#its very simple but this sentence is kinda important to the story

[krakrac]

ok proper conlang showcase go

Ḥanár tónuq kóghrem éhri ḥa tawirázi Sorúq.

[ʕɐˈnɑr ˈtonɵq ˈk͡xoɣrɛm ˈœɦrɪ͜ ʕæ tæɰɪˈrɑzɪ sɞˈro̝q]

ḥanár tón-uq kógh-r-em éhr-i ḥa tawiráz-i Sor-úq

death.NOM only-GEN divide-3S>2P 2S-ACC and enemy-ACC Sorkish-GEN

"Only death divides you and [your] Sorkish enemy."

[eunchancorner]

Mandatory Maintenance

HALT NEWCOMERS

For those of you unaware, this is a tickle centric blog, and as such, I often write tickle centric fics like this one. IF THAT IS NOT YOUR THING, PLEASE DO NOT CLICK THE READ MORE

For those of you who do enjoy that, however, enjoy this story I concocted

-

“Reg, you know you don’t have to do this…” Right Hand Man grumbled, seated on him and Reginald’s shared bed as the brunette tinkered with the wiring beneath one of his side panels.

“Of course I do! What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t help you with your maintenance? After all, if I was taught how to help you, I might as well do it, you know,” the Toppat leader assured him, rewiring a few sensors near RHM’s back. He tapped a few times on the sensors.

“Can you feel this?” he asked.

“Mhm…” the redhead grunted quietly, a bit lost in thought.

“Hm, and can you feel this?” Reginald asked before lightly kissing him on the cheek, his lips making contact with another cold metal sensor. Even though he couldn’t see his good eye light up, nor his blush, he could easily see the smile that he tried to hide. That was enough for him.

“Yeah, I can feel that, too…” RHM admitted quietly, earning a smile from Reginald as well.

“Good…” he murmured simply before returning to the wires.

“Goodness, these wires up here, they’re so loose. What have you been doing to them?” the brunette questioned as he tightened each one carefully.

“I can’t help it, heists are demanding work. You know that as well as I do,” RHM reminded him as Reginald made sure each wire was still properly connected.

“I guess I’m glad I don’t need rewiring everytime I get home from one!”

“Oh trust me, it’s worse than it seems. I’m frankly lucky even my breathing is aided by these stupid cybernetics, otherwise I’d’ve collapsed a long time ago.”

“Well, at least you have someone to help you. Now, hold still, I’m almost done with this one stubborn wire…”

Finally, Reginald fixed the last wire into place, sighing as he finished.

“Perfect, now everything’s back in its place.”

He strummed a finger over each wire, but pulled his hand back as RHM’s arm crashed down as he barked out a laugh for just a moment, before covering the wires with his other hand.

“Right, uhm… Thanks, Reg, very-”

“What was that?” Reginald cut off RHM’s sentence, a curious look in his eyes.

“I-it’s was nothing, I just… I suppose I haven’t totally lost feeling in that side. It’s no big deal,” the redhead admitted, trying to remain nonchalant about the situation. Reginald, however, saw right through him, like he always did.

“Righty, are you… are you still ticklish on this side? I-I’d always thought after the incident, you’d just have completely lost all feeling there! I-it’s why I had the sensors installed, but- I didn’t…” the brunette was completely flabbergasted at the idea. 

“It’s just when you pluck those wires… they’re kinda connected to my actual nerves, I guess? It’s what allows the sensors to work properly. I mean, the sensors themselves can only do so much… that’s why they’re not… y’know…” he tried to explain, turning his head subtly just to make sure Reg couldn’t see how flustered it was really making him. 

“I see, so if I just do this…” Reginald managed to pluck the lowest wire gently, earning a snort from RHM, like he was trying to hold back. He noted how his hand moved lower to cover that wire, leaving the top one exposed.

“Right Hand Man…”

Oh fuck.

“Would you mind moving your hand for me?”

Such a simple question. But RHM knew what was happening, that smug smile gave Reg away far too easily. While he knew he couldn’t blame Reg for wanting to, he also didn’t want to easily give in like this. But who was he to deny his boss anything? Besides, he did kind of deserve it, given that Reginald had thought he stood no chance for so long.

“I-” he huffed, mulling his own answer over again and again, “Do I have a choice in the matter?”

“Of course you do. After all, consent is a very important thing in a marriage, and, well, if you really don't want it, then-”

“No wait-!” RHM blurted it out before he could stop himself, earning yet another smug smile from Reginald. He'd fallen right into his trap.

“What was that, dear?” the brunette asked innocently, watching with that damn expression as RHM covered his mouth, half regretting his words.

“I mean… I can't say I mind it… just… make it quick, alright? The thought of the others hearing it isn't exactly a pleasant one.”

“Oh please, Righty, you already know that if someone tries to doubt you, I'll shoot them personally. And you'll have a front row seat to the execution!” Reginald assured him. It helped a little, knowing the brunette knew how important RHM's reputation was to him.

Slowly, RHM raised his arm away from the exposed circuitry, letting Reginald hold it up just to make it easier on himself. He fought the urge to laugh as the brunette resumed gently strumming on the wires, mixing up the order at which he did so to keep the redhead guessing. Of course, the fact that he was holding back so well only earned him teasing from his husband.

“You know, you'd think they'd at least make a nice gradient with these wires, maybe put the red here, orange here, yellow here,” he continued on with his list, strumming the wires from top to bottom, watching RHM struggle to keep himself composed.

“But noooo! Instead you've got blue here and black here and orange here!” Reginald continued with his dramatic complaints, now plucking at random wires along his husband's side. It was clear how much worse this got to him.

But Reginald knew something that got to the poor man much worse.

“You know, Right Hand Man, I was thinking, I've been wanting to learn to play guitar for some time now. And this would be such a wonderful way to learn how without all the annoying noise of an improperly tuned guitar or some bad chords or… something.”

Oh, RHM knew that was bullshit. Playing an instrument was never something Reginald had ever considered interesting. He'd often talk about how fortunate he was to just listen to music instead of going through the process of trying to make any. He knew exactly what Reginald was actually trying to do.

And dammit, he wasn't sure he wanted to stop him.

“Let me try something here…” the brunette murmured as he began strumming in a pattern. “Perhaps you remember this one, Righty? It was on the radio during our first truck theft!” 

RHM definitely remembered, though now it had him covering his face, fighting back laughter as Reg strummed it out on his own wiring instead of tapping his boot against the floor of a truck.

Reginald hummed the lyrics as he strummed along the wiring, each 'note’ deliberately held out, until he reached the very part RHM had been dreading.

Quickly, Reginald strummed up and down the wires, finally earning a real laugh from the redhead. And with the dam finally broken, he knew he was doomed.

He stamped against the floor, his free hand slapping the bed, all in an effort to get rid of some of the ticklish energy that felt like it was trying to take over his cybernetics. His other arm was still somehow locked in Reginald's hold, despite how his own body struggled to keep it up.

“REHEHEG! REHEGINAHAHALD!” he pleaded, not even sure of what he was asking for anymore.

“You know, it's been a while since I've heard you laugh like this. I forgot how cute it is, seeing you actually letting loose a bit. Having fun instead of being so angry and serious all the time. I still remember the first time I saw you smile, I think that was when I ‘officially’ fell in love with you,” the brunette rambled as he continued to strum each wire carefully. “Even so, I don’t think it was ever this loud! I think you might be even more ticklish than you were before, which is definitely interesting. You’d think having to undergo this would tickle less. It makes me wonder, does this mean your other wires are this ticklish? Even the ones in your arm and face? Perhaps I could find out another night. What do you think, dear?”

RHM shook his head, trying to hide his face with his only free hand once again. He knew he wasn’t protesting the idea, but he was too full of ticklish energy to even try to respond, even if he could get a word out around his laughter. And with how loud he was, it was a miracle someone wasn’t telling the two to quiet down.

“REHEG, PLEHEHEHEASE!” he begged, still for nothing in particular, just out of instinct. His laugh began to grow glitchy as his augmented vocal cords began to overload and Reginald decided enough was enough, closing up the side panel and screwing it shut.

He gently patted the poor redhead on the back as he got out the last of his giggling, taking a few deep breaths to try to reset his vocal augmentations.

“You know, I meant it when I said it’s been a long time since I’ve heard you laugh like that… I’ve missed it,” the brunette noted as RHM finally regained his composure.

“Yeah, I guess it has been a while… It’s nice to let go when it’s just us, though,” he admitted. “But just us. No one else gets to know about this.”

“Well, I’m glad to have your smile all to myself.”

[hometownrockstar]

VERY simplistic guide on setting up world info, author's notes and memory for AI Dungeon

This is to get the AI to remember the max amount of detail and go more in-depth and behave less randomly, helpful if you want to make it act out specific scenes and characters, and its fun :-) again, this is much simplified to hopefully help ppl who don't know anything abt AI Dungeon, if you want more in-depth info check this whole sheet

This will get kinda long, so i will put it under a cut :-)

Now: setting up your adventure. Make a new one, and use a custom setting. I also recommend clicking on the "Do" button in the text box to make it "Story", this way you can write in pure prose and storytelling, the AI will also pick up on this style as you continue to write in it. You should also switch to 3rd Person, which you can do by going to the cog menu > 3 dots > Edit Adventure

Now to set up your World Info for this story: go to the cog menu, scroll down until you see World Info, then you'll be on the world info screen. There's these category tabs you can click on to put your world info into, to keep it organized.

click on Create New World Info, ignore all the stuff that just opened, and click on Manual Entry.

Here's where it gets complicated, BUT! I have tools that can format the complicated parts for you! I'm just gonna summarize what it all means.

This is called Zaltys formatting, its meant to minimize text to fit the word limit and maximize understanding for the AI. Now if this looks daunting to write yourself, don't worry: Go to this site and fill out the categories, hit refresh, then copy that text and paste it into the entry. it automatically formats it in this style for you :-)

How to use the site: Category is the all caps sections (ex. APPEAR), Attribute is the trait you're putting into it (ex. hair), and clicking the plus sign next to the attribute adds a Refinement which are the details about that trait (ex. brown/ponytail)

Not all of the sections have to be filled out, just put whatever info you think is most important. I have read about some people making separate World Info entries where they put in the keywords for characters and put info like hobbies and stuff which would only be important to load in the story in certain circumstances (for example, having a character who plays piano, but making a separate entry so this info only loads when they are in a room with a piano)

Extra details or summarization of backstories or anything else should go in SUMMARY, if you want to make a character with they/them pronouns i recommend stating it here and ALSO in the Story memory. It is much more consistent than trying to say theyre genderless or nonbinary, though it does often pluralize things in sentences. Neopronouns haven't worked that well when i experimented but hypothetically if you keep editing the results and continued to use them, the AI could get the hang of it. I have not tested this with characters who use multiple pronouns.

The keys section is where you put any words that will come up in the story that signify this character, most common being their name, but you can also do titles like "doctor" or "knight" or "bookworm", AS LONG AS they are the only character associated with these words. if you have multiple characters who's info is triggered by the word "doctor", the AI won't know who to associate with it.

This format is obviously useful for characters but you can also use it for locations, there are specific category words best used for locations but i have not played around with it myself yet, i recommend looking at the guide i linked at the start for info on that. Below is a chart from that guide that explains the categories a bit better

Other things about World Info: I suggest also adding entries that are relevant to the story, like places or groups the story and characters take place in. Like if you have a character who works at an evil science company, you should make a faction world info entry that describes the company. it can be simple, just saying it has highly advanced technology and is very powerful. you should also mention it by name, either putting in the faction's info that the Character is a high-ranking official of the company or mentioning the company in the Character's SUMMARY info.

About Memory and Author's Note in the cog menu

This instructs the AI on how to respond and write. I'll try to keep it brief but Memory is like World Info that is always active to the AI (unlike World Info which is only active when triggered with a key word), and Author's Note is instructing the AI how to write the story (literally formatted like an invisible A/N inserted between sentences only the AI sees)

Here's an example of a Memory and A/N setup:

The difference can be subtle sometimes but i think of Memory as more tangible things like the environment, scene, and character relations, and Author's Note as the prose and themeing of the story. Here is a site with words to use for the writing style/genre/ect. Examples of good category words to use in the Author's Note: author, writing style, genre, theme, setting, scene, format, goal, situation, storyline

[nesiclor]

How did you go about making the hollow head language? I think linguistics are interesting and kinda want to make a language for my own story.

I think the most important thing to remember when making a language is origin and intention.

It's definitely something you get used to over time, but there's nothing wrong with using real life languages as inspiration. (there are two more languages, but they're a little bit more secretive and I won't provide much of a translation)

But do remember to make a theme. And the theme depends on origin.

(this is going to be a pretty long post)

If you make a language for a race that say, has to carve on leaves, then their letters shouldn't have too many rough edges as to not break the leaves. But say you make a language where in the origin, people had to carve on stone, then they would look a lot like runes, having to keep specific shapes to represent the tools they would use to make each line.

Other subtle details include their limitations like how much time they have to write. Maybe the race is left handed or ambidextrous? If they are solitude people that rely on philosophy, then they would have time to make complicated letters and kanjis. But a race in a constant rush would have to keep it's simple and to the point.

The other thing is the attitude of the people. You either want to make them formal, welcoming, or aggressive. So of course, more formal and welcoming, means rounder and more structured shapes, while aggressive is very sharp.

I think it's good to experiment with these ideas before going all out, as it can be easy to make letters or words a little too similar to each other or not the same at all.

Words can be especially challenging, and it's important to let go of any bias you might have on the sound of words and create your very own. Start off with any keystone words your language might need for prefixes, and try to make words with your own meaning and intention, and not just direct translations to a real life language. It's especially insightful to create a specific concept in the culture that has it's very own name. (There are words in Li-umi that can only be translated with a sentence, like "nat-aan" having the description of "An expression that there is no trouble and you have freedom over something context specific. Can also mean "yeah yeah" "I hear you".") Do remember that languages are always influenced by other ones! English and many many other European languages are similar to Latin. Or Eastern Europe and Russian can sound similar and even share the same words. Li-umi was meant to be a language not to be deciphered by foreigners, but because it was founded by English speakers, there is Lumi, who's name is based off "Lumi-u", which had the flaw in sounding like "luminate".

A good example is when I myself tried to, say, make the word "kobru". Since it derives off "asshole/annoying", I keep starting off with "ah" "h" "neh" etc. But it's important to drop those and go with structures you made throughout your own dictionary, which were "ko" for mind, "u" for a whine about something loud, and just put it together as "kobru". Which admittedly somewhat sounds like "cabrón".

I can give a head start on theme making by giving a few more structural pointers to Li-umi. (Of course this doesn't mean that this is the case for every word, as it really doesn't have to be)

"Ji - Written at the end of a word as "ji" to refer to something of sentience. If it is written as "-ji", then it is usually because of a mention of someone in context."

"-neer - Written at the end of a word to mark it as the opposite of the rest of the word's meaning."

"Sh - Considering its hissy sound, it’s usually represented to poke hard at the word in question whether it be attentively or negatively. Especially when it is used in negative words, it’s natively pronounced with a growl."

"-u - Interpreted as a ‘spark’ to a word to make it sound like it popped in either combustion or quantity."

[cartmankisser]

For the Alphabet thingo with Jimmy Jim Jim My BOI B, D and R!

YES I LOVE JIMMY SO MUCH

I WENT A BIT OVERBOARD ON THIS ONE COMPARED TO THE OTHER ALPHABET ONES BUT ITS FINE I HAD FUN WITH THIS

Beauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

he knows that looks aren't everything in a relationship, but come on!! you're literally so stunning?!?!?! BUT besides a pretty face,,, definitely patience is very important to him! for multiple reasons!!

1 : he needs someone who can listen to him. if either of you guys get upset, listening to eachother is a top priority. he loves that you guys can listen to eachother and hear each side of the story instead of just getting mad. he adores it when people are understanding!!! especially when it comes to things that are personal to him!! (cough his s/o cough)

2 : this one's a bit obvious but definitely for his disability. he's used to being cut off mid sentence because of his stutter and people not inviting him out on the weekends because he walks slower and has limited mobility compared to most of the people in south park.

i feel like that's a such huge reason he likes special dates with just the two of you. he knows you will listen to his jokes all the way through and you don't mind walking at his pace. he just thinks it's so sweet that, even if he's having a difficult day, you don't mind waiting for him?!??!? (also he gets to do cringy pda because nobody's there to cringe at you guys)

Dreams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

he just wants to keep the fun dynamic you guys have. his biggest fear is that you guys would drift apart or kinda burn out, so he likes to keep things casual with you.

he doesn't want anything to be super extreme or obsessive, so probably just a simple little life in the city or a place where he could still do standup

like comedy is not his first priority, you are, but he still wants to pursue his comedy career. but like i mean he'd still be happy living in a cozy town with you 100% if anything came up or if he lost interest by the time he gets older (but he won't)

Romance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

averagely romantic i would say! he likes cliche dates with flowers and candles whenever your upset and fun, spontaneous dates whenever your in a good mood!!!

he prefers chill dates mostly at home. just playing board games or super smash bros mostly, maybe make fun of stupid movies or shows for toddlers.

totally random but i feel like he would love window shopping at the mall. only going into the stores that seem cool. definitely spends a bit too much at candy stores,,

every now and then he would love to go all out on a cheesy date. he likes the idea of dressing up all fancy for you but also he loves that he gets to show you off to everyone!! its literally his favorite thing to do. just to ramble about you to anyone who will listen

and this increases by a ten fold whenever you guys go on dates.

he makes sure to tell anyone around him thats he's dressed up for his partner and that he only takes you to the best places like these. it's part adorable part annoying 😅😅

[oddaodd]

· They Were Closer Now, Fernando ·

Summary: Tommy comes home exhausted from a business trip in London and snaps at the reader but then makes it up.

Warnings: a hint of smut at the very end, nothing too graphic though.

Author's note: Im not sure what this is. Its kinda angsty, but not too angsty and kinda fluffy, but not extremely fluffy, it just is.

Also, this has nothing to do nor is based on the ABBA song Fernando, buuut I've been listening to a lot of ABBA lately and I like the name, so yeah. Hope you enjoy it and have the loveliest of days.

·

“I’d never thought I’d find you here” she happily said walking into the library to find her husband laying peacefully with a book in his hands on one of the sofas she had insisted on buying a few months prior.

