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neverdoingmuch · 3 years

Note

Wait cql lawyer/law school AU

i got you my pal dont worry!!

law school, im gonna be honest and say i know like nothing about law or law school so pls ignore any inconsistencies or inaccuracies

lwj goes to law school and he is definitely the top student in his class. they’ve been there for like a month and everyone already knows he’s gonna be the best

his one and only competition is this dude called wei wuxian but lwj isn’t particularly worried about him

so far they’re still in the stage of the course where they do the fun things to sucker people into doing the class for the semester so there’s been some practise debates and arguments and stuff in their tutorial classes

wei wuxian has that Charisma and like yeah all of his arguments are perfect but also he has an amazing smile and people are like yes i can trust him

(he’s definitely the sort to be like hm, the easy way to argue this case would be to quote some laws and use precedence to justify this but that’s boring)

lwj is also good at that sort of stuff because his arguments are perfect and everything is so perfectly researched that there should be no ground at all for someone to lodge a counterargument

(wei wuxian manages somehow and it makes lwj so mad)

but that’s whatever lwj thinks,, a lot of people join law thinking it’s gonna be like the tv shows and books and then get completely blindsided when it comes to the rote learning part or like the actual laws

and for all of wwx’s confidence, lwj hasn’t actually seen wwx so much as touch the textbook/s and he always studies in the law library so he knows that wwx has probably never even been there bc he hasn’t seen him even once (why’s he looking? bc he needs to see which books wwx uses to study,, bc there has to be something going on there,, obviously)

then they do their first like proper written assignment and lwj and wwx tie for the highest scores and now lwj has a Rival and he refuses to lose to someone who thinks that putting a ‘-us’ sound at the end of a word makes it latin (did wwx say habeas corpus and then point at a soft drink and go sprite-us can-us,,, maybe,,,,)

anyway! lwj and wwx are kinda rivals for the top spot and it’s one of those situations where one test lwj wins by a point but then the next test wwx gets full marks and they just keep exchanging the top spot in class

and this whole time wwx is like The Worst to have in class. he’s always interrupting to ask questions or just straight up not listening and spends the class doodling pictures of rabbits (they’re cute but wwx is terrible and he’s not allowed to make cute drawings)

so after a few months the most horrible thing happens.... they get put together in a project and lwj is like ugh. internally of course but his face is also saying ugh

the first time wwx and lwj get together to work on the project, lwj is prepared with a proper list of tasks to do all nicely split up between the two of them and a schedule for when they should get certain parts done by.

needless to say, lwj does not expect wwx to be ready, but wwx is definitely on top of things

he rocks up and is like yeah let’s do this, this and this and have them done by this time - basically proposing to do everything that lwj has already written down

and lwj is pleasantly surprised and is like hm maybe i misjudged wwx and decides to like re-evaluate his opinion on him

in doing so he realises that when he’d never seen wwx studying, it wasn’t an exaggeration at all. he’s never seen wwx so much as touch a textbook or spend more than a minute on a laptop doing something that wasn’t minesweeper or solitaire

but wwx is also making all of their deadlines and even adds extra information and resources to their document that could be useful elsewhere and sometimes he shows up to their study sessions and he looks absolutely exhausted

eventually lwj manages to get the truth out and wwx is just like yeah it’s easier to get worse grades than a genius but if you both study and you still get lower grades, it’s not easy,, for jc or for me

so wwx usually studies at night when his brother is asleep and lwj is like that’s bad, you can’t keep that up and just when wwx is about to go off at him lwj is like you can come study at my place

and thus begins the wonderful time where everything is alright and lwj falls in love with wwx

they work really well together and wwx is strangely considerate and nice? when he finds out lwj likes rabbits, he goes out and buys bunny post-it notes for lwj and starts to always bring him a doodle of bunnies every time he comes over. he always gets his work done on time, early even, and his work is always so brilliant and every time wwx smiles at him, lwj feels warm inside etc etc

for a long while lwj is like yes (: this is friendship (: bc he’s never had a crush before but then on the day they submit their project wwx is like hey,, the two of us make a great team,, we should always work together,, now and next year and even when we graduate,, i want to help the innocent people who need our help and i think i’d like it a lot if you joined me and lwj has his oh moment

they get a perfect score on the project of course and even after it finishes, wwx keeps coming over to lwj’s place to study or just hang out and lwj is just falling more and more for wwx each day

they’re best friends now and everyone gets used to seeing them work together on projects and then turn around to try and decimate each other when they’re working one on one and lwj thinks that he might just be the happiest he’s ever been

but then one day wwx doesn’t show up to class. it shouldn’t be strange but wwx has never missed class even once and he ends up hearing from lxc who heard from jgy that wwx was caught sabotaging some other student’s work (the other student was jzxun, who had a fondness for playing devil’s advocate and other than wwx once telling him that his argument was shit, wwx never spoke to him or seemed to know who he was but lwj is a bit too angry to remember that)

he manages to find wwx outside of his dorms as he’s moving out and he’s just like why did you do that? and wwx is like oh y’know,, bc he’s not really sure what’s happening himself,, one second he was at the top of his class and the next he was being brought before a board and being told that he was being expelled but he’s not going to tell lwj that bc lwj would definitely try and stand up for him and then they’d both get expelled

but lwj is furious and just spits out well if our dreams meant so little to you then maybe it’s a good thing you failed now,, bc his mother was a lawyer who took all these little jobs that helped people who actually needed the help and lwj was looking forward to doing that with wwx and he doesn’t even seem to care that now they can’t do that

wwx flinches and then smiles at him and just cheerily says, that’s me and leaves. he doesn’t look back and lwj doesn’t chase after him.

lwj doesn’t see him again for years (you can do 13 or 5 or however long you feel like)

lwj is a fully licensed lawyer and he’s working for the family company and he spends half of his time working on cases and uses the rest of his time to do like outreach programs where he goes and visits schools and runs sessions on what it’s like to be a lawyer, how to apply, and to provide assistance to any students who decide to study law at uni

and then at one of these programs he meets this kid, wen yuan, who is ridiculously bright and enthusiastic and has a smile that seems oddly familiar

at the end of the second session he comes up to lwj and is like mr. lan, is your name lan wangji? and lwj just says yes, expecting the kid to be a fan of one of his cases or something but then wen yuan is like oh wow! i thought i recognised you from my dad’s photo!

and lwj isn’t expecting much but he asks what the photo looks like and wen yuan pulls out this photo from his pocket and lwj immediately recognises it,, it’s the only photo he has of him and wwx

your father is wei ying? lwj asks him and wen yuan is like yes, hesitates, and then asks, would you like to see him?

and that’s how lwj finds himself following wen yuan to some dinky little office that has a plaque outside that reads wen and wei

(wen ning is the nicest and sweetest person ever and lots of people underestimate him but then he’s an absolute monster on court. he gets up and completely decimates the opponent and then at the end is like (: it was so nice to meet you!! i am baby!! and all that,, you know our boy)

anyway they walk in and wwx turns to greet wen yuan but then he sees lwj and is like woah! you! and he’s not sure whether to hide or go and hug lwj so he just gives him a fist bump,, like a bro,, and immediately wants to shrivel up and die

anyway they get the reunion stuff out of the way, swelling music, tender wrist holding, lots of staring, lwj silently declaring his wholehearted love for wwx and refusing to believe rumours about him again even though he doesn’t actually know what happened, you know how it goes

from wwx’s side of things,, after he got kicked out he went to some small uni. good in its own right but not known for their law program and ended up specialising in family law

the first case he ever won was for the wens to have the right to keep custody of a-yuan and the first case wen ning ever won was to let wwx adopt a-yuan bc i’m soft like that

so wwx has just been kinda vibing,, being a single dad, living with the wens and helping to make that difference he always promised he would

now this isn’t gonna be some au where lwj goes oh my! i must give up my high salary job and work with wwx! bc lwj has been doing good stuff at his current job and for all of his family’s stuffiness, they run a fair and just company

but! he does end up helping wwx when wwx gets a letter with a bunch of information about the jins and how they’re actually super corrupt and evil (big surprise,,) and how wwx was maybe definitely framed bc he was doing some casual work on the side and stumbled across some bad shit on the jins back in uni

lwj ends up being the one to take the case officially but wwx is definitely the guy leading it and so lwj ends up spending most of his time at the wen-wei office

lwj definitely bonds with wen yuan, who also wants to go into law, and writes him recommendation letters and helps him edit his applications and stuff

(and one day wen yuan is like leaving you was the hardest thing dad ever did and i dont think you appreciated how much he cared about you. he really did think that he annoyed you ‘til the end and lwj is like no! he didn’t! and wen yuan is like yeah i know but you gotta tell him and lwj really does mean to but the time is never right or something like that but also wen yuan is all but calling lwj dad at this point)

anyway they end up going to court, side by side, working as a team just as they promised to do and just as they finish their final day on the case, ended with the jury ruling jgy guilty and wwx’s reputation all but saved, wwx turns around and flings himself at lwj

is he crying? is he laughing? a bit of both tbh but wwx ends up confessing right then and there, still on record and everything (is that how that works??? idk! let’s say it does)

and what can lwj do but make out with him?

did a news crew come in to film the results of this massive court case just to end up with five minutes of wangxian kissing?? maybe! but when it played on tv it meant wwx and lwj didnt have to actually tell anyone they got together

(and does lwj eventually pop the question using wwx’s bad latinification? yes and wwx is too busy laughing to accept at first but he does and they end up being the worst possible tutors for wen yuan as he goes through law school bc they keep being all gross and lovey-dovey and acting like law school is the most romantic place in the world)

#mdzs #Anonymous #modao zushi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #cql #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #all of my understanding of law comes from the pelican brief which i read over 10 years ago and one seminar on law courses at uni #so sorry if it's bad #):#lan sizhui #also i stand by wen yuan #let him keep his last name!#my aus #asks

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portalford · 3 years

Text

I Can Picture You So Easily

AO3

It hits Stan at the stupidest times.

Well. That makes it sounds like Stan just forgets, when really it never quite goes away — sometimes it’s just more.

Like now.

He’s looking in the mirror — he found it tucked way, way back in a closet (and he’s gonna skip right over that because when he got here the mirror in the bathroom was broken, cracked until you couldn’t see a thing and why was Ford—nope) — and he’s trying out a new look for Mr. Mystery.

Gotta keep it fresh, right? Accessorize?

Glasses aren’t accessories, unfortunately. He can’t go without them anymore.

(Really, he needed them years ago, but he was too stubborn to admit it, or too broke, or whatever, but he’s literally tripping over his own feet now. Needs must).

Ford wouldn’t be caught dead in this getup. No sense of fashion. So that’s fine.

The glasses—

(Ford started wearing glasses when he was six. Stan had laughed himself silly when they went to the drugstore and tried on the biggest, most obnoxious frames they could find. Ma had scolded, but she’d been too distracted checking price tags to do more than scold.

In the end, they went with some cheap horn-rimmed frames that Stan wouldn’t be caught dead in even now. Old-man glasses, at six. But that was Ford all over).

—they bring some stuff up. The twin thing sucks, sometimes.

(Looking in a mirror and seeing the changes, the lines in his face, the grey in his hair — does Ford have crow’s feet now? Is his hair going silver? It was always unmanageable — is it thinning like Stan’s is now, or is it still thick and flyaway, like it was when Ford was sixteen? Did he even live long enough to get lines in his face and aches in his joints, or is he forever twenty-eight, dead somewhere in the universe?)

Time to stop thinking.

Notice the differences.

Stan’s ears and nose are bigger than Ford’s, always have been. He’s heavier and his shoulders are broader.

(Has Ford gotten bulkier, fighting to survive? Or is still he halfway to gaunt, like the last time Stan saw him?)

Definitely time to stop thinking.

Stan flashes a smile, and yeah, that’s all him. Cheerful, magnetic, and a hundred percent fake.

Time to work the crowds.

*****

There’s an ad for the nice ink pens Ford saved up to buy when he was fourteen.

Stan turns it off.

*****

Mabel finds a picture, once.

“Grunkle Stan!” Her eyes are all lit up as she shows him the torn photograph. “I found this under a floorboard in the attic!”

If Stan ever had any doubts about his poker face, he can lay them to rest now. It’s all on the ropes and his expression is perfectly level, maybe even a little curious.

Mabel is still talking. “I didn’t know there were pictures of you before you were all old! Do you have any others?”

Oh.

Stan still forgets sometimes, even after everything, that most people can’t tell him and Ford apart.

He knows better.

The young man in the photograph is unmistakably Ford, taken while he was living in Gravity Falls. He’s got his head bent over that journal of his, but the photographer managed to catch the eager light in his eye, the edge of his smile.

Stan wonders who that photographer was, all those years ago.

A tug at his shirt reminds him he’s not alone, and he definitely can’t get messed up about this picture of his secret twin brother.

Mabel’s face has fallen a bit. “Grunkle Stan? Are you okay?”

Stan gives himself two more seconds to look at the picture — Ford just looks so happy; Stan can’t even remember the last time Ford looked like that, even before it all fell apart — and turns to Mabel.

“Yeah,” he says. He smiles and ruffles her hair. “Pretty good picture, huh?”

*****

The name is the worst.

Stan never thought identity theft could involve so little fun.

Usually he can get away with just “Stan Pines,” and that’s fine. That’s his name. That’s who he’s supposed to be.

Sometimes, though, that’s not enough for whoever’s asking.

“What did you say your name was again?”

He smiles. Lays it on thick. “Stanford Pines.”

“Could you sign here?”

He does. His blocky, uneven handwriting looks even worse than usual where he’s expecting to see neat, flowing script, the way Stanford Pines is supposed to be written.

“This is Stanford Pines,” someone will say. “Mr. Mystery.”

Stan smiles some more. Yes, Stanford Pines is certainly that.

Gideon is the worst. Stanford this and Stanford that and Stan’s never wanted to punch a child so much in his life.

“Stanford Pines!”

He smiles, and he lies.

*****

Dipper halfway drives him nuts sometimes.

It’s not like the kid’s a mini-Ford — he reminds Stan enough of himself, sometimes, though Stan’s not sure that’s great either — but he’s got the brains and the stubbornness and the love of weird nonsense, for sure.

He’s also got that obsessive edge, the drive that sent Ford right off the metaphorical cliff.

Usually Mabel tags along on the weirdness hunts — they make a day of it. They go out, just the two of them, and come back laughing and joking and shoving at each other.

That’s enough of a painful reminder, but sometimes Stan will catch Mabel sitting by herself, coloring or crafting with a little less energy than usual, and he’ll realize that Dipper’s buried himself in monster theory again.

He tries to keep the kid busy with chores and hustle, but it’s a losing battle.

It was the first time, too.

*****

There’s this old song that Ford used to love when they were younger.

It’s got no words, and Stan used to make fun of it — what's the point of a song with no words? But Ford insisted it had Meaning, capital M.

It comes on the radio now and then.

Depending on how masochistic Stan is feeling that day, he might let it play.

He still wonders what Ford heard in this song, and if Ford would hear it now.

*****

He realizes, one day near the end, that he’s been Stanford longer than he’s been Stanley.

What’s the point, really? What does a name matter if it’s so easy for someone else to take your place?

(Did Ford matter so little, in the grand scheme of things, that not one person could recognize him in a place he lived for six years?

Does Stan, in a place he’s lived for almost thirty?)

If he could just stop catching Ford in his reflection now and then, that’d be great.

*****

It’s not any better once Ford gets back (once Stan brings Ford back, the ungrateful bastard).

“Stanford!”

Stan’s got a smile on his face before he even turns around, and what’s wrong with him that he’s halfway made this lie into a Pavlovian response? Someone calls him Stanford, he smiles and lies.

(Stanford — the real Stanford — is in the basement right now. He doesn’t even exist, as far as anyone else is concerned. Stan is Stanford, Stanley is dead, and Ford is a nonentity.

What a life this is).

*****

“So how was it?”

Stan grunts. “How was what?”

Ford rolls his neck, wincing a little as he works out the unavoidable crick from hunching over a drawing for twenty minutes. “Being me.”

Stan shrugs. “Wasn’t hard. We’re basically the same person, y’know.”

Ford snorts. A long time (a lifetime) ago that comment might have gotten him worked up, but he’s steadier now, softer around the edges. “Very funny. I saw your lease renewal. You didn’t even change your handwriting, for heaven’s sake.”

“Ford, I rolled up to town, said I was you, and started a tourist trap. You had a total personality transplant and nobody noticed.” Stan grimaces. That sounded really bad.

Ford’s expression has gone rueful and a little sad at the edges, but he doesn’t seem like he’s about launch into full-blown self-recrimination, so that’s fine. “Yes, well. That’s what happens when you isolate yourself for six years and your only friend erases his mind to cope with the mistakes you made.”

And that’s Ford trying to shoulder all the blame again, but Stan keeps his mouth shut. They’re both too comfortable to argue right now. “Being honest — for once — it kinda sucked.” Ford’s looking at him, open and encouraging, so Stan keeps going. “Everyone thought I was you, and it—I wasn’t. I didn’t want to be.” Stan shrugs. “I wanted you you.”

