#lau's note

[plague-of-insomnia]

Ch 212: That Butler, Going South

Please respect the spoons (time and energy) and money I invested into this post. Do not use my content without credit.

16 pages including the cover.

Basically, the chapter covers Sebastian and Ciel traveling by train to Brighton, discussing the servants’ missions as Ciel enjoys breakfast in the dining car.

(Remember that all the missions are happening simultaneously more or less, so Ciel doesn’t know how successful or not they all were.)

It’s actually quite brilliant of Yana and her team to time things like this. This chapter is a great way for fans who may have lapsed during the servant arcs to catch up again, or even for new fans lured in by the anime to get a taste of the manga.

It’s also interesting to see a how a some of the scenes mirror panels/moments from previous arcs.

For example, the shot of Sebastian and Ciel on the train together is akin to the end of the circus arc. (And admire how much her art has improved!)

Later, we get a (shocking, to me, anyway) shot of Sebastian sitting at the table with Ciel as equals, reminiscent of when they ironed out the details of the contract.

The chapter begins with the two of them on the train in their first class compartment, en route to Brighton from Reading.

Sebastian, ever the conscientious butler, notices the time and mentions breakfast, but Ciel is cautious: they’re fugitives, after all. Sebastian points out that most people wouldn’t expect a criminal to be casually taking a meal in the dining car. Seeing his point (and since Ciel is driven by his stomach lol), they go to have breakfast together.

They then discuss the servants’ missions and what they expect. For example, Ciel brings up the point that Lau can only be trusted so far, and he is the one who first brought their attention to the whole mess back in the Campania arc with Karstein Hospital. And he is a mafia boss.

But, both of them acknowledge that Bard is the smartest and most capable of the four servants (Bard, Mey, Finny, Snake), and that he managed to make it to the UK all the way from America alone. Plus, he’s trustworthy. Ciel points out that’s precisely why he paired them up. (Seeing them compliment my man 😭😭… Take that, Bard haters!)

They also discuss the mission Ran Mao and Mey are undergoing and ofc Snake and Finny. (I’m sorry but I’m tired and I don’t care as much about the other servants as Bard so I’m… not going into detail on their pages. Maybe tomorrow if I have time and spoons I’ll make an add-on to this going over those pages.)

This panel is one of my fave moments in the chapter… it translates more or less like this:

Mey: For our lord

Bard: With pride

Snake: With my life on the line

Finny: I do the assigned work and see it through to the end

Despite initially being wary of leaving their compartment, when Sebastian suggests they leave the dining car, Ciel wants to stay and stretch his legs. It’s only a few hours to Brighton by train.

Looks like next week we’ll start the arc in earnest and maybe learn how they plan to infiltrate the hotel.

Please respect the spoons (time and energy) and money I invested into this post. Do not use my content without credit.

Note: The last panel is actually Ciel speaking, so apologies for that error in translation.

[babycatlix]

Gifsets of Bang Chan ↳ baby chan taking a selca for @agibbangs 💖 | DO NOT REPOST

[kal3cchi]

robert glasper experiment - the consequences of jealousy (feat. me'shell n'degeocello)

[tanadrin]

@msexcelfractal

Would you consider global colonialism and climate destruction to be huge qol improvements? Industrial humanity has knowledge without wisdom and it’s going to destroy us - the ttc remains a relevant warning

i think this is a great example of not being able to even begin to take a long historical view on anything. obviously the philosophers of the warring states era of chinese history whose work was compiled into the tao te ching had not even the foggiest notion of "colonialism" as the concept is used in modern political discourse or of climate change! how could a work of axial age political philosophy, when the global population was measured in the low hundreds of millions, have anything thoughtful or interesting to say about climate change, a consequence of technological and social processes that wouldn't begin for another ~2,000 years?

the only way the tao te ching can have any relevance to the present day is if we renegotiate the text--this is something dan mcclellan talks about a lot in the context of religion; it's basically an automatic process. we have texts that are culturally significant to us, which remain important for reasons of identity, and which we thus must find ways to keep relevant, bc we're unwilling to abandon them; thus, even as the politicial/social/technological/cultural/etc. context around those texts changes, even changes very radically, we must find new ways of reading those texts in order to keep them relevant, so that we don't have to abandon them.

