#the period post. was going to find 2 other weird ones and make a “4 horseman of the mumbo jumbo apocalypse” meme but then kept

[locusfandomtime]

links to all the original posts because this one blew up way more than I expected and people may want to find the originals:

mumbo mining gravel - hermitcraft subreddit (sharpiechen)

mumbo sahara - hermitcraft subreddit (WubBeats)

alcohol + drugs actor - hermitcraft subreddit (whydoicareagain)

lgbtq hermitcraft - tumblr (omgitzlongdennis)

mumbo period - tumblr (multiple)

front page of reddit - madlads subreddit (PatatoPhish)

philippines - tumblr (eyes-inthe-skies)

grian is married to mumbo - tumblr (twitter mcytburner2022)

mumbo cannibalism - tumblr (badhermitcraftheadcanons)

sex machine - can’t find the version i used but i found this similar one on the hermitcraft subreddit (PaladinSquid)

no losers in consentual intercourse - tumblr (zloyxp)

feminine + woke - tumblr (anon on mcytblrconfessions)

@hermitheritageposts i saw you rb the original but i think this is a better version!

compilation of all the iconic insane mumbo jumbo posts

wanted to get them all in one place. feel free to add

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

MIDNIGHT CINDERELLA MEMORIAL POST

The Midnight Cinderella app will be closed on Monday August 26th, 2024 (5 PM JST). The English version was actively updated from 2014 to 2021 when Cybird announced the ceasing of operations for MidCin, but the app remained accessible until today. I'm sure I'm not the only one who mourns the loss of it even after all these years of discontinuation, so I wanted to put together a post to properly say goodbye to it. Trying my best not to make it all too sappy - I'd rather look at it as a show that reached its final episode. Some things might be left unresolved but in the end, you remember the cast and the emotions they made you feel more than the actual plot. Nowadays there arguably may be better titles by Cybird out there, but for me, the simplicity of MidCin was what made the details so memorable.

1. VIDEO - POV: You're playing Midnight Cinderella (for 10 minutes)

The 10-minute version (without sound) is accessible via the link above (opens in Google Docs) This one I was really excited about recording! It's just your normal day playing midcin, I'm sure many will find it nostalgic and comforting. You log in, claim your daily bonus (I used the chance to do a present box reveal, 90+ items, many of which you might recognize from route grace checks), play the garden gacha (in my case, I used up all the points I had accumulated, 7800 which equals 39 solos), do your princess lessons, change your avatar, greet your friends, read 1/5 of today's free story parts, check the ranking and your stats, look at your memories directory. The video has no sound, as the game wouldn't let me turn it on (you will see me try to do so throughout the video...) but later on I got it to work so I recorded a one-minute video (the one imported above) of me replenishing stamina just for those iconic sound effects that you either loved or absolutely couldn't stand the volume of, haha.

2. A Midnight Cinderella playlist (spotify link)

While I wasn't there for the early days of midcin, the songs I associated with the game almost always captured this very specifically nostalgic 90s-10s period, you'll see what I mean. Many of those are taken from 8track playlists dedicated to Midnight Cinderella, and if I'm not mistaken you can still look at what is left of them if you search them up. Others are just my very random interpretations of the route stories and the characters.

3. Fic recommendations

We have a lovely community of creatives and there are still so many works left behind which you can check out on the tags! But especially for fics I wanted to list some that truly touched me during the years (all links open in ao3) -

i'm on fire and its NSFW bonus scene bloodstream by a deleted user - words are not enough for this one. It's like it meant more than Nico's whole route for me at one point, and the songs are forever in my heart as Nico songs...

MidCin Works by DBMidCin (SoftSen) - ALL of these. This is my go-to collection of writings for midcin when I start to miss the game, it has a little bit of everything. The headcanon of Giles teaching his girls French for instance is one of the things I still remember reading like it was yesterday!

Bedroom Etiquette (NSFW) by RubyLeeRay - Because this is the dream. Doing something forbidden with your tutor Giles is the ultimate fantasy, I swear. I just love it.

And of course, many, many more. There are currently 166 works on the midcin tag in Ao3, and I'm sure there are a lot of hidden gems here on tumblr as well! Reminder that writers LOVE it when you interact with their old works, it's not weird, you shouldn't hesitate doing so if you find yourself enjoying any of them! <3

4. My own humble collection of MidCin writings on my writing blog @xxsycamore!

Maid, Butler, Chamberlain (NSFW) - Nico x MC with Giles joining them

Grabbles: 💋 Demand for a kiss, right here, right now (GILES); 👔 Stealing their clothes to cuddle when you miss them (BYRON); more coming soon as there are still some in my askbox and I plan on including midcin in future short writings request openings too.

Shared Moments (NSFW) - Nico x Reader - Secret relationship

Ice-cold heat (NSFW) - Byron x Reader - Temperature play

Double the Surprise - Alyn and Leo birthday fic

Leo Crawford having a misadventure with a cat (ao3 link) - crack fic featuring most of the suitors

5. Out of context Midnight Cinderella screenshots

This is a sideblog of mine dedicated to posting out-of-context funny screenshots that I took while playing the routes - @oocmidcin . If you have some of your own that are not on there, you're free to submit them and add to the archive!

6. The perfect MidCin song - The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives

When I first discovered this song back in 2020 I dreamed of making it into a midcin music video with simplistic art and animations... It ended up being just something you daydream in detail about while in the car, but that's alright. I could at least share my vision with you! Disclaimer, this is just an interpretation and obviously it can't fit all characters ideally - In the brackets, I explain how the lyric is related to them and usually it reveals their backstories. Some of the details I've already forgotten, sorry if it's inaccurate.)

Tell me once again

I could have been anyone, anyone else

Before you made the choice for me

(Giles - his family making the choice for him since birth and later disowning him once he failed to become a knight due to his illness)

My feet knew the path

We walked in the dark, in the dark

I never gave a single thought to where it might lead

(Nico - wandering the streets with his mother once they were thrown out of Stein castle because she was a commoner having an affair with Byron's father, the King)

All those empty rooms

We could have been anywhere, anywhere else

Instead I made a bed with apathy

(Robert - the empty rooms of the once flourishing palace of the country that Robert ruled and led to demise, nowadays becoming a mere court painter)

My heart knew the weight

Ten years' worth of dust and neglect

We made our peace with weariness and let it be

(Leo - the years in which Alyn didn't speak to him, after the death of their parents)

The moon will sing a song for me

I loved you like the sun

Bore the shadows that you made

With no light of my own

(Albert - loyally standing in king Byron's shadow)

Name your courage now

We could have had anything, anything else

Instead you hoarded all that's left of me

(Sid - his relationship with his fiance that he agreed upon just to find out more about his parents by getting close to her father)

Swallowing your doubt

Like swords to the pit of my belly

I want to feel the fire that you kept from me

(Alyn - searching for answers about the murder of his family and the fire that burnt down their home)

I shine only with the light you gave me

(I could have been anyone, anyone)

(Louis - being a nobody and MC being his sun)

7. It goes on

I went to read what I could of chapter 4 of Rayvis' route, using my last two chapter tickets as well, thinking it won't make me cry. And then I'm hit with those familiar things.

So let's close this with a word about the things that never change in the universe of Midnight Cinderella.

Stumbling down the grand staircase and right into the arms of somebody. Escaping the palace at midnight with Nico's help. Sitting at breakfast with Giles giving you your schedule for the day. Nico's teasing little smile as he accompanies you everywhere and listens to your relationship troubles. The way he's just a little suspicious at times. Finding Robert painting in the garden of Wysteria palace. Going to the room of your chosen suitor for the first time and meeting a pet there. Leo teaching you history and politics in his office. Dance lessons with Louis. Needing those dance lessons because King Byron is coming to Wysteria and a ball is going to take place. The bureaucrats being unhappy with you as a princess elect, no matter what. Galloping on a horse with Alyn who just protected you from an enemy attack. Getting information from a certain flirty merchant at a bar. Albert bickering with Nico, Sid teasing Louis. Being introduced to Archduke Herneit at Stein castle. King Byron appreciating the night sky. The sight of your yellow and orange princess elect room where on the large bed with its blue bedframe and tall see-through canopy you lie awake and think about the events of the day and how would a wise future Queen of Wysteria deal with the current situation. But ultimately you fall asleep, hearing the melancholically beautiful sounds of a violin coming from somewhere deep within your dream, and leave it all to the following day.

Thank you for everything, Midnight Cinderella!

08/26/2024

[race-week]

Apparently Yukis crash on Saturday had like 68 G. Is that even possible with such the movement the car made?

And wouldnt that mean that he had a higher impact crash that Verstappen in Silverstone '21?

Here’s the thing, g force is a measure of acceleration or deceleration not impact, and that’s why when it’s used to compare big crashes it kind of irks me a bit (I have a post or an ask talking about g force in more detail but I can’t find it at the moment)

G force is literally a way of measuring acceleration and if you remember physics from school the standard units for that are m/s^2. The distance travelled divided by the time (in seconds) squared.

G force is wholly dependent on the distance the object travelled in the given period of time, when talking about crashes that is from the moment just before impact until the car is fully stationary, this is usually in the milliseconds. The quicker the deceleration the larger the g force number.

Also the G Force number that’s recorded can vary so much based on what sensor it’s taken from, there’s accelerometers/g force sensors on the bottom of the survival cell, in the drivers ear plugs, in their gloves and other places.

Also Ocon had a fairly low speed collision in Miami, but that was recorded at 56G because it was into concrete, which is not good at absorbing impact, hence much quicker deceleration than there would be into a tyre barrier for instance.

There’s also other things to take into consideration like the angle of the crash and what area of the car takes impact, for instance a car going forward into a barrier might record the same g force as a car that hit a barrier sideways or backwards, but it’s likely that the car that went in forwards would have been travelling faster initially (the car just decelerated slower because of the nose crumpling and absorbing impact)

Yes, by peak g force load Tsunodas was higher than Verstappen’s in Silverstone (51g), Ocon’s in Miami (56g) and Grosjean’s in Bahrain (67g), but all 4 crashes are very different and I think it kind of shows using g force as a measure of comparing crashes doesn’t really make sense.

Verstappen scrubbed off a lot of speed in the gravel trap, Grosjean had a front first collision which slows deceleration and Ocon had a sudden deceleration into concrete, whilst Tsunoda had a vertical impact.

So yeah I don’t like comparing g forces of crashes because it’s kind of pointless to do so because there are so many factors (types of barriers and walls increase or decrease deceleration time, different areas of the car absorb more impact than others)

Also it feels really weird to argue that one crash is worse than another

[ryuichirou]

You get asked a lot of dark stuff, and we're all here for it, but what's your favourite wholesome ship/headcanon? Just a change of pace!

Funny enough, Anon, we do have one wholesome hc post! But it’s been a while since I wrote it, and there isn’t much there, so I’ll give one more for some of the ships. Not every single one though, so if you wanted something specific, please let me know.

It’s surprisingly difficult for me to come up with something purely wholesome without any kind of cursed undertone, but I’ll do my best...

1. Out of every possible ship option for Azul (well, there isn’t much for him but), I think Idia is the best for him in terms of potential personal growth. It wouldn’t be easy, but Idia is surprisingly emotionally mature, and I genuinely think he could handle Azul’s issues. Even though both of them are very defensive and tend to see the worst in people and argue with them, they are weirdly comfortable around each other, and it seems like Azul trusts Idia enough not to expect any backstabbing from him. I think they could make each other feel genuinely loved.

2. Lilia and Idia sometimes talk through the night. Of course, they love playing together, but sometimes they just start chatting, and then chat away until it’s 6 AM. Both of them try to keep their distance on the internet, but whenever Idia’s cool internet friend complains about his irl stuff (without details, of course) to him, he feels very happy. Like Muscle Crimson could rely on him, and he could rely on him too. It’s very weird and unusual for Idia to have this kind of connection with anyone who isn’t Ortho.

3. Kalim tried to make breakfast for Jamil one time. It didn’t turn out super well, and Jamil complained that all Kalim did was adding more work for him (even though he’s already overslept – how did that even happen?!), but... it wasn’t absolutely horrible either. For a second Jamil even thought that he could taste just how much Kalim did his best to make something good enough for him to eat. But he shooed that thought away immediately.

4. When Silver and Sebek were younger, there was a period of time during which Silver’s hair got too long. Lilia was away for a while, and Silver couldn’t cut it himself, he didn’t have anything to tie them up with either. After a short while it became obvious that Silver’s hair made it difficult for him to have a proper sparring with Sebek, so Sebek yelled at him, sat him down, and braided his hair for him – he saw his sister and his mother do it, and it wasn’t difficult to remember how it works. Sebek got mad at Silver because Silver thanked him and sounded so earnest and nice, he even said that now that he has Sebek to braid his hair, it shouldn’t be an issue. Lilia came back the next day and cut Silver’s hair short again though...

5. In a very weird way Vil is anxious about meeting Rook’s family. He doesn’t worry about Rook meeting his dad – Rook already knows anything there is to know about Eric Venue, and Vil knows that his dad will at least find Rook amusing. Plus, he talks to him about Rook a lot. But Rook’s family? Vil still doesn’t know a lot about them, and Rook is always super secretive: he just laughs and say that they’ll love Vil when they meet one day, which doesn’t sound reassuring, if anything, it sounds ominous. This man drives Vil nuts sometimes.

6. Ortho loves giving Vil flowers. Even if it’s just one flower, or even if it’s not even flowers but just some weed or berries that are useful for potionology, he’ll present it in a way as if he’s giving Vil flowers. It’s honestly Vil’s fault because he always acts charmed by this, but can you blame him? Ortho is such a little gentleman.

7. This is going to sound weird, but Ortho loves apologising to Idia. They don’t really fight that much, but they do get stubborn sometimes, and sometimes start arguing. Since Ortho is the younger brother and a cutie, he is used to Idia kind of giving up and allowing him to do things his way. But every now and then, when Ortho feels like he overdid it, he hugs Idia and says that he is sorry. And Idia is usually so quick to drown in guilt for making Ortho upset or disappointed that hearing “sorry” from him and getting a hug gets him very emotional.

8. Ace does nice things to Deuce sometimes, but he doesn’t want Deuce to see it. He doesn’t let their roommates enter their room when he knows Deuce is about to call his mom, he always runs first to the cafeteria to take a seat at one table that Deuce once said was the best one in there. He tries to make it look like he is just messing with others, or doing it for himself, but he... doesn’t really know why he does that, honestly. Maybe not to feel bad when he teases Deuce for getting another F.

9. One time Lilia got sick, and Malleus was very surprised to see him in his bed suffering from a fever. He teased him at first, saying that he must be getting old if a little cold got him this weak, but then ended up sitting by his side for two days. Lilia kept grumbling something about Malleus not having anything better to do, but having his company actually made him feel much better.

10. Fellow and Gidel always get each other birthday presents, even if they don’t have any money at the moment. Fellow just thinks that Gidel deserves to feel like he’s the king of the world every now and then, and he would love to treat him at least once a year, but unfortunately this isn’t always possible; a stolen dirty magazine would make Gidel just as happy though. Ironically, Fellow is always surprised when Gidel remembers about his birthday: Fellow himself forgets about it, or rather it makes him kind of depressed. But one time Gidel got (stole) a fat wallet filled with money and kept it hidden for weeks before gifting it to Fellow and having a little feast with him on Fellow’s birthday. What a nice day that was~

[failing-to-write-again]

Baby Photos Part 2!

Part 1

Since the lovely asker @lilithram did say to pick between Sakamaki baby photos or reader baby photos, I chose both. While the previous part was less overall fluff and more early relationship I decided to make this one closer to an established relationship. I’m a bit nervous about making the boys ooc so any feedback on parts that are good and in character or those less in character would help me work to tailor my writing.

I worked under the ages proposed by @diabolik-shu-lover from this post.

Shu Sakamaki

Visiting le château de Heinz wasn’t your ideal vacation spot if you were to be completely honest. Unfortunately a major downside to dating a crown prince is how business minded people are going to be about your relationship. Shu had delayed taking you here, sharing his wish to live a more ordinary life until his accession, and even then he still wanted to have a more “normal” relationship. So far your little trip had consisted of a dinner with Shu and his father where he quizzed you on your life, followed by two days of loneliness where Shu was kept away by business of some kind with his father. 

Waking up to day 3 of being alone you elected to at least try to find some evidence of Shu’s childhood you could tease him on. There had to be some silly sailor uniform or ruffled collar from when he was a small Victorian lad. Wandering the halls the castle was a thousand times creepier than the Sakamaki manor had ever been, especially when you were left without a lazy vampire keeping an eye on you. Karl Heinz had requested that his sons not kill you but that was before you began dating the son most likely to be forced into some arranged marriage. It didn’t help that the staff weren’t hidden familiars, they were standing in every room just looking… creepy.

Eventually your exploration landed you in a gallery, paintings decorated the hall with spotlights above each painting. Many seemed very old and depicted pretty women in the castle gardens at night. One of these paintings had a woman you were convinced was Shu and Reiji’s mother. She was under a gazebo in a red dress staring lovingly at someone standing somewhere behind the painting. 

“This must’ve been back when they were all in love before Cordelia.” You mumbled to yourself, turning away and continuing down the hall. You found some more imposing portraits of men, a few being Karl Heinz himself, and some more general landscape paintings. 

