#still better than the lore dump I wrote last time.

[mechazushi]

Pink [It's my Favorite Color] {A Kaiju Number 8 Short Story} <Smut>

Tags] IhaReno, Breif Mention of KafHoshi, Intense Making-Out, Hickeys, Unprotected Sex, Love Hotel, Creampie, Mild Intoxication (just a liquid courage amount, not enough for questionable consent.) Scratching/Bruising, Cock Worshipping, Iharu Is A Blushing Mess. (Let me know if there was anything else I should have tagged.)

{So originally, I wanted to write this story in such a way that the pace of it matched the rhythm of the song, but I very quickly realized that I physically CAN'T bring myself to write something that can be read in under 4 minutes. In the end, this is just here to let yall know that this story was directly inspired by this song. and to explain away the sudden appearence of Reno's cock-worshipping mindset, iykyk,}

Holidays always managed to slip past Reno. If it wasn't for his classmates all around him getting excited for them, he probably would have grown up ignoring it altogether. As sad as it was, it was mainly because he never really felt close enough to anyone to bother keeping track of them. This time... this time was different. He felt like he had finally met someone worth celebrating with. Or, for the sake of the holiday, had someone to ask to be his Valentine.

The division liked to go a little extra for the holidays. Nothing crazy like catered parties and live music, but had been known to rent out a building or two. For Valentine's Day, they had decided to buy out a ritzy bar that was off a secluded side street. It was a fairly new bar that had started to develop rave reviews, to the point that most people in the Third Division had heard of it. Everyone wanted to show out. Got new outfits, wore make-up, the works. Haruichi even offered and encouraged some if the guys to wear make-up as well.

Reno was standing outside of the bar in as nice of an outfit he could bring himself to wear. He wore a pair of white slacks with matching shoes. He had Haruichi help slick his hair back, but for the trouble was forced to at least try on this shimmery pink eyeliner he had bought for the occasion. It was a justified reason as it matched the Star of his outfit, a very loudly patterned, button up, pink, silk dress shirt. Everyone had kept telling him that he looked fine, but on the inside he felt more like a disco floor reject.

As he looked at the entrance of the bar, his arm was abruptly nudged by Kafka and the bottle he was holding. For some reason, he had decided to buy a bottle of Hennessy and was passing it around the group. Not everyone could get off at the same time, so him and Kafka were a part of a group of late-comers. Reno wasn't really fond of the idea of pre-gaming, but he had to admit that between showing up late and going into this party with a plan and a purpose had made him incredibly nervous. Taking the bottle, he quickly swallowed the last sip of the harsh liquid and hissed at its taste.

Tossing the bottle away, the group lined up and made their way inside. Letting his eyes adjust to the dark interior, his attention was first caught by the subtle heart decor. All there was to see was some pink and red heart shaped paper doilies hanging from the ceiling. Other than that they had changed the back lighting behind the bar to a rotating pattern of hot pink, red, and white. For the most part they let the dark wood walls and leather furniture speak for itself. The main draw in for the place seemed to be the new Valentine's Day drink menu. Reno casually saddled up to the bar and ordered something fancy sounding with creme liquor and strawberry juice. While it was being made, his eyes flowed over to his person of interest sitting down at the other end of the bar.

Iharu Furuhashi, dressed subliminally punk as usual, only now he made his style match tonight's theme as well. He had freshly dyed his Mohawk in its ever present pink color, but had made the tips of his spiky locks a vibrant red. Thick silver rings adorning most of his fingers matched the square metal studs that lined his leather biker jacket. He wore a pink turtle neck sweater that was cropped and matching high tops, both of which framed a pair of low cut jeans so tight they looked painted on. He was leaning back against the bar while engaged in some apparently hilarious commentary as he nursed a large mug of pink beer.

Reno felt incredibly nervous just sitting at the same bar he was at. For a while the two of them had been in this give-and-take, playfully competitive relationship. At first, Reno just went along with it because he figured that's just how Iharu liked his friendships. It was all pretty harmless, just some combative banter in the basic "Anything you can do, I can do better" format. But lately, it had started to feel different. More... charged. Ambitious, even. Reno wasn't slow, he could tell when he was being flirted with, but this was the first time he couldn't tell if Iharu was playing it off as a joke or if he wanted to be serious.

It didn't help that Reno had come to terms with the fact that he actually did want Iharu to be serious. He liked the casual competitiveness, he liked the intense energy, he liked having someone there to push him and to have someone there to push back. And maybe, just maybe, a part of him got off on the fact that there might be a chance he could make that feeling exclusive. He wasn't possessive by nature, but he did like that it filled a niche part of his brain that apparently decided that it would like a deeper relationship. Especially if he could have it with the one person that could give him that intense feeling on tap. He may not look like it, but as it turns out, Reno... liked 'em loud.

As he sat there sipping on his cocktail, a large and unignorable presence had decided now would be a good time to annoy him. Kafka had plopped onto the bar stool next to him and quietly ordered a rum and coke. As it was put in front of him, he turned and nodded to get Reno's attention. After he got it, he jutted his chin toward the other end of the bar, obviously pointing out Iharu and the lack of Reno existing next to him. Reno flexed his eyes in a way of him saying that he's working on it, only to have Kafka roll his eyes back at him. Taking a sip of his coke, he grabbed Reno's drink with the same hand and abruptly gripped the back of his pants with the other. Reno yelped as he felt himself getting lifted out of the seat and being forced to walk toward Iharu's direction.

As Iharu was turned around, Kafka slammed Reno's drink on the counter and dropped him into the seat next to the punk. Reno threw his arms out wide, wanting to yell at him for his behavior, but Kafka had already left him in the dust. He was left gobsmacked as watched Kafka head to the other side of the room and quietly slipped his hand into the Vice Captain's back pants pocket. With the sound of the drink hitting the counter, Iharu turned around just in time to notice Reno suddenly sitting right next to him.

"Sweet Jesus!" Iharu exclaimed as he gave Reno an appreciative look-over, "Look at you, Hot Stuff! New fit and everything!"

Reno immediately felt a rush of blood hit his face as he gave into a knee-jerk reaction of covering his mouth and looking away.

"Ahh, sorry. Too much?" Iharu murmured with an apologetic smirk.

"N-no, just." Reno stammered as he forced himself to look back, "Last thing I expected you to say, I guess."

"Yeah, sure, but can you really blame me? With the way you're stunnin' everyone tonight." Iharu remarked as he reached over and lightly slapped the back of his hand against Reno's arm.

"Please, I look like I stepped out of the 70's." Reno scoffed as he took a sip of his drink. He immediately felt like biting his tongue as the words left his mouth. After all, he only picked the shirt out because it reminded him of Iharu.

"Nah, man! All you have to do is just act like your naturally cool self and take a lap. Trust me, you're gonna send everyone here flying flat onto their ass." Iharu continued to try his best to keep his partner's confidence up, but it was clear to the both of them that he was laying the compliments on thick tonight.

"Kinda like how I handled your ass back in training yesterday?" Reno reflexively countered with the first thing that came to mind. Now he just felt like cutting out his tongue because who responds to something like that! He came here to ask Iharu out, not dunk on him! Thankfully, not all hope was lost as he heard a hearty laugh come from his man of the hour.

"Hey, just know that if picking up people was like a fight, you'd have already swept me off my feet." Iharu couldn't bring himself to look at Reno as he tossed out his cheesiest line, but the embarrassment didn't stop his hand from reaching down to Reno's thigh and mask some gently yearning squeezes behind a friendly pat. Reno's gaze flickered between the hand that was just on his leg and the slowly building blush Iharu was currently trying to hide in the dimly lit bar.

"Well, someone's decided to stop being subtle tonight." Reno thought. This was good. Amazing, actually. Against all odds, this was starting to turn into something he felt like he could work with.

"Have to admit though, did not think you would come in here wearing something pink in the first place." Iharu cleared his throat as he spoke, trying to dissipate the sudden tension he didn't mean to make.

"Oh, why's that?" Reno asked, hoping it would lead to something he could play off of.

"Well, I mean... not to lay claim to an entire portion of the color spectrum, but pink's always been kinda my thing. Ya know?" Iharu commented as he side-eyed Reno from behind his beer mug, "Can I ask what made you want to take the color out for a spin?"

Reno bit at the rim of his glass so he could force down an evil chuckle at what he was about to say. He began to hope that he hadn't been reading Iharu wrong this whole time and that his stupid, half-thought out plan was actually about to work.

"This, uh, might come as a surprise to you, but-" Reno started to speak, but interrupted himself so he could throw a leg over Iharu's lap. Leveraging the heel of his shoe into the swivel seat he was on, Reno forced Iharu to face him as he got as close as he could comfortably get in such a position. Placing his chin in his hand, Reno tried to communicate his real intent through his gaze as best he could as he finished his previous thought.

"-Pink is actually my favorite color." He smirked.

Saying pink was his favorite color seemed to be the right choice. It wasn't long before the two of them slipped away from the party and ended up passing through an emergency exit door that opened out into a secluded side alley. If Reno wasn't getting slammed onto the wall next to it, he probably would have started questioning how the alarm didn't immediately go off. However, he was currently getting his hips firmly pressed up to the wall as Iharu took the lead and started to enthusiastically attack Reno's mouth with his.

Small gasps and stilted moans echoed down the alley as Reno fisted the leather jacket. He had to forcefully unclench his hands to move them anywhere, and could tell they were shaking as he shifted them under the jacket. His hands traced the hem of the pants, ghosting over the strip of exposed skin that revealed Iharu's prominent hips, and up the front of the sweater. He felt lost in the kiss as he hands squeezed the soft fabric, a lackluster attempt to keep him grounded. As his hands came around the back of the sweater, he suddenly felt a cool expanse of smooth skin underneath the jacket.

"Holy shit, is this backless?" Reno pulled away in surprise as his hands quickly traced the edges of the hidden opening.

"Surprise." Iharu chuckled darkly, "Wait till you see the back of the collar." He began to kiss and nip a path down Reno's jaw to his neck, loudly relishing the taste of his skin.

Intrigued, Reno quickly pulled a hand back out and roughly pulled on the back of the coat. Iharu shimmied his shoulders a little to expose the back of his neck. Reno pulled his head more to the side so he could look over more. Sure, it made his collar bone vulnerable to Iharu's viciously lovely nipping, but now he could see what he was talking about. A wide, bright pink, silk bow was the only thing holding the collar around the neck, and by proxy the rest of the sweater.

"Fuuuck," Reno roughly gasped, "Who knew you could be so adorable?"

"You're about to find out just how -fucking- adorable I can get, Sweet Heart." Iharu smirked as he earnestly licked over all of the reddened pinpricks he left all over Reno's clavicle.

He slotted a leg in between Reno's and forcefully pulled his hips over it, making him grind on Iharu's thigh. Reno moaned loudly as one of his legs came up and locked its ankle behind the one he was rubbing up on. The one hand that was still under the jacket dug and scratched a short ways down Iharu's back, causing a stuttering gasp as he bit a trail back up the other side of Reno's neck. Hot breaths and warm tongues collided as their grips on each other tightened.

Reno felt like he was floating through heaven. This was everything he felt like he was craving and more. He had wondered if their push-and-pull friendship would carry over into something like this, and now that he had it, he hoped he wouldn't ever have to go back to how they were before. Not after getting a taste of what it would be like to push someone over the edge of ecstasy and get dragged along on the journey. It felt like being both the passenger and the tracks of a roller coaster, just building and waiting and hoping this crazy ride wouldn't end.

Reno's mouth became even more eager as he continued to feel Iharu's back get warmer under his hand. As it traveled around, it drifted south and made a home on Iharu's ass, groping it and forcing their hips impossibly closer together. He felt like he couldn't get enough of their carnal contact as he tried to get Iharu to grind back. The hand that was on the jacket pulled forward and tried to shove itself in between them, beginning to desperately paw at the matching studded belt buckle. Reno quickly became distracted with the endeavor, panting as he pulled away from the intense and sloppy make-out to curse out the unbroken leather of the new belt.

"Well shit! Someone's eager tonight." Iharu rasped as he licked away Reno's taste on his lips.

"Wanna touch it." Reno quietly whined, "Wanna watch it and feel it and taste it and make you make a mess of yourself." His chest and legs felt like they were on fire as he brought the other hand around to unbuckle the stubborn belt.

"Whoa there! Out here in this alley? We're gonna get caught, Doll." Iharu huskily teased as he held Reno's hands in place.

Reno pouted at the obstruction before diving forward and sucking Iharu's lips back into his mouth. He licked and nibbled on them as he harshly tugged on the belt, slamming his lover back on his heated body.

"Don't make me wait for this." Reno pleaded as he flipped them around and pressed Iharu up against the wall this time, capturing his lips again.

Iharu humored him for a second before rudely shoving him backwards. Reno stumbled for a moment, face wide with shock and fear and was left wondering if he overstepped something. He was left even more confused as Iharu snagged his wrist and started to drag him out of the alley and down the sidewalk. Reno turned back to watch the bar's entrance quickly become farther and farther away before turning back to look at Iharu's smug expression.

"Who said I was going to?" He remarked.

Very quickly understanding what Iharu was offering, Reno stopped dragging his feet out of concern and immediately matched his partner's rapid pace. The two of them broke out into a run, dodging pedestrians left and right with no idea where they were going but never letting go of each other's hands. The two of them kept running for a while, knowing what they were looking for but had to find it first. They didn't have to go much farther as they eventually found a brightly decorated hotel that had gone all out on the heart shaped holiday decorations.

Bursting through the doors, Reno reached the frosted check in window first and made the reservation. After getting the key, he was abruptly pulled along by Iharu and almost shoved into the elevator. Their lips never broke contact the second they got in, but had to break apart pretty quickly afterward as their room was only on the next floor up. Reno fumbled with the door key for a second, getting distracted by Iharu planting eager kisses on the back of his neck. Everything paused for a moment once they finally got the room open.

Pink. The whole room was pink. Pink walls, pink sheets, pink fluffy rug and shear curtains, pink tulle bunting on the ceiling held up with heart shaped string lights made out of that squishy rubber bead material. There was even a five-ish foot tall pink lava floor lamp rippling in the corner of the room. Reno suddenly remembered what he said earlier about pink being a favorite color and now wanted to eat his words. Iharu wasn't deterred in the slightest and looked around the room in delightful amazement.

"That's coming back with us." He laughed as he pointed to the lamp.

Reno spun on his toes and slammed Iharu up against the door of the room, silencing any more creative ideas from the audacious punk.

"We are not stealing the lamp from the fucking love hotel." Reno muttered as he punched his lips back onto Iharu's.

His lips traveled quickly down Iharu's neck as he tried to catch up to the amount of hickeys he was sporting on his own neck. As Reno sucked and licked dark patches on the plains of his neck, Iharu got to work unbuttoning his shirt.

"Come on, it'd look great in that one corner of the barracks." Iharu gasped as his head collided against the door, stretching his neck to give Reno more room to work with.

"It's definitely not going into the Divisions's personal shrine." Reno growled around the chunk of flesh in between his teeth, thinking about the pile of sacred junk everyone prayed to before missions.

"Aww, you're no fun!" Iharu whined playfully as he got to the last button on the shirt.

Feeling freed from the confines of the shirt, Reno took his cue to drop to his knees in front of Iharu, "Fun? I'll show you fun." He threatened salaciously.

He began to nuzzle against the stretched outline of Iharu's hard cock in the tight pants. Lightly mouthing over it as he gripped and squeezed those firm and defined thighs. Iharu gasped over and over, mainly from shock, as he watched Reno place light kisses over the now wet jeans and went back to fumbling with the stiff leather belt. Reno wasted no time in getting the dark jeans down far enough to free the boxers so he could get to the hard member. Pulling those down too, he let himself take a minute to watch the cock bounce free in front of his face.

Reno couldn't stop himself from biting his lip as he admired it. He tentatively brushed his cheek against the scorching skin before littering it in airy kisses. Airy kisses turned into teasing kitten-licks turned into full-on lapping mouthfuls as he got more confident he was treating Iharu right, if the stuttering and shaking gasps was anything to go by. Reno moved on from the shaft towards the leaking tip and gently sucked it into his wet mouth. He gripped its length and lapped at the salty precum that came out. Reno lightly sucked on the sensitive tip, quietly moaning and eye lids fluttering as he felt Iharu's shaky hands grabbed small fistfuls of his hair and tightened on them.

Reno wasn't afraid to admit to himself that he might have liked dick more than the average person. Even knowing he was gay, there was something about how they were shaped and felt and looked that he couldn't get enough of. He never completely understood that quiet voice in the back of his head that slowly got louder and louder when he was in the bath house with other guys, but since it never really got him in trouble before he just let it simmer in the back of his mind. That was the case until Reno met him. Something broke in the back of his mind when he met Iharu in the recruitment ceremony.

That little voice was quiet at first, but it stunned Reno nonetheless by the fact he hadn't even seen Iharu naked yet. That small voice really wanted to apparently because he couldn't stop himself from trying to see what kind of peak he could sneak every time they got together. For the most part, he just chalked it up to that weird little obsession of his, not wanting to explore any further with it at the risk of accidentally making Iharu uncomfortable. But now that he had it in front of him, he finally understood. To Reno, it looked perfect. The perfect shape, size, color, even taste.

It wasn't ungodly long or wide, just a bit longer than his fist and wide enough that he could still fit his mouth around it. Iharu tasted only slightly bitter, but mostly salty and not to a point it bothered him. Reno even felt a little insane thinking that he even smelled good, not knowing what it was but still wanting more of it. What he liked most about it was the color. A little redder than Iharu's natural skin tone with a bulbous, hot pink tip. How his brain instinctively knew that Iharu's dick was perfect for him, he would never know.

But it certainly made Reno wonder if pink really was his favorite color.

Feeling bolder, he slowly sunk down on Iharu's cock as he tongued the underside of it. He eventually felt it prodding the back of his throat as it made tears well up in his eyes. He tried not to choke on its length while his tongue and lips danced at its base, nose digging into the ghostly patch of fine hair just under Iharu's navel. The hands in Reno's hair began to pull tighter once one of his hands came back up to play with his balls. Iharu began to cry and curse louder as Reno started to slowly bob his head.

"Oh, Fuck!" Iharu growled as his fingers flexed and scratched at Reno's scalp, completely ruining his neatly combed hair

Reno couldn't care about anything right now. His knees were stinging and his pants had long since become uncomfortably tight. His jaw was burning and he could feel his saliva dripping down his chin. One or two tears had fully escaped his eyes and fell down to mix itself in with the rest of the mess he was becoming. He could feel his throat getting sore but the pain did nothing to make him want to stop. Reno could feel the hands on his head getting insistent and made it clear he should pry himself off of Iharu's dick for a second.

"Sorry. Too much?" He looked up and gulped down fresh air, suddenly hearing how rough and strained his voice sounded.

Iharu's eyes went wide as he heard it too, swallowing thickly as his own throat went dry.

"Ye-yeah, just a little. But I also just, um, figured that maybe you'd like a t-turn.' He stuttered over his words as his blood set fire to his face.

"Nope. Fine right where I am, actually." Reno quickly countered as he almost dived right back into action.

Iharu's hands held him in place as he tried to talk again, "What I meant was that I want to switch things up."

"What'd you have in mind?" Reno asked distractedly, already going back to planting tiny pecks on the well slicked cockhead.

