mutants just turning their back on them instead of destroying them right then and there and then being turned back into their original form as well. There wasn’t the usual teamwork of the whole Winx unit which I am still salty about despite being sick of all the time they reached for convergence in that season. Theredor fighting alongside Winx (different from his own daughter) was a nice touch but the king and queen of Andros coming off as so helpless (and apparently the only people in the castle unless you admit that everyone else drowned) was frustrating. Where was the Andros army? We only got Tressa, Roy, four of Winx and a handful of mermaids. Is that the whole population of the Heart of All Oceans? Additionally, the finale left no time for any emotional resolution of the season’s events, especially considering the big deal that Daphne’s revival was. Instead they opted for a musical number at the end. Not the best form.

4. Season 3

Season 3 had a finale and then another finale. Granted, better than season 6 that had a finale and then filler but there was not a lot of glory to the ending of a story with such a strong opening and emotional moments that send you bursting into tears. The spell of the four elements was pretty decent in its first appearance in 3x25 but the way Valtor lost it all was a real let down after the climatic confrontations between him and the Winx girls throughout the rest of the season. His return was more or less a desperate last attempt at personal revenge against Winx as his goal was mostly out of reach at this point. The spell of the elements was brought down in both its use to create clones of Winx’ boyfriends and in its power as it was much easier to undo in its reappearance. The saving graces of this season’s finale are the couple emotional moments sprinkled through both 3x25 and 3x26. Bloom’s willingness to sacrifice herself for her friends and the world was the thread that the finale hangs on as she is mostly the one resolving the whole conflict which was a bit dissatisfying after the emotional damage Valtor inflicted on all of them directly or indirectly. There is a few moments left to recover from the emotional intensity of their battles against Valtor but nothing that really addresses the seriousness of the trauma they had to survive because of him. The Trix didn’t even get to have a last stand of their own in either of the last two episodes despite the position in which they started the season but that was more or less unnecessary anyway since we’d already seen they can’t hold their ground against Enchantix Winx even with a boost from Valtor. Overall, the finale is pretty weak, especially as a follow-up of the dynamic and strong experiences that the season put them all through. It was the first finale that was confined to a single episode (or rather two separate battles spanning over an episode to end the season) and there wasn’t enough tension building in the confined storyline an episode told.

3. Season 4

The season 4 finale is overall a solid conclusion that delivers both a final battle with the Wizards and enough time left to address all the other storylines left unfinished. The final battle was pretty short but there was enough intensity in the previous couple episodes to have covered the action demand that the season had already set up and it also provided the opportunity to have Winx come back together as a team after Layla split up. Not only that, but Nebula and Roxy also get to play their part while the Wizards make their last desperate attempt to regain the upper hand. It’s pretty climatic for something that length that also left about 15 minutes of the episode still to fill. Everything that had to do with the closure of the Earth fairies storyline was emotional beyond belief and gave more depth to all of them and Layla’s decision to join them. Winx had to face all of the separate responsibilities they have on their shoulders and find a way to balance them all so that they can pursue their dreams. There was a plethora of emotional moments and a deserved spotlight shined on Layla’s situation and how she’s dealing with it, plus the others’ feelings. It was a really touching finale and also an inspiring one to see Winx stand behind their dreams while still balancing their responsibilities. It seemed to achieve the initial goal of the season to have them adapting to the adult life they were shifting into.

