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#miro getting rough!!
marmolita · 2 years
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@hibernating-heart pointed out that in last night's game Miro tried to rough up Jarvy and this is so important to me, personally,
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moonlight
rafe cameron
“i just wanna get high with my lover, veo una muñeca cuando miro en el espejo”
summary- you make the mistake of getting too high and letting your horny addict bf take care of it
warnings- dubcon/noncon, filming, semimeanbf!rafe, drugs, party, alcohol, nutting inside without permission, fucking while unconscious DO NOT READ IF U R UNCOMFORTABLE WITH STUFF LIKE THIS PLEASE.
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you stumble onto bed as your boyfriend rafe guides you back into his room, it was nearly 2 am. the both of you leaving from a party that one of the kooks hosted. you underestimated the amount you drank and smoked, your head pounding as your body began to heat up.
“rafeee its hot.” you whined fanning yourself, staring at him taking his shirt off and changing into his pajama pants. his biceps flexing as he picks something from off the floor. you couldn’t take the waves of warmth coming onto you and you started taking you clothes off, unable to as youre too gone to correctly take off the top you were wearing.
you feel strong arms roughly pull you to your feet, helping you take it off. the blurry sight of rafes dilated eyes staring down at you, biting his lip. he stares down at your chest heaving up and down, you swallowed.
“how much did you smoke” he asked, eyebrows raised.
“fuck i dont even know like 1 joint maybe 2.” you slurred giggling at out of it you sounded, legs giving up you sat back down on the bed.
“jeez y/n really.. and i know youve been drinking too, how stupid are you ?” he sighed, hands running through his hair. you could tell he was high too, the way he was slow and his flush cheeks.
“im not stupid, i was just having fun.” you argued, confused. blinking at him, maybe realizing the amount of shit you actually consumed tonight.
"i always gotta take care of you huh baby ?” he sighs grabbing your jaw, thumb rolling over your puffy lips. you look up at him with your glossy eyes, your heartbeat bumping against your chest. you open your mouth to say something but he roughly grabs your hair and pulls, your scalp stings at the action.
“god you drive me fucking insane.” he climbs onto the bed and gets on top of you. sloppily kissing you, you whine at the force and put your hand on his bare chest. he moves his hand from your face and down between your legs, two fingers slowly getting shoved into you.
your eyes squeeze shut, your brain not being able to handle this sensation. you mumbled his name grabbing his arm and squeezing, whimpers leaving your mouth as he curls his fingers.
“rafe please” you whined, arching your back when he makes slow circles around your clit. the room was quiet, but you could hear the sounds of how wet and rough he was fingering you.
“that feel good ?” he breathily says, he speeds up. and your eyes roll, grabbing harder onto his arms as you cum of his fingers. your body growing more tired from the strong orgasm you just experienced. weed really does enhance everything to the next level.
“spread your legs f’me.” words fly out of both ears as you try to listen to him, but physically you couldn’t. he laughs and uses his hand to open them wider, the view of your pussy makes his cock even harder than it already was. you were wet, so wet.
you feel him pushing into you slowly, a little groan falls out of your mouth from the stretching. no matter how many times you guys have had sex, he was always too big and never really fit inside.
you open your eyes and a phone camera is above your face, you didnt mind. you and him always did shit like this.
“w-wait the condom.” you slur, forgetting that you werent on birth control.
“shh its okay baby, you can trust me.” he convinces you, and you back off. his steady pace quickens when the coke finally is at its peak. your soft moans getting louder as he snaps his hips against yours, his tip kissing your cervix with every thrust making you dizzier each time.
“is this what you wanted sweetheart ? got all cute and fucked up for me to fuck you like the pillow princess you are ?” he teased, his big veiny hand choking you. this felt so good, and the only thing on your mind was how good his dick felt.
“open your eyes baby, look at the camera. show it how much of a pretty slut you are for me.” your tits bounce up and down, mouth falling open. you shyly turn to the side, he wont allow it though. he grabbed your face and spit in your mouth, slapping you.
“whatd i just say.” he looks at you sternly and you pout.
you squeal at the sudden changed position of your legs, pushed against your chest. the feeling of him fucking you gets stronger, he went deeper in and out.
“fuck- mmm youre so beautiful and perfect, and youre all mine.” he grips your thighs and fucks you harder. he shuts off the camera and tosses his phone to the side.
it started to get overwhelming, your eyes tearing up from the pleasure as you slowly passed out. rafe noticed but that didn’t stop him, no it felt too good. he couldnt just leave you untouched the way you were looking to be filled with his cum.
his face shiny from the sweat, he looks down and pushes on your stomach. he could feel his tip thrusting up at you, groaning he slows down to kiss your cheek damp with your tears.
“oh fuck fuck fuck, im about to cum.” he grinds his hips into yours as he fills you up. he pulls out and leans over to grab a towel, cleaning up the evidence. but before that he couldnt help but stare at the sight, all perfect and filled.. hole dripping with his cum. its not like you would be angry right ? i mean with a few words and you would be the one apologizing for his actions. its rafe, you will always forgive him.
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pikahlua · 9 months
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MHA Chapter 411 spoilers translations
This week’s initial tentative super rough/literal translations under the cut.
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1 感傷には浸らない かんしょうにはひたらない kanshou ni wa hitaranai "Don't get sentimental."
tagline 1 語る継承者達… かたるけいしょうしゃたち… kataru keishousha-tachi... The speaking successors...
2 元よりこの戦いはもう"後継者"に託されてる もとよりこのたたかいはもう"こうけいしゃ"にたくされてる moto yori kono tatakai wa mou "koukeisha" ni takusareteru "From the beginning, this battle has been entrusted to the successors."
3 死柄木弔を討つ しがらきとむらをうつ Shigaraki Tomura wo utsu "Attack Tomura Shigaraki,"
4 今はこれが僕らの存在理由…… いまはこれがぼくらのそんざいりゆう…… ima wa kore ga bokura no sonzai riyuu...... "This is the reason for our existence now......"
5 っかし…このままじゃジリ貧さ再生の壁を打ち破る手立を見つけねーと っかし…このままじゃジリひんささいせいのかべをうちやぶるてだてをみつけねーと kkashi...kono mama ja JIRI hinsa saisei no kabe wo uchiyaburu tedate wo mitsukenee to "But...if things continue getting worse and worse like this, he'll have to find a way to break through that wall of regeneration."
tagline 2 No.411 史上最悪の敵 堀越耕平 ナンバー411 しじょうさいあくのヴィラン ほりこしこうへい NANBAA 411  shijou saiaku no VIRAN   Horikoshi Kouhei No. 411 History's Worst Villain  Kouhei Horikoshi
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1 四ノ森さん‼︎ しのもりさん‼︎ Shinomori-san!! "Mr. Shinomori!!"
2-3 九代目を頼む! きゅうだいめをたのむ! kyuudaime wo tanomu! "I leave the Ninth to you!"
4 小僧‼︎ こぞう‼︎ kozou!! "Boy!!"
5 四ノ森さんがーーー しのもりさんがーーー Shinomori-san ga--- "Mr. Shinomori is---"
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1 "危機感知"が "4TH"が "4th (read as kiki kanchi)" ga The 4th (read as: Danger Sense)
2 奪われた‼︎ うばわれた‼︎ ubawareta!! was stolen!!
3 連綿と受け継がれた力…… れんめんとうけつがれたちから…… renmen to uketsugareta chikara...... "A power that's been passed down repeatedly......"
4 先生が難儀した力か せんせいがなんぎしたちからか sensei ga nangi shita chikara ka "So this is the power that gave Master difficulty?"
5 まア maA "Well,"
6 執着はないけどお前を壊せるならいい しゅうちゃくはないけどおまえをこわせるならいい shuuchaku wa nai kedo omae wo kowaseru nara ii "I'm not attached to it, but if I can destroy you then it's fine."
7 こんな…呆気なく…! こんな…あっけなく…! konna...akkenaku...! "Like this...so suddenly...!"
small text イスが… ISU ga... "His chair..."
8 こじ開けてきやがったさ…!俺たち全員分の意志をーー こじあけてきやがったさ…!おれたちぜんいんぶんのいしをーー kojiakete kiyagatta sa...! ore-tachi zen'inbun no ishi wo-- "He was somehow able to pry open [his way in]...! All of our wills--"
9 軽く凌駕してるってのか! かるくりょうがしてるってのか! karuku ryouga shiteru tte no ka! "he's easily surpassing them!"
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1 (黒鞭 発勁)+変速‼︎ (5TH 3RD)+2ND‼︎ (5th (read as: kuromuchi) 3rd (read as: hakkei)) + 2nd (read as: hensoku)!! (5th (read as: Black Whip) 3rd (read as: Fa Jin)) + 2nd (read as: Gear Shift)!!
2 黒鎖‼︎ こくさ‼︎ kokusa!! Black Chain!!
3 へえ hee "Ahh,"
4 こりゃずっと凌がれるワケだぜ! こりゃずっとしのがれるワケだぜ! korya zutto shinogareru WAKE da ze! "so this is how you could stave me off!"
5 "危機感知"を使われてる "4TH"をつかわれてる "4th (read as: kiki kanchi)" wo tsukawareteru He's using "4th (read as Danger Sense)."
6 一番邪魔なお前からだ いちばんじゃまなおまえからだ ichiban jama na omae kara da "You are the one most in my way, so"
7 崩壊を始める ほうかいをはじめる houkai wo hajimeru "I'll begin [your] decay."
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1 「泣いてた」⁉︎「見なかった事にはしない」⁉︎ 「ないてた」⁉︎「みなかったことにはしない」⁉︎ 「naiteta」!? 「minakatta koto ni wa shinai」!? "'I was crying'!? 'You won't pretend you didn't see it'!?"
2 おまえまだ omae mada "Are you still"
3 敵を人間扱いしてンのか⁉︎ おれをにんげんあつかいしてンのか⁉︎ ore (read as: teki/VIRAN) wo ningen atsukai shiteN no ka!? "treating me (read as: villain) as a human?"
4 まだそんなとこにいるのか緑谷‼︎ まだそんなとこにいるのかみどりや‼︎ mada sonna toko ni iru no ka Midoriya!! "Is [that me] still there, Midoriya?" (Note: He means "Can you still see that crying boy there inside me?" basically.)
5 ちゃんと見ろ‼︎ ちゃんとみろ‼︎ chanto miro!! "Look carefully!!"
6 そこに俺はもういない‼︎ そこにおれはもういない‼︎ soko ni ore wa mou inai!! "I'm not there anymore!!" (Note: He means "That crying boy isn't there anymore!!" basically.)
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1-3 ハッ HA "Hahh" (Note: Speech bubbles #1-3 are all heavy panting/breathing noises.)
4 黒鞭を幾重にも巻きつけて防御だけに徹すれば…まだ致命傷は避けられる… 5THをいくえにもまきつけてぼうぎょだけにてっすれば…まだちめいしょうはさけられる… 5th (read as: kuromuchi) wo ikue ni mo makitsukete bougyo dake ni tessureba...mada chimeishou wa sakerareru... If I wrap 5th (read as: Black Whip) around me over and over and focus on only defense...I can still avoid fatal injuries...
5 ボロ… BORO... Crumble... (Note: This is the sound effect of Izuku's mask breaking to bits.)
6 あっマスクが a MASUKU ga Ah, my mask...
7 オールマイトが拾ってくれたマスク… オールマイトがひろってくれたマスク… OORU MAITO ga hirotte kureta MASUKU... The mask All Might retrieved for me...
8 高波に呼吸を妨げられないよう装着したのがついさっき… たかなみにこきゅうをさまたげられないようそうちゃくしたのがついさっき… takanami ni kokyuu wo samatagerarenai you souchaku shita no ga tsui sakki... "You only just equipped it so your breathing wouldn't be obstructed by the tall waves..."
9 かと思えばこんなところに……何というデタラメな力だ… かとおもえばこんなところに……なんというデタラメなちからだ… ka to omoeba konna tokoro ni......nan to iu DETARAME na chikara da... (Literal) "If I think about it, in a place like this...that's a bullshit power..." (Contextual) "Thinking about it, in a place like this...[he's got some] bullshit power..."
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1 …富士山…こんな近くに… …ふじさん…こんなちかくに… ...Fuji-san...konna chikaku ni... "...Mount Fuji...we're this close..."
2 "変速"が切れる頃だ… "2ND"がきれるころだ… "2nd (read as: hensoku) ga kireru koro da... "It's about time the 2nd (read as: Gear Shift) is cut off..." (Note: He means they are reaching Gear Shift's activation time limit.)
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1 奪われたのは"個性"のみ うばわれたのは"こせい"のみ ubawareta no wa "kosei" nomi "All that was stolen was the quirk."
2 身体強化に影響はないようだな しんたいきょうかにえいきょうはないようだな shintai kyouka ni eikyou wa nai you da na "It doesn't seem to have any impact on your physical strength."
3 力自体は各因子ではなくOFAに蓄積されている…回復まで耐えるしかない ちからじたいはかくいんしではなくワン・フォー・オールにストックされている…かいふくまでたえるしかない chikara jitai wa kakuinshi de wa naku WAN FOO OORU ni SUTOKKU (read as: chikuseki) sarete iru...kaifuku made taeru shika nai "The strength itself is stored in One For All, not in each factor... We have no choice but to endure until recovery.*" (*Note: I'm not completely sure what is meant here by "until recovery." Maybe he means "We have no choice but to tough it out until you recover from the Gear Shift blow-back"?)
4 …その力で…今の内に奴から逃げるべきじゃないか…? …そのちからで…いまのうちにやつからにげるべきじゃないか…? ...sono chikara de...ima no uchi ni yatsu kara nigeru beki ja nai ka...? "...With that strength...shouldn't we use it to escape from him now...?"
5 煙…‼︎ えん…‼︎ En...!! "En...!!"
6 さっきのは"危機感知"だったから俺たち助かったんだ さっきのは"四ノ森さん"だったからおれたちたすかったんだ sakki no wa "Shinomori-san (read as: kiki kanchi)" datta kara ore-tachi tasukattanda "We were saved before because of Mr. Shinomori (read as: Danger Sense)."
7 また九代目が一瞬でも触れられたら またきゅうだいめがいっしゅんでもふれられたら mata kyuudaime ga isshun demo fureraretara "If the Ninth is touched again, even for an moment,"
8 今度は誰も逃げられないかもしれない…! こんどはだれもにげられないかもしれない…! kondo wa dare mo negrarenai kamo shirenai...! "maybe this time no one will be able to escape...!"
9 全員奪われてお終いだ! ぜんいんうばわれておしまいだ! zen'in ubawarete oshimai da! "It's all over once everyone is stolen!"
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1 見えてるぞ幽霊!逃げる算段でも話し合ってたか⁉︎ みえてるぞゆうれい!にげるさんだんでもはなしあってたか⁉︎ mieteru zo yuurei! nigeru sandan demo hanshiatteta ka!? "I can see you, ghosts! Were you even discussing escape plans!?"
