#now I should...practice backgrounds and stuff heh

[breezy-cheezy]

Teruki expression 3I palette 1C, Cassandra Cain expression 2F palette 2A, Princess Mipha expression 7A palette 7A, and/or TT Raven expression 2B palette 1B

I ran out of steam for Raven, sorry ;7; Also put in some Voltron/MP100 AU Teru...man those prison days...poor kiddo. Truly a humbling time for him...that warm pallete was so nice for Cass (guest starring Alfred the cat!) and I know Zoras aren’t blue blooded but it was an idea I liked....haha, she’s a blue blood. Also with sharp teeth~ I like when she looks more like her brother >v

[osakaso5]

IDOLiSH7 6th Anniversary Special Story: Full of Heart...

Chapter 4: Unreasonable Demands

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

Tamaki Yotsuba: I'm glad you can get your photo now, So-chan. But are you sure you can make it to the North Pacific?

Sogo Osaka: I think so... He did say he could make a stop at the nearest yacht harbor.

Sogo Osaka: What about your photo? You mentioned that Re:vale could help...

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah. I just messaged them, and they said they were gonna come pick us up.

Sogo Osaka: Pick us up?

[Toot toot!]

Tamaki Yotsuba: Ah! That's Momorin's car!

Momo: Tamaki! Sogo!

Yuki: Good evening.

Sogo Osaka: I'm sorry you had to come all this way! Tamaki-kun didn't tell me you were coming for us until just now...

Momo: It's fine! Hop on!

Tamaki Yotsuba: Where are we going?

Yuki: Back in time.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Heh. If I could time travel, there's a ton of stuff I'd wanna do.

Yuki: Same here.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I bet you would too, So-chan.

Sogo Osaka: Sure.

Momo: I've got a ton of stuff I'd change, too. But sorry, we're not actually going back in time. We're going to Yuki's place!

Tamaki Yotsuba: That's fine. There's a bunch of stuff I wanna do there, too.

Yuki: Like what?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Playing the guitar. Teach me.

Yuki: Okay.

Sogo Osaka: You could've asked me, too... Though I'm sure Yuki-san has better foundations and technique...

Tamaki Yotsuba: I don't wanna learn from you. You'd get on my case about being bad. Yukirin seems way nicer.

Yuki: I'm a lot scarier than you think.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Huh..? Oh, right. No way am I gonna learn from you. I'll just ask Ban-chan.

Yuki: Ban's not any better, you know. He'll click his tongue and call you an amateur.

Tamaki Yotsuba: If he did that, I'd start crying...

Sogo Osaka: I would, too...

Momo: I'd cry so much, my tear ducts would never recover...

[Toot toot!]

Momo: Ah! We can talk later! Hurry up and get in the car!

Sogo Osaka: ...Thank you!

Momo: Off we go! 

- - - -

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yaaay! Long time no see, Yukirin's place.

Sogo Osaka: Tamaki-kun, you could at least thank Yuki-san for his hospitality.

Yuki: It's fine... Hey. Tamaki-kun, wait, at least put some slippers on before you walk in.

Tamaki Yotsuba: It's fine.

Yuki: It's not fine. Put them on.

Sogo Osaka: I'm sorry about him! I'll make him wear them! Tamaki-kun, come back here. You can't just run into people's homes like that.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I was so excited that I had to floor it.

Momo: I guess you'll need to install traffic lights at your entrance hall, Yuki.

Yuki: I'll paint a little crosswalk on the floor while I'm at it.

Sogo Osaka: Thank you, and I'm very sorry for the trouble...

Yuki: I was joking. I guess you can be a bit soft on Tamaki-kun, too.

Sogo Osaka: Oh, that was a joke?

Momo: So, what's up?

Momo: You needed help finding a childhood photo for Welcome to Kids' Room, right?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah...

Tamaki Yotsuba: Y'know the apartments I used to live at? There was this guy there who had a camera.

Momo: A guy with a camera?

Tamaki Yotsuba: I forget his name, but I think he lived in our neighborhood. He took a family photo of us.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I wanna meet him, so I can ask if he could reprint the picture we put in Mom's casket...

Tamaki Yotsuba: And for that, I need you guys to make some shady deals.

Re:vale: Shady deals..?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah.

Re:vale: Shady deals!?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah. I need the help of some underground type guys for this. Can't Re:vale make that happen?

Yuki: You want us...

Momo: To make shady deals...

Sogo Osaka: Re:vale... Please. If it's at all possible, then I'd like you to help him, too.

Momo: Now even Sogo's asking... No, hold on just a minute!

Momo: I'm not sure where you got the idea that we make ANY kind of shady deals to begin with. Yuki, do you know what they're talking about?

Yuki: I have no idea. You?

Momo: Nope... I feel like shady deals are the one thing we can't help with...

Tamaki Yotsuba: No way... I was sure you guys would have some leads.

Yuki: What kind of a deal were you planning?

Momo: I think we'll be more helpful than any of the "underground type guys" you had in mind.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I need someone to hack into every surveillance camera in the world, to find out where that dude is now.

Sogo Osaka: Every surveillance camera in the world..?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Even though most people don't realize it, there's shady organizations that control the world from the shadows!

Tamaki Yotsuba: Or at least that's what it said in this "Scary Truths of the World" book that Isumin had.

Yuki: You mean you read it in some book about the occult? And you went ahead and assumed we were associated with these shady organizations?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah... Re:vale kinda gives me that sort of vibe sometimes...

Momo: I never knew people saw us that way. Heh, not bad.

Yuki: So basically, you want to know where that camera guy is now? Good thing I happen to know a private detective.

Sogo Osaka: You know a private detective? Did you meet him while studying for a role?

Yuki: No... I met him while looking for your manager...

Tamaki Yotsuba: Oh, Ban-chan!

Yuki: Yep.

Momo: But if that private detective couldn't find Ban-san, how useful could he possibly be?

Yuki: Probably not very useful, no.

Momo: But you still kept him on your payroll?

Yuki: Well, Ban taught me not to keep replacing our bandmates, and you taught me to hold people dear...

Momo: Oh, Yuki! You're such a good boy!!! You're a gentleman and a hottie rolled into one!  

Yuki: I sure am. I'll even forgive you for our earlier argument.

Tamaki Yotsuba: You guys had a fight?

Momo: We butted heads over our Welcome to Kids' Room photos, that's all.

Sogo Osaka: But why would you fight over your childhood pictures..?

Momo: Well... 

- - - -

Rinto Okazaki: Then it's settled. This will be your picture for the show, Momo-kun, and this will be yours, Yuki-kun.

Yuki: Wow..! You look adorable, Momo! A little round-cheeked boy with a tan, playing soccer. It's so cute.

Momo: ...Holy crap... A listless pretty boy, playing the guitar...

Yuki: I like this photo. I feel like it'd be a great source of energy whenever I'm tired from work.

Yuki: I know we talked using each other's selfies as lock screen backgrounds,   but I think these childhood photos would work better.

Rinto Okazaki: Great idea! I happen to have these picture lockets, would you like some?

Yuki: A locket? If I put Momo's picture in that, it'd be like he's my son.

Yuki: That could be kind of funny. Should we try it?

Momo: No way...

Yuki: What!?

Momo: I can't take this photo! As both your fan and your partner, I think this picture's bad news!

Yuki: How is it bad news!? Are you saying I'm not cute in it!?

Rinto Okazaki: I think you're positively adorable!

Momo: You're wearing SHORTS! Since when do you wear shorts!? There's no way we can show this on TV!

Yuki: And why not? Even I was once an innocent kid, like Iori-kun and Tamaki-kun.

Rinto Okazaki: I think you're still plenty innocent, Yuki-kun!

Yuki: That's it. I'm making a copy of this picture, and putting it inside your locket.

Momo: Oh, no you don't! I'm not wearing that, you hear me!?

Yuki: But you said we should use each other's pictures as lock screens!

Momo: I didn't say anything about our childhood pictures! I'm gonna lose my mind if I have to walk around with a picture like this dangling from my neck!

Momo: And how did you just so happen to have two lockets lying around!?

Rinto Okazaki: The president got them for you.

Yuki: He wants us to have each other's pictures?

Rinto Okazaki: No, he actually wanted you to have a childhood photo of himself and I.

Momo: Wait, I wanna see that!

Rinto Okazaki: Here it is.

Momo: Wow! You went to a studio for this one!

Momo: Okarin, is the one sitting on the chair you? Does that mean our prez is the one standing up?

Rinto Okazaki: That's correct.

Yuki: You and Rintaro look really alike. The suits look chic, so it's actually kind of cool.

Yuki: Was this taken for a special occasion?

Rinto Okazaki: Our neighborhood cameraman needed something to display on his shop window, so he took a picture of us.

Rinto Okazaki: We received the lockets as thanks.

Rinto Okazaki: He thought that if we brothers kept a picture with us, we'd always be able to find each other, no matter how far apart we end up.

Yuki: Huh. So it's a novelty gift. If you can call it that, anyway.

Rinto Okazaki: This was 20 years ago. Come to think of it, there was a picture of the cameraman's two sons on the window, too.

Rinto Okazaki: Though even our parents said they'd only ever seen the older brother.

Yuki: I see. Maybe something happened to the younger one, then. Poor thing...

Rinto Okazaki: Perhaps...

Rinto Okazaki: The older son's business failed, too, and eventually, the camera shop closed its doors for good.

Rinto Okazaki: My brother remembered the cameraman thanks to this picture. That was probably why he wanted you to have some, too.

Momo: So we could keep each other's pictures close by?

Rinto Okazaki: No. Like I said, it's our picture he wants you to put in the lockets.

Yuki: I think Rintaro's a little too in love with himself.

Rinto Okazaki: I'm sorry about him...

Momo: Ahaha! Still I think it could be funny to walk around with your picture hanging from our necks! Right, Yuki?

Momo: It would really show off our loyalty to Okazaki Productions, don't you think!?

Yuki: ......... Do you really hate the idea of having my picture that much..?

Momo: Uh, no...

Yuki: I see how it is. You refuse to keep my picture in a locket, but the Okazakis are fine?

Momo: I didn't mean it like that...

Rinto Okazaki: Ah, how unusual. Normally, it's Momo-kun doing these sort of interrogations.

Yuki: I can keep your photo in a locket, you know. I could even make you lunch for your practice match, Momose-kun.

Momo: Dang! I'm starting to feel jealous over my picture self..!

Yuki: I hope you'll grow up into an idol and be happy with me.

Momo: I don't think I can talk to your picture that easily... Or that casually...

Momo: Then again, wouldn't it be a little pervy if I started calling this picture of my partner "Master Yuki", or something..!?

Rinto Okazaki: I don't see the problem. Re:vale's already got an eccentric image, after all.

Yuki: I feel bad for my unwanted younger self. Give him back to me. I'll raise him with little Momose here.

Momo: I told you, that's not it! I'd never neglect little Yukito-san..!

Rinto Okazaki: There you go, starting some bizarre family roleplay. Allow me and my brother's picture to join in! 

- - - -

Momo: And that's how we started arguing.

Sogo Osaka: That sounds rough...

Yuki: Here's Momo's picture, by the way.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Wow! Momorin was so cute! Used to be super tan, too! With shiny white teeth!

Sogo Osaka: You really did put it in the locket.

Momo: Wanna see Okarin and his brother?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Okarin was adorbs, too! And I've never seen his brother! He's cute!

Yuki: Not anymore, he's not.

Sogo Osaka: So you did use Okazaki-san's picture for the locket.

Momo: I thought it'd be funny, and a good way to advertise our agency... Yuki's is too real for me to walk around wearing it. Do you get what I'm saying, Yuki?

Yuki: Not at all. I still feel bad for little me.

Momo: Don't you get grumpy on me again!

Yuki: ...In any case, I can introduce you to a useless private detective.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I'd rather you introduce me to a useful one. Does your detective pal know any better detectives?

Momo: Good point. If he's in the business, he's gotta know who his biggest rivals are!

Yuki: I'll try asking him.

[Dial tone]

Yuki: Hello, it's Yuki from Re:vale. Do you know any good detectives, other than you? Like, the king of private detecting or something...

Yuki: What..? There's a detective so great, he's only spoken of in legends..?

Tamaki Yotsuba: ........! A legendary detective..!!!

Sogo Osaka: He sounds like someone who could help! That's great, Tamaki-kun!

Yuki: I have a job for that detective. Get in touch with him for me. I need to find somebody. Yeah. I'm counting on you.

[Beep]

Momo: He's going to introduce us to a legendary detective!?

Yuki: He's willing to try, at least. I'll get in touch as soon as I hear from him again, Tamaki-kun.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Okay! Thanks!

Yuki: But... If it's too hard for you to get a hold of that picture, you can quit if you want, you know.

Momo: You guys must have better things to do, anyway. It's not like Ban-san or Maneko-chan are forcing you to do this, right?

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yeah, but...

Tamaki Yotsuba: I wanna have something like this pic of Momorin playing soccer, or Yukirin playing the guitar.

Re:vale: .........

Momo: Right. I hope you find your picture, Tamaki. We'll help in any way we can.

Yuki: If you run into trouble, call us.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Ehehe... Okay! 

- - - -

Sogo Osaka: .........

Sogo Osaka: They even drove us back to the dorm.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Yukirin's cooking was so yummy, and Momorin played with me a lot. Re:vale's super nice!

Sogo Osaka: It's because you're such a good kid.

Tamaki Yotsuba: .........

Sogo Osaka: You're so honest and kind, there's not a single person who wouldn't want you to live a happy life.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Haha... That's the opposite of what I used to hear, though.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Like when something I had broke, or something didn't make it to me in time, or something I'd been excited for didn't work out.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Apparently it was all a punishment, 'cause I'm such a bad, nasty kid.

Sogo Osaka: ........

Tamaki Yotsuba: I'd get mad and yell, "That's not true!", but still. Sometimes when I'm having a bad day, I remember that stuff.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I fall down, or something I like breaks, or I get caught in a rainstorm... And I wonder if I'm being punished.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I mean, I'm not THAT good of a kid. I don't work hard, I'm kinda rude. Plus I'm dumb.

Tamaki Yotsuba: ...If I was smarter, maybe I would've gotten a copy of that photo before it went into Mom's casket.

Tamaki Yotsuba: I don't have any pictures 'cause I'm an idiot who can't take proper care of anything.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Meanwhile, you're good at keeping things clean, and you do everything right.

Sogo Osaka: ...You're not an idiot, and the photo thing wasn't your fault.

Sogo Osaka: I can't believe anyone would say things like that to a child. Of course you're not being punished.

Tamaki Yotsuba: .........

Sogo Osaka: I can guarantee that you're not, so don't worry.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Ahaha! So-chan, you're acting kinda cool all of a sudden.

Tamaki Yotsuba: Thanks. 

To be continued...

[marshieee]

Different

Asahi x gn! Reader

Warning: angst to fluff

Requested by: @redbabydoll “I have no clue how to use tumblr so I’m sorry if this is not the right place to do a request 🥲 but if you’re willing to do it could you please do like an angst to fluff with Aone or Asahi or even Yaku? I feel like they’re so underrated and I struggle to find content about them. Anywho have a great day!!!!! 🙃🙃”

A/N: AHHHH MY FIRST REQUEST 😭❤️, oh no worries darling I’ve been there! It’s understandable, you could request in my asks though so yep i do hope that i made it angsty for you. A special thanks for proofreading and beta reading this @reallifemoana labyu bitch😘🥰❤️

It was a surprise when you accepted Asahi’s feelings, he was ready to get rejected yet you held his hands and said yes, he changed his mind he was ready to marry you.

To be fair everyone was shocked when they got the news about you and Asahi dating, The volleyball club was happy for him and was enthusiastic yet other students didn’t like it.

You were popular at school, some would say you were on par with Kiyoko Shimizu. People like you and are always around you that’s why Asahi thought how could someone like YOU, basically a celebrity at school, notice HIM of all people?

Nevertheless you two were having a pretty steady relationship… but not until people started to get restless and irritated. This was when your once steady and stable relationship started becoming a rocky and bumpy road.

“So are you dating anyone?”

You looked at the random guy who just came to flirt with you, confused as to why he even bothered asking that. Everyone in the whole school KNEW that you’re dating someone so why is he still asking this?

“Yes i am”

“Ah… you mean that volleyball dude?”

“He has a name you know and yes I am still dating him”

“Aw damn! And here I thought you two would have already broken up”

“Excuse me? Why’d you say that?”

“I mean come on, look at him! You’re seriously gonna keep on dating him?”

“Compared to your sorry ass, yes, yes I am”

Of course this wouldn’t go unheard about with boyfriend as he was their main target. Getting a lot of whispers and murmurs, a lot of back handed compliments even though the team and you encourage him to not let any of that get to him, it still does.

It became his biggest insecurities, he started doubting himself. He’d constantly question himself if he was he even worthy to call himself your boyfriend? Maybe not.

Because of that he started to avoid you as much as possible, short text, short calls, whenever you two would go home together the walk remained silent and awkward even if you tried making conversation he would reply with short and curt answers.

This continued for two weeks until you finally had enough. Asking for the volleyball team to lend you a hand, since Asahi wasn’t doing well at practices either and it started pissing coach Ukai off.

“Make sure that Asahi is in tip top shape tomorrow y/n or else I’m gonna make hinata our new ace”

“Don’t worry Ukai-san leave it to me”

Asahi looked confused when he got kicked out of the gym, i mean sure he was off his game lately but that’s why he’s practicing right?

“Don’t come back here not until you talk to them”

Daichi said in a stern tone with his arms crossed, while Suga was ready to ‘negativity begone’ Asahi’s ass in the background.

But before Asahi could answer they immediately slammed the door in his face, leaving him dumbfounded.

“Talk to who?” he asked himself…

“Hey babe”

Asahi tensed up as he heard your voice, slowly turning around to see you standing there with a smile.

“Can you come with me for a sec?” you asked

He reluctantly followed you to the schools’ garden and avoided making eye contact with you as much as he could. Once you both arrived at the garden you turned to look at him with your arms crossed over your chest.

