#wanted to just yeet myself off somewhere then

[atticsandwich]

Hey I like the idea of your fic where mephisto made a pact with mc before mc got yeeted to the past in NB. I know it was a while back but did you make a continuation for that? If not would you consider doing one? I really want to know what happens when mc gets back to og timeline and reunites with meph

hey!! sorry it took me this long to respond, i only recently got around to getting an idea for a continuation. i initially wanted to leave it open ended but i kinda wanted to indulge myself a bit haha :>

—

time, curious time

mephistopheles / gn!mc

a sequel to this fic, in which you come back

(to preface: ignore the hard mode reunion for this one 💀 i still choose to think that "reunion" is a red herring set up by nightbringer bc it does not align at all to how they set up mc's dissappearance in the first place. but more on that theory some other time or maybe im just being delusional idk)

—

It was a day like any other.

R.A.D was bustling with students rushing to go home or hang out after a long day of class, echoes of afterschool plans reverberating through its halls. On one hand, everything seemed as it was— nothing was amiss; there were no violent bouts or random screams of terror, no demon stampedes or curses being thrown at each other.

But, it was still different.

At least, that's how it was for Mephistopheles, who, as usual, was holed up in his office at the newspaper club room. Ever since your disappearance, he's been spotted less and less, only ever coming out when summoned by Diavolo or if he deemed it necessary to go home— he still has a brother awaiting his return to tend to, of course. He never really got used to how quiet the office became, especially during the times he'd typically expect you to barge in like you owned the place. He also never got used to his phone being so... stagnant, missing your daily texts and calls whenever you couldn't visit him. Your name is still pinned at the top of his D-Com list, just in case, he says to himself everyday.

Just in case they come back.

It's been a year since then, yet the memory of the first night of your disappearance is still vivid in his mind. He remembered exhausting all his resources and connections, from the grandest duke to the tiniest noble— he didn't care about the judgemental gruffs and stares he'd get when he asked them if they had any info about a particular human sorcerer, which, considering demon nobility, there was a lot of, to the point where he almost started accussing any noble who responded to him with even the slightest off-tone. Diavolo had to intervene at some point, as the usual snarky, egotistical demon completely stopped sleeping then. His worried brother's face was one he would forever remember, and he made a mental note to never let him see his big, dependable brother in that state ever again.

Things have calmed down now, he supposes, but they never slowed down searching— he never did. Sure, they eventually pieced together that you were sent back somewhere in time and that Solomon was tasked to bring you back, much to his dismay, but there was still a culrpit on the loose, someone bold enough to snatch up a human under the protection of the Demon Prince hinself. Whoever that was— demon, human, whatever— no matter their reason or agenda, still had to answer.

The echoes of the crowd of students outside started getting softer, and Mephisto deems it might be nigh time for a little break. Just in time too, as he starts feeling his eyelids drop and mind fog, a stale cup of tea now cold on the side of his desk. Before drifting to sleep, the last of its scents wafts over to him, reminding him that he did your favorite blend today.

—

This must be a dream, he thinks.

When he opens his eyes he's met with the darkness of his office, the halls outside now dead quiet. Someone must have turned off the lights, as he slowly sits up from his position on the sofa.

Wait, when did he get here?

He surmises it must have been the club president or Diavolo, as they often come to his office to check in on him from time to time. Still, there's a weird feeling bubbling in his stomach, something that he hadn't felt in a while.

Why was his hand so warm?

It's then that he finally notices it— the soft, steady breathing of someone laid next to him. He stops himself from jumping in alarm, and just before his mouth opens in condemnation that some random demon went and slept with him while he was taking a nap—

"Mephisto? Are you awake now?"

A voice lulls him back to his senses.

He knows that voice. He knows it all too well.

He notices the hand clutching his; tightly, like they weren't going to let go anytime soon. He feels the lone pact on his wrist suddenly burst to life, like it never faded in the first place, and he finally realizes what was happening.

If this is a dream, please don't let it end, he pleads.

The figure sits up, still not letting go of his hand. He feels another hand carress his face in a warmth that he never thought he would feel again, before he finally locks eyes with the figure.

"It's not a dream. I'm home."

"You..." the words get caught in his throat, unable to say anything. He resorts to taking his free hand, the one shaking uncontrollably, as he returns the gesture of carressing your face. You lean into his touch, chasing the warmth it radiates.

He doesn't notice his tears starting to flow, nor does he notice you lean towards him in time to react as you kiss away the salted dew from his eyes. In true Mephisto fashion, he retaliates, like he always does, smashing his lips all over your face until it reaches yours, and you laugh as you finally feel his smile while taking in his fervent attempt of making up for lost time— hands still bound together, bodies falling back to the comfort of the couch, your name spilling out of his mouth everytime he catches his breath. In his arms, here,

you're home.

—

tags: @insomniachox @whatever-fanfics

[faint-kitten]

So about Solid Snake being in Fortnite...

by Faint_Kitten

I got into Fortnite in December 2023 for the first time. I just unlocked Snake and I have so many thoughts on it I can't completely break them all down. But I think I've done my best.

But the #1 thing I think I want everyone to know is: Despite shaving off his ass. Despite being artistically bankrupt and pushed out by Konami and Epic as a means to make money and promote the MGS Vol 2 collection.

Despite artistically, and Narratively being antithetical to Metal Gear Solid…

Snake being in Fortnite feels mechanically and tonally consistent with his legacy.

There is so much inherent "Kojima" in Metal Gear Solid. This weird blend of hyper realism, mixed with anime siliness, mixed with philosophy mixed with trying way too hard to be sombre while also mechanically being silly and then you spin around three times to puke, or Johnny does a big poop fart and all of it adds to the weird just Kojima-esque nature of the series. It extends to the love, the fandom and the humor around Metal Gear Solid. So many memes around Snake, between fan art, in jokes, and original Animations and gifs that it doesn't feel THAT weird to see him do like a...Naruto Run emote. So much of Metal Gear Solid* was a very serious drama taking place in a game that mechanically is silly and lets you do goofy shit and has elaborate bro fist handshakes played deadly serious. And Fortnite is a game where you have these characters doing goofy shit that doesn't mesh with who they are or the universe they came from all the fucking time.

You also have to realize the Battle Royale mode has big locations full of NPC's and Bosses you can kill for loot.

The "narrative" as it is of Fortnite Chapter 5: Season 1 is (near as I can tell) that Peely the Banana has been kidnapped by the Society (who serve as the current skins for this season and AI controlled bosses and NPC's on locations of the map.) And the map is littered with their fortresses with Jonesy (I guess the main character?) Going up against them to get his friend back. Which means there are a handful of locations in the current Fortnite Map that are just Boss bases. These are bunkers, and huge mansions and little outposts that you have to be careful around because once they know you're there they will just start spawning endless enemies to try and kill you, and the attention WILL draw enemy players. So you're shooting out cameras for XP and to keep them from beeping, avoiding turrets to keep from alerting guards and keep them from chewing up your health.

Guards already had the "?" and "!" system for showing if they detected you, despite having no inherent stealth mechanics in the game or any intention of introducing MGS. They didn't do this FOR an MGS tie in. There are recruitable companions and they can't speak so a way for players and enemies to detect if their companion "senses" an enemy player is to use the "?" and "!" system. While it doesn't mean that much without him. This is very clearly taken from Metal Gear, and as a result the alert system feels very natural around Snake.

In game modes where you have teams of two three or Four players, you get downed like Gears of War or Apex, and have to be revived. You can crawl and move. But players who are on their feet can pick you up and sling you over their back, or even yeet you to safety.

Enemy Players can do this too.

When I play Team modes by myself (I am alone, everyone else is in a team) I frequently pick enemies who wandered off of their pack and pick them off, tossing them somewhere their team mates can't get to or won't find them specifically to draw them in to their rescue.

Additionally there IS wildlife to hunt: Chickens, Frogs and Fish which give you medium effect healing items.

The game has items you can put on to "disguise yourself" like bushes, or snowmen during christmas that work EXACTLY like the card board boxes in MGS (though it's debatable if players are convinced by anything but the bush)

All of this was going on BEFORE Snake was unlockable. (I don't know if the camera's and bosses stuff existed before this season)

Which means that MECHANICALLY. Snake doesn't feel out of place at all in Fortnite.

It's super weird when a Xenomorph, or Spiderman, or a Ninja Turtle, or Goku, or a teen from My hero Academia, or Eleven from stranger things comes in and starts mowing people down with an assault rifle. The disconnect is part of the charm for better or worse, and it's both amusing and horrifyingly upsetting when you think about these characters sold as nothing but IP to get rich off of being so taken out of context from their character's intended art, themes and meaning.

It's just weird to see bright bubbly Mina from My Hero shooting people dead. Spiderman doesn't kill people, that's the Punisher, it's fucking weird to have Spiderman just gunning people down, if you get my gist.

It's super fucking weird to see these characters handle a fire arm and move around in a shooter. They feel less like themselves and more like what they are: A skin of a popular thing, plugged into a world to please fans and rake in money. It's fucking weird to see Spider-man holding a firearm.

It is NOT weird to watch Solid Snake do it. As a result of this, Snake kind of slips into the absurd world of Fortnite rather well.

It feels kind of cool strip snake of all like falling trail effects and just watch him super-hero sky dive toward a giant compound full of NPC's and land on the roof (It looks cooler in the dead of night but I didn't get a screenshot of it)

It's not weird to experience Snake in Fortnite's world handling Fortnite's mechanics. Because so many of the mechanics and the tone feels distinctly normal for Metal Gear Solid. This is not the first time Snake has been pawned out as a mascott to other properties.

It's weird as hell to watch Kratos blow a car up with a rocket launcher. That is not a part of his world, you see. It's NOT weird to watch Snake fire an RPG at anything. It's not weird to watch Snake do a bulk of the things he can do in Fortnite.

It's not weird to watch Snake run around a forest and shoot a frog or hunt a chicken for it's meat because we've played Snake Eater

It's not weird to hide in a bush as Snake:

It's not weird to watch snake shoot someone or Reload a fire-arm. The Snowy Mountains bases, the outposts, the big mansions and small cities the open world all feel like places Snake has been at home in, from Shadow Moses, to the Middle East, it's not unusual to see Snake* surrounded by girders and steps and concrete and cabins and tents and forrests etc. It's not weird to watch Snake pick someone up who's downed and carry them over his shoulder, or chuck them into a closet: We've seen this in MGS V: The Phantom Pain. Metal Gear Solid kind of invented a lot of these mechanics.

There isn't that much about Snake in the following footage seems out of place for Metal Gear Solid:

Snake doesn't feel out of place in fortnite. It might feel sacriligious for the biggest thing in gaming adding snake (with no cheeks I might add) to it's roster to be eyerolling or cringe. But Snake doesn't feel "too good" for fortnite. But he also doesn't feel like a total shill in fortnite either. A lot of the gear and missions and challengees to unlock him felt like a someone was asked to put together activities at a Metal Gear Solid themed birthday party (Use hiding spots. Shoot out 2 cameras. Fire an RPG, shoot silenced weapons, uses the disguise mechanics, travel in the disguise items. hack Trains or Vaults) the Emote could have easily been just the alert noise over Snake's head, but they put it on a freaking stick, Wile E Coyote style.

There's a weird Fortnite blend of "Lets make something as cheaply as possible in some places and yet give some things the love and attention that comes from making 5billion in revenue a year affords you." that shows up in everything they do. And they clearly put a lot more effort into this promotion than they did the Family guy stuff (not that I care one way or the other about Family guy I'm just calling it like I see it.) To be honest Snake has been shilled out to so many other games for cross promotion over the years this is hardly his first.

Snake has been blended with many things like Ape Escape, Smash Bros, and Monster Hunter. Seeing him along other games and even other characteres not of MGS's worldbuilding doesn't feel that odd. Snake has kind of left his "world" behind many times. Which is...kind of in keeping with Snake being this cipher? This character the player slips on. Snake is a character an icon but he's also this THING puppeted by us. A lot of games work to break this illusion to make us forget we're not Kratos, or We're not Nathan Drake but ever since Metal Gear Solid 1 Kojima's writing has been pretty clear there's "something" that drives snake. Not motivationally, but literally piloting him giving him what he needed to succeed (us). To put it simply. Snake has always been a bit Meta as a character. And it's hard to see liscenced characters (sold for up to 15 dollars a pop) as themselves when we're piloting them telling them to drink slurp juice out of jars, or swing a pickaxe or or sing "The Real Slim Shady" or do cutesy Jpop dances. All of this is to say, having played MGS 1 through TPP: nothing about this gameplay feels that out of character for Metal Gear aside from the cartoony art style. The look and feel of Fortnite naturally lends itself to having Snake as a Playable character in it. Narratively, Thematically, Fortnite is almost antithetical to Metal Gear Solid. But tonally, and mechanically, it feels in keeping with the series.

Part of this is just the fact that Kojima's games have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to what you can do in gameplay and so many of these things were adopted by gaming later that slotting Snake back into mechanics his games inspired just doesn't feel disjointed. So many games have copied Metal Gear Solid over the years and became main stream. MGS has also had it's own unique air owing to both Kojima's own unique style and the weirdness/humor brought about as the game tries very seriously to balance it's story and themes against poop jokes, and mechanics that are often very silly but very fun and a total detachment from the poe faced somberness snake goes for or is possibly trying to mock. This, overall is a chunk of what makes metal gear feel like metal gear. The mechanics of Fortnite feel eerily comparable to the mechanics of later Metal Gear games (especially MGS V) .

And the tonal disconnect between what Metal Gear games are doing as a plot, and the inherent nonsense the mechanics provide contrasting it, have always been a part of MGS and it's charm, and that's kind of what makes Fortnite the thing it is today? You have a very serious plot about war and the military and a gravely voiced man and then in the corner a Vampire man does a big dance, and large bi-pedal mechs moo like cows. It's why any time any popular thing is announced in fortnite it kind of becomes a joke. Very serious Rapper Eminem is in Fortnite, and has his personal OC Slim Shady as a playable skin, and he's shoving his hand in Pinata's and chugging slurp juice, it's kind of weird to see someone who takes themself so seriously dancing at the whims of whoever controls him. But that's been a core part of Metal Gear and the Metal Gear Solid Franchise, and the fandom forever. I dunno. I'm not trying to defend the fact that Fortnite is a center for companies to strip their IP of all love and meaning and sell it to us as pure nostalgia and profit. I'm just trying to say I was surprised by how weirdly normal (and to be honest kind fun) it felt to run around RPing Solid Snake in fortnite and I've been at it all day. As someone who originally didn't care one way or the other, and felt kind of cynical about such a beloved character being absorbed into this mess: I'm kinda glad he's here now.

