#yet another level i relate to sans on...... XD

[undertalethingems]

You always striked me as perpetually tired, of people or whatnot lol.

true

i don't know how people can sleep all night and wake up feeling 100% refreshed. i think it's a myth XD

[novelmonger]

2-4, 13, 16, and 24 for any fandoms, please?

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

I used to get kind of annoyed when FMA fans would talk about Roy Mustang being Xingese. Like, what, just because Arakawa-san drew his eyes a little pointier than other characters', that means he's from Xing? Some people just have smaller eyes, you know! Yoki looks more Xingese than Mustang, if you ask me, yet nobody talks about him being from Xing!

But I've read some really interesting fics that explore what it would mean if he was Xingese, or half-Xingese. The implications of one or both of his parents being Xingese immigrants, legal or otherwise, can be really fun to poke at.

3. a character that fandom has helped you appreciate

You know, if I'm being really honest, I never particularly cared about Merry from LotR that much. He just didn't interest me, compared to all the other characters. But I have to say that hanging around the Fig Tree Discord server has given me new appreciation for him, because of how much they talk about him in such glowing terms XD He's still probably my least-favorite of the four main Hobbits, but I have to acknowledge that he is one practical dude who can Get Stuff Done, and there's so much courage and angst and hurt/comfort in his scenes in the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the aftermath.

4. say something nice about a ship you don't ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual's OTP, etc)

Mmkay, so I don't ship Bucky and Natasha (mostly because I don't ship Bucky with anyone post-Winter Soldier), but I will say I can understand the appeal. Two ex-assassins who were turned into living weapons, basically, had their bodies modified against their will, carry a huge weight of guilt for the things they've done.... I feel like, if Bucky were to have a successful romantic relationship with anyone, it would pretty much have to be Natasha. She's the only one who could relate to him on that deep of a level, and she would understand his need to go slowly, know how to help him with PTSD, etc.

13. your favorite type of fandom event (gift exchange, ship week, secret santa, prompt meme, etc)

I think I'd have to say prompt challenges, considering I've done three 100 Themes fics, have an ongoing one-sentence prompt challenge fic, and am currently doing my Let Me Count the Ways dialogue prompt challenge. A really good challenge will have words or phrases that immediately suggest a story, but aren't so specific that you have no wiggle room to fit it to various characters.

16. a tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate

This keyboard thing from Andor episode 7 is made from a steno machine! The little typewriter-ish device court reporters use when transcribing court proceedings! I would recognize it anywhere, and I just want everyone to appreciate the origin of this cool-looking prop.

24. how has fandom positively impacted your life?

The most important thing fandom has given me is virtually all the friends I have today. I've met some of the most wonderful people in the world through fandom, people I probably would never have met because of where they live (@dairogo I'm looking at you), because we wouldn't have much in common without fandom (hi @rainintheevening), or simply because we're enough apart in age and space that our paths would probably not have crossed otherwise (<3 @sergeanttomycaptain). I love being able to connect with so many different people through fandom, like most (if not all) of my mutuals here. Even though we have different perspectives on some things, we can all come together when it comes to love of a great story.

Love Your Fandom asks

[houseofoddballs]

Yandere Error Sans

Sorry if this is rushed, i'm fairly rusty and it's two thirty in the morning. but tada, i'm alive XD

“Tch, I tried being gentle and slow, yet this is how you repay me? By running off with my only friend? For shame Byte.” Muffled screams rang out from every direction as this iteration of the underground decayed in a way. A pair of red slippers stepped into view, or are they flip-flops? Everything about Error shifts so much with his glitching that I can hardly tell. Slowly I lifted my head to look up at Error. Slowly an underground being dissolved into lines of overlapping and intermingling zero’s and one’s came into view, along with Error himself as I raised my head to meet his gaze. 

I had never seen that look on Error before. A look of sadistic pleasure, a smugness that could only be equated to winning, as if he still had more ways to hurt me. He stepped to the side with a flourish of metacarpals and a mock bow as he laughed. I gasped and cupped my hands over my mouth at what I saw. Raised high in the air by blue strings at the most awkward and uncomfortable position, his bones Jarring out in odd angles that no humanoid figure should bend at; was poor Blueberry. Blue and black numbers flooded and poured out of his sockets like tears made of static as his gloved hands dug into his sockets, trying frantically to rip out the pestilence to no avail. 

“Why (Y/n), Why?” He sobbed out, his screams cut off as more lines of code poured from his mouth, running down his chin like some sick drool. Error scoffed and motioned his hand in poor Blueberry’s direction, sending blue strings from his fingertips through blues sockets, cutting through the glitching and wrapping up through the corners of his mouth, pulling Blue’s face into some sort of gruesome smile, in the loosest form of the word.

“An anomaly like you has already stained my little Byte's name with your filthy mouth, and you dare to repeat it in such a scornful manner in my presence? I would have expected better. What a pity.” Before I could lunge toward him, Error flourished his hand in another direction and with a sickening SNAP Blue’s head came crashing to the ground, laying in the snow with that horrific grin sewn onto his face. I stared into his eyes as more of the code spilled out and overflowed.

Error’s laughter filled my ears and flooded my mind, but when I looked up at him he was far from laughing. His lazy grin was still plastered on his face, but his eyes were filled with something closely related to disdain, if disdain and adoration could be mixed. He knelt down to my level, placing a hand out between us almost as if he were going to cup my chin. Instead, blue strings were coaxed from his fingertips to wrap around my throat, tight enough to apply pressure, but gentle enough that they didn’t cut into my flesh. A gentle warning. He let out a sigh. This was as close to me as he dare get, still closer than anyone else though. I wished he would stay as far away from me as possible. His multicolored eyes made me sick, just as sick as the carnage surrounding us.

Error’s laughter rang deafeningly through my mind, the only thing louder than his laughter was the sound of their screams. The screams of monsters as they fled their homes before they could be infected by the binary plague that was tearing reality apart before their eyes, ripping their loved ones from the multiverse. Monsters pressed with their backs against the barrier watching in terror as the static corroding through the very earth crept closer until it swallowed them and everyone they held dear. Yet the pestilence didn’t come within five feet of me and Error, far enough away that It wouldn’t rid me of Blue’s corpse. Before long the screams died out and I realized that the laughter was not Error’s, it was my own. 

I was laughing, tears streaming down my cheeks as my lungs heaved desperately for Oxygen. I couldn’t believe this. Just weeks ago I had been comfortably in my own universe where all of these characters were works of fiction, just days ago I was Error’s prisoner to his awkwardness and mundane finger knitting, just yesterday Ink had rescued me to Blue’s universe where he promised I would be safe; yet here we are. This skeleton that I had once thought awkward and grumpy was holding me at a distance with such dangerous care, Blueberry was dead, staring at me in disfigured glee, and Ink was nowhere to be found. What could I do other than laugh? I was already crying.

Yet still Error looked at me with such tender care, as if I were a declawed cat in a muzzle trying to fight him. Slowly my laughter faded to sobs, violent sobs that wracked through my entire body and brought my frame to tremble. A white hole opened in the black void where reality used to be, the antivoid. As the blue threads slipped from my throat they slid down to bind and pick me up as Error began walking towards and through the portal. I turned my head to watch as the decay of reality swallowed Blueberry. He deserved so much better than what I had unknowingly brought upon him. Error's voice came suddenly only an inch away from my ear, closer than he had ever been as we watched the void of nothingness swallow the once beloved bundle of joy.

“It’s all your fault. This is why you should listen when I tell you that an anomaly like you will simply destroy anything outside of the antivoid. I didn’t do that (Y/n)... You did. You’re so much more than an anomaly. So much worse. So much more… Like me.” He chuckled, sending a shiver down my spine. Was what he said true? If that was the case then why would Ink have put me there? It couldn’t be true, Error had to be the one to do that… Right?

[papers4me]

Hi, I have always read your furuba reviews and I'm very curious about which are your favorite characters and why?

HI!

Thank you for reading my posts<3. I know I've been slow lately, but I'm not in a right emotional place right now, but I'll be back to posting soon. Actually talking abt furuba & story-telling here in tumblr is such a peaceful outlet that I'm thankful for.

While I love 97% of furuba characters, my faves kept changing while I watched the anime. I decided to have 5 top characters as faves & number one kept changing as the anime progressed.

Since I'm all abt story-telling, I think I need to separate the anime from the manga cuz no way in the anime that tohru would be on my top 5, heck not even top 10! I really don't like how her character was reduced to yuki's mommy-tohru, then angel-tohru, then villain-fixer tohru. The real individual tohru with her own personal story is just two eps long, so meh~. Also, while yuki is in my top 5 in the anime, I don't like how he's too perfect & prince in the anime while his own theme is the imperfect non-prince. Kyo's, too in my top 5 but I dont like how his own story is intentionally messed up by the anime with the stupid "I forgot" that contradicts the anime's own canon plot...

So, I'll tell you my top 5 fave character in the manga so fat with no particular order.

Tohru, while I'm yet to uncover her own plot in the manga, so far she has way more character exploration & depth!! She really feels like a different character from the anime! I'm shocked! The facial expressions, the occasional doubtful self-talk, even the "fake-smile"mask she puts is so expressive. She is treated as a character with a personal plot , regardless of being the protagonist. Her own plot is not reliant on being yuki's mommy, or the sohma's shrink, or a fixer. Her own plot line is abt grief & being lonely. It's the most common struggle that we all share regardless of our gender, race, financial status. Death is the ultimate fact & we'll face loosing a loved one & feeling lonely is not related to social skills nor being loved. I'll forever hate the anime for passing on such unique universal theme in favor of emphasizing the most popular shonen-themed coming of age story ( a boy becoming a man) "yuki" or the over-exaggerated drama in "kyo's". Like I dont want them to pass any of the 3 characters plotlines, but the anime made a choice & forever cemented anime tohru as the most "fixer"character in anime history like 98765678 of other female protagonists.

Yuki has way more character & realness in the manga. He doesnt come off as narrator-y as he does in the anime simply cuz the anime only chose the parts where yuki narrates as a voice-over & told us how to feel & dropped all the parts where he's interacting & actually talking to other characters not just the audience. His own personal story is abt "observing, learning & having the guts to make a move & embracing his own imperfection". I love this! Anime yuki is not imperfect. no. he's the icon of perfect prince, he even initiates a set of fanclub girls into the world that they float! He's so perfect, he "heals" a girl simply by talking to her once. That's all it takes him to fall in love & find his soulmate. While in the manga, I'm starting to see yuki display signs of "kind jerk" in the making, that's refreshing!

