#that ruin immersion. i dunno

[cloud-somersault]

it's 2AM and everyone's asleep - can i talk about how cool the whole "each time a celestial primate is born an anomaly happens" thing is??

because since it's so ambiguous in JTTW, it's fun to just play around with that, like other media has in the interpretations in the other 3 like.

i just think it's COOL because Wukong's eyes pierced the sky and alerted Heaven -- what other cool things could happen? and Macaque's was so.

Originally, it was going to be "And when you were born, the entire moon went dark." but that couldn't happen for a variety of reasons. The anomalies have to affect something, but it can't be lasting. It has to be something that gets the attention of the divine in a way that they immediately know "hey, something's going on."

and with MK's, it's sooo MUCH, that it drew the attention of everyone! Because, comparatively we have 1) a bright golden light, 2) a shadow falling over the moon, 3) all the stars flashing brighter for a few seconds, 4) an earthquake that shakes all the realms PLUS golden flowers blooming on the trees.

the fact that there's TWO parts is super important. I wanted that to be a showing of MK's power but also to show his nature as the celestial primate of balance. Because the trees bloomed gold in every realm to highlight his influence and duty, but the earthquake speaks to how powerful he is, how that power has to be carefully maintained or it could spiral out of control.

because I kind of just thought about the nature of the anomalies, too. Wukong's being that bright light and it piercing Heaven just makes me think of his title about being equal to Heaven, how he wanted to be recognized and respected and treated as a divine. that craving for attention.

Macaque's is subtle, a "blink and you miss it" type anomaly because it happened so fast, but it's noticeable in a way like "wait, what was that? the moonlight faded for a second" it's sneaky, it's not outright asking for attention...it's making itself known, but keeping to the night, stalking the shadows. and obvs. the moon itself being linked to the tides, Macaque being born from seafoam. It's neat!! just the symbolism that's associated with water -- wisdom, patience, restoration, guidance. it suits him so well.

Can't talk about the third one for Little Star too much, but the stars FLASHING brighter for a few seconds? all that burning gas just... getting HOTTER and more intense, lighting up the night sky??? attention grabbing for sure, but also intense. exciting, captivating, thinking, perhaps, that something wonderful is about to happen, but then it fades...

it's fun to think about it link them to their characters.

[downthedraincomic]

Splatoon worldbuilding doesn't really piss me off as much as it should tbh. It doesn't really bother me that a lot of stuff is underexplained, and even in my writing I don't really care about going into that much detail about that kinda stuff.

For example, things like this: How does ink go from the tank into the weapon? Is there a tube? Telekinesis?? Huh?? Where tf do the weapons go when they're in squid form?? I don't fuckin know!!

But y'know what, things like that being unexplained doesn't ruin the immersion or break my suspension of disbelief. It's a cartoon world after all. That being said, I still rewrite and change shit and ignore canon so it fits what works for me or whatever works best for what I'm writing.

I dunno man, I'm just rambling, rewriting video game shit to work in a real(ish) world setting is haaard

[nerves-nebula]

Dunno if this is controversial but the idea of “tonal whiplash” ruining things is the worst storytelling criticism idea since the monomyth. If you can’t get invested in a story or characters because of some jokes in a serious setting, or because things go from one emotional vibe to another quickly, then you don’t deserve any stories ever and I’m killing you with hammers right now. “It breaks my immersion” you have a babies brain. You are enjoying fiction but you can’t enjoy it if you’re reminded that it’s not real and someone lovingly crafted it for you? DIE.

Worst of all this discourages people from having fun with their stories in a way I absolutely adore. Your criticism is bad and you are depriving me of my tasty tasty stories HOW DARE YOU

[tactician]

datv spoilers abt how they handled one of the older games' companions under the cut

(also it's negative if you'd rather avoid that sort of thing)

man im not a datv hater by any means, in fact i Love It and i want to write up my general #thoughts about it sometime - both the positive and the negative, yay nuance - but i rly do need to take a moment to rant about how it lowkey did zevran so dirty and that's one aspect of it that i will never forgive!!!

LIKEEEE OK YES. i'll admit that im being dramatic / sensitive bc i love zev so fucking much and i have been steeled by years upon years of listening to the fandom treat one of my fav dragon age characters (literally the reason why i got into dragon age) like some kind of joke but. that experience is a lot different from seeing bioware do it. ik there's some cute shallow references to him sprinkled here-and-there (iirc 'the invitation' gearset is a reference to him which is pretty nice), but there's ALSO a banter that lucanis has w harding which implies that members of house arainai 'died from embarrassment' over a failed assassination contract in ferelden, which is obviously a reference to zevran - and ohhhh when i tell you it grinded my gears.... it really, really got to me...

i definitely understand wanting to keep immersion intact for people who killed off zevran in origins as well as people who got him through it and let him go off and hunt down crows - so making a reference to the actual contract and keeping the fallout of that contract vague makes sense. but being coy about it (a la harding assuming that leaders of house arainai literally just died from The Cringe Of It All and weren't, like, systematically hunted down by a former crow / survivor who went thru years of literal torture from them) is really like... i dunno! i don't like it! it left a bad taste in my mouth + seeing tons of people giggling over it ANNOYS MEEEE!!!! it legit ruins my own immersion bc wdym the crows have no opinion whatsoever on a character who was slaughtering them left and right in my worldstate lkfdgldkfh

and like even if you view it as a clumsy euphemism for zev hunting the leaders down later on, i still rly firmly maintain that it's a poor one. if he survives post-origins, zevran becomes a total thorn in the crows' side. he killed off influential leaders within the org... he even got a title for it (THE BLACK SHADOW. YES I REMEMBER)... and bioware is reducing that legacy to a joke about people dying from embarrassment -_- like please be serious.

furthermore i don't think it's immersion breaking to just... replace those lines with a sentence or two referencing an assassin within house arainai who defected and started taking down talons given how abhorrent house arainai was/is(?), either. a vague foreboding reference would literally do the job just fine. house arainai was not the fandom's ~*~Found Family Vibes~*~ lmao they were taking in child slaves and grooming them into ruthless assassins - but that lore is totally ignored in veilguard, too!!! even with all the fledglings around the crows' base in veilguard... it's just not elaborated on in a way that aligns with previously established lore.

DON'T GET ME WRONG THOUGH. i'm absolutely not part of the section of the fandom who hate on the crows being a "good-aligned" faction that rook can ally with, because obviously all of the houses aren't house arainai - some are scummier than others and some do, in fact, have the ~*~Found Family Vibes~*~. it just sucks so much that datv provides banter and dialogue setups where the #lore is like... talked about and explained to some degree... but those lines are wasted on empty shit like "the crows hire recruits from the military or the trades! :)" or weird trope-based jokes at the expense of previous companions rather than even vaguely implying that different houses do different things, and that some houses are shitty to a truly reprehensible level.

tl;dr imo if bioware doesn't want previous choices to matter or for stuff to be hyper-tailored to specific worldstate choices, that's cool and fine and deeply understandable, but characters should just be quiet about those choices ;LKGFHL;KFDG BUT HEY!!!!! if i missed a banter where zevran IS referenced in a manner which isn't a joke or linked to his sex appeal, i would rly love to hear about it... because as this sudden unplanned Essay that i spawned proves, im Quite salty about this L;FDGKGFHKLGHF

[knownangels]

making out in the rain (october prompt)

Maran laughs.