*I know Snake and Big Boss (and by extension Venom/Punished Snake/Boss) are all different characters. But for the sake of this discussion I dipped in and out of talking about Solid Snake and "Snake" (any) as a whole in Metal Gear as a whole

[neptuniadoesstuff]

Helo ppl here... Uh... yeh this is my first time so imma just introduce myself before ppl geht mad at me.....

So who am I? i'm Bubs. A teen artist who makes random pieces of art whenever she feels like it. If you know me from Scratch (or Screb as I like to call it) you might be familiar with me & my nonsense in general. But if you dont.... Then here's smtn ig.

• I'm a avid fan of MO: Astray. So you might see me posting some stuff of that. (Also I ship 2 characters in there but we don't speak of that unless you want to)

• I'm AroAce. So plz don't say anything weird to me. (Also don't make weird art of my OCs as I'm a minor)

• I'm sorta... crazy? Not rlly? Idk I just like saying random things from time to time.

• I post art... A LOT! So expect me posting art here. (This will include refs, doodles, actual art pieces, & dumb nonsense I made up for the goofs)

• I may post everyday but if I don't then I'm either taking a break or busy.

• I sometimes misspell things... ON PURPOSE! Primarily bcs Im too lazy & I want to be funy. Also my grammar succs lol.

• I'm a bit of a moron so keep that in mind.

Also DNI:

Weirdos (This includes Pəđøs, Zø0s, NSFW, etc)

Bad Ppl (By that I mean who hate on others for no reason)

Harassment/Hate comments

LGBT-phobes

Ræćı§țṣ

Art Stealers/Theives (IM LOOKING OUT FOR YOU GUYS OUT THERE!) (Plz note if you do take my art plz for the love of Vallah credit me or Imma have to yeet u off a cliff)

Also, funfact: PNS means (Plz No Steal), so if you see ANY OF THAT on my art pieces... YOU SHOULD GO BCS IM NOT HAVING MY ART TAKEN WITHOUT MY PERMISSION BY SOME GOOFY AHH THEIF!

Another Fact I decided to edit in: My content is primarily 13+, so yeh just deal with that.. If yur under 13 I suggest you kindly leave & not make a fuss.

Some links ig:

My Carrd for easier stuff. (Where my main socials are located)

Guide to my blog ig.

The official Mortal's Curse Blog (aka my take on the future of MO: Astray) (You can ask if you want)

My Ref Archives Blog (That I might post on once a week or so)

Edit: Also here is my ToS just to be sure no one steals my frikin art.

Bubs' TOS: Plz don't repost/steal, trace, or recolor my art WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! If you do, I'll take yur femur and pelvis.. SO, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! (The PNS on my Blog's pinned project clearly means "Please No Steal" plz follow that rule.) If you do post my art on anything like yur blog or somewhere else (With my permission) PEASE CREDIT ME!

[katyspersonal]

002. Eileen. Now

My ask box is all crows now, huh? x)

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

002 I Give me a character & I will tell you

• How I feel about this character

I like her, but for some reason I do not think all that often about her? She is just one of those characters who is so crucial for the story itself and for the lore that I kinda... stop noticing them and take them for granted? It is hard to explain. I feel like she could certainly use way more exploration with her backstory and depths of her personality and relationships - that includes me too! Basically I think I am not being fair on her myself because she is just as important as Maria, Adeline, Valtr, Fauxsefka, Gascoigne... you know, THE core cast.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Hmmm... I don't find Eileen very shippable, since her occupation suggests a great dose of emotional isolation. For all she knows, anyone she loves could go blood-drunk and she'd have to hunt them! I entertained the idea of the post-game scenario where she and Henriett raise the daughters of Gascoigne and Viola together now, but even in that case it'd probably work better as grandma + aunt taking care of them as a ship. I do think she used to see some women back in her youth, when she was just a student/doctor, even before the plague took her own place. Crack ship idea though - Eileen x Arianna! Thumbs up, thumbs down?

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Not going to call ANY NAMES *cough coooooough*, but I think the mother-son reminiscent bond between her and the Crow of Cainhurst is the top tier of the headcanons! I remember ancient times when I thought that Eileen and Crow were not even that familiar, and instead he simply mimicked appearance of Hunter of Hunters to not get questioned when he kills a hunter (important for his goals), but I've changed my mind since then! Doomed mother-son bond for life!!

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Not really an opinion, but rather a pet-peeve. We know from the lore that there WERE other Hunters of Hunters before Eileen, and only one was appointed at the given time. Presumably, Crow of Cainhurst is an apprentice and that's it!

But at times I see takes that have Eileen as the one and ONLY Hunter of Hunters that ever was, who appeared long ago and was the one since Old Hunters prime...? Example off the top of my head - that one manga centering around Maria (that I never properly read...). You know, with gingerhead white-garb Adeline (just like miiiiiine!!), super sigma male asshole Laurence, Willem recognizing as the pope of the Healing Church before he yeeted... all that. Of course I am not saying to go and write several OCs, but... Eileen was not the only one, clearly... come onnnnn.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I want to see where Eileen's shack is at, so we know in what house to visualize her in the after-game events in which she totally doesn't die but simply retires because of health issues... She DEFINITELY just retires and simply stops fighting, right...? That's canon, you know? Of course you know that haha.,..

my OTP:

Again, I personally do not really have one that is romantic... I remember I used to be a big Eileen x Valtr stan, but that one indeed became platonic since then, especially since I shifted towards headcanoning her as a lesbian. However, as far as fan-stuff goes in general, I do support Eileen x Djura shippers! Very cool and based ship, definitely deserves its popularity! ...if 'popular content' and 'Eileen' are even compatible things fdanhfhds HELPPPP

my cross over ship:

Hmmm... None yet, however, I think in the crossover verse she'd be more likely to find love than in BB canon! I have a feeling that I'll find a great match for her somewhere in ER or DS, actually! .....yes, it has been far too long since I've touched any other universe besides Soulsborne...

a headcanon fact:

Like I mentioned in some other post, I think she was a student, learning to be a doctor! ...and then just a doctor. She wanted to stay in the university as a teacher, but could not stand aside when her place was plagued, and became a doctor! I do think her beak mask is the only thing remaining from the clothes in which she originally appeared in Yharnam!

Thank you for the ask!!!!

[mocacheezy]

11ish y/o me, fuming in my room after once again emptying out the piggybank holding my birthday/holiday cards money, because mom needed money for gas, only to never get the money back: "When I'm grown up, I'll be able to save all of my money and use it the way I want, and I won't need to feel bad for saying no!"

Me now, at 23, emptying the fund for GoToWife for the 6th time in 2 years, because mom needs to borrow the money for a really important thing:

She always gives back the money in full nowadays (eventually), and she has helped me many many many times, but in a way it just feels like "saving money" never changed. The only difference is that now instead of 60€ I might crawl to 600€ before she turns to me for help.

It's just... Frustrating.

And the fun thing is, refusing to lend money when it comes to family is very much a way to get told to fuck off in case you ever need help yourself.

Doesn't matter how often it is. Doesn't matter if you have plans. And it doesn't matter if people have told you "better save up fast or [Name] will start taking the rent payments in full".

Gee, thank you ma, as if taking a 50 out of there because I need to eat isn't stressful enough. As if me trying to save up and coming oh so fucking close to actually getting somewhere, to be able to apply for a visa and get the stuff I need before I can even buy a plane ticket, and then life saying "Guess what? No travel for you!''... As if that isn't already a kick to the heart. I wanted it so badly. I still want to visit her so badly and instead all I get is once again having to empty that fucking piggybank, and count how close I was to atleast getting a ticket. I can't yeet over there with 0 money either, but by fuck... By fuck.

I am just so fucking sad.

I need to go to sleep so I can sob about this to my psych tomm because yea... Tommorow is ALSO the last appointment before a one month hiatus due to her absolutely well earned and deserved vacation time... And there will be A LOT happening during this one month.

I ordered some skincare products yesterday, so here's hoping I end up at most biting my nails and not scratching my fucking face open. I did it two days ago and I would rather not deal with infections and similar type of bullshiet.

I am just. So fucking sad and the fact that even little purchases or treats I buy for myself make me feel guilty because "this could be saved for my trip" can still be justified because inevitably THIS KIND OF SHIT IS GUARANTEED TO HAPPEN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN...

I am just gonna cry for a while now, wake up, wash my face and then find a way exist for a month and keep believing I will get there.

... at this point I'm starting to understand why I get anxious any time I get money on my accounts because ofc my brain goes into "SHIT, I NEED TO SPEND THIS STUFF NOW OR IT WILL BE TAKEN BY FAMILY FOR X REASON."

... fun.

Anyways, gnight to me, to this vent and to any poor fucker who clicked read more. I give you a cookie and I'll munch on a lemon biscuit in my dreams.

[mrthoughtbubbles]

Hi Yeet,

I hope that you’re enjoying the little moments, like the interactions you have with everyone, the things that you did today, the food that you ate, or remembering the good memories you have. I understand that that everyone has their good and bad days, and if there will be days wherein you’re having a bad day, I hope that you’ll take care of yourself more, and be gentler on yourself. This reminder I told you is also a reminder for myself since I’ve been struggling for quite some time now, which is more of an internal battle with myself... I won’t elaborate on it further, but I just want you to know that leaving you with uplifting messages, and showering you with love, also helps me, in a way, since most of my messages are written to you before I go to bed, it ends my day on a positive note. It also helps that I annoy the people around me and I hear them laugh whenever I joke around every now and then. Without those two, I would certainly spiral back to depression and I try my best to stave it off every now and then… So, I would like to thank you for letting me write to you, thank you for being part of my life, and thank you for everything else.

As for the joke I’ll share with you tonight, Yeet, it’s more of an inside joke between me and my family. I have this pink singlet that has flamingos scattered across it, and when I’m wearing it, I’d raise a leg of mine like a flamingo and my family, especially my sisters, would say, “Uy, I didn’t know that there’s a fat flamingo.” After saying that,I’d say “grabe...,” which is a shortened version of “grabe naman siya”, or “he/she is too much,” and everyone will have a laugh or two after that.

I’ll end my message here for you tonight, Yeet. Thank you again for everything. I hope that when you’re having a bad day, you’ll be a little bit more caring and gentler to yourself. I hope that when you’re having a bad day, you’ll still have the mental capacity to look for things to appreciate and to be grateful for. As for me, I’m still practicing being gentler on myself, since it can be harsh inside my head, and if I’m having a bout, I find it hard to shift my focus away from paranoid thoughts…  I hope that you’ll remember that you’re beautiful despite having flaws/insecurities. I hope that you’re praying/talking to God about everything. Finally, I hope that you’ll remember that I love you, Yeet!

P.S.: when I heard that my sister will go somewhere, I had the urge to go with her. When we got to where we’re going, I went to the bookstore, since I’m about to finish The Big Fish, and I was about to leave when I saw Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and I bought the said book. I hope that I’ll learn from his writings.  

[supercimi]

recently i hadn't been successful at getting myself to write

althu i defnitly have the want to write feeling, but my time hadn't been timing very well ;<

okay maybe im also lazy --;

but i have managed to brainstorm stuff while busy with real life stuff so that's a good thing :D (althu i mainly did that without writing it down because i will be mid work or chores but it's alright..i remember some of it...or i will....probably -x-;)

funny thing is when i do finally have some free time i will do anything but write TwT

even browsing my old stuff :D the stuff that never saw the light of day >:3(kinda proud of that for some reason?)

was reading what seemed like a piece i wrote for some tag game or something? it really didn't feel like something i wrote xD

according to google docs i last opened that one back in 2020? but im not sure when exactly i wrote it

btw it's incomplete and probably willl never be(maybe? who knows?) but here it is cuz it made me laugh ;3

======loading========

Today was awful, and not okay, kinda awful, nope. It was just awful. 

ok, that was a bad start, let's be classy.

Hello, 4th wall alien, this is Ribbica, and your day can’t be worse than mine. 

Also, I am lost.

How lost?...well…*looks around*...somewhere underwater I guess?

*you are filled with disbelief* 

*it shows in your reading*

You don’t believe me, do you? Well, can’t blame you. Who’d believe some fictional character they are reading about?! 

…..

Oh, you are still reading?....guess aliens aren’t all that bad.

Then seeing as you are my only source of escaping reality. I'll rant about my awful luck recently, we cool? Rather, you don’t get to say no.

.

..

 'Hello and welcome to our esteemed yeeting service, here we can throw off any stress or emptiness you feel!' 

It started with a flyer smacking my head on the way to work. With all the wind and sand in the air that morning, I am lucky it was just a flyer that hit me.

What? It was windy, yes. But windy weather won’t pay bills.

Anyway, seeing it odd I threw it right away, go smack someone else’s face.

That certainly won’t be the last time I see that ad, or so my gut was warning me. But I ignored it, work won’t do itself.

As if howling winds and angry bosses weren’t enough, the weather kept getting worse.

One day it was just strong winds.

Another was heavy rainfalls.

The rest were nearing a typhoon.

But nope, work won’t be cancelled, can’t work outside? work inside! working online to be exact, all the lagging and errors didn’t make it any easier.

Another thing to add to my stress. Hmm? What? You also had to work online? Oh then maybe studying?..hmm strange didn’t know aliens needed to do that.

Anyway, the weather cooled off, enough to be a freezer yeah. But we were getting the hang of it.

Sadly that meant no going out, getting out meant freezing to death, not getting out was dying of boredom or nagging bosses in the comfort of your own house, alone.

At least I could practice painting. If my crazy workload ever lessened, Being an overworked adult isn’t fun.

Join a good company they said, having so much work they’d pay well they said, 

Yup, wonder why.

The odd ad chose those days to strike again. Online this time.

Even creepy ads were cooped at home huh?

 By that point, I had just gotten nagged at online and ran out of my comfort food.

So it was just me and this ad, I ignored it for being annoyingly tempting.

Then it was the same old routine: wake up, prepare for work over some fruits, work, work, some more work over noodles, lagging and heavy workload crashes, other work, and so forth.

I might as well have turned into a computer from how much work I did.

Even my beauty sleep was spent dreaming about work.

As if accompanying my tired self, the weather outside was getting quite crazy.

Once it’s a blizzard, another a typhoon, others a sandstorm.

Scientists were theorizing about all this being a dream, seriously just what happened?

