#vol 2 cover cause I’m not like the other girls

[possum-fiend]

Thank you @spectralsnailenjoyer for inspiring me to make this. I didn’t expect this to turn out so cute >v<

[notnctu]

haechan: the cocky | vol 2

━ welcome home to the housemating smut series :)

☆ click the link above to read background info about this housemate!

☆ GENRE: smut, pwp ☆ DETAILS: fem!reader, college!au, housemate!au ☆ WARNINGS: explicit language, dirty talking, nicknames, dom!hyuck, penetration, oral (giving & receiving), slight degradation?, mentions of exhibitionist kink? ☆ WC: 3.6k  ☆ SYNOPSIS: after receiving haechan’s text messages, you hurry up to his room and the sexual tension is thicker than you can ever imagine. 

☆ AUTHORS NOTE: read vol 1 here if u havent already :) theres no plot yall its just smut,, this one a filthy one ha ha skjdhfgieas

When you enter Haechan’s room, his back faces you as he sits comfortably in his expensive gaming chair, clicking furiously at his mouse and practically abusing the poor device. “Why are you so worked up?” Your voice causes him to perk up, removing an ear from his headset. 

“Mark fucking sucks at this game.” Haechan rolls his eyes as he speaks directly into his mic and Mark’s tiny muffled voice shouts back at him. 

Leaning into Haechan’s face, his eyes leave his monitor momentarily to intently watch your actions. Your fingers grab hold of the built in mic and speaking lowly, you greet the other boy through the receiver. “Hi Mark.”

Haechan raises an eyebrow at your seductive tone and the happy smirk on your face when you hear Mark stammer back a faint, “h-hello, y/n.” 

“Mark, I gotta go.” Before even letting Mark protest and throw a fit, he’s hanging up the call and forfeiting his winning streak to finally finish what you two had started. You’re laying on Haechan’s bed with eyes that eat him right up, a look of lust and desire. 

His gaze bounces between the open door and the way your thin shirt does absolutely nothing to hide how erect your nipples have become. His signature face of disbelief: tongue in cheek and rolling his eyes, paired with a small scoff. 

“What? Are you cold or something?” He snickers, getting up to close the door.

“No... I’m just..” Propping up on your elbows, you glance briefly down at your shirt and then, away at the ground shamelessly. 

“Aroused? Turned on?” Haechan taunts as he leans down to hover above you, his fingers toying with the ends of the thin fabric. As much as you’re trying to avoid eye contact, he doesn’t allow for you to shy away for long.

“Maybe.” You gulp the pooling spit in the back of your throat, the tension rising in the room. “I came upstairs like you told me too.” Pouting, he finally has you fixated on him with a thumb on your chin. 

Making eye contact with him is not only incredibly intimate, but there is something mesmerizing and comforting in the way Haechan looks at you. “Right, my good girl did what she was told. How much longer can she keep that up?” His whisper is hot against your skin, but he doesn’t lean in any more. 

“Don’t test me, Hyuck.” You snap back gently, crossing your arms across your chest and almost immediately, Haechan pushes you lightly onto the bed. You yelp at the boldness, knowing that your bratty side might have edged him on.

“Hyuck....? Baby, we haven’t even started yet.” He smirks, and you wish for nothing more than to wipe it off his face. He has the absolute confidence to play with you all night if he wanted to. Cocky motherfucker. 

“Do something, please.” The whine in your voice catches his attention, only fueling his ego more than it has already inflated. 

“What does my pretty baby want me to do?” Haechan has the full audacity to sit back in his chair, legs spread wide and arms resting behind his head. He’s left you on the bed practically untouched, yet the moment you sit up, a small pool of wetness rushes in your panties.

He’s done nothing, but your body reacts to him too strongly for you to admit. “I want you to give me a kiss.” You mumble.

However, Haechan leaves no room for a pause. “Speak up.” His voice is low and dark as he watches you squirm in your shorts, your legs rubbing together for some friction. He just loves how needy he can get you to be.

“Give me a kiss.” A little louder this time, all the while being mindful at how thin the walls are. Haechan patiently waits for you to finish your beg, “please.”

He pats his lap for you to come sit, then opens his arms to invite you into his embrace. Your legs fall on either side of his thighs and his hands rests on your waist. Haechan peers up at the pout that hasn’t left your face and gently smiles. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

There’s a sense of rivalry when he uses that nickname, holding less of a soft implication than when he calls you baby. “You’re taking forever.” You groan, rocking against him with a frustrated whine.

However, he holds you steady by your hips and chuckles mockingly, “it wouldn’t be fun if I just gave it to you. I’m giving you more of an experience to remember the next time you want to rub one out.”

“Trust me, I’ll be fast forwarding these parts in my brain.” Rolling your eyes, your hands find themselves lightly on his chest. He feels rather solid through his black shirt, “you’ve been bulking up?”

“Yeah. Can you tell? Johnny has been waking my ass up early in the morning to go to the gym with him because Jaehyun has class.” Haechan presses you up against his torso and you’re impressed at how sturdy he feels.

“So that’s why we have two jugs of protein powder taking up counter space. Doyoung and I were concerned at how much the other two were consuming, but I guess the portion includes you now.” Your hands wrap around his neck to pull him unbelievably closer, the tips of your noses touching now.

Haechan stares at you with hooded eyes and breath mixing with your own. “What does it taste like?” Your question seems to hold a sexual innuendo, or it could be the tension in the air as you both try your hardest from devouring each other’s lips right then and there.

“Mmh, tastes like shit. Rather taste something else instead.” Haechan licks his lips and tilts his head only slightly. His mind is clouded with lustful, heavy thoughts of feeling your plushy lips against his own. And the possible taste of your tongue lapping with his brings him much excitement as well. 

“Should I try some?” The power has slightly shifted into your hands as Haechan seems to be in a trance from your proximity and sensual drop in tone. But you’re both wrapped up in each other’s scent of shampoo and it’s enough to drive you both hungry for one another. 

“Want your lips around something else.” His thumb pulls your bottom lip down just gently before slipping it into your open mouth. Your tongue circles his finger, slowly sucking to mimic the feeling of his cock. It sends tingles down to your lower abdomen and a small moan erupts from the back of Haechan’s throat. 

Something pokes at your inner thigh and without needing to look down, you already know how turned on Haechan has gotten. He won’t be able to wait it out anymore. “So pretty.” Haechan coos as he drops his finger from your lips. “Do you still want your kiss, baby?” 

“Of course.” You lean in thinking that Haechan is going to finally give you a good smooch on the lips, but he picks you up and tosses you onto the bed. He’s discarding your shorts and underwear, peeling it off your legs and tossing it somewhere in a corner. 

He spreads your legs wide open, “holy fuck, you’re dripping.” And you’re so close to telling him to stop exaggerating until he gathers slick from your hole and it unleashes a small waterfall cascading onto the bed sheets. “Since when were you this easily aroused?” 

Before you can retaliate, Haechan softly kisses your clit and slowly licks a long strip up your cunt. You arch into him, his lips pressing against you just a bit harder than the first time. Eyes are locked in on yours as he flicks delicate licks at your bundle of nerves. “Good girls get the best kinds of kisses.” 

He will never be able to get enough of your taste or your legs squirming at the jolts of pleasure that run down them. The fact that stands is that Haechan inexplicably loves pleasuring women and performing cunnilingus, that’s undeniable. But there’s something very special about the way your body reacts to his smallest gestures and sensual words, so responsive and almost like, your body knows how much it wants him. 

And if you two hadn’t been so cordial and polite about living with each other in the beginning and considerate of your other housemates, he would’ve fucked you a long time ago. It always felt as if Haechan was walking on thorns around you, making sure he didn’t cross the lines of making you feel uncomfortable. 

Nonetheless, your pajama shorts do a terrible job at covering you up or the small moments when your shirt would ride up your stomach, he always found his stares to linger. And not to mention, all the moments he has walked by to catch a glimpse of you masturbating. Truthfully, he’d been masturbating to the thought of you too and only to find out that you shared the same interest in him. 

You suppress your moans with your hand, afraid to risk the chance of getting caught by your other housemates. Nevertheless, your muffled moans encourage him to lick harder, building a quick rhythm. “Hyuck, please fuck me.” 

It’s agonizing the more he edges you closer to your release. Haechan is addicted to lapping your endless flow of juices that he almost chooses to ignore your breathless plea. He lets go and the knot of pleasure in your stomach dissipates for the time being, your chest rising and falling rapidly to catch your breath.

“I thought you lost your ability to speak for a second.” Haechan doesn’t mean it as a joking statement, it’s meant to instill slight humiliation in you and with a bit of a teasing tone in his darkness.

You don’t take his words to heart, “I can speak and I know what I want.” Your voice is brighter than before, until Haechan’s grin turns mischievous and he’s plotting his next few words carefully. 

“Use your smart words and tell me what you want then.” Taking off his clothes, his shaft slaps against his stomach with an angry red tip leaking precum.

The sight of his dick has you clenching around nothing and it’s obvious where your focus has shifted to. You mindlessly take off your shirt, “for a computer science major, you sure like words a lot.” 

“For someone who’s ruining my sheets, you sure like to verbally under compensate how much you want me.” Haechan rubs his tip at your entrance to gather lubrication, a small whine escapes his lips as he’s trying his best to hold back from ramming into your wet cunt.

“Hyuck, please. I want you to fuck me speechless.” A sparkle catches in his eye as he’s gleaming at how the dirty words spill from your pretty mouth. Pulling you up, he holds your head steady and lightly taps your lips with his tip.

“Speechless? I guess you won’t be able to whine with my dick in your mouth.” And slowly, you invite his hot shaft into your warmth and the saltiness hits your palette. A long string of profanities fill the air when you lick the underside of his tip and hollow your cheeks to suck more of him.

“Do you think you can take the whole thing?” He moans and it shocks you how raspy his voice suddenly got. His hand is rests on the back of your head lightly, patting and smoothing your hair lovingly. If it isn’t for that lost lustful look in his eyes that represent an innocent curiosity, you wouldn’t have awarded his request. 

Opening your throat, he slowly guides you further down his length. Haechan’s reactions are ungodly satisfying as he throws his head back toward the ceiling and instantly tightens his grip in your hair. 

“Fuck, fuck. Okay, I’m done messing around.” He manages to chuckle playfully, pulling you off his dick as a string of saliva draws from the disconnect. Pulling you by your hair, he tilts your head upward at him and he leans down to kiss you: open mouth, tongues lapping, spit mixing.

The kiss ignites a flame in your chest being that it’s probably one of the hottest kisses you’ve ever experienced. Haechan’s dominance is caring, yet strong enough to remind you just how rough he has the ability to be. 

“Lay on your side.” You do as you’re told as Haechan unravels a condom to slip on. A feeling of excitement bubbles up in your core, you’re finally getting fucked. It’s not the first time you and Haechan have done penetration, but it’s definitely not enough times to satisfy your lust for him.

With your body facing the door, Haechan lays down behind you, a hand on your hip to press your ass against his shaft. “How cute. We’re spooning.” He taunts menacingly and reaching around to rub your swollen clit. 

You yelp and Haechan covers your mouth instantly. You’re a moaning mess in his hands as his fingers work magic stimulation down below. Every squirm has you bumping your ass up into his hard on. 

Just as his tip enters your wet hole, a knock on the door has you both halting your movements. Your heart is racing at the interruption and it’s not going to look too good with Haechan’s dick barely up your cunt and hand hovering over your clit. There will be no lie that can get you two out of this naked situation.

“Haechan, can I borrow your speaker?” It’s the voice of Jaemin. Of all the times that he actually comes home, you’re midway having sex with Haechan. 

It doesn’t seem to bother Haechan though, maybe a bit agitated that someone interrupted the tension, but overall he doesn’t seem phased. Then, you remember all the times you’ve knocked on the other boys’ doors during their hookups and it’s gotten to the point that no one really cares. “For what!?” 

“To use in the shower.” A jiggle on the doorknob panics you, but Haechan is lifting your leg in the air and enters you fully without a warning. You bite back a moan as Haechan buries his face into your neck. The initial stretch from his girth stings with pleasure and you relax into him when you adjust to his size. “Why is your door locked?” 

“Fuck, is this making you more wet?” Haechan whispers lowly into your ear and a smile grows against your skin.

“Shut up.” You mumble, clenching around him every time Jaemin tries to open the door. He starts moving his hips into you, long thrust that jolt your body every time he enters. 

Haechan laughs, “it’s in the bathroom already, leave me alone! I’m with someone.” He’s looking down at your eyes rolling to the back of your head and the tight grip you have on the sheets. You feel all of him, his cock fills you up to the brim, grazing upon your sweet spot. 

Jaemin scoffs on the other side, “okay. Use protection, kids.” And his shadow disappears from under the door. Haechan removes his hand and his hot moans fill your ears.

“No wonder why you leave the door fucking open. You want us to see you, don’t you?” His hips ram harder into your pussy, rougher and faster than before. The soreness begins to occupy your lower regions from how much Haechan stretches you. His dirty words aid you closer to your release. “Imagine if I didn’t lock the door and Jaemin saw me balls deep in you. You’d like that, huh? What a slut.” 

Your legs feel like jelly as a familiar exhilaration surges through your limbs. “Speechless now, aren’t you?” Haechan smirks and drops your leg. Hands hold you by your waist as he bottoms out, his balls slapping your thigh slightly. Once he’s nestled in deep, he starts rubbing circles on your clit once again and you’re squeezing around him so well that he doesn’t need to move. 

The added sensation brings you to your edge, along with the feeling of fullness. Without a fail, he always makes sure he takes care of you first. “I’m gon-- cum.” Words are jumbled in your scattered, empty brain. The release is on the tip of your tongue, the tips of your toes, Haechan’s rhythm on your bud doesn’t falter.

“Cum on my dick, baby. I want to feel you lose control.” His final encouragement leads you to your demise as your pussy clenches around him sporadically and your legs shaking from the pleasure. But it doesn’t stop, Haechan starts fucking you through your orgasm, so fast that it almost has you crying out of the intensity. His nails dig into your skin. 

“Oh-- shit! Hyuck, I--” Haechan slams your hips down to match his and you’re holding onto the sheets for your life. The toe curling pleasure overwhelms you and you can’t tell, but you’re cumming again. It just never seems to stop.

With a last grunt and full thrust, you feel his dick pumping inside your walls. He kisses your shoulder tenderly and smooths over the moon crescents he left, “shit. I’m sorry for calling you out like that.”

“It’s fine. It was hot.” He pulls out and an emptiness disappoints you. Turning around to face him, you latch on and give him the biggest hug. “But I really just am forgetful! I don’t leave it open on purpose....”

“Baby, you say that, but do you also forget that you live with five other horny men?” He kisses your temples and sits you both up.

“That’s why I do it when you guys aren’t home.” Getting up, you start putting on Haechan’s shirt and slipping on your panties. “Do you think Jaem is done showering?”

“Probably, that guy uses 2 in 1 shampoo and body wash so he just lathers and rinses.” Haechan ties the condom and tosses it into the trash can. He slips on a pair of fresh briefs and starts removing his soiled bed sheets. “Come back and help me make my bed when you’re done.” 

Nodding, you slyly walk out of Haechan’s room. You turn the knob as quietly as you can and shut the door softly. When you spin around, Jaemin walks down the hall with a towel around his naked shoulders and his black hair wet from his shower. His toned body is glistening with droplets as his sweatpants hang low on his hips and the waistband of his underwear peek out. 

You’re so distracted by his appearance that you don’t realize he’s caught you leaving Haechan’s room. “Is that Haechan’s shirt?” He quizzes you, a smirk twitching his lips automatically at your doe eyed expression. “And are you not wearing pants, y/n?” 

“I see you’re done with your shower.” You say quickly and you dash away to the bathroom. The moment you shut the door, you’re surprised by a random girl on the toilet.

“Sorry!” You both yell, covering your eyes at the sudden intrusion on both ends. 

“I didn’t realize there wasn’t a lock on the door.” She says and you turn to face the door to give her some privacy.

“Yeah, it’s been broken for awhile now. We usually just put a sticky note on the door to show that it’s preoccupied.” You don’t even question who she is, denoting that it’s either Jaehyun or Johnny’s lady friend. “I’ll just wait outside.” 

“Wait, do you live with Johnny?” She asks and truthfully, you’re not ready to go back outside in any chance that you’ll bump into Jaemin again. The bathroom is where you intended to hide until enough time is passed, while also doing your business. 

“Yeah. We’re housemates.” 

“Ah, that’s comforting to know that there’s another girl here. I thought it was just a house of guys, so I was a bit worried coming over.” Her voice sounds reassured and you’re exhaling out all the anxious air you had pent up since seeing Jaemin.

“That’s good. Men, am I right?” You try laughing to lighten the mood and surprisingly through the steamy suffocation, she giggles back. 

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve never seen so many bottles of AXE body spray in one bathroom.” Living in a house full of men, you realize you slightly miss the bathroom talks with your girl friends. 

“Look in the tub, there are four bottles of men body wash, yet they always use mine! It’s a hoax.” You announce excitedly, despite still facing the door.

“I have the same one! I fucking knew Johnny smelled like white strawberries and mint, but I couldn’t tell if the scent was from me or him.” 

Maybe sometimes, it isn’t so bad living with a group of attractive men. You get to laugh with their hookups in the bathroom! And before you know it, Johnny is knocking on the bathroom door to the fit of giggles and questioning why there are two voices. 

“I thought you had left without saying goodbye.” He says.

“Damn, the sex was that bad.” You joke and Johnny fakes a laugh through the door.

“Let me know if Haechan is any better, y/n.” You gasp at his statement, but don’t respond. The flushing of the toilet and the sink running being the only noises in the room. You’re stunned. Knowing Jaemin’s big mouth, he can’t keep a secret to save his life.

“It’s nice meeting you, y/n.” Johnny’s hookup gives you a warming hug before leaving and when she opens the door to join him, you give Johnny the middle finger as your form of response. 

“Nice meeting you too!” You yell back to her and shut the door to finally do your business. 

Great, now everyone knows you fucked your housemate. 

[brainbuffering]

12 Days of Manga (2022)

Day 2: Top 3 Shojo of the Year

1) My Love Mix-Up by Aruko and Wataru Hinakure from Shojo Beat (T: Jan Cash L: Inori Fukuda Trant E: Nancy Thistlethwaite)

[ID: English Cover for Vol 3 of My Love Mix-Up! The main characters all stare down at the viewer from above. Aoki and Hashimoto are at the front, grinning broadly, Ida and Akkun at the back. Ida has his usual stoic expression, whilst Akkun throws up a peace sign]

“Aoki has a crush on Hashimoto, the girl in the seat next to him in class. But he despairs when he borrows her eraser and sees she's written the name of another boy-- Ida --on it. To make matters more confusing, Ida sees Aoki holding that very eraser and thinks Aoki has a crush on him!

Aoki has a crush on Ida, a boy in his class. Hashimoto's eraser, which caused so much confusion among friends when Aoki borrowed it, is also at fault for making him flunk a quiz! Aoki, Akkun, and Hashimoto meet up at Ida's for a study session where Aoki and Ida talk about what they are to each other-if they can figure it out?!” 

I keep saying how I’m tired of High School Romance, and then I go and put My Love Mix-Up as my Shojo of the year. A series that is perhaps the most High School of High School Romances. I was drawn to the series through a combination of a £10 Waterstones Voucher, and the notion of a proper, actual love triangle that wasn’t just one girl trying to pick between her childhood best friend and an edgy bad boy(TM).

The confusion over the eraser* was an interesting plot device, and it’s been so much fun to see Aoki discover his bisexuality with the help and support of his friends. It would be really great to see them actually use the word “Bisexual” or even just “Gay” but I suppose I can’t have everything. At this point in time, just seeing a Queer Love Story in the pages of a mainstream magazine like Bessatsu Margaret is a joy! It helps place queer love as equal to heterosexual love, allowing teens to see themselves and their stories beyond specalist publications. 

Whilst it was lovely to see how accepting their friends are of their relationship and not have them deal with any homphobic bullying, I think the strongest story so far has been that of Aoki and his Cram School Tutor. So far he had not had to face up against any sort of homophobia, but now he’s had someone he respects become suddenly prejudiced towards him due to his relationship with Ida: something that should have no actual baring on his education, or his relationship with his tutor! Whilst said tutor is called out for his prejudice rather explicitly, I do like that ther were no slurs or out right bullying involved, just a series of assumptions and a change in behaviour that hurt Aoki’s feelings in a meaningful way. It didn’t paint the tutor as an evil villain, but rather someone who had made some mistakes and needed to re-evaulate their position on life, which he does!

