#where is your paradise?

[sergioguymanproust]

There are those who are born in paradise,there are those who move to paradise,and those who vacation in paradise and yes,those who leave paradise because their reality lies somewhere else. We all belong in one of those categories.Paradise is the most popular destination for those who seek to escape their present reality,but surprisingly paradise is where most couples end their relationships because they realize they were living a lie ,by not being true to themselves. For many also paradise represents freedom of choice,to let go of cultural taboos and explore a new way of living,thinking and doing things.Paradise offers a chance to paint ,surf, smoke and try altered states of consciousness,drink,sleep,make love and go crazy.Things in their culture is frown upon and it could end in a bad outcome.You all know what i mean .Paradise with its color palette immediateley puts you in a psychological trance ,it is indeed that calypso madness that takes your guard down, and those palm leaves that sway lazily and put you again in a love vibration.Specially if you by now have no clue as to what love is.So,go to paradise and find your soulmate there,hey ,it might even be you finding you love yourself! Words bySergio Guyman Proust.

[katabay]

WOW this has been ROUGH in the Life Events category of things, but. slowly crawling out of that. hopefully

this was the opening scene for a something I started writing after watching the Manben inverview with Nishi Keiko and thinking back to all the classic shoujo manga I stayed up reading back in the day, like damn that's so true Urasawa Naoki

it's partially a love letter to all the greats of the genre that I read, and also to the late night teleseryses that captivated me over the years lmao. it'd be nice to find the time to tackle it properly as a comic, but I'm having fun working on it recreationally :)

✨but since it's recreational, some character info✨

the first character seen is lawrence 'law' valenciano (late 30s), the one with the glasses is cris volante (mid-later 20s). law works at a karinderya, cris is an extremely broke university student.

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app / insta / tip jar!

[psychopacifist-rm]

Bday gift for @callmegaith !

Already posted it on TwiXter, but why not here too

[tamaharu]

wait i just remembered i DO have unposted orv stuff that i can post for kim dokjas birthday. 2k of hot supreme king x reader fic dont like dont read!!!1!! orginal characarter do not steal!!!!!

(or, Yoo Joonghyuk takes a pit-stop in one of the world-lines. An old friend offers to pay for dinner.)

[Ah, late, so late! I can't believe I missed my alarm! And on my first day of work too... I was so worried, when I got off the train, I started running the rest of the way to the company. Hopefully nobody would notice that I was late. I had to get a new job after my boyfriend dumped me, and I couldn't afford to live on my previous salary.

As I rushed to the building, I had to push past many people to get to the doors. In my haste, however, I accidentally tripped! When I fell, I landed against something hard. "Oof!"

"Hey," a menacing voice said. "Watch where you're going next time! Don't be so quick to touch me!" Eep!

I stepped back quickly, bowing as deep as I could. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean t..." When I looked up I trailed off, becoming even more panicked. Ah, I recognized that man!

He looked down at me with a handsomely striking gaze. "You. What is your name?"

"I-It's L/N Y/N. Um, again, I'm so sorry... CEO-nim!" I bowed again. A nose and a chin shaped in perfect angles; a pair of deep eyes seemingly carved out of beautiful jewels; soft hair styled fashionably to frame his face... His suit, too, looked quite beautiful. I really messed up this time. Not only was I late, but I ran into the CEO of the company, the powerful Yoo Jo--]

I stopped there. I didn't bother to learn the name of the poor idol whose name had been stolen for this. Why was I even reading this? Reader-inserts were meant for wish fulfillment, but they always did something that took you out of the story. For the first part, I'd pay much more attention to my surroundings than that.

I pocketed my phone again, sighing. Perhaps I was the cynical one here? They were probably just written by young girls, daydreaming about getting to talk to a beloved character or idol, and was that so horrible? Actually, I believed in chance meetings, but I felt like the one here was a little too contrived...

Many thoughts went through my head as I stepped through a convenience store. Buying dinner after work was the only good thing about my job, I should just quit. Perhaps that would get me closer to the path of meeting a handsome CEO? How laughable.

I was still thinking this when I moved forwards again. But this time, when I walked, I ran directly into a hard wall.

No, wait? I had been to this store many times, and there wasn't anything blocking the entryway the other times. I stepped back, confused, to find my 'wall' staring back at me. Ah... Perhaps I should've read that story until the end.

The man in front of me had a good face. He certainly looked like he could be the menacing protagonist. But, how do I put this? Everything below the neck ruined the effect. 