Leaving the world crisis aside. Work went on as usual.

Those slave drivers didn’t relent at all. I had good pay at least, didn’t get to relish in its benefits at all, but, meh. Who needed entertainment anyway. Lol 

*you strangely feel a certain camaraderie with this character*

Don’t gimme that look, I don’t need a 4th wall breaking alien to pity me.

Anyway, being a work zombie was my life at that point, didn’t matter that scientists found out about a black hole nearing earth and causing an utter disaster, didn’t matter that earth was being colonized out in space, didn’t matter that my car was stolen by a crazy monkey. None at all.

At least until the power went out, a blackout in the middle of a global crisis, who would’ve thought?! Just nice!

My work-zombie mind couldn’t process what happened and had the great idea of going outside.

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【千灯如昼】 Xia Yan’s A Thousand Lanterns like Daytime Date/Phonecall Translation

--

Translation Masterlist | Xia Yan Masterlist

Video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV13k4y127hd

My new laptop just came in today, so I was finally able to finish the last bit of the translation for this that I was missing out on!

This particular date story is very cute but also really hits you with the angst every so often. It’s hard being a Xia Yan fan, with pain lurking at every corner lmaoo

PART 1

Star Bridge Light Event 

A gentle cool wind blew away the scorching summer heat, accompanying the moon-tinted sunset. The curtain formally rose on the Star Bridge Light event tonight. 

MC: It’s so lively. 

The street vendors on the two sides of the road gave their all in announcing their wares. Tourists were squeezed in everywhere, in high spirits. The crisp sounds of rattle drums and windchimes assimilated with the racket of the crowd, so much that I couldn’t resist feeling the joy myself. 

Ever since the incident from when we were young, I’ve never attended a light festival event again. If not for Xia Yan’s invitation this time, I probably wouldn’t have had this chance as well…

--

[Flashback]

Home

Last Sunday night, I received Xia Yan’s call not long after I had finished eating dinner.

Xia Yan: MC, quick, look outside the window.

He had just spoken when I saw gorgeous colours exploding far away in the night sky through the French windows. 

MC: Such beautiful fireworks – what’s being celebrated?

Xia Yan: Did you forget? Today’s the once-a-year summer festival – the opening ceremony for the Star Bridge Light event.

MC: Is that so… looking at the direction of the fireworks, the event this year should be at the quaint block on Stellis River’s shore.

MC: It must be very lively there, right now.

Xia Yan: Yeah, I heard that the hosts started preparing for this event one month in advance. 

Xia Yan: Now that I mention it, for related light festivals… have you gone with anyone in the years that I wasn’t here?

MC: I didn’t.

Xia Yan: Really?

MC: Really, I’ve never gone ever since a certain someone nearly got lost at the light festival.

Xia Yan: Ahem – didn’t think that you would still remember…

MC: That’s for sure. After all, we even alerted the police back then.

Xia Yan: Ah, I’m begging you to be magnanimous and forgive me for being young and clueless back then.

Xia Yan: To wash away this dark history, how about… we go again? To make up for it, I’ll cover all the costs for eating, drinking, and playing games.

Xia Yan: And I can take the chance to let Peanut get some fresh air. He hasn’t seen you in a while.

MC: That should be fine…

Xia Yan: Then it’s confirmed!

[Flashback end]

--

At the end, we agreed to meet on the day of the closing ceremonies. According to Xia Yan, there would be an even more magnificent show then than at the opening ceremonies. Maybe it was because they wanted to catch this final chance, but the Star Bridge Light event was still filled with an endless stream of guests.

Xia Yan: Come closer to me – don’t get squished.

Saying this, Xia Yan blocked my front side, isolating a safe zone for me.

MC: Ah, Xia Yan, you don’t have to help me by blocking them off. With so many people, be careful that you don’t fall.

Xia Yan: Don’t worry, how could I fall? I’m a front-liner, after all. Trust in my skill a little more.

I hadn’t had the time to respond when I suddenly heard him give a muffled grunt, frowning.

Xia Yan: Ngh…

MC: What’s wrong? Were you stepped on?

Xia Yan: Nothing’s up – I was just accidentally poked by the toy in that kid’s hand.

MC: Poked? It must hurt a lot… let me see if there’s a wound.

Xia Yan dexterously dodged my hand, then rubbed his waist, deliberately putting on an embarrassed look.

Xia Yan: It doesn’t hurt – I was just startled. Do you really want to look in a public place with so many people?

MC: Yeah, I shouldn’t look.

Xia Yan: Don’t worry – I’m thick-skinned.

Xia Yan: Since they set up a lot of parent-child events for this light event, lots of parents are bringing their children over.

Xia Yan: Unlike me, you have to be somewhat careful. Though the children aren’t doing it on purpose, it’s hard to prevent them from being reckless or uncareful.

MC: Sure, I’ll be careful.

MC: Although looking at them right now, I keep feeling like I’m looking at us from the past…

MC: Right, Xia Yan, do you still remember what happened when we were little?

The suddenly-addressed Xia Yan startled, like a child who’d done something wrong, and met my gaze with particular sincerity. 

Xia Yan: That time when we were little was a special situation. I’m not someone with a bad sense of direction – I definitely won’t get lost again. 

He really was ahead of the game with his crisis awareness, but…

MC: I’m not talking about that.

Xia Yan: Huh? Then what is it?

MC: Ever since last week when we brought up that matter about getting lost, I suddenly remembered something that has never been clarified. 

Xia Yan: Eh? What thing?

MC: I faintly remember that the reason that you walked off from us back then because you were looking for something.

MC: But at the end, you only said that you couldn’t find it. From start to finish, you never told us exactly what you were looking for…

Xia Yan froze, then immediately made an “ah” sound, as if he’d come to a sudden realization. 

Xia Yan: Ah, something like that did happen.

Xia Yan: Though it’s been so long, so I actually don’t really remember.

MC: Is that so…

Though this was pardonable, I couldn’t resist sighing. I’d pestered Xia Yan a lot back then to make the truth clear. I never thought that, with the passing of time, this would be a completely unsolvable mystery. Seeing my disappointed expression Xia Yan immediately began to comfort me, half-soothing and half-persuasion.

Xia Yan: Don’t sigh. Maybe I’ll think of it after walking around soon.

After saying so, he showed an impatient expression, as if he was waiting for me to cheer up. Seeing Xia Yan like this, the disappointment in my heart was swept away in an instant.

MC: Makes sense – since we’re at the light event, then the probability of remembering it all again is very high.

Xia Yan: That’s right. This is a rare opportunity, so let’s go on this light event trip to find those memories. 

Xia Yan: Follow the great detective, and let’s head out, my Watson!

Circling in the air, the myna bird Peanut responded in squawks for a few times, thinking that it had heard its own name*. It flew far outwards, following the lights of the converged lanterns. Laughing, Xia Yan whistled to it in response, then walked into the boisterous crowd, leading me by my hand. 

I didn’t know if the answer from back then would be hidden at the end of this long road, brightly-lit by lanterns. 

TL Note:

* “Peanut” and “Watson” sound nearly identical in Chinese.

PART 2

We followed the river of people forward, doing our best to not pass by a single shop.

Exactly what was Xia Yan looking for when he was little… was it a special snack, or an interesting toy? I tried to find an answer in this year’s light festival, but I couldn’t help feeling that I was being ridiculous.

MC: (In a blink, so many years have passed…)

MC: Xia Yan, have you seen anything you’re particularly interested in?

Xia Yan: About that… I feel like it’s all pretty interesting.

Just then… I heard a stream of loud and clear geese honks.

MC: Geese? Did I imagine that?

Xia Yan: No, I heard it too. It seems like it came from there.

Xia Yan pointed to the nearby stall. After passing through the gaps in the crowd, I could see that there were many big white geese in a fenced area. They extended their long necks, cleverly ducking away from the crowd of people who tossed out rings. Sometimes, they’d even strut around, fanning out their two wings. 

MC: So this is a ring toss game? I didn’t think that the light event would keep up with the times. They’ve come up with new tricks…

Xia Yan: It seems pretty interesting.

MC: … If you looked clearly at those rows of jagged teeth in their mouths, you wouldn’t say that.

Xia Yan: Haha, if I remember correctly, didn’t you get chased and bitten by a big goose until you fell in a mud pit when we went to the countryside to visit relatives?

Xia Yan: I think it was me who noticed it first, so I pulled you out.

MC: Stop talking, stop talking – those memories are going to surge out!

Xia Yan: Calm down – it’s about time for us to take our revenge.

Xia Yan: Plus, it looks like the prizes are pretty good!

I hadn’t even had time to look at what the prizes were when Xia Yan directly waved and shouted at the boss.

Xia Yan: Boss, ten rings here.

Ring Toss Stand Boss: Sure!

MC: Xia Yan, you couldn’t be wanting to…

--

Standing in the established area, as set by the rules, Xia Yan held the rings. After comparing the distance a few times, he directly flung one out. The ring flew straight to its target, and right when it was about to land, the big white goose suddenly extended its long neck, squawking a few “caw caw” sounds at Xia Yan in demonstration.

Xia Yan: Oops.

Because of the height difference, the ring that should’ve been able to land right on the head of the big white goose, hit its neck directly. Following a severe “caw” sound, the big white goose fluttered backwards, staggering several steps before it firmly stabilized itself.

Xia Yan: Hey, are you… okay?

Accompanying Xia Yan’s gradually freezing expression, I noticed that big white goose’s attitude seemed a bit off. 

In its two beady eyes… there seemed to be killing intent.

MC: Xia, Xia Yan! I think it’s angry!

Xia Yan: Eh?!

The big white goose stuck out its neck, then rushed towards us. When it reached the fence, it jumped up with a flap of its wings, then descended in a mission-accomplished way. With a cry, the crowd of people dissipated all at once. The big white goose didn’t chase them – it just pinned a death stare on Xia Yan in front of him.

Xia Yan: MC, stay away from me.

Just when he said this, the big white goose twisted its neck as if warming up, and with a “caw caw”, it rushed at Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: Br-brother goose! Let’s discuss this nicely!

The beady eyes of the goose had been completely clouded by anger. It ruthlessly found every opportunity to peck Xia Yan with an iron beak. The boss probably had never seen a goose so intent on revenge, and was shocked silly during then.

Xia Yan: Stop your mouth! Don’t! Don’t bite there!

MC: Xia Yan, hurry and run! Don’t get caught! Or else…

Xia Yan: Don’t talk about it! If an accident happens to me, I’m handing my antiques shop for you to take over!

Xia Yan: In there, I’ve left for you… wait, don’t peck my behind!

MC: Here, there’s a basket! Hurry and trap it!

Maybe it was because the goose had gotten tired of pecking Xia Yan, or maybe it was because my words attracted its anger, but it changed its target and rushed towards me.

MC: Ahhhhhh don’t come over here –

Seeing the direction that the goose had changed to, the aura surrounding Xia Yan immediately changed. He stared at that goose “murderously”, as if the person who cut a sorry figure fleeing just now wasn’t him.

Xia Yan: You better slow down!

I hadn’t even had the chance to escape when Xia Yan seized the goose’s neck from behind, then turned around, sending it straight back into the fence with a fling of his hand. Right then, not just the crowd of people, but even the originally restless goose crowd became still.

MC: !!!

It took me a while to regain my bearings from the shock.

MC: Xia Yan, did you get any pecking injuries on your body? Does it hurt?

Xia Yan: Nothing’s wrong. Though that big white goose looks scary, compared to people, its ability to hurt is limited.

MC: That’s good. I’d originally thought you wouldn’t be able to handle it.

MC: Didn’t think it would end up being the opposite. Your posture when throwing the goose was just like that “Discobolus” sculpture.

Xia Yan: Hahaha, it wasn’t that exaggerated, right…

Xia Yan: I’d originally wanted to let it peck me so it could let go of its anger, but I didn’t think that it would actually rush at you. Good thing that in the end, it just looked scary without actually being dangerous.

Xia Yan: Otherwise, this goose might have been sent to the dinner table.

Hearing Xia Yan’s last sentence, I couldn’t help but flinch for that goose.

--

In the end, though we didn’t get a ring on a goose, the boss gave Xia Yan the right to choose a prize for capturing the goose.

Xia Yan: I’ll have this one.

MC: A comb?

I looked at that sandalwood comb, feeling somewhat surprised at his choice.

Xia Yan: Yeah. The craftsmanship of this comb is pretty good – it’s not like those assembly-line-made wholesale ones. 

Ring Toss Stand Boss: Young people sure have good eyes for these things. I found this batch of ours from an old craftsman in the village – it was completely handmade.

Ring Toss Stand Boss: This craft has already been passed down through several generations. Legend says that the god of the land used the combs made by his family, before he was granted godhood. 

MC: The god of the land?

Ring Toss Stand Boss: That’s right. Young lady, you must not have known that the origin of the Star Bridge Light event has to do with the god of the land.

The boss started chattering, and was just about to unleash a torrent of local knowledge on me when he was cut short by Xia Yan in a timely manner.

Xia Yan: Boss, you should focus on watching over your stall, lest those geese run out again.

As he spoke, Xia Yan stuffed the prize straight into my hand.

Xia Yan: For you.

I held the comb that he had exchanged for the peril he’d faced, and suddenly felt that it had some sort of heavy weightiness.

MC: You’re giving this to me?

Xia Yan: Mm. You said before that recently, you’ve been losing sleep. Aside from chatting with you, there doesn’t seem to be much else that I can help with.

Xia Yan: I consulted a doctor, and he said that lightly combing your hair before sleeping can improve your sleep…

As Xia Yan spoke, his gaze started becoming erratic. Seeing this, the boss on the side laughed.

Ring Toss Stand Boss: Young man, you didn’t need to bother with that.

Ring Toss Stand Boss: The comb is a personal item. Rather than some health benefits, its more important use is…

Xia Yan: Boss! If you talk too much, you’ll affect your profit prospects.

Ring Toss Stand Boss: Alright, I’ll stop talking about it.

Xia Yan turned around with some awkwardness. Though he purposefully blocked his face with his hand, I could still see the slightly-flushed tips of his ears from my angle.

MC: Alright, Xia Yan, the boss was messing with us, don’t take it seriously.

MC: I’ll remember to use it every night to comb my hair. If it works, then I’ll definitely tell you right away!

Xia Yan: …Okay.

After hearing my words, the boss suddenly started laughing even louder. After glaring at him, Xia Yan immediately tugged me away from the stand.

Why did I feel like… he was somewhat in a huff?

--

Having returned into the crowd, I had a somewhat clear target this time.