2. Season 2

I’m gonna be honest, I had a very hard time deciding whether this would be number one or two because the season 2 finale had a lot more character moments that were very moving. It really corresponds to the season since it was more character driven than the first one and the finale suited that. However, ultimately I decided that it would take silver because of a couple minor things that bring it down. To get that out of the way, the second portal to Realix that led Winx there was imo a copout that destroyed pretty much all of the tension that the entire season spent building around the search for the Codex. It just felt so wrong for there to be another way to enter that dimension and to me it was a big disappointment. Especially since the key to activating the copy of the Codex was the color riddle that was a ridiculous panicked attempt on the writers’ part to show that Stella isn’t useless and has what to give the team but it only made her look worse in my eyes. Also, minor gripe for the fact that there wasn’t that much of a final battle since everything ended with a single convergence. Of course, there were several battles across the episode between different sides that made for good action and tension and there was magic involved in more ways than simply the convergence in order to defeat Darkar but it was still a bit of a letdown to never truly see him put his everything in battle. And the fact that Griffin and Faragonda held him off for as long as they did on their own actually hurt his credibility as a threat as well. But hey, on the plus side, remember when the teachers actually helped and did not leave the fate of the whole universe in the hands of 16-year-olds? Good times! The MegaTrix and her? their? battle with Darkar was epic. 20/10 on that concept alone, plus it really brought a great feeling of vindication after the number Darkar did on them and felt so satisfying even if they were also part of the villain team of the season. They were portrayed as three-dimensional and weren’t cast out of the narrative without care just because they were villains and that was actually probably the most solid moment that the Trix have ever had on the show (just minor gripe for the fact that they were supposed to be trapped in Realix when the dimension was sealed forever but they were later somehow brought out of there which was never explained). Sky’s speech to Bloom was actually a pretty emotional moment and the payoff from it felt earned and allowed for Bloom’s victory against the darkness to feel natural and in place. It was probably one of their best moments as a couple. Plus, the cute little interactions that we got during the celebration party to send off the season on its merry way made for a great finale. (And a shoutout to the Musa x Riven scenes both in 2x25 and 2x26 because that was some good shit and some cute shit and it was exactly what we deserved).

1. Season 1

Season 1 reigns supreme with its finale. There is just no other finale that can rise to the level of the first one that was built for about one third of the season so that the last episode could dive right into the action without wasting time on setup. This is also the only place where we truly and fully get to see each of the Winx and the Trix (well, minus Layla who hasn’t been introduced yet) showcase their powers but especially Bloom and Icy. It is the longest battle we have seen and it builds a lot of tension on top of what was already there to leave you on the edge of your seat. The exploration of magic in this episode makes it so iconic and such a great watch even on the 300th time. There isn’t really much more to say than simply “It is epic”. What makes it even better though is the fact that there is enough time left in the episode to wrap up everything else and not in a rushed way. The battleground is extended to the locations that have already suffered the previous battles to show the full extension of the action and to setup the wrap-up that comes at the end. They even find the time to let some of the minor characters have distinct and touching moments as well and thus expand the universe of Winx further than just the main characters. Speaking off, they all get their moments, too, and the Specialists aren’t left out of that (you will never catch me not fangirling over Sky and Riven fighting back to back). The finale also doesn’t forget about the overarching story about Bloom’s origin which is commendable considering the constant lack of consistency the show suffers. This is really the only finale that isn’t lacking in any of the departments and manages to provide a truly fascinating story that keeps you entertained and in suspense while at the same time does not discard the emotional payoff or the logical continuation of events. It just excels in every way.

Well, this is my analysis on the finales of Winx Club. What started out as a bitch fest actually left on on a positive and uplifting note to make for a great ending to a harsh year. Let’s see what beginnings 2021 will bring! ;)

[kyndaris]

Braving Tried and True JRPG Tropes

When Bravely Default II was released, one of the first reviews I stumbled upon spoke about the person’s disappointment. Some of it came down to personal taste: the art style. Others were a bit more valid: the weak narrative and carbon copies of protagonists from other games. While the fan in me wanted to contest many of their claims, the more I played of the latest Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) from Square-Enix, I could not deny that there was a lot of tropes being used to prop up the strong gameplay loop and to give players the chance to try out the different jobs on offer. Still, many of these grips failed to deter me too much from my playing of the game. After sinking a hefty amount of time into it, I was able to push my way through the multiple endings and give Seth, Gloria, Elvis and Adelle the happy ending that they deserved.

As the faithful readers of my blog, you should know that I bought Bravely Default II while on a road trip with family. Though I should have been luxuriating in the February sun, I was much too engrossed in my Nintendo Switch to pay much mind to my surroundings. And even if Zac Efron or Chris Hemsworth had walked past, I’d probably barely bat an eyelid.

The first few hours of Bravely Default II had me busy reengaging with the mechanics that I knew from the first two games on the Nintendo DS and Octopath Traveler. Considering my familiarity with old-school JRPGs, it came as no surprise that I quickly managed to level up Freelancer as I cut a swathe through the grass surrounding the starting city of Halyconia. In fact, I realised quite quickly that the best way to get good items without paying a cent for them was to play the game like Link, eager to find rupees in the bushes. By the time I fought Dag and Selene and Horten, they went down like flies even though I hadn’t even bothered to change from my default jobs. 

