#morphe fluidity

[sunnylovesgirlythings]

I feel the phrase “Aro/Ace people can still date/have sex” has just morphed into a new version of “you just haven’t found the right person yet.”

Yes we can. But it’s our call if we do. And it’s certainly not gonna be with anyone who tries to use the fluidity of our experiences as a clap back to break firmly set boundaries.

And that fluidity doesn’t make sexual/romantic repulsion that some of us experience any less true or valid.

I’ve never had sex and I never will. The sheer concept of it viscerally disgusts me.

I’ve never experienced any form of sexual attraction and know at this point i likely never will. I have zero framework for it when people talk about it. It confuses me.

“Little to no romantic/sexual attraction” has a no in it for a reason. Because aro/ace people who don’t experience sexual/romantic attraction at all regardless of circumstance are in fact real.

Other ace people have different experiences. They’re allowed to. Their experiences aren’t mine or anyone else’s to make. Nor are mine theirs.

Sexualities are complicated and often fluid sure. But one thing they’re not is negotiable.

Ace peoples boundaries are ours to make and yours to respect. No ifs or buts. You don’t get a say in it.

[puppyregect-org]

Shapeshifter flag + definition!!

just know I’m not a term coiner nor a flag maker!! I made this mostly for myself but may be used by others!! You may make flag variations just please in some way lead other’s back to this post/ credit it :]

sits down and cracks paws

Shapeshifter: A being whos mental, physical or spiritual self (refered to as “forms”) change voluntary or involuntary. This can be associated with alterhumanity, gender or simply an identity/label.

Shapeshifters can also have different morphs, which are like subforms that morph with one or more forms. An example is a bat puppy, which could either be a puppy form with a bat morph which causes said puppy form to have a variety of physical traits, mental traits/mindset, abilities, or diet that of a bat, and vise versa.

A shapeshifter can have human, humaniod, kenomimi, anthro and/or feral forms. There is no limit to the amount of forms or morphs you have and forms/morphs do not have to be real/ from this world or time period.

Shapeshifters do not have to identify as alterhuman or human and are able to choose to be a shapeshifter if wanted due to the ideology of being a shapeshifter being about fluidity in any part of the being’s sense of self.

Shapeshifters do not have to have multiple forms or morphs for a variety of reasons, one could be loosing connection/ feeling of other forms/morphs.

Some shapeshifters may be domesticated or collared (by owner, friends or family) due to them being heavily intertwined with the ideology that they’re meant to serve as a domesticated animal or creature would, this could be having a connection with being a service animal, being a form of comfort, a herding animal or anything else a domesticated animal serves to their providers/owners.

if you have any questions or anything you think should be added please let me know!! I can confirm I will be making alternative of the following : feline shapeshifters, canine/dog, fox, digital, cyber, fictional, feral, and object.

I’ll also be making alternative flags (4 funzies :3 ) and some w/ different alterhuman symbols.

[willothewish]

Ever since I discovered the therian community  in 2017, I've questioned some kind of fox. I've jumped between many ‘fox’ labels, including different species of foxes, foxes from mythology, and fictional foxes. It led me to question why I've been so confused in my identity as a fox.  I've questioned being a fox cladotherian, but that didn't feel quite right either. I don't identify as all foxes. So then, why has my identity felt so ‘fluid’? 

Upon thinking about it last night, I came to the idea I have a fox soul. As a firm believer in reincarnation, I think I’ve lived many past lives, most of which  were of foxes of different species and color morphs. I also believe I’ve incarnated as other animals, some of which influence my current life and manifest as theriotypes, such as my wolf and seal types.

I know what I ‘look’ like as a wolf and seal, and don't really question it. On the other hand, despite it being my most dominant theriotype, how I imagine myself as a fox has always been fluid, not only in coat colors but also in species.

Despite feeling most confident in the red fox label right now, I also feel like Ive had past lives as an arctic fox, and corsac fox that still influence me in a lot of ways.  I feel like this fluidity is something I have to accept as a part of my lived experience, despite it being quite confusing at times. 

There are also some fox-related identities I've held in the past that no longer fit, and I want to acknowledge them as they were still important  in my journey of self-discovery. 

For some time, I identified as a kitsune. I feel like a lot of my experiences came from morphing my human life with my experience as a fox. Whether or not I like it, I have had to adapt to  human society in this life, leaving me feeling strangely part fox and part human. 

Reading about kitsune myths gave me a sense of self, as they often intertwined these two very different aspects of myself. In a lot of ways I still see myself in the kitsune; but I don't feel right identifying as one. 

As someone who has no Japanese descent, and didn't grow up with the myths and legends of the kitsune, I felt like the kitsune was something I would never truly understand in its entirety no matter how much I would read about them. There would always be a disconnect.

 From reading others’ experiences as kitsune, I noticed a deep connection to Japanese culture, even among those who weren’t Japanese. They often knew the language and followed the Shinto religion, which is related to kitsune. While I love and respect Japanese culture and mythology, it didn’t feel right to call myself a kitsune when I couldn’t fully understand the stories and culture they belonged to. When I focused on my own core identity rather than trying to fit my experiences into existing myths and legends, I discovered that I am simply a magic fox and not a kitsune.

I've also identified as some fictional foxes in the past, those being Ninetails from the game Okami, and Nazuna Hiwatashi from the anime Brand New Animal.  Spoilers ahead for both these sources! 

Okami is my biggest comfort game. I always play it when im going through hard times, and I've played through it at least five times, probably more. It makes sense that I feel a sense of home within that game. Ninetails is one of the major bosses featured in the second arc. On the surface and true to its name, Ninetails is a nine-tailed kitsune. However, as the story unfolds, it is revealed that Ninetails' true form consists of nine single-tailed foxes merged together into one. I related to this a lot because I was still figuring out my system at the time. 

 All of my system has fox or fox-related identities. This could stem from us being a median system, a term I did not know at the time that perfectly encapsulates our experience as plural. Most of the time we feel as one, like a singlet, but when under stress, or sometimes with positive triggers, we split apart, a lot like how ninetails splits apart when they are struck Amaterasu, the player character in the game. 

While I still experience the merging and splitting that comes with being a median system, I no longer resonate with this identity on the same level as I used to. During the time I held this identity, I was going through a very difficult period that I'm still trying to process. Okami was my comfort. I think my mind unconsciously made connections between me and Ninetails, which helped me navigate that dark time. Imagining myself as Ninetails made me feel powerful. Although I've since moved on from this identity, Ninetails will always be important to me, and continues to be a comfort character to this day. 

Nazuna Hiwatashi was another fictotype I identified as for some time.  This relates back to an earlier identity of mine: a winged wolf. In the anime, Nazuna pretends to be a silver wolf, a deity revered by the beastmen, anthropomorphic animals struggling to coexist alongside humans. Nazuna is actually a human who was transformed into a beastman due to a wrong blood transfusion. Her ‘true’ beastman form is a fox, but she can shapeshift into a silver, winged wolf. I had recently dropped the winged wolf label because I felt ‘fox’ was more accurate. I couldn’t help but resonate with Nazuna because of this. In hindsight, I believe this identity was more of a hyperfixation than anything else. 

Well, this got a bit long.  I suppose that is to be expected as the road to my identity as a fox has been a long and windy one. TLDR: My identity as a fox is very ‘fluid’ and has presented itself in different ways throughout my life. However, at my core I know I'm a fox. 

📷 Tomáš Malík

[scrubbinn]

Slime HRT Day 1: First Pages

I was told I should write down my experiences in this journal. I'm only really doing this because I was told I didn't have to share my writings with anyone except for emergencies, whatever that means. Today is the first day of my new life, and becoming something not human anymore.

I've seen a lot of social media about species HRT. I think it’s supposed to be “Human Removal Therapy”. There’s a lot of people online bashing it, and I'm sure someone is going to try and ban it eventually, but for right now it's pretty unrestricted. To be honest, I am fascinated by it. Becoming something inhuman seemed so, I don't know, cool I guess, but it felt distant, like it would never happen to me, or I'd be labeled a freak by my friends. It was only until my girlfriend brought it up in a passing conversation that I gained the courage to admit I was curious about it. She said I should go for it. The amount of joy I felt then and there was like a 20 ton weight had just exploded out of my chest, but in a good way! We spent the rest of the night talking about treatments and articles, I never felt so happy except then and there, to be seen like that.

My legs were shaking when I met with that doctor. I was told it was normal to be nervous, but it really felt like I was going to just have a breakdown the entire time we talked. There was a lot of psychological exams and way, WAY too much paperwork that basically said I was sure I would be happy and cool with going through with this process. The doctor was patient at least, though he was rude with how little he tried to hide the boredom of his job. Besides that, there was something about him that just made him feel like this was the last thing he wanted to do, the kind of man who’s a total pushover. We eventually got to the question I was dreading “what was I here for, what am I looking to be?” My voice just suddenly stop working right there. It's so funny how I saw an actual dragon on my way here and somehow my request seemed so much more ridiculous. That stupid doctor kept prying me to just tell him until my frustration surpassed my anxiety, and I was able to blurt out that I wanted to be a slime.

I don't know when or why, but I've always liked the idea of slimes. It's their fluidity I think. Being able to morph myself the way I want whenever I want. I mean, how can I trust I'll be happy with my body shape everyday when I can't even pick a favorite color. I spent so much time writing out my own ideas of how their biology worked, or creating a bunch of slime girls for stories I never finished writing. It took me a while to realize I wanted to be just like them, like how it took me a while to realize I wanted to be a girl too.

I thought I'd get laughed out of his office, I mean I've seen the photos and stories of people on slime HRT but it just felt different, like I was going one step too far, I was probably just super anxious, I felt so relieved when he just showed me a list of slime variants instead of laughing. There were so many different options on the list, slimes made of just gel, sap, wax, and there were so many different colors, but that was the problem, they all felt right, I wanted to be any of them.

It was so selfish to ask, but I needed to know if a slime that could change color was possible, or something that could truly transform into any kind of slime. He asked what I meant, if I was looking into becoming a shapeshifter. I shook my head no and said I wanted something like a chameleon. He took off his glasses and pinched his nose, like the weight of every request he ever had just hit him. We, kind of, argued for a while. Well it was him telling me all the different reasons it wouldn’t work or how some people had set up safe LED strips to become a slime strobe globe of different colors, but for some reason it was the one thing I didn’t want to budge on. The one thing I was certain I wanted was that I wouldn’t be certain about my final choice. I was actually ready to just punch this old man until he suddenly folded to my demands and told me he'd need time to make a new variant for something like that. Something about a membrane and chromatophores I think. He also stated, bluntly, that I still needed to pick the type of slime. Being able to switch from red to blue is one thing but there needs to be a base. 

There were a lot of good options, to the point it took me an hour to go through everything and just think about it. I was probably pushing him a bit too close to his next appointment with how long I was searching through options. It certainly makes me wonder how anyone can just know the answer right away. Eventually I had to settle on one and chose the soap variant. I was told it wasn’t actual soap, but it smelled nice and helped deal with germs. I’m not a germaphobe but I like the idea of smelling nice all the time.

After that, I was told I would be contacted eventually when my medication was ready. The wait could be best be described as brutal. There were a lot of calls I made only for me to be told it wasn’t ready yet. I thought I got scammed, like I went to the wrong place and that quack doctor was just faking everything and I wouldn't ever get to be the real me. The most I got was a message once a month saying the research was going well, if I was lucky. 

It was about a year when I got a call back from him, explaining that my medication was ready. I'll be honest, I thought he wouldn't have ever completed it and just stole $600 out of my bank account for a single appointment. I have it now though, a bottle of gel capsules. They taste awful, like shoving soap into my mouth, which makes sense thinking about it. Apparently I won't need to take my normal hormone medication after a bit. Which is good because it's really expensive to pay for both. I guess that concludes my thoughts on the first day. The doc wants me to keep writing down my physical changes but also that I write down my emotional state as well. I don't really get why that’s so important, but whatever, it’s the least I can do if I finally get to be the slime girl I always wanted to be. I can't wait to see how I turn out.

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Next

Thank you for reading through this story. While I’m sure it’s obvious, this is a story inspired by @ayviedoesthings own Dragon HRT as well as @welldrawnfish Fish HRT. I’ve loved these stories ever since they first came out. But I never felt like I had a story of my own to write until I read @sandyca5tle own slime HRT. Please check out all these people’s stories if you haven’t already, and thank you to sandyca5tle for really lighting the fire in me that made me want to try my hand at this sort of thing. I have plans to continue this for a while, not sure how long it’ll be but I want to be able to write a new segment at least one post every one to two weeks. I hope you enjoyed this, and please let me know if you have any advice on how to improve my writing. Thank you so much for reading all this, seriously, it means the world to me. 

[polysucks]

You know what fascism really can’t stand? Independent thought. And sexuality is the most independent of thoughts. Specifically: unregulated, unsanctioned, unapologetic erotic thoughts by anyone who isn’t a straight white man. Because when desire lives outside of control, it becomes a threat. So fandom—especially the kind that creates and consumes 18+ NSFW content—isn’t embarrassing or “cringe” to them. It’s dangerous. Let’s call it what it is: We are living through a reactionary sexual panic. Fandom spaces that explore queerness, kink, gender fluidity, fictional taboo, or just normal-ass horniness are increasingly being painted with one broad brush. People writing fanfiction on AO3? Degenerates Spicy BookTok girlies talking about “one bed tropes”? Predators corrupting youth. Someone draws a suggestive piece of fan art of a 500-year-old vampire? [Lord farquad pointing meme] GOONER. It’s the same moral crusade that’s always existed but updated for the algorithmic America.

And like always, it targets:

Queer people

Women

Sex workers

Neurodivergent creatives

Anyone who dares to feel desire unapologetically.

and so many more!

