#I have a good portion of this plotted out and about three chapters written

[ntzsche9]

Of the 16 or so chapters I've written of my Nuka-World fanfic, the only chapter I am satisfied with is chapter 3. It came early on, was clear and easy, and the characters stayed in character. While the story was largely situational, and I could let the characters tell me what to do and things were easy. Then I went and tried to plot and now I am horribly, wretchedly stuck. Most of the characters don't want to do what I want them to and nothing is easy.

I thought I would post this in an attempt to defibrillate this damn thing back to being easier to write. One of the parts I like least is the very beginning, so I dunno if I will ever post more than pieces, really.

Bad Blood

A Fallout Nuka-World fanfic

Chapter 3

Warnings: Violence and gore, drug abuse, slavery, sexual themes with dubious consent, m/m

After agreeing to return with his father to the raider city built on the backs of slaves in the rusted remains of an amusement park, Lafayette does what he can to play the role until he can figure out what the hell to do with himself. He can only pretend for so long, though. After watching slaves be fed to a monster for the amusement of the raiders, he tries to protect a slave too drugged to realize what is about to happen to him.

When the screams finally subsided, the wet crunching of flesh and bone made the swill Lafayette had been throwing back all night roll in his belly. He never thought of himself as someone who was particularly sensitive to violence or gore, with how he grew up hunting and all the other shit he'd been through, but the intimate sounds of an enraged gatorclaw eating a pair of poorly-armed slaves alive had his hair standing on end and stomach beginning to heave. He had to get the fuck out of here, but he had to time it right, play it off. He knew he was being as closely watched as ever.

Porter Gage lounged boredly beside him. He had been making a half-hearted attempt to distract him with some wild account from his youth. Lafayette hadn't been listening. His dad and Mason both stood nearby, their backs to them. Dizz gnawed at the scorched limb of some strange creature the raider gang bred beneath the amphitheater, his appetite unphased, and Mason leaned against the high fence of the cage as he watched his new pet. 

The Overboss had a different tactic for handling the leaders of each gang, but despite how amicable they seemed now, he took particular joy in humiliating Mason. In the most recent of a long series of backhanded transgressions, Dizz had led Porter and Lafayette on a good old fashioned hunting trip, just the three of them, to clear out Safari Adventure. He had been putting pressure on Mason to do some real work himself, but the man had decided to act like the Overboss still needed to prove something to them. The Pack assumed they would receive the larger portion of the park zoo, especially since the Operators had already been granted the Galactic Zone and the Disciples were given Dry Rock Gulch. Instead, the Overboss assigned it to the Operators, and he didn't even give Mason a chance to be angry about it before the three of them returned with perhaps the last surviving gatorclaw as a consolation gift.

Not only was the Pack incapable of clearing the park out themselves, but Mason couldn't have pulled off capturing one of the monsters, much less made it look so easy. Dizz was bigger, fiercer, bolder, even more scarred than the Pack's alpha. He took out the previous Overboss while Mason was only posturing. Porter had been delighted to spread the old rumor to the Pack that the new head hancho's shredded face was from fucking a deathclaw, and they ate the story up. It served to put Mason's claim of biting the paw off a yao guai to shame. Mason dismissed the story as an obvious joke, but when the three of them strolled into the amphitheater that night, Dizz and Lafayette leading a bound and exhausted gatorclaw by its duct taped muzzle, there was no doubt in anyone's mind who the strongest among them was. Even his fresh-faced son stood at a close second, above Mason.

As they partied that night, Mason's amicable demeanor would occasionally slip when he thought the Overboss wasn't looking. Dizz must have felt the daggers glaring into his back, but it made him all the more relaxed, as if encouraging him to try something. They both knew an open confrontation wouldn't end well for Mason, no matter how angry he got. Porter was quick to point out each subtle passive aggression to Lafayette, and was far more entertained by that than the cage fights.

"My girl is still starving, look at her!" Mason loudly announced, words slurred. He had been tempering his rage with alcohol and jet, which left him leaning heavily against the top of the fence and well within reach of the gatorclaw. He was lucky it was still preoccupied with rooting around in the bloody crumbs of its last victim. "She's wasting away. Someone bring 'er another snack!"

"We're all out, boss."

"How the fuck did that happen!?"

"We were running low on captives after last night. You want someone to buy some more from the market?"

"Nah, fuck it," Mason said with a dark grin. He had spotted the red glow of one last collar after all. 

The Pack didn't keep slaves around for long. They might use them for a day or two, however they saw fit, but they always met the same end. Lafayette had heard there were dungeons below the amphitheater where they would handcuff captives to the bars while whatever starved beast they were training to fight ate them alive. No, when the Pack felt like having a party, they would rent a few whores from the brothel in the Parlor, and usually send them back in one piece - the Operators would expect them to pay extra if they didn't. This late in the night, they had all been dragged off to some place or another, all except one. Lafayette had noticed him briefly earlier, the back of his strawberry-blonde head bobbing between the legs of some stupid-looking raider in a horned stag helmet huffing jet in the stands.

Mason sharply whistled for his attention. "C'mere, boy. Yeah, you! Bring your ass, I got a job for you," he grinned. 

The slave was young, heavily freckled but attractive by Nuka-World standards. Even with his messy hair hanging in his face it was clear he was stoned out of his gourd. He hadn't a goddamn clue what was happening, and despite it being obvious that Mason meant him harm, he began to walk over willingly. He even smiled.

"Wait!" Lafayette found himself shouting. Everyone jerked their heads up to look at him after he'd spent half the night sullen and quiet. Dizz glanced over with a look of warning, eyes narrowed as he tore another bite off the large charred bone in his hand.

Lafayette turned his best lecherous grin on the slave as he passed, reaching over to grab his wrist and yank him closer. "Sorry, Mason. I been waiting my turn for this one."

"Hey, no worries, Junior," Mason sneered with an annoyed smile. "Just let me get him when you're done."

"Nah, man. I'm gonna take him back to Fizztop and call it a night," Lafayette said, standing to throw an arm over the guy's shoulders. He took great care to not touch the explosive collar on his neck - even being this close to one made him nervous. "Why don't you try one of your ghoulrillas? There were enough of them living in Adventure Zone that I bet it would make a more interesting fight."

"Shiiiit, that's a goddamn good idea!" The drunk man grinned before he turned sharply to shout after the other raiders, "Steg! Go get Motherfucker! And give him the super sledge!"

"Well now, your boy's finally gettin' laid," Porter chuckled to Dizz, walking over to elbow him in the arm. "Guess all that father-son bonding cheered him up after all."

"About damn time," Dizz chuckled. When he held Lafayette's gaze a beat too long, Lafayette knew he had seen right through him.

Lafayette didn't really give a fuck. He would keep up appearances in front of the gangs because it wasn't just bad for his dad's image, it was dangerous for him, too. They had already demanded he be put through the gauntlet and he had done what he'd needed to to survive, but he was still a target. His father, however, couldn't expect him to become a different fucking person since then.

Lafayette was also pretty pissed at himself again tonight, because their hunting trip in Adventure Zone earlier that day had been fun. It felt like old times. His dad was laid back, less on edge and exhausted as he had always been when Lafayette was a kid. He seemed to trust Lafayette to hold his own now, let him do things his own way. Lafayette still didn't have a high opinion of Gage, but the older men joked and hooted as they worked their way to the basements of the cloning facility, killing everything that moved, and Lafayette got caught up in the thrill of it. He laughed at their banter, and soon any time his dad clapped him on the back or threw an arm around his shoulders, Lafayette had found himself grinning right back.

It was hard to maintain that you were being held against your will when you got happy your goddamn daddy was paying you some attention. Sure, the man he was now was closer to what he always should have been - warmer, more relaxed and agreeable, believably paternal. The years of living on the bare minimum, then the psycho addiction, had done a number on him, but Lafayette would never write off all the awful fucking things he did because of it. He saw enough of his swagger around Nuka-World to know Dizz was still every bit as capable and willing to do all the same things, and more. He was the same man who torched settlements, hung people off overpasses, and collared people into slavery. He was the same man who helped carve Gabe up and beat the brakes off of him just for fun, and would have otherwise put Luvell in a collar without a second thought.

He was at home, here.

Lafayette was relieved when they all just let him walk out of there, for more reasons than one. To his credit, the guy under his arm kept up with his longer stride well for as inebriated as he was. His eyes were as pale as his skin, indiscernible in color, and his pupils blown wide.

"Did you say we were going to the top of the mountain?" he asked with a grin, a hand petting up Lafayette's chest to toy with his nipple through his shirt.

"Uh, yeah," Lafayette said, glancing around before pushing his hand away. He hadn't exactly expected a slave to be so forward, but every inch of this place was crawling with raiders right to Fizztop. There were few places in this whole goddamn park that Lafayette didn't have eyes watching his every move. He would have to keep up with the charade until they were inside.

"What's your name?" Lafayette asked, and this time he let the man's skinny arm wrap around the small of his back, fingertips sneaking into the waist of his jeans.

"Dandy," he said with a stifled laugh, like he was telling a joke.

"Dandy? Like the apples?"

"Dandy like the apples," he grinned. "And they call you Junior, right?"

"They call me that," he scowled. "But my name is Lafayette."

"Mmm, La-fa-yette," he sang softly, both hands now heavily petting Lafayette's torso beneath his shirt. Dandy bit his lower lip and purred, "What are you planning to do to me tonight?"

"Knock it off," Lafayette said quietly, the two still not past the Disciple's lair.

Dandy flinched at his tone, his hands withdrawing and his gaze dropping to the ground immediately. "Yes sir, I'm sorry."

Lafayette felt awful. He sighed and squeezed the man's shoulder. "It's alright, just.. wait until we get up there, and alone. Then we'll talk."

Dandy didn't say anything the rest of the way. Lafayette kept an arm around him, holding his body close, and led him through the lobby and up the back elevator. He didn't often have Fizztop to himself - he didn't really get much privacy at all, but once they stepped off the elevator he relaxed.

"You hungry?" he asked, letting the man go.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" Lafayette lingered. He had seen how the slaves got treated, what they were fed. Being from the brothel he might get a little better than the usual, but he sure didn't look like it. Dandy shook his head, looking around as if he expected someone else to be there. He still wouldn't meet Lafayette's eye.

"Well.. let me know," Lafayette said, unsure himself. "My room is over here, the kitchen is that way down the hall, and the bathroom is over there. The water works, if you need a shower or anything."

That seemed to pique his interest a bit, but still he walked to the bedroom. Lafayette followed him and lingered awkwardly in the doorway. When Dandy started to strip off his shirt he quickly said, "Hey, no. That's not why I brought you here."

Dandy lowered his arms, his thin white shirt taut between them. "What do you want me to do?" he asked carefully, chancing a brief look back at him.

"Fuck if I know," he sighed. "We're not having sex. Just.. hang out, for an hour or two? Or the whole night, whatever. Eat something, take a shower, whatever you want. My dad and Porter will be back before too long, though, and once they do you should stay in here with me."

Dandy stood there, blinking slowly. Lafayette wondered if he was too high to even understand what he was saying, much less shower or eat. "Or you can just sleep. I only got the one bed, so we gotta share but.. No sex."

"Wait, what?"

"You'll be safe if you stay the night here. And you can look at me. Fuck, I hate this fucking place."

Dandy slowly looked up, his hazy expression still baffled. Lafayette huffed in frustration and reached over to hit the light. There was a string of christmas lights along one wall, casting the room in dim but colorful hues. After closing and locking the door with a set of hooks and a chain he had hammered into the wall himself, Lafayette walked to the other side of the bed. He turned away to take off his jeans, and climbed into bed in his shirt and boxers.

"Get some rest, Dandy," he prompted him, dividing his pillows and shifting to one side of the bed to make space. Then he rolled over, facing away from him.

He listened to Dandy breath in the quiet room for a minute or so. Then there was the sound of fabric hitting the floor, and eventually he felt the mattress shift as the other man climbed in next to him.

…….

A few hours later, Dandy woke up, and hadn't the slightest idea where the fuck he was. There was the broad back of a very tall man beside him, and at first he guessed it was the Overboss. He'd blown him once, back when he was first getting to know the gangs and Mags wanted to make a good impression. The man never gave him a second glance, but Dandy distinctly remember that he was fucking hung. His head was pounding, but his body wasn't any more sore than usual. He was only missing his shirt, and the other man looked fully dressed. 

He carefully sat up and slid off the mattress, shifting the bed as little as possible. It was Junior, he realized, getting a better look at him in the dim lights. It still didn't make any sense that he would be in the guy's bed without feeling wrecked, though. Dandy didn't puzzle about it much more, tugging his shirt back on and checking his pockets. 

He only had thirty caps. He couldn't go back without one hundred and fifty. Maybe one-twenty, if he could sweet talk his way out of a beating.

He cursed under his breath and looked around. He still didn't know where he was, though now he assumed it was somewhere above Fizztop. The room was jarringly neat, for a raider. The floors were swept, furniture sparse but uncluttered. It took him a few minutes of creeping around, nearly holding his breath in the quiet space as he slowly eased open footlockers and drawers, making sure to put everything back just right. When he found a small fortune of caps, he grabbed two handfuls before he managed to check himself. If he robbed Junior it would be a goddamn death sentence. No, he would just take one hundred. Maybe one-twenty, just what he needed. He probably wouldn't even notice, right?

Dandy sorted himself out and glanced worriedly around the room, afraid something would be amiss. His heart was hammering, and he gave the sleeping man one last look before he carefully eased out the door.

#fallout fic #fallout 4 #nuka world #writeblr #fanfic #ntzsche nuka-world #m/m #ntzsche bad blood #ntzsche lafayette #ntzsche dizz

[gen-is-gone]

16, 18, 39, 40, 43 and 55 for the fic writer asks?

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Answered, but I'm happy to share another. Hope on Fire, a onshot series I haven't posted anything for but have written a decent amount, is a reimagining of netflix's Daredevil where Matt, Karen, and Foggy end up in a throuple between seasons one and two, and that both changes, and doesn't change, the overarching plot. This is mainly because the three of them are so very poly divorced in season three and it grabbed me by the throat way harder than I thought it would.

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

It really depends. I don't tend to have a ton of difficulty with titles, but some give me so much trouble and I still end up not liking them. A number of them are quotes, but by no means all of them. All of the titles for the various fics in Hope on Fire are fragments of Vienna Teng lyrics, which is both a deliberate stylistic choice and also doesn't really mean anything beyond that Vienna is a very good lyricist.

39. Share a snippet from a WIP

Early one morning, as he steals back to the Parel for a well-earned rest, he sees something that will change his life, though he doesn’t know it yet. An elegant sloop has docked in the marina, a few spaces down from their own boat. She’s called Βεατρίκη. As he will come to discover, she’s sailing to Tenerife, and she’s easy, profitable pickings, but more significantly, quite possibly the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen in his life is taking in the weak sun on the foredeck. 

This would be a less provocative thing to do if she were wearing more than a silk dressing gown, but he watches as she shifts her weight and the robe falls further open, revealing more of a sun-browned thigh than he’d been expecting to see, and can’t bring himself to complain. Despite the morning chill, she doesn’t seem cold. She’s staring out to sea, turned away from him, but as she reaches for the wide bottomed mug of coffee resting beside her on the seat, she sees him looking before he can look away. She meets his gaze, not shy at all, and raises an eyebrow.

From a later portion of Home From Sea, chapter four. I promise I'll get back to it. It's haunting me from below the floorboards; trust me, I can't forget it.

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Okay, the fancy 1930s car pulling up to Benny at night in the opening scene of Home From Sea is a very strong visual moment in my head. There are a couple of other moments from Home From Sea, but they're spoilers, so I'll leave you with that.

43. Do you take a sadistic joy in whumping your characters, or are you more the 'If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself' kind of person?

uuuhh...

heh.

Yeah.

I like to see my faves get hurt. This is not necessarily apparent from my writing output, but my Ao3 reading history tells a wildly different story.

And that's all I have to say about that. :)

55. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers' reactions to certain ones?

Probably Benny LaFitte, again of Home From Sea, at least in terms of writing him. Sort of inevitable, because he and his POV have lived rent free in my head since December of 2020, but you can't go that long inhabiting a character's mind without forming some kind of strong emotions about them. I wouldn't say he's my favorite character in general, of all the characters that I've written, but obviously I care enough about him to have broken through a lifetime's severe ADHD-induced executive dysfunction to write his life down. He means a lot to me for many reasons.

Thanks for the ask!

#mihrsuri #megan whines into the empty abyss of cyberspace #my shit

[charitet]

WRITING YEAR WRAP-UP & REVIEW; 2023

hello! so i wanted to do a writing wrap up and see how far i have come as a writer. this year has been more chaotic worldbuilding and outlining than actual drafting, but it also has been a year of me finally growing into my projects and ideas. for next year, i'm really excited to get past the planning stages and jump right into these long-awaited projects

total word count: 29,565

i'm only counting words i have written for my personal projects (including rewrites) and not my poetry, because they will always take first priority for me. i have learned that poetry is definitely not for me but i had a fun time experimentating with the structures and word plays

after this year, i plan to move on entirely from poetry and focus solely on completing my longer projects (alongside other fun commitments)

i also wrote three nonfiction pieces but they were mainly more for class than anything else. so i won't be counting those, alongside with my braindump docs, scattered notes, and collaborative scripts i worked on for my friends' webtoon. the scripts are much harder to keep track of, mainly because i used a different program for it

what i learned this year

learned how to make it less restrictive and time-consuming for myself as a planner. in the past, i easily burnt myself out before i could even get started on the writing. but i think i finally got a good system now!

will be implementing mind maps into my writing process, after testing it out for one of my projects, wild fools!

learned that i’m much more motivated to write, when i allow myself the space and freedom to focus on multiple projects at the same time! it has also made writing more fun again and i get to indulge myself in my ocs!

writing review

spent a large portion of the year planning out the different universes and all of the individual stories that will be taking place in them. the main ones that i worldbuild for are the SCI-FI, MONARCH, and REAPER universes

made color-coded maps for the SCI-FI and MONARCH universes, detailing out the stories' timelines and how their events would connect to each other. for the REAPER universe in particular, i'm still working out the logistics and "rules" of that world. depending on what project i work on first for the upcoming year, i'll make a reading guide for each universe

outlined up to the midway point of season 4 for the heaven above the sky and completed the very first chapter on april 19, 2023, after rewriting it! currently about 1,000 words into the second chapter. the worldbuilding/braindump document is clocking in at 20 pages

i'm still far off from writing for the what if we never go home series. but the good news is that i managed to outline all of part 1 for come drown with me in the radiation of the universe, which is the first prequel taking place before the main story. it's turning out to be a lot longer than i originally thought, but i'm having a blast in the brainstorming stage so i'll just take my time with it. the worldbuilding/braindump document for that and its companion series is now clocking in at 26 pages

finally figured out the structure and plot for exhibition of bird bones! for so long, i didn't know how to properly tell sally and ambrose's story but i think i finally got it now. tested out the new structure and finished writing one chapter (will also be referring to it as parts since the novel will be written more in the style of vignettes)

got started on the prologue and the first chapter for this is how the empire falls. i'm usually such a big planner but this is my first time going into a project blind! i'm just worldbuilding as i draft and i'm really loving it so far. i think it's because i already have a lot of practice with worldbuilding in general, especially for other large projects, so it's going smoother than i thought it would!

got started on the first chapter for it will get better and currently testing out erza's character voice! i'm still figuring out how i want to go about it with the plot, but the themes are so clear in my mind that i'm already going feral for the project

wrote the script for the first two chapters of my graphic novel, everlasting! will be going back to rewrite it and modify the story structure because i’m not satisfied with the draft, but i’m glad that i finally know how to write a visual script!

planned out a vast majority of the characters’ lores and worldbuilding for monarch with my friend! the worldbuilding/braindump document is now at 30 pages, making it the longest document for this year!

other miscellanous items: wrote two unfinished short fictions as a way to test out the characters' voices (these will be edited to be added as scenes in future projects), outlined the beginning portion of unholy bodies (currently in the process of revamping the title and main themes), finished outlining the entirety of my untitled canterfield wip, and finished making the relationship chart for the ancient ruins series

accomplishments

i got published for the very first time this year! in total, six of my poems are now in four different publications. you can check out two of the publications here and here!

i got accepted for an editor position for an online magazine! it will be my first time working as an editor so i'm really excited. i will be dedicating the next few months on this position

i'm also a contributor for a few zines, that will be released in 2024! they are the queer oc, polar lights, magic book, and cadenza zines!

finish my very first writing event!

the webtoon that i'm working on with my friends was featured on "rising stars" and "today's hot series" by webtoon canvas! it's currently on hiatus at the moment but you can read it here!

goals for next year

apply to more zines as a contributor and hopefully try out as a moderator for them (specifically for layout)!

start submitting my fictions to magazines! i'm also looking into some contests and anthologies so that will be fun

try out more writing/reading events and potentially beta read for a few projects!

practice more with graphic design and photoshop!

write and finish the first season of the heaven above the sky! i'm making this my main goal for 2024 so i'm determined determined determined 👹

project-wise, hopefully finish two novels by the end of the year?? ideally three to four but that's being too optimistic so we'll see

#yearly wrap-up & review 🥠 #pretend that i actually managed to post this before the new year #BUT AT LEAST IT'S DONE #here's to a new and exciting year for writing

[mandoinevarro]

WILL BUY STOLEN GOODS FOR LOWER PRICE

Rule Maker, Rule Breaker: Chapter 1

Words: 8.4k 

Rating: E

Warnings: shooting, non-descriptive death, SMUT, fingering, mentions of masturbation, AND masturbation now that I remember, penetration, creampie! just general filth, gambling?

a/n: SO literally nobody asked for this, but I decided to turn NO REFUNDS into the prologue of a short series (you don’t really need to read NO REFUNDS, it’s only for context.) Anywayyys heavy feelings, heavy plot, heavy smut. Have fun. 

……………

Maker, you need to start cheating. That way you wouldn’t be in the middle of a staring contest with your cards, like you can change their colorful drawings and numbers if you only glare hard enough. You’ve never been particularly good at sabacc, but a little luck wouldn’t hurt, especially since this is the third round in a row you lose.  Duma deals the last couple of cards across the coal black table and stacks the deck, signaling the start of the game.

Well, you suppose it doesn’t really matter; you doubt your sabacc buddies have better hands. These days, everyone in Nevarro is short on luck. Luck and food and water. Others are less pessimistic: As soon as Greef Karga glances at his hand he leans back on the carcass of a cantina booth and slaps his belly. “Ha!” he bellows, “by the end of this round, you filthy gutter womp rats will have to borrow from your womp rat mothers to pay me.”

“Quit bluffing, Karga. We know you don’t have shit,” Cara mutters. She picks up her cards and pulls a face like she bit on lemon, but still the veteran goes all in, pushes forward a couple of stabilizing coils, an identity beacon you could’ve sold at a decent price some months ago and—maker—even a pouch of nova crystal dust. Nobody here is stupid enough to gamble with food, but you’re surprised that even nova has lost its worth and been demoted to casino chip status. “This place smells like shit.”

“Bad bluff, piss-poor trash talk too,” you taunt. “Looks like all that time doing business with Imperials smoothed your brain, Karga.”

“Ex-Imperials,” he corrects. The ex-Guild leader slides a few more credits to the center of his ex-cantina’s table. “We live in a jolly Republic now, didn’t you hear? You’ve been liberated.”

“Fuck ‘em.” Duma turns her head, spits on the melted floor. “Can’t eat liberation, can I?” She throws a few more worthless credits onto the growing pile of nothing. At least, for now, it’s nothing. Credits and ship parts and every other type of currency haven’t meant anything but props in Nevarro for five months, when the siege began. That whole mess with troopers and Greef and Cara was bound to bring some repercussions—aside from making Karga’s cantina look like a volcano erupted inside. For five months, Imperial forces have surrounded the planet, and for five months, food and resources haven’t been allowed inside. They won’t let up, rumor has it, until they find the culprit: one particular Mandalorian with a valuable asset. They think he’s still hiding somewhere in the planet, but you know better. You watched the Razor Crest’s fly off-orbit and leave everything behind. Everything and everyone.

“This place smells like shit,” Cara repeats.

“Not shit,” replies Duma, “ash.” She picks up a card from the deck with long fingers. “You never did explain how that Mandalorian managed to torch this place.”

Cara’s sabacc face melts. Her fingers tighten and bend her cards as she exchanges a complicit look with Greef. “Never said it was Mando.”

“Who else? I was there in the first shootout. That hunter was fierce.” Duma dons a wolfish smile, because this is how she always wins: She plays with people, not cards. In fact, she abandons her hand face-down on the table and—oh no—gives you a once-over. “You knew him well, didn’t you?” You almost want to show her your garbage hand so she doesn’t bother trying to throw you off your inexistent game.

“Swung by the store a couple of times,” you answer as casually as you can manage and pretend the most interesting book is written on your cards. “But we weren’t exactly chummy, if that’s what you’re asking.” Creeping warmth attacks your face and there’s no stopping it. Shit.

“Funny, could swear I saw him leaving your store more than a couple of times.” You feel Duma’s eyes piercing into your forehead. “Pretty late at night, too.”

“Is that so?” Cara pipes with a lopsided grin.

“I thought you two were…friends,” Duma adds.

“Yeah, well,” you mutter, “you thought wrong.” Friends don’t leave friends to their luck in the middle of a fucking siege. It’s the same prickly thought that’s plagued you since you watched the Mandalorian take off triumphantly. It’s a stupid feeling. He was under no obligation to take you with him. You didn’t lie to Duma, you two weren’t friends. You couldn’t even call what you had a fling, even those require some degree of making-love-below-the-stars, quoting-passages-of-Naboo-Nights-to-each-other romance. Flings are shooting stars. No, your…thing, whatever it was, did not belong to the heavens. It was earthy. Human. It was counting credits and arguing about fuel prices or old modulators. It had weight—too much, apparently, to escape gravitational pull and fly away with him on the Crest. It was doomed to planets, both feet planted on the ground.  

