#cursed princess club bonus short | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raibebe · 5 years

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Softer than expected

Genre: Fluff(?) (some more explicit stuff is mentioned though) Words: 4.516 (I’m sorry this somehow got really out of hand) Prompts: I think I’ve fallen for you, I can’t take my eyes off of you, My heart feels like it’s about to explode For @herlastdancewithhim (I don’t know why it won’t let me tag you...) A/N: I don’t know why this took me so long, I’m really sorry, it’s also not really fluffy but it’s all I could come up with all those lines. I tried really hard to keep it somewhat PG, but if someone wants an extended version, hit me up. Also bonus points to everyone who can spot all the members I’ve hidden not so subtle and who can name the era. Aaaand special thanks to @jookyunhoevercoupshoe for helping me with this one ❤

The air of the club was filled with smoke and sweat and the bass resonated heavy inside your bones but what really took your breath away was the stranger you had been dancing with for the last couple of songs. His bright orange hair had caught your eye in the crowd of people and when you had gotten closer to him, you liked what you saw. He was moving effortlessly to the heavy beat, wearing a plain black tank top which showed off his toned arms nicely and leather pants which seemed to fit around his broad thighs like a second skin. And he wasn’t shy either. When you had shamelessly rolled your body along his to get his attention - because the alcohol buzzing in your veins had whispered to you that it would be a very good idea - he didn’t hesitate to put his strong hands on your hips so you could sway to the beat in union.

It didn’t take long until the atmosphere between you two became more heated. It just needed one particular hard thrust of your hips and you could feel him growl low in his chest before he gripped your hips harder and ground himself against the curve of your ass. His tight pants didn’t really hide anything, making a moan escape your lips while you rested your head on his muscular chest. “You are so hot, babe,” he growled in your ear, letting his teeth graze over your pulse point. Your breath hitched when you could feel him grow against your ass. “You want to take this somewhere else?” You asked, turning around in his hold and pressing your body flush with his.

Instead of answering, the handsome man captured your lips with his plush ones in a heated kiss, letting his actions speak for him. When his teeth softly sank into your bottom lip, you went pliant in his hold, locking your arms around his neck for support and opening your lips to beckon his tongue inside. His tongue moved along yours eagerly, exploring your mouth. Breaking the kiss, he whispered: “Hold on tight, princess,” before grabbing your ass tightly and hoisting you up. Squealing you wrapped your legs around him, now feeling how aroused he really was.

Not caring about what anyone in the crowded club might think of you, he walked the two of you more to the back of the club where he rested your back against a wall in a dark corner before he connected your lips again and ground himself up against your clothed core. Breaking away from him, a moan left your swollen lips. The stranger wasted no time and attacked your neck with gentle nips and open mouthed kisses. “Shit, you can leave marks, it’s okay, babe,” you breathlessly told him, circling your hips in his hold. Cursing and pressing himself tighter against you, he gritted out “Jooheon, my name is Jooheon.” before biting down hard on the sensitive spot right above your pulse point, sucking on the tender flesh.

His name left your lips in a moan, drawing out the second syllable in a plea for more. “Fuck, you sound so pretty moaning my name.” “Then make me moan it until I’m hoarse,” you demanded with another roll of your hips. An arrangement of curses left his lips before he answered. “My roommate is out tonight and my place is not too far from here.” “Then what are you waiting for?” You asked him, gripping the short hair on the back of his neck tightly and kissing his bobbing Adam’s apple. Almost gentle he released his grip on your ass and lowered you back to the ground only to back you up into the wall again, shoving his knee between your legs, making your mouth fall open in a silent moan. He grinned almost animalistic and his hands found your hips again, grinding your clothed core against his muscular thigh. You could already feel the pleasure building inside you just from rubbing yourself against him. “Does that feel good, princess?” Jooheon breathed against the bruise that he had made on your skin. You could just whimper in response, throwing your head back, quickening the pace on his thigh. “Fuck, you look so gorgeous riding my thigh like that. Just imagine what I could do to you once I have you naked in my bed.” You had to use all of your remaining willpower to stop yourself from grinding down on his thigh to chase your high like this. “Then take me there.”

Waking up to the morning sun tickling your face, you carefully got out of Jooheon’s bed, gathering your clothes. You really hoped his roommate wasn’t up yet, you weren’t ready for a walk of shame this early in the morning. Looking back at your lover from last night, you felt somewhat fond of him. His features were relaxed and he was clutching tightly onto his blanket.

You quickly opened some of his drawers before pulling out paper and a pen and scribbling down your phone number and your name. Maybe he would call you, so he could fulfil his promise of making you scream his name.

>>----------------------------------- several months later -----------------------------------<<

Looking yourself up and down in your full length mirror, you were pleased with what you saw. Even though it was your turn to be the designated driver for tonight and you wouldn’t drink nor leave your friends for some hook-up, you still had dolled up: You were wearing your favourite pair of distressed denim jeans and a black top that left most of your back uncovered. One of your roommates had done your make-up as well. It wasn’t much but it accentuated your features nicely.

“Is everyone ready?” You shouted into your shared apartment while slipping on a pair of comfortable black sneakers. After several agreeing shouts, your three roommates emerged from their rooms as well, all dressed very sexy and wearing heels to make up for their short height.

