#the end turned out a bit shoujo ish

[moonstruckmoony]

Someone had too much fun playing with thestral foals in the swamp vivarium… 🐶

[morteisshipping]

So About Sung Hyunjae...

So I'm one of novel reader who got into the novel because I read the manhwa first. When Sung Hyunjae was first introduced in the manhwa, I was a little bit concerned that he's going to be one of the villain. And the reasons I thought he was a villain are:

He's way too hot not to become one,

His red flag is too obvious, especially during the Babhar dungeon arc, dude just sprinkling red flag whenever he goes,

He's WAY too strong. Already establishing the strongest guild in Korea and has connections abroad - possibly has other guilds too outside Korea. And he's stronger than Yoohyun, so that concerned me, bcs the lil bro can't protect our MC from him if something goes wrong,

He is way too cunning and sensitive. There are parts of the manhwa that represent his sensitiveness with mirrors when Newbie explains about rewriting data instead of actually regressing and it kinda rings the villain bells for me,

The way he talks to Yoojin as an MC is too condescending, even though it's not exclusively for him, but the way he looks down on everyone just didn't sit well with me. People with this type personality is usually a small villain who will inconvenienced the MC & just spread negativity whenever they show up.

Then we got to Soodam dungeon and the whole narrative around him shifts 180 degrees. I realized that he was a red-herring villain type bcs his personality is just like that all the time. And the kicker? Dude only does that to our MC! In Soodam dungeon, he shows that he is WAY too reliable and has WAY too much integrity to be a real villain.

The moment I finally liked him and wishes him to be in the story more was during the Dragonkin chapter where he danced with Yoojin while fighting Vikusse and using Yoojin as a shield. That's when I started to anticipate him around for more. He's such a fun character to be around. I'm sure in real life I would find him mildly annoying, like Yoojin does, but as a character, he adds to the liveliness and humour, making what seems to be a grim situation looks comedic almost.

And then of course the relationship with Yoojin is what drawn me to him the most. Every time he shows up, it's always for Yoojin. And every time he shows up, there will always be glitters and shoujo filter around him. It's almost like, the genre of the manhwa change for him lol. At first, I was like, okay this guy's funny, handsome, AND gay; he's perfect! What more can you ask?

And BOOM. He turns out to be the whole plot this whole time.

Manhwa season 1 ends, so I had to turn to the novel for more HJYJ ship because I'm too far down the rabbit hole at this point, so might as well dig through than climb back up. (Someone mentions that if you want a good HJYJ fanfiction, we should just read the whole official novel, and that guy was right. I can quote the whole novel for HJYJ ship and it won't end.)

It was in the novel where I was pining for SHJ to be the male lead for our MC and then the whole Crescent Moon debacle is happening, and he turns out to be the real MC of this novel after all. Well, well, well, how the turntables...

Just for the record, I haven't finished the novel yet. I'm still at around 340-ish. They already mentioned Crescent Moon and hinting at Sung Hyunjae's existence as an otherworldly being that becomes unstable because he accumulates new information he likes (and all that information is about Yoojin), and how his existence relates to Crescent Moon. But the real shit haven't happened yet. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It's gonna drop but I'm waiting for the translation guys to finish. I hope it's as good as how it was described to me through spoilers.

YOOJIN HAVEN'T EVEN TOLD HYUNJAE THAT HE REGRESSED YET!!!!

[yridenergyridenergy]

The wholesome-ish friendship between Shinya and Kyo

Their latest playful Q&A in Haiiro no Ginka vol. 100 has prompted me to compile examples of this weird but overall wholesome relationship that Kyo and Shinya have and which is not obvious at first.

Situation #1

In October 2017, Kyo gifted Shinya with a custom white version of a MadaraNingen one-piece. As far as I remember, that article of clothing was not available for purchase in white at all, to the public. And of course, we all know that Shinya prefers to wear white.

Situation #2

I think that in response to Shinya sharing a video of him briefly playing with the minicars that were sold as tour goods in This Way to Self-Destruction, Kyo posted a story on Instagram of him revving up a bunch of mini-cars and persistently making them hit his phone propped up on a counter and displaying a picture of Shinya. At age 43. To which Shinya made an Instagram post vaguely hinting that: "Good children should not play with the mini-cars to hit someone's picture!"

Kyo's Instagram Story "The proper way to use mini-cars" video

Shinya's translated response

Situation #3

In late 2022-early 2023, Shinya publicly celebrated his bandmates' birthdays via emojis on Twitter, and Kyo was the only one to respond, in kind.

Situation #4

Kyo posted a cryptic picture of Shinya's video meeting with Mana in an Instagram Story and he has mentioned on Twitter at least once that he was watching Shinya Channel (the making of the FaFa onigiri).

In the same vein, Shinya took his failed attempt at needle-felting a pink bunny in March 2022 and turned it into a miniature hammer-wielding bunny in October 2022, in response to sukekiyo unveiling their Mosaic Shoujo PV which featured Kyo in the killer bunny suit.

Situation #5

This very old video of Kyo teasing Shinya by pinching the side of his dress, Shinya reacting by pushing Kyo a bit and Kyo falling into a robot dance in response.

Situation #6

The coffee maker. In one of the live talks held during the COVID-19 pandemic at concert venues, Shinya mentioned having a coffee maker which was of no use to him, and Kyo expressed interest in taking it from him. Later, in the Galacaa livestream talk between the two, it was revealed that Shinya had promised to give Kyo his coffee maker, but he never pulled through on that offer. Kyo, sporting a doodled face to hide his own, insistently questioned Shinya on this unreliability when the topic was brought up by fans in the comments. Shinya kind of struggled but ended up explaning that the coffee maker was really useless because of a defect, that it would not have been an appropriate gift anymore. But he forgot to update Kyo about it after he tried to contact the manufacturer. Kyo replied like: "Oh, alright then."

At some point, Kyo took the matter to Twitter, confronting Shinya about it with their respective member photos to illustrate the dialogue, and Shinya replied the same way.

Situation #7

In that same livestream, Shinya is so used to Kyo's bullshit by now that he completely ignores Kyo's doodle face sheet and casually leans forward to look past him and at the interviewer, sat on Kyo's right. After a while of this, the interviewer points out to Shinya that Kyo is insistently staring at him with this disturbing face, which is when Shinya becomes startled and nervously laughs upon realizing that, also making Kyo chuckle.

Situation #8

More often than others, Shinya and Kyo are documented chatting on the chairs backstage while they wait for everyone to be ready to start the show. Maybe there's something to be said of how they are the two members of the band to leave the stage the quickest, while Kaoru, Toshiya and Die stay for a while to throw picks.

Situation #9

Miscellaneous pictures of the two:

Situation #10

Apparently it was Shinya's earbuds that Kyo used to play with the cat (also Shinya's?) in this famous old video.

Situation #11

Other interactions on Twitter include commentary regarding the song battles that fans were voting on via that same website, during live broadcasts from their manager Fujieda on Galacaa. Kyo and Shinya were the only two members reacting to the songs that were pulled out of the box, Kyo sometimes replying to Shinya's own tweets wondering what he meant or outright questioning his preference.

Another interaction consisted in Kyo copying Shinya's tweets regarding the release of their Phalaris album and twisting Shinya's cute comments into hellish versions.

Situation #12

Probably a bunch of elusive comments throughout the years, but here's an example of something that Shinya said about Kyo in a magazine interview.

Situation #13

In Haiiro no Ginka vol. 100, the members were asked to send each other member five questions. Some chose to personalize them based on what they actually wanted to ask of the others, while a couple decided to send the same questions to all, but members were not told who the questions came from. Kyo picked up on that anonymous part of the game and when answering Shinya's set of questions, he ended each of his short answers with a second sentence that can either just be the Kansai dialect for: "Aren't you Shinya!", or in other dialects, translates more to: "Shinya, you bastard!" hahah. From what I saw, nobody else hinted at who they thought the questions came from in their answers. In reverse, Kyo took up two of his five alloted questions for Shinya with the simple statement: "You don't know you're dead yet!", a quote from Fist of the North Star which is highly intimidating as it hints that someone has defeated the character so easily and lightning-fast that they are a dead man standing, their body having trouble catching up with the reality that they were slaughtered. Shinya, in response to that repeated tease, stubbornly replies in his polite and formal Japanese that: "No, I'm not dead." Their Q&A with the other members were not nearly that quirky.

Situation #14

At his SERAPH birthday concert in 2023, Shinya said that his three treasures in life are:

DIR EN GREY

SERAPH

sukekiyo

Situation #15

Kyo replying to Shinya's post featuring a very old picture of Kyo (which was however respectfully hidden by Phalarisu-kun) by pulling out the oldest/youngest postcards of Shinya he could find, also commenting to paraphrase Shinya: "Postcards that probably no one has anymore." His own postcard depicting him peeks from underneath.

Shinya replied to that with: "I tried to look for it but couldn't find it 🥺"

Situation #16

On Twitter, Shinya posted a photo with other artists which he explained as: "Yesterday, we had a birthday celebration for everyone born in February and March 🎂 Happy birthday everyone 🎉🎉🎉"

To which Kyo directly replied: "I wasn't invited." (born February 16th)

And Shinya responded with: "The DIR EN GREY guys are a bit mean 🥺"

Kyo never replied to that.

Situation #17

Going to combine two things considering how long ago they were.

Shinya and Kyo were the first members of Dir en grey to meet, and the day right after I posted this compilation happened to be the 28th anniversary of when they first performed together.

There's also an anecdote that, way back then, no one in the band knew how to contact Kyo because none of them had his phone number, but eventually Shinya just casually revealed that he had it all along and said: "Oh I'll just call him"

Situation #18

Shinya and Kyo are the only members who are clearly dog lovers in the band, while Die and Toshiya are part of the cat team. Shinya used to have a dog (chihuahua?) and Kyo now has Pun-cha. Shinya recently wore a sweater with a dog on it.

Situation #19

In a tweet that Kyo has since deleted, he wrote that if there was one grudge he still held, it was that he never appeared on the cover of a Rockin'f magazine. Shinya also wasn't featured, so he added that while he doesn't have a grudge against them, he has declined interviews and comments for a certain magazine after that.

Situation #20

During their European tour 2024, Kyo and Shinya embarked in a playful spat on Twitter, seemingly out of boredom while traveling on the tour bus. It was funny the way it culminated in both of them forcing the other to subscribe to their fan clubs to find out more. On Kyo's side at least, I didn't see anything related to that on kyo-online for real hah.

Situation #21

Shinya took the time to snap a picture of Petit Brabançon playing on the Yunika Vision screens while he was out solving a game, then posting that on Twitter and promoting Petit Brabancon. " I heard Kyo sing while solving a mystery in Shinjuku"

He also made numerous mentions of the Petit Brabancon posters around Gorilla Hall in his video touring that venue:

... Did I miss any? And there will undoubtedly be more to come!

Thank you very much to shinyaburashka, mementoboni, lamenty45 and degtau for your help!

[haikyooot]

bike ride

Your man, Miya Atsumu, said he was going to bring you around on the back of a bike bicycle. But riding tandem on a bicycle in Japan is illegal...like that will stop you guys. 

Pairing: Atsumu x Reader one-shot

Genre/Warnings: fluff, established relationship, manga spoilers, slight roleplay, shoujo manga trope, suggestive ish, boob grab

WC: 1.3k

You stare at the man smiling innocently at you in front of your porch. “Atsumu, I thought you said you were going to bring me around on the back of your bike.” 

Atsumu panics at the sound of your deadpan voice and hurries to explain. “I did! It is a bike! I never said it was going to be a motorbike!” 

You continue to stare at the bike, the bicycle. Two-wheeled, foot-pedaled mechanism. Your eyes squint a little harder and you scrunch your face, scrutinizing the man and his choice of transportation. 

“You know it’s illegal, right, for two people to be on the bike.” You finally say. 

“I’ll be careful.” He whines, pouts, and says softly. “I thought you like living life on the edge.” 

You watch him push the bike handle left and right, while drawing circles with his right foot. Something about the awkward 187 cm volleyball player acting cute is particularly amusing. It never gets old and you love to tease him just to see how his reactions change. An idea pops into your head. 

“Be a good boy and stay there. I’ll be back in a minute.” You turn and run back into your home, leaving a dumbstruck boy outside. You hear him kick the ground and mutter, “‘Wait a minute’ she said. Bah, I’ll be here waiting forever.” 

But unlike the other times where “one minute” ends up as half an hour, you are true to your word this time. When you reappear at the door, you smirk at seeing Atsumu’s eyes widen and light up. A dark blush and big smile plastered across his face. 

“Y/n!” He breathes out, still looking at you up and down. “Is that your high-school uniform?” 

Having met Atsumu well into your adult-life, it’s a given that neither of you have seen the other in your respective high-school outfits. The pleated skirt, high knee socks, and the crisp shirt with a ribbon around the collar exude whatever schoolgirl charm you have from back in the day. Any other day, Atsumu might have called you out as “an old hag wanting to find her youth back”. But you know that today, inside, he’s probably a gushing mess. You know the effects you have on the poor man. 

“Um...Miya-senpai…” You pout your lips and tug on the edge of the way-too-short skirt. “Do you mind showing me around?” 

It takes everything in you to not burst into laughter at the absurdity of your cute girl act and also Atsumu’s expression. Face paling and then coming back into color and then paling again. Poor man is suffering, and you love it. 

“Call me Tsumu-senpai.”

Atsumu pedals the two of you through the park. The trees lining both sides of the road forming a tunnel of green foliage. The wind blowing weaves through Atsumu’s hair, carrying his scent to your nose. You encircle his waist and lean the side of your head onto his broad back. Each pedal shifts the muscles along his back and abdomen slightly. You very much enjoy this arrangement and your eager hands begin to explore a bit. First from the chest, across those magnificent pecs and down the ridges of the abs, beautiful. Then...

“Shit.” Atsumu curses under his breath. “Don’t do that.” 

You giggle and press a kiss on Atsumu’s backside. You stop your hands from continuing their voyage. You close your eyes and listen to Atsumu’s rhythmic breathing and the sounds of spring making its way through Osaka. You wonder, if this would be like if the two of you went to high-school together and knew each other then. 

“Hey! Stop right there! Boy and girl on the bike. Stop!” A gruff voice breaks into your wonderland. Atsumu presses the brake and brings the bike to a full stop. A community safety officer comes by to the two of you. You hide yourself behind Atsumu’s back, embarrassed. 

“Firstly, you should know that you cannot have another person ride tandem on the back of the bicycle. Yes I know it’s popular for high-school students, but it is the law. And secondly, sir, you cannot have relations with a minor. She’s a high-school student and not of age.” The office states as a matter of fact. 

You start giggling in the back as you feel Atsumu tense both at getting caught and for getting accused of being a predator. 

“Sorry officer, we were just having some fun, I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again. And, don’t worry, she’s definitely not a high-school student.” Atsumu gives his ‘meeting-a-fan’ smile and calmly explains himself to the officer. 

“Oh, Miya Atsumu from the MSBY Black Jackal! Big fan here! Great game last week! ” The officer suddenly recognizes the star volleyball setter. The officer looks around to see if there are onlookers and repeats in a hushed tone, “but you can’t have relations with a minor still...even if I am your fan, it’s kinda...not really right, you know.” 

Atsumu’s face goes red, embarrassed and desperate to correct the situation. “I already told you! She’s an adult!!! A grown woman! AND, she consented to all of this!” 

The officer looks behind Atsumu to look at you. You give your best smile and nod. “That’s right officer, I’m a grown woman and I consented. We’re just having some fun, you know~” 

Realization hits the officer who nods frantically, light pink dusting his cheeks. “Oh, oh, I get it now. Should have said so earlier!” He readjusts his cap and shyly looks down. “My partner likes it when I play cop. Haha. Keep things safe! And uh, riding tandem is still illegal! I’ll let you off with a warning.” 

You smile and thank the officer, who continues along his way. Then you turn your attention back to Atsumu, who looks like he has lost his soul and wits. You poke his waist and he jumps up from the sensitive touch. You blink at him with your big doe eyes, “Tsumu-senpai? Is everything okay?” 

Atsumu watches your theatrics, groans and buries his face in his hands. “My image is ruined. I’m supposed to be the cool, calm, collected setter of the Black Jackals.” You smirk at the blush his hands don’t do a good job convering. The red spreads to his ear and down his neck. You step up on tip toes and circle your arms around his waist, kissing the back of the hands covering his face. Cocking your head to the side, you ask softly again. “Tsumu-senpai? Tsumu? Tsu-tsu?” 

