#me seeing the rest of my wips: orz

[kevotsuka]

you have a mechanic alex au?? ? where can we read iiiit 🧎🏻‍♀️

(Anon 2 from the Wip Ask Game)

i was in tumblr jail but now im FREEEE (barely)

First of all, i’m so sorry for the late response orz orz orz

actually this AU just exists in my docs in a kinda of timeline and in my head (and in my friend DMs in a 3min voice note who was ignored. so i dont think it was really interesant after all jajaja /dies) but if u want some thoughts (?

So I knew that at first Alex M wanted to be his brother's mechanic, I knew that it was Marc who convinced him to get on a bike and race with him and all that, but recently I had this idea of ​​"What would have happened if Alex really would have become Marc's mechanic, but during Marc's debacle he stay at Honda and wouldn't have been able to follow him to Gresini?"

.🙂

It was a little mental exercise. Alex encourages Marc to go to Gresini because he hates seeing his brother break himself over and over again AND MAYBE HE FEELS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MOTORCYCLE HURTING HIM SO MUCH WHO KNOWS. Alex always wants the best for Marc, even if it's not at Honda.

The only thing that didn't convince me at all was Alex's age (because I love bending reality for the RPF, but I have a lot more fun creating scenarios that are more or less plausible in my head lol) until…

I remembered that I had read THIS article by Santi and then I did the maths (lol): born in 1975. Professional at 17 in '92. In the world championship in '96 at 21.

In '99 he won with crivillé at 24. In 2003 with Vale in Honda as a 28 years old. It becomes confusing what he does between 2005-2010 because I don't want to do research, but he becomes part of some rider teams in 125cc apparently? -

He becomes in Marc's chief mechanic in 2011 at the age of 36 and moving up to MotoGP at the age of 38 in 2013.

So Alex's path would be to reach the paddock in 2015 at 19 years old and with a dream uwu

So the TIMELINE is a bit like this:

Alex is a mechanic. He had competed in CEV and everything, but despite this he decided not to make the step up to Moto3 when he got the opportunity to do so after his wild cards in ¿2012¿

In any case, he trained professionally as a mechanic and contact here contact there reached the motorcycle world championship.

He works in Moto2 with Marc VDS for a long time (from 2015 to 2019 maybe) when Honda steals him at the starting of the 2020 season because the previous mechanic there expressed his desire to retire FOR REASONS NOT CONCENTRATIVE TO THE PLOT so Alex can replace the guy.

2020 :)

MiserY

Alex go to LCR because Marc's team was out of work for the rest of the season adapting everything for Stefan :), plus there is a vacance (that is a word in english?) to fill in the LCR because of COVID and Alex has the skills for it and yada yada

At least the honda mechanic said he is going to retire, not WHEN.

The 2020 season is- fucked. Alex is trying to be a kind brother.

He gets so tired with the press coming to the garage and asking about his brother every week that he takes refuge inside the box. The cameras struggle to find him during the moments before the race.

His move up to Honda is delayed because the LCR team is keeping him because he works well with them.

2021-2022 seasons happen :). He is retained by LCR, he is getting tired of presenting his transfer, but at least he has become familiar with the HR people (I am 100% sure that is not how these workers work, I don't care).

2023 :3

Finally. he can go to Honda! Finally he is on his brother's team! HE CAN FINALLY FULFILL HIS- childhood dream? promise? life goal? idk

Alex looks at Marc's data - which he always had access to as a meddling younger brother, but which he now works on every week - and wants to cry. That bike is not supposed to be able to do what Marc achieves with it.

When Marc falls in Portimao and takes Miguel with him, he looks longingly at the LCR box and asks himself why he wanted this job. Maybe Rins wouldn't be giving him such a headache.

Marc is signed by Gresini, which leaves Honda to search for a rider and Alex to deal with whoever they are going to sign, because he stay at the team and will definitely deal with the new rider

Nov 12 - Alex hears the Marini to Honda rumor and thinks “ha, it definitely won't happen”

November - Luca Marini, brother of Valentino Rossi, is signed by Honda

LUCA MARINI

ROSSI'S BROTHER

Alex is a professional and as soon as he hears about it, he turns around and asks for a transfer to Mir's team.

(not Zarco or Nakagami because he already went through LCR and he won't go back there even if they point a gun at him, thank you very much) (he might consider it if they paid better-)

He prefers to avoid from the beginning any type of rumor that says he is doing anything, like tampering ¿? with Marini's bike or something like that.

“Smart boy” he says to himself in the mirror :)

Nov 27 - It is announced that Mir's previous team will now be with Luca and that Santi will go with Joan

Alex wants to diee, BUT HE'S A PROFESSIONAL, so he doesn't say anything.

Luca's engineer makes fun of him a little, he thinks Alex is funny.

He could go back to Santi, but (IN THIS AU, IN MY MENTAL PALACE) he doesn't try because he has this thing that all the Marquez's besides him missed: a general feeling of shame.

They know who the other is, Alex used to be Franky's mechanic in Moto2, so both know a few of stories about each other

Although they have not bonded over the mortifying experience of being younger brothers of (divorced) legends, but they have greeted each other around the paddock and been cordial over the years.

but the paddok is inmense so not that much

The Valencia tests happen and Luca is optimistic and gives a real feedback of how the bike feels and where he hopes to take it, rather than just vague unintelligible and weird noises that don't communicate anything.

Alex already feels like a huge improvement since Cal (his jokes weren't really helpful for data collection) and Rins (whom he appreciates for all the time they've known each other, both as CEV teammates and as his mechanic, but- yeah rins barely starts races during 2023 sooo )

[To be defined] [Future Lucalex] [Maybe past Franky/Alex lol]

I'd like to submit a piece of writing or SOMETHING but I only have short, silly little snippets and they're not really worth it.

[eriisaam]

WIP fic asks: 1, 12, & 15!

Oh! Thank you~ 😭💖

(for anyone who missed it this is in reference to this: https://www.tumblr.com/eriisaam/733396818115919873?source=share )

What are you most excited about when you start to write it/publish it?

That it gets done, at least in a stable/solid enough state to share. 😭

Granted it's also equally exciting and terrifying in hoping that what comes out is coherent and turns out at least decent, but it's new territory for me with the wip I was thinking about with that ask list in that not only is it an original work story, but an attempt to fulfill a lifelong dream of making a game of some kind (it's a script for a visual novel, just in its early state it's in fic form right now that I've been kinda haphazardly working on and off on).

It's not technically the first time I tried to make an original-work fic, but all my other works up to this point tend to be in scattered states of progress, disjointed on what I have to show for them or what's figured out for them due to varying constraints (same issue with current fandom stuff too even, my summoner/feh OCs lore and art are all over the place too), and a lot of past attempts at making something original either wound up shelved, scrapped, or lost in time due to various circumstances.

This project in particular is the first that got far enough to have a set plan (however roughly), a cast with consistent ideas of how they look and feel (not just a name and a vague yet-to-have-a-face concept), and I'm at a place now I feel like I can approach learning how to make it the way I wanted (the game side of it) when in the past I felt really easily confused and discouraged pretty much right at the start.

So even if it gets to a state I can actually share even the characters or snippets of their world, or the project in its completion, it already means a lot to me even at that state, and further than I got before. I've also got other projects cooking alongside of it too, but this project is the furthest out of them so far, and seeing even one of them see the light of day helps have faith in the others too later on.

How far have you planned ahead?

I feel like I have a definite start, and a definite conclusion point, but the problem I'm stuck at is the actual specifics of how we got from point A to B and the specific details throughout. (A problem that follows me a lot even in fanfics haha orz) On the bright side it has the most of itself figured out to see a rough roadmap of the story I wanted overall, rather than just a collection of fragmented ideas like a lot of my wips are/end up being, or a play-it-by-ear work until the "and then what?" wall like a lot of other fics otherwise. It's been very much like the Plankton meme from here on out of "Well I didn't think I'd get this far".

I also had rough concepts of a lot of factors determinant of the MC of the story and how the story shifts and where, though in its current state I'm trying to plan out at least one complete story start-to-finish first before getting too far ahead in those beyond concepts. (It's not necessarily a "canon" set of events, but just enough to cover the most ground in the first pass before the branch-offs happen.)

Do you have any unwritten scene that you think about a lot?

A lot, yeah. There's one that is in a place really late in I'm working up to that's very spoiler-heavy, but there's another early on that I'm still thinking about and keeping my fingers crossed whatever iteration of it that it settles on would carry the feelings across that I hoped it would.

One 'scene' that's early enough I think is safe to spoil a bit about might be a bit of a stretch cuz it's more of a theme and intent for multiple scenes than just one particular scene: How the MC meets the rest of the main reoccurring cast and gets his ducks in a row, and establishing early parts of them I hope carries through.

Specifically, the MC in question is named Enoli, and at the start, he was already recently living together with one of the reoccurring main cast, Hiroto. Eventually, there'll be others that appear and are recruited into the fold from varying backgrounds and happenstance (maybe it's safe to also reveal this is a BL magical boy series, for better context), and while I have set plans I want to start with for now in its fic form, in game form I was hoping they might vary in order and timing to an extent. I sorta get nervous of the first impressions they make and whether or not the intent I have with them carries across well enough. (Let alone later on when the order you get them has subtle differences later on.)

Enoli and Hiroto are set to be the first you start off with, and right from the start, I wanted and hoped they carry their hints across on the how-we-got-here's of the two. Hiroto is very frail, sickly and bedridden, and can't do much at first, and Enoli would risk everything, including his life, to try to get him medicine, and his cat some food and supplies, even if he has to defy his instinct (or rather, the player's input) to do it. They both newly moved in together, yet the only thing actually moved in proper is all the treats and toys and assorted other things for his beloved cat. Everything else are still in boxes. Hiroto's things in particular were haphazardly packed, and many possessions outright destroyed. Why?

I want to tell just enough that I hope I get some questions going, but I worry of crossing the fine line between being vague enough to either hint something more or spark answers, or become too vague as to be cryptic and confusing. And I want similar hints to tell something of the other eventual characters, but not enough to tell too much, too soon, all at once. For one later characer, I even wanted to challenge him with setting him up for a bad first impression, but I still feel equally curious of how well it'll go, but also scared of putting him OOCly in a bad light.

