#shorter? longer? than 'Why Not Both?'- no clue | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ev3rgreenxtrees · 11 months ago

Text

,,Spin The Bottle’’ -M.S

synopsis: You’re at a party with your best friend Nick, and you finally meet his brothers.

warnings: SMUT. alcohol, drugs, strong language.

pairing: switch Matt X switch Layla (female oc.)

Based off the song ‘This Could Be Us’ by Rae Sremmurd, and it is a slow burner😭🫶🏻

— — back to masterlist

‘Spin the bottle

if you the reason why its empty baby,

spin the fucking bottle.��

“C’MON, LAY!!” Nick yelled loudly from the other side of the crowded room. Layla shuffled through the hot room, her shoes sticking on the wooden alcohol covered floor. She tried her best to get by Nick, her best friend, but the crowd of drunk and high kids her age were restricting her. “for fucks sake, Layla.” Nick scoffed as he started through the crowd to get Layla himself.

Once he reached the much shorter girl, he gently grabbed her arm, and pulled her behind him through the crowd to the corner of the room. They both came to a halt, Layla almost running into the red-haired boy in front of her.

“Layla, meet my.. brothers..” Nick said in a disappointed tone.

“don’t say it like that, kid. you act like im a burden!” one of the boys spoke up. he had longer hair, and no tattoos, so using all the context clues from the many stories Nick has told her, this boy was Chris. “Anyways— I’m Chris!” the boy smiled, pulling her into a hug.

The sudden intimate action made the small girl let out a small giggle as she returned the action.

“nice to meet you, Chris. I’m Layla,” she smiled, and pulled away from the hug. A very slightly taller male with shorter brown hair and tattoos like Nicks stepped forwards.

He was more attractive than the other two, in ways she couldn’t understand. His sharp jawline, his defined cheekbones, his bright blue eyes, his slim face shape, the way his brown hair sat perfectly on his face, just barely covering his eyes.

“Hey, um..” the boy started, causing her to snap out of the trance he put her in. “I’m Matt..” he smiled shyly, sticking his hand out for a handshake.

Layla- without thinking- quickly responded with “I know! nice to meet you, Matt!” ‘I know?’ ‘I KNOW.?’ Was she loosing her mind?

Matt chuckled, and Layla shook her head, shamefully shaking the boys hand.

“i- uh.. sorry. Its just, the stories Nick has told me. Not specifically about you of course- but about you and chris and himself so i just assumed since he’s nick, and he’s chris-“ Layla rambled, being cut off when Matt put his hand on her shoulder.

“its okay. i get it.” he whispered.

“sorry.” Layla apologized, and Matt let his hand slowly fall off her shoulder to her hand; intertwining his long fingers with hers.

“its okay.” he smiled. “i understand.”

Layla smiled, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before letting it slip away from hers.

“sorry,” Matt apologized. “I’m not sure why i did that, you just seem.. upset? Not that you look upset or anything! Just that-“

“its okay.” Layla cut him off, and Matt smiled, Layla smiled back. He was right, the party was getting on her nerves, the loud music, the people yelling,, but thats not why she was acting like this. He was.

She could tell he was stressed too, but his stress did probably originate from the party. Not her.

“Hey! Who wants to play spin the bottle?” A random man yelled from off a red solo cup covered table. There were a few cheers, and Layla snapped her head towards Nick. Not for good reasons, though. Nick always wanted to play games at parties, and Layla never did.

Nick tilted his head, and gave her the, ‘you-better-come-play-with-me’ look. She sighed as Nick grabbed her hand, and started leading her through the crowd again.

“wait- you guys are actually playing?” Nicks brother- Chris- asked.

“I guess so-“ She shrugged in response, still getting pulled through the crowd.

Nicks fast maneuvering through the crowd allowed them to be there before majority of the other players were. The two sat down on the ground, criss-cross. Chris emerged out of the crowd to the room, bringing a confused and frightened Matt behind him.

“Chris! Did you really bring him?” Nick scolded Chris, both of the boys knew Matt had social anxiety, and this was NOT going to help.

“Hell yeah! He’ll be fine. He can just.. stand in the corner and not play if he wants. At least I brought him over instead of just leaving him by himself over there!” Chris snapped back, and Layla cut the triplets bickering out of her mind.

Her eyes met with Matt’s, whose were starting to gloss over. Since she had just met him, minutes ago, he has been anxious. His brothers were his guidance, and now with them both fighting in a room full of people wanting to play a game, it was leaving Matt with no one.

“hey, c’mere.” Layla smiled, patting the floor next to her. Chris and Nick both stopped mid-sentence, as Matt actually sat down next to her, in-between Chris and her. “if the bottle points at him, just say its pointing at you,” Layla says pointing at Chris, “so that way he only has to kiss someone when its his turn.”

“What!? But thats chea-“ Chris starts, but Layla cuts him off.

“Chris.”

“But- how come you dont-“ Chris starts again, but this time he was cut off by Nick.

“Chris.” Nick stopped him.

“okay.” Chris nodded.

After a few spins, everything has been going according to plan. Chris and Layla were taking turns when the bottle landed on Matt, until it was actually his turn.

“Matt, your turn.” Layla smiled and gestured towards the bottle. Matt spun the bottle quickly, without hesitation, which caught all of them off guard. They all watched anxiously as it spun in circles on the floor, and stopped moving.

Layla.

The crowd erupted in “ooh”s, and Layla’s and Matt’s heads snapped towards each others.

“fuck.” Matt whispered.

Layla shook her head, “you don’t have to if you don’t want to,”

“no- i want to..” Matt mumbled; his hand finding its way to Layla’s jaw. “ready?” he asked. This sudden boldness from Matt was confusing to Layla, but she didn’t mind. She just nodded.

Matt connected their lips, for only a few seconds, before pulling away.

“boo! that was a bad kiss! at least ten se-“ Chris booed, sticking his thumb out.

“CHRIS!” Nick yelled at the younger boy.

“You want us to make out or something?!” Matt whipped around to face Chris, who was nodding eagerly. The crowd, oddly enough, started chanting ‘Matt’

“fuck.” Matt sighed, as he turned back around to face Layla. “are you okay with this..?” he asked her,

“you mean, making out?” she asked confused.

“yeah..” Matt nodded, his eyes meeting hers.

“oh.. yeah. okay.” She nodded, and tried slowing her breathing rate. Matt was definitely attractive, and her type,, but doing this in front of all these people..? As Matt’s hand met her jaw once more, she pulled away, “wait- can we like.. do it in a room? Kinda like seven minutes in heaven!” She suggested.

“um.. yeah, sure. follow me.” the party host nodded, and led Matt and Layla to a room, leaving the ‘ooh’ing crowd behind.

“In heres fine,” the boy opened a door to a fully furnished -and nice- room.

Matt and her walked in, hand in hand, and he closed the door behind them. Matt looked down at her.

“you don’t really wanna do this, do you?” he asked with a slight chuckle.

“no, i do, i swear, just.. maybe not in front of all those people?” She shook her head rapidly.

“yeah, i get it. If damn Chris didn’t bring it up, no one else would’ve.. i swear im gonna beat his ass.” Matt rolled his eyes and crossed his tattooed arms.

Now that no one else was around to distract her, she could really focus on how good he looks. His biceps being perfectly shown by the way he’s standing, his tattoos, his bright blue eyes, his tall and ‘lanky’ stature.

“you okay?” he asked, tilting his head and furrowing his eyebrows.

“i- uh.. yeah. sorry.” she stuttered. the tilt of his head was enough to make her fold.

Matt unexpectedly made his way slowly over to the bed in the corner of the room, and sat down.

“you wanna do this?” he asked. Matt was much more.. ‘out there’ when he wasn’t in a room crowded with people. Layla nodded, and felt a blush creep onto her cheeks- and she knew why.

Matt patted the spot on the bed next to him, gesturing for Layla to sit there, but her body wouldn’t let her. She sat on Matt’s lap unexpectedly, and straddled him.

Matt’s eyes shot opened and he looked up at her, his hands quickly flying to her waist. what was she doing?

“you wanna make out like this?” Matt suddenly asked, and Layla couldn’t help but nod. Matt let his grip on her waist loosen, and his hands found their way to her back, around her waist. Layla let her hands slide up his chest and wrap around his neck. “okay. ready?” he asked, and Layla nodded. Matt closed his eyes, and Layla did the same, and they both leaned in.

Their lips brushed against eachother; and they finally met. Their lips moved in sync, and Matt’s tongue swiped over Layla’s bottom lip. Their tongues fought for dominance, and Matt’s won. His tongue explored her mouth, and their make out became more heated.

Their teeth clashed together as their tongues tangled, neither of them stopping. Without even thinking, Layla rolled her hips against Matt, causing him to gasp and grab her hips tightly again.

“Don’t-“ Matt groaned, Layla immediately stopping.

“Fuck, sorry-“ Layla apologized and started to stand, but Matt quickly pulled her down.

“no, its okay.. just…” Matt sighed, and let his hand fall to Layla’s. He trailed both of their hands up to his crotch, Layla gasped as she felt the growing bulge in his jeans. Matt groaned, and let Layla’s hand go. “t-this is what you do to me..” He moaned, the girl’s eyes growing wide.

“holy shit..” she gasped, “Matt..” her eyes met his, begging and pleading ones. “Do.. do you want me to help..?” she whispered, and Matt waisted no time nodding eagerly.

“fuck, please..” he begged, his head falling back as she pushed the palm of her hand against his boner. “mmh, please,” he whined. Layla smirked, her lips finding his neck.

“Want me to mark you up, Matty? Show everyone how good of a boy you are for me?” She teased, and Matt groaned,

“f-fuck, yes..” he pleaded, not really thinking about the party he was to go back to. Layla’s hands made their way to his chest, as she pushed him back against the bed. She continued to suck and bite on the whining boys neck, and her hands trailed down his sides to his belt loops on his jeans.

Her hands slipped to the button of his blue jeans, brushing against the bulge that was below the cold silver metal.

“Can I-“ Layla started, but Matt cut her off.

“yes, please, yes..” he begged, his hands still on her hips from before. She fiddled with the cold button, and once it came loose, she unzipped the zipper and pulled his pants down slowly, leaving the poor boy in his boxers only.

Layla chuckled as she saw the small wet spot on his red boxers due to his precum, but she couldn’t lie, she was already intimidated by the size even though she couldn’t see it yet.

“Gonna be good for me, Matty?” She asked, as her hands gripped the waistband of his boxers.

“y-yes, i promise.” he nodded, and she placed a kiss on his clothed member before pulling his boxers completely off.

“Holy fuck Matt,” she gasped.

“hm? is it bad-?” Matt asked worriedly.

“no, actually.. its just.. that is supposed to fit in me?” she gestured towards the boys dick.

“well- i-.. not unless you don’t want it to..?” Matt sat up.

“I want-“ Layla was cut off oncemore, but not by Matt this time.

“aye! hurry it up in there! ya fuckin or sum?” a boy yelled into the room from outside the door.

“give us 15!” Matt yelled back.

“15 Matt?” Layla yelled.

“i- uh.. we can just.. i don’t know!” matt stuttered.

“don’t get shy on me now, matt. we have ‘15 minutes’, you wanna do this..?” Layla asked, getting on her knees in front of Matt, becoming eye level with his stomach.

“yes,” matt nodded.

Layla wasted no time spitting on matts cock, giving it a few good tugs, before licking from his base to his tip.

“mmh,” Matt whined. His hands gripped the sheets of the bed, as Layla took his throbbing red tip in her mouth, swirling her tongue around it. “A-ah- fuck—“ Matt gasped, one of his hands flying to her, the other tightening on the bedsheets.

Layla bobbed her mouth up and down, hollowing out her cheeks. Spit dripped down her chin and salty unwanted tears rolled down her red cheeks, as she hummed around Matt’s cock, sending vibrations throughout his body.

“h-holy shit— im not g-gonna.. fuck, im not gonna last long-“ Matt whined, Layla popping her head off.

“if i let you cum now, will you still be a good boy and fuck me?” she asked, and matt nodded, his face red and his eyebrows furrowed.

“yes, god, yes..” he agreed, and Layla’s lips met with Matt’s cock again. Her tongue slipped over his slit, before she took his tip in her mouth again. “mmph, f-fuck..” Matt groaned, his head falling back and his legs shaking. “i-im gonna-“ Matt warned, but before he could finish, his cum coated Layla’s mouth.

She pulled off his cock, and swallowed, sticking her tongue out to show she had swallowed.

“good girl..” Matt growled, pulling the girl into his lap, harshly kissing her. His hands found their way under her skirt, tracing gentle patterns across her wet panties.

“M-matt, please..” Layla gasped, her dominance fading quicker and quicker by the second as Matt played with her clit through the thin fabric.

“shh.. hold on, baby..” Matt smirked. Smirked. If Layla wasn’t already drenched, that would’ve done it for her.

“Matt- please, I didn’t tease you,” she pleaded, as his lips found her neck. He placed rough kisses against her soft skin, leaving red- soon to be purple- marks. Matt huffed against her, as he lifted her hips up just enough so he could slip her useless panties off.

“im keeping these.” Matt’s eyes met hers as he tossed the panties by his discarded clothes.

Layla was done waiting. She slipped her own shirt and bra off, starting to pull her skirt down after standing up, before Matt quickly stood up aswell, roughly shoving her down to the bed.

