#yokan needs to write LESS

[galvanizedfriend]

I have finished the very rough first draft of the next chapter of TW and it currently sits at 37k words. 🥲

[evelhak]

The ship bingo is very interesting... I would love to see KagaKuro done by the KagaKuro expert pretty please 🩵

The KagaKuro expert... My ego is very well fed.

It wasn't literally love at first sight... It was "koi no yokan" the feeling upon meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love with them. If they had been able to listen to themselves carefully enough in the beginning, they would have known it, but they weren't, and in some paradoxical way that's what made their love possible, because they would have been too scared to know each other if the idea had been in their heads.

Bestest most OTP of my life second to nothing under or beyond the stars. No other pairing has punched me to the gut with the way they complement, not complete each other, to this extent, the way their story embodies the "I want to be with you even when I don't need to be with you" in other words, I've read so many love stories that never develop beyond co-dependency and their story explores what's beyond that and how much more a relationship can be when you need each other less. Or how much more love consists of looking together in the same direction than staring at each other. (Not that they don't do the latter as well, especially literally.) I have not exhausted my thoughts on them in over a decade, they are the deepest well to me.

The fandom hasn't ruined it as a whole, the fandom is mostly amazing and inspires me like nothing else I love you fandom. But because I get times I'm so desperate for new KagaKuro content I have sometimes read things I knew were not for me in any capacity and it took a lot of effort to erase the atrocities I saw from my mind. 🎶 "I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn't known before... Isn't it nice to know a lot... And a little bit not".

Can we just call it canon... I literally sometimes forget that it's not canon and am surprised at the realisation that maybe the author doesn't see them together. A crazy thought. For real, I'm aware my reality is not other people's reality but I like mine very much. And you can too! I dare you! (That was said so gently and not at all demandingly.)

Yeah forget about three page essay it's a 900 000 word fic and my favourite joke with my translator friend right now is what will happen first... I hit million words or they finally have sex.

I... do want to smash them together like barbies. It took a long time to get to that mindset, but now that they're almost out of high school in my head, I'm going to challenge myself to writing sex eventually. It just seems like a natural progression.

Romeo and Juliet not really (and I have no clue what the rest of that even means) but there are definitely family members opposing their relationship, and some balconies, in various forms so I was just trying to get a bingo. (In vain.)

I want what they have in the sense that I never would have believed I would want my story centered around their relationship to become so huge for me that I would want it to be my magnum opus, my footprint in the world. But. Here we are. I don't so much want what they have as I want them to just keep doing whatever they do in my head because it gives me life.

Facebook status is complicated because it wasn't easy for them to tell their friends and family about their relationship. There were a lot of obstacles in the way before they ended up in a comfortable place.

I'm high just writing this.

[pluviwinkle]

the scars we share | a genshin impact soulmate au

SYNOPSIS : Soulmates can either be a blessing, a curse, or even both, and it all depends on how you know who your soulmate is.

More commonly known as the ‘soulmate mark’, it varies from one person to the other. Many see the world in a dull monochrome until they meet their beloved. Others would be counting down the days left on the timer on their wrist. Perhaps they could even communicate by writing on their own skin. But alas, finding your soulmate only gets more difficult when you don’t even share the same mark. Just because you can see the bright red string on your pinky finger doesn’t mean that the one you’re meant to be with can.

Which begs the question: why would any higher being in Celestia bless you with a soulmate only for fate to keep you apart?

⬦ PAIRINGS kazuha x reader, tomo x reader

⬦ GENRE fluff and angst, hurt/comfort, slow burn(?)

⬦ STATUS on hiatus until nov/dec. last updated 06/07/22

⬦ NOTES unfortunately, i don’t really have an update schedule since i will be starting uni soon! it’s my first time posting a fic on tumblr (a multi-chapter fic, no less) so let’s see how this goes :D this fanfic is also cross-posted on ao3 under ‘magentamaple’. although it has a f!reader instead of a gn!reader, it shouldn’t affect the story much.

CHAPTERS :

— [ 00 ] prologue

— [ 01 ] hey pretty stranger

— [ 02 ] come over here and sit next to me

— [ 03 ] we had a bonding moment

— [ 04 ] there we are again on that little town street

— [ 05 ] what unspoken thing?

— [ 06 ] koi no yokan

— [ 07 ] we could form an attachment

— [ 08 ] to be added …

⬦ TAGLIST : currently open! send me an ask to be added to the list <3

@plinkuro @mc-park @d4ngom1lk @archivistea @not-cool-1 @isimpforkazuhaandhisdeadfriend @carbs-need-more-love @thenyxsky @chirity-chu @ay4kshalatus @caliginous-skies @slvdsjjk @certifiedkazuhasimp @idktbhloley @cherlynono @kasaci

— if your url is highlighted, it means i can’t tag you! please let me know if you’d like to be removed from the list or if your url has changed.

[cestcirque]

🎉 12.12.21! 🎉

In honor of one year since starting Aperture (and this lil ol’ blog 🥺) I’ve compiled some of the countless behind-the-scenes stuff I never revealed about my SMAUs

This serves no other purpose but to be a nice walk down memory lane for me and the nostalgia is sO real—LET’S GOOOO!!!

Check out the previous post about the secrets of Aperture!