Ford smiles, and it’s a little more worn than Stan remembers, but it’s real, and it’s him. “I understand. I met a few parallel versions of you on my travels, and they were you, but — they weren’t really you.” Ford closes his journal (his new one) and sets it aside, tipping his head back over his chair. More playfully, he adds, “I wouldn’t want to be you either, Stanley.”

Stan laughs. “Yeah? Couldn’t handle the salesmanship?”

“Have more self-respect than to wear any part of your wardrobe.”

“Says the man who wears sweaters in the summer.”

Ford lifts his head and smiles, and this time it’s almost exactly how Stan remembers — quick and a little crooked. “Fair enough.” Ford stretches, rolls his neck again. “For what it’s worth, Stanley, I am glad to be back.” A wry look. “Even if it’s going to take ages to sort out the criminal record you gave me.”

Stan slouches deeper into the couch. Any further and he’s going to slide off, but that’s a risk he’ll take. “Yeah, yeah. Talk to me when you’re legally dead.”

“You did that.”

“And?”

“I legally don’t exist.”

“I was trying to learn theoretical physics at the time, Stanford; cut a man some slack.”

Ford laughs, quiet. “Did I ever thank you for that?”

Stan cracks an eye open. He didn’t realize he closed them. “What, learnin’ physics? Because I’m pretty sure that’s some of the stuff that’s not coming back.”

Ford rolls his eyes. “For saving me.”

“Hm.” Ford’s thanked him several times, but lately it’s been less Ford kicking himself and more Ford cautiously trying to engage in the old back-and-forth they used to have, and Stan can get behind that one. “I dunno. Might have to say it again.”

“You’re burning through my gratitude very quickly,” Ford says mildly, “but all right. Thank you for saving me. You knucklehead.”

Stan never got called that when he was Ford. He thinks he’s missed it, at least the way Ford says it — like it means something completely different.

“Uh-huh.” Stan’s eyes are closed again. He figures he’ll just leave them closed. “Missed you too, nerd.”

And maybe there’s something to be said for being your own person.

It feels pretty good.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #stanley pines #stanford pines #back on the angst with a happy ending train #feat. a side of introspection and melodrama!#i love it here

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thesoloists · 4 years

Text

Unsweet Dreams

Summary: Bucky may be free of Hydra’s influence, but he’s not free of that of the Winter Soldier. He’s slowly coming to terms with that.

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Words: 2.1k

Warnings: PTSD, trauma and anxiety, brief graphic depictions of murder (assault & strangulation), chronic nightmares, fluff via post-nightmare comfort (if it’s any consolation, I tried to keep it balanced)

A/n: AHH, I’m so nervous! It’s been awhile since this corner of the interweb has seen my writing (I made a new tumblr and everything), so if whoever reads this could just, y’know, drop me an ask telling me what you think about this fic, I would really appreciate it. Also, I promise not all my fics will be this dark. I just needed the bit of catharsis at the end. :’)

Bucky used to live in constant fear. It was like a malignant tumor, slowly killing him and robbing him of the ability to live every damn day of his life.

To be in a crowd was like sticking him in a coffin full of nails. As he struggled to stay out of the swirl of hurried people, his anxiety would skyrocket to the point of short-circuiting his mental system. His whole body becomes stiff, his responses shortened and robotic, as he becomes helplessly overwhelmed by the blaring warning signs going off in his head. Until his brain, finding no other option, shut down enough to function on autopilot. Only when he was away from everyone, when his mind was sure they were a safe distance from the danger of the Winter Soldier, would he come back to himself. But, to be honest, was there ever a safe enough distance from such a mindless beast?

The idea of becoming him again was so crippling that before Shuri offered to fix him, Bucky would spend days at a time locked in his room and weeks without leaving the compound. Shuri said he would never be that man again, the crudely molded vague interpretation of one, anyway—not after whatever indescribable thing she had done to him with Wakandan technology that Bucky still finds respectfully confusing. Bucky wanted so badly to believe her, but why, even now, if she is as certain as she was then that the gangrenous part of him is gone, why does he still see him in his dreams at night? Sometimes standing before him like a ghost, void of his humanity, empty of soul, filled only with commands of murder and mission and the pain endured in every attempt to scrape away the bloodshed.

There’s no place in Bucky’s mind he can hide where the monstrous Winter Soldier cannot find him. In pleasant dreams of sandy beaches with the smell of salt on the open air, the beast will tear open a gaping black rift right behind him, grab Bucky by the back of his collar, and drag him into the void as his screams fall on apathetic ears. Where he ends up is a place where his cries are heard by no one, Where color cannot penetrate the bitter black, and where shapes and barriers do not exist. He can run forever and never hit a wall, and all the while, the Winter Soldier will stalk toward him. Inevitable, just as Bucky is with his surrender.

Agony awaits him, but he knows it will end. It has to end. And when it does, he will wake.

Bucky has long given up trying to escape on his own. Every attempt has proved futile, and it only draws out the agony. He prefers his death to be as quick as ripping a band aid. So, he goes nowhere, just stands in the very place the Winter Soldier dropped him, and waits.

The Winter Soldier stands maybe twenty feet away. His eyes are shrouded in smears of dark black, but his eyes are a stark contrast of light blue shards of cryogenic ice.

Knowing the end will be the same as every other end before it brings Bucky no semblance of comfort. He is helpless to it. No more than a prisoner to his own imagined fate.

After a while of the Winter Soldier reducing the encounter to nothing more than a one-sided staring contest, Bucky hangs his head, shaking it at the absurdity of being made to wait. “Just get it over with,” he mutters.

The shape of the Winter Soldier flickers and disappears, manifesting with daunting intensity right in front of him. Bucky finds nothing but the hoard of his own past screams in the Soldier’s empty gaze.

In a blink, the Winter Soldier moves. The plates on the Soldier’s metallic machine arm whir and shift as his cold metal hand latches around Bucky’s throat in an unyielding vise, squeezing tighter and tighter, killing the human, killing Bucky.

Then it is over. In that particular dream, after Bucky dies, Bucky wakes.

Most of the time, however, it is Bucky looking through the lens of the Winter Soldier as a captive, unable to control his movements. It is Bucky’s traitorous metal arm around the throat of someone he cares about, tightening around their choked gasps and rasped pleas...

[Bucky has no desire to live out the Winter Soldier’s greatest hits on all of his friends, so he asks that the burden be left to another’s imagination. If it is any consolation, he is very sorry.]

He’s killed them all more times than he can count. Steve always knows when he’s had one of the dreams the next morning and who it was about because Bucky is incapable of looking that person in the eye. The image of his hand wrapped around their throat is still too fresh a wound in his mind. He’s nothing more than a shell on those mornings. His eyes are gaunt, his attention impossible to keep, and he’s left haunted for most if not all the remaining hours of the day. It’s an inevitability.

It wasn’t until he met you that Bucky allowed himself to believe Shuri’s words of comfort weren’t just empty words meant to reassure him. It’s taken months for him to get to this point, but you have been nothing but patient, never forcing him into anything, never questioning the slow speed at which your relationship progressed. You only take what he gives and in return give what he needs. He still has nightmares, though they occur far less often with you sleeping beside him. In fact, before tonight, Bucky hadn’t had one in months. To know what it felt like to be well-rested, he hadn’t felt that probably since he was digging his stupid five-foot-nothing best friend out of trouble. Before either had turned their gaze toward joining the war.

When Bucky has either nightmare involving the Winter Soldier, it doesn't matter which, he always wakes up crying. Sometimes silently, sometimes with whimpers or explosive sobs—freshly rebuilt only to be destroyed by the horrors that play out in a hell of his mind’s own making. You sleep notoriously light, so it doesn’t take much for you to wake, and you never want him to apologize for it. His whimpers begin quietly, but they are enough. With the fast action of someone who has done this many times before, you move across the bed until your chest is flush with his back, throw your arm around him, and hold on tight as you whisper sweet assurances into the crook of his neck as his body is wrecked by sob after sob after sob. Grounding him in the existence of his humanity, in the reality of his life as it is now—good and warm and safe— until his tremoring body stills. It’s by no means a quick remedy, and perhaps the emotional exhaustion does most of the work, but with one final shudder, Bucky lets out a hard breath, his last few tears nothing more than wet stains on his pillow.

In unspoken words of comfort, you press kisses along the jagged scaring where flesh meets metal, before resting the side of your face against his shoulder which is damp with cool sweat, and guide his ragged breathing to a slower, fuller calm with the warmth of your breaths on his back.

In the now quiet dark of the bedroom, Bucky strokes the back of your hand, tracing lightly over every knuckle with his fingertips.

With tender movement, you turn your hand beneath his to grasp his hand loosely between your fingers. Your gentle squeeze is simply to ask, Are you okay?

He squeezes twice. No.

He shifts his hand again and after a beat, makes a small request by tapping three times on the back of your head. Your voice breaks through the darkness as you whisper to him, “Who was it, my love?”

It takes him a minute because he has to remember, and that involves reliving the memory of the dream, if only for a glimpse. But he wants to remember, if only for an attempted catharsis.

“Steve,” he says hoarsely. Or Natasha, Sam, Tony, or someone else unfortunate enough to have been dropped into the role of victim—But it’s Steve who affects him the most, sometimes in aftershocks that last for days.

Three taps means he wants to talk about it, but doesn’t want to speak first. Something about having to break the silence after having to relive that trauma just feels too daunting to him, especially now that he’s just been reminded of the monster hiding in his closet after months of silence gave him the false security of maybe being finally free. If anything, it was the sobering realization that he would never truly be free, but it’s an affliction of which he’s willing to find ways to cope. So far, his best success has been found in months of therapy and in the love he found with you. He doesn’t solely rely on you. That’s a burden, and he’s not about to expect you, an extraordinary ordinary human, to somehow be the cure for his chronic mental disturbance. But you bring him words of encouragement and a presence that puts him at ease, and if this is merely the baby-steps to learning to walk on his own, he’s willing to take it and continue practicing. No matter how much he falls, you have made it clear you will always be there to catch him if he needs it.

You wait until he’s ready for you to get up, spending several minutes brushing strands of damp hair away from his face and the rest of the uncounted time trailing your fingers up and down his arms and across his chest in an endlessly light, thoughtful caress. Only when he tells you it’s okay do you briefly disappear into the kitchen to put a kettle on the stove. It’s always been difficult for him to go back to sleep after a dream like this, but it’s easier after he talks through it, and it’s easier with tea.

He doesn’t find sleep again, but you fall asleep on the couch an hour before dawn and halfway through his fourth episode of M*A*S*H. Your whole body is curled in a tight ball on the other half of the couch as you hug an empty mug of tea close to your chest. He carefully removes it from your grasp one vise-like finger at a time (jeez, you have an insane grip for someone who’s asleep), vaguely feeling like he’s trying to disassemble a bomb, and sets it on the side table next to the couch .

As the credits roll, Bucky carries you back to bed and is part way through tucking you beneath the covers, all warm and snug like a cute little sausage roll, when you begin to stir. Instantly, Bucky freezes. Then he remembers you always do this as if it’s part of some weird post-nightmare bedtime ritual and always manage to go right back to sleep. Comforted by the assurance, and also a little amused by the memories, he turns to close the blinds to block out the rays that would have cut unbearably bright lines against your face had he done nothing (and he’s never been much of a do nothing kind of guy), but when he turns back around, you’re rubbing your eyes with your fingertips—awake, it seems. (Aw, hell.) You blink blearily at him with a lopsided smile he finds adorable, a smile there just for him.

Sometimes he forgets how lucky he is.

When your mouth opens with an obscenely loud, drawn-out yawn, he's never loved you more.

After smacking your lips, still in the midst of a sleepy haze, you ask, “You okay?”

While you look at him, Bucky realizes you’re trying monumentally hard to keep your eyes from opening fully, narrowing them to the point that he wouldn’t even know you were still awake if you hadn’t said something. Bucky’s smile turns butter soft at that.

His heart swells. He’s just so appreciative of you. Your kindness. That you willingly sacrifice precious hours of sleep just to tend to the wounds of his own psychological warfare.

“Yeah. I’m good now,” Bucky assures you, and he means it. He lowers his hand to cradle your cheek, sweeping the pad of his thumb back and forth across the swell of your cheek beneath your eyelashes. At the caressing motion, your eyelids flutter, then fall completely closed in total surrender. He leans down, pressing a lingering kiss to your temple. “Sweet dreams, doll.”

Your response is swallowed by the pillow as you shimmy down the bed to bury your face beneath the covers, but he’s pretty sure he heard you say something endearing.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #mcu #marvel #marvel fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #beckham writes

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skinks · 4 years

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hi your dilfworth fic is amazing and i love baby richie... my favourite is the tidbit about richie eating a worm that eddie gave him 🥺 obviously u don’t have to but if u have any more thoughts/headcanons about baby richie and baby eddie i would melt into a puddle ❤️

thank you, I had so much fun writing that one! and yeah, I couldn’t possibly include baby Richie without Eddie, the little gruesome twosome.

Richie probably does that a lot with stuff Eddie gives him, drawings and little bits of grass he’s braided together, and on one memorable occasion almost the little navy frogman diver that Eddie got in his cornflakes, but Eddie already had one so he gave the second to Richie. Except it’s one of those ones that swells in liquid, uh oh. Luckily Maggie snatched it away before Richie could swallow it lmao, but that’s the thing;

Richie loves the things Eddie gives him so he wants to Consume them. That’s why he was biting Went’s arm in the fic, why he ate the worm and also why he’s always gnawing on Eddie when they’re tiny, or chasing him to try and envelop him in his shirt. And it’s just one of those games, y’know? Like, Eddie can SEE it’s just Richie holding his too-big Sesame Street shirt up and open like a butterfly net or the flapping gilly mouth of a whale shark, and it’s Richie going raaaarr but Eddie still shrieks and runs! He’s giggling but it’s like, in the inbetween clock ticks, when he’s looking forward instead of back over his shoulder at Richie it’s still Pursuit, he believes in the Richiesaurus coming to get him. It always does, too, swamps him up in its flapping gills until they’re two noisy boy-lumps sharing one shirt, because Eddie lets it eat him. Because the Richiesaurus isn’t a mean monster, it’s just hungry, so hungry, and it only eats spaghetti because spaghetti is special.

Sometimes when they’re doing coloring books Richie will ask Eddie to color in his Yoda too if Richie draws some more Richie And Eddie Adventures, because Eddie’s better (not much) at keeping inside the lines. Also because Eddie’s tongue pokes out when he colors and, watching him, Richie gets this happy hungry that’s MY friend feeling that makes him lie flat on Eddie’s back until he can’t get up and give the back of his head a big kiss.

SO many naps together. They just conk out anywhere. The yard, the den, under Richie’s bunk bed, the back seat of the car as Went and Maggie drive them home from the tree farm or the public pool or Chuck E Cheese, sometimes with Stan and Bill too. Just flopped together in a pile. Richie still sucks his thumb while he sleeps and that contributes to his gaptoothed buckteeth, but Eddie carries a grey threadbare rabbit around with him or he can’t sleep. It’s called Foggy. Foggy Bunny.

One day when Eddie’s over to play, Went and Maggie are feeling indulgent and take them to the mall? Because it’s 1981 and the mall is the best? And Sonia always pulls Eddie along by the hand whenever they go, snapping don’t touch that or stay away from bad men like that but Maggie just gently ushers them from storefront to storefront and Eddie can goggle at the displays as long as he likes. Richie’s up on Went’s shoulders, and when he comes parachuting down again he says “Eddie’s turn!” Went asks Eddie if he’d like to ride on his shoulders for a little bit and Eddie nods, still not really sure how to talk to grownups, but then he’s soaring and suddenly he’s the up-highest he’s ever been.

They collect ladybugs in a shoebox one summer’s day after an aphid swarm and are carrying it carefully up the stairs, a little stumped as to what to do with them next, when Richie trips. Ladybugs everywhere, including in Eddie’s hair. Maggie comes up to see what the commotion is and makes them clean it all up, once she’s calmed Eddie down from screaming about how Richie told him ladybugs are harmless unless they go in your ears and lay their eggs.

They trade the same two lunchboxes back and forth every couple of weeks. Wacky Races for Alfred E Neuman, a roaring stock market to rival wall street. Eddie can do the Muttley laugh so easy and Richie HATES it because he can’t do that one.

Richie is the ONLY kid Eddie knows who can tell time but he always tells Eddie the wrong time. Eddie’s not sure how he knows it’s the wrong time, but he’s sure of it, and so he always steps on Richie’s laces. Then Richie just walks around with loose laces because he can’t tie them yet, but also because he just doesn’t CARE and it’s not right so Eddie always makes him sit somewhere so Eddie can tie them again. Calls Richie a butthead, but he also kinda likes it because Richie always karate chops his shoulders and says something like “I knight thee, Sir Eds-A-Lot!” and Eddie feels good and something else be doesn’t know the word for, but the word is chivalrous. He feels like he wants to do the thing in the Tom & Jerry cartoons where he puts his anorak over a puddle so Richie’s trailing laces won’t get wet.

Eddie accidentally knocks one of Richie’s baby teeth out and vice versa. Peak idiots since babiehood.