He wasn’t supposed to be home for one more day, but Y/n wasn’t complaining, she had missed Tommy terribly during his week long sojourn in London for business.

“I needed to clear my head” he said, his eyes not leaving the book in front of him.

She hummed as she made herself comfortable next to him laying her head on his chest.

“How was London?” She asked. She would be lying if she said she didn’t hate it when Tommy went away for business, but she knew she wouldn’t ever stop him from going if it was really important.

“Chaotic” he sighed feeling somehow glad to be at home, but not in the mood to answer his wife’s inquiries.

A comfortable silence fell on the room for a few minutes as her eyes began to scan over the printed words.

“Who’s Edgar?” She asked when she came across the name in a sentence.

“The main character” Tommy replied shortly.

“And Fernando?” She asked yearning to engage in conversation with her husband after not having been able to do so while he was away.

“An old innkeeper” he replied without providing much way for conversation.

He couldn’t fathom why, maybe it was the exhausting weekend behind him at London or perhaps the small setback a simple mistake had caused at the betting shop the prior Friday , but the last thing he wanted to do at the moment was talk even if it was with Y/n.

“And why are they going to Portugal?” Her voice brought him back to the library.

Noticing he had missed the thread of his story thinking of his own unwillingness to talk multiplied his vexation.

“I’ll lend you the book after so you can find out yourself.” He mumbled in a tone so transparent that let his mild annoyance show.

Y/n caught up on it immediately. She always did. Suddenly feeling like an interruption she shifted a from her current position. Maybe he just needed space.

Tommy sighed almost immediately in regret of is tone. He knew his wife was a sensitive woman.

“I’m going to bed” she said softly pressing a kiss to his cheek before standing up and leaving the room mumbling a soft “Goodnight, love” before closing the door.

As she made her way upstairs she tried to keep herself together. She felt guilty for pestering her husband when what he clearly yearned for was a quiet night engrossed in his book with characters with Spanish names, but she had missed him. The weekend he had been away had been a most long one and for a reason she had been feeling melancholy in his short absence.

Getting into bed she mulled over her emotions almost hoping that directing them would make her feel better although she knew it was futile.

However, her time to overthink wasn’t long because a few moments later, the door cracked open and in came an apologetic looking Tommy who wasted no time on getting in bed behind her, pulling her closer to him. Her back pressed against his chest and one of his arms draped over her waist.

“Hi” she softly spoke as she intertwined her fingers with his

“Hello, Mrs. Shelby” he murmured pressing a kiss to her temple. “Im sorry about earlier”

“Its alright” she said sinking into his embrace.

“Im tired, I didn’t mean to snap”

“I know” she reassured as she turned around and cuddled into him. “And I’m sorry for interrupting your travels to Portugal” she added lightly, referring to his book “I just missed you”

“I missed you too” he said and after a few beats of silence he spoke again in a tender, intriguing voice “Edgar is going to Portugal because he found a small box of letters in his late mother’s bedroom. Turned out his mother wasn’t the person he thought he was, so he travels to Portugal to find out more about her life. And Fernando was an old friend of her who helps Edgar in his quest.”

“It does sound interesting” she smiled “you will have to let me borrow it when you’re done with it”

“I will” he promised feeling butterflies at the sight of his wife’s smile.

Cupping her face, he leaned in to press his lips against hers. She corresponded the kiss immediately, letting his tongue wander in her mouth and his hands travel under her nightgown. A week of not having felt her husband’s touch was a week too long.

·

@captivatedbycillianmurphy @peakyxtommy @nyotamalfoy @writeroutoftime @babylooneytoonz @lilymurphy03

[noxiatoxia]

just finished watching Tje Bad Guys. I really liked it! Here's my thoughts:

snake and wolf totally have a thing goin on

ms fox was a bit of a mary sue but she looked hot doing it so all is forgiven

speaking of, i really enjoy her dynamic with mr wolf. at first i didnt care much for it, but when it was revealed she was also an ex-criminal, i began to dig it. that scene where wolf geeks over her equipment like a fanboy hit me so good. and their cute dialogue over it "i actually prefer the older model" "agree to disagree" i can relate to that level of autism when you talk to somebody who is equally passionate on a subject.

the computer joke got me to laugh tbh. when webs was having technique difficulties and they were throwing suggestions "maybe it needs system permissions?" "update a driver!" it was so funny bc that's exactly what troubleshooting feels like. literally whenever i have a computer issue i cant instantly figure the cause of im like "update a driver. its gotta be one of them."

the Twist that marmalade was #evil i saw coming, but i do like how they pulled it off. i didnt think he was the grandma tbh. also the breakdown scene had so much (unintentional) death note imagery. i literally was like "HES HAVING HIS KIRA BREAKDOWN"

i also saw the twist coming that Snake set him up, but again, it was satisfying and made sense why he couldnt or didnt tell the others of it, so i forgive it

the animation style was a lot of fun. kind of into the spiderverse esque with the 3d animation that feels very 2d

mr wolf has a praise kink

another story that focuses with the whole "dont judge a book by its cover!" and "people can change!" but its not a bad moral, it's simple and important regardless

that line where maramalade said to mr. wolf smth like "Looks like the big bag wolf has been outsmarted yet again by a little piggy" was clever. also when he kicked the door open just as Wolf had his angry outburst to paint him in a bad light. saw that coming but made me have that instinctive cringe reaction all the same bc man wolf was boned

to the hacker of the group: "Where'd you learn to do that?" "oh, you know, i'm a born natural, it just comes to me......... *sighs* YouTube, mostly."

also, im very pleased that characters in this movie dont speak perfectly. as in, they stutter and redo their sentences in the middle of them, especially when frustrated. This is something that has always bothered me in many forms of media. People don't speak perfectly most of the time and tend to stumble and stutter. I'm really glad that characters do it several times over, it feels more real. And the voice acting was great

i liked that when everyone thought the guys had stolen smth they actually didnt, they turned on them. This obviously made them feel betrayed, but they didnt give up. i like that the general public wasnt portrayed as perfect obviously, and the guys took offense to it but still pushed forward

also i kinda like the subtle notion that, ironically spoken by marmalade, that there's good in everyone. despite the fact he turned out to be the true villain, if it wasn't for him, the bad guys wouldn't have become the good guys in the first place

some things i didnt necessarily like:

the character of the shark feels exactly the same as the shark character in the harley quinn show. not that it's a bad thing, it's just odd such a specific archetype is prevalent (comic relief goofy villain shark with black man voice who's main trait in heists is to play the part of a disguise but the joke is you can tell it's obviously a shark)

especially when in her bad guy outfit, ms fox's body is so... curvy and ""female"". this isn't a problem with this movie specifically, pretty much any other female character furry movie or otherwise has this issue

not a fart joke fan sorry :( well sometimes but not here

not necessarily a good or bad thing, but this movie has many parallels to zootopia, but if zootopia was told from nick's perspective and he was a wolf, and judy was a fox. both movies have similar themes while zootopia also deals with racism. i like both movies for different reasons. however, zootopia did mildly criticize the police industry by portraying them as uncooperative, caring more about reputation than getting the job done, and being guilty of racism as well. Of course it's to be expect that a movie about a new cop would critique the police more than a movie about bad guys who don't work with the force. except that maybe you can see it as them being too trigger happy with arresting people.

Anyway, good movie! Enjoyed it. the wolf was hot as hell.

edit: forgot to ask, what WAS the point of marmalade dressing up like an old lady? all this only happened bc wolf tried to steal her purse, but she tripped, so he was forced to help her to not cause a scene, and she praised him. Assuming the tripping was on purpose, how did he know wolf would even try to rob her in the first place? How did he predict Wolf would come here - that he had good in him to even trick him with?????? it just seems super coincidental and he assumed a lot of things for this "him dressing up as an old lady" trick to work. idk

[meadow-roses]

aske time :) for the writing asks: A1, A2, A10, A12, A14, your choice of anything in B, C8 ( :^) ), C11, D6

A1: Introduce the characters from one of your current WIPs in one or two sentences each. 

Okay let's gooo,,, I'll do The Keepers cause I haven't talked about that one as much. These aren't gonna be the best descriptions but whatever 

Ketsler: Quirky, fun-loving, everyone's weird grandpa, but also the most powerful person to have ever lived. He's old- so very, very old- and he's seen so much over all the centuries he has been protecting the worlds from Chaos, but he still makes an effort to slow down and appreciate the little things around him, because he knows better than most how fleeting life is.

Skylar: Skylar is from a world where faerie circles are real and witches turn people into frogs and trolls live in great, big castles and are slain by talking cats, a world where there's too much adventure to stay in one place, too many people to meet, and too many monsters to slay to stop running. He may be only a human (ooo mystery!!) but he is proficient in Wind magic and carries around a good bit of rune stones he and his pet dragon have found along his adventures. 

Felix: Felix is just a normal human from a small town after the earth becomes united under one world power. He wasn't born with superpowers like most soldiers are, but he was still skilled enough to join a special force working behind enemy lines when the rebellion made its move to free the planet from the tyranny that built this dystopian reality. 

Betty: A very sweet young lady, she's from a planet that was colonized by humans centuries ago. She may seem naive, but Betty can read anyone like a book and uses her gift to help those who are lost find themselves again. 

There's more characters but I'll just stick with those main ones cause I really struggle with descriptions xD

A2: Who's your favorite character to write and why?

Probably Joden? I haven't written most of my characters, but I looove writing his dialogue. He also makes me think so I can keep him clever lol

A10: What’s your character development process like? (As in how you develop them, not necessarily their development in-story)

I roleplay them! The more developed they are, the more I've acted as them. It really gets me inside their head to try and think like how they think, and that results in me being more equipped to "discover" why they are like that. 

A12: What kind of internal conflict does your character go through (want versus need, personality complexes or strong personality flaws/”fatal flaw” kinda thing)? How does this affect them?

It really varies depending on the character? For example Joden has this need to always have a plan, always be in control, and a breaking moment for him comes in when he finally just,,, doesn't know what to do. He's in over his head and the only thing he can do is trust Jacer to do what he can- knowing Jacer doesn't have things under control. 

So that's an example of a flaw that the character gets to overcome, but there also characters whose flaws are part of who they are. Skylar wouldn't be Skylar if he weren't stubborn. Ketsler wouldn't be Ketsler if he weren't arrogant. They never grow out of these flaws, they just learn to control them. Or I guess not be controlled by the flaw. 

This is actually something I think I struggle with for my characters, giving them those visable flaws. I see other people's characters that start out "bad" and grow into heroes, but it kinda seems like all my characters start out as heroes. 😅 I mean, they have flaws, but in comparison to other people's characters they feel really bland in that aspect. Idk

A14: Ramble about your characters. Anything special you like about them? Random little details you’ve added that you enjoy? 

Uh,,, I don't even know where to start I just love all of them for so many various reasons. Joden is just a clever little genius but he still can be so naive. He just has simple pleasures and it's not hard to make him laugh or smile and practically impossible to discourage him. He starts off just,,, wanting his old life back and then he sees what the world is like outside his little bubble and the bubble pops. He sees the atrocities for what they are and to be able to settle down again, he has to fix it. He can't just smile and do as he's told, he can't let the bad guys win. It I just his mother and wife and son he's fighting for, it's the entire wood and the idea of being actually, truly, free.

Jacer is so savvy, he knows what to do and what to say to get into and out of any situation, but at the same time he's just clueless when it comes to genuine connection. He's a princeling who's really never had a friend and now he's saving the world with Joden who only knows how to make genuine connections. Why does he have to keep hugging me??  

And Twylla who's ready to fight anything so she can get her clever idiot husband back? 

Adric who's just doing his best to be a good leader but everything keeps going wrong. He wasn't born to be a king, he wasn't born to lead an army, he always had his big brother to help him do these things and he's gone- he's gone and he's not coming back he messed up again so bad and yet here he is with everyone looking to him for answers and he doesn't know what to tell them. But he's got his friends, and he's got a good heart, and he genuinely cares and they're going to figure it out.

Skylar just keeps running forward and he never looks back at the past he just jumps from one adventure to another stopping the monsters and saving the day. He's got Gigi what more does he need? 

Felix is just,,, he's just such a nice guy. Over and over he stepped into the gap because someone's gotta fly that fighter, someone's got to fire that gun, someone's got to stabilize the bomb, someone's going to lose their life to ensure the victory, why shouldn't it be him? But he never actually dies, somehow he always survives and lives to fight the next day, and the next day and the next day, and then they win the war- the world is free. And even though he's been through so much he still hasn't lost that kindness, that love for all life that makes him himself. He still falls in love and starts a family and has his own beloved children… and even when he loses them he still doesn't become cynical. He still stands in the gap and is the one to fire the gun, to hold the hand of the one who's mourning, to scoop up the orphan child and carry them home. He fights, so others don't have to. Father to the fatherless and hero for all. Also he puts up with Skylar's time traveling craziness lol

And Ketsler? Unlike everyone else he never chose to be a hero. What are you supposed to do when you're a four year old boy and everyone tells you you're the hero they've been waiting for, praying for, you have to save them. It wasn't at all his choice to be born with the power of the universe running through his veins. To hold the Inness in his hands and bend reality to his will. But he didn't run away. He never hid from his destiny. He took the world onto his shoulders and never set it down. Only once- and he's never going to do it again. Never going to ask someone to fill in his role for him, it is his burden to bear… Except not anymore. Despite being multi-millenniums old, all that time didn't dull his appreciation for the little things. A baby's smile, sunshine through the leaves, the change of the seasons. The union of two souls in marriage, or the colors of the sunset streaking a foreign sky. He still sees these things, loves these things, fights for these things. Cause it's the little things he's fighting for, not just the big things. The precious moments and precious lives that make up the worlds. One of his apprentices asked him once, he'd been fighting for so long, when was it going to end? It's not his job to strike the final blow, to end the suffering and bloodshed, just to help. He saves the world, so that he can save it again. 

I have… several more characters I'd love to ramble about but that answer's gotten pretty long so I'll cut it off there. XD

B3: Do you have any plot twists? No need to describe them, just think about what kind of reaction you want from your readers. 

Oh I was just talking to August about this the other day. XD There is one plot twist in the Keeper's story I'm reeaaally looking forward to hehe I want to make people confused and then really mad when the whole thing is stretched out. >:) 

C8: Does magic exist in your world? Who can use it? How does it work?

It really depends on which WIP, but in general I like to keep magic restricted with rules. Joden's story and the Keeper's story are in the same universe (along with ThRoG) and follows that magic system. It's too complicated to go in depth here, but "magic" exists in another plane of existence, and things in the material world have varying levels of connection with it. It's kinda the energy that holds all worlds together and sustains life. The magic realm- the Inness is not a place where physical matter should exist, only spirits can walk there. 

Wizards are creatures that stand with one foot in the physical realm and the other in the Inness. Tevlar is destroying the world basically by turning it inside out- pulling the Inness out.

C11: Have you developed historical figures? How do you develop them? How in-depth do you go?

Oh yes. I am a complete history nerd so if any world EXISTS it has history, and history only happens because people. 

Sometimes it's a thought through process of "somebody needs to go here" and sometimes it's an npc from a time travel rp that took on more importance than I originally intended. 

It really varies how in depth it will go? Sometimes it's just a name to fill a spot and other times it's like, man I could write a whole book about this guy!

One historical figure would be Ares of the Pegasus. He was a powerful warrior that won a bunch of wars and united the different pegasus clans under his leadership and became the first king. He's really famous and people like naming their kids after him in a kinda superstitious hope they'll grow into attributes of his character. Ares is the male form of the name, Aris is for girls. It's like, the most common Pegasian name. XD

D6: Are there any writing styles that inspire you?

Probably the first writing style I wanted to emulate was Tolkien's, but I also really liked Andrew Peterson's? Tolkien is so dramatic, and Peterson isn't heavy on location descriptions, so I'm kinda aiming for in between I guess. 

[housamo-side-blog-2]

Maid’s surprise

{DORM ROOM BACKGROUND]

{Knocking}

Delivery Guy: Hello?, A package for Harumo here?.

It was a bright morning today, cause it this is going to be a doozy of a day for everyone, Now you’re still asleep in your bed,blankets over your head preventing the rays from the sun from heating up your head and waking you up from a good dream, However the delivery guy is getting for aggresive with his knocking and your ring flashes summong Lil Salomon,

Lil Salomon: Master! Wake up!, It appears you’re package has been delivered did you order something?

Harumo:ZZZZ.....ZZZZZ

Lil Salomon:*sigh* what am i going to do with you, you really need to change your sleeping schedules.

Delivery Guy:*knocking loudly*Hello!, Anybody home!

With each knocking,it finally wakes you up from a dream, 

Harumo: Oh no!, Salomon why didn’t you wake me up?!

Lil Salomon: I did Master!, but you were sleeping like a rock! no matter how many times i tried you couldn’t wake up.

You quickly got up of bed, fixed your ruffled hair and quickly head towards the delivery guy whom appears to have given up,from your lack of response, you chase him all the way downstairs to apologize to him.

Delivery Guy: Phew!, Finally! i thought i was going to return this. 

Harumo: Yeah,so sorry about that, i was just all night planning something.

Delivery Guy: I see, well sign here please.......and this....okay, have a nice day!

Harumo: Thank you!, good luck of your next delivery!

Lil Salomon: Whats in the box master?, 

Harumo: Well....Its a secret.

Lil Salomon: Ahhh!, thats so mean master, come on! pretty please you can’t resist this adorable face master.

Harumo:Uhhh.....Fine...Its....A maid outfit.

Lil Salomon:.....Huh......HUH?!

Lil Salomon: What do you mean its a maid outfit?!, and why did you bought that.

Harumo: The thing is....

{FLASHBACK]

Harumo: Hey? Melusine?

Melusine: What is it Harumo?

Harumo: i just notice,whenever we waik past the other maids, they always seem to taik about you on your back, 

Melusine: Oh, i think its because of my maid outfit, 

Harumo: Your maid outfit?

Melusine: You see, im the only among the maids who’s wearing a deep blue maid outfit, whenever a maid is a personal servant like myselft to Monsieur Licht there outfits are in deep color in order to organise the maids. 

Harumo: But why are they..

Melusine: Pay no mind to them, as long as i can serve Monsieur Licht then i will not care what they say..

Harumo: Ohh i see...

{END OF FLASHBACK}

Lil Salomon: I see, your planning to make her feel not alone aren’t you master?