“So where is this party again?” You asked when everyone made their way downstairs to get to the car. “It’s just a short drive downtown,” one of your friends gave you her phone where she had already typed the address into Google Maps. “I really hope the hot dudes from last time will be there as well,” your best friend sighed, throwing her long blonde hair over her exposed shoulders. The last time you four had been to one of those house-parties two weeks ago, a group of really attractive men had been attending as well. Two of them had even danced with some of you but it hadn’t led to anything more even though your friends had apparently slipped them their phone numbers. “You think you can score this time?” You teased while starting the car. “If none of them reacts to me in this dress, they are not interested in girls, I swear to god,” the blonde laughed confidently. “Yeah, your boobs are about to fall out,” another roommate pointed out. “So is your ass,” she retoured and stuck her tongue out.

Your friends bickered like that for the whole drive to the venue which turned out to be a really expensive looking apartment building. “You sure this is the place?” You asked after you had safely parked the car. “It’s the address my friend send me.” Looking up the building you could see colourful LED lights on one of the balconies and if you were quiet you could faintly hear some music.

“Seems to be the place,” one of the girls concluded and pulled you with her to the entrance of the building where a security guard was seated in the lobby, who - by the way he looked at you - already knew you were here for the party upstairs. Before telling you the level you had to go to, he asked you all to show your IDs so no one underage was attending the party. But you had the suspicion he just wanted to take a closer look at your friends in their very revealing clothes.

When you were all stuffed in the small elevator, you repeated the ground rules you had set up when partying: “So, if anyone doesn’t come back home with me, tell me. I won’t drive any hook-ups, so please take a cab then and please no one puke in the car.” Your friends nodded in union. The last time one of your friends had driven a hook-up home with you, it had been more than awkward, so you had decided to add that to your basic rules.

The doors of the elevator opened with a soft noise and you were standing in a big white living room. Exiting the elevator, your jaw dropped open. Not only was the apartment huge but every item in the room looked like it was more expensive than the whole furniture in your entire apartment. Loud EDM music was blasting through various speakers and the room was lit with several mood lights that were changing colour according to the beats of the song. “I feel weirdly out of place,” you confessed to your friends who were equally astonished as you were.

“Welcome ladies,” a deep voice welcomed you. It belonged to a man with ash grey hair who was wearing tight leather pants and a plain white shirt which he didn’t bother to button up all the way, exposing part of his chest. He had been at the last party as well but you couldn’t remember his name and you were pretty sure he was one of the ‘hot dudes’ your best friend had referred to in the car. “I’m Changkyun and this is basically my party, so please enjoy yourselves. If you have any suggestions for music you can tell them to my friend over there,” he pointed to a tall man with platinum blonde hair standing behind actual turntables, who seemed to be really immersed in setting up, hooking up his laptop to one of the devices on the table. “Drinks are in the kitchen which is just over there, feel free to help yourself,” Changkyun pointed his own cup in the direction. “But if you ask nicely I’ll even mix you something special,” he added with a wink and made his way over to another group of girls, swaying his hips to the beat as he went.

“Shit, he’s still hot,” one of you girls commented with a deep sigh which made you and the others burst out in laughter. “Maybe tonight is your lucky night,” you tried to cheer her up and pulled her with you to the kitchen area which seemed equally expensive.

Different bottles of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were littered atop the marble countertops as well as a huge bowl of what seemed like a fruit-punch where a man with shiny dark brown hair wearing a dark choker was adding a deliberate amount of what seemed like rum. In this case deliberate was a whole bottle. After tasting it he seemed not quite satisfied yet and grabbed another bottle and emptied half of it as well. “I’m so getting wasted on that,” your best friend giggled and headed over to the man and leaned next to him on the counter, batting her eyelashes at him. You had to suppress a laugh when his eyes trailed down to her exposed cleavage before his brows set into a deep, disapproving scowl and his gaze was fixed back to her face.

Helping yourself to just coke (or Pepsi since that was all they had) your little group went back to the living room which had become much more packed with people in the meantime and sat down on one of the big white leather couches, enjoying your drinks and observing the crowd, definitely not low-key judging the other women’s clothing, make-up or hair choices. “I really don’t understand why you would wear that baby blue lace top with that weird shiny white skirt,” you said disapprovingly, pointing to a petite girl who was obvioulsy already drunk and tried really hard to get attention from the handsome DJ. “She doesn’t even have the ass for the skirt and her eyeliner is almost connected to her eyebrow,” a male voice jumped in on your conversation and a blonde man with a bright smile sat down next to you and handed over brightly coloured shots to all of you, which you politely declined. Shrugging he just drowned two, not even flinching while your friends were making all kinds of weird faces and tried to immediately wash the taste away with their drinks. “What on earth was that?” If it was possible, the man smiled even brighter, looking mischievous. “Just my special mixture for tonight: raspberry liquor, tequila and lemon juice.” “And why exactly would you mix those three together?” One of the girls asked after she had drowned her punch. “Goes straight to your head, I’ll see you on the dance floor in about ten minutes,” he winked and gathered the shot glasses before disappearing as fast as he had appeared.

He hadn’t been wrong, when the handsome DJ (who had gathered a crowd around him already) played a remix of Sandstorm all of your friends decided it was time to dance. Squished between them, you stared to lose yourself to the beat, swaying your body.

