#of course... I had to purchase aki

[meownotgood]

cute and polite creature. I was won over by his cuteness

[torpidx]

SECOND SKIN - Day three

A/N: I forgot to mention that Angel's latex suit has wing holes!! So don't get confused if he just shoved his wings into the suit... he didnt. BUT HERES DAY THREE <33 WOOHOO

Word count: 1,909

Prompt: LATEX

Characters: Angel Devil, Aki Hayakawa.

Contains: PET NAMES, SUB ANGEL DEVIL, DOM AKI HAYAKAWA, FTM ANGEL DEVIL, LATEX SUIT, LATEX GLOVES, FINGERING, RUINED ORGASM ((Happens once)), UNINTENTIONAL FORCED ORGASM, HAIR PULLING, SPANKING.

"Are you sure this will work?" Angel's voice was gentle as he cast a downward glance, his eyes fixating on the latex suit that clung to his body. The peculiar sensation it brought was weird, not to mention the very obvious hole that was open around his crotch, allowing the cool air of the room to caress it.

"Only one way to find out. Come closer," Aki said, perched on the edge of his bed. He moved his hand in the air, beckoning the devil to approach him, observing Angel's nervous steps towards him. His arms instinctively hesitated before firmly gripping the ginger's waist.

Aki remained in the suit he typically wore to work, relying on the protection of the latex gloves he had put on earlier, while Angel changed in the bathroom. The sensation of latex against latex was intriguing, and it wasn't entirely unpleasant. Aki's hand traveled up Angel's chest, lightly brushing against the hard nipple that peeked through the suit. Angel stood there, delicately biting his lower lip, emitting a soft gasp.

A rush of happiness washed over Aki's voice as he whispered, "I'm so happy to finally be touching you, my dear." His cheeks flushed with a soft pink tint.

Angel's head bobbed in a gentle nod, acknowledging Aki's words, as his body instinctively leaned into the touch of the devil hunter's fingers. A mixture of nervousness and anticipation swirled within him, creating a fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach. Aki's fingers teasingly caressed and circled his nipple through the latex, the material's unique texture generating a simulated warmth that sent shivers coursing throughout Angel.

A rush of arousal shot through the ginger's body, causing wetness to trickle down his thighs, moistening the latex that clung to his skin. With his gloved hand, he firmly grasped Aki's gloved hand, skillfully guiding his touch downward. Aki's face filled with confusion before he realized what the other was asking him to do. His fingers glided over the wetness of Angel's slit, his eyes fixated on Angel's closed ones before moving down to gaze at his mouth, envisioning those pretty lips wrapped around his cock. The idea made his erection throb against his tight pants.

Delicately, his finger traced circles around his sensitive bud, eliciting a soft, pleasurable moan from his partner's lips. Swallowing audibly, he continued the teasing motion, circling and stimulating his clit with increasing intensity. Each rotation sent waves of pleasure rippling through Angel's body, heightening his arousal. Craving more stimulation, his hips instinctively began to grind against Aki's hand with increasing speed. The pace of his movements quickened, intensifying the friction as he was brought to great pleasure.

Finally, Aki slipped a finger into Angel's entrance, skillfully curling his digit upwards in search of the other's pleasure spot. The sudden feeling of Aki's fingers caused Angel's body to tense, a mixture of surprise and pleasure coursing through him. With a soft whimper, his hips bucked forward, seeking more. His gloved hands found purchase on Aki's shoulders, gripping tightly as waves of bliss began to wash over him.

Aki's fingers continued to stimulate Angel's drenched core, finally finding his sensitive spot. The chorus of moans escaping Angel's lips grew louder and more eager with each precise hit against his G-spot. Just as the pleasure was about to peak, Aki abruptly halted his movements, hearing the sound of Angel's frustrated whines, denying him the continued pleasure he had been craving.

Suddenly, two additional fingers entered his tight entrance, causing him to emit a wincing sound of discomfort. A gloved hand tenderly caressed his face, gently shushing him in an attempt to offer comfort.

"I'm sorry," Aki's voice murmured, filled with reassurance. "It will only be painful for a few seconds. I'm just trying to loosen you up." His voice attempted to soothe the ginger's pained whimpers, while soft tears welled up and trickled down Angel's closed eyes, as he tried to calm down with the still fingers deep inside him.

Once Angel's body had gradually settled, Aki cautiously resumed the motion of his three fingers, easing them in and out of him with a slow pace. His eyes fixated on Angel's reactions, observing his body's response and the sounds that escaped his lips, while being careful not to cause any harm. Aki maintained a gentle pace, ensuring that each movement brought pleasure and comfort. As Angel's pained whimpers slowly subsided, they were quickly replaced by soft moans of pleasure. Angel resumed grinding his hips against Aki's fingers, surrendering to the pleasure that quickly built up in his stomach once again.

With the movements from Angel's hips, Aki increased the speed of his fingers, consistently hitting his sensitive spots. His thumb circled Angel's clit, feeling the ginger's arousal building up once again. Angel's body tensed up as he rode Aki's fingers at this point.

Angel's hips moved with desperate yearning, craving more and more pleasure from Aki's skilled touch. Sensing his lover's desire, Aki responded by quickening the rhythm of his fingers, skillfully navigating Angel's most sensitive areas, eliciting gasps and moans of delight. Aki's thumb circled Angel's clit, intensifying the pleasure that coursed through the ginger's body. With each thrust of Aki's fingers, Angel's arousal tightened in his stomach, his breath growing heavy with anticipation as he surrendered himself to the waves of pleasure. The climax built within Angel, the knot in his stomach bringing him closer to the edge.

At the peak of his pleasure, Angel's voice reverberated throughout the room with a passionate cry, his body riding Aki's fingers until his release. Warmth surged within him as he climaxed, coating Aki's fingers with his wetness. Aki continued to move his fingers, guiding him through the waves of his orgasm, leaving Angel breathless.

With a swift motion, Aki withdrew his finger from Angel's quivering entrance, eliciting a whimper of longing from the ginger. Rising to his feet, Aki made his way to the bedside table, a glimmer of lust filling his eyes. He opened the drawer, unveiling a stash of lube and a box of condoms nestled inside.

"Get on your knees and arch your back for me," Aki commanded, his voice laced with desire. He watched with a heated gaze as the ginger obediently positioned himself on the bed, his form presenting a tempting sight. With knees planted firmly on the mattress, Angel gracefully arched his back, lifting his ass in the air. His face nestled against the plush velvet blankets. Aki's pulse quickened as he observed his partner obeying him. His eyes roamed all over Angel's submissive posture, from the slight wiggle of his hips in anticipation to the subtle movements of his body caused by his ragged breathing.

He reached out for the lube and opened the box of condoms, pulling one out. His eyes locked onto Angel as he positioned himself closely behind. Unbuttoning his pants and slowly lowering the zipper, he sent shivers of anticipation down Angel's spine. With care, he lowered his pants, revealing just enough to release his throbbing, fully erect cock, ready for the pleasure that awaited them both.

With a trembling hand, he tore open the condom packet, feeling the surge of suspense coursing through his veins. Carefully, he unrolled the latex protection down the base of his cock, ensuring a snug fit that promised safety. His fingers trembled with eagerness as he unscrewed the cap of the lube, allowing the cool liquid to pool onto his waiting palm. A generous amount coated his fingers.

He carefully coated his throbbing dick with the slick lubricant, ensuring his 7-inch cock was fully covered, mindful of Angel's comfort. The sensation of his own hand gliding along his glistening shaft sent shivers through his body, pleasure building with each stroke. Guiding himself towards Angel, he positioned his slicked tip at the entrance of his partner's warmth, his heart racing with a mix of desire and nervousness. Sliding his erection up and down Angel's welcoming slit, a delightful tremor of pleasure rushed through his body before finally pushing past Angel's entrance. A shaky whimper escaped Aki's lips as the ginger in front of him tensed up with a mix of pain and pleasure.

His hands caressed Angel's hips, silently conveying an apology. As he pushed a few more inches inside, Angel let out a pained whimper. Aki slowed his movements, giving Angel a moment to breathe and allowing his body to adjust and find comfort once again.

As Angel's body eased into relaxation, Aki gently pressed his hardened dick further inside, fully bottoming out. Aki couldn't help but release a pleasurable moan, overwhelmed by the sensation.

"Fuck, you feel amazing, Darling," Aki spoke as Angel gasped, his body tensing in response to the words. He felt full and a warm fuzziness spread throughout him, as if every inch of his being was consumed by the devil hunter's generous size. It wasn't overly thick or too slender, but just the perfect fit, effortlessly hitting all the sweet spots.

With his head thrown back, Aki withdrew his dick achingly slow, teasingly grazing Angel's entrance with just the tip. Then, in a sudden rush, he thrust back into Angel's tightness with force. Angel buried his head deeper into the softness of the blankets, a passionate moan escaping his lips. His back arched, seeking more of the mind-blowing pleasure. The friction of his nipples against the smooth latex heightened his sensations, sending waves of stimulation throughout his body.

"God, you're so tight," Aki whimpered, his thrusts going even deeper, each stroke grazing Angel's sensitive spot with precision. His body leaned over Angel's, his hand entwined in a handful of hair, pulling Angel's head up from the plush blankets. The ginger clenched tightly around Aki's length, a mixture of pleasure and overwhelming sensation causing tears to trickle down his flushed cheeks.

The intensity of Aki's thrusts escalated with each movement. His desire for Angel consumed him, his breath hitching in anticipation. Their combined scents filled the room, Aki's hair sticking to his forehead as he felt the heat radiating from Angel's body through the latex. Angel, lost in ecstasy, experienced the pleasurable ache blended with a hint of pain, creating an intoxicating sensation that sent shivers down his spine. His body craved Aki's roughness, yearning for more of the overwhelming pleasure that only his boyfriend could provide.

Angel's senses were overwhelmed by pleasure. Each deep penetration sent shockwaves of heat radiating through his body, the pressure against his inner walls driving him to the edge. Every moan that escaped his lips grew higher, the knot in his stomach building up.

As Aki let go of Angel's hair, his hand rose in the air and came down forcefully against Angel's ass, eliciting a pleasurable clench and a loud cry from his partner. With the slap, a knot formed in Angel's stomach, and he released his orgasm with another cry. Aki's rhythmic thrusts faltered momentarily as he succumbed to overwhelming pleasure, filling the condom.

Aki pulled out of Angel, removed the condom, and tied it up before disposing of it along with the latex gloves on his hands.

"Angel... Take that off, I'm going to run you a bath," Aki said. Angel's tired body fell against the bed, responding with a soft noise, listening to Aki's footsteps fading into another room. A soft smile formed on his lips as he rubbed his face against the soft blankets, allowing his body to rest before the bath.

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 24: Bellflower: Now a semi-prisoner on Motonari’s ship, Katsu decodes a message.

Mitsuhide x OC; Hideyoshi x MC (Mai)

All Chapters Archived on Ao3 

Logline - With Mai, Hideyoshi, and Aki missing, Mitsuhide and Katsuko reluctantly team up. Disguised as a merchant and his concubine, can they outsmart the man known as the God of Deceit?

Somehow I knew it would be you who betrayed me, Kaya.

From Mitsuhide's townhouse in Sakai to a pirate ship in the middle of the Japan sea in one day. Basically, I had traded one ‘prison’ for another.

Unsure of my allegiance, Motonari had taken away my dagger, scooped me up with Mitsuhide, and brought me on board his ship. I owed my captivity to the fact that I was considered less of a threat on board this ship as opposed to being left in Sakai as a potential witness. ‘Kaya’ was a loose end, able to tell Oda forces what had happened. Or tell them that he was using one of the Nanban carracks, rather than one of his clan’s warships.

As I was led to my quarters, I’d heard Motonari tell his men to chain Mitsuhide up in the brig.

At least I was being spared incarceration with a man who probably hated me right now. I was given a room with a bed – a European bed, not a futon. There was even a porthole, possibly big enough for me to wiggle through, but when I looked out, all I saw was ocean, so it was pointless to try to escape.

Somehow I knew it would be you who betrayed me, Kaya.

‘Yeah, well, don’t threaten to kill a kid then, dude. Our contract didn’t say anything about murder, especially of a civilian. You should know me better than that. I risked my life for Hiko once already. Of course I would do it again.’

Unfortunately the imaginary Mitsuhide in my head didn’t have that teasing grin or those wicked sideways glances. No. Instead, I had his last words to me on endless repeat.

Somehow I knew it would be you who betrayed me, Kaya.

That look on his face. It had been pure ice. Lord help me if he ever escaped from the brig, because I'd probably be near the top of his hit list. With a bullet, as they say.

Ugh. I paced the smallish room, wondering what I should do next. Would Motonari set me free once we reached our next destination? Otherwise, would I be held with Mitsuhide and his friends? Maybe I could convince the pirate to drop me off somewhere.

Where would I go though? Mai and Hideyoshi were still the only link (tenuous as it was) I had to Aki. If he had also somehow gotten swept up in this, then I was better off sticking with Motonari and his crew. At least if he was being held captive with them, I would complete the finding part of my mission and move on somehow to the rescue aspect. In that, I could be making headway toward my goal.

Somehow I knew it would be you who betrayed me, Kaya.

Kaya. Guess I was demoted from “Brat.” I shook my head, trying to rid the echo of his voice from it, and the bellflowers on my hairsticks tickled the top of my earlobe.

Somehow I knew it would be you who betrayed me, Kaya.

…Kaya.

Kaya.

Wait…

Son of a bi-

There was an abrupt knock on the door. "You better be decent wench, I’m coming in.”

Wench? Really?

That was the only warning I got before the door swung open and Motonari strode in. He’d traded his merchant silks for captain’s gear, and the ingratiating smile for a fierce scowl.

I shrank back against the wall, doing my best to look terrified. Instinct told me was that I would be safest if Motonari continued to view me as a concubine Mitsuhide purchased at the slave market. If he didn’t see me as a threat, I would have more options. And more freedom.

He didn’t say anything else, and I slid down the wall and covered my face with my arms as if I expected him to beat me.

"Quit cowering." Motonari sounded more annoyed than angry. "I ain't planning to hit ye… as long as you behave."

'Kaya' continued to act terrified, shrinking into a fetal ball.

"Can't believe you were brave enough to save Hiko twice, and now ye can barely look at me." He dragged a chair from the center of the room, turned it backward and straddled it.

Hm. Might have overplayed that a bit.

"It was instinct. I had a brother. Hiko reminds me of him." Or well, what I remember of Toshiie at that age.

"Humph. Yeah. The kid has a way, don’t he?" He ran a gloved hand through his hair. "Where did ye come from?"

Figuring that he didn’t mean to go over the weeks I was playing house with Mitsuhide, I gave him an edited summary of Kaya's backstory. That I had been a housemaid to a Daimyo, who was killed by the Oda (added that bit in on a hunch) and after their castle burned to the ground, I had been taken by ronin and sold in the slave market.

Motonari nodded along as if none of it was a surprise to him. And it likely wasn't. We had made sure to broadcast Kaya's invented backstory around Sakai. Motonari was probably checking to confirm whether or not my story would stay consistent. "And now? Ye want to get revenge on the Oda?" He didn’t ask it as if he was offering me a part in one of his plots. More like he was trying to figure things out. Figure me out – figure out whether I was useful or dangerous.

“I just want to go home! To my village. Away from all these people." I put a bit of a sob into my voice. What an orphaned village girl would do was a bigger question, but Kaya likely hadn't thought that far in advance. Kaya was a simple peasant turned servant turned reluctant concubine. Revenge wasn't in her vocabulary.

"Ye sure about that? What If I gave you a sword, held Mitsuhide down, and told you to gut him like a fish? He's Oda's left hand man. You'd have revenge on the whole pack of em." There was a look in his eye that told me he'd be happy to watch if I were to do it.

I shuddered and hid my face, pretending to be overcome at the very idea of it. There had been times over the past month, where I would have happily stabbed Mitsuhide… but I would have given him a fighting chance first.

"Could ye do it if I said it was him or you?" He scratched at his wrist in the area between the glove and his flesh.

What is this? Philosophy Power Hour? I didn’t know what he was looking for. Too bloodthirsty and he'd look at me with suspicion. Too weak and he'd likely pitch me overboard. I added a whimper to my voice. "I don’t know! I’ve never lifted a sword… but I'm not useless! I can scrub floors, or clean everyone’s rooms or swab decks or whatever you call it here."

He drew his sword and I shrank back but all he did with it was poke at the kimono I was wearing until it snagged and tore. "Those ain’t the clothes of a servant. You'd get them dirty. Be a fine sight, seeing you scrubbing in silk."

Finishing the job his knife started, I yanked at the cloth until it tore past my knees. "He made me wear it. I don’t care if I get it dirty."

"Show me your hands." At Motonari's order, I extended my hands toward him, too surprised to do anything else. He quickly pulled his own gloved hand out of my reach. From that short distance, he looked at my hands, which were indeed still rough and calloused in spite of Sho's best efforts. "Ah. Ye really aren't a stranger to hard work."

"I said I wasn't. Who would lie about being a housemaid?" Well, I probably would have lied if I'd needed to, but of course I really had been a maid, though not as recently as 'Kaya' had been.

"Never you mind." Motonari stood up and headed for the door. Apparently he had decided I was neither useful, nor interesting.

"Wait!"

With a look of impatience, he turned back to me. "What?”

"Um. About the floor scrubbing thing. Where are the cleaning supplies?" Kaya was determined to be useful. I was determined to get on deck and figure out just how big his crew was and where we were.

"I'll send someone to you. When I get time." He turned, then again paused and turned back. "How come you haven't asked about your former master?"

"Kyub -um, Mitsuhide? I don't care how he is." As long as he's not dead, folded spindled or mutilated. Since Montanari had said he would be used as bait, Mitsuhide was still alive, but not likely comfortable. "As long as he can't get to me, I don't care."

Motonari didn’t respond to that, and left me alone to continue to stare at the walls. Or pace. Or whatever. He hadn't locked me in this time (I checked) but perhaps that too was a test of some sort.

So I stayed put a little while longer, organizing my thoughts, plotting, until an old man named Hiroyoshi came by and brought me outside. Rather than scrub (swab?) the deck, I was instead given the task of repairing the sails. It was a dull, mindless, and never ending chore, and I stabbed myself with the thick needle far too many times.

Also, unfortunately, it required me to stay in one place in the corner of the ship, rather than explore. It would have been good to know exactly where everything was located on board, exactly how many men Motornari had working for him, and how many weapons they had. Still, even by sitting quietly in place and doing my best to memorize faces, I was able to get a rough head count of about seventy crew members. I rounded that upward to a hundred, just to be safe.

I spent four days in this fashion. Aside from Hiroyoshi, no one approached me. Possibly Motonari told them all to leave me alone. Possibly he had just told them all I was boring. I would get up, and stretch my legs once or twice, each time simply walking over to one side or the other. We were not terribly far out to sea, and on some occasions, I spotted strip of land off the right side, but whether it was the Japanese mainland or a smaller island, I couldn’t say. Once there was a bit of a flurry because a sailor spotted a ship some distance behind us, but that apparently turned out to be a merchant vessel.

At night, I would retire to my own quarters, and Hiroyoshi would drop off a tray of food. He was a friendly sort, and to be honest, had I not been trying to keep up my scared villager act, I might have enjoyed chatting with him. As it was, I limited myself to a grateful smile and a thank-you, then listened quietly to his tales of the sea.

Each night I also made sure I established a pattern of coming up on deck after the moonrise, to stroll along the deck and look up at the sky. The first time I did this, Motonari stopped me to ask, "Where do ya think yer goin?"

I shrank back in 'fear,' but pointed to the sky and the reflection of the three quarter moon over calm waters. "It's pretty. I like to look at night."

"Yer daft, woman." He shook his head, then took a moment to look as well. For one long pause we were both staring out at the ocean, before he shook his head again and retreated to his quarters.

And thus on the fourth night, Kaya, whose pattern was now established to be a night time stroller and stargazer, strolled right down to the brig, where Mitsuhide was being held. The few sailors who were on deck paid no attention to me at all. As I had told Mitsuhide weeks ago, I had perfected the art of being invisible in plain sight.

In his cell, Mitsuhide appeared to be unconscious. I heard a very soft whir of his even breathing. Alright, correction, asleep, not comatose. Though there were a couple of bruises on his face, it didn’t look like he was being abused in the brig. Likely those were from the moment he had arranged for us to be captured. He even appeared to be sleeping comfortably, especially given he was sleeping on the floor and his hands were manacled together.

"Psst. Mitsuhide. Wake up." I kept my voice low. There weren't any guards to the brig as the crew wasn’t large enough to give anyone a wasteful task like watching the door, but I wasn’t sure of the acoustics in here. The last thing we needed was for our conversation to carry to the upper deck.

His eyes opened instantly, as most people in this era slept lightly and Mitsuhide was no exception. "Dear me, it appears I overestimated your abilities. I expected you yesterday."

"I needed to establish that I was boring and no threat." I pulled one of the bellflower lock picks out of what was now an extremely lopsided hairdo. "This was followed by an extra day because, seriously, you couldn't have warned me you were going to do that?"