He was wearing an astronaut's spacesuit, even with the helmet tucked in his arms, but he wore a black trenchcoat over that, making his form extra bulky. At the same time, strange rips were visible against it. Not a romance protagonist, then. Sci-fi? But the coat screamed chuunibyou characterization...

"Ah, sorry, I wasn't watching, excuse me..."

The man was still staring at me, and if anything his expression grew more annoyed. What did he want me to say? Should I chastise him for standing in the middle of the walkway?

Before I said anything, or even managed to go around him, a young girl peeked out from behind his back. She was dressed more normally, in casual clothes with a fuzzy jacket, but still stood out just by being around him. When she saw me, her first reaction was curiosity, but after a moment, her eyes widened in surprise and an unprecedented amount of delight.

"Oh, it's okay! I promise his bark is worse than his bite. Hey, you're from around here, yes? Do you have some money we can borrow?"

Huh?

The man turned to glare at the shameless girl instead. "We don't need money. Especially not from… them."

"Yes, yes. You're a big scary terrorist, you steal what you can't buy. Isn't that too much though? You're already beating poor authors senseless, how much crime do you need to commit before your dark heart is satisfied?"

I quickly turned on my heel and walked in the opposite direction.

"Hey, hey!" The girl's voice called out again, and I could hear her running to follow me. With a sigh, I paused and looked back at her. I didn't want someone like her friend chasing me, so it would be better to just hear her out.

"Ah, I'm sorry, you must think we're acting quite weird! But, really, we don't have any money. If you can, could you spare just a couple of dollars?"

"Mm, I don't know. If you're that desperate isn't it better to be more polite in asking? What happened, did you lose it all on a scam?" No, wait, what was I saying? I didn't want to deal with these guys longer than I had to. Just talking to them would make me stick out very badly.

Still, for some strange reason, I couldn't stop myself from taking on a familiar tone.

Her friend gave her a mean look, which she ignored, before glancing at me. After a second, he said, "We were mugged."

I blinked at him. "I see..." He gave a pained nod as if to really emphasize his plight, while the girl just smiled. When she noticed my gaze on her, her expression switched to that of grim sincerity.

I had to take a moment to step back and mentally collect myself. First off, how stupid did they think I was? Not only was their acting terrible, but who would honestly think a guy like this was attacked? And lost?

Still, there was a hint of realism in their performance. Definitely not mugged, but maybe they were actually broke?

I sighed to myself, folding my arms and looking up at the ceiling. Ah, what should I do? Most people would just ignore them, or perhaps the chosen few would spare them just enough won for a small meal.

I wasn't a kind person. No more than anyone else was, anyways. My philosophy was that it's best to go through life not making waves, and sometimes the politeness required to slip under the radar was misconstrued as kindness. Still, when the common consensus split so unevenly, that left one question: what would I, Y/N, do? After all, 'myself' was the only thing I could be.

I sighed again, much more exhausted this time. "Okay, let's go get dinner. Follow me."

The man's eyes shook slightly, reluctance evident in his expression. Still, when I started to walk out of the store, they followed after me. Damn, being followed by a guy in that outfit was truly humiliating...

The girl caught on much quicker, hurrying to match my pace. "Haha, isn't this sweet? Going out is much better than convenience store food. You're so nice... Mm, I don't think I caught your name?"

"Ah... Yes, my name is L/N Y/N."

"Y/N?" She echoed. My name sounded strange in her mouth for whatever reason. Maybe I just wasn't used to hearing people not from work use it. In fact, she had an odd look on her face, but it passed quickly. "I see. It's a good name!"

I smiled faintly, shrugging. "Thank you. Though, I guess you should be telling my parents that more than me."

"Aah, well, I'm Biyoo! And you can just call him the 'Supreme King.'"

I immediately shot back, "I am not calling him that," the same time our titular king went, "Do not call me that."

A moment of silence passed between us, as though he was seriously debating something. Finally, he spoke, seeming deeply annoyed. "Yoo Joonghyuk."

Was that his name, then? His manners were bad, but I let it slide for now. He would just have to thank me very sincerely for buying him food.

"Here, this place does cheap meal sets. Sorry, I know I offered, but it's nothing fancy..."

Biyoo seemingly paid this no mind, while Yoo Joonghyuk shot me an inscrutable look. Hey, at least I had some money. He was in no place to judge. Even if this would mean I'd be eating leftovers for the next couple of days.

The restaurant sat us down quickly. Biyoo and I pulled our chopsticks apart cheerfully. Yoo Joonghyuk kept his utensils untouched, however.

"What is it? I already apologized that it isn't too nice."

"I don't eat food made by others."