Beside him on the couch, Benny’s chin tilts in curiosity. His fist is still tucked underneath, a leg drawn up to balance himself; the movie has engrossed him. Rare. Maran has noticed he’s picky about movies. Their story, sure, and how immersed he feels about it. But Maran’s also never heard a guy rant the way he does about shoddy acting.

He hasn’t ranted for the last fifteen minutes, at least. Ben’s a quiet movie watched, to Maran’s complete opposite preferred viewing experience. Still, he lets Maran add commentary here and there. Crack jokes. Doesn’t get mad, doesn’t sigh all passive-aggressive, tell him he’s ruining it.

Benny talks now, though. He leans over, tilted a bit to catch Maran’s eye.

“This is very serious, Maran.” He wiggles a tattooed knuckles at the television. “Why are y-you laughin’? Something funny about a good climax?”

On screen, the protagonist-slash-final girl (boy, really) is locked in a rainy embrace with a side character. The two clutch each other, kissing and crying in what is likely the adrenaline-comedown of relief. Rain washing off the blood they’ve accumulated throughout the, frankly, gorefest of a film.

Now, Maran knows it’s all fake. Rubber prosthetics and clay modeled faces, buckets of dyed corn syrup with styrofoam chunks. But he’s still glad to watch it all away. It’s just…it’s just the other part of the scene that’s making his stomach do weird things. The nausea of a horror watch lingering, he supposes.

“I mean, no.” Maran laughs again, awkward now. He gestures at the scene, cheeks hot for some reason. “Just…feels a bit much?”

Benny quirks an eyebrow. He’s got that nasty, mean sneer on his face. Which usually means Maran is about to get roasted over the fire and have to scramble to keep up with the witty teasing.

“You a homophobe, Maran? Is that your issue? The gay agenda in your g-good Christian horror?”

Maran’s he nearly unhinges.

“That’s not—“ He starts.

Benny’s grin widens.

“I’m not even—“ He tries again, desperate. He goes to his knees on the couch. “You’re not serious.”

Benny only stares at him. Challenging.

“You’re being— that wasn’t what I—!”

He trails off because Benny hoots, slaps his knee. The sting sticks even through his jeans, and Maran rubs the spot. His stomach hurts.

“Jesus. Your f-face.” Benny pulls an impression of him then, and Maran has to admit it’s pretty spot-on. His cheeks feel so bloody hot.

“I. Am. Not.” Maran asserts. He drops back to his spot, arms crossed petulantly. “I was gonna say it felt rushed. And that kiss scenes are always - y’know. Weird.”

Benny scoots closer, arm flung around the back of the couch.

“Ooh. Unpack that.”

He suddenly doesn’t want to. He suddenly would rather be at the edge of a cliff. “No.”

“Come on. Can’t drop media critique circa Hayes Code and then not back it up?”

Maran frowns, brows furrowing. He’s got no idea what computer science or coding has to do with horror cinema, but he makes note of that to ask Nomi about it later. She’ll know.

“I mean. I dunno. It’s always a bit uncomfortable, yeah?” His hands twist awkwardly in his hoodie pocket. The credits on screen begin to roll, punctuated with a bass-heavy rock anthem from the opening scene. Benji would like it, probably. He’d be an arse about the drumming, but he’d like it.

“What is?” Benny leers, leaning into his space more. “Watching, or—?”

Watching, or?

Maran feels the heat in his face with a palm, laughing once more. “Sure. But, like, you know it’s actors, yeah? That’s like…you’re suckin’ face with a coworker, practically? How d’you reckon you water cooler that convo later?”

“With fat pockets. They get paid fuckin’ bank to pretend.” Benny sits back. “I’m sure they’re very professional.”

“Or nude scenes.”

His attention is back on Maran, and so is that nasty grin. “I’m sorry? Nude scenes?”

“Fuck off.” Maran pouts. He shoves Benny’s poking finger away from his arm.

“Nude scenes! You can say sex, Maran. It’s not a dirty word.”

But it is, isn’t it? That’s why it makes Maran feel warm to say, to think, no less watch on screen. Especially with friends around? In a theater, in public? It’s just too intimate to playact. He sort of wishes everything just faded to black, and the characters got their privacy.

“I know.” He huffs. He squirms down into the mass of blankets they’ve accumulated, hiding his burning cheeks in the top of his hoodie. “Put the next one on, already.”

“You didn’t rate that one.”

He considers it for a moment. “Seven.”

Benny hums thoughtfully. “Hm. Would have given it an eight if y-you weren’t a homophobe.”

Maran lurches across the couch and grabs at his shirt, shaking him and growling playfully until they fall to the ground with a bang! that draws the downstairs neighbor’s typical pounding. They watch two more movies, but by the middle of the second, Benny’s heavy body is slumped into him. His arm still wraps behind the couch, and because there’s no threat of someone walking in, Maran wiggles closer.

Even though the last film wasn’t too bad on the gore, his stomach still feels strange. Tight, nearly sore like after a workout. Warm like his face.

“Must have been the nachoes.” He says under his breath, trying to lean for the remote without waking Benny.

[resident-gay-bitch]

My prongsfoot hc is actually really simple. They were each others first kiss, for practicing of course. But with the time they realize it's more than just platonic or brotherly love. James realizes first, bc he grew up in a loving household and when he is in love he is the all or nothing type of guy. Sirius on the other hand never really knew true love until he found it with James first. He's already overwhelmed by being loved as he is platonically. So he takes more time to figure out that this love literally could reach another level. I don't really know how they realize and how they confess, but what I know is, that nothing really changes. From all characters of the fandom Sirius and James are the ones with true soulmate potential. I could imagine that when one realizes and he confesses it's like 'fuck, I don't know what to do, we can talk about everything, but I can't talk about this, bc it's about you and it's killing me bc I don't know how to act around you anymore' but when it's reciprocated it just happens like it never was different.

I dunno this might be really lame and average thought but I love them so much.

And it's not that they are the one and only ship for me. I'm as well into wolfstar or Jegulus. U know ship them all idc. But they are really special and true to me. And normal! For me they are just normal u know? Like what I love about the thought of prongsfoot in a romantic way or when I read fics about them is that when they finally figure out they're more to each other than friends or chosen family, they act so natural. Like nothing about kissing each other the first time or whatever is strange to them. It's new, yes. And of course they are hell of excited, bc when you're in love you can't stop your body from reacting to those feelings. But it just feels right. And once they took the first step they just fall with it. When they make their first experiences they can laugh bc they don't really know what to do and they can say it out loud without hesitation and it doesn't ruin the mood bc they're still James and Sirius. And I love the thought that these two blokes have the most healthy relationship ever. They know each other better than they know themselves, they observe each other, they accept each others flaws like 'I know you are like that sometimes and you have issues with this or that but I've got you. Take your time and I'm here.' and they would also be like 'I already know that but thank you for telling me that I'm an assohle sometimes. I will work on that and you already made a better person of me.' when they struggle with anything, like each others bad habits they would do anything to make it work out bc neither of them could ever imagine being without each other.

THIS!!! EXACTLY THIS!!! I AGREE WITH YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOSH!!!

yess it’s just like nothing even changes. I think I responded to my last ask with a head cannon so much like this that I love. Like it just kinda flows, there’s no awkwardness or big changes they need to adjust too. It’s not even weird for the people around them because they’re still exactly the same they just get to kiss now!