Atsumu holds onto your waist and holds you closer, face dipping low. You close your eyes and ready yourself for soft lips to meet yours. But a low voice hums next to your ear instead. “Wait till we get back, I’ll show you Tsumu-senpai alright.” 

Your face grows hot and you giggle. You turn your face and give him a quick peck, then escape his grasp. “Let’s go then!” 

Atsumu gets back onto the bike and you sit on the back. You wait for him to start pedaling but after a while he still hasn’t gotten started. “What’s wrong?” You ask with concern, voice back to normal. 

Atsumu turns his head back slightly and sheepishly grins. “I don’t think I can bike back. My legs have gone soft.” 

“Atsumu! What the hell man. Ugh, just get off, I’ll bike us back instead.” 

You sit on the bike seat and wait for Atsumu to get on the backrack. When he sees your legs under the short skirt, he takes his jacket off and wraps it around your waist to make a longer skirt. “Ah, y/n! Cover your legs with my jacket, don’t flash others when you’re pedaling.” 

After making sure he’s fully seated, you take off with ease, pedaling you and your man back. You know he’s getting really comfortable with this switched arrangement. Too comfortable.

“Stupid Tsumu! Don’t grab me there!”

[ridiasfangirlings]

Pt. 1. About the ask where Scepter 4 becomes average-looking due to a Strain: What if the opposite was happening to Homra at the exact same time? Like Homra guys are good-looking, but more in a rough, thug-ish kind of way. This Bishie-fication makes it so their attire is pristine and fashionable. Their hygiene: impeccable. Hair: gleaming. Skin: flawless. Teeth: blinding. Also the power makes it so anything that could obstruct their looks is physically impossible for them to use to cover up with.

This reminds me of that Gakuen K chapter with Yukari XD So imagine one day while hanging out at the bar the Homra guys get unexpectedly jumped by a Strain, maybe this Strain really likes willowy bishounen and has always been a bit put out that Homra's only handsome in a kind of rough way rather than the complete beauty of Scepter 4 – Kusanagi's probably the closest Homra has to 'handsome ikemen' type and the Strain finds it wholly unacceptable that he's surrounded by all these gang-looking guys with their hats and glasses and things. The Homra guys don't even know what hit them, just one moment a girl walks in and scowls at them, then there's a flash of light and suddenly everyone does like a whole magical girl style transformation into even more beautiful men. Like Akagi's first, his hat flies off as he's surrounded by shoujo sparkles, his hair combs itself, his skin suddenly becomes flawless, face changing slightly to make him into a more striking bishounen rather than just a kinda generic good-looking guy. The power jumps from one boy to the next, Bandou's sunglasses and hat flying off, Chitose suddenly losing his ugly shirt and gaining more attractive attire, Dewa grabbing uselessly for his hat and feeling lost as he suddenly becomes striking and handsome. Eric's blond hair becomes silky smooth and shines when he runs a hand through it, while Fujishima gets the soft look of the animal-loving member of an otome game.

After them Kamamoto suddenly ends up in his summer form, then Yata loses his beanie and his skateboard and probably gets an entirely new wardrobe, yelling as his hair fixes itself and his clothes become more form fitting. Even the Homra trio get hit, Mikoto becoming more standard issue bishounen and losing his slightly dangerous look (but getting an entirely different 'dangerous' look, like he's bad boy in the same way Edward Cullen is) and even Kusanagi loses his sunglasses. Once the sparkles have died down Homra looks like a host club, everyone's teeth are too bright and they have to make a conscious effort to stop smiling. Yata's complaining already that every time he tries to 'fix' his hair it goes right back into place. Dewa honestly isn't sure if he has a personality anymore without his hat on while Eric's probably trying to hide his face under a tablecloth or something because he needs his support hoodie.

Kusanagi supposes that there are worse Strains that could attack them and says they'll just have to deal until the power wears off. This turns out to be great for business, word quickly gets around that Bar Homra is staffed with only the handsomest guys and soon all kinds of girls are showing up wanting to get a look (poor Yata can't even leave the back room, a girl already hugged him once and he's pretty sure he brushed against some side boob, he's traumatized). The worst part is the guys feel like they can't even enjoy it, like Bandou and Chitose want to take advantage of their good fortune and snag a girl but they don't know when this is going to wear off and can't risk it happening in the middle of a date. Kusanagi enjoys the increased business but he does have to admit that this is weird, wondering how the Blue King manages it being constantly surrounded by unnecessarily handsome men wherever he goes all the time.

[toilet-bound-messenger]

Hananene cute scenario ideas 💗

Hi! To be honest I'm not much of a writer (even if I do try to write fanfics sometimes.) But here I'm gonna lay down some cute ideas I got for Hananene, so if some of those may or may not inspire you to write a fanfiction on your own then please feel free to borrow my ideas! But when you do please link me to the fanfic because I'll definitely want to read it! 💕💕

1) Yashiro teaching Hanako how to play video games/using smartphones!

Because Hanako is a space nerd he's probably also really interested in the development of science in general through the years. And since he's a ghost he sneaks into different classrooms to listen to the science teachers giving lessons to the students of the school. Yashiro had noticed that so she shows him videos of new technologies on her phone. Hanako finds it amazing how a tiny device like a smartphone can do so many things! It can take photos, record voices and videos, be used as an alarm clock, be used to write stuff on it, look up anything at any time in the whole world, etc. Hanako secretly wishes he could have a phone since it seems so useful but he's honestly not sure how to get one since he can't leave the school. Yashiro also lets him play some games on her phone even if he sucks a lot at first, after a little while he gets the hang of it! He prefers silly little games that involve playing with animals, cutting random people's hair and make it into a mess, adventure style games, etc. He's not a big fan of Yashiro's "raising idols" games though... he says that it's because he sucks at rhythm games and doesn't really like the songs but it's probably because he's pissed that the idols in the game are way too handsome 😂 Though he did ask which character in the game was Yashiro's favorite and of course, it was a tall blond hottie who looks like Teru which made Hanako even more irritated.

Also, Yashiro keeps a couple of Hanako's favorite games on her phone so he can play them when he wants. One time she encouraged him to try an idol raising game but this time with female idols (love live/bandori style.) Unsurprisingly he loved it because the game was full of cute girls. (Btw, his favorites in love live would be Honoka, Kotori, Chika and Riko because they all remind him of Yashiro since they have some similar personality traits, same for Kasumi, Tsugumi, Himari and Aya from bandori.)

2) Yashiro dressing up as Hanako for Halloween! It's a common idea in the fandom that Hanako would find Yashiro super cute in his hat, so imagine if she wore the whole outfit! Even better if it's a matching one rather than exactly the same as his, like, she'd wear all white to contrast with the fact that he wears all black.

3) So we already know that Yashiro has an embarrassing journal where she rewrites her everyday life in a really... shoujo-esque style. (The part where she wrote that her and Teru are secretly dating and he would always stare at her 😂) So one day she mistakenly brings it to school without noticing (maybe she was too distracted and grabbed her journal instead of a textbook or something?) So she tries her best to hide it but somehow Hanako finds it.

He knows that it's really bad to look through other people's stuff but he can't help but feel really curious. He knows it's gonna be torture since it's probably gonna be filled with lots of Teru and other handsome guys Yashiro fantasizes about but he's really interested to know in what is Yashiro into.

Well, of course she likes all the most cliche stuff there is... kisses in secret, getting trapped in a small space like a closet to be as close as possible with a guy, hugging in a dark place, being called a "silly girl"/anything that sounds slightly embarrassing, and of course: kabe-dons (that's the thing where you're pushed against a wall 😂).

So turns out that Yashiro does actually like physical contact, huh? And being called weird names... but the thing that surprises Hanako the most is that there are a couple of pages about him too!!! Especially the day of the confession tree when he destroyed kodama, it was written that Yashiro's heart skipped a beat when he took his hat off. It made Hanako incredibly happy to know that he did have some charm even if Yashiro still prefers tall prince-charming guys it wasn't like his chances with her were zero! After that he felt really giddy... and really cocky. He would grin all the time with Yashiro and try some of the things he read in her journal. He would also take his hat off more often.

4) The school festival is soon! Yashiro's class wasn't really finding any good ideas, it was all cliche stuff like takoyaki stands, haunted houses, etc. Stuff that other classes will also choose and maybe do better than them. After some thinking Yashiro suggests a cafe from the 1960s, since Hanako was alive in those years. Maybe it would make him happy to see students walking in old clothes and all instead of always wearing the school uniform?

The day of the school festival Hanako was really surprised. Did we go back in time or something? Everything was really well done, it really looked like back then. Hanako wasn't really sure what to think of it since it made him remember some happy times... and some not so happy times... but when he saw Yashiro all of his worries were blown away! She was wearing a super cute and colorful dress from the 1960s, it made Hanako stare at her all the time. Tsuchigomori noticed of course and teased him about it.

"You're really staring a lot, huh kid? It would've been pretty nice if she was one of your classmates back in the day, wouldn't it?"

Hanako is a blushing mess 😂 They also put popular songs from the 1960s in the cafe and Hanako manages to recognize quite a lot of them! Though his heart really races when Yashiro sings along to one of the songs. In the end they both dance and sing it together! It was super fun for Hanako and he loved the school festival because of that. Yashiro admits that she was the one to come up with the idea to make him happy and Hanako is even more touched.

5) it's kind of spoiler-ish, but what if after number 6's arc Aoi is able to see apparitions too? It would be really cute if she can sense that Yashiro and Hanako have a crush on eachother so she constantly teases them to make them get closer. Aoi really becomes the wingman(/wingwoman?) of Hananene, she does everything she can to make them embarrassed and self-conscious. She even gives advice to Hanako on how to flirt with Yashiro since she's her best friend she knows a whole lot about it. As for Yashiro, she gives her tips on how to "seduce guys" and encourages her to "try them out on Hanako to see if it works" *wink wink nudge nudge* but of course it always works on Hanako no matter what Yashiro does...

6) This is more of a AU idea since it's a bit OOC but, imagine if Yashiro becomes super flirty with Hanako when she falls for him? Like Hanako is just teasing/borderline trying to seduce her as usual but then Yashiro answers back with something even more daring and Hanako just becomes a blushing mess. It's literally the

"Why did you run away?!?"

"I didn't expect her to flirt back!!!"

meme 😂

Of course Hanako always clinges to Yashiro so there's nothing new there, but when Yashiro clinges to Hanako? Oh boy.

The poor guy can't align 2 words anymore. He's stuttering and wondering what's going on.

It would be funny if Yashiro is the agressive kind of flirt, the type that always roasts/shames her crush when she tries flirting. Most of the time she's trying to be nice about it but unconsciously most of her flirting is almost a roast session.

The worst (or best) part is when they're alone because Yashiro can say all the shameless stuff she can't in public 😂

Stuff like:

"Hey, you really are a perv for haunting the girls' bathroom out of all the places there is in the school. I bet that if I couldn't see you, you would probably look at my underwear, wouldn't you? 😤"

Or

"It's not fair that you're always making me clean the bathrooms without any rewards... won't you at least give me a kiss on the lips? That's like, the minimum you can do. 🙄"

A kiss on the lips is the minimum?? Then what's the maximum?!?

Hanako is literally dying inside, anytime they're alone he panics, he's like "oh god it's coming, what is she going to say this time??"

How the tables have turned. Yashiro beat him at his own game 😂

Welp. That's about it for now. Which one was your favorite? I'm gonna be honest, mine is the Yashiro agressive flirting one! It really makes me think about that one Miraculous Ladybug fanfic where Marinette is throwing daring pick-up lines at Adrien left and right. Unfortunately I don't remember the name but it's a really popular one! You can probably find it easily, it's on tumblr and AO3 if I remember correctly.

[thebeauregardbros]

“The Ultimate Character Questionnaire”: Alus Beauregard

a fuckton of random questions abt alus ramblingly answered

questions stolen from [here]. i cut out ones that ask the same questions i accidentally answered prior, or just didn’t interest me enough to answer, so if you wanna do this for your own OC I recommend copy+pasting it from the source!

Basic Character Questions

First name? Alus (pronounced ‘Ah-Loose’)

Surname? Beauregard (taken from adoptive father)

Nicknames? Alus wants to be called “Al” but it doesn’t stick because his name is already short. Lots of people unfortunately call him Alice. he does not like that

Date of birth? unknown but he celebrates his birthday on All Saint’s Wake (aka Halloween)

Age? Funfact: Alus and Arc’s age is the age between the RPers’ real-world ages (I’m 24, Arc’s player is 25, but for a brief period Arc’s player becomes 26 while I’m still 24.) So they’re going to be 25 this year (2020)... what the fuck. stop growing. dont do that.

Physical / Appearance

Height? I... he’s tall. Despite Alus being the max height for Miqo’te characters (5′8″/173cm), other male Miqo’te RPers say their characters are taller than that anyway, so I’m like.. not sure what to answer. I don’t want to break reasonable canon of what’s possible for Miqo’te but I also don’t want him to be short or average sized in comparison to other average Miqo’te. I’m just gonna say, definitively, “Alus is tall for a Miqo’te”. If you have a tall Miqo, Alus is just as tall. Or half an inch taller. Take that as whatever you want. I’m tired.

Weight? I... don’t know? This question really doesn’t clarify anything to me; people can be the same height and weight and look totally different in body type. If you absolutely had to get an answer from me, my best guess is maybe somewhere between 170lbs-180lbs? (assuming he is 5′8″)

Build? Wide shoulders, slender hips, long legs, big wide chest and a nice strong core. He is muscular; burly and brawny; his body type feels intimidating and large. He has a healthy amount of fat over his muscles, but still has much clearly visible muscle especially while flexing.

Hair colour? Golden blonde; it’s got a subtle yellow-ish tone that reminds you of sunshine.

Hair style? Alus’ hair is naturally thick and wavy. His hair is grown out long; about armpit length. His hair is choppy, even somewhat feathered. It’s a bit badly damaged from years on the road, but the split ends and fly-aways sparkle brilliantly in the sunlight like a messy halo around his head. His hair naturally very poofy, like damaged 80s hair. Long bangs that were once pushed back fall gracefully over his face like a wild child running about in spring. Whilst resting away from work, he braids it loosely.

Eye colour? Heterochromia; A raspberry red in one pupil, and a sun-shiny yellow-orange in the other.

Eye Shape? Thin and serious, and slightly down-turned. Small double-lid.

Glasses or contact lenses? His eyes are overall pretty healthy, but he’s slightly far-sighted. He uses glasses once in awhile to read, but they’re not super necessary.

Distinguishing facial features? Heterochromia and his adult male Miqo’te markings. He tends to wear purple eyeshadow around his eyes and a subtle purple lip tint.

Which facial feature is most prominent? The facial structure of Alus more resembles an Elezen than a typical Miqo’te; he has a long slender nose, a oval face shape and noticeably high cheekbones.

Which bodily feature is most prominent? Alus’ lion-like tail is somewhat unique among other typical Miqo’te.

Other distinguishing features? His style of dress tends to stand out in a crowd; he favors pure white and soft pastels over more popular color tones among adventurers like blacks and greys. Also unlike the typical adventurer, he is more want to wear fabrics of the fancy and soft nobleman, decked out in frills and lace like a prince locked far away in a chamber more than any man on a dusty and bloody battlefield.

Skin? Uh... a... “medium tan” skintone? (again I have no idea how tf I’m supposed to figure out labels for skin tones when there’s no widely used phrases for specific tones fghdjkgh) with a “warm gold undertone”. The small amount of skin that’s ever exposed upon him is surprisingly soft, as if he never did much hard work in his life. [SPOILER]Underneath his clothes, however...The countless scars upon his torso, back, legs and upper-arms are rough and hard, like treated leather.[/SPOILER]

Birthmarks? Not that he knows of. He has lots of scars from messing around in his childhood but he can’t remember the origin of them all. Any of them could be birth marks as far as he can tell.

Tattoos? None! And he never plans to get one. He has yet to see any tattoos that match his personal aesthetics of what he’d put on his body yet and even if he did, he can’t imagine liking them enough to want to get one.