Still, you remember times when earthy was good. There was never anything airy or celestial in the way he’d take you. The shoved clothes, the harsh grunts, the rough hands, the pleasure, it was all palpable and primitive; earthy was dirty. Your furtive encounters had beating heart of their own, and there was always hard evidence left behind in case either of you ever needed a reminder: marks on the skin, ripped clothes, stained bedsheets. The bruises he left always took too long to heal, as if his touch enhanced your mortality, made you more human. Stars, those moments are what you miss the most. Five months is a long time to be neglected of touch—six, actually: five months since the siege, six since he last came to you. Earthy expires.

It’s not like there’s nobody in the planet willing to help you soothe your needs; quite the opposite, actually. Lately, it seems like handjobs are the new Nevarran handshake. Just last week you caught Cara feeling up some pretty market girl in an alley. You saw her, she saw you, you rolled your eyes, she grinned and got back to work. You were almost offended. Everybody’s screwing their time through the siege, while you’re left with nothing but reruns of filthy memories with the Mandalorian. You just know nobody but Mando will do. You replay your moments with him like a sad, mental porno on the nights you spend trying to get yourself off. Trying and failing, like having to put out a fire by spitting on it, because the only person in the galaxy with a hose is too busy playing hero lightyears away.

“Last round. Place your bets,” Karga announces and pushes a few more trinkets forward. Cara follows, and you pat around your pockets for something to lose. It’s all just rusted metal anyways. Only…shit, the last three games drained you. And Duma reads it on your face like you’ve got “BROKE” written all over your forehead.

“All out, huh?” She reaches down the table for her bag and drops a beskar pauldron on the table with a thud. A Mandalorian pauldron.

Cara purses her lips and balls a fist, but Greef shoots her a warning look. As if cantina brawls could make this place look worse.

“Still can’t believe you didn’t take anything that day,” Duma continues, shaking her head. “Regret it?”

“I’ll regret it,” you answer and go fish, as if a new card—the right card—could fix a life’s worth of bad luck, “when you learn how to chew beskar.” That earns you a signature “Ha!” from Karga and a cocked eyebrow from Duma. She can arch her eyebrows all she wants, but that much is also true. You don’t regret leaving the Mandalorian covert empty-handed.

You were the first on scene that day. After the smoke cleared, the remaining imps left to lick their wounds, and the Crest flew away, you went to check on Karga’s child, his pride and joy. You were met with a gruesome scene. The cantina, Nevarro’s most sacred landmark, had been reduced to its black skeleton, third-degree burns all over, gone. It sounds dramatic, but the cantina used to be the closest thing to a place of worship on this planet. God Booze was dead.

You kicked around the bar’s guts, until you found a gaping mouth on a wall, leading down, down, down into Nevarro’s entrails. Finding purgatory would’ve surprised you less than what you stumbled upon: an underground tunnel, an abandoned covert, and a sinister, unguarded pile of Mandalorian armor. Stars, it would’ve been so easy. You could’ve hoarded the spoils and stashed them away for better days. That amount of beskar could’ve bought you a one-way ticket out of this dumpster and an early retirement. But when you lifted a helmet, it stared back. It was blue and definitely not his, but Mando was all you could think of while you studied the helmet’s unique curves and creases. You heard his exasperated sighs when you got on his nerves, his moans when you’d touch him. And you just couldn’t do it. You sat back and watched as this skughole’s scavengers crept into the tunnels to pillage. Easy as that, everyone in Nevarro but you and Cara now has a beskar toy or two. Soon enough, this planet will house the wealthiest corpses in the galaxy if the siege is not lifted before reserves run out.

Karga clears his throat. “Well, ladies first. Let’s see those cards.”  

Duma ignores him. “You know,” she tells you, “I’ve more beskar than I know what to do with. I’ll trade you a vembrance for a couple of ration packs.”

“And what am I supposed to do with a Mandalorian vembrance, play dress up?”

“The cards,” Greef urges.

“You’ll be rich.”

You snort. “The rich don’t starve.”  

“Give me a break, we both know you’ve got portions to spare.”

Elbows on the table, you lean forward and closer to Duma. She sniffs weakness like a Corellian hound, and if you falter she’ll sink her fangs. “I’m not interested in your fucking loot.”

“Cause it’s stolen? You never had a problem with that before.” She mimics your move and leans closer. Karga fiddles with a coinage of calamari flan, like you’re both Canto Bight slot machines and he’s trying to decide where to put his money. “What, did you grow morals all of a sudden? Or maybe, you’re too worried of what your Mandalorian friend would think.” You flinch. She smirks. “Oh my, what would the disgraced hunter, code-breaker, cult member say—”

The tiny noise of Karga’s coinage clinking on the table is not enough to distract you from the verbal beating Duma is laying on you. But his voice—like he got the air knocked out of him—is enough to grab your attention when he murmurs, “Ask him yourself.”

Cara, Duma, and you turn to Greef Karga, who stares saucer-eyed at the window. All three of your heads move simultaneously, guided by the line of his eyesight. Outside the window, on the deserted street, stands a trooper barking orders. It’s one of those in all-black armor, the extra trigger-happy ones with a side of god complex because they think the change of color magically makes their aim less shitty. His blaster is drawn (surprise, surprise), and on the receiving end of its barrel…

Maker’s fucking mercy.

You don’t even see the blaster shot, only smoke snaking out of a hole on the shiny breastplate. The trooper plummets to the ground like his puppeteer cut off his strings: no last steps, no resistance. Now, anyone else would’ve walked away from what’s clearly worm food without a second look, but one does not become the best bounty hunter in the parsec by taking chances. A mountain of unpainted beskar looms over the corpse and kicks the blaster off the imp’s limp hand. The Mandalorian sheathes his own weapon—that blaster you’ve tweaked and polished so many times you know it as the palm of your hand—and scans the perimeter for danger.

You don’t tell your legs to move, but they don’t need the command. You find yourself trailing behind Cara, Duma, and Greef, rushing for the door. Outside, all four of you stumble and stop on your tracks to blink stupidly at the Mandalorian, the way children stare wide-eyed at soldiers on military parades. But this warrior stands grander than any Republic or Imperial officer you’ve ever seen. He’s clad head to toe in silver beskar—except for one armorless thigh that makes his other leg look even bulkier. His old armor, the one you used to shine and buff, is gone. This one you’ve only seen from afar, on that day he crashed the imps’ safehouse, and later when the battle broke out. You know it’s him, but in this new getup it’s easy to doubt. Maybe he’s a stranger. Maybe he won’t recognize you.

The Mandalorian studies each of you one by one, his hand near the blaster in case he spots any enemy faces. The hand twitches when he sees Duma—she doesn’t have the cleanest reputation around here—but she’s shocked and unarmed, so his arm relaxes. To Greef and Cara he gives short nods that they return.

And then you. He actually takes a step back when he spots you, like you pushed him square on the chest. The helmet lingers on you and tilts, shamelessly rakes over every feature like he’s memorizing you. You hold your breath. It reminds you of the day you met, that weight on your chest from knowing you’ve been seen. That’s how you know it really is Mando: Whenever he stares at you, you feel it in your bones.

You realize the moment’s dragged out for too long when Karga clears his throat. The spell breaks.

You and Mando look bashfully away from each other. You squint up at the clouds, your hands stiff on your waist in a forced, generic, looks like rain! pose. He turns to his boss (ex-boss? enemy? You never asked for an update on Mando’s most recent status in the Guild) and mutters a short, “Karga.” To Cara he’s warmer, offers a comradely clasp of hands and a pat on the shoulder. “Good to see you again.”

“You too,” Cara drawls, as she stares suspiciously between you and Mando. You squint harder at the clouds. “Didn’t expect you back during a siege, though.”

“I have to…” he spies a furtive glance at Duma and lowers his voice, “I’ve something to do here.”

Duma rolls her eyes and clasps her bag across her chest. “Don’t worry, Mando. I’ll leave you girls to catch up on the hot goss.” She strides into the cantina (probably to bag the bets, the asshole), and goes back outside.

She points at the window of a crumbling building. “Careful with snitches.”

You glance back to the window. Nothing. Jerk. Duma’s not above a made you look moment, apparently. You turn back to her but she’s already disappearing into an alley.

Cara waits until she’s gone to grab the Mandalorian by the arm. “Mando, where’s the…” she glances at you and hesitates. You fold your arms and raise your eyebrows at the veteran. If she expects you to leave graciously like Duma she’s got another thing coming. You’re actually very, very interested on the Mandalorian’s hot goss. Especially it comes with an explanation as to why he left you stranded here. Even though he doesn’t owe you one. Technically. “Y’know,” she finally says and drops her hand. “The asset.”

“On the ship. I need to get back.”

“You, my friend, need to lay low,” Greef says with a raised index. “Every imp in Nevarro will be looking for you. Maker—” he spreads his arms “—they already are! And someone must have heard the blaster shot. You have ten minutes or so until an Imperial squadron gets here. The, uh, asset will be fine.”

“The asset,” Cara exclaims, “is a ch—is…is delicate. He can’t just leave it on the Crest!”

Mando interrupts their game of taboo. “Cara,” he starts, “you go to the ship and check on…the asset. Please. I landed where I did last time. I…I’ll lay low in the covert.”

“About that,” Greef mumbles. He looks at Cara for support, but she steps back and raises both hands: You say it. Greef sighs. “They…they found the tunnels, Mando.”

The helmet crooks slowly to study Karga.  “Who’s they?”  

“Everyone. Half of Nevarro is living down there, you…you can’t go back.”

Silence.

You imagine all four of you go through the same checklist: Even if Cara didn’t already have a top-secret assignment with whatever the asset is, she doesn’t have a place of her own yet. Every week, she crashes on one of her sweethearts’ couches. On their beds, more likely. There’s no way Karga is letting him near his house, not after what happened at the cantina. That leaves…

“Stay with me,” you blurt before you can really think it through.

≈

The cramped storage room you call a home sits a story above your store. It’s four walls and only the essentials: a bed, an armchair, a table, a stove, and the only detached room is the refresher. It’s enough for you. But the Mandalorian looks like he squeezed into a dollhouse when you usher him inside and close the door behind you. He stands in the middle of the room, all fighter’s bulk and grandiose armor, like he’s afraid he’ll break something if he moves. As if he’s never been here before, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The apartment may be small, but it’s so filled with memories you could turn it into a museum of your dirty escapades with him. And if you look to your right, you’ll see the armchair where he sat while I went down on him on a stormy night.  

“So,” you say and lean against the front door, “business or pleasure?”

He moves to stand to the side of the window opposite the front door and his glove moves the old washed out curtain to the side to peer into the street. The sun is setting, and the last streaks of light paint the beskar with warped yellow-orange streaks that stay as still as an undisturbed pond. So this is how he wants the evening to go: quietly and with a reasonable amount of distance between you. Disappointment knots in your stomach.

“Business.”  

You open your mouth to cut into the silence, but you’re all out of words. Maybe you’ve lost your touch. It used to be so easy to tease him, but now…a heaviness seems to weigh down on his shoulders, some heightened sense of duty. But also determination: He stands taller now, prouder, like he woke up one day and knew exactly what he needed to do and why. Whatever that purpose is, you’re pretty sure it doesn’t involve you. You’re a detour, and not even the fun kind, judging by the space between you. Maker, this man used to pounce on you. Has the siege really battered you up that much?

“Been busy?” The sudden question startles you. He’s never been one to break the ice, that was usually your job.  

“Sure.” Nope, not at all. “Store and all.” You closed the store three months ago. Turns out nobody buys equipment for their ships when they can’t fly past the atmosphere. “Plus, somebody needs to keep Karga distracted from his mourning. You owe him a cantina.”

“He told I did that?”

“Just a guess.” You move a couple of steps forward, like you’re approaching a nervous lothcat. When he doesn’t move away, you sit on the armchair, a little closer to him. “You like that flamethrower too much.”

“That what you four were doing in there?” The helmet moves to the side so he can spy deeper down the street. Always careful. “Assessing my damage?”

“No, just sabacc. Different kind of damage.” He’s making small talk. The Mandalorian, whom you’ve overheard have conversations solely based on grunts and sighs, is chatting with you. He’s not just answering out of politeness, he’s prompting you to go on, to keep running your mouth. That’s something he said once between thrusts, perched over you right on this floor: Keep running your mouth, see what happens. The memory warms your neck. Maker, not the point. The point is, before, he always said you had a smart mouth. Sometimes he’d chastise you for it, other times he’d encourage it. And you used to have the suspicion (or, let’s face it: fantasy) that he actually liked it. That somewhere hidden, beyond his pride and honor’s jurisdiction, he enjoyed the teasing and the banter, the challenge of having to deal with you. Better yet: More than once it crossed your mind that he got off on it, too. It’s been a long time, but some of that might remain. Maybe you’ll take his advice: keep running your mouth, see what happens.

You sit straighter, arch your back a bit just in case he’s watching. “You interrupted a round with your little stunt.”

“Yeah?” The helmet doesn’t move, but his hand runs up the curtain, considering. “Sorry. I bet you were winning.”

That makes you smile. It’s a dig at you. Far and wide across Nevarro, your uncanny ability to lose every single game of sabacc you play baffles locals and foragers alike. Yes, you know you suck, but the game amuses you anyways. You like the trash talk, the double-guessing, the bluff-calling. So much so that you forget to actually play. But what’s important is he’s teasing you, and that’s more than charted territory with him, a match you have a shot at winning. Okay. Game on.

“I was, actually.”

He huffs. “Don’t believe you.”

“Then I don’t believe you’re here on business.” Pause for effect. You can almost see a question mark form in a cloud above the helmet. You lean forward and lick your lips, lower your voice. “I think you missed me.”

You’re used to the helmet’s features remaining impassive, so you don’t look for clues on there anymore. Mando’s hands are more telling. You want to believe you actually see his fingers twitch and clutch the curtain a little tighter, that he takes too long to answer. That’s what trying to read him is all about—blind-guessing and wishful thinking.

“Don’t know about that. Six months and two weeks without your cons, I’m almost rich.”

Down to the week, huh? “Okay, if you want to make it about money we’ll bet on it. Twenty credits says you missed me.”

“Last time I was here you weren’t a compulsive gambler. Store’s doing that bad?”

“Last time you were here,” you coo, “there was a lot less talking involved.” You stare into the visor, and pray he can’t see the desperate hope in your eyes.

Your prayers are answered. In a way. Mando ignores you, doesn’t even look at you.  You hear your clumsy attempt at seduction buzz around him like a one-winged bee, crash into the unmoving, unmoved Mandalorian, and fall to the floor in a pointed-lined spiral. You’re so embarrassed you want to step on it. Well, that settles it. Six months is apparently enough for a Mandalorian to lose interest.

“And store’s doing fine,” you lie to try and sway the conversation away from that lame innuendo that missed its mark. He really just wants to talk, then. No big deal. It’s fine. “Nobody gambles for money anyways.”

“Then why?”

You shrug. “Why do you hunt?” He’s never told you, but you saw him chase down a bounty once. He was ruthless, sweating adrenaline and with far too much stamina to only be chasing a bag of credits. “For the risk. The thrill.”

He lets your words float for a second. “You get a thrill out of losing?”

You roll your eyes. “I only lose cause everybody knows my bluff.” That is, except you. “You need to know someone to know their bluff. Greef and the others already know me too well. You, on the other hand.” You smile. “If you and I played, I’d get to keep so much of your stuff you’d think I’m half Jawa.”

And, only then, he seems to tense. That stupid throwaway line is what makes his spine grow visibly rigid and his hand drop from the curtain to his belt, where the leather of his glove creaks with how tightly he clutches the buckle. White and blue streetlights that reflect on his armor glide around like it’s water instead of beskar, and they’re your only indication that he’s shifted slightly. Slowly, so slowly you expect his neck to creak like a door, the Mandalorian turns away from the window to look at you. He holds there quietly, and you feel ants running down your back…stars, you’re nervous. For the first time in a while, he makes you genuinely anxious.

“You’re saying I don’t know you?” he rasps under the helmet. No, not really, but if it gets a reaction out of him…

“All I’m saying,” you start, summoning all your strength to keep your voice from faltering, “is you’ve been gone too long.” You try to make it sound a bit playful, but the words come out tasting bitter when you remember the sharp little edge that’s been digging on your side. He left you here, it whispers, he left you here and didn’t bother looking back. But a heavy boot suddenly drops forward and you’re forced to stop nursing your grudge to try and predict what Mando’s next move will be.

With every step he takes, you’re instinctively swallowed deeper into your armchair, until he’s looming over you. Stars above, the sheer size of him is enough to block out most of the artificial light coming in, and you’re left to squint in the blue twilight. Maker, you don’t remember him this big, this intimidating. Five months ago you would’ve smirked and opened your legs wide. C’mon, I don’t bite unless you ask, you would’ve teased, but now…now you think maybe you are the one who doesn’t know him anymore.

But some things never change, and having him so near still makes your thighs press together. If anything, this new foreignness, the inherent threat of a bounty hunter in your home that never quite poked the right nerve before now pulls on your most sensitive areas. It propels your heartbeat on a sprint. His arm moves, and—oh, you want him to touch you.

Visor trained on you, Mando points to the floor instead. “You hide your credits here.” To illustrate (or just to rub it in that he knows) his boot presses down on the loose tile and shifts from side to side. The sharp sound it makes irritates you less than knowing he found the fox clever hiding spot you used to pat yourself on the back for. “You don’t keep them in the store because it’s too easy to break into. The security panel downstairs is broken, but the one up here works fine.”

You can almost hear his proud smirk under the helmet. There’s a reserved side to him, sure, but bastard can be arrogant when he wants to. And no, you have no idea how he found the spot, but you’re not about to admit it.

“Congrats, boy scout. You can spot a busted panel and you have flat feet. Want a badge?” Your irritation brings back some of your old snark, but you still flinch when he moves closer and his legs brush against your knees.

“You also keep expensive parts inside the stuffing of this—” he takes a tiny step forward and frames  your knees with his legs “—armchair.”  Your blood freezes at his words, but it abruptly runs hot as the city’s lava river when you realize how close he stands now. His legs press against the armchair and there’s nowhere to go. You’re cornered.

A leather glove moves close and you hold your breath, before you realize he’s only toying with the tips of your hair. But his fingers dig deeper, tangle on thicker strands and, without warning, give a short but firm tug. It’s a tiny pull, but maker’s mercy, you feel your core pulse. And then, before you can regain some lucidity, his fingers dip lower, where the tips trace a slow line down your nape. He draws featherlight circles on that spot between your neck and your shoulder that he knows makes your toes curl, and—stars, it’s just been too long—you whimper.

“Still so sensitive here,” he whispers.  

Once, this shielded man knew his way around your body like it belonged to him. You thought that part of him was lost, that he forgot, that he’d truly been gone too long. Those fears dissipate when his palm curls around the back of your neck to hold your gaze on him, while the thumb of his other hand brushes your lips. You know the drill—you open your mouth and give the orange tip some kitten licks. Mando huffs: You can do better than that. Maker, it should be a red flag, how quickly you comply. That urgent need to please him that had never, ever felt so crucial. An O forms in your lips before you can stop them, and his thumb pushes down on your tongue deep and deeper. You should play hard, make him earn it, bite him. But his finger starts to retreat and you panic—no, he can’t change his mind, not now. You seal your lips, trap him inside your mouth and suck. But his grip on the back of your neck grows beskar stiff, and he forcefully removes his finger…only to glide the spit over your lips. Just like that first time.

The visor looms closer to your face, and you catch a ruptured sigh, the pleasured kind that these four walls know so well. If Mando wasn’t holding you down, your chest would balloon with satisfaction and you’d float. His thumb trails down your throat, wetting its path and no doubt feeling the vibration when you chuckle. He cocks his head to the side in a silent question.

“You owe me twenty credits,” you explain, your breath clouding the helmet’s surface. “You did miss me.”

Mando crouches lower, where his helmet brushes your nose, and gropes the tops of your thighs with those wide palms you’ve been dreaming about for weeks.

“Yeah? You like bets?” You’ve never heard his voice so coarse, scratchy like week-long stubble. Did he change the settings of his modulator? Or is it just rash, pent-up need? “Then thirty credits says you’re fucking soaked.” His fingers butterfly higher up your thighs, almost at the apex. Your legs jerk.

“That’s cheating,” you gasp.  

He takes one glove off and settles the covered hand on your hip, while the other disappears between your legs until—stars—he cups your core through your pants. You mewl and he hums when he feels the hot, damp fabric.

“I still win.” He presses the heel of his palm right into your clit and grinds it back and forth. Oh, if you thought you were wet before. The pressure, the friction, him—it all scalds you from head to toe like a fever, but you chase it, greedily push your hips into his palm. His fingers flatten along your slit and grope you tighter. “Gonna pay me? Doesn’t have to be credits.” He pushes viciously into you with that wide, hard palm, preening at the little gasps that escape you. Whimpering, you let your eyes fall shut and focus on something sprouting in your belly. Stars, you’re close—how the fuck are you so close already? It must be all the repressed desire, all that time. Fuck, you’re close—

The Mandalorian halts. You’re eyes flash open to see him straighten and step back, take his other glove off to stuff it snug between his belt and his hip, and remain still as a building. Still catching your breath, you study him head to toe, scanning for a sign of what went wrong. He’s clutching his belt, his stance is too smug. This isn’t him fighting temptation, he’s toying with you. Maker help him, you’re going to kill him. Some corner in your brain reasons that it’s kinda fair, as payback for all the times you messed with him. But in the forefront of your mind pulses the climax he just denied you, cast aside and angry.

Before you know what you’re doing, you push yourself off the armchair. “You—”

Mando beats you to it. A hand on your shoulder and a vembrance across your chest, he lunges forward and slams your back against a wall. He hovers over you, tightly pressed against your body. A fleshy, hard bulge covered by his pants throbs against your belly. Of course. You forgot how much he likes it when you look like prey; how much he enjoys the hunt, whether he admits it or not. The hand on your shoulder trails down to cup your breast. You squeeze your eyes shut and let out a shaky exhale.

“You need it bad,” he breathes as his fingers massage your chest. The movement shifts the fabric of your tunic, brushing it against your nipple. You roll your hips to try and stimulate him, to show you’re not the only one worked up. His erection twitches and you smile.  

“You—mmm—you’re projecting.” You grind again to prove your point, but he catches on to what you’re implying and retaliates by shoving his hand inside your cleavage. Stars, you have to punch down the moan surges up your throat when he pinches your nipple.

“You missed this,” Mando hisses, and whether he’s trying to convince you or himself, you don’t know. What you do know is he’s plotting to settle this stupid inkling of a bet in his favor. He wants you to admit you missed him so he doesn’t have to. You know, because it’s exactly what you are trying to do.

You sneak your hand down his torso, aiming for the hem of his pants—but before you can get even with him, he crushes his hips against yours and traps your palm between them. And he’s not done—he wedges his thigh between your legs and rubs it up and down, drags your clit just right. Your mouth gapes in a silent moan as white hot pleasure lights up your spine. You want to get away from it but, maker, his forearm is still stiff against your chest. Even when you grab the vembrance with your free hand it doesn’t budge. You’re trapped between him and the wall.

“Can take care of m-myself just fine,” you croak as a last attempt to hold on to your dignity. “At least when I’m alone I don’t have to fake any orgasms.”

Yeah, it’s a low blow. A dirty fucking lie too, but desperate times call for desperate measures and all. Good news is it gets you a reaction—he immediately stops moving, as if your words punched him off balance. Bad news is you hit a nerve—his breathing becomes harsh like a bull’s, so much so that you expect clouds of smoke to come out from under the helmet. The Mandalorian creeps closer to your face and his forearm digs deeper into your chest. There’s a promise of danger in the dark visor that makes your pulse race, and a primitive instinct blasts emergency sirens. Maker, this won’t end well for you.

Just as you’re about to backtrack and whisper you didn’t mean it, Mando lets go of you—only for a split second, before he grasps your shoulders and turns you around to push your front into the wall. You jerk back on instinct, but he flattens a palm between your shoulder blades and squishes you right back against it.

The helmet rests right next to your ear when Mando growls, “You expect me to believe that?” His hands drop to your hips as he replaces the pressure on your back with his chest. His body weight holds you in place, and he rocks the hard outline of his erection along your ass. “That I don’t make you cum, you little fucking—” You curl your back as much as his body allows so he can stroke himself tighter against you. He groans and kneads your cheeks, moves the flesh in tandem with his thrusts. “I shouldn’t let you tonight, t-teach you a lesson.”  

The mere suggestion feels devastating enough to let a pathetic whine tumble from your lips. Before, you could’ve turned this into a game, held out a little longer just to watch him break first. But you’re too pent up, too desperate, too sick of waiting. Your fingers hook on the hem of your trousers and push them down. Mid-movement, he traps both of your wrists in one hand and keeps them pressed against your lower back, while the other one gets your pants the rest of the way down, underwear too. You barely have enough time to step out of them before his free hand reaches between the apex of your thighs. You’re sticky, leaking around his fingers, and pushing back against his crotch like you’ll drop dead if he doesn’t fuck you.

“Fucking wet, fuck…” he mutters. His fingers follow the heat and your pussy clenches around nothing. Stars, if he just moved higher, a little higher where you’re hot and soaked and throbbing for him. But he takes his sweet time, molds the inside of your thighs like clay, pulls the flesh, squishes it together, until you’re writhing against him and leaking down your leg. Your vision blurs. “Can—can I…?” He lets his index finish the sentence, teasing at the edges of your outer lips.

Even with the side of your face against the wall, you manage to nod. “Yeah,” you breathe.

Two fingers slide around your folds and you gasp. Mando moves slowly, collecting your arousal and coating his fingers. Your breath catches when the tips finally push into your entrance—only a fraction before they slide back out, so the rest of his palm can cup along your cunt and drag more slick behind it. He’s strategically avoiding your clit, though, and with both arms behind your back and at his mercy, you can’t reach for it yourself. Fuck, you…you only need to hold on a bit more, he’ll get bored of his game soon enough. That’s it, just a little longer. You waited six months, no way he’s making you beg after a few minutes of teasing.

The Mandalorian eventually pulls his fingers away from your thighs and curses under his breath. You hear the familiar rustling of fabric and a divine zip that fills your eyes with tears of relief. Fucking finally. You brace yourself and relax your pelvic floor in preparation, but it’s barely necessary—you’re so ready for it. Your cunt is open and weeping, he can just slide it in. All this time, with nothing substantial inside you, your lower muscles pump and twist painfully with demanding want. Even with his size and in this position, you’re so turned on he might even be able to bottom out. Fuck, he doesn’t have to move much, a few good pumps and he’ll have you cumming, easy. Stars, what’s taking so damn long—

A modulated, battered moan and a wet noise make you turn your head over your shoulder and look for the source. The low light makes it difficult to make out shapes, but there’s no mistaking what you find below you. Hand wrapped solid around his cock, Mando is jerking himself off. With your cum as lubricant. While he treats you like a piece of furniture he’s only gripping for support. A chemical cocktail of lust mixed with fury spikes your blood.