not only is it historically baseless, i think it indicates a profound lack of imagination and a profound inability to do the kind of thoughtful, sympathetic reasoning necessary to really appreciate texts from other cultural contexts to look at something like the tao te ching and only be able to read into it modern concerns. to, in other words, draft every ancient text you read as a soldier in modern arguments. the concerns of the author(s) of the tao te ching were completely different from yours! like, maybe if you're a committed taoist interested primarily in devotional readings of the tao te ching there's something there you can work with, but even then i think that's kind of fraught--like, i don't think Christian readings of Isaiah are on much better footing even if they admit, sure, yeah, Isaiah really has nothing to do with Christian notions of the messiah. I think you're still doing something silly there, and even if you acknowledge you're bending the text out of shape on purpose it's more interesting in its original sitz im leben.

and really--what lessons could we drag out of the tao te ching even if we dragooned it into a modern context? break the world up into sovereign states so small that the people of one state can hear dogs barking in the next state over, but will grow old and die without having had any dealings with them? how can we operationalize the dictum that governing a state is like boiling a small fish? the tao te ching is a fascinating and thoughtful book, and totally worth taking seriously--but it's not a modern work of economics or political science! and the work necessary to turn it into one would constitute constructing a whole new political philosophy that has nothing to do with the actual text and everything to do with the preexisting beliefs of the person doing the constructing. you, presumably, would build some kind of generic leftist philosophy out of it. someone else might discover it's really a tract about right-libertarianism. somebody else might decide, well, really it's about RETVRNing to some kind of ultra-authoritarian hyper-patriarchal micro-feudalism.

like, not to be a huge bitch or anything, but... be serious. think outside the extremely narrow context of contemporary political horizons for five freaking minutes.

[bapydemonprincess]

Forever loving Lau for keeping up Silly Little Guy Energy well into his 40s or so.

[scintillulae]

[ishidoru]

hello everypony i come bringing self indulgent jooner art

[haldanare]

watching overly sarcastic productions isnt good for me i keep coming up with new story ideas

[deevotee]

its really fun to look back on some of the very calculated choices ciel makes, like the choices of guests and their roles for the murder arc dinner party

georg: the victim/guest of honor woodsley: the killer irene & grimsby: the lifes of the party to keep it from being boring and also plausible suspects to pad the list a little arthur: the objective 3rd party who can keep the situation from getting out of hand and investigate when ciels word becomes untrustworthy lau: an ally to help him keep things balanced in his favor phelps: a bribe to get lau to help him

[todayisafridaynight]

its practically impossible for sawashiro to survive IW i have simply accepted he's definitely dying so im trying to decide on what to do when the scene comes where he gets bodied

[casualoptimist]

Notable YA Covers of 2022

[laaawliet]

@llawlieta

[hanjlsung]

happiest birthday to you nini!! i hope your day has been as lovely as you 💖💖💖

belauved pls the way this made me go 🥹🥹🥹 thank you so much i adore you dearly here pls have a piece of cake *slides you an extra large piece* <3

[aurumalatus]

𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 [𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞]

pairing. kinich x fem!reader

word count. 700

genre/warnings. childhood friends to lovers, slow burn, fluff and angst, drabble collection

summary.

in which kinich learns the value of all things: lives, friendship, and, of course, you. or, in which kinich realizes that you are the only priceless thing in this world.

author's note. this is just a short prologue to show how things end (yay happy endings!), but the two have a lot of trauma to go through before they reach endgame. i love kinich's character and design so i'm excited for this! interaction is highly appreciated :)

𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 ↣

Kinich thinks he’s loved you since forever.

He has no way of proving that, of course; those years are long gone, and even if he had the opportunity to ask, he’s not sure his younger self would have a comprehensible answer. He can only see now that he’s come so far, when the memories are too murky to make sense of but the warmth remains—when he thinks of your smile and feels something akin to the weightlessness of grappling and flying through the trees.