Harumo:Yes, i think she’s really lonely of the fact that no one is in the same position as her. 

Lil Salomon: Ohh. A noble deed master!, im really proud of you.

Harumo: Hehe, Thanks Lil Salomon now would you help me putting it on and see i look in it.

Lil Salomon: Off course Master!

You started to put on the maid outfit,its dress is black and the apron in its usualy white, the outfit comes with stockings however you don’t see any reason to put them so you put them away in your drawer, the outfit consisted of a ribbon that you had Lil Salomon helped you tied it and the sleeves are really wide that makes your fat arms appear skinny.

Harumo: I think i put it correctly ,don’t you think Lil Salomon?,Uh Lil Salomon?

Lil Salomon: *holding a laugh* y-yes master you look um astonishing..*holding back laughter*

The more Lil Salomon looks at you,he fights the urge to laugh as you look um cute but at the same time funny looking. you checked your mirror to see what you look like and you seem really pleased with it, well its a little tight but its comfortable enough.

Harumo: Hmm, Ohhh, Yessss, i kinda look good in it, hey Lil Salomon what do you think? Uhm Lil Salomon? what are yo- thaaaa!

You didn’t notice you left your door open, open for everyone you passes by to see everything that you did in the last minutes, one particular student just so happens to be passing by when he notices your door open and is quite shocked to see you in a maid outfit.

Ryota: IM SORRY! IM SORRY! SORRY TO INTERRUPT YOU BYE! 

He ran towards he’s room with embarrasement and covered his eyes with his face all red and shuts the door behind him.

Harumo: Uhmmm, Im gonna explain this to him later.

Lil Salomon: Yes,did you see his reaction master? it was hilarious!

Harumo: i better change now before anyone sees me in this.

Lil Salomon: You better do it now Master because i see Shiro and Kengo waiking towards us.

Harumo: Welp gonna change..

{END OF SCENE}

{OUTSIDE ENTRANCE OF ROPPONGI TOWER}

You have just exited the train and arrived in Minato Ward, Where the Roppongi Guild is located, The Guild is the most famous throughout Minato Ward for its massive influence of the economy and there wealth and power as well as one of the most powerful guilds through out Tokyo, And made your way towards the Roppongi Guild’s Headquarters,the tallest building of Minato Ward, Roppongi Tower and have finally arrived at the outside entrance of the tower, 

Harumo: All right,time to head in.

As you waik towards the entrance you are stopped by the security guards and asked for what purpose did you come here. 

Harumo: Im here to see Licht. 

Security Guard: Whats your business with the Guild Master?

Harumo: I planning to discuss some important matters with him.

Licht: Hello my friend!, Im glad you made it, Guards let him through he’s a good friend of mine.

Harumo: Its so nice to see you again Licht!

Licht: Likewise, I got your message,whats this important matter you wanted to discuss with me.

Harumo: Well the thing is...

{ELEVATOR}

Licht: What?! You wanted to dress up as maid for Melusine?!

Harumo: Yeah, the other maids where making fun of her, so i decided to dress up as maid to cheer her up.

Licht: I see, well im not one to judge.

Harumo: I brought the maid outfit with me on my bag.

Licht: Wait? you bought one?!

Harumo: Yeah,Everyone will get suspicious if i got it from here. want to see it?

Licht: Uhmm, Well, I mean i’ll be delighted to see how it looks on you, sure why not.

Both of you have ascended to the top floor of the tower and quickly changed your clothes and put on the maid outfit. and Licht’s reaction is just like the rest.

Harumo: Well i do i look?

Licht:[Oh my goodness he looks so cute in it!} Uhmm you look...real cute if im being honest.

Harumo: Ahh Thanks. By the way where’s Melusine?

Licht: i asked her to fetch me some tea, she should be here any minute now.

Melusine:Monsieur Licht, your tea is here....AH!

Harumo: Hi Melusine!.

Melusine: Y-yes, but why are you dressed as a maid?

Harumo: Remember the other day the other maids are taiking about you on your back. i figured i should dressed up as maid just for the day so that the other maids won’t make fun of you.

Melusine: Harumo....you dressed up..as a maid just to make me feel better.

Harumo: Melusine...?

A tear drips down of her cheek, crying tears of joy knowing that there was another person who cared about her deeply, hopefully Licht isn’t jealous. 

Harumo: Uhm,, SORRY! Melusine, i didn’t mean to make you cry its just..

Melusine: Its okay Harumo, its just warms my heart to know you really cared about me so much even though im just a simple maid.

Harumo:You’re not a simp-

Licht: YOU’RE NOT A SIMPLE MAID!.

Melusine: Monsieur Licht?...

Licht: To  other’s eyes they see you as a servant only,but to me, your more than just a servant,you’ve been the most loyal servant no...friend that i’ve ever met, you’ve been with me ever since the Roppongi Guild had existed and through the years i’ve seen you as a very caring,trustworthy and loyal friend,so my order is to prohibit you from ever calling yourself a useless maid, understand?

Harumo:Licht.....

Each sentence Licht said to his loyal friend is like an arrow that as sharp as cupid’s arrows and it brought Melusine to more tears of joy, knowing that she is more than a servant to her master, he sees her as a friend whom he can rely on, 

Melusine: Monsier Licht....Im very grateful for your kind words.

Harumo: Licht....Thanks.

Licht: Hehe, Well im her master, 

Harumo: Now on to busniness,Hey Melusine what do you think?,do i look good in it.?

Melusine: Hmm, It needs one more thing to complete the look. hold on.

Melusine waik towards a closet full of stylish suits,assuming it belongs to Licht based on the size it is and on the left side of the closet appears a small drawer full of accessories and hats, Melusine takes something from the drawer and puts it on you. 

Melusine: And...done, there, you look like a maid here, 

You checked yourself at a nearby mirror and notice she putted a hat on you,that looks like the hats the other maids are wearing.

Harumo: I kinda look cute in it.

Licht:{You sure do my friend} ahem, Harumo,Melusine i think its time to go to a meeting right now.

Harumo:Meeting? Wait, who’s going to be in the meeting?

Licht: Just some business partners we’ve been trying to get to endorsed us.why?is something wrong? 

Harumo:Phew, no,its nothing.

Melusine: Shall we go,we’re going to be late for their arrival.

Licht: Ah,yes i forgot,Lets go you two.

Harumo: YEAH!.

Melusine:I will follow your Monsier Licht.

As she opens the door,you noticed a smile from Melusine as you head out and there you begin your temporary working as a maid day, With Melusine as your guide to the rules and regulations all maids follow, she however is very happy today knowing how deeply her Master feels for her and her friend who maid it all possible. 

OKAY! THATS A WRAP PEOPLE,HOLY KLEB I’VE FINALLY CREATED A STORY THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE 5 OR 4 PARTS,AS ALWAYS THANK YOU ALL FOR READING MY STORIES I REALLY APPREACIATE YOU ALL FOR READING IT EVEN THOUGH I CANNOT DETERMINE WHETHER YOU READ IT OR NOT, AS ALWAYS IF YOU LIKED IT THEN LEAVE A LIKE AND IF YOU HAVE AN OPINIONS ABOUT THIS STORY THEN TELL ME IN THE COMMENT SECTION, OR NOT WHENEVER YOU PREFER,

Writer:THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR READING.!

Harumo: THANK YOU ALL FOR READIN!

[kinetic-elaboration]

100 Days of Writing: Day Sixty-Three

I decided to catch up on The 100 Days of Writing and then I... accidentally wrote a large number of words. In my defense, this is like 2 weeks’ worth of questions. Also I skipped the ones I didn’t have anything to say about so actually this could be worse.

(I’m not even kidding, this is really long. I talk about writing rituals, tools for plotting, my thoughts on opening with dialogue and why I don’t like it, my favorite topics, the weather, and what length of fic I like to write.)

I’m tagging, and apologizing to, @the-wip-project and fellow participants @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold, @thelittlefanpire, @hopskipaway, @easilydistractedbyfanfic, @dylanobrienisbatman, and @fontainebleau22.

*

Day 49: How do you get yourself in the mood to write? Do you have a ritual?

Every time I tell myself I’m going to get back into doing these questions, I see this one in my bookmarks and go nope! and turn around. It’s not a hard question; I’ve just been having trouble consistently getting into the mood to write, so I feel like any answer I try to give to it will be, in some sense, a lie. Like do I ever get “in the mood” to write? Really?? Also, I feel like I’m relying too much on ‘ritual,’ building up ‘the perfect writing situation’ in my head, which at the end of the day is less important than just saying ‘I’m going to do this now’ and then doing it.

I do have some things I always do when I sit down to a writing session. I write on my couch. Almost always (unless I’m on an event deadline where I just have to write in bits and pieces whenever possible), I write in sprints—I use write or die to keep me actually typing and not staring into space. I write in order, and I often write a whole scene at a time. So before I start I need to have at least a couple solid opening sentences in mind, plus some kind of idea about what happens/needs to happen in the scene. In order to get in the right headspace, I usually spend some time just thinking before I actually get to writing. I reread my outline or notes, and skim whatever I might have already written on the project. Sometimes I look at images that help me get in the right mood. Sometimes I just imagine or daydream for a bit. The difficulty, especially recently, is in making sure I do this just enough and not too much, because then I get too caught up in my head and I can no longer translate what I’m seeing into words.

In a broader sense, I also have a building up to writing ritual—again, I think this is part of my problem, that I don’t know how to balance this build up with actual writing. In the hours/days before writing something, I turn it over in my head a lot. I practice different versions of those critical opening sentences. I play it out like a fantasy just to see if there’s a possible flow, even if the final version is different. Basically, I try to turn it into something that just needs to be written, that just needs to get out. But again—this can lead to overthinking and frustration.

The best way I can describe writing for me is that, when it goes well, I find a rhythm, or enter into a zone, where I can describe the images in my head in a way that’s both accurate and pleasant to read. But entering that zone or finding that rhythm is like jumping into a game of jump rope. If you don’t do it right, you’re just going to trip over your feet and get tangled in the rope. But if you do it correctly, it’s fun and exhilarating and you can keep jumping for a long time. Sometimes it takes me some false starts to jump in. And recently I’ve been having days where I just can’t at all, where I tangle the rope up so much I can’t unknot it. Those are the days I just have the same sentences repeating over and over in my head, sounding wrong, and I can’t do anything about it. On the other hand, I write in much longer sprints than I did a couple years ago. I used to only write partial scenes, maybe a few hundred words. Now I can write whole scenes without stopping, and on a few occasions, I’ve written multiple scenes or even whole stories without stopping. So in other words, when it works,  it really works. But it doesn’t always, and there’s not a lot of in between.

*

Day 50 What fic/story made you?

Um… honestly I’ve been writing, in general and fic specifically, for such a long time that I didn’t have a ‘maybe I can do this’ moment. I mean one problem I’ve never had is thinking I can’t do this. I had positive reinforcement for my school and academic writing, and for a long time my fictional stories were just for me, and I knew what I liked. Even just thinking about my fic writing… I’ve been posting fic online since 2006, and I’ve been in multiple fandoms. I don’t really have much connection to a lot of those early stories anymore. They feel like they were written by someone else, a little. I’ve also moved on from most of the fandoms I wrote for in my early fic days so I don’t feel like I can really judge them anymore.

That said… there is kinda an obvious answer for my Star Trek fic lol. I also have favorite stories, and stories that stick out even years after I wrote them, in all (or at least most) of the fandoms I’ve been in. But I’m not sure if that’s the same.

Also, I had two teachers who were really encouraging of me and who I still think about often. One was my seventh grade English teacher, who had us do a lot of writing exercises of various types, both large and small, including keeping writing journals we wrote in every day at the start of class. He once told my mom that I wrote well, not for a seventh grader, but in general, and to be honest I still think of that with some regularity and take a lot of pride and comfort in it. The other was my creative writing professor in college. I don’t think I did my best work for that class, but she was very encouraging and seemed to like what I did. At the end of the semester, as I was preparing my portfolio, she told me that if I didn’t want to do much editing, I didn’t have to, because my unedited work would stand on its own. Again, especially considering all the problems that I saw with my writing for that class even then, I really took that comment to heart. When I’m feeling very self-critical, I remind myself that even my raw scribblings have, perhaps, something to them, and it helps ease the excessive and unwarranted pressure I put on myself. These aren’t really stories about specific writing pieces that ‘made’ me but I do think they speak to that ‘maybe I can do this’ feeling.

*

Day 51: Do you use tools for plotting and what are they?

So, generally, no. Sometimes I’ll look at various writing/plotting/organizational tools as a method of distraction, but my actual process is very simple. I use plain old notebooks and pens, and word documents on my computer, to plan all my fics, from the one-shots to the multi-chapters. I start by writing down general thoughts and brainstorming, then I build a scene list and/or outline, and then, if necessary, I separate the scenes lists into chapters. Sometimes I break down the scenes even more, if I have additional ideas I don’t wan to forget or if I know I need to hit certain points in a specific scene. The process varies a little bit from project to project, but that’s basically all I do.

I did use Evernote to plan the (still unwritten….) Ark AU. I don’t know if that was the best program choice or if something else exists that would have more precisely met my needs. But that’s what I used and that’s how it is. It’s a little annoying that every time I open it, it’s been updated, and the interface looks totally different and I have to relearn where everything is. But the tagging system has worked decently to allow me to see the big picture of this complex, multi-strand, multi-character, multi-ship disaster epic of a story. I struggled to plot it for a long time because I didn’t know how to balance all of the different parts. In Evernote, I made one ‘note’ for each character, and one for each scene (in addition to miscellaneous notes about sub plots, relationships, questions, etc.). Then I tagged each of them, including tagging the scenes by chapter. So now I can look at a list of all the characters, or all the scenes, or all of the scenes in chapter 8, or whatever, but I can also look at just one particular note at a time, and not be distracted by anything else. That said, I do also have one note that is just a total scene list for the whole fic, which is pretty reminiscent of my usual outlining process.

So… somehow this helped me plot (tentatively) the whole thing, but as I’ve written almost none of it—I finished outlining this in February 2020 so in my defense… I think you can see why it stalled—I’m not yet sure if it was a successful experiment in a ‘plotting tool.’

*

Day 60: How do you start your chapters? Do you start with dialogue? Why or why not?

While I am definitely against prescriptive “writing rues” generally, as my own personal rule, I try not to start with dialogue unless I have a very good reason.

To be quite honest, I think it’s lazy. I do think that dialogue openings can be used well, if the writer acknowledges that they are intensely stylistic and, from a reader’s perspective, quite difficult. Even within fanfiction, where a line of dialogue (especially if accompanied by a dialogue tag or swiftly followed by a reference to the speaker) gives a lot more information to the reader than in original fiction, opening with dialogue still shoves the reader directly into the deep end of the scene, with very little to orient her. WHERE is the speaker? WHO is being addressed in the dialogue? WHAT is the context of the conversation? Who ELSE might be present in the scene?

There are reasons you might want to throw the reader in the aforementioned deep-end. Maybe it’s an in media res situation and you want to emphasize the overwhelming nature of the action—starting a scene with “Get down!” for example. Or maybe the overall mood is one of disorientation or floating or uncertainty, and you want to create the same effect in the reader.

But I think if you’re starting a scene with dialogue because that’s the first thing that comes to mind for you—the person who conveniently already has the setting, character list, and even future plot already in mind—and it’s just simplest and easiest to start that way, you’re doing a disservice to the reader.

For example, I actually am planning to start the next chapter of the Sleeping Beauty AU with dialogue. My POV character is in a room with multiple other characters, and she’s examining something meaningful to her and not fully listening to the conversation around her. So I want the dialogue to float around in the background, to feel unmoored, and to stand in contrast to the very precise, detailed thoughts and memories that she’s experiencing, which are grounded in physical sensations like touch.

I haven’t quite gotten it to work yet, though, in part because opening with dialogue and doing it well is, in my opinion, quite hard. The difficulty lies in alleviating the challenges the reader is experiencing and making the text fluid and easy to picture. You need to get all of that scene-setting information—the who, what, when, where, and why—in very quickly, but without being jarring. In this scene in particular, I have multiple characters, all in a comparatively unusual location, and I need to establish where they are, who exactly is there, how they’ve come to meet my POV character (which happens ‘off screen’ between the end of Ch5 and the beginning of Ch6), all on top of the character’s thoughts and feelings.

I know all of this very well. To picture the scene in my own head takes only a moment. I just think about it and I see all seven of the characters, where they’re sitting, how they’re positioned, what their facial expressions are, and I also know roughly what each of them is thinking and feeling. To describe all of this in words would take several sentences. Do I put all those sentences on the front end? Do I weave them in among other description and dialogue? Is all of it even necessary—maybe we don’t need to know who’s sitting in what order on the couch, for example.

I’ve gone over a couple of different ways to do this in my head, and I’m sure it is possible, but I’m struggling to get it all down in a coherent way. (Admittedly, I’ve only made one solid attempt. As I was describing above, I’m probably going to jump in with several false starts, and then it will suddenly click.)

My initial attempt to set up the scene relied heavily on dialogue, but when I read it over, what sounded snappy and interesting in my head just fell completely flat—because it lacked context and thus, any meaning. I think the gulf between how dialogue openings feel to the writer and how they feel to the reader is large. To the writer, they feel easy and natural. To the reader, they can feel forced and, contrary to the writer’s intention, serve as an additional reminder that this is a constructed narrative rather than an immersive experience—the opposite of natural. In other words, as I said, they’re a highly stylized form of writing.

To illustrate, this was my first try at the Chapter 6 intro:

"I still can't believe it," a lightly awed voice says from somewhere behind Clarke. "The Princess of Alpha Station really used to live in our quarters.”

She pictures Miller, sunk into the couch cushions, slowly shaking his head, the expression on his face equal parts satisfied and amused.

"Really? That's what you think is the oddest part of all this?"

"Yeah, Bry, I do. Would you prefer I gloat? About being right this whole time? Who says she's just a legend now?"

My current idea is to still start with dialogue, but to move back into a significant amount of description pretty immediately afterward, and only then add more dialogue. Even this is a little hazy, since I haven’t thought much about this fic in a while. But I do think it’s quite clear this won’t work.

As for how I DO start chapters/scenes/stories… I like to start with a strong image that sets the scene and mood of the story, and hopefully leaves the reader wanting to know more. Here are some examples of story openings I’ve written recently, which I like a lot:

When Bellamy is angered, deafening bouts of thunder shake the heavens.

