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meanbossart · 1 year ago

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Another much overdue ask compilation! Some short-ish lore asks (Gale, Gort, DU drow relationships and pet-companion preferences) and a couple of art/advice ones sprinkled in. THIS IS BY NO MEANS ALL OF MY ASKS so as usual I appreciate everyone's patience!

I actually think he'd give them a pass entirely as soon as he noticed. Correct me if I'm mistaken but half-drow get No love from underdark drow and are usually surface babies right? So that fruit is miles away from the tree lol. I think he generally has a bit of a soft spot for mixed kinds since he himself feels like an amalgamation of sorts.

Thank you! They're kind of a pain in the ass to draw at times for that very reason but man I do like the look 😩if other people like it too then that makes it all worth it!

THAT'S TRICKY TO ANSWER BECAUSE OFTEN TIMES I'M NOT... REALLY TRYING. I've draw a ton of horror comics for mine and my partner's series' SAD SACK and SORTIE, so I think it just comes naturally to me 😅 also I do genuinely find expressive and, uh, rugged faces more attractive? (I think they look rugged, again that's what people tell me at least.)

I think the secret might be adding bits of realism in there. I get a lot of comments about the wrinkles and eyelashes I add to my art, as well as the way I draw individual teeth (though I've lately been making an effort to simplify my style in favor of drawing faster, so I haven't done that as much or in as much detail.)

Both symmetry and the lack of it can also add to that effect. I have employed both facial unevenness and almost point-perfect symmetry to achieve something a little frightening or otherworldly in my work. [MORE UNDER THE CUT]

Thank you so much!!! The contrast is very much intentional, that's what DU drow's character is all about ;)

Hahah well I somewhat doubt Bhaal would care that his spawn gets named, but either way he stripped himself of his name as soon as he killed his foster parents and abandoned the Underdark. He had a drow name that I jotted down somewhere but it's completely irrelevant because nobody has used it since he was a child, and he doesn't remember it (even pre-tadpole/having his brain scrambled.) Here's a little write up about his origins that might shed some more light on that: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/739688837431836672/did-drow-ever-have-a-childhood-before-the-temple

And about his original drow-given name and the reason behind it: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/741350986692591616/drow-had-to-have-been-given-a-name-by-his-adoptive

Everyone just referred to him as his supposed race, or as Bhaalspawn or Bhaal's child, and any other similar titles. Orin called him "kin" and "brother" and Gortash likely called him his associate. Post-tadpole the camp grows entirely used to calling him "the drow" and he has no desire to change that or to choose a proper name.

THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH😭 no reason to be intimidated, I'm just some rando drawing BG3 fan art LOL I've been drawing since I was a child, and started taking it semi-seriously when I was 16 years old, so twelve years ago! That's around the time where I got my first non-display tabled and used that well into my twenties, prior to that I only did stuff on paper and liked to do inks color with pencils. I never really ventured into traditional painting at all except for a little bit of water-coloring in college.

Traditional and Digital art are very much different beasts. Which one you want to start with is, in my opinion, just dependent on what you want to do. Digital art gives you a lot of tools that makes learning easier, but you might find yourself having much steeper of a learning curve if you ever decide to do traditional art instead. If you want to be good at both, you need to practice both, since the skill doesn't entirely translate from one medium to the other.

Naturally you will be able to draw well on either, it's just... Different. I will say though, that I think if you're still learning you should use whatever allows you to look directly at what your hand is doing, so either traditional or display tablet/Ipad. I have no idea what a non-display tablet would do to a beginner, but remembering my experience with it I feel like it might be a huge detriment to developing the skill (feel free to share your experiences in the replies if you disagree, as I would definitely be curious to read them!)

YOU KNOW ME BABY IT WAS MESSY AND COMPLICATED the tldr.: is that they were "buddies", absolutely no romance intended there on either mine or DU drow's part, but due to his nature the friendship was extremely weird.

Here's a couple of replies where I go into more detail about it: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/739191190871818240/i-dont-have-a-particular-question-in-mind-sorry

https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/744952815768764416/so-not-sure-if-youve-covered-this-but-i-thought

That's definitely reserved for the vamp LOL DU drow very much enjoys when Astarion teases and fusses over him, and while Astarion probably got a kick out of acting that way around such a big and scary looking guy at first, I think by "now" (later and post-game) he's pretty much immune to DU drow's looks and just enjoys doing it in earnest.

He's not at all averse to being touched (even rather intimately) by close friends, but he wouldn't be quite THAT vulnerable with anyone else.

HE REALLY DISLIKED GALE... He irked him out by seemingly fostering a rather persistent romantic interest in him for at least half the time they spent together (very much based on my interpretation of their in-game interactions at the time, though my Gale might have been a little bugged.)

But also they had a... Fairly in depth relationship still? Gale was a staple in my party, and even though I antagonized him constantly by the end of the game it still felt like they had so much weight in each other's lives, if that makes sense. I might need to do a bit of an "update" on the DU Drow/Gale lore sometime, I feel like I've had some thoughts since that warrant more exploration of their dynamic (you can find a lot of old asks about it if you just search the Gale Dekarios tag in my blog though).

The gist of it is that DU drow found him arrogant and duplicitous, his constant optimist irritated him to no end and felt like it veiled a stream of self-pity (two things DU drow despises) Gale's attempts to get through to him only added insult to injury. By the end of the game he decided to pursue the crown of Karsus and this only lost him even more respect in Drow's eyes, seeing as he doesn't value godly power at all.

I was pretty overwhelmed by the game at the start so I actually missed a lot LOL including Scratch. I did get the owlbear cub though, which DU drow gladly welcomed into camp since it was injured - but I think he would have wished for it to remain a wild animal and to return back to it's home after it had grown up a bit. He didn't really make a "pet" out of it more than he just looked after the little guy in the way it's mother might have, probably with Shadowheart's help.

He wouldn't be opposed to proper pets though if one were to stumble into his life. He'd definitely be more of a cat guy because of their independence and strong little attitudes.

It is very hard to build proper rapport with him. He will be "friendly" to most people who have a good sense of humor about them, but friendSHIP is another thing entirely.

I think it's kind of circumstantial. He's very economical in his relationships and doesn't really seek them out at all - so a situation where he's forced to be in someone's company might be the only way to develop a bond with him, as he doesn't appreciate insistence either and that's more likely to push him away. He doesn't value status or titles either (kind of looks down on them really) so that won't help.

I think he just likes people who are true to themselves and their nature, sometimes even if the nature is one he disagrees with at it's core. This is why he liked Gortash, why he and Shadowheart got along so well, and why him and Astarion fit together so seamlessly despite seeming so different. Likewise I think it's why he didn't jive with people like Gale or Wyll, because they seemed to be rather... Dishonest with themselves and their own end-goals.

#ask compilation #DU drow lore #ask

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rhodes-knightwife · 2 months ago

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Hello~! Been a while, hasn't it? I didn't die, and I've still been playing plenty of Arknights, but unfortunately I just haven't had the drive to really post anything too substantial for a while... until now. Until her.

Listen. Listen to me. I've loved this woman for a lot less time than some of y'all, only ever since the Hortus de Escapismo Rerun, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been living rent free in my head ever since. And well, while I have all these thoughts, let's revive a bit of an old idea of mine to marry two hobbies, one that I planned to do with her sister first, ironically enough...

Can you build Lemuen in Pathfinder 2e?

This is gonna be a long one folks, bear with me.

I'm not gonna go over too much Pathfinder stuff in this post, I'll try to keep it light for the newbies. I'll be going over the build in simple terms and only truly diving into the specifics for when they're especially appropriate to the character, so buckle up.

One quick thing to address: the wheelchair. It's a big part of what makes Lemuen so badass, that she can not only fight and be effective despite her disability but sometimes because of it! And it'd be just terrible to remove it... so we won't! Pathfinder has actual, official, encoded rules for wheelchairs, and they all basically mean she can operate as normal even in combat, don't worry. In fact, the chair itself will play into one or two tricks she'll have later!

For those new to Pathfinder character creation, you always start with your ABCs: Ancestry, Background, Class! The first is easy, thankfully; Sankta translate pretty much perfectly into the role of Empyreans – or aasimar, for our D&D friends. So, human with the nephilim heritage to make her an empyrean will give us all the heavenly flavor we might want.

Background-wise, while it would be easy and fair to argue that she should go with some sort of religious role, I think leaning on her time in the Pontifica Cohors Lateran and making her a Warrior makes the most sense, and gives us a few little nice additions for later.

Finally, the class is obvious... sorta. We're making her a Gunslinger, and hopefully I don't need to explain why. Why did I say 'sorta', then? Well... listen, if you wanna dip into yoinking a class from Starfinder, I think you could argue making her an Operative is an even better fit in some ways, but let's stick to the core system here! (But if this post does well enough... who knows?)

Without bothering with all the numbers, those choices leave us with solid attributes for what we want; max Dexterity is a given to aim that big ol' rifle, and a little bit of Strength from her military background will help her handle something with some recoil. A bit of angelic Charisma and just a tiny smidge of tactical Intelligence means that Constitution and Wisdom are our dump stats right now – not ideal, but five years in a coma will do that to you.

But that's all abstracts, all stuff that every character has; let's get to the juicy stuff!

Level 1

We get several new feats to start off, so let's touch on a few before we jump to her class abilities. First, let's make her an Angelkin, which fits well enough while giving her new languages, with the Empyrean language among them to stand in for Sankta empathy, at least for now. Her Warrior background also gives Lemuen one hell of an Intimidating Glare, meaning that even if whoever's on the other end of her gun's barrel doesn't speak one of her many languages, her eyes can still get the message across.

Now, we look to her class; Gunslinger subclasses are called 'Ways', and I only need to tell you one is called the 'Way of the Sniper' for you to know what we're choosing. Right now, this means that Lemuen's first shot in a fight deals extra damage thanks to well-placed aim, and that she can duck behind cover and hide as she reloads between shots to try and catch enemies off-guard. As for the feat proper, let's go with Hit the Dirt!, which lets Lemuen leap (or, roll) out of the way of a ranged attack and land prone to try and dodge it. This is actually somewhat helpful in her case, as being prone can help her hunker down and take cover from any returning fire while she sits dozens of feet away from the action.

Lastly for level 1, we have the stuff to round out the character; skills and equipment. She already has Stealth, Intimidation and Society (from her subclass, background and ancestry feat), but she gets a few extra; I won't be going into specifics here, so feel free to choose whichever feels right for you, though of course Religion is appropriate. Likewise, I won't touch on her equipment aside from mentioning her weapon: an arquebus. (Again, no fancy Starfinder guns!) It deals 1d8 damage... until Lemuen crits, at which point she adds another die and makes them all into d12s! And Gunslingers are very good at critting indeed. The tradeoff is that we needed some extra Strength to handle the kickback, but such is life!

And that's level 1! Things will go faster from here, don't worry.

Early Game (2-5)

Level 2 sees us get our first skill feat besides Intimidating Glare, but since they're so tied to skills and largely just quality of life improvements, I'll treat them the same as skills and leave specifics to you, if you try this build. This level also gets us another Gunslinger feat though, and that's much more fun! But we'll actually be going for something called an archetype here, meaning we give up our Gunslinger feat for something from a subset of feats that any character can take and grants some thematic abilities.

Don't worry, we're staying close to home; specifically, we're taking the Sniping Duo Dedication, which will allow Lemuen to designate an ally as her spotter and get a bunch of cool bonuses when fighting alongside them! Right now, Lemuen and the spotter both get a neat little damage boost on their next attack after the other hits an enemy.

