#your ore’s maybe different

[artcalledpourbrush]

I’ve Oily Blended A Poe With hops & hopes My sobriety has solely been basted by our Society I’ve oily blended In another hand I can be tell the conditions of smog From thee industrial Flapper depression I’ve oiled and com-blended All through the wombs And to A I smarten people how to brake Prior to governing speed in cars Like a mother in 40- 50’s Her name was Olivia she succumbed and bended The President gave me property of In a shoelaces after I paid for a shipping and handling here on Tumblr They were white with pink writing I received an A, you’re swell, once Un committed not commingling How much silicone to blend for such Are you using spray drop or pour Let’s start there! I can step by to close enough any of my Pourings That all eye one too Or the colon when reversed looks Cooler smoking That green yellow hint of purple upon black With Dragon pour one It was cup and pour The silicone was sprayed in cup before adding thee amounts of unstated colours Now I side walled the whole round bin in campaigns of cups since Silicone Augmentation began in Hollywood Is still an oily montage blend Check the scars That’s from A - V During depression did you really want to vote? When working in the factory? Pant suited for office then glamorous disco gale High enough for tops in 2000’s Subjugated down by 2024 From oils, to gathers, to the burners As We stand here The Woman of World could say differently! WOW Like a drill tagging a pocket of fossil I’m an oily blend A Tree is Wood for the World That fruit is precious Now I’m blending Just to go on! That’s a synthetic Man made By you know (WordsbyMM | | MMybsdroW) I am a junior, a second So initially

[justanotherbirdbrain-blog]

A Workshop for Creating Magical/ Fictional Crystals: A Guide from a Geologist

Hi folks, its me, here to talk about fictional writing again! Today I'm just tackling the idea of magical stones/mana stones by looking at existing minerals today and some neat properties that they have, and how you can apply these things to a fictional world. The goal is mainly to help you if you are stuck trying to come up with a unique magic system, or a unique identification/characteristic of your mineral.

First Things First: Mineral Shapes

I am exhausted, petered out, down-right fatigued by seeing every mineral depicted with having the crystal structure of calcite and quartz. There are soooooo many cooler, more interesting crystal structures, don't you think you would stop and take a look at a perfect cube in nature? It is completely unsettling.

Second: Color

Color within minerals can either be really important, or not important at all! It is your choice to decide if color is going to be something that means something to your mineral. But what are some times when the color is important? Well.... there are some elements that are called chromophores, this classification just indicates that these elements, when present, will determine the color of whatever they are in. So, if you wanted to treat mana like a chromophore, you could say, "Oh everything that contains mana turns green!" This could mean that regardless of the mineral, if that mineral is a specific color, it means it contains mana. This concept is exciting because you can just stop here and use minerals that already exist! You can also use it as an indicator for a magical ore! Chromophores are typically metals, so if you are making a new metal weapon, making the ore of that metal a unique color would make a lot of sense!

However, your mineral can also just be every color of the rainbow like quartz and perhaps that's what makes identifying your mana stones elusive and create an illusion of scarcity that your character can solve.

There are other things that can change the colors of minerals, like radiation damage, and electron exchange, but I think that is beyond what would be helpful! So lets talk about some unique color properties that happen in nature that seem magical in the first place! Maybe you don't need to design a mana stone, but you want a unique gemstone that only the royal family passes down or something (IDK).

The first one is the alexandrite effect! This is where a mineral can change color in natural light vs. incandescent light. (the mineral itself is not changing, but the lights contain different amounts of different colors that then get absorbed by the stone). Even if you don't use electricity in your fictional world, you could have the colors change in the presence of light magic. This could create fun misunderstandings about what the mineral is reacting to!

Pleochroism

Pleochroism is something that most minerals have, it is frequently used to help identify minerals in thin sections, however minerals are usually not pleochroic enough for it to be visible to the naked eye! Pleochroism is just a fancy name to describe the change in how light is absorbed based on the angle of the mineral! So if you scroll up to the first image where I showed a lot of crystal shapes, most of them have angles where they are longer and shorter! This will effect the way light travels in the crystal. Tanzanite is a popular mineral that does this.

Photochromism

This is when a mineral will change color (in a reversible way) when exposed to UV light (or sunlight), I am not going to go too into the details of why this is happening because it would require me to read some research papers and I just don't feel like it. The mineral that is best known for this is Hackmanite!

Alright! These are all the really cool color effects that might inspire you or maybe not, but now I am going to talk about how you might find your minerals within a rock!

When I see a lot of magical caves/mines, typically I see them with some variation of a geode honestly, but most minerals are not found like that! Now I am sure most of you guys have seen a geode, so I will not really talk about those, but I will talk briefly about porphyroblasts which is when the mineral grows larger than the minerals around it, this happens in metamorphic minerals!

sorry random stranger, but this is an image of garnets inside a finer-grained rock at gore mountain in New York!

Another way you might find minerals is in a pegmatite! This is when all minerals are really large! This is a formed from really slow crystalizing magma!

But something else to think about is that your mineral might just be massive, it doesn't have to have distinct crystals, it may be similar to jadeite where small grains grow together which leaves it looking smooth and seamless! A note about all of these is that you would have to mine into the rock to find these, there would not be any natural caves in these rocks! Caves are only ever really formed in limestones and maybe marbles (rocks that react with acid).

How can your characters identify these minerals?

Typically when you are out in the field you will look to see what type of rocks the minerals are found in (The overall texture of the rock will tell you how it formed). If you know how the rock formed, it will narrow down the amount of minerals you need to think about by quite a bit! Next, you are going to look closely at it and observe its crystal structure, does it have an obvious crystal? if so what is the general shape? If it is broken, how did it break? Did it fracture like glass or did it break along uniform planes. Some minerals have a thing called cleavage (breaks along planes of weakness). If a mineral exhibits this habit, it will again help narrow this down. Next we can look at color. Color can be misleading, because minerals like quartz can be any color imaginable, but minerals like olivine will always be green! The next thing your character can do is test for hardness, minerals all have a specific hardness that can help identify it as well.

After you go through all of this, your mineral might have some special property! This could be magnetism, fluorescence, reactions to acid, or any of the color changing effects I mentioned above! Other than that, your character can take it back to a lab and do a number of things to identify it, but the most typical thing would be for them to make a thin section (very thin piece of the rock) and observe it under a cross polarized microscope!

On that note folks! I hope this helped in some way in thinking of new magic mineral properties! I have other guides that explore some different fictional worldbuilding issues you might run into, but if you have any topics you would like me to cover please that I haven't mentioned already, let me know!

[haru-dipthong]

Gendered pronouns in Japanese vs English

In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the main character Utena is a girl (it says so in the title), but very conspicuously uses the masculine first person pronoun 僕 (boku) and dresses in (a variation of) the boys school uniform. Utena's gender, and gender in general, is a core theme of the work. And yet, I haven’t seen a single translation or analysis post where anyone considers using anything other than she/her for Utena when speaking of her in English. This made me wonder: how does one’s choice of pronouns in Japanese correspond to what one’s preferred pronouns would be in English?

There are 3 main differences between gendered pronouns in Japanese vs English

Japanese pronouns are used to refer to yourself (first-person), while English pronouns are used to refer to others (third-person)

The Japanese pronoun you use will differ based on context

Japanese pronouns signify more than just gender

Let’s look at each of these differences in turn and how these differences might lead to a seeming incongruity between one’s Japanese pronoun choice and one’s English pronoun choice (such as the 僕 (boku) vs she/her discrepancy with Utena).

Part 1: First-person vs third-person

While Japanese does technically have gendered third person pronouns （彼、彼女） they are used infrequently¹ and have much less cultural importance placed on them than English third person pronouns. Therefore, I would argue that the cultural equivalent of the gender-signifying third-person pronoun in English is the Japanese first-person pronoun. Much like English “pronouns in bio”, Japanese first-person pronoun choice is considered an expression of identity.

Japanese pronouns are used exclusively to refer to yourself, and therefore a speaker can change the pronoun they’re using for themself on a whim, sometimes mid-conversation, without it being much of an incident. Meanwhile in English, Marquis Bey argues that “Pronouns are like tiny vessels of verification that others are picking up what you are putting down” (2021). By having others use them and externally verify the internal truth of one’s gender, English pronouns, I believe, are seen as more truthful, less frivolous, than Japanese pronouns. They are seen as signifying an objective truth of the referent’s gender; if not objective then at least socially agreed-upon, while Japanese pronouns only signify how the subject feels at this particular moment — purely subjective.

Part 2: Context dependent pronoun use

Japanese speakers often don’t use just one pronoun. As you can see in the below chart, a young man using 俺 (ore) among friends might use 私 (watashi) or 自分 (jibun) when speaking to a teacher. This complicates the idea that these pronouns are gendered, because their gendering depends heavily on context. A man using 私 (watashi) to a teacher is gender-conforming, a man using 私 (watashi) while drinking with friends is gender-non-conforming. Again, this reinforces the relative instability of Japanese pronoun choice, and distances it from gender.

Part 3: Signifying more than gender

English pronouns signify little besides the gender of the antecedent. Because of this, pronouns in English have come to be a shorthand for expressing one’s own gender experience - they reflect an internal gendered truth. However, Japanese pronoun choice doesn’t reflect an “internal truth” of gender. It can signify multiple aspects of your self - gender, sexuality, personality.

For example, 僕 (boku) is used by gay men to communicate that they are bottoms, contrasted with the use of 俺 (ore) by tops. 僕 (boku) may also be used by softer, academic men and boys (in casual contexts - note that many men use 僕 (boku) in more formal contexts) as a personality signifier - maybe to communicate something as simplistic as “I’m not the kind of guy who’s into sports.” 俺 (ore) could be used by a butch lesbian who still strongly identifies as a woman, in order to signify sexuality and an assertive personality. 私 (watashi) may be used by people of all genders to convey professionalism. The list goes on.