I was adamant about using my own art for visuals bc I constantly see fanart go uncredited on SMAUs (and other works of writing). 🙄 Any art in The Cardinal Set that isn’t mine, Furudate-sensei’s, or free-use imagery is properly credited

Much less thought in The Cardinal Set bc entirely too much needed to happen 😅

1. The 3 Y/Ns and their personalities came to me immediately after finishing Aperture, since requests for different routes were so strong. But I very quickly disregarded them bc creating these characters just to give people a happy ending felt too indulgent and I’m not about that

It wasn’t until I came up w the switch months later that I was sold. The lesson Aperture failed to teach—you can try as hard as you can to “build” love but sometimes you simply can’t hit all the right points and that’s okay. Suddenly the character dynamics I already created fit perfectly when paired with a different partner

2. These are the wallpapers on the Y/Ns’ lockscreens!

By Burnt Toast Creative, one of my favorite illustrators, who makes a ton of great wallpapers free to use (check him out!!!!)

Trompe l’œil:

3. Y/N’s paintings are actually meant to tie in the banners, but the concept is only half developed bc I decided it wasn’t important to the story. Polaroids from Aperture, one-line drawings from Screentone, typography from Extrema, and from Trompe-l’œil, color. Semi reveals he has a purple Rothko print in movement x, and Y/N’s first painting, Komorebi, is green (having fully grasped the concept of intimacy). Ikigai should have been blue (companionate, it wasn’t 😅) but we bring it back around when she asks Terushima for pink and red for koi no yokan (romance)

4. Akaashi’s favorite poem (#40, the one he was saving for a rainy day) and the poem Y/N posts the next day (#41) are companion pieces! It is said that they were put against each other in a poetry competition but could not be ranked one over the other. Formally, #40 is listed as the winner

…I can’t reveal what I was really trying to imply w poem #80, lest Akaashi stans get mad at me again… just know there’s a reason Konoha replies the way that he does 💩

Screentone:

5. Y/N’s sketches are my sketches from actual drawing classes (yes, even Semi’s figure study)

And yes, I did look up the names and stroke orders of all the muscles / bones in Japanese

6. This notebook page at the café where Y/N works w Akaashi is already eying Atsumu, very blatantly might I add

7. In any group chat w Saeko and Akiteru, Y/N calls Udai by “Udai-sensei” or “Udai-san.” When she speaks privately w him (and even when she mentions him to Semi), she calls him “Tenma”

This is something I don’t expect anyone to pick up on, but it’s very telling in Japanese when someone uses keigo (respectful language) vs. tameguchi (casual language). The fact that there’s a difference in address when she’s in front of certain people would immediately indicate a secret relationship. But by Layer 22, she’s addressing him as “Tenma” in front of everyone! No more hiding!

Extrema:

8. This is something I actually hand-lettered

The quote really is one of my accidental life mottos, said in passing by a guest lecturer for my college film class (I have searched and searched but I still have no idea who to attribute it to)

9. Atsumu’s journey and the V.League coup is based on Miyano Mamoru, who happens to be Atsumu’s voice actor and even shares the Kanji in his name (宮, “miya”)! Some years ago, fan outbursts forced Mamo to hold a press conference, which ended in him bowing and begging his fans to let him marry his then girlfriend. Out of fear for their safety, he has never revealed the names of his wife and son

Much like the Natsume Sōseki analogy, Atsumu’s decision to not reveal his partner’s name was something I decided a week or so before posting the chapter, bc I stumbled upon said press conference. 😅 And yet it made so much sense, I hated that it wasn’t my plan from the beginning—even the fact that the interview chapter happened to land in Extrema, where Screentone Y/N couldn’t be named anyway!

10. Traditionally, Heian period kossori dating started first w poems (in this case texts/tweets), then progressed to secret meetings, then after the third meeting, the couple was considered official and allowed to be seen in daylight. Secret meetings all depended on women unlocking their doors—if men sent their poems but the door was still locked, they’d be out of luck. So much of the story’s movement comes from whether or not the Y/Ns have “unlocked their doors”

I also tried to make each storyline have exactly 3 secret meetings, but Semi ended up w four by Page 20, so Y/N had to tweet about it to make it public 🤭

Originally, Extrema’s banner was going to change right after Y/N met Semi (i.e. unlocking her door). I thought people would start getting it by Page 13, but… ya didn’t. All the banners were set to change, but I decided literally that day that the “kossori” arc would include keeping it secret from readers as well. 🙃 How fitting that the true banners would not be seen in daylight until the couples were official

THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT

[februaryflowers]

hi!! so i hit a milestone and i want to say thank you so much 💓 while i’m a tad late i wanna open my requests again (and with a new(ish), longer prompt list to boot :3) as a thank you so here we go! (just please read the rules underneath before requesting)

squeezing someone’s hand

a trinket that reminds you of them

susurration - whispering/murmuring

cheek kisses

“why are you looking at me like that?” “like what?” “divine.”

mellifluous - sweet/musical, pleasant to hear

swings/swing set

waiting for them

reverie - the state of being lost in one’s daydreams

a tight hug and burying one’s face in their neck

追 zhui1 - to pursue, to do one’s most to seek/procure

saving mementos

“please, let me in.”

redevenir - to rebecome

“you know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” - dr. seuss

相合傘 ai ai gasa - sharing an umbrella (alternatively 愛愛傘 ai ai gasa - love-love umbrella)

basorexia - overwhelming desire to kiss

一日三秋 yi1 ri4 san1 qiu1 - one day, three autumns – a day apart feels much longer

swinging intertwined hands while walking

“good night.”

remembering little things

dolce far niente - pleasant idleness

“how do you like your eggs?”

gushing about them to someone but getting overheard

an arm around their shoulder

恋の予感 koi no yokan - the sudden early knowledge you are meant to fall in love with the person you’ve met

a warm blanket

“you’re the one i want to come home to.”