It’s become so prominent that the fear of being banned for using certain tags or words online has intimidated the newer generations of fandom participants into self-policing because of the panoptical lenses we now, thanks to social media and social isolation, only see each other through. It’s an extremely slippery slope from “don’t say that, we’ll get in trouble” to internalizing the fear until it morphs into a form of disgust toward anything that might cause a sense of yearning, joy, curiosity or pleasure.

The rise of the tradcath aesthetic (hyper-masculine, sex-repulsed, purity-obsessed, often crypto-fascist and nostalgic for traditionalism) is an attempt to strip sexuality of joy and reintegrate it under patriarchal control.

Otherwise?

You’re a degenerate. A filthy gooner. You need to be on a watch list.

And fandom culture violates every single one of those rules.

It allows:

Women to be horny

Queer people to imagine themselves in control

Readers to experience pleasure without tastemakers saying otherwise

Creators to make smut that’s not for the male gaze

People to explore fictional kinks without shame

Entire communities to decentralize erotic power (sound familiar? Hello Michel what are you doing on my rage post)

Fandom is not gross or too sexual or hurting children. Horny content doesn't hurt anyone.

The right infantilizes, feminizes and others fandom culture because it sexualizes the wrong people in the wrong ways—ways that don’t reinforce the fascist order of things.

Censorship Isn’t About Safety—It’s About Control

[alicescaling]

Brothers Conflict Season 2 Volume 1 #024

Masterlist || Next —>

translator’s note: This is an English translation of chapter #024 of Brothers Conflict— aka, the entire first chapter of Season 2 (Volume 1). This is my first time translating a light novel chapter, so I hope it reads okay. Please enjoy! :D

#024 — Pretending you don’t have a special someone.

A whistle rings out.

“Great job, Asahina!”

A voice calls out from the bench, right before the audience erupts into loud cheers of joy.

— It’s been five months since I’ve been admitted to Meiji University.

After passing my initial entrance exam, I’ve somehow made it to my first ever summer vacation as a university student.

Still, being on vacation doesn’t mean I can just slack off and do nothing.

“High School is about studying what and when you’re told. University is about discovering and deciding for yourself what you’d like to study.”

I still remember the president of the university’s words from during his speech at the entrance ceremony.

Just like he said, my classes have been requiring me to write and submit weekly reports, each with a theme that I’ve needed to decide upon myself.

I’d never expected to be taking any classes like that during my first year, but it’s school policy for all business majors to take it.

After summer break’s over, I have more reports due that I’ll need to turn in as well. That’s why these days, I’ve been going to the library about once or twice a week.

Early this morning, I’d gone to the library to do some research and compile some notes, until I’d barely gotten to a point where I was comfortable enough to stop for a late lunch and finally start heading home.

When I get to the main entrance, I see a large announcement in the middle of the bulletin board that the school usually uses to advertise different things like groups and events.

“From our Meiji University, a pro athlete’s been born!”

… is what’s written at the top of the board in a large font. Underneath, the following is written.

“A member of our basketball team, Asahina Subaru (a 4th year business student) has been officially recruited to become a pro player. Asahina will be making an appearance at these upcoming games during these dates at our school gymnasium. This is your chance to see a pro athlete in action! Admission to enter is free of charge. We wish all visitors a warm welcome!”

After that, there’s a list of matches and their dates and times lined up. When I look through them, I realize that the very first listed match is today— they should already be playing by now.

(Ah… Subaru-san’s playing a match right now.)

Subaru-san didn’t mention anything about it to me, though. For a moment, I find myself at a loss for what to do.

(But it’s happening at my school, though…)

It’s one thing if I didn’t know it was going on, but to pretend I didn’t hear about it and not go anyways would be rude.

Despite the lingering doubt and worry in my mind about going, I still make my way in the direction of the school gymnasium.

The audience seating is on the second floor, so I climb up the stairs once I get to the entrance of the gymnasium.

The very moment that I step out the stairs, I’m immediately met with the sight of Subaru-san jumping up to make a shot.

All the doubts and worries about coming to watch clouding my mind are immediately blown away by the beauty and fluidity of the movement.

“Subaru-san!”

Without thinking, I run up to the railing and shout.

“Nice shot!”

There’s a strange look on Subaru-san’s face as he looks from across the court to the audience seating, his eyes scanning the stands as if looking for something.

It isn’t long until his gaze finally settles in my direction.

At first, upon seeing me, there’s a surprised expression on his face. Then, slowly, it starts to morph into a smile. But, the smile doesn’t last long.

The moment that the whistle rings out signaling that the match is about to resume, Subaru-san’s expression immediately tightens once again, completely serious.

As soon as the match resumes, he begins to move swiftly towards the ball.

(Woah…)

I’ve watched some of Subaru-san’s matches before, but right now, Subaru-san looks like a completely different person from back then. Even an ordinary person like me can see the complete difference in his movements from the others around him.

(Amazing…)

He runs through and around the court, weaving in and out of the other players with a sense of fluid, masterful control.

I had arrived at the game right at the start of the fourth quarter, meaning there’s only one quarter of the game left.

Until now, the match was close enough to be anyone’s game. But in just a few minutes, Subaru-san has managed to score shot after shot, changing the tides of the game completely in his team’s favor.

Ultimately, in the end, it’s a complete victory for Meiji University.

There’s a cacophony of cheers and applause as the audience erupts into joy. I join in, clapping my hands as well.

(Amazing! Subaru-san was great! He scored so many points!)

For a while, the cheers continue, and the players bow at the audience before leaving the court. Once the audience sees the players leaving, they too start to filter out of the gymnasium.

(I think I’ll wait a little bit before I leave.)

The entrance is jam packed with people trying to leave, so I decide to stay in my seat to wait out the crowd.

Once it’s calmed down, I make my way down the hall and to the entrance.

At that moment.

“Thank you for today.”

I hear a voice ring out from behind me. When I turn around to look, I’m met with the figure of a uniform-clad Subaru-san, a towel slung over his shoulders.

Subaru: “I wasn’t expecting you to come today… but I’m glad you did.”

“Great work out there.”

As I say that, I make my way towards Subaru-san.

“You played really well.”

Subaru: “I… guess so. But today was just a practice match. It doesn’t say much about how a real match against an opponent would go.”

Subaru-san’s words are completely calm, not a trace of embarrassment or bashfulness in them.

Subaru: “But…”

The tone of Subaru-san’s voice changes.

Subaru: “How did you know about today’s game? I’m pretty sure that I don’t remember telling you about it.”

“Oh, I saw the notice.”

Subaru: “Notice?”

As I tell him about the notice on the school bulletin board I saw earlier, Subaru-san’s face twitches.

Subaru: “Those guys… I told them not to go around doing stuff like that.”

“But isn’t it okay? I mean, the stuff written on there is true, after all.”

Subaru: “No, I’m not a pro yet. The offer’s still just tentative.”

Subaru-san’s voice is firm and resolute.

Subaru: “I’ll sign an official contract once I graduate. Until then, I can’t be considered a pro. Either way, my skills are still…”

Subaru-san’s face tenses.

Subaru: “I’m not worthy of being compared to a real pro.”

“Huh?”

Subaru: “When I went to Kyushu, I saw pros practicing. They’re on an entirely different level. A completely different level. To compare myself to them, as I am now… it wouldn’t even be a competition.”

There’s a bitter frustration in his tone. But then, it changes into something excited.

Subaru: “Even so, when I think about how I felt in the moment, at the idea of getting to play like that, I was really… really happy. I’m really grateful that I can continue playing basketball.”

When I see the genuine smile on Subaru-san’s face, I can’t help but break into a grin as well.

(Subaru-san… I’m really happy for you.)

Just as I think that, Subaru-san suddenly breaks out into a violent cough.

Subaru: “Nnnnnnn—!!!”

“Wh-what’s wrong?!”

Subaru: “Th-that… that… your smile… er, n-nevermind. I just… had something caught in my throat, is all.”

Subaru-san swallows slightly exaggeratedly before continuing.

Subaru: “To be honest, my teammates are probably waiting for me. I might need to get going.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you.”

Subaru: “No, I’m the one that called out to you. ��it’s my bad.”

After a beat, Subaru-san speaks up again.

Subaru: “Hey.”

“Yes?”

Subaru: “... will you come to my next match, too?”

“Of course! I’d already planned on going to your upcoming games.”

Subaru: “I-is that so!”

Subaru-san gives me a smile. There’s a sense of relief in his expression.

“Oh, that’s right. Do you think you could let me know the dates your next matches will be on?”

Subaru: “Oh, yeah. I’ll message them to you later.”

“Got it. In any case, congratulations on today again!”

Subaru: “Ah, be sure to stay safe on your way home.”

Lightly waving goodbye, I start to leave. As I do, I can hear Subaru-san mutter to himself in a quiet voice.

Subaru: “Thank god. …she doesn’t hate me after all…”

(Huh?)

Unconsciously, I stop in my tracks. I turn to look behind me, watching the back of Subaru-san’s figure as he makes his way towards the locker rooms.

(Subaru-san….?)

For a moment, I hesitate whether or not to call out to him. But a feeling that I can’t quite place wells up in me at seeing the back of his figure as he leaves, and in the end, I don’t say anything.

★☆★

“Hey, isn’t that Asakura Fuuto?”

While waiting for the train to arrive at Meiji University station, I hear the chattering voices of some high school girls.

“That’s a member of your favorite idol group or whatever, right? What were they called again? Corset?”

“That isn’t even close! They’re called Forttê!”

“Oooh, right. What’s that even mean, anyways?”

“What does it mean..? Hm. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be the first letters of all the member’s names arranged into one word.”

(So that’s what Forttê’s supposed to stand for.)

“The first letters of their names?”

“Yup. There’s Asakura Fuuto, Narimoto Osamu, Seike Ryou, Takesue Takuma, Morishima Towa, and Akaboshi Eiichiro…. so, Forttê!”

“Eh? … ohhhh, I see, you’re talking about their first names. For a sec I thought you meant their last names.”

“Haha– oh, right, didja know that Seike Ryou’s been seen around here?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he attends Meiji University.”

(Huh? Really? So a member of Forttê attends my university.)

Before I realize it, I’m listening intently to their conversation.

“A university student, huh–. Asakura Fuuto’s a student too, right?”

“Yup. He’s still a high school student. But why are you asking about Asakura Fuuto? Are you a fan of his?”

“Not really, I wouldn’t say that, but– hasn’t he been in a lot of dramas lately? I feel like I’ve been seeing a lot of him in different stuff. Don’t you think he’s pretty talented?”

(Wow– I’m sure Fuuto-kun would be glad to hear that.)

The truth is that these days, Fuuto-kun’s been getting a lot more acting jobs. Since he also has his idol work to juggle alongside his acting, he’s been so busy that whenever I catch a glimpse of him at home, I can’t help but feel like he must be working really hard to improve.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Uh huh… he’s been in a lot of dramas lately.”

“Huh? Why’s your voice sound all dark and gloomy like that? Did I say something weird?”

“Sorry. No, that isn’t it… it’s just that I heard that that member in particular has been causing some quarreling in the group lately.”

(Ehh?)

“Really?”

“Yeah… I heard a bunch of stuff about it on the internet.”

“What? Are you sure that it isn’t just meaningless gossip?”

“Well, that’s what I thought at first too… but the thing is, that was before I’d seen all the Forttê members appear on TV, and then—”

(And– and then what?!)

In the very next second, the sound of an announcement reverberates throughout the whole platform.

“The train is arriving! Please be sure to stay behind the yellow line!”

The sound of the announcement is so loud that the sound of the two girls’ conversation is lost in it, and I don’t get to hear what they say next.

(The members of Forttê are fighting? Because of Fuuto-kun appearing in dramas?)

Since it’s internet gossip, there isn’t any saying whether or not it’s true.

(...still.)

Fuuto-kun’s always had a rather condescending attitude. If he looks down on people or takes an attitude with them while he’s at work, it’s possible that that animosity could be affecting his relationship with his coworkers.

(Even though I know I shouldn’t, I can’t help but worry… maybe just a little bit of digging wouldn’t hurt.)

I bring my phone out, searching up the words “Forttê” and “quarrel”.

Several seconds later, I’m met with a display of search results. My eyes skim through them, but none of them seem to match up with what the girl from earlier mentioned.

Next, I decide to look up “Asakura Fuuto” and “gossip”.

I’m met with the same lack of results. Just like when I looked up “Forttê” and “quarrel”, I don’t find anything that mentions Fuuto-kun having any sort of disputes with the other members of Forttê.

(Whew… thank goodness.)

A let out a little sigh of relief.

– That is, until I see it.

An article titled “Asakura Fuuto– Siscon Allegations”.

(W-what’s this?!)

When I click to read the article, I find that it’s about some of the comments that Fuuto-kun made during his speech to me on the day that I’d graduated– the same speech that Fuuto-kun had made during a live TV broadcast.

(Uwah… u-ugh, this is because Fuuto-kun said all that weird stuff…)

There isn’t a total fuss being made about it, but when I dig a bit further, I find some more articles, all mentioning the declaration he’d made during the broadcast.

(The next time I get the opportunity, I’m going to have to have a talk with Fuuto-kun about this.)

I sigh to myself before exiting the search engine on my phone.

★☆★

As I get off at Kichijōji station and start heading towards the mansion, I find myself passing by an arcade near the station.

Since the street is lined end to end with shops, it’s always super busy and crowded. Of course, since it’s a summer afternoon and everyone’s on vacation, that rings true for today, too.

I do my best to try and wade my way through the waves of people flowing all around me.

“Onee-chan!”

I suddenly hear a loud voice call out.

(Huh? Right now, that voice…)

I see someone waving at me from the front of a nearby fast food restaurant.

I recognize the “BC” crest on the pocket of their white shirt as part of the Bright Centrair school uniform.