More specifically, there's one character later on who accidentally roughly bumps into Enoli. To Enoli, it was just an accident, both mean well, and there's no harm and no foul. But to the perspective of Enoli's beloved cat - ever the protector - he thinks that man actually did worse to Enoli than what happened actually, and ends up hostile and protective as a result of the misunderstanding, something that remains and shapes how he and Enoli's cat react to one another for quite a while. Maybe it's me being too tilted of extreme bad-faith reads on fandom getting to me, but it's details I think of constantly and worry and weigh if it's worth going into directions like that.

Either way, thanks for lending an ear~

[somena-libra-dawn]

(Also posted in AO3) part 1/part 2

One Day in a Mission  

“I’m tired.” Skuld huffs as she and Ephemer finally take down the last Heartless in the new world. Truthfully, she doesn’t like this jungle…or forest is it? Forest is more suitable. But they have bunch of Heartless lurking here so it is worth of Lux and mission reward.

Anyway she doesn’t like it since her hair always gets stuck by the bush or the tree’s branch.

“I saw a water spring nearby. Why don’t we take a rest there?” Ephemer suggests which Skuld agrees.

It is a few meters walk, and they reaches the spring which akin to tiny waterfall. Skuld actually can’t take off her eyes from the scenery, especially the rocks they’re standing, the calming sound that the stream makes, and the greeneries that surrounds it. What a breathtaking scenery.

Meanwhile, Ephemer takes off his gloves then cups the water to drink it. He cups another one and offers it to the dark haired girl. “Here!”

Skuld closes her eyes and brushes strand of hair behind her ear as she sips the water. As his eyes catch the way her hand sweeps her hair, Ephemer’s face flushes. He admits how beautiful she is. But not out loud, considering she might push him to the stream out of embarrassment (and she did last time). Plus, she would be guilty for pushing him and soaking him into the water which would be bad for both sides than having her simply exasperated. So he just smiles at this, his usual sweet smile.

“Thanks.”

“Your welcome.”

[seoafin]

jjk & tower of god chapter on the same day,,, i spent all of my brainjuice talking abt tog w some friends + working on my wip so this one might be incoherent LMAO but nsjdhfjd this my 2 cents for the chp (1) - 🐱

first of all, the zenins shld just eat shit 🥰 the bar is just nonexistant now 😭😭😭

also maki’s mother said sth that hits way too close to home for me too🥴

the maki & mai, megumi & tsumiki "make a place where they are happy” parallels...mai,, maki wanted a place where u'd be happy!!! 😭😭😭 good points abt any interesting nuances the original jpn might have had though

ALSO MUSCLE MAKI IS HERE

and lmao megumi's "ew no" face ,,, i didn't think he could make a face like that JDJJDJD ,, once again i think his outsider-insider status is interesting but the amount of ppl counting on him/leaning on him bc of strategic position is a lot. ig this is what kamo meant by supporting the 3 families,,,, gojou indeed is playing the long game. megumi in the meantime, very persistent in not getting more involved in clan politics, not using power that is offered to him, or leveraging it - in a way it is good, and it also makes sense with "stress is other ppl" but is interesting from a structural pov. megumi may not rly give a shit abt the rest of the jujutsu world. if the ppl close to him are affected, then he cares. otherwise, forget it.

also im interested in power implications here bcs it sound a little like there’s a slight split b/w leadership and everyday zenins and im curious what it's like if u have no connection to the top of the clan,, and again higher ups being unaffiliated with the 3 clans so they have to appeal to them. curious what other talents the gojou clan have and what they're known for bc clearly it's not just gojou, they still have power without him and still have a stake in the shifting power structure. kamo must be busy too...

MAKIIIIII ,,, honestly my heart hurts a little seeing her getting beat up in recent chapters. but i’m rly happy,, shes FINALLY getting the focus she deserves and i’m confident she will make a recovery and she IS in fact the one leading efforts on the zenin side. im rly hopeful she can take over the clan one day and no longer say she's not good enough

that stomach wound is bad news though so im wondering how she will come back from that,, that she didn't know her own father's abilities says a lot, too. i wonder if she could see the extension of his blade, or if she hasn't been able to see/understand many ppl abilities

im hopeful for next chp now. u can do it maki!!!!

flashing back on these bits, it makes more sense now why megumi wasn't melting down post-shibuya,, seems most information came to him in a sort of timely and calm way? also i rly have to wonder if gojou did not spend a decade plotting in front him bcs he's done it before,,,, like the whole clan head scene in megumi's middle school years....in a way i imagine he wouldve seen that gojou come out of the high school and watch him get more serious as he acquired even more skin in the game

all the time though i wonder abt megumi's tendency toward inertia and nonaction to things that would seemingly give him power and trying to understand it and that IS him being selfish and that IS,, imo the biggest indication of what he actually does or doesn't want. he wants it, he will act and work on it immediately himself. he doesn't like it? act like it doesn't exist. it make me want to shake him around like NO!! megumi pay attention!!! But his reaction to this clan stuff is a contrast to his behavior in recent chapters imo

and more mahjong references,,, between this and yuuji’s pachinko,, i wonder abt the undercurrent of gambling haha. a gamble for the shaman world and who will come out on top? a contrast to the flowy ocean imagery that connects shaman stuff out to the rest of the world

also this ,,,, there's that one jp tweet (i cant find it again😞) that talks about how toji, as the point of distortion, created megumi, who is currently playing a potential convergence/healing/uniting role (if he actually takes it on as a responsibility lol) and connects this back to the medicine buddha,,, whose mudra (hand sign) is used for chimera shadow garden. with the commentary abt ppl with heavenly restriction needing to know what to throw away in order to become strong or tap into their full strength and toji’s commentary at the end of fight with gojou,,  i actually always felt that toji died not having been entirely resolved with himself bc he talks abt going against the self that decided to forget abt self-respect, to live without thinking abt himself or others,,, in a way, living selfishly, for himself, by ignoring anything immediate and i think he succeeded for a while bc he didnt even remember megumi's name. he remembers it when he talks to getou abt him being thankful for toji not killing him bc of potential drawbacks

and at the very end he thinks of megumi again and that last act does think of someone else, like a "life before your eyes" moment where toji thinks about how the zenin's treatment of him led him there or how his return to shibuya ends with him remembering how he gave megumi back to the zenin,,, i think atm of his death he was starting to think he did want to care, in a different way, or that he needed a different paradigm. or,, maybe he was just starting to realize how far the zenin thinking had set into him

so we dont rly talk abt that being an enlightenment moment for toji but i kind of think it was. that megumi has the potential to become a pivotal piece as a legacy of distortion is interesting. i dont actually think toji set up everything intentionally bc he didnt know megumi's ability, and i dont think he wouldve thought that far. i think a lot of the heir and inheritance stuff is sth naobito set in after seeing megumi's development under gojou. it's clear now everyone has been keeping eyes on everyone else

at some point there's some interesting discussion to be had abt megumi and privilege - i'm surprised the canon characters dont hate him more for having stuff just fall into his lap, and so i liked that maki pointed this out that he could use this and he shld bc theres a frustration there - and yet at the same time megumi himself seemingly feels very little attachment to the zenin and the shaman world still. he just cares abt his little circle of people, and it's a very intentional choice, based on his good/bad ppl thing

u cant really affect the entire world, but u can assert urself on the environment around u and decide what u do and dont act on. this part of megumi is more teenage boy and kind of toji-like, i think,,, hence the emphasis on action

u express ur effect and existence through action, who u kill or who u save. toji having very little, while so much falls into megumi's lap while he doesn't want it, doesn't want to acknowledge it, likely doesn't want to take part in a system he doesn't like or, having been raised under gojou's wing, resents or finds corrupt or useless, or doesn't even think on bc he thinks its above his pay grade and gojou's there - this is also megumi's moment to solidify his own direction and commit to working in the system or out of it

the "not caring" is a defensive measure in a way too, i think. i dont think megumi is Big Good and wants to save everyone and everything and the world to be good and pure, i tend to think of him as a resigned chaotic neutral, who wishes he could be good orz

ANYWAY i think there's some interesting juxtapositions with the whole toji > megumi thing, that someone who is born without, restricted, births and creates someone full of blessings. its very shaman-like, action then reaction

AND i wish u luck on ur final paper (bless ur eyes to see incels bc i’ll just log off for the day when i saw one (1) of them on the net) AND DONT FORGET TO TAKE A REST,, the self care is much needed me thinks <333 (2) - 🐱

i love u 🥺🥺😭😭😭 you take care of yourself too!!!

also ur right...all this political intrigue im so curious i need to know how the jujutsu world is structured in terms of the higher ups and the clans. like i assumed that the three clan elders WERE to some extent also part of the higher ups???? but now it seems that the higher ups are a separate entity altogether, so like checks and balances i suppose. except both the higher ups and the clans are corrupt so no balance there 😭

the chapter implied the zenins are losing when it comes to the power struggle between the three clans. im interested. i want to see them all rot!!! like i also said though it’s going to be interesting to see the state of the kamo clan though, considering “noritoshi kamo.” like what do you even say to that???? im going to be surprised if it doesn’t affect their standing in the jujutsu world but then again the kamo clan IS one of the big three.

megumi really is a character that was blessed in all regards but like. doesn’t want anything to do with it LOL he really said ‘this is a pain no thanks.’ like gojo like megumi i suppose. i agree with u the whole toji and megumi set up....genius....i also love their juxtaposition. it’s so interesting and another source of irony.

[yinzhengs]

Hello ! I want to ask if you still do the Prompts ? If yes I have a request for you, please~ 40 and 49 ; Separation and Coming Home for ChuGuo cp~ thankd and have a nice day !

(… i started off kind of wanting to write nsfw but instead i cannibalized a wip for this and wrote sadness so that’s. cool i guess. next time, next time, 下次才来开车吧orz)

Chu Shuzhi swallows thickly, anger spiking red hot in his veins when he runs his eyes across the mottled bruises on Guo Changcheng’s face, the dried blood on the floor.