2 おまえたちは逃げて強くなってきたから おまえたちはにげてつよくなってきたから omae-tachi wa nigete tsuyoku natte kita kara "You all ran away and became stronger, so"
3 逃がさずに壊す にがさずにこわす nigasazu ni kowasu "I'll destroy you without letting you escape."
4 逃げる場所も壊す にげるばしょもこわす nigeru basho mo kowasu "I'll destroy even the places you would escape to."
5 俺がつくる"地平線"をさ…スピナーが楽しみにしてたからさ おれがつくる"ちへいせん"をさ…スピナーがたのしみにしてたからさ ore ga tsukuru "chiheisen" wo sa...SUPINAA ga tanoshimi ni shiteta kara sa "The 'horizon' I will create...since Spinner was looking forward to it."
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1 富士壊してから沈める それこわしてからしずめる sore (read as: Fuji) kowashite kara shizumeru "I'll destroy that (read as Fuji) and then sink it."
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1 坊主…!こいつ…ワザとここへ…! ぼうず…!こいつ…ワザとここへ…! bouzu...! koitsu...WAZA to koko e...! "Kid...! This guy...came here on purpose...!"
2 崩壊が山に届いたら噴火しちまうぞ! ほうかいがやまにとどいたらふんかしちまうぞ! houkai ga yama ni todoitara funka shichimau zo! "If Decay reaches the mountain, it will erupt!"
3 与一さん… よいちさん… Yoichi-san... "Mr. Yoichi..."
4 こいつは…AFOの"後継者"なんかじゃない… こいつは…オール・フォー・ワンの"こうけいしゃ"なんかじゃない… koitsu wa...OORU FOO WAN no "koukeisha" nanka ja nai... "this guy...is not the 'successor' of All For One..."
5 壊すことが愉悦ーーー… こわすことがゆえつーーー… kowasu koto ga yuetsu---... [He takes] pleasure in destroying---...
6 破滅そのものだ はめつそのものだ hametsu sono mono da He's destruction itself.
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1 それも全部 それもぜんぶ sore mo zenbu "All of that, too,"
2 連なっているんだろおまえの中の…どこかに…! つらなっているんだろおまえのなかの…どこかに…! tsuranatte irundaro omae no naka no...doko ka ni...! "is connected inside of you...somewhere...!"
3 私はまだ わたしはまだ watashi wa mada I still
4 あの"人"の"当たり前"を知らない あの"ひと"の"あたりまえ"をしらない ano "hito" no "atari mae" wo shiranai don't know what's 'obvious' to that person.
5 人だよ ひとだよ hito da yo "You're a person."
tagline 壊れゆく日本…デクはあきらめない‼︎ こわれゆくにほん…デクはあきらめない‼︎ koware yuku nihon...DEKU wa akiramenai!! Japan falling apart... Deku won't give up!!
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elviraaxen · 5 months
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ive really been loving the pacing of your story and i enjoy the concept and the bits that have been released about the plot! youre doing really well, and i admire it greatly!!
ive been having trouble figuring out an overall plot in my own work, i just have character ideas and the vaguest idea for a storyline. i try to just write but then i usually end up taking a break (re: dumping it) because i don't have anymore ideas for how to complete the plot. i've laso been curious about how you go about writing for a comic (do you write then do thumbnails? do thumbnails then go back to figure out dialogue? a third thing?) so i was wondering if you had any advice or resource tips for writing? both for comics and for overarching plots, if that's okay
if you don't have any ideas tho, no worries. i was just curious. good luck with Felt World! i love everything that's coming out so far, thank you for gifting us it!!
Oh thank you so much!! I can't say I'm a comic book artist at heart because I really don't have much experience, I was only an illustrator for a short while and never wrote anything myself, but learning from past mistakes (i.e. I don't stick to plans), I've so far done this and it seems to work:
I'm one of those that don't like to plan strict layouts for the entire thing, because chances are I will not stick to it, so what I've done for felt world is just write a sketch for the overarching plot, the b-plot and c-plot, with rough estimates in what order I want the major plot points and settings to be. My current sketch looks like this;
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(which is done in Miro) and as you can see there aren't that many plot points, because I want to have the wiggle room to come up with something on the spot. And also, my comic focuses a lot on interpersonal relationships, character development, and themes rather than the plot, which means it needs to be concise or else the comic is gonna take 6 million years to finish.
And now,, I think this might just be how I work, but I think it's easier to be creative when you have strict restrictions rather than all the choices in the world.
for me, personally, I restrict an update of 10 pages tops, because instagram only allows max 10 images per post! This means I have to 1) fit all I want to say in 10 pages, 2) it has to be concise or else I infodump on readers, and 3) I have to answer some sort of question within the update, or else I said nothing and I start over.
As for scripts, I tend to write one or two sentences of what's going to happen for the update, and then I get to thumb-nailing and sketching right away! I come up with most of the dialogue on the spot too.
And also, I think what's most important, is that you take your damn time! If you aren't immersing yourself in your own world, how do you expect your readers to do the same?
I'm very much a believer that the stories you are telling are something that comes to you naturally if you just sit with it and listen rather than demand that it makes itself known to you. When I brainstorm for felt world I quite literally sit in my bed and go "omg!! And then what? :0" TO MYSELF LMAO as if I'm not making everything up myself! I think that's extremely important that your story is engaging to you first and foremost!
And as for more practical tips
carry a notebook with you or use your notes app AS SOON as you get ideas to write them down! No you will not remember, lol.
set rules of what you're not allowed to do with your story so that you don't fall into lazy trope territory! You can do that when you brain storm, but finesse the story post brainstorm to just make it.. smarter.. if that makes sens For example, don't kill your gay characters, don't make sensitive men the butt of the joke, don't make your women fight over men (unless it's the point), etc.
set physical restrictions! For example, max amount of pages per upload, max amount of pages for the whole story, max amount of characters, etc.! That literally forces you to problem solve, which by definition is creativity! Like, oh you can't do this the obvious way? Do it the creative way! That's way more fun!
I could probably go on, but this is too long already! But I hope it at least helped somewhat!
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wannaeatramyeon · 1 year
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idk if youre still accepting requests but since I have no ability in writing i want to request a separate oneshot of eli jang and johan seong’s reaction to reader’s death T - T like VERY VERY angsty to the point where we cry, thank you!
Ummm. I completely misremembered this and thought it was a) for Taehoon (which I got inspired to write after listening to a sad song on a drive) and b) just angsty. So I'm sorry - you'll just be getting angst (sorta) with Johan cos there's a recent Eli one here. And making you cry? I'm sorry baby girI I do not have the skills to do that on purpose. God.. I'm sorry for this shitty response. Maybe I'll redo at a later date, please forgive me 😭
Johan Seong x Reader: Vision
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Johan watches you.
Staring and staring and staring.
The curve of your lips, the slant of your nose, the shape of your eyes.
Counts the dimples on your cheeks - one and a half. Your left one a faint, ghost of a thing; it can barely count as one.
Counts the freckles on your shoulders - five. Fondly recalls how you sat in the sun too long with him and Eden and Miro last summer. Now you remember it on your skin forever.
Counts the flecks of gold in your eyes. Notices how they differ depending on your mood. None when you are angry, like storm clouds hiding sunlight, and too many to count when they're shining with joy.
Asks you to hold your hand up against his. Studies and compares the size of yours against his own rough and calloused one.
Johan commits everything to memory.
He asks once, if he could touch your face, to run his hands over your features. You give Johan a funny smile, and tell him of course. Whatever and whenever he wants.
So he feels your eyelashes fluttering and tickling his palms, your huff of laughter warming his fingertips, the way your cheeks pull up when you smile.
Johan, never one for casual touches, now presses his fingers against your skin any chance he gets. Makes a habit of exploring all your curves and edges.
Learns to recognise you by the sound of your breathing, the lightness of your steps, the scent of your hair.
He knows he's on borrowed time, the vision blackouts increasing in frequency. From once every blue moon to multiple times a day. He's helpless. Every path has led to a dead end.
But maybe not all is lost, he hopes, if he can see you in other ways.
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themirokai · 1 year
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It’s been a rough couple days here in Miro-land but a nice thing is that I received my corvid calendar from @kavohh707 and it’s beautiful!
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Bella also thought it was interesting.
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Here’s the links to purchase for various countries:
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_title_dp
CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_losg_title_dp
NL: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_losg_title_dp
ES: https://www.amazon.es/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_losg_title_dp
IT: https://www.amazon.it/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_losg_title_dp
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_losg_title_dp
DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_losg_title_dp
AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/132584246X?ref=myi_title_dp
You should get one!
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archaickobold · 4 months
Text
Mornings Are Brighter With You In My Life
It's Slate's birthday, and Miro and Lucas want to give him a surprise. Fluffy and sweet, just these three being absolutely head over heels for each other.
Rating: G
Word count: 3101
(I recommend reading the other posts under #koboldwrites, just for context, but if you just want to jump in instead, go right ahead! This is the first time in a long while I've shared my writing, and I'm really excited! I hope you enjoy!)
Slate woke up slowly, consciousness creeping in like the first beam of sun through his window in the morning. He was warm, comfortable, and very much at ease, with a contented feeling settled deep in his chest. His eyes were closed, but he could feel the soft, fluffy blankets of Miro’s bed tangled around him. For once, he didn’t feel the pressing weight of deadlines, of stress, of a thousand responsibilities he had to worry about. Right then, he knew that the only thing that mattered was that he was relaxed and happy. 
After what felt like a blissful eternity, he felt the bed dip next to him slightly, and a hand gently brushed a lock of his hair out of his face. 
“Darling dearest, are you awake?” Lucas asked softly, and Slate groaned. He very much did not want to wake up. Lucas laughed quietly. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he murmured, and moments later, Slate felt him start to press light kisses along his jaw, before his lips found Slate’s. He kissed him, slow and sweet, and the warm feeling in Slate’s chest grew. He pushed Lucas away gently so that he could catch his breath, his eyes blinking open. He met Lucas’s bright blue eyes, which were full of a love that he knew was mirrored in his own. 
“I love you,” Slate mumbled, his voice still rough with sleep. Lucas smiled, holding Slate’s hand and gently rubbing a thumb across his knuckles. 
“I love you too,” he whispered, as if it were a confession and not a fact that they shared among themselves as often as they could. Lucas scooted closer to him on the bed, one arm wrapped around his waist, and a leg catching behind Slate’s ankle. This time, Slate was the one who initiated the kiss. 
“Miro wanted me to tell you he’s making breakfast,” Lucas breathed, when they had to separate for air yet again. 
“He can wait,” Slate said firmly, leaning in to kiss him again. Lucas melted against him, his other hand threading through Slate’s hair and lightly scratching his scalp. Slate quickly turned to putty, kissing Lucas back with even more enthusiasm. Lucas laughed, which only ended up making Slate laugh and quickly putting an end to their making out session.
“What?” Slate asked, still grinning as he rested his forehead against Lucas’s. 
“You’re just so Sol damned adorable,” Lucas said, grinning back at him even as Slate’s face quickly turned a bright shade of red. He turned and hid his face in the pillow, letting out a whine. 
“You can’t just say things like that,” he said, muffled, and he felt Lucas kiss the back of his head again. 
“And why not? Can’t I compliment my lovely boyfriend?” Lucas teased gently, and Slate buried his face even further into the pillow, even as he couldn’t help but smile to himself. 
“You’re right, you should go compliment Miro,” he teased back, and Lucas hummed. He pressed a kiss right behind Slate’s ear, making him shiver. 
“I will, later, but right now, you’re the one I’m focusing on. It is your birthday, after all,” he said, and Slate felt a jolt go through him. 
“It is!” he said excitedly, suddenly sitting upright. Lucas startled, having to quickly lean back himself to avoid getting hit in the face. He laughed, giving Slate a warm smile. 
“It is,” he agreed, lightly kissing him again. “Happy birthday, love,” he said earnestly. 
“Thank you,” Slate said, squeezing his hand. There was a pause, and then Lucas bit his lip, clearly fighting the urge to laugh.
“You didn’t- you didn’t forget today was your birthday, did you?” he asked, a mischievous grin on his face.
“Wh- no!” Slate protested, a little too quickly. He didn’t forget, so much as get so caught up in the wonderful fact that he was warm and comfortable and loved that it didn’t seem that important at the time. What could he say?
“If you say so,” Lucas teased, kissing Slate’s hand. 
“Lucas, sweetling, when I told you to go make sure Slate was up, this wasn’t really what I meant,” Miro said, standing in the doorway with a smile on his face. Slate looked up, his face lighting up as soon as he saw him. 
“Darling! Get over here,” he said, laughing and reaching out for him. Miro laughed, quickly closing the distance and joining the two of them on the bed. 
“Mm, just for a minute,” Miro hummed, kissing the top of Slate’s head. Slate hummed happily, the feeling of warm contentment only growing in his chest. “I made pancakes, and I don’t want them to get cold,” he said, and Slate paused. As tempting of a reason that was to get up, he was warm and comfortable where he was. And now that he had both of his boyfriends, what else could he ask for?
“There’s fresh fruit, too,” Lucas added, and Slate blinked, twisting to look at him. 
“Really?” he asked, his eyes wide. Fresh fruit was expensive, and he honestly didn’t know if either of them could afford it- he knew for a fact Miro couldn’t. And sure, Lucas had been an Upper, but that didn’t mean he had the money for fresh fruit anymore. 
“Yep,” Lucas hummed casually, kissing his cheek. “I knew you mentioned that you were wanting some peaches, so I went ahead and got a couple for you. And some strawberries, too.” Slate knew the look of pure joy and amazement was shining clear on his face as he looked at his wonderful, thoughtful, caring boyfriends. 
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” he asked. He was met with a soft smile from Lucas, and with Miro gently squeezing him in a hug from behind. 
“You were yourself,” Miro said easily, and suddenly Slate couldn’t hide the blush that crept across his cheeks.
“Didn’t you say you made pancakes? That sounds great, why don’t we, go, go eat those?” Slate stammered, and Miro grinned. 
“You can’t escape the compliments so easily, you know,” he teased, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. Slate wrinkled his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, though he couldn’t help but smile too. He felt a hand on his cheek, making him open his eyes almost immediately. He saw Lucas staring fondly into his eyes, tilting his head slightly.
“Beautiful,” he breathed, and Slate felt his cheeks warm even more. 
“You can’t just say things like that,” he whined, wanting both to hide out of embarrassment and to stay where he was, comfortable with both of his boyfriends. 
“Mm, I think I can though,” Lucas countered, leaning in and pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose. That did it for Slate, making him hide his face in his hands as he heard both Miro and Lucas laughing at him. 
“I love you,” Miro said, and Slate opened his mouth to say it back, only to be interrupted as his stomach let out a very loud growl. 
“Love you too,” Slate said, mildly dying inside but with a sheepish smile on his face. 
“You know, maybe breakfast isn’t such a bad idea after all,” Miro said, and Slate paused to consider it for a moment. He was hungry, but at the same time…
“But it’s comfortable and warm here,” he pointed out.