Truth be told, when I read about the difficulties many people supposedly had with these earlier battles, I was scratching my head. Perhaps it was simply the method I play the games - grinding out each job to my satisfaction that had simplified what should have been difficult. On a side note, I thought that the job levelling was much better balanced than Yakuza: Like a Dragon and an infinitely more fun experience because of it. It allowed me to experiment with my team and find the best balance for taking on the various mobs in a given area.

The only time I actually prepared properly for a fight was when I took down Adam and the last few bosses. But even they were a considerable breeze when one had access to so many abilities. Paralysing everyone that stood in my way, inflicting poison and contagion, then having a maxed out Freelancer with Thief skills using Godspeed Strike? Child’s play.

Now, onto the weaker elements of Bravely Default II. The various plot-holes and unexplored characterisation of the heroes and villains. While Elvis and Lonsdale stood out to me, many of the others could have been interchanged with someone else and I would have barely been able to tell the difference were it not for their individual Asterisk attire.

Let’s start with Seth, shall we? Our main protagonist despite the ensemble set-up could have been ripped from any Japanese role-playing game. The ones he reminded me strongly of were Tidus and Vaan. Tidus, because he was a fish-out-of-water that had fallen in love with the woman that would have to sacrifice her life to bring peace back to the world. Vaan due to the fact that he never truly stood out and was simply part of the story just because of Wind Crystal shenanigans. Later on, he was made a bit more special due to his status as someone that had come from the Outer Seas.

In a way, it was a clever voice direction for Seth to be the only character with an American accent. This helped paint the fact that he was different from the others. Still, it would have been much better if we could have seen what his life had been like prior to the events that brought him to waking up on a beach in Halyconia. And while there are scenes in several sidequests that explore a little of Seth’s backstory, there’s little to sink one’s teeth into.

Gloria, on the other hand, is very much a stereotypical princess of a mystical kingdom. Though the voice actress is very good at expressing the pain she has gone through as one of the sole survivors of Musa’s destruction, I feel like it would have connected better with players to have seen the invasion and perhaps played a small part in controlling her escape. Though these things are just little nitpicks, it adds to the characters and allows people to emotionally invest in the happenings of the world. 

That, in and of itself, is probably Bravely Default II’s key problem. The fact that it tells rather than shows.

Elvis, of course, is the star of the show. His quirky traits, affable nature make him a clear favourite and much more human than his other counterparts. The narrative around Wiswald was also great example of fleshing out his past and the people he knows. It is much more personal, pulling on our heartstrings to learn about the death of a young child, and thus carries more weight than the water shortage in Savalon or the fairy hunting in Rimedhal, which was clearly meant to mirror witch trials. 

While Folie, the main antagonist behind the happenings in Wiswald, could have been better written and with a more tangible tie to the people of Wiswald, the fact that she manipulated Roddy, Lily and poor Galahad with visions of the dead Mona meant that a bit of pathos was achieved when she was finally brought down.

Adelle, a little cliche, was still an intriguing character that rounded out the team (I still can’t place her accent). The reveal that she was actually a fairy was a delight. It was also nice that her goals also aligned with the main narrative of stopping the Night’s Nexus, instead of being as superfluous as Elvis trying to solve the riddle of a book he had in his possession or Seth just tagging along for the ride. 

As for the foes that we faced? Most of them seemed like excuses to dress up how players obtained their Asterisks. Many of them seemed like caricatures. And honestly, Martha’s excuse to fight the Heroes of Light was abysmal. But, of course, the developers needed a way for players to experience what it might be like fighting a foe that had the Dragoon Asterisk before they could use it for their own.

I will admit, the story just felt like a vehicle to pick up each Asterisk along the way. Oft times, I had to wonder why so many of these people felt compelled to stand in the way of the Heroes of Light. And while it would have been much better to have a more personal reason for why we fought these enemies besides the fact that ‘Oh, they have an Asterisk and something, something Crystal!’ I still managed to push my way through.

Still, the fact that Dag and Selene managed to snag more character development in the sidequests was great. Gladys’s attempt at atonement and her brother’s grief was also good ways to delve into topics that might have been a little too dark for a title that had such gorgeous backdrops and adorable character models.

Now, to the meat of the matter. The plot holes and the things that were never truly explained. Edna’s descent into madness though Adelle often insisted her sister had always loved humans. How and where Lady Emma found the book that actually contained the memories of the Night’s Nexus? Where does Seth actually come from? How did he die? Why was he chosen by the Wind Crystal? Why was Adam so invested in trying to conquer the world? Did he experience something bad in his past that informed his current need to stop war by starting it? Where did Folie come from? Who is she and why did she feel the need to torment the people of Wiswald for her art?