“Ah, Wataru-chan.”

Wataru: “... Wataru-chan?”

I look up from his uniform to see Wataru’s face clearly upset, his mouth twisted into a dissatisfied frown.

“Er, sorry– Wataru-kun.”

After I correct myself, Wataru’s expression goes back to his bright grin from before.

Wataru: “Thanks, Onee-chan!”

Wataru-chan– or, er, Wataru-kun– throws the paper cup he’s holding in the garbage, and approaches me.

Wataru: “Hey.”

I remember a conversation that Wataru-kun and I had back when he’d first started middle school.

Wataru: “I’d like it if you could change the way you call me from now on.”

“Hm?”

Wataru: “I’d like for you to stop calling me “-chan”, since I’m in middle school now.”

“Oh, I see. I guess that makes sense. A middle schooler wouldn’t want to be called “-chan” anymore, would they? … in that case, does “Wataru-kun” work?”

Wataru: “Yup, that works! It’s a promise, Onee-chan!”

Even though I said I’d stop doing it, there are times where I accidentally call Wataru-kun “Wataru-chan” by sheer force of habit. Every time I do, Wataru-kun gives me the same dissatisfied pout he did just now, but I’ve been making the mistake less and less recently.

Wataru: “Onee-chan, did you go somewhere today?”

“Yes. I went to my school to do some research. What about you, Wataru-kun?”

Wataru: “Me? I had a mock exam today.”

“Is that so? It must be difficult having to take exams during summer vacation.”

Bright Centrair is well-known for being a cramschool. Even the first year middle schoolers who attend are expected to go to prep classes and take national-level mock exams, so their students get less days off than those from other schools.

Wataru: “Yeah. But I think I did well, at least…. ehehe.”

The truth is that Wataru-kun gets really good grades. At the end of his first semester, I saw his report card, and he got much higher grades than I ever did when I was in middle school.

I never really see Wataru-kun studying at home, so I think that he’s just naturally very smart and gifted.

(It’s stuff like this that makes me remember that Wataru-kun really is Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san’s little brother.)

Wataru: “Onee-chan, are you headed back home right now? Or do you plan on going somewhere else?”

“I’m headed back home.”

Wataru: “Then is it okay if we go together?”

“Of course it’s okay.”

The two of us chat as we walk through the arcade together.

Wataru: “And then, my teacher–”

Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have any difficulty studying or with academics, but Wataru-kun’s school life sounds very fun. He has a lot of friends, and it seems like he’s very popular and well-liked by his class as well.

As I think this while listening to him, Wataru-kun suddenly interrupts himself.

Wataru: “Onee-chan, am I boring you?”

“Eh?! I don’t feel that way at all, why would you think that?”

Wataru: “Well, it’s just that you’re going “uh-huh, uh-huh” and nodding along a lot. Isn’t that how people tune out stuff they aren’t interested in talking about or listening to?”

“That– that isn’t it at all.”

I reply, confused.

“You’re a very skilled storyteller, so I was just listening really intently.”

Wataru: “It’s okay, you don’t have to force yourself to lie to me.”

Wataru-kun’s face goes gloomy.

Wataru: “If I’m boring you, I want you to tell me. Because if you don’t… I won’t be able to fix it.”

“Like I said, that isn’t it at all.”

My voice is earnest as I speak.

“While it’s true that people tend to nod and hum and reply absentmindedly to try and feign paying attention, that isn’t what I was doing right now at all.”

Wataru-kun stares intently at my face before replying.

Wataru: “... okay, I understand.”

He bows his head down at me.

Wataru: “Onee-chan, what I said just now was kinda weird, right? I’m sorry about that.”

“I don’t mind at all– here, lift your face back up. Won’t you tell me the rest of your story?”

At that, Wataru-kun’s smile finally returns, and he finishes telling me the rest of his story.

“At any rate...”

As our conversation dies down, I mutter to myself without realizing it.

“Wataru-kun, you’ve really grown up, huh.”

Wataru: “Me? Grown up?”

“Yeah. I feel like you’ve matured a lot.”

Wataru: “Hmmmm…”

Wataru-kun stops walking, folding his arms as if in deep thought.

“What’s wrong?”

Wataru: “I’ve… grown up… an adult…”

After a moment of silence, Wataru-kun abruptly speaks up again.

Wataru: “No, that isn’t true. I’m not an adult yet.”

“Eh?”

Wataru: “Well, you still don’t want to be my girlfriend, right, Onee-chan?”

“W-Wataru-kun?!”

The two of us are still in the middle of the arcade. Since it’s an afternoon during summer break, there’s a large amount of people crowding the arcade.

“Huuuuuh, that kid just confessed his love for his big sister.”

“Amazing isn’t it, the fact that he did it in front of a crowd, too. Talk about a public confession.”

“Welllll, since it was cute, I’ll forgive it~”

People start to erupt into whispers all around us.

Wataru: “If I were really an adult, then you’d see me as a grown man– a member of the opposite gender, right? But you don’t see me that way. You still see me as a little kid–”

“H-hey, Wataru-kun!!”

I forcibly interrupt Wataru-kun.

“Let’s get heading home! It’s really hot out today and I feel like I might collapse if I stay out for much longer. So, uhm, let’s hurry and get going!”

I blurt out a bunch of babble that I don’t really even understand myself, grabbing Wataru-kun’s hand and dragging him away from the scene.

★☆★

Once we get to the mansion, Wataru-kun and I go our separate ways. I stop to pick up the mail before heading up to the fifth floor.

All of the Asahina family’s mail is always delivered to the first floor. Usually, someone will pick it all up from downstairs, and then bring it up to the fifth floor to sort through by address. Then, they’ll leave the sorted piles on the living room table.

Today, Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san both had received a few magazines addressed to them, so the pile’s rather heavy.

Since it would be difficult to sort through the mail while holding it all, I place the pile down on the table before beginning to sort through it.

In the middle of the pile, I see an envelope that’s addressed to me.

(Ah, that’s–)

The envelope looks official, a bit like the type that a company would use. Once I catch a glimpse of the cooperation that it’s direct mail from, I get an idea of who sent it.

It’s the name of the game company that Natsume-san works for.

Without thinking, my hand stops.

I look around for a moment in worry. It’s only once I’m sure that there’s no one else in the living room that I finally open the envelope.

Inside is an announcement for a new game that’s coming out. Natsume-san sometimes sends me lists of things like upcoming games and the stores they’re being sold at. They’re usually pretty simple and easy to understand, but also very impersonal.

But today’s list is different. A single title on the list is highlighted in bright ink, with the following written beside it.

This is a game that I helped make. There have been plenty of difficulties, but it’s finally complete. I think it turned out pretty well, so please give it a try!

(That’s right… it’s finally being released.)

Ever since he changed departments this spring, Natsume-san’s been really busy every day. Sometimes, he’ll send short messages about how his work’s increased so much that he’s been having to stay up all night in the office working, and I can tell that he’s been exhausted lately.

The past few months, we haven’t spoken or met up much since I can see how rough he has it and I haven’t wanted to bother him.

(But now he can finally take a breather again.)

At the thought, I can’t help but feel a little bit uneasy.

Now that he has the time, Natsume-san might visit the mansion. No– it’s his family’s home, so it’s only natural that he’ll visit eventually.

… when he does, how should I act with him?

Natsume: “Just as ordinary siblings. … no, I can’t.”

I remember the words that he’d muttered in my ear the night of my high school graduation party. And I remember the warm sensation at the nape of my neck as he—

(... – wait a minute!)

I try to calm the pounding of my heart down. I take a deep breath, breathing in and out until the warmth of the memory starts to clear from my mind.

(I can’t just be thinking about Natsume-san.)

I’m grateful for Natsume-san’s feelings for me.

But it isn’t right for me to be thinking only of him.

Because Natsume-san isn’t the only one who has confessed to having feelings for me.

(In any case, I should head back to my room.)

As soon as I finish hurriedly sorting through the rest of the mail, I leave the living room, Natsume-san’s letter in hand.

Once I get to the hall, I glance in the direction of the stairs. My room’s on the fourth floor. It’d probably be faster to head down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator since it’s only a floor down.

I swiftly make my way down the stairs. My steps begin to gradually grow faster, and by the time I reach the landing, I’m practically running.

And then.

I see someone emerge from the elevator hall on the fourth floor.

There are two figures, the both of them resembling each other.

Azusa: “Huh?”

Tsubaki: “Oh, perfect!”

(Tsubaki-san and— Azusa-san?!)

Seeing the two of them come out of nowhere throws me off guard.

So much so that I lose my footing. I tumble over a step, and I’m suddenly sent flying, my body hurling forwards through the air as I trip and fall.

Azusa: “Watch out!”

Azusa-san yells.

When I look down, I realize that my body’s rapidly approaching the concrete floor.

(Ahhhh–!!)

I close my eyes as I brace myself.

Tsubaki: “G-guh!”

There’s a thud as my body crashes into something. But the impact isn’t as painful as I’d thought it’d be at all. Actually, it’s rather warm.

Tsubaki: “Oww…”

I hear a voice groan in my ear.

(R-right now–)

Gingerly, I open my eyes. I’m met with wide, uniquely glowing pupils obscuring my vision.

They’re eyes that I’ve gazed into countless times before– the brilliant gleam in them familiar.

“Tsu- Tsubaki-san?”

Tsubaki-san’s face is squished up close to mine.

His eyes are wide open, and his pupils almost look as if they’re trembling as they stare at me.

He’s so close that I can feel the warmth of his breath on my lips.

Tsubaki: “Ah…”

I can feel the heat of Tsubaki-san’s arms wrapped around me. We’re pressed together so tightly that I can feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat from through my own chest.

We’re both ice still, as if time has frozen in place.

After a moment, Tsubaki-san’s body finally moves, and he turns his face slightly away from me, breaking our stare.

Once he does, it feels as if time begins to gradually move again.

And I find myself finally beginning to register our position.

We’re both on the floor, at the bottom of the stairs, Tsubaki-san’s knees on the ground. He’s pressed up back-against the wall, with me on top of him.

I’m squished against him, the whole of my weight leaning on him as he holds me tight in his arms.

(That’s right..)

I begin to gradually get a grip of what happened.

I had tripped and fallen down the stairs. And Tsubaki-san caught me before I could hit the floor, crashing against the wall with me in his arms in his attempt to save me.

(... oh.)

My body suddenly shoots up as I register the situation.

“I– I’m sorry!”

I shout out as I straighten myself.

As I attempt to get up, I feel Tsubaki-san’s grip on me tighten.

Tsubaki: “Hold on… stay like this for just a bit longer.”

His voice is a soft, gentle murmur.

Tsubaki: “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Wait a moment.”

I can feel someone’s presence beside me. Azusa carefully looks over my form.

Azusa: “Alright, it looks like she’s fine, Tsubaki.”

Azusa-san’s voice is calm.

Tsubaki: “Really? …. thank god.”

Tsubaki-san moves his arm away from me, letting me out of his hold.

Azusa: “Can you stand?”

As he asks me this, Azusa-san holds a hand out to me.

“Oh… yes.”

I take Azusa-san’s hand and stand up.

Tsubaki: “Whew, that was really surprising.”

Tsubaki-san braces himself on the wall behind him with his hand and stands up as well.

“I’m so sorry! … uhm, Tsubaki-san, are you okay?”

Tsubaki: “Huh, me? Eh, I’m totally fine.”

Even though he says he’s fine, Tsubaki-san’s grimacing.

“But…”

Tsubaki: “Like I said, I’m okay. A little crash like that’s nothing– I’m a guy, after all.”

Azusa: “That’s right. He’s just got a little bump right here.”

Tsubaki: “Owwwww!! Don’t touch it, Azusaaaa!”

“Er, um… are you sure you’re really okay?”

Azusa: “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be sure to take a look at it later.”

Azusa-san cracks a smile as he reassures me. Knowing him, I trust him to keep his word and handle it.

“Alright… but, really, thank you very much for saving me!”

I give the two of them a deep bow as I thank them.

Afterwards, Azusa-san holds something out to me.

Azusa: “Here.”

“... ah.”

In his hand is the envelope that Natsume-san sent to me.

Azusa: “You dropped this on the floor when you fell.”

“... I’m sorry.”

He hands the envelope to me.

(Did he notice that it’s from Natsume-san?)

Since the envelope has Natsume-san’s company’s logo on it, he likely did. However, Azusa-san doesn’t mention it.

(I’m curious, but if he isn’t going to mention it or ask about it, I won’t, either.)

Either way, I should probably get to leaving as soon as possible.

“Thank you again, Tsubaki-san, Azusa-san. Um, I’m going to head to my room now.”

As I thank them, I move to leave.

Tsubaki: “Ah, wait a sec.”

Tsubaki-san calls out to me.

Tsubaki: “The thing is, we were actually looking for you earlier.”

“Huh?”

I instinctively turn around to see Tsubaki-san pull something out from his pocket.

Tsubaki: “Here… this is for you.”

It’s a ticket to an upcoming event.

The title of an anime that Tsubaki-san’s the leading voice actor for and a large number ‘20’ are both written on it in a large font.

“What’s this?”

Tsubaki: “The anime that I’m in originally came out 20 years ago. So, they’re having an anniversary event. I’d really like it if you’d come.”

“An… event, huh.”

For a moment, I hesitate to accept the invitation.

I feel a bit overwhelmed as I remember Tsubaki-san’s previous confession.

“Even so– I still love you.”

The words that Tsubaki-san said to me that night at the theme park, after I had told him I can’t return his feelings, surface in my mind.

(What should I do..?)

If I accept, I might cause a misunderstanding. But since it’s clearly something that’s important to him, I need to think carefully about how to reply.

Azusa: “I understand what you’re probably thinking.”

Azusa-san interrupts my thoughts.