After nearly 2 hours of this you found a new hall of all six Sakamaki sons in a series of paintings, VICTORY. It’s always a bit weird when you get obvious reminders of your boyfriend being 387 years old even though he looks like a 19 year old. Seeing paintings of him in severely dated clothes and poses was just bizarre, snapping a picture of him in a wig from the Georgian period was a good form of pay back for his abandonment of you these past few days. There was one painting of him unlike all the others, he looked roughly 3 or 4 and was sat in his mother’s lap with a silver rattled as he peered down at a bundle in Karl Heinz’s lap, the raven coloured hair giving it away as Reiji. He looked so curious and his father looked so happy. He was cute, with blonde curlier locks and a big round face, he looked like any modern day child meeting their younger sibling. Seeing him with eyes so awake and full of life, and no animosity between the two oldest sons of Karl Heinz.

“She kept scolding me for not sitting still.”

Shouting in shock as you turn to see your MIA boyfriend with a shit eating grin on his face at your reaction.

“What’s with that face woman, girlfriend’s are meant to be happy when they see their boyfriend’s not scream like a banshee.” Teasing you as he stepped closer, moving his hands to sit comfortably at your waist. In response you let your head fall with a thud into his chest, wrapping your arm around his back.

“Well boyfriend’s aren’t meant to tell their girlfriend’s they’re going on vacation to then vanish off for days. We never get time together in the manor without your brothers hanging around and now your dad is keeping you busier than you’ve ever been.”

Sighing, Shu buried his nose in your hair  wrapping one arm around your shoulder and another around your lower back huddling you close. “I’m sorry. That guy wouldn’t stop talking about all this protocol and other crap about properly introducing you as my chosen queen. He wanted to rush everything.”

Pulling back just enough to look up eyes wide at what he was saying. Queen, you a queen? Not to mention having to meet more creepy vampires. Sensing some of your unease, Shu smiled.

“Relax, I managed to get him to agree to a much slower schedule, you won’t be rushed off to a ball anytime soon. For now the worst of it will be seeing some property we own and meeting his close advisory staff and my other’s old staff. After I have you to myself for another few months we’re going to graduate first.”

Letting out a sigh of relief you lay your head against his shoulder, staring back up at the painting. “As a kid you were pretty cute Shu.”

“Not as cute as you as a mini ballerina,” he shot back, absentmindedly rubbing little circles against your back as he also stared at the portrait.

“If I do end up as Queen you’re not allowed to marry anyone else, I refuse to deal with the whole situation with your mothers. And you can’t ever let our kids have such a poor relationship like you and Reiji.”

“Not if, when, princess and don’t work yourself up over stupid things. You’re mine, I'm not letting some woman try to take me away ever. Seriously such bothersome thinking.”

Leaning down he gently kissed you, as if you were so delicate and precious. Looking up at blue eyes finally looking awake and closer to that childhood Shu then he had in centuries.

Reiji Sakamaki

“The box I’m looking for is about as big as an envelope, and has a leather strap holding it shut. Let me know if you spot it.”

“Alright, anywhere you’d prefer I don’t look. I don’t want to run into some secret Laito porn stash up here.”

You hear Reiji chuckle at that. “Laito doesn’t come up here, too many spiders. I do not care where you go, we are partners, we agreed no secrets right.”

That made you smile, your relationship with Reiji was the fruit of a long journey of trying to reach an understanding. For a while you were both not fully able to understand each other, and while no relationship is perfect, especially yours, hiccups that would’ve caused serious arguments before were now easier to settle over tea. It felt good to feel like a respected partner.

Looking through the attic for this mystery box was a good time to find mementos to learn more about Reiji. Looking through older books and boxes of clothes or unused houseware most of the items in this portion of the attic seemed unimportant. Reiji focused his search on the opposite side of the room where the ceiling was higher, you were shorter than the 6ft man so were less uncomfortable searching where the roof sloped down. A small dusty window allowed some of the early morning light to stream in. Reiji had begun waking later during holidays to allow you both to have a day that had more sunlight for you. He claimed it was to reduce risk of seasonal depression or vitamin D deficiency, with the added benefit of allowing you both to go to museums and other date locations. Waking at 12am gave you the opportunity to see sunrises daily, and if you were honest the view of your boyfriend in the hazy early morning glow was always a welcome sight. 

“You’re staring.” 

“I see nothing wrong with admiring my boyfriend”

He let a smile sigh pass his lips as he smiled, shaking his head. Looking back down at the stack of cardboard boxes he was rifling through. You pull your eyes away and back to the room around you, you spot something sticking out behind a shelf. Pulling it out you find a handful of photos and a small box. The photos were black and white, Daguerreotypes, on metal sheets. The images showed a younger Reiji taking what looked like test photos. Some were of him, slightly blurred from incorrect technique, others of items. The last photo was much clearer and was of Reiji sitting in a chair with a book in his lap. He must’ve gotten a familiar to take the photo. 

“Hey Reiji can I take these down? I don’t know how to store such photos though.”

Looking up Reiji walked over, taking the photos from you to look through. He picked up a box placing them inside before handing them to you,

“I will have the familiars store them properly and make scans so you can have more stable prints of them. If you wish to have images of me to display however, I would prefer you take more modern photos with both of us.”

Smiling down at the box of photos, Reiji spoke again.

“Smiling over such trivial things as a few photos, you should be harder to please.”

“You’re probably the first man to ever say that Reiji, besides it’s nice to have childhood photos of each other. I only have my locket but what happens when your children ask to see what you looked like as a child?”

“Our children will have plenty of paintings of me to see at my father’s castle, and if we are so lucky your only response will be that they look exactly as you did as a child.” Adjusting his glasses Reiji knelt down and picked up the box you had also pulled out with the photos. Meanwhile as his words set in your face flushed slightly.

“Our children…Reiji you shouldn’t say that stuff so casually. Besides, why would you want them to look like me? I'm human.”

That was not a response he liked, gently lifting your chin with his thumb and pointer finger Reiji looked you in the eye as he spoke. “Our children should be as pretty or handsome as their mother. I’m insulted you think, after all we’ve been through, I have not grown out of the belief that blood is a final decider in terms of superiority. You are superior, you are who I want, you alone are my partner and equal so strong as to be able to hold my heart in your hands. Am I clear?”

Your blush darkens as Reiji flusters you further, you can only nod your head in response to such strong compliments said so earnestly. Smiling Reiji’s thumb gently swiped over your bottom lip before leaning in to kiss you. Reiji always kisses you with the aim to convey all of his feelings for you, as if you will never be able to kiss him again. Moving in tandem you ended up leaning against a shelf with Reiji’s arm pinning you there, your arms holding onto his collar to prevent him pulling away too soon. 

Unfortunately, Reiji has to ensure you take in air so moves back. Opening the box, he removes a key, turning it over in his hands.

“This key is to my father’s laboratory here, he used it when he was visiting us as children. I sealed it off years ago and elected to use my room for my experiments. However, due to the chemicals it is not safe for you to sleep there so they must be moved.” 

“What’s wrong with my room?”

“It is a guest room, I’m not going to sleep every night in a guest bedroom in my own home. No, my room must be altered to fit its needs and to do so I shall reclaim the laboratory as my own to allow you to rest safely.”

All you could do is follow along as Reiji began to return back downstairs, gazing down at the box of pictures. Looking at the sad younger Reiji you couldn’t help but compare him to the cool, confident man he had become.

Ayato Sakamaki

Ayato had demanded you meet him in the garden of the castle that evening, something about having something special to show you. You weren’t sure what to expect really, surprises with Ayato were often either very nice or sweet but messy failures. Breakfast in bed when you’ve never cooked before was a bad idea in hindsight, even he had to admit. Still as the night started to fade into dawn you made your way to the gardens, examining the sights around you as you went. 

The father of the Sakamaki’s had summoned them to return for some festival of sorts. Ayato had been vague in describing it, rather unhappy to be returning. It seemed like some carnival was being set up, you hoped it was a carnival anyway. As you ponder the pros of encouraging Ayato’s competitiveness to win you stuffed toys you eventually reach the garden. Opening the glass doors you see Ayato sitting on a blanket, under the stone gazebo and some candles lit around. He had a few plates of your favourite deserts around as well as takoyaki. He grinned as you approached, arms crossed and pride beaming from his face.

“I set this all up, yours truly is the best boyfriend ever, and I have a present for you.” Pulling out a box with a bow stuck on the lid, he gestured for you to open it. You sat down cross legged, opening the box to reveal a collection of photos. 

Lifting some out you realise these were the photos Ayato had burnt after he had first met you, before you had started dating. They looked untouched. Ayato, not trusting your silence, began to speak again.

“Ore-sama got the familiars to find copies and I had those losers in the tech club at school print them. They couldn't say no to yours truly. Do you like it?”

“Why did you do all this, you threw them into the fire.” Ayato blushed before looking away, a hand on his neck.

“I…felt…bad about making you cry like that. It’s only fun when you cry from my bites, not over that stuff.” 

Your sniffling brought his attention back to you, panic spreading across his face. Pulling you into his lap and holding you close as his brain froze trying to find the best course of action. Your hands rising up to hold his cheeks as you attempted to calm down, a smile on your face.

“It’s ok, they’re happy tears. I’m happy Ayato.”

“Are you sure, don’t lie to yours truly.”

“I’m not, I swear! Thank you Ayato, these photos are important to me.”

Sighing in relief, Ayato leant back letting his head thunk against one of the gazebo pillars. 

“Damn it, you’re not meant to cry when Ore-sama gives you gifts.”

Running his fingers along your back. You began rifling through some of the photos noticing some new additions to the collection. There, between the photos of a younger you were pictures of you and Ayato on various dates. You, completely unaware of the camera while Ayato was looking and seemingly taking each photo. There was also one picture of a painting, it was of three boys with the child on the left resembling a much younger version of your boyfriend. 

“I didn’t know you had any childhood photos of Ayato.”

“It’s the only one, you can’t have a collection of photos without one of yours truly to admire.”

Giggling you sit back leaning against his chest while you both began to enjoy your picnic and company. 

Laito Sakamaki

You were currently facing a big problem, for some reason the 2nd year history department had decided to assign a project discussing your family history…in detail. So you were currently stressed out of your mind trying to figure out how to worm your way out of this one. Laito was covered, his family history well laid out as a royal and all of his ancestors having false human lives, it basically wrote itself. Yet here you were unable to write anything. It’s not that you were necessarily ashamed of your orphan status, and your close companions now also ‘brides’ of the Sakamaki’s were virtually sisters and you could maybe write about them. But people always got weird about orphans, and while you weren’t ashamed to be one by any means, being Laito’s girlfriend let alone a Sakamaki girlfriend involved gossip, it came with the territory. Extra rich boys in a school full of rich kids would always mean they were an aim for many girls and their parents alike, let alone Laito’s colourful past meaning he’d slept with basically any 2nd year heiress he could say a word to. All of them convinced they’d be the one to make him want to stay, and all of them feeling the same disappointment or satisfaction when one failed. Then in comes a girl under a sponsorship by said extra rich kid’s father who then ends up dating each of them effectively removing them from the market, and meaning every single girl, generally all conventionally very attractive and whom most men would gladly keep as girlfriend, being ‘beaten’ as they saw it by someone with no assets. 

So to put a long story short, while you weren't super torn up about not having an easy to explain family tree, you weren’t ready to deal with everyone’s response to that little tidbit. All of this led you to now, sitting with Laito as he brushed your hair listening to your predicament.

“Like whatever about the teacher getting weird, I’ll gladly take the free pass to ask for extra stuff. But you really made everything difficult. I can handle snide remarks from Hana, Aoi, and Emiko; they're mostly harmless. Yet, if they get it in their heads that I don’t have parents to cause any issues they might get worse.” You stopped to pick up some popcorn, holding your arm backwards to give Laito some. He took the opportunity to lick your fingers, snickering as you pulled your hand back, wiping it on your jeans. 

“Don’t be nasty, I'm having a serious talk. I just… some of the 1st year girls were horrid to Subaru’s girlfriend just for finding out she had been at a boarding school. They cornered her in the bathroom and stuck gum in her hair. Gum! Like yeah me and the girls tore them a new one but…gum!”

Humming thoughtfully, Laito placed down the brush switching to running his fingers through your hair. He moved to rest his head on your shoulder, letting a comfortable silence sit over you while he thought of what to say.

“If you want, I can get you a family tree in full detail”

“How would you even do that, if you just make people up and anyone finds out then it's worse.”

“We could always make one~”

A pillow to the face shut that idea down, laughing as he fell backwards against the cushions while you were glaring at him.

“Be serious! What am I meant to do?”

Sitting back up, Laito took your hand pulling you up.

“Follow me.”

Walking through the manor, Laito took you to a less well maintained wing. Cobwebs littered the hallway and the wallpaper was peeling slightly in patches, there weren't any electrical lights either, only wall sconces with candles Laito lit as you walked by. Laito was silent for most of the journey, only giving a hand squeeze of reassurance whenever you caught his eye. You weren’t sure if the squeeze he gave passing a portrait of Cordelia was to reassure you or him, whenever you even heard of that woman it sent shivers down your spine.

Paintings became more common the further you walked, most were of adults with a vague similarity to Laito and his brothers, others were portraits of women in beautiful dresses with a characteristic pale visage. Finally stopping in front of a picture of three young boys with a signature red and purple haired look.

“This is the only painting or picture of me and any of my brothers together. Me and the other triplets don't argue as much as Shu and Reiji but we aren’t close,” he turned, taking your hands in his. “You have sisters, actual sisters who you have stories and pictures with. Anyone who disagrees, I will handle.” 

“Gum in my hair Laito. It’s not a good look.” Laito sighs, pulling you close before you hear him mutter.

“Theirs will look worse when I cut it all off.”

Kanato Sakamaki

“Dolly, why are you in here?”

Turning to greet Kanato from where you sat in the quiet wing of the Sakamaki manor, placing your sketchbook back down beside you and making room for your boyfriend to sit nearby.

“I come here to sketch the portraits since I can’t get a good wifi connection to look up references. I really like this painting, it’s of you right?” 

Kanato sat down looking up at the painting then to your sketch. It was different to the painting in many ways, the main difference being that it was a younger him alone with teddy. You had changed his posing too slightly to make him look less nervous. He was pinching his fingertips though, a sign he was uncomfortable that he picked up from the exercises he had copied you doing to help regulation. You could see he was struggling to find his wording. Scooting closer you placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to reassure him you cared and were listening. 

“It’s pretty, but dolly I don’t like you being here.”

“Why Kanato? It’s nice here, nobody comes here to interrupt or be loud and there's all these pretty paintings. What’s wrong?” Continuing to play with his fingers, he moves closer to you turning to face you straight on.

“This is where…her room used to be. We have to leave me and Teddy hate it here.” Immediately you were filled with questions. While you knew Kanato, Ayato, and Laito killed their mother and have mixed feelings towards her, you had never seen Kanato spooked. It did explain why this area was not well maintained. You had to bring a brush with you during your first visits to the wing to remove some of the largest cobwebs and first from your seat. However, you had to admit that with the newfound knowledge that these halls were where your boyfriend had been tormented by his own mother for centuries it changed the atmosphere. Suddenly the quiet was now tense, the weathered appearance of the halls becoming creepy signs of lifetimes long since passed. 

So you went along with Kanato’s instruction, returning to the more familiar manor where Reiji had familiars ensuring everything was organised and dustless. Following behind while mulling over the best way to approach this particular conversation. He led you to his room, sitting on his bed with your sketchbook and flipping through it. Pacing the path from his bedside locker to his balcony doors slowly, Kanato watched you. Around your fifth lap he gently grabbed your forearm guiding you to sit next to him, playing with the pages of your sketchbook. He turned to one of your favourites, you had drawn Kanato sitting in front of a backdrop of rose bushes. A small smile on his lips and a glint of childish glee in his eyes.

“I’m hanging this one up.”

“That one isn’t fully vanished, it's only a sketch.”

“But I like it, so it’s finished and I want it on my wall. And I want a matching one of you to go beside it.”

Sighing in acceptance you took his hand winding your fingers with his. It was probably better to shelf some questions anyway, while you were well past the stage of Kanato stabbing you with a fork for too many questions it was still not always easy to bring up sensitive topics. 

Subaru Sakamaki

“Oi, idiot the car is outside. Are you ready to go or what?”

Grabbing your earrings and standing, you began walking over to your boyfriend in a new sundress and short heels for a lunch meeting with Christa at some new vampire restaurant she had taken a liking to. In the years following yours and Subaru’s relationship, both of you had begun to put work into  helping both Subaru and his mother move forwards in their lives and reducing the impact their past traumas had on them. It was a slow and difficult progress with what felt like 100 steps back after every step forward but Christa had reached the point where her good days outnumbered her bad ones with the help of a team of specialists and patience. 

Within the last half a year Christa had begun to travel short distances from her home, a fairly new cottage Subaru had built her close to the manor after we graduated from Ryoutei Academy. Today’s trip was to a cafe she had been to numerous times with her trusted hand maids, so it was an obvious choice for the first excursion you and Subaru were joining in on. On Subaru’s part you had nothing but admiration and pride for the strides he had taken, he still had periods of self doubt often linked to birthdays and when his father was involved. However, such episodes were short and he had grown into more healthy responses to these thoughts, that still didn’t reduce his worries when interacting with his mother in environments that could trigger an episode. It took reassurances from Christa and her therapist to show that there was a set of precautions to ensure her safety before he agreed to this lunch. 

That brought you to today, where your boyfriend adjusted the collar of his pale grey shirt and looked at you with eyes that clearly showed his trepidation about this trip. Looping your arm around his as you made your way to the car you offered reassurance.

“She’s been looking forward to this lunch, she goes there every week at this point it's basically the same as when we have dinner with her.”

“The first time we had dinner with her she started screaming at your halfway through thinking you were a thief, before she tried to cut your hair off.”