“I mean, who says you have to leave? We could do breakfast in bed,” Lucas suggested, and Slate’s face lit up. 
“Please,” he breathed. “That, that sounds wonderful, I’d love that,” he said, looking hopefully between the two of them. That sounded heavenly, and now that Lucas had mentioned it, he didn’t know what he’d do if he had to get up now. Miro laughed, gently kissing him. 
“Then we’ll do that,” he said, his voice overflowing with fondness. “Sweetie, you stay here, and me and Lucas will be right back,” he promised. Slate pouted as both of them left, only reluctantly letting go of Lucas’s hand as he got up. He knew they’d be right back, but it was the principle of the thing. He flopped back on the bed, dramatically covering his eyes with an arm. 
“I am simply going to waste away,” he mumbled, still grinning to himself. Sol, he loved his boyfriends so much. They were so sweet, and kind, and they were doing all of this for his birthday. This feeling of sheer joy and contentment that he felt around them was something precious, he knew, and he wanted to cradle it close to himself. To keep it safe. He knew that it couldn’t last forever- not as long as he had to stay in the Upper- but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy it for as long as he could while it was still here. 
Mere moments later, he felt the bed dip under him again, and he peeked out from under his arm to see Lucas and Miro smiling at him. 
“You haven’t gone back to sleep, have you?” Miro teased, and Slate made a small offended noise in the back of his throat. 
“I could never!” he said dramatically, sitting up with a grin. “Not when I know my very wonderful boyfriends are here,” he said, a light blush spreading across his cheeks. 
Lucas smiled as he carefully set down the three glasses of milk he was carefully balancing, before leaning over and kissing Slate. 
“You’re so cute,” he murmured, and Slate felt his face abruptly turn a much darker red. Lucas laughed, even as he moved to help Miro unload the armloads of plates and food he was carrying. 
“There’s the breakfast,” he said as Lucas helped him set the last of it down on the nightstand. “And here’s the bed,” he added, getting on the bed and scooting closer to Slate. He wrapped an arm around his waist, making Slate melt against him as Lucas quickly got on his other side. Lucas pressed another kiss to the base of his jaw, making him shiver. 
“Good?” he asked, and Slate hummed contentedly. 
“Very,” he mumbled, shifting so that he was a little more squished between them. “Sol, I love you both,” he said, smiling warmly at both of them. Miro grinned, nudging him with his knee.
“And we love you too, though you really should eat something,” he prodded, handing Slate a plate and offering the larger plate with an impressively large stack of pancakes. Slate laughed, taking a couple. After some more shuffling in order to go get the forgotten syrup- which was a necessity- Slate was finally able to take a bite. He hummed happily as the flavor hit his tongue, sweet and warm all at once. 
“What do you think?” Miro asked, looking over at Slate as he grinned at him, his chin propped up on his hand. 
“It’s so good!” Slate mumbled around the bite in his mouth. He quickly swallowed, offering him a sheepish smile. “It, it really is. I love it,” he said, hoping that his expression was able to convey all the love he felt that his words couldn’t do justice to. From the responding lovestruck grin on Miro’s face, he was fairly confident it had worked. 
“With that good of a review, I need to try them too, you know,” Lucas said, reaching for a plate. Before he could, however, Miro quickly intervened, grabbing it and holding it out of Lucas’s reach.
“Nope, not like that you won’t,” he said, a mischievous, teasing note in his voice. “Slate said it was good, but not great, so maybe there’s an element missing. Part of the experience.” Slate didn’t even bother to hide the baffled expression he gave him at that. 
“Miro, I love you, but what the hell are you talking about?” Lucas asked, fond exasperation clear in his tone. Miro’s grin only widened. 
“Close your eyes, and open your mouth,” he said, and Slate could only watch, bemused, as Lucas did as Miro said, albeit with some hesitation. Stealthily, Miro snatched a piece of pancake from Slate’s plate and popped it in Lucas's mouth. As soon as he did, Lucas's eyes fluttered open, giving Miro a look of confused affection. Still, he gave in and chewed as Miro grinned smugly. 
“You know what, it is very delicious,” Lucas said. “Though,” he hummed, pretending to think for a moment before grabbing Miro’s hand and pressing a kiss to his palm. “Not as sweet as you,” he said casually. A light dusting of pink spread across Miro’s cheeks, though he didn’t pull his hand back. 
“You’re the one who’s sweet,” he complained, and Lucas only laughed. Slate nudged Lucas with his foot, giving him an innocent look. 
“I don’t know, I think you’re both pretty sweet,” he said, and Miro raised one eyebrow. 
“Oh? Really? Well, maybe you’d better check,” he said, also the perfect picture of innocence even as Slate’s face grew warm. 
“I mean, I- I wouldn’t say no,” he mumbled, and Miro leaned in closer.
“So would you say yes then?” he teased, and Slate hid his face in his hands again. Sol, he really didn’t know if he could stand much more of Miro’s teasing before he simply combusted. All the same though, he still wanted to give him an answer that he was patiently waiting for.
“...yes,” he mumbled, he heard Lucas laugh, his heart soaring at the noise. Even if he was laughing at him, he still loved to hear it. 
“Come here, then,” Miro said, and Slate let his hands fall, leaning into the soft, sweet kiss Miro offered. They parted after a moment, and Slate pretended to consider it to disguise the way his heart skipped a beat at the sheer tenderness of it all. 
“Yeah, you’re, you’re pretty sweet,” he confirmed, unable to hide the still-present blush. “Though, mm, Lucas?” he asked, turning to him. 
“Right here, darling,” Lucas said, before he leaned in and kissed him too. It was wonderful and just as full of love as Miro’s had been. When they both had to stop for air again, Slate nodded. 
“Yeah you’re also, uh, very sweet,” he mumbled. He felt Lucas brush a lock of his hair out of his face before he gently pressed another kiss to his forehead. 
“So are you,” he murmured, and the look he gave him was one so full of pure affection that he didn’t know what to do with himself for a moment. He was frozen to the spot, slowly turning redder and redder. 
“Slate? You okay?” Miro asked, concerned.
“Just fine,” he squeaked, feeling like his face was on fire. Miro and Lucas both laughed, again, and Slate couldn’t help but smile back at them. Sol, he loved both of them so much. 
“Oh! Slate! The strawberries!” Lucas said suddenly, bouncing slightly in excitement. “You need to try them, here,” he said, gesturing for Miro to hand him the bowl of fruit. When he did, Lucas quickly looked over his choices before picking one up and offering it to Slate. Slate looked between him, the strawberry, and back, before realizing what Lucas was offering. He leaned forward, closing his eyes as he bit into it. Lucas made a small surprised noise, but didn’t move his hand away as Slate opened his eyes and gave him a curious look. He paused, before he realized that Lucas probably had just meant for him to take it and eat it himself. He blushed again, quickly ducking his head. 
“They’re really good. I love them, thank you,” Slate mumbled, and Lucas reached over and squeezed his hand. 
“I’m glad,” he said softly. As Slate stared at the bowl of fruit- definitely not trying to avoid looking at Lucas- he couldn’t help but wonder… 
“Miro, have you ever had fresh strawberries before?” he asked, looking up at him. Miro shrugged. 
“I’ve never had any fresh fruit, actually. Dried, yeah, and otherwise preserved, but not fresh,” he replied, and Slate’s face lit up. 
“You haven’t? We need to fix this right now, hold on,” he said, quickly reaching for the bowl. He thought of going for a strawberry, but hesitated. They were good, yeah, but his favorite fruit was easily peaches. And so, he might as well start him off with one of his favorites. 
Grabbing a slice of peach, he offered it to Miro. “Here,” he said, and Miro raised an eyebrow at him. 
“Are you going to hand feed me too?” he teased, but instead of getting even more embarrassed, Slate was hit with a sudden burst of impulsiveness.
“Of course,” he said confidently, and Miro grinned mischievously. 
“Oh, are you now?” he said, leaning in closer. 
“Yep,” Slate said, refusing to let himself hesitate. Miro looked at him, making eye contact as he bit down on the peach. He paused, humming, and his eyes went wide. 
“Oh, it’s so good!” he mumbled. “And juicy! Hold on, what the fuck-” he hummed again, sitting back a little as he continued to chew. Slate and Lucas watched, amused. Sure, he may have been playing it up a little bit at first, but now it was clear that he was feeling genuine emotions about the peach. And, Sol, Slate didn’t know that he could feel so much joy just from watching someone he loved experience something he loved for the first time, but he was.
“Okay, why didn’t you both tell me about this sooner?” he said, pointing at both of them. “This, this is a crime that I didn’t get to taste this fucking amazing thing sooner,” he said, and Slate grinned. 
“I’m glad you like it,” he said. 
“Like it? Fuck no, I love it,” he said, smiling broadly. “And Sol damn it, I love both of you, too,” he said, and both Lucas and Slate gave him soft smiles right back. 
“We love you too,” Lucas said. 
“We do,” Slate agreed. “But, maybe we should, uh, actually eat before the pancakes get cold? I know you worked really hard on them, and the peach will spoil if we leave it much longer, and that would just be a crime,” Slate pointed out, glancing between his boyfriends. 
“Mm, smart as always,” Miro said, kissing his cheek. “Why don’t we dig in then?” 
As they lay there in bed, smiling and laughing as they fed each other from their own plates, the warm feeling that had been resting in Slate’s chest grew and grew. He’d never felt so loved before, but he was glad that he had this now. 
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rollforfelicity · 2 years
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It's Creator Day on Itch!
That means that 100% of what you pay on itch goes to the creators! Which means I'm going to talk about the TTRPGs you can buy on itch that I've played since the last creator day!
As soon as I read Orbital Blues by Soul Muppet Publishing for the first time, I was like “oh this game is made for me.” If you’ve ever wanted to play a game that emulates space westerns like Cowboy Bebop, this is an excellent one.
Cantrip by Hipólita uses the Belonging Outside Belonging system to tell stories about young witches finding themselves and their powers in a magical academy. Cantrip’s prompts give little peeks into a rich world just begging to be explored.
Not only is Paris Gondo by Kalum from The Rolistes Podcast incredibly easy to pick up and play, it’s also SO funny, starting with the very concept of playing as adventurers who are trying to survive their journey out of a dungeon with as much useful and meaningful stuff as they can carry. I also have to mention that the Miro board for online play is ingenious. I've linked the English version, but it's also available in French.
My friend @wildjayblue wrote a game that feels as though it was written for me specifically. Totally Normal Human Roommates is a game where you and your friends play as totally normal humans. Like the Nocturnal Human, who has a strong bite and hypnotic personality. Or the Hirsute Human, who is weak to moonlight and silver, just like lots of humans are!
Babes in the Wood by World Champ Game Co. is a game that perfectly captures the feeling of watching Over The Garden Wall for the first time, but also makes you feel SO CLEVER for having told such a good, original story by the end of it.
If you’re a sucker for cheesy holiday movies and you want to play a game that lets you compete against your friends to become the protagonist of one, look no further than Hometown Holiday by @kidnickgames. The mechanics are simple but very fun, and the playbooks perfectly emulate the genre.
Do you have a vampire OC and want to put them through a tough night? Do you want to MAKE a vampire OC in order to put them through a rough night? Bloodless by @enniogoes is the game for you! Bloodless uses the Caltrop Core system and I love that the prompts swing from funny to heartbreaking, and I had an absolute blast when I played.
I love Phoenix Wright, so when I heard about Justicar from @dinoberrypress, I HAD to play it. Justicar is one of those games where the setup portion of the game is as fun as watching the whole thing unravel in the in-character portion. The setting can be anything you want, and the collaborative and zero-prep nature of the game makes Justicar unpredictable and hilarious.
I also want to shoutout a few Mausritter adventuring locations I’ve used from Itch! First up is Temple of the Slumbering Orchid by @imsobadatnicknames2. Running this felt like leading my players through a Legend of Zelda dungeon in the best way.
Drained Temple of the Brackish Basin by brstf has such an unusual concept, and my players had a lot of fun exploring the unique creatures and chambers of this temple, including a very fun little hermit crab character.
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I am a huge @mortphilippa stan, so of COURSE I’m going to recommend Tomb of the Slumbering Queen, a creepy, bat-filled Mausritter location. Philippa is the queen of rollable tables (this one features effects from eating strange mushrooms), and her NPC art is charming. While you’re there, make sure to check out Philippa’s other stuff because it’s all good.
I'll wrap up by saying that an added bonus to playing any of these games is that there are REALLY REALLY GOOD one-shots of all of them on YouTube...because I've run them all on stream.
Wait, you're still here?? You're looking for even MORE games to get on itch??? Okay, well check out these two previous threads of game reccs! My 2022 Itch Creator Day thread
My 2021 Itch Creator Day thread
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tsukiyadori · 6 months
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Reading (Watching) Log 2024.02-2024.03 - February-March
Previous: Reading Log 2023.12-2024.01 - December-January
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Finding the good things be just like chasing after elusive bubbles and wondering how long they'll last
Reading languages: German, English, French, Japanese, not listing which was what
Titles are as I’ve read them either first or most and thus remember it for that title mostly
Not going to bother putting in the original titles of translated reads unless there is something worthy of note to it
Cursive titles have been completed
Tumblr's four thousand so and so max characters per block is annoying as hell
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FEBRUARY
JNC Nina licenses Unnamed Memory both in French in February and German in March. And so now I am reading it for a second and third time simultaneously and also got a subscription for it and then you gotta not waste the buffet, do you?
The reason I never subbed to the JNC English site was because I feared I'd never read my other backlog if I'd get roped into chasing expiry deadlines over all the time, so there was extra zeal on that too avoid the nightmare scenario.
And soooo the LN pile read off has had an increase not seen in years.
