#now … do i weave before or after blocking 🤨

[louisarmpits]

Thinking of all the ends I’m going to have to weave in after this …… thinking of jumping out a window ….

[aeferkssr]

the light-filled gaze of the prince of darkness

SYP. the prince of the abyss looks down upon a lonely soul with an unfamiliar affectionate gaze

CHARA. abyss prince aether

WARNINGS. cussing, spit (figuratively), ding dong ditch /j

NOTES. valentines is coming👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩💏👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 where is your bf🤷‍♀️🤨you are sitting at home��👀lonelyyy😹😹🤣‼️ i deeply apologies for that i wasn’t in the right state of mind

masterlist || art credits

you hated valentines day. well, not really. the red and pink hues everywhere that were suppost to get you into the "valentine's mood" did nithing but annoy you. seeing couples walking around with either them hands or arms tangled with each other was simply sickening.

maybe it was jealousy? you've never really had a valentines before despite your appearance. seeing people gushing and squealing about what theur significant others got them was sweet at first but not as much now. but its not like you hated valentine's day...

"come on, [ name ], lighten up!" your friend teases "nobody's suppost to be so downcast right now when tomorrow's valentine's day!"

you sigh. despite you being terribly avaliable for tomorrow's holiday, your friend seems to be happier than ever. apparently, they scored a “date” with the traveler. the both of you know that she just wants some company while doing commissions but your friend insists that she’s head over heels in love with them.

“easy for you to say, at least you’re not stuck at your house for the MONTH.” you groan before slamming your head on the wooden table. your friend leans over to pat your head. sure, your occupation letting you go on leave for a month was kind but that left you nothing to do for that month. your house was spotless, you had enough groceries in your fridge to last you 6 weeks, and you were even healthy and well-rested. you literally had nothing to do and the boredom was killing you.

“well, you always have me if you want company!” your friend said trying to cheer you up, which quickly backfired when they spotted the traveler out of the corner of their eye, sprung up, quickly said thank you for the treat, and ran over to “pursue his girl.” god… they were so cringey… you decided that it was time for you to leave as well, picking up your bag and leaving good hunter to make your way back home

the way back doesn’t usually take you more than 20 minutes, but the main road was blocked due to abyss mage activity so you sought out a new route. the 20 minute journey surely wasn’t 20 minutes because half an hour in you were treading through a thick forest. the forest was lush, dark, and quiet as you could hear your thumping heart. you became anxious as you held your back to your chest and continued on.

a little more into the journey, your ears caught the sound of metal clashing. you assumed that someone was sparring, or even throwing stones (if you were to push it), but you definitely netly wasn’t ready to see a beam of pure energy before your eyes. this burst of light was followed by a scream that faded into silence.

you look to the source of the blast, weaving around the burnt vegetation to see a golden figure standing at arm. his figure seems to shake as he pants, his eyes look dull and unfocused and his sword as golden as his hair. his figure suddenly relaxes and falls, and as the boy’s body faints your own body moves on its own to aid it.

as you skid on the grass to reach to him, you position his head to lay on your lap. a trail of his blood — which is a rich golden colour — runs from the scalp of his head and from a thin line from the corner of his slightly open mouth. his clothes are a deep shade of blue that resembles the depth of the abyss with light golden streaks of what you think his blood is. you reach over to your bag to get your first-aid kit to clean and that any visible wounds.

after patching him up, you wonder if you should take him home with you. but what if you are overstepping some sort of boundary? you don't even know the guy! but, you do have a bed at home that would be 10× more comfortable than the grass and your lap.