Sometimes on rainy days Maggie makes treasure hunts for them all, or just for Richie and Eddie if Bill is with his new baby brother, or Stan is at Cub Scouts. She leaves post-its with drawings and clues that lead them all over the house, and Eddie’s better at reading them but Richie’s better at problem solving... teamwork... they win a kinder egg each and Richie does almost eat his toy again by accident this time, and gets chocolate all over his shirt that’s stretched loose from being an Eddie-net so often. So he does it again, gulp, like Pac-Man. Eddie’s hair tufting out his collar and tickly on his chin, Eddie giggling and pawing his way out and hugging back instead. Because it’s not like keeping him prisoner, Richie’s not like the sea monster in Pinocchio, it’s more like a little plant taking sunshine inside it to grow stronger.

Eddie’s better at reading and he’s a fast talker unlike Bill, so he always reads the board at school and whispers what it says to Richie, sitting next to him with glasses that still aren’t quite right for school, make his head hurt and make him noisy just to feel like he’s having an impact in a room he can’t see. Don’t forget me, I’m here, I can’t see you all but I’m here too.

Sometimes on nicer days Went builds them obstacle courses in the garden, planks of wood balanced on buckets etc and Eddie ALWAYS wins once he gets over his trepidation about splinters and nails and falling a few inches onto soft grass, because he’s a nimble lil mountain goat and Richie’s laces were probably untied again. They win tinfoil trophies.

Richie convinces Eddie that a rock they find by the pond in the park one day is a dragon egg, and Eddie cradles it home to keep. Richie convinces Eddie he’s dead all the time, he’ll lie still with his tongue sticking out after a roughhousing and pretend to have little x’s over his eyes until Eddie’s shaking his shoulder with his voice gone high and reedy, and Richie will surprise him every time! Gotcha! I’m alive! Aren’t you glad I’m alive, Eddie! Weren’t you worried? I’m so important to him. And then one day Eddie brings the rock into 2nd grade show-and-tell and is stuttering about his dragon egg to the tittering class, until the teacher tells him to get back to his seat and stop being silly. Eddie stuffs the rock under his desk lid and his eyes are like dark moons with the confused hurt, and Richie feels a nasty spiky heat in his tummy that he will come to know intimately in a few years as guilt.

That day, Richie learns on some level or another how much power there is in pretending, in keeping up pretend games and having people believe you as long as you’re willing to keep it up. The thing is... he pretends so much because Eddie’s always much happier when they’re playing cops and robbers and not when he’s stuck in his stuffy church clothes and being told the whole world’s a mousetrap set just for him. He doesn’t like their teacher telling Eddie to stop being silly, he loves silly, serious, ties-laces-while-singing-bunny-foo-foo Eddie. Richie doesn’t know it, but he loves him even then. What he does know is that he’s good at pretending, and he’s safe from any big sad betrayed eyes as long as he can keep pretending he didn’t want to put a wonky, lopsided heart in Eddie’s Valentines box that year.

Eddie doesn’t talk to him for a WHOLE afternoon but then Richie draws a dragon face and wings on the rock and they’re immediately playing with it.

Eddie doesn’t have rollerskates because Sonia thinks they’re dangerous, but the others always let him borrow theirs, Stan and Richie and Bill. Richie has the closest size that would fit him even though they do have to stuff some crumpled up newspaper in the toes, but it doesn’t matter when they tie a jumprope around Richie’s middle like reins, and Eddie holds the two handles as Richie runs, and suddenly they’re charioteering at breakneck speed down the street. Eddie can feel the wind in his helmet plume as they hurtle towards the giant pile of fall leaves they spent all afternoon raking for this exact purpose, watched over by Went sitting on the porch (Went tidied the pile once they lost interest, easier for him to do since he’s not roughly half the size of the rakes.)

Their crash into the pile is a Ben-Hur epic. Eddie’s borrowed rollerskates hit the sidewalk curb and he’s airborne until he lands on soft dry crunch and Richie’s totalled body, but 6 years isn’t long enough for gravity to wreak its slow pull on your joints that makes every year harder and harder to bounce back up after you fall. They’re practically astronauts, as well as charioteers and knights and cops and robbers and monsters in love. Moonwalkers, squeaky helium laughter lifting them higher, higher than shoulders, up-highest of all.

Richie gives him the wonky Valentine’s heart, eventually. Then eats him

#reddie #baby reddie #ill go back and tag other stuff as baby reddie and tozier fam etc in the morning #anyway... how much of this is gleaned from my own childhood? only i can know 👀#long post #ficlet

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myonmukyuu · 4 years

Text

hot milk tea, thoughts and feelings

I’ve only mentioned it briefly, but I’ve said that I’ll be taking a break from my SetsuAyu series - mainly because of my uni workload though.

But for now, I have a lot of thoughts about the entire thing as a project as well as myself as an artist. So I figured that I’d write a reflection of sorts (warning: it gets kind of personal).

Can you believe it’s been 3-4 months since the series started? I can’t, and I’ve been the one drawing all of these!! If you’ve been reading my work, I’ll say it over and over but I really appreciate it!!! Like I’m dead serious!!! Completely!! Utterly!! Without a doubt!!! I love all of you!!!

When I posted that first comic, I didn’t think it’d get the positive reception that it did get. Like, I’ve been producing basically entirely Muse content for years and suddenly decided to tap into Nijigaku? You could argue that it didn’t get that much attention, but either way, the attention it did get surprised me. I was so happy that people were engaged (and it still makes me stupidly happy, like on a level where I’m almost embarrassed to admit HAHA)

Recently I’ve just uploaded the bonus for the 3rd update which wraps up that part, and it really just clicked - that I really have invested soooo much time into this series. 36 pages now! And we’re only 3/10 main updates in!! I have so much passion for this - like a fire that can’t be put out. Every single update has something that I want to communicate/show so I always feel fired up. Heck, if you’ve spoken to me during the process you’d catch me always saying “I’m excited for the next one!!!” while working on it LMAO. It’s been my longest string of non-stop work. Usually I feel burned out more quickly but I was always so excited that I couldn’t stop! You’d find that I’m usually in a state of conflict bc I alwaaaays want to talk about it but at the same time I don’t want to spoil anything. (THE NEXT UPDATE JUICY)

I think it’s a clear reminder of why I draw actually. The answer between each artist always differs, but I think it’s something important to be aware of. And well, for me? I’ve realised I’m a passion-monster. Passion keeps my blood pumping 100%. As a result... you could say I might be a more selfish kind of artist. Maybe it’s burn-out from running all those ask-blogs/RP when I was like 13-16, but I’ve realised that I’m having the most fun drawing what I genuinely love. It’s kind of why you’d rarely see me do requests and why I no longer do commissions. That isn’t to say that I hate drawing for other people. It can be fulfilling! But it’s more like - I barely have the time to draw for myself, so drawing for others is kind of a lower priority in general. It’s also why I’ve decided against studying graphic design when I graduated highschool. It’s just not happening as a career.

When I ask myself, “what kind of artist do I want to be?” I always think “Somebody who marches to her own beat and works hard to make content that she loves.” It’s also why I never delete anything - even my oldest art that makes me cringe. Because the me from 5 years ago put her love into that too. It’s really cheesy sounding but that’s how I see it LMFAO. I couldn’t do that to her. And also, just because I don’t like something anymore, it doesn’t mean that no one else does. So I’ll continue to never delete my old work. As a bonus, we get to see how far I’ve come too~.

I feel a little vulnerable admitting something like this and I’m pretty sure I’ve only told like 4 humans, but I think my #1 goal as an artist is that I want people to be able to look at my work (that I actually put my heart into) and think “this person loves this” or “this person works hard”. If you can do that, and sincerely feel the feelings I put into my comic, then I’ve already reached my goal. Can people tell how much I love these characters? The series? The concept? Can people tell how much work I’ve been putting into these updates? Can people tell when I’m having fun? It’s something I think about a lot. The idea of that people might think so makes me tear up HAHA - I get really sappy thinking about these kinds of things. And well, if people can’t tell then I’m not working hard enough!

That isn’t to say that I’m always putting my life-blood into everything I make. I’m mainly referring to the stuff where I do. I think it’s pretty clear when I’m pumping a lot of love into something. In general though, there’s always an intention for me to like communicate some idea or feeling and doing something like that requires maybe a bit of love~.

I feel like that as a character, Setsuna really resonates with me a lot. In personality? Not at all LMFAOOOO (she’s such a nice girl!!). More because of her ideals and principles. After typing like everything that I did up until this point, I bet you can guess why. I’ll keep it short and simple though, since this post is getting stupidly long.

Basically, I really resonate with her drive and passion as both an artist, and just in general actually? I’m a believer in that if you’re passionate about something, you can spread that passion. That’s the mentality I have with my art. If my love shows, then maybe other people will understand why I’ve come to love something. And maybe they’ll come to love it too. If I’m having fun, maybe they will have fun too! Very cheesy, I know, but that’s just how I roll!!!

Like rare pair? New fandom? Still applies. It might take awhile, but eventually either the people who love that thing will find me, or I’ll help people come to love something new (or at least see where it’s coming from lolol)!

And as Setsu says:

You tell ‘em girl !!! That devotion is my driving force!!

Of course I know this is idealistic, but I think that’s fine. It’s no bother to me if someone feels indifferent/ negative towards my work because that’s just natural.

I think it’s a form of communication and that’s what drives my art. I’ve been intending on writing a guide/ or talking about my art process for comics for some time now and I think that’d be the first thing I’d mention? I’m always trying to communicate some sort of feeling/tone/idea and that comes from a place of love y’know.

I feel like I’m saying “love” and “passion” a lot - you can really tell I’m vibing with Setsuna huh LMAO. There are other reasons I vibe with her too, but I won’t touch on that.

Coming back to my SetsuAyu series. You can tell why I’m so happy about it right? The story, the pairing dynamic, I feel like that people are understanding what I’m trying to communicate - that people are receiving my feelings of love for it and that makes me smile so widely. I really put a lot into it!!

This series is the first large project I’ve ever taken you see and I’m so so happy that I’ve been able to get this far! It really means a lot to me. But it wasn’t actually the first comic series I’ve tried to do. I actually had a Muse long-running comic planned years ago - a Dancing Stars on Me! AU but it never came to life. I think it was my lack of confidence that held me back. It might be weird of me to pat myself on the back, but I’m proud that I managed to get going this time!! I’ve actually written the SetsuAyu series in a way that for the first half, I could drop the series if I really wanted to at any point (each part is pretty independent, and that description I always copy-and-paste is all the explanation you really need), but now I know for sure that I don’t want to drop it! I wanna keep going!! Even if it gets tough. Although it might be a little early for me to make such bold declarations, I’m only 3/10 through LOOOL. But that’s just the way I feel right now!

I know it’s irrational and it’s something I’d rather not admit, but an anxiety that’s always looming over me is the idea that I’m not working hard enough - or that people think I’m not? Each comic update...takes like a month right? And a month is a long time. There’s this part of me that is convinced that people think I’m lazy for working so slowly. And I know it’s not true!! It doesn’t make sense for it to be!!! But like I said it’s irrational.

I’m really proud of this comic y’know. It’s a really big commitment and I’m proud of myself for being able to commit. I work full time 9-5, and I also am in my final year at university. I’m... kind of busy lol. So the huge factor in that month-long update turnaround is just that I don’t have the time to always be drawing. But I try to draw as much as I can! If you have me on discord you might notice me work on it for like 2-5 hours, almost daily before I go to bed (1am). Of course I’m not only drawing, but after I get everything plotted out sometimes that’s all I do. This comic is super time-consuming LMAO - and I try my best to work on it a little at a time.

So yeah, the entire month of comic-production is me drawing every almost every night.

Yeah it, - it’s kind of exhausting. Even though I’m itching to work on my next update, I’ve decided to take a break for uni crunch which is why I say the next one might be two months. It’s really odd though. The other night I was in bed feeling restless. It was so weird not drawing till 1am that I felt like I needed to be doing something. This comic series might have weird effects on my habits...

It makes me anxious thinking that it’d be so long till next update. But I’ll do my best to push that aside ! Hopefully I can get uni done and dusted ASAP! I want them to date dammit...

I've decided that I want to see this series through to the end. It’ll probably be May next year when that happens though LMAO! Please bear with my slow turnaround time. It’s only been 3 updates, but I can already see that I’m improving with each one. With each update I feel like I really learn from the previous and I always feel this sense of excitement with trying out new techniques and trying to create different feelings. I really want to see how the last updates will look compared to the first! Technically we’re 3/10 (10 is an epilogue), but after 6 I actually stop doing bonuses? So teeechnically I’m like 40% of the way through~.

It might be a little over-ambitious, but I kind of want to print it out and make a hard-copy when I’m done. I’m not sure about what the demand would be if I were to sell it, but I definitely want to print it for myself first and foremost (after touching up the earlier updates of course LOL). It’d be like a physical representation of my achievement. I hope I can make it there.

Anyways, I’ve rambled for far too long. I’m not sure why I suddenly felt like talking about uh, everything but yeaaaah. If you’ve read this far, kudos to you! You now have a window into my soul that I’m still not sure if I’m comfortable with revealing (but I’m comfortable enough because I’m posting this so...)!

After reading all of this, can you tell why I always get so so happy after each update? It’s the fruition of what’s usually 2-3 weeks of non-stop hard work! Seeing people connect with it always sends me to another realm of bliss and I always feel soft like putty LOL.

#myon speaks #HOLY MOLY #ITS 2K WORDS #no pressure for anyone to read all of this #its just me rambling into the air~#if you've been keeping up with my series: i just want to say thank you #this series is really important to me (i explain why in the post im not aboutta start rambling again)

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maiuoart · 4 years

Text

Massive DragaSwap Asks!

Heya, Folks! Got a massive information dump for the wonderful DragaSwaps!

@rofa1309 Ohboy! This is actually my favorite, because Azure actually sleeps hilariously and adorably!!

Azure sleeps like a literal egg; Meaning he curls up, arms under his head, hands cradling his skull slightly, while his wings completely cover and wrap around him while his tail’s magic goes out, leaving him with his boney tail nub!

Though it would be a hell of a lot easier if Azzie would just... Y’know, move his horns like his brother?? Like, keep them back or position them some DIFFERENT way?? He prefers to never move them, but that’s alright... He seriously loves curling up and being literally compacted. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had him in your home, you’re trying to look for him; And here you haven’t found him ALL DAY... But you open a closet door, and here you just see something that shouldn’t be there... Low and behold, it’s fucking Azzie sleeping like an egg in your closet xDDD

Abyss? He sleeps easily with his ability to move his horns. Normally ends up sleeping on the magical-substances, honestly! Doesn’t hurt him though, he’s so used to sleeping on them, on his hood, but it does shock him awake when he’s able to pinch his hood magic.

However if they really could; They could turn their magic off within their horns (And other spots containing their magic) but they only do this when regenerating from fights!

Oh, the brothers would be very cautious if it’s a new person their meeting! Actually, they have to be; They wouldn’t dare go near someone/thing/monster without fully understanding the situation at hand. So basically, that won’t happen... At least... With Azzie.

However, if you’ve already known them for a bit but not much or something to that affect;

Azure would be watching your moves and curious of what you may be staring at.

He’ll focus really hard on whatever spot you’re daydreaming at and trying to see if he finds the appeal of... What is that? A rock? Why? What’s so special about it? And he’ll literally get closer to you to try and view what you are; And if you jolt when he gets too close; He’ll probably be so focused on the spot himself he’ll either; -Not notice you jumping, with furrowed brows and trying so hard to figure out the meaning behind your staring at a thing -Or if you make a noise; He’ll accidentally hiss and jolt himself before asking you questions!

Abyss, well...

Truth be told, he’d keep staring at you. He’s the jokester, so he’ll begin to make small tail movements around your direction and keep playing around like that until he finally gets a reaction from you. Either his tail, flaring his hood a bit, ‘sssss’ing softly or the like; And when you jolt? He’s going to rightfully laugh and chuckle, make a few jokes where he can.

If it’s a first time meeting; He’ll stay hidden and keep a close watch on you. Though, he’s the more curious one, ironically; Had to be, after Azzies accident. If you’re, lets say... About to fall off a cliff or something; He might help ya out but without showing himself. If he somehow ends up doing so, however; He would be as tense as you. His hood would flare, his eyes would darken as his eyelights would turn to tiny slits, waiting for you to make a move first... If you showed that expression though, he would relax a bit and chuckle, then start telling you to watch where you step and quickly get you both back on the ways you were heading.

But, if you catch this boy in his Feeding Frenzy... Walking in on him while he’s Eating; Could literally be anything, but he would become more than aggressive. With his mind on the concept of Food only; you better turn right around as soon as you hear his rumbling and warning hiss he will no doubt do. He’s... Very feral when in this area. His Food, His Feeding; You better pray he has a full stomach so he doesn’t chase after you.

Lord only knows what the fuck he’d do if he managed to still be hungry!!

@inkswirl Both brothers would be... Well! Very enthralled with that!! After the whole jolting and semi freaking out because you had somehow came right up and asked them, anyways!

After the shock;

Azure would fluster a bit; Never had a picture taken at all or had someone wanting to look at him like they didn’t want him dead or something! Though he’d be super flattered, he would actually try and say he isn’t that interesting due to all the low self-esteem in his mind raging, perhaps trying to get you to draw his brother instead??? But all in all, if you were a bit more insistent, he would ask shyly if he could see it afterward.

