#not me seeing people making up reasons to be mad at the future da games already... | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years ago

Text

Spilled Pearls

- Chapter 8 - ao3 -

Lan Qiren’s brother did not outwardly react when Wen Ruohan announced what happened.

He merely stared, face as impassive as a stone washed clean by the river, his posture and position impeccable from the little glimpses Lan Qiren kept stealing of him – he was trying to keep his head ducked and his gaze firmly on the ground, trying to demonstrate penitence, but he couldn’t quite resist looking. He assumed that his brother’s seeming indifference was a mask for the rage he undoubtedly felt, seeing his little brother screw up what would have otherwise been a perfect discussion conference for the Lan sect.

It seemed like a reasonable conclusion, given that Lao Nie was taking up all the slack of reacting with rage without any such mask whatsoever.

“He’s little more than a child!” Lao Nie shouted.

“Little more, perhaps,” Wen Ruohan said smoothly. He was enjoying himself, Lan Qiren thought. “But regardless of how close or how far he is, he is adult enough.”

“He can’t marry or inherit –”

“He shed blood in a night-hunt, and that means he can swear oaths, which is all that’s relevant here. It isn’t as if I married him.”

“He’s sixteen! If someone removed sixteen years out of your life, Hanhan, you wouldn’t even notice the absence!”

“True, but irrelevant,” Wen Ruohan said. “And don’t call me that, Sect Leader Nie.”

“I’ll call you whatever I damn well please, you little –”

“You are unharmed?” Lan Qiren’s brother asked Lan Qiren.

Lan Qiren, who’d been spectating the increasingly fraught back and forth between the two sect leaders, turned to look at him, surprised to be addressed.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “I only had a headache, and Sect Leader Wen took care of that.”

“You call me da-ge now,” Wen Ruohan reminded him, turning briefly away from his argument to do so. “Your oath, remember.”

“Does he even remember swearing the oaths?” Lao Nie hissed. “You know how these Lan drink – you and your damned need for control! Just because you can’t get it one way, you have to try another, is that it, Hanhan?”

“Sect Leader Nie, if you really find it impossible to be civil -”

“If you are unharmed, then we can return to the Cloud Recesses,” Lan Qiren’s brother said, ignoring them both. His voice was as distant and cold as a winter breeze, piercing and lifeless; it reminded Lan Qiren a little of his father, and he shivered. “We will determine the remainder at that time.”

“See?” Wen Ruohan said goadingly to Lao Nie, whose scowl only deepened. “If even his own sect doesn’t object to it –”

“They didn’t not object, they’re refraining from making a statement; it’s not the same thing. ‘Even ten years isn’t too late for a gentleman to get revenge’ – !”

“I should like to see them try.”

Lan Qiren felt a sudden sense of relief, heralded by a bright and abrupt clarity: of course Wen Ruohan hadn’t sworn brotherhood with him on his behalf! He’d only done it because he’d seen Lan Qiren together with Lao Nie, found that the sight offended his vision, and immediately decided to disrupt it. Never mind that Lao Nie didn’t have any intentions beyond the casual mentorship of any older cultivator to a junior – Wen Ruohan was well known for his paranoia, his irritability, his tendency to seize on crazy ideas. And, of course, there was his jealousy, a trait to which he had himself admitted…

A treasure sword used to prop up a table, indeed. It wasn’t about Lan Qiren's merits or the Lan sect’s supposed failings at all. The only table Wen Ruohan was concerned with was Lao Nie’s!

(And that certainly did explain the whole bizarre ‘Hanhan’ thing better than any other hypothesis Lan Qiren had come up with.)

Lan Qiren wasn’t sure it was better, exactly, to be a pawn in a strange game between sect leaders, but it was at least more familiar. As a younger son of a politically minded Great Sect, he was more like a daughter; being used for some scheme by the adults around him had always been his destiny, barring some tragedy or especially indulgent parents – the former was unlikely, the latter he lacked – and so his fate was set.

Of course, it would have been better not to be in a game involving Wen Ruohan at all, but he supposed that there were worse options.

After all, if Wen Ruohan’s primary interest was in tormenting Lao Nie, he probably wouldn’t demand Lan Qiren’s presence in the Nightless City all that often – probably just enough to show that he could – and Lan Qiren would be allowed to continue with his plans for his future. It might even turn out to be something of a benefit. After all, a musician with limited martial skills, traveling all alone, could always use strong friends that were nearby, and the Wen sect’s reach far exceeded that of the Lan sect…

Anyway, comparatively, Lan Qiren disliked far more the idea of being stuck in the Jin sect with its inexplicable devotion to worldly affairs (and when it came to Jin Guangshan, word was that that usually meant literal affairs…), and he would have undoubtedly gone utterly mad in the Jiang sect, with its emphasis on freedom and lack of any rules to explain anything. And of course, regrettably, the Nie sect wouldn't have done such a thing to begin with, secretive as they were...

No, it wouldn’t be so bad, Lan Qiren tried to convince himself. It wouldn’t be so bad at all.

The illusion lasted exactly as long as it took for the leaders of the five Great Sects to retreat to finalize their discussions on business – with Sect Leader Jiang and Jin stepping up to keep Sect Leaders Wen and Nie from each other’s throats, even as Lan Qiren’s brother ignored them all – and Lan Qiren returned to his proper place among the other Lan sect disciples.

“Did he really put you in the Fire Palace until you agreed?” one of them asked, then was promptly elbowed by at least three of his fellows – it was poor Lan Yueheng that had asked, naturally; he was extraordinarily good at mathematics and extraordinarily bad at just about everything else, including both tact and following the Lan sect rules. Lan Qiren had gotten on quite well with him in the past, each one happy to have an audience to listen to their rambling without caring too much if the other side was really listening, but Lan Yueheng was Lan Ganhui’s mother’s sister’s son, the two of them raised together like brothers, and in recent years the latter had a habit of restricting the former from spending too much time with Lan Qiren, the favorite subject of his mockery.

“No,” Lan Qiren said stiffly, and turned his face away in sudden upset. He had almost managed to forget that his new sworn brother was reputed to enjoy spending his free time torturing people, enough so that he had an entire prison devoted to it.

The older brother guided, the younger brother obeyed – what was Lan Qiren supposed to learn from Wen Ruohan? How to be cruel and pitiless, how to hurt people, how to increase his cultivation by doing all manner of dirty things?

Even if he didn’t learn such things, wouldn’t people assume it of him anyway?

“But I heard –” Lan Yueheng persisted, then hissed when someone stepped on his foot.

“No,” Lan Qiren said, stronger this time. “Do not speak behind the backs of others, Yueheng-xiong.”

“Oh. Right.”

Someone muttered killjoy under their breath, but that wasn’t exactly new; his brother thought he was one, and he was popular, so others often followed his lead - and anyway, perhaps he was. At any rate, they all stood around in awkward silence for a little while before someone decided to recount one of the incidents in the main event competition once again, their voice a little over-loud in the silence, and a perfectly anodyne conversation about Qingheng-jun’s performance started up in earnest to cover over all the things they did not say.

That, too, was not new.

Truly, life would be easier if everyone would just listen to the rules, Lan Qiren thought wistfully. The nice written-down ones, just those, and never mind about all the unspoken ones, the ones that everyone seemed to intuitively understand except for him – he tried his best to learn those, too, and to extrapolate from one situation to another, but unspoken rules seemed as changeable as a puff of cloud. It was simply impossible.

In the end, the sect leaders finished up their business and each of them took their leave from the Nightless City, just the way that always happened. Before he went, Lao Nie put his hand on Lan Qiren’s shoulder and said, “Write to me if you ever need anything at all,” while glaring at Wen Ruohan, who smirked back; Lan Qiren’s brother did not glance at either of them and merely walked off, his hands behind his back and his posture straight and tall as a tree. The other two Great Sect leaders, Jin and Jiang, exchanged glances of their own and headed off their own way without a word, choosing, quite prudently, not to get involved.

Lan Qiren saluted to Lao Nie and, slightly more hesitantly, to Wen Ruohan, then followed after his brother. To his relief, Wen Ruohan didn’t stop him, only watched him go, his eyes glittering malevolently - his gaze a palpable weight. It wasn’t quite like the first few times they’d met, where the pressure almost felt like the other man was exerting power on him; rather, Lan Qiren suspected, the weight he was feeling was only the weight of all the new expectations that had fallen onto his shoulders as a result of his new brotherhood.

The ride home was excruciatingly awkward.

It was not a short journey, and Lan Qiren did not speak to his brother once the entire time by mutual unspoken agreement. He might not have noticed such a thing normally, but his brother’s usually cool aura was positively frigid, driving Lan Qiren to silence even when he might have otherwise spoken on mundane matters such as the weather or travel conditions.

Lan Qiren even suspected that if he had dared to try, his brother might have used the muting spell on him.

Naturally, the other disciples followed his brother’s lead – poor Lan Yueheng looked especially torn up over it, and at one point Lan Qiren found a book on abstruse geometry hidden under his pillow in what was probably a well-meaning gesture of solidarity – and Lan Qiren was stuck in that uncomfortable place where he finally had the peace and solitude he often longed for when stuck in a crowd while also simultaneously feeling awful about it, struck with a sudden desire for the company of his family, however cold it might be.

When at last they returned home in the late afternoon, Lan Qiren knew from experience what to do next: he went straight to the hanshi, where his father was waiting for their report, and knelt in penance outside. If the trip had gone well, he would have helped his brother settle the final matters relating to their trip – putting back anything borrowed from the sect’s stores, registering everyone as having arrived with no one lost on the way, that sort of thing – but since it hadn’t, his duties were limited to…well, this.

It was unpleasant, but then, it was supposed to be.

He waited for over a shichen in unmoving silence. The remainder of the sect tiptoed around him, with the disciples that had remained behind sending him sympathetic looks that suggested that they didn’t know exactly what had happened but were burning with curiosity to find out.

It was already dark by the time his brother arrived.

When he did so, he walked right by Lan Qiren without looking and went inside.

There was no written rule against eavesdropping, although there were several unspoken rules about it that were sometimes but not always applicable, but even when (guiltily) straining his ears to the utmost, Lan Qiren could only hear the vaguest murmur of voices within.

It was only after some time – towards the end of his brother’s report, no doubt – that there was a brief uptick, a surprised exclamation (possibly “what?!”, although Lan Qiren’s father was soft-spoken enough that even an exclamation was too muffled to be properly audible), and Lan Qiren braced himself.

After a little longer, the door to the hanshi opened.

“Qiren,” his father’s voice drifted out. “Enter.”

Lan Qiren got up, a little unsteady from all the kneeling, straightened himself out and walked inside, his hands folded behind his back. He would have knelt again, but his father waved for him to keep standing, frowning thoughtfully at him as his brother drank the tea they had been sharing.

“You swore an oath of brotherhood with Sect Leader Wen?” his father asked, his face frustratingly neutral.

Lan Qiren nodded, then amended: “I do not remember doing so. He offered me a toast, and would not allow me to reject it, and then the next morning, he informed me that we had sworn an oath together and showed me the written version of the oath.”

The paper in question was laid out on the table in front of his father. Lan Qiren’s brother had confiscated it after Wen Ruohan had showed it to him, and Lan Qiren hadn’t figured out a way to ask to see it, though he desperately wanted to know whether they had sworn one of the classical brotherhood oaths or if they’d added their own clauses. It seemed like a thing Wen Ruohan would do, yet the idea had only belatedly occurred to Lan Qiren, which meant he hadn’t properly examined the oath while he’d had the chance.

His father hummed thoughtfully.

“There’s no reason to doubt Sect Leader Wen,” Lan Qiren’s brother opined. “He is meticulous in his schemes. Even if there were, the announcement was public; I would not have our clan be known as oath-breakers.”

“Public and unrefuted,” Lan Qiren’s father said, and Lan Qiren blinked because he almost sounded disapproving – but his father never disapproved of anything his brother did, as far as he knew. “Still, you are not wrong. There are few more decisive than Sect Leader Wen. Once he settled on his course, he would not leave such a gap through which one could retreat, not even for himself…Qiren.”

Lan Qiren straightened.

“You were unharmed?”

He blinked at the unexpected question, the same his brother had posed.

“I only had a headache,” he said hesitantly, vaguely aware from the way his father looked at him and his brother did as well that his answer was not what they were expecting. “From the liquor. Nothing else.”

“Did anything else hurt?” his father pressed. “Your body?”

Lan Qiren thought back. “My upper arms,” he said, remembering. He’d thought it was from the uncomfortable bed. “And my right knee. They were a little bruised, I think, but it went away after Sect Leader Wen shared spiritual energy with me.”

His father frowned and twisted his fingers in a gesture; an array opened beneath Lan Qiren’s feet, and the places he had mentioned, as well as his palms and forehead, began to glow.

The marks on his arms, glowing with the pale echoes of Wen Ruohan’s qi, were in the shape of hands.

(Wen Ruohan had commented on Lan Qiren’s enthusiastic telling of the Lan sect rules while intoxicated, to the point of seeking to hold him down as an unwilling audience. Had Wen Ruohan had to physically restrain him from causing trouble as well?)

“The disgrace was minimal, then,” his brother remarked, and when their father said nothing but dismissed the spell Lan Qiren abruptly realized that they were trying to figure out if he had, in fact, been deflowered, just as Wen Ruohan had teasingly hinted that night. He had not shared with anyone that he had woken up in Wen Ruohan’s bed, too mortified to do so, and now that the suggestion had been seriously raised, he was even more determined never to do so. “Not that that will help the rumors.”

Lan Qiren hadn’t thought – surely people wouldn’t think – wouldn’t assume –

Wen Ruohan had no reputation for liking young boys. He wasn’t even known to cut his sleeve!

(Lan Qiren didn’t know what he himself liked. He’d thought he’d have more time to figure it out.)

“We do not guide our sect according to rumors.”

His brother put down his teacup with a little more force than necessary. “Is it the sale or the price that you object to, Father?” he asked, voice far sharper than it should be when speaking to an elder, least of all their father. “See what I have accomplished for our sect, and without even the official authority of being vested as sect leader! It is just as you taught me! Am I to flinch simply because he shares my blood?”

“It is not what is taken,” their father responded, his voice a little sharper than usual as well, but not by much; he might as well have been commenting disapprovingly on an unfortunate turn in the weather. “But that it is Wen Ruohan who takes. His greed knows no boundaries, his recklessness grows by the year – today Qiren is unharmed and your plans may proceed, but what of tomorrow?”

“Have you thought of any better use to put him to? His role is to serve the sect!”

“As a disciple of the Lan sect,” their father said. His tone was still mild, but his voice was icy enough to make Lan Qiren shiver in a confused sort of fear that he did not quite understand. “Not as a plaything for Wen Ruohan.”

By all rights, Lan Qiren’s brother ought to now kneel and beg forgiveness from his elder, his sect leader, his father, but instead he only shook his head. “An oath of brotherhood goes both ways,” he reminded their father, speaking to him as if they were equals. “Sect Leader Wen announced to the world that he swore an oath with a child – does that not also mean that responsibility for his safety and wellbeing falls equally on his shoulders? Any harm to him stains Sect Leader Wen’s name as much if not more than ours.”

“Are we to let outsiders educate our children, then?”

“One cannot compare a foolish younger son to a brother, voluntarily chosen. He chose it, not us; everyone knows this. Any mistakes Qiren makes will fall heavier on his shoulders.”

Their father frowned deeply enough to carve additional lines into his prematurely aged face. “You plan to use Qiren as a lever, then, and extract concessions for every slight.”

His brother shrugged, almost careless in his arrogance. “If Sect Leader Wen chooses to give me such a handle over him, am I meant to refuse? For all his clever schemes, he is also known to be moody and impulsive, easily lured into rashness…I see an opportunity here, not a trap. You chose to give me responsibility early, to have me help you make our sect stronger, greater; that is what I was born to do. You gave me power and I have done well with it, done exactly what you’ve asked me to do. I’ve made you proud - haven’t I?”

“But what of the risk that Wen Ruohan might ignore public opinion and harm Qiren regardless?” his father pressed, not answering. It wasn’t really necessary, of course; he was always proud of Lan Qiren’s brother, no matter what he did - his eldest son was his treasure, the only thing he cared for; it was as fact as undeniable as the direction in which the sun rose each morning. “The Lan sect does not buy riches with blood.”

“I have thought it over, Father,” his brother said quietly. “It is only a risk that he might be harmed, not a guarantee; it’s not as if I am sending Qiren to the Fire Palace myself. And there is the hope here, not of riches, but of glory for the sect –”

“Glory for the sect?” their father asked, voice rich with meaning Lan Qiren did not understand. “Or for yourself?”

“Are they not one and the same?” Lan Qiren’s brother was unmoved. “In the future, it will be mine, and so there is no difference - whatever you say now, that is what you have always shown me. Besides, Qiren will agree.”

Lan Qiren did not take a step backwards when they turned to look at him, though he dearly wanted to. His hands were still behind his back, gripped tight enough to hurt; he suspected when he looked later on he would find blood beneath his fingernails, dug in deep into his flesh.

“Well?” their father asked of him, though his gaze settled somewhere above Lan Qiren’s head as it always seemed to, as different as night and day from the tender and forgiving looks he gave his eldest son even in the midst of their argument. His voice was so cold that Lan Qiren could feel it against his skin like the bitter winter wind. “What do you say?”

Is it the sale or the price that you object to?

It’s not what is taken, but that it is Wen Ruohan who takes.

Have you thought of any better use to put him to?

His role is to serve the sect.

“I do not see what choice there is,” he said dully, his eyes focused on his father’s face just as his father’s refused to focus on his, foolishly still looking for the affection he knew he would likely never find. In his father’s mind, he had only one son – even his objections on Lan Qiren’s behalf, however mild, were nothing more than what he would have said on behalf of any Lan sect disciple. Even Lan Qiren, foolish and bad at people as he was, could see that his father’s primary concern over the approach his brother had suggested was its potential impact on the reputation of his brother and his sect. “I swore an oath. Even if I do not remember it, as a matter of personal honor, I will not allow myself to be foresworn.”

“There,” his brother said, his voice rich in satisfaction. “You see? The choice is made. It is only what we do with it now that matters.”

Lan Qiren bit his lower lip to keep himself from doing something stupid, like asking do either of you care about me at all.

“Very well,” their father said indifferently. “Then it will be as you say. Qiren.”

“Father.”

“You will spend the night kneeling in the ancestral hall to consider the consequences of violating the prohibition against alcohol and the injunction to maintain your discipline. In view of the circumstances, no other punishment will be imposed.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“Dismissed.”

As Lan Qiren left, he heard his father ask his brother to tell him about the riding competition.

He did not ask about music.

#mdzs #lan qiren #qingheng-jun #wen ruohan #sect leader nie #sect leader lan #my fic #my fics #spilled pearls

111 notes · View notes

canary3d-obsessed · 4 years ago

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 18, second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Hey OP where’s the funny header gif for this post? Sorry, it was murdered by an angst demon and the framing of these shots.

My Found Family Came to Find Me

Continuing our flashback from last time, we see Baby Wei Ying up a tree, refusing to come down because he's afraid there are dogs. Eventually he falls out of the tree, like a dumbass a child, and Yanli tries but fails to catch him.

Unlike his grownup counterpart, Baby Wei Ying doesn't pretend he's unhurt when he is hurt. I'd like to put the change at Yu Ziyuan's door, but actually he admits to being hurt during his Gusu summer - he mimics Lan Zhan's stoicism when they're getting beaten, but it doesn't come naturally to him, and he whines a lot afterwards.

By the time of the Animatronic Dog incident, however, he's laughing off obvious injuries that have secret trauma behind them. By the time he comes back, coreless, from the burial mounds, he won't confide in anyone about his hurts any more, except possibly Wen Qing.

Yanli carries Wei Ying, in a sequence that will be echoed much later in his life when Lan Zhan carries him (gifset here). While they head back, she tells him that Jiang Cheng has a bad temper and to ignore whatever mean things he says. This will also be echoed in the future, when Wei Wuxian says it to Lan Zhan after their argument with Jiang Cheng in the shrine.

Yanli also explains that Jiang Cheng loved his dogs and that he's been very sad since Jiang Fengmian sent them away, demonstrating once again that Jiang Fengmian is a terrible father. Yanli says that Jiang Cheng will be happy to have a friend with him, though. This kind of makes Wei Wuxian's role in Jiang Cheng's life "replacement dog."

Jiang Cheng, after getting over this particular snit, got worried about Wei Wuxian and woke up Yanli to find him, and then went wandering around in the dark like a dumbass a child, and is banged up and crying when the other two find him. Yanli encourages him to apologize to Wei Wuxian and he does, which will not happen again until the very end of the show.

They all smile and laugh together, as Wei Ying looks to Yanli to guide him through the insanity that his life has suddenly become.

(more behind the cut!)

They head back to Lotus Pier in a sweet montage of walking and smiling together, with Jiang Cheng carrying the world's most beautiful candle holder with the world's most wind-resistant candle in it, to light their way back. Back in the present day for a brief moment, Jiang Cheng pretends to sleep and listens to his sister insisting that the three of them should always stay together, while a single tear rolls down the side of his face.

Soup is Love, Chapter 1 of 1000

Then we head to the past again. In Jiang Cheng & Wei Ying's now-shared room, Wei Ying sits on the bed trying to figure out how to deal with his grumpy new roommate.

Wei Ying is unsure what to do when confronted with pajama game this strong. Tiny Jiang Cheng is already a fashion king.