He leaned over her, grabbing her neck,

“Did I give you fucking permission to undress, slut?” Matt growled in her ear, and she shook her head.

“n-no.. I-im sorry-“ Layla apologized, and Matt tore her skirt off of her.

“You’re so fucking lucky we’re at a party and not at my house, because i swear i would’ve just ripped those in half.” Matt’s grip loosened just slightly on her throat, as he tossed her skirt.

Matt used his free hand to slide through her slick folds, slipping his fingers over her entrance a few times, before sticking two in her hole.

“H-holy shit!” Layla gasped as Matt pumped his fingers in and out of her, curling them when his knuckle hit her clit.

“Ya’know, I’d prep ya more, maybe even eat you out, but we only got a few more minutes left, so your gonna have to deal with it. Your safe word is Red, okay” Matt ripped his fingers out of her, causing her to whine.

“O-okay. red.” she repeated, knowing thats what he wanted.

“good girl.” matt nodded, as his hand around her throat tightened, and his other hand came to grab her hip.

He pushed the tip of his cock in slowly, and Layla winced. Matt continued to push into her, before completely bottoming out.

His lips came into contact with her neck again, sucking and biting at the spots that he had not already marked, as he gave her a little bit to adjust to him.

“m-move,” Layla pleaded, trying to sound demanding.

“poor baby..” Matt groaned as he started to thrust into her, his grip on her hip sure to leave bruises. “trying to seem dominant, but your falling apart on my cock..” he tsked, and his speed was relentless.

The way he was speaking to her just kept pushing Layla closer and closer to the edge, her legs starting to shake.

“already close?” Matt shook his head. His hand left her pained hip and made its way to her clit, as he rubbed circles on it.

“H-holy fuck, Matt!” Layla yelled. Thank god the music was blasting, or the people throughout the whole neighborhood probably could’ve heard that.

“shut your damn mouth,” matt growled, his head falling back, his release inching closer as he felt the familiar knot form in his stomach.

The girls legs continued to shake around matt, as she moaned again.

“m-matt, im cumming!”

“fuck, me too..” he huffed, both of them releasing at the same time. Matt’s thrusts slowed down and became more sloppy, as he chased his high. He slowly pulled out, both of them wincing at the loss of the feeling.

Matt didn’t say anything, and he just started to put his clothes back on.

Layla sat up slowly, in confusion, as she cleared her throat.

“hm?” Matt asked, slipping his boxers back on.

“really? your cum is literally dripping out of me, matt, and you dont say anything?” she asked, somewhat offended. she doesnt know why, though. its just a hookup.

“um.. sorry.. i dont really know what to say..” Matt stood up straight, scratching the back of his neck. He refused to make eye contact with her, which was even more odd.

“are you okay..?” she asked.

“yeah. im fine. sorry,” he apologized again, picking up her bra, skirt, and shirt off the ground before handing them back to her, “here. im sorry, im awkward.. i’ve never been that.. intimate?” Matt shrugged, as Layla slipped her clothes back on, after carelessly wiping herself off with the bed sheets. She doubts anyone uses that room ever anyways.

“you mean.. youve never had sex?” Laylas eyes widened, as she attempted to stand but failed, falling back on the bed.

“No no no, not like that. I’ve had sex but not that.. rough..?” Matt squinted, tilting his head. “I dunno. Sorry.” He apologized again, offering her a hand.

“Stop saying sorry.” Layla rolled her eyes, taking his hand.

“sor-..” he stopped himself. “um.. would you wanna maybe.. hangout sometime..?” he asked.

“GUYS. YOUR FIFTEEN IS UP. HURRRY IT THE FUCK UP,” the same person from before pounded on the door, causing both of them to chuckle.

“id love to. wait- shit! our necks!” Layla’s eyes widened.

“eh, it doesn’t matter. they all know we fucked anyways. who sits in a room and makes out for twenty minutes.?” Matt chuckled, admiring his work on the shorter girl’s neck.

“touchè,” Layla shrugged, and Matt grabbed her hand. “your really not gonna give me my panties back?” she asked, and matt nodded.

“nope. they’re in my pocket. you’ll just have to retrieve them next time.” Matt teased, and Layla rolled her eyes.

The two opened the door and walked back to the others, sitting on the floor.

“oh, for fucks sake, they’re back! we only managed to do six whole rounds without-“ Chris started, but stopped when he saw the hickeys on both of their necks. “holy. shit.” He gasped, his mouth falling agape.

Matt and Layla sat down together, still hand-in-hand, as all of the others stared at them.

“we were in there for over fifteen minutes. the fuck did you think we did?” Layla snapped in a joking way.

“if were being honest, we thought you guys were pranking us.. like you didn’t want to play the game or something..” Chris’ shrugged. “but god damn, Matty boy. I really didn’t think you had it in you.” Chris gave his brother a nod of approval and a slap on the shoulder.

“im gonna be sick.” Nick fake gagged.

“oh, shut up, nick!” Matt groaned.

“wait. Why is there HANDPRINTS on her neck, and what the fuck is in your pocket, matt. YOU KINKY MOTHERFUCKER!” Chris yelled as he laughed, Matt’s face going bright red.

small A/N: i finished this since i cant sleep. enjoy😋

#matt sturniolo #matt sturniolo smut #sturniolo triplets #youtube #fanfic #chris sturniolo #nick sturniolo #smut #matthew sturniolo

362 notes · View notes

embracing-the-ineffable · 1 year ago

Text

How to tell the "three" Good Omens Bentleys apart, without talking about color

There's some controversy about the s1/s2 Bentley "actors" in Good Omens, and the Bentley's mid-s2 transformation into "our car" during Aziraphale's trip to Edinburgh.

So, here's a handy guide to telling them all apart, and I'm NOT going to talk about the controversial color changes. (If you want the full details with a million screenshots, look at my earlier post here.)

*Please don't ask Neil about this! He's already said what he wants to say; like any good magician in the middle of their act, he's not going to spoil the mystery before the s3 magic unfolds*

Here's the s1 Bentley "Mary", after Adam reboots reality, next to the s2 initial look for the Bentley; underneath is the s2 new look for the Bentley after Edinburgh, aka "our car":

Keep in mind that the s1 Bentley is a different actor/model, a 2-door named Mary, and the s2 Bentley is actually a 4-door actor/model. In the first half of s2, it's cosplaying as Mary, and in the second half of s2, it looks like Our Car. How can we tell the difference?

Mary, and Our Car dressed as Mary, have the same hubcaps. They have one door handle on each side (as a 2-door car). Our Car as itself has different hubcaps and two door handles on each side (as a 4-door car).

Yes, I know about the half-car/cab-only set that was used to film some scenes in both seasons. It doesn't have hubcaps at all, so it really doesn't explain new hubcaps halfway through s2:

Can we tell the difference between Mary and Our Car cosplaying Mary? Yes:

Because Our Car is actually a 4-door, no matter how it's dressed, the backseat side windows are longer than actual Mary's backseat windows. Our Car's front and back side windows are the same size. Compare the orange lines I added above.

And, when Our Car dresses as Mary, there's an onscreen white line down the side near where the hinge would be if the car were a 2-door, but it's not underneath the frame between the two side windows. When Our Car looks like itself, the frame between the side windows is in line with the door hinge. The frame and hinge are also aligned on Mary in s1. Compare the vertical green lines I added above.

Oh, and remember the s1 cab-only set? Its backseat side window matched Mary and thus is shorter than the front seat window. I can't find ANY shot in s2, inside or outside the Bentley, with small backseat windows. Why? Because they must have updated the cab-only (physically, or with VFX) for s2 to match Our Car, despite rumors to the contrary. Again, compare the orange lines:

What about the Bentley in the s2 flashback to 1941? Take a look at 1941 on top of s1 when they literally run into Anathema:

Do you see it? Yep! It's the s2 actor/model in 1941, because the backseat side window is as long as the front seat side window. (That makes sense; as far as we know, GO weren't able to rent Mary again for any s2 filming.)

And - there's another difference! The side windows in s1 on Mary actually look "3-pane", with a small venting window at the front:

Closer, with my lines to highlight:

Our Car from s2 doesn't have those small venting windows at the front. And what about the windows from the inside? Here's s1e2 Mary above s2e4's Our Car in the flashback to 1941:

And with my lines for emphasis:

I hope this is helpful! I meant for it to be short, but, well, I had things to say.

PS - if you enjoy Good Omens metas, theories, clues, etc, I have a big pinned collection of those from the fandom, here!

#good omens bentley #Bentley transformation #Good omens analysis #good omens meta #ineffable mystery #good omens clues #good omens season 2 #good omens 2 #aziraphale #crowley #our car #renew good omens #good omens

229 notes · View notes

skeletinmoss · 2 months ago

Text

The curse of the dark Phoenix

Chapter 13: Memories to share

First chapter | Previous

Also go follow @lovelivingmydreams because she's awesome and her writing is amazing. And I have no idea how I convinced her to work on this story with just one drawing.

Enjoy reading:

And then he was in the middle of a little village. Nothing like any village he’d seen before though. The way the houses were built, the clothes the people wore… It was so different from what he was used to.

A little boy rushed past him.

“Virgil hold up!!!” a young boy’s voice shouted.

“Sorry Michael!” the little boy said. “I just want to show mom the flowers before they go bad,” the little boy said to the bigger kid that was catching up to, what Roman assumed to be, his little brother. The boy who would grow up to be the High Mage of the Night Flame.

“If you pick them, they usually last longer V. Now take my hand and lets walk home together. At least pretend I’m looking after you,” Michael insisted.

Roman studied them both. The little boy’s hair looked lighter and shorter than what he was used to seeing from Virgil. Other than that he could definitely see this as a past version of him.

He looked so happy and carefree. As only children can.

“Welcome to the village of my youth.” Roman looked beside him and saw Virgil standing next to him. “It doesn’t exist anymore. Nothing bad. People just left for greener pastures and the village got forgotten to time. I went back a while ago, it’s nothing but open fields now. I still remember it like it was yesterday though,” he continued.

“I… It looks lovely,” Roman said, not sure what to make of it.

“I figured we could combine our options. Get the most out of this dream. I’ll teach you along the way,” Virgil promised before turning his attention back to the memory and speaking the way he did whenever he taught them anything.

“It was named RiverFort,” Virgil stated. “Because of the nearby river and the fort that was built by the guild on the other side… The magic guild that is. Mages were a rarity and ascended mages even more so. Which is why I often find myself older than everyone in the room combined these days,” Virgil joked. “This is Axilla, long before we really named ourselves that. The guild aided the villages within this unclaimed territory and in exchange we all provided what we could…” Virgil nodded ahead and they saw a man and a woman greet Virgil and his brother. The woman was pregnant. Little Virgil kissed his mother’s belly and handed her the flowers.

Then little Virgil went to greet his father who ruffled his hair before continuing a conversation with a gentleman in robes.

“You really got us out of a pickle there Remy. Any idea why those wolves left their territory to snatch our sheep?” Virgil’s father wondered. He seemed like a kind man. And an animal lover with the way he gave the mage’s horse an apple and pats while talking to his rider.

“Not a clue Francis. But I’ll figure it out and make sure I won’t have to come back. If I may pick up a few blankets and a traveling cloak on the way back? Have it set aside if I don’t. Emile is in the north and he’s super capable but negotiations are always a bit iffy,” he shrugged carelessly.

“You be careful too alright. By the grace of the stars, we will see you soon,” Virgil’s father insisted.

“Bye mister magic man!” Virgil said cheerfully. The mage, Remy knelt and looked at him. “Hmmm. Getting bigger huh little man? I get a feeling we’ll be seeing more of each other,” he stated, booping Virgil’s nose to which the little one mock complained. Then he got on his horse.

“Bless your days in the kingdom of the sun,” he bid, and rode off towards the woods.

The family headed inside to listen to Virgil’s story about his day with his big brother.

“Remy was right. He ended up being one of my teachers. And he’d been around the block a few times by then. You’d like him,” Virgil chuckled.

Things shifted. Very briefly Roman saw a little bigger Virgil accidentally levitating a pot that was falling from a stove, much to the amazement of his parents and now two siblings. The little sister he’d mentioned before was an adorable toddler in this one.

Then Remy was back, performing a magic aptitude test, looking not surprised in the least. And then Virgil was being picked up by a carriage his mother tying a no doubt handmade scarf around his neck, the family wishing him luck and praying for the stars to guide him.

Roman noticed that the young boy and his teacher both had applied colored shadows under their eyes.

He got in the carriage, and the family and the village disappeared. Instead they were riding down a long stone rode in a bustling city. Though it didn’t seem as big as the capitol Roman remembered. Little 11 or 12 year old Virgil was looking around nervously.

“It’ll be alright squirt,” Remy, who’d apparently been his escort, assured him. “You’ll make tons of friends and have loads to write to your family about. And just think of all the ways you’ll be able to help them out when you get back for the breaks?” Remy pointed out.

Virgil nodded, still withdrawn from nerves. A stark difference to what he was like when in a familiar environment.

Roman looked at the passing buildings trying to find the academy.

“The one you know won’t be built for a while,” Virgil reminded him. Right… Was this even the current capitol?

“This is what you know as Lumen. One of the bigger cities at the time,” Virgil explained as time sped up around them and they found themselves on the edge of the city up a winding path towards a large building, nestled against the forest.

Then Virgil got out and showed to the dormitories and his room.