"My God, take the fucking hint." Iharu's eyes squeezed as he muttered to the sky, "I-I want you to fuck me..." He trailed off quietly.

Reno did hear him, but seeing that deep blush flare up harder over his lovers face and reach the tips of his ears made him feel like teasing him a little more.

"Oh? Didn't quite catch that." He smirked as his fingers came up to play around with the stiff member again.

"You're gonna fuckin' kill me." Iharu hotly groaned as his head slammed against the door again.

"Then I guess you're just gonna have to tell me how to save you then." Reno coaxed as he sinfully dragged his tongue up the cock's slit.

"GOD, I want you to fuck me already!" Iharu shouted.

Reno let out a small giggle before grabbing his embarrassed lover by his knees and lifting him up from the floor. Iharu let out a shocked yelp as he gripped Reno by his shoulders as to lot flop over backwards and send them both falling back to the floor. Carefully marching over to the soft pink bed, Reno playfully slammed Iharu onto it and pulled him close to lather him in another layer of kisses. It didn't last long as he quickly pulled back and took the rest of the shirt off.

"So, how'd you want this to go?" Reno panted as he shifted gears and started to unbutton his pants.

Iharu watched dumbfounded for a moment before rapidly shimmying his pants off as well, "Okay so, ever heard the phrase 'Topping from the bottom'?"

Reno paused out of sudden interest halfway through pulling one leg out of his slacks and almost fell over from a sudden lack of balance, "Yeah. Yeah, I can work with that." He said once he caught himself.

He quickly pulled off the rest of the outfit and practically launched himself at the head of the bed, pushing the pillows back as far as they could go so he could sit upright. He couldn't keep the wild grin from his face as he made an insistent grabby gesture at his lover. Iharu struggled a little bit trying to get the pants with the shoes at the same time. Once he got them off, he aggressively threw them across the room into an available white leather arm chair. He shed the jacket and tossed it in the same direction, but was stopped before he could lose the halter sweater.

"Don't. That stays on till I tell you." Reno rakishly commanded, his gaze heated and his pose openly inviting.

The deep blush Iharu had on his cheeks quickly exploded past the tips of his ears and skyrocketed down and over his shoulders. His jaw dropped open as he matched Reno's heated look with one of sudden fascination. His heart slammed against his chest as he slowly shifted to his hands and knees. He swallowed thickly, his throat bobbing visibly as he took his time crawling his way over to Reno's bare and awaiting lap. Straddling his legs once he got closer, Iharu bit down hard on his lip as his gaze sluggishly passed over Reno's excited form. His breath audibly shook once he felt more and more of Reno's cool skin making contact with his over-heated self.

"Hey. Is this still okay?" Reno calmly asked, his gaze softening as his hands came up to sooth Iharu's burning cheeks.

"Yeah, fine." Iharu placated for a second, 'It's just... This might sound stupid now, but-it's one thing to see each other naked at work but it feels entirely different when... when you-"

"Yeah." Reno gently scoffed as he vaguely finished Iharu's sentence for him, "This is... different alright."

Reno's thumbs twitched over Iharu's cheek bones as he quickly licked his lips. He took a short breath before gently pulling on Iharu's face, wordlessly wanting him closer. Taking the hint, Iharu shifted until he was fully seated in Reno's lap and his hands came up to forcefully grip at the pink pillows behind his head. Their gasps were short and shaky as they felt the exchange of their natural temperature clash and ebb out. Moans were choked as they felt their cocks brush up and slide against each other. Reno couldn't bring himself to look away from the alluring show while Iharu's attention was kept on his partner's face.

Feeling an odd twinge of jealousy at the divided attention, Iharu dove forward to brush his nose against Reno's, redirecting his attention. Reno looked up and saw nothing but a wildfire in the depths of his eyes, those pupils blown wide and his orange irises now super-heated ring of melted gold. Iharu's blush had gotten so intense that it turned his skin patchy, like it was the surface of a bubbling river of lava. Almost as if that same river appeared behind him, Reno crashed against Iharu and captured those kissed-plump lips, devouring his mouth like a dead man's last meal. Reno's hands dropped from Iharu's face to his shoulders and then to his hips, promptly tugging him closer and elicited a rough groan from the blushing punk.

Quickly growing unsatisfied with the rough friction, Reno reached out to the side and patted his hand around the top of the nightstand absentmindedly. Once his had brushed up against something resembling a tube, he broke away from the kiss to focus on it and made sure it was what he wanted. It was a small bottle with a flip cap, so he managed to pour out some lube into his hands and started to swirl it around his fingers so it could warm up in his hand. The other hand had come up to assert itself in Iharu's gravity defying hair and pull him back in, the brief absence making Reno hungry for more of their carnal connection.

"Hold on." Iharu suddenly interjected, worry causing him to chew on his lips.

"What, is everything okay?" Reno asked, his eyes searching Iharu's face for any clue for the interruption.

"Look, not to beat a dead horse here, but..." Iharu started as he continued to look anywhere but Reno's face, You're sure you want... to do this? With me, that is. I mean, it's just..." While his words weren't clear themselves, Reno got the impression of what he was trying to communicate.

Reno leaned his head forward until it gently nudged against Iharu's and drew their attention to the present, "And here I thought you'd have enough confidence for the both of us." He puffed out sarcastically, the cheeky grin he had making Iharu roll his eyes.

"Yeah, well, it's not like I ever plan to be nervous about anything, it's just... well... don't make me say it..." Iharu tried to counter before collapsing under the weight of his nerves.

"Hmmmm-First time?" Reno hummed teasingly as the hand in Iharu's hair came down to his cheek.

"Don't say it like that you're not in the same boat! And it doesn't help that you're not acting nervous at all here, so thanks for setting the bar high again." Iharu pouted as he watched Reno force down a giggle.

"Honestly, how do you even do it." Iharu quietly whispered as he nuzzled affectionately into the now warm hand.

Reno's hand drifted further down his face and came to settle around the back of his neck, his thumb lovingly brushing a spot just behind Iharu's ear.

"Because right now... I love you more than I can care about anything else right now." Reno said as his soul was laid bare in his violet eyes.

Iharu's fierce blush fired up again and set more than his face on fire this time, causing the angry splotches to flare up not just over his shoulders now but all the way down his chest. His eyes began to shine and his lip quivered slightly before burying his head in the crook of Reno's neck.

"Fucking suave bastard." He muttered into the cool skin.

"We're trying to, at least." Reno teased.

"Shut up and start fingering me before I run screaming into the night." Iharu muttered a little louder as his arms came to relax around Reno's neck.

Reno giggled a little more as his slicked up hand came around Iharu's back. The other hand massaged the back of his lover's neck as he nosed at what little skin he could reach through the plush sweater collar. Reno drank in the ghostly wafts of the spicy cologne Iharu sported tonight, a pleasantly loud blend of cinnamon, orange oil, and laurel. It smelled wonderful and helped act as a distraction for Reno as his finger started to slowly circle Iharu's asshole. He may not have looked like it, but he was just as nervous on the inside. He may have never been with anyone like this before now, but his main focus in this moment was making sure that tonight was enjoyable for both of them.

With the main concern being that he didn't want to hurt Iharu, Reno started slow, only using light pressure with his middle finger. It slid in easily, more so after he started to piston it and curl around experimentally. The careful actions began to ease out short snippets of whimpers from Iharu as he grew more accustomed to the sensation. He even began to relax and shifted his legs out wider, entrusting more of his weight to be spread over Reno's body. He especially liked it when the movement caused their cocks to rub together again and drew out another shaky gasp from the man under him.

"Still feeling okay?" Reno asked as he teased a second finger at the entrance.

"Yeah." Iharu sighed blissfully, "Definitely feels different when someone else is taking charge."

"Oh?" Reno caught on to the implication with interest, "Do you do this to yourself often?"

Iharu's body jolted a little as he realized what he said, "Sh-shut up." he quietly stuttered.

"Nah, I wanna hear more of this." Reno chuckled, "Do you do it often? Do you do it in the bathhouse when no one is looking? Don't tell me you wait to mess around in the barracks when everyone else is asleep." He continued to whisper teasingly into Iharu's ear, causing him to whimper louder and louder with each insinuation.

"Everyone's out like a light at that point!" Iharu openly whined, "It's not like anyone can hear me over all the snoring anyway!"

"But I'm right under you." Reno continued to investigate, "And you know I'm a light sleeper. You can't tell me that you've been doing this for a while and I haven't caught you before." With how close their chests were, he could almost feel how fast Iharu's heart rate spiked when he said that. Added on to the fact that Iharu had suddenly decided to hold back on his cute little noises, Reno started to develop the feeling that he was on to something.

"Or have I?" He teased as he finally slipped in the second finger, "Those little late night talks of ours? The ones where I hear you call my name out first? Is that you? Are you trying to cover up what you're doing, spreading yourself open as you call out my name?" Iharu bit his lip in an attempt not to openly moan, not wanting to let Reno catch on too easily to how much he was enjoying this.

"You dirty perv." Reno quietly provoked as his fingers bottomed out in Iharu's ass, "You've been getting away with this for how long? Calling out my name all those times?" The sudden intrusion broke Iharu's concentration and caused a sharp gasp to be punched out of him.

"Wish you would have told me sooner." Reno smirked as he began to nibble on an earlobe, "Would've liked to come up to your level. Maybe I could've helped you keep quiet." He tacked on as he brushed the tip of his tongue along the shell of Iharu's ear.

Iharu's moans were still on the shaky side of things, but nothing stopped him from rocking back onto Reno's confident fingers. He didn't move very far, just enough to make the fingers inside him bottom out with every stroke and slide their stiff lengths together. Precum began to leak out of both of them as they got caught up in the erotic movement, making the grind feel smoother. Feeling bold, Reno briefly scissored Iharu open just enough to slide in a third finger and catch him unaware. Iharu openly moaned at the surprising stretch as he pushed all the way down without a second thought.

"A-ahh!" Iharu groaned as he started to shake in his hold.

"So smart of you to take us somewhere special. Don't have to worry about getting caught." Reno panted as he felt more and more turned on by his lover's precious noises, "Be as loud as you want babe... wanna hear you." He began to nip and suckle dark spots on all the sensitive areas of Iharu's neck that he could reach.

"Ah fuck!" Iharu continued to let out choked gasps right by Reno's ear as he felt the fingers inside him flex and move around, almost brushing against his prostate.

"So smart. So warm. So pretty. And it's all for me, isn't it?" Reno continued to praise him as he flexed his fingers some more, trying his best to find that one spot that would finally send Iharu over the edge and make him spill.

"Fuck! Fuck, wait!" Iharu choked down a heated cry just so he could gather the strength to push away from Reno to make a point. He almost forgot what he was about to say and nearly caved to darker interests when he heard a low and irritated growl rumble out from Reno's throat.

"Just want you in me first before I come, that's all!" Iharu blurted out in a rush, having been caught off guard by how Reno's almost primal glare was making him feel.

An audible gulp was heard when he saw Reno's veiled sneer turned into a motivated grin. Reno pulled out his fingers gently and poured more lube on his hand before he gave his sensitive cock a couple of deft tugs. The punk braced himself by gripping Reno's shoulders as he shifted himself just enough to line up with the eager dick under him. Reno stopped and moved his hand so he could line himself up with Iharu's slick and twitching entrance. As he pulled his legs up behind Iharu for added support, Reno wiped off the excess lube onto the back of his thigh.

Reno pulled his other hand down and slowly gripped the other's waist. He took a long moment to admire the deep and pronounced hip dips that Iharu had and how he loved the way his thumb and palm slotted nicely into them. Iharu forced himself to breathe evenly as he slowly sank down onto the offered cock. Both of their bodies began to tremor from the unfamiliar sensation, the glide of it all feeling incredibly smooth and warm. Heady pants and electrified gasps filled the small room as Iharu managed to keep a steady pace of sinking down a little at a time before backing up slightly.

Iharu's eyes were screwed shut as he voiced his pleasure to the ceiling, hands tightly gripping the other man's shoulders to the point they left crescent nail marks in the skin. Reno couldn't tear his eyes away from the delicious sight of Iharu's body taking him in a little at a time. He bit the inside of his cheek for focus, forcing himself not to roughly buck up into the wet and welcoming heat. Iharu was silently glad that Reno added that third finger at the last second, thinking that this would have taken longer had he not. Reno wasn't long which felt like a small blessing in the moment, but he was certainly wide.

Once Iharu had finally sat all the way down on the hard cock, he immediately grinded on it, vocally relishing the full feeling it had carved into his stomach. His moans became intensely pitchy because of that, and made himself take a moment to come back down from the sudden high it caused. Reno hissed as his grip on his hips became all the tighter, almost to the point he wondered if it was going to leave a bruise. Iharu's hands released their grip and slowly traveled down Reno's arms, reflexively gripping his biceps as they passed, and settled down close to his wrists. Taking the hint, Reno loosened his grip and instead made his hands massage Iharu's taut stomach.

Reno pulled his legs up some more as he leaned forward, practically sandwiching Iharu with his body. Iharu whimpered at the movement, ass twitching around the cock inside him as he helped pull Reno closer. Reno stretched his neck as far as he could once they were close enough and bit the pink ribbon at the back of Iharu's neck. He could only grab at the loop of it, so it took some harsh tugging and yanking to pull enough ribbon out of its knot. Iharu giggled a little at the irritated grunts and huffs Reno was making as he chewed the bow loose. He eventually had enough and just reached up to finish it off before biting the collar in the end to pull it away. His hand went back down quickly, but Reno took his time pushing the sweater's hem up Iharu's super heated body.

Reno couldn't help but gasp once he saw the lithe expanse of Iharu's flushed chest. It had gone fully red at this point, From the tips of his ears and hairline, almost all the way down to his navel looked like Iharu had been dunked in red Kool-aid that had stained his skin. Drawing his eyes back up, Reno even noticed that it has even spread to his shoulders a little. When their eyes met, Reno felt he got sucked in to whatever world Iharu was floating through at this moment. With a heavy gaze and blown pupils, lips parted and shiny from spit, Iharu looked gone. His head feeling so far above the clouds it made him wonder how he could still breathe. His gaze was warm, his body felt hot, and Reno was prepared to dive into the fire.

Reno leaned forward and started to slowly lap at Iharu's chest, leaving wet, open-mouthed kisses right over his heart. His hand came up to the other side of the chest and immediately began to squeeze at the small pec that he had found there. Teasing his thumb over the rounded nub, Reno moved his mouth's attention to the other side and suckled on the other nipple. Iharu grunted at the ministrations, his hands coming back to rest around Reno's shoulders. Iharu's hips began to twitch and grind when he felt Reno move from gentle rubbing and licking, to pinching, twisting and biting. Once Reno switched sides, his now unoccupied hand slid back down to Iharu's hip and pulled on it. He groaned hotly when he felt Iharu's dripping cock press up against his abs and made his ass twitch around his in tandem.

Already feeling like he was close, Iharu tried to move things along as he rose up on shaky knees and carefully slammed down, bouncing as he hit bottom. This punched a heady moan out of the both of them, with Reno's bruising grip making a return appearance. Iharu continued to chase that feeling, that feeling of being stuffed full over and over again as he rocked up and down at an even pace. Reno leaned back against the pillows as both his hands came back to Iharu's waist. Reno held them tight as he snapped his own hips up to match their pace, slamming him down on his cock and drawing out louder and louder moans. Iharu felt like he couldn't get enough but knew he could take things further.

Leaning forward and pressing their heaving chest together, Iharu captured Reno's lips as he felt the cock inside him hit at a different angle. Tongues lashed in between breathy moans as he finally felt Reno's stiff length bash at his prostate. Reno shifted his hips just enough to bring extra power into their thrusts, sending Iharu spiraling. A hand left its home on Iharu's hip and snaked its way in between them to roughly tug on the weeping cock bouncing against Reno's stomach. Iharu started to openly curse now, broken and choppy curses were hotly ghosting past Reno's ear.

"Ah, ha-fuck! Ah, FUCK! Cl-close. I'm close." Iharu gasped as he couldn't stop himself from bucking in both directions, chasing the delicious friction from Reno's hand and the electrified hammer-strikes he felt from his cock hitting deep inside.

"Do it." Reno commanded in that moment, "Told you I wanted to watch you make a mess- fuck!" He rasped as he felt Iharu twitch suddenly as his thrusts melted out of rhythm.

The other hand came up to grip Iharu's hair as Reno let him chase his high on his own. He definitely felt close, but wanted to be present enough to watch Iharu fall from his blissed out precipice. Reno's eyes kept switching from Iharu's messy cock to the tight and tense expression he held as he fought to break apart from the building heat in his core. With shaking legs and a victorious cry, Iharu freed himself from the mounting tension within him and came hot and hard all over Reno's chest.

Any strength Iharu needed to hold himself up with vanished as his orgasm dissipated through his exhausted body. His arms crashed against the pillows behind them as he slumped all of his weight onto Reno. The both of them were panting heavily, feeling numb to anything else outside of the still present and intense body heat between them. Reno had to bite his lip against any noise he may have wanted to make as he felt Iharu's dick rub some of his sticky load over more of his abs. He mentally thanked his balls for their service as he felt his body naturally back away from what would have been a similar explosion of passion, but hadn't reached the edge in time to join Iharu.

"Shhhhuuu...wow. Just... wow." Iharu babbled as he was at a loss for words.

"Yeah." Reno pathetically agreed. They stayed there, lifeless and tired for a moment, as they drank in the post-nut atmosphere.

"Damn, and here I was hoping to last a little longer." Iharu breathlessly admitted once he managed to scrape together enough braincells to use.

"You lasted plenty long. A lot longer than I figured, definitely." Reno tried to comfort as he lazily patted at the now ruined mohawk.

"Yeah, but I mean..." Iharu started as he shifted his hips and drew attention to the still very excited cock in his ass, "I wanted you to come with me." He whimpered

Reno bit back a pained chuckle the sensation brought out of him, "Probably for the best though. Kinda forgot protection in the heat of the moment."

"Aw, come on! It's Valentine's day." Iharu giggled as he brought his head to rest against Reno's forehead, "Don't ya wanna live a little?" He teased as he wiggled his ass.

"Fuck." Reno choked as his grip on the mohawk tightened for a brief second, "You want it that bad? How about you work for it?" He challenged.

"Wish." Iharu groaned as his eyes rolled around sleepily, "Legs are shot."

"Doesn't seem to be stopping you at all." Reno grunted as he felt Iharu clench around his stiff dick.

"Hmm. May not be able to move..." Iharu enticed in a challenging tone, "But I think I can come up with a few ways to make you take the lead."

Iharu began to circle his hips in an intoxicatingly slow rhythm, just barely slipping Reno's cock in and out of his twitching entrance. He mimicked the open-mouthed kisses that Reno used on his chest and started to abuse the opportunity to mark more of his neck with love bites. Sensuously dragging his pointed teeth and tongue over Reno's sensitive pulse spot, he occasionally puffed hot air over it to highlight the change in temperature and send shivers down his spine. Reno gritted his teeth as his hands made their way back to Iharu's hips again, whether to stop the torturous ministrations or help them, he wasn't sure. His patience grew ever thinner as the methodical grinding also dragged Iharu's dick through the spent cum on his stomach, reminding him why he was such a mess for this man in the first place.