Then he tells Jiang Cheng he's not going to narc him out to the clan leader, since it was his own fault that he hurt his leg. This is all Jiang Cheng needs to hear to decide Wei Ying is all right, and he says that he will help Wei Ying chase away dogs in the future. In fact, Wei Wuxian will protect Jiang Cheng from punishment basically forever, while Jiang Cheng will continue to threaten Wei Wuxian with dogs...forever.

They shake hands on their new understanding and then jump up and down laughing, Wei Ying's leg being all better now, apparently. When Yanli arrives (carrying a tray of...can you guess? I'll let you guess), they stop jumping. Wei Ying dives in to give Jiang Cheng a little tickle/embrace in an adorable moment that would have me saying "oh, my ovaries!" if I hadn't surgically sent my ovaries to hell a few years ago.

Yanli introduces Wei Ying to the emotional and gustatorial miracle that is her lotus and ribs soup. He hesitates a long time before tucking in because he's so unused to being fed.

Consent? I Don’t Even Know Her

The flashback wraps up with Yanli conked out on the table from the drugs in the incense burner, while Wei Wuxian, who is somehow unaffected despite sitting almost as close to the smoke as she was, checks on her. Jiang Cheng and his Uggs period-appropriate sock thingies get out of bed to come stand with Wei Wuxian, and have feelings about sending Yanli away after she JUST said she doesn't want to be parted from them.

Wei Wuxian: If she didn't want us to do this, she shouldn't have signed that blanket consent-to-medical-treatment form. Jiang Cheng: Wen Qing made me sign one of those plus a durable power of attorney, is that bad?

This episode is all about people overriding each others' agency and making massively important decisions without the consent of the people who will be affected. But in a feudal context, it's not a violation, no matter how it feels to the person being controlled. In feudal life, your body belongs to your lord -- your sect leader, in the world of CQL. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng's choices are overridden by their clan leader's final command to Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian's core is arguably Jiang Fengmian's property--Wei Wuxian certainly sees it that way, just as his hand was Yu Ziyuan's to take if she wished.

The brothers tenderly tuck Yanli into bed in the rolly cart and hand her off to Song Lan. They talk about how important it is to get her to Lanling and that she's probably going to be mad, as they thank Song Lan for helping them.

Yanli listens while she sleeps and, in what is becoming a trademark Jiang move, lets a single tear roll down the side of her face. Jiang Cheng points out that Yanli never gets mad at Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian is like, true dat.

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

Song Lan is always so emotional about every damn thing, I love him. Here he's like OH GOD NO DON'T FORMALLY THANK ME! STOP!!!

Then he starts to ask Wei Wuxian to pass a message to Song Xingchen for him, but then decides not to say anything, making it super obvious that they fought and aren't together.

Wei Wuxian reacts to this with confusion and distress, probably because he doesn't want to imagine ever having a breakup with his own soulmate. Which he soon will be having. But possibly he's just upset that his OTP broke up.

After Song Lan takes off, Jiang Cheng gives Wen Qing a rude & perfunctory thank-you bow, turning away before she can return it. Wei Wuxian tells her not to take it to heart - basically everyone who deals with Jiang Cheng gets a version of the "ignore what he says" speech. She says she understands and that in his place she would have behaved worse, which is so totally not true.

Then she asks Wei Wuxian if he's sure about the core transfer (not in so many words, because the script is being kind of being vague about it, without actually hiding what's happening). His reply pretty much encapsulates the whole Wei Wuxian experience.

Then he and Jiang Cheng walk off, with Jiang Cheng giving us a rear view that had me googling Wang Zhuocheng's fashion shoots to determine if that wagon he's draggin’ is really as delightful as this belt makes it look. Alas, there is not a wealth of photographic evidence for this research, as compared to, for example, photos of Xiao Zhan's outstanding ass.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning see them off, with Wen Qing wishing they valued their lives more. Although, what she and Wen Ning are doing is massive treason, so their lives will be pretty much forfeit if they're caught, so...

The Sunshot Campaign of Like 60 Dudes

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng walk up the mountain for the whole beginning of the Sunshot campaign, which...okay. Maybe it's like Dunkirk or The Witcher where they intercut stuff that is happening in different timeframes, which is one of my least favorite new film style thingies.

You know, for a guy Wei Wuxian constantly calls "peacock," Jin Ziyuan really doesn't wear a lot of adornment; just some subtle metalwork on his belt with no dangly bits at all, and a single reasonably-sized hair crown. Compared to the extremely fancy Lan Wangji he's almost plain. We already know that Wei Wuxian is a massive hypocrite when it comes to his idea of a perfect boy, however.

So, this is the Lanling Jin army, which consists of literally 60 guys, including the ones on the stairs and Jin Zixuan and Douchebag Dad. How are they going to fight a war with this tiny group? Why do they have such a big plaza? Hasn't anybody on this production learned CGI cloning?

That’s better.

Nie Mingjue and his best bitch Baxia make quick work of the 4 Wen guys who were assigned to hold the Unclean Realm.

Hello, Daddy Da-Ge!

Squeeee, it's Lan Wangji! He's taking back Cloud Recesses! Ooooohhh we've missed you Lan Wangji.

Look guys he's here! Look how beautiful he is. He's looking at the gate of cloud recesses and thinking thoughts that Lan Xichen or Wei Wuxian could probably see in his bewitching eyes if they were here to see him, which they aren't. But at least he is here!

....and now he's gone again. *cries*

Hares On The Mountains

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian continue roaming prettily around this pretty mountainside. The locations in this show are such eye candy.

Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains If I was a young lass I’d soon go a hunting

Jiang Cheng starts to have doubts about the whole Baoshan Sanren thing. Wei Wuxian's reply pretty much encapsulates the whole Wei Wuxian experience.

Then we have just the tenderest blindfolding scene, (more gifs here), which is fodder for your ChengXian dreams, if you have those.

Here's a good place for a sidebar about what is and isn't incest. Whee! In the CDrama context, relationships tend to be more clearly defined than in western media. The mechanism of confession & acceptance means that people either are or are not in a romantic relationship, with few grey areas. So a character can literally say "we grew up as brother and sister, but now we are dating" and when someone looks startled they just say "there's no blood relation" and everyone is like "cool cool" and that's the new definition of the relationship.

For a strong example of this, the extremely wonderful Go Ahead is about a contemporary family in which a girl and two boys, who are not blood relatives, are all raised together, and call each other brother and sister. When they become adults, they and everyone around them expect the girl (now a woman) to marry one of the two men who have been her brothers, while whichever one she doesn't choose will carry on as her sibling. It's treated as the most natural, logical thing in the world; the only question is whether she wants to make that transition, and with whom.

Looked at through this lens, Wei Wuxian's relationships with his adoptive siblings have just as much potential to turn into romances as his relationships with his friends do, and there's nothing creepy about it. As such you can expect my meta to always get into ChengXian moments without treating it as a wrong or forbidden love. Hopeless, of course, because Jiang Cheng is such a prick the power of WangXian is stronger, but that's a different matter.

What is wrong is wearing this fantastic hat & veil combination when the most fashionable person on the mountain is blindfolded and can't see it.

In the course of this blindfolded encounter with Wen Qing, Jiang Cheng gets to kneel before a powerful woman, be led along by a length of silk that's placed in his hand, and then knocked the fuck out and operated on. He'll wake up in a hotel room in a tub full of ice with "we took your kidney" written on the mirror in lipstick, and he'll love every minute of it.

Soundtrack: 1. Still Fighting it, by Ben Folds 2. Hares on the Mountain, by Steeleye Span

Writing Prompt: The NEXT time somebody blindfolds Jiang Cheng

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #chengxian #cql #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs

273 notes · View notes

auxiliarydetective · 3 years ago

Note

1, 5 und 6 für die fanfic writer questions?

~ sehr-wohl-die-herrschaften ✨

You didn't specify for what story, so I'll be answering this for my ao3 Harry Potter fanfiction. Sorry not sorry, even though this is a D3F blog. I'll try my best to answer the question for D3F too, but I can't make any promises that they'll be good.

This will be a long post, so I'm placing a cut.

1. If you had to create a soundtrack for your story, what songs would you choose? Why?

Okay, das ist meine Lieblingsfrage aus dem gesamten Post, also THANK YOU SO MUCH! Tatsächlich plane ich das innerlich schon ein bisschen mit, während ich schreibe, wenn ich mir Playlists zusammenstelle.

Die Drei ??? - Auxiliary AU: Aus irgendeinem Grund habe ich Jelena schon immer mit Billie Eilish verbunden. Keine Ahnung warum, aber das hat sich einfach in meinem Kopf so festgesetzt, und weil die Geschichte aus Jelenas Perspektive ist, wird also mindestens ein Billie Eilish Song vorkommen. Womöglich ist der erste Song von ihr, an den man bei Jelena denkt "bad guy", oder "you should see me in a crown" oder etwas Ähnliches. Gute Idee, aber nicht ganz. Billie Eilish steht bei mir oft eher für Jelenas emotionale Seite. Also wäre ein Lied im Soundtrack "i love you". Ich glaube, die Titel erklärt den Sinn dahinter schon ganz gut. Andere Lieder wären "Woman" von Kesha, "Brother" von Kodaline und "Chasing Cars" von Snow Patrol. Ein sehr obscures Lied ist das "Whack World Medley" von Citizen Queen. Keine Ahnung wieso, aber die Vibes stimmen irgendwie. Natürlich wären auch ein paar russische Lieder drin. Angemessene Covers von Kalinka könnten sowohl als Hintergrundmusik zu einem kleinen Kampf, als auch die Musik von einem Flashback sein, je nachdem welche Stelle man nimmt. Es gibt aber ein paar perfekte Lieder, die definitiv rein müssten. Pianistec auf YouTube hat die Drei ??? Intros gecovered. Perfection. Eins davon ist sogar auf Spotify. Sollte in jede D3F-Playlist rein.

Harry Potter time! Obviously, Harry Potter already has a soundtrack. But that would take away all the fun, so... First of all, "Woman Like Me" by Little Mix. It fits the sassy personality and later persona Asteria takes on. Fitting to that, "Teen Idle" and "Oh No!" by MARINA. You can interpret your own reasons into that. "Battlefield" by SVRCINA for Deathly Hallows. "Line Without a Hook" by Ricky Montgomery for the relationship between Percy and Asteria, but it's not meant in a romantic way. "The Night Is Still Young" by Nicky Minaj, maybe for a victory party after a quidditch game, or just for a nice evening with Fred and George. "8TEEN" by Khalid for... something. Just. I like it. "High Enough" by K.Flay for something that I can't tell you what it is without throwing spoilers everywhere. Let's just say the kind of twisted vibe is fitting for it. Could be more twisted. It gets more twisted if I tell you that the song would not be about a person in that case. It wouldn't be about a twisted version of being in love, but about an obsession. A mania even. That's why it fits. Arctic Monkeys in general also would fit the story. "Judas" by Lady Gaga. "Everything At Once" by Lenka. It sounds innocent, right? Well, in this case it's about wanting to be perfect for everyone at once. "Mr Loverman" by Ricky Montgomeryfor Asteria's heartache in later years of the story. "Positions" by Ariana Grande and "Detention" by Melanie Martinez for the vibe. "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" for a cheesy slow dance between Fred and Asteria because obviously they would. But THE most important song of all, which is why I saved it for last: "Arsonist's Lullaby" by Hozier. No explainations given, you'll have to read and find out yourself.

5. What makes your main ship so compatible? Or, what makes them so incompatible? What do they see in each other?

Mein main ship im Auxiliary AU ist tatsächlich Peter/Jelena, auch wenn das eigentlich gar nicht so rauskommt. Peter und Jelena passen zusammen, weil sie sich ergänzen. Man könnte auch sagen, Gegensätze ziehen sich an, aber sie haben auch was gemeinsam. Peter ist ängstlich und vorsichtig. Jelena ist ziemlich rücksichtslos und aggressiv. Man könnte meinen, dass das absolut nicht zusammen passt. Tatsächlich sorgt das aber für eine relativ gute dynamic. Wenn Peter Angst hat, passt Jelena auf ihn auf und wenn Jelena etwas Unvorsichtiges tun will, hat Peter vergleichsweise gute Chancen, sie davon abzuhalten. Peter bewundert Jelena für ihren Mut, macht sich aber auch ständig Sorgen um sie, weil sie so unvorsichtig ist. Jelena findet Peter richtig liebenswert, wenn nicht fast schon niedlich. Sie hat es sich als Ziel gesetzt, ihm endlich mal die Aufmerksamkeit zu geben, die er braucht, und sich um ihn zu kümmern. Deshalb sieht man die beiden oft zusammen und Jelena hält seine Hand, wenn er Angst hat. Das geht mittlerweile schon längst ohne Kommunikation.

Actually, the story doesn't have a main ship. Or at least it's hard to name one and I don't want to say something wrong because I don't want to claim knowing anything about what polyamorous relationships are like and what you call which kind of relationship. Essentially, Asteria, being the main character, is in a relationship with both Fred Weasley and Oliver Wood, though she only starts dating Fred when Oliver has already graduated and the two of them are just friends. I guess I'll answer the question for both relationships and try to keep it short.

I'll start with the relationship that has been going on longer, which is Oliver/Asteria. Oliver loves Asteria for her sense of right and wrong and for the fact that she might just be the only person on the entire planet not to get annoyed or bored when he rambles about quidditch for hours on end or spends a lot of time training or at practice. He's amazed with her understanding for his passion. Asteria, on the other hand, thinks it's exactly his passion that makes him so wonderful. He's not afraid to show it to literally everyone. She also thinks it's adorable how he gets so excited over it every single time someone mentions the subject, no matter how many times he's talked about it before. She never gets tired of listening to him. Another big reason for her to love him is how he reacted to her illness (I won't say here which illness, read yourself). She just thought it was the sweetest thing ever. He also makes her feel safe, which is rare.

Now, Fred/Asteria. A dangerous relationship. A Weasley and a Malfoy. Both of them know that and it's a big factor why others might deem them incompatible. But, actually, they go very well together. Fred and George are the biggest pranksters of the entire school, everyone knows that. Asteria, on the other hand, is a trickster. She breaks almost as many rules as them, but she does it very sneakily. Nobody has ever caught her. Asteria is amazingly good at lying and deception and she enjoys tricking people. So while Fred does the big pranks that are just for fun and sometimes also for revenge, Asteria tricks people mostly for revenge or to follow along with her view of right and wrong. Fred admires Asteria's abilities when it comes to rule-breaking and trickery, but also her craftsmanship and inventive mind. He's essentially forgotten that her last name means that they should be enemies and has completely detatched her from her parents in his mind. Something else he appreciates is that Asteria grounds him and gives him advice when he's about to do something that he'll most likely regret in the future or that will have major consequences. Asteria admires Fred as a person, but also for what he represents through his family - love, acceptance and protectiveness. The kind of family Asteria wishes she had. Fred cheers her up when she is down and makes her worry less. Unlike Oliver, he doesn't make her feel safe. At least not in the same way. But that's exactly what she loves about Fred. He's unpredictable and wild, something that Asteria's childhood was very much lacking. He's supportive of everything she does that other people would call her mad for. Whatever "crazy" or "stupid" thing she wants to try, he does it with her or has already done it and can show her how to do it right. But no matter how dangerously crazy their adventures get, he watches out for her. They're a chaos couple, but also very intimate. Lots of people are confused that their relationship can be both chaotic and calm at the same time.

6. How do you feel the environment your character(s) grew up in shaped them as a human? How does the environment they’re in now shape them currently?

Jelenas Vater ist sehr streng und emotional eher distanziert. Das hat sie natürlich beeinflusst. Einerseits hat sie es sich zum Ziel gesetzt, Regeln zu brechen. Sie ist ein Rebell, weil sie diesen Käfig, in den ihr Vater sie gesetzt hat, hasst. Gleichzeitig hat sie aber ihre emotionale Distanzierung von ihm. Als Kind hat sie natürlich immer noch versucht. Kinder sind eben deutlich emotionaler. Aber spätestens mit dem Tod ihrer Mutter war ihr Vater emotional gesehen nur noch eine Steinsäule und Jelena ist selbst emotional kalt geworden. Sie ist es einfach nicht mehr gewohnt, mit irgendwen über ihre Emotionen zu reden. Musik ist ein sehr großes Medium für sie was das angeht. Es hilft ihr, die ganzen aufgestauten Emotionen einfach rauszulassen. Ihr extremer Beschützerinstinkt und die Einteilung von Leuten in Gut und Böse kommt vom Tod ihrer Mutter - und womöglich aus Filmen, die sie in der Richtung nach dem Tod beeinflusst haben. Schließlich ist es in Filmen normal und sogar gut, dass der Hauptcharakter böse Menschen bekämpft, verletzt und womöglich tötet. So ähnlich verhält es sich mit Jelena. Sie selbst zögert nicht, jemanden zu verletzen, wenn er ihr oder anderen droht. Aber wehe jemand kommt ihren Freunden zu nahe. Seit sie mehr Zeit mit den Jungs verbringt, hat sie sich definitiv zum Besseren verändert. Sie hat endlich jemanden, mit dem sie über ihre Emotionen reden kann - zumindest theoretisch. Die Jungs haben es auch geschafft, sie zumindest etwas aus ihrem aggressiven Kampfmodus zu holen und ihr dabei geholfen, den Tod ihrer Mutter endlich richtig zu verarbeiten.

Growing up a Malfoy will always shape a character. But that's especially the case with Asteria because of her illness and the fact that she's two years older than Draco. This means that she was born during the First Wizarding War. Her illness was clearly visible and known at birth, so she immediately became an unwanted child. This was always a big factor in her childhood at Malfoy Manor. She was locked in the manor for most of her childhood and whenever she went out, she had to take potions to make her appear normal. Still, she had her parents' blood purist beliefs, so she thought this was the right thing to do, even if she suffered under it. However, she soon breaks out of these prejudices during her first two years at Hogwarts, seeing with her own eyes that blood status does not matter. Hermione finally gives her the final push in her third year. Now, Asteria has practically turned fully against her parents and is taking Draco with her, even when he is still mostly trying to keep up his snobbish bully persona. This position of hers becomes stronger and stronger as she becomes close friends with Fred and George and starts dating Oliver. It's hard to say where "growing up" ends and where "currently" starts, so let me just say: Asteria is under constant influence from the outside and inside, wether she wants it or not, especially with Voldemort's return. Things spin wildly out of her control.

#ask game #fanfic writer ask game #fanfiction #die drei ???#die drei fragezeichen #peter/jelena #jelena charkova #peter shaw #harry potter #hp #harry potter fanfiction #malfoy family #harry potter oc #hp oc #fred x oc #oliver wood #fred weasley #oliver x oc

3 notes · View notes

howtohero · 3 years ago

Text

#300.1: Saving the World Part 1

Prologue

The Haberdashery

“Hi, my name is Murk. I am a mud monster and a product of mad science, but I am also an accountant and a lover of classical music. For most of my existence I have tried to simply live a regular life in an increasingly strange world.”

The conference room in Hatman’s Haberdashery was filled with all manner of colorfully clad, or just plain colorful, superheroes, super-trainees, monsters, vampires, werewolves, sewer-mutants, Da Vincis and even a smattering of regular civilians who looked tired, angry, but overall fearless. According to Leonardo Da Vinci II, an android duplicate of the original from the far future, there had never been such an eclectic gathering of people in all of history. They had gathered — or been gathered — because the world, and life as they all knew it, hung in the balance. The world’s supervillains, led by a formerly low rate smuggler named Smuggles, had managed to do the unthinkable, they’d taken over the world, and in doing so they’d imprisoned most of the world’s heroes, world leaders, and superhero bloggers, in a secret prison. The oddball assembly was the Resistance, and at the moment each of them had their eyes on Murk. Some looked at him with confusion, he was by far the most eloquent mud monster they’d ever heard. Some looked at him in awe, over the past several weeks, Murk had rescued many of them from danger and had inspired them to join him in his fight. A few looked at him with pride, they knew him from before you see, and as far as they were concerned, that made his heroics their heroics.

(“I know that guy from before,”) Parenthetical Guy whispered to the warthog-mask wearing man sitting to his left. (“And as far as I’m concerned, that makes his heroics my heroics.)

{“I work with that guy, he does my taxes,”} Curly whispered, nudging Hatman who was looking forlornly toward the room’s exit. There were far too many people between him and it, and it was causing him no shortage of distress.

“When the heroes fell,” Murk continued. “It immediately became apparent that I, and many others like me, could no longer afford the luxury of standing to the side. For a long time I, and many of my ‘monstrous’ ilk have been more than happy to allow superheroes to handle the world’s problems for us. Whenever our homes, our lives, our world came under threat we all said to one another, ‘well, that looks like a job for superheroes,’ and we declined to act. When the heroes fell I saw how selfish I had been. And so I would like to be the first to extend my heartfelt thanks, and my sincerest apologies to the brave heroes who have gathered here today. I, along with my partner and friend, Lawyer Guy have gathered as many civilians as we could. Regular monsters and people who have cowered from or turned a blind eye to the acts of the villains who have dared to subjugate us, and we have come here to offer our assistance. If you’ll have us, we would like to help in any way we can.”

His speech concluded, Murk quickly sat down next to Lawyer Guy who smiled warmly at him. A few people sitting near him muttered polite words of affirmation toward the hulking mud man but everyone quickly became silent once more as somebody else strode to the head of the table.

Everybody in the room, everybody in the world, recognized the gold and white costume, the chiseled, stony features, and the piercing blue eyes of Ultiman. He was the superhero par excellence and when he clapped Murk on the shoulder and smiled widely, Murk’s ragtag civilian crew let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Thank you Murk,” Ultiman said. “Thank you everyone. As I’m sure you can see, our numbers are small but our members are dedicated and we are thrilled to be able to count each of you among us. I’m confident that, working together, we can depose Smuggles and his entire Consortium of Crime.”