"fuck it."

you struggled to lift his limb body onto your back, you were trying to carry him back with his sword but the journey was difficult. a stranger on your back, an unfamiliar sword in your right and your bag in your left, could the day get any more interesting?

as you got home to your small apartment in qingce village, you lay the unconsious figure on your bed, placing the golden sword on the other side of the bed. after placing your bag in the furthermost corner of the room you look over to the boy on your bed. If you were to be completely honest, he's absolutely stunning. his youthful face, pristine, free of any bruise or blemish that were not scars from previous battles, was at ease. His broad chest rises and fell at a steady rhythm, signalling that he was asleep. His lips, oh heavens, his lips, were slightly agape and were oh so inviting.

for the second time that day, your body moves on its own. you kiss the boy. pulling away, you quickly come to your senses and rush out of the room.

what in celestia's name were you thinking?? kissing an unconsious body? scratch that, kissing an unconsious STRANGER? the guilt was eating you alive. youre sure that your distressed pacing has probably woken him up by now so you decide to get him a glass of water.

your hunch was correct as you see the boy sitting upright on your bed. his hair spread across thr pillow he was previously laying on, and was staring at you with cold eyes

"before you say anything" you start to speak "you passed out in the forest nearby after fighting... something"

you try to console him but his shoulders are still tense, showing that he is still on guard. to try and subside his concerns, you place the glass of water you brought for him on the dresser beside your bed then quickly return to your original position in front of the door.

his glare was ruthless, its like he was trying to pick apart any ulterior motives you might have had against him, against his goals. he sighs when he senses none, still looking at you as if you had spat on his face.

“if you still feel weary of me, all you had to do is just say so” you comment as you leave the boy to grotto on his own. murmuring how its not like you saves his life or anything under your breathe. even though everything was technically taken care of, you were sure you could find something to do. maybe make him something to eat? but you would have to ask for any allergies or dislikes. sure, he looks like you like your the scum of the earth but you ould feel cautious if you were to just randomly wake up in someone’s bed. walking back into your room you announce:

“hey, do you want anything to ea—”

he was gone.

“okay…��

you look around the room to see if he had left anything but it was like he was never here in the first place, he had even straighten back the bed covers making him more of a mystery to you. well, all but a single open notebook on your desk. the note read:

thanks for saving my life, your actions will not go unrewarded.

what does he mean by rewarded?

🫐 ༊*·˚

your unexpected visiter came the day before, it was valentine’s day. you had fully expected to spend the day alone so you didn’t even bother to get ready. your friend had their “hot date” with the traveler so you couldn’t seek them out. it was really just you, yourself, and the book you had curled up with on your sofa.

the book was a horror book, you knew better than to read a romance book on the literal day of romance, in the most romantic city in teyvat. that was just a recipe for despair. the main character in the book was being chased into an abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere, having blocked the door with their own body as the antagonist attempted to bang it down. the hairs on your arm stood up from the sheer adrenaline you got from reading a book. maybe horror wasn’t the best genre to read for you, maybe you should of re-read flowers for princess fischl for the gazillionth time, maybe— someone knocked on the door.

maybe it was the boogie man from the book, you mused to yourself as you got up to greet whoever was at the door. when you opened it and saw no one, your eyebrows furrowed in confusion. you could’ve sworn you heard someone knock on the door. as you look around your front yard, the varanda, and even down the road at other houses, nothing. you hissed your teeth and closed the door, stopping as your eyes caught something at the base of your feet.

it was a flower of some sort, four white petals and one light blue one with yellow pollen. the unfamiliar flower was accompanied by a note. taking up the note with your left as you gently brushed the light blue petal with your right, the note — which seemed more like a letter since the small piece of paper unfolded — read:

since small talks aren’t necessary, i won’t bore you. i want to formally thank you for aiding me back in the ⍼ൠᴥ௵ஔ forest. i will take full responsibility for my inattentiveness in the situation. the flower that this letter is accompanied by is called an inteyvat. these flowers do not whither once they are plucked, showing my gratefulness for your aid.

i am aware that there is a holiday in which mortals celebrate on this day, i do not have enough information on this event, but i am aware that it is celebrated in pairs. if it is your desire, we may celebrate this holiday together. i am also aware that the celebrants have to be asked formally to participate so you will see this letter as such. if you need me, simply call out my name and i will be there.