Abyss wouldn’t care at all which way it would go; You might get a bit annoyed with the picture taking, though... Film is easy to convert, especially with Magic Waves he would give out and basically say he isn’t doing anything when you become frustrated at the camera for not being able to take ‘Good Pictures’ of the brothers... Even Azzie is disappointed, but Abyss wouldn’t care. No photo evidence. Yet, you sketching them? Yeah, he’d be all for it and sit and sun bathe, take a nap while you do your thing; Because it’ll be drawn, so theres no real danger in it.

@desithecubi They both are flattered and say you’re mighty adorable, too!! Thank you for the hugs~ ♥

Both of the guys would prefer night; But thats due to the fact they’re nocturnal! Though if they could, especially Azure, he’d try to become a day-bird... He HAS tried, but it’s failed so much... Doesn’t stop him though! He turned to half/half while Abyss is all for the night.

There are rare days though they’ll be up during the days; But that’s probably due to work or someone disturbed them! Or their minds won’t let them rest~

Yes! Both brothers have the ability to merge or camouflage with their backgrounds/surroundings! However, it takes a bit of time for it to completely cover them, so they have to be stealthy... It’s quick to disappear, though! It’s due to so much magic within that makes up their horns and everything, that it’s used to help them go basically invisible! It’s why their so rare for; No other Monster in their area can do this, making them the perfect candidates for being Protectors!

That’s actually two different terms of Hunter;

Azure's meaning is he literally Hunts for food and patrolling around. His brother is whats called a Watcher, where he stays in place.

Hunters for Humans is what I have called the Mages right now; They’re out to get any Monster they can; Whether it be for Magic, Dust, whatever treasure they can get their hands on, or even just for kicks. It’s literally like those people who have a lot of money and hunt Lions or other rare breeds of animals and some WILL kill for sport.

I have already answered this one, @blacklynx14!

Here ya go! ♥

Actually!! This is slightly flipped; Both the brothers are constantly out in the Forbidden Forest making rounds and making sure trespassers are taken cared of. Mainly with kindness, but they both aren’t scared to get forceful! The Monsters where never Underground and don’t plan to be; Though, ironically most would prefer it rather than being up in the open due to previous attacks way back when they could remember by Hunters. It would be hella-lot safer, that’s for sure! But ever since the Brothers were put as Protectors, everything has been... Good?? Better??? It’s seriously nice; Even though some may not be very welcoming to them :’)

Nah, the Royal Guards are deeper within the Forbidden Forest. What Azure and Abyss are? Their much higher than that, so they have no need for it! But, most of the RG’s are very jealous, because the two get to see from outside the Forest, basically!

But when the brothers get bored and feel no other living forces around? Well, Abyss is the Sunbather. But if he sleeps for far too long, Azure will actually come and push him or have a bottle of cold water to wake his brother up!

Azure likes to;

-Soar in the sky high above the trees, will even go into the Mountains for a while! He’s the explorer and enjoys to sight see. Sometimes, he’ll even travel as far as he can go before the beads on his outfit warn him to turn back. -If he’s able to find any small creatures; He ends up so side tracked playing with them, he doesn’t realize he’s been gone for hours! Especially little cougar cubs and baby bears... And he becomes great friends with a lot of the woodland and other creatures! At least they don’t judge him... -If it’s super late at night and there hasn’t been any humans wandering within their territory for a long while; He’ll actually go to the Village of a particular one to make sure the Humans are alright. There is a certain Human too he enjoys to hang out with, or... Did.

Abyss enjoys;

-To literally stay in one spot and laze about. And if he can easily catch critters that go in his path, he’ll eat them out of boredom. -He seriously loves pranking his brother, but he has a dark twist to it. Azzie is and has been sick of his humor though. -One of his favorites is to eat squirrels and chipmunks in front of Azzie and Azure’s actual reaction is getting Pissed The Fuck Off and Abyss loves it. (No, worry not; The Animals don’t suffer long. Abyss makes sure it’s quick.) -He... Will watch his stomach digest his food when he’s extremely bored. It’s like watching tv for him. -Go into their Village and talk with other Monsters and just try to have an enjoyable time. Sometimes it’s hard, but at least a few of them don’t mind what he is!

For the Ask they were talking about; Go here!

Ohhhh, you got some pretty cool hobbies, Rofa!! That water painting sounds super relaxing and ultra pretty ♥ But Hobbies for the boys, huh?... Well, lets see...

Azure is the one who ventures, so hiking is his main thing! But if not hiking, he really does enjoy to cook~ Feeding animals is also his ordeal, while learning from the humans of their medication things! He’s very curious how they heal!! Not to mention, want to heal animals, as well!

Abyss is the one who’s all about making clothing from furs and hides. You wouldn’t think he’d be the one to make clothing or anything, but he’s gotta do something productive so his brother doesn’t yell at him... He’s also the fire maker, a bit of a pyro, and enjoys to cook, too. Very big foodie, always looking how to get herbs or learning how to cook; But he’s also good with working and construction types. Building firepits to camps, he’s very much the builder despite not looking like it!

I have not really thought of them quite yet; So if people have ideas for them, I wouldn’t be opposed to hearing you out!!

And because it’s a Swap verse; Yes! My Grillby would be a Gillby, the Water Element!

Yes, actually!! A very good relationship; Abyss and Asgore get along very well together. It’s actually because Abyss shows interest more in the Monster heritage that Asgore is happy to have him in their area!

But, that brings up the question for Azure... Toriel is fine with both the boys; But Asgore might be very weary of Azzie due to his interest in the Humans and then how he got hurt. Still though, he watches out for both of the Brothers and makes sure their alright! He’s still a loveable Goatdad! Just questions Azzie’s place sometimes...

#DragaSwap #DragaSwaps #DragaSwap Asks #rofa1309 #inkswirl #desithecubi #blacklynx14 #Rofa; You're the one most in these and I appreciate all the deep questions you had!!!#Maiuo #MaiuoART #Goodlord so many questions but i LOVE IT #I didn't know whether to answer them seperately or not but #Eh #Oh well #Mai replies #SO MUCH

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put-a-lil-alright-in-the-world · 4 years

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Sees your last post that I was the the anon for. Loves it. Reads the tags. Yesss please do Charles and Beej headcanons I love their dynamic

u better watch your step, buddy, or i might just have to ask for your hand in marriage! thank you thank you thank you for listening to the many feels i have with this dynamic!

ok so charles was the last person in the household to become comfortable with beej being there, simply because his biggest priority is lydia, and he wanted to keep his guard up in case beej tried to hurt lydia

originally, his intention was to stay a bit distant from beej, to make things a bit easier for everyone involved. however, for reasons beyond charles’ understanding, beej just couldn’t seem to leave him alone

anytime something happened in the house, even if it was just barbara saying that they were having tacos for dinner, beej would instantly burst into charles’ office and tell him. when charles gets home from work, he learns to expect a 20-minute-or-more play-by-play of everything that happened around the house, delivered very enthusiastically by beej

after a short while, begrudgingly, charles has to admit that beej doesn’t pose a risk to anyone in the household, so he drops his guard a bit; starts engaging beej when he comes running. it doesn’t take long after that for him to realize that really, beej is just seeking some sort of validation, and he mentally berates himself for not realizing it sooner

of course beej would have dad issues after going through life without one, and it only makes sense that with all the time beej and lydia spend together, beej would start to see charles as a way of getting that stoic-dad validation he so desperately craves

now, charles may hide all of his emotions in a vault concealed within a four-foot-thick brick wall, but he’s no monster, and if submitting to the mortifying ordeal of showing emotion will help beej, it wouldn’t kill him to do

so, he starts offering validation in his awkward, stilted way, and beej can’t get enough. the time charles said “well done” when beej showed him a drawing of Big Sandy, beej cried for half an hour. charles sat next to him all the while, uncomfortably patting his back and silently cursing the heavens that he didn’t have delia’s emotional intelligence

as could be expected, the more validation charles offers beej, the more beej opens up to charles, and it doesn’t take long for charles to unlock major parts of his life story. after all, beej is a natural oversharer, so the moment he knows charles is listening, he lets himself ramble

it starts out as a harmless discussion about food preferences, but beej doesn’t stop himself when it ultimately descends into talking about how his mother never gave him anything to eat when he was young. if that weren’t horrifying enough for charles, the nonchalant tone in which beej describes it makes the whole story ten times worse

it’s so awful for charles to even imagine that he does something he never, in a million years, thought he would do. he puts down his work, he closes his laptop, and he looks beej in the eye from where beej was sitting across the home office, and he talks seriously. he explains to beej that none of what he just described is normal or okay, and that he would do whatever it took to make sure that he never had to go through that again

beej, already raw from the aftermath of an intense over sharing session and now faced with a ton of emotions from the most unlikely source imaginable, breaks down, his head falling onto charles’ desk as his body shakes with sobs

charles watches helplessly for a moment before getting up and hurrying around his desk to sit next to beej. and, like he had done with lydia more times than he could count, he carefully pulls beej into a tight hug, murmuring reassuring words into his ear. beej buries his head deep into charles’ shoulder, soaking it with tears in seconds

it takes just over 15 minutes for beej to calm down, his body still jolting with the occasional hiccup or gasp but otherwise still. charles keeps holding him for a few moments longer, hoping to keep him grounded enough to prevent another descent into tears. after the serious discussion that they just had, charles really wouldn’t be able to blame beej if he did go through another round of tears

after this episode, it was like a switch flicked for beej, and he became about a thousand times more eager to hang out with charles. maybe it was the realization that charles wasn’t actually out to get him, as he once thought, or the knowledge that he actually cares about beej’s wellbeing. as well; charles’ lack of disgust at seeing beej cry gives him the confidence he needs to ask charles for favours once in a while.

when he is able to muster up the courage to ask for one, they’re usually very small and unobtrusive, and a lot of these favours revolve around reading, not exactly beej’s forte. second only to adam, charles is his favourite person to read with, and his favourite person to read to. the validation that comes from charles’ pat on the back and “great job, buddy!” when beej makes it through lydia’s old Dr. Seuss collection without any help is enough to fuel beej’s confidence for an entire week

the most common favour though, is when beej asks charles to read to him. reading is hard work when you’re still struggling through sight words (and probably dyslexic, though that’s an hc list for another time), and when beej finds a book that he knows would simply be too difficult to tackle alone, he brings it to charles who, more often than not, will drop everything to read to him, at least for a chapter or two

a few months after beej moves in, he wakes up one night sobbing after a nightmare. without a word, charles, who had been finishing a report for work in his study, picks up a copy of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” that lydia had left lying on a hall table, and takes it to beej’s room. he sits down in the armchair next to beej’s bed and gently cards his fingers through his hair as he begins to read out loud, not stopping until beej is completely asleep again, about a half hour later

they hang out together on charles’ days off as well. nobody except beej had ever shared charles’ passion for birdwatching, and charles is thrilled. they spend more weekends than they can count in a nearby forest, trying to check off every bird in the local birdwatching guide. after work one day, charles brings home a book on birds for beej, offering to read it with him later

their relationship is a bit bumpy, though. for one thing, beej has a tendency to barge into charles’ study without knocking, and when charles asks him to please knock, he instantly perceives it as charles not wanting him there, when really, sometimes charles is just in important skype meetings and doesn’t want to interrupt his boss to explain to beej that no, he doesn’t know where his left shoe is.

it’s an issue that takes several conversations, but with the help of a sign stuck to his study saying “please knock” (both of which are words that charles made damn sure beej knows how to read), they manage to overcome it

beej also has a hard time with personal space, something which drives charles crazy when he’s trying to do things like unloading the dishwasher, or even just walk through the house. beej seems to be constantly colliding with him, and it takes charles having one sit-down conversation with beej, and about thirty reminders per day, but with enough positive reinforcement, beej seems to make promising progress

the pros far outweigh the cons for charles, though. after all, beej never really had a childhood, so he gets to relive the joy that came with things like teaching lydia how to ride a bike, play catch, fish. y’know, all the cliché dad stuff. beej has even more fun. charles and delia take him and lydia to play laser tag, to the beach, to the movies, everywhere you’d take your kids, and beej cant believe he’s lucky enough to get another shot at his childhood

at one point, without really thinking, charles refers to beej and lydia as “his kids”, and he couldn’t pry beej off him for the rest of the day. since then, he always makes sure to call beej “his kid”, if only to watch his hair turn a bright green

#alexa play ‘father to son’ from falsettos #good god i havent done a word count but i have to imagine that this is close to 2K #i love this dynamic #i literally never run out of ideas for it #so feel free to request more at any time lol #beetlejuice the musical #hc tag #beetlejuice #btmtmtm #beetlejuice headcanons #beetlejuice headcanon #remy writes

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kaypeace21 · 5 years

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Important things we learned from the ST prequel novel “Suspicious Minds”

What we learned about powers

The ‘potential’ to have powers is (generally) hereditary, however only under certain conditions will these powers manifest (psychological trauma, drugs, or certain psychological conditioning/experimentation is usually how it’s done). If this isn’t done, generally, if any powers still develop they are very weak. An example being Ken who was born with powers along with some of his other family members.

-“I am psychic, always have been ... My family always believed in this stuff... “

-“ He got feelings. Certainty would lodge itself in his chest. He had dreams with snatches of reality mixed in. Flashes of intuition. These came unpredictably—which he always thought was funny—and so he was never surprised if an inkling showed up. Or if it didn’t.”

-“ I get feelings, sometimes fully formed thoughts, that I have a deep sense are true.”

( Hmm...this intuition-thing sounds very similar to how Joyce insisted she knew Will was alive despite seeing his fake-body.)

The younger the child is when experimented or tortured, the more likely they are to yield stronger powers. Even if the same trauma was done on an adult the results would be weaker and would be dependent on that particular stimulus. Alice could only see visions of the future with lsd and electroshock therapy, Terry had what’d you’d call “perfect recall” (which only happened with lsd)- diving into her memories and remembering them perfectly. While El can channel her powers without such things.

-“Rare enough these days, especially in adult subjects...potential”

-“His theory had always been that exceptional abilities could be encouraged under the right conditions. But he’d always had to work with available subjects, none of them clean slates. This child—he could start encouraging the development of this child’s abilities now. In utero. Every day of her life. He’d make sure she was special”

There is a high correlation between above average intelligence and having “potential” (i.e capability to develop powers). In the book, Brenner almost used the terms interchangeably”.

- “genius IQ, potential…limitless.” (El’s ‘potential’ was described as ‘extreme’)

-Terri is described as “above average intelligence”, and “brimming with potential” by Brenner.

-One of Brenner’s nicknames for Kali is “smart girl”.

-Terry’s questioned her roommate Stacy (who got out of the experiment) saying “How she’d fooled anyone into thinking she had average intelligence was beyond Terry—Stacey was obviously the smartest of all.”

-also in other outside cannon material Will is said to be the smartest of all the boys... hmmm...

How the void works

Terry after getting pregnant (temporarily) gains her baby Jane’s/El’s power to tap into the ‘void’. In relation to seeing normal people in the void, Terry learned they will not notice you observing and eavesdropping on them, and they cannot hear or see you (according to the book) ... so we can probably assume they also cannot touch other psychics without fading away, as well (like in the show).

But the void is different if you try this on another psychic, she accidentally summons Kali- and finds out it’s a way for other psychics and only other psychics to have a private place to talk to one another- without anyone realizing. So yep, Will is psychic- the fact Will could touch, see, hear, and talk to El in the void wasn’t a coincidence! Debate over! XD”

More Proof Will has powers

He can communicate with other psychics using the void (in s1) . If powers are genetic (Joyce probably has Clairvoyance like Ken). And in the show, Joyce’s and Terry’s aunts were both described as “crazy” -which is probably not a coincidence. Also he’s the smartest of all the boys and described by Mr Clarke as “great student.”

In relation to the adults (with powers) both the Xmen and Lord of the Rings were used in reference to them, multiple times. Will’s password for Castle Byers is “Rhadagast”, a character in Lord of the Rings. And in the 1st ep of the series, before Will goes missing , he asks Dustin for his X-men comic- later in reference to El ,Dustin asks “Do you think El was born with her powers like the X-men?” And when Mike says El is “channeling him (Will)”. Dustin says “like professor x”. clearly hinting that they were both born with powers, like the X-men.

Dr Brenner says there are very few people in the world with ‘potential’- ie the ability to develop powers under certain conditions. He encouraged the numbered-children to draw since it would increase the chances of developing powers. This is why we see a picture that El drew on her bedroom wall in s1. And who else really likes to draw- Will?

-“Art the psychologist here claimed, was vitally important for the creative children. Eight was definitely creative.” (Eight at this time, was the most powerful psychic ever, since El wasn’t born yet.)

when experimenting on the adults, they would take monthly blood tests and monitor their blood pressures. In s2 ep 1 they did the same thing to Will. They drew Will’s blood and put it in a vial ,monitored his blood pressure, and like El, recorded his brainwaves.

Ken who was born with powers, is not heterosexual. And since many believe Will is queer it’s probably not a coincidence. Plus Will is referenced to as a “cleric” and a “wizard”. And as a joke his friend says about him, “what wizardry is this?”