liberosis - the desire to care less

“my road towards you will never end” - seventeen (us, again)

缘分 yuan2 fen4 - fateful coincidence

feeling safe + comfortable in their presence

syzygy - a pair of connected things

“you/they’re my joy” “really?” “you heard that?”

matutine - of early morning

“i hope that in the future… we’re as close as we are now… always.” - ichigo takano (orange)

sleeping on their shoulder

learning/picking up something new for them

“is that mine?” “i thought it was mine.”

biting back a smile

laughing/smiling until your cheeks hurt

“my eyes open wide every night, i tried counting sheep ‘till i fell asleep. but you’re floating around in my endless imagination.” - gugudan (could this be love)

moonlight on water

“i thought you were busy.” “never too busy for you.”

smitten chuckling

staying up late

“we’ll get lost together, let me fall. don’t ever let me come down from your love.” - ten (dream in a dream)

“you didn’t have to get me anything.”

letting them win

trouvaille - a lucky find

“you and i today, now we shine even brighter” - kun + xiaojun (back to you) 

couples’ items

heart shaped objects

“you’re everything to me.”

"you’re my escape.” - seventeen (your choice concept trailer)

epiphany - a sudden realization

seeing the stars in their eyes

a warm kiss on a cold part of their face

knowing all their little expressions and being able to read them

“i saw you in my dreams again. it felt so real.” - seventeen (your choice concept trailer)

meeting eyes from across the room

love letters/poems

a box full of mementos 

“you don’t need to impress me.”

“you told me to dream good dreams now. i don’t wanna fall asleep without you” - taeyeon (galaxy)

missing their presence/warmth

allegro - lively, cheerful

pet names

roses

“heaven knows i’m falling. i can never be the same” - wayv (electric hearts)

“i love you endlessly.”

a soothing presence

“let me let you go, please.”

ebullience - exuberance, being full of energy and excitement

feeling lucky because of them

rules:

i will be accepting requests for the following groups: a.c.e, seventeen, victon, wayv 

you may req with up to three prompts :3 (quotes from a person/group/song aren’t meant to be dialogue for the req just inspo/vibes) 

however prompts from seventeen’s your choice concept trailer are dialogue prompts

i do not write smut and also reserve the right to not write things that make me uncomfortable/things i don’t feel comfortable writing 

requests will be closed on june 26th at 11:59 pm est // 3:59 am gmt 

i will delete requests submitted after this time

i anticipate being extremely slow so please forgive me if i don’t have your request up as soon as you’d like

you can check if i’ve received your request here!

i’m gonna try out a new way to write requests so your patience is appreciated 🥺

[bonickhausen]

woop woop hello there!!

here’s yet another post explaining what i have been up to!! i like writing these posts mostly for myself because it’s helpful to have an overview of sorts that i can go through and compare. 

i haven’t worked on any of my personal projects over the last months. this has been really healthy for me because i needed a break, badly! it’s nice to take a step back and start playing/watching/reading shit again. cant create anything if i’m not consuming anything. i have, for as long as i can remember, tied my worth to my ability to create. i’m slowly ripping these two elements apart. this eases many of my anxieties.

i’ll be 30 in 4 years. this scares the fuck out of me but i’m also realizing that this isn’t such a big deal after all. 

i’ve changed- i feel willing to try new shit and i want to try new shit. i want to try a little bit of everything! i feel like i’m a decisive person. my feelings have been very clear lately and lately i’ve been doing exactly as they tell me to. it’s been working out pretty well so far. i want to exercise more. i finally got my hands on my first analog synthesizer. it’s a moog grandmother. it is the perfect instrument. it is everything i could’ve ever wanted in a single synth. i love to play on it and sing. i’ve been singing a lot lately. i want to learn more about music because, next to game development, it is my greatest passion! i’m getting my second vaccine shot in four days. maybe 2022 will finally be the year things crawl back to normal!

i broke up and started a new relationship. i wasnt enjoying my previous relationship and it was clear to me that she wasn’t either. i think we both changed and in the end things just got too boring for the two of us. we had a rough patch back in november/december and since then it was very clear to me that things would eventually come to an end. it turned into something quite stressful for me: i didnt know whether to break up or to try to keep things going and the uncertainty started gobbling up minutes and minutes of my bath and my sleep and my lunch. in the end we really didn’t have a lot in common- we started talking less and less. she went to portugal for a couple of months and while it was horrible at first mostly due to the loneliness of not having anyone to talk to, once i got used to the feeling i realized that we really didn’t need to be together at all and that i wanted something different for me. she called me one night and we broke up. it was painless and it felt right. she’s a great person and i really do hope she finds happiness. we don’t talk to each other anymore and that’s actually okay. she still has to retrieve her camera and wok from my apartment.

while she was in portugal i invited a friend over to play some games and make bread in this bread making machine thing i bought. it’s like a tiny oven of sorts. you shove all of the ingredients in its basket, push a few buttons and a block of bread pops out a few hours later, its fucking neat shit but anyway this friend of mine came over and she’s this very electric kind of person, very sparky and bright. i invited her because i was feeling blue and i really wanted to talk to someone in person to try and get rid of the loneliness. i told my ex that i was inviting her over and she seemed okay with it so we made bread and played beat saber. she then showed me madoka magica and i was like okay what the fuck go on. 