Physical handicaps? [SPOILER]Numbness in various small patches of skin throughout his body.[SPOILER]

Type of clothes? I already answered this somewhat but if you’re curious about specifics, I made [this pinterest] of stuff I’d imagine he’d wear. Pretty much just take the “aristocrat” Japanese street fashion genre and turn it white, and give it a bit of a gold trim. Lots of frills and lace; heavily inspired by fantastical shoujo manga glorified depictions of what a Prince Charming looks like in medieval setting fairy tales.

How do they wear their clothes? Some (not all) of the specific guidelines I have in my head of what his wardrobe’s like; Colors are only pastels, white, or gold - once in a blue moon he might wear a rich dark raspberry red color or bright orange or yellow. He will NEVER wear grey or black. Pants have to be long enough to reach the ankles. He prefers wearing his shirts tucked-in. Clothes MUST fully cover everything on his body excluding head, neck, and hands at all times - low neckline acceptable in off-duty time. Under special occasions only (ie beachware); lower arms, top of feet or shins can be uncovered. He wears a lot of jabot ties.

What are their feet like? (type of shoes, state of shoes, socks, feet, pristine, dirty, worn, etc) Alus takes his quality of fashion seriously. He’s the type of guy who wears expensive fancy soft white socks trimmed with gold nobody will ever see with the little suspenders on his legs to keep the socks from sagging down. He adores wearing white pointed dress shoes, especially if they have a bit of a high heel. Gold jewelry or buckles are lovely, and any shoe with lace, bows, ribbons, fancy beadwork or faux flowers are supreme. (Google image search ‘Bridal Boots’ if you wanna see his shoes. He’d seriously wear any of them.)

Race / Ethnicity? hhhhhhhhh it’s 5am man I dont have the energy to google faces until i find a reasonable faceclaim and try to figure out that person’s ethnicity... they’re Fantasy Characters... alus is a miqo’te.. maybe had some elezen or hyur in his lineage? idk

Mannerisms? Alus is like a living embodiment of a cartoon Disney prince. I don’t know how to better describe it; He’s elegant and gentle for the most part but can also so comically stiff you could mistake him for an automaton or a piece of background cardboard - then when the moment hits, he can spring into an unrealistic slapstick looney toon nightmare. He always seems to be in a constant state of floating between elegance, stiffness, and slapstick. There is never a break. There is never an in-between.

Are they in good health? For their active life circumstances of constant physical hardship, they are in amazingly good health.

Do they have any disabilities? I don’t think of ADHD as a disability (and I’m saying that as someone who has autism and most likely ADD or ADHD myself) but it’s classified by a lot of people as a disability. So yeah, uh, Alus absolutely has ADHD.

Personality

Are they more optimistic or pessimistic? Definitely more optimistic, sometimes to a fault. I think there’s a degree of choice in there but he’s kinda lost the boundary between blind trust and trying to believe in people and situations because he morally wants to. He is still a worry wart, and that is what causes him to fight so hard as he does for making things around him better as well as making himself better - but I think he makes a very active effort of not letting anyone see that part of him, maybe in an effort to convince himself as well that everything is and will be okay.

Are they introverted or extroverted? Extroverted in a lot of ways and introverted in others. Alus loves and thrives around people, and I think he’s a bit more drained than the average person when he’s alone vs. being in a crowd, but he’s still living more as an introvert - one-on-one deep talks can make him extremely anxious. He’s great at the surface niceties but can often find himself too devoted to strangers, which leads him into trouble sometimes. He’s like a really great social co-worker and a extremely awkward off-duty member of society that doesn’t really know how to function or navigate normal relationships.

Do they ever put on airs? A b s o l u t e l y. Alus’ entire persona is carefully hand-crafted over a lifetime. It’s not to say “This isn’t who he really is, he’s a liar”, but moreso “He’s not quite the person he wishes he was yet.” He makes a really large effort to put on airs of this confident and beautiful Princely type of heroic figure straight out of a fairy tale where he simultaneously knows that such a goal is impossible, since this isn’t a story book - this is real life, he is flawed and complicated, and nothing is as perfect as you wish it was. But he keeps trying no matter what.

What bad habits do they have? Low-key bullying his brother, for sure. Arc is the only person Alus just can’t really put on airs with so his perfect image just breaks down around him. While Alus appears to be a very gentle and kind individual around other people, he’ll comically slap and roast his brother without mercy. (Don’t worry; it’s mutual between them.)

What makes them laugh out loud? Almost anything. Alus is definitely a big giggler, and an even bigger loud spontaneous laugher.

How do they display affection? There’s two major levels of it. First, it’s showering you with little gifts - sweets, flowers, even money if you’re in need, with nothing asked in return. If you’re very close to him, it’s skinship; he loves spontaneously hugging others and holding hands and all that kinda platonic stuff. He’ll pretty much not let go of your arm if you’re around him. He also loves dancing with people, you bet he’ll do the whole nine yards of weaving you around him, lifting you above his head and dipping you.

Mental handicaps? Hates being touched. He has some really bad memories of being manhandled and despises any type of physical restriction on himself, especially from people he doesn’t find VERY close to him. He hates even more to be seen in casual clothes, especially clothes that expose his skin. He’s really not a fan of his exposed body and it’s gonna take a lot for him to get over it. He’s slowly getting better but it’s a long journey.  

How do they want to be seen by others? Someone to look up to; someone to rely on. He wants to be the hope for humanity, essentially. He wants to inspire others to heroism and kindness just by seeing him, and he wants to make the world a better place just by existing in it.

How do they see themselves? Someone who’s just not good enough; Someone who needs to keep working to be better; someone who’s chosen destiny is to be the hero of humanity.

How are they seen by others? Probably as a weirdo. He definitely comes off as eccentric; his strange comedic ramblings and sudden dancing mid-conversation, as well as his random gifts and bag full of pranks, magic tricks and fireworks just really feel off-the-wall. His immediate devotion to others may also come off as exceedingly suspicious. I think how he dresses and his cafe also indicate he’s kind of the ‘rich unhinged guy’ stereotype. People who know him well though know that he’s an extremely good person who would give you the clothes off his back if you needed them more. He loves humanity and would do anything for it.

Strongest character trait? His stubborn devotion to his ideals, for sure. If he wants something, he’ll work his hardest to make sure it happens.

Weakest character trait? Far too trusting of strangers; he gets taken advantage of very easily, and he’s almost always happy to come back for more. He’ll even give the biggest villain a 2nd and 3rd and 4th chance. His inability to condemn anyone as truly evil may cause far more hardship for everyone in the long run than if he just chose to kill the person or lock them up indefinitely and be done with it.

How competitive are they? Alus thrives in competitive environments due to an absolute love and adoration for sportsmanship. He does a fantastic job making his competitors have fun and feels that a competition that is too one-sided doesn’t have any fun or worth. He loves difficult competition because he feels that it helps better himself and his rival.

Do they make snap judgements or take time to consider? Oh, he’s absolutely a “strike now while the iron’s hot” type of a guy. He knows that even a second of a wait can change things for the worse. He’s also definitely a philosophical type that thinks over every possible scenario in his mind in his off-time, but ultimately, he’ll always be the one running off to get things done as soon as they’re brought to his attention. He’s the opposite of his brother, who wants to slow things down before making rash decisions. Alus just knows those decisions need to be made, so it might as well be now, so he just gets it done and worries about the outcome later.

How do they react to praise? He’s actually probably never used to it. I think he has a bit of a low self-esteem problem in how he sees himself as never quite as good as he wants himself to be, so praise can catch him off-guard pretty easily. He’ll cover that up by clumsily stating something comically over-the-top like “Of course, I am incredible! I am the best! Mwahahaha!” but not before gasping for air and stuttering like a shy schoolgirl first.

How do they react to criticism? He has a great ability to deflect toxicity into positivity; he asks what people mean and tries to understand them. I think if the criticism can be taken as constructive, he’s always happy to take it. If the criticism is just plain mean, I think he’ll ask if there’s anything he can do to help the person he’s talking to - he knows nobody would say such mean things to another unless they were having a pretty bad day.

What is their greatest fear? Oh, y’know. Losing his brother. Slugs and slimy things. If you wanna get painful and philosophical about it, I think he’s terrified of the future. He tries to live in the moment and just do the best he can at all times, but when he sees that what he does doesn’t help a lot of the world to stay safe, it freaks him out. In his mind, he’s doing a lot, but in reality - it’s not much at the grand scheme of things. He tries not to think about it too much. He tries not to think much of the past either - of all the mistakes, of what he could and couldn’t have done. It frustrates him. I guess you could say his greatest fear is his own limits. It never feels like he’s doing enough, or even if he ever could do enough.

What are their biggest secrets? [SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY] Alus is absolutely disgusted with the military powers of the world, and the politicians. He tries to stay optimistic and bright on the outside - he stays useful and does what he can without complaint, he tries to lie to himself and say it isn’t too bad, tries to focus on the good these systems do, to be placated and trust his brother that things will work out alright in this setup - but he sincerely wishes that somehow they could be abolished entirely. He’s frustrated with the idea of any one person or power having control over the lives of others - people those single powers may never meet - will inevitably cause a lack of humanity and understanding of others. Nobody should have this power, not even him, not even the gods. As Alus’ writer, I don’t think he knows a good alternative, he just knows he’s seen enough immoral and inconsiderate shitfuckery in these systems that he can barely stand it anymore. I think many soldiers probably feel like this eventually. [/SPOILER]

What is their philosophy of life? literally just look at the [quote insp tag]

When was the last time they cried? I FEEL LIKE ALUS IS THE TYPE TO TEAR UP AT EXTREMELY COMMON SHIT TBH?? EVERYTHING IS SO BEAUTIFUL I STARTED CRYING TYPE??

What haunts them? [SPOILER]Literally just... becoming a soldier or a fighter to begin with. He wishes it never happened, he wishes the world didn’t need fighting to begin with. But he knows he can never go back now, and even if he did, he’d probably still become a soldier all over again. It’s all he can do in this violent, terrible world.[/SPOILER]

What are their political views? Notable traits would supporting equality rights for Beastmen, more funding towards helping refugees, more funding to adoption agencies and orphanages, more transparency about tax profit and spending, creating opportunities for different countries to share their culture.. etc. (Note: I like to believe that larger glaring IRL political issues like lack of LGBTQ+ rights, gender inequality, ableism, skin-color-based racism and other large current inhumane social problems aren’t problems in FFXIV’s universe. If your RP character uses bigotry in accurate line of these IRL social issues as a character trait, you are not welcome in my RP circle. Period.)

What will they stand up for? He hates violence in general, so he’ll do whatever he can to stop it. Anyone who seems to be controlling or keeping other people against their will is something he loathes. No means no!

Who do they quote? Urianger. like a lot. Probably mostly accidentally; he picks up a lot of vocal mannerisms from the guy.

Are they indoorsy or outdoorsy? Outdoorsy, for sure. He grew up under the stars and being forced indoors for a long time will probably give him feelings of anxiousness and claustrophobia, especially if the space is small. He has had some bad experiences being unable to go outside so he takes his freedom to roam outdoors very seriously.

What is their sinful little habit? He loves sweets. This guy is all about boasting a healthy diet, but his weakness shows the exact opposite. More serious answer: He tends to procrastinate bad, especially when it comes to his passive military duties.

How do they treat people better than them? If they breathe, they’re royalty. Utmost respect and courtesy. Treats them as if he’s the royal butler to their fancy ass selves, even if they’re the lowest of the low in poverty.

How do they treat people worse than them? Honestly? Pretty much the same answer as above. If he gets truly angry at someone, he’ll tell them how and why straight-up, but he’ll never stop giving them the respect and courtesy he believes every human being deserves.

What quality do they most value in a friend? Someone who is as ridiculously open-hearted and ready to confess love to the nearest person along with anything else in the world as Alus tends to do, but also someone who pays close enough attention to him that they can tell when he’s in distress. Alus has a hard time speaking up about when he feels uncomfortable, so someone who has a talent for empathy - detecting other peoples’ emotions - would be incredibly invaluable. That’s the fastest way to his heart.

What do they consider an overrated virtue? None, and all. He thinks that if anyone gets carried away with any traditional virtue to the point that they’re causing evil in the world, they’re just misguided. He understands that - or at least actively wants to understand that - so he can forgive.

If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be? He... honestly thinks of himself as more of an Elezen than a Miqo’te. So anything that ‘gives away’ that he’s a Miqo’te, he could probably do without. He likes his ears and his tail though! But maybe if he was taller? lmao. (I don’t intend to ever Fantasia Alus FYI, MAYBE if male viera comes out and my partner agrees to it AND I have absolutely no active RP going on, but it’s very unlikely, and if it does happen it will be considered a retcon, not a character development)

What is their obsession? Definitely his aesthetics. He spends an incredibly large amount of time, effort, and money on making himself look and properly act like a “fairy tale prince charming”. It’s not only a philosophical mindset of being moral and heroic, but also being charming and supportive to everyone around himself. He honestly hopes and believes that if he succeeds in creating and upholding this image that every person who rests their eyes upon him will be filled with determination and hope that heroism and safety is real.

What are their pet peeves? He disapproves of the glorification of alcohol, smoking, or any other vices that are bad for the average person’s health. He won’t turn away the people with these vices as potential friends, but he’ll certainly be tempted to lecture them on it. He is also really not a fan of casual skinship between strangers, nor is he a fan of an aggressively pessimistic attitude, nor will he ever really be used to people who wear very little clothing (He isn’t disapproving of the sex industry or sex workers per say, he just doesn’t ‘get it’; he could never imagine himself in their shoes), nor is he a fan of other people trying to change him to be more chill about his aesthetic code (how he dresses, how he positively interacts with others, etc.) - but he tends to be more quiet about his dislike of these things. He tries to stay open minded and patient, but yeah, maybe it’ll take a bit longer to get to ‘close friend’ status with these things.

What are their idiosyncrasies? (special mannerisms?) His posture tends to be stiff as a board: too perfect, like some sort of breathing statue or mechanic humanoid, while at other times it’s as if a switch is flipped to make him become a crazy slapstick ragdoll. He tends to speak in a constant fluctuation of ‘ye olde English’ and common casual speech, and he keeps a few feet distance from people he isn’t especially close with at all times. He’s generous with money and far too trusting of strangers to the point it feels like an overblown parody of these traits. He’s painfully optimistic and takes compliments first with a moment of surprise before he adjusts his reaction with over-the-top narcissistic vigor. He’s a constantly faltering image of himself. He’s a walking symbolism of good-hearted chaos.

Friends and Family

Is their family big or small? Who does it consist of? The only people Alus regards as true family is his twin brother, Arc, and his late adoptive father, Gwenneg. There are other Beauregards in the world, and other great “found family”-esque friends yet to make, but Alus cannot imagine them ever meeting the kind of friendship and connection he has with his brother and had with his father. Perhaps he’s tried in the past, but it just never feels the same. He’s at the point he’s given up on the idea of it happening casually.

What is their perception of family? A close-knit group that is always there for eachother, practically living at eachother’s hips. The type of people you can just glance at and they can read your mind, and even if they disagree with you, they’ll go along with you and fix it later. They’re always up for improving eachother. They are essentially extensions of oneself, and like limbs, even if such is cut - it is carefully looked after and healed, the rest of the body worries and tries to better it, never blaming it’s limb for not being good enough. All part of one system.

Describe their best friend. Arc is undeniably Alus’ best friend. I feel a bit weird talking about my friend’s OC for them, but I will say this; Arc’s strengths are in his slow and strategic approach to things; his love of politics and ability to glide through them, the way he finds the best routes and setups in battle, the timing, everything down to the little tiniest details to turn a battle of either wits or blood - he thinks over all of it, something Alus lacks. And despite being much less prone to trust than the willingly naive Alus, he can find the good in just about anybody when it really comes down to it. Arc knows the dark side of this world and is constantly aware and remembering of it, but understands it’s still worth fighting for. He’s also got a pretty good fashion sense! He seems extremely shady when it comes to his bar business though... It seems to be played up as a joke, but you’re never quite sure as you’re talking to him about it.

Ideal best friend? In assumption this means ‘a best friend besides Arc’, I think Alus’ standards are low. Of course, he’d love to have someone who shares his basic interests of aesthetics and his moral philosophy that centralizes on a love for humanity, and the honor and strength of action to act on it, but he also wants to know someone who can teach him a lot. I think that type of person could be absolutely anyone, especially someone that is nothing like him. Alus doesn’t want to necessarily completely change himself through the journey of knowing anothers’ life, nor change someone else entirely either, even if it’s for the better. He just wants mutual understanding with others. He finds a joy that can be found nowhere else when he feels two people, who don’t have anything in common, can find a common ground. This kind of thing excites him. I think something in-between -- someone who is a lot like him in a lot of ways, but has a few traits he lacks completely -- is ideal for him. 