I admit that I didn't include kyo into my top 5 until se02. Don't get me wrong, he's so endearing since ep1, but didnt seem to be complex nor refreshing as the others. but se02, ep 9 was the first glimpse into his own character depth & I got hooked! I'm so in love with the theme of "repeated mistakes & guilt". it's such a mature theme & speaks to a much wider audience. The more we repeat the same mistakes, the more we self-sabotage our lives. Also, I love the love isn't a magic healing element in his story. He's the most loved character by tohru, yet her love only hurt him more due to his guilt. Moreover, the romantic element itself wasnt a cliche "love at 1st sight, nor lovers since childhood, nor girl fixes a guy, nor guy protects the girl from danger". Not at all. It was "love blooming subtly, little by little by mundane daily life". I cant express how much I applaud Takaya-san for such complex writing. In the anime, kyo only comes when it's his ep, other than that, he's absent or characterless. I hated that. So far in the manga, kyo has an existence even in other plotlines & has different aspects of his character. Also, I'm shocked at how much inner dialogue he has! like no too much that it involves other character nor too little that you dont understand him. It's just the right amount.

Momiji. He's the most balanced character. He isnt fixed by tohru, but isnt perfectly fine either. He's the definition of the right amount of kindness. He doesn sell himself to make other happy like tohru or kureno, nor puts himself in danger to save others like haru. He does help others but also helps himself. He helped his mom forget him cuz honestly that wasnt even his choice. it's the dad's. He participated willingly tho in avoiding her, but he didnt dwell in self pity & locked himself emotionally. He let go of loving tohru & encouraged kyo, but while he genuinely loved kyo, he didnt just back off cuz he's kind & a sacrificial angel. He stood like a man & challenged kyo for tohru's heart, but let go when he realized the choice is tohru's. not them. They can love her aromatically, but she's the one who decides who to be with. I love the theme of "not competing for love". it's not a competition really. never was. Still, as love sick & heart-broken as he was, momiji didnt dwell in self-pity & after allowing himself to heal, he bounced back & smiled. Momiji is no foolish traveler.

The spot is reserved to a certain character that I want the manga to prove their worth. I dont want them to be as shallow as the anime made them to be. I want to see depth. I dont know if the manga writes them better, but once I finish the manga, I'll know.

I wanted to add shigure but no. Despite all the complexity & the unique roles he has & despite how much I love characters with big giant flaws & ugly characteristics, shigre fell from my top 5 long ago. Look, this seems petty but I can't get over the fact that he slept with akito's mom. ewwwww. It makes me wanna puke! so disgusting. yuck yuck yuck! I dont mind that he "cheated"or wanted to "hurt akito by sleeping with ANOTHER woman". As a matter of fact, such acts create drama, ugly feelings & emotional struggle. I love such things in fiction. but he did it with the mother. He actually laid with both mom & daughter in his life. ewwwwww! This level of eww is so revolting to me! Some ppl are disgusted by bugs & worms that they want to puke, me.. when ppl sleep with both parent/off spring, or both siblings. Yuck! & it's even more yuck that it didnt stop their "love" from being real/ happy/ perfect/ passionate! & that it worked in making akito "want him more & be a "woman" for him"... ew!

lol, so yeah~here's my super long answer to ur super short qs. but I dont be "papers"if I didnt write till my fingers hurt, now would I? XD. I enjoyed ur question so much! thanks<3.

Anon, Don't get offended ny my shigure-rant! XD. its petty, I know. if u read this, tell me who's ur fave?

[johannepetereric]

Emi, You’re Not A Stalker!

Again, I am using dialogue from the anime. I don’t own CFV. I am using it because I can’t think of any other dialogue to put in its place.

________________________________________________________________

Aichi greeted Emi a yawned “Good morning” from the kitchen table, right after being slapped awake by Kaa-san. 

What? He was up since 5 this morning cooking breakfast! It’s only been a few days; his body has yet to adjust yet! 

Well, at least the blueberry muffins taste good. 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you didn’t even have a alarm clock.”

Aichi stretched himself back, a longer, more drawn-out yawn escaping like ghosts, tilting the chair slightly. “Emi, I was up since five in the morning baking! What did you think I was doing?” He whispered-yawned. “I went to bed at eight for this.”

Emi looked furious, face colored the pigments of the tomatoes he sliced and diced today.

“That’s right, Emi. Please respect your brother. He is next-in-line to be the Matriarch, after all.” Shizuka Sendou, the current Matriarch, reminded the daughter. As stated in a previous post, Emi was booted out of queue as soon as Aichi declared that he found his mate (future boyfriend!). So now, Emi is the one subject to sleeping in! “And Aichi! Eat your waffles!”

Indeed, three waffles were stacked in the future-matriarch’s plate, two more than on the other two, saturated with syrup and butter and berries--and a dash of whipped cream!

Aichi’s tried eyes awoke as he remembered this. He popped a super-sugary waffle fork into his mouth, salivating at its sweet, sweet, pick-me-up texture and essence of home.  While Aichi was finishing up the muffins earlier, she was making extra waffles for her new apprentice! Although Aichi barely managed to slag through the motions, the produce did turn out as advertised!

“Aichi, hurry up! I don’t have to drive you to school, do I?” Indeed, the Sendou Matriarch has a motorcycle (legally licensed, of course) in the garage (or out back). 

“No, Kaa-san!” He filled himself as much as he could, earning himself a tummyache and vomiting into a trash can near school, but he at least wasn’t late this time!

Right after Aichi left, the girls had about the same talk as in the anime:

“Aichi’s been working hard this morning. He’s been going to bed later and is now rising just as earlier. He only had five hours of sleep last night.” The mother shook her head fondly. “I hope he found something fun after school.” 

This was a lie by omission, one could say. Shizuka does know, but Emi is a troublesome girl to deal with in the affairs of love. The mother could only sigh in contempt. Emi questioned why, but the other said to “let it be. Your brother has enough worry on his shoulders as it is.” And shuffled away to do whatever it is she does. 

Emi pondered this lateness. 

Right on time, she stalked her brother. 

“Hold it right there, Aichi. You’re not going home yet!” A menacing voice shrieked.

“Morikawa, I told you you’re not my type!” Aichi squealed back. The bully looked seriously offended and just threatened him more.

She saw her brother being threatened by the two boys (”Morikawa” and who must be his lackey), talking about plans, and she saw that they weren’t touching the new lunchbag her brother was bringing the past few days. 

I hope that they’re both all right! She thought. She knew it wrong to be worried about the food, but Mom would be sad if they were ruined!

I hope they’re not going to assault him!

The threatening of a beating continued, and she fussed over why in the world he’d play along with them why isn’t he scrambling to safety?!

Card Capital, the place they entered read. Must be their evil lair!

“Stop right there!” she yelled through the automatic door, only to be met with reverberating silence.

A green-hared man in glasses led up to her with, “Eh--how can I help you, young lady?”

“What? Eh? I’m here for my brother?”

“Well-” she was given a whole spiel, a guided tour of the place. She spied Aichi smiling and untouched and seemingly ignoring her, and she finally looked around.

Little kids about her age leaning around little tables; a cashier next to her; a glass case beyond there; cards on display; a bored-looking lady, previously reading a book at the register, staring an icy death into the little girl.

This really is a safe space. But what if it’s just money-laundering?

“Oh, those two are about to start a Cardfight. You want to see?” One most menacing bully and Aichi had locked eyes on the table, seemingly ignoring the girl who dared to believe this a bad place.

Emi nodded. The lunchbox was between Aichi’s feet, seemingly unopened. Looking at the floor, she didn’t see any crumbs. 

What she didn’t know was that Misaki was hiding her half-eaten muffin under the counter, to be slowly devoured over the course of the day XD! 

She watched Aichi ride “Blaster Blade,” the one he’s the reincarnation of. The face, it looked so...so...

A True Leader. 

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

“Why do I never draw the cards I need?”

“Uh, because Morikawa is stupid?” Aichi offered.

“Aaaaaaah!” Izaki held back the bully--Morikawa--by the collar. The dumb*** was choking.

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

“bUT i SCORED ANOTHER AWESOME gRADE 3!” (Yaaaas, I’m keeping it like this!)

“You’ll have to discard them eventually...”

“DO YOU NOT BELIEVE YOUR MASTER?!”

Aichi sweatdropped. “Morikawa, this is why you’re not my type.”

Emi snickered at that. Her big brother can be so picky sometimes.

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

“Gallatin attacks Barr!” 

Aichi...you’re so different. Your eyes have no sense of hardening here. You don’t look as afraid as before. Compared to you now, Aichi, he looks so weak. Bark but no bite. 

...

“--I attack Barr for the win!” Aichi has changed so much. Did Kaa-san know about this? 

Yes, it must be...finally playing Vanguard, as he’s so desperately wanted. The drive, the sparkle, the matriarchal glimmer that Kaa-san has chasing a cornered “Karen.” And Psyqualia looks unnecessary. 

“Eh?? Why isn’t the attack going through?”

Aichi sighed in exasperation. She feels it completely. What a mood. He responded in monotone, dead-eyed again, “Blaster Blade initially had 19000 power. I boosted with Wingal, which gives Blaster Blade an 4000 power. I now have to check the drive trigger.”

Critical. 4 damage. Add +1 damage to Blaster Blade, and...

“Aaaaaaaah!” Emi covered her ears for this one, her brother wincing.

“I looooooost!” 

“And look! He took zero damage!” A smug glimmer appeared in her brother’s eyes, a look so often used every week. Someone pointed it out--Aichi was squirming and twitching in anticipation for the moment when he could fold his arm like an egotistical champ again. Forehead furrowed trying to hold back as villainous face. Well,

“DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, YOU PUNK! I JUST LOST ON PURPOSE!” Aichi sweatdropped, never once losing that smug expression--which juts out more prominently now that he’s taken his opponent down an emotional peg.

His jaw twitched in the desire to smirk.

Emi’s had enough of this bull****.

“Aichi!” 

“Emi?! What are you doing here?!”

“Me?! You’re the one who’s abandoning your duties.”...Oops. 

Aichi stormed over to her cross-eyes, ready to give the middle finger and A Lesson About Respect.

“Now you listen here, young lady!”

“Aichi, stop.” A snappish, stern voice snapped them out of their oncoming tirade--which is bad for public relations.

