#I listened to some of it in Japanese and I'm so glad they didn't try to make Mai's English voice sound the same | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lemurzsquad · 3 months

Text

Music to Owl Ears (Ch 1)

Ch 1: Jogging Laps

Pairing: Bokuto x musician fem!reader

Summary: After being knocked over, your morning is hijacked by the pair of students responsible, and your mind is jogging laps trying to figure out one question: What in the world just happened?

A/N: I have once again been dragged along by my own story, I have no control of what happens lol

In all seriousness tho, I was not expecting some of this stuff to happen right off the bat, but we're going with it. Also, this is NOT going to be a love triangle---Akaashi is a very important character, but I am not adding him to the romance problems TvT he just got a surprising amount of attention this chapter

I hope you enjoy!! And please read the prologue if you haven't! (It's essentially the actual Ch 1 lol)

Word count: 1510

cw: overthinking, some jealousy, rambling

"Bold for English"

"Not bold for Japanese"

- Masterlist -

< Prologue | Ch 1: Jogging Laps | Ch 2: Lunch Break >

Your first day of school turned out… interesting, to say the least. Chaotic may have been a better word—maybe hectic. Or perhaps unexpected and eventful were more accurate. Confusing? Not quite, save for the lingering question of how you got to this point in the back of your mind.

You found yourself at your assigned desk, running through English synonyms for your experiences that day and trying to think of Japanese synonyms in the process. Your teacher was running through class expectations for the year that you only vaguely listened to but never fully locked your attention on. It wasn't intentional; your mind was simply jogging laps to process what had happened that morning.

You recalled the course of events once more, attempting to grasp some sort of understanding of the question that ran through your head over and over: What in the world just happened?

After you had been pulled to your feet, eyes wide and taken aback, you finally got a good look at the person who you assumed had knocked you over—and you could immediately tell how that happened. He towered over you, still holding on and moving you around slightly to inspect for any signs of injury. From the way he had picked you up with such ease, you gathered he was pretty well built under his partially disheveled uniform. His hair was two-toned in black and silver and slicked back into what you would describe as spiky owl ears—the thought almost made you chuckle, but you kept it to yourself.

You glanced over to the left in the direction of his friend. His stature was not quite as tall or nearly as visibly brawny, and he was much more put together. He gave you a very brief look of sympathy and apology that you barely caught before your eyes turned back.

The one still holding you by the shoulders finally spoke a coherent, complete sentence that wasn't some broken variation of “Are you okay? I'm so sorry!” When he deduced you had not sustained any wounds due to his carelessness, he said, “I'm so stupid, I'm sorry. Glad you're not hurt, though!” He gave you a grin, one that was somewhere between sheepish, apologetic, and lighthearted.

“I told you, you should have been paying attention,” his black-haired friend interjected dryly. “You might want to let her go, though.”

Something seemed to click beneath his owl ears that reminded him he was still clinging to you. He pulled his hands back finally, chuckling as he scratched the back of his head. You smiled and sniffled whatever remains of your previous tears were left.

“It's no worries,” you reassured. “I should have been paying attention, too, but I didn't know where I was going.”

“Oh, are you new? A transfer student, maybe?” The shorter of the two asked while his companion went to pick up your bag and hand it back to you.

“Was it that obvious?” You joked, brushing off the remaining dust, pebbles, and strays bits of grass from your uniform. You tried your best to straighten out your outfit—the first uniform you'd ever had to wear to school before—before slinging your bag back over your shoulder and across your body.

The one to the left tilted his head slightly, replying, “Well, you were speaking English earlier, so I just took a guess.”

“And you have a strong accent,” his friend interrupted. He grinned brightly and held out his hand, unexpectedly blurting out, “I'm Bokuto Koutarou, by the way!”

You probably would have shook his hand if you didn't get distracted by your own thoughts. “Bokuto's your… surname, right? Last name, first name, I think. Sorry, I haven't met many people since I got here even though it's been a couple weeks,” you rambled. “Also, sorry if I get anything wrong, I'm kind of new to this whole ‘being in Japan’ thing.” You gesture with your hands as you speak, using your fingers as quotation marks near the end.

Bokuto laughed lightheartedly, and his friend almost joined him. “Don't worry, you are doing okay,” he said—to your surprise—in English. It was a bit stiff, but you could understand it just fine—it was about as good as your Japanese. You turned to him, the faucet of your thoughts running out of your mouth quickly closed, and your jaw hung open. “My name is Akaashi Keiji. You can just call me Akaashi,” he added.

For some reason, his words seemed to hit you right in the chest. Maybe it was because he went through the effort to say them in your own language, or maybe it was because you were still emotional and unsure of how living in Japan would go. A couple of subtle deep breaths were enough to stop the tears threatening to well.

“My name is Y/n– I mean, L/n Y/n,” you replied, making sure to correct yourself. “Please just call me Y/n, I'd feel weird being called by my last name.” You held out your hand with a hopeful smile, shaking their hands in turn. I have no idea why I just did that, you thought in reference to the handshake. That felt way too formal.

You shook your head softly at your own thoughts before continuing, “It's nice to meet you, Akaashi and… Bokuto.” You took a guess in calling him that, not entirely sure which name to use. You were already uncertain if you were being impolite, but the wide grin you got in return told you it was fine.

The whole situation went by in a blur to the point you almost had to ignore your own awkwardness, finding yourself just trying to form sentences. It somehow made you both anxious and relieved by having to focus solely on the conversation. There was no time to think about how or why the conversation was happening in the first place.

You briefly pulled out your phone, and your heart leapt in your chest when you saw the time. School would be starting in seven minutes. “Oh no, I have no idea how to get to class—” You looked between Bokuto and Akaashi, the panic of unfamiliarity rising in you once again.

When you asked if they knew the way when you mentioned your class, Bokuto piped up, “That's on the way to my class! You should totally come with me, I can show you where it is!” Before you could give any sort of answer, grabbed you by the arm and started to almost race into the building.

You had just enough time to wave at Akaashi and for him to see the flustered, stunned look on your face. He shook his head, putting his hands in his pockets and heading to class at a much more leisurely pace—he didn't bother trying to catch up. He had the sneaking suspicion that this year was about to be a very entertaining one.

Bokuto had dragged you a good while before you had managed to get him to slow down, saying you couldn't tell where you were going and needed to commit it to memory. Eventually, you had made it to your class. You found it odd that the classroom was just open with no teacher inside. You had glanced around, confused, but didn't bother asking about it.

In the time it took to get to where you needed to go, it was evident that Bokuto was fairly popular. He had loudly greeted people along the way with a shining smile and enthusiastic waves.

A feeling started to eat away at you—a guilty emotion that brewed of envy, discomfort, and something else you couldn't quite place. You were grateful that he had shown you around, but a nagging in your mind told you it was just to make up for his first impression. And seeing him so carefree and able to talk to people so casually made you infinitely more aware of your standing. The realization that he may have been that comfortable due to years of enrollment at the school didn't make you feel any better.

You now sat at the back of the class, running through the busy morning once more. You wondered mindlessly if you would ever run into Akaashi and Bokuto again as you listened to your teacher. You hadn't greeted anyone or introduced yourself; you knew you should have if you wanted to make friends, but the thought alone made you start to feel nervous.

It was too early to be coming to the conclusion that, in reality, you knew you weren't going to go out of your way to make friends, but you couldn't help it.

The bell that signaled lunch rang just out of your current sphere of focus.

And just as you started to get fully immersed into your spiraling reasoning and excuses, jogging laps in your mind with an ever-increasing speed, a voice pierced through your protective, self-destructive bubble, loud and clear.

“HEY, HEY, HEY!! Y/N!”

It would seem that you didn't have a choice on that friendship front.

Thank you for reading!! <333

- Masterlist -

< Prologue | Ch 1: Jogging Laps | Ch 2: Lunch Break >

12 notes · View notes

peekapen · 4 months

Text

Into the Deep Chapter 4

Summary:

Sun does something stupid and you get really scared. Thankfully afterwards you find out another thing Moon likes.

"Soooo~," Sun asked as he lay beside his brother who was busy eating the tuna you had left for him. "They're pretty great, aren't they?"

Moon glared up at his brother as he ate his meal. Moon had been in a bit of a sour mood since Sun had chastised him about how he had treated you, but he had totally deserved it! You had been nothing but nice to them and he almost drowned you! He tried to pull you back in after having let you go, what else could it have meant except for that he had wanted to drown you unlike all of those before you?!

"They're...fine. But you need to be more careful. Don't think I didn't hear you speak to them earlier in their language." Moon chastized and Sun whined.

"Why?! Moonie, they're so, so sweet and gentle! And so fun too! They brought almost every toy I've seen the other humans play with the Mers here and let me choose what I wanted to play with! It was so, so thoughtful of them!" Sun said as he excitedly started waving his hands around.

"Did they now?" Moon asked, disinterested as he continued to eat his treat.

"Yes! They brought a whole bunch of those puzzles I've always wanted to try out and some I'd never seen before! One of my favorites were these Japanese Puzzle Boxes. They were so, so, so complex but also so, so, so cool! And they were so impressed every time I solved one of those puzzles. Apparently, they've never been able to solve even a single one in their entire life, but I was able to solve all of them in a few hours." Sun boasted as he puffed out his chest proudly. "They even brought a little notepad and things called markers to draw with. It was so, so, so, SO much fun! I really love spending time with them, they're such a great, great, great friend!"

Moon had finished his tuna at this point and had now turned to face Sun fully, but Sun didn't like the look on Moon's face when he did. He always hated it when Moon carried that tired and worrying look, it always made him feel like a pup again. Moon should trust him! He's a grown Mer now and doesn't need to be constantly looked after!

"Sunny...I'm glad you're having a good time with them, but they're a human. More importantly, they're supposed to be looking after us. If they found what you did interesting, it was probably just to write it down and tell their superiors about this. What do you think they'll do to us if they found out that you're capable of solving these puzzles easily? They'll keep us here, whether we're ready to go home again or not, and use us as attractions. And that's nothing compared to what will happen if they find out we can speak in their language! Remember what happened to Mom and Dad." Moon hissed and Sun winced at the memory.

Mom and Dad...He hadn't thought about them in a very, very long time. He'd almost forgotten what they looked like, but he remembered his mom being super duper pretty and his dad being really, really strong. Back when he and Moon were still pups they had been killed by some sailors they had considered friends according to Moon, leaving them on their own. Sun didn't remember much from that day, but Moon had and became incredibly protective of Sun afterward. It's because of that protectiveness that Moon had gotten so many scars...and how they ended up here in the first place...

"They wouldn't." Sun said shortly, claws coming out as he started pulling lightly on his head fins. "They wouldn't. They're too nice, too sweet. Would never hurt us. Nevernevernever!"

"I know you think that Sun, but please be more careful. Don't get your hopes up like I did, it will only lead to more pain when they betray you." Moon told him, but Sun wasn't listening anymore.

He shook his head from side to side wildly before rushing to and diving into the water, leaving his brother on the shore as he raced through the reefs, kelps, and caves that made up their tiny underwater pen. Granted it was big for a pen, but it could never beat the feel of swimming through the endless ocean. He swam and swam until he made it to the farthest point of their glassy prison where he could see the large building you came from and left to every time you'd come to visit. You were somewhere in there, probably resting up so that you could come and visit Moon later. He nervously swam from one side of the pen to the other, growing worried about what you'd do with the information now that Moon had put it in his head that you could betray them. You wouldn't tell on him though, of course not! You were too kind to do that, too sweet...right?