Describe their other friends / Describe their acquaintances. (combo’d) Alus doesn’t really have other people he regards true friends, I think. He kinda regards every person he meets as his friends. That’s really all there is to it for him.

Do they have any pets? No pets, just a lot of animals that follow him around for food scraps and snacks. He always has an open window for birds and butterflies, and an open door to dodos and chickens and stray cats. He enjoys the company of birds the most, though he’s a fan of the loyal doggy too. In terms of his mounts - He mainly only claims ownership over his military-issued chocobo for paperwork purposes, but regards her as a friend without a voice more than an animal under his ownership.  

Who are their natural allies? Anyone who agrees for humanitarian rights, I think. Alus just exists to be a hero, really.

Who are their surprising allies? People he once fought. He always reaches out a hand for people who’ve made mistakes and tells them that he’ll be their friend if they agree to stop their mean-spirited behavior.

Past and Future

What was your character like as a baby? As a child? Equal combination “good kid” and “absolute little shit”; On the surface, he’d always be loyal to his father and polite to strangers, but the second he and his brother got some time to themselves they’d get into all kinds of shenanigans - especially if they manage to find some way to conceal their identity. Most of those shenanigans were pranks trying to scare people with All Saint’s Wake-esque props. They were also a time they were absolutely not above purposely trying to confuse people on which brother was which whenever it was convenient or just funny.

Did they grow up rich or poor? Poor, but I think he still thought himself as lucky. He might not have had a big room to himself or a lot of possessions, but he got to travel the world and meet so many interesting people and see so many interesting things in his father’s caravan.

Did they grow up nurtured or neglected? Nurtured for sure. His family were joined at the hip.

What is the most offensive thing they ever said? I’m sure Alus used to have a potty mouth when he was a kid and young teen. He picked it up from being exposed to so many different individuals growing up. If he’s been around a lot of sailors in Lima Lominsa, I think it’s a safe bet that he probably swore like one too. After his father died that changed almost immediately though in order to honor his dad’s memory.

What is their greatest achievement? I’m sure there’s much more impressive individual achievements he has accomplished - monsters he’s fought, hostage situations he’s negotiated, villains he’s managed to persuade to become heroes, but if you asked him, he’d tell you that simply being lucky enough to be chosen to become one of the Warriors of Light or opening his cafe are the achievements he’s most proud of.

What was their first kiss like? [spoiler]Still haven’t had it![/spoiler]

What is the worst thing they did to someone they loved? I feel like even though Alus adored his father, he probably did a lot of things to make him worried or stressed out, maybe even ran away once or twice just for the fun of it. It was a lot more innocent time for Alus and I don’t think he’d do anything like that in adulthood.

What are their ambitions? Alus just wants to end all war. Full stop. It’s not that complicated. He doesn’t really know the most effective way how to, though. He just keeps doing whatever he can when people request his help - which usually ends up taking advantage of his physical combat skills.

What advice would they give their younger self? Cherish this time. Hug your father and tell him you love him more often. And maybe focus on being a medic or someone who helps the world peacefully more than someone who uses violence to solve the world’s problems. Maybe care a little more about politics.

What smells remind them of their childhood? Chamomile, road dust, seasalt,  and old fancy dusty antiques. 

What was their childhood ambition? To grow up to be a glamorous warrior that saves the world again and again and to rescue a pretty princess.

What is their best childhood memory? Dancing on the streets of Ul’dah with his brother for a little extra pocket money and becoming unexpectedly popular.

What is their worst childhood memory? Losing his father to the calamity and being passed between temporary foster homes again and again, then finally losing his brother in that mess, too.

Did they have an imaginary childhood friend? Alus left out honeyed milk for faeries all the time as a child. Post-calamity, he started to quietly make-believe that faeries and little unicorns visited him when he was particularly lonely or bored, or just wanted to escape his own mind for awhile.

When was the last time they were crushed with disappointment? [FFXIV POST-STORMBLOOD SPOILER]Hearing about Zenos’ body being revived against Zenos’ wishes for a perfect death.[/SPOILER]

What past act are they most ashamed of? Any time Alus can’t save someone from death. Sometimes, Alus must be the one to kill them himself. This is an unbearable sin to bear for him.

What past act are they most proud of? Any time he can save someone. Any time he can help the suffering of someone by giving a little coin. Every time he has made someone smile. It is all the most cherishable, wonderful memories to him. None better than the others.

Has anyone ever saved their life? His twin brother Arc probably on at least a weekly basis. I think saving eachothers’ lives is a regular thing on a battlefield, even if your ally is basically a stranger.

Strongest childhood memory? Just sitting underneath the stars, curled up under a blanket with his brother while they rest their head on their father’s lap as he reads them bedtime stories.

Love

Do they believe in love at first sight? Absolutely. Guy will trust anyone at the drop of a hat, why not fall in love, too?

Are they in a relationship? Not officially, no. I think he casually flirts a lot and has gone out on sporadic dates with many people, but he hasn’t become anyone’s “steady”.

How do they behave in a relationship? Alus is extremely inexperienced. I think he’ll end up trying so hard to show off to whoever he’s dating that he’ll become exhausted. He wants to treat his future spouse like royalty.

When did you character last have sex? [SPOILER]Never![/SPOILER]

What sort of sex do they have? Nothing kinky or out there, he’s a shy confused mess to begin with when it comes to sex - he’s probably very reserved and traditional about it. I should note that Alus is canonically asexual, even if he doesn’t fully realize it yet. He doesn’t really understand the appeal of sex but he’d want his significant other to be happy. [NSFW/18+] He’d definitely insist on being a top, though. [/SAFE!]

Has your character ever been in love? As an greyromantic writer, I have no fucking solid idea what romantic love is supposed to be defined as. If you define it as ‘fantasizing about having a certain person in mind as a future spouse’ then, yes, Alus has been in love loads of times.

Have they ever had their heart broken? Many times, but it rarely gets him down for too long - he’ll fall in love with the next person he sees, then the cycle restarts.

Conflict

How do they respond to a threat? A fake, forced smile. Explaining calmly to the enemy that what they’re doing is wrong. Explaining calmly to the enemy to drop it and go drink tea with him instead. If being calm doesn’t work, yelling at them about their hypocritical morality like some sort of shounen superhero making a speech.

Are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue? Tongue, for sure. Alus will be so painfully reasonable with his enemies that the only way he’s drawing his sword to fight is someone else draws first.

What is your character’s kryptonite? Like any hero, he’s a sucker for hostages. Also, math completely turns him fucking stupid. [SPOILER]Also... having his morality questioned, especially being accused of being a hypocrite.[/SPOILER]

If your character could only save one thing from their burning house, what would it be? A faerie tale storybook from his childhood his father read to him often when he was alive.

How do they perceive strangers? “A friend he doesn’t know yet.”

What do they love to hate? I don’t really imagine Alus truly ‘hates’ anything or anyone, just greatly dislikes or disapproves of them. And even then I think he doesn’t particularly enjoy disliking them. I don’t think he views negative feelings as something to be prideful over.

What are their phobias? Slugs and other slimy creatures, as well as mild situational claustrophobia.

What is their choice of weapon? His fists, for sure; there’s some sort of philosophy inside his mind that fighting with his bare hands or body without tools or weapons to aid him is the ultimate form of respect towards other human beings’ pain and livelihood - he wants them to know he shall feel pain right back if he strikes someone else, and he’s allowing himself the possibility to be hurt in return.

What living person do they most despise? I think anyone who justifies war or pain as a glorious and wonderful thing instead of a tragedy is someone he dislikes. Especially if said person has no respect for human life or the bodies of the fallen.

Have they ever been bullied or teased? Plenty. Unfortunately mostly his given name is particularly targetted. He’s also been called too soft plenty of times.

Where do they go when they’re angry? Home - his house is well soundproofed and cozy. He may go on an off-trail walk alone in the middle of Thanalan or the like.

Who are their enemies and why? The Garlean army, the Ascians.. do you really need to ask why? They wish to create death and chaos, that’s plenty of a reason enough.

Work, Education and Hobbies

What is their current job? Maelstrom military field medic, café proprietor, free paladin

What do they think about their current job? The café is seemingly always empty, but he doesn’t mind continuing to pour money into it. It’s a safe haven to him and a symbol of his independence from the violent life of military duty. Being a field medic is endlessly horrifying, but he’s glad he can help people. His status of Free Paladin makes him obligated to carry out duties to help Eorzea, which is something he’s proud of - but he is always not all that great at drawing his sword at the sign of trouble.

What are some of their past jobs? The only other “jobs” Alus has had in the past were mostly just side jobs for a little extra pocket money, mostly dancing on the street.

What are their hobbies? Dancing, capoeira martial arts, piano, tea brewing, baking, reading, writing, sketching, watercolor art, goldsmithing, fashion, bird keeping.

Educational background? Went to a school for accounting for a few years. He retained absolutely no information about accounting.

Intelligence level? Literate; can read older more complex texts easily. Good with maps. More of a “physical education” kinda guy.

Do they have any specialist training? Paladin training. Nothing else formal.

Do they have a natural talent for something? Weirdly incredibly good at parkour - stuff like navigating tightropes and climbing up buildings without any hesitation or struggle.

What is their socioeconomic status? At the moment, Alus is pretty well-off. He and his brother own their own business in the Lavender Beds, and Alus can afford high class clothes, hobbies, furniture and the like. He’s also prone to donate to charity near constantly.

Favourites

What is their favourite animal? whatever birds are ROUND

Which animal to they dislike the most? S L U G S

What place would they most like to visit? His cafe, honestly. It’s a safe haven.

What is the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen? People.

What is their favourite song? Simply Satie

Music, art, reading preferred? Alus loves playing piano, drawing sketches and reading storybooks. I don’t think he could trade one for the other! (He’s awful at singing though.)

What is their favourite colour? Pale blue, white, yellow-gold, and pastel pink.

What is their password? “Password”. Nobody will ever get it!

Favourite food: La Noscean toast! (AKA French toast!) with lots of berries and whipped cream!

Who is their favourite artist? ??? ((OOC: if Alphonse Mucha was in FFXIV it’d be him idk))

What is their favourite day of the week? E V E R Y D A Y (but probably mostly Sunday)

Possessions

What is in their fridge: Fresh salad, fruits, fresh berries, vegetables, tofu, jackfruit, orange juice, leftover strawberry shortcake, protein shakes, leftover rice, eggs, butter, yogurt, frozen berries... and even fresh flowers?

What is on their bedside table? A dozen lighthearted fairytale and academic books on aether he recycles through reading every night as he goes to bed, a pitcher & glass of water, a vase with a flower in it, reading glasses, 3 inch tall lil stuffed dodo.

What is in their bin? Compost bin for old fruits/vegetables/egg shells/bread and a recycling bin full of paper and packaging garbage.

What is in their bag? A lot of coin, a hairbrush, a box of ice chilled flowers, travel-size beauty products, lots of fireworks and other fun little spectacle toys, a pocket-sized book of poetry, a basic armor polishing set, a miniature sewing kit, bandages, healing potions.

What is their most treasured possession? A very old and damaged book of fairy tales from his childhood.

Spirituality

Who or what is your character’s guardian angel? His adoptive father - at least, that’s what he wants to believe.

Do they believe in the afterlife? Yes! Very much so.

What are their religious views? [SPOILER]Alus has a complicated relationship with religion. For the most part of his life, he’s believed in The Twelve like every other Eorzean, but as he’s grown older he’s found himself more and more impatient and even disgusted of the cruelties that the gods allow to happen, and the ways followers of Nald’thal and Halone use their religion as a means to prey on the weak for the sake of money, classism, and racial disparity. Hearing the words of Garlean soldiers point out that proof that The Twelve exist is seemingly nonexistent has further disrupted Alus’ belief in them. Alus does, however, firmly believe in Hydaelyn.[/SPOILER]

What do they think heaven is? Alus has no true confident belief in what exactly the seven heavens are, but he likes to think heaven is a place where flowers bloom all the time, the weather is always warm and sunny, bugs don’t bother you and war and violence never happen, and relaxing tea parties are hosted all day long, clothes are comfortable and pretty and never soiled by dirt and mud no matter how much you play in the grass.

What do they think hell is? Like many Eorzeans, Alus believes in the seven hells. The seven hells are a place that one must climb out of to eventually make it to heaven, and depending on how bad of a person you were in life, the deeper in hell you start out in after you die, and the more you have to climb before you get upward into heaven. Alus finds great comfort in this ideology because it means that no matter how bad a person was in life, they may still find forgiveness and redemption in death.

Are they superstitious? I think he’s open-minded. He seems to discover so many legends of being real every day that it’s difficult for him not to believe in anything and everything he hears. He tries to be respectful of the unknown and follow their rules, but when push comes to shove it’s all about the grandest happiness for everyone - he will challenge whatever fae or ghostly apparition that wants to mess with him if he thinks what they’re doing is immoral or unfair. 

What would they like to be reincarnated as? A stream. A rosebush. A rainbow. Something that others can look at and feel at peace, something for others to enjoy. A way to give love without living a life that inevitably creates suffering through heroism. To just exist as part of the beauty in the world.

How would they like to die? He doesn’t know. Death scares him. He does not want to die in battle. He does not want to die sleeping in a bed. But he wishes he’ll be old. He wishes he’ll have lots of friends. And he wishes he did everything he could while he was alive to make the world a better place as much as he possibly could.

What animal is most like your character, spiritually speaking? .... A golden retriever. Eager to please, extremely loving and loyal, a strong body, picky about weird things, and incredibly goofy.

Values

What do they think is the worst thing that can be done to a person? Betrayal?? torture?? bullying?? rape?? what do you want from me. He hates all forms of toxic and violent behavior!!

What is their view of ‘freedom’? The ability to form your own path; the ability to be whatever you want, even if the dream seems impossible to everyone else. The ability to go anywhere you want, walk and run anywhere you want, travel anywhere you want. The ability to say no when you want. The ability to be respected as independent.

How often do they lie? NEVER!!!!!!! He might bend the truth a little bit or side-step an answer but even white lies he’s not into. He rarely needs to white lie about anything anyway; he tends to see the best in everything.

What’s their view of lying? BAD AND UNNESSESARY

How often do they make promises? Constantly.

How often do they keep or break their promises? He 100% keeps his promises unless he’s literally physically incapacitated and in which case he will apologize and try to make it up to you so much

Daily life

What are their eating habits? Vegetarian. He eats really healthy and he eats a lot. Big fan of asian food I think. Has no problems eating stuff that’s bland as hell; I feel like it’s part of his determination to better himself. Has a terrible weakness for sweets, though. Secretly hates stuff that’s slimy, like mushrooms, but he will never complain if it’s given to him.

Do they have any allergies? Nope, he’s lucky. If he does, he hasn’t discovered it yet.

Describe their home. Very white, tons of gold nouveau trim on everything, and tons of flowers everywhere. Looks like the home of royalty. [Here’s his housing aesthetic.]

Are they minimalist or a clutter hoarder? Neither, I think. Maybe leaning closer to minimalist over clutter-lover; he likes everything being clean and easy to access in his house. His design aesthetic of nouveau isn’t necessarily minimalist in inherent style though imo.

What do they do first thing on a weekday morning? Wakes up extra early, takes a quick cool shower to wake himself up, eats a quick and simple breakfast full of protein; most likely something with a lot of nuts and eggs as it’s ingredients + big salad. packs a simple lunchbox and starts his day: Every morning, he walks to the statues of Nald and Thal, viewing the warm pink sunrise in the process. he pays his respects to each; cleans and dusts with a simple cleaning kit he’s left there prior. Leaves some simple offerings. Finds somewhere nice and empty in Thanalan to do some excercises and martial arts training for the day. sits down and eats lunch afterwards. lazily walks home, takes another quick shower to get the sweat and dust off. while his hair is drying, he puts on makeup and decides a proper outfit to wear for the day. meets up with arc, goes on their obliged military-issued mission for the day.

What do they do on a Sunday afternoon? Makes an effort to drag Arc over to his place for a big fancy dinner. Tea and crumpets as an early evening appetizer. Alus cooks everything while Arc hangs out and talks, lending a bit of help when Alus demands asks for him. Arc sneaks in alcohol. Alus yells at him. repeat next week.