“Why are you avoiding me?” you asked him with a stony face.

He looked at you but then looked away right after , he doesn’t want to answer that, not to you at least. Pursing your lips together you took a deep breath.

“Asahi why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not”

“Yes you are! You can’t even look at me”

You were getting frustrated, he wasn’t making any sense and all you wanted to know is why is he was being so distant.

“Y/N look I’m not avoiding you ok? Now I need to go back to practice”

He was about to walk past you when you grabbed his hand. He’s not getting away, not until he explains himself.

“Asahi please” you pleaded

“Y/N not now”

“It’s because of me isn’t it?”

He turned to look at you just to meet those sad eyes, no it wasn’t because of you, it was because of… him.

“No”

“Then why?”

He sighed as he stood in front of you debating whether he should tell you or not.

“It’s… it’s because of me, Ok?”

“What? What do you mean” Confusion evident on your face.

“Y/N look I- I’ve been thinking....is it really ok for me to be your boyfriend?”

That question shocked you but it also pissed you off.

“What the hell Asahi?! What kind of question is that??? Of course it’s Ok!”

“No”

“What do you mean no?”

“No it’s not ok”

You were confused as to why he was saying those things, why does he think it’s not? Is he dumb?

“Y/N you know people says that too right?”

“Asahi how many times—“

“Look y/n i know that I’m not the best person for you-”

“Babe—“

“And i know! That someday you’ll leave me because you’ll find someone better than me ok?!”

You just stood there, his words slowly sinking in. What the hell is he saying?! Find someone better?! Leave him?!

“What the hell are you saying? I won’t leave you, ok? I won’t leave you because I LOVE you”

“You’ll break up with me eventually”

“No I won’t, that’s not true”

“Yes it is y/n”

You’re starting to get dejected with every passing seconds, he looked away not wanting to meet your eyes.

“I’m no good for you”

“How can you say that as if it’s a fact?!”

“BECAUSE IT IS A FACT!”

The sudden raise of his voice surprised you, his eyes still reflects frustration and it looked like he doesn’t have any plans on cooling down.

“HOW CAN YOU! YOU Y/N! HOW CAN YOU EVEN LIKE ME?! WHY?!”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE KIND!”

Asahi snapped out of his thoughts as he watched those frustrated tears drip down your face non-stop and now it was your turn to glare at him.

“BECAUSE YOU’RE KIND, AND YOU’RE SWEET, YOU’RE A GENTLEMAN”

You were trying to keep your voice sturdy, wishing that your words would at least get through his head.

“AND I’VE SEEN YOU PLAY AND I CAN TELL HOW PASSIONATE YOU ARE AND I LIKE THAT! NO I LOVE THAT! I LOVE HOW HARDWORKING YOU ARE, OK?!”

Standing there speechless, Asahi let your words sink into his mind and heart.

“I LIKE YOU FOR YOU ASAHI!! HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT?!”

Asahi was about to say something but he decided to let you express all your pent up feelings, he wanted you to tell him how you really feel, he wants to hear you.

“SO WHY?..WHY ARE YOU LETTING THEIR WORDS GET TO YOU INSTEAD OF MINE?! WHY WOULD YOU DOUBT YOURSELF?! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT YOU’RE NOT ENOUGH FOR ME WHEN IN FACT YOU’RE MORE THAN ENOUGH! YOU’RE MORE THAN I COULD EVER ASK FOR”

You were starting to hiccup furiously as tears continuously streamed down your face which made Asahi panic, slipping his hand out of yours he ran to his bag he got his water bottle out to give to you. As you finally calmed down Asahi just stood there, he wanted to hug you but he didn’t deserve that right now. So instead he let his chin rest on the top of your head.

“Why can’t you just believe me when I say I love you?”

“I do”

“Then why did you have to say stuff like that?” You asked sniffling.

Asahi sighed, his reasons were very invalid, he knew that, and he new they were just insecurities caused by what others would say about your relationship.

“Because...because you’re different than me, I think that you’re on a different level than I am..that’s why I said those things”

He kissed the top of your head then let his cheek rest atop your head.

“I’m sorry” He said with a frown on his face.

“You’re not forgiven”

Asahi quickly pulled away, that’s when he really started to panic, you looked so serious he started stuttering on his words.

“E-eh? Huh? W-why? I’m so sorry that I said those things- um- um I’ll make sure to not say those again! I PROMISE! S-so uh- can you please please PLEASE forgive me? I really am sorry” He asked pleadingly.

“No Asahi”

“N-no?”

“If you’re gonna make promise, do it properly”

“How?”

You held his large hands in yours, gently squeezing them, in which he squeezed back, slowly intertwining your hands with his.

“Promise me that you’ll never doubt yourself”

You looked into his eyes silently telling him that you were dead serious.

“Promise me that you won’t let their words get to you, because all the things they say about you...about us is nothing but bullshit”

“Y-Y/N! Language”

“Oh hush, just promise me that ok? Because you’re already the best person for me”

“Really?”

“YEAH! NOT ONLY YOU’RE THE ACE OF THE COURT BUT YOU’RE ALSO THE ACE OF MY HEART!!”!”

Asahi blushed furiously and laughed, this was you’re Asahi, the Asahi that you love.

“Y/N that was so cheesy”

“Hehehe really?”

He smiled at you and gave you a soft gentle kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah”

“So do you promise?”

He slowly nodded in agreement.

“Yeah”

You both giggled.

“ARE YOU TWO OK NOW?”

You both turned around and saw the whole team approaching the two of you. Hinata noticed your face and immediately gasped.

“ASAHI-SAN MADE Y/N CRY!”

They all turned to glare at Asahi and for the third time he started to panic, holding his hands up he started to think of excuse.

“N-No! Well you see...the thing is! Um..haha”

“A-SA-HI”

As soon as they all reached you two, Suga instantly hit Asahi on the head.

“ACCCK”

“HOW DARE YOU!”

“NO WAIT LET ME EXPLAIN!”

You noticed coach Ukai approaching you all and you gave him a smirk.

“I told you I’d return him in tip top shape”

“Heh, good to have our ace back”

You smiled as you watch the team scold Asahi for making you cry.

“Yeah”

“By the way that was so cheesy”

You blushed and looked at him with a surprised face.

“YOU WERE LISTENING?!”

“I accidentally heard it calm down”

“WHAT THE HELL UKAI-SAN?!”

“HEY KID LANGUAGE!”

[snowdragon4]

Cops and Robbers. A Bbrae AU

As much as Rachel enjoyed her job, she couldn’t help, but feel exhausted coming home at the end of a long day. Maybe it was the fact that she was on her feet all day, thank goodness for whoever invented flats. Still it was stable and fine work, a solid nine to five, giving her enough time to get home to work on her novel. The monotony of her daily routine was broken up when on her way home she noted a healthy handful of police cars driving around her neighborhood.

“Huh? I wonder if Dick could let me know what’s going on?” She of course was referring to her cop neighbor, Dick Grayson, but driving by his house, all the lights were shut off. “Maybe he and Kory are out.” She shrugged it off and parked her car before entering her home.

She moved through the doors of her modest three bedroom home as she usually did. Keys and mail on the table by her door, purse and jacket on a hook, turned on the TV for a bit of background noise and a nice cold beer in the fridge calling her name. She figured she’d make herself dinner, take a hot bath, and settle in for a night of writing.

With the news in the background she went about her nightly routine.

“—citizens of Jump city should be advised that the suspect could be armed and dangerous. For those who are just joining, please be on the lookout for Garfield Mark Logan, who escaped police custody earlier this evening—“

She took a beer from the fridge and removed the cap. “If his parents named him ‘Garfield’ they belong in prison too.” She commented dryly.

“—Garfield is wanted for the murder—“

She had gone to the counter when something had occurred to her. Going back she opened the door to the fridge and noticed something.

She was a creature of habit and structure, bordering on obsessive compulsiveness, but it made sense to keep her world in order at least. She had so much practice in fact that she noticed things out of place, even if it was just a fleeting glance. In this case there was something wrong with her beer. Was she missing one? She went shopping the other day, and only allowed herself and one a day or less, so surely she couldn’t have had more than one.

She counted a few more times, but came to the conclusion that she was, somehow, short one beer.

She took a step back when she felt something crunch beneath her heel. Lifting her foot she saw a pebble and some dirt, something she hadn’t noticed before. Didn’t she just clean the other day? Looking around she noticed more and more dirt leading from her kitchen and to the back door.

A back door that wasn’t locked.

If there was one thing she was absolutely sure about, it was that she ALWAYS locked her doors.

Her blue eyes flitted to the TV, noting the news report about an escaped convict, but surely he wouldn’t have run into a suburban neighborhood. That kind of stuff only happened in movies. Right?

She broke into a run, heading for her front door, but her hand had barely touched the knob when she felt someone wrap their arm around her waist and a hand clap over her mouth. Reacting purely on instinct, she stumped on their foot, eliciting a manly grunt of pain, and elbowed them in the ribs causing them to release her.

Momentarily free, she ran for the back door, telling herself she just had to get next door to Dick and Korys house. Nobody may have been home, but she would have felt safer in a cops home.

She weaved through the kitchen, aware that he was right behind her, but she kept her eyes on the door. She put her hands around the knob, but felt a pair of hands grab her arms and pull her back. She stumbled over something, him possibly, and fell backwards, hitting her head on the counter and collapsing onto the floor unconscious.

—:0:—

Her head was pounding as she slowly came back to consciousness, but when she tried to move her hands, they were stuck, in fact she couldn’t move any part of her body. Regardless of how much pain she was in, her eyes snapped open, finding that she was tied to a chair. Her hands had been pulled behind the chair, rope wrapping around her wrists and to the bars of the chair. Her ankles had been tied to the bottom rung of the chair and rope had been thrown over her lap, waist, and shoulders to keep her tied firmly to the chair back. Moving her head she felt one of her scarves had been stuffed in between her teeth and tied behind her head.

Saying she was in trouble was an understatement.

She wanted to panic, but she forced her rational, obsessive mind to take control. She took a few breaths through her nose to assess her situation. Looking around she was in her bedroom, the curtains drawn and the door closed. She had been tied to one of her kitchen chairs with rope that she kept in her garage that she used when she went camping to enjoy nature and solitude.

Her panic returned.

She had been unconscious, did he…?

She looked at herself, and aside from the rope she was still in the clothes she was in when she got home, white button up shirt and black skirt with flats, and nothing had been removed. Aside from the pain in her head, and the discomfort of the rope, she didn’t feel pain anywhere else.

Her rational mind returned.

So he knocked me out? Tied me up, but didn’t take advantage of me? He’s probably looting my home. But all of her valuables were in her room, were she was alone.

Still, a strange man was in her home, she was tied up and helpless. This wasn’t good.

Red and blue lights flashed outside her window, and a spark of hope lit inside her. Using her whole body, she began pushing the chair towards the window. If she could somehow get the curtain open, maybe someone could see her and possibly rescue her.

It was worth a shot, but not to be.

The door to her room opened and her chair was quickly grabbed and pulled away from the window. She grunted and growled behind her gag, struggling against the tight ropes. Whatever he was going to do, she was going to make it as hard for him as possible.

But she wasn’t expecting this.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry! Please calm down! please!”

She paused. Sorry? Please? She focused on the man, seeing that it wasn’t quite a “man” at all. He was young, twenties maybe, with disheveled blonde hair and a dirty complexion and clothing. His eyes were a piercing green that were pleading, fearful, and remorseful. Her brows narrowed, angry, but curious. What kind of home intruder was this?

He sighed in relief when she settled down. “Thank you.” He stood up and started pacing, his hands running through his blonde locks. “I am so, so, so, so, sorry about this. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Any of this. It's just—ugh!” She involuntarily flinched at his outburst. “Oh! Sorry, sorry, sorry I didn’t mean…” He continued babbling incoherently, that was beginning to grate on her nerves, but looking past him, saw that he had brought in a water bottle. For her maybe?

“Uughmph!” She grunted to get his attention, then motioned her head towards the water bottle.

“Oh! Yeah!” He grabbed it and brought it towards her. “Sorry, I’m just,” he paused, “wait, you're not gonna scream are you?”

She watched him closely, he broke into her home, attacked her, tied her up, and was now helpless and at his mercy.

Yet she wasn’t afraid.

Slowly, she shook her head no. He eyed her for a moment, but slowly came up to slip the gag from her mouth.

She moved her jaw around, sighing with relief, but didn’t scream. “Thank you.” She could see weight being lifted from his shoulders and a small, attractive smile on his lips. “Um, water?”

“Oh yes!” He brought it to her lips and allowed her a small drink. Her eyes closed at the liquid cooling her insides, helping to soothe and calm her down. She finished and he took the bottle away.

“Thank you.” She flexed against the rope. “Now can you untie me?”

The weight returned, and his smile faded into a worried stare. “Um… not yet, but if you don’t scream I’ll keep the gag out.”

Their eyes met, and still she couldn’t find any malice or maliciousness. She didn’t feel threatened, rather this felt like a necessity for him, self preservation, like a cornered animal.

Still she had to keep her guard up.

“Fair enough.”

He sighed again, becoming more relaxed, and he sat on top of her bed, a heavy silence settling between them. “So, um, you’re probably wondering what’s going on?”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m mildly curious.”

He laughed nervously. “Right. Well, um, I’m Gar, and I’m…”

“—on the run from the police?” He looked surprised, “you’re on the news. Everyone is looking for you.”

His eyes dipped with what looked like hurt. “Oh.” Her head tilted in curiosity as he leaned forward to put his head in his hands. “I’m so sorry…”

Now getting annoyed, “You’ve said that already.” She struggled against the ropes again. “Do you mind telling me what you're doing here?”

He lifted his head, wiping away a few tears. “Sor—erm, yes. Well,” he stood up, “I should start from the beginning I guess. So I was dating this girl, Terra, and I was crazy about her, but what she didn’t tell me was that another guy was obsessed with her. Some guy named Slade, I don’t know, but anyways he was stalking her, calling her, following her, all kinds of stuff.”

He slowed down, his voice tightening up. “I, uh, was at work, and when I got home…” his hands came up to his mouth, “she was…”

She couldn’t help but feel pity for him. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded, wiping his tears again. “Thanks. Anyways I called the cops and when they showed up, they arrested ME?”

Her head lifted. “What? Why?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. They just showed up and slapped the cuffs on me! Do you have any idea what that’s like?”

She waited a beat, wondering if he was serious or just stupid. “No. I have no idea what it’s like for someone to come uninvited to my home and restrain me against my will.”

He chuckled nervously. “Heh. Sorry—I mean. Um… anyways…”

There was silence for a moment or two. “Why did you escape? Why not just go to the station and plead your case?” She asked.

“I did! I mean, I wanted to…but I don’t know.” His hands ran through his hair again. “The cop car they took me in was T-boned, and the next thing I knew I was running for my life.”

She quirked a brow as she came to the conclusion on her own. “You mean you broke into my home by chance?”

He nodded. “It was the only home I saw with the lights off at the time, I picked the lock, and snuck inside. I grabbed a beer and was gonna leave when the heat died down, but then, I heard your neighbors leave so I hid.”

“Then I got home, and the rest is history.” She finished.

“Yeah. I hid as best I could, but when I saw you see the dirt on the ground, I knew I was done.” He motioned to the ropes. “I didn’t mean to do that to you, but I didn’t know what else to do. I just panicked.”

She relaxed a bit. “I see.”

Silence again, this time a bit more uncomfortable. “So, um, what’s your name?”

He shrunk beneath her glare. “You broke into my home, knocked me out, drank my beer, and tied me up. We are not going to have small talk.”

He gulped with another nervous smile. “Cool.”

He clapped his hands on his knees. “So what now?” She asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

She pulled against the rope again. “Well if you're open to suggestions.”

“I know, I know, I can untie you and I will, I promise. I just need to think.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well take your time, it’s not like my hands need steady blood flow or anything.” She softened her tone. “But seriously. You need to turn yourself in, if you’re innocent then an investigation will show that.”

He nodded. “I know, I know. I guess I’m just not a fan of being caged or anything.” He stood up. “Just, give me a minute.” He left her alone, giving her a chance to test the ropes again, but they were unyielding. She couldn’t help but feel impressed by his knot work.

After a few minutes of struggling she sat back and relaxed, unable to free herself she had nothing left to do but wait for him to let her go. Hopefully soon since she had lost the feeling in her hands a while ago.

Finally after what felt like ages he returned. “Okay, here’s the plan.” He untied the scarf from her neck. “I’m going to turn myself in, but there’s some things I need to do first, but here’s the bad part. I’m gonna to leave you here.”

She was actually relieved to hear this. He wasn’t dangerous, sure, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be a hostage. “But I’m not gonna untie you either. I’m gonna make a 911 call and tell them about a pretty dark haired woman tied up and get the cops to come and untie you. Sound good?”

Her face was placid as she responded, but ultimately relieved. “Do I have a choice?”

He chuckled. “I guess not. Again, I’m sorry about all this.”

He brought the scarf to her mouth to regag her. “Rachel.”

“Huh?”

“My name. It’s Rachel.”

He smiled. A wide smile that made her stomach flutter. “Rachel. Nice to meet you.”

—:0:—

The door burst open. “Police! Show me your hands!” Rachel flinched at the light shining in her eyes. “Is there anyone else in the house?” She shook her head as the officer came closer once the light was out of her eyes, she saw her neighbor, Dick Grayson remove the gag from her mouth.

“Took you long enough,” she droned, “did you stop for drive through?”

He let out a relieved chuckle, “Don’t you mean, ‘thank you for saving me’?”

“You’re right Dick, how about I give you a big hug… Oh wait.”

He moved behind her and began to undo the ropes. “Did you see who did this to you?”

“Nope.” She stated matter of factly. “They knocked me out and I woke up like this.”

[durotoswrites]

For the writing meme thingy: 🍄how do you get yourself in the mood to write? 🍑 do you/would you write smut? 📒 any fics planned?

