#midnights ranking as high as it did surprised me

[purrincess-chat]

I've been listening to Taylor a lot recently (what else is new?) and prepping for the tour, and I decided to do some rankings, so anyway, here is my top 10 TS songs as well as all 10 of her albums ranked from least favorite to top favorite:

10. Blank Space

9. cardigan

8. Treacherous

7. champagne problems

6. Wildest Dreams

5. Sparks Fly

4. Would've, Could've, Should've

3. Lavender Haze

2. Anti-Hero

1. Don't Blame Me

All 10 TS albums ranked, keep in mind I love songs on all of these and don't think she ever really misses, but this is just my personal ranking based off of the overall vibes, how much I relate to the songs, the general sound, and which ones I find myself going back to most often:

10. Taylor Swift

9. Fearless (Taylor's version)

8. Speak Now

7. Red (Taylor's version)

6. folklore

5. evermore

4. Lover

3. 1989

2. Midnights

1. Reputation

[hoshinasblade]

i would like to apologize in advance because this sounds so rushed lol i just want to take a break from the angst. if u have any nsfw prompts, please send me an ask, i would like to write some more. THIS IS NSFW, MINORS PLEASE DO NOT INTERACT.

sex is good.

but sex with hoshina soshiro is better.

it is saturday - on second thought, it may be sunday already, you can't really tell because it might well be past midnight. the entire day was spent replenishing the contents of your fridge - a grocery date has been the routine since you started dating soshiro. the dinner was a hearty meal that you enjoyed just as much as making it with your boyfriend - soshiro is meticulous and thorough in his cooking, and sometimes you even hesitate to offer help in fear that you only be a liability in the kitchen but tonight he trusted you with cutting some onions and peeling the potatoes.

the plan was to watch a movie you chose, cuddle and fall asleep in each other's arms. but your first mistake was that you did not research what the flick is about - it was the first thing to appear when you googled "what to watch with significant other" - so you were surprised that it was not even at the twenty-minute mark, and there is already a steamy scene.

"why's the guy eating her face?" soshiro wrinkled his nose before hurling criticism at the movie's leading man. he was licking the woman's chin now, and you cringed a little.

"don't be mean, soshiro. you kiss exactly like that," you responded but only to tease. more than anyone, you know that the truth is the opposite, but you are not about to tell him that. hoshina soshiro is already cocky as it is, you do not want to pile "excellent kisser" into the list of his achievements. unfortunately for you, one of the man's fatal flaws is his predictability, and so you waited for the dramatic reaction to come.

soshiro stole the remote control from your hands. you were comfortably leaning on him while watching, but now he turned to face you. "kiss me then", he dared, the challenge sounding more like a command. the room was dark, save for the light from the television. "come on, don't i get to defend myself? where's justice in that?" he narrowed his eyes at you, a taunting smirk forming on his lips. you're not surprised - an experienced high-ranking officer plays to his strengths, and hoshina soshiro does so well in provoking you to action.

as if on cue, the woman in the film moaned, but you and soshiro weren't even looking. he is focused on you this time, waiting for you to bite his dare. you were trying your best to steel your expression, but amusement was apparent in your eyes when you caught soshiro staring at your lips.

the flesh is weak indeed.

you felt soshiro grin into the kiss, happy with his victory - you initiated first contact, your lips touching his gently, your breath mingling with his. "can we turn that shit off please?" soshiro suggested, his left hand connecting with your cheek, his palm spanning up to your jaw, his thumb at the corner of your lips. you parted your mouth and licked the finger while making eye contact with him. "fuck it", soshiro cursed before grabbing you by the shoulders and pulling you into him.

it was not hard to bring you under him, and this is hardly your first time being intimate with the vice-captain of the anti-kaiju defense force's third division. it is embarrassing to already be this breathless when soshiro has barely done anything to you. his weight partially on you, he is impossibly close as his lips find the soft spot near your throat. you closed your eyes tightly, feeling soshiro drag his kisses lower and lower until he had to lift the collar of the blouse you were wearing so he could reach the skin the fabric was covering.

soshiro groaned when he discovered you were not wearing a bra underneath. he took off your clothes in one smooth motion and you did not resist. he nibbled at your collarbone, his breath fanning against your already heated skin. the temperature rise is apparent, and you feel burning up. "do you still think i kiss like that?" soshiro asked you, but the question almost did not register with you. your laugh turned into a sharp gasp as he trailed kisses down the valley of your chest, his deft fingers now working on the sensitive buds of your breasts.

"oh my fucking god", you swore. you are sure soshiro could hear your heartbeat now, and your pants got heavier as he held both of your wrists down the mattress over your head, limiting your movements.

"stay still for me," he requested, continuing his descent down your body. "baby."

soshiro had always preferred calling you by your name but he is also very generous with the pet names when he wants to get something from you. so far, his trick has never failed him.

"s-skip", your voice was husky from the tension. "skip that, i want you now." it's not that you are bored by foreplay, it's just that you are too wet now and if your boyfriend spends one more minute tracing patterns on your skin, you're afraid you would throw a fit.

impatience looks good on you, he was tempted to say. soshiro finally relented and released your arms from his grip. he kneeled in front of you, parting your legs. enough to make you squirm, soshiro seemed to be enjoying this game - he has a particular habit of taking his time with you, but as he takes off your pants and underwear, you realized he is just being torturously slow right now. a rough groan escaped you when you felt him bite you lightly; you clamped a hand over your mouth in reflex.

"you drive me crazy", soshiro said as he snatched your hand away, putting it at your sides. he gives you one final searing kiss before entering you. the world melted away.

your brain could not keep up with soshiro's actions anymore. one second you are looking up at him, and the next he had flipped your positions, your body hovering his now. your thighs on both sides of his torso, you relied on his hands on your hips, guiding you through the motions. up and down, up and down, you did not want it to end, and when you paused to catch your breath, soshiro had taken it upon himself to fuck up into you. "i'm close," you warned him when he picked up the pace.

that didn't take long, he thought. this is not your first rodeo -pun intended - so he knows you are more likely to cum faster when you are on top of him. ever the gentleman, he held your waist, lifting you a little, pushing inside you at a speed and angle that felt so good your body seized.

"soshiro, f-" he didn't cease moving, his mouth latching on yours, silencing your loud moans. tremors consumed you, a hot flush crawling from your belly outwards until your toes were curling with pleasure.

chasing his own orgasm now, soshiro did not have the self-control to stop the way his hips were moving, one of his hands left your hip to settle on your tits. you arched your back at the sensation. "say you want me to come inside you", he told you.

"i need you to come inside me." soshiro did not need to ask twice. scared that your knees would give out, you leaned into him and stared at his eyes.

desire overwhelmed soshiro and you watched him combust.

"you okay?" soshiro was the one to break the silence, your body slumped over his, unmoving. "did i hurt you?" the two of you are still trying to recover, and it warms you to know that even in this situation, his first thought is to find out if you are well. eyes still shut, you did not respond.

soshiro smacked you in the ass.

"you literally just fucked my brains out." and you're literally still inside me. you aimed to sound more forceful, but exhausted from your earlier activities, it came out weak. your head on his chest, you heard the rumble of his chuckle.

"oh god", he replied. "i gotta let you choose the movie next time too", he said, his hand on your hair.

you sighed quietly, sleep threatening to claim you. in the background, you can still hear the faint dialogue of the movie you and your boyfriend were supposed to watch.

[danieyells]

@mayoigotokurousagi LAST ONE OF YOURS here's Jin!!!

Jin is. . .he's a lot sweeter than you'd expect once his affinity gets high lol. . . . I FEEL LIKE I ENDED UP WITH A LOT OF COMMENTARY HERE. . .he just acts very different as affinity goes up, i have to point shit out haha

I've also amended this one to be all of his voicelines now!

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"Where the hell do you think you're going? Quit dawdling and help me get ready." お前、どこほっつき歩いてたんだ？……さっさと支度を手伝え

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"Hey, you've got mail. Don't tell me you're not going to open it. What if it was for me?" おい、手紙。放っとくつもりじゃねぇだろうな。 俺宛があったらどうすんだ？ あ？

Jin, why would your mail be in my. . .whatever

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"...Get to the point. The trash here is so long-winded." チッ……さっさと要件を言え。ゴミどもはこれだから面倒くせぇ

"A party? I don't waste air on bootlickers. Try Tohma." 社交界？　肩書き目当ての奴らに構うつもりはねぇよ。塔真をあたれ

"Don't just stand there like an idiot. Hurry up. ...What? You got a problem? Spit it out." おい、ぼさっと突っ立ってねぇでついてこい。 ……何だ、文句でもあんのか？

"Kneel! Tsk... Where's {PC}? Bring her to my room." 跪け！ 　……チッ。あの女はどこだ。今すぐ俺の部屋に連れてこい

"What? Your schedule's not my problem. Just arrange it around me." あ？　お前の都合なんて知らねぇ。黙って俺に合わせてりゃいいんだよ

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"...Huh? I don't want to see your face at the crack of dawn. Get out." ……あ？寝起きから、その面見せんな…… 下がってろ

given how vulgar his speech is sometimes i'm surprised he didn't say "asscrack of dawn"

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Tell the chef I'm not in the mood for meat today." ……シェフに伝えろ。今日は肉の気分じゃねぇってな

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"I'm not wasting my time fooling around with those brats today. If they're really that bored, just make them go on a low-ranking mission or something." ガキの遊びに付き合う気はねぇよ。そんなに暇なら、適当に低ランク任務でも行かせておけ

he's just barely avoiding making iPad kids out of Kaito and Lucas lmao

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Put my dinner over there. I'll eat later if I feel like it." ディナーはそこに置いておけ。気が向いたら食っておく

i am once again asking the ghouls to FUCKING EAT PROPER MEALS.

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I need more data for this case...  Go find Tohma, servant." 任務の資料が足りてねぇ…… 下僕、塔真を呼んでこい

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"A Class C anomaly? Miss me with that weak shit. Why do you think we have a Vice Captain?" あ？　Ｃ級怪異？ つまんねぇことに俺を巻き込むな。 何のために副寮長がいるんだ？

MISS ME WITH THAT WEAK SHIT I AM IN TEARS WHO TAUGHT YOU TO TALK LIKE THAT. . . .

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"What about class? Ha. What makes you think you can lecture me? Worry about yourself." ……授業の時間？　ハッ、俺に説教とはいい度胸じゃねぇか。お前は自分の心配でもしてろ

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"You don't even know that? What do they teach here?" ……そんなこともわからねぇのか？この学園の教育はどうなってんだ

I guess Jin has a good handle on the material and everything he'd need to know, as a third year. I say 'as a third year' but Alan didn't understand some of the basics so--

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Bianerus! ...I'm not feeling it today. You can go." ＜ビアネルス＞ …………チッ。調子が悪い。今日はもう下がれ

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"It's late. We're done here. Leave." ……もう遅い。話は終わりだ、下がれ

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"You're late. You've got some nerve making me wait, servant." ……遅ぇよ。下僕ごときが俺を待たせるな

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"...I'm hungry. Go order lunch. For two." ……腹が減ったな。おい、ランチの手配をしろ。２人分だ

i guarantee you the pc did not consider that he meant "i want to eat lunch with you" the first time this happened. she probably just thought "damn jin's hungry today."