He sat up, rolled his shoulders a bit, causing the top of his kimono to slip down, revealing that lean muscular body – and a few more bruises. "You appeared to figure it out quickly enough." The look he gave me was one of approval, and for a moment I wanted to bathe in that.

I got to work on the lock on the cell. It was a simple keyed lock, and it would take very little dexterity to force it open. "And what if Motonari decided to leave me in Sakai? Then what would you have done?"

He paused… long enough for me to realize. “You were expecting him to leave me in Sakai.”

He’d… planned to leave me behind. That… almost hurt more than him saying I had betrayed him.

“I thought it the most likely scenario, yes. However I was equally confident that if he determined you were too much of a threat to leave behind, that you would decode my statement.” He held his manacled hands out in front of him. “And so you have.”

So basically… I’m Plan B.

“What if he decided I was too much of a threat to leave alive?” Motonari seemed all too volatile. He was definitely capable of killing me if he thought I was a risk.

“Kyubei and Goro – the man who followed us from the machiya – were hiding and would have pulled you out before it came to that.” The smile was familiar and teasing, but there was a look in his eyes that I could not interpret. He nodded when the lock clicked open. "Good work. When this is all concluded, you should have a new job skill as a sneak thief."

I wasn't ready to think that far ahead. Let’s just get past this ‘held captive on a pirate ship’ thing before I update my resume.

I hurried over to him, and knelt. "Hold out your hands."

The positioning of the chain and its short length meant that I needed to twine myself between him and the wall until our bodies touched. This too was keyed lock, but whoever had created it had set the pins at a trickier angle than the one at the door. I mentally swore at the lock maker when my hands slipped for the third time, and the pick pinged to the floor. I caught it before it could disappear between the cracks in the floor boards.

Unsecured by the hair stick/ lock pick, a piece of my hair unspooled and covered my eyes. Fine. I didn’t actually need to see to do this, I could unlock it by feel. All those nights of blindfolded lock picking were paying off.

Perhaps understanding that this was a situation where I needed total focus, Mitsuhide stayed (for once) quiet, and in fact, appeared to be regulating his breathing so that I could concentrate. Even so, I was hyper alert to the feeling of his exhale against my neck, and the constant thrum of his heartbeat at my back. It was steady. Calm. Unworried.

Right. If he was calm, I could be too. What was required was the type of focus that I used in archery, to shut out all distractions, whether it be of Mitsuhide's attractive presence or the persistent worry that all this would be for naught and Motonari’s guards would raise the alarm any moment.

The world shrunk to the lock, to the positioning of the pin and the balance between force and persuasion.

And his heartbeat.

After a couple tense minutes passed, the bolt slid free, and I pulled the manacles off his wrists. Underneath, his skin was raw and red, slightly swollen, and without thinking, I took his hands and tried to massage them to bring back the circulation. As always, his fingers were cool.

Mitsuhide watched me without comment, but when I stopped he gave my hands a squeeze.

"What do we do now?" I gave him a quick summary of the number of men and what I had observed of their schedule.

To my surprise, he put the manacles back on, replaced the padlock, but left it unbolted. To anyone looking, it would appear that he was still shackled to the wall. "It's not time yet."

Time for what? I didn’t bother to ask, I knew he wouldn’t tell me. “And here you complained I ignored you for an extra day.”

"I need you to do two things. Take my sash-" he nodded at the bright blue fabric encircling his waist. "Climb the rigging and tie it up under the flag."

Climb the rigging?

Prior to my accident, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. I might have even done it for fun. But now… The thought of the vertigo brought on a wave of anticipatory nausea.

Mitsuhide picked up my hands and squeezed them again, as he fixed an intent amber gaze on me. "You can do this. I imagine you could do it in your sleep."

I could. I could do it. Not just because I didn’t want to let him down. No. It was because I wanted myself back, to be me again, the kind of girl who would scamper easily through the rigging of a sailing ship. And because his confidence in me gave me strength.

I took a deep breath, then nodded.

"There's the fierce brat who threatened to stab me in my sleep." He patted my head. It was a bit patronizing, but since he had been in prison for the past few day, I allowed it.

“What’s the other thing?" Steal a weapon? Poison the crew?

He leaned forward and brushed his lips over my forehead, a kiss so brief that I could have imagined it.  Then he took the lock pick from me, and tucked it into his hakama. "Lock the door on the way out.”

@lorei-writes @bestbryn @selenacosmic @tele86 @lyds323 @akitsuneswife

[ramuneempiremtl]

Slave-kun's Happy Life in Another World: Chapter 11

Daine took a deep breath and sat back on the couch. And then he began to talk about what he had "seen".

"──First of all, the moment he entered the room, he immediately checked the structure of the room."

"Wait, wouldn't you normally look at the people first?"

"He must have heard about us from Hulk. Anyway, he checked the room first. Then he looked at us."

"…… Please continue."

"As soon as he saw Shuza, he realized that he was the 'leader'. And he probably also figured out that Shuza was from a knight's family. He looked at me and judged that I was a 'shield user'…… Well, never mind about Nove. He said Aki was a 'tiger'. Ah, it looks like the porridge was good after all."

"Hey, what about me?! Don't skip me!"

What did Daine "see"?

Daine possesses an ability called "Authority". When "Authority" is activated, he can use advanced skills that are difficult to reproduce even with magic. It was a very rare ability in this country.

With Daine's "Authority", he could read the surface thoughts and deep memories of people.

Of course, there are various conditions, and there are times when he cannot read them, and there are times when there is a backlash on the reader. It is also possible not to use the ability.

As soon as Owl appeared, Daine immediately activated his authority. It is easier to read from an opponent who does not know about the authority, so Owl's thoughts had been read from the beginning.

Although there were some inconsistencies, he was generally "seen" and transparent.

However, Daine decided to keep quiet about the fact that Owl had called Nove a "white person" or "mother".

"He looks like a sullen kid, but he's pretty smart. He has good analytical and judgment skills, and he understands his position and situation accurately."

"…… What was he like when I was asking questions?"

"He didn't lie. However, he speculated that the president of the Chamber of Commerce was likely using 'powder'. He thought that it must have been the 'powder' that caused such a big merchant to collapse so easily."

"Is that so?"

"But he was reluctant to talk about the adventurer woman. He wondered why she wasn't caught… and then he thought about the distribution of 'powder'."

"He was thinking about such things…"

"──But above all, he… noticed that I was reading his mind."

"!"

Shuza looked at Daine with a rare look of surprise.

"Really? What did he think about that?"

"…… Ha. 'I can relax like this, so please keep reading.'"

"Eh…?"

"He's a big shot…"

"I'm curious about how inconsistent he is. He looks like he's healed on the surface, but he has terrible scars all over his body. He's been through something that has left him speechless, but he's strangely thick-skinned. He can do calculations, but he can't read or write. He has knowledge that I don't know where he got it from. And he's very eager to work. Usually, slaves and servants tend to be lazy."

He takes a break. Daine had spoken about five times as much as usual, so his mouth was dry. Aki thoughtfully handed him a glass of water.

"On that note, my conclusion is that there's nothing wrong with him."

"…… I understand. Thank you, Daine."

"Well, I'll keep an eye on him from time to time."

"Thank you. I may have to ask you for help soon."

"…… I don't like 'seeing' memories."

"Only if Owl gives permission."

Daine's opinion, who can use the foul play technique of reading people's minds, was very important in this party. It can be said that we are taking on this special investigation request because of Daine.

The "Authority" that had not been very well received, but no one could have imagined at that time that the encounter with Owl would change that.

Anyway, after a lot of information sharing, this party was finally able to start moving to fulfill the request.

"It's easy if he's smart. Hulk made a good purchase."

"Right?"

"But Hulk, weren't you saving that money? Is there somewhere you really want to go?"

"……"

"Did you forget?"

"I didn't forget… How should I put it, I feel like I'm being driven by something that transcends that… I don't feel like I chose it, but rather that I was chosen."

"Maybe it's a 'circle'."

"Be a good master. He's not a dog or a cat."

"I know."

"So, let's decide what to do next."

Thus, the exchange of opinions about Owl was made while he was fast asleep.

＊＊＊

[Next is the protagonist's point of view.]

[moancores]

𝙸 𝚆𝙰𝙽𝚃 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝙳𝙳𝙸𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝙼𝙴

summary : laying with you i feel like moving clouds high in the sky

pairings : aki hayakawa x fem! reader

caution warnings : smoking (cigarettes), mentions of fingering, a fic without a plot

words : 1.6k

inspiration : cigarette (ft. Tablo, Miso) — offonoff

Aki is cautious, even on his days off, he’s still highly aware of his surroundings and refuses to put his guard down. Paranoia laced his bones like a second skin, flooding his sanity and bathed him in alamort—his colleagues taunting him with obscene mouthfuls, referring to his tension as volatile metallics. He reminds them that it’s always better safe than sorry at the end of a job, his eyes always glazed in wet, insomniac entrapment. Of course, nobody took him seriously until after they were dead.

So in these lunar gold moments, where evening arrived too early, he wandered inside a morphean building with shame and guilt. The inclescent sign that read ‘DECADENCE’ in English flashed against the ebony ink night sky; showing the dense population of Tokyo that they were willing to open their doors for the damned and beautiful. Even inside the crimson illuminated lobby, where only one man sat at the front desk, Aki still kept his guard as he unconsciously created half moon circles into his salt stain palm from the tip of his nails. He nodded his head to the man with cimmerian eyes, who in return smiled at his favorite patron as the man pointed to the ceiling.

See, boy of misfortune that’s laved in bittersweet sickness was rooted to this love hotel for two years now, his feet pierced in magnetic obsession that always had him crawling back. He was a regular, someone the staff knew by name, despite the hatred that calloused him of how easily they spoke his name. It rolled off their tongues like venom and they made it sound harsh—their tone the equivalent of choking of funeral soil. He hated the illusion of their voices and it could be the overwhelming shame that made him hate them, but he can’t shake the feeling that they could be dangerous.

He held his breath as he looked at the man, feeling the apprehension kissed his skin as he melted into a cold sweat, but he understood. That she was waiting for him in the same room that overlooked the same LED sign that promoted the same ramen stall on the same main street. Aki left the same lobby to take the same left turn to the same ricody staircase, climbing the same nine floors up as the warm light bathed him in hues of champagne drip. He ignored the same art pieces that made him feel uncomfortable throughout the years of visiting, traveling down the same narrow hallway where the same wooden floors tripped him up before sighing at the same wooden door. Aki has frequented this room so casually that the owner of the hotel molded an exact replica of the key to this room.

The scent of peonies enveloped him into a serene eumoiriety as a sheen moisture of humidity coaxing his face, the strands of his acantho hair clung to his skin. The room was bare with little to offer besides a bed that was displayed in the center, adorned with the same pale blue sheets that Aki had messied and soiled with his own multitarian elixirs. In the far end of the room, the balcony doors were open to allow the evening winds to consume the fragments of fornication as the sheer curtains swayed against the current of cool zephyrs. Between the alterations of fabric, you stood amidst the foundation of taboos as you leaned your body against the iron railing, looking outwards towards a malice devoured city with half dead people being the buildment of a devil’s desire. Aki blinked as he watched your wet hair sway against the gust clear currents or how the tips of your hair dribbled warm water and pooled beneath you.

Aki pulled out the pack of cigarettes he recently purchased, tapping the cardboard box against his open palm with thunderous shockwaves in the hopes to pack the cigarettes tight. He fumbled with the packaging but he managed to quickly peel away the thin plastic that encased around the box and threw it to the ground; grabbing a cigarette between his fingers that stained his skin in the scent of tobacco and fig before brushing the filter against his bottom lip. Between the billowy curtains and harsh winds, Aki witnessed a scintilla of mist that blew east from your lips and dissipate into the astral atmosphere—the smell of your cheap cigarettes that were laced with poison was pungent. Aki watched, observing how the ash from your cigarette gravitated downwards towards the concrete versus the cherry cola ashtray that was shaped in a heart. He witnessed how your toes curled as you leaned your body down more against the railing, watching you lean further and further downwards until you began to slip.

“Idiot!” Aki cried, his calloused hands gripping your waist as he pulled you down into the depths of your shared room, “You need to be more careful!”

“I was completely fine, Hayakawa-san.” You rolled your eyes, “No need to worry about me.”

Aki lit his cigarette as he inhaled the first cigarette from the last two hours. His lungs inflated with venom that bit his esophagus, the taste of tobacco flowers shoving down his throat in between the bursts of nicotine obsession. He blew the mist from his nose, feeling his airwaves clog in an arcane burn, “I worry about you like I do anyone else.”

“Aweh, you think that highly of me?” You teased, flicking the end of your cigarette off the balcony.

“Don’t push your ego, you’re not that important to me.” Aki argued, “but I refuse to see any more people die in front of me.”

The beige chair in the corner collected the dust and ash shared between them from purgatory evenings, and despite it’s broken appearance, Aki still sat gingerly in his favorite chair. He quickly dragged another puff of his cigarette before welcoming you into his lap and cradling you close into his arms that were strained with catastrophic dolent. He hissed as your body connected with a freshly blue bruise that blotched him in orchids blooming beneath his flesh—before you could apologize, Aki shook his head and told you not to worry about it. You notice how his body heat radiated with nuclear fission and how it burned like a thousand suns, clearly he was overworking himself and his body is unable to keep up with the demands of his mentality. You couldn’t say anything though, knowing that he’ll get upset and excuse his hard work for determination and becoming the savior of a saccharine generation, so instead you encouraged him to smoke. Maybe chain smoking fifteen cigarettes will keep him bound to you a moment longer, distracting his pulsating hate for devils with the taste of attraction.

You grabbed another cigarette from your carton, placing it sweetly between your lips as your head hung off from the arm of your chair. Your hair mimicking cascades of waterfalls as it fails with the downward spiral of gravity, ichor pooling in your head as Aki lit the cigarette dangling between your peach gloss lips with your butane lighter (shaped and molded to resemble a lock and heart) that he found ridiculous. You inhale deeply through your nose, collecting the smoke into your lungs before you allow it to bleed into the atmosphere.

Aki set aside your lighter before returning his hand to the inside of your thigh, knowing that after two packs, while your organs are festering and dying, his long fingers will slip between the hem of your panties and thrust between your love. Deep conversations will fall into malicious silence as the only thing Aki can clearly comprehend is your soft moans echoing into the sky. His fingers buried deep within you in rhythmic depths as he looks outwards into the skyline of his newly acquired city—wondering what devils wandered about in the far corners of Tokyo before questioning what Makima was doing in this very moment. Sometimes, he’ll look at you and picture Makima unraveling beneath him, lips agape with apricot blush dusting her skin.

In his mind, he knew you were beautiful but you’ll never compare to Makima. Honestly, he doesn’t know why he’s so enamored with her but he’s drawn to her like the sun is with supernovas. There’s always something alluring about the mysterious darkness that blanketed over her, making her feel archaic and silver. To Aki, you were the light, something that felt safe yet dangerous. You can melt him, burn him and you could just as easily cremate him like any other fire devil—you were a hindrance to him but he was addicted to you like every cigarette shared amongst you. You brought life into halcyon days, where flowers stretch their long necks to kiss your nectar.

Besides, those are sensations and thoughts for later. You placed the cigarette you’ve kissed between his lips, allowing to suck and nurture on the vile as his spine relaxed further into the beige chair. His thumb swaying small circles into your flesh as he exhaled the taste of rot from the cheap cigarettes you loved so much. His stress induced head felt a tad bit high from the smoke and your touch that the world around him began to circle slowly and sweetly. His heart thrumming in euphoria as he gladly took another drag of your cigarette, cherishing the feeling of light fingertips against his chapped lips as you held the cigarette for him.

Decadence was a hotel he was swore was the gate to hell from his mortal reality, and somehow you lingered in the corrupt realm of the ninth floor as a distraction from the vile and decay he bathed in. Blood and killings were a part of his life just like how breathing, starving and lust was. However, on the ninth floor of a man made hell, you became a calm addiction that Aki craved—numbing the deaths of his buddies, colleagues and friends after a cry, a funeral and sex. The cigarettes shared between you were the conversations of apprehension, loss, pleasure and possible happy endings. The smell of your pastel breathing places him in a corrosive mood and suddenly, he could devour the moon raw.

You placed your fingers against his lips, encouraging him to take another long hit as the tan filter was eaten from the saliva shared between hallowed bodies. “Smoke up a glimpse of heaven.”

[writingwhimsey]

My Pirate Lord and Our Life Ch. 19

Chapter 19

After our day out, Motonari and I headed back to the apartment. He helped me put away the food before we went to put up his clothes. I cleared room in my dressers and closet for the purchases. Though we would only be here for a short while, there was seriously something I loved about setting things up in my room for him.

"What ya smiling so big for? Ya thinkin' of something dirty?" Motonari asked, teasing me.

"You know, I do have other thoughts about you besides how much I wanna jump your bones." I retorted.

Motonari wrapped his arms around me, hugging me from behind. "So, you were thinkin' about me though?"

"I was just thinking how much I like doing this stuff." I replied.

"Puttin' away clothes?"

"I meant the setting things up for us. Turning my space into our space." I answered. "Even though I know we won't be here long...I just enjoy doing this kind of stuff with you."

Motonari kissed me cheek. "Does it bother you? That we won't be here long?"

I shook my head. "Honestly...though this is the world I came from...it doesn't really feel like home anymore. Yes, I've missed Misa and my friends and I'm excited to see everyone again and I'm glad I'll get to actually say goodbye, but...I really do just feel like a visitor here."

Motonari rested his chin on my shoulder and turned his head to kiss my cheek. "So, when you think of home..."

I smiled. "I think of you, Aki, Azuchi, the Oda forces." I answered. "Also, I miss Grandpa Hiroyoshi."

"You loved that old geezer before you loved me."

"Well, I mean he was a lot nicer to me in the beginning." I teased right back. "But you know I love you more."

Motonari kissed me again. "When we get home in a few weeks, I'll give you two some time alone then."

I laughed. "Sending him as my guard again?"

"Nah, I ain't leavin' yer protection in anyone else's hands ever again. Every time I think you'll be fine ya manage to find trouble...granted that's 'cuz yer so beautiful ya just attract trouble."

I swear the way he teased me and then he would go and say something so sweet...dammit it got me every time. I turned in his arms so that I could kiss his handsome lips.

We lingered in the bedroom for a few more moments before exiting just as Misa got home. "Well, you just had to dress your bad boy up as a bad boy, didn't you?" She asked taking in Motonari in the leather jacket.

I blushed as I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Bad boy?" Motonari asked, looking at me with a grin.

"I mean...I had that thought when we first met." I replied. I then looked at Misa. "Damn you for knowing me too well."

She just grinned. "So, did you guys get everything we needed from the store?" She asked.

"Yeah." I answered, glad for the subject change, though I had a feeling Motonari would be bringing that up later.

"Alright, let me get changed and cleaned up a bit then we'll get started on everything." She told me.

Misa went to her room and then emerged just a few moments later in her jeans and a green t-shirt. The three of us then got started on getting dinner ready. Motonari cut veggies and things up and then went to set the table. Misa and I worked on the main courses (I was claiming most of the work that I could to make sure there was enough food that Motonari would eat). While we were doing this Misa decided we needed some music and pulled up her playlist on her phone and turned on the blue tooth speaker.

I heard the familiar bouncing beat of my favorite pop songs and I couldn't stop myself from swaying my hips to the music as I stood at the stove. Then the lyrics started. Misa was looking over at me. "Come on, you know you wanna." She teased with a big smile on her face.

"You did this because you want me to embarrass myself, don't you?" I replied.

"That would indeed be the goal." She agreed.

"From where I'm standin' you've nothin' to be embarrassed about, m'lady."

I turned to see Motonari was standing watching me. He likely had been to be sure of which foods I cooked, but he had apparently been enjoying the way my hips were swaying to the music.

"I might have to have the crew play some music whenever we cook at home." He told me, a grin on his face.

My cheeks turned red. "You're terrible."

"Yeah, and you love it."

"Well, my plan backfired. I'm now going to have to spray the both of you with cold water." Misa teased.

I picked up a towel and batted at Misa with it. "Once again you're just jealous." I teased.

"Hey, my boyfriend in my nightstand does a pretty good job." She remarked.

I shook my head. "Why am I friends with you again?"

"Because you love me." Misa teased.

"Some days." I replied.

"Oh and speaking of boyfriends and whatnot, Motonari, you're going to have to share your wife." Misa added.

"Kimi is bringing Kotoro?" I asked, my face lighting up.

"Yup." Misa replied.

"Kotoro?" Motonari asked.

"Yup, he just loves Ava to pieces. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't already found his way here." Misa replied.

It was then that it hit me what Misa was doing and what this all sounded like to Motonari. I could see the jealousy in his eyes. I knew I could easily clear the matter up, but at the same time...I kinda liked it when he got jealous and worked up. "And I love him. He's just the cutest!"

Motonari cocked a white brow at me. "Really?"

There was a knock on the door then. In a few seconds it was flying open. "AVA!!!" The excited little voice shouted as the head of light brown hair came dashing towards me.

I opened my arms with a big smile. "Kotoro!"

The small boy jumped up into my arms then, hugging me tightly. "I so happy to see you, Ava." He squealed as he pulled back to look at me.