This is an important lesson for readers of all sexualtites. Queer readers learn that they don’t have to put up with this kind of behaviour, and that they are justified in their discomfort and anger; meanwhile Straight readers learn what is and isn’t appropriate behaviour. Prejudice is of course something that is ingrained in all of us, and isn’t something that can easily be changed over night. However it is something that needs to be changed! It’s something we should all address within ourselves, and work on so as to make sure we don’t hurt those around us. Because confronting those harmful beliefs is the responsibility of the individual, not that of the oppressed.

The art work isn’t perhaps the greatest as Aruko admits to taking their time to adapt to digital, but it has definetly improved as the series has progressed and is helped imensely by Hinekure’s story telling. I was a little concerned that the series might start to drag on after a while, but hearing that it has ended at nine volumes makes me more confident that this’ll become a classic we’ll still be recomending in years to come.

I hope that these silly kids will get a happy high school ending.

* I’m British, but I’m aware of how Americans work and “confusion over a rubber” would make for a very different kind of story. Please do not write your crush’s name on a condom....

2) Kageki Shojo!! by Kumiko Saiki from SevenSeas (T: Katrina Leonoudakis L: Aila Nagamine E: Shannon Fay)

[ID: English Cover of Vol 5 of Kageki Shojo!! Ai and Sarasa dance ballroom style wearing pink/yellow versions of their school uniforms. Sarasa has a black 1770s European style millitary jacket with gold brocade thrown over her shoulders. The background is bright green with confetti, balloons and stars.]

“The ongoing tale that began with the omnibus release of Kageki Shojo!! The Curtain Rises. Follow the drama on and off the stage with the girls at the Kouka School of Musical and Theatrical Arts--and don't miss the anime adaptation!

Ever since she was a little girl, Sarasa has wanted to play the role of Oscar as part of the Kouka Acting Troupe, an all-female acting troupe similar to the Takarazuka Revue. But before she can do that, she has to attend two years at the Kouka School of Musical and Theatrical Arts. As Sarasa practices singing, dancing, and acting, she grows closer to the other girls in her year, including her roommate, the stoic former J-idol, Ai. Though Sarasa is great at making friends, her outspoken nature and grand ambitions earn her lots of enemies as well. Can Sarasa keep her upbeat attitude and achieve her dream of stardom?”

I originallay picked up this series because I follow the translator on twitter and enjoy her threads on translation theory so was curious to see what a series translted by her would be like. And I haven’t looked back since! 

The artwork is lovely, the stories are heartfelt and true to life. It doesn’t shy away from big topics like eating disorders, PTSD, and anxiety. The girls are all wonderful, but not always nice which is excellent to see! Even bitches like Hijiri are fleshed out and given reasons for you to love them.

Whilst the relationship between Sarasa and Ai leans more towards the classic “open to interpretation” side of things, on the whole the series is very queer inclusive. The very concept of it plays with gender so much, that it even started out as Seinen (manga for men) before transfering over to Shojo (manga for girls)! It says a lot about the series and how the inherent gendering of genres is outdated given how the first volume from its seinen days discussed bulemia in the entertainment industry, whilst the first volume of the shojo days talked about the long lasting pyschological damage the american fire bombing in WW2 did to innocent japanese citizens. Never has a turn page made me cry more than that one....

But High School Shojo is just fluff and nonsense, right? 

As a former theatre kid, it’s also been lots of fun to learn more about the different traditons of Japanese Theatre, with paticular regards to comparing all-female casting and all-male casting. Which is becoming a tragically more relevant discussion given what is happening in the united states at the moment with regards to drag performances. Seriously, who’s going to tell them that the original Juliet was played by a teenage boy? Or do those TERFs simply not care one way or the other about child welfare, and just want to force their backwards beliefs onto everyone else? But I digress.

Within the series there’s an interesting discussion had about the freedom of actors to play the roles they want, and what things might stop them. Some girls dream of playing the beautiful feminime leads but find that biology has made them too tall and broad, others want to play the macho hero but are considered too short and busty. Then there’s other physical limitations to be taken into account. Andou-sensei achieved his dream of playing the Phantom of the Opera, but had his carer then come to an abrupt end because of a sudden injury that lead to a permanent disability. He’s therefore had to find a new way to express himself and share his love for threate, something that took time for him to accept. This felt paticualrly relateable to me, as I’ve also had to adapt to needing to use a walking stick just to walk 20m, where as before I was running up and down a field hockey pitch on the regular!

Then there’s Sarasa who had to give up her dream of performing in Kabuki due to her assigned gender, but whose new goal in life is to play Lady Oscar from Rose of Versailles: a character that is widely considered to be Non-Binary/X-Gendered by today’s standards!

This series teaches us that Gender is a performance, and Sarasa Watanabe is the Top Star.

3) A Sign of Affection by suu Morishita from Kodansha (T: Christine Dasiell L: Carl Vanstiphout and Lys Blakeslee E: Ben Applegate and William Flanagan)

{ID: English Cover of A Sign of Affection Vol 5 by suu Morishita. Itsumi wears a yellow short sleeved paisley button up shirt and gently holds Yuki’s hand. Yuki is laying back on a white sofa, one arm crooked as she looks at the viewer. She’s wearing a matching yellow dress with large puff sleeves and a white hearing aid. They are framed in a circle by red, white and blue poppies.] 

“Yuki is a typical college student in all ways but one: She's hard of hearing. A chance encounter on a train leads to a serious crush...but will he give her a chance? A sweet and relatable manga romance from the creator of Shortcake Cake! Even with a hearing aid, the voices of others are an indistinct blur for Yuki. But she's never let that get in the way of a life arranged around her friends, social media, and cute fashion. She's browsing her phone on train when a tourist asks her for directions, and she's ready to panic...but the handsome Itsuomi steps in to help. It turns out her new crush is a friend of a friend, and Yuki's world starts to widen. But even though Itsuomi-kun can speak three languages, sign language isn't one of them. Can Yuki communicate her budding feelings? From the acclaimed author of Shortcake Cake, the hit shojo series with more than a million copies in print, this new work is sure to please fans of romantic stories like A Silent Voice, Kimi ni Todoke, and Love in Focus!”

The way this series uses lettering to enhance story telling makes me want to run around in circles and scream across the mountains like a cowboy. At some point I am absolutely going to be write a whole post about just the lettering, but for now, just trust me when I say it’s amazing. Heck, the reason I wait for the physical releases rather than reading the Simulpub is so that I can get the higher quality lettering experience!

In terms of the rest of the series though, it’s beautifully illustrated throughout and I love how everyone has such excellent fashion choices! I’m also reading Shortcake cake at the moment, and seeing the development in Morishita’s art and styling decisions really shows how well they understand the art of making comics! Nobody is doing it like them.

I’m always interested in stories featuring disabled protagonists where they’re not given magical cures or solutions to their problems, and seeing such a wonderful romance blossom between Yuki and Itsuomi has been delighful. It’s a series that really focusses on the importance of communication between couples, and how it’s okay to make mistakes but never assumptions.

Whilst I would agree with criticsim that Yuki is perhaps too isolated from the rest of the d/Deaf Community for someone who attended a Deaf School, I will say that she doesn’t feel that different to any other shojo protagonist as a result. She’s a “fish out of water” who, despite being wonderful and kind and inteligent, only seems to have two friends. Whilst that trope is overdone in a lot of Shojo, here it feels earned due to her disability! Or at least based upon some of my personal experiences as a teenager with epilepsy.

As the series has gone on, we have seen her reach out to the rest of the community, and I hope that we continue to see more of that. I find it very reassuring that Morishita credit their sign language consultant/collaborator, Yuki Miyazaki, in every single volume of the manga and promote her personal work on their twitter.

In terms of shojo, I think it’s also just really nice to read about university students rather than high schoolers. Not only does it mean that they’re closer to my age (Okay, Yuki is 19 and I’m 28 but ... still) but it also means they’re able to explore the world a little more, quite literally in Itsuomi’s case. Vol 6 is not yet out in English, but I gather from looking at some of the simulpub previews that their relationship is going to be developing into the more adult sector, both physically and in practicality, which makes me so happy to see! Not just because I myself am a disabled adult who has recently moved out of their parents’ place and look forward to some potentially relateable content, but because it’s so good to just see any disabled protagonist be allowed to be an adult and go through regular adult things!

Whilst I cannot speak for d/Deaf folks, i know from my experience with epilepsy that it can be incredibily isolating no matter how well meaning your ablebodied friends are, and moving from a place where your needs are always met to somewhere new is both frustrating, scary and -- to some extent -- reasuring as you learn what you can and cannot surive. That’s the journey Yuki is on right now, and I would like for the series to perhaps dive more into that element but equally seeing her relationship with Itsoumi develop is so delightfully romantic in a flower petals, stained glass window, Alan Menken Soundtrack kind of a way. It also feels like such a breath of fresh air for a disabled character to be allowed to be seen as desirable without it becoming fetishcistic. 

I don’t think this series is some sort of big revolution in the manga world. I don’t think people will be writing essays about it in the same way they do with Ed’s prosphetics in Full Metal Alchemist, or Clint Barton’s Hearing Loss in the Aja/Fraction/Hollingsworth run. But it’s still an important series that I think people need to pick up, if only for the master class in lettering.

SERIOUSLY.

IT’S SO GOOD

YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!!!!

THEY USE DIFFERENT SHADES AND TONES AND POSITIONINGS TO DETERMINE WHAT SHE CAN AND CANNOT UNDERSTAND.

YOU GET SUCH A CLEAR IDEA ABOUT WHAT HER LIFE IS LIKE AND THE MISCOMUNICATION TROPE IS SO WELL EARNED HERE. 

[ID: A old white man in a black cowboy hat and suit is superimposed over a desert mountain scape. He is screaming passionately,]

(End Note: Some of my enjoyment from this series also comes from the fact that Itsuomi used to live in Germany the same as me and so speaks in German sometimes, and since I can read German, I get to feel smug and knowledgeable.)

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS Do-S Kyuuketsu VERSUS II Vol.1 Ayato VS Laito [Track 1+2]

Original title: 月蝕のよる～total Eclipse～ & 蝕を背負って

Source: Diabolik Lovers VERSUS II Vol. 1 Ayato VS Laito [CD not owned by me]

Audio: Here & here

Seiyuu: Midorikawa Hikaru & Hirakawa Daisuke

Translator’s note: I’m only two tracks into this CD but I’m already loving the tension between Ayato and Laito. I like how this CD seems to touch upon their personal childhood traumas with Cordelia and how they harbor a completely different feeling towards her. This played somewhat of a part in their respective More, Blood routes as well, so I’m really glad to find out more about it! That being said, they do use a lot of vague expressions when roasing each other, so I hope I got all of the hidden implications right.

Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 ll Track 6

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

Track 1: ~Total Eclipse~ of the Moon

Ayato: ...The moon is chipped. Tsk...!! No wonder I feel this restless inside...

You approach him.

Ayato: The lunar eclipse, huh...?

*Rustle*

Ayato: ...Ah? Chichinashi. Now this is new.

He turns around.

Ayato: What brings you here at this hour? Were you lured in by that moon as well? Hahaha...

You explain.

Ayato: Well yeah, makes sense. By this point, you’re basically one of us.

Ayato offers you a hand.

Ayato: Come here...I’m sure you know by now that resistin’ is absolutely futile?

*Rustle*

Ayato: Besides, I’m not in the mood for that right now...Come here!

You continue to protest, afraid he’ll suck your blood.

Ayato: Geez...Fuck...You really are a pain in the ass.

*Rustle*

Ayato: I’m not horny 24/7, you know? And here I thought I’d actually show you somethin’ nice. 

You frown.

Ayato: What’s with that expression? Are you disappointed or somethin’? Haha...!

Ayato suddenly lifts you into his arms.

*Rustle rustle*

Ayato: Heavy-hoh...! You don’t see this kind of nice view every day, so let’s take the opportunity to watch it from up close.

He launches himself into the air, eventually landing on the roof.

*WOOSH*

*Thud*

Ayato: ...There we go. We’ve reached our destination.

*Rustle*

Ayato: Chichinashi, follow me. Let’s go that way.

You seem scared.

Ayato: ...Ah? Are you shakin’ on your legs? What? You’re scared of bein’ up on the roof? Geez, what a drag...Come on, hold onto me.

You seem hesitant.

Ayato: What? I won’t try and pull anythin’ funny, promised. ...Honestly, I’m out here showin’ my good heart and that’s the reaction I get in return?

*Rustle*

Ayato: More importantly, look up at the moon! It’s chipped! Hahaha! Surprised?

You mention the lunar eclipse.

Ayato: I figured I’d show you since it’s a rare occurrence, but you know about it? Che...! Yeah, it’s a lunar eclipse. I don’t know ‘bout the details, but you barely get to witness one, right?

You thank him for trying to please you.

Ayato: Aah!? I wasn’t tryin’ to make you happy or anythin’! Don’t be so full of yourself! ...It’s just that the lunar eclipse makes us Vampires go crazy. How do I put it - it makes our feelings and actions unstable - to the point of madness. I guess you could say it shakes us up? I don’t quite know how to describe this feeling...

You seem somewhat worried.

Ayato: Well, that might be why I’m a lil’ kind to you, or why I brought you up here to the roof. 

You ask if he needs to rest for a bit.

Ayato: Ah? I don’t feel sick or anything. I just feel oddly restless inside...It’s a weird kind of feeling. 

*Rustle*

Ayato: So, how do you feel? Well, you’re not a Vampire...But, is that truly the case? Don’t you ask yourself that question at times as well? That perhaps, you’ve longーー

He leans in close.

*Rustle rustle*

Ayato: ーー Become a Vampire.

Your eyes widen in horror.

Ayato: ...Hahaha! Nice reaction! I mean, it makes sense when you think about it. You’ve been teased by these fangs countless of times, being toyed around with, becoming mine...It wouldn’t be strange if you had awakened by this point.

You tell him to stop messing with you.

Ayato: I’m not tryin’ to scare you. It’s the truth, isn’t it?

Ayato pins you down.

*Rustle*

*Thud*

Ayato: Honestly, even if you were to be a Vampire by this point, there’s nothin’ to be scared of, right? 

You shake your head.

Ayato: Vampire or human, it’s pretty much the same thing. As you can tell, our appearance is barely any different. 

*Rustle*

Ayato: The difference is that we suck blood. Also...Well, we just have a few powers here and there, you see?

You insist you’re not a Vampire either way.

Ayato: Yet it still scares you?

He moves closer to your face.

*Rustle*

Ayato: Say, Chichinashi...? ...Even if you were to become a Vampire, I’d still...

Track 2: Bearing the Burden of the Eclipse

Laito: Nfufufu~ Fufufufu...~!

Ayato: ...!!

Laito: Oh geez~ A love scene up on the rooftop? You’re more of a romantic than I thought, Ayato-kun~

Ayato: Laito...!!

Laito: Exactly, the one and only~ ...My bad for interrupting? 

Ayato: Che...Why the fuck are you here!?

Laito: There’s no deep reasoning behind it. Well, like you mentioned earlier, the lunar eclipse might have lured me out here. Fufu~ It messes with our heads a little, you see? So it wouldn’t be that strange for me to be lost in my own thoughts up here on the roof, no? Nfu~ I’m glad it gave me a chance at seeing that romantic side of yours which you usually keep hidden. Fufu...Look, it’s even making the moon flush a bright red. Fufufufu~

Ayato: You bastard...Are you makin’ fun of me!?

Laito: Hmー Not quite...If I had to put it into words, I guess you could say...I’m jealous?

Ayato: Haah...!?

Laito: Because Bitch-chan’s cheeks have become this flushed as she watches you with eyes full of passion...I guess~

You become even more flustered.

Laito: ...Say, Bitch-chan? I’m pretty sure this uncertain feeling inside of me is what you’d call jealousy. What do you think?

You tell him to stop teasing.

Laito: Fufu~ ...I’m not teasing you or anything? You are such a cruel girl. I wonder why you’re doubting my feelings? ...Being honest would make you much cuter, you know? Or at least pretend to be fooled by me. ...Oh, whoopsie~ I blew my own cover. Nfu~ ...However, I really do feel restless inside. I wasn’t lying when I said this might be jealousy either.

Laito leans in, whispering in your ear.

Laito: ...The thought of Ayato-kun stealing you away from me pisses me off. Furthermore, I’d love to just turn you into a mess right here, right now.

Ayato: Oi! You’re fuckin’ annoyin’! Showin’ up out of nowhere...

*Rustle*

Ayato: Just scram already!

Laito: Eeeh~? What if I say ‘no’?

Ayato: Then I’ll push you off this roof!

Laito: Big talk for someone who can’t even do that. ...That technique has already been claimed by me after all. 

Ayato: Che...You’re talkin’ ‘bout that shitty Old Hag? Honestly...Will you ever be able to forget her? 

Laito: Ugh...!

Ayato: Hahaha! What? Did I hit bull’s eye?

Laito: You decide to bring that back up at this exact timing, huh? Ayato-kun.

Ayato: Haah? You’re the one who staーー

Laito suddenly attacks Ayato.

*Rustle*

Laito: ...Fuck off! 

Ayato: ...! ...Kuh...

Laito: Do you think you’re in any position...To mock me like that?

Ayato: ...Aah!?

Ayato fights back.

*Rustle rustle*

*Thud*

Ayato: Whatcha mean...!?

You try to get in between them.

Laito: Oh...

Ayato: You’re in the way, Chichinashi! Stay out of this!

Laito: Fufufu~ You’re such a gentleman, Ayato-kun~ You’re scared she’ll get hurt from getting involved in our brotherly quarrel, aren’t you?

Ayato: Kuh...That’s not it! I just simply thought she was in the way, that’s all!

Laito: Hm...In that caseーー

*THUD*

Ayato: ...!!

Laito creeps up on you.

Laito: ...You wouldn’t mind if I were to hurt her, do you? Like this...

He bites you.

Laito: Mmh...

*Gulp gulp gulp*

Ayato: ...Ugh. You bastard...!!

Ayato grabs him by the collar.

*Rustle*

Ayato: Cut the crap!!

*THUD*

Laito: ...Ah!

Ayato: Keep your dirty hands off what belongs to me.

Laito: Look at you go...However, my blood is boiling right now as well...Ugh!

*THUD*

Laito: ...Owow. Geez, it’s been a while since I went all out like that. My hat’s crooked. Better fix it~ ...There we go.

*Rustle*

Ayato: ...That hurt. Whatcha gettin’ all worked up by yourself, huh?

Laito: Hmm~? I guess we can blame the lunar eclipse for that? Seems like I just couldn’t let your words from earlier slide. It’s rather upsetting how you keep on insisting that I still haven’t parted with that dead woman.

You grab hold of Laito’s arm.

Ayato: ...Ah!

Laito: Hm? What’s wrong, Bitch-chan? Are you telling us to stop fighting? ...But you know, I believe there’s times where you have to keep on going until the score is settled. 

Ayato: Hehe...I agree with that.

Laito: Nfu...~ What a coincidence.

Ayato: We can just decide who is the strongest by pure force and whoever wins get to keep that woman for themselves!

Laito: Makes you wonder which one of us is unable to move on...Fufu~

Ayato: ...Haah? What did you say just now?

Laito: Nfu~ I was just talking to myself. ...Well then, the moon has been chipped nicely. Shall we get started?

Ayato: Yeah! Bring it on!

You stand in between them, begging the two to stop.

Laito: Oh dear, oh dear~ How heroic of you, Bitch-chan! However, only fools get in the way of a fight between two men, you know?

Ayato: Exactly. Step back, Chichinashi.

Laito: Who knows what we’ll do because of this moon after all.

You shake your head.

Ayato: Aahn? What was that, Chichinashi? We’re not fightin’ ‘cause the moon is messin’ with our heads. 

Laito: Exactly, Bitch-chan. The lunar eclipse simply provides a perfect opportunity.  We’ve been unable to bridge the gap between us since forever. Up till now, we’ve simply chosen to constantly turn a blind eye to it, running away. Right, Ayato-kun?

Ayato: Kuh...!

Laito: I just figured it might be time for us brothers to stop running and face each other head on. Nfu~

Ayato: Che...You’re too damn persistent. Go stand over there!

*Rustle*

You lose your balance and slide down the roof.

Laito: ...Woah!

Ayato: ...Chichinashi!? What are you doin’...!? 

Laito: What do you mean? You’re the one who pushed her away too harshy, so she slipped and nearly tumbled down the roof!

Ayato: Che...Fuck off! 

*Rustle*

Ayato: Oi, Chichinashi! Don’t you dare let go! I’ll save you!

Ayato reaches out for you.

*Rustle*

Ayato: Come on, grab my hand!

Laito: Now who is the one responsible for this in the first place, huh? ...Are you okay, Bitch-chan? Instead of going for that brute over here...

Laito holds out his hand as well.