🍄 How do you get yourself in the mood to write?

Getting in the mood to write and actually wanting to sit down and start writing are two very different things, but they're connected, so I'll explain both.

To set into “creative mode” it helps me to do these things:

Listen to music that makes me think of a character/situation in my story/stories. I've got playlists separated by character and pairing. Sometimes I also just work on curating those playlists for fun and get my brain going.

Bounce overall ideas off of my friends and husband/editor (but he's my best friend, too 💗)

Reread old chapters or recent ones and future snippets based on what I want to do.

Once I actually want to put words down, I get a little more strict with myself. I get distracted verrrry easily sometimes and I have to fight the urge to open a million more tabs when researching a small detail.

I move to instrumental music (I have playlists for different moods like “emotional”, “soft”, “sad”, etc. I usually listen to “soft” as a general soothing background sound, as I can get pretty dang emotional when I write, especially with the stuff I've been churning out lately.

So, yeah, I need tissues within reach if I get upset. (Wow, I'm not making this sound fun at all, lmao)

After sound has been established, I like to eat a snack (something with protein) because I can be under for hours, lol. Eat it and finish it. Otherwise, I get distracted.

I also like to have drinks available. I always have a bottle of water, but I also like having a hot cup of tea. I think it's the time of year for me to switch to cold barley tea.

I write while seated on a recliner with my feet up. I have my laptop on a lap desk and it's a pretty cozy setup.

I basically try to remove any excuse I have to get up once I start writing, because I am the worst procrastinator I know.

🍑Do you/would you write smut?

Heheh... heck yeah, I do. Waaaaay more than most people realize. Stuff I've actually posted? It's pretty limited. I posted a couple pieces (Let Me Love You and You're Like the Sunshine) a few years ago, but I've been practicing ever since. One of my planned stories literally has what I refer to as a “smut dump” in the draft where I've been experimenting with writing different moods. I like the intimate scenes to play a role in the overall plot or have it be a bonding experience.

Despite that, I do have a shameless Gray x Mary story I should just get out there that has zero plot, just two cuties in love. In my mind it's so naughty and kinky and I get flustered thinking about it (Mary is hot, okay?), but it's probably hella vanilla, lmao. I really am grateful that people have been really supportive about my writing smut despite what I usually write, and they've been so encouraging, too! I honestly feel like the smut I've posted is really stilted because I was so self-conscious about it. I don't feel like they are terrible for first attempts, but I have definitely grown more comfortable writing it.

Will The Shy Newcomer become explicit? I kinda really want it to, but I might separate the chapters for those who don't care for that content. Overall, I'd like to write more and post more, and I want to write more than just male x female smut as well. I have some of those in my planned pieces (more about them later).

📒 Any Fics Planned?

Firstly, I'm super tickled more than one person was interested in this. I copied the answer I wrote earlier.

Short answer: Yes. I also plan to bring more of my stories over from ffn to Ao3.

Long answer under the cut, heheh. I rambled quite a bit.

Ask me about my writing processes and stories!

I have so many WIPs that haven’t been touched in years that I’d like to finish, so new planned fics aren’t posted yet. Some of them have more adult themes than most of the stuff I’ve been writing, so I get flustered sharing them. I’ve been at a crossroads, as I feel that you can’t have growth without changing things up. On the other hand, I feel like a lot of my readers associate my works with a specific “wholesome” feel-good mood. It’s kinda nice to be known for something, although that might just be my ego talking, thinking that people recognize my work as a “type”.

Regardless, in the end, I feel growth is necessary.

I don’t want to leave a lot of unfinished WIPs waiting because they stress me out and I have too many of them already, so I’d like to have a bulk of my new stories with a good chunk written before I decide to post them.

Among those include:

A longfic featuring Pete’s farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley (A blend of HMDS with the FoMT plugin and AWL). It takes place in the same universe as The Shy Newcomer (Claire in Mineral Town) and there are a few overlapping moments, although Pete’s story starts first. Pete’s personality is verrry different from Claire’s, and his story was kind of supposed to be the yang to TSN’s yin. Pete’s best friends in his story are Ruby (not sure if I’m adding Tim yet), Nami, and Rock. Readers will be treated to a poorly-socialized pre-Mineral Town Cliff (if you think he was bad at the beginning of TSN, well… heh… he’s a wreck here).

Another planned unpublished story is a crossover of Harvest Moon and the movie “In This Corner of the World”, based on a manga of the same name by Fumiyo Kouno. It was written as a gift for a friend. I have the entire outline figured out and have slowly been filling it in. My friend asked for an AU where Claire and Cliff have an arranged marriage and live with his family in Akiyama, the hometown I had created for Cliff in The Shy Newcomer. I took the opportunity to expand the characters in his family. I have it written during the same time period and society as “In This Corner of the World”, but had decided to write a spreading disease as an allegory for war, but then COVID happened and some parts of it just got really hard to write. There are also a lot of sexually explicit content as Claire slowly grows and learns from her spouse that it’s okay to express what she wants despite sex being a taboo issue. If there’s enough interest in the story, I’ll post it, but I worry it’s a little too niche for there to be many people into it.

Pastor Carter and Doctor Trent are one of my favorite rare pair ships. I’ve had a partial draft for a story about them for a few years now, especially focusing on Trent growing up and acknowledging that he has an unhealthy addiction for things that he knows he can’t have. There are some more adult/sexual themes in this piece, too, including the main character lusting after a married woman (who also happens to be his patient) and some lemons. (Does anyone call it that anymore or is it just referred to as “smut” nowadays? Haha) I always feel so bad for neglecting the folks at the clinic in-game and wanted to write a piece that focused more on them, Trent specifically. It’s a multi-chap fic, but I don’t think I’m going to let it get as long as some of my other pieces.

I also really want to write a short romantic oneshot for every marriage candidate in Mineral Town, around 1,000 words each. So far, I have one for Cliff and one for Gray. I want to write Claire with everyone, because I think it would be fun to explore all the different personalities.

I have more installments planned for A Single Day, including a day in the life of the following characters, all with drafts in varying degrees of progress:

Anna

Doug

Nora (yes, I’m writing from the point of view of the cat living at the inn)

More to come – I think Lillia and Thomas would be especially interesting to explore

I do still have that Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask piece I’ve been pondering where Link befriends the soul of the deku scrub child while possessed by the mask. I don’t have much written about it, but I really love the world of Majora’s Mask. Such a fun game.

I also think about the lead carpenter’s son in Ocarina of Time and that weird side quest involving the blue chicken and the son being lost to the forest. Then that unique-looking kokiri girl explaining that all who get taken in the lost woods become stalfos. Like, did the guy die? Was he sick? Did he want to die? There’s just so much going on there that would be fun to explore.

I also have played OMORI recently and have like… A LOT of feelings about it. I don’t know what I’d write, but I’m still damn impressed at how well the characters are developed in such a short game.

Other games I’ve had vague ideas about writing for include the following:

The Flame in the Flood: I’m thinking a survivalist/action story fleshing out Scout’s backstory a bit more and her thoughts as she’s traveling. I feel like she’s a very lonely person, but isn’t given the chance to really dwell on it.

Night In the Woods: I’d love to write more about Mae’s dreams and what they mean to her. She doesn’t really talk to anyone about them openly, so it’s really hard to tell her feelings about them in some regards. We know that she’s distressed about them, but I’d like to dive a little deeper. Do the nightmares end after the games does? What about Bea’s new nightmares?

Hades (Supergiant Games): I think it would be fun to write more about the events that take place before the game starts, like Zagreus’s duties in the house of Hades, and expand on the strained relationship with his father.

[shhhlikeme]

“Losty Aone” / “Losty Mountain Man🏔” Series:

Outtake Collection #1

If you enjoyed my Aone series as much as I enjoyed writing it: then you may enjoy this........

Writer’s block is a bitch rn but at least I have drafts to post! I have like 10 or so of these mini outtakes so if y’all want them all please let me know. Personally I’m in love with them cause you guys know how much I love our Mountain Man😭

This is are not a story per se: they are outtakes from my Aone series) that do not follow a strict timeline. But same story line.

What is an Outtake?

Basically, outtakes are parts of yours & Aone’s love story that weren’t included where Part 0 picked up because it happened either before or after the series.

Remember that Aone crushed on you for 2 years before you two got together detailed in this matchup, so these are glimpses of what kind of interesting things happened during his crushing period.... all the way up until today when you two are happily together. Some are PG and some will be straight up smut after y’all get together. I love writing these omg! If you need any help understanding shoot me a message, but it’s fairly straightforward. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SERIES’ TABLE OF CONTENTS!

Enjoy my babies:

————————————

Aone 2 Weeks Into Crushing On You:

“Aone...... stop staring at her.” Kenji scoffs at his friend as they sat down at lunch.

“I’m not.” Muttered mountain man as he dug into his food.

“Okay but you say that.......while still staring at her.” Kenji deadpans in annoyance. He had been watching his best friend stare at his crush on the other side of the cafeteria for the past 20 minutes. Y/N was with the rest of the cheer team—basically the smallest one—laughing vibrantly with her friends. Aone’s heart was tight as he watched you laugh, once again silently wishing you would notice him and perhaps laugh at something he said like that.

“The cheerleaders look really good in their new uniforms this school year, huh?” Kenji tried.

His big friend grunted in agreement but he really only thought Y/N looked phenomenal in uniform. Everyone else looked whatever.

“You should tell her how pretty you think she looks today.”

“Uh, I......can’t.” Aone said without changing his expression. Inside, though, he was a big blushy baby.

“Why not? It’s been two weeks since you first saw her and you obviously kinda like her so I think you should!”

Aone shook his head tightly. “Is that what you would do?” He finally looked at his friend: the only person in Aone’s life that he actually confided in. Kenji nodded.

“Oh, most def. See Y/N’s cheer captain, Katana? I have a little crush on her. Want to see how I tell her?”

“You’re attracted to her. You don’t have a crush on her. There’s a difference.”

“Tomatoe Tomahtoh! Watch.” Kenji calls Y/N’s friend’s name from across the caf at the cheerleaders table. Her face brightens when she sees it was Kenji calling her, and she skips over to their table.

Aone blended into the background as usual when bubbly girls came around. Someone with his silent demeanour didn’t really make waves to them.

Kenji spoke to her while remaining seated, ever the nonchalant semi-fuckboy. He had his hands in his pockets the entire time and Aone just knew that he’d never be able to pull that “I don’t care” vibe off with his crush. When you came around, every nerve in Aone’s body stood at attention and he just focused in on you. He couldn’t help it.

“You look really good in your uniform by the way. Fits like a glove.” Kenji flirted passively.

Y/N’s captain beamed like a newly chosen puppy at the pet mart. “Really?! You think so?! Thanks a lot, Futakuchi!!!”

Aone resisted the urge to roll his eyes at how much these ladies fell over his friends antics.

But Aone couldn’t help but wish you would look at him like Katana looked at Kenji. It had only been two weeks since he’s first laid eyes on you, but you brightened his days unknowingly and he just wanted to be the reason for your smile.

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺😭

Aone heard a tiny squeal coming from his right where the cheerleaders were so he looked over to see you skipping towards them.

🚨 🚨 🚨 HOLY FUCK you were coming to his table! 🚨 🚨 🚨

Aone’s heart literally stopped. He looked to Futakuchi in alarm, though his face seemed unaffected to the average person.

Kenji smirked back at the white haired giant, as if to say “exactly according to plan.”

You approached the table like the bundle of energy you are and Takanobu practically let his static demeanour switch so he could sigh happily as the fruity scent you wore hit him.

You were so close: you were so perfect: and you were so beautiful. Aone’s eyes didn’t leave you for a second.

You stopped beside the table with a smile for your cheer captain.

“Katana! Coach wants us stretching on the field in 3 minutes, let’s go!” Not noticing anyone else, you tugged on your captain’s sleeve and then grabbed her wrist to bring her back to the team.

Katana waved at Kenji as she was being dragged away. “Oh, okay, so I’ll see you Saturday night Kenji?! You can pick me up at 8!”

Kenji nodded nonchalantly, his attention mainly back to his friend who was staring at his retreating crush.

“You could have at least said hi.” Kenji crumpled his napkin, annoyed. “The only reason I asked Katana out is because your crush doesn’t leave her alone for two seconds so I knew she’d come over here. That was your chance!”

Takanobu ate a spoonful of his yogurt, turning only to his brown-eyed future captain solely because you had exited the cafeteria. “Well, I happen to think that was a successful greeting between Y/N and I.” He deduced.

“What?! Are you kidding me?! How?!”

“She’s never been that close to me before. She smells good. Like apples. I like apples, very much.”

Kenji deadpanned. “You hate apples.”

“And now I like them. So, I deem that a success.”

Kenji sighed in defeat as the bell rang to signify the end of lunch. “Listen Aone-san I know this is your first crush and it’s super intense and all, but please—you better not go this slowly in your pursuit of her. A freaking snail is beating you in a race to her heart, man. Y/N is one of the prettiest girls in this school and definitely the cutest on the cheer team so a lot of guys want her.”

Aone frowned, visibly upset at the idea that other men wanted his crush. But he knew that given how perfect you are to him, it just wasn’t logical to believe he’d be the only one who desired you. “I’m well aware, Futakuchi—“

“Good. I’m just saying. You better not wait like 2 years or something to finally make a move. Please, promise me you won’t do that.”

————————————

Aone 1 Month Into Crushing On You When He’s Eager To See You:

“Team, please hurry. We shouldn’t be late to our own pep rally.” Commander-Takanobu of the boys Date Tech volleyball team commanded.

The team of giants was on their way to the gymnasium for the Date Tech High School’s annual pep rally that shone light on the schools most prominent athletic teams: Boys Soccer, Boys Golf, Girls Tennis and the team of yours truly (MOUNTAIN MAN! 🏔).

Kanji laughed as he spun a volleyball on his finger then scrambled to pick it up because it dropped. “It’s cooler to be fashionably late!” He exclaimed loudly in the halls before Futakuchi shot him a look of irritation when the ball he dropped again hit him on the side of the head.

“Heh. Sorry.. senpai. I’m just saying to Aone-kun that Y/N is more likely to notice him if we come into the pep rally looking all cool and late.”

Stopping dead in his tracks, the giant mountain man almost tripped up the rest of the team who was following close behind him. They all yelled in protest as they regained their footing.

Aone ignored everyone, turning around to peer at his early growth-spurted underclassman. “Is this true?” He asked sincerely. “Y/N will notice...uh....me....if we walk in late?”

Stepping in, Futakuchi put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, shooting Koganegawa another glare as he did so.

“Absolutely no guarantee, buddy.” Kenji assured Aone. “Y/N will be really busy cheering, right? Just like the first time you saw her and she didn’t notice you pointing at all. So, chances are slim now, too.”

Aone sighed, disappointed though you couldn’t tell by looking at his face if you weren’t Kenji Futakuchi.

“Oh, okay.”

🙁😩🥺🥺🥺🥺

“You really like her, Aone?” Asked Koganegawa, feeling bad for getting his nice teammate’s hopes up.

Aone nodded, feeling an ache in his heart as he thought about how much he cared for you, his perfect crush.

“But you guys are so...........different. I mean she’s like always overly nice and bouncing off the walls and talking in class and stuff, right? And you’re just............not?”

“I like Y/N just the way she is, and for everything that she is.”

“But.... and I mean NO disrespect, but.........does she even notice you? Uh... she just seems so consumed with cheer and all things rainbow. She’s always ignoring anyone who isn’t in her social level—“

Aone shakes his head as the ache in his heart becomes a bit more painful at his teammates words.

“Y/N does not notice me. Not at all, unfortunately. But I notice her. Everyday. And that in itself makes me happy.”

GUYS I CANT —— ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️😭

The team nodded in pity, the lot of them collectively feeling really sorry for their best player and his unrequited love.

Kenji clapped his hands, startling everyone out of their misery filled states.

“Okay! The good news is that we have a pep rally to attend, right now, right?! Aone, be happy— you get to see Y/N in uniform again today!”

Aone’s eyes lit up, only recognizable by Futakuchi, as he nodded.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

Kenji Futakuchi stayed behind a few extra seconds as his teammates strolled on ahead. He had to take a moment to himself to think about how he would be there for Aone when his heart got shattered for the first time....by a girl (you) who is in the same school and class but hasn’t even noticed his existence yet.

Y/N didn’t return Takanobu’s strong feelings—that Kenji knew for sure—and so he just prayed that his big scary looking friend would never have to find that out for himself.

————————————

Aone 4 Months Into Crushing On You And Hears That You Have A Crush On Someone Else ☹️:

Sprinting outdoors, Kenji had to clasp a hand over his open gym bag to catch up to his friend who had already started walking home without him

Being that Aone has waited to walk home with Kenji every single day since they started first year together ... it was clear to Kenji that whenever his friend did this.... it was a sign that he was very upset

“Hey, big guy!” Kenji fell into step with his white haired friend, chancing a glance up at him.

Takanobu was famous for his perpetual scowl or angry frown which he had on his face even now, but Kenji knew better than to believe it. He could tell whenever his friend was deeply upset or hurt, just like Aone had been when they were 10 and the Takanobu’s divorced.....but right now, by Futakuchi’s analysis: Aone was feeling far worse than he did back then.

“Who told you, big guy?” Asked Kenji with an accompanied sigh.

“Koganegawa. It slipped.” Carrying on the silent topic-less conversation.

Kenji growled. “That big boned setter! When I see him next practice I’m gonna—“

“No. It wasn’t his fault. I was going to find out eventually. But why didn’t you tell me, Kenji? I would have much rather heard it from you.”

“I’m so sorry man. I was going to on our walk home today.”

Aone nodded, instantly being able to tell that that was Futakuchi’s true intention.

“Y/N’s crush......the guy on the baseball team.....He likes her...back?” Mountain man only stared straight ahead, trying not to let his hurt seep through his voice.

The brunette boy stuffed his hands in his pockets, dreading this conversation already.