“Is…wh-what are…what the fuck do you think y-you’re…”

“Say it,” he spits between his teeth, “say you f-fucking need me.”

No, no fucking way. As much as the words burn on your tongue and your clit tugs and begs, you’re not saying it. He left, not you. You waited for him. You turn your head as far back as your neck allows without snapping a ligament and look straight into the visor. And pointedly curl your lips inside your mouth, sealed.

Your act of rebellion lasts a good ten seconds.

“You’re so fucking difficult,” he snarls. He stops tugging on his cock, and for a moment you hope he might indulge you, push into you and stop the masochist torment you’ve talked yourselves into. But when it comes to Mando and you, it’s never that easy. Still not releasing your wrists, he grabs the base of his cock, glistening with your stolen juices, and rubs it up and down the swell of your uncovered ass. You gasp, let your lips part and your gaze fall to where he’s rubbing up against you and refusing to push inside.  

He's not going to last long. Swollen and a strangled purple, the head of his cock dribbles warm precum and smears it on your lower back. The veins on his length throb against your ass, and stars, they’d feel so much better inside you. The Mandalorian’s grunts and groans ring more frustrated than lost in pleasure; it’s not enough for him either. He’s torturing you and himself just to prove a point, while you refuse to speak the magic words just to keep your pride. Desperate tears threaten to spill, but you shut your eyes to push them back. Either of you could put an end to it, right now. Maker, it’s on the tip of your tongue: I need you. Spit it out, end it. I need you, Mando, I need you, do whatever you want with me. It doesn’t matter that you abandoned me in this shithole, that you discarded me like faulty equipment, that you didn’t even have the decency to tell me—

The thrusting stops. When you open your eyes, you find the visor fixed on you, cocked slightly to the side, like there’s writing on your face. Mando’s grip on your wrist softens, his frustrated panting slows. Maybe he sees the unshed tears, or maybe your face really is that transparent, because he takes pity on you. Gentle palms on your shoulders, he turns you around to face him.

Night has fallen. Fragments of fluorescent light pour inside through your worn out curtains and give the helmet a fuzzy silver halo. The rest of the armor is shiny black, smudges of light here and there. His head moves around the features of your face, one by one, taking its time. Showdown’s over. He’s not playing a game anymore, not trying to get you to break, he’s just…studying you. Staring his fill of you farewell-style, even though he just came back. It hits you that you don’t know how long he’s staying this time. You open your mouth to ask, but stop yourself in time. If he leaves, he leaves. He doesn’t owe you any explanations.

But when he curls an arm around your waist and holds you against the wall and his cold breastplate, it doesn’t feel like goodbye. It feels like old times—pre-siege, pre-battle, pre-everything—when he confidently grabs your left thigh, sinks his fingers into the plump flesh, and hooks it on his lower back. You drape your arms around his shoulders and hold him closer. You’ve always liked the bulk of him against you, it makes everything feel more real. Buried on the crook of your neck, you hear him sigh when he lets go of your thigh and blindly searches your cunt. With your leg around his back you’re completely open for him, so it takes him no time to find your bud. He presses against it and rubs it in slow but tight circles that make your legs cramp.

You push down on him, demanding more. He groans and complies, inserts one finger and continues rubbing on your clit with his thumb. Maker, this has no right to be so good. He’s doing pretty much the same you’ve done to yourself these past months, but with Mando there are never any ghost sensations, no what ifs. It’s all here and now, and you swear you feel the pleasure of his fingers picking up speed in every corner of your body. He has you moaning and rocking your hips, dripping down his hand, and when he starts rubbing you harder and tighter, you finally whine a tiny, “Please.”

The Mandalorian doesn’t need to ask what you want, but he moves his helmet to look at you square in the face, check if you mean it. You stare droopy-eyed into the visor and nod: yesyesyesyes. Mando groans and grips you tighter. Maker, he’s right, you need it—need the bruises, need his cock, need all of him.

“Fuck,” he breathes. His hand leaves you to grab his cock and guide it to your entrance. He moves it around your lips and brushes his tip against your clit as he looks for your hole in the dark. It doesn’t take long for the head to poke right outside where it needs to go. “Fuck, I don’t—don’t think I can hold back, don’t want to hurt you—”

“Stars, please,” you whine, “I want it rough.” You want it more than rough. After six months, you want it fucking depraved, but neither of you is going to last long enough to make it elaborate. Maker, you don’t care. Right now, you don’t care for risky positions or clever techniques, you want him.

He groans and pushes inside—only the head, still testing, but your walls immediately grip him tightly to hinder any attempts to move away. That’s not what you should’ve been worried about. Fingers tight around your waist, Mando pulls you down as he pushes up. Stars. The brutal thrust reaches the end of you and then some more. Fuckfuckfuck. The dull bam of your skull hitting the wall is suddenly drowned by a slicker, filthier sound coming from between your legs. His length begins to pull out, your pussy complains the whole way, and you can almost hear the Mandalorian gritting his teeth through the sweet torture of feeling you squeeze around him…and thrust back up—harder. He likes the pace and sticks to it—fast, rough, deep, repeat—while you make sounds like you’re choking on air. Stars, it has been long. Long enough to partially forget his size, his fucking girth, currently filling you to the brim and punching high little sounds from your throat.

“Mmmando,” you sob.

Mando groans in response, snakes a hand down to your clit and rubs with the same wild abandon as his pounding. Maker, your memory was never this fucking good. No matter how many details you recalled, there’s nothing compared to the real, human meat of his cock pulsing urgently inside you, hitting your cervix, making you whine. Nothing like his fingers around your waist, or knowing there’ll be bruises tomorrow. The pleasure has teeth, carries a painful bite, but it’s exactly what you need. That tangible grit in his thrusts and his fingers is the missing piece. Your muscles start cramping, you pull him tighter against you—Maker, right there, you can feel it. It reaches your head and makes you dizzy, sheds light on some hidden, shameful words.

“Mando, I…”

“I—fuck—I n-needed this,” he grunts and brings his hand down to feel where his cock is inching out of you, like he has to double check it’s actually happening. Thrust. “Used—used to d-dream about you.” Thrust. Three fingers now push into your clit and draw frantic shapes. You clench your jaw, feel the hot tide in your belly rise faster. Thrust. “Wake up so f-fucking hard—cum in my pants.” Thrust—thrust—thrust.

Maybe it’s his words, maybe the rough pace, but something holds a flame to the dynamite building inside you and it explodes. Maker, your head’s going to burst. You moan long and deep into the spot Mando’s ear might be. Your legs shake, your arms cramp. Months’ worth of frustration gush hot and wet around him, as he babbles encouragement: There you go, just like that, make it fucking good. Your walls are still fluttering, your ears are still ringing, you haven’t even ridden out the last of your climax when his hips pick up the pace.

“Let me—let me cum inside,” the warrior pants, “let me f-fill this cunt…I—I haven’t since—fuck, I didn’t—”

“Yes,” you gasp, “yes, please, Mando, cum, cum inside—”

There’s no space left between you, but Mando finds a way to squish you tighter against him as he pounds into you for a few last moments, until you hear a strangled grunt, and a half-forgotten warmth pools inside you. The extra lubrication drives his last thrust as deep as your body allows. A few more lazy thrusts inside you, short and stunted as you take his load inside you, before he stops. A warm string trails down your leg, and—stars, he’s leaking out. How much did he cum that it didn’t fit inside you?  Fuck.

You take turns panting, whimpering, listening to each other’s heartbeats slow to a semi-normal pace. The Mandalorian moves away from the crook of your neck to meet your glossy eyes. He doesn’t say anything, but you think will. You can almost hear his mouth opening, words boiling and rising in bubbles up his throat—

Zium!

It’s your imagination. It’s your ears ringing from that orgasm, your mind making stuff up. But. You could swear you saw a red flash glade right past your cheek. And from the way Mando’s helmet cocks to the side, you know he saw it too. You turn your heads in unison, to see smoke coming out of a hole a breath away from your ear. It takes both of you too long to put two and two together, and—before he can pull out—more of those red flashes are raining down on you.

…………

Edit: Chapter 2 let’s goooooooo

Taglist: @rosetophighlander​ @hellomothermoon @newyorksins​ @leo-moon​ @benedrylcumbersnatch

#the mandalorian smut #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian #din djarin smut #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you #mando smut #mando x reader #mando x you #star wars smut

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Folks, FOLKS.  Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #7 is here and it is SO HECKIN’ GOOD. 

And do you know what this Very Good issue of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is called???

CHAPTER SEVEN: “HOPE, HELP, AND COMPASSION.”

*cue happy nerd flailing set to the rad guitar version of the Supergirl TV theme*

ISSUE CREDITS: “Hope, Help, and Compassion.” written by Tom King, art by Bilquis Evely, colors by Matheus Lopes, letters by Clayton Cowles, and edited by Brittany Holzer w/ asst. editor Jillian Grant and senior editor Mike Cotton.

THE PLOT:

Having captured Krem at the end of issue six, issue seven finds Ruthye, Comet, and Kara ready and waiting for the Brigands. 

Half the issue takes place on the surface of an oceanic/aquatic planet, where Ruthye and Comet keeps tabs on Krem.

The other half of the issue is set in space, as Kara takes on the Brigands’ ship, the Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Thus we’re back in True Grit territory, as this set-up is lifted right from the novel. (Mattie is left alone with Chaney while Rooster takes on Ned Pepper’s gang.)

(I also just realized the other day that Krypto being poisoned/needing an antidote is a nice stand-in for Mattie’s encounter with the rattle snake.)

SO there’s this really great balance of the tense, character-driven drama between Ruthye and Krem, while Kara gets this sweeping, epic space battle and it is just. So. GOOD.

I figure the best way to approach this one is to break it up into those two sides so LET’S GO.

A GIRL AND HER SUPER-HORSE

Alright so before we get into like, you know, the writing and the character stuff let’s talk about that ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!!!!

I kinda touched on this a little bit in a previous post re: these pages but man, THE COLORS.

By now, it should come as no surprise that Evely and Lopes are MASTERS of creating unique alien worlds and populating them with amazing detail, but I gotta say. That water? The transparency and color transitions from the shore to the sea? A truly impressive flex.

Like there is. SO MUCH that goes into coloring a page like this. For one, aquas and purples are notoriously tricky in print, as CMYK doesn’t really play nice with them. So even getting that vibrant sea green takes a significant amount of planning/work, to say nothing of the color holds and textures and whatnot.

Just absolutely gorgeous, and such a great contrast to the yellows, reds, and oranges of Kara’s portion of the book!

Again, mentioned this in my previous post but I love the way the beach environs offset the reds of the...space apples? And Comet’s cape.

Speaking of Comet and space apples, some other Very Good Panels:

I love this one because it’s just adorable? Like, Evely is so great in this issue, reminding us that Ruthye is a very young girl who is in the midst of an emotionally trying ordeal--there’s excellent expression/character acting later on, but here? Just! A cute li’l panel of Ruthye’s physicality that emphasizes how tiny she is. And the little floating fish! 26/10.

(Ruthye’s legs dangling over the side of Comet reminds me of that great panel from issue three, where Kara’s putting her on the bench before they go flying.) 

Another detail I loved, Ruthye’s very tiny bite compared to Comet who takes like. Half. XD

Oh, right, should just like. Give major props to Evely for all of the HORSE DRAWINGS.

Horses are hard, man. XD

Also Comet EMOTES which is even TOUGHER to pull off.

Damn this creative team for making me like Comet the Super-Horse.

DAMN THEM.

Right, sorry, okay. So. As we’ve established, the colors and art are splendid, and work in perfect tandem with the writing.

The story starts out very light and airy (just like the art!) as Ruthye casually chats with Comet, and ultimately persuades him to let her talk to Krem.

Because, see, Kara has left Comet with Ruthye so that Ruthye doesn’t just. Murder Krem. 

There’s really great humor here, in the form of Ruthye sassing Krem. 

But while Ruthye initially seems in control, both in terms of the conversation, as well as in control of her own emotions, Krem quickly gains the upper hand, as he (also quite casually!) tells Ruthye how he came to kill her father.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: Evely is *so good* at nailing characters’ expressions and emotions--the body language, the subtleties in eyebrows and mouth shapes--in the above page, I love how Ruthye leans into Comet, almost trying to hide from the terrible things Krem is saying. And the fact that the action is given these three huge panels to let the moment play out over a period of ‘time’ and breathe is wonderful (along with the steady push-in on her face and tears. Which are beautifully rendered, I might add.)

CONTRAST THAT with Krem’s unchanged, unfeeling face! NOT ONLY does that emphasize his cruelty, but also let’s us know that this guy? 

We get an echo of these three panels on the next page, where Krem...kinda unknowingly makes a (potentially fatal???) error.

Like. Krem had her on the ropes! She was beat! Emotionally devastated!

But then he went and did a sexism. XD

She’s able to refocus her anger and hurt and thus is back in control and we get that same ‘hiding’ action but in a more overtly ‘I’m plotting your downfall’ way.

I mean. LOOK AT THAT SMIRK. XD

And then it’s here, at this point, where Ruthye’s portion of the story at last directly connects to Kara’s, so let’s backtrack a bit and discuss...

THE BATTLE OF CAPES

Kara’s entire half of the book is just!!!

It’s all caption boxes/narration, much like issue 6; however, as Ruthye reveals on the very first page, this information is not firsthand, and she had to do research in order to record what occurred in Supergirl’s showdown with the Brigands.

Ruthye also mentions that epic poems have been written about this fight which evokes a sense mythic scale/scope to what we’re about to read--this is not just Supergirl taking down a bad guy. This is The Battle of Capes. Poems have been written about it. So many poems in fact, that there are good ones and, in Ruthye’s words, ‘shoddy ones’ as well!

I. LOVE. THIS.

Like. I’ll be the first to admit that I like earthbound Supergirl stories. I think that’s an important part of her characterization, that she finds a home on Earth. (Eventually! She doesn’t have to love it at first. See: the Best Episode of Supergirl, “Midvale” XD)

But I also love the idea of the Super family just. Existing for millennia and their galaxy-spanning adventures becoming the stuff of legends. (See, the Extremely Awesome “Legion of Superheroes: Millennium” by Bendis and “House of El” comic by PKJ.)

So I love this set up, I love this mood, I love that Ruthye is like, ‘Yeah, I hate that part in that one poem, “The yellow of her hair, the red of her lip, the wreckage and ruin of every ship.” 

As I’ve said before, this book does such a great job of not only establishing all these alien worlds and cultures and whatnot but also making them feel lived-in. Like it’s cool that there are poems about this battle--it’s even cooler that a character has an opinion on a very cheesy line from one of those poems.

*Patrick Stewart voice* World building!

And, of course! The art works in perfect harmony, selling this sense of pure scale.

PAGE ONE! RIGHT OFF THE BAT! We see Kara, larger than life, even appearing larger than the planet below, thanks to the composition of the page! Solid, strong, resolute! We can EASILY imagine Supergirl besting any foe! Weathering any attack, no matter how savage!

And then BOOM.

HUGE DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD OF THE REVERSE ANGLE, and Kara is now dwarfed in comparison to the Brigands’ ship--we see the literal size of the obstacle and we KNOW that Supergirl’s in for a fierce fight.

And it’s here, in said fight, that we get some cool, vaguely meta bits.

For one, Kara facing down the Brigands’ cannon fire calls to mind the shot of Superman beating back the ray gun from the classic Fleischer cartoon

(This isn’t the exact shot I’m thinking of, but hopefully conveys the idea. XD Like there’s a better one where Clark is actually flying and smacking the laser beams out of the way.)

ALSO Ruthye specifically muses on why a fight between Supergirl and the Brigands would be interesting, if you know Supergirl is going to beat 'em.

And this book has a pretty great answer, to the common complaint from readers that the Super characters are boring, or hard to write, because they’re too powerful, or too ‘good.’

‘You know they’re going to win, so why bother?’

As per Ruthye: “No one has a monopoly on power.”

Essentially: There are any number of threats one can simply INVENT or IMAGINE. Because this is fiction. You’re literally making stuff up, so. Make up some more stuff! XD

Again, as per Ruthye: “There are faster bullets. There are stronger locomotives. There are taller buildings. It is a universe of wonders and mysteries, and being born under one sun and raised under another does not mean you have mastered its limits.”

Brilliant. Amazing. Spectacular. Insert orsonwellesclapping.gif here. XD

Okay, time for my favorite paaaaage:

Gonna quote the text for easier reading, as it’s small on the page: “And so with that unprecedented barrage, one that might have laid waste to any number of solar systems...Supergirl fell from the sky and toward the planet below. The heat of reentry began to warm her and, as she described it to me, there was a feeling of comfort in it. It reminded her of Krypton, of coming home after school and her father overheating the laser grill, raising the temperature in the whole apartment. She could see him dashing though the kitchen to tell her that everything was all right, he’d got it under control, just don’t tell your mother when she gets home. And Supergirl would smile knowing she’d got something from her father not many ever got, a secret. And as she continued to fall and the flames hugged her even closer she saw her house burn, she saw her parents burn, she saw her world burn. Until all she had left was that secret and no one to whom she could tell it. And knowing that, that she was the only one in the whole universe who could tell the story of her father and the laser grill, she knew she could not die that day. Her life was one of trillions. But that memory was unique and needed preserving.”

SO LET’S SEE. BEAUTIFUL SPACE IMAGERY. MEMORIES OF KRYPTON, OF HER FAMILY AND HER WORLD. THE PEACFEUL MEMORIES GIVING WAY TO THE DESTRUCTION OF HER HOME. DECIDING THAT SHE NEEDS TO KEEP LIVING. SHE WILL KEEP GOING. SHE WILL NOT DIE THIS DAY.

1000/10 S-Tier Supergirl content, Tom King, Bilquis Evely, and Mat Lopes understood the assignment.

BUT THE GOOD KARA CONTENT DOESN’T STOP THERE. OH NO.

So Kara manages to board their ship and take the Brigands on directly but they gain the upper hand--she goes down, and it’s at this point that we’re BACK to where our stories converge!

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

Gosh, this part was so good.

Down on the planet, Comet gets all squirrelly; something is wrong!

Cut to the Brigands above, and we get this moment:

The Brigands delight in Supergirl’s apparent weakness, in her BEGGING for mercy. 

And we, the reader, might even think, ‘WHOA, Kara’s in a tight spot!’

BUT THEN.

BUT THEN.

It is revealed that Kara is NOT begging for her life, but is in fact TELLING COMET TO STAY WITH RUTHYE BECAUSE SHE NEEDS HIM.

HEROIC, SELFLESS-TO-A-FAULT KARA, USING SUPER-HEARING, IN ADDITION TO THE OTHER GOOD STUFF?!???!???!

WE LOVE TO SEE IT.

Like, if I had a bingo board of all my favorite Supergirl stuff, this issue would check off so many boxes. 

Time for another quoooooote:

“Her power was great, greater than you can imagine. But it was not just measured in terms of the pull of her muscle, the cool of her breath, and the heat of her eyes. No, her power also derived from a whole life dedicated to kindness. From day after day defending others from the wicked. And thereby earning their loyalty. So that she did not often walk alone.”

I know for a fact there are Hardcore Supergirl Fans™ who, as recently as issue six, still feel that King is doing a bad job, and fundamentally doesn’t understand Kara. 

To which I say: We’re reading different books, clearly.

BECAUSE HERE SHE IS, LADS. 

IN A COMIC TITLED: HOPE, HELP, AND COMPASSION.

King better stick the landing so that I don’t look like a dang fool again, I swear. XD

Comet continues to become agitated, to the point where Ruthye realizes that Kara needs help, and Ruthye urges him to go assist her.

She swears on her dad’s grave that she won’t kill Krem, and so, Comet takes flight!

AT WHICH POINT WE REALIZE! This whole time, as Ruthye was giving Comet the space fruit and relating the story of her ponydog, she was cleverly gaining his trust, so that she could convince him to leave her alone WITH KREM! And that her promise to Comet was a LIE!!!

GASP!

And thus issue seven ends!

SOME ADDITIONAL MISC. ART APPRECIATION:

I love the mix of close-ups on Kara as well as these wider shots of action during the Big Brawl sequence.

And like, the shape here! Of the Brigands being pushed back by Kara, it’s immediately clear what is happening, and dynamic and oversized and super.

And here we get an absolutely brutal bit of panel-to-panel action, as in the first, the green Brigand has his arms open wide, ready to fight Supergirl, who is being both pushed and pulled through the air by chains and laser canons...

And then WHAM, the green Brigand’s hand is wrapped around Kara’s head, forcing her into the ground, which is almost alive with movement in the form of action lines and blur and grit and crackling energy bursts, snaking across the page.

You FEEL the impact in a collection of lines and colors on a page.

And these are just! A handful of panels!

The whole book--heck, THE WHOLE SERIES is just so expertly rendered! I can’t get over it! XD 

GAAAAHHHHH It’s just so GOOD.

Also, side note: Love all of the designs for the Brigands. 

It kinda reminded me of the great space...bar? Comedy club? brawl bit from Supergirl #24, drawn by Doc Shaner:

(And listen, I love Shaner’s art, but you can see the difference in style--there’s an inherently rigid quality in the more ‘traditional/classic’ superhero art; there’s very little fluidity and implied movement.)

(Static, I guess, whereas Evely’s inks--the heavily repeated diagonals and action lines--really get these still images to MOVE. They practically VIBRATE with potential energy!)

(Anyways!)

What else, what else.

Oh! I don’t know if it’s a deliberate nod or just a cool coincidence, but I like that Ruthye has purple eyes, because Lois Lane is typically depicted as having purple eyes as well.

(The Lois Lane image below is a Clay Mann cover, colored by Alex Sinclair. From...Action Comics, I believe?)

AND SO, IN CONCLUSION:

I can’t get over how great this book is. XD

It reminds me a bit of Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye. There was a book that took a character who was very firmly mid-tier in terms of ‘brand recognition’, and applied a heavily stylized, almost indie sensibility to a small-scale, self-contained comic series to great effect.

And I love that we’re getting the same treatment for Kara.

Like. Do I want this book to be an ongoing so that we can get more Evely and Lopes art? Of course!

But the tight focus and pacing, as well as having a fixed ‘end-point’ is really to the book’s benefit, and, hopefully! Will mean there’s an evergreen trade that will sell really well and convince DC to make more Supergirl stuff.

(Maybe once King has more time, he can do a sequel series. XD)

 Also, as I’ve mentioned before, I get the sense that Sterling Gates doesn’t care for the direction of this book, but I’m really glad that King incorporated Supergirl’s motto. (Which was penned by Gates.) I kinda feel like...as folks have praised this book, there’s been a tendency to throw previous Supergirl comics under the bus, which is a shame. Because Gates and Igle really did so much for rehabilitating Kara’s whole deal after the garbage early 2000s books. 

We don’t gotta tear down what’s come before to praise the new stuff that we got! XD

Anyways. It’s just a nice little nod to Gates’ impact/work on the character.

SO NOW WE WAIT FOR THE FINAL ISSUE. NUMBER 8. 

I’m not...too? Concerned? King is pretty good at narratively satisfying endings.

I am worried about Krypto, though. I NEED THE GOOD BOY TO BE OKAY. XD

Until next month!

#supergirl: woman of tomorrow #dc comics #comic analysis #long post #gif #gifs #supergirl: woman of tomorrow spoilers

[leviiattacks]

Two Faced | Chapter Five

↳ levi ackerman, the very person who was about to kindly behead you by a surprising turn of events manages to become your loving husband? you would be elated if this was true love, but it's all thanks to a mysterious magic spell that your life is spared. for now at least.

pairing :: duke!levi x duchess!reader genre :: royal au, angst, fluff, slice of life etc word count :: 3k author note :: just got diagnosed with covid so i have a lot of spare time on my hands so ummm send in any requests you have into my ask box i’d love to try doing headcanons!! → next part is here!!

Erwin sees the confused look you have and now he too seems lost as he shifts his line of vision to Levi. At that moment your husband slams his heel and grinds it onto your foot. Squirming around in your seat dealing with the stinging pain you catch on that you can't let Erwin think you're clueless.

Quickly, the look of confusion washes away from your features and you return his smile. "I'm willing to do what I must."

You think you've ruined this entirely because Erwin's eyes dart suspiciously between you and your husband. However, Hange intervenes, the interference seems to be enough for him to shake off any skepticism he senses.

Two hands hold onto your frame and squeeze your shoulders. Hange is standing up and seems ecstatic."You two are just so evil." they cackle to themself and you play along laughing too. You are not giving Levi the opportunity to ram into your foot again. Hange who is practically a personified ray of Sunshine at all times does still seem a little down, you did pick up on it when you entered the room. Maybe it was just you overthinking, that's what you assure yourself with.

Then it settles in your bones. Evil? Blinking you turn to look at Levi hoping for some sort of indication about whatever is going on.

"She wouldn't listen to me at all, said she felt the need to step in and help the Empire in some way." His tone is monotonous, still not sparing you a glance and you want to kick him in the shins. He's usually much more affectionate and you're afraid Squad Leader Hange and Commander Erwin will figure out this is all a facade.

"It's a noble commitment to put yourself forward for such a risky position, I see why you and Lance Corporal Levi are a sound match." Erwin isn't smiling this time but his tone is content.

Mind now buzzing with ideas you want to fall face first into the carpeted floor of the office spread out like a starfish. You would prefer that instead of being left in the dark. Could they simply mention the name of whatever it is you've apparently offered to do?

Levi's clearly grimaces but then he moves to hold your hand rather boldly. Shaking him off isn't an available option because of his strong grip. "She wouldn't listen to me at all. If I had it my way she wouldn't step anywhere near enemy soil." He grumbles.

The fake concern he's trying to lace in his voice is having an effect on his two colleagues, they're eating it up and believe this act.

