#so wait for me restore my piano

[sygneth]

i ran out of pic space

okay so to mention some other things we have learned, it was finishing furniture with shellac, leinen oil and wax, getting rid of insects, fixing old veneer and put on new, restoring broken wood pieces (as below, I've filled in an edge in this old cigar box and tinted it so it blends in, try to spot where)

We did welding (in case there is a hinge or something to be welded), moulding

(with lead, but i suppose if i had a good temperature, I could do brass too) and so many other things i can't even remember. One of the best weeks (even though I am socially drained, our instructor was... an intense guy.)

I have also learned that an old table I found on the dumpster and took home is probably pre-war period btw. I don't think I would if not for the knowledge I got now

Okay, so the reason I decided to go to this course in the first place is that I *love* antiques and if I could only afford another degree I would absolutely go study conservation, but, for now, it's not possible, so I decided to find some course/workshops. And god damn this was the best idea ever.

Here is a drawer, finished. Apparently, a missing drawer is a common thing in old furniture so it's handy to know how to make one.

I made it from scratch, all there was at the beginning was two pieces of wood. Also, I decided to try inlay (and I loved it 100%).

I also learned how to duplicate old keys by hand, because apparently no locksmith will do a key like that for a reasonable price anymore and old things sometimes miss a key.

Some gilding. We also did schlagmetal on wood and clay, but this one is genuine gold on the cover of 19th century Bible so that's neat. The book itself was absolutely awesome.

We also did engraving in glass (it was surprisingly easy and pleasant, I loved it) and in metal, and we learned how to make new things look old (this frame was also made from scratch, from a very dusty piece of rather new wood). Neat.

And two things I am most proud of (actually there is one more, but it's a gift, so I'll show you after I give it to the person)

This is 19th century handle cover etched by me (I think metal etching is one of my favourite techniques from now on, for real)

And a chair that we have been making a brand new cushion for (it's made in 18th-19th century fashion, with springs and all.)

[cloudcountry]

SUMMARY: adeline looks on as you and her brother fumble around each other.

COMMENTS: eiland....silly..........eeiland....................prettyy <333333 there is a reference to cinderella but reader is not implied fem!aligned

You’re listening intently as Adeline rattles off a myriad of statistics concerning Mistria’s economy. The tea before you has long grown cold, having been poured at the start of this long winded discussion. You chip in when needed, taking note of any materials she politely asks you to gather, such as wood and stone and metal. You’re used to it by now, having upgraded the General Store, restored the Mill, and even provided the materials for Hayden’s new barn. As far as you’re concerned, it's the same old song and dance, and you’re all too happy to oblige.

The sun dips beneath the horizon and Adeline’s pen finally clicks, her frantic note taking over for today. She still does a once over of all her paperwork, no doubt preparing to reread it in the morning to make sure it still makes sense. You gulp down the rest of your tea, not wanting to waste it, and you feel yourself regain some stamina you lost while hacking away at trees earlier that day.

���I’m so sorry for keeping you so long, it’s eight already!” Adeline apologizes, pressing a gentle hand to your back and she escorts you to the door to her study, “I’ll let you get home now! I’m sure you still have many things to attend to.”

You’re seconds away from telling her that, while you are busy, it’s your job to be busy, and that since your labor is helping this town grow, you’d put your all into it—

But then Adeline opens the door, and you see her brother at the piano.

Eiland.

Your heart jumps and lodges itself in your throat, a wave of nausea crashing over you.

It’s literally his house! Of course you were going to see him!

He turns to face you (and you probably look as disastrous as you feel, but he still smiles and says your name, greeting you so kindly like you aren’t about to have a panic attack in the middle of his super nice house.)

“I have to move my horses!” you say in a rush, scrambling out of Adeline’s hold as you make a break for the door.

You can't stay! If you do, it'd be obvious how you feel and under no circumstances can you allow that!

“Wait!” Eiland calls, distressed, “Don’t you want to stay for—?”

The door slams shut behind you as you run down the steps, lost in the night, and Eiland can’t help but think of that fairytale of the girl who fled from her prince so close to midnight.

“...dinner.” Eiland trails off, frowning.

Adeline looks between the door and her brother, a large grin spreading across her face as she puts the pieces together.

“Hmm, I wonder what that was about.” she chuckles lightheartedly, “You know, the farmer doesn’t have any horses yet from what I’ve heard. Makes you wonder why they got so nervous!”

Eiland’s pout only gets worse.

“So...they’re avoiding me.” he huffs, running a hand through his hair, “Did I do something wrong?”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s anything like that.” Adeline giggles again, and Eiland sighs.

“Maybe they’ll want to see me tomorrow.” Eiland muses, resting his chin on his hand, “If I send them a letter about the armor...maybe we could talk then...”

Adeline watches her brother fondly as he drags his feet to his room, looking more discouraged than she’s ever seen him in her life.

This, too, shall pass. Adeline knows that much.

She opens the doors to the dining room with a conspiring smile on her face and a skip in her step.

[deusvervewrites]

Saiyan AU

*Set during the Summer Camp Attack*

Ochako: Come on Tsu! We’ve got to get back to the restbif our classmates!

Tsuyu: You’re right, kero! Just keep running and— WATCH OUT!!!

Ochako: AAAHH!!

Himiko: Well lookie here!! What are two lovely gals like yourselves doing out on a late night like this?

Ochako: Stopping villains like yourself from terrorizing us further!

Tsuyu: Be careful, kero. We don’t know what her quirk is!

Himiko:*focuses attention on Tsuyu* Well by golly!! Looks like I’m in the prescense of royalty! You are Asui Tsuyu, heiress of the late Demon King Piccolo?

Tsuyu: I am his daughter. But my father and his actions don’t define me! I am my own person.

Himiko: Such conviction! But I just needed to confirm you are who I thought you were because you’re on the list!

Ochako: What list?

Himiko: The list of people we need to kidnap silly! But don’t worry, I can play with you too.

Ochako: I won’t let you kidnap Tsu!

Himiko: Who said I was going to kidnap her? *jumps away from them before placing her hands near her mouth in a bullhorn-like manner*

Himiko: CYMBAL!!! TAMBOURINE!!! I GOTTA LITTLE SUPRISE FOR YOU!!!

*Two dark shapes appear in the night sky, one slim and humanoid, the other rotund and draconic, but both possessing emerald skin and leathery wings. As they touch down, Tsuyu begins shaking in fear.*

Tsuyu: No. It’s impossible!

Ochako: What’s impossible Tsu?

Tambourine: That her dearly beloved brothers are here, ready and waiting to bring her back home!

Cymbal: Quit the yapping Tambourine! Piano said to get her and bring her back to base so we could start father’s conquest again.

Tambourine: Quite right brother. Sister, prepare yourself! As father’s heir, we expect a challenging fight!

TL;DR: Since it was never stated what happened to the Dark Vassals, I propose that they would’ve remained with Garaki out of an alliance of convenience. After all, he seeks to restore AFO and they know since Kami hasn’t dropped dead that their father left an heir somewhere. Besides, Garaki can’t Nomuify them, their too strong. So that’s how affairs went until the Sports Festival. Because once Kami revealed Tsuyu’s existance to the world, the Demon Clan vowed not to rest until they were reunited with their lost sister and future Demon Queen.

I love this. It makes sense; King Piccolo does his own dirty work so once he's ready he wouldn't need to send them out-- especially when killing off everyone who can oppose him ahead of time isn't feasible in the world of MHA.

Asui would like a fucking break

[emsuemsu]

@hprecfest day 12: wip

Now there was a time when I avoided wip’s like the plague. I prefer to binge everything I read and I was always so afraid of getting too invested before I was certain that the fic is going to be finished. Thankfully my personal character development is now at a point where I can enjoy works in progress and get just as attached to them as I please. Here's a few I follow at the moment:

The Boy From the Piano Shop by @soliblomst 🩵 draco/harry

Harry is left blind after a rash attempt to avenge Ginny's death. His life sinks further into darkness and despair until, one day, he stumbles upon a piano restoration workshop and meets the owner's assistant, whose voice sounds strangely familiar. As Draco begins to teach him the piano, the little shop gradually becomes Harry's refuge, offering him a glimmer of hope in a world without eyes. Or, Harry and Draco find solace in each other through music (and more).

I’m beyond gagged because of this fic. This is such a strong start to what I know is going to be a beautiful story. I mean it’s already beautiful, but I know it’s gonna slap even more. The first chapters are heavy, especially the fifth one, and filled with grief and sorrow so thick I can feel it in my bone marrow, just the way I like it.

Fir and Olive by @trueliarose 🩵 harry/charlie

Charlie Weasley: Harry couldn't put a name to what they were. Friends? Lovers? A couple? One thing he knew for sure: This man ignited a fire in him. How will their new found relationship cope with a whole bunch of family over the holidays? This is the second part of the White Jasmine Series

I read the first part of this series ”Apple Tree and Juniper” last month and was SO excited to see that it's going to be a series!!! And when I got the email that this was published I ran to read it. I absolutely love the warm atmosphere of the first fic and this one is even warmer, it is a baked bun and I can't wait for more.

Look at us, you and I, back at it again by @withtheoldstars 🩵 regulus/james

“Did you receive my message?” “Yeah. All 23,” he replied. The phone line went dead for a moment. “I fucking love you,” James Potter said. Regulus Black breath caught. “Aren’t you getting married today?” “Just got engaged, actually.”

😌😌😌 I recently read the authors other jegulus story ”High Infidelity” (loved it) and let me tell you when this fic was dropped… I’ve read the first chapter probably like ten times, and the second one!!!!!!!! The second one???!!!!! That first part of the chapter….?????!!! I'm feral. I'm frothing. I don’t know what I’ve done in my life to deserve this 🥹

[glapplebloom]

Since Death Battle has changed, so have my notes...

As mentioned previously, I’m changing my output on notes. Instead of right after a Death Battle I researched, I’m going to do it based on the things of the year. So let’s see what events happened.

Before the Shutdown...

As people expected, the matches this year were matches meant for Season 11. For me, I was head researcher for Bowser Vs Eggman, which was a match we wanted to do for a very long time and was originally meant for Season 10. As for Wile E Vs Tom, while I didn’t get the position of Head Researcher for either of them, I was a part of the planning since I knew so much about the two. They asked for a clip of Tom playing the piano, I got them the exact one they’re looking for. I showed them a clip of them explaining why they've been chasing each other for years. I was the one who discovered Anti-Looney DNA. So I can confidently say I was involved in it. We were even going to get a pay raise and...

Goodbye Rooster Teeth

Yeah, this came out of nowhere. I don’t think anyone knew it was going to happen until it was announced. Maybe a select few but overall a surprise. So I got a severance pay and that was it. They were hoping Death Battle could continue in some form, so I waited. I still had my own projects to do so I was able to keep going without Death Battle. But that did let me loosen up on my own self-appointed rules. I didn’t promote other Vs Shows (ones with research) that were similar to DB but now that it's no longer available, they’re keeping the community alive with their own unique matches. And even with DB returning, I am putting them in my MG Must See Playlists when I update on the Middle Ground.

Pre-Kickstarter

A great day was finding out we were coming back as an independent show. I immediately came back to their current HQ for Death Battle. Then I got hacked. The hacker in question got my friend and wasn’t automated. It was like a person was actually behind it. So much so when they entered the Middle Ground Discord, they were pretending to be me. Luckily, the instant I realized what happened, I went to Twitter to tell people I was hacked, made a new Discord account to let people know, and was about to nuke my Discord account to prevent anymore spreading. Luckily Discord itself came to me to restore my control. But that means I was kicked out of the DB and couldn’t participate in any of the Pre-Kickstarter stuff. But once it got announced publicly, I was back on. 

Bardock Vs Omniman

One thing that was different than before is my participation in the editor streams. Sometimes the editors or animators stream their works and talk with the others there. Sometimes asking for help. In this episode, I helped by finding Bardock firing a beam. I also tried to help find the Leprechaun Car scene, but Max found a better quality. It is nice to help beyond that.

Bowser Vs Eggman

I was the head researcher for Eggman. And sadly, I knew coming in Eggman was likely gonna lose. Bowser’s superior strengths plus the fact he had access to all his magic on him Vs Eggman needing various machines to do so made it obvious. But I did try to turn the tides which influence the script a bit as the Metal Virus and Displacement Traps were things I was pitching could be ways for Eggman to counter the advantages. They were not. Another thing I tried to do was pitch the idea that Eggman conquering the Planet was more impressive than Bowser conquering the Galaxy because he had to face adversaries.

But that just highlighted how dumb Sonic Forces was. A few months later Eggman nearly conquered the planet. Yet Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Silver, the Chaotix and others were there and didn’t pose a threat? Shadow is on equal footing and he doesn’t show up to beat his own faker until like half way till Sonic shows up. And it's only when Sonic comes back that the tides turn... How? Seriously how?

Another stupid thing about Forces: their (as in Sega’s) insistence on calling the Phantom Ruby perception manipulation despite the fact there’s so much evidence that it does change reality. The Hard Boiled Heavies were made by the thing and continue to exist after its disposal. Between Encore Mode and IDW, Heavy King and the others still are there so how is it not reality warping? It works on machines too, who shouldn’t be affected by such things since their eyes work differently. I even saw a Japanese Translated gameplay of Forces to see if America just messed up the translations. Nope, even in Japan it's considered perception manipulation. Why did they show the thing create dimensions, change gravity and create things that could actually hurt people if it's all just perceptions?!?