there’s this japanese phrase, koi no yokan. i honestly only know of it because it’s also the title of an album i really like so no i don’t actually know japanese or anything like that. koi no yokan means “premonition of love” or something. it’s very tongue in cheek and cliche or whatever but it describes very accurately what i felt as time went on. i didnt know her at all and she felt very different from the people i usually talk to for some reason but i really liked her from the get go. the way she talks and moves and reacts to things around her always made her look so bright and clear and light to me and i loved it. since then i felt like i too had to restore my bright and clear and light and so i did! i felt my enthusiasm again and i felt the drive again. she kept coming to my apartment every weekend to watch horror movies and we even had a clown day where we both put on clown makeup and messed around with my apartment’s lighting setup. after breaking up with my ex i decided that i would go on and tell my friend about my feelings for her and so i did! at first things didn’t seem to go well but then we slowly got closer and closer and she kept coming over to see me every single weekend. she lives in a building really close to mine and we even get to see each other’s windows. we started sending morse code to each other with our lamps. we celebrated xmas even though we’re not in december yet. everything happened really fast but in a very organic manner so i’m not bothered by the speed at all. she once mentioned her boyfriend and i was all like “wait shit she has a boyfriend oh shit oh fuck” and then i remembered that im her boyfriend. her parents still don’t know we’re dating and i’m okay with this. she came over yesterday and we studied together. she’s also a programmer and she thinks vim is hot shit, refuses to use a modern IDE (i think she’s deranged for this). we fell asleep in the afternoon. she’s such a dork. i’m really happy. i really enjoy spending my time with her. she’s always up for anything and i honestly want her around all the time. we’re planning on adopting a cat later this year and we want to travel next year to Recife. I missed having things to look forward to and I missed having company in looking forward to things! I missed having shared playlists on Spotify. She woke me up with three of those collaborative playlists. I missed this i missed this so bad. I missed romance so bad. I feel loved. I hope this remains and I am going to do my absolute best to make her feel loved! life feels great right now! i’m surprised with how much things changed in such a small amount of time. i am excited for the future! i’ll post another update in a few months or something. l8r!!!

[snake-in-a-teacup]

40-Year-Old Youtaite Project - Day 2

Bit tired today, so I thought I was just going to do some singing practice, but after a couple reps I realized I wanted to do a little more!

I found when I was first trying to sing on Day 1, I kept shooting for an octave above my comfort zone, and I couldn’t figure out why I was doing that when the song clearly doesn’t require me to be singing that high.  Sometimes this happens when I’m singing something originally performed by a woman, but it’s pretty much unheard of when I sing something originally performed by a man.

After some thought, I realized that it was because I was trying too hard to listen to the lyrics, and if I sang in my normal range we’d overlap too much, ruining my ability to hear Kakihara’s voice, and since I was still learning the melody and where the many, many Japanese syllables belong my brain was prioritizing learning the song and kicking my voice out of the way.

Today, I know the song a bit better and I’m mostly singing in what I consider my natural range, which allows me to put more emotion in my voice.  "Yasashii Yokan" is an affectionate song so I’d like there to be more in my delivery than just the words themselves.

Turning up the volume helped a bit too.  It’s not blasting, but I generally don’t want my music too loud because it’s background for whatever else I’m doing.  In this case, it’s part of what I’m doing, so I shouldn’t make it harder on myself.

After noticing this, I also realized that if I wanted to start writing English lyrics, I needed to know where all the notes are.

Japanese is a very straightforward language as it’s written, but in practice, not every syllable is fully spoken.  For instance, “Desu” often sounds like “des” when spoken due to the unvoiced vowel “u”.  When reading Japanese lyrics, this sometimes results in a word that has four syllables “on paper” being sung as three notes.

Kakihara usually sings all the vowels in “Yasashii Yokan”.  Even the extended vowels or vowels that appear side by side are usually sung as two separate beats (like “ii” or “ai”).  But there are a few exceptions, and I’m starting to jot down where that happens.  This isn’t just so I can sing the Japanese better, but because it means the English will have less syllables to work with as well.

[poetrybooksya]

*SPOILERS* 'THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR' BY NICOLA YOON | LIBRARY MINI-REVIEW

Since this is a library book that has to go back soon, (I'm borrowing from Overdrive) I've chosen to do a mini-review of my first borrow, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon.  Trigger Warning (TW): attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts

Summary

The #1 New York Times bestseller and National Book Award Finalist from the bestselling author of Everything, Everything (streaming now!) will have you falling in love with Natasha and Daniel as they fall in love with each other!

Natasha: I'm a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I'm definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won't be my story.

Daniel: I've always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents' high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? 

Mini-Review

In a Nutshell

This book was really good! I didn't expect to love it as much because of Natasha's almost-cold, statistical personality and her initial treatment to Daniel. But as I read the historical facts between both points of view, I began to understand her better. Daniel was so cute and such a dreamer! I rooted for his ambitions throughout the whole book. 

"I've been to your country. I've been to Jamaica. I had a nice time. Everything is irie there, man. You'll be alright."

"Where did you go?"

"Negril," he says. "Very nice place."

"Did you leave the hotel grounds?"

"I wanted to, but my--"

"But your wife didn't want to because she was scared, right? The guidebook says it was best to stay on resort grounds. Was she concerned about her safety? Or maybe she just didn't want to ruin her vacation mood by seeing how poor everyone really is." The anger I've suppressed rises from my belly and into my throat. "You listened to Bob Marley, and a bartender got you some pot, and someone told you what irie means and you think you know something. You saw a tiki bar and a beach and your hotel room. That is not a country. That is a resort." 

What I Loved

I loved the slow-burn connection between Daniel, a Korean-American poet and dreamer, and Natasha, a Jamaican-American student who wants to be a data analyst. At first, I'd thought that Natasha didn't like Daniel at all, because Daniel comes across as very airy and dreams of writing poetry, doesn't want to go to Yale University (where his parents want him to go to). Daniel also doesn't know what he wants to do for a career, which is a bit of a turnoff for Natasha.