The cawing of the crows—high, sharp, angry shots of sound. The buzzing of the telephone wires.

Marcus Kane's body shows up again in June, skeletal and rotting, six months after his disappearance at the turn of the year.

The sky has turned a bruised yellow, like the inside of a plum, by the time Bellamy starts seeing the robots in the fields.

At noon on the third-to-last day before Christmas, Murphy leaves the cafe, with a single peppermint mocha and a small paper bag, and heads right, walking parallel to the ocean.

The last one doesn’t seem as interesting but consider: you get the who, what, when, and where, the mystery of the paper bag and where he might be going, and also the immediate understanding that this is probably going to be a Fluffy Beach Christmas story—which is correct, that’s exactly what it is.

I’m not saying that I’m always creative or unique. I often start stories off with descriptions of the weather. And I have committed the ~~cardinal sin~~ of starting with a character waking up, heaven forbid. I don’t have any hard and fast rules for myself other than that I try to avoid dialogue, or at least, be careful about its use (another example: I use dialogue to start off Mad Women—but it reads like narration, until it’s rudely interrupted, a sort of in-joke/reference/twist). I try to match the mood of the story and, as I said, include something that will create a question for the reader, some version of why, that the rest of the story will answer.

*

Day 61: Do you describe the weather? Try changing a scene you wrote by adding weather effects.

After writing a book for the last question, here’s an easy one! Yes, I describe the weather. A lot. Often. In detail.

(Though if we’re talking about the Sleeping Beauty AU as my “current wip,” I actually don’t do much weather describing there, because 4 of the 6 chapters take place in a location with no weather.)

 *

Day 62: What is your favorite thing to write about?

Honestly I like to write about people being dramatic about their emotions. That’s what I’ve discovered while writing my surprisingly self-indulgent Troped fic: I want to describe people acting as if Everything was the Most Ever. It’s fun. Part of this is getting into the usual romantic tropes—longing, pining, exaggerated touches and glances and the like—but why stop at romance when you also have stuff like The Weather and Random Feelings to contemplate?

I also like setting scenes that I find soothing, which is part of why I like Seasonal Stories.

 *

Day 63: Are you more of a drabble/flash or a longfic/novel kind of writer?

I’m in the middle. I mostly write one-shots, and I’ve noticed that a lot of them fall in the 4-6k range. Long one-shots can get all the way to 10-12k but I feel like most of those are, semi-objectively speaking, too long, and would probably have been stronger if they were pruned down to 6k, or, better yet, never made it past 6k in the first place.

I have written some multi-chapters, or, uh, started multi-chapters, but I’m VERY bad at it. The only thing that makes me slightly less bad is being stubborn. Hence the existence of a WIP that I’ve had going for over 10 years now and refuse to call abandoned. Hence this year’s extended angst about the Sleeping Beauty AU, which is only 6 chapters but has taken me literally years to write. I don’t honestly know if I’ve ever finished a multi-chapter WIP, like, properly speaking. I’ve done some short multi-chapters that I wrote as if they were one-shots and then split up for ease of reading or, I dunno, just because. I wrote a Big Bang once, but it’s not very good. Nor very long, if I remember correctly. Generally speaking I probably shouldn’t be allowed to write novels lol—I have a lot of them in my ‘I should write this one day’ idea list—but as it so happens, no one can stop me, so here we are. I definitely have wild fantasies of writing multi-chapters with ease but I’m just a very slow writer and my ideas can’t keep up with my actual-writing. Thus one shots are much easier than multi-chaps, and one-shots on a deadline are much easier than ‘I’ll finish this whenever’ one-shots. One-shots written for events or exchanges also tend to be shorter (and, imo, better) because of the deadlines they’re written on, and are thus more likely to hit that sweet 4-6k spot than stories where I’m allowed to ramble at will.

All that said, I ALSO write a good number of drabbles/writing exercises. I used to write them more often than I do now, but still over the last five years I’ve produced 110,000+ words in free-standing scenes so like… that’s also a thing I guess.

[rigelmejo]

6/28 I DID A LOT

WOOH

WOOH

I talked in chinese today! For around a half hour!! AHHHHHHHH

ANYWAY

AHHHHHHH

IM SO HAPPY I WAS UNDERSTANDABLE AHHGGHGSIUSJAJEJDJEEJIE

So first of all I practiced with Google translate today beforehand (lol yes machine translate isn’t perfect). I clicked the app, clicked transcribe, spoke in chinese then saw if the English translation it was producing was close enough to what I was trying to mean to say. (Also I learned chinese transcribe will need to process for a few moments if you play Chinese audio like from a podcast because at first it will give you a sucky transcription lol and then correct itself). Anyway so I did that and quickly learned: Google translate WILL fucking think I am speaking sentences when I’ve only said a couple words of my sentence because I pause “too long” so when I tried thinking of tones or grammar I spoke too fucking slow for the app so BAM I had to speak faster for the app just to comprehend me. So I did not practice Thinking about how the fuck to say things right much, just how to recall words on a fucking speed time limit lol. So uh that was an experience. I’ll definitely say that my 学习普通话 app is way better for me actually practicing pronunciation with any success, because Google just will NOT tolerate me speaking slowly goddamn.

Anyway so then tonight I spoke with my language partner. Well

WELL

good news: I was understood, I was told I sound pretty standard and they can tell I maybe imitate some peoples phrases and words from shows I watch (which in this case is a compliment since they said weeks ago when I asked how they improved their standard mandarin accent for a speech competition that’s what They did and the kind of shadowing they suggested I try doing more for accent work).

My grammar and word choice was understandable (I KNOW I wasn’t perfect and there were fucking mistakes Especially just notable spots where I forgot common words and tried to talk Circles around those words to describe them since I know Enough words to kind of “explain around” and come up with a more word description of a simple word I forgot sometimes but fuck is it probably awkward to listen to. Like I forgot “back then/at that time” so I said “the time when I was in high school” or “in high school I..” just because I couldn’t say “that time” on the spot, also fucking I forgot how to say “also” and “or” in certain ways and just had to figure out a different way to make my point like “this is like that” or “not the same” ToT).

Anyway regardless it’s a real big accomplishment to me. Reasons being: 1. I’ve never talked in chinese that long straight or to someone else communicating, or telling stories about my life and asking questions and actually testing my fucking communication abilities past small talk. Even talking alone to myself it’s just phrases or small situations where if I forget a word I just stop, so this was huge for me. 2. I did not have time to think about tones period while talking today with my language partner so like being comprehensible is!!!! GREAT. Considering I tried speaking to a language partner simple common word tone pair examples or very simple small talk at 5 months into learning and remember being incomprehensible like 50% of the time. Versus me now a little under 2 years in so being able to simply not be constantly thinking about tones and still know I might be understood (and in this specific case was understood) is nice to know. 3. I did better at winging vocabulary and talking my way around words I didn’t know than i thought I could. 4. REALLY simply tone and grammar being comprehensible is blowing my mind on its own - I know there were many mistakes (I personally could hear my 3rd tone not always sounding right to my own ear, and know I heard a few grammar mistakes I heard after I’d made my point lol). But just being comprehensible enough for someone understand my points even if I made those mistakes was really cool. 5. I’m hoping this means all the things I’ve been doing lately: the Listening Reading, the watching shows with English subs this month while repeating some of the Chinese lines to myself, listening to audiobooks and repeating many of the lines to myself, and the weekly language exchange I’ve been doing, have all been helping to some degree. Improving production skills is not something I’ve tried studying before and so basically all that I’m doing is flailing around trying stuff and hoping something is useful. It’s nice to see something must be if I’ve managed this.

Anyway it was just very very cool to be understandable. ;-; At this time last year I was absolutely assuming it would take years to get even a little understandable. Also for now idk this proved to me to maybe just stick to shadowing for a while and Not specifically thinking of tones While actively speaking. For a while I thought of them actively which made me clearer and I think was important and helped, at this point currently I think sometimes i overthink and trying to speak from memory/more shadowing practice might help it become a bit more automatic? And then I can go back to some corrective work where I’m messing up specifically or haven’t internalized certain words/phrases tones maybe.

—

IN OTHER NEWS

today I ALSO played 4 hours of Kingdom Hearts II in Japanese WHICH WAS AN EXPERIENCE

AN EXPERIENCE IVE NEVER HAD BEFORE LIKE FUCKING THIS

So 1. EONS easier than last time I studied Japanese. For context at 2-2.5 years into studying Japanese I played the opening of KH2. I remember it was brutal, I used my phone constantly to look up words, but I got through like the opening portion to the first save point after the haunted mansion (so like is that day 2? Basically what’s usually .5-1 hour of play or less that took me a few hours back then). It was doable, kinda brutal, but also I have kh2 near to my heart so I could play it without reading when I felt drained. Now?? I had over a year break from Japanese study (maybe 2-3 years break idk). I reviewed Japanese in I think March-April 2021 this year. April/May to June (now) I’ve been studying some new material. The biggest new material being some more Nukemarine memrise decks, and Clozemaster as of this month. So like... this Eons of improvement is after a long ass gap of no study, a cram review, and some just beyond last-times-progress kind of new study. It is a HUGE difference to me in how it feels.

I did not use a dictionary at all this time. I did not play slow either, I read at a speed much more bearable, I comprehended most sentences totally (understanding words because of a mix of knowing most words, knowing the context for the words since I know KH2 WELL, knowing Hanzi from chinese, and thanks to Clozemaster of all things feeling a lot better/quicker with Japanese grammar comprehension), and a few sentences I knew the overall gist because of recognizing the Hanzi (tho they were being used in words that aren’t similar to Chinese), the grammar overall (the rough intention of the sentence), and knowing KH2 well enough to remember the main idea of th English sentence. So it was overall a much more pleasant, easygoing experience this time around playing! It was something where I COULD play 50 hours of Japanese KH2 now.

This kind of showed me some things: first that knowing a basis in chinese (for me) makes a huge difference. Kanji now make words easier for me to learn and guess. I can now recognize when some pronunciations are somewhat similar to Chinese words. I can recognize when some kanji are used to mean Different things from Chinese (since I know the English context too). I can also now actually Like and Appreciate that KH2 specifically uses kanji in some speech bubbles and scenes then hiragana for the same words at other times - it gives me a chance to use context to see both versions of the word and learn both the pronunciation and kanji a bit more. Now I have katakana English like words and kanji (in the sense of their similarities to Hanzi) and my basic grammar grasp to rely on to parse sentences which makes all of it much easier. For me chinese was just easier, and that’s now paying off also in making Japanese easier in some ways than it was before.

I also appreciate now why “prior context” and “comprehensible input” are encouraged so much. My effort level is comfortable and NOT draining, so I could’ve kept my playing for hours and I did not need a dictionary for new words because I had TONS of context. Part of this is KH2 being a game I know super well (so even back at year 2 it was doable if draining when no other video game probably would’ve been doable at all). So it makes sense now it would be the first comfortable feeling one. It is VERY comprehensible input for me, especially now with some of the Japanese improvements I’ve made.

Whereas I tried to play crisis core a month ago (doable but DRAINING in part because I knew the game so comprehensible but I didn’t HAVE the game remembered by heart like KH2 so I had to slow down to read everything slowly and figure out words much slower with no prior meaning in my head for many parts), and persona 3 (which was doable but DRAINING in part because I have little prior context compared to cc or KH2 and in part because it has so much reading). Also KH2 is easier to read than cc or persona 3 - kh2 is obviously meant for age 10+ and so the amount of text I’m required to read is shorter, a lot of conversational stuff and not layered (cc had a lot of technical paragraphs of directions for missions and persona is aimed at older teens and has much more like “think about it more long term” conversations which I struggle more to parse). Also just persona 3 has so much dialogue I started speed reading just to get to a save point which felt Draining. Whereas KH2 the reading is comfortable so I don’t read too slow, and so it doesn’t feel as draining since it’s not slow nor do I have to rush at lower comprehension to get through it - I can just read and comprehend everything as much as I can at a reasonably non draining pace.

Also I DO think Clozemaster (so kudos to u app) is actually helping noticeably. I’m doing Clozemaster Japanese by common word tracks (still in the 100 most common words sentences and almost done). I’ve been doing listening mode and then reading sentences after. I can TELL it’s helped me already with the following. I’m doing better at recognizing some grammar structure particles/words/conjugations in various forms and levels of politeness. I now have much less issue telling how to separate sentences into word/grammar functions - it makes everything just much easier to start being able to segment my sentences as I read so I can just pinpoint WHAT parts I know versus don’t know and what their rough function is (and since in KH2 I know the English lines usually it makes it way easier to guess what words mean roughly what English translation). I also read some manga during this past month that’s also helped with this skill. I noticed Clozemaster also is just helping with it a lot since in Clozemaster the politeness level varies and stuff so I’m forced to practice guessing and figuring it out more with Clozemaster sentences over and over. The listening mode has helped because I can tell that some of the most common words I can hear more instinctively now and read aloud at a more normal pace now. I still CLEARLY read over listening when the subtitles in KH2 are there if I don’t know a word, so my listening has HUNDREDS or likely thousands of hours to go (my Chinese is much much better). But I can already notice the sheer fact Clozemaster listening question mode is forcing me to 1 HEAR Japanese more (and I need like what 2000 hours listening) and 2 start recognizing more easily at least recognizing words I’ve learned when I hear them (whereas before I would struggle to hear certain words even if I’d studied just because I’d read-studied a lot but not actually heard much of those words much). Now this all isn’t a huge help with new words in KH2 since I’m learning to read them from the game but my listening isn’t picking them up or Parsing them well. But as far as IN Clozemaster: yes the constant audio word drilling is helping me recognize words by sound which is great since thanks to Chinese kanji recognition is now not intensely difficult, it’s the sound recognition and match up to spelling that’s now the major confusion for me. I mean grammar is also confusing.. and will take years... I do think Clozemaster forcing me to practice interpreting the grammar somewhat with nothing to help me is helping me at least feel less drained by the grammar. I used Clozemaster before for french and chinese at the stage between graded readers and actual native speaker material, and I think for Japanese it’s also Good for this purpose. Clozemaster is good for a lot of immersion-like sentence reading practice, with tools to make it easier like a translation and mostly words you know in each sentence. Making it a bit easier than just diving into the deep end into a random novel. I do think it helps with preparing you for less learner-tailored materials a bit while still being easier than native speaker materials so you can practice without feeling youre drowning.

anyway ahh. WOOH I PLAYED KH2 in japanese today!!! I HAD FUN

gonna do it some more.

kh2 is maybe THE original reason i started trying to learn japanese. its really fun playing it now.

—-

And finally, while I’m at it: I am ALMOST done with the Sundial arc in Guardian Listening Reading wise. I’m on chapter 17. I have like 2 days left so who knows maybe I can manage to finish the sundial arc we’ll see.

What I mostly did this month was Redo L-R chapter 1-12 with a second audiobook, read the novel print version up to chapter 12, read chapter 1-2 in the traditional print version, also read maybe 4 chapters of other random things, listened to audiobook files of stuff overall idk 20+ times while repeating after a lot of lines, did a small amount of Clozemaster chinese (mostly just Radio mode), did 30 min - 1 hour writing or speaking language exchange sessions once a week, and watch a bunch of Chinese shows with English subs this month while repeating after a lot of lines.

As you can tell my reading Amount lowered significantly since the past couple months. However, I think I’ve pushed up my listening amounts a little.

[lo-55]

Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 4

Loss.jpeg

Night has fallen on Chaldeas. Though the globe still casts its red glow across the room, the doom of humanity, it’s too late and Ichigo has been awake for too long for the grief to wash across him like so many waves right now.

He’s summoned another servant today, with the help of technology and Saint Quartz and Cu Chulainn, of course. It was maybe  his fault that he now had two celtic servants. One a caster with vicious loyalty but a habit of hitting on girls, and another that avoided women like the plague and followed Ichigo like the most desperate of puppies.

So now he has four servants to keep up with, and so he’s  tired .

They go off to the next singularity soon. Somewhere in England, in the late nineteenth century. He should really be resting. Getting ready for the next fight. Letting Olga Marie try an fail to teach him even the simple but powerful magecraft that she and Cu specialize in.

Instead, Ichigo finds himself standing in the doorway to the Chaldeas observation room, looking not at the ominous depiction of their future, but the man standing in front of it.

Romani Archiman. Dr. Roman. His shoulders are tense and drawn and his hair is out of its usual pony tail. He looks as tired out as Ichigo feels. When no one’s watching, right now, his green eyes are dull and his humor has faded. When had he last slept? When had any of them?

Mash kept reminding him how important it was to get proper sleep, and maybe it was easier for demi-servants than it is for humans. He doesn’t know. He never thought to ask.

Ichigo comes to a stop beside him.

It is a testament to his exhaustion that Roman doesn’t even notice Ichigo enough to react until he’s been standing there for nearly a full minute. When he does he jumps, startling and in the space between breaths Roman’s demeanor shifts. His eyes crinkle with a smile and he turns to Ichigo, a dozen times more cheerful than he’d been mere seconds before. It’s a startling contrast. From one face to another in less time than it took Ichigo to even realize he’d seen him looking so serious.

Roman was not a serious man. He had a tendency to jump around and get overly excited over seemingly nothing at all. Like cake, and slacking off and a blog he’s obsessed with that is, somehow, still posting online even though the world outside is nothing more than ash and fading memory. Ichigo personally suspects that it’s a prank put together by Da Vinci.

That artist is something of nuisance.

“Ichigo!” Roman’s smile is hard to spot as a fake, when Ichigo doesn’t know to look for it. Now that it is, it’s still hard but he can see the slant to his eyes, the tiny purse of his mouth. Ichigo is no genius, but he likes to think Roman is his friend. And so he does his best to learn to read him.

“Did you need something?” Roman asks, peering curiously at him. Something under Ichigo’s skin hums and crawls. The hiding sets his teeth on edge. Maybe it's because Ichigo himself is such a straight forward person, but he doesn’t much chair for people who hide like this.

And maybe it’s hypocritical, but at the moment he, frankly, doesn’t give a shit.

“You need to sleep,” Ichigo says, his jaw set in a stubborn line.

“Oh! Ah, I just have a little more work to do here before I can do that. See, Sonya wasn’t feeling well earlier and-”

“Roman,” Ichigo grabs his elbow and watches the man jump, like he’s been shocked. He acts like no one’s ever laid a hand on him before in his life.  “Go to sleep. We’re not going to a singularity tomorrow. You can afford rest.”