The longer Reno thought about it, the more excuses came to mind. Iharu did most of the work, so it only makes sense that Reno returns the favor. He was so close before, it surely wouldn't take much to catch back up. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to watch Iharu make that pretty face again, the one he makes when he's just starting to feel good and everything's hitting just right. Instead of his hands staying at Iharu's hips this time, they traveled just a little lower and groped at his taut thighs and relished how they felt in Reno's hands. He pulled the thighs apart, somehow creating just enough room for his cock to slide in a little further.

"Come on, that's all you got?" Iharu scoffed right in his ear, "You can do better than that." He seated his ass as far down as it could and squeezed sporadically, feeling it make Reno's body shudder harder.

"What, like you haven't had enough tonight?" Reno countered as he bit back some loud grunts. He felt himself trying to fight the challenge Iharu had silently put forward, not wanting to give in so easily.

"Look, the sex was sweet and all, and don't get me wrong-I enjoyed the hell out of it-" Iharu started to moan in earnest again as he ground back on the violently twitching dick, "but haven't you ever wanted to go apeshit on someone?"

"I don't... don't want to hurt you." Reno countered as a pathetic excuse to hold back.

Of course he wanted to. He had wanted to since the alley. He knew Iharu could take it, but he didn't want to take things too far on the off chance he could ruin it. He loved Iharu, but he couldn't love himself if he did something that could break what they had. He needed it now, more than ever. That close, competitive, bond that drove them both to extremes, but with the knowledge that they would go through those extremes together. If Reno ever broke, he needed to know that Iharu would be lying there next to him being just as broken as he was, but still holding on to the dedication and determination needed to put the both of them back together again.

"Jokes on you, dumbass." Iharu growled as he came up to face Reno, a ring studded hand coming up to grip his partner's hair.

"I'm into that shit." He dove for Reno's lips, brutishly shoving his tongue inside.

Reno quickly reciprocated, groaning hotly as they fought for dominance in the inviting heat he offered. Fingers flexed and dug deep into the meat of Iharu's thighs, making him positive that there were going to be bruises there later. Iharu lashed his tongue around the inside of Reno's mouth as a hand dragged itself from around the other's neck and scraped its fingernails down his chest. The bite of the pain paired with the smooth grinding sent Reno up the wall, making his heart launch into overdrive. Both of Iharu's hands came around and started to play with Reno's chest, skipping straight past teasing his nipples and going right to twist them just enough to make him cry out from shock.

With that familiar searing tension building up in his core, Reno couldn't take being idle any longer and finally snapped. He flipped the two of them over roughly, practically folding Iharu in half as he now rested against the wall of pillows behind them. Reno's hands moved to the back of his thighs as he pushed them as far as he could, almost having them reach the punk's ears. He set a brutal pace from the start, having grown far past the point of compassion and wanting to reclaim the high he had almost lost before. The sound of shin hitting skin would have echoed throughout the room had it not been overshadowed by the increase of loud, raspy moaning.

"Oh fucking finally!" Iharu cried as he felt the air getting punched out of his lungs by the new position.

Amused giggles were cut short as his brain short-circuited once he felt how much bigger Reno felt in this way. Iharu's crazed and rapturous moans were nothing in comparison to the almost feral growling Reno was making. His hands scrambled to reach around to Reno's back, digging his short fingernails into the defined muscles found there. Reno leaned forward to give his lover more space to claw at, pinning his shaking legs in between his equally shaky arms and shoulders. Reno fought for strength as he railed Iharu, breathing fiery groans down his lover's neck. The muscles in his stomach felt like they were going to cramp at the rate he was pushing himself.

"Fuck, that's it Sweet Heart. Take what you want, it's all yours." Iharu huffed out as he grew closer to another orgasm.

Hearing his blissful words, Reno pulled his head back just enough to kiss him again. As much as he wanted too, he couldn't really keep up with both actions as he felt his rhythm go awry and his kiss being nothing more tongue-filled panting. Drawing closer to another finish, Iharu raked his fingers down Reno's back again which was just enough stimulation to send both of them spiraling. Reno came with a loud and low cry, fingers nearly ripping the pillows he was gripping apart. Iharu matched him point for point with tears in his eyes, shaking uncontrollably from the overstimulation. Reno was in the same boat as his head dropped to Iharu's chest as he gulped for air.

They were spent, exhausted, and most importantly happy. Iharu felt like he wanted to laugh, but couldn't find the energy to breathe in the first place. Reno was trying his best not to fall over and completely smoosh Iharu, but it was turning into an uphill battle. The least he could do in that moment was carefully slide Iharu's legs off his shoulders and give the man some room to actually breathe. Moving his legs however brought a lot of attention to the fact that Reno really did cum inside, and while he was pleased with the idea of it, the sensation was a different matter.

"Happy now?" Reno teased as he winced, attempting and immediately regretting the decision to try and adjust their positions.

"Oh, come on. Don't say it like you didn't enjoy making this mess." Iharu smirked as every muscle fiber in his body went slack.

"Can't lie about that, can I?" Reno joked as kept his head down, committing the image of their white stained stomachs to memory.

He made himself power through the exhaustion long enough to slowly pull out and lie down next to Iharu. Both of them met each other's eyes and admired that domestically hazy look in them. Reno brought a hand up to play with some errant strands of pink hair that had glued themselves to Iharu's forehead. His lover closed his eyes at the gentle touch and sighed, content.

"Hey." Reno quietly called out, making Iharu crack an eye back open.

"I love you." He revealed.

Iharu giggled, "Figured you did, dummy. Didn't think this would happen if ya didn't."

"Make a man cum twice and this is the thanks I get." Reno muttered as he turned away indignantly.

"Hey, wait, come on!" Iharu continued to laugh as he reached a hand over to pull Reno back to face him.

Reno rolled back over and hit him with the most tender expression he thought possible. Seeing it made Iharu's previous levels of blushing looked pale in comparison. Suddenly getting nervous about speaking, Iharu leaned forward to bury his face into the crook of Reno's arm. After breathing in his natural scent made him calm down, Iharu finally poked his head out just enough to look Reno in the eye.

"I love you too."

After the two of them cleaned themselves up they laid there in the bed for a while, talking about everything under the sun. It went on long enough that Iharu eventually fell asleep. Reno had paid for the full night out of precaution anyway, now thankful that he did. He never really got the chance to watch Iharu sleep like this since they used bunk beds back at base. As rough around the edges as he likes to act, his face when he was sleeping looked deceptively angelic. Reno pulled the sheets up higher and pulled Iharu closer, tucking both of them safely in his arms.

Morning came around and as usual Reno was the first to wake up. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he woke up to the fact that neither of them had moved at all during the night. With his biological alarm clock telling him that the front desk would be calling soon, Reno mentally prepared himself to start moving. Planting a quick kiss to Iharu's forehead, Reno shifted down to the end of the bed and made his way over to the shower. He kept it short, wanting to get back out into the room before Iharu started to wake up. He gathered and vaguely organized their clothes, sliding on the pants from last night. He got the shirt on, but didn't button it yet as he reached back down for something else.

"Damn. Showered without me?" Iharu groaned sleepily as he stretched out on the bed.

"Morning to you to, Bed Head." Reno teased as he slid on Iharu's leather jacket.

Iharu rubbed his eyes as he watched his new boyfriend get dressed, "Now hold on. Just what do you think you're doing?" He commented as he noticed his jacket draped over the wrong person.

"Hm? Borrowing your jacket. It's cold out there you know." Reno deflected deceptively, knowing full well what he was doing.

"Nuh uh, not that jacket. Any other jacket I own but that one." Iharu playfully demanded as he pulled his bare form out of bed.

"But it's already so cozy. You don't want your boyfriend to freeze, do you?" Reno pouted in defiance as he batted his eye lashes.

"You... and I... both know that you have no problem with the cold." Iharu stalked him slowly, making Reno back up until he hit the wall behind them.

Iharu got incredibly close, so close their breaths mixed in the slim space between their lips. He forcefully planted his hands on either side of Reno, effectively caging him in. Not that Reno seemed to mind as his eyes dropped to the bright pink lips before him.

"Tell you what." Iharu began as he slotted a leg in the middle of Reno's stance, "You want it that bad? I'll fight ya for it."

Needless to say that Reno didn't get to keep the jacket in the end. Iharu was just too attached to the precious garment. However, he had no problem with the opposing trade off that was offered instead. Reno like to think that the pink sweater Iharu walked in with framed the claw marks that punk gave him on his back and shoulders quite nicely.

And yes, they did steal the lava lamp.

[considerablyworse]

I NEED NEEEEED you to lore dump about Niki -Marc

marc with a c made me think of empire records god I love that movie

ok ok this is going to be extremely long so be very very very prepared to read. and don't complain cause you asked for this marc with a c

Nikita (Niki) Mikhailov Vysotsky was born sometime late April, 1997 in Moscow, Russia. His initial childhood was good, being adored by his father for being a first-born son and doted on by his loving mother. They showered him with toys and plush clothes and overall just seemed like the perfect well-off family, and in the very tail end of December of 2000, his younger and only sister, Giavanna (Gia) Mikhailova Vysotskaya, was born. Niki immediately warmed up to her, sharing his toys and admiring her evident cuteness the moment she was brought home from the hospital.

Life only continued to seem perfect for them as they increased their wealth and commitment to one another. Niki showed immense talent for music at a young age, which his parents decided to nurture with guitar lessons and multitudes of CDs. It didn't last for long, though, as at the age of 9, a group of Bratva members came to their house and came to collect a large gambling debt that their father hadn't paid off. He tried to stay calm, yet refused to cough up the money, and the gang members decided it would be a better use of time to brutally murder both parents and take the money. Niki, not knowing exactly what was going on but understanding it was not good, quickly packed essential items for his 5-year-old sister and ran with her, only taking his guitar for himself.

They ran for a long, long time, hopping from trains to produce trucks to hitchhiking before ending up in Saint-Petersburg. They were both still young at this point, but Niki was determined to keep his sister safe. They lived in parks and hidden within alleys at night, and during the day, Niki would play guitar for tips and teach his sister what he had learned before being forced out of school. Gia was smart and caught on quickly, both in academics and emotional maturity. They were both forced to grow up too quickly and became very acquainted with street life: shoplifting, fighting, getting the fuck outta dodge, spotting potentially well-hidden, dangerous people, etc.

Once Niki was 13 and had saved enough money, he bought two boat tickets to America from a shady scalper. They didn't have much, so getting through customs was easy. Niki had grown so much over those grueling four years that he easily passed for an older teen, so when they got to southern California, it wasn't hard to swindle his way into a cheap (for California standards) apartment and a factory job. He kept Gia withdrawn from school due to her lack of English skills and American culture but enrolled her in online classes for her to learn past his educational level. It was hard for both of them, what with Niki not having been in school all through middle school and Gia being essentially tethered to the small studio apartment they shared, but it was better than being homeless and in fear of the mafia finding them at any given moment.

They were able to make it work, though, and Niki thrived in school while being a social floater. He was kind to everyone who deserved it, sometimes to his own detriment, and quickly found solace in the local hardcore scene. The energy of the music stood out to him and, once he learned how to understand people screaming in English, the lyrics struck a chord with him in a deep way. It sparked back his creativity that had dwindled since being forced to work while in school and he started writing, and oh, did he write. Whenever there was free time, he'd be coming up with riffs. Whenever he felt he didn't need to pay attention in school, he was writing lyrics. He always wrote in Russian, finding that his lyrics in English didn't hold the same emotional intensity, and they were charged with anti-capitalist, pro-lower class, violent lines. He'd grown disenfranchised from the corporate mindset in his childhood and resented the businessmen who'd overlook him and his sister when they needed their financial generosity the most, but he also wrote of the horrors of organized crime and realities of living on the streets. Niki took care to shield Gia from the worst of the worst, but he had seen a lot over the years in those back alleys. More than any middle school aged child should.

He grew connections within the local scene quickly and found someone who was willing to take a look at his work. After some heavy convincing and loose translations of his work, he was able to start a band with an older substance abuser named Z on bass and a young mute-deaf girl named Priscilla on drums. By this point, Gia had grown old enough that Niki enrolled her for her freshman year at his high school so that he could watch over her and make sure she grew accustomed to American school life during his senior year. She thrived, to no one's surprise, and grew popular very quickly. She was seen as a foreign beauty with her still prominent accent, and she found herself drawn to a group of emo outcasts in her grade that she grew very close to quickly. Seeing this, Niki let her come to his band's small house shows, and she even took over running their merch booth.

Another member was added to the band, Niki's classmate Eddie, who played the drums. The novelty of the band having two drummers playing at once at every show grew their popularity and they became California staples. Everyone in the band - aside from Z - was thrilled with this, and Niki saw it as the way to give Gia the life she deserved all this time. They started doing costal tours and being more outspoken on the topics of their lyrics which caught the attention of even more people, including the Bratva themselves.

What Niki didn't realize during the height of his musical career was that he was drawing too much attention to himself. One night, just after his 19th birthday, Niki gets ambushed by a group of Bratva members after one of their tour shows in Northern California. They beat him senselessly for his musical transgressions and the still unpaid debt of his father. He knew he was outnumbered, and he knew his time was coming to an end, so in the midst of his resentment and the high intensity moment, he vowed that he would come back and take his revenge on them for ruining his life. His threats were laughed off, and just to prove that there was nothing he could do, Nikita Mikhailov Vysotsky was murdered that very night in a back alley of a town he had no connections to, in a country that did not recognize him as one of their own.

What the Bratva and Niki didn't know was that his resentment was so strong in death that he was brought back to life as a demon - a mix of bovine and bull shark. He woke up disoriented and lost in a rural village in Serbia, wondering how the hell he ended up in the middle of snowy nowhere before realizing he is no longer himself. He remembers what happened to him and, with the uncertainty of his sister's fate, he loses control of himself and slaughters every living thing in his sight. His memory blanks as he wanders the mountainside covered in blood and starving. He comes to eventually, finding himself on a secluded slaughterhouse with the grazing cattle, now even more disoriented. He tries his best to hide amongst the cattle for as long as he can, observing as the beautiful owner of the farm tends to her animals day in day out, but she eventually calls out to him in Russian asking when he's going to stop cowering away. He reluctantly reveals himself fully with barely a reaction from the woman and asks if she'd let him stay on the farm while he gets his bearings. She agrees with the condition that he protects her cattle from being eaten by the wolves that live in the forest.

now I'm not gonna continue cause that goes into spoilers for gia's lore but basically him and the slaughter girl (Nadezhda) fall into a weird relationship where they're dating but like she's cold and antisocial and not properly socialized so she sees life from the view of her cows... so they're partners but she doesn't understand that there's more to love than mating and raising kids to work on the farm and he doesn't understand how the hell she could've been raised to have such a disenfranchised view of humanity. also she's a huge misandrist and only sees men as ways to procreate cause her mom was a bitter single mother who raised her very radically. yeah she's got her own string of issues that would need their own post so I'll just throw in this shitty sketch of niki and call it a day. hope you found it interesting!

[new-forcasting]

artist lore dump lmao

i love Charley Yang (Boywithuke) so much skdfmgfd.

With his earliest songs the biggest thing that had me falling in love with his songs in the first place was the fact that they felt so nostalgic and so real. The lyrics were a bit wonky and could have been worked on much better, but he was like in school at the time. It was also late 2019, early 2020s, at the time. As a kid growing into a teenager, his music was stuff I could genuinely relate to and understand as a kid. The whole toxic popularity due to Tiktok and gacha life edits thing sort of ruined it so much, which is why I dropped him for a bit. It really saddens me that a lot of people see Charley as a person that was that sad guy who wrote the gacha life edits songs Toxic, rather than actually listening to his other songs or even better, his latest music. They've sort of kept him in that place of being nothing more than a temporary TikTok hit, which is pretty crap considering he has genuine talent and feelings put into his songs.

Charley wrote songs that I loved because of their sick beats, how catchy and cool it felt to listen to and vibe along to. I can still sing half of the rap in his songs because of how much I loved to listen and memorize the lyrics he came up with. It felt great, validating, and catered to my music taste seeing a guy sing about his emotions like that. I absolutely loved it. Even exploring his other songs the last few months, I can see from his very first few songs that sort of catchy edge to his songs that probably drew me and other people in so quickly. And just like a person, Charley's songs grew in complexity and matured for all the years I've been such a huge fan of him. That's what I love about his songs so much, the way you can really see the way he's grown.

The whole rebranding as Charley Yang thing is definitely not where I expected him to be, but I'm mostly genuinely happy for him because he's discovering himself and creating new music that's just absolutely amazing with the melodies and the rap and his voice. I'm glad I can still listen to his old music, because I love it and it's helped me so much as a person. I hope his new music and his new album, Burnout, will continue to grow and prove how he's getting better at writing and making songs.

Yeah skfmredtfrde

[evilevilevilnotevilevilagain]

Zotating KA in my brain as usual,,, so I wrote something about them... a bit of their Sundering Lore in very vague confusing terms. But I had fun writing it up.

(repost cus I forgot you can just Do That on tumblr n post long shit directly into it. For ur convenience, enjoy.)

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

The cut splitting your lips is healing well and you are glad, so glad, because it is the last one.

“Was that really so difficult?”

He’s amazed it took so long, but he never gave up on you. He’s so nice to you now, sticky-sweet, don't-leave-me-with-these-animals kind of clingy- you heard him say it once, to a friend, when he thought you were asleep.

You’re really his now, he lets everyone know. You’re real proud of the fact; real proud even when Gnat beats you bloody again. She’s just jealous, so you don’t get mad. You’re so good at not getting mad anymore. Not good for the baby, so you watch yourself. Just enough not to break something back. Gnat’s taller than you, her kicks sting real bad, but you think if you were mad enough… She better watch herself, you tell her drooling blood and stomach acid onto cobblestone. She makes some kind of joke, but you know women only think of themselves- she’s only hurting you because she cannot have you. People do it all the time. You’re a hot commodity, you've got a whole bright life ahead of you. He says you’re all one big family, but he’s the only family you need. Too many voices just serve to confuse you when they’re all telling you their own truths. You know it's all derivative, interpretations of the one grand source- and he purrs them straight into your ear every night.

Twenty years later Orwell tells you ��You know how I knew?”

You don’t remember coming to his room, or the crying, or the whole-body-tremor desperation when you’d told him how scared you were that it might be a girl.

But he’d listened and he’d schemed, and all his great plan ever did was leave you all alone to fend for your own self.

Gnat, when you see her again, outlines the path of your life as follows: parasite, cockroach, rat, breeding stock, herd dog.

She’s sorry at least for all the times she personally was the cause of your suffering. “He only told me to do it the first time, the rest was all me.” We all wanted to be special. Never really about you. Take it as you will, never really a compliment to be his favorite, should’ve seen him for what he was, should’ve saved you. You don’t need saving of course. Never did. You saved yourself. After all these years, you’re still doing it.

You don’t like the sound of Jewel’s name on her tongue, but it doesn’t stop her from saying it. His name is the only thing you like about him. It’s too soon, you’re not ready, you only just now started letting him in-

“The whole family was robbed of him,” she says, “when those aristocrats took you for their broodmother.” She has her own ideas of what your arrangement must have been.Though you recall with disgusting clarity the one sharp moment that Anna-Marie found you painting and rushed to rub your swelling abdomen while cooing “How delightful! He’ll be talented, too, won’t he?”