Enemy soil? Risky position? He has to be stealthily plotting your death because you see no other reason for why you would be sent off to venture anywhere near the enemy. You aren't even apart of their regime, or any regime for that matter, you're itching with nervousness and want to free your hand from his desperately.

The only emotion this man is good at feigning is straight boredom, he ignores the way your hand shakes and squirms, ignores how your palms are dampening with sweat, instead the way he holds onto you only strengthens. It's surprising that no one has said a word about the lack of chemistry between the two of you.

Suddenly Hange looks down at their pocket watch and hurriedly gets to their feet dragging Erwin up with them too. "Y/N, I have something to tell you later on, please do stop by HQ when you can, I expect that will be soon." They then tell Erwin that there's no time to loiter and that there are more important meetings to attend to.

Erwin leans into your ear and whispers. "He seems disturbed that you're putting yourself at risk. He means well." You wish that were the case but it isn't. Despite that the way Erwin tries to explain Levi's behavior is sweet.

Hange gives you a cute thumbs up but makes it a point that you need to speak later on, even as they're both walking out the door Hange keeps reminding you to meet up later on. The abnormal behavior between you and Levi may have been noticed but you know if that were the case Hange would have been more vocal about it.

"Combat classes start soon. We know this will all be difficult, building you up from scratch is hazardous but all in good time you will serve a key role in the liberation of Paradis."

Erwin's parting words are gracious.

And then both the Commander and Squad Leader leave, the room is empty but Levi doesn't even wait for the door to shut behind your two visitors.

He makes it a priority to throw your hand away from his, he's now methodically using his handkerchief to dust his fingers off. It's oddly ironic and enrages you because he's the one who grappled your hand into his grasp. What's the point when those same hands until recently looped around your waist in the middle of the night?

He thinks your hand is filthy, that you yourself are filthy and disgusting. At least that's what you think he thinks.

Crossing your arms over your chest you make your feelings known to Levi. You're frustrated beyond the way words can describe, it's not about how he refuses to touch you. Admittedly that does hurt you, makes your chest swell in remembrance of the old days but you really just want to know what he's put you up to without your permission.

Not speaking you wait for him to take the hint but he doesn't get it or he refuses to acknowledge your existence, something tells you it's the latter because all he cares about is sanitizing his hands.

He always had been a clean freak but when he was enchanted it didn't take much for him to touch you. Part of you wonders if it's the nature of the touch that he wants to exterminate or the fact it's your skin he's come in contact with which is bothering him.

"Care to explain?"

"Touching someone such as yourself romantically gives me the urge to retch." The confession is as acidic as the after taste one has after a late night of drinking, but he has no problem telling you the blunt truth.

"I see." You shortly reply, you weren't asking about that, your question was directed more towards the conversation which just took place with his colleagues but now knowing he doesn't want to touch you has an emptying effect on your chest.

A silent minute passes, maybe two minutes, you're not sure all you're doing is eyeing the carpet thinking about how you would like to be asphyxiated and brought to your end, you can't handle this for much longer.

"Sign these papers, we need your written consent." His voice shows no hints hints of Lev. Last night may have been the last time you had a chance to witness him.

A stack of documents is thrown in front of you and then you see it right at the top of the pile. A sheet filled with general information, eyes skim over the "Purpose of employment" section and you don't know what churns in your stomach. Is it Exasperation? Nerves? Grief? It can't be pinpointed, it could be a mix of all three.

"An Informant."

Rereading the title you hold the paper in disbelief between your palms. "You told your regiment that I would be willing to spy in on enemy kingdoms?"

His hands rub at his forehead, he's not perturbed at all. "Is it in your blood to be ungrateful?" Brutally cynical his tone is rocky.

He moves - not even towards you but for some reason you flinch stopping him in his tracks almost immediately. Narrow ice cold eyes trace your face carefully for any signs of manipulation or deception. Gulping anxiously you know you have to be careful with what you say or do. Getting too comfortable or casual around him is a risk you are not willing to take.

"I don't think you understand. I do not have the abilities nor the skill to do this. I would cause more issues." You cautiously move to grab his arm but before you get there he takes a wide step back. He's clearly defining that there's a boundary. You won't step into his territory not when you've already invaded a large portion of it for so long.

"I am no witch. I still don't understand what happened." You mutter hoping he believes you or at least tries to.

"Then die." Levi hisses. He fixes you with his poisonous stare. "Make it quick."

Curse yourself to a life with this man who every step of the way is hoping for your death - maybe he'll even push you towards it purposefully one day. The alternative choice available is to die by the hands of that same man right now.

Guilt and regret are what you feel, you can't look death in the eye proudly. Not right now. If you can't commit to the promise you made mother then there is truly no point in making your way to the afterlife.

Cowardice is not the cause of death you want to present her with.

With a heavy heart you sign the papers.

It's been a few days since then, you've received training from some of Levi's squad, at first the combat is nerve wracking but you get to a level where you feel comfortable in terms of defense.

Oluo is slow, you've picked up on the way his stance predicts every move he's about to make. You're thankful for that because it makes training easier, he's oblivious to just how easy it is to read his movements and you snigger at that. Today he's trying a new technique, it consists of attempting to dive in the direction of one of your shoulders and suddenly darting at the other. It catches you off guard for a second but it's simple to block him. Jumping back from another surprise attack you lunge forward as if you're aiming for his face. He lights up thinking this is his chance unbeknownst to him you've already seen the open opportunity you've been waiting for. You can change the wager in this brawl. Swiftly ducking you undercut him with one of your legs, his balance has been knocked and he stumbles teetering by a thread.

A solid kick to his stomach is all it takes for him to collapse to the ground grumbling in vexation.

Mikasa has been helping you with one on one combat and the extra hours of training behind the stables has clearly been of benefit.

Thinking back to your training sessions with Mikasa you frown, not because of the way she flipped you and shoved you into the dirt, no that part was quite exhilarating. It's Sasha. She's been on your mind. She has to be feeling left out, that's your fault you've kept her in the dark about joining the regime, how could you attend training with her? Your maid waiting on you whilst you were training? Impossible.

The last problem you wish to arise is everyone finding out you're Duchess Ackerman. No one has to know about that minor detail, in fact when you informed Hange and Erwin of your decision they strongly agreed it would be best to hide it.

"I think we should get you strapped into some gear. See how good you really are in the dexterity department." Oluo is spitefully mumbling under his breath red faced.

Offering him your hand he looks like he wants to smack it away, You don't have time for this, you were planning on dropping by and paying Hange their more than overdue visit after training hours were up.

ODM-gear doesn't look too hard, you're sure you can work out the mechanisms if given some time. Calculating and shifting time blocks in your head you can come to an end at Six, if and only if you're able to rush past ODM training.

"Okay, I admit you were tired today I could tell. I'll strap myself into some gear."

At this new new challenge Oluo willingly takes your hand and you heave him up.

He's got a cocky shit-eating grin sprawled across his face as he pats your back enthusiastically.

"Good luck, you're in for one hell of a ride."

Three dimensional ODM-gear, a contraption that is very different to a sword or dagger. Most soldiers find it difficult to master the balancing of all their body weight whilst simultaneously gliding through the air with the grapple hooks. This is why introductory lessons in balance, momentum and effective weight distribution are a must.

It's been instructed that you won't be using ODM-gear nearly as much as other members of the regiment, you're training to become a spy after all and ODM-gear is very obviously visible when a person is strapped into their uniform. Nevertheless it's still a requirement to be able to use it. It's a hurdle because it's not your forte by any means but you can't continue avoiding it.

When living as the Duchess you deemed it pivotal to only interact with a limited number of Levi's colleagues, those who worked at the estate couldn't be avoided such as Mikasa but apart from that Hange was the only outsider you spoke to (Before Erwin had come along). You don't know if you regret that decision because it's definitely why everyone is cackling as you thrash around, they have no idea he has a wife and if they do they show no inclination of knowing you are that woman.

Sniggers can be heard as you struggle to center your strength fully, your instructor bellows at you. "No, come on. STOP FLAILING AROUND!" Particles of his saliva fly in your face and that only feeds into your embarrassment. Paralyzed you don't know what to do, he tells you to not move around then the next minute barks at you to not give up, repeats that you have the agility level equivalent of a sick child.

You've been stuck in this upside down position for more time than you can imagine, at some point a large majority of the scouts including Oluo double down in laughter whenever you make a mistake - they berate you when you are trying your best.

Legs kicking out you're panicking and want to escape the harness you're in.

Oluo was right, nothing could prepare you for this.

Mikasa when she isn't busy assisting Levi is a part of the regime too, that's why she's grinding her teeth this morning when she walks into the training grounds and sees the whole scene play out right before her eyes.

She wants to desperately step in and stop this because you being forced into ODM training without having your core strength developed is unfair.

Then a yell is heard from the crowd "GO Y/N!! LISTEN TO ME ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS KEEP CALM!" Both you and Mikasa turn to see Sasha standing next to her.

Sasha? Mikasa knows very well how you forbade her to follow you today, you gave her the day off to visit her family.

"I thought Y/N warned yo-"

"I am dedicated in my service to the Lady, if she chooses to do this I will be by her side to support her. She does not have to feel embarrassed."

Members of the corps are eyeing her weirdly when she says "Lady" she doesn't know you're keeping your identity secret, that was the reason for giving her time away, you were afraid she'd slip up and expose you but simply hearing Sasha proudly announce her commitment for you in front of all these people knocks the wind right out of your chest. You've never felt this much importance before.

Sasha's motivation is all you need because by a miraculous turn of events you manage to steady your breathing pattern and find it within yourself to focus on your core. Wobbling shakily the transition is far from smooth but you flip yourself right side up, the muscles in your calf ache and throb with pain but you've done it.

Grinning from ear to ear at your two friends you feel light-headed with relief.

"Took her long enough." Levi sneers. He's made his way to the front of the crowd, you wonder when he got here. Beaming at him you think your presentation might be enough to discourage his usual response. You're incorrect.

"She's a shame to this squad, there is no need in motivating someone of her rank." Shallow breaths puffing out of you it comes to your attention that he's addressing Sasha.

She ignores what he has to say about you and stays silent, any normal person would have their head hanging down in shame but she looks into his eyes with a determination that takes your breath away.

He pays her no mind after that and turns back to where you're still struggling to keep steady. "Don't think you're hot shit." Your bottom teeth dig into your lip, and your throat suddenly clamps down on you restricting your breath. "She's no good at combat, no good at using her gear. Do you only excel at spreading lies, Cadet?" The way he's now completely indignant in the way he speaks stings. He doesn't even bother to sound normal in front of Mikasa or Sasha anymore, it makes you manually hollow your cheeks trying to keep your tears at bay.

Lies, you know what he's referencing. You want to grab him by the collar of his shirt and throw him to the muddy ground. That's what he deserves for prodding and poking at your vulnerabilities.

He doesn't understand the degree at which all these sudden changes are affecting you, in his eyes this is light work and shouldn't impact you at all, that's why when you feel a muscle contraction and reel backwards, rapidly falling back into that cursed upside down position. He scoffs, doesn't even move to check if you're okay.

Whispers circle around you and even some of the cadets who participated in ridiculing you step forward to take you out of your harness. However, Sasha and Mikasa get there first and shoot them with their intense glares, the both of them work on hoisting you out of your gear.

Levi takes one last look at you before he storms away convinced you're faking, what else would a runt like you do to escape the situation?

In his mind you lost your momentum and your ship capsized because of your own self sabotage.

Little does he know all that has truly lost momentum is the inner-workings of your heart and that is all thanks to him.

#levi ackerman #levi #aot #snk #attack on titan levi #attack on titan #aot fanfiction #aot headcanons #duke levi #levi x reader #levi x y/n #levi smut #levi angst #levi fluff #levi fanfiction #leviiattacks

[staywritten]

All In│Bang Chan «Chapter TwentyThree»

Synopsis: After a messy break up your sophomore year, you decided that the best thing for you was to finish off your college career single. You wanted to focus on yourself, grow as a person and finish off your degree strong. There’d be plenty of time for love after college. But after losing your camera you become friends with the seemingly perfect boy that threatens to ruin your plans.

Genre: SocialMedia!AU, College!AU, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Smut

◄Back «Masterlist» Next►

Written Portion of the Chapter Below

You set down your phone feeling Chan pepper your neck with kisses, hitting that spot just below your ear, making you giggle. “Stop~” you whined, with the brightest smile on your face. 

His nose buried deep in the juncture of your neck as he smiled against you. “You smell so good…” he chuckled, pulling you closer against his chest. “Do you have class today?”

“No, but I need to go to the library, I have to finish a few more projects” You turned in his arms to face him. You placed your hands on his chest, gazing up at him lovingly. “I don’t wanna go”

“You have to be a good girl and go” he grinned “And it’s almost graduation” he brushed his nose against yours. “You’re almost done Baby girl”

“Don’t wanna~” you grinned letting him roll you over and pin you down. He chuckled looking down at you, his soft curly hair falling over his eyes. “What are you going to do about it?” you tangled your fingers in his hair, scratching just behind his ear. 

“You’re a troublemaker” he caressed your cheek while showering you with sweet little kisses along your jaw. “I remember when you used to be so shy” his teeth grazed your skin. “You couldn’t even look at me on facetime.”

“Well...” You grabbed his face making him look down at you. “I’m not looking away anymore” He gave you the brightest smile as you pulled him into the kiss. 

This was the happiest either of you have ever been. It was still so surreal that this was your reality. That just a few days prior you’d given up on love and here you were waking up in the arms of the only man you’d ever felt this way for. 

It took a little convincing but he finally talked you into going to the library. Walking you to the building, you clung to his hand. “Baby~” you whined, wanting a kiss. 

He pulled you in for a hug, pressing a sweet, chaste kiss on your lips. “Oh no”

“What is it?” you looked up at him, confused at the concern look on his face. 

“I don’t want to stop kissing you.” he grinned, running his nose down yours. “I could get addicted to this”

“I hope you never stop” you smiled, tugging him inside the library. 

You spent the next few hours studying and finishing up your project while Chan alternated between napping and holding your hand. Right now he settled on laying his head on the table, taking a quick power nap while keeping his arm around securely around your waist. 

Smiling to yourself, you pecked his cheek before going back to studying,

Occasionally you’d feel him stir in his long enough to give your hip a squeeze or give you a small smile before falling asleep again. 

“Do you have to rub your relationship in everyone's face” a familiar voice teased, taking a seat at the table. 

“Hey Hyunjin” you grinned.

Hyunjin sighed looking over at Chan “Almost three years on the swim team with Channie-Hyung and that man never sleeps, and yet here he is knocked out like a Baby” 

Chan was one of the people that couldn’t just be idle. There was always something to do. Something to work on, something to improve on. It was like he was too wired to actually relax. Even on swim meets while the team was taking a mental and physical break before competition Chan was always doing something. Often times it caused worry amongst the guys; No amount of nagging could even get him to take a step back. He was just too tense to relax. But with you, in the middle of the day he was just sleeping.

His usually tense shoulders, relaxed. The little furrow in his brow gone, his breathing, calm and even. He genuinely was just so at ease with you.

The corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. “It’s hard to be annoyed at everything you guys went through when I see you like this”

You laughed “I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“I’m not gonna hold anything against either of you.” he shrugged. “You’re my best friend and you’re happy and Channie-Hyung has always been a hero to me so I guess this is fine” he laughed “You guys are allowed to be dysfunctional once, so don’t get used to dragging us all in your drama” he winked before heading out. “I’ll catch you guys later”

Finishing up your assignment you quietly packed up for the day when Chan slipped his hand in yours. You laughed holding your threaded hands up. “It’s a lot harder to clean like this”

He gave you a sleepy smile. “Deal with it, you’re stuck with me” he placed a kiss on the back of your hand. 

“Oh no, whatever shall I do” your tongue darted out, licking your lips as you eyed your boyfriend. 

He leaned in closer to you, his voice quiet and low. Taking advantage of being in the library to tease you. He moved his free hand on your thigh, squeezing it tightly. “Baby girl… if you keep looking at me like that I’m gonna kiss you senseless.”

“Is that a promise or a threat?”

“You trying to find out?” he gave you a cheeky smile. 

To Be Continued…

Hey Friends! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

I had so many chapters of plot, angst and with them being broken up it was so nice to write something fluffy for them 🥺 I just wanted it to be a sweet fluffy chapter.

Sorry for the long wait guys

I’ll re-read in the morning for spelling and editing mistakes because it’s 2am right now and I have work tomorrow >.<

∘Tags List:

@vhschs @thelustasylum @lunnanunna @yooniversalstudios@aiyalix @ph0ebevix @zaratanveerx @channieboyo @hannahdinse8@got7-yeah-got7onmymind @itisjustpaula @ann0325441904@etherealchangbin @7829-kamie @ateez-babygirl @lazyliyah @im-on-a-hellavator  @princejoongie1997 @skzsprinkles @ frau-moon @introvertapple @ehiparkcarmi @lokideadontheinside @pimpnameyannie @skkzuwu @kpopstreeanon @dimpledchannie @bangtan-g7-bigbang @cherriechurros  @moonlight-night @ethereal-chanracha @kurootetsuro-trash @dreamescapeswriting @l1th1umm @tonfilm @sassystay-bunny @btsnatalena @mochibabycakes @britishvamps @cloudsgathering @skzsprinkles @tophuphu @hugs4chan @channieboyo @tonfilm @soobinssmile @aka-minhyuk-kun

#stray kids #stray kids scenario #stray kids reaction #stray kids fluff #stray kids x reader #bang chan #bang chan scenarios #bang chan sns au #bang chan social media au #bang chan imagines #social media au #SNS au #stray kids sns au #Sns!Au #skz fluff #skz scenario #All in series #staywritten

[ianrightsonly]

author interview

tagged by @xgoldendays — thank you friend!

---

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

currently 11

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

327,709 … i don't know how that's possible but it's an insane feeling of accomplishment to really think about that number

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

-where the feigned wind falls

-to feel this kind of thrill

-of slip n’ slides & dumbass distractions

-of locked doors & thunderstorms

-baby, that’s what makes us…

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i love every single comment and piece of feedback i’ve received across all of my writing, but i’m so bad when it comes to responding. i’m often busy when comments come in, so i read them on the go but don’t have time to reply. and then i can get a bit overwhelmed when i get backlogged, so sometimes i just don’t get around to it. and once i’m finally able to dedicate time to responding, it’s usually time for me to start writing the next chapter already. that’s the weird cycle i’ve gotten myself into, but i’d really like to get better about it.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i'm personally a big fan of happy endings. i love myself some good angst, but i don't think i'll ever write a fic that doesn't have a positive or happy ending. i've ended certain chapters with a ton of angst, most notably the heavier moments in to feel this kind of thrill, but i always knew i'd be ending the overall story in a hopeful, open-ended manner.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

they all have happy endings! i just can't do angsty endings, honestly.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i've never written a crossover fic, but i think it's awesome when people are dedicated enough to multiple fandoms to do it!

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

i can think of two times that i've received negative feedback, and both came in strange ways. the first was for 'til the day my life is through, and really had nothing to do with my writing. the person was irritated that ian didn't do anything for mickey on their anniversary, and thought he was being hypocritical with his disappointment in the finale. the fic in question dove into the depths of that plot, so their frustration was misplaced. they were mad about the show itself -- and chose to take it out on me, lol

the second person was irritated by the amount of character aside and introspection that i chose to include in a recent chapter of where the feigned wind falls, which seemed nitpicky to me. it's more of a writing style and choice, as well as something i've been doing since the beginning, so it doesn't really matter to me if someone dislikes it.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i do usually include some form of smut in my fics. it's just part of the complete story when i write, and goes along with whatever emotions and thought processes i'm trying to convey at the time. i alternate with the writing style, sometimes making it more descriptive than others. it just depends on the fic and the moment, i think.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

thankfully, i have not!

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes. to feel this kind of thrill was translated, which was an absolute honor for me. i still think about how amazing it is for someone to put that kind of time and effort into one of my stories.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i haven't, but i think it's an awesome concept! @bellafarella and myself have talked about co-writing a one shot, but i have to get my shit together and find the time, before that can happen. hopefully sometime soon!

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

ian and mickey. and i genuinely don't think that will ever change, lol

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

of my two current WIPs, i'm really going to do my best to finish both. where the feigned wind falls is probably the lengthiest fic i'll ever write, but i will definitely see it through to the end. i haven't really gotten too far into to love and be loved just yet, but i'm hoping to stick with it as i begin to further develop the plot.

15. What are your writing strengths?

i've always been someone who struggles to list their personal strengths in pretty much everything, but i have been told that i characterize both ian and mickey well. i think in AU fics they always stray a bit from canon in inevitable ways, but i really love to hear that i've gotten their voices right.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

my lack of attention span is a big one. i may have a week where i'm completely hyper-focused on writing, but it's often followed up with two or three weeks of writer's block. i always do my best to push through it, but i wish i was more consistent in that regard.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i think it's incredible. i don't personally speak multiple languages, so if i ever went that route i would definitely reach out to someone else for assistance.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

teen wolf lmao

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

it’s hard for me to write for a fandom/ship unless i’m completely submerged and invested in them, so i can’t really see myself writing for another fandom at the moment. i’ve had some ideas buzzing around relating to the haunting of hill house/bly manor but i don’t think anything will ever come from them.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

this is such a tough question, because i've put so much time into these fics and it's really hard to choose one. but i guess i'll go with where the feigned wind falls. i've been working on it for so long now, and still have at least six months or more before it will be completed. i love the little world i've built for them and i can't wait to dive into the next portion of their story together.

#fic chat #my fics #gallavich #gallavich fanfiction #gallavich fic #gallavich fanfic #ian x mickey #mickey x ian

[rokutouxei]

speaking your language

part 5 of atelier heart

ikemen vampire: temptation in the dark theo van gogh/mc, vincent | T |  2506 | [ao3 in bio]

spoiler warning: key plot points mentioned in chapter 10 and 15 are used in this fic, with the vaguest hint of chapter 24 at the tail end.

also: my deepest apologies to people who actually speak dutch, i’m taking all of your con/crit with an open heart.

The first Dutch word you’d ever learned was hondje.

Dog, you’d learned. Or puppy. Not the worst first word to learn in a new language, but definitely up there if one considers the fact that it was meant to refer to you. It’s not that bad, though, and puppies are pretty cute, so it was easy to let it slide.

Then, knabbeltje. A snack, a little nibble. Not that Theo has any interest in taking any bite at you. He’s made that clear from the first night. For someone who’s so good at smooth talking his clients, that was a weird word to use for you, you’d thought. But, Theo has his reasons, you supposed.

Which is exactly what makes you so keen into learning the language.

You’ve learned that a little bribery can get you a long way when it comes to Theo—as in, get him invested and you’re good to go—so that morning, you take the extra effort. You rise earlier than you’ve ever done to prepare pancakes for him, whipping the egg whites with as much vigor as you can muster to ensure that the pancakes are as fluffy as humanly possible. You make sure every portion is peak jiggly, and they are, because you can’t help but tap them contentedly on the plate as they cooled, watching them wobble. Then, like a cherry on top, you take out the special pancake syrup you’d bought the day before, having come with Sebastian to buy groceries, the one you’d chosen specifically for Theo. (And oh, only for Theo, because no other mansion resident with the right mind about sugar would dare try it.)

You try to keep it a secret as long as you can, presenting the plate of sweet goodness to Theo once he’s come down from his room. The both of you are alone at the dining table, because it’s still way too early. He’s already dressed and ready to go, even if it’s just six-thirty a.m., and if he has a comment about you being already up when you usually aren’t, he holds it back.

Good choice—you want him to focus on the pancakes, and a smile erupts on both of your faces when he begins to munch happily away on the syrup-drenched disaster of a plate. The sigh he makes goes straight under your skin.

But you can’t let your guard down, because you still have a mission, and that is: to convince him.

When his shoulders relax, you finally pop the question.

“Won’t you please teach me some Dutch?”

Theo’s fork hovers in front of his mouth. “What?”

Over the past week, you’d learned two basic Dutch phrases from Theo, in the notes he’d written for you. Tot ziens, which he said meant goodbye for now, and Dank je, thank you. That makes four total things you can now say in Dutch. Not much, but clearly already much more than what you started with. You belatedly realize you don’t actually have a reason you can dare tell him as to why you want to learn Dutch, but never mind that.

“I said, won’t you teach me some Dutch, sometime?” you repeat. “I still have three weeks to spend out here, and while my French and English are pretty fine, I can’t really keep up with your Dutch. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to learn, especially since you’re bringing me along to work anyway.”

Cringe. That wasn’t a good reason, you were sure. But maybe the pancakes will make Theo’s steel heart a little more malleable for your favor.

What other reasons do you have? Well, maybe he’ll be able to better explain to you certain things about art and their work if he reverts to his mother tongue, right? There are certain things translations miss, after all, and maybe if you learned the language, it’ll be much easier on the both of you? Oh, wait, but does that mean you’ll be intruding on the shared, perhaps too-personal language he shares with his brother? Oh, no, that wasn’t what you meant. Maybe—

“Dutch syllables are very different from English and French,” Theo says, instead, after a long moment, a not-really yes or no.

You narrow your eyes with his response, but quickly realize maybe he’s just testing your will to do it. You are motivated. Learning languages are fun. “That’s fine, nothing practice won’t conquer. It’s really not cute that all I know how to say is stuff like dog and snack.” He snorts. “I mean, if you’re not up to it…”

Theo sighs. A sigh of defeat. “Okay, but you’ll have to work hard for it.”

You grin. That morning, you learn pannenkoek and siroop.

-

The learning curve for languages always differ according to the person, their own mother tongue, the language itself, and of course the work one puts into studying it, but one factor that really ups the vocabulary and grammar retention is being able to hear the language being spoken, rather regularly. This is how you end up having Vincent help you out with your little adventure in learning Dutch.

Having gotten used to conversing in French to each other, the brothers take time to adjust switching to their mother tongue for you. But when you’re looking at them with amazement exchanging words you can barely say, much less understand, there’s little they can’t do.

(Theo is mortified to have to surrender to it, but when he’s transparent to his brother, does he have any other choice?)

All of this happens just in time for the preparation for the exhibit to begin. The three of you spend much time together, selecting paintings, planning the exhibit orders, looking for themes. The two decide that this isn’t just a good opportunity to learn, it might also be in your best interests if they team-teach you the language.