“Chu-ge,” Guo Changcheng murmurs, and despite the pain and fatigue evident in his voice, Guo Changcheng’s lips raise up in a smile, bright in the darkness of the cellar. Even with one eye half-swollen shut and lips split and bleeding, Guo Changcheng’s smile is still blinding, and Chu Shuzhi feels the vice grip on his heart loosen and unfurl. He strides forward and cuts through the ropes binding Guo Changcheng to the wall with a controlled blast of energy, unsurprised when Guo Changcheng’s legs buckle underneath him — Chu Shuzhi swoops forward quickly, one arm wrapping tight around Guo Changcheng’s waist to steady him, drawing Guo Changcheng in against him with wide eyes.

He’s not sure who he’s reassuring anymore, at this point.

“I knew you’d come,” Guo Changcheng says, and Chu Shuzhi lets out a shaky sigh of disbelief, his free hand coming up to rest on the back of Guo Changcheng’s neck, fingertips brushing through soft hair. Guo Changcheng’s hands come up to grasp lightly at the front of his coat, a slight tremble in his fingers, and a surge of quiet possessiveness buzzes up underneath Chu Shuzhi’s skin.

“But, also — Chu-ge,” Guo Changcheng starts, voice thin and anxious where it’s muffled in Chu Shuzhi’s shoulder, “please don’t be angry with me.” Chu Shuzhi furrows his brows, confused, before Guo Changcheng continues, pleading. “I didn’t tell them anything — about the case, or about the SID, or anything…”

God, he thinks, a mix of rage and protectiveness rising up in him again — he takes a deep breath, willing away the fledgling sparks of energy that’d pooled instinctively under his fingertips, and forces his voice out soft, reassuring.

“Idiot,” Chu Shuzhi mutters, drawing away slightly to meet Guo Changcheng’s wide, worried eyes. “I’m not angry with you.” He pauses, the hand on the back of Guo Changcheng’s neck dropping to the curve of his shoulder and squeezing gently. 

I was so worried, he doesn’t say.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he admits, softly, before he quickly shakes his head and straightens, dropping back into the familiar guise of a soldier’s posture. “Come on, then. Let’s get out of this damned place.”

—

The wounds are worse than he’d thought, now that he’s seeing them under proper light. And — they’re everywhere: moving his eyes away from the vicious lacerations around his arms where the bindings had dug into his skin, Chu Shuzhi spots the beginnings of a dark, blotchy bruise where the loaned nightshirt falls open and too-loose around Guo Changcheng’s thin frame.

I’m going to kill that bastard, he thinks, viciously. He grits his teeth, fingers tapping out an anxious rhythm against the mattress before he reaches for the first alcohol wipe and grasps Guo Changcheng’s hand loosely, pulling it over to look at the ragged wounds across his wrists, a testament to how much Guo Changcheng had struggled against the rough ropes binding him in place.

“Is something wrong?” Guo Changcheng’s face is open and innocent, concern written across his face. Chu Shuzhi huffs out an amused scoff, shaking his head.

“Nothing,” he says, gruffly. “This will sting,” he warns, quirking his lips upward in a smile that doesn’t meet his eyes at Guo Changcheng’s fearful swallow, his quick nod.

He starts to disinfect the wounds, working in silence but for the quick hisses of breath and quiet, flinching sounds that occasionally escape Guo Changcheng’s clenched jaw. The places where wounds tear crimson and purple through Guo Changcheng’s skin stand in stark contrast to the rest of him, pale and fragile under Chu Shuzhi’s hands.

“Sorry,” Chu Shuzhi mutters. A primal part of him wells up with disdain — humans are weak, easily breakable things, especially this one — but he casts the thoughts aside, eyes flashing up to meet Guo Changcheng’s eyes with a reassuring quirk of his lips. A pang of guilt rises in him, watching Guo Changcheng’s hands clench into tight fists around the blankets when he presses down too hard on the open wound on his temple, but Chu Shuzhi bites his tongue and continues working. Guo Changcheng has never been hard to read, but Chu Shuzhi can tell he’s suffered more than he wants to admit over the last day — he doesn’t want to add to that hurt, no matter how little, so he forces his hands steady, gentles his touch, and tries to be more careful.

“I’m the one that should be sorry,” Guo Changcheng says quietly, wringing his hands together. “I already hold everyone back — and this time I even needed Chu-ge to waste his time rescuing me from a situation that was my fault in the first place, and — and —“

Before Guo Changcheng can stammer his way through more of his pointless apologies, Chu Shuzhi silences him with a frosty glare. Guo Changcheng gulps, head dropping down in anticipation of the coming rebuke.

“Is there something wrong with your head?” he growls out, before he can bite it back. Chu Shuzhi raises a hand to jab a pointed finger into Guo Changcheng’s chest, scowling. “Value your own damn life.”

At that, Guo Changcheng raises his head fractionally to look up, confused, and Chu Shuzhi sighs. “You,” he says, tipping his head in emphasis, “are not a waste of my time. Getting kidnapped wasn’t your fault — unless you’ve suddenly gained the ability to match a Dixing fugitive in a fight?”

Guo Changcheng looks like he’s about to cry, and Chu Shuzhi has to clamp down on the urge to let out a long-suffering yell. “But — but —“

“Shut up,” Chu Shuzhi bites out, quickly, silently thanking the gods when Guo Changcheng does, even though guilt still paints itself across his face. Chu Shuzhi hesitates as he finishes up cleaning the surface wounds, fingers pausing on Guo Changcheng’s cheek before dropping along with his gaze. “I should have found you sooner, anyway,” he says, darkly. “When I find that son of a bitch…”

I’ll kill him. And not even Zhao Yunlan can get in my way.

“Oh, right!” Guo Changcheng perks up, sitting up straighter. “Speaking of, how’s the investigation going?”

Chu Shuzhi freezes in a moment of disbelief before breathing out a weary laugh. Only this kid would be this excited over this kind of investigation, even in these circumstances.

“It’s fine. Lin Jing is tracing the bastard’s cell phone, waiting for a ping. Once we get his position down, we’ll be ready to move in.” Chu Shuzhi sighs, hand dropping to curl around the edge of Guo Changcheng’s collar where it falls open, fingertips grazing the hollow of his neck.

“Changcheng-ah,” he starts, voice uncertain, “if anything had happened to you, I…“

Guo Changcheng’s hands come up to frame his face, smile going sad at the edges. “Nothing happened, Chu-ge, see? I’m fine — mostly.”

Chu Shuzhi sighs, and Guo Changcheng pulls him down, pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips — Chu Shuzhi can’t help but feel like he’s the one being comforted, this time. Still, he leans into it, making a soft, resigned sound, tugging Guo Changcheng closer, careful not to jostle his wounds. Chu Shuzhi draws back, trailing kisses up Guo Changcheng’s jaw, over the swollen bruises on his cheek and under his eyes.

“I’m okay,” Guo Changcheng murmurs, again, and Chu Shuzhi closes his eyes, taking a breath — Guo Changcheng leans in to rest his head against the curve of his neck, and Chu Shuzhi’s arms come up naturally to keep him there, looping gently around his waist, rubbing slow circles across Guo Changcheng’s back.

“Yeah,” Chu Shuzhi mumbles, grounding himself in the solid shape of Guo Changcheng in his arms. “Yeah.”

[katzuyas]

hi! it’s same-face-in-every-selfie kat lmao I was tagged by @nikiviki for the 7 selfies of 2017 meme, so here’s my pick at why-tf-do-I-have-so-much-pink-lipstick year lololol thanks so much for the tag love 💕

I’ll be tagging my angel @tetsya bc I haven’t seen ur sweet face in ages and I need me some of that cute uwu, and then also: @theexitgarden, @relent, @maniacani, @saniika, and @tendou-satori if you guys feel like it!

the rest of the tag games are under the cut ^u^)b

tagged by @evenifidie thanks for the tag!!

Take an excerpt of your writing, put it into Google Translate, translate it into a random language, and then back into English, and see what you end up with!

ORIGINAL:

Yuuri's sleep warm and cuddly, and Victor wants nothing more that to keep spooning him until they can both wake up enough to exchange slow, soft kisses like they do on their days off. Sadly, it's not one of those days and they need to get up.

-- from a little something I have written for @domesticvictuuriweek

CEBUANO TO ENGLISH:

Yuuri's sleep is hot and vibrant, and Victor does not want to keep on blowing him until they both feel enough to move slowly, soft kisses like their days. Sadly, this is not one of those days and they have to get up. 

well the last sentence was underwhelming but victor blowing yuuri when he’s hot and vibrant in his sleep is definitely not the vibe I’m going for here ahahah lmao this was a bust

oh man I’m gonna tag ppl for it bc this was fun: @sagechan, @matsinko, @the-world-of-illyas-james, @shslshortie and @kaja-skowronek

tagged by @evenifidie thanks again!!

rules: post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic, original work, poetry, whatever floats your boat!) and tag the same number of people as there were words in the sentence 

One that Victor can't wait to be fulfilled.

lol good luck figuring out what this is

and I’m too lazy to tag for this one, sorry tcuhyjbnj if u want to do it, feel urself tagged tho! especially the ppl from the tag above! //winkwonk

tagged by @kaja-skowronek thanks so much for the tag, sweetheart 😘

1) HOW MANY WORKS IN PROGRESS TO DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE?

posted and updated regularly only one (carry on), which is more of a drabble dump than a wip, but I’m working on 5 others which are eating me alive bc I have no chill whatsoever lmao

2) DO YOU/WOULD YOU WRITE FANFICTION?

been there done that still doing it lol

3) DO YOU PREFER PAPER BOOKS OR EBOOKS?

definitely books, there’s nothing better than the feel of turning the pages and the smell of paper and ink while ur gobbling up page after page, it’s awesome. would never change for anything else in the world. now if only we could get fics printed out as well I’d be in heaven

4) WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?

I was probably around 12-13, visiting my dad in the us, and I got completely swallowed by reading harry potter fics. that’s when it all started for me. and then when I got home I wanted to try my hand at it and... now here we are, almost 13 years later lol

5) DO YOU HAVE SOMEONE YOU TRUST THAT YOU SHARE YOUR WORK WITH?

