#shame the zoom up looks better than the full drawing

[vh-rasz]

Moonstone, Blue Lace Agate, Stilbite

drew more Rock people, time really flies, the last post was in 2023 Nov

[wren-kitchens]

being bad at something is so embarrassing like yeah. yeah if I practiced more i’d be better. yeah the reason I don't practice is because i’m bad. i recognise the irony. i’m still not gonna practice

[viacursecasting]

A Blooming Mistake.

{ Read on AO3 }

Summary: Sonic is hiding his hybrid roses, meant for someone special, but Shadow's determined to uncover the truth...

In a way rivals know best.

~

Radiant light of the full moon streaked through the leafy embraces of forest branches, illuminating freckles upon the well-trodden path for the cobalt quilled hero. His buckled cherry shoes crunched upon dried foliage as he ambled toward his destination. Normally he would’ve utilized his renowned speed, but he was wary of disturbing any critters peacefully slumbering in their nests. Even so, as he heard the pitter-patter of startled animals, he cupped the corner of his lip with a gloved hand, whispering apologies into the darkness.

As he clutched a shovel in one hand and a basket of rose stems in the other, he continued onward through mossy trees and flowering bushes until he reached a clearing, grassy and kempt, overlooking the vast sea, which stretched across the horizon to kiss the distant mountains. The serenade of gentle waves lapping against the cliffside soothed his upright ears. A spring breeze combed through his quills. He inhaled deeply, the aromatic scent filling his nostrils, the air so briny he could practically taste its salt upon his tongue. Moonlight reflected divinely across the waves, a sparkle rivaled only by his toothy grin. No matter how many times he trekked here, it always felt like the first.

Refreshed from admiring the landscape, he then glanced at the bundle of stems in hand. This species was a unique hybrid, one that bloomed crimson petals with ebony splatters. The hedgehog recalled the laborious hours he poured into growing these for weeks on end—planting monochrome roses adjacently, watering them each day, breeding the resulting hybrids into super hybrids, not to mention the painstaking chore of pulling out weeds and debris by burying his knees in the dirt. If the buds successfully bloomed, he would take it as a sign to pursue his crush. Was all this effort going to be worth it?

More importantly, could he handle the answer?

As he set the woven basket down he simply… stared. At nothing in particular. Why he couldn’t bring himself to start the final stage of planting the crossbred stems, he didn’t know. He groaned, rubbing his temples as if just now realizing what a ridiculous idea this was.

What are you doing here?

He thought his inner voice was berating him until his ears perked at the unmistakable sound of a familiar, confident gait.

“I said, what are you doing here?”

He swore his heart raced faster than his feet ever have as he peered into the forest, searching for the source of the low voice. Then, as if materializing from the shadows, a jet black lifeform stepped into view, his rosy highlights complementing his fiery gaze.

“Shadow?” The royal blue hedgehog blinked repeatedly to make sure his emerald eyes weren’t playing tricks on him from lack of sleep.

Once he realized this was no illusion, Sonic discreetly held the shovel behind his quills, subtly adjusting his footing to hide the basket at his heels. But there was no fooling his dark counterpart, who analyzed his body language suspiciously.

Shadow crossed his arms. His cool and collected tone sent chills down Sonic’s spine. “Don’t toy with me, hedgehog. What are you hiding?”

“Nothing!” Sonic blurted. “What are you hiding?”

The agent rolled his carmine eyes at the feeble attempt to deflect the question. As he took several steps closer he glanced toward his rocket skates, feeling the ground get considerably flatter, devoid of twigs and stones. He observed, “This clearing appears to have been tended to.”

Sonic laughed nervously. “Nature at its finest, I guess.”

“Is that so?” Shadow humored him. The closer he got to his parallel, the softer the earth felt with every step. “I suppose nature also watered this specific plot despite having no rain all week?”

Sonic glimpsed skyward, feigning a motion as if he felt a raindrop despite the unassuming clouds. “It could start pouring any minute. We should head back—”

He stifled a breath as Shadow, nose to nose with Sonic, scrutinized him as if he could find the answer in his irises, green as a hill zone. Suddenly he reached around Sonic’s waist, fingers brushing against the underside of his back spikes.

Sonic’s muzzle reddened intensely. “Wait, what are you—?”

Shadow seized the digging tool from his rival’s grip. “Look what we have here.” He chided with a smirk, “Shame on you, hedgehog. Wrecking the beauty of nature so you can play buried treasure.”

“This isn’t a game!” Sonic cried. “Now give that back!”

Shadow kept his foe at bay with an extended arm against his chest. As Sonic clawed the air in an attempt to retrieve the shovel just out of reach, the agent spotted the basket of greenery at Sonic’s contrasting sneakers. Shadow halted, curiosity getting the better of him as his counterpart finally yanked the tool from his grasp.

But that was the least of Shadow’s worries.

Before he could get a closer look inside the rattan basket, a glowing streak of cyan made it disappear and then reappear a few feet away in Sonic’s grip.

Shadow glared at the speedster, at first with annoyance. Why would he hide a few measly plants? Then it dawned on him. Slowly his expression turned into one of horror, staring wide-eyed at the so-called hero.

But Sonic paid no mind as he refused to make eye contact, red with embarrassment. He could practically feel that scarlet gaze burning his azure fur. “Please, Shadow. Just go home.”

“Sonic.”

Shadow said it with such bleeding concern that his sapphire twin regarded him. Aghast, the ebony hedgehog paled as if he’d seen a ghost, troubling Sonic. “Stop looking at me like that, Shads. You’re scaring me.”

Shadow ignored the request. “Is that what I think it is?”

Sonic tightened his clammy grip on the wicker handle. “What do you think it is?”

Shadow’s hesitation was brief, as if his hypothesis would somehow become true if he voiced his suspicions. “Performance-enhancing drugs.”

Sonic laughed at the notion. He had never touched a drug let alone taken one. He wasn’t even sure he knew what one looked like. “Don’t be ridiculous—”

“That’s why you’ve been so secretive,” Shadow mulled distantly, rubbing his fingers under his chin as if he solved the case. “Either you plan on outperforming me, or you’ve been taking these to get on my level.”

Sonic’s expression twisted into one of confusion. “What? No! You’ve got it all wrong!”

Shadow remained skeptical, requiring proof. His eyes bore into his foe like daggers stained crimson. “Then hand it over,” he demanded, the golden power inhibitor on his wrist gleaming menacingly around his outstretched hand.

Sonic’s heart seized at the thought. His fingers clenched the woven handle so tightly he nearly bled. He swallowed before replying, “I can’t.”

Neither of them wavered. Not even the void’s icy breeze could make them flinch. Was that the wind or Sonic’s internal cry for help?

Then Shadow sighed, tightening his gloves as if foreseeing this outcome. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”

In a flash he leapt forward, trailing an amber aura in his wake. Sonic’s mind deconstructed the act in slow motion, perceiving Shadow’s feet leave the ground, his limbs curl into a ball, his attack home in on Sonic’s beating organ.

Sonic dropped his possessions, steeling himself to block the spindash with crossed arms, the force so powerful his heels dug trenches in the dirt. He grunted with the effort of holding Shadow off as the high-pitched rev of the spinball deafened his ears. It was like preventing a screeching tire from burning rubber on his vitals.

Seeing as this was getting him nowhere, Shadow performed a backflip, landing gracefully on his feet. “Hmph. I’m just warming up.”

Sonic chuckled, stretching his legs like a marathon runner in a show of confidence. “Sure thing, faker,” he emphasized, knowing this would warrant some aggression.

Shadow couldn’t help but clench his fist with ire, drawing his arm back before zooming forward with a punch.

The blue blur easily sidestepped to dodge but Shadow expected this, extending another blow at the last second, hitting his opponent square in the jaw.

Sonic reeled back, more out of shock than pain, rubbing the soreness away. Regardless, he found himself smiling. It wasn’t often he brawled someone who matched his abilities. After crushing laughable badniks for days on end, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t itching for some excitement. “Lucky shot.”

“Calculated shot,” the agent corrected. “Are you as slow in the brain as you are with your feet?”

Sonic gasped dramatically, tossing the back of his hand to his forehead. “Alas! You have discovered my fatal flaw!” He bowed humbly. “Teach me, O Wise One.”

Just as Sonic was about to straighten, his opposer kneed him in the abdomen. He doubled over with a groan, sinking to his knees.

“Lesson one,” Shadow advised, “never let your guard down.”

In his kneeling position, Sonic took the opportunity to grab Shadow’s ankle and yank him to the dirt, knocking the wind out of him as he landed on his back. Shadow coughed, attempting to regain control of his lungs as Sonic loomed over him, boasting, “Lesson two, surpass the master.”

Shadow sprung to his feet. Meanwhile Sonic revved up into a concussive ball, billowing dust, and charged forward to knock over his contender like a bowling pin. But Shadow performed a handless frontflip like a gold-medal gymnast, easily dodging it.

“Chaos Spear!”

Upon hearing Shadow’s battle cry, Sonic serpentined throughout the clearing to avoid numerous bolts of energy the agent’s palms emitted. But no matter how quickly Shadow fired, Sonic managed to evade every shot by a hair.

At one point the blue blur skidded to a halt, and suddenly a glowing spear jutted out of a tree right before his face.

Sonic let out a nervous chuckle, grateful to still have a nose. “Someone’s getting antsy.”

He ducked in the nick of time to avoid a jet-boosted roundhouse kick to the head. Sonic then swept his leg to trip his assailant, but to no avail as Shadow leapt high into the air, backlit by the witnessing moon, before clasping his hands together to pummel Sonic into the ground.

CRUUUSH!

The hero narrowly somersaulted clear, shaking dirt from his quills. When he looked up to see the crater Shadow formed with his fists, his stomach churned. “Whoa, Shads, take it easy!”

Tired of this dance, the lifeform was tempted to execute a Chaos Blast right then and there, but instead he sneered, “Not until I get what I want.”

He dashed forward. His parallel instinctively did the same. However, a vine caught Sonic’s toe, hurtling him straight into Shadow. The hedgehogs were a mass of flailing punches and kicks, their limbs a blur as their tangled bodies rolled in the grass like a prickly tumbleweed.

Their careening stopped dead in its tracks as Shadow straddled Sonic, their panting faces inches apart, their arms wrestling for dominance with Shadow’s fists against Sonic’s palms.

Through grunts, Sonic tried to reason with him. “Okay, Shadow… hff… This was fun at first… hff… but now—” He cried out as his wrists bent at a dangerous angle.

“It was never a game, Sonic.” Using gravity to his advantage, Shadow pushed harder.

Pain shot through Sonic’s arms. “Shadow, stop!” he pleaded, his biceps nearly giving out. “It’s not what you think!”

Shadow snarled, his fangs gleaming like dual blades. “Don’t lie to me!”

Sonic’s muscles screamed. He didn’t remember his counterpart being this strong, didn’t understand where such passion was coming from. “Why are you so worked up?”

“I won’t let you destroy yourself!”

Shadow’s guttural cry echoed throughout the crisp air, followed by a chorus of flapping from retreating crows. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he almost wished Sonic would run away, too, as he shut his eyes tight to suppress his hot tears.

Witnessing such raw emotion made Sonic yield, letting Shadow pin his wrists to the dirt beside his spiky head. Though Sonic took shallow breaths, his peach torso still brushed against his rival’s ivory chest fur, soft and full, making his back spines prickle. “If it matters so much to you,” Sonic relented, “then you can take what’s in the basket.”

No sense of victory hailed Shadow as he sulked from revealing a shred of vulnerability. Instead a numbness washed over him like a waterfall. He crawled off the sapphire hedgehog, taking a few steps to retrieve what he thought was a performance-enhancing substance. But what he found was much more tame.

Perplexed, Shadow inspected a leafy stalk carefully. “These look like rose stems.”

As Sonic stood to brush grass off his quills, he could feel his face grow warm, resorting to sarcasm as a defense mechanism. “That’s because they are rose stems, genius.” He almost laughed. This was G.U.N.’s best agent?

It still didn’t add up. “Why were you hiding these from me?” When Sonic failed to answer, Shadow read his flustered face instead. “Are they intended for Amy?” Sonic shook his head. “Blaze?” Another shake. “Knuckles? You are aware he’s in love with a rock—”

“It’s you!” Sonic blurted, immediately slapping his palm over his mouth. He had to say something—he felt as if he were going to explode any second. But the regret was instant. He wanted to be cremated right then and there and have his ashes flung over the cliff into the depths of the sea below, dissolving into nothingness.

Shadow was taken aback but quickly composed himself, clearing his throat. “I see. Yellow roses?” he surmised, knowing that this flower hue symbolized a strong bond among friends.

“No,” Sonic replied, downcast. There was no point in lying anymore. “They’re a hybrid. Black for eternity and red for luh—! …Ove.”

That last word caught in his throat, so foreign on his tongue. Unconsciously he rambled, desperate for some sense of control again. “I thought that maybe once these bloomed, I’d have the courage to… ask you out.”

Shadow had difficulty masking his bewilderment. He opened his mouth as if to say something but failed to express a coherent thought, unable to recall the last time someone rendered him speechless.

Sonic rubbed the back of his neck, elaborating, “I know it’s stupid. Even though you get on my nerves, you also… get me, you know?” He reminisced over the moments they were forced to team up against a greater evil, racing side by side, occasionally stealing sidelong glances at each other.

Then images of the Finalhazard flashed in his mind, followed by the harrowing sight of Shadow plummeting to his supposed death. “When I thought I would never see you again, it made me realize I had taken you for granted.”

I should just stop talking, Sonic told himself. But his lips betrayed him. “Since then, I just couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

What are you doing? “I mean, look at your speed. Your strength. Everything about you screams danger.”

Shut. Up. “But instead of running away from you, why is my heart telling me—”

Shut up shut up shut up!

He growled, yelling over his thoughts, “—to run with you!?”

Sonic was practically on the verge of a cardiac arrest. His breath was short, his ears were numb. He felt as if an anchor pulled him by the pit of his chest to claim him as part of the earth’s core. He expected a witty comeback. A kick to the stomach. Anything! But what he got was worse. Shadow stared at Sonic as intently as a sniper through the lens of his scope. As pervasive as a bullet, what really killed Sonic was the silence.

Sonic shook his head to clear his mind. It was all so ridiculous, devoting so much time and effort and emotion to someone who couldn’t care less. “But it doesn’t matter.” He hastily gathered his belongings and began to head homeward. “Clearly you don’t feel the same way so let’s just move on and pretend none of this ever happened—”

“Wait.”

Sonic froze, feeling Shadow’s grip around the crook of his elbow. His heartbeat pounded so incessantly he thought his eardrums would burst. “Yeah?”

The crimson-eyed hedgehog averted his gaze, though Sonic thought he spotted a faint rosy tint across his tan muzzle. “It appears as though your sentiments mirror mine.”

Cogs slowly turned in Sonic’s mind, trying to process the confession. But then he laughed in denial. “Come on, Shads. You’re not serious.”

Shadow squeezed Sonic’s arm in affirmation, finally locking his ruby irises with his counterpart’s emeralds.

Fixated, Sonic read no hesitation, no amusement in that scorching gaze, straight as a gun barrel. That’s when he knew Shadow was indeed telling the truth.

It finally clicked. Then Sonic turned bright red, realizing just how close Shadow was standing, feeling his warm breath on his lips.

Shadow stroked Sonic’s cheek with the back of a curled finger, a touch that was extra gentle in case he miscalculated his own strength, before resting it under Sonic’s chin to slightly crane his neck. The agent found his blush quite endearing, and being its trigger was icing on the cake. They were in such close proximity that Shadow could breathe in his admirer’s scent, sweet as freshly cut grass. Shadow’s blood pumped so madly he thought Sonic could hear it. He briefly wondered if he would ever get used to the hero’s presence. Perhaps he would find out at a later date.

If so, it would be a date to die for.

With slowly lidding eyes, Shadow leaned in, parting his lips just as their muzzles were a quill’s breadth apart—

“Shadow, come in!” urged an electronic voice.

The hedgehogs jumped out of their trances. Shadow cursed under his breath, realizing the command came from his wrist communicator. He pressed a button as he spoke into it. “Yes, Rouge?”

“You’re supposed to report every hour so we know you’re safe while patrolling,” his bat coworker scolded.

Shadow grimaced. “I can take care of myself.”

“It’s just a precaution,” Rouge stated. “In any case, that cheery attitude of yours lets me know you’re fine. Bye~!” The call ended with a beep.

A forlorn sigh escaped Shadow’s lips, the moment officially tainted.

But with his ever-present smile, Sonic brushed off any disappointment he may have had. “You should get back to work.”

Shadow glared at the blue hedgehog, feigning annoyance. “This area is well within my jurisdiction, and I haven’t finished inspecting it,” he claimed, watching Sonic’s grin grow wider, so contagious he wore a hint of a smile himself. He then graciously took the shovel from Sonic’s grasp, walking toward the primed plot. “Come. I hate leaving a job unfinished.”

[amelialincoln]

Are u gonna write after tonight’s episode like u usually do? hope you focus on when link left but also after the hug thanks xx

Fragile 

“Because I’m not an alcoholic, I’m not in recovery…” Link continued yelling but all Amelia could focus on was how much she wanted to slap him on his very perfectly symmetrical face. As if asking him if he was drunk at 9am was such a crazy idea when he started drinking at 12pm yesterday. It wasn’t like she was shaming him or telling him how uncomfortable it really made her, she was just worried about him, more than herself. Of course she’d noticed his little guitar drinking sessions. Whiskey had been lingering on his breath for the past week every time he crawled into bed. The slamming of the front door brought her back to reality. She went to put the Whiskey back on the shelf and realized it was gone.

“Auntie ‘mels, where’s uncle Link?” Amelia turned to find Ellis standing in the doorway to the backyard and she tried to hold back some of the tears that were forming in her eyes out of frustration. “He’s gone,” She replied, realizing she hadn’t retained where he said he was going. “But he’ll be back soon.” She tried to hide the uncertainty in her eyes. “You wanna come garden?”

“Yes!” Ellis squealed.

“Alright then,” Amelia laughed lightly for her nieces sake. “Not for too long though because Scout is going to wake up from his nap soon. You go pick the bulbs and I’ll be there in a second.”

“Maybe daffodils? Or tulips?”

“Surprise me.” Amelia gushed, brushing a strand of hair out of the excited girl’s face and smiling as she took off into the backyard. She went back to the dishes she was putting into the dishwasher before her and Link’s quarrel, knocking one of them off the counter as she abruptly turned and it clattered to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. “Damn it,” she cursed, momentarily wanting to throw another one at the wall.

“Amelia.” Maggie had entered the kitchen upon hearing the noise. “You okay?” She could see that her sister was on the verge of tears.

“I’m fine,” she replied coldly, pushing past Maggie as she tried to wrap her arms around her and stormed out into the backyard. “Don’t let the kids in the kitchen, I’ll clean it up when I’m done in the garden,” she called over her shoulder. Maggie sighed, picking up the ceramic shards, of what used to be her sister’s favourite plate, before sweeping up the rest of the mess. She wondered momentarily where Link had gone and wondered briefly if he had anything to do with Amelia's abruptness. Sometimes it shocked her how little she knew the man who was raising a baby, and taking care of all of Meredith's children, with Amelia. She had no suspicion of Link being abusive, and Amelia had never seemed happier...or exhausted, but if anyone could be taken advantage of, despite being such a strong minded person, it was her. Maggie hadn’t heard the extent of the awful things that Owen had said, but if anyone needed more confirmation that she was worthy of love, it was Amelia. As Maggie gazed out into the backyard to find Ellie sitting on her auntie's lap and giggling uncontrollably, she could practically feel her blood boiling.

[][][]

Amelia spent the rest of the day doing what she did every day, cleaning, feeding and worrying. This time not only about Meredith, but about her boyfriend who drove off with a 2 6 practically full of hard alcohol without a word about where he was going.

“Bailey, leave your sister alone,” Amelia called from her spot on the lawn chair. Scout was nestled into her chest sleeping and she glanced at him worriedly to make sure he was still asleep. “Bailey, we do not pull hair!” Zola had been having a hard enough day with the heavy conversation they’d had earlier that afternoon, she didn’t need Bailey yanking on her pigtails in an attempt to distract her from studying.

“But I’m bored,” Bailey whined, drawing out the end of his sentence until Amelia wanted to cover her ears.

“Why don’t you go see what Ellis is doing?” Amelia offered, lowering her voice as Scout started to stir.

“Ellis is boring,” Bailey complained. If Amelia heard that word one more time she thought she might explode. 

“We’re all bored, Bailey,” she sighed, trying to think of something her nephew could do. “Have you studied for your spelling test tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ll be getting ten out of ten like Zola?” She asked.

“No, ten out of ten is impossible for everyone other than Zola,” Bailey groaned.

“Okay, here’s my idea. If you can get eight out of ten, you can have an extra half hour of screen time tomorrow.”

“Really?” Bailey’s eyes lit up like a CT scan. “Wait, eight out of ten is still way too hard.” Amelia shrugged.

“Better get studying then.” 

“Fine,” Bailey grumbled. “I’ll go study.” Amelia gave him a thumbs up and tried not roll her eyes as he trudged into the house. She glanced down at Scout who was pawning for her nipple and laughed lightly before moving her tank top to the side, wishing Link could be here to laugh at their adorable boy with her.

“Hey what’s up?” She yawned, sliding open her vibrating phone to reveal Maggie’s maskless face. “You on a break?” 

“Yeah, managed to squeeze in lunch,” Maggie sighed, taking a bite of her sandwich. “It’s like the great depression over here.”

“Yikes.” 

“Yeah, Winston and I are working on a case. It’s weird but we’re working well together.” 

“That’s good,” Amelia grinned, feeling better about him after their breakfast together this morning. “He fits into Grey Sloan?”