When your clothes started to stick to your body, you excused yourself outside to cool off. Sighing loudly when the cool air of the night hit your heated body, you sat down on a bench, catching your breath. You figured it was already close to midnight and the sky was pitch-black.

“You okay there?” Startled by the voice that ripped you out of your thoughts, you almost fell from the narrow bench if he hadn’t caught your arm to steady you. “Had a drink or two too many?” He asked with a tender voice when he let go of your arm and sat down next to you. “None actually, you just surprised me,” you replied, heart still racing. But when you looked up at him, it almost stopped beating. You would recognise that bright orange hair anywhere: Lee Jooheon.

You and him had hooked up a couple of times a few months ago. The first time both of you were drunk and made out in the back of a club which had led not only to you basically riding his thigh and dry humping him in said club but also to hushed sex in his apartment because he didn’t know when his roommate would be back. A week later he had drunk-texted you, telling you how none of the woman in the club were as hot as you and how badly he wanted to show you what he was actually capable of when he had the time to please you. Why you had agreed to see him that night was still a mystery to you because you had been completely sober and were supposed to just have a chill night in with your friends. It had been worth it though aside from the teasing you had to endure the next week from your friends because your thighs had been covered in hickeys when you had come back home later that night.

After that the hook-ups became somewhat frequent. Your friends had even started to call him your special friend with benefits. But you actually didn’t see him except when you hooked up. You also didn’t really know anything about him apart from his sexual preferences, so you wouldn’t really call him a friend. But it had been exciting. You could basically try anything with him and didn’t have to be ashamed because he couldn’t really judge you and even if he did you could just have ended it and would never see him again. Or that was what you had thought.

Because after a couple of weeks he was suddenly sitting in one of your classes, the bright hair very hard to miss even in the big auditorium. You had hoped that he would just not recognise you in the crowd but because faith hated you, he made friends with some people you studied with from time to time. They had asked whether you knew Jooheon because you were reacting so funny when he had joined your group in the library to study, but you firmly denied and ignored him the whole time he had tried to talk to you.

It might have been childish but you had stopped coming to that study group and chose another one. Also you had just sent him a simple ‘I’m not doing this anymore’ text before blocking his number so he couldn’t text you back. You didn’t really know what you were afraid of but the thought of dealing with him in your daily life when you had done some really explicit stuff with him in the bedroom was just too embarrassing for you.

And now he was sitting in front of you. Fate really did hate you. On top of that Jooheon looked breathtakingly good tonight, you had to admit that: He was wearing a simple black T-Shirt that was nicely fitted to his body. A silver chain was hanging from his neck and his legs were clad in tight black jeans. He had styled his hair upwards exposing his forehead.

You didn’t know what to say or how to react because you had basically ghosted him for the past months. Every time you had spotted his hair in any sort of crowd you had made sure to be surrounded by as many people as possible so he wouldn’t come to talk to you which had worked surprisingly well.

“You look really pretty today,” Jooheon broke the awkward silence and looked you up and down once. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you when you were dancing earlier,” he added, voice barely more than a whisper, leaning closer to you.

Groaning, you pushed him away and buried your face in your hands. “Can we please not do this, Jooheon?” “Do what?” “I told you I can’t do this anymore, not when you are part of my daily life,” you tried to explain yourself, feeling the blush creeping up your face. “We don’t have to do anything. I just tried to be polite and made you a compliment,” he tried to play it down. “I’ve seen you naked, goddammit. You can’t just go around and talk to me like nothing ever happened”, you groaned again and got up, walking towards the railing of the balcony. You needed space. “So if you hadn’t seen me naked, it would be okay if I complimented you?” He asked from where he was still sitting on the bench, voice strained. “Just go back inside, Jooheon. What are you even doing here? It’s not even a college party.” “I’m friends with Changkyun,” he just stated calmly.

After a moment of silence, Jooheon walked up next to you and propped himself up against the railing next to you. “So what are you doing out here all alone, pretty?” He asked in a nonchalant tone. “My name is Jooheon, by the way.” You looked at him with an open mouth. What was he doing? “So you are not going to tell me your name? The more mysterious type, hm?” He continued. Was he pretending he didn’t know you so he could talk to you now? Perplexed you told him your name. “That’s a really pretty name. Are you a student?” He was really going through with this. And it didn’t seem like he just wanted to hook-up again. He sounded genuinely interested even though he knew damn well that you were a student. Narrowing your eyes at him, you just nodded. “Oh wow, me too. Strange that we would meet here at a party that’s not related to college. So what are you studying?” “I’m a journalism major,” you answered truthfully and actually interested in what Jooheon was studying that he was in a class with you. He didn’t really strike you as the type to take literature courses but you really didn’t know much about him. “How funny, we might share some classes. I’m in music production but I’m taking some classes to get better at writing lyrics,” he grinned at you, his sweet dimples showing. You had never really paid attention to them but somehow his bright smile made your heart flutter. “Well, what kind of music are you making?” You asked to keep the conversation going.