I usually don’t like to share my work when it’s unfinished so it’s v rare for me to do so 

6) WHERE IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO WRITE?

my room, at night, when there’s peace and quiet and I can focus properly

7) FAVOURITE CHILDHOOD BOOK?

definitely harry potter, no runner ups

8) WRITING FOR FUN OR PUBLICATION?

the big dream is one day maybe publication but for now it’s just for fun

9) PEN AND PAPER OR COMPUTER?

used to be pen and paper, and then I’d be rewriting that mess onto the computer, but now I’m just too lazy and wtf pen&paper hurts my wrist so much how did I even take notes back in school this is ridiculous omg

10) HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN ANY WRITING CLASSES?

mm yea uni classes which were absolute shit eh

11) WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?

everything, really. what inspires me? the colour of leaves in the fall, the snow sparkling on the ground in winter, the fog that doesn’t let you see further than a few meters before you, the chilling cold on the morning walks, the dark that’s brightened up only by the dim street lamps, the colour of the sky that isn’t really blue but tints into reds and pinks and oranges and purples

what gives me strength to write? the comments and tags on my fics, that’s the best reward after spending hours on creating something - to see that people love and appreciate your work, it’s awesome

this was a great tag so I’m gonna put a few other writers on the task ;3c I’m tagging: @evenifidie, @saniika, @matsinko, @rayrayswimusic and @nee-saan

tagged by @evenifidie thanks babe ur spoiling me 💕

list five of your favourite fics (that you’ve written!) and why you like them

have yourself a merry little christmas (make the yuletide gay) 

yoi | victuuri | nsfw | 9k the reason why I love it is v simple: it’s full of sweet, winter fluff and doting on vitya nikiforov which I always will put before everything else 🙏🙏

if there's a will, there's a way

yoi | victuuri | 17k+ this fic is my baby and I have such huge plans for it that I’m almost scared of writing it but gosh I love it? it’s a historical fantasy au which is totally something of a crown jewel in my writing imo and I’m super proud of what already is posted and what else is to come

to keep you warm   

yoi | victuuri | 8k it’s another one of my multiple fantasy au fics bc I live for those and I adore this one especially bc of the imageries, it gives me good vibes and I loved writing it, and I still love coming back to it every now and then

oh ye of so little faith

dna | miyusawa | 32k what can I say? it’s another fantasy au, yes, you guessed it lol I just really love them? and I love this one bc of the characterisation which I’m super proud of and the character development and the actual writing I put into this bc I worked super hard on it and it still pains me that it received only so little attention //sighs

The Matchmaker

hq | kurohina | nsfw | 73k oh gosh there’s so many things I can say about this one but I’ll stop at the most important one: it’s the longest fic I’ve ever written and I’ll forever be proud of myself for sticking it out and finishing it //pats myself on the back

this was actually pretty fun so I’ll tag @kaja-skowronek, @shslshortie, @the-world-of-illyas-james, @starrwinter, @thatravenclawnextdoor and @harmonization

tagged by @kaja-skowronek thank you!!

relationship status: can’t believe I’m actually typing this but... taken ;3c

favorite color: I don’t have only one, but I’m really in love with the pastels recently

favorite hobby: definitely writing!

last song: transit by takaaki natsushiro bc I’m rewatching yowapeda before new season hits

last movie: caught the last scenes of hp and the sorcerer’s stone last night on tv ;3c

top three shows: wow... that’s tough. yoi is definitely the top top, but the other two I’d say daiya and khr bc the nostalgia is strong these days

I’m not tagging anyone for this one, but if someone wants to do it, I’m tagging you personally ^u^)b

phew, this was a lot to go through yhchyvbjn I’m so bad at doing these orz I’m so sorry yall it’s been like months since some of these tags I’m a lazy shit ahaha anyway, thanks so much for all of it, I really loved these!!! 💕

[goodtohaveyouback]

Hey! Love your edits. I was wondering if you could take us through how you make your edits? And any tips on how to start with editing?

I COULD try and livestream the whole process because one single edit I post is quite literally, a combination of different edits, some parts are even completely redrawn based of canon material and references.

I think the best thing to do is to just show you in rough lines how I created my last edit:

Also seems like the perfect time to post all my wips and bonuses! which isn’t much but… yeah

1. BACKGROUND

So first I searched for a healing pod for Keith to sit in. 

So I headed to an episode of Voltron which featured a lot of empty healing pods :S1 EP9: Crystal Venom. Eventually I found this screencap:

So I edited Coran (+ the annoying watermark) out and voila:

I’ve made a canvas where I could drop the rest of my photoshop shenanigans in later on!

2. KEITH IN THE POD OUTFIT

Okay, this one is a lot trickier. To recreate Keith wearing the outfit I used the following images:

Keith’s body came from this screencap:

Keith’s head came from this screencap:

I redrew Keith’s entire pod outfit onto Keith’s body more or less? 

I used a couple of screencaps of Lance wearing the outfit for design + color reference, pretty much how actual artists do it when they have to draw things from the show!

This image came in really handy because there I could also color pick the shadows on Lance’s chest & shoulders.

Now, to actually start DRAWING, the following tools will be your life savior:

1.

The brush tool to create lineart, which you’re going to draw right on top of Keith’s body. Since the pod outfit is really basic and the animation of the show is literally just black lines, you can make a really basic outfit from just…well.. lines. 

Also to make sure your lines are anti-aliased, exactly like in the animation, use these settings:

Since your brush is really small (from 3 to 4 px in diameter), your hardness has to be at 0% (that’s what she never said). It’s the softest (and most anti-aliased) you can get.

2.

The color picker to take samples of the colors of the pod outfit (including shadows!). You’re going to use this A LOT to take samples from the outfit on Lance himself.

3.

The polygonal lasso tool to select areas on Keith’s body to so you can fill in entire areas. With this tool you’re going to color your lineart (on top of Keith’s actual BOM suit, lmao)

For the shadows, I’ve used the shadows that were already on Keith’s body.

It should give you this result:

(also yeah I flipped the canvas because my POD is headed in a different direction)

 If you still notice some imperfections, you can always fill them in again with the brush tool, or if you’re unsatisfied with how the shadow looks you can always fix it up with the polygonal lasso tool as well!

For the next step I’ve selected out Keith’s head from the first screencap, pasted it onto Keith’s body, messed around with the colors a bit, to make it match the color scheme (I always use Color Balance & Selective Color for this)

Since Keith was still hunched forwards to much IMO, I’ve used Liquify (Filter > Liquify) to straighten him up and I’ve copy pasted Keith’s left arm onto his next one so that his joint is pointing inwards, so his arm isn’t sticking out as well.

which gave me this result:

As you can see I’ve also kinda remastered his hands, and I’ve also removed the knife from his fingers. And I’ve also made Keith’s hair longer (because I wanted to, for the angst), all redrawn the same way as the pod outfit.

(I’m so sorry this is so hard to explain but my editing process is literally just and endless repeat of drawing, coloring and shifting until everything is exactly how I wanted to be ;; the more time you spend on photoshop the better you get at seeing details that are easy to patch up. It really comes with practice. ORZ)

3. SHIRO

For the upset Shiro, I’ve made a transparent gif. The Shiro I’ve used comes from this scene from S1EP9: Crystal Venom

But since it’s OLD SHIRO, not Kuron, I had to edit his entire outfit + hair so that it looks a bit more like Kuron in s3. And yes, this also means, redrawing every frame, because in this particular scene, Shiro is turning his head. Luckily his outfit isn’t that much different. He just has an… obnoxious white collar. 

For his bare arm and Shiro’s hair I used the same coloring technique for Keith’s pod outfit, although the lineart won’t be really necessary here (since Shiro’s already kinda blurry looking anyway)

This is the raw transparent version

(I know his white tuft is normally cut shorter but… just a dumb detail jhegz, nobody noticed anyway)

I extended the time of the first and last frame to 1 second, the 2 in between are 0,1 seconds.

the frames have also been reversed. Since in the episode, Shiro sighs at Keith & Lance first and then looked over to Pidge and Coran in that moment. 

But in my edit, we want Shiro to look at Keith first, so yeah, I manipulated that a little by reversing it.

3. ASSIMILATION

So now that I’ve both got my Shiro/Kuron and my Keith I’m gonna slap them onto “the scene” aka that screencap I’ve edited.

Here’s a quick GIF of all the actions I’ve underwent to finish the scene up. Since it’s the just the finished psd of my edit I’m just making a recording of me selecting all my layers again :’D I didn’t… actually record myself making it because that’s would have taken me a WHOLE DAY.

Before this I’ve also cut out some parts of keith’s body because he’s IN the healing pod, he’s not chilling out on top of it.

To give Shiro that blue-ish glow I’ve used blending mode -> outer glow with opacity 14%

Also, GOLDEN TIP:

Adding shadow really make a scene 500% more dramatic

To add shadow I’ve made a new layer, and used a black & white gradient with the gradient tool. 

For this edit I’ve added 2 shadow-layers.

I’ve done plently more animations on this edit after I was done with actual editing. But for now I’m gonna skip this part because it’s just all very basic GIF making. Also my ADHD is kicking in ^^’

I hope this explained it a little? I apologize that I didn’t go into detail, but it would’ve taken SO MUCH time otherwise. Again, making such an edit takes me a full day to make because 70% of the time I spend my time drawing or cleaning up details.

If you’re interested in a doing livestream of some kind, LMK! 

[yukipri]

Announcement regarding Patreon Tier adjustments for October, 2017

So I made an announcement last night on Patreon regarding some changes I hope to make starting NOT THIS MONTH, but next month. I’ve copied the message below to those considering becoming patrons. LONG, so beneath a cut but IMPORTANT so please read if it’s relevant to you.

Hi all!

So I've mentioned this before, but I'm new to patreon, as many of you likely are too, and a lot of this is figuring things out as I go. I'm learning the platform and learning how to manage my works on it, and I feel I know a lot more about Patreon now than I did when I first started 1.5 months ago.