It probably wouldn't have changed the result since Bowser could also do that without a McGuffin, but it would have saved me a headache. Another thing, Sonic Dream Team and Frontier’s Final DLC came out after everything was settled, but nothing really added to them other than showing clips from them as well as Nightmare Eggman in the Alternate Scenario. And one more thing: Moro was asking us about adding anything to the background. My suggestion made it in: an Egg Robo riding a Motobug. They saw it as a reference to Heavy Rider, I saw it as a Reference to Jimmy. 

Fall Guys Vs Among Us

For this one, we were playing the games to get footage, so I got to play with pretty much all the researchers, editors and our two hosts. We began with Fall Guys and I don’t think I ever made it to the final round. I was there when they created that scene about Boomstick trying to push off Wiz, but I was off screen. Sadly not clipped was me basically being swung around a hammer for a long time before getting off. 

Sadly, as for Among Us, I was going to play the role of Dummi in the game. But after my first kill and a report, my internet died. It didn’t come back on until the morning, where I had to call Spectrum to get it back on. So my only influence on Dummi was giving him his color, the Dum Sticky Note, and the Pet Ellie Rose from Henry Stickmin. 

Next Year

Research has gone underway for next year as I got one fight done and another on the way. I won’t reveal who they are, but let’s say a feat was so unbelievable that basically decided everything.

[ay-miphae]

Watered-down analyses of 01011001 songs that are basically things for which I was like “Hey yeah I’d like to point that out. That’s cool”

Yeah so I started these awhile ago but. Haha

First of all, symmetry. In individual songs, throughout the entire album, everywhere. This chiastic structure is potent in all kinds of literary works, and Arjen knew what he was doing.

Age of Shadows/We Are Forever, The Fifth Extinction, and The Sixth Extinction, along with being the three 10+ minute tracks, are the beacons, the most significant plot points. Age of Shadows follows a very clean symmetry like I overanalyze here, The Fifth Extinction has a split nearly perfectly halfway through the song (between the Forevers deliberating and actually having put their plan into motion), and The Sixth Extinction. Oh yes The Sixth Extinction. More on that in a bit.

But yeah. Overall there’s a buildup from “oh no we lost our emotions we should Do something about it” to the act itself  (sending a comet with human/presumably Alphan DNA on it to Earth and living vicariously through humans) to humans similarly falling prey to the same overreliance on machines/Forevers intervening too much and ending exactly where they started. Almost.

Obligatory discourse on The Sixth Extinction but no seriously I'm obsessed with this song

That’s the brilliance of The Sixth Extinction, which has, again, a very clean symmetry for ten minutes (“for nobody heeds the echoes on the wind” -> “do you hear the sirens” -> “the meaning of life is to give life meaning” <- [flight to Mars instrumental that follows the same melodies as “do you hear the sirens] <- “and soon he’ll set free his spirit on the wind”). Like. Symmetry over you’d expect it to end right? But no! The music climaxes in a way that legitimately made me emotional the first time I actually listened to this -  “Make us whole, Migrator Soul, follow me home, complete the circle.” We see how it was supposed to end - the Mars colonist, the last in the chain (Futureman quote) was supposed to return to dust. But the narrative flips! Due to Universal Migrator level timeline wibbly stuff the Forevers have their lives restored and, ambiguously, don’t have to end with some massive tragedy? Honestly it’s a bit open-ended ESPECIALLY with the finality of the “dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum” soundbite at the end which uh. Kind of brings the arc back to where it started again. Like there’s hope and tragedy both, perhaps.

Also discussing the funky grand piano section in the middle, what would be the crux if the final chorus wasn’t. There’s a juxtaposition between Forever ⛧'s (Jonas Renske) doombound “It’s Over” realizations and the other Forevers being like “Hey wait we gained something from this after all!” most importantly “The meaning of life is to give life meaning ... Restore the balance between thinking and feeling.”

Okay yeah I need to unpack this some.

“The meaning of life is to give life meaning” sounds very profound if not a bit circular upon first glance. But here’s my take on it - in a cold and often aimless world, striving to do something to make the world a better place, to make living more meaningful for others, for yourself - that’s the most good someone can do. There’s probably more concise or better ways I could have stated that but hey. That’s just a personal interpretation and I’d love to hear others. Kind of a theme of altruism, even a cyclical nature of the universe and metaphysical meaning. Lots of completing-the-circles happening in Ayreon.

“Restore the balance between thinking and feeling” really underlines the thesis of Ayreon - retaining one’s humanity amid ... technology? I.e. technology in excess causes Bad Apocalyptic things (The Final Experiment, 01011001, The Source) but emotions can be Overpowering and Hard To Deal With (Electric Castle (in which the “most successful” characters learn to overcome and embrace), The Human Equation, even The Theory of Everything and Transitus to some extent). And it’s all in the balance.

Okay but what is the circle

Like, okay, we have the aforementioned cyclical nature of “the meaning of life” being “to give life meaning,” “follow me home complete the circle” (The Sixth Extinction), “our tale’s not over, the circle’s incomplete” (The Human Compulsion), the Mars Colonist reincarnating as the New Migrator - but what is the circle in question? Is it a matter of human nature? A mythos for the origin of life? A thesis on purpose?? Please any insight into this at all would be appreciated

Wow there sure are a lot of parallels between Connect the Dots and The Truth Is in Here

Sudden change of topic yeah but quick list: 

The introductory sound effect to indicate that this takes place on Earth (the car engine/the door slam)

A very similar introductory melody (no seriously)

The presence of Mr. L in a conflict with someone who seems well-intentioned but ignorant about the nature of existence (not to blame them!! I don’t want to spend all my waking and sleeping hours constantly aware of how humanity is screwing itself over I want to be happy too!!)

The presence of pills as a sedative or to curb the Thoughts

The way Connect the Dots is happy and upbeat and The Truth Is in Here takes a more serious turn as apocalypse draws nearer

Other random things??

River of Time is awesome and has some very cool lyrics, one of my favorites being “slow down time faster than light” which. Doesn’t make any literal sense really but sounds cool. Also “unite the forces” could be referring to the four fundamental forces?? Wow it’s almost like Forever 🕈 was a physicist in a past life or had some kind of physicist-adjacent profession oh wait. (Source reference and for the record I do think Forever 🕈 = the Astronomer and Forever Ω = the Biologist because wouldn’t that be cool)

Character-wise (God I’d love to analyze the characters but idk if I have the brainpower. Maybe in another post.) Forever Ω and the Biologist share the same emphasis on progress and Forever Ω refers to the DNA samples as “beloved sons” so that’s kind of biology coded I guess. Forever 🕈 doesn’t express many opinions (like the Astronomer) but probably experienced “don’t want to live in a world that’s dying / I’d rather die in a world that’s living” on a personal level (because you know. The Source.)

Brilliant The Final Experiment tie-ins throughout E=MC² (I mean. Time telepathy origin story) - “I have sent it but nothing changes / just a line in some ancient lore.” Okay cool but how did you know that?? Did you like meticulously pore through every tome in the library and and tediously cross-compare that to what was before to realize a grand total of one line had changed?? I don’t get it but I’m overthinking probably

Anticlimactic point to end this on I know but. Wow I love this album so much it’s brilliant on all levels and I am constantly having thoughts about it, but I think I’ve covered a lot of the thematic points that I’ve been dying to share. So yeah! Enjoy my self-indulgent ramble and Arjen’s musical brilliance and overthinking your mortality and human nature <3

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Hey @ay-miphae are you working on the source character designs

...Very slowly! Will probably be starting with the Astronomer, Captain, Opposition Leader, and TH-1 because they're my favorites and I'm biased because they're everyone else's favorites too <3

[studentbyday]

☕ december study challenge

i didn't do much schoolwork on friday, so i need to catch up! 🥺

📈 study stats (30 min):

S: 🍅🍅🍅 Su: 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

🎒 school/cs50:

finish reviewing biochem module 4 ✅ (i have a little more than 1 section left)

finish reviewing 4 pages of mol bio module 3 ✅ (😬 let's hope i remember it. out of all the courses i've taken this semester, i have the least solid background knowledge for this one...i haven't repeated the info enough times over a long-enough time period to be sure it'll stick yet 😅 at least for biochem, i have some "pegs" of solid background knowledge from physiology to hang the new content on...)

finish remainder of flask lecture (~50 mins) ✅

🩺 self-care:

physio exercises ✅✅

full body floor workout ✅

journal ✅

meditate ✅

🎶 winterstella - stella jang / appassionata, 3rd movt (piano sonata op. 57 no. 23) - beethoven / my day in music, sunday edition

💌 uuuuugggggghhhhhhhh lately not been feeling too good bc the dictionary of lost words is depressing ("poignant" as @zzzzzestforlife described it) and it makes me feel lonely along with school and whenever this happens (or i otherwise feel like a mess) i get in a philosophical mood. i have been in this mood for at least a month now (before i started the book but after midterm season). it used to only last about a week or 2 (every month, mind you 😂). i can't wait to take philosophy so i can hopefully fix my brain by practicing being more rational and critical about *waves hands* whatever things my mind drifts to, to try to piece myself back together (which sometimes pulls me back apart with an existential crisis) 😅 (i also think the fact that some of the same thoughts i'm thinking have also been thought many times by others would be some comfort 🙂) but i think i'll only be able to take it the year after next bc of other (technically higher priority) subjects (for my field 🧬🦠) which...in better days i would be really excited about. i comfort myself by thinking the christmas break will restore me.

💌💌 also i'm not going to officially finish the dictionary of lost words anymore. i've slowly been reading the ending out of order so i basically know what happens and i saved the final major happy event for last. my final thoughts are that i want a relationship like esme's and gareth's but i want it to last longer than theirs did 😭 that's it. i can't deal with this depressing stuff anymore. maybe someday i'll come back to it, but right now i cannot. sometimes i ask myself why i feel so fragile these days...i'm not sure i know why... sometimes i get a feeling that smth is missing, but it will eventually pass as i fill my cup in other ways.

💌💌💌 recently discovered this channel and loving their hyperspecific titles that tell me exactly what vibes i should expect from the music. i especially like the chemistry playlist for studying (hot take but i'm not a huuggee fan of ludovico einaudi, but for studying, it's okay) and the playlist for "making your brain shut up"

[planetkiimchi]

ten things i hate love about lee | l.t

pairing: ten x fem implied!reader, highschool au, non idol!au, academic rivals

warnings: pg13, used a few curse words (fuck once for emphasis)

word count: 5.9K

summary — ten lee is practically perfect in every way. good for him, because you don’t care. except that he’s outshining you in areas you’ve never been outdone in before, and you hate him for it. maybe the reason you hate him is not because he’s talented, but because of how you’re falling for him.

a/n: thank you @ssunnae for beta reading the last part <3 i accidentally deleted my work on tumblr editor, had to try and copy and paste from docs, realised my docs wasn't the latest updates version, tried to restore the last bullet point from tumblr (which i had just tried to delete thinking i’d just use the docs version) when making this. it was hell. however, i did have a lot of fun playing with the chinese parts! please enjoy.

New year, new you. The careful arrangement of your stationery in your pencil case and the neat stacks of books in your bag are all leading up to one thing really. This year, this year is going to be your academic comeback.

#1: His academic prowess.

Now the thing is, when you say "academic comeback" you're not really talking about going from failing to passing. You're actually already at the top of the class. It's just that there's a certain boy called Ten Lee who constantly puts you on edge.

You're constantly competing in everything that you do now. Last time, you couldn't really care less if you were second or third in class, because you could run circles around most of the people during physical education (PE) class, play the piano semi-proficiently, and carry a tune.

Then, the year that you turned fifteen, a new boy transferred to your school.

He was Thai and had a deceivingly cute smile, and at first you couldn't wait to be friends with him.

"Hi! I'm Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, but you can call me Ten. Because I'm a ten out of ten in everything I do!" was how he had introduced himself.

And honestly, it was a little cheesy, but you thought he was all the cuter for it. Especially because he had clarified the Thai system of nicknames and explained that it really was his name, not just a joke to boast about himself.

So that was fine, up till the point when everyone started comparing you to him.

When he got first in class for math, you were surprised but not disappointed. You had done your best, and since you hadn't studied that much anyway. you were proud of your solid understanding. Besides, you had seen how much he had studied and worked for his grades. It was understandable to you.

But not to everyone else.

Not when he could keep up with you during gym class. He said that he did martial arts, which obviously made a lot more sense, but his stamina was scarily good. It was insane how much he trained and the discipline he had, and your parents started calling you out for it.

"Why aren't you studying?" They would ask. "Didn't the new boy, whose first language isn't even English, do better than you in Literature? It's probably because you don't work hard enough." It was the first time in your not-very-long life that you realised you actually had to start studying and not just submit homework on time.

It was a realisation you could have done without, but it was starting to eat into you. Your friends would throw in teasing remarks from time to time about how "Ten Lee was so smart and hahaha Y/n you finally have a competitor!" without consideration for the fact that you didn't want a competitor. You were perfectly fine cruising through high school and you didn't need someone to put into perspective your talents.

You had been the prodigy for so long you couldn't comprehend someone threatening your status.

Getting used to it took a while. And by "a while", you meant three years. But this year, you were going to be eighteen. You were going to become legal, and you had new worries to think about.

Like adulting, and drinking, and several other things like when were you going to get a house or pay your parents back for your car? Trivial matters seemed to occupy your mind a lot, but it was all similarly linked to proving yourself in the eyes of your peers again.