Azusa: “But this is different.”

Azusa-san looks at Tsubaki-san before turning towards me.

Azusa: “Tsubaki wants you to come see because this is a special, important occasion for him. As a voice actor.”

“As a… voice actor?”

Tsubaki: “Hey, uh, Azusa.”

Tsubaki’s voice cuts in.

Tsubaki: “I’m grateful for you trying to help me out, but I think that this is something that I would rather do myself, you know?”

Azusa: “Sorry, Tsubaki.”

Azusa-san’s attention turns back towards Tsubaki-san.

Azusa: “I just thought that it might be a little strange if you said it yourself.”

Tsubaki: “Ah– …. Well– … okay, yeah. I guess it would sound kinda weird coming from me, huh.”

Tsubaki-san goes silent at that.

After a moment, he opens his mouth again.

Tsubaki: “Still, I wanna at least say this.”

He looks at me.

Tsubaki: “This role is really, really important to me. And this event is really, really important to me, too, which is why it would mean a lot to me if you came to watch.”

He holds the invitation out to me once more.

Tsubaki: “So? Will you come?”

“.... yes.”

I give him my answer.

“I’ll go. Thank you very much.”

Tsubaki: “Thanks!”

Tsubaki-san’s face breaks into a bright grin.

Tsubaki: “Woah… I’m happy. I’m super, super happy.”

He lets out a sigh of relief.

Azusa: “Well, in that case, isn’t it about time that we get going, Tsubaki?”

Tsubaki: “Oh, yeah, you’re right.”

“Where are you two headed?”

Azusa: “We’ve still got some recording to finish up.”

Azusa-san replies.

Azusa: “We stopped by since we had a little time before we needed to head out.”

Tsubaki: “We’d planned on giving you the ticket real quick first. I mean, wouldn’t it have sucked if you’d made plans for that day before we could invite you?”

“That’s why?”

Tsubaki: “Yeah. I mean, like I said, this event is super important.”

He flashes me a smile.

Tsubaki: “I really, reaaaaaaaally want you to come since it means a lot to me. That’s why we went looking for you.”

With that, he and Azusa-san leave to return to work.

(An important event…)

I stare at the invitation in my hand. As I do, I can understand how an event like this would mean a lot to Tsubaki-san as a voice actor.

(But, is that really…?)

My heart starts to waver, and I can’t help but suddenly feel a sense of doubt rush over me.

My thoughts swirl through my head.

I only find myself becoming more and more worried. I can tell that being alone in my room will just make my anxiety worse.

(T-That’d be no good.)

I place both the invitation that Tsubaki-san gave me and the envelope from Natsume-san in the mailbox in front of my room and leave without heading inside.

★☆★

As I head down the stairs, I find myself still in deep thought.

But I haven’t managed to reach an answer at all yet.

Before I know it, I’ve already made my way to the first floor.

It’s already starting to get dark outside.

For a moment, I start to doubt whether or not I should go out. But I don’t really want to head back to my room right now, either.

(But it hasn’t gone completely dark, yet.)

As I think this, I begin to make my way to the front door.

“Chii-chan, wait a moment.”

I hear someone call out to me. I turn my head to see Louis-san in the hallway.

“Oh… hi.”

Louis: “Mmhmm, good evening.”

“Did you just get back home?”

Louis: “Yes, I got off a little bit early today.”

He gives me a gentle smile.

Louis: “Hmm?”

Suddenly, his smile is replaced with a worried expression.

Louis: “What’s wrong?”

“Umm…”

I do my best to shake away my inner thoughts and reply.

“It’s nothing.”

Louis: “Chii-chan.”

Louis-san’s voice is a bit stern.

Louis: “Lying is bad.”

“R-really, I’m–”

As I scramble for words, I meet Louis-san’s eyes.

There’s an earnest glimmer in them that robs me of my strength to keep speaking.

“... I’m sorry.”

I apologize in a small voice, looking down at the floor.

Immediately afterwards, I feel the air suddenly clear up, and I’m overwhelmed with a refreshing fragrance.

(What… is this?)

The refreshing fragrance grows stronger as a hand gently moves to caress my cheek.

It gingerly lifts my head back up, and I’m met with the sight of Louis-san’s kind, smiling face.

Louis: “... Chii-chan.”

Louis-san’s voice is soft.

“Yes?”

Louis: “Let’s go out and eat.”

“.... okay?”

– 20 minutes later.

We’re at a very fashionable restaurant inside Inokashira Park.

The building faces the park’s pond, which gives me a good view of the water, street, and the rest of the park right outside.

Even though it’s still a bit early for dinner, the restaurant is reasonably crowded. So much so that I’m a bit worried about whether or not we’ll be able to get a seat without a reservation. In the end, though, we’re quickly led to a table in the back with a very soothing atmosphere.

Louis: “The owner is a client of mine.”

Louis-san explains as he sits down beside me.

I’m slightly confused for a moment, but then I realize that the shop owner must be a regular of Louis-san’s. That must be why he seems so familiar with this place.

Louis: “The Japanese food here is yummy.”

Louis-san holds the menu between the two of us.

Our seats are close together, and I realize that this is meant to be some sort of couple’s seating.

They aren’t connected, but they’re so close together that you would only have to reach your arm out a little bit to wrap it around or touch the person beside you.

Louis: “Chii-chan, which would you like to eat?”

“Oh, um, I…”

I can’t help but feel uneasy about our seating. I wouldn’t mind regular seats, but these ones… I do mind.

Of course, Louis-san is different from Natsume-san and Tsubaki-san. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s one of the Asahina siblings… and a man.

“I’m not really hungry right now. Plus, we have dinner soon, and…”

As I tell Louis-san this, I begin to stand up from my seat.

But as I do, Louis-san looks at me and suddenly hits his palm with his fist.

Louis: “Ah, that’s right.”

“Huh?”

Unprepared for the sudden gesture, I sit back down after losing my chance to flee.

Louis: “Dinner… mmhmm, dinner.”

Louis-san brings his phone out, and calls someone.

Louis: “Hello. … ah, Ukyo-niisan.”

(..... huh?!)

Louis: “Mmhmm, it’s Louis. You see, today, Chii-chan and I are going to be having dinner out together.”

(L-Louis-san?!)

Louis: “It’s alright, we won’t stay out late. … mmhmm… alright. Bye-bye, then.”

Louis-san hangs up with a pleased smile.

Louis: “Don’t worry about preparing dinner today, alright?”

“But…”

Louis: “Chii-chan.”

Louis-san stops me from finishing my sentence with a gentle smile.

Louis: “You don’t want to go back home… right?”

“Er…”

I find myself shocked at how suddenly Louis-san had pointed out my thoughts.

(But how did he know? I didn’t say anything about it…)

Louis: “Your eyes.”

His voice is calm as he explains himself.

Louis: “Your eyes give you away. If I couldn’t read your expression, I wouldn’t be able to call myself a beautician.”

“...”

Louis: “Everyday, I get a lot of customers.”

Louis-san looks upwards.

Louis: “They all have their own reasons for coming to my shop. Their own important, unique reasons.”

His gaze goes to me again.

Louis: “So it’s important for me to observe them, to understand them. Their hands, their shoulders, their legs… every little movement, every little gesture. Their faces are important to observe as well. But the most important are… their eyes.”

As he says this Louis-san’s eyes stare directly into mine.

Louis: “So I understand. What people wish for… and what they don’t.”

“Louis-san…”

It’s a strange feeling. Louis-san’s eyes are completely earnest, and yet, there isn’t a bit of strain or tension in them.

Rather, it feels like there are invisible arms that are wrapping me up in a comforting embrace.

(Ah…)

While I bask in the sensation, Louis-san breaks through my thoughts by speaking again.

Louis: “Chii-chan, could it be that you’re worrying about Natsume-niisan?”

“Huh?”

I’m stunned in shock.

I bring my hand to my mouth in an attempt to keep myself from yelling out in surprise.

Louis: “Or maybe you’re worrying about Tsubaki-niiisan and Azusa-niisan?”

“Um, um…”

Louis: “If not them, maybe it’s Subaru-kun you’re worrying about?”

“W-wait… hold on a second.”

I manage to squeeze out the words in a strangled voice.

“Why did you specifically name those four?”

Louis: “Oh, I heard.”

“Wh– … heard?”

Louis: “Juli-san let me know what’s been going on with them.”

“Eeehhh?!”

(H-how does Juli know about what’s been going on between us…??)

Louis: “I’m sorry for surprising you.”

Louis-san’s face clouds over slightly.

Louis: “But, you see, the two of us are the “Chii-chan Defense Squad”.”

Louis-san places his hand over mine.

Louis: “Juli-san’s been doing some investigating. For your benefit. And he’s been telling me about his findings, because you’re someone that we care about.”

(T-that’s…)

I’m overcome with a sudden realization.

Back when I was in high school, Juli spent the majority of his time in my room.

But after I’d started attending university, that’s changed– actually, I’d say that Juli rarely ever spends much time in my room anymore.

(So that’s what he’s been doing…)

I feel irritation starting to well up in me towards Juli.

I have no idea what exactly Juli’s “investigations” have been entailing, but the two of us are going to have to have a long talk about the meaning of personal privacy.

(I’ll have to grill Juli about this later.)

Louis-san’s voice interrupts my thoughts.

Louis: “Please don’t be upset with Juli-san. He’s just worried about you. And I’ve already requested that he stop.”

His face is still cloudy as he continues.

Louis: “I also don’t like the fact that he’s been investigating our brothers.”

“Ah… that’s right. I’m sorry for Juli’s actions.”

I bow my head down in apology. Once I do, I feel Louis-san move his hand from where it had been settled over mine, as he brings his fingers to the bottom of my chin.

Slowly, his fingers lift my head up.

Louis: “Maybe it’s this.”

“Huh?”

I have no idea what Louis-san is talking about, so I look at Louis-san in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Louis: “What Natsume-niisan, Tsubaki-niisan, and Azusa-niisan, and Subaru-kun… and everyone else, feel for you.”

“Eh? Eh?”

Louis: “Chii-chan, you’re always so honest. You’re always so genuine and up-front.”

Louis-san brings his face close to mine.

Louis: “That’s why we all love you.”

“L-Louis-san…”

Louis: “We’re brothers. But as we’ve grown older, we’ve also gradually grown distant. By distancing ourselves from each other, we’ve become less likely to collide and get into conflicts.”

“....”

Louis: “While I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, because of it, we’re not very good at some things.”

“What kind of things?”

Louis: “Being our true selves around each other.”

Louis-san’s face grows sad and regretful.

Louis: “Whenever we show our true selves around each other, we’re more likely to fight, and it’s very painful. That’s why we’ve stopped.”

Louis-san closes his eyes. I listen and wait until he opens them again.

When he does, he’s smiling again.

Louis: “Then you came, Chii-chan. You’re someone who we can be ourselves around, someone who sees us for who we really are. That’s why everyone’s so captivated by you.”

“...”

Louis: “Hey, Chii-chan.”

Louis-san whispers softly to me.

“What is it?”

Louis: “I think we should probably order soon.”

“Oh…”

I tear my eyes away from Louis-san’s face.

Louis: “What would you like to eat?”

“Um, um… whatever you like. I trust your judgement.”

Louis: “Mm, alright.”

Louis-san opens the menu again before speaking up, as if he’d just remembered something.

Louis: “Ah, Chii-chan, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

Louis: “There’s another reason why we all love you.”

My whole body suddenly goes still.

“Wha-what… what is it?”

I timidly ask Louis-san what he means, and he replies.

Louis: “... because you’re cute.”

“Eh…”

Louis: “Everybody also loves you because of how cute you are, Chii-chan.”

Louis-san’s smile is earnest as he says this to me.

★☆★

After Louis-san and I are done eating, we go back home to the mansion together, and I head to the fifth floor.

Since I’d saddled Ukyo-san with preparing dinner all by himself today by going out to eat with Louis-san, I figure that the least I can do is help with tidying up.

“I’m sorry, I’m back.”

I apologize as I move to enter the living room. In my hurry, I accidentally bump into someone while going through the front door.

“Oh–”

I feel a hand hold my shoulder to keep me steady.

Ukyo: “Are you alright?”

“... Ukyo-san. I’m sorry.”

Ukyo: “Welcome back home. Please, don’t worry about it.”

Ukyo-san’s holding a bottle of something in his left hand.

Ukyo: “It’s brandy.”

At seeing the direction of my gaze, Ukyo-san answers my unasked question.

Ukyo: “I thought we might drink some.”

Ukyo-san looks in the direction of the living room.

When he does, I realize that there’s another figure in the room.

Masaomi: “Ah, welcome home.”

Masaomi-san is sitting down on the sofa.

Masaomi: “You went out to eat with Louis, didn’t you? How was it?”

“Oh… it was really yummy.”

Masaomi: “I see, that’s good.”

Masaomi-san gives me a kind, gentle smile, and then turns towards Ukyo-san.

Masaomi: “Ukyo. Since it concerns her, don’t you think we should include her in our conversation?”

Ukyo-san sets the bottle of brandy he’s holding on the table next to two glasses.

Ukyo: “Do you happen to have time to spare at the moment?”

“Yes, I do.”

Ukyo: “Then, please take a seat.”

I do as he says and sit down on the sofa. Masaomi-san picks up the bottle of brandy and pours some into the two glasses.

Masaomi: “Since you’re still a bit young to drink alcohol, would you like me to get you something else to drink?”

“No thank you, I’m alright. I’m still full from dinner.”

Masaomi: “Alright. Forgive us for indulging a little bit, then.”

After he says this, Masaomi-san hands one of the now-filled glasses of brandy to Ukyo-san.

The amber liquid in their glasses swirls a little as they lift them up, bring them to their lips, and take a drink.

Ukyo: “Mmm.”