They’re so special to me too. I love them so much. Like I love wolfstar and Jily and jeggy and like so many other ships too, I’m big on rarepares and that as well, but prongsfoot is so deer to me (see what I did there?!). I love them so much, and it’s probably the demisexual in me but FUCK I ADORE THEM IN EVERY ASPECT!

It is not really lame and average, thank you so much for sharing anon because I completely agree. I love that we share that headcannon! <3

The only difference for me is that I think sirius recognises his feelings first. As you said, James was raised with love and is very deeply immersed in all that good crap that it just doesn’t even occur to him really. He just knows he loves sirius as a super close best friend and doesn’t put any more thought into that. He’d do anything for sirius, but his parents taught him that you feel similar ways for anyone you love so why would it be different? He just remains oblivious for a while.

But Sirius? It drives him crazy. He notices immediately because what the fuck how is he in love with his best friend and also a boy?! The thought has him so anxious but whenever James is near he just looses all anxieties and melts into him. James doesn’t take long to figure it out, I imagine Peter or Remus or someone would make a teasing remark about his crush on Sirius or something and he’d be like OH!!!

I do love how you perceive it though, and it definitely makes so much sense. Them in anyway makes so much sense to me :)

[wildtornado-o]

Feeling angry abt aini and cant sleep heres a rant lol, want to get my thoughts out

Still not over how unecessary aini was. The first game ended in such a lovely way for all (well most, sorry Pewter) of the characters, and while i do have some issues with it (The lack of Mizuki's importance in the true route) I do understand why some of the things weren't done. However, aini kind of trampled over a lot of the worldbuilding from the first game and destroyed so many of the themes as well. It ruined character development and comepletely threw out important relationships and destroyed the ones that did matter. It added things that dont make sense when you look at the first game, everything with Mizuki, everything with Boss, a lot of stuff with ryuki, bibis whole existence, Kizunas whole existence, Amames age retcon and then proceeding to put her into a creepy relationship, making Gen and Lien exist and acting like theyve been Date's chums for a while when he really WOULDNT be friends with them when comparing them to the likes of Ota, who he didnt like very much until he got his arc played out. A lot of the lore with the psync machine was also just weird. I know it wasn't ever confirmed in the first game that Date was the only one with an AI-Ball but with how he and Aiba were treated and the fact that people can psync without them the thought that other people might have them never occurred to me because it doesnt really um. Make sense isnt the right term here but, it doesnt "make sense" that they would just rip out employees eyes and replace them (even if abis is morally questionable) Cloning and gene experiments for imortality also comes out of nowhere because they wanted to make THAT plot twist and then the FRAYER STUFF? I HATE The frayer stuff omgg it makes me so mad i want to rip someone to shreds, and the tokiko stuff too like. I dunno I very much dislike when media takes the "meta" route and says the whole thing is a game, it breaks the immersion of the world completely for me. I also hated the timeline jumps. And the whole spoiler toggle, why make a sequel if youre going to have that its just pointless and harms the game. ANYWAYS This whole post to say I do not want a third game, it would very likely connect to the other 2 which would suck because it would be building off a shitty sequel. And even if it WASNT connected to the other games i would kind of be even less interested because like. Idk. Aitsf is a very character driven story in the first game at least, everything is tied to Date and characters and development, it would really suck for a third game to just, switch the cast (that was already butchered mind you) So truly, i do not want a third game I can only see myself hating it. HOWEVER. A datomi dlc......

[teefa85]

So, my thoughts about the Octopath II demo now that I’ve played it.  Note I’ve only played with Ochette and Castti, since I wanted to really complete exploration and stuff in the area rather than push to start a third character.

Cut for length and minor spoilers...

Can we just all gush about how the fact that not only did Yasunori Nishiki continue to write character pre-boss themes that seamlessly blend into the boss fights, but he made it so if you change Day to Night the theme seamlessly changes for that, too?  It helps with immersion since the music shifts aren’t so jarring between these moments.

Atmosphere is one of the things I love about the original Octopath Traveler.  HD 2D is such a wonderful style, allowing for the beauty of pixel graphics I loved in my childhood games but with modern touches to give it more depth.  Just the details in its environments...lush jungles, crumbling ruins, sandy beaches, haunting caves.  And while I only experienced two of the eight characters’ prologues, I have seen people’s videos and the official trailers to know there are more great environments to come (Thronè’s slums look fittingly dark and dreary, while I adore the snowy winds Osvald’s introductory area shows).

The battles are definitely even better than before.  Having Latent Powers linked to Breaking and taking damage (two things that’ll happen easily) is amazing.  Special attacks like Ochette or Hikari (from what I’ve seen).  Agnea and Osvald’s look to be based on the Divine Skills of their OG Counterparts, both very useful (I mean Sealticge’s Sedation saved my ASS in Ophilia’s final boss).  And while Castti’s use of Concoct ingredients without using them up seems like little, it’s definitely a good time to pull out some big attack or to get the party back on their feet.  So a variety of different things with great effects.

Adding to this, some skills are different between games, though that is easy to see if you noticed two of the Latent Powers are based on Divine Skills.  Ochette doesn’t have Rain of Arrows or Arrow Storm.  I didn’t see Last Stand in Castti’s skillset.  I mean, the locked skills might be missing things from the first, but still, it lets the jobs you know and love play slightly differently while keeping their themes.  I’ve also already seen a video on getting an inventor based class that can be accessed from Thronè’s starting area, so there will be new ways to play as well.

Do enjoy some of the QoL changes to the jobs I’ve played with.  Like having Castti’s ingredients each have an affect but you use two at a time (I healed both HP and SP while fighting her boss, for example).  Or Ochette having a chance to autocatch a defeated monster and turn captured ones into food (that can be used with her Befriend Path Action at night, Trade with her town since they don’t use money, and possibly other things down the line such as Quests...but we don’t know that for sure).

Additional Path Actions...nuff said!  More ways to knock out rent-a-guards to get to loot or blocked areas.  Another method of getting extra NPCs in the party.  More ways to filch items, something I did A LOT of if anyone remembers my Octopath liveblogs from 2018.  Even when you change up party comp to do other chapters, or level people up for said other chapters, you have more options at your disposal.

From what I’ve also seen, some characters in their intro areas have NPCs in the party that they can control.  Nice!  There were definitely moments in the original I wished characters could have come with me and helped but the plot wouldn’t let me take them even if they were helping (like Earhardt in Olberic’s final chapter).  Dunno if NPCs joining and helping for a chapter will continue on later, but it does give some depth to the early chapter of some characters before they set out on their own.  Of course, neither Ochette or Castti had a companion as I spent all my meat on new armor so I couldn’t Befriend outside of the scared kid and Malaya was busy treating the town...

[scrunglepaws]

Is that SAILS doing the Captain Morgan??? Because PIRATE? (Yes). :D Anyway, if you want to hear me ramble about character design-

So! Sails! He's a pirate, so going with an ocean theme was pretty standard, but my little goober also has a romance theme! Because: he played a lute that one time -> he loves music -> I was like dang that makes me think of this lute-sounding song (idk if it's even a lute; I'm musically inept) and it's called the Romantic Sea of Tranquility -> I guess he's a sappy romantic now.