Natasha, on the other hand, is more strict and rigid in her thinking; she loves astrology and the stars. But her immigration family problem makes her thoughts hostile and angry, because she doesn't understand why a God in the sky is allowing all of this bad stuff to happen in her life. She also blames a lot of the immigration issues on her aspiring actor father, who never really took advantage of his dreams of being a thespian. Plus, he got a DUI and spilled everything about being in the U.S. illegally. So Natasha really is resentful towards her father, which makes her feel distant towards Daniel. 

I also liked how we never got to know Natasha's status until close to the end, or near the end. Even when she was confronting her dad with Daniel, it made me cry because she knew she had spent every last second of her previous hours trying to convince how she could stay in the U.S. But it wasn't enough.

Another scene I cried during was when Daniel first found out about Natasha's status through her immigration lawyer, who was also his Yale interviewer. Daniel had wanted to believe that they were destined to be together forever, but his interviewer's revelation really woke him up. And that epiphany showed that not everything has a happy ending. 

Observable fact: You should never take long shots. Better, to study the odds and take the probable shot. However, if the long shot is your only shot, then you have to take it. 

What I Wanted More Of

The extra points-of-view between Daniel and Natasha were a bit unnecessary for my taste. I personally can't take more than 2 points of view in one novel, so the fact that there were more within the story got confusing. The only ones whom were worked into the story properly were Natasha's father and Irene, the security guard at Natasha's United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office. And only because Irene was planning to (trigger warning) commit suicide if it wasn't for Natasha's quick but friendly hello and Nirvana album. But yeah, the rest of the points of view were not needed, in my opinion. 

There's a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn't mean love at first sight. It's closer to love at second sight. It's the feeling when you meet someone that you're going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don't love them right away, but it's inevitable that you will. 

Writing Style

I found Nicola Yoon's writing style to be simplistic but moving. She wrote in shorthand a lot, but I understood more when she wasn't throwing random facts in between chapters. I related to Daniel's story more through Yoon's writing, which was really helpful. Yoon also showcases a lot of compassion through her writing, and it's not overwhelming, especially through Natasha's eyes. But it's nice to see her development through Yoon's writing. 

If people who were actually born here had to prove they were worthy enough to live in America, this would be a much less populated country. 

Final Thoughts This novel was well-written, emotional, informative, well-paced, diverse in characters and dramatization, and artistic. While it wasn't a perfect read, I'm glad that I finally got the chance to read it! 

Rating: 4/5 stars

  Photo by Brigitte Tohm from Pexels

Did you read THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR? What were your thoughts on it? Comment below!

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Thanks for reading! 

via Blogger http://poemsbyayoungartist.blogspot.com/2018/04/spoilers-sun-is-also-star-by-nicola.html

[galvanizedfriend]

I'm about 70% into the next chapter and it's already longer than the other two before, and almost as long as TW3x21. 🫠

[petalouda85]

Koi No Yokan, Chapter 3

I don't know what happened but for a time, all desire to write had left me. Hence, why this took forever. I hope I'll be able to put out a new chapter for this a bit sooner.

Anyway, joining the story: a few more redheads. Enjoy :D

You can also read this on AO3

When he was born, he was cursed. Doomed to die at 18 unless he joined the Dark Side. Snoke is confident but there remains one threat, it coming in the form of a prediction made by one of the Jedi Masters: Ben would meet his true love on his tenth birthday and this elusive individual would be the only one that could awaken Ben from his eternal sleep.

The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

Those words were constantly repeating themselves in his dreams of late. The dreams came with a little variation – the name Darth Plagueis and the stranger beckoning him were some variations – but the phrase he could count on being there every night since the day of his birthday. The boy had no idea what it was supposed to mean. Yes, it talked of power, unnatural power of the Dark Side, but what kind of power? He could have, he should have asked Yoda or Obi-Wan or Luke but he didn’t. He was scared. Of what he wasn’t sure but it was enough to keep him silent. He hoped that the dreams would go away on their own.

A small mercy was that his new friends were able to keep his mind occupied from the dreams. The three children spent the two days following their meeting playing together and attempting to teach Paro Basic. On the third and final day, Rey and Ben made the discovery that Paro was sensitive to the Force too. The discovery immediately came with questions of whether or not the Princess would be able to come to the Temple as well but she declined, stating she had already stated training with a Bendu back on Ge; although disappointed, promises of keeping contact were made.

But once his friends returned to their respective homes, there was nothing that could distract Ben from his dreams any longer. By day, he would contemplate the words but nothing came to mind and even attempts to briefly escape the torment through mediation hadn’t worked. Once night came, he spent hours awake once the dream had passed, his eyes often slowly releasing tears into his pillow. There were visible bags under his eyes and yet not even his mother seemed to notice them; he thought that even senatorial duty wouldn’t keep her so occupied that she wouldn’t notice a shift in Ben’s complexion. Not even his Uncle seemed to have noticed a shift in the boy as the elder man spent most of the day locked up in his room. His father… he had run off on the Millennium Falcon with Chewie but, even if he had been there, Ben doubted that the man would’ve noticed.

The day before he was going to return to the Temple with Luke, Ben ran out of the massive castle to seek refuge in the gardens. They had offered him peace and comfort in the past but the encounter with the stranger had left the garden with a colder feel to it. Still, the boy felt less afraid here than he did in the castle. He wandered around, going to his usual spots before he ended up at the orchards, where he could see several servants working to pick the ripe fruits of the trees. He sat down nearby and watched them absentmindedly.