He whined, worried before coming up with an idea: He would just stay here and wait for you until you came back! He needed to know what you were doing with all of that information, needed to be sure you wouldn't hurt them by telling anyone. He needed to show Moon that his trust in you wasn't silly, that it was well-earned. He needed you to be different, to be good unlike all those who came before you. He needed an actual friend that he knew he could trust unlike all of the other 'friends' he'd had before. He let out a loud whine at the last thought and continued worriedly swimming from side to side by the glass walls, waiting for your small form to appear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You groaned in annoyance as you looked down at your notes, hating how lazy they were and how little you spoke of the truly incredible experiences you had had yesterday. As a part of your job as a caretaker for Mers, you had to write an account about what happened during your sessions together and you were at a loss about what to write. Had it been before your meeting with Vanessa, you would've happily filled in all of the incredible things you had witnessed, no questions asked, but now you weren't sure. The fact that so much information on the Mers had not been given to you in the beginning, and which still has not been brought to you was already triggering alarm bells in your mind. But the threat of firing you if you didn't put those weird collars on them when no other caretaker had been able to do that before you just made you feel more and more ill at ease.

Something weird was going on, and until you figured out what it was there was no way you were going to put those collars on your boys! They were under your protection and nothing, not even losing your dream job would force you to put your responsibilities as their caretaker aside. For now, you would keep it as vague as you could and not mention anything about just how much Sun had done during your visit and look into what these collars were actually for. Maybe you were being paranoid and they really were just for keeping track of their vitals, but considering the threat you were given if you did not put them on Sun and Moon, you had your suspicions about things being a lot more than they seemed.

You sighed and finished the very lazy report before sending it off, ignoring your perfectionistic tendencies to add more detail to it. It seemed just proper enough to not raise suspicion, but if you were called out on it you'd just make stuff up until you knew for sure you could trust the people here. God, you felt so silly being so paranoid, but something in your gut kept telling you that the way you were doing things now was right, that something was wrong here and you were doing the right thing. You sighed again before pushing yourself out of your seat and getting ready to meet with Moon.

Now that you had seen how clever Sun was, you wondered if Moon was clever too, and if he was, how clever. But you weren't sure if he would be as interested in puzzles as Sun was, so you'd just have to find out in time. You were sure to pack a few tunas to try and coax him out of the water, a medkit if he got close enough to check him, a small tranq gun for emergencies, a harmonica, all of the toys you had brought for Sun, a set of goggles in case he pulled you under the water again and finally a collection of short folk tales from the library. The last one was more for you than for Moon. This way if he didn't show himself at all during the night you could just read for a while instead. Maybe if you read aloud, you could entice him to come out and listen!

Once everything was ready you headed out to their enclosure, ready to start the night. As you walked you decided to look up at the sky and you were very, very happy you did. Because the island you were on only housed the Sanctuary and the Sanctuary in question had dim lights at night, so you could see the entire sky filled with beautiful, twinkling stars of a variety of colors. You smiled as you caught sight of a few constellations before wondering if Moon'd scales mimicked the constellations too. They looked almost exactly like the sky as it was right now, so it could be a possibility, however small that might be.

You were torn from your thoughts though when you heard distressed cries coming from one of the enclosures. Concerned you looked around you before freezing as your eyes landed on Sun and Moon's enclosure. Sun was floating near the front of the tank, unresponsive as Moon tried to feed Sun some fish that were floating around him which could only be leftovers from dinner time earlier. Your eyes widened in shock and you quickly grabbed the medkit and goggles before rushing into the enclosure and jumping into the water.

You swam as fast as you could over to the two Mers, but when Moon saw you as you neared them he blocked your path to Sun, baring his teeth and his claws as he did so. You tried to get past him, but every time you'd try he'd get in your way or swipe at you, keeping you from doing your job. After a few more failed tries and close calls, you swam back to the surface and thought of a new plan.

"Sunny! Sun, where are you, buddy?" You yelled out, hoping that you could coax him towards you instead of having to go through Moon. After all, Sun was very responsive to your voice so far, so it was worth a shot. For a moment there was silence and then you felt movement by your feet. For a moment you worried Moon was going to drag you under again, but when you saw a bunch of orange-gold fins poking out followed by a pair of tired white eyes you relaxed. Sun let out a happy chirp as he saw you and tiredly swam up to you before putting all of his weight on you, causing you to sink into the water. You yelped and gently pushed him off of you and instead stroked the fins on his head, watching as his eyes closed and he let out a content purr. "Hey, Sunny. I'm happy to see you too, but before we can hug, we need to get to the shore, okay? Then you can get a bunch of hugs."

Sun let out a happy chirp at this and started swimming to the shore, you close behind. After a couple of seconds though Sun lost speed before he started to sink, but before you could grab and tow him back up above the water, Moon had grabbed his brother's arm and slung it over his shoulders before following you. You knew that Moon was displeased by you being here by the glare he was giving you, but you could tell that his brother was his first priority as he focused most of his attention on keeping Sun afloat rather than on hating you.

Before long you made it back to the shore and as soon as you were able to stand you turned back around to help Moon get Sun onto the shore, but Moon growled at you, so you kept your distance and waited instead. Once Sun touched the dry sand he nearly fell in his eagerness to lie there, but thankfully Moon was able to slow his descent enough so that Sun didn't fall flat on his face. Once he was lying down, you slowly walked over and when Moon failed to react negatively, you crouched down next to Sun and opened your medkit to grab the stethoscope and started listening for his heart.

As you did your check-up on Sun, Moon curled up next to his brother, curling his tail around him but staying perched up on his lower arms, watching you work with an intense glare on his face. The more time that went on though, the more you saw the dark Mer redirect his attention to his brother rather than you, showing just a sliver of trust in you and you smiled to yourself, grateful for it. As you finished your small examination, you double-checked your list to make sure you had gone through everything that could be the cause for Sun's strange condition when you noticed something with Moon's tail in the corner of your eye.

It was hard to see, but halfway down the underside of his tail was a large lump that you had not seen before. Your eyes widened at this discovery, realizing that this had to be what was making Moon swim crookedly. You immediately wanted to start working on it to relieve Moon from his discomfort, but before you could work on Moon, you needed to finish up with Sun and figure out what was going on. Huh, nothing seemed wrong with his vitals...His heartbeat was fine, his blood pressure was good, his stomach was grumbling a lot and he looked tired but-oh my god. You laughed as you realized what was going on, startling the two Mers before you put your stuff away and turned to Sun as you cupped his face in your hands

"Sunny, my silly boy no reason you're looking so out of it! You haven't eaten dinner and you're not asleep, silly Mer." You cooed at the Mer affectionately as you petted a few of his 'rays' as you've now decided to call them. Sun let out a few churrs of denial before yawning and you giggled before standing up, ignoring his pouty stare as you did so. You had just taken one step forward when Sun grabbed your leg with a loud whine, keeping you in place as Moon growled at you which made you sigh as a fond smile found its way to your lips. "I'll be right back boys, I just need to get some food for Sun and my other equipment. How does tuna sound, Sun?"

At the word tuna Moon quieted down and Sun let out a happy trill at this before letting you go to grab him something to eat. You smiled and quickly headed back out through the door you had carelessly left open in your worry. Infinitely grateful that the two hadn't noticed due to the drama that had just occurred you quickly closed it before grabbing the cart you had left outside, opening it again, and closing it once more behind you. When Sun saw the cart and the toys in it that you had brought for Moon he let out an excited squeal and tried to grab them, but Moon growled at him, lightly smacked his head, and curled on top of Sun, using his weight to keep Sun down. Sun growled and whined at Moon, but the Moonlight Mer didn't respond and instead opted to pretend to be asleep so as not to hear his indignant brother. You let out a quiet 'aww' at the scene before grabbing two tunas, one for each of them, the harmonica and the book of stories you had grabbed earlier.

Once you had collected all that you needed, you handed Sun his tuna which he quickly devoured and placed Moon's nearby. However, Moon didn't make a move for it and continued to pretend to be asleep, so you tried pushing it a little closer to him whilst keeping a safe distance. When he still didn't reach for it, you slowly picked it up and nervously handed it to him, thinking he was probably asleep and you didn't want to disturb him. He quickly snatched it from your hands before he started tearing it to shreds, leaving you stunned, but happy that he was growing to trust you. As soon as Sun was done eating he tried to reach for the toys again, but you grabbed his clawed hand instead, prompting him to turn to you instead.

"I know you want to play Sunny, but we can't right now. You need to sleep, cause without sleep, how can you have a fun time playing?" You asked and Sun paused, glancing between you and the toys before letting out a defeated whine.

Once Moon heard it, he moved off of Sun, continuing to eat as you followed the Sunlight Mer to the spot he had been sleeping in before. But before he started burrowing under the sand, he turned to you one last time, an anxious look on his face and you felt your heart hurt a little at the fear shown in those pretty white eyes of his. You slowly walked up to Sun, careful not to make any sudden movements as you gently took his face in your hands and pressed your forehead against his, knowing that touch would be the best way to soothe this anxious Mer.

"Aww, don't worry bud! remember, I'll be back soon to check up on you, but you need to sleep. No more staying up at night, okay?" You said and Sun chittered before giving you your usual lick, but this time in the middle of your face. You gasped a bit in surprise which made Sun let out something akin to a laugh before he disappeared into the sand to rest. Grateful that Sun was finally asleep, you turned back to Moon to find him still eating, but that wasn't really a surprise. You shrugged your shoulders and decided to take this time to relax next to him so that he could get used to your presence and started reading your book.

Before long you were absorbed in the short stories in the book, happily reading tale after tale as time ticked by. Yes, you knew a lot of these stories already, but you hadn't read them for a while and had found a bunch of delightful and horrific little details you didn't remember from when you last read them as a child. As you finished your fifth story and started on the sixth you heard sand shift and felt a long, warm body curl around you. Thinking it was Sun, you got ready to remind him he was supposed to be sleeping, but the words died on your tongue as you saw Moon curled around you whilst he looked out at the water, his upper half on your left and a part of his tail visible on your right with the rest being hidden behind you. Your eyes widened in amazement at the sight of the usually elusive Mer so close to you, but you quickly looked down at your book again. The last thing you wanted to do was spook this magnificent creature when he just got comfortable around you!

Sadly, he wasn't nearly as focused on ignoring you as you were on trying to ignore him. It only took about a few minutes after you realized Moon was there when said Mer started peaking over your shoulder, curiously looking at the pages as he did so. You tried to be cool, and you think you succeeded decently on the outside, but on the inside, you were squealing like crazy at the incredibleness of this moment. Moon was just lying with you! He was chilling with you! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod-

Your inner excitement was interrupted though by a singular, clawed hand reaching over your left side to point at the picture on the right side of the page, showing a beautiful mermaid kissing a young woman. Confused, you turned to him only to be met with an equally curious Moon cocking his head at the picture. When he saw you staring though he growled, so you promptly looked away before coming up with an idea. turning a few pages back, you started the story of The Siren and the Sweet from the beginning.

"There once was a Siren who lived far out at sea." You started and Moon jumped before turning his attention to the paper, probably figuring out you were reading from it, which made you smile, but you didn't want to lose this moment yet, so you continued. "The Siren was known far and wide for being the most beautiful woman in all the land and she coveted this title, believing it to be hers and hers alone. One day she heard news from passing sailors that a gorgeous young woman had moved into the nearby lighthouse and that she was the fairest lady they had ever seen who was so lovely she was named after the sweetness of candy. Enraged by her title being stolen, the Siren swam until she came to the old lighthouse where she turned her tail into legs, ran up the stairs, and started banging her fist on the door, ready to kill the woman inside. But when the door opened, she changed her mind as there stood the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. The woman gave her a dazzling smile and invited her in, and the Siren accepted her invitation. The woman introduced herself as Sweet as she served delicious food to the Siren, who ate it all happily. A very fitting name, the Siren thought, for a lady as sweet as she. The Siren stayed for three days and with every day that passed she fell deeper and deeper in love with Sweet, but sadly she would have to go as she could not stay away from the ocean forever. But before she left, she confessed to Sweet who felt the same and, with a kiss full of love and devotion, Sweet was transformed into a Siren herself and the two swam into the sunset, living out the rest of their days happily by the sea."