*Rustle*

Laito: You should take my hand instead.

Ayato: Shut up! Come on, Chichinashi! This way!

Laito: I’m stronger than you’d expect, so you can rest assured and entrust your body to me, Bitch-chan~

Ayato: Hurry up...!!

The wind picks up.

Ayato: ...This is bad!

You lose your grip and nearly fall to your death.

Ayato: Che...It’s ‘cause you kept on takin’ yer damn sweet time!

*Rustle rustle*

*Thud*

Ayato jumps down, catching you just in time.

Ayato: ...That was close. Don’t scare me like that!

Laito: Ayato-kuuun~ Is Bitch-chan alright~? 

He puts you down.

*Rustle*

Ayato: Che...Oi, Chichinashi. Come with me.

Ayato grabs hold of your hand.

Ayato: I’m sick and tired of havin’ to deal with that guy.

He runs away with you.

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[hermesacat]

HELLO ROCK N ROLL KITTY! (Vol.2): MAZZY STAR & HOPE SANDOVAL [Update August, 2022: This is a post I originally put on Tumblr in 2016. I'm re-posting it again today, six years later, Aug. 21. 2022 (updated to include some newer info) because it disappeared from my Tumblr account along with all my other previous content I'd posted to Tummblr. In the last few days, I logged into my Twitter account for the first time in years and discovered Twitter must have wiped it clean of content, followers and following.  It looked like a brand new account showing no activity, no content, no nuthin'. Did Tumblr do this 'cause I was inactive for so long? Hm. At least the account was allowed to exist, even if it had been reduced to nothingness! I had visited others' Tumblr pages occasionally but had not logged into my own for a very long time. I became active instead at fan groups on Facebook and elsewwhere and on my own you tube channel] ..................................................................................... This is a post on on Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval & David Roback as a cat appreciators. (Vol. 1 focuses on Dum Dum Girls’ Dee Dee Penny (now known as Kristin Kontrol) as a cat person). Mazzy Star’s / Hope Sandoval’s “totem animal” seems to be the cat as there are at least nine examples of cat image themes appearing in album art, merch, & music videos. Hope also meows her way, cat like, through a song, her guest duet on JAMC’s song “Perfume,” (a song whose lyrics only make sense when one knows the history of Chanel No. 5 perfume, & how the company became more responsible by ceasing to use in the making of its perfume musk taken from musk glands of the endangered wild civet cat). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pMPb6ifZ5c  . Plus, Hope’s been known to send letters on stationery with cat images printed on the paper, & sometimes signs autographs accompanied by cat cartoons she draws.

The photos are:

1) Hope Sandoval in L.A., 1993. Photo by Stefan De Batselier.

2) Cat imagery album artwork from Mazzy Star’s 1990 album, “She Hangs Brightly”, in yellow and black

3) Mazzy Star red and black tee shirt official merch design with cat image theme.

4) Mazzy Star black and white tote bag official merch design with cat theme.

5) & 6): Front and inside covers of Mazzy Star’s 2013 album, “Seasons of Your Day” with cat themes. [The album’s credits say: “Artwork: Mazzy Star, Barry Bodeker”]

7) Hope’s autograph accompanied by a cat cartoon she drew for a fan, Juan, after Mazzy Star’s Wiltern Theatre, L.A. gig, Nov. 7, 2013.

8) & 9): Two Black and white Screen capture pics of  two cats with different colourings that appear in Mazzy Star’s official video for the song “I’m Less Here,” released April, 2014. The cat on the left roams around in the video. The one on the right David is shown petting. The video’s on yt here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmQhNp5rr3Q The cat on the left roaming is Hope's own cat Herman, I believe who she's named in an interview. In the video, the colours of the cat on the left have been reversed like in an old photo negative.

10) Screen capture (orange toned) from the official video for the single”Isn’t It True,” by Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, released April, 2016. It shows silhouettes of hands reaching out to two cats.

11) Black & white screen capture, close up of a cat’s face from a mysterious video from Hope’s tendriltales.com site, 2016, a video which also has some shots of Hope. There's good reason to believe the cat is Hope's cat Herman she has mentioned by name in an interview. In the video, the colours of the cat have been reversed like an old photo negative

12) Official post from Mazzy Star’s official Facebook page, Aug. 2016 re. the then forthcoming single “Let Me Get There,” by Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions with a cat them in its message which I’m going to guess Hope likely wrote.

13) Happy Halloween! At long last, a pic turns up of Hope with a cat! This pic was posted by Mazzy Star to their own official Facebook page, Oct. 31, 2016. Meow-wow. It must be Hope holding her cat Herman.

14) A picture of my own two cats as Mazzy Star cats (R.I.P. "Coco", the black one. The other, "Monkey" is still with me)

-References to Hope’s own cats, or cats she knows have appeared in a few articles over the years, most amusingly in a Sept., 2013 SPIN mag interview where she & Colm O’Ciosoig speak jokingly about a cat “Herman” but without letting on to the leg-pulled interviewer “Herman” is a cat, not a person! http://www.spin.com/articles/mazzy-star-seasons-of-your-day-interview/

A helpful SPIN reader in comments ID-ed the mysterious “Herman” as a cat, which fits with what Hope & Colm say about him. I see the current posting of the article no longer has any comments attached. So, I’ll leave a new one there with the “Herman” info restored that someone else originally supplied.

-Hope mentions cats in lyrics in at least one of her own songs, “Suzanne,” by Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions. The lyrics line is: “The cats in here are overflowin’ “

- There’s a 50 min. audio interview from 2013 with Hope & David I’ve upped to yt here: http://youtu.be/TJaFHGAEFiE  with a section (starting at the 30:16 mark) where they talk about cats, & it’s evident from it both are cat appreciators. At one point in the interview Hope says “I wish I could see a cat right now.”

-There’s a Rome radio interview & performance by David from 1988 (when Hope-era Opal was touring Europe) where he sings a song with amusingly odd sounding cat lyrics: “Sad and insane, Cat’s in the rain.” (Huh, David?). I’ve upped it to yt here: http://youtu.be/NL5mzjwyWNc It turns out it’s an Opal song called “A Falling Star” originally from the Opal era when Kendra Smith was still singer, but  with new lyrics. Hope sang the new version with cat lyrics on the 1988 Opal tour after she became Opal’s singer.

-Here’s a passage from an Oct., 1996 Alternative Press article: QUOTE: “We pile into William’s [William Reid of JAMC, Hope’s bf of the time] compact car. He drives us to his and Hope’s place so she can get her notebook of lyrics [before they go to the studio for a Mazzy Star rehearsal for an upcoming tour]. At the house, David goes to the back garden to pet William’s cat. He speaks of his love of animals, nature and the beauty of Cambridge (where Syd Barrett lives, he notes).“

-In an October, 1993 Melody Maker interview, David recalls first encountering Hope at 1980s L.A. rock shows as “Just a set of eyes, like a cat” !

-Cat  passage from 2002, Jan. 3 Rolling Stone Hope article/interview: “Hope sits at home in Berkeley while her cat meows over the phone even louder than she is able to speak.”

-Cat passages from 2002, August, L.A. Press Telegram Hope article/interview: “It becomes apparent that Mazzy Star lead singer Hope Sandoval is definitely a cat person when a faint mewing comes throughthe phone  during an interview from her Bay Area home…But like the territorial half-Siamese cat making its presence known  during this conversation, Sandoval has always set public and private boundaries in her career…”

-My own main youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Bobjb999 has a large collection of Mazzy Star, Hope Sandoval, & related recordings, mostly live, including many unreleased rarities, mostly audio with slideshows, although I have a few fine videos. Most of those slideshows have one or more cat pics sneaked in. It’s a small side distraction, but as a cat-person-Mazzy-fan I enjoy playing up the Mazzy Star cat connection a little! I also have a secondary yt channel with more Mazzy rarities, here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bobb99999999 .................................... [LATER UPDATES, Aug. 2020: Here's an excerpt from an interview with Hope and Colm (of The Warm Inventions) from The L.A. Record, Jan. 2017 https://issuu.com/larecord/docs/la_record_126_web

INTERVIEWER: Hope, do you have any hobbies besides making music? Do you collect anything? Records? Instruments? HOPE: Well, obviously I buy instruments—but no. I wish I could have a cat collection. That’s my fantasy. I’d be the crazy lady on the block with all the cats. I only allow myself one cat but I fantasize about having loads.

INTERVIEWER: It’s really disciplined to only have one cat.

HOPE: I know! And I can barely handle the one cat. I didn’t tell you, Colm [Colm is on the phone with them in a three-way phone interview] but he didn’t come home until three in the morning. I couldn’t sleep all night and finally I heard his little door and I went to open the little door and he walks in and he’s limping. He is ok. He’s sleeping now and I’m just debating whether I should take him to the vet. He’s one of those cats who is just a fighter. He thinks he’s in charge of the whole neighborhood so he’s constantly getting into fights and this will be, like, the fifth time I’ve taken him to the vet and at this point they’ll probably call child services on me. It’s just strange. He’s a fighter.

INTERVIEWER: f you did have a collection, you would be at the vet nearly every other day.

HOPE: Can you imagine the expense of having ten cats? .................................................... Here's a 2018 quote from Hope where Hope mentions her cat Herman. It's in a quote re. her 2018 collab with Mercury Rev from a tribute album celebrating singer Bobbie Gentry, The Delta Sweete Revisited, an album of new cover versions of the songs on Bobbie's 1968 album. Hope sings on one song "Big Boss Man" https://bellaunion.com/2018/12/mercury-rev-and-hope-sandoval-share-big-boss-man/ QUOTE: “Well, the only boss man in my life is my cat Herman so this song was a bit tricky for me but I am so honoured to have been asked to be a part of this amazing group of women paying tribute to such an inspirational artist. I’ve always been a fan of Mercury Rev and Bobbie Gentry, so needless to say I am over the moon to be a part of this project.” (-Hope, 2018)

............................................

The idea of doing a HELLO ROCK N ROLL KITTY! series was inspired by a popular post I saw & enjoyed at the Dangerous Minds site of photos of rock stars with their cats & dogs: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/rock_stars_with_their_cats_and_dogs

[Full disclosure:  My yt & mazzystar.free.fr  handle “Hermesacat,”  is homage to a fave cat of my own named “Hermes” (now deceased). Resemblance of the name to the cat Hope & Colm cite, apparently named Herman according to a 2013 SPIN interview, is but an amusing coincidence. “Hermesacat” was my site name for years at (sadly now defunct) fan site Mazzy Star Boulevard. Btw, there are current worthy fan sites  here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/6071129794/ (I'm an admin at the FB group); and here: http://mazzystar.free.fr ;

-Bob B. (Hermesacat)

[furubaa]

Notes on Mushishi - Vol 1 & 2

This is the start of my personal notes on every Mushishi chapter (anime ep # in brackets). I’ve reread the manga over and over again looking for specific stories, so this is just for easier reference. 

VOLUME 1

1 - The Green Gathering (S1E1, The Green Seat)

Ginko learns of a boy who can create life by drawing or writing and decides to pay him a visit 

“The green here is so vivid it’s eerie”

A personal invitation to a banquet, presented with clear sake in a shallow green saucer - the exquisite scent of kouki, the water of life. 

The dull pain of being frozen mid-transformation, one foot out the door; realisation of emptiness, and yearning for a full exit from the world

Color seeping out of an untouched brush; power passed down the generations

Everything covered in moss where the kouki soaked in the ground

2 - The Soft Horns (S1E3, Tender Horns)

Ginko is summoned to cure villagers from hearing problems caused by Mushi, and to cure the village head’s grandson Maho, who has sprouted four horns on his forehead.

A quiet village deep in the mountains where even the wind does not pass; absolute silence on snowy nights, when even the sound of your voice disappears.

Bombarded with a flood of sounds, the spirit tires, and body weakens til death. The murmuring of a single Mushi is a microscopic sound, until made aware of the trillions of Mushi clamouring all over the world, calling to each other like echoes.

An intimate gesture of protection - the sound of your mother. A volcanic eruption seen long ago. The lava inside of you, dissolving everything.

3 - The Pillow Path (S1E4 The Pillow Pathway)

Ginko pays a visit to a man named Jin who has premonitions in his dreams as a result of a Mushi affliction caused by Imeno no Awai. 

4 - The Light in the Eyelids (S1E2 The Light of the Eyelid)

Ginko visits a girl named Sui, who is suffering from a Mushi affliction that has made her eyes sensitive to light.

“Behind your eyelid you have another eyelid.” 

There's a river of light flowing underground that illuminates even the pitch black; there has to be total, true darkness to see it. “Light particles come from very far away/ and they flow past me.” “Stretching out for eternity at your feet”

Ginko sitting on the opposite side of the river bank; a warning from a stranger.

“You spent too much time in the dark with Sui” ... Mushi that breed in the darkness. 

5 - The Traveling Bog (S1E5 The Traveling Swamp)

Ginko is traveling through the mountains to see his friend, Adashino. Along the way, he meets a girl named Io, who lives inside a swamp that is capable of moving by itself.

Ginko finding himself travelling in step with a swamp that sinks into the earth and then floats up over and over again, passing through the mountains

A girl sacrificed to save her village from a flood, wearing ceremonial robes; a bride presented to the water god, pushed off a cliff in a storm.

A large green thing that calmly rose up through the raging water; swimming at the bottom of a river that was overflowing its banks. It said, “You should continue to live.”

“When people drink them, their bodies become transparent... and then, they flow away.” Choosing to become Mushi is to exist between life and death; slowly wearing away at your human heart.

Following the journey of a ten thousand year old swamp to its death; moving towards the sea, the dying form of a liquid mushi. Accompanying it on its final journey.

“Swamps are born, eventually they stagnate, and when the universe they have contained within themselves ends... they get up on their own and start to move.”

VOLUME 2

6 - The Mountain Sleeps (S1E11 The Sleeping Mountain)

While traveling, Ginko passes through a town settled near a mountain. He learns that a Mushi Master is living on the mountain, but hasn't visited the village for quite some time, and every person who had been sent to find him has fallen ill and died.

“A smell both sweet and rancid that rises from the ground and touches each leaf. One by one. Coiling around them and choking their skin. A light vein, where the river of light flows.”

Ginko tapping into a mushi that acts as the mountain's nerves, sinking their wills into the plants and running around. 

“The water of life (...) Women bear children like cats or dogs; twins, triplets, or even quadruplets, abandoned in the mountains.”

A travelling Mushishi who puts his roots down. The one he loves committing an unforgivable act so that they can be married. Assuming the role of a slain mountain boar god; his bones will lie here. 

An aged man, summoning an immortal spirit to take his place of guardian forever - a necessary sacrifice to return the world to natural order.

7 - The Sea of Brushstrokes (S1E20 A Sea of Writings)

Ginko comes to a house which has a library full of mushi-related scrolls. There, he meets the girl who writes the scrolls, and hears the story of the curse that has been afflicting her family for generations.

A large dark crypt; an enormous library of scripts recording ancient history

Scribes cursed with immobility and marked for death, the only way to quell the Mushi is to seal them with words. A tradition of inviting travelling Mushishis to feed the writers myths in order for them to expel their words, physically manifesting them, an excruciating process for survival of self - and if not, the survival of your descendants. Plucking words and returning them to order, duty. Little by little, a receding scar. 

8 - They That Breathe Ephemeral Life (S1E6 Those Who Inhale the Dew)

Ginko's services are requested by a boy named Nagi, who lives on a distant island, to investigate the case of Akoya, a girl revered by the people as a "Living God".

A brief moment during the spring tide is the only time you can get to the island; only safe one day per month to take a boat out. a barren island with little soil, villagers surviving with moral support from their god. 

Tapping the center of the forehead with a needle, a curlicule of a mushi spiralling out

“When i was the Ikigami and aged when the sun set i could always shut my eyes and fall asleep feeling satisfied (...) But now my legs tremble at the immense amount of time ahead of me.” Living Mushi's life cycle of a single day - every second of every day experienced fresh, so much wonder you can't keep up. “My heart was always satisfied.”

When faced with tragedy, the girl finally chooses to return to the state of suspension - the luxury to forget and detach from mortal burden.

9 - Rain Comes and a Rainbow is Born (S1E7 Raindrops and Rainbows)

Ginko encounters a man named Koro, who has a strange habit of pursuing rainbows, and helps him find one particular rainbow that he is looking for - the Kouda.

A father delirious for rain - a strange man running around happily, and a mysterious rainbow dancing in odd shapes. A body that thirsts - “I miss that rainbow so much… I can’t stand it.” 

A boy who runs away to escape the burden of a dying father; to prove his worth and his father’s.

Ginko who must travel constantly, taking a break by finding purpose in small goals - You can’t live only for the sake of living; rest is essential. 

A natural phenomena created from light and imbued with kouki - “There's a reason they occur, but they have no purpose - existing only to keep flowing. Nothing can affect them, but they affect those around them, and then they leave.”

* 10 - The Veil Spore (S1E21 Cotton Changeling)

A couple summons Ginko to investigate their sick child, Watahiko, who has developed green spots all over his body. The father explains that the child didn’t look human when born - instead, it was a strange green mass that swiftly escaped. A year later, he found a baby under the house.

A wedding procession that passes through a forest - “A green stain on my cotton wedding gown.” A boy born green and formless, that slipped out and under the house. The main body; a mat of spores spreading under the house, dirt that wriggles under the sun.

One year later, it sends out a human-mushroom; every half year, the same child born again and again. Harmless children joined together at the root, that exist only to collect nutrients, that die and spit out seeds. “Mushi that wear the skin of your dead child.”

The human instinct to kill everything we don’t understand.

A baby with a body that grows faster than the mind. Children that evolve rapidly - “After learning words i forgot how.. I forgot how.” The primal instinct for survival lost. The cost of intelligence.

The Watahiki, when faced with danger, disconnects its children from the root, in an attempt to save at least the seeds - the children change form and enter a long dormant period.

An organism that strays from its recorded life cycle. 

Not that I’m doing this for public consumption (who even is going to read all this) but anyways FYI I’ve got structured notes on the next volumes in my drafts & if I ever get round to finishing all of them they’ll be tagged as #mushishi notes 

[bridgyrose]

you ever think about if Fallen Petals (hypothetically) becomes canon and how weirdly thematically fitting it would be for both Ruby and Cinder’s characters?

Besides the fact on how feral the fandom would go if it happened?  I’m going to try to make this as coherent as I can, so bear with me on this. But... lets imagine that Fallen Petals became canon in vol 2. Starts off as a rivalry between Cinder and Ruby. It’s not love they feel, its tension... or so they say. They’re always trying to one up each other, fun games start becoming heated competitions between the two. Why? Because they both feel funny about the other but cant put a finger on why. And it would work considering you have Ruby “couldnt pin point the crush she had on Emerald” Rose with Cinder “what the fuck are these feelings? I’ve never felt this before” Fall. And weirdly enough, they’d both be questioning if they were jealous of or wanted to be with the other.  Then, the day they finally get together and have a date, they both start feeling strangely at ease. Ruby starts slowly showing Cinder just how good things can be while Cinder starts teaching Ruby a bit more about the cruelty of the world she doesnt understand. Both come to a consensus that life is better when they’re together. And then the real fun starts...

Volume 2 continues as it did: Ruby fights with Cinder in the tower and thwarts the plot of the White Fang. All this with the added bonus of Cinder trying to keep her plans under wraps, suddenly feeling a bit afraid that Ruby’s piecing things together when she shows up at Beacon tower. And Ruby just has no idea what’s going on, going off about how much fun that fight was even if it was slightly terrifying with all the fire.  And then Vol 3 happens exactly the same. Ruby’s still none the wiser... until she watches Cinder kill Pyrrha and her heart breaks. And for the first time in her life, Cinder hesitates. Killing Pyrrha was never part of the plan, but the girl just wouldnt let it go. And once she realizes that Ruby’s there, she starts really questioning if what she’s doing is worth it. 

Fast forward to vol 4 to Salem finding out about Ruby’s relationship with Cinder. Now, the idea of keeping Ruby alive has more purpose to it: not only is it to keep Cinder inline and to more than likely get another experiment, but now she has a tool she can use against Cinder. Nothing breaks a person than watching the one they love suffer. And Cinder just cant stop thinking of Ruby. Every time she fights, all she sees is Ruby’s face back at Beacon: the sheer disappointment and fear on the girl’s face. And for a few months, she can push that image away. She can keep herself from seeing Ruby. And then it gets harder. The longer she tries to push the memory of Ruby away, the more often she starts seeing that face and it starts getting to her. 