“There were ten kids in my group, all of varying ages,” Virgil stated as they watched him put his things away, hug his scarf tight and going outside. “And in a strange moment of bravery, I left my room to go and meet them right away,” he chuckled as they reached a playground where a lot of kids were playing. Most were around Virgil’s age, though there were a few late bloomers there too.

Little Virgil looked around and found a kid sitting by himself, reading.

Roman squinted. Was that Gustav?

“Hi,” little Virgil greeted.

The kid looked up, and Roman was a bit surprised to realize it was indeed a younger Gustav.

He also had shading under his eyes. It must have been the style at the time. It was kind of cute that Virgil still did it though.

The young arch mage looked at Virgil's offered hand curiously.

"Um... I'm Virgil."

Gustav gave Virgil a careful smile and accepted his hand. "Gustav," he said. Virgil visibly relaxed at the successful introductions.

"Can I sit with you, please? I promised my mom I'd try and make friends," he said softly.

Gustav giggled. "Well. I didn't, but I guess I don't want you to break a promise to yours," he said, making room on the bench.

"I almost forgot about this part... looking at it from this angle... I guess I get why he didn't like J and Remus all that much," Virgil mused next to Roman as little Virgil sat down and asked about the book Gustav was reading. The conversation seemed to be going well when suddenly...

"CRACK!"

"Woah!"

"Hey!?"

"Hi there," another boy greeted them. Which would've been fine if he hadn't fallen from the sky accompanied by a broken off tree branch. Right on top of Virgil.

Both were now on the ground with the new boy looking down at Virgil.

"You wanna play tag?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you start with: Are you okay? Or: I'm sorry? Or something like that!?" Gustav scolded as he pushed the new boy off from Virgil and helped him get up and dust him off. "I'm fine. Just... caught me of guard," Virgil assured both.

Gustav was not satisfied, though.

"What were you doing up there anyway? Spying on us?!" he accused.

"Napping, until you two woke me up... after that, a bit of spying," the boy admitted.

"That's a weird napping spot," Little Virgil said. Amused.

"Those are the best kinds," the boy argued.

"I like you. I'm Remus," he decided. Holding out his hand. "Virgil, and this is my friend Gustav," Virgil introduced, making Gustav hold his head up a little higher at being called friend.

"What on earth is all this commotion about?" A new boy wondered as he joined the group.

"Mister bright idea climbed a tree. Took a nap, we heard a snap, and then he bruised a knee," Gustav huffed. The group stared. And Roman chuckled. "Was that on purpose?" Virgil asked. Gustav shrugged. "Not at first," he admitted.

"Impressive," Virgil said.

"Well. I am Janus. And you all are...?" The new boy wondered.

"Virgin, Gus and Remus!" Remus screeched.

Gustav made a face. "Gustav and Virgil..." he corrected.

"You talk fancy. Who's your daddy?" Remus wondered. Making Virgil hide his face to stiffen a laugh. Gustav just rolled his eyes. Glancing at Virgil nervously.

Owch. Yeah. Roman wouldn't have liked two random kids stealing the show right when he was making a proper friend. Especially if it ended in him and said friend never getting close.

"My uncle, is high Mage Remy. Eternal lover of the smoldering heart. so my talent was spotted rather quickly. How about you three?" Janus wondered.

"My parents have like, a ton of stores so they paid for an aptitude test so I’d be out of their hair," Remus shrugged. "Jokes on them. I'll be even more of a menace when I know magic,” he added with a grin. Roman noted that both Virgil and Gustav felt a bit self-conscious now. Virgil glanced to Gustav, realized he was not alone in his worry and found courage. "My parents are tailors, and um... I caught a pot without touching when it fell. So when mister Remy... your uncle, came by to check on our village, they told him. And he checked, and now I am here," he said. Making Gustav relax.

"It's just my mother, and I. She helps one of the farmers who has no children to help him to get by. One day, I made a mess of her nice dress, and I wished it was clean, and then it was." He said, feeling more confident now that he and Virgil seemed to have more in common.

"Cool," Remus grinned.

Someone rang a bell. "Oh, class in session! Come on! You gotta sit with us!" Remus insisted dragging Virgil along, followed by a bemused Janus and a dejected Gustav. That must've stung.

"Your friends seem fun," Roman decided. It hadn't seemed like they were deliberately pushing Gustav away. But the young arch mage clearly hadn't felt comfortable around their big personalities.

"Yeah," Virgil smiled.

"Now. Your turn. Show me something about you," Virgil instructed, catching Roman of guard.

"Me?" He asked.

Virgil nodded. "Pick a memory. Focus on it. And share it like how you shared your emotions with me the past two days," he instructed.

Okay. Doable...

Roman took a breath. Focused and...

He was home. Just the sight of it nearly made him tear up. How had Virgil kept it together when showing his own. "I was prepared. You are doing great," Virgil assured him. Roman nodded gratefully and led Vigil to the play room where he and his friends were bowed over books on magic.

"And then he single handedly tamed the beast of Zimmer and sent it back into the woods!" Young Roman told his friends. Much to their amazement.

"I wish I could do something so amazing," Patton sighed.

"But we can. We just have to get into the academy," Logan stated wisely.

"Don't we have to pass an aptitude test for that?" Roman asked, more intrigued than skeptical. "Yes, but I found an old book in your parents' collection, one from before the plague, and in it, it says that magic is a skill you can learn. Like cooking and art. Talent helps, but it is not our only way to pass the test. It even has the instructions. Are you two with me? I am confident I can do it, of course, but I'd rather not be by myself," Logan said formally.

Young Roman grinned and threw an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Of course, big brains. Where do we start?" He stated. "Yay! We're going to change the world together!" Patton cheered, hugging his friends who chuckled.

"Admirable attitude. It is correct, of course. Even if you didn't have talent, which, for the record, you all do, you could learn to connect with your own mana 'the hard way' as they say."

Roman smiled at the reassurance. He had felt a bit insecure about that.

"Well, you didn't meet your friends at school so I’ll go again," Virgil offered showing a classroom with young Virgil flanked by his friends. Gustav a row behind them.

"Why are we seeing this from this perspective? The memory of the ball was like looking through your eyes," Roman suddenly realized.

"Because this talks easier. The details out of sight are filled in through reasoning. I remember Gustav was behind me and I now realize what first meeting Remus and J might've felt like for him. So I, subconsciously make assumptions based on that. We are watching an unreliable narrator. Especially when paying attention to what happens out of sight," he explained as the teacher paced in front of the room.

“So, who can tell me why we need herbs and minerals and animal parts for casting?” the teacher wondered. Looking over the crowd.

“Remus?” he pressed. Remus rolled his eyes. “So we don’t get tired when doing spells,” he said.

Janus snickered at his friend’s deadpan tone. “Care to elaborate Janus?” the teacher challenged.

Janus sat up straighter. “Spells cost energy like climbing a set of stairs would. Using the mana in outside sources when we can, keeps us from draining our own supply,” he stated.

The teacher nodded. "Why can’t we use whatever we want then? Why, by example, do we use Merick’s leaves and not aloe vera in pain relief spells and potions?" The teacher asked.

Virgil perked up a little, looked around to see if anyone else wanted to answer and carefully raised his hand.

"Yes." The teacher acknowledged.

"The mana in the plants is less flexible than the mana within ourselves. Pushing it beyond their natural form would cost us more energy than we would save. Pain is a symptom unrelated to actual damage. Aloe vera needs something to fix. Mericks leaves soothe and relax." Young Virgil stated. Roman cocked his head. Spotting a difference in their education.

"Indeed. You can learn the components needed for each individual spell or you can learn what those components actually want to accomplish with their mana. That will allow you to truly blossom as mages and push the boundaries of magic,” the teacher explained.

Gustav leaned over his desk and tapped Virgil on the shoulder. “Gotta be you, I’m starting to think you can look at a brand new plant and immediately tell what it’d be good for,” he whispered. So some time had passed. And Virgil had made an impression it seemed.

“Is that why you’re being such a suck up?” Remus teased. Gustav turned red and fell back into his chair. “Whatever, freak,” he huffed. Virgil was clearly uncomfortable caught in the middle of the argument.

“That’s enough of that,” Virgil decided.

Roman agreed and focused on a memory of his own to relive.

His own experience with his chosen field of study.

They stood in a different classroom. In a different building. Students were filing out and joking about. Logan and Patton hesitated by the door as a young Roman approached the teacher.

“Um… Sir?” he asked.

“What is it?” the teacher said, the enthusiasm for teaching Virgil’s teacher had nowhere to be found.

“Um… Well the dean said that we should talk to the teacher specializing in our chosen discipline about… Well specializing and I…”

The teacher perked up. “You want to specialize in herbology?” he asked. Surprised, skeptical, hopeful.

“Y-yes. I mean. Plants and their uses always interested me. And well… Being able to recognize them on sight seems like an important skill. So…” he explained awkwardly.

Now the teacher lit up. “Then I will do my best to teach you all I know,” he promised.

Roman turned to Virgil. “Herbology wasn’t very popular the past fifty years,” he shrugged.

“Well, they never taught you the cool parts so I’m not surprised,” Virgil shrugged.

The memory shifted to his teacher’s private office late in the evening. Young Roman was bowed over a few books, several pots of herbs set up before him.

“It is said, that in the time before the dark plague, there were herbologists who were so in tune with the mana of living beings, that they could sense the ingredients of anything they ate, even down to the exact amount of salt crystals.”

Virgil chuckled. “Slight exaggeration,” he assured him.

Roman wanted to ask him to elaborate, but he figured questions could wait for the road. Virgil might appreciate a distraction while they traveled.

“Sadly, the methods with which they achieved this ability have gotten lost after the plague,” teacher sighed wistfully.

“Sir… I don’t understand these instructions,” young Roman told his teacher.

“This healing spell calls for Mint root, but that feels wrong? In this one,” he pointed to another page, “the revitalization spell, mintroot is combined with Lilly pollen. And it just feels like the Lilly pollen would be far more effective for the healing spell?” young Roman pointed out.

Virgil looked to Roman with a bright, proud smile. “Good eye,” he praised.

Roman’s teacher looked at Roman’s notes and hummed. “I understand your concerns. But Lilly pollen is too potent to use on its own and any deterrent would render the benefit entirely useless. It is a level three after all. We can’t use catalysts in reckless abandon, that is what caused the plague,” he explained gravely. “But good eye Roman. You clearly have talent,” he praised. Young Roman smiled but didn’t look too convinced.

“Do my eyes spy a spark of rebellion?” Virgil gasped.

“I may have started using Lilly Pollen where I felt it was appropriate whenever I wasn’t supervised… I’d say don’t tell Logan but I think he’s thrown all caution to the wind since you made him great wizard mage,” Roman admitted.

“Following your own gut over a teacher’s instruction isn’t such a trivial matter though. That took courage,” Virgil complemented before taking charge of the memories again.

Leaving Roman no chance to react.

Virgil showed a few snippets of memories of him and his friends growing up at the academy. Laughing at Remus’ antics, debating ethics and technicalities with Janus. Going home and showing all that he had learned to his family and using it to help around the village.

And then they were inside a room with a familiar layout. It was round. The floor and ceiling decorated with mosaic representing the night sky, the magically glowing stars the only light source.

Virgil was sat in the middle of the room. Meditating.

Roman could hear the instructions echo in Virgil’s mind, the only sound in this silent room other than Virgil’s breathing.

“Focus on the flow of magic within you. Until it is all that is left. Let it show you your power. Do not waver. Do not turn away. Welcome it. It is part of you. Yet it also is a life all its own. Let it show you, who you are meant to be.”

Roman felt something stir inside him at those words. “That’s a better pep talk than I got,” he whispered to Virgil.

“Do I want to know?” Virgil wondered.

“Try not to die,” Roman surmised.

“… Roman, I never asked. How many Great mages has the academy produced since the plague?” Virgil asked.

“Um… Us?” Roman admitted.

“So… You outrank the council?” Virgil concluded. “Uh… I never thought about it like that… I guess?” Roman mused.

Virgil frowned but focused back on the memory. Also choosing to keep questions for the road.

The stars seemed to go out, and a purple glow appeared inside Virgil right at his heart.

Not a glow… A flame.

Virgil opened his eyes and stood up in the void. Looking for a light, an exit. Something.

He reached for his chest and touched the flame, held it in his hand, and set it free.

The magic spread into the room, creating new stars. Constellations Roman didn’t recognize, and was fairly certain Virgil didn’t know either. So it wasn’t just that he didn’t pay enough attention in astronomy class.

Young Virgil stared on in awe and stepped back in surprise as his magic fire returned to him and burst into an inferno, revealing a phoenix made of purple flames.

Virgil hesitated and bowed. The Phoenix let out a majestic cry and flew straight through Virgil, making his robes flare up and his hair blow back. It was much shorter at this time in his life, but long enough to be affected. Virgil looked behind him and he was back in the meditation room, the door glowing with his magic and opening.

His classmates streamed in.

“That was wicked cool!” Remus exclaimed as he threw an arm over Virgil’s shoulder.

“Uh… What was?” Virgil asked.

“Let’s just say for a moment I thought there’d be a phoenix permanently burned into the doors to the ascension chamber,” Janus smirked.

“Indeed. Congratulations. Virgilious, fate spinner, Mage of the dark phoenix,” their teacher allowed.

Roman looked at Virgil.