(If you would rather stick with Gunslinger though, both Defensive Armaments and Warning Shot make for fun picks!)

Level 3 gets us a nifty class feature that allows a second save against any mind-controlling effects, through sheer stubbornness alone! Fitting, I'd say. Besides that, it gets us an increase to one of our skills – I recommend Stealth this early one – as well as a general feat! Once again, these are very broad and generic upgrades that often come down to personal preference, so I won't choose them for you.

Level 4 is the same as the second, and you'll see a pattern forming there! A skill feat of your choice, plus a class feat. We're dipping to Sniping Duo again to get Assisting Shot, meaning we make it easier for our allies to hit any enemy we've just shot. It doesn't even have to be our spotter, either! (If you're avoiding Sniping Duo though, Running Reload or one of the recommendations from level 2 works well too!)

Level 5 will boost three of our stats, which is pretty huge. We sink one into Dex; it doesn't actually increase since it's already so high, but it will when we reach level 10 and do this again. Besides that, upping our Charisma, Intelligence and Wisdom shores up some our previous weaknesses and boosts Lemuen's diplomatic and intimidation abilities!

Besides that, we get another skill increase, we get even better at shooting people (Lemuen is a Master with guns at level 5, which is ludicrous), and we get a whole new ancestry feat! There's not any especially thematic options for us here at level 5, so I'll go back to a first level feat, though one from her human side this time. Cooperative Nature simply makes us better at helping people out when they try difficult checks, and that seems fitting to me!

Mid-game (6-10)

Level 6 brings back the pattern of a skill feat and a class feat. We'll hop back on the main Gunsliger track to snag the appropriately named Sniper's Aim, which lets us take a longer time aiming our shots to make them more accurate; better one shot that hits than two that miss! Plus, it's a damn good impression of her S2, if you ask me, especially with the added caveat that it ignores concealment.

Level 7 is quick for us: a general feat, a skill increase, a boost to our Perception and a flat damage increase. Very nice, but no big choices for the build.

Level 8, however, brings more fun goodies! Besides another skill feat, we actually hit a bit of a split in our build, because your choice depends on what kind of build your spotter has. If your spotter is a ranged attacker (like, say, a certain redheaded sister with a love for automatic guns), then going for Sniper Duo's Vantage Shot feat is very nice, allowing both Lemuen and her spotter to roll Stealth against a target when the other shoots them, making them off-guard to the next attack on a success. This will be especially nice for Lemuen very soon!

But, if you're not using the archetype, or your spotter is more focused on melee attacks or utility magic, then Smoke Curtain is your best bet. Remember that time in the video where Lemuen did some sick wheelchair drifts and spread out a smokescreen to snag her sister out of danger? Well, here's that! Fire a shot and watch the whole area go up in smoke, giviny ou some really nice cover to Hide in using your special reload. On top of that, Sniper's Aim lets you ignore the smoke and aim perfectly despite it!

Level 9 brings with it a skill increase, as well as an ancestry feat; let's go with Cooperative Soul to upgrade the last one. Now, when aiding your party, you simply cannot fail to help them!

The more important aspect of level 9 though is a new ability from the Way of the Sniper; a new kind of shot that can leave targets bleeding if you catch them off-guard! Hope you've been putting those Stealth skills and abilities to good use!

Level 10 is a juicy one. Not only do we get more boosts to our attributes, letting us actually increase Dex and bump our other stats even more, but it also gets us another skill feat and class feat combo! Let's finally get our S1: Penetrating Fire lets us fire at two targets with one bullet, so long as they're in a line.

Late Game (11-15)

Level 11 gets us a skill increase, a general feat, and an increase to our Reflex saves. Nice!

Level 12 gives us another skill feat and lets us get a lite version of Lemuen's incredibly badass S3 with Shattering Shot. So long as you have an alchemical bomb to throw, this lets you throw it out and snipe it right out of the air, letting the damage rain down on a much wider area.

Level 13 increases both our armor proficiency, making us a little harder to tear through than wet tissue paper, and our weapon proficiency, putting us at the highest possible proficiency with guns far before almost any other character. It also gets us a skill increase and an ancestry feat! Let's do Celestial Mercy, which will let us cast the cleanse affliction spell twice a day. Minor poisons and diseases, begone! (Lemuen doesn't have healing arts or anything, but big sister powers make any care she gives magical in its own way.)

Level 14 is another even level, so skill feat and class feat! There's a feat called Headshot. Need I say more? No, but I will at least explain that it has a chance to instantly kill the target! Assuming you crit, and they fail a save, and you already shot them once before, and that they're not higher level than you... look, sometimes you just take a feat because it's cool.

Level 15 is a doozy! This one lets us increase our stats yet again, which means preparing to increase both Dexterity and Charisma at level 20, and actually increasing two other stats; it might be a good time to actually get some Constitution...

Besides that, we get the customary general feat and skill increase, an increase to the flat damage from level 7, and the last Way of the Sniper ability, which is a special kind of shot that applies that damage bonus from all the way at level 1 to any attack, not just the first in a fight.

End Game (16-20)

Final stretch! Level 16 is another skill feat and the Fatal Bullet class feat, meaning that our critical hits with our arquebus deal yet another d12 of damage.

Level 17 lets us ignore any penalties for firing up to three times our base range, making that range effectively 450 feet, which might as well be range: "yes". It also gets us a skill increase and the final ancestry feat, for which we take our real S3: Divine Declaration. It lets us cast the divine decree spell, which can best be described as 'Angelfireball', or a massive explosion of holy damage that can weaken creatures and even banish beings back to the planes from whence they came.

Level 18 means a skill feat and a class feat, so let's take Piercing Critical, which means rolls of a natural 19 are also automatic crits. The level curve has caugh up to your gun skills by this point, so extra chances to crit the boss always help.

Level 19 is the final skill increase and general feat, and also increases our armor class proficiency to Master! Better late than never.

And finally, level 20! One last skill feat! One last boost to our stats to max out Dex, put Cha as high as we could, and shore up whatever other stats we want! And one last feat in the form of Perfect Readiness, which gives us an extra action every single turn to reload or reposition! Whew... what a trip.

Roundup

So, here at the end, let's take a long look at what we have and if we've hit our goals. We do have pretty good analogues for all of Lemuen's main skills, although S1 is a bit more finnicky than I would have liked. We even have a decent analogue to her first talent with all the Sniping Duo feats! And well, I'd say this all fits pretty well into the 'badass with a sniper' category, so I'm happy, thematically. What about gameplay?

Here's our pros: we are absurdly good with guns, which comes naturally as a Gunslinger. We're ahead of the curve for most of those levels and we have ways to make our shots even more likely to crit. By the end, our shots will be dealing 4d8+1d6+8 damage, which is nuts enough for a ranged weapon without even getting into the 6d12+2d6+16 damage we do on crits, or all the extra bits of damage certain kinds of shot can tack on. We also do all that at positively absurd ranges if needed, going up to 150 feet even from level 1. We even have decent area damage, though a little limited.

However, we do have a fair few cons too: namely, low Con and only passable AC means we really need that range because we do not want to be close to the fight. Enemies can shred you like confetti, and you're extremely easy to grab. In addition, the sheer amount of different kinds of attack we accumulate is great... but only if you can keep up and manage them properly. It's hard to know which of the upwards of six or seven ways you have to shoot your gun is best to use in the moment.

So that's it! This post was one hell of a thing to write up, but I had tons of fun. If people have any thoughts, leave them in the comments or message me about 'em! I love both these games to death and would love to do more of these. Who should be next? Or should we just spring for Lemuen in Starfinder instead? The full release of SF2e is just around the corner...

#arknights #pathfinder #pf2e #lemuen #character building #pathfinder 2e #holy crap this was a lot #very fun tho

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monsterswithimagines · 10 months ago

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Undisclosed Desires - Part 19

Joe Goldberg x female!Reader

Summary: Twenty minutes before he would have met Guinevere Beck, Joe meets you instead. You intruige him, but it will soon become clear that there is something off about you.

Words: 888

Masterlist

Fun fact: I actually wrote a part of this (the obvious email) in Dutch and then translated it with Google Translate so it would be realistic lmao.

I have the key to your place. You have the key to mine. We are that kind of couple.

When you're at work, I sometimes go to your apartment and read your email. I don't like that you have a male friend you haven't told me anything about, even if most of what you talk to him about is me.

Still, (Y/n), can you blame me for being worried? You are not supposed to keep secrets from me. And you don't. Except for when it comes to [email protected].

I have to be fast today. Yesterday, you ran into Paco's mom, Claudia. She complained to you that she has to work, so she can't take Paco trick or treating today, and Ron isn't interested. You're too kind, so you said we'd do it. And because not just Claudia, but even Ron actually likes you, Claudia thanked you profusely and said that “that would be great, actually.”

You should know, (Y/n), that I hate Halloween. But, as you pointed out, this isn't about me, or you - “don't you think I would have rather gone to the costume party my boss is throwing, Joe?” No. I don't think you would have. But that’s beside the point.

This is about Paco. And he will be at my apartment in less than two hours.

So I have to hurry.

But your email is just so enticing. I don't find any new exchanges with Grey (I did check just last week), but that doesn't mean there's nothing for me to see. You have a new email from your mother, and it's far easier to copy and paste one long message into Google Translate than it is to figure out texts.

Your mother writes:

Dear (Y/n),

I've had to think long and hard about how to tell you this, but I won't be there this Christmas. Your grandma and grandpa don't want Steef there, so I'm going with him to his family in Utrecht. You are of course very welcome to come too. Steef would like to meet you. I talk about you all the time, my sweet, smart daughter with her great job in America.

Unfortunately, I know you probably don't feel like it. Your grandfather has his claws in you. He thinks everything I do is wrong, and you believe him. That saddens me enormously. All your life you have seen your grandparents as the people who love you. Even as a little girl you didn't see how much I loved you and how much I did for you. I had to look for love somewhere else.

I found that love in Steef, (Y/n). We love each other so much. But I can't start a life with him if you haven't met him. Then help us! I love you so much, honey. Give me that love back and accept that I want to be happy too!

I don't understand why you let your grandparents determine your entire life. Joe sounds like a perfect man. Do you really leave him alone at Christmas and New Year because you are afraid that your grandfather has an opinion about your relationship?

You deserve so much better, Poppedijn. Both of us.

To the stars and back again,

Mom.

Oh. You're going to hate this.

Usually, you and your mom email each other when you want to tell each other things you consider too long to text. Like when you tell her about your day at work, or she talks about the latest drama going on in your hometown. Only once before have I seen you receive an email like this from your mother. When you read it, you completely shut down on me for a week. You wouldn't talk about it. You wouldn't talk to anyone. You called in sick to work and shut yourself inside your apartment.

I can't let that happen this time.

I write a response. I have to translate it and send it back in Dutch, and I know it won't be perfect, but I'm hoping your mother will write that off as part of your inability to string proper sentences together when you're not writing professionally.

mom,

i understand why you have to go to utrecht. you're right, i'd rather not come. but you need to find your bliss.

i need to find my bliss, too, so i think it's better if we don't speak to each other for a while. it's not personal. i'm very tired all the time and i want to focus on joe and i don't want to think about my mom, who'd rather spend christmas with her boyfriend's family than suck it up and see her only daughter.

all my love,

(y/n)

I hit send. Then, I panic and delete the email from your sent folder. Then, I panic even more and delete your mother's email altogether. I even remove it from your deleted files.

What have I done?

Your mom is going to react to this. She is going to tell you about the email she received. Then you will wonder who sent it, and who will all the signs point to? Your boyfriend, who has access to your apartment and your laptop when you're not paying attention.

I quickly replace the laptop and leave.