Light Novels:
Anime Supremacy
Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki LN 8.5-9
Hell Mode v1-2.7
I Met You After the End of the World v1-2
See You When the Snow Falls
Spice & Wolf v21
The Apothecary Diaries v1-2
The Eminence in Shadow v1
Unnamed Memory LN v1.p1
Manga:
100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi, Zense no Juukishi ni Kyuukonsaremashita: Heika wa Watashi ga Moto Oujo da to Okizukidenai you desu ch15.1-3
A Certain Scientific Accelerator v10-v12
A Certain Scientific Railgun v17-18
A Kingdom of Quartz ch1
A Side Character's Love Story ch35.2-50.1
After God ch53-54
Alabaster ch5.3-10.2
Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch15-16.1
Beauty as the Beast ch36-49
Black Butler v31
Bloody Bites at Boarding School v1
Boku no Diamond Star final chapter
Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki Manga ch8-24.2
Buta no Liver wa Kanetsushiro ch33-34.4
Captain Ken ch1-7
Close to your Skin
Daijuukou to Unicornis no Otome ch14.1
Dance Dance Danseur v1-3 (JP v1-6)
Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu ch104
Der Geschmack nach Melone v1
Diamond in the Rough v1
Die Braut des Wasserdrachen v8-9 (out of order read)
Gebt mir mehr, bitte sehr v2
Geliebter Wetterfrosch v2ch6-11
Girl Crush ch62-63, ch81-82
Give Her Back to Me
Gleipnir v2-9, ch59-88
Haikyu v34-39
Harebare Biyori ch23.1
Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch9.1-2
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Meguri ch19.1-2
I have a Crush at Work ch1
I'm cute enough to get away with it ch20
Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei: Super Pink
In the Sunset ch0-12
Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch17.2-4
Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch10-11.2
Kijima-san & Yamada-san ch1-6
Knitter's High ch25-26.2
Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch79
Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch11.1-2
Lust auf ein Date? v9-10
Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku ch18.2-4
Mr. Villain's Day Off ch54-64
My Awkward Senpai ch1-37
Okaeri Aureole
Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru node Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch23.2-3
Oshi no Ko ch139
Our Dedication
Porno Superstar
Porträt eines Vampirs v2
Ran the Peerless Beauty v4
Reincarnated as the Daughter of the Legendary Hero and the Queen of Spirits ch19.4-58
Rental Girlfriend v19
Requiem Of The Rose King v9-10
Resist Destiny v3ch10-15
Ride-On King v3
Sakura, Saku v3ch11
Sasaki and Miyano v7
She is also cute today ch52-75
Shinde Miro to Iwareta no de Shinimashita. ch9-10
Shuumatsu Touring ch35
Sky Link v1
Snow Fairy v1
Snowball Earth v2-5
Solange wir zusammen sind v1
Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch64-66
Sooper Spooky ch1-4
Spice & Wolf - Die Abenteuer von Col und Miyuri v1-2
Suicide Notes Laid on the Table ch1-9
Sweet & Tart Boyfriend Ch39-53
Take Over Zone v1ch5
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten ch13.3-14.1
The Diamond of Heart v3ch11-15
The Heroic Legend of Arslan v12ch71-76
The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl ch16-38
The Killer Inside v1-6, ch53-97
The Villainess's Guide to (Not) Falling in Love ch12.2-15.1
To be Winner ch76-114
Together Forever ch36.2-42.2
Tomorrow, make me yours
Unnamed Memory Manga ch34.1
Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch35.1-36.1
Zombie 100 v10ch38
Webtoons:
Breed my Dear Enemy ch92-110
Can the Grand Duke and the Marquis be Friends? ch13-32
Flowers in the Secret Place ch1-52
Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira ch8-41
Marry my Enemy ch8-60.5
SOS My Love has a Bug ch0-3
Spirit of Peach Blossom ch49-80
Taberare Usa ch88-92
The Giantess wants Love ch96-170
The Mermaid Wears a Dress ch38-60
The Villainess Behind the Mask ch1-53
To be or not to be ch12-36
Non-Fiction:
Some Greek mythology book (ISBN 9789463598965)
Notes:
Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki LN 8.5-9 Wow. Wow. So I thought volume 8 was kinda really not too great for me, but ultimately that (and v8.5) are built up to volume 9, and ho boy was this a surprise. It even starts right off with doing the right thing about dating - talking it out - then root issues and problems are being pointed out and then there is also still the Popol and the Fireling analogy going on. And Kikuchi's then even in world essentially totally realizing that she is effectively up against narrative fate. And then there is Hinami. And it's not like Tomozaki has a crush on her, like he does with Kikuchi. While he can perfectly be attracted to her, it's not like he has all the crushy feels he has for Kikuchi. But that bond is there. And it's so paramount, most important he's ready to let go from Kikuchi, when it looks like he can't have both without some sort of suffering happening somewhere. At this point I steadfastly declare this series as being pretty much queer. I thought this before already, that Tomozaki isn't really all that straight, like he is easily attracted to a lot of the girls, but also he's got the heart flutter moment with Misuzawa already and just generally looks up at him copying it. If this had wanted to take a BL turn, this wouldn't really have come out of nowhere either. While this potential route probably is not ever going to be explored, what he has there with Hinami just screams queerplatonic to me. They have all the issues of naming and describing it, the next best thing they can tangibly go for is, she is his mentor in the game of life. But there is definitely more going on from both sides, and at least for Tomozaki it's overly clear how huge her existence is in his life. And he longs to keep it. But it's not the same thing he has with Kikuchi and what's more Kikuchi just.... gets it. And yes, it's a queasy and axiety inducing, but ultimately that ending being like all in the break up mood and she being like she's gotta make a decision herself, so asks him to let her make the request - how often do we get a girl finally stands up to make a decision for herself to end things? Not Kikuchi, she does the entire opposite. Rather than ending it, she reinforces that ending of v7, that this is a selfish wish, but she desires him. And it's not just her crush, it's because he also is her ideal Popol. Which he wouldn't be without Hinami being there as such a paramount existence. And it's just this whole great thing about that ultimately decisions and what one makes out of it is the most supreme thing of all. And what Kikuchi did is, she gave narrative fate a middle finger.
The thing with the badges is kinda a bit of sappy cheese, but it definitely feels well earned. And next to that, there is also this whole setting of boundaries with Hinami, too. When Tomozaki just goes and requests Hinami to shut up, when she is saying her logical, but not empathetic reasoning and he makes it clear, that this is not rejection, not rejecting her, not rejecting her values, but self-preservation, that he needs that distance to protect his emotions and to prevent himself for developing bad ones towards her. It's just so really beautifully respectful while drawing that important boundary. And he also follows up with that game meeting, just to prove, it wasn't just empty talk. He still fully intends to have her in his life. That makes it just buyable. And that also makes the ending clear, that he is upset with her for using him like that, but he does not even contradict her on her methods of working. He just doesn't agree with her attitude and motivation in this. And it's a clear telling off, but it also doesn't feel salty, because clearly after all this, he's not just going to let her walk out of his life AND IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING ROMANCE. (In a RomCom(Drama), set up a bit harem-like no less.)
You have all that talking with Mizuzawa about you can't have it all, things are spilling, you gotta at least be aware and deliberately toss something and usually this is where people go and pick Za most important loved one to become the OTP and what does this guy do? Starts ditching everything that by all means logic is transient and "replaceable" - until Mimimi makes it clear to any reader she is way too good to let go - is all ready to ditch his new self he has come to like himself, is ready to ultimately ditch the notorious supreme SO. breathes in ISN'T THIS OUTRAGEOUS??
Like completely outrageously rare. I did not expect this. I was all whining that I didn't want to see it end on Tomozaki and Hinami winding up the OTP simply by virtue of the narrative fate of first girl to show up, and the Kikuchi just comes and trashes it down. This is great stuff. And then it is even more, it's talking about compatibility, it's talking unbalance, it's talking about how the solution ultimately was Kikuchi sucked it up, but it's not entirely one sided, either, as it also was her deliberate intentional steadfast choice to put an ideal over her anxious feelings. And it's just so neatly full circle to v7. And it also manages to level up Rena who really was slap worthy in v8. She really is in it to push the limits, but once Tomozaki clearly tells her off, she backs away. So all you have to be steadfast, for everything else, you only deserve to be her prey. That's an interesting one, too, especially considering, who she really comes off as somebody who doesn't respect any boundaries, but all it needed was steadfastness? And then her and Mr. Professional Player talk about relationships from an adult perspective, it being about setting boundaries for the partner meaning relationships and it's all really interesting and convincing for a healthy relationship and Tomozaki is pondering about it and it all looking like it completely falls apart, but then Kikuchi finds a different way that does away with the conflict. .... Isn't that kinda quintessentially queer(platonic)? To not be all following whichever norm was out there set by your predecessors. But not necessarily denying all and everything of it either. And then it ALSO brings in the subject of what loser or winner means in life and that line about how Tomozaki actually is a winner type - because he can recognize status and value, but it entirely not attached it so has no second qualms to just let go it, because he doesn't see it as something that propels himself forward - was really a thing to think about, while it finally tied the gamer aspect into it the rest. Tomozaki never had a need to validate himself, and it was actually something he's had from the beginning. But since he had such a self-sabotaging resigned attitude and approach it perverted it into merely being an arrogant loser. But turns out it actually was just lacking the toolset and guidance to make use of what he's always had. And really just the sheer miracle of meeting somebody, who is equipped with an eye to see that value and then confront and nourish it, even if it may be out of questionable motivations (but it's not like they are exactly harmful to him), it's just so so grand, and.... I think I'm rather jealous of it. Does this even happen in reality? This series makes it buyable that it may actually be possible.
Hell Mode v1-2.7 Here we go with a case of you just read it, because it was there. One of the few current titles on JNC Nina and it just felt like a waste to not make use of it. Turned out, it's not so bad, although it's nothing I'd ever actually pick up on my own. The steady leveling up and checking out stats and experimenting with it is quite like By the Grace of Gods, just without any of it's healing compf properties. The protagonist kinda reminds of the one from Gamers!, just in less of a pathetic loose-type. Maybe that makes him more like the protagonist of Shangri-La Frontier, but in terms of personality he's a bit off. But it takes its very decent solid time to establish actual stakes, the one major thing that made Shangri-La entirely not work for me. The MC even mentions it himself, it's a whole pain to have been reborn and spending all these years, but though it he has a bond with them (which kinda is like Ascendance of a Bookworm, now that I think about it), and these are his stakes. He doesn't just do things because of his gaming obsession, but also because he wants/needs his family to get into better conditions. Not a bad read, it solidly does what it sets out to do so far.
See You When the Snow Falls Uh, hmmmmm. This tried to jug multiple genres and then none of them were exactly terrible, but somehow though the split none of them managed to shine. The split was actually fairly even, too. The mystery bit turns out to be an actual murder mystery, and it was even guessable to the reader, but because it's always background focus it ends kinda anticlimatic, despite being fairly round. And to begin with, nothing about the premise (and the compf cover) looks like a murder mystery.
Cheese wise it was, err, uncommon, I guess? Meets the ghost, looks like a the fated person, meets another girl, also has an air of a fated person, actually starts dating somebody entirely else, and after some detour winds up with his future wife. Some lines really weren't bad, and there is some of the ugly side of relationships depicted quite down to earthly, but maybe it was just way too matter of factually reported, this hardly qualifies as romance as in the genre either. And as a coming of age drama of something who lacks any direction and purpose in life it's too entangled to those two subplots than to shine, he kinda gets dragged around by them and big dramatic moment happens and then just happens to do his thing, because why not.
It has a nice realistic sense to it at places, but somehow it's completely not what you'd think it'd be from the cover and blurb.
(Also has nothing to do with that other 2 volume series, which I only found out after finishing this one.)
As an oel otherwise it was a bit weird at places. Aside from "a kuro tech company" it uses words like chikan, keiko just like that in Japanese with italics and those are words that really need not have to be Japanese, next to some Nee sentence starts (why not simply "groping", "honorifics", "hey"?). Not too many lines, but they have a strange weeb show off effect. At some point it also has a bit of an air about flaunting knowledge of that culture, like how it comes around with explaining how onsen were used for talks because nude means you can't hide weapons. I'd guess this is an obvious snippet of knowledge to any native writer as I've never seen it show up explained anyway beyond No Game, No Life where it was just in a tirade to distract from the main topic and Zombie 100 where the weeb foreigner comes to flaunt her knowledge. 🤔
I Met You After the End of the World v1-2 And there I thought these were all the volumes of this series, but apparently there's gonna be a v3… I was surprised by this series. It was present already in See You When the Snow Falls, but it's clearer here. This writer's style has a distinctive male gaze, and it doesn't shy away from sexuality and being just a bit philosophical contemplating. This kinda reminds me a lot of Asano Inio or Haruki Murakami or Oshimi, but it's not like…. as wrecked. Not that it is to say that there isn’t lots and lots of doom material by premise and setting, as well as plenty of assholes, but the few that are there are kinda all side characters (who get their just desserts by plot). The MC is quite upstanding instead and treats the female MC very respectfully. And it starts off with a mood that comes to a close around a third to half line in the first volume. They are alone in a Tokyo, where everyone died of a virus. It takes months until the stink of the corpses emerges and then it needs the electricity network breaking down for them to properly have it sink in, that they were spending their whole time next to corpses en masse and now need to leave the place. I was thinking the reason why there was no stink was kinda hard to buy at first, but then it's maybe not entirely impossible either. And you'd think, why are they such idiots and didn't prepare stocking up on fuel before gas station electric pumps would fail, why not stock up on battery charge, but not look for this and that. Didn't they know this was gonna break down sooner or later? They even mentioned having feared it before. But it all seems so plausible with the mood. You have this guy, who just is totally burned out from life and was all ready to simply wait for his death by the virus and the girl has her own share of issues and they just are there enjoying the luxury of modern life without its responsibilities and artificial social pressures and they just spend their time to… heal. Did they know to be more clever in preparing more? Probably. Somewhere in the back of their heads. But they also looked to me entirely not being in the mental state of actually following up on it. And this is just the worst thing about extended periods of exhaust. You lose that onlook or care about even a mildly midterm future. Just floating in and out of the days. I didn't even know I'd find that mood interesting, but here were are.
After this it turns into a road trip and the obligatory romance was gonna progress, too. Heads up for a perspective of, the female character can get horny as well and that being solidified as something perfectly not shameful. (Even if the phrasing of “people have their needs” used to cement it is a clunky one that can go to hell.) And some meetings are almost always mystery cases, in between. (I find it rather funny that she'd carry that book about cults of all things all the way from Tokyo to the south, just to have it ready at the right time, lol.)  All the hints of more survivors being there is a nice set up for potentially something grander and will be interesting how this is going to weave together with the romance between the two. It gives me slight Eden It's an Endless World vibes there. The end of the world, humanity and everything…. but look there, after a while you'll see humans still survive after all and you gotta see how to live in this world where some things just never change. Could imagine that coming in as a theme, too, but we're not there yet. The MC is already contemplating personal true value vs. artificial social value and the whole thing about it already was dead, but the tsunami comes and and sinks everything down and even the hubris is gone. There was just such a solemn mood about it, like all the things you hated, but you also realize you were attached to it nonetheless. And just how that hits down as a very lonely thing. Kinda reminded me when I heard that my old school was torn down and I looked up some pictures taken from the teardown side filled of rubble. AND THEN volume 2 comes in with…. a ghost and a deity. Huh???? Suddenly it's also Fantasy???? I have no idea where it is wanting to go. But not even a date for v3 yet…
The Apothecary Diaries v1-2 I have to say the beginning was a bit dry and if there was anything at all it was just the narrator’s cheeky tone going for me. It was like the narrator has a personality entirely of their own, while omnipotently knowing about everything past and future and present and sometimes doing a little commentary. (Unfortunately that one vanished quite soon enough.) It requires its time to set up all the characters and especially Maomao. I was expecting that it would just utilize the fact that she is just too into her special interest and doesn’t see anything else of the world trope to justify it until said interest would shift, but surprisingly she is not wholly obsessed about it for larger parts of the first volume at all. And her being so entirely in the know about the Red District certainly doesn’t make her the too innocent-trope. So when the narration goes to state she expressly has no interest, despite the ability to see the attraction by common standards my eartips perked up. This increased with all the weary moods over watching other people’s marriage going right or going wrong and there is just this whole mood of like Ah-Dou and the emperor not really being lovers but bosom friends and confidantes and her just being a strong support to him rather ever really be his concubine. Or Maomao and her adoptive father and just how remote romance and sexual indulgence can be from a home to get back to. At that point I thought that would have been interesting with Jinshi being an Eunuch and that being mentioned as 'losing sometime vital', something that isn’t at all so vital to Maomao herself. If Maomao was pretty much as good as ace, that could have made an interesting match, of one who is dumbly in love and the other entirely not, but slowly finding some intellectual and emotional ways to connect. Like she did with her entire found family. But duh, of course that couldn’t stay that way. 