What do they do on a Friday night? this but like, outside, alone, in the middle of thanalan somewhere

What is the soft drink of choice? If soft drinks existed in Eorzea I can’t help but feel like Alus is one of those freaks who don’t like any of them.

What is their alcoholic drink of choice? NO

Miscellaneous

What is their character archetype? This question originally linked to some basic archetypes, but I already have TVtropes collected and they’re far more interesting as an answer imo SO: [All-Loving Hero], [Reluctant Warrior], [Cloudcuckoolander], [Warrior Poet], [Stepford Smiler], [Motor Mouth], [Large Ham], [Stupid Good], [In Touch With His Feminine Side], [The Fashionista], [Light Is Good], [Flower Motifs], [Declaration of Protection].

Who is their hero? I don’t think Alus has a specific person in mind that isn’t fictional - fact is, nobody is as perfect as the type of person he strives to be. I think he finds traits of admirable heroism everywhere in people, though. Everything from his friends who fight for the good of the world no matter what, from the villain who unexpectedly saves someone while nobody else is watching, to the single mother who works hard to raise her children, to the homeless people who just continue to fight on to live even when everything feels so hopeless around them. I think he sees traits in others he wishes he had all the time. He wants to embody all the good traits of everyone. And I should mention, if one is to have a ‘hero’, it is expected that person to be better than one, yes? I don’t think Alus believes he’s particularly better than anyone else, especially in their positive traits.

What or who would your character dress up as for Halloween? Alus goes HARD on All Saint’s Wake. He and Arc’s signature best costume always ends up being these hyper-realistic ghost costumes that they trick out with special glamours, magic, and tech to surprise the passerby. If it doesn’t genuinely scare someone, it isn’t enough!

Are they comfortable with technology? I think he’s absolutely got the boomer brain when it comes to allagan technology. He can get by fixing old mechanical clocks and the like but when it comes to allagan stuff, he’s just absolutely out of his element. He’ll certainly listen if someone wants to try explaining it to him, but it’ll take considerable time before he fully “gets it” and usually when he does, it’s more on blind faith and an ability to follow basic directions more than true understanding. I think in general it just doesn’t really interest him and if he’s going to spend the time and energy to learn about it, he’d rather use that energy on his other interests - books, physical training, baking and the like. (Modern AU: He’s absolutely the guy still using an ancient flip phone because “It still works!” Also, he capitalizes and uses perfect grammar in all his extremely-hard-to-type number code texts.)

If they could save one person, who would it be? It’s a difficult question, because of course - the first person to come to mind is Arc. But the thing is, Arc can take care of himself. And Alus knows this. Alus trusts this. So when it comes down to choosing between Arc and someone less capable.. Alus will most likely help the less capable person. If Arc is hurt, Alus knows he’ll forgive him. But if Arc were to die? And it be Alus’ fault? It would utterly crush him.

If they could call one person for help, who would it be? Arc, of course. There’s nobody Alus would rather have by his side while dealing with problems.

What is their favourite proverb? “Since it is likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and courage.” – C.S. Lewis (Personally my fav proverb in thinkin about Alus is “Because the world is so full of death and horror, I try again and again to console my heart and pick the flowers that grow in the midst of hell.” – Hermann Hesse)

What is their greatest extravagance? This is kind of a depressing and even controversial answer, but it’s honestly any time he has ducked out from military duty with or without permission when all of it has just gotten to him too much. He knows that him not being there will be more of a problem than a solution - he knows that - but any moment he can just pretend, for a moment, that he’s just a normal man running a normal little girlish cafe during a time without war.. That’s his greatest extravagance.  

What is their greatest regret? The amount of enemies he has been forced to down when talk wasn’t enough is piling higher and higher every moon cycle. It’s an absolute horror. He tries so hard to be nonlethal as possible. He’s studied so much how to avoid vital organs, how to down someone without hurting them badly, but no matter what there is always the chance of there being a prior injury he didn’t know about, or a undiagnosed medical problem that was just activated by the smallest knock.. That isn’t even to mention the people who have been hurt because the people he talked down didn’t keep their word or stood back up when he thought they’d stay asleep. No matter what, he just isn’t enough to save everyone. Why is it that no matter how hard he works to have this ideal of pacifism, it never works completely? Why is it never enough?

What is their perception of redemption? That the unwavering truth of this world is that people are fundamentally capable of change. He refuses to believe otherwise, no matter what. Perhaps it is an active choice instead of an instinctual one, nobody is certain for Alus’ mindful case. He believes the expectation for lifelong punishment for a past crime is petty and cruel, and in itself deters people from switching sides for the better. He believes anyone and everyone deserves the right to have the choice to right their wrongs at any time. Don’t misunderstand though - He understands sometimes people are far too gone for simply dropping everything they’ve done and that’s enough to erase their mistakes - he knows that some people can only find rightful redemption in the afterlife after execution, even if execution is not an ideal solution to stopping them in his eyes. But he prays for them. He’ll never give up on anyone.

What would they do if they won the lottery? Back into investments or savings to get an even bigger profit later. Alus knows how to play the smart long game. But uh... If the fates play a trick and he sees a beautiful fashion piece in a shop window, maybe that won’t last too long. He’s also notoriously overly generous with money to the needy, he spends money on service tips like pouring water out of a glass. Money is always moving, and if he starts to run low, he just works a little harder to get back to the comfort zone. He’s in a pretty good place in his life monetarily wise atm already.

What is their favourite fairytale? It’s difficult to answer this because I don’t know what sorts of stories exist in Eorzean canon! But I can say that the real-world 1986 manga “The Sword of Paros” is a huge inspiration to Alus’ character. It’s about a person born with the title of ‘Princess’ who believes to have been born the wrong gender, and does everything in their power to prove themselves worthy of the title of ‘Prince’ despite immeasurable odds against them from their family and their country. The hero also falls in love with a commoner woman who wishes nothing more to be loved by the idyllic image of a charming knight in shining armor that comes and rescues her, and their love is ultimately tragic as it’s also not recognized as valid.. but the prince never stops fighting for his title and the right of his love, and the ability for them both to be happy. Though the story ends without the ideal conclusion, the very concept of these characters fighting against all odds for something genuinely better for the whole world is something Alus is really all about. (Also, seriously, read this manga. It’s groundbreaking. It’s Utena done right.)

What fairytale do they hate? Any faerietales that have unhappy endings, or seem to focus strongly on tragedy or pessimistic ideas of realism in the world. That tends to fall into the category of ‘cautionary tales’ most the time. He’s also really not a fan of stories with body horror or gore.

Do they believe in happy endings? I think he believes that happy endings should always be the goal, but I don’t think he truly accepts that they actually exist. He understands that happiness and safety is always temporary, and this is why he should always strive to make the world a better place. If he helps someone get to a point that they’re happy, healthy, and safe - he’ll just move on to the next person who needs his help. A happy ending for himself though? I think he’s not confident in it, but he wants to live every day to the fullest as he can before he dies. He accepts this as part of his duty - he knows he’s living on ultimately borrowed time.

What is their idea of perfect happiness? Being in love, being surrounded by people you love, having the support of others you trust and having the ability to spoil the people you care about. Having a home you’ll never be kicked out of.. And no war that you have to leave to. No people you have to harm. Just the peace to drink tea with your former enemies as you gaze out onto flowers on a warm day... That’s all he ever wants.

What would they ask a fortune teller? I think he’s concerned if he’ll ever someone to truly share his life with besides his brother. He just really wants a good friend.. Ideally, someone attractive he can hold the hand of!

If your character could travel through time, where would they go? Before the Calamity. He’d just want to listen to his father tell him a few more stories again. He misses the peacefulness of his childhood, the certainty that someone out there stronger than him loved him and wanted to keep him safe, the ability to ignore his own call to war... He wouldn’t so selfish to want to try and bend fate enough to save his father, though he would if he had the chance.. But he knows it’s impossible.

What sport do they excel at? (Modern AU) He was definitely a cheerleader in highschool and/or college, I feel like. Probably into dancing! And ofc a dedicated martial artist. I feel like he’d be pretty good at football and wrestling too - games that require a bulky build to be great at - but he just doesn’t have a particular interest in either of those.

What sport do they suck at? (Modern AU) Probably stuff like archery and tennis -  not only would he’d thrive better in big team sports, he’s just not much for long-range dexterity. He’d also be absolutely incompetent as an esports competitor lmfao.

If they could have a superpower, what would they choose? Anything that was especially effective at saving peoples’ lives. Time travel to stop mistakes before they happen or say the right thing before a war breaks out, super effective healing powers... anything. Just to stop suffering and death.

[the-bromance-rec-blog]

Finally, this blog that bears the name “bromance-is-life” manages to introduce to you a bromance-ish manga! I’m glad... (￣▽￣) (If you haven’t noticed, the previous 3 recommendations are all shounen-ai rather than bromance).

——

Bloody Mary (Samamiya Akaza)

Genre: Mystery, Supernatural, Drama, Shoujo

Synopsis (taken & modified from BakaUpdates):

This is an unusual story of an immortal vampire who wants to die and a mortal priest who wants to live.

After hundreds of years, Bloody - an immortal vampire who wants nothing more than to go to his final ‘rest in peace’ - discovered the whereabouts of Maria, a legendary exorcist who has "Maria's Blood” - the one and only thing that could kill an undead vampire.

It turned out that this particular Maria was merely a descendent, and was himself clueless about how to actually kill vampires. However, being the carrier of “Maria’s Blood”, Maria was constantly being targeted by vampires. Hence, an unlikely partnership formed between the two: Bloody would protect Maria and in exhange, Maria had to find a way to end Bloody’s immortality.

Length: Completed (40 chapters)

Translation: Completed (40 chapters) by Bloody Scans

Personal review:

+ Some of you might be familiar with this artist through her shounen-ai work Torigako Syndrome. I adore her art. It is stylish and pleasant to the eyes. Maria is so hot he can be the sole reason for you to pick up this manga.

+ The main characters, especially Bloody, are really cute, and their dynamic develops nicely as the story progresses. I love their hella gay fluffy moments.

+ Story is not exactly the most original, but there is an actual plot and dark secrets that you would want to uncover. It can be over-the-top at times, but which vampire stories don’t get over-the-top occasionally?

- Given the Gothic setting, it is no surprise that the manga focuses heavily on death and romance. Or, in summary, most characters die because of their romantic affairs... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m not a fan of such method of killing off characters, I guess. However, in all fairness, the themes of death and romance can be a plus point to some readers.

- Many characters, each with their own motives and backstories, are packed into mere 10 volumes. Thus some of their stories might feel a bit half-baked.

Verdict: Read it. The ship of Maria x Bloody is already strong enough a reason for you to start reading! Here’s some precious spoiler:

Excuse me if this isn’t a proposal then what is.

See, now you are convinced (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧.

[curestardust]

if you want: slice-of-life / realistic portrayal of wlw relationships with no fanservice 

We obviously know why I’m here. If something contains wlw, expect me to appear there sooner or later.

Aoi Hana is a pretty special series. Among all the shoujo ai series whose main draw is the fanservice and the fetishization of girl on girl action, Aoi Hana contains none of that. It’s a quite realistic take on the “genre”.

The way I’d describe this anime would be to say that it’s about “Fumi’s first love”. Our main cast consists of Fumi, a very timid and gentle girl who moves back to her hometown where she meets Akira (Aa-chan) with whom she used to be friends with as kids. Despite the expected premise, Aoi Hana isn’t a love story between these two. Fumi meets a girl called Sugimoto on her first day in her new school. They eventually start dating. The series is basically about Fumi’s personal growth throughout this relationship with multiple characters and their interjecting love interests keeping things even more interesting. I’d also like to mention that while wlw relationships are the focal point of the anime, Fumi is the only lesbian in the bunch. Two other main characters are bisexuals and we aren’t really given anything to figure out Aa-chan’s.

With the complicated relationship “drama” you’d expect Aoi Hana to be pretty spicy but it’s a slice-of-life through and through. The story advances at a very slow pace and focuses quite a bit on side-characters’ relationships, friendships and just general school life.

The technical side perfectly mirrors the anime’s pacing and general atmoshpere. The OST contains a lot of piano and various musical instruments and the OP/ED are both slow and soothing. The animation is very smooth and the art direction is quite interesting with the backgrounds only being drawn as if they were just sketched. The character designs are simple but distinct.

However, there’s a reason I said that this is about “Fumi’s FIRST love” as this is just a small piece of the actual story. The manga was unfinished at the time of this production and thus they decided to leave the ending SOMEWHAT open-ended. Not in a bad way as most of the story threads have been wrapped up but they left room for a potential sequel which I’d love to see so bad!”

Sidenote: compared to my review my score may seem low and that is because I may have appreciated how the series was handled, I’m really not a sucker for SOL and the pacing was way too slow for me personally. [7/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: boobs and asses tbh / okay-ish beach volleyball matches

Harukana Recieve is a sports anime mixed with some slice-of-life. Which sport? Beach volleyball. And as I found out from watching this, that is apparently very different from normal volleyball.

The story starts out with Haruka, who moves in with her cousin Kanata. Now living near the ocean, Haruka obviously takes a trip down to check it out where she meets 2 girls playing beach volleyball. Later it turns out that Kanata has certain connections to the pair. This is the start of how Haruka gets her first taste of the sport which later leads to her pairing up with Kanata. A bit later we meet another pair, the Thomas twins, who get the other 2 to join the beach volleyball club at school.

Honestly, Harukana Recieve was quite boring to me. The slice-of-life between the matches felt really slow. They did give some character bulding moments to our characters, however this being a sports anime I think the same could’ve been achieved during or after some exciting matches. And while the anime tries to give some depth to our cast, for quite some time I could only think of them as the tropes they represent...cause of the fanservice.

I looked at a few pages of the manga and was surprised to see that the characters don’t look like they came out of a hentai which means that making their boobs 3 times the size of what they were in the manga was a conscious choice. The creators most likely thought that the story couldn’t carry the anime and instead they filled the empty spots with a lot of eyecandy. Boob jiggles, close up shots of their asses and of course weirdly small swimsuits, everything a salivating virgin would want and more!

Shortly about beach volleyball from what the anime told me: a team consists of 2 people. A pair can only touch the ball 3 times while it’s in their court before needing to send it over the net. This part was initially what I thought made the matches quite boring to watch as it really doesn’t offer much variety. The tactics were the exact same for a long while. Recieve the ball, second person goes up to the net and passes up the ball to be hit over, first person jumps up and hits ball over. Repeat. However, I took a look at some actual real life beach volleyball matches and I realized the problem. The camera work. In real life, the passing of the ball is incredibly fast paced. You barely have time to think, the ball is just flying all over the place. In the anime however, they often pan on the ball while it’s in the air or even slow down the camera after a hit, making the matches feel much more sluggish than they actually would be. This is made worse by the fact that they barely use any wider shots, mostly just close ups from a lot of weird angles, making it hard to discern how big the court actually is and following the ball’s trajectory is almost impossible, as sometimes the ball looks like it got launched into the stratosphere and then we pan to literally a few meters from the person who hit it.

Obviously, the lack of tactics used in the matches could be attributed to the fact that Haruka is new and she is slowly progressing. Which is realistic, but doesn’t make it any less boring. 

The final 3 episodes more or less consist of one match, which is the most exciting part of the whole thing. It still has the problems I pointed out above but as the 2 pairs are both more or less experienced, the fooling around is finally over and replaced by some actual tactical playing. It helps that the match also carries much more emotional weight than the ones before.

Well this ended up being hella long...if you just wanna look at boobs and asses go ahead tbh. If you want the beach volleyball part just watch the last 3 episodes. If you’re not interestested in either, then... [5/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: beautiful presentation and nature scenes / some insight into diving /  iyashikei (healing slice-of-life anime) / peculiar charm

Amanchu! is a special case for me. I see it mentioned a lot that one of the most exciting points of the anime is that it’s made by the creator of Aria, which I’ve obviously heard of but haven’t seen yet. And while this would work great towards me not comparing it to a prior work of the mangaka, I still made a mistake by having preconceptions about what this anime would be like. 

My vague memory of the plot was that it was going to be about a diving club. Great! Basically another sports anime, which I’m fine with. However that wasn’t quite the case.