“My first nickname. Based on my ability to weave any sort of spell into fabric. Cleaning was my first one but I perfected it to a point where I could integrate three different spells into one fabric. After building a proper reputation as a high mage I got the name Night Flame,” Virgil explained.

Roman looked to the crowd and spotted Gustav standing by the edge. Observing with a closed expression.

Though past Virgil wasn’t looking directly at him so that wasn’t necessarily how he looked at the time.

Past Virgil was too busy feeling bashful about the attention and the title.

Roman felt a little bad for the young Arch mage. If things had gone just a little differently, he would’ve been part of the past few memories rather than a figure in the background.

“Gustav. I believe you were next?” The teacher stated. Now Virgil’s attention did go to him. Gustav hid some kind of expression and nodded formally.

“Watch him get a gnome,” someone whispered in the group, making a few others laugh and Gustav flush.

“What would be wrong with that? Gnomes are mischievous but creative and in tune with nature. There is no such thing as a bad guide. Only shortsighted, immature mages who probably shouldn’t be getting theirs yet,” Virgil scolded his classmates who looked sheepish at being called out like that.

“It’s alright Virgil,” Gustav said, finding his confidence. “Who knows? Maybe I will get a less popular guide. I’m not stupid, I know that is more in line with my standing,” he noted, strolling to the center of the room. “Then again,” he stated as he turned around. “Maybe I’ll be the dragon who will unite the lands under one crown. And you’ll all wish you’d tried a little harder to get my favor,” he smirked as he dropped himself into a cross legged position. “Well, most of you,” he finished.

The teacher guided the group out of the room. Virgil looked back briefly and found that Gustav had dropped the bravado and looked nervous. And then the door closed.

“We don’t need to see every ceremony. There was no dragon that year in any case. But I had learned that if I was going to ever become a high mage, I’d have to come to terms with the fact that I’d have to learn to fly. Remus tried pretty much the day after the ceremony to ascend. And Janus had started daily meditations in preparation for a serious attempt a month or two later.

I was nowhere near mentally ready to even think of that. So… I practiced.”

Roman looked up and they found themselves in a small clearing in a forest. Virgil was pacing the forest floor.

“A bird. Of course I had to be a freaking bird… That’s fine though. I can prepare. This time tomorrow I’m not going to be held back by something as silly as a fear of heights.”

Past Virgil stood still in the middle of the meadow and retrieved a feather from his satchel.

And then his form shrunk and changed. And before them stood a falcon, moving his body experimentally.

“Changing shape gets much easier once you ascend. As you might have noticed. When ascending you essentially abandon a physical form, and become magic yourself. And magic, can take any shape it needs to with ease. Before that… It feels a bit uncomfortable to shape your body in a form that is not its own,” Virgil explained.

“So, changing your looks wouldn’t be as uncomfortable as becoming an animal,” Roman concluded.

“Yeah. Depending on how much you change, but I suppose even changing yourself to an entirely different body type is more doable than becoming a different species,” Virgil agreed as his past self-made a few clumsy attempts to get up on a fallen tree to have a launch platform.

“What you see next stays between us alright?” Virgil asked.

Roman nodded. “I wasn’t going to share a second of this with anyone anyway,” Roman promised.

Virgil smiled at him and then focused on the memory again where the falcon took off. And fell out of the sky almost immediately. Roman blinked and the falcon was back on the tree.

Took of once more, and fell again.

A few more minutes went by. Though Roman never saw the impact. Just the moment that Virgil lost the fight with gravity and then he started over again.

“You fell a lot,” Roman observed.

“I was much too stubborn. Getting tired made it harder,” Virgil huffed.

The memory showed an exhausted falcon, falling asleep on the forest floor… That didn’t seem safe.

Indeed. The sky grew dark and something emerged from the bushes. A fox.

Luckily Virgil woke up just in time to doge it’s attack. He cawed in warning but the fox must’ve been very hungry or in need for some food for their cubs perhaps, because it tried to attack again. Virgil, rather than turning human, fueled by adrenaline, launched himself skyward, and this time, managed to remain there. Flying up above the treetops, elated at his success, and from the looks of it he soon found himself at home among the winds.

He flew past the forest edge and made his way into a familiar village. He returned to his human form on the pathway and was immediately greeted by his family who’d been worried since he hadn’t come home before sundown as he usually did. His father had been about to go look for him.

It was a sweet display.

Then the memory shifted to inside the home. The family was gathered and an older man and two young adults were measuring them. Much to the delight of Virgil’s little sister.

“We did well for ourselves after I figured out the self-cleaning fabric thing. So, when the time came for the introduction ball of the new great mages of that year, we decided to splurge on some new clothes. We didn’t usually do anything fancy so I had a tailor from the city come to make us all something fitting for the occasion.

And, I met the guy who taught me to… appreciate dressing up,” Virgil admitted. Fondly looking at the young man who was clearly trying not to be weird while taking a great mage’s measurements.

“What happened to the lyre player?” Roman asked curiously. Recalling what Virgil said about the first man he kissed while they were sitting at the loom.

“Oh, that was years before this. I was… Sixteen. He was part of a traveling band, but they ran into some bad luck and needed a lot of repairs, so they stayed the summer and did odd jobs to pay for their repairs and necessities and such. We… hit it off. But at the end I had duties in the city and he went back to the road,” Virgil recalled.

“How old are you at this point?” Roman wondered. Virgil had been around Roman’s age when he stopped aging. And he was a great mage in this one, so this couldn’t be too long before that.

Virgil hummed.

“Well, gosh, I haven’t thought about that for a while… But I was 18 when I became a wizard… 19 when I became a great wizard. And… Yeah about 25 when I became a mage.” Roman nodded. That wasn’t an unusual timeline.

“I think… I think I’m 27, almost 28 at this point,” he decided.

Roman observed past Virgil exchange a smile and a joke with the apprentice, making him laugh and relax. He looked cute.

They watched just a little longer. Seeing the young man start to gush animatedly about his passions and Virgil starting to get intrigued.

Then Virgil showed him his next memory.

They were in a large room, lit up with various types of magic lighting. Making for a festive atmosphere. There was music playing and there were people dancing in gorgeous suits and gowns in styles entirely unfamiliar to Roman.

So far he’d seen Virgil and the others wear robes and the casual fashion of commoners that didn’t change as much. He almost wished Virgil had shown him a local festival so he could’ve seen what they’d worn for such an occasion.

He spotted Virgil and his family. The ladies looking lovely in purple gowns with feather’s in their braids. His mother’s hair in an updo and his sisters and another woman Roman didn’t recognize in a lovely half up half down. Their gowns had high collars, tiny glass beads sewn in into the fabric to make them shimmer like the night sky. Their sleeves long and widening from the elbows down. Their skirts flowing delicately with every move. Virgil, his brother and father were all wearing a similar costume consisting of a dark purple shirt with black pants and ties. His father and brother wearing a decorative feather shoulder piece on opposite shoulders while Virgil wore one on both. All the men had the shadows under their eyes, most men at the party did. It really was a fashion trend.

They looked great, and excited to be there.

They greeted a few people at the door. Virgil was predictably dismissive of his teacher’s praises and his family’s pride. He introduced his brother Michael, his sister in law Penelope and his little sister Mariane alongside his parents, Francis and Evelyn. Once he felt there’d been enough introductions he took his sister to the dancefloor she’d been eyeing since the moment they got in.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her when he saw her look at the crowd. “It’s all in the lead. So I’ll be the one looking bad if something goes wrong.” His sister rolled her eyes and stepped on his foot on purpose, much to his amusement.

Then he took her in a spin around the room. Mariane looked like she was having the time of her life. Dressed up and dancing at a ball.

And then a handsome young man tapped Virgil on the shoulder, interrupting their dance.

The young man was a bit flushed as he took in Mariane before turning to Virgil.

“My apologies, mister Virgil. Would, either of you,” he glanced hopefully to Mariane, “Mind if I cut in?” he asked.

Virgil smirked and looked at his sister who was clearly taken aback by this turn of events.

“Mariane, this is one of Janus’ cousins, Vincent. Vincent, this is my beloved little sister Mariane. Do you mind keeping Vincent company while I look for his cousin and Remus?” Virgil asked.

Mariane shook her head. “Not at all,” she breathed. And so Virgil handed her over with care and left the floor to look for his friends.

He found them soon. Both dressed even more lavishly than Virgil was. Remus a collage of styles and suits that were all demanding attention. Janus seemed to have pieces of scaled leather incorporated in his suit. Probably showcasing their guide.

Roman noticed Gustav talking to a few noble looking men with a woman at his arm that must’ve been his mother. His suit was modest if not for the ornate pieces of jewelry added to it.

Remus and Janus praised Virgil for his suit and they talked about old times and their plans for the future. Virgil laughed with them but kept glancing at the dancefloor.

Suddenly something startled him and without a word he made his way back towards the center where Roman also spotted someone trying to cut between Vincent and Mariane. Something neither seemed interested in.

“Excuse me,” Virgil announced putting himself between the pair and the third wheel.

“… Great mage Virgil. Good evening. I merely wanted to honor your sister with a dance,” the man assured Virgil.

“The honor would be yours entirely, if she was interested, which she isn’t. Go find someone who is Philipe,” he warned.

“Ah, so you know who I am… Wouldn’t you agree that it would be in your family’s best interest to…”

“I would agree to no such thing,” Virgil interjected. And Roman could feel power build even in this memory. Clearly mister Philipe hadn’t expected that reaction.

“In fact, I think you’ll find it would be in you and your family’s best interest not to anger me any further. I would be very careful of angering the Dark Phoenix. For they are loyal and reliable and inspire such traits in those they meet. I have friends Philipe, and those friends might have more influence than you’d like,” Virgil warned.

“Virgil… You are…” Mariane said softly behind him.

“Is that a threat mage?” Philipe challenged.

“It is a promise that I am not afraid to put you in your place in front of this whole party,” Virgil growled. And around him people gathered, looking at Philipe like his judgement had already been passed. And it wasn’t favorable. Vincent had escorted Mariane to her parents and they all looked on while Virgil laid down the law.

Philipe seemed nervous now, looking around the room and seeing no support. He was about to say something else but then backed away in fear. Virgil’s building power was more obvious now, his clothes and hair flaring and moments later, it erupted with a protective fury from his being.

For a moment Virgil was completely gone. Only a shapeless mass of purple flames in his space.

“Virgil!” his family called, and as if in answer to his name, the flames took the shape of a bird, and then a man, and then Virgil reemerged from the flames. Reborn as a high mage.

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #ts virgil #roman sanders #ts roman #prinxiety #the dark phoenix au

23 notes · View notes

sonkitty · 6 months ago

Text

The Sideburns Scheme Post #63

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 4, The Hitchhiker, happened

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are a medium length. They are longer than intended after driving in the present day but shorter than the longest-length that happens around Gabriel. They are more like the length around other demons and the car from the first two episodes.

Way back in episode 1, the tutorials of the "storming out" sequence informed us that there is an invisible supernatural border between the bookshop and the car for when the sideburns reach an intended shortness for being around humans.

Here, this episode is informing us that the border expanded. Even though the sideburns probably shortened, they did not shorten as much. Additionally, they are deemed long enough by Crowley himself that he's going to take the extra time and effort to shorten them further with a drive.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

The more saturated red streak of hair is definitely visible.

...

Hairstyle Changes

Compared to Crowley's last present day scene, the sideburns have shortened a little. The top hair is more strongly collected together as it curves up to Crowley's right and then back.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

Both Crowley and Aziraphale touch the cardboard boxes of plants. Crowley touches one of the new doors onto his transformed car.

The plants touch the clothing on both Crowley and Aziraphale.

...

For paying attention to the pockets...

For signs of a possible retying of the Tied Hands...

Crowley's watch is visible. on the walk from the bookshop to the car.

Aziraphale could be an assist for an index finger to "make a point" since his index finger does so when Crowley passes him one of the boxes. He even shifts it down after this point is made. He uses an index finger yet again on the walk away from the car, toward the bookshop.

When Crowley smiles and greets his car, the thumbs and thumb joints of the Tied Hands dangle, switch position, and switch back. At various times, Crowley's actual thumb joints are visible.

As Crowley prepares to close the door to his car, I can reasonably conclude that one of the tie strands is actually touching his arm.

The strike on the lapel to his jacket probably happens when Aziraphale says "remember."

If Crowley wants an Overhead Light, he gets one when he says, "You're really hosting the meeting?"

Crowley has his right thumb joint close at his jacket edges in the next-to-last frame of the closing cut for the episode.

...

The Belt Head is briefly visible when Crowley passes Aziraphale a cardboard box.

...

When Crowley takes the box that Aziraphale had been holding, the two of them have a plant in the background pocketed between them. This same pocket exists as a reflection in the car itself. That's probably one of the many little clues about how important the pockets, plants, and reflections are together for their combined eventual act of The Door Trick and The Door Catch.

...

After Crowley closes the new door to the car, he makes a pocket with his left arm and torso as the camera views him from behind. Once the camera shifts to a view in front of Crowley, he's making a pocket with his right arm, right hand, torso, the bottom of the screen, and Aziraphale. This pocket is over this new door. Since I'm left to guess the meanings, if any, of such things, my own would be these pockets are Crowley's way of informing an audience player that yeah, he knows that door is there. That's why he used it. He is aware the car has transformed even if he's not outright saying such a thing verbally.

...