“From what I heard of their conversation....y-yeah. Apparently they met at the last baseball game and it started raining so he gave her his team jacket to keep warm—“

“—I don’t need to hear the logistics.” Aone felt his heart tighten even more as his usual fantasy of you looking beautiful wearing his “#7” Date Tech Volleyball Jacket being bumped to the side by a visual of you wearing the baseball jacket of some guy who doesn’t deserve you.

“Hey, no one knows how serious they are, right? They’re just talking.”

“Does he make her happy? I mean... did Y/N look happy when he gave her his jacket?” Even though it was killing Aone to even ask, he was glad he did.

The brunette player, on the other hand, did not want to answer. For when he saw his best friend’s crush and her new crush together, she looked extremely happy. It formed an immediate knot in Kenji’s stomach because he knew how much seeing those two would hurt his best friend. But if he was being honest when that jacket was put over your shoulders your smile had been wider than Kenji would like to admit.

“Relatively..uh...happy, I guess.”

Aone’s frown deepened. He knew Kenji well enough to know that he was trying protect his heart on Aone’s behalf. He didn’t call him out on it though, he knew that your smile must have been wide. You probably did seem happy..

It hurt him intensely. Looking away, Aone stated something matter of fact:

“Well, he isn’t good enough for her.”

Futakuchi looked up at mountain man. “You know him?!”

“No. I don’t need to in order to know that she’s too good for any guy at this school, including me.”

Kenji laughed, patting his friend on the back. “You’re closest though,” he encouraged. “Maybe you should—“

Kenji was immediately silenced as both him and mountain man were greeted with an ugly sight. A depressing sight, actually.

Standing to the right of the front school doors was Y/N and the baseball boy. Y/N had her hair up in a high ponytail that looked absolutely gorgeous on her in Aone’s opinion. What wasn’t gorgeous, however, was how you were swatting the baseball player’s arm flirtatiously and speaking energetically with him. You held your school books close to your chest like Aone loved because you looked so cute and smart even though he knew you never opened those books.

He tried to look away���he did—but the team knew that Aone never looked away when he saw you at school and unfortunately that kind of old habit is sure to die hard.

“Just keep walking, buddy....” Kenji tried, swapping spots with Aone so that Kenji was at least partially blocking the heart-breaking view that is his best friend’s crush flirting with one of her many pursuers. Kenji kind of wanted to push the guy into the doors as they walked past them “accidentally” but his better judgement told him otherwise.

————————————

Aone 4 1/2 Months Into Crushing On You While You Have A Crush On Someone Else 💔:

Back at their signature lunch table, Aone sat with his best friend and some other members of the volleyball team.

The big-boned setter was exuberantly telling the team a story about him and his brother when Futakuchi noticed that his white haired friend was the only one at the table not listening at all

In Aone’s defence, he was paying attention during the first half of his underclassman’s story tale.....well, until you walked in to the cafeteria.

No one even blamed him because they knew about his intense crush on you—

You captured all of the big man’s attention whenever you walked into a room, it was just second nature now.

Aone loved seeing you smile and talk with your friends but he hated when you would talk to those who liked you as more than a friend—

That damn baseball player had approached you again just now and it really pissed Aone off.

You looked up and chatted with the baseball boy happily, just as you did with everyone (except for your enemy: the class snitch because fuck that guy)

Aone’s eyes fixated on the pair of you.

He was so sad because he liked you so much 💔

His feelings grew stronger everyday, and it hurt him to see you two in the hallway or in class flirting like it wasn’t destroying his heart

Aone knew that it wasn’t logical that he could choose to never make a move on you and still expect you to like him .... that much he admitted to himself

But he at the very least hoped you’d notice him.

Even though he was silently crushing: once you noticed him he’d take it from there, he knew he would

But until then...... you just went about your days looking beautiful as ever, chatting your business loudly in class so Aone could hear, ultimately making him fall for you even more

In the cafeteria that day you had not a clue that when you were just being friendly to one of your admirers (that you actually had 0 feelings for), in actuality— you were simultaneously crumbling the heart of a certain white haired giant who would one day become the most important person to you .......in a year and a half.

————————————

Outtake #2: CLICK HERE!

[taxicabinmemphis]

Prince Charming - Chapter 1

chapter one - chapter two - chapter three - chapter four - chapter five - chapter six

So tumblr is being evil and not letting me put a strikethrough on the word ‘prince’ on the title so please pretend it’s there. This was supposed to just be fluffy Intrulogical but look at what happened. It was supposed to be shorter, too! I was like ‘don’t expect it to get to 2k’ but here we are… :/ (Side note - most indications that Janus is lying are in italics, just to make sure y’all can tell since I don’t know of a way to write Janus’ tone and vocal inflection that indicates his lies except using italics (however this is only for Janus, I will use italics in dialogue for other characters and they are not indications of dishonesty.)) Word count - 3,474 Pairing - Intrulogical, Prinxiety (I didn’t plan it, it just kinda happened and I rolled with it), pre Moceit, platonic Logicality and Dukeceit bc they are cute friends, platonic/familial Moxiety bc they cute too Warnings - some characters are a lil insensitive in spots but I wouldn’t call them unsympathetic, swearing, quick food mention in a later chapter, sword fighting, self-deprecation from most sides, a character gets hurt, pining, and Remus-typical behavior (body horror mentions and other stuff heh), if there’s anything else that should be tagged or put in the warnings, tell me please!

Despite his birthday long having passed, Roman was somehow able to convince the other sides to join him in an adventure in the Imagination. While some sides, like Patton, were ecstatic about the idea, others, such as Virgil, weren’t as enthusiastic. Knowing Roman, there would be adventure, royalty, danger, and heroism, and those things didn’t appeal to everyone. But still, somehow, all had been convinced.

Roman threw the door to the Imagination open forcefully, a dramatic gust of wind seeming to help him with the task. The door opened to show an elegant white castle. The entrance to the castle grounds was only a couple hundred feet from the door. “Welcome, fellow adventurers. Please enter, this is where today’s story begins!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Virgil grumbled, shoving past Roman and entering the Imagination. “What got me to do this again?”

“One starts to wonder similarly,” Logan agreed, following the purple-clad side through the door.

“Don’t be so negative, you two,” Patton chastised. “I’m sure Roman has something entertaining planned.”

“Well, I don’t know entertaining unless severed limbs are involved.”

“To each his own,” Roman grumbled at his brother, following the last side in.

Roman closed the door behind him and clapped his hands to get his companions’ attention. They all turned to him, varying levels of excitement on each of their faces.

“Let’s get this over with,” Virgil muttered, before raising the volume of his voice to continue. “What are we doing today?”

“How kind of you to ask, Virgil!” Roman chirped. “Our adventure today is something I have had in the works for a while now. As you can see from the beautiful castle behind me, we will be engaging in a medieval war of two different kingdoms. I, and the sides assigned to the kingdom of Romania–”

“That’s already a country, Roman,” Logan interrupted.

“That is false, Logan,” Janus agreed. “Also, wouldn’t it be more…considerate not to name a kingdom multiple sides will be assigned to after yourself?”

“There’s a reason you’re not being assigned to my kingdom, snake boy,” Roman murmured, before speaking louder. “Fine. I, and the sides assigned to…Azeria will be trying to retrieve the crown jewels that belong to our kingdom. They were stolen by the kingdom of Reptania.”

“Creative,” Virgil remarked sarcastically.

Roman ignored him. “When we get to Reptania, however, we will discover that the rulers of Reptania have been keeping someone prisoner under a mind control curse that puts the prisoner under the cruel will of Reptania’s rulers!”

“Dear Lord-a-mercy,” Virgil commented, lacing his tone with exasperation.

Roman turned to him, annoyed. “Can you not? For one second?” Roman cleared his throat as Virgil snorted in response. “The prisoner can be you if you’re so chatty on the subject.”

Virgil groaned and put his head in his hands.

“Anyway, we will free the prisoner after we defeat the evil rulers of Reptania in an epic battle of medieval weapons, and take the freed emo back to our kingdom.”

“Let me guess,” Janus drawled, “Remus and I will rule Reptania, and Patton and Logan will join you in…I forget what you called your kingdom.”

“You are right, Janus, Patton, and Logan will join me in Azeria and the two of you will be in Reptania,” Roman answered, slightly annoyed. “Does that work for you all?”

Murmurs of acknowledgment and begrudging agreement were heard backgrounding a louder and more enthusiastic “it works wonderfully!” from Patton. Roman hardly gave them time to object, however, as he clapped his hands again with a grin and started walking away from the door and deeper into the Imagination.

—

“I see no reason why we have to wear this strange…attire you have picked out for us, Roman,” Logan remarked, grimacing as he struggled with putting on chainmail.

The three of them were in Azeria’s castle in the prince’s royal quarters where Patton and Logan’s outfits were laid on chairs. They had changed in separate rooms, but now they had to put on the dreaded chainmail (that they got each other’s help with because no one wanted to deal with it alone). Logan and Patton’s chainmail were colored; indigo and light blue respectively. Roman, because of his already princely outfit, felt he didn’t have to bother with the armor, despite Patton’s protests regarding safety and fairness. Patton also had a leather backpack, meant for carrying back the stolen crown jewels to their kingdom.

“We are knights of the royal court, Logan! You must. If it makes you feel any better, I have set out armor for Janus, Virgil, and Remus to wear. I was quite vehement in the note I left that they wear it.”

“Besides, Logan, it’s not that bad,” Patton said as he finished putting on the armor.

“I also don’t see why I am a knight,” Logan added. “Wouldn’t Virgil be a better choice? Fight or flight is his area.”

“He was being a chatty, sarcastic little shit–”

“Roman!”

“–so he was practically asking to be assigned to the prisoner position.”

“From what I could tell, Virgil made no indication that he wanted to be the prisoner,” Logan objected.

“He was being sarcastic and interrupting me as I covered that part of the story, Logan!” Roman argued.

“While I have no idea as to how commentary and requests correlate out of context, I suppose it’s up to you.”

“Yes, it is, and if you both are finished putting on your armor, we should go to the stables and get our horses so we can ride out to Reptania!”

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Roman?” Patton asked with a sly grin, placing a camera he brought (“to preserve memories”, as he previously explained to Roman) at the bottom of the backpack. He then put the backpack on.

Roman frowned. “Am I? What am I forgetting, Patton?”

“Swords!” Patton exclaimed with a small jump.

Roman lit up. “How could I forget? Come to the armory, my blue-clothed friends. We must arm ourselves!”

“Technically, we are engaging Reptania in a rather unnecessary battle as there is no survival-based requirement for crown jewels, so gathering arms isn’t exactly needed.”

Roman huffed and Patton gave Logan a stern look.

When they got to the armory, Roman immediately took a longsword from where it was sheathed. He seemed to weigh it and test its balance in his hands before giving it a couple of sample swings. The sword had a golden shine on it that Roman seemed to like.

“Don’t you already have a katana?” Logan asked.

“Yes, Logan, I do,” Roman confirmed, “but this is longer. I left my katana in my room anyway, I will not be using it today.”

Patton looked around the room with cautious excitement, obviously concerned for everyone’s safety with the blades, but still thoroughly enjoying picking a weapon for himself. A shortsword seemed to catch his eye. He hurried over to it and picked it up. The sword was a little under two feet in length, the center of its crossguard adorned with a round gemstone of blue topaz.

“Look at this sword, Roman! Isn’t it nice?” he asked, jumping up and down a bit. “It’s just the right size, and it has a pretty blue gem at the top of the hilt!”

Roman smiled at Patton. “It’s stunning, Padre! Perfect for a knight of your skill and prestige.”

“It is indeed quite attractive of a sword, Patton,” Logan agreed. “And the gem at the center of the crossguard matches your outfit.”

On Logan’s right was a rack of swords of various types. He picked up a flamberge sword, a couple of inches over being four feet long. The hilt, crossguard, and a wavy line going through the center of the blade were colored an indigo that matched Logan’s chainmail.

“This seems adequate,” Logan commented, holding the sword in front of him with both hands.

“It’s significantly over two thirds your height,” Roman noted. “Over twice the length of Patton’s sword.”

“Your longsword is similar,” Logan replied.

“I’m a prince.”

Logan sheathed the sword on his person and turned to Roman. “And I’m a knight.”

Patton opened the door and turned to the two. “Come on, you two, let’s get our horses!”

The three armed sides made their way out of the armory and to the stables. Roman raced ahead of his knights to stop at a beautiful white horse, a little bit taller than the others. He mounted the animal with ease and smiled at his friends who had just reached the stables.

“Pick your favorite, there are choices,” he instructed gleefully, but his voice turned serious at his next words. “Diamante is mine, though. She’s mine.”

Logan lifted his hands as a gesture of surrender and made his way over to a black stallion. “Can I take this one?”

“Yeah, you can take Obsidian,” Roman stated. “Only Diamante is off-limits.”

Patton patted a light brown horse’s mane as Logan mounted his horse. “I like this one. Do they have a name?”

“That’s Ophelia. She’s a sweetheart.”

“I love her!” Patton exclaimed, mounting the mare. He, admittedly, had more difficulty than the other two sides with the task.

He eventually got himself properly positioned on the horse, him and Roman exchanging a nod indicating readiness.

“Let’s go!”

The three horses galloped out of the stables, Diamante in the lead. They rode quickly, Roman seeming to know where to go. Azeria castle was soon left behind, and Reptania could be spotted nearby.

“How long until we arrive, Roman?” Patton asked.

Roman glanced at him quickly. “Not much longer.”

Reptania castle eventually came into clear view, the darkly colored walls of its castle giving it an eerie vibe. Some walls on the outer sides of the castle had vines growing up them; that and other creepier features caught Patton’s timid eyes, while Roman stared ahead with an unwavering glare that mirrored his determination. Logan was just relieved the adventure Roman had forced him into was closer to its end.

They arrived at the front gates, slowing their horses to a stop. Two guards moved to stand in front of the castle gates, effectively blocking the three knights’ path. Roman looked at them sternly.

“Let us pass,” Roman ordered. “We have business with the rulers of this kingdom.”

The guards stood motionless.

“Maybe try please?” Patton whispered to the prince.

“Remus is my brother,” Roman stated to the guards, before deciding to take Patton’s advice. “Please let us pass. We come in peace.”

After a moment, the guards let up and moved to let the three colorful knights pass. As the trio’s horses passed the gates, Logan leaned towards Roman (who was on his left) slightly.

“You do know that you communicated a falsehood so they would let us pass.”

Roman sighed. “Yes, Logan. But they were evil henchmen villain guards and we have to get through in order to have the epic battle and get the crown jewels.”

“And rescue Virgil,” the logical side reminded.

“Yes, but we’re not supposed to know we should do that yet,” Roman reminded him, slightly exasperated.

“We’re not?” Patton asked.

“No, Padre, remember? We’re not supposed to figure out Virgil is under a mind control curse until later.”

“How will we know?” Patton inquired.

“We’ll know!”

The three of them dismounted and walked their horses to the stables. They left the horses easily accessible, just in case they had to make a swift exit.

They quickly but carefully entered the castle and followed Roman through the halls. He seemed to have an idea of what they were doing and where to go, unlike the other two.

“Are we going to where Janus and Remus are keeping the stolen crown jewels?” Patton asked.

“Yes, now shh,” Roman whispered. “I think they’re in this next room. There are two guards stationed on either side of the door looking quite purposeful.”

“Oh no,” Logan said with a sigh. “Will we have to sword fight them too?”

Roman grinned at him. “Yes!”

“We should create a plan–”

Roman drew his sword and left the two other knights to stand in front of the guards. “If you let me pass, I will not hurt you.”

The guards drew their weapons, identical claymore swords, and stood in front of the door. The one on Roman’s right spoke. “Leave.”

“You could have at least said ‘please’ to him,” the other guard chastised.

“He threatened to harm us,” the one on the right growled.

“He could still be a nice fellow. Confused, maybe, but nice.”

“Good people,” Roman interrupted. “I am here for the crown jewels your rulers stole from our kingdom.”

“How did you know the crown jewels were in here?” the one on the left asked.

Roman gave the guard a smirk. “You just confirmed it.”

“Idiot,” the guard on the right murmured to their compatriot.

The guard on the left crossed their arms angrily. “Well, it seemed as if he already knew. He also looks like Remus, so I thought that Remus might know him and told him.”

“Did it occur to you that he looks like Remus because he’s his brother?” The guard on the right continued when the guard on the left didn’t reply. “Remus and his brother reside in rival kingdoms!”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You didn’t know that?! It was at orientation last week, you fucking moron-”

“Let me pass,” Roman cut in. “I know the crown jewels are in there, so why don’t you let me in and out and no one has to know.”

“We can’t do that, so leave,” the guard on the right answered sternly.

“Yeah, and any ask for entrance has to be reported to Remus and Janus,” the guard on the left added.

“We can skip that, just this once.”

“Nah, man, I’m afraid not.” The guard on the left solemnly shook his head. “I don’t want to get fired; need to convince my mom I can keep a job.”

“Did Remus make this guy?” Roman muttered under his breath, before speaking to the pair. “Well, I have to get in there.”

“And we have to keep you out.”

“Fine then,” Roman said, giving his longsword a swing. “We’ll have to do this the hard way.”

He walked towards the door, the guards intercepting him. The one on the left took a swing at Roman’s neck, but Roman parried it before disarming him. The guard’s sword clattered to the ground, Logan appearing from seemingly nowhere to take the fallen sword so the guard couldn’t retrieve it. The logical side drew his sword and joined Roman in the sword fight. The two quickly incapacitated the guard who was previously on the right.

“I’m telling Remus and Janus!” the guard on the left cried as they ran away from the Azerian knights. “Better to be unarmed and useful than unarmed and unconscious!”

Roman shrugged, he and Logan sheathing their swords. “We’re gonna have to fight them eventually.”

“Besides,” Patton added, approaching his friends, “that guard was funnier!”

“You mean less attentive and less intelligent,” Roman corrected.

“None the matter,” Logan interrupted. “We should get the jewels before reinforcements arrive.”

“But what about the sword fight–”

“Do you actively search for an opportunity to get murdered, Roman?”