Also, you missed being validated.

Speaking of which.... "Hey there. I'm... supposed to be sitting here?"

That voice sounded familiar, who was it? As you looked up from your phone, you caught sight of a very familiar, annoyingly handsome face. Ten Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul.

The universe must have been conspiring against you, because there was no way your luck was this bad. In a room with 20-odd teenagers, you still ended up with Ten, of all people? Seriously?

You gave him a stiff but polite smile (mostly to show him that you weren't above having manners either) and went back to fidgeting with your pen and trying your best to ignore his presence.

Sitting next to Ten was the worst experience of your life. When you previously a minimum of two seats away from him, how studious he was didn't bother you quite as much.

But it was a little more difficult to ignore the constant scribbling he was doing in his notebook (and they were good, neat notes; you peeked). His quiet confidence should have been contagious, but it was slightly disarming.

You were about to confidently explain why the work done against friction in your physics problem was 30.0 joules, when he lightly tapped your worksheet and said under his breath, "You missed one step. It's 27 joules."

Lo and behold, as soon as you looked at what he was pointing to, you realised he was right. Your skin coloured and you shook your head, lowering your hand as your teacher turned to look at you.

"Yes, Y/n? Would you like to answer the question?"

"It's alright," you mumbled softly. "I realised I missed something out."

The embarrassment seeped into your skin like poison, making you feel more and more terrible throughout the day. It wasn't the first mistake you had made, but that somehow made it worse. It made you wonder if previously Ten had noticed all your mistakes, and thought you were careless and silly.

You were still thinking about it at the end of the school day, as you collected your books and stashed it back into your bag, too tired to think about organising it.

"See you tomorrow," Ten smiled at you, waving as he left. Oh, how you hated the unreasonable way you disliked him.

#2: His chivalry.

"Good morning." Being greeted by Ten in the morning was one of those things you could do without. But it had been a good morning so far, and you weren't going to let him ruin that.

"Good morning," you replied, reaching for the door that both of you were standing in front of.

He beat you to it, opening the door before you could and gesturing for you to go first. You did, but with a slight huff, trying not to let it show how annoyed you were that you hadn't been faster.

It was a good morning though, he was right.

Firstly, your Chinese teacher was sick and not in school, meaning you had a free period. You and Yangyang decided to go to the library during your free period, happily speaking in Chinese all the way there.

Obviously, your teacher had assigned work, but the quiet confines of the library allowed you to be productive as you and Yangyang listened to music through your headphones (and his Airpods. Rich boy).

The hour passed uneventfully, and you headed back to class, refreshed from the cool air of the air-conditioned library. 

Secondly, it was Literature period. You were currently on the topic of poetry, and though some of the poems made little to no sense to you, "Five ways to kill a man" was one of the most interestingly satirical poems you'd read.

Analysing poems was not your forte, but listening to people give their interpretations of poems and seeing the influence of their worldview on their interpretation was definitely intriguing.

Time flew by, and before you knew it, it was time for break.

You would gladly and easily have slid back into the rhythm of ignoring Ten completely, except he suddenly seemed determined to be everywhere in your life.

As you queued up for your food, he moved back, allowing you to order first. When you went back to class, he pulled your chair out for you to sit. When you dropped your pencil and bent down to pick it up, he covered the edge of the table so you wouldn't hurt your head.

What was wrong with him? Why was he going out of his way to be so nice?

Ten was a nice guy, there was no denying that. Even when he was constantly overshadowing your achievements, he never bragged about it, especially not to your face. But never before had he gone out of his way three consecutive times to be nice to you.

Something had to have been up. Maybe he had had too much sugar in his coffee, and was channeling the energy rush through being nice. Maybe he had been dared to do so. Maybe-

"Earth to Y/n. Are you okay? You've been staring at the same math problem for five minutes now without lifting your pen."

You blinked rapidly and looked at Ten, then back down at your paper. He was right (again). It was an easy question, but you were so caught up in your thoughts that you hadn't even started it yet.

Hurriedly, you put your pen to paper and began writing, trying to forget how caught up you had been in your thoughts of Ten. 

#3: His generosity.

After a week of sitting next to Ten, his mannerisms became quite commonplace. You got used to his greetings each morning, coming to enjoy the positive way they started your day.

His smile and the way he threw his head back when he laughed — you grew used to it, to like it, even. He brought cheesy humour and dad jokes to class sometimes, muttering them under his breath and being surprised when you replied.

Slowly, your dynamic with him shifted from tolerance to acceptance, and his prominent existence in your life grew more and more bearable.

Take the time you bumped into him at the coffee shop near school, for example. You had left home early, as per usual, and were on your way to grab a cup of coffee from your favourite place just next to the school.

The shop was a small little place along the road that experienced high traffic in the mornings and afternoons when school ended. Students and teachers alike frequented the place, and you were no exception.

Like clockwork, you made your way there for your usual cappuccino (you liked milk) in the wee hours of the morning as the sun groggily rose. As per your usual morning routine, you were about to order your drink when you stumbled and bumped into the person in front of you.

Cursing your clumsiness, you immediately apologised. The person turned around, and you came face to face with none other than Ten Lee. You had been coming to the shop every schoolday for one and a half years and not once, had you seen Ten order anything from the shop. You’d never seen him step foot in it, nor bring a cup of the fresh coffee into class to savour.

It was so out of the ordinary that you froze, not quite sure what to do. Thrown off by the lack of habitual routine, it was all you could to pull yourself together to deliver your order.

“So sorry about that. I’ll pay for your coffee,” Ten told you, and the cashier nodded before you could protest. You wanted to tell him that really, it was fine, and it was definitely your fault, and could he please stop being such a gentleman?

But the words got caught in your mouth, and you stared dumbfoundedly at him as he paid.

Feeling a bit guilty and slightly awkward, you moved along down the queue, reaching out to grab your order. Thankfully, Ten didn’t try to initiate any conversation, and slowed down his pace when you briskly walked away.

That was, well. Perhaps not the best example of an encounter with Ten that was bearable. But you did understand his well-meaning intentions and were starting to get that maybe that was just what he was like.

After all, Ten’s generosity did seem to come intrinsically. He never failed to offer a pen when someone needed to borrow one, or to buy someone a gift when it was their birthday. (That was actually another thing you’d noticed. He remembered things about people.)

Once, you overheard him talking to Xiaojun about the upcoming NCT 127 concert. Xiaojun's bias was Jaehyun, and when Ten was buying them tickets, he'd purposely selected the category of restricted view seats that would be nearer to Jaehyun.

At the time, you didn't really think much of it, but thinking back on it, Xiaojun must have felt so loved to know that someone noticed his preferences like that. Ten's thoughtfulness in his gifts (not just giving costly, expensive and useless items) was something else that made you like him, just a little.

#4: Him being multilingual.

February 22nd was probably the first day that you didn't get greeted by Ten at the door. It was funny how over the course of a month, you'd quickly become accustomed to saying good morning to him. Although it was only two words, they did help to start your day on the right foot.

You had read somewhere that it took 59-70 days to form a habit. It might only have been about 50, but you had come to form the habit of greeting Ten each morning.

So when Ten was busy on a phone call that morning, you couldn't help but to notice that he seemed to be speaking in Thai. You had to confess that even after three years of knowing Ten, you had never heard him speak in his native language before.

His English was extremely good, and the accent could not be associated with his Thai origins, so the way he sounded in Thai was quite foreign to you.

"Y/n, why do you look so out of it today?"

"Hm?" You shook your head, shaking yourself from your trance to say hello to your friend Kun. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking."

"What about?"

Ten Lee? You couldn't possibly tell Kun that. You'd sound like a silly little highschooler with a crush on your classmate! Instead, you shrugged and gave as vague of an answer as you could. "Projectile motion..."

Kun nodded, unconvinced. But he didn't press you for details, instead choosing to switch to Chinese, suspecting that you wanted to talk about Ten without him realising.

“Zhe shi yin wei li yong qin ma？” Is this because of Ten Lee?

“Ng!” You replied unhappily. “Wo zen me mei gan jue dao zi ji wu yi zhong xi huan shang le ta ne?” How could I have not realised myself unconsciously falling for him?

"It happens," Kun replied, not unkindly. "After all-"

"Wo hen you mei li a," Ten interjected. I have a lot of charm. You half-flinched, half-gasped. Since when could Ten speak Chinese? Yes, you were well aware that he could speak Thai, English and Korean fluently, but nobody had told you that he could speak Chinese!

If you had known, you would have saved yourself so much embarrassment. Luckily, Kun was as surprised as you, meaning he hadn't deliberately tried to put you on the spot when switching languages.

Oh, his multilingual brain was too much for you to bear. How were you going to explain yourself? You had basically just indirectly confessed your undying love for Ten in the least subtle way possible.

You buried your face in your hands to hide the blush spreading over your cheeks, and Kun patted your back comfortingly, trying to tell you that it was okay (it wasn't).

Just then, Yangyang of all people had to walk past.

Of course, the nosy boy wanted to know what had just happened. Kun pulled him aside, gently explaining under his breath the absolutely mortifying situation you were in, while you tried to ignore the amused look you were sure was on Ten's face.

"Are you done sulking yet?" He asked, the light-heartedness in his tone somehow making things worse. He obviously didn't understand how humiliated you were feeling.

"... No." You pouted and turned over so that you didn't have to face him, drowning out the sounds of Yangyang's laughter.

"Zumindest kann er kein Deutsch," he offered.

"It doesn't matter if he can't speak German," you groaned. "Neither can I, really! Ahh zhen bu hao yi si!" You cry into your sweater. This is so embarrassing!

Wait a second... you don't own a sweater.

Reluctantly, you sat up and looked at the sweater, checking for a name of some sort. Written on the tag of the sweater, in cursive, was Ten's name.

Of-fucking-course. He probably just draped it over you while you were wallowing in your sorrow, and you didn't realise because you were too busy being embarrassed.

"You can keep it," Ten supplied helpfully. "I've got plenty anyway."

You didn’t know why, but you were glad it smelled like him.

#5: His arms.

It was late when you left school that evening. Your extracurriculars had dragged longer than they were supposed to, and the sun was already setting by the time you climbed into your car.

It wasn't the first time that you were leaving school late in the evening, but you still felt like there was someone watching you, or following you. Afraid to draw attention to yourself, you quickly started the engine and drove off towards your house.

You were maybe fifteen minutes away from home when you realised that a car behind you had been following you for the past fifteen minutes. Instead of going home by the usual route, you turned left instead. (You were probably going to get lost due to your terrible sense of direction, but it was fine.)

The car followed.

You took another left, hoping against hope that it would finally stop tailing you.

But it didn't.

Nervous and unsure what to do, you noticed with a start that the street you were on was oddly familiar. Where had you seen it before... Oh, that was right. Ten's street was on the left. You'd seen it on his Instagram and thought it was unfairly good for photo taking.

With one hand on the wheel and your fingers shaking, you dialed Ten's number and turned left.

"Hello?" His voice sounded warm and inviting, and you wished you could be next to him right at that moment.

"Are you home? Can- can you open the door, please?" You asked, voice trembling. Ten didn't reply for a moment, but you heard his footsteps over the call and breathed a sigh of relief. Surely he would say yes....

"What's going on, Y/n?" He asked, voice hardening. He sounded annoyed, angry, even. It was not an emotion you were used to attributing to Ten. He always seemed happy all the time, and if he were mad because you were calling him, you didn't know where else to go.

"I think someone's following me. And I'm on your street. If the lights in your house are on, I'll be able to spot you," you forced yourself to say.

"Okay." Without asking any more questions, you saw the side gate of a house open. You abruptly came to a halt, trying to ignore the screeching of brakes as the car behind you struggled to come to a stop as well. You threw open the door and shut it behind you, fingers shaking as you tried to lock it and ran into Ten's house, stumbling into his arms as he hurriedly locked the door behind you.

"Didn't know where else to go," you mumbled, your legs turning into jelly as you shook nervously in his arms.

#6: His art.

It took a while before you felt alright again. It came slowly, as Ten handed you a mug of hot chocolate and sat you down on the couch. Every one of his moves was slow, cautious, careful not to jar you and gently bring you back to your senses. You hugged the sweater tighter around yourself, curling up and wiggling your toes, glad he did not mention that the sweater you were wearing was his.

Neither of you spoke, and instead you let your gaze linger over the vastness of the inside of Ten's house. You'd never been in it before, but even though it didn't feel sprawlingly big, it felt open and spacious, with plenty of space for creation, and more importantly, creativity.

Art was everywhere into the house, imbued in the very spirit of it. The mug in your hand was glazed, and you could feel the untouched base of the mug had something etched into it. If you flipped it over, you would have seen Ten's Thai name engraved there, a mark of his own work.

The wall was covered in wallpaper, but the wallpaper was blank, and acted as a giant canvas. On some edges, there were doodles in bold black marker, something he must have done mindlessly when he was bored. On the other sides, there were impulsive brush strokes drawn in large arcs, some dry and opaque, some more translucent, and some that were just delightfully textured.

It drew you to it, making you feel at home even in the house with all its modern furniture. The rug beneath your feet felt like his work as well, with the cow pattern on it reminiscent of his unique art style.

"Are you alright?" Ten asked, breaking the silence.