Fun fact: He's also a shipper, which is a completely unintentional joke. fgfdgdf

ANYWAY, he's got the lil wave marks in his ears and on his tails. The ones in his ears double as a heart to hit both themes at once, heck yeah! I was originally drawing the waves on his tails like giant, curvy ones but it was really hard to draw consistently and looked weird at certain angles. Then I had the Big Brain thought to do the generic, little waves. At the time, I hadn't drawn Kit as much and didn't realize this was also in his design. xD However! I FINALLY memorized which direction Kit's waves go in, and they're actually the opposite of Sails'. So I'll finally draw their tail swooshes consistently from now on. Hooray!

I considered changing Sails' tails to more gay little hearts (can never have enough gay little hearts!!! :3). But it looked too prim and neat, so I threw that idea out (this bitch scrungly). I did, however, add some more hearts to his ears- on the back! A broken heart and a happy heart, for his past and future. Hopefully Kit doesn't die so he doesn't have to get his other ear ripped off... >_>; But yeah, Sails has darker colored ears now. Which contradicts something from the first chapter of Aquarius, but you know what? Oh well. I don't think it will break the reader's immersion to have a tiny detail changed, so I won't let it bother me either. (Can you tell I struggled with this and it bothered me a lot kfklgfdl). I'm still debating about giving him darker paws/feets, but I'm really unsure about it. On one hand, they look really cute! Because sock markings on animals are stinkin' cute! But design-wise, it would ruin how nicely his darks/lights are broken up with his current clothing design. And I don't want to change it- I really like drawing his clothes (other than the head scarf)! So yeah... Dunno on that one. Most likely won't add them, though. I will, however, be making more of an effort to remember to draw the scar under his eye. I draw it much more exaggerated than it actually is, but that's fine because it adds to the overall scrungliness and makes him look like a tired old man. Which is good, because he is supposed to look older than he actually is. Living life on the salty ocean with the sun beating on you, constant stress from fighting/ect survival hardships, poor hygiene and nutrition... Doesn't do wonders for the complexion, or so I've heard.

Anyway, back to tails! I want my main dudes (aka Kaleidoscope + Someplace Tails variants) to have distinct enough designs that you wouldn't look at them and think they were clones of each other. Just weirdly similar instead. Because, in both AUs, they're actually not different versions of Tails! They're just coincidentally freakishly similar dudes from different planets. Because I said so. So we've got Nine (smooth, noodly thin tail with a tiny white tip), Tails (average, slightly bushy tail), Mangey (long, voluminous, BUSHY, styled tail with a red-typed tip), and... Well CaveTails isn't part of the main four, but he also has a distinctly tiny, SCRUNGLY tail, so I put it there. ANYWAY, then there was Sails. I could never decide exactly how I wanted his tails to differ in volume/texture/ect. I couldn't just go with a generic scrungly/scruffy, because honestly that's all of them (other than Nine and his extra short fur)! Then I thought, well, he's a pirate. He's been in a lot of scraps- he has some scars and he's missing an ear. What if he's missing some tail? And because I want these designs to be quick and fun for me to draw, I had to convey this in a way that was pretty simple. So I just tried rounding off the tip a bit, making it look just a little flat/chopped off. Which reminded me of how I draw a certain original species of mine's tails... That look like this nonsense:

And I was like shit... That's it. I've solved Sails' tails. They're fun as SHIT to draw and they look hella scrungly, but also soft and floofy at the same time. Perfect. 10/10. Very him.

Oh, and another quick note: I was fussing with differentiating his hair from Tails' SO MUCH. I tried making it wavy, bushier, swooping a different way, giving him a ponytail, but nothing seemed right. For the most part, I couldn't draw them consistently at all angles, or they weren't scrungly enough. It never occurred to me to make it scrunglier by making his hair SHORTER. Which, I did. It's probably too subtle for anyone to notice but me, but *I* can tell, so I'm finally happy with it. xD Same with his cheek and chest floofs.

Sooo, yeah! I think he's done? Finally??? (nothing I do is ever final... >_>) All I have to do now is find a point in the story where someone freaking BURNS his head scarf or something because I hate drawing it! xD Or maybe he starts wearing it around his neck again, like when he was a wee lad. I'd be cool with that. I got used to drawing the vest at least, so it can stay.

If you read all of this... Why... But also. MY MAN!!! *high five* >833333

[tasteracha]

My writing/reading pet peeve is two things:

1. Physically writing Y/N. I dunno why I just don't like it and find it ruins the immersion

2. When people write speaking with 'blah blah blah' instead of "blah blah blah"

The extra little tics matter to me!

i see what you mean about the y/n i try and avoid it unless i really really have to but it makes me cringe sometimes eee

NOT THE SINGLE QUOTATION i hate that too like please please

[otaku-tactician]

i really like how the level 99 villainess anime jumps straight to showing the storyline and basic characters of the otome game instead of filling the first episode up with loads of exposition... i dunno for me the exposition being right at the start ruins immersion for me

[cutekittenlady]

With that skillset you're character is gonna get her ass kicked. No offense.

Oh no, that's legit what I was going for XD

One thing I do have to give Skyrims skill system credit for is that being able to train any skill you want at any time without having to have a stat threshold just to use it DOES make it easier to roleplay character development.

At the moment Rook DOES have weapons. Mainly a wooden club added by the immersive weapons mod, though recently I gave her a mace. Though I'm not sure whether to keep it? Tbh the idea of her using exclusively lightweight weapons kinda fit with her squishy scholar concept while still giving her some weapon experience.

I don't mean this in a sense of her never using a mace, but more that the metal might be too heavy this early on in her adventures in skyrim? Like, she got from Solitude to Whiterun in two days (might look at mods that make the days shorter. If only to make traveling between cities take longer? Might be a bad idea tho), and then spent several days in Whiterun saving up money to hire Jenessa as her bodyguard. Not a lot of time to build the muscle needed to weild a metal mace. If I stick to one handed weapons maybe a dagger if she has to have metal weapons but who knows.

But no, yeah, Rook is a character designed to rely on followers and companions. I gave her skills in things like smithing, enchanting, and speech specifically because I imagine back in Cyrodil she had to get mercenaries and the like on board with escorting her and her coworkers into ruins all the time and being able to offer them a free chance to have their weapons and armor tempered and maybe even enchanted would mean they'd demand less pay for the job.

This aspect of her character may change over time given how rough Skyrim is, and with her eventual discovery that she is Dragonborn, an explicitly warrior-like legendary figure. The change from just generally needing protection from bandits and wildlife and the like to being targeted by literally DRAGONS may also influence her desire to begin training more in weaponry. Though, gameplay wise, her strongest suit in combat is still going to be her Restoration and Alteration magics and later her training in one handed weapons. (I downloaded the Train and Study mod to make this process more organic).

Her relationship with her companions and hired muscle changes too. Before it was just a professional relationship. A matter of gold and an exchange of services, but traveling skyrim and collecting allies, learning their stories, and knowing that any one of them could die on any of their adventures begins to change her from someone who needed to collect bodyguards and more into a genuine leader of a mercenaries, advneturers, and heroes.

Plus the followers and stuff are kinda essential? I'm playing Legacy of the Dragonborn and in order to successfully roleplay that I'm gonna need a number of mods to adjust existing quests, and justifying serving other factions that dont quite compliment her build and character. So, like, I'll want a follower who could plausibly join up with the companions in order to justifying doing that questline, for example.