You ended the tale and snuck a peak at Moon and nearly aww'ed at the sight. Moon was staring at the last picture of the two mermaids swimming through a vibrant golden sea with stars in his eyes and his tail wagging slightly, making you smile. Looks like you found something he liked outside of tuna! You were going to continue reading the next story when you noticed your watch that showed it was nearing 6 a.m. causing you to jump up in surprise. Moon let out a startled yelp at your sudden movement before growling and pulling your legs out from under you, causing you to fall. Before you could try and get up, Moon draped himself over your lap, using his weight to keep you down just as he had with Sun not too long ago. Now you really, really didn't want to go, but you needed to get some rest before working with Sun later!

"Moon..? Can I please get up?" A loud snarl came from Moon at that and you sighed before thinking of what you could do to convince him to let you go. After all, you didn't have any tuna s0-WAIT A MINUTE!!! "If I read you an extra story next time can I leave?"

That got his attention. The tip of Moon's nightcap fin inched toward your face and you giggled as it tickled you before it abruptly pulled away and Moon moved off of you. You were sad you couldn't cuddle with the beautiful Mer anymore tonight, but you knew it was for the best. You quickly grabbed your cart and started moving toward the door when Moon scooted in front of you, barring your way out. You jumped a little, surprised you hadn't heard him before smiling.

"Want to choose a toy before I go? I brought as many as I could." You said before gesturing to the cart.

Moon stared at you for a moment, expression unreadable before he went to the cart and carefully started digging through them. After a few moments, he chose a large ring meant for mouthy pups and Mers and a ball with a paddle on it that would start moving automatically as soon as it got into the water. Once he had chosen his toys, he rushed away from you as fast as he could before diving into the water with his prize. You chuckled, but right before you opened the door you noticed he had also taken all of the leftover tuna without you noticing. You stared at the empty space in your cart for a moment before laughing, impressed at how he had done it and because you found it cute that the big, scary Mer seemed to have a major sweet tooth. Well...not a sweet tooth, but he loved his treats, so kinda..? You shook your head before you could go down another meaningless rabbit hole and headed home for the night, as usual, locking the door behind you as you did so.

8 notes · View notes

sanchofff · 7 months

Note

Can you do a story with lee Japan

Movie night(ler! America, lee!Japan )

A/N:Oh my god, hi everyone!!!I can't believe I finally finished this! I'm very sorry that this took SO long, school and studying for exams is killing me😭😭I apologize for my English, because it is not my native language. Enjoy reading, I will be glad to receive comments and likes!!

‼️this fanfiction contains tickles‼️

Word count:1304

"Alfred, don't bother me, please."

Not so long ago, America and Japan finally crossed the threshold of formal diplomatic relations and began to communicate much more closely than before. For Kiku, this was a little strange event to understand, since he often kept a low profile even with related countries, exclusively businesslike and avoiding physical contact; Alfred, on the contrary, is an intemperate person, almost hyperactive and very tactile, and his love has not bypassed Japan.

That is why now the brunette, simultaneously connecting the TV to the Internet, is trying in vain to push away the intrusive American, who wrapped his arms around Japan's neck and almost hung on to him.

"Kiku, let's watch something else! This is some kind of Japanese romance again, right? Let's watch horror instead!"

"Alfred, you and I agreed that we would choose films in turn," Japan said calmly, trying not to pay much attention to the American yelling in his ear."I fulfill the terms of our contract without question, and you refuse to fulfill your part."

"Kiku, please!"

"No, this is contrary to our agreement," continued the implacable Japan, finally unhooking Alfred's hands from his neck. By that time, America, who was sitting behind Japan, about half a meter away, and wrapped his arms around his neck, completely transferred almost all of his weight to the shoulders of the brunette. Therefore, not expecting such a betrayal from Kiku, Alfred let out a confused cry and flopped on the floor. It wasn't painful, as both states were sitting on the floor at that moment.

"Alfred, is everything okay?" Japan asked worriedly, worried that America could suffer because of his actions.

The blond man sighed dramatically and turned his head so that his words could be heard better.

And, wrapping his arms around Kiku's waist from his new position, he continued to rant as if nothing had happened.

He talked and talked about how he wanted to watch a horror movie, and how mean Kiku was if he couldn't fulfill his friend's wish. Japan hardly listened to him anymore, still trying to connect the ill-fated TV to the Internet, not understanding why the download was taking so long. Alfred, already realizing that his complaints were not being listened to, was indignant to the point of impossibility and decided that it was worth somehow attracting attention, so he began to pull the brunette on himself. Japan met this gesture without much enthusiasm, after a couple of seconds continuing to look at the TV screen, frowning.

"You're not listening to me at all!!" Alfred, in desperation, gently poked Japan in the side, so as not to cause pain, but only to reproach. Kiku's reaction was unexpected: he jerked and looked irritably at America.

"What are you doing?"

"Who? Me? Nothing," Alfred replied with a satisfied smile. "Are you ticklish?"

"Ah? I don't know," Kiku answered evasively, trying not to look into the blond man's eyes burning with a new dubious idea. Alfred, however, didn't like Japan's answer, so he poked him in the side again. "Alfred, stop it already! Why is it..."

and then a cry broke from Kiku's lips. America, without warning, began to squeeze Japan's sides. He wanted to boil with anger, but an involuntary laugh escaped from his lips. Kiku's eyes widened, and he abruptly put his hand over his mouth. Such a strange feeling, such...distant, but familiar.

For some reason, Japan wanted to resist the tickling sensation, so he continued to hold one hand to his mouth, and the other tried to remove America's hand from his ribs. But, as soon as his hand got close to Alfred's hand, he immediately transferred his ruthless attack to a new place. In the end, America pressed some particularly sensitive point somewhere on the upper ribs, which caused Japan to literally bend in half and, no longer able to restrain himself, laughed.

"Alfrehehed!! Stahap!" Japan struggled to avoid the American's touch, squirming and trying to press his elbows to his torso.

"Wow! I've never heard you laugh before!" now Alfred, stubbornly not hearing Kiku and his protests, leaned on the brunette and tormented his ribs.

Japan didn't understand how he got into such a situation, and how he could have let his guard down so much to let Alfred start tickling him so shamelessly. Well, since Kiku was in such a situation, his goal now was just to laugh and not make any unworthy sounds or, even more so, requests for mercy. Just imagine what a shame that would be! A centuries-old state that has gone through dozens of wars is humiliated, begging for mercy and squirming under the hands of a boy who is not even 250 years old yet! Japan, on principle, could not afford such immoral behavior, because it proudly endured all the attacks of the American, only trying to defend itself physically from them. By the way, his movements were somewhat limited, since at that moment America was leaning on him from behind, and he was sitting cross-legged, so he couldn't even just try to get up.

Alfred noticed that the impact on Kiku's ribs gives more reaction than the impact on his sides, so he continued the execution in this area. To be honest, he was surprised that the brunette could laugh at all, because he always behaves so modestly and calmly that sometimes you start to doubt. Therefore, at the moment, Alfred was glad that he could see his friend's smile and hear his laughter, even if in a somewhat strange way.

"Alfred, be carehEHEful!! You're going to crush me! Oh my GohoHOhod!" Japan laughed loudly enough, if compared with the volume of his voice during normal conversations. He no longer had the strength to fight Alfred, attacking from behind, so he just rested his hands on the floor so as not to fall.

After some time, something clicked in America's head, watching the Japanese laugh freely now, and he thought that Japan might actually be uncomfortable from this. After all, Japan, even though he was a friend of America, still often communicated with him in a business style and did not even touch him unnecessarily. Kiku has other traditions, upbringing and perception of others, and it is Alfred of the two of them who is super tactile and noisy, like a hurricane. Therefore, immediately after these thoughts, Alfred convulsively pulled his hands away from Japan's body, as if from a hot pan, and shamefacedly sat away from him, guiltily murmuring "Oh, sorry!"

Japan, all disheveled, no longer feeling his friend's moving fingers on his long-suffering sides and ribs, straightened up from his position and held his hand through the hair, calming down.

"Hey, Kiku, how are you? Everything okay? Did I overdo?" Alfred began fussing around him, trying to help him recover and sitting down on his left.

"No, it's all right, don't worry," Kiku exhaled, gradually leveling his breathing."I'm sorry I ignored you, too."

"Oh, come on, it's my own fault," Alfred waved off, feeling much more guilty for himself. He looked at Kiku, fiddling with the edge of his T-shirt. "So you're not angry?"

"No, why should I be angry?" Japan asked in surprise. And really, he didn't look angry or annoyed, even somehow...relaxed? Alfred was about to explain, but a characteristic sound came from the TV. "Look, it's finally loaded, wow."

Alfred abandoned the idea of telling about what would have happened to him if he had decided to pull off the same joke with someone else from the senior states, for example, with France or England, but seeing that the awkward atmosphere of the whole situation dissipated by itself, calmed down and began to watch the movie with Kiku.

He liked the movie, by the way. And Kiku, surprisingly, felt better after such physical contact.

#hws #hws america #hws japan #tickle fic #aph america #aph japan #ler!america #lee!japan #aph #hetalia #tickle

12 notes · View notes

bookaddict24-7 · 9 months

Text

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Books I’ve read so far in 2023!

Friend me on Goodreads here to follow my more up to date reading journey for the year!

___

116. How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Man, I love Grady Hendrix.

I never know what I'm going to get with his books. When I started HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE, I wasn't sure if I was really into it. The start was a little bit on the slower side and I wasn't sure how I felt about the sibling dynamic.

Then I put the book down and read some other things. I think I wasn't in the right head space for it, so I eventually picked it up again a couple of months later. And I'm so glad I tried again!

This book made me laugh probably a few too many times considering it's horror, but those puppets (especially the main one) was absolutely hilarious. If you do audiobooks, I highly recommend listening to the one for this book, especially because you'll get the pleasure of hearing the voice actor do the puppet's voice--that catcall of his in particular. Man, that was funny.

But much like Hendrix's other works, one moment you're either mad or laughing, and the next you'll feel like you need to throw up. There are some seriously gruesome bits in this. If you're into that, you'll saw right through the pages.

This book had me feeling so many emotions and somehow, even after the worst (I thought it was the worst part), there were still four hours left in the audiobook. Those were some creepy and fast paced hours as the story raced towards a satisfying conclusion. Listen, I cried at the end. If that's not a rollercoaster of emotions, I don't know what is.

While it might not have been my favourite Hendrix book (HORRORSTÖR will always be my favourite), this was a fun one that might make you laugh, squirm with disgust, and cry. Especially fun to recommend this to people who have a phobia of dolls and/or puppets.

___

117. The 39 Clues: The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis--⭐️⭐️

Okay, aha, this series is written by different authors and...it shows.

Off the bat, I was slightly uncomfortable. From some of the jokes used (one sibling calling the other "Jackie Chan" because they were going to Japan when Jackie isn't even Japanese...), to the uncomfortable idea that one of the siblings is falling for her cousin. I get that it was alluded to in earlier books, but it was more like a "he's attractive and I have social anxiety" but seeing them flirt in this book was....kind of weird LOL.

I know these are older books and while I did enjoy the adventure parts (and the cunning ways these family members outdo each other), there were some things I couldn't get past. I'll keep reading the series because I'm both curious about the mystery and because another author will write the next book.

Onto the next one!

___

118. Night of the Living Dummy by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

I wanted to enjoy this one, but I know GOOSEBUMP books can be super hit or miss. This is such a popular book in the series, so I was hoping for...more? But there was so much wrong with this one. The competing twins were frustrating, but they're kids. I can understand their competition.