Masaomi: “Un… it’s a little strong. But still good, I think.”

The two of them sigh. Suddenly, I realize that they’re both still wearing suits.

Ukyo: “Masaomi-niisan and I both only got back home recently.”

Masaomi: “Maybe it’s a little more accurate to say that we’d been talking outside for a while.”

Masaomi-san gives me a pained smile.

Masaomi: “But haven’t quite managed to reach a conclusion yet. So, we decided to come home and continue our discussion here.”

“I see.”

I can’t help but wonder what kind of conversation Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san would have that would need to continue this late into the night. It must be important.

Ukyo: “Louis called me earlier telling me that you wouldn’t be able to help with preparing dinner today, but we actually ordered out tonight.”

“Eh?”

Masaomi: “Ah, don’t worry about it. Since you and Louis went out for dinner, Yuusuke and Wataru were the only other brothers left home. Wataru was actually rather excited to order whatever he wanted.”

As Masaomi-san says this, he goes to refill his now-empty glass of brandy.

Masaomi: “Well then… let me catch you up on what we’ve been talking about.”

Masaomi-san’s tone changes. He looks at Ukyo-san, as if requesting permission for something. Slowly, Ukyo-san nods at him.

Masaomi: “We were wondering whether or not you’d managed to get in contact with Iori recently.”

“Iori-san?”

Ukyo: “You see, pertaining to Iori…”

Ukyo-san speaks up.

Ukyo: “Since Iori left home, we haven’t heard anything from him.”

“Ah…”

Ukyo: “Furthermore, his bank account has no record of any recent activity or withdrawals.”

“Ehh?!”

Masaomi: “Iori’s a very bright kid.”

Masaomi-san enters into the conversation.

Masaomi: “So I’m sure that he’s managing to do well… but we can’t help but worry for him, at least a bit.”

“…”

We fall into a heavy silence.

Then, as if in an attempt to break it, Ukyo-san pours some more brandy into his glass. The sound is awfully loud.

Ukyo: “And so, we were wondering… if, perchance, you’d had any contact with Iori recently.”

“... me?”

Masaomi: “You see, Iori’s never been the type to talk to us much.”

Masaomi-san lifts his glass up, but doesn’t bring it to his lips.

Masaomi: “Since we’re brothers, you’d think that’s a little strange, right? But although we’re brothers, we’re also all very different people. Because we’re always together, there are some things that we can’t talk about with each other.”

Those are the same sentiments that Louis-san had expressed to me earlier.

Ukyo: “To be quite frank, we think that Iori has opened his heart to you more than he ever has to any of us. And so, we’d like it if you could tell us whether he’s said anything to you.”

“... I see.”

I answer in a small voice.

“He hasn’t made any contact with me at all.”

Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san watch me intently as I continue.

“No letters, no messages, nothing.”

The three of us are enveloped in silence again.

Masaomi: “... I see.”

This time, Masaomi-san is the one to break it.

Masaomi: “I understand. Thank you for your honesty.”

Ukyo: “Our apologies for suddenly questioning you about this.”

Ukyo-san adds in.

I understand that this is their way of saying that “I can leave now”, and yet, I find myself unable to stand up from the sofa.

Masaomi: “What’s wrong?”

Masaomi-san asks me when I continue to stay seated.

…. I’m still lost in doubt.

(I still feel as if I don’t understand my brothers as well as they do each other.)

I mean, they’ve known each other for their whole lives. I’ve only been part of their family for about two years.

That’s why I’ve always sort of thought that I don’t have much of a right to say anything about them to each other.

(However.)

Maybe I've been thinking about it wrong this whole time.

Over the past six months or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I really know about my brothers. About who they really are.

And that’s why I feel like maybe, just maybe, it’s okay for me to say my piece as well.

I’m a member of the Asahina family, too, after all.

“Um.”

As I think this, I instinctively open my mouth.

“I feel like there’s no need to worry about Iori-san.”

Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san carefully bring their attention towards me.

Ukyo: “Oh?”

Masaomi: “Is there a specific reason you think so?”

“Yes.”

I take a moment to gather my thoughts and think about how to best continue.

“Because Iori-san told me he would. Be okay, I mean.”

Ukyo-san’s doubtful expression grows puzzled.

Ukyo: “And when did this exchange with him occur?”

“The day of my high school graduation ceremony.”

Ukyo: “.... the same day that Iori left the mansion.”

“Yes. After Iori-san left the mansion, he visited my school, and we talked.”

Ukyo: “And Iori said this to you directly?”

“Yes. He’d congratulated me on graduating. Then, he told me that “I finally found the courage to fix things after this”.”

For the third time this conversation, we fall into silence.

But this time, the silence feels different. It isn’t as heavy as before.

Ukyo: “... I see.”

Slowly, Ukyo-san nods.

Masaomi: “Ah. So that’s what happened.”

Masaomi-san lets out a sigh.

“I trust Iori-san.”

I say.

“I think that we should have faith in him.”

I try to speak my mind as straight-forwardly as possible. Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san both exchange glances with each other.

Slowly, both of their faces begin to shift into their own unique versions of a slight smile.

Masaomi: “I’m sure that’s true… I’m sure that you’re right.”

Ukyo: “I’m of the same opinion.”

Masaomi-san sinks into the couch, leaning to look up at the ceiling.

Masaomi: “Hah… I’m a horrible big brother, aren’t I? I don’t even understand my own little brothers.”

Ukyo: “I’m no different. However, I believe that we’re starting to understand them better than before. We have someone here to teach us how, now, after all.”

Ukyo-san picks the bottle of brandy and both him and Masaomi-san’s glasses up as he rises to stand.

Ukyo: “Masaomi-niisan, I believe it’s about time we get some rest, don’t you think?”

Masaomi: “Mm, I guess you’re right… but I feel a little light right now. I think I drank a bit too much.”

“Um, in that case, I can handle cleaning up.”

Ukyo: “It’s alright. There’s no need for you to do that, I’ll handle it.”

“But…”

Ukyo: “Today, you’ve managed to ease a rather large worry of ours. It would be far exceeding overstepping to ask anything else of you.”

As he says this, he heads in the direction of the kitchen.

Masaomi: “Ahh, that’s right. I’d almost forgotten.”

Masaomi-san pulls something out from inside his pocket.

Masaomi: “Here you go. A letter from Kaname came for you.”

“From Kaname-san?”

Masaomi-san hands me a sealed envelope. It’s addressed to “Imouto-chan”.

Masaomi: “Kaname occasionally sends letters to me, keeping me updated on how he’s doing. Whenever he needs anything from any of our other brothers, he’ll send separate envelopes addressed to them inside of the larger envelope he sends to me, since the temple he’s currently at has a limit on how much mail he’s allowed to send out.”

“Huh, really?”

Ukyo: “Since he sends Masaomi-niisan all the letters that are addressed to those in our family, I can’t help but wonder who he’s sending the remaining of his allotted letters to.”

As he washes the glasses, Ukyo-san cuts in.

Masaomi: “Mmm, well, in any case… if you’d like to send him a reply, feel free to let me know, alright?”

“Alright, I will.”

Once I get back to my room, I open the envelope and pull the letter out from inside. Maybe it’s a little rude of me, but I can’t help but think that Kaname-san’s handwriting is unexpectedly neat.

— Dear Imouto-chan.

Has university been going well for you?

It looks like I’ll be staying here for a little while longer. I’m sorry that I can’t be there for you. However, I’ll do my best to come back home as soon as possible.

When that day comes, I hope that you’ll welcome me back home with a kiss.

Since it’s a special occasion, a kiss on the cheek should be permissible, don’t you think?

(Ahahaha…)

I can’t help but smile despite myself.

(However.)

I know that this isn’t all there is to it.

(I won’t let myself be deceived again, Kaname-san.)

Kaname-san lies sometimes. When he lies, he doesn’t do it to hurt people– he does it to protect them.

But I won’t let myself be fooled.

I can tell that Kaname-san didn’t write to me because he’s worried about me. There isn’t a trace of concern in his writing.

Rather, I can tell that Kaname-san wrote to me because he genuinely cares about me.

And that makes me really happy.

– At that moment.

(... ah.)

I begin to realize something.

(I think that I’m starting to understand my brothers more…)

Iori-san…

Kaname-san…

There are certain things I understand about them that Masaomi-san and Ukyo-san don’t.

Of course, it isn’t as if I understand everything about them. But I do think that I’m starting to learn more and more about them as people as time goes on.

(It’s… a nice feeling.)

I go on to read the second page of Kaname-san’s letter.

PS,

Imouto-chan.

If there ever comes a time where you find yourself lost, or you feel as if you’ve lost your way, I want you to believe in the path that you’ve paved for yourself. Don’t let others sway your heart. No matter which path you may tread, if it’s you who has chosen to walk it, I have faith that it’s the right one.

That’s the end of the letter.

(Kaname-san…)

At that moment, I feel a warmth rise up in my chest.

★☆★

(Alright!)

I check my reflection in my mirror one last time before exiting my room.

It’s been pretty rainy lately, but luckily, it seems like today’s gonna be sunny out.

(It might be hot out, but being hot’s better than getting wet!)

The anniversary event for the anime Tsubaki-san invited me to is today.

In order to make sure that I had suitable clothes for the occasion, I went and bought a new outfit to wear today.

The truth is, usually, Louis-san helps me with coordinating my outfits for stuff like this. Maybe it would have been better if I’d gone to him for help, but I figured that it would be a bit rude to expect him to help all the time, so I decided to pick everything for today out myself.

I wait for the elevator and head up to the fifth floor.

I’d already prepared a light meal to eat before I go. Yesterday, I’d made a sandwich and put it in the fridge to save for today.

When I head to the kitchen, though, an unexpected scene is waiting for me.

“Oh, good morning. … whew.”

Hikaru-san gives me a large, sleepy yawn.

He’s holding the sandwich I’d made the night before in his hands.

“Hikaru-san?!”

Hikaru: “Ah… D’you mind keeping your voice down a little bit? I might’ve drank a little too much yesterday.”

Hikaru-san is wearing a luxurious looking suit.

I get the feeling that he probably just got back home this morning.

“What were you doing?”

Hikaru: “Interview.”

As Hikaru-san off-handedly answers me, he casually throws the last bite of my sandwich into his mouth.

As the last bite disappears into his mouth, all the preparations I’d made yesterday disappear alongside it.

Hikaru: “Hm? Did I do something?”

Hikaru-san gives me an amused laugh.

“I planned on eating that sandwich for breakfast this morning.”

Hikaru: “Hm? I’d assumed that it was just leftovers from yesterday. You made it for breakfast?”

After a moment, Hikaru-san’s expression changes.

Hikaru: “Ahh, that’s right. Today’s that event, isn’t it. … I see. Ohhh, I see.”

Hikaru-san gets up from where he was sitting and stretches.

A strange stench emits from his suit and hair and through the kitchen. He smells of strong perfume, tobacco, alcohol, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on, all mixed together.

Hikaru: “So, given any mind to who you’ll choose?”

“Huh?”

Hikaru: “Hmmm.”

Hikaru-san laughs, amused.

Morning rays filter through the kitchen window and hit Hikaru-san, giving his face a sense of shadowy depth.

Hikaru: “It’s one of those three, then?”

“I don’t think I understand what you’re getting at?”

Hikaru: “Ahaha, even if you lie– … hm? Your face… you really, genuinely don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, do you? I guess they wouldn’t have mentioned it, huh.”

Hikaru-san’s smiling face reminds me of the joker in a deck of cards.

Hikaru: “Natsume will be attending today’s event, too.”

“Eh?!”

Hikaru: “The company that Natsume works for will be adapting the anime the event’s for into a game. So, he’ll be there too.”

“How do you know that?”

Hikaru: “Hm, I wonder?”

Hikaru-san shrugs his shoulders exaggeratedly.

Hikaru: “But what does him being there mean to you? Is it a bad thing? I wonder, what ever will you do with this love square you’ve found yourself entangled in?”

Hikaru-san takes a single step towards me.

Hikaru: “You always hear about love triangles, but love squares are a rather novel thing, aren’t they? … ahaha. Let’s see what you’ve got, then.”

“Our– our relationship is nothing like that.”

I reply.

“I’m just going to an event. It has nothing to do with anyone’s feelings.”

As I tell Hikaru-san that, I move to exit the kitchen.

– At that moment.

Hikaru: “You may say that– and you may feel that way– but is that how they think of it?”

Hikaru-san catches my hand.

“Hi-Hikaru-san–”

Hikaru: “Here.”

Hikaru-san picks his bag up with his other hand, and leads me to the bathroom.

Hikaru: “Did you really plan on going looking this plain? This isn’t anything to write home about at all.”

Hikaru-san points a finger at my clothes as he speaks.

Hikaru: “Here, you can consider this a thank you for the sandwich.”

As he says this, he opens his bag and brings out a small pouch. Inside are a bunch of different cosmetics and makeup tools.

Hikaru: “This may not be my best work ever, but… mmm, it should do the trick, at least. Don’t move unless I tell you to… got it?”

While I’m busy being taken aback at what he just said, Hikaru-san’s hands start moving with lightning speed, until my reflection in the mirror looks completely different.

(... ah.)

I’m left sitting in astonishment.

Hikaru: “Clothes are clothes, so there’s a limit to what I can do about them. Ah, it should be fine. Those three’ve never been a fan of the glitzy look, anyhow.”

Hikaru-san comes up from behind me, his body brushing up against my shoulders.

Hikaru: “So? What do you think?”

“Pretty…”

It’s the only answer I can think of.

Hikaru: “Good. … now, time for the finishing touch.”

Suddenly, Hikaru-san brings his arm around my body, before wrapping around it just below my chest.

“Eh???”

Hikaru: “Don’t move!”

In Hikaru-san’s other hand, he’s holding a pearl pink lipstick.