I looked into his bright blue eyes and smiled. "Awe, I'm happy to see you, too. You're just so sweet and so cute."

Kotoro smiled at me. "Can I have smoochies?"

"Of course you can." I answered and then kissed his cheeks and and forehead.

"I give you smoochies." He said and then leaned in to kiss my cheeks.

"Kotoro, you know you're not supposed to run ahead of me like that." Came Kimi's voice as she entered the apartment.

"But Mama, I so 'cited! Ava here!" Kotoro replied.

"I know. And Mama is very excited about that, too." Kimi said, coming over and holding her arms open for her son.

"No, I stay right here." He said, resting his head on my shoulder.

"You know I don't mind holding him." I told Kimi.

"Yes, but it's Mama's turn for a hug. I've missed you, too you know." Kimi told me.

"Fine." Kotoro sighed and let me set him down on his feet.

Then Kimi was enveloping me in a tight hug. "God, girl you have no idea what we have all been through worrying about you."

I returned the hug. "I never meant to worry you guys."

Kimi pulled back and looked at me. "So, you gonna introduce me?"

"Kimi, this my husband Motonari. Motonari this is Kimi and this cute little guy is her son Kotoro." I said.

Motonari, of course had been staring at me since Kotoro had run in.

Misa started laughing from her place by the door. "Oh, man the look on his face...priceless."

"I get why yer messin' with me." Motonari said, looking at Misa. Then he looked back at me. "But you, too Flower girl?"

I grinned at him. "I couldn't help it. I was getting ready to clear it up right before Kotoro came bursting in the door."

"I'm gonna get you back for that later, m'lady." He told me and I could see the heat in his red eyes.

I shivered involuntarily at that.

Understanding seemed to hit Kimi then and she started laughing. "You were talking about Kotoro in a way to make him jealous? Oh that's funny."

Before anymore could be said, Asuna and Miss Mayuko were coming in. Asuna ran over to me without a word and just hugged me tightly. "Girl, you have us so damn worried." She squeezed me for another minute and then stepped away.

Then I was pulled into a hug by Miss Mayuko. "I'm just so glad to see you're doing well." She told me.

"Thank you." I replied, hugging her back.

We broke apart and then I was introducing Motonari to them. I hadn't had the chance to ask Misa what all she had told the others about where I had been, but my question was soon answered, when Asuna spoke up.

"Okay, I can definitely see why you decided to stay in the past." Asuna said, looking Motonari up and down.

"So, Misa told you guys everything?" I asked.

Asuna and Kimi nodded. "Yup."

"Even I couldn't think of a lie that would make sense for you coming home with a husband after only a month." Misa replied.

"Fair enough." I agreed.

"Hey, Mister." Kotoro said, looking up at Motonari.

Motonari looked down at him. "Yeah?"

"You really a pirate captain? Mama said you were." Kotoro asked.

Motonari must have recognized the excitement in Kotoro's eyes. He knelt down to his level and looked into his eyes. "Yeah, I am."

Kotoro let out an excited squeal. "Do you have a treasure? Like a super important one?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Is it buried somewhere? Something we could find?"

Motonari smiled. "I'll tell ya a secret. A pirate doesn't bury his best treasure. He keeps it close so he can guard it and keep it safe."

Kotoro's eyes lit up like he was just given the coolest thing ever. "Can...can I see your treasure?"

"You've already seen it." Motonari answered.

"Where?"

"Ava." Motonari answered.

Kotoro's eyes widened and his mouth fell open a bit. He then looked at me with those wide eyes. His mouth came into a smile then. "Yeah, Ava is as pretty as any treasure."

"Damn, he's smooth." Asuna said.

"I think it's sweet." Kimi said. "There any other warlords and or pirates you can hook a girl up with, Ava?"

I laughed. "I mean there are a few other guys back there I could introduce you to, but I don't think you could live without indoor plumbing."

"Fair point." Kimi replied.

We finished with getting dinner ready and were then setting everything on the table and setting down. Kotoro wanted to sit beside me and Motonari. He wanted to ask Motonari all kinds of questions about being a pirate and life at sea.

Motonari was patient with him and answered all of his questions, even played into some of the things he was saying, even of they didn't actually apply to pirates of his time.

"Just to warn you, you're now his best friend and he won't leave you alone for the rest of the night." Kimi warned Motonari.

Motonari shrugged. "Kid ain't so bad."

"So, we know you met in the past, but how exactly did you two meet?" Miss Mayuko asked.

"Yeah, that's a story I'm dying to hear." Misa said.

"Well...it's kind of an enemies to lovers thing." I replied, not exactly sure how to explain how Motonari and I went from him buying me and using me against my friends in the Oda forces to me falling head over heels for him.

"Oooh, that's my favorite trope." Kimi said with a laugh.

"How do you get enemies in a time period you're not even from?" Asuna asked.

"Ava, would do it." Misa replied with a shrug.

"Well...when you kinda save Nobunaga Oda's life and he declares you his lucky charm and you become part of the Oda forces, Oda enemies are your enemies." I explained.

"Wait, wait, wait...you know Nobunaga, too?" Misa asked.

"Yeah, and Hideyoshi, Mitsunari, Mitsuhide, Masamune, Ieyasu, Keiji...recently we've just added Shingen, Kenshin, Yoshimoto, Yukimura, Kanetsugu..." I answered.

"Damn, all the famous warlords." Asuna said.

"Of course." Misa replied. "So, what you were at war with the Oda?" She directed this question to Motonari.

"Yeah." He answered. "Though they didn't know it was me for most of the time."

"What?"

"I posed as a traveling merchant. Snuck in under their noses."

"And you two got close during that time?" Misa asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, you do have a habit of making your enemies like you." Misa said with a smile.

"Yeah, you would know better than the rest of us." Asuna teased.

There was more laughing and talking through the night...and more teasing. I'd swear I had never left Azuchi with the way my friends were. The only difference was that they had photographic evidence of some of my more embarrassing moments...which they pulled out and happily showed Motonari.

"Alright, I brought something really special." Asuna declared. She was then grabbing a covered dish she had brought with her. She opened it to reveal one of my favorite dishes...or at least what used to be one of my favorite dishes.

When I looked at the food and my nose caught the smell, something about it made my stomach churn. "Oh no...excuse me..." I said cupping my hand over my mouth as I stood up and bolted for the bathroom.

"Ava!" Motonari called after me alarmed.

I couldn't speak, I just ran straight to the toilet and emptied the contents of my stomach. It was a few moments later, Motonari had come in and was kneeling beside me. He pulled my hair back and held it as I revisited dinner.

"Haven't seen you this sick since yer first time on my ship." He said, once I had finished throwing up, though I was staying close to the toilet just in case I wasn't completely finished.

"Don't remind me of that." I replied.

Motonari patted my back. "You been feeling sick all day?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No...something about the smell of that food...it just kind of came out of nowhere." I answered.

Motonari looked at me with nothing but concern in his eyes. He brushed my bangs back from my face and kissed my forehead. "Ya don't feel like ya have a fever at least."

I felt myself relax a bit at his touch and his kindness. It was fun revisiting the beginning of our relationship by telling my friends about it. It made me appreciate how far we had truly come from then and the wonderful man he was now. How wonderfully sweet and caring he was.

While Ava and Motonari were in the bathroom, Misa was clearing the other girls and little Kotoro out of the apartment. "Tell Ava, I love her and hope she feels better soon." Kotoro said.

Misa smiled at the young boy. "Don't worry, I will." She replied. "And I'll keep you guys updated on how she's doing."

Once Asuna, Kimi, and Miss Mayuko left Misa was heading to the bathroom door. "How ya feeling?" She called.

"I'm...okay, I think." Ava called through the door.

"We are out of the stomach medicine. I'm gonna make a quick run to the pharmacy for it." Misa said.

"You don't...have to do that." Ava replied.

"I think you'll need it. Also I'm going to pick up a few other things to help settle your stomach. You better take care of her while I'm gone, Motonari."

"You don't have to tell me to take care of my own wife."

"You can't be too sure." Misa called.

She was then grabbing her jacket, purse, and keys, heading out to the pharmacy. She picked up the items she knew Ava would need. She knew Ava was likely to question one of the items, but she wasn't about to not get it. She's already begun to have the feeling that this would be the case, but the dinner confirmed it. "Honestly, I can't wait to see the look on her face when I give her this."

Chapter 20: https://writingwhimsey.tumblr.com/post/667170274928721920/my-pirate-lord-our-life-ch-20

[silvormoon]

Boueibus and Christmas Shopping

Atsushi - He's a big fan of homemade gifts. His friends tend to get boxes of cookies or fudge he made himself, or little crafts he's put together over the course of the year. He also puts together gift basket affairs filled with things like hats/gloves/scarf sets, tins of tea, artisan soap and candles, fancy honey or herbed oil... He's not the most creative or exciting when it comes to gifts but it's always heartfelt.

Yumoto - Tends to have trouble working out what people actually want, even when they tell him, because if he doesn't want a thing then why would you? Frequently gives his friends plushies or candy, because in his world, no one can have too much candy.

En - Is the master of "I had no idea I wanted this thing or even that it existed. I did not know I needed one of these until now."

Io - Buys surprisingly expensive presents. He does, however, research the dickens out of every single purchase. If he is going to buy you a thing, he is going to make darned sure ahead of time that 1) you actually want the thing, that 2) he has found the best possible instance of that thing, and 3) he is getting the best deal available on the thing. If he knows you need a new winter jacket, then he will spend days doing extensive market research and choose one based on warmth, durability, and your personal sense of style, and then wait months if necessary for a really good sale.

Ryuu - Always up to date with the newest, hottest trend. Whatever that thing is that everyone is standing in line for this year? He got you one, somehow. Also has a good eye for clothes. Even if it isn't something you would have picked for yourself, it will always look good and fit perfectly.

Akoya - Adores shopping. Frequently buys so many gifts he winds up taking a few back, or just stashing them away to be given at some other occasion, and then forgets about them until he finds them in the back of the closet one day and decides to give you a random Christmas gift in the middle of April.

Arima - Somehow he knows exactly what you wanted, even if you didn't tell him. Doesn't matter if it's limited edition, out of print, one of a kind, only available in some other country... whatever it is, he knew where to find it. Plans his shopping the way a general plans his battles, and keeps his plans even more secret.

Kinshiro - Swears that he's going to get everyone practical gifts, things they actually need. Gets all his shopping done well in advance, and then after he's done, he'll see something and think, "Atsushi/Arima/Akoya/etc. would love that" and buy it on impulse. People he likes a lot tend to end up with a lot of presents by the time gift-giving season rolls around.

Aki & Haru - They are making up for all the Christmases they missed while they were in space. Every year they throw an elaborate party and give out tons of presents - often pretty offbeat stuff, since they missed some socialization in terms of "what is an appropriate thing to give to somebody" but the occasion is generally a lot of of fun if only for the novelty value. Their hectic schedule means they don't always have a lot of time to shop, so every Christmas tends to involve a certain amount of panic as they scramble to find the best gifts in the shortest time possible.

[yukihime03]

The A3! Song Tag Game

Thanks for tagging me, @athela-3​! I’d actually been wanting to write a post about A3! songs but never got to it because I had a hard time choosing! 😅

With you tagging me, I guess I might as well do this now. Man... I spent hours formulating a response to these questions. I’m doing this all at once, so this post is going to be a long one...

Main:

What is your first A3! song?

MANKAI☆Kaika Sengen! I mean, it’s the song that greets you the moment you open the game. Moreover, I was already familiar with Masayoshi Oishi, thanks to him writing Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun’s OP Kimi Ja Nakya Dame Mitai (which is also a bop!). The moment I heard Kaika Sengen, I instantly knew it’s written by Masayoshi-san and took to it immediately. However, the song that led to the whole discography was Susume! Pirates, because I was blown away by Misumi’s voice there and it made me curious about his other songs... and so, here I am, playing A3! playlist almost every day.

What A3! song gives you musical chills (frisson)?

Ugh, so many, I have a hard time choosing, but I think I’ll choose the one that started it all: Susume! Pirates. Misumi’s and Muku’s voices there always give me good chills, making me wanna sail away and go treasure hunting right away! Special mention: The Contract. The full version is not out yet, but damn, Tsumugi’s “Contract”... *chef’s kiss*

What A3! song makes you want to dance?

Honestly all A3ders songs and Summer Troupe songs make my body move instantly, but I think the one song that makes me wanna do proper dance is Summer Time Love. I mean, have you seen Renren (Kazu’s VA) dancing that song??? I totally understand why Daisuke-kun (Misumi’s VA) learned the dance routine and wanted to dance it with Renren.

What A3! song you would sing in a karaoke?

If it’s a solo song, I want to sing Kiteretsu Poemer, because I can go all out and be hella dramatic. 😂

Ahahahaha I have kept you all in waiting, honored ladies and esteemed gentlemen My time to take the stage is nigh! Ahahahaha

If it’s a duet song... I actually already make an agreement with a friend who also likes A3! that we’ll sing BUZAMA in karaoke. I’ll sing Sakyo’s part and my friend will sing Juza’s part. I have even memorized the dialogues. 😅

What A3! song gets you hyped up?

Natsu tte ☆ Pari Pari! It’s an easy choice because this song just screams “HYPE HYPE HYPE”. 

KA・ZU・NA・RI! Guu yabaa! 

What A3! song is the most relatable for you?

Nowadays, I can totally relate to Gamer’s High for obvious reasons lol. Even my new motto comes from this song:

Kakin wa uragiranai (My in-game purchases will never betray me)

But my teenage self can also relate to MINORITY. This leads to me to the realization that both Itaru and Yuki struggle with their real selves, but they take different approaches. My approach was closer to Yuki though.

It was right for me to have refused to lie to myself, right? The truth is, I’ve always been searching for a place that will accept me for who I am

Thankfully, just as Yuki has found Mankai Company, I have also found a place that accepts me for who I am. 😊

What A3! song makes you feel sadness?

Omoide no Nejimaki. Gosh, the moment the music starts, I just wanna cry everytime. Hearing the song always reminds me of the play... 😭😭😭

It was left in the hand The key to memories   

Excuse me while I go sobbing for a second.

What A3! song make you feel happiness?

MagiClap. The two purest beings I have ever known singing to me about the magic of a smile?? How can I not be smiling happily??

Let’s clap your hands together! I’ll cast a spell of happiness     

If you look at my face when I’m listening to this song, my expression will be like this ☺️☺️☺️ the whole time. Whoever decides to make these two sing together deserves an award, IMO.

A3! song that could be a good anime op?

If we strictly talk about anime OP, I think Mikansei na Sora de fits a fashion anime. But I think quite a number of A3! songs can be good anime songs. Sorachika will be good as soccer anime ED, I think. Susume! Pirates also sounds similar to Fairy Tail BGMs...

Favourites:

What is your favourite A3! song?

The hardest question to answer ever, but I end up choosing Scarlet Game as the winner. It has the mystery air that I so love and I adore the concept of a duet between archenemies. The lyrics are the reason why this song wins over es no Yuutsu as my most favorite A3! song.

My dearest neighbor To be quite honest, Is but a smiling monster 

I always love smiling villains. 🙂

What is your favourite Character song?

SICK SICK SICK. I’m not even a Masumi fan, but damn, this song is just so sick. I want to grab a standing mic and sing this song the way Shirai (Masumi’s VA) sang it in the live concert.

What is your favourite Troupe theme song?

Natsu tte ☆ Pari Pari! because as I said: HYPE HYPE HYPE. My second favorite is SECOND SHOT. I also love the rock vibes of Autumn Troupe songs.

What is your favourite Play theme song?

I mentioned it above, so you can guess it’s es no Yuutsu. Being a mystery genre lover, I will of course choose this song as a top favorite. Toshi’s (Homare VA) voice also sounds so... delicious. My second favorite is Hajimari wa Karutetto because I like classical music (which is the play’s theme) and the soft violin sound. It is the song I listen to when I want to relax.

What is your favourite Mix Troupe theme song?

Scarlet Game for reasons already mentioned above. I have a lot of favorites from Mixed Plays though: Mikansei no Sora de, Sorachika, Yoi no Mikazuki, and MagiClap. I can’t quite decide the order.

What is your favourite A3der! song?

Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu☆Blooming! I just love it when they yell out “MANKAI!” I think the new Circle of Seasons may usurp the top position, but it’s not quite there yet...

Phew~ It’s quite tiring writing all this, but I feel very accomplished at the same time. 😝 I’m not tagging anyone in particular. If you want to do this too, then go ahead! Spread your love for A3! songs~

[dndfuckhouse]

session 33 - Introductions and Invitations

> 🎵   Sword Search on Koholint Island / LOZ: Link’s Awakening (2019) OST.

After having spent the whole of the morning walking around the group find themselves drawn to the smell of fish wafting around the city square and head over towards the nearby café to refuel themselves over lunch.

After being greeted by the upbeat waitress they seat themselves and begin pondering the menu. The feeling of the bright midday sun beating down on their heads while the cool seaside breeze blows through keeps them company amongst the townspeople in the city square.

Cimmorro: the image rn is finn cimm han plum rokka in the same table..... psalm also but at the edge??? Chip: dnd cafe marching order being determined rn Celebrity Guest Aki: WHY DOES THIS SOUND SO UNBALANCEDD Rokka: BC IT IS Psalm: achieving total mental blankness trying to imagine this Keva: 

Finn: im ordering nothing because i literally cant eat or drink Psalm: just ask for the bloodwine alone Finn: yeah ill just inconspicuously ask for fish blood in isolation Plum: they got that just for you actually the blood drink, god put that on there for you finn Psalm: yeah we called ahead

Noticing Keva struggling with the menu, Cimmorro moves to lend her a land subtly. Meanwhile Plum tells Finn they can order the dish that comes with fish blood and split it with him if he’d like.

Keva: she's not really looking at the menu much.... you probably just see her watching everyone else and checking the number on the menu for the thing they order Cimmorro: okay well he's going to look at you for a good second, contemplating if he should offer to help but realizes that might be a bad idea so he's just going to go get the waitress' attention and go like "what would be your best sellers here? and what you would recommend?" Cherry: she hums and thinks "i'd say the sea bed or the prawn's eyes usually sell pretty well! the salty dog ale is a local specialty as well, id recommend it if you aren't made queasy easy" she says with a laugh Keva: trying to picture wtf sea bed and salty dog could mean Cimmorro: (dwfl he wanted to order the sea bed) cimm nods at her and looks at the menu "10 sp for the sea bed... fish and bread sounds appealing today huh i'll have one," he says alla this w/ intention for keva to hear. and adds, "i think i'll just have a glass of water though, thanks" Keva: she looks at cimm for a moment, silently feeling grateful, and says "same as him" tilting her menu a bit towards cimm and hands the menu back

Plum: plum turns to finn and says "i could order this," and points to the caver's treat, "and you could have the cup of blood that comes with it, if you're hungry." Finn: hes already spacing out when plum suddenly speaks to him, whipping his head around a little startled. "oh" admittedly, finn wasn't hungry, or thirsty, but plums attentiveness does touch him a little. he nods. "that is very kind of you plum... if you truly do not mind, then ... id appreciate that." Plum: "sure, no problem" plum says to finn and takes a sip from their drink. they wave the waitress over to order one ＣＡＶＥＲ＇Ｓ ＴＲＥＡＴ 

The Group’s Orders ~ 🐟

Plum: Reaver’s Luck, Caver’s Treat Rokka: Berried Salmon, Reaver’s Luck Psalm: Berried Salmon Han: The Phoenix, Fishers Teeth (takeout - Caver’s Treat ) Keva: Sea Bed Cimmorro: Sea Bed

Taking the orders, the waitress gives a nod and scuttles off. After a small wait the dishes are brought out, the scent of fish overpowering the place. The group find their meals appetising and begin to dig in and chatter amongst themselves. Finn stealthily transfers the bloodwine into a cup of his own he can discretely drink from while Keva wraps and saves a slice of the bread for later consumption.

Finn: he clinks his glass with plum to thank them for the fish but before he takes a sip he blinks "oh... what are we to do with the fish plum?" Plum: they clink their mug with finn's and then gives him a confused look. after a moment they look like they're trying not to laugh a little. "what made you think i wasn't gonna...eat it?" plum asks before picking up a fork. Finn: "i simply thought it might be a bit much.. is all.." feeling a little stupid for having asked now. "and it is meant to be eaten with the blood after all.. " Plum: "oh, nah. it was two gold pieces so i'd better finish it, honestly," plum says and starts eating. "also i don't really want the blood," they stop and make a hand gesture as if to say that finn can just go ahead and enjoy the blood himself. Finn: he fails to control himself and finish listening to plum, chugging the glass in one go, feeling particularly satisfied and sated for now.  "ah, please... i will pay for it of course, you ordered this for my sake" he says quickly as if he didnt just drink that like a possessed man Han: finns eyes do the cat silly time thing Cimmorro: yess finn goo you fucking horse Han: vibrates in his chair cause he got the blood zoomies

Plum: "or we can just split it" plum says casually, not saying anything at the change in finn's demeanour for a moment there. it'd probably be rude to seem a bit surprised.