***

Smuggles’s Secret Prison

My name is Zachary Schechter and I’d been locked up for a while by the time anybody had made any noise about breaking out. You may know me as the creator, author, and only functioning brain behind How To Hero. Actually you definitely know me as that. It’s a very popular blog. Just take my word on this ok? I was in a secret prison because I allowed my subordinates to talk me into hiring a known supervillain to, let’s see, live in our basement and interject unwanted comments into my blog. As it would happen, this supervillain, Smuggles, took the job as part of some kind of protracted and complicated plan to take over the world. I should have seen that coming of course. That’s basically the only reason any supervillain does anything. For a few weeks I was alone there. Just sitting in a cell twiddling my thumbs. Trying to make conversation with the drones they had guarding the place. The only thing they’d given me to eat is fish. I imagine Chuck the Fish Whisperer had something to do with that. Frikkin supervillains and their sycophantic dedication to their own themes. But then a ton of superheroes ended up there with me, and I knew things on the outside had taken a decisive turn for the worse. The heroes were all stripped of their costumes and gear, and were given supervillain costumes instead. It’s all spikes, horns, and red contact lenses now. It’s a bit silly, but I think the idea is that if the heroes are dressed like villains and forced to do things like play evil charades and watch movies about heroes turning bad, then some of them might actually turn evil. Actually, I know that’s the idea, but I’ll get to that later. Eventually Cowboy Rockstar, the coolest hero of all time, decided to stage some kind of jailbreak. Which was great. And he wanted me to help him plan it, probably because of my proven expertise in all manner of superhero related topics. I bet it was my treatise on the many superheroic uses of drills that got his attention. There was just one teeny tiny problem though...

“So what do you think?” Cowboy Rockstar whispered.

“I think… I think that I designed this prison,” I whispered dejectedly.

“I beg your pardon?”

It was recreation time once again, and Giorgio the Evil Mime had selected an assortment of clips of superheroes becoming evil from various films and TV shows. It’s really shocking how many times Hollywood has returned to the well of “a superhero clad in red, white, and blue murders a person.” We must’ve watched like thirty different clips already.

“Look, Mr. Rockstar, I appreciate you coming to me and all. It’s an honor to meet you and plot in hushed voices with you and everything. But I’m like 90% certain that I designed this prison. And I don’t know about you but Iitalics certainly wouldn’t have designed a prison that people could break outitalics of.”

Cowboy Rockstar furrowed his brow, “Ah, you’re saying this prison is… from your blog?”

I held up my hands defensively. “Hey, I know how it sounds but look around you. The costumes, the robots, the charades. It’s literally ripped straight from my post about running your own unsanctioned prison.”

“You wrote a guide to running an off the books blacksite for housing criminals?” Cowboy Rockstar arched an immaculate eyebrow. “That’s not really a very superheroic activity.”

“Huh. When you put it like that it’s really no wonder that the only person who seems to have implemented any of it is a supervillain who seems to have taken over the world.”

“He had help,” I heard somebody grumble from Cowboy Rockstar’s other side.

Helm Lady was one of the only Hatman proteges to both survive to adulthood and continue her career as a superhero, so it was hardly surprising that she’d been able to sneak up on us.

“Helm Lady, good of you to join us!” Cowboy Rockstar said. “Zach over here was just telling me about how he designed this prison to be unescapable! Isn’t that exciting.”

“Hardly,” Helm Lady said glumly.

“I gotta agree with her on this one,” I said.

“Are you kidding me? You’ve been given a rare opportunity to outdo yourself in a grandiose and practical way! You’ve been here longer than anybody. It seems like Smuggles has some kind of vendetta against you specifically, and so he’s used your own tactics against you! Now, with our help of course, you can show everybody that you’re smarter than you!” Cowboy Rockstar was gesticulating wildly at this point drawing a sharp and reproachful glare from warden Giorgio.

“Hm,” I said, I had already written a guide to escapology. Maybe I’d already unwittingly outwitted myself. Besides, Smuggles’s prison wasn’t actually an exact copy of the one I’d designed on the blog. He’d had to make some changes to prevent it from having any real rehabilitative value. Dressing the prisoners like villains instead of heroes for instance. And villain costumes are very different from hero costumes. They’re like eighty percent sharp edges. I looked Cowboy Rockstar up and down. The costume they had him in had spikes up and down his arms. Maybe we could use them to pick the locks on our cell? We’d still have to deal with the robot guards and who knows what else. But maybe that was a place to start.

“Ok,” I said after a moment. “I’m sure we can come up with something, after all, as I say

on my blog, when you’re in a locked room, anything can be a key.”

Cowboy Rockstar grinned and gestured around the room at the assorted superheroes that were locked in with us, “And we’ve certainly got an eclectic bunch of keys here haven’t we.”

I smiled and looked around the room, maybe this could actually work.

***

“If I had an iPod and a busted time machine we could do this in a snappy montage and be out in no time,” I grumbled to Cowboy Rockstar.

It was the next day, and our recreation activity was something called “evil baseball.” There’s no batters, no outfield, and the only umpire was a deranged mime. The only real resemblance it had to regular “non-evil” baseball, was the fact that there were four bases, and players could steal bases. In fact, the game was pretty much just stealing bases. Because stealing is a crime get it? Ugh, the sooner we got out of there and stopped Smuggles the better. Cowboy Rockstar was manning first base for his team, and I’d just stolen first. I suspected it was because Helm Lady, the “pitcher” for Cowboy Rockstar’s team, had allowed me to get to first so we could chat. It might have been because I’m really athletic though. It’s hard to say.

“I don’t think that’s how anything works,” Cowboy Rockstar said.

“Oh what do you know?”

“A lot, I’ve unknotted several time paradoxes you know. Some experts even say that I ‘invented’ the current iteration of this timeline.”

“Ah, so this is all your fault.”

“Nice try, I didn’t give Smuggles access to an interdimensional warp gate so he could free his fish whispering friend from his prison.”

“Touche.”

“What have you got?”

“I was thinking, we know that Smuggles has everybody’s powers neutralized inside this prison right?”

“Yes.”

“Well not every hero has powers to begin with,” I started. “And there are few people here with relevant talents that Smuggles can’t turn off.”

“Talents such as?”

Giorgio blew his whistle. Apparently I’d spent too long dawdling at first base without even trying to steal second.

“I guess whistling doesn’t go against the mime code of silence,” I grumbled as I started to edge off of first base.

“Talents such as?” Cowboy Rockstar repeated before I took off.

I nodded towards his team’s second baseman.

“Being a giant rock monster with seven hands,” I said before racing off toward Rockblock.

***

The next night I laid awake, staring up at the ceiling of my cell, going over what was slowly starting to look like a plan again and again. If Cowboy Rockstar could use the many razor sharp spikes on his villain costume to pick the locks on his cell, — and he’d assured me that he could, upside down, in his sleep — and then get to the others, Rockblock could probably serve as our muscle until we got out and the other heroes got their powers back. He’d need to fight off dozens of battle drones though. No, that wasn’t much of a plan. Muscle was great, but we’d need some other way to guarantee the drones would stay off of us until we got outside. I consulted the scrap of paper I had hidden in the palm of my hand, directed away from any prying eyes or cameras. The scrap had been discretely slipped into the pocket of my hoodie by Helm Lady. She’d managed to steal a pencil during Evil Mad Libs, and had taken the liberty of jotting down everybody who we knew was imprisoned here. “Our list of keys,” as Cowboy Rockstar had called it. We needed to keep the circle of people who knew that we were planning a breakout small for now. That way there’d be less of a chance of any villains or drones getting wind of it. So Cowboy Rockstar wanted me to identify anybody who might be especially useful in the actual breakout, whereupon we’d obviously free the rest of the prisoners. I consulted the list again, mentally sorting the manifest into those who had powers, and thus were less likely to be especially useful without the use of them, and those who didn’t have powers, and therefore were pretty much operating at 100% effectiveness. There’s another thing I didn’t account for in my own designs, sucks to be you Smuggles. That’s what happens when you build your top secret superhero prison based on the musings of a comedy blog instead of doing your own work you frikkin goon. I circled a couple of names on my illicit scrap of paper and was just about ready to smugly smile myself to sleep when I noticed a faint buzzing. My first thought was wall bees. You wouldn’t believe how often strange buzzing sounds in the How To Hero office ended up being bees in the wall. But this buzzing was more mechanical and well, I guess it must have been there since I was first thrown into this dump. I had managed to sublimate it into the background noise of my time here but now in the dead of the night I was able to really listen to it finally. I tentatively got off of my threadbare cot and walked the length of my small cell. The buzzing was, as I’d feared, strongest by the door. Which could only mean one thing. Door bees! No, I’m kidding, it meant that the old fashioned deadbolt lock was either just for show, or just one part of the cell doors’ security systems. There was some kind of electronic component as well. One that probably wouldn’t be able to be thwarted with some evil-looking spikes. I looked at my scrap once more, I’d have to have a conversation with one of the other prisoners tomorrow.

***

“Professor Flay,” I whispered as I took a seat next to a glasses-wearing black man decked out in a purple jumpsuit with a skull belt buckle.

“Yes?” the man said, clearly startled, “I’m sorry I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“My name’s Zach, and I’m a fan of your Big Book of Fake Science.”

“Um, are you referring to my Complete Compendium of Improbable Science,” Professor Lucius Flay replied.

“Shoot, is that what it’s called? I knew it was something like that, only my buddy lost the cover and title page in a bet with a supervillain we knew who needed them to power his cover and title page powered doomsday device,” I explained quickly.

Professor Flay flared his nostrils, “And you have the nerve to insinuate that my science is fake. Is there a point to this, I don’t want to miss this performance.”

Our villainous rehabilitation activity for the day was “evil karaoke” only songs with the word “bad” in the title were allowed to be performed. Cowboy Rockstar was currently belting out an honestly breathtaking rendition of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. It was an especially loud and especially drawn out version of the song, so that Professor Flay and I could converse in relative peace.

“What kind of scientist would you say you are Professor?”

“If you must know, I consider myself to be more or less omnidisciplinary,” Professor Flay said.

“That means you dabble in a little bit of everything right?”

“Everything scientific.”

“And that’s not a superpower thing right? You came by all that knowledge on your own?”

Professor Flay waved a dismissive hand at me, “Of course I did. I studied for years to get to where I am today. Sure I may have had to break a few time travel regulations to do it, but otherwise, I come by my intellect fair and square.”

“Excellent!” I shouted a little too loudly. “This is the best version of ‘Bad Romance’ I’ve ever heard!” I quickly added, to cover myself.

“Yeah it’s so good that they should call it ‘Good Romance!’” Rockblock shouted, no doubt trying to help me out.

Unfortunately though, that was the wrong thing to say. Giorgio the Mime certainly couldn’t allow anything gooditalics to happen in this evil facility, so he quickly put the kibosh on Cowboy Rockstar’s performance, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the room. I thought I even saw a drone flash a frowny face. The drones then started ferrying us out of the room and back to our individual cells.

“How much do you know about electronic locks?” I quickly asked as I pressed my scrap of paper in between Professor Flay’s belt and jumpsuit.

Realization flashed across Professor Flay’s face.

“Ah,” he said. “Enough.”

I hoped he was right.

***

The next day our recreational activity was evil baking. There were several different stations set up in the auditorium, each with ingredients set up to make different evil foods. I ambled past “exploding pies”, “sentient food that will actively beg for its life as you eat it”, and “kale cookies” before taking a seat next to Cowboy Rockstar at the “general poisons” table. Helm Lady and Rockblock were already there, and I noticed Helm Lady was taking special care not to touch any of the ingredients on the table. Rockblock, being made entirely out of stone and cando spirit, began handling the various herbs and toxins and following the recipe. I guess they’d decided that somebody at our table had to be doing something to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

“Where’s Professor Flay?” I asked.

“He just walked in,” Cowboy Rockstar said, nodding toward the door, where a contingent of drones were herding in another batch of prisoners.

“Over here!” Rockblock bellowed, waving three of his giant hands while the other four mixed and mashed various ingredients.

“Quiet,” Helm Lady snarled. I was beginning to regret bringing Rockblock in on our plans so early.

Still, Professor Flay managed to get the message and made his way over to our table.

“Hello everybody,” he said as he sat down next to Helm Lady. He wrinkled his nose as he caught a whiff of what Rockblock was mixing in his bowl. “What are we making?”

“Sulfide sausages,” Rockblock replied.

“Lovely.”

“So?” I asked, raising my eyebrow inquisitively at the professor.

Professor Flay glanced around and, confident that there were no drones within listening distance, leaned in conspiratorially.

“I can build the device you described but-”

“Hey guys, sorry I didn’t come right away. I wanted to do a lap to see if there were any other cooler tables,” a pale skinned man clad in black chainmail and sporting thick rimmed glasses said as he sat down at our table.

“Er… what?” I asked.

“I know Rockblock called me over, but I’m not just going to sit down at the first table that offers me a spot, am I?” the other man replied as if that were a perfectly normal thing to say.

“Uh, I was actually talking to Professor Flay,” Rockblock said.

The bespectacled man laughed, “Oh Rockblock, I’d heard your sense of humor was legendary.”

Rockblock looked confused but Helm Lady put a hand on one of his arms.

“What do you want Glassesman?”

“Helm Lady! Great to see you. How’s the old man?”

“We don’t talk.”

“Oh, is that right? Poor Hats never could keep a protege.”

“Glassesman.” I said, interjecting before things escalated. “You weren’t on the list. When did you get here?”

“Oh, just recently. I wasn’t captured with the rest of you in the first wave.”

Cowboy Rockstar ignored the jab and leaned forward. “Are you saying that Smuggles has found whatever resistance there is? Where’s Ultiman?”

“Keep your ten-gallon hat on buckaroo, the resistance is fine such as it is. I was deep undercover in Smuggles’ operation, but I got found out.”

“No surprise there. You probably started handing out promotional sunglasses to all the villains as soon as you got in there,” Helm Lady muttered.

“Hey, supervillains are a market I have yet to break into. This was a rare networking opportunity for me!”

What a tool.

“Enough,” Cowboy Rockstar said, making sure to keep his voice even.

“What’s with all the hushed tones,” Glassesman said, looking us all up and down.

“Ah,” he said when he’d completed his appraisal. “You’re planning a break out.”

“No we’re n-” Helm Lady started but Glassesman held up his hand.

“Oh please, you’ve got a scientist, a jack-of-all-trades, a bruiser, a non-powered combatant and a…” he faltered when he got to me.

“Blogger,” I said curtly.

Glassesman raised an eyebrow but kept going, “So don’t try to keep me out of this, I’m non-powered too, and I can fight better than a Hatb- sorry exitalics-Hatboy any day of the week.”

Cowboy Rockstar looked as though he was going to say something to get rid of Glassesman but he just sighed and gestured to Professor Flay.

“Fine, sure. Professor you were saying?”

“Um, well, yes. I can build the… device, you asked for but I can’t do it from thin air. I need something to work from.”

We all sat in silence for a moment. I guess it was too much to ask for an omni-disciplinaryitalics super-scientist to be able to whip up an EMP device out of whatever he could find in his prison cell. I’d be sure to inform whatever board certifies omni-disciplinary scientists to amend an asterisk to Professor Flay’s credentials when we got out of here.

“Could you build it out of whatever those things are made of?” Glassesman said, jerking a thumb towards one of the drones.

Professor Flay appraised it, “It appears to run on a lithioplasmic core with a carbon-electrum chassis. Assuming there’s a terrakon multispacial chip rattling around in or near its processor… Yes, I wouldn’t even need too much of it. Just a chunk from the chest if I had to guess.”

“Excellent,” Glassesman said before he stood up and flipped over our table. “And you can tell that cap clad crank that I’m twice the hero he ever was!”

Helm Lady smirked and wordlessly lunged at him, wrapping her long fingers around his neck. Professor Flay and I quickly took cover behind the table. Flay because he was a nerd and wasn’t about to get involved in a fist fight between two highly trained combatants. And me to protect Flay naturally. We needed him fit enough to build us the EMP, I couldn’t exactly leave him. Cowboy Rockstar jumped on Glassesman’s back and tried to pull him away while Rockblock scrambled to gather up the ingredients from his poison. A stray pellet of congealed arsenic bounced over to me and I scooped it up into my hoodie. You never know, right?

In a minute several drones were trundling over to our little group trying to break up the fight. They’d just about managed to pry Cowboy Rockstar, Glassesman and Helm Lady apart when Rockblock let out a deafening roar and joined the fray, sending a handful of drones flying as he growled something incoherent about how hard he’d been working on perfecting his recipe. By this time the other assembled heroes were all looking toward us, but before anybody else could get any ideas about joining the riot, more drones than I’d even realized were in the prison poured into the auditorium and surrounded my friends. Finally managing to pull them apart.

The rest of the heroes, myself and Professor Flay included, were now being rounded up by some of the drones while most of them were being engaged by six of Rockblock’s giant fists. As we walked by though, I noticed his seventh appendage experly flick a chunk of metal in our direction. I stumbled slightly, bending over quickly to grab the robot chunk. And then discretely passed it to Professor Flay before we were split off to return to our own cells.

“I’ll have it done before tonight,” he said to me as he palmed the misshapen blob of metal and wiring.

I nodded and smiled, by that time tomorrow we’d be out of that forsaken prison and saving the world.

***

Night fell, and I paced anxiously around the length of my cell. Assuming Professor Flay was able to work as quickly as he claimed he was able to. And assuming Rockblock had gotten him exactly what he needed. And assuming Cowboy Rockstar and Glassesman and Helm Lady were able to pick the locks on their cells when the time came. And assuming Rockblock could keep any guards off of us. And assuming- Well, there were a lot of assumptions before I’d be tasting fresh air. Our plan was hardly fool proof, and we had at least two or three fools on our team, depending on who you asked. We were making a few too many assumptions for my liking. But it was the best we had, so I guess that was that. There was nothing I could do except wait for something to happen.

And when something happened, everything happened.

First there was a deafening boom, followed by a shockwave that traveled quickly throughout the cell block. If I hadn’t been deafened by the explosion, I would have noticed that the electronic buzzing I’d heard had gone silent. Professor Flay’s homebrewed EMP had worked. I ran to the door and saw several guard drones collapsed on the ground. Their cybernetic features were blank.

Seconds later three cell doors swung open and Cowboy Rockstar, Helm Lady, and Glassesman strode out. Glassesman looked especially smug, even though he was the last one out. The other two were such pros, they decided to let it slide. They quickly started working on picking the locks on the other cells. Helm Lady sprung Rockblock first, just in case there were any drones outside the EMP’s radius that might’ve been trundling our way. Professor Flay’s EMP was a one-shot kind of deal so we’d have to fight or evade any other drones we encountered.

“So far so good eh?” Cowboy Rockstar grinned as he unlocked the door to my cell.

“So far, yeah,” I said anxiously. “We’re pretty much flying blind from here on out th- Woah!”

I took a step back into my cell as Cowboy Rockstar became enveloped in a brilliant white light. I stood agape as he began hovering a few inches off the ground and the light faded into his body.

“What was that?” I asked.

Cowboy Rockstar landed adroitly on the ground and checked his pulse with two of his fingers.

“It’s… I think the EMP must have shorted out whatever device was neutralizing our powers in here,” Cowboy Rockstar said. His fists began crackling with energy.

I looked up and down the hall of cells. Powerful glows or crumpled cell doors told me that many of the other heroes were starting to regain access to their powers.

“Well that certainly changes the game,” I said as I began taking stock of all of the new keys we’d just acquired.

***

We quickly divided into a few teams:

Team One: Nightron, Foresight P. Jones, and Intangi-Bill. None of us had been outside since we’d arrived in the prison and so none of us actually knew where the exit was. Team one would use their respective speed, supervision and intangibility in concert to find a way out.

Team Two: Cowboy Rockstar, Rockblock, and Cannonballer: Baller of Cannons. Our heavy hitters. If anybody could break straight through the walls that surrounded us to the outside it was them.

Team Three: Professor Flay, Electrobug, Digitalized, Psionica. They set about trying to cobble together weapons and gear from the broken husks of the drones that we had at our disposal.

Team Four: Captain Patriot, Brad the Radioactive Man, Amphin, Glassesman, Helm Lady and the Human Wall. The best offense is a strong defense, and if any of our other teams were going to have any hope of doing what they needed to do, they’d need somebody keeping Giorgio and whatever drones he could scrounge together off of their backs.

Team Five: Dr. Hemer, Knife Knurse, and Super Surgeon. A lot of heroes were suffering painful side-effects either from the sudden reemergence of their superpowers or the power-deprivation they’d been suffering since they’d gotten here. Anybody who had any sort of medical knowledge would tend to them until we get help on the outside.

Team Six: Just me. My job was to come up with the team names and I’m not ashamed to admit that I totally phoned it in.

I was sitting back and taking stock of the other teams’ progress when a gust of wind informed me of Nightron’s return.

“We’re not the only prisoners here,” he said panting, parts of his supervillain costume were singed, he must have encountered other guards elsewhere in the facility.

“You’re sure?” I asked frantically. I’m not sure why it had never occurred to me that there might be other prisoners somewhere in this facility. But I had only ever seen the heroes that were in that corridor at communal recreational events.

“Positive, there are maybe five or six other cell blocks just like this one. They’ve got dozens of other superheroes here. But that’s not all. World leaders, para-folk, some civilians. I think I even saw some sort of zoo,” Nightron said.