He says “forever” because he really has no idea when it started—the realization came far after the feeling. He’d been before school age when he met you for the first time, and it’s been over a decade since then.

“Kinich!”

Your call interrupts his thoughts, and his gaze is drawn skyward—you’re standing somewhere far above him, on one of the walkways lining the cliffs of the Scions of the Canopy. You’re waving so wildly and ridiculously that it almost makes him smile.

“Are you coming down?” he calls through cupped hands, well-acquainted with this kind of long-distance communication. Sound tends to echo well between the cliffs here, and he’s sure you heard him when you offer an enthusiastic thumbs-up in return. 

“Yup! I bought a few things, so I was hoping you could help me carry them home!”

Kinich rolls his eyes teasingly. “Somehow I doubt that you have enough Mora left to afford my services.”

You pout in reply. Ajaw decides to appear then, a malicious puff of smoke over Kinich’s shoulder. “Of course not! You better not be making fun of me, letting some mortal treat you like a servant! The Almighty Dragonlord, K’uhul Ajaw, won’t take this kind of disrespect—”

Ignoring his wordy introduction, you call down to Kinich again. “I’m coming down! Think fast!”

“—Don’t make me lau—wait, what?!”

Even Ajaw yelps in surprise as you take a running leap off the walkway, freefalling fast down the plane of the cliff. If he were any younger, Kinich might’ve had a heart attack. But you’ve been pushing your luck with him for years, and it comes as instinct when Kinich grapples up, deftly catching you in his arms with a light ‘oof’.

You’re holding a few boxes in your arms, he notices, and you smile. 

“I bought some Puff Pops for us to share later. I was thinking we can do some climbing, or there’s this cave I’ve been meaning to explore.”

His heart does a sort of flip that cannot be attributed to the way you fly through the sky. It’s all so much: the sensation of your warmth pressed against him, the scent of the wind rushing past, and the laughter of his tribe members below. Their eyes shine as they watch the two of you pass above them, chuckling at the familiar sight. 

And really, he can’t remember ever being this happy. When he thinks of how much it took to reach this point, the heartbreak and trauma aren’t the first things to come to mind. Instead, it’s you. The way you held him, the way you cried for him, the way you chased him. Always laughing, always in love.

Too lost in his thoughts, he doesn’t notice your curious stare for a moment. You poke at his cheek, and he startles, nearly dropping you both.

“Is something wrong?” you ask shyly, suddenly self-conscious of the box in your hands. “We don’t have to do any of that. Really, if you have a high-value job or something, I understand.”

Ajaw decides to butt-in again, reddened with rage. “Yes, all of that sucks! I mean, seriously, don’t you have anything better to do—”

“No, it’s great,” Kinich murmurs in reply, flicking Ajaw away with a strong hand—the Saurian’s roar dissipates with the wind. He holds you tighter against his chest. There’s nothing worth more to him than you. “That all sounds really, really amazing.”

As the two of you burst through the trees, laughing the whole way, he thinks that it doesn’t really matter when he started to love you. All that matters is that he doesn’t stop.

Kinich thinks he’ll love you forever.

[frehyun]

Cursed Eyes

medusa!hyunjin x fem!reader

warnings: mention of murder, petrification (hyunjin's really sweet i promise) (if I missed anything lmk!)

word count: 2,4k

divider by @kawaii-lau

author's note: this is the first full thing I've written in years and the first time I've published something, so I'm really nervous! i really wanted to get back into writing and actually put myself out there so i guess this is it! i hope someone out there likes this and feel free to let me know what you think :) also not really edited much lol

masterlist | Part 2

Ever since you were a child, the elders in your village weaved incredible and awe-inducing stories about the Gods and their benevolent deeds to those who chose to worship them. Stories of how a child miraculously survived an illness that the village doctor deemed as lethal and incurable, of how a farmer who had lost all his sheep to wolves instead found his fields growing the biggest and most luscious vegetables and fruits that would not only feed his own family but also anyone he chooses to trade with.