Rokka: “LOOKING GOOD” Cimmorro: "kinda pog as they say...." cimm gives his thanks to wee jasus christ and begins to eat in a decent pace... just focused on eating Rokka: halfway through chewing rokka talks with his mouth full, "watsh pogh" Cimmorro: cimm looks disgusted at you, once again, for talking with your mouth full. and just goes. "oh you know like- [does the pog face for a split second]" before going back to his food though he looks up at you again the next second and goes like "oh right. rokka, here." he slides 35gp across the table to you. "for the time at nickels." and he just goes back to eating Rokka: "ohhh so then if i wanted to say my food is "pog" i can just [makes the pog face]?" he looks down at the money "oh! you didn't have to pay me back....thanks though!" le pockets money Han: han goes (mgs ❗ noise) and starts fishing in her side pocket too "wait i owe you for bedroll and rope" and hands rokka X gold Rokka: he then turns to han "WHAT!!! NO, NO ITS OKAY!!" he tries to push it back to han Han: she doesn't even touch it again and goes back to food "i dont like being in debt" Rokka: he stares at the xgp before reluctantly taking it seeing as han refusing to take it back "alrigghtt. thanks hannn" Han:  😇 Psalm: he watches Rokka’s exchanges for a moment. "It just occurred to me that now would be a good time for that drink you owe me." Cimmorro: cimm looks at rokka and psalm and goes "i'm starting to learn that it's a bad idea to be in debt to you psalm" Psalm: "I think I'm pretty fair all things considered 😇 " Cimmorro: he just sighs and goes back to his food

Rokka: his head whips over to psalm like !!!!! "i-WHAT--oh! yeah....do you.......want to share my drink?" Psalm: "No I don't...?" Rokka: well, then.......what do you want?" Psalm: "One salty dog ale please (: ." Han: did chip plan for this joke. its too perfect? Psalm: WAIT YOU'RE SO RIGHT  Han: I LEGIT THOUGHT IT WAS A GAG U WERE DOING AND LOOKED AT THE MENU Chip: LIFE FINDS A WAY....

Ghester: you hear a chuckle in your head followed by a voice that says "well he's a good sportsman about it" Psalm: "It was his idea to play." Rokka: he looks around "HUH WHAT?!"  Ghester: "that makes a person more reluctant sometimes" he then laughs at rokka's reaction Psalm: he scoffs. Rokka: he abruptly stands up from the table and shaking the table in the process "OK WHATS GOING ON"

Getting agitated by Ghester’s repeated remarks, Rokka bolts up from his seat ending all other conversation in his wake, the rest of the party stares at him, grabbing their plates instinctually in case he flipped the table over. The waitress in the meanwhile hands Pslam his newly purchased drink on Rokka’s dime.

Ghester: "oh he's gotten excited" says the voice Rokka: “WHO!?” Psalm: psalm is just drinking casually

Cimmorro: when rokka finally settles down, cimm just looks at him like 🤨 before looking at psalm again, "speaking of being fair, why don't you tell us about your little friend... ghester? you said you'd tell us about them, no?" Psalm: * doesn't remember what he said * "Yeah alright. I introduced Plum and you already right?" Cimmorro: he nods "introduced us... but we don't even know who or what you introduced us to" Rokka: just looking up at the sky like "....hello?" Plum: they had jumped at rokka's reaction but at the mention of their name by psalm they think they can guess what's happening now. Finn: he was gonna reply to plum but because of all the commotion his attention is focused on psalm rn, but he is bouncing his leg under the table Keva: she just has no idea what's going on

Psalm: "Your guess is honestly as good as mine." @ ghester "You want to explain? I myself am not really sure what to say." Ghester: he chuckles before speaking into the rest of your heads "hmm... well you may call me ghester. i am a companion of sorts to your lovely friend psalm here. pleasure to meet you" Rokka: "ghost...........?" side eyes psalm Psalm: "No I don't think that's quite it." Rokka: “then what?” Psalm: he just shrugs Rokka: rokka slowly nods as if he gets it but he doesnt

Keva: she jumps a bit "what the fuck" Plum: plum shivers at the sudden voice in their head. "i really thought the cult would be the weirdest thing with y'all and yet." Han: she squints her eyes "can you like, read our minds? do you have a body? are you stealing psalms...?" han leans in quizzically and stares at psalm Ghester: he laughs "no i cannot read anyone's mind, not even his. nor do i hold any control over him, i dont think he'd quite appreciate me doing it even if i could" he thinks "i dont have a body, though i feel like maybe i did once, a funny thought to have these days" Han: she pouts thoughtfully but her brain is actually empty "hmmm" Cimmorro: damn so no cock penis? Han: hate your ass Finn: im just imagining the voice of the book from nier rn for this guy Chip: YOU SHOULD THATS HIM Plum: oh my god that was the decided voice, thats so horrible Han: liam obrien haunts us everywhere

Finn: he does squint at psalm, but he thinks that ghester’s voice is quite pleasant so its not like its a huge hassle. after psalm told them about this, at least. he is a bit irritated over having thought he was hallucinating it a while ago. Plum: "doesn't sound like he's been with you for too long"  Psalm: "It's been a couple weeks. Maybe a month." Plum: "wow, that's shorter than i expected. i've already known you fuckers for a week by now." Cimmorro: he just kinda looks confused towards psalm and responds to ghester "uhh huh... are you the reason why he coughs smoke or..." Psalm: he’s just blinking at Cimm like oh you saw that lol whoops Ghester: "not directly, but its related. i guess you could say im a conduit for his magic. in charge of watching over him" Cimmorro: just shaking his head at psalm and how he said they've only been together for a short time... like what is wrong with yall

Finn: "and you just.... hid this from us?" Ghester: he chuckles at you finn "thats a funny response" Finn: "im sure it is after youve messed with all our heads" bouncing his leg quicker Psalm: "What reason would I have to tell you? It's not like I've known any of your for all that long." Plum: looking at finn like you good bro Finn: "if you didnt want to tell us you should do better to keep your parasite out of our minds then" Ghester: "ooh quite harsh" Psalm: “Right? Yeesh. Why am I being put on trial here? He called you a parasite (lol)."  Cimmorro: "i get the feeling that you don't wanna share more about this. but i just wanna know if you communicating with the rest of us like this won't harm us in any way..."  no video game rpg sanity drain so to speak Keva: squinting like wtf does magic do to you...... is orin okay...... Ghester: "oh nothing to worry about there, my job is to keep him safe. If you are his friends then this extends to you as well, quite the opposite of harm" he turns his attention back to you psalm and laughs at his joke Cimmorro: cimm just hums at this, not entirely convinced but it's good for now Finn: just staring at you for a moment longer before looking away, expecting psalm to understand without actually saying anything because he's awful. Psalm: Psalm just 🤨 ...? and just decides to go back to his drink. Finn: finn: dear uncle, ive witnessed another cringe moment. this is number 10 in the top15 list

Psalm: "I think friends is generous :j , but rest assured that for now your life isn't being slowly siphoned away from you or whatever it is youre worried about. At least I don't think it is /s" Ghester: "i wonder why you would even put the thought out...? Psalm: "Because it's funny?" Ghester: [sigh] Plum: "thanks, i feel a lot better about that now." Rokka: just staring at u dead on sarcasm flying over "wait......HAVE U BEEN FEEDING OFF ME"  Ghester: he laughs jovially at you "theres nothing on you to eat dear boy" Han: han thinks 'damn... does he mean rokka has no brains to eat....'

Han: she thinks for a bit "do you have big range? before you cannot hear us?" Ghester: "hmm from wherever our good man here is standing i can hear about 120 or so feet...granted you yell when you are far away that is" Han: "does that mean you hear through psalm? and here i thought you would be useful for undercover work" han sighs a bit Psalm: "I have to agree with you on that one. Kind of disappointing." Ghester: "not necessarily, if he cant hear i still can. i can talk to you all if you are all that far away as well even if he himself isnt close" @ psalm "and here i thought you were my one ally at this table" Psalm: :j Han: "oh hmmm... that suppose that is useful..." han thinks abt strategies.. Keva: she sarcastically mumbles "just what i always wanted, a ghost from i don't know where doing god knows what, listening in on whatever i'm doing" Ghester: he laughs Rokka: he mumbles to himself after hearing this "scary..." Cimmorro: well then he stifles a small laugh and looks at keva "what could possibly go wrong, yeah?" Keva: "can't think of a single thing" Psalm: "It's thanks to him (and plum) we didn't lose your money to Rickert though. So I'd say for now the pros are more than the cons." Ghester: "oh such rare praise"  Cimmorro: "oho is he not always this nice to you?" Ghester: "tis' a heavy burden i carry" Psalm: "Stop framing it like I'm picking sides" Ghester: [laugh] Plum: "true, and he's more personable than his host," plum says jokingly Psalm: "Alright, alright already." psalm waves everyone off Han: han is like 👁  but also snorting at this

Cimmorro: "aww you poor thing... psalm be more nice... i think ghester does care about you, you know... he immediately went to me when you were unconscious." Psalm: he just rolls his eyes  Ghester: "well... as far as charges go i could have been given far worse" you feel a warm presence before he snickers "try not to bully him too much" Han: "far worse?" Ghester: "hmm well imagine if i were companion to someone completely silent...now that would be a trial" Han: she ponders the previous thought "you are right (@ ghester) at least psalm is funny sometimes." Psalm: 🤨 "Okay, pester Psalm hour is over now. Hope you all had your fun." SWATS THE AIR IN FUTLITY Ghester: [laugh] Plum: they wants to say we're not even talking to you we're talking to ghester but they'll leave him alone Keva: she snorts at the try not to bully him and pops a piece of bread into her mouth Cimmorro: he smiles at the warmth but also "no bullying, not even in your honor? you are so humble, king..." and just laughs at psalm swatting everyone off Psalm: "I try." Ghester: he laughs "you'll be fun to be around im sure" Keva: "oh he likes you" like someone talking abt a pet taking a liking to someone  Cimmorro: "he knows how to pick them... " he laughs and responds to ghester "if you ever change your mind on bullying psalm, you know who to call"

Plum: "you changed your mind pretty fast, huh?" @cimmorro​, plum is amused they're not making fun of him Cimmorro: "oh i'll still get him whenever i can. just leaving the offer with ghester in case he wants to join in." Plum: "oh, i meant on warming up to psalm's mind demon in the first place, but true" plum says Cimmorro: "oh well he's a charmer. what's not to like" he laughs Plum: "agreed" Ghester: "flattery will get you everywhere" Plum: "hah, i guess that's true ain't it." flattery's not really their thing, but they give an amused laugh.

Finished with their food and their curiosity over Ghester for the moment sated, some of the party get up to go pay for their meals while others continue to sit and chat. As they do Han continues messing about and pulling Ghester’s attention over.

Han: she covers her mouth with her hands and whispers to herself "ghesterrrrr can you hear me? tell psalm he looks like a strawberry." then get distracted and moves her hands "actually, can you move things? or are you simply ghostly" Ghester: "i cannot. lest i am a weapon psalm has willed me into and is...well using me to move things" a beat passes "all these ghost comparisons are amusing" Han: "ooooh... maybe living weapon... cool :D" Psalm: "He's what I've been fighting with this entire time." Keva: she’s gonna get up and head to the counter where she spies people paying for their food, and as she passes psalm she kinda gives a little shrug like "i tried" to change the subject lol Psalm: psalm nods, benedict cumberbatch salute

Han: she has lightbulb moment "your weapon that seems to change every time i look? and that you never actually carry on you?" Psalm: "Yes that would be the one."

To drive the point home psalm has Ghester discreetly apperate in his hands as a short sword for Han.

Cimmorro: psalm like yosuke persona 4 pulling out his katanas at the convenience store and gets arrested for it Psalm: I ASSUME EVERYON EELSE HER JUST HAS WEAPONS HONESTLY LIKE I THOUGHT THAT Cimmorro: NO ONE WHIPS IT OUT IN A RESTO Psalm: HDG WELL I DO NOW Cimmorro: AND THEN WE HANDED PSALM CHAN OVER TO THE POLICE

Han: "ghester, can i have you?? it would be super useful to change from bow to glaive in second.." han is v excited now Finn: he’s getting up yet, being intrigued by an ever changing weapon........but he feels too awkward to actually comment on it. he thinks han's reaction is kinda cute. Ghester: he laughs jovially again "sadly you cannot have me, him and i are bound. you'll have to look elsewhere, though im flattered by the thought" Han: "aww booo" han pouts and flicks at the sword (if its in arms reach anyway) Psalm: "I'm amazed you even asked honestly." on the outside psalm is :/ but on the inside psalm is like 😏 Han: HAN LOOKS AT PSALM PUZZLED Psalm: PSALM JUST LOOKS BACK AT HER LIKE WHAT? Han: she shrugs and lets it go

Chip: the pact is marriage <3 Keva: exactly, ordained by psalm's patron Psalm: why areyou trying ot homewreck me he's happily married Cimmorro: damnn psalm already taken before this campaign even started... how can we homewreck that beautiful marriage Chip: next quest Psalm: OI

Having had their fun messing with Psalm the rest of the group get up to go pay for their meals. The party idle around deciding what to do next, as they chat Han orders and waits for an additional meal to be prepared for her to take back to the Swallow’s Perch for Ferrie and the others.

> 🎵  Village of Rynoka / Moonlighter OST

Han: oh before everyone starts leaving han is like "oh oh oh, ferrie chris insists everyone stay at the swallows perch.. its free food and bed " Rokka: "WHAT"  Han: "yea :D" Finn: finn gives you this look 🤨 Han: "you included" Rokka: rokkas tail wagging at mach speed bc free roof and food epic!!!  "THATS AWESOME!!! TIME TO GO PACK THEN" he quickly gets up and immediately heads home to do as he said Han: han waves bye :D.... Rokka: waving in the distance as he runs off Finn: "i ... see" he cringes at the fact that he will need a new residence soon, and that this is the most convenient option. however, he absolutely doesn't want to be stuck with the others. bad enough that they'll have to travel together for so long

The group split off their separate ways, Han sticking around to wait for her food, though Finn also sticks around to continue chatting with her about Ferrie’s offer.

Finn: finn rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "ugh. not much of a choice, is it?" he pulls up his scarf more before continuing. "if you want me to stay so badly theres something youll have to do for me first." Han: HAN LOLS INTERNALLY and cocks a hip "what might that be? dont overestimate how badly i want you" Finn: finn makes a grimace, you can tell from his visible eyes. "ive no interest in women, give that up this instant" (so full of himself he believes that) he begins rubbing his temples. "anyway, itll give you an opportunity to be closer to me, i suppose." and motions for you to come closer Han: han guffaws "what?? and i have little interest in small men that cant handle me. whats that got to do with your favour?" she seems entertained and leans in Finn: finn is confused by hans push and pull, was she hoping to charm him somehow like this? when she leans in he yanks her down more to a comfortable level (by her hair) and whispers  "i will say this as clear as i can to" an insult lies in the tip of his tongue but his scolding uncle appears in his mind "you. i want you to stealthily move my coffin to that inn, once i have to leave my quarters. youre the strongest so i trust youre capable. ill reward you if need be" Chip: WHY IS THIS THE GREEN M&M COPYPASTA JUDE ? Cimmorro: P;'TLQ30TO305O-0RQOFASF CHIP ILL ILLL MAUL YOUHG Finn: finns done fighting w cimm he needs someone new to hate him Psalm: finn's moral compass is his uncle its not even an angel devil him situation, its vorde

Han: han’s entertained demeanour drops immediately as her hair gets grabbed and shes mad and even madder that she didn't catch that so she just grabs finns hand painfully as he holds her hair and whispers with contained anger without even listening to whatever finns saying "dont do that. if you want to play friendly." Finn: he winces when she grabs his hand like that. normally he would not yield just yet but a fight in direct sunlight, with their bulkiest party member, is not what he needs. he lets go of her hair quickly. "i assumed it was fine to be playful around you. my apologies." <- genuinely meaning this Han: han is silent for a second "... just not the hair" and she drops finns hand "what did you say you need" Finn: "note taken. not the hair." he rubs his hand before going on his tip toes to talk to her instead this time. "i need you to move my coffin the day i move out. but obviously i dont want the whole city to see us with that thing, if you catch my drift." taking on a neutral, dry tone. Han: han thinks briefly "consider it done. i can burrow the inns cart and hide your coffin... actually, what exactly .. is it." Finn: finn blinks a little in surprise, not having expected her to still do it after he's pissed her off. his eyes get a little bigger, 🥺 like. "you will? i.. thank you. we can work out the details closer to my departure..." Han: han is like augh 🙄  at the puppy eyes bc she is immune to them "yea, just tell when to show up" Finn: "ill let you be on your way then." going off his tippy toes and waving goodbye for now Han: han waves him bye too......... cherry wheres my takeaway Cimmorro: how yall going to explain to ferrie chris abt finn's coffin Keva: dont worry about it its his burden to bear Celebrity Guest Aqua: His jesus cross to drag

After waiting a few more minutes Han is handed her takeaway, she soon scuttles her way back to the Swallow’s Perch with the meal, heading in she notes that Cimmorro isn’t back yet either. She promptly hands the food over before getting ready to work on the clock for the rest of the day. Layne joyfully takes the lunch as its handed to him, Ferrie steals a bite from it as well while Jessep stares at it and remarks he's full. 

Soon after the two’s conversation, Finn heads back to the blacksmiths to get his rapier worked on for the day, finding no need to head over to the Swallow’s Perch for the moment. The rest of the party head to their inns to prepare and transfer their belongings over, Plum and Cimmorro however make a brief stop off at Vinny’s store first to check in on the goings on and to see if he’s returned yet.

The two glance at the building once they reach it, though it doesn’t exactly look to be open. Squinting through the window they see Cole bumbling around behind the counter in the back. Cimmorro waves at her from beyond the window though she doesn't seem to notice prompting Plum to knock on the glass instead.

Cole: you see her head swoop over like : D ? before she recognizes the two of you, and comes over to the front door, appears it was locked after all, as she wrangles it open the bell jingles "hey guys!" Cimmorro: cimm goes hiya and asks her if everything's been good around Plum: "hiya, i'm just here to buy one or two things" Cole: "yep I've just been cleaning up since vinny still isnt back" she tilts her head with a sigh before turning to you a bit more chipper plum  "oho... were closed but ill make an exception for my new pal" she gives you a wink and ushers you in Plum: they jump a little at that and are a bit embarrassed now. a bit red, they scratch the back of their head and say, "i mean, you don't have to. i was just lookin' for shit to buy for my mom and pop before they got here... nothing serious." Cole: "aw dont worry about it, and if its something that easy then its all good for me to let ya nose around" she smiles as she waves her hand Cimmorro: "still no show huh, don't have any news when he'll be back too?" Cole: she frowns as she walks over to the counter "no... but if he isn't back tomorrow ill go over and see if they'll let me poke my head in..." she shakes her fist "he's...got important obligations here... yknow!" next to her one of the cats on the counter meows Cimmorro: he leans over and tilts his head looking at the cat "indeed, very important obligations." he pats the cat's head. "oh but don't get into trouble trying to get him though haha... in any case i oughta be going but i'll be peeking in from time to time. let him know i'm looking for him if you get the chance though, yea? thanks cole" he gives her a smile before gesturing to plum that he'll be heading back first Cole: she folds her arms "aauugh guards and wizards.... but sure thing, i'll...twist their arms somehow!" she gives you a cheery wave as you trot off Cimmorro: he kinda just smiles while shaking his head at that as he walks on off Plum: plum waves goodbye to cimmorro. they're kinda curious because they thought cimmorro was gonna buy something but whatever.

Going off ahead Cimmorro trots off back to the Swallow’s Perch noting Vinny still hasn't been able to return to his own store just yet. Walking back he gets a quick idea and shoots off a sending spell towards him to ease his mind over Cole and Ezra’s current statuses.

Cimmorro: "yoohoo, this is cimmorro. we found cole and ezra all safe and well. they've been back at your store since yesterday. no need to worry." Vinny: after a brief pause you hear a quiet sigh of relief in your head followed by words said in a whispered hush "i cant quite speak right now but. thank you so much, i mean that genuinely" followed by the typical silence Cimmorro: cimm scrunches his face a bit but will continue going abt his merry way then

Soon after he makes his way back to Swallow’s Perch, second after Han, and settles in their shared room. In the meantime Plum takes the time to pick out a few items from the store shelves as gifts for their family, chatting with Cole once they bring them back over to the counter to purchase them.

Chip: the cat seems to stare at you for the duration of this transaction Plum: "what's this one's name?" Cole: she turns her head and scratches its head "this ones coal"  Plum: plum snickers. "what? did vinny name this one before or after meeting you??" Cole: she laughs "before! before! this guy here's my senior teaching me the ropes" the cat starts purring Plum: "right, how long have you been round here again?"  Cole: she stretches back thinking "hmmmmm a year ago now...probably two actually" she scratches her chin "it's a nice city though, the airs so ...fresh around here even though its so busy" Plum: "yeah it is nice. too bad i'm not sticking around for much longer, i wanted to see the ocean better  " plum says, mostly conversationally. "anyways, thanks for the stuff. and good luck getting that wizard lady to let go of vinny, also." plum huffs out a laugh. "poor guy." Cole: she pumps her fist "im getting him back here at some point at least! maybe ill wrangle ezra into it..." she thinks to herself before turning back "you should head down to some of the docks soon, they're real fun for peoplewatching" she says with a smile walking over with you back to the front door Plum: [pumps fist in return] "maybe i'll do that later then, thanks. seeya." Cole: she sees you out with a wave and locks the door behind you as it jingles, getting back to...you're not sure what she was doing actually. Finn: PLUM GOT HER ROUTE UNLOCKED Han: DONT SQUANDER UR CHANCE FOR A CUTE GF Plum: i will Han: oTL

Content with their purchases Plum heads back to their inn to begin their transfer to the Swallow’s Perch. Slightly ahead of them, Psalm and Rokka return to the Hole in the Wall and get the few things they have all sorted to go. 