You would have liked to stay quiet for a little longer, absorbing all the little pieces of Ten that had slowly been absorbed into the house, to learn everything that made him him. But perhaps it was the art itself and the way that it made you feel that caused the words to spill and heave out of you like a waterfall.

You couldn't tell if you hated or loved the way you felt vulnerable and willing to overshare in the atmosphere that he had created, but when Ten gently smiled at you to go on, you decided that things could most definitely be worse.

"This guy was following me, and I didn't know where to go, so I tried to shake him off and realised that I was near your house and then I got scared and tried to call you and you picked up and well. I didn't know where else to go." The words tumbled out of your mouth, and you couldn't stop yourself from rambling.

"Hey. Are you alright?" Ten inched closer towards you, setting his open palm facing upwards on his thigh, inviting you to hold his hand. As soon as you reached out towards him, he clasped your hand tightly and comfortingly and said nothing for a few moments.

When you spoke, his smile had dropped, and you knew he was trying to hide his shock at the man following you. It was creepy, yes, and you had been so afraid, but you had always kind of known that this was an experience you would go through at least once in your lifetime. However, for a man, this could well have been one of his worst nightmares.

"I think I'm okay now."

#7: His willingness to help.

"You know, I won't be there every time if you're getting chased. You've got to learn how to protect yourself. I can teach you martial arts, if you'd like."

The offer came from nowhere, so you were a little surprised, but also inclined to take him up on it. It really was going to be a problem, and even if it wasn't, it was always good to learn a new skill from someone who's proficient in it.

You nodded numbly.

"Want me to drive you home?" You shook your head, reaching into your pocket for your phone to let your parents know where you were. Knowing them, they were probably worried out of their minds because you hadn't reached home yet.

Sure enough, when your mother picked up the phone, she bombarded you with questions. They were all very well-meaning, like asking you where you were and why you weren't home, and are you okay? You told her that you were at Ten's house, a creepy guy was following you, and you had been deathly afraid but you were all good now.

"Can I stay over at Ten's place?"

Your mum sounded doubtful when she replied, asking about your clothes and your books and where you were going to sleep. She sounded inclined to say no, telling you that you shouldn't overstay your welcome. She made you thank Ten several times, insisting that you leave.

Thank goodness for Ten, who charmed your mother into listening to him and agreeing to let you stay overnight. He assured her that you could borrow his younger sister's clothes and that not to worry, she was overseas and wouldn't mind.

Your mother told you to thank him (again) tonight and the next morning when you left his place. You agreed, reminding her that you love her and she hung up.

"Your sister doesn't really live in this house, does she?"

Ten looked at you confusedly. "Where else would she live?"

"I don't know, it just seemed like I'd never seen her before." You shrugged, looking around at the house again. "And, well, it did seem like you lived here all alone, but I guess it's too big of a house for you to manage on your own."

"I assure you that I live with my family. My parents are upstairs right now, and my sister's on an exchange programme right now so she's not in town. The reason they haven't come here is probably because it's a big house and they're busy doing something together. The last activity they were doing was solving a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle."

Ten's family seemed so chill and easygoing, a stark contrast to what you were used to. Ten brought you up to his sister's room to borrow her pajamas, and you took the chance to take a quick shower, wiping yourself down with a towel you had borrowed.

Afterwards, the manners your parents had ingrained in you caused you to insist that Ten introduce you to his parents, and you apologised for intruding and disturbing their evening.

However, they were absolute sweethearts. His father offered to make some food for you, if you were hungry, and his mother asked if you were quite alright after the ordeal. You insisted that you were fine, but they wouldn't stop worrying until Ten assured them that you're fine.

It was really all very endearing, because your parents fussed in a different way from them, and had never been so open to simply having people over. In fact, you couldn’t remember the last sleepover you had.

Ten brought you up, but his parents wouldn't let you sleep in his room. He brought you to his sister's room, and you fell asleep fitfully.

Image

#8: His proficiency in martial arts

You really misinterpreted what Ten meant by "teaching you martial arts". You thought he meant a chill session and some quick tips on defending yourself, maybe a few corrections. After which, you'd feel badass and ready to tackle any horny, screwed-up in their minds men.

You were dead wrong, because Ten had not meant any of those things.

You were only five minutes in and already drenched in sweat, your clothes sticking to your skin and droplets beading at your hairline. You lifted your arm to wipe the sweat away with your sleeve, and your biceps screamed out in pain, begging for mercy.

It turns out that the reason Ten was so physically fit was because his training routine was rigorous. Not pretentious rigorous, and not the type of rigorous that bodybuilders used to lose fat, either. It was the type of rigorous that strengthened your muscles and pushed them just shy of their breaking point.

If you had to do this every other day, you'd probably be in the best physical shape of your life, which was Ten's current situation.

Ten was determined to make you stronger, because according to him, you "can't defend yourself if you're weak." It was a really polite way of saying that you weren't strong enough to protect yourself, which was a humbling thought.

He told you that you were only going to be doing a warmup, since you were just starting and you had school the next day. ("I want you to be able to walk tomorrow" were his exact words. It was... encouraging to hear that. Not.)

10 minutes in, you were cursing Ten's proficiency in martial arts. And your own stupidity, for agreeing to it. Why had you thought you would be able to keep up with him? He was Ten, your archnemesis, your one and only competitor who could beat you if he tried just a little. Obviously, you never learned from your mistakes.

Ten decided that you should try to punch people first. But not the way that you wanted to.

Instead of cool punches and socking people in the jaw (you're sure Ten got to do that in training, but you weren't Ten), he made you hit your elbows upwards against his padded gloves until the muscles in your arms, shoulders and back that you didn't even realise existed throbbed.

Then, he simply moved on to the next exercise. You never got to throw him over your shoulder like a sack of rice, but you did get to practise almost breaking his arm. A hundred or so times, until you weren't even trying to hit him anymore. He would yell at you to try harder ("Where's your energy?") and then, when you gave him a tired look, lower his volume and say, "Let's try that again."

Again, he was not being unkind, but his focus and seriousness made him a very strict teacher indeed.

The most fun part was when he decided to teach you how to kick a man in the groin. (Not knee them. Because that would take away the advantage of distance, of course. Of course you knew that.)

He lifted his arms up, carefully moving himself out of the "line of fire" and positioning himself diagonally in front of you. Channeling all your rage, tiredness and desire to go home, you kicked your leg out as hard as you could-

And fell right on your butt.

Your butt hurt, but your ego hurt more. Especially when Ten failed to contain his laughter, gasping for air and even choking. Was he trying to be dramatic or was he always like that? It was a far cry from the stifled, polite laughter in class when you laughed at his jokes, but it was endearing all the same.

You couldn't fault him for finding it funny. You were, after all, on your butt on the ground and it was possibly due to your hubris. Maybe being overconfident while trying a new skill wasn't a good idea, especially when you were trying it out with your expert classmate (who maybe wasn’t really your rival anymore).

Ten knelt down, arms wrapping around you from behind as he pulled you to your feet, his warm embrace making you want to fall asleep in his arms.

#9: His back.

Wait... what?

Okay, this definitely wasn't a good idea. Thinking about falling asleep in Ten's arms, in Ten's house, after spending a night over? Yeah, this was a recipe for trouble.

Ten seemed oblivious to how you were feeling, since all he did was continue teaching you a new skill.

“So what if he tries to grab you from behind? Well obviously, if it’s someone you know, you might hug him back. But if it’s a creepy guy? You’ll want to be able to attack him regardless of how he’s holding you.”

To demonstrate, Ten tightly grabbed you from behind. You would have liked to protest, but he grabbed you so suddenly that you lost your balance, falling forwards. Reacting quickly, Ten rolled over and you landed on top of him, hyperaware of his arms and his body heat and the feel of his breath on you.

Your faces were so close to each other that if you moved too quickly, you might just kiss him. Which, honestly, didn’t sound like a bad idea at this point. Your locked arms were the only thing keeping your lips from his. And they were trembling from your exhaustion and the desire to give in to the tired pleas of your muscles.

Ten tried to lift your arm off of him, trying to stand up—which was a terrible mistake. Your elbow immediately gave way, and you crashed onto him, your chest falling onto his. Your heart was racing, and with the proximity, you couldn’t tell if the thumping sound was coming from your heart, or his. 

Just before you thought things couldn’t get any worse, Ten angled his face up and whispered in your ear, “Can I kiss you?”

You nodded dumbly and he gently kissed you, so quickly you couldn’t tell for sure if it was intentional. It was the slightest brush of his lips on yours, the brief contact making you yearn for more.

Before you could advance on him any further, he stood up abruptly, one hand carelessly pulling you up.

#10: His pretty face.

Ten’s face was flushed red and you were sure yours was too. He looked away quickly, composed himself, and turned back to you. “Shall we continue?”

Except you didn’t hear him, because you were too busy pressing your fingers to your lips in shock and staring into his eyes. 

He waved his hand in front of your face and you jerked back to reality. “Yeah- Actually, no. Let’s discuss this.” You gestured meaninglessly, realised how dumb you looked, and dropped your hand lamely.

Ten looked at you expectantly, clearly waiting for a greater revelation than that.

“Like, me sleeping in your sister’s clothes and you buying me coffee? And—goodness forbid—you flirting with me? And now this? Ten, I thought we weren’t even on speaking terms!”

It was only until the last sentence that Ten’s confusion dissipated, and you realised with a start that the pressure he put on you was very much one sided. To him, it was a friendly rivalry. To you, it was a threat to your pride.

“Y/n, we were always on speaking-”

“Actually, you know what? It’s fine. I’m just confused, but I’ll be fine. Please, continue.”

Ten’s hand reached out and grabbed your chin, tilting your head and forcing you to look at him. “You’re so dense! Is kissing you not obvious enough? Y/n, I like you!”

“I- I don’t understand,” you fumbled, desperately grasping for straws.

“I like you,” he deadpanned. “I don’t know how much more obvious I can make it. Is this not straightforward enough? What more do you want me to do?”

“Kiss me again,” was out of your lips before you could stop yourself, and Ten’s lips were on yours before you could process what you had just said.

“I blame it on that pretty face of yours,” you said as soon as he pulled away.

“Oh yeah?” He tipped his face upwards and laughed, the sound of his laughter as light as a feather. You couldn’t help but to stare at him, the curve of his chin and the tilt of his jaw, his scoff and the way he rolled his eyes at the same time. His cheeks were dusted pink and his eyes fixed themselves on you again.

He flexed his hand, adjusting the wrap around his wrist and you felt the sudden urge to give him a hug.

“I love you, Ten Lee,” you whispered in his ear, and although you couldn’t see it, he smiled, just a little.

glossary:

*这是因为李永钦吗？ (is this because of ten lee?)

**嗯! 我怎么没感觉到自己无意中喜欢上了他呢？ (yes! how could i have unconsciously fallen for him?)

***我很有魅力啊。(i have a lot of charm)

****真不好意思！(how embarrassing!)

[bphantom01]

ARC V MONTH DAY 4 - The Merriest Band of Misfits

A/N: Another late post lol srry :P

I wanted to write abt fusion squad, but i have a whole fic dedicated to em already, so i decided to write abt the fusion & sync duos! theyre another 4-person friend group i rlly love, u see :DD

Pairings: Yugo/Rin & Yuri/Serena

Warnings: None. They say a few cuss words but that’s about it, also expect some OOCness like witth the other things I wrote.

Earlier this morning, Yuri had invited her and the Synchro Duo, Yugo and Rin, over to "hang out" as he called it. He said it was about Yuya telling him to get along with other people or something…

—

It was gonna be a weird day for Serena, she could tell.

So here she was, sitting at a coffee shop in an Xyzian mall with Rin, waiting for their respective boys to arrive.

She and Rin surprisingly got along well after the war, as they were the orphans of the bracelet girls — the only two with no family before the war.

Other things were because she and Rin happened to be the most boyish of the girls and that they both grew up having to prove people their worth.

“What could be taking them so long?” Serena randomly asks, breaking her own trail of thoughts.

“Yugo, definitely… He's always late," Rin sighed.

Right when Rin answered, said Yu's finally showed up at the door and walked over to them.

“I apologize for being late, Rin and my dear Serena—”

“Don't-Don't call me that,” Serena interrupted.

But Yuri went on anyway. “—but you see, Yugo-kun here spent too long in the bathroom.”

“You said I had to look my best!” Yugo complained.

“You can style yourself outside.”

“Whatever…”

“Well,” Rin said, sighing, “at least you're both here. But, Serena and I told the waiter twice to wait for you both, you know. So try to be earlier next time.”

“Okay then, Yugo will try,” Yuri said blatantly. “Now can we get some coffee? And a croissant, perhaps?”

“No, I don't wanna stay here any longer. I've had enough of the place.” Serena got up.

Rin soon followed. “So have I. Let’s just go to an arcade or something…”

“Yes! Gaming time! I'm with ya, Rin-Rin!” Yugo cheered.

Yuri gaped. “I haven't eaten anything!”

“That’s your problem, cabbage.” Serena smiled.

“Hmph. Whatever. Just make sure there's lunch later.”

“There will be.” Rin rolled her eyes.

“And you girls will pay?”

“All of us will pay—we’ll divide the bill into four. Now let's leave!”

—

While walking to the arcade, Rin observed the whole of the mall.

With funding and support from Fusion as a form of apology, together with the efforts of many Xyzian people as well as Fusionists who were sent to help instead of being jailed, most of the mall has been restored to its former glory.

There were still some unfinished parts here and there, but overall it seemed to look the way it used to.