For dialogue points, there are some questions, Nina's name, Maggie's name, and possibly the name of the meeting.

...

In the last frame of the last cut, Crowley specifically has his left foot on the edge of the sidewalk and sidewalk while his right foot has not yet touched the ground.

...

Story Commentary

On the surface, this scene looks like both Crowley and Aziraphale not informing the other of their respective encounters with Shax, especially Aziraphale. Crowley replies, "Good, that's what we want to hear," so it looks like Aziraphale has succeeded in convincing him that nothing happened.

On a layered level, they're actually in the process of finalizing their forming connection between homes because of the plants. The Green of the plants is important to the Rainbow Connection.

Neither of them say the name "Gabriel" or "Jim," but a reference is implied, suggesting that Gabriel might actually sleep. The remark about snoring could be a clue about something but nothing I've been able to figure out myself. They could be talking about some whole other character in some whole other timeline or series of events, but I'll go with taking the contextual cues that they do indeed mean Gabriel.

While neither outright says what happened with Shax, the next episode will show that each have at least some layered awareness because they will be working together separately in earning solo Earthly Objects sets. These sets happen during the ball invitations.

Eventually, a supernatural zone is going to form along the street. The few humans around in this scene are acceptable in the context of the early morning, but it might be that a supernatural zone is already forming because Crowley's going to go for a drive to shorten his sideburns.

They don't want that zone active yet. It should happen as the humans arrive at the bookshop and as the demons arrive in the street, for some unknown reason.

Aziraphale looks at Crowley a few times where I think there's a decent chance he's checking that the sideburns are staying longer.

Additionally, Crowley can, and probably does, check his own car mirror when he puts the plants in the car, to see what length the sideburns are.

Aziraphale concludes the episode with the words, "a night to remember."

There is a book titled A Night to Remember about the Titanic sinking. I've actually read it and thought it was quite good by the way.

So, that is an interesting choice of words. Does this book and the movie it inspired exist in the Good Omens universe? Is Aziraphale dooming the ball on purpose? Is he foreshadowing for us, knowingly? Is it code for Crowley? Well, I don't know, but I like that last one best, especially given a lot of what's about to happen in the next two episodes.

Speaking of which, with episode 5 incoming, that means the Threshold Tricks will be back! The ball invitations are on the way. Earthly Objects is already plenty difficult, but...well, now it will be even more difficult! I have a post about the ball invitations, but it's a little dated for what I've learned since making it.

Incoming posts will probably slow down with my limited understanding of the games in play and the return of the Threshold Tricks.

...

In personal news, my daughter graduated 5th grade today. I'm sad to see her elementary school years end, but it was a special day for her nonetheless.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

#crowley #david tennant #good omens 2 #good omens #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #good omens clues #good omens theory #good omens theories #good omens speculation #crowley sideburns

22 notes · View notes

thekingofwinterblog · 3 months ago

Note

Any manga that DID stick the landing?

Oh there are plenty of good and great manga endings.

Jitsu wa watashi wa, Azumanga Daioh, Useless Ponko, and many, many others.

Hell its actually not that rare to find a manga that just has a decent, but solid manga ending.

It's just that two specific types of manga tends to have terrible endings, and because they overlap and are withouth a doubt the most popular manga types there are, they have lead to Manga as a whole having terrible endings.

Action manga, and long running plot based manga.

that latter one might seem a bit vague as it would cover so much, but it's very much true. if you look at long running manga and start to look at which one works, and which one that has a bad ending, it's almost always the ones with an actual plot, whatever that is.

it can by anything from "Saving the world through "whatever the manga is about" for bullshit "insert reasons here", to "Will these two hook up together?" to "There is a big mystery that the series revolves around".

You can bet that the longer the amounts of chapters, the higher the chances it fucks up the ending will be. That's basically a rule.

My theory on the subject is that length just makes everything more complex for the mangka, and so makes it harder and harder for them to wrap it up. Which is why manga with simple plots tend to have a much easier time wrapping them up, even if the manga is 200+ chapters long.

As for the other criteria, Action series that focuses more on fights and battles for obvious reasons have the caveat that this isnt actually their mangaka's speciality.

Just take Naruto, where Kishimoto decided early on that part 2 would end with a rematch between naruto and sasuke, and had no clue how to get there, and by the time it actually reached that point, he had lost any and all hold over the plot.

Inuyasha is similar. the manga actually hit a good spot to end on somewhere around the 150 chapter mark, give or take a dozen chapters, but ended up lasting 558 chapters, having basically spun its wheels with a cast that had reached their apex as far as natural character development was concerned so long back that most successfull manga gets canceled before reaching that equivelant points.

hence why it now has a very mixed reception and it's main lead kagome a very bad reputation nowadays, as beyond a point she became just as infuriatingly frustrating to read about as sasuke, just for different reasons.

But as for long running plot heavy, action manga, there are a few ones that did stick the landing.

Fullmetal Alchemist is of course the go to definite example of a good, plot based battle manga that managed to wrap itself up perfectly.

It's not the best manga every written, but it did manage the rather unique feat of not only having a great ending, but also didnt actually have a bad arc in its entire run(something even the best manga usually have), instead being a rather solid manga all throughouth.

Teppu also has a rather solid ending, even if it's much shorter.

The series is a brilliant deconstruction of both Shonen battle manga, and sports series in general, as it tells the first arc of such series from the point of view of it's villains... and unlike Disney Star wars manages to both portray the deconstructed "Hero" of the tale in an interesting and likeable light, while also being a rather nifty character study of both her and our main "villain" protagonist.

also, you dont necesarily have to be great to have an amazing ending.

Shigurui is an interesting manga that deconstructs samurai ideals about loyalty and honor set during the great era of isolationism and internal peace and stability. is a good, if not a spectacular manga, but it has both one of the most depressive, and yet most amazing endings where the mangaka just went all in on making it as tragic a tale that condemns it's protagonists for their obsession with honor, and showcases better than any other series i have ever read why "I was just following orders" is such a hollow excuse.

on a more cheerfull samurai story about revenge, there is blade of the immortal.

The ending isnt AS perfect for the series it belongs to as shigurui's is, but it's still a rather solid series, and just like FMA above, it managed to have a good, solid run from start to finish.

While My Hero Academia's ending was absolutely terrible, it's spin off manga Vigilantes had a pretty good conclusion even if the final battle leading up to it lasted way too damn long.

The original Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm had a really good climax too, which it's alternate universe sequel series last order tried to replicate to pathetic results.

i dont know how mars chronicles will end, but it would be really sad if it did not end on a better note than last order.

Im sure i can find other series that fits this criteria, but i cant recall any immediatly from the top of my head.

Also if the questionaire is asking about good or decent non long running stories, i can do that too in another ask. i have read A LOT of weirder manga with nice endings.

#battle angel alita #gunnm #my hero academia vigilantes #blade of the immortal #shiguirui #teppu #full metal alchemist #inuyasha #naruto #endings #meta

9 notes · View notes

sleepy-achilles · 8 months ago

Note

Dropping off a prompt or three

Ministry!Undertaker gets his ass kicked by Shawn.

Something bad happens to Shawn (no death) and the Undertaker loses it and Ministry!Undertaker makes an appearance and deals with it.

The nail salon techs never say a word when hot biker guy and his daughter show up and get matching pedicures.

So sorry this took so long. Like incredibly ridiculously long. And their all short. I kinda did prompts more than fics. Sorry I just wanted to get them out

1. Excuse me?

Shawn raises an eyebrow. What did this man just say?

The smirk slowly falls off ministry's face as he sees the look in the shorter man's eyes. "I...I didn't mean it?" Ministry questions as he steps back. Paul looks at Ministry confused. "You are stepping foot in my lockeroom where my kids are sleeping and you want to insult my husband? The husbands who's body you have stolen?" Shawn growls putting his hair up. "Wait wait I didnt mean it like that" Ministry protests. "What are you doing?!" Paul barks. "Taker is scared of him so it makes me!" Ministry protests. "Hes a smart man that's why" Shawn snaps. John holds a baby cassie close whilst Leon stops colouring to watch.

And both are glad they do.

Kane stands there confused as the shorter man punches ministry square in the nose.

Shawn hisses and shakes his hand as ministry's nose pops immediately, blood pouring out of it. "Fuck!" Ministry yelps holding his nose.

Paul raises an eyebrow. Shawn can hurt ministry? That's impossible.

"Shit" Shawn gasps cradling his hand to his chest. "You better get to stepping before I leave you black and blue" Shawn snarls at the taller man. Ministry straightens his back and looks at the blood pooling in his hands. Kane goes to step forward when ministry blocks him. "We do not have time. Leave it." He mutters.

Shawn watches as they storm out before he whimpers and looks down at his hand.

A bag of ice reaches into his view. He turns to see lil Leon holding it up. "Thanks peach" Shawn smiles accepting it. He fears this won't be his last confrontation with ministry. But it will be the last infront of his kids.

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

2. Guard dogs

"Dad!" John yells. Taker is up out his seat in a instant. He rushes to the younger man. "John? What's wrong?" Taker asks. John points at the screen.

Taker sees red.

Jericho and Christian have jumped Shawn in the car park.

John watches as takers eyes turn fully white, his whole aura changes. Its no longer taker, he knows that.

Ministry doesn't say a word as he turns and teleports away. John watches as the cameras suddenly go down and they are taken back to commentary. "Oh shit" John huffs.

He'd hate to be them right now.

Chris chuckles as shawn groans and tries to hide his face. "Not so touch now hey?" Christian smirks. "Ye-" "I don't know, are you?" A voice growls behind them. Both men slowly turn to see taker. "Taker!" Chris yelps as Ministry grabs them both by the throat. "You think this was a smart idea boys?" Ministry growls. Both men start protesting and trying to wiggle away. Ministry lifts them up and slams them into the concrete. "You messed with the wrong boy toy" Ministry growls before sinking to his knees beside Shawn.

"You good?" Ministry asks not wanting to touch the man. Shawn peaks at him. "Ministry?" "Yeah, taker will be back soon. Just wanted to make sure you're okay" Ministry huffs. "He will want to do some damage to them tho" Ministry adds. "Good. Thank you." Shawn whispers. "Anytime kid."

Shawn watches as takers eyes turn normal. "Are you alright?" Taker asks helping him sit up. "Yes, Thank you." Shawn nods. Taker looks at the out cold heels. "Those bastards" "I think you've already done enough. Cmon, help me to medic" Shawn huffs. "Yeah okay" Taker nods.

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

Ain't got a clue about nail stuff so...brrr

3. Daddy-Daughter time

"Daddy cmon!" Cassie whines tugging takers arm. Taker glances at the nail salon. "We are supposed to be buying stuff for Leon and John's party." Taker points out. "Please" she flashes her eyes at him. Taker sighs. "Fine." Taker leads the girl into the very quiet salon. He ignores the stares. "Can we have two pedicure please?" Cassie asks. Taker groans. "Of course. Follow me" the woman smiles.

--no idea--

Taker pays the woman and moves to the door. "We'll be back!" Cassie smiles, pulling taker out before he can protest.

And they did. They went back everytime they were in town. Even as they got older.

And the staff did not mind.

"See you later Cassie" Skylar calls as the slightly older girl drags her father out. "Hes still scary even as a biker." The old woman whispers. Skylar looks at the customer. "We will take no hot biker guy slander here." Skylar scolds. "Seriously?" "Yes seriously, he's hot and he's a dad. And that's a very happy little girl. So he's always welcomed here." Blair calls.

#wwe #shawn michaels #the undertaker #wwf #hbtaker #undertaker x shawn michaels #shawn x undertaker #leon michaels #john cena #cassidy michaels

8 notes · View notes

hibiscusseaart · 2 years ago

Text

Altean families hcs

Heya! I'm not stopping. Twi thread

Warnings: 18+ (mostly cuz biology talk), Half-altean Lance.

I am gonna start with alteans and their structure. I believe that alteans are quite matriarchal. We don’t have enough clues about it in canon, but from what I see, mothers are quite the leading power.

Honerva was unstoppable and she stopped only when SHE wanted (tho destroying realities, like she got what she wanted) and Allura talked to her. Plus she got Zarkon wrapped around her finger before going mad and even a lil after that. Imagine her not being evil. Jeez what a woman she’d be.

I believe that Melenor might be the Queen by blood and Alfor entering the family by marriage and becoming a consort. Why? One of the main reasons is that Alfor never ever wears any kind of crown, while Melenor and Allura always do. Also you can see in this screenshot, Melenor sitting next to Zarkon - the sole emperor of Daibazaal - closer than her husband, who is friends with said emperor, meaning Melenor has higher status than her husband.

Though, here, she’s standing on the side. But he is not a King for nothing right?

But it can say nothing about alteans being matriarchal. I hcs them like that, cuz it seems fitting for them to put mothers and families on a pedestal.

So, now I’ll start to explain altean process to start a family. I already explained their courting process here (вставить ссылку).

Alteans can only get pregnant when both partners want it and it can not happen by accident. Conception is actually considered a very special process and even a ritual in Altean culture and is not considered like something dirty or full of lust. It’s usually something very-very gentle. Though usual sex is kinda stigmatized and they mostly don’t talk about it. Yeah you have really slow social progress, when you live in monarchy and your population lives for more than 600 years (that’s around Coran’s age and he considered as middle aged man).