Still, Roman’s smile turns, tilts, like he’s confused, and this close Ichigo realizes that he’s thrumming with anxiety.

  No wonder he can’t sleep.  

Ichigo is not a genius. And he’s not the best at offering comfort, especially not at times like this. This is a time when they have to step up, when there is no other choice for them than to stand together, and he can’t say he’s entirely sympathetic with the doctor.

But he pulls him, by the elbow, not giving him time to argue as he manhandles him towards the hallway that leads to the dorm rooms. Most of them are empty now, their occupants frozen in cryogenic coffins. Anyone who isn't working is frozen, in fact. All of the staff that had died during the initial explosion had been dragged out, sometimes in pieces, and laid in the snow and ice outside the facility. It would preserve them for the time being. And with Ichigo around, so too were the ghosts.

It had started with Marie, but by now most of the dead staff have started to drink in his reitsu, to supplement themselves. If they take enough, they can even interact with the world around them, though it leaves Ichigo exhausted if too many do it at once. It’s like vampires, but they're eating his soul instead of drinking his blood. And in any case, it keeps the chains in the chest from eating their way up.

Marie had explained, very vaguely because her family specialized in astronomy not ghosts, that if those chains vanished entirely they would have less ghosts and more ghouls. Which was bad.

They pass twelve of them on the way to their destination.

“Ichigo, please,” Roman tries to tug his arm out of Ichigo’s hand, but out of the two of them it’s no contest who the stronger one is. “I have work-”

“You’re no good if you work yourself to death!” Ichigo snaps. He closes the door behind them with a tap to the pad on the wall and tosses Roman bodily onto the bed.

Roman scrambles to sit, blinking at their surroundings in confusion.

It’s almost the same as the last time they’d been there, during their first meeting ever. The only difference is that there’s a pair of jeans in the corner and a picture of his sisters and his mom on the desk under the window now.

“This is…”

“My room,” Ichigo finishes for him. He runs his fingers through his hair, his customary scowl in place. This was probably stupid but-

“You said you come here to relax, right? To goof off and slack on your duties. Well, relax. Marie’s still around so it’s not like you’re the acting director anymore.”

Roman gapes at him like a fish.

“But- But-”

“Shut up,” Ichigo orders tersely. He’s already second guessing his initial reaction but he wasn’t gonna leave Roman there to stare at their doom and he doesn’t have the damn poetry of words to convince him that they’ll rise above their challenges. “And go to sleep. Chaldea will be here in the morning, and so will the past.”

Roman slowly gathered his limbs together underneath him. He looks at Ichigo, confusion written across his face and it’s all Ichigo can do not to snap at him. Roman is a doctor and grown ass man. He should know better than to neglect himself.

To be fair, Goat Face is also and doctor and grown ass man, and Ichigo doesn’t trust him to so much as feed himself.

“O-kay,” Roman says at last, drawing the words out and his face finally softens, with fondness and truth. Some of the lie slips away. “Okay. But what about you, Ichigo? You need to sleep too. You’re supporting multiple servants and multiple ghosts, now.”

Ichigo hadn’t even thought about that.

He shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I dunno. I can just sleep in a chair or something.”

“No!” Roman shakes his head. “No, that’s not acceptable. As your doctor I have to advise against it.”

“ ‘as your doctor’? What the hell kinda crap are you going on about?” Ichigo scowls deeper.

“You need to sleep, in a real bed. Honestly. We can just share.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like a sleep over in a movie!”  

“... You were homeschooled, weren’t you?”

“Eh?!”

“Fine, whatever,” Ichigo was too tired to deal with this. In the morning he’ll kick himself, and maybe Roman, but for now all he can think of is turning the lights off and getting some sleep, at last.

And if it’s easier to sleep when the living are next to him and not when he’s haunted only by figurative ghosts instead of literal ones, no one will even be the wiser.

*

It’s not so much a house as it is a room where he can simply exist.

It’s small, single story and a basement that still smells faintly like lightning and copper and a strange magecraft. One that he can’t quite place, one that he’s never encountered before.

Ichigo doesn’t ask about the old owners and Waver Velvet, who gets pissed every time Ichigo doesn’t call him something stupid like Lord Elmeloi the fifth or whatever, hadn’t volunteered any information.

Ichigo spends a few minutes looking around. There’s a fold out couch in the living room and the kitchen is stocked with none perishables and frozen meats. The bedroom has runes carved above the door and the window, offering Ichigo a modicum of protection from what might be out there. There’s a bed big enough for his whole family and then some, and the closet has a few changes of clothes. Three suits, of all things, and a familiar mystic code.

White and black, it’s a body suit he’d been given early on. His Chaldea combat uniform.

The material feels like silk but Ichigo knows better than to think it is. It’s tough enough to hold up to arrows and fire and more than he wants to think of. He’d only taken blunt force trauma when he’d worn it. There were three spells woven into the fabric, and Ichigo wonders what it will be like to wear it again before he dismisses the idea.

Ichigo wonders just what Waver had thought Ichigo was going to be doing here, that he needed this.

He goes to the basement.

It’s bigger than he would have expected, and there are weapons lined on the walls. Spears, swords, and bows, and a range setup with dummies stuffed with straw.

There are no windows, to hide him from curious eyes. Any non-mags who finds out about magic is sentenced to death, and that is part of why Ichigo hasn’t told his family about his escapades. His wars.

Kon walks past him at the foot of the stairs. Along another wall is a shelf built into the stone foundations, filled with texts and materials that Ichigo can recognize instantly.

He’d never been good at spell work on his own, but he can use the magic equivalent of chemistry just fine. And, on top of that, after Babylonia a certain goddess had magnanimously taken time out of her ever so busy schedule to teach him the graceful art of gem magic.

Or rather, a stuck up deity who Ichigo had bribed to be his friend had taught him how to shove magic energy into rocks he could throw at people to blow them the fuck up.

Combined with the runes that Cu had spent years drilling into his head, Ichigo could survive a regular mage battle fine on his own, if he had time to prepare. And war has made him paranoid, so he starts taking stock of everything that he’d been given.

Evil bones, dragon scales, eternal gears, crystals of several types and a mystic gunpowder. A few feathers, and a jar of scarabs. Chalk, too, and strong thread that’s more like fishing line.

There’s also, definitely for the best, a fire extinguisher in the corner.

“What kinda place is this, Ichigo?” Kon finally asks. He pokes at a jar of red liquid on top of the thick desk that Ichigo has been given. It’s all and all not very personalized, but for Ichigo’s purposes it’s more than enough. Especially given that Ichigo’s purpose was to sit somewhere where his dad wasn’t. Where he didn’t have to think about the spirits or the hollows or the shinigami, however briefly that might be.

“It’s just a house, Kon. A… friend of mine owns it. Think of it as our secret hide out,” Ichigo waves his hand around, idly.

“A secret hide out huh… I get it!” Kon bounced towards him, his soft paws scuffing lightly on the concrete floor. “This is a place to bring girls!”

Ichigo snorts and punts the plushie towards the stairs. “What girl is gonna hand around a creapy basement with you, huh? What are you a serial killer?”

“More like a lady killer! Or I could be, if I just had a body to call my own. Hey, you said I could borrow yours, remember!”

“I didn’t forget. Sorry, we’ve been busy,” Ichigo steps over him and climbs back up to the totally normal looking house above, with Kon on his heels. He lets out a soft breath. It feels too warm above ground, but Ichigo opens the windows and lets the sunlight pour inside upon his skin, lets the wind pull at his hair and dance through the drapes. “I’ll let you have it tonight, okay?”

“But nothing in this town ever happens at night!” Kon whines. When Ichigo sits on the couch he climbs up to flop across his lap, pouting.

“Just try to stretch your legs, and you can have some time on the weekend, deal?”

Kon considers him suspiciously before he nods, once.

“Deal.”

They sit together in the sunlight, in the foreign house, with the spring air cooling them until his phone goes off. Rukia, of course, because work doesn’t give him much of a break.

It’s alright. Sometimes a few minutes to breath is enough.

* *

Rukia Kuchiki is  not the first Shinigami that Ichigo has ever encountered.

There was another, a man who had taken to following their group around North America.

They met in 1783. He was… strange. And admittedly, it was a strange situation that they had found each other in. He’s pretty sure Shinigami don’t normally hang around Alcatraz, but what does he know? The island is infested with all sorts of monsters and guarded by one of the oldest heroes of written legend.

Beowulf. Powerful and vicious, battle hungry but not necessarily cruel. He’d even let them pass into the fortress after just a ‘test’ fight against a dragon.

They, or rather Ichigo, find the Shinigami with Sita, sitting next to her in the deepest prison of Alcatraz. Florence Nightingale is somewhere above them, charging headlong after him with Rama strapped to her back. He’s in bad shape, his curse slowly consuming his body, and Sita is their only chance to save him. Even without Beowulf the prison is crawling with dangerous creatures of all types.

Ichigo finds Sita first.

But she is not unguarded and Ichigo curses himself for leaving his servants upstairs to handle the chaos there.

Ichigo is more than capable of handling celtic soldiers, who fall beneath his vicious attacks and his steadily strengthening magic. The more he uses it the stronger it gets, and his body is adapting quickly to the strain it puts upon him. It’s only been a year or so and he can already go toe to toe with most average mages. A simple soldier with a spear is well within his abilities.

This man, Ichigo can tell with a second of inspection, is not.

He doesn’t have the same energy as a servant. And he’s dressed in clothes that aren’t celtic or american. He’s dressed like he’s from japan.

A black kosado and hakama. All black, with curly brown hair that’s nearly past his shoulders and brown eyes that almost fool Ichigo into thinking that he’s harmless.

But people are more themselves when they aren’t being watched, and this man, older than Ichigo and, he realizes, most certainly dead, has no idea he’s been seen.

He looks at Sita like she’s some kind of puzzle, like some game that he doesn’t know all the rules to. Ichigo stays a moment, and watches him watch her until Sita realizes that she has a visitor.

“Oh!”

She leans forwards on the bed, and right through the stranger, who half turns to look at Ichigo over his shoulder. He’s not interested in him though, not really. He can see it.

Roman is hiding something.

Something important, and he doesn’t know what but he does know now how to recognize when someone is hiding something. Even if it wasn’t for Roman, it’s not only heroes he’s summoned. There is an assassin class, and his heroes have their flaws. Their secrets. Each singularity is it’s own mystery and they are full of liars and tricksters and more than ever before Ichigo has a bone deep appreciation for people who are plain and true.

Ichigo crosses his arms over his chest and stares right at the ghost.

“You’re Sita, right? Rama’s wife?”

“My Lord Rama? Is he here?” she rushes to her feet, all red hair and fire the flutters like an ember on the wind. Not like Rama, who burns anything in his path if he must.

Ichigo nods, once. He lets the stranger inspect him too. There’s the smallest amount of stubble around his chin, like he hasn’t shaved in a while. And he’s armed. Saber class.

“Yes. But he’s injured. We need your help to heal him.”

Ichigo finally breaks eye contact with the ghost. He steps backwards and points his fist at the lock on the door. Sita hurries to brace herself and he shoots it off with a vicious Gandr. When he uses them on living things, he’s lucky to stun them. On inanimate objects, they blow up. He doesn’t get it, but that’s his life. Becuase fuck him, obviously.

“Yes!” Sita agrees eagerly. Her smile is equal parts soft and fierce. “If I can be of use to him, then I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Okay,” Ichigo stands away from the prison door. “Stand back,” he orders, and she steps back into the cell, against the door. The ghosts watches him raise his hand, holding up his fist at the door. The mystic code hums across his skin and he feeds his own mana into it. There’s a flash of pale blue and red and the lock explodes in shards of steel, just as they’re joined by others.

Rama comes stumbling around the corner, his fine clothes stained with blood and his body frayed at the edges. He looks bad. The hold in his chest is starting to gape and glow gold at the edges.

Ichigo hears the ghost suck in a sharp breath and he takes a step towards Rama before Ichigo cuts him off, blocking him from his friends. Sita rushes to him.

“Sita!” Rama reaches out around him and Ichigo can’t understand how he’s even on his feet. How deep does his love for his wife run? “Damn it, my vision is blurry. I can’t see anything…”

“I’m here!” Sita falls to his side as Rama collapses, finally succumbing to his festering wound. Ichigo watches, his hands clenched at his sides as Mash explains about Cu Chulainn Alter, and his Gae Bolg.

Ichigo stands back, with his Cu at his side. The caster leans on his staff, watching Sita gently stroke her husbands hair. They will never meet, and it drives pain into Ichigo’s chest on their behalf.

“Well. Fuck.” Cu says bluntly.

Ichigo snorted. “Yeah. That sums it all up pretty well.”

The ghost tries to take another step, but Ichigo catches his hand.

He spins, his brown eyes wide. “You- You can see me.”

“Well yeah. No shit,” Ichigo says aloud. Caster peers at him curiously, but Ichigo just taps the corner of his eye. A ghost, and Cu nods and leans back again. Even amongst his heroic spirits he’s an oddity. Not all of them can see ghosts. Only the ones that attack them, and more than once has Ichigo had to forcibly guide them into striking true.

Cu is a bit better. He hasn’t told him explicitly but Ichigo suspects that Scathach is somehow related to the afterlife. The land of shadows sounds like it should be full of ghosts.

Ichigo let’s go when the ghost pulls at his hand, peering at Ichigo. It’s funny, watching someone pull a metaphorical mask onto their face. This one is a kind person, someone who’s harmless, but Ichigo can still see them. He is armed and his eyes betray him, as eyes so often do.

Sharp and intelligent. Like a cat watching him.

“I suppose you do have some reitsu. But to be able to see me, is still not an easy feat.”

Ichigo frowns. “I do? It feels like all of it’s being sucked out by everyone at Chaldea…”

“Excuse me?” he blinks at Ichigo a couple of times.

“Nevermind. There’s just some people who are sucking up my reitsu so they don’t disappear, you know?”

And now even the ghost was looking at him like he’s crazy. Great. Awesome.

The glittering glow of Sita’s body dissolving interrupts them, and Ichigo turns to face his servants with a hard clench of his jaw. Rama slowly sits up, sorrow over taking his features. Even in a holy grail war, he will never meet his wife again.

“We should go,” Ichigo says quietly. “We still have to go east. We have to finish what we started. Rama, are you ready?” Ichigo goes to him, and offers him his hand. Rama takes it and stands.

“Yes. My body does not falter. I renew my vows now, Master of Chaldea. I, Rama, King of Kosala, will fight at your side. I shall not be defeated again. This I swear!” He bows his head to Ichigo, this proud, powerful king.

“Yes,” Liz steps up, a noble countess with her chin lifted and her eyes defiant. “We will win, for you our master!”

“We will rip out the root of the infection,” Nightingale agrees, smacking her hands together. Her red eyes burn with a ferocity that would make lesser men tremble.

Mash nods, shortly and firmly. “I will put my faith in Master, and follow his lead.”

“You already know that I will strike down your enemies,” Medusa adds, her long hair swaying with the promise of poisons.

“Lead the way, Master,” Cu claps his shoulder and Ichigo looks each of the mover in turn. Finally, he speaks.

“I swear I told you to use my damn name. You’re all so dramatic.”

Cu laughs at him, and Ichigo starts the long walk. From Alcatraz to Washington.

Only now they have a tag along. The ghost insists on following them along, because apparently Ichigo and the singularity is dangerous enough to warrant his attention. Which is  great .

“What do I call you then,” Ichigo asks, side-eying his newest companion.

He tilts his head, sending brown waves spilling across his shoulders.

“Mmmm. Kyo,” he says after a minute.

“...That is  not a real name.”

* * *

“So, your friend, the Lord, how do you know him?”

Ichigo looks up at Rukia. She’s standing over his bed that night. Chad is asleep in the corner, passed out after a study session run long.

“Who, Waver? We met a while ago.”

Ichigo scoots back on the bed, until his back is to the wall and he can sit, criss cross, looking at her. Waver had come to town earlier, on business as much as to see Ichigo. They’d talked, briefly, in front of the school earlier until Ichigo had had to rush off. Not before Waver had extracted a promise to meet up with him a few days in the future. Apparently there was some weird shit going on in town that had nothing to do with Ichigo and his friends, but was now his problem because he was a mage.

A two bit one, but still.

“How?” Rukia asks, narrowing her eyes at him if only slightly.

Ichigo considers telling her everything, but it’s a bit too much to believe.

‘I time travelled for three years trying to stop the incineration of humanity and I met him as a demi servant and his old servant because he fought for a holy grail and oh yeah did I mention i punched god?’

Yeah, no. Even shinigami didn’t go time travelling. He’d checked. It didn’t help that most shinigami were so out of touch with the living world that even three hundred years ago they didn’t know much about human magics or the goings on. Before the fall of the age of gods humans and spirits had been closer, had almost lived together. Ereshkigal had told him some of how it worked, four thousand years ago, but he’s certain things have changed. For one, she is clearly not in charge of the afterlife anymore. Which begs the question of just where she had gone.

To the reverse side of the world? Or somewhere else entirely?

“After Chaldea,” he says instead, picking over his words with as much care as he can, “After the explosion of Chaldea, their patrons, the Clock Tower in London, sent someone to see what was happening. And to take stock in the situation. Waver was the one that they sent.

“Apparently he gets the ‘problem children’ a lot.” And that was what they were, really. He and Mash, they were just teenagers. Even now. Eighteen….

Eighteen is not enough years for what he’s seen, what he’s done. For the choices he’s had to make.

“No wonder they sent him for you,” Rukia snorts at him, but there’s a smile at the corner of her mouth and Ichigo fights not to return it. Instead he scowls, as he usually does.

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves his hand dismissively at her. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you wanna come with?”

“No,” she shakes her head and he stands and leaves her in his bedroom. His dad is in the clinic. He’s been avoiding Ichigo for weeks, ever since that day in the cemetery and Ichigo is fine with that. He’s still angry.

Yuzu and Karin are up in their own room, and the lower half of the house is quiet. Ichigo pours himself some water and takes a few minutes to calm himself. Waver has him on edge, and more than that…

Something is coming. He doesn’t know what, yet, but his instincts are hissing in the back of his mind, louder and louder ever since he took Rukia’s power as his own. Something is something. Something dangerous. Something deadly. Some change he has no idea how to see or stop.