MC: Xia Yan, let’s try some events that kids can safely play next time.

MC: I feel like you wouldn’t have provoked a big goose when you were little. Otherwise, if you encountered a situation like just now, I reckon you’d be gone…

Xia Yan: How am I that weak? I was the one who scared off that goose that made you fall into the mud pit back then.

MC: Let this topic go!

Although, it really was as Xia Yan said – he scared off the goose, and afterwards, I never saw it in my vicinity. I even vaguely remembered that, in the few days after, the food on the dinner table were all abnormally sumptuous – and among them, one of the permanent dishes seemed to be…

MC: Eh?! That goose ended up getting eaten?!

Xia Yan: Hm hm? What did you say?

Xia Yan: Ah! There are a lot of kids surrounding that stand – let’s go over and look.

MC: You must be deliberately forcing away the topic, right…

So it turns out that Xia Yan’s threat from just now was for real. If some geese gave chase… they’d end up on the dinner table. 

PART 3

Following the joyful cheers of children, Xia Yan and I arrived in front of a shop.

MC: They’ve even got sugar people*!

The boss was a kindly grandpa. Though the hair on his head was white, his hand movements were natural and unforced. With a few movements, he had created a vivid and lifelike phoenix. I couldn’t resist exclaiming along with the children.

MC: Whoa – so amazing!

Xia Yan: Yeah, no wonder he attracted so many little fans.

Xia Yan: Although looking at the situation right now, it seems like he’s a little too busy…

Just as Xia Yan said, the boss had no time whatsoever to consider us. After a hurried glance over, he only had the time to send a greeting in our direction.

Sugar Person Shop Boss: Come, I don’t have time to do it for you, so you two can do it yourselves.

MC: Eh? Was the boss talking to us?

Xia Yan: Eh… seems like it.

The boss’s abnormally familiar attitude as if he knew us from the start, as well as Xia Yan’s unnatural expression, made me feel somewhat strange.

MC: Xia Yan, do you know the boss from before?

Xia Yan: Ah? I’m not familiar with him. Maybe the boss is too busy and just didn’t realize.

Xia Yan: Aiya, let’s not talk about this. Either way, since the boss is letting us do it ourselves, how about we go for it.

With a grin, Xia Yan pointed to the side of the boss where there was a small candy-making stall, eagerly pulling up his sleeves.

MC: Making sugar people is the work of a craftsman – I probably won’t be great at it.

Xia Yan: No problem – I’m here.

Xia Yan: You didn’t get to eat it because of a cavity when we were little – this time, you definitely won’t miss it.

MC: You’ve forgotten your own matters so completely, yet you still remember these little things…

Xia Yan: Because they’re things about you.

After winking at me, he took off his jacket and tied it around his waist, then crouched at the candy-making stall. He held up the steel spoon, scooping out some syrup from the heating stove with familiarity, and smoothly started to draw with seriousness on the steel counter. 

Thin threads of sugar meandered off the steel spoon, following his movements to take form, finally converging to become a playful-looking little person.

MC: It’s so cute!

Hearing my praise, Xia Yan waved the cute sugar person he was holding. His smile bloomed from his eyes, bringing a joy as if he was waiting to be praised. 

Xia Yan: Here – can you guess who I made?

Looking at it carefully, the sugar person’s hairstyle and hair décor seemed to be quite similar to how I was dressed up today. 

MC: Could it be… me?

Xia Yan turned his wrist, holding the sugar person in front of his eye.

Xia Yan: Mm, it’s you.

Through the crystal-clear sugar person, his coral eyes looked like rich honey, mixed with thoughts that had been mulled over for a long time. 

Xia Yan: I was thinking of you when I made this sugar person.

Drums sounded from far away, accelerating my frenzied heartbeat.

As he was now, Xia Yan looked like he was doing his best to impress everything into his sight. He didn’t pay attention to the surrounding noise – he just looked at me with a clear gaze, letting the light shine a gentle layer of brilliance on his body. 

Little Boy: Big brother! Could you also make one for me?

Little Girl: I want one too!

The surrounding kids eagerly watched the sugar person in Xia Yan’s hands, outdoing each other in squeezing over here.

Xia Yan: Little friends, we’re not selling over here. If you want sugar people, go find the boss over there and buy from him. 

Little Boy: Aw – big brother is so stingy.

Little Girl: But I want one that you’ve made…

Xia Yan: Sorry, sorry – I’m only making them for one person today.

Xia Yan apologetically patted the kids’ heads, then walked over to my side proudly.

Xia Yan: How is it – I didn’t disappoint, right?

MC: As expected of Great Detective Xia who knows how to do everything. But with so many longing gazes surrounding us, I’m feeling somewhat embarrassed…

Xia Yan: Being the target of admiration is a good thing.

Xia Yan held the sugar person in his hand in front of me. It was like the honey-coloured gloss and the fragrance of maltose had a sort of magic that could uplift people’s moods.

> Directly taste it > Solemnly accept it

MC: Then I won’t be courteous.

I got close to the sugar person and directly took a bite.

Xia Yan: Eh?!

The clear sweetness of the sugar filled my mouth, and I was immediately filled with happiness.

MC: Hoo… so good.

Xia Yan: Th-the head is almost gone!

As if he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, Xia Yan looked at the sugar person that was nearly missing half its head in his hand, then held out his hand to wipe the sugar stains on the side of my mouth. 

Xia Yan: … Haha, you really don’t have a single mental burden about this.

MC: Hm? Why would I be burdened?

Xia Yan: It’s nothing. As long as you like it, I’ll make you another if there’s a chance in the future.

> Directly taste it > Solemnly accept it

I carefully took the sugar person, fearing that someone would bump into it and shatter it. Or at least, that’s what I said, but I saw that Xia Yan’s expression was extremely surprised, with a trace of happiness.

MC: This was personally made by Great Detective Xia – it definitely is different from typical sugar people.

MC: Let me think… how should I hang this up when I get back?

Xia Yan: It’s been quite hot recently. How about making a freezing glass display case for it?

MC: Ah… something this troublesome…

Xia Yan: I’m kidding.

Xia Yan: If you like it, I can make it for you again whenever. You don’t need to specially collect and treasure it.

--

Holding the freshly-made sugar person in my hand, I once again fell into a daze about the next target.

MC: Looks like the thing you were looking for back then wasn’t a sugar person… then what exactly could it be…

Xia Yan: You really are persistent about this. It might not even be anything that’s that big of a deal.

MC: I still want to know.

MC: Back then, I thought you were never going to come back, and I cried while searching for a long time with mom and dad. To me, this matter is just like a knot in my heart.

Xia Yan: A knot in your heart?

MC: That’s right. I keep feeling like if I don’t find out what you were looking for back then, you’ll disappear again…

Xia Yan: …

Xia Yan: Even if I really did disappear, it wouldn’t be your fault anyways.

Xia Yan whispered this sentence almost inaudibly, and it dissipated in the surrounding boisterous holiday atmosphere. 

MC: What?

Xia Yan: Nothing. Let’s keep thinking of ways – maybe I’ll be able to remember what it was I was looking for very soon. 

Seeming to have become aware of our troubles, the sugar person shop boss on the side started talking to us warmly while making the sugar person he was working on. 

Sugar Person Shop Boss: If you're talking about looking for something, could it be that you’re looking for the god of the land?

MC: Eh? Why do you say so?

This was already the second time that I’ve heard of this “god of the land” name. If I wasn’t remembering wrong, it had to do with the legend of the Star Bridge Light event.

Sugar Person Shop Boss: Haha, because in this light event, it most likely has to do with the god of the land if you’re talking about looking for something. 

Xia Yan: Mm, it’s because of the legend in the folklore here. 

Sugar Person Shop Boss: Look at you – if you know, why not tell the young lady?

As he spoke, the boss drew up a completely new sugar person.  Looking at the figure, it was a celestial being in fluttering clothes.

Sugar Person Shop Boss: Legend says that the god of the land will wear a mask and mix with the crowds, on this day in the Star Bridge Light event, to look for the lover he was separated from before he became a god.

Sugar Person Shop Boss: As long as one recognizes him, the wish they hold at the bottom of their heart will definitely become reality.

MC: I didn’t think that the Star Bridge Light event had such a romantic legend – I didn’t know about it before.

Sugar Person Shop Boss: This isn’t your fault, young lady. As time flows on, some things are destined to fade away and be forgotten. 

Sugar Person Shop Boss: I also had suddenly remembered the light event back then – there were very many visitors wearing masks, and all the kids would excitedly guess who was the real god of the land. 

Sugar Person Shop Boss: Maybe what you were looking for back then was him.

MC: Thank you, boss. I will definitely remember this legend.

As if he saw through my thought process, before I even opened my mouth, Xia Yan rushed to be the first to suggest a direction.

Xia Yan: I just saw a stall nearby that sells masks – let’s go and take a look.

MC: Ah, okay!

At this moment, I suddenly had the strong feeling that what Xia Yan had been searching for back then wasn’t something that could be seen or felt. Instead, it was an opportunity to make his wish a reality.

TL Note:

* You may have seen these before – sugar people (“糖人”, tang ren) use melted sugar to create fragile, edible figures!

PART 4

Maybe it was because they weren’t like the cartoon masks favoured by children, as most of the masks sold at the stand were all wooden masks with traditional features, but compared to the other stands that were busy with many visitors, the front of this mask shop was clearly much more deserted.

MC: So the god of the land wore this kind of mask to hide among the crowds…

Xia Yan: That’s just a legend. There doesn’t actually exist any god of the land.

MC: So you couldn’t find him back then?

Xia Yan: …

Seeming to be surprised by my sudden question, Xia Yan froze for a moment, then finally laughed.

Xia Yan: Haha, didn’t think you would ask about this so suddenly…

Xia Yan: You’re right. I really was looking for the legendary god of the land back then.

Like he was slowly unearthing past memories, Xia Yan’s gaze wandered over the rows and rows of dazzling masks, finally coming to a stop on my face.

Xia Yan: I’m sorry for making you worry back then. Now that I think back, those kinds of thoughts were pretty childish.

MC: No worries. As family members, we should take care of each other, after all.

MC: Plus, I think that believing in legends has nothing to do with whether you’re childish. This is a way to place your hopes on something.

If so, exactly what was it that Xia Yan had placed his hopes on back then? Up till now, he’s never brought up this matter. It must be something that’s hard to say, so he kept it hidden…

MC: Although, being able to remember exactly what you were looking for is already very difficult. The exact wish should be even harder to remember, right?

Xia Yan: About this…

Xia Yan opened his mouth a few times, finally choosing to maintain a tacit mutual understanding with me.

Xia Yan: How about we buy the masks first? Let’s leave the wish matter to think about later.

MC: Okay, prepare to pay up – with such a rare opportunity, I’m going to choose the most expensive to keep.

Xia Yan: Sure – I’ll take it as helping with the boss’s business.

The boss, who was originally swiping on his phone on the side, straightforwardly raised his hands.

Mask Shop Boss: Why so courteous? I just came here to join in on the liveliness. If there’s anything you like, just take it.

MC: … Eh?

MC: (It seems like I’ve just heard this kind of familiar tone.)

Xia Yan: Ahem, boss, you can’t do business like this. If you gave one to everyone, wouldn’t this become a charity?

Right then, I suddenly felt someone squeezing past my back. Though it was just a few seconds, and I hadn’t planned to pay it any attention, but Xia Yan ceased his movements in making payments, frowning at the crowd while asking me.

Xia Yan: MC, hurry and see if you’ve lost something.

MC: Ah? Okay.

I reached into my pocket, and sure enough, I noticed that I’d lost something.

MC: My phone’s gone! Was it that thief just now?

Xia Yan: Don’t worry, he can’t get away. Wait for me for a bit.

After he finished speaking, Xia Yan whistled towards the sky. In response, Peanut arrived, following Xia Yan as they gave chase towards the crowd together. 

--

In a flash, over ten minutes had already passed, and Xia Yan still hadn’t returned. Because I didn’t have my phone, I had no way of contacting him. I could only incessantly look around everywhere, hoping that I’d see his figure in the crowd. 

MC: (It couldn’t be that something happened to him, right…)

My mind quickly came up with many similar cases, getting all the more anxious. As if affected by my mood, the visitors coming and going revealed more heavy expressions than before, accompanied by worried whispers. 

Visitor A: Husband, the person you were talking about is alright, right…

Visitor B: I’m not sure. I saw blood all over his face, and he was lying there, unable to move. The wounds he got probably weren’t light.

Visitor A: Ah, I hope that his life isn’t at risk.

Visitor B: Yeah, although people nowadays are too quick to act. It was just a little matter, so why bother making a mess of it to this point…

MC: (They couldn’t be talking about Xia Yan, right?!)

When I thought this, I rushed straight out and blocked that couple.

MC: My apologies – the person who was hurt that you just brought up, may I ask for an approximation of what he looked like?

Visitor A: Looked like… because there was blood all over his face, I could only just barely see that it was a fairly young boy.

Visitor B: That’s right, and he was wearing a white shirt, and he didn’t seem to have a companion with him.

MC: Could you tell me approximately where it was?

Visitor B: Right turn at the front. You’ll be able to see it after walking straight for a bit more.

MC: Thank you!

After hurriedly giving my thanks, I forced myself into the mass of people, rushing towards the direction they had indicated. 

The heat in the crowd, as well as the dazzling lanterns all around, made me feel abnormally restless in this moment. As I staggered, rushing towards the scene, I suddenly felt a familiar feeling. It seemed like I had been like this when I was little, anxiously looking in all directions for Xia Yan who’d gotten lost…

In the end, the place where we found him was a forest in the corner of the light event.

Xia Yan curled up, burying his head past his shoulders, crouching without a single sound in the corner beside the shrubbery. Sounds of lively mirth came from the light festival not too far away, but all of these seemed to have been isolated outside of this still area, like it had nothing to do with him.

After, only when I walked closer did I hear the quiet sounds of his sobbing.  

Back then, I was still young, so I’d always thought that he was terribly scared because he had gotten lost from everyone. But now that I think about it carefully, that didn’t seem to be the case… 

Xia Yan has always been very courageous since he was small. He’d even drive away a goose that was taller than him to protect me. If so, how could he have cried to that point just because he had gotten lost? He’s so smart, so he definitely also knew to ask the light event staff for help. 

MC: (Could it be that he purposefully hid away back then…)

MC: (Or does it mean…)

MC: (No good, this isn’t the time to think about these. I need to find Xia Yan fast and confirm that he’s safe!)