One of the things that has changed a bit is me learning that I'm not really producing the kinds of content I thought I would be.

Namely, I never really expected myself to enjoy drawing NSFW so much (COUGH) or that I'd be drawing full NSFW comics, sometimes fully lined to the quality of stuff I'd post on Tumblr. I expected to stick to mostly rough sketch illustrations only. But in general, I've discovered having some sort of short story/character interaction makes it a lot more fun for me, which I should have expected, knowing me >.>; . And hopefully these are more fun for you too haha! ^ ^;

Unfortunately, these comics take up a HUGE amount of time, usually 2-3 days (anywhere from 15-30 hours each _:(´ཀ`」∠):_), which means I have no time to do much of anything else. Combined with the 1-2 other Patreon posts and my public posts, my schedule is completely full, if barely manageable (with a guaranteed burn out at the end of each week HAHA!!).

I've also been stressing quite a bit because I haven't had time to work on Inferno at all, which I feel some of you may be here for. Inferno is, in the end, my BIG serious story that I'm heavily invested in, but because the chapters take so dang long to produce and are honestly so exhausting, it's easier for me to work on Future!Verse where I can produce lots of less stressful, shorter posts with immediate feedback. Immediate gratification is so sweet OTL

But all this sorta sucks because it means that I feel I don't have enough content to thank my higher tier patrons. I originally meant to do more tutorial posts and world building posts, but I haven't had the time to make them. Sure there are request/poll posts, but I personally don't feel that's quite enough to thank patrons nor enough to exactly motivate people to pledge when almost all my content is $1 ^ ^;;

I've also done a lot more exploring of other people's patreons to see how tiering works and I've noticed that I seem...to be posting a lot more, a lot more regularly than many other patreons, even taking out all the Also Public posts (which I never post unless I also have a Patreon Only post to upload at the same time). And all available at the lowest tier too, which other patreons usually do not do.

While I'd like to keep most of my work viewable to as many patrons as possible, and I really love the community I have here where so many of you leave such incredibly kind and motivating comments (thank you!! ;A;) I've learned that I also need to balance this with a desire to thank higher paying patrons, as well as the need to actually support myself through here if I want this to really be my main form of income.

While I truly am so incredibly grateful to all $1 patrons and your pledge DOES mean a lot and has added up, I also get that because my content in general targets a very niche audience (minor YOI ships, complex AUs, OCs), I don't and shouldn't count on the number of patrons alone. I uh, also figure that most people'll only pay what they have to in order to see what they want, which is totally fair and reasonable, and I hope you feel my art/time/effort is worth the price ^ ^;

As such, I think I will make the starting changes, which will come into effect October:

- All NSFW comics (things like currently, Minami's birthday, Yurio x Yuuri + watching Vic, and Phi x Yuu x Vic) will be moved to $5/Silver medal tier +. Again, this is a type of content I was never expecting to produce, hence why it is currently not marked for any of the tiers and simply placed in $1 by default. Upcoming NSFW comics include All husbands x Yuuri, Chris x Yuuri x Vic sandwich, and Yurio x Yuuri x Otabek sandwich.

- All of my single standalone NSFW illustrations (currently, Vic x Yuu x Yurio, Phi x Yuuri) will remain on $1 tier.

- All of my WIPs/sketches/abandoned works/New Kids stuff will remain on $1 Tier, so there'll still be 1-2 of these every week. This is what I had initially promised on the tier description to begin with.

- I will still post ONE NSFW piece every week, most likely alternating between $5 comics and $1 illustrations. If I end up doing comics almost every week, I'll take one frame from there and put it in the $1 tier ^ ^;

- I am setting a goal for myself to post at least ONE page of Inferno from my upcoming chapter every week onto the $20 Tier. While I usually prefer to wait to post pages until the whole chapter's done so you can enjoy the entire story experience as I mean for people to read it, I'm hoping this more short-term goal will regular deadlines will motivate me to actually work on it at all, and that the more limited audience will still let me save the suspense for the rest of my readers. ^ ^;

The upcoming Inferno chapter is in two parts, the first currently set at 7-8 pages, the second around the same. I will not be posting publicly until they're both complete, as I don't want there to be a large gap between posting the two.

The individual pages will all be posted at public resolution + watermarked, so if you have the patience you'll see it all regardless of your tier ^ ^; But I AM also hoping this will mean a more constant stream of content for $20 tier.

Again, none of these changes will be put into effect this month, so you'll still be able to see comics at the $1 Tier until October 1st! ^ ^ If you're $1, please enjoy them all this month, and if you like them and want to see similar/want to support me more in general, please consider upgrading to $5 next month!

If you decide to drop being a patron/downgrade your Tier as a result of these changes I ask that you please stay until you are charged for this month on October 1st. If you leave before then, I will not receive any payment, but you will already have accessed all of my currently available patron-only content. It's a really shitty system Patreon has here, but I'll do my part and work very hard to provide you a full month's worth of content including everything you signed up for as no changes will be made this month, and in return I'm sincerely hoping you'll do your part too and not be an asshole (a rather heartbreaking number of people didn't last month >.<;). So please wait until you've paid your promised pledge if you decide to leave.

If you wish to upgrade, you may do so at any time ^ ^;

So to recap, Starting October:

- $1 Tier - at least 2 posts per week. Sketches/WIPs, new kid posts, NSFW illustrations likely every other week

- $5+ Tiers - NSFW comics at least every other week, request + poll, tutorials (I WILL do at least one each month orz)

- $20+ Tiers - Weekly Inferno page, additional request post, at least one HQ download, some more concept stuff (I will also do at least one of these each month orz)

I hope these changes sound fair, I'm open to suggestions as well! Thank you all for reading and supporting my work! m(_ _)m

-Kazu

If you’re concerned about these changes, please also read this response further explaining them.

[howshouldiknowboutlife]

Tag! I’m it!

I’m honored that @umisabaku thinks I’m enough of a writer person to tag me again! Wow.

1) How many works in progress to do you currently have? Hrmm... Well if we consider WIP to be things we have def started writing actual scenes for, then I have 8 prompts I’m trying to get myself to write. If we count them as AU ideas that we have fleshed out waay too much but havent done anything with yet but really want to someday, then the count (including fanfiction and my own original story ideas) is somewhere closer to ... 44.   ⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ 2) Do you/would you write fan fiction? I am doing so! Even though its still fairly new to me (I found fanfiction only a year ago. Crazy how it feels like I’ve known it forever) 3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Honestly, I think I prefer ebooks, just for the access from anywhere and the fact that its not an extra thing to carry around. That’s not to say I dont really like paper books tho; they just currently seem like more of an unnecessary hassle.

4) When did you start writing? Well, I actually wrote my first finished fic earlier this year (I think only a few months ago, wow). But I have been coming up with original story ideas and writing out characters and worldbuilding and scene ideas/plot points for as long as I can remember. The total amount of - I call them Stories bc I’m ~original~ -- that I have come up with is unknown but definitely over 90. I would even say over 100, but I havent counted recently. (Dropbox is a blessing lol.) Not that all of them are viable ideas that I want to pursue, but they are things I’ve made and I would never want to delete them. :) 5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with? Yup!! I have tried multiple times (before I found the fanfiction community) to share my Storie ideas with my close friends. But it’s kinda hard to explain why all of your characters are gay when you dont yet know you’re bi and your friends are all sheltered straights. orz But then fanfic came along and I bonded over it with a new friend in college, and all of a sudden I had someone to gush to who didn’t need extra explaining and who also wrote embarrassing gay stories! We got along like fire and oil and I tell them everything. Its wonderful!! 6) Where is your favorite place to write? My bed at home. Its the most consistent place for sure (theres usually always a bed, no matter which home I’m currently staying with), its comfy, and there are plenty of pillows to act as makeshift desk or cuddle partner. 7) Favorite childhood book? Ooh, many. The ones that stick out to me the most tho (based purely on amount of rereads I blessed them with) are Ever by Gail Carson Levine (independent female lead, a cute god boyfriend, and their quests to save each other and themselves), and Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (the leaders of two warring, culturally-opposite shifter groups must marry each other if they want to find peace for their people. such lovely slow build romance). Though I don’t recommend the rest of the Hawksong books past book 2.

8) Writing for fun or writing for publication? Fun. And as a measure of personal bravery, skill, and mental growth. It’s interesting to go back to the stories I really liked with my new knowledge and see all the places I can make it better and more realistic (its kinda embarrassing too, but I try to ignore that). 9) Pen and paper or computer? Uhhh... both-ish? I like the computer for portability, but my typing is not fast enough for thought so I use a stylus and OneNote to write it out digitally and then type it up later. 10) Have you ever taken any writing classes? Nothing beyond normal college english/lit courses. 11) What inspires you to write? The story ideas just come to me with little to no prompting, and I enjoy them enough to explore them. Invariably, I’ve learned that if I don’t write them down in some way, the idea I liked will be lost to memory (which has happened and I still rue it). The words get put on screen by the idea that if other first time writers can brave the seas of AO3 and Tumblr, then so can I. Validation/the desire to be seen and recognized by others is probly what ultimately pushes me to post what I’ve done.

Wow, ok, that was long! If you made it to the bottom, I congratulate you! Thanks for listening!! ヽ(^◇^*)/

Uhm, next taggers, lets see... @subversive-socialite, @arcs-and-blah, and @ezra-blue

[chaos2go]

Cat issues + Looking for help

If you don't want to read the actual update, go to the read more for what I'm trying to do! You can see the original post on dA here. It has a little more to it. Also I apologize for tumblr killing the images. I link to them but quick post is quick orz. So I ended up cutting out of work early to take my cat to the vet. I suspected him of having pink eye given the build up of junk and irritation in general around his eye. I didn't want other cats to get sick plus this whole thing had been going on for over a week now. While at the vet I was petting him in an attempt to help him relax and realized there was some swelling on the side of his nose ridge below his eye (his fur hid it) after the vet tech went to get the actual vet. Upon her arriving she checked out his eyes and then wanted to check his teeth. Upon looking, they found some bloody tartar build up in his mouth and pretty much that's why he's having eye problems. In the end it was found out that he actually has an infection in the root of one of his teeth. Also known as a tooth abscesses and that is causing pressure on his eye. He's on antibiotics for the item alongside a steroid cream to help his eyes. I'm glad he's in okay health for now but if this doesn't work, he'll have to get some tests done on his kidneys before getting the teeth causing the issue removed and the rest cleaned. Which means oi... money. Hopefully what we do now causes the problem and if it happens again, well same procedure. He's pretty darn old so it's not a big surprise but... yeah.