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"You have plans? Take a second and really think about whether your plans are more important than me before you open that mouth again." 今日は都合が悪い？ ……俺より優先する価値があるか、よく考えてから口を開け

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"...Why are you so chatty today? Just pour my tea and get out of my face." チッ……うるせぇ。いつもの紅茶だけ淹れて失せろ

'stop trying to befriend me and go away' lmao

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"You should be grateful I'm giving you the time of day this early in the morning." 俺が朝から相手してやってんだ。ありがたく思え

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Why do you look so worn out? If you're going to serve me, learn how to take better care of yourself. Tohma, take her to the infirmary." おい下僕、なんだその顔色は。俺に仕えるなら体調管理は万全にしろ。 塔真、こいつを保健室に運んでこい

why the infirmary. . .i don't think she needs a doctor i think she needs a nap. You're overworking her didn't Tohma tell you not to break her you donut

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"It's still early... You want to practice the waltz? Bold, aren't you? You're going to be sore tomorrow." まだこんな時間か。 ワルツの練習？……生意気に催促しやがって。 覚悟しろよ。お前は明日、筋肉痛だ

are we still. . .talking about the. . .dancing. . . .

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"You want to dine with me? Ha. All right. Show me if you've learned anything." お前と俺が、ディナーを一緒に？ ハッ、面白ぇ。お手並み拝見といこうか

impromptu lesson on table manners!?

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"It's quiet tonight... Sit here, next to me. We're playing a duet. Don't give me that look. You'll know this song." 今夜は静かだな……隣に座れ。 連弾だ。そんな顔すんじゃねぇよ。 ……お前も知ってる曲だ

I previously used the expression names to describe his expression as 'pouting' and 'like a spoiled child' but he mostly just looks irritated lmaooo

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"Waking me up every morning was your idea, so I'd better see you here tomorrow too. That's an order." ルーティンにしたのはお前だろ。責任取って、明日も起こしに来い。 ……これは命令だ

how quickly we go from "i don't wanna see your face first thing in the morning" to "i had better see your face every morning". . . . (it's not quickly at all. it's actually an incredibly slow process getting affinity up.)

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"...I was too active yesterday. Massage me, servant. ...What the hell was that? Put some muscle into it." チッ。昨日は体を動かしすぎたな。 下僕、次はマッサージだ。 ……足りねぇよ。もっと強く押せ

i love this one he's just like bitch what the fuck kinda weak ass massage is that put some back into it?????

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"You don't know about dining etiquette? I don't have time for this... If you want me to teach you, I better see that nose on the grindstone." テーブルマナーがわからない？ 面倒くせぇ……俺に教わるからにはそれ相応の覚悟があんだろうな？

we are reaching critical levels of "i need to make you presentable so you can meet my father" also I find it funny that this is after the "you wanna eat with me? let's see if you've learned anything" line. WHEN WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO HAVE HAD LEARNED OR DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO STUDY YOU AS YOU EAT

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"What's that? My helicopter, obviously. Quit gawking and get in." 俺のヘリだ。見たらわかんだろ。……いいから、さっさと乗れ

get in servant idk where we're going but you are going with me

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"I've got plans early tomorrow. Your house is too far. Stay here tonight." 明日は早朝から用事がある。お前が寝泊まりしてる寮からじゃ間に合わねぇかもな。 今夜は、ここに泊まれ

another expression note. . .he's looking away and putting his hand on the back of his neck here. He's shy, almost. Because he's not asking you to stay over to perform some task. It's not your usual master-servant dynamic. He just wants you close to him. As close as possible. He really is rather sweet.

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"Never learn, do you? I don't take you being here for granted. I know it won't last forever. That's all I'm going to say." 懲りないやつだな。言っておくが、こうやってお前が隣にいること…… 俺は、永遠に続くとは思ってねぇぞ

Jin makes a kind of sad face when he says it won't last forever. well, as sad as he can manage.

He knows that once your curse is broken you'll probably go back to your ordinary life. If your curse can't be broken you'll die. And if you, for some reason, continue to stay at Darkwick even after being cured, he'll be a fourth year next year--he's gonna go off to do field work. Eventually he'll work in the highest levels of the Institute and eventually he'll take his father's place as the president. With all of this, there's no way you'll be able to be together, no matter what. This is a short lived burst of happiness and attachment for him. It means a lot more to him than you realize.

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"(yawn) What's with that look? I'm not allowed to yawn?" ふぁっ…… あ？　何だその顔は。俺があくびして悪ぃか？

(between 11am and 4pm)

"The flowers you can see from the balcony? Yeah, I had them planted. ...My mother liked them." バルコニーから見える花……？ああ、俺が植えさせた。 …………お袋が好きだった花だ

the balcony bg and the front of frostheim background don't have flowers visible in them(i mean the balcony has potted plants but no flowers). . .i wonder what kind of flowers his mother liked. maybe the pc will grow them when they turn into a Kyklos.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Sunset's supposed to be nice this time of year. Come on, servant. Before I change my mind." 春茜か……おい下僕、少し外に出る。 俺の気が変わる前に付き合えよ

(between 8pm and 5am)

"You're going to see the cherry blossoms tonight with the brats? Suit yourself. I doubt any of you can appreciate them." あ？　ガキどもと夜桜を見に行く？ 勝手にしろ。お前らに、あの風情がわかるとは思えねぇけどな

'you guys are too poor to appreciate nice things'

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"Those little shits are so loud this morning... They're worse than the cicadas. Tohma, go exterminate them." クソ、朝からガキどもがうるせぇ。 塔真、あのセミより鬱陶しい奴らを駆除してこい

MODS, PUT 'EM IN THE BLENDER.

(between 11am and 4pm)

"What kind of moron chooses to go out in the sun this time of year? Unless you want your brain to melt, stay here with me." わざわざこの時期、日を浴びようなんて奴は馬鹿しかいねぇ。 お前も脳みそ溶かしたくなきゃ、ここにいろ

jin. . .this is frostheim. it is PERMANENTLY WINTER here, even to the point of that the day-night timing doesn't change. It's not hot unless we leave the boundaries of frostheim. . . . THIS IS A THINLY VEILED EXCUSE TO GET YOU TO STAY WITH HIM.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"You've got tickets to a fireworks festival? The view's better from a helicopter. ...You've got guts thinking you can show me a good time, peasant." あ？　花火大会の観覧席チケット？ 花火はヘリから見るもんだろ。庶民の分際で俺を誘いやがって……

'peasant' is worse than 'servant' in my opinion. . . .

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Haven't heard the sound of waves for a while... Get the speedboat. I'll drive." しばらく波の音も聞いてねぇな…… おい、今すぐクルーザーを出せ。操縦は俺がする

jin just shoving you into various vehicles to take you places is really funny to me for some reason. you're like his purse dog. he just wants to take you everywhere even if it doesn't really benefit him to do so. also he can drive a speedboat????

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"I overworked myself. Go get Tohma. I was right having him get that PT license. I should have you get one too." 塔真を呼べ、オーバーワークした。 あいつに整体の資格を取らせたのは正解だったな。 下僕、お前も取るか

. . .doesn't that take like three years minimum in japan. . .how did you get him to get that. . .didn't he only meet you like two and a half years ago and you weren't even in the same house then. . .is that a darkwick offered course. . . .

(between 11am and 4pm)

"A pumpkin spice latte? I'm not drinking this saccharine garbage. Give the rest to the brats." あ？　パンプキンスパイスラテ？ こんな甘ったるい茶は飲まねぇよ。残りはガキどもにやっとけ

what do you think he is, a basic bitch like you? Not a big fan of sweets. Noted.

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"My favorite family vacation? Don't have one. This conversation is over." 行楽の思い出？そんなもんねぇよ。 ……この話は終わりだ

(between 8pm and 5am)

"I don't play the piano because I like it. It's just force of habit." 別に、ピアノが好きで弾いてるわけじゃねぇよ。ただの惰性だ

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"...Don't fucking wake me up. Come back later." ……起こすんじゃねぇ。話なら後にしろ

he hates the heat he hates the cold. . .well he also hates mornings in general. . . .

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Why is my name on this snowman? Tohma, give me your gloves. Whichever half-wit made this has shit for eyes." なんで雪だ��まに、俺の名前が？ ……塔真、手袋を貸せ。これ作った奴の目は、確実に腐ってやがんな

"is that supposed to be me. . .? aw hell no i am fixing this shit"

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Tell the chef and the brats we're having a roast dinner tomorrow. Kobe beef. They know how I like it." 明日はローストディナーだ、シェフとガキどもに言っとけ。 肉は神戸牛でな。焼き加減はわかってるはずだ

i like that the frostheim ghouls eat dinner together like a family. . .jin looks at Kaito and Lucas and goes 'those are my idiot sons. i cannot stand them.'

(between 8pm and 5am)

"You're staying here tonight, servant. I'll show you an aurora you couldn't even dream of." 下僕、今夜は泊まれ。最上級のオーロラを見せてやる

see how this is worded differently from when he asks you to stay over because 'your house is too far away'? even when he's trying to be sweet to you, as long as he maintains your power imbalance he feels comfortable--he has something over you here--but trying to lay his feelings bare, just saying 'i want you to stay with me', that's so much more than he's used to saying.

His birthday: (August 31st)

"A birthday party? This has Tohma written all over it, that asshole's always using me to— You're planning it? ...I'll think about it." 誕生日パーティー？　塔真の奴、また俺を客寄せに使って…… 違う？お前が主催？ ……気が向いたらな

'that asshole tohma is trying to make me go outside aga--oh you're planning the party. oh. okay. maybe.'

Your birthday:

"The song I just played? It's G. F. Handel. He wrote it for the queen's birthday." さっき弾いた曲？……Ｇ．Ｆ．ヘンデルが、女王の誕生日に送った曲だ

in case you don't get the significance of what he's saying here. . .lemme fetch one of Tohma's lines for you--

"I'm no more than a servant. Frostheim is ruled by a king, you see." 私はあくまで小間使いですよ。フロストハイムには、キングがいますから

my dude I think jin just called you his queen--only for your birthday though don't get cocky, servant

New Years: (January 1st)

"Hope you're ready for another year being at beck and call, servant. First up, my New Year's courtesy calls. Go do them for me." おい、下僕。今年も俺専用の女中として必死に尽くせよ。 まずは新年の挨拶回りだ。代わりに行ってこい

'happy new year! your purpose is still serving me.'

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"What's that sad-looking box you're holding? ...Oh. No, don't throw it away. I'll take it." なんだ？　この貧相な包みは。 ……ああ、そういうことか。 捨てなくていい。受け取ってやるよ

jin is one of those characters who probably gets a mountain of chocolates given to him by admirers, all brand name and like from famous confectioners and shit. real nice fancy packages. so he sees your shitty little unprofessional homemade thing and is like 'tf is that' before he realizes it's for him and it's made with love and he just. . .ah. no, i want that, actually.

White Day: (March 14th)

"Keep your schedule open tonight. You're having a meal your peasant taste buds couldn't even dream of." おい、今夜は予定を開けとけ。庶民じゃ一生出会えねぇような美味いもん、お前に食わせてやるよ

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"Hey, are you all right? ...Tsk. If that was a joke, it wasn't fucking funny. I've changed my mind. Cancel all my plans for the day." おい、お前大丈夫か？ 　……チッ。質の悪ぃ嘘だな…… 気が変わった。今日の予定はすべてキャンセルだ

i feel like Jin is about to put together the most elaborate prank and it's gonna hurt someone's feelings or get somebody hurt and no one will find it funny and he'll end up feeling super shitty. like that one spongebob episode.

Halloween: (October 31st)

"Where the hell's Tohma? Asshole sent the brats to my room to beg for candy. Next time I see him I'm going to wring his fucking neck." クソ……塔真はどこだ。俺の部屋に籠持ったガキども寄こしやがって。 あいつ……ぶっ殺すぞ……

okay but did you give them candy?