I believe this is what’s happening with Utena - she is signifying her rebellion against traditional feminine gender roles with her use of 僕 (boku), but as part of this rebellion, she necessarily must still be a girl. Rather than saying “girls don’t use boku, so I’m not a girl”, her pronoun choice is saying “your conception of femininity is bullshit, girls can use boku too”.

Through translation, gendered assumptions need to be made, sometimes about real people. Remember that he/they, she/her, they/them are purely English linguistic constructs, and don’t correspond directly to one’s gender, just as they don’t correspond directly to the Japanese pronouns one might use. Imagine a scenario where you are translating a news story about a Japanese genderqueer person. The most ethical way to determine what pronouns they would prefer would be to get in contact with them and ask them, right? But what if they don’t speak English? Are you going to have to teach them English, and the nuances of English pronoun choice, before you can translate the piece? That would be ridiculous! It’s simply not a viable option². So you must make a gendered assumption based on all the factors - their Japanese pronoun use (context dependent!), their clothing, the way they present their body, their speech patterns, etc.

If translation is about rewriting the text as if it were originally in the target language, you must also rewrite the gender of those people and characters in the translation. The question you must ask yourself is: How does their gender presentation, which has been tailored to a Japanese-language understanding of gender, correspond to an equivalent English-language understanding of gender? This is an incredibly fraught decision, but nonetheless a necessary one. It’s an unsatisfying dilemma, and one that poignantly exposes the fickle, unstable, culture-dependent nature of gender.

Notes and References

¹ Usually in Japanese, speakers use the person’s name directly to address someone in second or third person

² And has colonialist undertones as a solution if you ask me - “You need to pick English pronouns! You ought to understand your gender through our language!”

Bey, Marquis— 2021 Re: [No Subject]—On Nonbinary Gender

Rose divider taken from this post

[mochiwrites]

“G!” Scar grins as he sees the other approaching his train. He jumps down the ladder, landing with wobbly feet as he makes contact with the ground. “Just the birdie I was looking for!”

Grian lifts a brow, “Oh? What a coincidence. I was looking for you as well.” His wings flutter and twitch in response, folding neatly against his back. “Got any diamonds to spare?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve run out of diamonds again,” Scar tuts as he shakes his head in disapproval. Grian grimaces in answer, earning a disappointed sigh from the zoo keeper. “For shame, sir!”

“Just be happy I’m not skimming from the top of Ore Mountain again.” Grian squints at him, crossing his arms over his chest. “Can I borrow a few or what?”

Scar makes a show of thinking about it, dramatizing his hum and tapping his chin. “You happen to have amayzin’ timing, considering I had something to give you.”

“Oh?” Grian tilts his head, looking at the other with curiosity. “Do I get the diamonds too?”

“Oh yes, of course, of course!” Scar joyfully nods, his warm smile not doing a single thing to cover up his salesman voice (as Grian has so lovingly dubbed it). “This would be an exchange of goods, after all! It’s only fair you’re compensated for your time!”

Grian stares at him for a second, eyes just shy of a squint. He doesn’t think there’s really an exchange going on, considering he’s not giving Scar anything in return; besides his presence, that is. He could point out to Scar that this isn’t an equal trade (barely a trade at all, really), but where would the fun in that be? He kind of wants to see where Scar is going with this.

Plus if he really feels bad about whatever this is, Grian can always find some way to repay Scar later.

Wings fluttering against his back, he shrugs. “Okay.”

“Great!” Scar beams at him, clapping his hands together. “Alright, I need you to stay perfectly still, no twitching a single feather, mister! Oh, and close your eyes too!” he directs the avian, earning an odd look from Grian.

“O…kay..?” Doing as told, Grian closes his eyes, curious. It’s definitely some surprise Scar has for him. But what is it? And why? He hasn’t missed any birthdays or anniversaries, has he? Maybe he can take a little peek… Scar never said anything about keeping his Watcher Eyes closed.

As if reading his thoughts, he hears Scar exclaim, “Yes that includes your funky magic eyeballs too, you pesky bird!”

Drat.

Grian sighs, resolving himself to the agony of waiting patiently. How horrible. Scar should feel terrible for making him wait like this. The build up is killing him! He’s eager with anticipation!

His breath stills as he feels Scar’s presence get closer to him. Grian can feel the warmth of his exhales as he releases them, all gentle and soft. Scar makes a few concentrated noises, and Grian can imagine the way his tongue pokes out from his mouth just slightly. He waits before feeling something being carefully set on his head, gentle palms combing through his hair. The feeling is followed by soft lips against his nose, as well as a little laugh as he scrunches his face.

“Okay, now open your eyes!”

Grian squints against the sunlight as his eyes open again, having to blink a few times before he looks at Scar in front of him. It takes him a second to notice anything different, setting a hand on top of his hair as he looks at the zoo keeper. He feels soft petals under his fingers, and finds that Scar has a crown made of sunflowers nestled in his hair. “Flower crowns?” he asks, confused.

“I made us matching ones!” Scar exclaims, his smile growing impossibly larger. “See I got the idea from Pearl after talking with her about doing a gift shop for the zoo—because you can’t have a zoo and no gift shop, that’s criminal!— and then bayum, it hit me! I’ll sell flower crowns as one of the items since I’ve got sniffers!” He gestures with his hands as he speaks, and Grian is captured by every word from the brilliant man. “I don’t even have a single enclosure of the zoo done yet but oh Grian I got so inspired, I had to do something with the idea!”

Grian can’t help his fond look as he sets a hand on his hip. “So you made some flower crowns?”

Scar eagerly nods, “Yup! I made them with you in mind so… who better to share the first try with than my pretty bird?”

The feathers on Grian’s wings fluff up at that. “You’ve got to be the biggest sap I know,” he sighs, although he finds the gesture incredibly sweet. “Though I have to ask, how is this an exchange? I’m not giving you anything.”

“Sure you are,” Scar argues, turning to set down his ender chest. “I get customer feedback and a free excuse to see you smile!” He looks at Grian, pleased, before ducking down to dig into his ender chest.

Grian decides right then and there that he’s going to kiss this man silly. Then he’s going to properly repay him.

(And if Grian leaves him a small arrangement of flowers on top of the shulker box of sniffer eggs? Well. Scar knows exactly who they’re from.)

[justpoliteconversations]

Apple Merchant [BOTW!Link x Isekai!Reader] (Part 5)

You spend more money. And Link becomes a local legend.

I was intending on working on a different piece tonight, but the continuous notifications for Apple Merchant keeps reminding me of how much I want to write on it. And then the self-indulgent whispers start seeping into my brain and here we are. Enjoy your ill-gotten gains, Lurkers.

Part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Alternate Extras: Embrace

Masterlist

TW: Choosing not to display warnings. Read at your own discretion.

Disclaimer: Don't own The Legend of Zelda franchise.

---

Lurelin village. A beautiful little coastal town southwest of Hateno with just the right amount of sun and water to make any would-be visitor green with envy. Except no one ever mentioned the humidity (enough to drown someone in their sleep, you swear by it), the lizalfos infestation (something the game got right in concept, but wrong in scale) and the sand. The Goddess forsaken sand. The damned (neverending, grit in your teeth, tears in your eyes, gravel in your lungs) sand that got into everything.

So, no, Lurelin was beautiful and you'd thought once that maybe you'd get a house there (or maybe just plan a vacation). But you'd quickly been rid of the notion the moment you'd stepped foot onto the warm, picturesque beachfront property. Taken a deep, appreciative breath of the fresh, salty air. And then was promptly tackled out of the way of an oncoming spear by Skims (bless that man) as Adino put a pair of arrows into a lizalfos' hissing, gaping maul.

The face full of sand you'd gotten after being pile-driven into the ground just added to the experience. In the worst way possible. It had taken days for your mouth to feel clean of the unpleasant grit of sand grains and your eyes to stop tearing and burning in irritation. If not for Skim's constant care and Adino forcibly holding your hands away from your face when the pain became too much, you could have walked away with far worse than bad memories and a new distaste for sand.

That was the day you decided Lurelin would not be a place you'd be spending any significant amount of time in. No matter how friendly the locals or tasty the food or beautiful the ocean views. It just wasn't worth it. Not to you, at least. Maybe in another lifetime, it would have been a dream to strive towards. But not here. Not now.

You still had moments of unease when you think of what could have happened had Skim's not been so close (as he's always been, and as you'll hopefully always have him). And those moments were more potent when you were in the small village. Keeping you ever on edge and always within sight of your trusted guards.

So, one might ask why you'd chosen to go to that very village when you could go anywhere in southern Hyrule. In fact, (in those whispering moments of weakness) you'd ask yourself that very same question. Especially as you trudged miserably through the thick, muggy afternoon heat with Adino at your back and Skims on point (who knows where Red went. but it wasn't your business and so you dismissed the thought entirely).

The answer? Shock arrows. An unholy amount of shock arrows. Enough to break the purse of the average merchant three times over. And possibly put their children in debt too. And possibly their horse.

It's a good thing you weren't a common merchant.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Mubs." You called in friendly greeting as you set foot onto the dock, casting away your (unease) irritation and slipping into your business persona effortlessly. "Fair weather on the seas I hope?"

Pleasantries were exchanged, the latest information traded (Adino was feigning irritation as he eavesdropped, but you could see the way his eyes and ears flickered with amusement and surprise at the appropriate times. Skims was window shopping, eyeing some of the more exotic fish with open curiosity) and you ended up selling several thousand rupees worth of product to the woman. Fresh produce mostly, but also quite a few ores. Such things were always in high demand in Lurelin. Ores especially, as most coastal deposits were notoriously difficult to mine with the lizalfos infestation so prominent.

More workers died mining along the beach than to storms out at sea. And that's a very unsettling thought, given the ratio of miners to sailors in a seafaring village (of all places). Crunch the numbers, and becoming a miner in Lurelin was equivalent to a death sentence. And the general population knew that.

(It explained why crime rates were so low in Lurelin, when mining was the manual labor criminals were made to do.)

Passing off the last of Mubs' purchase to her, you waited patiently for the woman to finish storing away her newly acquired goods before speaking. "I have a large order request." You said, letting a small, costumer service smile slip onto your lips. And maybe that kind of smile was something that transcended worlds, or maybe Mubs just knew you, but she immediately looked wary (by the way she narrowed her eyes, it was probably the former. maybe).