I raged at that v1 epilogue. WTH do you mean she got pink cheeks, blushing from a darn cheese move? At the end? This last minute?? It felt so entirely like, that v1 was set up to work standalone and then it’s just bait, like, imagine the rest of that ship on your own. Which felt entirely like betrayal to the set up of Maomao herself and also if that was where it was gonna go, then it was just half-baked. My best guess was that it was just being bait, and look there volume 2 just goes and essentially retconned it. And then adds a comment in that volume to have Maomao say it was she left everything love in the womb of her mother. Now that’s a really cool phrasing that I’m inclined to use for myself if a need may pop out. In any case, Maomao is such a mood (just replace poison with rabbits for me), her facial descriptions about Jinshin’s cheese advances or the deadpan expressions of exhaust, resignation to annoyance when others have gossips are so quintessentially me as a teenager and her aloofness about just really knowing a whole lot about worldly flesh matters (but all theoretical) and then being stared at is similar to my adult self now. I was surprised how quickly that escalated with everyone getting headaches and Jinshi even resorting to wall punching. What I found too bad about v2 is that ultimate her poison hobby obsession got played as the expected trope after all and then Jinshi just has to be the Ugly Duck (or more like the swan among ducks?) that he is and I was kinda disappointed that Maomao wound up being blood related to her adoptive father after all. Like it was really interesting how things interconnected with the mystery cases, but then it says that coincidences piling up like this suggest something intentional and things in her surroundings and family are also all too coincidentally also very connected and who’s the mastermind there? (It looks a bit like the former empress?) Anyhow. Volume 1 and 2’s mood and tone does feel considerably different at places, I’m not sure which one I actually like better. (What I think is also kind of funny is how it’s like a sort of reverse Jeweler Richard? Both guys are described has heavenly beautiful defying gender and having everyone turn their heads and the narrator and even Maomao can’t stop making mention of this, but Maomao and Seigi are at complete opposite extremes of reacting to it, and yet Jinshi is already like a v6 Richard and Maomao is like a mix of dofus Seigi and early volumes Richard?)
Later I found out that the shousetsu ni narou version was still up and it looks like v1's content is largely the same to the WN. So looking up the phrasing of that v1 epilogue it says utsuru for her thought esclamation that it's catching on to her and then she gets those pink cheeks. Now utsuru is a word descibing catching diseases other things contagious. Which is to say, this is reminicent of that explanation Oda does in One Piece about Ruffy having a reaction at nude Nami, simply because he is in a group and the group mentality caught on. I still entirely don't like that bit of the epilogue, but I suppose this makes it look a bit less disappointingly baity.
That and that the author writes in a postscript to WN v1 that from then on it'd be all about raising flags and then destroying them. So maybe that was intentional. But then it was also one comment I'd have wanted to read right after the epilogue, because darn, was I annoyed/disappointed by that last minute titbit. ._.
The Eminence in Shadow v1 - Another one, read because not reading would be a waste of the subscription, but helluva what even is this. I don't know. 
Unnamed Memory LN v1.p1 I said I was gonna be quick to sub if for example UN showed up and then it actually did show up on JNC Nina. Okay, so sub done and started reading it. And I have ??? about the translations. Like I'd say my French sucks, so at some places I had the English version next to it as a crutch for double checking. Which inevitably makes me notice that it differs at some places from the English one and it's not just the name romanizations. And when I compared some of them with the JP preview and looks like the French one.... actually looks more accurate by those samples? That was interesting, but now I am in doubt about the English translation, which on its own actually had read itself just fine.
Black Butler v31 After Zombies, Titanic, Harry Potter Houses, Cricket, and Idol Group (WTH?) Now we have HAZARD SUITS. I don't even with this series.... It’s boldly thick skinned in doing whatever it wants, that much is for sure. Also, I somehow managed to buy volume 23 again instead of buying 32. How the hell did that happen...
Dance Dance Danseur v1-3 (JP v1-6) It’s a very good sports series. It’s been utterly exhausting however. If one had to sum up the first 4-5 volumes it’s like TEENAGERS. All the stupidity, all the worries, body changes, nervousness, and attraction and horniness and lots, lots, lots of it. That’s just everything I do not resonate with because I never really had that phase. In between it shows some really assy prejudices, but also goes to kick them in the ass. While the latter is rewarding the former still happens and just makes me go yuck right of the first pages. But it does a fair job of not just demonizing that side and even the characters with that assy attitude turn out to be really just human in their own way.
German ramblings from right after reading v3: Wandert auf die wird weitergelesen (wenn auch nicht mit Prio) Liste. Ist zwar immer noch so voll mit Elementen zum Weglaufen für mich, aber es ist mittlerweile nicht mehr ganz so übel TEENAGER und wie das alles zusammenkommt mit den Nebenfigurenelemente ist echt schickt zusammengefädelt.
Die Doppelbände bleiben aber ein Krampf zum in der Hand Halten q_q"
Es hat leider sind es immer noch weitgehend Zutaten, die bevorzuge ich eher in kleiner Dosis, selbst wenn es gut verpackt ist…. Beim Pantyshot und dem "mach doch was männliches" oder den Mobbinszenen hatte ich schon paar 🤢 Momente. Das ganze Pubertäts-Hormonmoster-blabla, ist teilweise auch sehr OTL, vermute mal einigermaßen realistisch getroffen? Hatte das halt nie und dann das ganze hin und her mit Miyako oder er ist nur bei der Schule gelandet, weil der Pantyshot im den Kopf verdreht hat. ufffffz. (Bei Bakemonogatari fängt effektiv auch alles mit einen Pantyshot an, aber da ist es durch die Eskalation der Ereignisskette so extra absurd, dass es was passend sureales hat.) Und das Thema um Passion/Talent wiederfinden/verfolgen/fördern ist halt auch bisschen weiter weg als jemand der gar weder das eine noch das andere hat. Und mit Tanzen kann man mich IRL eigentlich jagen gehen. 🩸
Aber ist schon gut eingebaut mit Nuancen und aufeinander abgestimmt, sieht man selten so, aber auch, Band 2 war echt bisschen zu viel TEENAGER HORMOOOONNEEEEEE. Die Richtung seit Band 3 war mir da echt willkommen. Grad auch dass das mit dem Mobbing wieder kommt. Das hatte sich zwischenzeitlich recht verwässert und unter den Tisch gekehrt angefühlt, aber dann war es doch nur die Ruhe vor dem Sturm.. Also erzählerisch macht es eine sehr gute Figur und bei so vielen Bänden sieht es nach Mehrgängemenü aus~
Diamond in the Rough - Finished It is a pretty solid Shonen read, with an interesting setting, but hell, what is this ending? Did it get axed? It totally just feels like an arc ending shortly before a post time skip part 2 and then it’s suddenly simply just the end.
Girl Crush ch62-63, ch81-82 I found out that it actually has a web serialization elsewhere than just Line Manga (which is geoblocked), so straight shoot at it even if it meant gap jumping. It's still rock solid and great, also it's clearly in the build up stages for the next fireworks. Tenka is just so gorgeous. 
Give Her Back to Me That was... creepy, in an intended way. It was interesting, but also just slightly brain frying. I suppose that was also intended.
Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei: Super Pink I also call this 'the horny porny that shouldn't exist'. It's a spin off doujin by the author from Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei/Breathless Momentum and it's, well, been quite honest about what its content was going to be about from the preview of the thing. Which is to say it has no plot only plot. All I had when I learned of this release was a jerk reaction of WHY. Didn't the author tweet before there were never gonna be ero scenes in her work? And isn't Breathless Momentum really great, because it's just so utterly unabashed horny, but manages to be that while also never being porny or smutty? (You don't usually get this.) Why now this. I'm all whiny. That being said, as for PLOT it was still one of the better ones I guess. You don't just get horny, it's not just about shanking another up till insanity, but it's also about foreplay and really just enjoying the whole thing with their minds still all sound (you also rarely get something like that) and it's just two who are really hot and horny about another, it's far from their first time, and there is just this sort of self-evident natural playfulness to it. And there's even funny little panels and humor in between. And visual cuteness (they get all hearts in their eyes as pupils over their delectable snacks.) So now, please can I have all the elements like these without the need of beams and holes and overly explicitness and also have it actually be integrated into a main plot please? At least it established the horniness in the main series already, unlike say What did you eat yesterday? - which is also to say, unlike some doujins there, where I wanna scream why it wasn't part of the main plot, because of very important emotional characterization, Super Pink is entirely neglectable to the main plot. But some of its seasonings would have peppered the main series nicely, too, if they were spread out more and not going deep into the horny pot like that....
Isekai de Ane ni Namae wo Ubawaremashita ch17.2-4 This series got licensed by Yen Press. Everyone go read it. It's good~
Lust auf ein Date? (How do we Relationship?) v9-10 Finally the How to we NOT relationship manual turns into a How DO we relationship advice box. But ho girl was the path to it exhausting. A very good series that does lots of things right and well written, but that are things I just don't manage to really like. But how the two mains are going for and knowing how people are gonna likely misunderstand it and one of their girlfriends being all like “you can’t have enough harbors outside of just your lover” just really really makes it looks like it’s going for some queerplatonic angle and I think I’m gonna whine a whole lot if those two wind up being a couple after all in the end.
Okaeri Aureole This is 50% cute-wholesome and 50% the guy deserves a bloody punch. Like how can you have things like this:
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And then also have one go and assault the other one in some run in the mill-bad nonCon trope? 
Reincarnated as the Daughter of the Legendary Hero and the Queen of Spirits ch19.4-58 This was a surprise and probably not one I would have touched if I couldn’t have tried checking it out on Manga Up. the title is kinda really unfortunate as is its isekai reincarnation premise. It’s kind of pretty irrelevant to the plot and MC literally goes like “but that’s not relevant so story for another time” (which probably will never really happen?) Well, anyway. It has a nice mix of badass girls and mums, intrigues and politics, an interesting fantasy world with some lore, two parents who are just dumbly in love with each other (they remind me of Spice and Wolf, but just more stupid-funny-cute), who can be funny, idiots, dorks and then entirely mature and serious at the switch of a button. The art is cute, too and in general it just has this playful air about it, being very compf, while it’s still interspersed with darker bits of the world and it’s a really nice balance of savory and compf-cute-sweet.
Ride-On King v3 I am not sure what I read there. Probaby same stuff as v1-2, but it has been a while.
Sasaki and Miyano v7 I closed the gap from print and web-reading. Good heavens I’ve read this as it was chapter-serialized in JP, so I already knew what was coming, but darn it is this cheese death worthy collected in a book like this. How to despair as you gotta rereaed the last few pages every 5 pages because your brain just chimed out. 
Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch64-66 I’m entirely not sure where this is going to go. The premise conflicts are more resolved than not, so a new character comes in to retrace some of it and then it opens up new themes. Which is like…. gender/trans/nonbinary themes? One scheming girl who’s not below selling her own body?? I’m not entirely sure, as I dumbly missed out on reading some chapters in time before their free reading expired. The kuudere MC teenager's starting to go cheese, while her mother is finding all her sappyness back? Ok.. But it’s kind of interesting how Ichika went from “I’m just on their way, they can spend more cheese twosome time with each other” to But if she went back, she’d not have as much time to spend time with her cheese-subject. 
This was still cute tho and absolute nothing I'd ever have expected from this series:
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The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten ch13.3-14.1 TINY BITS OF FLUFF FODDERRRRRR, where is the next chapterrrrrr q_q But anyhow! The release date of v1 in German is out and there’s a limited edition with extras and a variant cover, everyone go buy the fluff perfection (for as long as it lasts to be that)~
Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira ch8-41 This has turned into a slight surprise hit so far. The art is solid and knows to be pretty when it needs to. The premise is very fantasy and gender bender driven, but frankly, if this wasn’t fantasy and Kira simply was a boy, it still would have a lot going for it simply by virtue of the art, character interactions and the politics and norms of the world spinning around. Unfortunately I'm now caught up on comikey and have no idea when there’s gonna be more chapters… (until finding out the month after they seem to come regularly now.)
The Villainess Behind the Mask - Finished This seemed like it started with Shinde Mirou to Iwareta Shinimashite x 7th Time Loop at first, it’s like the former in the MC having all that special magic, it is the later in terms of the MC’s character and personality, just not as rich and optimistic and more vengeful. It’s decent enough, but the ending was just a tat anticlimactic and in terms of romance it has a few moments, but they never really got enough room to build up enough chemistry and there’s a whole “buts…!” raised up only to be smashed down at an ending that does feel a little bit too much like axed. Too bad. 
To be Winner - Finished. From beginning to end this has positively cute to gorgeous art. The later has been fairly abundantly with the fantasy game settings, but ultimately, it’s just characters on a screen in the world of this story that is just like everyday contemporary RL life so it just felt a bit dissonant. In terms of its actual plot it’s a sports-plot with a romance side-plot with solid execution. E-Sports really is anything but my field of interest, but the rest kept it going regardless. The ending feels round enough, but also a bit like being on the fence about between stretching it on or just finishing on a side plot in the last arc and by the time it decided to be the last chapter it didn’t feel like one whatsoever…
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MARCH
It is a whole scrumble to keep up with expiry dates on JNC Nina already.
Reading in French is slow business, as is Japanese compared to Englisch and German, and darn it. q_q
One little accidential anime slipped in. Actually I did feel like watching Apothecaries and maybe something else, too, but somehow in the end I just wound up putting all their soundtracks into the playlist to listen to instead...