Christmas: (December 25th)

"Go tell Tohma what color dress you're wearing tonight. Why? Maybe I'll wear a matching ascot tie. If I feel like it." 今夜着るドレスの色を塔真に伝えておけ。 あ？　理由？ 気が向いたらアスコットタイの色を合わせてやる

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"...Where the hell did she go?" ……あの女、どこ行きやがった？

(13 affinity and above)

"Shit... This is throwing me off. Who does that servant think she is?" ……クソ……調子が狂う。 下僕の分際で、舐めやがって……

he feels so wrong without you next to him aw

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"...You've got guts abandoning your place at my back, servant. I'm going to have to retrain you." …………っ、おい……下僕は常に主人の後ろにいるもんだろうが。 お前は再教育だ

ONCE AGAIN IT FEELS LIKE I PUT NEARLY ALL OF THEM IN IT'S ALL OF THEM NOW! The way he treats the pc in so many different ways but it makes sense with his character and feelings. . .as far as the home screen lines go, Jin definitely loves you in some capacity. He's actually quite clingy. . .i'm a little too sleepy for more coherent thought haha

[nananarc]

The Death Of Me . 2023

After being revived successfully by Arasaka, Vân spend their time working as a special agent under Takemura's care. During this time, they met Lương - a high ranking officer of SovOil - and continues to frequently work together on collaborative missions of Arasaka and SovOil, especially around the East Asia and South East Asia countries.

However, it comes as no surprise that Vân's life as the walking advertisement of Arasaka's technological superiority is not breezy. Time and time again, she becomes the target of Arasaka's own inhumane experiments and their competitors' attempted sabotaging and kidnapping. She harbors her own escape, with the help of their powerful ally, Lương.

After one especially deadly mission, Vân ends up with a critical injury which has caused Lương to rush the plan forward for fear of her life. This incident is a wake up call for both Lương and Goro of the corporat shackle, albeit much more so for her fellow Vietnamese colleague who comes from a rich dynasty than her Japanese lover who was a Chiba-11 slum kid that is still under the debt of Arasaka.

Lương and Vân ran away together as soon as they are back on their feet, leaving the still hesitating Takemura behind. He has had his doubts ever since 2077 when he first met Vân, and they only grow stronger as he witness her sufferings in Mikoshi and during the years they work together afterwards. But it is still not enough for him to abandon his so-called duty and convictions, something about "cannot teach an old dog new tricks".

That is, until Arasaka decided to "revive" another Vân-borg but very altered this time to better suit their needs. They have the same smile, same posture. They calls him exactly they way Vân likes to coos into his ears on the rare mornings when Vân wakes up earlier than him. But something is wrong behind those eyes. Goro watches as a ghost occupying the shell of whom his heart belongs to being paraded around by Arasaka like a twisted puppet. He finally decided that this old dog needs to teach himself new tricks.

But, is it too late?

Stay tune on "Na's midnight random incoherent brainrot" to find out!

Note1 : Did I just retconed my own hc of my characters? Yes. Have I ever introduced publicly those hc? Nope. Do I actually have an idea on how things are gonna turn out after thing? I dont. Bite me lmao.

Note2: I wanna play with the idea of Death, Life, and Love. Which one is Death in this comic? Goro or Lương? As well as when is Death ends and Life begins, because after the beginning a new life post-Mikoshi, she is on the verge of death many times other than this incident.

Goro and Vân are the love of each other's lives, but she loves Lương as well in her own ways. Lương loves her too despite him not really recognizing it and it not being the same thing as hers. Are these loves romantic, sexual, platonic, or whatever else?

Sorry haha the brainrot is just INTENSE today so i scribbled all of this down in just a few hours, idk if everything makes sense.

[naushtheaspiringauthor]

Please please please could you write a Nikolai x reader fic with the Enchanted prompt?? 🥹💕

Majestic- Nikolai Lantsov x reader

A/N- Ignore the image looking so big. Anyways, I had so much fun writing this and I really hope you enjoy reading it! I wrote this one in Nikolai's pov because I love my bbg being a huge simp also jealous Nikolai😩😩

Warnings- None

Summary- Nikolai utterly despised how annoying you are, but when he sees you dancing with someone else during a ball, he experiences feelings he never knew of

Nikolai walked around the hall, checking how Genya's preparations for the upcoming ball had been going on. She'd done a marvellous job, undoubtedly, but still he was astonished to find the boring hall look so endearing. Usually he wasn't much thrilled for these events as they were a frequent occurrence, yet he found himself looking forward to this one as you were supposed to be there

"I'm surprised to say that it's quite impressive how you've turned this monotonous area in this palace to this" He looked around the hall, so as to admire the view

"Surprised? I excel at anything I wish to" Genya responded with a smug look on her face

"Well, I'm not arguing that" Nikolai shrugged. 

"Oh and just so you know, y/n has come back so she'll be attending the event" She spoke again.

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "That's good, but I don't see why that concerns me" He gave her a disinterested look

"Alright" Genya rolled her single amber eye, not wanting to argue with him further. 

You'd been away for a meeting with the Kerch merchant council for about a week now. Even though Nikolai was relieved to not having to tolerate you making fun of literally everything he did, he was still surprised to find himself missing your devilish grin

............................................................

Nikolai had wore a black coat with the Ravkan double eagle emblazoned to a side. His hair looked much less messier than usual.  

He entered the now endearing hall with light gleaming from every corner. The whole surrounding was filled with a variety of riches, nobles and high ranking officers from the first army. 

He was having a rather displeasing conversation with some merchant about various kinds of brandies when he noticed you enter the hall. You were wearing a midnight blue silk gown with straps that hung beautifully over your shoulders. Your hair was pulled into a bun and had several loose strands falling in front that were too small to be a part of the bun

You seemed to catch most people's attentions as they recognized who you were. You chatted with most of the nobles and they listened to you speak with great interest. The whole scene made Nikolai roll his eyes and get himself another glass of champagne

...................................................

Nikolai was watching the perfectly hung chandeliers when he heard your voice from behind

"Looks like you've found your betrothed, moi tsar" you smirked 

Instead of being annoyed, he smiled back and responded "Well she is radiant and much more quiet then the other options"

"You wish you had that option" You gave him a proud expression

"Ah how unlucky of me to not having the most annoying human on earth as an option to become my betrothed" he gave you similar look

"Keep telling yourself that to soothe your aching heart, moi tsar" you tilted your head to a side

Before Nikolai could respond with equally snarky words, you were snatched away by a noblewoman who began to ask you about the architectural designs in Ketterdam. 

..........................................

Nikolai spent most of his time talking to the guests yet, he could keep his attention towards the conversation which was weird because he was quite good at listening to people talk. He still found his gaze drifting towards you. Why was he even doing that? you were just almost too good at conversating with strangers but why would it matter to him, those people didn't know how annoying you truly were. 

It was maddening how you were hiding your true evil nature so elegantly and how beautiful you were looking in that damned dress and how beautifully it brought out the color of your eyes. 

You were now talking to some, young man who was trying too hard to flirt with you. 

The man was a lot taller than you so you had to look up to meet his gaze. But what was so special about that anyways? Nikolai was a lot taller than you as well or maybe you were just too short. He also had dark hair that was slicked back and small dimples appeared on either side of his cheeks whenever he smiled. What even was so special about dimples anyway? they didn't make him insanely attractive or anything. 

Nikolai was really struggling to not roll his eyes at the sights of all that, yet he couldn't figure out why he was caring so much about it. Why he didn't like it when you weren't spending your evening mocking him but were instead laughing with someone else. 

Soon, the dances were about to begin and the change of the rhythm of the orchestra proved so. 

Several people stepped front to partake in the activity. Nikolai noticed the man with the dimples bringing his hand forward and you taking it as you both stepped in front.

................................................

Nikolai stood in a corner with a half empty glass of champagne in his hand as he watched you glide around the hall with the average looking man. 

He spun you around while his gaze remained fixated on yours. And at times, even grinned like an idiot who'd achieved something huge without any effort. 

Though there were a thousand things Nikolai could be doing at that moment, he continued to look at you with immense grimace. He watched you dance with the bloke as he got himself another glass of champagne. 

.............................................

After what felt like an eternity, the façade was finished and you bid farewell to the man. 

Nikolai was too deep indulged in his thoughts to notice you coming from behind. "You seem to be rather displeased tonight, moi tsarevich" You spoke

He turned around hastily to see you standing in front of him.  "Well, these occasions are all the same, nothing new. People bragging and indulging in useless conversations that might bore you to death and dancing with nincompoops" he grimaced at the last sentence

"All the saints and their aunts, are you jealous your highness?" you smirked

"In your wildest dreams" he responded with a bold expression. "Who even is that guy anyways? Another average man who thinks he can win over anyone with his dimples and weird hair" he muttered loud enough for you to hear

"You know, if you really wished to dance with me, you could've just said so" a corner of your mouth turned up

"Maybe, but you were too occupied grinning with that bloke"

"See? acceptance is a bold step your highness. And don't curse the poor boy so much, he'd already been looking as if he'd been preparing his script for weeks"

"If only he possessed my talents" he smiled proudly

"You know, it's not entirely late for that dance" you tilted your head as you raised your eyebrows.

"Alright then, I shall fulfil that wish of yours too" he responded, his statement making you roll your eyes

He gently offered you his hand and you took it as you both stepped outside the hall.

................................................

The euphonic music playing distantly filled up your ears as you took Nikolai's hands in yours. His gaze remained stagnant on yours and he finally noticed how beautifully your y/e/c eyes shone as the moonlight gleamed on them. At that moment, he could think of nothing but you. How beautiful you appeared, even when you'd be working in the scorching heat or the heavy rain. How smartly you managed to handle any situation without engaging in any form of conflict. How could he not like you if you were that way. How was he to despise you when you were so majestic? Through he was now hating you for being so.

"You know, it wouldn't shatter your pride to just accept the fact that I'm simply the most magnificent woman you've laid your eyes on, your highness" you smiled as you raised your eyebrows

"Nikolai, just Nikolai would do. And I that is very bold of you, but you do more work to keep the country stable than anyone else so I wouldn't say much" he returned your expression

"You aren't denying it either, Nikolai" 

His name coming from your lips made him feel different, as he never had before. It was rather rare of you calling him by his name he couldn't even recall the last time you did. But he knew you were right, he truly never hand seen another woman as magnificent as you.  

No matter how much you annoyed him most of the time or made fun of every thing about him, he really never had known one like you. And seeing you dance with someone else, seeing your hands on someone else's, made him feel emotions he never knew he had. 

You swayed to the soft music playing in the distance as your hands rested on Nikolai's shoulders and his on your waist. 

His soft hazel eyes were fixated on yours as the night went by. He brought out his hand without haste and tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear that had been blocking his view of your beautiful y/e/c eye. 

................................................

The moment went by in a haste as you spoke in a sudden, "I'm afraid I might have to leave now, so as to bid farewells to the guests and I believe you should do the same" 

"Ye-yes you're right" he spoke in a hesitant voice, not willing to part from you. 

Without having another option, you turned to leave as Nikolai held your hand for a moment and then let it go.

You both went your separate ways as Nikolai slightly flexed his hand from your touch. 

After the party ended, he set on his way to his quarters, not realizing how red his cheeks had become. 