I've heard of the protentious mod that lets you play multiple characters but I dunno if that's something i really wanna use to mess with my load order.

Beyond ALL that shes not going to be able to avoid getting beat up a bit. I added the wounds mod, so Rook is walking away from a lot of combat encounters with injuries even if she isn't the one doing a ton of damage.

[sorrelpaws]

s6e5 spoilerz!!

actual post talking about the episode YIPPEE!!! I LIKED IT!!! for the most part! i’m gonna start with the junk i didn’t like, cause there’s not much of it and i need to get it out of my system. for starters the erm. incest plotline. i’m honestly not sure why the writers have such a tendency towards this stuff. usually they seem to be pretty smart with reusing jokes or plot threads, but this just. like aside from being uncomfortable and weird to watch it just makes me think “do you not have anything better?”. why is this the safest plot line to fall back on in these recent seasons? i also hated the tiktok references at the beginning. i think i generally just hate any sort of pop culture references because they tend to become dated very easily/quickly while also doing nothing for the episode, aside from ruining any kind of immersion. AND MORTYYYYY justice for my boy. they are excluding him on purpose !! WHY!!!! i can understand he wouldn’t have worked very well with this episode, but this season seems to really favor either Rick or Literally Any Other Smith. but ummm next week’s promo had morty in it so im holding out hope guys! here’s how morty can still win!

ok anyway now that i’m no longer harboring any deep rooted hatred... THE ANIMATION!!!!! it was very cool, especially in fight scenes. something i noticed a lot was rick’s hair and suit/tie moving as he twists and turns, and i thought that was such a nice detail. it’s really simple but it added lots for me. AND THE JUMPS!!! i love his extending limbs, especially near the end of the episode where he jumps around on a bunch of boxes and moves kind of like a slinky, SOO neat. my only gripe is with the cold open, where he eats his noodles with tube arms. i dunno, felt kinda weird and unnecessary. small thing though. summer and morty in the beginning were also surprisingly endearing, and it has made me realize my desperation to see more of those two hanging out.

OH BUT JERRY AND RICK’S DYNAMIC!!!! i loved them in this episode, and i liked how it was kind of continuing s5e5′s development(kinda of neat that they’re both the 5th ep of their respective seasons). they’re both kinda warming up to each other, and it’s cool to watch this petty, sarcastic and, at times, surprisingly functional friendship. like when they talk in the vent, jerry is genuinely upset and rick offers some mild level of comfort by trying to crack a joke. and when they find the monster and jerry says he’s not sure what’s going on, rick just explains it!!!!! which okay yeah is also just to feed the audience necessary info, but i think the fact that rick doesn’t throw any insults really shows his development(also autistic infodump moment teehee). kind of off topic, but the scene w/ jerry’s second transformation made me wonder what his parents think of rick. like they see/ know he does some weird wacky shit, but like ... how much do they really know? or care? from what we’ve seen of them, they appear... pretty neutral. “oh well our son’s father in law is a scientist, no biggie,”. which is interesting to me. kinda wanna see some proper lengthy interactions between the grandparents. also rick joking(???) about fucking jerry’s mom made me laugh. okay alsooo i’m pretty sure i saw someone mention this, but in order for rick’s “you will make a friend” fortune to come true he would also have to consider jerry his friend as well B)) very cute.

[weirdthingsphanniessay]

Some thoughts on Dystopia Daily aka Dan's Last Attempt At YouTube.

"[Dystopia Daily] may not be daily" - Weird but ok.

"I am finally just gonna give the people and the algorithm what they ask for"; "I am here to create some fucking content (...) my way" - So which one is it, their way or your way?

"I would like to open each episode of "Dystopia Daily" with a monologue about the times that we live in. Something topical, personal, controversial, sexual maybe, I dunno, whatever." - So which one is it, rambling about the world or rambling about yourself?

"I dunno what I wanna do with my life because I don't know what I want." - You're a rich 31-year-old man, not a helpless teenager. Get off the internet, get intensive therapy, and get yourself together. Find hobbies and a job that actually fulfil you.

"More attention? God, please no." - Why are you still a public internet personality then?

"Money? Yeah, I've been ruined by stupid leftist YouTubers and Twitter accounts. And now I'm some bloody, low-key socialist that can't live without the guilt." - Get off the internet, leave your bubble, and use that money you feel guilty about to do good in the world.

"Is it just sex?" - Your sex jokes stopped being funny 5 years ago. Stop.

"after having my dreams disintegrated by an uncaring corporate cog in the machine, and thusly relearning how to be cripplingly depressed for a while after I literally wrote the book about looking after your mental health..." - You had to face rejection. Welcome to life. You're also a hypocrite, cool.

"The problem with everything I aspire to do with my life off social media is it has to be on someone else's terms, and their timeline" - Again, welcome to life you privileged dumbass. Do you think you're the first and only person ever who faces challenges and has to make compromises with other people and still gets disappointed every now and then? Who do you think you are?

"Every day, I am tempted to just go live in the woods, but you keep asking me to come back, trapping me in this liminal hell where I can neither fully follow my dreams or just frolic in the forest and finally be free." - Don't shift the responsibility. Go live in the woods if you want to, no one's trapping you. Stop acting like a martyr. Your fans will be fine.

"What I wanna know is what happens after [burning out]?" You either (1) quit for good, (2) reinvent yourself and your act, or (3) continue to spiral while the world is watching. I can think of several Youtuber examples for each option, and right now it looks like you're on the way to #3.

"I have developed a total phobia of social media, which as someone who is reliant on two apps to live is a bit of a fuckin' problem."; "I feel like I cannot tweet without…"; "On Instagram, my problem is…"; "I really dunno where to go from here" - Get help for your social media addiction and get off the internet.

"I am afraid to upload anything unless it's a fuckin' feature film"; "I have somehow pushed myself into a corner where I can't create a clip unless I got some kind of bomb to drop or trauma to mine for content."; "I care way too much about what people think and what it all means." - It means you need to grow thicker skin or get off the internet and get a job where you aren't exposing yourself to millions of people.

"have I just let various paranoias mutate unchecked and trap me in a prison of my own toxic thoughts?" - Probably.

"I am in terminally online rehabilitation, just trying to learn to shitpost again and find some serotonin somewhere. So this show here is a immersion therapy." - No, you should definitely try to find serotonin elsewhere. Offline. Actual therapy, and hobbies and work that have nothing to do with the internet.

"They say the best way to face your fears is head on. So I am here and I'm queer and I am just gonna force myself through the tears."; "I just wanna show the world and show you that even when every part of you is screaming not to do something, sometimes, you should just go for it" - Sometimes, the fear you feel is there for a reason and you should listen to it because it's trying to protect you. Again, stop being a martyr.

"[We're All Doomed]'s a show I made to just give me something to head towards to save my own life" - If this isn't a cry for help, I don't know what is.

[gisachi]

Better late than never?? Supposed to post on the day itself but of course I couldn’t. This is my rushed contribution to the prompt: domestic mixed with black knight&princess.

ShinRan Week Day 6

Prompt: Domestic (+ Black Knight&Princess)

Words: ~2.5k

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“Not just once, but twice! Who was it that saved my life again? Oh, unnamed knight with the black cloak, if you will grant me my wish… Please take off that dark mask and show me your true face!”