What am I going to do?

#joe goldberg #penn badgley #you netflix #joe goldberg imagine #joe goldberg x reader #imagine #joe goldberg x female!reader #joe goldberg x y/n #joe goldberg x you #x reader

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spyxfamilyanalysis · 3 months ago

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Something I found in Spy x Family Meta community

from crooked-mantis's post

Chapter 90.1 has been haunting me

This is a very speculative thought. And it lacks a lot of hard evidence. If this post doesn't qualify for guidelines I'll remove it myself, but I have been thinking a lot about 'ANIA' and its potential meaning.

Some people have assumed it is an acronym or initialism, given to Anya by the facility that made her 'study'. This would make the mystery presented in this chapter impossible to solve on its own. We can imagine 1,000+ hypothetical word combinations with different meanings, but they would all be guesswork based on context we already have. It wouldn't teach us anything new, so it'd be a poor hint of what's to come.

And I imagine incorporating such a Western system of abbreviation might also feel out of left field for a lot of Japanese readers who are seeing it as アニア [a-ni-a] in 90.1's speech bubble.

Additionally, we already know Anya's lab designation was Test Subject "007". Why would they give her another codename on top of that? It would be a bit excessive. It's more likely that Ania is just her birth name, which the scientists would naturally use for ease of speaking to her and convincing her to cooperate.

It's also worth considering that Anya accepts her name fully. If it were given to her by the people of the facility, I feel like she wouldn't volunteer that name so happily, and without hesitation. Chapter 111 did not confirm it [in English, though I haven't been able to find the Japanese version], but I assume she accepts her name because its likely what her biological mother called her, first and foremost.

So, in short, I'm certain this is not an acronym.

Following that thread of Ania being her given birth name: some have suggested it must be a name derived from classical language, of which Anya has a mysterious proficiency with. And I agree, but not exactly in the same way.

I don't think it's a traditional classic language name. Not to put too much faith in Twilight's encyclopedic brain, but he did not recognize 'Ania' as a real name. He only understood Anya, with a 'y', to be a proper name.

It's like if someone wrote 'Kile' as their name. You'd be certain they were making a mistake, and might correct it as 'Kyle'. Because 'Kile' is so uncommon that I didn't think that was a legitimate spelling anyone had seriously used, until I looked it up just now.

The point is, Ania is likely so non-traditional, that Twilight can't clock it as a legitimate name. And he is a man who has had to memorize thousands upon thousands. Likely those from historical eras as well, given his immense reserves of trivia.

So I don't think 'Ania' stems from the etymology of peoples' names. I think it stems from somewhere suitably unconventional: a place's name.

Ostania

Due, in part, to how it has been automatically translated and surrounded by <>'s in the English manga, I don't know if 'classical language' is a direct analogue to a real Germanic language, or if it's being artificially made up by Endo. But, in the case of the latter, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Ostania and Westalis were country names that originated from the classical language.

Anya's biological mother may have borrowed the nation's suffix [which may carry its own meanings] and tied it to her daughter. For etymological, personal, or political reasons? I can't say for sure. But I feel like this is truly the most likely 'in-universe' source for Anya's original name.

Or at least, it's the one we can actually figure out, given all the information we presently have. And I enjoy a planted mystery much better if you can figure out some parts of it ahead of time.

...Now, if you'll allow me a bit of fun, this line of thinking accidentally led me and a mutual friend of mine to a crack theory, of sorts. I'm not trying to convince anyone of this, but I have unfortunately half-convinced myself. I'm sharing this portion mostly because the thought has been eating at me. To me, this idea is somewhere between a joke and a serious prediction. Take it as you will.

Westalis → 'Alis' → "Alice"

[Image ID: A manga panel from Spy x Family Chapter 8. Twilight narrates that he changed the student groupings to help with the mission. Meanwhile, the students of Cecil House are called forward, the first name is 'Alice Paulet'. The image is edited to underline 'Alice'. /end ID]

Alice Paulet is also first on the roll call in Chapter 26, though it could easily be a repeat of the first list without much thought behind it.

I have no claims for who Alice might be. If she is a character of importance, her origin could be anything. All I'm guessing is that she could serve as a narrative foil for Anya in the future, and I'm keeping an eye out for her name as a result.

Mostly because, at its core, Spy x Family is still a comedy. So I would not be surprised if 'Ost-Anya' and 'West-Alice' was a setup made to be both suitably dramatic, and in the same breath, a dumb pun. May I remind you Endo penned a fake family called 'The Forgers' and made a neighboring family called 'The Authens'?

#sxf manga spoilers #anya forger #sxf chapter 90.1 #spy x family analysis #spy x family #spy x family manga #loid forger #twilight #[redacted]

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freakinthefridge · 6 months ago

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a long and unnecessary investigation of apollo the mouse lord

this is so different from what i usually post, and, i'm gonna be honest, zero note post right here, but. here is a glimpse of irl me i go to school for classics and art history so

i was so enraptured by this moniker that i had to research it, and have nowhere to put this other than tumblr, so i hope at least one person other than me finds it interesting. I actually love doing this kind of stuff so if anyone wants to hear about peacock symbolism in early christianity or the development of the written english alphabet OR if you happen to know a shitload about mouse lord apollo please add on or correct me if i have anything wrong! all resources i used will be linked in blue

prepare yourself as i convert to correct punctuation and capitalization for ease of understanding

As a proper art/classics student (and just between us, Apollo is one of my favorite gods), I was SO excited when I started reading the Iliad for my class on the Trojan War (Emily Wilson translation) and got to these lines, spoken by Chryses, Apollo's priest, when he's praying to Apollo to bring a plague to the Greeks stationed outside of Troy (Agamemnon got Chryseis, Chryses's daughter, as a war trophy, and refused to return her):

"Lord of the silver bow, now hear my prayer! Great Guardian of Tenedos and Chryse and Sandy Cilla! Mouse Lord! If I ever built temples to your liking, ever burned fat thighs of oxen or of goats for you, fulfill this prayer for me, and let the Greeks suffer your arrows to avenge my tears!" (Book 1, lines 36-42)

Now this stopped me in my tracks. WHAT was that!? I have NEVER heard of Apollo being called "Mouse Lord" before. What an interesting image, a splendiferous vision of a strapping young Apollo with a mouse army in his wake (Willard Stiles, anyone?). Why is Apollo the Mouse Lord, you may ask? Well, I had the same question, burning such a deep ardor in my heart and soul, that I just HAD to investigate.

This is not quite where I started, but I will begin my explanation with some etymology (another love of mine!!!) "Mouse" is a word inherited into the English language from Germanic (according to the Oxford English Dictionary––SUCH a good resource; crazy story behind it but, alas, one for another time), deriving from sources such as Old Frisian mūs (pronounced "moos"), Middle Dutch muus/mues/muys, Old High German mūs/muos (there's a few others, but let us continue forward)––while Germanic and Romance languages are two different things, they both stem from Indo-European, so sometimes there is overlap between the two (illustrated nicely in this image). All these Germanic words ultimately have the same base as the Classical Latin mūs and the ancient Greek μῦς (mūs).

Side note: mūs is also the root for muscle. This is because the Greeks decided that when you flex it looks like there are mice under your skin.

For those of you familiar with Greek and Roman mythology, the gods will often be given a specific title to denote which role of the aforementioned god is being portrayed (e.g. Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("best and greatest") may have different iconography than, say, Jupiter Tonans ("thundering"). Interestingly, this trend can also be seen with images of Christ, such as Christ the Good Shepherd versus Christ Pantocrator ("ruler of the universe"). Apollo as Mouse Lord is known by the epithet "Apollo Smintheus," but where does this name come from? It seems the Greeks had another word for mouse: σμίνθος (smĭ́nthos) (the distinction between smĭ́nthos and mūs I will not claim to know; I study Latin, not Greek). Adding an -eus suffix (added to noun or adjective stems to form a masculine noun of a person concerned with a thing (i.e. Apollo associated with mice)), we get Smintheus Apollo.

OK. That's about it for the etymology. Take my hand, onward we march.

Let's do a little loop back to Chryses for a second. Because he prays to the "Mouse Lord," it's clear he's the priest at a temple of Apollo Smintheus. This temple was likely located in Sminthe/Smintheion/Smintheum, Chryse (the town from which Chryses and Chryseis would have been from), or Hamaxitus (all of these are in modern Turkey btw). It seems there is rumor of mice living inside this temple, although we will return to that in a bit. There are ruins of a similar temple, the Smintheum, in Gülpinar, Turkey, although these are much newer than the dates associated with the Trojan War or Homer, going back to the mid-second century BCE.

(It is to be noted that Homer is a very contested individual. The epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey are dated much later than the supposed dates of the Trojan War, and they started as oral poems. The Greeks borrowed the alphabet from the Phoenicians, and did not have a system of writing during the periods of the Trojan War or when the epics would likely have been composed. They were written down much later, and it's possible that Homer didn't even exist, or that he was multiple people. Along with this, the Trojan War is also contested. Obviously, it did not occur as it appears in the Iliad and the Odyssey, but there is archaeological evidence of some kind of war happening at some indeterminate point somewhere in Turkey.)

Not to mention, this temple has Latin inscriptions, which means this would have been built during the time of the Romans (images of the temple here). Here's an article about the inscriptions if the passion strikes you, I skimmed through it, but it's mostly just honorary stuff and your average temple engravings of built when and by whom. Interesting nonetheless. The cult statue, although no longer standing, was seemingly Apollo stepping on a mouse, as determined by the coins of Alexandria depicting the same image (Apparently sculpted by Scopas, which I have just learned, is also the name of a fish). I think there's also supposed to be a common image of Apollo holding the mouse in his hand––I've searched for these coins, although I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for, so here is a picture of what seems, to me, to be closest.

Now all this is fascinating, but we still haven't discussed why Apollo might be the Mouse Lord, so let's not beat around the bush any longer.

There are two leading theories I've found that might explain this:

Apollo is a mouse-killer

The mice are sacred

Let's start with the former, since I personally like this version less. Let us remember, though, this is mythology, so neither of these theories are more correct than the other, and I've found evidence for both.

Apollo is the god of many things. I usually refer to him as the god of music, but he's also a god of archery, the sun, prophesy (remember this one), poetry, etc. He's quite the multi-talented guy. BUT, among these, he is a god of healing and diseases. This is clear, given that he's the one who sends the plague to the Greeks after they disrespect Chryses.

The Greeks would have known mice to be vermin, and might have associated them with disease. I've been looking at this website, which gives a pretty good summary of what we've been talking about (if not a little bit concise), but it's also literally a forum of ancient coins that says mice can't carry plague (they can, here's the CDC page for it), so take it with a grain of salt. A couple of the sites linked above translate "Smintheus" as "Mouse-Killer," although, as I explained, it really just means "person associated with mice." Apollo being a god of health, it's not a far stretch to assume that he would protect against plague, and I'm of the mind that the Greeks would know mice could bring sickness, and might pray to Apollo to keep them away. This would also explain why the image on Alexandrian coins and the cult statue depict Apollo with a mouse under his foot; literally quelling the plague. (I'm gonna be so honest I just wanted to include the next poem, I could not, for the life of me, think of a good segue into it):

Be it for bread, ye mice, you come, elsewhere Then go (my hut houses but scanty fare) Where you shall gnaw fat cheese and dried figs find, Full satisfied when on these scraps you've dined. If on my books again your teeth you whet, Poor feast you'll have, and one you will regret. (Ariston)

If mice were simply just pests to the Greeks and not plague-bringers, I find it difficult to believe Apollo would have an entire role dedicated to being a mouse-killer. Then again, this brings up an interesting question: why are the mice singled out? Lots of other vermin carry diseases––why is Apollo a mouse-killer and not, like, a general exterminator? What if these mice are important to him instead? So important that he gets the title of Mouse Lord? What if these mice... are sacred? (I hope that transition made up for the last one lol)

Remember that point about the mice living in the temple I said I would come back to? Here we are. It's mentioned in this article from University of Chicago Press that Claudius Aelianus, a Roman author, claimed there were mice living in the temple of Apollo Smintheus; these mice would have likely been fed well, given that they were eating food meant for Apollo. Honestly, I think this fact in and of itself makes a strong argument for why the mice might be sacred. Along with this, mice were a prophetic symbol, because they were "inspired by the vapours arising from the earth." As I mentioned before, prophesy is also in important aspect of Apollo. The most well known oracle of Apollo is the Oracle of Delphi, through whom he was known to speak to mortals. That being said, it's likely the oracle was inhaling ethylene, a central-nervous stimulant, from faults in the ground. While the temple at Delphi and the Smintheum are in two different places, these tales seem eerily similar. I'm not saying that the temple mice where inhaling stimulants and experiencing prophetic visions, but I can see why mice in a temple of Apollo might be associated with prophecies.