She gestured for you to continue, and you did with cool (pained) confidence. "I need as many shock arrows as you can afford to part with." She started to gesture towards her arrow display, but you shook your head and she paused. "I need below deck inventory. Everything you've got."

Her brows shot to her hairline, incredulous as she cautioned. "Quite the order. Surely not even The Apple Merchant would part with so much rupee." You kept your smile (even and blank and you were quietly screaming inside), and she sighed. "'Course you would." She sighed again, harder, wiping the sweat from her brow before gesturing for you to follow. "Come on then. Lets see if we can't break yer infamous smile a bit, ya?"

You kept that smile. All through the walk across the rickety old docks, the bustling harbor and straight down into the musty bowels of a weathered looking ship. One guarded by no less than five full grown men. All through the talks with the big boss you kept your lips steadily pleasant and upturned. Right on through the exchange of rupees (even Mubs looked ill at the quoted amount, casting you a questioning, pitying glance as she clicked her teeth), and all the way back to shore.

Right up until the moment you collapsed into your (extra, super soft, not for you Adino you prickly jerk) inn bed, rolled over so your back was to Adino and Skims (who looked expectant and amused and far too smug for your liking) and stared at the wall with that same smiling, blank expression.

And then, slowly. You put your face into the sinfully soft pillow. And screamed.

"Damnit Link! Why do you cost me so much money when you're not even here?"

Skims laughed with his entire belly at your outburst, and Adino smirked, hiding his face to the side as a few rouge chuckles escaped him.

A wordless, muffled bellow was all they got back in exchange.

---

Link stared at the truly mind-boggling number of shock arrows that'd appeared in his inventory. 6800, to be exact. Which to some may not seem like an especially outrageous number, but to Link (who usually found items in the single digits) it was a truly unfathomable number to comprehend, let alone contend with. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to take full advantage of his (thoughtful, kind, wond-) generous AM's meticulous foresight to destroy the local monster population. With feeling (so much intense, pent up feeling).

He'd take every ounce of his frustration (his blood boiling, fist clenching, teeth grinding anger) and pour it all into destroying his enemies. His worry at AM's absence from his side. His displeasure at Ms. Blue's condescending and secretive (and kind too, for all she was withholding information from him. information he'd bleed for) smiles.

And especially his rage at those Goddess forsaken, Ganon worshipping, traitorous Yiga who ruined his chance to thank AM properly for their presence in his life (because he doesn't know where he'd be if not for them. and honestly, he never wants to find out).

He'd take all those emotions and channel it into something productive. Something beneficially destructive.

So, destroy the monster population he did. And how generous of the Goddesses, to have brought him to a land of eternal rain to begin his crash course in violence-fueled stress relief. With shock arrows.

It is said amongst the general Zora population (the more outspoken poetic ones at least) that when the Returned Hero of Hyrule made his ascendance through the Domain, night became day and the land was cleansed of all things foul that would stand before him. A miracle in the flesh. He who brings the light and sun to the land of rain.

And really, they weren't wrong. For the most part.

But for those who saw this supposed miracle for themselves. They all had but one thought.

'Thank the Goddesses it's not me he's pissed at.'

---

Back to the shadows to rest.

[bokettochild]

Why is everyone upset about the LU fandom? Lot of ranting about tropes and characterizations??

I think it's because we're left on a low spot right now in the LU story, so people are using their time to not theorize but rather break down the plot and whatnot. Some people, for lack of new content, are turning to fan-fiction, and I guess they're not finding content that matches their expectations.

It's valid, of course, to maybe be irritated by a lack of characterizations in the way that you perceive them, but it seems that people are forgetting the major rule of fandom: if it doesn't make you happy, don't badmouth, just walk away. Instead of accepting that no creator is perfect and not everyone will write the characters and plots the same way, readers and fans are complaining about the lack of consistency. They want what they want and they're not finding it, but they're taking this as a chance to make it everyone else's problem, which is unfair.

We as writers are doing this for free. Artists are doing their work for free. We are not under any obligation to make things to suit what other people want. That we share our creations like a smorgasbord for people to select from, is taken for granted. Furthermore, they are not willing to look past the options they don't like and just pick out what they do. No, they're complaining that the options they don't like exist at all, with no consideration that it might be the only thing someone else likes.

I think the fans are just being picky eaters right now, and quite frankly, they desperately need someone to tell them to just ignore the content they find nasty instead of making others feel bad for enjoying it.

Tropes do not harm anyone. Imperfections are part of the learning process. Don't make fandom like real life. We shouldn't have to study and take notes on finite details just to be allowed to enjoy it.

Dear Writers,

Write your tropes and inconsistencies! Have your characters OOC! Do what makes you happy, and don't take crap from those who don't like it!

Dear Artists,

Have fun experimenting with your designs and headcannons! Make what you want, and don't listen to anyone who tells you it doesn't match JoJo's work. She's her own person, you are your own person, your art should be different! It's ore delightful that way!

[h2llish]

⁀➷ ˖ declaration of friendship

notes ─── i say this is what happened. he can't escape me. i decided he was going to be my best friend.

MARCH ─ "you're my friend now."

warnings ♡ platonic (i want him to be my friend so bad), gender neutral, lowercase intended, it's short i know

perhaps it was olric that led you to make the decision to befriend march, or maybe it was his attitude, his seemingly nonchalant attitude that made you decide that, well, that just wouldn't work for you and now you had to get to know him. or maybe it was just a random decision when you introduced yourself to him and he told you that you weren't needed in mistria and to buzz off ─ just in different words.

either way, your mission, you decided, was to make him your friend, and perhaps even your best friend, and there was simply no way he could get out of it. (besides, olric did say he needed more friends, and you were willing.)

but march remains completely unaware of your decision; confused and maybe even a little annoyed when you'd search for him just to say hi before wandering off to run errands. (you're wasting both your time, he'd tell you. but you were not dissuaded.)

"why do you keep bothering me?" he had finally asked you after you had stopped by the shop once more, right as he had exited his room to begin work at the forge. he glanced at the perfect ore in your hand with poorly concealed excitement in his eyes ─ he was not as nearly as nonchalant and mysterious as he thought he was, but you won't say anything.

you stared at him, lips pursed and not at all put off by his scowl. you sighed, "well first," ─ you held up the ore for him to take, "for you." he did take it, albeit with a bit of hesitation despite how obvious his enjoyment towards your gift was (he was a decent actor, you think, but not nearly enough to trick you).

he narrowed his eyes on you, and you smiled, more sarcastic than genuine. he prodded, "answer my question."

"jeez, fine," you rolled your eyes and crossed your arms, "the thing is, quite simply, you're my friend now."

"what?" ─ you don't think that's quite what he expected your answer to be.

"give it time, you'll come to embrace it as it is. our friendship." you sighed, maybe a bit dramatically, waving your hand at him lazily and glancing off to the side with a bow of your head.

"what?" he repeated, his expression now twisted into a confused scowl, rather than the scowl he wore before (the one where he wanted to appear more bothered by you), "what are you talking about?"

you stared at him again, "i told you what you wanted to know."

"that's not─ what is wrong with you?" march asked, and you almost laughed at how confused he looked.

"i have things to do, so i must get going." you ignored his question as you turned and begin your exit from the shop. "bye, bye, march! i'll stop by later!"

"don't do that."

but there was simply no stopping you, surely, he'll come to realize that eventually, perhaps when he finally accepts there was no getting rid of you ─ that you were going to be his friend regardless.

yeah i don't know guys. this is so stupid. i just want to be his friend

do not repost, translate, copy, or run my writing through an ai

[myntrose]

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊redemption𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊

ft: Zhongli x gender neutral! Reader

cn: hurt no comfort :D, sagau/imposter au! , golden blood au! , mentions of blood and attack, attempted execution, use of Zhongli's archon name, slighty cultish theme, grammar

a/n: y'all the absolute CHOKEHOLD that sagau! has on me is insane (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) i wrote this with spite due to zhongli never coming home to me. y'all i've lost 50/50 to his all banners t-t

word count: 731

song on replay: Shinunoga E-Wa by Fujii Kaze

"...goodbye~ Oh don't you ever say bye bye, yeah"

He knows he doesn't have the right to be jealous. He knows that the the heaviness is heart is something he deserves, a sliver of punishment he must feel for causing you all the pain and suffering you endured.

To this day, months after the incident, he can still feel the blood, your golden blood, on his hands. It's ironic, really. Zhongli, or Morax, the God of Contracts, the God of War. Everything he did was in your name. As the oldest amongst gods and mortals, he always prided himself as your most loyal follower. He strived to protect your name against blasphemy.

In his nightmares he can still hear your voice. The tremble of your pleads. The shaking "please, spare me" and "mercy".

more utc!

This is just a dream, you told yourself. You were sending your day like you do most others. Following the same routine, passing by the same buildings and houses like every other day. Nothing seemed off, until you awoke from your sleep to realize that you were no longer in your world.

Maybe you would have felt excited. In Teyvat, you could have had a chance to meet all your favorites, all your comfort characters. After all, everyone treated the Traveler, an outsider from another world, well. What difference would it be as another outsider as yourself?

Your breath grew heavy, and your feet started to drag along the earth below you. How did you even get to this position? All you wanted was to find a friendly face, perhaps Amber or another one to the Knights of Favonius.

Running from Mondstadt to Liyue was no easy journey. While it was the people who were after your head, you could only thank whatever force allowed for the other creatures to stay away from your path. The hilicurls never seemed to notice you; the slimes would sometimes lead you towards places to hide.

You hoped the people of Liyue would give you a different welcome than those of Mondstadt. In a way, they did. In Monstadt, they gave you a chance to escape. Here, they didn't.

The ever so busy streets of Liyue were crowded once again, but now for a different reason. Zhongli happened to be amongst the crowed, when the Tianquan herself announced the situation before them.