Aichi veered this particular maniac look at the teen. Misaki-san looked slightly unsettled but glared back with equal virility.

An staring contest ensued, lightning sparking between them, Aichi’s eyes slightly turned downward--of course. It’s a girl. 

“So,” Emi crossed her arms in contempt. “You’ve been coming here to play games.”

Aichi’s eyes narrowed, attention twisted toward the imouto again, back straightened. Time to Defend. “What can you do about it?” He answered in equal condescension.

This killed the mood--if it already wasn’t when Emi caused a reaction from the blunet.

“Yes, Kaa-san knows. We knew you’d freak out. But to pull a stunt like this?” Tsk, tsk, tsk, he clicked as he shook his flowy, clean sea.  “This is beneath even you.”

“You are aware your friends know of your true nature, right?”

“I revealed it to them the day after I met Kai-kun.”

“Merciless.” She agreed, calmer now, for it is factual. The feminine male had grown a cruel side, not totally unlike your stereotypical tsundere or yandere. 

Aichi must’ve been brutal, so worked up like that. She can sense the romantic feels spiraling out of his soul, his heart. The mere moment of affection from one breath was enough to suppress a bit of her killer curiosity--one of many reasons as to why we fight.  

“So is Vanguard fun to play for you?”

“Yes!” He shouted with no hesitation, face now morphed back to when he rode his Avatar. “So much fun! I don’t have to worry about losing!” He pushed out two fingers--Too-dles! It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose. I’m going to have fun, anyway.

Emi smiled.

“Might I play sometime?”

Aichi grunted, maternal smile gleaming naturally. 

Indeed, he’ll be a wonderful mother and waifu. The Perfect Matriarch. 

“Ok. Bye! I expect your lasagna tonight!” Emi headed out towards home.

She could hear clamor about Aichi’s “secret” cooking abilities. Emi is proud of her brother. He has much room to grow, and he has finally opened the floodgates to reaching that level of maturity required to be a mature--emotionally mature--adult. 

Indeed, Emi will love meeting this new, dormant Aichi. 

[akwelvhi]

Transient transgressions that transcend time

I wanted to do something for Trans character day, but I couldn’t come up with something. Instead, this happened. Well -shrugs-.

“Trans-” 

Short for transgender or transsexual 

Trans also is sometimes used as a shortened term for Cis-trans isomerism, Trans-lunar injection, Trans-acting just to name a few.

Needless to say this word "trans" means a variety of things depending largely on the context of course. 

Same can be said for the word "bi" or "poly" - especially when these words are being used within the R&D or Science departments of Q-branch. 

Misunderstandings and mis-hearings is something bound to happen when you mix the staffs of the different levels and branches of MI6 into the one staff cafeteria (because MI6 will not part with the budget of paying for more catering workers who need to undergo such thorough clearance and briefings just to make food that feeds the humans who do Her Majesties important work)- anyway coming back from that tangent. 

It happened one day in the cafeteria, that this person overheard that person say something bad-sounding about something-trans or so, as such the rumour was passed down that trans people and others in the LGBTQ+ community were treated unfairly in MI6. Which somehow escalated to Q-branch having yet another - small unimportant task which snowballed into an issue - piled on top of their ever growing list of technological related issues that IT department deemed "not my department". 

The rumour in question had led to a staff generated poll, on one of those benign staff feedback portals, that had gained a viral response following. The strength and width in which the rumour and the poll in question had spread, had resulted in a portal crash so bad IT department submitted a request for budget approval of a new system because they couldn’t fix it. Which then became Q-branch's problem because well, Q was the youngest and smartest of all branch heads and that's just the way things worked much to Q’s annoyance. 

The poll in question asked. 

MI6 does not provide adequate support to staff belonging to the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

0 --- Agree

0 --- Disagree 

0 --- Others. Please elaborate : ______________________________________

The idiot who created the poll made the mistake of not only allowing all options to be selected instead of one. But also allowed the maximum character limit for long-answer responses which was a 1,000 character limit. 

The dear, poor, minion QB-X8 who was tasked to "fix that system, we don't have the budget for a new one. Q-Branch you fix it because of that 1.2 million project of yours." managed to uncover the source of the issue. 

The 1,000 character limit, was long enough a character limit, for a single keyboard smash response to somehow be translated to a line of code that led to the system crashing. It didn’t help that the system was already glitching to begin with. 

After going through approximately four thousand eight hundred and fifty two responses on LGBTQ related matters, in which over a thousand of them came from how they couldn't use the company medical benefits for LGBTQ+ related treatments. QB-X8 was understandably delirious enough that a loud branch-wide rant ensued. 

[[Disclaimer: MI6 medical benefits does allow coverage of any and all medical treatments as long as it is prescribed and administered by a professional physician. This includes coverage for cosmetic plastic surgery. Though of course like all medical insurance coverage. There is a cap. The cap is also dependent on your salary grade.]]

This led to Q authorising QB-X8 to send out a MI6-wide email blaster - with monthly reminders which included a pop-up box which would last a whole year, especially for those who took the time to flood the poll with multiple responses or those who did not answer properly. It was only due diligence, if those responders did not abide by the basic rules of completing a poll, then they obviously needed additional reminders. 

The email entailed, in detail, the medical benefits and HR staff entitlements document pasted out onto an email word by word format (no document attachment,  because some people don't open attachments). Which amounted to three hundred and twenty one pages of words. In Comic Sans font 15. No fine print excuses now.

On the plus side. HR was glad that 80% of the staff were finally fully utilising the benefits of the company’s medical insurance coverage - which had the company paying a very large six figure number paid monthly for the premiums. Employers and people in general always lost money to insurance companies. Well this year. MI6 would say they gained - in the sense that their staff were filling claims to the insurance company. Their staff were happy and healthier, the LGBTQ community included. And thanks to the 10 year agreement they just signed with said insurance company. It was all good on their accounts end too. 

On the minus side. Q-Branch was on the receiving end of random and frequent death glares whenever they were identified (should their staff pass be visible) when they visited the communal space which was the staff cafeteria. (So you see guys, this is where the hearsay that the cafeteria food is lousy came from. Q-branchers would rather just avoid the place, well at least for a year till the monthly emails stopped.) And medical's stock of hormone treatment suddenly depleted resulting in a month long waiting list for staff receiving timely service from medical. Thus irking their head to no end because medical has never failed to deliver. 

Overall. It was all good. 

The next poll that went up asking the same question (with the ' improved by Q-branch' modifications made so the system wouldn’t crash again) received an overall 87% satisfaction rating on MI6's staff benefits including support for LGBTQ+ staff. 

All is well.

Now if only people just read the damn fine print and hundred page document on terms and conditions. None of this would’ve happened. To think these people work for the government of Her Majesty for god's sake! 

.

A/N: The title may be a bit superfluous but it just wanted as many trans-words in it as possible, haha, sorry. XD

[fgodestinyawakenings]

Congrats on getting Jalter~! If you're still taking top 5 requests, can you do Top 5 servant pair or groups? Something like Resistance Trio (Geronimo-Billy-Robin) or couples (Brynhildr-Sigurd).

Thanks! And thanks again for your asks as catalyst that brought her home ^^;

I’ll split your request into two since I’m doing both of them, so no worries!

Couples

Sigurd x Brynhildr

Like everyone, I’ll admit that I also assume that Sigurd would be one who would constantly run away and avoiding Brynhildr from not only what happened in their history, but also her current given Yandere side

But after Gotterdamung lostbelt came out… His interaction with her already won my heart!

It got even amusing with his 2nd skills often used a proof of his strong love to her against her Yandere side

DAMN IT, I’LL BRING HOME YOUR WIFE SOON ONE WAY OR ANOTHER SIGURD!!

Amakusa x Semiramis & Cu Chulainn x Scathach

Definitely thanks to Apocrypha, they are still on my list after both also appearing in FGO too

The fact even in their dialogue shows they still remember what happened in Apocrypha despite Semiramis denying it’s meant for her other self in that world

Damn it I’m reminded at the saltiness of seeing someone pulling both Semiramis and Amakusa home together ARRRRRGH OTL

And it’s hilarious in some fan art with Semiramis FGO version denying so hard about their relationship while Amakusa is totally okay with it XD

For Cu x Scathach… I actually don’t mind either their relationship being mentor-student or something more… Given their historical past together or so 

I like seeing them together, which my one and only complain for America Singularity is why the fuck they didn’t add at least Caster Cu in so that he could reunite with his teacher! That’s a fucking wasted potential since you do technically summoned him after clearing Fuyuki. But nope, he totally never existed even in Solomon Singularity

Bless the writer that did Part 1 Summer 2018… Thank you for adding dialogues between Scathach and Cu!

Mozart x Salieri & Rama x Sita

I’m definitely caught off guard at Salieri’s appearance in Lostbelt since no one expected him to appear

But damn… You can blame fan art and their dialogue about each other shipped them

And what even set sailed way harder is that one scene together in Anastasia lostbelt… I know in canon Amadeus once love Marie but those two has more feels than this!

Speaking of feels, Rama and Sita… Their whole entire backstory is literally screaming to be reunited again

I’m seriously waiting for LB4 to happen and hoping she’s the one who’s that Archer summoned under the crypter

Yet at the same time I don’t want to, which because… If Sita is under the Crypters, Rama will be summoned and sided with us hence… DAMN IT DW, GIVE THEM A HAPPY ENDING ALREADY!!!

Jeanne Alter x Sieg-kun

It’s definitely crack as far as the actual story goes since they got no dialogue for each other

I blame the one scene in Oniland where they were put together…

But, guess it’s a sort of potential that may or not happened between them?

Platonic Gilgamesh x Enkidu

I’m the only person who actually prefers their friendship instead of them being a romantic couple

For me I could relate to Gilgamesh a lot about having that one person whom will take that one role in your heart forever in life. And that person after they passed away, your heart and your soul swore no one can replace their existence

The feels in Babylonia really break my heart since I actually relate so much if I could find a chance similar to bring them even if it means trading my life

And fucking damn it! Caster Gilgamesh own dialogue brushed off at the reunion since he told himself he already lost his chance to speak to him once he took back the throne…

AND DW, WHAT ABOUT ENKIDU’S DIALOGUE WITH NORMAL ARCHER GILGAMESH?! VICE VERSA TOO! THOSE TWO SHOULD AT LEAST HAVE SOMETHING ABOUT EACH FROM FATE STRANGE/FAKE OR SOMETHING!!