In the beginning, we’re introduced to Futaba (Teko) who moves into a new town, away from her dear friends. She is very shy and timid. Then at her new school she happens to meet a peculiar girl named Hikari (Pikari) who quickly befirends her and makes her join the diving club with her. The overarching plot of the anime is Teko’s change from a shy little girl into a much more mature young woman thtough Pikari, the diving club and the sport itself. 

That is, in the first half of the anime and then the last episode. However, there’s a pretty big chunk of Amanchu! where the diving barely gets mentioned in favour of some slice-of-life and character building episodes, some of which focus on the side characters; the other 2 members of the diving club, a twin sister and brother and the club manager who’s their teacher. Unfortunately, most of these episodes fell flat for me as they really aren’t...very interesting characters!

While my lack of enjoyment in most of Amanchu! could be chalked up to me being a bit sick of slice-of-life stuff thus making it hard to get invested in what was happening, there’s something else that can be a huge turn off for people which is the “comedy”. Whenever something that demands a reaction happens the characters’ heads turn into a circle and their faces kinda turn into an emoji (for examples look up ‘Amanchu faces’). All of them have a specific “emoji face”. This looks cute of course but the anime uses it SO OFTEN you sometimes feel like you see their normal faces less than their emoji faces. Characters also have certain “ticks” like Pikari constantly saying “upyo!”, Teko making this high pitched “eeeeeehhh??” and the twin sister kicking her brother in the back at basically every occasion. The “funny sibling abuse” trope I hate anyway but your opinion of these things I just listed could make or break the series. It could either annoy you to hell and back making it basically unbearable to watch or you can find it incredibly charming and entertaining. 

If you’re on of those many people who find it charming then Amanchu! will be a great iyashikei (healing anime) for you. The presentation is absolutely gorgeous with soft linework and a vivid but inintrusive colour palette. The background music consists of some very nice instrumental tracks. Of course, the anme shines especially during the diving and underwater moments while the slice-of-life episodes bring up some less serious but everyday questions. The enjoyment of small moments is a big part of Amanchu!.

This anime wasn’t really for me but I’m still giving it a quite weak 7 as I don’t think it deserves to be listed with some of my 6 rated anime that are objectively much worse. [7/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

[deltaengineering]

Bummer Anime 2018 Part 2: shoujo to the rescue

It got better, mostly because it could hardly get worse. That doesn’t mean it was a smooth ride, of course. I would like to state, for the record, that I’m not trying to be the funny guy who hates everything here; the season’s just that unusually bad. As before, the source for the ad copy at the end of each block is this.

Asobi Asobase

What: A bunch of assholes play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

✅ It’s another exuberant comedy, and unlike Chio-chan, I can’t catch this one on the execution: It has the technical chops and honestly good comedic timing.

❌❌ Initially wants to make you believe it’s a pleasant cute girls doing cute things show, but what it actually is is a brutally annoying and ugly explosion in the reactionface factory. Since the production values are there, it’s rather too good at that.

❌❌ I was trying to compare it to something, and the best I could come up with was rage comics. Yeah, it’s anime rage comics. It’s that bad.

❌❌ I would feel more benevolent towards it if it were shorter, but at full length its high energy screaming based assault is mostly just tiresome.

♎ This is one of those rare shows where even I will say your mileage may vary. It’s really good at what it does, but I hate everything it does. Hooray for the subversion, but at the end of the day you’re still annoying and ugly.

ANN sez: “It's this exact mix of stupid crassness and innocent naiveté that I think truly defines high-school life, and Asobi Asobase nails it perfectly. “

Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria

What: A smartphone with a light novel protagonist attached time travels to the bronze age, establishes a incest-fascist harem regime with the power of Wikipedia.

❌❌ read the synopsis again please

❌❌ there’s more idiocy than that, believe it or not (ex.: smartphone hotline to his actual imouto, for the feels), but I haven’t got all day.

❌❌ Basing your isekai shit on “history” (i.e., a LN author’s idiotic idea of history) instead of an MMO or whatever only serves to piss me off even more.

❌❌ Actually not better than Isekai Smartphone, which makes it one of the worst anime episodes I have ever seen. Congratulations. The only thing it has over Death March is that it doesn’t spend 80% of the time in menus, but it makes menus look pretty good so it’s a wash.

ANN brainfarts: “Yuuto also seems to be limiting his phone searches to historically accurate things as well, which shows that he's really thinking about the fact that he's in the past – no one's inventing the rocket here, they're just learning to grind grain and use the phalanx formation for battles.”

Phantom in the Twilight

What: Chinese girl travels to London, inadvertently inherits her great-grandma’s vampire harem. 

✅ Step 1 of every otome harem appraisal is determining how much of a wet blanket the protagonist is; Ton here is pretty spunky and even gets to kick some ass, so well done on that.

✅ Some of the right kind of nonsense for my taste, stuff like chav goblins and Jiangshi with miniguns is always appreciated.

✅ Random shows ending up with bizarre minimal techno soundtracks is still something that I approve of.

❌ Still not the glorious kind of nonsense that Dance With Devils had, nor the disregard of actual romance in favor of comedy that Dame x Prince exhibited. It’s an otome-ass otome harem and that’s not inspiring confidence for the long term.

❌ Looks cheap, and that won’t be getting any better.

ANN sez: “The fantasy worldbuilding here also felt far more sturdy than in many similar shows; this isn't a world where the Good Fantasy Guys fight the Bad Fantasy Guys, this is a world where creatures like goblins and spriggans and werewolves all exist, all possess their own cultures and priorities, and uneasily rub shoulders with each other.”

Jashin-chan Dropkick

What: Demon snake girl wants to murder the chuuni gothloli that summoned her, gets owned right back.

❌❌ It’s the second coming of Dokuro-chan, with every punchline being torture. Quite literally for the characters, and consequently for the audience as well.

❌❌ Needless to say, the entire cast (there’s some additional supernatural babes, none of which make much of an impression) are jerks and the show being wantonly mean-spirited towards them does not cancel that out. 

❌ Somehow the second anime about eating reptile ass in recent memory. But Maidragon, as lame as it was, wasn’t as terrible as this. Jashin-chan won’t get into insipid family feels any time soon, but the alternative is worse.

ANN sez: “If this is your taste in humor, it may be worth giving a second episode to see if it starts pulling that off.”

Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes

What: Handsome genius antique dealer appraises old pottery and his assistant’s soul.

✅ I have to admit that if you somehow decided to make a otome version of Sherlock without anything so crass as murder, this is how you’d do it. It works.

✅ The leading pair has simple but effective chemistry.

✅ The studio behind it has mostly done porn OVAs before, which is the kind of meta-humor I can get behind.

❌ Based on a series of novels, so naturally the talkytalk gets out of hand.

❌ Doesn’t have the highest budget, tries to make up for it with rainbow-colored garishness. Not a dealbreaker but it could get tiresome.

ANN sez: “While Yagashira cuts a handsome figure as the bishonen, Aoi has more of an ordinary appearance – perhaps deliberately so, since I suspect that the source novels were originally aimed at female audiences.”

Shinya! Tensai Bakabon

What: Showa-era gag manga gets on air again after decades, repeatedly points out how hilarious that is.

❌ Beat-for-beat the same first episode concept as Osomatsu-san.

❌ The main difference is that Bakabon is more willing to look old as fuck, but when they arrive at the non-ruse look at the end of the episode, it’s the same as the non-ruse look that Osomatsu-san ended up at the end of its own first episode.

❌  So guess what, constantly takes potshots at Osomatsu-san, despite being a blatant ripoff of it.

❌❌ When it doesn’t reference Things You Know (if you’re a middle-aged Japanese salaryman), it references its own sorry showa-era gag manga self.

❌❌ I didn’t even like Osomatsu-san but this is an embarrassment.

♎ On the bright side, not as likely to provide fujos with incest shipping material. I fully expect to be proven painfully wrong on this.

ANN sez: Nothing. Way too Japanese for them, I suppose. 

Angolmois - Genkou Kassenki

What: Historical action show wherein a bunch of misfits in medieval Japan fight the Mongols.

✅ Fairly decent action and animation thereof.

✅ Characters seem alright for this sort of thing. Maybe a bit too tryhard violent for my tastes, but that’s still within acceptable parameters.

❌❌ The looks are ruined in postproduction. I could live with the heavyhanded color correction, but what really kills it is the same omnipresent static paper texture over every single shot. It’s bad when it doesn’t change between shots but it’s devastating when it doesn’t move along with zooms and pans, which this show has a lot of.

❌❌ Seriously, I haven’t seen anything as senselessly destroyed by a single AfterEffects layer since Garo: Vanishing Line’s Parkinsonscam, but at least that only affected impact frames. Here it’s literally every frame. Delete that PNG you damn fools.

❌ So yeah, it’s okay-ish but that’s not enough to survive one boneheaded executive decision that’s impossible to ignore. It just comes out as a net negative.

ANN sez: “From its beautifully animated, choreographed, and directed fight scenes to its generally dynamic compositions and keen understanding of visual economy, Angolmois is a visually stunning production.”

Lord of Vermilion - Guren no Ou

What: Tokyo gets enveloped in red mist which raptures most of the population and turns the rest into JRPG characters. They start fighting, we promise.

❌ Has the shape of an obvious Persona clone, but isn’t one; it’s actually based on an arcade CCG. So the source material isn’t very classy to begin with.

❌❌ Haphazardly thrown together so it’s hard to care about anything, especially not the characters.

❌❌ Opens with a flashforward to the climax, so we know this will just end up as overdesigned dudes and dudettes having allegedly epic battles that the show can’t afford to make look good, but can afford to make very red. Thanks for the heads up, I guess.

❌ So it’s quite bad, and not even funny-bad like Caligula was.

ANN sez: “There are always a few action shows like this every season, and they're always entirely overshadowed by that season's versions of shows like My Hero Academia and Banana Fish”

Grand Blue

What: City slicker moves to a beach town expecting to end up in Amanchu; ends up in Animal House instead.

❌❌ Say it with me: Every punchline is the protagonist making a shocked face at dumb meatheads doing something stupid.

♎ For something that I feel like I should hate every second of, I actually didn’t hate it all that much. I even thought it was mostly sort of enjoyable. I don’t really know what exactly does it but I can offer some ideas:

✅ While the punchlines (well, punchline) may be bad, the jokes themselves aren’t. This is a real sitcom with larger-scale comedic setups than you usually see in anime, jokes build upon each other and keep escalating.

✅ Sleazy fratboy humor about partying hard and drinking like an idiot isn’t very profound, but rare at least in anime. And it’s amusing that the overall conceit is that it’s preventing iyashikei from taking place. Novelty counts for something. 

��� Manages to build awkward comedic situations about buff dudes with their dicks out without resorting to the same old gay panic jokes. Just regular panic, no homo.

✅ Makes a good Friday beach bum combo with Harukana Receive, which incidentally also got better by embracing its more prurient side.

ANN sez: “If Grand Blue Dreaming has a major Achilles heel, its that it isn't self-aware enough to recognize when a joke has run its course. ”

Happy Sugar Life

What: Yandere sociopath adopts a preteen girl (from a parking lot). It’s cute, only not.

✅ Is fully aware that everyone in this show is an asshole and is honestly trying for subversive. At least on the surface.

✅ Goes all on on the imagery, which works. At least on the surface.

❌❌ Simply exploiting the contrast between cuteness and insanity got old about a decade ago; this cranks up the presentation on both sides but doesn’t really add anything new.

❌❌ About as mean-spirited and unpleasant as Mahou Shoujo Site, while having even less to say. 

❌ Doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere; it’s just going to be the main character pwning other people that are just as flamboyantly fucked up as she is, but not as good at it. Starting with a flashforward to the (very edgy, of course) ending like Lord of Vermilion doesn’t help either. And even if they end up rusemanning what is implied there it won’t be much better.

ANN sez: “Happy Sugar Life was on my list of most-anticipated anime this season because its combination of disparate elements seemed so utterly perverse that I was curious to see how they could possibly fit together.“

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

What: Girls slowwalk in an academy for stage arts by day, get into metaphorical superbattles by night.

✅✅ What can I say, it’s Love Live x Marimite with a glossy coating of Ikuhara-style operatics. A total deltabait concept if I’ve ever seen one.

✅ Clones the storytelling approach of Ikuhara but not many of his specific directing mannerisms; Since I’m tired of the latter but a sucker for the former, this is a good thing.

✅ In a similar vein, this trades Ikuhara’s functional ciphers for actual characters and his enigmatic arthouse plots for something that obviously makes sense. 

✅ How gay? So gay.

❌ Has the opposite problem of Grand Blue: This is a show that should blow me away, but doesn’t. In fact, if it didn’t bring the big damn musical theater complete with one of the best and most appropriate henshins I’ve ever seen near the end, I’d say it was fairly lame.

❌ Probably has something to do with that in the course of casualizing Ikuhara, the “real” world ended up too bland and the characters too generic. I get that it’s for contrast, but it can be done far better (see Yorimoi for an example).

✅ In any case, it still seems easily worth watching even if it’s not as good as it could be. Maybe it’ll even get better.

ANN sez: “All I can say for certain is that it comes completely out of nowhere, and that it raises all kinds of questions about what kind of series this is going to be.“

Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san

What: Impoverished ghost hunter checks into a haunted hot spring and interacts with the harem that happens to live there.

❌ As generic a 90s ecchi harem comedy as they come; my correspondents tell me that this is extremely reminiscent of Love Hina. Shockingly it’s actually based on a 2016 manga, but you wouldn’t be able to tell.

❌ As such, an abundance of accidental boobplants and other saucy accidents makes up the bulk of what’s going on this show.

✅ The main ghost girl is fairly cute; The main dude is also relatively bearable and has at least one good joke in his backstory (which I won’t spoil), so the core dynamic is surprisingly fine. If the rest of the harem weren’t there, this wouldn’t be such a bad setup. 

❌ Features those dastardly breast-hiding light rays, reportedly even in the AT-X version. This doesn’t affect a large part of the show (the majority is more like the cap above), but boobies are probably still the only reason anyone cares about any of this.

♎ Certainly not good, but the lame shit of yore is not what I’m going to spend energy getting mad at in 2018. The 24 minutes I’m ever going to spend with it felt more nostalgic than anything.

ANN sez: “Ninja girl Sagiri comes off the worst from the situation, with nearly all of her dialogue spent promising to beat the crap out of anyone who doesn't measure up to her moral code. I imagine there must be more to her and the rest of the supporting cast than what we've seen so far, but at the moment they seem an awful lot like stock characters.”

Sirius the Jaeger

What: A broody werewolf and his team of assorted bad dudes hunt vampires in 30s Tokyo.

✅✅ Looks ace, this is an action show with deluxe everything. It better, because being directed by Masahiro Ando is pretty much the start and end of this show’s unique selling points.

✅ Interwar Tokyo with a bit of a gothick twist is a cool setting, and this show can afford to portray it properly.

❌ Seriously though... edgy vampires and edgier werewolves. Come on, son.

❌ Just like Banana Fish, this is a highly polished implementation of something that fundamentally isn’t very interesting to me.

✅ I’d still take it over Fanana Bish because this doesn’t seem to take itself so bloody seriously and is far more comfortable with just being moody action schlock. It’s also less showoffy, believe it or not. What else are you going to watch? Sirius the Jaeger is what you’re going to watch. Sorry.

ANN sez: They only have a preview from Anime Expo, and that boils down to “The second episode is where things start to get interesting.“ I sure hope so.

Well, we got a few acceptable shows in if nothing else, I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which ones those are. I’m cutting my losses here, see you in three months for a hopefully more bountiful season.