“That’s not a fair comparison and you know it. Christa has found medicines that work and worked with Dr. Estelle for years now.”

“You know she  wants you to call her mum.”

“She’ll be mum when you get on the ring choosing we both agreed last time at dinner remember. She even offered to help you plan everything.”

Grunting, he looked away squeezing your arm while opening the passenger side door of his porsche. The ride was mostly quiet with you running your shared spotify playlist with Subaru mentioning concerns for you to counter with considerations made to address them. Once you arrived at the cafe Subaru relaxed quickly seeing Christa behaving normally. 

As always, you were greeted with hugs and excited interrogations as to the going ons of your life since your last visit. Christa had been so kind as to give recommendations based on your individual tastes, having an excellent grasp on the menu. She was also so kind as to bring an album of photos her staff had made of Subaru growing up to allow her to feel more included in his life while locked in that tower. 

“Oh my goodness! He looks so cute here, when was this one?”

You pointed to a photo of a roughly 8 year old Subaru sitting on a wooden table licking a spoon covered in some batter. Smudges of the batter were on his cheeks and shirt as a fire was lit in the background. It was a cosy image and something you had seen Subaru do before. Anytime you baked anything he insisted on spoon cleaning duty to ‘make it easier to clean’.

“Ah, one of my ladies in waiting had that painted after she heard me talking about how happy I was during that visit.”

“I love it, Subaru was such a cute kid!”

“I don’t see what's so cute, I’m just stuffing my face there.”

“Oh shish Subaru. She’s right, you were an adorable kid with cute little cheeks.” To emphasise her point she pinched his cheeks while cooing at him. Subaru only scowled in response, but it held no actual malice behind his glare.

While leaving the cafe, after nearly 5 hours of catching up, Christa pulled you aside to give you the picture claiming she had hundreds more. During the drive home Subaru kept looking at you admiring the photo. 

“You can always take pictures of me ya now. You don’t need to use a kid photo of me for that.”

“I have photos of you, I just like this one, it's special.”

“You’re such a weird woman.”

“Would you have me any other way?”

[accio-victuuri]

(13) Fake Rumors - from the vault

I have been going through some old rumors from the fake house & decided to share some. whether these may be new to you or not, but i hope you still enjoy them as much as I did looking back. I feel like in the fandom, we’ve only ever been active when it comes to lrlg and the 49 fakes. the rest of the information that fall in between aren’t as talked about or depends on the topic. as with all other bjyx material, i want a place to store some parts of it. 🤍

these are sort of random, the ones that I had saved and found again. treat it all as fiction.

( someone please make an AU fic or edit for this xz and wyb. there is a story here. look at them. 😍😍😍 )

i have traveled a long way, you have dreamed a long time. many lonely nights drift like fallen leaves but it always finds a way….🍃🍂

(1) this one was posted for the new year 🎉

XZ: Get me a courier later

🧔‍♂️:Okay

====

🧔‍♂️:What is it? It’s so light

XZ: made-up parts, Legos.

*XZ talking to a staff so he can send out some lego parts. I think it’s light because what he is sending are “parts” that WYB is missing and he found them for him. I truly like the idea of XZ spoiling WYB when it comes to his hobbies and him being invested in it too even if he isn’t necessarily a fan too. true love! and well, reminded me of the rumored lego set gift during the early days of cql filming.

(2) have you eaten?

About the backstage live broadcast of a recent event on the same stage

WYB:Have you eaten yet?

XZ: *shakes head*

WYB: Come have dinner with me later

XZ: Who else? (Looking over it, I don’t know what I’m looking for)

WYB: Stop looking for it. I’ll send it to you next time.

Supplement: Teacher W watched Teacher X take off his makeup before leaving together.

*The usual WYB making sure that XZ eats and him waiting for his gege so they can eat with each other. Even after the CQL filming, as long as they are at the same event they will try and be together. Tho instances of that have been so rare to 0 nowadays because of the amount of eyes on them.

(3) the forbidden book lol

The crew's study period

WYB: Where is the erotic book? I want to read it.

XZ: Suddenly got up and left.

*This is one of my faves even if it’s so short! Library Pavilion behind the scenes & rumors is the gift that keeps on giving. I wouldn’t put it pass WYB to troll ZZ with this.

Here’s a GIF for you to bring you back to that time🤍

(4) call me maybe? 📱

There was a period last year where everyone had to learn rap, usually🐂 learned the fastest but he was absent-minded that time🐂 was looking at us eating delicious food while resting, it seems that he is thinking his rap, he seemed to be even more tired. At this time, staff handed over the phone and he left immediately to pick it up.

He called him, and when he came back he didn't have any special expression, but he felt refreshed. 

(5) praising

WYB: I really like to be praised by everyone and feel "wow" from everyone, so every time Da Zhen's family praises me crazily, I will secretly write it down and send it to him.

XZ: I am also a part-time praise captain. Every time I praise,None of them are the same.He can often keep up with the facts.

WYB: I don’t understand a lot of Internet slang.

XZ: I always hurt him by saying, "No, you don't even know this joke, so WYB doesn't go online?" Just. very good. Laughing, every time I feel hurt, I secretly say "He is better than me. I'm young, I know everything." What kind of tone is this? One time during a video, XZ sang "Darling, come and save me." Seeing WYB's ears slowly become red and coughed. Who can tell me what’s going on with these lyrics?

(6) baking shenanigans

The puff pastry made by XZ is very delicious, WYB will also work with XZ to help when he has time. He’s busy getting started, and they will also do some weird things. If there is a strange taste, try it with the people around you.

Once WYB squeezed minced garlic into the pastry and mixed chili powder, but forgot to mark it, XZ ate it, pinched the back of the neck and squeezed the flesh of the face "Teacher Trained WYB”

*IM CACKLING AT THIS OMG WYB 😂😂😂 what flavor of pastry is that????

(7) another one about eating

Aling period

WYB: Why are you back?

XZ: Come back for dinner, there will be a show in the afternoon

WYB: Aren’t you going to eat with your friends?

XZ: I didn’t agree when someone wanted to invite me, it was too stupid.

WYB: xls It’s so difficult to eat normally today

XZ: You haven’t eaten it, have you?

WYB: Nope. I just thought you were back.

(8) checking the weather

XZ: “The weather doesn’t look like it’s going to rain...(Look 📱)

👤: "It should be sunny..."

XZ: “I just saw📱the weather forecast showed it’s going to rain soon.

👤: How is that possible? It’s obviously sunny. "(春📱)

XZ: "Huh?" (👤♥Two people facing each other📱)

XZ: Overcast to light rain to moderate rain.

👤: What you are looking at is the weather

XZ: Oh my God, so embarrassing...

XZ forgot to switch cities. no one will know the city WYB was in that day if I don’t tell you.

*This one hits different cause for this rumor, they are in different cities but in the same country. Lately, there are times that they are in diff countries so do they look at the weather their too? 🥹🥹🥹

I can’t relate to their obsession with the weather, but if that gives them a sense of connection to each other then it’s fine.

(9) raining

💚Supplement: It’s when the temperature gradually rises. At that time, it rained in June.

💚Holding an umbrella💚❤️talking all the way

❤️Start standing on the right side of 💚

💚Hold the umbrella and tilt it in the direction of ❤️

❤️Thick clothes💚Left half of light-colored thin clothes

The edges are wet and very transparent.

❤️Just keep pushing the umbrella in the direction of 💚

I wanted to block 💚 a little more, but found it was fine.

After seeing the effect, I found an opportunity to move it to the left side of 💚

Then 💚 the right half also got wet

Both centered and symmetrical….…..

(10) them and their parents.

Regarding their parents, I currently know the older one’s mom and dad can also surf the internet, and talk about about their CP and their impression of WYB is good. But his mother actually really wants to have a grandchild. His father is very indifferent when the older one comes home. I'm sure his mother won't be able to bear it. She asked him bluntly, the older ones always focus on work to fool her in the past. In July this year not only did he tell the truth to his family but took the younger one back with him.

It’s time for dinner at home, and the younger one is very nervous. He is afraid that the family will think he is not good enough. He bought a lot of things and piled them up for backup. He sprayed perfume and dressed properly and pretended. The older one made him want to laugh when he looks at him, just fool around. The younger one calls him a big bastard.

The mother on the table was holding jianguo and said she could only count on her to give birth to a litter of grandsons.

* I know that talk about their parents is sensitive and would always lead to more discussion, but again, treat this as fiction. and tbh, who could resist WYB as a son in law??? It I had a son and he brings home WYB as a boyfriend I will be very happy. I also feel soft that XZ is trying to tease and make WYB laugh.

(11)

What happened last year

WYB: Is it delicious?

XZ: (nodding while eating) Yeah, it’s quite delicious.

WYB: What about others?

XZ: Wait a minute...Wow, I just ate that, this one has no taste.

WYB: Is it too spicy?

XZ: It’s okay, but my tongue is numb and I can’t taste other flavors.

WYB: Wait a minute, drink some water. Is it really that spicy?

XZ: Try it yourself. You didn't keep it for yourself? Wasn't it sent from you?

WYB: I didn't take it apart. Bring it to me.

Then XZ really ate so much that he left two packets and took them back to WYB.

(You send it to me and I will bring it back to you. What kind of trick is this?)

What happened this year

XZ: It’s been too cold these two days.

👤: Southern kids.

XZ: :Then northerners also feel cold. Cold is cold.

(Okay, I know you have northerners in your family, next one)

👤When teasing XZ and WYB, XZ’s response was, “Hahaha” and send out red envelopes. As expected of Boss XZ.

I saw other people's submissions and came to do some post-sale service. I heard that XZ sang to put WYB to sleep. I know that there is indeed mmxhn, and there is a six-character song related to snow. (There are probably others somewhere that I don’t know about)

(12) like a fairy

XXX was wearing Iwj's white clothes for the first time

XX: Fairy, descended to earth to overcome the tribulation

XXX: Isn’t fairy a dog? You have so much information but no good words.

XX: Compliment you for being good-looking and handsome.wls, wow, so handsome!

XXX: xls looks better than me, our xls is so beautiful, ancestor of Yiling

XX: Stop, stop, it’s so shameful

*My favorite kind of rumor is when WYB goes gremlin on XZ! 😂😂😂😂

(13) cravings

WYB has been craving for "cai cai rice" recently, XZ told him many times that spring is not so good to have wild vegetables, even if they are cooked. WYB said he doesn’t care about wild vegetables he just wants to eat the vegetable rice cooked by XZ, but I don’t have that. It smells good, I just want to eat it.

In the end, he still didn’t get the cabbage meal, but freshly baked dumplings. WYB got a bargain and acted nice, he was acting coquettishly while eating.

* Oh to be WYB and have someone like XZ cook for youuuu 😍😍😍😍

-END.

P.S : this ye mi and xiao zhan AU pairing is living in my mind rent free. 🥵🥵🥵

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Wandavision AU stuff

making a new post bc the other one was really long

@storm-ismyusername

Whenever I think of “cured” Niffty I always picture her as tall.

Yeah, same, although I think I’ve already given past Niffty enough new traits that adding more would be going a bit overboard.

1-Now I’m thinking about Niffty getting her hands on some Asmodeus crystals and booking it to Earth with Vox.

I highly doubt that sinners/winners can leave the afterlife (well, maybe as ghosts since the next Helluva episode is called “Ghostfuckers” and what we’ve seen from it so far implies that Blitz thinks ghosts are real…), but for the sake of the argument, let’s assume they can.

2-Niffty and Vox living on Earth disguised as humans in a lavender marriage sounds absolutely fascinating to me. 3-Would they stay in one place or constantly be on the move. 3.1-If they stay in one place I can see them living in the suburbs, like a weird parody of their first lives. 4-What would their neighbors think of them? 5-Would they have Vark? 5.1-Instead of bringing Vark would Niffty just get a regular service dog for Vox? 6-Unlike their first life I guess Niffty would be the breadwinner, would she get a job or just steal stuff? 6.1-If she gets a job I think it would be as a tailor or maid. 6.2-(But picturing Niffty as a fast food employee, Walmart employee, or in a boring office job is pretty funny.) 6.3-Though leaving Vox on his own for long periods of time doesn’t sound like the best idea. 6.4-Maybe every month Charlie gives them money.

If they were to somehow pull this off, they’d need a lot of help (presumably from the Morningstars). It’s not easy to start a brand new life in 2024 with not money and no identity documentation— doubly so when one of you has a mental condition that causes erratic behavior.

Assuming the basics are taken care of, yeah, I can see them heading to the suburbs. No moving necessary since this is such a rare situation, Niffty’s not anticipating the Vees ever being able to reach/find them. Niffty would definitely want to get a job (she doesn’t want to be a “burden” on Charlie), but yeah, leaving Vox alone all day isn’t a good idea, even with their new dog. Their neighbors are incredibly confused: new couple moves in who live like they just walked out of the 1950s, except the wife works and the husband appears to have some kind of severe mental illness (young-onset dementia? Schizophrenia?? Is that why they’re acting like it’s the 50s???).

3.2-Would this technically be their fourth life? (Human life, Overlord life, post mindbreak life, ‘human’ life.) 9-Could Alastor call back Vox even though he’s on Earth? I’m pretty sure that’s an entirely different dimension. 10-How would Vox feel about this? 11-How well mentally would Vox be? 11.1-Would he forget that he isn’t actually a human? 11.2-Would his first life and his fourth life start to blur together? 11.3-Would Vox mistake Niffty for his wife and wonder where Sarah and Tommy are? 11.4-I think Vox would slowly realize, with horror, that his seemingly perfect life is not what he thought it was. 11.5-(Sounds like some great horror material to me!)

Vox is still… adaptable, in his own way. He very quickly accepts this as the new normal and, yeah, his memories would definitely start blending together. Honestly, Alastor would be the biggest point of contention; assuming he’s still alive, Vox want to return to him, although that’s not possible unless they return to Hell, which is the last thing Niffty wants to do. Vox is usually just kind of vibing, buying into the story that Niffty’s been telling everyone, but he still has his outbursts (which are ESPECIALLY problematic if he still has access to his demon powers).

Honestly, I can lowkey see this morphing into a Wandavision situation over time. Niffty’s just Not coping with what happened to her and is choosing to bury her head in the sand and live out an untenable fantasy life instead. She deserves this after everything she’s gone through, right? To have a second chance at the life she always wanted with a “husband” who won’t hurt her this time? It’s not healthy and isn’t a good plan, but if she has to accept reality, she feels like she’ll shatter all over again.

7-Would Valentino and Velvette go to Earth to get Vox back? (Now I’m imagining them with Asmodeus crystals.) 7.1-How would they find out that Niffty & Vox are on Earth? 7.2-Valentino and Velvette (& Niffty) would have a huge culture shock being back on Earth, being surrounded by people who aren’t completely self interested and ready to literally stab you in the back. 7.3-I’d imagine Valentino having to be reminded (by Velvette) that you can’t casually kill someone on Earth. 7.4-What would passerby’s make of Val and Vel? 7.5-I feel like Velvette would have a lot of feelings being back on Earth. She didn’t die that long ago so this Earth is very similar to the one from her human life, but she’s very different from the girl who died in a car crash, more ruthless and cutthroat. Even though this Earth is familiar she’s a stranger to it. 7.6-(I know this would be unlikely, but what if Velvette ran into people she knew in life? It’s only been about a decade since she died, everyone she knew would probably still be alive.)

Val and Vel would definitely pursue Vox and Niffty to Earth once they found out they were there (and that it’s possible for sinners to return to Earth at all). No clue how they’d find out, but still. Heck, Alastor might not be far behind them if he’s still kicking (oh fuck, here comes a new idea: some people theorize that Al might have access to the living world and that’s why he’s so powerful. Maybe he’s responsible for sending Vox and Niffty there? Like, maybe Niffty backed him into a corner somehow and they made a deal that he’d pay her back for what he did to her by granting her and Vox a new start? I guess he’d be Agatha in the Wandavision comparison… (maybe he drops by for visits: he can’t let Vox and Niffty go that easily.)) Being back on Earth is disorienting for all the reasons you described; Val’s lowkey forgotten how to act like a normal person while Vel is having Feelings that she doesn’t want to examine. Velvette probably wouldn’t run into anyone she knew unless Vox and Niffty were in the UK, but still.

8-I wonder what would happen if D.O.R.K. found them? (Niffty & Vox, Vel & Vel, or both groups)

The DORKs… god, idk. That’d definitely be one hell of a complicating factor. One door closes with the Hellborn and another one opens with sinners, I suppose.

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

5.2, 5.3, 5.4 - The dog Vox got for his kids back when he was alive was named Sparky (they probably changed its name after his death lol). Would make sense given the way his memories blend together, although he might be a bit confused about the difference in breed (his was a German Shepherd). And yeah, Vox probably wouldn’t do well with animals that don’t have augmentations that protect them from electrocution.

12, 12.1, 12.2 - Yeah, I think she’d say they’re married— it’s the only thing that makes sense to both of them (ah the joys of all your clearest memories ending in the 1960s). The age gap is weird, but not noteworthy enough to get people asking questions, especially when they’ve got so much other weirdness to keep up with.

13, 13.5 - Niffty’s friendly, but keeps her distance— she’s not quite ready to let new people in yet. Vox is gregarious and wants to start making connections, but he doesn’t leave the house much and the bulk of his interactions with them come on Bad Days.

14, 14.5 - Alastor shows up whenever he feels like it, but there’s probably some kind of a schedule, if only for Vox’s sake. The neighbors don’t really notice him; sometimes they’ll wonder how he got in the house when they never saw him show up, but they usually write it off. Niffty Does Not enjoy Alastor’s visits, but Vox is always thrilled to see him.