“Would you like one?” The voice made Ben jump but upon looking up, he was slightly surprised to see a servant holding a fruit out to him. The surprise had been at the age of the man. The voice, which was scratchy and coarse, sounded as though it belonged to an old man that had smoked his entire life but this servant looked as though he hadn’t yet reached his 18th year. The surprise wore off quickly and Ben nodded.

“Thank you.” He said as the servant handed the food to him. He smiled in response and promptly headed back to the orchard, stepping up on a stepladder to reach the higher branches of the tree. Ben watched him, drawn in by some unknown fascination, maybe a fascination at the stark difference between their lives; he had never had to work to pay for anything in his life while this servant had probably worked every day to get to where he was. Judging by the poor state of his clothes, Ben suspected he wasn’t very well off but the smile on his face gave an indicator that, perhaps, life wasn’t that bad.

In the distance, a man came zooming by, obviously traveling on some transport vehicle hidden from Ben’s view, but both he and the servant ignored him and continued with their own business.

“You seem troubled, sir.” The servant pointed out after a few minutes of silence. Ben looked up at him, the fruit still untouched in his hand.

“What makes you say that?” The Prince responded as the servant descended down the ladder, more fresh fruit in his basket.

“You’re moping; I could see the frown from up there.” The man explained, removing his dirtied gloves and sitting down beside the young Prince. They sat silently, Ben appreciative that the servant was waiting for him to say the first word; no pressuring, no pushing, just patiently waiting for him to be ready.

“Well…”

“Mr. Bill!” A working droid appeared from behind a tree, its robotic voice expressing urgency.

“What is it?”

“It’s young Bren, sir!”

“Oh no…” Ben heard the servant whisper before the man sped off in the direction the droid had come from. Curious, Ben followed him, ignoring the calls from the droid to slow down. He had lost sight of the other person quite quickly but judging by the sound of shouting, Ben was nearby.

“I told you to stay out of my way, you piece of trash! Why your bitch of a mother didn’t dump you with a bunch of slavers is beyond me.” He heard whimpering and another voice joined; it sounded as though it belonged to a ten year old boy.

“Stop it!”

One more turn and Ben was greeted by the sight of the Overseer, an old man with a grisly face, slapping the boy who had screamed at him across the cheek, sending him to the ground. The boy quickly sat up and revealed his face to Ben; it was Armitage. As the other boy crawled to him, Bill stepped between them and the Overseer. As words were exchanged, Ben stepped back into the shadows, unable to be seen but still able to see and hear what was happening.

“If that useless brother of yours is in my way once more, I’ll run him over.” The old man snapped at Bill, who was biting his lip. Ben could tell he wanted to retort or do something but he only nodded.

“Sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” The old man gave a look of disbelief but said nothing more, throwing a dismissive hand. The instant the Overseer had turned, Bill turned to his brother, while Armitage embraced the small child.

“Let’s go home.” Bill told the two, helping the small one up and grabbing hold of both his hand and elbow, leading the younger boys away from the orchards.

His curiosity piqued, Ben followed the three brothers, the three heading towards a side of the garden that the prince had never been. They were nearly at the very edge of the area when the house appeared, though Ben would hardly call it that. It was more like a hut, with shutters instead of windows and a door that looked as though it were ready to fall of the hinges, the lock in the same decrepit state. Once the three were in, Ben snuck closer and dared a peek inside.

The inside wasn’t much better than the outside. It was one room, a table with three chairs next to a small stove and a small storage cupboard. Tucked in the corner was a bed, it next to a ladder that led to another small sleeping area above. The walls were bland and crumbling, it holding nothing to brighten the room. In fact, the only thing Ben could see that was even remotely close to decoration or anything recreational were little figurines that appeared to be made from old wires.

His attention was diverted when Bill had the young boy sit down, which was when the Prince noticed for the first time that the boy had been wearing a blindfold; it didn’t take long to figure out why as Bill removed the rag to reveal that the boy’s lids were swollen shut.

“Are they hurting at all?” Bill asked his brother.

“No, they’re just itchy.”

“Armie-“

“Got it.” Armitage quickly headed to the cupboard and retrieved a small container from it, a balm, Ben found out as Bill opened it and smeared a decent amount of the soothing paste on the lids of his younger brother.

As the eldest did this, Armitage returned to the cupboard and retrieved two items: a thin, gray, ratty looking blanket and a strip of clean white cloth. Bill wrapped the white cloth around Bren’s eyes and Armitage placed the blanket over the boy’s shoulders.

“You okay?” Armitage asked, Bill stepping away to put the balm away.

“Is Millie here?” Bren asked softly.

“Not right now.” His brother responded and Ben could see Bren’s shoulders slump at the news.

“She’ll be back before you know it.” Bill assured, removing the scarf he had been wearing, revealing a scar from a blaster bolt on his Adam’s apple. An injury for a fight with the remnants of the Empire, Ben figured.

Ben wasn’t sure how long he watched but a misplacement of his foot caused a loud enough sound that the three inhabitants of the hut would hear it, so he ran back into the tall hedges. He ended up lost twice but he managed to remember the path he took from the hut back to the palace. With what he had in mind, he would need to remember that path.

---

Sleep never came easily to Bill. If the Galactic Civil War and the subsequent fights had taught the 16-year-old anything is that it was wiser to stay awake at night and, if one desperately needed to sleep, that you had to sleep with one eye open. In addition, it was easier for him to not sleep, not when the void behind his eyes was keen on making him relive that night. The night with burning pain and no breath, the night of screams. Thinking about it now made him feel as though all the air had left his body and he could feel the tightness around his throat, a burning, tingling sensation emanating where his scar was located.