Then Cinder sees Ruby again at Haven. This time, its as enemies instead of lovers. Cinder starts to break a bit as she see’s Ruby, becoming a bit more unhinged. Its not out of anger, its out of fear. Fear of what Ruby thinks about her. That maybe she could use this as a way to push Ruby away forever. And it hurts. Meanwhile, Ruby does what she can to try to understand Cinder. The whole fight between them is Ruby trying to ask Cinder why she killed Pyrrha. Why she had to cause Beacon to fall. Why all of this had to happen. And then Cinder... stops. She quits fighting, trying to figure out why this all did have to happen. At first, things were easy to justify: she was abused, sold by child traffickers, pushed to a breaking point and then told she was irredeemable. But then she remembers the secrets that Ruby told her. How Summer disappeared and she learned from a young age that happy endings arent the default. How she watched her dad break, confused on why he wasnt always eating right, why he seemed to go to bed early, why Yang had to step up to make sure Ruby was cared for. Even Qrow, trying to mask the pain of the world with stories of his conquests, let it slip just how grimm things really are. Cinder looks into Ruby’s eyes, starting to realize what she was doing had no real justification. But she feels like she’s in too deep. That at this point, there was no turning back. So she hurts Ruby, trying to push her away. And she runs before she could see the damage she did to Ruby, going down into the vault with Raven and Vernal, only to fail to achieve her goal. 

Then we move onto Vol 7, Cinder being alone with Neo, trying to justify what she’s doing again and falling into bad habits. She tries to push away her thoughts of Ruby, tries to see her former girlfriend as the enemy. But this time, she’s alone. She finds herself checking into the local news, catching glimpses of Ruby helping others, but she cant help but feel the resentment of Ruby helping the establishment that hurt her to start with. Anger and jealousy start ruling over Cinder, pushing her to move forward with her plans. But this time, when the two meet in the maiden’s chambers, there isnt a flash of silver light. It’s Ruby, looking down onto Cinder and wonder what pushed her to go this far. And for once, Cinder looks back into Ruby’s eyes with regret for everything she’s done. 

And then for Vol 8, Cinder struggles to stay in line with Salem. The good times she’s had with Ruby start surfacing again. She starts looking, really looking at Atlas and Mantle, realizing why Ruby was helping them. Once the siege of Atlas starts, Cinder takes the chance to grab the lamp and leave, no longer looking back. She searches for Ruby and her friends, realizing the mistakes that were made. When she finally sees Ruby, she’s greeted with the sharp end of Crescent Rose, Ruby glaring at her, covering the scars that were left from Cinder. Cinder finally gets the courage to tell Ruby what Salem’s plan is and that they wont be able to hide for long. That they had to come up with something to get out of here. For a moment, Ruby doesnt believe Cinder, thinking it’s a trap. But she gives Cinder a chance, because no matter what differences the two may have had, she’s going to give Cinder another chance to prove herself. Another chance to be try to be better. And then Cinder finally breaks. She still harbors the hatred she has for huntsman, for none of them helping her and leaving her to be abused, but this one girl... this younger girl... helped her and gave her a chance. Slowly, she starts to realize why it is that Ruby wants to be a huntress, that the answer she always gave anyone, “that’s why we’re here, to make things better”, finally started making sense. 

Cinder freezes when Ruby hugs her, feeling tears from the younger girl. The two start talking again, Cinder starts explaining what drove her to join Salem, telling her about the past, while Ruby listens, getting a better understanding on why. While Ruby could never truly forgive Cinder, she keeps the promise of giving another chance, a chance that Cinder never wasted. The two start realizing they’re just two sides of the same coin, only one side becoming bitter at the way the world treated her, while the other kept trying to make the best of anything that was thrown at her. 

The two end up completing each other, whether they realize it or not. Cinder needs Ruby to give her a chance, to prove that not all hunters dont care about those who are truly in need, while Ruby need Cinder to keep her grounded. To show that no matter what, the world is never going to be kind and there are some that will never be given a chance to prove their worth.

[katyatalks]

Mob Psycho 100 Interview Translation - Character Designer Kameda Yoshimichi - Otome Visual 2017

Summary-style translation for Character Designer Yoshimichi Kameda’s 4 page interview from Otome Visual 2017, regarding elements in the creation of Mob Psycho 100 such as: what inspired this cover art, the influence of fan art in the anime’s creation, Tsubomi’s design, the process behind the package art for the DVDs, and more. Includes some genga. Under read more;

[TN: The reason why I elected to summarise this interview rather than do a full write up is because a lot of the information given gets covered in December 2016′s Animestyle010, in “The Making of Mob Psycho 100.” I typed that one out in full over on twitter but that’s a long interview, and I don’t have the time or energy to reformat it for Tumblr, but if you’re interested in a very in-depth look into how Mob Psycho 100′s anime came to be I’d really recommend checking it out. Direct quotes are given in “” here. Enjoy!]

---

*~The genga illustration for Otome Visual’s cover~*

“With the recent popularity that Skating Anime has had, what’s this - a Shouwa idol collab?! It’s all in the little details in their clothing - their wrinkled shirts, white trousers, black belts - both around their waists and arms.”

*~Kameda’s comments~*

“Can you heaaaar me!! I am currently speaking directly into your braaaain!!! What I’m grateful for with this commission is I was able to design the cover in any way I’d like!! A cover is a reflection of current times, so, of course, I went for ice skating! You wouldn’t be able to find this kind of amazing content in any time period other than now! That’s what I first thought! Like, Mob Psycho 100!! If there’s not a certain Mob Psycho 100-ness present in the art then what’d be the point, so, the characters are being very serious but they’re also pretty laughable. I tried to create a piece of art from which you could hear their voices!!! What’s with it being Shouwa-esque?? Being lame is incredibly cool!!! Huh? Does that describe Mob Psycho 100?? Can’t answer that if you ask!!!! Please feel the amazing Paradise Ginga x Mob Psycho 100-ness here!!!!!!”

---

Kameda describes how he wasn’t sure how best to adapt the manga into an anime format at first, since from the art he was shown he immediately knew it to be very unique - the idea of using Flash to animate the show was raised but quickly shot down

Originally, upon being asked about the show, he based his thoughts on what a web image search for Mob Psycho 100 gave him rather than having the actual manga in hand. “For the most part, the results that came back would be fanart (laughs). It’s a bit strange -  at that time, it was difficult to find art uploaded from the manga. If you could find anything, it’d just be art from the covers. So for the most part, an image search of Mob Psycho 100 would just bring you back fanart. A lot of that fanart would be… a shounen in a cool pose wearing a school uniform with smooth bobbed hair & sharp cat-like eyes, sort of like Hiei’s eyes (from Yu Yu Hakusho). Very different from the manga’s art. But when I looked at that art, I thought; this could work. Fanart is, fundamentally, ‘fans drawing what they like’, so I thought, ‘the anime having this kind of art would make the fans happy.’ Well, it didn’t work out that way, obviously. I was told the anime’s art should resemble that of the manga. (Laughs)”

He hadn’t read the manga so all he had for reference was art from volume 1 and the fanart he found online. “But I like things like spirits and urban legends, so seeing Dimple - a floating supernatural fiery ball - and being told the manga touches on the occult caused my interest to soar.”

Says that Teru is the easiest character for him to draw. “He’s overflowing with confidence, so it’s easy to put him into some cool poses. Mob and Ritsu in comparison, not so much. [...] With Reigen, he has a lot of poses that are like, he’s trying to look good. He takes a solid stance. I suppose Spirits & Such has such a shady air to it, and you have to hide that somehow, right? So, Reigen injects confidence into how he presents himself. A model-like stance.”

“The anime is faithful to the manga… ah, actually, Tsubomi-chan was changed with a ‘let’s make her more like a heroine�� conversation. So, I did so, but reading recent events in the manga I can’t picture her in her anime form (laughs). The manga’s Tsubomi isn’t much like a heroine, so I’ve found myself wondering, if we animate up until this part… just how will we approach it? The anime’s Tsubomi is so bright and sparkly, so she wouldn’t have snot hanging from her nose (vol.13 of manga), would she…? (Laughs). Perhaps we went a little too far with making her a heroine. Maybe, if we do season 2, we’ll turn her back into a normal girl (laughs). Well, Tachikawa-san is clever; I think he’ll find a way to make do with her current design.”

---

Picture text: "This is Mezato's first appearance, so I decided to make her cute!! Thank you in advance!!"

Picture text: "That girl was telling me such a stupid story this morning... aidzuchi* isn't easy, you know... I'll just ignore her tomorrow..." [* sounds made to indicate that you're listening to someone speak]

---

Asked about his favourite characters; “I love Mezato Ichi from the Newspaper Club. When I drew her in her character sheet in that pose where she’s holding her camera, I came to see her as being quite cute. So now I focus on her a lot; in fact, when I draw genga I sneakily choose the cuts that have her in them (laughs).”

“I also love Mob. Reigen stands out the most so your eyes naturally jump to him, but I love the balance that Mob has. His heads tall ratio... or rather, his face, and the way his body is proportioned? It makes him lovely. Ritsu is around the same height as Mob, but, how can I put this - the cuteness that Mob has, is lacking in Ritsu… due to the latter being quite standoffish, I suppose (laughs).”

Ritsu’s hair changing through the first season is discussed, and how it is purposefully shortened during the latter half. “I paid attention to making sure his hair was long especially while he was being possessed by Dimple. So it’d resemble thorns.”

“I feel Teru-kun is the most ‘yang’ of all the characters. The rest are more ‘yin’ in nature. Because of this, it’s easy to play around with his expressions - he’s fun to draw. Speaking in terms of Dragonball, he’s kind of like Mob Psycho 100’s Vegeta (laughs).”

“In episode 9, Dimple possesses one of Claw’s security guards, right? I don’t really understand why that security guard is so popular.” Q: What do you mean? “Because he’s just some middle-aged dude (laughs). He doesn’t even appear for long…”

After discussing the huge amount of SG!Dimple commissions received: “Unlike SG!Dimple, I don’t really get asked to draw Shou-kun. With this commission I thought to myself, I /have/ to include him here, and so I added him in. The initial brief excluded him.”

Asked about moments that stuck with him; “When Teru chokes Mob in episode 5. [...] Mob’s pained expression as he’s being choked is good, but Teru-kun’s face shows us… envy, jealousy, distress, anxiety.”

“Also, the ‘super real Reigen’ sequence from episode 12. The tension between Reigen and Sakurai is funny, but the art itself has had me laughing since production. It’s funny no matter how many times I look at it!”

Kameda’s idea to have the characters make number shapes for the volume art came from him watching ‘Tonneruzu no Minasan no Okage deshita’, specifically the ‘Mojimoji-kun’ segment of the show (where they try to make numbers from their bodies)

Volume 6’s cover art was first planned to have a whole ensemble of characters, but Kameda changed his mind on this - “if we do a second season, we can leave that for volume 12 (laughs).”

Volume 4's cover was originally planned to feature only Onigawara and Gouda, but Kameda found himself wanting to include the rest of the body improvement club

Regarding the pose we see on vol 6’s package art, “My original thoughts for that cover were to have Reigen and Mob in a ‘hell wheel’ pose, like, Mob pulling Reigen’s legs and arms… but that wouldn’t be very fitting for the final volume.”

His message to the readers; “Thank you for your support! With sales, the ‘this is popular!’ message gets conveyed, and the more support you give us, then there’s no doubt we’ll be able to produce season 2 and season 3!! Season 2 relies on your support. It’s in your hands - thank you!!”

---

Crossposted on twitter here.

[redrobin-detective]

hope is the promise of future happiness

its 11am, I’ve not dressed or done anything and I got hit with The Feels

XxX

Izuku had walked by the shop, stopping and staring and wondering, for almost two weeks. He stopped again, as he had most every day walking home from school, to stare at the new sign that had recently been hung up in the window. 

‘Takazawa Fortune Tellers: now offering precognitive services! Temporarily transport your mind into that of your future self! By Appointment Only, inquire inside.’ He mulled around the words in his head as he let the crowds carry him away again. Izuku kept his head low so the conflicting emotions weren’t obvious on his face. There was a decent amount of precognitive quirks but most were vague and not helpful in the long run. Any quirks that were useful were immediately snapped up by heroes and other government agencies. The chances that a small town psychic could tell him anything useful was low but...

Izuku rubbed lightly at his red and peeling palms where Kacchan had blasted him 2 days ago. Most days all he felt like was a pile of burns, bruises and depression. He was 13 years old and he was miserable every day of his life with no end in sight. If only he could find something, anything, to tell him that tomorrow would be better than today.

He nervously pulled at his lip as he muttered quietly to himself. But what if the future was worse than the present? What if he was still alone, still unhappy, still a stupid, quirkless Deku? What would he do if there was no future for him, some future him deciding enough was enough and-

Izuku shook his head, to clear it of such dark thoughts. He walked past a store filled with TVs, all bearing All Might’s grinning face as he gave a brief interview following a villain attack early this morning. The sound was off but Izuku knew the steady rumble of his hero’s voice better than his own. Watching that smile, that easy care and confidence All Might radiated eased some of the tension off Izuku’s shoulders. As long as All Might was there to spread peace and joy, the future couldn’t be all bad. No matter what, he would be Izuku’s future, a guiding light to lead him to where he needed to be.

It took him another week to work up the courage to enter the shop. The little bell when he opened the door might as well have been a blazing alarm, it almost caused him to run right then and there.

“Welcome to Takazawa Fortune Tellers, you’re here for the precognitive services, correct?” The secretary at the front said with a small smile. 

“Oh well I uh how did you-”

“Mild telepathy, lets me know people’s intentions,” the woman explained, tapping her temple. “That and I’ve seen you stopping and staring at the sign for almost a month.” Izuku ducked into the collar of his uniform and considered running again. He could find a new way home from school, possibly change schools altogether, maybe a new country?

“Please don’t go,” the woman said with a light laugh, “in fact, you picked the perfect day to stop by. We’re booked up for months but our last appointment was a no show so we have an open slot right now. We’re not supposed to take walk-ins but, well, you’ve been waiting for this a long time, haven’t you?”

Izuku flushed but the woman stood up, “I guess destiny brought you at the right time, I’ll let Kenma-san know you’re here. Please sit and fill out these forms while you wait.” 

It took all of his inner strength to shakily grab the clipboard from her and begin signing his consents, each making him more nervous than the last. Waiving liability in case he didn’t like his future. Accepting trauma from anything unpleasant he may see. Paying the full amount in the event he was dead in the future and thus could receive no predictions. 

“She’s ready for you now.” Taking a deep breath and summoning All Might’s brave smile in his mind, he handed her his completed forms and made his way to the back room. It was a small, almost claustrophobic room with heavily scented candles and dark mood lighting. A woman dressed in elaborate robes with a veil over her face was sitting at a small table. She gestured to the empty chair.

“You’re younger than my usual clients,” she said in a weathered voice, it was hard to tell if she was old or simply worn down. Izuku found himself sympathizing. “How old are you, young man?”

“13,” Izuku squeaked.

“A good age, you have your whole life ahead of you,” she nodded holding out both of her hands. “Now, here’s how this works. My quirk can transport you into your body at twice your current age so when you are 26.” Izuku tried to wrap his mind around being 26, an adult with a job but found he couldn’t. His palms began to sweat. “You will be transported to a time, 13 years from now, when your adult self is asleep so there’s no struggle over dual consciousness. You will be able to see, hear and feel your immediate surroundings but not interact much. The more you try to assert control the more your future self will awaken. Once they’re awake, you’ll be transported back to your current body. You don’t need to worry about privacy, I will only be facilitating your transfer and won’t be able to see anything you do. Understand?”

Izuku nodded, he wouldn’t be able to see or do much if he was confined to wherever his future self was sleeping. It was seemingly innocuous and yet...

“You do understand that, if between now and then, you’ve died that the transference won’t work. Are you prepared for that possibility?” She said cautiously. Having already come this far, he nodded. “Alright then young man, lets see what the future has in store for you. Take my hands and let your mind go as blank as possible. Close your eyes and the next time you open them, you will be in your future.”

Izuku grasped her hands, supple and firm leading him to believe he was correct that she wasn’t as old as he first believed. He tried to quiet his thoughts but it like wiping a white erase board in permanent marker. There was so much to fear, so much to worry about in his future. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed, for once in his life, his hopes weren’t painfully crushed. 

He opened his eyes and saw All Might. Specifically a really nice framed All Might poster featuring the hero back to back with a skinny blonde man hung on a wall. It looked like it was signed by someone but he was too far away to read what it said. The date at the bottom of the poster was 6 years from the current year. Well, he was alive in 13 years which was nice to know. The relief that echoed through him was surprising, had he really believed- No, no time for that. He didn’t know how long this would last so he had to make his observations now.

Izuku was in a large bed lying on his side facing a wall, the All Might poster was the biggest and most obvious but the whole wall was covered in various pictures and posters. A smaller poster with explosions on it caught his eye and he couldn’t help but smile. Looks like Kacchan made it as a hero after all, he felt bitter, just a bit but overall was happy for his well former friend. Another had a girl in pink floating standing next to someone who looked like Ingenium. It’s not surprise he maintained his fanboy habits even as an adult. It was comforting in its familiarity. 

Speaking of which, he observed what he could see of what was most likely his home with some surprise. It was clean but still comfortably lived in. It was also quiet large with some nice, traditionally Japanese furnishings. Much more than a quirkless salary man could probably afford. The bedside table next to him had a clock, which flashed 0547 in bright green letters, a cracked phone he assumed was his and a worn and ripped notebook. It read Hero Notes vol 25. 

Izuku instinctively reached for the notebook only to falter. His shoulder hurt, it ached and pulled from what felt like a recent injury. But that didn’t surprise him nearly as much as the scars covering his right hand and forearm. They ached, the way old wounds did, something he would always be aware of but would get used to. What the hell did his future self get up to? He briefly latched onto the idea that he had become a hero but quickly discarded it. Quirkless people didn’t become heroes, he probably got a career as a quirk analyst or something which is why he could afford such a nice place. It wasn’t a bad life from the looks of it.

He clenched his scarred right fist hard, not a bad life still wasn’t anywhere close to his dream. Izuku felt a stirring in the back of his mind and he carefully relaxed his hand. Right, he couldn’t wake his future self, not until he was done. Before he could wonder what else he could do, an arm brushed against his back before draping over his side as another body pressed close to him.

“Too early, go back to sleep,” a soft voice mumbled sleepily into his back.

Izuku froze, so conditioned to hands hurting him but the arm instead just held onto him lightly, like they didn’t want to let him go. It was cool to the touch but it felt good, like chill breeze on a warm day. Oh. He stared down at the pale arm gently embracing him until his vision became blurred. Oh. Izuku had been so prepared to accept a miserable future, even one where he didn’t exist. The idea that he was happy, that he was loved? Even more than being a hero, that had seemed too impossible to even dream about. 

He grasped the cold hand and intertwined their fingers like it was his only lifeline. Izuku sniffled, holding onto the hand until he blinked and found the only hand he was holding was that of the fortune teller. She let him grip her fingers as he composed himself, re-orientating himself back into his small, unscarred body.

“Are you alright, my boy?” She asked gently.

“Yeah,” Izuku said through his tears which probably didn’t help his case. “Really yes, I saw-” his breath hitched. “It was good, it was so good and I never thought- I couldn’t imagine someone like me could have that.” She relaxed and gave his hands a squeeze before letting go. 

“I’m glad, most people who cry during my sessions don’t do it for happy reasons. Take your time to calm down, Nami-chan will help you when you’re done. After that, your future awaits you.”

“Yeah,” he cheered, sloppily wiping his tears. No matter how bad things were now, they would eventually lead to the cozy home, the wall full of pictures and comforting hand around his side like it belonged there. He would wait a lifetime for that, 13 was nothing.

(luckily he didn’t even need to wait that long for his future to begin with a fated encounter, a question and a promise that his dreams could be reached)

13 Years Later

“‘zuku, you okay?” Shouto asked sleepily from behind him. 

“Yeah, why?” Izuku questioned as he blinked himself back to awareness feeling a bit muddled and out of it. 

“You’re gripping my hand pretty hard,” Shouto said pushing himself up onto his elbow, “also you’re crying.”

“Aren’t I always crying?” Izuku joked turned to look at his beautiful sleep rumbled boyfriend. Shouto just gave him a thoughtful look. “I’m fine, look,” he responded wiping the tears away. “I just, I think I was dreaming and you know how emotional I get.”

“Was it a nightmare?” Shouto asked settling himself back down into the bed, cuddling close on one of the rare days where one or both them wasn’t patrolling. 

“No, no, I don’t think so,” Izuku said shaking his head. He can’t be sure but he thinks he’d been dreaming of his past, of that sad, quirkless boy he’d been. If only there was some way he could tell that kid that things would get better, better than he could have possibly imagined. With the feel of Shouto’s dual temperatures pressed up against him, Izuku looked over at what Shouto called his Wall of Worship as if supporting his friends and colleagues was a bad thing.