So many mysteries. So little explanation.

Overall, Bravely Default II has quite a few flaws and missteps. Yet, despite that, it’s a sum greater than its parts. The narrative might not have been captivating, but it managed to keep pulling me through until I saw the true ending. Anticlimactic as the final boss battle might have been, I still felt a certain satisfaction in seeing Gloria tackle Seth to the ground. And honestly, who doesn’t want to Godspeed Strike their way to victory?

P.S. I will say that after witnessing Adelle save Martha, I had hoped for a blossoming romance, but the dialogue between her and Elvis during the second bad ending got to me. It may not be my one true pairing, but Elvis x Adelle was an arrow to my heart. My only question is: how old is Adelle? She looks like a child and yet, because she’s a fairy, she could be like a century older. Maybe better not to think too hard, eh? After all, why sweat the details?

[lovenikkilore]

Volume 1 Chapter Transcripts

⚠️This post is a work in progress. Links will be added as soon as the corresponding posts have been made. Thank you for your patience. ⚠️

Nikki UP2U | Hello Nikki | Love Nikki | Shining Nikki

Volume 1 | Volume 2

Chapter 1 Arriving the Wheat Field

V1:1-1 Sport Girl Aron (1)

V1:1-2 Shining Daily Clothes

V1:1-3 Lunar from Cloud Empire

V1:1-4 Office Lady Vivi (1)

V1:1-5 Toto, Girl in Love (1)

V1:1-6 Bookish Girl Timi (1)

V1:1-7 Lead Singer: Kaja (1)

V1:1-8 Lunar’s Trial

V1:1-9 Legendary Iron Rose

Chapter 2 Fairy Tale World Lilith

V1:2-1 Lilith Cutie Bobo

V1:2-2 Cicia, Capital of Art

V1:2-3 Caught by the Manager!

V1:2-4 Toto, Girl in Love! (2)

V1:2-5 Lisa’s Casual Clothes

V1:2-6 Sport Girl Aron (2)

V1:2-7 Girl’s Pajama Party

V1:2-8 Rehearsal at Theater!

V1:2-9 Dancer Star Sofia

V1:2-S1 Cinderella’s Sister

V1:2-S2 Royce Interrupts Again

Chapter 3 ‘Witch and Star Sea’

V1:3-1 Bookish Girl Timi (2)

V1:3-2 Lead Singer: Kaja (2)

V1:3-3 Prime Minister’s Secretary

V1:3-4 Manga Artist Annabel (1)

V1:3-5 Sport Girl Aron (3)

V1:3-6 Toto, Girl in. Love (3)

V1:3-7 Lisa is Sick?!

V1:3-8 The Phantom Thief

V1:3-9 The one stole Star Sea is?

V1:3-10 Manga Artist Annabel (2)

V1:3-11 Star Sea

V1:3-12 To Wintermount

V1:3-S1 Who is like Sissi?!

V1:3-S2 Wedding Dress Design

Chapter 4 The Tea Party

V1:4-1 Rainy Seashore City

V1:4-2 Temptation of Swimsuit (1)

V1:4-3 Temptation of Swimsuit (2)

V1:4-4 Toto, Girl in Love (4)

V1:4-5 Rose Garden

V1:4-6 Office Lady Vivi (2)

V1:4-7 Meet Lunar Again

V1:4-8 White Angel

V1:4-9 Hanfu Goddess Lunar

V1:4-10 The Cloud Couple

V1:4-11 Design + Style + Couples

V1:4-12 Misunderstanding

V1:4-S1 Kids’ Pastry Cook

V1:4-S2 I want pizza!

V1:4-S3 Kindergarden Teacher

Chapter 5 Mutated Tea Party

V1:5-1 Girlfriend is gone!

V1:5-2 Search the Tea Cafe

V1:5-3 Strange Woman

V1:5-4 Elopement!

V1:5-5 Meet Royce Again

V1:5-6 Bookish Girl Timi (3)

V1:5-7 Manga Artist Annabel (3)

V1:5-8 Winter Clothes of Arctic

V1:5-9 Office Lady Vivi (3)

V1:5-10 Rival Appears

V1:5-11 Aim for Best Stylist!