Just like that you both got immersed in talking not only about his studies and the music he was making but also talking about just life in general, your friends and a very heated discussion about which dumplings were the best ones. “I see, I can’t blame you for being entitled to your wrong opinion,” Jooheon started explaining when the discussion was heading nowhere, “So I might just have to take you out and proof that you are wrong.” You didn’t know how to react. Even though you had forgotten everything Jooheon and you had done prior to this evening and the conversation you had was more than enjoyable and you had laughed a lot, you still had done those things. Could you just go on a date with a guy that you had slept with multiple times?

But before you could answer, the door to the balcony was sliding open and a giggling couple was coming outside. Cursing under his breath Jooheon pulled you close to him, hiding you two from the couple behind a plant. Standing there, face basically pressed against his strong chest, your heart began beating furiously. Every complaint about his action got stuck in your throat not only due to the sudden proximity to him but because the couple was no longer giggling but making very lewd noises. You felt a blush creeping up your face. How did you always end up in these awkward situations?

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Jooheon cursed and looked around the plant you were hiding behind. Risking a peek through the leaves you also looked at the couple: A petite blonde girl was sitting on the lap of a really bulky man with black hair. His hands were currently coming down from her sides to grab a handful of her ass and grind her against his crotch which made both of them moan, breaking their kiss. Having seen enough you buried your head in Jooheon’s chest. “How do I bleach my eyes?” You groaned which made him chuckle silently but you could feel him vibrate beneath you. “That’s not even the worst I’ve seen Hyung do,” he confessed. “Well, make him stop. I don’t want to be in the same room when she sucks him off or something.” Suppressing another laugh Jooheon pulled out his phone and typed a quick message.

A few moments later the door to the balcony opened again and an angry shout disrupted the moans the couple was making. A tall man with brown hair, tan skin and a shirt which also was only buttoned halfway, exposing a smooth and well trained chest, had entered and began scolding the other man about behaving when he was in public and how he did not care what the other would do as long as it happened behind closed doors. Clearly embarrassed the girl untangled herself from the bulky man and hurried inside, rearranging her clothes and hair.

“Also where is Jooheon anyways that he saw you?” The tan man asked the other one whose skin seemed almost unhealthily white next to him. “Last time I saw him he was venting to Kyunnie about that girl he used to see.” “The one who broke his heart?” The rest of the conversation was getting lost while they shut the door behind them when they went inside.

Disbelieving what you just heard, you looked up at Jooheon. “Were they talking about me?” Sighing, he avoided your gaze and looked into the night instead. He looked so vulnerable, dark eyes reflecting the lights of the city like little stars. “I... I broke your heart?” “You weren’t supposed to hear that, you know?” “But I did,” you whispered and grabbed his hands. You couldn’t stand seeing him like this. He was supposed to smile and show you his beautiful dimples.

Sighing again he turned to look at your intertwined fingers. “You know... I... I think I’ve fallen for you back all those months. I really wanted to just get to know you more but you basically always fled right after. And then you just decided to block me and avoid me in classes. I’m not usually a person to just fuck around, you know? That first time was an accident. I’ve never done anything like that before. But I just wanted to keep seeing you, couldn’t get you out of my head. Still can’t...”

He lifted his gaze and looked directly into your eyes. His face was an open book and it read hurt all over it. You hadn’t even realized that you could have hurt him with your behaviour, having thought he was just one of those fuckboys. But of course he wasn’t. He had always been somewhat sweet and had put your pleasure over his. Had always invited you to stay over just a little longer and had held you close when you both were coming down from your highs, pressing little kisses and gentle touches to the skin he had abused minutes before where little red marks were forming.

“What can I do to make it up to you?” You asked silently, wanting to comfort him. Jooheon looked at you for a long time as if he was searching for the answer somewhere on your face, his thumbs slowly stroking the back of your hands. “Close your eyes, please,” he asked eventually.

Without thinking any further, you did as you were asked. Seconds later you could feel his soft, plush lips on yours in a chaste kiss. You had kissed him before but this was different. Almost pure. It made your stomach flutter and your insides turn. Humming softly, you let go of his hands and put them around his brought shoulders instead to pull him close and into another kiss. Sighing Jooheon rested his hands on your hips caressing the skin where your shirt had ridden up.

When you broke the kiss, Jooheon leaned his forehead against yours and smiled brightly and you couldn’t stop yourself from breathlessly giggling. “My heart feels like it’s about to explode,” he confessed, pressing a quick kiss to the tip of your nose. “How did I not notice how soft you actually are?” You grinned and poked one of his dimples. “Excuse me, but I’m obviously super badass,” he deadpanned but couldn’t hold the expression for very long, chuckling softly. “Of course, I’m very sorry,” you replied, kissing both his dimples. “So, have you thought about the dumpling-date?”

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swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual · 5 years

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Wanna know some things I found out about Danganronpa??

If not, scroll past—I apologize that this is probably gonna be a long post, but it's all under a read more so it *should* be fine.

Also, spoilers.

Basically, I wanted to find out about what order they stood in during class trials, and if there were any patterns to it. There are... at least a couple of patterns here.

This takes from Danganronpa 1, 2, and V3, otherwise known as Trigger Happy Havoc, Goodbye Despair, and Killing Harmony. Please note I never got to actually play the games (hi I’m broke), but I do at least know what happens in them (with my knowledge of Goodbye Despair being the most lacking of the three).