Every flake of individuality you ever exhibited cataloged away as favorable traits with set probabilities of showing up in the next generation. You felt like a great big pampered cow, but Gnat doesn’t need to know how right she is. She's wrong about so much of the rest of it. End of the day, you chose this. You signed the papers. You closed your eyes when you heard the first scream and didn’t open them again until they were all out of the room.

Then she lets you know he was in on it. But then he had that deal with you on the side. Orwell wanted you looked after, but they were all too far away -too dangerous to come back in so soon. And you were so fragile after It happened. But the Commander took you, and then he took your son. You still remember the dazed shock of being dumped at a spacious, yet entirely empty room at the back of the Watchguard barracks, body raw, lying on a cot all alone in the dark, discarded the moment they got what they wanted.

You had the rank, but nobody in the Watch even knew you. You had to fight to earn their respect, make them listen to you, even when you could barely stand. It brought the anger back. Not just pregnancy hysterics, this was you all along. You didn’t keep it in check anymore. Not restraining yourself spelled the difference between life and death.

“He was supposed to look after you.” He never answered Orwell again and he’d thrown you right into the thick of it, the one place your brother could not reach you.

After everything it's that realization that hurts the most. You had always respected the Commander for having done so much for you. It’s the same pattern, only each time it gets uglier, less coherent. Another boot you’ve prostrated yourself under with a smile. The thought makes you sick.

When he had come back, he hadn’t been thinking of what's best for you, killing Nadine was only getting rid of the competition. Nobody wanted that, to be fair. You cannot visualize yourself anywhere else but here, though at one time you had believed her. But it’s another command put in your head- the desire to leave was never really yours. You’ve never wanted to leave anything, anyone.

Gnat says they’re ready to welcome you back, but you still have to convince Orwell. Something about you the last time he saw you had made him cautious- maybe it had opened up the old wounds- and now he needs you to prove yourself before you can be let back into the fold.

“Consider it a very late abortion,” Gnat’s horse-toothed grin leers back at you,” it has to be worth the sacrifice.”

After all, it took nearly all of Him to put you back together. The least you could do is pay back the difference.

“Let him know he has a family that wants to meet him. Tell him he can be a part of it.” Who knows, maybe there’ll be enough left over to even give you something special, too.

You’re left there at the old bone well considering your options, though there aren’t many. One loathsome thought drifts above them: You want Jewel to live. This complicates things.

[space-ferret]

As mentioned before, I want to get better at writing down lore and stuff, starting with some character bios. I didn't know how specific I wanted to be and this was supposed to be a summary, but my little fingers just started going and I think I wrote a short story. lol I will preface this by saying that I am inherently not a writer.

Anyway, here's a lore dump for Xanda before current time! This is from her perspective. I'll get to writing Shilven's side soon.

HERE WE GO

Current age: 25-26

Birth Year: 3492

Birthplace: South Realm

Sex: Female

Pronouns: She/her

Eyes: Lilac (natural)/Red (unnatural)

Hair: Blonde

Height: 5’6” (167.64 cm)

Xanda was born to Kamril and Chasteen in Garvol, located in The Kingdom of Remelv in South Realm, a city heavily divided by class. Xanda was an only child born to privilege in the upper class, something her parents took great pride in. They taught her not to associate with people from the lower class and raised her to be proper lady of high status. 

From a young age, she loved books and used them as an escape from her otherwise boring life. Xanda was always curious and didn’t take as much pride in her status as her parents and didn’t like her parents’ prejudice toward those of lower status. She discovered as a child that she could use lightning magic. She told her father (who she inherited it from), but was told to never use it or mention to anyone that she has the ability to use magic, due to the stigma. She didn’t think she needed it for her lifestyle, so she never used it. 

Her parents pressured her to marry from before she became of age, but Xanda didn’t want to marry right away and wanted an education. She made excuses or turned down every potential suitor her parents tried to set her up with. She finally got her parents to agree that she can get a proper education before she married. However, this didn’t stop them from continuing to send suitors at her. There were plenty; she was a pretty young woman of status after all. She didn’t want to simply be a wife and mother and have no meaning beyond being a lady of class. She didn’t want to turn out like her mother who only cared about her status and thought of everyone else as lower than her. She also didn’t want to marry someone just for their status and be stuck in a loveless marriage, also like her mother.

One day, when she was 19 and walking in lower town with her two friends, Xanda was approached by an unknown man. She had seen him looking at her while he was working construction on a building, but didn’t think anything of it. It happens often. But he suddenly asked her out on a date. She quickly declined. Now, Xanda doesn’t think of common people in the same way as her parents, but some random man in dirty clothes from manual labor coming up to her so boldly is a definite no. Social status didn’t matter. She wasn’t used to men directly asking her; it was always through her parents. He seemed so enamored with her though. She obviously comes from money, so it must just be an act. It was still a definite no for her. He told her his name was Shilven and he’d see her next time and walked away seeming to understand it was a no this time. What did he mean by “next time?”

Sure enough, the next time she was in the area, he came up to her and asked her out again. Still a no.

This wasn’t the last time. It kind of became a game between them. He’d pop up, she’d decline, he’d leave and say see you again next time. Was he really going to keep this up?

This time was different. She didn’t see him working. This time, it was Xanda who happened upon him at a grocer. He turned around to see her walking in his direction. An unplanned meeting this time. It was different to see him clean and in normal clothing. It was the same routine though. He asked her on a date. She declined. This time, he finally asked why. Xanda wasn’t sure what to say. He said he isn’t from Garvol, but knows how important social class is. She couldn’t exactly tell him that was the reason. He seemed to get it though. He seemed like a nice enough person. He wasn’t pushy, just persistent. He didn’t try to woo her with gifts or anything like the men her parents tried to pick out for her. To say she was intrigued wouldn’t be a lie, but she didn’t want to be in a relationship. Shilven offered a deal. He would stop asking her out if she agreed to go on one date with him. But if she had a good time, they could have another. She asked him if he would really leave her alone. He said he would and he knows when he has no shot, but she would have a good time. Xanda reluctantly agreed. 

They agreed to have dinner at a fairly nice place. Xanda had to make an excuse to her parents that she was meeting with friends. They would react horribly if they knew what she was actually doing. She got to the restaurant and Shilven was already there waiting for her. He dressed up this time. Nothing too fancy or anything, but he looked nice. He gave her some flowers. Is this where he was going to start showering her with gifts? Xanda hated that. No, it was just flowers. 

Xanda hated to assume anything about his background, but it was so ingrained in her by her parents. She was surprised that he knew proper etiquette. He seemed quite knowledgeable. He’s read many of the same books she has read. He made her laugh in ways she hadn’t in a long time. He showed noble behavior and didn’t seem like the man working construction that she first met. Now she’s definitely intrigued. He asked about her. She gave her background, but there wasn’t much to her. She mentioned she wanted to do something with herself and not be defined as just a wife or mother. She wanted an education. Her parents have been trying to get her married, but she doesn’t want to right now. She’s only 19, so there’s still time. She asked about him. He mentioned he’s not from Garvol. He said he’s been looking for his sister. He stopped here to look for work  for a while so that he can earn some money to keep looking for her. He mentioned they were separated when they were young and found that she is still alive. He told her it was kind of a somber topic and didn’t want to bring it up on a first date, but that’s why he’s there. They talked about many things that night.

As they were about to go their separate ways, he finally asked how it went. Oh no. She had to give her answer now. She could get rid of him forever now. But this was such a surprisingly pleasant experience. She couldn’t hide it. She couldn’t lie either. She told him she had a good time. Shilven was exhilarated. What was she going to do? Whatever his roots are, there is no way her parents would accept him. Who knows how it will go. He won’t be in Garvol for too long. It won’t last that long. Right?

The second date went well too. He’s easy to talk to. He has a good sense of humor and is personable. Charming too. She can be herself around him and not have to worry about being a proper lady all the time. 

Xanda had to tell someone about Shilven. Her two best friends couldn’t believe her. She’s dating that same guy who always bothered her? She tried to explain to them, but they are much like her mother.

Xanda’s parents started suspecting something. She was acting differently. Happier. Cheerful. She never spent this much time with her friends. She couldn’t hide her relationship with Shilven anymore. Her parents acted exactly how she thought. A lot of yelling how she’s too good for a commoner, how he could never give her the life she deserves, how betrayed they felt. This is exactly why she told Shilven she couldn’t tell her parents about him. After everything, she couldn’t promise her parents that she would break it off like they wanted.

They decided Xanda wouldn’t be let outside without them. Only her two best friends could see her, since they’re proper ladies and would be a good influence on her. They had never seen her so miserable. They tried to convince her it was just a fling, but Xanda knew it was more than that.

She heard that Shilven tried to talk to her parents.. Their anger with Xanda was multiplied at him. He couldn’t get them to understand.

Her friend (we’ll call her Salami) hated to see her this way. 

Salami convinced her parents to let Xanda visit her overnight so that Xanda wasn’t cooped up at home for once. They trusted her, so they agreed. 

They went to Salami’s house in the evening as it was just getting dark. Upon approaching the property, Salami stopped and told someone they can come out now. Xanda looked up and in the direction to where her friend was talking and someone came out of the foliage. It was Shilven. She was so surprised she dropped everything and ran to him and jumped in his arms. He held her so tight. She told him how she missed him and how sorry she was about her parents. He told her the days have been so hard without seeing her and how he wrote her letters. They never reached her. 

They didn’t have much time, lest someone see them. Salami’s parents were gossipers and wouldn’t keep it a secret from Xanda’s parents.

Xanda would lament to Salami how much she missed Shilven. Salami just wanted Xanda to feel better. She didn’t realize she actually loved him. Salami became the messenger between the two. Unfortunately, Xanda’s parents were getting serious about her marrying someone of their choosing. 

Shilven’s job was ending soon and he was still needed to find his sister. He knew she was out there somewhere, but couldn’t leave Xanda either. He knew he lived a transient life and a relationship was out of the question, but didn’t expect to meet her.

Salami gave Xanda a letter from Shilven. Xanda asked her to set up another meeting in the guise of a sleepover like before. She asked for the last day of Shilven’s job. She packed more than she did last time.

Xanda asked Shilven if he was really leaving. He didn’t want to answer, but said that he needed to find his sister and didn’t want to leave her, but he would be back. Who knows how long that will take. She told him she couldn’t go on like this and by the time he comes back, she’d be married off to someone. She told him they have no future in Garvol whether he leaves or not. She told him she’s going wherever he’s going. Shilven was really surprised. He explained it will be hard for her never staying in one place for long, traveling for days, not always having a bed. He didn’t want to take everything away from her. He couldn’t convince her though. She said there was no point om staying here.

They stayed at Shilven’s that night. Xanda wrote a letter to have Salami give to her parents, how they wouldn’t ruin her life anymore. Xanda and Shilven quietly left Garvol early the next morning.

Xanda’s parents read the letter and they no longer had a daughter.

Shilven was right. It was rough. Xanda wasn’t used to this lifestyle. She knew she was slowing him down, but she kept strong for him. For everything she left behind. For herself.

It had been over a year now and they really weren’t any closer in their search for Shilven’s sister. They were running low on funds too. They came to Tamvarel to stay for a while and increase their funds. Xanda found work at the library, something she had always wanted. It was nice to finally have some sense of stability. Some sense of normalcy.

. . .

Then the fire came. How did it start? Was this punishment? 

Everything went dark.

. . .

Xanda woke up. She had no idea how long it had been. Or what happened. Everything hurt. She had no idea where she was. She called out for Shilven, but he wasn’t there. A nurse was surprised to find her awake. She asked for Shilven. He hadn’t been there in a months.

Abandoned. 

She left everything to be with him. Now here she is, burned and bandaged. Her face is unrecognizable. It was all for show. Love at first sight? Who does that? He really did only love her for her looks. Now that that’s gone, so is he.

Xanda, so distraught and not thinking straight, tried to escape. The nurses tried to stop her. She shot lightning at them. She didn’t manage to get far. Just enough to be away from everyone. She figured she would just wither and die. What was the point now?

She looked up and saw a tall, black haired man and a blue haired boy. They asked her name. She told them to go away.

Everything turned black.

How long will everything be black?

I want to clarify that Shilven is not creepy or stalkerish (they crossed paths a lot because it's a busy area), just persistent. lol

I have to admit that I love the unapproving parents/class difference trope. But I wanted it to be dumb how they met.

And it's not that Xanda never wanted to marry at all, she just likes her independence. Shilven is the needy one who can’t be away from her. And Xanda is absolutely the one in charge.

I never named her friends, but I’ve always used deli products as placeholder names. Her other friend is Balogne. :>

It’s important to note for later that Shilven doesn’t know she can use magic.

[big-brainrot-hours]

Reply to: @nicebonescomrade on my post about wanting to talk about sagau with someone

Hey hey! I love ur work but i can’t follow u from here (bc this is a side blog) but i follow from my main! ANYWAY I've taken this as my chance to dump a bunch of headcnaons out (as I would if I had friends) so here it is!!

Also I got a bit excited and got kinda carried away, so this got a bit longer than I meant it to be lmao

Warnings: SAGAU, mentions of blood and abuse, general sagau warnings

Headcanons under the cut

Zhongli may consider himself the most devoted acolyte, but really it’s Xiao. As I wrote in my last fic, Xiao was the last one to feel the creator’s light and warmth before they left Teyvat, and he was the first one to sense it again when they arrived, regardless of whether they arrived in Liyue or not.

In my lore, the reason people want visions so badly is not just because of the powers they may get, but also because having a vision means you have a higher chance of the creator themselves noticing you. This is based on how all the playable characters have visions of some sort.

In this Teyvat, having a vision also brings you closer to the creator because, although the stars guide everyone's paths, only vision holders have their own personal constellations.

When the god (player) rolls constellations for a character in real life, the stars in a character’s constellation in the sky of Teyvat will glow visibly brighter. In my sagau, Xiao’s constellation is currently the brightest in the sky, and that is reflected in how his hair, eyes, and the markings under his clothes glow. (This is because, as of writing this, I have him at c5. I could’ve gotten him to c6 if I didn’t also roll 2 Qiqis and a Diluc during his first banner 😔. I WILL be getting his c6 during his rerun tho.)

OKAY SO I love, love, l o v e the thought of the creator bleeding gold, but I also love the imposter aus, and it doesn’t make much sense to have both of those together? Because they would totally notice if darling bled gold. SO what if instead, their blood fresh out of their body is red, but it doesn’t turn gold until it starts to dry?

With that said, imagine the archon’s horror when they finally track down the "imposter" only to find them laying in a pool of liquid gold, and they finally notice that the cuts and scars and bleeding wounds are drying gold? How horrified would the people be if they went to clean the imposter's filthy blood off the walls to prevent it from staining their cities any further, only to see their own terrified expressions reflected back at them in the gold?

Okay, so this is gonna be what, the third time I’ve mentioned Xiao? And my third sagau post, and he’s been in all three of them? But it doesn’t matter; he’s my favorite, and naturally, this au will be influenced by my experiences anyway- In my sagaus, unless it’s a version that specifically says otherwise, Xiao will ALWAYS recognize the creator. He was born with the creator’s warmth and light, he’s felt it for as long as he could remember, and he remembers it better than most. However, as I wrote about in my other post, there was a time he didn’t remember. There was a time where he couldn’t remember his god’s name, or even their existence. And the first thing he did after being freed from Osial’s control was relearning all the prayers he had forgotten and trying everything to remember the feeling of his god’s light. He spent so long relearning everything about his god that he couldn't forget them again. So no matter what, no matter how much all the other nations call darling an imposter, Xiao knows. He forgot you once, and he refuses to let it happen again.

The reason all the "monsters" in the game can recognize Darling as their god when the others can’t is because they’re more humble. The people of Teyvat, although recognizing their god is higher than them, are still very entitled. They believe that wealth and offerings, monuments and statues are what’s going to please the god. They expect their god to give them a grand show when they enter Teyvat, some sort of sight of gold and light or whatever. So when their creator, a being of kindness and humility, appears before them as a normal ass human, they refuse to accept it, and are quicker to call them an imposter than an actual god. The monsters don’t have this mindset. They (and xiao and the people of Khaenri'ah) know that the creator doesn’t care about wealth or who has the nicest shrine or altar or whatever. The creator doesn’t care if you call them by some fancy title, they just care that you welcome them with open arms and extend kindness to others where you can. So the monsters are a lot more chill about it. (Xiao’s a bit in the middle of both, although the reason he isn’t as chill about it as he used to be is not because of human influence, but rather due to the trauma he has endured and the belief that he has to earn his god’s forgiveness, as if it was his fault that what happened to him happened. I’ll probably make him another post for that alone lmao)

Wow this sure is turning into a Xiao post huh lmao. Anyway, when they (the other adepti and the yakshas) agreed to a contract with Morax, one of the points of the contract was that if the creator ever entered Teyvat, their orders were to be ranked above Morax’s. So even if what the creator asked them to do was in direct violation of the contract, they could still follow it through because it’s more important. HOWEVER, this was never an issue for Xiao. Xiao is not loyal to Morax, Liyue, or even the other yakshas. He is loyal to his god and his god alone. Nobody else will ever take precedence over them, and he will never swear his allegiance to another being, because it is only reserved for his god. Because of this, in my sagau, Xiao doesn’t have an official contract with Morax and just does what he asks if he feels like his god would appreciate it.

Speaking of Khaenri'ah, the people of Khaenri'ah did not have a god ruling directly over them, so they learned to develop technology themselves. They still revere the creator and hold them in higher regard than all other beings, of course, but they also see their lack of a ruling god as a gift. It was the creator's way of allowing them a chance to learn independence and to not over rely on higher powers to handle everything for them. Because of this, they recognize that the creator would not really care about huge, grand displays of worship but is rather more chill. After all, if the god of gods cared about extreme shows of worship, wouldn’t they take the chance to rule the nation without a god themselves instead of leaving them godless?

Hhhhhh that’s all I’ve got for now, but if u (or anyone else) has thoughts I would love to hear them!!!!! This au is quickly turning into one of my favorites lmao

[cluelessmoose]

(They’d had a contest one night to figure out where they all ranked; Sky was last, predictably, and Twi not much better. Hyrule had him beat completely on how well the Traveler could read the others’ emotions correctly, but Time? His greatest ability was a complete, smothering blanket of leisurely serenity that he could and did happily toss over the mind of any misbehaving hero who may be ignoring their need to sleep or relax. 

I'd love to hear any lore dump about how the chain ranked in bond distance and other special abilities!

Who am I to turn down a request and a chance to just disgorge all the random useless bits of info I've collected while writing FtL? Sorry this took so long, I had to do a surprising amount of rereading to re-establish what I wrote into canon for this fic and NOT contradict that, hopefully~

Wind:

He's actually got pretty low range compared to most of the others, but he leans harder into it on a baseline level. He's not necessarily trying to read anything through it, he just finds it very comforting to know who's close. Mostly because he's younger and not /particularly/ magically gifted, Wind isn't the handiest at noticing when someone's come in range, but to be honest it's so shit that he's usually seeing them at that point anyway.