“Yeah, looks great in the navy blue,” Maggie chuckled, her eyes darting to the door and momentarily lifting her mask to her face before setting it back down. “Have to find closets to eat in at this point,” she joked. “The cafeteria freaks me out.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Amelia shrugged, shifting Scout to the other side uncomfortably.

“Is Link back?” Maggie asked, watching her sister’s face darken.

“No,” she replied simply. “He’ll probably be soon though.”

“Are you guys okay?” Maggie blurted out. “Like are you okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Amelia replied defensively, stunned by the seriousness in Maggie’s voice.

“He’s been drinking a lot, Amelia, we all noticed it. That’s not fair to you and the plate--”

“Whoa,” Amelia interrupted her quickly. “Maggie, I’m in recovery but I’m good. I have a lot to be sober for right now so I’m...good.”

“Well, I’m happy you're so good,” Maggie replied, unconvincingly. “It doesn’t really seem respectful though. Just because you’ve been in recovery for awhile doesn’t mean anything. You can relapse after being sober for years. I’ve seen it with Richard, it’s a never ending cycle.”

“Yeah, exactly.” Amelia bit her lip, surprised by how easily Maggie seemed to understand.

“Like it’s not that I feel uncomfortable having a glass of wine around you. You’ve been to parties where everyone’s been wasted, it's just...I don’t feel comfortable leaving you with someone that’s using alcohol in the same way that you once did.”

“To turn off,” The worried sister confirmed.

“He’s getting drunk by himself in the garage, Amelia.”

“I know.” She hugged Scout tightly into her chest for support and the baby gurgled with happiness at the sudden affection from his mother.

“You guys made an amazing kid.”

“I know,” her response is teary as she glances down at the big blue eyes staring back up at her. “That’s the issue. Everything is so perfect when it comes to him, until it isn’t.”

“Meaning?” The anger in Maggie’s voice caused her to flinch.

“He’s not hitting me, Maggie,” she said softly in case the kids were eavesdropping. Her sister’s demeanour seemed to relax. “Did you honestly think that?”

“No, of course not. We all love Link. He’s perfect. I just feel like I barely know him. Like deeply, you know? He’s not an open book like you.”

“I know,” she sighed. “Sometimes I feel that way too. I have no idea where he is right now, Maggie. I’m worried,” her voice cracked almost unnoticeably.

“He’s a grown adult, Amelia,” Maggie answered with resentment. “He can at least take care of himself if he’s going to leave you alone with four kids for however long.” She glanced up at the door. “Look, I’ve got to go but I can come over tonight and we can talk.”

“It’s fine. Thanks for calling but just spend the night with Winston. You’ve been over enough.” 

“Okay, but just text me if you need anything.” Her voice was muffled as she secured her mask and ended the FaceTime.

[][][]

Amelia glanced at her phone for what seemed like the hundredth time that day as she tucked the last Shepherd kid into bed.

“Where's Uncle Link?” Eliis complained, disappointed by only receiving three stories from an exhausted Amelia.

“He’ll be back soon, bug,” Amelia promised. “You have an early zoom class tomorrow so we can only read three tonight, okay?”

“Uncle Link would read me five anyways,” she whined, tears brimming in her blue eyes. 

“Come on, Ellie,” Amelia wanted to cry with her. “We had a big day.”

“I don’t want you, I want my mom. Why did you make my mom go away?” The stubborn girl complained, rubbing her puffy eyes with her fists.

“I didn’t, sweetheart. She’ll be back soon too,” she was too tired not to tell her otherwise tonight.

“Really?” Ellis asked with a small smile.

“Yep,” Amelia nodded, regretting it instantly. “Now go to bed and time will go by faster.”

“Okay,” her niece finally caved, snuggling into her polka dotted duvet. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Amelia sighed, turning off the lamp as she exited the room and breathing a sigh of relief, momentarily lingering with her back against the door.

“Hey, Link’s voice caused her to jump. “Sorry.” He handed her a steaming cup of green tea that she drank each night. What he didn’t know was that she’d been needing some sort of beverage nightly to distract her from wanting anything else.

“Thanks.” She wrapped her hands around the warm ceramic mug and tried to step away from the intoxicating smell of whiskey that he was exuding.

“Sorry it’s bad,” he apologized, running a tired hand through his hair. His eyes were rimmed with red and he looked as if he’d just staggered home from who knows where.

“Were you at a bar or...”

“I went to Deluca’s thing,” he answered messily. “With Jo, we went and it was nice. Did you--”

“Yeah, I watched most of it, you were day drinking with Jo?” It’s not that she didn’t trust them, she knew how much Jo meant to Link and she never wanted to come between that, but did she still feel the tiniest bit jealous? Absolutely.

“In her loft. They were tested like yesterday.”

“They?”

“Jackson was there too.”

“Ah,” she took a sip of the tea and closed her eyes momentarily.

“You look tired,” he observed and she almost laughed at him.

“Um, yeah. They’re all a lot for one person,” she replied, gesturing to the four shut doors in the hallway.

“Maggie and Winston left?” He scratched the back of his head with confusion.

“They had work today.”

“Oh...right.” They stood together awkwardly before Amelia turned towards their bedroom.

“You need to shower and brush your teeth. I need a good sleep,” she yawned, not offering an explanation for why him reeking of hard liquor would cause her another sleepless night, since he obviously hadn’t put two and two together. “Wait is that--” She shut their bedroom door and crawled into bed before he could finish.

[][][]

Link finally came to bed about a half hour later, slamming his shin against the bed frame as he stumbled into the dark room.  

“Are you okay?” Amelia’s voice rang out in the darkness.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he groaned, lowering himself cautiously onto the mattress and sliding under the covers. “Look, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” she rolled away from him tiredly, closing her eyes.

“If you don’t want me to keep liquor in the house I won’t,” he spoke clearly into the darkness.

“Link, I don’t need you to hide liquor or drinking from me,” Amelia sighed. “If anything, I feel more uncomfortable when you do it in secret.”

“I thought that would be better for you,” he responded truthfully.

“How would you know? You didn’t ask me.” Silence hung in the air and she debated going back to sleep.

“Amelia it’s hard.”

“It’s hard for everyone, Link. You don’t get to act like you’re the only one keeping secrets or walking on eggshells or losing people right now. People are grieving and dying. That doesn’t make what we’re experiencing any less hard. I’m going crazy. But I’m not diminishing how others are feeling by shoving my problems in their faces and comparing who has it worse. It’s not a competition.”

“Okay, did Jo tell you--”

“Jo didn’t tell me shit. I don’t have time to talk to Jo or make calls about where you are. I don’t have time to be worrying about where you are or if you’re safe while trying to keep an entire household of people together.”

“I should’ve been here today.”

“Yeah,” she tried to remove any hint of emotion in her voice. “I needed you.”

“I brushed my teeth and I used that plastic thing...that makes all the bubbles.”

“You used my loofah?” She tried to hide her amusement.

“Can you just come here?” He pleaded, opening his arms and allowing her burrow herself in his neck. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“I know,” she sighed. “Just no more lies or we won’t make it.” He nodded, holding her closely as her breathing deepened into his chest.  

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 114: The Lion and the Serpent

Frank groaned, already missing the towel bed back as he lay on the cold floor once more flat on his back. His leg was propped up uncomfortably on a chest, and it was only after his head stopped ringing did he realize it wasn't his whole body shaking, just that.

He jerked quickly away with a startled yelp, drawing Alice and Lily's attention at once. He watched carefully, but they were in an open office with no obvious danger in sight, the two girls circling around a desk to get to him.

He didn't recognize it, but found himself unsurprised who did when the explanation came.

"I didn't even know Madam Hooch had an office," the older Black was tapping his chin and circling curiously on the spot. "Where in the castle would that be?" They were on the ground floor he was certain, bright sun streaming in through a window that directly showed the Quidditch pitch's entrance, but none of them really paid enough attention to her when she was refereeing to notice if she came and went from any door in particular down here.

"I've heard of it at least," Frank grumbled, now eyeing the chest in understanding, everybody knew the Quidditch balls were in here in between games to stop with tampering, and were returned here after practice so teams couldn't do anything in the meantime. It was probably the bludgers trapped inside that gave him a fright.

He smiled at Alice and Lily and told them, "did you know this is probably the most guarded office in the whole castle, even better than Dumbledore's. I once heard a Ravenclaw tried to sneak in here for her team to get at those, and no matter what she tried, she couldn't get in."

The younger Black came out of an adjacent door stretching, a bed beyond him showed this was also her room compounded.

"I've never heard that," Alice laughed.

"But I believe it," Lily rolled her eyes as she looked around in exasperation.

"Must be a Quidditch chapter!" Potter hooted in delight, shouting the summoning spell first. The chest went zooming across the office, Potter yelping in shock and ducking just in time as it sailed over his head and crashed into the wall behind him. Frank was now even more grateful he'd moved when he had the chance or he would have gone with that thing.

He tried to pry it open, but the lock on it would not give. Muttering in disdain, he went circling around the desk and went rummaging through it with no care for some keys, throwing things pell-mell in his wake.

"And here I thought this was the one place you'd show some restraint," Lily sighed as she spoke to him and had to dodge a magazine lobbed near her. "Madam Hooch is the only adult in this place you lot actually use her title for."

To everyone's utter disbelief, he ignored her and abandoned the desk to go into the room instead.

Every eye in the room turned to Sirius for explanation, and he quickly scrambled to hide his face wasn't as shocked as everyone else's, muttering audibly about body snatchers as he followed and keeping the building shame to himself.

How had he not realized the last time he'd talked to Prongs something had been on his mind? Sure he'd been distracted by having some fun with Moony, and then Longbottom just confirmed he was an arse, plus the mess with Regulus and Peter, not to mention the entire mess that was this future every time his name came up, but still, it bothered him greatly if James had somehow fallen through the cracks by not even registering if his best friend wanted to talk about something during all of that!

He walked in the room brazenly, determined to put Prongs in a headlock until he told whatever his problem was, but he'd already found the keys in a side drawer next to the bed and was trying to skip past him just as fast.

Sirius seized the back of his robes and kicked the door shut instead.

"The hell Padfoot?" James yelped in surprise, turning to him in genuine confusion. "Quidditch?!" It really would have been all the explanation needed under other circumstances, even he'd been distracted from Evans when one of their games was coming up, but Sirius wasn't buying that this time.

"Sure that's the only thing on your mind? I know there's not space up there for much else, but I'm just checking," he frowned, still casting his mind back to try and place when this could have started and still kicking himself violently he really couldn't say the last time Prongs had spoken up what was on his mind.

"I, err," he met his eyes uneasily and still glanced longingly at the door. "I was, just," finally he huffed and put it as bluntly as he could. "I was trying to give everyone some space, thought that's what you wanted."

Sirius looked stunned stupid, and James found himself just as confused as him now.

"What on Earth gave you that impression?" He demanded, glowering back at the door with a now familiar look that made James exhausted just recognizing it.

"You, you idiot," he said quickly. Sirius opened his mouth to protest so James continued with a halfhearted shrug, "I get a lot's been going on with you lately, I've been dead through all this so it's not like I know how it feels to be hearing about this future version of me, and you've been talking to Moony about it 'cause, he's alive, I guess, and I'm glad you two are friends again, honestly, but ever since you two have been talking to each other again," he stopped and rubbed at his temple, thinking that had come out all wrong.

Sirius wished a pit would swallow him whole already. Was he just cursed to ruin everyone's life? He really hadn't considered any of that at all!

The two were interrupted by a tentative knock on the door, and then it opening anyways and Remus shoving Peter inside.

Sirius had half a mind to kick the two out, he clearly needed to have a chat with his best mate, but Remus quickly intervened by smiling at the two and saying cheerily, "oh good, we weren't interrupting."

Peter laughed awkwardly, still eyeing the door like he wasn't even sure if he was supposed to be in here. Just because they didn't want to kill him now didn't make him automatically think he was invited back just like that.

James tapped the jangling key ring against his hip with nerves as he realized this was the first alone moment they'd gotten in a very long time, and they all just stood there awkwardly now. He was really starting to believe nothing was going to be the same anymore, and he looked miserably at the door and tried to stammer some half-hearted excuse to leave.

Sirius startled him by throwing his arm over his shoulder like old times, and then tightening around his throat in that choke hold that meant he wasn't going anywhere.

"Look, I'm sorry Moony and I didn't share our brilliant idea to try and get those others to relax around him by making a few more furry little jokes in front of them," Sirius said honestly, bouncing on his toes a bit and making James squirm all the more uncomfortably under his arm.

"Our?" Remus frowned at him, but Sirius ignored him and kept going.

"It, err, was a bit spur of the moment, and look, we really should have, but look, we-"

"It's not like I disagree," James nodded now that he understood, finally wrangling out of his grasp. "Just, I'd have liked a little warning."

"Sorry Prongs," the two said together, Remus adding, "I just, I saw an opportunity and went for it before I chickened out."

"Don't be ridiculous Moony," Sirius snorted, "you'd rooster out, and even then, it certainly wasn't a full moon, you had too much energy."

He stopped with a remorseless laugh as Remus shoved him. James smiled at the display as he told himself that whatever had happened, he was glad for it. If things had changed enough that Remus got through to him but he couldn't anymore, well, it's not the first change that had happened, and probably wouldn't be the last. He'd adjust...

Peter laughed in surprise at the idiots again, and then Sirius lunged without warning and snatched the keys away from Prongs, darting for the door himself now. James pounded after him shouting profanities, and the two barely had time to get out of the way of the door as the two began pushing and shoving each other, laughing madly by trying to get back to the trunk first.

James finally tackled Sirius to the floor, and the two went rolling around for several minutes before he came up victorious with the keys once more and finally retrieved his prize.

Sirius just grinned and threatened to release the bludgers on him if he didn't get started.

Remus stayed leaning against the door jam with a fond smile as Prongs read out The Lion and the Serpent, and wasn't even surprised when Peter wandered back over to Regulus and the two began smiling about the feeling Harry carried of his pride in the DA group.

He still winced internally as the root of the problem definitely hadn't been solved, they hadn't even seemed to realize Peter hadn't gotten a word in, again, but they weren't looking traitorously at him anymore as he went off. He didn't know if that marked a good thing that they had faith he'd come back if needed, or if he really wouldn't try to be a part of their group anymore. He seemed like he still wanted to be, having knocked and all, but Remus wasn't any better just shoving him like that, he scolded himself far too late. Would an apology just sound dumb so long after the fact?

Sirius finally seemed delighted to fix one problem right now though, as he stayed attentive at James's shoulder, trying to read with him and the two chatting loudly about the brilliance of Hermione's coin system.

As talk of Quidditch was built up and the two were louder than ever, she turned back to Frank and the three of them continued their much quieter conversation.

"I know you didn't mean anything by it darling, and you apologized right away," she squeezed his hand once more, "but I know you've been uneasy from him since all this came out, and it seems like he's trying a bit now. Can't you do the same?"

"It's not that simple," he wasn't even sure how he had to explain this to her, it still baffled him he seemed the only one with this problem. It's not like he'd been the only one in that cage, the mad animal having to be pinned down to stop from killing them, yet they'd gone back to acting like that never happened, that it couldn't happen again before all this was up. "Telling myself that and still doing it just aren't," he waved his other hand vaguely, but turned to watch him again. Seeing him now laugh along at Ron's inept yet impressive Quidditch save of accidentally kicking a Quaffle across the field into a goal post was the most normal thing anyone could do, but he doubted this would be the first thing his brain thought of if any of them had copious amounts of blood while in his vicinity again.

"I think Alice was right before though, maybe it would do us some good to, talk to them more," Lily paused with an eye roll as Crabbe and Goyle were announced as the new Beaters for the Slytherin team and the boys were mocking this. "At least, maybe when they stop being idiots about this game later."

Both of them watched her in surprise, she certainly hadn't agreed moments ago when Alice had said such a thing.

Lily just shrugged, waving vaguely at Lupin as well. "Couldn't hurt, maybe we've had them pegged wrong all this time, I know they've surprised me more than once during all this."

"I, yeah I guess," he sighed. "What are we even supposed to talk to them about? I'm with Lily, you know neither of us are the biggest Quidditch fans," he needlessly informed Alice.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll come up with something," Alice answered him with a beaming smile, leaning forward and planting a kiss on his cheek, before standing up properly and now sitting on the desk, joining the others in their disgusted shouts of this new low by the opposing team of making a full song about the Weasleys' life just to mess with them while the game was in full swing.

Lily and Frank exchanged an exasperated look, but still decided they'd wait for a better opportunity and began discussing games they wished they could be playing in a much more normal volume, like Gobstones. No one ever almost died playing that. The two did stop in outrage when Malfoy lost the game, and continued further insulting Harry now, even dragging Lily into it with more crude language.

She pursed her lips and couldn't say she blamed Harry or George attacking Malfoy, she'd curse anyone who called her that. She'd mostly forgiven Regulus for once doing the same, especially as he hadn't ever since that one time, and he'd only technically laughed along rather than out right saying it. She'd caught Sev even laughing at some cruel jokes before looking apologetically at her and changing the subject, insisting it was just force of habit from having to pretend around the others in his year.

Regulus's moment with his brother back in their house, each expressing they didn't want the other dead, was honestly the first step any of them had seen he'd even been willing to change. More than her own best friend had ever made, he wouldn't even say with any force he'd stop hanging around that awful lot.

The dragon bogies really hit the wind when McGonagall dragged the two up to her office for a telling off, but even though however much of that was deserved varied per person, Umbridge's arrival and banning Harry and the twins from said sport met a deadly silence from all.

"Well that sucks," Frank finally spoke into the heavy air.

Lily gave a nervous kind of laugh beside him, still watching all of them as if she expected someone to blow up any second.

"As if we didn't have reason enough to kill her before all this," Lupin said with an ugly scowl, then shot a guilty look at him, and Frank almost wanted to laugh at himself; Alice had been right already, he agreed with him. He still hadn't quite gotten over his fear of what this woman would do to Neville and the rest of the DA if she found out about that, but it would likely be the same if not something crueler as this woman carving up Harry's hand, and now stepping in from his own head of house and dueling out such punishments as lifelong bans.

Potter finally kept going with that same cold, calculating look in his eye Frank was now all too familiar with, but he'd help along with any plan these guys came up with to keep this woman from ever entering their school, let alone getting as far along in life as she had when they got back.

It was only in the last line of the chapter did any good news seem on the horizon, Hagrid was finally back.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

So in looking at my last post, it seems that the image zoomed in enough that I can finally read this damn text here:

So the shop name is ACTUALLY Ninashito (ニナシト) Momiji (黄葉), a garment / clothes shop. Which makes WAY more sense. Still can’t read the lower sign enough, but it’s probably the specific name of the office that I mentioned… a shame, I wanted to find out the name just in case it was something interesting, but alas.

Also, I realized there were translations I didn’t touch from the beginning of the chapter, so if you want to skip ahead, just scroll down to the title card / text. 

Top sign: 英会話 (eikaiwa) [school for English conversation]

I should note, however, that one of the alternate translations for that first kanji is ‘hero’, so this could also mean ‘hero talk’ - an actual pun has been found! :D

Middle sign: フシャ(Fusha/Fushiya) 薬局 (yakkyoku) [Pharmacy]

Bottom sign: 渡辺 (Onabe/Tarinabe) 会計 (kaikei) [accounting/finances] 事務所 (jimusho) [office]

Used Nanori pronunciation for the first one, since that was the company/family name. I’m sure there’s a ‘more correct’ translation based on whichever one has alternative kanji that make a pun of some kind, but I can’t be bothered.

Bridge sign: 田 (den) [rice paddy, field] 等 (tou) [etc., and so forth, class (first), quality, equal, similar] 院 (in) [Inst., institution, temple, mansion, school] 駅 (eki) [station]

While I could fumble around for a rough translation, I remembered to look for Star Wars puns, and so this is the Dentouin / Dantooine station! Though the first kanji can also be read as ‘ta,’ so this could also be the Tatouin / Tatooine station. I’m going to assume this station is close to another school, perhaps a highly regarded university that goes by the name ‘Dentouin’ or ‘Tatouin’, which this is the main stop for.

Anyways, onto the next part, which is short but packed with what I know is a scene that has caused a LOT of division among the fandom. I’ve got my own thoughts on the matter, but that can go into a separate post where I can go into depth about not just All Might’s reasoning, but also Horikoshi’s. 

[No. 1 - Midoriya Izuku: Origin]

Where we left off, Izuku had hitched a ride on All Might’s brief ‘hop’ that covered at least a few blocks, maybe more. Now they come in for a crash landing, though we don’t see any actual damage to the roof - either SOLID construction or All Might was still able to mitigate the impact. I wonder if the people in the building noticed the shake from the impact… maybe not, because of earthquake proofing? 

(Imagine a timeline where the person who lived / worked below the roof came up to investigate this and overheard this mess. And fucking saw Small Might and heard about that injury. What a world. How the FUCK do you react to that?)

(Hell, imagine if he HADN’T dropped the bottles and the Sludge Villain overheard that. He wouldn’t even try to capture someone else, he’d try to get away and blackmail All Might with that info / sell it to other criminals for lots of money.)

His soul is gone, RIP Izuku. But yeah, while Izuku’s recovering from near-death (again), All Might’s frustrated and saying he’s got no time, planning on the people downstairs to help… both of them get down? I suppose he doesn’t just want to leap off from the roof, with it possibly already damaged from that landing? Or he’s just bad experiences with leaping off of roofs that can’t handle the opposing force for his leaps?

No, it looks like he’s about to hop down from the roof and leave Izuku to it, but Izuku panics and begs for All Might to wait. All Might snaps that he won’t, but Izuku pushes forward, asking if he can be a hero without a quirk, and then asking if someone quirkless can be a hero like All Might. He isn’t repeating himself - he’s asking first whether he can be a hero at all, and then whether he can be one that… I suppose inspires and reassures others just with his presence? Man, maybe I can find out if I scroll down, hmm?