[thewritingmagician2022]

Midnights - Taylor Swift - Brothers and Dateables

Lucifer: Maroon

The mark they saw on my collarbone

The rust that grew between telephones

The lips I used to call home

So scarlet, it was maroon

This sound is very Lucifer and, despite the navy color the game assigns to him, I will always associate red with Lucifer - especially a deep, dark red. This song is about a relationship ending and it makes me think of MC returning back to the human world and while they keep in touch with everyone at first, the contact between them and Lucifer fades quickly as they both return to v their normal lives. Especially now with the lyric video released and we know it says “it’s a real fucking legacy, to leave”. MC leaving is what really lingers and Lucifer is the one who is stuck with that. 

Mammon: Sweet Nothing

And the voices that implore, "You should be doing more"

To you, I can admit that I’m just too soft for all of it

-

They said the end is comin'

Everyone's up to somethin'

I find myself runnin' home to your sweet nothings

Mammon, my sweet man, who wants everything that the worlds have to offer but he can never find anything better than MC. There is nothing sweeter to him than the praise they give him or their declarations of love. Mammon deals with a lot of criticism and pressure, not just from his brothers but from the Devildom in general. He’s a very high ranking demon and that comes with certain expectations; if he’s being honest, Mammon thinks he may be a little too soft for all of it but the only person he’s willing to be so honest and vulnerable around is MC - the one person who doesn’t expect anything from him but his love. 

Levi:  Glitch

We were supposed to be just friends

- 

I think there’s been a glitch

Five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch

And I'm not even sorry, nights are so starry

This song is so Levi. He goes into this thing with MC thinking he’s just found a new friend and he’s sure this little crush of his will just pass by. The more time he spends with them, the faster he’ll realize that there’s nothing special about them, right? Wrong. The more time they spend together, the more attached Levi grows and the more he wants to see them. Something has shifted in their dynamic and Levi is forced to realize how much he cares about them and in exactly what way. 

Satan: Snow on the Beach

Flying in a dream

Stars by the pocketful

You wanting me tonight, feels impossible

But it's comin' down, no sound, it's all around

Like snow on the beach

Snow on the Beach is very ethereal sounding and I always associate that with Satan. I’m the very beginning of the game Satan is described as looking like a regular Prince Charming and we quickly learn that’s not quite true. Satan is pretty reticent, especially in the beginning, and MC doesn’t seem very interested in him. But, over time, they get closer and closer and MC is shocked to realize that Satan cares about them. Satan is just as surprised that MC feels the same way. Together they navigate a romance that’s very fairytale-esque and unexpected but wonderful. 

Asmo: Question

'Cause I don't remember who I was

Before you painted all my nights

A color I've searched for since

-

Does it feel like everything's just like

Second best after that meteor strike?

I think this is the way everyone would feel after a break up with Asmo. How are you supposed to find another lover, another partner, after they’ve been with the Avatar of Lust? The crown jewel of the three realms? You don’t. Nothing else will ever compare to that kind of love. But what MC doesn’t realize is that Asmo feels the same way. He’s been with so many people he could never try to keep track but he’s never had anyone quite like you again and, as he’s realizing, he can’t find anyone else who colored his world quite like MC did. So they’re both left wondering ‘does the other person feel the same way? Do they regret this like I do?’. 

Belphie: Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve

And if you never saved me from boredom

I could've gone on as I was

But, lord, you made me feel important

And then you tried to erase us

Oh, you're a crisis of my faith

Would've, could've, should've

If I'd only played it safe

I was so tempted to use The Great War instead because things end up okay with Belphie but I just can’t because MC wasn’t imagining wrongdoings that never happened. Belphie literally killed them after spending weeks befriending/seducing them, making them feel so important because of the role they were going to play in freeing him and bringing the family back together even though they knew Belphie was supposedly a risk. Everything was going well and MC was on the “right” path until they met Belphie, the Devil in disguise, and that meeting changed everything.

Beel: Paris

Privacy sign on the door

And on my page and on the whole world

Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours

I think Beel would be very private in a relationship and it’s not because he doesn’t love MC or is ashamed of them but because he’s so fiercely protective. All he wants is to keep MC safe and keep them to himself seems like the best way to do that. And that’s just fine with MC because in a realm where they are constantly being scrutinized it’s so nice to have something that’s just theirs. No one can touch that love with their judgment or opinions or jealousy. It’s a perfect little bubble around them and they wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Diavolo: Lavendar Haze

Talk your talk and go viral

I just need this love spiral

Get it off your chest

Get it off my desk

-

I feel the lavender haze creeping up on me

Surreal

I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say

Diavolo is 100% Taylor in this song. He is always in the spotlight of the Devildom, obviously, and that means everyone there has an opinion on everything he does. That applies to his relationships; in fact, it’s even worse for romantic connections. It drives him crazy sometimes, especially when it affects MC. But MC is always there to comfort him and reminds him that people can say whatever they want - the only thing that matters is how they feel about each other. It because Diavolo’s mantra whenever he gets frustrated and he knows that he can deal with whatever people have to say as long as he has MC. 

Barbatos: Mastermind

What if I told you none of it was accidental?

And the first night that you saw me

Nothing was gonna stop me

I laid the groundwork, and then

Just like clockwork

The dominoes cascaded in a line

The demon who can see through time and all of its possibilities using his powers to gather information on MC? It’s more likely than you think. Barbatos is efficient, thorough, and dedicated. There is no chance that he would stumble along blindly while trying to win MC over. He knows the exact role he needs to play, knows how to interest them and make them like him, make them trust him. To anyone looking at their relationship from the outside, it would seem like a cute little love story where the MC just happens to fall for the butler that’s always there behind the scenes and that’s how Barbatos likes it. Little does he know that MC is not nearly as oblivious as he thinks he is and, luckily, they find it endearing. 

Simeon: Hits Different

Dreams of your hair and your

Stare and sense of belief

In the good in the world, you once

Believed in me

And I felt you and I held you

For a while

Taylor, can you please release this as a single? I am so tired of finding bootleg versions to listen to. Back to the point, I absolutely hate the idea of MC and Simeon being separated but I fully believe that MC would be an absolute wreck without their angel around to love them and encourage them to make good choices. So MC is back home in the human realm and they’re heartbroken and their friends don’t understand the name they’re slurring at the bar and crying over. All MC wants is to be back with Simeon - the one person (angel) who loved them so fully. The one person who always believed in them and encouraged them and made them feel like they could truly be as good as he thinks they are. MC has known heartbreak before but nothing could ever compare to the pain of losing someone so perfect; it just hits different. 

Solomon: Labyrinth

Uh-oh, I'm fallin' in love

Oh no, I'm fallin' in love again

Oh, I'm fallin' in love

I thought the plane was goin' down

How'd you turn it right around?

If you don’t think that this song is Solomon’s, you’re absolutely wrong. We don’t know much about this shady sorcerers past but we do know that he’s been married before and we can assume that he’s been in love multiple times over the thousands of years. Based on his typically guarded or nonchalant behavior, I have to assume that his heart has been broken enough times to make him very wary of love. Then along comes MC and slowly, so slowly he almost doesn’t realize it’s happening, Solomon falls in love. It’s terrifying at first and he’s angry with himself for letting it happen but MC makes him so happy and once they admit their feelings, Solomon can’t help but give into his own and he finds he doesn’t mind quite as much as he thought he did.

[100beep]

Solace in a Hopleless Place

“Gorou.”

His name snaps him out of his shock-induced haze. “Yes?”

“The charges are treason, conspiracy to commit high treason, participation in a banned terrorist group, and four counts of manslaughter. How do you plead?”'

As was previously planned, he says “Guilty.”

The judge says “You are hereby exiled from Inazuma. Leave before sunset tomorrow and return on pain of death.” Then she bangs her gavel.

The rest of the trials pass in the same haze. Every important member of the Resistance is there, plus any common soldier that didn’t manage to escape. The leadership is given the same sentence of exile, while the soldiers are let off relatively easy, their only punishment being a few years of hard labor rebuilding the Tenshukaku.

He’s halfway to Dornman Port when he shakes off the last of the shock from the disastrously failed assassination attempt. It was an all-or-nothing bet, he knew, but he didn’t think he’d properly understood what failure truly meant until it happened.

He arrives in Dornman Port in the early afternoon two days after the trial and decides to make the trek to Mondstadt the same day. Unfortunately, it’s longer than he reckoned on, and it’s nearly midnight when he arrives.

Upon arrival in Mondstadt, he explains his situation to one of the Knights at the gate. Visitors are apparently not supposed to enter the city after dark. As he’s arguing with the guard, who seemingly wants to let him in but can’t, a wandering bard comes from the inside, winks at the guard, and pulls Gorou inside. And then drags him off to a tavern to tell his story properly.

Once he’s done the first telling of his story, the bartender asks “What exactly went wrong with your plan?”

“They had a spy,” Gorou almost growls. “They knew we were coming, they knew our every move. And it’s really damn hard to touch the Shogun if she knows you’re there.”

“There are few things that can derail a plan worse than a traitor within your ranks,” the bartender says, as if speaking from experience.

“Did you ever catch whoever did it?” asks one of the tavern’s other patrons - one who’s extremely drunk.

“Of course not! The entire Resistance disintegrated after we failed. We never got the chance.”

“What do you plan to do from here?” asks the bartender, heading off Gorou before he can get any more riled up.

“I have no idea,” answers Gorou. “I’m only here because the first boat I could get on was coming here.”

The bartender nods. “I suppose you need somewhere to stay for the night?”

“I could use one,” Gorou admits.

“I can help with that,” says the bartender. “The tavern’s full, but Barbatos knows I’ve got enough spare rooms for you. Which is probably why he brought you here.”

Someone calls across the room. “Diluc! Not just any stray you take in can replace me!”

The bartender - Diluc, apparently - glares across the room at the shouter, then says “Ignore him. He’s my… was my… it’s complicated.”

Gorou nods. “I won’t ask. But why is it you’re willing to take me in so quickly?”

Diluc sighs. “I’ve had my share of failed assassination attempts.” He doesn’t elaborate.

Later - Gorou thinks it’s about half past one in the morning - Diluc announces last call. A loud chorus of groans follows, and the tavern slowly empties, the last few people being chivvied out by Diluc after fifteen minutes or so.

Leaving the city is a lot easier than entering it. Diluc just nods at the guards and opens a postern gate. Apparently Diluc comes around this late at night regularly.

They walk mostly in silence for about fifteen minutes before Diluc points out the winery mansion.

“You weren’t joking about having a lot of spare rooms,” Gorou says, mildly surprised.

Diluc flushes slightly. “Lucky birth.”

Once he’s shown Gorou to one of the spare rooms, he says “Let one of the maids know if you need anything” and leaves Gorou to collapse on the bed for his first proper sleep since the trial.

Gorou wakes up around noon the next day. He rolls out of bed and does his best to tidy up the room. It’s not like he’d made much of a mess, or that Diluc needs it, given that he has maids, but it’s the principle. He makes his way downstairs and is greeted by one of Diluc’s maids, who seems quite happy for a chance to stop mopping.

“You’re Gorou?” she asks.

He nods.

“I’ve been wondering when you’d show up. Diluc’s out in town - I don’t know what he’s doing. There’s breakfast waiting for you in the dining room… although you should call it lunch.”

Gorou thanks the maid, then calls her back to ask where the dining room is.

In the dining room, he uncovers what amounts to a pile of steak, potato, and cheese, stacked up. There’s a note next to it, from Diluc, which he reads as he eats. He’d spent so long being insanely busy with the Resistance that he’s used to such multitasking.

It’s fairly concise, as Gorou would expect from Diluc. As Gorou was told by the maid, Diluc’s in the city and invites Gorou to join him. He doesn’t say what he’s doing, just that he can’t be missed. He says that Gorou is welcome to stay as long as he needs to, as he’s a person that won’t take advantage of another’s kindness. And he mentions that he’d made the meal and used his Vision to keep it warm. At first, Gorou does a double-take at his ready admission that he has a Vision before remembering that it’s only in Inazuma that they’re banned.