Heading out they note that at the front desk this time appears to be Artie as opposed to the other two employees that work there, perhaps they have their hands full with something at the moment. He silently notes the duos departure and mail transference with a surly nod. 

Artie: at mention of the swallow’s perch he tilts his head and remarks “good place. got decent pie there” sending you on your way Psalm: "Also, if  Ruth and Esther Brimdrorvi come looking for me can you direct them down the street  please." Artie: he nods silently Psalm: Nice Rokka: i give artie my farewells and wait for psalm bc wynaut 

> 🎵   A Tavern on the Riverbank / The Witcher 2 OST 

The two make their way to the inn next door, after a bit of chatter with Layne he leads them upstairs and directs them to the empty rooms they have upstairs on the first floor, adjacent to Cimmorro and Han’s shared room. 

Rokka: "what room are u going to?" Psalm: "I have no preference." That being said he just goes up to the first empty room he finds and opens the door. Rokka: he nods and walks a little further down the walkway and goes into the second room

The two each take an empty room for themselves, forcing those who show up afterwards to decide who they’d prefer to room with. Across the street Keva also checks out of the Out and Inn similarly asking for her mail to be rerouted. At the counter are the two twins who quickly send her on her way

Flinn and Pin: they remark that one of the dwarves there will give you beer at a discount if you tell him a funny joke, but do not specify which one. Keva: she makes a face like 🤨 but with an amused smile "okay... thanks?" and heads over to the swallow's perch

As Rokka and Psalm settle in across the way, Cimmorro in his room takes has a thought and decides to shoot off another sending spell to another important recipient.

Cimmorro: "ulle!!! it's your cimmy. i wanted to show off what i can do now ehehe i'm going to be so cool when i get back" <--- he sounds very excited Ulle: you hear a confused sound in your head in response before spluttering noises and a response "whoa i was-bleh, eating a sandwich just now you scared me! haha this is so cool hey hey mahalia ! cimmorro just spoke to me-" before it cuts off

As Han’s shuffling about and doing some menial tasks around the rooms on the first floor she overhears the sending spell and pokes her head in to spy on Cimmorro. At the same time Keva soon arrives at the inn, getting the same spiel from Layne downstairs she heads up to the first floor hallway staring at which room to pick while Han blocks one of the doorways.

Keva: she does not want to room with psalm and his spying ghost. she does not want to room with rokka bc headache. she does not want to room with han bc headache........... but she figures she has to talk with cimm anyway so........ least of the evils Chip: women and cimm united front Cimmorro: clerics who respect women

Han: "were you talking to someone?" Cimmorro: cimm plops his back into his bed, completely relaxed and thanks wee jas in his head "ohhhh... this is one of the best things you've ever let me have!! thank you, thank you, lady wee jas >_<" and then notices han come in and acknowledges her. "hm? i was casting a spell... did you need anything?" Keva: keva's standing behind han blocking the doorway, in that time she is considering whether she should change her mind Han: she shrugs "nothing, just heard u talking, got curious- AH" at keva teleporting behind her and stares at her for 2 seconds before going "im going back to chores, bye" and scuttling off Cimmorro: he just looks at you two like 🤨 Keva: she moves out of her way and says bye back after she's already left like 🤨 "any room in here?" Cimmorro: he looks at you for a moment before understanding what's going on "oh you're staying here? that makes things so much easier for me. yeah there's room, though han can be a bit energetic" he laughs and points at a spot in the room Keva: she looks back in the direction han left for a moment "yeah that's going to be fun" /s, she'll go over and plop her few things down Cimmorro: a laugh "she's like that... though she can easily be distracted lolll... i think she'll be more focused on dress making than at you, for tonight at least." Keva: keva tosses her cloak on the bed while mumbling "thank the gods for that." turning to cimm "does she work here or smth?" Cimmorro: he nods at you as he sits back up on his bed "she was already here when i arrived a few weeks ago. i'm sure she's been here for way longer" Keva: "hm. well, don't let me get in the way of what you were doing." and she gonna climb onto her bed and take out a little bit of bread to feed amos Cimmorro: he watches you do that for a sec before going "okay, i'm still beat from going around the stores earlier myself so... we can talk about what you want to do with your outfit later. give it some thought meanwhile.."

As Keva settles in, Han remembers to head over to Ferrie Chris and notify her that Finn will probably be showing up later in the week.

Han: "the pampered one will come later... ill borrow the cart to fetch him, if its ok.." Ferrie Chris: she tilts her head from where shes bent over moving crates "hm? sure whatcha need it for anyhow? Han: han shrugs "he needs some stuff moved" Ferrie Chris: she squints "how much stuff could tha' guy have...?" she shakes her head "eh 's fine, we moved most of the stuff earlier in the week anyway" Han: SHE SHRUGS HARDER

As the two of them chat Cimmorro and Psalm both begin the process of attuning to their newly bought weapons in their rooms, though Psalm also goes through the additional ritual of designating his new scimitar as his pact weapon.

Ghester: for the latter ritual ghester is silent the entire while until the end in which he lets out a sigh, quickly remarking how strange a sensation that was Psalm: "Strange how?" Ghester: he ponders the thought a moment "like growing another limb, despite the fact that i dont have any in the first place" Psalm: he nods like he gets it even though that's kinda weirdchamp

As the group settles for the afternoon Plum also arrives at the inn, the last of the party to make their transfer for the day. Receiving the same spiel as those before them they waddle up to the first floor, deciding to pick whoever is behind the closest door to them for their roommate, the result being Rokka.

Chip: for your viewing pleasure

Cimmorro: AKFHJLKASFKSAJFAKLWFKAL Han: EMO A;LKDHGKLLKDSF Keva: I'M LAUGHING THAT GHESTER AND AMOS COME WITH US NOW Chip: your government assigned leeches

Rokka: his ears twitch and he turns towards the door "come in!!" Plum: "oh it's you rokka, nice. you don't mind being roommates do you?" Rokka: he perks up seeing plum enter, "oh plummy!! hi!! i don't mind at all in fact im glad we can be roomies hehehe" rokkas tail wags in delight Plum: "ok great, what are you up to for the rest of the day, then?" Rokka: "hmm" he taps his chin and looks up to think "nothing much unless you wanna do something with me? :D" Plum: "i'm not up to anything today, so sure. got anything in mind?" Rokka: "we can work on that music box you got!!" Plum: "oh, right! forgot about that thing." plum says, and starts fishing around in their bag of holding until they pull out the ＭＵＳＩＱＵＥ ＢＯＸＥ Rokka: he moves next to plum and leans his head closer to them "i don't know much about fixing music boxes so I don't think i will be much help but i can cheer you on :D" he tilts his head a little "whaddya think it would sound like once it can play" Plum: "i think it'll probably play, just not very well. i'm not even sure how this thing is broken. also thanks, if you cheer me on that means i definitely have to fix this thing though." plum says, lifting the box carefully to peek at it. Rokka: "yeah i had a feeling it would sound like that too...i cant wait to hear it in its full glory" rokka goes 🥺 and speaks with a little gentler tone "i just thought its another way i could help you is all." Plum: a little embarrassed now plum just says "right..." and trails off. then after a moment of looking at the box they say, "y'know this thing might not actually be broken after all. so it only plays on a full moon, right? and i thought that was just some kind of charm attached to it for fun or somethin', probably is. but other than that it's a functional music box. think the seller thought that little catch to it meant it didn't work." plum says this all in one go without realizing because they like to talk about magical objects. "personally," they continue, "i don't think that means it's broken. i think that just makes it more special. i could probably make it so that it plays all the time though, what do you think?" Rokka: he silently nods throughout plums explanation simply enjoying them talking more than usual in one sitting, "thats a bummer we gotta wait until then for it to play but if you can make it play ALL the time that would be super cool of you plum!" he gives them a thumbs up Plum: "well i can try, anyways." 

> 🎵 Tired Rynoka / Moonlighter OST

Plum begins working away at the music box as Rokka sits attentively beside them for the rest of the day. In their own mind they decide their course of action is going to be to change the enchantment into a dual purpose one. A person will still need to wind the music box on a full moon to have it play, but it will also play whenever if Rokka is the one to wind it.

Getting to work on inspecting it Plum finds the enchantment is inscribed weirder than they’d thought it would be once they actually get a look at it. Most of the evening is spent trying to make out the creators handwriting, but it is solid progress nonetheless. After much interpreting they see the enchanted name signed near the bottom thusly " -ＲＡＮＤＯＶＵＳ / THE GREAT AND BEAUTIFUL"

Han: randovus instant fave character no lie Rokka: whoever this is i wanna fight them Plum: chip was it that the seller thought it was broken??? Chip: yeahp Plum: oh LOL Chip: zafar like what in the....not gonna ruin my day [puts on shelf] Plum: hHHHFHFG

Plum: "this guy's handwriting fucking sucks" Rokka: he makes a weird sound of agreement as he doesnt wanna admit it "mmmnnyyeeahmnn?????????" Plum: "anyways, that's all i got for you today re: this thing. might take me a couple days." plum says, without telling rokka what exactly they're intending to change about the box until it gets done. Rokka: he oohs and ahhh through the process of what plum does "neat! you got me excited now that I know i can probably hear it sooner!" his tails lazily wags in content and a little nostalgic spending time with plum like this in a room as they remind him of his siblings Plum: "yeah, i'm pretty excited too. and its fun working on something for...fun. i feel like its been forever, even though its only been like, a week. feel free to tune in next time." Rokka: "yeah! i getchaaa especially with what we've been through having some time to just enjoy like this is nice hehe" he tilts his head at plum "really?? then please let me know whenever you choose to work on it! I will be there to watch and cheer asap! thanks for letting me watch plum  " Plum: "any time. i can make it a little task while we wait for the ball and all of that." Rokka: he stares at plum for a moment seeming to ponder something "plum, you're really nice. I like you, can we be friends?" he says without his usual loud and cheery tone. this time being more calm as he asks genuinely for the first time Plum: "h-huh?" plum says after a beat, suddenly turning fully red in the face. "man, rokka, why do you sound so serious... and! a-anyways! i thought we were already friends?" Rokka: "I just never-- wait what???i---" he struggles with finding words to respond as he didn't think plum thought they were friends "you.....we're friends? really? really really friends?" he looks expectantly down at plum Plum: "oh i mean i just assumed since we get along and we're stuck in this large group for now. maybe i jumped the gun there, sorry. but yeah we can be friends." plum says and scratches at their face, feeling embarrassed. "you're making me feel kinda embarrassed over here, saying "i like you" to people so bluntly, y'know." Rokka: he lets out a small gleeful laugh with a smile growing larger each second "ah...ahah!! yess!!!!!!!!" he ruffles plums hair "Sorry, I just like to be honest, hehe," now in a very great mood he cant help his wagging tail Plum: [is ruffled] "no it's fine, just caught me by surprise. i like to be blunt too 🤨 " plum says and coughs a little awkwardly. Rokka: he just grins at plum before plopping onto his bed with a content sigh followed by a mumble "my first friend.."

As the afternoon ebbs on Cimmoro also finishes attuning to his new healing knife in his room, the other two going about their business in silence and settling in. Finally he moves and stretches, and gives the knife a stare, he decides to give it a whirl and to check whether he’s been scammed or not. He tightly gripes the blade with one hand and makes a swift cut on his hand, he makes a low hissing sound as he does, alerting the other two briefly as they spot his hand bleeding for a couple of seconds

Han: han just stares like 🤨 Keva: keva was feeding amos the little snack thing she bought from the pet store, but when she hears cimm hiss, she looks over her shoulder. when she sees the blood and the knife she jumps a bit in surprise like "what the fuck?"

However, despite how quickly he made the wound, once he expends the charge, it heals just as quickly, glowing slightly for a brief moment as the skin stitches itself back together, like there was nothing there in the first place. They watch even as the blood quickly rises through the air and zooms back into his body from the wound.

Han: she stares at the immediately closing wound "that..what?" Keva: she's also staring in confusion and curiosity Cimmorro: he watches the wound heal itself, wonder in his eyes and then immediately puts his palm up for han and keva to see it stitch up like ":D SICK...!!" Han: "is magic? thats cool" she pokes the part where he sliced himself Cimmorro: he breathes out in relief "wuhahhu... looks like i got my money's worth..." when han pokes at his palm he goes like "yeah! you wanna try?" Han: "fuck yeah!" han holds out her forearm excitedly >:D Cimmorro: "it only works when i do it though" he's taken aback by your enthusiasm but likes it regardless. cimm swipes the blade on your arm, making a clean cut [will use charge] Keva: she makes a 🤨 face at han's enthusiasm and closes up the jar of treats to put it away as she says "no thanks" .... she does turn back to watch tho

Cimmorro slices again this time on Han’s arm.....blood...a second...thwoosh the body stitches itself back together immediatley and the wound is healed.

Cimmorro: "aw cmon we can do it one more time" once han's wounds begin stitching too he looks back at keva like "see? see?" Han: "oooh.." han goes over the wound with her hand "its only a bit tingly... wanna try it over actual wound?" Cimmorro: he turns to han looking confused for a sec like "... wait are you injured?" Han: "no, but keva can stab me" :D “or you stab with the knife normally. i just trust keva to make it count” 😌 Keva: "you're really excited about being stabbed" Cimmorro: cimm is wondering why han wants to hurt so badly rn and his mouth is just agape Han: "wounds are an honour" Cimmorro: "what... well, i guess?" Han: "well, more in battle than in here but still"  Keva: "is that why you tend to go into things without thinking" Han: "without think-?! i think a lot, thank you !!!!" han sounds offended Keva: keva makes geralt from netflix "hm" noise "kay well, i'm not stabbing you so" Han: han pouts "your loss" then goes back to looking at cimm expectantly with her forearm to him Cimmorro: "okay, ladies.... let's...." he sighs "this dagger can do as much damage as it can heal, supposedly... so... to test?" he looks like he doesnt want to tho Han: "to test!" >:) Keva: "we already know it works. why do we have to do this" Cimmorro: "just to be sure!" Han: "to test!" han repeats Cimmorro: "you're not going to hold this against me are you? if i stab you like real stab?" cimm is starting to wonder if this is a good idea Keva: keva puts her hand to her face Cimmorro: he makes a fake stab against the air right now just to make sure han knows what she's asking him to do "like this, stab stab" Han: "huh?? why would i?? plenty of family have stabbed me, just do it" she doesn’t flinch Cimmorro: he completely sputters at that "do-what tthe ?!? the HUH?" Keva: keva's slient for a moment in shock as well and then "...gods you're so weird" Han: han tsks impatiently "i can do it myself, yeesh" takes out her own dagger Cimmorro: "no, WHAT? STOP" Keva: "(medieval fantasy equialvent of jesus christ)"

Han makes a clean slice along her forearm without flinching, taking damage, much to the displeasure of her two roomates.

Han: the dagger looks similar to the hammer shes taken out before, one solid chunk of blueish metal Keva: she winces watching it happen and is like, getting up off her bed Han: "nnnow try it" :) Cimmorro: cimm looks horrified not bc of the wound but bc of han just being so.... han. he clicks his tongue while he makes a weary slice on her already open wound, expending a charge

With a glow the wound stitches together again and the blood zips back in, the wound is not fully healed but it looks alot less bad now, closer to a papercut but long across the arm.

Han: "ooooo~" Cimmorro: cimm lets out a sigh of frustration and keeps han's arm in place while he grabs his holy symbol to cast cure wounds on the leftover cut :( Han: han lets him but is like :/ Cimmorro: cimm lightly blows and pats on her arm as if to check if he missed a spot then lets her go once cleared out. "this thing is more for emergencies, it looks like" tilting the doctor's blade a bit with his free hand Han: han wiwis for a sec Keva: keva relaxes back onto her bed once the wound is healed Cimmorro: "since we'll be travelling together for a while it's good to let you guys know what this does, though i won't use it unless i really have to... i don't like relying on things aside from what i already know anyway..." he puts it away and then looks at han like :| "no more stabbing yourself like that" Han: han goes 😤 "this was for teeeest!" Cimmorro: cimm remembers how han also just nonchalantly sliced her arm in the blood chamber and he rubs at his eyes at the memory "you do this kind of thing so often!! what the hell was that about your family!! uggh" he just keeps rubbing his eyes rn trying not to think of what he was to deal with the next coming weeks Han: han just goes 😟 but says nothing Keva: keva notices the look on han's face and says "anyway." Cimmorro: cimm stares at her and sighs and shakes his head Han: han gets weirdly shy under the attention Cimmorro: "no more hurting yourself. if that's what your family liked to do then whatever. but don't do it around me.. don't like seeing it" he says that rather harshly but there is a hint of concern Keva: keva like a sibling looking out the car window while the other kid gets chewed out Han: han is still like 😟  "no its.. they didnt.. uagh" she looks frustrated by both not wanting to talk about it and not knowing how to explain it, and just drops the thread entirely , pacifying cimm with a non commital "i wont, i wont" Keva: keva just quickly raises and lowers her eyebrows, thinking well that sounds convincing in her head Cimmorro: cimm doesn't seem convinced, but it's not like he expected his words to do anything immediately. he exhales and waves his hand around to clear the air "well... anyway. you two know what this does. don't go stabbing me back when i bring you conscious with this pls..🙄 " Keva: keva waves a hand like yeah yeah Han: han snort laughs a bit and also agrees Cimmorro: he shrugs as if to say he's just trying to make precautionary measures "nice. well okay you are cuties dismissed 👏" he hops off his bed and walks out the door peace out 

Cimmorro scurries about preparing things for later on, and as sundown and evening comes the rest of the party settle into their rooms and comforts for the night. Han however, after a bit more pestering of Cimmorro, heads out after clocking off her shift, and walks off towards a familiar destination in the city.

She weaves her way in and out of a few alleys and streets in the business district before entering one of the taller buildings nearby. Despite there having been no rain recently she also spies puddles of water near the outside of the building. Shrugging it off, she heads inside and up a few flights of stairs down some interior hallways, past the doors of a couple other businesses

it’s pretty quiet in the area compared to when she’d usually come around, with the sounds of people revel making and drinking typically filling her ears. She  quickly comes to the entrance of the place she’s looking for, the words ‘The Bone Pit’  scrawled nested into a carefully illustrated poster nailed to the front of the door.

> 🎵 Through the Valley / Pyre OST 

She opens the door and steps inside, finding herself in a small lobby area of sorts, connected to a larger room that appears to be a bar floor with hallways leading upstairs branching off it. Though looking about it appears pretty empty and quiet, not silent however, some chatter here and there and the sounds of things being moved echo through the place. As she stares about it appears pretty sparse, its then that she notices a whole bunch of cleaning supplies stacked around the place.

Han: she just says loudly "hellooooo?? ruel? stella?"

As Han yodels out the names, someone shuffling around the larger bar floor seems to notice and comes running over, she recognises the woman as Stella, a short pink haired girl.

Stella: “ahh sorry there!!” she gives a cutesy wave “were closed right now for -er” she blinks now seemingly recognising you “oh my gods haaaaaaan, i'm being forced to do manual labouuuur- save me pleaaase” her tone changes to an uncharacteristically whiny one as she dramatically walks over pouting and shaking a mop that she’s holding in her hands. 

Looking at her Han notes she’s not in what her typically style, instead in clothes that appear to be much more shabby, probably for cleaning. Behind her she also spots a taller person, whom she recognises as Ruel, a half orc woman leaning herself against a broom 

Ruel: “...stella that’s like the 5th walk in, did you even put the closed sign out front..?” shaking her head as if she doesn't even expect an answer from the former. Han: han laughs at stella "you are such a baby." she notes their dress and says "cleaning day? do u want extra hands?" Stella: she lazily throws her head back with a groan “auuugh because of the lockdown the other day the good big boss decided this would be the perfect time to scrub down the whole place” she holds the mop out in front of her “this isnt in my job description y'know, i'm going to have to get my nails redone and everything after this, its tough work looking this perfect” she continues huffing a little before actually realising you asked a question "ah? oh no way we cant make customers help out, bad look..." Ruel: while she chats ruel crouches near the floor fiercely inspecting a stain in the wood near a bar table Han: "with the amounts of fluids this place sees daily i cant believe it took you this long to do deep clean....." han grimaces a bit but its still finds stellas baby attitude funny so it gets a bit lost. "and what? there are no customers around, no one sees me here. i asked a couple hours off." Stella: "ehh well it gets cleaned regularly but i guess she really wants these bar floors finally annihilated" she grimaces at the comment before looking back at you "y.........eaaaaaah but if i got caught doing that i'd get an earful is the thing" she waves her hand noncommittally though she looks like she is internally fighting off the temptation to just let you Han: han is just holding back laughter at stella like ppfftt "im sure you can do it, youre big girl" and then walks over to ruel and opens her arms for a hug Stella: she groans again and shakes the mop menacingly at you Celebrity Guest Aqua: is this like those clubs where they gotta hose the floor every morning or is it a nicer establishment  Han:

Cimmorro: hate that gif so much dawg   Chip: STOPPPPP Han: I AHTE THIS GIF TOO IT PLAGUES ME Plum: what is that fucking gif lord

 As Han walks over to Ruel with outstretched arms she stands up curiously staring at her with a quirked brow.