Dr Brenner tells a story about an experiment that involves killing rabbits. In the show “Papa” tries to force El to kill a cat. While Lonnie, Will’s dad, forced Jonathan to kill a rabbit, the first time he learned to shoot a gun. And since Will knows how to shoot a gun in s1e1, we can infer he was also forced to kill a rabbit/animal by a father figure-so it’s probably a parallel.

Both Alice and Terry when using their powers had hallucinations of a rainbow, Kali also formed a visual-allusion of sunflowers and a rainbow (implying all 3 have seen this rainbow, as well, when using their powers). And when Will was very young- he drew that ‘rainbow ship’.

-Terri: “Spots bloomed behind her eyelids. Every color ... as the sunlight turned to rainbows” ( p44-45), “The rainbow stayed with Terry for a long while, but eventually it faded and in its place: darkness. A pit.”(p. 48). “streaks of rainbow appeared (p47)”, “Wavy rainbows seemed to radiate from her hand even once she stilled it. (p. 88). “Her eyelids drifted shut, rainbows and sparks flying behind them. (p. 89).

-Alice (who sees visions of the future) : “Snarling, snapping monsters, rainbow lights playing in the air around them (p. 121).

-Kali: “field of yellow sunflowers grew up around them. A rainbow arcing over the golden tops.” (p. 139). “He noticed she’d drawn up there, a rainbow with her colored pencils. Maybe he’d suggest that for the playroom” (the rainbow room we see in s2) (p. 298)

Interesting things we learned about Kali

- Kali at 5 years old, was the strongest of all 10 numbers- who were called the Indigo children (who are in a separate experiment than the adults, like Terry).

- Brenner purposely isolated her from other people. “Eight wasn’t allowed to know there were other children here. They were all ordinary so far. He worried they’d infect her.” (what a sicko- he did that to El too). He says about Kali “Child shows gifts that require isolation from those who might weaken her…Constantly asks for family and to be called by given name…Has stopped asking for her mother…”

- Brenner put her through sleep deprivation, for 13 hours, when she tried to keep a secret from him.

- In another scene after Kali reveals another secret to Brenner, Terry finds her on the bed “bathed in sweat, soaked through her gown” and “sobbing” “tightly gripping the sheets”. What did Brenner do here... am I reading too much into this? I feel like I missed a page or... y’know maybe he’s even more of a monster than I thought. They never explain this? And I’m still not sure how to interpret it 0-0

-Kali loved Terry (El’s mom) and the other adults even saying “I love you”, and referring to them as “family”. And Kali makes a hallucination in order to help them escape, they promise to come back and free her. So in s2 ep7 the “family” that Kali referred to that Dr. Brenner/the government killed was them.

Dr Brenner probably has powers

- Ken who was born with powers describes it as a gut feeling of something that will occur or a belief he knows is true.

-Brenner can simply look at a person and his gut feeling tells him whether or not they have ‘potential’ to develop powers or not. It isn’t always correct but the vast majority of the time it is. He does this throughout the whole novel to everyone he meets.

“male, 5′8″, 180 pounds, white, average intelligence, potential…fulfilled by sitting in a guard booth checking IDs”

“Rare enough these days, especially in adult subjects. The way she’d sensed an opportunity and shown up suggested potential...Potential. She was bursting with it.” (about Terri)

“Such lost potential is always sad. There’s so little of it in the world.”(about Alice)

“Funny that his ID contained some of the information Brenner would have wanted if he were looking at himself: male, 6′1″, 195 pounds, white. The rest: genius IQ, potential…limitless.”

What we learned about the Mindflayer

-Well, I was right about the mindflayer having fire powers -so Will will probably get electro-pyrokinesis (along with other powers) like the comic and show hinted at, link here and here.

Alice who sees visions of the future describes the mindflayer as “A monstrous vortex of fire and energy and darkness, tentacles reaching and growing. Growing so big they could eat the sky. Its mouth had a glowing fire of destruction inside it… (p. 243).

#will byers #stranger things #stranger things theory #el hopper #kali prasad

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wheremytwinwatches · 4 years

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[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 28

Last time: We had a “Surprise, you’re shipping my son and my great-granddaughter” scare, unresolved Season 2 issues gave way to a recap episode, and Beard argued with himself. Onwards!

Straight into the Crush Flower/Spare Flower intro this time (still can’t get over young!Armstrong crying GUH), let’s hurry up and get some answers! A fanged skull being used as a candle-holder? Obviously the laboratory of a reputable scientist! So yeah, Gluttony’s just shown Al into Father’s lab (who isn’t in his chair for once, did he actually go fishing?), Al and Shao are just a little freaked out at the interior decoration. Gluttony doesn’t give them time to settle down though, calls out for Father- What. Oh my goodness. Father is Papa Elric? Who would have ever guessed. What a shock.

Episode 28 - “Father” So! Awkward family reunion time! I’m sure that Al has lots of questions. But surprisingly, Father isn’t that happy that Gluttony just opened the door for a Protagonist, Gluttony’s in a heck of a lot of pain. Father targeting his Stone, somehow? A deadman’s switch if any Goths went against him directly? Oh! Jeez, I’d almost forgotten about how Ed, Ling, and Envy were forcing their way out of a Leto-forsaken pocket dimension. Jailbreak! Al’s a little concerned to see a titanic monster burst out of Gluttony, but is distracted by seeing his brother and the freeloading prince alive. Easy with the hugs, Al! After the brothers get their “OML I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE NOT DEAD” out of the way, time to talk with pops. Who… notes their metal limbs/body, and asks if they’re the Elric Brothers? Hold on, what? He doesn’t recognize his own kids? But he saw Ed in Resembool just a while ago, how- Oh. OH! D’oh, it’s so obvious. Dude’s made artificial humans with fragments of his own personality, is that kind of guy really going to do drudge work when he can pass it on to others? And someone who makes “superior beings” out of himself is too vain to just hire common workers, oh no. Why stop at making only seven Goths, when you can make a couple more to keep the place clean? Yup, Uncle asks if they mean von Hohenheim, is surprised (and pleased?) to learn that the guy has children. More confused as to why they call themselves the Elrics, learning that it’s their mother’s name just has him ask where Hohenheim’s been if not with his kids. See, Beard/Father? Even your clones think that you’re being a jerk. Ouch, Ed’s still a bit beat up from the escape (so wait, are Envy, Gluttony, and Ling just hanging out by the wall while this is going on), and Al’s missing his hand. Didn’t Ed bring that back? Let’s go ahead and- uh. Um. Uncle just Transmuted Al’s hand back, and fixed Ed’s arm. And then Ed’s broken ribs as well. Without any Transmutation Circles, no movement, and without drawing on any pre-existing materials. [Ed/Al]: “There isn’t any Equivalent Exchange!” EEC: 10 And with that, Uncle goes from “quirky household help” to “terrifyingly powerful Goth”. Ling points out that he’s obviously not human- [Uncle]: “I would ask who you are, but I honestly don’t care.”

While Ling stands shocked at the utter disrespect, Uncle just walks away and says Gluttony can eat him. Whoa dude, hold on. Maybe the Elrics can argue that if Uncle wants them to be well, he should spare their friend? Nope, Uncle DNGAF about an insect such as What’s-his-name. Ed? Ed buddy, I know that you’re the hotheaded Anime Protagonist, but maybe this is the time for a strategic retreat? Maybe you shouldn’t attack the dude who can do freeform Transmutation, and who has two Goths waiting just off to the side? Or you could Earthbend at him, whatever. Guys? Guys, please think about what you’re doing. Uncle here is a minion of Father, and he’s powerful enough Transmute without EC. You’re facing the Big Bad’s Dragon here, and the show’s barely halfway through. You need to get out of there, now. Envy’s attacking the kids now, and they’re all but ignoring the Titan!Goth to try and hit Uncle, who at most raises a hand to block Al’s attack, then sends Ling flying. This is not a fight you can win, and I can tell Uncle’s patience is running out. He takes one step forward… Uncle takes a single step, and the sheer force of his power radiates through the room, to Scar and May where they face the chimeras, and even out to Beard himself as he apparently is still on his fishing trip. Point is, dude’s strong. Ed and Al snap out of their shock, strike the ground… ok, good, they’ve finally realised they’re outmatched and are surrendering. Or… not? [Ed/Al]: “What’s going on? I can’t Transmute!”

Oooooh Leto. That’s not good. Not only is Uncle ludicrously strong, but they can make an anti-Alchemy field? And one that’s selective, too; Ed and Al have been depowered, but Envy can still smash them into the ground. Envy mocks them as lower life forms, blathering about how humans don’t even understand their own power. (Oooh, sudden thought. If that implies that Alchemy comes from Truth, and we can assume that the Elrics are gonna defeat Truth to get Al’s soul back, is that going to disrupt Alchemy as a whole? Is Amestris going to have to reorganize around not having magic?). Uncle tells Envy to shut up, then says that Ling may be useful after all. Holy crud, the intro was right. That was Ling standing with the Goths? Hoo boy, Lan Fan is not going to be happy when she hears about this. Envy’s expositing that Uncle’s got the Stone in his bloodstream, and can spread it to others to create Human Homunculi. All Ed and Al can do is pound hopelessly at the ground, crying about how they’ve lost their powers and can’t do anything. But wait! Ed has the pistol! But before Ed can/has to use the gun, Ling yells at him to stay out of it. [Ling]: “I came to your land to find a Philosopher’s Stone, and now this guy wants to give me one! I’m not gonna turn this down!” Come on, Ling! You’re going to go through what Bradley did, stay strong! Battle of the mind again, Ling’s floating in a sea of tortured red souls, when ok here’s Father’s Sin. You… you can do it Ling? Ok, ok good! Don’t fight the Sin (assuming Greed, not Lust), but work with it, be unconventional! [Ling]: “I said come! I freely accept you!” [Greed]: “Y’know, people normally reject me.” But Ling is anything but normal. Future Emperor of Xing here (disregarding the whole “making the guy whose job I want immortal” thing, but whatever). Greed at least is amused by Ling’s ambition. And yeah, as much as I applauded the first Greed for acting so Slytherin (views subordinates as possessions, angry that someone would steal from him by harming them), if Ling does end up going Goth then there’s no better way than a quest for power, to provide for his people.

Ling goes into the light… And Greed wakes up. Damnit. So yeah. Ling’s gone, replaced by the new Greed. Ed and Al frantically plead for Ling to remember, to answer them, but no dice. Greed just stands there and smirks at them. Door? Someone else coming to the party? Oh hey, Scar and May! About time you showed up! Ok, ok, let’s get the important stuff out of the way; Shao reunited with May? Check! Scar finally realizing that the Elrics aren’t working with the Goths? Check! May finally seeing Ed, and all her romantic dreams being shattered in a tragic and hilarious fashion? Check! Gluttony points out the Ishvalan, and Uncle lets him loose. Crap, and they don’t have their Alchemy, Scar’s Hand O’ Doom won’t- work?! And May, too? All right, the effect’s worn off! Or not, the Elrics are still depowered. Well, when punching won’t work, try talking. And what better thing to say that tell Scar that the one responsible for the destruction of his people is standing right in front of him? Scar… does not take this revelation calmly. Like, May’s backing away from the fury of Yoki’s servant. And Uncle’s going to have a bit of a mess to clean up after all this is over. Uncle orders Greed to eliminate the outsiders, Ed tries to run interference and talk Ling back into control, and May’s fleeing from Gluttony. Uncle’s in his Investigative mode, ports right behind Scar to ask how he’s still using his Alchemy. Scar goes for the Hand O’ Doom, and Uncle just stands there, and calmly works through the technique. Scar’s freaked. And almost killed, Leto! May pauses for one second at seeing Scar hurt, and gets struck by Gluttony for her concern. Thankfully Al comes in for the save and gets the protesting May outside. Where there are chimera waiting, great. Ok, Scar’s there now but injured, the chimera are still massed, and both Gluttony and Envy are heading directly for them. Al tells Scar to take May and run, since he’s the one who at least will survive facing them. But Scar refuses and grabs his helmet, throws it to make a spark. Big boom! The smoke clears as Al grabs his helmet, only to get grabbed by Envy in turn. Looks like Scar and May escaped in the cover, so Gluttony’s ordered to sniff them down. Thankfully all of Scar’s HOD’s at least disrupted Gluttony’s regeneration ability so he can’t do much more than lay there and smoke. And OH MY LETO I just realized where the Ishvalan and Xings went to. Hopefully it goes better for them than it did for Martel. Greed’s fighting Ed, Ed’s still screaming for Ling to take back control. Knocks Greed down, challenges him about his country and Lan Fan- OH. That right there, Ling not blocking the punch and just glaring at Ed? Maybe it’s false hope, maybe I just don’t want Ling to go the way of Hughes, but I’m getting a message of “dude, stfu and stop trying to blow my cover” from that glare. Please please please let this be a ploy to enter the Goth circle as a spy.

Greed captures Ed and Uncle orders him to be taken upstairs to Wrath. Accusing them of “treason” and throwing in jail, maybe? Ed’s calmed down now, whispers to Al what he’s discovered/hopes for: Ling is still alive. End credits! Hoooooo boy. Lots of stuff this episode, lots of setup. Looking forward to next week, let’s give Uncle a bit of time to tidy up before the Elrics wreck his stuff again.

#wmtw #where my twin watches #full metal alchemist #full metal alchemist brotherhood #fmab #fmab 28

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tyrantisterror · 5 years

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REVENGE OF THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST!

Eons ago, when the earth was young, I held the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, and creators like YOU populated my activity page with a legion of giant monsters! Now, years later, in celebration of publishing the first volume of The Atomic Time of Monsters, the contest calls to us once again, and it’s only grown bigger and spikier with age. If you wish to once more ravage the world with atomic titans of your own design, then please, read on after the cut to discover the rules of this thrilling kaiju role call!

Ok, for clarity’s sake I’ll drop the goofy melodramatic tone.

Like the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, the aim of this contest is to create kaiju that would fit within the setting of my big kaiju story series, The Atomic Time of Monsters. Think of it as me letting you into my sandbox to play with my toys for a bit, or like you’re being put in the director’s chair of a new ATOM-verse kaiju movie. That means your entry does have to fit into ATOM’s world, which in turn means that yes, there are limitations to your creativity here. But limitations can be good sometimes - they can make us explore options we wouldn’t consider when given completely free rein to do what we want!

THE RULES:

1. This time around, you are limited to one entry per person. Last time we produced 60+ kaiju, which was awesome, but this time around I want to narrow the scope a little bit - especially if I end up doing something crazy and end up drawing them all like last time, since my carpal tunnel syndrome afflicted hand just can’t do what it did those years ago. Work hard and make your entry count!

2. Your kaiju must have some sort of description of its physical appearance and its personality - you can submit a drawing or a written description (or both!) for the physical appearance depending on what you’re most comfortable with. Using the ATOM kaiju file template isn’t required, but it was cool when people did it in the last contest, so feel free to do so this time too!

3. The kaiju you create must specifically be created for this contest - no repurposing characters you made for other, wildly different stories.

4. The kaiju must fit the setting and aesthetics of ATOM. I’ll explain this in more detail down below.

5. The kaiju should add something meaningful to the world of ATOM. What would be the point of having another fire-breathing t.rex monster? The more unique and interesting your kaiju is, the more likely you will win the contest.

6. The kaiju must be independent of the main plot of ATOM - not “Tyrantis’s long lost evil brother who’s the strongest kaiju in the world.” These should be to Tyrantis’s story what War of the Gargantuas is to Godzilla’s movies – heroes (well, monsters) of another story in the same world.

THE REWARDS:

I will make pencil sketches of the top 5 entries in the contest.

I will then make fully rendered illustrations (lineart, colors, & shading) of the top three entries.

The winning entry will be made into a model ala the ones I’ve been making for ATOM’s core 50 monsters, which can then be shipped to the person who created it (should they be able to cover the shipping costs). That’s right, your kaiju could be brought to life in THREE GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR DIMENSIONS!

THE DEADLINE: All entries must be submitted by August 9th, 2019. You can submit it here on tumblr, via the horror flora e-mail, or any other channel you know how to reach me through. I’m in a lot of places.

THE GUIDELINES (TO HELP YOUR ENTRY FIT THE RULES AND WIN)

The smartest thing you could do if you want to win this contest is familiarize yourself with the world of ATOM by, y’know, reading all the material I’ve published on the subject. In addition to the many kaiju files that are free to read on horrorflora.com, the first actual, factual novel in the series was published very recently (and, y’know, is the reason I’m holding this contest), which you can get from amazon in both paperback and/or kindle editions (I’d recommend the former over the latter since I lack the technology to make a really nice ebook, but if money is an object, the kindle version is only $1).

However, since I know reading a bunch of stuff is, y’know, not something everyone is inclined to do, I’ll jot some good bullet points for you in an attempt to outline how ATOM works in a brief, easily digested way:

ATOM is an homage to the monster fiction of the 1950’s and 60’s (i.e. the Atomic Age), and is set in those two decades, albeit an alternate universe version of them where, y’know, monsters and space aliens exist. If you aren’t familiar with the monster fiction I’m referring to, there will be some reference material provided at the end of this post along with some recommendations for further research.