His voice was deadly serious. Who was this arrogant bastard? No, actually, both of them were rude. Why was I humoring them to this extent?

Finally, I shrugged. "Okay then, your choice. What's this I heard about you stealing from convenience stores? Perhaps I should go alert the workers there, I wouldn't want their jobs to be in danger just because some man decided thievery was better than perfectly good food, already paid for..."

He glared at me, but I ignored him, eating happily. Ah, the rice here was so fluffy, I never got it like this when I made it at home.

Biyoo laughed, which prompted me to look up. To my satisfaction, Yoo Joonghyuk had picked up the chopsticks and was gruffly taking his share.

"So, Y/N-ssi, tell us about yourself! I'd very much like to know about the person who's been so hospitable to us poor mugging victims."

"Well, firstly, you don't need to pretend to have been attacked to me. I already bought you food. I don't need your sob story."

"Aha, what gave it away?"

"Secondly, there's not much to say about me.. If anything, I'm more interested in your story."

"I'm sure that's not true! Let's see... What do you do for a job that lets you provide for two stragglers?"

She avoided my questioning easily. Was it okay to be giving out my information like this to two strangers? Perhaps they'd kill me after we finished eating.

"I work at an editing company. You’re just lucky I can stretch my budget these days, or we’d all be going hungry. It’s not exactly freelance? But the jobs are varied enough that it keeps me engaged."

"So, you read for a living?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked, looking unexpectedly interested.

"Er, I suppose that's one way to put it... It's a lot of typesetting and indexing meaningless writing. I do like reading fiction in my free time, though," I confirmed. "Not that I have a lot of that, of course..."

"Webnovels?"

I stopped short. "What was that?"

Yoo Joonghyuk asked again, in a patient tone, "Do you read webnovels?"

It felt like being caught reading said webnovels during work, even though my phone was firmly in my pocket, and this guy had definitely seen stranger things than a reader of webnovels. After all, they had to be read to be popular.

"Yes, a little bit... But they'd almost be harder to avoid these days."

Yoo Joonghyuk and Biyoo shared a meaningful look, though it appeared less like they were making fun of me, and more like they were commiserating on some unknown truth to my words.

"What's your favorite genre?"

"I don't know, maybe reincarnation? They can include both action and romance, so it can diversify. Isn't it a nice thought that after I die, I could come into a world where I could be even happier?"

"You shouldn't think like that," Yoo Joonghyuk said, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's not as if it's ever going to come true."

He carried on like he didn't hear me. "While you shouldn't completely forsake your plan for the future, nor can you forget the past that shaped you, you have to live in the present. You must live to give yourself the best life possible now, with what you have, rather than thinking things would get better if you had the chance to repeat them."

I stared at him for a long moment, surprised, before I... I burst out laughing. His face darkened, but I couldn't control myself. Biyoo giggled a little with me, patting his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm not dismissing what you're saying. You're just so serious about it. You act like you've repeated your life many times." I grinned at him, rubbing tears out of my eyes. "I have no intention of dying anytime soon. It's just daydreams, anyways."

It was so odd being with the two of them, but I didn't hate it. Feeding them, telling them about my life, and Yoo Joonghyuk's heartfelt words. It made me feel as if we had known each other for a long time, even though it had been less than an hour.

We stayed like that for a while, talking and eating in a way that felt strangely comfortable. It had been a long time since I had last eaten with other people, especially with people so strange. I’d have to tell someone about this. But… who?

As we finished up, I thought about it. Without me asking, they offered to walk me home, and just for the fun of it, I decided I’d let them.

I’d tell my roommates, I realized. They’d berate me for having strangers come to our home, but then they’d laugh, and we’d keep a baseball bat by all of our beds. I’d tell my co-workers, who would make jokes about me treating them to dinner too. I’d tell my family, my mother fussing over whether I needed money and my sister calling me a liar for claiming Yoo Joonghyuk was dressed like an astronaut. There were plenty of people to tell, who’d want to hear about something so insignificant, who would just want to hear from me. How could I have forgotten?

When we arrived at my apartment building, we all hesitated for a long moment, none willing to be the first to say goodbye. Finally, I said, “You know, I should probably ask that you pay me back at some point.”

Biyoo smiled sadly. “Well, I doubt we’ll see each other again.”

“True. But just keep it in mind, okay?”

“Stingy,” Yoo Joonghyuk tsked and I shrugged good-naturedly.

“Thanks for walking me. I could’ve handled it on my own, but it was nice.” I worked my key out of my bag as I spoke, turning to the building. “I hope you two have a good night.” However, before I could even go inside, Biyoo reached out and clutched my sleeve desperately.