So I’m really sorry if I don’t ship them romantic… I did once, but I blame myself after reading their actual history and falling in love with their friendship instead OTL 

Groups by Singularity

Charlemagne Knights

I’m definitely the one who actually prefers this group of knights over the Knight of the Round Table especially after seeing their relationship as a whole in Camelot Singularity and Camelot/Zero

I’m a huge sucker for friendship that becomes your family you love, cherish and wanting to protect for life. A bond that can’t be tear apart and loyalty ties strongly between them

Especially maybe because the fact Charlemagne grieves for all his people specifically his nephew Roland in his death of his poem

Their interaction somehow just reminded me of how Gudas interacted with their Servants like a huge family instead of that stiff title of between Master-Servant & King-knights relationship

So I’m seriously hoping for the rest of the Charlemagne knights to appear for comedic chaos and maybe good dose of friendship fluff between them

Captain Drake’s crew

Literally the theme of family/friendship will always be on the list, especially if they are strong

Drake’s crew in particular especially even if they die or turned ghost, they still willingly followed their boss to the very end to Solomon Singularity to beat up the pillars

And Drake in turn is one of the best captain I’ve ever seen in taking care of men and treated them like one big crazy family in hunting for treasures

Hassan i-Sabbah

Not as crazy as the two above, but their loyalty to each other and the creed is really strong

Especially both hundred persona and cursed arm will do anything to free their youngest comrade, Serenity, out of the Lion King’s prison

And especially the one scene against King Hassan’s trial. Cursed Arm takes his role as their leader so seriously he begs willingly for their founder to take Serenity’s place to do the trial

Damn it, anyone who speaks ill about the Hassan, I’ll kill them personally! They are the best group I’ve seen in Camelot!

Three Goddess Alliance

Though there’s hardly any dialogue between each other, other than the starting, I actually like how they come to work together

Quetz who wants to protect humanity, pretended to be evil just so she could help Gorgon consumed by the hallucination that she’s Tiamat’s reincarnation

Eresh-chan whom everyone depicts as the evil goddess is actually the nicest one among them. Especially making souls in her realm comfortable and loving human life more than a certain spoiled and useless sister of hers

Gorgon definitely despite being the villian driving the first half, she still wins my heart especially her dialogue onwards about Quetz onee-san herself

And even despite being used by Tiamat and Kingu, she still really cares for the latter a lot. Perhaps they shared a lot in common…

Ozymandias & Nitocris

The one sibling duo team definitely wins in this list!

Nitocris’s strong loyalty and determination to protect & serve Ozymandias really had me admired her a lot, even turning to one of my favorite characters in Camelot

Ozymandias despite being Gilgamesh’s tyrannical level ruler, he’s actually also one of the best king to serve especially given he cares greatly for Nitocris like an older brother to his younger sister

Especially near end in Camelot complimenting and telling her to rest after the final blast of Ozymandias’s NP… Their interlude as well with more interaction brings more fluff too!

[thelazyhermits]

A possible story prompt?

Lol Hey Haze XD Sorry for disappearing for a while but i’ve been looking for a few reverse harem fics fo Undertale when I got this idea for a story and I basically just wrote out everything that I’ve thought out so far and I wanted opinions on it. If it gets good enough of a response I might write it, or I’ll just put it out so someone else can write the idea. The basic premise i’m pretty sure someone else has written something similar, but this is my take on it so I wanted your opinion on it and what I can do to improve it, or what you think other people who might know how to improve it.

So here you go

An AU where its a Megaverse, where when all Monsters got out of the mountain, their AU versions came up with them. When Monsters came out on the surface, it was hard to ID everyone since they’re were alternative versions of themselves (Even of Frisk and Chara) and their different background, so to differentiate each other they added Middle Names to their ID’s which they choose. So the ‘common’ nicknames are just nicknames(Like Blueberry and Stretch, etc), but some characters will be referred by their official middle names (Cuz i thought nicknames like Crooks and Axe were kind of mean so yeah), so as to avoid insults.  

All the Sans’s and Papyrus’s are billionaires and are involved in a thing where the first to find and bond with their chosen mate becomes the Head of the Skeleton family. (Who proposes this? Maybe too much in house fighting resulted in this proposition to be made by US!Alphys and UT!Undyne betting that there was no way they could get someone to fall in love with them with the way they were acting???)

Rules to the Competition thing to be named:

They can’t tell their chosen Mate the stakes or about the competition (AKA head of family). They have to seduce and charm their chosen mate with their own wits and talents.

If they don’t know their status of wealth (As in what positions they are as head companies and real status of wealth), they are not allowed to tell them, their chosen mates have to figure it out themselves.

They Can’t marry and then divorce, they have to soul bond mutually and prove it by the bonds tying their souls. 

They can’t force someone to fall in love with them by magic or other methods.

They can’t sabotage one another’s attempts to woo someone (dolly so if they are pursuing the same person)

The first one to bond and Mate with their chosen prospectives, earns the right to be the Head of the household.

Enter MC, who is an author that is aquatinted with Muffet and Grilby (cuz she loves sweets), who somehow gets involved with the Skeletons by accident. Some fall in love at first sight, other just wanted to piss each other off, eventually became a fight not for the head, but for the hand of the MC, who is somewhat oblivious of it all.

MC- An author of somewhat renown, whose books touch people emotionally. Shy, sweet with a wicked sense of humor. Puns is something she loves but sometimes have a slow reaction to, but when she recognizes it, she’ll howl for days. When it comes to love, she’s like a classic shoujo protagonist, dense and airheaded. Some social cues go over her head, not all, but some especially in regards to flirting. She’s also incredibly stubborn on some opinions, but she knows when she’s wrong so she’ll apologize. Has no sense of direction and depends on her phone for directions. Love sweets and has no alcohol tolerance. Lives in an apartment in Monster Town. Was raised by her Grandmother when her parents passed away and still keeps in touch with her. She is aware that Monsters are rich from the Gold Exchange and assumes this of UT!Sans and UT!Papyrus when they first met (which was like 6 months after they got out of the Underground) but is unaware of how truly rich the two became when in those six months they became pros in their professions (she knows of what professions they are in, but are unaware of their positions and how famous they truly are since she stays in Monster town all the time and monsters don’t overreact when Sans and Co became filthy rich). Just considers them like all monsters. Is unaware that they have a huge ‘family’.

All monsters are rich from the Gold exchange when they got out of the mountain, but the Skeleton household are on another level.

UT Sans - Head of IT company, basically redone computers and phones in a revolutionary pace and almost became a billionaire by accident. He has a second job as Grilby’s comedian sometimes. Still loves Ketchup and puns and is still really lazy. Was acquitted with the MC before the Competition when he told a run and she took such a long time to react, but when she did she howled with laughter. This was just soon after they got out of the surface. Took an interest from then on.

UT Papyrus - A Master Chef who has numerous famous restaurant chains. Has several cookbooks published in human and monster food and has advanced cuisine in both technology and techniques. Was passionate in his job and somehow ended up with more money than he needed. Is an acquaintance of the MC and sometimes teaches her to cook. Is already infatuated with her when she was kind with him when they first got out of the surface when tensions were still high between the two races. 

US Sans - Head of several athletic companies, a successful business man who has a successful worldwide brand of athletica for monsters and humans. Is still very active and jogs often. Has not yet met the MC as of the beginning of the story but forms a crush when they first meet when she was kind to him for consoling him when he and Stretch got into a fight.

US Papyrus - Head of a successful game company. He had revolutionized a new game engine and is in progress of developing a fully functioning VR experience. Is still very laid back and still loves Honey. Is fond of the MC after helping him and his brother patch things up. Wasn’t really interested in the competition but eventually…

UF Sans - Head of an Automobile company. Revolutionized the Engine and made cars and bikes run smoother than ever. Has his own customized bike and treats it like its his baby. Was interested in the MC when his flirting sort of flew over her head, and when she accidentally flirted back unconsciously he got flustered. Was his goal originally to get the MC flustered but he got in too deep… In the Underground was lazy and was treated badly by Papyrus in public, but at home they were kind to one another and took down those facades. They have a strong bond.

UF Papyrus - Head of Fashion company. It was a surprise for everyone when he went into this but it started when somebody challenged his sense of fashion (given that his uniform had spikes) so he took on the challenge and designed suits and clothing that wowed the world and became an internationally famous designer almost overnight. Still very fit and trained for duties of the Royal Guard. He’s a very ruthless businessman and met the MC when she was dressed sloppily and couldn’t stand it and forced her to change her clothes to something more neat. Starts Tsundere, but as he slowly falls in love with the MC becomes more and more devoted to the MC and eventually is super devoted to the MC that when he tries to seduce her he bring the big guns (Flowers, clothes, fancy stuff) which sorts of confuses the MC because how did Tsundere become DereDere all of a sudden??? IN the Underground he had to act tough with everyone and his brother, but at night some days he would ask Sans to read to him his favorite story. They have a strong bond. He nags on his brother to be more active (though not as much as before given how successful they are) for his health.

SF Sans - Head of a famous hotel chain. HIs hotels are rated to be of the highest quality and hospitality and famous people are always eager to stay at his hotel chains. HIs hotels are also infamous for having Casino’s in them and people tend to gamble their money away which he keeps. Was unimpressed with the MC as he met her later on compared to the other, but is taken in by her kindness eventually. Like UF Papyrus, he was a total Tsundere when he met the MC, and originally pursued her because he wanted to steal her from everyone else to piss everyone off, but eventually became DereDere for her. He wants to spoil her (which the MC always refuses) and wants to be spoiled by her. He acts petulant when the MC doesn’t pay attention to him . Loves his brother but in his underground he had to act cruel to him in public, though at home they were affectionate and Papyrus would read him his favorite stories at night to issue each other.

SF Papyrus - Is a famous Auction holder and bidding master. He gathers infamous antiques that originally seem like they are worth nothing but are actually historical or monetary treasures. Earned his keep by accident. Also occasionally bids on stocks that he always gets right. He loves his brother and knows why his brother treated him badly in the underground but given their nightly readings, they hold very strong bonds. Though unfortunately as a side effect he has low self-esteem which he hides by acting confident and apathetic. Just went along with his brother’s plan to seduce the MC but fell in love pretty fast with the MC because she was super kind to him.