Kaiju/giant monsters in ATOM work under very specific rules. There’s a full description of those rules at this link, but here’s the jist:

ATOM Kaiju are created created by the radiation of a mineral called Yamaneon, which naturally converts harmful radiation into its own unique energy. In natural circumstances, it takes hundreds of years of exposure to Yamaneon radiation for a creature to become fully transform into a kaiju (luckily, Yamaneon radiation slows the aging process while speeding up the healing process). However, an explosive burst of energy - such as the geothermal and kinetic energy released by an earthquake, or the blast of a nuclear weapon - can speed up the process, turning a normal animal into a kaiju within a matter of seconds.

All ATOM kaiju can heal grievous wounds within minutes or even seconds, are supernaturally strong and durable, and can convert harmful radiation to harmless energy that they then feed off of. Kaiju do not have an equivalent of old age, and can theoretically live forever (though their violent lifestyle means that few do).

ATOM Kaiju generally don’t need to eat unless they are severely injured, getting most of the energy they need from solar or geothermal radiation - but many still have instincts that drive them to seek out food from time to time.

Most ATOM kaiju stand roughly 100 feet tall (depending on their body shape), i.e. smaller than the original 1954 Godzilla. There are exceptions to this rule - younger kaiju can be smaller, while exceedingly old kaiju can be significantly larger, but these are rare.

In general, ATOM kaiju are significantly more intelligent and emotionally complex than people expect animals to be, though most are incapable of speech or complex tool use. There’s a reason ATOM Kaiju Files have a “personality” section.

Most ATOM Kaiju are tooth and claw fighters - ranged weapons are a rarity in this setting.

While the terrestrial monsters in ATOM look strange, they are intended to fit within the taxonomy of animals in reality - reptiles, mammals, fish, arthropods, molluscs, etc.

ATOM’s mesozoic era was dominated by a fictional clade of crocodile-relatives called retrosaurs, which are based on the outdated paleoart that one would find in the 1950’s/60’s fiction - i.e. when dinosaurs were viewed as trail dragging lizards instead of strange birds. You can learn more about retrosaurs here.

Kaiju appear on every continent in ATOM, but certain areas tend to be dominated by different types.

North America is mainly besieged by retrosaur kaiju and giant arthropods.

East Asia is technically also mainly plagued by retrosaurs and big arthropods, though they tend to look more fantastical and mythic - and, often, oddly well suited to being portrayed by a person wearing a monster suit.

Russia is beset by prehistoric monsters that seem to come from the Cenozoic, particularly the Ice Age.

Western Europe is plagued by creatures that vaguely resemble creatures from myth, if they were also prehistoric. Dragon-y lizards, fiery birds, etc.

Towards the mid-way point of ATOM’s timeline, earth is invaded by a coalition of aliens from different solar systems called the Beyonder Alliance, and as a result a bunch of alien monsters can be found on earth.

Mars and Venus both host (or hosted in Mars’s case) animal life. The surviving Martians colonized Venus, and sent some of their kaiju guardians to earth to help us fend off the Beyonders (who are responsible for the destruction of Mars’s ecosystem). Martian and Venusian kaiju have specific anatomical quirks, which you can see by looking at these kaiju files:

Venusians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/03/atom-kaiju-file-29-karamtor/

Martians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-39-kemlasulla/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-40-podritak/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-41-sombarvot/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-38-ullawdra/

Giant robots exist in ATOM, but are big, bulky, and incredibly expensive. Fancy beam weapons also exist, but are similarly clunky - there are no sleek, elegant machines in ATOM.

Since the fiction ATOM takes inspiration from was made at a time when interplanetary travel was only just beginning to be possible, its scope is significantly smaller than modern sci-fi. Alternate universes/dimensions were pretty uncommon because the idea of alien planets still held a lot of wonder to it. So, as a general rule, don’t try to go farther than the one galaxy.

ATOM is a setting for stories that are focused on humanity learning to co-exist with monsters, rather than humanity destroying them. A certain level of sympathy is put into almost every creature of its canon, even the ones that are meant to be villains.

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Here is a playlist of 1950′s monster movie trailers.

Here is some reference material from various monster comics of the 50′s and 60′s.

Video of retrosaurs in action.

Good movies to track down to understand ATOM’s inspiration and tone include Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Them!, The Black Scorpion, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Gamera, The Giant Claw, and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

Finally, here’s the page for the original ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest, which has even more reference material for you to peruse.

#Revenge of the ATOM Kaiju Contest #The Atomic Time of Monsters #kaiju

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damienthepious · 5 years

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i am running out of unique ways to say how Excite i am for Lizard Kiss Day, please understand that i am still SO EXCITE

Made A Garden (Chapter 2)

[Chapter 1] [ao3]

Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Relationship: Lord Arum/Rilla

Characters: Rilla, Lord Arum, Rilla’s Parents

Additional Tags: Second Citadel, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, (categorized as ‘other’ bc arum is nonbinary when i write him bye), Lizard Kissin’ Tuesday, POV Alternating, canon typical Arum ignoring feelings

Fic Summary: Rilla’s parents take her out when they do field work. She’s a smart kid, and she knows how not to get in trouble when they’re caught up with their experiments and research. This time, they’ve taken her to an enormous, beautiful swamp, and their theory is that the monstrous presence in this place should be entirely dormant- which is why Rilla is so surprised, when she meets a monster for herself.

Chapter Summary: Little Lord Arum tries his best to keep his distance, despite his curiosity.

Notes:hehehehehehehe i am ENJOYING this fic IMMENSELY and i hope y'all are right there with me <3

Arum is absurdly careful to ensure that the human - Amaryllis - does not see him the next day, when she returns to the pond. He hides among the trees above, hoping that she will assume him more aquatic than he actually is. She seems… nervous, perhaps? Or at least expectant, for the first hour or so. She keeps scanning her eyes along the shore, among the foliage, and whenever there is a noise fairly close she perks up, her eyes lighting with… excitement?

Arum does not understand. Humans have not invaded his swamp before (not while he has been alive, at least) but he has read about them, in the coded journals and memoirs of his predecessors, and he has heard stories from his Keep. Humans are supposed to be… different from this. Different from her.

They are supposed to be weak, brittle, fallible, inflexible and slow-minded. Easily frightened. Easily drawn to violence by their fear, and even more vicious when frightened in a group.

Amaryllis appears neither fragile nor fearful.

She swims for hours, intermittently singing to herself (her song was what had drawn him towards her the day before, a strange, out-of-place warble among the frogsong and birdsong, a foreign sound in his wider home), and then when her strange, soft skin is over-soaked by the water she pulls herself out to sit on the bank. She finds a wide bed of moss and spreads out upon it, murmurs sphagnum girgensohnii in a pleased singsong as if she is greeting the flora. She carefully drifts her fingers across the softness before she sinks herself into the mound, and then she just- lays in the sun, for a while.

Arum is surprised to learn that humans enjoy basking, too.

Once she’s reasonably dry she pulls out a book from the little canvas bag she left on the shore and starts to write, starts to draw, and Arum creeps closer above so he can see the work of her hands. Her handwriting is clean and even, and too small to be read at a distance, but her sketches are curious. She scrawls out careful imitations of the curves of nearby ferns, then devotes some time to dragonfly wings, watching as the creatures dart along above the water, laughing her strange, high laughter when they come close to her.

When she grows tired of her book and returns to the water, Arum slinks down from the branches to the bushes, and pulls the book quietly from the bag during a long moment when Amaryllis is drifting in the water with her eyes closed.

Up close, her handwriting is full of interesting curls and curves, but it is still not quite parsable to his eye. He understands the language, certainly, but she seems to be employing a sort of shorthand he is unfamiliar with. He is still more interested in the sketches, anyway, and he nearly drops the book entirely when he sees-

Himself.

It’s a drawing of only half his face, really, from the snout up with his jaw and lower hidden beneath the surface of the water, and she captured the exact curve of his horns from memory somehow, and his eyes are glaring out from the page with wariness and- fear.

… she saw that? She saw that he was afraid?

No. He closes the book. No, of course she hadn’t seen- how could she have seen fear that was not there? Lord Arum has no reason to fear a single weak human, especially not some human child with an underdeveloped sense of self-preservation.

Arum tucks the book away again, back into the canvas bag, and while Rilla sings quietly to herself, he beats a tactical retreat.

The next day it rains, hard and relentless and cool, and Amaryllis does not return to the pond. Arum finds the large tent the humans are sheltering in after minimal searching, though.

Apparently humans are not so fond of rain. They remain inside the tent for most of the day, and he can see them in half-obscured silhouette through the cloth, through the flaps that ruffle in the wind, apparently sketching and writing in more books like the one Amaryllis keeps. They speak to each other in easy, fond tones about how certain ‘research’ should be ‘organized’, until apparently that begins to bore them.

One of the taller humans (Amaryllis’ parents? Was that what she said?) pulls out an instrument, a short-necked, pear-shaped thing with an abundance of strings, tunes it with skillful speed, and then he begins to play.

The song is adeptly performed. There are so many strings, and the human’s fingers move so nimbly Arum can barely keep tabs on them (they must have to, since he has so few digits with which to work), and then Arum is distracted from the effort of watching his playing when the three of them start to sing.

Amaryllis singing on her own was… pleasant. In a simple sort of way. A childish sort of way. And Arum is quite familiar with harmonies, of course. He hears the things the Keep is saying underneath its song, but he does still hear the song as well, and on occasion it will sing him a song he enjoys enough to sing along with. At night, typically, when he is close to sleep.

The harmony the three humans create is-

It feels familiar. It feels precisely how singing with the Keep feels.

It disquiets him, these humans and their strange-familiar song. He slips away in the rain, scrambling quick until he can no longer hear them, and then he calls for a way home.

The third day after he meets Amaryllis, he watches her as she picks her way around a patch of berry-laden bushes (not eating any of the berries, thankfully- they may look like an edible fruit, but magical flora can be quite tricky and not even Arum knows for sure if this happens to be a patch of something that would kill the human on ingestion or not), and as she wanders she becomes distracted by a grouping of overlarge purple-and-gold butterflies flouncing over her head.

She is too distracted. She does not see the danger.

Arum panics. He whips his tail down below the leaves, slips it around Amaryllis’ waist and jerks her back, just barely in time to keep her out of the way when the sickly gray-blue flower hanging from the branch ahead of her belches out a cloud of vicious, poisonous orange spores.

“Watch where you’re going,” he barks in alarm, “you stupid little human!”

He sees the moment when she recognizes his voice, and then- he panics again. He unwinds his tail from around her midsection (humans run unreasonably hot, he thinks) and clambers higher into the foliage, where she will hopefully be unable to see him.

Arum watches from his new perch as Amaryllis takes a large, careful step away from the still-hanging orange cloud, and then she aims her eyes upward, searching for him. He growls automatically, which- was the wrong thing to do, because her attention hones in close to his position and he feels compelled to scramble another branch or two away until he feels safe from her gaze.

“Ah… Arum?” she calls out, her eyes still scanning where the leaves are swaying in his wake.

Arum’s mouth curls into an unhappy frown, and he keeps deliberately quiet and still. Perhaps he can fool her into thinking that he has already gone away, and then he can leave in earnest when she runs back to her little family.

“Well…” she is still looking upward, still looking for him. “Uh… thank you for that, I think?”

“Don’t-” Arum snaps before he can stop himself, furious that she would do something so horrible as to- “Don’t thank me!”

He is still hidden from her, but obviously she knows generally where his voice is coming from, and she turns slowly on her heel as she continues to look for him, a slow half-smile curling her mouth. “I mean… I don’t know exactly what that plant is, but I figure it probably would have been pretty bad for me if I breathed any of that orange stuff in, right? And I definitely would have just walked right into it if you didn’t… kinda… you know… save me-”

“S-stop that!” Arum drops back down, just enough that he can stick his head through the leaves and scowl at her upside-down, his frill flaring with irritation and with gravity. “I did not save you, don’t be ridiculous-”

“What would you call it, then?” she asks, crossing her arms and looking up at him.

He opens his mouth to answer and- does not know. His jaw snaps shut. He tries again, with equal success, then settles for a glare as she raises an eyebrow at his lack of explanation.

“So…” she says, her voice musical, “I think you might deserve, y’know, just a little thank-you for-”

“No, I most certainly don’t.”

Amaryllis giggles, apparently unable to contain her mirth as she looks at him, and he glares automatically in response, his teeth snapping together, but then he feels his cheeks twitch and he- chokes out half a laugh of his own in response, completely unable to stop himself. He feels his his frill pull tight to his neck with mortification, and he pulls his head back up behind the leaves, where she cannot see him bury his face in his hands as he starts to scramble away.

Ridiculous ridiculous ridiculous- of course he laughed with- no, he was laughing at her, of course he was, because she’s just a silly little human, wandering and nearly getting her stupid self killed-

“Wait, don’t go!”

Scowling viciously, he pops his head back down, and Amaryllis has to turn to spy his new position. “Why not?” he snarls.

“Because-”

Arum waits. Amaryllis stares at him, and now it is her turn to work her jaw without giving an answer. After a moment, she clasps her hands together in front of herself and bites her lip.

“I… I don’t know. I just don’t want you to leave.”

Arum stares at her. He stares at her for what feels like a long time, but she does not say anything else. She does not look away from him either, her dark eyes catching the light drifting through the foliage and turning intermittently molten and deep amber, like buckwheat honey backlit by the sun.

“Don’t be foolish,” he says, his voice scratching low. “Run back to your family, little human. Clearly,” he growls, “clearly you do not belong here.”

Then, before the frown furrowing her brow can grow any further, before she can retort or respond, he bolts. He darts from branch to branch and away, his heart hammering with shame and confusion at his own actions and Amaryllis’ words, and this time she does not call after him.

He is confused by that, as well. Confused by his disappointment, when he does not hear her voice again.

#elle's fanfic #the penumbra podcast #second citadel #rad bouquet #lord arum #amaryllis of exile #lizard kissin' tuesday #bouquet childhood friends au #penumbra au zone #:D #i'm actually QUITE HAPPY with this chapter???? somehow #made a garden

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nitestars · 6 years

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Never Strike Twice

It’s that time in Kepler again, a new abomination must be about, but no two creatures are ever the same. The Pine Guard must protect those around the Gate, but what happens when they are forced to choose between an innocent or the greater good?

First (1)/ Previous (7)/ Next (9)

Jupiter is standing at the window of her new room in Amnesty lodge. Footsteps pass by her door and she bristles, glaring at the door until the voices fade away.

“I can’t believe this…” she says, her face again indecipherable with emotions.

She turns to the mirror on her right, staring at her amber eyes before they trail down to her arms. She clicks her tongue as she pulls up her sleeve, glancing over her arm before tugging her jacket back down.

She is here now, maybe she could make this work. Yeah, she can work with this, maybe even get something out of it. She was surrounded by all these people, these “sylphs,” but she has to be careful.

Before Jupiter could go deeper into her thoughts, a knock on her door makes her jump. Without asking, the door opens and a head pops in.

“Heeeyyyy Jupe!” Aubrey grins. “Are you settling in okay?”

“Y-yeah!” Jupiter smiles back. “Heh, you scared me.”

“Aw, I’m sorry. Can I come in?” Aubrey asks.

“Of course.” Jupiter says, taking a seat on her bed as Aubrey enters the room with Dr. Harris Bonkers in one arm, shutting the door behind them. “How uh, how’s Dani and… um…”

“Barclay,” Aubrey finishes for her. “They… still aren’t doin’ too hot-”

“Hot ‘cause fire?” Jupiter says without missing a beat.

“Eyyy!” Aubrey laughs, but it’s still a bit hollow. “But yeah, they’re still recovering from uh, the shock, heh, of what happened.” Aubrey rubs the back of her neck. “But uh, I dunno, I think whatever that thing did with the light it… ate? From Dani? I think that’s what happened to Barclay.”

“Hmm.” Jupiter looks out the window for a second. “Hey, Aubrey?”

“Yeah?”

“I um… c- can you show me that fire thing you do again?” she asks.

“Oh, sure! Hold on.” Aubrey sets down her rabbit before cracking her knuckles, grinning.

“Three thousand years ago, on the banks of the Nile, the priests used to believe that if someone believed hard enough and pushed their will to the brink they could conjure, from nothing, flame itself. I am that person. With the strength of my will alone, I can conjure flame from nothing!”

And she lights her hands ablaze, just barely containing the flames within her palms.

Jupiter looks on with that same mix of emotions on her face, but a smile tugs at her lips at the display, so Aubrey continues. She juggles the flames, switches them from hand to hand, pretends to eat it and then pulls it out from behind her head. She throws a little sleight of hand in as well, pretending to burn up a card before revealing it within her denim jacket.

By the end of the performance, Jupiter is grinning, even letting a laugh escape here and there as Aubrey concludes the private show with a bow.

“That’s- heh, that’s pretty amazing!” Jupiter scooches and leans in the corner of the wall and the headboard of the bed as Aubrey sits next to her.

“Aw, thank you!” she blushes, taking up Dr. Harris Bonkers in her arms.

“Uh, how- how long have you been able to do, um,” Jupiter begins to quiet again. “All that…?”

“Uh, I don’t actually know.” Aubrey hums. “Forever, I guess?”