“Probably for animal sidekicks and the like,” I mused aloud. “Were you followed back here?”

“No, but they saw who I was. I’m sure they know where I’m supposed to be. It won’t be long before we have company here.”

“You’re right. Professor, how are those weapons coming!” I shouted towards where Team Three was working.

“My EMP seems to have worked a little too well, there’s no resteoring powers to these machines, but Psionica has managed to use her telekinetic abilities to reform some chunks of metal into clubs.”

“That’ll have to do,” I said. “Nightron, grab a few of those clubs, if anybody comes you’ll join Team Four. Hit them hard and hit them fast.”

“But what about the other prisoners?” Nightron protested.

“We need to break ourselves out before we can worry about anybody else,” Glassesman said.

“I hate to admit it but he’s right,” Helm Lady agreed.

“Yeah but-” and then, in a whoosh he was gone, because it was at that moment that a platoon of drones filed into our hallway. Two of them hit the ground, their CPUs bashed in by Nightron, before the rest of us even registered what was happening but once we did, the rest of Team Four, sprung into action.

“Zach, over here,” Professor Flay called.

I ran over to him, he passed me a makeshift club and we formed a defensive ring around our medics and the wounded along with the rest of Team Three.

“We are through!” Cannonballer: Baller of Cannons cried.

We helped Team Five get to the large gap in the wall that Team Two had formed as Rockblock and Cowboy Rockstar went to join the fray in the corridor.

“We may have problem,” Cannonballer: Baller of Cannons muttered to us as we joined her outside.

Problem was an understatement. For one thing, the sky was a murky blend of purples, oranges, and reds, and I know I haven’t been doing a ton of “world-building” in this dramatic account of my escape from a supervillain run supermax, but the sky we were all used to seeing was definitely blue. The ground we were standing on was somehow both dusty and crumbly. Every step we took sent a cloud of dust and ground flakes into the air. And we couldn’t see any other signs of life or civilization anywhere at all. I had always assumed that we would be somewhere inconspicuous but local, so that Smuggles could keep an eye on us, but it appeared as though we were in the middle of nowhere with no way of getting to the middle of anywhere.

“What… What is this place?” Professor Flay said.

“Beats me,” I said with a shrug. When I designed this prison for How To Hero I recommended finding a large unused building with reinforced walls that was situated in a place that no cops would ever be caught dead anywhere near. There are literally four or five places like that within a twenty block radius of How To Hero headquarters so where the hell were we. Unless… crap.

“Atomspace,” I said. “We’ve been shrunken down and sent to a prison in Atomspace.”

“Well,” Professor Flay said, taking in our otherworldly surroundings. “That creates a wrinkle in our plans doesn’t it.”

“It certainly does,” I agreed.

And that’s when everything went black.

***

I awoke, chained to a chair, in what may very well have been the most garishly decorated room I had ever seen. And Parenthetical Guy once painted our office neon green and creamsicle orange so that was saying something. The walls were all a deep blood red and there were various supervillainous accoutrements mounted all over the walls. Scary looking masks, futuristic blasters, esoteric looking staffs. A giant serpent’s head wearing oversized sunglasses was mounted on the wall directly opposite me. Below the serpent head sat an ornate, obsidian desk with a high backed leather chair behind it. The carpet was the color of rotting bones, which made a lot of sense when I realized that it wasn’t really a carpet at all, but rather a mat made entirely of very thin bone fragments. Bone fragments that were incredibly sharp at the ends.

“Ouch!” I yelped as I lifted my feet slightly off of the ground.

“Well look who’s finally awake,” a snide voice to my left said.

I turned my head and my heart dropped. Joining me in this chilling chamber were the rest of my friends: Cowboy Rockstar, Helm Lady, Professor Flay and Glassesman were chained to chairs like mine while Rockblock’s hulking form was chained to the wall on the far side of the room. The humans in the chairs also had their feet up in various positions. Rockblock was stuck standing on the bone floor, but at least he didn’t seem to mind.

“What happened?” I asked groggily.

“We were all knocked unconscious after we broke through the prison walls,” Professor Flay explained. “Cerebral implants I’d guess.”

“You’re saying we were all chipped?” I said, bewildered. “That’s crazy. Why weren’t we all knocked out as soon as we broke out of our cells?”

“Because I wanted to see the look on your face when you realized you were in Atomspace.”

All of our heads snapped towards the door where a man wearing a dark gray catsuit, a bright orange domino mask, and heavy metal boots strode into the room. “Do you like how I’ve decorated? Greg the Skeleton King referred me to his interior design guy.”

“That explains the bones,” Helm Lady muttered.

“And the hellfire!” Cowboy Rockstar proclaimed. “From right before we were captured, I’d been wondering about that.”

“Smuggles,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Zachary,” he said curtly. “Mr. How To Hero himself, how does it feel to be so utterly defeated by someone you’ve spent years ridiculing on your infantile blog?”

“I’ll let you know when it happens,” I said.

“Always with the clever little jokes,” Smuggles said as he took a seat in the leather chair and steepled his fingers. “You have been utterly defeated though. I’ve been following your little escape attempt from the very beginning. My people are not idiots you know. We’ve been listening to every conversation, watching your every move. The riot in the cafeteria was especially amusing.” He nodded at Rockblock who just grunted in response. “Quite frankly, you got further than I expected you to. But I’m glad you did, because now you have to admit that I’ve completely bested you. You’ve been thoroughly trounced Zachary. Who’s the laughingstock now?”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to think of a way out of this for myself and my friends, when Glassesman burst out laughing. Smuggles’s eye flashed with rage and he slammed a hand down on his desk.

“I’m sorry, is something amusing here?”

“No no… Well yeah, sorry, it’s just… You got every supervillain to band together, captured most of the superheroes, and basically took over the entire world just to get back at some low rate blogger?”

“Hey, uncalled for!” I shouted.

“I’m sorry it’s just a bit ridiculous don’t you think?”

“Honestly, I kind of agree with him,” Helm Lady said sheepishly.

“I legitimately thought this whole thing was about me,” Cowboy Rockstar admitted. “I’m kind of a big deal you know, being a semigod and all that.”

“Don’t you mean demigod?” Professor Flay asked, doing a little wiggle shake to get his chair facing Cowboy Rockstar.

“Oh, I’m that too. But I’m talking about the cult I inadvertently inspired that has deified me,” Cowboy Rockstar explained.

Smuggles banged his fist down on his desk again.

“Enough!” he shouted, before cradling his fist in his other hand. “Now that your merry band has been epically thwarted and humiliated, I must decide on your punishment. I’m not about to risk you lot plotting another breakout.”

My mind started racing for a way out. This was the first time I had come face to face with Smuggles since he’d unleashed Chuck the Fish Whisperer in the How To Hero basement. Until now I hadn’t realized just how much of what was happening revolved around me. I didn’t even realize Smuggles had been familiar with my blog before we hired him. Maybe I could work with that.

“Do your worst Smuggles. I guarantee you it won’t be anything worse than what actual villains have done to me,” I said, affixing my most smug expression on my features.

“What are you talking about?” Smuggles said, clearly thrown.

“I mean come on. I lived with a real supervillain before. Remember Dr. Brainwave?”

“Wait, what?” Helm Lady said. “You lived with Dr. Brainwave? We’ve been looking for him for years!”

“Yeah well I don’t know what to tell you,” I said.

“Brainwave was a sentimental hack. Killing him was child’s play.” Smuggles said through mounting anger.

I faltered for a moment. So Smuggles had been the one who had mailed that bomb to our office? He was the reason Dr. Brainwave was dead? Sure the guy was a supervillain, but at the end of the day he had been my… my friend. And he’d sacrificed his life to save mine and my friends’. The fact that I was sitting less than three feet away from his murderer was almost too much to bear. Still, there’d be plenty of time to deal with him later. Assuming my plan worked.

“Still before you killed him he made my life miserable. You’ve read my blog, I’m sure you know all about it. So I honestly doubt that anything you plan to do can compare.”

Smuggles literally shook with rage, “I can… I can killitalics you! You ever think about that?”

Cowboy Rockstar grinned, “Good luck with that.”

Ok, honestly I’m not sure what thatitalics was about. Is Cowboy Rockstar immortal? Has anybody ever checked that? Regardless, I decided to just roll with it.

“Do your worst.” I said.

“Guys!” Glassesman shouted exasperated. “I love taunting a bad guy as much as the next guy, but maybe we should all ease up a bit!”

“Oh relax,” I said. “Smuggles is a Z-lister trying to kick it with the big kids. He can’t just shoot us or something. If he wants to be a world-dominating evil monster he’s going to have to come up with a suitably ostentatious way to kill us and honestly, he doesn’t have the imagination. Just look at his face, this is clearly eating at him.”

It was as though a lightbulb went off over Smuggles’s head. His face warped from grimace to grin and he strode around to the other side of his desk.

“I’ve already succeeded in taking over the world and routing your beloved superheroes. I hardly need to prove myself to the likes of you. You can expect to be executed in a ‘suitable ostentatious manner’ shortly.”

I was all read to shoot back a witty retort when everything went black again.

***

I awoke to the sound of cheering, which made me feel pretty good. I don’t often get cheered for waking up. I’m sure Cowboy Rockstar was feeling pretty regular though, people cheer for everything that guy does. I was in the center of a gladiatorial arena, the stands were packed with guard drones and more than a few supervillains. The presence of so many of them here sent a shiver down my spine. Had Smuggles really been able to recruit and control so many supervillains? Next to me, my friends laid in a rumpled heap, all of them still unconscious with the exception of…

“Now look what you’ve done,” Professor Flay said sternly.

I turned to look at him and saw the abject fear sketched across his features.

“Relax Prof, everything’s going to be ok.”

“How can you say that! Look at us! We’re in an arena surrounded by bloodthirsty supervillains for god’s sake!”

“It’s not the supervillains you should be worrying about, it’s whatever’s going to come out of that gate,” I said, pointing to a massive (well, massive relative to our shrunken selves) gate directly opposite us.

Professor Flay shuddered, “I imagine the others are still unconscious to prevent them from being able to do anything against whatever that might be.”

I nodded, “It makes sense, Smuggles doesn’t want to risk anything going wrong.”

“But I still want the satisfaction of watching at least some of you soil yourselves in fear,” Smuggles said as his smug visage appeared on a floating jumbotron that was hovering over the arena.

“You’ll never get away with this you knave!” Professor Flay shouted.

“Oh Professor, I already have. I think I’ll make today an international holiday going forward,” Smuggles said as he leaned back from the camera so we could see his entire upper body on the screen. He was sitting on a golden throne and his fingers were hovering above a big red button. I assumed whatever was waiting behind the gate would be released at the press of that button. And why prolong the inevitable.

“Why don’t you come down here so I can wipe that smug expression off of your face, you absolute goober!” I called up to Smuggles.

Smuggles frowned, “Goodbye Zach, you will not be missed.”

His finger pressed the button. The gate started to ascend. Professor Flay sighed and rolled up his sleeves. I had to admire him, he wasn’t planning on going down without some sort of fight. As the gate rose the cheers of the crowd grew even more fevered. I think I even saw a sign that said “Cowboy Suckstar.” Rude. After what seemed like an eternity the gate was finally fully open and a ferocious roar shook the stadium as a massive beast lumbered into the arena. The ginormous monster truly had it all. Dozens of eyes, face tentacles, spikes, a flaming tail. I had to admit this would certainly be a suitably ostentatious way to die. Of course, I wasn’t about to let Smuggles get his way was I?

“Good god what is that thing?” Professor Flay said as he backed away from the giant monster.

“It’s our way out,” I said calmly as I climbed on top of Rockblock’s comatose body, put two fingers in my mouth and whistled sharply.

“What are you doing?” Professor Flay shouted at me as the monster began galloping towards us on all fours.

I looked down at Professor Flay and smiled, “See you on the other side Prof.”

And then the monster ate me.

2 notes · View notes

punkinroses · 5 years ago

Text

Yugioh Season 4 Quotes Prompt Meme

I am stressed, tired, sick of my job and needing a brain break. Yugioh Abridged is my go to for that at the moment. So. Have a sentence meme thing. Feel free to reblog, change pronouns, etc. Go have fun kids. Be wild. Be gay. Do crime. Love you

“The whole saving the world thing really eats into your study time.” “But my teacher gave me, like, a bunch of gold stars! And an A+ in trying.” “I already know everything I need to know about mathematics from playing card games.” “I was also thinking about doing some of the drugs later.” “(name)’s hand is on fire!” “That sounds like a commotion! .......Yes. Definitely a commotion.” “Well, I’m sure the city can defend itself.” “Those neutral motherfuckers. I never cared for them.” “How the hell did you people get in my house!?” “I’m not sure I like the rich douchebag channel.” “We figured you had more of an emotional connection to these.” “Damnit, (name), we agreed I would do the monologuing.” “My spirit guide has once again served its purpose.” “It’ll be called the bitch ass retirement plan. Named after you, ya bitch ass!” “That’s some OP bullshit right there.” “Broseph...Brosephine...Bro DiMaggio.” “I’ve got shoulder pads!” “Now what are you gonna do, Bromeo and Juliet?” “It’s not often I get to hear the worst insult ever coined by a human being.” “Yeah, they once sucked out Channing Tatum’s soul as a joke.” “I have nothing else in my life, please!” “So you’re someone I haven’t seen in a really, really long time? .........Are you my parents??!!” “Stop abusing the concept of friendship!!” “You must have spent YEARS researching this! Even though you can find this exact information on the back of any Yu-Gi-Oh! DVD!” “King of doors, bitch!” “That’s two points for Middle Earth, zero points for (name).” “I was not prepared to watch this today.” “Okay, so, you’re a lost cause.” “If even one of you makes a Sharknado reference, I will end you so hard.” “Try this on for size, you Sauron-looking motherfucker!” “I thought we had an agreement! You agreed to not be a little bitch, but now you’re being a little bitch!” “Maybe they’ll take someone’s soul that we don’t care about this time.” “Goddamnit, you never help me, ever!!” “Alright, douchebags! I’m sick and tired of us not being on top!” “These meetings get fucking weird.” “How much more specific can I get? SOMEWHERE in CALIFORNIA.” “I wonder if there are card games on the moon.” “I knew it. This is just some cheap trick to get me to come see you, so you can hit on me with a bunch of cheap innuendos, isn’t it?” “And, to think, people call you a diluted egomaniac.” “That’s not possible! I’M the adorable one!” “For some reason, cruising for chicks has caused me to become severely injured.” “I would be so turned on if that wasn’t such a huge waste of trading cards.” “I’d like to spread some vegemite on those things.” “You left me on a blimp with a known psychopath, while I was in a coma, so you could go off and play video games.” “So, in other words, since we’ve never seen your balls drop, we can assume it hasn’t happened?” “My douche-senses are telling me that (name) is mocking me somewhere.” “Should I remind you to tell them to go fuck themselves when we get there?” “He will eat you with his crocodile face.” “Okay, did you have to include the part of the story where they insulted me?” “Hey, a sword! I can stab people with this!” “Seriously? That was your one Koala joke?” “Try believing in the heart of the cards.” “Quiet, you sorcerer.” “If you’re seeing this, (name), it either means I’m dead, leaving behind a very fabulous looking corpse, or my soul has been captured.” “Maybe it had something very kinky on it and 4Kids had to censor it.” “I’ll leave that up to the fanfic authors.” “I’ll write a highly unfavorable research paper about you! With inconclusive findings!” “I feel like I should be concerned, but I just can’t stop thinking about how Copernicus is such a stupid name for a horse.” “You know that thing takes people’s souls and I found it on a dead guy, right?” “That was acting, children! Bravo for me!” “According to my research, I’m in a crapload of pain.” “Learned that trick from playing Super Mario World.” “I’ll just be over here wibbling to myself. Please, pay me no mind.” “Okay, everyone. I’m going to go scream into a pillow for the next five minutes.” “Are you telling me that we can't build an elevator into space?! Because that sounds like something a guy who doesn't want to keep his job would say!” “And let me tell you one last thing. All those times I got angry and declared that I would have my vengeance on you: I WAS FAKING!” “I'm glad we spent all our money on this bag of potato chips and generic brand soda.” “By the way, I memorized several dozen dinosaur puns, just so I could use them in this.” “The only reunion that’s about to happen is my size ten up your buttocks!” “Dorō! Monsutā Kādo!” “You're right, (name). I lost control. At the end of the day, this is just a game.” “We’re going to disturb the spirits of the dead! Yay!” “What the fuck even is this season!?” “Won’t somebody fetch me some ice cream!?” “I’m old and I hold a stick. That automatically makes me the wisest person in the valley.” “It’s a good thing I played all that Assassin’s Creed!” “It’s a good thing I played all that Banjo Kazooie!” “Oh, thank God, because I really wasn’t listening to any of that. Any of it.” “Now, I have to go back down there and challenge that vulture to a card game.” “Okay, (name), I’m going to level with you; I may have lied about the pizza.” “It makes me look really bonkers cool while I kick the shit out of you.” “Actually, he says his name is Cornelius Jr. and he wants to play basketball, just like how his father wanted him to.” “You can talk to snakes!?” “Hey, are you sure it’s safe for us to fly straight into that strange weather phenomenon?” “I guess we’d better confront whatever villain of the week that is.” “Well, these buttons look important.” “We mostly get by using our street smarts and ingenuity.” “No, I'm mad because I never wanted to know what one of Hideo Kojima's wet dreams looked like, and now I do, so thanks for that.” “I swear on my life we didn't keep a single flying war machine of death.” “Well, it would be way more intimidating if its face wasn't so damn adorable.” “Yeah, they’re dead. Dibs on their crappy broken stuff!” “Did you guys notice that this episode had the exact same ending as Bee Movie?” “I'm also glad we're not going to Florida as it means that we are not going to Florida.” “OK, but wait! I'm almost to the part where we met two ghosts in the California desert who just happened to be related to the guy we're fighting. Oh God, you're right; it's all just bullshit, isn't it?” “Breaking stuff will fix it!” “I'm bi a lot of things, but lingual is not one of them.” “Welcome back, asshole.” “Hey (name), wanna reenact a scene from Back to the Future Part II?” “I'd rather throw myself off the roof.” “Damn you, Microsoft Flight Simulator!” “Yes, but you had to steal my catchphrase to do it! Is nothing sacred to you?” “That is the single most offensive thing anyone has ever said to me.” “OK, children, from now on, everybody uses the Buddy System. When I say "Go," I want you all to choose a buddy and form an everlasting and inseparable bond between them 'till death do you part. OK, go!” “(Name), remember, whatever happens, you mustn't become an evil little sh*thead.” “Suckers! Consider yourselves ditched.“ “Well if any other anime in existence has taught me anything, most of the drama tends to happen on...the roof.“ “Just my luck. Dork Fest continues.“ “No! It's got a scythe. The deadliest farming implement known to man.“ “This heavy-hearted metaphor was brought to you by Da, a subsidiary of Doy, Inc.” “OK, this is also total BS. When I came back from the dead, I didn't get a chorus of heavenly music and a light show.“ “It's a good thing I'm so buff or that fall would've killed me.“ “(Name), promise me you're not going to embarrass me in front of the U.S. Military.” “ Guys, I think we took a wrong turn, because I'm pretty sure this is the Chamber of Secrets.” “Those aren't Funko Pops! They're much more disturbing!” “Yeah, makes your measly five thousand years look like a five thousand years of being a bitch, bitch.“ “Okay, but why are we in space?” “I have no idea who that is. You are talkin' fucking crazy right now, man. Are you okay? Do you need water? How long were you in the desert for?“ “For the record, I was dressing up in suits of armor before it was cool.“ “(Name), this is like, the third time you've tried to murder one of my friends, stop it!” “Nah. As a teenager with unlimited access to the Internet, I get to do that every day.” “As I was saying, (name) is a damn handsome and valuable person. Thank goodness for them.” “They died as they lived... pissing me off.” “Okay, who let the posh shithead in here?” “I'm so happy you escaped the cold embrace of death so that I could experience your deathly cold embrace again!“ “Wow. My eBay sensors are tingling.“ “You know, we really have no idea where this portal will take us, but I have total confidence in this decision.“ “None of this matters to you! You're already dead! Blah, blah, blah, omae wa mou shindeiru.” “Glad we came all the way up here so that we could not know what was going on.“ “Does this mean I can take back all the nice things I said?“ “I'm not doing any of those things. I'm just enjoying being with you.”

#sentence prompt #rp prompt #rp prompts #writing prompts #writing prompt #sentence prompts #rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #writing memes #ygotas #ygotas season 4 #ygotas memes

29 notes · View notes

crazy-talk · 6 years ago

Text

As promised, here’s a little large compilation sort of thing of little moments and memories from SBFP that you folks have submitted. I really appreciate everything that you’ve all submitted, it’s pretty clear that SBFP helped and entertained a whole lot of people - in equal amounts.

Here’s some SBFP moments:

Grand Wizard Wakka

The Shitstorm VII Woolie haunting plan

“What a mysterious game.”

MY HOUSE

“Wait, what’s my objectives?” “You don’t haaave any objectives!”

Qui Gon Chi

“Whah happuh?” “das whah happuh!”

“No, shut up though.”

The Baby

“Shut the fuck up about Face/Off!”

“Bleetzboll...”

The Sadness Trilogy

“KIDS LOVE THE FOCKIN’ DEVIL!”

Pat thinking he’s dying because he sat on a chocolate bar

Kenpachi Ramasama

Shit-kids

“Whut deh fuhk? Is he using duh bät room?”