Four:

I'll be honest, Four hasn't been shown much in his true potential in Don't Go Into the Lights yet between hypothermia and the degrading sitch with his Colors, so this part may get added to once that is better established, but here it is so far: Four's range is center of the pack, but he really doesn't catch much of the subtler things across the bond unless he's paying explicit attention, because there's a lot going on in his own mind, okay? And it kind of tends to drown out what's going on through the mental connections unless it's really potent. That said, when he does pay attention Four is pretty good at parsing the reasoning behind emotions.

He's not reading their minds, but damn if it doesn't feel like it, sometimes. Red's super suave with the emotions, and combined with the others not much escapes that combined focus.

Sky:

Middling range, but very good at sending comfort down the line and using the bond to supplement reading the others' emotional states. Of all the Links he's the best one to proverbially cuddle with mentally, giving off warm, homey vibes. He's also very adept at feeling the others do stuff through the bond too. Or rather, he's quite good at picking up the ways each Link can use and interact with the soul connections between the Chain, even if he has no way to replicate it on his own with his skill level.

Hyrule:

Has the best range, hands down. In his chapter you got a good idea of it: his magical range is crazy as a fairy, and so far as the soul bonds go it's still pretty wild, like quarter mile distance kind of wild, though it's stretched pretty thin at that point and not much use except as an attendance check. As a fairy he is super awesome at reading the others' emotions, and as a hylian he's only slightly less sensitive but also way worse at understanding what he's picking up.

Time:

Fourth best range when he's trying, but he CHEATS with his magic. It serves much the same purpose and can reach even farther than his bond sense can. He usually keeps it tucked close around him unless specifically spreading it out, but he can use it to ping off of the other Links' similar magic (though it works less well for Wars and Twilight, those magicless potatoes). We all know about his weighted blanket effect- a soporific whammy of a calming herbal tea, handy for soothing harried and exhausted heroes.

Warriors:

Second worst range. He is not magically gifted by any means but he DOES have experience in working with the soul bonds via Mask and Toon in the War of Eras, which is literally the only reason he is anywhere near competent at all in using them.

You bet Mask was particularly brutal in teasing and taunting him about how bad he was at using it; there's no motivation like your little brother running mental circles around you laughing. You want the real reason Wars accidentally learned the memory snatching? He was so determined to work that bond that he just exploded onto the scene, much to his and Mask's chagrin.

On that note, the MEMORY SNATCHING. No, he's not truly stealing them in the sense that they're gone from the other Link's mind. He's just sat down to watch the video, is all. Yes, the other Link knows its happening and depending on who it is, knows the exact memory. Even if they can't, the only time it happens is when there's a memory strongly linked to whatever's happening in the first place, and it has to be paired with Wars trying to use the soul bond, so it's not exactly hard to realize what he's probably seeing when they feel the bond snag like that.

Wars cannot control this AT ALL- it takes all he's got to use the bond in any way, so any interaction comes with the risk of yoinking a memory. The Link on the other side can shut it down by closing the connection from their end (pretty instinctive, even for the less adept) and they do when it's important to them, but unless its something really private they usually let it play out. The Captain always feels super bad about it, but it's either this or him not using the bonds, so everyone is happy to risk it so he can be an active member in the connections.

Legend:

Second best range. He can kind of cast it all out in a linear direction to cheat past the amount of... signal??... he has, a benefit of being very good at delicate magic work. I haven't gotten to him in Don't Go into the Lights yet, so unfortunately I don't have much to say on him.

Twilight:

Worst range, barely out of shouting distance and he's got nothing but his wolf nose to tell if the Chain's around. Pretty weak sense of the bonds, but between high emotional intelligence and his ability to smell the emotion-indicative pheromones he's very, very good at getting an accurate read on the others' emotional well-being regardless.

Wild:

Third best range, but has no idea what he's doing. Everything he does is completely instinctive just like his magic, and it's kind of hilarious and also SAD when Legend and Sky (Hyrule uses terms and descriptions that make NO sense to anyone else) try to teach him better how to use it. Maybe someday he'll get the hang of it, but not that we'll be seeing.

[helloquotemyfoot]

QUOTE!!! 😍 12, 17, 21 for the weird writing asks. Any or all if you want. <3

Sorry this is a bit late!!

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

Okay wow this is mean, I can only have three? Ughhh okay I think my wishes would be 1) better focus because I'm always flicking between different WIPs and struggle to get anything done! 2) ability to write more in one go, I'm often frustrated by not being able to write more than a paragraph or two in one sitting! >.< I know it could always be worse, but a slightly larger consistent output would be nice! And I think wish 3) would be a better ability to chop enormous fic ideas down to a respectable size. I'm not even asking to not get the absurd epic-length ideas that would take most people a lifetime to write, just to be better to rationing them down to bare essentials so they're completeable in a reasonable time!

Any genies out there bored? Please? 🥺🙏

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Haha sorry this one is going to be a disappointing answer because I'm not really good at these sorts of questions! There's always too much and too little to talk about at the same time... way too much to squeeze into one tumblr post but I'm also simultaneously like "uh. I made up a book in one chapter. and someone who wrote a response to the book" lol.

I guess my favourite bit of lore is Brigid transitioning out of a tanistry system similar to medieval Ireland, which is simultaneously how Petra is the heir apparent and her position isn't secure. But whilst that didn't make it into the WIP, I already did a lore dump author's note about that XDDD

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

Honestly yeah there are absolutley times I've wished to quit writing. Last year (or was it 2020? I think it was 2020 actually. Time is a lie), I really genuinely did try to quit for good. I stopped writing, and I think told a few people to tell me to stop if I mentioned starting again. By that point I was just absolutely sick of getting into cycles of feeling awful about my writing, feeling it was stupid and useless and I was doing it all wrong and so on, which was something that happened several times a year at that point, and sometimes it felt like that feeling went on for months. I stopped wanting to feel that way, so I tried to cut out the main thing that was making me feel that way, which was writing.

Obviously, that didn't really stick, even though it hasn't been smooth sailing from then either. To be honest, I think I'm still affected from a period of bad burnout back in early 2019 and I'm not fully recovered yet, and maybe I never will be. Most of those genie wishes? Are basically just wishing to go back to my pre-2019 self when I could write a lot more, a lot more consistently, and because my output was greater, it wasn't such a chore to stay focused on one project long enough to finish it (oneshots to short multi chapter works), which increased motivation, because I was finishing more things, etc. I went from thinking of 20k fics as "short" things that could be completed in a little over a month if I knuckled down, to having to drop to a schedule for my main WIP (this is just within the past year) of only being able to write one 4-6k chapter per month on average, whilst still feeling like I had no energy to work on other things and I didn't get a break from it. And even that after a while became too much and I just had to take a hiatus from that fic, which could still be a permanent hiatus even though I hope it won't be. The difference in my abilities is staggering even years later and I constantly find myself frustrated and sometimes really disheartened by how little I can do compared to what I used to be able to do, never mind when I think of other people who write even more than that. (Before anyone says anything, no, it's not outside responsibilities, if anything I have way more free time and fewer stressors than I did back in 2019.) Burn out is not a joke.

But I don't want this to just be negative so I'll also talk about what's helped me move past the burn out to an extent as well. Part of feeling better about coming back to writing over the past year and a half or so has been coming to terms with why I am writing and no longer letting people impose expectations on why I should be writing from the outside. Trying to "write for myself", a phrase that has never made any sense to me, just led to me becoming increasingly frantic and self-loathing as I tried to find the recipe to Write The Correct Way. I did not and have never had the internal id or voice that other people seem to have which tells me what I "want" to write, so I do not instinctively "know" how to write for myself, even though this is the expectation created by that phrase. Nor do I get any pleasure out of writing what I want to read, another thing people say they mean by "writing for yourself". Sure, I sometimes enjoy reading back things I've already written, but it's not WHY I put myself through all that hard work and annoyance, there are plenty of stories that I don't write and will never write because I enjoy playing them over in my head well enough - I don't need to have a story on paper to enjoy it.

Actually just admitting and saying with my whole chest "yeah, I write for engagement. Deal with it" has been a lot healthier for me. I write because it's the way I engage with fandom as I'm not very good at doing other things to engage with fandom (I struggle with essays and putting down character analysis, can't make art or gifs, and I'm bad at just having conversations with people) and it's a good way to hear what people think of my ideas and characterisations, things I don't really have other ways of talking about. So just saying this is my reason for writing, being self-aware about it, has given me confidence to push back against the universal idea that you should "write for yourself" and I no longer feel like I'm broken or wrong for not writing fanfic the way that other people write it. Because I'm not trying to fit a square peg mindset into a round motivation hole (that metaphor works, right? Right???) I just feel a lot happier in general and I can actually maintain more self-awareness about how I'm feeling about writing, such as realising I'm getting a bit overwhelmed by my main WIP and deciding to take a break, when I'm not taking these things as signals I have not yet found The Perfect Way I Should Be Writing and so I should keep going.

To bring this back to the original question, whilst I have tried to quit/want to quit writing many times, I've never actually been able to and I don't really think that I actually can. I've been writing for about 15 years now if not a bit longer, and I think when the writing bug grabs you, it really grabs you. I don't know if this is the case for anybody else, but I genuinely feel that writing and writing fanfiction in particular has changed the way I look at the world and other media. I approach everything with a more analytical mindset, which I suppose to some people sounds un-fun, but to me it's not un-fun at all, it only makes every piece of media more fun to experience and re-experience because I can see how all the parts of it fit together...... or don't fit together in the place of plot holes or similar, but honestly, there's usually joy even in that, in noticing a plot hole but realising that in the context of the moment, in the emotions and the characters, the plot hole doesn't actually matter, it doesn't take away from the culmination of the character arc (or whatever) at all. It makes every new piece of media a chance to experience new inspiration and get new ideas, which are fun to play with even if I never end up writing them. And not just stories, but all kinds of aspects of real life can provide this inspiration. It's joyful, and it's something that's so intricately linked to my writing, that it's not something I can turn off, and equally, it's something that keeps bringing me back to writing and storytelling. So I might regret saying this, but no, I don't think I could ever quit writing any more.

All asks from THIS post.

[mjsparkour]

Okay, I asked you a while back for some fic recs and I am in need of more. Have you read any Gina x Ricky lately? Would love for you to share the ones you've loved

Hey!

I’m so glad you liked my rec the last time, there have been alot of fics that have been written since you last asked so this list was super hard to limit. There are alot in this list alone (17 overall I think). I could always recommend more, Rina writers are just so talented. So here's a list of some of my favorites <3

The Story of Us by peculiarblue

‘gina learns that sometimes things have to fall apart so that they can fall back together, right where they were always meant to be’ This is a complete 2 part chapter fic

Thee Rina bible. It’s everything we could ever want and need. Everything we want s2 to be and more. It’s an absolute masterpiece in every way. So many parts where I nearly died, the angst in the fight scene, the tension before they made up (the dress scene that reminded me so much of that amylaurie scene I lost my mind a little more), them being absolutely gone for each other!!! it’s just perfect in every way.

When Your With Me and Were Alone by orphan account

‘Ricky Bowen remembers everything.’ This is a one-shot three-part completed series.

My favorite series, it’s gotta be. It’s the first of its kind for rina fics. Lore does an incredible job of realistically writing rina’s characterization and reactions to Gina moving and what would happen after. A wonderfully talented writer, utilizing the power of her words while minimalist carries an effect. 

You Know Me Better by This_is_Riri

‘Gina was moving. This would be her sixth move in seven years. She was used to it by now...only this time, it felt different. Post episode 7.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

This one really gets you at your gut. Heart-wrenching for both characters but mainly gina. The vents that happen to both characters, it just makes sense that so much more than their vunerabilities bonds them together. Perfect execution of the mutual understanding trope. 

and I know I’ve kissed you before by ptrprkrs

‘but I didn’t do it right / can i try again, try again, try again? or: 5 times ricky kisses gina + 1 time she kisses back’ This is a complete one-shot.

I love a good five times plus one fic. This one is heartwarming, cheeky and cute. It gives a healthy balance of the inevitable anguish that comes with pining (and not just for the character but for frustrated readers that just wanna put these kids together already) but also the sweet innocence and fluff from first love (or first love adjacent). 

what love might have done by rradioh

‘Ricky follows his gut. Everything changes. Some things stay the same.’ This is a completed one shot.

A good look into what could've been for season one. Reflecting moments that felt like they could’ve easily been placed in the show and showed the subtly of the growth of rinas relationship. It wasn’t something that was thrown into our faces but came gradually and this fic facilitates that growth with key moments that add to that. A Great one-shot.

And the 7th Thing I Hate The Most That You Do (You Make Me Love You) by iknowpIaces

‘It doesn’t help that he really does look good in his costume. God, she hates him. She hates him. She hates him. Then, he has the nerve to smile at her. And Gina hates how that smile alone sends her over the moon.’ This is a completed one shot.

SOOOO GOOD. No one understands, I love the trope where one person has a crush on the other and it's unrequited (or it seems that way) but eventually it's apparent that they're also just as gone for that person as soon as they start moving on, or feeling fine with having their feelings not reciprocated. Then they're both just mutual pining messes, ugh I love it. This fic handles the trope with care and rina just comes together organically. 

lesson in love by finelineholland

“Give me 4 weeks. I’ll help you out. Like… a crash course, if you will. 'How to be the perfect boyfriend for Nini Salazar-Roberts': A class taught by yours truly.” This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

A rom-com in the form of a fic. It’s so true to Ricky and Gina as characters and their dynamic. The writing is really good and gives so much in terms of plot. I really hope it updates soon because I love a good makeover/transformation fic, it gives she’s all that and geek charming in the best ways.  

take me to the feeling by peculiarblue

‘gina meets a stranger at a party she doesn't want to be at, and let's herself fall in love for the night, wherever it takes them’ This is a completed one shot.

Katie does it again. Another classic that makes us fall for rina while they fall for each other under the stars. You can’t help but feel something for them right off the bat because theirs something about the cheekiness of the dynamic and so real. You can’t help but fall for them, a must read.

The Last Time by mytearsricochet

‘this is the one where gina meets ricky and nothing is against them. except for a few misunderstandings, forgotten birthdays, wrong people, and missed opportunities. because as much as love doesn’t care about time, this is the one where time cares about love. and with time, everything falls into place.’ This is a completed one shot.

SO UNBELIAVBLEY UNDERRATED. This fic is too excellent, it's everything rinas could want. it’s an incredibly well done long slowburn that makes you strap in for the ride. With all those teasing moments where they're mutually pining and they're just on the precipice of finding out their feelings for one another only to hold back and stay friends (until the end of course). The end makes you work for it, but so worth it when you get to it. 

10 Days in “Love” by kindredspiritsxo 

‘It was almost the end of high school and nobody had it figured out. Especially Ricky Bowen. His parents had recently divorced, he had no idea what he's doing for college, his longtime girlfriend dumped him the month before and now he's been replaced by one of the most popular guys in school.

To make matters worse, he leaves for Europe in two days for his senior trip. The same senior trip that said ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend were going on. So, Ricky did what any desperate teenage boy would do to try and get his girlfriend back: he devised a plan. A plan that included the help of Gina Porter and playing pretend for 10 days.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

I love a good traveling fic. Sometimes all it takes to get a character to wake up about things going on in their lives or feelings for character b is a good change of scenery. This fic does a great job of utilizing the enviornment to facilitate rinas love story through one of my favorite tropes, the fake dating trope. There's some angst along the way because nothing can ever come easy but it's not without its reward. It gives me major spiderman far from home vibes just solely because of petermjs adorableness and how that energy kinda translates to rina in this fic more so in the beginning before they have this repertoire. 

on the line by peculiarblue

‘with everything in her life finally at a stand still for once the last thing gina needs is one curly haired skater to come in and give her a reason to change again

(or, gina lets ricky back into her life the only way she knows how, at a distance, through daily voicemails, until her heart remembers why she can't love him anymore.)’ This is a completed one shot.

It hurts in the best way possible! that is the best way to describe this fic. Were taken on a journey where I personally wanted rina to just talk to each other in person but the magic was all in the voicemails and the power of their connection. There was a satisfying ending, I couldn't ask for more. If you haven’t read literally everything written by Katie go read it, it won't disappoint.

but everywhere just brings me back to you by ptrprkrs

‘or, ricky is just a little in love with the voice of the girl at the starbucks drive-thru’ This is a completed one shot.

An amazing fic that hits every spot effortlessly, even the ones you didn’t know you had. Like Ricky being a lovesick puppy going to a drive-thru just to hear Gina’s voice for coffee, he doesn’t drink or like. All the while they’d been connected all along. I’m a sucker for any kind of soulmate implications or stories where people are unknowingly connected like that so this ones a real favorite for me. It’s sweet, lighthearted and funny and a great read.

About Love by goldenthread

‘a series of Interconnected one shots and canonical aus for Ricky and Gina <3.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

Here's where I enter some shameless self-promo...I wrote this recently. It’s just some loosely connected one-shots I have of rina based on canon. I write about an alternate first meeting, what would've happened if Gina had to understudy Nini in a rehearsal and (for a future chapter) a babysitting au (for what happened when Gina actually told Ricky the truth, she was babysitting her neighbor's kid when she talked to him at the skatepark). Check it out if it sounds like your thing!

in your eyes by finelineholland

‘you always try to hide the pain, you always know just what to say. i always look the other way. i'm blind, i'm blind. in you eyes, you lie, but i don't let it define you.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

There is something about Rina being written about from an outside perspective that is just so excellent. The story starting with Nini noting the obvious chemistry and their connection and being threatened by it, I don’t know it's just so pleasing to me. Another fic like that one of my favorites (one that I’m pretty sure I’ve suggested in my other rec list), pretend i don’t see it in your eyes by spobylol. Another absolutely excellent read that does not miss once. This story in contrast also writes from rina’s perspective as well which I also thought was well done. 

right from the start I knew by anonymous

‘“Uh.” Ricky really didn’t think this far ahead. To be fair, it’s not like he’s ever thought ahead about anything ever in his life, so this is really to be expected. “We - forget about it? Maybe. Or like - I don’t know. I think I have to figure out how to be like - a person right now. By myself.”

“Same.” Gina says absently. “I’ve spent what feels like my whole life thinking about what other people think of me. It’d be nice to - to be able to try looking beyond that for a change.”

Post-Season 1. Ricky and Nini break up, but that doesn't mean things work out right away.’ This is a completed one shot.

The most iconic love confession I’ve read in a rina fic to date. it’s just so good, a certified rush every single time. The mutual pining hits spectacularly especially when you see just how soon it starts to hit Ricky that he’d made a mistake getting with Nini and him paying for that mistake. The writing only amplifies it. Also Ricky telling Gina he’s obsessed with her? yeah, I automatically added this fic to my list of faves.

If they only knew by goldenthread

‘Ricky Bowen never really bought into the whole soulmate thing (except he did) but life got in the way and now he's sort of pretending to date new (totally not intimidating) girl Gina Porter to win back the one and only Nini Salazar Roberts. Not a single thing could go wrong.

or

The one where Ricky and Gina aren't so good at the whole soulmate thing and they fake date.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

More shameless self promo, sorry y’all but I’m super proud of this one. It’s a soulmate and fake dating au, combining two of my fave tropes into one to make this (surprisingly) long fic. It’s a whirlwind of emotions and a lot of moving parts in the story. I plan on updating within two months then after that there's three more chapters until its finished :) hope y’all enjoy it if you decide to give it a read!

you are the best thing & the worst thing (that’s happened to me this whole year) by tophsgf

‘Gina's roommate Nini is unbearable. What's more unbearable, however? Her very charismatic and totally off-limits sort-of boyfriend.’ This is a completed one shot. 