So why am I making this tumblr overall? Well the visit alone to determine what to do with him cost me more than my guesstimate. The total ended up being around $122 and will be at least another $40ish when I take him back in two weeks given the swelling goes down and the infection goes away. The overall cost will be around $160 just for this problem alone and I'd like to try my darnedest to at least raise $40 once again to cover one bill. That's all. Not asking for anything big or to cover the vet bill itself. That alone covers nearly the entire cost of his medicine this time around. I'm going to list a few things that I'm willing to do in order to get that money. I still owe others commissions and I would rather just try to do simple things here.

Open Adoptables:

Top Deku  ----    Bottom Deku

These two deku crossovers I'd be willing to let go of for about $5 each. Both could be bought for $8. If they were bought for $8 each (or $11 for both), I'd toss in another doodle drawing of them with flat colors instead of what I have. Or whatever you'd want  of them.

This is a WIP design suggested by @Atashi-Cloud of a 'sword spirit Navi'. I never got to finishing it and sharing it. I'd be willing to let it go and redo it with whatever someone would offer. I have actual input on it but I'll reserve that for later for when I finish the design in general. I'd ask at the least $8 for it given I have to color/line/detail and perhaps even redraw. Overall though it would be an offer to adopt.

I'd also be willing to do customs for $5-$10 depending on what it is, fandom only. They would be done in this style. I'd limit it to fandoms I know such as Zelda, Steven Universe, Pokemon, and the like. Thursday Livestream Doodle Sale: On Thursday, July 27th I will hold a livestream wherein I do doodles from about 10AM CST to 10PM CST. The doodles here would be of characters with pre-existing art so I wouldn't be opening design doodles. I'd like to know who I was drawing before the stream so this is what I am offering:

- $3 for just lines, $4 for 'marker coloring' 

Single 'crayon style' commission for my normal price of $8 Anyone who joined the stream and wanted to commission me during said stream would have to pay my normal prices. Here they are a dolor cheaper save the crayon.

Anyway, thank you so much for at least looking. Please let me know if you are interested in any of these things. I'll actually make a commission list to do on Thursday if people want to help me try to pay for that $40. I don't want to ask for donations honestly XD;. And if nothing happens, well at least I tried!

[soysaucevictim]

Y’all know the drill. Several days worth of events before the readmore.

-

Mar. 15:

Been up since about noon proper (even though I did initially get up at around 9:30AM, opted just to sleep in a bit more.)

Most of my day was spent with the usual. But I did start watching FMA:B, did some dishes, made the fam dinner, and exercised.

First, today’s DD. 1′ hollow hold with EC. This was pretty intense, especially the last ~20" or so, but still manageable. Oof. :P

Second, Day 26 of the FCP. Strength training day. Plus side, no push-ups; negative side, lunges. But ah well, got through it okay. Sweatzone meant stepping outside to cool off a bit, but I’m just happy to’ve gotten another day down.

Last, Day 26 of the TYTC. Still enjoyable, there.

Got distracted for some time after to post, before hitting the sack (Rather late...)

-

Mar. 16:

Got up before noon, initially. Took meds, got groggy and slept some more... listening to some LPs, while having IdleWizard do it’s thing.

Which, sans sleeping in even longer/deeper, I continued to do pretty much all day. But I did get in my exercise for the day.

First, today’s DD. 40 double side kicks with EC. Not the most graceful, what with all the hopping, wobbling and occasional moment to recenter. But hey, the foot only dropped to switch sides, so I'll count it! A lot of fun, this one!

Second, Day 27 of the FCP. Ab work. Largely crunch variations, which are more fun than plank work. A lot to like! Still not a huge fan of holding up my head for a lot of it - but it went well enough, though.

Third, Day 28 of the FCP. Tendon strength work again. This got pretty demanding on my quads - but feels really nice to complete. These are arguably my favorite days in the whole program, in all honesty.

Almost done with this program... even if I’m going to be turning this in later than intended. I’m going to get through it and put it on my belt with the rest of ‘em!

Last, Days 27+28 of the TYTC. Got pretty tough from tiring out my quads just a bit before. But still fun work!

-

Mar. 17:

Got up a bit after 9AM. The holiday went kind of okay.

Before we headed out to the grandparents’ place for the St. Patty’s Day dinner, I did a bit of the usual and squeezed in the day’s DD. 1′ O-pose with EC. This is still one of my favorites. The balancing aspect makes it pretty meditative, but it does get you trembling near the end! :D

It was kind of a mixed bag when we shipped out. One of the first things was some minor tech support for grandpa. That went without much trouble and I expressed my sympathies wrt the uncle situation. Also got to see the WIP of a quilt my grandma is sewing together (it was very pretty).

The dinner was pretty tasty (featuring corned beef and cabbage; i loaded up on garlic toast & cabbage tho). And the short walk I went on with Dad, the great uncle, and grandma was pretty nice. I was a bit jittery from all the sugar I had before then.

Also spent time talking with my great uncle with dad and bro. Which was going okay... until the uncle’s temper was triggered by feeling slighted from getting into the house due to the back door being locked. He was clearly spending a good deal of the day working on a pet project that is honestly doomed to fail and is causing such a massive strain on the grandparents’ resources (space, time, energy, you name it.)

There was a spat between him and grandpa that made the whole situation tense and awkward. They eventually “went to their own corners“ as I believe pops described it.

After that dissipated, me, my great uncle, dad, and grandma played a game of Triominoes. I had to keep score, which was a little stressful juggling the numbers around while people were talking. But unlike the other time we tried, this time I think most the mechanics of the game clicked.

Got home, did the usual stuff. Determined I was too exhausted after the day’s events to be up for my workout.

-

Mar. 18:

Got up at ~10AM.

One of the first things I did today was the DD. 10 cross tricep extensions with EC.  Oof. This was intense and managed by the skin of my teeth. But got it done! :P

I did intend to do the rest of my exercise today. But then I made a couple necessary calls that were pressing to make. One being about lab work, the other about getting some benefits. The later made me realize I made a thoughtless mistake, rattled off about that on the Twitter... and I was too upset with with myself to have much motivation.

I should work on that therapy homework I was assigned further... and wound up doing the usual time-wasting nonsense. Before finally getting to bed too late, I still felt like garbage.

-

Mar. 19:

Didn’t exactly get a restful night’s sleep. So I got up early just to tell transportation that I wasn’t coming in today.

Slept until a bit after 11AM.

One of the first things I did today was the DD. 40 single leg bridges with EC. Nice way to feel a bit less terrible, from how yesterday panned out for me. All I can do is dust myself off and try to move forward. This was pretty intense to complete, today! :P

I then spent most of my day doing the usual - YouTube, gaming, and Twitter. Wound up getting the rest of my exercise in rather late ~9-10 PM.

Day 29 of the FCP. Cardio day. Same staggered pace with the jacks. Though I wasn’t enthused about doing jumping lunges and burpees - they were only in 10″ intervals. That plus the march steps intervals and active rest were really good intensity modulators.

Day 29 of the TYTC. The usual breezy work.

Almost done. And with this, I should try to get to bed in a few hours.

Even though I want some coffee. orz

[clairelutra]

a year in review ♥

meme stolen from @isadorator!!! (also she stored all of her fic there and i stg as soon as i can rest i’m diving in ITADAKIMASU ♥)

January

puppeteer chapter 6 (aka that threesome one)

river flows in you

ladrien --- marichat-style

secret valentine --- the introduction

of all the things to start the year with //faceinhands

i think this was the ‘this is really fun but oh my god so exhausting and I HAVE STANDARDS TO LIVE UP TO NOW HE L P’ stage right here, feat. me losing my computer to hardware failure and continuing to attempt writing anyway :’D

(my biggest memory of this time is that i was writing an akumized!marinette fic in a private mobile browser window with gmail, of all places, and accidentally x’d out of the tab and lost like 5 hours of work :’D //never recovered from that whoops ;;;)

February

secret valentine!!!!

aka the month of proving that:

green smoothies really work for brainfuel

i am actually capable of (at least short-term) consistency

ladrien is Some Good Shit

spite really is the best motivator :’D

basically, i started following the ladrien tag and at least once a week someone would come up with a new meta about why Marichat Is Better Than Ladrien (often featuring, Ladrien Is Unhealthy and/or Ladrien Would Crash And Burn Fast, And Here Is Why), and do you know

as a ladrien shipper

how infuriating that was

the last straw was someone insisting that you really just couldn’t slowburn ladrien

and like

bitch?

p l e a s e.

(i fooled you all by acting sweet; this is who i really am :’D)

(i am absolutely the kind of person who would write the longest fic i’ve ever completed simply to slowburn it because someone said that it couldn’t be done :’DDDDDDD)

(fuck you, person whom i can no longer remember. i showed you.

...with this fic that you will never care to read, because i wrote it about your notp long after you’d voiced your thoughts about said notp :’D)

(#hallielogic)

March

no room for jesus

fun with friends and.... that’s about it

(o hai there, impending existential crisis >.>;;;;

it was a month of panic attacks and essays that were probably a lot less shit than my english professor wanted to tell me and do you know how hard that was for someone as anxiety-ridden and a-type as i am

do you)

April

ladrien --- wrong number

ladrien --- swim

ladrien --- hug

fake married au

boku no hero acadamia au

aka, the month where i found out how spiritbreaking it is to:

start to consistently fail to please not one, but two people you admire greatly

one of whom is your teacher and in charge of your grades

whose job it is to judge your writing

which is your Thing

who doesn’t like you, but is too pleasant to let it on to your face

while you’re dealing with abruptly losing the sympathy and patience of the one person you go to for emotional support (explanation: my mom went on hormone treatment and it fucked with her mood b a d)

while dealing with watching both of your parents’ heath deteriorate fast

april was h e l l  o n  e a r t h

fake married au was an emotional crutch that sort of kept me back from the brink, honestly :’D (look! see! i’m not a waste of existence! people like this thing i made!! see!!!)