Anime:
Winter Memories Honkai Impact 3rd Concept Animation
Light Novels:
7th Time Loop V1
Fushi no Kami V1
Hell Mode v2
How to Survive As a Villain Novel ch1-41
Spice & Wolf V21-22
The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v13p10-14
The Eminence in Shadow v2p1-6
The Executioner and Her Way of Life v1
Wolf and Parchment v4
Your Forma v4
Manga:
100-nengo ni Tenseishita Watashi, Zense no Juukishi ni Kyuukonsaremashita: Heika wa Watashi ga Moto Oujo da to Okizukidenai you desu final chapter.1
A Side Character's Love Story Ch49-50.1
Akuma to Keiyaku v1
Ano Natsu ga Houwa suru. ch16.2
Are You Okay with a Slightly Older Girlfriend? Ch1-2.3
Arte Ch84-85
At 30, I Realized I Had No Gender
Black Butler v32
Captain Ken Ch1-16
Cherish v1
Daijuukou to Unicornis no Otome ch14.2-15.1
Domestic na Kanojo v4
Frieren - Nach dem Ende der Reise v4
Girl Crush ch82
Goblin Slayer Year One v9ch61-70
Haikyu v40ch357
Harebare Biyori ch23.2
Hari to Hitsuji no Fune ch10.1
Hiso Hiso v2-3
Horimiya v14-16
I Cannot Reach You v6
I Got Reincarnated in a (BL) World of Big (Man) Boobs ch1
I'm cute enough to get away with it Ch20-23
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle Episode Freya Manga v1ch4
Josou Joushi no Nakasekata v1
Kakan no Oukoku no Hanagirai Hime ch11.3-12.2
Keine Cheats für die Liebe v9-11
Kemutai Hanashi ch13-16
Kijima-san & Yamada-san Ch4-17.2
Knitter's High ch26.3
Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch80-81
Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai ch12.1-2
Koroshi Ai After File prologue, ch1
Küss den Kater v5ch20
Living With My Brother's Wife Ch1-11
Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsusuru ch30
Love and Fortune v6ch31
Lovers High - Meine beste Freundin, ihr Freund und ich v1-2
Marry my Enemy Ch59-60.5
Miryou no Otome to Katabutsu Hittou Majutsushi no Hatsukoi Kiroku bangaihen1-2
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Elma's Office Lady Diary v4ch36
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Kanna's Daily Life v8
Mr. Mallow Blue ch29
My Awkward Senpai Ch28-54
Okazari Ouhi ni Nattanode, Kossori Hataraki ni deru koto ni Shimashita ~Usagi ga Iru no de Hitorine mo Sabishiku Arimasen!~ ch23.4-25.2
Oshi no Ko ch140-144
Repeating Your End Together ch5
Sasaki and Miyano v7-9ch46
She is also cute today Ch60-125
Shin Henkei Shoujo Ch1-2
Shuumatsu Touring ch36.1-4
Sick v1
Solange wir zusammen sind v2-v7ch28
Sonna Kazoku nara Sutechaeba? ch67
Sooper Spooky Ch1-17
Spring, Love and You v3-5
Suicide Notes Laid on the Table Ch8-19
The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Ch71-80
The Heroic Legend of Arslan v13-v15ch94
The Ice Guy and the Cool Girl Ch39-56
The Strongest Tank's Labyrinth Raids Ch1-2
Unnamed Memory ch34.2-35.2
Urban Prince and the Amazon Girl Ch1-4
Victoria's Electric Coffin v1ch4
Virgin Road v2ch13
Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi ch36.2-37.2
Wind Breaker v1ch5
Webtoons:
Breed my Dear Enemy Ch99-181
Flowers in the Secret Place Ch45-87
Ice Lamp: The Chronicles of Kira Ch42-44
Taberare Usa ch93-96
The Blind & The Homeless Ch1-7
The Giantess wants Love Ch164-218
The Goddess of Healing Ch54-66
The Mermaid Wears a Dress ch50-60
To be or not be Ch24-122, 1-23
You Are My Lovely Dragon King Ch1-16
Non-Fiction:
Some Greek mythology book (ISBN 9789463598965)
Notes:
How to Survive as a Villain AKA This Villain Emperor's Gotta Charm the Male Lead to Survive! AKA To Be or Not to Be AKA Please Decide on a Title Already The former is the closest translation to the Chinese title, while the second's length and summary-in-title does all the justice to it being an isekai and the last is a bit ??? in hindsight after reading it, but then it's apparantely the official English subtitle and also what made me pick it up on Comikey in the first place, so I should not complain. This is also a series I can dub as 'how to get interested only really at chapter 41 of 122 and then get hooked at chapter 88ish after having everything before read with pretty much just half attention' and it's another specimen to prove that me getting hooked tends always to happen rather late, which makes finding the next great thing really complicated beyond grinding though as much of everything as possible by sheer brute force and patience. (What do I envy people who can judge that right from the beginning.) Well, I'm gonna have some fun rereading it.
Anyway, this series by premise is a bit like My Next Life as a Villainess, but the isekai'd main doesn't have baka trait of Bakarina, then the world being reincarnated to isn't a tropey heavy otome-game thing, but a novel set in Ancient China (no cultivation and other fantasy elements there as a bonus) and the whole thing is also a BL and the narrative has slices of Romeo & Julia, but without that one's teen pathos (stupidity). The isekai'd main Xiao YuAn is a bit ridiculous and funnily goofy at times, but not dumb and stupid either. It's also been strangely weird, but convincing to me how it takes like 60ish chapters for him to notice he's fallen in love with his favorite novel male lead-turned real, and that it doesn't even occur to him until it's being spelled out in clear words and to boot, he is being transmigrated into the body of an emperor known to be gay and everyone's being thinking the thing for far longer and even his beloved male lead Yang HeQing caught onto his own feelings by what, chapter 12? And yet it felt strangely buyable to me at the same time. Very slow burn and organic progression. In the middle there is even a dish of melancholic facing your impossibilities in the world. (Maybe that’s some Weltschmerz and what the Hamlet quote title tries to reference? The vengeance part probably is less so.)
It sets up a lot and then develops it until it reaps its payoff. Which is to say, the series has 3 parts/seasons and the first two and beginning of the third are really rock solid, but the third is there to reap off all the payoffs from before and does it well, but in comparison feels weak because unlike the prior two parts it doesn't set up anyone or anything for itself much beyond the minimum and just reaps previous buildups. There's no new side character beyond the sister of a side character (Hong Xiu kicked ass really) that got killed off and really she is just a paler, meeker Hong Xiu 2.0, which is really too bad, because it could have integrated another new Kingdom into the spotlight, have some mentioned original novel side character show up or have some more side characters come back like they did from part one to two. The overarching plot is also not has interweaved with all the side tales going on and as a result it feels--- a bit simple I guess. That also makes the focus on the pair's lovey dovey shenanigans more heavy and Xiao YuAn is actually just about as silly and goofy as ever, just now knowing what he wants and entirely unhinged about it, and otherwise it's not so very different to the beginning, but due to the extra spotlight it has with not much more else going on it looks more lower dimensional than it needs to be.
Also somehow the last part seemed a bit visually weaker. And I've been really wondering why. Because it wasn't the art's lines or coloring itself. Was that because his second transmigration has made him get a more manly body than that slender, sickly more androgynous body and I maybe liked that style better? But then this never came across as one of those BLs that just shoves a female strereotype on one of the guys as often the case and if it did I'd likely hate it. Or was it the completely unhinged air? Or that he has a more sturdy body that far better can fend itself, but gets all those princess carries and doesn't even complain about them? Was it the thicker eyebrows? Eventually it turned out to be.... Eyelashes!!! The two mains of them, they both have fairly long eyelashes. And supposedly his second transmigration's body is pretty much like his original body, same face and everything, but!!! Every show up of that one at the beginning totally also has him have those longer eyelashes!! And yet in the third part the only times he mostly gets to have longer eyelashes is when he makes pretty eyes for his guy and it's... it's strangely weirdly irritating. Where is the consistency!!! Or well, I didn't know I found longer eyelashes aesthetically pleasing. What do I do with that titbit of knowledge now... Anyway, to my chagrin I had to find out that there was a Japanese print release for this series, but weirdly enough they only released one volume which has firm 1 cipher plastered on its cover and then no further volume afterwards. It's also licensed in English, but by Monogatari Novels who apparently still haven't released any of their releases in English and keep pushing the dates. :/
The art is also really nice, tho I have to moan about its key illustrations that really really look a bit misleading in terms of vibes and the third main key illustration is basically either misleading or a big fat spoiler. (And the fourth that also is being used on Anilist apparently is mostly used as a merch illustration?) Artwise it's really nice to look at, a really nice color palette that freely uses vibrant to darker parts of the spectrum, lots of wardrobes and because guys in Ancient China also all had long hair, lots of wavy fluttering bangs and ponytails in the wind or hairdos or decorations. And long sleeves and robes, too. It looks good (and just made the special chapters in contemporary times look immensely boring in comparison. Where's the wavy hair!! (and the eyelashes!!). (.... I'm getting ridiculous about this.)
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That bit in the middle about the conflict of being yourself but also being that new entirely different identity after being isekai'd and the limited amount of people knowing that is also a quite nice mood I feel like that has gone lost from many of the genre from the modern wave. There's also a nice conversation about how the man's caught up in choices and how he's all doubting to being guilty about the choice being made and how ultimately it was never about doing the right thing, but making a choice and feeling bad, because all choices were important, but he had to pick. Also choices are the thing that defy fate literally. There is something soothingly comfy about it there.
How to Survive as a Villain Novel As it goes, the webtoon on Comikey has.............. parts of overtly dubios translation and editing quality and then also other parts with fairly interesting side notes (clearly these parts have to be from diffrent staff working on it??) and while the translation overall feels more clunky than not, it definitely made hints of making a fair number of literary or cultural references that all got lost in translation. And then I found out there's a novel and also there is a fantranslation and that it was taken down because an English release was licensed in Singapour by a somewhat new publisher and pre-orders closed on that on in January, like 2 darn month before I discovered this series. How cursed. Well, not like that the fantransation isn't to be found elsewhere, and it's worth already just for the footnotes on all the literary references and idioms and occasional contemporary slang. Really interesting. But aggregator rip off sites are still all cursed, because there's a good bunch of chapters that have annotation number markings but they haven't copied the footnotes over. Dang it, I'm interested in those!!!
Anyway. The webtoon definitely cut and changed a good few of things, which makes for a more smooth read and at places with additional flourish. Especially the beginning of the novel is equal parts of wtfh and lmao. And it then it dawned on me why it seemed strangely convincing to me that the main Xiao YuAn gets transmigrated into the body of that gay emperor and while he perfectly knows that fact, he doesn't even ever really think much about his attraction to his favorite male lead (that he has been fawning in a few ways over from the beginning). The way he is introduced in those beginning chapters of the novel pretty much introduces him as never having fallen for any woman, his family goes nuts, tries to ship him with some women, but then he's like bolting and running and family goes like wait, no, is he gay then?? and try to ship him into dubious BL ships and he is running and beating them up and like just. Nope. There's nobody. Probably. Anway, onto more important things!!! How about just focus on work and be a useful person to society. Which is such a mood. And add how it takes him a while to accept that Ancient-China-from-the-novel world as properly a real thing of its/his own now and his not even considering the idea despite being perfectly acquainted with the flags kinda feels like more than just the usual amount of density. Besides he really isn't dumb about it, he quickly gets it once it's been clearly spelled out and he gives it its due thinking over, so like just the whole air of him having all the pieces before his eyes all along but not even considering it at all in that way that's not even exactly dense or phobic of some sort is kind of really interesting.
The other part is how he had already killed himself in his original life to begin with. More or less because he was terminally ill and doomed anyway, but also because some brother asked him to. Which is a bit ??? It checks with how the big turning point in the third part plays out and the man may be whiny and a scaredy cat and all silly with his fear of death but actually doesn't even think twice about facing death in all the serious moments that count (which thinking about it is very reminicent of Haku from Utawarerumono Maskt of Deception/Truth), but him just jumping off the fifth floor in those beginning chapters also feels just random. The webtoon definitely did a good job kicking that brother character out of the plot. Apparently the sheer ludicrousness of attempted shipping offs by his family still made it to the webtoon in post-chapter extra scenes; at least I saw some on chinese raws, but the comikey version has them all cut. (And he's got long eyelashes in his original body there!!) Anyway, less than 1/4 read so far and I'll probably space it out for it to last longer. Also, darn it, somebody license the book already. With lots of translation notes and everything please!
Breed my Dear Enemy Ch99-181 So, apparently that’s actually two completely separate series under the same title belt and the first one finishes here. (with a completely nuts numbering order at the end of it on Comikey.) Isekai-transmigration into the body of a child, spanning over a decade, that has a short reverse-isekai adventure, court intrigues, knowing the novel contents already-cheats and there is a deal of courting and romance and a slice of cultivation and some really pretty art at places (especiallyfemale MC Ye Mu’s wardrobe). Ye Mu is also pretty cool in being just absolutely badass in wits and kicking ass herself. The isekai cheat is a bit excessively convenient though - She hasn't even read the book on her own accord, but while she accidentially trips into the book Fushigi Yuugi-style while doing a military raid and gets sucked into that world she literally gets the book contents downloaded into her brain. It does more with the isekai that you'd expect at the end, but somehow that plot device for plotline cheat skills was still extremely deus ex machina. What I also thought was a bit surprising between this and To be and Not to Be both having it was how their last thirds are both quite so very unhinged at being horny and explicitly things happening but without them being graphically explicit. Also both are from China. I did not expect this level of unhinged horniness from that country at all. What happened.
This panel background otherwise was almost phone wallpaper worthy:
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It also had some nice ones ones with bamboo trees.
Domestic na Kanojo v4 I am not sure I know what I am even reading.
Frieren - Nach dem Ende der Reise v4 Fern deserves some sla… stern talking tos about her treatment to Stark and no Sein, I very much disagree, they should totally not be together already like that at all. 
Fushi no Kami V1 The isekai premise is so old now it is annoying the MC himself already and lots of cheats, but the world’s cultural mystery hook is not too uninteresting, but everything Maika side it a whole slog and I feel like wanting to drop it out of the window every time a PoV change comes to this cheese stricken girl.
Girl Crush ch82 It’s good, it’s still good!
Hell Mode v2 This is strangely keeping me interested enough to stick to it despite it not really having anything outstanding. My best guess is really just that it’s my surrogate to By the Grace of Gods after all. 
Horimiya v14-16 - Finished That took some years to get to these last few vols. But I was taken off guard. First I don’t remember any of the side characters anymore. Second. Was Hori always this bad of an obnoxious violent tsundere despite the guy clearly suffering from it? And you can’t even slap her for it, because she’d enjoy it!!
I Got Reincarnated in a (BL) World of Big (Man) Boobs ch1 I’m crying. In “What a whole darn waste!!” So I am still following Adekan. And when it’s good it’s gorgeous in its art and just all that morbid twistedness of human nature and desires so when it’s good it’s usually really good and when it’s bad it's also atrociously bad to my tastes. This one from the same author ditches any chance of a setting to flaunt or otherwise exhibit her talent for all that gorgeous dreamlike, fantastical artwork. And it’s so dumb and it’s kinda bad and it knows it, which I suppose makes it more bearable than the worst parts of Adekan due to the self-aware 4th wall element. But also it’s just such a waste!!! and yet you can clearly feel, this is what the author has fun with and plenty of fun Nao Tsukiji has with this particularness and who am I to criticize a person doing what they like, but still. I cannot help but cry out: What a waste!!!!
Kemutai Hanashi ch13-16 It's been a great series already and now it addresses yet another thing that is hard to put in words, but was captured brilliantly in its mood design by sheer power of character expressiveness. It will be very interesting if it does go on to capture it in words, too, like that brilliant conversation I raved about last time.