Mr. Shakedown/Kenny/Quint/Eric Sparrow

TAR-KUS! TAR-KUS! TAR-KUS!

“Love is just chemicals.”

Pat eating candy alone in a closet

Matt throwing the fire axe

“Oh no, I make’da bad game!”

“Hey, is that the script?”

“JAAASON!”

“It’s fine.”

The RE2 valve noise

“Yeyeyeye!”

Woolie’s atomic purple Gameboy

“Eyy, what’s goin’ on, man? You ready to play?”

And some SBFP memories. Some of these may be a bit emotionally heavy so feel free to skip this part:

the sbfp lp of yakuza 0 got me and my best friend into the yakuza series. we watched it together and we still laugh about matt falling to pieces over "never-before-seen results" - Anon

the best friends have had such an influence on my speech patterns that i've infected people who've never watched them before. half of my friend group says super big [x] and porked up now - Anon

SBFP introduced me to so many games that ended up becoming personal favorites of mine, like Deadly Premonition and the Silent Hill series. Their videos became a way for me to spend time with some of my own best friends as well! - captainofthestars

theres one particular moment that will always resonate with me - in their devil may cry lets play, i cant remember if it was 1 or 3, they talk about someone in the comments who mentioned that they had to beat devil may cry with items due to having a physical disability of some kind, i cant remember which. they talked about how it was awesome that he managed to even beat the game like that, and, personally, as someone who struggles with motorskills issues this made me very happy, as a devil may cry fan. theres a lot of other great moments from the tbfp, both funny and genuine that made me happy, but this one in particular stuck with me a lot. - krillfingers

I'll never stop making "pull out king" jokes thanks to sbfp - venerabledreadnought

I remember the first Shitstorm that made me actually have to get up and sit in a brightly lit room with other people in it, Anatomy. It's become a Halloween tradition to watch it every year since, though watching a whole bunch of Shitstorm also became one. As someone who started watching at their second machinma ep, it's not a lie to say that they made up the entirety of my teenage years. I will miss the channel dearly, but I look forward to the future. - duke-nitro

My friends and I have been watching The Zaibatsu for so long that we have accidentally adopted a bunch of their phrases like going “yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah” or saying someone “go down.” Also, despite us not knowing each other when we became fans, we all somehow began with their Man vs Wild let’s play and I even made friends with one of them because I quoted something from it at work. Favorite moment probably has to be the entire Omikron playthrough, I can’t pick a single moment. It was a beautiful trainwreck start to finish and I still put on the playlist from time to time while I’m doing other things. I swear I could gently fall asleep to the sounds of Pat screaming about the shooter segments. shogun-ceanataur

Persona 4 and Kenpachi Ramasama were my favourite. I found the name itself hilarious, but how they kept on referring to him as the full name in different little bits and tones never failed to make me laugh. That “See you later, fuckers!” part from when you see Yosuke was also hilarious. I’m not sure if that video is the oeigin, but it’s why I’ve integrated that phrase into my everyday life. Goddamn what a fun, memorable episode. - whatthehellisthisevenfor

tbfp got me through being homeless in my car twice. every time that I wanted to give up, to just stop trying, i'd turn on whatever new video they had out and it brightened up my life. my mom, who was with me, came to love them to, she used to wait to hear them to relax. i have so many memories of that time, and i don't fully relax or even eat on long days until I've turned their videos on. my favorite quote is still "mistakes into miracles". its a rly motivating quote imo. - c0l0c4k3s

I always loved the Silent Hill 2 LP. I never played it when it came out - all I knew was that it was a horror game, and I hated horror at the time. But when the LP came around, I knew a bit more about the game and I was intrigued. Seeing the game, meeting the characters, hearing Pat disect the story and themes for Matt, I loved it all. I was fascinated, and still am. I will still watch the LP every few months, and I call SH2 one of my favorite games, even though I still haven’t played it.Thanks, SBFP, for all the great moments and the great memories. I wish you all well. - iamthewanderingbard

The best friends are what got me so invested in the Dark souls games, and what motivated me to get through DS2. Even if I say 'You see what i mean' unironically a lot, and go 'You. Did it.' - awkwardmuses

I got into Super Best Friends from a post on the Twin Perfect forum, that linked to the Silent Hill Downpour lp, and never looked back. Their let's plays brought me so much joy back when I wasn't in the best living or health situation, and continue to do so. My favourite let's plays have to be Eternal Darkness and the Shitstorms; I always go back to those when depression hits, or for any reasons. I'll miss them together, but I'll always have those delicious delicious memories. - mrjaffesxeldritchtwin

The Best Friends Play are the reason I end so many sentences with "though". I first found them when a friend recommended the Best Sisters Play MLP animations, and I've loved them ever since. I know it's used as a joke, but I really believe they've earned the title of HYPEST GAMEPLAY ON YOUTUBE. I love all of their David Cage playthroughs, and I adore how many plot-points they guess during Beyond: Two Souls. I love how, when they play a game they really love, they show so much knowledge and care. - mads-in-zero

It was incredibly amusing and oddly touching that the Zaibatsu created this hate circle of David Cage and his godawful games. Even before Detroit’s release, the best friends AND the fanbase were ready to hate it because as a collective, we just latched onto that one thing to hate/make fun of. And we go all out on it together like some fucked up family, and I love it. - missinghmmingbird

I can’t help but shrug off every minor inconvenience and major issue in my life with “it’s fine” thanks to Gun Jumper Liam. Thanks to Matt and Woolie supporting Skullgirls like no one else on the internet, I really got into it and fighting games as a whole. I’m not good at them, but oh boy do I love them.And if it wasn’t for Pat, I don’t think I’d ever have touched a Yakuza or Persona game.These guys affected my life more than any other individual or group on the internet ever really has. - dklordg

The first Best Friends video I ever watched was Portal 2. That short LP had me in stitches. I'd never laughed so hard. I've been a huge fan since then. These guys where the ones that introduced me to LPs and made me realize that you can have fun watching other people bumble through games. TheSw1tcher has been one of my favorite channels on YouTube since I began watching. It gave me something to look forward to. I got through high school, and essentially grew up, watching these videos. There are so many catchphrases and memes I will never forget and will always make me smile. I absolutely say stuff like “whah happun?” and “shit-kids” all the time. The Deadly Premonition and Detroit: Become Human playthroughs are wonderful gems in my eyes. It’s amazing how a group of guys can get so many people to collectively love and bash certain games. We’re all on the same page, having a blast like a huge group of friends at a slumber party. Matt, Pat, Woolie, Liam, Billy, and everyone who involved themselves with the Super Best Friends are the absolute best. They gave me a chance to relax and laugh along with some familiar voices. Although it's sad they are going their separate ways, I totally respect that fact. They have my love and support. I wish them nothing but success and happiness moving forward. I'll be watching! And a note to my fellow fans: This has been a wild ride. I'm glad I got to enjoy it with you. You are all fantastic people. - fablesamongus

#Text post #Comp post #super best friends play #SBFP #Two Best Friends Play #TBFP

1K notes · View notes

twilightvolt · 5 years ago

Text

My Favorite Anime OPs and EDs from 2010-2019

No one asked for this, but i’m doin’ it anyway cuz there’s so many songs out there that i’ve never heard anyone talk about. like, y’all sleep on Yu-Gi-Oh! apparently. lmao

Going by release year, here’s all the OPs and EDs i can remember that i luv (and still do to this day). i may or may not have gotten all the years right. hell, i’m not even sure i got the OP and ED numbers right.

It’ll go by: Song Name - Artist (Name of Anime and Which OP/ED it is) an asterisk means i REALLY like it above the rest.

Hopefully this’ll help introduce you to some new jams you missed out on! ^ ^

2010

Going My Way! ~Road to Tomorrow~ - Masaaki Endoh (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds OP5)*

Close to You - ALvino (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds ED4)

Future Colors - Plastic Tree (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds ED5)

Gravity 0 - Aqua Timez (Star Driver OP)*

Never Give Up! - Sonar Pocket (Digimon Xros Wars OP)*

Period - Chemistry (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OP4)*

Rain - SID (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OP5)* THE. FEELS.

Uragiri no Yuuyake - THEATRE BROOK (Durarara!! OP)* Y’all remember this one? Lmao

Trust Me - Yuya Matsushita (Durarara!! ED)

Ice Cream Syndrome - Sukima Switch (Pokemon Zoroark: Master of Illusions ED)*

My Soul, Your Beats! - Lia (Angel Beats OP) WAIT HOLD ON, ANGEL BEATS WAS THIS DECADE? I THOUGHT THAT WAS 2009 OR SOMETHING. DAHEQ?

ChAngE - Miwa (BLEACH OP12)

Calling - FLOW (Heroman ED)*

SHIVER - the GazettE (Black Butler II OP)

2011

Samurai Heart (Some Like it Hot!) - SPYAIR (Gintama ED17)* And on this day I realized….SPYAIR is lit.

New World - Twill (Digimon Xros Wars OP2)

Masterpiece - Mihimaru GT (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP)

Boku Quest - Golden Bomber (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED)* I luv watching the actual ending sequence. It fits my cyber aesthetic to a T.

BRAVING! - KANAN (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP2)

Setsubou no Freesia (Longing Freesia) - Daizystripper (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED2)* I’ll be completely honest, this song has been my favorite anime theme over most, if not all others, ever since. It’s kinda held a special place in my heart as it’s got memories of what transpired during 2012 that i don’t think i’ll ever forget. From the summer trip we took down south to me creating my very first OCs, Takuya and his Charmander partner Drake, on paper, i’ll luv this song with all my heart. ^ ^

Lovers - 7!! (Seven Oops) (Naruto Shippuden OP)

Counter Identity - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Soul Eater Repeat Show OP)*

Ai Ga Hoshii Yo - Shion Tsuji (Soul Eater Repeat Show OP2)* WANTCHU WANTCHU, I WANT CHUU~

SHINING STAR - 9nine (Star Driver OP2)*

Crossover - 9nine (Star Driver ED2)

Sky's the Limit - Shihoko Hirata (Persona 4 the Animation OP)

We’re Not Alone - coldrain (Rainbow Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin OP)

One Reason - Fade (Deadman Wonderland OP) I can bet you right now half of y’all forgot about this show. I mean i did. Lol

Mayonaka no Orchestra - Aqua Timez (Naruto Shippuden ED16)

Hacking to the Gate - Kanako Itou (Steins;Gate OP)* THIS SONG CLEARED MY SKIN AND RAISED MY GRADES.

Ranbu no Melody - SID (BLEACH OP13)* That main chorus tho. N o i c e .

LISTEN TO THE STEREO!! - GOING UNDERGROUND (Katekyo Hitman Reborn OP8)*

Core Pride - UVERworld (Blue Exorcist OP)

2012

Mask - Aqua Timez (BLEACH ED30?)

Soul Drive - Color Bottle (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP3)*

Wild Child - Moumoon (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED3)* Whenever I hear this song, I either think of school shenanigans or, if school isn't a thing in their world, a high school AU. Lmao

Unbreakable Heart - Hideaki Takatori (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP4)

Artist - Vistlip (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED4)*

Stand By Me - Stereopony (Eureka Seven AO ED)* Ok I know some people don't wanna remember AO, but hear me out here. Lmao

Brave Blue - FLOW (Eureka Seven AO OP2)*

Key Plus Words - Shihoko Hirata & Yumi Kawamura (Persona 4 the Animation OP2)

Harukaze - SCANDAL (BLEACH OP15)*

Crossing Field - LiSA (Sword Art Online OP) I like making SAO jokes as much as the next guy, but let's be real here. Crossing Field was still a pretty good song.

STAND UP! - Twill (Digimon Xros Wars Hunters OP)* Hunters sucked, but the OP slaps.

Kyomu Densen - ALI PROJECT (Another OP) This show gave me a temporary fear of umbrellas, but this OP is good.

Complication - ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D (Durarara!! OP2)

Light My Fire - KOTOKO (Shakugan no Shana III Final OP)

Mite Mite Kochichi - Memoiro Clover Z (Pokemon Best Wishes ED3)

2013

Dualism of Mirrors - Petite Milady (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL OP5)

GO WAY GO WAY - FoZZtone (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED5)

Challenge the GAME - REDMAN (Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL ED6)* I swear to god, this should’ve been the final OP rather than Wonder Wings. I really don’t like that song.

Oh, and if you wanna hear more of the lead singer's voice, he's the lead singer of GIRUGAMESH. They didn't do any anime songs while they were still active afaik, but totally check it out if you like J-Rock.

Sakura Mitsutsuki & Genjyou Destruction - SPYAIR (Gintama OP13 and Gintama: The Final Chapter OP)*

After Cherry Blossoms (all quartets lead to the?) - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta OP)*

Non-Fiction Compass - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Yozakura Quartet: Tsuki ni Naku OP)

Sayonara Memory - 7!! (Seven Oops) (Naruto Shippuden ED)

BLOODY STREAM - Coda (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle tendency OP)* I mean, how could i NOT put this song on here? Lmao

Be An Arrow! - Rica Matsumoto (Pokemon Best Wishes! OP2)

Natsumeku Sakamichi (Summerly Slope) - Daisuke (Pokemon Best Wishes DA! OP)* While the Black & White series was absolutely terrible, I can thank it for spawning some nice OPs.

Egao - Ikimono-gakari (Pokemon Genesect and the Legend Awakened ED)

Take Your Way - Livetune adding Fukase (From SEKAI NO OWARI) (Devil Survivor 2 the Animation OP)* I swear I will never get tired of this song.

Be - Song Riders (Devil Survivor 2 the Animation ED)*

Watashi no Bara wo Kaminasai - ALI PROJECT (Rozen Maiden 2013 OP)

Moshimo - Daisuke (Naruto Shippuden OP)

Burn My Dread ~Spring of Birth~ & More Than One Heart - Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 the Movie #1 Spring of Birth OP and ED)*

Eden - Aqua Timez (Magi: the Kingdom of Magic ED)*

Out of Control - Nothing’s Carved in Stone (Psycho Pass OP2)*

HERO -Kibou no Uta- - FLOW (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods ED)

2014

Silhouette - KANA BOON (Naruto Shippuden OP16)* Everyone rise for the weeb national anthem.

BelievexBelieve - Bulletrain (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP)

ENAMEL - SID (Black Butler: Book of Circus OP)

Masayume Chasing - BoA (Fairy Tail OP15)

STRIKE BACK - BACK-ON (Fairy Tail OP16)*

Burn! - Bulletrain (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP2)

DAYxDAY - BLUE ENCOUNT (Gintama OP)* Before Polaris, there was this. lol

Goya no Machiawase - Hello Sleepwalkers (Noragami OP)* I swear Noragami has great taste in OPs. lmao

Fate is in Our Hands - Lotus Juice (Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream OP)* Y'all know Lotus Juice makes EVERYTHING badass.

One Hand, One Heartbeat - Yumi Kawamura (Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream ED)* I swear I literally feel like crying every time I hear this song. It's just that powerful.

Unravel - TK from Ling Tosite Sigure (Tokyo Ghoul OP) Ok, lemme explain. I used to hate this song cuz I thought TK's singing voice was whiny as hell. But after a long, LOOOOONG time, it finally started to grow on me. I think it's because of all the song covers I've listened to and, after understanding the meaning behind the lyrics, I appreciate this song a bit more nowadays.

V (VOLT) and MEGA V (MEGA VOLT) - Yusuke (Pokemon XY OPs 1&2)*

daze - Jin ft. MARiA from GARNiDELiA (Mekakucity Actors OP)

Monochrome - Dancing Dolls (Soul Eater NOT! OP)

2015

Saigo Made ii - Aqua Timez (Gintama ED15 i think?)

Kyouran Hey Kids! - THE ORAL CIGARETTES (Noragami Aragoto OP)* IN THIS HOUSE, WE JUST WANNA HOLD YOUR HAAAAAAND~

Getta Ban Ban (Mad-Paced Getter) - Tomohisa Sako (Pokemon XY OP3)*

XY&Z - Rica Matsumoto (Pokemon XY&Z OP)*

Raise Your Flag - MAN WITH A MISSION (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OP)*

Hello, World! - BUMP OF CHICKEN (Kekkai Sensen OP)*

Sugar Song and Bitter Step AKA the song everyone makes fan animated parodies of it’s opening sequence - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Kekkai Sensen ED)

Kirifuda (Trump Card) - Cinema Staff (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V OP4)

Speaking - MRS. GREEN APPLE (Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V ED4)* before Great Escape from Attack on Titan and Inferno from Fire Force, there was this OP and ED. both of which i feel are better songs. lmao

Tweedia - Rei Yasuda (Pokemon Hoopa and the Clash of Ages ED)*

Diver - KANA-BOON (The Last: Naruto the Movie ED)*

Butter-Fly 2015 - Kouji Wada (Digimon Adventure Tri. OP)

Sono Chi no Kioku ~End of the World~ - JO☆STARS ~TOMMY, Coda, JIN~ (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders OP2)

Lapis Lazuli - Eir Aoi (Arslan Senki ED)*

Clattanoia - OxT (Overlord OP)*

L.L.L. - MYTH & ROID (Overlord ED)

Nazo 2015 - La PomPon (Detective Conan OP41)* Hearing this brought back memories of hearing the original during my childhood back when Cased Closed was still a thing.

Just Fly Away - EDGE of LIFE (Gundam Build Fighters Try OP2)

Flyers - BRADIO (Death Parade OP) Like Another, this was one of those where i wouldn’t have touched the show itself if my anime club didn’t watch it.

X.U. - Hiroyuki Sawano (Seraph of the End OP)*

Hikari - ViViD (Magi: the Kingdom of Magic OP2)

2016

DiVE!! - Amatsuki (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters OP)*

Ai - Ami Wajima (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED2)

The Day - Porno Graffitti (My Hero Academia OP)

HEROES - Brian the Sun (My Hero academia ED)

RAGE OF DUST - SPYAIR (Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans OP2)*

Believe in Myself - EDGE of LIFE (Fairy Tail OP21)*

CRAZY NOISY BIZARRE TOWN - THE DU (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP)

Chase - batta (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP2)* Screw the haters. This song is a bop.

Great Days - Karen Aoki & Daisuke Hasegawa (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable OP3) As you can see, i luv all of Jojo Part 4’s OPs. lmao

Kaze no Uta - FLOW (Tales of Zestiria the X OP)* Zestiria may have been the most uninteresting experience i’ve had in the Tales series, but at least it’s OPs are straight fire.

Dream Lantern, ZenZenZense, Sparkle and Nandemonaiya - RADWIMPS (Various themes from Your Name) I'm still miffed that they didn't kiss at the end. >:v

Re:Re: - ASIAN KUNGFU GENERATION (Erased OP)

Brave Shine - Aimer (Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works OP)*

Starting Over - Mr. Children (The Boy and the Beast ED)* Mamoru Hosoda never ceases to make me smile and/or cry, huh?

GO - BUMP OF CHICKEN (GRANBLUE FANTASY the Animation OP)

KINGS - angela (K Project OP) i don’t even know how i remembered this one. I watched K at my local anime club years ago cuz one of my friends suggested it. I barely remember what it was about, though. ^ ^’

Vision - Kusou Linkai (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V ED5)

Light of Hope - Unknown Number (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V OP5)

Pendulum Beat! - SUPER DRAGON (Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V OP6)*

2017

Peace Sign - Kenshi Yonezu (My Hero Academia OP2)* SURE IT’S POPULAR, BUT IT’S POPULAR FOR A REASON.

Datte Atashi no Hero - LiSA (My Hero Academia ED3)

Little Pi - Ange☆Reve (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED3)

Perfect World - Traffic Light (Digimon Universe: Applimonsters ED4)*

With the Wind - Hiroaki “TOMMY” Tominaga (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS OP)* I’ll be honest, this one took some getting used to, but now i luv it!

Fake Town Baby - UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (Kekkai Sensen and Beyond OP)

Tonari Au - THE ORAL CIGARETTES (Sakurada Reset ED)*

Rain - SEKAI NO OWARI (Mary and the Witch's Flower ED)* I really liked the movie and I just luved the fantasy vibes given off by the instrumentals in this song.

Baton Road - KANA BOON (Boruto: Naruto Next Generations OP)* Y'all say Boruto is trash, but at least the theme songs still boppin'.

Boku wa Hashiri Tsuzukeru - Melofloat (Boruto: Naruto Next Generations ED3)

FEED THE FIRE - coldrain (King’s Game OP)* Thank you Fire Force for introducing me to this wonderful band. ;w;

2018

PAiNT it BLACK - BiSH (Black Clover OP2)* Never thought I'd ever find a band actually named bish. Lmao

Black Rover - Vickeblanka (Black Clover OP3)

Guess Who is Back - Kumi Koda (Black Clover OP4)* Now, if this ain't a bop fit for a triumphant return like "SURPRISE BISH I'M BACK." then idk what is. Lmao

Gamushara & Tenge Tenjou - Miyuna (Black Clover OP&ED5)* i’m mainly referring to Gamushara, but i luv Tenge Tenjou too.

ODD FUTURE - UVERworld (My Hero Academia OP4)*

Make my story - Lenny code fiction (My Hero Academia OP5)*

The Future is Now - Straightener (Digimon ReArise OP)* Yes, I know I'm cheating cuz it's a video game, but it's an opening sequence much like an anime, so yeah.