All these stories always fascinated you. You found comfort in them, believing that if you were as devoted to your Gods as the other villagers are, you could experience a miracle yourself.

As you grew older, the elders would also entrust you with much darker stories, telling of wars, demons and monsters that could even live amongst men.

There’s humour to be found in thinking about your childhood story times in a moment like this, desperately hiding amongst the broken pillars and bushes that scratched your knees up.

The warm midday sun shone through the crowns of the trees, making the tears streaming down your face glimmer in the light. Your eyes squeezed shut as you heard the hissing of snakes slowly creep closer.

One story was particularly popular amongst the elders and was retold many times over in the years you’ve spent alive. The story of an ethereally beautiful man residing in the nearby woods that could seduce both men and women alike to dare themselves to come closer to his domain. When they came closer however, they would soon realise that there was no new muse or lover to be found, only their demise, as the hissing of snakes swallowed any sound they could make before their entire body was encased in solid stone.

“You’re the first one to hide for so long, I have to say I’m impressed” – the sultry voice somewhere behind you said.

The delicate steps atop the shattered stone tiles came ever closer before halting. You’re sure he must be directly behind your pillar, your ears precise as ever.

“Unfortunately, I’m in no mood to hunt for an awfully long time today. Playtime’s over, sweetheart.”

A surprisingly warm hand snaked its way around your arm, yanking you upwards and into a solid body.

“It’s always the same with you” – the creature whispered before two strong, but slender hands cupped your face, yet you made no effort to defend yourself.

A long sigh left his lips as he gazed into your eyes, waiting for the curse to set in and turn you into a statue he could add to his collection. You would be one of the prettiest he had in his garden.

Yet even as the minutes passed and the sun started to set, nothing happened.

No stone that would slowly destroy and take over your delicate skin, starting from your eyes and outwards. No last words that were whispered into his embrace as his gaze slowly shifted from anger to sorrow.

You stood solid but softly against him, keeping your eyes locked on him but unfocused, he noticed.

The man’s brows furrowed and his grip on you softened.

“Tell me”, he broke the silence suddenly, making you jump in his hold, “is this a test? Has the village concocted something to counter this curse?”

His tone was curious, maybe a bit irritated, yet his voice wavered. It was almost as if the creature that everyone in your village was scared of whatever answer you would give him.

His eyes flitted between yours nervously, studying your face for any sort of sincerity, a sign for him that you were not here to ultimately bring him to his demise like all the others. He was tired. He didn’t want you to be just like all the others. The gorgon did not know how many more statues he could look at every day before his heart finally broke apart and the strength to continue on with this life would leave him.

You were confused at the question. Why did he sound so…sad? Was this really the monster that your village was so afraid of? If he was, why didn’t he kill you already?

It was true that your village had unceremoniously dumped you into the woods and gave you the mission of finding out whether you were immune to the monster’s curse. Seeing as you are still alive, you think you accomplished that mission. However, you didn’t drink any potion or ate anything extraordinary that could counteract whatever this monster was capable of. For some reason, you didn’t want to lie to him.

“Yes”, you breathed and you felt him tense up, his fingernails digging into your arms again, so you quickly continued, “but I don’t know why I’m… I didn’t want to.”

“You didn’t want to?”

You shook your head.

“I’m different from them, so they wanted to test their theory that I might survive an encounter with you and, I guess, use that knowledge against you.”

He let go of you, taking a few steps away from you to create a protective distance between the two of you. His soft footsteps resounded throughout the ruins you were standing in. He was pacing, you noted.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I really don’t”, you had hoped you could soothe his nerves – preserve your own life a little bit longer. Your panic from earlier had already dissipated and was replaced with an uncertainty as to how to deal with this situation. The monster that had plagued your village for years, terrified children, urged parents to strictly tell their offspring to never go near the woods, was pacing nervously in front of you, because you were a threat to him.