1- This is right in front of Monokuma. Those who stood here are Aoi Asahina, Mikan Tsumiki, and Tsumugi Shirogane. Patternwise, there isn’t much. They’re all pretty different! But they all seem to have a shtick (in one word: Donuts, Cries, Plain. This does disservice to poor Mikan, tho). Also, should have been a hint to Tsumugi being... YEAH but this really doesn’t mean much. Although, if you shift Asahina to second and put the first one as the “empty” stand in the game, then it’s all filled with fairly insane women. All women regardless.

2- to the right of 1, or to our left, we have Mondo Owada, Nagito Komaeda, and Korekiyo Shinguji. Ignoring Mondo, we have the match made in hell that is Komaeda and Shinguji, or as I like to call them, Crazy Lucky and Folklore Cunt. Everyone in this spot has died, and if we count Komaeda as a blackened, then they’re all blackened. Also, all boys.

3- Kyoko Kirigiri, Ibuki Mioda, Angie Yonaga. Ignoring Kyoko (you’ll note a lot of ignoring of the first ones, don’t mind it too much), we have some pretty, ah, positive? *energetic* characters. They’re all pretty interesting characters too!! If you play the first game for the bad end, the ones in this spot die. But, again, if you play the correct end, then Kyoko is safe, and the ones in this spot are victims. They’re also usually convienient or circumstantial victims (again, ignore Kyoko). Another set of just girls.

4- Sakura Ogami, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, Maki Harukawa. This is a spot for some SCARY, but usually secretly at least a little nice and kind of soft, characters. These are the ones that are tough as nails and definitely could (and even might) kill you, whether by their own hands or another’s. However, none of these characters have been exactly murdered (although Sakura doesn’t exactly LIVE and Kuzuryu does get injured).

5- Uh. “Junko Enoshima”, Akane Owari, Ryoma Hoshi. These are. Well. It’s a wild card. Put whoever here, but they better have SOME kind of affect on others. Two of them die, and one of them has a failed execution. Two of them directly defy Monokuma, and the third pretty much let themselves die as a victim. So...

6- Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Gundam Tanaka, Kirumi Tojo. This is an intense sort of set, although Kirumi is intense in a... different sort of way. These tend to be characters that help take care of others in some way, and they all die generally with the goal to help someone out, in some way. Ignoring Ishimaru, these guys might be gothic in some way. The ones here may have good intentions but might’ve gotten a little lost on the way. They also tend to have interesting moral codes and understandings of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

7- Sayaka Maizono, Hiyoko Saionji, Kaito Momota. These tend to be optimistic characters with a hidden (or not so hidden) morally grey or outright “bad” side. They might be good people, they might not be, but they usually die (two in an interesting turn of events).

8- This is the Ahoge Club. This is where the main characters are. We should have never been surprised in V3 once the trial started, but ah well. Here are Makoto Naegi, Hajime Hinata, and Shuichi Saihara. The ahoge boys here are all protags, and all live. Their ideas of hope, of right or wrong... well, that’s up in the air, and maybe in the opinion of the person playing. (But if you’re making a fanfic or a fan game or what not, this is where your protag stands—it right across from Monokuma!)

9- Hifumi Yamada, Mahiru Koizumi, Miu Iruma. All victims, although two of them are a taaaaad more complex than ‘just victims’. Highly opinionated people. But also creative! Gosh this is starting to sound like a zodiac post, or one of those posts where it’s like ‘traits of different drinks, tag which one you are’. (which danganronpa trial, where you either find the culprit or die, stand are YOU??)

10- Toko Fukawa, Kazuichi Soda, Kiibo (K1-B0). These all make it to the final mastermind trial! They generally have some sort of thing that makes it harder for them to interact with others. These are emotional characters, generally. They all have some strange quirks about them, but are generally (when not taken over by, say, alternate personalities or controlled by an audience or something silly like that!) good people... goodish people.

11- Leon Kuwata, Peko Pekoyama, Tenko Chabashira. Athletic! They all die. Although, usually with certain circumstances involved. Of them, two of them have someone they’d be willing to die (or kill) for. And they do!! (I almost feel bad for Leon on this one.) They also had some kind of ‘locked room’ aspect, or more accurately, some kind of particular trick (and two of them had a sort of ‘signature’ to either their own death or to the person they killed) to their cases that helped crack it open once discovered (door knob, sword care seESAW). I think blood helped all, if not just two, figure out the actual killer in their cases. They also all had someone explicitly pointed to as the culprit in their case who was NOT the culprit.

12- Celestia Ludenberg, Teruteru Hanamura, Kokichi Ouma. The trio of liars (although much more notably Celestia and Kokichi). They all die, and it’s usually a very, VERY convoluted case (less so for Teruteru though). Do you want a headache? Hey it’s these guys! Although they can also be very INTERESTING characters. (Again, Teruteru tends to draw the short straw, whoops.) I’d say Celestia and Kokichi are match made in hell, but seriously that title belongs to Crazy Lucky and Folklore Cunt. T r u s t m e. It’s still not a great match and I definitely want it to not happen (and if it did I’d cry and eat popcorn watching it—actually I think they meet in, like, some kind of bonus mode for V3... might need to look that up later).