All Might starts to say something about quirks, but gets cut off with some painful attack. Imagine if he was having a heart attack while Izuku was distracted with his rambling and mumbling. Anyways, All Might’s cursing internally as he starts to steam, but Izuku doesn’t notice when he’s slouched over and staring at his hands.

Babey… also, being quirkless wasn’t the only reason he was picked on, and it’s interesting that his being picked on is the reason (or so Izuku thinks) he considers saving people to be ‘the coolest thing someone can do’... possibly because no one has ever come to Izuku’s defense? Which, fucking ouch.

(Also let’s kindly ignore the spooky specter!Might there, even if we know it’s just the smoke obscuring his features.)

In the next panel, Izuku perks up and looks right to All Might, focused on how All Might saves people with a fearless smile, and how Izuku wants to be the strongest hero like him- before cutting himself off with a scream on seeing Toshinori’s thin, raggedy true form.

Alright, so I couldn’t just choose one part of this page, it’s all fucking flawless and deserves to be viewed in its natural, uncropped state. I have the executive right, I’ve been very restrained with my choices of panels up until now, I am allowed one (1) full page.

(...don’t mind that I probably will have others a bit later, most notably in the next post.)

But seriously, I fucking love how Izuku starts out by accusing him of being all shriveled up, and then calling him a fake or imposter because of being so thin. Meanwhile, Toshinori, so totally done with Izuku’s shit, just says nothing for a long moment before finally saying calmly and clearly that he is, in fact, All Might… with blood gushing from his mouth. Which, of course, makes Izuku freak out again and deny it.

(God, imagine making this into a Star Wars scene knockoff. Doing the dramatic ‘no, it’s not true, there’s no way’ and Toshinori playing into that unintentionally.)

Toshinori brings up the ‘holding in the gut’ thing for his big form, and Izuku says ‘no way’ again. Then Toshinori sits down and brings up the ‘fearless smile’ bit, and then tells Izuku not to bring up the ‘real him’ on the internet… to which Izuku gives another shaky ‘no way’. Methinks the boy was broken and not actually processing anything at the moment.

And then Izuku gets to see the reality of heroics firsthand:

Yeah, that’s fucking GRUESOME, how did he survive that?? And continue living for FIVE YEARS afterwards? Fucking hells. Izuku’s expression really says it all. And hell, his lungs nearly destroyed, his stomach gone… this man is the most stubborn human being on the planet, and we’re only going to see more of that going forward.

Izuku immediately brings up Toxic Chainsaw, but is still clearly freaking out over this entire revelation. Toshinori says no, that lowlife couldn’t leave an injury like that on him, and says that the fight that did it never went public, because he asked it not to. Still, I have to wonder how it was covered up, a fight of that magnitude should have been intense enough to bring down a mountain… 

All I can really assume is that, unlike the drawn out battles fanon assumes, this was actually a fast, dirty, and brutal underground battle that could have been passed off as an earthquake since there was no ‘visible’ fighting. It would also make it easier to cover up if there was no way for there to be footage or eyewitnesses… I think I might run with that interpretation for now.

horikoshi, end of ch 1: I don't feel like I can accurately convey All Might's intensity and dignity through Toshinori's eyes.

also horikoshi ch 1:

Damn sir, save some talent for the rest of us (not that I can draw particularly well anyways…)

Toshinori says that he smiles to stave off the pressure and fear inside himself, shocking Izuku again. While Izuku’s world slips from under him, Toshinori then says that ‘a pro should always be ready to risk his life’ and that without power, he doesn’t think it’s possible for someone to become a hero - crushing Izuku into speechlessness.

He says nothing as Toshinori suggests becoming a police officer if he wants to help people, and that villain custody officers do admirable work even if mocked (which, yeah, tell the kid who gets picked on to go into a profession where he’d get mocked… Toshi, I like you a lot, but sometimes you say dumb shit and I wanna groan.)

Toshinori ends the conversation with the ‘it’s not wrong to dream, but you need to be realistic, kid’ thing that I know a lot of people deride and tear him down for, and this is not the post I’m going to share my thoughts about it in. Plus, well, I’m sure there’s much better meta out there than I could come up with, and I can’t really change minds anyways, so. Yeah, Toshinori slams the door on the roof and on Izuku’s dreams, all at once.

As he goes down the stairs, he thinks about getting the guy to the police while checking his pockets, swatting several times at the empty pockets as the realization sets in, right before an explosion goes off in the distance and he panics. 

We then arrive at the source of the explosion, and get this page:

Main panel:

Sign 1: 罔 (mou/bou) [net] 青果 (seika) [vegetables, produce] 店 (mise) [shop]

(Technically this can be the second kanji of a pair that, when put together, mean ‘deception/swindling’ [欺罔] (kimou) or ‘slander’ [誣罔] (fumou). I have no idea if those are relevant.)

Sign 2: 田辺 (Okanabe) [name?] 商店 (shouten) [shop]

(First kanji can also be read as ‘inaka’ ‘tan’ ‘de’ tou’ or ‘ya’. I’m sure one of those is some kind of meaningful name or pun or reference I don’t know.)

生活 (seikatsu) [living, life (one's daily existence), livelihood] 

雑貨 (zakka) [miscellaneous goods, general goods, sundries]

Mt. Lady’s panel:

Hanging sign: チャーミークソーツ (Chaamiikisoutsu)

(Not sure how this breaks up or translates, and that last katakana could also be ‘n’, so.)

Wall sign: 喫茶 (tea house/coffee shop) ヤマダ (Yamada)

Death Arms panel:

古着 (furugi) [old clothes, secondhand clothing]

With that out of the way, there’s a LOT to take in from this two page spread. First off, the art is fucking INCREDIBLE, like, hot DAMN I am in awe and this is Hori at the START of the series. Just. Fucking hells. Where do I start?

Firstly, Katsuki is somehow not completely enveloped in the same way Izuku was, possibly because his quirk is acting somewhat as a deterrent? I mean, I understand the dramatic tension, but also like, how? And yikes, that unconscious guy there… I don’t think he’s dead, but like, considering how things look at the moment…

The bottom panels show that Katsuki is very firmly resisting letting the ‘mudman’ take his body, while the villain… somehow seems to think that body will be enough to let him win against All Might. Like, dude, seriously? What’s your plan going into this supposed confrontation? Hoping that All Might will go easy because the body looks like a teenager? And that he won’t gut-punch you and have you spewed right back out?

The crowd watches on, totally unconcerned, because as far as they’re concerned, the kid will be fine as soon as the heroes rescue him. Like, this is just entertainment, it’s not like a kid’s fighting for his damned life or anything.

Going to the top left, we see Mt. Lady can’t fit into the narrow street because her size is too large, though it seems like she technically can fit? I think it’s more an issue of mobility and being able to act without scraping against signs and whatnot. Or just a weird angle?

Kamui Woods is shown pulling Katsuki’s two followers and another civilian (possibly a kid?) out of harm’s way, saying that he’s weak to explosive fires and that someone else will have to handle it. 

Backdraft is shown handling the fires because the firefighters have yet to show up, and then checks in on the others.

Death Arms and that unnamed hero with the baseball catcher themed outfit are watching on, saying that the villain’s too slippery but that the hostage is resisting, and that they can’t do anything against him. 

Basically, several of them are doing something, others are not. 

Onto the next page. Katsuki continues to struggle, and the villain continues to use his quirk to fight off anyone who gets close, like this bird masked guy who I also think is unnamed. And so we get this infamous moment:

And while technically good reasons are given for them to not be able to get close, it’s also, like. You’re still watching a kid die while saying that there’s nothing to be done except wait and pray, which is like. Pretty sus, dudes. Death Arms privately wishes he had the power to blow the villain away, and then we see Toshinori at the back of the crowd, realizing the villain was dropped while he was dealing with Izuku. He clutches at his throbbing side, chastising himself for losing track of time and dealing with the fan, all while calling himself pathetic.

And that’s where I’m ending this off, because this is getting pretty long and there’s no other good breaking point before the very end, so. Next post is gonna be pretty damned long (16 pages of the manga!), so I’ll see how long it takes me to get that done!

[sensenoi]

Rating Every Single Name of the Wind Cover

Why? Because I can. I am not a graphic designer, just a person with opinions. 

Criteria for consideration: Must be a cover in a published edition of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Hardcover, paperback, and ebook are all fair game, as are foreign language editions. Some editions reuse the same cover art, in which case I only rate one cover. Some editions modify cover art from another edition. If the differences are substantial, I’ll rate both.

Kindle March 2007 Edition

Ah, the famous shirtless redhead cover. This cover is a bit infamous in the fandom for being both bad and cringey. This is not good art. It’s cheesy. The shirtless aspect is silly, and the windswept hair is so windswept, you’d think Kvothe was in a tornado. Nice balance with the title and author text, although it looks like the title and author text are slightly off center.

3/10

Hardcover April 2007 Edition This is just a zoomed in crop of the above cover, which is a little lazy. It does make for a better cover image, except the creepy goat man bust has nothing to do with the plot of Name of the Wind. So I suppose they cancel out.

3/10

Mass Market Paperback April 2009 Edition

I despise this cover. It’s a lazy design, and the photo manipulation is terrible. Points I guess for good title text placement. But the photo manipulation is so! So! Bad! This is also the start of the trend of a hooded, cloaked figure with his back to the viewer staring out into the void. It is a bad trend.

2/10

Paperback UK June 2008 Edition

We’re still with the hooded, cloaked figure, but at least he’s facing front this time. I like the embellishment on the ‘W’ in the title text, although it gets a little pumpkin viney. Overall, it’s an ok cover. It doesn’t make me cringe, but it doesn’t grab the viewer’s interest, either.

4/10

Paperback Spanish May 2009 Edition

Same image as the previous cover, but this one is uncropped and has a different plant border. I’m not sure how successful the changes are. On the one hand, shrinking the image of the figure makes the figure look more mysterious, which is good. But on the other hand, this is a bad plant border. I thought there was some corn on the right side for a minute.

4/10

Hardcover 10th Anniversary October 2017 Edition

10th Anniversary edition got fancy, and it shows. I love the ruin influence in the title text, which is a great callback to the use of ruins in the novel and also a more creative and unexpected choice than making the title text leafy. That being said, the “of the” in the title text is very oddly formatted and doesn’t fit the style. The cover illustration is pretty great, with lots of symbolism for old fans while still maintaining visual interest for new readers who are browsing and happen to pick the book up. The Cinder statue is delightfully creepy and much more relevant to the novel than the dumb pan statue from the earlier cover.

9/10

Paperback Turkish March 2007 Edition

Another trend starting here: Cloaked figure staring out at a city in the distance. I like the painting, at least what I can see of it. I find the choice to crop out most of the painting really bizarre. Is this supposed to be a telescope we’re looking through? And the leaves look like lily pads. The title and author text leaf embellishments are quite nice here, but I don’t know why there’s a metallic color shift. Overall, a poor use of space.

4/10

Hardcover German March 2007 Edition

Oh look! A cloaked figure staring at a city. What a surprise. I rather like the title text design, which is pretty creative and a good way to make the title visually appealing. I wish the city in the painting weren’t so damn faded and distant – I think it’s a mistake to keep the visual focus on the figure exclusively and only hint at the city beyond.

6/10

Paperback Portuguese September 2009 Edition

This cover is terrible. I would say the worst, but there’s more still to come. Anyways, this is incredibly bad. We’re once again with the hooded, cloaked figure with his back to the viewer, which is a lazy and uninteresting pose. The image is badly photoshopped and looks like an alternate movie poster for The Blair Witch Project. There’s nothing interesting about the image, nothing that interests the viewer. The title font isn’t boring, I guess. That’s the only good thing I have to say about this. 1/10

Paperback Portuguese July 2009 Edition

Still another cloaked figure staring off at a distant city, but this is one my favorite versions of this trope. The city is far enough in the middle distance that the figure is the main focus, but we can still see enough of the city to see that it’s cool looking. I’m glad to see the bridge from the books, which is a nice detail.  The title text does a good job of filling in the empty space of the painting without crowding the other elements.

9/10

Paperback French November 2009 Edition

This is the same cover image as before, but it’s been cropped so that the figure is centered. I don’t like the change – the balance is better when the figure is off center. Also, the title text is way too big and dominates, which is unfortunate because the Spanish cover had such a lovely balance throughout. 7/10

Hardcover Dutch July 2007 Edition

Yet. Another. Hooded figure. Staring. At a city. Wow. This one has a tree, at least. The image is… fine? I might be kinder to it if I hadn’t seen several better iterations of this right before. Because so much of the image is shrouded in fog, there’s very little to go on in terms of visual interest. And while I don’t mind the shadowed, muted color scheme, it also means that there’s very little to distinguish the cloaked figure and make him intriguing. The shadow initials behind the title text is horrific and obscures the title somewhat, so docking a couple of points for that. 5/10

Hardcover UK January 2017 Edition

Ahahahaha. This looks like the My Neighbor Totoro edition of Name of the Wind. It’s very silly and lighthearted, but wholly inappropriate for a book whose reading level is above first grade. If this was a kid’s book, I’d give it full marks. But Name of the Wind is very much for adults, and this cover is way too young and childish.

1/10

Paperback Polish August 2008

YIKES. I cannot figure out which scene or location from the book this image is trying to evoke, which makes me think the cover artist did not have the book or a text excerpt to work from. What the hell are those weird horse skulls? Why is this taking place in a desert? Why is the texture so bad? So many questions. And the effect on the title text is bad.

0/10 YES WE CAN GO LOWER THAN 1

Hardcover Russian 2010 Edition

This looks like the cover to a Dungeons and Dragons manual. I suppose that’s supposed to be from the Dracchus scene with Denna, but the image doesn’t look quite right for Name of the Wind. It’s just so generic fantasy. I also don’t like how the image is cropped top and bottom to make way for a very generic marble background. Still, the image is colorful and exciting, even if it could be the cover for any fantasy novel ever.

5/10

Paperback UK 2011 Edition

What the FUCK happened here? Who let this shit happen?

-10/10

Hardcover Finnish August 2010 Edition

Ooooh, more Miyazaki fanart! This is actually quite lovely, and it fits the tone of the books much better than the kids book cover from before. I love how soft and gentle the painting is. Notice the color balance. I don’t know if this cover really ‘grabs’ you or draws interest, but it’s one of my favorites of the bunch.

10/10

Paperback Bulgarian October 2010 Edition

I reserve the right to change my opinion later, but this may be the worst contender in the cloaked and hooded figure from behind category. I actually had to double check that this wasn’t a reused image from the mass market paperback edition, but nope! This is a brand new cover image, and it’s absolute shit. The lighting is so dark it’s impossible to make out details, the balance is way off, and the cover and title text are placed over the figure (aka the only object of interest) instead of the boring, generic storm clouds.

0/10

Hardcover Lithuanian 2011 Edition

YIKES times two. This cover art is truly awful in ways I didn’t know could still happen. Kvothe’s face looks ‘off’ because the facial proportions are all wrong. The blue mystical katana is bizarre because there’s no magical sword, much less a katana, in the story. And is that a photo of Stonehenge in the background? With yet another hooded figure?! I do like the gold foil of the title and the golden dragon embellishment, but the rest of this is such shit.

0/10

Paperback Serbian February 2011

And we’re back in the safe territory of a cloaked figure staring off at a distant city! All these covers are starting to run together, but this is a new cover art. It just looks like all the others. Once again, it’s fine. The city is a little too distant and greyed out to hold interest, and the figure is kind of generic.

5/10

Paperback Italian 2008 Edition

I do not know what happened here. Who is this figure supposed to be? I cannot for the life of me figure out which character this is. It’s a shame, because it’s well-done art with a cool character and costume design. The title and author text obscure the image, though, and the shadow on the text is so extreme it’s hilarious.

0/10

Hardcover Hungarian 2009 Edition

This is just boring. There’s no information conveyed here, nothing interesting or arresting to attract the viewer’s attention. The translucent overlay on the title is an odd choice.

2/10

Paperback Persian 2016 Edition

I believe this was originally a fanart of Kvothe (correct me if I’m wrong please), but it’s a good one. The tree shadow in the back is distracting and obscures the handle of the lute on his back, though. I wish there was more here – it feels very spare in an unintentional way.

6/10

Hardcover Georgian 2016 Edition

Cloaked and hooded figure staring off into the distance, check. I’m not crazy about this one – the art is very soft in a blurred kind of way, and it reads as a little humdrum. The tower in the distance is quite dull – it looks like a modern office building.

4/10

Hardcover Italian October 2016 Edition

The title text is a little too high – I don’t like how it covers the figure’s chin. It’s not a bad idea to make Kvothe’s green eyes a focal point, and it’s certainly more of an original idea than most of these covers have shown. But the muted color pallete drags the whole mood down. It’s not evocative, just kind of damp.

5/10

Hardcover 10th Anniversary French November 2019

I LOVE this cover. It’s gorgeous. I love the gold foil, love the text, love the clouds. It’s stunning and timeless. Amazing.

10/10

Hardcover Latvian October 2013 Edition

It’s a cloaked figure with a city in the distance, but he’s NOT looking at the city! What!! I’m rather surprised at how few covers feature Kvothe actually playing the lute – this may be the only one, actually. I don’t like the bottom fade, and I think the design is a little generic fantasy. But it’s a nice balance, and the title text is fancy and eye-catching.

7/10

Paperback Polish 2017 Edition

This cover artist also clearly wasn’t working off an excerpt from the book. The character design is so off and unlike Kvothe, except for the cloak. Wall texture looks like a photo manipulation, which is cheap. This whole thing is bad.

0/10

Hardcover Russian 2015 Edition

What is with the Stonehenge imagery? And why is that guy floating off of Stonehenge in a modern hoodie? Why is that one leaf in the top right so huge? Why is the title text red and difficult to read? At least there’s a broken lute, I guess.

1/10

Paperback Chinese May 2012 Edition

This is incredibly lazy and the photoshop job is terrible and generic. Zero effort was put into this cover.

0/10

Hardcover Russian 2011 Edition

I’ve been pretty harsh on Russia, mostly because the Russian covers have been terrible. This is ok-ish. It’s very generic fantasy, and the castle looks like Hogwarts. But it has visual interest, even if the title text color is garish.

2/10

Japanese 2017 Edition

I quite love that they turned Kvothe into an anime character. And he’s doing stuff, too, and not just staring out into the middle distance. There’s so much imagery of the broken lute in these covers, so it’s refreshing to see the other part of this scene – when Kvothe loses his shit and finally calls the name of the wind. Fun cover, good artwork. The red title text works here because it matches Kvothe’s hair.

9/10

WORST:

BEST:

[eirian-houpe]

Breathe - Chapter 4

Read previous chapters on AO3

Chapter 4 - Magnitude

Rush hated when people looked over his shoulder, and as he made his best effort to make sense of Destiny’s interface, he detested it worst of all and bristled - but managed to hold his temper - when Eli started asking irritating questions.

“What’s that? It doesn’t look like life support,” Eli said.

“Yes, I realize that,” he offered, but pressed the button anyway. A hovering, transparent viewing screen illuminated in the middle of the room, drawing a sound of awe from Eli, and a question from Lieutenant Scott.

“What are we looking at?”

“It’s a star map,” Rush answered.

“That’s the Milky Way,” Park offered.

“I believe it’s a… visual log of the ship’s journey,” Rush said by way of agreement.

Eli reached out and pointed to a flashing blue circle on the map.

“So this is where we are now?” he asked.

“No,” Rush answered. “That’s where the ship originally embarked from.”

“Earth,” Eli said as Rush zoomed the display out, and a glowing blue line began to draw itself between that and other blue circles on the star map.

“It’s leaving the galaxy,” Park said.

“It did,” Rush corrected softly, “Long ago.”

“That was Pegasus.” Park again.

“So those points… are more stars?” Scott asked.

“No,” Eli almost sang. “They’re galaxies.”

Rush felt the fear streaming off of Scott as the lieutenant came to stand next to him and asked, breathlessly, “Rush… where the hell are we?”

Rush stared at the console, chin cradled in a finger crooked beneath it as he murmured, “Several billion light years from home.”

Rush threaded his way thought the milling crowd of people in the ‘Gate room, catching occasional snippets of conversation. He knew what he was supposed to be doing, and he knew what he was looking for, and the two were not necessarily one and the same thing.

He suspected he wasn’t the only one with his own agenda, and so his feeling of guilt at not being stuck at some console in the bowels of the ship looking for a solution, looking for a way to restart the life support system, measured at approximately the temperature of space outside of Destiny. Absolute Zero.

He heard Lieutenant Scott giving orders to mount a search of the ship, in teams of three, and he supposed it was a good enough idea. It would give them an idea of what - if anything - they had in the way of supplies other than those they had brought with them, but… it would do them little good if he couldn’t get the life support problem under control, which he couldn’t do with the damned military breathing down his neck every step of the way.

He had to have control.

Finally he found the object of his search and quietly unzipped the backpack that housed the Communication Stones, looking for a moment on their carrying case, before refastening the backpack and putting it at his feet at the nearest console, making a show of examining his broken glasses until Scott had left the area. He did perhaps feel a degree or two of guilt - in Kelvin that was - so thought to stop in and ask the others if they’d made any progress with the life support system, only to receive a barrage of essentially bad news.

Only eight hours of breathable air left. Marvelous! He really did have to do what he could to make sure it would be he that was put in command while Colonel Young was still incapacitated. It was just a shame that he’d have to deal with other military men - specifically General O’Neill - to achieve that.

It went better than he thought it would… though voices were raised and he did find himself on the receiving end of O’Neill’s ire, but he felt - as he sat back on his return to Destiny - that he had made his point and that he had been granted his wish.

”Rush… get those people home.”