What I don't understand is the horrible parents. I know this is from a kid's perspective, so maybe we are seeing an inflated response from the parents, but that mother was a piece of work. What an impatient and disconnected woman. Listen, if my kid told me their doll was moving on its own, I'd be spraying holy water on it instead of yelling at them. Just, such questionable parenting. There's a reason why so many kids never want to tell their parents anything.

"Why don't they call me anymore?" Because when Billy told you that his puppet was trying to kill him, you didn't believe him. JK. It's not that serious, but it's sad to see that so many people in my generation grew up reading about parents like this.

___

119. Our Shadows Have Claws by Various--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have mixed feelings about this collection. I never really pick up anthologies because I need my stories to be thicker than just a few pages, although I can fully appreciate the mastery of writing a powerful story a short number of pages long. But while there were definitely some knockout stories in this collection (in my opinion), there were some misses, too.

I went into this hoping to be spooked! I'm Latina, so seeing a Latine collection of horror stories made me incredibly excited (even with my apprehension for short stories). While the stories may not have been what I was hoping for, the artwork was gorgeous and creepy. I'll definitely be keeping this collection on my shelves both because it's amazing Latine rep, and because it's just a beautiful book aesthetically.

I've broken down the stories with my individual ratings and very short thoughts:

The Nightingale and the Lark: 3 Stars

I enjoyed seeing a story about the complicated dynamic of family and tradition. I'm kind of sad this is the Cuban one--but don't mind me, this is just me being a city bitch. I had no idea what this monster was and neither did my parents, but I'm assuming it's a campo monster. That being said, this was a pretty solid story to start with....but not scary. At all. It WAS interesting to see the morality living in the shadows of beliefs and fear.

¿Dónde Está el Duende?: 4 Stars

I think this is one of my favourites of the whole collection. It was so sinister and more than the monster itself, the actions of the humans involved made this one extra spooky. I remember thinking about it once it ended and feeling so uncomfortable when all of the pieces clicked together.

El Viejo de la Bolsa: 2 Stars

Meh. I feel like I zoned out with this one. I was so confused and by the end of the story, I had no idea what I'd just read. (This happens a few times with some of the stories in the collection.)

Beware the Empty Subway Car: 1.5 Stars

Honestly, this title was kind of misleading. There were some cool places this story could have gone but it was so boring. And it felt like...the point of the story was kind of random? Especially because it read more like one chapter in a bigger book. No shade to the authors, but it felt like the point of this story being included in this collection was missed. All backstory, barely any spooks. Meh. Least favourite, lowest rating.

Dismembered: 4 Stars

Having just lost my Abuela last December, this hella pulled on my heartstrings. Emotional and with a deeply heartbreaking twist, Dismembered is rightfully a favourite for a lot of other readers. Even if the beginning of the story feels gruesome, the heart of the story is beautiful.

Blood Kin: 4 Stars

I LOVE revenge stories. I was immediately hooked and I'm a sucker for the bad guy getting his due justice. Also, another heartstring puller. These authors giving me the spooks with a side of heartbreak. Thanks.

La Boca Del Lobo: 2 Stars

So, I *listened* to the audiobook of this collection. I have this thing where if a book isn't keeping my attention, then it's not a book I'm enjoying. When I'm invested, I am listening with both ears and hoping to catch everything. This story had me so disinterested that I had to replay the whole thing again because I missed the whole thing. The second time around wasn't any better.

Bloodstained Hands Like Ours: 2 Stars

While I loved the LGBTQ+ rep, I wasn't really feeling this one. It had a weird ending that made me think of superheroes. Much like the Subway Car story, this felt like a lot of backstory and not enough main creep story.

The Boy from Hell: 3.5 Stars

This was a fun one and felt like it could have been its own book. I especially loved how this story touches on the racism that lives in the Latine community. Also, even though I saw the twist a mile away, it was still fun to see.

La Patasola: 4 Stars

Loved the LGBTQ+ rep in this and how it forces the reader to see how ignorance and falling to peer pressure can ruin something so beautiful. I kind of wish I had more of this story so I could see the outcome of the events that happen. I really enjoyed this one. The ending was very satisfying.

The Other Side of the Mountains: 4 Stars

I think this one is a perfect example of backstory being well-balanced with the heart of the story. That twist was *chef's kiss*.

La Madrina: 3 Stars

I don't think this is a monster story. I think it's a great morality story that was well written and paced, but I think to call this a monster story does the heart of it a disservice. But I guess, in a way, it brings to question what we might define a monster to be.

Sugary Deaths: 3.5 Stars

This had a very satisfying ending for a creepy man who should not be around younger girls. This is one of those stories where you have to ask yourself, "Who's the real monster here?"

Leave No Tracks: 4 Stars

I loved this one because of how powerful it was. I thought it was a great allegory for the erosion of family and nature, and how the consequences of our choices can haunt us long after the choice has been made.

The Hour of the Wolf: 4 Stars

Probably one of my favourites overall. I love a good story with Karma and this one DELIVERED. Also, something I've noticed in this one and in some of the other stories is the importance of the all-knowing Abuela. Loved the creepy wolf vibes and the bullies facing some twisted revenge.

___

120. Help! We Have Strange Powers! by R.L. Stine--⭐️⭐️

This was pure chaos.

While I really enjoyed the last Horrorland book I listed to, this one was just too much. The production level felt like it was too much. And don't even get me started on these awful main characters. Also, this was another book with twins. LOL Stine had a trope.

I AM intrigued, however, about what is happening in Horrorland--I think that's the best part of these books.

___

121. Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells--⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow, I can't believe I finally finished this book that I started a year and a bit ago. I never thought this day would come LOL.

I think one of the reasons why I kept putting this one down is because it felt like a slower read--which is why I'm so happy my library got the audiobook edition! That definitely helped, although there were still instances where my brain zoned out because the story never really fully hooked me.

The mystery and intrigued was interesting--I wanted to see what twists and turns waiting for me as the MC navigated the truths being thrown at her. It makes me sort of fascinated enough to read the sequel, but I'm not fully sold on that yet.

One of the things I did love about this series is that it did have that fun early 2000s-2010s vibes that contemporary fantasy had, a la SOOKIE STACKHOUSE & the FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT series (but without the spiciness, just the tension.)

Other than the occasional slow pace, this was fun and I think would be a fun read for anyone who likes badass MCs taking over their own narrative after so many others have done it for them.

___

122. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pardon my French, but this book is a mindfuck.

I'm kind of freaked out about how good Kuang is at making you face your own mind when you're given an anti-hero MC who sometimes had you empathizing with her, and then abruptly remembering how awful they actually are. Granted, none of the characters in this book were the shitting rainbows kind of characters. These were characters that dangerously resembled the actual nature of so many people out there--people who you may know, or may have encountered. Those people who think they've been wronged and who think other groups get undeserved preferential treatment.

Other than this being a phenomenal commentary on the publishing industry, this is just such a fascinating exploration of the human condition and how biases can truly make us believe the things we believe--even when the rest of the world is pointing out how wrong your actions are. Also, Kuang shows us the dangers of having heavily unreliable narrators. The power of writing is sometimes having you empathize with the worst characters.

Trigger warning, though, for incredibly blasé racism and discussion of under-representing racism in history to make a story more palatable. Those scenes where the MC is editing the stolen manuscript were probably some of the harder ones for me because I KNOW there are editors and people in publishing who would think the same way.

Kuang is a genius and even though I wasn't a fan of THE POPPY WAR, YELLOWFACE & BABEL will forever remain as some of my favourites because of their blunt and incredible discussions on race and inequality.

I can't recommend this book enough. I do recommend doing it with a glass of wine...or something stronger. Just don't make any Pandan pancakes to eat along with this book.

___

123. You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I will immediately say that while this had some fun moments and commentary on what it means to be a Black person in a horror setting, this book wasn't at all what I was expecting--and I don't mean that in a good way.

I really enjoyed seeing the MC and her strong connection with her girlfriend. That in itself felt like it was defying the horror genre stereotypes. I also loved the jabs at what we usually see in horror books (like couples having sex will always be like a dinner bell being rung for serial killers at killer camps).

Overall, this book had its creepy moments, weird twists, and an interesting ending. But I was hoping for...more. This felt like it didn't go where I was hoping it would go and it ended up just being an okay read.

I'm giving it three stars instead of two because while it wasn't what I was hoping for, it was still a fun read that I'd recommend to anyone wanting a slasher read.

___

Have you read any of these books? Let me know your thoughts!

___

Happy reading!

12 notes · View notes

eyesofshan-if · 1 year

Note

Hello there! :D

First of all, Happy New Year! I wanted to tell you that I'm already hooked on your IF. You immediately got my attention. I'm already in love with Hansol and Yongsun, haha <3

I've got a few questions, if that is alright with you. Please feel free to only answer what you want or ignore it entirely if it's too many at once!

First: I checked your Tumblr and the post on the forum but I didn't see anything so I'm wondering what we should refer to you as? (It feels a bit weird to always say "dear author" and the likes, unless that's something you'd prefer of course!)

Second: I love the character posts you've already done and talking about the ROs I'm wondering if you could--if you have time, no rush there--post a color palette for skin colors? I read the text but I always have a hard time getting it from that alone 🥲

3rd: what sort of voices does everyone have? (Rough, smooth, melodic, etc. ) Maybe you even have some voice actors in mind what you'd think they would sound like? Though I personally only really recognize Japanese VAs, I would gladly Google anyone else lmao

That's it, sorry this got so long😭

To wrap this up I hope you have a wonderful week, lots of fun with your story and please don't forget to rest, eat and hydrate enough! :D

happy new year (although this reply is a few days late oops) i’m really glad that you like my sorry attempt at an IF!! here are my answers under the cut because its pretty long!!

one: you can refer to me as pingu (i just decided that today) for now!! but i do like being called dear author as well <3

two: i will try my best for a skin colour palette, but here’s a warning that my eye for anything colour related is absolutely awful. trying to do those moodboards was an emotional rollercoaster. but because you asked i will try my best. please remember that these are only my take on the subject, and you’re free to have some artistic freedom with where you take it!!

^^ this was an awful struggle and should probably just be used as a suggestion because i am an absolute clown when it comes to colour. please just use it as a reference for the light to dark and warm to neutral skin tones!!

three: i’ll try putting a mixture of kpop idols here together with japanese vas, so you can hear them speak in a normal tone!! japanese vas tend to exagerrate a lot in their delivery, which is not how i imagine them to speak in real life hoho. most of the kpop idols voices come from the group ateez, who are around the ages of most of the characters mentioned

hansol: warm to people he is close with. his voice feels like the gentle heat of a fire after spending a long time out in the cold. tends to speak politely and use proper language, but there’s a certain liveliness to his tone. his voice references are ateez’s yunho and hino satoshi

insu: his voice is always sharp and cold, like the edge of a steel blade. he speaks briskly, always prioritizing efficiency. not afraid to swear at anyone, including the emperor. his voice references are ateez’s yeosang and yuki kaji (specifically his todoroki voice, not eren yeager)

yongsun: listening to his voice feels like you’re sitting next to a running stream alone at night, moonlight ripping off the waters. he always speaks calmly, seemingly able to make any situation feel lighter with a single sentence, and each word contains a certain quiet self confidence. his voice references are kaedehara kazuha (nobunaga shimazaki) and kamisato ayato (akira ishida)

wooyoung: lighthearted and playful. there’s are little ups and downs to his cadence that makes you feel as though the sun is shining on you, beckoning you to play outside. he might not sound like the refined gentleman he’s supposed to be, but his voice is enjoyable to listen to. his pitch isn’t very low, and sounds youthful. his voice reference is ateez’s wooyoung (wow)

#asks #hope you enjoy!!#some of the clips are just vlogs from the kpop members #but they speak like... normally so i thought it would be a better comparison #not gonna lie i used quite a few ateez members are voice and appearance references lmao

35 notes · View notes

womenareonline · 2 months

Text

A letter to someone I haven’t talked to in months

I wanted to write something about how it is hard to create something (art?) that involves someone else and try not to hurt them. When you want to express yourself and how you feel but someone else is involved in the process. Instead, I wrote this: something very personal about one specific person in mind. I am sorry, but sometimes we just do.