“Aww yeah, the arcade!” Yugo yelled, running into the said place with the two other Fusionists.

“Hey, wait up you three!” Rin ran after them.

“Woah,” Serena gasped, looking around to see lots of arcade machines, claw machines, driving simulators, and duel simulators, among others—all with many games and with their lights ablaze. There were a lot of people too, of course.

Ruri wasn't kidding when she said they'd have so much fun.

“Hah! Who knew Xyz'd be this cool,” Yuri exclaimed. “I almost regret being part of the war!”

“Oi, shut your trap, and stop being proud of what you helped cause,” Serena warned.

“I'm with her on that, Yuri,” Yugo added. “Starting a war is not something to be proud of.”

“Guys, I. Don't. Care. Now let's have fun!” Yuri ran off to the nearest duel simulator, also known as a duel terminal, probably.

The other two also bolted to their own destinations—Serena to this "Grand Piano Keys" game thing and Yugo to a claw machine with lots of cute duel monster plushies in them.

Meanwhile, Rin just got there. What's up with them just running off!?

She sighed and just walked to where Yugo was.

“Hey, Rin! I'm gonna try and get you that Melffy Pinny plush!” he blurted, inserting a coin into that thing where you put it in, which started the one-minute timer.

“Oh cool, good luck!”

With intense focus, Yugo moved the claw with the joystick.

The claw is so slow…!

Aaand there, right there above the plush!

He waited until the timer was at one second before pushing the grab button.

“Yes!” he yelled when the claw fell to the plush.

…before frowning as the claw seemingly, ‘couldn't hold onto it.’

“Aw, poor fusion-kun lost,” Yuri teased, seeing Yugo’s utter defeat.

“That's not fairrr!” Yugo shouted, catching the attention of a few Xyzians.

“Hey, look, it's alright, at least you tried!” Rin encouraged. “Keep your voice low, please. And Yuri, shut up.”

Serena walked over to them with a handful of tickets. “So I played some piano game and got a bunch of tickets… What do I do with these?”

“Yuto said you could exchange them for prices,” Rin stated, motioning to the price booth. “The more you have, the bigger a thing you could get, I'd guess.”

“Ooh, to another machine then!” Serena dashed across the place to what Rin could make out to be an Ice Ball game, with Yuri following suit.

“Yugo, you coming?”

The banana-head just stared sorrowfully onto the Pinny plush that lay in the machine. “Y-yeah… In a moment.”

“Uh, okay, then. I'll be with the Fusion duo to make sure they won't cause any trouble,” Rin told him, walking away.

“Okay…”

“I can stay if you want, you know?”

“Oh, no, it's fine,” Yugo assured. “Don't worry, I'll be okay!”

“Hm.” Rin nodded and walked on.

—

“You're doing it all wrong,” Yuri complained. “Put only a little force on it enough to launch it; don't put all your strength into the ball!”

“Hey! Wait for your turn!” Serena retorted. 

“Tsk. Just saying—getting 3 to 5 thousand points is better than getting none at all or an occasional 10k then nothing. Remember, you only have—”

“Nine balls, and at the moment only one left. I know!” Serena interrupted, throw-sliding the ball into the road a little too harshly, it hit the fiberglass with a loud BANG!

‘10 thousand, 10 thousand! Please…!’ she thought.

The ball rolled off to nothing.

“AUUUGHHH!”

Yuri meanwhile laughed beside her. “See? Control your force!”

“SHUT UP!”

“And what's going on with you two?” Rin asked, approaching them.

“Serena never listens,” Yuri mocked.

“And Yuri can't keep his mouth shut,” Serena hissed. “Aha! I was distracted!” She gave Yuri a glare.

He smiled at her in return, but also looked into her eyes.

…they had a staring contest.

“That's enough now, you two,” Rin scolded. She looked around.

Eventually, a certain dancing game caught her eye. “Hey, why don't you both play that dance thing over there, instead?”

Serena usually would rather not dance, but she was losing this contest, and as such, she whipped her head toward Rin so Yuri couldn't see that she blinked. “You know what? You're right.”

She turned back to Yuri. “Yuri, wanna have a dance fight?”

Yuri smiled. “Ah, sure!”

And they left with Rin following them behind, thoughts of whether leaving Yugo was a good idea or not swirling in her mind.

“Look at me, Yuri!” Serena said, and she began the game.

Her swift and graceful movements amused him.

He knew she could dance, but still! He’s never seen her do it with so much passion.

A chuckle escaped him. This little competition is easily won by her… and he couldn’t help but smile as she danced to the beat ever so beautifully.

When the round ended, she got off the small stage and walked to him. “Did ya see that?” She then noticed how he looked at her. “Hm? What’re you grinning for?”

“Nothing. Only,” he laughed, “you’re good—I’ll admit that. And you win for now.”

Serena blushed lightly, not enough for anyone to notice. His compliment also brushed her competitive side away, just for a moment. “Thank… you…? Also, what happened to your condescending attitude?”

“It’s still there, that I assure you. But…”

He looked beyond her—to a kid’s basketball machine.

He saw that the hoop was easily within arm's reach of any teenager their age—meaning they can drop or dip the ball into the hoop with tremendous ease.

And also get a whole bunch of tickets in the process.

He grinned, turning back to Serena. “Rena-kun,” he called to her.

“What do you want?”

Yuri took a deep breath. “I'm gonna ask you a favor.”

Serena laughed at him. “That's new… What is it?”

“I'm surprised you didn't make fun of me, other than that laugh, but why don't we… Cheat the kid's basketball machine?” he asked.

“Hmm… What do I get from it?”

“Let's see… You can have 40% of the tickets.”

“50 and I'll do it.”

Yuri sighed, but he just caved. “Ah, you know what, fine. C'mon.”

From the other side where Rin was playing this remake of Flappy Bird, she stopped playing—which of course made her lose—as their words caught her ears.

She saw them by the kid's basketball machine.

Of course…

When the two got there, a kid was still busy playing.

The poor thing looked back at them, and when he saw Yuri, he froze.

Yuri smirked. “Boo.”

The poor kid squeaked before slowly walking off.

“Oh Ra, you didn't need to do that,” Serena chastised. “Buuut at least we got it to ourselves now, so let's take advantage of that and the kid's tickets.”

For the next few minutes, the two watched amused as the scoreboard's numbers did nothing else but rise almost every second as they both dipped the balls just enough for the sensors to notice.

When they finished, they went for another round, and their number of tickets also kept on increasing.

Rin sighed as she watched them, but her mood brightened when she saw Yugo jogging over to them, the Melffy Pinny plush from earlier clutched in his two hands. “Hey, Rin-Rin!”

“Oh, hi, Yugo!” She laughed as he handed her the plush. “Aww, you didn't have too…”

“But I DID have to!” Yugo insisted, bright blue eyes shining with satisfaction of being able to give Rin the plush.

“Well, thanks, at least.” She gave him an embrace and he gladly returned it.

“Ah, fusion finally got the Melffy, eh?” Yuri said, amused, as Serena continued to dip the ball in the hoop.

Yugo let Rin go and said, “Yeah, so? At least I care for my girl!”

“Serena doesn't deserve me, though,” Yuri said dramatically, making him get kicked by Serena in the shins in the process.

“Can't you be not annoying for once? And you’re the one who doesn’t deserve me.”

“I'm always gonna be annoying—and you all have to put up with it…” Yuri uttered as he clutched his leg. “And you did NOT have to hit me that hard…! What if you broke my leg!?”

He went on whining on the floor, which caught a bunch of people's attention. “It hurts!”

“Oh Ra…” Serena shook her head.

And, together with the synchro duo, they yelled, “Get up!”

“Gee, fine. I'm serious, though—it really, really hurts. Can one of you guys get ice or something cold that won't melt for me, please?” he begged, leaning to a wall.

“I'll fuckin’ do it.” Serena rolled her eyes. “I'll be right back.”

While Yuri sat on a bench to wait for Serena to come back, Yugo and Rin allowed themselves to enjoy the whole arcade without the Fusion Duo having an argument behind their backs.

Both of ‘em went on to play some 2-player shooting games where they shot some mechanical aliens to save some ship before going to play the classic Whac-A-Mole game.

“Yugo, stay focused!” Rin yelled. “You can do it!”

“I'm trying, Rin, but these moles are just. So fast!” Yugo shivered as he tried to pour all his focus into this one game, but he still somehow kept missing.

He didn't hit much, but they got tickets nonetheless, so he took those.

“Can I try?” Rin asks.

“Oh, sure.”

“Thanks!” Rin took the little foam mallet and started the game.

Whack!

Oh wow, this was rather easy.

Whack! Whack!

How could Yugo be bad at this!?

Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Woah, Rin, you're a natural!” Yugo complimented. “I'll help! I'll whack those you can't with my hands!"

“Wait, Yugo, I'm fine—”

And with her focus a bit deterred, she and Yugo went for this one common target, making her hit Yugo's hand a bit too hard.

“YyyyOUCH!” he exclaimed. The pain hurt so much, it got him kneeling to the floor groaning in pain, much like what Yuri did earlier, but a bit louder and without the laying down part.

She gasped at that. “Oh, you idiot! I told you to—! Sigh, you know what, just go sit with Yuri; I'll tell Serena to get more ice…”

After a good while, Serena finally arrived with two glass bottles of cold ketchup.

“What—why'd you get that!?” Rin yelled at Serena in disbelief.

“It was the only thing I could think of!”

“You could've just, I dunno, gotten some ice bags?! And ice??”

“Actually, I thought not to do that. Plus, we can at least use the ketchup for later, bring it home or something, you know? Maybe we could give one of ‘em to the boys.”

Rin doesn't know how many times she sighed now, but she sighed anyway.

After they gave the bottle to the boys—and Serena getting another scolding from Yuri for getting ketchup—they all decided to make Yugo and Rin race through a driving simulator.

“Rin, you can do this!” Serena cheered. “Good luck, and win! YuriandIhadabetandmywalletsdependingonyousoyeahpleasewin,” she went on with the last part quickly.

“What?”

“Break a leg—but not literally.” Serena smiled.

“Oh, alright. Thanks!”

And with le boys…

“Yugo, please win. Serena and I had a bet, and if you lose, I'm not just losing money, I'm also gonna have to dye my hair brown for a week! Can you believe that?”

The banana-head raised a brow. “How's that my problem? I'd honestly love to see how you'd look with brown hair. Also, you agreed to it, not me.”

But anyway, the Synchro Duo chose their D-wheels and started.

3… Rin gripped her handle tighter.

2… Yugo smiled, getting ready.

1… They both held breaths, then,

GO!! The words appeared on the screen.

And instantly, Rin and Yugo revved their motorcycle sims and felt it "move" forward.

The screen then showed them and several NPCs racing through.

“Wooo! Go, Rin!”

“Fusion! You better do this, because I'm cheering for you for once, can you believe that!? So don't you dare waste it!”

Vrooooooooooom!

The sounds came from the speakers with the machine, and the screen showed several terrain — cliff sides, cities, a bridge and even a concrete loop-the-loop.

“Woah!” Rin exclaimed, as she almost fell off.

“Haha! Now we see who's the better driver!” Yugo teased, laughing.

“Oh, you'll see who's better!” Rin 'violently pushed him off' the loop.

“Eek!” He landed rather safely, but it was still a bit uh, traumatizing.

“Yugo, you're gonna make my hair brown!” Yuri warned, clutching his (not Yugo's) head.

“I know! Calm down, I can still beat her.”

“You better!”

Serena laughed at them. “Please, Rin’s clearly winning.”

“Yeah, Yugo, how do you plan to beat me!?” Rin teased, a glint of slyness in her orange eyes.

Yugo's eyes trailed to their front.

Rin already used hers earlier, but he didn't yet—that “Turbo Speed Acceleration” kind of thing.

Rin's was still refilling, but his was full.

Meanwhile, they both neared the finish line.

“Like in a duel, Rin, my luck never fails me.”

Rin dropped her grin at that.

And Yugo took the pleasure of grinning this time. “I activate my ‘Action Magic’, Acceleration!” He triumphantly pressed the button.

“Nooo!” Rin and Serena shouted.

“Yes!” The boys cheered.

And in an instant, Yugo sped up right by Rin and reached the finish first.

“OHHH YEAHHH, WOOOO!” Yugo shouted, dismounting the runner. “I BEAT RIN FOR ONCE!”

He and Yuri fist-bumped and hi-fived each other with both hands and did the back-hit thing in those 'secret handshake' things.

“NO BROWN HAIIRRR!” Yuri yelled, making people turn to him.

“I BEAT RINNN!” Yugo exclaimed. He was so happy, he could feel the excitement running through his veins, and he ran to Rin who just got off, and they both almost stumbled to the ground.

“Woah, hey,” Rin warned. “We almost fell.”

“I'm sorry, it's just… You always beat me and—”

“Yes, yes, I'm happy for you too.” She chuckled. “You beat me—that surprised us both, and them, too, probably.”

“Yeah, a new achievement, hehe,” Yugo giggled with a :P face.

Rin smiled proudly and kissed him on the cheek. “So cute.”

He metaphorically melted into a puddle at that. “Hehe, hehe,” he kept saying, “Hehe…”

“Now it's my turn to say, ‘That's enough you two,’” Serena said, handing Yuri a few yen.

“No brown hair,” Yuri stated casually.

“Stop, I get it already—and it's getting weirder by the minute,” Serena growled.