Koisuru (Otome) no Tsukurikata ch80-81 Wow. So we had this Aishiteru Game-ish arc, but it quickly moved on to the theatre play arc and frankly that was sweet and solid, but lacked any sense of a wow effect and probably that was the whole point, because wow did that twist (caused through one of the most old trodden tropes boring tropes at that!) hit at the end. It’s like… of course that was always in the cards. But somehow it managed to catch a surprise anyway and wow does it well circling back to one of its main messages it had been delivering so very well across all the series before.
Sasaki and Miyano v7-9ch46 I died a few cheese deaths and I had even read the web version before. I am regressing in my cheese resistance. Help!
Spice & Wolf V21-22 It was easy enough to get back into that after all those years it took me to pick it up again and the Holo-Lawrence bantering just really doesn’t get old. And everytime at the end of the books, where there are stories about Myuri and Col it just strikes how much less engaging that duo is as main characters. Also, seriously, at the end of all the church reforms it’s just gonna be like marriage is allowed for priests and those get together, is it? Hurry up and please get it over already. sigh.
Wolf and Parchment v4 Actually in their own series, it’s less of a slog to read, as there is still a mystery plot to be had around politics and the setting and everything. But I retain, those two are a bit exhausting…
Spring, Love and You v3-5 I had read v1 and actually thought it was surprisingly pretty aroace and also describing how the friction of being that way and the world not being that way can be hurtful and then I read v2 and OF COURSE this was a shoujo and she was gonna fall in love and then I dropped it for years. But now with having read the rest of it… Not like it ever addressed it as such, but the two mains impress a bit as demi or otherwise still a good deal as still on the aroace spectrum and cluenessness about ok, so they are dating and now? and then there is a side character who really looks like very aroace to the end and there is this girl having a crush at him and confessing in a really respectful way of not making him feel guilty or indebted and there’s a really wholesome part to her being kinda in pain, but also just placing good wishes and hopes for him to have somebody special to him, if it comes to that. And the guy goes like instead of feeling happy about any such a confession he feels like he lost something important and ultimately it ends on him hurrying after her, because he doesn’t want to lose her, a really close, trusted friend so far. And then they are dating and the series ends and the girl is happily blushing in the midst of her crush and he is entertaining her crush with a romantically coded gesture (that he does with a completely straight face), but if you ask me, this looks so much like an act of despair of not wanting to lose something precious and not because it winds up he fell for her like that. It would have been really interesting if that could have been explored, because this setup is bound to have all sorts of challenges, but then this series never was gonna be about something like this, was it? Which is a bit sad, because to me it unfortunately will be the only thing I will actually remember about this series. The characters aren’t exactly bad, they are buyably realistically portrayed, but they are also a bit (very) unmemorable and there isn’t much of an actual plot in this school setting to hook you in either. 
She is also Cute Today - Finished (??) This was supposed to be some GL, but then it was more like deep friendship and finding your crowd, with a bunch of opposites attract comedy but after some dozens of chapters it's having more clear hints about being more romantic than not, but before it really ever went to get into that more deeply it says end of part 1 and somehow no more other chapters. (According to Anime Planet it's finished??) Well, in terms im GL that's now kinda like what you get from most GL. Something that just barely has a little bit more than a regular deep intimate friendship. But it does introduce a gender NC theme across the series that has a clear queer message said out loud, so just when I starting to think it could go beyond the usual fare but.... Where is Part 2? :<
Taberare Usa ch93-96 Just what the hell am I even reading there now…
The Case Files of Jeweler Richard v13p10-14 I ACTUALLY STARTED. Meanwhile even v7 in English has arrived and I haven’t even touched v6 after that disappointing peek into it. 
The Giantess wants Love - Finished It turned out to be a nicely decent read. There’s some solid art throughout and once the romance is official it actually is mature and makes no big deal out of it. The fashion industry setting is nicely used for a number of pretty outfits. One of the last chapters also just barely turned the scales around over at humanizing a gay side character who went to be all like this predatory asshole criminal. There’s quite a gap between the villains and the good guys, with a few having feets on both sides, but like some of these villains just are a bit taxing on patience to sit though. 
The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Ch71-80 Seriously, this series and all its cheese is above my wits.
The Goddess of Healing Ch54-66 picked it up where I originally went on a binging frenzy to the end. It’s still good and the MCs bantering is cute, dorky, wholesome and fun, but the villains are getting a whole deal more annoying now. There is also less ambivalence in character being virtuous or not. While motivations are being shown how the villains became that way, there is still a clear divide between the good guys and the bad ones. Looks like I like the ambivalence more that How to Survive as a Villain offers in that same Ancient Chinese setting.
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Your Forma v4 Solid. But one plotline was unfortunately super obvious already right at the beginning of the book. It still managed to play with it and put another twist over it, but the first one was unfortunately a bit too obvious to not guess. But then, actually that was already the case in the previous volume, so maybe it’s a bit of a pattern?
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takeariskao3 · 2 years
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hi Hannah! what's your writing process like? do you use tools like scrivener or just documents or notebooks? love you ♥️
i’ve tried a few online resources: scrivener, miro, pro writing aid, etc. but nothing organizes my thoughts quite like physically writing things out with paper and pen. if i need to storyboard (write out plots points so i can move them around) i typically use sticky notes and my bedroom wall. i outline in a 5x7 journal, keep it my purse so i have it with me at all times, and take all my notes/thoughts/scene ideas down in that if i can. then i open google docs and try to do a detailed outline in the chapter doc. once the detailed outline is done though, i have to sit on it and stew over it and try to get a feel for each scene individually. what is the tone of the scenes, the dialogue, the internal monologue? what’s the point of the interaction? what do harry and ginny learn?
once i answer those questions then i feel equipped to start the actual process of writing. my first draft is typically really rough. mostly action and dialogue. the second draft is where i add in emotions and narration. third draft is making it sound good in my head with pacing and flow.
then i try to sleep on it, which doesn’t always happen, but it definitely makes the next step easier/better when i do. once i feel it’s *finished* i read it through out loud (sometimes in my own terrible british accent) and i post the chap! usually within five minutes of posting i find sixteen typos and seven dialogue edits. so final edits come after it’s live 🤣
that’s a very linear explanation but there’s lots of going back and forth. usually between draft one and outlining. if something isnt working, and i can usually tell pretty early, then i set it free and go back to brainstorming. other, rarer times, (like with chap 13 and now again with 16) i’ve made it all the way to draft three before i realize the pacing is totally wrong. and that’s a punch to the gut, when i’ve put all that time and effort into a chapter that ultimately needs to be scrapped. but i do feel confident enough that when i scrap a chapter, it’s for the best and i can make it much much better on the second attempt.
that’s it! that’s me in a nutshell. a messy journaler who thinks reading the chap in a british accent will hide my phrasing and spelling enough to not immediately give me away as an american attempting to write celtic mythology
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omegawhiskers · 1 year
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COLLISION 14/10/23
Setting foundations
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Collision opens with Adam Copeland who is here to address Christian's comments. Before the Rated R Superstar can speak, security make their way to the ring followed by Christian Cage. There is one enhanced talent in a brown suit. He looked important but didn't do anything noteworthy. Christian is still the best heel as he continues to be a real bastard. Bryan Danielson, Big Bill, Ricky Starks and the former champs, FTR come to the ring as everyone is ready to brawl. Starks and Adam take some fun shots at each other while Danielson demands the match for the TNT Championship right now. Of course, that doesn't happen because wrestlers should not have the power to demand such things. This was a criticism I had with Smackdown this past week. The commentators inform us that the main event will remain the main event. This was an enjoyable segment as it featured some of AEW top stars
SEQUE!!!
Due to the Israel-Hamas war there was some controversy last week when Juice Robinson threatened to hit MJF with a roll of quarters. I didn’t find this segment to be offensive. MJF being pelted with quarters has been a part of this character’s history. I merely saw this as Robinson taking a shot at a weak point in Max's life. Wrestling is also art, and art always reflects the climate we're in. AEW addressed this controversial segment where MJF and other leaders in sport met up to send a positive message regarding antisemitism. This showcased the real side of Max which was refreshing to see during this babyface run.
Samoa Joe defended his TV title against Willie Mack. I have no idea who Willie Mack is, but I liked what I saw. The match up was great as Joe and Mack are similar in size. At one point Mack leaped over the top rope and almost took out the announce table. Willie also gave us the unforgiving nipple twisters. There was also a point where Joe powerslammed Mack and it looked real rough. This was a bout worth checking out.
CJ Perry is backstage once again. She makes it clear she wants to manage. Action Andretti steps up and requests Perry's services. Perry doesn’t say yes or no, but giggles after he leaves. The excitement she emoted is that of a schoolgirl who finds out her crush likes her back. Later, Miro appears as he tosses Andretti's corpse to the side. He says, "I am willing to destroy every man to protect the one woman." which is weird. Didn't he want nothing to do with CJ? But at the same time, he doesn't want her to manage anyone. I find the whole thing strange, but it will be interesting to see who she lands with.
The Fallen Angel makes an appearance in gods knows how long. Man, I remember when he was featured with Kazarian and Scorpio Sky during the early days of AEW…any who, he is up against Juice Robinson. It was an okay match that added more heat onto Juice who promises to win the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale so he can face MJF and take the ring. There was a mention of the man in the devil mask but no follow up from the people who attacked Jay yet.
Skye Blue is now a heel since she’s been sprayed by mist from Julia Hart. Blue took on Kris Statlander is a decent match. I’m always impressed by Statlander's strength. Of course, the TBS champion would retain, but I think it was important that Blue gets some character progression and there seems to be more to the story as Willow Nightingale came to the ring post-match to care of Blue as she told Statlander to leave.
Another good match was the Bryan Danielson versus Christian Cage for the TNT Championship in what felt like a real main event match. Danielson stretched Christian in horrific ways while the champ worked on Bryan's right arm. Ultimately Christian retained due to Big Bill and Ricky Starks getting involved. Also, due to the injured right arm, the LeBell Lock could not be used to its full effect.
There was so much going on in this show that I don’t have time to reflect on, but a lot of it was to build storylines. AEW needed to rework its foundation and start to mould it's show in a clear direction. It's just a matter of sticking with what they are presenting and follow through.
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sweepseven · 2 years
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Cirque du Soleil: O and KÀ viewing notes, post-pan edition!
First trip to Las Vegas since the pandemic and holy shit!! Was it a TIME. The When We Were Young festival was my excuse to be there, but I can’t set foot in that town without fitting in at least one Cirque show. I managed O and Ka and a last-second Atomic Saloon decision and oh my god did I have the visit of a lifetime. I’ll keep this post strictly to the circus shows, but like. Truly it was nuts. 
Anyway! O! I cannot overstate how happy I was to see this show again. This turned out to be my 50th ever Cirque performance and I couldn’t have asked for more. The detail most worth reporting is that according to a friend in the box office, whispers say the show is due for a refresh in January! It's been 24 years and O has never had a facelift! This is so so exciting! There's so much new technology they can integrate into the show, potentially new acts (though I can't imagine O without any one of its current acts), maybe even new music...I can't wait.
Richard MacDonald refreshed the sculpture gallery the very day I arrived in town and of course they're all incredible. He was there and apparently I just missed him when I went to pick up our tickets - too bad, I wanted to say hi!
Our performance was flawless, as always. One flyer fell during bateau but every other detail in the show went beautifully. I had three contortionists, and for some reason I am cursed to only ever see solo swinging trapeze but whatever, it was amazing regardless. The singers were going fucking hard, especially on Tzelma, and their little dance during Simcha was worth the cost of admission alone. I just love seeing them have fun. Crowd was solid, probably 75% full, which for O is more than plenty. There were nothing but empty rows behind us so my friends and I moved back a little ways so we could chat. I've never gotten to talk through an entire performance and it was such a treat hearing my friends react, ask questions, and just engage with the show with so much enthusiasm.
Last thing for O is that the day of the show I received a kind of "keep the magic going" email from Cirque offering up to 50% off LOVE and Ka, which is insane! Like, an almost alarmingly steep discount! And of course everyone likes to say both those shows are on the eternal chopping block, so I was a little 👀 about it. Still, hot tip for all: if you're seeing multiple Cirque shows in LV, maybe take the gamble on seats and wait until the day of your first, get that email, then book the others. I wouldn't expect to see an offer for a discount on O or Mystere, but worth a shot!
That said if anyone would like this offer, lmk and I'll gladly forward you the email. It's good until 12/31 and I won't be back in time to take advantage of it!
Next up was Atomic Saloon and I'll just say that show is an absolute fucking blast and if you can go, do. Fernando Miro is living his best life times a thousand. There's a dog. There's some of the most convincing physical acting I've ever ever seen, and I won't go into more detail for the sake of preserving the surprise for you. See this show. The end. Period.
So now Ka! By this point in the trip I am utterly fucking tapped. We had seen and done so so much between the shows, the festival, the partying, everything. I had the wildest nights I've ever had in that city and by that point it was all really taking its toll. So my attitude going in was very "Ka, I love you, but Jesus fucking Christ." Until then I thought it was impossible to feel disappointed that I had Cirque tickets. But I achieved it. Like that's how rough it was lol
That feeling lifted like a fog the minute the music started. I was so exhausted and out of it that I got an almost totally fresh perspective on a show I've seen now six times: it was just happening before my eyes and I was along for the ride. The boat rowed in and I was immediately transported. I forgot how much I missed this show, and watching each character go by as the stage rotated honestly felt like seeing old friends after years apart. And in a way that's exactly what happened! Watching the Chief Archer's Daughter put on her makeup so slowly and gently, the Firefly Boy sprinkling a handful of petals, the Jester eating his grapes, all of it felt as warm and welcoming as a long delayed embrace.
I'll be quick about acts for the most part: Pageant has some updated choreography that was very fun, Icarian games killed it, Storm isn't quite as fun to watch up close as it is from further back, the turtle scene was shorter and tighter (YAAAY), Pursuit was exact as tense and exciting as you could dream, batons remains perfect, idk why I can't care about that wheel of death act but I can't, and Battle was fine.
But listen!!! Kerren McKeeman as the Twin Sister is! A! Revelation! She's a phenomenal performer and utterly shines in the role. The straps act has some updates to highlight her strengths, and at one point she based the Firefly Boy in a lift and I lost my goddamn mind. Their chemistry together is unmatched, probably the best I've seen for this act. At the end she kisses him fully on the lips. Girl just goes for it. I wanted to cheer. I'll reiterate that I wanted to cheer, I who has spent thousands and thousands of words writing out the Firefly Boy entirely to make room for an impossible romance in goddamn clown fanfiction. Amazing act by amazing performers.