As if sensing his distress, Millicent climbed onto his bed and nudged her face against his, making him forget his terrible memories briefly. She had abandoned the twins, which meant that Bren was alright and so was Armitage. He gave her a small pet on her head before he turned to face the wall, the cat climbing over him so she could sleep against his chest. It made him smile weakly, tears prickling his eyes.

How he wished things were different. Yes, he had a roof over his head, food in his stomach and his brothers were alive, which was more than some people had, but this was not the life he wanted, not for himself, nor his brothers. If he could, he would buy passage on a ship for himself and his brothers and travel to the edge of the galaxy and start anew, away from their past, away from the Overseer. But they couldn't leave. While there was no contract binding them to servitude at the palace, the wages they earned, which were significantly lower than what the other servants earned, guaranteed that it would take years, decades even, to buy their way out of New Alderaan. It was akin to slavery but no one noticed and no one cared and Bill had already reluctantly resigned himself to this life. The least he could do now was provide for his brothers and hope he could give them some semblance of a good life.

He had nearly dozed off when he heard the distinct noise of something approaching the house – the one advantage of no windows: it was easy to hear what happening outside. Immediately, Bill was upright in his bed, grabbing a nearby chunk of wood as a weapon. He slowly headed towards the door, his weapon ready. But when he yanked the door open, he was surprised to find there was no one there, only a box. There was no note, no name, nothing that would indicate from who it was from or why they send it.

He brought it in and opened it up. Inside, a new blanket, a new full container of balm, and a new scarf. He gasped at the sight of the items and looked around him, hoping to spot the gracious donor but there was no one in the dark. He pondered for a moment and then picked up the box and brought it inside. By the light of a candle, he inspected the items once more. They were from the palace, that was easily discerned, but the puzzle of why someone would give this to him and his brothers, that was a greater mystery.

He spent some time gawking at the items but eventually put them away in their appropriate spot, going to bed immediately afterwards, this time with a genuine smile on his face and an at ease mind.

[galvanizedfriend]

hi, yokan <3

I read that in Brazil there's a week-break because of carnival, therefore I hope you're finally having a bit of rest!

I was wondering if you could post an outtake with the klaroeve scene? from you comment I understood that there was more than that little scene in the latest chapter, and I would LOVE to read it!

sorry if I sound rude or pressuring, it's not my intention at all :(( I'm just Eve's third parent, I need more scenes with my babygirl being adorable 😭😭

I totally get why you don't put more of her in the main story. I ALWAYS say that babyplots are terrible due to a lot of factors, one of them being the constant present of a baby who basically does nothing (rightfully, since, yk, it went out of the whomb last year) and that adds nothing to the plot but just terrible fan service.

I think most people would agree with this, maybe even you!

HOWEVER, my little wolf/fish/mermaid is THE exception and I would love to see more of her, and, since u have a series dedicated to those fluffy moments that don't exactly fits with the plot, I really wish you will post something there 😭😭

sorry for bothering you, I hope you'll have a good day!

P.S.

totally off-topic but I also read some of your comments in Portuguese (AT LEAST I think it's Portuguese 😭) and I understood like 80% of it, privileges of being Italian ‼‼ so lol now you really can't escape me >:)

Yes, it's Carnaval right now! It's a nearly weak-long holiday, but it sadly ends on Wednesday. 😢 And I was technically on call yesterday, so 😂 But I am very much enjoying not doing anything 🤷‍♀️

About the baby thing, yes. 😂 I've been so lucky to get some passionate readers almost from the start with this fic and to have people who are still reading it a ton of years later, but I've also had to read some very mean things over the years that have stuck with me. It has made me extremely self-conscious about this story. I sometimes find myself almost apologizing for writing it, like I'm commiting some kind of crime against fandom or like I should be banned for inflicting this upon people for as long as I have. I wish I could be the kind of person who just doesn't care and remains blissfully unbothered, but I'm not. I'm not a naturally confident person in any way, and that kind of thing does get to me.

It's gotten better, of course. I care a lot less now than I used to, and the fic is not as popular as it was a few years ago either, so there's that But some of that stuff has just ingrained itself into my brain. Objectively I know this is stupid and I don't owe anybody anything, I don't have to apologize for writing a fanfiction for god's sake. There's room for everyone in fandom. I can have a corner to rewrite the show and have a magical Klaroline baby, fuck it. Who cares, you know? But it's almost stronger than me sometimes, I don't realize I'm doing it. I get this feeling that I need to be more critical otherwise people are going to think it's ridiculous and OOC and nobody's gonna want to read it anymore and etc etc. It's exhausting. And it's obviously nobody's fault, it's just me in my own head, but that's how it goes.

The scene you're talking about in particular. I had it written years ago. Literal years, maybe 2021 or early 2022. Some of my friends had even already read it a loooong time before the chapter was finished. And I was convinced that it was so cute and totally fine. Then as I wrapping up the chapter, I started getting this itch that it was actually ridiculous and the folks who had read it didn't say anything because they were being nice, they didn't want to hurt my feelings, and I had to get delete it. So I did. In all truth, I think the chapter is more polished like this. But then I removed a family scene and ended up writing smut that also had no place in the chapter, so. 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, I'm sorry for the rambly response. 🥲 I'll tell you this: I will read the deleted scene again and if I feel it's not dumpster-fire bad, I will post it here. But I need to check it first, because there is chance that it's not just my paranoid head telling me to get rid of the baby scenes and it really is just that bad. 😂

And as for the last part, yes, it's Portuguese. It's my native language. And it's so funny how Italian, Spanish and Portuguese can be so similar. I understand Spanish much better than Italian, but I do get some of it as well. Latin languages 🤜🤛 (except French, I don't understand French at all 😂)

[galvanizedfriend]

Hi yokan!