An order he could follow…? Perhaps, perhaps not. He was certain that Destiny had a greater plan in mind, following a trajectory that took her beyond the known universe. There had to be a purpose, and he meant to find it. He meant to find the answer. It was, however, an order he could live with, because the way O’Neill had worded it… it gave him plenty of room to argue that the general had put him in charge of the expedition.

He smiled and sat back on his haunches. He closed his eyes and took as deep a breath as the thinning atmosphere aboard ship would allow - he had to do something about that - and began running all manner of swift calculations through his head.

…Rush…

He opened his eyes, and looked around, reaching out to quickly close and stow away the communication stones. No one was there.

…Nicholas…

It was like a breath against his ear from behind and in response he turned full circle on his knees. Christ, the hypoxia was beginning to get to him. It had to be. He was hearing things… feeling things…

The tightness caught his chest and squeezed.

”You’re wrong!”

His face darkened, and he caught the file folder she was carrying by the corner and folded his arms across his chest. She had called him an arrogant bastard, back in the commissary, and he had corrected her that he was confident. In that moment he felt downright predatory, and leaned indolently against the door he had just closed.

“Oh really?” he said. When she didn’t immediately answer, he added, “I don’t think so.”

She stepped toward him again then, her eyes as hard as ice and he felt his blood beginning to head south as she snatched back the folder; watched with half hooded eyes as she opened it to take out a photograph. She waved it in front of his face, and all he wanted to do was snatch it from her, toss it behind him and pin her to the bulkhead while he kissed her into submission. He wasn’t wrong. He was never wrong, not when it came to Ancient, and Ancient technologies.

He blinked, tearing his eyes away from her mouth as she spoke, her own breath coming quickly as she became lost in the passion of her own explanation of exactly how he was wrong. He felt his cock stir, thinking only of leaving her breathless in another way.

“If you translate this strictly according to the matrix and existing lexicon you’ve compiled, there are parts of it that make no sense. So there’s an error, and it’s here .” she held the photograph still for a moment to point to a section of the image. “This section… these letters.”

He began to act on his imaginings, snatched the photograph from her fingers but caught himself and peered at it, hard, before glancing up at her and back down at the photograph.

“And given that some of those characters are number placeholders, I would imagine that’s why your math is off too.”

It was as though she had thrown a bucket of cold water over him, and he spluttered as if she had as well. “My math is—?” then his voice turned darker as he said, “Oh, I assure you, Miss French there is absolutely nothing wrong with my calculations.”

“Doctor French,” she hissed, “And there is if the numbers you're working with are the wrong ones.”

He had heard enough; had enough, and ached with need enough that he thought to hell with the research. He thrust the photograph back into the file folder that he pulled from her hands, and tossed the whole thing toward the bed. Then rounded on her again, his voice hard as he spoke.

“You have the audacity to walk in here--” he began, but it seemed she was not for being chastened, and as her own anger flared, filling her eyes with the rare beauty of life and passion, he felt his need and anger mingle, arousal stirring in him even more than it already was. God he wanted her!

“Audacity?” she snapped, taking a step toward him. “You brought me here, insisted, as I recall, that I was going to join your team--”

“And it seems that I was right,” he cut across her objection, stepping toward her as she had to him, nodding toward the file that had spilled its contents over the top of the covers. Spread there as he was suddenly almost desperate to spread her open… lose himself to his reawakened passion.

“I didn’t have a lot of choice!” she all but growled at him, and took another step his way, pushing him in her obvious frustration. Her small hands felt like brands on his chest. “I don’t--”

He grasped her wrists, tugging her closer and trapping her arms between them, and she gasped as he did, cutting off what she’d been saying. He dipped his head, crushing his mouth to hers, unable not to, her inner fire called to him.

She stiffened, but only for a heartbeat, before she opened to his kiss, kissing him back with equal want - equal passion even as she tried to wrest her hands from his tight grasp.

She tasted sweet. Like summer and honey, and he moaned, turning them, pushing her up against the door, and released her hands, pressing the length of his body to hers. Fully hard.

She ran her fingers into his hair, pulling his head back as she tore her mouth from his, her breathing labored, and began nipping along his stubble covered jaw and neck. He trailed his hand down over her, cupping her breast through her tight fitting bodice, the lacy overlay rough against his palm where her peaked nipple pushed it against him.

She moaned…

A sudden lurch threw him to the deck and he rolled to hit his head against the bulkhead, bringing him to his senses, out of the memory that had come out of nowhere.

He dragged himself upward to a sitting position, rubbing at the side of his head where he’d collided with the wall of the room, then tugged at the uncomfortable tightness of his jeans. The lack of oxygen really was making him lose his mind.

…Rush…

The whisper of his name in the air around him sent another shiver through him. If she wasn’t on the ship, then she was gone… lost with Icarus Base. Why was she haunting him now?

[98prilla]

Collisions

AO3

This idea hit me at like 1am, and I really like how it turned out. 

...

He was a star.

 A brilliant, shining ball of light in the endless darkness of the universe.

 A magnetic pull so strong surely nothing could escape his orbit.

 He was bright and warm and so, so distant.

 He was impossible.

 It was impossible.

 He’d never known the meaning of the word impossible.

 That’s how they got here, he supposes.

 The star is so bright, right now, speaking, saying words, no doubt smart words, he always was the smartest person in the room, and he seemed to glow, a brilliant, blazing white, though that could just be the reflection of the street lamp off the wet pavement.

 His ears were ringing. Which was a shame, really, because he wanted to hear what the star was saying to him, what marvelous poetry was leaving his lips, but he couldn’t hear anything.

 That’s not true. Not entirely. He could hear something. It was almost like the bass coming out of a stereo turned too loud, the thumping of a steady beat, slowly becoming erratic and wrong, out of pace with the rest of the song.

 He felt wet. Warm wet. Not the rain. The rain was cold. It made him shiver, it felt like needles, against his skin. He saw a hint of red, tried to turn his head to see more, to get a glimpse, but the star stopped him, held him still.

 The star was looking into his eyes, almost desperately, pleadingly, and his lips were moving, but for all the suns in the universe, he couldn’t make out anything, even trying to read his lips was a blur, everything was a blur.

 There was that beat again. It fluttered like a snare, now, rat a tatting against his ribcage, and he realized it must be his heart. Idly, he thought hearts aren’t supposed to beat like that.

 Then again, people aren’t supposed to be hit by cars, are they? They’re not made for the force of that impact, to go flying over windshields, to go crashing against glass, to have bones turned at sharp angles and blood in their lungs.

 Oh.

 Was that it?

 It must be.

He dimly remembered something like that. Rain, clouds, drizzle, the star, walking, head in a book, and the car was speeding, going at least 45 down a main street in the small downtown, and the star had stepped off the curb, and the car had come down the street, and he’d had a moment to do something, or not.

 And of course, he acted.

 Of course, he shoved the star out of the way.

 Of course, he went flying head over heels, just as he’d fallen for the star, who in all likelihood, didn’t even know his name.

 That didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that the star didn’t know him. The star was so bright, so brilliant, he couldn’t stand to see it dimmed, see it extinguished, not when it knew so much about so much, not when he was the smartest person he knew, not when he could listen to the star speak for hours and hours about ecosystems, the universe, the world, the concept of identity itself, he’d chosen most of his classes hoping they were the ones the star would take, because he loved to listen to him speak, he often knew more than the teachers did, and anyways, it’s not like he had a plan.

 Not like he’d had much of a future, even before he became a human pancake.

 For some reason that though made him grin, though he felt blood on his tongue, coating his teeth.

 And they said Roman was the hero, well. His last act of brotherly spite would be to steal Roman’s blurb in the year book, hero student saves local star from car crash, the universe thanks him for it. God, it would be a nightmare trying to find a presentable picture of himself for it, one where he wasn’t covered in paint or goo or some other substance, he’d made for his art.

 He heard something. It was loud enough it could reach through his haze, reach through his ears, he recognized it as sirens, and suddenly strobing light illuminated the star from behind his closed lids, huh, when had he closed his eyes?

 “-us. Remus. Stay. Awake. You need to stay awake.” He jolted at that, eyes flying open, like a shot of adrenaline to his heart, because everything blurred and colors seeped into each other like an oversaturated watercolor painting, but Star had said his name, knew his name, and though his limbs were numb and tingling, he could feel a hand in his, squeezing tight.

 He coughed, spitting, feeling himself start to shake, unable to stop, the tremors racing through him, like his own personal earthquake, tearing down his buildings and starting his mind on fire, as it struggled to regain balance, regain composure, but his heart was racing, on the verge of giving out, and it hurt like hell to breathe, and the world was fading out around him, and distantly, he heard shouting, heard loud beeping growing more frantic, heard his star begging him to stay awake, but he couldn’t.

 He just…

 Couldn’t.

…

“-male severe trauma-"

“-coding-"

“-internal bleeding…. Can’t see where-“

…

Beep. Beep. Beep.

 Wow, that noise was annoying.

 A snuffling sound, muted, someone trying to stifle their sobs.

 Heh. He must still be dreaming. No one would cry over him.

 He might cry though, because despite the wonderful painkillers he was no doubt being pumped full of, he hurt like a son of a bitch.

 He must have made some movement, some small sound, because suddenly there was a hand on his arm, a presence near him, and he’d recognize that feel anywhere.

 “Remus. Remus you better not give up on me, you hear me? I swear, I swear, I will hunt you down and kill you again if you die here. Jumped in front of a car, who does that, who jumps in front of a car!?” Roman was still talking, but he couldn’t hear him anymore.

 His thoughts fizzled out as the beeping stopped, becoming one long tone. He could almost hear yelling, almost feel something jolt his chest, almost hear Roman, screaming, but he didn’t.

 He fell back into darkness.

…

Tumbling.

 Tumbling through time and space and memories.

 Here he and Roman played with each other, well, tried to. Roman kept building lego towers, and he kept playing Godzilla, stomping and kicking and roaring as he destroyed Roman’s painstaking creations. It always ended in a fight.

 Here it was their first day of school, and some bully made fun of Roman because he was anxious and cried when their mom left them there. Not ten minutes later she got a call from the principle. Because he’d punched the bitch in the face and nearly broken his nose. Called him a bitch to his face, too, but he didn’t care about the trouble. It made Roman smile.  

 Here it was the start of the end of the two of them as a duo, their first day of high school. Roman fit in so well, with his perfect smile and talent for art and theater and music that was finally appreciated, and there wasn’t room for him anymore, with his unbrushed hair, his wild smile, his blurting mouth, his twisted drawings and horrored paintings, he was just the wierdo, the outcast, the no good brother that always was in some kind of trouble.

 Here Roman was yelling at him. They were having a fight.

 “Why can’t you just be normal for once!?” Roman had shouted, and despite the pain in his chest he forced back his tears, because everyone else hated him or was scared of him or thought he was just going nowhere but he’d thought Roman still cared.

 “Because that’s not who I am! What do you want me to do, Roman?!” He’d yelled back.

 “I want you to stop embarrassing me for a single fucking second!” He’d frozen, reeling back, that stung more than anything else, it broke something inside him, and he felt wetness dripping down his face, felt like screaming, but his breath was caught in his throat.

 He turned and walked out the door.

 There wasn’t anything else he could do.

 If Roman wanted to hurt him that way, fine. Fine, he could take it, he had taken it, from everyone else, it had been stupid to assume just because Roman was his twin that he wouldn’t get sick of him eventually, just like everyone else. It was stupid to hope Roman wanted him around. Stupid to hope Roman liked him.

 So he just walked away. Because if he stayed a moment longer, he’d say something back, say something cruel, and he refused to do that, even now, refused to hurt Roman, who didn’t deserve it.

 That’s why he’d been outside the library, angrily staring at his sketchbook, hands shaking, vision blurred.

 That’s why he’d seen Logan, his star, his universe, his planet, exit the building, lost in a book.

 That’s why his gaze had followed him as he stepped off the pavement, as the car zoomed at least 20 miles over the speed limit, down the street.

 That’s why he’d leapt off his feet and gone running, shoving Logan out of the way, everything moving too fast and too slow as the car tried to brake, but there wasn’t enough time, and he couldn’t help laughing a little, inside, because of course. Of course this would happen to him.

…

 Words.

 Words. A voice. A voice speaking. No.

 Reading. A voice reading.

 It sounded a bit shaky.

 That seemed odd, for some reason. He knew that voice, but he couldn’t remember ever hearing it sound anything less than absolutely sure of itself.  

 It also seemed odd that it would be here, in this… hospital? Must be, nowhere else smelled like plastic gloves and bleach. Well. He could name a few other places that probably smelled like that, but he doubted an ambulance would deliver him to the nearest clean freaks’ orgy.

 Back to the voice. Something about the universe. Something about planets. Something about… stars.

 It took him a long few minutes, to open his eyes. So long, he started to wonder if he even had eyes, or if he was doomed to darkness forever, but still, he struggled to the surface of awareness, if just barely, the world still fuzzed and blurred around the edges, like an old photograph corroded by time and sunlight.

 Not quite sepia. Not quite gray. Just a paleish, tannish, muddled, mess.

 White ceiling. White bed, white sheets, white everything, jesus, was he in a hospital or abducted by aliens? No wonder these people were doctors, no appreciation for art among them, apparently. He already had about a dozen mural designs sketched out in his head, at least four of which would actually be pg enough for a hospital room.

 The voice. The voice had stopped.

 He managed to turn his head, though it took all the effort in the world, that simple motion, and met the wide eyed stare of Logan Star, his star, his universe, his planet, his orbit, not that Logan knew it. Not that anyone did.

 “You’re awake.” Logan said, a bit breathless, a bit afraid, a bit relieved. He managed a small smile, letting out a deep sigh that had him wincing at the pull in his chest.

 “Such a disappointment, I know. Don’t tell my parents, give them a few more hours of peace.” He said flippantly, an ache settling into his bones. Logan made a noise half between a strangled kitten struggling for air and an exasperated goose honking.

  “remus. You almost died. Multiple times. They… the doctors weren’t sure you were going to wake up. Ever.” He laughed at that, wincing at the pain it caused, turning his head back to stare up at the ceiling.

 “well. What difference would it have made? It would almost have been better, if I didn’t wake up. ‘S not like I have a future. Not like anyone would care.” His words started to slur, exhaustion washing over him, but he was afraid, suddenly afraid, to fall back asleep, because what if he didn’t wake up again, after all? “Would ya tell Ro I know he’s sorry, and ‘s okay? I know he didn’t mean it. Well, no, he meant it, but I… understand. He’s right, about me. Always… always is.” He thought he felt a hand slip into his, felt the bed dip slightly, felt a hand stroking his hair, as he slipped back under.

…

He’s lost.

 It was dark all around him, and he’s lost. He couldn’t find the path, couldn’t find the way out, he was trapped down, down, down in the dark again, and he felt himself start to panic, because he didn’t want to be here, it was too small and too dark and too deep and he wanted OUT!

 A voice. No. Two voices, talking lowly, talking quietly, almost afraid. He knew them, he needed them, he needed them to be louder, he needed to follow them out of here. He could feel the dark swirling around him, trying to drag him back under, clogging his lungs and throat so he couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe, and he’s going to drown-

 A hand. A hand in his. An anchor. He gripped it like a drowning man, that’s what he was, even if it’s not quite water that was filling his lungs, he used it to haul himself to the surface of the waves, used it to steady himself against the roiling of his own mind, trying to wash him away, and someone was speaking again, the voice of the universe, the planets, the stars.

 “R’man?” He slurred, blearily looking up at the hazel eyes of his brother, his twin, who was gripping his hand so tight his knuckles had turned white, then Roman let out a soft sound of despair and hope and carefully, slowly, helped him to sit up, hugging him tight. He didn’t understand why Roman suddenly cared so much, but it was nice, being hugged, so he leaned into it, let it happen, felt himself calm at the gesture, centering him.

 “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Ree, I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean any of it, and I’ve been so shitty, I’ve been the worst brother, I should have stood up for you, like you always did, always do, for me, instead I pushed you away. I almost lost you. I almost lost you and the last things I said to you were horrible. I love you. I’m so sorry, Remus, I love you.” Roman’s voice was choked, and he was surprised to find his own tears falling as he buried his head against Roman’s shoulder, crying as he felt Roman softly rocking back and forth.

 “s not your fault. I’ve always been a screw up, Ro. It’s no wonder you don’t want me around, anymore.”

 “No! Remus… Remus no. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, sorry. I want you. I want you around, I want to spend all day fighting with you over stupid shit, I want to see you come careening down the stairs in clothes not even remotely matching and march out the door to school without even brushing your hair, I want to wake up at 2am to you blaring German death metal or hanging upside down from my ceiling or… or whatever other weird shit you constantly think up, I want every moment I can possibly get with you, because I… I never thought… I can’t… I can’t lose you, Ree. What am I supposed to do, if I lose you?” Roman’s voice was small and shattered, and he pressed himself closer against his twin, huge, silent tears dripping down his face. “I never want you to leave, Remus. Never.” Roman whispered, hugging him tighter, and he ignored the spasm of pain it sent through his body, because it felt so good, in all other respects.

 “Careful, Ro, I’m almost starting to think you actually like me, or something.” He mumbled, feeling Roman let out a breathy, hiccupping laugh/sob.

 “I do. So much, Remus, I do.” Roman replied, pulling back, face a mess, tear stained and disheveled, and it looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. But there was a smile, small and fragile, on his face, and Remus couldn’t help but mirror it.

 “you promise?” He asked, voice a barely there whisper, watching Roman’s face turn serious, as he met his eyes.

 “I promise. I promise, Ree. Now. I think, you two, should talk.” Roman said, tentatively getting up, and Remus had almost forgotten there was another person in the room until Logan cleared his throat, stepping around Roman and sitting stiffly in the chair beside his bed, as Roman mouthed good luck, and vanished out the door, under the guise of getting them all something to eat, and checking in with the nurses and doctors.

 He sighed, staring back up at the white ceiling, almost afraid to meet Logan’s eyes, to look at his face, he didn’t know what to expect, and for some reason that scared him more than dying.

 “why?” Was the soft question, one he hadn’t expected, and he shifted, turning to look at Logan, who was looking down at his lap, hands creasing and uncreasing a tissue repetitively.

 “why what?” He asked, though he knew. Logan did look up then, something curious and almost angry in his eyes, though his face was unreadable.

 “Why did you push me out of the way? Why… why did you choose my life over yours?” He barely resists rolling his eyes, though he’s unable to stifle a scoff.

 “Why wouldn’t I? You… have a future. You’ve probably got colleges slitting each other’s throats to have you, professors already trying to recruit you to their programs, and most people with that opportunity I’d hate and want to strangle because they’re pretentious, pompous, loaded pricks! But… you aren’t. You’re smart. You’ve earned it. You deserve it. You… can actually do something, with your life, you will, because you don’t do anything unless it has actual effects. Because you’re brilliant, and burning with potential, and burning with kindness, and burning with curiosity and it’s like… like a light, in the shitty world we live in, when you learn something new, it lights up the cosmos, that look on your face.

You’re a star, Logan. An actual, burning, brilliant, ball of energy and light and expansion and one day you’ll explode like a supernova and make something truly, purely, incredible.

And I? I’ll just be bumming it on the streets somewhere, because that’s all I’m good at. Fucking everything up. So yeah. It wasn’t even a question of you or me, it wasn’t even a choice, I didn’t think about it, I just acted, because even if I had died, it didn’t matter. Not… not like you dying would. Not how you dying would matter, to me.” He looked away again, shame welling in his throat, hot tears slipping down his cheeks, because he always ruined everything, didn’t he?

 “remus. It would matter. If you died, it would matter.” He let out a hollow laugh, too weak to even reach up and wipe away his tears.

 “Would it? I’ve thought a lot about this, Lo. I’ve thought over how I could do it, where I could do it, when would be the best time. It’s at the bottom of my to do list, really, and I just keep finding another reason to push it off. It’s come down to the timing, truly. I don’t want it to upset anyone too badly, I don’t want it to mar an important holiday or anniversary, I don’t want to leave them to clean up my mess, but I want them to be able to find me.

Leaving a note, or maybe sending a time delayed text with my location, was my thought. Maybe jumping off one of the cliffs in the park, but I didn’t want some poor hiker to get traumatized. Maybe jumping into the sea, drowning, but then they wouldn’t have my body to bury. And it would be too messy to just cut my wrists open, then they’d have to clean up the blood, and god, won’t that be a mess? So very Me, of me, I suppose, to leave them one last work of art to scrub off the floor. One last piece no one wanted anyway, to be discarded.

They’d be sad, but they’d move on pretty fast. Too much going on to not. Roman, going to art school, my parents, barely home anyways, with how often they work, and it’s not like I’ve got any friends. Roman’s got plenty of those, plenty of people to prop him up, once I’m gone. So yeah, me dying has pretty much a null effect on the universe.”

 “Remus.” There was something oh so soft, too soft, in Logan’s voice, and he kept his head firmly turned away, unwilling to see the pity and horror and disgust in those brilliant green eyes of his. “Remus, the chances of you existing at all are infitesimal. The chances of you living in this moment, are so slim as to be nearly nonexistent. Of course, it matters, even if you think it doesn’t, even if you believe erroneously it doesn’t matter to Roman, it matters to me.” There was a desperate edge to Logan’s voice, a break to it, that cracked through his calm exterior to his frantic heart, and Remus found his head being gently turned, the soft touch not moving away as his eyes met Logan’s, round and huge behind his glasses.