An amazing fic, I need more people to know about it! I really like fics where the development between Ricky and Gina is gradual, which seems to be the case for a lot of fics but for this one in particular I like its execution. Obviously, at first, he’s with Nini so it’s like the dynamic is at a point of comparison from the start but we quickly learn that thanks to good ole mutual understanding and overall compatibility Ricky and Gina are just right for each other. A fun read that hits all the bases.

[kinsey3furry300]

A very confused Star Wars Fan desperately tries to justify their belief that “Caravan of Courage” shows the way forward for the franchise. No, really.

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve loved Star Wars. And I mean, all of it. The books, the games, the Lego, the spin-offs: I even enjoy the Holiday Special in a The Room so-bad-you-just-need-to-see-it sort of way.  But particularly the films. But here is when we run into the big problem: I’m just the wrong age. The original trilogy launched before I was born, the prequel trilogy hit cinemas when I was already a teen and while I went and saw them and enjoyed them, I was at that age where I was self-conscious about seeing a “kids” film, and hyper-aware of how silly and cringy those films were in parts. So my indoctrination, my inoculation with the Star Wars bug didn’t happen in the cinema, and it didn’t happen with any of the main franchise works. It happened on home video, on a skiing trip in the French Alps in the early 90’s. I’d have been about 6, and this was the first time I’d ever been abroad other than to see relatives in Ireland.  And I loved it: to this day I love skiing, but more than that, I have very, very fond childhood memories of this trip. This was shortly before I lost my biological mother to cancer, she’d have received her diagnosis just after we got back from the trip. This was when my younger sister stopped being an annoying screaming thing and became and became an actual person I could talk and play and share ideas with, this was before the combination my mothers long illness and my father having just launched his own IT start up meant I didn’t see him or her any more, despite the fact they were in the same house as me. This was this wonderful, nostalgic child-hood bubble when my family was intact, and nothing could ever go wrong. I skied all day with mum and dad, and would come back to the chalet in the evening. It was an English speaking chalet, I met my first real-life American there, and having grown up in the 90’s in the UK nothing was cooler than making friends with an actual American my own age. He had a hulk Hogan action figure with springs in the legs so if you put him on a hard surface and punched his head down, when you let go he’d jump really high in the air. We used to play with it together in the bath, back in that weird 90’s time-bubble when it was possible to convince two sets of parents that this kid you’d just met was you best friend in the world and of course shared bath time was, somehow, normal and appropriate. And fresh from bath time, tired from the day, the parents would give us some hot coco, dump us kids in front of the tv and grab the first shitty low-budget VHS they could find to keep us distracted while they went to the bar. In this particular time, in this particular place, that shitty low budget cartoon was the  complete set of the 1985 Lucasfilm/ABC Ewoks cartoon, plus the two spin off movies, and to this day that cheap, kitschy, kind of bad series has a special warm and cosy place in my heart. I remember being enthralled by the world, in love with the characters, applied by the bad guys and the injustice they caused (to this day I’m still irate about that time Wicket lost his set of beads documenting his progress towards becoming a full warrior and the older Ewoks basically said, tough, you need to re-earn all those merit badges from scratch. This struck me as exactly the sort of bullshit an adult would pull, and pissed me off) and on tenterhooks about what would happen to the characters.

It was also, by a coincidence, the first ever Star Wars media I was exposed to, and the above combination of events probably explains a lot about me.

So I was surprised, the other day, when scrolling Disney+, to find they’d added Caravan of Courage AND Battle for Endor to the roster in my region. Surely Disney wouldn’t want their slick, cool brand associated with this old trash? Surely there could be no place for this in the post-Mandalorian Star Wars cannon? Surely this is a horrible mistake some intern made, right?

Unless…. What if I’ve miss-remembered? What if it’s not just rose-tinted nostalgia goggles, and it’s, in fact, secretly really, really good?

I rushed to my comfy chair, got a blanket, dimmed the lights, made some coco (with rum in it, because why the hell not?) and sat down to re-examine this lost gem.

And wow: it’s every bit as shit as you’d expect.

It has aged exactly as poorly as you’d expect a cheap, mid 80’s direct to video spin-off to age. Caravan of Courage? More like Caravan of Garbage, am I right?

And yet… I still enjoyed every moment.

And it was sitting there, in my pyjamas, watching a cheaply made direct to video cash-grab from just before I was born, seeing it again for the first time in nearly 30 years, and I realised something.

It doesn’t really matter if this film is bad, so long as I enjoy it. And if it doesn’t really mater if this is bad, then I, like many Star Wars fans, wasted a huge amount of time and emotional effort on being butthurt about stuff I didn’t like about the Rise of Skywalker and it’s ilk. Because somewhere, right now, a tired and frustrated parent is putting Disney+ on to keep their kids quiet for two hours. And they won’t think too hard about what they put on, so long as it keeps little Timmy busy for a bit. Somewhere, right now, a kid is watching Rise of Skywalker, and it’s the first Star Wars media they’ve ever seen.

And that’s okay. Because we don’t know what that kids home life is like. We don’t know if it’s good or bad. Maybe it’s great, maybe it’s about to take a dramatic plunge like mine did, and this moment here will be the cosy, warm memory they look back on in 30 years time, and that’s beautiful.  They’re getting introduced to a fun, wonderful fantasy world that could be with them all their lives, through good times and bad, and as fans we should be happy about that.

Star Wars will never, die: it’s too darn profitable, Disney will never let it. And while I hope they learn from their mistakes and make sure every future Star Wars is a timeless gem of story-telling, statistically, if you keep making enough films, some of them will be bad. And while I’d like them all to be great, it’s still okay if they’re bad.

Because nothing can take away my memories of that week in that chalet. Nothing can take-away my memories of when they put the original trilogy on in cinemas for the special edition and I had my jaw hit the floor with how good it was on the big screen, not knowing or caring who shot first. Nothing can take away you memories of the Original Trilogy, the Prequels, or the Clone Wars. Nothing can tarnish the bits of the sequil trilogy that you like, and there are good bits in there.

But wait, what about continuity? What about the sacred, perfect written time-line that used to exist?

Well, what about it? Have you seen any other big, epic fantasy universe before? They’re all a mess. A work of fiction, particularly fantasy, can be extensive, or tightly written, but not both. Harry Potter is only seven books, and the last two feel, tonally, like they’re from an entirely different series. I love them, but the grim-dark kicked in so fast you’ll get whiplash. The Hobbit is a perfect written self-contained novel, and LOTR is *The* big boy high-fantasy trilogy: fast forward 50 years, and Christopher Tolkien is desperately squeezing every last drop of money out of his father’s corpse by finishing and publishing every unfinished note JRR ever wrote right down to his shopping lists. Even Dune goes of the rails with sequels. I can only think of four fantasy works that are both extensive and consistently tightly written, Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Malazan: Book of the Fallen and Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe. And even then, the prequels and spin-offs mess with the timelines: the Dunk and Egg novella’s change some character’s canonical ages and timelines, Wheel of Time was going slowly off the rails even before the Jordan died, Forge of Darkness made what was a good metaphor for the creation of it’s world into a literal war deep in the past, and Sanderson’s first Novel Elantris got a re-write to bring it more in line with the rest of the shared universe. The MCU, oft held up as the modern example of tightly planned, well thought out ongoing storytelling, is a lie: it was never as pre-planned out as Disney wants us to think; the first Iron Man, apparently, barely had a script, with Downey ad-lib-ing most of his scenes. None of the MCU films are direct sequels to each-other other than Infinity war and Endgame. There are three Iron Man films, and Three Thor films, and none continue an ongoing story line across multiple films, and the Cap films barely continue an arc, but only where Cap’s relationship with Natasha and Bucky is involved.  Much like these, Star War’s cannon is a complete, nightmarish, confusing, tangled, illogical mess. And it has been since 1984, as Caravan of Courage proves. It was never consistent and well planned.

And that’s okay.

I used to care about plot holes. I used to care about which works were cannon in Star Wars lore. I’m over that now. I’m happy to imagine the books, films and games not as a blow-by-blow historical account of a galaxy far far away, but as campfire stories from within this fun, imaginative world that we’re all invited to listen to. Stories that are in-universe myth and folklore, that we can all snuggle up and listen to while drinking highly alcoholic rum and remembering better times, knowing that wherever the future throws at us, no matter how the world goes to hell around us, we’ll still have the memories, and the ability to make our own new stories in the wonderful Star Wars world we all share.

And that’s okay. No, more than that: that’s beautiful.

Also Star Wars is completely unambiguous on the fact we’re allowed to kill fascists no matter how many times they keep coming back with a new logo, so that’s timely I guess.

So, there’s my hot take two-years after everyone else stopped caring about this stuff, as per bloody usual. Tell me why I’m wrong below, and does anyone else have any truly awful spin-off shows that they kind of have a nostalgic soft spot for?

[kyzveryown]

Retrospective — Union Cross

When KHUX ended, I was relieved but also disappointed with the finale. I was invested in the story and wanted it to have a satisfying conclusion. It was the complete opposite for me. Despite my discontent with the finale, KHUX is arguably the best written story within the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm not the only one with this opinion either. KHUX's story made the series better. What's wild is it's mobile game, but that's also a major downside.

KHX introduced mountains of lore and backstory while simultaneously setting up the next phase. This is stuff YOU CAN'T IGNORE if you're invested in the overarching story of the series. Unfortunately, this is all locked behind a mobile game which is a turn-off. I think KHUX would've worked better as a manga or novel series. Doesn't seem like the type of story you'd want to tell through a web/mobile game (...for eight years) but I digress.

What I liked about the story was the dark themes. There was death, loss, fear, betrayal, deceit, survival, sacrifice and despair. The Master of Masters is revealed to be a ruthless sociopath and everyone suffers because of him. But you learn and understand why and what his motives are. The Darkness wants to destroy everything which, despite being overly simplistic and cliche, makes them terrifying. You can feel how much of a threat they are especially with how brutal Strelitzia's death was. Everyone is a prisoner of fate — a fate forced upon them — and all they can do is unknowingly play their roles.

Those are some of the things that grabbed me. It's heavy. It's tragic. More importantly though, it makes you care about the story and the characters. People can relate to those things too. Almost everyone has lost someone, been betrayed/lied to, and felt trapped and not in control. That's what makes the story engaging to me. That said, the characters aren't all that. Aside from a small few, they were dry and had little to no substance. Although, that's not surprising given who wrote them. I'll keep it 100. As much as I liked Brain, he was just the "info dump guy" most of the time.

The build-up to the finale was the best I've seen in the series. Everything seemed like it was coming together. Each update progressed the story and added elements that made the overarching plot much bigger than anyone could've imagined. There was a significant weight to the story that got heavier as the Master of Masters' true intentions began to unfold, and Strelitzia's death was uncovered. For a moment, I thought to myself "this is the one". And then the finale happened. My investment in the story died after the finale.

I don't like what happened with Brain. I think the "Player is Xehanort" twist was unnecessary. The 'brotherly love' thing Lauriam tried with Ventus was weird. Strelitzia's death was undone. In fact, everyone who's dead can be revived via their data. Even better — when someone dies, they can reincarnate. Lauriam instantly forgave everyone for hiding Strelitzia's supposed death from him. Elrena was there because the plot said so. Lastly, the threat of the Darkness was reduced to nothing. Basically, and this is my opinion, the finale was the antithesis of what came before it.

It wasn’t all bad though. There was stuff I did like such as the Union Leaders interaction and battle with Darkness. I enjoyed the last scenes (and battle) with the Player, Ephemer and Skuld. Every scene with the Master of Masters and Darkness or Luxu was entertaining. Ephemer and Skuld's final moments were sweet. Ventus stepping to 'Darkness' was a cool moment. Ephemer did his thing with Scala ad Caelum (even though I think it should've been Brain). And lastly, the Player's sacrifice was the perfect send-off. They had the best ending until the reincarnation thing.

That said, I've accepted it for what it is. While I'm not invested in the story anymore, I still think it deserves a remake. The story is too important to be locked behind a mobile game. Granted, you can download the app and watch the cutscenes. It's not the same as actually playing it though (which I never did but will if there's ever a remake). My stance with Kingdom Hearts is the same as FFVII Remake; I'm just an observer. Whatever happens, happens.

[blee-bleep]

Though I disagree vehemently about your take I'm also very curious of your arguments for why you think Akko is such a bad character?

Anon, you have no idea what you just fucking asked of me. Time for a review! This is going to be hella’ long. 

Vanilla Character that insists that she has personality

So the one thing I’m going to start off with is; The Relatable/Vanilla Protagonist Syndrome. This is the syndrome that is used for most main characters in order to have a clean-slate character that is basically the audience in order to promote the world-building in the series by having them absolutely no clue of what is the world around them. That is what Akko exactly is, and that is what Trigger abuses her out of. 

Little Witch Academia is an anime that focuses solely on world-building, so much so that they’re willing to pile over their characters in order to show what magic can do. 

(And apparently for Trigger, world-building also means learning who the author of a 200-yo Twilight spinoff book is and who was Holbrooke’s dad)

But the point is, the anime is a pile of boring trash fire that focuses on world-building, even from its original exposition of the OVA. It uses the pattern of ‘theme/problem of the week’ in half of the series with arcs going nowhere for a while and suddenly rushes an epiphany in the last few episodes. *cough ep 15*

The point with world-building serialization is that it needs a way to be promoted, and what way for it to promote is to get Akko to fuck around with it. As her job as the protag, that’s exactly what she does for more than half of the series. She’s like a stretchy character that is carried by the plot with gross insistence from the show that she has character (which is being stubborn and clumsy that is written off as ‘passionate’).

What’s worse is Trigger has all these ideas yet none of them are polished to its fullest (like the political divide between witches and modern government) or is overlapped by some bullshit to add because Japan. (seriously, a hunting-themed episode with cool lore, and yet a third of the episode is all about robots and building it? What the fuck?)

See, that’s why I think Akko is a horribly written character, not her character itself (if that were the case then I would’ve ditched the show the first episode) but because how she’s executed with it for the show. She’s constantly pulled by different bullshit the show comes up and makes her pull the answers the episode needs out of thin fucking air just because the writers said ‘fuck you’ to development and that they need to end the problem at some point right?

If characters can’t be tied correctly to the worldbuilding then there’s a chance that the character themselves would break, because it just can’t often work with what you’ve already placed in the previous episodes you’ve set up in the first place. Arcs overlap with each other and LWA doesn’t do shit for that until it needs a banging climax. 

Akko is constantly renewed and she learns nothing from what she learned (or at least hints of it), except for the metamorphosis bullshit and Shiny Rod. Which brings me to my next point on why Akko is such a horrible character.

Shiny Rod is a Leech

This thing is basically the plot device that Akko is so tied to. If there’s ever an episode where it solely focuses on Akko herself, it’s often related to either Shiny Rod or Chariot du Nord, which is the shittiest way to limit a character with so much exposition with everything the series has thrown at her. The only other way the series doesn’t do this to her is Diana in episode 12, but it isn’t even focused on her, it’s focused on the cabbage and her Draco Malfoy syndrome.

Anyways, were an episode be connected to Akko in some way, it’s always limiting to her duty as the holder of the Shiny Rod and the occasional situation from Chariot. Not from her friends, who she clearly relates to and has more history with, but with the Shiny Rod and Chariot.

The series lazily signs this as Akko’s resolution to her character by the last episode (FUCK THAT) and does nothing else with her relationship with other characters outside of Diana and Chariot. Honestly, you’d expect that after going through Sucy’s mind and visiting Lotte’s hometown, she would’ve grown as a better character and more than being a two-dimensional ‘chosen-one’ character who only gets an episode if it focuses on the plot-device that pulled her in the magical world in the first place. 

But no, Trigger is still insisting pies, weird shops, and other boring stuff needs to be shown for the series to make it interesting, and dumps the idea to the next. An arc is never properly made for all the shit they let Akko go through because the series is so fast-paced in the wrong places. And when it does focus on what is important (more important than finding about Nightfall’s author), it’s usually done spontaneously thus eliminating the suppose suspense that the single important thing is supposed to do *I HATE EPISODE 15 WHAT THE FUCK*

The point is, Akko is just a ‘believing heart’. A holder of Shiny Rod, who managed to get under Chariot without her knowing. It’s like she’s Midoriya (My Hero Academia) but much watered down and if you take that away from her, she has nothing, when out of all the stuff she could’ve had.

What LWA’s writers hadn’t realized is that what they actually wrote for Akko is what could’ve been her focus but Trigger insists for the world-building theme is that Akko’s arc should only come in the climax and the filler episodes are for her friends because you know, it won’t be more interesting that way and now they have a main protagonist that’s actually interesting beyond their design and suppose-personality. 

Thus I’m next to my last bullshit:

Akko, the Wasted Potential™

I recently rewatched Citrus lately, and though the show is much narrow than LWA’s world of magic, I realized what actually makes it better than it in ways that the latter fails. And it’s their protagonist.

I know you guys will trash about Yuzu being a simp and all, and I absolutely agree with that, but what makes Yuzu better than Akko is not because she’s more down-to-earth, but she has a three-dimensional mindset, a mindset which is the very thing kept away from Akko. 

While Yuzu may not have been pushed into a world of magic by the neck and gets dragged by the plot as violently as Akko (and the two very different themes of the two shows of course), but if you pull those away, their passion are nearly built the same. What differs them both is that Yuzu actually acts out what she needs to do and builds a steady relationship with the other characters around her, even if it’s very subtle and small. (Like, Harumin being her wicked hot sidekick? God yes, top-tier Gyaru)

Akko, on the other hand, literally goes into one of her best friend’s mind in a poison-induced coma and gets shoved into her other best friend’s culture by visiting her hometown. You might think she’d grow from that and realize what it takes to be a better character, right? WRONG.

Of course, Trigger uses these things as filler episodes and nothing more. It doesn’t reflect on Akko’s character because she’s not allowed to think like it should. Though the show would insist she has personality, it does the opposite when Akko’s only character is only used as ‘believing heart’ for the Shiny Rod and nothing much else, because the only times when they do get her a new attitude is dropped off right after.

It would’ve been cool if they dropped the world-building theme for a bit and focus on how they should make the characters much more interesting than having their personalities as the root problems of episodes. 

When I first watched LWA, I had so much more expectation for the characters themselves, especially Amanda O’Neill after her introduction in episode 3. But came episode 5 and then she… didn’t really matter that much despite being in half of the episode. And she didn’t have another one not until 11 episodes later. Imagine making and hyping up such a unique character and barely giving her screentime of three episodes! That’s one of the grossest things you can do in baiting lesbians, Trigger! 

And it doesn’t stop at Amanda; it applies to almost every other character. Chariot is the pink-print disappointment of a hyped character that didn’t have enough time. She’s a plot-device character that everyone was anticipating but she’s barely given the after of a shitty episode 14 (that has another completely different problem altogether). Episode 15 was literally the worst you could’ve done to make a twist because a) the development leading to that revelation was undercooked, and especially shitty because the show basically used Croix as a plot device, b) it’s done nearly towards the end of the series so the timing for her hype was weirdly placed, and c) Chariot’s personality from that episode is being used repeatedly just to let Akko become a sitting duck. 