Getting back to pregnancies. At conception, a portion of quintessence from each partner is fused to form child’s. It’s a big strain for future parents cuz it’s literally part of their life force is gone to their child. Because of this, they rarely have more than 2-3 children.

This ritual is counted as the 1st day of child’s existence. So birthday counts from the conception date. Also, because of their huge life spawn, they count their age as centuries. For example, “I am 17” means that the child is 170 years old. They’re considered as a minor till their 250 birthday. Modern alteans can, basically, live forever until they’re killed (im pretty sure that they have tech to change DNA (also this shit is controversial as hell, but i will talk about it when i get to write about politics). But they can look old, like Alfor did, because of stress. Stress is their kryptonite in that case.

(also i suspect that Altea has a shorter year, being closer to it’s sun)

Oh, also, a little biology: alteans deffinetly have different sexes, looking at their bodies, they have pretty obvious sexual dimorphism. Though, knowing how advanced they are (thanks for changing DNA tech) and their abilities for shapeshifting, they probably can easily change how they like it and have a child. They might be like some kinds of fish or lizards, which can change their sex when needed. Like they’re born as hermaphrodites. but for some alteans male hormones are stronger, for some female are (and i’m pretty sure that they have their own hormones, they’re aliens after all, i’m just using this terminology for better understanding).

Anyway, mothers for alteans are the ones who bear the child and feed them later (and they def feed some kind of milk, why else would alteans have boobs? to store quintessence there?). And they are quite the heroes/heroines, cuz babies take a lot from alteans, mostly quintessence, I think. But physically too. I think that they can have longer pregnancies. The reason humans have their babies for 9 months and even then the baby is helpless and can’t even hold their head, it’s cuz the head is so big and if it’d grow more it’d be a big problem for mothers in the stretching department. But alteans don’t have that problem with shapeshifting so the babies are bigger. Maybe a lil smaller than Allura on the screenshot.

So because pregnancy is really taxing, it’s exactly why they prefer to have multiple partners, so they can help each other (looking at you, Coran). Also I think alteans could have little traditions, like giving a pregnant lady some presents or flowers, even if you don’t know her well. Pregnant one is a really precious one. Alteans if stress (kryptonite!) can easily have a miscarriage and it’s always devastating for them. So they try to avoid any bad news during pregnancies.

sidenote: it’s weird to refer to a pregnant altean solely as she/her, cuz alteans can literally alter their biology. who knows, maybe it’s alfor who gave birth to allura. we will never know.

(but, according to my hcs, we know, cuz allura calls melenor mother and that means that she was the one who was pregnant with her.)

So the next thing is really important for alteans and their families. As you well know, alteans have a deep connection with quintessence and can kind of control it. Each family has its own little “lake” of quintessence. This lake keep them all connected to each other, mostly emotionally. They can’t read each other’s minds, but it’s easy for them to sense a mood and feelings in general. I think, it’s the same how the Lions communicate and connect.

This connection is really important, because it can help all members of this lake to feel needs of altean mother and then children’s needs. It also helps them to feel their quintessence more clearly and develop empathy.

A child is accepted into family’s lake when their quintessence grows stronger and detaches from their mother’s completely (at first it’s really intertwined and helps mother to take care of their kid). They have a traditional ritual for that and it’s held by the most magically talented member of the family. But it can also happen naturally, if the kid is close with everyone in the family, tho connection will be a bit weaker, because no one leads kid’s quintessence in the right place.

The acceptance ritual usually happens at their 5-10 year (it’s really early for alteans if you remember their lifespan). If not accepted, then the child will feel unwanted, abandoned and in general will be very restless and prone to stress and depression.

If someone is not accepted, they’re not considered a real family. The marriage is all about future spouses to get this connection with each other.

This connection can weaken though, it’s not permanent and needs refreshing. Usually it’s enough to just spend time with each other. But it’s highly emotional and if someone doesn’t want to be connected, they link will break.

Now let’s talk about my baby half-altean Lance >:)

So, Luis and the others are not full siblings. Luis was born from the human, when the others were born from an altean who happened to get on Earth somehow (i know how, but i wanna save something for my long ass fic which MAY be translated if I could find a beta). That altean and Lance’s mom have had Marco and Veronica. But the altean didn’t expect that Lance’s mom would have 2 eggs. Alteans do not have that at all. A little later after Lance and Rachel were conceived, he died of the quintessence strain. On Earth no one really knew why.

But well, these two were never accepted in the lake with his father, Marco and Veronica (these two didn’t even know about being part-alien), so they grew up with diagnosed ADHD and self worth issues.

There we step into more of the AU territory, cuz Lance is known as altean much earlier, maybe before s 2. Coran and Allura are estatic. They were so used to their big families always buzzing lake, so felling only each other was really lonely. So Allura accept Lance as her own brother (yeah, Allura was that much uninterested). She did use a little too much magic because of her inexperience, so Lance got his marks and his ears started to change (cartilage are softer and can be bend easier).

He started to become more altean in general. Like he isn’t disgusted by food goo anymore for example and gets stronger easier. He can’t shapeshift, bc human bones, but he can change his skin color. It was weird af for him to feel Allura and Coran as he feels his lion, but it did helped him a lot with his ADHD and worries. Plus he got a new sister and, kind of, a new dad? Or Uncle? He’s not sure. But it’s the closest to his family he ever had since they got into space.

Thank you for reading! Hope you like it! Please let me know what hcs do you have about altean or maybe galra families!

#vld #voltron #alteans #altea #half altean lance #altean culture #altean tradition #speculative biology #yeah i m trying to explain everything

17 notes · View notes

therk900 · 1 year ago

Text

🌼September TC Challenge (Day 1-30)🌼

1 - Are you generally nervous around your tc, or are you more relaxed and comfortable around them? I find I’m more relaxed around them. I am a nervous wreck sometimes but those moments are rare!

2 - Is your tc an introvert or an extrovert? How about you? They are both extroverts while I’m an introvert

3 - Does your tc use emojis or emoticons when communicating with you? If so, what have they used? if not, what do you think they’d use? S used emojis when he sent personal emails to me! Especially the “😊” emoji. B doesn’t really send emojis. If he did, it would most likely be the thumbs up one or the “😀” emoji

4 - What’s the biggest or most important thing your tc has taught you, ether in terms of life lessons or the subject matter of their class? B: Build my way up so I can do public speaking S: Don’t let shit get to my head!!

5 - Does your tc have a classroom / office, or are they “floating” (using a cart or something and moving from place to place)? What does their teaching space look like? B has an office and it's quite neat, with a couple books here and there. S has 2 offices since he teaches 2 subjects. I have seen one but I’m guessing the other one is neat since he is a neat person in general!

6 - What was your favourite assignment in your tc’s class and why? Are they a harsh grader? For B, I have 2 favourite projects! For one, we got make a homemade magazine about a topic. I got 80% on it! And for the 2nd one, we got to make a creative story which had to follow a simulator timeline of a movie we had watched as a class. I got a 70% on it! With S, we got to do a role play type thing! I got a 73% on it which was good

7 - Do you and your tc have any inside jokes? are they shared by other people (classmates, other teachers, etc) or is it just between you two? Not really

8 - If your tc was an animal, what animal would they be? I feel like S would be a deer and B would be a friendly bear

9 - How do you feel about being in the tcc? Are you afraid of getting caught, etc? Sometimes I am afraid of getting caught since a couple of friends uses Tumblr, so I try and be careful about what I post. But I like being in the tcc.

10 - How long have you been having teacher crushes? How many tc’s have you had in total, and how long have you been in the tcc? I've been liking teachers for 1 and a half years now. I’ve had 4 tc’s in total which is something. I’ve been in the tcc for nearly 2 years now

11 - Is your tc’s room close to the front of your school / campus, or is it more towards the back? Their offices are both at the front of the school which is convenient!

12- Are you shorter or taller than your tc? Both taller than me! S completely towers over me

13 - does your tc have any pets at home? how many and what animals? B used to have a ginger cat

14 - Does your tc have a blackboard or a whiteboard in their room? What color chalk/marker do they use the most? They both use whiteboards and they mainly used black and red markers

15 - Besides your blog, do you vent about your feelings towards your tc in any other way? I have a mini diary that I use on my computer for things that I don’t put on here. I go more into depth about things there and read back on them every once in a while

16 - Are there any students you’re jealous of in terms of their relationship to your tc? Not really

17 - Imagine that you and your tc were born in the same year. How many days apart would your birthdays be? I would have no clue. Maybe a couple months apart

18 - Have you ever gotten in trouble with your tc? If so, what happened? Never have! Hopefully never will!

19 - Is your tc’s hair curly or straight, and is it short, medium, or long? Both of their hair is straight and short. B’s hair is slightly longer and a tiny bit wavier than S’ hair.

20- what web browser does your tc use? what kind of phone/computer do they have? I think they both use a HP laptop, so the Microsoft windows web browser. As for phones, they both have apple phones, so safari or google

21- Are there any calendar dates that are special to you because of your tc? Not yet!

22 - Do any celebrities or fictional characters look like or remind you of your tc? Kind of. There was this one guy on instagram who reminded me of S a tiny bit. There is someone that looks like B as well, but I don’t know who it was. Hopefully I remember soon!

23 - Is your tc’s room/office number even or odd? I have no idea

24 - What do you think sets your tc apart from other teachers at your school? Their personality and looks

25 - Do you like the teachers who are “neighbors” with your tc (that is teachers who have rooms next to your tc)? Yes but no. There are teachers in the same room as each other.

26 - Have you ever suspected someone you know irl of having a teacher crush (either on your tc or on a different teacher)? If so, have you ever confronted them about it? Not really

27 - Do you pass by your tc’s room or office on your way to class frequently? Do you see them around campus a lot? I see them around a lot, but I don’t pass their office tons. I pass B's office sometimes when i have classes in the same building as his office.

28 - Is teaching your tc’s first job, or did they have another job before being a teacher? Have they ever taught at another school before? I know that S has had other jobs before teaching at my school. I think it’s the same for B, but i'm not sure

29 - What things keep you happy and occupied over break when you miss your tc? If you’ve graduated or will no longer be seeing your tc in school, how are you handling the situation? I keep myself busy over the breaks by drawing or doing things on my laptop

30 - What is the sweetest thing they told you or did for you? B liking my drawings and S giving me life advise

6 notes · View notes

otome-mondays · 8 months ago

Text

Radiant Tale Review 🎪

We’re talking about Radiant Tale this week! This is another game that I have been incredibly excited about and was so happy when it released!

Spoilers Ahead

Radiant Tale follows Tifalia and her journey with CIRCUS. CIRCUS is a performance troupe formed by the government to bloom magical flowers called Flora to awaken the crown prince from his current frozen-in-time state. As they journey through the country of Escholtia, everybody learns more about their country and the friends they’re traveling with. This game is another one with an incredibly long common route, but the LI routes are actually shorter in chapters or the same depending on who. I feel like this game is more focused on fixing the problems at hand than romance, so if you’re not big on those types of games you might want to skip this one. As always, I’ll be reviewing in the route order I played!

Paschalia 💧

I started with Paschalia’s route and it was a really fun route! The last more lighthearted otome game I played didn’t take me too long, so I wasn’t expecting this route to be super long either. I was incredibly wrong about that. Paschalia is a water spirit contractor, and you can tell he’s contracted with a strong spirit because of the drastic change in his appearance. He’s a very soft-spoken, calm person who tries to dodge conflict as much as possible. Since each route goes into extreme spoiler territory in my opinion, I’m not going to go into much detail about what happens. What I will say is this route had a twist, that while I guessed while playing, I had no clue of at the start. I was getting a little frustrated with Paschalia near the end because he also ends up being a bit stubborn over something. This route also explores more about the city of Oriens and the spirits. Both the happy ending and normal ending were nice to see! Even if you don’t get the happy ending, it’s nice that you still get a good type of ending with Paschalia. It’ll be interesting to see the different endings with the rest of the LIs. I’d also like to note that at the end of the happy ending, there was a screen with a chibi Vilio and four blank red spaces behind him. One changed and revealed Paschalia. So this gives you a tracker to see how far away you are from Vilio’s route in a sense. 8/10.

Zafora 🤹‍♂️

Next route for me was Zafora, and I was honestly very excited going into this route. Zafora is the literal clown of the group, but he’s also an information broker and he is not the comedic relief. It’s interesting to see just how different he is in performances compared to the rest of the game. He’s definitely the tsundere route, so usually he’s very harsh with his words. He does open up more throughout the game and is a very likable character, at least to me. Zafora’s route focuses on the city of Cultura, which when you play through the common route isn’t too surprising. This route also covers the topic of fiends a bit. For the sake of not giving spoilers, I’m not going into too much detail. Zafora’s route was incredibly enjoyable though, and I didn’t have too many times where I would get frustrated with him unlike Paschalia’s route. I could understand a bit better where Zafora’s thoughts and feelings were coming from and why he did the things he did. Both the endings are really good too! After the happy ending, it unlocked Zafora’s part of the “path to Vilio route mural,” which is what I’m calling this from now on. I actually really enjoyed this route and I think it’s one of the better ones I’ve played in general, 9/10.