 “Your art is beautiful. I never really understood it, I still don’t, but looking at it, I know how long it takes to make, I know how painstaking it is, and that’s what makes it beautiful, makes every drop of ink or brushstroke a masterpiece. You throw yourself head first into everything you do, with no second thoughts or rationality and it’s both infuriating and amazing, because I could never fully figure you out. Some days you are loud and boisterous, and almost more flirtatious than Roman, definitely more dangerous, than Roman, and others day you’re silent and still, like the moment before the lightning crashes, the second before the twister sets down, and I want nothing more than to know what exactly you’re thinking in that moment, what is about to send you over the edge, I want to know why you think you’re so worthless, when I watch you be incredible day after day, no matter what anyone else says or thinks or teases or comments, you somehow manage to just stay yourself, and I wish I knew how you did it. I wish you knew, how perfect you really, truly, are.” He didn’t protest, as Logan’s lips met his, soft and careful and tentative, only a brush, really, but when Logan went to pull back, he managed to move his arm, managed to weakly grab hold of Logan’s.

 “please. Please stay. I don’t… it’s so dark… I don’t…” He was losing it, he could tell he was, he was slipping, and the dark was so much darker now, so much deeper, and if he fell, he didn’t know how long he could stay afloat.

 “of course.” His eyes had slipped closed, but he felt Logan carefully shifting him, before slipping onto the bed beside him, and he sighed, as Logan nestled against him, his head in the crook of his shoulder, a solid, calming weight against his back, holding him close.  

 “Wha’s wrong with me, xactly?” He slurred.

 “I don’t know the full list. Punctured lung, broken ribs, broken arm, broken leg, concussion, internal organ trauma, they said… they said they nearly lost you four times total, before you stayed in stable, if severe, condition. The first time you woke, you’d been in a coma for a full week. There wasn’t anything wrong with you, necessarily, you just… wouldn’t wake up.”

 “was stuck. Was you, woke me. Reading, somthin bout space.” He smiled, feeling Logan tuck back a strand of his hair, his hand brushing gently against his cheek.

 “Lonely planet’s guide to the universe. I thought… I just… I didn’t want you to think you were alone. I wanted to give you a reason to wake up. I just didn’t know how badly you needed one.”

 “I love you.” He blurted, unceremoniously, too tired to care about the consequences, his stupid mouth always speaking without his stupid brain’s stupid permission. But if he’d kept it in one moment longer, he was sure he’d explode. The silence seemed to last forever, before he realized it was because Logan was crying, and with effort, he managed to roll himself over, so he was face to face with his star.

 “I love you.” Logan said, raw sincerity burning in his throat, as he pressed their foreheads together, as his hands rested around his waist, pulling him gently close once more, this time tucking his head down against Logan’s chest, feeling him press a soft kiss to his head. “I love you, Remus. And you very nearly didn’t give me a chance to say it.”

 “what can I say? ‘M a stupid bitch.” He mumbled, half asleep already, smiling as he felt Logan’s laugh rumbling through his chest, melting more as he felt a hand carding through his hair, one still draped across his waist, anchoring him steady against the dark.

 He’d been wrong.

 Logan wasn’t a star.

 They were both planets.

 Orbiting each other, caught in the pull of gravity, slowly being pulled closer and closer-

 Until they collided.

[grouptalekindnesssoulstories]

You can’t be my soulmate!

So, I kinda got a sugar rush when I was watching a tiktok compilation on youtube. And the idea of the first words but with multiple people popped in my head. So I decided to do a lil snippet. I may still have too much in my system but eehhhhhhh just makes my brain go zoom!

Warnings: Misgendering, manipulation, a mention of homophobia, mention of disownment

What are you laughing at hot topic? haunted each day that Virgil didn’t find his soulmate. 

I love the new outfit caused Roman to switch up his attire everyday he could, but being a well-known actor made that a common sentence. Not a very common first sentence luckily. 

Thanks, why wear those gloves? shamed Ethan every time they removed the aforementioned gloves. 

___

I fiddled with my newest piercing, the third on my ears. I had gotten it less than two months ago, which had gotten dirty looks from my parents when i saw them. They had disowned me several years prior after learning I was gay, and trans. With a shit-eating grin, I flipped them a double bird. After they turned away in horror, I mounted my motorcycle and roared down the streets. I parked it behind the restaurant I worked at, locking it up on a special pole my brother had installed when I got hired. 

“Reeem. Seen our parents lately?” I called as I shoved open the back door. He poked his head back, tilting his sunglasses down as I removed my patchwork hoodie.

“What parents. All you’ve got is me, babes. But, yes. I saw the people who birthed us a few days ago. I assume you ran across them and they disapproved?”

“Of what? My top surgery, new piercing? Answer to that one is all of it” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and waved to one of his partners, Remus. I tapped my ear after tying on an apron. He pulled out his ear so I could see the blue pin in it. I shot a thumbs-up as I straightened my posture to wait on my first table. The first few hours passed in a blur of people I didn’t care to make note of. 

“Excuse me, sir. I believe we have a reservation?” A weedy man flagged me down. I raised an eyebrow as I checked the schedule. 

“Only one, and that’s for R. Roy. One sec-” I turned around and shouted over my shoulder “Re? What time was the reservation coming in?” 

“That’s for m-”

“Uh, 3 o’clock or so” Remus surfaced, cutting off the man. 

“I’m afraid I’m here on Mr. Roy’s beh-” The man tried again, this time I cut him off. 

“That was twenty minutes ago. And where did Brit go? They were supposed to be doing this” 

“EXCUSE ME. I AM HERE TO MAKE SURE MR. ROY’S TABLE IS READY” The man practically screamed, cutting off our conversation. 

“Ah, I’m afraid he’ll have to come himself. We only answer to our customers” Re cut in, smiling wide. 

“You and I both know that isn’t true you idiot” An almost-familiar voice accompanied the man himself. 

“RoRo!” My sibling-in-law immediately brightened, scooping the smaller man into a hug. I chuckled behind one hand as the man made breathless protests. When he was at last released, my laughter got louder because it was the Roman Roy, and his appearance was all mused up now. 

“I’m so sorry sir! I’ll go get your backup right now!” The assistant started to buzz nervously around the famous man, reminding me of a fly. 

“No, no. I’ll be fine. This is a family place, so it’s not a big deal if I look a little messed up” He soothed, waving the man out the door. My laughter had not ceased by the time he had turned his attention to me. 

“What are you laughing at hot topic?” I clasped my wrist as the words tattooed across it flared with heat. I shoved the discomfort down, offering my hand.

“Only your fly-like assistant. I’m Virgil Maelstrom. I’m the younger brother of that idiot’s partner. Or one of them at least” Mr Roy took my hand, shaking it briskly before following Remus to the table near the counter. I pulled down my sleeve to see a name written under my words. Roman. I was soulmates with ROMAN ROY the singer! How did I end up with him. Emile caught me staring numbly as new words appeared beneath the original ones. 

“So. Finally met your soulmate?” They asked, a soft smile gracing their features. The smile that had caused my crush all those years ago. I had long grown out of it, but it still held power for their partners and me. 

“One of them I guess. It’s Roman Roy” I whispered the last part, showing them my arm. They hummed thoughtfully, messaging their own wrist. Rem had told me about his own experiences all those years ago, but to actually experience it was insane. 

“Well, why don’t you go tell him?” 

“I...can’t. He didn’t react to me saying anything. It was like I was just another person, y’know?” 

“Well, as your sibling-in-law, I say we’re gonna tell him. C’mon” They pulled me after them. I tried to make excuses, but the doctor was in full help mode. There would be no stopping them. 

“Uh, what’s up honey?” Re asked, looking confused at the determined march. 

“Roman. Good to see you. I found you a soulmate” They yanked me forward as they spoke, lighting up in pride. 

“Look, I’m sorry. They’re just re-” I started babbling, reaching my exposed arm up, forgetting it was free for anyone to read. 

“That’s my name” A soft voice interrupted me. Then a whoop from Re shattered the shock. 

“Lil’ bro! Look at that, two siblings, two chance meetings in this restaurant!”

“What did you say your name was-ow!” He cried out as words burned into his arm. Only your fly-like assistant -Virgil appeared beneath another set of words.

“I- Virgil. I’m Virgil Maelstrom. And it looks like we have another soulmate” He scooted over, nodding for me to sit by him. I took it hesitatingly, watching as his hands started moving as Remus drew him back into a conversation. The shop was closed as Roman ate, and paid for the rest of us to join him. I buzzed nervously, playing my my earring once more. It wasn’t until we were cleaning up when Roman approached me. 

“So. Uh. Virgil? Would you. Would you w-. Wouldyoubemyboyfriend?” He stammered, so at odds with how he was when in the public eye. I nodded mutely, and he swept me into a hug. 

~Elsewhere, A few months later?~

My hands shook as I reached for the top shelf. I wobbled, leaning heavily on my cane. I snarled, planting my cane firmly and stretching for the stuff I had put up there. 

“Sir, do you need help?” A woman approached me. I nodded, and she got it down easily. 

“Thank you mx-”

“Oh, no. It’s Mrs. Smith. Have a good day sir!” She pranced off, ignoring my protest that I was not a ‘sir’. The fire that had scarred me burned away my gender too. I hoisted the bag onto my good shoulder and walked the opposite way. I did not look forward to returning to the place I was forced to call ‘home’. 

“I’m home” I called, opening the door slowly. My girlfriend ran around the corner, beaming. 

“Sweetie! I missed you so much! I was gonna be so sad if you hadn’t gotten back so soon!” She nearly yelled, her face dropping slightly at the thought. 