So yeah, Trigger was so focused on the concept of world-building and making magic look as interesting as possible that the idea that maybe the characters would flat-out look bleak was not in their cone of vision. Akko was fundamentally a boring protagonist because she keeps getting pulled apart and has not ingrained anything in that, and to rub salt into the wound, she becomes so used to it that when Croix set her up with the Wagandea trap, Chariot has to intervene and at the cost of her flight powers, which does not help their characters one bit.

Akko is a shitty protagonist Trigger shredded apart just for their sake of world-building and she has learned nothing from what the show has thrown at her because the writers didn’t think she needed it, because, in the first place, it’s not about her. It’s about the Shiny Rod and completing Chariot’s story (which is half-assed in its own way). Lord knows how they botched her to the point she’s blank. She’s nothing more than a ‘believing heart’ and if Trigger just keeps there, that’s forever what she is. And that, in itself, is why I think Akko is a horrible character.

[carabas]

So I’ve just finished reading the Dragon Age Tevinter Nights anthology, and short reaction: enjoyably hit and miss right up until that final extremely thorough direct hit, thank you Patrick Weekes.

Much, much longer version:

1. I don’t know how reasonable it is to try to extrapolate about what’s going to be in the next game based on a random short story collection, but hey, the novels that came out before DAI were about the mage rebellion, the Orlesian civil war, and eluvians, so.

So things I’m now expecting to see in the next game, aside from the Tevinter-Qunari conflict and Solas of course: Nevarran necromancy, Antivan Crows, Wardens who are struggling with decimated numbers after DAO and DAI (would be the perfect time for Razikale and Lusacan to both wake up at once really), and the Lords of Fortune, a never-before-mentioned Rivaini treasure hunting organization which appeared in I think three different stories here. 

Plus a few stories were very much signalling This Specific New Character Will Be Showing Up Again, whether in the games or elsewhere; I'll be shocked if Lucanis the “Demon,” reluctant heir apparent of the Antivan Crows who just got into a cliffhanger conflict with a Tevinter magister, doesn’t have more to do.

2. THERE IS A MAP, there is a great big fantasy map surrounded by nifty little illustrative details to poke at.

There’s a label reading “White Spire,” not in Val Royeaux, but on a mountain beyond the Arlathan Forest. Is that an error or is there really a White Spire mountain? If not an error, has it always been named that or is that new, possibly a new center for the mages after the war, after the original Spire fell? At no point is either Spire mentioned in this book aside from this map.

Lots of astrological sun and moon patterns prominently featured around the edges. Is that one moon chart depicting moon phases or an eclipse? Is it too conspiracy theory of me to be counting the nine dark moons (or spheres? like in that DA4 idol illustration’s seven slots?) on the dragon’s wing? Probably. Or are those spheres a reference to the second moon that never seems to actually be visible, is that missing moon actually deliberate. 

Most of the astrological charts are fairly straightforwardly showing sun/moon phases but what is the crowned figure in the one on the lower right meant to represent? The Maker? What’s going on with the horizontal lines passing through it/behind it? The two moons beneath it - is that an illustration of the moon in two phases or being separated into two (metaphorical moon in that case, presumably), do those horizontal lines also indicate separation, do I need to move on from the astrological depictions here, definitely.

Love the big horseshoe crab sea monster.

3. Patrick Weekes’s first story in the collection: halla shapeshifting! An elf named Strife who I fully expected to be revealed as an agent of Fen’harel mimicking ancient elven names like Sorrow and Pride, though I was wrong - would it be charming or just annoyingly unsubtle if that became a thing among his agents. An ancient forest guardian with lyrium blades who hunts magic in a way that struck me an awful lot like a forest-themed equivalent of a golem, though I may be wildly off base with that one.

4. Nevarran necromancy story. An odd bit of the chant to highlight for a funeral: “And the Maker, clad in the majesty of the sky, set foot to earth, and at His touch all warring ceased.” I continue to squint suspiciously at overlaps between Maker and elven god imagery. Also, evidently mortalitasi believe that when someone dies, an inhuman spirit is pushed out from the Fade into the physical world, and that’s part of the reason behind their housing spirits in bodies - neat! The existence of Curiosity spirits, also neat!

5. Is Ghilan’nain’s horrible body horror place supposed to be spelled Hormak like in the title and previous canon references, or Hormok like throughout the text here? I know this was just a mistake but maybe I’ll use this to say that in-world there’s multiple ways of transliterating Dwarven.

6. Lukas Kristjanson story #1, the one featuring approximately a million minor Inquisition character cameos and a meditation on Solas’s regrets, introduces a character with the phrase “free mage by special commendation,” and I was briefly thrown by that little signal that we are Not In My Worldstate, that the mages aren’t all free by default - except then the story went on to destroy Solas’s fresco so I wound up quite grateful for that little heads up that this isn’t my worldstate actually.

(Unfortunately I can’t get into this guy’s writing style at all, which is a shame because it’s one of the big Solas stories in the book.)

7. There’s a little plot point in the Wigmaker Job story that demonstrates those elven artifacts Solas had us activate all over Thedas do indeed strengthen the Veil - like, he wasn’t lying to us about what those orbs do, that is how they work, here we see a Crow stab one in order to deactivate it, weaken the Veil and unleash a horde of vengeful demons. Nice confirmation.

8. Genitivi is the Randy Dowager. (Possibly. At least, Philliam wrote a scene in which Genitivi alludes to being the Randy Dowager. I do appreciate an unreliable narrator but after a certain point it does make the lore hard to keep straight.)

9. By the time we got to the story about adventurers stealing an incredibly powerful healing amulet just to donate it to a mysterious contact at a makeshift hospital trying to help people where the Qunari-Tevinter war has spilled over, I knew better than to expect any cameos from DAO/DA2 characters. And with the mention of the squire, I was pretty sure the mysterious contact was going to be Vaea, and it was. Still. Anders would approve. And for a moment I was fantasizing that it would turn out to be him, or connected to him. A new mental setting for him and Hawke post-mage-freedom - makeshift hospitals at the edge of the invasion, secretly sponsored by a certain pair of absurdly overpowered, dungeon-crawling, treasure-hunting fugitives.

Yes, my Dragon Age interpreting is still all about Anders even when he’s not remotely present.

10. You know, I really expected the leaders of the Crows to be a bit more ruthlessly competent than this. Someone is setting up a grand demonstration, recreating infamous historical assassinations carried out by the Crows but now with the leaders of the Crows themselves as the victims, incredibly flashy, incredibly clearly sending a message, and yet not one of the characters trying to figure out whodunit is speculating about the meaning behind that message??? the motive in going to all that trouble??? it’s all, hm, perhaps it’s the qunari invaders. hm, this one was posed with a pearl necklace just like the one in the historical murder it’s recreating, i bet the culprit owns a pearl-fishing business! I know they’re assassins not detectives but at least show the professional courtesy of paying attention to the message in the show your fellow assassin is putting on for you, geez.

Anyway. Interesting Crow details: they talked about neutral ground and territories divided between the Crow households here, does that just apply to Antiva or like, does Arainai have claim to all jobs in Ferelden? 

And the line “Teia's back was bare except for a tattoo marking her as a member of House Cantori” puts Zevran’s tattoos in a slightly different light for me - he’s mentioned that some symbols are sacred to the Crows, and logically it follows that having that symbol tattooed on him would indeed mark him as a Crow to other people in the know, but that his tattoos mark him as belonging to House Arainai is a thing that did not hit me from that.

11. An agent of Fen’harel muttering “Felassan” to activate a rune. In memoriam? Charming. I mean it’s a rune that’s intended to kill an entire city, so possibly the more literal slow arrow is meant, but I’m still charmed.

12. PATRICK WEEKES CLOSING OUT THE BOOK BY JUST DUMPING THE CONTINUING DREAD WOLF HUNT PLOT ON US. 

So much. 

An actual giant wolf in the Fade, I’m so happy for tumblr user corseque. 

A character again raising the possibility that Solas is not an ancient elf but rather a young elf who stumbled onto old magic, a theory I thought debunked by Trespasser but here we are considering it again. 

A minor side note that a lot of Kirkwall’s templars went rogue after the explosion - that’s not relevant to the post-DAI plot really, I’m just noting it for my generally-DA2-focused fanfic purposes. 

The possibility that somniari (presumably) can kill even dwarves who don’t dream in their sleep. Somniari in general or did Solas personally step in here?

A ritual involving the red lyrium idol resulting in the phrase “As if we were the blood and the cavern the body through which it flowed” right before the POV character enters the Fade, which is a rather Titan-esque turn of phrase. 

The Dread Wolf again asserting that all creation is in danger and he’s trying to fix that. A biased POV character recognizing that, huh, funny how those spirits around the Dread Wolf which surely must be demons actually look an awful lot like Justice and Valor. 

And Charter’s notes at the end, so direct, not only spelling out the new details on the idol for us (that the figure represents a crowned figure comforting another) but thoroughly hitting us over the head with Solas’s essential characterization in his own words, as if Weekes is still trying to clear up any possible lingering misinterpretations there. (Prideful, hotheaded, foolish. Doing what he must. Sympathetic to elves. Said that he was sorry.)

And the quiet simplicity of Solas coming to this meeting of spies in person because, pause, “...the Inquisition was involved,” written in such a way that you could read all sorts of things into that pause, whatever the Inquisition and the Inquisitor might mean to him.

The book would have been worth reading for this last story alone, what a note to end on.

[sad-goomy]

you’re a fic writer that i look up to! i’ve actually never wrote a fic before, but a suddenly got this inspiration to write one. the problem is, i’m not good at introductions, so would you mind giving a few tips? you don’t have to if you don’t want to, i would appreciate it though!

thank you so much for the lovely ask!! I’m not sure how helpful I’ll be but here are some things I keep in mind when it comes to writing, introductions especially...

first things first - write it! I love seeing people get inspired to write, and the best way to get better at it and nurture that is to just, well, write!

another general piece of advice - beta readers are incredible! having a second pair of eyes look over anything you’ve written can really help you get some perspective and have a piece feeling more polished before you publish it (even if it’s just a friend and not a beta reader, getting some feedback can be very helpful, if a little nerve-wracking the first few times)

and the really corny but still true piece of advice everyone gives - read! find the works that you really love and sit with them, go over them more like an editor than a reader and try to find the specific reasons why you love them so much. learning by example can be really helpful, so if you have a favorite story or writer, look at their introduction and see what works about it

now as far as introductions specifically...

keep in mind what you want your introduction to accomplish! in general, introductions should look to set the tone, hook a reader, and direct them to the inciting incident. it depends on the length of the piece, but generally you want to also establish main characters, setting, and the inciting incident within the first few pages -- for shorter pieces, you might need to accomplish that in even the first page or first few paragraphs!

avoid front-loading exposition/world-building! those pieces of lore or world-building tend to come up organically throughout the fic as they become relevant, so don’t worry if you can’t get to every detail of the setting or the mechanics of your world. info-dumps tend to overwhelm readers, and you want the introduction to bee a nice entry point that doesn’t feel intimidating

it also helps that with fanfic, your readers will have a baseline knowledge of the characters and setting you’re using, so that does a lot of leg work in terms of exposition

you’ll want to try and start in media res, or “in the middle of things” -- that doesn’t necessarily mean start with the middle of the plot, but it’s helpful to start as close to the inciting incident as possible, to have readers enter the middle of a conversation or the middle of action! it’s exciting to feel like things are already happening

take a moment to consider the first line! it’s not the most important thing in the world, but an interesting first line can help hook readers. I like to use a line of interesting dialogue if I have one, or maybe describe something out of place in the setting

and if you’re really stuck on that introduction...leave it for last! it’s honestly cruel that introductions are some of the trickiest things to write, and yet they’re first to come in the story. if you find yourself really stuck on what entry point to have readers come in, or what mood to set, then just start writing the rest of the fic and come back to the intro last. by then, you’ll have a better handle on where the story ends up, which will actually help give you a better idea of where to start off for a nice pay-off

[aaaa-mpersand]

Why I Love Hollow Knight

aka a super long essay I wrote about why this game is,,,, ridiculously good. Spoilers, though I’ve tried to keep them minor for the most part and as cryptic as possible, if you want to go into this game blind, this is not something you want to read. It’s part prose part essay part me waxing poetic. TW: bugs, minor character death, existential dread some quotes are taken directly from the game. They are usually in bold or italics. - - - Higher beings, these words are for you alone. Beyond this point you enter the land of King and Creator. Step across this threshold and obey our laws. Bear witness to the last and only civilization, the eternal Kingdom Hallownest. It was a long trek to the city, and even the nail that has kept all enemies at bay is starting to feel heavy on your back. You have braved acid lakes, fended off husks gone mad with The Radiance, climbed Crystal Peaks, and fought the Mantis Lords. Now, you are finally here. Past the city gate, into the cavern that houses what was once the heart of a great kingdom. The City of Tears

You stand in one of the city’s large spires, the endless rain pattering like piano notes against the embellished windows. These architectural feats were marvels of their time, a testament to Hallownest’s greatness, an open declaration of defiance against the water pouring down from the lake above the caverns. They were made to stand for eras, a love letter to the eternal kingdom. Now, Hallownest is a rotting corpse, and only the rain cries for it. Zombie soldiers, eyes yellow with Radiance, continue their endless patrols. Husks of citizens sit, glowing eyes unblinking, in their homes, dead enough to rot but alive enough to attack any living thing that comes by. The foundations of the buildings are already starting to wear. One day, they will crumble. One day, the lake above will run dry. One day, the rain will stop, too. You find a bench. There is already someone sitting there, a traveller you met along the road named Quirrel. He is a mysterious but polite fellow, with the simple goal of seeing all the marvellous sights of the world. On his head is a hat that looks more like a mask, black holes for eyes carved into it. On his back is a nail, one that looks much like yours. Travellers do not get far without them. He gestures for you to sit beside him. Even if you could speak, you would be too tired to say your thanks, much less argue. “The capital lies before us, my friend. What a sombre place it seems, and one that holds the answers to many a mystery,” he says, “I, too, have felt the pull of this place, though now I sit before it, I find myself hesitant to descent. Is it fear, I wonder, or something else that holds me back?” The only sound between the two of you is the soft patter of rain. If your silence disturbs him, he does not let it on. “Isn’t this a wonderful place to rest? I so love the sound of the rain upon glass.” You rest your fill, and you move on. At the center of the city, you find a collection of four carved statues. Three smaller ones surrounding a large––far larger than you––horned figure with black, hollow eyes. City of Tears––the rain pouring off of them certainly makes them seem as if they are weeping. Hornet, a spider-like creature with a shell that looks similar to yours, lands in front of you. Unlike your last meeting, her needle is sheathed. ‘Little ghost,’ she calls you. She tells you to seek the Grave in Ash, if you wish to play a part in Hallownest’s perpetuation, knowing the sacrifices that keep its crumbling remains upright. Using a thread of silk as a grapple, she leaps back into the murky shadows of the city.You cannot speak, so you only stare as she leaves. Turning, you read the inscription of the statue. Memorial to the Hollow Knight: In the black vault far above. Through its sacrifice, Hallownest lasts eternal. You look around at the empty streets, the pouring rain, the husk of a Radiance-crazed sentry with a nail driven through it lying on the cobbled pavement. Hallownest is already dead. --- Gameplay and storytelling: Immersion is a large part of every story, but Hollow Knight really takes it a step further. It is a metroidvania game, so immersion and storytelling through settings is pretty much a given in its genre. All things considered, Hollow Knight has a good, but not really amazing, storyline. Rather, it is the way that it tells its story that makes it memorable. Hollow Knight is a videogame first and a story after, utilizing its gameplay to tell its story better than words could. This is why watching let’s plays is enjoyable, definitely a wonderful experience, but there is a difference between dying five times trying to beat a boss or platform through an area versus watching someone die five times trying to beat a boss or platform through an area. There is a moment of surprise you wouldn’t get if you only watched the lore video, to see a character alluded to only by other people in an awed or fearful tone, only to find the hilarious but horrible truth of their fate, and their small stature. However, it is definitely possible for a person to enjoy this game without personally playing it. The setting and music are enrapturing. There are small stories in every new room and every enemy and npc you meet, the love put into every detail is astounding. Evidence of previous battles, the cracked husks of beings that look suspiciously similar to you, a hostile enemy still unaware of your entering, staring out over an endless lake, Hollow Knight makes the player feel like their story is a small part of something bigger, something more than themselves. A good example of this is a minor character named Tiso, a proud warrior who says he wishes to travel into Hallownest and challenge the colosseum there. If you decide to challenge the colosseum yourself, you’ll meet the enemies that he had to face, too––and maybe die more than a couple times trying to do it. If you travel to the Kingdom's Edge, you’ll find his shield and hat with a pile of other remains––all that is left of those who fail the tests of the colosseum. It is possible to go through the whole game and come out knowing not much more story than when you went in. Of course, if you did that, then that’s a whole waste of 15 dollars, and why the hell did you buy this game in the first place. Rather, through the large map and its immersive storytelling, the game makes the player work for the story. A lot of the storytelling is open ended too. Instead of info dumping everything, the game assumes that you are capable of putting the pieces together yourself. It is a strong case of showing and not telling, but it definitely works. This greatly encourages players to go out of their way to find out what happened before. Lore tablets––and text in general––are very sparse in this game. Rather than loading you with information and npcs to talk to, you’ll be overjoyed to find an npc hidden away at the corner of the map. Each one is important, each one has its own story to tell. There are no characters that feel like throwaways or filler. In addition, the player can obtain the Dream Nail, used to reveal any npc or enemy’s true intentions and thoughts. This adds yet another layer to the game; most players immediately go around swinging their Dream Nail at everything they can find after discovering this. In conclusion, Hollow Knight uses a lot of very interesting storytelling elements and tools in the most effective ways possible. Music, characters, text, setting, flashbacks. Nothing ever feels like filler, or something to be disregarded. Instead, there is a joy in discovering and in asking questions. In a way, the playable character is a vessel through which the player can hear the stories of other characters as much as they are going through a journey of their own. --- Story: Hollow Knight’s story is a very interesting take on the “Chosen One” trope, among others. It starts as a story we’ve all heard before, “oceans rise, empires fall.” Maybe it’s for that reason that the game keeps most of the backstory elements secret until the very end of the game, forcing you to dig for it and spend time on it. Meanwhile, you grow attached to the playable character, the characters around them, the world, and the story, so when the curtain finally rises on the hidden secrets of Hallownest, you feel its meaning as if it were your own journey. In the most plain terms, to avoid completely spoiling the game, the story is this. The playable character travels into the remains of a kingdom long fallen: Hallownest. Along the way, you meet characters that tell you more and more about the kingdom and how it got here. The Pale King, a god in and of himself, travelled to this place to build his own eternal kingdom, but in his goal to unite all caverns and areas of the region under his rule, he trampled the already existing gods past recollection. One of these is The Radiance, who in a desperate effort for revenge and self-preservation, sent a sickness upon the kingdom that turns bugs mad. In an effort to combat this, The Pale King created the Pure Vessel, the Hollow Knight, to contain it, and recruited three dreamers to seal it. But when the moment of truth came, and the Radiance was to be sealed away, they found the Pure Vessel was not entirely empty, it was filled with a hope for love and recognition from the Pale King. Hallownest fell to The Radiance. Now, your goal is to find a means to an end for Hallownest, caught in a fate worse than death. Along the way, you will find the truth behind your own creation, the story of the dreamers, and the extent of the sacrifices Pale King made to preserve his eternal kingdom. This story, if not driven by its storytelling, is driven by its characters. You meet, or at least hear of, most of the key characters in the story by the beginning of the game. The Pale King is referred to in one of the lore tablets extremely early in the game. The Temple of the Black Egg, its door sealed, is where you meet Quirrel. The Daughter of Hallownest, Hornet, tries to cut you down, claiming she knows what you mean to do. All of these happen in the first two areas of the game. For the rest of your game, you learn about these characters bit by bit. You interact with them. You find them in corners of the map you wouldn’t expect, and find yourself happy to see them. By the end of the story, you realise that you are much more entangled in this than you realised. The Pure Vessel and the story surrounding him is one of the best ‘chosen ones’ I’ve seen. Even the playable character is technically a ‘chosen one,’ though it takes the role because they are the best candidate, and not because anyone wanted or forced them to. Its fandom has one of the best found families, and the endings are open-ended enough that it doesn’t feel confining. This story has a lot of things to say about imperialism, power, ambition, sacrifice, fate, and relationships, and sometimes all of that can be found in the spires of a city, watching the endless rain patter against the windows as the piano plays in the background. --- My Interpretation: For a large part of my life, I was scared of the dark. I couldn’t bear to go outside to throw the trash out when it got too dark to see. It took me a long time––far longer than most––to learn how to sleep quietly in my own bed. For a long time, I didn’t understand this fear. Nobody around me seemed to understand either, when I asked them for help. Logically, I lived a sheltered life, and my neighborhood was safe. Demons, ghosts, monsters: they didn’t exist. It’s only now I realise that that childhood fear was rooted in this fact: you are a very small person in a very big world. You don’t know what’s going to happen to you. You don’t know what’s out there. You know, instinctively, that you are an ant. The universe is very big, much much bigger than you could ever imagine, and that it doesn’t care for you. Not for your ambitions, your dreams, your fears, your safety. Hollow Knight takes this and deals with it in a way that I love. It’s indicative in the first few moments. Your playable character is smaller than almost every other character in the game. You travel deep into a bug kingdom, much much bigger than you would have dreamed. Everyone around you is a bug too, from the meek to the courageous to the regal. Outside this kingdom is a bigger world, just as harsh as this one, maybe harsher still. All you have is your nail to keep you safe. Travellers before you have fallen. You are the only person left to pick up what’s left of their stories. The world is endless, it stretches in infinity through time and space. People have tried to conquer it before. They have tried to build eternal kingdoms, immortal cities, taking what is not theirs in the hopes that finally, finally, they will be big enough, they will be good enough. They have tried to delay the inevitable––that all things end. Mistakes have been made, evils have been committed. “This place is not a place of honor. No highly-esteemed deeds are commemorated here.” The world is big. Kingdoms are small. You are smaller. Still, you move on. Someone needs to put this coughing, dying part of the world to rest. You will get no lore tablets in your name, no statues to commemorate your deed. Yet you cannot find it in you to be affected. Somewhere, Hornet wakes up and finds herself no longer tied to protect a monstrous ghost of a kingdom, her future now her own. Somewhere, you put your siblings to rest, their lost souls and empty eyes now at peace. Somehow, that is more important, more eternal, than any city or any god. It will follow you even after you are gone. There is strength in being small. There is strength in not knowing where you come from, or where you will go next, but going anyway. There is strength in achieving great things, not because of recognition or greatness or immortality that could brush the stars, but because that is the story you want to live through. That is the footprint you want to make, even if it fades away with time. You enter a large world with a nail on your back, looking for the means to an end, and you leave with less. Perhaps there is wisdom in that.  (and can you believe that this is an indie game, made by like, idk 3 people?? And it’s 15 dollars for a game you can spend 48 hours or more in total on. Absolutely insane sksksksks i love this game)