Han: "i know ure off work but one hug pleeeaaase" >_< Ruel: she stares at you again but eventually sighs and opens her arms out invitingly like 😓 Han: "Oh! i actually came over to ask. me and some ..." han makes some grimacing/thoughtful expressions "friendsss?? like saved the town or whatever and they invited us to be guests at the new ball, do you guys wanna come??" :3 Ruel: ruel just ?? confused face at the question after the hug  Stella: she turns her head towards you leaning on the mop completely disbelieving "if you ya want to invite me to a party han you dont need to lie about how cool it is" she says wrly Han: she probably has let go of ruel at this point lolol "no we talked to the king and shit.." han shrugs "its in 2 week, cimm, that priest guy, i dont think i told you about him, he even drew me a dress!" she starts looking around her bag "oh i must've left it with him... well anyway!" han is still in a chipper mood "you guys and the swallows perch are my only friends around so i thought i would invite you" she does get pink at this lol Ruel: she makes a face like 😑❓  silently thinking to herself Stella: she walks over and slaps her hand across your stomach jokingly "yeah and what did the king tell you?" she seems to be a little embarrassed about the only friends statement but is way to distracted by the ridiculousness of the gala thing Han: "uuhhh he was like [han tries to imitate his voice] thank you so much, here is 5000 gold, we are doing ball in 2 weeks, invite your friends. i have the gold to prove it" han opens her heavy ass stash and shows the girls the coin

Stella looks like shes about to crack another joke until Han opens up the bag, after which both her and Ruel open their eyes wide in surprise. Stella looks back between Han and the bag multiple times in shock

Stella: "th... first of all this is like, all platinum han, and second......i...." she stops mid sentence like she doesnt know what to say out of shock Ruel: she pipes up after "........you know they did say they were gonna rehost it...." Stella: at this she seems to snap out of her awe and stares up at han grabbing your giant arm and shaking you "HAAAAAN. YOU CANT BE SERIOUS THE GALA??? LIKE WITH THE ROYALTY AND EVERYTHING???  Han: she gets shaken around "yes, those guys, i dont rlly understand the big deal, ferrie chris was also excited about them?" Stella: "YESSS HAN THOSE GUYSSS" she seems to calm down a little though still gripping your arm "okay okay well im not gonna shoot for the moon or anything so i dont care too much about them but do you know how many rich nobles go to those parties.... the connections i can make there..." she then begins shaking your arm again "and i can brag about having BEEN to the palace my gods what am i gonna wear... i need to create the perfect ensemble, andrella is NOT gonna hear the end of this from me" Han: she laughs "i thought you might like it." she turns to ruel "how about you?" Ruel: as you turn your attention to ruel stella continues babbling to herself while shaking your arm, ruel stands nearby with her arms crossed thinking over it thoughtfully "honestly i am not sure i'd be good schmoozing somewhere so high class but" and she lifts her eyes up seriously with a glint and a thumb on her chin "the opportunity. is way too good." Keva: the egirls looking to get paaaaiiidd yeeeessss Chip: stella getting ready to have 100 business cards made Keva: are they bedazzled Chip: gel pen as well Keva: the other side is sequins that if you run your hand over it it reveals other colors and a message lmao Han: wait thats genius Keva: "stella" one way, "see the stars" the other Han:  UA;LHDSGKH;KHWKH3LKESGKDX

Han: she just heehees "i went dress shopping with cimm today, hes gonna help get something tailored, you want dresses too? i can pay" Ruel: her eyebrows go up "oh no no, we can get that done ourselves fine, you're already inviting us and everything"  Stella: she nods next to you feverishly "han i love you oh so dearly, now even more so, but i have my pride" she lifts a fist "and its telling me to go all out on this look...." Ruel: she nods sagely agreeing with her Stella: she quickly relaxes to a more joking demeanour before continuing "i appreciate the thought though as ludicrous it is for you to offer you big lug, if this works out i wont even have to annoy you to give me free drinks" she says with a smile ^__^ Han: han giggles then stops abruptly "what!! you said you annoy me because i dont let you tie me up!!!" <- she is faux sad Stella: she lifts a finger "i can have multiple reasons to annoy you" Han: she tsks "im glad you two are alright tho 😊 when you think the deep clean will be done?" Stella: she slaps your arm with a laugh at that Ruel: she thinks a moment "judging by how powerful these wood stains are... i'd say another two days with the others helping out" she folds her arms with a smile looking back at you "i'll be sure to expect a visit now that you're rolling large..." she squints her eyes and tilts her head afterwards though thinking on it "...kind of dangerous carrying all that actually" Han: she snorts at the wood stains comment "i dont have a lot to use it on anyway but thieves would be stupid to go for me" puffs out her chest "i will visit... soon? i will be leaving soon after so yeah.." han think thonks Ruel: she laughs at the chest puffing Stella: at the last comment stella tilts her head "ohhh??...flying the coop? you gotta tell me when we can go out for drinks or something, i'll have to console poor ruel.." she mock wipes her eyes  Ruel: she rolls hers and grabs a cloth, getting back to working away Han: she shrugs "dunno, got one other bossman now and he wants us to go to antessa..." han trails off thinking about routes and times "you can grab me whenever you have free day. OH ferrie chris wants have do a banger too..." Stella: "damn moving up in the big leagues of freelancing now, cross country" at the second comment her face lights up "ohhhhh yes! when you have a date let me know i'll free up the evening" she says with a >:) grin Han: han is jsut ^O^ heeho evening successful,  STARTS BIDDING THEM ADIOS?  "no sex, no cleaning, im useless here" pouts again

Han scuttles off back to the inn satisfied with having said her piece, making sure to tell Stella to stop slacking off as she goes. The party all spend the rest of the little of the evening left idling around and killing time before finally heading to rest and bedding down in the dark.

--

Notes

💎Cimmorro and 🔮Psalm attuned to their weapons of choice

🦇Finn upgraded his sword to a +1 weapon

🍺Plum got an evenings work in on the music box

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👨‍👧‍👦 Most of the Party relocated to the Swallow’s Perch

[putschki1969]

Aki no Sakura EP ~ My Review

Today is the release day of Wakana’s very first EP 『アキノサクラ/Aki no Sakura EP』. Since I am impatient and can’t wait for my copies to arrive I purchased the mini album on iTunes.

Everyone, please be sure to support Wakana by buying this release! Physical copies of this EP are available at a very affordable price on CDJapan and Amazon Japan. Those online stores ship overseas and they accept foreign payment methods so you shouldn’t have any issues. Wakana’s music is also available digitally. If you use iTunes just like me, please don’t hesitate to purchase the digital version of 『アキノサクラ/Aki no Sakura EP』. They are literally giving it away for nothing. I paid less than €3 for the whole mini album. There is no excuse not to get it! You can also stream it on Spotify!

Now let’s get to the review〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

1. eve

Why is this so short? I am aware it is meant to be an overture but still, I want this to be 10 minutes long. Such a gorgeous orchestral composition. This sounds like it belongs in some sort of epic fantasy/fairytale movie or maybe an old-school Disney film. I am glad Wakana doesn’t have any lyrics, lyrics may have been a bit overbearing with a track like this. The way she is just blending her vocals with the melody is very lovely. It’s so magical and beautiful, I am utterly smitten. Part of me wishes that Wakana would have sung this with her more operatic voice because then this would have been the most excellent piece of music EVER. I understand of course why she sang it with her more delicate and flimsy voice, she wants it to be in tune with the rest of the EP - and it definitely is - but it’s still a bit of a shame. Anyways, a grand start for sure.

2. Aki no Sakura (アキノサクラ; Cherry Blossoms of Autumn)

After watching the PV last night and seeing Wakana’s expressions while she sings the lyrics (which I adore btw), I immediately became more attracted to the song. It took a while to appreciate the melody but I think I finally can. I am not sure whether I like the verses or the chorus more. Towards the end of the song I kinda prefer the chorus. It’s not my favourite track of the EP but I think it still has potential to grow on me. As for the PV, I simply love, love, LOVE all the scenes with Wakana strolling in the park with her gorgeous cardigan and her blinding smile. Can you remember the times when we felt utterly blessed to get a glimpse of Wakana’s smile in one of Kalafina’s PVs?? [smiles were so freaking rare in those PVs! T_T] And now her radiant smile is everywhere, we are being spoiled!! Not a huge fan of the city section of the PV, mainly because the location doesn’t look very aesthetic (I am guessing it’s meant to look kinda unpolished and real/gritty but I can’t bring myself to like it - I prefer to look at pretty things in my PVs). Plus, the heavy use of the blurry effect makes me feel a little dizzy XD Anyways, Wakana looks beautiful and that is everything that counts for me. The dress is not something I would personally wear but it just SCREAMS Wakana to me so I can’t help but like it. I am so ecstatic that Wakana can FINALLY wear the things she wants and feels most comfortable in.

3. Koi wa Itsumo (恋はいつも; Love Is Always)

I was SHOOK when I first heard this song. Instant throwback to the 80s or 90s or whenever that sort of music was rocking the charts. I can’t believe I am saying this but it might actually be my favourite track of the EP. Up-beat and funky songs like this are usually not what I am into but when you listen to “Koi wa Itsumo” you immediately succumb to its beat. It’s such a catchy tune. You cannot help but go with the flow and fall in love. It’s a feel-good song and it motivates you to start dancing. Ahhhhhh, will have this on repeat for a long time I think. In my opinion, Wakana’s light/delicate and kinda Pop-ish singing style fits this sort of song best. I imagine this must be super hard to perform live. Curious how Wakana will handle it.

4.Orange (オレンジ)

When it comes to my favourite songs of the EP, I think it’s a tie between “Orange” and “Koi wa Itsumo”. I am so sursprised that I gravitate more towards the “up-beat/mid-tempo” songs in this mini album. Typically I am always a sucker for ballads. Maybe it’s due to her changed singing style which is more suitable for songs like this that I find myself liking them a bit more. I am just so used to hearing Wakana’s tragic voice when it comes to ballads so to have her use a less rich and rather frail voice is kinda off-putting. Anyways, “Orange” is great. I have loved it from the moment I heard the short radio version and nothing has changed about my opinion. Not entirely sure I am a fan of the harmonica. I was definitely taken aback when I initially heard it in the full version. For nostalgia’s sake I am willing to embrace it though. Surprisingly this is the ONLY song where Wakana wrote the lyrics. I thought she would have provided more lyrics but alas, she didn’t. I guess they were in such a rush to release this EP before her Winter Lives that Wakana didn’t really have any time to come up with a ton of lyrics. The best option was to choose songs that already had lyrics. Anyways, I can’t wait to get a good look at these lyrics, the fact that Wakana has written them, makes them so much more special to me.

5. Yuuyake (夕焼け; Sunset)

Since I am generally not a fan of the acoustic guitar I didn’t expect to like this but I actually do. I am glad they also added some strings. The melody is lovely, it reminds me of another song I like but I can’t put my finger on it. It’s an old pop-ballad I think...Anyways, I think I will fall completely in love with this once I hear it performed live at her concert. Just like “Ato Hitotsu” this is a song that really shines in live performances where Wakana can be expressive and convey emotions.

Overall thoughts

It’s a good release for sure. Wakana can be proud. It isn’t like anything you have ever heard from her or Kalafina for that matter. You will have to go into this with an open mind, I know we all have certain ideas and expectations when it comes to Wakana but when we leave those behind it’s much easier to appreciate her new music.

There is nothing I utterly dislike about this EP  and there are three out of five tracks that I really adore. All the Wakana interviews have headlines saying that this is the REAL Wakana, this is herself shining through. I am so happy to see her being able to express herself in such a manner. Who would have known she was so much into old-school pop?? Haha XD

I am having a hard time comparing her album to this EP because they are inherently different. It feels unfair to say that one is better than the other. Her album had a lot more - what I would call - “traditional” ballads so I think I might be a little more biased to that but her EP is such a breath of fresh air, I can’t help but love it too.

I wonder if Wakana will continue using this particular delicate singing style? I like it just fine for this EP because it fits the genre of most tracks and I am glad she gets to experiment but I don’t think it would fit her other songs or any of the old Kalafina pieces. Really curious how she will sound at her Winter Lives.

[zenithlux]

Cadence Update - CH 11

Catch up on the story here!

Also, if you’re interested, I’ll be doing a writing stream this afternoon about three hours after this post. If that’s something that interests you (or if you want some hopefully interesting music for background noise) you can find me here!

In which Roxy proposes an interesting arrangement.

Drifting beneath the horizon Body’s weak but I”m trying To make it to shore But I’m falling short I need you more

Anchor - Skillet

Over the next few weeks, Vergil kept himself busy so as not to alert Dante to the in-progress agreement with Roxy. The two had yet to fully decide what exactly Vergil would be doing to ‘help’ as he had so eloquently put it during his moment of motivation. For now, he kept his phone close with Dia’s number in case of an emergency. Roxy herself promised to call should anything happen, and the two messaged back and forth throughout the day. He’d visited twice for dinner, but those had both been accidents more than anything. The intention had been to check on her after he hadn’t been able to message back due to jobs. Both times he’d ended up watching from the doorway as she finished up a meal that had easily taken her hours to prepare. Which, of course, meant he felt obligated to share it with her (she was very convincing), which had led to more small talk; conversations he no longer minded. 

Occasionally, he’d gone hunting with her, both to see what she could do at full capacity and learn as much as he could about Kuro without directly asking. She, however, seemed to recognize his intentions and was happy to summon Kuro in a multitude of forms at any given time. The dragon spent most of his time in his smallest form, and the two fought with coordination that others could only dream of. It reminded him the most of Shadow, as Kuro moved with an elegance that in no way fit his bulky form. 

All of this, however, had shown Vergil one important thing; Roxy was very, very lonely. 

So maybe it shouldn’t have been all that surprising when- after weeks of discreet meetings and messages- she showed up at Devil May Cry ready to announce her intentions to the heavens.

To her credit, it had been a slow day (as if she could possibly have known such a thing). By late afternoon, Dante had all but declared the work-day over, and was now lounging at his desk with the phone conveniently unplugged. Vergil, who had done far more than his fair share of jobs over the last two weeks, was content to read on the couch that he had gone out of his way to purchase. And today’s book of choice was another one of Roxy’s recommendations - his third so far. He never thought he’d be interested in fantasy books, but the ones she’d given him were all fascinating, well written, and always left him with something to ponder whenever he was forced to put it down. And, thankfully, Dante was distracted, so Vergil had enjoyed nearly two hours of complete silence. 

So when the door opened, Vergil wasn’t sure who was more surprised: Dante, himself, or Roxy. It didn’t help that she looked anxious in her blue sundress (had she worn a dress before? Vergil couldn’t remember), and kept tugging at her skirt. Aki hopped from her shoulder and onto her head with a loud chirp in greeting. That, of course, made Dante grin, and Vergil stubbornly ignored the way his brother started wiggling his eyebrows in the most overdramatic way possible. “Welcome, Sunshine!” He said as he hopped out of his seat and tossed his magazine to the side. It missed the trash can, but at least it was out of view. “I’m glad you’re here to brighten up our day.”

When Roxy’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red, a summoned sword careened into Dante’s shoulder. She gasped, eyes wide as she took a step towards him in a mixture of confusion and a genuine desire to help. But Vergil smoothly intercepted her, book in hand with a very obvious bookmark peeking out from the edge of the pages. Her eyes flickered to him, back to his brother, then to the book, where they lit up as her anxiety simply melted away. “You enjoy it, then?”

“Yes,” Vergil said simply. 

“Hey!” Dante said as he yanked the sword from his shoulder. “I’m the injured one.” 

“Oh… uh…” 

“He’s fine,” Vergil said. “Did you need something?”

Her gaze slipped from his again; a surefire sign that she wasn’t 100% certain she was doing the right thing. “Well,” She said slowly. “I heard through the grapevine that you might need some cash.”

Said grapevine was likely Vergil complaining about Dante’s inability to save any money ever, but he wasn’t about to ask. “We might,” Dante said as he swiped his half-empty beer bottle off the desk. “Why?”

“I’m looking to hire.”

Vergil nearly dropped his book as his gaze snapped to her. Dante spat out his drink, swearing as he dropped the bottle back on the desk. Except it shattered, dampening every unsorted piece of paper it touched. And while Vergil might have once chastised him for that - as Dante was never the one to deal with such a mess - his mind was a tad preoccupied. “Hire?” Vergil said. “For… what exactly?”

Her eyes drifted away for a brief moment, but he felt an odd sense of pride when she met his gaze before speaking again. “I need more help than I thought.” Vergil’s eyebrow shot up, and he was surprised when that somehow earned him a small smile. “So,” She continued, eyes flickering to Dante instead. “I’ve got an odd job for Vergil that pays well, and offers free room and board.”

Vergil wasn’t certain whether to be impressed by her negotiation tactics, or offended that she was using him as the chip to barter with. Dante laughed as he plopped back down in his chair and kicked his feet up on the desk. “Is that so?” He said. “Well color me intrigued.”

Roxy stared at him. “What kind of phrase is that?”

Dante waved at her dismissively. “What’s the job, sunshine?”

This time, she turned back to Vergil. “I wish to hire you as a full-time caretaker,” She said. “I got some people to fix up the apartment down the hall, so that’s yours to use however you’d like; no rent payments or bills required. I’ll buy all the groceries, whatever you want, and if any of the furniture, fixtures, painting, or anything else displeases you, I can get those changed too.”

Vergil stared at her. “Are you… certain?”

She nodded, and that same, infuriating sadness filled her eyes again. “Things haven’t been going as well as I’d hoped.”

“Then why…?” Vergil trailed off and regained his composure before continuing. “Did something happen?”

She was quiet for a moment, followed by, “I tried to go shopping today. It didn’t go well.”

Vergil didn’t know what to think of that, but Dante practically appearing in front of them was enough to stop that train of thought. “So what you’re saying is,” the younger twin said with a lackadaisical grin on his face. It was at that moment that Vergil realized he didn’t have a clue what Dante was thinking. “You,” He pointed at her,“Will pay us,” He pointed at himself, “to have my brother,” He pointed at Vergil. “live next to you?”

Roxy huffed. “He’d have to do a lot more than just that, but that’s something to be discussed between him and myself if we reach an agreement.” 

“And what exactly is this agreement for?” Dante said.

“I’m aware I’m taking your partner away from you for an extended period of time,” Roxy said. The way she was speaking… it was more professional than Vergil had ever heard her speak before. But she ran her own business, didn’t she? Discussing terms and contracts with clients was likely second nature. Vergil just never thought that he’d be the one caught in the middle. The asset, so to speak. He would have been more averse to the idea, if he hadn’t already technically agreed to it. This was really just a formality. “Not that he couldn’t come back if you needed the help. But fewer jobs means less income, yes?”

“Not exactly,” Vergil said. 

“Yep,” Dante said. Vergil’s eyes narrowed, and Dante took a long step back before he spoke again. “I can pick up some more myself, but there would be a significant drop in our income.”

“How much?” Roxy said.

“Don’t let him swindle you,” Vergil said.

“Now why would I do that!?” Dante said. 

“She’s not paying for your pizza debt.”

“Of course not.”

“Nor is she paying off your debts to anyone else.”

Dante laughed nervously. “Yep.”

“Bills only.”

“And here I thought I was negotiating with her.”

“Technically, “Vergil said. “She is negotiating with me. This is a simple courtesy, as she is clearly aware of your terrible finances.”

“And whose fault would that be?” Dante said.

“Don’t you dare blame me for that.”

“I meant for telling her.”

“Send me the information for your electricity and rent payments,” Roxy interrupted. “I’ll take care of them both for as long as Vergil helps me.”

Now that was generous, and the slack-jawed look Dante gave her proved it. “W-well,” He said. “I think that’s fair. What do you think, Verge? You’re the one that has to do whatever she says,” Dante shrugged. “Your call.”

Vergil’s gaze drifted back to hers. He wasn’t outright opposed to the idea. A formal job would keep Dante off of his back, for the most part, as his brother would have to make an actual effort to tease him over it. Living elsewhere was an interesting prospect. And, knowing what her apartment looked like, Vergil was certain he could make the place his own in no time. And that’s what humans did… right? They moved away from their families. Found their own jobs. Lived their own lives…

“How soon do you need me?” He said. 

Relief swept through her, and Vergil was fascinated at how quickly she returned to her usual, upbeat self. “If you’re willing to go shopping with me today, then not for another few weeks.”

Vergil glanced at Dante but looked away when he realized his brother was staring at him with a knowing grin. They both knew what Vergil wanted to say. They both knew that he wanted to go through with this plan. He could tolerate Roxy’s presence. He often enjoyed it - a far cry from the frustration he felt around the rest of his family. And he wanted to help. He’d committed to helping her, and he meant that. 