“No, I wouldn’t. You know I try to be home as soon as I can” I offered a soothing smile. She took my cane and dragged me after her. She ignored my winces, her face screwed up so she couldn’t see. I kept as quiet as I could until the tv concert of Double R. I beamed as he sung, his current outfit looking so much better on him than the previous. When it had finished, my girlfriend was fast asleep on the opposite side of the couch. On a complete whim, I stood up and limped to the door. Taking my cane, I set out on a walk. 

~~~~

“Ro, be careful. You’re easily recognizable” Virgil begged as I stepped outside.

“Don’t worry my storm cloud. I promise to not draw unnecessary attention-” He snorted so I revised my statement with a glare “-I promise not to draw any attention to myself. I’ll be back soon” 

“Whatever. I’ll have my phone on me, so call if you get in trouble” He closed the door behind him. We had been dating for a few months, and they’d been the best (and safest, but don’t tell Virgil that) of my life. I couldn’t wait to meet the third member of our soulmate bond though. I drew the hood of my sweatshirt, borrowed from Virge, up over my head. I wandered aimlessly for a while before deciding to get some milkshakes before heading back. I bumped into someone as I was putting in my earbuds.

“Oh my gosh, are you ok?!” I asked them, and they waved me off. 

“Yea whatever” They mumbled to the ground. I offered them a hand up. They took it and when meeting my eyes, just stared. 

“I love the new outfit!” They finally blurted out. I let out a yelp as my arm suddenly got warm. 

“Thanks! I uh, I think you should know that you may be my second soulmate?” I said, drawing back my sleeve to show them my first message. Just like when Virgil’s message had finally appeared on my arm, there was a name there now. Blocky letters spelled out: Ethan. 

“I...yea. That’s my name. I’m Ethan! Ethan Snips. They/them please” they spoke hurriedly. I nodded, sweeping them up into a hug. 

“C’mon! You’ve gotta meet your other soulmate now” I smiled as they stared in disbelief when my own first sentence to them appeared with my name. 

___

I was soulmates with Roman. Roy! And there was a third person. I obviously needed to meet them as I had their message left. But I had two soulmates and one of them is famous!

“Wait I- nevermind. Please, just take me to meet them” I smiled, limping after him as quickly as possible. He bought three milkshakes, which he rudely refused to give me mine until we got back. We were near his trailer when I heard her. 

“She doesn’t sound happy” Roman turned nervously towards the sound.

“No, she isn’t. Hurry, please” I nearly shoved him in my haste to get away. 

“Bad?” He asked, meeting my eyes. I noticed he didn’t even seem to register my scars

“Very bad” I nodded, raising a hand up towards my blind eye as if it would keep her from coming. 

“HELP! SECURITY!” He screamed at the top of his lungs before scooping me up and running. I yelped, clinging to my cane and the arm wrapped around my chest. 

“Princey, you idiot, what did you do!” A dark haired man appeared, one hand already on his hip.

“Reeescued someone?” Roman smiled charmingly. 

“You idiot. He’s pretty, so I can see why you wanted to be knight in shining armor”

“No, you’re prettier. Handsome! Like the moon” I mumbled dazed. 

“Thanks, why wear those gloves?” I saw his frazzled gaze on my threadbare gloves. I clapped one hand to my arm where  warmth radiated suddenly. I raised my cane in answer.

“This is Ethan! Our second soulmate! Uh, they/them. I need to explain to the head of security why I uh...just screamed. Have fun!” Roman dashed out the door. 

“I’m Virgil. I’m assuming that was your mark suddenly warm, so my name should be under it” He sat a few feet away, playing with a small ball. I checked, and that was true. He didn’t move any closer or try to continue the conversation. It seemed like his question was more of a defense mechanism than him actually asking. 

“Virgil?”

“Hm? What’s up?” He looked up.

“What’s your family like?” There was a small chuckle as he picked up the ball and started tossing it between his hands.

“Well, I’m assuming you don’t want to hear about my parents. They disowned me a few years back. My older brother Remy basically raised me anyways. He married Ro’s older sibling, and Dr. Picani. I work at the restaurant they own. I met Ro a few months back when he came in, and we started dating” 

“Oh.” I traced the end of my shoe in thought. 

“Here. A secret for a secret? I’ll you something most people don’t know about me for something about you?” 

“Uh, sure. My middle name is Daniel”

“Ohhhh that’s kinda sweet! Well, I’m trans”

“Huh. And once again society has made equal exchange impossible”

“Ah! I see we have a philosopher” Roman came back in, kicking off his shoes and handing out replacement milkshakes.

“Yea. it happened aft-After a certain`”

“You don’t have to tell us if you’re not ready. We have time” Virgil interrupted me. 

“No. No, I want it in the open. I was caught in a fire, which caused serious damage to most of my left side, and my hands” I pulled off my gloves, showing the scars that across them. Virgil reached over, offering a hand in invitation. I shook my head and he withdrew it without comment. I already felt safer with these two than I had with anyone else. 

[imagine-lcorp]

All the Rest (One Shot)

Request

Part 1. Lena x male reader. Reader is a speedster and reformed villain who became a hero for Lena. So when edge poisoned Lena reader gets really angry and gets Lena to the DEO and learns that Lena is pregnant with their baby and so reader waits until Alex says she’ll be okay and then Reader goes and gets his suit on and speeds over to edges office grabs him and smashes his window and hangs him off the side and tells him to confess? Part 2. The next day edge confesses about the lead poisoning and trying to kill Lena. Lena is happy to see edge going to jail. Then they show the video from a hidden camera in edges office where it shows reader threatening edge and Lena learns that reader did it. Reader tells Lena he is sorry for going evil and he’s worried Lena will leave him. Lena tell him it’s okay because edge needed to be stopped. Ends with a make up kiss and Lena tells reader about the baby. (Reader’s suit is like Zoom.)

A/N: Guyssss!! I’m so very excited to be writing your requests agaaain!! So now we start with the first one of this round, I hope you enjoy it and so much thanksssss to the person so sent this one, you know who you are, so it is here!! Finally!! Please let me know what you think!!!

Lena Luthor x Speedster M!R//Word Count: 2648

——————————————————————————

The moment you heard Lena’s cracked message over the DEO speakers you didn’t even stop to think about what you were about to do. You put on your black suit and ran to where she was, and cursed when you realized your speed wouldn’t help you get up there where she needed you.

The whole thing happened too slow for your own liking. Supergirl’s blurred silhouette getting on the plane, the way it went down afterwards, Lena’s screams as the plane was cut in two. It was one of the rare occasions in your life when your powers felt useless. You were a bystander stuck on land.

Supergirl called then for you over the comms. She had Lena on one side of the plane and the chemicals on the other but she couldn’t hold both.

“Save the chemicals, not me.” You heard Lena scream and you hated they way she was always trying to put others before herself. The hero complex with it’s damn self sacrificing principle you could never understand. But if you had to play the hero for Lena you would do it, over and over until she was safe.

You ordered Supergirl to drop the chemicals. With your speed, you swore, you would be able to catch them before they touched the water. Then you ran across the them, grabbing every single bucket and putting them one by one at the edge of the water where they would do no harm. It was a matter of seconds. The chemicals, the city, the children and whoever, they were all saved, and you couldn’t care less about it. You saw Supergirl land gently on the ground on the other side and you quickly caught up.

You saw her smile the moment she caught you running towards her but at the first step she took you knew something was wrong. There were many things you loved about Lena Luthor and one of them was the way she always carried herself, with such grace and poise that it had to be impossible for her to miss a step. But she did and you were so surprised that even with your super speed you barely had time to stop her from hitting the floor.

“Lena!” You cradled her in your arms and looked for any sign of injury she could had have.

There were no visible signs of injury and as far as Supergirl knew nothing happened to her while they were on the plane.

It took you two seconds to go back to the DEO and a painful hour of waiting for Alex to finally talk to you.

“What happened?” You pushed as you paced around her office. The movement was the only thing keeping you grounded.

“She’s stable now. Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.” She sat, watching you intently. They hadn’t let you see her yet and it was clear that was getting on your nerves.

“Don’t tell me not to worry, Alex. Tell me what happened.”

“She was poisoned.”

“Poisoned how?”

“She had a mark on her arm, someone injected her, maybe before she was put on that plane. The symptoms were similar to lead poisoning but it was the same chemicals that affected the children. We’re treating her right now-”

“Was it Edge?” You just needed confirmation.

You had hear the news about the children getting sick in National City due to lead poisoning and about Morgan Edge’s friendly visit to the Luthor Hospital. Edge had showed up, pretending to care and using that as an excuse to hurt Lena’s image. After all, it was a well known fact that Lena had been the one to create the device that filler the earth’s atmosphere with it in order to avoid an alien invasion.

Edge would have done everything to get her out of the way and, if he wasn’t shy about poisoning children, you were sure as hell he had no problem with killing Lena with his same poison. How fitting would that have been? The apparent villain of the story dying by the consequences of her own doing.

“We don’t know that but, (Y/N), there’s something more. Lena, she’s…she is pregnant.” That finally made you stop.

Even with your speed, her words seemed to slowly sink in. “She’s what?”

“Pregnant, (Y/N). Lena is pregnant.” Alex punctuated each word and she no longer believed it had been a good idea to tell you about it as she saw your face draw into a frown.

“I wanna see her.” You demanded a second later.

Some people used to say that your story with Lena was some kind of a Beauty and the Beast type of story. It was laughable but you came to believe there was truth in all of that.

Lena was pretty much a beauty. You didn’t think one single person could look at her and not think she was an angel. But there was so much more. She had this confidence and elegance that made her stand in a room full of a thousand people. She knew what it was to walk that fine line between good and evil and still choose to do good for others. She had been the only person able to outsmart you and the only person you could say to actually have fallen in love with.

You, on the other hand, were a monster in some sense, never letting a tender heart get in the way of doing what had to be done.

You saw the world and the darkness that filled it. It was a brotherhood, full of killers. Thieves, fraudsters. Perverts, corrupt men. More and more criminals, with no shame or guilt or anything that could prove they were even human. They were all the same, scum infesting the earth just like the rest. You were no human either but at least you acknowledged it. A monster with a conscience and the power to stop further evil. The fastest man alive. That’s who you were. That’s what you were going to do.

“Are they gonna be alright?” You said to Alex without taking your eyes off Lena.

“They are both in the best hands.” Alex assured you again.

“Good. Take care of them. I’ll back in a minute.” You got up from your chair and were about to leave the room when she stopped you.

“(Y/N), where are you going?”

“I figured I need to grab some things for her. We are not leaving until you assure me they are completely fine.” You looked at her, putting a slight hint of concern in your expression.

She couldn’t read your face clearly but she knew you were more than worried about Lena. Furthermore, she knew what you were capable of but still she let you go. Not that she had a real choice.

But you were true to your word. Partially. You left and headed to the private apartment Lena and you shared. You took some clothes and toiletries for her and put them on a small bag. Then you returned to the DEO but not before taking a little detour to Edge’s office.

“Morgan Edge.” You called with your vibrating voice once you stepped inside his office. He looked up from his desk and he went pale.

It wasn’t your voice but your suit that gave you away. He had seen a couple of blurred pictures of it before and the rumors that came with it. All black and a mask with hollow eyes that could have matched a scarecrow’s face. Looking at you, right in the middle of his office in the middle of the night meant nothing good for him and he knew it.

“Wow, I though Halloween had already passed. Sorry, I don’t have candies.” He tried to hide the tremor in his own voice with a bravado.

“You are the man I am looking for.”

“Me? Sorry, who are you?”

“I know what you did.” You declared.

“What I did?” Edge scoffed. “And what exactly did I do?”

“Poisoned children, tried to drop chemical waste into the city’s waters, attempted murder.·

"So I guess you’re the new vigilante in town and have come to punish me for my so called crimes?” He mocked with a grin.

“No. I’m here to finish you.” He hadn’t fully caught what you had said but your next actions were clear enough.

With a swift motion you grabbed him by the collar and pulled him at the edge of his office window. Shards of glass went flying over the street and you left his body hanging fifty floors above the ground.

“W-wait!” He screamed. “You can’t kill me, if you do you are no better than I am, isn’t that right? Y-you are the hero.”

“I am no fucking hero.” You responded with a growl.

“No! Wait, please! What do you want? Whatever it is I’ll give it to you!”

“Your confession.” You said and he seemed to be more startled by your words than by his impending death. “I offer you a way out.”

You only needed to open your fist and let him fall. It was what he deserved, you thought, but Lena deserved more. She deserved justice and for once you realized this wouldn’t have been it. You had been angry but letting him die would have been to easy for you, for him. He needed to live and pay for what he had done.

“Confess to the police and this will be the only time you’ll have to see me. If you don’t, I assure you, I have plans for each day of the rest of your miserable life. This will be nothing compared to what I can do to you. Understood?”

When didn’t answer right away you pulled him back into the open air.

“Alright, alright! You win. I’ll do it.” He grabbed your arm and shouted frantically. You pulled him towards you, face to face.

“You better.” You said and tossed him back into his office.

That was the end of the night for you. You returned to Lena and sat beside her until the sun came up again. You stayed there watching the slow tempo of the rise and fall of her breathing. You had wanted to wake her up and talk to her about what had happened and about the baby, but thought against it. She needed rest and a peaceful sleep, now more than ever. You would both have a lot of time for that later.

Finally a new dawn came and Lena slowly started to wake up.

“I’m sorry.” She said once she recovered enough to remember what had happened during the night.

“Don’t worry about it.” You assured her. “But please, if you’re going against some bad guy, don’t go alone. You should call a professional and that means I would like you to call me before you rush into anything dangerous.” You tried to keep the lightness in your voice as you held her hand. It was ridiculous how soft you could be with her some times.

“I will.” She promised. “But, (Y/N), there’s something we need to talk.”

“I guess we all need to talk about something.” Kara came into the room, along with Alex, and carrying her bag. By the looks of it, she had been heading to work and, on a closer look, she didn’t look happy.

“We have some news.” Alex announced. “Edge confessed this morning to the police.”              

Lena looked stunned. “I…I never thought I was going to hear something like that in my life.”

“Maybe he finally got a conscience.” You stepped out of your chair and faced the Danvers sisters.

“Maybe he got help getting one.” Kara opened her bag and pulled a tablet out. “(Y/N), can you explain this?”

A video started to play. It showed Edge’s office and him working over his desk. Nothing seemed to be wrong until a few seconds later, as the video showed a shattered window and Morgan Edge dangling from your arm above the street.

You snorted and rolled your eyes. “I think it is pretty self-explanatory.”

“(Y/N), what is it?” Lena couldn’t watch the video but by the tone of the conversation she guessed there was something wrong.

“I went after Edge and I convinced him of turning himself up to the police.”

“Convinced him? You mean, threatened him and then pushed him off his office.”

“Yes.” You admitted. “Yes, I did.”

“Do you realize what you’re saying?” Alex said.

“You’re acting just like him!” Kara raised her voice.

“Like him? Please, at least I had the decency of never hurting anyone who didn’t deserve it. Edge needed to be stopped and If I had known he was going to cause all this trouble I would have done it sooner. Now it’s done. You should be grateful.”

“This is not the way we do things, (Y/N). We could arrest you for this.” Kara pointed at you and you started to see red.

“And how do you exactly plan on doing that, uh? You can’t outrun the fastest man alive. Not you, not even Supergirl.” You looked directly at her. “I mean, you can keep trying. You have done it before, multiple times, and you have failed every single time. If I’m here it’s because I agreed to help and because of Lena, not because you have a hold on me.”

You hadn’t noticed the way you body had started to vibrate, ready for the fight, but Lena’s voice brought you back to reality. “You know he is right.”

“Lena-” Kara tried to say.

“No, let me finish, please.” She pulled herself up from the bed and faced the three of you. “(Y/N) is right. If he’s here is because we asked for his help and that’s what he did. His method may not suit the DEO or match the way we had done it ourselves but he did it to protect the city, to protect us, to protect me… and my baby.” There was a shift in the room after her last words. “Sometimes we don’t need a hero to fight for us but a monster to help us fight the darkness back.”

You three couldn’t have been more speechless even if you had lost your tongues.

“Now, I would like to talk to (Y/N) myself. If you don’t mind.” Lena finished.

Alex was the first one to move. She shook her head slightly and gently grabbed Kara by the arm. “We’ll leave you to it.” She said as both of them left the room.

“Are you mad at me?” You turned to look at her, a bit more worried than you could have admitted.

“No. I’m actually very proud.” Lena motioned to you to sit beside her. “You could have killed him but you didn’t.”

“Not that I didn’t want to.” You moved towards her and sat at her side.

“What made you change your mind?”

“You crossed my mind before I could drop him.” You looked at her. “To kill him would have been easy and I didn’t want to make it easy for him. And yes, I know a coerced confession isn’t necessarily fair but I thought about you and how I wanted you to see there was going to be justice for all his crimes. You deserved at least that after all the shit show he started.”

Lena smiled at you and placed a soft hand on the side of your face. “You’re going to be a great dad.”

“I’m gonna be a father.” Her words took you a bit by surprise but you smiled back and chuckled. “We’re pregnant. Oh dear, we are pregnant.”

Lena laughed as you kissed her again and again and again. The rest of the world instantly forgotten. They were your world now, let all the rest be damned.

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Four years ago, Speedy Ortiz leader Sadie Dupuis released a full-length debut, Slugger, under her solo moniker Sad13. Then, back in June, she announced a sophomore outing called Haunted Painting. The latest preview of Haunted Painting is called 'Oops…!' Here’s what Dupuis had to say about it: "We recorded 'Oops…!' at New Monkey, which was Elliott Smith’s studio. This one has a magic drum sound — thanks entirely to engineer Sarah Tudzin (of Illuminati Hotties notoriety), and Zoë Brecher’s impeccable playing. Just before writing it, on tour with CHVRCHES, a venue employee became physically and verbally violent with one of my Speedy Ortiz bandmates. He directed his fake apology at me instead of the person he harmed, presumably because I am smaller and present feminine. My vengeance complex kicked in and I got a scary adrenaline high making sure this unsafe person was removed from the show. While I’m glad I have protective instincts, I wrote the song to process ways in which I’ve used people’s assumptions about me and my body to wield my own version of toxic masculinity. Kimber-Lee Alston, who directed remotely via Zoom, turned this story and song into an allegory about a 1950s prom queen vampire who lures in her bad boy victims with delicious, blood-filled treats." Musically, 'Oops…!' sits between the poppiest ends of Dupuis’ Sad13 songwriting and the more rock-oriented side of her work with Speedy Ortiz. [via Stereogum]

Lola Young has unveiled a powerful new video for latest track ‘Woman’. As Lola explains when opening up the video - “what you’re about to see is woman in all their glory, in all their pain, unapologetic in their self-love and unashamed in this moment of vanity”. Taking striking visuals and combining it with Lola’s standout voice - the results are a must-watch. Speaking about the video, Lola explains: “I wanted to make this video because I believe women are all undeniably strong, sexy, free, brave, vulnerable, raw and powerful and that we do not have to hide away. We do not have to remain unseen, our bodies should never be sexualised or a taboo conversation, or only seen through the male gaze. We have the ability to normalise our bodies being on show, and accept them for their differences, as It’s important to remember those differences are currently often shamed. I pushed for the women in the video being fully nude and the energy on set because of that was insane. I have never felt more empowered in my life. Nipples, bums, rolls, stretch marks, cellulite, all of these things are beautiful along with the ‘perfect’ body. This is my personal experience of being a woman, hopefully other women will have their own take on what it means to them”. [via Dork]

'Rivers' is the new single by the musical project of Alexandra Duparc — SKANDRA. This song is a story we have each possibly lived inside. But it’s not one you easily wish to remember. It is a toxic setting wherein who you love is eating away at you and you’re not able to break away. The very muse you draw so much from is the same one that hurts you even while you sleep. 'Rivers' takes you on a journey through the looking-glass both in sentiment and aurally. With synthetic pops, energetic picks, and rhythmic beats, the song will peacefully make your ears and mind, alike, buzz with nostalgia, and fills them with hope for a better future.

Taking a leap from the Broadway stage to the recording studio is singer-songwriter Sophia Anne Caruso with her debut tune 'Toys'. Teaming up with Empire The Sun’s Nick Littlemore, Sophia’s sweet angelic vocals guide us through this sombre piano melody as she confesses her innermost thoughts and feelings. With raw emotion and a captivating presence, Sophia wanders through ruins of a castle and forest for a stirring cinematic video. The poetic song follows up from the actor’s performance in the Tony-nominated Broadway production of the cult classic Beetlejuice, where she stared as the gothic teenage physic medium Lydia. While she may have conquered the stage with her incandescent performances, the singer is ready to take on the next challenge and we’re excited to see where the next chapter will take her. [via Wonderland]

Tāmaki Makaurau’s Valkyrie are back with a brand new track ‘Good Thing’, their most infectious bop of a track yet (really – try not to dance to this, we dare you), accompanied by a vivacious and decadently alluring video directed by Shae Sterling. The track is written about the sexiness of Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger, and is overflowing with good vibes and energy. Speaking of the idea behind ‘Good Thing’, Valkyrie’s front woman Omer Gilroy says, "Imagine being stuck in isolated nature for a week, surrounded by the Beatles, the Stones and Jimi Hendrix... No cell service, just vinyls of the classics and friends. We had a good thing going and what you hear in the song is how we felt while writing it."

Two weeks after Kylie Minogue released her new song 'Say Something,' the singer has paired the single with a sparkling video directed by Sophie Muller. Keeping with the Disco theme of her new album and song’s lyrics, the visual finds Minogue and her dancers grooving to 'Say Something' in front of an interstellar backdrop, with the pop singer sometimes delivering the track from atop a horse statue. “We’re a million miles apart/In a thousand ways,” Minogue sings on the upbeat, introspective track. “Baby you can light up the dark/Like a solar-scape.” [via Rolling Stone]

Los Angeles' DeathbyRomy makes dark, gothic pop with a theatrical edge; the 20-year-old's debut album, 2018's Monsters, is filled with brooding electronic beats as she waxes poetic about her many failed loves, complete with features from Lil B, Yung Bans, and Cuban Doll. DeathbyRomy's most recent single, 'Fiending For A Lover,' though, shows the young artist making a pivot into brighter, more straightforward pop with its upbeat, maximalist production and an intro that feels like a nod to the TikTok famous 'Lalala.' NYLON premiered the song's video, a quarantine-filmed visual that includes a Mean Girls-esque burn book, and the singer dressed to the nines in Harajuku fashion. Lounging in the maximalist pink interiors of her room, the young artist fantasizes about wanting to be tied down again, even if it ends up kind of toxic: "Something in the way you hurt me/ I love it though it's quite unnerving." "This song was inspired by feeling locked up during this quarantine," Romy writes of the song in an email. "An overall sense of lingering mania and being the hopeless romantic I am; I’ve been fantasizing more than ever about my imaginary boyfriend. There may also have been a crush or two who inspired the song….(sneaky smile)." [via NYLON]

Rising South London singer Greentea Peng has unveiled the brand new visuals for her latest track ‘Hu Man’. Shot by Felix Brady, Greentea Peng says of the new song, “YOU man, me man, WE MAN. Hu Man is an exploration of self and our attachment to identity, especially in this modern age. Hu Man is a war cry from the battlefield of mind, calling to the divine Mother to take this ego, take this head, to remove all these words and man made constructs and take me, take us, back to centre. Back to oneness, forward to unity. In Lak’ech Ala K’in, I am you you are me, is a Mayan saying I encountered during a Ceremony in Mexico and it’s stayed with me always. I find it very fitting for the times we find ourselves in, such shifting paradigms. Hu Man is an offering of peace and healing to the collective in these intense times, and I pray it takes people inside themselves if for only just a moment.” [via DIY]

[whetstonefires]

"the top three of its forty floors are filled with brass telescopes of every size, pointing in every possible direction, including several that do not exist within the normal three dimensions of space." thats SUCH a cool image / "If any harvest will come." ooh i wonder whats going on / "The roofs are of red tile, the stucco of the houses painted in shades of blue. It stands empty, but has not had time to fall into disrepair." the little bits of detail getting added to the picture im LOVE (1/?)

I’m gonna do these all as one post but broken up for ease of reference, I think.

Thank you! 🥰 Deciding the theme for the Tower and giving it that visual anchor really helped to pull things together. If you consider the whole setup, it seems unlikely the Tower was originally built as an observatory, since those tend to benefit from height (especially if you’re looking around you rather than up, but for the up ones also) and the builders could easily have put it on top of a mountain or at least some hills, but instead put it by the river. It’s above sea level, and it’s away from light pollution, but there were better locations. Nearby.

So either it wasn’t an observatory, and it’s been refitted as one, or they had so many observatories they didn’t care about locating them optimally, there was some other factor making having the tower there important even if it was suboptimal in terms of observation capacity. Or, potentially, it’s been moved since it was built!