Roman gasped in offense. “I search for adventure, thank you very much.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s get the jewels.”

Patton opened and held the door for his fellow knights. The light blue-clad side closed the door behind him and faced a medium-sized room, with the Azeria crown jewels enclosed in a glass case almost five feet off the ground. The three approached it carefully, Roman slowly drawing his sword.

Logan put out an arm to discourage him from whatever he was considering doing. “We must be careful. We don’t know what kind of alarms brashly breaking the case will set off.”

Despite the logical side’s warning, Roman broke the case with his longsword. Logan threw his arms up in exasperation and the lights in the room started to flash red. An alarm started to sound as well. Patton covered his ears with his hands and Roman sheathed his sword, staring intently at the jewels and the shards of glass that had fallen on them.

“Not to mention,” Logan added with an air of sarcasm, “the broken glass would make the jewels much harder to retrieve.”

Roman turned around and gave him a glare. “Real helpful at this point, Specs.”

Logan scoffed. “Either way, Roman, I think it’s only fair that you collect the jewels and put them in Patton’s backpack. Considering you were the one who made it harder to retrieve them.”

“Alright,” Roman conceded, rolling his eyes. “But only because I don’t want Patton to cut his fingers and I know how stubborn you are. Would you come over here for a second, Padre?”

Patton slowly uncovered his ears and tip-toed over to Roman, making sure to watch his step. He took his backpack from around his shoulders and opened it. Roman slowly took the crown, making sure not to touch any glass, shook it gently to get the glass off of it, and then carefully placed it in the backpack. He did the same with the rest of the jewels, Patton loyally holding the bag open.

The second Patton closed the bag and positioned it over his shoulders, three figures entered the room. The three Azerian knights watched as Janus and Remus walked into the room, clad in black and colored chainmail (yellow and green, respectively). Virgil was at their side, wearing purple under black chainmail.

“I take it you have a deep affinity for colored chainmail, Roman,” Logan remarked.

“It helps to tell people apart.”

Logan nodded. “Fair enough.”

Remus, who was in between Janus (who was on his right) and Virgil (who was on his left), drew his sword. It was a rapier, just under three and a half feet long. He gave Roman a glare and a villainous smirk.

“You’ve come for the crown jewels, I see,” he observed, waving a hand in the air, causing the lights to return to normal and the alarm to silence.

Roman matched his brother’s glare. “Our crown jewels, you mean.”

“But we like yours!” Remus objected.

“Don’t you have your own?” Logan asked tiredly.

Remus turned to the logical side. “Really, Logan? You’re playing Princey’s game? I thought I knew you better.” The Duke sighed and shook his head. “And yes, we have our own, but we like yours too.”

“Maybe we could trade…?” Patton suggested quietly.

“No,” Roman rejected sternly. “We must have our crown jewels.”

“Really, brother dearest? You must?”

“Yes, Remus. I must,” Roman reiterated. “They are sacred to Azeria!”

“Seriously, Remus,” Logan started, reentering the conversation, “they’re just a set of jewels. You have your own. Why are you so fixated on keeping them? Stealing them creates unnecessary conflict. By relinquishing the jewels back to our kingdom, you will be avoiding drama and the potential injury of your…companions.”

“But Logan, we want to sword fight,” the two brothers objected simultaneously.

“Really, Roman? You’re arguing against my call for their peaceful return of our crown jewels?”

“Gentlemen,” Janus cut in, “let’s not resolve this. As slowly as we can.”

Remus pointed his sword at Roman. “I think we can all agree with this tried-and-true method.”

“Umm, actually–” Patton started to object, putting his finger in the air.

“Shut your face-hole, baby blue knight,” Remus interrupted, “this has been the plan from the start.”

“I’m absolutely positive you couldn’t have said that nicer, Remus,” Janus chided.

“Since when do you care?” Remus shot back rhetorically. “Draw your sword, fellow ruler and protector of Reptania!”

Janus sighed, unsheathing his especially long sword. It was a Zweihander of a length no side cared to estimate, with a yellow hilt and straight yellow line going through the center of the black blade. The Azerians gasped at the sight, while the Reptanians already knew of the deceitful side’s impressive sword.

After a moment of silence, Roman spoke.

“Are you seriously extra at every chance you get?”

“He’s literally Deceit, Roman. Master of lies and over-the-top deceptions,” Virgil muttered, speaking for the first time. “He has swept us into theatrical and legal settings to work out problems that did not require as much drama and overthought than what was forced upon us.”

“Shut it, Virgil,” Janus ordered. “Don’t speak.”

A yellow light with a size similar (if not a little bigger) to that of a softball appeared in front of Virgil’s face for half a second before disappearing. When it faded, the sides could see Virgil’s mouth had closed and his gaze was directed to the floor. The room was enveloped in an agonizing silence.

“I told you we’d know, Patton,” Roman said quietly, with no real bite in his words.

~

Finally getting some more writing to y’all, yay! I hope you like it. Fair warning: school started again so guess who isn’t gonna be able to write as often (it’s me). Don’t be tricked by this. I have no idea how much homework will be coming my way so I can’t promise a lot more writing. Please enjoy this fic because it’s probably gonna be all y’all get for a while. Thanks!

[lordeasriel]

I really care about your opinion, how do you feel about the bbc show and the way it's going?

I feel like before I give my take, I need to say that I understand the show is its own thing, and while I do wish they did a better job adapting certain things, I understand that sometimes there is a need for radical change or cut, especially when your budget is not super high (which HDM does have a lot of money into it, still is not a super big budget production, so they have to worry about these things). And I do enjoy many things about the show, but my overall vibe is mixed, to be honest. I’m stating this now because people often question whether I like the show or not, becaus I do criticise it a lot, and I simply have a critic view of the things I like, which is why I discuss them a lot and it can be overwhelming.

My main issues with the show are these 3 things: (which I’ll put under the cut because this got a bit longer than I wanted to lmao sorry)

Lack of worldbuilding and loose lore: I’ve been talking about this since day one, and this mostly applies to season 1 because I can’t judge season 2 yet because it’s not fully aired yet, but the show suffers from lack of worldbuilding, especially in Lyra’s world, which is the world that sets everything in motion. I still dislike the fact they introduced Will mid-NL, I don’t think he needed all those episodes to establish something that easily could’ve been done in S2 and because they gave TSK a lot of time, other parts of Lyra’s world suffered considerably, mainly the witches and the Magisterium.

The show doesn’t really expand on those two groups, especially, and I think that’s not good, especially the Magisterium (which they have over simplified by making it one big baddie, or so it seems at least, not to mention that implying a single leader for them practically ruins Marcel Delamare’s arc in TBOD and I’m very mad about that lmao). A lot of the Magisterium plot has that infighting aspect, which creates tension on their side as well as against their enemies, but the show doesn’t really explore that or the nuances of the Church, and they also don’t explore how varied the witches are, and I feel like this is a serious mistake. (The portrayal of the witches is by far my least favourite thing in the show, if I’m being honest).

Dull parallel world (and lack of daemons): this ties a bit with the worldbuilding aspect, but this is mainly about design choices. I think the show doesn’t make Lyra’s world as unique as it should be. On its own the world looks pretty and the outfits of most of the cast are great, but when you realise that Will’s world is intertwined with that, you don’t really feel like these two worlds are vastly different.

There is an odd situation in which Marisa’s fashion feels 30s/40s, but most of the men from her social circle (not fair to compare with the gyptians) just wear plain suits and they look much more modern. And while I get that they went for a timeless vibes, with different eras and styles, Lyra’s world feels like a caricature and it doesn’t feel believable. The colour palette is mostly the same for both worlds (even in s2, it’s hard to tell much of the difference because either the scenes are indoors or at night.) This, paired with the lack of daemons (which has been discussed many times in the fandom) kinda bums me out.

Marisa’s oversimplification: I’m mentioning Marisa, specifically, because she is the one that suffers the most due to this writing issues, but other characters like Lord Asriel, MacPhail, the general collective of the Witches, they all suffer from the writing trying to take away the nuances of them and make them flatter than in the book. Marisa is the worst because without her complexity and her flaws, she simply gets dull and boring and flavourless, and it’s kinda what has been happening in the show in my opinion. All she does is weep and she has no strength that doesn’t rely on a random fit of rage that dies out and she gets upset. There’s some great moments, like when she mimics the Monkey, but most of the time she’s just a shadow of who she is supposed to be.

The show tries really hard to make her a Scorned Mother - right from the get go, they try to makes us see how she wants Lyra, how she struggles with her “bad nature” and how that affects their relationship. There is this lingering implication that Lyra was taken from her against her wishes; they make it seem like being a mother to Lyra is her driving force, the only reason why she seeks power and influence. And that is the opposite of Book! Marisa, who is a force of nature, ruthless and ambitious, with not an ounce of maternal instinct.

She does eventually decide to help Lyra, instead of harming her, but even that action comes from a narcisistic place: Lyra is to her a possession, something that belongs to her, and that she wants to preserve. The show just handles her badly, falling into overused, boring tropes that struck far from the book version.

These are usually my main complaints about the show, and they upset me every episode to the point I’m practically ignoring them now lmao The show does a lot of good things too, making Will less of a prick, restoring Lyra’s personality from the first book into S2 Lyra (so far, please keep it that way), Mary is looking great too. They have mostly a great cast, and they did improve the daemons this season (except uh, there are far less daemons to show because of the other worlds - and the Ruta Skadi daemon change pisses me off tbh).

They do have a lot of interest in the show, but the writing (the main issue to me) feels clunky and childish, with the show toning down most of the themes that make His Dark Materials so special, especially to me (which frankly I expected them to do, but it still stings a bit). They make the Magisterium a single bad entity that feels more Authoritarian-Fascist, than a theocracy (even if they sneak in the religious symbols and rituals and garments, it’s just not a good portrayal, it’s very tame and shy); and they try to justify Marisa’s actions (especially in current interviews, there’s lots of talk about how her background will play in the show to “explain why she is the way she is”). The fact the Magisterium is portrayed as pure evil makes it looks less familiar than it should be, and therefore they don’t look scary, they seem like a caricature, a joke.

A lot of the essence of the characters get lost, and the core message of the story too, like when Iorek and the Gyptians tell Lyra she can be one of them, to support her lack of “proper family”, when that is the opposite of the books message. It doesn’t make sense for them to change that, other than maybe Jack Thorne wanted to because it makes the story feels less hopeless, but it’s why he fails to adapt these character - he doesn’t capture the essence, he tries to write these character with gaps in them.

However, the thing that annoys me the most is how they portray Asriel. It’s just... it’s bad. Really bad, which is a shame cause James is talented as fuck, but he had little time to film for season 1, and then they portrayed him very poorly. That scene when he addresses Roger in episode 7 is ridiculous, Asriel would never behave that way; there was relief in him finding Roger was there too, yes, but not to that extent and not in such a cringe way. Asriel is not deranged or irrational, he is a man on a mission, and Roger was a tool (there is no pleasure in Asriel taking his life and no excuses - it needed to be done and he did it); they just needed him to sound creepy in the show for whatever reason.

I hated how they handled the bridge scene for Asriel, Lyra and Marisa, but that’s long and complicated for me to explain here. In S2, there has been some mentions of him so far, including the implication he might have ruined Cittàgazze himself and I frankly don’t understand where did they get that idea. But the cherry on the top was Thorold telling Marisa that Asriel was gonna kill Lyra and that’s just-- that’s so dumb. That’s genuinely dumb writing, because Thorold knows Lyra followed Asriel to the mountain, and while I do believe Asriel would have killed Lyra if Roger wasn’t there, there is no way Thorold should know or consider that Asriel was gonna hurt Lyra, because Roger was there. In fact, Thorold’s interactions with Asriel in episode 8 already disprove this, so either Thorold was lying in S2 for the sake of, I don’t know, chaos or whatever, or the person who wrote this was a five-star, solid gold, fucking moron.

I’m not gonna mention the lost episode because that was no one’s fault, but the fact that they discarded an episode that all information we have on imply that it was important to set up the backstory of the angels and the city, it’s... concerning. It means they wrote something parallel that should’ve been woven into the season.

The truth is, I still watch the show on Sundays, and I still like some stuff they do (especially Mary’s stuff, so far), and despite me slandering the show per your request anon lol (cause unfortunately my honest opinion is mixed, I just don’t try to overfocus on the negative on Tumblr, I mostly talk about it on discord or private), I do think anyone who has read the books should watch the show.

For me, personally, everything I love about HDM is barely on the show - complex characters, the philosophy, the oppression by religion, the interesting world - and the vibe I get is that they’re adapting a coming-of-age love story, which is the last and - being fully honest - the least important message these books give us, but unfortunately they were set to making a family show from the start, and my expectations were high and unmatched, and a family is what we’re getting: toned down, cute, pretty visuals and soulless (heh, pun intended), philosophically speaking. I expect a certain pattern going into S3, but I always like to hold out hope that they will hire better writers (apparently Jack Thorne already wrote 4 scripts, so there you go lmao), and try to give HDM the adaptation it deserves. The truth is, if you’re a picky, canon reliant person like I am, the show might be a struggle, but if you just like the story for the teen romance, or if you don’t care about overthinking a show/book, then most people can have a good time with it.

[srsly-messed-up-fruitloop]

Tug of War (Ch 5)

ch 1 - prev

Word Count: 1,574

“Hey Tuck, you busy tomorrow?” Danny asked as the trio walked through the halls after school.

“Um, yea, I’ve got plans,” Tucker replied reluctantly.

His friends both turned to him in surprise. 

“No way, you actually landed a date on Valentine’s Day?” Sam exclaimed incredulously.

Read on AO3 or under the cut

“Wait n—of course I have a date!”

“Who is it?” Danny and Sam simultaneously demanded. 

Tucker began to nervously play with his beret. “Heh heh, um...you don’t know them.” 

Danny seemed to easily accept his response. “Oh, okay then. Have fun Tuck.”

However, Sam was scrutinizing him. He definitely was hiding something. “Tucker, you know you could tell us anything, right?”

“What? Sam, I do!”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m not hiding anything!”

Sam didn’t reply. Instead, her gaze bore right into Tucker. Within a few seconds, his resolve crumbled away.

“Alright, fine! But you guys gotta promise to not tell anyone this, okay?”

Danny raised an eyebrow at Sam. Honestly, he’ll never get how she does it.

Meanwhile Sam smirked. “We promise. What’s going on?”

“Okay, so you know how I’m trying to get into cybersecurity after college?”

His friends nodded, having a slight idea what it was after hearing him talk about it so much.

“Well, I’m working with this group, and...errr...we’re trying to...help? Some companies?”

“What do you mean by help?” Danny questioned.

Sam added on, “And which companies are you ‘helping’?”

“Just, um...companies like Chase and Capital One. We’re just...I guess you could say we’re testing their security?” Tucker hesitantly answered.

“Aren’t those credit card companies?” asked Sam suspiciously.

“That’s so cool man. I don’t get why you had to hide it from us though,” Danny told him right as he opened his locker.

Sam knew there was more to it, but dropped it when all three of them spotted an expensive camera simply hanging by the strap off one of the locker hooks.

“No way, is a Nikon D80?” Tucker exclaimed gleefully before carefully grabbing the camera to admire it.

Meanwhile, Danny was confused. Wes hardly keeps anything in their locker.

“Hold up. Tucker, turn it on,” Sam said.

He eagerly pressed the power button. “Dude, you didn’t have to ask me first.”

Danny pushed aside a nagging feeling when he saw the menu appear on the screen.

“Whoa, there’s over a thousand photos in here!” Tucker blurted out. “And...they’re all of you, Danny.”

Sam scoffed, “This must be what the creep uses to take those pictures he sells.”

As the trio flipped through the undoubtedly high quality pictures, Danny was suddenly struck by a genius idea. His friends grinned mischievously after he shared what he had in mind.

~

Wes was exhausted. The last game of the season was coming up and Ms. Tetslaff was really pushing them to their limits.

He lumbered to his locker, already feeling an ache from the intense practice he just had. Opening his locker, he gasped when he saw his camera hanging in plain sight. Crap!

He quickly retrieved the protective pouch from his backpack and delicately placed the camera inside. How could he be so careless? Practice must be really getting to him. He’s so damn lucky that Fenton didn’t take it.

He’s actually not that lucky at all.

Later that night as he was going to back up his recent pictures, his stomach dropped when he discovered they were all gone. Instead, there was one new video.

Wes hesitantly double-clicked to open the video on his computer.

“Hey everybody! Danny Phantom here,” Danny greeted in the video as he was floating against the backdrop of Casper High’s distinguishable brick wall. Listening real closely, you could hear two other people sniggering in the background. “I’m here to finally come clean about the truth.” 

Wes’ heartbeat picked up. Was he finally going to...?

Danny continued in the video, “If you go to Casper High, I’m sure you all have heard about the rumours. How Danny Fenton is actually me in disguise. That’s...that’s actually not that far from the truth; my true identity is none other than a Casper High student. I’m tired of hiding it. People of Amity Park, I am actually Wes Weston.” The video abruptly cut out.

When Wes’ dad heard a loud crash from his son’s room and came up to check on him, the boy could only growl in response.

~

To say that Wes was pissed the next day was an understatement. It turns out, that video was also posted online. All of his hard work over the years, just gone, right down the toilet. 

People wouldn’t stop interrupting him in the halls, bugging him to turn invisible or shoot an ectoblast. No matter how much he tried to debunk that video, they continued to wholeheartedly believe that he’s Phantom.

In history class, Paulina slapped him for charging her for pictures of “himself”. After that, he honestly didn’t want to find out how much worse Dash’s reaction would be. He should probably ditch class until this whole thing blew over.

As he pried open his locker to get his stuff, he glowered at the sight of Fenton’s first aid kit. Last week, when he showed off the expensive kit as evidence, no one even batted an eye. Are the kids at this school that stupid, that they’d believe a single video of Phantom speaking than years of proof?

He was about to leave until he noticed a pamphlet sticking out of Fenton’s bag. 