Hikaru-san twists the tube until a bit of it is sticking out, before smearing a bit of it onto the tip of his finger. He then sets the lipstick down, before bringing his finger to my lips.

His touch is tender and meticulous as he traces my lips.

Each time his body brushes up against my back as he moves, I can feel a rush of electricity jolt through me.

Hikaru: “Alright, all done.”

At that, he finally drops his finger from my lips, before resting his chin on my right shoulder.

Hikaru: “I wonder how they’ll react when they see you?”

Hikaru-san brings his fingertip to his lips, before licking the remaining lipstick off it with his tongue.

Hikaru: “Ahaha— ahahaha!”

Hikaru-san’s laugh echoes in my ears, both as beautiful as the delicate sway of a chime and as grating as the crash of a cracked bell.

Hikaru: “And with that, I bid you farewell, Imouto-san.”

As he says this, Hikaru-san grabs my shoulders and spins me around, pushing me away.

Before I know it, I’m sent stumbling out of the bathroom door.

★☆★

I’m on the first floor before I even realize it. I’d practically sprinted down the stairs of the mansion, frantic.

I lean against the wall at the front entrance, hunched over as I attempt to catch my breath. No matter how hard I try, though, I can’t seem to get myself to calm down.

It’s a while before I’m finally able to so much as walk again.

(I’m gonna miss the train at this rate!)

The event’s at Makuhari Messe, which is about an hour and a half away from the mansion.

In order to get there, I need to transfer trains, which means that if I miss one of them, I won’t be able to make it to the event in time.

But the outfit I’m wearing isn’t really made for physical activity, so it isn’t like I can run there.

(What should I do…)

I think worriedly.

“... get in.”

Suddenly, a car comes up next to me.

“Yu– Yuusuke-kun!?”

The car is one of the three that the Asahina family owns.

And sitting in the driver’s seat is Yuusuke-kun.

Yuusuke: “You’re headin’ to that event, right? I’ll drive.”

“Um… but…”

Yuusuke: “If you keep hesitating, we won’t make it in time.”

“Ah… you’re right. Thank you!”

I go to climb into the passenger’s seat. Once he sees that I’m inside, Yuusuke-kun steps on the accelerator.

Yuusuke: “This thing’s at Makuhari Messe, yeah?”

“Um, yeah.”

For the first time since I’d run all the way out of the mansion, I’m finally able to properly catch my breath.

“But why are you driving me?”

Yuusuke: “Might as well.”

Yusuke-kun replies while looking ahead.

Yuusuke: “I was already on my way to school, anyways.”

“Huh? But our school’s in Meiji, though? Makuhari Messi’s in Chiba!”

Yuusuke: “It’s cool. It’s still a while before I’ve gotta be there. I should be good enough on time to drive you before.”

“B-but, Meiji and Chiba are really far away from each other, aren’t they?! It’s gonna be a long drive back– this is a complete detour.”

Yuusuke: “... I mean, yeah. I guess.”

The car slows to a stop at a red light.

Yuusuke-kun turns his gaze toward me.

Yuusuke: “‘s only natural I’d offer to take you.”

“.... eh?”

Yuusuke: “Didn’t you go shopping for new clothes for today? It would suck pretty damn bad if something happened to them while on your way to something you’ve been looking forward to, right? If some idiot got your clothes dirty, or something else happened, you’d feel awful about it.”

“That’s true, but… still, why go to the trouble..?”

Yuusuke: “Would it be bad if I said it’s ‘cause I want to?”

After Yuusuke-kun says this, the traffic light turns green.

Yuusuke-kun turns his gaze ahead of him again.

Yuusuke-kun doesn’t say anything else. I’m unable to come up with a reply, so we’re left sitting in silence for a while.

Then, finally, I hear Yuusuke-kun mutter something.

Yuusuke: “It’s cool. Who cares what the reason is?”

(Yuusuke-kun…)

Yuusuke: “And anyways.”

Yuusuke-kun’s voice goes quiet as he whispers in a different tone.

Yuusuke: “The way you look today… is really dangerous. The hell am I supposed to do if you start attracting even more rivals..?”

(Eh?!)

I turn away from Yuusuke-kun as I exclaim to myself.

Yuusuke-kun doesn’t look or turn towards me, his focus not leaving the road ahead of him.

We don’t say anything else, and I’m left at a complete loss.

(Yuusuke-kun… what I heard him say just now…)

Before long, we’re entering the highway. When we do, Yuusuke-kun abruptly speaks to me in a serious voice.

Yuusuke: “Hey.”

“Wh-what is it?”

My voice comes out shrill.

Yuusuke: “I have something important I need to confess.”

As he says this, Yuusuke-kun’s face tightens. There’s an underlying sense of nervousness in his tension.

Yuusuke: “When I tell you this, I need you to stay calm. I need you to stay composed.”

“O-okay, yeah.”

Yuusuke: “You see, the truth is.”

Yuusuke-kun lets out a long, heavy sigh.

Yuusuke: “I only just got my license the day before yesterday. You’re the first passenger I’ve ever had.”

Complete silence.

“Eh— EHHHHHHH?!”

I scream out without thinking.

“I-I’ll be getting out now!”

Yuusuke: “It’s fine!”

“Nope, I’m good, it’s good, let’s stop!”

Yuusuke: “The hell we will! We’re already on the highway, we can’t just leave! ‘Sides, my instructor was always praising me for my driving and stuff. Don’t even worry about it!”

Yuusuke-kun’s voice echos from inside the car.

Despite the loud commotion of me and Yuusuke-kun inside the car, the summer sun shines brilliantly outside.

[mxmorbidmidnight]

Can you control what you shapeshift into?

I greet thee dear! I suppose it depends. Shapeshifting is as a dance just as it is survival. I shift at my whims, taking delight in my fluidity. There is a wilderness within me and around me that drives change. This is why I cannot stay the same form for long. The beast will long to shift. But what of changing at will?

My comfort in fluidity means that I can take upon a form where I am fluid and able to morph at my pleasing. And yet some changes will come that make it so I cannot force myself out of a form. As I previously mentioned, survival.

In threatened situations certain forms will arise, ones to protect. My surroundings do influence my forms. When I am around a certain close friend of mine I become a soft house cat. I never take this form whenever I am not with them and likely could not even if I wanted to. If I feel male on a certain day I cannot force myself to be female. There is a deep and primal instinct within me, tells me who I am and as a wild beast will not change. Shapeshifting for me is not about freedoms therefore I cannot force myself into a form I do not want to be in.

My shapeshifting is to do with the wilderness that is my will. In its nature it cannot be tamed or forced. Just as I cannot force myself to no longer be a shapeshifter, there are times when my soul distinctly feels as a certain form. To change is of no use, and I suppose not possible seeing as I am a shapeshifter only of the spiritual kind.

[deepdreamnights]

More video tinkering with Vidu 1.5

Vidu hit 1.5 this morning for testing, which I get access to as part of the artist's program. While making raw material for a "Big Professor" project-

(Shown here to establish a 1.0 baseline)

-I nuked most of my credits, I've still got enough to try out the new features and give you all a rundown of them.

First major change is resolution options. Fast, 720, or 1080. Shown here is my first attempt at a 1080 gen, using the same prompt as above. While most vids in this post will be gifs for ease of use, this one is an MP4 to provide full evaluation.

Ignore the odd playback speed, since that's something you'd fix in post. The gif at the start was one of my most stable renderings of Big Professor under v1. Got some minor wonk in the details, little distortion around the prof's claw and the kid in the first half second, but otherwise well above the average of the 1.0 versions I've been working with, especially the clarity on the button text.

The second one is a re-run of the same prompt, minus some detail issues with one shin, the level of consistency is promising.

720 can go up to 8 seconds, 1080 tops off at 4. At present, 1.5 does not have an upscale function. If you're not tinkering to test out prompts I'd generally recommend 1080, even for lower-res projects, for the purposes of being able to crop and/pan.

For most of these, assume I'm using either 720 or 1080 gens.

Multi-Subject Reference-to-Video

THIS is the big winner of the setup. Previously, ref-to-video only could handle a single referenced subject image. The current setup now allows you to reference up to three per generation.

Those can be characters, props, or settings, and it can be used for morphing effects. This is good, because first-frame-last-frame is more finnicky than reference-to-video. The obvious use is to create multi-character scenes, and it works well for that:

But it has other uses. For example, here I used:

And while this one was reversed and trimmed, it displays the potential for using the feature for transformation sequences. The backgrounds are especially helpful, since Vidu's internally-generated toon backgrounds are very modern and digital-painting-looking (the gif of Mrs. Nice turning back and forth into Mrs. Nautilus at the top of the section didn't use a background image reference) and as always, I like it retro.

To that point, using the more comic-booky Mrs. Nice control drawing didn't work near as well as the more period-accurate one:

And while I'll personally be cutting out frames to produce a more accurate 1980s TV animation look, the raw fluidity is bound to appeal to the majority of users, and minor issues like the color of Mrs. Nice's blouse changing mid-transformation are easy enough to fix manually (though if a flaw looks enough like a traditional animation screwup, I might just leave it in)

And another fun feature? Movement amplitude control.

In my last post about it, I said Vidu likes to move, and if you need a more subtle shot, like this one, setting the movement amplitude control to small is your move. (Funny how the robot interpreted the book binding as a mouth.) If something's too static you can up the movement as well, but I haven't had that problem much.

In terms of generation quality, 1.5 is a good but not huge leap up from 1.0. at least in terms of what I've made so far. Aesthetics are very similar, but issues of tearing, distortion, and wonky action are lessened.

And it's way better at understanding triceratops, so thumbs up there.

This is one of my wonk-tests, but man, check that walk cycle. This is why the movement controls are important, sometimes when set to auto a dialog scene becomes a weird chase.

Now, in terms of generation costs (and this can always change), 1.5 seems more expensive but in the end it works out more or less the same.

A 1.0 quality 8-second gen upscaled to max res would be 24 points (16 for the quality 8-seconds, 8 for the upscale), and an 8-second 720 render is also 24 points (as is a 4-second 1080).

Yeah, you don't want to use "Fast" in most cases. While both the 720 and fast versions here both have flaws (Bruce's disappearing popcorn bucket, etc), the 720 res version is substantially more on-model for both characters.

To close out, a bit of fun wonk. To try out the effect, I prompted using a "Specialist Matt Trakker" G.I.Joe/M.A.S.K. crossover figure as a character reference, to see if it could translate a character from toy to live action. And it can-

Though it is very, very literal.

The combination of live action-esq person and accurate G.I.Joe joints is harrowing, but there's potential there for some wild variants on the Toy Story/A Christmas Toy/'Wynona's Big Brown Beaver'-Music-Video-by-Primus concept.

[dhddmods]

Transreproductive/Diffprodu flags!

We decided to make flags for transreproductive terms! We included the definitions for ya'll.

Transreproductive/Diffprodu

Meaning: A person that desires a different reproductive system to the one they currently have.

The purple represents androgynous-associated sex traits. The blue represents masculine-associated sex traits. The green represents neutral-associated sex traits. Yellow represents xenic-associated sex traits. White represents sex fluidity. Black represents the teresex (angenital, angonadal, and anutero) umbrella. Orange represents outherine-associated sex traits. Red represents feminine-associated sex traits. The shades of brown represent the BIPOC community. The pinkish symbols in the center of the flag represent the uterus/prostate and gonads.

Transgonadal/Diffgonadal

Meaning: A person that desires different gonads to the ones they were born with.

Transovarian/Diff-O

Meaning: A person that desires ovaries.

Transtesticular/Diff-T

Meaning: A person that desires testicles.

Transovicle/Diff-OT

Meaning: A person that desires a combination of testicles and ovaries.

Transute/Diffut

Meaning: A person that desires a different reproductive organ (prostate or uterus) than they were born with.

Transuteric/Diff-Ut

Meaning: A person that desires a uterus.

Transprostatic/Diff-Pro

Meaning: A person that desires a prostate.

Transxenive/Diffxeno/Xenogonadal

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are not currently known to be possible for human biology.

Astroxenive/Diffastro

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are related to space. For example, desiring two miniature planets as gonads.

Elexenive/Diffelem

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are related to elements/weather. For example, desiring a bubble instead of a uterus, and tornados instead of gonads.

Mythicxenive/Mythixenive/Mythoxenive/Diffmythic

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are related to mythology/mythic beings. For example, desiring a reproductive system found in a mythological being.

Faunaxenive/Diffauna

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are animalistic. For example, desiring a bird's reproductive system.

Floraxenive/Difflora

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are plant-related. For example, desiring vines and fruit instead of fallopian tubes and ovaries.

Technoxenive/Difftech

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are mechanical, robotic, or digital. For example, desiring a reproductive organ that is made of metal and bolts.

Morphixenive/Diffmorphi

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that can morph or retract. For example, desiring gonads that can shift between testes and ovaries.

Comboxenive/Diffcombo

Meaning: A person that desires gonads or reproductive organs that are a mixture not yet seen as biologically possible for humans. For example, a testicle that functions as a uterus (retracting into the inguinal canal when impregnated and growing a baby there.)

[quintessentialgaymutant]

Iceman Queer History and Analysis Part 2- The New Defenders

The Defenders have historically been an underlooked team, usually filled in by B or C list Marvel heroes that often did not fit in other books. Upon Claremont’s triumphant relaunch of the Uncanny X-Men titles, many of the Silver Age pieces of the X-Men books were either written out or retconned into something that allowed for more depth. Famous examples include Magneto being a holocaust survivor as opposed to the moustache twirling villain he was; Jean Grey being the most powerful of the X-Men, and Scott Summers' origin being masterfully concocted by the dreaded Mr. Sinister.