I moved to Barcelona around 6 months ago. Remember how I told you I had applied for a master’s degree? I went to see the Japanese House in Newcastle, one of those bands that not a lot of people know, and you probably haven’t. And on my way, I stayed in Manchester. I really like Newcastle, not so much Manchester. I take the bus at 10 pm to get back from uni. I took the night bus at 4 am to get back from a friend's house once. Sometimes I take the metro late at night back from my brother’s. That’s kind of rare back at home, remember how much anxiety it gave me? It was my birthday two months ago. I don't know if you remember or just ignored it. I turned 28. It hurt, to be honest. It really hurt when you didn't even text me. It hurt to think you just forgot. Did you even think about me that day? Do you even think about me? I am writing my thesis. It’s about memes. Who knew my trolling tendencies would get me to write an entire thesis? I did really well in my classes and I really enjoyed my thesis subject. I still get waves of depression, anxiety, and isolation. I’m trying to get better at that. I go on walks and force myself to do stuff I like. It’s all a bit easier here. It’s safer, sunnier and there is so much stuff I haven’t done yet. It’s very different than in Latam. I spend a lot of Fridays crying. Because I miss home or because I just feel a bit lost. I miss my family a lot. My sister got married. It’s funny because for a while I thought about inviting you. But then all of that happened… My other sister was here a few days ago and we spent some time in Paris. I also miss Coni. Lollapalooza Argentina is around the corner and I wish I could experience it with her. I talked to her all day and she replies within the day which I really need. Doesn’t take her a month. I saw the 1975 in Madrid and Paris. I know you don’t like them and just pretend you did for me. You probably hate Matty Healy because of the Taylor thing. That’s funny. I am better at that. Caring less about online discussions and bullshit. It truly doesn’t matter. In the end, none of it matters. Bet you are glad you no longer have to keep up with musicians you don’t know. Or pretend you like their music. Speaking of that, I'm still hurt at what you said when all of that went down. It really hurt. It hurt the way you grabbed my feelings and threw them to the ground. After all the talks we had, I thought you’d be better than that. I know you want to know about my love life because that’s all people like you want to know. I am taking my time to heal so I’m working on myself, I truly don’t want anyone to get in the way of that. Guarding my heart and mind. I don’t have much to say. But today I was leaving the Louvre crossing the road to walk by the Seine and I saw the Eiffel Tower. I was listening to You're Loosing Me by Taylor Swift and I realized you truly lost the best thing at any party, me. I mean look at everything I get to do. Look at everything I enjoy and the people I have. And you lost me.

#young poets #female poets #writing #writer #writers and poets #words #letter #thoughts #my thougts #love

2 notes · View notes

hajimeiwaswife · 2 years

Text

AUGUST | CHAPTER 5: CUFFLINKS

[Masterlist]

Chapter 4 Chapter 6

Summary: You’re marrying Izuku Midoriya in September, but he gets an emergency call from All Might’s old agency in the U.S., requesting his services for the entirety of August. A death threat directed at you for being his partner has his hair on edge. However, the always responsible, caring and heroic Shoto Todoroki comes to your rescue, offering to take care of you for the whole month. Who would have thought that 31 days were enough to make you reconsider your engagement with the number 1 hero and fall in love with the Icy Hot man who held your hand during the last breeze of summer?

Warnings: Everyone is 25 more or less, death threats, manga spoilers, 1st person pov.

Wc: 3,4K

Playlist

"L/n, wake up." the desk of my Unicorn secretary said, moving from side to side like dancing, "L/n!"

"I'm working, Vanessa." I replied, painting with crayons the silhouette of Hawks and, suddenly, getting out of the lines while colouring his wings, "Thanks, Vanessa! I ruined the portrait!"

"L/n! Wake up, c'mon."

"What an annoying desk. Guards! Send her to the bonfire!"

"Y/N L/N, COME TO CHECKOUT, PLEASE!"

"Oh my God! Work!" I woke up startled, looking around and finding a very Japanese traditional room and a pair of blue and gray eyes staring at me.

"Not work, but you wouldn't wake up. You have such a deep sleep." Shoto said, standing up from the floor and nearing the door. My mind was still trying to process both reality and the strange dream, "We're going to the mall to get you some clothes and things you need, get ready."

"So I'm not working at a supermarket." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and then stretching my arms.

"No, you aren't." the man snorted, shaking his head in amusement, "C'mon, get dressed."

He walked out of the room and I noticed he was already dressed. He seemed to be wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, but I didn't get to fixate on it more. I did as told, I took one of the only shirts and a pair of trousers that could be saved from the night before, bringing me anxiety once again, and realized why I needed to buy clothes, my mind at last awake.

I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself and putting the clothes on, knowing an anxiety attack wasn't going to do any good; but the knot at my chest and my erratic heart didn't want to listen to my brain, going their own way. On the one hand I was broken hearted for the makeup I couldn’t save; on the other hand, I was glad as I definitely didn't have the pulse to do my eyeliner.

I could smell something sweet in the air, probably Shoto was cooking breakfast; my stomach rowed as I hadn't had anything to eat for hours, the last thing I consumed was alcohol. So, when I was ready, I followed the scent of coffee to what I supposed would be the kitchen.

Not wanting to pry, I tried not to look into the rooms too much, as the doors were open. But the Japanese style room I was passing was too tempting to look away, finding a decoration very similar to the room I was staying at, but with a couple of posters of All Might, a graduation photograph of class A, some photos of him with Izuku, Bakugo, Iida and some classmates.

What caught my attention was a picture of him with other four white haired people, but my sight wasn't that good for me to see from where I was. Stopping myself before being nosier, I resumed walking towards the kitchen.

There I saw Shoto, standing at the counter and pouring some milk in one of the cups, aware I was there because he turned around and observed me, as if waiting for me to say something.

"Good morning." I broke the silence, approaching him to see if there was anything I could do to help.

"Hm." he murmured, "How do you like your coffee?"

"With milk, no sugar." I replied and he nodded, proceeding to prepare my cup. "What do I do?"

"Sit down," he said without looking at me.

"But-"

"There's nothing else to do, don't worry." I felt bad for being late to help, feeling uncomfortable while he placed the mug on my side of the table. The moment I took the object between my freezing hands, I drank the liquid as if it was my lifeline, "Don't rush, either."

I didn't feel like eating anything, my stomach seemed to be as closed as the legs of a nun and no food on the table was able to make me feel hungry. Shoto, on his side, was gracefully munching on some rice with an indifferent look on his face, acting as if nothing happened last night and as if having me there for breakfast was every day’s bread.

Clothes, new belongings for the apartment, a gift for Shoto, makeup… I definitely would need to list everything that I needed to buy. But then again, if my place wasn’t clean, there was no point in buying new furniture until it was safe for me to return to clean it up a bit. And thinking about my apartment, what happened to it in the end? Who did it? Why?

“Shoto.” I called to him, breaking the silence between the two of us. He stopped the motion of bringing his chopsticks to his mouth mid air and looked at me expectantly, eyes curious as ever. “Has the police updated you on anything?”

He pressed his lips on a thin line and put down the utensils, he depressed his lips with a ‘pop’ sound and swallowed before looking back at me with a serious stare. His deep ocean and rainy eyes provoked a wave of chills to go down my spine, a nervous tick appeared on my leg which bounced up and down in an incessant jump-like motion. Then, he opened his mouth to speak. “Yes.”

I waited for him to say something more, my leg starting to hurt from the hardness of the movement and my nails sinking into my poor thigh, victim of my anxiety. “And?” I asked when it became clear he had finished whatever he wanted to say.

“The liquid was cow blood.” Shoto said before picking his chopsticks once again and chewing on some rice, though the situation had a slight, very imperceptible change of atmosphere: the elephant in the room had been addressed.

I mouthed a couple of times, blinking incessantly at the lack of qualms Shoto said it with. Cow blood? Like, in the sense of someone bleeding dry a poor cow and dropping its crimson blood around my house? I could feel the bile slithering up my throat in a very threatening way.

I felt eerie, almost grim while Shoto just had breakfast. Was he not aware of the reality? He took some seconds to prepare himself before blowing the news on me, but then he just kept going as if the information was as trivial as talking about the weather. He noticed, because suddenly his innocent glare stopped on my still shocked expression. He gulped the rice in his mouth and lifted his brows, tilting his head to the left. “Is something the matter?”

“I beg your pardon?” was all I could utter.

“You’re staring.” He said plainly.

“I mean, you just said my apartment was full of an animal’s blood.”

“A cow’s.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I murmured, clicking my tongue in annoyance and I told him off with my hands with a left to right motion. “I know. But, well, and what else? Why?”

“I don’t know anything else, that’s what Tsukauchi told me.” Seeing the bewilderment on my face made him sigh, “I wish I knew more, L/n, I wish whoever is after you was behind bars, but that’s all I’ve been filled in with.” I sighed, too, and nodded, then I took a sip of my coffee.

The rest of the breakfast was spent in silence, not really having anything to say to each other and too worried with our own problems. I wondered how much time would I need to spend in his house.

The shopping centre was full of people, on a Saturday morning. Families making the most of their days off, adult couples strolling among the endless stores piled in lockstep, children running under the risk of getting pushed by those who didn’t see them even if they were screaming to the top of their lungs. I wasn’t a fan of crowds myself, but it was nice seeing such domesticity, simple life happening around me as if everything was back to what it used to be the night before.

Shoto walked by my side, accompanying me to the shops I needed to visit in order to get new clothes, for both Izuku and me. A couple of dresses here, a nice pair of trousers for my fiancé there, a cute All Might pajamas Izuku would love, some sneakers for the comfort of my feet who were struggling in the tightness of the party heels… Look at that! What a nice suit for Izuku to wear, golden cuff links with an emerald embed into it.

“Was his wedding suit ruined, too?” Shoto asked, ashen.

“No, luckily our wedding gowns were at my parents’ house.” I replied with relief and saw him relaxed, “I was just thinking that Izuku would look nice in this, that’s all.”

“Hmm.” The pro hero placed his hand on his chin and observed the pair of cufflinks, too. “I can see him wearing those.”

“You like them?” I asked happily, and when he nodded, I applauded like an excited child. “Great! I’m getting those, and maybe the suit, too.”

“Shouldn’t you be buying more clothes for yourself, though?” Shoto interrupted before I could enter the store. I turned around to look at him, confused. “You’re buying mostly for Midoriya, but you need things, too.”

“This is the last thing for him, I promise!” I exclaimed and left him outside the store, going straight to the cuff link section.

The golden with emeralds cuff links were the first ones I took, rounded and perfect for any suit my buff fiancé would wear. They would match with his hair and eyes, and I couldn’t wait to see Izuku with them on his sleeves.

As I was twisting towards the suit I wanted, a silver pair of rhombus shaped cufflinks caught my attention. Placed at the corner of the vitrine, they shined in an ethereal light covering the glass with a small glitter. Embed on them there were two lapis lazuli, giving the silver and diamond like jewelry a nobility subtone. They reminded me of Shoto’s eyes, gray and blue, an unapproachable aura surrounding them, but classy and gentle at the same time. I picked them, too, knowing well they would be the gift I had planned the night before to give him as a ‘thank you’.