I also want to mention that the foundational myth of Hamaxitus has to do with mice AND prophecies. This myth can be found on the wiki page for Hamaxitus, or here (pg. 17). This excerpt is taken from the wiki:

Hamaxitus was founded by a band of Teucrian (i.e. Trojan) Cretans who were told by an oracle to found a city wherever the 'earth-born' (γηγενεῖς) attacked them. When they reached the area of Hamaxitus, a great horde of field mice ate all the leather on their equipment, and so they settled on the spot, interpreting the 'earth-born' of the oracle to have been the mice.

This myth was apparently written by Callinus of Ephesus, a greek elegiac poet, but, unfortunately, after, I kid you not, HOURS, of searching, I cannot confirm this. I have looked everywhere for some scrap of his poetry that has to do with mice––I have scoured the internet and I have scoured my library. I have touched books that likely have not been touched in 30 years. I found a book talking about Greek poetry that was written in Latin. I strongly considered translating a book from German to try to figure this out. No, I tell myself, you have hit a dead end. You do not need to translate a book from either Latin OR German to find out this one little scrap of information for a project no one asked you to complete and one which you are not getting a grade for. Alas, I digress. If you would like to read excerpts from the only two Callinus poems in apparently my entire library or the internet, here you go. They are not about mice.

I'm sorry to say, but that's about it. Apollo Smintheus is the Mouse Lord because he either protects against plague by killing mice, or mice are sacred to him because they're prophetic, and were a part of the foundational myth for one of his temples. I don't even like rodents that much, but I LOVE the idea of Apollo having a bunch of little mice that he carries around with him. I was mostly hitting research dead ends by the end of that, but honestly, I'm satisfied with what I've found. I don't really know what the point of all this was, but I was a woman possessed, and know more than I did two days ago so... I'd call that a success, I suppose.

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aoharushiyo · 1 year ago

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the recipes for... | track 3 ― chocolate ganache

Translation: en Proofreading: aca, dimi, kimi, myun, jay, jelly

Content Warning: fire and fire-related injuries

Years ago, when I was still a child... There was a time where I 'loved' everything the world had to offer.

Years ago, when I was still a child… There was a time where I 'loved' everything the world had to offer.

I still remember the kitchen of the house I lived in as a kid. That day, while my mother was making curry, I ran into the kitchen and jumped on her back while she was hunched over the stove. Putting on a pleading face, I made myself look as if I was on the verge of tears.

"Mama~! Big Sis is bullying me!" "Hm?" My mother turned around, a perplexed smile on her face. "That won't do. You've got to be a good sister and not bully your little brother."

At the entrance of the kitchen, my sister's mouth sharpened into a pout as she started to complain. "But Ushio wants my sweets! He should eat his share! These are mine!" "Mamaaaa~ Big Sis is a bullyyyy!" "Oh, don't cry, Ushio! How about this? I'll buy cookies for you later." "Really!?"

"Ugh, Mom, you spoil Ushio too much. If you just give him what he wants every time he cries, he won't grow up into a proper adult!" "Mamaaaa, Sis is being meaaaaaaaan!" "Now, don't talk like that to your brother."

I wouldn’t say all of it, but if I had to guess, I'd say at least part of my personality was inherited from my sister. She was always strong-willed and overflowing with sarcasm, and she would always bully me, but…

"Oi, Ushio. Come here." "Why…?" "I'll give you a little. Just a little, okay? 'Cause it's annoying when you're crying like that."

―Because I loved my sister, who actually was kind underneath her words, I guess I did end up a little bit similar to her.

"Making dinner this early?"

At that point, my father entered the kitchen, craning his head towards the pot on the stove. He must've been enticed by the fragrance of the curry.

"I have archery practice today, so once I've finished cooking, I'll take Ushio to the dojo with me." "Alright. But is it super spicy again today? Papa's stomach hasn't been great recently…" "Well, if it's not spicy, then is it really curry?"

Hearing that, my father burst into laughter, and my mother's laughter soon joined his. I loved my carefree, kind father, and his constant laughter, too.

"Alright, it's done. Let's get going, Ushio! While Mom is practicing, you can play with Muneuji-kun!"

The archery dojo that my mother had taken me to since I was a baby ― that too, was something I loved.

---

Once a week, the archery dojo Muu-chan's family ran would hold a class for the general public. My mother had been one of the students of that class, and she had almost reached a level where she could participate in tournaments. The teacher of the class was Muu-chan's mother, and so, as mothers of around the same age, even I could tell that they were good friends.

"Good afternoon! Let's have a good lesson today!" "Welcome, Kurama-san. Let's have a good lesson, shall we?" "Here, this is for you! We're having super spicy curry again today, but I made too much as usual, so do take some…" "Oh my, thank you~! You don't know how much I love your super spicy curry. Next time we make it, you should take some of our extra-sweet stew home with you." "Really? You're too kind!" "Fufu. Now then, shall we begin?"

The sound of the arrows hitting the target was always so cool, so I loved waiting for my mother's practice to finish.

"Uu-chan." "Ah! Hi, Muu-chan!" "Good afternoon. Let's play wrestling again today?" "Yeah, let's!"

Wrestling with Muu-chan while we waited was fun, so I loved that, too. But what I loved the most was―

"Sorry I made you wait so long, Ushio! I'm done now, so let's go home." "Mama!" "Ahaha, if you squeeze me so tightly I'll forget how to breathe, you know? There, there."

―Getting tightly hugged and squeezed by my mother and burying myself into her soft, marshmallow-like body.

"See you, Uu-chan." "See you, Muu-chan!"

―Shaking hands with Muu-chan and promising to come back and play next time.

"Good practice today, Kurama-san. See you later, Ushio-kun."

―Having my head patted.

―Being touched. Touching. All of it.

Even though I loved it so much…

---

That very night… I couldn't sleep. I couldn't breathe. It was so hot. When I opened my eyes, all I could see around me were flames.

I called for my mother and my father and my sister, but they didn't reply at all.

And, just as my consciousness was fading away, I was found by rescuers.

"I have a young boy of about 5 years old with me! He has burns sustained to his whole body, consciousness level 2…! Requesting emergency transport!"

They were making fun of the pain I was in. It felt like every inch of my body was being burned to a crisp.

"How awful… he'll need a full-body skin transplant."

Faintly, I heard the faraway voices of the rescuers speaking.

"How are his parents and sister looking!?"

I wanted to see them. Dad, Mom, Sis…

"Unfortunately… we couldn't save them."

In that moment, I realised that I would never see them again.

---

← prev | masterlist | next →

#en tl #series: 18trip #(weakly grinning) angst #literally everything before this was the calm before the storm #btw yes the text in the novel is actually red!

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oceannote · 4 months ago

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EMPIRE WAR - Chapter 3

Note from author: Omg, we are already at chapther 3, I am sooo excited for this story to pick up and to get some more action going on. Hope you guys enjoy it and looking forward to you deep diving into this crazy story. XoXo YK Summary: Jealousy is at an all time high during this life period, but it is mostly because old feelings come to surface or because high business stakes are at risk? Warnings: Characthers are fake and are a result of fiction, mentions of alcohol, lack of confidence. Do not copy, translate or remake the story.

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

“Should I give you two a moment, or can we get back to work now?” Jungkook’s voice cut through the air, each word laced with a razor-sharp edge. His sudden shift in attitude felt like whiplash, leaving both Namjoon and me frozen, our confusion mirrored in each other’s eyes.

Namjoon recovered first, his lips curling into a smirk. “I have no idea why his panties are in a twist, but we can pick this up later.” He leaned in, his voice a low murmur, eyes never leaving Jungkook’s retreating figure.

“Yeah, I’d rather not cause trouble in KK territory.” I pushed off the wall with a smirk of my own, but beneath it, my mind churned. Jungkook’s mood swings were starting to feel less like stress and more like a storm brewing just for me.

As we headed to the cafeteria so I could grab my things, Namjoon broke the silence. “How about dinner tonight?”

I blinked, not expecting the sudden shift. “You mean tonight tonight?”

He chuckled, the sound warm and grounding. “I don’t know how many meanings ‘tonight’ can have, but yeah.” He nudged me playfully. “I know you’re not into fancy dinners, so how about pasta at my place? I just moved into this new apartment—figured I’d show you around.”

A raised eyebrow was my only response. The idea of being invited over by a guy who had millions tucked away for a Netflix and chill night felt almost surreal.

Namjoon read my hesitation, his smile softening. “It’s not that kind of date, Amelia.” His voice dipped lower. “I just think it’s about time we had a proper, more private hangout.”

I hesitated. “I'm not saying yes, but I’ll think about it.”

His grin widened. “Fair enough. Just let me know.” He disappeared down a dim hallway, leaving me with my thoughts—and a gnawing unease.

I made my way to the main elevator, but as I passed Jungkook’s office, his voice snapped me out of my daze.

“Amelia, a word.”

I stopped, the cold edge of his tone prickling over my skin. For a split second, I considered ignoring him. But my feet betrayed me, carrying me to his door. I pushed it open and stepped inside, the click of the door behind me unnervingly final.

“Yes, Jungkook?” I kept my distance, fingers hovering near the door handle—the only lifeline I had.

He didn’t look up. His focus remained on the papers strewn across his desk. “I need new budget proposals from your team by the end of the day. These numbers are a mess, and I’m not approving this until I see exactly where my funds are going.”

“What?” I took a step forward, disbelief fueling my movements. “You said the plans were solid. You approved them an hour ago.”

His eyes finally met mine, cold and unyielding. “And now I’ve changed my mind.” He tossed a stack of papers onto the desk between us, the red ‘REJECTED’ stamp bleeding through the pages.

My pulse thudded painfully in my chest. “This will take hours—maybe all night. You can’t just—”

“I can do whatever I want.” He leaned back, his posture deceptively casual. “In this collaboration, you work for me, Amelia. If I say jump, you ask how high. If I say redo the budget, you say ‘Yes, sir.’ That’s how this works.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “I’m not staying. I have plans and a personal life.”

“Cancel them.”

“No.” I squared my shoulders. “I’m not your puppet, Jungkook. The fact that we decided to start fresh and be friends again doesn't mean that I can turn into your little mascot.”

In a blink, he was on his feet, closing the distance between us. His presence swallowed the space, heat radiating off him. “Do you think this is a game? I wasn’t asking—I was telling you. You’ll stay, and we’ll fix this budget. Tonight.”