Breath - Porno Graffitti (Pokemon the Power of Us ED)

Katharsis - TK from Ling Tosite Sigure (Tokyo Ghoul OP3?)*

Here - JUNNA (The Ancient Magus Bride OP)

Renai Circulation - Kana Hanazawa (Bakemonogatari OP4) Imma be honest, i found this song through those Coldplay mashups and other memes. Lmao

I Wanna Be - SPYAIR (Gintama Shirogane no Tamashii Hen OP)

Hana Ichi Monme - BURNOUT SYNDROMES (Gintama Shirogane no Tamashii Hen ED)*

2019

Hana ga Saku Michi - THE CHARM PARK (Black Clover ED7)* I SWEAR NO ONE’S COVERED THIS SONG YET AND I’M SAD. I LUV THIS SONG.

Inferno - MRS. GREEN APPLE (Fire Force OP)

Veil - Keina Suda (Fire Force ED)* This ED gives me feels and i luv it. ;w;

MAYDAY - coldrain (Fire Force OP2)* This sounds like a song i’d hear at Hot Topic and i feel blessed. lmao

Nounai - Lenny code fiction (Fire Force ED2) I swear this anime doesn’t have a single song i don’t like. I’m not kidding. lmao

WILD SIDE - ALI (BEASTARS OP)* IN THIS HOUSE, WE DO NOT SKIP THIS OPENING I STG.

Le Zoo - YURiKA (BEASTARS ED)

Nemureru Honou (Sleeping Instincts) - YURiKA (BEASTARS ED2)*

Kawaki no Ameku - Minami (Domestic Na Kanojo OP)

Polaris - BLUE ENCOUNT (My Hero Academia OP6)* THIS IS THE BIGGEST BOP SINCE PEACE SIGN OML

Touch Off - UVERworld (The Promised Neverland OP)* This show was too creepy for me to continue, but I luv it for what it is. Also NAA NANANANANANAA NANANAAAA~

Sangenshoku - PELICAN FANCLUB (Dr. Stone OP2)* Sorry, but Good Morning World didn’t totally do it for me. I luv this OP way more tbh.

Suisou - Megumi Nakajima (Hoshiai no Sora OP)* The bits before the chorus are just so good.

1•2•3 - After the Rain (Pocket Monsters 2019 OP)

Dark Crow - MAN WITH A MISSION (Vinland Saga OP2)

MOTOR CITY - Kenichi Asai (No Guns Life OP)

Game Over - DATS (No Guns Life ED)

#rambles #anime talk #favorite anime openings and endings #MY JAM #i really had to dig deep into my memory banks for this one #and do my research to make sure i got things right #i most likely forgot quite a bit still #feel free to tell me how trash my tastes are

17 notes · View notes

wanlidas-archive · 6 years ago

Text

OLIVIA ft. her family & addiction.

“you’re the only one who even remembered it was my one year sobriety coming up. i get it, they’re busy. this time of year is always bad because of playoffs and my mom has her DA campaigns..’ [ you have to tell your parents and jordan that you are struggling. ] “no, no.. it’ll just hurt them.” [ it’s hurting you. ]

olivia really, really tries to excuse her family for their absence in her life by constantly making excuses for them or justifying the reason they’ve hurt her. she often feels invisible within her own family and like her presence doesn’t matter, so she tells herself it’s just because they’re busy and she’s not allowed to be mad at them ——- but that’s the root of the problem. trying to justify it or making up excuses for them is only going to make her feel worse and worse even if she doesn’t realize that’s what she’s doing. and it’s because her heart is so big and because she cares so much about them that she’s so scared to admit she’s hurting by it because she doesn’t want to blame them for her own sadness even if it starts with them. burdening them with her pain feels like it’s only going to hurt them more, and she’s already done that by nearly dying. but that’s the problem. the fact that they don’t see she’s hurting and they don’t reach out to her while she’s so desperately trying to keep it all in and not show them she’s struggling again, it’s only going to farther deteriorate her mental state.

it’s nice to see other people start to reach out to her, but it can only go so far, because her real issue is that she desperately needs her family, and they’re not by her side. they love her so much and they do support her, she has never doubted their love for her or anything of the sort, but she is always comparing it to their love for jordan. and not in the sense that she thinks they love her more, but she thinks they pay more attention to him / let him get away with more because he’s the star athlete of the house, he’s following in his father’s footsteps, he has a goal to strive for that they can watch progress and be proud of him for it. they’re twins, they grew up together, but they went in separate directions despite having been close most of their lives. she doesn’t feel like she’s on the same level as him, even when she is putting herself in the exact position to be the person people pay attention to. her parents left town AGAIN and it crushed her, so to deal with that pain, she threw a party, because at least being the party girl was a title only she could have, and jordan couldn’t take that from her ——- except, his presence there was still enough to take the attention back away from her. it was just a reminder that people appreciated him more than her, that they cared about him more or that they thought he was more exciting, something she always felt she wasn’t and part of the reason she had been drawn to the party lifestyle to begin with.

“you guys are all so goal oriented. you live in the future, always focused on the next game, next campaign. it’s like you don’t see the details in the present. the thing is, i live in the present. why do you think i started doing drugs in the first place? at least being the party girl was something. then you just threw money at the problem, sent me off to rehab, and poof, i’m magically fixed.”

i’ve actually been speculating about this for a while and writing this as such but her parents really did believe that they did the right thing and that sending her off to rehab was the most that they could do. instead of brushing it off, instead of worrying about whatever reputation may form because of their daughter in rehab, they sent her there after she overdosed because it was the right thing to do. and it was, because that was the only way for olivia to get better ——- both in terms of being sober and in terms of knowing what was right for her. she doesn’t resent them for making that decision because she knows it was the right one, and she even says that if someone were to try to help her in any other way, she still would have kept doing it. but sending her off to rehab wasn’t the most they could do ——- it didn’t fix the root of the problem, which was that she just wanted her family to take care of her. not a bunch of strangers who could help her on a physical and mental level, but her parents and her brother who really needed to be there for her on an emotional level. =

she built her hopes up high when she was in rehab. she convinced herself that now that she had nearly died from this and now that she was getting so much better, her family would see that she needs them and they would make a better effort. except, nothing really changed that much. they didn’t shy away from telling her they loved her nor attempting to be there for her, but it wasn’t what she expected or what she really needed. she and jordan had pulled away from each other ——- both olivia’s attempt because of her guilt for sleeping with his best friend, and jordan’s inability to cope with the fact that he found olivia almost dead. her parents hadn’t changed that much, still incredibly busy with all they have to do —— stuff she certainly doesn’t resent them for, because she’s always been proud of everything her mother has accomplished and she’s proud and grateful that her father has gotten himself back on his feet after leaving the NFL & finding his bearings as a high school coach. but she still feels empty with them. sometimes it’s worse than before, because she feels really empty around them. she had made so much progress and she did that all on her own. she was making an active effort to stay sober so that they could be proud of her for something, but it always seemed to go unnoticed. she was begging them to ask her if she was okay or to tell her that they could see how well she was doing trying to be better, but it never came.

she doesn’t have the title of ‘ party girl ‘ anymore, and she’s glad for it, but now she is ‘ rehab girl ‘ and that’s a stigma she can joke about but it only masks the pain she really feels about it. she’s constantly worried that that’s how her family sees her too, that she is just a burden in this family because she is a problem child who had been sent to rehab at 16 and that she’s failed them. she wants them to want to take care of her, but she doesn’t want to ask for it. so sometimes, she’s passive aggressive instead. when she sticks to her mother’s side because she wants her mom to take care of her, but when she does something that alludes to being busy or having things to do, olivia makes passive aggressive comments to her in spite of the fact that she’s doing something else rather than paying attention to her family. and laura is absolutely not an absentee mother, she’s still very much involved in her kids lives, but olivia feels left out because she doesn’t have anything her mother is taking the time out of her day to do —— not like the way she makes time for jordan and billy’s football games and things of the sort. so when she doesn’t get that time for her mother’s attention to be completely on her, she gets sad.

obviously, this all only gets worse when billy reaches out to spencer. and it’s not because of who spencer is, because olivia already has a good relationship with him. it might have been different if he was asked to live with them before olivia got to know him, but he had already made a good impression on her. that hard part about this was that her father was suddenly so fixated on this random kid that no one knew, and he was paying more attention to him —— seemingly both on the field and off ( something both the baker twins were struggling with. ) olivia commended her father for this and respected him so much for caring for this person, because she knew it was the right thing to do, but she also longed to have that kind of attention too. she could see that jordan was struggling with it too, and it was easier to show their father that he was hurting both of them rather than just pointing out that he was hurting her only. there was some kind of comfort in knowing that she and her brother were both struggling with this, because for once, she didn’t feel alone in it —— but she hated that her brother was struggling at all, too, so it pushed her to actually say something to her father.

"post rehab, spencer is the only person who asked me if i was really okay. all of you just assumed i was and just moved on.”

spencer caught her eye immediately because he was new, and he had no recollection of who she had been after her reputation had been shattered months prior. everyone already knew her as the party girl turned rehab girl, and though she wanted to make a new name for herself, it was hard in the environment she was in. spencer go to meet who she was before he had to know who she had been before. she was honest with him about his past because she knew he wouldn’t be able to escape it if people saw him hanging around her, and because she already felt comfortable enough with him to know that it was okay to be vulnerable with him, even if she hid that behind a mask of brushing it off lightly. his first response was to ask her if she was okay after all of that, and that is part of why she develops a crush on him so early on —— he notices her. not in the way she wants him to, but he does, and that’s more than she can say for her family at this point. she’s back from rehab, sober, and she's doing better, so they want to believe that’s all there is to it, that she is going to continue being fine and everything is fixed now. but olivia is well aware that it can’t just be fixed and that she will always be an addict, so hearing someone actually, genuinely ask if she’s okay is refreshing to her. she clings to that in spencer and wants to spend more time with it because when he’s looking at her, he sees her. again, not in the way she wanted to at that point, but it’s so refreshing to her. a part of her may always be drawn to him for that, but mostly, she does think of him as family now, and that’s true again when he reaches out to her to make sure she’s okay after her family has brushed her off all day. spencer is incredibly important in her support system and in her ability to cope.

“today, i literally find one bottle of pills, and it’s like i’m back to 2017 me. why?” [ dig deep. figure out what demons got stirred up for you. ]

drugs were her coping mechanism. drugs were an escape from the emptiness she felt inside her own family. the persona she put on whenever she was using was someone she clung to because it meant people were paying attention to her. drugs were a way of pretending that she wasn’t alone when she felt so lost amongst her family. all she ever wanted was for her family to take care of her and to love her and to not be afraid to show it. any sort of sudden absence of inability to notice her presence may always be a trigger for her, even when things are better between all of them and they’re making an active effort to pay more attention to her and care for her more. it’s always going to be there on the back of her mind and it’s always going to be terrifying to her.

#* meta ↷ o. baker.#* study ↷ o. baker.#do.nt.reblog.#long post /#drugs /#drug addiction /#pills /#rehab /#drug mention /#drug addiction mention /#addiction /#addiction tw #drugs tw #some of these quotes arent exact but i was emo transcribing and havent rewatched yet!!!!#i. am so in love with her. so much #i cant even put it into words i love her so much #she’s only existed for 1 season and she is so easily in my top 3 fave female characters ever #idk why i said she has only existed for 1 season as if tracy wasn’t in Less eps than that & still my number 2 but. ok #im just at such a High rn bc we went so long not knowing what her Dark Year really stemmed from #and i had to speculate on my own and everything was so spot on it makes me so sad #this fam is so interesting bc they have so much love for each other they’re just. not always good at showing it.#i want to write this same thing from jordan’s perspective but i need time i have so many emotions #just trying to say good morning to her family was her trigger god #love her sm.#imagine ppl watching this show with a cast of nearly all poc + actual non toxic lesbian rep + relevant storylines that matter

3 notes · View notes

asktheraggededges · 6 years ago

Note

If you woke up knowing that today was the day you were gonna die, what would you do differently?

‘Ave one last cold one wiv da boys. Strap meself wiv boms and dakka and knives and flash gubbinz and go bakk to da jungle. Put a fukkin gap in em wun last time.

[subject smiles very very slightly but says nothing]

Get my affairs in order. Fill out all the appropriate paperwork so as not to be a bother for anyone. Leave my possessions, the few that there are, to the appropriate people. My Corporal, My Commissar and what little family I have. Take my shotgun, and slip away quietly. Find trouble. Keep fighting until my time comes.

Call bullshit. Fuck what you know. Fuck fate.

I was born in to this world kicking and screaming and by fuck that’s how I’m leaving. Let whoever, or whatever is responsible for the injustice at removing me from this plane of existence suffer for what they have done.

A last glass of the good stuff. A little cake, maybe if it was there. Apologise to everyone.

I’d..I’d tell her how I feel.

Fuck it, I’d kiss her.

Not cool to do so, but..nothing to lose, right?

Smoke ‘em if you got em. Go down fighting and looking sharp. All I’d want.

Already.

[subject gives a small, bitter laugh]

I wouldn’t even be allowed to feel relieved. I’d just end up worrying about them.

No sense worrying about it. I’d try to instruct people. Get someone - maybe Ike or Mags to look after my gardens. Grab some edibles and drift off into space. No big fuss. No big deal.

J’know? I would love to have one last gallop. Not fussed. They’ve all been wonderful. Clean up, dress up. And have one last drag and a brandy as I watched a sunset somewhere. I think, perhaps, that would be an acceptable end.

Mama would worry so much. Who’d look after my little ones?

I would do everything I could to make Angie happy one last time. But, then she would know something was up and she’d be sad anyway. Its a conflict. Best to do, nothing. Just…business as usual. Leave her a note if I can find the words.

Your sister.

I’d imPArT the SuM of aLL my kNOwLeDge to soMeOne.

MayBe the SpEcK.

SpEnD tiMe wiTh tHe bOss. SoMe tIme with Grisholm. KiSS him AGAin.

fInALLy..I wOuLd see NaDa. InSisT that sHe cONSUME me in fuLL. So thAT my deATH and the MAGNIFIcence of My PowEr is NEIther CorRUPted or causes TrOUbLe for thOsE I caRE abOUt.

Forget the hearse cause I’ll never die!

I got

Nine lives!

Cats eyes!

I don’t know. I don’t. Die fighting, please.

I’d do my duty. Same as always. If I had time for a last drink and a roll in the hay, sure. But there are things to be done and people die every day. Cogs keep turning. Shove it, keep walking.

Fool question.

It’s a conflict. On one hand, I would love to be surrounded by these guys, the people I care about, before I go. For the last thing I see to be their smiling faces. But that’s kind of selfish, you know?

I think, so long as it was worth it, I’d find my peace with it all. Dying taking down a really big dude, or giving my life to save a bunch of others, I’d be okay with that.

On the understanding that no statues get built. No places get named. Don’t even write down what I did. Tell people of what I did only if they ask. Whatever happens, don’t let anyone call me a fucking hero.

Let the water be taken from me. Then commit me to space. or the earth. Whatever. No day should be any different.

Look after him.

Behg pess ahp. A bawnk.

Destroy what’s un finished. Spend time with Wes. My main wish, however foolish and unlikely is to die as myself. Send a message to Briton so they can collect my armour. A little music. Some port if someone can spare it.

I bagel know.

I float it would be very beautiful to hold close first friend best friend longest time only friend Zune.

I bagel be leaves I can be by the grand big golden couch. I have nothing to go there with. No ticket. No bottom of the shoes.

So there is no thing for me after the adjserious or solemn in manner or appearance.

If the last thing I hear is her. if the last thing I feel is her.

I am fine with this. it’s okay.

Hmmmmm?

Hm. Upload everything. Absolutely everything. My mind, my thoughts, my dimensions and physiology. Multiple terminals. Even onto nebulous data transmissions. Some one will find it. Maybe someday some mad man will find a way to make me again and I can pick up where I left off. Hope. Hope for humanity and technology and the harmonious fusion of both…that is what I believe in. It’s worth believing in.

[subject pointedly doesn’t look into the camera and is barely audible]

I wouldn’t do a goddamn thing different.

Shit, man. I don’t wanna think about stuff like that! Come on! There’s ALWAYS a way.

I’d only tell Jonny. I’d do whatever she wanted me to do from there. If we spend all day in bed, so be it. If she collects my thoughts for the future because, for whatever reason she thinks they’re valuable, so be it. If she just wants me to leave quietly, so she doesn’t have to see me die, or feel me die so be it. I understand the revolting world of war and the worse world of politics. I wouldn’t know what to do.

Stiff upper lip. Let it mean something. Let it be dignified and purposeful. keep smiling. Keep singing. It’s a drop in the ocean. I don’t want any tears. The sun will rise. Humanity will prevail. Play up and play the game.

Is not likely. I am invincible!

But should worst come to worst. Let me die knee deep in stupid baby enemies or with Solnishko in my arms.

No alternative acceptable.

I..I dunno. Heh. Uh.

I guess…take off all the passwords.. hand out some data chips.

Just…give access to all the data…the writing, the footage the sound bytes..

All the …stuff..for lack of a better description that will let anyone who cares know who we are. Or who we were. Let our story be known to anyone who wants to know.

Maybe they’ll learn from it.

Maybe they’ll find it interesting.

That’s ah…all I I’d really like..

KAEL TORNIC

Doug Boyd/ Masaya Onosaka

#anonymous #warhammer 40k #wh40k #ragged edges #imperial guard #long ass post #mega pos #everyone get in here #this is actually the 1000th post fwiw #it's kinda heavy #but i also kinda like it #even though it made me a little sad writing parts of it #whew

35 notes · View notes

burmecianblackmage · 6 years ago

Text

KNOW THE MUN - for real! - THROUGH MUSE!

Tag muns you want to know better; repost - don’t reblog.

What inspired you to try/create that muse/s: The year is 2013, and yours truly is a more or less active player on a german site called Legend of the Green Dragon. After having started with a mage character back in 2006 and eventually retiring him, I’ve been playing a young Samurai for a good year and a half, maybe already two, and I am a member of a small guild. It is a guild of similar characters, allowing for their stories to mix and mesh rather fluidly. One of them becomes my boy’s teacher, the other his rival that always tries to one up him when it comes to a certain lady corsair, who after a while falls for my boy. And there is also another girl, older than my boy, that used to be his new master’s sole student (and love interest), and that is mad furious about having to share her esteemed Sensei’s attention with my character.

It is with the mun behind said girl that I am talking, sitting in a little cafe with her as I am on my way back from visiting some people in Germany and decided to stop by. After all, since the guild meet.up the year before, we’ve been rather close friends, capable of both talking about serious stuff and worries as well as brainstorming some delightful nonsense.

One of these nonsense thoughts we have comes up when we discuss Final Fantasy, especially my fondness for Black Mages and FF IX. Having played the game as well and having taken a deep liking to the character of Freya, my friend remarks that she feels her part had been too small ultimately, and that it’s a shame we never got to explore Burmecia and the Burmecians more. And that’s when it happens:

“What if there was a Burmecian that was also a Black Mage? A Burmecian Black Mage?”

It is a couple weeks later when I am back home already and have mostly forgotten about it that I receive a message from my friend, with a dA link attached. A link to this sketch.

Initially, nothing comes from the idea, but I hold on to the sketch. And then one day, when upon lamenting the decline in activity on LotGD, a friend suggests roleplaying on tumblr, and I start to ponder what kind of muse I could play, I remember the sketch.

The basic concept for Sceada (whose name was lazily picked identically to my uername on most sites, I have to admit) takes less than two days to take shape, and on February 4th 2014, I first throw my new creation at another roleplayer and their muse - which, most fittingly, happens to be Freya Crescent.

And from there on out, the little Burmecian Black Mage as well as his backstory and characteristics continued to grow andfrow, further taking shape before ultimately arriving at what you are looking at today - and from here on out, he’ll keep growing further...

What is inspiration for that muse/s: To a large extent, Sceada is an amalgamation of mriad stories I read, as well as several mangas(animes featuring wizards and spellcasters, and last but not least the question, how an adult Vivi might be. There’s constantly stuff influencing and inspiring new facts and developments about him, be it from music that touches me, narratives that move me or even random ideas that come up in conversation, Much of Sceada has been shaped by both what happens to him in plays, as well as what people have come up with together with me.

There’s even some crucial facts about him that only came about because of an at first glance unrelated comment by someone, like for example, Sceada not being a “real” Burmecian, and actually having a non-Burmecian father. That initially came about courtesy of a remark about how he didn’t really look all that rat like, and more like a, I quote, “a damn Tree-Kangaroo” - a sentiment I do not really agree with, but even so... it inspired his mixed parenthood, which in turn developed into an explanation on why he can use magic. Funny how that sometimes goes, huh?

Thread/AU that made you really happy: Currently, I’d have difficulties naming a favorite AU, simply because I don’t seem to have any left running anymore. Sure, I could count the ships as respective verses/AUs, but nah. Those are still the same Sceada. So yeah...

I was always fond of the group verses, and the interactions born from those. Especially Pledged Prelude back in the day offered me a lot of great interaction, and has proven to be a big part of the foundation on which Sceada is ultimately built. Though, strictly speaking it was no AU, and is part of his canon, so well.... I don’t know. Crystathereum was fun, but sadly didn’t get underway as much as we all hoped it would, and the same goes for Crowned Reveries. They allowed me to meet new people, and gave me some fun plays, but ultimately they didn’t stick as long as I’d have hoped.

Speaking of favorite threads, there’s some that come to mind. From the AUs, the battle between Victoria F. Stein and Sceada in Myrefall was a clear favorite, as it highlighted not only a lot about Sceada’s skills but also about his character, and featured some truly interesting - and disturbing - choices on his end. Setting your own clothes and fur on fire so you won’t get ripped to shreds by a blizzard full of icy blades? And then actually managing to save the city he despised as a direct result of that move and the static electricity it built in the storm clouds overhead? Talk about crazy, and crazy fun to write.