“Wait!” She burst. "Before you go, we... There's a story we want you to read! A webnovel, like the kind you enjoy. You definitely have to read it! Do you promise?"

I smiled at her earnestness. Wasn't she a bit cute? She almost reminded me of a puppy. "Alright, alright, I promise. What's the name?"

"That..." Biyoo pouted. "There isn't a name yet. It isn't released yet."

"Then how am I supposed to read it? Even when it gets published, I won't be able to find it."

"No, it's okay! I'm sure you'll find it once it starts getting released, and you'll definitely come to love that story. You made a promise to read it, so don't go back on that promise."

"Ahh, you expect so much from me. What do you want me to do, read every new webnovel until I somehow find the one you're talking about?" Despite my exaggerated words, she nodded, and all I could do was laugh. "Fine, fine! Is it a sad or happy story? I like most everything, but I should prepare myself if it's anything too sad."

Instead of her answering, Yoo Joonghyuk began, "L/N Y/N..." I glanced over at him, confused. His voice was full of inexplicable longing when he asked, "Are you happy?"

"Hah? What's that supposed to mean? If I say yes, are you going to tell me to get used to never being happy because of it?" It was a joke, but his expression was deadly serious. I gave a helpless laugh, but matched his sincerity when I told him, "I... Yeah, Yoo Joonghyuk. I'm happy. I wasn't for a long time, but I'm really happy right now."

He smiled. It was a smile that was forged from years of loneliness and hardship, but finding a way to live despite it all. I recognized it, because I saw the same exact smile in my mirror every day.

"It's a happy story."

"Then I promise I'll read it."

Biyoo gave me one last hug before she left. "We'll both do our best, alright? So, stay happy, for the rest of your life."

Those two were so strange. Still, I watched from in front of the building as they walked down the empty sidewalk, towards the setting sun, until they disappeared completely from view.

[sergioguymanproust]

Somewhere in the deep recesses of our minds we keep an image of our favorite place that we carry in the hope of visiting someday. Millions dream with visiting paradise. This place could be anywhere on this planet.I have been to my paradise in the South Pacific and also the Andaman sea. The question is what happens after we have reached our destination.After fulfilling our dreams and expectations and being face to face with the reality of paradise we must be grateful for everything and accept the good and not so good points of our dream place.What comes after the facts ,is asking ourselves if we would return to such place, again.Sometimes reality can kill our dreams ,the important thing is not to get depressed,simply be open to find a new location .Life is short ,so there’s no time to be wasted ,get up and begin your new search for paradise .Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

Paradise In Maldives

[doubledyke]

sometimes talking to people about music fills me with so much hatred for mankind

[eshtaresht]

if any of my american friends see this, I understand what you're going through and I care you

but jesus fucking christ is it annoying to watch every social media feed just. flooded with doomerism and whining... I know this is just a sub product of american global influence as a whole but it's just frustrating and tiring to have to be invested in one single country's politics cause they're gonna bite everyone's ass. this behavior isn't unique either, this happens after any election, it's just when it's other countries they do that in their segregated "side of the internet" and americans are the whole internet so that's literally all everyone is seeing right now

and I don't wanna say this, cause I get the panic, I really do, been there done there but guys.... you're not special. your fascistic government didn't become suddenly fascistic overnight and it certainly isn't a Unique brand of evil, it's as conservative as the rest of the world's major powers right now! you just didn't care about that as long as you had the illusion of personal safety. congrats! it's gone now. welcome to the real world, oh Regular White American who just suddenly realized they don't have as much say in the order of things as they thought they had! ! you're gonna be fiiiine. you're gonna be fucked over but you're gonna survive just like the rest of the world being fucked over by your stupid government (except for the people it had and continues to kill, obviously)

fuck, this sounds really evil and mean and everyone and their mother are already at each other's throats but ghrrrrrhh I just need to get this frustration out somewhere

[front-facing-pokemon]

[andromedaa-starss]

rewatched russell crowe's performance of stars to make sure i wasn't being needlessly cruel in my bashing of it. i was not. it's bad.

[mail-forwarding]

The Role of Memories

(Valentine Extravangaza — Surtr's internal monologue)

My sweet child, and my irreplaceable seed of the future... If you truly wish to leave nothing and no-one by the wayside... Then you must tread innumerable paths of tragedy, again, and again, and again. In the end, the day will come when you remember it all, and on that day will you truly be tested. On that day, you will turn your back on Paradise, with the weight of this world borne on your shoulders. I pray that when it comes, your memories of this sweet paradise will steady your hands and guide your feet.