My frustration boiled over. “Why are you doing this? Is this about Namjoon?”

His jaw clenched, a muscle feathering beneath his skin. “Your personal life is none of my concern.”

“Bullshit.” I took another step closer, defiance sparking in my veins. “One minute you’re warm, the next you’re ice-cold. You’re either giving me whiplash or trying to confuse me. Which is it, Jungkook?”

His expression wavered, just a crack. “Maybe I’m holding you accountable, like any other employee.”

“I am not your employee.” I shook my head slowly. “You’re punishing me. You don’t do this to anyone else.”

He bristled. “Careful, Amelia. Being Thomas’s daughter doesn’t make you untouchable.”

A chill slid down my spine. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s reality.” He leaned in, his voice a rough whisper. “You may act like you own the place, but you answer to me for this. And if I need to call Thomas and tell him his daughter is jeopardizing a multi-million dollar deal because she can’t control her hormones—”

“Enough.” My voice trembled, but I refused to back down. “You don’t get to bully me because you’re jealous.”

His expression cracked, the storm behind his eyes breaking through. “I’m not jealous.”

“Then prove it.” I folded my arms, standing my ground. “Approve the budget. Let me walk out of here. Or are you too scared to let me go?”

Silence wrapped around us, thick and suffocating. His lips parted, but nothing came out.

“That’s what I thought.” I turned, yanking the door open.

“Amelia—”

I whirled back, my voice sharp. “You’re a coward, Jungkook. You hide behind your title and your threats, but deep down, you’re just a scared little boy who can’t handle not getting what he wants.”

His face twisted, fury and something raw tangled together. “If you walk out that door, don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

“I don’t need easy. I need real. And clearly, you don’t know how to be that.”

Without another glance, I stormed out, the door slamming behind me. My heart thundered, each beat a reminder that I had crossed a line—and that there might be no going back.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time I reach my office, I’m a storm contained in a glass. My pulse thrums in my ears, and I can’t decide what hurts more—the audacity of that man or the way every fragile thread of friendship we’ve rebuilt over the past few days unraveled the moment business was involved.

I slump over my desk, my forehead resting against the cool wood. I inhale slowly, willing the frustration to dissipate, but it only sinks deeper into my bones.

The soft creak of my office door breaks the silence. Yoongi steps inside, his hand still on the handle, his expression a careful study of nonchalance.

“Bad timing?” he asks, voice low. “I can come back later.”

I lift my head, attempting a composed look, but the messy bun skewed atop my head and the redness in my eyes betray me. “No, it’s fine. Come in.” I wave him in, my hand heavy. “Are those the sales reports?”

He sets two thick folders down with a soft thud. “Sales and finance. We need your signature for the sales team—bonuses for the next few months.”

He drops into one of the chairs opposite my desk, folding into it with a kind of boneless ease. His calm presence fills the room, a stark contrast to the chaos churning inside me.

“I think you’re right,” I mutter, more to myself than to him, but his head tilts, a faint smile teasing his lips.

“About the bonuses?” he asks, his tone light, though his sharp gaze gives him away. “I mean, it’s sales—kind of hard to get the numbers wrong.”

“No.” I rub my temples, trying to dispel the ache blooming behind my eyes. “About Jungkook.”

His smile fades, and he leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. “What happened?”

“He was such a jerk today,” I admit, my voice cracking under the weight of it. “I thought we were finally on the same page, that we could be friends. But the way he acted—it not only surprised me, it made me feel like... like I was nothing.”

Yoongi shifts, sliding to perch on the edge of my desk, his fingers tracing idle patterns against the wood. His silence is an invitation, and I find myself unraveling, thread by thread.

“What?” I finally ask, unnerved by his unreadable expression.

“This would be the perfect time for me to say ‘I told you so,’” he says softly, his voice a mix of empathy and exasperation. “But I won’t.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “How noble of you.”

“What I will tell you,” he continues, ignoring my jab, “is that Jungkook texted me five minutes ago. He’s pissed at you, Amelia.”

The words hit like ice water. “What? Why?”

Yoongi exhales slowly, his shoulders rising and falling. “He thinks you’re playing games. That you’re pushing back just to get a rise out of him.”

I grip the edge of my desk, my knuckles white. “That’s not—”

“I know.” Yoongi’s voice cuts through my protest, calm and steady. “But Jungkook... He doesn’t see things the way you do. To him, everything is a challenge. And you?” He chuckles, the sound bitter. “You’re his favorite puzzle.”

I draw back, the air thick and suffocating. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying...” Yoongi’s eyes darken, his expression shifting from gentle concern to something harder, more protective. “I think Jungkook’s trying to get you in his bed. Not because he cares. Not because he wants you. But because you’re intriguing to him now. A new conquest.”

My stomach twists. “You think he’s playing me?”

“I think,” he says, his voice sharp, “that Jungkook loves a chase. And you, with your fire and your stubbornness, are the perfect challenge.”

A bitter laugh escapes me. “So, what? You think I’m just going to fall for his charm? Let him string me along until he’s bored?”

Yoongi’s gaze doesn’t waver. “I think you’re smarter than that. But I also know him. He’ll find your weak spots. He’ll show you that softer side—the one that makes you think he’s different. And when he does, you might forget why you were mad in the first place.”

The truth in his words is like a slap. I sink back into my chair, suddenly exhausted. “And what the hell am I supposed to do? The man is impossible. He wants new budgeting plans—tonight! I had plans. I had a life, Yoongi. But no, his insufferable pride decided it was more important for me to work instead of enjoying my night off. And why? Because he saw me speaking with Namjoon.”

Yoongi’s expression shifts, amusement threading through his concern. “With Namjoon? Now that’s a plot twist.”

“Oh, shut up.” I press my palms to my forehead, trying to keep the weight of the situation from crushing me. “You don’t have to face his wrath. You don't know how damn stubborn he is.”

“Maybe not,” he says, his voice light but his eyes knowing. “But I know you. And him. You don’t fold. You’re not some damsel waiting to be rescued.”

“It's not about folding,” I snap. “It’s about... everything. Namjoon is a nice guy, but I just cannot get myself to fall for another man.”

Yoongi’s demeanor shifts, his voice dipping into something softer. “Then don’t let Jungkook take that from you. You deserve something real. Something that isn’t tangled up in games and pride.”

I look at him, the weight of his words settling over me like a blanket. “If he comes in here, I swear, I’m not letting him make me feel guilty for wanting a night off.”

Yoongi’s lips curve into a smirk. “That’s the spirit. And if it all goes to hell, at least I’ll have front-row seats.”

I roll my eyes, but the tightness in my chest eases, if only a little. “You’re a real help.”

“Hey, someone’s gotta keep you grounded.” He winks, a mischievous glint returning to his eyes.

I draw a breath, finding a sliver of steadiness. “If Jungkook comes in here... I’m calling the shots.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Yoongi straightens, his presence a comforting anchor. “You’re in control, Amelia. Don’t let anyone forget it.”

As he leaves, the door clicking shut behind him, I steel myself. Whatever game Jungkook is playing, I won’t be his pawn. Not today. —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As if on cue, at exactly 5 p.m., the door to my office slams open so hard I’m amazed the glass doesn’t shatter. Jungkook strides in, exuding the kind of energy you’d expect from someone who just got cut off in traffic. Hoseok trails behind him, looking like he’s contemplating astral projection as a means of escape.

I don’t bother looking up from my phone. “Do you have a problem with knocking, or are you just committed to being a walking red flag today?”

“Cute.” Jungkook tosses his jacket over a chair. It slides off and flops onto the floor like it’s given up on life. He doesn’t even blink. “Where should we sit?”

“Preferably at your own desk, in your own building.” I scroll through my notifications, each tap of my finger a petty declaration of war. “I told you, I have plans. I don’t have time for your last-minute tantrums.”

“Oh boy,” Hoseok mutters, leaning against the wall as if it might swallow him whole. “Here we go.”

Jungkook shoots him a glare sharp enough to cut glass. “We need to fix this, Amelia. You can gossip and get wine drunk with your girls later.”

I set my phone down with a deliberate click and finally look up. “And you can play dictator with someone who cares.” I rise slowly, slipping my coat over my shoulders with the precision of a villain about to monologue. “You need to fix this, Jungkook. Not me.”

“Are you serious right now?” He steps closer, his voice sharp enough to shave with. “Your team messed up. The reports are incomplete, the projections are a mess—”

“My team?” I laugh, the sound short and dangerous. “Your team sent us outdated data. We’ve been cleaning up your mess all week.”

“That’s not what Namjoon said,” Jungkook fires back, his jaw tightening.

“Namjoon?” I scoff. “The guy who once crashed Excel by trying to alphabetize numbers? Sure. Let’s trust his version.”

“Oof,” Hoseok whispers, wincing. “She’s not holding back.”

“You’re being impossible.” Jungkook’s hands slam onto my desk, making my coffee mug jump. “We are running out of time, Amelia!”

“No.” I meet his glare with one of my own. “You’re running out of time. You should’ve thought of that before you waltzed in here unannounced like a budget action hero.”

“Guys, maybe—” Hoseok starts, but Jungkook cuts him off with a sharp wave.

“No, let her talk.” He folds his arms, the challenge in his stance almost physical. “Go on, Amelia. Tell me how this is all my fault. Again.”

“Oh, with pleasure.” I step around the desk, matching his intensity. “This is your fault because every time something goes wrong, you look for someone to blame instead of a way to fix it.”

His eyes narrow, dark and dangerous. “And every time things get difficult, you run away. What’s your excuse this time? Another date? Or are you just that desperate to avoid responsibility?”

“Whoa, low blow.” Yoongi’s voice slices through the tension as he strolls into the room, his expression a blend of curiosity and mild annoyance. “I leave for five minutes, and you’re already burning the place down?”

I ignore him, my focus locked on Jungkook. “You have no idea what responsibility looks like. You just bark orders and expect everyone to follow. Newsflash: I’m not your employee.”

Jungkook’s lips twist into a mocking smile. “No, you’re not. If you were, I would’ve fired you by now.”

Yoongi whistles low. “Okay, and the award for ‘Things You Don’t Say to Amelia If You Value Your Life’ goes to…”

“Not helping,” Hoseok hisses, though he’s biting back a smirk.

My fists clench at my sides. “You know what? Do it yourself. I’m done. I’ll forward you all the files, and you can spend your precious evening fixing your own mess.”

“Fine!” Jungkook shouts, his voice echoing off the walls. “If you’re so determined to be difficult, then go. Walk away. Again.”

“Gladly.” I spin on my heel, but before I can reach the door, Yoongi steps in front of me, hands up like a mediator at a very niche wrestling match.

“Okay, okay, let’s not have a murder on company property.” He glances over his shoulder at Jungkook. “Unless you’re cool with getting blood out of those fancy carpets?”

Hoseok snorts. “I bet the cleaning bill would be insane.”

Jungkook glares at them both. “Can you two not?”

Yoongi shrugs. “Just trying to lighten the mood. I was going to suggest we order pizza, but now I’m worried you’ll use the box as a weapon.”

I push past him, reaching for the door, but Jungkook’s voice stops me.

“Amelia.” He sounds different now—exhausted, the fight draining from him. “We need to finish the reports. Tonight. Please.”

I pause, the weight of the word “please” sinking in.

“Maybe we could—” Hoseok starts, then his eyes light up. “Oh! What if we did it at Jungkook’s place? Neutral ground. We work, we eat, nobody commits a felony.”

Yoongi raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like a win-win.”

Jungkook lets out a long breath, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. “Yeah. My place. A few hours?”

I meet his gaze, the anger simmering but not quite boiling over. “Fine. I’ll be there.”