HT Sans and Papyrus - They both share an agriculture company and advocate for less food waste and contribute to lower starvation rates. They have been known to develop agriculture techniques and advance agriculture that it reduced food waste and compost. UT Papyrus and HT Papyrus have good relations given that UT Paps requests ingredients from him. They work together really often. Although UT Sans is somewhat wary of HT Sans because of what they went through, he is kind to HT Paps because he is still another version of his brother. When they got out to the surface, they had their injuries looked at, so HT Paps has braces and glasses, while HT Sans got his hole fixed. Though HT sans is slower than UT Sans, he is slowly regaining back his former magic prowess that he once had. Was introduced to the MC by UT Papyrus and are intrigued by her.

G!Sans - Head of an internationally famous Music Company. HE himself is a famous singer but he has so few released tracks that they are weighted in gold. Only a select few have heard him sing in person. He manages and creates top artists constantly. Has a large fanbase and still smokes and were leather. Met the MC when she visited Sans in his house (which she did not think would be a mansion) and is amused by the whole situation and thought to meddle because he thought it would be fun, accidentally got in too deep.

G!Papyrus - Head of an internationally known Pharmaceutical Company. Has advanced medicine by leaps and bounds and has cured several diseases. Has a love of tea and would like his ‘brother’ (He came from a version of echo tale that fused Gaster and Papyrus, so technically he is not brother with G but they got along together so well, they treat each other as brothers- this head cannon was from TheLazyHermit) to stop smoking. is an absolute gentlemen and due to his personality he is loved by many people and has his own large fanbase. Treats the MC kindly and is slowly developing feelings for her.

Other AU’s to be added??? I dunno?? Maybe, but given how many Skeles are here already adding more might be too much XD

What do you think of this so far? I have so many Undertale Prompts that I want to write but might never produce cuz the idea can get super longwinded… Maybe I’ll just post a bunnyplot pile and let people use the ideas…

I talked with Silver and got the ok to post this, so we could see if any of y’all had any ideas you wanted to contribute for this story plot. Also, if you wanna try writing this, be sure to give proper credit and let Silver know. ^-^

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S5 Finale/S6 Premiere Watchthrough

Time’s Arrow: Another day, another two-parter. We know the drill on how I cover these by now, so let’s hop to it.

Part One: As the title indicates, it’s another time travel-related episode… yay. So how do we start this one? During an investigation on Earth, they discover Data’s decapitated head. Way to ensure your viewers' attention shows! This makes the crew understandably concerned about Data’s life, which he predicts will end in the 19th Century. It looks like their concerns are justified when during a mission, they lose him and he is indeed zapped into 19th Century San Francisco. Now my memory may be rusty but I think that this is the first time we’ve time-traveled to the distant past since The City on the Edge of Forever in TOS (okay The Voyage Home kinda counts, but they went to the ’80s which was when the film was made so… ) and the hook with Data dying is definitely a draw-in. As a modern viewer, I know that he’ll be fine, but I can only imagine how nerve-wracking this had to be when it came out cause there’s always that sense of ‘what if…’ whenever a show is running. They killed Tasha Yar after all… who says that they won’t do it to Data (aside from killing their most popular character is usually not a great idea)? Anyways, as a season finale, I think it works well enough. It has a big draw and has big stakes, has a mystery concerning Data’s death, some good moments like Data noticing the crew acting differently around him, and the time spent in the 19th Century was fun. We also find out that Guinan was there at the time, but obviously, she didn’t know Data yet but present-day (future?) Guinan tells Picard that he needs to be on the Away Team. Good start, but can Part 2 keep it up? Oh and Mark Twain is also in this. Just thought I’d point that out. 4/5.

Part Two: Alrighty so except for Worf, we now have everyone stuck in 19th Century San Francisco! They’ve already gotten settled in, which is a bit of a bummer but I guess they only have so much time and we gotta keep the plot moving. Picard having everyone pose as a Shakespeare troupe and dealing with the landlady was freakin’ hilarious. But they’ve discovered several bodies with the life drained out of them, and they need to find the ones behind it as well as locate Data. It’s fine, we have some good stuff like the interactions between Picard and the past!Guinan and the previously mentioned hijinks with the acting troupe/landlady. Honestly, Mark Twain may be the most entertaining part of this. IDK if how he acted here is how he’d act in reality (I’m skeptical about the historical accuracy in general), but he is just so much fun especially when he leaps into the 24th Century~! So how does it stack as a season premiere? I’d say pretty good. It’s a fun episode, has some action to get everyone pumped up, and resolves the cliffhanger from the finale It’s just fun. I do feel like after P1 went out of it’s way to note the crew’s cocnern about it, when Data ‘died’ the fact that no one seens particularly grief-stricken is noticible. Sure there was the situation and Geordi working to save him via using the discovered head, but still. But I am glad that the episode had all of the main crew involved to varying levels with everyone getting some kind of moment of usefulness, an issue I had with Redemption P2 and Unification where it became mainly The Picard and Data Show. So overall, I’m feeling optimistic about S6~! 4/5.

Overall: When judged all together, Time’s Arrow is a fun two-parter. It’s not as exciting as Redemption, a mass epic like Best of Both Worlds, or have the nostalgia/emotional factor like Unification. If you didn’t know that these served as the season finale/premiere, you’d b forgiven for thinking that it was just a regular two-part episode. The villains are probably the biggest weakness, being pretty boring and not all that in focus. Mainly just serving as an excuse to both allow the plot and have an antagonist. The main draw is the possibility of Data’s death, which while it’s not hard to figure out that he’ll survive there is enough of a ‘what-if’ factor that it could work when they were first coming out. The other is the 19th Century. Again, I’m very skeptical of the historical accuracy, but it was a fun change of pace. The fashions were nice at the very least~! And again, Mark Twain was just a delight XD The episodes work well as a finale/premiere, but together they’re just standard episodes. But still fun ones. The kinds of episodes that you can put on, lean back, and just have a good time watching. Not a bad way to go at all. 4/5.

And with that, Season 5 is complete and S6 has begun~! Hooray~! Alright, the Top 5 lists post will be going up here shortly. I should probably start picking episodes for the Top 15 post now that we’re starting to wind down. We’re so close to the end folks, I can feel it!

[cutepresea]

9-6 Valkyries’ Summer: Broken Relic

Sorry again for the spam.

If you want to blacklist these, you can use either the tag #valkyries summer for just this event, or #xdu event scripts or #xdu scripts

Reminder that these are copied straight from XD Unlimited itself, so any grammatical weirdness, mistranslations, and/or mischaracterizations are not my doing.

Maria: "Over there! Those people are under attack!"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Are they islanders?! Guh, they're too far away... We'll have to draw the enemy to us so they can escape!"

Chris Yukine: "If I blast 'em from here, they'll have no choice but to give us their attention!"

Maria: "Looks like they've noticed us. Hah! Just try me!"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Try to get as far away from here as possible! We'll handle this!"

Fishermen: "B-But you'll!"

Chris Yukine: "Don't worry about us! We're used to this sort of thing!"

Chris Yukine: "How's that?! Hey, we took care of 'em! Anyone still alive over there?"

Fishermen: "Thank you so much. That was a close call! But who are you girls?"

Maria: "It's kind of a long story."

Fishermen: "W-Well, we'll have to thank you properly once we disembark."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Hold on! Don't get too close to the shore yet!"

Fishermen: "The Noise! They're back! We're doomed!"

Maria: "Don't give up! Just do whatever you can to stay alive!"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "I protect life--that is my sword's sworn duty! I won't let them lay a finger on any innocent bystanders!"

Chris Yukine: "You guys can just keep on coming! You're all gonna be dust soon enough!"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "The Noise have been exterminated. It's all right now."

Fisherman A: "You saved us."

Chris Yukine: "Told you we could handle it."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "No need to thank us. Facing danger and keeping people safe is our duty."

Fisherman B: "Duty, eh? You certainly seem used to fighting the Noise, but who in the world are you?"

Maria: "Ah, right. We're from a secret government agency... of sorts."

Fisherman B: "Ah, I suppose that'd explain it, yes..."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "More importantly, could you tell us more about this island? Do the Noise appear here often?"

Chris Yukine: "We know basically nothing about this place."

Fisherman A: "It's just a small village where fishermen and their families lived. The Noise problem is more recent."

Fisherman B: "Because of the Noise, the fishermen all banded together and moved to another island."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Then why are the rest of you still here?"

Fisherman A: "We like it here on this island, and we won't let the Noise take it away from us."

Chris Yukine: "It is a beautiful island, I'll give you that. And you've got plenty of fish too."

Fisherman A: "Noise sightings used to be rare in the past, and even then, they were always sighted off the island."

Fisherman A: "But recently they've been showing up on the island as well."

Maria: "The fact that they've increased so suddenly concerns me."

Fisherman B: "Also, there's this strange, black shadow that's been appearing offshore. Could the increase in Noise--"

Maria: "--be because of that black shadow?"

Fisherman A: "I once saw the shadow while offshore, and then a horde of Noise spawned. They must be related somehow."

Fisherman B: "Yeah. We used the sacred harpoon enshrined here hoping it would help, but it shattered..."

Chris Yukine: "Sacred, huh? I don't know what to tell you there, but facing the Noise is a fool's errand all the same!"

Maria: "She's right. Though speaking of which, could you tell us more about this shadow and that enshrined harpoon?"

Fisherman A: "I can't say much about the black shadow, but it's under the surface, and much larger than a fishing boat."

Chris Yukine: "Bigger than a boat? So we're talking pretty big, then."

Fisherman B: "Yes. That's why we used the sacred heirloom, the  harpoon imbued with the spirit worshipped on this island."

Fisherman A: "It's normally kept in an underground shrine, but had been brought to the surface for a festival."

Fisherman B: "But it couldn't pierce the black shadow. Instead, it shattered into fragments, and they got absorbed..."

Fisherman A: "Perhaps the Noise appearing on the island is due to the heirloom having been destroyed?"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "You mentioned fragments... Would they happen to have been about this big?"

Fisherman B: "Y-Yes, that's about the right size."

Maria: "This is a fragment we found of a mysterious relic. It's likely part of your sacred heirloom."

Chris Yukine: "About how many fragments did it shatter into?"

Fisherman B: "There looked to be about five or so large ones."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "There's a roaring sound we always hear before the monsters appear. Do you have any knowledge of what it is?"

Fisherman A: "You mean that unearthly roar? Around here, we call that the Demon's Song."