"We have the traitor here, the one who dares impersonate the Divine Creator"

With that alone, Zhongli came out of hiding and announced himself once again as the Archon of Geo. How else was he, the creators most devoted acolyte, suppose to bring this traitor to justice?

His spear, the Vortex Vanquisher, the weapon you spent months saving up for, was pointed directly at your head. You've survived this long, all to die at the hands of the character you've cared for the most. Morax granted you the luxury of saying your final words. He expected you to cry out for mercy, but was met with something that left him frozen.

At this point there were no more tears for you left to cry. Tired and exhausted, you look up at him. Moving carefully, you lift your hands towards the weapon inches to your face. Even with such a weak grip, the spear cuts into your hand.

"I would rather die at your hands than that of a stranger"

Morax backs away from you, his polearm falling to his side. It was easy to mistake the gold color on the tip of his spear to be the shine of the sun illuminating the ore that made it. But Morax knew what the golden glint was.

Time may heal all wounds, but it doesn't erase the scars left behind. Zhongli has tried his best to redeem himself. He knows he is the least deserving to be at your every call. Even so, he feels that he's more fit to serve you than those fools from Sumeru.

He can't help but feel his heart drop whenever you dismiss him, when you tell him his services aren't needed. But what hurts him more is the visible fear in your eyes whenever he gets a bit to close.

No, he refuses to be the reason why you don't feel safe. He refuses to be the one you fear. He'll redeem himself, he swears. In one way or another, he'll show you that he deserves to be at your side.

zhongli bby pls come home

[pamgkrthwrites]

On a Lead

Summary: Bakugou insults you and the next time you see him is when the village is being raided.

Tags: Bakugou x reader, not beta read, Minecraft AU, emotion hurt/comfort, fluff, no quirks, pet names

A/N: Using my writing skills I got from my writing class to this. Should I be writing an assignment for that same class that's due tomorrow, yeah I should. But I did two assignments today so I think I deserved a little break.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Bakugou?” 

“Eh?! You scared or something, chicken little?”

You glared at the man as he brought out his flint and steel, He lit it at the obsidian stone, and soon a purple glow enlightened from the centre.

An eerie sound emitted from the portal, making your back shiver.

Bakugou brought out his diamond axe as he started walking forward towards you. You grabbed hold of his black skull shirt quickly, making him turn to you with a glare.

“What is it?” He growled at you.

“I don’t think this is a good idea-”

“Then don’t come with me!”

“Bakugou please!” You pulled at his shirt to make him turn to you. “I know you're the better adventure and fighter than me, but going into the nether is a bad idea!”

Bakugou pulled it away from you. “Don’t you want answers?! Don’t you want to know why we and others all just woke up in this world?!”

“Of course I want to know, Bakugou!” You shouted at him, feeling your bottom lip wobble. You were the lava bubbles echoing in the cave. “But… You could get hurt in there… You may not-”

“I’m not a weakling like you.” His voice rang coldly in your ear. “You and your friends are just farmers. If you guys are alright being in that rebuilt village and farming all your lives, go ahead. But I’m not like that.”

Bakugou’s harsh words made your arms feel like jelly, so when he pulled himself out of your grasp it easily left. He walked through the portal. He didn’t even look back at you as his body disappeared into the purple mist.

Your chest grew tight and your vision grew a bit blurry. You rubbed your eyes as you turned your back on the portal you helped Bakugou make and made your way back through the cave.

Bakugou and his friends were different from you and your friends. His friends travelled and adventured together, fighting monsters and exploring. While you and your friends rebuilt a village, farmed and mined. At most, you would have to fight raiders. Your group monster spawn protected the village and always went into the mines with a shield. 

Apparently, 700 people like you and Bakugou all one day woke up in the world you have been calling your home for a year. Yet none of you could remember your life before any of this.

Bakugou and his friends were part of a group of 60 people who went out adventuring to find answers. The reason of the 600 were split into three groups. The red stoners who made monster farms, the traders, and your group the farmers and miners. The remaining 40 were seen as elders by the groups.

Your group would gather the foods and minerals and then define them, making them into ores, blocks, food, etc. You would then trade those to the trader groups who then will trade with the red stones. The adventures also trade with the traders when they come around.

In other words, everyone interacts with the traders.

The 700 of you called yourself the U.A. Alliance. You and your friends aren’t aware of anyone else joining your world, so you’re not sure why the others decided this name was needed.

As you climbed out of the cave, your eyes landed on your purple-haired friend.

You attempted to smile at him. “Shinso, you waited for me?”

“Where's Bakugou?” Shinso asked you. “Did he say something mean to you?”

You stared at him before lowering your head and pouting your lower lip. “Yeah… He called me a weakling before entering a nether portal.”

Shinso scoffed, looking away from you. “He’s such a jackass.”

You bit the inside of your mouth before walking past him. “I don’t, maybe he’s right.”

Shinso looked at you, his face unreadable. “Don’t say that about yourself. He’s just an uncaring creature.”

There was a screech in the sky. You looked up and as soon as you saw them your eyes almost popped out of your head.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT SHINSO! HOW MANY PHANTOM DO YOU HAVE?!”

“Don’t worry about it.” He lightly chuckled as he brought out his iron sword. “I’m harvesting their membranes.”

You gave him a look before turning. “Alright, I’m going to bed. Good night, Shinso.”

Almost a week later, you were feeding your prized sheep, jeb_. Bakugou had yet to return from the nether and now some of his friends were asking you what had happened.

You were temped to go in yourself and look for him yourself out of guilt. Maybe you should’ve gone with him like planned. At least that way if he got hurt, he wouldn’t be alone.

Suddenly the village bell was ringing. You sat up straight and looked to the centre of the village. 

You saw many of the adventures quickly pull out their diamonds axes or swords and their shields all looking at something.

You quickly got up and ran out of the sheep barn to see a hoard of a raid coming in, your heart sinking.

You didn’t bring any of your weapons with you today.

You quickly ran to your hurt and pulled your iron sword from your chest and put in your iron chest plate and pants. You looked through out your chest and looked for your helmet but couldn’t find it in time.

“Shit.” You ran from your chest and started to sprint towards the fight.

A pillager turned towards you, glaring at you. He charged his crossbow and aimed it at you. You ditched out of the way as it fired at you before you hit your sword against said crossbow.

You then slashed your sword across his face which made him stumble back which gave you the opportunity to hit him two more times. He fell onto his back with a grunt before his body turned to dust. You noticed one shiny green emerald, quickly grabbing it before moving on to the next pillager in your line of sight.

You heard a horn ring out, indicating the second wave of raiders.

You panted, wiping off the sweat from your forehead as your stomach rumbled. You pulled out some bread from your pocket and quickly ate it. 

You bit the inside of your mouth as you saw two Vindicators step closer. Their blue eyes and grey skin always made this sick uneasy feeling form in your stomach.

You pushed that feeling away as you ran towards the Vindicator, hitting your sword against him. He brought out his axe and used it to shield your attack.

He pushed you off of him, making you grunt as your back his the ground. You couldn’t feel the sun on the skin so you quickly rolled to the side.

As your eyes opened, you saw his axe cut into the earth where you were just. You gulped, quickly getting up and hitting his arm with your sword as he tried to pull his axe from the ground. 

He yelled out in pain, quickly leaning on his axe so he could kick you off of him. You fell to the floor again and as you opened your eyes you were suddenly pulled back from a grip on your arm.

You gave out a yelp as you were chucked behind someone, that same someone pushing a TNT in a minecart. Once the Minecraft hit the Vindicator, you had to cover your ears from the loud explosion.

“OI!”

You looked up and saw a rather beaten down Bakugou, though his armour was no longer diamond blue but a darken grey.

“What wave is this?!” He asked.

“Second.” You quickly answered as you got up.

“Still using iron tools, chicken little?”

You glared at him. “You’ve been gone for 6 days.”

“I’ve already been chewed out by Kirishima, ‘aight?”

“Why you so dirty and burnt?”

“I’ll tell you when we’re done here.”

“Got it.”

Another horn rang through the air, singling the third wave.

And a Ravager was heard stomping before it was seen.

You bit the inside of your lip but Bakugou already ran towards it. You ran after him. You saw others fighting the Ravager as Bakugou approached. Bakugou pulled out his now black axe.

What the hell did he find in the nether?!

When Bakugou’s axe hit the beast, it let out a louder cry than what the diamond tools did to it. In fact, it seemed as though Bakugou’s upgraded tools seemed to have made it easier to defeat the beast.

The beast collapsed into dust, the horn ringing out for a longer time to indicate the raid was over.

Everyone sighed in relief, you sitting down on the grass. You looked up at the sky and saw the sun was ⅗ had been completed. 

You heard people walk away and start talking to each other, but you also heard someone approach you. Soon you saw Bakugou’s face looking down at you.

“Oi, why ain’t you wearing your helmet? You want to get brain damage?”

“Couldn’t find it.”

Bakugou offered you his hand, which is odd.

You gently took it and Bakugou helped you up.

“I’m sorry.”

Silence rang throughout your ears. You turned to Bakugou and tilted your head. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry.” He repeated himself. “I shouldn’t have called you a weakling. You’re actually strong and brave.”

You felt your cheeks warm up lightly. “Oh. Thank you Bakugou.”

“Katsuki is fine.” 

You felt your heart warmed. You wonder what happened in the nether for this to happen.

“So, why is your armour and axe now black?” You quickly asked as you tried to ignore the feeling growing in your chest.

Bakugou smirked. “You like it? It’s called netherite. I find it while I actually trying to sleep in the nether. Don’t do that. The beds explode.”

“Oh.” You gently took the axe from him and took a look at it. It definitely much stronger then diamond. 

Suddenly a helmet was on your head, making you look up and noticed Bakugou was putting his helmet on you.

“What are you-?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” Bakugou butted in. “My armour is stronger than yours so you may as well wear it.”

Bakugou tightened the helmet onto your head to secure it. “Tighten enough?”

You nodded your head. “Yeah, it’s good.”

“Good.”