Counting the paintings, Vincent teaches you the basics, hauling canvas after canvas going—een, twee, drie, vier, vijf, zes, zeven, acht, negen, tien. With the chosen paintings laid out on the floor, you point out colors and he teaches you their names—rood, oranje, geel, groen, blauw, paars, roze. He teaches you how to introduce yourself, say your name, teaches you greetings, basic nouns, the kind you will learn in introductory Dutch classes in universities if you were back in the 21st century. Vincent is gentle and kind and claps when you get the words right. (It makes you feel like a child. The word is kind.)

Theo, on the other hand, focuses on teaching you things related to the work at hand: een gallerij, een tentoonstelling, een schilderij—of course, a gallery, an exhibit, a painting. Teaches you words to describe the things you see, like mooi, for beautiful, and interessant, for interesting. He corrects your grammar, teaches you how to say, “let’s go home” or “I’m hungry, let’s eat”. When you don’t get the phrase right, he gives you a look, completely ignoring what you’d just said until you finally say it right. He corrects your pronunciation to the best of both your abilities.

He’s also found great joy in teaching you phrases before telling you what it means, and that’s how you’ve practiced saying misschien ben ik een hond die een jurk draagt as if you were a dog wearing a dress.

But you hear his laughter and it doesn’t matter as much.

-

Theo buys you a notebook to compile the words you’ve learned. In only a few days, you’ve amassed a wide range of words you now sprinkle throughout your sentences like a playful multilingual. You’ve gotten odd stares, sure, but it’s always better to keep using the words you’ve learned, because that’s how you make it seem natural.

So far, though, for the ones you’ve learned, it’s the Dutch verbs that are trickier than you expected. The conjugations keep tripping you up. They seem simple, and in fact a lot of them sound pretty close to their English counterparts, but Theo’s stares and (im)patient waiting for you to correct what you’ve said betray your misuse of them over and over again.

So at night, you practice. Staan for stand. Zeggen for say. Helpen for help. Leren, for learn.

Blijven, for stay.

Sorting Vincent’s paintings at the gallery Marquis Vollard had lent you, you bump shoulders with Theo and ask, “How do I say, ‘I love this’, in Dutch?” as you pull out a canvas from the stack.

“Ik hou hiervan.”

“Hmm.” You put aside the painting and pull out your notebook and pen. “So hou means love?”

“Houden, means to hold,” Theo says. “Like a hand, or a book. Hou van is what’s used for love.”

“So it’s ik hou van…?”

“Ik hou van jou,” he answers, without a thought.

A long moment, before the realization hits.

He turns away from you, and you’re thankful because of how hot your face feels.

“You use the same for other things,” Theo says. His voice is as even as always, and it makes your heart fall a little. “Like paintings, and art.”

“I see,” you say, before dropping the topic altogether.

You’re getting good at this keeping your heart tucked away thing, so you write ik hou van jou in looping letters on your notebook before returning to work.

All the while thinking: to love means to hold.

-

So you hold him.

After the fire.

After wheatfields.

After Gauguin.

Even when it hurts to hold.

Even when it’s him that’s let you go.

Even after you’ve heard the gunshot.

You hold on to him, even if you’re not sure if the both of you are speaking the same language anymore, if you’ll still ever be able to understand the other.

You hold on even if there’s blood everywhere.

Blijven means to stay.

And herstellen… means to recover.

The hospital is rather cozy. Quite similar to the ones in the 21st century, but still different from the sterile whiteness of it. You sit next to Theo on the bed, waiting for him to speak. You are alone for the first time since he’d said goodbye.

You hadn’t left him yet.

That night, he presses the words please forgive me into your lips, praying it’s the last time he’ll ever have to hurt you that way. You cradle his face in your palms and hold his love in your hands gently, as you exchange promises that it will no longer break.

-

You learn a lot of words after that, too.

Like wheatfields, tarwevelden. And forever, voor altijd. Each word learned is linked to a memory, making them hard to forget. Like katje, the day a kitten spooks Theo in the garden. Lekker, once you’ve made him a delicious batch of syrupy pancakes once again. Schat, treasure, and schatje—that is, you.

You’re still years of practice away from being fluent in Dutch, but at this point you’re fluent in Theo, and that’s really what matters.

And one night, Theo’s got you in a kiss when the both of you enter the room. You push at him just enough so that he sees the look on your face. “Teach me Dutch,” you say, half-teasing, and he laughs as he joins you in stripping off your clothes.

There’s no easier way to remember vocabulary than to learn it viscerally, carve it against your skin into a memory, and Dutch is no exception. You both fall into the bed in an entanglement of limbs, righting yourselves up just to catch each other in another kiss.

You cup both his cheeks, and he teaches you, “gezicht.” Face.

You kiss his forehead, and he says, “voorhoofd.”

You gently run your thumbs under his eyes, and he says, “ogen.”

“Kus,” he says, “is like this,” pulling you toward him in a kiss. You sigh into the word without much grace.

Pressing his lips against your throat, he teaches you, “hals.”

Grazing a fang onto your shoulder, “schouder.”

He sucks a bruise onto your collarbone and says, “sleutelbeen.”

The sensation makes your hand fly onto his hair, and with a chuckle he teaches, “haar.”

He takes your hand in his, presses a kiss onto your wrist. “pols.”

You cup Theo’s face in your hand and scour his body for more words, like a dictionary made of flesh. Your free hand grazes the scar on his back and with a sigh he teaches you “litteken.” You wonder if the same word applies to those found in his heart.

“Rug,” he teaches you, the vast expanse of his back.

Your hand goes down to his waist and he says, “taille.” You touch his hip and he says “heup.”

He gives you a mischievous look, one that suited his boyish features so much, your heart nearly stops. “Where is je favoriet?” he asks you, teasing. A phrase you’d learnt earlier. Your face flushes at the connotation but you refuse to give him the answer he wants, tapping his nose (“neus”) with a finger.

“You are mijn favoriet,” you respond, and you know when he steals your lips even more deeply than earlier is only because you’ve made him flustered. You laugh into the kiss and he growls.

Never one to be outdone, Theo pushes you backward onto the bed. The two of you share a short moment of intimacy, staring at each other’s eyes with the kind of searing fondness that always leaves you breathless, before he’s on his way down again to teach you.

“Dij,” he mouths against your thigh; lifts your leg up toward him, pressing kisses all the way down. “Knie. Kalf. Voet.” You nearly kick him when he kisses your foot but he holds you still. “Enkel.”

“But I haven’t taught you the most important one,” he says. Crawling back upward, he cups the apex of your thighs and grins. “Paradijs,” he says, and you hit him on the shoulder, covering your mouth with one hand. The laugh that rolls out of him makes your embarrassment worth it.

You pull him upward to take another kiss from him, and while you could have at it tonight, you just want to bask in his presence. You whisper “omhelzing?” hoping to get the pronunciation right or else he’ll ignore your plea to cuddle, thankful that he pulls you up to switch position.

He rests his head on your chest and says, “hoofdkussen,” with a sigh, and you’re not an expert yet, but you’re pretty sure that’s not what it should be.

You push him off with a groan (“you’re heavy!”) and the two of you switch to your usual cuddling position, Theo holding you in his arms and your head on his chest.

You don’t realize your hand has hovered over the spot on his chest right over his heart until he places his hand on yours.

Whispers into the listening night air:

“Voor altijd van jou.”

---

in the atelier: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt 

also in the atelier, hidden somewhere hard to find, is Gustave Courbet's L'Origine du monde. (and because it is hidden, you’ll have to find it on your own. do be careful when you look it up though.) that painting singlehandedly inspired the paradijs bit, so it has to be mentioned.

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp #ikemen vampire theo #ikevamp theo #ikevam #ikevam theo #atelier heart #fic #me and my 41 duolingo dutch crowns worked hard for this #speaking your language

[opbackgrounds]

So I read the Ace Novel (Part 2)

I’m going to be level with you, if I hadn’t said I was going to do a write up for the novel, I don’t think I would have finished this one. The first fifty or so pages are terribly boring, and while it picks up considerably toward the end, I don’t think I can recommend it, for one reason and one reason only:

It reads like a freaking wikipedia article. And I hate it. 

I described Part 1 of the Ace novel like three separate one shots with the barest hint of continuity between them. That’s not the case this time around, as most of what it covers are events mentioned in the manga: The fight with Jinbe, Ace’s 100 battles with Whitebeard, Ace formally joining the Whitebeard Pirates. Comparatively speaking, that’s a lot of canon material to get through. Consequently, it’s also quite a bit longer than Part 1, about 200 pages. 

(some of those pages happen to be longer than others)

(yes this made me literally laugh out loud)

The problem is there is a metic ton of manga recap that has nothing to do with this novel, especially in chapters 1 and 2. This was baffling to me, as it seems unlikely that someone would pick up a One Piece magazine (where the novel was originally published) or a One Piece side story without bing familiar with the manga. Yet concepts like the Four Emperors, Celestial Dragons, and even the Grand Line were laid out in meticulous detail.

I am going to be unfair for a moment and compare the Ace novels to my favorite spin-off series of all time, the Kyoshi duology that takes place in the Avatar universe. 

Unlike the Ace novels, they take place several centuries before the main series, so there aren’t a lot of plot details that overlap with the animated series in the way the Ace novels do to the main manga. What is in common, however, isn’t repeated. Nowhere in the two Kyoshi books does she learn the story about Avatar Wan or any of the same lore details that are important to Aang and Korra’s stories. Instead it expands on the world building details laid out in the main series and deepens them. 

For example, do you want to know how the Fire Nation royalty got so good at lightning bending, or how the greater Earth Kingdom political landscape works? Read book 1. Do you want to know how the Fire Nation went from a fractured clan system to a strong centralized government or how advanced water bending healing techniques work? Read book 2. It’s exposition that fleshes out the system already in place, rather than retreading what’s already been established. 

Part 2 of the Ace novel does this a little bit when it develops the Pirate Code, something that has never mentioned in the manga, and even if it was Luffy’s not the sort of character that’s going to care to adhere to it. The strongest portion of the novel shows Ace going out on a mission on Whitebeard’s behalf, showing some of what it’s like to maintain the vast territories that he keeps under his flag.

But mostly...mostly it’s just recap. Literally the entire Fishman Island backstory is written out in some of the blandest narration I’ve ever read, paragraphs upon paragraphs talking about Queen Otohime and Fisher Tiger and the civil unrest of the Ryugu Kingdom, including but not limited to Vander Decken stalking Shirahoshi and her subsequent imprisonment in the royal tower. 

There’s also the wholesale recycling of gags straight from the manga that 1) don’t necessarily work as well in written format, and 2) show no originality or creativity on the part of the author. In my opinion, recurring gags are funniest when a writer can contrive different variations and circumstances around the base joke. Instead we get scenes like this beat-for-beat copy of Ace’s narcolepsy gag in Alabasta, down to using the waitress’s skirt as a napkin

I noticed in Part 1 that the author had snuck some canon elements in, such as Deuce and Ace building Striker—the one man, fire-powered boat he showed off in Alabasta—when I personally didn’t think either of them were smart enough to think up, let alone construct, anything that sophisticated. I didn’t mention it in my previous write up because there are a lot of fans that enjoy those kind of Easter eggs, and it’s a novel that runs on manga logic so it’s not exactly breaking my suspension of disbelief either. It was a minor quibble that didn’t really detract from my overall enjoyment. 

But the story of Fishman Island is at best tangentially related to the events of the novel. The only reason Fishman Island is important at all is because Ace decides to burn down Whitebeard’s flag on his way into the New World. 

Which brings me to perhaps the most interesting aspect of the novel: Ace himself. 

Even in the manga, you can make the case that there are two Aces, the happy-go-lucky, cool, and mysterious older brother of Luffy seen at Alabasta/post-Enies Lobby, and the angsty, existentially depressed young man with daddy issues that shows up during Impel Down/Marineford. 

The novel leans much closer to the latter. More than I expected it to. The Ace of Part 2 is hotheaded and a bit of a jackass. Whereas Luffy tends to go after people he has a personal beef with, Ace specifically targets Whitebeard because he was the closest to Roger, and he thinks that defeating Whitebeard will somehow bring him fame greater than his father. He ignores the concerns of his crew and the repeated warnings about how Emperors control vast armies...because of daddy issues. The novel goes out of his way that Ace’s dreams made him better suited to be a Revolutionary than a pirate, and it’s only because of his childhood promise that he became a pirate at all. It wasn’t something born out of true conviction or desire.

Laying it out like that, it might seem like this is a negative, but to me it’s one of the most interesting things the novel has to offer. I thought Part 1 worked best when it acted as a character study for Deuce, Ace, and the marine girl whose name I have already forgotten, focusing on how Ace brought together degenerates unwanted by even other degenerates. The same is true here: Once the exposition dumps are over and the focus returns to the titular character, the author is able to dig a little bit deeper into into Ace’s psyche, and he takes it in a direction I didn’t expect, but was consistent with his manga portrayal. 

I just wish I could have seen a little bit more of it. 

And speaking of characters I wish I had seen more of, after focusing so much on Deuce and Marine Girl in Part 1, they have a much reduced role in Part 2. In fact, Marine Girl isn’t seen or mentioned even once, which I thought was kind of strange. I guess I don’t see the point in putting so much effort was put into her only for her to be thrown away without even a cameo. Likewise, after spending Part 1 as the principal POV character, Deuce is set aside for Thatch and Teach. Whether that’s a good or bad thing will depend largely on how much you enjoy those individual characters. 

I don’t say this often, but these are books that can be judged by their covers. Part 1, Ace is more jovial—the burning flame that attracts others to his greatness—while introducing two major new characters to his journey. Part 2, Ace is grim and angry—the dark, smoldering flame burning with the desire to destroy the system that would have killed him for being the wrong man’s son—while focusing much more on the Whitebeard Pirates and what makes them great. 

It’s an interesting contrast, the two sides of Ace’s character as seen in the manga given a little bit of limelight. But damn if it wasn’t tedious to get through. 

#long post #opbackgrounds #ace novel #analysis #review

[bestworstcase]

farran rereads lost lagoon: chapters 7-8

- re: romance novel: chapter seven opens with rapunzel defending cass to eugene, including saying that she’s “never been more sure” about anything (except him, added as an afterthought). it feels equal parts aggressive sunny optimism and rapunzel has a serious crush because, it bears repeating, at this point she has exchanged maybe fifty words with this girl. the sum total of their relationship is a chance glimpse of cass in the field and then two stilted conversations cass did her damnedest not to participate in. then she kicks eugene out and passes on their ‘nightly stroll’ so she can meet cass alone lol.

-  lagoon eugene continues to have an actual work ethic and ambles off to ‘catch up on’ his readings in diplomacy. when could tts eugene ever,

- i have decided that i lay most of the blame for the ‘cass is emotionally walled off and refuses to communicate at all ever until rapunzel drags her out of her shell’ fanon at the feet of lost lagoon because this is just… ridiculous. tts cass firmly but politely and clearly spells out her boundaries with rapunzel as early as beginnings and emotionally opens up to her within a matter of days. lagoon cass acts like a sulky brat and again does this monosyllabic thing with her and literally sits in dead silence glaring while rapunzel chatters on. but especially in cassunzel circles lagoon is SO popular and has SO thoroughly infiltrated the popular fanon that cass’s normal state of being is so emotionally constipated that she can’t even admit she likes sweets is now the standard assumption. –__–

- unlike the writers of tts howland actually understands what a lady-in-waiting is. good job ms. howland.

- i say this with love. because i too have made historical poems a key plot point in bitter snow which means i have to actually write said poems and i am suffering, so i relate. but this poetry is really quite bad. ⭐ you tried ma’am

- as the self-appointed president of the saporian!cass au club i feel the need to reiterate that it is not canon that cassandra speaks saporian and ‘cass knows saporian in lost lagoon!’ cannot actually be used in support of cass having saporian heritage because she does not, in fact, know or speak saporian. she is able to recognize the second language in the book as saporian, but she can’t read it. she learns saporian over the course of lost lagoon, with materials provided by xavier. there are textual arguments to be made from lost lagoon to support interpreting cassandra as saporian but this is not one of them and i’m tired of seeing ‘cass speaks saporian!’ tossed around as the primary bit of ‘evidence’ that comes up when saporian!cass gets discussed. /pet peeve

like i approve and wholeheartedly support and personally agree with headcanons that cassandra is fluent in saporian for whatever reason, most especially that she is herself saporian, but i think it is important to emphasize that that’s not canon and that lost lagoon directly contradicts this idea.

- anyways,

“Hundreds of years ago, Corona was two different lands—Old Corona and Saporia. The fact that this is written half in Saporian means that this book is genuinely ancient. No one speaks Saporian anymore except a few scholars.”

i’ve ranted at length about how the sudden death of the saporian language in a matter of centuries suggests some very unpleasant things about the ‘unification’ of these two countries and the suppression of saporian culture that likely accompanied it so i won’t get too much into it again. but it is worth noting - while ‘hundreds of years’ is equally as vague as tts’s ‘centuries,’ the (sigh) english portions of this book are written in very modern english, which suggests that the language of Old Corona was quite similar to the language currently spoken, which in turn suggests an upper limit of maybe three hundred years between the unification and now. yes, the worldbuilding is thin enough that howland may well have intended this to be thousands of years in the past and the modern english poetry is just a suspend your disbelief thing, but… i’m not inclined to be that charitable. especially when, if i’m remembering right, this book rapunzel found is said to be an original first edition of the poems which, like, that straight up isn’t possible if it’s supposed to be from many hundreds of years ago.

plus… this is an american book written for an american corporation by an author i can only assume is american, and americans love to pretend that a couple hundred years qualifies something as ‘ancient’ so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

we’re filing this one under ‘clear evidence that corona conquered saporia and then aggressively sanitized that history by calling it a love story’ and just… moving on now.

- cass grabs the book and bounces, fully convinced that the vague poetic ‘directions’ in the poem can guide her to the lost lagoon and the mystical hidden source of power it allegedly conceals. she stays up all night mapping out a path (because it’s inconceivable that the terrain has changed that much since the poem was written: another strong point in favor of the 200-300 year timeline on the corona-saporian war and unification) and then heads out.

- she heads west, which is impossible, because corona is situated on the western coast, 

- this is the one bit of the book i’ve read multiple times and fuck me but i still don’t have any idea what this place looks like. cass scales a boulder, which… splits open at the top, with water running between the two halves. then there’s… a gulch? and at the end of that the two halves of the boulder(?) connect again. cass… crabwalks along the gulch or possibly the split halves of the boulder somehow. it’s unclear whether the direction of this gulch/boulder crack/river is perpendicular or parallel to the direction of travel cassandra was moving in when she climbed the boulder in the first place. it’s also described as a ravine but it’s so narrow that cass and rapunzel can both crabwalk along it and the whole thing is contained inside a boulder apparently and it’s so shallow that they can just hop down into the water and i do not understand what is going on with the geography here!!! help

#lost lagoon reread #rta #cassunzel

[afaimsarrowverse]

Arrowverse Update 2021:

I am doing one more of those before the new Seasons are rolling in, because we got major news about one project and some more bits about everything else, so… let’s start with the bad news and then continue with the rest:

 Green Arrow and the Canaries

 Is officially dead. It is currently unknown if and how we are going to get a resolution of the cliffhangar from the Backdoor-Pilot and its other open plot-threads. Yes, we were promised that all of this would get resolved somwhere else, if the show would not get picked up, however that was one year ago. Since then a lot has changed.

The main problem is that the project was just buried a couple of days ago, meaning that there is no chance for anything of this to be resolved in this TV-Season, which is already completly planned through for all the Arrowverse-Shows (and even half filmed already in some cases). The other problem is that a good portion of the people responsible for „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ is not a part of the current Arrwoverse anylonger. Yes, Marc Guggenheim could come back just to do a Crossover that resolves all that is still open, but why would The CW want its next Crossover Event to revolve around a never picked up show? There would have to be something else in that Crossover Event, provided one of those could even happen any time soon. As for doing just a singular episode the problem is where. The shows with ties to „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ might not be around any more or be in their final season by the time such an episode could be made, and all of the shows might again get shortened seasons, so the producers are going to have other priorties for their own shows in the next year.

So we might not get a resolution to „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ at all. On Televison that is. There is the alternate route though: A Comic Continuation.

As of now however it’s way to early to know anything for sure though. They are looking into it, but as I said, things are a lot more complicated right now, then they were a year ago.

Batwoman

 Season two is rolling around in a few days, therefor they released a new accurate synopsis and The CW has been and is still putting out a lot of promo material. You can watch most of it on Youtube.

A couple of days after I wrote my last one of these, it was reported that Christina Wolfe will be part of the main cast this season. In other news, we also were told that we will get yet another version of Victor Zsasz. The Arrowverse-Version will be played by Alex Morf.

Also David Ramsey will guest star as John Diggle and also direct an episode (but probably not the same one). And yes, this might be the Crossover Episode. However is has to be said that is has become awfully quite around that illusive „Batwoman“/“Superman&Lois“-Crossover. Given the news about David Ramsey being in all shows, it might have been replaced by a Diggle-Storyline that goes through all the shows including „Batwoman“. We will have to wait and see.

The Season opener will go into Kate Kane’s fate (without her being in it though) and Gotham will have to confront the False Face Society and new drug called Snakebite in the opening episodes. The tone of the new Season might be drastically different from before, there are hints for that, and I am not speaking about BLM instead of LGBT-issues. The words „goofy“ and „fun“ are kind of present, if you know what I mean, however this could just be promotion.

 As for the episodes:

 2.01 „Whatever happend to Kate Kane?“ (Directed by: Holly Dale, Written by: Caroline Dries, Airdate: January 17 2021)

 2.02 „Prior Criminal History“ (Written by: James Stoteraux & Chad Fiveash)

 2.03 „Bat Girl Magic“

 2.04 „Fair Skin, Blue Eyes“ (Directed by: Menhaj Huda, Written by: Ebony Gilbert)

 2.05 „Gore on Canvas“

Black Lightning

 Everyone is still very tighlipped about the final Season of „Black Lightning“. So I have nothing new, apart from titles (which are in line with the previous seasons and therefore not telling us anything, if we are honest):

 4.01 „The Book of Reconstruction: Chapter One“ (Airdate: February 8 2021)

 4.02 „The Book of Reconstruction: Chapter Two“

 4.03. „The Book of Reconstruction: Chapter Three“

 4.04 „The Book of Reconstrucion: Chapter Four“

 4.05 „The Book of Ruin: Chapter One“

 4.06.

 4.07 „Painkiller“-Backdoorpilot

The Flash

 So, yes, someone on the Production Team was tested posivite, and they had to shut down the production for a short period of time because of this, but it remained a pretty isolated case (or so it seems) and the production did resume. To make up for the lost time the Christmas Break was shortend, and they are back to filming already, so no need to worry, everthing is on schedule.

This season will see the return of John Diggle to Central City. David Ramsey will also direct an episode (but probably not the same one). We will also see the return of the Meta-Human Task Force, which will clash with Frost. This storyline will also involve Joe. Eric Wallace has hinted before that there will be a storyline involving the police and abuse of power with Joe in it, and I did assume it would be BLM-storyline, however this is „The Flash“, so this storyline might be what he talked about instead, and we might get a Meta-Human are being hunted and abused-Storyline as a substiute.

 As for the first couple of episodes:

 7.01 „All’s Wells that Ends Wells“ (Airdate: Feburary 23 2021)

 7.02. „The Speed of Thought“ (Airdate: March 2 2021)

 7.03 „Mother“ (Airdate: March 9 2021)

 7.04 „Central City Strong“( Airdate: March 16 2021)

 7.05 „Fear Me“ (Airdate: March 23 2021)

Superman & Lois

 The new Morgan Edge is in and it will be Adam Rayner, who will inherit the role from Adrian Pasdar. We also learned that Joselyn Picard will play the other Cushing-Lang-Daughter Sophie. Reporters we will get to meet on the show not only include Ron Troupe but also Chrissy Beppp played by Sofia Hasmik, while Leslie Larr played by Stacey Farber will be a cold former idealist, probably tied to Morgan Edge, and presumable an antagonist.

David Ramsey will guest star as John Diggle somewhen this season and will direct an episode as well. He will make his way through most of the shows (as Diggle) and might be the Crossover-Factor of this season. Even though the „Batwoman“/“Superman & Lois“-Crossover is not officially of the table, we haven’t heard anything about it in a while, so maybe this actually is it.

We got a proper look at the new suit and also the first real trailer, which is … unusal. More artsy then revealing, but is around one and a half months until the season starts, so there will be another trailer coming out soon.

 The first couple of episodes:

 1.01  Pilot (Directed by: Lee Toland Krieger, Written by: Greg Berlanti, Todd Helbing, Airdate: February 23 2021)

 1.02  „Heritage“ (Airdate: March 2 2021)

 1.03  „The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower“ (Airdate: March 9 2021)

 1.04. „Haywire“ (Directed by: James Bamford, Airdate: March 16 2021)

 1.05 „The Beacon“ (Airdate: March 23 2021)

Legends of Tomorrow

 Aliyah O’Brien will guest star as Kayla a fearsome deadly alien warrior in this season, who won’t be to happy about the Legends, because she is a pro, and they are …. well … the Legends. David Ramsey will also guest star this season, however he won’t be playing John Diggle, but another role instead. Who or what this other role will be remains a mystery. He could play Diggles ancenstor or descendant, if time travel is still an element in Season 6, or a shape shifting alien or an illusion, however they could also go full prosthetics and have him playing a character with no connection to Diggle at all.

David Ramsey will also direct an episode this season. Caity Lotz did already direct an episode, Episode 5, and given that she tweeted about the strain of directing and acting at the same time, we will see more of Sara in this episode than in last year‘s „Mortal Khanbat“. However still expect less Sara in Episode 4 and 5 than usual.

There was an early air-date floating around for „Legends“, which proofed to be a mix-up. Don‘t expect Season 6 (or any mid-season replacement for that matter) before the end of May, and even that would be early.