Fisherman B: "We started hearing it once the Noise began showing up en masse. Hence why it's called the Demon's Song."

Maria: "So then it is related to the Noise, it would seem."

Maria: "As government agents, we'll handle this. It's dangerous here, so please try to vacate the area."

Chris Yukine: "We'll take out all those Noise for ya."

Fisherman A: "R-Really? You'll deal with them for us?"

Fisherman B: "Please, we're begging you!"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Leave it to us. We'll bring the situation here under control."

Maria: "So, that discussion earlier about the relic and the Noise being connected... What do you think?"

Chris Yukine: "About how the Noise used to not approach the island?"

Maria: "Yes. There's a shrine on this island, where a relic had been enshrined..."

Maria: "And once that relic broke, the Noise began to encroach upon the island. Don't you think there's a connection?"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "It seems so. It's as if the relic was keeping the Noise at bay."

Maria: "And then there's that massive black shadow. That must be the cause of the abnormality here."

Chris Yukine: "So if we take that thing out, the abnormality should clear up?"

Maria: "It's possible. But to do that, we'll need to collect the shattered relic fragments."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "So our goals are to look into and eliminate the black shadow, and to recover the relic fragments."

Maria: "Agreed."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Say, do you think that black shadow may be some type of karmified Noise?"

Chris Yukine: "You mean like the other Karma Noise from before?"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Yes. We don't have proof, but given other incidents, there's a good chance that's what Gjallarhorn detected."

Tsubasa Kazanari: "But assuming it is a Karma Noise, why would it appear someplace where there are so few people?"

Maria: "There's still a whole lot we don't understand about the Karma Noise. We can't rule anything out right now."

Chris Yukine: "Right, but if it is a Karma noise..." [1]

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Yeah. It means we can't use Ignite."

Maria: "That's going to be a pain."

Chris Yukine: "But we still have our swimsuit Gears! We can just use those to kick its butt!"

Tsubasa Kazanari: "Hmm. Good point. We can't let things go like last time." Maria: "Yes, we'll just have to do our best."

Hibiki Tachibana: "Wow, no surprise this place is booming right after the recent renovations, huh Miku?"

Miku Kohinata: "Yeah. And hey, you did a great job, Hibiki. You really managed to finish all your homework quickly..."

Hibiki Tachibana: "It's all thanks to you, Miku! Oh, and here's the super-big aquarium tank that's their new centerpiece!"

Miku Kohinata: "They said how big it is in the advertisement, but now that I'm actually seeing it... They weren't kidding!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "They really weren't! It even extends to the upper levels. It looks like it'd be fun to take a swim in!"

Miku Kohinata: "You'd startle the fish... Oh, Hibiki, look who's over there."

Hibiki Tachibana: "It's Shirabe-chan and Kirika-chan. I wonder if they're on a date too? Hey girls!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "Oh, you two came here, too!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "Yep! I churned through my homework just so I could come!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "I see. So that's why you were so gung-ho about doing it."

Kirika Akatsuki: "That solves one mystery."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "We read about the new aquarium tank in a magazine and decided to come check it out."

Miku Kohinata: "It's incredibly big. I wonder what's in it?"

Kirika Akatsuki: "Whoa! It's a whale tank!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "Whales?! Seriously?!"

Miku Kohinata: "There's a pair of them. They seem to be swimming along happily together."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "They're kind of intimidating..."

Hibiki Tachibana: "Wooooow... So this is what the underside of a whale looks like!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "It's amazing just how big they are! Oh hey, one of them's calling out!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "And the other one is answering! So this is what whale songs sound like!"

Miku Kohinata: "Are they communicating using those songs? This is the first time I've ever heard one."

Hibiki Tachibana: "They seem like they're really close. Like me and you, Miku."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Yeah. Or like me and Kiri-chan."

Aquarium Guide: "Those two whales are a mating pair."

Miku Kohinata: "Oh, I see. That sounds pretty nice..."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Yeah..."

Kirika Akatsuki: "Man, that was so much fun!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "The other tanks were amazing, but that ginormous whale tank was just incredible!"

Miku Kohinata: "It really was the premier exhibit... Hey, are you phones going off?"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "It's an emergency transmission, Kiri-chan. we've got Noise!" [2] Kirika Akatsuki: "Hibiki-san is here with us too! What's the location?!"

Passerby A: "It's... It's the Noise! Stay back... Stay back! Aaahhhh!"

Passerby B: "S-Somebody, help me! The heel broke off my shoe and... Aaaah!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "I can't believe they'd come here... Miku, I'll be right back!"

Miku Kohinata: "I'll help people evacuate! Stay safe, you three!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "You too, Miku!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "I'm not letting them wreck that shiny new aquarium!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Yeah, we'll keep it safe!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "Raaaaagh!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "I've cleaned things up over here! How are things over there?!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "We just finished up, too!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "As clean as a whistle."

Hibiki Tachibana: "Seems like the evacuation went smoothly, too. Now we just need to get rid any stragglers, I suppose."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Ah! There's one left!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "it's headed for the aquarium!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "Oh no! Not the whales! I won't let you touch them!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "Hyaaaaaaah!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "Yikes, there's more crawling out from further in! We'll have to stop them right here and now!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Right. We'll hold the line."

Hibiki Tachibana: "All right, you Noise! You're not going to get... another step closer!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Kiri-chan, let's back up Hibiki-san!"

Kirika Akatsuki: "We'll show those Noise what aquarium buddies can do when they team up!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "This is the last of them! Yah!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "We did it! How's the aquarium?"

Kirika Akatsuki: "It's fine! I'm sure the whales are safe and sound!"

Hibiki Tachibana: "That's a relief. I'm glad we were able to protect them."

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "Hey, I think I just heard one of the whales..."

Hibiki Tachibana: "Maybe they're saying thank you? Heheh, you're welcome. I hope you two stay nice and close."

Kirika Akatsuki: "I'm glad we managed to keep them safe. We'll have to come back some time!"

Shirabe Tsukuyomi: "The whales appreciated our hard work. We'll definitely be back."

Hibiki Tachibana: "Okay, let's head back. I need to make sure Miku gets the good news!"

Notes:

[1] Noise wasn’t capitalized

[2] They didn't capitalize the "we've" at the beginning of the second sentence in this line

[chemicalperfume]

GRAPH 2013.01: “C’est Maniaque Takarazuka” (Sagiri Seina / Misuzu Aki/ Souno Haruto / Sahana Mako)

It is now September 18th in my part of the world too, so...

Happy Birthday Chigi (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

In celebration, here is Chigi, Mattsu, Niwa and Kyabii being GIANT zuka nerds, and extremely relatable while doing so. Recommended read for literally everyone (and since this Graph issue is a few months shy of being 5 years old, look at these incredible, pure fan smiles xD)

-Declare your love for XX!-

Misuzu: In this case, I probably want to declare my love for Yan-san (Anju Mira). The reason I seriously fell in love with Takarazuka, was Yan-san. And as an onnayaku too! Usually, otokoyaku Yan-san gives off this “how cool!” vibe, right? But that was completely different, I was like “Who is this person?”

Sagiri: Which production was that?

Misuzu: “The Flash”. During Natsume-san’s (Ooura Mizuki) Top Star era.

Sagiri: Right!

Misuzu: For more details, I talked about it in “C’est Maniaque Takarazuka”, GRAPH 2012.03 issue! *laughs* [1]

Sagiri: *laughs* As for me, I loved the YanMiki combi (Anju Mira & Maya Miki), and what I loved the most about Yan-san is her opening announcements!

Misuzu/Souno/Sahana: Oh really!

Sagiri: I have a thing for opening announcements, and those were some goosebump-inducing ones *laughs*

Souno: Is that so *laughs*

Sagiri: I felt something very grownup there, that spoke to my little heart when I was still a child. The impression I have of Yan-san is her opening announcements *laughs* My favourite plays of hers that constantly compete for the title and switch between 1st and 2nd place are “Sorrowful Cordoba” and “Melancholic Gigolo”.

Misuzu: I was in both of those when they got restaged. [2]

Sagiri: What was it like, performing them? I sometimes think I might be no good if I had to perform in a play I’ve always loved

Misuzu: Yeah. “Melancolic Gigolo” was one of my favourites too and I watched it a lot, so I was at a loss about how I should do it… I had the role of Barotte, but watching it and performing it…

Sagiri: ...they’re totally different things, indeed. You already have this fixed image of the play after all.

Misuzu: Yeah. Once I did it it was an interesting experience, though.

Souno: I loved Kodai Mizuki who used to be in Snow Troupe! Of course, I watched the Top Stars too, but I was paying lots of attention to everyone around them too. I loved striking people with old-school gravitas. I was all about that vibe.

Misuzu: She was so wonderful. I get you! I get that!

Sagiri: She was so cool!

Souno: I would even put portraits of Kodai-san from the Takarazuka magazines inside my pencil board… [3]

Sagiri: Yes! I totally did that too!

Misuzu/Sahana: *laughing*

Souno: I did that during my school years.

Sahana: I had my Takarazuka goods confiscated at school, and got told off very badly!

Misuzu/Souno/Sagiri: Whaaat? Really?

Souno: Was it not allowed?

Sahana: I was called to the teachers’ office twice!

Misuzu/Souno/Sagiri: *cracking up*

Sagiri: What kind of goods was it?

Sahana: Uhm, there used to be those pocket size portrait photos… [4]

Sagiri: Yesyes, those!

Sahana: I had collected lots of them, put them in a box and kept them in bundles

Misuzu/Souno/Sagiri: *explosive laughter*

Sahana: So because I had that with me, it was taken away, and I was summoned to the teachers’ office… Where I said “Please give it back!”

Souno: And did they give it back?

Sahana: *nods*

Souno: But you got reprimanded again?

Sahana: Yes. The second time I told the teacher again to “Please give it back!”. And when they did, they had stuck a note on the box that said “I’m giving it back, but from now on you should grow up, and be pure, proper and beautiful”!

Souno: Aaah, that’s no good!

Sahana: I got so super mad, I ripped off the note right in front of the teacher’s eyes and ate it!

Misuzu/Souno/Sagiri: *in stitches*

Misuzu: She ate it! HAHAHA *laughing*

Sagiri: Why would you eat it? *laughing* But that in itself was a total act of defiance

Sahana: Exactly, I just got so ticked off.

Sagiri: The thing you loved so much was taken away from you, no wonder.