[daehwifi]

ORANGE . | HWANG MINHYUN

- admin xion

genre: fluff with v smol angst member: hwang minhyun word count: 1, 522 requested: yis !  side notes: I LOVE ORANGE SM !!

prompt: where you get letters from yourself in the future, encouraging you to show signs of how you like minhyun back, before you both go on spring break // dedicated to my lOVELY LOVELY THIGH SWEEPER @xiupch  ily shuri <3 

SHOUJO SERIES

where admin xion rewrites plots of shoujo animes and replaces the characters with wanna one members [won’t be exactly similar to the anime]

seongwoo : ao haru ride jihoon : isshakun friends daniel : kaichou wa maid sama guanlin : kimi no na wa  jinyoung : hotarubi no mori e 

DAY 1 

“minhyun will try to help you up when you fall down in the hallways. he’ll offer you his hand. accept that offer,” 

you chuckled to yourself reading that letter 

“bullshit. minhyun wouldn’t even want to help me in the first place,” you mumbled under your breath

minhyun was a friend of yours in some sort of sense

he was your cliche fuck boy that’d always pick on you

but in a sense, you two were somehow friends 

he was there for all the injuries you got to firstly, laugh at you at how dumb you are and secondly, treat your wounds 

and you’d blush every time he did as you’d remained silent 

“who’s even sending me these letters?” you scoffed to yourself 

rolling your eyes, you threw the letter onto your desk as you headed out for school

you met up with your friends at your desk as they mentioned how great their weekends were 

“woojin got so shy and it was the most cutest thing ever,” kyujin spoke, becoming all flustered 

“ew, that’s my brother you’re talking about,” replied eunkyung 

you rolled your eyes and smiled 

“but eunkyung, you’re dating kyujin’s brother,” you scoffed under your breath as kyujin rolls her eyes

“ew,” she gags as you couldn’t help but burst out into laughter 

“ah- the single life,” you exclaimed like a queen on her throne 

they both shake their heads with smiles across their faces 

“okay but in actual news, minhyun’s gonna be in our gym class again,” spoke eunkyung 

“seriously? he got kicked out of english again?” kyujin commented, gawking her eyes 

“i bet it’s to annoy y/n again,” kyujin mumbles softly as they both look at you

for some reason, the thought of minhyun usually brought you a sour and bitter look

but all you could think of was that letter

“hey guys- this morning i...” you trailed off your sentence, second guessing you choices before you spoke 

“you what?” kyujin provoked 

“nothing. i was just gonna mention how i bought a new hairband since minhyun broke my last one but that’s nothing really important,” you avoided the actual topic you were about to bring up

they bought it and nodded as you smiled a bit to yourself 

when gym rolled around, the familiar annoying boy was being scolded by the gym teacher once again since he was brought into this class 

“y/n! minhyun here has been missing out on all of his english homework, can you help him get caught up since your grade in gym is obviously set at a high score?” your gym teacher spoke 

“well obviously- if she’s gonna keep kicking me out, of course i’m gonna be missing out on work,” minhyun cursed under his breath as you kicked him quickly, without the gym teacher noticing 

forcing a smile, you nodded 

usually, everyone would change into their gym clothes but since you were pulled aside, you were in the school uniform 

“fuck you,” you scoffed 

“with pleasure sweetie,” he replies with sarcastic eyes 

“what are you missing out on?” you ask trying to change the topic

“i don’t know, she kicks me out of class i don’t fucking know what i’m supposed to be doing,” he spoke bitterly 

“you’re fucked,” you teased as he rolled his eyes 

“aren’t you fucked since i’m the one doing it?” he provoked as you couldn’t help but scoff, leaving a bitter-ish smile across your face 

“alRIGHT FUCK THIS” you groaned standing up and storming away 

minhyun followed you, but walked instead 

as you turned a corner, you tripped over thin air and landed on your back as you could hear minhyun’s laugh approaching 

rolling your eyes, minhyun finally comes into sight 

“has the clock struck 12 yet?” he teases as you roll your eyes

he offers you a hand as your mind went back to the letter 

“he’ll offer you his hand. accept that offer,” 

as you found yourself to be a puppet on strings, you accepted his hand as he helped you stand up

“thanks...” you softly spoke as you realized his hand wasn’t letting go of yours 

minhyun was staring at you with an unreadable expression on his face as you could feel yourself becoming flustered 

you let go of his hand as he realized how close you two actually were and becomes flustered as well 

“ah- s-sorry,” he mumbles shyly

“i-it’s fine,” you reply

“okaybye,” you both say at the same time before walking off into two different directions 

DAY 2 

“don’t move. you won’t regret it,” 

you were a bit in shocked when the letter labeled day 1 worked out

the mail only came with 3 envelopes, titled day 1, day 2 and day 3 

but the fact that day 1 was exactly like how the letter explained it, you were starting to possibly believe it was true 

it can’t hurt just to do what it says, can it? 

“what the fuck do you mean by that?” you scoffed under your breath 

“how does one not move?” you questioned to yourself softly

rolling your eyes, you took a deep breath when your eyelids shut down for a bit to take everything in 

you didn’t even know what you were doing at this point

going to school, a sudden pair of hands tapping on your shoulders made you jump a bit as you turned around 

“you get scared easily,” minhyun scoffs as he walks away, suddenly bumping into your shoulder 

you furrowed your eyebrows and shook your head, continuing on with your life like usual

minhyun came into your language class since he got kicked out of history 

the thought of it made you chuckle and roll your eyes but minhyun seemed to notice that action and decided to take a seat next to you 

“minhyun, fuck off,” you mumbled bitterly

“sorry. i seem to be attracted to pretty girls,” he casually spoke as you sat there, a bit flustered from the sudden comment 

you didn’t notice how your cheeks were a bit pink but minhyun did 

he messes up your hair and chuckles a bit, pinching your cheek like a child as you winced in pain

“yes- i called you pretty you idiot,” he mumbles as you slap his hand away from the pain, rubbing your cheek a bit 

guilt took over him as he felt like he pinched your cheek a bit too hard 

“don’t move, you won’t regret it,” 

minhyun suddenly moves in closer and cups your cheek, rubbing his finger back and fourth as his eyes meet yours 

he softly smiles as his eyes became warm

“you’re cute when you’re like that,” he mumbles softly, under his breath

DAY 3 (the day before spring break) 

“he cares about you more than you think,” 

you played with the ends of your hair and your fingers, dangling your feet from the seat outside of the office 

hwang minhyun was never the type to care about you

or at least that’s what you thought 

it’s so easy for one to write the words but to believe it is the hard part 

a girl ran past you and looking behind her was minhyun, walking casually like he did when you fell down 

it’s definitely a lot more easier to write it out then believe it you said to yourself 

“have a nice spring break minhyun!” the girl spoke happily 

“you too,” he replied as she ran off 

minhyun notices your presences and sat beside you

“what are you doing here?” he asked

“debating if i should walk home or get a cab,” you replied as he chuckles and nods 

“what’s the chuckle for?” 

“choosing something like that shouldn’t be hard,” he scoffs as you roll your eyes and shake your head

“for me it is,” you whined like a child as minhyun laughs a bit 

“he cares about you more than you think,” 

“minhyun, what am i to you?” you blurt 

a sigh escapes from his lips as his head turns to face yours

“someone-” he spoke

it sounded like he was going to say more but stopped himself 

“just someone?” you asked 

“someone who i care about,” he spoke 

“he cares about you more than you think,” 

“really?” 

“yeah, why do you think i always treated your wounds?” minhyun spoke with a soft smile that seemed to be contagious

you were smiling a bit as well 

“i’m sending these letters to you because i made the mistake of pushing minhyun away since i assumed he was just like every other person who’d use someone. 

he’s someone that smiles a lot and makes you smile without knowing it and as much as you deny that fact, it’s true. 

since i didn’t tell him how i felt, he moved on thinking that you’d never like him back and ended up dating someone else.

it felt empty and lonely- despite how selfish that may sound. 

i hope you’re able to follow these letters and make sure you don’t find yourself crying inside your pillow like i did. 

hwang minhyun has the warm colors and sweetness under all of his bitter skin-

like an orange.” 

[fictionerd]

Good to see you, friends!

I’ve done it... I’ve survived another episode of Mahou Shoujo Ore. Perhaps not with my dignity intact, but I would have had to have dignity before I could lose it. So I’m going to try something new-ish today. I’m going to attempt to go over the events of the episode according to the notes I took before just commenting on it. 

So this episode our protagonists are off to a famous hotspring for their job as “idols”, and since this is a job their manager lined up before the whole Magical “Girls” thing they get to do it without transforming! Yay? 

While waiting for the bus to arrive who should appear but Bland Silent Type: Mohiro and his boyband #2 Obvious Villain: Hyoue! WHAT A COINCIDENCE! Seems they were here filming a music video and had just wrapped up for the day. They’re getting ready to leave, but not before Saki gets to steal a few moments alone with Mohiro. Which she instantly proceeds to fuck up but royal. First she comes on with the Tsundere Vibes too strong and when she dials it back causing Mohiro to comfort her she has to literally Exorcise her Love Power to prevent herself from transforming into Ore. Meanwhile Sakuyo watches on from the sidelines and we get to see a wave of melancholy overtake her demeanor. It was actually pretty touching seeing her simultaneously happy for her friend and sad for herself.

It seems that was the point at which the writers remembered this was a comedy show and so dispatched the master assassin of tension: Mr. Obvious Villain Hyoue himself! He steps in between Saki and Mohiro with no other purpose but to rib the lovestruck girl and start shit. Though I did get a nice header image out of that encounter. This probably isn’t the first time it’s been done, but I love the welding-mask gag here. You’d think that would be standard-issue equipment for anime characters given how often we see these sorts of “Sparks Fly” scenes.

Jump forward to later and we see... Wait, what’s this? ACTUAL CONFLICT!? Sakuyo makes mention that she’s happy to get to spend time alone with Saki at a place like the hotspring and that brings up the thought of, what if Sakuyo is overcome by Love Power. While the implications are more than a bit “Eeeeeeeh” it’s still a legitimate source of concern for... aaaaand it’s gone. Yeah, that’s not the conflict we’re getting this episode. No let’s not have our main characters try to sort out their relationship and learn to trust one another more deeply we can just tack that into a single line of dialogue later in the episode. THat’s FINE! It’s not like I’d give an entire fucking treasure hoard to have a legitimate reason to like this show. JUST GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. I’LL BE ABSOLUTELY FUCKING PEACHY!

So where were we? Oh, right the actual conflict of the episode. Saki happened to wander into the main bath during men’s hours because the sign had fallen down “WHAT A COINCIDENCE!” It turns out that Mohiro and Hyoue had to stay at the inn overnight because the trains weren’t running. “WHAT A COINCIDENCE!” Mohiro goes to the bath while the clueless Saki is bathing, but fortunately she’s overcome with Love Power for him and transforms into Ore just before he arrives. "̡̢Ẃ̡͜ḨA̡Ţ̵ ̛͟A͟͏ ̢̛C̢͏͠OI҉͜N̡̨Ç̶͡ID̨È̵Ņ̴͢CE̢̨̕!̸"̢

Woops, sorry got a bit “Zalgo” in there for a minute. I’ll see if I can’t dial back my own “Love” power a bit and keep that from happening. Saki on the other hand has the opposite problem now. She’s got to make sure she can maintain her Love Power throughout this marathon bath in order to keep her identity from being revealed to Mohiro. If you ask me you should just let slip and be done with it. It’s obvious he’s not that into girl you and maybe you could actually work something out if he knew you turned into a big burly dude to fight demons on his behalf. Y’know just food for thought.

As one might expect, Mohiro’s power of the bath and Sauna are just too much for Saki and after an unprecedented amount of time in said Sauna including at least one pretty amusing gag.

She absolutely runs out of juice. Even though she technically won the “Manly Competition of the Sauna she still had no way of sneaking out without Mohiro Seeing her and reverts to normal in the sauna. She’s only saved by Sakuyo rushing to her rescue. When she finally wakes up she attempts to pave over the conflict  we̛ ҉des̷e͞r͢vèd by saying she was sorry for bringing up any dubious implications. 

How do we cap off this heart-pounder of an episode? Why with Saki’s terrible singing, of course! That’s sure to be a hit with everyone.

Phew, actually summarizing events is pretty darn difficult. There’s a few thoughts I have here,but first and foremost I believe we should start things off with a hearty round of “WHY THE HELL DO I LIKE THIS SHOW!?”

I had plenty of harsh things to say through my summary, but for all of that I watched practically from beginning to end, taking notes the whole while, and I still cracked a smile at the damn thing. I still enjoyed my time watching it and I can’t fathom why. Is this the whole “So bad it’s good” phenomenon? Because I could swear it’s something different. 

One thing I didn’t pick up in my summary because it didn’t fit too well was Sakuyo finding one of the buttons off of Obvious Villain Hyoue’s jacket in the entryway to the bath. Seems Sakuyo is clued in to how Obviously a Villain Mr. Obvious Villain is. I look forward to this potential source of actual conflict gets de-clawed in the future.

Finally: NO, but seriously why didn’t we get the actual conflict about Sakuyo’s transformation!? I mean I get that the implications there were unsettling, but it’s because they’re that unsettling that they have weight! I wanted to see them process Sakuyo’s feelings and Saki’s feelings about her friend. I wanted to see them overcome that looming conflict together and grow closer. Instead we got ten or so minutes of Saki trying to both perv on Mohiro and not at the same time. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for some equal-opportunity perving, but what we got was so much worse than what we could have had. 

Now forgive me as I go and lament the lost potential.

Until next post, keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon.

[ourcomicsourselves]

Super Life on the Hill By Love Love Hill

Kendra here! I’ve been making comics together with Kat for seven years. We’re a Washington, D.C.(ish)-based comic team that draws everything from erotic space shenanigans to recipe books inspired by The Rock. You can find our ongoing webcomic Spacejinx and other NSFW comics atMisadventure Central, and you can buy our all-ages stuff at Go Team KK! We’re taking turns to spotlight some comics we like for Our Comics, Ourselves this week.

Super Life On The Hill by Love Love Hill (@lovelovehill - Dirchansky/Wai/Kim) is important to Kat and I for many reasons–the most important being that we only started printing comics and zines after discovering their self-published minis, and were inspired to try out their print/layout tutorials they had been posting online. Love Love Hill is a comic circle with three core members and a rotating lineup of guest artists depending on the work. Super Life on the Hill is a perfect-bound anthology collecting their previous stapled mini-comics about their lives, their friendships, and their struggles with, well, everything! Important topics like: coming across cute things in Japan, needing to get out of a too-comfortable bed, J-pop group Arashi, and the stuffed animal scale of charm; along with strips about dealing with bed bugs and racist coworkers; all collected thanks to an intense long-term friendship that brings the comics together.

The three artists’ styles all provide a lively counterpoint to one another, and especially cool is seeing how each of the members draws the others. The art is shoujo-influenced with sparkles and screentones, but the content and the style is all unique–and with this being an anthology that spans collected comics from 6 years of content, one can see a bit of art evolution from beginning to end. Overall though, since Life On The Hill has been a side-project for the artists, the strips really just get across a down-to-earth feel that really connected with us.

Kat and I find a lot to relate to with the autobio comics here–a love of comics, a love of friendship, a love of nerdy things, and a lifestyle that involves being a single, 20-30something woman is all reflected in the comics in SLOTH. Love Love Hill is having fun with this, which should be the # rule when making comics–why *wouldn’t* you have fun with this?