[dorky-arsene]

Day 6 - Demon

@shuakeweek​

Much like my Day 3 entry, this one’s going to be a fic as well, using the “Demon” half of the prompt. This one’s also gonna have an art attached to it, since I kinda went all out. -shrugs-

Like the last fic, this one’s probably best suited for a teen-rating. It also has slightly more cursing and like the last fic has some mild spoils for Persona 5.

(as for the art, do NOT repost it)

Goro frowned at his notes as he set up the cheap candles he’d picked up half an hour ago, trying his damnedest to make sure none of the candles ended up dumping wax on his cheap carpet. After all, it’d be a bitch to clean off the wax, and the company I’m renting this apartment from will probably want to take my damn soul if I so much as spilled a single drop of wax..

The stressed high-schooler sighed, brushed hair out of his face for the 20th time, and looked over his notes again. So.. here it says I need a sprig of mistletoe.. How inconvenient, I’ve got none, he thought to himself, mentally slapping himself. Goddamn it. Why did I forget to get that.. ugh... It’s literally key to his mythological lore, and yet my tired ass forgot it!

Guess I’ll have to use something else as a replacement, Goro thought to himself, having to brush yet more of his too-long hair out of his face again as he shook his head in self-disapproval. The best thing Goro could think of on a whim was, oddly, coffee beans, which were sitting innocently in his kitchen on the counter.

“...Can’t believe I’m using fucking coffee to commune with a supposed trickster god,” Goro groaned aloud, narrowing his eyes at the cheap bag of coffee beans before shaking his head again and getting off his knees to go get it. “This had better work properly or I swear I’m going to chew Mifune-san out for even suggesting this.. Uuuugh... I spent real money for this..”

He swiped the coffee beans off the counter, then a culinary torch he normally only used for attempting crepes, turning off the lights in his tiny kitchen after that. It left only the light coming out of the glass doors leading to the tiny, crappy balcony of his apartment, which wasn’t a lot of light to go off of considering it was April and sundown had already passed. Somehow, though, by a miracle Goro could see just well enough to tell where the candles were.

He had a mat to deposit the chalk dust and coffee beans safely without fucking up the carpet, and now all he had to do was light the 6 crappy candles and deposit everything. The candles went first, bathing the little cleared-out living room area in orange-golden light as more and more of them got lit up. Then he deposited the chalk dust, in a little plastic bag with a corner cut off, forming a circle with vaguely wing-like marks.

In it, he wrote down the characters he thought was supposed to spell out Loki’s name, also in the chalk dust. It seemed a little longer than it was supposed to, but.. Goro was admittedly too tired to try and look up the damn proper words at the moment. He wanted it over with.

The last part was, of course, putting down the coffee beans and injuring himself just enough to deposit blood. That, and according to his notes, he had to make some stupid vow-thing..

“Here we fucking go,” Goro said to himself, scooping up some of the smelly beans and dropping them in the middle, carefully so he didn’t undo the circle and mess up the spell. After brushing more light brown hair out of his face, Goro grabbed a sewing needle off the ground he’d placed earlier, jamming it into his palm with an angry hiss and holding it above the coffee bean offering. He didn’t want to watch this part, so he squeezed his eyes shut, reciting the lines he’d practiced at least what had to be a hundred times over the past week and a half.

God, did Goro’s stomach feel pretty stormy right now..

“I.. I am thou, thou a-art I..” Goro stuttered, feeling his blood dripping off his hand uncomfortably. “F-from the sea of my soul.. I summon you.. I.. I bear the strength of my soul..”

...Crap, what was the rest..?! Damn it, Goro, you’re flubbing it..! he thought briefly, before the rest clicked into place. The needle in his palm got loose, and he hesitantly let go of it, practically hearing it drop against the likely soaked coffee beans.

“U-uh..” he tried again, eventually getting the courage again to speak. “I bear the strength of my soul.. to ascertain all on my own. N-now come to me, Loki!”

Still with his eyes closed, Goro felt the atmosphere of the room change somehow, and what little light he saw seemed to change to a blue-ish color. Goro sensed a foreign warmth a bit where he’d set up his mat, and so he backed away, feeling himself shake as he fumbled for the black towel he’d gotten specifically for the communication attempt. Besides that, he’d used his main hand, his left hand, to do this, so it stung like a bitch the whole time as he awaited whatever result.

...Still, curiosity and a hint of fear struck the tired highschooler’s heart, so he opened one eye to take a peek. The coffee beans and blood had entirely disappeared, and the circle’s color was no longer boring cheap stone white, rather becoming a strangely attractive shade of red and glowing. The candles’ flames actually turned a stark blue, burning in both light and dark shades of it, and most noise had disappeared from the environment, save for Goro’s frightened breathing and the flare of the candles.

...Then, a rush of wind knocked Goro to his bottom, and just like that, a quasi-humanoid being appeared above him. Black feathers fluttered around Goro and on him and his floor, their source being half-feathered wings attached to the humanoid. He found himself gazing into the face of the being, with his eyes seeming to have golden-colored outsides and red irises, and the demon had a sharp, cunning smirk to go with the already distracting eyes.

Besides that, the demon appeared to have black, red-tipped hair that half-hid nubby horns, a dual set of two, one set gold and the other silver, and as for clothes, he seemed to have an armored vest of sorts with a bright red ribbon hung loosely over. He also wore semi-armored gloves, and thin pants with leg armor, with no shoes to speak of. It was a contrast, certainly, to Goro’s simple thrift store nightgown and pants, both of which were more of a mild stormy but light grey and nothing else, save for whatever chalk, wax and blood he’d gotten on himself in the past 10 minutes.

The dark-haired demon chuckled softly, his voice apparently no older than someone Goro’s age.. which felt really weird. Perhaps weirdly attractive, if Goro were being honest to his closeted heart.

“Oh my.. I seem to be a little off-course,” the teenaged demon spoke, floating in midair as if he’d done so his whole life. “It’s not a whole loss, I suppose.. What a cute summoner~.”

Goro felt his cheeks flush at the compliment (or flirt), and he tried to glare at the demon. “Uh, off-course? I’m pretty sure this was intentional on my end. Does the name “Loki” sound a bell?”

Quizzically, the demon’s thick eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head, his smirk fading into a thin line.

“Loki..? What’re you on about? I’m called Satanael, and I’m as far from a Norse god as can be. A trickster, when I feel like it, but I’m more of a rebel than anything,” the demon introduced, stretching out his arms and smiling. “I can see you wrote my name instead of the intended one.. That’s probably contributing to me being off-course and all.”

Goro looked where Satanael had pointed out, and upon re-reading the kanji the summoning circle currently produced.. It struck Goro that it was, indeed, the wrong goddamn name.

“Fuck my life,” the brunette responded, facepalming. “Now I’m stuck with you, I guess.. First I forget the damned mistletoe and now it turns out I wrote the most incorrect thing of INCORRECT THINGS--”

Satanael seemed to be sweating nervously upon hearing Goro berate himself, and he gently placed a hand on the tired teen’s shoulder.

“Hey, hey, don’t get all worked up. I can already feel your soul wearing itself out faster. Panic only nets you passing out, human. I mean, I’m sure you’d be as cute as a sleeping cat when passed out, but--”

“Off!” Goro yelped, swatting at the demon with his towel. “Get off me, will you?! Can’t I panic in peace around here..?”

“..The circle’s still in effect, so not for a while,” Satanael pointed out, in the most awkward way in the world by using two of his six massive wings that kept poking the curtains of Goro’s sliding glass door. “You wanted assistance, right? You got the rest of the incantation down properly, so you must want help in something, right..?”

“...” Goro sat up properly for once, and he wrapped his hand around his towel, trying to ignore the pound of feathers Satanael shed all over his stupid living room like some cat with too much fur. He needed a second, and it seemed the demon got the memo, magically scooping up his shed feathers and dumping them as the brown-haired novice of a summoner tried to cobble his internal brain back together from the panic disaster mess it was.

Ugh.. Dammit, this is what I get for trying to summon demons by myself, Goro complained internally, nursing his aching hand and watching Satanael trying to clean up his feathers successfully. He’d gotten most of them by the time the stressed teen got back to breathing as if he wasn’t biking at 60 miles an hour, and another self-deprecating thought passed his mind before he’d next opened his mouth. Maybe I should have asked Kitagawa-san to help me out.. He studies stuff like this on his off time for his artwork, so I probably could have gotten the right fucking god instead of a random-ass demon..

“..Hey, Satanael-san? Where were you supposed to be going, anyway?”

With a bundle of feathers in his arms, Satanael turned his head. “Oh, you mean being off-course. Uh, kick the circle, will you? I don’t mind being in the human realm for a bit while we reorganize, yeah? And thanks for the coffee beans. I appreciate the gift, human.”

Goro kicked the circle with his bare foot despite his lingering confusion, and the candles promptly turned back to their usual color, the chalk having gone back to normal. Well, now the coffee beans, blood and needle were gone, but everything else was still right where it was, save for the streak of chalk from Goro’s bare foot.

“Anyways,” the demon continued, “I was off to confront some asshole human who just so happens to be a reincarnation of one of the main “Sin” groups your sort likes to put my kind into. Ah, he doesn’t go by Samael anymore, but that’s the name I knew him by before he decided to up and betray me.”

“..Betray?” Goro questioned. “So why come all the way up here for one measly human anyway?”

“Hrm. Correct yourself to say “falsely powerful” human, friend. That nasty son of a bitch decided to try and give himself a foothold in Japanese politics with so many violations of the point of my movement that I want to punch him back home,” Satanael hissed, the cores of his eyes flashing gold as he dumped the feathers onto Goro’s kitchen counter. “..Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think you summoning me was a mere accident. You feel a bit like he does.. Only a little.”

“...Huh??” It didn’t quite click to Goro, what Satanael meant, despite something telling Goro a certain bald-headed bastard might’ve been involved.

Satanael gestured to the circle, which still had his name’s characters in it. “I’m not so sure it was coincidence you wrote the name of a particularly rebellious demon, now, is it? I am the very representation of rebelling against authority, at least for some.

I’ve got a few names under my belt, because of it. Some call me “Satan”, since I’ve already rebelled once and gotten kicked out. Others like to call me “Lucifer” or “Helel”, too. But Satanael’s the preferred one. Get my drift?”

“..Wait, go back,” Goro said, standing up off the ground, while still holding onto his towel in his left hand. “A.. A rebel demon? ..W-well, I.. I wanted to rebel against my biological father.. He keeps trying to make me do his dirty work and I have a hell of a time trying to get him off my damn back.”

The teen huffed, and Satanael folded his wings, blowing out Goro’s candles and essentially helping pick up the mess all over the living room floor as the mortal of the pair turned on the kitchen lights again.

Goro opened his fridge to check for food, but was only met with a supply of apples and water bottles, and old leftovers he didn’t feel like trusting to the half-broken microwave he had to get off some sketchy online shop.

“..Uh, just out of curiosity, Satanael, do you eat?”

Kneeling in the middle of the floor with the mat, the demon lord just shrugged. “If coffee comes with it, I have no problem with what you have. I’d prefer you eat something, though. It’d be unbecoming of you to faint in the midst of teenage rebellion-ing your father.”

“Touche,” Goro responded blandly, pulling out the leftovers and a few apples. He also took out a water bottle and his coffee machine, the one other machine besides his alarm clock and his P.A.D. that worked without being too shitty, and he filled up the coffee machine’s water tank. “Oh, also.. I feel like I was rude earlier to you, so I apologize for that. My name is Goro Akechi, by the way. I’d forgotten, almost, to tell you that.”

“..Goro.. I like it,” Satanael chuckled, closing his eyes and smiling cheerfully as he placed Goro’s sewing needle back on the kitchen counter, bloodless. “I.. I suppose a more personable name I normally use while hiding among your kind is Akira. Akira Kurusu.”

“If I may.. have you been in Japan for a long time, before?” Goro asked, quietly, while he looked in the demon lord’s direction. The newly-dubbed Akira simply nodded, but in a wistful way, as his smile shrunk slightly to match.

“I’ve been here once before. Not, well, in your current capital.. but in the country. A little place called Inaba. I once happened to meet Izanami there, right when this other nasty human decided to invoke her power and try to cover the damn place in poisonous Yomi fog, all while I’d been in my human disguise. Let’s just say some humans close to your age a few years back had to put her in her place by summoning her very, very angry former husband.. I didn’t get involved much beyond observation for obvious reasons, really.”

“...” The much too tired teenager didn’t grace the little story with a response, finding it too tiring to follow beyond a basic repeat of legends he’d known since middle school. Well, besides the “Yomi fog” and the familiarity of what Akira may have been talking about.

...Oh, right.. Maybe Akira-san’s speaking about the Inaba fog murders. God, that was a disaster for their police force.. I ended up studying that for my current crappy job..

Reluctantly, Goro tossed the leftover food from the previous night onto a pair of plates, just a split-up beef bowl with noodles, and one plate went into the sketchy microwave, leaving the prep of the coffee. Another quick check of the kitchen yielded sugar and little creamer cups he’d snuck out of the office at work, and Goro turned around again to the demon lord, who had surprisingly ditched the demon form in favor of a mild, unassuming human look, complete with removed shoes already put near the apartment entrance and glasses.

“..A-ah.. Is that what it looks like?” the highschooler asked, instead of what he’d intended to ask. “It’s.. it’s a bit different, to say the least..”

Not to mention, Goro thought privately to himself, the unassuming-ness of this look feels.. cute, almost? The glasses are so nerdy, though.. The hair, though.. it helps balance that nerdiness out.. And he’s pretty tall, even as a normal human..

Akira just smiled slightly at Goro from his spot on the couch, twirling a bit of his now horn-free hair. “Well.. Sometimes, my kind has to regenerate a little at times. Sort of like those “Time Masters” from “Doctor Whom”, or whatever that human show is.

Except I just have roughly the same face, hair and voice every time. I’m halfway through at the moment, so in human terms, I am currently, in both mind and body, 16 years old... again. Does it make you feel more comfortable for me to look like this? You don’t seem too unhappy about it-”

Goro felt his cheeks heat up, and he just tried to not think about how alluring Akira’s new grey eyes looked, instead interrupting Akira in his tracks and turning his tomato-red face away again. “J-just tell me your coffee preference, please.”

“Just a touch of sugar and no creamer,” Akira reported, and the other teen could practically feel the disguised demon lord’s wink being sent in his direction as he grounded up the coffee beans in a bowl with the butt of a nearby hammer.

Dammit.. This’ll be a long however-long-he’ll-be-here, won’t it.. he thought with a frown, silently regretting ever going through with his little demon-summoning plan to ruin Shido’s day. Jeez, and on top of me getting the wrong otherworldly being, I end up with one that’s attractive!! I wish so badly to scream, Goro further thought, feeling his cheeks go on fire as he dumped the ground coffee into its filter, practically slamming the door on the filter hole shut just to snap himself out of it.

Evidently, he now had the craving to just go sit and talk with Akira for awhile instead. Goro was grateful for the stinging pain of his left hand when he grabbed the sugar bowl, grateful for a distraction from his mind’s silly, likely insomnia-caused thoughts. 

Goro shook his head at himself again, sighing as the microwave beeped to indicate the leftovers somehow didn’t get burnt.

I guess I really am wanting to date a demon lord.. Practically inevitable since he’s taken up flirting with me.. I guess this’ll just. Happen. Why not.

---

END