Souno: And to be told such a thing on top of everything, that was the worst, eh?

Sahana: It really was!

Misuzu: Using it against you is really no good. It has the opposite effect.

Sahana: Exactly!

Souno: *laughs* That kind of thing happened to me too. In the morning, when I was sleeping, my mother would come in the room and say “Wake up! Wake up quick!”. Then, my father chimed in with “Kodai-san is calling youuu~”

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: *clapping hands and dying of laughter*

Sagiri: Makes you go “As if she would be!”

Souno: Right!! And on top of that, sometimes he’d mess up and say “Godai-san”

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: *roaring laughter*

Souno: “It’s Kodai-san!!!!” I’d answer, super angrily *laughs*

Sagiri: But you did wake up alright *laughing*

Souno: True. *laughs* But I really didn’t want them to use this against me, for such a thing.

Misuzu: I get it, I do.

Souno: Everyone has a story like this after all! I got really fired up, all of a sudden.

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: *laughing*

Sahana: I guess I’m not declaring love to anyone in particular, I’m declaring my love for portrait photos after all *laughs* I really loved collecting all of them, otokoyaku and musumeyaku photos alike. At the time there weren’t many shops, and -since I’m from Tokyo- I went all the way to Shinjuku to buy them

Souno: I’d also go there to buy video tapes and the like! I wonder if it’s still there? That place under Kinokuniya.　[5]

Sahana: Yes, yes! That’s the place!

Souno: It was a tiny little shop, but once I stepped inside I’d get all light-headed *laughs*

Misuzu/Sagiri: *laugh*

Misuzu: What was the one in Osaka… ah, I guess there was this really tiny store in a corner inside the Hankyu Department Store

Souno: It’s all the tiny ones after all

Sagiri/Sahana: *burst out laughing*

Misuzu: Everything was all cramped up in a tiny bit of space *laughs*

Sagiri: In Nagasaki, no one around me knew about Takarazuka. Therefore, even though I had the pencil board, I’d absolutely get asked “what’s with that?”

Misuzu: What did they think it was?

Sagiri: A relative’s kid once said “that’s a man wearing lipstick!”. I’d explain “that’s not a man, you know”, but they wouldn’t understand, and explaining was a bother. So, I did have a Takarazuka pencil board… but I was too embarrassed to use it… I had that kind of dilemma *laughs*

Souno: Having your stuff seen by people and get all kinds of comments about it, makes you go like, “it’s on a different level!”, so to say

Sagiri: That’s it! Whole different level!

Misuzu: Into the zone of enlightenment? *laughs*

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana: *laugh*

Sagiri: Then, thinking I should finally drop my reservations, write it all down in an essay and announce it publicly, I read out my feelings about Takarazuka during some event like a class meeting

Misuzu/Souno/Sahana: Hu~h!

Sagiri: Once I did, there unexpectedly were people who said “oh, I know that” and others who told me “I have no idea what that is, but I support you in chasing after your dream!”.

Misuzu/Souno/Sahana: Woooo~w!

Misuzu: What a great outcome

Sagiri: Yet even after that, I was still too embarrassed to use the pencil board openly.

Sahana: But you came out of the closet *laughs*

Sagiri: Yes, in public! *laughs*

Souno: Probably at around the same time as Chigi-chan (Sagiri), I gave a speech in English, “I LOVE TAKARAZUKA”

Sagiri: *in stitches*

Souno: Total embarrassment! We both came out, and mine was in English too *laughs*

Misuzu: You’re sooo~ coo~l

Souno: Using up all of my English knowledge at the time, I ended the speech with “I love Takarazuka, forever”

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: *roaring laughter*

Sagiri: You should have played the BGM to that

Misuzu: “Forever Takarazuka”, right *laughs*

Souno: Since then, everyone called me “Takarazuka”

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: *cracking up hard*

-A song you unconsciously start humming-

Misuzu: Ah! For me it’s the theme song from “Spartacus”

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana:  ♪ Itsumo yume mitetaaaa ♪ (I always dreamed a dream)

Misuzu: That one! Also, “Amore Scusami” that Mineoka Nachi sings during the duet dance in the finale

Sagiri/Sahana: Aah!

Misuzu: I couldn’t sing that high, but I loved it so much I always sung it trying to imitate her

Souno: How great is that!

Misuzu: Also, it’s not humming, but I could do the entire prologue of “The Flash”!

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana: Ama~zing!

Sagiri: For me it’s the one that’s like “Commando~!”. Which prologue was that?

Misuzu: What’s that again?

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana:  ♪ Commandooo~ ♪

Sagiri: “Spartacus”, I guess. It was so amazing, they went like *gets up from the chair and performs that scene’s choreography*

Misuzu/Souno/Sagiri: BWAHAHAHAHAHA

Misuzu: I think that was probably in the prologue

Sagiri: Prologue, right. I think while Yan-san or some other star was on stage, Miki-san comes out from somewhere out of the spotlight in the back at stage left *laughs*

Misuzu/Souno/Sahana: *in stitches*

Sagiri: It was like “BOOM”. I really really! Cannot forget that *laughs* Miki-san’s voice climbing up like “Commando~ ⤴”, like she’s shifting pitch maybe

Souno: She did that! So unique.

Sagiri: That really stayed with me *laughs*

Misuzu/Sahana: It does stick, it really does!

Souno: Miki-san always did that, in every song

Misuzu: Uh, there’s also the one that goes “A dandy~, a dandy~” ♪

Sagiri: Yes yes! *laughs*

Souno: That prologue from “Dandyism” was so good

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: So cool!!

-I love this outfit!-

Misuzu: The outfits from the finale grand staircase in “Fancy Touch”, and another one I can’t leave out is Yan-san’s white outfit from the “Spartacus” duet dance. Oh! There’s another one! Yan-san’s beige suit from “Hyper Stage”! [6]

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana: *laugh*

Misuzu: In her farewell speech, Yan-san wasn’t in a hakama, she was wearing that suit. Also, and sorry for mentioning so many *laughs*, the ones during the raid in “Chuushingura”! [7]

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana: Aaah, yes yes!

Sagiri: That was really amazing!

Misuzu: When everyone came down the Grand Staircase in those outfits I was blown away!

Souno/Sagiri/Sahana: Yup, yup.

Sagiri: I thought the outfits from “Hyper Stage”’s prologue were very original, I loved those. Didn’t they also have a mic or something across one cheek?

Sahana: Yes, that’s right!

Misuzu: Back then!

Sagiri: Yes! “Cutting-edge fashion!” I thought *laughs*

Misuzu/Souno/Sahana: I knowww *in stitches*

Sagiri: The choreography went like this!

Everyone: *starts dancing* Hyper Stage! Hyper Stage!

Misuzu: Director Ishida’s prologues are quite cosplay-style

Souno: The onnayaku’s mini skirts were super cute! “TAKE OFF”’s outfits too.

Everyone: *singing loudly* ♪ Take Off! Chikara no kagiri boku wa utau! Kimi no tameee~ ♪ *laugh*

Misuzu: They were wearing gakuran uniforms, right? [8]

Souno: That too, was so cool!

Sahana: Me, I really loved Takane Fubuki’s military uniforms in “Romanesque Mask”. The musumeyaku wore lots of chic dresses, with beautiful texture like velour. But especially Takane-san in that uniform was truly cool!

Misuzu/Souno/Sagiri: Yeah, she was so beautiful!

Sagiri: Like, don’t you think it’s incredible? Even though we used to live in different places, and lead different lives, we all get this fired up over the same theme!

Misuzu/Souno/Sahana: It really, really is!

Sagiri: It’s all of our youth bottled up in there!

Souno: You have a way with words. That’s exactly it.

Sagiri: So full of memories!

Souno: It was so much fun!

Misuzu/Sagiri/Sahana: *laugh*

Souno: I feel like my skin is smooth and glossy now!

Sahana: It really feels like we got rejuvenated!

Everyone: *laughs*

Notes:

[1] the 2012 format of this corner had short blurbs from Takarasiennes and readers alike talking about something that left an impression on them from their fan days. I don’t have the issue Mattsu is referring to, if anyone does and would like to see it translated / added to the post, by all means message me!

[2] Flower Troupe 2008 for “Melancholic Gigolo” and 2009 for “Sorrowful Cordoba, both starring Matobu Sei and Sakurano Ayane

[3] Shitajiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil_board some shitajiki are made up of two sheets and one can insert flyers or photos inside them

[4]  Also called stills; the headshots taken for each show’s program (example: http://www.tca-pictures.net/quatre/bromide/1704013.html )

[5] probably talking about 柳花堂, it closed in April 2013

[6] Reference Photos:

Fancy Touch:

Beige suit:

[7] Same outfits as the show’s prologue

[8] Reference photo

[philosofangirl]

Fan Theory: Perception of Time in VK/VKM

Hello VK/Zeki Fam, long time no see! *Hugs everybody*

I’ve been offline for a millennia due to a new job and family life stuffz but I I finally have some free time to go into the VK meta I’ve been dying to sink my teeth in to! (beware, there may be terrible puns ahead.  You’ve been warned.)

From what I’ve seen in the Vampire Knight meta-sphere, reactions towards the past two chapters are mixed, leaning towards the Hino-san, what the fruitcake are you doing to us now? end of the spectrum. 

@getoffthesoapbox​ @soulisthirsty​ @zerolover66​ and others before me have written some excellent analyses & theories, and I don’t plan on doing a full rehash.  Instead, I’d like to propose a different theory...

I’ll start this fan theory with a question:   Do Yuuki and Zero perceive time differently?

This may seem like an odd question, so let me break it down.  

Do people perceive time differently?  

It can be argued that they do.  You often hear folks talk about “life changing experiences” or how a near death experience alters their perspective.  If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, and know that you only have a few months left to live, your perception of time will likely be very different than that of a healthy teenager.  Even though both individuals could theoretically die in a freak accident at the same time, or the sick individual finds a miracle cure, the way they value their time, more likely than not, differs.  

You can also look at it this way: one year to a 3-year-old is 1/3 of their life, whereas one year to an 80-year-old is 1/80 of their life.  Time passes differently for children versus adults.

Which leads me to another question: 

In Vampire Knight, do mortals with finite time perceive time passing differently than immortals with infinite time?  

From what we’ve been shown canonically, I believe there’s a chance that the answer is yes.  