:} Yay thank for being interested by the foreshadowing. I tried to put just enough in without actively overshadowing the actual place-setting-up and making the reader impatient with the description. 

"If you look through an enchanted telescope you may see trees without needles fail halfway up the nearest of the great peaks, and even these fail before the top, though there is a span of nearly barren stone past that line, before the snow begins." you: mentions different plants living in different climates me: :0 / there's so much good description!! its all so pretty!! (2/?)

sflka;l;jlk i mean yeah, that’s pretty straightforward isn’t it. But! It establishes How Much Mountain it is visually rather than by saying ‘it was a big fucking mountain’ or ‘it was tall enough for the thinness of atmosphere near the top to create a small tundra region.’

o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

<3 Thank you! I kinda cut loose lmao.

"blocks veined with every color, pale blues and purples, reds and greens and golden-duns all mottling toward white and grey and black" god i want to live there so badly!! this tower is meeting all my standards!! cool pretty magic tower with rad telescopes!!! / "make a remark no one present understands about a Doctor named Seuss. His guide, the dousing tracker Amnaphi, will assume this person to be a famous astronomer from his homeland." im love!! misunderstandings about references!! (?/?)

💗💖✨ Yay! That’s an important feeling to create in fantasy, imo. The wanting. 

I really enjoyed playing with the standard forms for ‘thing made of marble’ here, because all these marbles really exist, but in spite of the existence of the word ‘marbled’ our narrative uses of it tend to be tied up with Neoclassical aesthetics. So very white and smooth, yeah?

Also idk if it’s obvious to the reader but this Tower is to some degree in dialogue with Orthanc, which made a great impression on my mind as a child as the iconic wizardly tower, and while I don’t disagree with any of Tolkien’s use of symbolism for the purposes he was deploying it, there’s so much potential in Isengard as a setting that LotR had no space to explore, even if Tolkien would have noticed those angles at all.

Like...the parkland around the Tower is shown being despoiled for the orcish war machine and then reconquered by the forest, but of course it wasn’t forest to begin with. What was it for before Saruman lost his shit? Ordered gardens, for peaceful contemplation? Who dedicated the space that way? Who maintained it? 

Did Saruman employ a gardener? Did he design his own gardens, or did they come with the keep, which we’re informed was built not by him but by the Numenoreans? 

(“I liked white better” is still one of the greatest lines in a fantasy novel, Tolkien does not get enough credit for his contextually hilarious one-liners that rely on pointed code-switching, but Saruman’s evil rainbow oil-slick robes also sounded really baller and it’s kind of a shame they were not attempted for the movie lol.)

The fact that this is a world designed around a kid getting portal-fantasied into it and staying for 30 years really gives me some options which are fun to deploy but also like. Risky lmao. Because it encourages the reader to surface from the setting-logic and apply their own perspective, which can really break up the magic.

Being able to zoom out on the Tower after all that detail and be like ‘it’s awesome but also it looks like something Doctor Seuss would draw’ was fun though.

"Within the even hexagon of its outer wall, the Tower encloses a great parkland, enough that if it was all put under cultivation it could easily feed as many people as could live in the Tower itself." the tower has PLANTS i love it so much / "Ten Years’ Winter" god PLEASE tell me this is going to get into the agriculture and society stuff game of thrones didn't about long winters that would be SO cool / "Watchers of the Stars" AND they have a cool name holy shit (?/?)

Plants are important! As is food supply. As everyone who’s been reading this blog for a while already knows I think lol.

I mean, it’s not about that, really? The Ten Years’ Winter is a historical event--the most recent meteor impact severe enough to have global climate fallout. The dust it kicked up took a while to settle, and the famines were pretty severe.

But the cultural consequences of something that happened a hundred and fifty years ago exist, and are important, including the relationship between governance and disaster preparedness, which varies a lot regionally as you may imagine. 

Astronomy has a long history as a wizardly sort of activity in the real world, both because it’s had continual overlap with astrology and just because the process has always been mystical and abstruse. In this setting, with a history of both devastating meteor impacts and being invaded from the Moon, but also actual magic, it’s got more obvious practical importance. Although since neither of these are remotely everyday occurrences, the average person on the street might not agree lol.

So it’s on the one hand a purely descriptive title, and on the other hand a serious boast, suggesting as it does that they are primarily responsible for Watching The Sky For Stuff. While also having broader philosophical implications and just sounding nice lol. 

You gotta have good marketing if you want to persist as a wizardly order, because if talented students aren’t motivated to come to you how will you gain new members? Natural replacement is not an ideal strategy to say the least. That’s how you turn into a cult instead of an intellectual powerhouse.

"The northern third of the Tower’s park contains neatly regimented orchards, apples, pears, plums, and a few rows of carefully tended peaches and apricots, all clipped flat against low brick walls angled south and slightly west." hhh t r e e s / "wizards, while enthusiastic about innovation in the abstract, hate change." me too, wizards. me too / "The Tower grounds are filled with refugees." ooh now we get to why everything was empty earlier (?/?)

Trees! Which are also food!

And technology lol. Greenhouses built against fruit walls with good insulation are so much more sensible than ones heated from inside. Obviously as a passive solar-powered technology these only work when the sun is available and not, for example, cut off by a giant dust cloud. 

These people are fairly acutely aware of their dependence on the sun and it figures prominently in a majority of their religions and their magical theory, even more than in ours.

There seems to be a mild consensus that the wizards are relatable. In truth: we are all wizards. :D

Yup! At long last lol.

"This division corresponds imperfectly to the usual split of the town by the course of the Meroda." because people!! take comfort!! in what normalcy they can find!! / "Makeshift pallets line the spaces between every fruit wall—the injured are being laid out here, now that the Tower is full, to get the benefit at night of the warmth meant to mature fruit." the awesome magic tower people trying to do everything they can for the injured who come to them for help in case i thought i couldn't be (?)

more in love / "Half of them are making ready to turn south along the Meroda." oh nooooo / "but the Moon People are the successors of the ancient magics, and just because they could not break the walls the last time they came, according to legend, does not mean they have not worked out a method now." im so worried for the people oh no (?)

Yeah! It really seemed natural. But of course they also aren’t recreating it obsessively; lots of people are grouping up with relatives who normally live across the river, or with people in the same line of work on the river, because people also adapt to circumstances.

No institution is ever perfect, of course, but I’m glad the Watchers have come across this way so far. They’re broadly well-intentioned and mostly well-organized.

And they were not ready for this.

A significant fraction of the reason for the order of the Watchers to exist at all, particularly in this observatory with its great eye fixed ever on the face of the green moon, is to be able to warn the world if this ever happens again. But the Moon People knew they were being watched, this time, and they kept all the build-up to mobilization that might have given them away on the far side of the moon until the last minute.

What the Magister is doing, as I hope was made clear or at least successfully indicated--I wish your commentary on the ending had come through!--is summoning what turns out to be an actual child from another world to do hero stuff.

Even if he’d gotten an adult that would be kidnapping someone to help with your problems, a routine element of the portal fantasy whose ethics have been addressed in a variety of ways, most famously ‘is Lion Jesus and always right.’ 

The reason they need a hero from another world is that the Moon People build a lot of their wards and their offensive and disabling magical attacks around a targeting system based on what planet people are from, because even though they’re originally from the same stock--they’re the descendants of ancient moon colonists who evacuated ahead of a major meteor impact somewhere approaching four thousand years ago--on a magical level having been born and raised on the planet or the moon makes a pretty huge difference. 

So no one can get into the place their magic space elevator is anchored and fuck it up so they can’t keep bringing troops and supply in and loot out. Their single supply line is their only strategic weakness, and they’ve taken appropriate precautions.

Getting someone in from a third location is the best idea anyone’s been able to come up with in the very limited time available. Since no one can figure out how to turn one of the Moon People against the cause they came here for, on short notice, when they aren’t even stopping to talk to anyone so far. Like, that’s clearly not going to happen.

Heron Yl Fanult isn’t unaware that it’s ethically questionable, but he’s doing it anyway.

So I’m glad the ominous imminent oncoming of the Moon People can really be felt, because that atmosphere is fairly essential context for the decisionmaking going on at the top of the Tower.

"Young wizards sit in their bunks, six each to rooms that were previously individual, and hold lighting cupped dancing in their palms." a quick break from being worried to point out that this is rad as hell / "some with their heads decorously covered..." cultural differences!! especially with regional purposes like the Hedro!! 

Thank you! 😆💖 I thought so too lol. 

It also establishes the parameters of the magic system a little more. Throwing lightning bolts is pretty iconicly high-powered, right? And here it’s what most of the student wizards are practicing in anticipation of a battle, because most of them aren’t specced into combat and this is actually one of the easier lethal spells to master, especially if you have an academic background.

‘Electrocute’ isn’t a very flexible spell and it’s easy to lose control of, but it’s actually easier than, say, ‘set on fire to a significant degree in a non-electrical manner’ because concentrating a lot of heat in a certain location takes a lot more brute force than encouraging ionization. 

You can pull most of the actual destructive force for the palm lightning spell out of the physical air and/or earth if you grasp the principles, which is much easier than channeling a comparable amount of magic directly because it doesn’t have to go through you. 

The limiting factors on magic in this setting are how much power you can tap into and how much of it you can actually use without hurting or killing yourself. It’s not usually a lot, though the amount can be increased by things like choosing your workspace, prepping your workspace, and a whole lot of practice and meditation and things like that.

Magical traditions that get bundled under the heading of wizardry tend to focus on force multiplication, obtaining enough contextual understanding of a subject to make whatever power is applied go further. This means a lot of studying theory and using magic to make observations (such as the existence of microorganisms and their connection to disease) and often results in making clever devices based on what you’ve learned that may not actually wind up being magical at all. 

Which is why the solar greenhouse proposal is considered ‘more wizardly’ than the fruit walls, which are wizardly in the first place even though the technology is pretty widespread at this point--it’s carried the principle of minimizing the energy you have to invest to get the result you want to the logical conclusion, where you don’t have to do any magic at all, you just set up the situation and get out of the way and the sun will do the work for you.

Other schools of magic, particularly religious ones, are more likely to emphasize just getting better at handling energy for yourself, which tends to yield a lot more in the way of immediate practical dividends and in a lot of quarters wizards who don’t do something obviously practical like physic or smithcraft with their theoretical background are considered crackpots or dilettantes 

An impression helped along by the fact that being taken on as a student of wizardry at a basic level tends to focus more on your reading comprehension than your ability to actually do any magic, so in places where religious and wizardly institutions coexist the most talented students have a tendency to gravitate toward the religious life. This is particularly marked in areas religiously dominated by the Compact of the Golden Circle, wherein full ordination is contingent on being able to pull off certain fairly hefty rituals, so if you aren’t physically or mentally up to that kind of magical heavy lifting your religious career will stall out in one of the lay fraternities. In some of the cities on Sutouchel, the landmass to the southeast where the Compact is based, a slang term for wizard is ‘sanctum washout.’

But of course force multiplication is something that can scale up pretty far, and studying theory doesn’t stop you from also putting work into your practical skills, and not having talent isn’t the only reason someone would choose not to seek out a clerical career, if it’s even an option. Religion along the Meroda is pretty localized; communities tend to have local deities who correspond to a natural feature like the nearest mountain or the river or something, and if that deity rates a fulltime shrine the keeper also tends to be the major local medical provider, and since the wizards got settled in at the Tower it’s become pretty popular for shrinekeeping families to send their kids there for a year or two to get some educational polish in addition to what their parent already emphasized.

So depending on where you live and what your personal experience has been you’re going to have very different ideas about what wizards are good for.

Hrm. I’ve gone on a tangent. But that wound up taking so long you came back! :D I love it when being turtle works out in my favor.

Or was this actually the meta I was supposed to be doing in the first place? Aaaaa who knows.

im fairly confident you said eight asks survived so this is number nine? anyways onwards! "The hale survivors of the First Battle of the Second Descent sit waiting in their leathers, jack-chains and helmets laughably inadequate armor against the coming danger, and yet the best hope now just as they were on Carun Tol once the wizard fell" i have a lot of emotions about how their best bet is also a terrible bet but its all they have (9/?)

Yes 8. 

Woo, thank you! ^^ & I love that you described it that way because that also describes the ‘summon alien’ spell Yl Fanult is casting and echoing the same emotional theme throughout the scene was very much the goal here.

"Threads have escaped from the braids pinned across the top of her skull: she has not had the chance to take them down for two days." god just the continuation of how desperate everything is / "He leans forward to peer through the narrow glass that has been turned on its articulated base to face the middle of the room, and relaxes very slightly. At least there has been no catastrophic alteration there, either." what does that one do id assume theres no approching army in the middle of the room -

:D Yeah, the fact that one of the chief medics available is already overworked to the point of neglecting nonessential personal hygiene and the enemy isn’t even here yet I hoped would resonate.

Well, remember how some of the telescopes at the beginning point in directions not included in the normal three dimensions of space? :}

- "trained as it long has been upon the face of the moon" also forgot to mention their enemies being from the moon is Rad As Hell / "He snaps his fingers for a spark that falls into the deep circular groove full of distilled spirits, and steps through that as well. He is not burned." ooooh whats he doing / "At his feet lie a glittering piece of gold ore, a moonstone, and a carefully sanded round of pumice." i see the connection to the moonstone bc moon army but i wonder about the others -

Thank you! It took a fair amount of poking before I decided it was a solid approach; it provides just enough physical alienation that there’s no direct cultural relationship and you can have that ‘everyone in the entire world Disliked That’ vibe, without needing to create any complicated magical and cultural explanation for such a long run of isolationism. They were out of contact because they were On The Moon.

Also I really get a kick out of putting space invaders in a fantasy setting in a way that stops just short of turning into sci-fi.

I’m glad the ritual lead-up is exciting! Even if the foreshadowing wasn’t as obvious as I thought it was lol. That’s fixable. 

Gold is for the sun, moonstone is yeah for the moon lol (although in other circumstances people also use jade, because it’s been a long time since the moon was uniformly silver on account of it having been terraformed a few thousand years ago) and pumice is for the world--it’s a stone full of air that floats on water, so it’s popular as an anchoring device for rituals that call on all three local celestial bodies.

"He cannot take much time. He has only until the ring of fire dies." whats he doingggggg / anyways i love this so much!! the descriptions are gorgeous and im so invested in all of everything!! i hope you write more im so curious about it all!! 

XD Ok I covered this already, I would have saved it for down here or Been Mysterious if tumblr hadn’t eaten the last few asks the first time lol. Thank you so much again! For encouragement! Before and now! I’ll try! To keep it going!

Here’s hoping this successfully posts, tumblr just kicked me onto New Dashboard again and disabled the turn-it-off button, so now my alternate posting strategy is borked up too. 🤞😅😘

[blackcatanna]

Playing Kazama's Route Because I Guess I Hate Myself Part 1: Kyoto Winds

So, I'm going to play through everybody's routes on Hakuoki and vent my feelings and frustrations on here! I've already done Saito and Iba but I will play them again soon, too. Next up is Kazama, mostly because I'm curious to find out if this fucker has any redeeming qualities. Maybe if you're into nonces. Idk.

Wow, I had forgotten how gloriously campy this intro is :') I love it so much!

Playing through the prologue because it sets the tone of blood, death and assholes. This game is much more violent, tragic and much less horny than I had predicted and I guess I'm into that.

Aw, Chizuru bae is so lonesome and vulnerable <3

Kodo flashback! HIIISSSSSSSSSS!!! >:(

Just taking a moment to appreciate how beautiful and romantic the nighttime environment and music is <3 At least, until people start getting slashed up X_X

OKAY GAME, WE GET IT: CHIZURU IS HORNY FOR HIJIKATA. GOD.

Okita is enjoying this waaay too much X_X

Chapter 1

WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE

Thank you for untying me, InouBAE!

THEY'VE BEEN DISCUSSING THE SITUATION SINCE MORNING BUT NOBODY THOUGHT TO SUGGEST MAYBE NOT REVEALING MORE SENSITIVE INFORMATION WHILE I'M IN THE ROOM?! I'm surrounded by idiots -_-

Apparently, "They are all truly gentlemen." Uh-huh.

Hooray for Chizuru calling out Okita for being a douche. And Hijikata for calling everyone a bunch of kids! Where is the lie? :')

Um, why has the camera zoomed in on Nagakura's crotch? Chizuru, please control your thirst. This is a life or death situation.

Now Saito's telling Okita to stop being a prick and Okita's response is, "hehe." X_X

Casual suicide jokes... Reminds me of my friends at uni X_X

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE 8O I can't see how this could possibly backfire...

OMG Kondou describing not recognising a girl as "The shame of a lifetime!" XD

"Maybe it's time you spilled your guts, kid." Is he... Is he telling me to commit seppuku?! O_O "I looked at him and nodded." GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD.

Although, with Harada threatening to strip me, suicide doesn't look like such a bad option X_X Tell me, Inoue, WHERE ARE THESE GENTLEMEN YOU WERE TELLING ME ABOUT?!

Feminist Hijikata wants to kill me regardless of gender :') We stan a woke queen.

Feminist icon Sanan also thinks that gender is irrelevant but doesn't want to kill me because THEIR JOB IS LITERALLY TO PROTECT PEOPLE.

You search so hard for Kodo and he turns out to be such a treacherous snake :'(

Bad feminist Hijikata calls the Shinsengumi "sons of bitches" for feeding me to him as his page. The Shinsengumi are strong, independent bitches in their own right.

Escaping execution but being quietly upset about having to wear ugly boy clothes for the foreseeable future is a mood.

More of Hijikata threatening to cut off Okita's tongue, please!

What does Chizuru have against afternoon drinking :P Clearly she has never enjoyed a long glass of Pimm's on a warm Summer afternoon! I guess she is pretty young...

Hijikata isn't here so can I please sneak out with you guys instead of staring at the wall all day?

Reeeeeeally want to pick the yes to dressing like a girl option but apparently that's not what Daddy Nonce wants :( HE'S NOT EVEN SHOWN UP YET AND HE'S ALREADY RUINING MY FUN! >:(

Well, now we're literally running away from Nagakura and Inoue. I'm getting High School flashbacks.

Wait, why is Heisuke being weird about Saito being in my room? Did this happen last time too? Maybe I just forgot or maybe it's because I was hanging out with Heisuke and Harada before...

This dinner is terrifying.

Survival of the fittest? More like survival of the FATTEST! Amirite? Anyone? No? I'll stop.

Takeda admittedly has a point about you not earning your place in the Shinsengumi. And he has great hair. So I can almost forgive him for being a mega bitch.

"His swordsmanship is decent, BUT he is well read and possesses a cunning mind for military science." Not sure if a translation error or Hijikata just hates nerds?!

Does accompanying Hijikata as his page get me bonus Kazama Sexy Points purely because it pisses Hijikata off?

Chizuru once again being in mortal peril but getting distracted by Iba's beautiful face is relatable af.

"Takeda huffed smugly to himself and WADDLED out of the store." What a majestic image we have been blessed with :') The bitchiest penguin ever to waddle this Earth!

Iba happily munching his bean jelly is a MOOD.

Chapter 2

Okita telling you that you're here to keep him company on his rounds is exactly the kind of bullshit that I'd expect from him X_X

Guess I'm just running into a battle...

Oh, it's Kazama. Sitting on the windowsill like the edgy bastard he is.

Aaaand he just killed a guy on his own side. Classic edgelord move.

And apparently I have to thank him for this display if I want him to be my waifu.

Seemingly, Chizuru is thirsty for this slut and is being REALLY FRICKING OBVIOUS ABOUT IT X_X

OH HE DID NOT JUST CALL ME THE SHINSENGUMI'S BITCH. Although, it is somewhat accurate XD STILL A DICK MOVE AFTER I THANKED HIM SO NICELY, THOUGH.

AND HE SAYS THAT I HAVE MANNERS, BUT WHERE ARE YOUR FREAKING MANNERS, YOU EDGY THOT?!!!

I have a feeling that a lot of this will be typed in caps from now on -_-

Oooh he winked! I cannot handle this intense eroticism!

Surprise Saito! My favourite flavour of surprise (see, "Shinsengumi's bitch")!

The Shinsengumi are grateful for my efforts and, thus, have gifted me with the great gift of sweeping <3

Hijikata and Iba are so cute <3

Kazama's being edgy again X_X and murdering people. Classic Kazama.

Oh wow, he's actually calling us peasants.

Aw, we're talented peasants <3 How generous of him!

HOW DARE HE TRASH TALK OKITA LIKE THAT! Wow, I'm actually defending that asshole X_X

Hijikata baring his teeth like an angry doggo XD

I'm super mad at Kazama for killing that poor Shinsengumi guy :'( Such a thoughtless waste of life :'(

Now he's mocking Nagakura's obedience to the Shogun. What are your lofty ideals, Kazama? Ah yes, you want to subjugate and enslave the human race. How... noble...

Okay, so, apparently, Kazama is being a huge, murderous pain in the ass because he's just OH SO CONCERNED for the pride of his human allies. I don't buy it.

Ah, Hijikata called Kazama a petulant child :') Truer words were never spoken!

Okay, now Hijikata is saying that they don't deserve an honourable death?! Wow, Hijikata. That comment is not going to age well, I can tell you.

So maybe I agree with Kazama here!? He still shouldn't have murdered that guy, though.

I seriously don't understand why Hijikata is so keen to slaughter these guys and potentially lose more of his men just to force them to suffer a shameful death?! Maybe he doesn't see dying that way as dishonourable but I have no patience for people forcing their ideals onto others.

Aaah! Kazama throwing Hijikata's insult back in his face is pretty brilliant!

Kazama just sliced me in the face! Sexy?!

Sexy Points with Kazama because he's confirmed your full BROOD MARE potential.

Kazama likes calling people bitches so we have that in common.

So, now Hijikata respects them for committing seppuku?! I am CONFUSED.

Oh, now I'm getting Itou's origin story?! This is unexpected!

Wait, have I broken the game and accidentally romanced Kondou?! What is happening right now?! X_X

Oooh! I'm getting sword training! Yes please! This is better than sex :D

Feminist icon Kondou isn't going easy on me just because I'm a girl :D

Chapter 3

Aka: Sanan's breakdown!

"Those were his last words." O_O I... hope that that's not true...

Okay, now he's throttling me! I take it back! Somebody fillet this crazy fucker!

OMG WAS THAT CRUNCHING SOUND MY NECK?!

But why is he choking me when he could be sipping on my delicious blood? O_o

The awkward moment when your creepy brother is a hotter woman than you X_X

Apparently, Kazama's gazing at me with bloodlust. How romantic.

Haha! Apparently Kazama's hand is "pale and grasping like the tentacle of some hideous subterranean monster." X_X Hot.

Yay! Rescued from tentai boi by HajiBAE and SanoCUTEY! And Harada is calling out Kazama for being a creep :') This is a good day.

Kazama's response burn is weak. The culture and the nose of a dog? What does that even mean? Even if Harada's nose looked like a dog's, that'd still be pretty weak, imo.

Ha! Saito's response is basically just an Uno reverse card but I'm always here for calling Kazama out on his hypocrisy.

Omg, now Yamazaki is kidnapping me and Shiranui's calling him out! None of these hos have any chill!

Amagiri is taking a break from fighting to read Shiranui for being a hotheaded pain in the arse.

Hijikata is rightfully calling me an idiot for drawing my sword on Kazama :')

Kazama's insults are so blunt and childish but it's so funny! He just called Hijikata a weak shit! Apparently, fighting him is an honour and Hijikata isn't giving this diva the attention he believes he deserves.

Hijikata needs to stop calling me Kid X_X

"Sleazebag" = accurate.

Ooh, Sanan is paying me a late night visit! How risqué!

Of course I want to learn more about the water of life but The Grand High Nonce would apparently disapprove so I guess I'll have to wait until another route to find out :'(

Apparently Kazama's not going to abduct me TODAY. How reassuring.

I relate to Kazama admiring the beauty of the temple but he lost me by being a hypocrite again. Apparently, he doesn't understand how humans can destroy their creations with their wars. KAZAMA IS FIGHTING WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO BURN KYOTO AND THEY PARTIALLY SUCCEEDED. Kazama can only destroy things, as far as I can tell.

Now he's ranting about how they lie, deceive and kill. Pot kettle black? "If they want something, they'll steal it." UGH, KAZAMA, YOU HAVE REPEATEDLY TRIED TO STEAL ME YOU HYPOCRITICAL FUCKWIT. HE'S SO FRUSTRATING. SUCH AN INSUFFERABLE COMBINATION OF PRETENTION, HYPOCRISY, CRUELTY, HUBRIS, I could go on XD I should stop... For now...

AAAAAH HE JUST SAID NOT TO TRUST THE SHINSENGUMI BECAUSE THEY KILL THEIR OWN MEN WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELASH. THAT'S WHAT KAZAMA DOES WHEN YOU FIRST MEET HIM! BUT I GUESS IT DOESN'T COUNT TO HIM BECAUSE THE MAN WASN'T PART OF HIS SUPERIOR RACE!

Sen = <3

Chapter 4 (This is where I went to sleep)

I feel like we could have got away with killing the guy who was SENTENCED TO DEATH if fricking Sanan hadn't shown up and revealed his alive-ness!

Aw, Itou is concerned about my arm!

Aaaaand he's ruined it by being a cunt XD "Would you like to know?" "Yes." "I won't tell you." X_X

Heisuke, Saito... HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME... WHEN I NEEDED TO... POSSES YOU... I HATED YOU; I LOVED YOU TOO... BAD DREAMS IN THE NIGHT.... *Continues singing Wuthering Heights and dances around the room dramatically*