PART 5

When I found the scene of the accident, everything was already reaching an end. The light event staff had placed warning signs in front of the stall where the conflict had occurred, and were now methodically cleaning up the scene. 

Staff Member: Could all visitors please be aware of the shards of glass on the ground. Please aim to take alternate routes where possible.

I paid little attention to the shards scattered all around with traces of blood on them, directly stepping over the warning signs. 

Staff Member: Ah, dear visitor, please move back to avoid injury.

MC: My apologies - may I ask if you know about the condition of the one who was injured just now?

Staff Member: I came fairly late, and I’m not too clear on the detailed situation.

Staff Member: I just know that the one who was injured is a young man. Because he thought that the other person, a middle-aged man, had stolen something of his, the two got in a dispute. 

Staff Member: During this, he accidentally collided with the adjacent goldfish stall, and his eyes were scratched by the glass. It seems like he lost a lot of blood…

MC: (Stole something… could the one who was injured really be Xia Yan…)

MC: Then has he been sent to the hospital?

Staff Member: Ah, he was just lifted out by the stretcher. Is he your friend? If so, you should be able to make it if you rush over now. 

MC: Understood!

After finishing speaking, I immediately ran toward the entrance of the light event.

MC: (I hope nothing happened to Xia Yan… he must not have had anything happen to him…)

Just as I passed through the crowd of people, moving against the current, the loud, clear sound of a birdcall suddenly rang through the air. I lifted my head and saw a black figure anxiously circling around my head. 

MC: (Why is Peanut over here? Is it hastening me to hurry to find Xia Yan?)

Thus, I was unable to focus on protecting the sugar person I was holding, as I threaded through the flow of people in front of me with increased anxiety.

Right then, I suddenly heard a familiar sound behind me. 

???: Found you.

Hearing this voice, I immediately turned around - 

Where…

Is that you, Xia Yan…

Where are you…

The multicoloured lanterns threw my vision into chaos. I felt like I was in a blurred illusion, unable to distinguish between anything…

Until… a warmth wrapped lightly around my wrist. 

???: …

The sound of a light laugh directed my vision. I saw a young man…

He lifted the complicatedly-carved mask, revealing a handsome and gentle expression. That moment, reality and fantasy split apart. Between heaven and earth, only you and I are real.

MC: …

It really is you… that really is great…

I looked at him, and all the fear and unease in my heart was completely vanquished and dispersed, right then and there.

Xia Yan: What’s wrong? Staring at me in a daze - were you startled by the mask?

His eyes shone bright, looking like they could dispel all hurt in the shadow behind that brightness. 

There was a moment when I felt like I had gotten something wrong… was it him? The god spoken of in legends was him, right? Peeling back a thousand years’ worth of mist, he stepped in the waning lantern light and gradually walked over, solely to find the image of the woman that was branded in his heart.

MC: I was just thinking that… if there really was that god of the land in the light event, he might look like you.

Xia Yan: But the god of the land searched for several hundred years, and still hasn’t found and reunited with the person he loves, even until today. I can’t be like him. 

Though it was dialogue that could not get any more mundane, when placed in this moment, it was like a hidden promise, concealing a hard-to-express sentiment. When associating this with his “Found you” just now, my cheeks started to gradually heat up. 

But Xia Yan continued to gaze at me, never once shifting his vision away. The hot air grew steadily warmer. Only until I lowered my head in embarrassment did he laugh and change the topic.

Xia Yan: Although, if I hypothetically really was him, do you have any wishes you’d like to make a reality?

Xia Yan: Do you want to recover a certain thing that was forgotten?

He raised the phone in his hand and winked at me, brimming with anticipation.

MC: I don’t…

Xia Yan: Eh?! Why?

MC: It’s alright as long as you’re fine. Just now, I’d thought the one who was hurt was you…

Xia Yan: It’s no big deal - just catching a thief. I definitely won’t let myself get caught in danger. 

Xia Yan: You’re still waiting for me, after all.

MC: Xia Yan, your body is yours. Even if I wasn’t waiting for you, you have to be careful.

After listening to me, Xia Yan froze slightly, then immediately revealed a smile that was even more dazzling than before. 

Xia Yan: Mm, you’re right. Here - your phone.

There was still some of his residual warmth left on the phone, and it was slightly hot. It was only then did I suddenly realize that it wasn’t that he wasn’t anxious - he was just pretending to be calm, and hadn’t shown his panicked expression.

MC: Sorry, Xia Yan, I was too reckless just now… I didn’t carefully think before running around, making you search for that long…

Xia Yan: Don’t apologize, this isn’t your fault.

He’d just dealt with an issue just now with skill and ease, but seeing me apologize, Xia Yan was immediately in a fluster.

Xia Yan: It’s actually all my fault. After getting delayed by that accident, I didn’t get Peanut to contact you immediately.

Xia Yan: You didn’t have your phone at the time, and you must have been very anxious. I’m sorry, I didn’t give enough consideration to this…

MC: It’s no problem. Something that delays you must be something that’s very important.

MC: Wait, the accident you mentioned - could it be… the accident where someone collided into the goldfish stall and got their eyes scratched?

Xia Yan: You saw it too?

MC: To be honest… I thought that person was you…

Xia Yan: Then haven’t you underestimated my strength a little too much?

Xia Yan: Although, I was on scene at the time. I somewhat helped the person who got hurt to apply some emergency blood-staunching measures. Otherwise, his eyes would be in danger. 

MC: So amazing - I didn’t think that you also had professional first aid knowledge!

Xia Yan: I’m just alright - preventative measures and all.

Seeming somewhat embarrassed, Xia Yan scratched his head, then directly changed the topic. 

Xia Yan: All in all, if something happens like this next time, I definitely won’t let you worry about me like today.

MC: Wrong! Even if it makes me worry, you should do what you want to do first.

MC: Saving people is the most important, right?

Xia Yan: Mm. As expected, this is something that you’d say.

Xia Yan’s always like this. He’s used to putting himself last, placing priority on considering my feelings first. Ever since we were young, up till now, he’s always been careful like this. Looking at his smiling expression right now, I suddenly had a strong hunch that the reason why he had hid away back then might also have to do with me…

MC: Actually, the process of finding you this time wasn’t a bad thing to me. 

MC: It let me remember things that happened at the light event when we were little…

Xia Yan: Does… it have to do with me? 

MC: Mm, I suddenly remembered that I found you in the corner of the woods, after that time when you got lost.

MC: Back then, you didn’t ask other people for help. Was it because I did something that made you unhappy, so you deliberately hid away…

Xia Yan: No, it had nothing to do with you! Wait, that’s wrong… I can’t really say that it had nothing to do with you…

MC: Look - sure enough, it has to do with me!

MC: I’m sorry, Xia Yan… it’s all my fault…

Xia Yan: Wait wait! Don’t rush to apologize yet! That thing really wasn’t your fault!

MC: Then exactly why was it that…

Seeing me cover my face, maybe Xia Yan thought I was crying. He hurried to take out a paper napkin and edged over to look over my expression as if trying to curry favour. Only after seeing that I was just bluffing did he release a breath, as if he didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.

Xia Yan: Alright alright, I’ll talk. I really can’t deal with you.

Xia Yan: Actually… back then, I really did think about not going back, but it wasn’t your fault.

Xia Yan: I had heard and believed some of the rumours and slanders from relatives back then, and I felt that I had snatched away the attention and affection that uncle and auntie gave to you.

Xia Yan: So I wanted to return these to you… looking at it now, it really is very childish, right?

MC: It’s beyond childish! It’s simply stupid!

Xia Yan: I know, so that’s why I was too embarrassed to tell you the whole time…

After my shock gradually faded, I suddenly felt a sort of hard-to-explain anguish in my heart. I never thought that Xia Yan would have had these kinds of thoughts. It was ironic that I, who had been with him morning and night, never noticed the slightest bit of this…

MC: So… the wish you wanted to make by finding the god of the land also has to do with these thoughts?

Xia Yan: Mm, I hoped that he could make me completely disappear - from this world, and from everyone’s memories.

Xia Yan: Although, good thing I didn’t find him. Otherwise, I definitely would’ve regretted it a lot.

MC: It’s all my fault… if I had noticed this earlier, you wouldn’t have had it so hard.

Xia Yan: Alright alright, I’ve said this already - this isn’t your fault. 

Smiling, Xia Yan patted my head. Looking at his face right now, I couldn’t see the slightest bit of his past haze.

Xia Yan: It’s the opposite - I should thank you.

MC: Thank me?

Xia Yan: Mm. Though I didn’t find the god of the land, you found me.

Xia Yan: Starting from then, I made a decision.

Xia Yan: I will return several times over the attention and affection that was split for me to you, using my methods.

MC: Xia Yan…

Right then, innumerable fireworks suddenly burst in the sky, enveloping everything in gorgeous colours.

Xia Yan: Alright, it’s almost time. 

PART 6

Following the nonstop fireworks sounds, Xia Yan brought me over to the river shore beside the light event.

MC: Whoa—

I couldn’t help exclaiming in admiration. On the water surface that reflected the fireworks, innumerable river lanterns floated and drifted.  Right at that moment, they looked like specks of stars shining in the Milky Way, far away in the sky.

Xia Yan: How is it? We didn’t come here this time for nothing, right?

MC: Mm! It’s way too gorgeous. Were these river lanterns prepared specifically for the closing ceremony?

Xia Yan: That’s right, I set them up specifically for today.

MC: Eh?! You did this?

Xia Yan: Why so surprised? My hands-on ability is more than enough for these kinds of things.

MC: But there are so many of them. You must have spent a lot of time…

Xia Yan: It was alright. Placing river lanterns is one of the customs of the Star Bridge Light event, after all. It also indirectly promotes traditional culture.

Following the slight breeze, some of the river lanterns slowly drifted back to shore, stopping by my foot. If I looked carefully, it seemed like a row of words was written on each lamp. I crouched down and randomly took one of the lamps, and noticed that “Hope her work goes smoothly and that she wins every case” was written on it. Another lantern had “Hope that she will be healthy, and that she won’t be infected by all illnesses” written on it. There were even more lanterns like these, but the blessings written on each lantern were all different.

MC: Xia Yan, were the blessings on them also written by you?

Xia Yan: Mm, they were all written for you.

Xia Yan: I brought you here because I wanted to have you believe that the wish from when we were little no longer counts. These are my real wishes now.

MC: But…

I looked at the numerous lanterns and couldn’t help wrinkling my brows.

MC: Why are all these blessings for me? Are there none for you?

Xia Yan: Because I…

He forcibly swallowed back the words he had opened his mouth to say. With the change in topic, his tone deemphasized the matter at hand.

Xia Yan: There’s actually no reason. Back at the beginning, when I was preparing the river lights, I racked my brains for a long while because I didn’t know what to write.

Xia Yan: After, I thought about you, and I ended up writing on all of them without realizing it. I even felt like I hadn’t made enough river lanterns.

Xia Yan: It’s a pity that there weren’t enough materials already, so I could only make do with those.

But, even if there were enough materials, he probably never intended to write some blessings for himself. There were clearly so many river lanterns, but he didn’t leave a single one for himself… now that I thought about it, I suddenly felt very upset.

MC: Xia Yan, wait for me here for a bit!

Xia Yan: Eh? Where are you going?

MC: I’m going to borrow something - I’ll be back immediately!

After finishing speaking, I ran towards the mask shop. If I hadn’t remembered wrong, there would be what I needed there.

—

Seeing me from far away, the boss waved to me, greeting me warmly.

Mask Shop Boss: Eh, young lady, why did you return on your own? Did that young man not bring you to see the river lanterns?

MC: That young man… do you mean Xia Yan? Boss, how did you know about it?

Mask Shop Boss: This isn’t some secret - all the shops around here know that that young man was going to bring his girlfriend here today.

MC: Girl-girlfriend?!

Mask Shop Boss: Ayo, looking at the young lady’s reaction, you haven’t gotten together yet.

MC: We actually don’t have that kind of relation between us…

Mask Shop Boss: Regardless of how it is, let me speak some fair words - that young man really is a good person.

Mask Shop Boss: To convince the light event host to rent the space out and let him set up the river lanterns, he worked for us for several days. That’s not some average-level conviction.

MC: So this was also the case… thank you for telling me these things, boss.

If not for this accidental occurrence, I probably would have never known about the effort he had put in behind the scenes.

MC: Right, boss, can I borrow a writing brush from you? I promise I will return it immediately after using it.

Mask Shop Boss: No problem, take it as you please. Remember to bring the pigment with you. Although this is what I use to paint the masks - I’m just afraid that you might not be used to using it.

MC: Thank you, boss!

Holding the tools I had borrowed from the boss, I jogged back towards the shore.

—

Xia Yan: What did you bring these for?

Under Xia Yan’s dubious gaze, I held up a river lantern.

MC: To write blessings.

MC: Look, the river lanterns have so many sides, so I can still write a lot of words.

As I spoke, I lifted the writing brush, writing on the empty side of a river lantern - “Hope Xia Yan will be healthy, as well as happy”.

Xia Yan: Eh? Are you writing this for me?

MC: Of course. You’ve busied yourself for so long for these river lanterns, so they must have your name!

MC: Didn’t you ask me earlier about what wishes I wanted to make into reality? More than finding my phone back, this is my actual wish.

Xia Yan: …

Xia Yan looked at those two rows of simple, short wishes on the river lantern, sinking in a short moment of silent contemplation. Right after, he took the brush from my hand, also writing a few rows of words.

MC: What are you writing? Why’d you even cross out a row - let me see.

Xia Yan: No can do - if it’s seen, it won’t come true.

MC: Eh?! Then does that mean that the ones I saw just now won’t come true?

Xia Yan: It won’t be a problem. Either way, there are so many of them, so some of them have got to come true.

MC: That’s true… then I’ll write a few more for you as well!

Xia Yan: No need - this one is enough for me.

He winked at me, then immediately placed the river lantern lightly, back into the water. Right then, magnificent fireworks burst successively in the sky, radiantly breaking apart the darkness, as if to draw all sceneries into an enchanting dream. Following the current, the lanterns drifted further and further away, gradually bringing the wishes to the distant horizon.

“Rather than the excessive wish of being able to always stay by her side, I hope more to protect her as she peacefully, prosperously lives her life - regardless whether I’m there, and regardless of in what way.”

PHONE CALL

Sorry, I was just feeding Peanut and couldn’t respond to your message in time.

I’m also just like you - I’m feeling very reminiscent about the taste of sugar people. The sugar prepared by that boss really was unique.