Let’s take a look at a scene from VKM chapter 10:

In this panel Yuuki comments that 60 months feels like 1 month.**

60 months = 5 years

That means 5 years feels like 1 month of “normal life” (basically 1 month to the rest of us.)

Take your age and divide it by 5. If you’re 20 years old, that’s the equivalent of 4 months.

(More under the cut!)

I’m no math whiz (believe me haha) but I found this factoid intriguing because I believe it gives us some insight into how much time has “passed” for Yuuki, and what time feels like to purebloods.  It’s easy for human fans like us to question how Zeki could be together for so long without significant progression, but, if Yuuki perceives time differently, it could explain a lot about her character.  

⚜ ════ • ⚜  • ════ ⚜           

Overly simplistic calculation time: let’s go with how long 50 years “feels” like:

(note: if my calculations are incorrect hit me up, math and I are barely on speaking terms xD )

12 months * 50 years = 600 months

Let x = the amount of time 50 years feels like to a pureblood. (Keep in mind, 60 months feels like 1 month)

1 month / 60 months = x /600 months 

60x = 600

x= 10 months

That’s less than a year.

⚜ ════ • ⚜  • ════ ⚜

So, do mortals and immortals view time differently?  

Going off what Yuuki said and my calculations above, I believe they do!  Another canonical example of this can be found in Yori & Hanabusa.  Yori openly wonders how different her life would be if she had the same amount of time to do things as Hanabusa.  Hanabusa also expressed that he wanted to cherish every moment because he knew just how fleeting their time together would be. Even after Yori’s death, he still looks young, and as a noble vampire he will probably live on for many, many years. 

The pressure of Yori aging spurred their relationship development, and they got married before any of the other characters in relationships (that we know of.) This wasn’t by accident.  In contrast, vampires like Shiki and Rima never had that kind of pressure (at least not after Rido was dealt with) so they could wait 50 years before getting married.  This didn’t seem to faze either of them.  Also, in Volume 1 Ichijou celebrates his 18th “human” birthday, showing that vampires do seem to measure time differently (though I can’t recall whether this was ever thoroughly explained.)

Back to the original question: Do Yuuki and Zero perceive time differently?  

I believe this answer is an unequivocal yes, and arguably this difference in perception has led to Zeki not being on the same page romantically speaking. I would argue that this difference has also played a key role in their different character motivations. They may have the same destination in mind (marriage, babies, happily ever after and all that jazz), but they are not in agreement about how long it should take (or what it will take) to get there.

Let’s start with their childhoods:

ZERO grew up in a family of hunters.  He always felt he needed to take on a heavier load to ease Ichiru’s burden.  Hunters, given the nature of their profession, almost certainly have a high mortality rate, and low life expectancy rate.  They’re trained to fight, but they can still die in combat.  This is something that Zero is aware of from a very young age.  Then, Zero’s family is attacked by Shizuka and he is damned, doomed to become a level E. Every day he knows there’s a chance he can go mad, hurt someone and be killed by one of his comrades.  It even drove him to the point of suicide.  Thinking you can die or lose control at any moment isn’t the sort of mentality that easily goes away.  He always slept with a weapon close at hand for a reason.  

YUUKI, in comparison, did not grow up with constant reminders of death.  At a young age, she was very sheltered and told she would live forever as Kaname’s bride. In high school her lost past and vampires concerned her, but she didn’t live in fear of death every moment of her life. When she was reawakened she discovers anew that she will live forever, outliving everything apart from other purebloods.  It takes her some time to adjust to this reality.  At one point she convinces herself that the only way to fix everything is to sacrifice herself.  But in this scenario she was the biggest threat to herself, since Zero and Kaname were ready to do just about anything to stop it.

When Kaname sacrificed himself, she made it her mission to return the favor and atone for her sins one day.  Suddenly she was no longer going to live forever, now she would live up until the time was right.  Yet, just like the concept of “forever”, there’s no exact date so how long she has remains rather vague beyond “sometime far into the future.”

Given their backgrounds and physical differences, I posit that the two of them view time very differently, and this difference needs to be communicated. Is 50 years a long time? Yes, yes it is. Does this excuse letting problems fester this long? No, it does not. 

However, even though Zero deserves all the patience awards for how long he’s stayed by Yuuki’s side, if my theory is correct, Yuuki perceives her time together with Zero the way an immortal pureblood would, not a human being nor a soldier.  Being a pureblood likely exacerbates this compared to the average vampire.  This discrepancy could mean 50 years to Yuuki feels like 10 months, but 50 years to Zero actually feels like 50.  It may sound absurd to us, but we’re talking about immortal fictional creatures after all.

Now hold onto your hats, because I believe the implications go beyond her relationship to Zero.

Other Out-There Theories

Theory #1: given Yuuki’s perception of time, her carefree attitude, and her idea of what being in a relationship consists of, there’s a chance that Yuuki still “feels” like a teenager. Even Zero commented offhandedly that Ai acts more mature than Yuuki.  In some ways that’s why the people around her (particularly Yori and Zero) say they love her—a certain loveable idiot/ innocence and uncomplicated desire for the people around her to be happy. I believe her pureblood influenced perception of time, (and possibly self if she really sees herself as a teenager and not a grown woman) is at the root of her stagnation. Compared to her 3 thousand year old parents, being ~80 would still be seen as very young for a pureblood.

Theory #2: I, like many readers, had hoped that Yuuki would mature during this period post Kaname, and in some small/subtle ways I believe she has. When Yuuki says “there’s nothing innocent about us anymore” in VKM10, I recalled her time with Zero in the shower at Cross Academy, which in many ways was portrayed as a “loss of innocence” and a “sin.” But then after her arc 1 development you go to arc 2 where Yuuki is treated like a child and a doll by Kaname. Maybe her perception of who she really is got screwed up along the way.

Yuuki has gone through a lot, and even she has noted just how much time has passed. She let her hair grow out, she had a kid.  Yet, she still clings to Kaname, a symbol of her childhood, when the healthy thing would be to move forward for the sake of those around her.  Others have theorized that this might be related to some sort of trauma. If Yuuki really does still “feel” like or “see herself” as a teenager, and 50 years feels like 10 months, the wounds caused by Kaname would still feel very raw. 

I have PTSD myself, and sometimes an event that happened four years ago feels like it happened just yesterday.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with it while holding a skewed perception of time.  It’s not as simple as “getting over it” and letting time take its course. I believe the only way she can get back on the preferred path is to confront what happened to her head on.  Only time and Hino will tell whether that happens. Until Yukki deals with these issues and learns to step forward, she’ll remain stagnant.  

Why would Hino do something like this?!  

Some of you may be wondering: teenage Yuuki again?  What does Yuuki “feeling” like a teenager mean? I believe it means that she can also, at times, still act like one.  At the end of the day this is a shoujo manga, and the largest reading demographic will be teenage girls who need to relate with the characters.  Plus, it’s a story; conflict drives the plot engine along. I suspect this was intentional on Hino’s part, but maybe I’m giving her and the character too much credit o.o’ 

What would this discrepancy mean for Zeki?  

I predict how time passes/ how they perceive time passing will probably come up (and definitely should come up) at one point in their relationship.  After all, if Yuuki is just biding her time while Zero is counting every day, the narrative will grow dull and things will not turn out well. If they’re not on the same page, how could things work out between them? 

We’ve already seen it on the character’s minds to a degree: Yuuki expressed her fear of abandonment/ loneliness/ oblivion in arc 2, and Zero has reminded Yuuki that her time is her own to spend how she pleases. How one spends their time and with whom one spends their time is a recurring theme. It took a long time (practically 2/3 of the original series) for Yuuki and Zero to accept their very existence as pureblood and hunter, but they’ve never had to really work at the logistics of a romantic relationship between a pureblood and non-pureblood (something we haven’t seen, at least not any longterm/ healthy ones.) 

With Yori’s death and Ai in sleep mode, I expect to see time and how they spend their time to crop up again.    

Throw away observations:

If Yuuki has difficulty assessing the passage of time, it makes it that much easier for her to cling to certain portions of her past. In some ways, when Kaname changed her he was trying to encase her in resin like the rose, almost freeze her in time as the loving girl he desired.  Yori, and to an extent Ai, probably served as reminders that time was passing in a world where most of the people Yuuki deals with pretty much stay forever young.  It’s possible that, despite time passing, she herself is still frozen.  Yuuki has been shown as sentimental on several occasions, including VKM 10 where she explains why she still holds on to her charm bracelet.  She talks about keeping it as a reminder of her promise and as a reminder of a time when she was human.  But, as she’s shown on numerous occasions, she’s a vampire. Body and soul. She has no plans to change that, yet she still clings to a piece of her humanity.

Interestingly, in VKM before Zero’s death Yuuki said she would devour him showing her love “the way vampires do.” In VK, drinking the blood of your beloved, the only one who can quench your thirst, is how vampires traditionally express their love for one another. In VKM10, when Zeki are discussing their relationship and Zero asks what a restart means, she begins with several very innocent, naive suggestions that harken back to their days at Cross Academy. Soon after, in one of their first on screen “acts” as an official couple, Yuuki tells Zero to drink her blood to the last drop. 

This scene is controversial among Zeki fans given its (some would say Yume-like) undertones. But, it got me wondering whether Yuuki really knows how to participate in a mature relationship, whether either of them know how to be in a healthy romantic relationship.  If Yuuki thinks “drinking blood is the way vampires show their love for one another” and she acted on that, then is she just going through the motions and doing what she thinks she should be like she did in the Kuran Manor?  Or, was this just a natural impulse? (oh, the multitude of interpretations!)

I think Yuuki’s desire for something “human”, or her image and expectations from when she was a human teenager, could be in conflict with what she believes vampires are supposed to do.  This inner struggle between her two selves may have cause the disconnect and tone shift.

This is all conjecture, so hopefully we’ll see more of what’s going on inside Yuuki’s head in the chapters to come.  I keep thinking back to Yuuki’s dark expression when talking to Ai as a child about the relationship between the three MCs, and of the mystery box.  Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I don’t think Yuuki is as daft or simple as she’s sometimes portrayed to be.

That’s all folks!

Thanks for reading my philosophizing this far!  Please let me know what you think, or if you have theories of your own!   

Philosofangirl, out.

**Note: So far, we have no way of knowing how subjective this statement is.  This could be Yuuki’s interpretation of time, or it could be accepted as common knowledge by purebloods.  All the same, if this is what Yuuki believes then this informs how she perceives time passing, and I believe Hino included this detail deliberately.