Once he leaves the mansion, he returns to the city, mostly so he can find work. Diluc is entirely right that he doesn’t want to stay for free if he can avoid it.

“Katheryne? What are you doing here?” he exclaims, seeing her at her kiosk at the entrance to the city. She never leaves her desk in Inazuma.

“I have always been here,” she replies.

“What about the Katheryne in Inazuma?” he asks.

“Information on the workings of myself through Teyvat is limited to Adventurer’s Guild members,” she responds as if she’s giving a canned response. “And unfortunately for such a promising young adventurer such as yourself, we do not accept new adventurers during Mondstadt’s harvest season. Even those we previously tried to recruit.”

Gorou shakes his head in confusion. He’d been previously recruited by Katheryne in Inazuma, which means that they’re the same person or they somehow share memories…

He abandons that line of thought. He won’t be able to get any answers out of an uncooperative Katheryne. Instead, he asks “What stops you from hiring during the harvest?”

“Mostly tradition,” answers Katheryne. "The farmers of Mondstadt need as many workers as they can get during the planting and harvest seasons.”

Gorou’s eyes narrow. Adventuring is rather useless if you can’t feed the city, but he wouldn’t expect the Guild to bother with that. He doesn’t pursue it though - again, Katheryne won’t talk about anything that doesn’t suit her. “Can you point me to any of those farmers that are hiring?” he asks instead, not expecting an answer but thinking it’s a better chance and more useful than anything else he can ask.

Katheryne answers nonetheless. “Dawn Winery is currently in the midst of their semiannual hiring spree. In fact, Master Ragnvindr is currently in town for that purpose. He’s in the main square - just go up, you can hardly miss him.”

“Thanks,” Gorou says as he turns and walks up the main stairs of the city. As he climbs, he mutters to himself “So that’s what he meant by ‘can’t be missed.’” Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t that.

Ten minutes later, a slightly out of breath Gorou makes it to the main square of Mondstadt. The disadvantage of building your city into the side of a hill is that it makes it somewhat more difficult to get around. To his immediate left is a sign advertising for the Good Hunter. Underneath that sign is another sign advertising for work at Dawn Winery. There’s a small crowd - thirty people or so - mostly waiting around for their chance for Diluc to take their name. Gorou takes a seat and waits for Diluc to work through the rest of the crowd.

“Next,” calls a bored-looking Diluc as the current person leaves, looking somewhat annoyed. Someone else walks up to his table and starts talking - for some reason, no one else can hear them.

“How do you know who’s next?” Gorou asks the person sitting next to him.

“Whoever gets up first, mostly” is the answer. “They always hire everyone they can, it’s not like there’s much competition.” Gorou nods.

A moment later, he asks “Are you that Inazuman revolutionary that appeared at Angel’s Share yesterday?”

Gorou blinks in surprise. “That would be me. Why?”

“Is it true that you took the first shot at the Shogun?”

“I’m a… was a general, not an assassin.”

The man nods. After a moment, he asks “Did you take any shots at the Shogun?”

“It’s rather useless to try once she knows we’re there. She can grab arrows out of the air,” Gorou grumbles. “Didn’t stop me from trying, but most of my arrows went to her soldiers.”

Diluc calls “Next,” and Gorou answers the call.

“I thought I’d see you here,” Diluc says. “I suppose the Guild sent you here?”

Gorou nods. “What is your arrangement with the Guild?”

“The Knights mandated it after one year when the entire workforce quit to join the Guild,” Diluc responds. “When neither they nor the owners would back down on their wage demands, the city nearly starved. And despite Barbatos’s calls for a revolution - or so they say - the Knights stepped in and stopped the Guild from hiring anyone new during the harvest.” He shakes his head as though to get rid of an unpleasant memory. “But enough of ancient history. You’re here for work. I assume you’re more interested in actual harvesting rather than the administrative work?”

Gorou agrees. “Tracking supplies and the like was the worst part of the Resistance.”

Diluc holds back a sigh. “Very well.” He briefs Gorou on pay - which is surprisingly generous - duties, hours, and such - long hours this year because of an early winter and limited demand for ice wine - then ends with “You start tomorrow in the vineyard at half past eight.” Then he calls “Next.”

The next three weeks are extremely busy for Gorou. He’s busy the entire day in the vineyard, after which he has little energy for anything else. He’s told that it isn’t normally this busy except after the freeze, but this year’s freeze will be sooner than normal.

Little time for anything else also includes finding another place to live. As convenient as it is to not have to walk into the city every night, now that he has work, he’d like to avoid living on charity.

Gorou and Diluc eat together almost every night, mostly in silence as both of them are too tired for small talk. Most nights, Diluc cooks, which Gorou is almost more grateful for than the room. About twice a week, he’ll get too wrapped up in papers to remember, and twice he falls asleep in those papers, in which case Gorou sighs and throws together dinner for the two of them. And on the one occasion where Diluc goes missing for two days straight - he’s told that it happens occasionally, it’s nothing to worry about - he’ll cook for himself. He’s not a bad cook, he just doesn’t enjoy it much, nor does he have the energy to.

(When asked why he doesn’t let the maids cook, Diluc laughs. He doesn’t trust them to not burn down the house, he says, and it’s far too hard to find a half-decent chef for hire.)

Three days in a row go by when the morning starts with a frost. There’s no effect on the harvest, other than a lot more workers bringing gloves.

The next morning, Gorou wakes up to a howling blizzard. He gets out of bed, noting that the house is somehow warmer than normal, and walks to the kitchen, where he finds Diluc with a cup of coffee.

Diluc greets him, then points out the window. “That is Barbatos thinking he’s being funny.”

Gorou blinks. “Barbatos does things like that?”

Diluc scoffs. “Only to me. I’m convinced that if you could get out of here, you’d see the storm is entirely contained in the vineyard. Shows what I get for asking for a cold snap.”

“Why would you want a cold snap?” Gorou asks.

“An experiment with ice wine,” Diluc answers. “I’m told that if you freeze the grapes before harvesting, it concentrates the juice, which makes for far sweeter wine.”

“And you couldn’t get a Cryo user to freeze them for you?” Gorou asks. “I’d think that would be easier than getting a god to change your weather.”

Diluc sighs. “You underestimate how pliable Barbatos can be. And even if he wasn’t, I have a talent for driving off Cryo Vision holders. Diona hates the entire wine industry. I’d have no chance at convincing Rosaria to take on any additional work, and she’s not leaving the Church anytime soon. Eula hates me for some reason, which she’s passed on to Mika, and Kaeya is… well, he’s Kaeya.”

Gorou nods. He briefly considers asking about Kaeya - he’s heard stories - but decides against it. “It would probably make a better wine from a natural freeze anyways,” he says instead.

“Perhaps,” replies Diluc. “Whatever the case, it’s not going to happen, as convenient as it may be. Are you cold?”

Gorou blinks at the sudden change of topic. “No - I don’t understand it, but I’m actually warmer than before,” he answers.

Diluc nods. “That would be my Vision. I wasn’t sure if it was affecting the entire house - normally, I only bother to keep myself warm. Surprisingly, it’s not that much more effort.”

“Increasing area-of-effect somehow doesn’t increase the power needed,” Gorou replies. “Unless you’re doing something with a lot of precision.”

“I wonder why,” asks Diluc, not expecting an answer. Gorou doesn’t give one - he doesn’t know either.

After a moment’s silence, Diluc says “Well, this day’s going to be completely useless for the both of us. We won’t be able to get out through that storm, either to town or to harvest and I can’t work in the cold - Vision heating is too distracting.”

“I’ll appreciate the day off,” Gorou replies. “Your harvests are rather exhausting.”

“I have been working you rather hard,” Diluc admits. “But winter would be here early regardless of what Barbatos did, and I’m not banking everything on an experiment. Thanks to your work, we only have a day’s worth of harvest or so left.”

“I’m not complaining,” Gorou answers quickly, “but I do need a break.”

The rest of the day is spent mostly quietly. Neither of the maids show up through the storm, which leaves Diluc and Gorou alone together the entire day. They talk more than they have ever since the first night when Gorou showed up in Mondstadt, mostly for lack of anything else to do. Diluc is very interested in the details of the Resistance to the point where Gorou almost suspects him of trying to create his own revolt.

When asked why he’s so interested, Diluc answers “I also had my time as a rebel. My motivations were far more selfish than yours - entirely revenge, to be honest.” And then they’re on to talking about Diluc’s misadventures in Snezhnaya.

“…I managed to actually land a hit on Dottore,” Diluc finishes. “To this day, that’s the closest I’ve come to revenge.”

Gorou nods along. From his one-time dealings with the Fatui, they’re not worth it to work with. Still, he has to ask: “What caused you to go on such a quest for revenge in the first place?”

Diluc grimaces. He doesn’t want the details publicized, but he can tell Gorou is trustworthy. He tells Gorou as much, then begins with the disappearing children. The only part of the story he leaves out is his messy breakup and disownment of Kaeya.

The next morning dawns cold and clear… in the sky, at least. The ground, less so. There’s about a foot of snow on the ground, ending right at the boundary of the vineyard and confirming Diluc’s theory of the localized storm.

The crowd gets to work. They know where the remaining unpicked grapevines are and, almost more importantly, where the already-picked vines are to dump the snow.

About half an hour in, Gorou asks Diluc - who, for the meantime, is working with the other pickers - if he can use his Vision to melt the snow.

“I doubt that I can control it enough to not thaw the grapes,” Diluc answers. “And thawed grapes are completely useless.”

“I might be able to shield them,” Gorou answers. “At least enough to clear the paths.”

Diluc raises an eyebrow. “Care to demonstrate?”

Gorou digs through the snow to the ground, then pulls off a glove and touches the ground. A thin wall of earth erupts through the snow, then curves over the tops of the grapevines.

“Impressive control,” says Diluc. Then he sends a wave of flame down the path, causing a massive cloud of steam and almost entirely clearing the path of snow.

The wall shatters as Gorou releases control over it. Underneath it, the snow covering the grapes remains mostly intact. The top had slightly melted and then refrozen into a somewhat solid chunk of ice, which Diluc picks up and throws onto a pile of waste snow. The grapes underneath are still frozen solid.

Diluc nods in approval and the two move through the vineyard repeating the process. It takes about an hour - there isn’t much vineyard left unharvested, but making such barriers is fairly exhausting for Gorou.

Once they’re done clearing the paths, Diluc leaves to begin the wine processing. This will continue through the night, with only Diluc and a few backup workers, pressing all the grapes before the weather has a chance to warm up.

Diluc comes in at half past four in the morning. He’s not as tired as you’d expect - he does have experience working through the night. But he still collapses on his bed the first chance he gets.

The next night, the entire collection of harvesters is invited to Angel’s Share for a night of free drinks. There’s enough of them to fill the bar, and regardless, it’s closed to everyone else - except that one bard that brought Gorou here when he first arrived.

Diluc, who for tonight is on the other side of the bar, sees the bard and shakes his head at him. Venti, of course, doesn’t leave and instead takes a seat next to Diluc.

“Was the cold snap to your liking?” he asks.

Diluc sighs. “Well, I can’t say it didn’t work.”

“Whatever did the two of you do cooped up together?”

Diluc blushes furiously. “We talked.” Then he looks around for Gorou, who is, thankfully, on the other side of the room and apparently not listening.