13- Byakuya Togami, Sonia Nevermind, Himiko Yumeno. The Scholar, The Princess, The Mage. Ever thought 13 was unlucky? Wrong! These all live. Like. Through the *entire game*. Excluding Himiko (wow, excluding V3 for once!), these are more fine society folks, although they all tend to have strange or occult interests of some kind. They tend to be smart in some way, probably, and might have interesting ideas of what happened. They might also say strange or otherwise “out of turn” things. But they live!! Somehow!! How did no one murder Togami!!

14- Chihiro Fujisaki, Nekomaru Nidai, Kaede Akamatsu. All of you die, how unfortunate. Usually a somehow sacrificing character, and probably died with the best intentions of the group at heart. And this is why Kaede didn’t stay the Protagonist. But these characters are all caring characters (although usually in their own ways). So if you ARE making content, and you have that sweet cinnamon roll you’re going to viciously kill in horrifying ways, this is an option for you!

15- Yasuhiro Hagakure, Chiaki Nanami, Gonta Gokuhara. The cinnamon roll you put here might not die, but if you’re looking for a place to make a cinnamon roll murder, then this is the place for you! Yasuhiro actually lives, though, so there is that. The ones here might not have the best fate in store for them, unfortunately. But! They are the kind of innocent, generally secretly wise kind. Generally. They might not get along totally with their classmates, not necessarily by faults of their own (although, avoiding Yasuhiro is,,,, understandable). These characters have their shtick and they stick to it, golly gosh darn it. Also, they might not quite seem to ‘fit’ with their talent (Yasuhiro is kinda a conman despite having actual clairvoyance, Chiaki is a sleepy girl, and Gonta is by far my favorite but oh gosh he is a terrifyingly large man who cares for tiny, TINY insects). These characters are smart, but in independent, potentially obscure ways. They might also be gullible. They also might be lacking a major part of ‘common’ knowledge. ... I wrote more about these guys than intended, ha.

16- “Empty”, “Byakuya”, Rantaro Amami. These characters are NOT who they say they are, generally. There’s quite a bit of mystery to these guys!! Unfortunately, they’re always gone (or, in Empty’a case, hiding) before the first trial even begins (and have twice been the first victim). This spot is basically the first victim spot, so it has yet to ever actually have someone stand in it (maybe it’s cursed, maybe it’s *convenience*).

In short! The first ones are usually ones to watch out for, second one has some nutty (or at least intense) characters that will die in some actually insane way, third is for some misunderstood characters, fourth are the intense scary ones that will not be killed by mortal hands other than their own, fifth is for some. INTERESTING characters. Sixth is for some more interesting characters, serious and caretaking type that will definitely die edition. Seventh has some morality issues and will ALSO die probably DUE to those morality issues, eigth has our Ahoge Squad, Nineth is the very blunt victim squad. Tenth is for making it to at least the last trial with some quirky quirks, eleventh is for more definitely dying with a blade likely involved even though you are athletic and YOU KNOW BETTER, twelfth is for liars and dying, thirteenth is if you wanna live. Fourteenth is being a good person and not really deserving the death you got, fifteenth is for unusual but interesting/unique intelligence folks. And sixteenth is for if you never even made it to the trial grounds in the first trial.

And there! That’s it!! Take this! I want a nap! Tell me if you find any other patterns!!

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imjustthemechanic · 6 years

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Natalie Jones and the Golden Ship

Part 1/? - A Meeting at the Palace Part 2/? - Curry Talk Part 3/? - Princess Sitamun Part 4/? - Not At Rest Part 5/? - Dead Men Tell no Tales Part 6/? - Sitamun Rises Again Part 7/? - The Curse of Madame Desrosiers Part 8/? - Sabotage at Guedelon Part 9/? - A Miracle Part 10/? - Desrosiers’ Elixir Part 11/? - Athens in October Part 12/? - The Man in Black Part 13/? - Mr. Neustadt Part 14/? - The Other Side of the Story Part 15/? - A Favour Part 16/? - A Knock on the Window Part 17/? - Sir Stephen and Buckeye Part 18/? - Books of Alchemy Part 19/? - The Answers Part 20/? - A Gift Left Behind Part 21/? - Santorini Part 22/? - What the Doves Found Part 23/? - A Thief in the Night Part 24/? - Healing Part 25/? - Newton’s Code Part 26/? - Montenegro Part 27/? - The Lost Relic Part 28/? - The Homunculinus Part 29/? - The End is Near Part 30/? - The Face of Evil Part 31/? - The Morning After Part 32/? - Next Stop Part 33/? - A Sighting in Messina Part 34/? - Taormina Part 35/? - Burning Part 36/? - Recovery Part 37/? - Pilgrimage to Vesuvius Part 38/? - The Scent of Hell Part 39/? - She’ll be Coming Down the Mountain Part 40/? - Stowaways Part 41/? - Bon Voyage Part 42/? - Turnabout Part 43/? - The Apple Part 44/? - Vesuvius Wakes Part 45/? - Fire At Sea

Today was a much better writing day.

They chose the panels that disguised the ship’s smokestacks. Not only would a fire there be easily visible, but it was also away from most of the people. As a bonus, the huge slats with the Zodiac Lines logo were entirely decorative, so burning them wouldn’t interfere with sailing the ship. Clint slipped a fire arrow into an overhanging part from on the Lido deck, and then they wandered off to the other end of the ship before he pressed the button to set it off.