 As for the episodes:

 6.01 „ Ground Control to Sara Lance“ (Directed by: Kevin Mock, Written by: James Eagan & Mark Bruner)

 6.02 „Meat: The Legends“ (Directed by: Rachel Talalay, Written by: Matthew Maala & Morgan Faust)

 6.03 „The Ex-Factor“ (Directed by: David Geddes, Written by: Grainne Godfree  & Tyron Carter)

 6.04 „Bay of Squids“ (Directed by: Sudz Sutherland, Written by: Phil Klemmer)

 6.05 „The Satanist’s Apprentice“ (Directed by. Caity Lotz, Written by: Keto Shimizu, & Ray Utarnachitt)

 6.06 „Bishop’s Gambit“ (Directed by: Kevin Mock, Written by: James Eagan & Emily Cheever)

Supergirl

 Here we are again, with crumbs only. I still can’t tell you anything with value that happens this season. A couple of casting tapes leaked, one involving a prison break plot, however there is no telling if this isn’t just a single scene that leads to something totally different or the beginning of an actual sub-plot. We do know however that Young Alex and Young Kara will make their return this season.

We also know, that „Supergirl“ is about the only show on this list that does not have a finished Episode 1 as of now. They might have one or two finished episodes around Episode 5 or 6, but that’s it.

The reason we know this is that even though they are up to Episode 6 with filming, just like the other Vancouver-based shows, they did start a lot later, meaning they did not film whole episodes. The other reason we know that is that Melissa is just returning to the show this months. And there is no way she won’t be in Episode 1. She might sit out a couple of episodes that star Young Kara and Young Alex instead, but there is no way she won’t be in the first six episodes at all.

We will also get less Alex this year, or tob e more accurate less Chyler. She is having her directorial debute this season. Episode 6 is her episode, and this is the one with Young Alex und Young Kara in it. However present day Brainy und Nia are also in it, so it won’t be a total Flashback Episode. However, expect Chyler Light Episodes 5-6. Episode 7 will be directed by David Harewood. David Ramsey will also direct an episode this season and will guest star as John Diggle, however probably not in the same episode.

Also Odette Annable is back for the final season in some capacity. Wether as Sam or as Reign or both and for how much is unknown at this point.

And yes, „Supergirl“ is also the only show on this, where I can’t give you an episode list, because this is all we know.

Yes, it is the final season and they are extra-tight-lipped because of that, and also as I said they don’t really have finished episodes at this stage, but still it would be nice, if someone up there in Vancouver or someone from the Writer’s Room would give us anything. But it seems like they are holding back with any kind of promotion at least until Melissa starts filming if not longer.

#Arrowverse #green arrow and the canaries #Batwoman #Batwoman Season 2 #Black Lightning #Black Lighting Season 4 #The Flash #The Flash Season 7 #superman & lois #legends of tomorrow #Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 #Supergirl #Supergirl Season 6

[overdrivels]

TWtaH Notes

I’m finally free. It took three years and nearly 150k words, but I’m finally done. I can’t believe it. 

It started off as a simple idea and a simple premise: a chef!reader who, while knife sharpening, catches Hanzo’s attention. It then evolved into a full-fledged fic with a plot and plot twists. Originally, it was supposed to be around 10 chapters long, but then it grew out of control over the years as I tried to figure out how to end what I started. 

In addition to being a redemption fic, this was also an information dump fic. Since this is the very first slowburn I have ever finished and I have the feeling I won’t have much opportunity to do the same ever again--I don’t think any other fandom would give me the ability to showcase all these tidbits like Overwatch does--I literally threw as much knowledge as I could reasonably incorporate as possible.

About plot changes:

Most of the original plot points survived the writing process, some minor ones didn’t for plot related reasons, so this surprisingly went better than I thought it would. 

There was supposed to be another scene where Chef faced off against Reaper in chapter 20 or so, but upon reassessing Reaper’s character, I decided he wouldn’t do that, especially not against civilians or put himself in harm’s way just to say something to Chef. He wouldn’t even say anything to his family in the comics, what makes anyone think he’d do anything to someone he had even less of a personal relationship with?

There were supposed to be more scenes about Chef’s fencing, but I couldn’t fit it in and it ended up being a one-trick pony plot device. It wasn’t supposed to be that way, but that’s how it turned out. There was supposed to be a scene where Chef fights back against Talon during their infiltration of the Watchpoint.

There were points where Hanzo himself talked his way out of situations and forced me to change the plot. In the kitchen when he first meets Chef face-to-face, he wasn’t supposed to get the chef to forgive him which is the biggest plot deviation I’ve had and it forced me to reconsider large sections of the story. Honestly, I think it’s for the better though because I was really at a loss as to how to progress the original plot under those conditions.

I also wanted to emphasize that when Chef left, there was increased tension between the members. There was little commonality joining them all together except for the fact they all needed to eat. In order for some parties to work, you have to have your support characters, and in that case, it’d be Chef. But I seem to have bumbled through that bit and made it less impactful so if I ever got a chance to rewrite this, I’d probably stress this bit more.

Symmetra was supposed to have a much bigger role in this, somehow she fell to the wayside with that one plot change in the kitchen I mentioned before. On the flipside, Ana and McCree got a way bigger role than expected. 

One of the biggest plot changes was Hanzo hating peppers. Originally he was supposed to hate onions but I thought there was way too much onion in Japanese cuisine to omit them, so I thought of something that would seem more ‘childish’.

To be fair, I also don’t really like peppers all that much either. But I sure as hell love onions.

The proposal with the miso soup at the end, the plot twist where the chefs are the real treasure, and some other minor details have been there since the beginning of the idea’s conception. Things like Reaper trading Overwatch’s life for the tamale, the name of the restaurant, and Hanzo’s fight with Genji only came after the fic was being written. 

Real life:

Covid really took its toll on me since a lot of this fic revolved around food, tasting it, experiencing it, making it, etc. I lost a good portion of my taste and smell, and it’s not back 100% even months later, so a lot of what I begin to describe after a certain point is just based on memory. If a pre-pandemic world, I would have been running around the city, sampling foods and writing down my impressions, but with things as they were, it didn’t pan out that way.

I tried to stuff as many of my favorite foods (and not so favorite foods) here as much as possible. There were a lot of foods I omitted because there’s only so much I could fit in here. A companion compilation fic of the Overwatch characters eating their favorite foods or just eating food in general made by Chef sounds really appealing right now.

May, June, and July made me really want to expand the story and include things in the fic that would turn it ‘problematic’ or at least morally ambiguous. If I did that, this fic would never be finished. 

Characterization and development:

Junkrat and Roadhog are much more docile in this story than I would have headcanoned them simply because food security is life-changing. I really liked the idea of Roadhog using his farming skills and being less homicidal with the right environment. They both know food is sacred. 

Argus 20 is in reference to Argus Panoptes, the all-seeing many eyed giant from greek mythology. The 20 comes from “hindsight is 20-20” (but now 2020 has a very different connotation and I’m thinking it’s pretty fitting). The reason for this is because she oversaw a lot of what was happening especially in the front of house. It’s not mentioned in the story, but she oversaw things like purchasing the restaurant, setting up the dummy accounts, organizing and obfuscating the donations, etc.

In case there was any confusion, ‘Tanuja Deshmukh Singh’ is Asim’s deadname. When he left Overwatch and became Asim Singh, his family disowned him. He was then free to live as himself, but he never discarded his last name because he still wanted to be connected to his family in some vague way no matter how much they disliked or denied his existence.

Head Chef Richard has been in jail. His backstory is basically after firing his staff to protect them from the fall out, he basically told the press he fired them for insubordination and took the fall for the kitchens and got quietly arrested. He was sent to the same prison that Chef would end up at. He’s not a very honest man, I don’t think, but he’s a character who was molded by the story and its needs rather than being a pre-established OC. 

I kind of wanted to write the fic in a way where Argus and Asim weren’t bad guys but people who were forced to make difficult decisions because of the position they were put in by Chef and by Talon. Cause, you know, sometimes you do things to hurt people without realizing it.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to push another ship in the background. If you see hints of different pairings here and there, you may be seeing it right because I kept flip-flopping between chapters as to whether I wanted to or not, and if I decided I did, I kept changing the pairings.

Hanzo. Where do I even start with this guy? I had a really tough time trying to stick to one interpretation of his character. I kept reading other fics and going, “Yeah. Yeah! I want that!” But then it just became a huge mish-mash of characterizations until I wasn’t sure who he was anymore. But I clung onto the thought of “he’s the first son of an Asian household dealing with his spoiled brother” to help get me through it. It reminds me of that tweet that goes, “You think you can hurt me? I’m the eldest daughter in an asian family.” It was so relatable. Channeling eldest sibling in asian family vibes. 

Chef. It was so hard. It was so damn hard writing a faceless character for so many words. I can usually do it in a one-shot because I can get away with not mentioning stuff, but in a slowburn?? It’s so difficult. Multiple times I had to stop myself or revise things because there were characters talking about Chef and I didn’t want to make the dialogue unnatural by saying ‘chef’ ‘chef’ over and over again. There were other moments like Soldier carrying Chef out of the Cellar and I was like: “What if the reader is taller than Soldier?!” It was a struggle. The other struggle was characterization. There were so many in-story stressful moments that I wanted Chef to start crying at but the timing of it was so frequent that I had to nix most of them or risk making Chef unrelatable. 

lol i’ve made several pseudo-cameos in the story because I’m shameless. 

Miscellaneous:

Man, my style changed so many times throughout the story. At some point I ended up writing outlines made solely of dialogue and wrote the story around it. It was oddly distressing when I realized my words wouldn’t come out like they used to.  

This fic has seen me through a ridiculous amount of crap. I kind of wished I kept a journal or something because these past three years have been nuts. 

After this, I’ll probably retire from writing Overwatch and then go into my usual writing hibernation that spans about 4 years before I reemerge with an unquenchable thirst for something stupid. 

In my nearly 20 years of writing fanfic, this is the first slowburn I’ve ever completed. To be fair, the last time I even tried was like...over 10 years ago when mediaminer was still a thing and didn’t ban CYOAs.

This was also the longest single fic I’ve ever written. I have wirtten 200k in a year before but never for any single thing.

God, this was hard. I partially did it to prove that you don’t need to use placeholders like ‘Y/N’ and stuff like that and it was possible to write a slowburn with gender neutral stuff, but I had to cheat a bit. But it’s done. 

I’ve worked in the restaurant business for a few years but not as a chef. It wasn’t even high-end either. I wanted to talk about the work conditions because it’s pretty tough in the kitchens and the amount of drugs and vices people turn to and the conditions in which people come to work is nuts. 

I wanted to cover a lot of controversial topics to see if I could but it just didn’t fit in the story. I wanted to tap into things like social justice, racism, prejudices, political landscapes, and so on. Even within Overwatch, I’d imagine there’s a lot of tensions stemming from just basic ideologies. I wanted to see if I could write about both (or more) sides of challenging arguments and still remove the author’s opinions from the story, but I’d imagine that’ll bring its own complications. Last thing I wanted was to start a fight in the comments or something.

I almost made the crew travel to Asia with implications of a changed geo-political sphere from today. Like...the status of Taiwan would’ve been interesting to touch upon, but I didn’t feel like I had the knowledge to expand on it enough.

Almost every waking of my life, I have thought or worked on this fic. During meetings, during conferences, during client calls, while I’m on public transportation, in different countries. I don’t know what to do with myself now.

Anyway, if you have any questions or anything or just want to shout at me, inbox is open.. For now I’m just going to lament over the fact that Genshin Impact gives me motion sickness and I can’t play despite working so hard to roll Mona.

#twtah #the way to a heart #drivels drivels

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

Dead Souls Living - Ch11 Preview

An official chapter update to Souls is still on delay (cause I’m currently in the thick of grad school applications and those take precedence), but it occurred to me last night that I can give you guys a preview of what’s to come (since the first portion of ch11 was written and heavily edited before all this).

So, please enjoy this look at what comes next in Souls!  A return to Ruby’s POV, picking up where ch10 left off, with her breaking out of Atlas Academy.

Dead Souls Living is available here on AO3

In the aftermath of the Fall of Beacon, Ruby Rose is declared dead, a casualty of battle.

But, she's not dead.

It’s all a lie fabricated by the Atlesian government, who want to see if they can weaponize her silver eyes. One that’s a well-kept secret from the world, including Ruby’s family.

.

Ruby skids to a stop at the end of the hallway she’s been running down.  She looks to the right, then the left.  Both her options for which way to run next look exactly the same.  She searches, tries to find any distinguishing features, but comes up empty.  It’s just nondescript, windowless, white-walled corridors, without any sort of marker on which way it might be to the exit, extending as far as she can see.  

Penny, I don’t—there’s nothing!

Ruby attempts, and fails, to get her heart rate under control.  She looks over her shoulder for General Ironwood, but he hasn’t appeared yet.  He’s coming though.  She heard the loud crunching and cracking sounds of the ice she trapped him in as she fled.  It won’t take him long to catch up with her and, unlike her, he has a weapon.

Ruby glances down at her hands.  The maiden powers are still with her.  She could blast through walls until she reaches the outside world…

Except that would probably destroy the structural integrity of Atlas Academy itself.  As much as Ruby currently dislikes being here, the academy is still home to hundreds of students who have nothing to do with what’s happened to her.  She’s not going to hurt them if she can help it.  

She groans, and shuts her eyes for a second.  Beacon hadn’t been this hard to navigate.  Okay, maybe a little, in the beginning, but she’d figured it out quickly enough.  Atlas Academy, by comparison, is a nightmare.  A terrible, twisting, labyrinthine nightmare.

Ruby, comes the soothing presence of Penny in her head.  It’s okay.  Stay calm.

I know.  I know.  Ruby chooses the left corridor and starts running again.  It’s hard.  I’m scared, Penny.  If they catch me, if I can’t get to you, or you to me first, and they—I can’t go back.  

The corridor Ruby chose empties out into a lobby with stiff looking seats set up in a lounge space, albeit one where comfort was discarded for practicality.  She stops.

Do you recognize this area at all?  Ruby asks Penny while sending over a mental image of her surroundings.

That’s a computer lab over to your left, I think, Penny replies.  It looks like the type of ones that are open to both student and faculty use.  So, you’re in an academy common area.  That’s good!  It narrows things down.  I just have to cross reference what common areas are located close to medical wings to know which you might’ve been in and where you are now.  

Okay.  Ruby paces.  She hates pausing like this, but, on her own, she’d probably just continue to be lost.  She needs to know the right way to go.

Ruby takes a calming breath.  Ironwood hasn’t caught up to her yet.  There’s no alarms blaring.  She’s fine.  She’s fine.  She can still get out of here.  Make it back home.  She will make it back home.

Ruby’s eyes land back on the computer lab.  It occurs to her that she could send a message out.  Maybe to Weiss?  She has to be in Atlas, right?  Surely, she’d help.  Plus, she’s a Schnee and they have like a lot of power here, so maybe—

You’d need to login to a user account, Penny interrupts Ruby’s train of thought.  Since they’re talking in their heads, she has no tone of voice, but Penny’s words come across as sad, apologetic, regardless.  I have one, but it notifies Ironwood whenever I’m active and he has to give confirmation before any message I want to send goes through.

Oh.

Yeah.  I’m sorry, Ruby.  There’s a pause from Penny, before she adds, I know where the Schnee Mansion is though.  Once we’re out of the academy, I could take you there, if you’re certain Weiss will help?

Yes.  Ruby can’t help but smile thinking of her partner, and how shocked she’ll be to see Ruby here in Atlas.  Well that, and also alive.

Ruby’s smile falls away.  She’s tried so hard not to consider what it means that everyone she cares about (well everyone she cares about excluding Penny) believes her dead.  That they’ve probably mourned her.  Maybe even moved on.  She didn’t know Weiss and Blake very long, after all.  Why would they—

Weiss will help, Ruby tells herself resolutely.  She will.  And she’ll use her Schnee connections to help you get home, and you’ll see Dad and Yang again, and Blake probably stuck around with Yang on Patch too, so she’ll be there, and it’ll be a great big reunion, and…

I’ll be the one who came back.

Ruby shoves away the thought as soon as she’s had it.  Dad and Yang always tried to shield her from knowing how much Raven abandoning them and Mom never coming back from her last mission affected them.  She picked up on their sorrow anyway.  Seen the grief written across their faces in those moments when they thought she wasn’t looking.  She’d promised herself, ever since she was a small child, that she wouldn’t hurt them like that, wouldn’t leave like that.

Except she had.

She’s here, and they think she’s dead, and, and, and…

You’ll be with your family again, Ruby.  Penny’s presence in her head sweeps Ruby up, warm and comforting.  I promise.  We’ll get you home to them.

Ruby sniffles.  She wipes the tears from her eyes before they can fall.  She takes a breath.  Do you know where I am yet?

I’ve got it down to three possibilities.  Can you see anything that says a building name or floor level?

Looking around, Ruby notices an elevator bank on the other side of the lobby area from the computer lab.  She makes her way over to it.  On a small, black square next to one set of elevator doors, is a capital ‘G’ followed by the number, 32.  Ruby relays this information to Penny.

That’s the G Sector possibility!  Penny shouts happily in Ruby’s head.  You’re on the 32nd Floor.  I’ve plotted a route for you to get out.  Just follow these instructions—

Before Penny can give Ruby her first direction, a light above one of the elevators comes on.  A sharp, cheerful ding cuts through the silence.

Ruby’s eyes go wide.  Instinctively she uses her semblance to dive behind one of the seats in the lounge space.  Her heart hammers so loudly she’s sure it can be heard.

The elevator doors softly slide open.  A pair of heels click against the tile floor.  They walk slowly.  Far too slowly.

Ironwood doesn’t wear heels, Ruby tells herself.  It’s probably just some random faculty person out doing official faculty stuff.  In the middle of the night, which, okay, is kind of odd, but then academy faculty can be kind of odd, given Oobleck exists.  Although he’s a Beacon professor, and this is Atlas, which is far more strict and stern and…

The footsteps walk around the lounge area, coming closer to Ruby.  She tenses.  They don’t know she’s here, she tells herself.  They aren’t looking for her.  They have their own business.  They’ll leave.

They don’t.

Pressing herself to the ground, Ruby looks through the gap between the seat she’s hiding behind and the floor.  She can see the pair of heels come to a stop right on the other side.

“I know you’re there,” a sharp, female voice informs Ruby.  “I can hear you breathing.  Come out.  You won’t get in trouble for whatever prank you’re up to, so long as you haven’t already—”

Ruby runs.  She sees a hallway—not the same one she entered from—and charges toward it.

#rwby #nuts and dolts #ruby rose #penny polendina #whirls writing #dead souls living #anyone wanna guess who that is at the end there? annnyyyyoone

[curewhimsy]

Symphony Saga Resonate Outline So Far

This outline has gotten so long... by the way, chapters 1-4 have been written and are on AO3.

—————

Each Arc is 25 chapters.

ARC 1

Chapter 1

(Brief cold opening where the big underlying plot is vaguely explained...)

(Monochrome is trying to ban music.)

(Queen Rainbow is recruiting people to form a magical music group.)

(Motivational message that we all have stories, we all matter, and can all reach our dreams...)

(Brief run-down of Haku’s life, and her grandmother’s recent death.)

(“Haku’s grandmother was the most magical person she knew.”)

(Snowbell was a gift from Haku’s grandmother.)

Lonely Haku had lost 3 important people...

Her brother Dell, her friend Miku, and now her grandmother...

Chapter 2

November 29...

Haku and Neru are two misunderstood, troubled, 16-year-old students who meet at lunch and break period. They both have autism and are ostracized for it. Haku shows Neru her stuffed kitten Snowbell, and they bond and talk about nice things.

There was pizza for lunch, but it ran out because the bullies pushed Haku and Neru to the end of the line. Haku and Neru had to eat nasty asparagus

coleslaw casserole instead. The day isn’t looking too good for them... but at least they met each other.

Haku is happy to have met a new friend.

Chapter 3

Everyone starts talking about Haku and Neru and teasing them.

Bullies start sticking Neru with needles during her walk to gym class.

In gym class, Neru can’t walk far because the lunch upset her stomach. During the 5-mile marathon outside that the boot camp teacher made the class do, Neru lags behind in the rain.

The rain turns into a thunderstorm while Neru is outside. The entire school loses electricity during this time. Meanwhile, Haku has a breakdown in math class because the rain reminds her of her grandmother’s recent death, and has to go to the counselor’s office alone in the dark. And the school is big and even scarier in the dark. Haku then trips and falls down the stairs.

Neru ends her school day in the nurse’s office, and getting painful rubbing alcohol being put in where bullies sticked her with needles. The counselor’s office is nearby, and they see each other there.

Haku and Neru have both had a horrible day. But finally, they can see each other again.

Chapter 4

Haku and Neru meet again after school, and decide to run away together. Haku’s mother is always late home from work, and Haku’s dad is nowhere to be found. Haku’s mother is very neglectful and Haku is convinced her mother wouldn’t miss her. Meanwhile, Neru is an orphan and lives with her mean grandmother.

Haku and Neru pack away their important things and run away to the mall where they find a secret room with a magical mirror. They get sucked through, and end up being transported to the magical world of Whimsica, in the town of Speckle Town!

After stepping through the mirror, Haku’s plush cat Snowbell comes to life.

They are sent out through a portal mirror that is in the magical world. This mirror is a one-way portal, meaning they cannot go back through it to get back to Earth.

The mirror is located in a wooded area in Speckle Town.

“Where am I?” They both ask each other.

Snowbell, who is now alive, jumps from Haku’s arms and begins to wander off.

Alarmed, Haku and Neru follow after Snowbell, and notice a very magical feel about the woods. They eventually make their way out of the forest and into Teto’s magical bakery, which is connected to the Cozy House.

Luka is there too.

Chapter 5

(Magical and whimsical food is at the bakery)

(Rhyming parts to introduce characters?)

(Mako and Luna)

(Yowa)

(Sora)

(Emi, Nova, Roy)

(Ian)

(Muffin and Merengue)

(Happy and Banana)

(Slumber the owl)

(Add more details)

(Music themes)

(Haku and Neru learn about Monochrome from chatting with the cafe guests and with Teto and Luka...)

(Introduce Luka’s pet, Tako Luka)

Chapter 6

(Haku and Neru move to an empty housing space in the Cozy Building, which is a large apartment complex that also has things like stores, restaurants, movie theater, auditorium, recreation center with a park, swimming pool and wildlife reserve, and clinic. Some of the others who live there are Ame and her parents and cat, Joy and her parents, Teto and her parents, Luka and Tako Luka, Ruko, Momo, and the Kagamine family. There is additionally a portion of the building that is said to be haunted...)

Chapter 7

November 30.

Haku and Neru attend their first day of the wacky, 300-floor Adventure Academy.

Haku and Neru have two classes out of six where they are together. (Gym and piano.)

Snowbell also gets to go to school with Haku.

In one class where she is without Neru, swimming class, Haku meets friends named Ame and Joy. Snowbell makes friends with a small talking lioness cub named Buttersotch.

Neru hangs out with Luka a lot. She also meets a friend named Emi in snowboarding class in the snow-cone hills.

Teto hangs out with her childhood friend Momo and tells her about the new students while they are in first-period baking class.

At lunch, everyone meets together. The lunch food is cooked in a volcano.

Chapter 8

During lunch, a villain attacks. However, they don’t show their face.

The villain targets Ame. Even though Ame seems cheerful, she has low self-esteem.

The villain creates a gloomy rain monster to possess Ame, who is compatible with the monster because she has sadness in her heart. (Also, Ame’s name can mean both “candy” and also “rain.”)

When Ame is possessed with the monster, she suddenly becomes really sad and cries, and begins to cause blind destruction out of frustration.

“Ame? Why are you doing this?” Neru asks her.

Ame’s puffy pigtails become swollen rain clouds and heavy rain begins to fall from them.

Storm clouds begin to fill the school, flooding it.

Haku and Neru run away scared. They ask Teto what’s going on. Teto looks back to the one time her hair became real tornadoes, because she was possessed by a monster herself!

“Ame is possessed by a monster!?” Neru reacts. “How did that happen!?”

“It must be those Monochrome goons attacking our school again! I’m sure of it!” Teto says.

All of a sudden, a harsh gust of wind blows Teto away. Haku and Neru are alone.

Two magical, colorful anthropomorphic cats named Sparkle and Twinkle show up and tell Haku and Neru more.

“Don’t be scared of Ame.” Sparkle says. “She needs you to save her. A monster has ahold of her body and is making her rampage.”

“That’s right.” Twinkle says. “This isn’t her fault. The villains used their monster to posses her. That’s not the real Ame! In order to defeat the monster, you must separate it from Ame.”

“How can we do that?” Haku asks.

“You have to give the real Ame strength.” Sparkle says. “Talk to her. Make sure she listens.”

Haku and Neru agree.

Ame is hiding in a sad painting. Haku and Neru tru to coax her out, but she keeps firing mini tornadoes at them from inside the painting, while telling about how much she hates herself.

“Ame...” Haku says to her. “I haven’t known you for long but... I know how you feel. Okay? I know sometimes it’s hard to believe in yourself. But... I believe in you. So does Neru. I understand you. I don’t have many friends either but... let me be your friend, okay?”

“And me too!” Neru says. “I know what it’s like to be lonely. I know what it’s like to have doubt. But nobody deserves to feel like that. And if you need someone, I’ll be here. So please...”

“Let me help you.”

Chapter 9

Ame turns around and looks at Haku and Neru. Suddenly she smiles, the painting becomes happier, and the monster is out...

But now Haku and Neru have to fight it!

Suddenly, they both transform into magical girls.

“Just in time! By cheering up Ame, you two fulfilled yourselves!” The cats say. They explain that In Whimsica, magical transformations are unlocked when the user “fulfills” themself, symbolizing that they’ve overcome a difficult hurdle, accomplished a wonderful goal, or opened the door to their true self.

By cheering up Ame, Haku and Neru had also told important words of encouragement to themselves.

Now that they have magical powers, Sparkle and Twinkle guide them.

The monster is strong and they get hurt. Ame doesn’t have strong magic, but she jumps in and risks everything to help her friends.

This is when a transformation happens to Ame. She fulfills herself too, because she summoned bravery and confidence during a crucial moment!

The magic of Ame’s transformation ended up healing Haku and Neru. All three of them join their powers, and they are able to defeat the monster together with a magical song!

After the battle, they look for Sparkle and Twinkle to thank them, but the mysterious cats are gone...

Meanwhile, Sparkle and Twinkle have fled off to tell Queen Rainbow that they have found pure-hearted heroes that could surely help defend Whimsica from  Monchrome. They are discussing Haku, Neru, and possibly Ame being members of the group they are forming...