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5.5 - Don't think that'd be a very good idea since Hellborn animals seem to generally be more aggressive than Earthly animals.

13.6 - Probably

16, 16.1 - Depends on if it's just a normal house someone bought for them, Lucifer's vacation home, or something Alastor conjured for them.

17, 17.5 - Depends on how private the yard is and if there's magic keeping him from leaving the property.

18 - Idk you do you

19, 19.1 - Idk, depends on whether Alastor or the Morningstars got them up there. If the disguises aren't a passive thing, then yeah, I can see there being some close calls in terms of being discovered.

20 - At first, definitely. That might change as they both get deeper into their delusions (Vaughn that Nancy is his wife (what happened to Helen? He’s not sure, but he likes Nancy better anyway), Niffty that this new life with Vox isn't a complete fiction).

21 - If it's a good day and they don't have anything too suspicious in the house, sure. Neither of them want to be complete shut-ins, so they just need to be smart about it.

22 - Pretty often. It wasn't as much of an issue for him in Hell since time just sort of blended together, prompting Vox to usually take the path of least resistance. Living the 50s life 90% of the time isn't great for Vox's temporal orientation. Most people just awkwardly laugh it off since it's so obvious he's mentally unwell.

21, 21.1 - Maybe. They're different races, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Val's a bit pouty about it, but Vel's not indulging him on this– they've got a job to do and it's not like it's an unreasonable assumption to make.

22 - Maybe, although given IMP’s track record of killing bystanders as well as the actual target, Val and Vel might be a bit hesitant (sure, they might succeed in shooting Niffty, but what if they hit Vox too?)

23 - Vox gets away with a lot because his hapless suburbanite neighbors don't know enough about [whatever mental illness they assume he has] to parse whether the things he says actually line up with the diagnosis.

24 - Sarah and Thomas are both still alive in 2024 (they're 74 and 77 respectively). Sarah would feel like she's going crazy, having a perfect clone of her long-dead father living in her neighborhood. Vox wouldn't be able to recognize either of his children, but might be caught off-guard by their names.

[meraki-yao]

TN Candies Part 2

HI! I’m back with more candies to share :D

Part 1

Again, preface for precaution, but it’s the exact same stuff as last time, so if you know it and you’re okay with it, feel free to cut the chase and go straight to the main event under the cut.  

1, This post contains content regarding real-person shipping. If you’re uncomfortable with the subject, again, please don’t read under the post

2, I don’t have all the candies because I really just view them in passing, so I’m just gonna write/translate the ones I’ve seen, remember and find at least a logical speculation

3, I need to reiterate this in case my position in this gets misunderstood: Me writing about “candies” isn’t because these are MY opinion or things *I* found or *I* believe in them being evidence. I am just a translator and messenger.

4, Chinese people have a very difference understanding of platonic/romantic affection/relationships compared to the Western world, and that they look at the candies with rose-tinted glass. Chinese/Asian people are generally a lot less affectionate with their personal relationships, for example friends wouldn’t say “love you” to each other if they’re just friends, nor would they expand their friend group to the others easily or other stuff. And these people who look for candy go into their “investigation” already with the belief that “they are together”, everything remotely resembling a close relationship will automatically be interpreted as romantic. I thought about it a lot, and honestly among the “candies” I’ve seen, most of them are a matter of interpretation: yes those are things couples will do, but it wouldn’t be weird if friends did it too. So they’re not that seriously or up for further speculation. There is I think only one “candy” that I can’t quite say the same, which I will explain and elaborate on in this post. 

5, Please remember that the people who do this do it in good nature: something I didn’t make clear in my post yesterday, which is on me, is that the fans do want them to be together, but they’re not like… yandere level or something. If they’re just friends the fans won’t be upset or betrayed or anything, they just prefer to see them as romantic. They don’t mean any harm, and they don’t cause any harm because China is physically and digitally too far away for them to actually fuck shit up, and they understand the lines of parasocial relationships: those who met with Taylor during his China trip in December know to, and didn’t bring up this in front of him. They know where to draw the line, and whoever doesn’t and starts becoming a problem gets kicked out of the community. This is meant for fun.

Ok with that being say, main event under the cut:

Lexi Galitzine

Preface for this one, and I cannot emphasise this enough: I did not fact check this one, I don’t follow Lexi on any social media. These are discoveries of the original posters. Please do not disturb Lexi and respect her privacy, especially since she is not a public figure. This is observation and speculation all done in casual, good fun, please respect her and leave her alone.

Starting from 20th December, Lexi Galitzine, Nick’s older and only sister, starting following Taylor on Instagram, which is quite odd since it was past rwrb’s promo period. Even during the promo period, Lexi only liked the rwrb official account’s post on twitter. And it’s her personal account, not her work account, so this is a personal thing.

She then proceeded to like Taylor’s post from the 20th, 23rd , and 29th. All of which are pictures from his China trip, and therefore has nothing to do with Nick.

Lexi is a graphic designer, so she mostly follows artist and designers. For Nick’s co-workers, Lexi only follows two female co-star who are very close to Nick. Taylor’s the first male friend of Nick’s that Lexi followers.

Your Man

As we all know, on Taylor’s birthday, Aneesh posted her (so far) last rwrb photo dump, and among those ones was Taylor and Nick singing together (which was adorable)

They sang “Your Man” together, which is quite a romantic and sweet song if you look at the lyrics

Taylor then commented under the post, and I quote “You recorded Ahahaahhaa”, implying he didn’t know that this was recorded at the time of the video. But… from the video, Aneesh isn’t that far away from the boys, and Taylor’s facing Aneesh, unlike Nick, who was facing Taylor.

(This is fully up to interpretation) There’s such a… vibe between them in that video.  

(To me this is a stretch but) Taylor’s at Nick’s trailer. And if we recall the “OHHH THERE’S THE MOVIE STAR” little video where Nick got all adorably flustered since Taylor filmed Nick getting out of the lift, it means that Taylor was waiting for Nick, and Nick wasn’t surprised to see Taylor, so this has been going on for a while. If there is more than one lift, then Taylor also somehow knows which one Nick’s coming out from. They know each other’s route/place and meet up a lot.

Aneesh posted a video of both of them singing on Taylor’s birthday, and when wishing Taylor happy birthday, she posted that video on her story. It’s Taylor’s birthday, it would have made more sense to post either photos of just Taylor, or Taylor with her, which is what she did for his last birthday.

Nick’s Tiktok

Mentioned this yesterday but I’ll translate it here too: Nick originally followed 83 accounts on Tik Tok. On 11th January 2024, Nick cleared out his following, and only 7 remained: Camila Cabello (Cinderella 2021, Cinderella), Ayo Oedebiri (Bottoms, Josie), Rachel Sennott (Bottoms, PJ), Sio Torley (M&G, Crew), Inez Ella Clark (M&G, Makeup), Cameron Valetina (Model), and Taylor. Taylor is somehow, the only guy remaining.

Among these seven people, Nick mostly likely only introduced Taylor and Camila to Lexi, because Lexi only follows those two on social media

Later Nick followed a 4 generally accounts, but then three days he unfollowed two of those. So he has 9 followings now: 2 content accounts, 6 girl, and Taylor.

Please note that I did not fact check this, and I literally cannot fact check it because Tik Tok is completely unavailable here. Everything I translated is from OP and the screenshots she provided.

I think I’ll leave it there for part 2! Again there is still more, so lemme know if you want a part 3!

Again, this is all in good fun. But after the shit storm yesterday, I kind of wanted to use this to remind people in the rwrb who love them both and are understandably bothered and upset by the haters that the boys are proven to have a good relationship, and this is evidence. Whether these acts are platonic or romantic is none of our business and up to interpretation, but these show that they have a good relationship regardless. Don't let the assholes get to you, and have fun with these :D

Tagging a couple of folks:

@lfg1986-2 @tal-vez-o-quizas @na-18dia @mylucayathoughts @androgynoustriumphclown @hopefulblizzardsublime

[starizzm]

╰┈➤ INTRODUCTION .𖥔 ݁ ˖ 🪐

Hello! I'm Tara but nicknames are appreciated. I'm a minor so please don't be weird. I'm Indian! I speak Hindi, English, can only read and write Sanskrit and speak a bit of Kannada and understand some Bengali.

My side blog: @taraamisu

I give people nicknames affectionately for fun so please tell me if you're not comfortable with anything. Also my humour is almost equivalent to a teenage boy's 😭 I rizz people up for fun!! ( platonically ofcourse )

Therefore, if you find me likeable then please don't be shy to send in an ask! I love making new mutuals!! ( ≧ᗜ≦) also please bear with me.. I'm a yapper and this post is going to be LONG.

INTERESTS .☘︎ ݁˖

I have many interests.. like a lot. I love all shapes and forms of art! I draw a lot but mostly with oil pastels and acrylic paint. I love painting, it's very therapeutic.

I'm a classical dancer! I do bharatnatyam but I really enjoy other styles as well.

I love love loovveee science! Mainly Physics and Biology. I love talking about the science behind little, everyday things! It's so fun. I LOVE ASTROLOGY! when I say that, I don't mean the astrological signs. I love everything about the universe, it's so beautiful! Fun fact- my name "tara" actually means "star" in sanskrit! the whole reason I chose it.

I love classic literature! I don't read much and I'm very picky about books.. but I'd love a few suggestions!

I'm not very religious but I love studying religion ( quite ironic ) religious symbolism in the simplest things makes my head explode!! Hinduism is one of my favourites. It's so fascinating once you go in-depth.

Horror movies. I LOVE horror movies. I've watched so many of them.. I've lost count.

Food. I absolutely love cooking and eating food. I've tried alot of cuisine and I love love love LOVE desserts. I have a sweet tooth.. but I live for good food.

I also like Kpop but I'm more of a casual listener than a stan.

MUSIC .☘︎ ݁˖

I love music! I don't have any specific genre I like, I listen to whatever feels nice. Here's some artists I listen to regularly-

1. Laufey

2. Cigarettes after sex

3. Mitski

4. PinkPanthress

5. TV Girl

6. Sabrina Carpenter

7. The Neighborhood

8. The Weeknd

In Kpop, I only like the groups listed below-

aespa

2. RIIZE

3. ENHYPEN

4. TXT

5. Xdinary heroes

Here's my Spotify! also, I'm open to any song suggestions.

ANIME AND MANGA ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

I've watched a lot of anime and started reading manga 2 years ago. I've been watching anime since 5th grade ( thanks to my cousin ) but there's a few I absolutely love!

1. Monster

2.Junji Ito Collection

3.Jujutsu Kaisen

4.Kimi No Todoke

5.Kurokos's Basketball

6.Blue Period

7.Blue lock

8.Oyasumi PunPun

9.Death Note

10.NANA

11. Neon Genesis Evangelion

12. Disastrous Life of Saiki K

13. Chainsaw Man

14. 19 days

TV SHOWS AND MOVIES ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

I'm not a fan of watching a lot of movies but here's my top 5-

Girl, Interrupted

2. Moxie

3. Jab we met

4. The Exorcist

5. Mean girls

6. Legally blonde

I love watching series.. I've binged ALOT but there's very few I liked-

1. The Big Bang Theory

2. How I Met Your Mother

3. Modern Family

4. Fresh off the boat!

5. Brooklyn 99

6. The Office

7. Gilmore Girls

8. Girl meets World

🚀 Extra: I also like genshin impact, HSR, wuwa and alien stage!!

╰┈➤ That's all about me! I fear I may have yapped a bit too much.. but since you read till the end, here's a cat image for your effort.

[sapphire-weapon]

Resident Evil 4 Remake's story is structured like the plot of a romance novel: master post

A few months ago, I wrote up a very quick and dirty outline/explanation of how Resident Evil 4 Remake's story had been restructured from the original game to follow the story beats of a romance novel. At the time, I didn't think it was all that important to explain it super in-depth, but now that more and more people are looking at it, I figured I should probably explain what I mean with each of these beats lmao

1) Call to Adventure / The Meet Cute

All that a meet-cute actually is is the scene in which the characters that the romance is centered around meet for the first time. The intention is to show an initial spark between the characters -- they meet under bizarre/unexpected circumstances and, at some point, both characters become aware of just how significant it is, even if neither says anything about it.

Leon and Ashley's meet-cute starts with her swinging a candelabra at his head and ends with Leon holding her in his arms out in the rain for a period of time that is absolutely too long to be normal for the circumstance. They lock eyes in this moment, and it's meant to be seen as Significant.

2) Refusal of the Call / Rejection of the Relationship

This is the "I'm just imagining things" reaction to the significance of the meet-cute. Both characters treat the spark as though it never happened -- and, usually, it's because there's other external factors influencing their ability or willingness to follow the trail of that spark and see where it goes. Instead of going "Hey, you're cute, can I get your number?" both characters just jump straight to "Well, anyway --" and go back to living their own independent lives apart from each other.

After they both snap out of that weird trance they were in after Leon caught Ashley out the window of the church, he goes right back to treating her like a mission objective, and she just has absolutely no idea what to make of him at all. Ashley spends the next few sections of gameplay in shock and disbelief with lines like "Seriously, this cannot be happening." and "I just wanna go home..." Leon ignores all of her complaints, keeps her moving even when she asks for a break, and doesn't really speak much to her at all other than to bark orders at her.

3) Acceptance of the Quest / Giving the relationship a chance

Something Happens that forces both characters back into each other's lives and/or personal attention, and they both find that they do Like each other, actually -- even if that feeling of "like" isn't anything super significant. It could be something as simple as realizing that they enjoy the other's company and wanting to see/talk to the other more often.

This arguably starts when Leon and Ashley first run into the cabin and Leon puts a comforting hand on her back that he absolutely did did not have to put there -- but it's definitely in full swing after the cabin sequence is over. Personally, I would say that it's the revelation about Ashley having a plaga in her that's the Something that Happens between them. The whole mission starts to become a whole lot more personal, because now it's not just about surviving and escaping -- now it's about making sure that Ashley stays Ashley.

She starts to open up to him more, and he suddenly becomes much warmer towards her, as well. He's quick to reassure her ("I won't let that happen. I promise.") and not only responds to her when she talks, but also begins talking to her unprompted as well.

This is also the first time Leon ever tries hitting on Ashley with the "Seems this isn't your first time running from creeps" line, and it fails spectacularly.

4) Trials and Temptations / Three Dates

This one is probably the one that needed the most explaining LMAO I shouldn't have let this one go. The "three dates" don't have to/usually aren't meant to be actual, literal dates in romance novels. They're just three significant events that happen between the couple that builds and then reinforces their bond. (It also doesn't necessarily have to be three -- some stories only do two, some do five, etc. The point is that Things Are Happening that strengthen the relationship.)

That is why I said that their three "dates" are:

1) Ashley busting the window open after the Mendez boss fight, helping brush the embers off of Leon, and helping to pull him to his feet. This is the first time the two of them actually smile at each other and the first time they start to act as a team.

2) Salazar's introduction ("The girl's just fine. With me."). Leon wants so badly to be that cool guy in an 80s movie who shows up out of nowhere and puts his arm around a beautiful girl and looks at some dickhead harassing her and goes "This guy giving you a hard time, babe?" This is the closest he's ever gotten to and will ever get to being that in his life. He's not cool enough to ever actually be that guy for real.

3) The road to the Water Hall (Leon jumping across the chandeliers + this is the first time the "knight and the princess" allegory is stated) (You could also include the Garrador here, because if you take Ashley down there after the fact, there's special dialogue that happens that's... God, Leon sucks at this whole flirting thing. He just sucks, dude.)

5) Midpoint Crisis / I-need-you-but-can’t-have-you

Everything is going so well... until it isn't anymore. The three dates have given the couple a glimpse of how special and important this relationship could be, which is great -- until it becomes a problem. One of the characters gets freaked out by the intensity of the relationship and pulls back out of fear, because there's something else happening in their life that's bigger than either character and more important to be addressed.

In Leon and Ashley's case, it's Ashley's plaga. Saddler takes control of her briefly and gets a hold of Leon's knife, stabs him, and then threatens to cut her own throat. When his hold over her breaks, she's terrified. She needs Leon now more than ever because of this, but she's more afraid of hurting him than losing herself, so she runs away from him in tears.

6) The Road Back / Pulling Back Together

Basically, the plot forces the couple back together, and -- due to the raw, open vulnerability caused by the Midpoint Crisis -- their bond is stronger than ever. The feelings change from "yeah, I like them" to "I want them." Real intimacy starts to form and build here, because the interest in and attraction to each other is allowed by both characters to be acknowledged. This is usually where the sexual tension starts to really kick into high gear, and the audience is just waiting for that moment when it all breaks open.

This starts with the pep talk that Leon gives Ashley when he finds her again -- which is romantically framed and coded with its imagery and cinematography. It continues through the entire Grand Hall segment, which includes the moment in the game in which Leon is at his boldest in terms of expressing his attraction to her. This is the point in the game in which their relationship is at its most playful. They tease each other and flirt and pass compliments back and forth -- and, for a while, it feels like the two of them are unstoppable and able to take on the world together.

7) The Fall

"The fall" is the shortened version of "The moment they actually fall in love." It's the "oh god, I think I love them" moment. The two characters do not necessarily have to admit to each other that they've experienced "the fall" -- and usually, at least one of them doesn't. But they both experience that moment where it hits them.

We see Ashley "fall" at the start of her gameplay segment, where she takes Leon's earlier words to heart and draws strength from them. ("I won't run. Wait for me, Leon.") He's inspired her to strive to be more than she is, and she embraces the way that he makes her feel, in that moment.