Venti laughs. “Oh, I didn’t mean to imply anything… inappropriate. It seems your mind went there all on its own.”

“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Diluc says, face still red.

“Perhaps,” answers Venti. “Although if I did, I’d imagine that it would work better.” Then he walks away, to where Gorou is in a rather heated argument with a few others on how, exactly, a Pyro arrow flies without lighting the entire arrow on fire.

“It doesn’t have time to burn,” Venti interrupts. “Any fool with more arrows than sense can try it, you don’t even need a Vision.”

“Thank you!” someone exclaims to Gorou. “If I wasn’t drunk, I’d show you - you don’t need a Pyro vision, I’ve done it before!”

Gorou throws up his hands. “Fine!”

Venti laughs, then drags off Gorou. “Tell me, what went on during that snowstorm?”

“Very little,” Gorou answers. “I needed a rest, Diluc kept me far too busy. And it’s not like there’s much to do trapped inside by a storm.”

“Oh, I’m sure you could’ve come up with something,” Venti answers. Then he walks away, leaving a very confused Gorou.

Later in the night, Charles announces “Last call,” to an even louder chorus of groans - no one likes the end of free drinks. The trickle out starts with Diluc, as he’d been almost the only one paying attention to the time. Gorou follows soon after - he’d stopped drinking about an hour ago to avoid a hangover.

They walk in silence, as Gorou would expect from Diluc, but this time it feels somewhat more awkward. Eventually, Gorou asks “What exactly did that bard say to you?”

Diluc blushes again, mutters something about “meddling gods,” and doesn’t answer the question.

“I see,” Gorou replies.

“What exactly do you think you see?” Diluc says. “You like someone, but you don’t want to admit it to yourself,” Gorou answers.

“I have no feelings for you, despite what that damned bard might say,” Diluc grumbles.

Gorou stops walking. “It’s me you like?”

Diluc freezes. “That is not what I meant to say.”

Gorou takes a breath and says “But what you wanted to say, I think.”

Diluc tries to deny it as he starts walking again. Gorou says “I like you too,” and Diluc stops again. Then he turns to kiss Gorou.

Gorou hesitates half a second before kissing back.

When they break the kiss, Diluc is smiling for the first time Gorou’s seen.

[swiftiephobe]

OKAY SO.

i didn't have any friendship bracelets because honestly i could not be fucked making them and they generally just aren't really my thing. so i wasn't on the hunt to trade but two nice girls offered me bracelets (one girl spotted my arm lyric and gave me a speak now one and another girl gave me a dbtc one as we were leaving the stadium) which was very sweet of them!

i'm very VERY glad i didn't watch heaps of livestreams or the tour movie because while i was definitely familiar with most of the show i still felt like there were little details that surprised me!!

i may have gotten teary at the opening. it truly cannot be overstated just HOW emotional of a moment that is.

the bracelets during yntcd are so so gorgeous!

i had gone through 500 emotions by the time the lover set had ended and i knew i was in for an exhausting (in a good way) night

fearless really is THAT album like even if it's not high up on your ranking i really don't think you can be a swiftie without appreciating that album and everything it represents and what it did for her career

i had NO IDEA the intro for willow would be like that and it took me so off guard

her champagne problems speech was so!! ahh!!! i felt like the lover + fearless sets were fairly "rehearsed" in their crowd interaction (not that that's a bad thing!!) but in the evermore set she really started to open up and pour out her emotions.

i was surprised that she talked about the flashlights for marjorie because i assumed that was just something the crowd did every night and she would be used to it by now but she seemed genuinely touched by it tonight!

i also didn't know she talked to the crowd after the champagne problems applause so that was a really nice surprise!

the don't blame me/lwymmd transition was mindblowing as predicted

i simply cannot imagine a version of this tour without long love in it

i will NOT be hearing a single bad word about the red set going forwards. yes it's all the hits and none of the deep cuts but they are HITS for a reason!! i simply cannot make the hits not hit!

TELL HIM HE'S DREAMING

the folklore set is an interesting one. i was predicting it to be my fave as a certified folklore girlie and it was amazing BUT i felt like having it placed directly after atw10 put it in a spot where i was feeling VERY drained and i really had to work to pick myself up to get back into it.

everything after this felt very rapid fire like 1989 was just a barrage of major hits!!!! incredible just how many hits that album produced

the SYDNEY chant was a lot of fun

she sang should've said no (thereby declaring debut rights) and i screamed. then she sang you're not sorry one of my fave fearless songs and i screamed. then she mashed up new years day and peace and i screamed.

idk if i imagined this but while singing peace when she sang "would it ever be enough" it looked like she shook her head and it had me :(

the midnights set had my fave visuals of the whole show methinks

no "karma is the guy on the chiefs" for us tonight but i'm sure it was felt in spirit ❤️

thanks for reading my word vomit on all my thoughts about my show (i will probably have more tomorrow) i think i am going to sleep now

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

The St James Family Tree (x)​

( aside from Jeremy, Josie, and Joy, the entire St James family exists universally throughout all of my glee fics, though they so far only have set appearances in Get It Right, SOWK, By Its Very Definition, and Corner Of The Sky!  More details about everyone below the cut )

shoutout to @the-witching-ash for helping me develop this entire clusterfuck of a family

Tag List: @airwolf92 – want to be added?

Judith & Joseph St James ( Meryl Streep & Pierce Brosnan ):

The parents of the most unadjusted and emotionally unavailable family in all of Ohio

Jenny St James ( Nicole Kidman ):

Married to Lloyd Kline ( Colin Firth )

Judith & Joseph’s eldest child 

Neglectful mother and trophy wife to a DC politician

Johanna St James ( Kate Reinders ):

Married to Chad Channing ( Chris Pine )

The middle St James child 

Professional absentee parent dreaming of her non-existent Broadway glory days

Former roommates with Shelby Corcoran and Cassie July

Joshua St James ( Zac Efron ):

Sometimes dating Nell Baker ( Anne Hathaway )

The youngest of the St James siblings

Real estate agent in Lima

Jeremy’s guardian, legally as of s2

Part of the long-suffering parent club with Burt, Carol, and Brad

His apartment is well known as being a safe place for glee club members to crash if they’re avoiding being at home and he does have a ranked list of all of the club members

Roman Kline ( Aaron Tveit ):

Jenny & Lloyd’s son / Amelie’s twin

Dalton alum, Cooper Anderson’s high school roommate

Dating Cooper Anderson & Ash Astor ( Anna Kendrick )

Went to law school and is a licensed lawyer but he’s working actor in LA and sometimes New York

( also features in a Somewhere Only We Know prequel, Midnights, the Cooper & Roman Dalton era fic )

Amelie Kline ( Lily James):

Jenny & Lloyd’s daughter / Roman’s twin

Went to Crawford Country

In an eventual relationship with her high school best friend, Lindsay Wright ( Brittany Snow )

Bartender & manager at Scandals

Living with her Uncle Josh in Lima while she attends university

( also features in a Somewhere Only We Know prequel, Midnights, the Cooper & Roman Dalton era fic )

Jesse St James ( Jonathan Groff ):

Johanna’s son, not with Chad but he doesn't know it

An honorary member of the warbler inner circle since he was 10

Carmel High alum, UCLA dropout, now coaching Vocal Adrenaline

Learning to be a better brother

In an eventual relationship with former rival Lucille Newton ( Anna Camp ) 

Joy Schuester ( Lili Reinhart ):

featured in By Its Very Definition ( and various chaotic crossover concepts )

Jesse’s half sister through their father, April Rhodes’ surprise daughter

Easily adopted into the St James clan by Josh, Amelie, Roman, and Jesse

Full time disaster

The best thing Johanna ever did for Jesse was not have Chad as his father, only so that he could have Joy as a sister

Josie St James ( Lily Rose Depp ):

featured in Applause

biological daughter of Johanna St James and Bryan Ryan, has never suspected that she might not be Chad's

Has been acting professionally since she was 3, mostly in commercials, TV, and movies, was the star of a disney channel show from ages 3-8, has continued acting since, is still quite famous

Johanna was an obsessive stage mom to the max

She goes to Carmel High (a sophomore in season 1) and is a leading member of VA – despite this, she has always hated Shelby and absolutely hates the Rachel plan

But she hates Johanna more and wants to live with Josh so she goes along with it all

disaster bitch with mommy issues and daddy issues and body issues and attitude issues

Jeremy St James ( Joshua Bassett ):

featured in Corner Of The Sky ( and various chaotic crossover concepts )

Johanna & Chad’s youngest son and Jesse’s younger brother, not actually Chad's son – Chad suspects this, Jeremy does not

An honorary member of the warbler inner circle since he was 5

lives with his Uncle Josh and cousin Amelie

Absolute sunshine despite an overabundance of family trauma

Currently growing a backbone

[fifteenleads]

LONG LIVE

Long live the walls we crashed through How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you I was screaming, "Long live all the magic we made" And bring on all the pretenders One day we will be remembered —Long Live (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift

In which Joshua and Dion were high school sweethearts.

Joshua and Dion used to be high school sweethearts. Joshua was a straight-A student, Dion was a varsity swimmer.

Dion was older than Joshua but they’re in the same year level due to Dion missing classes for competitions.

They fell in love over freshman year summer break, when Joshua was assigned to tutor Dion over catch-up lessons. Dion was an eager learner, Joshua was a patient teacher.

They went out to the beach once on their first date, getting sand in their sandals with gentle waves lapping over their bare legs.

They kissed for the first under a mistletoe that Christmas. They didn’t know it but Clive happened to catch them in the act, but didn’t say anything.

Soon, Dion went higher up the competition ranks. He may even represent the national team at this point. He had to take another leave of absence from school to prioritize his training.

This ended up with him dropping out of high school altogether and moving states to where the training camp was. Dion and Joshua promised to keep in touch.

They didn’t.

Life got busier and busier for Joshua, but also more troublesome. On his junior year, the Rosfields planned to get a divorce, and Joshua had to figure out what to do with his life. Clive was away at college, and last Joshua heard, wasn’t exactly having a good time there either. He didn’t want to worry his brother.

Clive found out about the divorce a little too late, and this caused a temporary rift between the brothers. Joshua was all alone. He wanted to call Dion, find comfort and support. But Dion was preparing for an international competition. Joshua didn’t want to disrupt Dion’s concentration, and so he didn't call.

This was how they began to drift apart.

Dion did eventually find out when he came home to visit one time during Joshua’s senior year. They fought for the first time, not in shouts but in silence. Dion was angry , hurt that Joshua didn’t confide in him. "Is that how little you think of me," was his armor-piercing question. "Am I not even friend enough for you to lean on me?"

They decided to give each other space indefinitely. Joshua cried for the first time in a while since his parents’ divorce.

Clive regretted not having been there for Joshua when all this happened. He was graduating in a semester, and went home on some weekends to help the family (Elwin, Joshua) adjust. Sometimes Jill came along.

Clive met Jill, a freshman student librarian at college at that time, during his junior year when he was failing most of his courses. She was a huge help to him at that time, becoming his rock and moral support while he found his focus again. Clive was able to process his parents’ divorce a little better because Jill was there. They got together during Clive’s senior year.

Joshua graduated from high school. He attended a state university on a scholarship to help with the family finances. The GPA requirement was ridiculous but given his grades in high school, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. Clive also moved back home for work, and things were okay for a while.

Annabella invited the Rosfields to dinner a year after the divorce. There they got a huge surprise: she revealed she remarried and was expecting. She brought her new husband and stepson.

It’s Dion. Joshua turned pale and breaks into a cold sweat. It’s him it’shimit’shim—

He asked to use the restroom, and Clive followed him. Annabella scoffed at the rejection. Dion was clearly uncomfortable.