It took a few minutes, during which time they’d all pretended to be interested in somebody’s game of shuffleboard. Then a fire alarm began to ring.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you could all please get your lifejackets and go to your designated emergency meeting points, Director Cunha’s voice said over the PA. This is just a precaution. We are not abandoning ship. There is a small fire on the superstructure but it is no cause for alarm.

“Where are the assigned meeting places?” asked Jim.

“They’re posted on the insides of the cabin doors,” Nat said. “They’re places like the clubs and the theatres that can hold large groups of people and have sound systems to give them instructions. And they’re all down in the bottom of the ship, because that’s where lifeboat access is.”

“Which means we can set more of the top on fire,” said Clint cheerfully.

“Are you enjoying this?” asked Sir Stephen.

“It’s probably more fun than lobster races,” Jim observed.

“Damn right,” Clint agreed. “The little bastards refused to run in a straight line!”

“I’m so glad the fate of the world is in safe hands,” said Nat.

It was hard to imagine that a cruise ship, a giant vessel with nearly three thousand people on board, could do anything quickly, but the crews did regular emergency drills and they had it down to a science. The passengers had less practice and were more likely to panic, but they’d been through a quick emergency muster drill just before leaving port, so the information about what to do and where to go was still fresh in their minds. All Nat and the others had to do was not get swept up in the crowds as they hurried to their meeting points.

They accomplished this by hiding among the tubes and smokestacks, while crew calmly shuffled the people who’d been on the deck below along to their meeting places. Others handed out lifejackets. Passengers complained and refused to leave their martinis behind. A woman carrying a bichon frise shouted angrily in Italian at the steward who told her she would have to leave the dog in her stateroom, and had to be escorted below decks by a couple of security personnel. More crew arrived with some industrial-strength fire extinguishers to put out the blaze.

“Now for the big one,” said Clint. He fitted an arrow to the string and aimed it straight up in the air, and a little ahead and to the right, to compensate for the movement of the ship and the prevailing winds. It was the sort of shot Natasha would have thought nobody, not even a trained sniper, could just make on the fly… but some part of Clint Francis was still Robin of Barton, the greatest marksman who’d ever lived. He had an instinct for it that was nearly as magical as Sam’s ability to talk to birds. The arrow went up, and then it came down, right into one of the smokestacks, where it exploded.

Now it was time to panic. Not only had the smokestack blown up, but black smoke was pouring out of the hole – from a smoke arrow, of course.

“How many of those things do you have?” asked Sam.

“Oh, I had those two kids come down to the farm for a while and we tossed ideas around,” Clint replied cheerfully. “Laura taught them to milk the cows, the sheep, and the goat, and then told them they were doing so well they might as well try the pigs.”

“Nobody milks pigs,” Jim protested.

“That’s the joke,” Clint said with a nod. “Although it sure was fun to see them try!”

Several alarms were going now. Clint set off a couple more fire arrows just to drive home the gravity of the situation, and then they crouched among the slats and pipes and watched as the crew began to launch the lifeboats.

This is just a precaution, she heard Director Cunha’s voice over the PA. I’m sure once they have the fire out we’ll all be back on board in time for a nice nightcap! There was a slightly manic edge to this announcement, and Nat wondered if the woman were remembering what had happened in the casino and wondering what the hell was going on.

There were twelve boats down each side of the ship. Nat counted as they hit the water in the gathering dark. The PA started to call specific names, looking for people who’d failed to show at the meeting points. One of the names was Herr Isaak Neustadt, but it was only announced once. They asked for Madame Helene Desrosiers several times before giving up. In the gathering dark, the twenty-fourth passenger lifeboat hit the water with a splash.

“Okay,” said Nat. “The captain and a skeleton crew will still be on the bridge. We need to get rid of them.”

“Should I put the fire out now?” asked Clint.

“No,” said Nat. “Wait until we’re moving again. We can’t put it out until they can’t get back on board. Now split up – as far as I can tell there are two entrances to the bridge, and we’ll have to surround the remaining crew.”

They climbed down, broke into two groups, and headed for the front of the vessel. They didn’t run, because they didn’t want to arrive out of breath, but they walked with a purpose.

“Why don’t people milk pigs?” asked Allen, who’d gone with Sam, Clint, and Natasha – Sir Stephen, Sharon, Desrosiers, and Jim were on the other side. “Aren’t pigs supposed to be the animal with the physiology most like humans? You’d think pig milk would be the best for us.”

“Have you ever tried to milk a pig?” asked Clint.

“Well, no,” Allen admitted.

“They don’t appreciate it.”

“What about horses?” Allen wanted to know.

“People do milk horses,” Clint said.

“And the nomadic peoples in Siberia milk their reindeer,” Natasha added.

They climbed the outdoor steps from the Lido Deck to the Stargazer, and from there Nat vaulted the railing and dropped onto the catwalk to the bridge. Over the alarms she couldn’t hear if the group on the other side had made it, but she believed in them.

“Masks,” she reminded everyone. They’d ‘borrowed’ re-usable bags from the shops on board, cut holes in them, and now tied them over their heads as masks. It wasn’t the surest way of concealing their identities, especially with Sharon and Natasha still in rather distinctive evening dresses, but they were improvising.