Chapter 10

Neru and Haku’s final period is music class, where they are with Snowbell, Luka, Teto, Momo, Joy, Ame, Emi, Butterscotch, and a lot of other significant characters.

Class lets out late. They miss the school bus and they have to ride the Tragic School Bus to a land called Eeby Deeby...

(Marko and Hirao)

(A surreal rhyming dream part?)

Chapter 11

After the Tragic School Bus ordeal, Haku and Neru are back in their room and talk about the day and stuff. Suddenly, Luka joins them. And Ame too, and she thanks them.

Chapter 12

December 1...

In one of Neru’s classes, magic class, she notices a person who is quiet and seemingly standoffish. Apparently his name is Wallace.

Wallace is quite tall, doesn’t talk much, nor does he show much expression. He is always working on something secret under his desk, and he’s very good at hiding it. Everyone spreads rumors that Wallace is doing something “bad.”

Neru doesn’t believe the rumors and senses that Wallace is misunderstood. She wants to confirm that he is a good person, so she sticks around after class. Neru doesn’t mean to be eavesdropping, but when Wallace thinks nobody is around, Neru catches sight of what he creates. He makes small stuffed toys. Neru thinks it’s nice that he has a hobby he’s so passionate about, but she sees something else unexpected. Wallace passes by a drop-off donation box for children who cannot afford holiday gifts and drops the toys he made in it.

Neru comes out to talk to Wallace then. He has a startled and flustered reaction.

“Ah! Please tell me y-you didn’t see anything... I mean... um... I wasn’t doing anything... okay? You saw NOTHING?”

“Huh?” Neru asks. “I don’t get it. You’re doing something so nice, but... you don’t want people to know or see?”

“Ah... well... it’s....” Wallace turns red. “It’s... embarrassing.”

“...Why?” Neru says.

“Well...” Wallace says. “The toys I make... they aren’t very good... I guess... not yet, anyway...”

“But... I don’t think that matters at all.” Neru says. “I’m sure the kid who receives your gift that you put so much heart and care into will be overjoyed when they see it.”

Neru looks in the donation box, even though Wallace tries to stop her.

“Aw, they’re not bad at all.” She says, seeing what he made

“Ah, well... my father... used to make stuffed toys.” Wallace says. “They were much better than mine. He passed away a few years back. Lately I’ve been feeling down, so my uncle told me I could use the skills I learned from him to make people happy... and well...”

“Well... does it feel nice though?” Neru asks. “Knowing you’re making people happy?”

Wallace’s face lights up with an unexpected smile.

“Yeah!” He says.

“That’s great.” Neru says. “Well, I’m Neru. And well, I already know your name. Wallace, right?”

“Yeah, but... um... I’d like to be called Wally, please...” Wallace says. “That’s what I’d want my friends to call me.”

“Oh. All right then, Wally.” Neru says.

However, two ridiculous villains (Maddie and Sadie, the mad and sad clowns) show up and try to destroy Wallace’s things he worked so hard on.

Stelle, Lunette, and Celestine show up. They give Haku and Neru advice and tell them a message from Queen Rainbow, the Queen of Whimsica...

Apparently, Haku and Neru have been recruited into a group that fights for justice all around Whimsica. All they have to do to participate is to continue to be true to themselves and to continue to use their magic, determination, and kindness, to settle problems.

Maddie and Sadie reveal they attacked because they hate people’s happiness. They think “If we can’t be happy, nobody should be.” Haku and Neru tell them that just because their feelings are understandable, doesn’t mean they are correct.

Haku reaches out to them and says she’s unhappy a lot, and sometimes is even jealous of people who are, but she still tries her best to spread joy. Neru joins in, saying that even though Wallace is unhappy because his dad died, he still tries to make kids smile with his toys.

After this fight, Maddie and Sadie end up reforming and becoming good. We find out that they always wanted to spread joy, but gave up because nobody laughed at them, and therefore became cynical mad and sad clowns. Haku and Neru, along with Wallace, inspired them to try again. After reforming, they join Gladys, a glad clown, and form a trio to make people laugh together.

Intermittently in the story, Haku’s backstory about her brother Dell, who she lost before her parents divorce, had been told. We also get to know of Haku’s cousin Miku, who mysteriously disappeared.

Chapter 13

They have to ride the Tragic School Bus Again... And then the Cash Cab shows up! The driver is Kiyoteru. But after that, they group goes straight to the auditorium!

That night after school, Maddie and Sadie have a fun comedy and music show to perform alongside Gladys in the Cozy House auditorium. Luka, Teto, and Momo have parts in the show as well, and Wallace is also in the show playing the saxophone!

Chapter 14

December 2

Haku and Neru get ready for school.

That day, it’s the birthday of Simone, an outgoing, popular person at school. They are a musical idol. They get to have a school-wide party that cuts through class time.

At the party, Haku catches sight of Miku, her cousin and treasured friend from childhood who mysteriously disappeared one day. She also is friends with Simone. They have an emotional reunion. Haku offhandedly comments to Miku about her lost brother Dell, but notices Miku grows a sour expression on her face at the mention of his name.

However, soon enough, things are attacked again... but the villain this time is... Haku’s long-lost brother, Dell?

Chapter 15

Dell has been notorious in the school for being evil and causing trouble for the innocent.

Miku, who also has magical girl powers, transforms and begins to fight Dell. Haku is in disbelief and is saddened watching two precious people from her childhood fight.

“Dell... this can’t be!” She cries. “I know you aren’t like this... you were so sweet to me. You can’t really be on the side of Monochrome. You just can’t!”

Dell has a completely different and mean look in his eyes than the gentle look Haku remembered from childhood.

Dell doesn’t even seem to remember Haku. He appears completely cold, and he seems sinister. Dell is creating monsters to terrorize and destroy peace, while not even seeming to bat an eyelash.

Haku is heartbroken at having to fight Dell, but Neru urges her she has to do it. Eventually after a strong attack is fired at him, Dell retreats...

Haku is left crying, deeply affected at what she just experienced.

Chapter 16

That night, Haku thinks of what she can do if Dell shows up again. Haku is a bad cook, but she stays up all night at the bakery with Teto and Snowbell, making a batch of the cookies Dell used to eat when they were still living together as children. She doesn’t give up until they taste exactly the way they did that time.

Chapter 17

December 3

Haku and friends spend a day at school and eventually help out another character. The character they help out is Lita.

Chapter 18

Dell shows up again to mess things up. Haku begins pleading to him.

Dell begins charging an attack, getting get ready to hit Haku, but Haku just stands there. Everyone watches, thinking Haku is nuts.

As a last resort, Haku starts singing to Dell. She sings to him the song Dell always sang to her when they were little.

Dell suddenly remembers Haku. Precious memories begin flooding his mind. It shows, because he grows a soft expression stops charging the attack... But all of a sudden, he shakes them off and charges at her with a punch. Miku pushes Haku out of the way and continues to fight Dell.

While fighting, Miku notices Dell isn’t fighting with full force. Miku even notices he seems like he‘s fighting back tears. Eventually, Dell retreats.

Haku is crushed once more. She realizes she forgot to give Dell the cookies she baked.

Chapter 19

That night, Haku feels down, so her friends try to cheer her up. They go to karaoke. Haku is shy but her friends coax her to sing and be confident.

Chapter 20

Meanwhile, Dell is walking down the street after a fight with his abusive dad. He hears Haku sing from the karaoke building.

Dell is affiliated with Monochrome, the planet who wants to ban music. He’s should hate music... but it makes him feel so warm and nostalgic... and painful.

Remembering the times he and Haku sung as children, Dell flees to an abandoned building down the street where nobody would enter to sing by himself. Dell sings the song he and Haku sung together as children, before becoming emotional and sobbing loudly for the first time since childhood.

Dell is letting out years upon years of pain caused by his dad. He can’t believe he ever forgot about Haku. She was really the only friend he’s ever had. As kids, they were an inseparable pair of siblings, before their parents divorced. His father brainwashed him to be evil and forget about Haku, but hearing Haku’s song that day cleansed his heart and restored his memories.

Chapter 21

December 4

The next morning at school.

Haku and Neru join a music club after the urging of Miku and Luka, and meet a lot of new friends.

Teto and Momo, however, say they are too busy with clubs already to be in music club, so they are left out. (Note, they will join in a later part of the story.)

Miku

Luka

Ame

Joy

Emi

Wally

(Rin)

(Len)

(IA)

(Yukari)

(Shun-ichi)

(Octavia)

(Sonata)

(Aria)

(Tempo)

(Lita)

(Aisha)

Chapter 22

Dell shows up again, and this time, a group is with him. Dell has a really sad and forlorn look in his eyes this time...

Haku tries to give Dell the batch of cookies she made, but Dell forces himself to harshly reject them and begins to fight Haku.

Suddenly, all targets are on Haku. Haku defeats most of the group except for Dell and the mysterious leader of his group, and is in bad shape.

The leader of Dell’s group attacks Haku. He is very powerful, and if this goes on any longer, Haku could possibly even get killed.

Dell absolutely cannot let this happen. To Haku’s surprise, Dell desperately jumps in and helps Haku fend off the attack.

“Haku...” Dell speaks to her. “It’s okay now. I’ll fend him off myself. You stay safe. I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“Dell... Dell! No! I can’t... You’ll get hurt too...” Haku begins crying.

“It’s fine.” Dell says, choking up with tears. “I deserve to get hurt. I’ve done nothing but cause people pain... I’ll take the damage for you. So run, before something happens to you!”

To Haku’s surprise, the man says something strange...

“Betrayal, huh? From my own son?”

Chapter 23

“I’m NOT your son!” Dell shouts.

Haku’s face turns white.

“You can’t deny facts.” He says. “You are my son, Dell. Also, Haku... I am your father.”

Haku is too shocked to speak for a couple seconds, but...

“No!” She shrieks. “You are not! You’re a part of Monochrome! You’re evil. You’re the one took Dell away long ago. You made him like this! You raised him and brainwashed him to be just like you! Dell... he was always very sweet to me. He was always protecting me. He’s even protecting me now! He never wanted to be a part of Monochrome! Now I will protect him from you! Begone!”

Haku hits Gin with an ultra-strong attack, and Dell joins in. Gin decides he cannot handle it, so he retreats so he can live another day.

Haku and Dell did not defeat him this time. But at least they chased him away...

Haku pretends to be optimistic after what happened, but her fake cheers quickly turns to sobs. Dell hugs Haku and tells her everything is okay. To Haku’s surprise, Dell is crying too.

Haku had never before seen Dell cry.

Chapter 24

After calming down, Dell begins to talk to Haku and Miku about how evil his and Haku’s dad is. Gin mistreated Dell. Dell always loved music and wanted to be a singer. However, whenever Dell sang, Gin punished him by using evil magic to brainwash him bit by bit to be evil just like him. Eventually, the magic closed the door to Dell’s heart, and his memories, causing him to forget about the happy things in his life, including his love of music, and his memories of Haku.

Chapter 25

December 5

Haku, Miku, Dell, and all the others spend a fun day hanging out.

Dell decides he will join the music club.

————ARC 2————

Chapter 1

(Introduce the lore and conflict as Uta/Defoko and her life/surroundings are introduced.)

Uta Utane (AKA Defoko,) 14 years old, is an artificial humanoid from a dystopian planet (Discord) where music is banned and kept a secret by the government. This planet mass-produces androids. This planet is at war with another dystopian planet (Monochrome) and they both produce androids for the purpose for fighting the war. Due to a manufacturing error, the one of the “Default female-1” (codenamed “Defoko”) androids ended up significantly more sentient. She hated the war and fighting, so she rebelled. Defoko feels very depressed and empty about her life, and hates being a machine.

Chapter 2

One fateful day, Defoko, using her advanced aerospace engineering intellect, completes a high-speed “disappearing” spacecraft she was building so that can flee from the planet unnoticed. She arrives at the magical world of Whimsica where things are better on December 6th. Defoko changes her name to Uta Utane, after some kanji she saw on the sign of a karaoke cafe around her new home.

Uta chose to name herself after kanji from the cafe, because the musical sounds coming from the building made her feel something “warm and poignant.” The night when she visited the cafe, Taya and his friend Ritsu were inside, having a session of singing karaoke. Taya was singing a solo in attempt to get over his shyness. The sound Uta fell in love with was actually Taya’s singing voice.

Uta begins living alone in a small, worn-down apartment in the Cozy House. She acquires a part-time job repairing computers to make ends meet.

Uta would describe herself as being self-aware, but lacking the ability to feel euphoria. (Think of it as a sort of depression.) She wishes she were a “real girl” so she could feel this emotion. Despite this, Uta is a very kind, considerate, wisecracking, and compassionate spirit...

On Whimsica, she is still very lonely for now.

That night, Uta sleeps and she has her first dream, because she experienced something that gave her life a meaning (music.) She hears music in her dream and it makes her happy, but when she wakes up, she cannot explain the sensations she felt.

Chapter 3

Uta enrolls herself in the local magical high school, as she is still a young teen and she wants to meet friends. It is her first time going to a proper school. Her new school is very strange. Along with human students, there is also an array of supernatural humanoids, talking animals, anthromorphs (furries,) other creatures, and even... talking objects!?

Even if that is true, Uta sadly feels she still doesn’t fit in.

On her first day at school, Uta‘s first period class is cooking class. She ends up making the confections explode, and gets a scolding and awful grade from the teacher, Miriam. She doesn’t feel like she fits in. On her way to her second-period class, Uta ends up meeting Taya Soune, her shy 15-year-old classmate.

Taya is very late to his second period class because a mean bully girl named Tei Sukone threw Taya’s monocle (also his power source) in the giant wishing well and ran off, leaving Taya having to change into his wetsuit, dive in the well and find his monocle, and then go back to the dressing room and change back into his suit and tie outfit. Uta meanwhile is wandering the chaotic hallways of the school, completely lost.

Sometimes in Adventure Academy, when class is in session and students are supposed to be in class, there is a small chance of a monster called a grungle spawning in the hallways. If a student needs to visit the bathroom or walk down the hall for any reason during a class session, a hall pass can protect students from these monsters.

A grungle ends up spawning in the hall as Uta and Taya cross paths. It’s nine feet tall and looks like a cross between a penguin, bear, and snake. And it has lots of neon spikes. Neither Taya or Uta have a hall pass on them, so it attacks them!

In Whimsica, grungles are creatures with no souls that typically do nothing but cause destruction. They are mostly made of negative emotions.

Taya may have some magic, but isn’t very good at fighting, so Uta uses her epic android powers to protect them both ad defeat the grungle. Uta has a magical machine gun type of pistol, a force field shield, and teleportation powers, and something like The Force to fling large objects with psychic power.

When grungles are defeated, they sometimes drop various kinds of items. This one drops game tickets to use in the arcade. Uta doesn’t know what they are.

Taya thanks Uta profusely for defeating the beast. He is in awe of the new student’s powers and asks where she is from. Uta is very shy, which Taya doesn’t expect since she is so good in battle. She has a quiet voice that sounds monotone and a bit artificial. Uta finally spits out that she is an android from space. Taya realizes Uta may be sensitive about this, so he vows to try and keep this secret...

Taya tells Uta his name and begins to get to know her. He is quite friendly and guides Uta on her way to her second period class, magic class, which they have together. After school, Taya says he will go to the mall with Uta and show her the arcade, and use the game tickets they acquired from the grungle.

Chapter 4

Uta’s third period is math class, which Taya isn’t in. She feels lonely again and thinks about Taya. But then, she ends up meeting two new friends named Teto and Momo, who welcome her to the school. Taya’s third period class is music class. He has this class with with Ritsu, along with Ritsu’s other good friend, Ruko. Taya tells Ritsu about the kind and cool new student named Uta, but not the fact that Uta is an android from space. Ritsu notices that Taya seems to be fond of Uta, which is great, because he notices Taya seems lonesome a lot and wants him to come out of his shell more. Ritsu then offers to help Taya become more social, by offering him friendship and introducing him to Ruko as well. Taya is overjoyed to have a closer bond with Ritsu and another friend in Ruko.

After third period class, is lunch break, and everyone meets up together. Uta introduces Taya, Ritsu, and Ruko to herself, Teto, and Momo. Neru and Haku also get introduced through Teto and Momo, along with other characters from Arc 1.

For fourth period, Uta has computer coding with Ritsu. Taya has music class with Teto and Momo, and Ruko is alone in language arts.

In fifth period, everyone (including Haku and Neru) has gym class together.

Finally, in sixth period, Uta and Taya have Whimsica Geography class together. Everyone else is together in dance class.

Uta starts opening up to Taya when she feels she can trust him. By the end of the school day, they are friends.

“I want to be a real girl.” Uta somberly tells him then. “I want to have a soul. As an android, I cannot truly feel joy.”

However, Taya believes that Uta is already a real girl, and that she has a beautiful soul. He is determined on his quest to help Uta feel true happiness.

Chapter 5

After school, everyone else is busy, and only Uta and Taya have free time. Taya takes Uta to the arcade. Uta hears all kinds of music at the arcade. Taya has never seen Uta so entranced before. Uta asks Taya why these sounds make her feel so alive. Taya tells Uta that they are more than just sounds, they have feelings and soul, and are called “music.” Uta falls in love with music. When she hears it, she becomes indescribably enthralled.

At the arcade, Taya plays a dance game and gets a pretty high score. Apparently, it’s Taya’s favorite game at the arcade and he has had a lot of practice every chance he could get. Uta is mesmerized as she watches Taya dance to the music. Uta is a bit shy to dance herself, but a spacecraft piloting game catches her attention. Uta plays the game and gets an incredibly high score, and ends up attracting a crowd of people in awe of her skills. Uta ends up getting a huge output of coins to exchange for prizes. When Uta and Taya put their coins together, they have enough to buy a brand-new karaoke machine that even comes with three karaoke albums to sing to!

Music had awoken something deep in Uta’s soul. It’s a feeling of excitement, thrill, and comfort, but also immense yearning. Uta feels she wouldn’t be truly happy unless she would be able to compose music and sing. Taya sees Uta staring longingly at the karaoke machine.

“Oh, would you like the karaoke machine?” Taya asks Uta. “If so, it can be all yours. I already have something like it. I think it would be great for you. You want to sing, don’t you? You’ll get to experience music even more!”

“Thank you.” Uta says. “But... I’m afraid I can’t.”

Uta looks incredibly forlorn.

“Why?” Taya asks softly. “What do you mean?”

Uta explains that she feels she wouldn’t be able to sing or compose music, since one needs a heart to be able to make music. Uta is convinced she doesn’t have one. Also, can a being with an artificial voice really sing?

Taya can tell how much Uta longs to create music. He hugs her gently and tells her a story. Taya thought he couldn’t sing either at first, because he was too shy. But thanks to an old friend he had, he found the courage to keep trying back then. Taya promises he will help Uta however he can as well.

Taya ends getting a bit emotional... Uta ends up getting emotional too. They end up holding up the line. Galaco, a snobby girl from school, is next in line. She rolls her eyes and says “Oh PLEASE.”

Taya ends up developing feelings for Uta. Her story and dream pulls at his heartstrings. He feels very sincerely for her.

Chapter 6

They end up buying the karaoke machine and go back to Uta’s apartment. Taya calls his parents and tell them he is at a friend’s house. Taya supports Uta with her dream and teaches her the first steps to singing. They have their first singing lesson.

Taya is a bit shy with singing in front of Uta, but he is determined to be a good vocal coach. He looks back to the exercises he did with Ritsu in attempt to get over his shyness. As Taya sings, Uta recognizes his voice as “the sound that awakened her soul” back when she first came to Whimsica, but she keeps quiet about it due to being bashful.

It takes a while, but Uta finally figures out how to match pitch. She is able to vocalize simple tunes, but still has a long ways to go...

Chapter 7

The next day before first period, Teto sees one of the non-humanoid students in the school getting bullied in the hallway. The bullies are Galaco, Mayu, and Mizki, the snobby girl clique. They are surrounding and throwing paper at poor Inuhebi, a cute, sluggish limbless creature with a snake’s body and a dog’s head.

Teto is a little apprehensive to face up to them, but knows she has to do something.

“Like, wow. Being fabulous is like, so last year.” Teto says.

“As if. Last time I checked, you weren’t exactly a notable figure.” Mizki says.

“Who needs to be? I’m so sorry you guys can’t just have fun without worrying about who’s on top.” Teto rolls her eyes.

“Shut it, clownface.” Galaco says.

“Yup, that’s me! I’m clownface!” Teto laughs. And laughs, and pulls out a horn and honks it and does a cheesy little dance.

“Ugh. Like, let’s get outta here.” Mayu says.

Teto successfully chased away the mean girls.

Teto goes up to little Inuhebi and asks if he’s okay. Inuhebi isn’t hurt, but he’s sad because he can’t move very fast, and is bullied a lot and is usually late for class.

“Hmm... how about you be my buddy? I’ll carry you on my shoulder. We’ll always be together!” Teto said. “Then you’ll never be late again, and I’ll always be there for you!”

Inuhebi is so happy that he cries tears of joy. Teto lifts him up and lets him ride on her shoulder.

It turns out that Uta, Taya, Teto, Momo, Ritsu, and Ruko all have first period together, but they just didn’t notice before. Inuhebi also has first period with everybody. Teto introduces Inuhebi to the rest of the group, and they are now a group of seven.

“Oh yeah... you were the girl who made the kitchen explode!” Ruko says to Uta, remembering the previous day. Uta is a bit embarrassed.

Momo is the best cook in the class, so she offers to teach Uta a bit how to cook on the side. Taya is very great with cooking and baking as well.

Taya, trusting the others, tells them about Uta’s dream, but is vague about the fact that she is an android from space. Everyone in the group finds that they have an interest in singing in common.

“Hey, since we all like to sing, how about we start up a music group?” Inuhebi suggests.

“Sure!” Momo replies. “That would be fun!”

“That would be great!” Ritsu says. “But what will we name it?”

Everyone begins thinkng long and hard about it...

Chapter 8

Later that day, the group of seven go to the music store together.

Afterwards, everyone goes to Uta’s house and have a karaoke party session.

Uta feels awful and dejected however when it’s her time to sing, however. Everyone else sang so amazingly, and Uta can barely carry a simple tune at this point.

“It doesn’t matter how well you sing, Uta...” Taya reassures her. “It’s about being happy and doing your best. We all want to hear you.”

Everyone cheers Uta on. She takes a deep breath and begins singing “When You Wish Upon A Star” but messes up a bit and stops the music.

“I can’t do it.” She says, her entire body shaking.

“Uta, don’t give up!” Taya says. “I’ll sing with you this time. Will that help?”

Uta nods and tries to calm down.

They take turns singing lines from the song. Uta finally is able to sing the last few on her own. Taya comes in and harmonizes with, her and Uta is amazed at how they were able to sound together.

Everyone claps for both of them. It’s a wonderful feeling Uta wants to treasure forever.

“This moment resonates with me...” Uta says.

Uta ends up practicing her singing all night that night. However, she eventually grows discouraged when she just can’t seem to control her voice as well as she did when Taya was there with her.

Chapter 9

Tei Sukone, the bully, shares first-period class with Uta and everyone else. She is usually skipping class, but this time, Tei actually shows up to first period and causes a lot of trouble.

Tei picks on Taya and Inuhebi because she considers them timid. She picks on Ritsu, because Ritsu is Taya’s friend, and has a tendency to come to people’s rescue.

In the days before, Tei noticed that Inuhebi had become friends with Taya and Ritsu.

Tei’s nasty cronies, Jern and Kild, show up to class too. They both have ugly names.

Inuhebi doesn’t know Jern and Kild, so before class, she bakes a biscuit filled with wasabi, which Inuhebi can’t stand. During class, Jern and Kild give it to Inuhebi as a “present.”

Inuhebi is trusting and bites into the biscuit, only to cough it up seconds later because of the wasabi. Tei can’t conceal her laughter, and Uta notices the scene and figures out what happened.

Uta begins to glare at Tei, who notices Uta for the first time.

“Oh wow. You’re like, so plain-looking.” Tei says to Uta. “I didn’t even notice we had a new student because of how totally plain you are, wow.”

Uta, who underestimates her own strength, takes out her laser cannon...

“Oh, what does that thing shoot? Flowers?” Tei scoffs.

Uta fires a laser at Tei’s hair and burns off part of it.

“AAAHHHH!” Tei shrieks. “THAT... That’s not a normal thing you see on Whimsica! This girl... she must be an alien robot!”

Everyone in the class begins to uproar.

Jern and Kild begin laughing maniacally (and rudely.)

“SHE’S A ROBOT!! SHE’S NOT EVEN REAL!” They screech.

“SHUT UP!” Ritsu belts above all the chaos like the madman soprano he is. “Uta is a precious friend of mine, and she was trying to defend Inuhebi! Robot or not, it doesn’t matter!”

“That’s right!” Taya yells. “Uta cares about us! She’s more real than any of you who put her down!”

Suddenly, Uta is running out of the classroom, unable to handle the stress.

“Ah, Uta! Wait!” Taya runs after her

Ritsu, Momo, Ruko and Teto follow. Teto had gotten Inuhebi as well, and put him on her shoulder.

Uta is running off, But Taya calls her back and stops her. Taya gives her a hug.

“Taya, do I belong here?” Uta asks him.

“Of course you do.” Taya says. “You belong. Everyone belongs here.“

“Tei and her nasty cronies are the ones who don’t belong.” Ritsu says.

After a while, the teacher comes out and tells the group to get back to class. The group does. Tei and her friends are now out of the classroom, because the teacher punished them and sent them to detention. However, because of the “distraction” Uta had created, the crappy teacher also orders Uta to also go to detention.

The rest of the group think this is outrageous, to they volunteer to spend time in detention with Uta.

Chapter 10

In detention with Tei, there is no teacher keeping watch. Therefore, all sorts of madness and fighting could break out.

“So. You do realize you volunteered to have detention to defend something that can’t even dream.” Tei says. Jern and Kild laugh.

“As if!” Ritsu shouts. “Uta is not a thing, and you’re the ones who can’t dream. You three DESTROY dreams. And Uta DOES have a dream! She wants to be a singer and inspire people.”

“She’s very passionate about it too!” Ruko says. Everyone else nods.

Tei bursts into laughter along with her two friends.

“A singer!? Oh, come on! Don’t make me laugh!” Kild says.