Instantly recognizing the logo on it, his frustration melted away and he couldn’t keep himself from chuckling as he flipped through its pages.

As he made his way to exit the school, he spotted Fenton walking by himself in the halls. He smirked to himself. Maybe he’ll be able to rile him up enough this time to expose him and get everyone to forget that video. That’ll be the perfect payback.

“NASA? You want to work for them?”

Danny jolted out of his thoughts at the sound of Wes’ voice. Surprisingly, he didn’t sound mad at all. Regarding him suspiciously, Danny replied, “Um...yeah?”

“Wow. I should’ve pegged you as the type to enjoy fabricating hoaxes for a living. We know you already love doing that in your everyday life.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh Fenton, you know exactly what I’m talking about—NASA, the corporation whose whole aim is generating lies about outer space to deceive the public?”

“Right, I forgot you were a total conspiracy nut. Listen, I don’t have time for this, I—”

“I’m betting you’re more than eager to join in on the next fake moon landing. You’d just love the extra attention, wouldn’t you?”

“We—”

“Even if it’s for your measly human disguise. But why go through all this work when you could just possess the next ‘astronaut’?”

“Dude, that is so wrong!”

“Really? I wouldn’t put it past you.”

A moment of silence passed, while Danny’s defiant look faltered.

“Honestly, screw you Wes,” he muttered before walking off.

Wes could only stare after the now despondent boy, wondering what the heck was wrong with him. It wasn’t like him to just leave, this was supposed to rile him up even more!

Dammit.

~

Weeks later, the buzz around the whole “Wes being Phantom” thing finally died down. Eventually, the inevitable situation came where Phantom and Wes were spotted both being in the same place at the same time. Some people still had their doubts, considering Phantom’s duplication ability was well-known by now. But for the most part, Wes’ life eventually turned back to normal.

He sighed in relief as the buzzer rang, signaling the end of the final game for Casper’s basketball team. The Elmerton Owls beat them brutally with a score of 78-36. Ms. Tetslaff was shaking her head in anguish.

He actually wasn’t bothered at all. After all, it was a losing game from the start. Anderson, the best player of the team, broke his leg last weekend in a skiing accident. Wes was just happy that the embarrassing game was over. 

As he fist bumped his team members after finishing up in the change room, he left for his locker. Since the game occurred after school, the halls were completely empty.

When he turned the corner, what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

There, sitting and leaning back beside his locker was none other than Danny Phantom, covered in glowing green ectoplasm and clutching a large gash in his stomach as it threatened to spill more onto the floor.

Wes could only stand there frozen, taking in Danny’s unmoving form as the pool of ectoplasm inched closer to his white sneakers. 

Suddenly, Danny registered that someone was watching him. Sam? Tucker? Didn’t they already head home? He weakly raised his head to see who it was, only to grimace when he recognized the red-haired creep.

“What do you want Wes?” he barely managed to croak out.

Never in Wes’ life had he imagined seeing him in this position. The worse he thought was watching Phantom’s bravado crumble when the world discovered who he truly was. But this...all of it was already gone in this moment. And as the ectoplasm stained his shoes, he began to question himself.

Wes gulped. He didn’t consider himself to be a caring person. But as Danny sat there, bleeding out before him, he couldn’t…

After sending him one last look, Wes opened their locker, grabbed the first aid kit at the bottom, and got to work.

~end~

[chrysaint]

FFXIV Shadowbringer Flavor Text from background NPC’s

Main Story Quest: Word from On High Location: The Crystarium, The Bridges, Fort Jobb, Radisca’s Round, The Ostall Imperative Excluding NPC’s locked behind side Quests

Just scripts from NPC’s that say something different during certain points of MSQ. Notable amount of non-interactive NPC’s are gone, some NPC’s who said nothing different before are now say something different after previous quest. https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Word_from_On_High

The Crystarium Katliss: We're mustering up all the resources we can to provide relief to our citizens. If there's something you need, just let me know.

Cassard: I saw you, Naonori─saw you fighting the eaters on the front lines. That was impressive stuff.

Irill: I have not been able to stop second-guessing myself since the battle. If only we had been quicker to send supplies, how many more lives could have been saved? I suppose I should take solace that we were able to do anything at all, but that is easier said than done...

Thickeman: You are safe!? Thank the gods! If you are injured, make for Spagyrics at once! The chirurgeons there will see to your wounds.

Rosard: All of our vaunted weaponry, and still we suffered the casualties we did. The sin eaters are a frightening foe indeed...

Valthewyl: I've never seen a sin eater attack of this scale! Medicine, bandages...we are running out of anything and everything at an alarming rate! Gods have mercy...

Emythia: Those who were wounded battling the sin eaters always beg for us to put them out of their misery before they hurt anyone. You can see it in their eyes that they don't want to die, and yet─ Damn it all! If only there was more I could do for them...

Fae-Hann: There are so many wounded that it will be a miracle if we manage to treat them all with so few staff...but it's a miracle we'll need to make happen.

Chessamile: Oh dear, we've never seen so many sin eaters before... We must make ready to receive the wounded.

Wounded Guard: I-I'm all right, I think. My injuries have been tended to.

Lesthil: I am heartened to see you return, friend. Thanks to the bravery and resilience of my comrades, we, too, live to fight another day.

Bethard: I do hope that the wounded make a swift recovery. There were so many... But fretting over it will avail us naught. What might I do for you?

Bragi: Medical supplies are selling as soon as we stock them, but the shelves are still heavy with foodstuffs and clothing. So many who won't be coming home...

Julstan: Lakeland suffered great casualties in the battle. I may be a merchant, but profit is the last thing on my mind at a time like this. I only want to do everything in my power to get the suffering the supplies they need.

Sylgham: Nothing weighs quite so heavy on the heart as cleaning the rooms of those we lost. I see their smiling faces in my mind's eye, and it is all I can do to hold back the tears...

Armilla: Whatever will become of us? My poor little girl...

Heggie: The sin eaters scare me to the depths of my soul. They show no capacity for reason, for mercy... They come, and they take everything from us. Oh, whatever can we do?

Lobarth: My father is big and strong! He fights for the guard! Or at least...he did. They told me he got hurt in the battle, and now he's resting at some place whose name I can't pronounce. They won't even let me visit him. I hope he comes back soon...

Dawkes: The immediate danger has passed, but I fear the future may only hold worse. We have lost too many good men and women today, and there is no telling what action Eulmore will take next.

Glynard: Things seem to have calmed down with the eaters, so the Stairs is back to business as usual. Why don't you stay and have a pint, if you're not too busy?

Leweralth: It was you and your companions who led the defense of the city, yes? I cannot begin to express my gratitude!

Gracine: This is no time for small talk! I must prepare the emergency foodstuffs for shipment at once!

Astrille: I saw you assist the Exarch in erecting the barrier that warded off the sin eaters. I cannot thank you enough for saving our lives.

Szem Djenmai: We witnessed your bravery, Naonori. Full many citizens are alive now thanks to your swift actions. You have our gratitude.

Melboth: Reading these records, one can see the sheer scope of the casualties and damage we have suffered. It is demoralizing, to say the least.

Ilsgor: These are grim times we're living in. And of all the days not to be able to find my what-do-you-call-it! Have you seen it anywhere? You know what I mean!

Leinneil: Improving cultivars for more efficient healing is a time-consuming task. I only wish there was more I could do to be of assistance at times like these...

Evelie: We have already mixed one batch of medicine to deliver to Spagyrics, and are currently in the process of making another. Leave it to us!

Mao-Ladd: I'm working to improve the strains of fruit we grow. There's nothing like a sweet and succulent morsel to lift the people's spirits.

Uilmet: How kind of you to come and check on our safety. We are fine, thanks to the brave men and women who protected us. As a show of gratitude, we're growing a veritable feast of fresh veggies!

Yalard: It is good to see you safe, traveler. When you stopped showing up for a while, I had feared the sin eaters got you.

Moren: We are fortunate that those who came before us had the foresight to record not only their triumphs, but their failures as well. Will you take advantage of their woeful experience...?

--

The Bridges Philard: Though we survived the battle, our supply shortage has reached a critical level. I have put in an order to the Crystarium, but with all of our outposts reeling, I fear that there is not much they will be able to do for us...

Shira-Kee: We escaped serious casualties in the sin eater onslaught, and suffer only from a shortage of supplies. From what I hear, the other outposts were not nearly so lucky.

Nanard: Much as expected, few sin eaters so much as attempted to breach the Bridges, and we suffered no real casualties. This is small solace, however, knowing what happened to so many of our brothers- and sisters-in-arms.

--

Fort Jobb Ilthri: The last sin eater attack was more costly than we could have ever imagined, and we now face a dangerous shortage of both manpower and supplies. We must restock and rebuild our numbers, and we must do it with all speed.

Bjorn: We lost a lot of men back there. Too many. But it would have been far more if you hadn't been there.

Grimcogg: Oh, it's─ It's you! I-I'm fine, thank you! Well, not fine, really, seeing as practically everyone's wounded and we barely have any medical supplies left, but...er, how are you?

Chathwick: We are living in turbulent times, but the men under my command bravely soldier on. I have my own anxieties and doubts, but I dare not show them. No, I must remain a pillar of strength for all those I lead.

Fernwren: You, too, fought in the battle against the sin eater horde, did you not? We are fortunate to be alive today, my friend.

Rae-Satt: I was fortunate to survive the sin eater onslaught, but many of the wounded I carried through these doors haven't been so lucky...

Lamlyn: I fear we suffered great casualties in the battle with the sin eaters. Countless wounded have been carried here...many of them on amaro. Oh, how I adore those glorious and heroic beasts!

--

Radisca’s Round Roi-Tatch: Since the recent sin eater attack, all of our outposts are suffering from shortages of supplies. We have the goods here, but with the roads as perilous as they are, delivering them is another story.

Kristinn: Heh...got pretty scratched up out there, but I'm still standing! I can't very well die now─not with the return of the night, and history being made right before our eyes!

Lewto-Sai: Lost one of my men to the sin eaters. They never even found the body. The hardest part is not even being able to say a proper good-bye...

Varlier: I lost more than a few of my longtime friends and companions in the battle. Yet all I can do is pray that their souls find peace, and fight on so that their sacrifice will not be in vain...

Menther: We suffered great losses in the battle against the sin eater horde, in manpower and supplies both. It will not be easy to rebuild and restock our resources, but we must do what we can. Anyhow, what might I do for you?

Mynes: If we had better anticipated the sin eater onslaught, we might have escaped with fewer casualties. We must be ever more vigilant...and yet, we find ourselves more undermanned than ever.

Bjarni: I've never seen anyone fight the way you did, traveler. It was fortunate for us that you came along when you did. Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be standing here right now.

--

The Ostall Imperative Chadine: The sin eater onslaught claimed more than a few of my companions. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept that I am still here, and they are not. But I must soldier on and serve as best I can.

Szeli Vantheu: Those wretched sin eaters... Not even the amaro were spared their cruelty.

Atli: I've lost count of how many good men and women I've lost to the sin eaters. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but it never gets easier...

Mosanilde: I hear that while our forces were occupied with staving off the sin eaters, a friend of the Exarch's helped to shepherd the civilians to safety. Whoever it was, I only wish I could meet them face-to-face to express my gratitude.

Seanric: Oh gods, what are we going to do!? We've fought sin eaters before, but never this many!

Tao-Tistt: We've fought back no end of sin eater attacks, but each one leaves us more depleted than the last. If they keep coming at us with such force, I fear we will not be able to hold out much longer...

Seanard: We opened the castle to house the first wave of civilian refugees during the sin eater attack. As they have many times before, the doors stood strong against even the most vicious foe. Those who fled here later we were forced to shelter at Wolves of Shadow. We could not risk opening these doors in the clear view of the enemy.

Teanna: The recent battle thinned our numbers considerably. While we are in no danger of a food and supply shortage, needless to say, I can take little comfort in this...

Cassfort: When the sin eaters attacked, I was tasked with protecting the lookouts atop the castle. As it turns out, few of them paid us any mind. I reckon my halberd would have better served us down below.

Merlath: We were able to spot the sin eaters approaching, but even then... Well, you know how things went. Updating Side Quest Completed NPC’s Pitrig: To think that all of Lakeland would be the target of an attack of that scale... And yet, the barrier will keep us safe. We must do what we can to ensure that our residents stay calm in this time of crisis.

-- After Completing, the Quest NPC’s dialogue changed

Anguished Guard: Mother... I don't want to die... Trembling Guard: I can't... I can't... Dying Guard: <wheeze>

[dyemelikeasunset]

Now that updated Nae’s been posted, I have permission from my two loves @beedalee​ and @caiterprince​ to put up these concept drawings I did of their OCs! ( ʃƪ ^∇^ )

After my recent(ish) redesign of Elliel, I felt a profound click for my designs in Ocean of Cycles-- like a lot of the stuff I’d been researching and practicing were finally paying off. So I wanted all the scrappers to get a much needed facelift!

I’ve been studying a lot of armor construction and in general getting more detailed with my character costume designs-- so the focus of these refined concepts was bringing out their tangibility while maintaining the characters’ pre-existing silhouettes and color blocking.

[spell406]

So, a friend of mine basically forced me to watch at least one episode of Netflix Castlevania.

(Disc - I am new to tumblr and had a little problems with posting this thing correctly. Sorry for spam)

So I watched one. And then another. And another… When I finished it was 3 a.m., my eyes were burned out, my brain fried, and my soul forever forfeited, but whatever, who need it anyway.

I am new to the universe, and I know that I am something like 10 months late to the review party, so instead I decided to just share a bunch of thoughts of mine. [UPDATE – Because I am extremely heavy procrastinator and it took me almost two weeks to write this thing I am already at 50% of SoTN right now I’ve finished SoTN by now]

First of all – Castlevania looks like anime, but shares almost nothing common with it. It was a relief, to be honest, as I was a little afraid of show being just another shounen with specific set of clichés and similarities that might quite not bad (or even enjoyable), but I’ve seen them too many times before – better or worse executed – to watch without a mild nausea another Bleach/Naruto in a darker scenario.

I would never demand a fantasy world to be realistic. Like, who would do, fantasy world is supposed to be… fantasy, right? I am fine with lack of realism but I can’t say the same about lack of common sense, and there is a matter of logic that I personally find quite funny. When you are about to fight in close quarters with someone, with both of you lives on stake you’ll want to use every possible advantage. In general there are two kinds of battle armors – first one is focused on providing maximum protection (like typical medieval plate armor) and second one designed to grant freedom of movement especially critical in usually legwork-heavy duels. And here are our “battle” priests in gowns. Gowns, that manage to provide neither aforementioned advantage and downsides of both. Heh. It just bothers me too much, honestly.

I really love the flow of narration; the way that every character including antagonists has its own set of motives and reasons, even Carmilla has her own background that is convicting to justify her bitchery (Well, she has seen it before, right? And Dracula wasn’t even trying to hide his apathy, so why would she like to watch as dead man wages his hollow war)(Is it only me or Dracula shows typical signs of severe depression? Apathy, lack of strength to take any decision, not taking care of himself, loss of interest – even in his own war – well, to be honest he has a good reason to do so).

Animations. Ah, that one is unquestionably excellent, although you Powerhouse Animation guys could have make use of an additional 4-5 fps – from time to time I had a feeling that there is a cat sitting on my keyboard’s space bar, pausing and starting show over and over - it happened something like two or three times. If it comes to favorite scenes – for me, it would be first meeting and fight between Trevor and Alucard. The dialogue and music is so good at reflecting rising pressure and tension between those two – let put oneself in Trevor’s boots – just day before he was rather concerned about getting some food/drink and move on and now he is standing against something that he now considers to be last boss of his life, or perhaps not, he doesn’t even know how does Dracula looks like and he doesn’t seem to be openly aggressive, or perhaps yes, he is obviously vampire and he seems to doesn’t like Belmont name, on the other hand even lesser vampire might be not so easy foe and he is kinda out of practice, and Sypha doesn’t feel like helping out, at least for now… It is all just perfect, and the sound track alone is stuff of legends. (Season 2 OST on Spotify WHEN??”)

Second best would be first phase of Dracula fight – the way which they are team working fluently to not let eachother get killed pleases my inner maniac in best possible way, although the 1 vs 1 part is kinda downgrade - but still ok.

But there is one thing that really stands out in best possible way from things I’ve seen before and that’s utilization of facial expression and body language. Like seriously, this combined with really outstanding voice acting bring interactions between characters to another damned level. (Unfortunately, national translation and voice acting is so awful that I couldn’t bear myself to finish even first season). There are few thing I consider more important in creating credible character than combining overall expressiveness and voice acting, the ability to tell words without actually using any (Finding Ciri cinematic in Witcher 3 is perhaps best known to me example) - and Castlevania does it just soooo good.

Dracula generals. When they were shown for the first time I was like “oh boy he has summoned generals, (Generals! Master tactician, the artists of war!) the oldest, most cunning and powerful beasts from entire world, now things are going to get rough.” And how did it turned out? I can understand that Dracula tasked his forge masters with overseeing the war (Although his reasoning was kind of ok, good job Dracula for nominating for executives two people, that knew least about proceeding war) Did they were incompetent so much? Then how did they managed to get their titles, if they were just a bunch of endlessly whining mischief-makers? They were supposed to know how war looks like, and how to do one, but instead they did literally nothing for war effort! If you ask me, that is at least one risen eyebrow. Excluding Godbrand, the only member of council that did anything more than grate his teeth in silent anger, killed some civilians and got taken care of quite effortlessly. Also, Godbrand wasn’t made to be the sharpest knife in a closet, but he still was bright enough to ask himself “What will we do when we’ll win a war?” Also, he managed to notice that there were no real plan to follow... That is +1 to you Godbrand, I’ll miss you my vikingy boi. In the end, if they were meant to be just a background, they did get a little too much of screen time, and if they were not, they got faaaaaar from enough of it.