But…

“You know,” Dante said. “Keeping an eye on you for this long has gotten rather… boring.”

Vergil fought the urge to glare and simply closed his eyes instead. The last thing he wanted was to rush blindly into something like this. But there was no point in delaying the inevitable. “I also tire of babysitting you, little brother,” He said with a trademark smirk as he looked at Roxy. “I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I prefer your company much more than his.”

Roxy laughed her cheeks flushing a bright crimson. “Don’t be mean,” She said with a gentle nudge on his shoulder. Vergil froze, eyes wide, but she had already turned back to his brother, discussing something that he wasn’t entirely certain of. Why did he feel so… strange? She hadn’t touched his skin, and his jacket was far too thick for him to really feel much. But the thought of someone… the idea that she was that comfortable with him…

“Verge?” 

He blinked once before pulling his thoughts back. “Yes?” He said though it came out rougher than he had intended. And the concern on Roxy’s face made his heart twist in yet another unexpected way. Why? Why did she make him feel this way? Why was every reaction to her so… visceral?

“Is everything alright?” She said. “Did I…?”

“Yes,” He said quickly before correcting himself. “Everything is fine.”

“Good!” Dante said as he yanked them both together. Roxy flinched, but she didn’t topple over this time. Small mercies, Vergil supposed. “Because if you’re going through with this new job of yours, then I’m going with you.”

Alarm swept through him. “What!?” He and Roxy said, both yanking themselves away. Except she was clumsier than usual and smacked right into him. And while the contact should have been a minor inconvenience, Vergil found himself reaching for her instead. Except he didn’t realize it until she had fallen straight into his arms after he had knelt to catch her. Their eyes met, and he was certain she felt as confused as he did. 

But there was something about her eyes...

Have they always been that striking? 

Dante sighed so loudly that even Vergi flinched at the noise. “Alright, alright.” He said. “Be as dramatic as you want, you’re still not getting out of this trip.” He beckoned to Vergil. “I’ll make the portal if you want.” A second summoned sword shot into the younger twin. This time, it knocked him clean off his feet. Dante simply stuck his thumbs up into the air. “Got it. No Yamato for me,” before letting his arms flop against the floor. 

“And he calls us dramatic?” Roxy muttered. 

Vergil glanced at her a second time before he realized that, once again, neither of them had moved. “Shopping, yes?” He said as he swiftly pulled them both to their feet. 

“Yep,” She said, smoothing down her dress far too many times. “We can grab things for you too… if you’re still...” She trailed off. 

“The terms are acceptable,” Vergil said. “But I will need a few weeks to finish things here before then.”

When her smile returned, Vergil realized he was more than glad to see it. “Of course,” She said. “Whatever works best for you.”

“So are we going shopping or…?” Dante said.

Vergil resisted the urge to roll his eyes, keeping his attention on her when he reached for Yamato instead. “It seems our present company is impatient.”

Dante groaned. “This is technically my house, you know.”

“I thought it was both of yours?” Roxy said.

“Well actually…”

“Enough,” Vergil said as he cut open a portal. “Feel free to lie there for the rest of the night. Roxy and I can…” 

But Dante was on his feet and through the portal before Vergil could finish that sentence. Vergil sighed but was surprised to see Roxy’s head tilted in thought. “What?” He said. 

“Did you, by chance, open that portal to a different location?”

Vergil stared at her, his fingers twitching against Yamato. “I’m afraid,” He said with a small bite of reluctance, “That I did not think that far ahead.” 

Roxy laughed. “Next time.” She stepped through the portal with confidence, and Vergil found himself staring at the empty void before him far longer than he should have. But then a voice radiated back at him - Just me and you, sunshine? This will be a fun day then! - and he quickly scowled and followed after them.

Ko-fi – Master List – AO3

[cryoculus]

ok but can i req tsukki having a crush on his brother’s friend?????? thank you ily

» Word Count: 2,497 words

If I were to entitle this, it would be: Five Times Kei Lets His Feelings Run Rampant and the One Time He Finally Lets Them Go

edit: i didn’t write their parents in this because reasons 

The first time was an evasion.

That night, his brother brought home some friends from college for a few drinks. Kei was a third year in Karasuno at the time, studying intently for finals until Akiteru showed up with three people in tow.

Kei planned on ignoring them entirely until Akiteru barged into his room.

“We’ve got guests, Kei,” he told him. “Could you come down and say hi?”

The look he gave him basically meant no, he did not want to say hi. But, from his own experience, Kei knew that humoring his brother was the fastest way to make him shut up. So, with reluctant strides, he followed Akiteru downstairs without any qualms.

“Guys, this is my little brother, Kei.” Akiteru grinned like he was some trophy sibling.

You snorted at him, noting the height difference between the two. “You sure he’s the little brother, Aki?”

His brother leered at you. “Hey! Just ‘cause he’s a good three inches taller than me, doesn’t mean I’m the little brother.”

“Of course you aren’t.”

Akiteru mumbled about how mean they were being before clearing his throat. “Kei, these are my friends –”

Admittedly, Kei couldn’t remember the names of the other college buddies his brother brought over that night. Partly because he didn’t really care, but mostly because they never dropped by again after that night. He only remembered you for suddenly becoming a constant presence in their house.

“–and that sharp-tongued bastard is (Name).”

Kei’s vision began to pull its center of attention solely on you, like a camera focusing on its subject. The other two friends Akiteru introduced steadily blurred into the background and brought you further into his line of sight.

“Nice to meet you, Kei.” Your lips turned up into a warm smile. “You old enough to drink?”

“(Name)!” Akiteru scolded, cupping Kei’s ears with both of his hands. “Don’t influence my little brother so early in his lifetime!”

Other friend number one rolled his eyes. “Aki, don’t pretend to be a saint. Didn’t you say you were already on hard liquor at age sixteen?”

Kei quirked a brow at that while his brother sputtered with his words. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let him make his own decisions, Aki,” other friend number two scoffed. “You got a brother complex or something?”

Akiteru placed his hands on his hips, eye twitching as his friends continued to gang up on him. “If I remember correctly, we came here to have a good time, not to harass me to no end.”

You shrugged. “Bring out the damn drinks and stop hinting about your brother complex then.”

The older Tsukishima groaned in resignation, cussing in a colorful vocabulary as he made his way to the kitchen.

Kei gulped. He was left alone with you  and Akiteru’s other two friends.

“So,” you began, eyeing him with an inquisitive gaze, “wanna have a couple of shots with us, Kei?”

He wanted to. But he had no good reason to do so.

“I’ve got exams tomorrow,” he replied dismissively, turning around to head back upstairs before you could make him change his mind. Kei had only met you, but he was already aware of what power you had over him.

The second time was a little more of a coincidence.

Kei didn’t know what you did for a living. He didn’t know where you worked to achieve the means to get by. He also didn’t know when your shift would begin and when it would come to an end. Akiteru didn’t supply him with that information, nor did he ask for it.

Yet here he was, lips parted in muted surprise as he handed you the book he was supposedly borrowing from the city library.

You’re yet to spare him a look, eyes trained on the title he selected with vague interest.

“No one’s really interested in archaeology anymore.” You swiftly removed the borrowing card from the back page, signing in today’s date. “May I know your – Kei?”

The timbre in your voice as his name rolled off your lips was an allure. Curious eyes gazed at him in bewilderment and he could almost see himself mirroring the expression. But why? You were just one of Akiteru’s many friends. If it were someone else in front of him, he’d brush off their recognition like dust on his shoulder.

He asked if you worked here. You said it was only temporary. He told you he’d return the leather-bound archaeology textbook in a week. You laughed dryly, informing him that you’d be out of here in three days’ time. He flatly reassured it was okay.

It kind of wasn’t.

The third was deliberate.

Kei constantly asked about you now and he wondered if Akiteru was catching on with his sudden interest. But from the way he’s not teasing him into oblivion about his hypothetical crush, Kei is sure that he’s yet to realize it.

You were the same age as Akiteru, you lived alone, you bounced from job to job simply because you ‘couldn’t find the best environment for yourself yet’, and you lived off instant ramen on the daily. Kei frowned at that last one. Didn’t you know the health hazards that came with eating too much instant food?

As he stood outside your apartment – your address having been the courtesy of his brother – fidgeting with the movie tickets he pre-purchased earlier today, he couldn’t help but ask:

What the fuck was he doing here?

It took you about three minutes to answer the door when he rang the doorbell. You peeked from the opening, disheveled from what he presumed was an afternoon nap. Sleepy eyes tried to assess what he was doing in your front door, but you mustered up a drowsy smile.

“Aki told me you were dropping by.”

He shuddered. What could his idiot brother possibly have told you? Akiteru must have made it out to be as compromising as possible. Kei was a high school student who didn’t have a direct source of income, yet he went out of his way to save up for movie tickets and a dinner reservation for two at an Italian restaurant that his brother told him you liked.

Now that he thought of it, he didn’t need Akiteru to make the situation seem as compromising than it already was.

“You taking me out on a date, Kei?” you teased as you opened the door further to let him in.

“It’s not a date, it’s charity,” he muttered.

“Sure it is.”

The fourth time was an experiment.

You were in their back porch, clinking mugs full of beer with the two brothers like there was no tomorrow. Kei had no memory of agreeing to being a part of yours and Akiteru’s plans on getting shit-faced this weekend. Yet here he was, face dusted with an intoxicated redness as he slowly stripped himself of his inhibitions.

You’ve all been chattering into the wee hours of the evening and the topics of your conversation beginning to delve into dangerous waters.

“Kei, if there was one person you’d make out for a whole day without stopping, who would it be?” Akiteru slurred to near incomprehensibility, slinging a heavy arm across his younger brother’s shoulders.

In the haze of his own drunkenness, Kei almost, almost nodded his head in your vague direction. He always wanted to know if your lips were as soft as the words you spoke.

But then Akiteru promptly slumped against his torso, beer mug slipping out of his grip. The abrupt sound of shattering glass and spilling alcohol was enough of a shock to rattle him out of his daze. But not completely.

You giggled. “Aki’s such a fuckin’ lightweight.”

“I’m gonna put him to bed,” Kei grumbled, trying to get up without being overwhelmed by the dead weight that his brother was forcing him to carry.

But Akiteru was far heavier than he was. Kei almost fell back to the floor when he supported Akiteru’s body on his right shoulder, but that’s until you caught the unconscious man, putting the rest of his weight on top of your own.

The two of you maneuvered him back into his bedroom with awkward but synchronized efforts, tossing him on top of the covers of his bed without concern for his ease. Akiteru would be too dead to the world to feel any discomfort anyway.

That should have been the deciding factor that signalled the end of their night. One of the three contenders has fallen and though this wasn’t that explicit of a last-man-standing competition, it should’ve been enough of a cue for you to leave.

But that wasn’t the case.

When he closed the door to Akiteru’s room, he came face-to-face with your own crimson tinged complexion, eyes gazing at him like he’s the finest piece of meat in the market. From the way the heat that simmered in his blood along with the liquid courage that was yet to die in his veins, Kei was pretty sure that he wasn’t sober enough to assess this logically.

Frankly, he didn’t want to.

Your lips came into contact with the sensitive skin of his ear. “How much older am I than you again?”

The undercurrent in your hushed tone made a jolt of electricity skid through his nerves. Gooseflesh danced across his skin as you braced your forehead against his own, permeating the air with the whisper of unsated desire.

“Six years, give or take.” The husk in his own words surprised him, but Kei was too busy gazing into the deep pools of your eyes to care. You chuckled at the fact that he had it in him to actually respond back.

“Kiss me,” came your breathless intonation.

And that he did, for what felt like hours of molding your body against the shape of his own, familiarizing himself with every nook and cranny, every dip and curve. When you finally pulled away from him, his mouth was numb but craved for more –

“Am I going to regret this when I’m sober?” you sighed against his lips, tugging at his golden tufts without reticence.

Boldly, he captured your bottom lip in his teeth, eliciting a low moan from you. His golden gaze pierced through you like an arrow through the heart.

“I’ll make sure you won’t.”

The fifth was a foreboding.

Somehow, Kei already knew the morning when he woke up from his drunken stupor that things wouldn’t be as they were anymore.

He and his brother still had private drinking sessions with you in their household from time to time, but whenever Kei would try to capture your gaze, you’d retract from the brief connection of your eyes in a flash. The lack of snarky remarks from you to him was also a notable change. It bothered him, but he would never say that aloud.

This persisted for a while, but Kei purposely turned a blind eye to it, like he did with most things that didn’t go his way. He knew better than to expect anything from an intoxicated exchange, but he did. And maybe that’s why he’s so goddamn irritable these past few days.

But then he began noticing something…off.

Personally, he didn’t really know when he’s grown into the habit of poisoning himself with cheap alcohol every weekend. He was an athlete. He had to keep up appearances, but he still found himself agreeing to Akiteru when his brother told him that you were coming over this Friday.

You came after your shift at a law firm you’ve signed up for recently and the exhaustion in your eyes was evident to a fault. Kei was the one who greeted you at the door and your dead-eyed gaze didn’t suit you. Not at all.

But when Akiteru’s singsong voice mellowed into your ears, it’s almost as if Kei witnessed a resurrection right before his eyes.

“Great timing! The beer is cold and waiting for you.”

His brother was not as young as he used to be and though he’s only in his mid-twenties, he certainly was aging faster than Kei anticipated. But the only thing about him that didn’t seem to grow any older were his deep brown irises. They still held the same mischievous glint that he had in the height of his teens.

Kei couldn’t help but understand why the exuberance almost immediately returned on your face at the mere sound of his brother’s voice. The grin you wore was unparalleled and he wondered if he could ever make you smile the same way.

No. He probably couldn’t – definitely couldn’t.

The sixth was a funeral.

Kei didn’t like it when emotions were the basis of choices being made – by himself or others, regardless. They were illogical and clouded a person’s judgement one way or another. He didn’t need that sort of extraneous variable thrown into the equation of his life decisions.

Yet, when he made the choice to cling onto the shred of hope that you’d one day look at him the same way you looked at his brother, no shred of rational thinking was devoted into that particular decision of his.

Once, when they were younger, Yamaguchi had told him that sometimes the best things in life come spontaneously and Kei had berated him for thinking as such. But now, he’s drinking a pint of beer by himself under the pale moonlight that spilled on their back porch, constantly thinking, constantly hoping that you’d change your mind out of pure spontaneity.

But he knew that his wishful thinking was at the end of the line.

Akiteru had moved out yesterday, finding solace in your new two-floor apartment somewhere uptown. There was reluctance in the parting gaze his brother had flashed Kei as he carried the box that carried the last of his possessions in previously their shared home.

It would be hard to be separated from him. They grew up together after all. But Kei knew that Akiteru wasn’t concerned with leaving him alone to fend for himself. No, it was for another matter entirely.

“I’m sorry,” Akiteru had whispered.

Kei didn’t have it in him to tell him that it was okay, that he didn’t care, and that he’s happy for you. All because it wasn’t okay, he did care, and he wasn’t happy for you.

He was used to coming in second, third, fourth – anything but first. He’s always been looking at the backs of those who were several steps ahead of him, whether it be from volleyball or his schoolwork. It was only a matter of time when someone else would beat him in the battle for your affections as well. 

Though his vision swam from the bite of the alcohol that wasn’t as good as Akiteru’s special brew, his intentions remained unclouded. He needed to kill the corrosive poison in his heart sooner or later.

It was for the best, after all.

[the12thnightproject]

Hi. I love your stories. From what I've read in current Mitsuhide's story, I was wandering if you are a native speaker of Portuguese or at least have a good knwolege of the language.

Hi Anon!

Thank you very much for the love. I very much appreciate it.

The short answer to your question is no - my native language is not Portuguese. I know almost no Portuguese. My native tongue is English.

The longer answer is that I have tried to learn the following languages: Hebrew, French, Spanish, Danish, and Norwegian. The operative word is tried. The technical term is failed. At best, I can somewhat read French, and at one point, I could manage to figure out newspaper articles in Danish with some context and a good dictionary.

Part of this might just be that I am a language dunce, and not capable of learning another language. Part of it might be more that in the United States, in public schools, students do not have the opportunity to take language classes until age 14 (an even then it is an elective and not required), and that's probably too late for most of us.

I wish I were better at language acquisition and greatly admire anyone who is fluent and able to communicate (speaking and writing) in multiple tongues.

As for the fic itself - though my main character Katsu has learned Portuguese, because the story is written in first person, I don't actually have of the dialogue written in Portuguese. Instead, I just note that such and such character (usually Francisco, but there will be a couple of others in later chapters), spoke in Portuguese, but because Katsu understands that language, she's already translated it in her mind, so whatever words the original speaker used, was already translated in Katsu's head.

Examples below the cut of how I work around it:

“Lord Mitsuhide – stop. That’s my partner. Francisco.” I pushed past him and called down to the lower level. “Francisco, up here. Don’t worry. I’m safe.” Then, because Francisco’s apt to forget his Japanese even in the calmest situation, I repeated myself in Portuguese.

Moments later, a puffing Francisco breached the top of the stairs and rushed into the room. His face was red and there were sweat stains visible on the shirt he wore under his jerkin. “Katsu. You are here. When I learned someone bought you, I thought, Akihira will murder me.” He paused and drew in a long panting breath. And then another. “I got lost and went to the wrong ship.”

Of course he did.

Note to self. Next time find a partner who can find their way from one end of the city to the other.

He was still speaking in Portuguese, so clearly his language skills (such as they were) had deserted him completely. I hurried to reassure him. “An acquaintance of Aki’s recognized me and purchased me. If you can repay him… and maybe give him a bit extra for his trouble, then we can be on our way.”

.....

In the next chapter, we get Mitsuhide's POV of the same conversation:

Shouts from below disrupted that thought. He couldn’t make out the words – it sounded like the Nanban tongue. Had her would-be purchaser found them so quickly and returned with more reinforcements? If so, it was a poorly thought-out ambush that would alert the victim to a pending attack.

He grabbed his sword and turned just as Akihira’s daughter yelled, “Lord Mitsuhide – stop. That’s my partner. Francisco.”

She rushed past him and called down to the lower level. “Francisco, up here. Don’t worry. I’m safe.” She then added something in Portuguese. Presumably to calm the man down but given that Mitsuhide did not speak the language he could not be certain of it. She could have given this ‘Francisco’ the opposite instructions in Portuguese and Mitsuhide would never know.

She understands Portuguese.

A useful skill.

Too useful to ignore.

He kept his hand on his sword, just in case as a short, stocky Westerner rushed into the room, his words tumbling over one another. Mitsuhide caught the words “Katsu” and “Akihira,” and none of the rest.

The daughter followed the gush of words without any problem and replied to the man in the same language. Not just familiar with the language. Fluent. Which turned her from an annoying impediment to a potential tool. Unfortunately, an aggravating tool.

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

Granted, the fic would be much more realistic if I put the dialogue into the language it is being spoken in... but to do that I'd have to rely on google translate, and there's too much possibility of error that way.

This is more or less how it's handed when writing film and television scripts too. If the intention is that a character is speaking in another language, in the script that's signaled as "(speaking in Spanish)" but you write the dialogue in English. With spec scripts there is no guarantee that the whoever is reading your script (be it a producer or a contest judge) speaks that other language, so writing it in that language would cause them to miss potentially important information.

The intention is that if the script is ever filmed, they would either hire an actor fluent in that language and/or hire a translator, so those lines likely would be filmed in Spanish (or whatever language), and then subtitled.

Again, thank you for asking!

[whitecrownsblackthrones-archived]

Her eyes... they kept going back to that tea set. It was times like this that he was glad he always had some money on him. Sure it was dangerous as a prince to carry it, but stalls like this, especially during this time of year wouldn't accept an iou or credit for their wares.

"Excuse me Miss, I would like to purchase this tea set." He didn't ask for the price, it didn't matter, he was going to get it now before it was gone

Blink. Blink. She’s a little surprised Aki was even paying attention to what she was looking at. Was he, or was he thinking of getting it for himself, Sun had no idea.

And, before Sun could even open her mouth to say anything, the shopkeeper was already excited declaring ‘Oh! Of course sir!’, & exchanging the tea set for Akihito’s coin.

[daleisgreat]

25 Years of PSone - Flashback Special!

I am back with another videogame anniversary special this week. In last week’s flashback on the Saturn & Virtual Boy I ran down all the other platforms that had milestone anniversaries this year. Of course I realized I neglected one days after posting it, and realized last month marked the 15th anniversary of the PSP in North America. I was originally going to combine my PSP memories with the PSone as we approach its 25th North American anniversary, but as you will soon see, I have quite a lot to say about the PSone, so it looks like the PSP will be touched on in the near future. With that said, hopefully I can grant you a brief reprieve from the real world times we are in if you indulge me while I reflect back on Sony’s unforgettable console debut in the gaming world.