Smiling to myself, I took the suit and both pairs of cufflinks and paid for them. “Could these ones be gift wrapped?” I asked the shop assistant at the counter, who just smiled and nodded, wrapping the silver objects in a delicate black and red silk paper.

I was coming out of the shop with a lifted spirit and bag in hand when I saw a circle of young people surrounding what seemed to be a very busy Shoto, looking stoic and taking pictures as mobile phones kept showing off in his face. I stopped to observe, laughing at the awkward poses the pro hero did trying to look amicable.

He saw me, he had just twirled around to talk to the fans at his back and our gazes intertwined in a second of infinity. I greeted him with my left hand and lifted my right to show him I was already finished with my business at the store. He blinked twice and turned to his fans to excuse himself so he could come to me.

It was in that moment that the crowd noticed me, asking very impertinent and nosy questions towards Shoto, who just kept going straight to me and grabbed my forearm, directing the both of us far away from the youngsters, zigzagging between the massive flowerpots containing plastic plants, hiding behind them and entering a random store in the most suspicious way the both of us could think of.

Shoto let go of my arm and stayed pressed on my back, covering me from the entrance so nobody could see me even if they stretched their necks as giraffes. It was then when I became aware of my surroundings: a lingerie shop. Well, every cloud has a silver lining; I could use some new underwear if we take into account that a psychopath had turned mine into the perfect representation of bathing panties on your monthly period blood.

“Oh, ah, do you want to… buy something here?” Shoto asked in a strangled voice. I turned to look at him and I saw a very subtle blush on his cheeks and the top of his ears. How cute.

“Yep. Not only underwear, actually.” I started, a Machiavellian plan in my mind forming at the sight of such an embarrassed number 3 pro hero, “Do you see that harness? I need it with capital N. Izuku has this manhandling and breast-feeding kink and it would come in han—”

“I’ll wait for you outside.” Shoto rushed in his words, sprinting out of the store with my laugh as the soundtrack of his escape. I did buy lingerie apart from the necessary items, though, as I wanted to have something nice for the honeymoon.

Walking around the mall with my arms filled with bags, I started to feel hungry. “Do you want something to eat?” I asked Shoto, who was looking at a pair of sneakers in the glass of a shoe shop.

“Hmm.” He nodded, “Take whatever you want, I’m okay with anything. However, we won’t be eating here.”

“Huh?” Shoto gave me a glance that indicated a super mysterious and confidential information. A bit lost, I thought about what he could be meaning, until I realized he was talking about having lunch at his house. “Oh! Oh, fine.”

He just smirked a little and accompanied me to a little food stall next to us, where I started ordering our lunch. I felt Shoto move away from me at the sound of his mobile phone, but I knew he was probably still near enough to keep me in his sight.

The man at the stall was the nicest, having a small talk with me while preparing what I had ordered. We kept at it until he handed me the bag with the food and drinks inside, “I hope you and your boyfriend enjoy it!”

I was about to agree, smiling warmly at the kind man until the words registered in my brain. “Wha—No! No, he’s not my boyfriend! He’s a… friend?” I cringed.

“I see,” the man laughed it off, “first date, isn’t it? Well, I hope it goes smoothly, then.”

I didn’t have the heart to deny it, so I just nodded and continued smiling, “Thank you. And thank you for the food!”

I approached Shoto again, who was still on the phone on the corner to the left, back pressed against the wall and right arm crossed over his chest while his left was keeping the phone on his ear. Casual pose and, at the same time, very hero-like.

He noticed I was getting near and, with an almost whispered “keep me informed” he hung up. I lifted a brow, a small smirk playing at the corners of my mouth and the conversation with the stall seller completely wiped out of my mind, I asked, “Was that your girlfriend?”

“I don’t have one.” He replied honestly, and I snorted. “It was Tsukauchi.”

My heart skipped a bit, suspended in a thread of uncertainty and climbing up my throat. “What… what did he say?”

Shoto caught up with my tone and sighed through his nose, “Whoever broke into your apartment knew what he was doing, there are no traces, no clues, absolutely nothing.” He murmured, he passed a hand through his hair, messing it a little and mixing red with white, and then he groaned. “I promise we’ll get them; no one commits a perfect crime.”

I was sure Shoto was a good hero, one of the best ones, but even that couldn’t comfort me. Someone was out there wanting to hurt me at any expense and neither the police nor the heroes had relevant information. Bile went up my throat, thread already broken and loosen to make a path for the little breakfast I had that morning.

“Hey, you’re safe with me, okay? Breathe.” Shoto said and put one of his giant hands on my shoulder, squishing it a bit as a reassurance.

I wanted to nod, to say I agreed, to accept it, but I couldn’t. God, I had just been shopping as if my life wasn’t threatened in the first place and now is when the panic surfaces? What a lame and pathetic woman I am.

However, Shoto was unfaced. He could guess what I was going through, understand the incomprehensible, unfathomable train of thoughts I had been following the entire morning and he wasn’t judging, he comprehended it and acknowledged it. So he let me panic and process as much as I needed, directing me to his car.

He even buckled my seat belt and made sure I was comfortable. I just felt humiliated. Buying lingerie while the police and Shoto’s agency were looking for the son of a bitch who ruined my apartment.

“You can have a life, you know?” The pro hero said after a few minutes of complete silence inside his car, not even the radio was on, “Go out and have a little bit of normalcy even with all that has fallen over your shoulders. No one’s gonna blame you, so don’t blame yourself over it.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He interrupted me, rudely. “We’re gonna go to my house, eat the take out and have a normal day, alright?”

I could feel myself pouting, tears still staining my cheeks with a silver like light to them; but nonetheless, I nodded. That seemed to make him happy, as he just nodded too with an impetus that reminded me of those little puppies that look grumpy, but that they actually are the nicest ones.

And so we did, we set the table once we were in his house again, and ate in silence with the TV on. There was a very much stupid sit com airing, but the silly jokes actually made me giggle of how bad they were, so Shoto left it on. The food was delicious, so I thanked the stall man in my head.

For dessert we both had tea, Shoto insisted on it calming my nerves, and for the sake of it I just went with the flow. A nice, cold tea was the perfect weapon against a sweltering afternoon, and I did feel better after finishing it.

The man took both of our cups, looking straight at me to see how I was doing and went to do the dishes. But for me his eyes reminded me of something else. I stood up and ran to the guest bedroom, where all my shopping bags had been left, and searched for the gift I had bought for Shoto; he deserved it so much, today was another reminder of it.

When I returned with the black and red silk paper in my hands, a confused Shoto welcomed me into the living room. “Why were you running?” Then, his gaze shifted to my hands and his brows furrowed even more, “What’s that?”

“It’s for you!” I exclaimed, pushing my hands towards him and waiting patiently for him to take it.

“For me?” The pro hero finally took the paper from me, his eyes still confused, and opened it carefully. I was just there, swinging on my toes from back to front, nervous about what he would think. It was when he opened the black box that his eyes expressed surprise.

“And? What do you think? Do you like it?” I asked, coming nearer towards him to take a peek at the cuff links.

Shoto didn’t talk for a whole minute, analyzing the jewelry meticulously and taking one of the cuff links off the boss. The silver glistened in the light of the August sun, its light becoming of a warm colour in the traditional Japanese living room.

“You didn’t have to.” Was the first thing the man said, but not in his usually stoic and cold voice, but with a turbulent emotion shaking his vocal cords.

“I wanted to; you’re doing so much for me.” I confessed, and he looked at me almost moved. I had to blink a few times to check I wasn’t hallucinating.

He inspected the cuff link in his fingers again and, unexpectedly, he smiled warmly and approached me. “Thank you, Y/n.” he murmured, petting my head.

That moment, that very right moment, was the start of the end without either of us knowing it. 25 days of August were still left.

Tag list: @shoutocakie @kisskissshutmydoor @stxrrielle @motzgurke

#shoto todoroki x reader #shoto x reader #todoroki shoto x reader #todoroki x reader #shouto todoroki x reader #todoroki shouto x reader #shouto x reader #shoto todoroki x you #shoto x you #izuku midoriya x reader #bnha #my hero academia

56 notes · View notes

chiskz · 1 year

Text

《 SKZ - REPLAY Album - CHICHI's Solo Song 》

》 "Discord" (jp. 不協和音 / fukyouwaon )

⇲ [ https://youtu.be/3A8ReZ_punE ]

lyrics by CHICHI

composed by CHICHI, Bang Chan (3RACHA), Yasushi Akimoto

arranged by Yasushi Akimoto, Bang Chan (3RACHA)

I have no reason to be afraid of discord

Even if I’m hated

I have my own sense of justice

Hit me if you want

Giving in would mean death

If you want to control me

You have to defeat me first!

Destroy the stereotypes with discord!

It’s strange for everyone to have the same opinions

Stick with your intentions!

If you bend now there’s no point in living

If you want to disappoint me

You have to kill me first!

》 Explanation - translated from Your Friendly Neighbour Chichi! [ep. 19.12.22] and Bubble messages [21.12.22]

"This song will surprise you for sure. I thought for a long time how I could surprise you and it turned out that something I wanted to try for a long time can actually be surprising. I will show you a completely different side of me, but it will still be Chichi. It's amazing how many different faces we can have, but they can all be real. People are really interesting."

"And how do you like the song? Are you surprised? I am very proud of it. I combined J-pop with my own message that guides my life. It was hard to be the only woman in a male group, but for several years I have been trying to fight stereotypes. Why do we have to be women or men when we can just be idols? Some people feel they belong to one of these groups and like to emphasize it. Of course, that's perfectly fine! I'm not saying it's bad. I am glad that you find yourself in it and comfort in it. It's wonderful. But for me, the most important thing is just to be a good person and show the best performances.

《Discord》 is a song about not giving in to stereotypes, about not giving up your ideas just because others don't follow you. 《Destroy the stereotypes with discord!》 This is the main thought. I hope I conveyed it well.

I had doubts about the language. I first started writing this song in Korean, but it didn't go as well as I wanted. I tried again in English, but it still wasn't it. I consulted Chan, I didn't want to write in Japanese so that my song wouldn't stand out from the rest. However, he said that we also have Japanese STAYs. He said that I should write in the language of my heart to properly convey what I feel. So I did, and my song is the only Japanese song on the album. I feel pride.

Thank you Chan for everything! I hope you will listen to 《Discord》 a lot and the rest of the songs from the album as well. We put our hearts into them. I love you STAY!

Ah, choreography? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ It is in the final stages of preparation. It is difficult, the most difficult is the perfect synchronization of the smooth movements of the hands and feet. But it is very effective! I wonder when I can show it to you... I don't know, but the choreography is there, don't be afraid! ㅋㅋㅋ"

#kpop addition #kpop oc #stray kids 9th member #idol au #idol oc #kpop added member #stray kids oc

17 notes · View notes

requiesticat · 10 months

Text

5 Questions 15 Mutuals

Tagged by @hopelesscrawl. I don't get to do these often, so thanks for the ping!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not to my knowledge. Online I go by Seyu

Adrian is my name irl. After watching Castlevania, I found out that Alucard's real name is Adrian Tepes- he's one of my favorite characters from that series, so it was a neat coincidence!

Seyu is a bastardization of Yasu/Sayo Yasuda's name. You can tell I've played too much Umineko, lol. Eventually it became a full "title", Seyune Koizumi-Hearn. That comes from the irish writer Lafcadio Hearn, who adopted a japanese surname upon becoming a citizen there (Koizumi Yakumo). I'm irish american myself, and it more or less felt right.

2. When was the last time you cried?

At my last job. Retail is miserable, and I'm glad to be out of that environment.