Joshua excused himself for the rest of the night and sneaked out alone to a coffee shop still open at midnight. Lots of students were pulling all-nighters, it was a good distraction as any. He ordered a cup of hot coffee—Dion’s favorite roast. He tried hard not to cry.

At 1AM someone asks to share his table. Joshua looked up. "Hello," Dion awkwardly waved.

Dion ordered Joshua’s favorite drink—a hot chocolate drink. They sat in silence for half an hour, not daring to look at each other.

To this day, Joshua didn’t know who between them was hurt more when they broke up. But it wasn't right to compare, is it? Each person’s pain is different. He never even asked Dion how he was doing, so what right did he have to complain?

At 2AM they both blurt out at the same time, "I’m sorry." Dion backed off, letting Joshua explain himself first. "It’s all right, I won’t get mad."

So Joshua poured his heart out, at how so many things overwhelmed him, how much he missed Dion, how he regretted not keeping in touch, for presuming. He realized that he’s changed so much and that Dion must probably hate him as he was now.

"I could never," Dion said softly. "And you’re still the same Joshua I know. Stubborn as ever, but earnest and kind. The one I fell in love with."

If anything, Dion’s the one who’s sorry for not keeping in touch. He didn’t want to be seen as clingy, needy. During his time away he became homesick, and the pressures of winning and excelling at competitions ate away at him. His father became stricter and stricter, and Dion wished it would all end.

Then suddenly one day it all did. He gravely injured his shoulder due to overuse. The damage was so severe that he might need surgery. They have the means for it, but it would also mean that he would miss this berth to qualify for the World Championships. But not getting it fixed would mean a life of chronic pain and possible disuse of his arm. He had to choose.

Dion chose to give up swimming. It was a painful decision. He didn’t leave his room for days until his scheduled shoulder surgery. After that was done, he was all on his own. His father didn’t care anymore. No matter—Dion had the means to support himself for now anyway.

Soon Sylvester remarried to Annabella, to Dion’s greatest surprise. "Oh, aren’t you the boy my son was tutoring back then?" Dion could only nod numbly.

Truth be told, he’d been dreading this dinner as well. Dion never called Joshua all this time, never told him what was going on, never asked for help when he needed it the most, since he didn’t want to worry Joshua. Damn if that didn’t sound suspiciously familiar, Joshua thought, finally laughing brokenly.

They were both thinking the same thing after all. Like two peas in a pod. They really were idiots. Dion concurs with a rueful smile.

All that was finally cleared up, and they hold hands again for the first time in a while. "So where do we go from here?"

"We’re now legally relatives so that puts a wrench into things," but more than that, Dion thinks he’s changed, too. More than he'd realized. He never really thought about it seriously, though, until Joshua had opened up.

"We’ve become two different people, but I’ve never regretted being with you. Loving you." A tear fell from Joshua’s eye, and Dion found it beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. "I had the time of my life with you, Dion. The moments we shared, the magic we made together—all of it."

Dion brought a hand close to Joshua’s face, catching the fallen tear on the edge of his finger before cupping his cheek. "Who would’ve thought we’d connected the way we did? All the walls we’ve crashed through, all the mountains we've moved?"

"I love you, Joshua," Dion said, softly kissing Joshua's hand. "You’ll always have a special place in my heart."

And Joshua knew it isn’t the kind of love they once had for each other, but it was still love all the same. "I know, Dion. I love you, too."

[karma-is-a-cat-purring-in-my-lap]

Unhinged Spreadsheet 2024

Okay I realize that I am extremely late to this, but I have finished updating my unhinged spreadsheet. It doesn't include TTPD because I want to wait at least a year for it to sink in before I add it. Updated rankings below!

Album Ranking:

1989

Speak Now

Midnights

Lover

evermore

reputation

Red

Fearless

Debut

folklore

Top 20 Songs:

Lover

All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

You're on Your Own, Kid

Fearless

All Too Well

Out of the Woods

Enchanted

You Belong with Me

Mine

Love Story

Cruel Summer

Long Live

Paper Rings

right where you left me

High Infidelity

Now That We Don't Talk

Anti-Hero

Clean

Getaway Car

Would've Could've Should've

Biggest Changes:

Begin Again dropped 74 places

The Moment I Knew dropped 67 places

The Great War dropped 66 places

Mirrorball dropped 65 places

Ours dropped 60 places

Paris dropped 59 places

I Wish You Would gained 58 places

Sweet Nothing dropped 58 places

Better Than Revenge gained 56 places

Dress dropped 55 places

Some other interesting changes - The Man, Invisible, and tolerate it all moved up pretty significantly because of their Eras performances (Invisible was one of my surprise songs), and Wildest Dreams, Haunted, and Better Than Revenge also went up because of the rerecordings.

This time I literally went through and redid the entire damn spreadsheet and it took like three months... I think next time I'm just going to add TTPD to what I already have and see how that goes.

Also as a bonus I did the Good Witch because I love her. If the Good Witch was a Taylor album, it would be in 9th place between Fearless and Debut. There It Goes would be in 7th place between Out of the Woods and Enchanted.

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P3R: mostly Tartarus, HOW DARE YOU?, and once again a lack of aggressive dialogue options.

I got my shit wrecked in Tartarus, between multiple gatekeepers in a row, and the Monad passage Elizabeth wanted me to explore. The shadow tactics are getting better, and it’s fun having to work around them.

Throwing a Cowardly Maya at me that immediately starts off with Concentrate+Megidolaon is a little much, though.

I got through eventually, though, and got some great rewards!

Hehehe

HEHEHEHEHE

(I’m sorry, I think these outfits are great. XDDDD)

...I’m sorry, what is the CATHEDRAL OF TIME? Can I have a slightly bigger fragment??? Please??? Oh man.

Anyway, summer break is kind of off to a disappointing start, because like… it’s been 2 weeks, and I haven’t gotten to work on any of my links or anything. Yakushima was great, but now I’m at extra track training for this competition that’s coming up.

I mean I guess I’d be happier if there was something more to it than just showing the same scene of us running laps every day for six days or whatever. Or if there was a choice whether to attend or not. But no, I’m just locked into advancing none of my social links except Tanaka.

Every time I talk to this man I want to push him in the fountain. Also, he keeps asking if I remember my promise and haven’t told anyone. Sir, tbh, I don’t even remember what you don’t want me to tell people.

The Dark Hour has begun, and I’m happy to see Pharos again, because obviously, I love hi-- oh. Wait, no, this is Fuuka, calling me to the command room. Never a good sign.

SEES throws on their uniforms and sprints upstairs, and we’ve got a problem!

Hm. A normal shadow? Akihiko’s probably got it, but yeah, weird that this one left Tartarus…

And then Akihiko calls, and we’re off, because the shadow is defeated, Akihiko is fine, but someone is very badly hurt.

HOW DARE YOU HURT KOROMARU?

I knew he was coming to our dorm eventually but I didn’t realize it was because he was hurt that badly!! Literally everyone is upset about this turn of events, Aigis can speak Dog, and we’re using Mitsuru’s influence in the best way possible.

(We couldn’t even cast dia to stabilize him, though??)

The next evening, Mitsuru informs everyone that Koromaru is gonna pull through just fine, and Pharos stops by to give his weekly warning.

Guys, I have a track meet the day after tomorrow, please stop waking me up at midnight. T_T

………no.

You shouldn’t even be drinking coffee, you’re like 10.

So now I’m off to my track meet, and did really good! I kind of wish it had been a longer scene, or a minigame, or something? I dunno. But the wunderkind runner from the other school came to talk to me after, and wants to be friends?

I guess? Is this a new social link? Hm. I guess we’ll see, since I’m free again, but first I’m gonna go rank-up with Maiko.

Maiko is ready to run away from home. She tells me goodbye and not to tell her parents where she went, and then heads off. And after a blip of a time jump, here come her parents! They have no idea why she would have done this! She’s never acted like this before!

Man I really wanted to pick that second one.

And the dad recognizes me. Apparently she’s mentioned that she plays with “Arisato-kun”, a high-schooler, at the playground. Maiko’s mom is appalled, because she didn’t know anything about that. I’m not surprised; do you ask anything about your daughter’s day?

They literally start bickering to the point where it isn’t dialogue boxes, it’s just audio, like background noise. But eventually the dad remembers I’m there and cuts off the mom.

Sir, you’re the ones arguing instead of looking for your kid. You’re lucky I even want to help, after what you did to her!

They ask if I have any ideas where she might be, and I suggest the takoyaki stand. We all go running off, and Maiko is in fact there. She starts crying almost immediately, and is finally able to tell them why she’s so upset.

And her parents actually apologize! They promise to go home and actually talk to her! I’m skeptical because, again, he HIT her, but I’m gonna have to give them the benefit of the doubt, I guess. :/

Two more people have gone missing in Tartarus, and the full moon is in two days, so we’re gonna have to go in and get them. So that’s up next!

[linskywords]

Taylor Swift Meets Hockey RPF: A 2022 Advent Calendar

Hello friends. I’m so excited to announce the advent calendar you never knew you wanted: the countdown of the 25 ficciest Taylor Swift songs, specifically as they apply to hockey RPF!

We’ve long been aware here in the fic community that Ms. Swift’s lyrics provide excellent titles. But just how ficcy are her songs, really? I’ve set out to answer that question via an extremely scientific* ranking project that combines three things I love dearly: hockey RPF, Taylor Swift songs, and making ranked lists of things.

*It was not even a little bit scientific

If you share any of these interests, you may be asking the following questions:

Q. I’m so excited! But what does this advent calendar actually consist of?

A. What a good question. Every day I’ll do a write-up of one of the songs, starting with the least ficcy of the 25 on 12/1 and getting ficcier each day up until Christmas, when the ficciness will reach its peak and we’ll explode with the joy of repressed men pining for each other.

Q. Are you actually going to write a story for each song?

A. Hahaha no. But I am going to pick a pairing that I think fits the song the best and say a little about how their story would go, and if I get intrigued enough by any of it I might write the story eventually.

Q. You’re going to let us know which song lyrics you’d use to title the story, though, right?

A. Of course.

Q. How can I keep track of these posts?

A. This post will act as a master post as soon as I’ve started the countdown.

Q. How about a playlist so we can listen along?

A. I got you right here! It’s empty now, and I’ll add songs as soon as they’re revealed.

Q. But wait! There’s so much variety in fanfiction, even just within hockey RPF. What does “ficciest” actually mean?

A. The ficciness of each song has been determined via the extremely objective method of me thinking about it really, really hard. I’m not aiming for all of fandom here; my frame of reference is men’s hockey RPF, specifically slash, specifically the kinds of stories I most enjoy reading/writing.

Q. Isn’t that kind of arbitrary?

A. Shhhhhh.

Q. Okay but that means pining is going to be front and center, right?

A. Absolutely it does.

Q.  So…you actually went through all of Taylor Swift’s discography for this?

A. Let’s just say my Spotify Wrapped is a little extreme this year.

Q. Aside from screwing your Spotify stats all to hell, did you come across any trends in the ficciness of her music that you’d like to share with us?