His cup is covered in a thin layer of frost.

Ichigo stares down at it.

The cold spreads across the surface, white eating over the glass. Elegant swirls of frozen leaves spread out from his finger tips.

He pours out the water and puts the cup away, trying not to think about it.

Because even with Ichigo, even with magic and ghosts and all the other shit in his life, he’s never frozen anything. He isn’t fucking Jack Frost.

He goes back upstairs, trying not to think about it, and helps Rukia rouse Chad to send him on his way home. There’s work to be done. A smarter man would ask about the ice. Would mention it to Rukia. Would wonder if the two aren’t connected.

And Ichigo is not stupid, but he’s maybe a little too used to strange things happening and learning the why at a later date.

* * * *

The acrid smell of burning flesh sears into his mind. Into his soul. Choking him, smoke curled into his lung like an ash made cat that tears claws into the soft tissue.

It’s red. Red, red, red everywhere. Fire singes along the edges of reality. The earth hovers, red and burning and doomed from the start. Doomed from babylonia, doomed from the present and the now.

Mash lays in front of him. Crushed, broken. No shield, no armor, just a dead little girl, reaching for his hand.

Yuzu and Karin are sprawled apart from eachother and they never should be, never should be, because they are twins, they were born together nothing should ever tear them apart-

Isshin. Isshin and his mother, they lie beside a river that runs with fire instead of water. Bloody, broken, staring at Ichigo.

The air shifts and the glittering shine of gold spins around him with a scream. His servants, his friends, cut down and torn apart and left only as glitter that roars their betrayal at him. At his failure. He is the master, the center of power, but he cannot fight on his own. He is powerless in the face of the hulking monster that drags itself out of the rubble to kill him.

He takes a step back, fear clogging his throat. Lahmu crawl across the broken rubble of Fuyuli, of Uruk, of Rome and London and Camelot. His foot hits something. He doesn’t look down, he doesn’t need to. Orange and green and white. White and gold and black. Romani, laid to waste.

He is helpless. Powerless. His command spells are gone and he has failed. Lost.

Fire roars at his throat and-

He’s punched in the face by the smell of perfume.

Ichigo looks up at the sky. Pale blue, a few whisps of cloud floating across it.

He drinks in air. Air that tastes like flowers instead of ashes and death.

Something soft touches his shoulder and it’s only familiarity that keeps him from lashing out.

Lavender eyes peer down at him. It’s his hand on his shoulder. His Caster.

His Merlin.

“Wha- I’m in a dream?” Ichigo sits, slowly, and Merlin helps him up. A warm hand on his shoulder and guilt in his eyes.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” Merlin shakes his head, mournfully. “I normally call you here before they can set in, but I was distracted this time…”

“Distracted,” Ichigo repeats dumbly. “Wait. So every time you’ve brought me here, it’s because I was going to have a nightmare?”

“I did tell you, once. Incubi are made of dreams. And I, as half of one, gain my sustenance out of them as well. Bad dreams are sour, so I don’t want yours to-”

“Cut the crap,” Ichigo elbows him lightly in the side. “Just tell me the truth. We’re friends and you don’t want to see me suffering.”

Merlin can only stare at him for a second. “... I always forget how brazen you are, Ichigo. You never have minced your words. You really consider me a friend, do you?”

“Of course I do! And don’t try to give me any shit about we can’t be friends because I’m human. I’m not anymore, remember. I’m a shinigami.”

“Yes, yes. And isn’t that ironic? I, unable to die, and you a creature made of death.”

“You make a bad philosopher. Stick to being a dreamer, Merlin.”

Merlin merely laughs at him, a softness in the wind, and Ichigo sits with him until the sun comes up outside his bedroom window.

* * * * *

What was with people and coming in through his window?

Ichigo stares at the man, Urahara, that is sitting on his window sill. Kon is having a minor panic attack in his arms, flailing around. Rukia has left. Vanished with only a note to tell them not to look for her and if she thinks Ichigo will listen to it, she doesn’t know him very well at all. Ichigo has never been one to abandon his friends, even if they don’t explain what’s happening or why they’re in trouble.

Ichigo will go after her, but first he needs to figure out how to turn into a shinigami again. Kon is no help, he’s too busy running around for Ichigo to dig his pill form out of his plush body. And this man…

His timing is too good. Is he some kind of clairvoyant, like Gilgamesh? Or just a man with far too many cards in his hand to play?

Whatever the case, Ichigo is strangely glad that he’s here. Without Rukia’s glove and with Kon losing his mind, Ichigo needs help to get out of his body.

“So you’ll pop me out of my body,” Ichigo says, eying his cane, “Just because Rukia is a regular customer. Is your shop really that slow?” He definitely has too much time on his hands.

“That’s right!” the man practically sings and Ichigo could swear for an instant his eyes were lavender instead of grey. He’s like a strange mix of Merlin and Da Vinci.

And isn’t  that a scary thought?

“...Yeah, okay. I’d appreciate the help.”

Kisuke pushes his cane through Ichigo’s chest and he pops out the other side like a weasel.

Ichigo carefully lays his body in bed and covers it up. It’s almost two in the morning and normal humans are asleep, including his family. He picks a few small rocks out of his school bag, simple stones with straight lines carved onto them. He eyes Kisuke, still sitting in the window.

“When I get back from this, I’ve got a couple of questions for you,” he says, marching up to Kisuke, who flicks his fan out over his mouth. Only his eyes are visible and those are still hidden in shadow.

“Oh? I can’t imagine what you’d ask a simple shop keeper like me…”

“Plenty,” Ichigo says plainly. He plants his hand next to Kisuke’s head and leans over him. “But for now. Get out of my room.”

He pushes him straight out the window, and onto the lawn beneath. Ichigo figures that he’s probably tough enough to take a little tumble. He trusts Kisuke to be fine before he jumps out the window after him. He needs to get to Rukia. He can feel it. Something is happening.

His instincts hiss that he needs to  move .

He follows the feeling of coolness and wind and snowflakes that he can almost see. It’s joined by another feeling, something clean and pale and just a little bit angry, thin threads that wrap together to be stronger.. Uryuu.

He needs to hurry.

Ichigo sprints across the city, pouring on his speed. Faster and faster until he swears he’s running on the wind.

He turns the corner.

Uryu on the ground, Rukia not far. Two Shinigami. Red hair and black. The red head with his sword lifted above Uryu’s head, ready to strike.

Ichigo swings his sword off his back and the streets cracks and erupts beneath the sudden force of his power. It throws the shinigami, Renji Abarai, off of his feet.

“Huh? Who are you? Who’s orders are you here on?” he barks.

Ichigo ignores him. He touches Uryu’s shoulder, making sure he’s still in one piece, and pours Mana into his human body. It should be enough to jump start his own healing process. Mana transference is about all Ichigo is good for anyhow.

“What did you…?” Uryu looks up at him, bewildered.

“Later,” Ichigo says. He blocks the blow that comes from behind, bracing himself against the ground.

“I get it,” Renji pushes down hard, his eyes wild. He feels like fire and venom and bone. “You’re the one that stole Rukia’s powers! Because of you, she’s going to be executed!”

Ichigo’s blood runs cold. Rukia. Executed? For helping him? For giving him the power to protect his friends, his family?

No. He will not allow it.

“That’s bullshit!” Ichigo throws him back, power surging through him. His own anger and the energy that Rukia has given him. Cold coursing through his veins. “Rukia was just helping, she saved us! Isn’t that what your job is?!”

“She broke the rules is what she did. What’s a few human lives to a shinigami? She should have never done that.”

A few human-

Ichigo throws himself at Renji with vicious abandon. Renji is fast but Ichigo is strong, Rukia is strong, and it’s her power that lets him swing his sword with utmost surety.

Still, it’s hard to keep up when Renji won’t shut up. Something about menos and children and then he asks Ichigo’s swords name.

He frowns and racks his brain. That feels like something he should know. On the tip of his tongue. His sword. Rukia’s sword. Does it have a name?

Renji takes his silence for ignorance and he’s not wrong.

He puts his sword in front of him and it glows faintly red. The taste of fire and bone is stronger.

“A shinigami’s zanpakuto is the true form of their soul, it’s their true power. And this is mine! Now Roar, Zabimaru!”

Ichigo watches the sword change, grow fangs and cracks. A Noble Fantasm? No, it’s much weaker. He looks at Renji, looks harder at his power. He’s strong, probably stronger than Ichigo but is he stronger than Ichigo and Rukia together? This will have to be a battle where he can’t rely on brute strength.

The sword swings and the cracks pull apart until it’s a glorified whip with teeth and Ichigo jumps back to dodge it. The stones weigh heavy in his pocket and his mind whirls. No longer a saber, no longer capable of simply attacking and slashing until he’s won.

“Give up already! You’re 2000 years too young to beat me!”

And maybe Renji would be right. Maybe he would be too much for Ichigo to handle, in another life. Maybe if he really was just a fifteen year old kid, shihakusho more green than black, he would leave him laying in a puddle of blood without breaking a sweat.

But Ichigo is not fifteen. He is eighteen and he has fought eight wars. He has ended extinction and walked the land of the dead, and demons, and stood amongst stars. He has fought and bled and killed and died, and he has done it all for his family, his friends.

And now.

Now these two are trying to take another friend. They are trying to steal Rukia, to punish her for saving him and giving him strength enough to fight.

And he will not allow it.

His temper howls, blood rushing into his ears and battle fury washes over his skin.

Beneath it, beneath that hot fire that has driven him for so much of his life there’s something else. Something cold and foreign, frost on a window pane in summertime, snow floating around a campfire.

He lunges for Renji.

Renji is forced to release his noble phantasm, his zanpakuto. It lashes out, a segmented whip that bites the pavement with terrible teeth. Ichigo takes it in stride, catches it’s glinting teeth in his own too-long blade and twirls it like spaghetti around a knife. The teeth catch and hold, Renji’s eyes go wide and Ichigo yanks him forward with his zanpakuto.

He takes one hand off his own sword and drives it into Renji’s jaw. His teeth click and blood spurts between his lips before he drops like a lead balloon.

With Renji at his feet Ichigo turns to face Rukia and the man in the white cloak. He tilts his long blade, letting Renji’s zanpakuto slide off. On the ground it glows faintly red and returns to its original form.

“Are you next then?” Ichigo asks, his voice careful and calm even as the wrold inside him rages. Plans pick up and he reads this mans strengths. He’s leagues ahead of Ichigo but even still…

Ichigo is not the type to run. He is not the type to give up. No matter that Rukia is screaming at him to. He won’t-

He twists and blocks the blow he had barely ever seen, his sword moving faster than his mind.

Surprise registers on the man’s face, muted and little more than a twist of his mouth and a twitch of his eyes. Ichigo shoves him away, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Blood seeps out of his back. The cut it shallow, it won’t slow him down but the fact remains. He got hit.

Faster, whispers a voice in the back of his head. A memory, a premonition. He blocks the next attack but only just and under the force of the drawn sword, his own begins to crack. No. No, he will not lose, not like this.

He shoves the man back and flings one of the stones at him, shooting a burst of Mana through it. The man in white has to move fast to avoid the fire that erupts in front of him.

“Ichigo?” Rukia stares at him, her mouth open. “What was that?!”

“I’m not that great at magic,” Ichigo admits, tossing another stone up and down in his hand. He never takes his eyes off of his enemy. “In fact, I wouldn’t even call myself a real mage. I’m pretty second rate at this stuff. But this much… This much I can do.”

He shoots another stone at the shinigami in front of him, who’s name he never did get, and grins when he’s forced to release his own zanpakuto. He’s glad about it, but Rukia is screaming at him.

The air fills with glittering flower petals and Ichigo tastes steel, feels the weight of ‘Duty’ and ‘Honor’ and the scent of sakura blossoms wash across his skin.

They surge at him, a tidal wave of power, danger. Each one is a blade and Ichigo cannot dodge of block them all. Even still, he will not run. He will-

  Protect Rukia!  

Fine.

Cold chases through his body, Rukia’s power surges. Ichigo gives his strength over to it, pours his reitsu into the sword as he once did his saber’s and the sound of bells echoes around him.

A ribbon flutters graceful in front of his face and he swings, running on instinct alone.

The wave of flower petals is stopped in its tracks. Frozen in a circle of ice that reaches towards the sky.

Ichigo is aware, from the shock on the faces of the people around him, that he’s just done something impossible. Again.

Oh well.

He turns again to the Shinigami, bringing his blade in front of him. Not his, Rukia’s. He was going to save her-

“Rikujōkōrō.”

Ichigo shouted when light, six straight rectangles of it, slammed into his stomach. He froze, unable to move. The ice shattered and the blades inside of it floated back to their master, reforming into a single sword. This time, Ichigo couldn’t block. He could do nothing as the blade pierced him twice, and the light faded.

He tried. He did. He would crawl if he had to but-

“Stay alive, for just a little longer, Ichigo. And if you follow me, I will never forgive you.”

He can recognize what she’s doing. She’s drawing the man, Byakuya, and the newly awakened Renji away from him. She is protecting him, and the helplessness is acid on his tongue.

He was left, bleeding, dying, on the streets of Karakura.

* * * * * *

[aloera]

The ask prompt is too long to fit into an ask TT_TT but here's the doc for it docs(.)google(.)com/document/d/1yDI7iFRhOJ8ENv_IwZAo3rDSUqj80EiJROS10RzRbj4/edit

the lengths u are going for this,,, much appreciated you're very sweet!!!

prompts + answers under the cut!!

INTRODUCTION

Name: aloera

AO3 account: aloera

Fandoms you write for: bnha

How many stories have you written so far: 19

FANFICTION PROFILE

What's your favorite fandom to write for? hmm,,, used to do pjo and eah (ever after high) and eah was fun as fuck i will say!!! i think bnha is my fav mostly bc i made the most friends in this fandom :D

What's your favorite character/person to write for? bkg and kirishima!! cannot choose do not make me <3

Fic you'd want to improve? probably what we deserve? i rushed the beginning and the confession is a bit stilted imo

Hardest fic you've written? between lion and men -_- bc there is so much canon compliant stuff i've gotta write out before i get to the divergence and its HARD

Easiest fic you've written? come home to me!!! it happened so easily,,, no second guessing no writers block just vibes <33 was lovely i miss it

What would you say is the most "famous" fic you've ever written? also probably come home to me? its got the most interaction

first line of the first fic you've ever written and published. [not including my 2014 ffnet fics] "The bell rings, class starts, and Katsuki and Midoriya are inexplicably absent." from come home to me

Have you ever done a collab with another writer? yes!!!!! on two separate occasions and its so fucking fun i highly recommend trying it out its the best

Do you beta? if asked but honestly im a shit beta lmao

Do you like joining fic fests/exchanges? depends on what i have going on irl but in general yeah!!

FANFICTION PREFERENCES

Fluff or angst? definitely fluff

"OCs" or "Reader" inserts? reader inserts!! have been going ham on them recently

Blurbs or drabbles? blurbs!!

One thing you love about fanfiction i just. i really love slice of life romance?? and most media doesn't give you that bc its dedicated to plot and action and that's valid!! but fanfiction fills in the gap which is really nice

One thing you don't like about fanfiction most of the stuff i don't like is less about actual fanfiction and more about how people behave about it

What is/are your favorite fandom author/authors? IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!! TURN IT UP!!!

bnha: hiuythn, rae_tnub, Moniix, Ata_Lanta, wrunic, chezka, PurplePersnickety, surveycorpsejean, mahadevi, arxaris, deviance, Oceanbreeze7, MikeWritesThings, bonnia, wonhaebunny, dinosuns

voltron: hiuythn, Oceanbreeze7, DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee, arahir, dinosuns,

and honorable mention to loveclouds im not even in the haikyuu fandom i just love their fics So Much

these are just the ones off the top of my head i have so many favourites idc if i'm only supposed 2 have one!! die mad about it!!!

What is your favorite trope? secret relationship + relationship reveal til the day i die babie <3 <3

Least favorite trope? hm,,, probably just like. angst lmao i cannot stand 90% of it

A fanfiction cliché that you can't help but love? coffeeshop aus,,,, so good

Do you have a type when it comes to pairings? the otp where its like. piece of shit + himbo = love. ex. krbk, catradora, jade/beck

Favorite setting/au? hm,,, truly i cannot pick one KGKSJNHKj but i really like college aus!! and modern aus!! and roommate aus!!

Explain the meaning of your favorite line of dialogue you've written as if someone hasn't read it in context. “He doesn’t know,” Katsuki says, softly. “My timer stopped and nothing happened. He’s not mine.”

the line is from what we deserve!! it's a soulmate au where your timer counts down to the moment that you meet your soulmate!! bakugou's timer ends at USJ when he and kirishima attack kurogiri at the same time (impulsive kings <33) but kirishima's timer doesn't end until kamino because that's when he accepts himself as bakugous soulmate!! unfortunately, when bakugous timer has reached 0, he turned to see that kirishima's was still ticking and therefore believes that kirishima isn't his soulmate.

this line just,, idk. it's really sad. bakugou is such an action-driven character? if something doesn't go his way he Makes it go his way. he's got this insanely volatile quirk and he's got impeccable control of it!! but his love for kirishima isn't something that he can change and he's not going to ruin kirishima's chance of finding his own soulmate because he loves him and wants him to be happy. i really wanted to focus on how resigned he is? and how unusual that is for a character like him.

Favorite trope/genre to write? again, secret relationship with relationship reveals <33 fluff in general is my wheelhouse!!!

A trope/genre you haven't written but think would be a fun challenge? idk if this counts?? have been working on some dead dove concepts!! its super different from what i normally write so its a cool challenge

The one trope/concept you'll never touch and why probably cheating/infidelity?? it just looks,,, super difficult to write well and i don't have enough of an interest in it to try it out

Which do you prefer to write: longer or shorter fics? shorter!! low attention span gang <3

Ideal length to read? 5-10k?

Ideal length to write? 4-8k!!

How long was the longest fic you've ever written? control fraek is around 28k i think?