“Great!” Yoongi claps his hands. “And I’ll bring snacks. Maybe we can play a round of ‘Who Can Avoid Getting Fired First?’”

Hoseok chuckles, nudging him. “I’m betting against you, man.”

The room relaxes, if only slightly, and as I finally step out of the office, I hear Yoongi mutter, “Well, at least no one got stabbed. Yet.”

The door closes behind me, but the battle is far from over. And somehow, I’m pretty sure the real fight hasn’t even started.. —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At 8 p.m., I was already rolling down the dimly lit streets toward Jungkook’s obnoxiously lavish apartment. My nerves were coiled tight, and I was one wrong look away from bursting into tears—not because of the late-night budget meeting but because dealing with Jeon Jungkook's unbearable personality past office hours felt like a punishment from the universe itself.

It wasn’t even about the reports or the fact that my brain was mush after a brutal week; it was the emotional whiplash. I’d spent days dodging red flags like they were dodgeballs, yet here I was, still clinging to the tiniest, most irrational particle of “What if there’s something there?”

Pulling into the parking lot, I spotted Yoongi’s sleek black Mercedes gliding in beside me. I stepped out of my car, offering him a small, exhausted smile and a nod.

"Well, I know we said 'comfortable,' but I wasn’t expecting my boss to show up to a business meeting dressed like an extra in a 2003 hip-hop video," Yoongi smirked, eyeing my tracksuit and fuzzy Uggs.

"I’m here against my better judgment, on a weekday, after hours," I shot back, lightly smacking his arm. "I could’ve shown up in a bathrobe, and it’d still be justified."

We made our way to the front door, greeted by the doorman, and stepped into the gilded elevator, heading for the 35th floor—Jungkook’s penthouse.

"You know," Yoongi said, leaning against the wall, "maybe if you stopped bullying him into business agreements, these collaborations would go smoother."

"You ask an awful lot from me, Min Yoongi," I sighed. "Plus, I refuse to fall again for the emotionally unavailable enigma that is Jeon Jungkook."

"I don’t think you will," he said thoughtfully. "But I know how your brain works, and I’m worried you’re making this a bigger deal than it is."

I opened my mouth to retort, but the elevator finally chimed. "Thank God. I was about to start aging in here," I muttered, earning a chuckle from Yoongi.

The massive metal door swung open, and I forgot how to breathe.

Jungkook stood there in a pair of gray joggers and a crisp white Calvin Klein shirt that hugged his biceps and showed off the tattoos winding down his arm. His hair was tousled, eyes sharp but with a softness that could make a girl forget her own name.

Yoongi gave me a gentle nudge, and I forced my feet to move, pushing past Jungkook and into the penthouse.

"Welcome, guys! We were just debating what to order for dinner," Hoseok called out, strolling down the hallway.

"Pizza and fried chicken?" Yoongi suggested, already kicking off his shoes and making himself at home.

"Yes!" Jungkook’s eyes lit up, his voice a little too enthusiastic. "Amelia, any objections?" His gaze lingered on me a beat too long.

"Nope, sounds good," I managed, keeping my expression neutral.

We shuffled into the dining room, settling around Jungkook’s absurdly long dinner table. The kind of table you see in movies where the characters need an intercom just to talk to each other.

Hoseok was the first to plop down, grabbing a stack of budget files. "Alright, let's get this party started. Or, you know, whatever the corporate equivalent of a party is."

"Corporate party?" Yoongi snorted. "So... lukewarm coffee and mandatory fun?"

"Exactly," I laughed, the tension in my chest easing just a little.

As the files piled up, the four of us dove into spreadsheets and proposals. It didn’t take long for chaos to ensue.

"I’m pretty sure this expense report is just a grocery list," Hoseok said, holding up a paper with a list of items including 'avocados' and 'three packs of instant ramen.'

"That’s Taehyung’s department," Jungkook groaned, rubbing his temples. "He told me he was meal-prepping. I thought he meant for the office, not for his midnight cravings."

"At least it’s not as bad as the time Seokjin expensed a ‘team-building karaoke night’ that was just him and the mic for four hours," Yoongi added, and we all burst out laughing.

Hoseok shook his head, flipping through another file. "We need to cut down on expenses. Any ideas?"

I bit my lip, scanning the documents. "We could streamline the marketing costs. Maybe cut down on those ridiculously extravagant launch parties."

"Blasphemy," Yoongi deadpanned. "How else am I supposed to witness Namjoon’s interpretive dance to 80s ballads?"

"Your sacrifice is noted," I said with a grin.

Jungkook, who had been suspiciously quiet, cleared his throat. "What if we negotiate better deals with our suppliers? Maybe leverage our partnerships?"

I nodded slowly. "That’s... actually a good idea."

He raised an eyebrow. "Don’t sound so surprised."

"I am, though," I shot back. "I was fully prepared for you to suggest cutting costs by making us all interns."

The room erupted in laughter, and for a moment, everything felt lighter.

We spent the next few hours buried in work, bouncing ideas off each other, and ordering way too much pizza. By the end of the night, our budget crisis felt less like a mountain and more like a hill we could conquer.

And maybe, just maybe, spending time with Jungkook didn’t feel as much like a punishment as it did when I’d pulled into the parking lot. “So, what about the launch date?” I ask, taking a sip of my now-lukewarm tea. “Should we just throw a party for the investors and some fancy business people by the end of the month?”

Jungkook doesn’t look up from his laptop. “Maybe we do a pre-prelaunch party. Build some buzz, get more eyes on us.” His fingers fly over the keyboard, the blue light casting sharp shadows on his face.

Yoongi and Hoseok nod, their pens scratching against their notepads. The conference room feels like a cave—cold, dimly lit, the air thick with caffeine and takeout grease. As the night drags on, I don’t even notice when Jungkook’s arm drapes over the back of my chair or when my leg finds a comfortable resting spot against his. We’re both hunched over the same report, chasing down a phantom calculation error that refuses to reveal itself.

“I swear, I can’t tell if it’s the three straight hours of Coke or your perfume, but I’m getting the worst headache of my life.” Jungkook whispers, rubbing his temples.

I turn to him, eyebrows raised. “Are you saying I smell bad? Because I will not hesitate to dump this cold tea on your head.”

His lips twitch into a smirk, but before he can retort, a single drop of blood lands on his grey pants, blooming red against the fabric. His eyes widen, and within seconds, his nose is gushing.

“Ah, fuck!” he yelps, and I’m already yanking his head back, pressing a wad of tissues under his nose.

“Are you trying to rip my head off, Amelia?” he muffles through the tissue, his voice pinched.

“Shut up and get up. You’re bleeding all over me.”

Hoseok’s face turns green as he clutches his stomach. “Just take him to the bathroom, Amelia. If I see any more blood, I’m gonna hurl.”

I haul Jungkook to his feet, his broad frame swaying slightly. “C’mon. Move.”

We stumble down the hallway, his arm heavy over my shoulders, my hand clutching his shirt to keep him steady. The bathroom is stark and sterile, the harsh white tiles a brutal contrast to the crimson smeared on Jungkook’s face.

“Sit,” I order, nudging him onto the closed toilet seat. I wet a paper towel under the faucet, the water rushing too loud in the small space.

“You’re bossy, you know that?” he mutters, his head tilted back, eyes half-closed.

“And you’re bleeding like a murder scene. Hold still.” He presses the towel against his nose again, his eyes still on me. "You know," he says after a beat, "I think I might have exaggerated earlier. It's not your perfume giving me a headache."

"Oh really?" I raise an eyebrow, my own voice softer now, curious. "Then what is it?"

His eyes flicker to my lips, and for a moment, I swear the world stops moving. "It's you," he says, his voice barely above a whisper, but it's enough to send a shiver down my spine. "You're... distracting."

The words hang in the air like a challenge, and for a moment, I don’t know how to respond. I stare at him, my heart beating faster than I’d like to admit. The air between us thickens, every second stretching longer than the last.

Before I can think of what to say, Jungkook suddenly stands, closing the distance between us. His eyes darken, and without a word, he lifts his hand, gently cupping my cheek, as if daring me to push him away. The tension is unbearable now, crackling between us, and I can’t help but feel like we're both on the edge of something we can’t take back.

"Amelia," he breathes, his voice low and urgent.

I open my mouth to speak, but the words die in my throat as he leans in, closing the space completely. His lips capture mine in a kiss that’s at once soft and desperate, like we’ve both been waiting for this moment for too long. The kiss is brief but charged with so much unspoken emotion that I can't tell where I end and he begins.

When we finally break apart, I’m left breathless, my heart pounding in my chest, and I know that whatever happens next, nothing will ever be the same between us.

“Damn,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”

I take a shaky breath, staring at him, unsure whether to be angry, embarrassed, or just... confused. “Well, now we’ve both got a headache.” —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I push the bathroom door open with a force that feels more out of frustration than anything else. The cool air in the hallway does nothing to calm my racing thoughts. Every step I take feels like I’m walking farther from something I can’t quite wrap my mind around, yet there’s a force pulling me back—Jungkook’s footsteps echoing behind me, his breath shallow, his pace quickening. He’s trying to catch up.

“Hey, hey, wait a second!” he calls out, his voice strained, but there’s urgency in it. His footsteps slap against the wooden floors, and before I can even gather myself, he grabs my arm and yanks me to a stop, forcing me to face him.

I refuse to look at him, eyes focused on the ground as I struggle to steady my breathing. “That was a horrible mistake,” I say, my words sharp, even though I’m struggling to keep the tremor from my voice.

He laughs, but it’s humorless, almost like a defense mechanism. “Wow, that one went straight to the heart,” he says, his voice softer now, as if he’s trying to read the situation, trying to understand how I’m really feeling.

I finally meet his gaze, and there’s no humor in my expression. “No, I mean it, Jungkook,” I press, my voice unyielding. “We’re friends. This... this isn’t okay.” My hands are shaking now, and I pray he doesn’t see it.

Jungkook’s eyes soften, and for a moment, I think he might say something meaningful. Something that shows he understands. But instead, he rubs the back of his neck, a sheepish grin pulling at the corner of his lips. “Amelia, it’s fine. We’re adults. The exhaustion, the tension—it got the best of us. But that doesn’t mean we’re suddenly in love just because we kissed.”

His words hit me like a slap, sharp and cold, but there’s nothing more painful than the way he brushes it off. “Alright,” I say, forcing the words through my clenched teeth. “Good to know.” My voice cracks just slightly, and I hate myself for it. But I can’t face him anymore. I turn away, walking briskly towards the others, the sound of his footsteps behind me following like a shadow.

As I enter the room, the atmosphere lightens, but not for long. Yoongi and Hoseok are packing up their things, still making small talk, their usual banter a stark contrast to the storm brewing inside me.

Yoongi looks up from his bag, raising an eyebrow as he catches sight of me. “Is the blood bank secured?” he asks, his voice dripping with mockery.

I sigh, forcing a weak smile. “Yeah, just a little teenage move from my nerves,” Jungkook says with a chuckle, slumping into one of the chairs like he’s trying to disappear into it, but the tension radiating off of him is impossible to ignore.

“Well, I think we should call it a night,” Hoseok says, standing up straight, his arms crossing over his chest like he’s preparing to give a final judgment. “It’s already 12 AM, and we have to be up early for the office tomorrow.”

I nod absently, my thoughts elsewhere. The silence between Jungkook and me is heavy, pressing down on my chest. It’s suffocating.

“Yeah, can you guys finish going over these two reports without slashing each other’s throats?” Hoseok adds with a grin, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

Yoongi raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Or clothes,” he mutters under his breath, his voice low enough that it’s almost a whisper, but the joke is unmistakable. I shoot him a glare, but he doesn’t even flinch.