There’s naturally also a ton of shipping threads on that list. I always especially adored the interactions between Sceada and Leonora, his first love, and how much he grew from them. Another favorite is Sceada finding Mara after a nightmare, and despite them not being a couple yet comforting her with the words “Nothing you confess could make me love you any less”, I really liked the feeling of that one. Or Maria opening Sceada’s eyes to the fact that Black Magic need not mean destruction necessarily. Selphie telling him she wants children with him, and the lead up to him wanting them to. Sceada finding Fran in the forest after she removed herself due to being in heat. Sceada inviting Maria for Valentine’s Day as friends and realizing slowly that there might be more between them.

I could go on for hours. But for now, let me end this list with saying that there’s many more that could be on here, so many more that were accumulated over the four and a half years I’ve been here by now (and even more if we add my other blogs, because everything with Edea and Kamiizumi was just so great <3), and I’m sure that list will only grow. I’m confident that before long, many many more memorable plays could be added here, with all sorts of partners.

Something really special on your wishlist: Hmm... two things come to mind rather quickly for that. One would be to see Sceada actively teach someone about Magic as a mentor or even professor of sorts. I want to see him pass on his knowledge, see him be an example for the next generation and perhaps even admired by his students - or by his protege, should he only have one student. It’d definitely be interesting to see him in such a role.

Likewise, I really want to see him in a fatherly role. This can be by becoming an actual father, or in others words, by having a child with someone he holds dear, but I can also see it with him watching over someone else’s child, for whichever reason it happens. Did he adopt them? Did their parents leave them in his care while they left for a couple years? Did he find them alone and abandoned? Did he save them from an abusive household? I’d be down for anything in that regard. And I’d really like to see not only the happy sides of being a father, but also the awkward and sometimes uncomfortable sides. The thought of Sceada having to give a child the talk is particularly amusing to me, I have to admit...

Thinking about it now, there’s two more I could actually mention, albeit briefly: I’d like to see the conflict between Sceada and his mother unfold, and not just in drabbles but in actual plays with people witnessing it and being an influence. And if possible, I’d like to explore a polyamorous Sceada one day, as I feel it could suit him well - or, at least, have him confronted with the idea, and realize why he finds it appealing, but potentially not the right thing for him. That’d work too.

Something you are looking for in short future for your muse: Finally making some progress with his Journey. I’ve been awfully slow with it for numerous reasons... *sigh* Also, in some of the ships, there are a number of small... let’s call them milestones for now, that I’d like to reach. But those will develop at their own pace.

Share something related to your muse!

While I was in rehab, my girlfriend had a plush made of Sceada for me, based on one of my favorite art pieces of him. Gotta say, I’m really fond of this one.

And for something only slightly related to Sceada, I want to say that it still baffles me that people would pay money to commission art of my little Burmecian. Seriously, that’s a big deal for me, you guys. Now, for several reasons I may not be capable of showing all of it on this blog (especially the two most recent pieces *cough*), but it is always certain to make me extremely happy.

What do you think about character’s design/how do you came up with this: Both the plays and ideas have shaped Sceada into who he is today and what he looks like. And quite frankly, even if I could start over anew, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What your muse teached you: It’s less my muse that thought me this and more the muses that interacted with him, but... Everyone deserves to be loved, but that does not mean that you deserve a specific person’s love. Loving yourself and accepting who you are is important. And there are always many sides to a situation. Just because something was devised for destruction does not mean that it can only bring harm, that it cannot protect what we cherish and hold dear.

What is roleplay for you: In equally parts a place where I am allowed to dream, as well as an escape from the real world. It is where I can meet people and bond with them, and write a story no one person could ever write on their own. It is my hobby and my joy, and sometimes, it is also my pride.

Just say something nice about another mun!: I’ve met many a wonderful friend on here, and it would not be fair to just pick one from out of them I feel. So I’ll use this opportunity to tag some people, both ones I actively talk to a lot and those I sadly haven’t as much anymore. So, consider this a shout-out to @artemisxbow @thislovelylady @containyourmainposure @sunny-explosions @dovsebrii @rosalia-the-guardian @riotxblade @the-shadow-of-a-wielder and @not-a-rogue

tagged: @rosalia-the-guardian here: [x], plus I saw it from several others

tagging: I think most of the people that I would nominate and that are active already did this one, so... I’ll pass the tagging for today. If you see this and wanna do this, feel free to tag me though~

#RequestsHeeded #Mun Info #Muse Info #this got rather long... apologies for that x.x

6 notes · View notes

veryangryhedgehog · 6 years ago

Video

youtube

“Pancakes and the Art of Badassery”, an Ede Valley story by Hedgehog.

(Yes I know this is long overdue please forgive me)

Sept. 3rd, 11:59PM –

“You call this a safe house?” Niko Borozov somehow managed to look down his nose at the dingy apartment from his 5’ 3” of height. Said apartment was dark, and grey, but most of all small, with a tiny kitchen in the back corner and one, singular window opposite it. “Get a look at this, Lila.”

His body guard appeared behind his shoulder, standing a full four inches taller than him. “Beggars can’t be choosers, young master,” she intoned as she walked over to the window and pulled the shade down. At first glance Lila Finn didn’t appear entirely intimidating, her adolescent figure and wild, orange hair making her seem more like an Irish barmaid than bodyguard to the heir of the affluent Borozov family. But anyone who knew Lila knew that she would sooner cut you down with the katana she kept in the case on her back than say hello.

Of the two men that followed them inside, each built like a wall of bricks, Vincent was not familiar with her, while Ivan was. You could tell by the way he maintained a good few feet between them at all times.

“Yeah, keep the guilt train coming.” Niko rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same. “Really though, is this the best the ‘mighty Borozov family’ can do? I mean, come on, the TV’s a box for god’s sake.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Ivan apologized through his thick Russian accent. “But it was best we could do given circumstances.”

“Ugh, don’t call me sir,” Niko pleaded, looking horrified. “That’s my father.”

Vincent chimed in, taking a step into the apartment. “And until he can make some kind of deal with the Mirelli’s, we have to keep you out of the city. They want your head.”

“Haven’t they always? I’m the family heir of their biggest rival.” Niko let out a puff of air as he plopped down on the faded couch. Its springs creaked even under his slight weight. He ran a hand through his spiky, blond hair and rubbed absently along the pattern shaved out of one side of his head.

Lila approached from behind. “But now they have a reason to take it. You enjoy making my job difficult, don’t you?” She placed her hands on the couch cushions, squeezing hard. Most people wouldn’t have noticed a little thing like that, but Niko had known her for a long time. Something was on her mind.

“You’ve got to report to my father, right?” Niko asked Ivan and Vincent pointedly.

“Yes, of course.” Ivan nodded, and he and Vincent made their way to the door. But Ivan turned back towards the two kids. “You know rules, da? No opening shades, no going outside.”

Niko raised a hand to wave him out. “You act like this is my first rodeo. I got it.”

Still Ivan paused, a worried expression painted on his face. But then he shook his head and closed the door behind him.

Neither Lila nor Niko moved for a minute as they listened to the men’s footsteps fading down the hallway. Then Niko placed his hand on top of Lila’s. “And you’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” She pulled away, moving back towards the window. “You could have gotten yourself killed.” Peeking through the shade, she blinked from the light of the neon sign below. From her angle above she couldn’t quite make out the exact words on the sign, but from the image of the goat holding a cold pint she assumed it must have been pointing out a drinking establishment of some sort.

“That’s what I have you for.” Niko grinned. “To make sure the heir of the Borozov family keeps breathing.” His tone was light, but she could hear the biting undertone all too well.

She sighed. “But what if I wasn’t there? I’m not the... immortal warrior you seem to think I am.”

“What are you talking about? Of course you are,” Niko laughed. “My father would never have trusted you with my sorry ass otherwise.”

“It’s that attitude that’s going to get you in trouble.” Lila shook her head as she stood over him.

Niko glanced up at her, his golden eyes meeting her green ones. “Maybe that’s what I’m looking for.”

Sept. 4th, 4:00AM –

The couch was hard, and Lila was not asleep. Niko was in the singular bedroom just through the small door beside the refrigerator, and Lila watched it intently. That was her job, after all, to protect her young master at all times. But it was also her job to be able when it counted, and it wouldn’t do if she was running on no sleep. She turned away from the door. Worrying wasn’t going to do her any good.

And yet, she did worry. Niko was headstrong, and reckless. It was like he didn’t care if he lived or died. He’d always been a little like that, but the trait had become especially pronounced now that they were no longer children. He’d have to grow up sooner or later, because Lila wouldn’t always be around to protect him. She was under no false pretenses; she knew that Niko would outlive her. In her line of work, it was a rare soul who lived to see retirement. But she worried about what he would do when she was gone.

It seemed like such a long time ago when Niko’s father had called her into his office and told her to protect his son at all costs. “With your life, if need be.” He’d said. “Can you do that? That boy is future of Borozov line.” He intoned.

Nodding instantly, Lila didn’t even have to consider the question. She didn’t care about ‘preserving the Borozov line,’ or anything like that, though they were her adoptive family. But she would do anything for Niko. He had saved her life, after all. This was the least she could do to repay him.

The floor creaked suddenly, a few feet from her, and in a split second Lila had snatched her sword from its case and pushed it against the intruder’s throat. She had expected the Mirellis to find them, of course, but not this soon.

“You gonna kill me, Lila?” the intruder asked, and Lila immediately lowered the sword as she saw that it was only Niko, empty glass in hand.

“Young master, my apologies.” She bowed slightly, lowering her head.

He smiled blearily, heading over to the sink. “You watch too many samurai movies, you know that?” After filling his glass with water, Niko sat at the small, round table.

“Can’t sleep?” Lila asked, sitting opposite him.

“Nah,” he rubbed his eyes. “You?”

She shook her head. They sat for a long minute, each finally able to process the events of the previous day. Lila blinked, trying not to think about how close they’d been to not sitting here right now.

Apparently, Niko was thinking along the same lines, for he sighed and shook his head. “We are way too young for this PTSD crap.”

“You’re probably right,” Lila replied. “I hadn’t really noticed.”

“Look at it this way,” Niko leaned his elbows on the slightly greasy table. “We’re both only seventeen and between the two of us are more hang-ups than the US government.”

Lila snorted.

“Well?” He chuckled too. “I mean, most kids our age are worried about college or what Michelle said about Becci, and we almost died yesterday.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Lila shrugged.

“Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to be normal? You know, play video games, walk home with friends and not have to worry about hit-squads intercepting you on the way?”

“Occasionally,” she admitted thoughtfully. “But never for long. I’d get bored, being normal.”

Niko laughed out loud, a great sound that almost shook the room. “That is one good thing, I guess. There is never dull moment in Russian Mafiya!” He dropped into an accent and raised his glass like they’d seen his father and uncles do so many times.

In that moment—increasingly so over the last few years, for that matter—Lila was struck by how much Niko resembled his father. It only happened occasionally, when he was stressed or not paying attention, and when he wasn’t actively obscuring it behind a wall of self-deprecation and apathy, but Niko had a darkness about him that scared people, just the same as the senior Borozov.

But Lila would never tell him that.

Sept. 4th, 9:00AM –

In one hand, Niko held a toothpick, which he idly clenched between his teeth as he flipped pancakes with the other. It made Lila chuckle, though she didn’t quite know why. Perhaps it was his rumpled dress shirt, suspenders hanging from his pants, and intense concentration juxtaposed with the sweet smell drifting over to the table. Pancakes were just about the only thing Niko knew how to make, but that was one more than Lila, so who was she to say anything?

“Dick biscuits.” He swore as he flipped one of the fluffy cakes over, only to discover that he’d burned it black. “Got the stove too hot. Stupid, cheap electric...”

“Dick biscuits? That’s a new one,” Lila said, smiling a little. This was a somewhat rare occurrence for her, and Niko almost looked surprised as he turned towards her.

“Well yeah,” the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “When one has mastered the art of foul language, one needs to get creative, lest the act of profanity become stale.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Master of Swearing,” Lila replied, “your pancakes are still burning.”

He swore again, and they ended up eating burnt pancakes. Lila didn’t mind, she had learned never to take a meal for granted. Niko, on the other hand, was currently attempting to drown out the burnt flavor with Aunt Marma’s Totally Genuine Maple Syrup™.

Lila chuckled, under her breath, and Niko glanced up. “What’s so funny?” He asked.

“Nothing,” Lila shook her head. “I was just thinking about the first time we had pancakes.”

Leaning back in his chair, Niko looked up at the ceiling, nodding. “Yeah. That was right after we took you in.” He broke into a grin. “The cook brought them out and you just started bawling.”

“I’d been living on the streets for years. I hadn’t seen anything so beautiful since my mother died.” Lila scratched her cheek, embarrassed.

“And I thought that you hated pancakes. But as soon as you pulled yourself together you just started chowing down.”

“The cook even forgot to add sugar, not that it really mattered at that point.” Lila shook her head.

“Do you miss her?” Niko asked suddenly. “Your mother, I mean.”

Lila stared at him for a second. “Do you miss yours?”

“Well yeah.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Sometimes. But I hardly knew her, you know? I can’t really mourn for someone I didn’t know.”

“So, there’s your answer.”

He shook his head. “And somehow you’ve brought it back to me again.”

“That’s my job.” She shrugged. “To be a shadow, not a person. I am merely an extension of you, a reflection.”

“Oh, is that why I like you so much?” He smirked. Covering up his feelings again.

Best for Lila to change the subject. “Shut up and eat your pancakes. They’re getting cold."

Sept. 6th, 3:00PM –

“But there’s more!” The overenthusiastic spokesman shouted through the tiny box in the corner. “Buy the Super Hydro Pumper™ now and we’ll throw in a toaster for free. Yes, that’s right. Absolutely free!”

“I know!” Niko shouted at the screen. “I heard you the first five times.” He flopped back listlessly on the couch. “I’m pretty sure I know your shtick better than you do at this point!”

Lila, who was only half-pretending to be half-asleep in the little corner of the couch that she had been gradually shoved into, nodded. They had been camping out in this small, dull room for three days now, and the boredom was beginning to wear on them both. Worst of all, there had been no contact from Ivan in that time. But there was really nothing they could do about it now. So they waited.

Meanwhile, the infomercial had continued onto its next segment. “Oh, go on!” Niko raised his arms in the air. “What else could the Super Hydro Pumper™ possibly be able to do? Cure cancer maybe? Solve world hunger? Tell me now, oh gods of consumerism!”

“This whole thing is rather trite,” Lila admitted. “It’s hard to believe that anyone really buys into this thing.”

“And yet they do!” Niko said, exasperated. “Forget the guns and drugs, we need to get into cheap, plastic crap instead!”

“It is utterly fascinating just how much this commercial makes me not care.”

“What is it that you really care about, Lila?” Niko asked, sitting up and turning to her. “I can never tell.”

Lila raised an eyebrow. “What is it that you care about?”

“Oh no,” he shook a finger at her, “we are not doing this again. Answer the question.”

Shrugging, Lila stared straight at him. “You. I thought that was obvious.”

“Well, this is certainly an unexpected time to confess your undying love to me,” Niko grinned. Cheeky bastard.

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t think I do,” he shook his head, mock surprised. “You’d better kiss me now before you break my heart.” He leaned forward, making a stupid face. “Kiss me, kiss me!”

“Oh my god stop.” She pushed him backwards, chuckling. “I’ve answered your question,” she held him back easily with one hand. “So what is it that you care about? I’m genuinely curious.”

The smile fell off his face, and Niko sat back, thinking. “I don’t really know,” he admitted. “I don’t really care about my family, or what we do. I just kind of do it because that’s what’s expected of me.”

“I understand that feeling, young master.”

“And there you go with the samurai movies again.” Niko broke out into a smile once more.

“I like samurai movies,” she said. “I relate to them a lot more than most people. It makes me... happy, I suppose, to imagine myself as a warrior honorably protecting my master.”

“You know you could just leave if you wanted to, right?” Niko asked. “You’re not a Borozov. You could just walk away.”

Lila shook her head. “I wouldn’t even consider it. Your ‘sorry ass’ would get killed if I wasn’t around.”

“So you do really care about me.” Niko wiggled his eyebrows.

Lila smiled. “I never said I didn’t.”

Sept. 7th, 1:00AM –

There was a knock at the door. Lila listened, and heard the specific combination that meant it was safe to open it. “Niko,” she hissed, nudging him. He’d fallen asleep on the couch an hour earlier, and Lila had decided not to wake him. “Niko!” Now she lightly punched him on the arm.

“Wha...?” He mumbled.

“The door.”

Immediately, he was awake. The two of them stood and slunk closer, listening. The knock came again, in the same, agreed pattern. Niko glanced at Lila, who nodded, and he opened the door.

A large man stumbled in, looking harried. At first, Lila thought that it must be Ivan, but as she looked again, it couldn’t be. Ivan was large, but most of that was due to his broad, muscular shoulders. This man was large in an entirely different way.

“Vincent?” Niko asked. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to move you to a new safe house,” he said, his tone urgent. “This one’s been compromised. It’s the Mirellis. They know you’re here.”

“Shit,” Niko swore. “Alright then, let’s—”

Lila’s eyes narrowed. “Wait.” She held an arm in front of him. “Where is Ivan? He was supposed to be our contact.”

“He got caught up with the Mirellis so he sent me instead,” Vincent replied calmly, but his eyes darted back and forth between the two nervously. “What’s the holdup? Let’s go.”

“No, she’s right.” Niko shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like Ivan at all. He’s always been a sucker for doing things properly. He’d never send someone else to do his job.”

Vincent seemed to deflate a little as he sighed. “I was hopin’ you two would make this nice and easy, but I guess we have to do it the hard way, huh?” He whipped out a gun with one hand and grappled Niko into a headlock with the other. “I’ve got orders to take you to Don Mirelli, and you’d better come too.” He waved the gun briefly in Lila’s direction before placing it against Niko’s head.

“So you were a Mirelli this whole time?” Niko asked, his lip curling upwards in disgust.

“Born and raised.”

“I should’ve known. You always smelled too much like a filthy mutt to be one of us.”

“Say that again, runt bastard.” Vincent renewed his grip on the gun.

Heart pounding, Lila almost couldn’t look away from the cold metal pressed against her master’s head. No, she had to focus. Where was her sword? In reach, lying on its open case behind the couch. But if she moved, Niko would die. So she waited.

“Both of you come nice and slow now. There’s a car waiting downstairs, and we’re all gonna take a little ride”, Vincent’s voice wavered.

“Young master?” Lila asked, awaiting the order to act.

Niko’s lips tightened as he closed his eyes. “Kill him.”

As Lila nodded, Vincent’s hand began to shake. “Don’t move, or I’ll blow your boyfriend’s brains out.”

But Lila didn’t have to. She grabbed the knife strapped to her thigh and threw it across the room. It cut a deep gash into Vincent’s hand, causing him to drop the gun as he cursed, while Niko, a mere two inches away, didn’t even flinch. In one swift movement, Lila had swiped her katana from its case and pinned the man to the door that was just behind him. Through his chest.

After a minute, Lila withdrew her sword, and the body fell to the ground with a sickening thump as blood smeared down the white door. There was a moment of silence. Niko and Lila stared down at the mess.

She nudged the body, just to make sure he was really dead. A small stream of blood trickled from the man’s lips. No coughing or gagging. Undeniably passed.

But just as Lila opened her mouth to confer with Niko, she heard a noise. A car horn. Lila froze. That’s right. He had a car outside, with backup no doubt. “The car,” she whispered.

Niko nodded, and held up a finger. He reached down for Vincent’s gun, then moved over to the couch as Lila slid on her boots, reaching between the couch cushions to grab a second pistol, which he stuck in his coat. “I’ll back you up. Let’s go.”

Stepping over the body, Lila and Niko crept through the white door, now thoroughly stained with a long red streak down the middle. The hallway seemed clear. Lila held her katana at the ready, its light blade catching the glow of the neon sign through the window ahead of them. Niko motioned the all-clear, and they both tip-toed quietly towards the stairs, Lila cringing as Niko stepped on a creaky spot.

Lila reached the small, grimy window, and glanced down to the street below, past the smiling goat constructed with glowing lines. One story below was a black sedan with tinted windows, though by the light of the sign through the sun roof Lila could see one person sitting in the driver’s seat. A Mirelli clearly; she could tell by the greased-back hair and the cologne so strong that she could smell it all the way up here. She opened the window, and kicked in the bug screen.

Niko shook his head, knowing exactly what she was about to do. “You’re crazy.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “But it’s our best chance to take him by surprise.”

“I’ll meet you down there.”

“You’ve got thirty seconds.” Lila began to count under her breath as Niko ran. Ten, she heard Niko reach the bottom of the stairs and get into position. Twenty, Lila planned her trajectory accordingly to the height of the car and the position of the man in it. Twenty-five, the man the man shuffled in the driver’s seat awkwardly, trying to get a glimpse over his shoulder. Twenty-eight, he turned on the radio, twenty-nine, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

Thirty. Lila braced herself against the window, and jumped. She stuck her feet out straight below like she was leaping into water, and a second later, crashed directly into the sunroof. It shattered into tiny pieces, most too small to actually hurt her as she fell. She muttered thanks for safety features under her breath as she wrapped her legs around the driver to catch her fall.

“What the—” was all the driver could get out before she held her katana against his throat.

From the left, there came a tapping on the car window. The driver turned. Niko was just outside, smiling as he pointed the gun at his head. The driver rolled down the window. “Hi,” was all Niko said before he placed the gun against his head and fired.