“Well, what’re we doing next?” Rin asked.

“That kid right there! We weren't sure what he was doing at first, but we just figured out he was hacking into the claw machine!” an officer yelled in their direction.

“Hm?” Yuri turned to the guard and saw he was pointing to Yugo. “Aw, fusion got caught.”

Yugo instantly stood up. “Let's get outta here!” he squealed.

“We should,” Serena agreed, running off.

“Guys, agai—?” Rin was broken off by the boys going off, with Yugo dragging her arm away. “Yuuugo! What did you do!?”

“Sorry! I had to get the plushie, but the machine wasn't being fair!”

“Pretty smart, though!” Serena complimented, running backwards. “If I knew how to hack, I would've done the same thing.”

“But you don't,” Yuri once again teased.

She jumped on him and they wrestled. “I've wanted to do this since earlier!” Making Yuri go “OOF—!” with surprise.

“Oh, you think it's only you?” He fought back.

“Guys!” Rin grumbled. “Right now!?”

She and Yugo had to drag their own counterparts away from each other and out of the place until they both calmed down.

The rest of the day went by with lots of fun.

There was lunch at an Xyzian Burgery Shun recommended, then a walk in the park which included its own set of activities, laser tag, pizza, and a few other things.

Yeah… It was really nice.

The day ended when the two groups parted when they all went back to Pendulum, saying their good-byes to each other and leaving. To go to their own new respective homes.

[nuri148]

So... I've been a bit MIA bc this past weekend I was in my dear London for the 7th time and omg, it never gets old! There is SO much to see, and do, and discover, and revisit! And this has been the 2nd most eventful London trip ever (after the first one when we were still student-poor and the pound was super high and we crammed so much stuff in it no one believed us it'd been just 3 days.)

The excuse for this trip was concerts- We saw Billy Joel at Hyde Park on Friday and Blur at Wembley on Saturday. Both were great, my only gripe being that BJ didn't play my favourite song of his (The Downeaster Alexa), but he did play Piano Man and we had the surprise of the night when he sang Uptown girl with guest... Joe Jonas. Blur did play all their songs I like and it was endearing to see Damon Albarn being actually moved by being upstage in a full Wembley stadium.

An aside to say that, just like when we went to see U2 at the O2 arena a few years ago, I can only applaud the flawless organization of London transport around moving so many people in and out of venues. You'd think you'd have to wait forever for the tube afterwards, and that you'd travel like a canned sardine, but no, though we moved along throngs of people, we only had a bit of a queue for tapping in into the tube, but the train came right away (past 10:30pm!) and it wasn't particularly crowded. All hail TFL!

From the "typical tourist spots" in the city, my favourite is the Picadilly/Chinatown/Leicester sq./Covent Garden area, and the only that's been a constant on every trip. We returned to Greenwich (we'd gone to the Observatory in 2013) for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Maritime Museum, walked around bit the neigbourhood before it opened and, after it, we visited the Queen's House, which we didn't know existed but it was free and I never get tired of visiting palaces, because EveryGirlIsAPrincess and shit. Even me.

Did you know there is a 121 year old pedestrian tunnel under the River Thames? I found out only a few days before the trip, and of course we crossed it. The tunnel south entrance is right next to the Cutty Sark - and we emerged on the north side on a normal neighbourhood on the Isle of Dogs (no, not the Wes Anderson film. It's really called like that). Headed for Canary Wharf, and to shield from the strong midday sun, we cut through Mudchute Park and... found the farm there. THEY HAVE ALL KINDS OF ANIMALS OMG!!! I spent a good while petting and feeding the sheep and goats, god, I love goats! I could have stayed for hours if it wasn't for my poor Husband and his please-can-we-go face. It was the highlight of the trip.

We also went to Battersea Power Station, recently reconverted into a shopping centre. I knew, of course, that the former power station was an iconic building in the London skyline; it's huge and for many years provided a good chunk of the electricity to the city, not to mention its appearance in Pink Floyd's Animals album and films like Children of Men. What I didn't know was that it was also a fucking masterpiece of Industrial Art Deco. And I fucking love Art Deco. Not only that, they have made an incredible, amazing, absolutely stunning job at restoring the building to its original Art Deco glory. The butchers that turned Barcelona's former Arenas bullring into the current pastiche could learn a thing or two from them. The respect for the original building is such that one of the control rooms has been turned into a glamorous cafe, keeping all the control panels at the back; and the bar is like stepping into the 1940s, from the decor to the old furniture, to the design of the coffee cups and the delightful menus mimicking a power plant instruction boocklet. We could've stayed for ages but we had tickets for Lift 109 - a different tour that takes you to the top of one of the chimneys. The tour starts with a gallery about he plant's history and a somewhat silly videomapping with more of the same (cool lights, bad audio, couldn't understand the guy much). Then you take a lift, climb a set of stairs and take the second lift to the top of the chimney, at 109 metres high. The twist is: you don't exit the lift. The glass lift becomes the observation deck. Even with the rain, the views were spectacular, and the wow factor of emerging from inside the chimney is really something new. Price? Ridiculously expensive, but I indulged husband because he indulged me in...

My personal highlight of the trip: we went for Afternoon Tea. But not just anywhere, no. If I was going to do Afternoon Tea I was going to do it with all the glamour that I deserve, so I booked us a table at Fortnum & Mason, no less. Do I need to say I felt like a princess? Everything was just so nice and fancy! The salon is just beautiful, so luxurious but without feeling heavy. The bathrooms had individual fabric towels to dry your hands.

We could each choose which tea we wanted; Husband went for the Afternoon Blend (that's my fic's #8!) and I had the Wedding Breakfast blend, because I hadn't tried it before. It was nice, mild and balanced. They came in this nice china that you can buy on the store first floor for a lot of money.

The food was great as well. The sandwiches were excellent; my favourite was the egg one; Husband preferred the salmon one. There was also chicken, ham, and cucumber. For the scones, I was a bit weary because I'm not a cream lover and the scones I'd had so far tended to fall on the dry side. But, oh my goodness, these scones were absolutely delish, and the cream + jam (or lemon curd) passed so well to them!

The sweets were, surprisingly, the least fabulous of the lot. Maybe it's a matter of local taste vs. my own; the quality and presentation was of course top notch. It could also be that I was already pretty full. I once read an iterview where a chef said something like, dessert is a thing people order when they're not hungry anymore. So it has to be totally scrumptious and tempting and delish to fully please the guest. For me, only one of the five samples filled that criteria, the cream tartlet with a freaking pansy encased in jelly on top. Both the mousses (Earl Grey + bergamot jelly, black cherry) were delicious, but not so much as to wow me. The chocolate cup could've been number one save for the raspberry filling - I love raspberries, but fruit in chocolate is a pet peeve of mine. Finally, the rose eclair definitely ticks the decadent checkbox (anything with rose does, IMO), but it's not a flavour I'm wild about. Much like truffle, to name another fancy eat, I feel it's easy to go overboard with it.

On top pof all that, we visited the Tate Britain and the Design museum, had breakfast(s) at Pret, bought rare-colour M&M's at the Leicester Square shop, walked down Portobello Street Market, visited Holland Park and Japan House and had lots and lots of fun!

[opera-ghosts]

I believe that a benevolent Fate has had watch over me. Some have called it luck; some have spoken of the hard work and the many years of study; others have cited my career as an instance of American pluck and perseverance. But deep down in my heart I feel much has been directed by Fate. This God-sent gift of song was bestowed upon me for some purpose, I know not what. It may fail me to-morrow, to-night; at any moment something may mar the delicate instrument, and then all the perseverance, pluck, study, and luck in the world will not restore it to me. If early in life I dimly sensed this insecurity, yet always have I gone onward and onward, eager for that which Fate had in store for me, and accepting gladly those rewards and opportunities which in the course of my career have been popularly referred to as "Farrar's luck."

Yet do not think that I waited in idleness to see what Fate would bring. From the days of my earliest recollection I have labored unceasingly to attain the goal which I believed and hope Destiny had marked out for me. My mother tells me that before I was five I had already shown strong musical tendencies. By the time I was ten I had visions of studying abroad. At the age of twelve I had heard the music of almost the entire grand opera repertoire. By the time I was sixteen I was studying in Paris.

My earliest memories take me back to my home town, Melrose, Massachusetts, a small but very attractive city not far from Boston. I can recall a large room with an open fireplace and flames flashing from a log fire into which I spent many hours gazing, trying to conjure up strange and fanciful shapes and figures. From the fireplace, so my mother tells me, I would stroll to the great, old-fashioned square piano in the corner, and, standing on tiptoe, would strum upon the keys. I suppose I was two or three years old at the time, yet it seems to me that I was striving to give expression musically to the strange shapes and figures suggested by the fire and by my vivid imagination.

Hereditary influences must have helped to shape my musical career. My mother and father both sang in the First Universalist Church of Melrose. Mother's father, Dennis Barnes, of Melrose, had been a musician, and had organized a little orchestra which played on special occasions. He gave violin lessons and composed, and there is a tradition that in his boyhood days he learned to play the violin from an Italian fiddler, and afterward constructed his own instrument, pulling hairs from the tail of an old white horse to make the bow.

My father, Sydney D. Farrar, owned a store in Melrose when I was born. In the summer time he played baseball with a local amateur team with such success that, when I was two years old, he was engaged by the Philadelphia National League Baseball Club as first baseman. He was a professional ball-player with the Philadelphia team for several years. Yet during the winters he was always in Melrose, looking after business. Both he and my mother were very fond of music, singing every week in the church quartet and sometimes at concerts.

The house in which I was born is still standing, a large, old-fashioned building on Mount Vernon Street, Melrose, which my father rented from the Houghton estate. It is next door to the Blake house, a well-known local landmark. Most of my early life was spent in this house, although subsequently we moved twice to occupy other houses in the neighborhood.

My mother says that I was a happy baby, crooning and humming to myself, singing when other babies usually cry. She says that the familiar airs of the barrel organs, which were played in the street every day, were all added to my repertoire in due time, correct as to melody, although I was too young to enunciate properly. My mother did not think it out of the ordinary for her baby to be so musically inclined, young as I was. I was her first and only child.

When I was three years old I sang in my first church concert. My childish voice rose up bravely; and my mother distinctly remembers that I had perfect self-possession and never showed the slightest sign of stage fright. When my song was finished, and the kind applause had subsided, I stepped to the edge of the platform and spoke to her down in the front row.

"Did I do it well, mamma?" I asked, not at all disconcerted while every one laughed.

I cannot remember the time when I did not intend to sing and act. As soon as I was a little older it was decided that I should take piano lessons.

But at once I made strenuous objection to the necessary restraint, an objection which in after years manifested itself in much that I attempted. I could not force myself to study according to rule or tradition. I wanted to try out things my own way, according to impulse, just when and how the spirit within me moved. I could not drudge at scales, and therefore found the lessons irksome. I preferred to improvise upon the piano, and I had a strange fondness for playing everything upon the black keys.

"Why do you use only the black keys?" my mother asked me once.

"Because the white keys seem like angels and the black keys like devils, and I like devils best," I replied. It was the soft half-tones of the black keys which fascinated me, and to this day I prefer their sensuous harmony to that of the more brilliant "angels."

My mother offered me a tricycle—one of those weird three-wheeled vehicles in vogue at the time—if I would learn my piano lessons according to rule; but I had all too little patience and my father gave me the tricycle anyhow, as well as a pony later. These were some of my few amusements. In fact, I cared little for child's play at any time in my early youth, and nothing for outdoor sports. I spent most of my time with books and music, or playing with animals.

Among my animal friends was a large Newfoundland dog. One day my mother came into the back yard and found me trying to make him act as a horse, attached by a rough harness to an improvised plough I had made of wood to dig up the back garden. I loved dogs, and once my mother had me photographed seated on a large painted wooden dog.

Another childish amusement was to put fantastic costumes on the cats and pretend that they were actors or actresses. In time there were added to the cats and dog a chameleon, a pair of small alligators, guinea-pigs, rabbits, a bullfinch, and a robin with a broken wing. I was passionately fond of flowers as well, and my own small garden was a source of pride and pleasure.

The world of make-believe was becoming very real to me by this time. I dramatized everything. I had the utmost confidence in my choice to become a great singer, for at all times I was busy with music, either alone or with my mother. It did not occur to me that I could possibly fail in achieving my object, and yet I was so sincere and felt so impelled to try to "touch the stars" that I do not believe it could be called conceit. Young as I was, I felt that with my song I could soar to another world and revel in poetry and music.

At five I was sent to school. Among my teachers in the Grove Street School, Melrose, was Miss Alice Swett, who remains a dear, good friend to this day. She was ever kind and sympathetic to me, and I always loved her, although I was often rebellious and unmanageable. My own reckless nature, impatient at restraint, could never endure the order and confinement of the classroom.

The dynamic energy, which has suffered little curb in the passing of years, was even then a characteristic to be reckoned with; displays of lively temper were not infrequent, but the method of punishment at an isolated desk in view of the entire class was far too enjoyable to serve as a correction for my ebullient spirits and was abruptly discontinued.

Miss Swett was my teacher for several years. While her affection and trust never wavered, I doubt if she ever quite understood the harum-scarum girl in her charge.

Only the other day, visiting me in my New York home and commenting upon some unconventional act of mine, she sighed and said: "Geraldine, where are you going to end?"

"Well, I may brush the gallows in the wild flight of my career," I replied laughingly, "but I'll never be really hanged."