oh, so this is the guy you helped yesterday, but why was his writing so formal? and yeah was up with his name? you looked at the name in confusion, this definitely wasn’t a common name since you have never heard it before. you weren’t even sure how to pronounce it. looking around your surroundings once more, you whisper the name to see if he was actually true.

little to your knowledge the same golden figure stood on nearby mountains, the look on his eyes was a stark opposite from how he looked at you yesterday. instead of sharp and sturdy eyes, his eyes were soft and gentle. in all of the millennia that he has travelled, during and without lumine, he had never looked at someone the way he looked at you in this moment. as he takes one final look at your smile that was made from reading his script, he turns his back to you and acknowledges the abyss mages who bows at his feet.

you definitely didn’t expect to have an impromptu valentine’s letter, neither did you expect t9 have any sort of company. you are thankful his prescence, the boy… oh, what was his name again? ahh, aether.

©aeferkssr

[rainofbrasspetal]

Mashle: The Stitchy Review

Started Mashle May 26 2024.

Finished Mashle June 17 2024.

Stitchy's Score: 6/10

Shortly after finishing Inuyasha, I wanted something really straightforward. More importantly something short. At a crisp 163 chapters, Mashle really delivered on that. Mashle has a pretty good bag of jokes and a great artstyle.

A friend of mine, someone who does a lot of character design, always tells me that simple designs will always look better. Usually she's right and this time is no exception. I think Mashle really is visually appealing. As someone who also loves film discussions and film as art, it seems almost comical to say. Something that feels like it's such a surface level compliment, "The camera work was fantastic!" Of course it was! It's a movie! That's like the most basic thing you have to do! With visual mediums like movies, or especially comics and manga, you still have to point out when things look good. It's a luxury I think consumers of a visual medium may take for granted. Mashle having such a great artstyle also adds to the overall gag of the manga. There's even a lot of good fights with great scene blocking. Plus I love that it really is based around a dude that doesn't use magic and never will. Right, MHA? 🤨

The gags are, as with most comedy, hit or miss. When Mashle hits, however, it does. I also appreciate that the viz translation managed to weave words like "cringe" into the dialog without it really feeling like it's trying to hard. I'm sure this will be dated as time marches forward, but for now it's pretty charming.

Unfortunately, the gags also add to a couple of the negatives. I can't rate it that high objectively because Mashle really tries to be serious while making fun of itself. This is such a dangerous tightrope to walk. Mashle really tries to be a racism allegory. It feels like a little too much; have your cake and eat it too. The actual plot is also so incredibly straightforward. It can be a positive to save time that way, but it's also a negative in being memberal overall. The villain isn't set up all that well and while there are so many cool designs and fights, a lot of them aren't very engaging outside of a gag or the fact they showed up one time. A lot of the big badasses show up once and are kind of boddied offscreen as the endgame comes. They all show up for such a short time. Everyone has a sad backstory while the main character makes fun of them for wasting time with a sob story. It can be funny if it wasn't the thing every time. I don't know how I am expected to care about certain characters when their only joke at the end of the day is "sister complex freak" or villains who have a sad backstory before Mash looking at the audience like "👈😏 this guy, huh audience?" Serious moments are often overshadowed by these eternal gags.

In conclusion, Mashle is a fun and quick read. It stumbles a lot because sometimes it tries to drop the funny to look at you very seriously and tell you that an oppressive class in charge is not good and everyone should ever be treated as less than human (great message, but it doesn't feel like it does a good job). Despite it all, it's fun to look at and it's a nice "turn your brain off" kind of time. Like I said, some of these jokes are real zingers. I would recommend this to people but I would really caution them that you're not going to get much substance out of it. I don't know if I'd read it again myself, but I think it has it's moments and I enjoyed my time.