"And then they were gone" :'(

Tbf, I'd be pretty mad if my comrades had been doing such dangerous, fucked up experiments behind my back.

"I am more concerned about the soldiers being left behind." - lies!

Wait, Sanan knew Itou "really well"?! Their only interaction until now was Itou being a mega-douche to him. I have so many questions!

Aw, Sanan trusts that our friendlings will return <3

Ooh! Going on a manju adventure with YAM!

Kazama strolling down the street and everybody being pushed out of the way by the douchebag waves rolling off of him.

Okay, so Kazama has come here alone to get pissed amongst humans?! That seems implausible...

"I might even allow you to pour me a drink." BLEUGH BLETCH BLUUURGH.

I CANNOT WITH THIS THOT AND HIS HYPOCRITICAL BULLSHIT. HOW DARE HE BRAG ABOUT HOW COOL AND DOWN WITH THE KIDS HE IS TO BE DRINKING WITH HUMANS AND THEN SLAG ME OFF FOR ASSOCIATING WITH HUMANS?!

If I'm supposedly so curious about the demon lifestyle, can I PLEASE just run away with Sen? :'(

WHY IS NOBODY ASKING WHAT I WANT?!? X_X I WANT TO GO WITH THE COOL DEMON LADIES!!!

"Yukimura. What do you have to say about this?" FINALLY!!! THANK YOU, KONDOU!

I really want to go but the game won't let me XD

Souji is correct. I clearly have rocks for brains XD

"Gosh" Appropriate reaction.

AAAAAAAAND MY BELOVED SHINSENGUMI IS IMMEDIATELY ENDANGERED BY MY POOR DECISIONS.

Ooh! Physical contact with Kazama! Sure, he's violently grabbing me but this thirsty bitch will take what she can get XD

Harada has the best put downs :') "Barging in here to get yourself a wife! You think you'd get the point by now after all these rejections..."

"You fools have no idea of her worth." BITCH I AM A well, not human but SENTIENT BEING! THEY TREAT ME WITH MORE RESPECT THAN YOU EVER DID YOU MASSIVE CREEP. I AM MORE THAN JUST A WOMB, YOU HO!!!

"She is most valuable when used by a fitting partner." THA FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!???! NOPENOPENOPE. A FITTING PARTNER WOULD NOT "USE" ME, BITCH.

"HA! So you decide to take her against her will just because you're too scared of the rejection you'll get from flat-out asking her out, huh?" YES HARADA!!! YOU CALL OUT THIS FUCKING NONCE!!! ALL RAPISTS ARE COWARDS!!! "You're so lame and creepy." WHERE IS THE LIE?!??

Meanwhile, Hijikata just makes it clear that he'd happily slice through me. Good to know.

I shall WIGGLE my way out of this situation! What do you mean it didn't work?!

YAAAS KONDOU! YOU FIGHT THAT BITCH!!!

OMG I JUST FELL ON TOP OF OKITA AND NOW HE'S SLUT SHAMING ME! XD

"Tell me... How is it? On top of me. Does it feel good?" O_O O_O O_O This game just got a lot more spicy!

Just fuck already! If only to piss off Kazama X_X

Aw, poor sick Okita <3

How dare they mention that the new HQ has a huge bath for warriors to bathe together and not have another thirst scene :P

Now Harada and Nagakura are slut shaming each other for having their tiddies out in Winter :')

Does this count as sexposition? Politics + tiddies?

"Itou dies." This is what happens when you base a game around true events! Problems aren't solved with the power of love and friendship! X_X

YES SAITO, PLEASE PROTECT ME FROM THIS MURDEROUS NONCE!

Chapter 5

At least in the normal route where nobody loves me, I don't get shot at by cannons O_O

There are a lot of typos in this chapter already. Perhaps the developers didn't expect anyone to be INSANE enough to romance Kazama.

DON'T TELL THIS RANDOM GUY YOUR PLANS YOU FOOL!!! IF THIS GETS INOUE KILLED, IMMA BE SO MAD!!!

NO INOUE!!! DON'T DRINK THE CRAZY JUICE!!!

NOOOOOO!!!! INOOOUUUUEEEE!!! :'(

Yes Queen, you call out those murdering cowards :'(

FFS I just got hella shot X_X

NO YOU GUYS ARE THE MONSTERS!!!

Apparently, I'm a "Noble Demon specimen" BITCH WHERE?!

"Why was Kazama helping me?" UM, HAVEN'T WE BEEN THROUGH THIS?! BECAUSE HE WANTS TO "USE" YOUR FERTILE WOMB TO BREED A NEW LINE OF DEMON CHILDREN.

"Shoot me? To death?" XD

"Kazama glared coldly at the pile of dismembered corpses on the floor" :') So romantic!

OMG IT'S THE BETTER DRESSED VERSION OF ME!!!

"Actually a man." UM, A CHILD, SEEMINGLY.

The whole creepy demonic family together at last :')

STOP CALLING ME ADORABLE AND LITTLE YOU CREEPY DEMON CHILD.

"What you're doing is disgraceful." YOU TELL HIM KAZAMA.

"Mind if I kill your family, right here and now?" O_O Kazama has zero chill! Thanks for asking, though, I guess. Go for it, Kazama XD

Oh, apparently I'm going to "talk to them" X_X

"Kodo, I could murder you over a thousand times, and it still wouldn't be enough for me." This is the most I've ever liked Kazama.

Doesn't Kazama work directly with Kodo in various routes?

Why can't I vanish like smoke? :'( Where are MY cool demon powers? :'(

"Turns out the only one capable of keeping you safe when you needed them most was me -- not them." HOW DARE YOU!!! INOUE GAVE HIS LIFE PROTECTING ME AND YOU'VE NEVER PUT YOUR OWN PRECIOUS NECK OUT THERE FOR ANYONE IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE YOU POMPOUS ASS!!! YOU'VE NEVER HAD TO WORK FOR ANYTHING IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE, HAVE YOU?! YOU WERE BORN A DEMON PRINCE AND THAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE?!? BECAUSE YOU HAVE POWERS YOU DIDN'T EARN?!

"If your idea of a good time is seeing the rotting corpses of your friends, be my guest..." 8_8 :'( No, they can't all be dead! Surely not! Kazama don't say things like that!

The Yodo are going to betray the Shogunate?!? I must warn them D:

Wow, this just got heavy and real sad.

Wait, did he just admit to meddling in the war?! He is such a hypocrite!!!! Aaaaaaah!!! Somebody call him out on his bs!!!!

SEN AND KIMIGIKU <3 SAVE ME!

Even Shiranui sees that humans have a variety of complex motivations X_X

I AM NOT YOUR FUTURE WIFE!!!!

Do the Shinsengumi just assume that I'm dead?!

Great, now I'm on a road trip with this cunt.

"I've never actually been this close to a man before..." Calm down! That horse is third wheeling so hard right now. And what about that time you fell ON TOP OF Okita?!

Welp, that's it for Kyoto Winds! Onwards to Edo Blossoms! I still don't like Kazama but at least murdering the ever-loving FUCK out of Kodo is a cause that I can believe in. Although, one of the reasons that I hated Kodo in Saito's route was because he was helping the same sex pest I'm now galloping across the country with. Huh. 

This is the most that I’ve ever used the word, “nonce” in my entire life and this is only the first game.

[caeows]

      jeon jeongguk  .  cis male  .  he/him  ／  graeme bae just pulled up by blasting dirty little secret by all american rejects --- that song is so them  !  you know  ,  for a twenty three year old actor  ,  i’ve heard they’re really gullible  ,  but that they make up for it by being so tenacious  .  if i had to choose three things to describe them  ,  i’d probably say tousled hair  ,  triple dog dares and a closet full of black  .  here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble  !  

hello  !  i’m deni  (  she/her pronouns  ,  gmt+9 timezone  )  .  i’m best reached on discord at gayfairy#6371 for plotting  .  below the cut is  ...  a ridiculous amount of keyboard smashing but it was a holiday and i was feeling inspired so  !!  i included a few TLDRs for some quick scanning  .  there’s also some plots at the bottom i’d LOVE to see  .    looking forward to writing with you all  !

* ☆ ·˚  background.

you could say he was destined for the spotlight  .  

      an only child  ,  he grew up watching his parents performances on the stage  ,  accepting their kisses and gentle smiles before they set off for tours around the country and left him with his cousins  .  sure  ,  they were absent --- but they tried  --- and graeme knew he wanted to be just like them  .  when his parents delighted in his little home-staged sets he presented ,  they quickly enrolled him in acting classes and coached him through first auditions  ,  even moved back to korea when it was clear some american roles wanted to confine him to one note  .  after gaining exposure  ,  graeme shared the screen with one of the biggest names in the american industry in a dramatic hit that led to some ridiculous fanmail being sent to him as a kid  ,  then excitedly landed a role in a revamped science fiction film he was stoked af abouy !!! unfortunately  ,  the film was met with an absolute brutal blowback from fans  ,  some of that hot  ,  petty anger taken out on graeme  ,  and at thirteen years old  ,  his parents made the decision for him to step back and focus on school  .   (  he still holds onto those spiteful letters------  all that hate from grown ass adults thrown at a child  ) 

      performing arts high school  ,  but graeme stayed away from the public stage for a bit  .  worked on some sets as a tech to get a better idea of the film making process  .  kept a low profile occasionally caught by curious paparazzi at a basketball court or baseball game  .  recognizable  ,  but not to the point where he couldn’t be seminormal  .  there were a few bumps in the road  ::  leaked photos of a beer at a high school party  ,  couple of fake friends sliding in for clout  ,  people pushing questions like when are you returning  ??  how does it feel to ruin one of the most important films of all time ???  shitty  .  but  ,  with the help of his parents  ,  friends and coaches  ,  graeme returned to student films to grow more comfortable in front of a camera  .  his official comeback was in the background of a friend's directorial debut  ,  a lady-love drama critics salivated over but failed to earn is’ nominations  .  still  ,  graeme’s name was back and out there  .  jumping headfirst into the thing that scares him  ,  graeme’s slated for teen flicks  ,  romantic dramas  ,  action films  .  a diverse portfolio  .  people love a comeback  .     ------as if there was something wrong with what he did before  .  

TLDR.  former international child star who took a break after experiencing a massive fan-driven backlash  .  pseudo retired  ,  did the performing arts school thing  .  popped back on the screen about a year ago and working his ass off since  .  early career inspiration : jake lloyd  ,  natalie portman  , yeo jingoo

* ☆ ·˚  current.

      suddenly  getting all this praise and earning cash  ,  living on his own in a sprawling city of work and sin  .   hasn’t stop busting his ass  ,  no  ,  but maybe he’s found outlets for all his stress in  . . . less than healthy outlets  .  some of the headlines are way off the mark  ,  some a little too close to home  .  either way  ,  it’s not something his parents or his management company are thrilled about  (  doesn’t he want to be taken seriously as an actor ,  they say  )  and he does  .  of course he does  .  but what else does he have to sacrifice to be taken seriously ?  and how serious does any twenty-something year old wanna get  ?

      late hours on dance floors  ,  strips of things he doesn’t know the name of on his tongue  ,  lips on any pretty   ,  wanting pair he can find  .  he’s young  ,  virile and at the top of his game  .  who can blame him  ?  it starts with a string of tabloid images  ,  a rumpled and sleepy-eyed graeme leaving apartments that aren’t his in clothes he was spotted in the night before  .  zoomed-in  ,  fan-cropped photos on twitter of hickeys and swollen mouths and unbuttoned shirts  .  america’s sweetheart  ?  maybe  ,  but clearly not around the clock  .  him  ,  scaling rails of hotels and dancing on top of cars  .  grabbing mics at clubs and taking over DJ boots at parties   .  twitter explodes when he moonwalks through the airport one time and baristas trend his insane coffee orders  .  

      and even though he’s got his own name --- and a variety of different spellings  ,  hashtags  ,  and whatevers --- blacklisted on social media  ,  every now and then he’ll run along a stream of grueling comments  ,  petty nitpicks about his performances  ,  his looks  ,  his voice  ,  his goddamn smile and it’s-----   it’s rough  ,  even for someone who grew up in that environment  .  there’s days where he’ll hole up in his apartment and refuse to see anyone  ,  refuse to leave  .  the guy in the interviews with the wide smile and sparkle eyes is so  ,  so far away and people almost forget that he’s human  ,  too  .  he pushes himself out of that mindset  ,  sometimes with help  ,  but it’s always a shadow on his back  ,  waiting to catch him at his weakest  .  

TLDR.  tabloids gossip about speculated hookups and strange behavior  .  potential alcohol abuse  .  pushback from management and parents  .  anxiety towards social media  .  current career inspiration : ansel elgort

* ☆ ·˚  tidbits.

      sporty as fuck —— basketball  ,  soccer  ,  skateboard  ,  swimming  ,  climbing  .  says he would’ve been an athlete if not for movies  .  fit as fuck despite a steady diet of ramen and pizza  .  claims to like horror movies the most  ,  but he’s a total schmaltz snob  .  can hold a pretty tune well enough to pass  .  has a private twitter account for the memes   ,  public accounts are all operated by a social media manager so he doesn’t have to read comments   .  watches college basketball championships religiously  .  has very strong opinions about scented candles  .  likes sugary drinks more than coffee but claims to be a connoisseur  .  loves biopics  .  punk and 2000s emo rock fan .  gets anxious easily  ,  suffers through interviews and avoids personal topics as best as he can  .  is rumored to be difficult to work with  ,  but keeps to himself on sets save for a few opinions about blocking  and lighting  .  pan as fuck and fairly open about it  .  mom and dad are chill  ,  but don’t understand much of anything past bi  .  they get on to him more for his diet and job  .   when not on the court or working  ,  spends free time rewatching anime in the safety of his bed in an threadbare pair of boxers  ,  eating Doritos by the fistful and leaving his manager on read  .

      even his underwear is black  .  occasionally, he’ll change it up with a screen printed vintage t-shirt and wears whatever kind of fancy thing his stylist squeezes him into  .  otherwise wears by a black or white t-shirt  ,  black pants and combat boots  .  seventy percent of his sneakers have sharpie drawings on them and he’s got a lot of holes in his ears and another in a place you’d be lucky  (  or unlucky  )  to see  .  loves dangy earrings and wearing his hair loose  ,  a bit long with a mild perm  .  silver on his wrists and friendship bracelets from yesteryear but no rings  .  tattooed up  !  recently collaborated to design a line of temporary tattoos  .  extensive collection of sunglasses  .  hit up a lot of music festivals in the past but that’s died down in recent months due to a busy schedule  .  swung his way into VIP passes before  .  he was a total Warped kid in the past  ,  no shame  .  no longer does fan conventions because of a negative experience a few years back  ,  and even fan meets are a little awkward  ,  but he manages to push through  .  can’t drive worth a damn but he’ll kick your ass at any arcade game  .  occasionally  ,  he’ll stream over twitch but that’s becoming less and less common  . was banned from several dave & busters before he made it back on the screen  .  moody as fuck  .

* ☆ ·˚  plots.

      so  .  bonds  .  there’s a best friend who may not have been there since the beginning  ,  but they’ve been there when it matters  .  the friendship is new  ,  fresh  ,  and maybe graeme shouldn’t be as dependent on it as he is  ,  but he can’t help it  .  clinging to them like crazy --- let’s hope it doesn’t fall to the wayside  .  (  ? / 1  )  there’s several of his idiot friends who  ,  after being stranded on too many red carpets  ,  a hundred hotel rooms  ,  and hours of press junkets  ,  have learned to survive by snapchatting each other random dares throughout the day  .  (  1 / unlimited  )  there’s a few childhood friends who  ,  like him  ,  grew up either in or close to the spotlight and they have this  ,  like  . . .  support group kind of situation  .  i don’t know  .  graeme checks on them from time to time  ,  even as they’ve grown apart  .  (   2 / unlimited  )  he’s got some partying buddies who may not have his best interest at heart --- who may or may not stop him when he’s slurred out and whining about twitter trolls .  some gaming partners he teams up with over stream  ,  but lately they’ve drifted apart  .

      it’s such a cliche that his management’s set him up for a fake dating situation  .  if graeme wants the dramatic  ,  serious roles  ,  then he needs to show he’s a mature and capable young man  .  how else to do that than jump headfirst into a few awkwardly orchestrated dates with another hotshot on the radar  ?  (  ? / 1  )  but they’re not serious  .  so  ,  he hasn’t stopped hooking up  ,  or thinking about a one night stand that totally rocked his world  .   (  ? / 5 )  and  (  ? / 1 )  media and fans definitely know about a few of these  .  the jury’s out for how they feel about it  .  then there’s his competition  ,  actors in the same demographic targeting the same roles  .  it’s a tough business and they know it  ,  but the press picks up on all these weird quotes and posts that twist shit into beefs  .  what other misunderstanding will cause the casket to blow  ?  (  ? / unlimited )  there’s some co stars on old and upcoming films  .  people who see how hard he works and how much effort he puts into what’s seen on the screen  .  they tough out hard days on set and the press circuits during promotion  .  see him at his worst and best  .  (  ? / unlimited )

[wildtige429]

Crush

@lynea-kureji

This is how Toshi first met the girl of his dreams. I hope you would do some cute pics of the two together.

May contain references to Gravity Falls. And a touch of Jurassic Park.

--------

(Six Months Ago)

Toshi was hanging out in the lobby of St Olga’s whilst the other princesses show Star and Marco (as Princess Turdina, liberator of the oppressed princesses of St Olga’s), the new reform school that was once a prison and now turned into a place of self-acceptance, non-stop partying and brunching.

The young lizard hid from view because he felt embarrassed and nervous around so many girls of every kind, who are gushing and admiring him for his cool and good looks. He did stand out and gave them forced smiles at their way with some cool gestures pointing at them, spotting them swooning at how cool he is, and kept on walking out of the lobby. When he reaches the dining hall, he froze upon the sight of a very pretty elvish-looking princess.

“Oooh, a girl!” he shivered, temptation and delight swelling up and filling his brain. He realised what he is going through and took deep breaths to calm himself. He is going through what boy lizards, make it a Septarian or a Lacertian, are going through when they see a girl they like in coming of age. 

The urge to mate.

“Calm down, Toshi,” he advised to himself, hiding behind a potted plant so the girl wouldn’t notice him, “Think normally. Don’t do anything lizard-related just like those lizard men from the anime, Overlord, cause it will make the moment super awkward, and be cool. Besides, what could happen?”

The moment the elvish girl stopped by the plant he’s hiding behind, he peeked through the leaves, wearing a calm (though really forced) grin on his snout. His sudden appearance was so sudden, the girl was taken back.

“Clever boy,” she whispered in fright.

“HI!” he greeted in a sudden loud voice, “NICE TO MEET YOU!!” He stuck out his hand to her for a handshake and he bared his sharp teeth through his creepily forced grin.

The girl’s reaction? She shrieked, threw the cup of punch she had in her hands at his face, and ran away screaming like a bat out of hell. 

And Toshi’s reaction to his super awkward greeting? His face twists into a miserable frown and he moved back to hide behind the ferns so he can hide his shame and embarrassment. 

However, unbeknownst to him, Marco and Star had witnessed what happened.

(Six Months Later)

“DUDE! YOU’RE SOCIALLY AWKWARD WITH GIRLS!!!!!????” 

“Marco, please! Don’t shout like that,” Toshi whimpered, face buried into his pillow to hide his shame, “I don’t wanna think about that night.”

“How can you get so awkward with girls even though I’m a girl?” Star pointed out.

“If you were a Septarian or a Lacertian, you would understand!” Toshi cried, muffling his sob in the pillow.

“But still-! Dude, you need help on going out with girls! Or not you’re going to be single and awkward forever!” Marco suggested.

“HOW!?” the young lizard howled, lifting his head up and giving Marco the big sad lizard eyes that are brimming with tears, “I never been out with anybody for 20 years living like an outcast and fugitive from the law and treated like a villain like my DAD!”

The Hispanic smiled and rested his hand on his shoulder, “Tosh, you got me and Star. We’ve been out with a couple of people and we’ll help you get better in talking with girls.”

Toshi sniffed, rising up and wiping away his tears, “Thanks, guys. But I-I-I think it would be best if I ask my parents.”

“NO!” Marco and Star screamed, grabbing him and pulling him into a tight hold till their faces are squished side-by-side, “Toshi, if you want good dating advises -!” Star screeched.

“NEVER TAKE DATING ADVISES FROM PARENTS!!” Marco howled dramatically.

“Why? I thought and heard getting dating advises from parents will be better than friends’ dating advises,” he protested, pulling himself out of their hold, “I know, but sometimes dating advises from parents can get you into crazy trouble. I saw a friend did it by listening to his dad’s advice on how to hitch a girl and he ended up shunned by girls everywhere he goes,” Marco warned.

“And we don’t want you to end up in that same fate,” Star cried, hugging him.

“Speaking of my parents giving me dating advices, you should see this if you can trust them on giving me dating advices,” Toshi hopped off his bed and strode downstairs. A moment later, he came up with a family photo album and took out a picture from a page. He hands the photo to them, and they were stunned by what they see.

“WOAH!” they shouted in unison.

It was a picture of the young lizard’s parents together, when they were teenagers, celebrating a crazy party with the two in each others’ arms, their wide grins showing they are having fun.

“THAT’S your DAD!?” Marco gasped, pointing at the picture of Toffee as a teenager.

“HE’S HOT!!!” Star commented in stunned awe.

“I know, now you know where I got my good looks from,” Toshi rolled his eyes, dryly.

“Okay, we can trust you on getting help from your parents, but let’s just hope nothing bad happens, okay!?” Marco cautioned.

“Sure. Besides, sooner or later, I gotta take a drive on Razor in Mewni,” he said, “Need to.....clear my mind from all things.”

“Good thinking,” the two friends nodded in agreement.

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

(In Mewni)

“Razor, if you ever meet a beautiful she-dragon cycle one day, would you do something casually until it ended up so badly? Well.....if that ever happens, we’ll be the only guys who are socially awkward with girls for life. Bu hey, we still got each other right?”

The cybernetic-looking dragon cycle chuffed and growled in agreement, nuzzling his owner in the shoulder. Toshi chuckled at the gesture and patted his head as the two watched the horizon of the desert, sitting on a hill to watch the view of the sun setting. 

“I already talked had the dating talk from mom and dad and Marco and Star just now,” he said to his dragon cycle, “All I have to do is calm down, take deep breaths and approach the girl like normal. Last time, I made myself look like a creepy stalker to that cute girl back at St Olga’s,” he sighed at that memory, “I wonder if I can apologise to her for scaring her. Maybe she won’t know me. Marco’s advise is girls’ like boys who are cool and kind, knowing full well he gets that with girls. Star’s is show the girls’ my talents and tell them about what I like, no matter if they don’t like anime or not. I just hope they don’t say Kamen Rider sucks and super childish.”

“But for Mom and Dad’s, it’s just be who I am and be patient when a girl talks to me and when you feel like doing something for her, you have to show her through actions. I remember that story of how Mom first met Dad. She began to love him later after he treated her as an equal when he made her part of his posse, especially on the days of war, made her his second-in-command. And Dad also told me, loyalty is what makes a girl like in a boy. I’m loyal. So I hope she is too.”

Razor nodded in understanding and agreement. It was getting late, so Toshi was about to mount Razor when the dragon heard a faint vroom of another dragon cycle. He turned his eyes to the direction and was smitten upon what he saw.

Well I guess you'd say What can make me feel this way? My girl (my girl, my girl) Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl ooh)

A beautiful female dragon cycle with the most beautiful red and yellow scales came into view, sniffing a bush filled with sweet-smelling flowers. The female has dazzling green eyes, beautifully curved and arching black horns, a nice set of tusks, and a long tail that ends with a few spikes.

Hey hey hey Hey hey hey Ooh yeah

Razor knew what he’s feeling, even his eyes are showing signs of it. He’s in love with this beautiful she-dragon cycle. And without warning, just as Toshi was getting on the saddle, the dragon cycle zoomed off towards the female and the sudden action flipped his rider onto his back.

“OW! Razor!” he shouted at his dragon cycle. 

“Oh, is he your dragon cycle?” a female voice surprised him. Turning his gaze away from his dragon cycle, approaching the female and giving out friendly chuffs and growls in greetings and getting the female dragon cycle’s attention, he saw a girl walk out from behind some trees.

And his heart just skipped a bit on the appearance of the newcomer.

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight It must have been something you said I just died in your arms tonight

She was the most stunning lizard girl she has ever seen in his life. Reaching to his shoulders, her scales were scarlet red, giving her the impression of a ruby, smooth yet wild white hair that streak down her shoulders and back, a pair of yellow horns protruding from her forehead to the back of her head, bedazzling gold eyes that pierces into your soul, and a long tail that ends with a flame on the tip. She was wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket, a white strapless singlet, a chain necklace with a lock on it around her petite neck, black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back, matching jeans with one leg cut and short, matching heavy metal boots with silver buckles around the top and what caught his attention is that she’s holding a sketchbook, filled with anime character drawings on it.

I keep looking for something I can't get Broken hearts lie all around me And I don't see an easy way to get out of this Her diary, it sits by the bedside table The curtains are closed, the cats in the cradle Who would've thought that a boy like me could come to this

Be cool, Toshi, remember what everybody taught you, and don’t mess it up like last time, he reminded himself. Taking a deep breath, he got up onto his feet and approached the girl, “Hi,” he greeted. To his relief, she smiled, genuinely smiled at him, “Hey.”

He cleared his throat, “Yes, that’s my dragon cycle. Razor over there,” he swept the collar of his jacket to calm himself, “I see that he’s....interested with your dragon cycle.”

She giggled, “Valkyrie has a way with boys. Usually, she’ll scare them off if they get close to her. But somehow, your dragon cycle has gotten her attention and I’m impressed.”

They both looked to see the two dragon cycles rubbing noses in affection, purring. They couldn’t help but laugh that their dragons are in love.

“I’m Ruby”, she introduced herself, “Ruby Ryot. What’s yours?”

“Me? Uhm?” he cleared his throat when he felt his anxiety coming up, “Ahem. I’m Toshi. But my real full name is Shirogane Tytus Wyrmbane.”

Ruby’s eyes widened in amazement, “Shirogane? You’re named after Shirogane the Unbreakable!? That is AWESOME!!”

“I know right? My dad came up with that idea,” he spoke out in excitement.

“Your dad? Wait! Is your dad.....Toffee!?” she squealed in pure excitement, “Wow! I heard about you! Your the son who saved Mewni from Kurogane the Black Sail and was able to reunite with his dad! Is it true your dad and Kurogane are living with you now?”

“My dad, yes,” he nodded, “But Kurogane has became the kingdom’s guardian. You’ll see him roaming around sooner or later.”

The two lizards gazed at each other’s eyes for a few moments, feeling a spark happening between them, until they realised the time.

“I gotta head back home, it’s getting late,” he told her, fetching Razor, “So uhh, Ruby? When can we see each other again? I would like to know more about you.”

The lizard girl winked at him, making him blush as she fetched Valkyrie, “My dad’s gone off work tomorrow. So tomorrow?”

The two got onto their dragon cycles, revving them up in preparation for take off, “Tomorrow,” Toshi agreed. And with that, the two took off into different parts with Toshi using his dimensional scissors to open the portal back to his home and the girl flying off into the opposite direction of the desert.

Toshi could not believe it. He has finally talked to a girl, and the girl’s reaction was what he wanted and he couldn’t help but feel one thing.

He has a crush on her.