Those years at the Grove Street School, when I was developing from childhood into young girlhood, were full of excitement, romance, and expectations. But I looked upon them as a trying period which had to be endured before I could devote myself entirely to my ambition. I was full of both temper and temperament, and an unlimited supply of high spirits which manifested themselves in various unusual ways—singing and acting, idealizing myself as many of the heroines whose gracious images intoxicated my imagination. At times I walked on air, and always my head was filled with dreams and hopes of this marvelous career.

It was at this time that I wrote a play, "Rapunzel of the Golden Hair," based upon an old fairy story. As usual I wished always to be the heroine, yet Fate had not bestowed the necessary golden locks upon me. My dark hair was worn short, and I must have looked much like an impish boy. Then, my dramatic vision had soulful eyes and an angelic expression. But instead of looking like an angel I was more like a gypsy at the distressing gosling stage, too undeveloped; yet I dreamed of the times when I would appear before immense audiences as the beautiful heroine of my dreams and hold them fascinated by my song and personality. I always had the utmost faith in a certain power of magnetism; it seemed as though from my youngest days I felt that I could influence others, and often I experimented just to see what effects I could produce.

The impulse to dramatize everything found an opportunity, when I was about ten years old, in the arrival in town of the brother of a girl friend. This boy, slightly older than I, had been educated in England and had brought back exquisite manners and an English accent that greatly impressed the young ladies of my class. I need hardly mention the fact that these attributes were looked upon with contempt by the masculine element, who had no small measure of derision for the youthful Chesterfield. I had cared little for and never encouraged boy sweethearts, but this youngster's exclusive admiration did arouse my interest. I felt flattered for a short time. But alas! he was unmusical to a degree, and companionship suddenly terminated, on my side, when I found that he was to be neither subjugated by my singing nor thrilled by my acting.

One day I rebuffed him when he tried to walk home with me after school, offering to carry my books. Puzzled, he made a formal call on my mother, doubtless with a view to a reconciliation, and asked permission to accompany me as usual.

My mother laughed and told him to ask me.

"I have asked Miss Geraldine," he said sadly; "but she does not seem to care for my attentions."

A few days later he went skating, the ice broke, and he was drowned. Instantly I became a widow. Drama—real drama—had come into my life, and with all the feeling of an instinctive actress I played my rôle. I dressed in black; abandoned all gayeties; went to and from school mopping my eyes with a black-bordered handkerchief; and the other boys and girls stood aside in silence as I passed, leaving me alone with my grief.

For six weeks I played the tragedy; and then in the twinkling of an eye the mood, in which I had been genuinely serious, passed away. In life this young boy had meant absolutely nothing to me; in death he became a dramatic possibility which I utilized unconsciously as an outlet for my emotion. I was not pretending; I was terribly in earnest. I actually believed in my grief. Who can say that it was "only acting"?

A temper, which I regret to confess time has not very much chastened, came to the front in my school days, to the dismay of my mother. In 1892, when I was ten years old, the city of Melrose held a carnival and celebration to commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America. Floats were planned to represent the thirteen original States. The selection of the school girl to impersonate Massachusetts fell to my class in the Grove Street School, and I was anxious for this honor, not only because of the personal glory and prominence, but because I really believed that I could impersonate Massachusetts better than any other girl in the class!

Well, I did appear as Massachusetts, and, with the other "twelve States," was driven through the streets of Melrose, mounted on the float, bearing the flag of the nation. But two girls in the school, who had voted against me in the election, watched me from afar with swollen and blackened eyes; I had struck them in a moment of quick anger because their choice had been against me.

The following winter, while many of the boys and girls were skating, a boy of twelve or thirteen, named Clarence, annoyed me exceedingly by trying to trip me with his hockey stick. I warned him three times that he "had better let me alone," but he persisted in his persecution. After the third time, I skated to shore, picked up my umbrella, carefully tore three of the steel ribs from it and, with these as a whip, I thrashed Clarence. Clarence "sat" with discomfort for some days, and I believe his mother seriously contemplated making a police charge against me for beating him.

This temper—or temperament—often found expression at home in moods, when for hours, sometimes days, I wouldn't break silence. If any one interfered with or spoke to me during these moments I felt just as though some one were combing my nerves the wrong way with a fine, grating comb. My mother was wise enough to leave me alone in my intense irritability and depression. She appreciated the extremes of my nature, which were somewhat like the well-known little girl of our childhood rhymes: "When she was good she was very, very good, And when she was bad she was horrid."

I fear, at times, I was very, very horrid. But I planned a danger signal! One day I came home with a pair of most distinctive black-and-white checked stockings, the most hideous things one can imagine.

"Mother," I said, "when I wear these stockings I want to be let alone."

Thus it was an understood thing that no one should speak to me or notice me in the least while these horrors adorned me. Perhaps after a few hours, or a day, I would go up the back stairs, change my stockings—and the sun would shine again.

It was at this time that I was the victim of an accident which resulted in a neat bit of surgery. My mother and I were spending a summer in the little village of Sandwich, New Hampshire. I was crazy to carve a small horse out of wood, and went down to the woodshed in the rear of the country house where we were staying, armed with a hatchet and followed by an admiring youngster from the village. The hatchet was very sharp. My experience in carving wooden horses was limited. Suddenly the hatchet came down and clipped a tiny bit off the extreme ends of my left thumb and forefinger.

I screamed with agony and cried in amazement as the poor little bleeding tips of my fingers fell to the floor, but the country boy, with wonderful presence of mind, picked them up, and keeping them warm in his closed hand, ran with me at full speed to the nearest doctor. Fortunately, he happened to be at home. When the village boy showed him the wounded hand and the tiny bleeding bits of finger, he clamped them instantly on the fingers where they belonged, put on ointments, and bound them tight with bandages. This marvelous surgery, without a stitch being taken, actually was successful; the fingers healed, and now only a slight scar remains.

I regret to say that this physician, whose presence of mind thus saved my fingers from being permanently mutilated, is entirely unknown to me now. Some few years ago, in Boston, I told this story in an interview, and a physician wrote me from some other city that he was the man who had saved my fingers for me. I wrote and thanked him for his kindness toward a little girl; but his letter was mislaid and destroyed, so that even now I do not know his name. Wherever he is, however, he will always have my thanks and warmest admiration.

Finally, the time came for me to enter the Melrose High School. I objected seriously to the further routine of public schooling, as I wished to study only music. But both my father and mother insisted; so I began the study of languages. I was intensely interested in mythology, history, and literature, but I hated mathematics. I always preferred to count on my fingers rather than to use my brain for such merely mechanical feats as adding or multiplying figures. In the study of languages I soon found that my teachers were excellent grammarians, but I pleaded that I wanted to learn to talk and not merely to conjugate.

I took a supplementary course in literature, and well remember the most important incident when I competed for the prize. I was quite sure my essay would win. In fancy I had already rehearsed the pretty speech in which I should thank the committee for the honor conferred on me. But the prize went to some one else. My anger was sudden and hot. Then and there I made up my mind that if ever I could not be first in what I attempted, I would drop it at once. I believed my material was best and deserved the prize, and I was hurt at not conquering before an admiring and enthusiastic audience!

Thus I early learned that maybe I could not always win, could not always be first; that perseverance must aid natural talents; and that it is cowardly to drop a thing when at first you don't succeed. The sting of adverse criticism may often prove the best of tonics! I have since found it so.

From Geraldine Farrar: The Story of an American Singer

[ecargmura]

Grandpa And Grandma Turn Young Again Episode 5 Review - Life Long Love

Since this episode is what the manga chapters are currently covering, it does feel like I got spoiled a bit. I don’t mind, though. I’m not the type to get upset over spoilers. Though, the arc hasn’t concluded in the manga, so it makes me wonder if this is anime original.

Ine without her current memories is a bit cold and stoic, but it was nice of her to not be too hostile towards Shouzou. She could’ve easily left him to go elsewhere, but she decided to stay by his side since she believed she had jumped a century into the future. Seeing her get readjusted to what had been the norm of her life was very interesting to see. She loved rice cooker rice, adored Mino, and even consoled Yoshiaki in a way that she did in the past, unknowingly. Even if her mind has forgotten, her heart has not. Gosh, the way she realized she didn’t need Shouzou to make her fall in love with him again. She realized that no matter how many times she’d lose her memories, she’d always fall in love with him. That got me so bad. The piano scene with Ine and her sister Tsuru was super emotional too. It’s like this episode wanted to dump all of the emotional aspects of the story so that they can have happy fun times later on. I held back my tears during this segment because it does show that passage of time is cruel. Tsuru forgot Ine, but like how Ine forgot about her time spent with Shouzou but still feels as if she remembers him, Tsuru does the exact same thing. I loved that little parallel.

Man, Shouzou really is a green flag. Heck, he’s the entire forest and the meadow. The fact that his marriage with Ine lasted so long was because he respected her as a person and as a life partner and not a maid like how his father treated his mother. The way he told her that if ten thousand misfortunes were going to be placed on him just for her being with him, then he needed to work hard to give her fortunes more than those misfortunes. Damn. That got me. The tears I held back from the piano scene were flowing down here. This is true love right there. The fact that Shouzou never really did actively try to make Ine fall back in love with him and just waited was pure dedication. Man, these two really set the bar for romantic relationships high up into the universe.

Since Ine regained her memories after her hourglass got restored, it makes me wonder if Shouzou will get an instance where he loses his memories too. I do wonder what would happen if that situation was reversed and Shouzou was the one with black hair? How would things play out? My only gripe was not seeing Takahiro and Shiori visit. I wanted to see how Takahiro would react given that he became a doctor to want to cure Ine’s illness and Shiori behaves just like Ine back in the day. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[nade2308]

Could you write meta on Jim/Artie, pretty please?

Thank you for the ask.

I have been thinking on this for a while now, wondering what I can do the meta on and then I was like WAIT, I did watch an ep like last week or something, or should I say last year now? I think this ep is perfect to be analyzed in this way, "The Night of the Grand Emir".

I mean, in general, whether you ship them or you think of them as a bromance, these two have the best chemistry. There is so much in their touches and looks and the worry, chef's kiss. But I chose this ep because there were so many hints about these two being together and having such a strong bond that I can only sigh and stare at. And admire.

First of all the number of messages exchanged between me and @thethistlegirl when we watched it for the first time:

There's just so much that I can say about it, but I'll let the picture speak for itself.

This episode was full of Jim and Arte moments that made me scream, like, HELP.

I think that this episode out of all the episodes I have watched from this show was overflowing with imps. Ever since it started, all I could do was watching and typing my screams to Thistle. There is something about these types of eps, you can see everything and anything.

Speaking of the shippy part, there was this character in the episode that gave me the weird vibes since he appeared, Jones. The way he looked at Jim and the way Arte looked at him made me think of Jones doing something to Jim at some point and Arte wanted to keep Jim away from him. There is a lot that Arte is not showing, being the actor he is, but when it comes to Jim, he cannot control his reactions and he really looked like he waw going to lunge at Jones for even looking at James wrong.

Then there was Jim being half-naked and Arte looking at him appreciatively when he reappeared, even though he already put on a shirt haphazardly. Like, Artemus, please gather your jaw from the floor.

Now for the moment that made me yell, because how did we get this in 1965? Like, HOW??? Sharing a room, and all I could think of was "there was only one bed" trope. I guess that that trope existed 57 years ago too, huh? And if anyone wonders about the moment, it is the moment Arte tells Jim that he put their luggage in one of the rooms down the hall when Jim says he needs a change of clothes. THEIR LUGGAGE. IN ONE OF THE ROOMS. It did nkt take a lot of imagination to get my head going, that's for sure.

There's also that segment from Johann Strauß the son's Kaiser Walzer that the creators seemed to prefer since it was present in many episodes during dancing scenes. And right back at the end when Arte plays it on the piano and Jim dances with Ecstasy on it. Just... chef's kiss.

Also, another point where I had to stop from actually screaming was the numerous times they were both passed out and the other one woke them up in worry. The sheer worry and care they showed every time the other one was in danger, I could write a thesis on that.

Last, but not least, that moment when Arte asked "Is Jim okay?" with such a sad voice, like, buddy, you are not subtle that your world is falling apart without Jim in it. And at the tiniest notion of him being hurt, or worse, you are crumbling. Same energy as when they whacked Arte on the head and Jim watched it happen. He was so startled, but couldn't do anything about it because he had to do something for them to prevent bad things from happening. And you could see it pained him to do so because the look on his face was devastated. If that is not something special these two have, then I don't know what it is.

Let's not forget about Jones trapping himself in that thing he put Jim in and even after all that was done to Jim by Jones, Jim still tried to get him out of there. Talk about Jim being the kind of man that wouldn't leave his enemies to die a slow, painful death if he could prevent it. Something about that gives you the vibe of restoring the faith in humanity in the end.