By the way – not sure if it’s only me but I personally think that Trevor might be keenest (or – at least – not dumbest) of protagonist trio. He might lack classic education, but he is careful watcher (he noticed fresh oil in torch and overall state of Alucard’s hideout), he correctly chosen and quite successfully executed strategy at Gresit square (isolate, divide and destroy) and quite steadfastly shrugged  off Alucard bickering (well, most of times). Also, his plan for battle with vampire generals was quite logical – avoid close quarter cause humans are in general more fragile than vampires, and Alucard as frontline. My inner maniac was most pleased.

As I said before, I really enjoy Castlevania’s overall character design but with an exception of bishop of Gresit. There is no reason for his work, I know that he is insane and reasoning usually does not apply to those like him but I feel like there is no reason in villainy (this entire talking about making a God’s own country – well, I don’t buy it), aside of being genuinely baaaaad, which kinda stands out in negative way in comparison to the rest of characters.

To highlight the issue, lets do some roleplaying here:

The night creatures are ravaging the land that you had sworn to protect in unholy war against humanity, killing women, men even your subordinates alike. The citizens are growing restless, and demand taking an action. How do you proceed?

a) Find the last descendant of family known for their prowess in fighting those beasts; but be wary – he doesn’t seem to like you very much after you branded him as heretic, exterminated his entire family and burned down his home (probably with some of aforementioned family still inside it). However, if you nicely ask for help, reverse the curse, apology for making mistake and return the estate it actually might work. (to be honest that could be quite interesting moral choice for Trevor, to help people of Wallachia and let bishop take all glory or decline the bishop proposition and screw people over in the process)

b) You can fight them, you are the Holy Church after all. You have access to unlimited supply of holy water, relics, you have enough money and authority to arm and train people’s militia properly. Your knowledge of those beasts might be as wide as Belmont family, but at least should be sufficient to minimalize the damage. Killing the Dracula, however, might be impossible for you.

c) You spent most of your time on biting, trashing, or looking for anyone to cast entire blame upon; it doesn’t matter who is that poor bastard as long as it is not you. In addition, you…

AAAAARGH I CAN’T CONTAIN MYSELF ANY LONGER! BROTHER, I DON’T FEEL LIKE I AM   WICKED ENOUGH! I REQUIRE TO SEE SOME SUFFERING OF INNOCENT TO FEAST UPON! WHAT DO YOU SAY, BROTHER? I CANT HEAR YOU OVER RAGE BOILING IN MY VEINS! WHAT, SPEAKERS? OF COURSE THEY WILL DO RAAAAAARRGARGAJGIOGJIHKBYIUOL

Oh well.

Well, looks like I am done here. By the way, sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker (If I’ve commited any spectacular crime against vocabulary/grammar let me know on priv).

Now I’m going back to rewatching show and torturing SoTN

No TL:DR, just read it if you want, it is not an entire book, you know.

[deckspair]

May’s Musical Director’s Commentary

Hey guys! I'm May. You might remember me as "the one who did those nifty chatlogs and the roster page" or "the one who did all the music" or "that one mod who never said anything." Los and Mints agreed to let me write up this "director's commentary" on the music I did for DECK. There's no secret lore tidbits in here or anything, but if you liked my music you might find this an interesting glimpse into the process.

A Note On Sampling

Sampling is the practice of using preexisting audio to make new music. When I talk about what I've sampled here, I'm only going to mention particularly interesting cases. Almost all of the music I've done for DECK features audio from Free Wave Samples, so I figure that's not really worth mentioning except here. It's the other stuff that's interesting. EarthBound was an influence on my decision to pull in a bunch of audio from outside sources. I've always admired that game's use of sampling.

The First Chatlog

The chatlogs have consistently been pretty fun to do. I knew from the start that I didn't want to edit this together by hand, so I wrote a Processing sketch to render the video. It's not the most elegant thing in the world, and adding new features is a massive pain, but it's a lot easier than putting these together any other way. All I have to do is swap out the script and background shader and write a new song and I can just let the program churn away rendering a new video. (Of course, fiddling with the shader until it looks presentable takes so long that it kind of eats into the time savings.)

There's not much to say about this one. The typing sounds were graciously provided by Mints. Those with careful ears might notice the instrument playing the chords in other chatlog songs.

The Second Chatlog

One of the only interesting things about this one: the melody is actually a musical cryptogram! What it spells out is an exercise for the reader. ;) The miscellaneous background sounds are all distorted versions of stuff I recorded myself one day when my film teacher let me wander the halls with a microphone. Film school has its perks.

Rio Hachimitsu's BDA

Doing the first body drop music was pretty intimidating. The body discovery music in Danganronpa has a particular instantly recognizable quality to it. If I wanted to go for that style, I'd have to get it down perfectly. (Otherwise I'd come off as a cheap imitation.) So I decided to be original. After school PSAs would be proud.

The melody here is probably pretty familiar to you all by now. Every BDA has used some variation of this melody because I'm a sucker for leitmotif. The melody itself is a slightly modified version of the Dies Irae. (Yes, I know I'm very pretentious, but being pretentious is fun.) This is also the first instance of what I call the "death rattle." I put that strange scraping sound into every BDA and execution for consistency's sake. You can see it as the moment the soul leaves the deceased's body or the moment the onlookers realize somebody's just died... or something. The really fun part is what it is - it's a bell tree! Yknow, those tinkly whimsical things. It's just been reversed and slowed down and drenched in reverb. It's fun how malleable audio is.

Minnie Minami's EXE

This was fun! Despite being a film student for a while, I've never had to write music to sync up with a video before. (I still haven't - I'm pretty sure the video was edited to match up with the music and not vice versa.) The overall tone of this one was pretty obvious. Of course a ringleader's execution would be accompanied by messed up circus music. Anything else just wouldn't be right. There's not really much else to say about it other than that it includes samples from my toy accordion and slide whistle.

Sampled:

An old recording of Auld Lang Syne

Yasu Kozakura's BDA

The body drop's usage of mirrors really hit me in the art gut, so I figured the BDA jingle should have something to do with mirrors. This is why the melody plays forwards and backwards simultaneously, because mirrors. (Some call that kind of thing a "crab canon.")

My incredibly good and quality cat piano is also in here. A stretched out meow recorded from it forms the basis of the background chord.

NANIKO's EXE

For this one, I gave the video editor three different tracks, one for each "segment" of the execution. I did this as a cop-out because I didn't want to have to try to sync my music up with the video - this way, the editor could mash it all together.

The segment with the mirrors was an exercise in what's called "phase music", where two lines drift out of sync with each other, creating different rhythmic textures over the course of the song. (Piano Phase and Clapping Music, both by Steve Reich, are two classic examples of the form.) For some reason, echoey piano lines phasing in and out of sync feel mirror-y to me. They also form a nice musical callback to the BDA.

Sampled:

Me switching frequencies on the radio

Sayuri Nishi's BDA

Shoutout to Free Wave Samples for having a heartbeat sound. I didn't want to try to make that sound myself with drums. 

Kosuke Nakamura's EXE

This execution is significant because it's the first non-video one. Execution art wasn't my department, so I'm not going to speak on how that change affected the artists, but I found it liberating to be able to follow the more general emotional arc of the execution rather than being tethered to the pacing of a video.

When I asked Angela for guidance on where to go musically, we came to the conclusion that the proper genre would be "Tom and Jerry noir." That description alone is why I loved doing music for DECK - where else do you get the opportunity to write something with that as guidance? The most natural interpretation in my view was a song that starts out jazzy and segues into slapstick-esque classical to mirror the transition from the safety of noir to being mauled by a giant robot cat.

Also, the Slack notification sound is in there, since Los suggested a social media notification sound in the background somewhere. (Slack's basically social media for tech dorks, right?)

Sampled:

Slack

Tom and Jerry

The Missing BDAs

Unfortunately, I got preoccupied and neglected to do BDA music for the deaths in Chapter 4. Generally, there's not many interesting things to say about stuff that doesn't exist. The plan was to sample Pomp and Circumstance for Law N... but I didn't. Sorry, Froggy. I didn't have any other plans for this one.

Ukiyo-Maemi's EXE

This one relies so much on sampling it almost makes me feel bad. I got so much mileage out of the clanging percussion and the spooky background sounds that it's basically cheating. 

Sampled:

My lovely girlfriend 💕

OFF

Akira Akatsuki's BDA

I was in a very percussion-heavy mood when I wrote this. (Can you tell?) Listening to the FLCL soundtrack had me jonesing for some dramatic cymbals.

Sampled:

Earthbound

Genko Junshu's BDA

Junshu's body was found in the Navigation Station. This called to mind sonar beeps and garbled radio messages and such. This is another one that wouldn't be nearly as interesting without the sampling. Hopefully this is transformative enough to not get me labeled a hack.

Sampled:

Earthbound

Law Kiyuu's EXE

This execution actually freaked me the hell out the first time I read it. Freaked me out for like a week - something about the combination of incredible writing and the subject matter. It honestly felt calculated to scare me specifically.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this one. I wanted to write something as unsettling as the execution it was accompanying. The intro is supposed to represent Law thinking he's already dead. Next comes his terror (evoked with the hilariously dissonant Altered scale), and then the final spooky arrhythmic section is supposed to be him being cut apart. (Note that part of the music drifts out of sync with itself to represent Law, uh, going to pieces.) The return of the piano is supposed to evoke the flashback section. That kind of piano sound always sounds spooky and/or sentimental to me.

Not much else to say now that I've dissected (heh) basically all of the decisions I've made for this one. I'm really proud of Law's execution song - it might be my favorite out of all the ones I've done for DECK.

Sampled:

Earthbound

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

The Doug Theme

Death Note

"It's a Long Way to Tipperary"

gamer butt song

Frogbot's EXE

The original plan for this one was start this one off with a hocket-y medley of all the previous body drops and executions. However, it would have been really tedious to export then import all the relevant instruments, so I didn't do that. Instead I remixed the typical BDA theme. It's supposed to convey the shift from FrogBot's reign of despair to the triumph of getting them executed. I realized part of the way through that this segment was far too triumphant given how many people died and the fact that the submarine is about to explode, so then I just ended it by lingering on a diminished chord. I'm not a very subtle person. Frogbot's execution lacks the death rattle 'cause there's no horrifying realization that one of your classmates is dead. (Exercise for the reader: find where I hid the Flintstones theme in this song. Good luck.)

Conclusion

DECK was a lot of fun to work on. I wrote some extremely messy code, made some sick as hell videos, and wrote some pretty baller music. I got to see some wonderful artists do their work, and I got to skim some pretty intense roleplaying. Thank you to everyone who said nice things about my music and to the mods for being really cool dudes. Special thanks to Mints and Los for letting me put this long-winded rant on their blog, and thank you for reading this whole thing.

See you on the flip side, y'all.

[postmastered]

I Was An Island

Words: 1653

Warnings: Cursing

A/N: i think this counts as a songfic but who gives a hecc 

Cole watched from the window of his school as the other dweebs that went to his school fled home for the day, only to return tomorrow. The window was open, luckily, and Charles, his best friend, was the last person waiting to go home. Like always. He yelled, “Hey, nerd!” and Charles, being the scaredy cat he was, jumped, turning around quickly.

“For Tesla’s sake, Cole! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Said nerd snapped at him from the gate.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Oh, very mature. Go bother your dumbass jock of a crush so he can-“

“Ooooookayyyy, no more from you, go home and shove your snake up your ass!”

“Tch. I’ll do that when MCR gets back together.”

“OH, YOU BITCH-”

“Charles!” His and Cole’s attention turned to Kat, Charles’ parent. He waved goodbye to Cole, who promptly flipped him off, yelling “That was for Gerard Way!” He watched as Charles walked home, chattering idly with Kat. They insisted on walking with Charles for fear he’ll get hurt if he did that on his own, but their house was around a block away, and they did like talking while they walked home. He eventually dipped back into the school as the two figures got smaller and smaller, shutting the window and roaming the very empty halls. It was a crisp September afternoon, tree leaves turning orange and brown, blowing through the chilly wind. Cole was wearing a scarf and a black coat, walking through beams of setting sunlight, eventually arriving at the auditorium doors.

He, an art club member, was asked very nicely by the drama club and theatre kids, specifically the leader of the drama club.

Adam Adams. 17-year-old senior, Adam. A whole seven inches taller than him, Adam. Stood in front of him, pouting and pleading with him to “Pleaaaaaaase help us paint the sets? Please?” He was adamant (heh) to say no to any other members who asked, but… he couldn’t say no to Adam. His one weakness. So here he was, standing in front of the auditorium, clutching his supplies.

Great.

He walked in, he had a job to do, after all. He shambled onto the stage, moving towards the mostly blank, save for a few sketches he did during school hours, sets. Setting his own personal playlist to shuffle, he plopped his stuff on the ground, taking out his painting stuff and sweeping his brush along the unfinished background.

Once he realized which song it was, he smirked. Gee, that’s fitting. He thought to himself. It was “I Was An Island” by Allison Weiss. He often admired her. Reminded him a pinch of someone he knew. He turned, taking a glance at the empty auditorium.

Come on, Cole, you know there’s no one here. It’ll be just like when you’re at home alone, singing into a hairbrush. Deep breaths, Noir. Deep breaths, edgy last name. Deep breaths, equally edgy first name.

He took a breath, merely saying “Yo” as a test to see the echo of the auditorium. Huh. Fun. Anyway, right, fun, he should be having that.

He took a breath, as he’d promised himself, and sung.

I was an island.

He paused for a moment, just in astonishment that his voice sounded… nice? He giggled a bit, oh, this’ll be fun. He didn’t try too hard at home, just set on dicking around. But doing this for real, less for funsies? The. Best.

Before you came along.

Put your boat in my sand, hand in my hand, heart in my song.

Cole stopped, suddenly. Did… did he hear something? No, he didn’t. He glanced at the doors. Shut. He looked around backstage, as far as he could see just from front and center. He heard a creak. His gaze spanned across the seats, eventually back down to his feet. He pressed his foot down onto the hardwood floor. It creaked. “Well, that explains things.”

I was a fighter.

And I was so, brave.

But I lowered my sword, when you held me and swore, you’d stay, stay, stay…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adam was staying late after school to practice football with his younger sister, but eventually she had to go back home, but he decided he might hang around for a little while longer. The hallways did look a lot cooler at sunset. Of course, he was given permission to stay. He sprinted through empty halls, doodled cute little messages on chalkboards for teachers he liked. He decided he might go over to the auditorium. His favorite room in the school. He reached for the doorknob, but heard a sound from inside. A fiend, perhaps?!

He pushed the door open just wide enough for him to slip through, dashing to hide in the shadows so the monster who was hiding here wouldn-

Oh.

There was… just a kid. A short one. With black hair and a striped hoodie.

Wait.

He knows that guy. That’s the guy who he asked to help with th-

O h .

The kid was singing. And it was… oh gosh. He’s so gay, oh golly. He stood up a little taller. He wanted to go up on that stage, tell that kid that he’s incredible, that he likes his haircut, and if he wanted to go get some slushies sometime, but… he stayed. He didn’t move. He was mesmerized.

He watched as the kid waltzed around the stage, occasionally running a hand through his hair.

Now that, that was a pretty sight.

Adam hadn’t moved a muscle since he got there. That is, until the kid turned around, looking at the seats nervously, to Adam’s surprise. He ducked down, hiding from view.

He waited until the kid kept going, Adam stepping closer to the stage with each line. He eventually got two rows away. Just two rows of seats away.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cole didn’t look behind him once after the first time. He just kept painting and singing, occasionally stepping back and admiring his work. Once he knew he was getting to the ‘good part’, he whirled around, moving closer to the front of the stage. He shut his eyes, still singing, but his movements had more passion, more drama.

I can’t do this alone anymore.

‘Cause I’m no good on my own anymore.

What did I do to deserve this?

What did you do to me?

Baby come back.

You know I don’t wanna be free.

Oh, baby come back.

You know I don’t wanna be free.

No, no, no.

Oh, baby come back.

You know I don’t wanna be free.

He opened his eyes as the song ended, eventually smiling and laughing and turning back to his canvas to keep working. And that’s when he heard clapping.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adam kept listening to the kid until he was done. He was right in front of the first row of seats.

His voice was angelic, truly. He recognized the song, he knew how it went, and the kid’s voice fit the song, but he added something to the song that made it… better? More special? He couldn’t pinpoint it, but all he knew was that this kid was gorgeous, his voice was gorgeous, and Adam was very gay.

He snapped out of his little trance once he realized the kid had finished. He ducked down before the kid could see him when he went back to his work. Eventually Adam stood back up, clapping. The kid turned around, startled to high hell. He was spooked, that was for sure. He stuttered with his words, trying to make a sense of things.

“I.. uh.. wh- Who are you?” Cole watched Adam walk up the stage stairs, eventually coming face-to-face with him. Well, it was more like face to chest. Cole and Adam just stared at each other for a moment.

“Uh.. Hello?”

“Oh! Right, I’m sorry, I just happened to be parading through the halls recklessly and heard something in the auditorium. I thought there was an evildoer in our beloved school. But it was just you. Your singing is lovely, by the way.”

Cole’s face flushed. Okay, what?! No, he’s either dreaming or dead. Wouldn’t be surprising if he was dreaming about this, in all honesty. “Uhh… What?”

“I said, Cole Noir, that your singing is lovely.” Adam held Cole’s hands in his. The other practically shrunk under his gaze.

“HAHA YEAH COOL THANKS BRO REAL NICE OF YOU!” Cole frantically tried looking away from Adam’s stupid face that had to be stupid attractive and his stupid hair and his stupid warm hands and his stupid everything. He tried his best to pretend he was straight, but his skills were rusty. Adam wasn’t buying it.

Adam laughed a bit at his reaction. “Tell you what, if you’re straight-“ He placed a little note into Cole’s palm. “You can ignore this happened, and we can never speak of this again. Or, if you’re not… you can let me take you out? On a date? Please?”

Cole felt like all his blood had rushed to his face. He stared at the paper in his hands, then looked up at Adam. “Uhhhh…..”