We see Leon "fall" as soon as he catches the key that she tosses down to him. He looks up at her with stars in his eyes and offers to catch her if she jumps down. An interesting detail to note is that this is the first and one of the only times in RE4make that Nick Apostolides reverts to using the tone/voice that he used for Leon in RE2make. It's soft and sweet and gentle as he makes her an offer that has no reason to be made, just for the sake of getting to hold her in his arms again.

And, in order to drive home the point, this all happens during a scene that was framed, shot, and directed to mirror/mimic the balcony scene in Romeo & Juliet.

8) Dark moment / The Break Up

Once again, Something Happens and comes between them -- and this one is way, way worse than the Midpoint Crisis. This isn't "I'm scared to be with you" -- it's "I can't be with you." Hope for the relationship is completely lost, and both characters become overwhelmed in their individual despair.

Verdugo breaks them up physically -- not once, but twice. And that second time involves Leon being forced to watch Ashley endure Salazar's weird "ritual" and be unable to stop it or do anything to help her. He just has to sit with that failure and suffer through it until he's literally thrown away and discarded while Ashley screams his name.

When Leon finally finds Ashley again, we see him confront the one moment in the game when he honestly, truly loses hope. He sits down on the floor at Ashley's bedside, and there's nothing more that he can do than wait for her to wake up. Some part of him has already become convinced that they won't make it out of there alive -- not both of them, at least. Not together. And he's ready to commit suicide as a contingency plan.

9) The Sacrifice

This is the "do or die" moment for the relationship in a romance novel. This is the moment where the decision is made to confront not just the external force keeping them apart, but also the internal flaws that are feeding into that avoidant urge. The couple decides that their desire to be together is stronger and more important than whatever fear or force is holding them back, and though it's terrifying to do it, they stand up for the relationship in the face of opposition.

In RE4make, we see this play out through the sequence in which Leon carries Ashley to Luis's lab and how the two of them, against all physical and mental odds, manage to remove each other's plagas. This is especially emotionally significant for Leon, who says the words out loud: "This time, it has to be different..." He's openly acknowledging that his trauma from Raccoon City is what made him so ready to pull the trigger on himself back in that holding cell. Here, now, he puts his foot down, confronts that trauma, and says "No. I have to beat this."

And he does, even at great physical cost to himself. But the sacrifice was worth it, because it was for her.

10) Declaration

In a very literal sense, it's the declaration of love. It's an outward, spoken confirmation of the bond they share, now that the trial from the Sacrifice has been overcome. Traditionally in romance novels, this happens with the actual words "I love you."

But RE4make isn't a traditional romance novel, and Capcom has an entire fanbase of angry nerds who take fictional relationships too seriously to navigate through. So, instead of an explicit "I love you" what we got instead was an explicit verbal confirmation of their bonded status as a team.

"Hey... We're a team, right?"

"Keep this up? I'll be out of a job."

11) The HEA

"HEA" stands for "Happily ever after."

While I could (and did) say that Leon and Ashley literally ride off into the sunrise together, that does feel disingenuous. Even though it's true and the imagery is there, they don't really have a happily ever after. Not really. This is the only part that's missing from RE4make.

And that's because RE4make isn't just a romance on its own -- it's a fairy tale set inside of a story that's self-aware and knows that fairy tales aren't real. And so both Leon and Ashley wake up from this shared dream of a romance they've been having, as reluctantly as they do, because it's time for them to come back to reality.

Fairy tales aren't real. Romance novels aren't real.

Their feelings are real. But life doesn't work that way. Not for them.

They may not have a happily ever after, but they do have this moment to be together -- and for them, it's enough.

Because it has to be.

[scary-grace]

Love Like Ghosts (Chapter 6) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

You knew the empty house in a quiet neighborhood was too good to be true, but you were so desperate to get out of your tiny apartment that you didn't care, and now you find yourself sharing space with something inhuman and immensely powerful. As you struggle to coexist with a ghost whose intentions you're unsure of, you find yourself drawn unwillingly into the upside world of spirits and conjurers, and becoming part of a neighborhood whose existence depends on your house staying exactly as it is, forever. But ghosts can change, just like people can. And as your feelings and your ghost's become more complex and intertwined, everything else begins to crumble. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Chapter 6

There’s something wrong with your house, but you knew that when you bought it. And to your dull human senses, what’s wrong with your house barely stands out on your street. You barely stand out on y our street anymore, either. Other people avoid this neighborhood. It’s not uncommon for everybody’s mail and packages to get dumped in a pile at the top of the street, because no postal worker wants to drive down this way if they can help it. But you’ve been here long enough now. Your neighborhood feels like home. Everybody here knows your name.

Shinsou and Hizashi are trying to start a garden, so you bring over some of your plants to help get them started. Keigo is teaching Jin to drive, and neither of them can get the hang of parallel parking, so you help out by shouting instructions from the curb as Jin tries not to murder your car or Aizawa’s while backing Keigo’s in. Sometimes you take Atsuhiro with you when you go grocery shopping, at Aizawa’s request – Atsuhiro has a shoplifting problem, and everyone else is tired of bailing him out of jail. And in the most awkward incident yet, Himiko gets her first period while Jin’s mom is at work and runs shrieking up the street to your house.

It’s your day off, but you’re in the bathroom when she arrives, so Tomura goes out onto the porch instead. Tomura’s not the person you want addressing a sensitive topic. When you finally make it out there, he’s in the middle of speculating that the unexplained blood loss means Himiko is going to die.

She looks close to tears, and you decide to address the biggest problem first. “You’re not going to die,” you tell her. Then you turn to Tomura. “And you – get out of here. This is girl stuff.”

Usually the threat of girl stuff banishes Tomura pretty quickly, but he doesn’t move. “Humans die from blood loss.”

“This isn’t that kind of blood loss. Shoo.”

Himiko ghost-blinks up at you through teary eyes. “It’s not?”

You shake your head. “It’s normal. Have you been feeling okay these last few days?”

“My stomach hurts. Since Friday.” Himiko’s mouth turns down at the corners. “Ochako at school says I’ve been mean.”

PMS is bad enough when you know it’s coming, but Himiko’s a former ghost, and her favorite human is a guy. She’s probably never seen this before. “Okay,” you say. “You should probably ask Jin’s mom more about this when she gets home. This is kind of a mom thing. But you’re not dying. You just got your period. It’s normal.”

“For humans.”

“Yep.

“Do you have one?”

“Not right now,” you say. You feel a little weird talking about this in front of Tomura. “Every month, though. I’m going to give you some pads to take with you, and you can borrow my heating pad. I’d invite you in, but –”

“Tomura’s a boy and he’s gross.”

“Hey!”

“Right,” you say, ignoring him. “Just a second.”

You duck back inside, pick up an unopened package of pads, and retrieve your heating pad from the medicine cabinet. When you get back to the porch, Tomura’s still there. He and Himiko are staring at each other. Neither of them are making a sound, but you get the sense that they’re talking. Spinner said the ghosts say weird things when they talk to each other, but he must have been eavesdropping on a conversation out loud. You’ve got no idea what Himiko and Tomura are saying to each other, and you have to clear your throat twice before either of them turn their attention back to you. And when they do, their expressions are different than you’d expect. Tomura looks uncomfortable, defensive. Himiko, still a little teary-eyed, looks pleased with herself. Why?

Whatever it is, you’ll have more luck getting it out of Tomura than her. “Here are the pads,” you say, holding them out. “You probably won’t go through them too fast, and when your mom gets back she can help you pick some out. And the heating pad is good for cramps. Put it on your stomach or your lower back, whichever feels worse.”

“Okay.” Himiko wipes her eyes, then smiles at you. “You’re nice. Are you old enough to be a mom?”

“I mean, probably?” A few of your friends from college have kids now. “Not old enough to be your mom, though. Why?”

“No reason.” Himiko turns and makes her way down the porch steps, staggering a bit like you do when you get hit with a bad cramp. “Thanks.”

“If you need anything else before your mom comes back, come over,” you say. You wait until she’s out of sight, then turn your attention to Tomura. “What was that about?”

“She asked if I like you like a mom.” Tomura looks like he wants to hurl. “I said no, and then she asked if I like you like she likes Jin, or like Eri likes Shinsou.”

“And you said no?”

“I said yes,” Tomura says, and your heart sinks – but only for a second. “The little brat can still read auras. She knew I was lying.”

It’s on the tip of your tongue to ask him what he lied about, but then you realize you already know. Himiko eliminated two of the three varieties of ghost-human relationships in the neighborhood – sibling-sibling and parent-child. That leaves two options, neither of which you like. Either Tomura likes you the way Hizashi likes Aizawa and Dabi used to like Keigo, or he doesn’t like you at all.

You should leave it. You should drop the topic and back away slowly. Instead you open your mouth. “Why did you lie to her?”

“What I do with my human is none of her business. Or anyone else’s.” Tomura is dematerializing. Now he’s just a voice and a pair of hands gripping the porch railing so hard that you’re worried it’ll snap. “Go away.”

Fine. You tell yourself it’s fine, that you’ll go, but your feet stay stubbornly planted until your phone rings from somewhere inside the house and you have to go back to retrieve it. Aizawa’s calling, and when you pick up, he starts talking without greeting you first. “Your job gives you access to public records. I’m going to give you a list of names.”

“I can’t just –”

Aizawa starts reading them off, proving that the ghosts aren’t the only ones in the neighborhood who can be assholes in the bargain, and you scramble for a pen and a piece of paper. Phantom is prodding you in the ankle with her snout, looking for a treat. “Hang on a second,” you snap at Aizawa. “I need to write this down.”

A piece of paper skids across the counter towards you, followed by a pen. “Thanks,” you say to Tomura. Then, to Aizawa: “Start at the beginning. The first name was?”

There are seven names on the list. They’re all men’s names. “I want all the information you can find,” Aizawa says. “As quickly as you can find it.”

“This is public record,” you complain. “Make a records request. This is my job. I’m not going to get in trouble just so you can avoid some paperwork.”

“It’s not the paperwork,” Aizawa says flatly. “If I make that request, my name and address become public. You’re the only one in the neighborhood who can look without giving us away.”

The neighborhood. You thought this was just some project of Aizawa’s, but – “Who are these people?”

“That’s what you need to find out,” Aizawa says. “As soon as possible.”

He hangs up the phone without saying thank you, and you look down at the piece of paper and the names you scribbled. Your handwriting is bad. You need to recopy them. “So that’s it?” Tomura says from the other side of the kitchen. He’s barely an outline. “Aizawa calls and you jump to it? Pathetic.”

You ignore him. What he says, at least. “Do you know any of these names?”

“Why would I know them?”

“Just look.” You hold out the list, and Tomura drifts across the kitchen to investigate. “I don’t know why he wants me to look these up. He made it sound really important. Do any of these look familiar?”

“No.” Tomura’s hand materializes fully, plucks the list out of your grip, and sets it down on the counter. “I wasn’t done with you.”

“You told me to go away,” you say. “I listened.”

It’s like you didn’t speak at all. The rest of Tomura materializes, from the tips of his fingers upward, until he’s standing before you, closer than he’s gotten in a while. “You asked me what I want. I know now.”

You can’t remember ever putting that question to him – according to Aizawa, asking ghosts open-ended questions like that is a really bad idea. But because you’re you, and you’re stupid, you ask it again. “What do you want, Tomura?”

A pair of cold hands close on your waist. Tomura pulls you forward so hard that you stumble, falling against his chest. “You’re mine,” he says. “I want you.”

A jolt goes straight down your spine. You’ve heard that note in his voice once before and imagined it a thousand times over, but hearing it again right now feels like a disaster. “Be specific,” you say, looking anywhere but up into his face. “What specifically do you –”

One hand leaves your waist to press against your jaw, forcing you to turn your head and look up. A moment later Tomura’s lips crash down against yours.

He kisses exactly the way you’d expect him to kiss, the way of someone who’s seen it in movies but never asked anyone how it’s done. Mouth closed, all pressure, nothing else. He’s not going to let you go, so you hold still, hoping Tomura will take some kind of hint that it’s not going as plan. Tomura stops and draws back, frowning. “You aren’t doing it back.”

“I can’t when you’re doing it like that,” you say. “You’re doing it wrong.”

“I’m not doing it wrong. You’re doing it wrong.”

“Hey. I’ve kissed somebody before. You’ve just watched it on TV.” You feel Tomura’s grip on you loosen slightly. This is your chance to escape, to tell him that you’re not interested, to threaten to move out if he ever tries this again and maybe mean it. “It’s more fun if you do it right.”

Tomura looks at you suspiciously. “How do I do it right?”

Some part of your mind that’s still sane, that still exists in the real world instead of the twisted upside-down haunt of your house and your neighborhood, is screaming for you to stop, but it’s fading fast. You let it go. You free your hands from where they’re trapped at your sides and frame Tomura’s face with them. “I’ll show you.”

You start with a gentle kiss, mouth closed but soft, and because Tomura’s an asshole, he starts arguing even before you’ve pulled away. “That’s what I did.”

“No, you did it too hard.” You kiss him the same way again, trying to get the point across. “You can still talk when I do it like this, which means you can respond.”

Tomura’s scowling now, but he leans in to kiss you again, and this time the pressure is significantly less. His lips are chapped. You part your lips against his, catching on his lower lip, and he startles. You wonder if anybody else in the neighborhood had to teach their undersocialized ghost how to kiss properly. Probably not.

Tomura’s fatal flaw with kissing is overenthusiasm. As soon as he figures out that opening his mouth is a thing he can do, he overdoes it. The only reason it’s not horrendous is because his mouth tastes like nothing, and it’s almost sandpaper-dry. You let go of his face, put your hands on his shoulders, and give a few shoves until he pulls back. “No.”

“I like it,” Tomura says defiantly. He does. That patchy flush is all over his face. “I don’t care if you do.”

“You should,” you say, and you fall back on a negotiating tactic from forever ago. “If you’re good at it, I’ll want to kiss you more.”

You’ve tried this tactic on human men before. Human men usually convince themselves that you’re playing hard to get and go right back to the vacuum-cleaner technique they were using. But Tomura looks like he’s thinking about it, so you try to sweeten the deal. “I’ll show you,” you say, and he’s already leaning in.

Part of you is still aware that this is a mistake. You won’t be able to turn back the clock on this incident the way you could with the last one. You can’t pretend that this is all for Tomura, that it’s got nothing to do with you, when you’re the one who won’t settle for less than a good kiss. You’re the one who keeps trying to get a reaction out of him, trying to put him back at the mercy of his body just like he was before, and there’s something heady and intoxicating about the fact that it’s working. Tomura’s breathing comes in sharp gasps, and yours isn’t doing much better – but it’s normal for you. “Why do you do that?” you ask, pulling away. Tomura lets out a frustrated whine and leans in again, but you stay just out of reach. “Breathing like that. You don’t need to breathe.”

“I can’t – help it.” Tomura’s shoulders heave beneath your hands. He claws at your hips, trying to pull you back. “Come on. I need it. I need it. I can’t go back like this.”

You’re still out of kissing range, but your hips are locked against his, and you can feel that he’s hard. It surprises you, although it shouldn’t. You got to him before by touching his hand. This is a lot more stimulation than that. You study him, your heart racing, taking in his dilated pupils, his flushed face. The scars over his lip and eye stand out in sharp relief. His skin is shiny, sweaty. You were right in all your daydreams about how desire looks on him. It looks good.

It looks good, and he looks desperate. “Don’t stare at me. Why are you staring at me?”

“You’re pretty,” you say without thinking. You lean in and kiss him again before he can complain about it.

The plan is to keep kissing him until he comes and dematerializes, but you like the sounds he’s making too much to keep muffling them. You duck away from his kiss and start kissing his neck instead, lips moving over the same spot he usually scratches. “Hey,” Tomura complains. “What are you doing? I – ah –”

He grinds against you, groans, and you realize you have a problem. You’re at least as turned on as Tomura is, only you can’t get off from just a kiss. He gets to dematerialize as soon as he comes, and after that you’ll be stuck. You decide that’s a problem for later. You’re busy. A second after you have that thought, Tomura loses patience. He pushes you back against the counter, pinning you in place as his hips jerk in brief, unpracticed thrusts. You keep kissing his neck. If he was human, he’d be walking around with love bites. That thought shouldn’t turn you on, but it does, and it occurs to you that Tomura’s possessiveness runs the other way, too. You’re his human, sure. But he’s nobody’s ghost but yours.

“I can’t,” Tomura gasps. He’s starting to dematerialize. “I can’t. Not yet –”

If he dematerializes while he’s still turned on, the entire street’s going to be pissed off at you for however long it takes him to materialize again. You back off from kissing Tomura’s neck and kiss his mouth again, as he moans and struggles for air he doesn’t need. Suddenly his back arches, pinning you harder than before, and you hold on tight as he shudders. It doesn’t matter how tightly you hold onto him. He’s already dematerializing, slipping away, just like you knew he would. The warm air rushes in once he’s gone.

One of the perks of having a ghost in the house is that the house is never too warm. Now, with said ghost too zapped to materialize, it’s way too warm in the kitchen, and even that isn’t enough to change how ridiculously turned on you are. You could stick your head in the refrigerator and try to calm down, but the idea of doing that pisses you off. Tomura got to get off to your weird but still hot kitchen makeout. So should you.

Some sense of propriety motivates you not to just stick your hand down your pants in the kitchen. You make your way to your bedroom upstairs, and this time, you settle onto the bed instead of the floor. This time, you don’t have to go to your imagination for something to fantasize to. You’ve got the memory of the absolute mess that occurred in the kitchen to keep you focused, and honestly, you’re so shamefully hot over it that you barely need to fantasize at all.