[hunterxjpeg]

Summary of Togashi's 2016 "Jump Ryu" book by sandman on apforums.net:

[Before becoming mangaka] - Togashi's parents managed a company which sold papers, painting tools, stationery and manga magazines. His father's hobby was drawing. - When Togashi was around 6 years old, he used to draw many of his original heroes and monsters.When he was around 8 years old, he was inspired by one of his friends whose hobby is drawing manga. They showed their manga with each other. - When Togashi was in junior high school, he was fully attracted by some Shoujo mangas whose essential was Shounen manga-ish such as Mineo Maya's manga. - Since then, he started reading "Urusei Yatsura" and learned how to attract female audience. Togashi thought he was suitable for Shoujo manga although his favorite manga genre was Shounen manga. - Togashi was going to become a junior high school art teacher, but gave up right after he started his internship. This was because he was afraid that his own words might influence students directly. - The reason Togashi was going to become a teacher was that he thought he would not be able to work in the same way as normal adults did. Shaving and wearing a business suit every day is what Togashi considered impossible for him. He was afraid of living a life outside school. After he gave up working as a teacher, he had no choice but to work as mangaka. - In 1986, Togashi's hype was skyrocketing when he was selected as one of the finalists in a famous manga audition, Hop Step Award. - When he was a college student, his editor said to him, "Even if you end up not being able to succeed as mangaka, you have an alternative choice to live as a teacher". After this statement, Togashi got more serious in drawing manga and dropped out of a college. Then he moved to Tokyo aroud 1989. - When moving, he suffered a trouble about his household goods not arriving his house for a week. Togashi had no choice but to sleep on the floor. - He couldn't afford to buy a single desk, so he used a drawer as desk when drawing manga. Togashi said it was painful since his legs couldn't put under the drawer. lol - Togashi was about to run out of his bank deposit. He felt really relieved to hear that Shueisha decied to make a serialization of his manga. [After becoming professional mangaka] - The first manga serialization for him was Ten de Showaru Cupid ("An Ill-tempered Cupid in Heaven"). It became pretty famous, but it finished earlier than expected (chapter 32). Togashi now regrets that he should have prepared a rough plot till the finale before serialization. - 2-3 months after finishing his first serialization, new ideas for next manga came to his mind one after another. Then He started Yu Yu Hakusho soon. - Togashi dsecided to focus on the occult and battle in Yu Yu Hakusho since both of them were his favorite genres. - Editor told him that Toagshi is good at creating a story. Togashi was glad to hear that, but at the same time, he thought it wasn't enough in order to maintain great popularity for more than 30 chapters. That's why Yu Yu Hakusho turned into battle manga and made a great success. - Editors in Shueisha consider it is one of the greatest role models to turn a manga which ends in each single story into battle manga. The role model for Togashi was "Kinnikuman" ("Muscle Man"). It started as comedy manga and then turned into battle manga, which Togashi believes can entertain shounen in terms of both surprise and excitement. - One year after he finished Yu Yu Hakusho in 1994, Togashi suggested his editor that he would like to draw manga that would NOT become much popular. This is because he wanted to show various aspects of his personality as mangaka to his audience. Togashi believed he had already drawn traditional Shounen manga to the best of his ability in Yu Yu Hakusho. - Togashi also told his editor that he would start traditional manga again after he finished "Level E". Editor accepted it. - In "Level E", Togashi was going to finish stories in each chapter, but Prince Baka (stupid prince) became popular as opposed to his expectations. Thus, he decided to make Prince Baka the protagonist of Level E. The prince had complicated personality which always went beyond everyone's imagination, so Togashi had difficulty in creating a story. - Having finished Level E, Togashi started Hunter Hunter. He keeps in mind that he should change his style in each arc so that his audience can be surprised. - Togashi considers character's personality is sometimes important than story. The ending of Chimera Ant arc was not what he expected at first.  He makes a simulation about how his characters will talk with each other and take an action in specified situations, which allows his audience to feel as if his characters really exist. - Togashi loves professional slang. For example, his characters call "turn over" when they visit websites. Also, he shows detailed concept of Nen as if it exists as some kind of martial arts in real world. - Togashi tends to show some rules to his audience at first such as Greed Island arc. He enjoys the process finding system bugs or shortcuts in the rules to go beyond expectations of audience. - In Chimera Ant arc, Togashi enjoyed making a super long list as to how his characters would take actions since 10 days before invasion in Royal Palace. He wanted to draw characters in desperate situations taking an unexpected action when they came across someone accidentally. Editor gives examples such as encounters between Morel and Shaiapouf/ Killua and Meleoron. - Togashi has been attracted by dirty side rather than beautiful side ever since he was a junior high school student. Editor considers Mukuro in Yu Yu Hakusho is one of the typical examples. - About drawing style, Togashi decided to draw Yu Yu Hakusho impressively and Level E realistically. In Hunter Hunter, he keeps in mind that he should not use screentones as possible as he can. - Togashi doesn't specify detailed personality of boss characters from the beginning. For example, Toguro in Yu Yu Hakusho was just a bodyguard at first, but his personality gradually became more attractive as his grudge against Genkai was revealed. About boss characters' appearances, he enjoys making them complicated since boss characters don't make much appearances. - While Togashi is drawing manga, he listens to TV show ad enjoys talking about it with his assistants. - Togashi considers himself not being good at drawing color spreads. -Togashi memorizes facial expressions of characters in other manga. One of his favorite book is "Facial Expressions" written by Mark Simon. - There are 5 assistants in his studio. - Togashi thinks of Akira Toriyama as a god. He has Dragon Ball 30th book. - On Togashi's desk, there is some manuscripts of a fight between Hisoka and Kastro which he considers as bad quality. He pays attention in order not to repeat the same error. Togashi also says that people on internet fandom were embarrassed with the chapter at that time. lol - The previous editor says, "Togashi-sensei is very gentle. He remembers what editors said in the past and sometimes bothered to be worried about us." - Editor thinks Togashi resembles Ging Freecss in terms of personality. - An editor says he was scolded by Togashi only once when he changed words in manga a bit without permission. - Togashi sticks to every single word in manga. He even doesn't want to use various fonts since he is always confident of his words being interesting. Togashi's message to mangaka beginners: "Keep in mind about audience. Make every effort to go beyond their expectations".

[glrev]

normal people, who arent weird: hey guys! this is my new original character! *shows stunning and beautiful art* my weird manic ass: aw jeez, thats pretty cool... i wanna do that -

*shows rough sketches i pulled out of my ass* this is my oc nerius verecun, he’s thirteen to fifteen years old, but i’ll probably end up settling on the safe age of fourteen. he’s a witch, and lives in a vague fantasy setting (which i’ll work more on later) where magic exists. witches aren’t persecuted, but they’re rare. 

for the average amount of money you can earn as a witch for the amount of hours you have to put in to become a proficient one isn’t really worth it to most people. you may as well become an apprentice to a carpenter, a blacksmith, or... literally any kind of other craft.

he enjoys practicing and studying magic, helping out his great aunt who runs a shop, and hanging out with the only other witch he knows, who he also happens to have a huge crush on. his witch friend, eremitis, lives in the next town, which is just under two hours by broomstick. they meet up either in either town or somewhere in between weekly/fortnightly. 

he lives with his stepmum (salvia), his stepsister (petraceli) (who is maybe a year or two older than him), and his... cat (guleum). he gets on really well with his stepmum but he gets along poorly with his stepsister. neither of them have any experience with magic, though his stepmum knows from nerius’ dad that magic is very safe when a capable witch is using it (which nerius is). 

his stepsister is far more skeptical, almost bullying him about it (and getting away with it, since salvia isn’t around to see when it happens...), and nerius can only get her to stop by threatening to turn her into a toad (he can’t actually do this.....yet). i figured petraceli is just kind of jealous of her little brother, he can do cool stuff maybe, and is treated equally to her by salvia bc her mum’s not a dickhead. i guess feels afraid that she’ll get replaced... and acts upon these insecurities in a destructive and negative manner since she’s a irrational teen.

his dad (who is/was also a witch, named oleander) is apparently missing, as part of a ~tragic backstory~, when in reality he had been turned into a cat due to a conflict with another witch (oleander still lives with nerius, under the guise of being his familiar named guleum (tho his stepmum keeps accidentally calling him his pet)). 

he is still sentient, aware that he is himself and able to use magic. he tries to play an active role in terms of nerius’ upbringing as a parent and education when it comes to magic, but there is only so much you can do as a cat. he doesn’t think he can fully be a dad in a feline body, so is working to undo the curse and get back to being a part of the family properly. only nerius and eremitis know about dad cat, and are working to help oleander get back to his original form as a dad and husband

nerius can do things all witches should be able to do, fly on a broomstick, make potions and charms, banishing bad spirits, doing magic.... nerius’ speciality is something that he inherited from his father - being able to make plants grow out of organic matter (things like wood, fibres, fabric... polymers at a stretch? and yes, definitely even flesh (but not his own, i think in this universe you can’t cast spells on yourself but you can use/wear objects that have been charmed by yourself... if that makes any sense)).

sometimes he will change something into plant matter unintentionally (usually and definitely flowers, because that’s shoujo as hell), he can sew/carve a magical seal into objects to prevent any magic from affecting it, therefore rendering his magic useless on it. he only does this on his clothes and bits of furniture that he uses in the house, like his seat at the dinner table, his mattress, and rugs and flooring in the house. basically, if there’s anything that he uses for a long time it needs to either be metal or have a seal on it, if he doesn’t mind picking off flower buds and dead heads of flowers falling off it (which he does mind. it gets messy and annoying). 

since his broom has to have magic channeled to it in order for it to fly, he has to pick off the flowers from it after he flies on it so he doesn’t drop dead flowers everywhere. the longer he flies on it, the more grow. a 5 minute trip to the town market and back will make a few buds, whereas flying a trip longer than an hour will get at least a big bouquet of flowers.

he usually gives them to salvia because they make her happy. he always thinks about giving them to eremitis but always decides in the end not to, because he thinks that eremitis would think that he’s weird. 

nerius’ favourite things about his crush are how he thinks about using magic differently to nerius (often being able to think outside the box, often more objectively and looking at the big picture), how patient he is with him (nerius only cares about magic, so has extensive knowledge of it, but as a result doesn’t really know a lot about other things. eremitis always takes time to explain things such as: the rules of the popular in-trend card game of the year, why you can’t just fly above the clouds during a thunderstorm to avoid getting struck and dying, and how democracy means you can’t just beat the current prime minister ((through a game or just physically)) to become the new prime minister), and the way that he smiles (it’s a very wide and genuine smile, and it makes him want to smile back). 

in return, eremitis admires nerius’ dedication to magic but also his desire to learn new things, and how sensitive he is to peoples’ emotions.

anyway, some facts about nerius’ appearance:

he dyed streaks into his hair on a whim and because he was A REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE... he was just going to wash them out, but eremitis said they looked cool he so carried on with it. for the first time he did it he did it himself, but after that salvia helped

he won’t say where the scar on his face came from, for whatever reason that is

his favourite colour is somewhere from pea green to teal

can’t quite decide on the shade of his hair other than it being pale and a slightly sickly grey-green, but his eyes will either be silver-grey or a pale-ish reddy-pink

i first came up with him a few days ago while helping to sweep the floor with a broom like his, so his birthday will be may 19th... if the vague fantasy world he lives in uses our calendar. anyway, he was once non-existent, but now he is my boy. here is his birth in digital form:

if u got this far god bless, and i aint even religious

[stillcian1675]

scrapped; i am you, you are me

This is a Woohyun-centric fic that’s kind of crack. Male idol Woohyun meets female judo/weightlifting female Woohyun (Woohee). It’s terribly cliché with shoujo manga tropes lol. It’s not impossible to continue but I guess it really is quite cliche to the point where I don’t feel like investing more time to write it. And uh, I don’t know, I feel like I unintentionally created a potential love line (or hints of it) with how Woohyun and Woohee stumble into each other and I’m not sure what to do with that.

This is probably like the 3rd Woohyun/Woohyun type (ish) fics I’ve written but this is meant to be platonic? Like Woohyun and Woohee are supposed to just help each other figure out their lives and work through their insecurities, which manifest themselves differently in both of them since they have different circumstances, but which are inherently the same type of insecurity anyway. But given how much words were invested into just how they met each other (1.1k ish below), it would take a long time to get to them knowing each other well, let alone learning of each other’s insecurity and helping each other get through those. So yeah. But I still kind of dig the whole male Woohyun being a little more vain/caring of his appearance while female Woohyun is the other way, she cares too much about proving that she’s strong and cool. But deep down they just want to prove themselves while working against society’s perception of them agggdjlkajkldf I don’t know. I have feels for the premise, not sure what to do with the fic itself.

---

I am you, you are me

I.

To be fair, Woohyun should have realised that something was weird when the shopkeeper of the secondhand shop kept coaxing him to take the mirror by the corner of the shop, even giving him a huge discount for it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t because the lady behind the counter suddenly giggles and then shyly calls him “Woohyun-oppa” behind lowered lashes and he thinks the discount is just a fan trying to be nice. So he takes the mirror, discounted price and all, and brings it home because he’s been meaning to get a full-length mirror for his bedroom anyway. This is how it starts.

  Woohyun’s out of the shower, a towel tied around his waist, hair still dripping when he walks past the mirror. Reaching over to his bedside table, he gets a cotton pad, dousing toner on it and begins his nightly routine. As he moisturizes his face, he glances occasionally at the new shiny surface in his room. Over the last year of living alone without a mirror in his room, Woohyun’s gotten used to doing this without a mirror, but now he stares at his reflection as he pats the serum onto his face, because why not? He has little dark smudges under his eyes, he notices, a consequence of writing music and lyrics late into the night and he lightly traces a finger on his puffy undereyes, sighing a little. Figures. He digs out the eye cream he’s gotten lazy with using and dabs on yet another layer of product. After what seems like forever, Woohyun’s finally done, and he’s putting all his little bottles back into his drawer when he suddenly catches sight of something strange.

Was that…something white in the mirror?

This. This is why his mum has told him never to put a mirror in his bedroom, and Woohyun had thought her superstitious but now he’s beginning to sweat a little.

It’s not a ghost, don’t be stupid. Just look up, and you’ll see it’s something lame, maybe a shirt hanging behind, Woohyun mentally chides himself, but he still takes a while before he finally gets the courage to look up. And he immediately startles himself, because –

What the fuck?

He doesn’t fall off his bed, or scream or anything like that, but it’s close. Because, instead of himself reflected in the mirror, there’s someone else. Sure, that someone else has the same face as him, and their eyes are about as wide as his probably are at the moment, but that’s about where the similarities end. Because, that large white t-shirt on their body? Not his; no, he’s in just a loose flimsy towel and nothing else. But that’s not even the weirdest bit. The weirdest bit is, get this – the person in the mirror that looks like him? Has boobs. Boobs. (Boobs which are rather sizable, if you ask him, but maybe that isn’t what he should be focusing on at the moment.)

Woohyun definitely doesn’t scream (he really doesn’t!) but if you ask his neighbours whether they hear a weird strangled cry that night, they’ll tell you that they did.

  II.

The first thing Woohee does when she realises the face in the mirror isn’t hers – well, no, it looks like her, sort of, but thinner, more gaunt, with darker circles under the eyes – is to punch it. Granted, that’s not the smartest move – breaking a mirror is seven years of bad luck, or at the very least, a heck lot of cleaning up – and she counts herself lucky that her fist doesn’t reach the reflective surface of the mirror.

(She’s kind of scared to touch the mirror right now anyway.)

The person on the other side of the mirror flinches, as if expecting to be hit, and she blinks, taking a moment to feel bad because she genuinely doesn’t mean to do anything – it’s just a reflex, to punch, if an unbecoming one – and she almost immediately bows in apology until she realises this is a mirror she’s facing.

A mirror that isn’t showing her her own reflection, but some mostly naked guy with a towel around his hips and whose face looks like her, she reminds herself. It sounds like a bad dream.

…wait, dream? On a whim, Woohee pinches herself, yelping in surprise when it hurts, and she stares harder at the mirror – the guy doing the same, curiously – but it doesn’t say anything about why the new mirror her dad got for her is showing something that is distinctly not a reflection of herself or her room. Still in a daze, Woohee reaches for the mirror before she realises what she’s doing.

  III.

One moment Woohyun’s staring at the mirror, wondering how it’s even possible that he sees a girl with his frigging face in it, and the next moment he suddenly has an armful of something warm falling onto him. He doesn’t fall with his back to the ground but he does stagger a little, before he realises –

“What the actual fuck?”

The girl is standing in his bedroom. And she’s in his arms. Against his chest. She looks as stunned as he is, eye whites visible around her iris and he steps backwards involuntarily, hands up in the air in defense, as if he hadn’t already touched her accidentally (caught her, okay, prevented her from falling flat on her nose), but apparently he’s not fast enough because he still gets a blow in his jaw.

“Aw, what the hell?”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry –”

“Do you punch everything you don’t understand?”

The girl looks at him, mouth opened in a look halfway between apologetic and uncomfortable, and Woohyun suddenly realises his towel has dropped in the midst of everything.

Great.

  IV.

She tries to avoid her gaze, but it’s kind of hard when the guy has a nice body, lean and muscled.

Nam Woohee, get a grip, now’s not the time.

She clears her throat, getting the guy’s attention, and now that he’s looking at her again, she’s not sure what to say.

“Uh.”

A raised brow, a look passed between her and something behind – right, the mirror – and Woohee turns. There’s a mirror behind her, nothing like the mirror in her room save for the fact that they’re both full-length and it takes her a while to realise that something’s wrong.

“This… is not my room.”

The guy frowns at her like it’s obvious. “Of course not, this is my room. So w-who are you and how did you get here –”

“Did I …pass through the mirror?”

The guy stares at her like she’s crazy. “Are you serious?”

Woohee looks down at her bare feet, realises with a start that she’s wearing only a large t-shirt and shorts because she had been about to sleep. She crosses her arms over her chest. “Well, no I don’t know,” she gets out, slightly annoyed now, “All I know is one moment I was in my room, and then suddenly I’m here.” She pauses. “Where am I anyway?”