3. Do you have kids?

No- due to suffering from mental illness I'd prefer to not risk passing that on.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sometimes, but not very often. Usually I just keep to myself instead of expressing it outright.

5. What sports do you play/have played?

Badminton. I'm rubbish at all other sports- badminton is the only one I'm decent at.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Usually, how they come off while talking. Their appearances next.

7. What's your eye color?

Blue-grey

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Both. Horror doesn't bother me much, tbh. If you've read my webcomic or the stories I write, there are mainly elements of psychological horror.

9. Any special talents?

Drawing and writing. Singing as well- I've considered posting song covers

10. Where were you born?

Maryland. I'd like to move back there someday. Right now, I live in rural Pennsylvania... it's the same state but with bad weather

11. What are your hobbies?

Art, music, and writing. I've produced music before:

youtube

(My webcomic was called Solitaire before I changed the name to Stockholm Cat Syndrome. Here's a playlist featuring every instrumental created for the project.

Some of the instrumentals are unsettling, indicated by changed artwork with a red background. Keep that in mind before listening. If it gets to be too much, the pink art is "safe")

12. Do you have any pet?

Several pets. Two cats, a betta, two platys, a snail, and a jumping spider. More info about them here. This may count as another hobby.

13. How tall are you?

5'8". Officially taller than Vegeta

14. Favorite subject in school?

English and science. Math was my worst subject; I could never pass those classes no matter how hard I tried to study mathematics.

15. Dream job?

Graphic designer or author with illustrated books. Maybe a toy designer. Just any position where I can work in a quiet space with no interruptions, and make a decent salary for it.

Something remote would be nice as well. Either way I'd rather not try sales/customer service again.

Tag list (only if you feel like it):

@anpanham @askutopis @rabbithub @taniskut @choppers-pink-hat @zootycutie

If there are users I didn't tag who would be interested in doing this, feel free. I don't have a lot of mutuals who use tumblr atm

#seyu talks #tag game #video #my works #my music #my fics #me

3 notes · View notes

chaosincurate · 8 months

Text

My month in music - August 2023

Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There (relisten)

Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy (relisten)

Mitski - Puberty 2

Mitski - Be the Cowboy

Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds from Another Planet (relisten)

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee (relisten)

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

SZA - Ctrl

Squid - Bright Green Field (relisten)

Squid - O Monolith (relisten)

Black Country, New Road - For the First Time (not for the first time)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Genesis Owusu - Struggler (new)

shame - Food For Worms (new)

IDLES - Joy as an Act of Resistance

IDLES - Brutalism

Blur - The Ballad of Darren (new)

Write-ups below

I'm gonna be honest, I'm way later to this than I'd like to be so I'm gonna try to just absolutely blitz through these so I can get onto a project that might end up taking a lot of work'

Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There

Note to self: make a post dedicated to this album. It's musically meticulous and thematically compelling, and some of the lyrical work is truly crushing, like you are watching a man crumble slowly over the course of the album's hour-long runtime. It's an absolutely incredible work of art and would be one of my go-tos to demonstrate the unique potential of albums as a format.

With that last note in mind, I would of course recommend a back-to-back listen above all else, but if you must try a song first, I'd suggest the first proper song Chaos Space Marine

Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy

This is one of those warm albums that feel really communal and welcoming. It's got more angry moments - I Saw, for example has a war drum rhythm to it as the vocals on the verse are practically spat out - but for the most part, this is a very laid-back listen that captures an improvisational magic without the drawbacks that usually brings.

The previously mentioned I Saw is definitely my favourite from the album, but as I said, it doesn't exactly embody the album's best features. If you want a song that does that, try Geronimo. The song's lyrics tend to speak on the negative sides of life and the inevitability of it's end, but the music, along with some important glimmers within the lyrics, tell you that there is a beauty to even that.

Mitski - Puberty 2

I hear we're all gay here, so I imagine you all know that Mitski is good by now, but just to confirm, Mitski is good. I had heard Bury Me at Makeout Creek a while ago, and intended to listen to more after that, but the first song I heard outside that album was My Body's Made of Crushed Little Stars, which is a great song, but gave me the total wrong idea of this album. Yes, there is a little more experimentation than I remember being on BMAMC, but I was under the impression that it would be way more abrasive from that first impression, and that's great for 2 minutes, but over a whole album, that'd be a lot, at least for me.

I am glad that I eventually got around to this though, because it was a great album. I would have been particularly worse off never having heard Your Best American Girl. It's an excruciating story of a protagonist who is in love with someone who is of an untenably different culture to themselves, which leads to tension, embodied by parental disapproval. It's a great song delivered with buckets of emotion, particularly when the chorus hits.

Mitski - Be the Cowboy

Honestly, this one didn't hit as much for me, which given everything I heard surprised me. I found that most of these songs ended too quickly to make an impact, and I didn't see anything on the album scale to write home about either. She's still clearly demonstrating her talent, and it's still made up of good songs, but they just lacked the impact of her other two albums for me.

That being said, I did particularly enjoy Nobody. The contrast of the disco-leaning instrumental, along with the pretty bouncy vocal melody against the loneliness the lyrics speak about somehow enhance that feeling of it being out of reach. As if Mitski is being taunted by it. It's very effective.

Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds From Another Planet

I am just now noticing the colour theme of the albums I was listening to around this time. Something about orange and yellow spoke to me this month.

This album is incredible. It's the first true demonstration of what makes Japanese Breakfast such a great project for me. The album is broadly indie pop, but it's the form of indie pop that's special: Michelle Zauner carved a niche sound from materials of the more music nerd side of pop music with the tools of lo-fi and soundtracks. The pop music materials come simply from the quality of the production and somewhat normal song structure which come along with some slight experimentation here and there in regards to the sound of the album, that latter point bringing us to lo-fi, which also gives us that unique comfortable, cozy vibe that you hear with Japanese Breakfast, and then the soundtracks portion comes from her excellent ear for creating the ideal atmosphere for a given song's themes.

All the songs on this album, especially the first half, are amazing and pretty representative of the album's sound, but I really wanna focus on Machinist, a relatively experimental cut. It's a song about a lover not being as vulnerable with you as you'd like and that's great, as is the fact that it's conveyed through a story of a woman falling in love with a literal robot, but the instrumental really sells this. There is a constant battle between mechanical coldness and human warmth in the song best conveyed at the end where a sax solo is accompanied by a robotic synth and very faint, distant, robotic vocals. This woman is a genius.

If you'd like something a little more normal, Boyish is also very good. It's a pretty straightforward song about romantic insecurity. If the narrator and protagonist is reliable, their boyfriend is staring at a waitress instead of their date, who isn't buying his attempts at reassurance, and is desperate to feel equally as seen as the stranger he's enamored with. There's a little unreliability to the narration though, because the sentiment switches from spite to yearning often, from "if you go to her, don't expect to come home to me" to "I can't get you off my mind" (followed by the currently irrelevant, but very witty "I can't get you off in general", love that, 10/10, sad tho). That introduces a layer of personal interpretation though: is it a song about anxiety told through a wholly unreliable narrator or is it actually about your significant other not being especially sexually attracted to you? Both are very interesting, and both seem like valid interpretations to me.

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee

I love this album so much I made a post about it earlier this month, and I'm pretty proud of it, so please check that out if you're interested in reading more than just "it good. It very good"

Kate Bush - The Dreaming

Don't ask me why this is my first Kate Bush album. I could've sworn I saw this on some list ahead of Hounds of Love or having a higher aggregated rating somewhere or something like that but I can't find it anywhere now that I'm looking for it. But anyway, this is a great album. It provided everything I expected from a Kate Bush album, the weirdness, the stylistically all-over-the-place vocals, the general theatricality... But it also took that style in different directions than I expected, such as with the menacing title track about colonialism.

The song I'd recommend would probably be the fairly expectation-aligned Sat In Your Lap though. Honestly, if you've heard a Kate Bush song before, you won't need a taster for the album at all, it's more of that, but if you need to be reassured of that, the opener is a great example of it.

SZA - Ctrl

I didn't get SOS, unfortunately, felt it was a little bloated, but maybe it's worth a revisit, because over an hour of this seems pretty great. SZA's writing is all incredibly authentic and personal, and her vocals drip sweetly over any instrumental tried here. You don't need another stranger on the internet to tell you that this is a must-listen R&B album, but here I am, yet another stranger on the internet calling this a must-listen album.

My favourite from the album is probably Drew Barrymore, a reverb-drenched song about a relationship that is ruined by jealousy and self-hatred on the part of the protagonist. This is my favourite example of vocal honey on this album, too. This, for me, encompasses all the album's strengths brilliantly.

Squid - Bright Green Field

Bright Green Field is arguably the clearest demonstration of Squid's unique sound. It balances the ideals of punk and funk excellently while adding in some kraut-rock and Radiohead-esque ideas too. I think I might prefer O Monolith personally, but this album is both very close in quality and absolutely crucial for the band.

I think if I were to recommend a song from this album, as much as I love Narrator, I imagine it'd be G.S.K. that best positions the album for enjoyment, at least for most people. It sets up a lot of the themes surrounding urbanization and the contrasting of modern life with the natural to demonstrate modernity's absurdity, and does so expertly, while also providing on the instrumental front with that funk-infused post-punk that makes the album so unique.

Squid - O Monolith

As I said in the previous write-up, this is my preferred Squid album. It leans on that Radiohead influence a little more, I think, which is why I'm glad they established their own sound with their debut first, but I think the sound here is just more to my tastes, and better suits their focus on this record, which is hard to pin down, but it feels more broadly mechanical than the previous outing, more rigid.

I think there are a few really good recommendations for songs from this album, but I'll stick with the critique on policing and generally violent power over others afforded to the otherwise powerless: The Blades. This is one of my favourite songs, period, let alone from Squid or off this album. The way it gets in the head of someone whose only access to power is through the violence of law enforcement, and demonstrates the urge to use that power in that environment is just superb. And it demonstrates it all while also criticizing the amount of power they are afforded and how that makes matters even worse. I love it.

Black Country, New Road - For the First Time

Welcome to the best new six-part post-punk debut album! I hear the Slint influence is a little heavy here, but for one, that doesn't really bother me, and two, I haven't heard Slint yet, so I wouldn't know. Regardless, this album is incredible at getting you into a sort of dark groove, and eventually, when the time is right, uprooting that groove and leaving you completely at a loss for what to expect. Even when you've heard the album many times over like I have, there's a part of you that can't keep up with the erratic shifts in the music within individual songs.

That incredible aspect of the album is best portrayed in the album's best track for me, Sunglasses. It touches on so many themes, which makes it hard to pin down exactly what the song is about, but it seems clearly about wealth and delusion in some way. For me, I think it's about the protagonist being seduced by the toxic comfort of wealth and delusion that wealth is earned and not happened upon randomly. It's a complex song though, and I'm sure there are plenty of valid interpretations. It is 9 minutes, but it's so good and dynamic that you are unlikely to feel all that time pass. Give it a listen if you like the sound of everything I've written here!

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

I never really had a resonant experience with instrumental tracks, which really made me skeptical going into this album. I have had plenty of positive experiences with instrumentals, but they're always pretty analytical, I rarely actually feel anything all that strong when listening. Add on top of that the length of the songs, with each of the four tracks being around 20 minutes, and it was a bit of a long shot. That being said though, this did resonate with me. After a stressful day, I just laid back, put this album on and relaxed for an hour and a half and I felt the album eat the stress from inside of me like a growing black hole, sucking up negative emotion. It was so thoroughly uplifting that I couldn't possibly hope to analyze it. It's difficult to recommend the way I usually would, but if you love music, especially stuff in the alternative and indie orbit, I'd suggest giving this a listen when you have some time to kill, especially if you're stressed or otherwise burdened.