Your mind floods with a replay of the insistent pressure of Tomura’s mouth against yours, the uneven roll of his hips, and remembering the needy sounds he made makes your muscles clench tight in response. You have both hands between your legs, one teasing your clit while the other presses two fingers inside, crooking at an angle that’s never easy to reach on your own. If somebody else, somebody with longer fingers, somebody poised above you or settled between your legs – once you let that thought into your mind, it’s all over. You come so fast you’re almost embarrassed by it. Almost.

You’re lying on your bed, catching your breath, when the temperature of your room begins to change. Tomura’s voice, barely a whisper, snakes through the air. “I saw that.”

Your face heats up, but you’re already flushed, so it doesn’t matter. “So?”

“I want that next time.”

You’re not sure how you feel about Tomura’s assumption that there’s going to be a next time. But there’s a bigger problem. “Based on what I felt this time, you don’t really have the equipment for that.”

“Don’t be stupid. I want you to do this next time when I do.” The temperature of the room settles into the low chill you’ve become familiar with, but the cold spot itself is on the bed next to you, inching closer. “Or I can do it.”

You can’t think about that. Not right now, anyway. “Nobody’s doing anything right now. I don’t even want to know what you already drained to make this happen.” A terrible thought occurs to you. “Phantom! Where –”

“Don’t be stupid,” Tomura says again. You can hear Phantom scratching at the door and whining. She knows you and Tomura are both in here and she wants to know why she’s being left out. “I wouldn’t touch her. I used some plants.”

“Not the ones –”

“Not the ones you like.” If Tomura was materialized, he’d be rolling his eyes. “They all look the same anyway.”

“They don’t all look the same.” You sit up and swing your legs off the bed. “Stupid.”

Tomura makes an indignant sound, but you ignore him as you head to the bathroom to wash your hands. You’d expect things to be weird, so it’s a surprise to you how normal things feel. Normal except for the fact that Tomura’s in your room instead of lurking somewhere else in the house. So normal, in fact, that you find yourself dealing with a problem you’ve had since you found out you had a ghost. “You’re still not allowed in the bathroom when I’m in here.”

“You’re not even doing anything!”

You know you’re going to have to deal with the fallout from the kitchen makeout later. But it’ll be a while before Tomura can materialize again, and until that happens, you’re not going to think about it at all. “I don’t care. Get out.”

You were hoping you dealt with Tomura fast enough that none of the other adult ghosts caught on, but you’re not that lucky. When you leave the house the next morning to get in your car for the drive to work, Hizashi’s right out front on the sidewalk, holding a jar of fresh bugs as far from his body as humanly possible. When he sees you, he pushes it into your hands and backs away. “You know,” he says, and winks. “For later.”

You cringe and duck into your car, but a moment later, Keigo calls out to you from across the street. “Hey, can I get a ride to work? My car’s out of commission.”

“It looks okay,” you say – and then you realize it’s noticeably sinking on one side. “The tires.”

“Yep. Do you mind?”

“Nope.” You move your work bag to the backseat to make room, and look back up front just in time for a balled-up piece of paper to hit the windshield. It could only have come from one direction, and when you look up, you spot Tomura on the porch, barely materialized. “What was that?”

“Your dumb list.”

“The one Shou gave you?” Hizashi still hasn’t left, and he watches you closely as you pull the piece of paper into the car and un-crumple it. “Good. Let him know as soon as you find anything.”

“Sorry. Gotta move.” Keigo eases past Hizashi and hops into the passenger seat. You start the car and back out into the street a little faster than necessary.

You’re driving fast, but not fast enough to get past Spinner’s house before Magne steps out the front door. She waves at you, smirking, and gives a thumbs-up. You wave back, still cringing, and Keigo notices. He reclines his seat with a yawn. “Big night, huh?”

You hit your head against the steering wheel when you reach the stop sign at the top of the street. “Does everybody know?”

“Probably. He’s too powerful. Every time his mood changes, the whole street feels it.” Keigo shrugs. “Also, your whole front lawn is dead.”

You didn’t even notice. “Great,” you mumble. “Think he’ll tone it down if I ask him to?”

“You know him better than me,” Keigo says. He yawns a second time. “He seems like he cares about what you want. He made sure you didn’t forget your list when you left. Dabi, for comparison, snuck out of the house and slashed my tires before I woke up. You definitely got the better ghost.”

“Sorry about your tires,” you say, for lack of anything better. Keigo shrugs again. “Can I ask you about the list? Aizawa was cagey about it on the phone.”

“Sure.” Keigo spends a few minutes smoothing out the wrinkles in the piece of paper. You sneak looks at him out of the corner of your eye, and you don’t miss the way his eyes widen. “I don’t know most of these names. I know this one, though – Garaki Kyudai. He’s a conjurer. Touya’s conjurer.”

“What?” You stare at Keigo once you’re safely at a stoplight. “Touya’s conjurer is alive?”

“Most of them are,” Keigo says. He looks pale. “If Aizawa and Hizashi have that name, they know something we don’t.”

“Then they should tell us,” you say. Keigo looks worried. You’re not worried, maybe because you don’t know enough to be worried, maybe because Tomura didn’t recognize any of the names on the list. “Aizawa and Hizashi don’t get to hide things from the rest of us just because they’re the oldest.”

Keigo nods. “Do the research they asked for. Today,” he says. “Don’t give it to them until they level with us.”

“Sounds good.” Us could be you and Keigo. Us could also be the entire neighborhood, which is fine. If it concerns conjurers, it concerns the entire neighborhood, and everyone should know. But this is going to involve you saying no to Aizawa, who you owe big-time, and to Hizashi, who still sort of terrifies you. “Um, so I think I’m going to wait to say no until I’m in my yard.”

“Yeah, that’s probably smart,” Keigo agrees. “Hizashi won’t get into it with Tomura. Can you imagine if Hizashi was still incorporeal, though? That would be a hell of a fight.”

“Ghosts fight?”

“Yeah, big-time. Dabi’s old house – the one I moved into, like a moron – had a bunch of ghosts in it. It got crazy in there.”

Sharing a house with one ghost is chaotic enough. You can’t imagine a house with multiple ghosts, let alone multiple ghosts who are fighting with each other. You wonder if Tomura’s ever fought another ghost, and if so, how it went. He probably hasn’t. He’s picky enough with who he lets onto the property to begin with. No way he’d let another ghost in just to fight.

You park your car in the lot at the courthouse, and you and Keigo go your separate ways – you to the public defenders’ office in the courthouse’s lower levels, Keigo to the police station. He’s a social worker, not a cop, and he usually goes out on mental health calls. The two of you plan to meet after work, go over what you found, and book it into your respective houses once you get back to the neighborhood to minimize the chances that Aizawa or Hizashi will corner you. It’s only nine am on Monday and you’re already tired.

You didn’t sleep well last night. Part of it was still being sort of turned on and not being able to do anything about – not now that you know Tomura’s watching. And Tomura was watching. He’s been leaving you alone at night for the most part, but last night he was back to hanging out in the corner of your room. At least, you think he stayed in the corner of your room. At some point you woke up shivering, and you could have sworn he was on the bed with you, draped over you in some weird position that humans definitely don’t sleep in. But that could have been a dream. You’re hoping it was a dream. You don’t know what you’ll do if it wasn’t.

You’ve got no idea what Tomura thinks is going on between the two of you. He didn’t talk to you this morning. He usually doesn’t – you’re busy, and he doesn’t like it when you multitask while talking to him, and after you explained what will happen if you can’t pay your mortgage he’s stopped interfering with you going to work. But he was there. You could feel him there, shadowing your every move, close in a way that would be impossible to work around if he was human. Something’s changed in your relationship, and he wanted it that way. You can’t pretend you didn’t want it, too. But as you make coffee and take off your coat and go through your inbox, you realize you have no idea what you’ll be walking into when you get home.

You know you’ll be walking into it with the information Aizawa asked you to gather, though. You take the list out of your pocket and think things through. Technically you could get into the records database on your own, but you’re a paralegal, not a lawyer – people will be likely to question what you’re doing in there, which means you need cover. And you know just who to go to for help. Mr. Yagi likes that you’re thorough, that you check every angle when you have the time for it. If you ask his permission to get into the database, he won’t say no. You pocket the list again, square your shoulders, throw down your coffee, and go to his office.

The door’s ajar, like usual, but you knock anyway. “Come in,” Mr. Yagi says. He’s hunched over a document on his desk, marking it up in red pen. “I hate to start your morning off with editing, but this will need to be done by noon.”

“No problem,” you say. You can type fast. “Sir, I was wondering if I could log into the records database today.”

“You don’t need my permission for that, my dear,” Mr. Yagi says without looking up. “But you have it, of course. What do you –”

He looks up at you at last and bursts into a coughing fit. It’s a bad one. You duck out into the bullpen, fill a cup from the water cooler, and race back in with it, pushing it into his hands. Mr. Yagi takes small sips, but every time he looks at you, the coughing kicks up again. Something is dawning on you, something you don’t like, something about what Mr. Yagi said and did at the housewarming party. “Sir? Is there something wrong?”

“It’s all over you,” Mr. Yagi says, and your stomach lurches. “What happened?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” you stammer. You can feel your face heating up, and it gets worse when Mr. Yagi reaches into his desk and extracts a UV light wand. “Um –”

He switches it on and pans it over you, and suddenly you understand. There are handprints. Tomura’s handprints, on your shoulders, on your waist, along your jaw, invisible without the light but in stark relief under it. You were worried that the light was going to show ghost cum splattered on your skin, even though you showered and changed clothes twice since yesterday, but this might actually be worse. This looks like you were handled. It looks like you liked it.

Could Hizashi see this, and Magne? Did Tomura do it on purpose? Now that you think about it, you’re sure he did it on purpose. He’s been possessive of you since the beginning. Of course he’d mark you as his own the first chance he got, even if the only people who can see the marks are the other ghosts. If Keigo could see them, you’re pretty sure he’d have given you a heads-up.

But Mr. Yagi could see them without the UV light. And Mr. Yagi knew Tomura was there before you did, saw Tomura before you did. You stare hard at your boss, at his eyes. His eyes are bright blue, and their pupils are round, like they should be. But there’s a faint shadow around his irises in both eyes. You realize, with another lurch in the pit of your stomach, that you’ve never seen your boss blink.

“You’re one of them,” you say. It isn’t a question.

Mr. Yagi sighs. “I’ve been human long enough that my powers have faded. The contacts are enough to hide behind. But no former spirit, no matter how distant they are from their origins, could fail to spot that.” He gestures at you and you cringe. “Were you – aware of this as it happened? Did you consent to it?”

Your eyes well up suddenly, and Mr. Yagi panics, knocking over his cup of water onto his desk. You move to mop it up while he tries to hand you tissues, and in the chaos, it takes you a while to recognize the emotion you’re feeling as shame. What happened yesterday wasn’t out of the ordinary in your neighborhood. Keigo barely blinked when he found out, and Hizashi and Magne were teasing you, not mocking you. Hooking up with a ghost is a semi-normal thing to do in the world you live in now. But it’s not normal here. The way Mr. Yagi asked the question made it clear that he thinks nobody sane would do what you did yesterday. You feel like you’re going to be sick.

Mr. Yagi gives up on the tissues and hands you a handkerchief from his pocket instead. “I will get you out of there,” he says. “You can stay with my family and I, for as long as it takes for you to find your feet. You don’t have to stay –”

“It was consensual.” You force the words out of your mouth. Somewhere in the back of your mind it occurs to you that this conversation is wildly inappropriate for work. HR-reportable levels of inappropriate for work. “I’m fine. I don’t want to leave. Can I get into the database or not?”

“If you’re fine, why are you crying?”

Because you weren’t ashamed before and now you are. “I’ll have the brief retyped by noon. The database –”

“Why do you need it?”

It crosses your mind to lie, but there’s no need. Mr. Yagi is a former ghost. If you explain, he’ll understand. You draw the list out of your pocket. “These are the names of conjurers. I think. I need to get into the database to find out everything I can about them.”

Mr. Yagi takes the list, scans it, and immediately starts coughing again. You head out to the water cooler for the second time in five minutes. By the time you get back, Mr. Yagi is back at his desk, scribbling furiously on the list. You set the water down next to him and he ignores it. “This man is dead,” he says, and draws a line through the name – Akaguro Chizome. “Chisaki Kai – also dead, and recently. Ujiko Daruma is an alias of Garaki Kyudai. Which of the names is his true one, I can’t say.”

You stare at him. He continues to write, drawing circles around the remaining three names. “Garaki is worth locating, but concentrate your efforts on these three. They may be three different people or they may all be aliases of the same man. Who gave you this list?”

Some instinct makes you hold back Aizawa’s name. “Why do you need to know?”

“If they’re planning to hunt conjurers, I have some advice that might make the endeavor less dangerous.”

“Hunt them?” you repeat. “No. They wouldn’t. That’s not what – um.”

Mr. Yagi is looking at you, waiting for an explanation, but you don’t know how much to say. Your neighborhood might be sort of friendly, but there’s at least one murderer in every house except yours, and your boss is a lawyer. A lawyer, not a cop. And if he’s embodied, he’s killed someone, too. Based on your expression, he knows what you’re thinking. “Type the brief, then conduct your research. We’ll meet for lunch to discuss it.”

“Yes, sir.” Lunch is three hours away. You’ve got exactly that long to come up with a plan.

You text Keigo in between typing paragraphs of the brief. My boss is a ghost and he knows about the list. What do I do?

For real? I’ve never met one in the wild. Keigo texts back way too fast for somebody who’s supposed to be at work. You say so and get an eyeroll in response. I’m a crisis responder. If nobody’s in crisis I don’t go out. Did he have ideas?

He knew the names. I’m supposed to meet him at lunch to talk about it. You get an idea. If you’re still around at noon, come meet us.

Keigo sends a thumbs-up and you throw yourself into typing the brief. You print it and return it to Mr. Yagi, swapping it for the list of names. Then you settle in at your computer again, considering where to start. Mr. Yagi seems like he knows what he’s talking about, but it won’t hurt to double-check.

You start with the first name he crossed out. Akaguro Chizome has been dead for a while. Twenty years, almost, and he died from blunt force trauma that crushed his skull to powder. You wonder which ghost did that, if it was even a ghost that did it. There’s not much on him. Just an autopsy report. There’s a lot more on Chisaki Kai, when you look him up. Death certificate, police report, interviews. Interviews. You dig into those, and the name at the top of the first one stuns you into stillness: Aizawa Shouta.

The next interviewee is Shinsou Hitoshi, and after him, Aizawa Eri. The only name that’s missing is Hizashi’s, and slowly the pieces start to come together in your head. Chisaki’s remains were so splattered that he wasn’t identified until long after the investigation was closed. Hizashi wouldn’t have cared what Eri’s conjurer’s name was when he killed him, and as long as he was gone, Aizawa wouldn’t have cared, either. His name is still on their list because they never found out who he really was.

Chisaki’s cause of death was internal organ rupture – all of them, all at once. How the hell did Hizashi do that when he was already human? Probably the same way Dabi still burns Keigo – the stronger they are, the more of their powers they keep when they embody themselves. However Hizashi killed humans as a ghost, it must have been nasty. Really nasty.

You tell yourself not to think about that. The important thing is that Mr. Yagi is a credible source. You can take his advice on this. You borrow the computer at the desk next to yours – your coworker’s on maternity leave, leaving you with triple the workload in the bargain – and pull up a second database window. Then you set two searches to run simultaneously. One for Garaki Kyudai, since you want to have some information to give Keigo when you see him. And one for the first of the three circled names: Shigaraki Akira.

The Garaki search finishes fastest, and you print what you’ve got, then rerun the search for Ujiko Daruma. The search for Shigaraki is much more difficult. It’s not a common name, so while there will be fewer documents, they should be easier to find. They aren’t. You turn up some documents for a Shigaraki Yoichi, all of which mention an older brother, but the older brother’s name never comes up. You rerun the search, this time for Shigaraki Yoichi, wondering all the while if it’s futile. These documents are two hundred years old or more. These people, whoever they are, are long dead.

There’s more on Shigaraki Yoichi than Shigaraki Akira. Shigaraki Yoichi had a really shitty life. He was chronically ill at a time when regular illness was still too hard for most doctors to handle, and his mind wasn’t doing too great, either. He died when he was your age, in a mental hospital. Suicide.

At least, it was thought to be a suicide. The medical examiner’s report inserts some doubt into the equation, but it’s noted specifically that the family of Shigaraki Yoichi chose not to press charges against the asylum for his death. There’s a note about the family members – the ones who came to visit, and the one who identified the body. Mother: in a fragile state. Father: deceased. Sister: absent. Body was identified by deceased’s elder brother Akira.

“Got you,” you mumble, and hit print. Now you’ve got proof that there was somebody out there named Shigaraki Akira – and when you scan the list again, you spot the first name of the next name on the list. Kiriyama Yoichi. It could be a coincidence, but you’re pretty sure the asshole jacked his dead brother’s name. “Nice try. I’ve got you now.”

There’s more on Kiriyama Yoichi, but while that search is running, you look up the asylum Shigaraki Yoichi died in. Sure enough, it’s been shut down, but it wasn’t knocked down – it was turned into a museum. Maybe some of the documents were preserved. If they were, you’d love to read whatever Shigaraki Yoichi had to say about his brother.

You’re in the middle of writing an email to the curator when your phone rings. It’s Spinner’s contact number, which is weird. You can’t figure out why Spinner would be calling you, unless something’s gone wrong in the neighborhood. You pick up the call. “Hello?”