“Right? Like, how could Uta possibly sing with such an artificial, robotic voice! She doesn’t even have a soul!” Jern says.

“She’s trying her best.” Taya said. “I know Uta can do it. She’s improved so much since she’s first started.“

“Well, I think she should just give up though. I’m saying this for her own good.” Tei says. “She’s just a robot after all. Robots don’t have souls. They really don’t have what it takes to sing.”

Suddenly, a crushed feeling falls over Uta. She feels discouraged. But she tries her best to hide it.

“That’s... that’s just too far!” Teto says. “Why are you three so joyless and mean!?”

Ritsu goes up to Tei and slaps her, and Tei shoots a beam at Ritsu. Defending her, Teto grows her chimera wings and tries to cast magic on Jern and Kild.

Jern and Kild swiftly dodge the move and use wind powers to blow the desks at the other group. A full-fledged fight had broken out.

In the midst of all the madness, Uta had left the room in tears. Nobody noticed.

A teacher eventually comes in to stop the fight, and sends everyone home with a note to their parent or legal guardian that they were fighting in school.

Since Taya’s parents are strict, he gets grounded.

Chapter 11

After school, Ritsu calls Taya and tells him to sneak out while his family is supposed to be asleep, even though he is grounded. Taya is a good boy and has never done something so... rebellious before.

It takes a bit of coaxing, but Taya eventually agrees. Ritsu, Taya, and Uta make their way to the auditorium, which is empty this time of night. They turn on one spotlight, and shine it on Uta.

“There you go!” Ritsu says. “Don’t you feel like a star now, Uta? The whole stage is yours! Now sing your heart out!”

Uta takes a deep breath, about to sing... until she remembers Tei’s words. They painfully cut through her again, like a knife through butter.

“I can’t.” Uta says.

“Uta...?” Ritsu says. “Why are you saying that? You were getting so good!”

Ritsu notices Uta looking down, with a sorrowful expression.

“Is... is this because of what Tei and her stupid cronies said?”

Uta nods.

“Ritsu... Thank you... But maybe I was not meant to sing.” Uta says sadly, her voice shaking and glitching.

Ritsu grows outraged, mostly at Tei for breaking apart Uta’s self esteem... but also at Uta for letting those words get to her.

“Uta!” Ritsu begins raising his voice. “Are you really going to give up just like that!? Don’t be so weak-willed! If you are gonna give up, your dream will NEVER be reality.”

Uta begins crying and wiping her tears on her sleeve.

“Ritsu, that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Taya says.

“It’s only the truth!” Ritsu says back. “You never know what you can do until you keep trying!”

“Ritsu, can’t you see how hurt she feels already?” Taya wraps his arms around Uta and comforts her. “I’d say give her some time to heal.”

Ritsu looks at Taya for a couple more seconds, sighs, and walks off.

Chapter 12

Taya spent a couple more hours that night trying to cheer up Uta. By the time he got back to his apartment, it was almost morning, and his parents had discovered that he had snuck out and was not in his bed. As a result, Taya becomes grounded for an extra week.

The next day Uta doesn’t give up on singing. Wanting to be alone, she runs off somewhere far away and secluded to practice singing alone.

Uta ends up in the outer reaches of Tragic Woods, a very dangerous forest that also happens to be a Dissonance. A Dissonance is like a cursed land, labyrinth, or dungeon. Monsters tend to spawn inside Dissonances, and they are very hazardous and erratic.

In Tragic Woods, there is a deathly array of dangerous plants, and even though the forest seems devoid of wildlife at first glance, there are monsters such as giant mutant bears and wolves at times. While Uta is singing, a plant temporarily paralyzes her body from the neck down, meaning she can really only move her mouth and use her voice...

It is almost nighttime. After dusk, monsters start to come out in Tragic Woods. Uta can only do one thing—Just keep singing. She sings louder and louder, hoping her voice can reach someone and that they can hear her and rescue her. The effects of plant that paralyzed Uta are temporary, and can be reversed with an injection provided at the emergency room.

Once it is noted that Uta is missing, Ritsu instantly becomes the most worried, considering he hurt her feelings the night before.

Taya is grounded, so he has to stay in his house.

Ritsu, along with a bunch of other characters, form a search party and search around town for Uta. Everyone is extremely worried.

Suddenly, Ritsu hears something as he leaves the town and is standing in the windy field. It’s Uta, singing a powerful and really sorrowful song. (-ERROR.)

It’s coming from the direction of the woods. Tragic Woods.

“Idiot... what’s she doing in Tragic Woods!?” Ritsu says under his breath. But he is extremely, painfully worried.

By the time Ritsu gets there, Uta is in bad shape, as her voice is almost wearing  out, she is freezing cold, and the sun almost is below the horizon.

Uta is rushed to the emergency room where she is administered a dose of the injection for her paralysis.

Ritsu gets a chance to apologize to Uta. He says he just wanted to see her fulfill her dream and would’ve been as crushed as Uta if she were to have given up. He didn’t mean to be so harsh.

Ritsu and the rest of Uta’s friends reassure her. Taya gets to come to the hospital as well, and upon seeing Uta, begins crying and apologizing he had to have been grounded.

Uta’s friends help her the best they can, and Uta begins practicing singing nearly every chance she gets.

Taya can tell that Uta really loves music and is truly determined. Eventually he’s impressed and blown away by how far she gets.

Even though Uta was never programmed to be able to sing, she eventually begins to develop a unique singing voice through hours upon hours of practicing painstakingly.

—Eventual chapters idk—

The story goes back to the slice of life, monster of the week, helping people formula. There are also adventures involving the Tragic School Bus and magical mishaps in the school. The old heroines Haku and Neru, along with more characters from Arc 1, begin appearing more during these chapters.

Uta soon discovers her singing voice has magical power and that it can defeat monsters and evil!

Uta and the rest of the group also join the music club established back in Arc 1.

Eventually there is a part where Taya, along with the rest of the group of Uta’s good friends (Teto, Momo, Ritsu, and Ruko) are captured because they were accused of stealing “Defoko” away from the planet that produced her. (Or as Discord calls it, “Deforcing a Defoko.”) Uta is taken back there as well.

Uta is taken back to the android containment center, in a prison-like ward for severely malfunctioning androids. She uses the combat powers she kept hidden for a long time to bust out.

Uta then travels all over the center, fighting aliens and setting up her plan... she is putting speakers all over the premises and connecting them to her microphone.

Suddenly, she finds herself surrounded by the aliens who built her, and they plan to destroy her for “malicious behavior.”

“You’re just one malfunctioning android.” They say. “You’re not that important. We’ll do away with you, and we’ll have plenty more.”

Uta is not having it. She takes out her microphone...

“What are you going to do with that? Announce your defeat?” A couple more aliens surround her and say.

But Uta gives a smug smile and starts warming up her voice. Since there were speakers everywhere, her voice reverberates around the entire place. Since music is banned on Discord, the aliens can’t stand the power of it and cover their ears... The strength of music is downright foreign to them...

Uta can fight the aliens with music, with her singing, the skill she learned in Whimsica.

Once she’s finishing warming up, Uta fights her own creators with a power that is unknown (and deadly) to them.... The power of song! The power of love, and passion, and heart, and... joy! The evil aliens do not stand a chance against the power of Uta’s magical song and voice.

“Default-female model-1 DF01fx-0057! When the heck did you learn to produce a singing voice? This isn’t what you were programmed to do! Stop this madness, right this instant!” They tell her

Uta does not give them mercy and starts belting out GHOST RULE. They took her precious friends. They continue to manufacture androids that cannot feel joy. This needs to stop right now!

Uta ends up destroying the entire sinister operation, and also starts the dystopian planet Discord down its path to peace. The aliens who run the operation get blasted into space. The rest of the aliens are innocent and never wanted to be part of the operation in the first place. They also have finally heard music for the first time, as Uta’s song was broadcasted around the entire planet live on the news. It fills the depressed aliens’ hearts with love and joy.

Discord is finally a peaceful place.

However, Monochrome, the ultimate enemy in the story, still won’t budge, and continues to be an evil force...

After this feat, and rescuing her dear friends, Uta fulfills herself and unlocks her magical girl transformation. In Whimsica, magical transformations are unlocked when the user “fulfills” themself, symbolizing that they’ve overcome a difficult hurdle, accomplished a wonderful goal, or opened the door to their true self.

Uta is the first among her friend group to become fulfilled. In Whimsica, the average age of fulfillment is 16 years old. (Uta, Teto, and Momo are 14. Taya, Ruko, and Ritsu are 15. Inuhebi is 12.)

Now that Uta is fulfilled, she unlocked the power herself to be able to experience euphoria. All the other androids that were produced by her shady manufacturer also gained full sentience and the ability to feel joy as well.

Uta had slain the chains in her heart and will live on happily with Taya and the rest of her friends.

“This moment resonates with me.” Uta says.

“Wait, that’s it...” Taya says. “Resonate... that’s a perfect name for our music group! We should call ourselves Resonate!”

However, after this is over, and it’s time to go back to Whimsica, everyone finds themselves started on the planet.

“Mind if we give you a ride back, Uta Utane?” A default male-2 android created by Discord pulls up in a high-speed spacecraft, along with a default male-1 and a default female-2 android. “I hope you don’t mind. You’re our hero. You’ve done so much for us.”

Uta feels a bit embarrassed and blushes.

The rest of the group steps inside the spacecraft and are given a ride back to Whimsica.

While in the spacious vessel, a conversation is had.

“Thanks to you, we can finally feel the thrill of a good movie, the comfort of a hug, or the satisfaction of hard work... Thank you, Uta.” The default female-2 android says. “And... I have a request for you. Can... can we be sisters?”

“Um...” Uta suddenly feels embarrassed and put on the spot.

“We... were designed to be sisters after all.” The android continues. “Your codename is Defoko... short for “default-ko,” and mine is Defo-Imouto... basically, “default little sister.” Like all of us, I was never given a real name. We were never treated with any love or care. We were all just cold machinery, until you came along...”

Uta suddenly hugs Defo-Imouto, along with the other two.

“We’re all family.” Uta says. “We were all created by the same company. If you want, we can stay together.”

“On Whimsica, with you?” Default male-1 android says.

Uta nods.

“Whimsica is my home now.” Uta says.

“Well, we have nowhere else to go. Why not?” Says default male-2. “By the way, I’m called Defosuke.”

“I’m Defota.” Says default male-1.

“How about I show you a special place?” Uta says. “It’s the place where I got my name. Maybe you’ll find new names there too.”

When everyone gets back, other kanji on the Japanese karaoke cafe read, “Koe” meaning voice, “Hibiki” meaning reverberation, and “Kanade” meaning playing instruments.

Default female-2’s new name is Koe. After all, it was Uta’s voice that saved her.

Default male-2’s new name is Hibiki. Uta’s song echoed around the world and saved everyone.

Default male-1’s new name is Kanade. He recently felt very passionate about learning to play the piano.

“Why did you choose to name yourself after this building, Uta?” Kanade asks.

“Because...” Uta says. “This place was where I first heard the music that awoken my soul.”

Afterwards, there is a chapter about Uta spending time in her apartment with her new siblings.

———————————————

Arc 3

Resonate, the group of Uta, Taya, Teto, Momo, Ritsu, Ruko, and Inuhebi, merge with the unnamed musical group formed by the music club, that includes Haku, Neru and Ame.

They retain the name Resonate, and become a huge group! Queen Rainbow, witnessing Uta’s feat, and sensing that everyone in the group has pure hearts, recruits them all as official members of the Monochrome-fighting musical magic group!

But this is not the end of the story for everyone.

Now it’s time for Taya’s story.

Taya hasn’t seen his friend Saya for years... He is beginning to lose hope that she’s still alive...

Taya Soune and Saya Toune were childhood best friends who grew up someplace else. However, one day when they were both 12, Saya became depressed, and it was hard for Taya to watch his friend suffer. Some time afterwards, an earthquake hit the area and everyone had to take only their most important items and evacuate rapidly before a tsunami were to hit. Taya had to move to his current location, and had to leave Saya without saying goodbye. He never saw Saya again.

After this incident, Taya never got a phone call from Saya, or a letter or any hint she might’ve still been alive and out there. It wouldn’t have been unlikely that Saya and her family had died tragically in the earthquake or aftermath tsunami.

Taya is now left with a heavy, broken heart, and an intense fear of earthquakes. He is most torn apart that the fact that Saya had depression and the last few months before her departure to be so sad.

One day in the present, Uta, Taya, and the rest of the friend group are out at the mall. A song comes on that reminds Taya of his memories with Saya. He begins fighting back tears, but eventually starts sobbing and splits from the group, telling everyone he needs a moment alone. Everyone is concerned. Uta approaches Taya gently after he calms down. Taya then tells Uta about Saya, their story, and how much he misses his friend.

Uta is the first person Taya tells about Saya since he had moved. None of his other friends knew about the sadness he hid in his heart.

It had been years since Saya’s disappearance. Taya has pretty much lost all hope at this point.

Uta reassures Taya that he still shouldn’t give up hope. Uta’s words uplift Taya with a new hope that he had never before felt.

So Taya decides to use that glimmer of hope to look for Saya, who may still be out there.

(He releases the song From Y To Y and writes a play in order to get his name big)

Leeds, a girl with an illness, becomes a big fan of Taya’s musical play.

Sometime in this arc, everyone gets to meet The Queen...

Meanwhile, Uta bonds with her siblings.

One day when Taya is feeling useless, Uta consoles him and tells him something she was too shy to say before.

“Taya, your voice was the sound that awoken my soul. When I first came to Whimsica, I walked past the karaoke cafe, and I heard you sing. It was the first time I had ever heard music. You sang so wonderfully, and I felt so warm. I felt then, that music was a truly amazing thing. It was you who changed my life Taya... So please, don’t feel sad.”

Eventually, there is drama with a girl named Qingxian who takes advantage of Taya’s kindness and asks him to do lots of favors for her. As a result, Taya ends up getting sick right before a big day.

Eventually, it turns out that Saya is actually still alive. One fateful day, Taya and Saya reunite at an airport.

At the busy airport, Saya at first doesn’t recognize Taya because he’s trans-masculine now. They are both transgender, with Saya identifying as trans-feminine since childhood. Taya, however, discovered his true identity a bit later.

Taya eventually finds Saya in the crowd and runs after her. Saya sees Taya and passes him by.

Taya loses Saya in the crowd and becomes heartbroken...

Saya had to find Taya within a certain time period before her mom urges her to go back on a flight home.

Taya is completely heartbroken and starts crying because he doesn’t know why Saya just passed him by.

Taya calls out again and speaks how much he misses his friend from his heart. Saya recognizes his mannerisms and how he says he misses her.

Saya eventually recognizes Taya’s voice, even though it’s changed.

“Taya..? Taya...! Is that you?” She says, emotionally running forth.

“Saya? You didn’t recognize me?” Taya says, tearfully and relieved.

“I’m so sorry...” Saya sobs. “I missed you so much!”

“Me too... It’s so great to see you again...”

They hug.

Meanwhile, Ritsu is watching at the scene, crying happy tears for them. Ruko comments on how much Ritsu must care about Taya, despite how different he and Taya are.

Saya becomes a part of Uta and Taya’s group of friends.

Arc 4

At the beginning of this arc, we learn about Saya’s side of the friendship story.

Then, Uta has a new goal. She wants to become a musical artist, but feels discouraged wondering if she can make people happy with her music.

Taya, wanting to motivate Uta, has an idea of a gift to buy her. He buys her a dharma/daruma doll, a Japanese decoration.

Uta and Taya now live next to each other in the cozy building. Taya presents his gift to Uta.

“I bought you a gift! It’s called a daruma.” Taya says. “As you can see, the eyes are blank. You draw in one eye when you set a goal for yourself. When your goal is complete, you fill in the other eye. Here, I’ll give you a permanent marker.”

Taya doesn’t notice it yet, but Uta is shaking and getting a very painful flashback looking at the familiar shape of the toy.

Taya puts a permanent marker down on the counter.

“Uta, look.” Taya says. He pushes the daruma doll down with his finger, but it balances and comes back up. The way it comes back after being knocked over triggers traumatic feelings for Uta.

“See? Daruma dolls always get back up after being knocked down! So remember that whenever you’re feeling discouraged, okay?”

Taya notices Uta is silent.

“...Uta?” Taya says again. He looks at Uta and notices she is trembling with tears streaming down her cheeks. She wipes her face with her sleeve, and suddenly she’s hyperventilating as if she’s panicking.

“Uta? Are you okay?” Taya asks. Taya puts his hand on Uta’s shoulder, but Uta brushes him off. He notices an expression of fear is on her face as she backs away.

“Uta, what’s the matter? What’s wrong? You can tell me... please...” Taya offers comfort again in a calm voice. Uta shakes her head.

“No...” Uta manages to choke out. She begins to flee.

“Uta!” Taya promptly follows her in an attempt to calm her down, but sensing that his being there is only distressing Uta more, Taya lets her go.

“Uta...” Taya mutters. Once she’s out the door, Taya is left with worry and heaviness in his heart.

The shocking scene replays in his head a few times. Taya had never seen Uta in such a state before... He could sense every bit of her pain. But what could it have been? What could have triggered it?

Taya calls Ritsu on his cell phone. Ritsu hears the heaviness in Taya’s voice and figures out he’s about to cry. Ritsu tells Taya he’ll be there for him. Taya only gets a few words out before he starts crying over the phone.

After a few minutes, he calms down and tells Ritsu what happened.

“So... I got Uta a daruma doll and I showed it to her, if that part matters. I was in the middle of showing her that no matter what pushed them down, they get back up. I thought that would inspire her to always get back up no matter that pushed her down. But when I looked at her face, she was crying and hyperventilating... I tried to calm her down, but she began to panic and reject being comforted... It was if I was suddenly a stranger to her... It felt so scary. But I couldn’t imagine what it must’ve felt for Uta herself. I wonder what could’ve triggered such a response in her?”

“Hmm...” Ritsu starts thinking. “It sounds to me like Uta was having a panic attack. Was she acting as if the entire world was caving in on her?”

“Yeah...” Taya responds. “She kept trying to get away, so I just let her. Me being there only seemed to be stressing her out.”

“I see...” Ritsu says. “Perhaps Uta is just the type of person who prefers to be alone during times of distress. Or perhaps she just didn’t want you to see her in such a state. Either way, please don’t take it personally. Uta wouldn’t try to reject you on purpose.”

“Okay...” Taya says. “But... what could’ve caused her to panic? I hope I didn’t do anything to hurt her...”

Tears begin to pool in Taya’s as he recalls how painful Uta seems to feel.

“The last thing I want to do is hurt my dear friends.” He says sadly.

“Taya, based on what you said, I have a theory that maybe daruma dolls could be Uta’s trigger.”

“A trigger?” Taya asks. “Ah, you mean... like how I have a phobia of earthquakes?”

“Yeah, sort of like that.” Ritsu says. “A trigger is anything that brings negative feelings or flashbacks to someone. Even though daruma dolls are innocuous to you and me, a trigger could potentially be anything. I’m wondering if perhaps Uta had a traumatic experience in her past that had to do with daruma dolls.”

“Ah... that would make sense!” Taya says. “Poor Uta... Now I feel awful for hurting her.”

“Well, you didn’t do it on purpose.” Ritsu says.

“Well... what should I do now?” Taya asks.

“I say, give her some space.” Ritsu says. “Wait until Uta is willing to open up with her trigger and willing to tell you her feelings and confirm it. Don’t forget to apologize, and try to make her feel accepted.”

“Okay. Thanks, Ritsu.”

“Anytime.” Ritsu says.

“Um... Ritsu?” Taya asks. “You’re... a really good friend, you know? You may seem wild, but... you’re wise when it comes to this stuff, and really caring! So thanks!”

“Oh... it’s nothing really.” Ritsu says. “I just know how to deal with this stuff because... I know what it’s like. To deal with these emotions and stuff. But... I’m fine, really!”

“Oh... well, at least you’re ok now.” Taya says with a bittersweet smile. “Bye for now!”

“See ya!” Ritsu says.

They hang up.

It turns out Uta’s trigger of daruma dolls indeed has to do with a traumatic memory from her past.

Back when Uta still was a combat android on Discord, before she fled, she and a team of other combat androids were in a traumatic battle with a tremendous monster shaped like a daruma doll. The monster was ultra-powerful and seemed to never tire out.

Just like a real daruma doll, it would always get back up, no matter what pushed it down.

Many of the other androids succumbed to their battle wounds, or used up all their power and were wiped out, and could never be brought back.

The monster was eventually defeated, but not without a substantial amount of androids never returning to life. Uta was one of the lucky ones involved in the battle who survived.

Needless to say, Uta was incredibly traumatized. However, her feelings were never validated since she was treated as a machine. Also, even though the other androids didn’t have quite the same emotional capabilities, she could tell they were very traumatized too, and felt awful for them as well.

This arc will eventually be focused on Ritsu however, and reveal his depression and insecurities. Uta’s PTSD will also be a theme along with Ritsu’s depression. They will help each other grow and overcome their negative feelings.

Other themes brought up will be Haku and Neru’s autism and depression, Ame’s low self-esteem, and Taya’s insecurities. Saya was also diagnosed with depression right before she got split apart from Taya, and it comes into her life on and off.

In this arc, Taya also cheers up and befriends a boy in the hospital named Jay, who has leukemia. At the end of the arc, Jay becomes dispatched. Jay gets to become a member of Resonate after being their fan, looking up to Taya especially.

However, this arc won’t be all depressing! It will feature a lot of bonding, friends having fun, and of course, wholesome humor and cheer.

Resonate grows and develops as a group as well. Monsters are fought, and some songs are released!

Koe and Nana become friends.

Teto’s cousin Ted comes into the story!

Arc 5

The backstory of Haku’s (and Miku’s) grandmother is revealed... slowly.

Swim class

Celestine and Nika’s friendship backstory is told, leading up to how the curse set where royals and commoners can’t befriend was broken.

Kanade and Momotaro become a couple... Momotaro is Momo’s older brother!

Ame goes on fun, eventful adventures with friends.

Hibiki meets Demo one sleepy day.

Arc 6

Fun times for everyone.

A mysterious guy appears at school... But it’s actually just Ruko’s silly cousin, Rook.

Haku follows in the footsteps of her grandmother in this arc. It’s revealed she was once a powerful magical girl in Whimsica.

Ame is feeling down on her birthday... but it turns into an awesome adventure and surprise party!

Taya finds an ice-blue egg (size of a chicken egg) outside in the cold when the Tragic School Bus takes him and friends to the Northern Seaside Peaks one day. The nest was destroyed and abandoned. Aside from the single egg with a small crack in it, only eggshells of its siblings were left behind. The egg is cold, so Taya keeps it warm all the way home. He brings the egg to a shelter, and begs the rescuers to put it in an incubator, even though he was told it has a low chance of survival. The egg unexpectedly survives and hatches into a tiny species of harp seal called pocket seal three days later. Pocket seals are commonly kept as pets. Taya is attached to the seal, so he decides to keep him as a pet and names him Mochi, after how fuzzy and round he is. Mochi is a bit weak at first, but grows stronger with love and care. Mochi lives in a terrarium installed in Taya’s house, and eats kibble made for pocket seals, and fish. Taya sometimes even prepares Mochi gourmet fish dishes.

Tei also reforms in this arc after accidentally sending Inuhebi to the hospital...

At the end of this arc, Haku falls asleep and gets to see her grandmother again in a dream during a beautiful moment.

Arc 7

This arc is when the previous slower pace starts to get broken.

The plot begins to thicken!

Uta experiences android prejudice.

A jerk named Carl Carlson forcibly dates Uta, then dumps her once he finds out she’s an android.

Haku and Neru get an important job!

New, stronger villains show up.

Teto uncovers the secret of her chimera side?

Momo feels insecure... then gets brainwashed by a sneaky villain...?

The Princess Trio needs help with something...

#symphony saga #symphony Saga resonate #symphony Saga: resonate #utau #vocaloid #my writing #brainstorm #idea #life of pastell #whimsica #my art #fic #whimsica saga

[asthmaticbee]

A Lazy Bee’s Writing Report

I’m taking a page out of mama @muffinlance ‘s book and will do my best to attempt to give real time updates on my fics? For the maybe two people out there who care.

The Threads of Fate : Outlined until the end of Book 1, the spirit koiju has taken books 2 and 3 and drowned them. Canon? Don’t know her.

a summer ocean; lit aflame : 15 pages/7k words into Chapter 2 and no end in sight, this was not supposed to be this long but I’m only on day two of... three years? FML. Also so far surprisingly light on brainwashing/gaslighting/propaganda/racist imperialist bullshit. Lucky Sokka.

You wanted a nail? You get a whole fucking hardware store! : Ok, guys, listen, this is completely planned out and everything and I have a good chunk of Chapter 2 written, but right now BNHA is just... not my focus. I kinda need a break. I am sorry!

Dark Nebula : This is one of my dear babies and will be updated again, promise. I actually have a good portion of it outlined until USJ, but I need to decide how far this will go, also general PSA about my BNHA break applies.

the blood of the covenant : This is the BNHA/HP DFO crossover brainrot no one asked for but I gave you anyways. Outlined until year 5, but so far not entirely sure where to take the DFO yet.

when life gives you lemons (you overachieve like the chaos god you are) : This was quite literally a joke fic I wrote when I had a migraine and never expected to explode the way it did, so now I’m struggling with a plot. So... yeah.

The Other Side of Things : Outlined entirely, sequel in the works, next chapter about a fourth done and just... I hate the summer camp, alright? I hate writing it. It’s my least favorite part in fics after the Sports Festival because it just feels so overdone but is so necessary and blergh. I just want to get to Kamino because that’s pretty much what the entire fic is gearing towards, but the summer camp... urgh.

So, there. Nice overview of my current, ongoing fics. There’s also a long oneshot in the works that... has been in the works since like December and is some more TodoDeku brainrot, so look forward to that, if you want.

#fanfic #ao3 #writing report #does anyone actually care #probably not #holy fuck how did i end up back in the hellhole that is fanfic #with seven (7)! ongoing fics #and im like years late to the atla renaissance but whatever #have fun with my weird extended universe #that wont end with the war dont be silly #there is at least one sequel #also whenever i finish the dadzawa fic i have about five more bio parent fics i can do so yay?