V1:5-12 New Journey

V1:5-S1 Master and Servant

V1:5-S2 Seashore City

V1:5-S3 Sexy Doctor

Chapter 6 Flower Field Encounter

V1:6-1 Challenge Flower Field

V1:6-2 Mysterious Boy Fu Su

V1:6-3 Toto, Girl in Love (5)

V1:6-4 Sport Girl Aron (4)

V1:6-5 Lunar’s Mirror Shadow

V1:6-6 The Other Side

V1:6-7 Competitions: Spring

V1:6-8 Competitions: Summer

V1:6-9 Competitions: Autumn

V1:6-10 Competitions: Winter

V1:6-11 The Truth

V1:6-S1 Encounter Big star

V1:6-S2 Kimi in Sport Style

V1:6-S3 Sexy Dancer Sofia

Chapter 7 Celestial Pavilion

V1:7-1 Autumn’s Dream

V1:7-2 Mill’s Heir Lunar

V1:7-3 Modern Dancer Sophia

V1:7-4 Landlady of Celestial

V1:7-5 Meet Bai Jinjin Again

V1:7-6 Quick-witted Nikki

V1:7-7 Precise Deception

V1:7-8 Lu Yinian, the Heroine

V1:7-9 To Moonlit City

V1:7-S1 Office Lady Vivi (4)

V1:7-S2 Toto, Girl in Love (6)

V1:7-S3 Meet the Prime Minister

V1:7-S4 Bookish Girl Timi (4)

V1:7-S5 Sport Girl Aron (5)

Chapter 8 Mysterious. Moonlit City

V1:8-1 Lively Passing By Girl

V1:8-2 Meet Mela Again

V1:8-3 Strange Mayor

V1:8-4 Officer Orlando

V1:8-5 Possibility of Evil Plot

V1:8-6 Acquaintance’s Secret

V1:8-7 The Mayor is...?!

V1:8-8 Truth behind Puzzle

V1:8-9 To Lilith City

V1:8-S1 Meet Lisa Again

V1:8-S2 Pure Female Teacher

V1:8-S3 Star Sea Styled Dress

Chapter 9 Styling Contest Prelude

V1:9-1 New Comer

V1:9-2 Contestant Village

V1:9-3 Familiar Opponent

V1:9-4 Masked Person Again

V1:9-5 Ancient Pavilion Duo

V1:9-6 Serial Competitions!

V1:9-7 Prince’s Visit

V1:9-8 Prince’s Request

V1:9-9 One-piece Dress

V1:9-S1 Manga Artist Annabel (4)

V1:9-S2 Bookish Girl Timi (5)

V1:9-S3 Toto, Girl in Love (7)

Chapter 10 Styling Contest Games

V1:10-1 Group Match Prelude

V1:10-2 Kimi’s Encouragement

V1:10-3 Last Warm-Up

V1:10-4 Group Game 1st Match

V1:10-5 Interval (1)

V1:10-6 Group Game 2nd Match

V1:10-7 Interval (2)

V1:10-8 Bookish Girl Timi (6)

V1:10-9 Past the Group Games

V1:10-S1 Lead Singer: Kaja (3)

V1:10-S2 Sport Girl Aron (6)

V1:10-S3 Manga Artist Annabel (5)

Chapter 11 Styling Contest Finals

V1:11-1 Past the Group Games

V1:11-2 Prince’s Message

V1:11-3 Manga Artist Annabel (6)

V1:11-4 Bookish Girl Timi (7)

V1:11-5 Ace’s Kindness

V1:11-6 Mela Appears

V1:11-7 Sherry’s Challenge

V1:11-8 A Fairy from the Tales

V1:11-9 It’s a rebellion?!

V1:11-S1 Office Lady Vivi (5)

V1:11-S2 Lead Singer: Kaja (4)

V1:11-S3 Toto, Girl in Love (8)

Chapter 12 Chaos in City

V1:12-1 Escape in Chaos

V1:12-2 Friends Gathering

V1:12-3 Sneak Into The Bedroom

V1:12-4 Beauty Trap?!

V1:12-5 To the Storehouse

V1:12-6 Casket Trial (1)

V1:12-7 Casket Trial (2)

V1:12-8 Casket Trial (3)

V1:12-9 The Crisis has just begun!