Have you ever written an AU? yeah!! i've done restaurant au's, soulmate au's, pro hero aus, and fantasy aus (general, not the bnha fantasy ending)

What's your favorite AU trope? hm,, probably when two people in authority are in a secret relationship? ceo's/uni professors/etc etc

Have you ever written smut? yeah!! was. difficult tho

What's your comfort genre? (the one you fall on most in writing/reading) fluff,,, hurt/comfort,,, fix-it fics with happy endings <3

If you were to start writing in other fandoms, which would they be? maybe jjk?? the characters are really cool!!!! fr i might go back to my ever after high roots i love the characters and setting so Much its so fun!!! idec if no ones into it anymore!!!!!

Is there a trope you think you could be easily recognized by in your writing? i've had people say they saw the mention of buff hagakure and recognized it was me so. probably that skdjhnksjd

WRITING STYLE

How would you describe your style? i tend to use shorter sentences and pretty simple words i think? and i gravitate towards lighthearted concepts that allow for ensemble casts and humour!!

Describe your style in three words romcom but fanfic

Favorite words to use when writing? the word reverent!! fuckin love including it!!

Dialogue tags or no dialogue tags? (she said, he said, they said, etc) dialogue tags!!!

Favorite dialogue tag (other than said, if you use them) again idk if this counts but "they said softly" is unmatched

Long sentences vs short vs a mix short <33

What colors would you use to describe your writing? hm,,, depends on the fic i would say?? control fraek is dark green to me?? kinda like a forest at night yk?? scary but there's still life there. sugar cookies is yellow like early morning sunlight, when it rains is yellowy-orange like a caution sign. not gonna list all of them cause theres a lot its just. do u get it? the colours change based on the vibe of the fic.

What song or music genre would you use to describe your writing? think. i am constantly trying to emulate that moment at the end of wasteland baby when hozier goes "im in love/im in love with you."

What kind of metaphors do you rely on? religious metaphors my beloved <33 they're just so pretty!!! i also love comparing stuff to water for some reason?? like that ocean vuong quote thats like "what are you now?/water." it goes hard!!!

What's something you'd say is experimental in your writing at this time? definitely action!! i have,,, no idea how to write it so anything i do is really just me playing around and seeing what works and what doesn't

Do you prefer to write by hand or to type? i've tried both!! personally i prefer typing because it goes way faster but i will say that writing by hand lets me get words down when i'm going through writer's block

What is your preferred place to write (notebook, laptop, cellphone, etc.)? laptop!!

What app/apps do you use to write (word, notepad, etc.)? google docs skjdnkjh its fine on desktop but mobile is,,,,, disgusting

Do you keep a notebook or file/notes page in your phone/device for notes on your writing? ngl i just have everything organized in my drive?? one folder per fandom and then sub folders for ideas+hcs, unfinished wips, and finished fics. multichaps get sub sub folders so i can organize outlines and drafts

Do you listen to music to help you write? yeah!! playlists organized by fic vibe :D

Where do you usually go to write (bedroom, living room, etc.)? mostly in my bedroom??? but moving around to different stops helps too i think!!

How long does it usually take for you to write? again this depends on what i have going on irl, how attached i am to the idea, my mindset at the time, etc!! i am,, the least consistent person skjnhdkjh.

What's your favorite font to use when writing? times new roman my beloved

Other writing habits? sometimes i'll write in the dark?? bad for my eyes but for some reason it gets the words flowing

CONCEPTUALIZATION

How do you conceptualize your ideas? (See specific moments like they're a movie, writing specific lines in your head, don't know until you put the words on paper, etc.) i tend to get inspiration from movies, books, poems, or other fics!!! sometimes one line just makes me go oh,, i want to write something like that,,, and then it helps me create an idea that makes me feel the same way?? i did this with control fraek!!!! i wanted a scenario where bakugou was cold and calculating and i was like hm. to do that he’d have to be focusing on something important. and from there i was able to flesh out the rest of the idea.

Which comes first: the pairing or the plot? with krbk its always always the pairing,, i'll be sitting there like wow <33 i love them <33 what if one of them had amnesia <33 (which, yes, wip!!) otherwise it's usually the plot!! and i slot in characters that i feel make sense

Have you ever used a prompt? yeah!! used a prompt for wlw week 2020 and it was fun as hell

Do you write around the story around a specific scene you want to get to or do you start from a plot idea definitely the first!!!! i almost always write like,,, a super messy scene thats 90% dialogue, keep it in my head, and then write the entire fic around that one moment

Do you find that you include a projection of some part of yourself in the way you write a character? a lot of the time when i write love confessions or love in general i'll have one of the characters think or say that the other person makes their head quiet? and it's because that's what i feel whenever i'm in love?? a quiet mind. i project on characters yeah but i think most of the projection actually goes to the way that i write love

Do you research some of the things you write deeply, partially and kind of wing the rest, or play entirely by ear (in this case, go with whatever base knowledge of the subject you have)? most of the time if i do research it'll be about the setting (ex. the izakaya in to have and to hold) or if i'm having the characters interact with an object that they like. need to know how to use (me, in control fraek: google. hey google. does someone die if they get shot in the foot??? no???? awesome thank u <3)

Have you ever had an idea for a story and forgot about it? lmaoo yeah all the time i'll find like 500-2k words of concepts in my gdocs like i do. not remember this at all

Is there a trope you think you could be easily recognized by in your writing? probably krbk secret relationship lmao

Are there concepts you've tried that turned out better than expected? yeah!! i fully thought the action in control fraek would be awful but it turned out not bad??? which im happy with

Are there concepts you've tried that turned out worse than you expected? again, what we deserve, i personally think it would have worked out better if i'd paced it slower and drawn out the pining but i. do not feel like going back to fix it so its staying the way that it is. pining is so fucking hard to do AHHHH i get so tired with it!!! im like just date already!!!!

PROCESS

How do you come up with titles? in rare occasions (literally. all my multichaps for some reason) the title comes after writing like .5 words of the first chapter im like YES this is it!!!!! sometimes i write the whole thing and pick out one line that fits (what i did with come home to me) a lot of the time i just. steal from songs or poems that i like

What's your favorite emotion to cause on your readers? i like making people happy!!!! love when people comment saying they're cheered up

What's your favorite emotion to write? lovelovelovelovelovelove

Have you ever cried or felt any emotion while reading something you've written? never cried?? but sometimes i'll rereading my hurt/comfort fics 4. yk. comfort

Do you write in order or whatever comes to you? in order!! unless i have a scene that i Need to write and i'll quickly jot it down so that i don't forget

Usual way you procrastinate while writing? ...doing asks like this, making playlists, discord, watching netflix. what don't i do smh

Do you outline or free write? i am. so shit at outlines. i mostly free write and write lil notes for stuff that i wanna add later

Do you set word goals or scene goals (scenes you want to include)? yes!! like i said i'll write loose notes for scenes that i want to add later!! it gives me something to write towards :D

What do you consider when writing your scenes? what goes into making the atmosphere and mood you want? to set a scene i do two things? the first is like,, the five senses bc that always sets the scene really well and makes it feel Real. i'll visualize stuff in my head like its a movie and write out what i would want to tell the set designer?? if the lights are low, if the space is busy, if it's supposed to exude comfort or not.

for putting forward the character's mood one thing i've found that makes a difference is sentence length!! long sentences are good for making a character seem flustered and nervous or not really in control of their emotions? good for love confessions. short sentences are good for when the character is focused on something or short on time. good for fights!!

What's something you never considered to include in your writing that you can't leave out now? def buff hagakure,,,, once i thought of it i was like. if i don't include this at least once in every single fic how could i look at myself in the mirror!!!!!! how could i face anyone!!!!

How do you start a story? establishing a fact about the character or describing the setting! option a is one single thread of gold, option b is between lion and men

How do you end a story? either by tying it back to the beginning or doing like a funny kind of closing??? option a is sugar cookies, option b is a godless society

How do you get out of writer's block? change something!! move something!! i go from typing to handwriting, moving from my bedroom to my living room, switching wips to work on something else!! i do sprints as well?? give myself like fifteen minutes to write something and sometimes 200 words opens up the way for another 2k. sometimes i'll just delete like 500 words and start fresh

Do you edit? or do you toss your writing out there? i edit!!! i'll go over it myself then send it to one or two betas (bee my beloved <33)

How do you edit? do you use spellcheck, grammar checkers, etc? bee is my grammar checker bc he is So Good with grammar. i use grammarly as well for spellcheck stuff mostly?? sometimes my edit process is just like "am i tired of looking at this!! yes <3" and then i post it

PROGRESS

Do you usually like what you write? yeah!!! i post stuff that makes me happy and that i'm fine with rereading!!! i write stuff for self-indulgence reasons first and foremost and i think my writing reflects that sjhnksj

Have you ever written something you didn't like but posted anyways? nope!! even what we deserve i LIKED even if i see a lot of room 4 improvement!! if i don't like smth it's not getting posted

Do you find yourself rereading your writing often? yeah!! the reason i wrote so much krbk secret relationship is because i loved it but i'd read all that there was so i just,, wrote more,, ngl its kinda nice being in a place where i actually like my writing bc i can write stuff that i want to see and really enjoy it!!

Can you tell us anything about your current WIP? sure!! i'm currently working on when it rains which is a fic where bakugou gets hit by a crying quirk!! i'm gonna be using it to explore So Much of all might's character and his relationships with bakugou and aizawa (and i think some people from his past!!)

Can you give us a sneak peek on your current WIP? “You did something. What the hell did you do?” Kirishima sounds pissed off. It would amuse Katsuki if he wasn’t fighting just to stay standing.

“Nothing he didn’t ask for,” Shinsou replies.

“K’ri… shima,” Katsuki croaks out. “‘S fine. Not him.”

His chest collapses back into the familiar dry heaving after that but Kirishima shuts up. He doesn’t apologize to Shinsou.

Kirishima’s a good friend, stubborn and loyal. He stands by Katsuki’s side like an attack dog, blocking him from the view of anyone ogling at his tears.

The last line you've written Ochako knows more than she'd realized. She knows enough to keep her guard up.

It’s not enough.

Open a wip. what’s the first line?

Katsuki wakes up feeling like absolute fucking shit.

INSIGHT

What's your favorite thing about writing? touched on this before but it's mainly just being able to write the things that i want to see and actually enjoy them!!! actually reread them!!!! i thought "wouldn't it be cool if bkg and kirishima owned a restaurant together" and then i wrote it and i like it enough to reread it!!!! being able to create content for myself makes me. so happy

How do you keep yourself inspired? this is gonna sound narcissistic maybe but honestly i'm just really excited about my ideas and where i'm gonna take them and the idea of "i'm gonna get to That scene" keeps me going through the entire thing. also my friends!!!! i'll talk to them about fics and their reactions keep me hyped up enough to finish!!!!

What is your favorite thing to write? just,, slice of life romance,,, stuff thats silly and makes people laugh!!

What do you think your strengths are in writing? i'm good with dialogue!! i do lil voice acting sessions with myself to make sure everything sounds natural and like it's coming from that character skhjnskj

i'm comfortable with my portrayal of love as well??? i spend a lot of time thinking about what it is exactly that i'm trying to get across and i think it turns out well!!

What are things you wish you could practice more? on one hand i wanna get better at writing angst on the other hand i dislike writing angst. do you see my issue

One way you've improved your writing since you began? characterization!! i think i've gotten better at writing characters that are all Different and bring different things to the table!!! i used to project a lot more and it would compromise the characterization because the character was like 70% me and 30% them? not to say that projection is bad but if you do it too much it just,, doesn't read like the character and from a reader's standpoint the narrative can become less compelling

One aspect of writing you're still working on? writing action!!! i. literally hate writing it but i write for a fandom about superheroes so. Unfortunately i gotta learn.

A piece of writing advice you've learned while writing saw this on another tumblr post but they said sometimes if you're struggling with a scene, the problem is five lines back. i've found that to be true!!!! sometimes u gotta delete a chunk and start a little ways back!! i did this with too busy being yours because i was stuck for Weeks and i deleted like 25% of what i had but it helped me actually finish it :D

A bit of writing advice you can't stand when people shit on show don't tell for being overrated lmao bc when u read their writing you can Tell

Something you wish you knew when you first started writing? ,,,,honestly i kind of wish i could know some of the stuff that i used to when i first started writing?? technically i'm better now but creatively i was must better when i wasn't stressing about whether anyone would like what i was writing. so i guess i wish i knew that i should keep that confidence? i kinda wish that i wasn't as insecure about other people's writing styles because i never used to be!!

Something you've learned in life that you apply in writing there's no point in feeling inferior?? writing one genre isn't better than the other. being in one fandom isn't better than being in another. the kind of language you use or the length of your paragraphs- none of that stuff like. matters. what matters is that you're having fun and happy with what you're creating!!!! enjoy other peoples writing but don't let it make you feel worse about yours :D

[profnodanna]

A mikorei scenario for the people who wanted to cry (it’s not so bad, I swear)

 {♔}

Post ROK. In the exact moment the Slate is destroyed, Mikoto’s eyes snap open. He has just woken up in what seems a hospital room, but besides that there’s nothing in that place vaguely familiar. A young woman, with short dark hair and a cheerful smile, welcomes him, briefly explaining him that he is in one of the Gold clan’s facilities, that he had been in a coma for all this time, and that she and her team have been taking care of him for a while.

Lately, he meets the chief researcher, someone who was working with the Gold Clan since before the day of the Kagutsu incident, aiming to avoid any Damocles Down. Thanks to their studies they managed to save Mikoto’s life and treat his injuries; however, his connection with the Slate somehow prevented him from waking up.

The reasercher proceeds to explain what happened while he was in a coma: how Anna became the new Red King, what happened to Homra, the death of the Gold King and the following arising of the Green Clan, how the Slate was destroyed and why. And, more in important, that everyone believes that Mikoto died. The reasercher concludes that their job with him is done, and that now Mikoto can do whatever he wants.

For a while, Mikoto chooses to do nothing; he is too debilitated, both physically and mentally, to even think to “go back”.

He has to face Totsuka's death and the consequences of his actions, and at the top of it, he doesn't know if he wants to go back to that society who caged him. He knows, no matter how much his people love him, that he will never fit.

Meanwhile Munakata is struggling with his new condition of  “normal man” (assuming that the Kings, differently from their clansmen and Strains, lost almost completely their powers with the destruction of the Slate); as time passes, he can’t help but notice all his limits as a common person, all the things he can’t do anymore: his powers didn’t help him only during his fights, but also intellectually and mentally. He gets tired more easily, unfocused more easily; he simply can’t do anymore all what he used to do and how he used to. Which it kinda leads him to constantly overwork himself just to prove (to himself) that he can still pursue his path. That he is still has some unresolved feelings about what happened in the last two years, feelings and thoughts that he is not willing to openly express to anyone, doesn’t help either.

Months pass in the new era without the Slate, months in which everyone is adjusting to the new reality, without anything important happening. Until one day, Mikoto shows up before Munakata family’s house.

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and he knows (thanks to the information provided by the researcher who saved him) that Munakata Reisi is there, paying a visit to his family.

Of course Munakata Reisi is shocked when Mikoto walks in his house. So shocked that at first he doesn't even know how to feel. He even forgets to punch Suoh. Instead, keeping his natural decorum, he simply listens to Mikoto's explanation about what happened, how he survived, why he didn’t come back earlier and why “now and here”. On the other hand, not so surprisingly Mikoto doesn’t seem to be able to give a proper answer to all the questions Munakata has. In his mind, to show up there and basically say “look, I’m alive” should have been enough. He was obviously mistaken.

They talk a bit, and in Mikoto’s words is implied he believes to owe Munakata at least the knowledge to not have actually killed him.

He then apologies for what happened, this time directly to Munakata, but without regretting his past choices (if anything it almost seems he regrets to have survived). Munakata is not surprised about that, to which he responds with a sad half smile. He asks what Mikoto is going to do. Their talk ends here, due to Taishi’s interruption to invite Mikoto to stay over for dinner.

Next step for Mikoto is going back to Homra (other sad story), which probably is a little harder than facing Munakata to him.

Of course the reunion is very emotional (just think about Homra’s surprise, Anna’s happiness and Kusanagi’s shock. How the latter can’t even believe about who’s before his eyes. Think about how Yata could feel, now that he has the chance to understand Mikoto-san, and about all the alphabet boys’ reactions).

However Mikoto has already decided not to stay at Homra; instead he’s got a small apartment not so nearby, where he can stay for the time being. To him it’s a kind of “safe space”, where he can live without feeling outside pressures (yes, even from his own -ex?- clan), and which he needs to adjust to whatever kind of life he will decide to have. It doesn't take long for Munakata to show up at its door: and always at the weirdest hours, especially during night-time. Mikoto can’t really say to be exactly “happy” about the timing, but even complaining a lot he lets Munakata in every time, because he knows this is the other’s way to reach out, and that he is the only one Munakata can relate to. So he offers him the not-so-cozy couch in the small living room and a drink, and they spend the rest of the night awake drinking and chatting, pretending to be enough drunk so that their words seem a little less real, a little more forgivable.

Both of them are struggling in different ways, and somehow, they manage to help each other, by barely being there for the each other. Munakata does most of the talking, often on completely trivial events involving bonding activities and suspicious collective spreading of fever or stomachache in the blue clan, and Mikoto mostly replies with “uh”s, always forgetting who’s this Fuse that from time to time appears in Munakata’s talking (he’s got a rough idea about a certain Domyouji, and for some reasons he can’t stand a certain Aki-bunny).

But there are other times, when their shared bottle (or bottles) is almost empty, and the night has reached its darker hours, in which their talks become more serious.