“If that is what, uh, the princess wishes, I shall show you my sorrow- sorrowful? - face under this moonlight. Oh wow this is cheesy.”

Ran leans on the arm of the couch, bound script covering her resigned face. If she had a hundred yen for every single complaint coming out of this detective’s mouth, she’d have enough to buy two entrance passes to Tropical Land for each day of the week, plus snacks and drinks.

“I went here because I thought you’d be a more immersive practice partner than ‘tou-san. You are worse.”

“I’m sorry, princess, if my mom being an actress ruined your expectations of me.”

“Oh, for sure. And otou-san doesn't destroy the scene by dropping nonsensical comments. And lie on the couch while reading the script. So he’s better by a lot.”

Shinichi props his body up, eyes rolling sarcastically before throwing a look at the lady on the edge. “To be fair, you came barging into my house so early on a Sunday. This is justified.”

“Shinichi, eleven in the morning isn’t early.”

With a stubborn grumble, the detective flops back into the cushions, script on his lap sliding to the floor. “ ’M tired Ran, long case last night, let me sleep.”

“Please, you’re my last option! School festival is in less than two weeks, and I can’t possibly ask Araide-sensei to spare time on a weekend outside of our rehearsal schedule when he’s busy working—”

The lightning speed Shinichi jolts upright causes Ran to cut herself short. “Araide-sensei is the cloaked knight?”

“Yes, didn’t I tell you?”

“You didn’t.”

“Really? I-” she pauses, delayed in taking in the curt iciness of his response when he was so apathetic five seconds ago. On anyone else it’s clear what that tone implies, but she’s never heard it on him.

“Do you have a beef with Araide-sensei?” she asks.

“A beef?”

Ran arches an eyebrow, skeptic. Shinichi meets her gaze, eyes slightly thinning before glancing away, cheeks crimson.

“I mean— Why Araide-sensei? Shouldn’t he be busy, I dunno, being a doctor, than being a fictional knight or something.”

“All the guys in our class were too shy and declined, so Sonoko asked Araide-sensei when he happened to come in for a checkup. He agreed so easily! Would you believe he’d taken a lot of lead roles in plays when he was a student?”

“And that was fifteen something years ago.”

“He’s also good at things like emphasizing lines and handling a woman!”

“Anyone can- What?!”

“Stop being a sourpuss Shinichi, especially when you’re the first to decline.”

He looks at her quizzically. “I did?”

“You don’t even remember?” Amidst the faint pink on her cheeks, disappointment etched on the way Ran’s lips curve to a small pout. “You were the first Sonoko asked... You were so quick to turn her down, she said.”

Astounded by the revelations docking in his brain all at once, Shinichi struggles to recall the conversations he had exchanged with Sonoko the past weeks. None stands out. If she had included Ran’s name in there, he would remember instantly. But Sonoko didn’t. Suddenly, the floodgates in his mind open.

If he finds out later on about the plot and the cast, he’ll definitely find a reason or two to sulk, if not object. Whether Ran is partnered with someone else or Araide-sensei doesn’t matter, for as long as it isn’t him. Him who she’s positive would outright reject her offer to act as a prince because why would he? In any case, god knows Sonoko omitted Ran’s name on purpose for this.

The sly woman has stirred something up, and she will proudly take the front row seat on his reaction she was so sure he’d make.

Not saying Sonoko’s predictions are right. This is just how she thinks. And he won’t react the way she expects he will. She is not right.

Not. Right.

Sonoko, yaro...

“Stand up, let’s do this.”

“Huh?”

“You want immersive? I’ll give you immersive.”

Left with little time to process as Shinichi pulls her by the hand, Ran drops her script on the floor. The sudden shift in character is unbelievable. How can someone so sleep-deprived turn into someone this enthused in a span of a breath?

“But first, let me…” He leaves the room, and Ran picks up her script, still quite lost. Whatever she said earlier must have triggered something, and she’s torn if she’ll ask once he returns but considers the possibility that he may break character. Not gonna risk that. He said he’ll give her an immersive practice, and it’s oddly unexpected, but she’ll take it. This is good. After all, she needs him as the knight.

Wants him as the knight.

“Sheesh, Ran, stop…” Shying away from her own maidenly thoughts, Ran flips to the designated page, scene, and line, rehearsing as she waits.

Some minutes later, Shinichi reappears, holding his script and something else. Of all things she would expect him to own, a blue fancy Columbina mask adorned with elegant silver and royal patterns wasn’t one of them.

“Mom has these things, okay,” he explains, putting it on. Ran isn’t sure if she wants to laugh or tease, but she does neither when she gets a glimpse of him with half of his face covered, and she catches her breath at the sight.

Standing against silk red curtains and brilliant glow of afternoon sunlight, he really does seem like a mysterious knight…

“Don’t laugh, idiot. After doing this for you. Wear this,” he says, and Ran zeroes in on the line of his lips because she has nowhere else to look at as he places a small barrette tiara on her hair. Doesn’t matter what he says, what they wear, even if they fail to match the daintiness of the mask and tiara. Shinichi with this on makes Shinichi as the knight much more vivid now. And Ran as the princess...

“Sorry!” She claps a hand on her warming cheek, pulls back a dumb smile she doesn’t notice she is wearing. “And I— I wasn’t laughing!”

“Still smiling creepily though.”

“I wasn’t being creepy! Geez. Anyway! Page-”

“Page 27, Scene 8, Line 10. Got it.”

After some short blocking instructions, they drop their scripts on the couch, and begin.

“Oh, unnamed knight with the black cloak, if you will grant me my wish… Please take off that dark mask and show me your true face!”

“If that is what the princess wishes, I shall show you my sorrowful face under this moonlight.”

Two steps forward and he removes the mask, and time slows down. She’s seen the same face a million times yet this time, her heart leaps like she’s laid eyes upon the most handsome face in the universe.

“Might—Might you be Spade?” She carries on, taking everything she can to maintain composure. “Long ago, you were banned from this land by my father… but now you’ve become the prince of Trump Kingdom...”

It’s nerve wracking, the way he’s strikingly still, eyes laden on her, either waiting for her next lines or admiring how beautiful she is with the tiara, she isn’t quite sure. The mask is gone, but he isn’t breaking character. Meanwhile, she’s trying her darned best to stay as Princess Heart of Bridge Kingdom.

“If you have… not forgotten about our childhood promise, then please…”

A nervous lump forms in her throat as she wraps her arms around his shoulders, and his hands find her waist, and she nearly gasps but holds it in because right now, she’s Princess Heart, not Mouri Ran asking this of Kudou Shinichi. “Please, show me on these lips.”

“As my princess so desires...”

It should be ‘the’, not ‘my.’ And there’s supposed to be another line after that, but nothing stops him as he leans in ahead of time and her eyelids flutter to the erratic beat of her heart. It’s better to be partnered with Araide-sensei in this after all. He will not mess up his lines, and she will not lose her mind the way she’s losing it now.

Two parted lips are a pucker away when the doorbell chimes, making both jolt.

Ran is first to snap out of character, as if she hasn’t had the urge to earlier.

“That—That must be Sonoko. I forgot to tell you...  I invited her in.”

“Oh, great,” Shinichi says.

Forcing her limbs into working order, Ran disentangles slowly, drawing a distance. Shinichi glances at the mask in his hand, then at her, before tossing it to the couch and turning for the door. From the window, she watches him walk to the front gate, scratching the back of his head in an annoyed manner like she just woke him from sleep, but grumpier. She hasn’t seen him display much emotion on a Sunday noon the way she’s seeing him now.

Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered him, she sighs, her turn to slump onto the couch this time.

-

“As I was saying, the prod already scouted the finest material for the costumes, and I decided, pink suits Princess Heart— Hello? Are you listening?”

Ran nearly drops the knife she holds if not for her inhuman reflexes. “Of course! Princess Heart in pink! Yes.” Like nothing happened, she resumes slathering jam and butter on the toast she’s preparing for the three of them. She doesn’t need to look at her side to know Sonoko’s eyeing her from head to toe.

“What happened to her?” The woman turns to Shinichi who sits at the high stool by the kitchen island.

“Dunno,” he says, sounding as noncommittal as he probably appears. Her back is turned against him, but she can see his face, and god why is she blushing?

“I just helped her rehearse. For the play,” he adds.

“Oh?” Sonoko’s brow perks up her forehead, hair whipping as she turns between her and the boy across them. “Did you?”

“Yup. Page 27.”

The dramatic gasp that tears from their friend’s throat is exactly the kind of gasp they expected; even so, Ran still flinches as Shinichi’s stool rakes the floor. “You kissed and I didn’t see?!”

“Hah?!”

“No!”

The two yelp in unison.

“That’s sly! You have to do it again! I’ll judge.”

“Excuse you! It didn’t happen, what you’re thinking!”

“Sonokooo!”

“Oh, shush, Ran, this is good practice. Good practice.”

“But—”

“Relax, rehearsal is rehearsal! In the actual play, once it’s Araide-sensei, he’ll do a better job—”

“I’m going to the toilet,” Shinichi gets off the stool, jaw stiff, out of the kitchen.

“—with a hug than a kiss. Right?” Sonoko ends, once Shinichi is out of the room.

“What?” Ran’s expression is inscrutable as she faces Sonoko completely, the flush across her face befitting embarrassment or ire. “You’re losing me here!”

“Oh, you’re not going to kiss, Ran. The lights will dim before your lips touch.”

“Then why—” she puts down the bread and walks in haste to the island to flip through the script, “Wh— That’s not in here!”

“Sonoko-sama hereby deems the script revised now that we have Araide-sensei.”

“Eh...?!” Ran cannot explain the play of her reactions. On one hand, a cloud is cleared from her mind, having to worry no more about doing something she has no experience with in front of watchful eyes. On the other, bunch of half-formed thoughts whirl through her mind that goes, Shinichi and I almost kissed for nothing, for nothing we almost k-kissed, an almost kiss with Shinichi, almost—

“That won’t do! I mean— That’s so not you! T-To choose a hug over a...”

“Duh, Ran! Even if it’s just a play, I won’t enable a kiss scene between a student and a staff member. We can fake the kiss. That, or switch to hug. Or better yet, change the male lead.”

“Change the male lead? In two weeks? Who will agree?!”

“Easy.” Just in time, Shinichi returns, hands in pocket and long face worn all the way to the stool.  “I know someone who will.”

-

‘Once it’s Araide-sensei, he’ll do a better job…’ What? Kissing Ran? Shinichi wants to puke. Sonoko needs to think things through. If this is part of her plan, it’s unacceptable, it sucks.

There’s no way, no way anyone can do a better job kissing Ran than…

“Aaaargh, what are you thinking!” He ruffles his hair in dismay, curses here and there. He only wanted to help Ran yet he almost went for it. Not as Spade but as himself. The audacity. It’s part of the script, sure, but—

If it is part of the script, then have Ran and Araide-sensei rehearsed it before?

“That’s it,” Shinichi huffs, storming out of the bathroom. If this is the kind of reaction Sonoko wants from him, she’s in for a show. Not just a show but a lifetime of curses and mental stabs. For her to go this far is unbelievable. Did Ran even agree to that? Will such a scene really happen in the play? No matter how despicable Sonoko’s methods are, he has faith she respects Ran’s preference as the female lead. No offense against Araide-sensei, but he cannot take Ran’s first kiss, whether as Spade or not.

That is not to say he knows Ran’s preference, especially when it comes to a first kiss, but… it’s not... Araide-sensei... is it?!

He cannot ascertain, not when Ran did nothing when they were about to kiss…

Okay, halt there, self. I said immersive. That’s immersive. She was acting.

All was but an act. She’s a great actress. I suck. No need to make this a big deal.

Shinichi is a pitiful mess once he’s back in the kitchen.

“My offer still stands, you know.” Sonoko sits beside him, munching a toast, while Ran is busy returning the jam in the cupboard, back against them.

“Your offer?”

Shinichi glances at Ran, then at Sonoko, with that feral grin on her lips and Shinichi does a bad job looking pissed, and it’s maddening because he is pissed, just not obvious with the blush forming across his cheek.

Reprimanding Sonoko is what he intends to do. For doing him dirty, him and Ran dirty, for dragging a staff to be the male lead, for imploring Ran to give her first kiss she’s probably saving in a different setting. All invalid reasons, when he cared less about the play before. He’s a full-time idiot, and Sonoko knows it clearly that’s why she’s offering the role again. He doesn’t want to fall into her trap, the same way he doesn’t want anyone else to be Spade when Princess Heart is Ran.

But Ran looks over her shoulder and they accidentally lock eyes, and pink blooms across her cheeks before she turns around, and suddenly the words that leave his mouth completely betray the thought process he underwent in the bathroom.

“If Ran agrees, yeah,” he says.

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[retrogradedreaming]

UHHHH maybe,, you could write a little thing for reki making the sk8 fam tea? and kaoru thinking hes gonna have to pretend he likes it but then "oh wait reki can actually make tea what-"

just bc this has been living in my head for awhile sdkljfs

(capt-snoozles)

It turns out I am completely incapable of writing ANYTHING short, so have a full one shot type thing, I guess. I hope it's okay that I kinda borrowed headcanons from you and @that-was-anticlimactic for Reki with TS at a couple of small moments in the fic?

----

It used to be Kaoru alone who visited Kojiro’s restaurant when it was closed on Mondays. But since the start of winter break, Sia la Luce had become much livelier now that Reki, Langa, and Miya weren’t in school all day, and Shadow came when his days off lined up right. If Kaoru were being honest, it took some time to get used to the space no longer being only his and Kojiro’s, but he’d grown to like how their group came together like this.

The afternoons were the quietest part of these days. Kojiro took these opportunities to try out new recipes on them, leaving everyone contentedly full and pleasantly sleepy. Today, Langa had actually fallen asleep in the booth, and Reki sat beside Kaoru at the counter, playing with a tiny skateboard and making soft sounds like a small motor. Shadow and Miya sat at a table across the room, arguing over whether clown or cat makeup looked cooler while Kojiro finished cleaning. Kaoru let himself sink into the lull, Reki’s noises and that of the skateboard wheels on the counter an almost comforting presence beside him. And yet, one thing was missing, keeping him from truly relaxing.

“Seems like a good afternoon for tea,” Kojiro said, as if reading his mind as he appeared out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. “You want me to make some?”

“Absolutely not,” Kaoru scoffed. “People who microwave their tea should be arrested.”

“There’s no way you can tell the difference,” Kojiro said, defensive. “Hot water is hot water.”