Bakugou gently held your face, looking down at you. His eyes were surprisingly soft as he looked at you, his breathing even too. You noticed him leaning closer and your heart started to panic.

“You going to tell me why you so dirty?” You asked him.

Bakugou sighed as he rolled his head on his neck. “Well, the nether is hot and lava is everywhere. I couldn’t see the sky at anypoint. There are also these pig things walking around that would attack if I wasn’t wearing gold.”

You let out a laugh. “Gold? Isn’t it weak?”

“Yeah but it’s everywhere in there, though in much tinier pieces. There was also these fiery gold things. They dropped these things.”

Bakugou leaned to grab something from his back pocket and let you have a closer look. You felt grabbed it and took a look.

“They look like fire trapped in a golden rod.” You described.

“What do you think it is?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Looks like something you would have to give to one of those trader guys.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes and made a vomiting sound. “Sounds lame.”

Bakugou took them take and put them back in his pocket. You took the chance to take a step back but Bakugou just followed your movements and stepped closer to you.

“I’m really sorry for what I said…” Bakugou’s cheeks were a light pink, making your heart jump a little. “I shouldn’t have called you a weakling.”

“... Thank you for apologising to me… Katsuki…” You replied.

Bakugou grabbed gently grabbed your face again and leaned in close.

“I was thinking…” Bakugou said gently. “While I was in the nether. Would you like to go travelling with me?”

Your heart beat fastened. “Travel with you?”

“Alone, just us two.”

Thump Thump.

“Why?”

“Do I need a reason to want to be with you?”

“... I just don’t understand.”

Bakugou called you by your name. “I want to be with you. I want you to be safe because of me. I don’t want those damn extras getting between us.”

Bakugou leaned closer until his and your lips were pressed together. 

You lightly leaned closer as the knots in your shoulders felt as if they were loosening up.

“Oh my god, Bkaugou is kissing her!” You heard a happy feminine voice.

Yours and Bakugou’s lips parted and you both turned, seeing Mina, Kirishima, Denki and Sero all open mouths smiling from shock.

You felt Bakugou’s grip on your arms tightening before he let go and stomped towards them and started shouting at them. You watched as your cheeks warmed hotter and hotter. 

Bakugou wanted you to travel with him, alone.

And he kissed you.

After apologising. 

Your face heated up. Not wanting to be embarrassed, you quickly turned and made your way back to the sheep barn. 

After all, you’d want jeb_ to come with you.

Bakugou called you by name as he stood at the door of your home. “Hurry up, chicken little!”

You open your door with a wide smile and your backpack on your back and your bundle around your waist. 

Bakugou gave you a look. “Why are you carrying so much?”

“My bundle has all my farming seeds, and I’m carrying all nine of my tools. Everything else is nine stacks of cobble, fifteen stacks of wood, and two stacks of saplings. I also have one lead for jeb_!”

“But why?”

“For making the house, dummy!” You pouted and puffed your cheeks up at him.

“I meant the lead. Why?”

You gasped at such a question.

“JEB_ IS MY BELOVED PRIZED SHEEP, KATSUKI!”

“IT CHANGES COLOUR!”

“THATS WHY IT’S PRIZED!”

You two started to bicker with each other, Kirishima and Mina watched on with awe.

“You think they’ve tamed him?” Kirishima asked Mina.

“I think so?” Mina asked while tilting her head. “I’m surpised Bakugou wants to settle down with someone.”

“I’m surprised it’s with a farmer. I was always under the impression it would be with one of us adventures.”

You made your way to the sheep barn while pulling out your lead. You gently sechued it around jeb_ before letting him out of his stable. Bakugou waited, tapping his finger agonist his bicep.

“You ready now, chicken little?”

“Why do you even call me that? I ain’t a chicken.”

“Your little and cute, like a chicken.”

“I am not little!” You pouted.

Bakugou laughed before rubbing the top of your head. “Sure sure. Anyway, let’s get going.”

[krispycreamcake]

sakamaki with a latin gf!!! pleasee

From author: I fucking love poc asks so much. Also to make this just a tiny bit easier on myself since I have writer's block rn, I'll just do something a bit short today

Sakamaki's with a Latin gf

Shu Sakamami

🎻- Slightly intrigued by the culture

🎻- Would honestly ask a couple questions if he was up to listening to you rant about your customs

🎻- Honestly likes the music you play sometimes (he has a playlist of Celia Cruz but shh)

🎻- Also yes yes before you shoot me, I know he likes classical but he seems like the type of guy who could appreciate the way how salsa music incorporates different instruments to have a specific kick to the genre

🎻- Once you told him about paella and now he asks you to make it for him almost all the time

🎻- Terrified of meeting your family and avoids it at all costs but tries to pretend it doesn't bother him

Reiji Sakamaki

☕️- Extremely educated on Latin culture

☕️- Asks you for local book recommendations

☕️- Genuinely wants your opinion on Japanese culture and how much of a difference it is compared to your own

☕️- Like Shu, he enjoys the music and if he had to pick he'd say Los Tres Diamantes was his favourite band from that genre

☕️- Invested in learning Spanish and takes pride in tackling another language alongside German

☕️- Since Latino culture is extremely diverse, he'd ask you about your OWN personal experience a lot of the times

Ayato Sakamaki

🏀- "Of course the great ore-sama could obviously get any girl he wants from around the world!"

🏀- Cocky asshole

🏀- See it's one thing being able to charm those around you that you share similarities with, but it takes something special to make someone completely different than yourself fall in love with you

🏀- And Ayato knows this, takes pride in it even

🏀- Hmm when it comes to how interested he is about the culture I'd give it 5/10

🏀- He cares about you more than all those fancy songs and food, but that is YOUR culture, so by extension he kinda has to care even if it's just a little bit

🏀- Asks you to speak Spanish and if you can't, he'll make fun of you for it and tease you by telling you to go learn a thing or two from Reiji

Laito

🃏- Lorddddddd

🃏- LORDDDDDD

🃏- Well before I start, let me just say that he's also educated on the culture just maybe not as much as Reiji, so anything he does is a means to tease you by playing coy and outright stupid

🃏- Just also would like to add, if you're from Brazil and happen to have a curvy body, he WILL comment on that

🃏- If you have a flatter body type, he'll tease (annoy) you by asking how come you don't have more uh curves in certain areas because that's supposed to be what you're "known for"

🃏- Trust me, he's only saying this to get a reaction, he loves you in his own weird fucked up way

🃏- But expect a lot of comments like that and at some point you'll probably need to tell him off

🃏- Midnight salsa dancing because well, do you honestly expect anything else from him?

🃏- One of his favourite things to do is watch those cliche over dramatic Spanish dramas and eats it up every single time there turns out to be a twin brother

Kanato Sakamaki

🧸- Like Ayato, doesn't care that much about the culture, rather his main focus is on you

🧸- Probably likes to hear you tell scary folklore stories from wherever you're from

🧸- And on that note, he already knows about La Lloronoa and Sihuanaba

🧸- Makes Teddy™ cover his ears when you get to the scary parts

🧸- Comments on how he'd still love you as a vengeful ghost and might even prefer it that way

🧸- Like Laito, he has this preconceived notion that you're meant to be curvy but doesn't care if you aren't

🧸- Besides if he only liked you for your body, he'd kill you and preserve you somewhere, hiding you away from the rest of the world where only he could see you. But he'd never do that riiiiiiight?

Subaru Sakamaki

🥀- Learns how to salsa when no one is around so he could impress you one day

🥀- Like Laito, he also watches those cliche Spanish soap operas but pretends he doesn't like them and think they're overrated (He's on the second season of Monarca)

🥀- Secretly interested in the culture and would ask Reiji for some books so he could learn more

🥀- Doesn't want to seem dumb in front of you but also doesn't want make a fool of himself by saying words he doesn't understand or asking dumb questions

🥀- If you speak Portuguese or Spanish, likes hearing you talk in your native tongue

🥀- Out of all the brothers, he'd be the one to treat you the most "normally" by not pestering you with questions or flaunting you off like a trophy he just won

🥀- You try to teach him your native language so you could both shit talk his brothers right in front their faces

From Author: It has been so long since I opened this app omfg but I've been busy with a lot of irl things so now I should have a bit more time to produce more content yay (I'm this close to jumping off a bridge with how dead the fandom is rn)

[iamthepulta]

Differences between pyrite and chalcopyrite? (With pictures?) 👀👀

xD

Okay! Initial differences! Pyrite is FeS2. Chalcopyrite (creatively named) is CuFeS2. Pyrite is an almost silvery yellow on a fresh surface; chalcopyrite is more of a bronzy yellow. The difference is subtle, but once your eye is tuned, you can almost always pick out bits of chalcopyrite in a sea of pyrite.

Pyrite is a little harder when scratched and the cleavage of the minerals helps too: pyrite almost always breaks with glittering sharp edges unless it's pretty oxidized or weathered. chalcopyrite is rough, almost like a smear. I think it's much closer to looking like gold, than real fool's gold, tbh.

It's really hard for a camera to properly catch that glint, but I gave it a shot:

This sample is a good 50/50 Py-Cpy, and I think the portions that look smoother are simply weathering from the sample being passed around. But you can still see Py is almost... brighter. And on the left, there's a very clear crystal of straight yellow Cpy that stands out.

This is more typical copper ore material. I think this sample was nearly all disseminated Cpy. Not great for differentiating the Py-Cpy color, but you'll see this all the time.

I just really wanted to talk about this one, lol. LOOK IT'S SO COOL IF BLURRY. I think it's an IOCG (iron oxide copper gold deposit type) massive sulfide sample. The bronze in the far lower left is Cpy, but the red in the middle is specular hematite (hematite that formed from hydrothermal solution rather than oxidized at the surface). The majority of the rock is magnetite, and I think some of the brassy-silver color in the center is pyrrhotite.

Pyrrhotite is pyrite one step to the left: Fex-1S. Because there's less iron, the Fe2+ has a very slight positive charge, just like magnetite where the Fe2+ offsets the charge balance of the other Fe3+ and S ions.