(orz)

major, major s/o to @peridipshit and giselle (no tumblr that i know of ;;; ) for counseling me through more than one lunch-table breakdown :’D;;;

(now excuse me while i go find a paper bag ;;; )

May

aka the month of ‘i am too mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted to do jack shit, someone please put me out of my misery’

also the month bang bang on tumblr hit 1k notes!

June

no room for the devil

hope we don’t get caught kiss

pillow fight!

pillow fight! the second

a time travel snippet

July

get lucky

a bunch of 3 sentence/short fic aus that i’m not gonna link bc #lazy

aka the ‘well i’m not in that hellish situation anymore so i should be able to just bounce right back, right?’ stage followed by the ‘okay okay that didn’t work; let’s start smaller‘ stage

i still plan to finish get lucky someday --- maybe we’ll see how alive i am after spring semester :’D

August

more short au fics

scary sabine au

unnamed ladynoir flirting

abo au

sidekick au piece

genderbent au

pictured: me, pumping my fists and going ‘okay, okay, okayokayokay i can do this’

September

somebody loves you

mlnsfweek (unfinished, dang it)

ladynoir --- reunion

everybody talks

getting better, getting better

everything’s still pretty disconnected and i still couldn’t bring myself to commit to anything that’d take longer than a day, but... improvement (9′-’)9

October

beauxbatons au

enemies phineas and ferb au

stop desire

more break-taking /o/

getting used to writing on my phone to fill the long hours of boredom that had taken my schedule by storm \o\

(also, unseen, i joined the remix challenge and loved and hated it :’D

also also started being almost kindasorta able to take concrit again (after the hell of march/april), and so started working with mirth again for the first time in months ;; ♥ \o/!!)

November

yuri on ice fics~~

soulmate au

make ‘em blush

exorcist au

self-indulgent marichat/ladynoir

yet another enemies au

mari-the-oblivious-lesbian genderbent au

genderbent crack smut

d a n . Adrien ur bobbie s

two important things happened at once in this month:

1) f i n a l l y got a medication that seemed to agree with me??? after literal years of testing???? everything is brighter now holy shit???????

2) rp!!! with!!!!!! mirth!!!!!!!! :DDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

which of the above is to thank for my astonishingly good mood??? i have literally no idea

aaaalso i got to remix bully’s fic in the remix challenge and that was great and fun as heck????? holy shit :D

lowkey dipped into another fandom there for a lil bit, but got too frustrated with the source material and dropped it ;;;

tl;dr: all in all, november was pretty great

December

marichat kissing lessons

do it 2 me

high-class callgirl au

cap-inspired crack

cru-inspired adrinette fluff-crack

moooore enemies au

shake up christmas

gods and godesses au

not pictured: like, almost 20k of rp goodness :D

medication and rp continue to do the trick, i start back in on things i haven’t touched in ages (’i want the k’ memes and get lucky, specifically), and the aus keep coming

signed up for waaaay too much towards the end there and spent like a week on too much stress and f a r too much caffeine, but actually feel well enough these days to start seeking help when i need it?? amazing

idk, mild caffeine od aside, the year ended on a high note

Total Year’s Output: ao3 tells me that it’s 93,383 words, but that not including a bunch of stuff i never bothered to upload there, and/or are still in wip form

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?

mmmmh, a little less? i was pulling a steady 10k a month towards the end of 2k15, which is when i started writing for real, but understandable, considering the whole mid-year mental breakdown and subsequent recovery :’D

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2016?

aus of any sort! like actual legit ‘let’s fuck shit up’ aus :D i’ve always wanted to, but always thought my tastes ran just too weird to pull any off in any readable, enjoyable format? the exorcist au and the gods and goddesses au are pretty good examples of the aus i come up with when left to my own devices, except that those are on the tame end of ‘weird’ for me :’D

also i’ve relaxed my rigid stance on ‘love square o n l y’ and dipped my toes into poly ships and things like adrialya, which i probably never would’ve done before :’D

What’s your favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.

HOT MESS

HOT MESS IS MY MOST-ADORED CHILD

i’m still not 100% sure why, except that it’s got all my favorite lines and all my happy excitement and, looking back at it, it’s not phenomenal, b u t

it’s just??? got so much that i l o v e tied up in it

most of my favorite lines and really good memories and a dynamic i love and just.

it makes me so happy to have written it >/////< ♥

in things that i still love upon rereading, secret valentine is pretty up there tbh. somehow in all my stress to get it out and get it out good i... actually managed to hit a pretty sweet dynamic? idk i reread scenes from it sometimes and i still like it ♥

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

i wanna see where i can go, if anywhere, with get lucky. i wanna see if i can finish it. i wanna know where it goes, goddamnit.

i also want to beat this year’s wordcount, if i can.

and, if i’m well enough in november, maybe take a shot at nanowrimo? //fingers crossed ♥

i’m looking forward to it ♥

[somena-libra-dawn]

It supposed to be White Day fic but I was pretty busy with mid-term test (and till now orz). Definitely some gulava fluff, I promise.

Anyway, have one of my short fics.

[gosatsuvns]

Weekly Update #228 - 2018 Wrap-Up

Welp, this is awkward. First of all, I need to apologize for the lack of a weekly update last Saturday. The funny (well, actually rather sad) thing is, I had prepared the update in advance and the draft was ready to be published. All I needed to do was to hit that "Publish" button last Saturday, but I kinda totally forgot about that... "orz

To be fair, I was basically away from home all day and only got back somewhere around midnight. I guess at that point, I was too tired and my mind too occupied with other things to think about it...

This really bugs me now. After all, in all this time I've been doing these updates, that's actually the first time I forgot to post one! Aaaaahhhhhhhh, my beautiful track record... stained!! Q__Q

Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk. If you're curious about the contents of last week's update, I've just published it as well, so you can check it out here. It was a short post anyway. The really important thing brought up in it is the release of the next part of our extended GENBA no Kizuna demo, which patrons can now play test here!

But yeah, with that out of the way, let us move on to today's actual topics!

2018 is about to end and a new year itching to start. This one certainly was an eventful and rather unexpected one for me personally. It went into directions I would have never even dreamed of one year ago. As a result, what I had planned to accomplish throughout 2018 didn't quite work out, at least in regards to visual novel development.

For instance, I had to realize that working on two projects at the same time didn't quite work out as I had hoped it would. The initial idea was to alternate between them whenever I would get stuck. So if I'd hit a wall on GENBA and would need to think about how to proceed, I could work on SHINRAI in the meantime and make some progress on that. Sometimes, it can be nice to get a breather and focus on something else for a while. It can clear your mind and you can return to the other project with a fresh outlook.

In the end, however, I guess I'm just the kind of person who works more efficiently when I purely focus on a single thing. That's how we got SHINRAI done after all. Despite the constant urges to work on so many other things, I managed to stay on track and not get distracted. So maybe that's the key to success. At least in my specific case.

Either way, around the midway point of 2018, we decided to purely focus on GENBA. SHINRAI's sequel hasn't been ditched entirely, of course, but for now, GENBA takes priority. It's the shorter of the two projects, it chronologically takes place before SHINRAI, and it provides (optional) introductions for characters that will play a big role in Withering Without Hope.

You will still be able to play WWH without ever playing GENBA, but checking out the latter beforehand will provide you with some more context and background information in regards to the police investigators that will be involved in the case.

We have also already accomplished a lot more on GENBA in terms of writing and asset work, so that's why we ultimately decided to focus on that project first. Nevertheless, I also made some neat writing progress on WWH earlier this year.

(And on that note, if you're curious about the setting of WWH and want to get an actual first glimpse at what the location looks like, I've published a new special blog post on Patreon, featuring a WIP-preview of the very first background art!)

Earlier this year, I was thinking about releasing a demo for WWH in December, containing the entire prologue, but... that obviously didn't work out. We did, however, release a demo for GENBA's prologue in April and have since begun to work on an extended version of it, featuring even more content! As mentioned in the beginning of this post, the first half of it can already be checked out on Patreon. Work on the second half still continues, so the public release will happen some time early 2019. But we'll get into more detail about that in next week's blog post!

In any case, 2018 didn't work out as I had envisioned it. But that doesn't mean I see it as a failure. On the contrary, privately at least, it actually turned out to be one of the greatest year's of my life! And ultimately, I still managed to accomplish a lot of things I'm proud of in regards to VNs too, even if they're not necessarily what I had originally planned.

I would have liked to release the extended GENBA demo this year as well, but I'm still proud of the progress we have made on it thus far. We did, at the very least, release an early demo of the project earlier this year. And speaking of demo releases, there is also the one for Pitch Black Serenade, which I have to mention here, since I've gotten personally involved with the project as well.

It was a lot of fun to work with Kuna and I enjoyed proofreading the script a lot. It's an unconventional romance/mystery VN showing a lot of promise, so if you haven't gotten around to it yet, I highly suggest checking it out! It's more than worth your time!

Besides, eventually, Kuna will be working with us on our future projects as an artist, so you might as well use the opportunity to get familiar with her art! I really can't wait to see her breathe life into our characters and worlds!

Now, I guess I could also mention the release of The Day Akatarou's Blood Ran Out, a dumb little 4 minute VN I made over the course of a weekend earlier this year. This was really just me fooling around with Visual Novel Maker to see what it's capable of, but it was an enormous amount of fun as well as a fun change of pace. With this one, however (even if it's just 4 minutes), I'm really not sure I could tell you it's worth your time, haha.

I'd really like to do something like this again, but with a bit more effort put into it and no use of pre-existing assets.

Anyway! Overall, I couldn't be more happy with how 2018 has turned out. One of the biggest problems we're facing at the moment is that we're still at the start of our new project. A lot of assets are still missing, but once we have completed the extended demo, a huge chunk of the character sprites will be done, for example, so development should continue at a much quicker pace afterwards.