V1:12-S1 Instance Trial (1)

V1:12-S2 Instance Trial (2)

V1:12-S3 Instance Trial (3)

Chapter 13 Wasteland Exoticism

V1:13-1 Arriving the Wasteland

V1:13-2 The Hot and Dry Border

V1:13-3 Bonfire Concert

V1:13-4 Pota

V1:13-5 Wasteland Boy

V1:13-6 Cloud Traditional Style

V1:13-7 Chief’s Son, Tuda

V1:13-8 Tribe’s Ritual

V1:13-9 Iron Rose Badge

V1:13-S1 Tribe’s Request (1)

V1:13-S2 Tribe’s Request (2)

V1:13-S3 Tribe’s Request (3)

Chapter  14 Lady’s Choice

V1:14-1 To the Wind Valley

V1:14-2 Farewell, Sherry

V1:14-3 Traveler from Cloud

V1:14-4 A totally different seer

V1:14-5 Silly Girl

V1:14-6 Lilith Style

V1:14-7 Infinite Potential

V1:14-8 Wasteland Priestess

V1:14-9 Enter the Wind Valley

V1:14-S1 Manga Artist Annabel

V1:14-S2 Bookish Girl Timi

V1:14-S3 Wasteland’s Night

Chapter 15 Head North To The Cloud City

V1:15-1 Intercontinental Train

V1:15-2 Trapped in Rosset City

V1:15-3 The Lady’s Request

V1:15-4 Encounter Zhong Lizi

V1:15-5 Meet the General

V1:15-S1 Crowded Station

V1:15-S2 Toto, Girl in Love (9)

V1:15-S3 Encounter Autumn 

Chapter 15 Besieging Of The Cloud City

V1:15-6 Road to North

V1:15-7 Enter Cloud City

V1:15-8 Blue Bird Wail

V1:15-9 Compete with Nidhogg

Chapter 16 Night Before Storm

V1:16-1 Return to Cloud City

V1:16-2 Troubled Times

V1:16-3 The Dwarf Stylist

V1:16-4 Cannot be Underestimated

V1:16-5 Special Agent Neva

V1:16-6 Airship’s Lies

V1:16-7 Cloud Empire Anecdote

V1:16-8 Reunion in the Forest

V1:16-9 Soldier’s Decisions

V1:16-S1 Forest Maiden Neva

V1:16-S2 The Queen’s Admirers

V1:16-S3 Uniform Challenge

Chapter 17 Banquet of Sakura Fall

V1:17-1 Gossip

V1:17-2 Eris’ Kiss

V1:17-3 Shadow on Brick Street

V1:17-4 Nobleman Style

V1:17-5 Bright Stars

V1:17-6 A Dangerous Person

V1:17-7 A Gentle Past

V1:17-8 Situation at the Auction

V1:17-9 To Disperse Love Songs

V1:17-S1 Cloud Delicacy

V1:17-S2 Educated Timi (9)

V1:17-S3 Dangerous Servant

Chapter 18 Gun under Morning Star

V1:18-1 Star’s Riddle

V1:18-2 Star Dresser

V1:18-3 Welton’s Night

V1:18-4 Trace White Blossom!

V1:18-5 Masked Thief

V1:18-6 Sneaked into Group Building

V1:18-7 Betrayal and Loyalty

V1:18-8 Lie and Truth

V1:18-9 The gun under Morning Star

V1:18-S1 Vivi’s Dream

V1:18-S2 Bookish Debbie

V1:18-S3 Run! Cali!

Chapter 19 I Daybreak War

V1:19-1 North Losol

V1:19-2 Town Dessert Chef

V1:19-3 Lion in the Road

V1:19-4 Losol Shadow

V1:19-5 Part Under Moon

V1:19-S1 Miss Mask of Cloud

V1:19-S2 Seer’s Guide

V1:19-S3 Traveler in Pidgeon

Chapter 19 II Daybreak War

V1:19-6 Iron Cage

V1:19-7 Carnival Prelude

V1:19-8 Freezing Airline

V1:19-9 Battle of Dawn

[satoshi-mochida]

Metal Bringer adds PS5 version - Gematsu

Gematsu Source

Roguelite action game Metal Bringer will launch for PlayStation 5 alongside its previously announced PC (Steam) version in 2024, publisher PLAYISM and developer Alphawing announced.

Here is an overview of the game, via PLAYISM:

About

Samurai Bringer, Alphawing’s previous game, is a Japanese roguelite action game released in 2022, where you play as Susanoo and defeat world-famous Japanese samurai as you collect combat techniques to create your own fighting style. It has received over 800 reviews on Steam with a Very Positive rating. Metal Bringer is the second game in the Bringer series, and this time, the setting is completely different—in this game, you fight in a science-fiction world with androids and giant robots in horde-based combat that’s even more satisfying than the last game, and of course, your combat actions will evolve as you fight. The Steam page is now up, so don’t forget to wishlist the game!