Other details of note: Forest has new bugs! The potato bug is BACK and badder than ever. Firefly Boy pets it like it's the family dog or something. Adorable. The snake was out tonight for some reasons, but there was a giant dragonfly-like one instead that I'd never seen before. There was also a green scorpion-ish thing that I don't think is new new but I don't recall from other viewings. The Counselor had new eyebrows - thicker and more sculpted. Both Firefly Boy and CAD had new, more extravagant costumes for the curtain call. Love Dance and Firefly Both have updated arrangements that I'm not sure I like yet: both give a more theatrical, sparkling impression but might not fit as well with the rest of the show's style. Def didn't hate either one. And did they turn up the volume on the seat speakers? Because holy shit were we rocking. The band killed it all night. The power of this show’s music cannot be overstated.
Okay, character details! Ie the most interesting part to me by a mile:
We had Tricia Woo as the Twin Sister and I completely adored her. She was so energetic and expressive and her chemistry with Peng was adorable. Specific shout out to her raw emotion as the ship sinks. She calls out the nanny's name over and over in this desperate scream, and never has that act had the impact on me that it did tonight. It made The Deep so much more powerful.
TS is visibly afraid of the Counselor's Son when he and his pops crash the function. In fact most everyone was, which was new and interesting to me. CAD isn't just perplexed by his pursuit of her, she's actively nervous of it and him. She turns from him in the Den, she startles when he touches her, and she cowers at his finale reappearance. It was a little chilling - you can’t help but wonder what he has done to get such a reputation.
Jason Biltz delivered yet another excellent turn as CS but it lacked the clarity I've seen in other performances. Tonight the character seemed to favor the path of least resistance and and tbh comes across as a master gaslighter: on multiple occasions he puts his hands up defensively as if asking "why are you so upset?" when he has clearly done something out of line, and he hunches his shoulders as though trying to appear smaller. He does appear to court CAD for 90% political reasons, but come Love Dance he looks truly heartbroken. And then later he doesn’t seem to give a remote shit that she just watched her father die right before her eyes, nor is he at all bothered by the way she's held with a literal knife to her throat. And if he’s always looking for an easy way out, why does he still protest the attack on the Imperialists at the beginning? What's the truth, Rensai, you goddamn snake??
Despite somewhat hazy motivations, Jason plays this bastard as ruthlessly, brutally passionate. It's honestly remarkable. His pride at his every entrance, the deliberate dramatics of his firepowder presentation, his restless and energetic pacing during the wheel of death’s construction, all of it makes him look like the real powder keg about to explode. And when that's exactly what happens, you can't help but feel like you should have seen it coming. I stand by my claim that almost every other singular character in this show could be written out except him: he is essential to the narrative and theme.
The first archer to try to present CAD with a gift was a WOMAN. It was something new, some weapon or something I don't know the name of. Kind of a weighted chain that she whipped around like water meteors. Regardless: BI CAD???? I lost it.
If anyone ever asks you to describe non-sexual human intimacy, show them Shadowplay. It is just desperately tender. The Court Jester tends to the Twin Brother's hand with such delicacy - he removes the bandage, of course, but then has TB hold his palms up so the jester can smooth them with his own. He passes the bandage gently over them, and the gesture is miniscule but it feels like something out of a broader practice. A way to prep TB for the shadow puppets to come while also guiding him away from the tragedy of what they just escaped and into this deliberate moment of peace and rest.
My hasty post-show notes say "TS and FB FUCK but TB and CAD are taking it slow :)" and I'm still kind of laughing about it. There's a distinct difference in the way the twins approach each of their new relationships. TS and Firefly Boy are magnetic and give the immediate impression that they can't keep their hands off each other. Meanwhile TB and CAD are very reserved - more whispers in ears, blushes, and hesitation to hold hands. It's an adorable contrast.
Noriko continues to reign supreme. She gave the most adorable, startled little sound when TB kissed her. 
Peng for president. He’s the best. He’s the best. He. 
And to cap it all off, I swear that theater was 80-90% full. Better than I’ve ever ever seen it. I was thrilled for the artists to get the recognition they deserve in a space so massive. I hope they felt the energy because what they gave to us that night was utterly electric.
All in all a wholly epic weekend. And O got to be my 50th! See ya at 100, CdS. Feeling very lucky, grateful, and verrrry tired. Back in LV in January for Mystere and hopefully LOVE. 💛💚
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fagcrisis · 1 year
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alright so! im not gonna bother with a very organized post i wouldnt be me if i did but here are my collision thoughts!
i liked the theme song, which sets it apart from dynamite and rampage in that it isnt dogshit. i also liked the set and the presentation, although i wouldve loved if it was more distinct from dynamite (also i miss the tunnels) but overall they made a great job of adhering to the companys aesthetic while making a new distinct looking product. i also was hoping since its live on tnt that they would have different editors, this clearly isnt the case, editing was shit. not a collision issue aew just needs better editors.
i agree with everyone on this, commentary was a little rough. i didnt really know nigel before (i never have time for roh) so i didn't know what to expect and he and kevin obviously need time to figure out how theyre gonna work together, and kevin also clearly struggled with the american format (ad breaks, promos between matches etc). overall it is still better than dynamite commentary and i have high hopes for them! not even Hoarse Corpse Jr at the main could take them down to his level.
i'll admit i didn't fully watch punk's promo at the start, im a notorious promo skipper but i watched most of it, and it seemed alright to me. there was a bit of dissonance between how they seem to be bringing him back as a heel but being in chicago didnt get the response to his speech that he wouldve gotten elsewhere.
super excited about everyone showing up on the show if this is for real a roster split they picked some good fucking people for collision! jurys out on scorpio sky ive only ever seen him with frankie kazarian and i dont like kaz so
all the matches were good, even the tnt match i wasnt at all interested in was kind of like watchable and christian pretending he won the tnt title was really funny so ill let him have this. andrade and buddy were pretty incredible and miro looked fucking huge and awesome so ill forgive tony nese being there. skyewillow vs the outcasts slapped altho i wish they yknow. had more than one womens match. but it was really good skye looked incredible she and willow worked great together and im so happy she got the pin! i really hope skye and willow continue teaming together. also the outcats r much more enjoyable when saraya is not there, i love their over the top heel antics tbh
the main was good! sadly i dont give a shit about ftr and juice so it was kind of a struggle but they are good (well ftr are) i just dont like em. anyway punk looked good he was moving well and i thought it was well paced and everyone got their due time in the spotlight (being in the ring w punk)
overall this was a very solid start to this show, obviously we know aew can put on a good show but its the question of whether they are able to keep this momentum going. good wrestlers and a nice new look doesnt make the show good immediately, so im a little hesitant to say anything more about its impact right now but i had fun
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koboldbot · 11 months
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trying to get a new dice roller that can roll more than one type of dice is ROUGH so i'm going to give up on that for a bit until i can get a friend's help with it
but!!! also my raspberry pi came but i need a miro sd card but as soon as that comes i will get to work on hosting it on that!
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wannaeatramyeon · 2 years
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Johan/Mira/Zack Reunion
Inspired by @mymxnfgh and @the-razy-pie-rope. Haven't been able to stop thinking about this scene and my own HC. Not sure if I've quite hit the right tone but this has been in my head constantly. Wishful thinking that PTJ isn't going to drag this out for a hundred more chapters...
Johan is rescued and recuperating in hospital
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Johan finds himself waking up to blinding lights and deafening beeps.
Was he still trapped in the nightmare with the Workers? Kept half alive, stuck in the hellish limbo between life and death?
Regrets usually overwhelm his moments of semi-consciousness. Leaving his mother behind, to suffer on her own. Leaving Eden and Miro, thinking their master has abandoned them. Leaving Zack and Mira, treading this path of solitude.
Half thoughts would form and disappear before he could fully grasp on to them. But the loneliness and sadness he recalls clearly, could recall clearly for years.
Even as he now tries to open his eyes, they remain unfocused. He lifts his hands to rub at them, and can't relish the freedom that he is no longer strapped down. His brain too cloudy and hazy, not yet processing anything in the present.
"Johan?" a female voice calls out to him, one that he used to so fondly think of. Alas, just another trick of the mad scientist's drugs.
"I'll go get the doctor," A chair scrapes and he remembers self-assured footsteps that used to sound like that too.
Johan goes back under.
.
.
.
Hushed voices awaken him.
This time, Johan manages to see the outline of his two friends by the end of his bed. Another hallucination? They don't really look anything like how he sees them in his mind's eye.
Mira is older, her hair longer. Bags hang heavy under her eyes, and her face blotchy and tear-stained. Like she hasn't been at peace for days, maybe weeks.
And that's Zack? His hair is dishevelled, like he ran his hands one too many times through it. This Zack has seen better days, his clothes are rumpled and wrinkled. And he now wears so many more visible scars than Johan remembers.
Mira is the one that first notices Johan's confused and conscious eyes.
"Fuck. Zack, I'll go-" and she sprints out.
"Johan?" Zack looks towards the bed and approaches cautiously, as if any sudden movement could break the moment, the realisation that Johan is okay. A little- a lot worse for wear, but fine. Alive.
"What-" Johan starts to cough, his throat croaky and words feeling unfamiiar.
Zack rushes to help him sit up, pressing a plastic cup of water into his hand. Johan gulps it down.
"Johan..." Zack takes the cup back and just holds it. Staring at him, never looking away. Watching him as if he might flee any moment despite his condition.
"What happened?"Johan tries, his voice rough and quiet.
"Johan..." Zack repeats again, ignoring the question. A thousand emotions fly through his eyes and he crushes the cup in his hand. He bites his lip to stop the tremble and the burning and the hurt spilling out but it doesn't work.
"Johan, Johan..." he murmurs, like a prayer. Like a prayer that's been whispered in the dead of night thousands of time before and has finally been answered. His voice thick with emotion, eyes wet and glistening. He drops the cup and both hands grasp onto Johan's arm instead.
Holding him steady, holding him so he would never leave again.
"You idiot, you fucking idiot," Zack stares down incredulously at the connection he's made, skin to skin, that he wouldn't sure if he would ever make again. The tears now falling thick and fast.
"How could you do this to us? How could you just leave us? And try to do this all your own? You just left us."
Zack's grip tightens. He feels the burning in his chest, but this time like his heart is breaking.
"Do you know how hard I've fought to find you? Do you know how worried Mira has been? Do you know how much your mom asks about you?"
His clamp now turning painful, but Johan couldn't bring himself to shake him off.
"Everytime I got close to you, you ran away. I've looked everywhere for you. I've gotten so much fucking stronger for you."
Johan avoids his eyes, cheeks burning with shame and remorse.
"If anything happened to you... we, I-," Zack leans forward, resting his head on Johan's shoulder, the tears soaking through the hospital shirt, "How could you leave me to explain this to your mom? This would have killed her. This would have killed all of us. And I would have to tell them..."
A pause.
"...If not today then someday. That their son and best friend is dead." Zack whispers, looking at him. Sadness and fury shining in his eyes.
Dead? Sure,Johan's toed the line between reckless and stupidity a few times but that wouldn't have happened, right? He's invincible. Almost. Sometimes. Maybe not at all.
"I hate you so much, you fucking asshole,"
Johan sits unmoving, all of Zack's words rattling in his brain, trying to defy his years of selfish, childish logic.
Why would these people still care about him when he had abandoned them? He had done nothing to deserve them. To earn their friendship or love. Every move he made he pushed them further away.
"I can't believe you. You fucking asshole," Zack wraps himself around Johan, ignoring any of his pain or discomfort or wires. The need to be close and stay close too great.
"I..." Johan turns over the thoughts and memories in his brain. Everything over the last few years, all that time trapped in the basement and trapped in his own head.
The words are lodged in his throat.
"I..." Johan tries again. This time his nostrils sting and his eyes burn, "Zack... I," All those years of foolishness and where has it gotten him? Gun didn't want him, God Dog didn't want him, he didn't cure his mother's eyes and his own has just gotten worse. Fuck.
The lump in his throat becomes too big to swallow, and the tears too heavy to blink back.
If he had stayed exactly where he was, would he have been any worse off? Would he have been able to stay by his mother's side, and with Zack and Mira instead of wasting all that time for nothing?
He's hurt everyone around him, thinking he was doing the right thing.
"I'm... I'm sorry," Johan finally manages. The grief finally pouring out. His nose runs and his eyes stream but he could do nothing to stop it
"Zack, I should have-" he hiccups. The words and apology form but saying them fully, manifesting them into existence would be a pain Johan didn't know if he could bear yet. "I didn't-"
"Shut up," Zack cuts him off and just grabs onto him impossibly tighter as Johan's hands cling to whatever fabric or skin he can find.
He's missed this feeling. Comfort, security, friendship. Like he's got someone in his corner. Like he has a home.
Johan finds another weight bearing down on his other side. He turns to see Mira embracing him.
"M-Mira?"
She looks at him, the same heartache and distress reflected on her face as Zack's. As if they blame themselves for not being able to hold on to him, to stop him going down the wrong path.
"I've missed you so much," her tears fall freely, running down the well-worn tracks where they have been falling constantly for the last few days.
Her warmth and presence envelopes and grounds him. Mira's scent, so familiar, as if it was yesterday all of them were in middle school together.
"I'm sorry," he whimpers into her hair.
Mira immediately moves away, and her face has never been so furious, "Don't."
"This... this is our fault." she sits up straight and clenches her hands, white knuckled with anger, "I'm sorry that we couldn't support you,"
Mira's tears are hot and bitter, "I'm sorry that we made you feel like you couldn't trust us, and we couldn't help you. I'm sorry that we couldn't and haven't done more. For all the pain you've been through. And that, that you were all alone."
No no no, this was all wrong. Anger directed at him, Johan could take, but Mira blaming themselves isn't right. They've always tried to look after him. This whole mess has nothing to do with them.
"I-" Johan begins, not sure where he's going with his words, just anything to make this terrible situation better.
"Johan," Mira's voice is firm, her face determined, "we will do whatever we can to help. I promise. Just please don't-" a wobble. "don't leave again."
He's the same loser from years ago, still depending on his friends. Still needing them on his side. And the fact that they would do so willingly?
What choice does Johan have? He nods.
"Say it you bastard, promise us," Zack pipes up from the other side, his voice holding an impossible amount of hope.
"I-I promise,"
"Promise you won't leave us again, you fuck."
"I-," Words are cheap, Johan could really say anything he wants and renign on it. But finally. Here, after everything. This he intends to keep.
"I promise I won't leave again."
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louderfade · 11 months
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what's all this about joan miro starving himself to induce visions he would then proceed to paint. you mean to tell me all those years in the ed community and nobody ever mentioned this i am disappointed in all of you. it's always what did you eat today humble brag and daddy issues on display and never what if we treated our bodies like an experiment and a rough draft at the same time heavy sigh. why do you want to be a miserable skinny celebrity you can only know through the controlled lens of media when you could be brilliant artist joan miro who hung out with all the cool kids like picasso and who owns his shit and doesn't apologize for self-sacrifice in the name of new ideas.
ugw: forget numbers i'm out here trying to get visited by some miro-type hunger visions to reinvigorate my artistic perspective so hit me up if you've seen beyond the woman all the way to the birds so we can share tips n tricks and keep each other accountable to the pursuit of authenticity born out of devotion to our craft
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