Hyunjin was too busy thinking of every single possibility, every single choice he could make and every consequence that could come from it to notice you approaching him. When your hand collided clumsily with his bicep his eyes flitted back to you.

That’s when some of the things about you made some sense, he thought as he looked into your eyes properly for the first time.

You weren’t really looking at him. You haven’t been for the entire time he’s been talking to you, but he was too consumed by his own weird mixture of fear and anger to notice anything about you.

Huh.

You were blind.

Is that what made you practically immune to him? Whoever gazed into his alluring eyes would slowly turn to stone. That’s how it’s always been. But you were clearly different. A threat. Someone he should take and destroy before anyone else finds out how to circumvent his curse and hurts him again. And yet he wavered as your soft fingers curled around his arm not to possess, hurt or take from him but simply holding him as if he would break if you dug your fingers too deep into his flesh.

Something in his fragile heart shattered.

You weren’t really planning on staying with him. Not really. But something shifted in his demeanor towards you, he seemed softer when he gently took your hand and told you to trust him as he guided you inside of the ruins.

“You know”, he starts, and you startle a bit, “you’re the first one that doesn’t try to run. Or hurt me.”

Your heart aches at the admission. For some reason that goes against your survival instincts, you squeeze his hand in silent support, too afraid to speak up and say something wrong that would put him back into a frenzy.

“Are you not afraid?”

“Not anymore.”

He hums and it’s a pleasant tone. Soft and melodic and you want to hear more of his voice.

“What’s your name?” – you cautiously ask.

“Hyunjin.”

“Hyunjin”, you test his name on your tongue and decide it’s a good one. “That’s a pretty name. Mine’s Y/N.”

He lets out a soft ‘oh’ as if he didn’t expect you to tell him your own name or the compliment. Or both.

Hyunjin is aware you cannot really see what he’s showing you, but he would like to do it anyway. That’s how you two find yourselves wandering around the garden that he so meticulously kept near the ruins where you first found him. He tells you of the flowers and vegetables that grow in certain areas that he takes care of. But he also tells you, in a much more careful and anxious tone, about the statues of people who tried to take his home or his life in the past.

It should scare you. He’s essentially killed all these people. You should run. But where would you even run to? Where could a blind girl whose village decided she was expendable go? And even if you did make it back to the village unharmed – you’re sure Hyunjin would not harm you, even if he knew where you were fleeing to – you would either have to make them believe the monster did not show up to take the willing sacrifice or sell Hyunjin out and lead him to his eventual death.

The gentle monster in front of you broke you out of your thoughts with a sigh.

“I also take care of all the statues… the people here. It’s not easy to keep the stone clean but it’s the least I can do for them until someone finds out how to break them free. I hope they like where I placed them.”

At his words you cautiously reached out a hand towards where Hyunjin was speaking to and were soon met with warm stone. It was pleasantly warm. The kind of warmth you experience on a beautiful, sunny day.

“I’m sure they do. I hope they know you’re not entirely at fault for what happened to them. You were only trying to protect yourself.”

A soft hissing sound came from Hyunjin’s direction, and he slightly jumped, murmuring something in a scolding tone seemingly directed at no one.

The man sighed again.

“Do you mind meeting someone else?” – he finally whispered.

You tilted your head at the question, wondering if he had someone like him living here.

At your hesitant nod, he leaned slightly towards you and soon after something you were entirely sure was a snake softly touched your cheek.

“This…um, is my hair...?” - he sounded as if he wasn’t quite sure of that himself as he said it. “They’re friendly, though!”

You giggled at his panicked state, reaching out to to gently pet the snake that had braved its way towards you. It was surprisingly warm and friendly. Maybe from his own body warmth?

Experimentally you lifted your hand to reach towards Hyunjin himself, reaching out to lay your hand against the side of his neck and although he jolts at the sudden touch, he soon relaxes in your hold and lets you caress him. A soft sigh escaped his lips as you cradle his cheek and he chases your touch as you move to lift your hand away, so you decided to keep it there, holding him. A small smile appeared on your face and Hyunjin thinks in this moment that you were the most beautiful thing to grace his cursed eyes.