Genesis Owusu - STRUGGLER

From an album that is very happy within a small niche, to an album that could be engaged with on some level by anyone, STRUGGLER is a dance-informed neo-soul album (I guess) that really makes use of the medium by using and reusing metaphors from within it's borders to reinforce themes, and explore new elements of that metaphor that consider the already established subtext. It's all very clever concept album stuff, and I always respect when an artist commits to a concept like this, especially ones who can still make songs stand on their own outside of the context of the album. It's very impressive.

I'd probably say Tied Up! is the best shout for a song to try, it's exceptionally groovy and is probably the point in the album where I'd say it really finds it's groove, which is on the late side, so hearing that in advance could reassure you that the album does actually find it's feet eventually.

shame - Food For Worms

This album is a weird one just because it doesn't really stick to a sound all that much. It bounces very quickly between punky songs like Alibis to a softer alternative style in tracks like Adderall a lot and it makes it hard to settle in a way that I think makes the album listening experience worse than if it were, for example, two EPs of comparable style. Of course, stylistic diversity is often a plus, but it has to be done better than this.

The songs are all pretty great in isolation though, especially when it does get a little punkier, such as with the previously mention Alibis (my personal favourite), or the song I'd recommend, lead single Six-Pack. First things first, that guitar sound is absolutely phenomenal. It gives off an erratic feel, and one of a shifting, untrustworthy nature. And then there's that hyped up vocal performance that embodies frustration at the comfortable delusion characterized in the lyrics.

IDLES - Joy As an Act of Resistance

This was incredible. The name pretty much sums it up. It's a post-hardcore album that is very aggressive on the surface level, but will often have a heart of gold, such as with Danny Nedelko, a song that stands in defiant support of immigrants and immigration, named after the writer's friend originally from Ukraine.

The song I'd recommend is largely just aggressive, but still with a pretty warm thesis in the end, and that would be Never Fight a Man with a Perm, a song about pub violence and the silliness of the extreme macho personas on display in those environments.

IDLES - Brutalism

I didn't like this one as much as Joy, but there were still some definite highlights. For one, it is a lot more punk. This album is absolutely punk to the core, and doesn't share the optimism of my preferred album, which does provide a more cathartic experience.

My favourite is probably Stendhal Syndrome, an album about artistic philistines; the type of person to look at an artwork and judge it based solely on the technical ability on display and not the vision of the artist or the art's emotional impact. Plenty is already made of punk's political leanings, but very little is the subculture's love and passion for art at the forefront, and it's good to see that being focused on here.

Blur - The Ballad of Darren

Unfortunately I don't have much to say about this one. I was hopeful going into it because I did quite like St. Charles Square, but almost all of the album just bounced off me leaving no real impression. Maybe it's worth a revisit one day, because I did mostly respect it on an analytical album, but it didn't make me feel much at all. If you like indie rock, maybe it's worth a listen, I hope you like it more than I do.

#chaosincurate #music reccs #music recommendation #indie music #music #indie pop #black country new road #young fathers #mitski #japanese breakfast #kate bush #sza #squid music #godspeed you! black emperor #genesis owusu #shame band #idles band #my month in music

5 notes · View notes

wellfell · 1 year

Text

── 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒. : 06. the haunting of hillh.ouse

disclaimer ; so , this verse is inspired by the novel but is movie friendly and even if i fucked up the timelines , akina will be both present in novel and movie plots . she will be sixteen in novel and twenty six or more in the movie .

they say when you dance inside hillhouse , it dances with you too . the mess of firm walls and clear windows . akina never thought she'd find somewhere so warm and alive until doctor montague invited her in there to help him with a few other people to solve the mystery of paranormal incidents in the hillhouse ; year 1997 , an unwanted guest from tokyo in akina's uncle's house . he wasn't pleased seeing his relatives especially someone like akina , his sister's wicked little girl . the only survivor of the earthquake that took her house and mom and dad and anita . . .

professor montague saw her in a speech he was giving about the history of abandoned houses on the hills , in akina's highschool . an interesting sixteen year old girl , constantly asking him questions unlike the other students that seemed like they could care less .

one cold night akina runs from her uncle's house with a bag and the keys of his car , her journey to hillhouse was swift and safe despite the fact that she worried about the police catching her . she thinks her uncle never liked the car anyway , it was a miracle it hadn't collapsed yet and what better way to get rid of a parasite like akina other than letting her run off with a car that barely worked to an unknown destination ? doctor montague tried to send her back , god knows how long akina tried to convince him that she's ready to do it and she has nowhere to go but hillhouse .

hillhouse was paradise at first ; nell , luke and theodora and doctor montague himself , welcomed their youngest guest . luke was eager to learn some japanese , theo had a sharp tongue and sharper mind , and nell . . . nell seemed like she's finally come home . the house was never quite shy about revealing the unseen and trying to scare them off , even if it was very kind when it came to nell . akina was almost always busy reading the house's history books ; two sisters lived in here , one wicked and one beautiful . a handsome investor lived here with his wife , and the wife killed her baby . an old man with a cane bought it after them , nobody knows where his corpse is . it seems twenty years ago , an earthquake shook hillhouse and left it unstable . akina read through the articles about a japanese man building it up again ; a tall man with a beautiful wife and two daughters . she couldn't find a book that wrote about their time in the hillhouse but some nights she thought if she stared at the man's face long enough in the picture he looked familiar .

day after day , she started seeing her companions lesser inside the house . one day she didn't leave her room , one day she only sat with mrs dudley , sometimes she sat near the river and listened for hours and the water started to sound like it was suffocating someone's screams inside it . the house was getting scarier , the day she heard doctor montague speak to the phone in the other room, everything was made clear . the door was locked , akina was frantically trying to roll the lion shaped doorknob while doctor sighed on the other side of the room . ' ah , i'm glad she made it home mister mori . i will send her bags with a taxi tomorrow , no need to thank me , say hi to her . ' every time doctor montague paused for the other person to talk , akina heard a man's voice from the red room ; polite , gentle , smooth . the house was hiding her , forced her into a game of hide and seek when she wasn't even aware they were playing .

she watched nell drive the car into a tree after a day , a day she spent screaming and trying to get out . it took her two days , and half a sunny day to get out of the maze that was called hillhouse . when she reached mister dudley , she collapsed into the old man's arms with breathless sobs . trembling , crying , the poor man had to take her to his house to get her to calm down . his wife made warm tea , laid a blanket around her shoulders . she was shaking like a leaf . ' the house got me ! the house got me ! '

the crains moved in after doctor montague was done with the house , to make the house prettier . after years she saw the book written by steven crain ; the haunting of hillhouse . and tried to stay away from it until her curiosity won . . .

#hehe ........ i love this verse already #𝒂𝒆𝒔. ── all i do is remember everything you forgot #edits.#𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒. : 07. haunting of hillhouse

4 notes · View notes

meimae · 2 years

Text

1/09/22

久しぶり! It's been a long time since I've written one of these.

I've taken quite a long break from both immersion and blogging, but I think based on my effort from August, I'm finally rested enough to start again.

So, let's dive right into it!

First off, what was I up to in the time I was away? It's honestly going to be a bit of a weird overview this time around, since I'm compiling six months worth of kinda immersing, but I feel its only right to also show my struggles with learning a language. I also pursued some things in real life such as opening a new business that I have been putting more focus on. It's a small venture, but I believe it has potential to be better, so please keep me in your prayers.

All graph images are from a Discord bot that I use to track my immersion for points in a language learning server called The Moe Way. Please feel free to join!

MARCH

February was a great month for me. I read and listened far more than I had ever before and I was and still am very proud of my effort. I think because I was about to hit my two year immersion mark, so I was pushing myself to the limit everyday.

I am quite the competitive person for things I truly desire, and so of course I wanted to beat my previous record. Unfortunately around my birthday in March, I came into a very rough patch which left me really questioning what it is I truly desired to achieve with my whole pursuit of Japanese. It didn't seem like the two whole years of dedication I've had (and the several other years I've tried to get past the beginner stage) for this language would come to fruition soon and if at all. This started my relapse into depression and my descent to, and I'm really sad to say, hopelessness.

Now at this stage I was still immersing quite a bit, but not as much as I had hoped. I still immersed everyday, but with varying consistency levels. I was also very much struggling to stick to one reading material at a time, not because they are disinteresting, but because I was losing my motivation, albeit slowly. By the time the month ended, I didn't even feel like it was worth talking about on my blog anymore, which was not the correct response obviously, but it was my reality and I had to deal with it in some way.

Reading material: Sakura no Uta, Stardew Valley (in Japanese), Steins; Gate, Summer Pockets

Listening material: Youtube, American Life Podcast, Hiikibiiki, Anata no Ban Desu, JP News

APRIL

I didn't give up just yet. With every new month, I always saw a sliver of hope and a chance to try again. The burnout was cruel though, and all my energy tapered off halfway through the month. This still wasn't a bad effort. If anything it looked like my minimum immersion amount when I was just starting, so looking at it now, I can at least still give myself a pat on the back for trying. I also hung out a lot in Discord voice chat and joined immersion streams a lot more so I didn't feel as if I quit entirely.

Reading Material: Fate/Stay Night, Umibe no Kafuka

Listening Material: Youtube, CardCaptor Sakura

MAY

May was my whitenoise era. I talked to my Discord friends a lot, tried every possible thing I could if I found the energy for it, but ultimately was just not in the mood for Japanese, and even if I was, I could not understand anything to save my life which felt like how it was when I was at the height of my depression for every language I knew. The disappointment I felt in myself was unreal and I'm glad I at least had some friends who understood my struggles.

Reading Materials: Shingeki no Kyoujin, Fate/Stay Night, Umibe no Kafuka

Listening Materials: 1 Litre no Namida, CardCaptor Sakura, 100 Man no Onnatachi

JUNE

I don't even have a graph for this month. I mostly just hung around with friends whenever they streamed. I was so excited by a bunch of new reading material, but I was in whitenoise hell and couldn't even enjoy them.

Reading Materials: SpyxFamily, Hakuoki, Fate/Stay Night

Listening Materials: 461 Ko on Obentou, Youtube, Hajimete no Atsukai, Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2 dubs

JULY

Once again, don't have a graph. The worst month of my language learning journey. I swear I have given more effort to studying with textbooks than whatever happened this month. Did however try reading out loud on stream again, and just had fun laughing at my silly pronounciation mistakes with a friend.

Reading Material: Ohayou Ibarahime

Roudoku Material: Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino

AUGUST

And so we finally arrive to August. I felt so much shame and disappointment, nearing my 2.5 year mark without much to show that I tried really hard to correct it with some success! Again, of course it could be better, but with the help and encouragement of friends, at least I'm trying again.

I read 105,126 characters of Fate/Stay Night on the 10th of August and that gave me so much hope that not all was lost. I also crossed the 1M character mark on it which is a really good milestone to reach after struggling for so long. I may still have tripped this month, but it was still way better than the month previous.

Reading Materials: Fate Stay/Night, Sakura no Uta, Shingeki no Kyoujin, Stardew Valley

Listening Material: Porco Rosso

Moral of the Story?

Burnout is real. Depression and anxiety are the worst. Take care of your mental health. Learn when to take breaks and when to distance yourself from things that make you feel bad about your progress.

Find people who you can trust and rely on. Find new hobbies! Pursue new goals! Don't quit and never stop trying.

I love this language. I may have struggled, but I am stronger for it. One day, I'll find my footing again, but for now, just knowing that I have come so far and that I can still have fun and improve this skill is more than enough.

-☆-

Thanks for reading, and I hope that you who waited for me and took the time to read are doing well. ʕ•̀ω•́ʔ✧

#language acquisition #language learning #langblr #studyblr #japanese language #study blog #japanese #language immersion #japanese langblr #japanese studyblr

9 notes · View notes