The atmosphere shifts again, the playful edge cutting through the tension like a knife. But it doesn’t reach me. I’m still trapped in the whirlwind of my own thoughts, tangled in the mess Jungkook and I created.

“Yeah, you guys can go ahead,” I say, trying to sound casual, though the words come out tight. “We’ll finish up the reports quickly.”

The guys exchange their goodbyes, and one by one, they leave the room, their footsteps fading into the distance, leaving only silence in their wake. But it’s not a comforting silence. It’s suffocating. The room feels smaller now, the air thick with the unspoken tension that hangs between Jungkook and me. It feels as though there’s no escape, no way to distance myself from the fire he’s set in my chest.

I don’t move at first. I don’t know what to say, how to break the silence that feels more fragile than glass. And then, out of nowhere, Jungkook shifts in his seat, his chair scraping against the floor as he closes the distance between us. “Why are you sitting so far away?” he asks, his voice low, like he’s trying to pull me back into his orbit. His hand shoots out, grabbing the edge of my chair, and with a smooth pull, he drags it toward him.

The screech of the chair against the wooden floors is deafening, and my heart skips a beat as I feel his presence loom over me, so close, the warmth of his body almost palpable.

“I don’t bite, Amelia,” he says, his voice soft, teasing. His eyes are mischievous, a playful glint there that makes my pulse race in a way I’m not prepared for.

I don’t trust myself to speak, my mouth suddenly dry. I look at him for a beat too long, feeling the weight of his gaze on me, but I can’t bring myself to move.

“Not yet,” I whisper, almost to myself, but the words are barely out before I feel his gaze intensify.

His breath hitches, just the slightest shift in his posture, but I feel it like a lightning bolt. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, his voice low and dangerously smooth. His hand rests on the edge of my chair, but I can’t tell if it’s to hold himself back or pull me closer.

I try to steady my breathing, but it’s futile. “I’m just saying,” I reply, trying to sound indifferent, though I know I’m failing miserably. “You said it yourself, Jungkook. We’re adults. A kiss doesn’t change everything.”

The smile that crosses his face doesn’t reach his eyes. “Is that really what you think?” he asks, his voice dipping into something more serious, more dangerous. “Because if you really think that, then why are you still sitting here with me?”

I open my mouth to respond, but the words die in my throat. What can I say? What should I say?

He leans in, just a fraction, and I can feel the heat radiating off him, sending a shockwave of heat through my entire body. “Amelia,” he whispers, his voice soft, yet it shakes me to my core. “You can run from the tension, from the kiss, but you can’t run from what’s between us. This attraction it’s there. And it’s not going anywhere unless it's consumed.”

I swallow hard, my mind a whirlwind of confusion, desire, and fear. “I don’t know what you want from me,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

He grins, the smile darkening with something I can’t name. “What do you think I want?” His voice drops even lower, and the question lingers in the air, heavier than anything else.

I have no answer. Not one that’s safe. The silence hangs between us like an invisible weight, pressing down on me as I sit there, trying to hold my ground. His eyes—dark and unreadable—are still locked on mine, and every breath I take feels like an invitation for him to move closer. My body betrays me, heart hammering, pulse racing, as if it’s begging me to give in.

“I don’t know what to say,” I admit, my voice strained. There’s a rawness to it, a vulnerability I can’t hide, no matter how hard I try. The truth is, I don’t know what I want either. I want to pull away, escape the tension between us, but part of me—something much stronger than logic—wants to stay, to lean into the storm I know he’s offering.

Jungkook leans back, eyes never leaving mine, and I see the conflict flicker across his expression for a moment. “You don’t have to say anything,” he murmurs, his tone quieter now, almost tender. “Not yet.”

His words send a shiver down my spine, and I quickly look away, staring at the papers strewn across the table, anything to distract myself from the electric pull between us. “This isn’t right,” I mutter, but even as I say it, the certainty that usually accompanies my voice is slipping away, replaced by doubt.

Jungkook’s hand slides across the table, brushing against mine in a fleeting touch. It’s nothing. Just a touch. But it feels like everything. I stiffen, my breath catching in my throat, and when I look back at him, his expression is softer, almost... understanding.

“We’re both messed up,” he says, the words surprising me, raw and unguarded. “But that’s what makes us real, right? We’re not pretending, Amelia. Not anymore.”

I shake my head, desperate for clarity. “We’re crossing lines. I don’t want this to change anything between us... whatever this is.”

He leans in again, his face just inches from mine, and I can feel the heat from his breath. His voice drops to a whisper, something dangerous but intimate. “But I think it already has.”

I don’t respond. I can’t. Every instinct tells me to run, to push him away, but another part of me is so afraid of losing him in the process. Afraid of what might happen if I let go of the control I’ve clung to for so long.

“Amelia,” he says softly, and this time, there’s no teasing in his tone. It’s almost... pleading. “We can’t just pretend it didn’t happen. We can’t pretend it doesn’t matter.”

I finally find my voice, though it’s barely a whisper. “I’m scared, Jungkook.”

His eyes soften, and for the first time, I see something that feels like understanding, a glimpse of vulnerability in the way he looks at me. “I know,” he says gently, his hand now resting on the edge of the table, palm open, as though offering something without words. “I’m scared too.”

We sit in silence, the weight of everything we haven’t said filling the space between us.

#bts #bts jungkook #bts fanfic #jungkook x reader #jungkook fanfic #jungkook #jungkook recs #jungkook scenarios #bts fic

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tobiasdrake · 7 months ago

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Dragon Ball Daima 01x11 - Legend

Here we go. The band's all here, of the characters we were promised would be. Onward to Tamagami #2.

I half-expected this exchange to end with us learning the Nameless Namekian's original name. This series is going so hard on trying to shore up as much of the lore as possible that I wouldn't be surprised to meet Dr. Gero's son before all is said and done.

(And find out the Androids secretly fled Daimakai eons ago, for that matter.)

"And his solution was to come to your world and provoke you himself into doing it. Yes, we are all well aware of what a tool our King Gomah is.

Things haven't been the same since we lost the true King Dabra in that unfortunate cookie incident. Now we secretly bake effigies in his honor. I make mine with nutmeg!"

What. You have an entire classification of warrior-type Namekians. What is that supposed to even be if not "using power for conflict"?

No, you're fine, Piccolo. It's this tool that's got his head screwed on backwards. There've been warrior-type Namekians for as long as they've existed as a concept.

Well, almost. Piccolo-Daimao was 竜�� Ryuzoku, Dragon Clan, before he reincarnated himself as 戦士タイプ Senshi Taipu, Warrior-Type. But there were also Warrior-Type Namekians in the village Frieza attacked as well as Nail, a Warrior-Type Namekian implied to have had his dormant power unlocked by Saichoro.

This clown's trying to be like, "It wouldn't be proper for Namekians to indulge in violence. That's why I went through all kinds of hoops to essentially put out a hit on my enemies. I want Gomah broken and bleeding in a pile of limbs, but my kind must be above such things. It's okay to have people killed as long as my hands aren't the ones that get bloody."

Meanwhile, he's the only Namekian in history who has ever felt that way. So I gotta say, I think it's just you being pretentious, bruh.

(Though it's possible that Neva might be playing Goku and Gomah against each other for some ulterior motive. Watch him turn out to be Canon Slug. XD This is either a bullshit excuse to disguise his true motives or a bullshit excuse to close the plot hole of why he doesn't just do everything himself. Either way, he's full of shit.)

Kuu is adorable. I love that resting goofy smile they have. They have no idea what we're doing but they're excited to be a part of it.

You know, I knew they were going to make a second one as soon as they held some components back. Kuu reeked of prototype from before they even came out. But I didn't think it would happen this quickly.

Dr. Arinsu's theory does check out, though. Just a cursory glance at Kuu is enough to conclude that they are way more Saibaman than Buu.

Neva's face like, "Yes, and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED."

Both Earth and Namek would have been demonstrably better off with Tamagamis guarding their Dragon Balls.

Kuu said 兄弟 kyodai, the gender-neutral "sibling".

I only bring this up because my mind remains blown by the possibility that Namekians and Kaios may have been They/Them this whole time and that English translators may have messed that up.

Dr. Arinsu's face like, "All twenty-seven minutes of your life, huh?"

Oh wow, Duu is somehow even less of a Final Boss lookin' motherfucker than Kuu. And is also named Duu.

Not to be channeling Toriyama's nosy former editor on main but they have a wicked looking transformation coming or something, right? This one just looks like the Nappa to Kuu's Vegeta.

But Buu also looked harmless when we first met him. They could be trying to make lightning strike twice with that.

Oh, there we go. Kuu addresses himself as Duu's onii-chan, which is the distinctly gendered "older brother". You can have half of Onii-chan's.

As a small linguistic note, he uses the -chan honorific instead of -san when he does this, implying that he wants an emotionally affectionate relationship with Duu rather than a respectful and hierarchical one.

I'm half-expecting Duu to get creamed by the Tamagami too, and that they both together wind up being the ultimate adversary.

Ooh, maybe they'll do a fusion and. Goku has faced down many things, but is he prepared for the noble fused warrior Count Duukuu?

Seriously, I adore these two. They quickly became the best part of Dragon Ball Daima. I am already more invested in them than I am in Goku's journey.

Aww, she's worried about her boys. Dr. Arinsu is undergoing the "Wicked heart slowly melted by love of family" character arc.

Hey, Vegeta, who does that remind you of? Vegeta? Hey, Vegeta! Vegeta! Vegeta! Vegeta!

Yep. He is already doing far better than Kuu. Goofy but strong, like Fat Buu.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA He's learning what his powers are mid-fight and still smoking Tamagami #1 like it's no big deal.

Weirds me out that Bulma keeps addressing it as "Tamagami-sama". The -sama honorific is a way of showing supreme respect to wise masters and venerable elders.

That's not a level of humility and reverence that I usually associate with Bulma. Does she even address Whis as -sama?

I genuinely cannot remember if she does or doesn't.

I love that Vegeta doesn't even react to this pushing of the Goku Button. After all, we're post-Vegeta making peace with Goku being the better of them in the final battle with Pure Buu but pre-Vegeta and Goku's character regression in Super.

This is Battle of Gods Vegeta, who had finally accepted a certain measure of humility and put his pride aside for the sake of more important things.

He wants to take a crack at a Tamagami. But not to prove that he's better than Goku.

And, on that note:

Goku's fight with the Tamagami was pretty well-paced, because it could be centerpiece of the episode. Not only does Vegeta's fight have to share screentime with Duu's, but they want to make a cliffhanger out of it.

So it runs afoul of the Anime Saiyan Fight problem. Which is that the anime wants to create tense moments and exciting suspense out of these characters getting their shit kicked in. They do that to set up an exciting, climactic reveal where they suddenly and dramatically unlock the ability to go Super Saiyan for the umpteenth time. Even though there is literally nothing stopping them from going Super Saiyan at any point prior to the sudden, dramatic re-unlocking.

"Goku is getting trashed in his base form. But then. Out of nowhere. His power swells up and he suddenly goes SUPER SAIYAN!?!? WHAT!?!? SINCE WHEN COULD HE DO THAT!?!? (For the 87th time.)"

This is how the anime and anime movies always treat the power-up forms. They do this so much that anime-onlies think this is what Dragon Ball fights are actually supposed to be like. But it just makes the preceding action feel hollow if it's not paced as a steady ramping up.

This fight is paced as a shitstomp-until-sudden-powerup. And when characters are getting shitstomped at 1% power, it's always impossible to get invested in 'cause. Like. Vegeta is choosing to let this happen to him. He could stop this any time he wants, but he is allowing it.