Ion 🍳

Moving on, we have Ion next! I didn’t really know what to expect when starting his route. I took a bit longer on his route due to work starting up again for me and some personal stuff keeping me from fully immersing myself in the game. I also got fixated on Virche Evermore when playing his route. So, Ion is a former Public Security Forces officer who is now traveling with CIRCUS. Ion’s initially very distant and opposed to Tifalia and Radie joining the group, but warms up to them during their travels. He’s also surprisingly an amazing cook. During the common route, we learn he’s from Ferus and why he has an eyepatch he’s always wearing. Ion’s route is focused on Ferus and the missing Intaglio Ring. Now Radiant Tale in general has some slightly darker themes than it seems when you first start the game, but this one was a bit rougher than the other two routes so far. Just because it’s darker doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its romantic moments. Ion’s archetype isn’t normally one I tend to be ecstatic for, but I really did enjoy it this time. This was the first time the normal ending wasn’t really a slightly less happy ending. The happy ending was really well done and I truly enjoyed it! With this route done, we have another part of the path to Vilio’s route mural unlocked. 8.5/10.

Radie 🥂

We’re over halfway through the game, meaning it’s time for Radie’s route! This route contains a lot of in universe lore, and because of that I kinda of wish it was locked behind a couple routes. Radie is Tifalia’s best friend and they call each other family; he’s been with her for most of her life and the two are practically attached at the hip. Radie is a fey beast who sticks around and watches over Tifalia. He’s usually the one that’s pushing Tifalia to do things and explore more, and they have a very interesting relationship. Tifalia starts developing feelings for him, which kind of throws off the dynamic. I would go into more detail of what happens, but I really don’t want to spoil all the interesting parts of this route. Normally, I’m not the biggest fan of some of the tropes that are used throughout Radie’s route, but I really think they were executed well. The happy ending and normal ending are both technically happy endings, unlike Ion’s. I did enjoy the happy ending a lot and it was a nice way to wrap up Radie’s route! Radie’s route also mostly focuses on Celius, Tifalia’s parents and family, and sets up anticipation for Vilio’s route. 9/10.

Vilio 🐉

Alright we’ve finally made it to Vilio’s route! Vilio is a dragon who crashes into Tifalia when CIRCUS first meets up in Artheir. He’s incredibly energetic and excited to explore the world, so much so he nearly burns down the perfomance tent when Tifalia and Radie first check out CIRCUS’s show. This route is locked for a reason, and also happens to be the longest route. I got very unmotivated when starting his route because he has his own common route and you can’t skip what you’ve already read. I wanted to finish this game in January, but because of how bored I got during the first half it took longer. I would say it does end up being worth the slog of the first five chapters though. Vilio’s route focuses on dragons, the core items, great spirits, the king Artheir, fiends, and Ragules. It’s a route I kept drawing some parallels with to Paschalia’s route specifically, and that ended up being a little frustrating to me. I think Vilio’s route is better executed though, and it was the right choice to make his route locked and last. Vilio has a very cute happy ending, meanwhile his normal ending hurts like Ion’s but worse. 8.5/10

Overall Thoughts 🎪

After the last few otomes I’ve finished giving me a sense of relief that it’s finally over, I feel a little sad that I’m done with this game. Now, I know it won’t be for too long with the fandisc coming out this year, but I still really enjoyed playing this game. It was longer and more in-depth than I thought it would be. I’ve been waiting to play this game for a while too, so I’m very happy it got localized. My recommended route order is going to be Zafora/Paschalia -> Ion -> Radie -> Vilio. Ion could be tied with Zafora and Paschalia, but I feel like it’s best to wait on his a little bit. My rating is 9/10. Now onto rankings:

Route: Radie > Zafora > Vilio > Ion > Paschalia

LI: Radie > Zafora > Vilio > Ion > Paschalia

Resources 📝

I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs to help me get all the endings.

#otome mondays #radiant tale #minor spoilers #cg spoilers

5 notes · View notes

fantasyinvader · 2 years ago

Text

I think I know what part of the problem is when it comes to Edelgard.

Remember how in the Nintendo Dream interview the devs talked about not wanting to do a golden route where everyone lives, saying it would take away from players of other routes and make a bigger push for it to be the canonical ending. We saw this happen with Fates, with people upset at how Revelations undermined both Birthright and Conquest by being that (almost) everybody lives ending. I've put down Digimon Survive myself because it locks it's golden ending behind NG+. By making one route appear to be better than the others, it makes players more inclined to support that route which is a problem when they only expected most to finish one.

Sure, Flower might have a lot of subtext and implications that it's the villain route and is noticably shorter than the other routes, but it's meant to appear as though it's just as heroic as the other three routes. Edelgard being the villainous Flame Emperor was the twist of the game, but players elected to side with her anyway therefore it was made to look no worse than the other routes. It's also why they want to focus on the Academy stage of the game. It's before the big reveal, and this is the problem.

Years later, the franchise is still treating Edelgard being a baddie as a big shocking secret.

Look at what we saw in Engage. We have Edelgard saying that the three Lords protected their respective worlds, except that's not the case at all. Claude and Dimitri joined with the Church, fought the Empire, tried to save Rhea and took out TWSITD. Edelgard, alternatively, killed Dimitri, killed or exiled Claude, killed Rhea, continued to work with TWSITD helping them accomplish their goals, let Hubert and Byleth take out TWSITD after they were no longer useful to her, conquered Fodlan with Japanese text implying her armies are marching on other countries afterwards. To say that these stories all protect the same world is absurd. Likewise, Byleth's trial takes place in the chapter where the reveal happens. Byleth takes the Flame Emperor's place while summoning phantoms reflecting each one of the lords to help him fight, keeping the true identity of the Flame Emperor a secret.

Granted, with Engage it keeps the spoilers for all the games a secret in an attempt to bait new players. Like Sigurd dying in the middle of his game, or Lyn and Hector being friends with Roy's father (with Lyn being a candidate for his mom). But with Byleth, we get clues that point to Byleth being from Silver Snow. Their trial theme is contains the song of the Nabateans (associated with them and Rhea), Edge of Dawn (the main theme of the game which full text reveals Byleth and Edelgard became enemies) and Our Paths Shall Never Cross (I think that's the name, showing Byleth and Edelgard going their separate ways). We also receive the Byleth Emblem when Hortensia defects from her country, resolving to fight it and those pulling it and her father's strings, much like how the Black Eagles side with the Church in Silver Snow against their country which is being manipulated from the shadows by TWSITD with Ionius implied to be their puppet.

Cipher also opted to depict post-timeskip designs, using Silver Snow as the base for it's Black Eagles-themed expansion, but then we get Heroes and it's commitment to have characters...prevent War-era characters from warning their academy era counterparts about what's going to happen to try and stop the war. Then there's Hopes, which focuses more on the war but also tries to say this is what the characters would be like without Byleth. Hopes tries to make all routes worse than their Houses counterparts to not undermine that game, degrading itself int he process while at the same time to not deal with the big twist of that game, trying to say all three of the Lords are pretty bad on their own in different ways.

This commitment to not having a golden route is where the problems all stem. If you want to do a game where you have contrasts like the path towards enlightenment and the path of the beast, oudou vs hadou, or seeking the truth or embracing comforting lies and ignorance, then by trying to put them on equal footing you're not really saying anything. Or are you really going to treat giving a political voice to the commoners as just as good as consolidating power upon the throne so it's leader can shape Fodlan towards her social Darwinist vision?

Edelgard being the villain is a twist, with IS still acting like the cat isn't out of the bag because if they do, then Flower is going to be less appealing and therefore have less people viewing it as the canonical end. Yet at the same time, it's an offshoot of the Black Eagles route, the one where players must fight against their lord character while the other two lords (and unrecruited students/staff) die off-screen. We must fight against two of our former students while not having the opportunity to reach out to other classes. That's the way the story should go, since the game is framed as Byleth's story and the options that unlock Flower are framed as changing it. It's why the Eagles get the biggest character pushes, why the games use Eagle-themed picks for it's loading menus, why the devs said that Byleth's flag is the games Fire Emblem to them... In many ways, Silver Snow best encapsulates what they wanted to do with the game. It's silver, not a golden route. You can save who you can but not everyone, and you'll still have to end Edelgard.

7 notes · View notes

the1975attheirverybest · 2 years ago

Note

I want to start writing on here, do you have any advice? 💕

I don’t know if any of this is helpful at all cuz sometimes I feel like I have no clue what I’m doing, but this is what I’d say:

Figure out what your strengths are as a writer/ what you enjoy writing! This can be tropes or genres but it can also be like right down to the sentence level. For me, I find writing dialogue comes easier than regular paragraphs or descriptions. While, some of my favorite writers on here do an AMAZING job of setting a scene in a way I could never dream of. I mean, @64yrsold ‘s writing drips with intimacy, you feel like you’re literally spying on two people in private. @throughthepostmodernlens expert scene setter, same with @imightgetbetter. Everyone has different things they excel at and enjoy. Don’t be afraid to experiment with form, pov, style to figure out what you like!

Read a bunch of stuff that you like and figure out why you like it. I guess that’s kind of related to the first point, but like Russian literature that goes on and on for ages is great and Sally Rooney who hardly tells you anything is also great. So it’s not about what you’re doing it’s about how you’re doing it. So, find out why the stuff that you think is successful actually succeeds and try to incorporate that into your work.

Don’t overthink it! Sometimes you don’t need an entire plot worked out before you start writing. Ideas will come to you if you follow your instinct!

The right tags and visuals will help you reach the audience who’s looking for your work! So don’t be shy about that stuff!

Have fun with it! If it’s making you laugh/ smile/ have a good time as you’re doing it, the energy will translate and the reader will feel it too!

Write both shorter and longer pieces of you wanna practice!

I think that about covers it? Let me know if you have any more questions and PLEASE update me. Would love to read your stuff once you’re done with it ! 💗

10 notes · View notes

lukezar · 1 year ago

Text

A Lightning/Flash of Light JASON TODD AFTER HIS DEATH (RESURRECTION)

Chapter 2: Bruce's point of view

[Continuation..]

youtube

It's been too long, longer than I'd like, it's been a while since I found Jason's grave without his body. I remember every feeling of my being, every bit of anger I felt, from when I lost Jason, when the Joker captured him, tortured and killed my Robin back then, from when I found out that Todd's grave was ransacked that night, how now I have spent days or even weeks without finding any trace of my son's body.

I've had sleepless nights, which would be considered normal, but these days? These days it's been worse. How I make every mistake, every mistake, with this boy. Still, I won't stop, I can't stop, I won't let him down again, no matter what, I just want to bring him back home.

That's where my thoughts are interrupted by seeing the light on the computer screen blinking over and over again. I get up from my chair in this whole dark cave, and I remember, and I check after having removed all the possibilities, I find myself in the only possible place... The Lazarus pit. A small chance that this ends in something good, to find a clue after all this time. It is then that I set out to embark on a direct journey to the location that was most likely to find answers, I head there as fast as I can, wanting not to raise my hopes so that they simply crumble easily.

From one moment to the next, I find myself in a passageway, walking cautiously, until I stop when I see a large door that leads to a large jade patio, meeting the gaze of someone who doesn't surprise me; Ra's Al Ghul himself.

– “Wow, you surprise me. What is Batman doing here between my territories? –

I keep quiet as I watch him and frown. I have to be careful, and I stay alert to realize that in the next second that passes, a sword is thrown like that at my head, although I dodge it. With that light attack, an exchange of blows and short and long distance attacks began on both sides, and despite this, I don't know how long we were fighting, all my concentration was on the fight in order to continue advancing, however It wasn't until the moment that I heard a couple of doors open and it was in those moments that I directed a slight look at the cause of that slight sound, until I saw it. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing, I could see Jason in those same seconds, he was alive, he was standing and breathing. I didn't know the exact time, that later, I could feel it rushing towards me; my mind went blank.

The boy ran in the middle of the fight and clung to me with a formidable grip and it even seemed that he could vanish again at any moment, so I grabbed him in the same way, pulling him towards me if that was possible more than I currently was. I still couldn't believe it, Jason, my son was here and when I felt it I had no doubt that he was him, although he still wasn't sure how or why. What I did notice is that Ra's Al Ghul's attacks had ceased, apparently that happened as soon as Jason's figure was introduced to us; I wanted to ask several questions, but before I could get a single word out of me, Jason's grip loosened and I turned my full attention again and watched as the boy slowly faded away, slowly losing consciousness. When he completely let go of me I quickly made sure to catch him before he hit the cold tile floor. With more calm I proceed to have an exchange of words with the one who is also called the head of the demon.

Now I'm moving, I'm going straight back, with Jason by my side, keeping him as close to me as possible, with so many questions and questions in my head that could wait later because I just found out that the boy, the one I thought was dead, has come back alive

Okay, my administration is horrible. In the first song it turned out to be longer than what I wrote, and now in this one I wanted a better song than the one I present but it was the opposite (that song was shorter only to accompany the reading), so yes, maybe it's the text's fault, but with Batman there are more things that man could express internally and that would be long, so I tried not to cover too much in Batman's thoughts to also focus on the reunion with his second Robin , although I must admit that this time I had more inspiration than the other time at the time of writing, and if that continues, the chapters will become longer. I also think that in the last part I feel that he says it as a bit cold, although I'm not sure.

ESPAÑOL

Un Rayo/Destello de Luz - Cap 2: Punto de vista de Bruce

JASON TODD, DESPUÉS DE SU MUERTE (RESURRECCIÓN)(QUE PASARIA SI...)