You hear Spinner’s voice, but it’s in the background. “Dude, give it back! Don’t go inside –”

There’s the sound of the door opening and shutting. “Phantom missed you,” Tomura says without preamble. Your jaw drops. “Say hi.”

“Hi, sweetie,” you say helplessly. You can hear her snuffling the phone. “Are you being good? Did you get in trouble?”

Phantom barks. “Good girl,” you say, and she barks again. If you were at home, you’d sit down on the floor to cuddle with her, but you’re at work – and Tomura called you. “You really should give Spinner his phone back.”

“He can have it when I’m done. If I feel like giving it back.” Tomura, you remind yourself, is still an asshole. “When are you coming back?”

“The same time I always get back,” you say. “Why did you take Spinner’s phone? Don’t lie.”

“Wanted to talk to you.” Tomura’s voice takes on an almost laughably sulky note. “What? You don’t want to talk to me?”

“I do. I just can’t believe you called me. I thought you hated phones.”

“I hate other things more than phones,” Tomura says. “Where are you, anyway?”

“I’m at my computer at work. I’m looking up things for the list.” You cast around for something else to say. “I’ll tell you about it when I get back. And I’m going to need help when I get back. Hizashi’s going to try to get it out of me, and I’m not telling anyone until they tell us what’s going on.”

“If he comes near us he’s dead,” Tomura says at once. You can hear knocking on the door in the background, and when Tomura speaks again, he’s not talking to you. “You can have it back when I’m done! Go away!”

“We’re done now. I have work to do, and if I don’t get it done, I have to stay late,” you say. Tomura makes an annoyed sound. “I don’t want to stay late and you don’t want me to, either. I –”

You slap your hand down over your mouth just in time. “What?” Tomura asks.

“I’ll talk to you later,” you say. You’re still reeling from whatever the hell almost came out of your mouth. The sooner you get off the phone, the better. “Give Spinner his phone.”

“Fine,” Tomura complains. “Say goodbye to Phantom.”

You tell her goodbye and listen to the appalling sound of her licking the microphone before Tomura hangs up. You’re going to have to apologize to Spinner when you get back. And you might have to get Tomura a phone.

You have time to finish your email to the curator and print the documents for Kiriyama Yoichi before Mr. Yagi ventures out of his office for lunch. “We’ll be going to the usual place,” he says. He nods at the folder you’re carrying. “It seems your search was fruitful.”

You nod. “One of my neighbors works nearby. Can he come with us?”

“Does he – know?”

You laugh. “He has one. A former one. Half a former one.” Mr. Yagi looks baffled, and you sigh. “I’ll let him explain.”

The lunch place is just up the street. You text Keigo to let him know you’re headed there and start the walk with Mr. Yagi. He insists on carrying your files along with his own briefcase, and all you can do is hover, waiting for him to drop one of the two. “The friend who will be joining us,” Mr. Yagi says, “is that who you were speaking with on the phone?”

“No,” you say. Mr. Yagi looks quizzically at you, but there’s no way you’re getting into it. The less you say about Tomura, the better.

When you get to the restaurant, Keigo’s there already, and he waves you and Mr. Yagi over. There’s a mischievous look on his face, and you watch it anxiously as you introduce the two of them. “Mr. Yagi, this is my neighbor across the street, Takami Keigo. And Keigo, this is my boss, Mr. Yagi.”

“Nice to meet you! And nice contacts,” Keigo says. Then he looks at you. His expression’s gone from a smile to a full-blown smirk. “So.”

“What?”

“The strangest thing happened this morning,” Keigo says. “I got a text from Dabi.”

“Dabi?”

“My – roommate,” Keigo says, modifying the sentence after you kick him under the table. “Usually Dabi’s communication style leaves something to be desired. Blighting crops and hexing people is more his speed. But today he texted me. Quite a bit. Take a look at this.”

He shows you the screen of his phone. You read, with Mr. Yagi reading over your shoulder, cringing on every line.

Dabi: do you believe this shit

Dabi: that asshole from across the street lured Spinner over to the fence like a pedo

Dabi: so then they’re talking about fuck knows what

Dabi: Spinner’s showing him his Switch

Dabi: then Spinner shows him his phone

Dabi: and that asshole fucking materializes one hand, grabs it, and hauls ass back inside

Dabi: it’s been thirty minutes and he still hasn’t given it back

Dabi: crazy shit

Mr. Yagi coughs. Keigo gives you a significant look. “Any speculations as to why Tomura stole Spinner’s phone?”

“Tomura is –”

“Her ghost.” Keigo nods at you.

“Ah,” Mr. Yagi says. “I imagine that Tomura stole the phone in order to place a call to her.”

Keigo wheezes. “He said Phantom missed me,” you say lamely.

“More like he missed you! You’re going to have to get him a phone.” Keigo misinterprets the look you’re giving him and keeps talking. “Don’t teach him how the camera works, though. I taught Touya and now I get photos.”

The last thing you want to do is teach Tomura about dick pics. If you get him a phone, it’s going to be a flip phone. Or one of the ancient ones with the keyboard that slides out. Mr. Yagi is studying Keigo carefully. “Is it true that you have a ghost? I was led to believe that there was something – odd about him.”

“Dabi? Yeah. He’s a scar wraith,” Keigo says. Mr. Yagi nods. “Do you know something about those?”

“Nothing, other than that it’s an uncomfortable state to exist in. How long has he been that way?”

“A while. Before we moved here.” Keigo focuses in on the file folder in a way that tells you he’s done talking about this. “What’s in there? Did you find anything on Garaki?”

“Here.” You pass him the relevant documents, then extract the files on Shigaraki to show to Mr. Yagi. “You were right. At least one of these is an alias. But this person – the first one on the list – was born two hundred and fifty years ago. He can’t still be alive.”

“Conjurers draw power from the world between,” Mr. Yagi says. “It allows them to exceed a natural human lifespan. But in order to draw that power, they require a conduit of some kind. Some are lucky enough to find a location that’s been consumed, in whole or in part, by the world between. Others must create their own.”

“What do you mean?” Keigo asks. “Like – well, shit. No wonder they keep coming back.”

Mr. Yagi nods. You feel like you missed something. “What?”

“The ghosts summoned by conjurers act as their conduits to the world between,” Mr. Yagi says. “When a ghost embodies itself permanently, the conduit is closed. A powerful enough conjurer will have summoned and bound many ghosts, and the loss of one or two will not trouble them. But weaker conjurers don’t have the ghosts to spare. When they lose a conduit, they come to investigate. And to punish.”

“Eri’s conjurer was weaker than the others,” you realize. “If Spinner’s right, and he was Magne’s and Atsuhiro’s too, then he lost three ghosts. He would have had to do something –”

“And he probably thought it was going to be easy until Hizashi murked him,” Keigo says. “I don’t think they even found out his name.”

“It was Chisaki Kai,” you say. “He was on the list. And he’s not the only one. Akaguro Chizome is dead, too. Do you know who killed him?”

“It is possible to kill conjurers,” Mr. Yagi says, noticeably avoiding your question. “However, it’s highly dangerous, as the conjurers are capable of harnessing ghostly power through their conduits to the world between. Humans who try to kill them often fail. I assume this Hizashi is a former ghost?”

“Probably the ghostliest former ghost, other than my idiot,” Keigo says. “If I was ranking power levels on the street, he and Dabi would be the strongest. If we’re counting former ghosts. We’ve only got one real ghost left.”

“You’ve been to my house,” you say to Mr. Yagi. “Is he really that strong?”

“Almost incalculably strong,” Mr. Yagi says. You’re weirdly proud of Tomura. “Given his presence, I’m not surprised your neighborhood has such a high concentration of ghosts. Unfortunately, such a high concentration poses a risk.”

“No, he blocks us,” Keigo says, frowning. “He blocks all of us.”

“I’m sure he does,” Mr. Yagi says. “What I mean is simply that if a conjurer discovers one of you, all of you will be compromised.”

He’s right. You hadn’t thought of that, and based on Keigo’s expression, neither had he – but Mr. Yagi is right. If a conjurer makes it past Tomura’s aura to investigate, they’ll find out that the neighborhood contains half a dozen former ghosts. “Do they talk to each other? Conjurers?”

“Some do,” Mr. Yagi says. “But all of them are able to sense the presence of ghostly power, just as ghosts are. If one finds your neighborhood –”

“We’ll just kill him,” Keigo says. “Problem solved.”

“Problem not solved. If we just kill some guy, our neighborhood will be his last known location,” you say. You’re not a lawyer, but after three years as Mr. Yagi’s paralegal, you know your way around a murder case. “We’d look guilty. And not everybody in the neighborhood can stand up to direct questioning. If the police show up we’d be in a lot of trouble.”

“We can get out of that,” Keigo says, waving his hand and accidentally attracting the attention of a server. “Now that I’ve met your boss, I know a good lawyer. Hi! We’re definitely ready to order.”

Keigo can put away food like there’s no tomorrow, but Mr. Yagi’s a slow eater, and your appetite’s taken a hit. Mr. Yagi notices. “Are you all right, my dear?”

“I’m worried,” you say. “Aizawa gave me those names yesterday, and Hizashi asked about them again this morning. Neither of them were taking no for an answer. It seems urgent. I think there’s a chance we’ve already been caught.”

“We’ve been caught. You haven’t been caught.” Keigo waves a piece of fried chicken at you. “You’ve got a live ghost. If a conjurer shows up, you’re the only person on the street who doesn’t have to worry.”

“That depends on the conjurer,” Mr. Yagi says quietly. “Conjurers lose ghosts for one reason and one reason only – permanent embodiment. Ghosts don’t embody themselves permanently without reason, and if Tomura’s conjurer were to suspect that Tomura might consider it, their wisest move would be to remove the reason why he would.”

“You’re saying Tomura’s conjurer might try to kill me,” you say. Mr. Yagi nods. “That would be stupid of them. He’d never embody himself. He likes being a ghost.”

“You sure about that?” Keigo eyes you over the rim of his soda. “I wouldn’t be. Since you two hooked up –”

“We didn’t hook up,” you say. There’s no world in which kissing constitutes hooking up. You’re not even all that sure Tomura knows what sex is, and you really don’t want to talk about it in front of your boss. You turn to your boss, pretending Keigo isn’t there. “I’m guessing a conjurer wouldn’t stop to ask. He’d just kill me. Right?”

“Yes.” Mr. Yagi sighs. “By that token, you’re perhaps the unsafest of all.”

“It’s a waste of time to decide who’s safest and unsafest,” you say. “If a conjurer shows up we’re all in trouble. Either Hizashi and Aizawa think somebody’s found us already, or – I don’t know. Maybe they’re trying to track where the other conjurers are?”

“That sounds right,” Keigo says. “If we monitor them, then we can figure out if they’re getting close, and kill them away from the neighborhood so nobody gets suspicious.”

“Let’s speak a little more quietly about this,” Mr. Yagi implores. People are starting to stare at the three of you. “Engaging with the conjurers this way should be your last resort. Stay hidden at all costs.”

“What if we have to kill someone in order to stay hidden?”

Mr. Yagi gives Keigo a look. “I’ve stayed hidden for fifteen years. Do you mean to tell me that you can’t hide better than an old man like me?”

The challenge is enough to silence Keigo on the issue – that issue, and only that issue, for the rest of lunch, until his work phone chimes. He drops his credit card on the table and bolts, and you and Mr. Yagi both stare at it for a moment. “Is he buying lunch?”

You think about some of Keigo’s bullshit today. “Yes.”

With Keigo gone, you seize the opportunity to go into a little more depth with your research. “With Kiriyama Yoichi, I need to do some more reading. Since Akira stole his brother’s name for his new identity, I’m guessing he stole a name from somebody he knew in the Kiriyama identity to generate the next alias. I’m not sure who it is, but it’ll help to find them. They almost certainly left a bigger paper trail than he has.”

You contemplate the stack of papers, then think about what your work inbox looks like. “There’s no way I can get this done before the end of the day.”

“Take it home,” Mr. Yagi says. You nod. “May I make a suggestion?”

“Please.”

“My son, Izuku, is very good at projects such as this one,” Mr. Yagi says. You’ve met Izuku. He’s simultaneously the friendliest and the most intense kid on the planet. “You won’t need to give him much background information, and he’s on summer break. Both of you can read over the information and share conclusions. Two heads are better than one.”

You nod. “In addition,” Mr. Yagi continues, “there are conjurers who do not engage in the practice of binding spirits. I’ll reach out to my contacts there and see what they know.”

“Thank you,” you say. Mr. Yagi nods, taking the last sips of his tea. “Sir, um – why are you helping me? I know I’ve been difficult the last few months. I’ve been slow. And this morning, I –”

“I’ve had no concerns with your work. And I knew all about your office demeanor when I hired you.” Mr. Yagi cracks a small, skeletal grin. Then his expression softens. “As for why I would help you, there are three reasons. First, because it’s the right thing to do. Second, because I care for you. And third, because it would have helped my wife immensely to have met someone who could explain the nature of these things, rather than having to find out on her own.”

“Oh,” you say. You weren’t sure what you were expecting him to say. Probably not that he cares about you, but it’s true, isn’t it? He’s the nicest boss you’ve ever had, and his first reaction to seeing Tomura’s marks on you was to offer to help. Even if you felt judged. Maybe the feeling of being judged was just you. “Thank you, sir. It means a lot.”

Mr. Yagi nods. “Be careful,” he tells you. “This world is more dangerous than you realize.”

You could take that as paternalistic, patronizing, if you wanted to. You’ve never doubted that the world of ghosts and conjurers was a dangerous one. The first time you learned of Tomura’s existence, it was because you saw him kill something, and even if everyone else on the street is incredibly blasé about it, you never let yourself forget the kind of neighborhood you live in. It’s almost a relief to hear Mr. Yagi’s reminder. “Don’t worry, sir,” you say. You aren’t scared of Tomura these days, but careful of the rest? Careful you can do. “I will.”

[multiplicity-positivity]

Dealing with Denial 101

We’ve gotten a few asks about dealing with denial as a system, so we wanted to put together a post that we can reference in the future.

Denial, imposter syndrome, and fear of faking are all incredibly common system experiences. Unfortunately, when dealing with something that is so heavily stigmatized and not well understood among the public, these issues come all to easily. Just because you experience these things does not mean you aren’t a system, however! Here’s some things to remember that may help with dealing with feelings of denial:

1. Every system is unique!

You do no favors for yourself, your system, or others by comparing your experiences to those of other systems. An endogenic system’s experience is going to look entirely different from a system with a dissociative disorder, and even within certain origins there is so much diversity! There is no need to deny your system due to having unique experiences. There’s a lot that brings us together as systems, it’s true, but there’s also so much that sets us apart from each other and makes us different and unique! Take pride in this fact and don’t use it as an excuse to deny your system.

2. Created/spontaneous systems are valid!

If you find yourself wanting to deny your system on grounds of being endogenic, feeling like endogenic systems can’t exist and therefore your system can’t exist, we’d like to reassure you that that couldn’t be farther from the truth! Endogenic systems are and have always been an important part of the plural community. Your experiences as an endo system might be totally different from the experiences of a CDD system, but that’s okay! And it doesn’t mean that either of you are inherently faking your experience with plurality.

3. Comorbidities can (and do) happen!

It is possible to be a system (whether disordered or nondisordered) and deal with a myriad of mental illnesses. You can be a system and still have personality disorders, anxiety disorders, developmental disorders or any other sort of mental disorder. The only exception to this would be, you probably can’t have DID and OSDD at the same time. If you’re wondering about comorbidities and your likelihood of experiencing more than one disorder, please consult a mental health professional! Having comorbidities is not an indication of faking plurality and shouldn’t be a reason for you to deny your plural experience.

4. Communication is often difficult!

For many systems, communication does not come easily and is something that needs to be practiced regularly in order to improve over time. Some systems never reach a place of excellent communication, and that’s okay! It’s also perfectly normal to have a system that goes through communicative cycles, with periods of lots of activity followed by periods of silence. Just because you aren’t hearing from your headmates multiple times every day doesn’t mean that you’re not really a system!

5. Introjects are normal!

It’s okay to have tons of introjects in your system, or even for your system to be made up entirely out of introjects! It’s fine to have fictives, factives, octives, faitives, fuzztives, and everything in between. Yes, you can still be a system with a bunch of anime or smp headmates! Yes, you can still be a system of your introjects are weird, “cringe,” canon-compliant, canon-divergent, factives of celebrities, fictives from popular sources, or anything else! None of these things should cause you to deny your system - lots of other systems are in similar situations!

6. Some members are more prone to denial!

Even in diagnosed CDD systems, sometimes hosts, persecutors, or other members dig their feet in and refuse to acknowledge the system’s existence. We know this definitely happened in our system! Just because a particular member often tries to deny the system, doesn’t mean that you’re faking at all! For some members, the realization that they’re a part of a system can be scary, frustrating, and anxiety-inducing. Some may choose to deny that the system exists in order to protect themselves, or to preserve their way of life. A bit of kindness, patience, and persistence can go a long way in getting these members to accept the reality of your multiplicity!

7. A syscovery may happen at any time!

You don’t need a therapist or specialist to confirm that you’re plural. You don’t need outside validation in order for your system to exist. You may discover your system at a very young age, or well into adulthood. Both of these are perfectly fine times to learn about your plurality - there’s no magic age you must be before you can learn about your system! If your system deals with heavy denial or dissociative barriers, it may take multiple syscoveries in order for the realization to stick. This is nothing to worry about and definitely not proof that you’re faking your plurality!