The Story

“The sky is blue, infinitely high, and infinitely vast… Whose words were these again…? Ah, I remember… It was about a virtual reality Rudra told me about. A fairy tale. How many years has it been since humanity took refuge underground? No one alive has ever seen a blue sky. And now, I’m trapped in the depths, in a small, lifeless room. Just how long have I been here…?” A young girl named Suria wakes up in a laboratory and finds out that she has been put in cyrosleep for 1000 years without her knowledge. In order to search for the rest of humanity, she builds Labor with her trusty Buds, and sends them off to investigate…

Highly Customizable Player Characters

Build and control android soldiers called “Labor,” or have them pilot giant machines called “Arms.” Each and every Labor and Arms you build is highly customizable. You can change the color and appearance of their features, or swap out parts to change their fighting styles. The sheer variety in character customization will allow you to create and fight with the mech of your dreams.

The More You Play, the Stronger You Get

In Samurai Bringer, you could mix and match combat techniques to create every step of your very own action combos. But in Metal Bringer, you instead collect “disks,” which contain apps that are installed onto your Labor. These apps strengthen your character and power up your actions in an easier and more intuitive way, making it all the more exciting and satisfying to mow down hordes of enemies as your character keeps growing stronger.

New Technologies, Both Visual and Audio

This game uses the same voxel art style as Samurai Bringer, but just like Samurai Bringer, it also implements a real-time pixel art generating system, and will also feature the newest raytracing technology for beautifully lit environments. The music too is made with the newest technology, as it is played in real time and changes according to the situation.

All-Star Creative Team

The key art and Suria’s character design is done by Suzuhito Yasuda, and on the writing team, we have Sami Shinosaki on board!

Suzuhito Yasuda (Twitter) – Illustrator, manga artist, and character designer for multiple popular games and media, such as Durarara!! and the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor series.

Sami Shinosaki – Novelist. Known for the novelizations of the Armored Core and Fire Emblem series.

[alarriefantasy]

Hey! can you please rec me some arranged married fics please? I just saw your tier list 🌟🙏

I cannot believe I don’t have one already because I love these fics so much!

                              Arranged Marriage Fic Rec

First Comes Marriage by jacinth

Words: 1k

The boys continued to bicker and failed to noticed their mothers' smirking into their tea-cups.

“Lots of children.” Jay murmured.

“Oh yeah. No less than six.”

Frozen by jacinth

Words: 5k

When an accident occurs six months into the miserable Mating, Louis is forced to care for a man who so clearly despises him.

keep me safe, keep me sane, keep me honest by hilourry

Words: 8k

Louis is the Prince of England. All past omega princes and princesses have been married and pregnant at age 18, so his parents arrange him to be married to Harry Styles, the royal family's PR guy.

Oranges, Whipped Cream and Blueberries by Jennifer_Kaid

Words: 9k

Louis was an omega of a pure bloodline. He had known since he was merely eight years old that he was to be bonded with a high ranked alpha. Not the one of his choice, but the one deemed suitable for him by the elders.

Little did he know that the alpha would be the leader of his pack; the greatest pack known to their kind.

infinitely all for me by swallowsmateforlife

Words: 10k

The Alpha Louis' been betrothed to since he was 14 has finally come of age and Louis' been delivered to his home.

or: the one where they figure it all out.

Make It Work by fanshae 

Words: 10k

Prompt: Arranged marriage AU. Harry is an omega who has reached the age where he must be married due to his family's income status. Only the aristocratic omegas are exempt. His parents try to hide him but eventually the government gets word and in punishment, gives the omega to a spoiled aristocrat son of a lord, Louis. Louis is more than thrilled to have his own omega and once Harry goes into heat, he explores the boy with fascination and unintentionally impregnates him. This leads to a boy used to living carefree and drinking the day away with other nobles to having to face fatherhood.

Moments Like These Are To Die For by alienharry

Words: 12k

Harry is an Alpha prince working to open his territory's minds up to love. Louis is an omega prince whose land is in need of resources and protection. For the good of their people, they're arranged to be married.

Winter Pines and Ocean Eyes by binarysunsets

Words: 14k

Or, the arranged marriage au between young viking Harry, son of his clan's chief, and a certain caesar by the name of Louis, heir to the empire.

daisies & dying by xaz

Words: 14k

Harry’s eyes stayed cemented to the marble tiles, engraining the memory of his shiny loafers and their contrast to the flooring as he heard the footsteps draw near. An icy hand yanked his chin violently, forcing his face forward.