“And your… h-human?” Jupiter asks nervously.

“Human as can be.” Aubrey grins. “At least as far as we can tell.”

“Huh.” Jupiter nods. “Cool.”

The lapse into an odd silence before Aubrey quickly says. “Hey, y’know you don’t have to be so scared here. Everyone’s super nice!”

“D-do they… Does everyone know you can uh…” Jupiter tucks her legs in closer. “Do… fire?”

“Yeah! It’s not exactly a secret around the lodge.” Aubrey explains

“Oh!” Jupiter looks a bit surprised. “And everyone’s… okay with it?”

“Yep!”

“Does everyone… fight them?”

Aubrey tilts her head. “Them?”

“Th-the monsters. You mentioned there had been some before now…” Jupiter mumbles.

“Well, monster is a very broad term now…” Aubrey leans back to cross her legs under her. “We call them abominations, or bom-boms if you will.” she laughs a bit. “But no… no, it’s only a few of us. Mainly me, Duck, Ned, Mama and Barclay. That was actually the first time Dani came with us and, well…” she looks down. “You can see why it’s not exactly a job everyone wants…”

“Huh,” Jupiter says again. “And we’re really safe here?”

“I mean, with all the people here, yeah, the abominations won’t attack here. But it’s not unheard of.” Aubrey shrugs. “But don’t worry! I’ll blast ‘em if they come to close.”

Jupiter stays silent, looking in deep contemplation at her reflection in the mirror again as if trying to decide to take a risk.

And Aubrey notices. “Hey, Jupe? Is something bothering you.”

Jupiter glances at her, and something close to fear glints in her eyes as she makes up her mind.

“Hey hey, what’s wrong?” Aubrey becomes concerned, leaning forward. “If you’re scared, you can hold Dr. Harris Bonkers.” she offers him forward.

Jupiter, after a moment, opens her arms and Aubrey sets the rabbit in her lap. Jupiter takes a second before gently wrapping her arms around him, shifting to be comfortable. She stares for a moment at the rabbit, and he stares back over his shoulder, sniffing curiously.

Jupiter starts to hunch in on herself, struggling to keep her thoughts in check.

“Woah woah woah! Hey hey! Hey, it’s okay!” Aubrey places her hands on Jupiters feet and moves in front of her. “Today must finally be catching up with you, huh?”

Jupiter nods a little, burying her face in the rabbit's fur.

“Hey, Jupe, y’know, it’s okay to feel afraid… It’s like I told Duck the first time we encountered an abomination: Those things are scary. It’s okay to feel this way.” Aubrey soothes, but Jupiter shakes her head.

“Jupiter, we’ve killed things like these before, we can do it again.” Aubrey reassures her.

“It’s-” Jupiter finally lifts her face, rubbing over her eyes with one arm. “It’s not that…”

“Look, we know a lot about it! This’ll be over before you know it! We can try again tomorrow. Heck, you don’t even have to come!”

“Aubrey I-” Jupiter is shaking, but there’s something off about it.

“What’s wrong?” Aubrey asks gently.

“I- it’s not…” Jupiter looks away again.

“I mean it could barely seem to hurt you, right? You’ve got nothing to fear.” She smiles again, trying to comfort the young girl.

“But that’s just it!” Jupiter cries out before shoving her face back into the fur of Dr. Harris Bonkers, who looks a bit startled.

“...What do you mean?” Aubrey asks quietly.

“It can’t hurt me. I mean it scratched me but-” Jupiter starts.

“Oh shoot! Did you ever get that fixed up?” Aubrey reaches for her arm, but Jupiter suddenly jerks away, releasing the rabbit, who sort of tumbles away, disturbed by all the movement.

“ W-wait!” Jupiter gasps and Aubrey draws her hand back.

“Th- there’s… there’s something I didn’t tell Ms. Mama… or Duck and Ned, or you, any of you.” she admits.

“...Yeah?” Aubrey waits patiently. “You don’t have to share if you don’t want to!”

“But I should…” Jupiter mumbles.

“Only if you want to.” Aubrey insists.

“...” Jupiter is silent as she slowly unfolds herself from her cramped position. She doesn’t say anything as she slowly takes off her jacket. She reveals one arm to Aubrey.

“Oh my gosh!” Aubrey gasps quietly, because her arm is covered in the same lightning scars that had been on Dani.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? Does it hurt?! Shit, we need to get you to Mama-” Aubrey makes to get up, but Jupiter grabs her arm.

“No! Don’t-!” she stops as Aubrey freeze, halfway off the bed. Jupiter quickly removes her arm as she says. “P- please don’t, I… I-I’m telling you this in confidence. Please don’t…” She takes a shaky breath. “I don’t think I’m ready for everyone to know.”

“But if your hurt, then you should-” Aubrey insists.

“Aubrey, I don’t want everyone to know.” Jupiter says firmly.

Aubrey goes quiet now, giving a slow nod and shifting back onto the bed.

Jupiter sighs. “I… I’m not hurt, Aubrey. But look…” she takes off her jacket completely, revealing the tree-like scars traveling over both arms and onto her neck. She rolls up the legs of her pants to reveal them on her calves as well.

“Woah…” Aubrey whispers in awe.

“U-um…” Jupiter rolls down her pants but leaves her jacket off. “You said it’s okay-”

“It’s okay to be scared.” Aubrey nods quickly.

“It’s okay to be scared of the monster…” Jupiter says.

“Abominations.”

“Uh, right, the abominations. But… well yeah it’s kinda scary but… but that’s not what I’m really afraid of right now…” Jupiter mumbles.

“What?” Aubrey looks at her in the eyes, and she stares right back.

“I’m… I think I’m afraid of…” Jupiter sighs. “I think I know why it couldn’t hurt me.” She rubs her temples. “I mean, you’ve got fire, so-”

“I mean I think I have wind, but I haven’t gotten that to work in a while.” Aubrey interjects. “I’m still learning.”

“Wait, you can control other elements?” Jupiter asks.

“Maybe, but don’t get distracted.” Aubrey leans forward again. “If you know how to keep the abomination from hurting you, tell me!”

“I don’t think it helps you much…” Jupiter shrinks in a bit.

“Hey, every bit helps.” Aubrey presses.

“But I-”

“It can help us protect ourselves!”

“It can’t!” Jupiter growls. “It can’t hurt me because I-... I- I…”

“Because?”

“Because I’m just like you!”

Aubrey pauses. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“You’ve got fire powers, and maybe everything else but I’ve only got the one!” Jupiter hangs her head low.

“One what?” Aubrey asks slowly.

“Element, power, whatever you call it.”

“Which is…?” Aubrey’s face becomes an expression of sudden realization. “No way, you’ve got- you’re-”

Jupiter outstretches left her arm, an uncertain look in her eyes as she tenses her fingers. Spreading from her shoulder, a faint glow runs down through the scars that spread untamed down her arm, and when it reaches her hand, her fingernails glow as bolts of lightning arc between her fingers. They lash out, reaching back and striking her arm, but Jupiter doesn’t flinch, because it doesn’t hurt her, it just circles back into her palm.

She looks to Aubrey, a faint glow in the iris’ of her eyes as she looks for signs of danger, of her freaking out or running, as she says:

“I’m like you, but I’m not. Because I’m also like that… that thing. That’s what scares me. I’m so much like that terrible creature who hurt your friends. Don’t you ever worry about hurting your friends? That’s why I’m afraid, and that’s why it can’t hurt me.

“Because I’m electric, Aubrey, just like that abomination.”

#fic #my writing #jupiter #aubrey #dr harris bonkers #taz #the adventure zone #taz amnesty #Never Strike Twice

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precuredaily · 6 years

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Precure Day 033

Episode: Futari wa Precure 33 - “Get the Victory! Find the Path of Light with your Heart!!” Date watched: 12 May 2018 Original air date: 26 September 2004 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/BQc21F8

If your head is larger than your torso, please see a doctor immediately.

Well naturally after promising in the last one that I would try to keep my reviews shorter, I end up with an episode that gives me SO MUCH to talk about. Let’s see if I can do this succinctly.

This is pretty much the plots to episodes 7 and 8 meshed together. Shiho and Rina have a fight, and Nagisa is drawn away from a lacrosse match by someone from the Dark Zone. Is it done well? Absolutely. The biggest problem with this episode is not the reused plot, but the animation. I mentioned in the previous one that in the second half it had so far been so-so? Well this episode averages much lower than so-so animation. The top picture is one of the better shots.

Face shots are still good, anything zoomed out further than that is a bit..... eh. However, they manage to take advantage of their looser art control in this one to produce some much more exaggerated and comedic faces, and really cool-looking action scenes, so while it’s not the most favorable tradeoff, at least you’re not just getting completely awful animation from start to finish. Check the gallery if you want to see more, I don’t want to take up this entire post with that.

The main plot is about Shiho and Rina getting into a fight after an unseen incident in an earlier lacrosse match. Rina has some choice words and Shiho is feeling very self-conscious and it doesn’t go well.

No pressure.

Shiho stays after school to practice her passing all alone, staying so late it gets dark, and she’s doing really well, but as she walks into the locker rooms she overhears some junior members of the team berating her and that really dents her confidence. The next day, she talks more with Rina, expressing that she doesn’t have Nagisa’s skill or Rina’s speed and now she can’t even make a pass. Rina, angrily, says she should just quit, which shakes Shiho even more.

Clearly regretting her words, Rina talks to Honoka who recalls her fight with Nagisa and explains that things will work out if they both realize they lashed out. Meanwhile, Shiho goes to Nagisa’s place to talk with her, and Nagisa similarly recalls her end of the fight with Honoka and says that Rina probably regrets her words right now. The tension is palpable. Nonetheless, Shiho decides she’ll quit after the next game. At the match, she stands apart from the team looking forlorn, when the VP comes up and offers his usual brand of terrible motivation.

Piss off, dude.

Since Shiho blames herself heavily for that loss, this is basically a veiled insult directly to her. However, the plot Dark Zone intervenes and Nagisa ends up away from most of the game, forcing Shiho to play her best instead. She fumbles a bit because of all the pressure on her, but they manage to keep a point behind the other team until Nagisa gets back with 5 minutes left in play. Toei uses this shot AGAIN:

Were they required to use this once every 10 episodes?

Nagisa quickly evens the score and Verone tries for a winning goal, with their usual play of Rina stealing the ball and passing to Shiho who passes to Nagisa to score. Nagisa is blocked off though, so she passes back to Shiho, who has an opening to score. She flashes back to her failure in the last match but Nagisa and Rina both encourage her and she’s able to score the winning goal.

Rina comes over to apologize and they both burst into tears for what they said and did, and it’s very emotional and well done. This is the character development both Shiho and Rina needed, although it might have helped if we’d at least seen the match that she fumbled in beyond flashbacks. Sadly, I think this is also the most focus they get for this series. I could be wrong, we’ll see what the next 16 episodes hold, but most of what I remember are very much NagiHono episodes if anything.

EDIT: A friend of mine pointed out to me that Rina is the only one who really did anything wrong, coming down way too hard on Shiho for one missed shot, and the narrative treats them like they both said or did bad things. I have to agree that I wish they’d leveled blame accordingly.

Anyway the lacrosse match was much closer to what I wanted to see from episode 7, with the team winning almost without Nagisa’s help. It’s good to have your ace but don’t lean too heavily on them, y’know? At least Shiho got to overcome her personal demons and score the winning point. You go, you go, you go, girl!

As for the villains, we get some curious dialog from them in their mansion....

Is Belzei planning to double cross the Dark King?

Then it’s all quiet on the monster front until a girl on the opposing lacrosse team fumbles during warmups, then comes over to Nagisa to ask for a picture. You can probably see exactly where this is going but just in case, here’s a visual aid.

How Regine passes for a middle schooler I’ll never know.

Yeah, it’s Regine in disguise and she draws Nagisa away from the match to fight her and demand to know where the power of the Prism Stones is. Fortunately Honoka is close behind, but Regine doesn’t waste time waiting, she unloads on Nagisa as-is, which is becoming a pattern. This is where the sloppy animation is actually used to great effect: Regine’s punches and kicks are very fluid and her proportions are distorted to emphasize speed, and Nagisa’s darting around avoiding her is also very dynamic. When Honoka DOES show up, Nagisa catches Mepple in her lacrosse stick and straight-up does a somersault in midair to get to Honoka, a feat we’ve never seen her pull off when not transformed.

As soon as they transform, Juna appears and tag teams with Regine, the two evil fighters maintaining the upper hand until Cure Black snaps and attacks them with her wildly changing expressions. (see the gallery) Jokes aside, she yells at them for keeping her from her match, and always trying to steal the power of the stones, reiterating that they’ll never reveal where the power is. Porun, who is not present, is able to feel this emotion and sends the Rainbow Braces, which the girls use to attack Juna and Regine with Rainbow Storm. They try to block but as usual it’s too powerful and they flee.

This episode has no right to be as good as it is. It takes two reused scripts from the early part of the show and combines them with bad animation. And yet, due to the talented people that worked on this show, they manage to take a recipe for disaster and cook up something pretty decent. This is the epitome of “more than the sum of its parts.” I mean it’s not groundbreaking or anything, but it manages to keep the material fresh, and that’s what matters. In the process we learned that Belzei, at least, might be scheming against the Dark King and that Porun can send Precure his power anywhere due to his premonition. In theory this would mean he’s going to stay at home from now on, but obviously this can’t be the case. We’ll find out what happens next time... enjoy!

#Precure #Futari wa Precure #Pretty Cure #FWPC33 #PCD033

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years

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Mahou Shoujo Ore 5

Hey hey hey, this is the second show I’ve seen ape Osomatsu-san this year. Seriously, no show is safe in a parody as a target for humour’s sake…Note Osomatsu-san is also by Pierrot, though, so they’re attacking themselves to some extent.

Now that they’ve pointed the Osomatsu-san reference though, I can’t believe I didn’t see the scarf colours last time! But…this is episode 5…

Oh, I kind of noticed it, but I’m probably too used to it since I watched the first season of Osomatsu-san – the blue lines are part of that show’s signature style.

Muscovado is apparently a substitute for sugar. It literally translates to “black sugar” though…

Sagami is…a former place in Japan…?

Tama River. I’m terrible at Japanese geography, so I don’t think you should be asking me about this…

Dang, apparently Pierrot is based in Mitaka, Tokyo so whatever joke I was chasing there fell flat.

Wow, they got really self-referential this episode…yikes.

So this is the rumoured Chiba-san? Uhh…

Oh my…I do not see the word “Japanimation” get much mileage at all these days, but I cringe every time I see it.

It’s Pokémon Go! Wow, that’s another level of meta for sure. My hopes for resolving all the stray plot threads while maintaining that wacky sense of humour (or however I phrased it) definitely went out the window…Notice the footage is dated April 24th 20X8, which is about a week before the episode went to air if the X actually hides “2018”.

Suginami. Apparently, Bones, Sunrise and other studios are stationed there…but Pierrot isn’t.

If there’s one thing I didn’t expect in MSO, it’s the fact this show became Shirobako in a sense. I still need to get around to Shirobako, by the way…

Ey, wait a second! Astral, you got your wish! We get to see…Fujimoto’s face!

Whoa! They went all out on the CGI fire effects! What is this show, Golden Kamuy?! (LOL)

Comichiya’s probably Comiket. The katakana (chi -> tsu, to -> ya) look kinda similar if mangled.

Dangit! I missed my mark on the guesswork again! Tokyo Big Sight isn’t in Suginami.

Basically, this is just a long road to admitting they couldn’t do a recap episode, but they don’t have enough content to pad this ep either. Ah, sweet revelations (sarcastic).

Is it just me, or does the bottom of Fujimoto (1)’s face look kind of like…Mohiro??? Wagh??? Update: No, the hair colour’s off.

The “on the train” technically says “on the NEXT train” (emphasis mine).

Wow, they namedropped Ishikawa (probably Kaito)! Ishikawa voices male!Saki, so it makes sense.

Oh my gosh, Mahoutsukai Watashi! What a bold move this show’s taken – it’s telling its own meta-narrative. Which means when I cover it for the collab post…it’ll be meta of meta…that’ll put my head in a spin for sure.

You can see Fujimoto and Sakuyo character designs if you pause for one scene (the one with “staff working from home”).

You can see the name Masayuki Ito (伊藤雅之) on that list with the downward arrows, but I don’t know what significance that name has unless they’re an animator or something...

Mensore is explained here.Basically it’s youkoso in Okinawan.

Jimami Tofu…isn’t tofu, as weird as that sounds. It’s an Okinawan-sponsored drama.

Well, at least this time I got a big epic battle (no matter how short it is). Nothing better than that!

They got Akira Ishida, Tomokazu Seki, Koichi Yamadera and some other guys to voice the Fujimotos this time. Notice there’s no crossover between the Osomatsu-san voices and the Fujimotos, which was probably intentional.

I thought there’d be a real Shinzo Chiba, but there doesn’t seem to be one…

There was a shot of Fujimoto (before the manager)! Wah! Was that there in previous episodes???

Every time people promise wardrobe malfunctions, they tend to…uh, deliver on that…

The Monokubo illustration this time is creepy…I like it!

Yotsuiro Biyori 4

Is this a zombie movie (LOL)?