8. Fakers don’t usually stress about whether or not they’re faking!

Faking an illness is a conscious effort that takes time, knowledge, and dedication. Fakers also don’t worry too much about whether or not they’re faking - for the most part, they absolutely know that they are! If you’re worried that you’ve been faking your plurality all along, honestly chances are slim that you’re actually faking. Try to stay calm and patient, and allow your headmates to speak for themselves on whether or not they think you’re faking your plurality!

9. It’s okay to question!

It’s okay to spend a long time wondering whether or not you’re actually plural. It’s okay to experiment with labels and try some out before you’ve figured out the origins of your system. It’s okay (and recommended, and healthy!) for you to question whether or not you have a trauma history or childhood memory gaps, and to rule out trauma as a cause for your plurality first. It’s okay to have a “pillowgenic” label one week and a “stressgenic” label the next. Questioning is a big part of self-discovery - the mere act of questioning your plurality doesn’t mean that you’re not actually plural by any means. Take your time with figuring out who you are!

10. It’s okay to be wrong!

There’s so much more we’d like to add here, but the last thing we’ll say is it is absolutely fine to be wrong about your origins, headmate count, or your plurality overall! You are not hurting anyone by exploring the concept of plurality, wondering if multiplicity affects you, and ultimately deciding you’re a singlet. It’s also perfectly fine to be wrong about your origins or to discover you’re traumagenic later in life. Deciding you’re endogenic after discovering childhood trauma may not be a wise thing to do, but other than that, it’s okay to be wrong about your experience and the language you use to describe it!

Sorry for the long post! Hopefully some of these affirmations will be reassuring for struggling systems out there. Remember that we’re in your corner rooting for you regardless of your origins or whether or not you experience denial! Please know we’ll always believe you, and we hope that one day you’ll be able to believe in yourself and your system!

(Image ID:) A pale orange userbox with a cluster of multicolored flowers for the userbox image. The border and text are both dark orange, and the text reads “all plurals can interact with this post!” (End ID.)

[marengogo]

Silver Lining - What If #4 : Thoughts of you …

Toxic - by Yael Naim  [A cover song of Britney Spear’s Toxic]

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

🐺 — 🐺 — 🐺—

Hello my beautiful people,

How have we all been? But most importantly: who is ready for SEVEN?

If, like me, you stop by the bird app every once in a while, you’ve probably read about the fact that Han So Hee is said to be the heroine of the MV and with this bit of news, all the speculations around it. SOME PEOPLE ARE GETTING BARE MAD. Me? Well, following the release of the promotional posters and the schedule, my mind started racing with possibilities; I am a film geek after all.

So I hope you have your tickets ready, as the time to jump on the train to Delululand has arrived, as I take a wild guess about what the song and the MV might be about. As the loco pilot of this train I would like to remind everyone, as always, to exercise caution and open-mindedness as we enter the fun and treacherous environment of Delululand, as everything that is said henceforth is nothing other than my thoughts and opinions. Okay? Let’s go! 🚂🚂🚂

As you might or might not know, I have a deep connection with our Golden Maknae (as mentioned in this post —> Jungkoo-gate ) so as I tried to channel myself into the elements that we know thus far, a couple of things came to mind. Let’s start with the word obsession, which definition is:

An idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind.

As we know, when JK finds something that he likes, he dives deep into it. It becomes all that he talks about, that he wants to do and know about.  Though some of his interests have changed through the years, as he gets older some are becoming fixed passions. Such as body art (tattoos & piercing), boxing, comfy and practical clothing, appreciation and expression of sensuality I’ll get to this in a sec, etc etc etc.

I’m not sure if this was the case before the beginning of their Chapter 2, but mental obsession in particular seems to have become a common theme in JK’s everyday life, and I feel like in SEVEN he might be exploring this side of his. We can notice this for example in Left and Right

Or his bringing up / reacting to JM related content, on multiple occasions

And also, fore= example, the repetition of the song up at night by Kehlani (feat. Justin Bieber), after which particular song he suddenly got inspired and went to work on music.

Up at night, like Left and Right, is a song about not being able to stop thinking about a person, Not a thing, a person. Be it during the day with a therapist, or at night while in bed. SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. Not one day a week, not two days a week, but seven, meaning EVERYDAY. Everyday what? Eating everyday? Singing everyday? Boxing everyday? Thinking of something everyday? Thinking of someone everyday? Knowing JK, if this were to be a person, he’ll most likely say it is ARMY 🤡LOL … Mmmm, moving on.

Sexual vs Sensual.

In the same way the word “Anger” has been highly desensitised as the rapline has cleverly explained in UGH!, I feel that the same faith has met the word “Sexy”. By definition, something sexy is something that makes you think about sex, period. Nowadays however, the word has almost “downgraded” to something a bit tamer, when you see your best friend dressed in a provocative way and say “Ooo, sexy!” you don’t mean that you’d like to have sex with them, nor that people will try to jump them, but most likely they will attract their sex of preference with goals that aren’t necessarily ending up in bed with them. 

The word “Sensual” hasn’t met the same treatment, however, in a weird way, it has been almost replaced by the word “sexual” in everyday vernacular.. By definition something sensual, is something that has to do with the appeasing of the senses, especially sexually. So what’s the difference, you might ask. I once, read this difference explanation and I think it makes very much sense:

Something sexual would equate to having sex, whereas something sensual would equate to making love. 

You see the difference right? One is just the action, the other is the action mixed with emotions, which makes it much more visceral and quite a deeper experience. 

Since Fake Love, we’ve seen JK evolving into a young man who is comfortable with body. When on stage, very much like JM, he has been using his body as part of his performance.

Which begs the questions; is it doing it to be sexual or sensual? 

Whenever he says that JM is sexy does he actually mean it in a sexual way or in a sensual way? When he shows us his abs or poses for a CK shoot, does he mean it in a sexual way or a sensual way? Mind you, as with many “similar but different” aspects in the Jikook dynamic, skin exposure also has its difference between the two. JM seems to have no-clothes as a default in his everyday life, whereas JK has a baggy-clothes policy in his everyday life. IN ADDITION, JM has almost become a bit of a prude reaction to anything that is skin revealing, or vulgar, off stage and in front of ARMY most likely thinking of younger ARMY, JK on the other hand doesn’t seem to mind a tiny little bit as he just want to be free to be himself most likely wondering why are younger ARMY watching.

Now, I’m going to get to the appreciation and expression of sensuality part of this post. A lot of talk has been also made in particular with regards to the rings that JK is wearing in one of the posters:

The most prominent speculation has associated the ring/s with BDSM related items and, obviously, we can’t know if this is the case or not, but what we can do is to point out the fact that JK has found himself inserted voluntarily and not into BDSM related conversations.

If you haven’t seen Love and Leashes I would suggest it, it is a very cute and tame way to introduce or just, explain, the BDSM world, without having to go hard core, it is a movie about BDSM afterall so there will be BDSM stuff but in a very tasteful manner. That being said, as the title and topic of the movie is quite explanatory, the only way you’d watch it is if you are interested in BDSM, or at the very least curious about it, as this is NOT an oscar worthy movie, and you can very much live without having watched it if you haven't noticed by now I am very big on both sex and sensuality. 

Am I saying that JK is about to star in an MV where he is BDSMing with a person he is obsessed with? 

NO. Obviously. This is how antis create stories to rattle people, taking information and reaching possibly triggering conclusions to many a person. But if you take these items singularly and in a mature way, sex, sensuality & BDSM, they are all very adult things that can be dealt with in an adequate and safe way for those who are propense to such things. In the simple manner in which JK answered to have watched Love and Lashes. In the same way, walking around with a T-shirt that has a bisexual flag on it, is different from walking around with a T-Shirt that has someone having sex with both gender sexes, A poster of someone with allegedly wearing bondage rings, isn’t the same way as a poster of someone showing how to use the rings, all supposing those rings are used as those type of rings. For all we know they mean something completely different to JK and only the MV, and lyrics, might shade a light to it as well as JK telling directly what it all means of course. 

And now, last but not least: Han So Hee. Imma keep my pansexual ass at bay and just leave the following edit for all of you to summarise the actress that is  Han So Hee real quick

Also, it is interesting to point out that her latest movie, Heavy Snow, is a Sapphic one (this has english subs —> Heavy Snow):

Now, I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything as I think she is famous in particular for being the heroine in the korean drama My Name, as well as the fact that Han So Hee has something to do with the Wooga Squad, or at least Choi Woo Shik as she was at the premiere of IU & Park Seo Joon’s movie Dream with Choi Woo shik, Tae and JK, but it is something that is worth pointing out, I think. 

So what do I think might be her role in JK’s MV?

In the above picture JK is being pictured in “real-life” and Han So Hee in a movie role. One of the interpretations of the female role in JM’s Like Crazy was that it was his reflection, which I’m also very comfortable in believing, so like, the female equivalent of JM. So what if Han So Hee played the female version of JK shiiiit, if I were JK I'd want Han So Hee to play me!!!?

HAN SO HEE movie  : boxing movie, queer movie, korean movie

HAN SO HEE real-life: has tattooes, has piercings, “has” Wooga” squad easy approach 

Looks like a very good actress to represent me, but also if that is the case, the fact that she is a woman, rather than a man is HELLA TELLING, WHICH IS WHY, we need to slow down real quick and think of the other side of the scenarios real quick. 

What if, instead of a young woman whom often has thoughts of thoughts of many things that are often thought as  provocative and/or taboo, so basically a Daring Summer Song, Haegum style, what if it is your everyday love story of a vanilla couple from the female POV as I do think JK is in the video, but not the main character and the seemingly sexy looking part of the promotion poster refers to a sexual part of their “vanilla” relationship in the song, or maybe is just for the posters and has NOTHING to do with the action video and/or song? Because, you know, couples can get freaky every once in a while and if not we need something innovative for a poster which actually has something to do with the personality of the singer?  … 😬😬😬

… ALL THAT BEING SAID, the time has now come to get out of Delululand and straight back to reality. At the end of the day the chances of me being completely wrong about my entire speculation are 85.31%. Yes. But, it did give me a fun ride into JK’s environment and possible scenarios so if all that I thus here speculated turned out to be FAR AWAY FROM WHAT THE SONG AND/OR MVIS ABOUT, then I’ll use it as a prompt for a future movie of mine 🤡.

Always respectfully yours,

Marengo.

[eilinelsghost]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks very much to @sallysavestheday and @thelordofgifs for the tag! I don't think I've ever done this one before, so let's give this a try.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 27

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 164,434

3. What fandoms do you write for? Only the Silmarillion

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? - Atandil (part 1 of the series by the same name) - Atanatárissë - Grief in All Her Guises (Atandil part 2) - In Memory Untarnished (Atandil part 8) - Ye Shall Render Blood (Atandil part 4).

5. Do you respond to comments? Yep! I think I have responded to all of them, but I'm sorry if one fell through the cracks there. Comments are honestly a huge part of what keeps me writing and I want to make sure they know I've seen and appreciate them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably In These Holy Waters? Though I got a lot of screaming in the comments on A Heady Fragrance of Honey also, so I'll drop that in as an honorable mention.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Feeling convicted about how hard this is to find a happy one lol. I think probably By Any Other Name, which was a little Finrod/Bëor fluff piece I wrote for @actual-bill-potts last year.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far. Or wait, maybe? There was a weird anon about one of the sentence prompt ficlets on here awhile back where Bëor was having a lot of intentional "accidental-innuendos," but I don't think I'll dignify that by calling it fic hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I wrote two (here and here since they're posted anon), but not sure if I'll try my hand at that again or not. It was really a really helpful exercise to work past a lot of baggage I still had from growing up in a very conservative family where shame was the prevailing attitude toward anything related to sex. But I don't know that I'll write more - it's very out of my comfort zone 😂

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I'm not sure what a crossover is, so that probably means no?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! One of the aforementioned smut pieces was just translated a couple months ago.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not so far, but @actual-bill-potts and I periodically joke about co-writing a modern Finrod/Bëor AU so who knows what might happen :)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Surprising no one but myself (I was initially a hater and reread the Athrabeth to prove to myself it was impossible...and came out of that with a series that's 135k and counting), it's Finrod/Bëor.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Probably this Dior Eluchíl idea. I'm very attached to it, but I think I may have permanently stalled on it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Worldbuilding and dialogue, I think? But I'm horrible at listing strengths (looking at you dreaded resume process), so it may be something entirely different. These are the ones I feel most confident about, at least.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Humor, believable flirtation, battles, politics, trade strategies etc etc etc

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do this occasionally in Atandil, but I tend to like it less for full dialogue and more for passing words - if Balan is hearing Finrod say something to another Elf in order to stress the otherness, or if they each fall back on words in their own tongue when not finding the right one in the other's. I think full dialogue would be a struggle for me.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Silm - first and only!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Oh god. Uh. I do not know. I'm particularly fond of Darkly the Sundering Flood - one of the few I was genuinely pleased with from the get- go (normally I have a 1-2 week hate period after I post anything). But And Still the Light Returns is also a top contender from Atandil because I really enjoyed exploring the parent-child dynamics between Balan and both his sons. Also because of the duck story. I dearly love the duck story.

Thanks so much for the tag! I've been out on a work trip for the last week and not on Tumblr much, so I have no idea who has been tagged in this so far...just ignore this if you've already had one. 😂 Tagging @that-angry-noldo, @searchingforserendipity25, @outofangband, @melestasflight, and anyone else who would like to join in!

[atlantis-just-drowned]

Welcome on my blog !

I'm sharing my pfp with my IRL best friend @arsuns-ramblings :]

DNI if you: are transphobic, queerphobic, racist, sexist, ableist or fatphobic. Are a TERF or a pedo. Do not stand with Palestine/believe in the dumbass conspiracy theory going around on Palestinian gfm vetters. Are trying to start shit on the Nevermore fandom/hate on RnF/think they deserve to be hated on for literally being humans.

Who am I ?

My name is Atlantis, and my pronouns are he/they! I'm 18, trans, gay as hell, and French™️. I write fanfics and headcanons, sing, play ukulele, craft things, and hyperfixate on new things all the time.

I'm a chaotic gremlin, with possible undiagnosed autism and a Secret Other Thing. I'm also on my first year of psychology license!

Here I make headcanons, theory posts and original posts with bad jokes because my sense of humour is broken. My blog is mostly random brain goop and ramblings.

Funny hahas to check

@lost-letters-from-atlantis is my side-blog for original writing!

My masterlist for headcanons and short stories!!

#whispers from atlantis : My orignial posts ! I like weird tags and it's linked to my username obviously.

#howlings from the vortex : Queued posts ! There's 2 per day going out atm but I tend to change it to 4 if I know I'll be inactive for an extended period of time.

#bestie's trinkets box : Posts I reblog for my best friend (obviously). Sometimes I want to reblog a post and also send it to them so instead of doing both I created a tag just for this lmao.

#bird's wisdom : One of my amazing friends sends me cool poems that you can all check with this tag ! So she has a proper tag in recognition for the great literature she brings to us :]

Interactions status ?

Unless specified otherwise, my askbox is opened for headcanons/short stories requests! I do both SFW and NSFW but will decline any request that makes me too uncomfortable. You can also put random funny things in it and I'll be happi :]

My DMs are opened for mutuals! Don't hesitate to send me a message, because I'm too anxious to send a message first, most of the time.

Please keep in mind that it takes time and energy for me to answer!

You can find me in other places on the Internet :

Instagram

AO3 (for English works)

Wattpad (for French works)

BandLab

+ anywhere you see a blue haired emo teenager called Atlantis doing weird shit

[fantasticduckchaos]

Hi Ro! 🩶 Just wanted to drop in, to let you know how much I absolutely adore your art!! 🫶💕 (like it truly makes me so happy to see whenever you've posted a new one! 🥰)

So in relation to that I wanted to ask: What are the top 5 things that inspire you to do art? 👀

(also curious if there is anything about art in general, that you'd like to talk about! 🤗🩵)

Hey stella <333 thank you so much for enjoying my art :] I'm so glad you like it❤️

1. My hyperfixations - as soon as I join a Fandom or community I immediately feel the need to draw fanart for it, anything I'm passionate about really😅games, movies, fanfics, youtubers etc..

2. Other people - whenever I get requests for certain parings or drawings I get so happy because I'm like- "this person likes MY art so much they want to request!?" and I get so exited whenever someone even reblogs my stuff :D

3. People I love - anytime I have a friend that I love so dearly I constantly wanna draw them and give them gifts. If you somehow were able to look through my sketchbooks over the years, you would find month long periods where I would only be drawing one person. These things come and go but I love the rush of creativity I get whenever it happens :)))

4. Boredom - I know it's weird- hear me out. When I was in school I always found myself doodling in my notebooks when a class was boring (which it usually was haha) and it subconsciously really helped with my art journey and with my inspiration over the years.

5. Myself - sometimes I feel that the only way to express what's going on in my head is through art. It doesn't matter what kind. Sometimes I feel really overwhelmed and a random fucking poem about it pops into my head so I write down. Maybe I saw something really beautiful somewhere and absolutely HAD to draw what it made me feel. I find myself in so many things around me and I want to get it on paper or in my notes app just to preserve the feeling.

Art runs in my family, I have a few cousins who draw and on both my parents sides they have a history of it. Though my main inspiration to start drawing was my sister. My older sister draws so amazingly even three year-old me wanted to be like her. She unknowingly encouraged me to continue expressing myself and I am forever grateful for her. It's also so fun to see how other hobbies translate, for example I plays guitar; I didn't know this until after I started playing but my dad always wanted to play when he was a kid and my mom played guitar when she was in seventh grade (I started playing in seventh grade too!) my brother and my cousin also took a few classes and so did my grandpa on my mom's side. It's so cool to see things that don't seem genetic translate in different family members👍 okay sorry for the rant I got carried away😅😅