Loving the latest chapters of the wolf III and was wondering if we will be getting any more chapters soonish?

If not don’t worry! I don’t want to add any pressure. Take all the time you need

Hi nonnie! Thank you so much, always so happy to know folks are still into the fic ❤️

I had been thinking about posting a ~~life update here, so thanks for asking I guess, cause then it gives me the excuse to do it 😂

I have been super overworked these last few months and that's not something I see changing any time soon. But that doesn't mean that I can't take time to write, just that I have less time to write. But the real problem lately might be the fact I seriously need glasses 🥲 My eyesight had been going from bad to worse over the last couple of months and I finally went to a doctor that confirmed I need glasses. But that was about two weeks ago and I only went to get my glasses made this weekend 😂 Why do anything if you can procrastinate instead? 💁‍♀️ After just a few hours in front of the computer things start to get difficult lol So I can't really sit here for too long, and those hours are usually taken up by work. Just writing this right now I can barely see my screen 😂 It's all just a blurry mess 🥲 HOWEVER.

Even with that minor issue, I have finished the next chapter of TW and also WAHNOLA, just have to edit them now. TW is very long, it's one of the chunky ones 🙃 But NOLA is a shorty. So I should get them done soon, hopefully. And hopefully my glasses will be ready this week and this will cease to be a problem 🙏

Thanks for your message and have a wonderful week!

[februaryflowers]

wowie hitting 400 🥺thank you so much, genuinely, for all the interaction and love you’ve given me and this blog and my works ♡ 

to celebrate i was thinking about opening requests again, so here we go! please read the rules before sending an ask and the prompt list is under the cut :3

squeezing someone’s hand

a trinket that reminds you of them

susurration - whispering/murmuring

cheek kisses

“why are you looking at me like that?” “like what?” “divine.”

mellifluous - sweet/musical, pleasant to hear

swings/swing set

waiting for them

reverie - the state of being lost in one’s daydreams

a tight hug and burying one’s face in their neck

追 zhui1 - to pursue, to do one’s most to seek/procure

saving mementos

“please, let me in.”

redevenir - to rebecome

“you know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” - dr. seuss

相合傘 ai ai gasa - sharing an umbrella (alternatively 愛愛傘 ai ai gasa - love-love umbrella)

basorexia - overwhelming desire to kiss

一日三秋 yi1 ri4 san1 qiu1 - one day, three autumns – a day apart feels much longer

swinging intertwined hands while walking

“good night.”

remembering little things

dolce far niente - pleasant idleness

“how do you like your eggs?”

gushing about them to someone but getting overheard

an arm around their shoulder

恋の予感 koi no yokan - the sudden early knowledge you are meant to fall in love with the person you’ve met

a warm blanket

“you’re the one i want to come home to.”

liberosis - the desire to care less

“my road towards you will never end” - seventeen (us, again)

缘分 yuan2 fen4 - fateful coincidence

feeling safe + comfortable in their presence

syzygy - a pair of connected things

“you/they’re my joy” “really?” “you heard that?”

matutine - of early morning

“i hope that in the future… we’re as close as we are now… always.” - ichigo takano (orange)

sleeping on their shoulder

learning/picking up something new for them

“is that mine?” “i thought it was mine.”

biting back a smile

laughing/smiling until your cheeks hurt

“my eyes open wide every night, i tried counting sheep ‘till i fell asleep. but you’re floating around in my endless imagination.” - gugudan (could this be love)

moonlight on water

“i thought you were busy.” “never too busy for you.”

smitten chuckling

staying up late

“we’ll get lost together, let me fall. don’t ever let me come down from your love.” - ten (dream in a dream)

“you didn’t have to get me anything.”

letting them win

trouvaille - a lucky find

“you and i today, now we shine even brighter” - kun + xiaojun (back to you)

couples’ items

heart shaped objects

“you’re everything to me.”

“you’re my escape.” - seventeen (your choice concept trailer)

epiphany - a sudden realization

seeing the stars in their eyes

a warm kiss on a cold part of their face

knowing all their little expressions and being able to read them

“i saw you in my dreams again. it felt so real.” - seventeen (your choice concept trailer)

meeting eyes from across the room

love letters/poems

a box full of mementos

“you don’t need to impress me.”

“you told me to dream good dreams now. i don’t wanna fall asleep without you” - taeyeon (galaxy)

missing their presence/warmth

allegro - lively, cheerful

pet names

roses

“heaven knows i’m falling. i can never be the same” - wayv (electric hearts)

“i love you endlessly.”

a soothing presence

“let me let you go, please.”

ebullience - exuberance, being full of energy and excitement

feeling lucky because of them

rules:

i will be accepting requests for the following groups: a.c.e, seventeen, victon, wayv

you may req with up to three prompts (quotes from a person/group/song aren’t meant to be dialogue for the req just inspo/vibes)

however prompts from seventeen’s your choice concept trailer are dialogue prompts

i do not write smut and also reserve the right to not write things that make me uncomfortable/things i don’t feel comfortable writing

requests will be closed on july 30th at 11:59 pm est // 3:59 am gmt

i will delete requests submitted after this time

i anticipate being extremely slow so please forgive me if i don’t have your request up as soon as you’d like

you can check if i’ve received your request here!