ANYWAY, this rock is nuts and I can't wait to cut it open and stick it under the microprobe~

BEST FOR LAST~

This is massive disseminated chalcopyrite, but it's been sitting in the drawer for 20 years, I think. Pyrite and chalcopyrite really pop when weathered. So the gold-brown is Cpy, and the silver 'clast' on the edge is Py.

-

Additional unnecessary but fun rambling about ore mineralogy:

Like, mineralogically I think the biggest difference is that Fe2+ is cubic and Cu1+Fe3+ is tetragonal so it can fit weirder stuff in. If you start thinking about the minerals as part of the whole, 1+/3+ ionic bonded and 2+ ionic bonded Things are the most stable position for metals to be in.

I love these minerals but whenever I want to describe them, the word that pops into my mind first is Evil. Pyrite and Chalcopyrite are fucking evil. xD

They're stable under a huge range of pressures, temperatures, and oxdiation/sulfidation states. Iron is 2+ in pyrite and 3+ in chalcopyrite, so you can substitute pretty much any 2+ or 1+ metallic ion in the Fe and Cu sites, and sulfur will happily substitute for any non-metal or metalloid.

This means you can have pyrite in your deposit, but it's pyrite with an abnormal amount of... idk, tellurium. And that will change the properties of your pyrite, but not pyrite itself. This is an 'abnormal impurity' until you form frohbergite, which is FeTe2. And BOTH do this. Both cpy and py are sliding scales for almost every single ion that fits.

So if you're trying to process chalcopyrite but you have a large silver impurity in the copper site, it might react poorly with the flotation chemicals we use to separate it from pyrite. Or maybe be harder to grind to the proper size, which will take up more energy. (This is gauged experimentally before they set up the processing circuit because that's a lot of money, and to some degree I'm exaggerating the effects. But a friend is also texting me right now asking how tellurium in pyrite will change oxidation rate, so impurities are a non-negligible factor.)

ANYWAY. Pyrite and chalcopyrite are fucking myths that should be abolished except they're fucking everywhere, so they never will be. Lol.

Chalcopyrite is more yellow. xD

.

(as the thermodynamic pressure of oxygen in the system increases, ((not oxygen content)), you'll have greater minerals of oxidation. i.e. Magnetite Fe2+Fe3+O4 has an Fe2+ where Hematite has Fe3+O3, its 3+ is at a higher oxidation state. Pyrrhotite is low enough that it's just Fe2+.)

[fangsforiris]

how would the sakamaki brothers react to a s/o that was a victoria secret supermodel?

Sakamakis’ React to Victoria Secret Supermodel S/O

— — — — — — — — —

Shū:

“Heh. I figured, it suits you. Maybe we could go shopping then, later today…”

• Shuu may be better at hiding it, but he’s just as much as a pervert as Laito is, if not more.

• So he’ll take it as an excuse to go lingerie shopping or something. Basically find his own motivations to take advantage of.

Reiji:

“As long as it is solely for an occupation, I see nothing wrong with the sort. However, it is solely for occupation. Nothing more.”

• For Reiji, he can understand where people come from in terms of needing jobs and acquiring money, and for this he wouldn’t be a large opposition to it.

• But due to his traditionalist views, he may think of it as a bit too provocative, but nonetheless would attempt to put his own differences aside.

Ayato:

“I picked a good one, didn’t I! Just make sure to leave Ore-sama a seat at all your photoshoots, alright.”

• Ayato would be excited since it gives him an excuse to look at his S/O without anyone saying anything to him.

• But keep in mind, he’s possessive, so if anyone were to look at his S/O the wrong way, he will throw hands.

Kanato:

“Hm… Does that mean you’ll play dress up with me? I have so many designs to try… Fufu~ this shall be fun.”

• Kanato canonically sews and is interested in all of that, so expect him to use the fact his S/O is a model to his advantage.

• He may feel a certain type of way due to them being a VSS Model, but nonetheless he’ll do his best to be supportive even if he has his slight insecurity.

Laito:

“Ah, is that so? Hmm… Will you model for me sometime Bitch-chan? We can make our own photoshoot out of it, fufu~!”

• With Laito always expect something to do with sexual innuendos.

• He’ll use this as a way to tease his S/O, and mainly enjoy himself if anything.

Subaru:

“That… that’s pretty cool… I dunno how I feel about it, but I guess if it makes you happy. J-Just remember who you’re with, dumbass!”

• Subaru wouldn’t admit it but he’d buy all of the magasine covers that his S/O is in.

• He may even go the large route and secretly keep tabs on his S/O, since he wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, and due to his own slight interest.

[clouds-by-me]

𝓐 𝓼𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭

Au; Imposter!Sagau Warnings; angst/no comfort, implied torture(if you squint), creator!reader, character death An | I got way to into this. At first I was supposed to write some simple angst then I started writing like a whole story with a plot and everthing. It was so hard just finding a stopping point. Also I'm not used to writing angst so criticism is appreciated<3

You knew this day would come, you just didn't know when. You knew this day was coming the same day you realized that the people you'd grown to love finally turned on you.

You've been knowing for years know. The question was never "if" but "when" instead. Maybe if you ran sooner, as soon as you knew- wait you did...

You ran for your life, with everything you had, you ran. I remember now. You tired to play it off, deeming yourself tired and in need of rest. They caught on too soon...

maybe this was inevitable? Who knows. After so long of being hunted down, you slowly started to accept your fate, but you still ran, and fought. It was never a pretty sight.

It became a common sight really, seeing you covered in dust, with messy and tangled hair. By the creator you had lost so much of yourself.

Maybe I shouldn't say that, I'm sorry. Nowadays it's easy to forget that you're the creator.

Maybe the next world will be better? You thought, a smile formed on your dry face at the thought. Somewhere along the way to where you are now, you convinced yourself that dying would put you in a new world, or give you a new chance at life, at least. That gave you some peace of mind, as you stood before death.

You stood in front of a large crowd of people. Many from different nations, though at the moment your too much in a delusional state to comprehend much. All you knew was that your death was awaiting you. Waiting to happily welcome you with merciful arms and a warm and pleasing embrace.

You smiled while looking at a crowd that only looked at you with the opposite expression. Everyone from playable characters to Npcs came. From young and naive, to old and frail.

Something in your mind told you to speak. Maybe it was the part of you that you lost so long ago? Or maybe it's the abyss the resides in the place where your mind used to be?

"Hey everyone! I'm glad you could make it! I was so worried that no one would come! " you pouted, but it was difficult to tell if your words was out of disappointment, genuine, or sarcastic.

"Shut up, no one told you speak!" The electro archon demanded for silence, to which you quickly closed your mouth, poking your lips in your mouth, using your teeth to keep your lips together. Kind of in a childish way.

You were so drained and sleepy, that everything seemed funny. Even something such as your death. Maybe that's why your satisfied with dying, your just sleepy and want to rest, something you haven't had in so long.

She stated at you for only a second before you began laughing. The only sound being your laughter. Something in your empty mind told you the Archon looks funny when she's mad.

"Look! You see the way she gets wrinkles when she's mad? She looks like a fucking mad ass sphinx cat!" The missing part of your mind laughed at the joke that wasn't really funny, and you laughed right along with it. Your dry, broken laughter filled the noise in the air.

The sound irritated the people who stood around you. Your joy angered the Archons. Had you no respect? No value in what is important? You’re put on trial, the biggest trail in all of Teyvat! And yet you laugh and pretend act as if you’re going to spend the night at one of your friends house. As if this is normal. This reaction only cause the Archon along with most of everyone else to grow ore hungry for your death.

"Nothing..." You huff out as you try to catch your breath. You looked back to the crowed, getting ready to say some other, even worse joke but then something hit your face, causing for your head to turn to the left. You weren't shocked, nor terrified. Your demeanor changed, however, almost as if the hit flicked a switch inside you. There was a clear dim in your eyes as you went silent. For some reason you began to think about your life. How'd you even get to this point? What'd you even do?

Had you neglected your own creations so much that they'd begun to hate you? No that couldn't possibly be it. You basically drenched them in love and affection. Building characters to their max strength, giving them powerful weapons and artifacts... What had you'd done to deserve such hatred from something you loved so much?

The hydro archon began to speak. Her voice booming above all else. "You have committed a crime. The crime of treason against their grace, along with fraud, and theft. You have been caught countless of time stealing from local stalls and stores. Not to even mention, the undeniable fact that you! Bare the face of our dear creator! Yet! You don't possess any abilities nor divine traits that are of their grace! How do you plead?"

Anyone who didn't have their eyes on you before were looking at you now. You only stayed silent. You didn't even breathe out a word, your head hung low, and only a small bearly auditable noise came from your now frail body. The hydro archon continued upon hearing your oh so pathetic silence.

"If the defendant doesn't plead innocence, then they are automatically deemed guilty. So again, how. Do. You. Plead." She demanded, no longer keeping a steady voice, and no longer asking.

"I didn't...I-I haven't done anything that can't be justified... " The sound of your voice cracking satisfied the Archons. Just a few moments ago you'd been laughing and playing like this was all some kind of funny joke that everyone would be able to look back on and be able to laugh at.

"So, you admit to committing such atrocities?" The archon pressed. You looked up at the sky, refusing to let people believe that you were such a bad person as they'd been lead to believe before you died.

In a hoarse and cracked voice you replied. "All of my actions are reactions of treatment that has been given to me...everything I've done can be justified."

"Do you admit to your crimes?" The archon pressed again. Only wanting to hear a simple yes or no. Yet you still had something in you that begged for liberation. For a place that was safe enough to call home.

"I've been shot at! Pushed 'an shoved! Hunted! Not after how m‘any times I try! You can't seem to come to reason! " you pleaded for innocence, yet you didn't know why. Your face grew hot, and your eyes burned, your body hurt. And you still pursued. Pushing.

"I don't like repeating myself. So this will be my last time asking. Do you or do you not admit to your crimes?" It was then that you knew. You didn't have a chance at life, at winning. The judge was an archon and so was the jury. All spectators were against you. Yet for some reason, you kept pushing. Maybe that. Was your final mistake.