The silencer caught most of the sound, but Lila still winced anyway.

“Damn.” Niko muttered, looking at the remains of the man’s brains splattered all over the passenger’s window. “I was hoping that would go better.”

Lila climbed back through the sunroof. “Start walking. Quickly.”

They did, down the road and didn’t look back. Lila jumped at a dog barking in the distance. She was sure someone must have heard that. But as they waited, the night remained quiet. They didn’t talk for several minutes, not until they were well out of the way.

“What do you think really happened to Ivan?” Lila broke the silence finally.

“Best guess?” Niko looked away. “He’s probably dead.”

Lila glanced down at the pavement, a silent prayer for him, wherever he was. “So what do we do now? No doubt Vincent told the Mirellis our location.”

“Well, we could go back to the city,” Niko suggested, pausing under a street lamp. “Try to get back to my father before they kill us, or...”

“Or what?” Lila raised an eyebrow.

Shrugging, Niko glanced up at her. “Or we could just disappear for a while. What suburb is this?”

“Ede Valley, I think.”

“That’s as good a place as any.” Niko smiled, though his eyes remained dull. “Sounds like fun, right? You and me, fugitives on the run?”

She nodded. “Oddly enough, yes.”

“Better not get too used to it. When all’s said and done, we might not want to go back.”

“Perhaps not, young master,” Lila chuckled. They were silent again for a moment, the weight of the night slowly landing on their shoulders as they thought of what transpired. But they couldn’t just stand there forever, could they. And so they started walking. Just where, they didn’t really know, and Lila really didn’t care. Right now, all she wanted was to just disappear into the cold, quiet night.

#Ede Valley #writing #Niko Borozov #Lila Finn

4 notes · View notes

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years ago

Note

WRH/NMJ noncon/heavy dubcon. An AU of Three Gates? Something from Spoils of War? Something new? Go wild, just please make NMJ (and WRH) male-identifying. -🍡

ao3

War was like a game of weiqi – part strategy, part stubbornness, a little luck. Nie Mingjue could handle that.

Politics, though…politics was a game of people, mystifying and abstruse. Like a musical piece, like poetry, complex and conveying meaning that couldn’t be passed along any other way.

Nie Mingjue wasn’t good at people. Or music, or poetry – or politics.

If he was, if he had anyone he could genuinely rely on who was, he probably wouldn’t be here now.

“Sect Leader Nie,” Wen Ruohan said, and his eyes were curved into a smile. Mocking, as always. He hadn’t taken anything or anyone seriously since the day Nie Mingjue’s father had died. “Welcome.”

Nie Mingjue pursed his lips and refused to answer.

“I see you didn’t bring your saber,” Wen Ruohan continued, and Nie Mingjue remained silent: of course he didn’t bring his saber. As if he would ever let a Nie saber enter Wen Ruohan’s hands ever again.

He might be straightforward to the point of bluntness, to the point of what some called stupidity.

But he learned.

Wen Ruohan chuckled, put down his drink – liquor, it looked like – and stood. As he did, the door slid shut behind Nie Mingjue’s back, cutting off all hope of escape.

As if there had been any hope to begin with.

“You look so petulant,” Wen Ruohan remarked, and he was coming closer. Nie Mingjue didn’t want him to come closer. “Like a concubine, playing hard to get, playing cute: reluctant, and yet willing. Ah, A-Jue –”

Nie Mingjue flinched involuntarily before Wen Ruohan’s outstretched hand could touch his cheek.

Wen Ruohan’s hand stopped.

“Still so reluctant,” he murmured. “So stubborn. Just like –”

His voice faded for a moment.

But only a moment.

“Surely,” he said, and the faintest smile curved his lips just as that familiar madness lit his eyes. “Surely after all these times, you know by now that you were meant for me?”

He meant their cultivation styles – their golden cores. For whatever reason, bad luck or inauspicious birth characters or otherwise, Nie Mingjue’s cultivation made him the perfect match for Wen Ruohan, and the other way around as well; when they cultivated together, the results were explosive, strengthening them both. Even just being in each other’s presence was enough to make them grow stronger.

Nie Mingjue avoided Wen Ruohan whenever possible.

Wen Ruohan, in contrast, saw Nie Mingjue as a gift from the heavens, meant just for him. Perhaps in some twisted way he really had been meant to be that, once.

If only Wen Ruohan hadn’t been too eager to claim his prize, and too ruthless in doing what he felt he had to in order to do so…

Perhaps.

Wen Ruohan moved his hand forward again, surer this time, and pressed it to Nie Mingjue’s cheek, the thumb running over his nose, cheeks, lips.

“Beautiful,” he murmured. “You grow more beautiful by the year.”

“You don’t need to ply me with pretty words,” Nie Mingjue said, and let his gaze drift into the distance over Wen Ruohan’s shoulder as if he could pretend he were anywhere but where he was.

Wen Ruohan chuckled. “Why not? Do you think you’ll be any less my lover if you deny it?”

“You know why I’m here.”

“Oh yes.” Another chuckle. “I outmaneuvered you again. There’s something you can’t bring yourself to give up on, and so you come to me for mercy.”

Nie Mingjue’s lips twisted up in a sneer. “Mercy? Don’t put such a pretty face on it. You use politics to force me to the brink, then offer me a reprieve if only I make a whore of myself for you.”

“Mm, perhaps. And yet – you do.”

It was for Nie Mingjue’s sect that he did what he did, however shameful, he reminded himself. For his sect, for righteousness, for his brother’s future – for everything.

Wen Ruohan had all the power between them. He could play at whatever sham of affection he wanted, if he wanted, and Nie Mingjue could do nothing to stop him; nothing, that was, except refuse to indulge him in his illusions. In Wen Ruohan's imagined world where they were lovers, affectionate and true, and only touched each other for the sheer joy of doing so, rather than in a sordid bargain that shamed them both.

“I do,” Nie Mingjue said, and began to strip off his clothing. “How do you want me this time? Over the table? I prefer not to look at you.”

Wen Ruohan frowned a little – there were times, Nie Mingjue thought, that he seemed to simply not understand why Nie Mingjue was so reluctant, as if he should be able to just put aside his father’s murder, the destruction of his childhood, the constant torment – but eventually nodded.

Nie Mingjue finished stripping off and put himself on the table.

He wished he could pretend he wasn’t there, that this wasn’t happening to him, or at least that it was happening with someone, anyone else, but he knew better than to even try. Wen Ruohan would touch him gently and make sure he enjoyed it, forcing him to enjoy it, got him off without fail; he would whisper words in his ear that Nie Mingjue longed to hear from another person. Words of love, of affection, of pride – you did well and you can rest now, I’ll take care of you and believe in me.

The words stole beneath his skin and entered his heart like daggers.

“You want me,” Wen Ruohan whispered as he covered him. “You liket his.”

He could even almost make it true.

But when it was done, Nie Mingjue went home – cultivation stronger, body aching pleasantly, mind fogged with poisonous words – and he saw Baxia in her place, that shining death-curse that he loved more than his own soul, and he remembered once again that the only thing Wen Ruohan could ever give to him was help getting a little bit closer to death.

“Da-ge?” he heard behind him, and turned: it was Nie Huaisang, yawning. “You’re back late. You’re not going to go out to train now, are you?”

No. No, he wouldn’t, no matter how much he longed for the mindless exertion of exercise, the burn in his muscles wiping out the ache, the clean sweat overlying the mingled scent that came from his joining with Wen Ruohan. He wouldn’t, because he would never disgrace Baxia like that – would never wield her while Wen Ruohan’s seed ran down his thighs, while he still felt the imprint of his hands upon him.

“I’m going to take a bath,” Nie Mingjue said. “Shouldn’t you be studying?”

“Awww, da-ge –”

“Don’t you whine at me. One of us needs to be good at politics, and it’s obviously not going to be me. You’re more than clever enough, more than good enough at reading people…you'll do well, once you put your mind to it. When are you going to finally get around to doing that?”

“Oh, one day,” Nie Huaisang said, and Nie Mingjue loved his little brother in his carelessness, loved him in his arrogant ignorance, no matter what it cost him to keep Nie Huaisang that way. No matter that Nie Mingjue felt more and more like he left another piece of his soul behind every time he had to go to give himself to a man he despised, and who did not despise him in return. Nie Huaisang didn’t need to know what Nie Mingjue did for their sect, for their family, and as far as Nie Mingjue was concerned, he never would. “I’ll get there one day, da-ge. Don’t you worry.”

“See that you do,” Nie Mingjue said gruffly, and turned away. “See that you do.”

#mdzs #nie mingjue #wen ruohan #nie huaisang #my fic #my fics #soulmate au

53 notes · View notes

kimonobeat · 7 years ago

Text

aiko bon “Profile Interview” Chapter 1 (Part 2/3)

ーPersonality-wise, would you say you were a pretty lively little kid?

aiko: I’m an extremely positive kind of person. I was a real weirdo as a kid. Like, so weird you wouldn’t have been surprised to hear I’d accidentally eaten an eraser. (laughs) In the middle of winter I’d go out in short-sleeve shirts because that’s what I wanted to wear. My absolute favorite clothes were this floor tile beige shirt made out of something similar to gauze, and another shirt in the same color with sunflowers embroidered onto them. I’d pair them with a skirt that was a slightly darker beige, and yellow/white sandals. I went to a piano lesson dressed like that, shivering and sniveling, and my piano teacher told me to go home. I think that was in December or January? I was riding my red “Candy Candy” bicycle home from that and spotted my dad on the other side of the intersection, so I shouted, “Daddy! I went to the piano teacher’s house and she told me to go home!” real loud. But then my dad saw the way I was dressed and he said, “Very funny!” (laughs)

ーYou guys have a nice relationship. (laughs)

aiko: I did a lot of things that startled my parents. There was this lady in my neighborhood named Hama-chan. One time we were eating yakiniku with her when she started choking on a piece of meat. I saw her trying to cough it up and yelled really loudly that she had meat stuck in her ‘tailpipe’ instead of her ‘windpipe’. (laughs) Another thing that happened to me… I went to the hospital when I came down with chickenpox, and they quarantined me because it was contagious. I kept saying, “I didn’t do anything wrong, so do I gotta be here?” They made us wait for a really long time. As soon as my mom said, “It’s getting pretty late… Mom’s tired too,” I ran all the way up to the receptionist’s desk and said, “EXCUSE ME buuuuut is it Aiko’s turn yet? IS IT MY TURN YET???” two times really, really loudly. (laughs) We used to go to public baths every now and then. Anytime someone with tattoos was there, I’d say, “MISTER! LOOK! You missed a spot!” (laughs) All they could really do was laugh and say, “Listen kiddo, I got these ‘cause I’m bad. They’re drawn on.” Then I’d just keep asking more questions. “You mean you can’t take those OFF?!”

ーYou’ve got such a great personality. (laughs)

aiko: Do I? (laughs) Kids are really good at pointing out people who are different or weird when they see them, now that I think of it. I was too. When I was on the train, I’d say, “Mooom, look at that lady……” and she told me not to point. So then the next time I said, “Mooom, look at that lady. Mooom,” pointing with my whole fist instead of my finger. (laughs) She told me she wasn’t even mad, it just made her laugh.

ーYou can’t really be mad when something like that happens. (laughs)

aiko: Also, apparently my mom cried in front of the washing machine in the bathroom whenever she and my dad got into a fight. She told me anytime she ever did that, I’d come over and tug on her apron saying, “Mooom. Moooom, hang in there.” She told me I’d always do that to cheer her up.

ーThis might be rude of me, but you sound like you were a pretty funny kid. (laughs)

aiko: It’s fine, I think I was too. (laughs) But I did other things that’d make me wanna pull my hair out as an adult. When I was in like, elementary school, I’d draw pictures of naked girls. I’m not really sure why I drew pictures like that, other than because I’d seen them in movies…… I guess my bad daydreaming habit goes back pretty far, huh? I also liked bandages. I’d wrap my leg in bandages and pretend like I’d sprained it even though it didn’t hurt. I enjoyed the bandages but then I’d get my leg caught on my bike and actually hurt myself, stuff like that. I really did like bandages a lot. I guess I just liked things that looked ‘vulnerable’. Like, “Oh, dear me…”

ーIt made you feel like the heroine of something.

aiko: Yeah, that’s it. I’d say lines out loud to myself, like I was acting out a drama all on my own. I didn’t like getting attention though. I really hated it when people fussed over me. People would all touchy-feely with me because I was the only small child in my extended family at the time, asking me to sing them songs and stuff. They’d all start laughingーand I realize now that I just made them happyーbut I thought they were all ridiculing me. I got super embarrassed and really hated it.

ーSo you say, but you’re not really the shy type, are you?

aiko: Not at all. So I started doing it for money. (laughs) And not small change either. I’d tell them, “I’m not THAT cheap. 500 yen please.” (laughs)

ーYou already had the soul of an entertainer. (laughs)

aiko: Right? You know how there’s that game you play with babies where you hold out scissors, money and a pen, and whichever one they grab first is supposed to predict their future? I grabbed the money first. Maybe that’s why. (laughs) But I really hated like, New Year’s for that reason. I’ve got a lot of relatives so of course I got a lot of money on New Year’s, and I always held my tongue then, but other than that I absolutely hated getting so much attention.

ーWhy is that?

aiko: I’ve always hated taking naps. I really hated having to open up to people too. But on New Year’s we’d go to a bunch of different people’s houses and stay up late at night, which meant I wanted to sleep, but I didn’t want to sleep at someone else’s house. I’d be so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open and yet I still insisted that I didn’t want to sleep. I’d just wait until we were in the car and fall asleep on the way home. I even did that pretty recently! I went out for some drinks and couldn’t bring myself to say I was hammered in front of people. I hate letting people see me when I’m weak… I also really hated being the topic of discussion when I was little. I hated that… even though I was almost like, desperate to do things that people would end up talking about later. (laughs) Whenever people talked about something I did, I’d go hang out at the candy store and waste time until I thought they’d be done talking about me.

ーWere you a timid kid?

aiko: I don’t really think I was. When I got hurt I’d cry about it, go home, and that’d be it. One time my friend kicked a metal trash can at the park and it smacked me square in the face. I’d also pretended to be Ultraman and got dragged by a swing, all kinds of stuff. I’d just play and play like nothing even happened. Oh, speaking of which, one time I brought a dead cat home with me. I dragged this dead as a door nail cat I found floating in a ditch behind me like an umbrella, then I put it in a brand spanking new Hello Kitty toolbox I’d just bought and brought it home. I thought I needed to bury it because it was dead. When I got home I stood in the doorway and said, “Daaaad! It’s DEAD! WAHHH!”... he took one look at me, closed the door, and locked it. (laughs) You see, my dad got up for the day around the time I got home from school. He was so stunned that I showed him a dead cat as soon as he woke up, he must’ve thought I was crazy. (laughs) He wouldn’t let me back in the house, so I just went to the park and buried it instead.

ーNothing really scared you, did it?

aiko: Not really. I’m scared of them now, but as a kid I was totally fine with roller coasters and stuff like that. I used to get on rides meant for kids meant for elementary school kids when I was in kindergarten. The attendants would ask, “What grade are you in, miss?” and I’d say, “I’m in first grade!” They’d say, “Really? How old are you?” And I’d tell them I was 7. I’d always get busted when I’d lie about my age and they asked me what year I was born. My dad was so concerned that I’d get caught.

ーSo what DID scare you?

aiko: I was so scared of exploding noises, like party poppers and balloons popping. And clocks chiming on the hour. My mom and dad would fix the time on the clock by asking for the time over the phone, and it scared me out of my mind. For example, one time my dad had this clock, and my mom had the time-telling number on the phone saying countdown out loud: “3:30:25! 26! 27!” Seeing my dad fix the clock scared me more than anything. I was scared, terrified even, of the way it was robotically counting out the numbers. I didn’t like the lack of emotion in it I guess. Maybe it just scared me that it was saying it really loudly without any feeling in it. People are loud when they’re fighting because they’re full of emotions, right? That didn’t really scare me at all, I was just scared of how cool and disinterested it sounded. Oh, and also the opening theme song to “Mito Komon”. The “DUN, DUN DUN DUN” in the beginning made me cry every time.

ーWhat kind of TV shows did you like back then?

aiko: I used to watch stuff like The Drifters’ show “8-Ji Da yo! Zenin Shuugou (It’s 8’o’Clock! Everybody Gather ‘Round!)” a lot. I’d just laugh and laugh. But anytime I watched “Oretachi Hyoukin Zoku (We’re the Hyoukin Clan)”, my dad would be mad at me and tell me not to watch stuff like that… even though he was watching it and laughing too. (laughs) I also loved “Hirake! Ponkikki (Open Up, Ponkikki!)” and would watch that a lot too. My favorite cartoons were “Marvelous Melmo” and “Asari-chan”. Of course, I loved music shows since I loved singing so much though. I hear that I was telling people I was gonna be a singer as early as 3 years old. My mom mostly likes Japanese pop music like Southern All Stars, and my dad likes classical music, soul, The Beatles, that kind of thing. Seems like my dad wanted to be singer when he was young too. (laughs) My love of music is probably my parents’ doing.

ーI bet you sang 24/7 at home, didn’t you?

aiko: I’d lock myself in my room and sing constantly like I was doing a one-person concert. I played music on my ladybug-shaped Columbia record player. Sometimes I’d get sent to my room whenever my parents got mad at me for doing something bad, but since I had my piano and my record player in there, I had a pretty good time anyway. (laughs)

ーWhat songs did you sing a lot?

aiko: They have an 8 mm video of me singing “High School Lullaby” (by The Imokin Trio) or something, where I’m just going, “But you’re so cold, so cold~” (laughs) I used to sing Pink Lady songs a lot too. Singing, “I lied~ to you~ And now I don’t know what to do~” and dancing. I also liked the song “Akai Hana Shiroi Hana (Red Flower White Flower)ーthe one that goes “I’m gonna pick~ a red flower and give it to him”ーwhich my mom used to sing for me. I really liked folk songs like that one. I also loved “Minna no Uta (Songs for Everyone)”. And Julie (Sawada Kenji) and Go Hiromi, I liked them a lot too. Oh yeah! I used to really love Akira’s voice, from Finger 5! I was so small back then that I didn’t understand what the name “Finger 5” even meant, but I absolutely loved his voice. Man did I love Shioni though.

ー’Shioni’?

aiko: I used to call Go Hiromi “Shioni” as a kid. I’d say “Shioni! Shioni!” and kiss the TV. (laughs) It felt so strange being on Music Station with ‘Shioni’ for the first time. He said, “Isn’t this awesome? Check out my belt!” and showed me the belt with a lion face he was wearing. It felt SO weird to me. I was like, “Shioni is really right here in front of me right now… ?”

ーWas there anyone else you admired at the time?

aiko: Matsuda Seiko and Matsumoto Iyo, I guess? I went to one of Seiko’s concerts and got to meet her up close and personal in her dressing room. I was SO thrilled. She was reaaaally pretty and cute! When I got to meet Kyonkyon (Koizumi Kyoko), I remember thinking to myself how cute she was too. One time I was filming a music video in the cameraman’s personal studio apartment, and he told me to come upstairs to the 2nd floor with him so he could introduce me to his wife… His wife was having wine with Kyonkyon! (laughs) I was so shocked when she was like, “Oh look, it’s aiko!” Idols from that time period don’t really feel like they ever existed in the same world as the rest of us, you know? They were felt imaginary almost, not human, so it’s always a huge surprise when I actually get to meet them.

ーYou said you made up your mind about being a singer when you were 3 years old. Did you ever think about switching paths along the way?

aiko: I wanted to be a veterinarian too, but my dad told me I wouldn’t be able to because I was a dingbat. So I didn’t. I gave up on that real quick, because I realized he was right. Then I was fixated on being a singer, which was just as unlikely. I was really serious about it though, so I made a promise to my mom and dad: “In the future when I’m a singer, you’ll get to go golfing every day, Dad. And Mom, I’m gonna buy you a big diamond ring.” I’d been telling them that ever since I was in kindergarten. They both said, “Wow, please do! Can’t wait!” But then I grew up, and when I debuted, my dad was so old that he couldn’t go golfing every day anymore. Or I guess I should say, he’d already graduated from golf by then. (laughs) My mom is, well, my mom, so my grandma and I had already bought her a diamond ring. It forced me to rethink it, you know?

ーBy the way, were there any other aiko baby talk words like you calling Go Hiromi ‘Shioni’?

aiko: There were! I used to say “chop it” instead of “stop it”, and “p’soon” instead of “spoon”. And “humby” instead of “yummy”. I feel like there were other ones but I just can’t remember them right now.

ーDid you look more like a tomboy up until you were in kindergarten, or really girly?

aiko: I think I was a lot more boyish, ‘cause I was one of those kids who only wore pants. I cried when they made me wear a kimono for Shichi Go San because it was so tight and uncomfortable.

ーWhat hairstyle did you have?

aiko: My hair was long. It was one length almost all the way down to my butt, with a slight wave to it. My dad Shigenobu really liked long hair, so he always grew his out to about his hips. Once when I was in 3rd grade, though, I secretly went to a hair salon and got a bowl cut. He got SO mad, so then I grew it out again. The shortest my hair’s ever been in my entire life was around the time I was singing “Rosie”, after I’d made my debut. Other than that, it’s been pretty long. My parents didn’t mind if I got it permed really, so a couple times when I was a little kid I basically had an afro… No, wait, those were wigs, they were wigs. (laughs) There are pictures of me when I was like, 2 or 3 years old wearing a wig and a black bikini, sitting in a chair and eating an apple like that one chick in the movie “Emanuelle”. (laughs)