[Continuación de esto...]

youtube

Ha pasado demasiado tiempo, más del que me gustaría, ha pasado un tiempo desde que halle la tumba de Jason sin su cuerpo. Recuerdo cada sentir de mi ser, cada pisca de enojo que sentí, desde que perdí a Jason, cuando el guasón lo capturó, torturo y mato a mi Robin de ese entonces, de cuando me entere que la tumba de Todd fue saqueada esa noche, de cómo ahora llevo días o incluso semanas sin encontrar ningún rastro del cadáver de mi hijo.

Llevo noches sin dormir, lo cual se consideraría normal, ¿pero en estos días?, en estos días ha sido peor. Como cometo cada fallo, cada error, con este chico. Aun así, no voy a detenerme, no puedo detenerme, no le volveré a fallar, no importa que, solo deseo traerlo de vuelta a casa.

Es ahí donde mis pensamientos son interrumpidos al ver la luz de la pantalla de la computadora parpadeando una y otra vez. Me levanto de mi silla en toda esta cueva oscura, y recuerdo, y compruebo después de haber quitado todas las posibilidades, me encuentro en el único lugar posible… El pozo de Lázaro de Ra’s Al Ghul. Una pequeña posibilidad de que esto termine en algo bueno, por encontrar una pista después de todo este tiempo. Es entonces que me dispongo a embarcarme en un viaje directo a la localización que era más probable encontrar respuestas, me dirijo hacia allá lo más rápido que se me permite, deseando no crearme grandes esperanzas para que simplemente se desmoronen fácilmente.

De un momento a otro, me encuentro en un pasadizo, caminando con cautela, hasta que me detengo al ver una puerta grande que lleva a un patio amplio de jade, y es donde me situó ahora, encontrándome con la mirada de quien no me sorprende; el propio Ra’s Al Ghul.

– “Vaya, me sorprendes. ¿Qué hace acá Batman entre mis territorios?” –

Me mantengo en silencio mientras lo observo y frunzo el ceño. Debo de ser cuidadoso, y me mantengo alerta para darme cuenta de que en el siguiente segundo que pasa, una espada es lanzada así mi cabeza, aunque la esquivo. Con ese ligero ataque, se dio inicio un intercambio de golpes y ataques de corta y larga distancia por ambas partes, y pese a ello, no sé cuánto tiempo estuvimos combatiendo, toda mi concentración estaba en la pelea para así poder seguir avanzando, sin embargo, no fue hasta el momento que oí un par de puertas abrirse y fue en esos instantes que dirigí una leve mirada del causante de aquel leve sonido, hasta que lo vi. No podía creer lo que estaban viendo mis ojos, pude ver a Jason en esos mismos segundos, él estaba vivo, estaba parado y respirando. No supe el tiempo exacto, que luego, pude sentirlo abalanzarse hacia mí; mi mente se quedo en blanco.

El chico corrió en media pelea y se aferró a mí con un agarre formidable e incluso pareciera que otra vez en cualquier momento se podría desvanecer, así que lo agarre de la misma manera atrayéndolo hacia mi si era eso posible más de lo que actualmente estaba. Seguía sin poder creerlo, Jason, mi hijo estaba aquí y cuando lo sentí no me queda duda que era el, aunque aun no estaba seguro de como o la razón. De lo que si me percate es que los ataques de Ra’s Al Ghul habían cesado, al parecer eso ocurrió ni bien se nos presento la figura de Jason; quería hacer varias preguntas, pero antes de que pudiera salir una sola palabra de mí, el agarre de Jason se aflojo y volví a dirigirme hacia la mi total atención y ver como poco a poco el chico se desvanecía, perdiendo la conciencia lentamente. Cuando se soltó completamente de mi rápidamente me asegure de atraparlo antes que tocara la losa del frío suelo. Ya con más calma procedo a tener un intercambio de palabras con aquel que lo hacen llamar también la cabeza del demonio.

Ahora me estoy moviendo, voy directo de regreso, con Jason a mi lado, manteniéndolo lo más cerca posible de mí, con tantas preguntas y cuestiones en mi cabeza que podrían esperar después porque me acabo de enterar que el chico, aquel que creí muerto, ha vuelto vivo.

Okey, mi administración es una basura. En la primera canción resultó más larga de lo que escribí, y ahora en esta es todo lo contrario, así que si, tal vez es culpa del texto, pero es que con Batman hay más cosas que el hombre podría expresar internamente y eso seri largo, por lo que intente no abarcar mucho en la parte de los pensamientos de Batman para enfocarme en el reencuentro con su segundo Robin, aunque debo de admitir que esta vez tuve más inspiración que la otra vez al momento de escribir, y si eso sigue así, los capítulos se harán más largos. También creo que en la última parte siento que lo dice como un poco frío, aunque no estoy segura.

Respecto a la historia, no estoy satisfecha ni insatisfecha así que lo considero aceptable, no soy del tipo de perosnas que se les da bien transmitir las frustaciones o los sentimientos del personaje, pero eso esta bien.

#batfam #batfam dc #batman #dc #youtube #fanfic #jason todd #ra's al ghul

2 notes · View notes

ama-the-weeb · 2 years ago

Text

@hongiceweek as always fic under cut, and this one ended up being a bit shorter than the last two (still longer than day 1 though!) 330 words

Day 4 ~ Fireworks & Northern Lights / Music (once again, did both)

For their first date, Leon decided to take Emil to watch a fireworks show. They arrived early, so, fortunately, they were able to get a decent spot to watch from. Unfortunately, however, it would be another half hour until the show’s supposed to start.

“So, what now?” Emil asks, sitting next to Leon, looking up at the sky.

“I guess we wait for the show to start,” Leon shrugs.

Sighing deeply, Emil looks to Leon. “Well, thank you, Mister Obvious,” he scoffs. “I was asking about what to do in the meantime.”

“Oh,” Leon smiles awkwardly and looks away. “I don’t know,” he mumbles.

Suddenly, someone starts blasting some music, interrupting their awkward silence. Neither Emil nor Leon recognizes the song, but the sudden noise where there was silence causes them to laugh uncontrollably.

“I- It’s not even funny,” Emil stutters between giggles, “Why are we laughing so hard?”

“No clue!” Leon laughs harder.

It takes them a few minutes to regain composure, and by the time they do, they’ve started holding hands.

“I’m enjoying this,” Emil smiles genuinely, “Even if the fireworks haven’t started yet.”

“I’m glad,” Leon smiles and hugs Emil closely.

Finally, as they’re still in each other’s arms, the fireworks show begins. The timing couldn’t be more perfect; the fireworks lighting up the area just enough that Leon can see Emil’s face lighting up and his smile widening.

Leon himself can’t help but stare at Emil; his quiet gorgeousness and expression are quite eye-catching.

Catching Leon staring, Emil looks to him and chuckles. “Beautiful, right?”

Leon is unsure whether Emil is referring to the fireworks or himself.

“Yeah,” Leon sighs, deciding to not think about it too much.

“Although, I will admit,” Emil starts.

“Hm?” Leon hums in curiosity.

“The northern lights are much prettier.”

“I wouldn’t know, I haven’t seen them,” Leon replies.

“Well, someday,” Emil smiles softly, “I’m going to take you to Iceland and we’ll watch them together.”

“I’ll look forward to that.”

#hongice week day 4 #i wanted to make a song cover to go with this but #the thing was i didnt decide on a song until it was too late so i just said eh fuck it #so now this is just the fic #i may make the song cover and release it later

6 notes · View notes

madness-of-void · 6 months ago

Text

IT IS TIME

I said I was going to be 'annoying' about the fic I am writing once I got home from work. Well, I am home from wooooork.

I'm gonna ramble a little, so it'll all be put under a read more. I'll be kinda vague with some things, but I'm also gonna indulge a little coz I was not lying when I said I am fucking excited for this fic.

Anyways...here. We. Go!

It's a series! That's right. A series. Was it planned? Fuck no! Originally, it was only going to be this one chaptered fic. But then I had this idea to make a little prologue for a certain duo. Then I had this idea for 8 shorter fics. And THEN I had the idea for a second chaptered fic. *sigh* Yeah. I did that to myself.

There is a rough outline and other notes for the first fic in the series, but I am still flying by the seat of my pants with this one, folks. And some things I planned? Looks like they aren't happening! Things I didn't plan! They're happening! I have no control of these little shits, and I am okay with that. Kinda work better that way.

It is UTMV! Yaaay! I was a little apprehensive at first about diving myself into fic writing for this fandom, especially since I haven't written anything since 2020 and I have seen some people get a little butthurt about people not "writing these characters right". But you know what? I don't care. I have seen good fics/artwork with canon depictions, fanon depictions, and mixtures of both. There's a bunch of cakes out there to devour! Might as well throw mine out there!

Finally have a title! The series is called Reunion in Chains (RIC for short). The first chaptered fic is called Immured. The rest...are surprises. >:3

At the end of each chapter, I'll have a little author's notes that will be kind of like a behind the scenes type of deal. Fun little extra tid bits, if you will. Which I have never done before. Kinda excited about it, too.

Currently working on Chapter 4, which is being a royal beast. It's so far the longest chapter. Though, if the pattern of each chapter being longer than the last continues, it'll lose it's crown real soon.

How long will it be in total? No clue! Again, I'm just winging this bitch! Though I do have up to 6 chapters titled! Yippee!

There will be 4 ships in total: 1 that is mentioned real quick, 1 that is a secret until around chapter 6 or 7, 1 that is established before the start of the fic and is hinted at until it is outright said at a certain chapter (I am vibrating in anticipation to get to that point), and 1 that is slowly happening throughout in a more subtle way.

Possible rating will be M. Mostly for swearing, threats of violence (mostly physical, but there will be vague sexual ones as well), actual violence, mentions of past abuse, blood, and electrical punishment (you'll understand in due time).

I created 6 OCs specifically for the first fic that are fleshed out and have names! They are:

Ruperto - Human (he/him)

Taran - Spider monster (they/them)

Franciszka "Franny - Bunny monster (she/her)

Lilium - Flowey variant (he/him)

Abel - Dog monster (he/him)

Mimsy - Cat monster (they/them)

There are other random background kind of OCs that will be mentioned, but they are so minor that all they have is a description. No names. For now.

Lilium is my favorite to write so far. He is a fucking shithead and I love him!

There will be 2 additional OCs (that I know of thus far) that'll be created for the series, though they are going to be in the second chaptered fic. So no development yet.

Immured will be in Dream's POV! Which, not gonna lie, has been fun to do. Boy has a lot of angst potential, and I am running with it!

This includes having 1 dream that is a flashback, and 1 that mixes up a flashback and internal guilt. And plenty silent mentions of the incident.

Fun fact: There will be a lot of strikethrough in several chapters. This is very intentional! Let's see if anyone can figure out the reason why.

Error, by far, is the hardest one for my to write! I wanted to try to show his stuttering/glitches...but that is not easy to do. Sometimes I'm like "oh god, this is too much, I might have to fix this later", and other times it's "yeeeees I love how that looks, it's perfect". We shall see how it all ends up in the end after the millionth edit. (I have edited these chapters so much in the middle of writing, you have no idea.)

Ink is also so goddamned hard to write! Mostly because I want to write him as a silly little guy instead of someone reacting to the really shitty situation everyone had found themselves in, as well as having to turn off le emotions. For really important reasons. Promise.

Spoiler: Yes. Dream and Nightmare do make-up. Because I want them to. Badly.

Nightmare is also fun to write! Especially when I get to make him a sassy bastard.

Dream and Dust future smoking buddies? More likely than you think.

People underestimating Dream because he's the Guardian of Positivity and therefore there is no way he would be capable of hurting someone? 😏

Little sprinkles of a different take of the OG apple incident, with a full exploration in one of the side fics where the twins have a long, proper talk? 😏😏

The pre-Immured ship being absolutely cute here and there? And being that much more cute in their relationship 'prologue' fic, their side fic, and in the second chaptered fic? 😏😏😏

Dream and Nightmare having specifically adorable nicknames they used for each other when they were kids and they start using again as adults? 😏😏😏😏

And that's it! Though, before I end this rambling mess that I had to indulge myself in...I thought I'd leave some of my favorite snippets. I won't leave any context nor where they're at in the story. Enjoy!

Dream perked up, sockets wide and golden tears threatening to spill. Staring back with familiar shyness, Nightmare continued to whistle. As if he was waiting for Dream to resume the song. So he did. The twins spun the songs they used to hear at their tree – knowing their parts as if they had only performed it yesterday. Pure happiness squeezed within Dream's chest, ready to choke the air right out of him at any given second. It was nothing huge or life changing. Truly insignificant to anyone witnessing. But to Dream? It meant everything.

“Uh, excuse you? Nothing about me is straight. Dunno why you would think my priorities would be. And having nom-noms is a great priority! Right, H?”

But his face...oh god, his face. It was always different somehow in the way it was obscured, reminding him that he couldn't remember his twin's fucking face .

Nightmare scoffed right back – grin stretching wide and venomous. “Is that so? Well, why don't you enter my cage and see how big my bite is? I promise...I will leave some flesh attached, youngling.”

“So! Does anyone have any ideas? We can spitball! No idea is stupid!”

Taking it as a challenge, Killer smirked and casually sprawled out on the floor. “We can try to seduce them?”

“Except that one! That one is pretty stupid.”

And Dream began to wail.

Wail like the little boy who lost everything centuries ago.

#void talks #nic talks #fic goodies #tada!#my immense rambling!#probably too much #but oh well!#enjoy if you decided to dive in

1 note · View note