"I haven't done anything to anyone! I wasn't even given a chance! I was accused of a crime for something I can't control!" Tears now drenched your cheeks, and snot poured out of your nose in streaks. For you to have been so divine, this wasn't a pretty sight. None of this was.

"The defendant has been found guilty of a crime that is disrespectful against the divine to the utmost degree. And so, is now sentenced to death by the stake. Effective immediately!" The archon hit the small of her hand on the table dismissing every thing you said.

You thrashed as guards grabbed you and pulled you away. You pushed and cried and begged but were ignored. No one cared to listen to your pleads. No one even thought about it. Your existence fell upon death ears and blind eyes.

Being burned at the stake wasn't the best way to go. The death was too slow. Your screams stopped so long ago, lost to the flames. Your body turned to ash, and the ash fell to the ground. For a long moment there was silence. Pure, silence . There seemed to be nothing more suffocating than the silence after a death in that moment.

Just as departure began, the sky brightened. Clouds in the sky parted which opened airway for the sun to flood through. A star moved through the clouds, shining as bright as the sun itself. Everyone could see the glow, how divine it was! "Their grace! Getting rid of that imposter was a good thing!"

Cheers and chants for as long as the eat could hear.

"Finally, rain can fall again!"

The star landed right where you had died.

"and crops can continue to grow!"

For a second a bright silver star floated right where you'd died.

"Our water can be pure once again!"

It was a sight to behold... The star shined, and once the star dimmed there you stood. Looking much better compared to when you were burned at the stake just a few mere moments ago. Your hair was nicely done, put into braids, and put up perfectly to show off your face. Your clothes were no long cut and ripped from past Scars, it was also made of a fine material that clearly wasn't from Teyvat.

Though everyone who looked at you held a look of pure bliss, you stood stoned-face. Only one singular tears rolled down your cheek and landed on the stone ground you stood on.

"My Creator...what causes your tears?" You heard Teyvat call out to you. You'd heard this voice before. The voice of Teyvat. After so long even Teyvat didn't answer your cries or screams. Not even your pleads for comfort. After a while, no one did.

More tears streamed down your face as you stomped your foot. The more your foot hit the ground, the more cracks sprouted. Rain started pouring from the sky, similar to the way your tears fell. It had been so long since you last cried. How long had it been?

The wind blew hurricanes, and soon the ground shook matching the pace of your consistent stomping. Lightning flashed, soon enough it became to only source of light in this dark place. And through this all, you stood staring at the ones you created. Loathing every being around you, your glare pierced their hearts. It didn't take long for people to start putting the prices together.

Begs for mercy weren't even heard over the thunder and loud sound of the ground cracking. Despite all the chaos, you look unbothered by it all. Nothing could touch you. Nothing will touch you.

Ever again.

Behind your hate filled expression, pain was still in your eyes. Tears mixed with rain dropped down your face.

It was a sight to behold. Their Grace....crying,...destroying everything.

Oh how it was a sight to behold...

[queen-dahlia]

𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲?

Note: Translation is not 100% accurate. Expect grammatical errors.

// : alternate translation | ⫘⫘ : flashback

I want to apologize for one thing to the rabbit who became a child.   //   There is one thing I would like to apologize to the little rabbit who has become a child.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "What are you doing here?"

Tough Guy: "Ah, I’m sure this has nothing to do with you, but stay back, you idiot!"

Gilbert: "What? It's creepy to stare at me."

Gilbert: "Can I crush your eyes?"

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

I thought I was being careful at the time, but I let out murderous intent.

The feeling of the baby rabbit trembling in my arms is still fresh in my mind.

Gilbert: "Emma, please."

Emma: "Wow, sparkles!"

Emma's little hands hold the suncatcher she just bought.

It was made from a collection of colorful gemstones, which scattered light around it through the sunlight.

Emma: "Are you sure?"

Gilbert: "Of course. I'm happy if the little rabbit is happy too.''

Emma: "Thank you. I will make it my treasure!"

Emma was so pleased with the "sparkles" that she wouldn't take her eyes off them.

It's not an uncommon commodity at ore festivals, but for Emma, it doesn't seem to matter.   //   It's not an uncommon item at an ore festival, but that doesn't seem to matter to Emma.

(You don't seem to be forcing yourself to be happy.)

(I hope that the scary memory from earlier will fade away soon...)

Gilbert: "Emma, there's a delicious sweet shop over there."

Emma: "Sweets!"

Gilbert: "Do you want some?"

Emma: "I want to eat!"

Gilbert: "Let's go, then."

I hold Emma's hand, still distracted by the suncatcher, and start walking away.

As I was about to head to the candy shop I wanted to visit, I felt a small resistance.

I stopped my steps and followed the gaze of those round eyes.

Before I knew it, she was staring at a small park in a corner of the city.

In a park that has only recently been developed using national funds,

Children about the same age as Emma are now playing happily.

(Is she… tempted to get in there?)

If it is an adult Emma, I would not let her get involved with people as much as possible because of jealousy, but I have no intention of tying her up as a child.

Perhaps it was because I had very different feelings about (little) Emma than I did about the adult Emma, but I was willing to be forgiving now.

Gilbert: "Go ahead."

Emma huffs as I let go of her hand.   //   When I let go of her hand, Emma gasped.

Emma: "What about Gil?"

Gilbert: "I'll wait here for you."

Emma: "Are you just waiting?"

Gilbert: "Then I'll watch the little rabbit play all day long."

Gilbert: "If you look like you’re having fun, I’m having fun too."

Emma: "…"

Emma's gaze keeps going back and forth between me and the park.

After making a pretense of hesitation, a small hand grasped my cold fingers.

Emma: "I knew it."   //   "As I thought."

Gilbert: "Why?"

Emma: "Because I wanted to be with Gil."

Gilbert: "It's written all over your face that you want to play with those kids."

Emma: "That's not true!"

Gilbert: "I know a liar when I see one."

Emma: "Then I'll play with Gil!"

Emma puffs out her cheeks and starts walking, pulling me by the hand.

The destination seemed to be in the park, and when I stopped in front of a swing, she asked me to sit down with her gaze.

Gilbert: "Maybe you'd have more fun playing with the other kids than me?"

Emma: "It's much more fun with Gil!"

(Did you care about me?)

(No, no matter how Emma is, she's still a child, so I can't believe that.)

When I give up and sit on the swing, Emma jumps onto my lap.

(... I can't help it.)

When I swung Emma slowly so she wouldn't fall, her innocent face blossomed. **

Emma: "Gil, more, more!"

Gilbert: "Emma has courage, doesn’t she?"

I kick the ground, thinking about my physical strength and trying to live up to expectations because I have been hoped for.   //   Since I was expected to, I tried to live up to her expectations and kicked the ground while thinking about my physical strength.

Although Emma was innocently enjoying herself, there was something smoldering in her chest.

══════════════════

Emma: "Sparkle... sparkle..."

Back at the Imperial Castle, Emma never gets tired of looking at the suncatchers.

I could even hear what sounded like singing and could tell what kind of mood she was in.

Gilbert: "Do you like it that much?"

When I sat down a little further away and asked, Emma turned around quickly.

Emma: "Yeah! It's so beautiful."

Emma: "And you know what, those sparkles... they're just like Gil's eyes!"

A small finger indicated a red gemstone that stood out among the suncatchers made of multiple gems.

(Speaking of...)

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Emma: "But you know what sparkles the most?"

Gilbert: "Oh, isn't that a gem?"

Emma: "Nope!"

Emma: "Gil's red eye is the most sparkling and beautiful."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

I chuckle at the memory.

Gilbert: "I wonder if my eye sparkles that much."

Emma: "Yeah, it sparkles. But you know..."

Emma: "Sometimes the sparkle just disappears."

Gilbert: "Disappear?"

Emma nods, releases her hand from the suncatcher, and runs over on her little feet.

And then she tugged at my clothes and tilted my face as if listening to a secret conversation.

Emma: "You know, you know."

Emma: "When Gil isn't sparkling, he looks lonely."

little Emma is talking about Gil's eye here.

Gilbert: "…"

(... It's my first time hearing that.)

(Yeah, but... maybe it's the difference between keeping your eyes down or not.)

Adults and children alike always look up when Emma is around.

I can't take my eyes off Emma, and when the sunlight hits her, her eyes may seem to sparkle.

(But I don't really pay much attention to the others.)

Of course, it's not like I haven't seen it at all, but I'm not interested.

I've never been conscious of it, but I seem to spend more time with my eyes downcast.

(Emma, as a child, is really watching closely.)

As I admire her, Emma raises her hands up.

When I picked her up, she looked like she was in a "hold me" pose, but when I picked her up, her little hands grabbed the fluff (of the cape) firmly—

Emma: "See, it's still sparkling."

Emma: "Sparkling like jewels!"

Her innocent eyes peered into my face, and my cheeks unconsciously relaxed.

Gilbert: "... I see."

Gilbert: "Maybe the reason you didn't go to the other kids at the park is because I'm not sparkling anymore?"

Emma: "Yes. When Gil isn't sparkling, things get a little tight here.''

Emma indicated the chest by saying, 'here.'

(I didn't mean to restrict you, though.)

It is no different for child Emma and adult Emma to react to loneliness that has come out unconsciously.

Gilbert: "I'm sorry."

Emma: "…?"

Gilbert: "Hehe, it’s okay if you don’t understand."

Gilbert: "In return, gentle one, I'll tell you big brother's secret."   //   "In exchange, I will tell you big brother's secret, who is kind to you."

Emma's eyes light up in response to the word "secret."

(I think you're more sparkly than I am.)

Gilbert: "When big brother is sparkling, that's when he thinks, "I love you, little rabbit.""

Emma: "!"

Gilbert: "But don't tell anyone, because it's embarrassing."

Emma: "All right!"

Emma clings happily with a big smile on her face.

(You probably knew intuitively that I was a scary person in the back alley...)

(You still feel attached to me.)

Gilbert: "You're so cute… Please love me forever."   //   "You're so cute… You'll always love me."