All Might’s poster, the exclusive one of a kind poster his mentor had presented to him upon Izuku’s graduation as always drew his gaze. Too far away to read it properly Izuku still had memorized the words from the moment he’d read them, etched onto his heart.

To my boy,

Your bravery and kindness have inspired me from the moment we met. I cannot wait to watch you shine. Your future begins now. 

All Might Yagi Toshinori

[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

Sunflower - Harry Styles AU (Volume 6)

The year is 1977 and it’s officially summertime. Y/N is spending it with her family at the Malibu Breeze Hotel, where she meets, aspiring musician, Harry Styles. The two clash in the beginning, but soon realize they may just need each other in the end. Find out just how life changing one summer can be in Sunflower, a Harry Styles AU.

   Here is part 6 of Sunflower. Hope you enjoy it!

Vol. 1 Vol. 2   Vol. 3  Vol. 4 Vol. 5 

Word Count: 1.9K

“Oh, this is so wonderful, honey,” My mother exclaimed as she twirled by hair around the curler. “William is such a gentleman and this could bring on great things for you.”

“It’s only dinner, mother,” I sighed.

“Yes, yes, I know, but I really think he might have an eye on you,” she smiled.

I rolled my eyes. It didn’t take long before both of my parents found out about me having dinner with William later. The dinner I never said yes to, might I add. Of course, they didn’t know that and I probably should have told them, told William that I wasn’t interested, but the words wouldn’t leave my mouth. I could tell my parents, especially my father, were ecstatic about me hanging out with William and his friends.

My father because he thought it would help me make up my mind regarding Boston and because it would put in a good word for him with his boss. My mother because she could already picture a wedding with grandchildren running amuck down the line. I wanted neither of those things, at least not right now and not with William.

As my mother continued doing my hair and makeup that she insisted on doing once finding out the news, my thoughts wandered to Harry. He had looked so miserable, so annoyed and angry today. It really felt as if we were making progress and he was being less like how he was before, but today proved that it’s still the same.

Maybe he was just embarrassed with me being there. Seeing him having to wait on William and his friends… on me. Jasper never said anything to me, mostly because he was too busy sailing the boat. Rehearsals would be after the dinner, I wondered if either of them would say anything to me or bring up the events of the day.

Part of me hoped for a yes while the other was perfectly okay with them not uttering a word.

“There we are,” she smiled. “You look absolutely beautiful, Y/N, just gorgeous. William is going to be floored when he sees you.”

Mother moved out of the way, letting me be in full view of the mirror. My eyes widened as I looked at the reflection in the mirror. A reflection I didn’t recognize as me, not in a bad way though. I had never really been one to worry about makeup, mostly out of laziness and feeling like it was just something society made women feel like they needed in order to get a man and for cosmetic companies to make money.

But seeing myself in just a bit of blush, lipstick, eye shadow, and mascara, it was like my confidence level rose about four levels. And my hair was pulled back with a few strands of curled hair framing my face.

“Wow,” I uttered.

“See, I told you just adding a little bit to your face can make the most amazing changes,” she smiled. “Now, for your dress. I have the perfect one for you.”

My mother rummaged around through her closet for a few moments before pulling out this beautiful sunflower yellow dress. It was a halter top with a sweetheart neckline that flowed out just above the knee.

“Try it on,” she smiled.

I took the dress from her going into the bathroom to change into the dress. Once it was on, I tied the long ribbon around my neck and looked at myself in the mirror. The dress fit me perfectly and the color matched perfectly with my skin. I found myself smiling as I looked at myself in the mirror trying different angles to make sure everything did look alright.

Being all dressed up for once in my life made me feel special, beautiful even, but my heart sank knowing that all of this was happening for the wrong person.

**

Arriving at the Dining Hall for dinner with William was weird, awkward, and stressful. I wanted it to be over before I had even started. However, if having dinner with William wasn’t already bad enough, Harry and his band… the hotel house band was scheduled to perform. I nearly dropped my glass when I saw Harry and Mitch making their way towards the stage.

“Interesting, hopefully that one is a better singer than a waiter,” William joked.

I looked at him.

“Oh, um, the one there, I think he’s name is Barry… he was on the wait staff on the boat today,” William answered.

“I know and he’s name is Harry,” I told him.

“Eh, doesn’t matter,” he shrugged.

My hand gripped onto the menu a little too tight causing a small crease to start forming.

“Good evening and welcome back to another evening here at The Malibu Breeze Hotel. We hope you’ve had a lovely day and we thank you for spending the rest of your night here with us,” Harry said into the microphone.

The opening notes of the first song started playing as I looked over at the stage. Harry’s eyes were closed while he took a deep breath, something I noticed him doing every time before he opened his mouth to sing. Most people probably wouldn’t even notice because he does it so discreetly, but I did. I always do.

“Speaking of our day out at sea,” William started. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Um… I mean… I guess. I’m not really a boat person,” I told him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” he said. “Perhaps we could stay on land next time,” he laughed.

Mentally, I rolled my eyes, physically I gave a small nod and a smile.

The rest of the dinner went exactly how I thought it would. William talking about Boston, himself, his dad, shoving food in his mouth, etc. And just when I thought our little date was over and I could finally get out of there, William stood up from the table walking over to my side.

“Join me for a dance?” He asked, holding his hand out towards me.

“Um, actually, it’s getting pretty late, I should probably get going,” I told him. “I have plans, remember?”

“Oh come on, just one dance. Besides what’s wrong if you’re a little late anyway, you’re with me,” he smirked.

I had the urge to smack him right then and there, but I saw my parents at their table out of the corner of my eye. Even though they weren’t looking in that exact moment, I knew they had been staring throughout the night. I sighed going against my better judgement and what I wanted by saying yes.

I placed my hand in his and he practically pulled me to the dance floor. I gulped feeling Harry’s gaze on us when we got there. I didn’t dare look at him, afraid of what I might see. William wrapped his arm around my waist and held my hand with his other one. William’s face sat near my ear and I could feel his warm breath against my skin. A shiver ran down my spine, but not in a good way.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered into my ear.

His hands were slowly inching their way down from my waist. He knew what he was doing, placing his hands ever so subtly on me. I stood there frozen, my body willing to push him away, but nothing would move.

“How about you forget about those plans of yours and we head back to my room?” He asked. “So we could have a little more privacy to get to know one another. I could show you some more information about Boston, too.”

“Um, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I told him. “In fact, I should uh… be going now anyway. Excuse me.”

Not sure how, but I finally was able to maneuver myself out of his arms and out of the dining hall. I needed to get out of there, but I wasn’t sure where I would go. It was too early to head to the cabin for rehearsals and if I went back to my room, Marianne might be there and ask me about tonight. So, I took off my shoes and went out to the beach instead.

I found an empty beach chair that was still left out in the sand. I sighed sitting down, letting my head fall into my hands. I wanted the night to be over with and I knew first thing in the morning I would have to tell my parents that whatever they wanted me to have with William was never going to happen.

My hands rubbed at the side of my neck almost as if I was trying to wipe away his words and the remnants of his breath. I heard someone walking up behind me. I could stand up, ready to run, thinking it was William. But it wasn’t, it was Harry standing there, still wearing his suit with his hands in his pockets.

“W-What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “Did he-”

“I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head. “So um… you saw-”

“The two of you dancing? Yeah, it’s kinda hard not to when you were on my dance floor,” he said, kicking at the sand.

I sighed, “Look, I don’t get you or what’s up with you. Why do you always do this? You act like an ass to me, and then you’re fine and it’s like we’re finally moving past that and then today, you treated me like you didn’t even know me.”

“Me?” He asked. “Y/N, you’re the one staying at the big fancy ass hotel with your Daddy and his money. You’re the one who gets to be Daddy’s little girl by day and sneaks around playing in some band at night. You’re the one playing two sides here, not me.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!” I told him. “I told you this isn’t a fucking game for me! I’m serious about being in this band because it means something to me and because you mean something to me.”

“Oh really? Cause you could’ve fooled me when his hands were all over you and he was whispering in your ear,” he snapped.

“I pushed him away and left when he did that! I don’t want him,” I snapped back. “I never wanted him and I sure as hell didn’t want to go to dinner with him.”

“Then what do you want Y/N?” Harry asked. “What do you want, right here and right now, what do you want?”

I closed the remaining distance between the two of us. Sand covered my feet and my shoes felt heavy in my hands. My heart raced a mile a minute and my stomach felt like it was in knots, but I didn’t care. For the first time in my life someone asked me what I wanted for myself and because of that, I had to be completely honest.

“You,” I whispered. “I want you. I want the band… I want the music… I want all of it, but mostly… I just want you.”

I stared up at him, his eyes glistening as the moonlight lit up his face. His previously slicked back hair was now blowing freely in the breeze. I waited what seemed like forever for him to say something, but he never did.

He simply took my face in his hands and pressed his warm lips against mine while the waves crashed along the shore behind us.

**

Soo... word count wise this update was a little shorter. I thought about making it a bit longer, but I kinda like where it ended. But this does make me want to ask, do y’all prefer the longer updates 2k-3k word counts or shorter ones like 1k-1.5k? 

Let me know! :) 

[scream-into-the-voiddd]

this looks like fun! [I can’t seem to find the og poster but i got it from @lizzaroona]

September 1st: Favourite s1 episode?

Honesty a super hard pick, and i think there are better episodes in the season but the one i go back too most often is ep 10 “The Sear of Selene” 

It just has some of the best character moments (for me) and is truly funny and interesting. And has some real insight into Donald and Dewey’s feelings about Della and her being gone. we saw glimpse of this in ‘dime chase’ and ‘woo-woo/Atlantis’ but here we actually see the pain Della left in her wake. And what it means going forward. 

Plus stokeulse is a big sweet boi and i love watching him and Donald ‘re-connecting’ speaking of witch it is also the frist time Scrooge and Donald have a form of re-connection to 

“just like old times ah lad”

look at that face.

its a strong ep and lead the way for bigger ‘emotional hits’ down the line (the last crash of the sun chaser)

September 2nd: Favourite triplet?

I don’t really have one as they are all fleshed out and well rounded, that being said I am looking forward to more of Huey this season. But i don’t have a fav.

September 3rd: Favourite member of team magic

Webby, but i don’t know if that counts as she is main cast so i see her more often then any other Team Magic characters. The girl is fun and filled with so much love and she is to be feared. and I love her faults to she is awkward and hyper-fixated on Mcduck history to the point that its scary. and is a fun loving social shut in.

She is just so multifaceted and complex that i love her with all my heart.  

September 4th: favourite three caballeros 

I am bias on this one as i love José Oliveira (the og José) and anything involving that funky little parrot makes me happy. But in DT17 I do love that there is elements of that Og Jose in his characterisation

like in s2 ep 4 

when he calls over and hugs Donald (so sweet), and that he knows how to claim Donald down so fast (by making him dance and then getting him to sing) and to my knowledge he is the only one to do this in the whole show not just once but twice, so it shows that he has a deep understanding of Donald that most just don’t, and i have always loved that about their friendship.

plus from what i can tell from that ep as well it was Jose’s idea to meet up and he planned the trip (as he payed for it) so the fact he made arraignments for Panchito, Donald and THE BOY’S (+ scrooge) shows how much Jose really loves his friends, and plays an umbrella as an trumpet.       

September 5th: favourite ep of season 2

This was a hard one as most of the eps knock it out of the park, but i’m going to have to go with, ep 16 “the Duck Knight Returns” its just such a good ep and has so many wonderful layers to it, and i was actually caught of guard with the final Jim Starling twist. like i can’t even remember the lat time a twist hit me that hard (i got side swiped) I actually had to sit in silence for a solid minute or two and then watch the whole ep again.

they wasted no detail big or small in this ep (like that Jim was already wearing an unbuttoned DW suit and had the hat in the box next to him, or the sound drake made being thrown into the bathroom just like og DW, and the meta jokes and the animation, the whole ep just went so hard) 

and it was a really fun way to ‘pass the torch’ from one actor to another, especially playing with the idea of someone just not being done with the character yet and not wanting to let go, (as a lot of audiences have that issue, with re-boots and relaunches, and especially when a version of a character has an unfinished story left, think Andrew Garfield’s spider-man for e.g.)

i could honesty talk forever about this ep but i’ll spare you all.     

September 6th: favourite hug? 

Honesty its a three way tie...

1) Scrooge and Della when she first comes home. Just they way he scoops her up like a kid and holds her tight, makes my heart full. 

2) this one with Louie, just the mother son embrace was really earned here. 

3) and this one with Jose and Donald, its rare we see Donald so happy to see anyone (who is not his family) and just how naturally he ran into his arms was so nice. And Jose dropping his umbrella right away show how he knew what was coming. Plus i am a big fan of men showing their love and friendship in sweet fun ways like this, so a win for non-toxic masculinity here.   

September 7th Gizmoduck or Darkwing duck?

this is a hard one as i do like both of these hero boy’s and i have talked about how they have conflicting views of their own success through the other (basically, Drake has is personal life together, but Fenton has his hero life together, and i think it would be a point of envy for both characters) And I love Fenton and Drake for different reasons, but at their core they are somewhat the same just two people who want to help others for no other reason then it is the right thing to do.

And i Love what the show has done for both characters but...I will have to give it Drake by a fraction of a hair (feather?).

As unlike Fenton I only needed one ep to be 100% on board with Drake and i know everything i need to know about him from that. As DW had a whole ass show for a reason and that one ep showed it. As Fenton is a wonderful character and he is a very well done character, but one of his defining traits is that he is all over the place (like in his life, work, the way he specks ect) but that can get messy from time to time as it can be hard to be ‘on board’ with someone with no clear ‘goal’ persay (they did cover most of this in “who is Gizmoduck” but some of it still lingers now that can be a tiny bit jarring at times) But like that is SUPER Neat-picky, tho. 

And Drake has that chaotic feral energy that Fenton just don’t have (Fenton has more Bi panic energy), but Drake also has tired dad energy (like how he growls at GD in moonvation and when he calls to LP before the set explodes) and i love that about him. 

Get this man his Gosalyn already so he can be the dorky dad he is destined to be.     

September 8th: Favourite duck cousin?

I’m going to have to go with Gladstone, because he is a HUGE prick, but in a way he is not fully aware of. He is generous (he literally offers the boy’s a bucket of diamonds, just because they came by)    

And I love that half hazard nature about him, he is true neutral, things just happen to him and for him and he just takes it, and that is actually really interesting, (don’t get me wrong i love Fethry, Della and Donald) but Gladstone is such a wild card in the duck/mcduck family when compared to everyone else that its a nice change of pace from the rest in a way (all of them good hearted and well meaning people) I generally have no idea what he might do when presented with an actual problem/ choice, so to see that will be fun and this crews take on Gladstone in that regard.

As i think out of all the cousins he has the most growing/changing to do.      

September 9th: favourite ship?

Ok here is the thing.

in general fandom 

I don’t really have any strong feelings about most ships one way or the other. I think a lot are nice and I enjoy seeing others enjoy themselves and all the wonderful art and time they put into it. That being said out of all my years of being in fandoms I have had a grand total of 5-10 ships i am super passionate about and that is over the span of 10+ years. 

and one of the things i love the most about ducktales is how much it focuses on family love and pure platonic friendships (for both kid and adult characters). And that makes my ace heart happy.  So basically I’m saying is I have no strong feelings about most ships in general beyond “aww” or “man i love how much the fandom loves them” and “that is some great art/ fic / creative output I’m happy for them.” 

But with that out of the way, the question at hand.

I’m going to have to go with Donald and Daisy, as from a writing sand point it was so well done and sweet and cute. And it gave a new perspective on a relationship that has been around for 70+ years, so that was impressive all on it’s own, and it is going to be a loving, interesting relationship going forward.

September 10th: Favourite season 3 episode  

I am going to assume that this is out of the 7 eps so far (duh), which again is hard cause this show is just so damn good. But I would have to say it is ep 6 “Astro B.O.Y.D”

now cue story of me as a kid in 3...2...1...

when i was a kid, I was obsessed with Astro boy, i was maybe 6 years old and i loved it. I was a relatively poor kid so in the early/mid 2000′s i would get a lot of my reading/watching materials from my local library. This included 4 VSH tapes of Astro boy episodes for the 80′s series and i would watch the 2003 anime dub on Saturday mornings TV (one ep a week if that), The library also had the first 2 vols of the og manga that i read so many times that i could probably re-sight it from memory. anyway, the reason i love astro boy so much was because it gave me a feeling i had not felt in my young life before that point, even if i did not full understand it at the time.

Its a feeling i still can’t fully put into words, but i will do my best. Astro boy goes right for the heart in every way possible, but it always twist the knife when it goes for, grief, regret and longing agony. specifically when in looks at lost love, usually platonic love (Tobio and Tenma e.g), the feeling these story’s gave me was the complexity of pain that losing love can bring, but it is most effective because it is through the lens of a child (astro/ tobi) and an innocent, loving child at that. The child is (somewhat) untouched by the tragedy (via memory loss) but is still shaped by the love that was put into them, despite the grief's overall out come (the abandonment of said child). So the feeling is a bitter-sweetness that comes from a place of innocents but also personal understanding of the self Astro was made by Tenma, but he was not what tenma made him to be (his lost son) but astro became his own person who loves and is loved by others, and is a whole person on his own outside of what he was made for (and is in a way still A son to tenma just NOT Tobi). and there is that sense of a child just wanting to be heard and understood for who they ARE and not what others what them to be, regardless of their “potential” (in other words personal choice’s and passions that the child actually wants for themselves)

I just love Astro Boy ok...and i never get a chance to talk about it, so i thought i would here, as this list was foolish enough to give me an opening.

Moving on to the DT17 ep.

The Astro Boyd ep. hit all of these notes, the longing agony of lost love (Gyro and Boyd) the regret that came from Gyro for boyd’s creation.

Boyd’s innocents and loving nature coupled with his wants and identity not being fully understood (gyro thinking he is evil, Fenton wanting him to be a hero, Akita having him be a tool and Tesuka thinking he is just a mindless robot) and just wanting to be seen for what he truly is “a defiantly real boy” and he gets that conformation from Gyro at the end!

and Gyro has is own actualisation, about his own grief, after thinking his love was “misplace” for years on end in a way that made him shut down his heart almost completely. Only to find that he was right to let himself love and that love is actually what helped Boyd help himself. Gyro in essence realising that both him and Boyd are not mistakes or failures but two people who lost the one they loved (each other) and have finally found a way back to each other so they can both begin to fully heal.    

So it was a good episode *wipes tear away from eye*

September 11th : favourite villain?

I don’t really have a favourite villain as the show don’t tend to focus to heavy on them and when they do it is somewhat short lived, (like Magica in season 1 and Lunarus in season 2) and since this season has a group of villains (FOWL) and not just one main one like the last 2 seasons, I have a feeling that one of the up coming FOWL members may take the top spot later down the line.  

but if we are going off the one i find most entertaining...

I’m going to have to give it to

Magica she is played as scary, funny and damn relatable on occasion (the funzo scene), and i am never disappointed to see her. I think she is very different from comic magica in a lot of ways, but i enjoy this version for different reasons. And i think this magica has room to grow/ change (for good or for worst). So safe to say i am looking forward to the first ep in the line up.  

September 12th : favourite character?

why must you make me choose...

seriously all of the characters major or minor is shown in a way that makes them feel very real and well rounded even if they have very little screen time. for god sake the ottoman empire guys get character development (one left the show to pursue acting and they fight with scrooge in the moonvation). So this is not an easy pick to say the least.    

but I will be judging it by the one i ‘get the most out of’ so to speck....

and I have to say its a tie...

Donald Duck

I love him ok. He is very small and very angry and he will fight god(s) for his family safety. Anyway, I have always love Donald Duck shorts and everything else he shows up in he is always my fav.

I have always been able to relate to Donald as i too have a bit of a disability that makes it hard for people to understand be (in writing) and i have a ‘voice issue’ that makes me different from everyone around me. So i really understand the feeling Donald have and the anger that comes from being misunderstood in the most basic ways. Its not fun

So Donald has always been important to me in a sense,  

The thing about Ducktales 2017 that i love is that it fleshes out Donald’s already established characteristics, by giving them context (e.g. using his outbursts to protect the boys). this gives him something that me has been missing (in animation) for awhile now, and that is how functions outside of himself.

what i mean by that is that Donald is kind of unique when it comes to the Disney sensational 6, unlike the rest is/ can be

-selfish

-cowardly

-rude/ mean spirited

-a loser

these things are what make him different to the rest but in animation for a while he has been shown by himself (without his family or even Daisy) so all of the above characteristics are not “diluted” or held to any standard outside of Donald’s personal misery.