A. I’m so glad you asked! As part of determining the top 25, I rated every Taylor Swift song in her 10 studio albums (Taylor’s Version where available) on a scale of 0-10 for applicability to hockey RPF. Her albums ranked as follows:

Reputation (2017): 4.79 average ficciness rating

Lover (2019): 4.39

Taylor Swift (2006): 4

Speak Now (2010): 3.88

Red (2012): 3.55

Folklore (2020): 3.41

Fearless (2008): 3.4

Midnights (2022): 3.3

Evermore (2020): 3

1989 (2014): 2.77

Honestly I was pretty surprised by how this shook out. I expected ficciness to be at its peak in her first few albums, but nope. It was reasonably high at the start, and it did decline as she transitioned from country to pop with 1989, but then it shot up to new heights in Reputation and Lover. These are, not coincidentally, the two albums she wrote during and just after the start of her relationship with her current partner. This makes sense to me: the pining of the early albums is all well and good, but there are also a lot of songs about breakups, which did not do well in the ficciness ratings. After Lover, things went a little more as expected: the ficciness leveled off again, and her three most recent albums all ended up in the bottom half. Here's a fancy graph of the results:

That said, averages don’t tell you everything. Her first album is less ficcy than Lover on average but does far better in the top 25. Folklore is above Fearless by average rating, but it only has one song in the top 25 versus Fearless’s four. In fact, there were three albums that had only one song make it in, and 1989, least ficcy of them all, managed to squeak in twice. So “average ficciness” and “number of extremely ficcy songs” turned out to be very different stats.

Q. That's fun. Do you have any more charts?

A. I sure do! Here's one I made of how many songs came in at each rating from 1-10:

Basically, there were a lot of songs that weren't ficcy even a little bit, declining in number towards the mediocrely ficcy at 5. Then the count started going up again with songs that had enough ficcy content to be considered but maybe didn't quite hit the nail on the head. There were only a few songs that were real bullseyes.

When it came to narrowing things down, everything 7 and above got further consideration. About half the 7s made it, and almost all the 8s (there were a few I left out for various reasons). All the 9s and 10s got in.

Q. You’ve infected my brain with this, and now I’m curious how you’d rate this one song of hers I’m thinking about.

A. Shoot me an ask! If it isn’t in the top 25 I’ll answer with the ficciness rating I gave it and why.

Q. Thank you, this was exactly the extremely niche advent calendar I was hoping for this year.

A. Universal appeal, that’s my goal!

Day One: Speak Now Day Two: Blank Space Day Three: Sparks Fly Day Four: Girl at Home Day Five: Come Back...Be Here Day Six: 22 Day Seven: Breathe Day Eight: Willow Day Nine: Cruel Summer Day Ten: Long Live Day Eleven: I Know Places Day Twelve: I Think He Knows Day Thirteen: Snow On The Beach Day Fourteen: Peace Day Fifteen: Call It What You Want Day Sixteen: Fearless Day Seventeen: Untouchable Day Eighteen: I'm Only Me When I'm With You Day Nineteen: Invisible Day Twenty: Gorgeous Day Twenty-One: Dress Day Twenty-Two: Treacherous Day Twenty-Three: Teardrops On My Guitar Day Twenty-Four: I'd Lie Day Twenty-Five: You Belong With Me

[slowmotionlovepotionn]

(extremely late) midnights review + rate!!

so obviously it's been a very long time since midnights came out, and we've all had time to digest it, and i thought it would be a good idea to do a review, although it's a bit late!

to start with, the album itself really surprised me. i don't think i expected it to be that upbeat, after folkmore, but it was a pleasant surprise. that being said, i did miss the quiet pop songs that we got on folkmore, but the bops were very welcome!

secondly, the lyrics. of course, this is the taylor swift we are talking about, the lyrics were absolute poetry. i didn't look at lyrics during my first listen, so here is the ranking that i made during my first listen. (this doesn't include the consideration of lyrics):

lavender haze (purely because of the pure beat, and my jaw dropped when she said "meet me at midnight")

maroon (love the lower range of her voice, that chorus had me listening to it on repeat trying to figure out the words)

karma (loved the twist on the song, pure bop)

midnight rain (that warped voice was a great choice, completely surprised me, first song i learnt from midnights on guitar, so i'm biased)

you're on your own kid (i loved the softness in her voice, and the depth of the lyrics)

question...? (loved the beat of this song, was a stand-out in my first listen)

mastermind (love the drop between the verse and the chorus, sealed it's place for me)

vigilante shit (this is what we all expected karma to be and i am here for it, love the beat, lyrics: top tier)

anti-hero (hyped up for myself way too much, but after a few listens, it's probably in my top 5. the lyrics did it for me)

snow on the beach (missed lana del ray's vocals so that cut it short for me, again, climbed my ranks hugely in the last few weeks)

bejeweled (love the twinkling, climbed my ranks so fast, probably top 2 now)

sweet nothing (seemed a bit dull of my first listen, love the vibes, and the lyrics are probably the best of the album)

labyrinth (fell short a bit for me, the repetitive chorus is something i would probably still skip past)

okay, then come the 3am tracks. so i was at school (international swiftie) so i couldn't listen to it straight away, but my friend burst into maths screaming about the 7 extra tracks and that's how i found out about them. here's my ranking:

paris (initial favourite, got hooked onto the first verse during my first listen)

would've, could've, should've (love, love, love the lyrics, probably best chorus of the album)

high infidelity (love the beat and the song just hooked me)

great war (love the pre-chorus, just gives me goosebumps every time i listen to it)

glitch (i just love this song. i've seen a lot of hate and i just don't understand)

bigger than the whole sky (i always used the confuse this song and would've could've should've (don't ask) i love this song so much, and the vocals 👌)

dear reader (mixed feelings about this song, but definitely the best bridge of the album)

so there we have it! my rather long midnights review. feel free to comment your opinions i'd love to know!!

overall rating : 4.7/5

current favourite song: maroon

current least favourite song: labyrinth (sorry!)

[goblin-enjoyer]

Ok now that both polls are done time to compare results and see if i can gleam anything from this.

(spoiler alert: the second one only got slightly over half of the votes as the first one so this aint going to be useful or that interesting either way.

First poll was about what was you gits favorite troll blood type.

Ranking at the bottom of the barrel with no votes are Blue and Indigo. Trolls from the franchise with these blood colors tend to be controversial or just uncomfortable characters in general. while still having their fans, this poll did not reach them and thus 0% all for the "bluebloods".

Up next with only a bit more votes, are bronze,gold,olive,jade,violet and fuchsia all with just 5.9% of the votes. while not that high in the polls individually, its nice to know that even from this smaller sample size, almost every color has its fans. heck, i bet blue and indigo would have added on to the even all rounders here if there was more people voting. hard to tell anything from this, but still somewhat neat to see.

Last tied castes are purple and karkats candy red, or muties as i have called them. what can i say, do enough ork impressions and play them enough and (other than invade any setting while you're making neat little adventures in your head while daydreaming) you start to affectionately call things with orky terms. like i call octolings and inklings from splatoon beakies but that's starting to get off-topic. with 11.8% of the votes, i suspect the reason these got this far is because the characters associated with those blood colors are popular fan favorites, with karkat being a "sudo-main character" as ill call him for now and gamzee being an important and prime example of a fun trope where the comic relief turns into an actual threat, that and the purple bloods being generally some of the more beloved characters to come out of hiveswap/friendsim, it's no wonder they ranked as they did, however the next one may be my fault here.

With 17.6% of the vote are the teal bloods. terezi is another fan favorite character with plot relevance and the teal bloods from hiveswap/friendsim are up there with the purples for top characters people got out of those games. why did teals rank higher than purples then if they are liked for pretty much all the same reasons? well you see i kinda hit the limit for poll options (honestly kinda lucky there, got to fit all the blood types in there. [well except lime but that doesn't count because it has no trolls in it]) so I disgraced the post by omitting the mandatory other option. a grave sin, I know. so i voted on this poll myself. this was recently after finishing homestuck but before doing the extended zodiac quiz or playing friendsim, so my favorite character at the time was Terezi Pyrope. So I voted teal and that one vote pushed the teals ahead of the curb like a raid team that found an exploit. didn't mean to sway the vote as i did, as i expected there to be a bit more votes but in midnight post all polls being done hindsight I probably should have gone the tf2 route and put the characters names in the tags, but I think I got enough votes and interaction with this one.

and finally with a whopper 23.5% of the votes, surprising me greatly it's the rust bloods! I honestly have no clue on how they got ahead here. from what i remember the rust bloods from both homestuck proper and friendsim/hiveswap didn't do much and weren't all too relevant. but i guess i was mistaken and underestimated the power of underrepresented blorbos and the working class. i honestly do not know what to say at this point, even after trawling around poking at the general fanspaces I still don't see much talk around these characters and this caste. still they managed to get roughly 4 or so votes without the poll maker throwing in er hat into the ring so good on them!

Onto the second poll which probably got a lot less traction due to the fact that it was based on the extended zodiac quiz.

Yeah maybe i should redo the polls with the characters actually tagged huh? redo at 100 likes? hekekekekek

with 0% of the few votes i got here are rust, bronze,teal,blue,purple and fuchsia. don't know how the extended zodiac works so i don't really have anything to say other than man do I wish this poll got more votes.

with 11.1% of the votes each are gold,lime(idk why but the wiki says its an available option so i went with it),jade and violet. an even amount distributed amongst the crowd, maybe people's favorite blood caste is the same as the ones they have maybe it's not. like i said it's hard to tell with the small sample size i got i hand here.

next is olive with 22.2% of votes and i'm just going to get threw this quickly because reading makes me tired, its 1:51 am and i slept horribly last night. I got olive blood on the test, no other option. bada bing bada boom. onto an actually surprising thing next.

Indigo unlike last poll is the opposite of 0% with a solid 33.3% winning the poll thing. very surprising, tells me that either the people who did the first one didn't do the second or that peoples zodiac blood type are the opposites of the ones they actually like. i don't know but it's interesting to say the least.

well while confusing to say the least, this set of polls was pretty fun and interesting to dissect. I hope you all can get as much fun as I did with these bad boyes. while I didn't get as much as a sample size as i wanted to get, the results did show me some wee stuff about the homestuck fandom, at least on tumblr. maybe i'll do another set of these in the future but more to the point and including all the troll names (zog that sounds horrid but oddly satisfying to type) but either way feel free to discuss this stuff in the comments or tags or whatever, idk im not a mathy goober. Im Goblin Enjoyer and I remember it so you don't have to, good night everybody.

[noahskahan]

my opinion on the first listen after hearing the whole album (1st and 2st part)

the albums are not ad bad as I thought they were when I began listening, it is a lot like midnights and a bit like reputation where they are really good and well written songs but you will also find cringe lyrics and annoying production style (cof cof jack cof cof)

One thing I feel about ts is that for her is really hard to grow up from her yearly 20s, because ad listening to this about it hit me that fearless and speak now taylor had more mature lyrics than 34 yo taylor (not all of the songs obv but like 19 yo Taylor did wrote dear john and 34yo Taylor wrote : “ like a tattooed golden retriever” ). Also all the high school references during midnights and ttpd are fucking annoying FIND ANOTHER ANALOGY WOMAN!!

She also need to start putting the visuals and the production and lyrics on the same place, she did the same thing with midnights where the photos and promo had NOTHING to do it with the album. I don’t think ttpd is in the level as midnights but the vibes the photoshoot gave had more to do with the surprise album than the original one

The song is liked around actually really good not only for the lyrics but also the production but unfortunately from 31 songs i maybe have liked 10 maybe less idk.

She needs to stop working so much with jack, they found a comfortable place and are stuck there and it is a mediocre place for her music.

Im sure that as the time passes i will enjoy more the album but my initial grade for it is 6.5 or 7 idk

The black dog is my favorite song and the rest of the tittles are too long for me to rank it so lol

I forgot to add but the biggest highlight for me is her voice!!! Her vocals are fire i fucking love it!!!