“Only an uncultured pig would believe that,” Kaoru snapped. He was about to stand, to tell Kojiro he’d make the tea himself like he always inevitably had to, when Reki all but leaped from his seat, skateboard abandoned for the moment.

“I’ll make it!” he offered, and the way his face lit up meant that Kaoru took too long to say not to bother. By the time he’d found his words, Reki had already bounded around the counter and into the kitchen, and Kojiro didn’t even try to stop him. Before Kaoru could tell Kojiro to stop him, Reki called out to Kojiro, asking about the industrial stove, and soon, Kojiro was not only allowing Reki to make the tea, but encouraging him.

Kaoru supposed this was a step up from Kojiro’s microwave technique, but if Kaoru were likely to trust anyone other than himself to make a decent cup of tea, it wouldn’t be Reki. The idea that he’d wanted his tea made well and was unlikely to receive it as such set him on edge. As he listened to the water boil and the conversation continued around him, he found himself wrapping a strand of his hair around his finger and tugging, letting it go, and repeating the process until his scalp hurt. He didn’t even notice that Langa had woken up until he appeared beside Kaoru and spoke.

“What’s Reki doing?” he asked.

“Making tea,” Kaoru said, doing his best not to appear so anxious about something so small.

Langa peered over the edge of the counter to where Kojiro and Reki were talking in the kitchen, and then turned back to Kaoru. “I like how he makes it. I never liked it before I met him.”

Kaoru hummed a halfhearted response. He doubted that Langa’s standards were very high, given that he’d grown up in Canada. He’d likely had tea often enough, given that his mother was Japanese, but Kaoru knew from experience that plenty of people even here in Okinawa had no idea how to brew a proper cup. It was about timing, knowing how hot to make the water, how long to steep the leaves, and so many people rushed the process—or worse, forgot about it and steeped too long—that Kaoru preferred to make his own.

He couldn’t help but envision Reki handing him a bitter cup, or one that tasted like little more than hot leaf juice. He grimaced at the idea of having to drink it and pretend he liked it, suffering all the while. He would have to wait until he was home later to make something better for himself.

He was still trying to think of a polite way to decline the tea he’d obviously wanted when Reki came out bearing a tray of steaming cups and began making the rounds through the restaurant. Reki handed the first one to Langa, who accepted it, smiling softly up at Reki. Langa sipped the tea immediately, only to flinch and draw it away after the first sip.

Not promising, Kaoru thought. If he’d boiled the water, it was ruined, even if it was something as simple as green tea. And yet, Langa only took another sip while Reki looked on approvingly.

“It’s good,” Langa finally proclaimed, and Reki glowed as if he’d received praise from the emperor himself. Reki moved on, handing Kaoru his cup.

“Thank you,” Kaoru said, accepting it with both hands. Fortunately, Reki moved on to Shadow and Miya without waiting for Kaoru to try it, which meant that he didn’t know Kaoru only held onto it without making a move to taste it. If nothing else, he could enjoy the warmth that crawled from his fingertips all the way to his elbows.

Neither Miya nor Shadow hesitated in drinking theirs, though Kaoru couldn’t imagine they cared much how it tasted, as long as it was hot. And yet, as he watched, the two of them looked just as pleased as Langa when they tried it.

“Oh wow, the slime makes good tea,” Miya pronounced, hugging the cup close to him like a space heater.

“Damn, this is pretty good,” Shadow said, drinking deeply and draining half the cup. “How’d you even learn to make it like this?”

Reki shrugged, taking up his own cup, the last on the tray. He set the tray down on the counter and took the empty seat beside Langa. “I dunno, I guess I just picked it up over the years. It’s kinda like making skateboards, y’know? You have to figure out how all the parts fit together, and if you do it wrong, the tea doesn’t taste right.”

Kaoru looked up at him from the murky depths of his tea, brows raised. When it came to making tea, the analogy was rather profound, and Kaoru couldn’t argue it. Reki was right—tea was about the sum of its parts, the pieces fitting together perfectly. And as with building skateboards, the person making it had to know exactly how to combine each piece to create the whole.

“That doesn’t make any sense, but whatever,” Shadow said, taking another sip. “All I care about is that it doesn’t suck.”

“How come you’ve never made us tea before?” Miya asked, eyes trained on the Switch he’d pulled from his pocket now that he’d abandoned his conversation with Shadow.

“I don’t really have the patience for it,” Reki said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s kinda like, if I don’t wanna put in the time to do it right, why bother?”

While everyone was wrapped up in conversation, Kaoru finally chanced a discreet sip. If it was as bad as he’d expected, he could school his expression appropriately while they were all distracted. Perhaps he could even get away without having to lie about how good it was. And yet, when the tea touched his tongue, he paused.

It wasn’t too hot.

It wasn’t too weak or too strong.

It wasn’t too bitter and the leaves didn’t taste as though they’d been burnt.

It was, as far as Kaoru was concerned, some of the best tea he’d had outside his own home. For a moment, he couldn’t find the words to say so. He sipped it again, just to make sure he hadn’t deluded himself based on everyone else’s praise. Sure enough, it was almost more delicious the second time.

“You surprised?” Kojiro murmured at his ear, his own cup dangling from his fingertips. Kaoru jumped, nearly spilling his tea. When he turned to face him, Kojiro’s lips quirked in a smug grin, and he raised one brow meaningfully. Kaoru shot him a hard glower in return, a silent command to keep his mouth shut before Kaoru turned back to Reki.

“It’s delicious,” Kaoru said, and it wasn’t forced in the least. “I’m impressed.”

Reki, who had already immersed himself in talking to Langa, gaped at Kaoru, one of his hoodie strings falling from between his teeth. Then, he flashed a wide grin. “Glad you like it!”

“Have you ever practiced tea ceremony?” Kaoru asked, reluctantly setting his tea down on the counter.

“Nah, my parents let me try it once when I was younger, but I kept messing up the steps,” Reki said. “It’s not really fun when people get mad at you for doing it wrong.”

“I studied it for some time,” Kaoru said, remembering how the order felt comforting, how the amount of concentration it required gave his anxious mind something to focus on, how the simple yet refined aesthetic felt like clearing his head. In recent years, he didn’t have time for it with his calligraphy business, but a part of him missed it. “It’s quite a bit different from drinking tea like this, but if you wanted to, perhaps we could do a...modified version of it. Something less formal with everyone here.”

Reki’s eyes brightened, and he looked to Langa, who only seemed to share his enthusiasm. “It sounds fun, yeah! A lot better than getting yelled at by a bunch of old people because ‘tradition.’”

“I’d say so,” Kaoru said, and they devolved into talking about their favorite teas and the best ways to brew them. Kaoru couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked to someone who actually understood that tea was an art even more than it was a drink. But Reki did, and when the rest of the group finally left, leaving Kaoru and Kojiro alone in the restaurant to clean up, Kojiro nudged him with an elbow.

“You didn’t think Reki could make tea like that, did you?” he said, the words teasing but too close to Kaoru’s own thoughts for comfort.

“Shut up or I’ll leave you here to wash dishes alone,” Kaoru quipped, even as he accepted the next cup to dry. “I will admit, I was pleasantly surprised.”

“I knew you would be,” Kojiro said as he dried his hands and stretched.

“Anything is better than microwaved tea,” Kaoru said. And although it was true, he couldn’t help but look forward to the next Monday, and the last before the kids started school again.