Vegeta is allowing himself to be nearly eaten.

Hell, he doesn't even transform to get out of this. He just tries harder.

"Oh, wait, instead of using 0.2% of my power and being eaten, I could use 0.5% of my power and not be eaten."

Riveting choreography there.

Vegeta is choosing to let this happen to him.

The episode ends on the cliffhanger of "BUT HOW WILL VEGETA SURVIVE BEING EATEN BY THE KRAKEN!?!?"

And.

You know what?

I bet he escapes.

By using the power he has free access to. Because he could just not let this happen to him and is in no real danger.

Hopefully, once this cliffhanger is neatly resolved by Vegeta just trying a little bit harder, we'll get a real fight next episode.

But at least we have Duu's genuinely fun and interesting fight for this one.

#dragon ball #dragon ball daima #drake watches dragon ball daima

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shrekgogurt · 1 year ago

Text

Ten Questions for Writers

Thank you for the tags! @artsyunderstudy @roomwithanopenfire @youarenevertooold @emeryhall @monbons @larkral I'm eating up reading your answers because we're all so DIFFERENT.

How many works do you have on AO3? 9 (technically 10 but we orphaned one of them out of shame)

What’s your total AO3 word count? 99,978 (mine) + 7,531 (shared) + 9,991 (someone else's) = 117, 500 (total)

What fandoms do you write for? presently, Carry On but back during my high school ff.net days I did some Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus (Percabeth and some separate OCs), Alex Rider (OCs), The 100 (as an elaborate prank), Harry Potter (literally just a My Immortal parody), and Divergent (OCs) and if they weren't oneshots they were never finished.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? YES! I'm currently behind on my replies, but it's so fun! It's like a book club but for stuff I created!!???? Shit rocks. I fully didn't expect anyone to read IKABIKAM (my first fic on ao3) when I first published it and so every comment still feels like a miracle.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? No.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! I love collaborating because it gives me something to bounce off of. A scene partner. A ticking timer. It's like lifting a heavy object by yourself versus getting someone else to bear some of the weight with you. It's easier. I also find myself constantly seeking collaboration with other people even with my solo fics. I'm all up in those DMs pestering people both as motivation and as external processing. And by GOD, do you fuckers have some good ideas. Y'all make me exponentially better.

What’s your all-time favorite ship? SnowBaz but also in a very real sense...Percabeth. (You never forget your first.)

What are your writing strengths? I got my start with rping, so dialogue is really comfortable for me. I also think my training in other art forms (dance, music, theatre, film, academia) positively influence my approach. When writing action, I often mentally frame it as 'blocking' the scene or 'choreographing' the movement. When crafting sentences, I'm constantly evaluating the rhythm and rhyme and repetition (not to mention alliteration) as if it's a song, always searching for the perfect word or metaphor. I also listen to actual songs and pull the emotion from them, using them as character studies or a musical soliloquy. I imagine shots and then write what I see from the perspective of a director explaining the actor’s motivating thoughts. I constantly revisit my thesis, grounding the narrative in callbacks and a cohesive structure like it's an academic paper. And all those things combined create this kinetic cause and effect style I'm really proud of and tangibly improves every time I write something new.

What are your writing weaknesses? I do not have a firm grasp on proper grammar. I'm also really slow and inconsistent with my output because my process is so physically disorganized and meticulous which often frustrates me. I'm also impatient. I don't do wholesale messy drafts; I edit as I go and when I'm done I want it published immediately. I also fall victim to the white room syndrome with physical descriptions. Establishing shots? Don't know them. What a guy looks like? What they're wearing? Sorry, I haven't told you because it felt weird to jam in there. Outside of fanfiction, I also struggle with creating something from nothing. I'm a theologian rather than a god. I much prefer playing in a sandbox and exegeting meaning from someone else's grunt work rather than conjuring the wood and the sand myself. My writing is also incredibly referential to pop culture which I'm not sure would translate outside of fanfic, but I guess I'll cross that bridge if I ever get to it.

First fandom you wrote for? Divergent (big cringe)

Now tagging! @onepintobean @cutestkilla @theearlgreymage @thewholelemon @mooncello @brilla-brilla-estrellita @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @bookish-bogwitch @facewithoutheart @fatalfangirl @urban-sith @prettygoododds @valeffelees @ileadacharmedlife TELL ME HOW YOU WRITE YOU GENIUSES

#procrastinating big time by doing this #it's fine

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yukasyukasyukasyukas · 8 months ago

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I love your nanobomb hcs so much they need more recognition!!!!😤😤 Do you happen to have anymore? Maybe a bit of angst?

I WAS SO SCARED PEOPLE WOULDN'T LIKE MY HEADCANONS IF I ADDED THE ANGSTY ONES OMG THANK YOU

✨Angsty nanobomb✨

This one is a fanfic though, Idk what name to give

This fanfic takes place soon after Clove's arrival to the VP

My native language is not English so I used Google translator for lots of words, therefore, they might be incredibly misused (also, I can't put sentences on their proper order)

I will also post this on AO3, profile is yukasyukas, I'm still thinking about the title

Tayane had just came back from a mission in Icebox. The Brazilian had always had a hard time in missions there, mostly because of the weather, going from tropical country weather to cold, snowy was NOT easy, she had almost died while trying to get the omega Deadlock, who, according to her, had the weather advantage. Now she just wanted to take a warm bath and cuddle with her lovely girlfriend under the blankets, possibly while watching a movie and eating some snacks.

The girlfriend, though, had other plans.

When the duelist looked for Killjoy at the sentinels section, Chamber informed her that she was at the lab fixing something on her lockdown. She, then, proceeded to look in the engineering lab, where she found the German.

“Not now, Raze, maybe later?”

“There's nothing wrong with the lockdown, it was working perfectly the last time you used it”

“I know, but it can be better” the girl didn't look at the other's face while saying so

“Can't you do this tomorrow? I really missed you during the mission, poxa” (Brazilian slang for disappointment, discontent)

“Not now, Raze, I’ll go see you when I finish this, I promise”

“There’s nothing to finish if it's working fine!”

“Can you two please stop shouting? I'm working with a very delicate gadget right now” Raze hadn't noticed Deadlock until the woman talked. She seemed stressed

“Sorry, Iselin. Raze, can you please wait? I’ll talk to you, I promise” asked Killjoy finally looking at Raze

“Hm, sure” mumbled

“Thank you”

And with that, not really wanting to get the alpha Deadlock angry as well as the omega, Raze left and went to the duelist section. Maybe they’d want to watch a movie? Sunwoo would probably be down for it.

On the next day Tayane looked for Klara at the canteen. Nothing. ‘Maybe she's still sleeping?’ she thought to herself.

“Bom dia, Tayane” (good morning, Tayane) greeted a deep voice with a Norse accent from the nearest table

“Erik, hi” responded her as she sat down beside him “Kirra”

“Did something happen? You seem worried, mate” asked the second.

“Have you seen Klara? She doesn't want to talk to me since… well, since I left for mission three days ago”

“No, not at all, and I’ve been awake since 4 am, have you checked the sentinels section?”

“Not yet, I was expecting to see her here”

“Honestly, it seems like she's avoiding you. Hella toxic”

“I’m not breaking up just because she's stressed, Breach”

“I was just making an observation”

“Did anything happen that may have got her angry?” Asked Skye

After thinking for a while, Raze responded “We argued before I left… You know, all that Kingdom stuff. A friend of mine in Brazil said they've been trying to get access to Salvador again since I left and I was asking if KJ could do something about that… Do you think I went too far?”

“Honestly, kingdom has to go to hell, as well as all their workers”

“Breach, shut up” retorted both the women

“But he isn't completely wrong though, Kingdom has done damage in so many areas” continued Kirra

“I know, but talking about it with Klara, who's in such a high position there… She might've felt attacked? I mean, I was kinda attacking her. But I wasn't wrong.”

“I don't know, maybe you should ask someone closer to her, Cypher or Neon maybe?”

“Yeah, sure, thanks” thanked her as she got up

After talking to Neon, Cypher and Chamber, they confirmed Tayane's thoughts. Klara was angry and offended by what the other said.

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Offered Tala

“No, I'm good. I'm gonna talk to her later… as soon as I figure out where she is”

“Maybe on the lab?”

“Nope. Already checked there when I talked to Cypher”

“Well, then I don't know… the sentinels’ section maybe?”

“Still looking for KJ?” Asked Jett, who was on the couch right next to them

“She said she'd talk to me today, is she too mad?”

“Look…” a pause “I don't know”

“Wow, Sunwoo, very helpful” picked Neon

“At least I'm trying to help!”

“I'm gonna try the sentinels' section” sighted Raze “Hopefully she won't be able to dodge me if there's more people there”

The sentinels' section was on the other side of the floor, which meant Raze would have to walk all the way across the living room, where Killjoy and KAY/O were talking about some projects.

“It would indeed be ‘cool’, but it doesn't make my style, Killjoy, I'm sorry”

“Oh, c’mon, some fire could make you so much stronger! You could easily beat the shit out of Phoenix”

They didn't seem to have noticed the duelist arriving.

“Killjoy, can I talk to you?” asked Raze as she approached

The other ignored.

“Klara, can I talk to you?” Asked again

KAY/O was awkwardly looking at both while Raze tried to get Klara's attention

“I mean, sure you can take him on a fight but-”

“KLARA BÖHRINGER, CAN YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME?” shouted Tayane for everyone in the room to hear

“Jeez, there's no need to scream, Alves” complained Killjoy as she finally looked at Raze “I'm right beside you”

“Oh, really? It didn't seem like it a few moments ago. Why am I only relevant if I'm being loud? If I'm drawing attention to you?”

“That's not true Raze, you know you're always-”

“Then why have you been ignoring me?!” spitted her

“I haven't” replied her carefully choosing her words

At this moment, Raze was consumed by anger.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘I HAVEN'T’? I tried to talk to you before I went out to the mission four days ago, I tried again yesterday and you barely even looked at my face.” She spat “Why is it? Are you angry with what I said about Kingdom? Are you so arrogant you can't realize the damage they’ve done even conviving with people who are miserable because of them?!”

Killjoy was crying. Raze had never talked like that to her, she had never even shouted at her. They did argue, and a lot, in the past, but never to the point where Raze visibly showed her rage.

“Oh, crying are we?” Continued her “Why? Because your family was killed for Kingdom's interests? Because your sister is dying because of your work? Huh? Why?”

“Raze, I'm sorry!” She cried “I didn't… I don't…”

“Seriously, Klara, breaking down over things that don't affect you at all? Why just now? Why not five years ago, when Amir’s family all died? Why not when Kingdom took over Ryo’s home neighborhood and made all locals’ lives miserable? You had all the time in the world to cry, why only now?” at this point, Killjoy was begging Raze to listen to her “I'm gonna tell you why; you're not crying because you have sympathy for them, you're crying because I'm angry at you, because you fear you’ll lose someone you love. You ignored me for days after I told you some things that were true and now you think you deserve pardon for being careless about people's lives”

“Raze, I’m sorry, I didn't know any of that happened when it happened, I-”

“But you don't want to do anything to stop that from happening again either!”

“It's my job, Raze! I can't just turn my back from myself”

“Then die, Böhringer, die!” Shouted Raze as she slapped Killjoy’s face.

And with that, the woman walked back to the duelist section.

#nanobomb fanfic #nanobomb #raze x killjoy #killjoy valorant #raze valorant #angsty #angst with a sad ending #valorant #lesbians #kingdom angst #idk what else #nanobomb angst

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