I will be talking about our plans for next year, specifically January, in next week's update. But for today, I guess it's time to not only wrap up 2018, but also this post! Once again, a huge thank you to everyone sticking around and following our progresses! The support we're getting means a lot and is a driving factor behind our motivation to continue! And rest assured, we're fired up to provide you with a lot more content next year!

Now, before I leave, I'd like to share two more things with you, which have also been added to our gallery. This morning, I received this super adorable Raiko from Khana:

But that's not all! For Christmas this year, Natsu drew a little pic featuring Shiku, one of the four suspect characters you will get to meet in GENBA! It also features Fujisa, one of the characters appearing in Pitch Black Serenade:

Now with this, I wish you a great end to a hopefully satisfying year! Please enjoy the last few days of 2018 and have a safe transition into 2019! Until next time, take care! :3

(Oh, and speaking of the new year... patrons can now also check out a WIP-look at our New Year's illustration!)

[royaltyjunk]

Brighter - Ch. 4 [T, Perceval/Cecilia]

Author's Ideas: WOW THIS ONE ACTUALLY TOOK REALLY LONG I'M SORRY I WAS WORKING ON OTHER WIPs AND I DIDN'T REALIZE I HADN'T FINISHED THIS CHAPTER orz

I need to get better at setting deadlines holy moly

Also… is it just me or is it taking me a lot longer to write something these days?

:thinking:

Eh, probably just me

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem

Brighter

IV: Light

~ / . / . / ~

A year after Roy and Lilina's engagement, and a few weeks after their (in his opinion, somewhat extravagant) wedding, Perceval asks her to move in with him. He stumbles over his words a bit, and Cecilia has to stop him multiple times to chase off people trying to record them or snap pictures of them, but he gets his point across, and of course Cecilia agrees.

"Why did you even bother asking her?" Mildain asks, pushing Perceval his wrapped sandwich over the café counter. "She basically lives with you anyways. And you know that her mother is supportive of you two no matter what. Well, unless you cheat on her."

Perceval rolls his eyes, handing Mildain his work ID. "I just don't know if Miss Alessandra would have been okay with taking over Cecilia's house again. I know she almost went crazy last time because Cecilia's father did such a poor job of keeping Miss Alessandra's house clean."

Mildain frowns, pausing his tapping on the cash register. "Wait, what?"

"Miss Alessandra had to go live in Cecilia's house, so she got Cecilia's father to look over her house. When Miss Alessandra got back to her own house, it was in all sorts of disarray. The only people she trusts to look over the house now are Cecilia and I. And only if we're together."

To that last statement, Mildain makes such a suggestive noise that Perceval wonders how he ever became friends with him (he knows how, though - but only because it was also the time he became friends with Cecilia).

Perceval takes a few days to get a copy of his keys though, so they're constantly trading hands even before Cecilia officially moves in. At one point, Cath nabs them as a joke, but causes them so much stress that everyone learns never to mess with either of them when on a frantic search for something vital - or else they'll get threatened by both the Head of Economic Enterprises and the Head of Security.

Or course, Miss Alessandra agrees to their moving in together, and she takes a good chunk of Perceval's time making him promise not to do anything Cecilia wouldn't want, or not to break any of her possessions on purpose, and especially to respect her boundaries. He vehemently agrees, and Miss Alessandra believes him when he says he'll uphold them. He hears that Cecilia gets the same treatment from his mother, but knowing how much Amber Eques absolutely dotes on her potential daughter-in-law, she's probably prepared a list of Perceval's weaknesses for her.

(Unfortunately he's proven right when, while he has his back turned to Cecilia while unpacking her belongings, she drapes her arms around him and uses her foot to tickle the sole of his. What results is the worst tickle fight in the history of tickle fights.)

Still, the moving in goes well, and the busy Saturday afternoon turns into a calm Saturday night, where Klein, Clarine, Lalum, and Mildain crash their house without announcement. After apologizing to Perceval and Cecilia for the heart attack, they promise to cook dinner. Cecilia quickly declines Clarine access to the kitchen, but lets the other three in.

"Why won't you let me in the kitchen?" Clarine complains, pouting.

"Because you almost set our house on fire last time you tried to bake a pizza," Klein yells from the kitchen.

"But now I'm the third wheel," Clarine counters, staring with mock anger over at the other side of the couch, where Perceval and Cecilia are cuddled against each other.

"You should have brought Rutger then," Perceval replies.

"He's in Sacae!"

"Oh well," Cecilia grins, and Clarine crosses her arms.

"Meanies."

"You're welcome, Clarine. I just don't want you burning down my house."

"Who said that? You two moving in together is going to make it a lot harder for me to distinguish who's saying what while I'm trying to read everything I wrote down while eavesdropping."

"Good gods, Klein. You can't even tell the difference between Perceval's voice and Cecilia's voice?"

"Wait, what do you mean by eavesdropping!?" An indignant sputter from the living room sends Klein into hysterical laughter, and they end up losing their best chef from the laughing fit he's having.

Eventually, they all settle down for a comfortable dinner, and spend the rest of the night flipping through old photo albums Cecilia and Perceval dug out that afternoon. At one point, Klein points out that Perceval was wearing nail polish all throughout his elementary school years, and all Perceval can do is point to Cecilia. Another time, they count all the times Mildain had actually smiled for a picture outside of class photos. The answer was, unsurprisingly, zero.

Cecilia and Perceval chase them out of their house when it's close to midnight, laughing when Clarine makes a face and threatens Perceval loudly from the car about doing "unsavory things to Cecilia when they slept" as they drive away. Perceval rolls his eyes, but he obviously takes Clarine's words to heart because he doesn't do anything unless Cecilia agrees. He even asks if he can hug her, and Cecilia looks at him so incredulously that he just shrugs and says, "They're scary."

"I don't care if they're scary," she smiles, patting Perceval's cheek. He squawks in protest, and Cecilia laughs. "Whoops. I forgot."

"You know my skin doesn't react well to that lotion…" he mutters, wetting his hand towel and wiping off his cheek. Cecilia just flashes him her picture perfect smile, and it's hard to be mad at her after that.

The night that follows doesn't seem like any other night since they've spent so much time together, except when Cecilia wins, she's struck with sunlight, and the other side of the bed is empty. She sits up, rubbing her eyes and stretching.

"Perceval?" she calls.

"In the office," his voice comes from a distant part of the house, and she slips out of bed, pulling on actual clothes and tossing her pajamas on the bed. She makes her way across the hallway to the propped open door of Perceval's office.

"You're working this early? On a Sunday?" she frowns.

He shrugs. "It's not really work. It's more legal paperwork about your move."

"Oh. Do you need anything?"

"I'm… actually pretty hungry," he admits, sifting through the piles of paperwork in his office.

"Why didn't you say so?" she grins and skips downstairs, opening cabinets and pantries to collect the ingredients to prepare for breakfast.

It's then that she finds a green box in his kitchen cabinets, tucked away under the boxes and bottles of spices and dried herbs. What's suspicious is that the box is the same shade of green as her hair, an iridescent green that would catch his eye from anywhere.

She's still trying to figure out what could be inside it (ignoring the nagging thought in the back of her mind) when he walks into the kitchen, a wad of paperwork in his hand.

"Cecilia-" he pauses, his eyes wide when he sees the box in her hand.

"Oh, Perceval," Cecilia smiles, setting the box down. "Is that more legal paperwork?"

"Yes," he croaks, his gaze not leaving the box on the counter. She takes the papers he's holding, and he snags the box, tucking it into his pocket. Cecilia gives him a strange look as he slips out of the kitchen, and he gives her a nervous smile over his shoulder.

"So? What is that box all about?" Cecilia asks him eventually, when she goes into his study to return the bundle of papers. He's standing in front of his desk, and when she asks the question, he freezes up. With an annoyed pulse behind his movements, he takes the papers and sets them down on his desk, sighing as he turns and looks at her.

"Cecilia… what do you think it is about?"

"...I thought so." Cecilia closes her eyes. A smile spreads across her lips, and Perceval touches her shoulder.

"Yes," Cecilia murmurs, breaking the silence.

Perceval blinks, and it takes him a moment to realize what she's trying to say. "...Really?"

Cecilia opens her eyes, staring at into his brown eyes. "I've loved you for as long as I can remember, and I probably will keep loving you. Why wouldn't I marry you?"

He runs his hands through his hair, a distant yet joyful look on his face. "I… to think, I had a whole speech written out."

"Was that what you were annoyed about?"

"Yes," he admits sheepishly. "I was annoyed I didn't get to say my speech. I had it all memorized too."

Cecilia gives him a gentle shove. "I love you. Did you really think you needed a speech to convince me to marry you?"

Perceval rolls his eyes, and she smiles. He leans his forehead against hers, and her smile grows wider. Cecilia's fingers find the edge of his shirt, and she clenches his sweater. He cups her cheeks, and she leans forward a little, their noses touching. "I love you too," he breathes, and Cecilia laughs at the smell of mint in his breath.

"Can I have my ring now?" Cecilia questions, smiling. "I'm curious to see what you picked out."

He kisses her gently, his lips lingering against hers. "As you say," he murmurs, his lips brushing against hers.

Cecilia grins, detaching herself from Perceval when he pulls away and walks around his desk, pulling open a small drawer. He withdraws the bright green box, flicking open the box and taking the ring. He places the green box down on his desk and walks back to Cecilia. She folds her hands behind her back.

Perceval opens his fist, revealing a thin silver ring decorated with one emerald.

"Lalum and Lilina both agreed that getting something simple was better for you," he states, and Cecilia smiles.

"I think it's perfect."

She stretches out her hand, and Perceval takes it. He slips the thin ring onto her finger, and she grabs his cheeks, kissing him as hard as she can. His lips curve into a smile, and his hands rest against her waist. He pulls her closer, and she savors the gentle touch he has, the unspoken words behind his actions.

Cecilia's eyes are bright and her cheeks are rosy, and Perceval can't help but let his smile grow bigger.

"What is it?" she asks softly, brushing her fingers against his cheek.

"Nothing. Just… thinking."

"About what?"

"About how I love you."

Her only response is to pull him in and kiss him again.