Adam slapped him on the shoulder, almost making Cole fall over. “See you around, sunshine!” Cole watched, not having moved a muscle as Adam walked out of the auditorium.

“O.. Okay?” But he was already gone. Cole glanced once more at the sticky note in his palm. Eventually, he broke out into giddy laughter. His! Crush! Asked! Him! Out! He stuffed the paper in his pocket, smiling as he picked up his things and left the auditorium, Adam long gone, already gushing to Skylar about the occurrences of that day. Cole practically ran home, seeing his mom’s car in their driveway for once. He dashed straight through the door, immediately gushing to his mother about Adam. She rolled her eyes, still delighted to see her son so happy.

[drybonesawaken]

Oh man, it’s been awhile since I’ve had time to really pause, take a breath, and reflect...

It feels like I haven’t truly been able to sit down and organize my thoughts for upwards of two or three months now, so this will be my time for that. It’s either gonna be a super long post - or I’ll split things up, we’ll see...

I came into this semester thinking that it would be really easy. All the classes I took were supposedly easy A’s, I had already taken the hard EECS courses, so this was supposed to be an easy semester where I could focus more on other things. I really couldn’t have been more wrong. 

This semester has been hell, but it’s also been such a big learning point for me that God really is the provider of all things, good and bad. I got through my semesters with ‘relative’ ease last year not by my own strength, but really by God’s. I do remember so often praying these words of ‘God, give me the strength to continue’ and so on last year, but because this year I felt like I didn’t need it given the lighter workload, those prayers disappeared. And with them, I realize now in hindsight, so did my source of strength. I’m truly humbled by how obvious my insufficiency is from this semester alone - that I thought I could do it without God, when in reality it was Him carrying me on His shoulders all along before. 

That being said, it’s still been a process to try to rely on God’s strength. It’s sort of a snowball effect: relying on myself and failing at what I do leads to less open time and more anxiety, which leads to less time spent with God and less trust in Him and so on and so forth... I’m really hoping that with break just around the corner, I’m going to be able to re-establish a routine of daily time alone with God. This semester isn’t over yet, but it’s about time the tides turned on this battle.

I’ve been praying a lot about my future. Why do I put so much of my hope in knowing and being sure of my future? It’s hard to trust God and hard to believe that He’s for me. Even though I know it. But I guess I don’t. Gah

But yeah, I feel like so much of my uneasiness in everyday struggles comes with not knowing what I’m going to be doing in the summer, or not knowing what next year holds for me after I graduate. Not much to think about here - just that I need to let go and trust lol. 

LIFE group this year has been...hard. It’s honestly so shocking to me that I haven’t even blogged about it thus far, because it’s been such a big issue in my life for the past couple of months. 

Well, as a disclaimer, I do enjoy a lot of the times that I get to spend with LIFE group. I think they’re a fun group of people, and although I don’t really click with most of the people, I still enjoy the fun that people have. A lot of them have already gotten pretty close (especially some of the freshmen), and it’s cool to observe those things and see God working in those ways. 

But personally, oh man. (Okay this is supposed to be a reflection but I’m just gonna rant for a bit.) It sucks. There’s three guys older than me, two are leaders and the other is someone who is leaving next semester. There are no other guys the year above me or my year, and the two the year below me are both people that I would be investing in (as opposed to having more peer-like relationships with), not to mention that they rarely show up. It’s hard to muster up the energy to go to LIFE group because I know that sometimes, I’ll have to be the one to guide the bible study conversation in my small group. It’s hard to find the will to go to a group of 15 girls and a few freshmen. It’s hard to want to talk to people and not just sit somewhere and stare into nothingness. I haven’t mentioned this before, but I committed to not looking tired, even if I am, while I’m at LIFE group this year. It’s hard to have back to back to back classes, and then to find the energy to passionately teach a class full of grad students who don’t want to be there, and then to go straight to LIFE group and put on an excited and energetic face for people who don’t talk to you unless you approach them first. Okay this was definitely more dramatic and exaggerated than the truth and what I feel 99% of the time. But it also feels good to just let off some steam. Good thing nobody in my LIFE group has this blog... :^) k yeah I’m really pessimistic today

All in all, it’s just been hard to find the time to get to know people, and hard to find the energy to socialize with people I don’t already know well during fellowship times, which is the majority of LIFE group, including all my leaders lol...

Anyways. Enough complaining. Sure, it’s been hard, but it hasn’t been that hard. I’ve still been trying to invest in different capacities, but I also realized that the way I invest in LG this year is drastically different from the ways in which I invested last year. So yeah, I ended up spending a lot of time praying about how to invest in LG this year. Surprisingly, a lot of my convictions turned out to not be about LIFE group at all. But more about that later...

I realized that the biggest way I’ll be investing in the different relationships in LIFE group this year are going to be in my LCGs - I may not have the time to get to know everyone in LIFE group, but at least for my two LCGs, I can commit to really investing in them and growing with them. I’ll be honest, this has been hard too.... They’re both young freshmen, and let’s just leave it at: they don’t get along. I think both have a pretty strong church background, but both also have pretty warped understandings of the Gospel and what it means in their lives. Not to say that that’s bad at all - this is probably more common than not - but it means I have to be pretty careful about what I say during my meetups so as not to cause everything to come crashing down at once: we’ll tackle each problem one at a time lol. And uh, also. One of them is very hard to be patient with. I really thought that I was a pretty patient person. My limits are already being exposed, and I’ve only met with this dude like two or three times. Oof, God is really gonna grow me in patience this year LOL

I was invited to LG Core again this year, but I honestly debated about it for so long before accepting. I didn’t think I had the time, and it felt like I was soaking up the leaders’ resources that belonged elsewhere...anyways, that’s a topic for another day. I think I’m going to be treating Core as a good way for me to build relationships with some of the other sisters in LIFE group, since I’m the only guy doing it. Will definitely help me with being more comfortable during regular LIFE group times as well. And, I also just actually really enjoy spending the time with them, so Core sounds like it will be pretty chill!

So uh. In September I was praying about LIFE group. Then God was like hey you should go on missions. I was like ???????

But I’m going on missions now. 

I was really struggling to understand why God placed this sort of calling in my heart - looking back on freshman missions, sure it was something I enjoyed and a memory I really cherished, but it wasn’t really something I was planning on doing again. Kids are really not my thing. And as I prayed through this decision, I realized that God is planting seeds of investing in the next generation in me. Freshman missions doesn’t have to be about working with kids in Chicago for me, but rather the focus is going to be the relationships I build with all the freshmen during training and afterwards. So yeah, I’m not looking forward to Chicago. But I’m looking forward to all the time spent with the freshmen. And also the time with other people I’ve heard (through the grapevine) that are going to be helping/leading this year... heh

With this commitment, I’ve also circled around and prayed a lot about what classes to take next semester to make sure that I can 1) graduate, and still 2) have a lot of time to invest in meeting up with people and investing. It’s gonna be a lot of fun!

(mini disclaimer because idk who reads this blog now that it’s public: if you go to my church please keep this private for now, missions stuff is still not yet public knowledge...thanks!)

I realized this semester that I actually react really really really really poorly to stress. Did I mention REALLY poorly? yeah. The only reason I didn’t think so before is because I don’t get stressed very easily, if at all. But this semester, I was stressed. And then I was super cranky and emotional and introverted and irritable and I had a lot of negative thoughts and it wasn’t good. I don’t know how to grow in this. Practice by being stressed more?

??? No? 

So how do I grow in this lol. Other than praying...

Okay there’s more that I’ve been thinking/reflecting about but it’s bedtime. This was sort of just a huge garble of thoughts but I think it was really good for me to write things out and I can feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. Don’t really expect people to read through, but if you somehow happened to, here’s another small thing that I’ve been thinking about, I’m sharing just for you:

Have I ever mentioned on this blog that this past summer/semester I have been thinking about dating? Well, good thing I am too busy right now given all this other stuff ^^^. Clearly my heart still has so many issues, I’m not ready anyways LOL...

okay there will probably be more on that in the future months/years but definitely after missions lol (I don't have time before) thanks for reading!

[tuwasduwillst]

Shadowbringers (pt 4/end)

This just has spoilers for everything, basically. :U I finished it and don’t feel like splitting stuff up because I have over 1k screenshots to go through...

Katana-bearing Centurion: Besides, there is but one hand that can make me whole again. My enemy... my friend...

He probably just says “friend” there in Japanese, but I don’t have my whole game switched, so I don’t get to know for sure. Good to know you’re still being weird, Zenos.

Don’t you smirk at me like that, mister.

Here’s Urianger being handsome, as usual

I hated fighting this old dude as Thancred.

1) I still can’t believe he can easily take out the WoL like he did

2) Stop making me be sword dudes!!

3) I get why they wanted people to see the dialogue here, but it was so slooooow and I died once near the end and had to do it all over again and ughhh, just go away

Ryne looks cute with her new hair and eyes, at least. :) Thancred is still a bad dad, but at least he’s doing better now... I guess.

Also, Urianger’s reaction to finding out that Thancred was paying attention to some of his talks about pixies was really good, haha.

...I wanna listen to Urianger give a pixie lecture...

Wow

This was something the game threw together when I asked it to pick recommended gear. It’s... some kind of look.

The Exarch/G’raha Tia is a qt. Y’know, I figured it was probably G’raha Tia, but I didn’t remember him being so short... and the lack of cat ears also made me doubt myself, haha.

I’m really glad I did the Crystal Tower stuff, though, because otherwise I’d... well, I’d still think that G’raha Tia/the Exarch is cute and like him a lot, but it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

I took a bunch of screenshots of Mikh’a. :U

& Emet-Selch, ofc

that one old dude: If you would pass me, you must endure all that I have learned on the battlefield... For I am a weapon forged in the fires of war!

~*oooh, I’m so scared of you and your tiny amount of health left*~

My MP doesn’t even have a dent in it, really. This is why I had such a hard time believing this dude could take out the WoL!! Even the first time we fought, I had tons of MP available to me and could’ve made a full recovery from being brought down to 1 HP. (...well, I have Benediction which is kind of cheating, but still.)

At least this was the last time I had to deal with him. He’s probably the worst thing about the expansion, which I guess I can deal with since the rest of it was so good.

Lots of really pretty screenshot opportunities in this expansion. c:

Mt. Gulg is something I thought was common to a bunch of FF games for some reason, but apparently it was in the original Final Fantasy, FFIX, and some random spin-off games. Weird.

How did Mikh’a hear him talking from that far away??

Emet-Selch has such a good design and you can tell that a lot of work was put into him. The expressions he makes, the way he stands and walks--it’s all unique to him and it makes him stand out a lot.

Even after everything that happened in the expansion, I’m really fond of him. They made the right move in having him kind of forge a more personal relationship with you/the WoL, because if he hadn’t been obnoxious in the background throughout most of the expansion it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as interesting/good as it ended up being.

I obviously chose to say that they were all Alphinaud’s assistants. :P

This little scene was so cute... lali-hos for everyone...

Crystal Exarch: Ugh! I would thank you not to shoot me!

I’m sorryyyyyy ; ~; You were there and I wanted to see what would happen!!!

Crystal Exarch: Ah heh... It may interest you to know that Mikh’a is a great hero in the land whence he hails. Some would say the greatest.

This little venture made me feel like I’d suddenly gotten married and adopted a child

(Which I’d be totally fine with, tbh.)

I loved this thing, actually!! I got to heal G’raha Tia, he healed me, we both healed our new tiny dwarf child, it was great.

c:

I’m still using the Mogrod. I’m never going to stop using it. Give me another thing that has a flower and swirly rainbows all over and maybe I’ll switch weapons, but until then? No.

...unless there’s, like... a really, really pretty plant weapon, especially if it matches Mikh’a’s outfit... but I don’t think there is.

I got to put my bubble on them. :D

He’s so cuuuuuute. And Mikh’a clearly agrees with my thoughts on him, considering the expression on his face when he looks at him.

One of the reasons I keep Mikh’a wearing the WHM gear is because I really like the contrast I get--a lot of the major characters wear black, so it looks nice when they stand next to each other. :D

Katana-bearing Centurion: The whereabouts of my one true friend, however--they interest me greatly. I but hope the beasts of this “First” are providing him proper sport.

Zenos is so funny to me. He just pops up like “did someone mention my friend” while his dad and Elidibus are having a serious conversation.

Innocence has beautiful hair and if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I’d never believe that he was Vauthry.

You can kind of see @tarifu in this screenshot! :D

You can definitely see her here--wait... why is half the party wearing dwarf beard outfits...

This is probably weird to say, but I genuinely like when characters I play in games like this suffer/are in pain. Not, like... constantly. I just like it when NPCs get to express concern and you aren’t some kind of unbreakable hero 24/7. >_>

Obviously I was going to say his name, who wouldn’t.

This made me cry!! I thought he was dead. :C

But thankfully Emet-Selch didn’t want him dead, so he did not die.

...why’d he even need a gun? Has he always had a gun?

I wish I could just float off into the sky after ruining everything and being a big jerk

sad kitty

I died when I came here with Jack and Mari because I didn’t realize I was being targeted by the boss until it was too late. :,)

I got to practice using my shield, though!! I’m not used to having one so I’m not super great at remembering it exists and using it; the tether thing is a good visual for “this specific person is going to be damaged soon and a shield would be Good”. ...unless everyone’s bunched up and I can’t tell who has it until it’s too late, I guess.

I know I’m level 80 now, but there’s still a lot I haven’t done and I’m still trying to figure out what the best way to do things is sometimes... I still need to mess with my hotbars and stuff, actually. I think I might switch some things around more than I already have, because some useful things aren’t as easy to use as they could/should be and I’ve been wanting to mess around with stuff for a while. The Trust dungeons should be a really good opportunity to test new configurations! Or the squad dungeons, I guess. :/a

I’m still not Ardbert’s biggest fan, but I don’t dislike him.

Poor Urianger, getting stuck with the role of the only other person to know the Exarch’s plans. :(

& then everyone died going to the bottom of the sea and the game ended

I got to help put dwarf helmets on sineaters :U

I also remembered that I have fancy wings now, wheee

I got a nice new outfit after doing my last Healer role quest! :D I like it a lot~ The whites are brighter than the last outfit, and the bit in back accommodates his tail much better than the corset did.

I might play around with mixing and matching some pieces once I get newer stuff, but for now this is what I’ve got! c:

...and I refuse to wear the hat. 100%. I’m not making Mikh’a look like a weird nun. :|

Amaurot was really good, even if being there mostly just made me sad. >_> The not-people were so cute and nice, though...

Big

The WoL hanging out on this giant bench is so cute.

I liked getting to talk to Emet-Selch’s friend. c: Well... kind of, anyway. Since it’s not really his friend...

tiny

Emet-Selch: I have broken bread with you, fought with you, grown ill, grown old! Sired children and yes, welcomed death’s sweet embrace.

I still don’t 100% understand how Ascians work, but I guess it’s canon that Emet-Selch fucks :/a

I regret typing that, I think, but it is apparently true

i think your fireplace has something wrong with it

Really though, this dungeon was excellent.

Alisaie decided that she wanted to LB right as one of the bosses was doing one of those “hide behind a rock Or You Will Die” things so she died & I accidentally walked right off the edge near the end of the last boss fight (oops), but other than that things went okay!

D:

ardbert could you please clean your axe somehow before you point it at me like that. tia

This was a really neat moment :U

I’m not calling Emet-Selch Hades ever. Sorry, Emet-Selch.

I was kind of afraid to do this trial and almost waited until someone would be able to do it with me, but it really wasn’t that bad in the end!

...except for when I died five times to the same attack... orz It was that arm-sweeping one, too, so it’s not like it’s not obvious that it’s coming. My problem was that I kept getting Raised in bad places right before it happened, so he basically just kept smacking me down over and over again.

(Which was partially my fault, because I should’ve waited to accept the Raise until I knew it was safe to be alive, but... I don’t like leaving the other healer alone and I don’t want to just be lying there uselessly if I can avoid it.)

Fortunately(?) the party wiped due to something completely unrelated (a failed mechanic I had nothing to do with) and I didn’t die at all the second time around! So at least there was that.

I liked this bit in the dark. c:

I also liked when I got trapped in the bubble and didn’t have to do anything. Thanks, Emet-Selch!

Genuinely though, it was a nice little chance for me to calm the hell down because my anxiety was getting real bad before/during this fight. >_>

Poor dude. :c Obviously he’s responsible for some absolutely terrible things and I’m not going to try to deny that or anything, but he’s lived for so long and he’s had to deal with the loss of basically everyone he ever cared about for that whole time. He recreated that entire city and all of its people, that’s how much he cared.

Still no excuse for basically trying to kill all of the people he didn’t consider “real”! But also still sad, IMO.

This made me go “awww” out loud and start to tear up, haha...

I didn’t want to leave him ; ~;

Estinien said a full sentence here about how these guards were dead, too (in a way that implied he assumed that’s what they’d find), and the localization translated it as “hmph”. Kind of a weird choice there, but okay.

Zenos basically went Full Yandere since he killed his father just because he could potentially get in the way of his thing with the WoL, so... that’s something that’s going to have to be dealt with at some point.

I’m interested in seeing how things go, but I’m also a wee bit concerned that other people might get caught up in whatever this obsession is. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or killed because of Zenos’s yandere tendencies. :(

Elidibus is being Boring on the moon.

But who cares about that! I got to lead a Girl Scout meeting for my level 80 WHM quest.

Oh! Almost forgot about the story I got to tell the girls: “The tale of a man who crossed time and space to save the world... and me.”

I think the second one is about (original) Minfilia, maybe? :/a I wanted to tell them about G’raha Tia, though.

Aaaand that’s all I’ve done! \o/ I unlocked a new dungeon and I know there’s more than one post-80 dungeon, so I’ll probably check those out when I get a chance... but I finished the main stuff.

Which is kinda weird, because now I’m done again, haha... but I’ve got plenty of stuff to do before the next new stuff comes out. Especially since I discovered that Vamo alla Flamenco is the “dancer’s theme”, apparently. Need to dance ASAP >:O