So he can be super selfish and an all around ass cause, yeah, if your life was one pain after the other no matter what you did and you were all on your own all the time, then yeah, your going to be a miserable little shit.  

But by reintroducing the boy’s and giving him a more defined role (father/ solo care giver) at least at the start of the show, it gives Donald a reason to “fight off” his less than noble parts of his personality. It also makes his action have more weight as everything he does or fails to do effects the boy’s. So that makes him more appealing overall as what he does (or doesn’t) do now matters, and all the tragedy in Donald’s life are also given weight (Della being gone for 10 yrs, and what that did to his relationship with Scrooge) so his pain is now REAL and even tho he is funny and reckless, he is now a person with flaws and failings but also victory's (getting Della back and his family being close again) and dreams (the three caballeros and his relationship with Daisy)

I do love this little Rage machine  

the other fav is

Drake Mallard

(maybe I just like single duck dads? idk, lol)

I have already talked a bit about his intro ep,

but as of right now i am more in love with the potential i see in the character. As we have not really seen to much of him like maybe 4 ep’s total. But Drake is the character i am most hyped to see more of (and the people who are around him, Gos and LP etc.)  

as i find him really interesting and he is (ironically) one of the more “normal” people in the show as a whole, He is not rich (high society rich anyway) he is not an explorer, not a scientist, he don’t have a ‘crazy’ backstory (like Gyro in Tokyok) and he doesn't have a direct connection to Scrooge himself (he never worked for him directly, and is not a family member)

so he is just a random guy, who thought “I’m going to do this crazy shit just because a handsome pilot man said i could if i wanted to”

and honestly that’s cool.    

he is fun and goofy in an engendering way, and his ego is the right amount of controlled (ish) but still over the top. the character is full of story’s that can be taken from the og show and mixed in with the new show (like his intro ep),

Drake is a just fun to think about, and how his world relates to the world of ducktales in general, as they were separate for such a long time, so seeing it come together in a new way is super existing.

I was already blown away by his last solo ep I can’t wait to see more of him (and his how he will be with his Gos, and how that adventure will unfold)  

September 13th Favorited actor/ actress 

now this is just an unfair question, this is a star strutted cast and everyone is amazing. There is a pop culture icon and a Disney legend in the cast (and the fact your not 100% sure which one’s i’m talking about proves my point)

So i am going to cheat a little here, I’m not going off the actors and actress themselves per say but rather I’m going to talk about my favourite performance in the show.

I judge this on two things

1) how much the act ‘disappears’ into the character (as in i don’t see the human person when there talking, even if its still just their normal voice)

2) I can’t see (/hear) anyone else being able to do the role

So on those two things in mind i will have to go with.

Paget Brewster

she just plays Della with this fun life to her, she can switch on a dime from crazy adventurer to comic foil to herself and then have moments of deep self refection. And she had to carry the introduction to the character all on her own, as Della was isolated, so if she didn’t sell Della to us (the audience) then the whole mystery/ build up to Della would have fallen apart. So that was not easy but she pulled it off (with great writing as well).

and she was/is amazing as Della, she is just awesome and I love listening to her and how she plays Della.

September 14th Favourite song

Oh for me it hands down has to be “not good enough” I love a good Bond ballad and Ben kills it. Plus it plays a big part in the episodes theme’s for LP,

its perfect, it fits the story, character and the parody.   

September 15th: Favourite scene from favourite episode.

well out of my top 3 episode (that i have already listed) I’m going to not talk about ‘the dark duck returns’ as there is a scene in there that i will talk about later. my favourite scene out of the other 2 episodes i have picked, i would have to go with...

The ‘Defiantly real boy’ scene from Astro BOYD

(i have already talked about my love for Astro boy and this ep in relation to that)  what i love the most about this scene is that not only did Gyro and Boyd ‘find’ each other again, but they found themselves again.

Boyd turned back into the real boy Gyro ‘made’ him to be (the boy Gyro always believed he was/could be) and that not only was that ok, but the best way for Boyd be himself. Thus his reclaiming of the word Boyd, he is still ‘the same’ but now has a clear sense of what it actually means to himself, mixing both 2BO and Boyd into one. With the love given to 2BO by Gyro and the life experience he has had as Boyd, so Boyd didn’t have to change everything about himself to be complete he just needed to understand that he was loved for being himself and to get confirmation that he is what he believes himself to be a ”Defiantly real boy” (T-T)

as for Gyro, he realised that his love, care and idealism (as he put it) was not misplaced (on Boyd), as when the little boy he loved so fully seemingly turn on him, that broke his heart and his spirit in a way that just would not fully mend. (thus his cold and rude behaviour through out the show so far...) But when Gyro fully embraces his idealism and loving side again (by embracing Boyd) he realises that he can bring his true feeling to the surface again as it was never a mistake for him to do so. thus why he embraces Fenton as an equal, by calling him Doctor and showing the respect he actually always felt for Fenton.

They found themselves through each other, and it melts my heart (T-T) 

September 16th: Favourite moonlander

Penny.

September 17th: Favourite Beagle Boy

Black arts Beagle,

I mean he is the reason we have Duckworth back so thats got to count for something.

September 18th: Favourite scene of your favourite ship

I have to say its this little moment here...

Donald spent the whole episode wanting to impress this woman (Glamor), but after spending time with Daisy decided that Daisy’s dignity was more important then his Big Break. And Daisy returns in kind like ‘yeah i shouldn’t be treated this way’ and its just really sweet. It also got Daisy noticed and most likely jumb started her career and Daisy (again) returned in kind (most likely) by having the three Caballeros perform on stage right after.

so its a small but very insight look into the new dynamic Donald and Daisy are going to/ do have in this show.

[plus this screen shot was funny to me,

i think it has meme template vibes]

September 19th: Favourite scene of  your favourite character.

oh my, where oh where to take this?

every character in this show is so good so this is just hard man....

but I will go with “The Duck Knight returns” one of my favs, and honesty i could talk about this episode all on its own (and I just might after “Lets Get Dangerous” airs)  but for me one of the scenes that really stuck out to me (that others have not really touched on) Is when they have the “meeting” with Alister, Jim, Scrooge and Dewey and then Drake comes in (and then immediately gets his shit wrecked by Jim).

As a film student, I feel this scene on a personal level.

the old(er) man who knows nothing but wants to take control.

the Pretentious “artist” that thinks “making it dark” makes it meaningful.

the person who pretends they know what there talking about but is to stuck in their ways to really change their mind.

and a child or child like understanding (its more common then you think)

(tho i would place LP in the audience position, which is the point of this scene) This scene hit me where I live, and is a really good commentary on Corporate meddling. As there are three ‘battles’ happening in this scene

1) Scrooge Vs Alistair

this acts as a money vs art argument, that is seen all to often in movies and shows, as I can guess we can all name at least one movie or show that has the “the record studio is changing your sound its not authentic...”

but Dt 2017 shows the other side to this and asks

authentic to what? like its one things when its your own creation but what if its was someone else's (like a reboot)  

is it better to be authentic to what was before (the og material), or is it best to take a new direction because its more ‘comfortable’ for you to do (fits your style / sensibility's)

thus leading to

2) LP Vs Dewey  

or a young audience vs the older audience, now Dewey and LP don’t really clash in this ep per say but, they act as a more “aggressive” views on audience backlash now they are Not Malicious but they do act as conflicting presences. Dewey (understandably) doesn’t get why it has to be dark and gritty, or what was happening at all as Alistair is going for a high concept film, but guess what, kids aren’t always great at picking high concepts up (at least not right away) and they can be easily bored by it, if its not engaging in a way that can appeal to them.  

and LP as an older audience member does know what the show/ movie is “meant to be” so seeing these high concepts added in a way that is not in the sprit of og material can be unnerving. And high concepts can miss the point or main message/style of the og material to the point that unrecognisable (*cough*Live action, Titians *cough*).

both of these points are legitimate concerns for audiences to have, as if something is so different its not unrecognisable then why not just make something original? and not draw a comparison.

and if your main audience is meant to be younger, they how are you going to engage them in way that matters to them or in a way they can understand (youth culture or ‘young truths’ i.e. things kids deal with/experience when growing up)          

speaking of which

3) Jim Vs Drake

this one is kind of the mix of the pervious two, or nostalgia vs update? (i can’t think of a better word),  

Jim is so determined to be in the spot light that he is willing to ‘throw away’ is morals (as seen at the end), his ‘artist integrity’ no longer matters as long as DW gets to come back, he just wants some sense of being back that it doesn’t actually matter how (*cough* Teen Titians Go*cough*), so he losses a big part of what made it DW to begin with and not because he don’t care about DW but because he places his value of it in one spot (himself as darkwing)  

as Drake on the other hand. understands that changes need to be made but he knows the movie is off base (he says so himself later), but he puts the value of DW in more then himself, as he has felt it be bigger then what was just on screen (Jim) and has carried that with him here. And since he is set up as an ‘enemy’ here (Jim jumps him) new is seen as an enemy as well, but he literal gets attached for just existing, so yeah not a great move by Jimbo there, and due to nostalgia (both in and out of the show due Jim starling/cummings) most may not of have pick up on it right away.

so yeah, this is an underrated scene and i wanted to talk about it a little as it sets up the rest of the episode.  

September 20th: Favourite friend group 

hmmm....

I have a feeling that this is going to change after the new wave of episodes (i like how team hero is shaping up) but for now i will have to say team science. They just have a nice balance of personalities and ability's, plus they the most team (ish) as they literally have to work together (most of them)

huey, gyro, fenton, manny and lil bulb

and all have their own style and smarts

Manny and Lil blub don’t even talk but they have big personalities and now with the addition of Boyd this little group feels well rounded.

I love them nerds

[snk-smartpass]

Late Night Stories Vol. 03 Krista Lenz : A Heart-Pounding Story

“Nngh… Meaaaat… Breaaad… Mrrgh.”

“Wake up, potato girl! Your textbook is covered in drool!”

Whack! The dull sound of someone’s head being struck filled the room. It was late at night, but the girls barracks still glowed bright.

“Hey, whose idea was it again to copy the boys and pull an all-nighter?!”

“You, too, Ymir. Calm down…”

“Then do you want to give up and go to sleep, Krista? You know this test about the history and construction of the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment is ridiculously hard, right? And it’s even going to be counted in our overall marks!”

“Ugh… I won’t sleep. I’ll study.”

“L-Let us join, too!”

Mina and Hannah, two other recruits, gathered around the trio sitting around the table. Unable to sit there and watch everyone desperately try to rub the drowsiness out of their eyes any longer. Ymir crossed her arms and made a suggestion.

“Now that I think of it, the boys said they had someone tell a story to wake them up. Hey, Krista. Give us a story.”

“Whaat?!”

••••••

Now that she had been put on the spot, Krista looked around at everyone, flustered.

“B-But, what should I talk about…?”

“Oh, I want to hear a story about a time when someone made your heart race, Krista!”

Hannah’s proposal put a glimmer in all the girls’ eyes, aside from Krista’s. She looked skeptical, like she didn’t even understand what was being said.

“But…”

“It doesn’t have to be anything special. For example, a time you saw someone as a good person because of something unexpected they did. You know, that kind of thing!”

The girls all agreed as they looked on expectantly. Krista thought, and then she suddenly clapped.

“Oh! Then what about this?”

••••••

It happened during a training exercise meant to take place in a scenario where the recruits had to plan an escape with multiple horses from a Titan-filled area. Notifying the people of danger and evacuating them on horses during emergencies was an important part of a soldier’s duties.

At the time, Krista was in a team with Ymir and Sasha.

“The pack of horses meant for the citizens has made it to the Forest of Giant Trees!”

“I’ll use Vertical Maneuvering to be on watch! Sasha, you protect the rear!”

“Alright!”

As Krista led the horses from the front, she was concerned about Ymir overhead. Because there would be sudden Titan appearances during the training, log traps meant to recreate a Titan’s long, outstretched limbs had been placed in their way, as well as dummy Titans meant to obstruct them.

“In front!”

A dummy Titan appeared from nowhere in front of Krista. She immediately put her horse on a detour and made sure the pack had changed directions before using Vertical Maneuvering to leap into the air herself. But then—

“Guh?!”

“Ymir!!”

Now a log trap had appeared, this time in front of Ymir—

“HIYAAAAA!”

••••••

“…And that’s how Sasha saved us!”

“Yeah, that was pretty surprising.”

Though Sasha should have been in the back, she used her Vertical Maneuvering Equipment to appear in the very front, where she used both her legs to land a kick on the log, changing its direction. Thanks to her, Ymir avoided taking a direct hit while Krista was able to focus on destroying the dummy Titan, allowing training to come to a safe end.

“That was cool.”

“I’m sure it was just her intuition, but she did save us.”

Sasha had already fallen sound asleep while the story was being told, and Ymir forced a smile as she gently poked her head.

…But Mina and Hannah looked unamused, as though they had been deceived.

“Um… That’s not what we meant…”

“We wanted to hear a story about…well, a different kind of person, I guess…”

“What, that wasn’t good enough for you?”

“No…it did help us wake up, but…”

The disappointed recruits suddenly realized something. Couldn’t the trio’s trust in one another and their close teamwork be the cause of their high marks?

“…I guess that means we should be more serious about training, too, instead of just trying to hear about silly love stories.”

“Hmm? Mrrgh…”

“…It is plain annoying that the hero of that story is out cold right now, though.”

And so, the night marched quietly on in the girls barracks.

SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

TRANSLATION: Ko Ransom

[scentedsongrebel]

Waiting for light (1/3)

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Female! Reader

Summary: After a mission gone wrong, Bucky finds himself living in his worst nightmare.

Warnings: Cursing maybe?, sexual references but no actual smut, Violence, memory loss, gun use, incorrect medical terms (maybe), angst, so much angst, Mentions of faith and god (no talks of religion), please tell me if I miss any...

Word Count: ~7k

A/N: So this is my entry for @xbuchananbarnes ‘s Dani’s Awesome Writing Challenge Mix Vol. 1, #danisawesomewcmix. Congratulations on your milestone, you totally deserve it! My prompt was 7.“I’m gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy”. 

This would be a 2 part series because it got too long and I had to split it. I’m so sorry for the heavy angst in this one but this story was in my mind for a while and it fit perfectly in my prompt.

Also sorry if it gets too dramatic. I live for the Drama!

This story is not edited yet.

The sun shines with the remnants of a hectic day as it prepares for its slumber. Right in the path that is eliminated with the last specks of light, a Man drags a Woman.

One arm around her neck keeping her close, the other holding a gun to her head. He slowly moves back, dragging her with him until they reach a point where there was no going further.

The Avengers surround them from all sides, weapons raised and warnings screamed. The Man seems to not care as he presses the revolver harder into your head, eliciting a groan of pain from your lips.

Your legs hurt from the bone you're sure you've broken and blood runs down different wounds, locations of which are unknown.

"You gonna kill me" he smiles devilishly "I'm gonna take your girl with me"

An increase in the pressure around your neck causing you to see black spots.

"Listen Castle" Steve moves in closer "We can work through this just let her go"

"Work through this huh Captain?" Castle spits blood on the ground "I know how this gonna work, I leave her, you kill me"

"No you leave her and we let you live" Tony raises his hand, the mask of his iron man suit opening up.

"I would consider that option of course Stark but what is life really" The guy muses then laughs menacingly "I serve Hydra, my purpose is Hydra and what better way do die than by serving Hydra"

"I can name so many better ways" Tony tries to move forward but a warning glare and pressure of the gun against your head is warning enough to stop him

Castle shakes his head, a wicked smile staying on his lips "Taking the Soldat's girl with me, punishing him for everything he did to Hydra after his betrayal, seems like the best way to go and because I love to increase the pain, you got any last words sweetheart?"

You cringe at the use of the name only Bucky is allowed to call you as you try to pull away the last time before looking the love of your life directly in the eyes.

"Bucky" you whisper, eyes shining with tears you use everything in you to hold back. He tries to reach out to you, tries to say something but the only sound coming out of his petrified mouth his a whisper of your name, so faint you may have missed it if you weren't so acquainted with every movement of his lips.

"Bucky listen" you whisper as a drop of tear rolls down your eye "You have to move on, take care of my babies please."

"Y/n"

"Nat, you take care of my girl and boys. Help him move on, move forward, use your Nat skills to force him into dating again"

Natasha shakes her head, her gun raised at the perpetrator. They all stand hopeless, you are at the end of the cliff, one shot, one wrong move and its over for you. Her eyes give you an answer but you still smile. Assuring her through it that you want her to do that for you. You know she will come around someday.

"And at least I’m gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy”

And you can see how that one line affects everyone of your friends, your family. For 10 years you've said this exact line before every mission. As a little stress buster, a hammer on the ice that embraces the entire atmosphere in its cold clutches before every single mission. Because no matter how easy a mission, a fear of this being the last one for someone pertains.

The idiots, your idiots you are gonna die surrounded by would be Steve, Natasha, Tony and your Bucky. Maybe if there were more there was a chance for you but you know at this point it isn't. These are the last moments and you wanna make sure they know you were yourself when you leave.

"Bucky take care of m yourself and my babies please"

"No Y/n you are not-"

"That's ENOUGH" the guy screams in your ear readying his gun and Bucky reacts on instinct. It was now or never. Pulling out his gun and shooting directly at the Man's face, another one at his hand, making sure to miss you.

The man falls back off the cliff, taking with and Bucky lets out an ear piercing scream.

"Y/N" be runs to follow you down the cliff before being harshly grabbed by Natasha and Steve. He is sobbing, openly now like the rest of them are before a gush of wind shoots out through and up flies a figure from the end of the cliff.

His wings flap a last time before Sam lands down on the ground. An unconscious figure in his arms.

You.

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

The loud voice rings through the open air as many people cringe and nonchalantly try to cover their ears so as not to offend the source of the noise.

You sit on Bucky's lap, between his legs on the front most table (a little away from the stage thank god!) because he insisted that now he is legally certified to keep you as close to him as he wants.

Steve tried to remind him that is not what marriage means.

Bucky tried to remind him he was an irritating punk.

A loud screech reaches your ears and Bucky buries his face in the back of your neck trying to muffle the sound.

"Why would you put me through this" he whispers in your ears from behind.

"Shhh" you turn your head to the side a little to talk to him "He was so excited to do this performance. What was I supposed to do? Tell him no?"

"That's what any sensible bride would have would. You are ruining our wedding"

You roll your eyes and turn more in his lap to get a better view of his face

"Our wedding is perfect. No one can ruin it"

Bucky shakes his head, smiling and taking your kips in a soft kiss which is broken up when Sam plays a very high note and Bucky has to take a wincing break.

"You know, I hate the let anyone do anything they want for our wedding rule"

"But Honey" you say turning back to look at the happy Sam trying and horribly failing at playing the bagpipe "It makes them so happy. They are all excited for us and I wanted them to be able to take part in this however they like"

Bucky groans and turns you to face him again as nuzzles into your neck.

"You are gonna be the death of me Mrs. Barnes" he places a soft kiss on your jaw

You let out a soft laugh just as the instrumental noises get louder and now people have started covering their ears, leaving behind any thoughts of discretion.

"I love you" you say, moving your arms around his neck.

"I love you too" he says and then gives you a kiss on the lips and then whispers in your ear "And I can't wait to get you away from here and all to myself"

You laugh at that whispering a me too in his ear before turning back as Sam reaches his ending verse.

When the performance is over, the round of applause is so loud, you are sure people on the streets can hear it despite the fact that you stand on the roof of a very tall building.

Bucky even gives a standing ovation and you know all this is because the thing is over. You just shake your head as Tony is whistling

 in excitement and Clint is popping champagne in celebration. God these guys were so extra sometimes.

Just as the applause dies down Sam beams at his audience, not really understanding the reason of the clapping.

Just as Sam comes down the stage and Bucky thinks he can celebrate the end of his ear being tortured. There is a new person getting on stage.

Steve smiles at the audience as he plugs in his electric guitar that he has been taking lessons for. Bucky's eyes widen and for a moment he thinks maybe it will be fine but then Steve hits the first note, singing too this time and he gets back down on the chair, pulling you to his lap again.

You give him a small guilty smile "Its not that bad"

Bucky sighs

"Your gonna be the death of me Mrs. Barnes"

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

Bucky sat at the fluffy chair Steve had bought for him saying if he's gonna spend all his free time here the least he can do is keep him comfortable and back pain free. Bucky is not sure he can even have back pain.

He leans forward, holding your hand close to his heart as he speaks "and then she asked me If plants need rain and sun to grow, and rainbows are made of light and water, are rainbows plant food?"

He laughs as he tells you that, looking over at your bed laid body for a sign to want to say something back. When you stay still he sighs and continues "What did I say you ask? I just nodded and agreed with her" a deep laugh "I mean what else am I supposed to even say right? God Y/n our little girl is getting so smart with age-"

"Definitely taking after and mother than"

Bucky swiftly turns around, taking up a protective stance in front of you as he turns to look at the intruder.