Wow, Sui really loves cats, doesn’t…he…? (LOL)

Oh, so that weird zombie movie in medias res opening was actually one of those fakeouts…DN Angel’s anime did that, I remember…

Wow, they make Tokitaka so epic in this scene! A determined man is more handsome than one in an ordinary state, don’tcha think?

You can even see rice flying! Amazing! Tokitaka’s got such skill.

I am so spoilt for smol boys this season, between this and Boueibu HK…

Ooh! My eyes have been blessed with the hotness of Tokitaka!

There’s more chicken than usual this ep, eh?

Shiratama anmitsu.

I never thought we’d need a backstory for the resident cat, but okay. It was hilarious and fun while it lasted and now it’s almost over…huh.

Denzou? Eh? (I kinda get why the name’s badass with the kanji involved, but it’s hard to explain to a non-Japanese speaker…)

Agedama.

The next ep title translates to roughly “A Loving Hand for the Lost Lamb”…as in, to extend a hand to it.

Lupin 3 Pt 5 5

Okay, part 5 episode 5 is confusing when it’s just “5 5”, isn’t it?

I think the guy in the green jacket will be important later…? He’s in a key visual for this show, at least.

“This pasta called soba’s pretty good!” – LOL, soba ain’t pasta, y’know…

I’ve learnt about the stack before. Here you go.

IP camera. Hey, I’ve done something on IP cameras before, but normally Detective Conan (and most other mystery shows of the modern day) seem to be reliant on CCTV…

Chicken game…? Sounds tasty!...Not.

Ami doesn’t seem too pleased about all the shooting, LOL.

Even Ami knows bowing is a sign of Japanese respect. Just like how dragons understand the meaning of “Hatori Chise” involves birds…(i.e. I’m kind of skeptical that a real French girl would learn to bow to her Japanese friends when her life is always on the line, a la Ami.)

Episode…1? Y’mean, there’s more adventures, but no Ami? Aw, I was enjoying having her in the fray.

Hinamatsuri 5

A TV? $30??? Wow, I would fight a psychic girl for that! That’s friggin’ cheap!

“Toshibu” (sic), LOL.

Bikkuri means “surprise”, LOL.

“A teacher and a student walk into a bar…” – it sounds like a joke. Not that that could be conveyed accurately in Japanese, though. The fact it even works as an English joke must be a coincidence…

Hitomi’s such a terrible liar! Wahaha!

Nitta’s just like “I’ve given up on this girl”. Either that, or he has a hangover…(LOL)

Sayo looks kind of like Hina. If it weren’t for the hair colours I would’ve mistaken the two.

BnHA 43

Carrying a gun to a fistfight…yep, bad. Plain bad, Mustard, ol’ boy.

Sorry, there was a lot of fighting this ep and nothing much to say!

Boueibu HK 5

LOL, the bald bodyguard…he looks kinda grumpy.

Notice Kyotaro goes “ore kyoumi nai” (I have no interest in it), but the subs missed the subject of the sentence! CR, you weirdoes!

Echire butter…exists!

“You know about genetic testing?” - Irina! I think this is your department!

Ryoma’s the end of the evolutionary line!

Hmm…if there was no Ice Age in Honyara Land…might there have been something else that caused the Furanui/Karurusu conflict? There’s only animosity from one side, after all.

Bunbuku Chagama. Magozaemon was fat, so he would make a perfect teapot/tanuki…

Wait, if Maasa = Ichiro in the age department (roughly 16), that would add up. He went abroad for 4 years and held off on carbs the entire time…yikes.

“The people of this world envy those who represent the opposite of what they fear for themselves, so they criticise and attack them.” – Ooh, Ata makes a lot of sense here…! It’s a quote for the collection.

Asobukoto = It’s not really “fun” per se, but “playing” or “hanging out”. That is, if you translate rather literally.

They’re all underage (roughly 16 – 18), of course they wouldn’t drink! Of course, this is coming from a person who doesn’t drink…the only samples of alcohol I’ve had are few and far in between…

Hey, I studied this stuff in the past, you don’t have to regurgitate this info (about needing food to better absorb alcohol). Lemmee tell you, alcohol ads are weird…

They didn’t make the “glasses fogging up” a weird plot hole. Phew.

Wow, to think I’d be getting a science lesson of things I already know in my Boueibu…I never thought I’d see the day where that happened.

According to this page, one of the things the ramen shop serves is gomoku soba. Wait…that’s right! Ramen’s appeared in this show before! In the Chri-pa episode! Sorry Astral, I gotta spoil s2 for you!

Wow, this chicken carcass is even less of a threat than anything else so far! Wow-hee.

Taishi only seems vaguely fazed about the fact he’s being made to fight monsters. Interesting. I never think about the perspective of the non-red boys regarding fighting monsters until they’re pointed out, really.

So wait, the magic knight of space…makes bubbles? Uh, Astral, you might wanna learn from this…?

Hey hey, I found a page on tonkotsu ramens (sic from the Hakata anime) and paitan ramen.

Kyotaro on stairs = basically my mood when I want to imitate the “draw me like one of yor French girls” meme. (Very badly.)

So…when I said I missed individualised attacks, I never saw this coming. Sorry about that, people. (Even if that was only Ichiro’s bubble attack.)

Kyotaro makes a lot of sense here. But seriously, I think I need Astral’s easy button right now. That was easy.

Notice Karurusu is acting as a pelt…weren’t otters hunted for their pelts?

Oh, Sujikawa’s a first year, huh?

*Sujikawa picks up the boulder* - *round of applause from me* Wow!

Both Maasa and Dougo have such supportive friends, it almost makes me jealous.

The English! It’s…correct! (thinks back to a magazine article with “Difence” (sic) written on it in pink letters)

I, for one, am happy they’re tackling relationships aside from “brothers” this time. Finally, here’s something that stacks up against its competition in regards to deeper themes, even if it is a comedy!

Dougo and Maasa (Magozaemon) were in class 2, if you pause at the right time. Notably, the members of class 2 were all boys, LOL. Even with the boy to the left of Magozaemon, I think that name might be pronounced “Ai” (due to this page), but it’s in manly kanji.

#simulcast commentary #Happy Kiss anime #mahou shoujo ore #lupin iii part 5 #boku no hero academia #Hinamatsuri #rokuhoudou yotsuiro biyori #binan koukou chikyuu boueibu happy kiss!#binan koukou chikyuu boueibu happy kiss #boueibu #boueibu hk #magical girl ore #Chesarka watches MSO #Chesarka watches Hinamatsuri #Chesarka watches BnHA #Chesarka watches Yotsuiro Biyori #Chesarka watches the Lupin series Pt 5

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gibzy · 4 years

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heyyy I just realized like a billion of yall have been liking/reblogging that really bad kam fanfic i wrote like pre-quarantine so i’m just gonna put one of my more recent writing thingies under the cut if you want to read something with actual flow and descriptions qwq

so! you decided to read this, thank you! it’s a short story I wrote in like two days this week bc my english teacher gave me an opportunity to write fiction and obviously I was frothing at the mouth to write anything other than an essay. so. we had to write a hero vs monster story, which is pretty vague, so I had some alien eldritch fun with it. enjoy!

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Evelyn prefers the dark.

It’s not anything important, really— just a liking for the serene embrace of a quiet night. Things are bright too often, she often thinks, in this overwhelming world of fluorescent office lights and LCD screens. Intensity is not something she has ever been good at dealing with, so when the opportunity to just exist in a low-lit space presents itself, she takes it.

Which is exactly why she’s biking down the street at two in the morning.

The wind rushes through her lungs as she eases off the pedals down a hill, cold and bracing in the moonless winter night— or day, technically, but the distant flicker of headlights on the top of an overpass being the only thing close to celestial radiance for a long while, it’s close enough. Her hair whispers against the tops of her ears in the breeze, the sound not unlike tussocks of dry grass brushing against each other. She sighs. Her hair looks like dry grass, too, actually, if it was colored violet by a woefully inexperienced hand.

More thoughts weave their way through her mind generally akin to that one; pointless, but more positive. Grounding thoughts. She’s too tall for this bike now, but it’s still fun. Her eyes are light grey— maybe that’s why she’s so sensitive to light. The road is smooth and easy to ride; must be recently paved.

She’s trying not to think too much about where she’s going or why she’s going there, lest the anxiety seize her heart again. It pumps with blood now, and not pain, and that’s how she intends to keep it for as long as possible.

Trees lining the road wind just as much as it does, twisting and knotting in an organic symposium of leafless branches. They’re barely visible against the sky, a charcoal-gray to its inky azure. A gentle susurrus of cicadas and frogs drones quietly on, accompanied by the ambient clicking of Evelyn’s bicycle spokes. It’s not any warmer at the bottom of the hill, shielded by vegetation, even bundled in a sweatshirt and jacket. She shivers. She’s not sure if it’s from the cold or the slowly growing trepidation.

She can feel it stirring. Predictable, sure, but unsettling nonetheless. It sparks as she rounds the familiar bend, an entropic, feral sizzle of energy and panic. Good, she tells herself. Good, this is supposed to happen. But even so, her fingers tighten around the handlebars.

The road grows rougher and rougher until it cracks into glorified gravel, a confluence of pebbles and weeds. She squeezes the brakes as the bike begins to bump across the sharp stones and hops off. The rocks peter off into the woods.

There’s a moment where she just stands there, frozen. Does she go? Can she go?

But she shakes her head— of course she can. She came all this way to get here, and there’s no way she’s going back without resolving at least a little of whatever this is. She flips down the kickstand of her bike, and with a fortifying breath, she sets off into the thicket.

It’s an odd place, really. Used to be a townhouse development, decades ago, abandoned for no reason other than the fact that there were other, better places to live. Nature had reclaimed it years before Evelyn had ever discovered it, and yet everything there was and is eerily stagnant. No animals rustle in the underbrush. No bugs buzz through the air. The only trees, though tall, are all in various stages of decay, so she supposes it’s rather vibrantly alive, but it's a different energy than she’s used to. She moves slowly. Ducking under branches, stepping over the occasional touch-tone telephone, and squinting through the darkness for the clearing that lays beyond. A flashlight would be very useful at this point. She brought her phone for that purpose, actually, but it feels wrong for her to use it now. Like it would summon the thing too soon.

So she trudges on, her heart pounding in her chest. It’s calm here, but the mere anticipation of it thrums in her blood. There’s no shoving the thoughts down now, with such a material reminder surrounding her. She grits her teeth as another gelid blast of wind whips past her, and begins to try to organize everything scrambling around her head.

Okay. One: it calls itself Consterlevus. A fairly egotistical name, if you ask Evelyn— anything that purposefully puts latin roots in its name just to sound important is annoying on principle.

Her foot plunges through a soft, rotting log, and her pulse spikes again. It’s fine. It’s fine.

Two: she doesn’t call it a monster. She did, at first, but she learned quickly that ascribing such universally known characteristics made it even more confident, which she learned even faster was very, very bad for her.

Her phone vibrates in her pocket. Not now. Not now.

Three: it’s probably easiest to kill it physically. She can hurt it, and she has, many a time, but it just slinks back to the burning place in her heart where it likes to fester. She needs to defeat it quickly, before it can retreat. A switchblade weighs heavily in her pocket. A last resort, to be sure. She’s not looking for a dangerous confrontation, but when it comes to that— if it comes to that, she corrects, looking for at least a shred of hope— she’s prepared.

At last, she can see the glade. It seems illuminated, somehow, despite the new moon, but when she blinks, it’s dark once more. She jogs towards it, nervous impatience vibrating through her skull like a plucked chord.

It’s exactly as she remembered it. A small field of unkempt grass and weeds, surrounding a pond, dotted with small water lilies. She hasn’t been here in years— three? Four? And yet it’s completely undisturbed. She laughs to herself. Of course. Consterlevus can’t handle anything less than perfection.

She hesitates for a moment, unsure of what to do. It had kind of been a spur-of-the-moment, last straw sort of decision to come here, The thing has a flair for the dramatic, though, so she spreads her arms and calls up to the sky. “Well? You’re always around, where are you now?”

There’s no response other than another spark of energy in her heart. She rolls her eyes. “I know you’re here. It’s no mystery that you’re the one making me all, y’know,” she says, pointing at her chest, “panicky.”

A resonating grumble fills her mind. The voice seems split in two, speaking the same words in different tones. One, a shrill, tremulous warble, and the other a deep, jarring rasp, like a coyote with bronchitis. She had found it horrifying at first, an unnatural harmony of something utterly alien to this world, but now it was just irritating.

From her chest, a sinuous, winding light spills onto the ground, sinking into the tangle of untended, shin-high weeds. It slithers through them, sending harsh shadows beyond the reach of its blinding corona. It draws the reflections it creates on the water into itself, swelling and shuddering until it coils itself into an identifiable shape. Its body is lithe and quadrupedal, resembling a panther. Its head, long and rounded, bears the visage of a snake, and when it opens its mouth to hiss, it reveals the sickle-like fangs of a lion. But the most disturbing thing about the creature is its eyes— or lack thereof.

Though the entire being is made of intense, writhing light, upon its forehead is a tight spiral of absolute darkness; the kind of darkness only achieved in the far reaches of space. It is massive, dominating the majority of the clearing. She squints, eyes watering as it draws itself to its full height. When it opens its mouth to speak, viscous, pearlescent saliva drips from its jaws, rippling on the surface of the pond like gasoline in a parking lot puddle. “You think you may simply summon me at your whim, mere mortal? I have knowledge of realms far beyond your own, power you could never fathom, thoughts—”

“Aw, no hello, Connie?”

It snarls. “My name is Consterlevus, and you will address me as such, you insolent human!”

She crosses her arms, trying to shove away the pounding distress that grips her heart like a vise. Eldritch entities are nothing too bad. She’s familiar with this one, who has been her unwanted companion for years. Ever since she visited this place, it’s been a parasite in her brain, amplifying the existing anxiety in her head. Terrifying, at first, but she’s exhausted after so many failures at banishing it. And she doesn’t think straight when she’s tired. This thing could literally be eating dimensions if it wasn’t trapped on Earth, powers tamped down by the planet’s very nature.

She shakes her head, trying to clear her mind. Focus. “Right. Anyway, you need to pay your rent. It’s, like, really overdue.”

It lowers its neck, bringing its face— if you can call it that— closer to her. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your rent. You’ve been living in my brain or heart or something for at least three years, and all you’ve done is severely worsen my anxiety disorder and convince at least one person that I have schizophrenia. I’ve been a very lenient landlord.”

It makes a piercing rasp she supposes could be interpreted as a scoff. “Are you attempting to jest at your predicament, human? Many have borne my curse before, and none have survived.”

She sighs. “Look, dude, it was a really lame metaphor, I get it. I’m just lowkey a little freaked out.”

It puffs out its chest, raising its head towards the sky. “Of course you are. My abilities known no bounds. My presence permeates your very soul. My—”

“Okay, okay! I get it, you’re an unfathomable cosmic entity beyond my most vivid nightmares or whatever. Now, if you’re not gonna stop whatever you’re doing with my brain, I’m gonna have to kick you out myself.”

It cocks its head, claws extending as it flexes its paws. “Was that a threat?”

She exhales loudly, exasperated. “Duh! I came all the way to the place where I had the absolute pleasure of making your acquaintance with a knife and an ultimatum. I’ve been way too passive all this time, and I can’t stand it a second longer. So what’ll it be?”

Consterlevus bears its teeth. “You are passive. You never tell anyone your opinion, do you? You let it fester in your mind, and then you tear yourself apart for being such a coward. Sure, they all think you are nice, but you never express any real emotion.” It swells, its neck curving down and around her neck, searing her skin. “But it is all worth it, is it not? Being so worried about what other people think. It matters, it really does, in this world. You may hate yourself for it, but you’ll succeed.”

“No!” The cold air condenses her breath into a warm mist, billowing from her mouth like the smoke of a dragon. “That’s not true. I can be nice to people without sacrificing my own needs! The fact that you convinced me otherwise is your fault, not mine, and I’m done blaming myself for everything. I feel detached from everyone because I’m not sincere with them! Not everyone will like me, and that’s okay, because it’s more important to be myself!”

Consterlevus sloughs off her shoulders, neck limp as it slithers back towards its body, a wholly unsettling movement. It shrinks in size, now about even in height with Evelyn. “You cannot possibly think that is true,” it hisses. “Everyone preaches acceptance and love, but few uphold it.”

“Well screw all of the people who don’t! I don’t need their approval; I can be happy with the people that are actually decent human beings!”

It growls, slinking closer. “No, no, do not delude yourself with these lies—”

She draws the switchblade, driving it fervently into the center of the spiral upon its forehead. “They are true! They have taken me years to figure out, but they are true. You have infested this planet long enough, Consterlevus. Be gone!”

It shrieks, a piercing sound that sends ripples through the water. It dissipates into shards of light, flickering like embers of cold white fire until it eventually disappears.

The panic in her heart fades, and she lets out a sob of relief, falling to her knees. It’s over. It’s gone.

She hugs herself, smiling through the tears, and as she looks up at the jet-black sky, she knows that now she can truly direct her own independence— truly accept its serenity.

#mossie writes #original writing #short story #science fiction #alien #eldritch #young writer

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