Does he even deserve this kind of gentleness? Someone to pick up the pieces of his scarred and shattered heart and put it back together until he could allow himself to feel safety and softness?

Maybe he deserved to be selfish like this.

It had been a couple of days since you and Hyunjin started spending your time together, having decided that keeping you around was safer for the two of you. When you voiced your concerns over other villagers trying their best to take him down again, and potentially you by extension, he waved your concerns away, assuring you that he was more than capable of protecting the two of you, given his already existing track record of living through every single encounter with one of the so-called ‘brave warriors’.

Living with Hyunjin was better than you could’ve imagined. The forest was vast, and your hometown wasn’t the only village that resided at the ends of it.

Hyunjin eventually decided to tell you that there were only two villages that were actively trying to take down the evil that he was. The other two revered him and regularly gave him an abundance of food and other things as sacrifices, so they could continue to live in his good graces.

He was incredibly thankful to them, he told you as you two sat upon one of the stones that made up the broken temple that he lived in, the two of you enjoying a late lunch made up of a variety of fruits and cheese.

“I don’t really need to hunt for myself or think about stealing to sustain myself. I’m really glad that not everyone runs after me with spears and bows in hand just because of the way I was born” – his hand came to rest near yours on the sun-warmed stone and you desperately wanted to stretch your fingers to touch his.

“Did nobody ever offer to take you in? Or accept you as one of the villagers? They do seem to at least care an awful lot about you if they give you this much food every week.”

“No.”

“Oh.”

Your hand eventually came to rest over his. You weren’t sure if it was for your comfort or for his. When he didn’t move away and simply hummed under his breath, you became emboldened and properly took his hand into yours, tracing idle patterns into the back of it.

He moved his body around so that your legs were touching and Hyunjin wished for nothing more than to grab you by your waist and have you sit on his lap to hold you close.

“You’re a lot prettier than the flowers I keep here.”

“Oh yeah?” – you giggled, also taking his other hand into yours.

“Mhm. The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

“Have you seen many?”

“Does it matter?” – he grinned boyishly, tucking a stray lock of hair behind your ear, his fingers lingering a second too long by your cheek.

You pouted at him for his vague answer, your jutted lips a perfect invitation for a kiss that Hyunjin doesn’t feel like refusing. He leans forward while his snakes purposefully start reaching out towards you as well, snuggling against the sides of your head. His plump lips touch yours in a shy chaste kiss, his arms encircling your waist as he pulls you closer against his body.

In the warm afternoon sun, you held a monster’s heart in your hands and promised to keep it safe.

[ponury-grajek]

AAAAAH, THE SWEETEST FIC EVER ;v; I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT SO MUCH ❤

Kokuhaku, a Lawlight fic

a Lawlight Server Valentine's event gift for @ponury-grajek ♡

I hope you like it! Tried hard to make a very clowny very sweet thing! It's also somehow 14k words long! Wow!

Somewhere along the way — the chains or the cell or the room with the birdsong — L had forced something in Light to open like a flower, or like a wound. Alone with L, Light was a different person. He was living another life, tucked discreetly underneath the first one. It felt much like being Kira had felt. Sometimes, it felt just as violent: this feeling that L inspired in him, that turned his insides and made a mess of him. Even when it simply felt soft between his ribs, it hurt. — or — “You and Matsuda can make out in the break room all you want, if that’s what you apparently like. I’m learning a lot about you today.” “You’re imagining it in quite vivid detail. Would you like to watch?” The corner of Light’s mouth twitched, and he calmed himself by imagining attacking Matsuda like a wild animal. “L,” Light said, smiling like he worked in customer service. “Are you going to eat the goddamn carrot or not?” — or: After Light gives up being Kira and L no longer considers him his prisoner, almost everything is sorted out. The only thing left are those annoying feelings lodged in Light's chest. Maybe he should confess?

Thank you so much to @laaawliet for doing a great job of brilliantly organizing this event!!

clicky here to read it on ao3!!