Bobby, Hank and Warren were largely written out of the X-Men titles during this time, and often floundered in secondary, underlooked teams like The Defenders, and The Champions before that. J.M Dematteis was the main writer of The Defenders for a long time, and was transitioning out of the book in the mids 80s, around the same time he was writing the Iceman mini series analyzed in the last post.

Replacing Dematteis is a writer by the name of Peter B Gillis, who similarly to the book itself, to me, feels like an underlooked writer at Marvel to this day. He was incredibly ahead of his time and his contributions to queer visibility during a time when queerness was null and invisible in mainstream comics, often goes underappreciated. 

Upon his takeover, the book was rebranded into The New Defenders, and he was given a fresh cast of characters, which included Beast, Angel, Iceman Valkyrie, Moondragon and Cloud, amongst others. It should be noted that the last 4 characters are now canon queer characters and I believe it’s safe to say that Gillis’ work paved the way for that development. 

The central, connective piece of queerness amongst the cast is a character by the name of Cloud. Cloud, initially in Dematteis’ run, was a new character he had just introduced to the book, before he left the title. He has stated that he never got to do much with her but it was Gillis who developed her true origins and character conflict, soon after he took over the book from Dematteis (Graymalkin Lane, 2022). 

An important piece of queer comics trivia: Cloud’s story was inspired by a real life trans woman who was friends with Peter B Gillis, and he used that perspective to explore sexuality in the book, using a science fiction angle, and apparently he had to fight editorial quite hard to do this (Hedge Coke, 2018).

Using science fiction to explore queerness is rather well documented in comics, a lot of queer depictions of love or gender fluidity often involve aliens, shapeshifters, deities or gods. Characters like Xavin, Mystique, Morph, Loki, etc all have some roots with this schema. This approach allows writers to explore queer themes rather explicitly, while hiding under the veil of fantasy, in order to separate reality and fiction, and not alienate homophobic audiences. 

Marvel's beloved and first ever gay relationship of Wiccan and Hulkling was initially conceptualized with Hulkling being a shapeshifting alien who would have a similar narrative that Cloud had; he would question his gender identity due to his feelings for Wiccan. The gay writer who created Hulkling and Wiccan: Alan Heinberg, thought this was the only way he could convey a gay couple, that the editors and audiences would never accept an actual gay couple, fortunately he was incorrect (The Gay Times, 2011). Early stories like The New Defenders, likely paved the way for a cultural shift that allowed queer stories to go from plausibly deniable fantasy fiction queer, to explicitly queer.

The fantasy/science fiction approach may seem a bit regressive but this was the best many writers could do, especially in the 80s, when simply being openly queer could get you put in jail, lynched or disowned. 

Thus, viewing these choices with a modern lens, while useful, may undermine realities of the time these stories took place; realities that set the foundation for the progress we have today. 

The fact that this story and character were inspired by a real trans woman, and used to explore non normative (queer) sexual desires is an important piece of queer comics history, and set the stage for the canon representation and exploration of Iceman and Moondragon as queer characters down the line. With that aside, let’s dive into Cloud’s conflict, expression of gender, and how that relates to Bobby and contributed to his queer readings. 

Under Dematteis' pen, Cloud was little more than a beautiful young girl, wearing little to no clothing, with a seemingly tragic past. A point that stuck was Cloud’s immediate telepathic rapport with Moondragon, a woman known as a supervillain and adversary of the Avengers. Cloud could see that Moondragon was so much more than that and broke the proverbial ice with her in ways no one else on the team was willing to do.

Under Gillis’ pen, Cloud eventually fell in love with Moondragon, depicting one of the earliest portrayals of a same sex love confession.

Moondragon did not seem to be disturbed by this as she grew up in an advanced civilization, however, Cloud felt like there was something fundamentally wrong with the feelings of loving a woman as a woman herself, so she uses her powers to transform into a beautiful man, who would be as equally naked most of the time. 

Cloud felt a sense of self in both gendered forms, and would switch between them on whim, stating that their internal being was static regardless of how they presented themselves, and most of the team embraced Cloud regardless. Cloud still struggled with their feelings though, they loved Moondragon, and still held some internalized belief that there was something to be ashamed of in loving her, and switching genders.

Thus, Gillis explores queer feelings of identity, love and desire, as he explicitly stated he wanted to do, using Cloud and their powers. 

Bobby is immediately extremely conflicted and rejects Cloud’s switching of genders and gets visibility uncomfortable whenever Cloud switches to a man.

What’s interesting about Bobby’s reaction is this is also the point where he starts catching feelings for Cloud. When Cloud was a nearly naked, hot blonde woman constantly around him, he paid Cloud little to no attention, beyond teasing Cloud for the constant sunbathing. But now, after the fact of knowing that Cloud can also turn into a gorgeous man, he has developed a romantic interest in Cloud. 

This paints the picture of a complicated man who is very much wrestling with queer desire. Bobby likes Cloud but he is also deeply uncomfortable, both with Cloud and his feelings for them, specifically because Cloud switches gender, and only after it is revealed that Cloud can do this. He is nervous when she becomes a boy. Not disgusted, nervous. Yet, he only develops feelings for her after the fact. 

The scene above is quite daunting as Cloud breaks down, their inner conflict of desire and gender expression is causing them a lot of emotional distress, Bobby hears Cloud screaming and goes in to their room to comfort them. Cloud changes into their male form to prove their point and he immediately jumps away. As he leaves he calls himself a hypocrite.

And thus, the parallel is made; as Bobby has feelings for someone in ways that goes against his enforced gendered scripts outlined in the previous post, and a character whose entire existence is a challenge due to preconceived gendered scripts. 

Cloud feels like they can’t be loved or helped due to their conflict with gender and feelings for Moondragon, and Bobby feels like a hypocrite because of his inability to accept Cloud, despite his own conflicting feelings that also go against prescribed gender scripts. Cloud hates themself and Bobby hates that he loves someone who could also be a man:

The resolution to Bobby’s conflict in this story comes with some acceptance of what Cloud is and his complicated desire for them. Once Cloud’s origins are revealed and they leave for the cosmos, they paint a picture of Bobby and both forms of Cloud.

Bobby doesn’t object this time.

This is illustrated again, when a possessed Moondragon uses both versions of Cloud’s human vessels to torture Bobby, he manages to save them, but the fact that Moondragon used both instead of the default female form, is quite telling.

Ultimately, as Gillis himself stated, this run was meant to depict non normative and complicated ideas around sexuality. His exact quote, along with his motivation for writing Cloud stemming from his trans friend, can be seen here: 

This exploration of non normative sexuality, and Bobby being at the centre of it, specifically after the fact that Cloud was revealed to also have an attractive male form, is something that resonated with queer readers deeply at the time. 

Even Mike Carey himself confirmed that he saw Bobby as queer due to this Cloud storyline, and leaned into that in his writing, which is what prompted another shapechanger: Mystique being a tormenting love interest for Bobby. She threatens to show up “in a different body” to catch him off guard in the "Manifest Destiny" storyline, hinting at his complicated feelings around queer desire. 

In the end, this was a big deal, to have a story like this with 3 different characters connected and woven in, in their own ways. It fed deeper into the theory that Bobby could be closeted: he has complicated feelings for a character meant to embody divergent narratives of sexuality and gender, in addition to his previous characterization showcasing his need to default to normalized scripts around gender and sexuality. He is challenged with this and this won’t be the last time his discomfort over this challenge comes up.

Queer fans again, saw their experiences in him. They saw a man with conflicting feelings on sexuality, and societal expectations. They saw a man who desperately wanted to be normal and often was suffocated and folded into scripts that didn’t actually fit him. They saw a man accepting that he might have feelings for someone who might be a man, and only after it was revealed that they could be a man. 

So they took to sending fan mail to address this. Is Bobby closeted? Could he be? The impacts of these fan letters will be in the next essay!

Peter B Gillis passed away in 2024, but the impacts of his work live on. He challenged the status quo during a time when it was incomprehensible to do so. We’ll never know if he actually intended Bobby to be queer, but nontheless, the reading queer fans had was only cemented after this seminal run of The New Defenders. 

References

Graymalkin Lane. (2022). The New Defenders interview with J.M Dematteis. Retrieved from: https://redcircle.com/shows/cc9f4c23-aacd-41ff-bf92-3c09b082391d/episodes/4156916e-0e89-43c1-98d6-cd21a1cea6fd

Hedge Coke (2018). A Conversation with Peter Gillis. Retrieved from: https://travishedgecoke.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-peter-b-gillis

The Gay Times. (2011). Alan Heinberg- The Gay Times Interview. Retrieved from: https://comicviews.livejournal.com/12843.html

Additional info:

Mike Carey’s comment:

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Gender Fluidity, non-heterosexual, and gender variance behavior in mythology.

For the purpose of this thread, and keeping it short cuz even though this is my off month to finally rest from burn out, I've got publishing obligations, signings, and stuff to do -- we're keeping-- this to South Asian mythology:

I've already done a thread about third sex/intersex and trans (Hijra) in South Asian culture and the portrayals in a pop culture IP recently - Monkey Man by Dev Patel --

This is a short primer really:

Harihara - the union representing totality/oneness of all existence is the being born of the union of Shiva and Vishnu (who at prior to this morphs into Mohini, the female celestial temptress who Shiva becomes besotted with and tries to get intimate with), Vishnu changes back amidst this and the two fuse into a being. The ability of celestial beings | gods | goddesses to morph, change shape and gender in Vedic to Hindu mythology is well-established/normal. But there are many legends about Mohini, including the birth of her (Vishnu, his female avatar form being Mohini) son, Shasta, with Shiva. Mohini is also known as a femme fatale archetype, seducer, temptress, as well as someone known for destroying/seducing demons to their doom.

One thing to remember is that the Vedic religion and its stories are old, older than our records because the stories, songs, poetry of it all existed before written records and were transmitted orally. There are also varied versions of the epics, such as Tamil recountings of Mahabharata for example, in where one such example exists.

Krishna also takes the form of Mohini to marry Aravan (in Tamil) Iravan otherwise to give Aravan the chance to experience love before his death. There is a festival celebrated to this in the month of Chitrai (April/May) at the Koothandavar Temple dedicated to Iravan during which, Hijras (the third sex, transgender, intersex, and or eunuchs as well) celebrate Krishna/Mohini marrying Aravan and then mourn Aravan/Iravan's death as he sacrificed himself.

It must be noted that there is artwork and mention throughout the wide spread of Vedic upwards stories (and how many interpretations, takes, and varies stories there are) of same sex and yonic/non-vaginal sex relationships, births, and more.

There's also inter-being...?

Erotica/romance authors help me out here? Inter...celestial sex?

Apsara, devas, asura, humans, demigods. Look, lots of sex of all kind happens, and it's normal.

There's also the story of Arjuna to consider: when he refuses the seductive advances of Urvashi, she curses him to be a Klba, or member of the third gender. Later when Arjuna adopts the name of Brihannala, the curse takes effect as Arjuna dresses in women's clothing, and because of this, Arjuna is able to gain entrance to the kingdom of Virata in the Padma Purana and teach the high arts of music, singing, and dance, to the king's daughter and princess. Later, he is turned into a woman when he wishes to take part in Krishna's mystical dance which only women may attend.

Then there is Ila, a character cursed by Shiva and Parvati to change genders each month.

NOTE: there are MANY versions of the story of Ila, but it is canonical they changed gender -- known as Sudyumna as a woman, and Ila as a man.

Ilā is considered the chief progenitor of the Lunar dynasty of Indian kings – also known as the Aillas.

Continuing. In one story, Ila marries Budha (not Buddha the former king and founder of Buddhism), but Budha that is the god Mercury -- Budha is aware of Ila's origins as a man and changing status, but only marries Ila in his feminine state, and honoring that part of them as his wife and only when Ila is in that state. He does not enlighten Ila to the changing effect as each gender is unaware of the other and those lives.

The tale of Ila's transformations is told in the Puranas as well as the Indian epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

This is just a little thread. Anyways, I'm off now to sign nearly 2000 pages (won't finish today) and have an achey hand while I do more research and trying to improve the prose style I want for book three of Tales of Tremaine.

❤️ thank you. Remember, be kind.

[divinegrump]

Aziraphale trots excitedly over to his desk, his hands prancing in the air as he goes. "Crowley my dear, you won't believe the purchase I've just made!"

"Wazzit, Angel?" Crowley is lounging in an arm chair, quickly becoming more a strangely shaped decorative pillow than a sitting demon.

Aziraphale lifts a antenna'd little box up, presenting it to his demon: "Ta-da! It's a radio, isn't it darling?"

"It's quite obviously a radio, and one could call it that, if they'd like."

The angel seems to wilt a little.

"But it's a..." (Crowley seems to falter trying to find a compliment, out of practice as he is) "...It's a fine shade of blue."

"Oh! Let me play it for you!" Aziraphale sets it gently back on the desk, bending slightly forwards to turn it on. Crowley studiously pretends to be doing anything other than looking in the direction of the radio, trying to get his breathing back to normal as the angel's pants stretch across his... well, stretch with his movement. Pesky human responses, he doesn't even need to breathe.

Aziraphale presses a button on the side of the radio and it crackles some news caster's voice through the speaker "...showers late into the evening, humidity at-" Aziraphale changes the station. A song that sounds like ABBA and Dolly Parton in some combination floats sweetly into the room. Aziraphale frowns "Oh. Beebop." He reaches towards the tuning knob- "Aw leave it, Angel, you heard the man, it'll rain all day-"

Aziraphale turns "You made it rain all day-"

Crowley stands- morphing from decorative pillow to more of a tall and alluring coatrack - "Either way, whoever's fault it is - and however the traffic may be piling up-" He grins a devious half smile, "We're stuck inside all day-"

"All I'm askin baby- Please please please," croons the Radio.

"All I'm askin baby- Please please please," croons Crowley, making an exaggerated bow, extending his hand to Aziraphale. Aziraphale tells himself he isn't blushing.