I will start off with the PSone, which was originally abbreviated to the 1990s stateside gaming press as the PSX. When the PS2 hit in 2000, Sony retroactively changed the PSX branding into the PSone with the requisite late-gen slim design having that official branding. The PSX was later a whole separate PS2 variant only available in Japan, so the PSone labeling helped clear up any potential confusion with the Japanese PSX. As I mentioned in my flashback last week, I was initially not on board with the dawn of 32-bit systems after the initial polygonal games like Star Fox and Virtua Racing appeared ugly to my then 11 year-old eyes, and after trying the Saturn and PSone at retail kiosks shortly after their launches, I was bamboozled at the concept of ‘loading’ and being forced to wait for gameplay after not experiencing that on nearly all 8 and 16-bit games. The only bright spot I can recall in the first couple years of the PSone was having fun at my cousin’s blasting each other to bits in the excellent combat driving game, Twisted Metal. For the first few years of the PSone’s lifecycle in America, I easily dismissed it and stuck with my NES, SNES and GameBoy in those early years of the PSone because that was all my family had back then and they understandably did not want to cough up a few hundred more dollars to upgrade to a whole other platform. For the Christmas of 1997, after enough pleading with them to upgrade to a new gaming system I made my case for the N64 and was delighted to see it awaiting under the Christmas tree. That was due to my gaming preferences at the time and it being a four player powerhouse that worked ideally with my family and friends and also due to not getting my first job late in that console cycle it lead to me siding with it as my preferred console that generation. I do not regret it, but I did not miss out entirely on the PSone during this era as I had a couple friends around this time that got PSones instead and I wound up playing a fair amount of Sony’s first console hanging out at my other friend’s households.

The early NFL GameDay and Madden titles were the first big PSone games I played regularly against a friend. This video does a nice quick job explaining how the two were fierce competitors in early years of the PSone. In 1998 my friend Rich upgraded to a PSone and the bulk of my PSone playing the next two to three years wound up being at his place. We played a ton of 16-bit Madden in the years preceding, so naturally the first PSone game that was our go to was Madden NFL ‘97. It only looked like a slightly touched up version of the 16-bit games and still stuck with marginally bigger and detailed sprites (or incredibly weak looking polygonal footballers, it is hard to tell when looking at videos) when compare to the 16-bit Madden titles. I recall us then switching the football games up with Sony’s NFL game, NFL GameDay ‘98 for a little bit of variety, and being impressed with its superior polygonal graphics. That all changed a few months later when Rich got the then-brand new Madden NFL ‘99 that holiday season. That was a landmark game for the series, and it righteously blew us away when EA Sports delivered a brand new polygonal graphics engine to compete with GameDay, and its graphics and gameplay blew GameDay away. Madden NFL ‘99 also debuted the multi-season Franchise mode that is a staple in single player Madden features today, and was revolutionary back then. Rich and I played Madden NFL ‘99 regularly and it was our new favorite pigskin game that gen.

Rich and I would play a lot of other competitive multiplayer games over the next couple of years. I have good memories of us renting games on a weekend night and tearing each other up in games like Knockout Kings 2000 and NHL Rock the Rink. After I got my first job the next year I would occasionally purchase a PSone game I wanted to try to bring over to play. The N64 AKI wrestling games we played to death, and I wanted to try out what the PSone grapplers brought to the table. I recall us detesting the unplayable trash that was WCW Nitro (minus its laugh-riot of character select screen taunts), but having a pretty fun time with the deep roster and gameplay options available in the first WWF Smackdown game. I remember getting really into ECW after discovering their first wave of DVDs in 2000, and eagerly picked up ECW Anarchy Rulz. Looking back, that aging game engine from Acclaim was barely playable, but we managed to have a blast with the absurd gameplay modes available at the time like barbwire and brimstone deathmatches. After hearing how the gaming press was giving it game of the year-caliber buzz, I took a chance and picked up Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on PSone after I could not track down the harder-to-find Dreamcast version, and it worked out for the better because that game became an institution with Rich and I as we played countless bouts of Trick Attack and HORSE against each other. I could not hold a candle most times against Rich, but could care less since the gameplay was that lethal combo of accessible and fun, and that THPS2 had one of the all-time best licensed soundtracks, with a few selections like “Bring the Noise,” “Blood Brothers” and “Guerilla Radio” that remain in my running playlists today. I know, I know, you probably do not want to read entirely about sports and wrestling games, but for most of the 90s that made up a majority of what I consumed, but rest assured I am now moving on to some of the acclaimed single player titles the PSone is renowned for. My friend and podcast co-host Chris is a big fan of RPGs and I would chill at his place and enjoy watching him play through the story of Final Fantasy VII, Star Ocean, Grandia and Final Fantasy Tactics. Chris tried to help me wrap my head around them and guided me through first couple hours into FFVII and Tactics, but I did not have the attention span for those steep learning curves of their complex battle systems, especially Tactics. I recall watching my brother get wrapped up in FFVII and Legend of Dragoon and will never forget his anger at repeatedly failing against Seipheroth in the final FFVII boss battle, but will equally never forget his glee at finally conquering him. I finally made an honest effort at putting time into a new FFVII playthrough a couple years ago on my Vita, and I managed to make it out of Midgar which I considered a huge accomplishment. I only made it a little ways past that however and never got past that tall creature in a marsh I later found out was one of those battles you were not supposed to win. Speaking of FFVII, I played the demo recently for the newly released FFVII Remake and it looks dazzling and it sounds like that first installment of the Remake is getting high marks all around, which is great to hear for one of the most identifiable and best-selling games on the PSone.

I re-uploaded this podcast from my archives where we breakdown nearly all RPGs on the PSone. Brought on a lot of RPG-vets for this episode which yielded one of my favorite episodes in our near-200 episode run! I remember hearing the legendary FFVII vs. FFVIII fan debates over the years. For the first couple of years after its release, Final Fantasy VIII was almost universally panned by gaming mags and the newly emerging online gaming media at the time before it slowly built up a vocal contingent of defenders similar to how Luigi’s Mansion got its fanbase once the ‘it is not Super Mario’ hubbub at the GCN launch gradually died down. I remember when my brother finished FFVII and with his birthday approaching understandably wanting to play the next one right away and him pleading with my mom for FFVIII for his birthday. This was a year or two after it was already out and I remember warning my brother it was not received that well, and he blew off my warnings and persisted with his birthday wishes for it. He eventually procured Squall’s journey for his birthday, and I will never forget it asking him several days later for his first update on it and him furiously responding, ‘That game sucks, I already traded it in to Gamestop!’

To put a bow on RPGs on the PSone, I would like to nudge you towards another podcast I recently uploaded from my archives in time for this flashback where we did a multi-part history of RPGs special, with the PSone getting its own episode since it had so many highly-rated RPGs. As you have read by now, I am no expert at this genre, but Chris and a few other friends I brought on are and it lead to a thorough discussion breaking down nearly every major and minor RPG on the system! It was a fun roundtable I will never forget with the first half dedicated to passionately dissecting all the Final Fantasy titles on the system to the back half making sure nearly all other PSone RPGs get their due. I have embedded it in this article for your convenience, or you can click or press here to queue it up for later. Another multi-episode special of On Tap saw us focusing on the history of comic book games. I brought on longtime friend and comic book expert Matt for the perfect co-host for this series. He took his research for this line of episodes remarkably seriously and tracked down and bought any comic book games he was missing for each system to fill in any gaps and by the time we wrapped up our comic book games history series he purchased nearly every comic book licensed game there was. When it came time to cover PSone and Saturn comic book games we spent a weekend trying out many of these games Matt tracked down online. With the exception of the excellent Marvel-licensed fighting games by Capcom and a handful of other titles, a vast majority of the rest were a dumpster fire of barely playable platformers. I vividly recall Fantastic Four, The Crow: City of Angels, Blade and Hellboy: Asylum Seeker standing out as the cream of the crap. We suffered through a lot of dreck that weekend, but it was worth and it culminated in an episode where a lot of ragging was done on some atrocious games. I do not have that episode re-uploaded from the archives as of this writing, but I plan to eventually and will embed it here soon so you can experience our pain!UPDATE 6-23-2020 - I finally uploaded the podcast covering PSone comic book games to my YouTube channel; it is embedded at the bottom of this special, or you can click or press here to check it out!

The primary reason I never got a PSone during its lifecycle was because when I landed my first job in 1999 and finally had disposable income, it was either announced or much-rumored by that point that the highly anticipated PS2 would have backwards compatibility with the PSone library so I held off on getting the system. I would however purchase a handful of PSone games in the year leading up to the PS2 launch knowing that they would work on the PS2. I loved SNES Street Racer, so PSone Street Racer was one of my first PSone games, and it had a nice bump up in visuals and somehow pulled off split screen multiplayer for up to eight players! The 3DO version of Road Rash got a nice performance boost on the PSone, but like the 3DO version also does not have support for its killer licensed soundtrack during gameplay. Sadly the PSone’s exclusive follow up, Road Rash: Jailbreak failed to deliver, and the beloved franchise has rarely been seen from since. Street Fighter Collection: Volume 2 was how I first experienced the turbo speed and hyper combos of Super Street Fighter II: Turbo that I fondly remember doing regular match-ups against my classmate Josh! The wrestling nut in me experimented with a couple other exclusive wrestling games on the system. Power Move Pro Wrestling was a decent early polygonal wrestling game, which I could have seen being addicted to if I played it when it originally released in 1996. WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game and WWF In Your House were mildly entertaining Mortal Kombat-esque takes on wrestling games, but needless to say I stuck with the N64 for my main wrestling games fix during this era. I loved both Destruction Derby titles on PSone back during this time, but I revisited them briefly in prep for this flashback and am sad to report they have not aged the best and I forgot how loose they controlled and how some inadvertent spinouts could lead to a quick demise. Another oddball title was the Kurt Warner backed Arena Football Unleashed. It is Midway taking the Blitz engine and giving it an Arena-rules makeover, but with more vicious hits and tackles that the NFL would not endorse in their games.

I want to make sure to get a couple other quick props to a few other assorted PSone memories. Loaded was a fun overhead two player action title to mindlessly blast away in coop. I was impressed with Blizzard’s port of Diablo and how well it surprisingly handled the co-op action with not too many performance hiccups. Another PC hit series my brother and I dug, Delta Force did not make as smooth of a transition to PSone with Delta Force: Urban Warfare being a bit of a choppy mess. The hit multiplayer series Worms I first discovered on PSone with Chris introducing me to the series with Worms 2 and I instantly became a fan of its fantastical weaponry like Banana Bombs and exploding sheep. One of the scant few times I got my mom to play games with me was knocking out several rounds of Jeopardy 2nd Edition where it was then impressive to hear every question…errr answer audibly read by studio host Johnny Gilbert. On one of the annual 24-hour Extra Life charity drives I participated in, a friend brought over one of the strangest PSone titles ever in Incredible Crisis, to begin to describe its zaniness would be impossible, so I will point you towards this video instead. The aforementioned Capcom Marvel fighting games you cannot go wrong with, but a decent alternative was the pair of X-Men: Mutant Academy fighting games from Activision.I remember they had Professor X as a hidden character and going to town dishing out damage with his array of wheelchair attacks! I never got into the hardcore sim Gran Turismo titles, but it was another title that I would be fine watching Chris show off its then best-in-show graphics and presentation of realistic cars and driving physics. Finally, the Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 were in regular rotation at friends. Like Virtua Fighter 2 on Saturn they proved that polygonal fighters were here to stay, and I remember being stunned how good Tekken 3 looked when next to its arcade counterpart and how Namco squeezed everything they could out of the PSone with that title.

It was a different time for WWF games in the early years of the PSone as this video elucidates how a Mortal Kombat take on a wrestling game came to be. PSone and PS2 owners were spoiled with a constant supply of demo discs courtesy of OPM and Playstation Underground. I remember Chris keeping up with the demos and him constantly popping in the latest one whenever I swung over. The Playstation Underground discs especially stood out since they were essentially a virtual magazine, complete with mini-documentaries and interview features, cheat codes and content unlocked save files. I have been able to experience these again with Giant Bomb doing an exquisite job regularly reliving this era with their ‘Demo Derby’ video series I give a high recommendation for everyone to check out. I also remember the final years of PSone’s lifecycle that introduced the concept of the $10 budget game that saw dozens of low-budget games release brand new for at that price point. A lot of these were utter trash like All-Star Slammin’ D-Ball where I discovered it is possible to screw up a dodge ball game, but there was an occasional gem sprinkled in there, and it was part of the fun chancing one when randomly perusing the racks at Best Buy on a routine payday visit back then.

My last dive into PSone gaming was downloading the various PSone classics released digitally on PS3. According to good ‘ol reliable Wikipedia, there were 265 PSone Classics released for PS3 download in North America. I downloaded around 30 of them. Most of them were $6 each, with a few multi-disc games going for $10 I think, but they frequently went on sale for half off and it was a great way to track down games I always wanted for a bargain, and having most of them being cross-compatible on the Vita was a handy bonus too! I booted up a few of them prepping up for this, and a big standout for me were the five volumes of the NAMCO Museum catching my eye with their impressive explore-able museum filled with all types of fan service that made me get a lot more than I expected when revisiting arcade classics like Galaga and Pole Position. One day I will make time for the other downloaded PSone Classics in my PS3 library I have long neglected and heard nothing but great things about like both Mega Man Legends titles and the pair of Suikoden games. Speaking of PSone Classics, that brings me to Sony’s entry into the console-mini market a couple years ago with its critical and commercial flop, the PSone Classic. I love my NES, SNES and Genesis mini consoles, but I avoided Sony’s version with its surprise amount of issues that are far too numerous to breakdown here. From what I understand, a lot of it can be resolved by modding the system, but ultimately I prefer having my PS3 be my own personal PSone Classic. My PS3-slim model still plays all my PSone discs, and combine that with my own curated PSone Classics I have downloaded on it and I see no need to upgrade to the PSone Classic and its Dual Shock-less controller.

I will wind down here by stating how I went until three or four years ago unexpectedly stumbling into procuring a physical PSone. I was helping a longtime co-worker move an old couch, and afterword we were having a quick breakfast when she suddenly had a lightbulb-turned-on look dawn on her and she exclaimed, ‘hey, you like games, right?’ I responded that I do, and she went on to say how her son left a couple boxes of games in her closet and insisted I take them for helping her out. I felt it was a bit much for moving a couch, but she persisted and double checked with her son after a quick text. Upon opening up the couple of shoeboxes when I got home I discovered it wound up being the PSone-slim, with two controllers and about 20 games mostly of the Crash Bandicoot and alternative sports variety which was fine by me! The PSone/Saturn/N64 generation I remember being a crazy ‘fanboy war’ era. Aside from the standard lunchroom verbal jabs that were exchanged, that generation in the mid-to-late 90s was when the Internet, online forums, boards and messenger programs became ubiquitous and only fueled the fire. As stated above, I remember sticking by the N64 during this time, but over the years as you have just read, I came around on the PSone over the years. I may have touched on an unorthodox lineup of games compared to what people that were playing the PSone during its active retail timespan, but I do not regret any of the PSone ‘classics’ I experienced one bit. Please check back here later this year for more Sony platform flashback specials on the PSP and PS2, and if you want more retro gaming flashbacks then please take a look underneath here for a list of my previous flashbacks!

Here is the podcast I did covering all of the comic book games released on the PSone, along with other systems from that era like the Saturn and N64. My Other Gaming Flashbacks Dreamcast 20th Anniversary GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary Saturn and Virtual Boy 25th Anniversaries TurboGrafX-16 30th Anniversary and 32-X 25th Anniversary

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Sin-Eating and Cliffhangers in Tochi Onyebuchi’s Beasts Made of Night: ARC Review

This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review edition is an ARC and may differ from the final edition.

I have given Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi a ☆☆☆ rating. It belongs to the Young Adult Fantasy genre with some Romance and Adventure elements. Razorbill/Penguin Random House publishes it. It was published October 31, 2017.

The blurb reads:

In the walled city of Kos, corrupt mages can magically call forth sin from a sinner in the form of sin-beasts – lethal creatures spawned from feelings of guilt.

Taj is the most talented of the aki, young sin-eaters indentured by the mages to slay the sin-beasts. But Taj’s livelihood comes at a terrible cost. When he kills a sin-beast, a tattoo of the beast appears on his skin while the guilt of committing the sin appears on his mind. Most aki are driven mad by the process, but 17-year-old Taj is cocky and desperate to provide for his family.

When Taj is called to eat a sin of a royal, he’s suddenly thrust into the center of a dark conspiracy to destroy Kos. Now Taj must fight to save the princess that he loves – and his own life.

A gritty Nigerian-influenced fantasy.

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Quick life update: I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet as of late, especially to publishers and publicists who send me ARCs. Thank you for putting your faith and trust in me. I’ve just recently quit my job and taking a break from work life to focus on developing my passion project: this blog and my bookstagram.

As we near closer to the end of the year, you can expect more frequent reviews as I churn them out like a factory because I’ve missed so many that my calendar is obsolete. I’m already preparing for next year’s releases and let me tell you, they are stunning!

As always, my reviews may contain spoilers. I say may because what’s a spoiler to you may not be a spoiler for me.

Verdict:

It’s always disappointing when a diverse read’s future hangs in the balance, especially when it ends on an equally disappointing cliffhanger. I didn’t DNF it because I did like it. But, no sequel has yet been announced for Beasts Made of Night, unusual for a book that has received this much attention and hype. And I can see from a business point of view why. The Goodreads score is low and the reviews lean towards negative as opposed to positive.

I’m afraid that mine is no different.

Beasts Made of Night follows Taj as he struggles with being the only sin-eater who’s sins do not fade from his skin. When a sin-eater eats a sin, it appears on his skin in the form of an animal (the sin also appears as an animal) like a sort of tattoo and fades away slowly. But Taj’s sins do not fade and he is left with almost no visible “skin”, only tattoos. Because he is unique in this sense and also highly-skilled and trained, he is called upon by the royal family to serve as teacher to new sin eaters. But of course, there are more malicious reasons than simply training young ones. There is also a plot against the royal family and a massive twist that no one sees coming.

Beasts Made of Night made lofty promises: diverse, Nigerian-inspired, sin-eaters! It’s everything that a YA fantasy needs to fulfil these days and I was excited when I received the ARC. I’ll admit, I didn’t know what sin-eating was and only found out later that it is an actual belief and practice rooted deeply in many cultures. And Beasts Made of Night brought this spiritual practice to life.

The general plot was interesting enough that I kept on reading despite it being one that’s overdone. You know, “servant” boy falls in love with princess and she loves him back.  

The landscape that Tochi Onyebuchi crafts is striking and intriguing, bringing to mind settings like that of The Wrath and the Dawn and The Star-Touched Queen (both are Indian inspired so, it seems similar and not the same. Don’t get me wrong). It is also evocative and it really makes you feel like you’re right there alongside Taj.

And, I love the sin-eating and politics and culture surrounding the practice. The worldbuilding is absolutely beautiful. It’s worth to pick up Beasts Made of Night only to read how the author has taken sin-eating and turned it into a way of life. It is surrounded by so much politics and societal norms, kind of what our world is like today. For example, sin-eaters are called upon by the royal family to purge them of their sins as the royal family is supposed to be “pure” and “untouched”, essentially guiltless and clean. And so, they remain pure and clean in the eyes of their nation.

But, in the end, it failed to deliver.

It rode too hard on it being a diverse read and its Nigerian influence. Beasts Made of Night couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. It lacked a plot structure, jumping from one twist to another. It lacked proper flow. The plot twists while taking my breath away also left me incredibly confused. There was no prelude, no warning. Just wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.

Plus, the romance between Taj and the princess seemed incredibly forced and had no purpose at all being there. Firstly, it popped out of nowhere. One moment I’m reading about Taj and sin-eating and the next, he is madly in love with the princess and dreaming about her. The princess is also madly in love with him! It made absolutely no sense and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I hope this isn’t a fault of the ARC but poor editing.

Not to mention, the princess had absolutely no personality. Who is she? What is she? What does she like? Nothing. I can’t even remember her name cause she’s that forgettable.

And suddenly, Taj is “dying”. No warning, whatsoever. But the sins are on the verge of consuming his body and “eating” him alive aka Taj has burnout.

The pacing was also incredibly slow. I was 70% into the book and Taj was still moping about.

Note: Taj is always moping and lamenting about his life. While I get that it’s because sin-eaters are seen as trash in Kos, it lends an extremely somber tone to the entire book.

Perhaps the worst crime Beasts Made of Night could commit is that it.didn’t.end.the.book. The cliffhanger wasn’t even a fucking cliffhanger. It’s like someone took a knife to the book and sliced it in half. It’s exactly how ebooks end when they want you to purchase the next book in the series. It’s despicable, especially coming from a reputed publisher such as Random House.

But all is not lost!

The plot twist that comes at the end (finally thank you oh great book lords!) sets the pace for the rest of the series. A government overthrow and rebellion. Plus, I absolutely love Taj’s scholar friend, Aliya. She’s such a gem and I would love to see more of her. She’s blunt and honest and needs a little more tact but she’s got such a heart of gold and she’s so intelligent. I would definitely love to see more of her!

Conclusion:

Beasts Made of Night definitely falls into the trap of the Order of the Debuts and Order of the Firsts. If you can put up with all the negatives, I promise you, it’s worth it. It was engaging and interesting even though it forced me to keep up because of all the plot changes and it’s slow pacing. Plus, Aliya is such a gem. All hail Aliya.