You liked it because I made it? Hehe, you’re probably saying this to make me happy.

Right, if you like eating it, how about I go find the boss tomorrow to borrow his equipment and make you another one?

Other sugar people shapes… about this, it might have to wait for some time. I have to practice.

You also know that I’ve never been good at drawing since I was small. I’d drift off each class and the teacher would always use my works to make everyone laugh.

The reason why the sugar person I gave you was made well, was because I made it according to you. 

During the time when I went away, I would think of you often. Over time, you became branded deep in my head.

I got caught… I didn’t agree to those kids back then because I only knew to make one kind of sugar people. I can’t just casually give “you” away to other people.

You’re talking about working for the stalls? I was just in charge of working the cash register and hawking the wares - the sugar person I gave you was my first official work.

As long as you like it. I’m willing to try anything you like.

How about we make a big sugar person family next time, with uncle and auntie, and me and you.

In fact… this is, by far, not the only thing I want to do with you. I want to make more memories with you.

I will make up for those lost eight years’ worth of time.

[whattheflameo]

- Kya II, Legend of Korra

It’s a real shame that running away to sea isn’t considered a career alternative anymore :/

[konmaao3]

My thoughts about season 4

(tagged as tdp critical because I’m focusing on the negatives. It’s long enough as it is although I tried to keep myself short) We don’t really need yet another review, but I wanted to understand why I found season 4 so underwhelming and thus wrote this stuff, so why not post it as well.

tl;dr The storytelling was often immersion-breaking. Many things seemed to happen because the plot needed them to happen, not because they made sense. Irrespective of that, the story felt shallow. There weren’t enough conversations about all the important stuff going on, the dragang just travelled without much character development.

I think my main issues are with 1) the overall storytelling and 2) the characters within the story. Season 4 often chooses the lazy, convenient route (I’ll use the word “convenient” a lot here). In isolation, many of my points don’t matter that much or could be explained by some head canons, but they add up. There were just so many immersion-breaking logical errors and weird behaviours, and also some design choices I simply disagree with.

1) Storytelling

The story of season 1-3 was essentially “in a hostile environment, bring Zym from A to B”, which is all that was needed. What made it great were the characters within the story. So season 4 didn’t have to do something spectacular in this regard, but things were constantly throwing me off, preventing me from getting invested.

No open fire in a huge sunfire elf camp? That doesn’t sound right, there are plenty of nomadic cultures that use fires literally inside of tents. Ancient and medieval and modern armies on the march needed their fires as well. It’s strange that these human-elf misunderstandings only came up after two years. In fact, it seemed as if this plot line hadn’t gotten the memo about the time skip. Because that was the starting point of the whole conflict, it always felt weird. If I ignore that and pretend that there was a believable reason, I don’t have many issues with this story arc.

However, the Aaravos arc had me constantly shake my head:

Zubeia and Pyrrah conveniently leave just when Claudia&Co. climb the Storm Spire.

“The staff of Ziard has been stolen. I’m afraid this can only mean one thing: The Fallen Star has returned.” – Why can it mean only that? It’s a powerful relic, that alone is reason enough for any dark mage to try and get it. Claudia whispered “one step closer to freeing Aaravos” when opening the chest, but if Ibis heard that, he should have simply said “a dark mage stole the staff to free the Fallen Star” instead. But conveniently, this puts the good guys on the right track from the get-go.

Why did Zubeia take the dragang with her? Very convenient that the protagonists are included in the story that way, but there wasn’t really a reason. It’s especially weird that Ezran tags along (the world really needs a 12-year-old boy whose death could cause yet another succession crisis?) and that Opeli just yeets him into this adventure (unless she has a coup in mind, lol).

Why hasn’t Zubeia asked Ezran and Callum about the mirror in the last two years? She knows that it went missing together with Zym’s egg, and someone must have told her that Viren stole that.

For plot reasons, overpowered Zubeia needed to stay behind at Umber Tor, and the collapsed entrance worked well enough. Then the back entrance is supposed to be secret, hidden somewhere in a huge forest, and yet they find it in no time – of course with a local’s help, but they were already conveniently close anyway. Getting to know N’than and earning his trust to a degree that he was willing to risk his life by leading them to Rex was conveniently easy as well.

Rayla told Soren “you better be right behind me”, but after five steps she should have noticed that this wasn’t the case. Conveniently for the plot, she didn’t notice. Of course for plot reasons Soren had to get lost so that he could meet Claudia, but there should have been another way to do that. The drakeriders, including N’than, were pretty much unnecessary and could have made room for more important matters.

TDP usually avoids problems caused by stupid communication, but in the case of Rex it was a close call. Upon seeing him, the first word from the heroes should have been “Aaravos”, followed by “wants to escape, we have to stop him”. Would have saved a lot of time, avoiding drama that didn’t feel real anyway because it was so obvious that it was just the result of bad communication. Why do they even ask for the location of the prison? Would make sense if they wanted to free Aaravos, but they just want to prevent others from doing that.

When even Rex wasn’t immune to the sleep spell, Zym was unaffected for unknown reasons. However, the villains didn’t care about that and let him run away and hide, and then they went one step further and left their sleeping enemies and Soren unsupervised so that Zym and Soren could wake the rest of the dragang (scatter a few more “conveniently” in here somewhere).

Archdragons are intelligent beings. Yet when Rex woke up, he didn’t do the sensible thing – look for Claudia, squash her, then interrogate the others – but threw a temper tantrum like a wild animal, conveniently allowing the villains to escape and forcing the heroes to flee. Conveniently for them, suddenly a hole appeared in the barrier at the gate.

(If season 5 starts with the heroes not knowing where the prison is: Why didn’t Zubeia tell Rex that the dragang are the good guys and get the map from him as well?)

The caterpillar was creepy, the Creature was silly (I had hoped for something more menacing to emerge from the chrysalis, maybe something with Koh-the-Facestealer-vibes). The scene where Viren knelt down felt very out of character, considering how disillusioned he had been until that point, and I immediately suspected that they were trying to set up a dramatic moment that could then be interrupted by silliness. The Creature vomiting all over Viren was just that, but because it was so predictable it was neither dramatic nor funny. The Creature didn’t do anything the whole season that couldn’t have been done by the other characters. I’m sure it will become plot-relevant later, but it could have been interesting right from the start. Given enough intelligence, the Creature could for example struggle for agency and free will against Aaravos who just wants a puppet. Or at least give it some cool powers.

So, within the existing story many things could have been done better, but as mentioned above the whole premise was weird from the start. It felt as if the heroes went on the adventure not because it made sense, but just because they are the protagonists of the show.

What should have been done differently? Rough idea from the top of my head: To make things interesting, you can’t have a super-powerful ally such as Zubeia around the whole time. So the heroes’ quest could have been a seemingly private one at first that doesn’t involve Zubeia (or the info-dump that took away much from the Mystery) and keeps them in the dark about the world-threatening danger that is Aaravos. It could have started with Callum interacting with Aaravos through the mirror (not knowing who he is), Aaravos promising knowledge about the missing Rayla, e.g. in exchange for the cube or the map to his prison (framed as a hostage situation, blackmail, a simple trade, anything goes).

The threat would have been more subtle. As things stand now, Zubeia should already fly across all of Xadia to warn everyone (especially the archdragon of Ocean … any others left? Sol seems to be out of the picture) and send a shit ton of dragons to the heroes’ help.

2) Characters

Rayla leaves in the morning as if that couldn’t traumatize Callum all over again, but he doesn’t even acknowledge her return at all when waking up (or later when she comes to the valley of graves), only caring about greeting Zubeia. Then Rayla is gone all day, and we don’t know why – to be fair, a mind-controlled Rayla slashing the Zubeia painting as this fanfic proposed would be an interesting reason. We also don’t learn why she suddenly returned – conveniently right when it’s adventure time.

I’m on the fence about Rayla’s and Callum’s behaviour when they see Viren. We don’t know what’s going on in their heads, but it felt odd that Rayla would just leave again after she has just returned, and that Callum would let her go without offering to come with her. Felt like the plot just needed the Rayla-Claudia confrontation so that Rayla could get the coins. But then the confrontation: Rayla says she won’t make a deal with Claudia … but she also doesn’t say what she does want. Taking a hostage usually does involve making a deal. Instead she just holds a sword to Terry’s throat and stands there. And how does Claudia (conveniently) know that two of the coins are Rayla’s parents? Parents and their children don’t look that similar. Otherwise great scene, Claudia’s smug cruelty was bone-chilling, Rayla’s scream was heartbreaking, Claudia giving Rayla the coins was very intriguing.

But then so many missed opportunities to add some emotional depth to the story:

When Callum gets angry at Rayla in his study, Stella interrupts. Ezran forgives her immediately and never talks about her absence, even though she is like a sister to him and it hurt both him and Callum and of course her as well. When Rayla wants to talk with Callum at the top of the Storm Spire – not necessarily about them, but maybe about Aaravos possessing him – Soren interrupts. When Soren talks to Rayla about Callum, the drakerider fighting the dragon interrupts. When Ezran and Callum talk about Callum’s possession and about Rayla, they don’t exchange more than a few sentences. When Callum and Rayla talk in the lava cave, Rayla leaves after just a few words (including “no one can control you” after she saw Aaravos literally do that). No one ever voices their concern about a world-threatening evil about to return to Xadia, apart from one dry comment from Rayla. No one asks Soren how he feels about the fact that Claudia is responsible for that.

Then there is Soren’s reunion with his family. His talk with Claudia was interesting, but – for valid in-universe reasons – it couldn’t actually go anywhere because Claudia couldn’t be honest. Soren thought that she was alone and wants to free Aaravos just because, when in reality Claudia wants to save Viren. But she can’t tell Soren that, because she needs to stall him until Viren and Terry free her. However, once Viren is there, there is a lot to unpack for the family:

Claudia almost killed Soren with Noctu Igne

Viren almost turned Soren into a fire monster

Viren told Soren to kill the princes, then denied it and made Claudia believe him. Would he feel remorse for any of that now?

Soren “killed” Viren’s illusion (which Viren doesn’t know yet)

I wrote a whole fanfic about this confrontation, and even with my hyperfixation on Rayllum I was very much looking forward to it, but what season 4 gave us is … nothing. Nothing at all after S1-3 set up the most interesting family dynamic imaginable.

I’m totally okay with Callum and Rayla not solving all of their issues in season 4, but there were so many opportunities to talk about serious matters, and the season ignored them almost completely. Sure, that can come later … but it doesn’t have to, not all of it. A set-up season is allowed to be interesting as well, and season 4 had the potential for it. The whole “bring Zym from A to B” plot from S1-3 was so interesting because it was accompanied by character interactions and development, things that were missing here.

Some words about the humour:

Honestly, I didn’t mind Claudia’s and Terry’s fart jokes that much. They weren’t funny, but they didn’t have to be and I’m not sure if they were supposed to. They felt in-character because Claudia was always quirky, and if Terry is her boyfriend then it makes sense that he shares her sense of humour. It was humanizing them, making them more than the evil villains who murdered Ibis. Still, the humour of season 4 didn’t convince me (while I often found S1-3 hilarious). I can’t remember many jokes in the first place (were the guardians supposed to be funny? I can’t even tell), much less ones that worked.

So, yeah, season 5 can still fix a lot of things, but on its own season 4 wasn’t great.

[chayscribbles]

okay. too much brain fog to put this in my usual fancy writing update format but here’s a rundown on what i’ve been up to in the last few months. (it does get a bit venty. sorry about that.)

i’ve mostly been working on and off on AR3, but it’s been a struggle the entire time. part of it i know is Life (2022 has not been kind to my mental health) but part of it i think is the wip itself.

i’m about 2/3rds of the way done this draft, and all i really have to write is the climax and the conclusions and epilogues and etc., but i’m having a rough time getting myself to do it. as i get nearer and nearer to the end of this entire trilogy (well. the first draft. but still), i’m finding myself doubting this story more and more, that i can give it a satisfying conclusion. writing this climax is just so daunting and i’m not completely sold on what i have planned. and i KNOW this is just the first draft, i can always go back and change things, but it’s hard for me to even write it if i’m not ready to commit to even the general gist of the scenes, if that makes sense. which is SO frustrating because as much as i’m tempted to give up i really don’t want to! i still do love this story and these characters and this world and i am proud of AR1 and AR2 and can’t wait to be able to start editing them. so why can’t i get through this final stretch? anyway if anyone has encouragement or tips please please please i really need it.

in less depressing news, though, i’ve been allowing myself to take longer breaks from AR to just play around with other new wip ideas. there’s a bunch of little concepts that are still too underdeveloped to talk about here yet but there is one that has become a lot bigger than i ever intended lol, and i think once i’m done with this draft of AR3 this could become my Main Wip before getting into AR redrafts and edits. i’m hesitant to share too much about it publicly yet as it’s still in pretty early stages, but for now just know that there’s queer women doing a heist in space.