"Geez chill Barnes. Its just me" she raises her hands, then crosses them before leaning on the door frame sideways for support.

"What have I said about sneaking up on me" Bucky asks with a sigh, sitting down again

"Not to do it or you may end up killing me" she says nonchalantly

"Yet you don't stop"

"Yet you don't kill me"

Bucky just shakes his head, taking hold of your hand and placing a soft kiss on you knuckles.

"How is she?" Natasha asks from behind him

"Like she is everyday" he says plainly

She just nods her head, staying quiet for a while before moving forward and taking a seat herself on the other side of your bed

"Buvk we need to-"

"No"

"James listen we need to-"

"Don't you dare say it Natalia" he growls at her, eyes holding so much anger any other person would have ran for their lives. But Natasha was not any other person maybe that is why she was the one here for this talk

"Well Steve is too concerned about you to say it, Sam is too emotional, others don't have the courage to do it which means I have to be the one to say it"

He glares at her which she returns with concerned eyes. They stay there looking at each other for a while before Nat sighs and starts

"We have to decide if she would have wanted this"

"I have to decide and my decision is made"

"James its been 6 months"

"They said there was brain activity" Bucky screams at her

"They also said that she may always be in vegetative state. Do you really think Y/n would want that?"

At the mention of your name he quickly turns to look at you. His beautiful girl, his wife, lying of the bed, lifeless. Your hand is connected to an IV and a ventilator provides air to your body. Your head bald and bandaged after surgery and a feeding tube going in your nose. Your eyes are closed and Bucky had to close his too because its getting too much. He turns back to Natasha.

"I don't care what she would have wanted"

"James-"

"No don't James me Natalia. You won't understand. I will not let my kids grow up without their mother"

"A mother who may never wake up"

And that is enough for Bucky as he suddenly gets up from his chair pushing it back causing it to fall down with a loud BHOM!. He turns to Natasha, eyes blaxing with her anger he moves closer to her.

Natasha takes a step back, scared for her well being for the first time since she entered the room. He comes closer until he is just inches from her and looks down at her figure

"What do you want me to do huh? Kill her" he growls "Add the love of my life to the list?"

"James" Nat can feel the tears form in her own eyes as a single drop falls down Bucky's. She knew this conversation was going to be hard. It was hell for her to even think about the mere possibility of having to pull the plug on you but in times like these someone had to be a voice of reason, to hold everyone together.

"Natalia" he whispers through more tears "I can't tell my Matilda and Nixon I didn't fight for their mother when they grow up and ask about her. I can't let go until the doctors tell me there is no chance for her to wake up. Not the she may never. I want the she will never before I even think about it ok? Because if I have to, I am okay, completely happy to live with this hope, to be able to hold her hand and smell her scent, to listen to her heartbeat. So please let me have this for a while before I think of other things and if you or anyone has a problem with this then tell me and I will take my wife and kids and get away from your lives".

Nat just shakes her head as a sob escapes her lips and she moves forward, engulfing Bucky in a hug as she lets out cries. He stays still for a second before hugging her back, letting out his own silent sobs.

"She will be okay" He says pulling away from Nat and looking at you "I know she will"

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

All the avengers look up at the door when someone barges in. Nat's shoulders are slumped and her usually stiff posture is crumpled as she takes a seat at the table of the conference.

Tony moves to ask her something but she is faster to speak

"I can't do it" she sighs shaking her head. Her eyes bloodshot and the only indication of her previously crying state. "I thought I was ready but I'm not"

"None of us are ready" Steve moves to place his hand on hers "We just need to talk about this as a possibility so as if one day-" he stops to take a deep breath "if one day, if we have to we are prepared to be their for Buck and the kids"

"Bucky also needs to think about this possibility" Pepper points out shaking her head "We need to say this to him no matter how much it hurts because its not just him, he would have to hold it together for the twins"

"I hate this" Sam grumbles looking at his hands on the table in front of him

"We all do birdbrain" Tony sighs from his place looking around at the dejected faces of his team mates, friends and family minus two "Well all hate this with a passion"

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

The birds were chirping in welcome to the early morning sun while Bucky was looking at your sleeping form.

There were very few days that would start this way. Usually you both were not early birds in any chance and tried to stay in bed as long as you can before yoh needed to get off and get to work.

Bucky lets the soothing rhythm of your steady heartbeat calm his mind as he closes his eyes in bliss. He loved these mornings with you. Even if you two would move away sometime during the night, by the mornings you just found your way back into his arms.

He listens to the steady dhap dhap fhap dhap before something catches his ears and he swiftly opens his eyes.

Moving to get a clear sound and yes he can hear it. He carefully moves your hands away from his waist as he starts to move away ignoring from whining groan.

He moves the blanket covering your naked body and moves his hand over your stomach before bending and placing his ear on it.

And his heart skips a beat as he hears it. Loud and clear. He hears it.

"Bucky" you groan as you move to sit up, leaning against the headboard "What happened"

Bucky ignores you as he moves to place his ear against your stomach again and yup its still there.

His eyes fill up with tears he can't control and he looks up at you wifh those shining blue eyes.

"Hey baby what's wrong" You try to move closer to him, moving your hands to his cheeks

Bucky shakes his head, trying to process, trying to let out words but all he can do is give you a soft smile as a tear rolls down his eye.

"I hear heartbeat" he says slowly

Your eyebrows knit together and a frown makes home on your face "Umm. Yeah I know you can hear my heartbeat. It stopped being creepy long ago"

"No" Bucky shakes his head, trying to pull himself together, to control the sea of emotions going through him right now

"I-I-I hear a-a heartbeat" he says slowly, smiling at you and pointing at your stomach

You look at him in confusion for a while, clearly early mornings are not good for you and now he is gonna make sure you get as much sleep as you want. A moment before understanding draws on your face and you move your hand to cover your mouth

You look at your husband with wide eyes and he nods his head through the tears and suddenly you let a little happy sob

"I'm pregnant?" You look at him questioningly

Bucky nods his head excitedly "There is a heartbeat right here" he points at your stomach "faint but it there".

You try to move your head towards your stomach, to have a listen yourself but failing of course before looking at Bucky again

"And and you are okay with this?" You ask slowly

"Could not be more happy doll" he whispers moving closer and taking your lips in his "you have given me everything I never thought I could have"

You smile at him before pulling away "Wait" you say holding up a finger to stop him from kissing you again "We can't celebrate until we are sure"

"I am sure doll" he moves a string of your hair that was falling on your face behind your ear.

"No no" you laugh trying to speak as he keeps kissing you again and again "We need a doctor confirmation"

"Whatever you want" he says as he lays you down on his bed and starts his expedition of your body

"Just be ready to be pampered a whole lot more now my love"

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

"And this one" his little girl moves another piece of drawing in front of him as he scans through all the drawings previously laid in front of him. Pictures of what he could only guess are of the four of you together. His family in stick figures. One of all the Avengers and their kids. One of him and his metal arm, one of the black widow with her symbol besides her, captain america with his sheild, the falcon flying in the sky, the iron man and so many other drawings that would be nothing but ugly for someone outside these four walls. But within, these were masterpieces that were all gonna be pinned at the pin board you had specially bought to pin these drawings to when the fridge doors were full.

"Wow these are all so pretty sweetie" he says with adoration "it seems like they were made by an artist"

She laughs at that moving another piece of art near his face and he feels his heart stop "This one is Mom"

She says brightly looking at his face for another compliment. He looks the drawing over, a woman with her hair pulled up because you never understood how girls like Nat didn't get irritated by the hair constantly falling on their faces. The stick figure rendition is a little weird but the little Mom besides the figure makes him smile.

"This one is the best" he gives her the biggest smile she can nodding his head

"It is isn't it" she says taking hold of the picture and waving it up and down "that's because its of mom"

Bucky fakes a look of shock, looking at the picture again "oh yeah that's why it looks so good. Because your mom makes everything she is a part of beautiful doesn't she"

Matilda nods her head vigorously before giving the picture back to her father "So can we put it up on the board"

He nods his head "All of these belong on the board. These are all brilliant. You're gonna be a little artist like your Uncle Stevie aren't you?"

She nods her head following him as he moves to pin the pictures on the board "Yes and Uncle Steve said he would buy me that big water color set for my birthday"

"Uncle Steve loves to spoil you doesn't he" Bucky mutters, moving to pin every single picture on the board. His eyes fall on every other picture previously attached to the board you had made sure covered an entire wall of the kids' playroom so there was always room for their art. There were works of both the kids from school and some they made at home themselves. You had always taken pride in everything your children created and never let anything be put anywhere except for this board.

Just as he attaches the last piece of drawing on the board a thought pops in his head

"Hey you didn't draw a picture of your brother?" Bucky asks curiously looking down at her "You always draw one of him too"

She frowns at the mention of her twin and looks down at her shoes

"I don't like Nixon". She mutters angrily

"Well of course you don't like him he's your brother, you love him" Bucky teases, bending down to reach her level

Her face scrunches at his comment and she shakes her head in disgust

"No, I don't love him, I hate him"

Bucky shakes his head "What does mom say about that word?"

"That we should not hate anyone" she mutters still looking down "but-but Nixon just makes me so angry"

Bucky can't help but smile at that, his kids just can't seem to go a day without fighting it seems

"And what happened this this?"

"I showed him the picture of mom I drew" she starts to say looking at Bucky with shining eyes "And when I said I will show it to her when she wakes up, he said she won't wake up"

Bucky feels his heart stop at her words and he freezes on the spot. 'How did- What did he-' . A million thoughts run down his mind. He had worked so hard to keep his kids happy and feel everything was alright. He had made sure they don't have to bear the burden of the harsh situation. He had made sure they don't have to worry about this exact possibility then how did he find out? Who the hell told his little boy things they didn't deserve to tell him.

Anger shoots through his veins which he tries to control as he looks at Matilda with a smile, trying to mask his real emotions like every time

"What?" He shakes his head "That's not true"

Matilda nods at him and moves her arms around his neck and he takes her in his arms

"I said that but he said he heard doctors talking about her in the medical area"

Bucky had made sure their were no talks about your condition in front of his kids. He made sure there was no doctor near the room when he brought his kids over for visits with their mother and kept and eye and his ears alert to make sure they don't hear anything they don't need to.

Then who the hell was this doctor that told this to his son. Bucky felt rage again only calmed by the crying daughter in his arms. Someone was gonna loose their job for making his daughter cry like this.

He rubs his hands on her back, trying to keep himself together for her sake and muttering soothing words of its fine, mom's fine in her ears.

He talks to her, reassures her of her mom's well being for atleast 10 mins before the 'when will she even wake up' and 'I miss her's' quieten down she starts to fall asleep in his arms, tired from an entire hectic day of school, drawing and crying.

He hates that his children have to go through this. He hates that his bad luck, the beef that the old ladies of faith have with him is affecting his wife and kids like this. Hates how he tells his kids he would protect them from anything yet not being able to protect them from this heartbreak.

He picks Matilda up and moves to her room - separate from her twin's because you and Bucky could not deal with more fights of which color would the walls be and what bed would belong to which child-

He tucks his little girl in her bed, kissing her forehead and wishing her goodnight before switching off the main light and turning on the night light.

He looks at his daughter one last time before sighing and leaving the room.

He needs to have a talk with a little man.

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

"Will you stop pouting like that" you say from your place on the bed

"I don't like this" he says with a frown

"Well you don't have to" you give him a small smile "What do you want me to do? Not get the life saving operation"

"Well I need you to take care of yourself" he moves forward in his chair to hold your hand

"Then what would you do?" A cheeky smile. Bucky is not amused

"This is not a joke Y/n" he says seriously "Its not just you anymore, what would I say to the kids if something happened to you. You can't be so reckless during missions"

You sigh moving to make space on your hospital bed so he can lie besides you. When you pat the bed, gesturing for him to join you in he seems hesitant before he sighs and gets on the bed with you, moving his arm to place it around your shoulder

"I'm so sorry James" you say moving closer to him and resting your head on his chest "You know how long we were hunting Castle for. He was the last one of those after our kids, I couldn’t have let him get away and if I hadn’t had been injured, you know there was no chance he could have pulled something like that”

Bucky sighs nodding his head "Now we can be free, maybe I can finally retire"

Your hand that was rubbing circles on his chest stops its motion and you move away to get a clear view of his face. He gives you a small smile before he pecks your lips

"I've been thinking about it, about being a stay at home dad" he says "I am tired of fighting. I am done with this business. Maybe I was for a long time but I never knew how to stop and now I do. I wanna take care of my kids and wait for my wife to come home from saving the world"

"Bucky" you whisper moving your palm to rest on his cheek

"I know you love the fight and I don't want you to stop but for myself I just want to be a house husband. I have enough money from the government to not be short on money. And well with my beautiful hard working bread earning wife, I would never have to work"

You laugh at that, resting your head back on his chest and smiling

"I like that idea, if that is what you want"

"I do, more than anything doll"

There is a knock on the door and you both look up to see the nurse "We have to start the pre-ops" she says giving you both a sad smile "I'll be back in a minute"

The fear that Bucky thought had melted away returns as he moves to get up from your bed

"James"

"I'm okay" he looks at his feet as he sits down and starts wearing his shoes, avoiding eye contact

"Hey look at me" he shakes his head "I will rip off my IV if you don't"

This makes him quickly look up "Don't you dare"

"Good now that you can see me" you say moving a little in your bed to get comfortable before gesturing for him to give you his hand which he does "Whenever your mind takes you to dark places just pray"

Bucky rolls his eyes "You know I don't believe in all that"

You nod your head "And I am not telling you to, just I don't know who you do it to maybe the sun, the moon, to someone you lost, god, anyone, just pray"

"And everything will get better?" asks sarcastically

You shake your head "It will give you hope to hold onto"

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

Hope he was holding onto like his life depended on it which it did. Head trauma they said. Surgical complications leading to a coma. The hit that you got on the head by the rock protruding out of the mountain before Sam got you was more severe than any of them thought.

The doctors said the labs don't always show the exact situation until they are in the Operating Room and so you never woke up from the surgery.

There was significant brain activity that they could say maybe you would wake up but not enough to tell when that maybe would come or if it ever would. Bucky was ready to wait as long as it took.

He knocks on the door twice before a little come in is sounded from the inside and he pushes the door open.

His son sits with his own drawings, using the water colors Steve had bought for both of the kids to share which did not end well and Steve had to buy two new ones. Having gotten a very important lesson in raising twins. Always get two of everything.

Nixon keeps his head in his drawing as he dips his paint brush in the black color paint.

"What you got there" Bucky asks as he sits down in front of his son. With both his kids as tiny artists, he had learned to respect their dedication to their works.

"I'm painting" Nixon nods his head, still not looking at Bucky "I know you are here to scold me"

"Hey" Bucky calls out to his son who does not look up from his painting, having abandoned coloring on the paper "Hey honey look at me"

Nixon shakes his head before his eyes fill up with tears. Bucky moves the paints and painting from between them and moves to take his son in his arms.

Whoever did this. Which ever irresponsible person told all this to his son, whoever did this to his baby has another thing coming for them.

"Hey its okay hey buddy" Bucky rubs soothing circles on his son's back, trying to calm him down. This was the second time today he finds himself in this position and the hopelessness he feels is beyond anything. He couldn't lie to his children, couldn't look them in the eyes and say something even he was not sure about. So reassurances it was. Words he told himself every night.

His children needed you. Just like he did.

After what seems like a while of just his son crying and Bucky trying to hold it together, Nixon pulls away, muttering through his sobs.

"I wanted to tell Mom about my new friend Tyler and show her the star Miss Huffman gave me and and-"

Another sob and Bucky pulls his son into another embrace,

"Its okay"

But Nixon pulls back again, going on

"So I went to see her when you went to the store and Aunty Wanda thought I was sleeping and I went to mom's room in medical and when I was hiding the people there were telling each other that she may not wake up"

Bucky shakes his head, moving both his hands to cup his son's cheeks as he looks up at the ceiling for a minute. Hold it together Barnes. You can't let him see you cry and scare him more.

"Hey Buddy?" Bucky whispers after a moment, wiping away his son's cheeks of any and all tears. Nixon just nods his head, sniffling his nose.

"You know Mom and I never lie to you" a nod "So I will tell you the truth, okay?"

Nixon nods his head again "okay"

"Mom is sick" Bucky starts moving to sit both himself and his son on the bed and pulling the covers over themselves "She got hurt on the head. You know how we always tell you to wear a helmet or take care of your head when playing?"

Nixon nods his head "Yeah"

"That is because when we get hurt on the head, it takes a lot of time to get better"

The boy sniffles his nose and Bucky pulls out his handkerchief from his pocket, giving it to him

"So Mom got hit in the head"

"Yes, while fighting the bad guy, her head was hurt and so she will take a little longer to wake up"

"But they said-"

"Its the doctor's job to say that" Bucky tries to come up with a convincing reason "That is because they don't know how strong your Mom is now do they"

Nixon shakes his head at that "She is very strong"

"That she is and that is why she would wake up"

"But when?"

Bucky sighs at that. A question he asks himself every single day. If only he had an answer.

"I don't know" his son frowns at that and Bucky pulls him close "But do you know who does?"

Nixon looks at him questioningly

"God" Bucky shakes his head. His memories taking him to you "When you don't know what else to do, just pray. To anyone you want to, just pray"

"And Mom would get okay?" Nixon asks excitedly

Bucky shakes his head smiling "You would have some kind of hope to hold on to"

"Huh" the little boy mutters, clearly not understanding anything Bucky says.

"Nothing, come on its your bed time. How about I stay right here with you tonight"

Nixon nods his head excitedly and moves to make space for Bucky to lie down with him. He starts to talk about his day and telling him things he wishes to tell his Mom when she wakes up. Bucky hears patiently to every word the little boy says before falling asleep in his father's arms.

Bucky looks at his sleeping form, moving away the hair strings falling on his forehead and sighs.

He needed to be more clear with both the kids about things. Because as much as he wants it to, he can't control everything they may find out and its best if they hear it from him.

-----------

"Sergeant Barnes, Captain Rogers requests your presence in the Medical Wing"

Bucky jerks awake from his bed as F.R.I.D.A.Y 's voice announces through his bed room walls.

"Y/n" he whispers before hastily putting on a shirt and running out the room.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y can you please ask Wanda to come to my house to look after the kids please" Bucky says as he hastily puts his shoes on and opens the main door of his apartment in the Avengers compound.

"No need I'm here" Wanda says as she stands on the other end of the door

"Wanda what-"

She shakes her head "I don't know its just, I got a message from Nat to look after the kids"

Bucky nods his head, his heart beating wildly in his chest "They are asleep in their rooms, Thank you so much"

She puts her hand on his shoulder in reassurance. Bucky looks at her and she nods her head, he nods back before running out his apartment and towards the medical wing.

By the time he reaches the medical wing, he is completely out of breath and wheezing. All his thoughts focused on one thing. He prays to whoever he can that its not something bad.

Steve is standing outside your room and when he sees Bucky coming his way he tries to stop him

"Buck-" Bucky is having none of that as he tries to push Steve away and get inside

"Steve what is it" Bucky growls angrily "Let me go see my wife"

"Bucky listen" Steve says shaking his head and putting his arms on Bucky's shoulder to hold him back "Before you go in you need to listen to me-"

But before Steve can say anything any further Bucky's eyes move through the open door of your hospital room and your form sitting on the hospital bed, looking at Natasha as she says something.

Bucky feels his heart stop as tears of joumy start to fill his eyes. This was the moment. She was awake and even though he feels a tinge of sadness in his heart that he was not the first person you met after waking up, he feels elated beyond belief that you were there is front of his eyes awake and responding.

Steve words reach deaf ears as Buvky pushes him away and runs into your room before Steve could stop him.

You look away from Natasha and towards him and Bucky can feel his heart stopping.

You were awake. This is real.

There is a recognition in your eyes and before he can think anything, Bucky finds himself running towards you and taking you in a bone crushing hug. You seem to have stiffen, not responding to the hug initially before you move your hands towards his shoulders and push him away with as much force as you can master.

He looks up at you completely confused before you look at him too, holding eye contact for a moment, before your eyes seem to go distant. After what seems like minutes of silence and staring, you let out and ear piercing causing the occupants of the room to over their ears, everyone except Bucky who is frozen in place.

"Natalia" you turn to Nat, pointing frantically at Bucky"he is the one who tried to kill me, that man is the one who shot me"

"Wha-" before Bucky can say anything, Steve pulls him away from you and out of the room, Bucky does not give much of a fight as his eyes stay fixed on the door that your nurse closed after Steve pulled him out.