It's during one of these nights that Munakata murmurs:

"I /still/ want to save you, Suoh"

and that hits Mikoto hard, he can almost feel it physically, in how his chest clenches, in his lack of breath; because if the first time he heard that sentence from Munakata he was run to his own death, now it's different, now he's struggling to stay alive. And deep inside Mikoto isn't even sure if he is worth to be the object of all... that consideration. Because he doesn't feel he deserves it. And he asks "why", why Munakata should care so much about someone like him. And Munakata just smiles sadly, knowing full well they both know *why*, and also knowing it would be too easy, too simple, somehow *wrong* saying those little words, because neither is ready and is in a good state of mind, because both are a little broken over past feelings and now it's enough being together, it really is. {♔}

... And eventually everything works out and they live happily being idiots! :D

I didn’t tell everything, and I left out a little of Munakata’s pov in this (but it was becoming so long! ;A;), but this is my favorite “alive!Mikoto AU”, the one I go mostly with when I am thinking about a scenario in which Mikoto survives. If you see a lot of similitarities with some of @ridiasfangirlings‘s scenarios, well, you’re right! I built most of this AU also thanks to her, so kudos to Ridia! <3 I hope you liked my... scenario, story? and that you had a good cry! :D

[luvdsc]

first off, that soulmate au abt jaemin was top notch! i loved it so much, i just started reading ur works n they're absolutely amazing 🥺 when i finally caught on to what was going on in the fic, u have to know that my heart began ACHING istg 🗿 secondly, i aspire to be as good of a writer as u are, any tips on how to start off my writing blog?? super sorry to bother u, i just love ur works sm omggg

brb gonna print this out and pin it to my wall, so I can read it whenever I feel sad and instantly feel better because you are the absolute kindest, honey bee, omg thank you so much!!! 😭💘 thank you for enjoying ellipsism and for giving my writing a chance! I don’t write angst as often, so I’m very happy to see that the angst hit its mark :’)

You are so cute omg, I’m positive your writing is already as amazing as you are!!!! 💗 I’m not sure if you want writing tips or tips about how to start a writing blog? So I’ll put a bit of both! And it’s not a bother at all, lovebug, thank you for showering my writing with love 🥺💚 I’ll put the tips below under the cut!

WRITING ;

utilize your own experiences — this is something I do the most with my writing. My blurbs are oftentimes based on things that happened in my life. The reason why I hold tddol so near and dear to my heart the most is because the entire thing is heavily based on my own college shenanigans and each character emcompasses personality traits and quirks of my own irl friends. It makes the fic more believable as well because you can pull from your own emotions and thoughts from that time and put it into words. I gravitate towards college au the most because there’s no research involved when I’m the primary source :)

daydream — sometimes, it’s best to just let your mind wander and conjure up make-believe scenarios at 3 in the morning when it’s quiet and only the moon and stars are awake with you.

draw inspiration from your surroundings and people around you — this might be a little difficult if you’re in quarantine right now, but pay attention to who and what’s going on around you! go to a coffee shop and observe the different people that come and go. is there something going on with the couple sitting the corner or maybe the barista and her obviously favorite regular that she always gives a free scone to? Or maybe there’s something about the cute boy with the maroon beanie who taps away at his laptop, sipping on a hot chocolate. Make up random scenarios and back stories for these people!

dialogue — read what you write for your character’s dialogue and ask yourself, “do people actually speak this way?” People use the same words often in their speech, use contractions, have um’s and ah’s scattered here and there, trail off mid sentence, randomly go from one thought to the next, etc. Make sure the conversation sounds natural and flows well!

detail — detail is something I struggle with writing, but I feel like I’ve improved on it immensely with this little rule I’ve given myself. Each paragraph (?) has to be three to five lines long on a google doc, unless it’s a short dialogue line that I want to pack a punch with. By doing this, I’m making myself stop and think about the surroundings and what’s going on through my character’s mind or what they’re feeling. As the writer, you already know all of this and may not feel the need to write it down, but to a reader who’s unfamiliar with the universe you created, they won’t know any of it at all. So make sure to add in detail!

write when you feel like writing — this is just my personal opinion on this, but my writing comes out infinite times better when I write when I want to and not force myself to word vomit onto google docs. I kinda did that with I Dare You, and it’s actually my least favorite fic I’ve written on here because I’m not satisfied with the forced execution of it. I know some people prefer to set goals for themselves and write 2k a day regardless, which is incredibly awesome and I admire their determination and will power, but that’s not for me. I only write when I feel like it because I want it to be enjoyable and not feel like a job I’m forced to do. Unfortunately, that means I don’t have a set posting schedule, and fics often get scrapped midway when I decide I don’t want to write it anymore.

write what you want to write — I’m a firm believer in this. Indulge in your favorite au’s and tropes! Write a million bff2l stories (like I do lmao) if that’s the trope that makes you happy!!! Don’t worry about the notes, the number of reblogs, the word count, etc. Please don’t force yourself to write something you’re uncomfortable with or dislike for the sake of notes or readers. Your stories are for you first and foremost, so use them to make whatever your heart desires come to life!

STARTING A WRITING BLOG ;

choose a clean blog theme — make sure your blog is easy on the eyes and simple to navigate! You could be putting out god tier writings like Rick Riordan, but there’s a high chance people will give up on reading it if it’s in neon green, comic sans size 7 font on your flashy blog.

create a master list — this goes into the easy to navigate component as well! It’s best to have all the links to your writings and other important info in one post that you can put in your description for others to find.

use tags — I believe it’s only the first five tags that matter, so make it count! for instance, with ellipsism, it’s a jaemin angst, so I used #jaemin angst, #jaemin scenarios, #jaemin imagines, #nct imagines, and #nct scenarios as my first five tags. They’re pretty popular tags that correlate to my fic, and they’ll bring my fic to the attention of new readers!

reblog your fic — people are in all different time zones, so some of your followers might be asleep when you drop a fic and unfortunately miss it. you can queue a reblog of your fic at different time intervals after you posted it, so that your followers who missed it the first time have another chance at seeing it!

open requests / drabble games — i don’t know if this is your cup of tea, but if you’re stumped on what to write or are looking for inspiration, you can open requests/suggestions or hold a drabble game! This also can bring in new readers and allow you to interact with your followers :) but again, please don’t force yourself to write all of them if you don’t want to or if you’re comfortable with a certain request. At the end of the day, you reserve the right to say no to any request.

I hope these were helpful, honey bee, and please feel free to send another ask in if you want me to elaborate on anything or have any more questions! (Or if you just want to talk, that’s a-okay, too!!!) 💓💓

[woahhiperson]

Making a new au so here we go:

The ‘idk wot to call it yet au’

So Naga and Grima both have religions connected to them, but what if the Cult of Grima disbanded after Grimas defeat by the first exalt? So people stopped believing in Grima. Grima became another myth, another scary story to tell in the woods to unnerve people.

So Robin is born, but he has the same parents as canon. So he ends up with the right lineage and genes to be

The vessel for Grima!

But no one knows that.

Robin grows up as a tiny bean (his mom IS around and validar isnt a meanie because haha no grima to make all those issues and because i need robin to be happy this au might end up really angsty) and then he turns five or somethin and Robin begins to hear a voice in his head. At this age it is very faint, much like a whisper, and he tells someone, but they just tell him ‘thats your thinking voice’. Robin goes with that for quite awhile until he line 9 or 10 and he’s like ‘this aint my thinking voice’, cause 1: he has a thinking voice and this one is very different, and 2: this one doesnt even have his personality. So Robin once again tries to tell everyone and they deny it again (possibly trying to pass it off as an imaginary friend??).

Robin is frusterated but goes along with it. Time passes, and Robin is now a teenager. the voice gets louder and meaner and he still has no idea what it is. Then he turns eighteen. The voice is pretty much equal in volume to his own thinking voice, and its finally able to tell him “I am the Fell Dragon, Grima.” Now of course Robin is just like ‘what???’ So Robin tries to do some research. Robin is able to find one source, in a very old book. Robin reads of how Grima was ‘the god of destruction’ and how ‘he killed many people’. Robin is well, disturbed, and tries to ask the voice if it really is Grima. The voice tells him one thing: “I am the Wings of Despair, I am the Breath of Ruin, I am the Fell Dragon, Grima.” Robin is like: ok this thing might actually be in my head for some reason?? But he is also internally laughing because wile the voice was threatening, it was still quite funny to hear it almost repeat itself. Robin reads the rest of the small amount of information on Grima, and finds out Plegians used to worship him. Robin gets v e r y nervous. He IS plegian afterall. So Robin puts the book away and sits with this information for a while.

Grima continues to say the same thing, it seems only capable of saying that for now even though it used to berate Robin at almost every turn. Robin gets more nervous and tries to tell someone. Whoever it is, they laugh. They tell Robin that Grima is just a myth. ‘Its just a voice in your head. Don’t even worry about it.’ Robin is well, frusterated. He’s even a little bit scared. ‘The voice only keeps getting louder. What if it can take control?’ Robin begins to get paranoid. He tries talking to other people but they all don’t believe him, saying similar lines of ‘its a myth’. Robin feels a need to get to the bottom of this, and he is technically an adult now, so he ventures off with a small amount of gold to go find more information on The Fell Dragon.

He ventures around Plegia, but is unable to find much more information in the places accessible to him. And he even snuck in some places. He finds some buildings with Grima-like markings but they all seem run down and the few markings left were practically unreadable. All the places seemed destroyed on purpose, but destroyed long ago. (They were destroyed by the cult of grima for one reason or another, but robin dont know that) So since Plegia was lacking info, Robin decides to venture to Ylisse, because it seemed that Grima and Naga were connected somehow.

Robin is sttill unable to really find anything, and the people of Ylisse also denied Grima’s existence. Robin thinks there must be information somewhere, so he settles down in a tiny three room shack (he aint got that much money and hes currently more worried about Grima) with a kitchen, bathroom, and empty room. Robin sets up a bedroom in one half of the empty room, and uses the other half for research. He is able to get his hands on quitw a few books and tries to connect the information together. It takes a long time, and he gets little information from it. Robin starts to think that he’s going to need the more valuable history books and scripts for this.

So one day he is on his way the capitol, and is walking through a field. He is almost to the town when he stumbles and falls into the dirt. People find him and one person (yall all know where this is going) offers a hand. Robin takes it and is introduced to Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick. He learns that they are out all patrol and that Chrom and Lissa are royalty. Now this sparks a plan in Robin. He could try to see if they’d let him into the rarest history documents. So he asks and is shot down by Frederick, who is suspicious of someone just wanting access to such important documents. Chrom is like ‘Robin asked nicely so we should let him’ Frederick scolds Chrom for being too trusting. (honestly robin is kinda suspicious rn..) So they part ways.

Robin continues his search, and every once in a while, he’d find another small snippet of information. He begins to gain a reputation of ‘The guy with a weird obsession with Grima who believes the Fell Dragon lives in his mind’ and so people are a l i t t l e reluctant to give information. Robin is able to still get money through small jobs and stuff. Robin gets a little more disheveled as time goes by and Grima only gets louder. He meets Chrom on multiple occasions, and they eventually bechrom friends. Robin gets a ton of information written down and connected. But it still isnt enough.

Chrom can see how Robin is getting more frantic, and begins to worry. Robin brushes him off as he bechroms more secluded. Grima gets louder and is able to once again berate Robin. Grima begins telling Robin how no one will ever believe him and help him, how he’ll never be able to figure it out.

And so Robin goes to Chrom. The thing is, Robin liked having Chrom as a friend, so he never told Chrom about any of it. Chrom only knew he was researching something. So Robin sits him down for a chat. He starts off simple “I think the Fell Dragon, Grima, lives in my mind. Of course, Chrom laughs about it, but he stops upon seeing Robins face fall. Robin tries to tell him about it all, but unfortunately, like everybody else, Chrom was raised to believe Grima was a myth. Chrom is worried, thinking maybe Robin had been alone for too long. Chrom still wants to help, but he doesn’t believe Grima is the issue. Robin gets frusterated and attempts to politely leave, but is a little rude.

Chrom is very worried, and tells Lissa and Frederick. They also worry. Chrom wants to be a helpful bean but this information begins to spread like wildfire. If Robin wasn’t known before, he was now. This ain’t a good thing either. People make fun of Robin, and Robin begins to get more bitter and cold due to bearing constant mockery from Grima and others. Grima is at a shouting volume in Robin’s head, and is able to give Robin a headache everytime he speaks. Things are not going well, but Robin is still too paranoid to go back home.

Then Robin is sitting alone one night, looking over his information. There’s a knock on the door. He gets up to see who it is. Then he collapses. In his head is a low rumble, one that slowly rises in volume until Robin wants to shout at it to go away. His vision blurs, gaining a red tint. In the panic and pain Robin remembers something. It’s his twentieth birthday. He was born some time in the early night. The rumble stops. There’s a dead silence. Then a cold laughter begins to ring in his ears. It morphs into a sentence,”My patience has been tested.. And I won.” Robin is confused as the pain stops, and his eyes focus again. Then its as if a force slams down on him, shoving him down into his own body. His vision blurs again and he goes numb. He tries to turn his head, only to see black. He turns around in every direction. Its all a pitch black void. Everywhere but where his eyes last looked. Then the view changes, as if he’s stood up. A voice comes, slightly muffled,”Robin are you okay in there?!” It was Chrom. The laugh starts again. Its not in his head. Robins hand is brought to his face, sparking with electricity, before being moved away. He ‘walks’ and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Robin reels back as he now has six glowing red eyes, six black wings, and horns on his head. The Robin in the mirror smiles before going to open the door. Robin realizes what has happened. Grima took over. Was there a way to take control again!? Robin is quite frantic, but the void is, well, a void. No end, the only thing in there was the vision. The door is opened and Chrom is obviously taken aback, asking what had happened. Grima laughs and his hand begins to fizzle again. Luckily Chrom notices and backs away before being stabbed with a spear of electricity. Grima begins launching an attack on ‘that wretched Naga spawn’. Robin could now hear Grima’s thoughts. They really had switched places. Robin could only watch as Chrom drew his sword and the two began to fight. Both are hurt, but Robin does live in a town, and people begin to notice. Robin hears multiple gasps of ‘is that really grima??’ And similar lines. Some try to help, but they are kind of useless.

The fight chromtinues. Then Grima charges another spear, and drives it through his stomach. Robin screams. Grima laughs about that. Chrom falls unconscious, but still breathing. Grima rises into the air on his wings and continues to laugh. “You all didn’t believe the vessel, but now you can see, I have returned after so long. I am not a myth, but I am the Fell Dragon, Grima!” And Grima begins to attack the town. After a while he stops and thinks ‘can a revert to my dragon form?’ He tries, only for it to fail. Grima is furious and goes back to end Chrom for good out of rage, only to find the prince gone. Robin by now has found out that Grima cannot hear him unless he actually speaks, so he is able to internally sigh with relief as Chrom might be okay. Grima goes on a rampage and guards try to stop him, only to fail. Grima is not back to full power, but he is still extremely dangerous.

So he goes and begins to try and take over Plegia, and remake his cult. He attacks and stuff and finds Robin’s parents. They are of course freaked out and pained to know that Robin was telling the truth. Grima is able to take about half of Plegia for himself. Soon the Shepherds return and want to defeat Grima. (Haha soon... this is probably like three or four years later) Chrom is luckily alive and is quite angy about Grima taking his ‘friend’. They fight and have to retreat. They join with the Plegians that have been trapped in Grima’s controlled land and use the next 1-2 years to form a full rebellion. Grima has made the dragon’s table his home. He is finally able to conjure his dragon form, but only can keep it for about a day before needing another day’s rest. But his human form is powerful enough gor him to not need the dragon form very often. The rebellion makes its way to the Dragon’s Table, a force of about 2,000 people. Grima has countless Risen guarding and controlling his land, but the rebellion is able to get to Grima.

Grima transforms into his dragon form to end the rebellion for good, but Chrom and a few others are able to make it to him and end up on his back once transformed. They fight the summoned risen and make it to the human form. Chrom once again fights Grima. Robin, still stuck inside his own mind, feels hope. A feeling he truely hadn’t felt in years, but the only way he could think of that would get rid of Grima, was his own death. And he accepted it. Chrom and Grima both were able to go unharmed for quite a long time. Risen kept the others from helping. Then there was a loud hiss from Falchion as it sliced through the palm of his hand. It burned unlike any injury had before. Even the other cuts from Falchion on their first fight hadn’t felt like this. Grima’s vision blurred as he was partially shoved back into Robin’s mind. The dragon almost fell, quickly stabling itself. Robin stood, speechless, as he had regained partial control of his own body. He was distracted, and Falchion was able to leave a deep gash in Robin’s arm as he began to flee. Grima shouts and takes back control. But Robin isn’t completely locked away again. Where he has been cut, his hand and forearm, he could feel a small amount of control. Grima kept trying to fire magic at Chrom, but if it was cast by the right arm, Robin could mess up his aim. Grima figured this out and Robin was rendered almost useless. Robin tried to still help as both Grima and Chrom began to sustain more injuries. Robin was able to mess up Grima’s attacks and dodging. Every wound gave him more control. Soon Grima was barely able to fight, as Robin forced him to be hurt. But Chrom was also starting to struggle, as he has been sustaining multiple injuries as well. Chrom wasn’t aware of Robin’s help. He thought Robin was gone. So he went to try and slash Grima’s neck, convinced that his ‘friend’ was gone forever. Robin had gotten Grima to fall. But Robin couldn’t help but flinch, holding his right hand over his neck. The blade connected and sliced through the glowing mark that stained the hand. A great tremor shook through the dragon. Grima screamed in utter fury and agony as Robin could feel his presence fade away. The numbness turned into a sensation of wind and scales. Grima’s roar died down, his gritty voice gone. Robin felt something he had almost never felt. Emptyness. But.. It was good! Grima was.. completely gone. He couldn’t feel the god’s presence at all. His eyes began to burn. But then he saw a wrathful blade swing at him, and he had to dodge. Finally meeting eyes with Chrom after all these years. Chrom kept trying to attack him but Robin shouted,”It’s me! Grima’s gone!” Chrom only got angrier, believing Grima was just taunting him. Robin kept trying to convince him that Grima was truely gone. Then he decided to tell him,”No one ever believed me before. Please, believe me just this one time..” Chrom stopped and stared at Robin. Stumbling to Robin with wide eyes and dropping Falchion, he focused on his face. Noticing they were brown after being red for so many years. “..Robin...” Robin could only give a smile, as the now dead dragon began to drop from the sky. All the people on the back rushed to the pegasi and flew down. Once making it down to the ground safely, a cloud of dust forming and dieing down from the dragon’s impact, the Risen all fell, dead once more. The rebellion tried to attack Robin, but understood that Grima had no control over him anymore. Chrom once again turned to Robin and enveloped him in a hug as both began to shed tears, but for different reasons. Robin was still in disbelief that he was alive and free from Grima’s grasp, and Chrom could only choke out one whisper into Robin’s ear,”I love you..” Robin froze but nodded, agreeing. “I thought I lost you.” “Me too.”

(Woah that made a big space) And so they go back to Ylisse and make a cross-country announcement about Grima’s defeat and Robin’s return. They get married. But Grima did start another cult. Not everyone who was in Grima’s controlled land was in the rebellion. And upon learning of Grima’s defeat, they wanted him back. So.. is it truely over?