ALSO. was anyone here in like, early 2020 on my old blog. does anyone remember that one superhero murder mystery wip featuring twins that i had. well. every couple of months i remember it exists and reread it and remember how much i actually love it despite it having been written in like 2015, and this time i think i’m ACTUALLY gonna try to clean it up and get it published somewhere for people to read. (haven’t decided if i want to get it PUBLISHED published, or if i just wanna yeet it onto some site like wattpad for people to read for free. we’ll see.) so yeah i might be reintroducing it at some point if i have the time, and/or looking for beta readers for that. so. if that’s something that you think might interest you keep your eyes peeled!

so that’s what’s been going on with me. i’m probably gonna be super active here for the long weekend and then promptly disappear again but i’ll try to come back whenever i can. if you’ve read all this i am sending a little imaginary pigeon with a basket of various breads and baked goods to your house. bisous <3

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 320: Deku vs. Class 1-A

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Kacchan was all “fuck Deku and fuck his stupid goodbye letters, I need to speak to somebody in charge.” Endeavor was all “hello, I am Somebody In Charge.” Kacchan was all “listen up asshole, you need to let us go out and collect our wayward nerd because you stupidly left him alone with All Might and that’s a fast track to disaster right there.” Endeavor was all, “[self-incriminating silence].” Rat Principal was all, “okay sure, have fun kids.” Back in the present, class 1-A was all “hi Deku” and Deku was all “I’M FINE!!!!!” and Kacchan was all “THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT YOU’D SAY YOU DUMB FUCKING NERD” and so the kids all got ready to fight, because OF COURSE they’re gonna fight. Sorry guys, but yeah it’s happening.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan is all “what’s up Deku you look like a possessed Rorschach test, so anyway how are the new quirks coming along.” Deku is all “they’re coming along like THIS” and uses Smokescreen to try and get away. Kacchan is all “PHASE ONE COMMENCE”, and Kouda, Sero, Jirou, and Ojiro leap into the fray to shower Deku with heaps of love and violence, because this is a shounen manga and kicking someone’s ass while simultaneously proclaiming your undying admiration for them is just how it’s done in these parts. The KoudaSeroOJirou squad then passes the baton to Satou, Momo, Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Shouji, who are all “fuck this mask” and do a bunch of stuff to tear Deku’s mask off because they’re the real heroes. Shouto is all “LOOK AT THE LITTLE CRYBABY, THAT’S RIGHT, GO AHEAD AND FUCKING CRY and by the way let us share your burden please,” and once again I swear this is all very deeply moving and touching within the actual context. The chapter ends with Tsuyu being all “look at me. I’m the cliffhanger now,” and damn.

lol what

I don’t think anyone was expecting that. I mean, not that I’ve got anything against Tsuyu or anything. anyways it’s a very nice cover and I love the colors and I hope this means Tsuyu’s gonna do something badass

also, “Deku vs Class A” -- pretty much the expected title, but it’s still got me hyped nonetheless fuck yeah let’s go

IIDA ANGST

Iida Tenya really said “fuck the uniform code, we’re leaving the helmet at home today.” sorry kids, prim and proper C-3PO Comic Relief Iida has left the building. can I interest you in some Serious Iida

meanwhile Kacchan is all “sup Deku, I heard you got a few more quirks, and might I just add that you look like the Snyder Cut of Detective Pikachu”

“you look like a tarred and feathered squid” okay easy there Kacchan. I mean it’s all true of course, but still

“thank you all for coming” OH EXCUSE ME SON, WERE YOU PLANNING ON GOING SOMEWHERE. LET’S JUST SEE HOW THAT PLAYS OUT

yep and there’s Smokescreen, right on cue

okay Horikoshi, I leave it in your hands. hopefully you can come up with some more interesting combos than my dumbass predictions lol

LOL THIS ISN’T A COMBO AT ALL

“explosions solve everything” -- Horikoshi Kouhei, 2021. something something shockwave, something something handwave ta-da no more smoke. lol okay then

oh, ouch

he would know, wouldn’t he. nice application of one of your many hard-earned life lessons, Kacchan

by the way you guys, just as an experiment, I’m going to try to anticipate some of the discourse this week in the hopes of preemptively addressing it and thus saving myself some time later on lol. so here’s our first test run!

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “oh my god what a fucking hypocrite can you believe this fucking guy”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: it’s precisely because Kacchan has been in this exact situation himself that he’s able to recognize his past self in Deku now and call him out on it. just because it took him sixteen years to get it through his head that he can’t accomplish every single thing completely by himself doesn’t mean Deku has to go down that same path. so yeah, maybe it is a bit hypocritical, but if you insist that the only people qualified to call out stupid shit are people who have never done a single stupid thing in their own lives, then what you’re basically saying is that absolutely no one on earth is qualified lol. so yeah, I’d have to disagree

and one last unrelated note, I’m willing to bet the whole “you didn’t even say a word before you ran off” thing is possibly the first thing Kacchan’s said in this whole encounter that actually does stem from genuine hurt rather than his tough-love-harsh-truths strategy. I’M TAKING NOTES HERE HORIKOSHI. at this rate it’ll take twice as many chapters as DvK2 for them to hash out all the stuff between them, geez

anyway so I gotta say, so far Deku vs. Class A is looking an awful lot like a DvK3 wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and sunglasses lol

OH SHIT I TAKE IT BACK??

FUCK YEAH, YOU GO KOUDA. and I guess he ditched his mask as well! excellent

so far the strategy here seems to be “Kacchan says all the mean tough love shit while the rest of 1-A balances it out with warmth and kindness”, which actually works pretty well imo. Deku is one of those people that doesn’t usually need a Kacchan Translator anyway, but just in case, this is very efficient

mm but of course Deku is slingshotting himself away with Blackwhip. all right then, who’s up next!

FUCK YEAH

okay but seriously you guys, what is going on with Sero’s face in these last couple of chapters though, it’s really starting to unnerve me. is he trying to emulate Kacchan’s whole asymmetrical facial expressions thing?

in fact let me just quickly hit pause here because,

ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “SERO IS TOGA??!”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: no

oh snap looks like Jirou’s getting in on the action too!

poor Jirou probably spent days racking her brain trying to think of something she could bond with Deku over. is Horikoshi doing these in reverse order of the kids who have had the most interaction with him? that would explain why poor Kouda didn’t get a flashback lol

omg. well that answers that

so by my count, Satou and Hagakure are the only ones remaining in this first tier of kids who Still Appreciate Midoriya even though they’ve barely ever spoken two words to him in their lives lol. so they’ll probably be next, and then we’ll get to the next tier of kids who are pretty good friends with him but not quite besties. and then we’ll move on to the IidaRokiRaka trio, and then lastly, to the boy who is in a tier all his own

BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

and by “sponsor” I mean the Dekuangst. just in case that wasn’t clear. indeed, many thanks to the Dekuangst for making this all possible

(ETA: okay so this whole “take me away” line seemed pretty weird to me, and sure enough it’s yet another one of those cases where only the verb is specified, and the object is left to the reader’s interpretation. so even though the translation says “take me away”, I’m pretty sure that what Deku’s actually saying is “take you away” -- as in, his loved ones will be taken away by AFO.

and that is literally the way he phrases it, though -- the verb used is “奪う” (ubau), meaning “to snatch away; to dispossess; to steal.” which, god, that hurts my whole goddamn heart though, because for him to say it like that?? not “AFO will kill you”, but “AFO will take you away from me.” he can’t have nice things anymore because of AFO. he can’t be around the people he loves because AFO will hurt them. he can’t have happiness because AFO will take it away from him. anyway so where the fuck is AFO right now, motherfucker I just want to talk.)

by the way can Ojiro just extend his tail to whatever fucking length he wants or what because it’s like twelve feet long in this panel lol

WOOO FUCK YEAH TOKOYAMI

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!! BUT WHERE’S YOUR FLASHBACK? YOU’VE HAD A BUNCH OF INTERACTIONS WITH HIM, THAT’S NOT FAIR

okay so now Satou’s stepping in which is back to my anticipated order, so maybe Toko will finish his little moment afterward

dskfjfkk

“REMEMBER THAT TIME DEKU BORROWED SATOU’S FOOD COLORING” Horikoshi says, sweating. “AND REMEMBER THAT TIME HE, UM, SMILED IN HAGAKURE’S GENERAL DIRECTION”

actually I am curious about what Hagakure’s part will be because, you know, the whole traitor thing lol

(ETA: funny how we just skipped right over it huh. can we get a traitor reveal countdown started here? definitely getting close to that time.)

whoa lol wtf

MOMO??? THIS HAS MOMO WRITTEN ALL OVER IT DAMMIT

-- SWEET MOTHER OF FUCK

“SORRY MIDORIYA-SAN, I LEFT MY FUCKING CHILL AT HOME IN THE LOCKER NEXT TO IIDA’S HELMET” holy shit lmao

and here I thought she’d get a flashback to her time on the Baku Rescue Squad or something. but nope, no flashbacks from Momo, only terrifying sci-fi torture devices

poor Dark Shadow is such a trooper omg

“why am I the only one who has to make prolonged contact with his smelly disgusting self” taking one for the team there DS

FUCK YEAH KAMINARI NO JUTSU

THE PRICKLY BASTARD WHISPERER STRIKES AGAIN!! don’t suppose you brought any clean clothes you could sneakily force him into huh Kami

okay here we go, so now Shouji and Tokoyami are joining forces

um excuse me this is fucking awesome

wonder how he’ll break free? don’t think he’ll reveal Fa Jin until the end of the chapter, so maybe Air Force or something? idk

TOKO GETS AN EXTENDED MOMENT BECAUSE HE IS A TIER TWO PATREON REWARD LEVEL FRIEND YAY

WHY IS MOMO MAKING THIS FACE LOL YOUR THING WAS WAY WORSE

and Shouji just casually hitting him with what is easily the best comment from anyone yet. too bad Deku’s just gonna ignore it. you deserve better Shouji

KAMINARI OMFG

it only just occurred to me that Kami is currently trapped inside Dark Shadow right along with him lmao omg. realest one in the entirety of BnHA, right here. we will never forget your sacrifice

aaaaaaand Deku’s yeeting himself

do you really hate the thought of taking a bath that much my dude

oh shit the mask!!

-- oh shit the feels

o(TヘTo)

fuck. and I mean, we knew he was crying, that was a done deal. but still, to see him in this much pain is just...

and the acknowledgement that he knows they’re worried about him, but that it doesn’t change his mind one bit. this, right here, is why they have to be a bit harsh with him, you guys. because they’re up against the full, unbridled stubbornness of Midoriya fucking Izuku, and if they don’t match that stubbornness with an equal stubbornness of their own, they basically don’t stand a chance

(ETA: quick note that there is apparently another mistranslation here -- rather than saying that his friends are oblivious to the danger, what Deku is actually saying is that none of his friends have activated his Danger Sense once throughout this entire fight. which I had been wondering about, and it turns out Horikoshi actually confirmed it. so basically none of the kids bears any ill intent toward him, and there’s literal proof right there.

incidentally, as @class1akids​ pointed out, this also casts an interesting light on this chapter in terms of who hasn’t fought Deku yet. not to play the Hagakure Traitor Music for the billionth time you guys, but I’M JUST SAYING lol.)

anyway, but the good news is that they all seem to understand that. and the even better news is that we have reached the tier 3 friends!!

“OR ELSE” lol, great to see Shouto wielding his friendship just as aggressively as Deku once did towards him. I do love a good role reversal

p.s., ANTICIPATED DISCOURSE: “why is Shouto being so cruel to Deku can’t he see how hard this is on him”

PREEMPTIVE REBUTTAL: this is a callback to the classic “even heroes cry when they have to” Shouto line from chapter 137. Shouto is clearly following Kacchan’s lead here and going for the more ruthless approach, knowing that the gentle approach isn’t getting through to him (if anything it’s only making him more stubborn as we saw on the previous page). basically it’s his way of pointing out that even heroes are still only human, and so is Deku last time he checked

ah okay, and there Tsuyu is at last

okay real talk, I get why Tsuyu is included in the tier 3 friends, because she was one of the first people to team up with Deku going all the way back to USJ. but that said, this probably would have had more impact if their most recent interaction hadn’t been like 150 chapters ago

but anyway though it’s still a good speech. maybe not quite a cliffhanger-level speech, but a good speech nonetheless. in a way though, I’m glad to see that Horikoshi seemingly didn’t give a fuck whether he ended this on an actual cliffhanger or not for once

and that “headed toward the climax” part has me excited too, ngl. because if we really are getting to the so-called climax this soon, that makes me even more certain that there is indeed a DvK3 in the forecast. so I presume that next week (or I guess two weeks from now) will be the tier 3s along with the remaining tier 2s like Kirishima and Aoyama

and then after that, well... [orange and green banners being hoisted] [sound of screeching airhorns and vuvuzelas in the distance] [sound of All Might approaching in his car which I didn’t notice until I looked back at this page a second time whoops] THE PROPHECY WILL NOT BE DENIED

[shadowofahope]

NOT Gonna Happen

Warnings: Swearing? One bad word near the end.

Premise: Fight or Flight. Meet BTS or run away from BTS?

“Uh guys…. She’s rolling away.” Yoongi points to you and your attempt to escape the room. Hands grab your ankles to halt your getaway. “I hate all of you.” You groan up at Yeonjun, who still had hold of you. You give up, letting out a deep sight, wishing the ground would open from under you.

Ft. TXT

Authors notes: My honest to all the kpop gods, reaction to meeting these boys. YEET!

This is also a response to people constantly asking me, what would you do if you met BTS?

ALSO this is heavily un-edited. I'm really tired and I'm trying to write 3.5 stories at once! Wooooh, wish me luck!

masterlist

Today marks your 8th week working at BigHit, currently working with TxT on their new album and the chaos that always followed them. Walking down a hallway with one of the backup dancers you had become quick friends with, you felt at home in this monumental building. You are comfortable here, everyone making you feel at home.

“Pleasssssse” Sung-ho begs again. Hands on your shoulders, shaking you gently as he walks behind you. “You have to come.”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” You whine back, swinging your staff badge back and forth on your neck. “You know I don’t want to meet them.

He tugs on your shoulders lightly forcing you to halt. Jumping in front of you, palms pressed together, eyes closed he starts begging.

“You promised you would come to one practice. Just this one. Please Please Please-”

Huffing in frustration, you screw up your nose. He silently waits for you to give in, as he knows you will eventually.

“Just this one.” You finally give in.

“Yaaay!” He cheers, jumping to your side.

In all the comotion you don’t notice the footsteps approaching you two from down a connecting hallway. Shrugging your friend off, you’re about to round the corner when you hear it. Instantly freezing.

“I think it’ll be safer to go over the choreo with the dancer one more time.”

“I agree, the timing still seems a little off. We should take a look at the schedules.”

“Sung-ho!”

Your friend smiles and turns to the voice that called him, turning his back to you.

“Hello, Taehyung. Jimin. Hoseok.” Sung-ho greets cheerfully.

“Do you have time to come with us to discuss the schedules for practice?” Jimin asks politely.

“Of course, I was just on my way to grab a snack with -” He starts to explain, turning to where you once stood. Hand hanging in the air, he’s dumbfounded.

“With-?” Hoseok questions.

“Apparently myself.” He turns back to the boys. How had you disappeared so quickly and to where?

He chuckled awkwardly at the idols, cursing you for putting him in this embarrassing situation.

They mirror back his awkward laugh, excusing themselves as they continue on down the hallway.

Your friend stands there for almost two full minutes, trying to figure out what in the hell just happened. He hears a rattle coming from the small storage room near him.

The door swings open.

“You did not just-“ He’s wheezing, trying to catch his breath.

“Don’t talk to me” You walk out of the storage room, in reality it’s more of a tiny linen closet. Upon hearing the idols voices, In sheer blind panic, you threw yourself into the closet and shut the door behind you.

Walking past your still wheezing friend, you push him playfully before continuing on towards the lounge. His loud cackles bouncing around you all the way there.