"That is what I was trying to tell you Buck" Steve says sadly running his hand through his hair "We think she has something called Partial Amnesia, she does not remember us, she only remembers her past, only remembers Nat as Natalia"

Bucky feels tears roll down his eyes freely as he looks at Steve hopelessly

"And she remembers little bits and pieces of things" Steve says sadly "She remembers you shooting at her not at the person behind her"

"She thinks I tried to kill her" Bucky says before he completely breaks down and loses his balance as Steve runs to catch him.

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

I'm so sorry but I just realized, I didn't specify the kids' age. They are twins and are 6 years old.

PART 2  Coming Soon....

[rwby-grimm-guardians]

RWBY Grimm Guardians Arc 2: Beacon’s Fragile Light Ch V

Hey guys! Welcome back! This is the fifth chapter of Beacon’s Fragile Light. This chapter marks the beginning of part 2 (which takes place during Vol. 2) of this fic and takes during Best Day Ever.

As usual, please enjoy and give constructive criticism.

ALSO, Arktis will be Willow’s MIDDLE NAME and will prefer to be called by said name until I share Separated Union. And since this is a canon divergent AU, she will be a Weapon Spirit, even when we get to Vol. 7.

Disclaimer: I don’t own RWBY or it’s characters.

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To say that a battle between the Weapon Spirits was inevitable was quite the understatement. Though, unlike their wielders, who were currently in the process of having a food fight against Team JNPR, the Weapon Spirits were having a battle royal as a part of training. Though, they did establish some rules, like not using weapons. That meant they would be fighting bare-handed...and obviously Ember was psyched about it.

Though...she wasn’t too pleased with getting her ass handed to her. “Your semblances are fucking O.P.!” She shouted, only for Summer and Gambol to shrug with their own smirks. Gambol just curled her index finger at Ember, as if telling her to attack the faunus. The blonde just cracked her knuckles, “You’re gonna regret that.” As the two fought, Arktis and Summer just watched, almost as if they were taking bets on the winner.

“Calling it. Gambol’s got this.” The white haired woman said, earning a nod in agreement. “Same.” Summer said, only to laugh as Ember flipped the two mothers off. “Glad to know you two are good teammates, assholes.” The blonde said, though not entirely serious. The red clad woman rubbed her eyepatch in deep thought. She wasn’t sure why the patch was there, though she knew that she felt much stronger when she removed it.

….Though, if it were dangerous, should she risk removing it in battle....?

Biting her lip, Summer hesitantly removed the patch on her right eye. Behind it, there was a black-sclera, silver-iris eye in her right eye socket. Taking a couple deep breaths, the red clad woman walked towards Ember, catching her fist as the blonde swung to punch Gambol. However, it was when she saw the other Weapon Spirits’ shocked reactions that Summer noticed that her speed felt almost instant. “How the hell did you do that?” Ember asked.

“I...just removed my eyepatch?” Summer said, a bit sheepishly as she had no idea that such a minimal action would cause a dramatic change. Though, it did feel...REALLY good. Summer  gave the blonde a confident smirk, “You wanna spar a bit?” Ember returned the expression, “You’re on.” As the two collided their fists together, Gambol went over to where Arktis was standing and asked, “Any idea why she feels much more confident now?” The white haired woman shrugged, “Hard to say. All she did was remove her patch.”

The Schnee paused, before saying, “Though...her right eye is definitely that of a Beowulf Grimm.” Gambol’s jaw almost dropped, before looking at the two sparing women in a bit of panic, “Shit, this could be bad.” Arktis raised an eyebrow, before coming to the same realization, “Should we interfere?” The faunus shook her head, “Not yet. As paranoid as we should be, I want to believe Summer can control her instincts.”

“And if it gets out of hand?” Arktis asked. Gambol then nodded, “Then we’ll break it up. Though we should make sure we get that eyepatch back on Summer when we do.” Nodding, the Schnee summoned her weapon form and waited. As expected, Summer and Ember’s fight was getting more and more aggressive, mainly because the blonde was getting excited and the Grimm instincts were influencing the red clad woman.

The fists and legs of the two women clashed very violently, each of them countering blow for blow as the fight went on. After only a couple minutes, Summer and Ember had a few bruises on them. After a few more minutes, they had bloodied knuckles and noses and after noticing this, Gambol nodded. “Stop them.” She said as both her and Arktis went towards the duel that was further escalating.

The Schnee immediately used her glyphes to summon an Arma Gigas, which immediately restrained the red clad woman. Gambol then put her arms around Ember, restricting her as Arktis put the eyepatch on Summer. In an instant, the Rose calmed down, before blinking and looking around. “Um, stupid question, but…. Did I...do something wrong?” She asked, completely confused as to why she was being restrained.

Arktis and Gambol’s jaws dropped. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” The Schnee shouted, causing the other three women to jump. “You mean to tell me that you DON’T remember what you DID!?” Summer jumped and just nodded, “Kinda….? I...know I removed my eyepatch willingly. Then decided to train with Ember….” The three women waited for the elder Rose to continue, until she said, “And...that’s it.”

After a couple minutes of silence and letting go of the two Weapon Spirits, the elder Belladonna finally asked, “So, what now?” “Might want to make sure that I don’t remove my eyepatch....” The red clad woman started. “Or make sure I only do it under worst case scenario situations.” The other three women nodded, before leaving the room and hitting the showers. If they were lucky, then they’d be the only ones there.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple.

As soon as the four started to undress, their wielders and friends entered the female shower room, talking before their attention turned to the Weapon Spirits. “What the hell did you four get into?” Yang asked, only for Ember to smirk. The short haired blonde raised an eyebrow as she said, “Could ask the same thing, given your clothes covered in food and juice.”

“Ah, food fighting, right?” Summer asked, earning a slow nod from the six teens. The red clad woman then asked, “Was it epic?” Ruby and Nora grinned, with silver-eyed girl saying, “You better believe it was.” While it was faint, Arktis did notice Weiss’ smile and whispered to Summer, “I might tell Weiss the truth about me soon.” The red clad woman nodded with a smile.

“How do you plan on telling her?” The taller woman asked, as Ember and Gambol started explaining what the Weapon Spirits were up to. The former heiress shrugged, “No clue. I do want to do it when we’re alone, so it won’t be too awkward.” Nodding, the two women turned, only to jump in surprise when they noticed their respective masters were right in their faces. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Weiss practically shouted.

Arktis and Summer looked at each other as they each raised and eyebrow, before the former STRQ leader asked, “What do you mean?” The younger Schnee pointed at Gambol and Ember, saying, “Those two told us that you willingly removed your eyepatch and somehow went berserk!” The red clad woman’s jaw dropped, followed by Arktis sighing and her other fellow Weapon Spirits laughing when she shouted, “YOU FUCKING SNITCHES!”

Gambol just shrugged, “Consider it punishment for doing something as stupid as that.” Summer’s eyebrow twitched, before Rudy got her attention as she asked excitedly, “Can you please show us it next time?” Everyone turned to the younger Rose, followed by Yang, Summer, and the rest of Team RWBY and the Weapon Spirits paling. Summer cleared her throat, “Um, hun? Don’t you...think that might be too dangerous?”

The two mothers, along with Blake and Yang snorted and tried not laugh as Ruby pouted, “I didn’t mean now! Just when we go back into the field.” Summer nodded, only to laugh as the younger Rose punched her in the arm, “Don’t laugh! I was being serious!” Summer coughed through her fits of laughter, before finally calming down, “Alright. Alright.”

As the four Weapon Spirits, their wielders, and Pyrrha and Nora got washed and got into clean attire, Arktis continued thinking about when she should tell Weiss about her. She had been dead for a long time and now that she was back, she was honestly not sure of how her youngest daughter would react. Would she be happy or emotional like Winter and Klein were? Or would she be angry and hate her for leaving?

As the four women and six teenagers left the showers, Summer and Arktis left the group to see Ozpin, while Gambol and Ember decided to help out with the clean up in the cafeteria as the girls went to their classes. “You alright?” The elder Rose asked, receiving a shrug. Arktis sighed, “Are you worried about how your daughter might react to who you really are?” Summer went silent, before giving a slow nod, “Most of the time, yeah.”

“What should we do? I don’t want my youngest daughter to hate me.” The elder Schnee said, biting her lip and gripping her right sleeve. Summer wrapped her left arm around Arktis, giving her a small hug, “I don’t know...and I don’t want my daughter to hate me either. But I think we should worry about it when they start piecing the puzzle together.” While it wasn’t the answer she had hoped for, Arktis still felt comforted by the red clad woman’s words. It was like Summer was a sister she never had.

As the two reached Ozpin, they were greeted by a very unexpected surprise and guest. “Ironwood?” Arktis asked, only for said man to raise and eyebrow, before his jaw dropped. “A-Arktis Schnee….?” He stuttered, almost like he was seeing a ghost. To be fair, he...technically was. The two women sighed as they entered, before both each shook Ironwood’s right hand. “I’m sorry Ozpin has not told you that I was here.” The former heiress said.

“To be fair, none of us were expecting you.” The headmaster said, receiving a smile from Summer. Judging from the tone of voice, she assumed Evergreen was currently in control. “You are very observant, Summer.” The silver haired man chuckled. The former STRQ leader smirked, “I have to. I remember that I was very skilled in archery back in the day. Arktis needs some advice.“ Arktis just looked at the taller woman, almost to ask “What the fuck”.

“Well then, you came at a good time. How may I help you?” Evergreen asked, offering the former heiress tea. Sitting down and taking the tea, Arktis reluctantly began talking to the headmaster, while Summer began talking to Ironwood. “You’re...Summer? As in Summer Rose?” He whispered, earning a nod. “Yeah…. Brought back to life...somehow…..” She said. “I...need to talk to Qrow about it.”

Ironwood nodded, “Knowing that Ozpin said that you were very close to the Branwen twins…. That might be a good idea. He’ll be here sometime soon.” Nodding, Summer went over to the small fridge and pulled out to water bottles, before giving the general one. After a small cheers, the two drank from the bottles as they watched Arktis and Evergreen’s conversation.

Summer took note that Ironwood seemed unaware that Evergreen was currently in control...and that Arktis seemed glad with Evergreen’s advice.

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And that’s that for now. I leave you to speculate on what Ember and Gambol are going to do after they help with the clean up.

NOI’MTOTALLYNOTSHIPPINGMYOWNOCSOKAYITOTALLYAMBUTDON’TJUDGEMEPLEASE. Anyway, see you next chapter.

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE, MORE BLOOD Vol. 2: Mukami Kou [Track 4]

Original title: 罅割れた時間

Source: Diabolik Lovers More, More Blood Vol. 2 Mukami Kou [CD not owned by me]

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Ryohei Kimura

Translator’s note: Now this is what I was waiting for during Ayato’s MMB CD the whole time, for something to go wrong! Part of me was expecting the magic to run out after the MC’s classmates walked in on them, but that wasn’t quite the case. Still, with the magic flowing out and time looping out of control, I’m curious to see how they’ll get out of this mess!

This track was requested by @derangedsilence​! If you would like to request a translation, please contact me through IMs or drop an ask!

Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 + Epilogue

Track 4: Distorted Time

“The two of us are the only ones who keep our memories when time rewinds.The other aren’t even aware of the loop. That’s why your classmates will pass through the hallway just like earlier. Without knowing a thing. However...You remember, don’t you? What did I do to you earlier?”

You remain quiet.

“The pain from my fangs piercing your flesh, or the pleasure from having me suck your blood...It remains vividly in your memory, does it not? In your memory, it happened barely seconds ago after all.”

He traces your skin.

“It was over here, right? Where I bit you.”

You shiver.

“Aha~ As predicted, you’ve become sensitive! Your face is getting red as well. The memories are a pentalty, huh? Even if your body has returned to its pure state, the pain still lingers inside your head. The kind of sensation that becomes addictive.”

Kou walks closer.

“If I were to bite you one more time while you’re like this...I wonder what would happen~”

You beg for him to stop.

“I won’t stooop~ Come on, you better be quiet soon, your friends are passing by.”

Footsteps and chatting voices can be heard in the background.

“Exactly~ If you’re a good girl, they won’t suspect a thing. Well then, I’m digging in~ ...Nn...”

Kou bites you.

*Gulp gulp*

“Your reaction is way stronger than before...Even your blood is syrupy, it’s almost like jam. M-neko-chan, have you noticed? That there’s no point in enduring it now. Even if you try your best to go unnoticed, I’ll just rewind time again~ I’ll repeat this as many times as needed. You’re already feeling it so much right now, do you truly believe you can withstand it next time?”

You let your voice slip.

“Exactly! You finally get it, don’t you? Between having your classmates walk in on you and becoming the talk of the entire school, or continuing to endure it as I bite you over and over...You only really have one choice.”

He continues to suck your blood.

*Sluuuurp*

“Nn...Haah...”

*Thud*

“Ahaha~ You messed up~”

The door opens followed by the sound of screaming girls.

“Ah-aaah~ We’re busted~! I assume this’ll cause an uproar across the entire school. Say, which rumor do you think will spread first? ‘Popular idol Mukami Kou causes a scandal at school!’ or maybe...’Female high school student caught in a shameful act, believed to be a regular occurrence from the marks across her entire body’? ...In my humble opinion, I think it’d be more fun if the fact you are a masochistic kitty were to be publically revealed~”

You go pale.

“Ahaha~ All color faded from your face! I thought it would be okay to tease you just a little longer, but I got to see that expression from you, so I’ll consider it a win~  No need to panic, we can simply make it so it never happened. Using the hourglass...”

*Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock*

ーーー

“Okay, we’re back! ...Like I said, it rewinded to right after we entered this classroom. Before your immoral appearance was exposed!”

You sigh in relief.

“All pressure gets lifted from your shoulders at once, huh? Your teary-eyed expression is cute as well~ It’s too early to feel relieved~ I never said I’d stop here, did I? I already blew my cover anyway, so might as well have a little more fun with it. In a bit, the students will pass by once more. I’ll bite you again like earlier! Will you be able to endure it this time~?”

You shake your head.

“Your expression of despair is irresistable as well~ It only makes me want to be even more cruel...I know, give me your hand.”

He grabs hold of your hand.

“No need to be frightened. Ah, in your case, you’re hopeful? But I’ll have to disappoint you, I won’t hurt you in any way. Instead, I was thinking of properly showing you what’s happening to your body. There’s veins on the back of your hand too after all. I’ll trace them slowly.”

You try and keep your voice down.

“Ahaha~ Seeing you endure it like that is very erotic. You’re turning beet red from this much. Can’t you tell? The memory of having your blood sucked remains, so you’ve become hyper-sensitive. It’s even worse than before. I wonder what would happen if we keep on looping time? Don’t you want to test it?”

You tell him you’d go crazy.

“That’s a great idea! I’ll make you feel so good, you’ll lose your mind! You like things extreme, don’t you?”

You protest.

“Even if don’t like it, you have no right to refuse. As long as I have this hourglass, I’m the one in charge of manipulating time. If you want me to stop, why not try and steal it from me?”

You flinch.

“...Eh? What’s the matter? Your eyes seem kind of unfocused?”

You suddenly run towards Kou.

“Aaah, wait!! You don’t have to actually lunge at me! Wait! Even if you extend your arm, you can’t rea...Wah wah!”

Kou drops the hourglass.

*Cling*

“C-Calm down! I dropped it...So watch your ste...!”

*CRACK*

“Ah! ...I wanted to say watch out but...You stepped right on it.”

You take a step back.

“...Are you okay? Well, thank god you didn’t slip but...It’s just...I feel like it made a bad sound...Ah! It’s cracked! The sand is flowing out...Doesn’t this mean...trouble?”

Omnious music plays in the background as magic emits from the hourglass.

“Just as I thought! The magical energy is oozing out!”

You ask him what will happen now.

“I don’t know what will happen!”

*BOOM*

“Wah...!!”

*Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock*

ーーー

*Ding dong ー Ding dongー*

“Eh? What’s this? Why am I in the hallway? I’m in front of the second years’ classroom which means...Hm? M-neko-chan!”

He runs up to you.

“Time has rewinded after all! This is before we went to the empty classroom!”

You ask him why he did that.

“You’re wrong, it wasn’t me this time. I didn’t mean to rewind but it just acted on its o...”

*WOOSH*

“This is bad! It’s coming again!”

*BOOM*

*Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock - Tick tock*

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[tckenbythesky]

Alice's List

They’re not in order of importance, but…

1) Hope Floats: Music from the Motion Picture - I don’t know if it really counts as an album, since it’s a soundtrack, but Hope Floats is my favourite movie.  Sometimes I don’t feel up to watching it, but listening to the music gives me the same feeling that no matter where you find yourself, or how down you feel, things can always change for the better.  Plus, my favorite song’s on it, even though I don’t ever actually admit it’s my favourite.

2) Elvis Presley (1956) - Blue Suede Shoes is certainly one of the greatest songs of all time, but my Nan loved his cover of Blue Moon.  She loved the song, period, but his cover was her favorite.  Whenever I hear it, I remember her dancing around to it in her parlor (a smaller sitting room in her and Pap’s retirement house, like a den, kind of) in her church stockings.

3) Walk the Line: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - I know, I know, another soundtrack.  One comprised entirely of covers, no less!  Don’t get me wrong, I love Johnny Cash, but I really appreciate how the cast of the film contemporized classic artist and brought them back into focus.  I think a lot of people listened to the songs from this and then went on to track down more music from Johnny, June, Elvis, Jerry Lee, and even Shooter Jennings.  It’s a gateway album, if you will.

4) Hank Williams’ My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It/I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry - Do singles count as albums?  I couldn’t make my list without putting this down.  I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry was my Pap’s very favorite song and I’ve known the words to it all my life.  I’m not fussy about the A-Side, truthfully, but sometimes the best things come hand in hand with something that’s just alright.

5) Blink-182’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket - Not sure if I’ve ever told you this, but my late brother, George, was a drummer.  He was amazing, played in a band with his friend, Toby.  If Toby hadn’t wanted to be a doctor and George hadn’t fallen for an awful girl who got him into a world of trouble, their band could have really gone places.  He taught himself every song on this album.  Spent hours in our garage, played drumline from The Rock Show until our dad asked him to choose something else, because we could all hear it in our sleep.  I can’t hear anything from this album without thinking of him and how much he loved to play.

6) The Beach Boys’ Shut Down, Vol. 2 - My father was a gifted musician too, just in a different way that George.  He had a beautiful voice.  I know that the Beach Boys are one of the most influential groups in the history of modern music and that Pet Sounds is arguably their most important album, but Fun, Fun, Fun was made for singing at the top of your lungs on car trips and, even though he wasn’t really an affectionate or terribly kind man, my dad used to sing Don’t Worry Baby when we were sick or couldn’t sleep.

7) Foreigner’s Agent Provocateur - In my opinion, there’s no such thing as a truly bad Foreigner song, but AP gave the world I Wanna Know What Love Is.  Looking back at this list, most of my ‘why they’re important’s have to do with memories I have and this one’s no different.  When I was seven or eight, maybe, I ended up in riding with my dad’s cousin and his family on the way up to the lake one summer.  The song came on and he sang it to his wife.  His kids rolled their eyes, 'cause I guess he did it all the time, but the way he looked at her, with such adoration, like he really meant the words, sort of set the bar for me when it came to romance for a good, long time.

8) Florence + the Machine’s Lungs - This came out the summer before my senior year of high school.  George had heard The Dog Days Are Over on the radio and he bought it for me, 'cause he thought I’d like it.  It rocked my world, if you’ll pardon the pun.  Her voice and the instrumentation… It took me someplace else any time I listened to it.  And, well, Howl...  The album got me through some of the hardest times in my life and it always reminds me that I had a brother who loved me enough to randomly buy me a CD just because.

…That’s kind of it.  I tried thinking of two more, but these are the ones that I have the strongest feelings about.  That’s what’s important, isn’t it?  That music makes you feel something or takes your somewhere else?  Puts into words something that you feel, but can’t say yourself?

Holy shit, Lou thought to herself. Most people don’t take her seriously when given such an assignment. Many seem to believe she’s joking when she does, but not Alice. Lou should have known that her friend would come through--- and so completely.

Reading each album and reason, Lou nodded along, humming and yesing quietly here and there, surprised when she found herself getting a little emotion over the list.

“Number one--- Soundtracks totally count,” she began softly, smiling as her gaze lifted. “Number two, these are great choices. Truly. I’m honestly not a person who judges others for what they like. As you said, music is supposed to make you feel and transport you, and that is what matters to me. That you enjoy it. I just ask this of people because I’m genuinely curious. So. Thank you. Very much.” Her smile grew. “Lastly, you’re hired. No need for the quiz. It’s dumb anyway.”