There are probably many more thoughts about this ep and Jim and Arte in general that I could include, but they are escaping my brain right now. Bottom line is that these two have a special bond, and there's nothing else like it, something about their friendship or the ship, if you ship them, it makes you feel alive and invigorating. It is much good and I am recommending this show to anyone who likes to get many feels from it

[mommybard]

I just want to point out the CBAT song guy posted his full playlist and it is just as dreadful.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwrcKBhbuIzXkg144tcNMRfndccJl1jow

Making this note before listening to this. How bad could it possibly be? Only 13 songs. Wait, 12. One is apparently hidden. Maybe an artist saw they were on this playlist and wanted nothing to do with it? Usher. Cliche, but not so bad. I'm hopeful. Shaggy. Two things. I always think of that "Wasn't Me" song of his. The other thing...is this just like early 2000's songs? Because I feel like I'm listening to my mom's CD collection. Also, Shaggy's voice every time would absolutely pull me out of it. TNGHT. I...what. Have you ever seen those Step-Up films? This reminds me of music from there, where they might start it by having people beat on pipes. But then the random baby laugh and the bubble noises? THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ON A FUCKING PLAYLIST??? Oh my fucking god I feel so much worse for the gf now Kanye. I can get it from the beat side, but also just...not a song that I could imagine using? Not really mood setting. BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE THOUGH, I WILL GIVE IT THAT. Flosstradamus. I question how one fucks to sirens. I really do. Because it's going to take me completely out of it. And the coughing?? BICEP. The random start and stops of this song just make it seem like it wouldn't really suit using as the tempo to fuck. Unless you need to pause for a break every few seconds. Panjabi MC. I'll admit, I don't hate it. It sounds like a good song. I'd say hope restored, but after the other songs on this list...yeah not really. TRFN. Sampling Milkshakes isn't so bad. But it feels more like a song you'd dance to in a club, not really fucking tempo. Especially when it breaks every so often from a solid beat to the chorus part of Milkshakes. Sean Paul. Alright, fully convinced this guy is just fully committing to early 2000's aesthetic, because I know for a FACT this is one of the songs my mom would blast when driving around. XXXTentacion. Why is this on a fucking playlist? Listening to the lyrics, this is kinda sad. Was he just hoping that she didn't actually listen to what was being sung? Not the atmosphere most people are going for when wanting to have sex BAR9. It...it starts off so melancholy and then switches up to what sounds like Dubstep? I'm not an expert with music, please don't shoot me. Just what it reminded me of. And then switches into soft piano?? What is this??? AND BACK AGAIN???? And finally, since the other song is hidden, CBAT. This far down on the list, was this supposed to be his finisher? Because every time I hear it go from serious to the squeaks its making me laugh my ass off. Just...why?? Someone get that girl a fucking medal for going through all that for a few years jfc

[dizzydennis]

Sonic x Cream & Cheese Cover Story - English Translation

Translator note: I am not fluent in Japanese. I did my best to bring these translations for Sonic fans to enjoy. Constructive criticism is absolutely welcomed, but please be kind. I hope you enjoy this sweet little story!

It’s the popping and colorful, “Music Plant.”

Tubes of brass instruments weave and wind around the bouncing path of a piano keyboard. This area is entertaining to anybody who listens to  the music within it and it’s become somewhat of a famous attraction for some animals.

In such a cheerful place like the Music Plant, you can see two energetic shadows chasing after something. The blue hedgehog, "Sonic" was ahead of the other two with a large gap between them.

Just behind was the little rabbit girl, "Cream" and her chao friend, "Cheese.” Due to the Music Plant being full of various musical instruments and gadgets, even if they thought they had caught up, they'd be pulled elsewhere soon again. The race between these characters allowed the scales of music to play beautifully like a duet.

Looking back, Sonic couldn't see Cream. Sonic tried slowing to walk to assess the situation, but... Cream then came down softly from the sky and blocked his way.

“Mr. Sonic! Please let us go on an adventure together!”

Cream can fly through the sky by flopping her big ears. She could never beat Sonic in terms of foot speed, but she was always able to catch up with some clever shortcuts. Sonic smiled and sighed.

“Like I said, ‘that’s no good!’ The place I’m heading towards is pretty dangerous.”

Sonic carefully chose his words. As he continued on forward he gave a wink to express an all-too-simple: “I’m sorry.”

Sonic then slipped and said “...for a kid.”

Upon hearing this, Cream puffed out her cheeks in frustration and clenched her fists.

“Urgh, Mr. Sonic! Don’t treat me like a little kid! Hmph!”

“It’s not like that, Cream! It’s not that at all. It’s just a bit...”

-ZUUUUUUUUUN-

Just as Sonic tried to find the right words, a terrifying rumbling sound was heard from a distance that shook the Earth. Sonic gave a serious look. Apparently he had a bit of an idea of what that sound was.

“I gotta go fast! Cream, you get home safely, OK?”

“Ah, Mr. Sonic! Please wait!”

Sonic, who flew off at full speed this time, disappeared from Cream’s view as he ran towards the horizon.

For a few seconds, Cream stared at where Sonic had ran with a frazzled expression, but she soon got blown forward... or rather, she started walking again with a much more excited expression.

“Teehee, we should probably go check out that loud noise. It’ll surely shock Mr. Sonic!”

“Chao, chao?”

Cheese seemed to be questioning why Cream wants to keep up with Sonic so badly.

“Is it alright, Cheese? Wherever Sonic goes, there’s bound to be lots of fun adventures! Of course, there are times when our adventures get tough, but Sonic is strong, kind, and knows all about how to adventure. Everything will be just fine!”

“Chao! Chao, chao!”

Cheese seemed to agree and the two went off!

-BANG!!!-

The air shook from far away, and suddenly a loud roar broke through the air. A very large clump of iron flew towards them while it emitted a thick black smoke. It quickly slammed downwards.

CRASH! CRASH! The keyboard bridge and instruments around it were totaled and collapsed.

“Th-Thi- This is bad!”

It must have come from that dangerous place Sonic mentioned just before. Cream, who had fallen over due to the first impact had gotten up in the chaos of everything and saw the miserable, destroyed surroundings. She tried to dust herself off.

Crumbling bridges, animals fleeing for their lives... is this what constitutes as an adventure?

Meanwhile... on the other side of the Music Plant.

“You wanna play me a number? Heh, this is just a robot from Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park; I guess he won’t play.”

A mass-produced Death Egg Robot about the size of a small mountain had stopped moving and was leaning against a trumpet-like facility. It stopped with black smoke shooting out all over the place.

Through it all, Sonic was making a fool of himself while gleefully playing the trumpets.

The truth is, Sonic came here to take down this mass-produced Death Egg Robot when he had heard it was attacking here. The owner, Dr. Eggman, was nowhere to be seen as this seemed to be a “stray robot” that rampaged at complete random. Even so, it was still strong and dangerous. Sonic had to be careful getting Cream involved.

The robot was defeated without much trouble. Sonic was in a good mood because he had made sure the collateral damage was minimal. With this, fixing things back to normal would be fairly easy. The beautiful scenery of the Music Plant and the beautiful sounds that people loved would soon be restored.

Suddenly...

Sonic noticed black smoke rising from the overpass which was only a short distance away. It seemed like the last explosion from the destroyed Death Egg Robot may have caused a huge clump of debris to fly off. It must have flown far and struck that bridge.

“Oh no!”

There were probably many tourists there and Sonic felt it was the exact area where he split up from Cream. He ran with all of his might and had an absolutely serious look on his face.

Sonic traveled at the speed of sound as he overcame colorful hills, spin dashed through a tunnel of brass instruments, and more to arrive at the scene.

A group of animals seemed to be relaxing after having safely evacuated the dangerous bridge area. Cream and Cheese flew down as she flapped her ears.

��Cream!”

“Mr. Sonic!?”

Cream made an expression that shined brightly as she flew to Sonic. But in the shadows of her shining smile, she was tired... but still happy. She went to rescue the many animals and others who were too slow and left behind on the bridge. She took care of the children who had been separated from their parents.

Sonic talked for a while and noticed that Cream was safe, the damage to the surroundings was not as catastrophic as it first seemed, and there were no major injuries. Cream felt relieved and put her hand to her chest. However, Cream’s expression seemed off.

She then said, “I’m so glad that everybody is safe.”

Cream looked downward and continued to speak in a sweet voice.

“I really wanted to defeat that bad robot and go on an adventure with Sonic.”

Just then, Cream stomped on some pebbles at her feet and turned away from Sonic. She continued to look down at the ground. Sonic spoke softly to Cream with a gentle smile.

“That’s not it at all, Cream.”

Sonic stroke the back of Cream’s head and she slowly looked up. Sonic then took to one knee to be at Cream’s eye level.

“An adventure like today... well, it requires both ‘strength’ and ‘kindness.’ We gotta make sure we have both of them.”

“...?”

“Today, you helped me out entirely with your kindness. It was honestly a huge help if I do say so myself!”

“!?”

“Sure! I defeated the robot that was attacking the Music Plant, but half of this adventure was entirely you, Cream!”

“!!”

Like a soft breeze floating by, Cream’s heart shined.

There are times when things get really tough, but if you have strength and kindness, it will be okay. Isn't that the ideal form of an "adventure" for Cream? Today she had an adventure with Sonic!

For Cream, today’s excitement, her hard work, and the way things turned out are all a shining part of her adventures.

Happiness and pride filled Cream’s heart.

“I... really had an adventure?”

“Yeah!”

“I really used my kindness well?”

“Sure!”

“So... will you... take me on more adventures?”

Of course! Sonic gave a thumbs up as a promise, but as the sun started setting, he thought for a moment and answered:

“That’s fine by me, but... it’s getting late. Isn’t it time to go home? Your Mom must be worried. So, how’s tomorrow sound?”

“Hmph! Please don’t treat me like a kid again.”

Sonic ran off with an expression that showed he knew he hit a nerve. Cream and Cheese gave chase.

Music scales filled the air as they ran through the Music Plant; their performance echoing through the sky.

[clorofolle]

Miscellaneous Deltarune ch. 2 thoughts under the cut because I LOVE reading these from other people

It slaps. So hard

I personally thought chapter 1 was a bit weak overall – still had loads of fun playing it, and replayed it a bunch, but it left me hoping Toby and his team would do something a little different in the next chapters. And OH BOY did they deliver with this one!!

The music!!! Is so!!! Good!!!

The characters! The dialogue! Chapter 1 got so many chuckles from me but I still feel Chapter 2 managed to be even better on this front.

The weird/snowgrave route is as disturbing as it is exciting, especially since we know there's only gonna be one ending.

The Player's relationshop with Kris is... interesting? I can't parse it. It doesn't feel in line with Toby Fox to make a game where the only moral thing to do for the in-game people is not to play it at all, like we can only do bad by possessing a kid who would be better off without us...? But also, Kris is so much their own person, I feel like I am intruding, or making them do things they wouldn't usually – even in Pacifist. Like – I wish them and Ralsei to be friends, so I make Kris hug Ralsei. But is Kris okay with that? What would have they done?

Especially since it seems like Kris doesn't like Ralsei all that much...? Kris drinking Ralsei tea is the only combination where one of the trio drinking the tea of another one restores 60hp and not 120. What's up Kris? What does he tell you while I'm not looking? You ok? You know you can talk to me, right? And that you can just. Ditch the soul for a bit if you wanna play the piano and go out with friends. Yo it's chill man

We all already knew Toby was inspired by OFF for a lot of stuff, but imho this is the first time it really shows!! Maybe because some stuff had been there even before Undertale. Queen being simply Queen, the Swatchlings have big OFF vibes... but especially the Acid Tunnel of Love! I think one of the imagery OFF fans are most familiar with is the Batter traversing these rivers of meat on a creepy duck/swan-like Pedalo. I've read some theories about how we're actually playing the Bad Guy, since we & Kris are the Knight, and will end up having to fight everyone else. While I don't think that's the case at all... I can't help but feel it would be *cool* to have a sort of Batter situation with Kris, hehe.

I think since Toby knows that by now, pretty much the whole fanbase is looking out for signs of Gaster, they might be,,, tricking us a little? I definitely thought that the man who “spoke so eloquently” and gave “blueprints” to Sweet Cap'n Cakes might've been him! Turns out it was just Roulx Kaard, who might look a bit the part but is definitely not Gaster, haha.

On the same vein... I think general fandom consensus is that Gaster is the Knight, no? The games sort of keep pointing at it. My guess is, it's gonna be more complicated. He's leading us on.

PAPYRUS. papyrus Papyrus PAPYRUS

I am so worried for that little skeleton and yet!!! so excited!!!

The fact that we couldn't see him yet gives me high hopes Toby has big plans for this Best Boy. After all he was by far the weirdest (lore-wise) character in UT, the one with the most dialogue after the Narrator, inexplicably loved by all and any fourth wall breaking anomalies (Flowey, Toby, and me <3)

Also his design was based on Dedan from OFF! What a funny piece of information. How fun that he was based off a villain. Nothing could go wrong!!!

My belief is that he's gonna be an interesting character, and we're gonna meet him in the Dark World. Fight him probably!!! But we're gonna be his friends at the end.

And last thing... Sans has not once mentioned the name Papyrus. Papyrus just. Isn't in the game so far

Which is the most troublesome thing so far,,,

Especially since. I feel there might be a thing with siblings or similar people with similar names and us players being confused about it...? Catty UT is here, but our peer and likely to be in adventures is Catti. Noelle has/had a sister we yet know nothing about, except her full name might be December. We were promised we would soon meet Suzy, yet only met Susie so far. We haven't seen Asriel in the game, but Ralsei sure looks how we imagine Asriel to, huh?

Can't wait for Toby to troll us. Sans is gonna open the door to his house like hey meet my brother. He's a little shy because he only speaks in sign language. His name is Gaster. Oh? Wasn't he who you were expecting?

and then Papyrus shows up and kicks our asses and in this other timeline he's the final boss or something and we could've never seen it coming