💜♾💜♾💜

You are sitting in a waiting room with TXT. You’ve made yourself comfortable on one of the couches facing away from the door across the large room, angled towards the wall full over mirrors for makeup and hair. Scrolling through your phone, while Kai and Taehyun talk about something animatedly behind you. You can see them every once in a while, flailing their arms, mimicking wild gestures.

You three had chosen to stay back while the other three needed to ‘stretch’ their legs and find something to drink. So when the door opens you don’t look up, expecting it to be the missing members. Your body lurches forward at the reflection in the mirror, panic spreading.

“Hyung!” Kai exclaims excitedly, bounding over to the 2 members of BTS that have entered the room. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello, we were looking for Jungkook. Have you seen him?” Namjoon asks, looking around the room.

“No, he hasn’t been through here.” Taehyun chirps next to his bandmate.

“Ok, I’ll try calling him again. '' Jin responds, pulling out his phone from his back pocket.

“What are you guys doing here?” Namjoon questions the younger idols.

“Oh, we are working on a concept for one of the singles off our album. Our producer -” Kai motions to the couch that you were on. Now being completely empty. Your slouching form gone, the room appeared empty as well. “Who apparently is gone now, was here helping us.”

Jin and Namjoon shared a skeptical glance at each other. Kai rubs the back of his head as he looks at his beandmember, giving him a confused tilt to his head, to which he gets a shrug in response.

“That’s the newer producer right?” Jin questions.

“Uh yea, that’s her.” Taehyun confirms, still utterly confused by your houdini act.

“We’ve heard a lot of great things about her, from all over, but we still havent seen her.” Namjoon concluded by nodding his head, in thought.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll meet her soon. It’s bound to happen.” Kai reassures.

The duos bid each other goodbye, BTS leaving the room and TXT walking back towards the empty couch.

“How did she-where did she-?” Unable to fully ask his question, Taehyun looks around the room again.

Kai rounds the side of the couch, noticing a hood under the coffee table.

“Noona?” He tries to hide his laugh but fails miserably.

You lift your head from the floor, removing your hood, peering up from underneath the coffee table at the younger. You glare at him, crawling out as he falls back onto his butt laughing, Taehyun joining him on the floor. Both now convulsing with uncontrollable laughter.

Flopping angrily back onto the couch in your previous position, you ignore their incessant chattering and laughing. Recounting you hiding again and again. Even when the other members returned and they explained everything that happened while they were gone, you chose to angrily scroll on your phone until their pestering and teasing died down.

💜♾💜♾💜

Pacing back and forth in a secluded lounge area, you waited with all of the members of txt. You were waiting to hear back from the execs about your concept ideas. The boys had worked extremely hard to come up with a fully thought out concept, you had backed their ideas the whole way as they presented them to the higher staff. Now you waited, anxiously.

Drumming your hands together while pacing you chewed on your bottom lip nervously. Each member stationed on the couch, lounger ottoman, facing you. Legs bouncing in anticipation, knuckles cracking you stopped in front of the large window, facing them, the outside world behind you.

“Look guys, regardless of what happens you did amazing.” You smile at them. “And I’m unbelievably proud of you. All of you.”

Breaking them out of their stoppers, they look up at your faces glowing, pride swelling in their chests.

“Soobin-ah?” A deep voice calls from somewhere unknown, and you freeze.

The members of TXT jump up from their seats, whirling around in time to see all the members of bts walking around the balcony area over to them.

“Taehyung-hyung,” Soobin greets politely. “How are you all doing today.?”

“Good, we just finished rehearsals.” Taehyung explains, once they were standing just on the other side of the couch to him. “Have you guys heard anything yet? We saw the concept art, we really liked it!”

“Nothing yet. We were actually just waiting. Noona was just trying to-” Soobin attempts to explain, motioning behind him to you. Seeing the skeptical looks on their faces, he turned his head to see nothing. You had completely vanished. With furniture and a structural wall surrounding you, there was no place you possibly could be hiding.

Confusion evident on his face as he looks over at Yeonjun. Eyes silently asking him where you had gone, the older only shook his head, eyes just as wide, he shrugged in response.

“Right, the elusive producer we keep hearing about but never seeing.” Yoongi responds comically. “Maybe she isn’t real? But a ghost!”

Spooking Jin and Hoseok alike, they give him an alarmed glare.

“No, we promise she’s real.” Soobin persuades, his voice coming out in almost a plea.

Trying to affirm your existence to their Hyungs, Gyu becomes overwhelmingly curious. He walks over to the spot you had been standing, a deep frown settled on his features.

He does a full 360, in an attempt to understand where you could have gone. Upon turning around he notices something. Stifling a laugh and breaking into a full blown smile, he subtly waves Kai over, when they make eye contact. Kai nonchalantly makes his way over to him, Gyu mumbles something to him and he looks in the direction that Gyu was nodding. Trying to hide his own laugh, the two youngest members stand snickering, waiting for the members of BTS to walk away before exposing you to the group.

Once the groups bid each other goodbye, they both break out into hysterical laughter.

“What guys?” Yeonjun jumps at the unexpected hollering. But neither boy can speak, too consumed by laughter they both point to the semi open window.

“She didn’t” Taehyun launches himself over the ottoman in front of him rushing to the window. Soobin and Yeonjun right behind him. The three of them look out to see your figure hopping down from the last branch of the tree outside.

With lightning speed and zero hesitation, you had climbed out of the already opened window on the second floor. Stepped from the ledge onto a tree that's long, thick branches were supporting itself against the building. Then walked to the center of the large tree and climbed your way down.

Mass hysteria broke out between the 5 members.

“That’s it. We have to make her meet them.” Soobin exclaims, wiping a tear that fell down his cheek.

“Guys, I think I have a plan.” Yeonjun smirks. So they all huddled around to listen.

💜♾💜♾💜

Today was supposed to be your day off. But upon receiving a text from Soobin, saying they needed you there urgently for their concept proposal, you raced straight there. So there you were standing in the hall talking to an exec in a black oversized pullover hoodie and workout leggings. Today was about comfort over professionalism, well it was supposed to be.

But when you had finished your pleasant chat with the exec, he started apologizing profusely about something he couldn’t say. Trying to hide his chuckle, his eyes dart over your shoulder. Before you could press him about his comments, you were spun around and hoisted off of your feet. Draped over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes. In alarm you manage to struggle enough to see your kidnapper, Yeonjun.

“What are you dooooooiiiinnnng?” You whine, struggling more.

He says nothing, but turns down the hallway to the dance practice rooms.

“Put me down shrek.” You quote. Wiggling even harder to escape the ironclad grip on you.

“There’s no point Noona, just accept it.” A sweet cheerful voice, butts in, shoes coming into view as you tilt your head up to look.

“Really Kai, they have you in on this too?” You slump in defeat. “Fine, but don’t you dare fart.”

Your capture lets out a chuckle before entering the dance room. The other three members you can kind of see. Or at least their shoes. Your hood keeps flopping down and making it hard to tell.

“Guys seriously, why are you-” You begin as blood starts rushing to your head. Making you slightly dizzy.

“Hello Hyungs.” Yeonjun greets politely. Panic rising, you tilt your head to the side to look into the wall mirror, there you see all 7 members of BTS sitting on the floor, along with the other members of TXT standing around you. “This is Y/N-Noona, the real, not a ghost, producer.”

Realization hits you like a ton of bricks, as snickers and muffled laughs resonate behind you.

“Yeonjun…..” Your voice is a little shaky. “You did not just introduce me to BTS ass FIRST?!”

Everyone in the room breaks into rounds of full belly laughter as you are hoisted back over the shoulder, feet planted on the floor.

Turning shyly to the side, you make eye contact with each member of BTS. Your legs crumble beneath you, muttering ‘I could have lived my whole life without this’ angrily. You lay on the ground face down, hood over your head as more laughter ensues.

“You had to meet them at some point, even backwards!” Gyu exclaims between heaves of laughter, clutching his stomach .

Waving your hand blindly towards the members of TXT you bark “That’s it! We are no longer friends. Done, Forever, never again!”

Apologies begin to flow toward you but you ignore them. Eventually you ignore any comment that comes your way, still plastered to the floor, the 12 men begin to talk about other things. Completely unaware of you.

...Or so you thought….

“Uh guys…. She’s rolling away.” Yoongi points to you and your attempt to escape the room. Hands grab your ankles to halt your getaway.

“I hate all of you.” You groan up at Yeonjun, who still had hold of you. You give up, letting out a deep sight, wishing the ground would open from under you.

[justanothercloudinthesky]

hi!! can i please get a matchup for haikyuu? i don’t really have a gender preference :)

my love languages are physical affection & gifts! both on giving and receiving hehe. my pet peeves are people that are overly rude, slow walkers (at least when i have somewhere to be), & spiders!! im scared of them. in a friend or partner, i first notice their mannerisms! i like to make note of how people act and if they’re introverted or extroverted and then i try to introduce myself! im fairly sensitive and extroverted most of the time because i love people but sometimes they don’t always love me back ajsjdjwjdk. my clothing style tends to be very soft and feminine, i also really like to dress fairly showy sometimes! my music taste varies a lot… but recently i’ve really liked some punk and metal songs! it’s funny because my friends say i don’t look anything like my music taste at all. my hobbies include baking, gardening, yoga, shopping, makeup, and reading! my beliefs or opinions on life tend to be very carefree and romantic, i love to keep an open mind and an open heart.

please and thank you!!

Hi, Thank you so much for Checking The Weather, Your forecast is...

Nishinoya Yu

oh yeah, it's all coming together- 

forgive me but this would be such a wholesome relationship I'm honestly just fangirling writing this ngl. Noya fricken adores you. I believe noya is sorta underrated sometimes but honestly would be a really good partner, not only in a relationship, but as your very best friend. I headcanon he was caught off guard by you walking up to him at first cause he doesn't exactly have his energy in check. 

I'll be honest, your people-watching is probably what got his attention and your musical taste is what got him hooked. . He always thought you were extremely pretty, but found your friendship much more important than his feelings and really didn't wanna ruin it. He loved being around you, and if that meant he never confess, that was fine with him.

I don't think Noya would be rude at all! He loves you as a friend and partner. I think his love language is physical touch and words of affirmation. He'd totally be the kinda guy to get you an extra thing whenever he goes out. He loves your baked gifts and actually teared up when you made him a birthday cake your first year of friendship. He thinks it's adorable that you look so cute yet still listen to punk and metal with him. Ngl, if he saw a spider, he'd lift you bridal style and set you on a chair before lifting it by it's legs and yeeting it into the bushes.

I didn't even mention how much physical affection would be there, You'd be the one to have to set boundaries regarding it ngl. you know those hoodies with the pocket for a cat? yeah, that's what he wants except to be person sized for you. Also Your gonna have to teach this boy to bake cause... he can't... 

Second: You'd melt Kuroos heart gurl, it was honestly super cute, and I think you might feel like he doesn't like you sometimes, he does he just has trouble showing it. He loves you but I think he'd be too scared of hurting you to make a move

Third: Oikawa, this was my first thought honestly, but I think his constant mocking nature would wear away at you, and he's just as scared of spiders. I do think that you have chemistry, definitely, but I'm not sure if you could keep the balance of friendship without a lot of work.

I hope you liked it, please let me know if you did! And Thanks for checking your Weather Report

[senlinyu]

Hello Sen, I really hope you're doing well, Sooo the new fic! "Let the dark in", I am ecstatic and super excited to know that there is a new fic, uhm i really don't mean to pressure you, but do you have a plan for the updates and is it going to be a long fic? Again I am super happy and really glad that you are writing and sharing your work with us, the joy of reading super quality material is unmatched, thank you again!

I don’t know how long it’ll be. My stories tend to run away with me length-wise. So somewhere between 15-100 chapters? I kid, I will yeet myself off a cliff it ends up more like 200k. My best guess is that it will be in the novel length realm of 90k-120k words tops.

I don’t have an update schedule. Which is a first for me, but given that I’m also doing cordial enemies and collabing takes more time than writing solo, and real life has me pretty slammed at the moment, I don’t want to overcommit myself and underdeliver on what I’ve promised.

So. Updates are just going to kind of happen when they happen, at least for the next little while. If that changes I’ll be sure to let people know.

[hasellia]

Prehistoric Planet Family watch along Day 5

Babies... It always start out with babies.

So my family asked me about the whole clay lick thing and I have no idea if this has any basis in the fossil record. If it did, I guess it be through the clay minerals preserving as the stomach contents of a fossilized ceratopsian.

Everyone lost their minds in the Carnotaurus section. Even after watching the featurette it took a lot of biology talk to convince my mum that sexual display is the most likely reason for the use of their arms.

My sister noted how well the animation highlighted the utility of a stripe pattern, with the cream stripes blending with the light patterns through the tree.

I'm I bit disapointed with myself that I didn't recall Corythoraptor or Qianzhousaurus. I should have remembered their discovery.

She also noted how it was appropriate for use conifers, and recalled from a uni lecture that appeared earlier.

I seemed to have predicted the consumption of charcoal in my previous Borealopelta.

As cute as the baby Therizinosaurs are, we all felt a little bit bad for those bees. Apparently they probably would have just found a home somewhere else after their nest was destroyed.

I told my family about Hateg island before they saw the final segment of the episode. Azdarchids are bullshit.

So while my sister hasn't worked with them, she has sat for some lectures for bird and bat care, rewilding and handling. She told me she finds quadrapedal launching weird. From her perspective, bat have a great difficulty leaving the ground (if they can at all). When you have to release a macrobat, you need to essentially throw it in the air. A yeet if you will. So it was strange to her to see vaguely bat like animal just... Yeet itself. But she now realizes "That's why its all head, neck and legs. If have a small body to limb ratio, unlike a bat, it's much easier to take off the ground."

And that's it for prehistoric planet. It was absolutely fantastic to see dinosaurs in exquisite detail just behaving like animals again. There was a lot focus on non dinosaurian life too. Even plants and fungi got some focus in the last episode. However, there was almost no focus on any mammals in the show. I'm guessing there's some reason for that, but I'm not to sure. Maybe since mammals are very... Fleshy, they didn't want to make an appearance that would later turn out to be inaccurate. That's just speculation though. It also doesn't break it for me though, I just find it odd. This show was gorgeous, and absolutely fantastic. I'm glad I got to experience it with my family. I did these watch along post at first because I wanted to document the reactions of the show from people who aren't as familiar with paleontology as I am. But I think all along, I just wanted to make sure I remembered experiencing this show with them. I may do a follow up to this later but for now, Imma head to bed.