Hand still clutching Harry’s chin, the man gave a toothy smirk, “I’ve waited centuries to have you as my bride. I won’t settle for less than your full attention, my love.”

OR Hades!Louis and Persephone!Harry but make it pirates

Sail Across Me by iwillpaintasongforlou

Words: 21k

Harry is a prince that is about to be forced into marriage against his will and running away to sea seems like a much better option. Louis is the captain of the infamous pirate ship The Rogue and he has a thing for helping defenseless creatures. Especially when they're as pretty as this one.

the sanctity of patience by scrunchyharry

Words: 22k

When young Lord Harry was chosen by King Louis of Bavaria to become his husband and prince consort, Harry thought all of his dreams had come through. His illusions came crashing down when he understood it meant living in isolation in the alpine castle of Neuschwanstein with a husband who turned out to be far from what he had hoped for.

His illusions vanished, Harry will have learn to appreciate what has and even, perhaps, fall in love with his imperfect husband and his castle.

Compete Against the Stars by amomentoflove

Words: 30k

An ABO au where Louis finds out he's claimed to another Alpha. Angst ensues.

I Sail With You by AFangirlFantasy

Words: 35k

Against his wishes, Omega Prince Harry Styles is arranged to mate with someone he doesn’t love, much less knows. Though he pleaded to his parents incessantly, they not only refuse to comply but force him to depart on a ship days later. Harry prays for fate to step in, to change what’s to come, however, the answer he is given is not exactly in the form he had hoped.

Enter Will Tommo – deadliest pirate captain of all seven seas.

Watch the Sun Coming Up by SadaVeniren 

Words: 36k

As Louis approaches his thirtieth birthday his pack is desperate for him to find a mate.

Harry has always expected one day he may settle down with a nice alpha and they would continue to live in his small hometown.

Together they somehow will make this work.

Canyon Moon by delsicle

Words: 40k

For as long as Louis has remembered, he has been promised to be mated to Harry, his best friend and the future pack alpha. But Louis’s heart belonged to the forest and to the hunt more than he could ever imagine it belonging to Harry.

Then Harry’s father dies in a violent accident, and Louis’s future alpha disappears on the wind.

An A/B/O Lion King AU

Just for Tonight (I can be yours) by SadaVeniren

Words: 42k

Harry, prince of Cestrescir, has been betrothed to Ludvic, prince of Yorvik, since birth. He'd accepted a loveless marriage as his duty to his country, until an accident threw him in the path of a gentle alpha

As Cold as a Whisper by panda_bear21

Words: 48k

A fairy tale au where people in Louis' village are disappearing and Louis is married off to uphold a centuries long agreement.

Anything for a Vote by louispalooza

Words: 62k

Harry was used to his father controlling his life. Everyone in the family was used to it after all the years his father had been in politics. But perhaps he should have drawn the line at an arranged marriage. So why had the sight of Louis Tomlinson made all his defiance disappear?

Louis Tomlinson loved his job. Most people didn’t understand why, but he just loved being involved behind the scenes of a political campaign. He was quite shocked however when the senator suggested Louis marry his son to give his campaign that extra edge it needed. He was even more shocked that he had agreed.

adjudication by bottomlinsons

Words: 75k

Harry's been engaged to Princess Charlotte of Ryde for as long as he can remember. He's come to know her, to love her, through the letters she's sent him over the past three years.But when the wedding finally arrives, Harry quickly learns that nothing is as it seems. With his crown and country at stake, Harry must decide who to trust in this strange new land. And the sly Crown Prince of Ryde doesn't seem inclined to make things easy.

Teenage Rebellion Never Worked Out So Well by panda_bear21 

Words: 55k

Or the super cliché arranged marriage fic where things escalate way too quickly.

London is well worth a mass by dolphinaaaa

Words: 93k

Louis is an Omega prince of France. When he is 13, he is betrothed to Harry of England for politics. The wedding will seal the alliance between the two coutries. This is their story.

Blue Ice by purpledandelion

Words: 102k

An AU where Louis finds himself in a marriage he didn't bargain for.

Be My Omega by Louis_Stylinson

Words: 138k

It all started when the alpha laid eyes on the short curvy omega and he knew at that moment that his life would never be the same, in a good way of course.

♡ credit to the owner of the manip

♡ past themed recs here