I find this prediction of Surtr's rather haunting. We know from the main quest what the cost of bearing memories is. We even know what the cost was to MC—not simply the forgetting of their own prior to their summoning, but Lil Salomon too, that feeling of loneliness and incompleteness that follows them even in events, where there should only be happiness.

What will it cost them to take in all of the memories they've lived? And would this include the memories of the Exiles too, the lives they've never lived, but that nonetheless belong to them?

But I also find this hopeful too. This remembrance will put them directly on par with WR and Pillars. And though that last sentence in this prediction is merely a hope, I think it will come true: though the burden will be heavy, it will also ultimately steady their hands and guide their feet. Despite the personal cost, MC will ultimately achieve their goal—save every single person in Tokyo and break through the loops. And I think "every single person" will include MC themself.

[hellocupie]

[againstpollutions]

you ever see a fandom post that's like so far out of character you think it should be possible to deactivate someone's blog for them

[fullscoreshenanigans]

I wonder how much time Chris has been in coma. He was hit at the head by a bullet but his brain was spared (if i remember, they said that the wound is only exterior) (which is good, i'm not sure they could have done anything if the wound had been actually deep and touched the brain, Chris would have died)

but he has been unconscious for a long time and had still crutches when they find Emma.

So it mean that his awakening was "recent" if he still needed crutches (so reeducation).

How severe was his wound? for how much time was he in coma?

Have you theories about it?

Fun fact: Chris was originally supposed to wake up during the Seven Walls arc.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 5)

But yeah after they arrive at the paradise hideout his condition is "conveniently stable" so Shirai could utilize it to facilitate more drama if he needed to or just keep it as is, and he ended up going with the latter.

(Chapter 126 | Mystic Code Book Chapter 7 Series Timeline)

We don't know the exact date he was shot, but he spent roughly half of October 2047 and at least thirteen days of November 2047 comatose.

After that, it's arbitrary, even if one wants to be canon compliant.

If you want it to take a while for him to wake up, the explanation can be Peter wasn't careful while transferring him from the paradise hideout to Grace Field headquarters, and Chris suffered brain trauma they weren't aware of until they did tests at a hospital.

If you want him to wake up shortly after they arrive in the human world, like in one of Shirai's drafts of chapter 179, you can still have his recovery span the course of months since muscle atrophy occurs rapidly.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 6; I would have been up for this version)

(Muscle Atrophy in ICU Patients article)

You can also prolong his recovery further by introducing a psychosomatic component. In addition to the physical harm that befell him, the mental trauma of the bunker raid resulted in a combination of him not waking up for however long one wishes to keep him in a coma and possibly hampered his physical therapy for months to over a year even after working to rebuild all the strength he lost.

There are a lot of ways you can adapt it to fit within the phrasing presented by the kids when explaining their trip to Emma in the epilogue:

"Able to walk again" meaning it did take him some time, although we never see him using crutches like Dominic or Sonya.

(Chapter 126 | Chapter 157 Bonus Sketch | Chapter 98)

Also it's never focused on, but Sonya uses a cane like her dad post-timeskip.

(Chapter 104 | Chapter 106 | Chapter 111)

[dreamsofalife]

What Kind of Tragedy Are You?

written in the stars

It had to end this way. We all know it. Only you were unaware. You had hope. Hope, of course, only makes it hurt all the more. We all knew you would look back, oh love, there’s no other version of the story. And yet, alongside you, we still had hope. We believed in you, even though we knew you couldn’t win. And you believed in yourself till the last moment. It isn’t fair, is it? You didn’t know you were doomed.

[walpu]

Verian who simply flat out refuses to wake up (Aven convinces him somehow) from this dream be aus he knows he won’t be a bother anymore

Aventurine is happy with him, Matthen’s alive and well, all his friends, his parents and siblings never went through poverty, he was never sold off for a few years, never traumatized from bloodshed, nothing. He was just a normal kid with a normal life and no longer a burden to everyone he loves

Arman, while he already knew it was a dream, he also doesn’t wake up, on the other hand when comparing with Verian, he finds it soothing that in this dream world, Ratio hates him.

Because if Ratio never loved a man like him, he wouldn’t be in such pain when he died and became an Aeon. Ratio wouldn’t have spent sleepless nights after seeing his beloved alive but with absolutely no recollection of him.

Because in the end, he was just a pain.

And in the end, both of them refused to wake from this blissful dream of Order.

How awkward it s when the dream is shattered anyway and they kinda need to act like it's all fine 😭

[gamesyoushouldbeplaying]

Sometimes you listen to a song from a video game and just stop because it has no right to be that good