Emma: "Yes! Gil, you'll always, always love me, too."

Gilbert: "Hmm, of course."

(I know my "likes" are not always good for you, but...)

That is not something I should say to the little baby rabbit.

Gilbert: "Don't forget your promise to big brother, okay?"

[rea-grimm]

Sleep protector Buggy

You never gave me nightmares or insomnia. You've always had a healthy self-esteem, and nothing has ever upset you. Because of all this, you were able to work your way up to being a top athlete in gymnastics. 

But that changed when your coach announced that you were among the finalists who would compete in an international competition for the title and to qualify for the Olympics. 

It was like a dream come true, but with it came worries. The new lineup, the pressure to perfect it by the deadline, and a lot of things around that. You felt like your luck had run out at that point and your house of cards was falling apart. 

You were under constant stress with minimal time to rest and relax until it gave you nightmares. You couldn't sleep at night and your body was tired. 

This took its toll on your training as you started to fall more often, failed tricks and the icing on the cake was when you fell off the bar and almost broke your leg. 

At least that gave you a week off, but even that didn't help. You felt like maybe it was worse. 

You were lying in bed listening to Spotify in your sleep. First you tried soothing nature sounds, the sound of the sea, sleep songs, then a friend even suggested tones that would put one to sleep. You felt like none of it was helping. 

You slowly started to fall asleep when you were awakened by a commercial. That's when you cursed the moment you said you didn't need premium. 

However, the commercial immediately caught your attention. It was a commercial for insomnia. Just what you needed. You were so desperate that you decided to try it and you called that night and ordered it. 

To your amazement, the package arrived the morning you woke up. You went outside for a walk and some fresh air when you almost tripped over the package. 

You took the package inside to the table and unwrapped it. Among the foam and marbles were parts of a blue teddy bear along with clothes. You stacked everything on the table next to it. 

In total, you had the teddy bear's head, body, 4 legs, vest and coat, red and white scarf, and pirate hat. Instead of the classic black nose, the teddy had a red clown nose and had white skeleton bones drawn all over his eyes. 

"Weirdest teddy bear I've ever seen," you muttered before you started sewing. You pulled all the pieces together and put his clothes on, and it only confirmed your words. 

You felt as if they had taken parts of the teddy from different boxes and mixed them together. However, the stuffed animal was nice to the touch, and for how unusual it looked, you liked it. 

That night, when you went to bed, you had the teddy bear in your bed and somehow you were already resigned to another nightmare. But you had no idea how quickly you would fall asleep with him in your arms. You thought it was your new personal best. 

As usual, in your dream you were at practice and surrounded by other people watching you like vultures even though they didn't have faces. Even in the dream, you were practicing a routine where you had trouble following the exercises. 

And now you failed and inadvertently ended up on the ground on your knees. Loud laughter and gossip at your expense echoed through the room. How incompetent you were, that you weren't up to it, that you should quit, etc. It made you want to cry. 

All of a sudden there was a cannon-like boom before a giant ore cannon and ball swept the audience away as if it were a painted canvas. All that was left of the hole was a big hole. Now there was a real, roaring applause and the leaky curtain went up. 

You were now in the middle of a mannequin in a circus tent. A juggler on a unicycle rode past you and on the other side you saw a dive beast tamer training with a giant white lion. 

But the most striking among them was a clown with blue hair who looked like a teddy bear to you. He walked over to you and with exaggerated gestures welcomed you into his circus.

You didn't even want to believe how well you woke up this morning. Full of positive energy, ready to face anything. 

All your nightmares have been replaced by circus experiences, rehearsing shows and the like. You even got to watch acrobatic performances you'd only dreamed of before. 

The stunts they performed, some of them so dangerous that you couldn't actually perform them. As you walked through the circus tent, you always caught a glimpse of the clown-nosed principal out of the corner of your eye. 

But now you were standing in the audience, watching the show unfold in the air. You felt like you couldn't take your eyes off them, and in your mind you made notes of what to try when you woke up. 

You were jolted out of your thoughts by a clown standing in front of you, blocking your view of the acrophobes. 

"Do you want to try it too? You can practice here without any problems," he offered, and you noticed the same tools you used for your routine appear in the middle of the maneuver. 

You were a little taken aback, but you agreed. You were touched by how the whole circus was trying to help you. They found you, encouraged you, and didn't beat you with a stick like some in the white world. This is where you started to enjoy the training.

You even decided to try some of the more daring stunts you've seen here. And even though they believed you, you saw the clown's hands detach from his body at the wrists and secure you in mid-air. 

Then, when you did something, it caused the others to cheer and everyone congratulated you and cheered you on, and most of all, it was a cause for celebration. 

Surprisingly, these trainings in dreams helped you in the real world. You felt as if your body knew how to move through your dreams. When to start bending when to put your arm or leg in a way that would work.

In fact, your coach was surprised at how well you were now performing. He had no idea that you could shake off the stress and improve so quickly. 

You were proud of yourself for that, and you mentally thanked the clown and the others even more for helping and encouraging you.

Slowly the day of the competition approached and you began to get slightly nervous even in your dreams, despite the efforts of the others. Eventually it culminated in your clown protector putting on a surprise performance just for you. 

It was an amazing show full of stunts you hadn't seen before, and it ended with a huge celebration full of food and drink. 

At that moment, you forgot that the competition was two days away. Instead, you were having fun and laughing your heart out. 

Now you sat there in the middle of the crowd, leaning on Richie while Mohji and Cabaji debated who could make you laugh the hardest. Your protector sat next to you and smiled smugly. He seemed satisfied with the way things were going. 

"I have a little advice for you. If you unseam the teddy bear apart, then I'll be able to help you more," he said, and at first you had no idea what he was talking about. How could he know about the teddy bear? 

However, that morning when you woke up, you listened to him. You unseam the teddy apart so that the parts you had first connected held nothing. 

But what surprised you most was that the teddy bear held together without anything holding it. It was strange to you, but you didn't complain. 

It was the night before the big contest, but you couldn't find the bear anywhere. So you went to bed without it, and for the first time in a long time, you had a sleepless night. 

For the first time in a long time, you didn't dream about circuses or the pirate clown. 

Still, you woke up in the morning well rested and ready. Although mentally, you could use the support of your protector. 

The rest of the day played out like a fast-forward movie, with not a moment to worry. 

Now you stood among the other competitors, waiting your turn. When your name was called, you entered the starting line. You took a deep breath and ran your eyes over the guests. You thought you saw him there among all the people. 

You closed your eyes and calmed down. The music started, and your body automatically began to move in rehearsed steps. You didn't even have to think about it. The whole thing just happened. 

You didn't even realize it was over. You thought you'd only just begun, but the three-quarter applause and cheers from the audience convinced you otherwise. You bowed and left to make room for the next contestant. 

Now there was a moment of pause, when you could breathe a sigh of relief. You knew you'd given it your best shot and how you would place was in the stars. 

To your surprise, you came in first place with almost a full score. You couldn't believe it, you were overjoyed. You received a gold medal along with flowers and an official invitation to participate in the next Olympics. 

After a long time of full congratulations and interviews, you finally got to your dressing room to catch your breath. But when you opened the door, you were in for a pleasant surprise. 

"Buggy?" You asked in surprise, a smile spreading across your face. You couldn't believe your eyes and you thought you were dreaming. 

"In all its glory," he replied smugly. "You did great. I knew you could do it," he complimented you. You couldn't take it anymore and jumped into his arms and hugged him. You were so happy he was there with you. 

"Thank you..." you thanked him over and over again. You kissed him on the lips before laying your head on his shoulder. Buggy was momentarily speechless, glad you didn't see how red his nose was. 

"T-That was nothing," he stammered, hugging you too." I'm a big Buggy. That was a small thing," he began confidently, but then he started to bleat and stomp on his tongue.

Buggy Masterlist

Sleep Protector Masterlist

[bright-side20]

The book of breathings/Elriel

Acomaf, the bone carver :

“When the Cauldron was made,”... , “its dark maker used the last of the molten ore to forge a book. The Book of Breathings. In it, written between the carved words, are the spells to negate the Cauldron’s power—or control it wholly.

Hofas, Amren :

Amren turned to Rhysand and said in that new, strange language-their language: "The glowing letters inked on her back... they're the same as those in the Book of Breathings."

Hofas, Rigelus :

Rigelus, he says "The language inked on your back - it is our language. From our home world. I can teach you how to wield it. Any world might be open to you, Bryce Quinlan. Name the world, and it shall be yours."

The language of the Book of Breathings is the Asteri's/Daglan language. From what I understand, when they corrupted the Cauldron, they also created what could be considered an antidote, which is the Book of Breathings. This means that Cauldron's bonds can be broken, as they are based on preordained guesswork from the Asteri's system, unlike the soul-paired bond, which is the real mating bond that cannot be broken. This could also explain why the Koh thought he could break the mating bond between Feysand, as he may have mistaken it for the Cauldron's bond.

Hofas :

She'd never encountered anything like that mask. Nesta had seemed at its mercy, brought back to herself only by Azriel's list of whoever those people were clearly people Nesta cared about.Through love, all is possible. Even getting free of death-masks.

Love was the key to nullifying mask power on Nesta.

Maybe that's also the key to nullifying the Cauldron's bond because it's wrong, because love would trump even a mating bond, because Elain shall wed for love and beauty.

Acowar:

The Cauldron was absence and presence. Darkness and … whatever the darkness had come from. But not life. Not joy or light or hope.

And yet, it was able to recognize Elain's different kind of strength and decided to gift her a special power. Maybe love is also the key to nullifying the Cauldron's power and turning it back to its original duty a tool of creation. It could be the key that Amren couldn't decode back in acowar.

Honestly I'm more and more into 3 sisters and 3 brothers being a prophecy, remember the book of breathings greeted the sisters.

Note: Let's not forget the fact that Amren knows the holy language of the Asteri, and what would that mean other than she was one of them? Also, the Bone Carver literally told us the whole history about the Cauldron lol. I think he's also an Asteri, along with Stryga and Koschei.