He extends his hand to Crowley-

"I beg you don't embarrass me, motherfucker," snarks the radio.

"Crowley! It's- it's not decent!"

Crowley takes the hand Aziraphale had retracted in shock, snaking his other hand around Aziraphale's gorgeous- Aziraphale's waist, Crowley corrects himself, pretending to be suave, "it won't kill you, Angel," he hums into the blonde curls by his ear.

Aziraphale does his best to relax. But- "Crowley, Crowley, dear, you're, well, let me." He gently scoops his wrist beneath Crowley's, encircling the thin dark duke with his arm, swaying them to the music.

Crowley, for all his boneless fluidity, takes quite a few moments to begin moving in a way that doesn't resemble the cycle of a cat tripping and pretending they haven't tripped.

They both pretend not to have heard the radio, "...we could live so happily." They both pretend there wasn't an aching moment they looked into each other's eyes. They both pretend not to have enjoyed that momentary closeness as much as they did.

[idle-skull]

“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13)

.

Nevada is a former member of the Louisiana BoS (Locally known as The Brotherhood of Blades) who abandoned the organization during his late teens. Since then it’s been over a decade, he’s been everywhere between the Pelican State & California, but eventually he settled in Utah. He’s a single father trying to do what’s best for his young son; trying to give him the loving childhood that he himself never got. Nevada is his own brand of Christian, but also experiences a lot of religious guilt from his upbringing.

Louisiana BoS lore:

The Louisiana BoS is a far removed splinter group of the well established organization. Due to the various government research sites in the state, it’s overrun with all matter of mutants & monsters. The only thing holding them back is the Brotherhood & the massive walls erected by remnants of the US military right after the war to keep these mutants trapped between the Louisiana coast & the Sabine & Mississippi rivers.

Naturally, the Louisiana BoS ended up focusing more on killing mutants than on collecting prewar tech & artifacts. Overtime this focus developed into an almost religious fanaticism. This, considering Louisiana’s religious climate, quickly helped the Brotherhood morph into an inquisitorial order of evangelicals. At this point, they cut contact with Any other chapters they had been communicating with, & re-founded themselves into the Brotherhood of Blades.

They have a much more martial focus than other chapters, preferring technologically modified melee weapons over traditional energy weapons & power armor. The BoB also takes on much more clerical titles for their ranks over the traditional BoS terms. They also value fluidity, lethality, & speed in their combat style over overt brute force.

[hansamabranding]

Dynamic Logos – The Shape-Shifting Chameleons of Branding

Forget the “one-logo-fits-all” mindset. In a world where your brand appears on everything from smartwatches to skyscrapers, your logo needs to do more than just exist. It needs to adapt.

🎭 What is a Dynamic Logo?

A dynamic logo is a flexible, ever-changing version of a logo that retains core visual elements but can adapt in:

Color

Layout

Shape

Imagery

Pattern

Context

The trick is in maintaining brand recognition while allowing creative variation.

🔁 Static vs Dynamic: The Showdown

Static LogoDynamic LogoOne fixed formMultiple evolving formsGreat for print & tight controlGreat for digital & engagementPredictable consistencyCreative adaptabilityExample: Nike SwooshExample: Google Doodle

Dynamic logos are like jazz—structured, but full of improvisation.

🧠 Why Use a Dynamic Logo?

1. Multi-Platform Branding

Your logo appears on TikTok, billboards, merchandise, apps—each needs a unique treatment.

2. Cultural Relevance

Dynamic logos can reflect seasons, causes, or trends without needing a rebrand.

3. Audience Engagement

Changing logos spark curiosity. Think of Google Doodles—people actually check the homepage to see what’s new!

4. Creative Freedom

Designers aren’t boxed into one rigid format. The logo becomes a living part of your brand story.

🔍 Examples of Iconic Dynamic Logos

Google Doodles – The perfect storm of playfulness and branding.

MTV – Their original logo from the ‘80s was designed to morph constantly (graffiti, glitch, pattern).

City of Melbourne – A geometric “M” that shifts colors and patterns depending on the context.

Nickelodeon (early 2000s) – Same font, splashed onto a ton of quirky shapes.

🛠️ How to Design a Dynamic Logo

1. Establish a Core Anchor

Even in chaos, there’s order. You need a consistent element (like a base shape, typeface, or symbol).

Example: Google’s letterforms stay the same—even when the visuals are wildly different.

2. Build a System, Not a Single Mark

Think modular. How can your logo be rearranged, recolored, or textured without losing identity?

3. Design for Motion

Dynamic logos often work beautifully in animations. Plan for transitions, loops, or interactive states.

4. Style Guides Still Matter

Yes, it’s flexible—but it’s not a free-for-all. Create a dynamic design system, not logo anarchy.

⚠️ Pitfalls to Avoid

🚫 Too Much Variation If people can’t tell it’s the same brand, the concept fails.

🚫 No Visual Anchor Without a repeating element, your logo becomes a shapeshifter with identity issues.

🚫 Inconsistent Tone Your playful Valentine’s Day variation shouldn’t look like a horror movie teaser (unless you're Netflix).

💡 Pro Tips for Dynamic Logo Success

Use motion graphics to make dynamic logos pop in video and app UX.

Connect variations to events, campaigns, or locations.

Let user-generated content influence variations (very Gen Z-friendly).

Pair dynamic logos with static counterparts for legal or packaging uses.

📚 Unique Fact of the Day

In 2008, the City of Melbourne launched one of the world’s first truly dynamic logos—a bold, angular “M” that could morph into hundreds of variations. It was one of the first city governments to fully embrace visual fluidity as part of their civic identity. Progressive and pixel-perfect.

🧾 Key Takeaway

Dynamic logos aren't just a trend—they're a response to an evolving world. When designed well, they become an ever-changing heartbeat of your brand, perfectly suited for the hyper-visual, scroll-happy generation.

https://letterhanna.com/dynamic-logos-the-shape-shifting-chameleons-of-branding/

[fictosolaic]

👋Hey! My tag is fictosolaic, but I also go by Solunarity, Sol, Soluna, and whatever else you wanna call me. This is my main. You can find me on Ao3 as @ solunarity and Pinterest as @ thatssoluna but most of my other socials are private.

🌟My blog is subject to change! I created it specifically with the idea of fluidity in mind. I want my main to be a space that I can morph around whatever I’m currently hyperfixated on. I tend to jump around quickly so don’t get too attached!!

🌸She/her, I’m cis, sapphic (bi spec??), and oriented aroaceflux with medically diagnosed OCD and self-diagnosed autism. 18+ only (minors DNI please!). I don’t tend to post anything NSFW but I am prone to swearing & the occasional mature topic. I’m a big fan of horror and artistic nudity so sometimes I will repost gore, tits, the likes. I’m witchy asf and lowkey pagan. Aries ☀️ Gemini 🌙 Taurus 🌅 My PFP border is the aroace sapphic flag, by @ rusty_penny_ on twt

💙Self identified leftist slop (NOT LIBERAL). I’m from the US (sorry) and always open to learning more about other cultures. I’m in the middle of getting my associates in science right now but plan to study abroad and hopefully leave this hellhole eventually.

❤️‍🔥Trans INCLUSIVE intersectional radfem! If you don’t know the difference between choice feminism and radical feminism, please research before discussing anything with me. I believe all women have the right to choose, but not every choice a woman makes will be feminist by default. Oh—and fuck the patriarchy.

🐞I’m a conservationist, entomology major, and biodiversity advocate. I don’t support fast fashion, generative AI, or rich ass motherfuckers. I’m always willing to chat biology jargon. I also spend too much time on Etsy, so if you have shop recs, drop them!

👻My favorite genres are horror & mystery. I’m always open to game/movie/show/book recs. I love video games, poetry, and music. I’m also a theatre kid at heart so I’m a fan of musicals/plays as well.

‼️Antishippers, tr*mp supporters, homophobes/transphobes/misogynists/p3dophiles etc DNI!! My blocklist is longer than y’all’s dicks I do not hesitate. It is not my job to educate you 🥰

[veloursdor]

based on this au where anakin died in childbirth and obi-wan is left alone to raise the twins, but he can’t bear to be near them without breaking down because he misses anakin too much.

aka neglectful father widow-wan

(1.2k words)

“There must be something wrong with me, since Father loves everyone, but he doesn’t love me.” - Luke and Leia, circa 12 years after their birth.

Leia was trying her best to prove to everyone around her, but especially Father, that she was meant to hold a lightsaber and that she had what it took to train as a Jedi. She was standing in front of the Council – various Jedi Masters, padawans and younglings alike –, trying to show her progress regarding her forms. She knew about the multiple sabre forms there existed, but the one that suited her the most was Form V, Djem So. There was something about the fluidity of the form that allowed her movements to flow naturally though her, connecting her with her lightsaber like no other form did. 

As she practised her movements for the entire room to see, the idea of spinning her lightsaber with a little twirl made her giggle, thinking it would look so cool when she did that. However, half way through her twirl, the sound of the entrance door opening stopped her in her tracks, making her see just in time how her father walked away from the room without looking back. She felt her heart break as the doors closed behind his back, tears scorching her eyes while she tried valiantly to hold them back.

“Thank you, Leia Skywalker, for a wonderful demonstration,” Master Windu said with a kind smile before motioning Leia to step away from the mat, allowing another youngling to take her place. Luke’s smile – bright and enormous as Leia showcased her progress – had dimmed with their Father’s departure. Luke hadn’t shown his progress to the Jedi, nervous about their Father’s approval. “Now, young Ezra Bridger, step forward.”

“I see you’re making progress with Djem So, young Leia,” Master Koon said to her kindly after she had sat down between him and Luke. She smiled as best as she could at the old Master, even though she knew he was lying to her. Because if she had truly done a ‘wonderful job’ that showcased her ‘progress’ with Form V, then Father wouldn’t have walked away from the presentation without casting a glance back at her.

She continued to disappoint him, no matter how hard she tried.

“Excellent form, young Ezra,” Master Windu said as Ezra stepped away from the mat, high-fiving Knight Dume with a bright smile on each of their faces. 

Leia’s insides burned with jealousy at the sight, knowing she would never get to share a moment like that with her father. She was better than Ezra in every possible way, yet Father had the time to share a praising word with Bridger for his ‘achievements in class’ and never for her.

“Luke Skywalker,” Master Windu’s voice called for her brother, making him jump. Leia eyed him curiously as Luke stepped forward, a lightsaber that wasn’t the one he had made after their trip to Ilum clutched tightly in his hands. 

It was beautifully crafted, with a ridged hand grip and a solid casing, something in it causing Leia’s insides to hurt at the sight. She had never seen that particular lightsaber before, but there was something about it that was achingly familiar, and called for her.

Ignoring the weird feeling inside of her, Leia saw her brother attempt and fail to perform Form III – Father’s form –, before his movements naturally morphed into Form V. She rolled her eyes at his obvious attempt at copying her, clearly trying to impress their absent father. 

“Luke Skywalker!” Their father’s voice echoed throughout the room, startling her from her musings and causing Luke to drop the lightsaber he was holding, a bright smile on his face that dimmed down and died the closer their father got to him. 

“Where did you get that?” Father asked her brother once he reached him, before taking the lightsaber from Luke’s hands and clutching it tightly to his chest. “This doesn’t belong to you.”

“I… I found it in your room, Father,” Luke said, his voice shaking alongside his body, as he looked at the floor with embarrassment and shame. “I… I know we’re not supposed to go there, but…”

“Don’t ever touch this again,” their Father said with finality before turning around and leaving the room as suddenly as he had entered it, leaving a deadly silence at his back. 

Leia could only stare in horror as Luke remained standing in the middle of the room, tears running down his face, his shoulders shaking with the strength of his cries. She looked around towards the Masters of the Jedi Council, hoping one of them would stand up and comfort her brother, rescue him from being the centre of all the pity she could feel through the Force.

But no one moved, and Luke continued to cry, silently for the entire room to witness.

“Young Skywalker,” Master Yoda started to say before Luke ran away from the room, the echoes of his footsteps muffling his cries. Leia wanted to go after him, comfort him like she always did whenever Father was too busy to play with them.

But she couldn’t move, a glimmer of hope that her Father would return and praise her for her forms made her remain in place. Luke will be fine, she mused to herself after watching Master Tano stand up from her seat and follow after Luke with a thunderous expression on her face.

That night, after everything had been said and done, Leia failed to fall asleep as Luke continued to play with his toy ship that Senator Amidala had gifted him on their last birthday, saying that it was something their dad would’ve wanted him to have. To Leia, she had given her a book on ‘Diplomacy and Politics’, saying that the daughter of the famous Negotiator should know how to traverse through lies and deceits with ease. 

Leia treasured the gift as if her father himself had given it to her, knowing that she could prove to him that she would be a perfect companion on his travels for peace negotiation treaties if she only studied hard enough.

But before she could plan any further about a future with her father – as Master and Padawan –, the door of their room opened, surprising her with their father’s face. He looked sad and apologetic as he always did whenever he was in their presence, his eyes barely looking at Leia before focusing on Luke, who was looking at their father with a yearning expression on his face.

However, Father’s expression broke down after he caught sight of Luke’s toy in his hand. His breath got caught in his throat – tears pooling in his eyes – and, without a word, he turned around and closed the door behind his back, leaving the twins engulfed in darkness.

“Well done, loser,” Leia said bitterly before turning her back on Luke to stare at the wall. “Now he hates us even more.”

She ignored her brother’s distress, focusing on her own breathing. Leia could no longer coddle Luke’s moods, as they only served to cross Father even further. She had to prove to her Father that she would be a great padawan for him, and in order to do that she needed to toss Luke aside and focus on herself.

Father would love her if she proved to him that she was better than Luke.