Clint kicked the bridge door down.

Inside, crew members were assessing damage, trying to find the source of the fire that they assumed must be in an engine room, while the first mate demanded to know why new fires kept starting instead of the original one going out. The captain, a Frenchman, was rubbing his temples as if he had a migraine coming on. Everybody was wearing lifejackets already, which was good – it would make what happened next much faster.

The nearest crew member noticed the door opening and turned, and was surprised to see Natasha. In her pink dress with a bag over her head, she must have been quite a sight.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked. “Are you passengers?”

“We’re pirates,” said Natasha calmly, and punched him in the face.

The fight that followed was frenzied, but short. Those who could took down the crew members in whatever way they could – mostly with fists and feet, but Sharon had a gun and was happy to use threats. Desrosiers opened what appeared to be a makeup compact and blew some of the contents in the Captain’s face, whereupon he staggered back and fell over.

“You couldn’t have just filled the bridge with that stuff?” asked Sam, punching a sailor in the stomach.

“I only had one dose, which I was saving for Newton,” said Desrosiers. “You’re just lucky he hadn’t done anything to make me use it yet.”

One by one, they felled the sailors and dragged them out to throw them over the side. Their lifejackets would keep them afloat, and Nat could see the lights on the lifeboats moving to pick them up. People must be wondering what was going on.

“Twelve!” she said, throwing a groaning woman over. Nat had broken her wrist.

“Lucky thirteen!” Sharon pushed a man over after.

“And the Captain makes fourteen.” Sir Stephen had carried him out, slung across his shoulders, and tossed him down to join the rest. “I believe that’s the last of them.”

“There are probably some emergency workers and crew members still on board,” Nat said, “but we can take them as they appear.” She brushed her hands off on her skirt and pulled her mask off, then looked around at the others. “Where’s Jim?”

Other masks came off, and people looked around. There’d been eight of them who’d set off for the bridge, but now there were only seven. Nat’s stomach sank… perhaps Jim had been injured in the fighting, and something had hit him in the neck? If they looked around the bridge, would they find another empty tuxedo lying there?

“We can worry about him in a minute,” Sharon decided. “Right now, before the people in the lifeboats decide to do anything about the fact that it’s raining sailors, we need to get underway. Does anybody know how this boat works?” She looked at Natasha, then at Sam, as the most likely people. “I’m sure we can figure it out, but it would be easier if somebody knows.”

“I’m good at boats,” Clint offered.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Good at boats?” he asked.

“When I was a kid we took a boat across the Channel, and I got to visit the bridge,” said Clint. “I can do it.”

It was therefore Clint who took the wheel. Somebody had left their peaked cap, complete with embroidered Zodiac Lines logo, on one of the instrument panels. He picked it up, spun it in the air, and then put it on his head. “All right, furl the sails! Man the crow’s nest!”

“We don’t have any sails,” said Nat, already regretting this.

“And we are the crow’s nest,” Sam added. The bridge was high up on the ship to give it the best view of the surrounding ocean.

“Humour me,” said Clint. “Engines should be this one if I remember correctly.” He took the handle of the chadburn and pumped it forward. “Full speed ahead!”

They felt the same shudder run through the vessel, which had been stopped, as had when they’d left port in Naples. Nat looked out, and saw them begin to move relative to the lifeboats.

“Hard a’port!” Clint declared, spinning the wheel left.

“That’s starboard!” Nat, Sharon, and Sam all said at the same time.

“Hard a’whatever!” he said cheerfully. “We’re turning around!”

#fanfic #steve rogers #natasha romanov #clint barton #sam wilson #sharon carter #bucky barnes

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codename-bewareofthefangirl · 7 years

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Can I have your view on what kind of fathers you think the KnB characters will be? For the Kaijou boys (Kise, Kasamatsu, Moriyama) and Touou (Aomine + Imayoshi) with bonus Haizaki and Hanamiya?

Hi dear! HereI am with your headcanons, I hope youâ€™ll be satisfied!

Have a niceday!

Kise, Kasamatsu,Moriyama, Aomine, Imayoshi, Haizaki, Hanamiya Fathers HCS

Kise Ryouta

-The over-doting father. He loves his children somuch, everybody knows about them because he talks about them continuously.Proud and fond. Yeah, the wallpaper of his phone is a photo of/with them.

-Plays with them a lot, at everything they want.Girlish or boyish games, it doesn’t matter: he can do both, at the same time ifneeded. Having his hair braided as he fights with a paper sword? No problem.

-He learns to cook and bake and uses it to keep thechildren calm but happy after a long day. Baking cookies is always thesolution.

-Goes to every event and takes a lot of photos. Toomany photos. He has albums and albums that he treasures deeply.

-Enjoys spending time together and, as they grow andspend more time outside, he pouts because he misses them. However, he supportsthem in everything with enthusiasm.

-Strict about studying and house-chores, even if he’suseless at helping them with homework. He talks problems out taking his timeand listening to what his children say.

-Incredibly cold and severe with possible suitors.

-He likes to lightly tease his children about everything,revealing his childish side. And he still likes gossiping.

-Can be a bit overwhelming but well, he’s grown in afull adult so he has learnt when to stop or how to restrain himself, don’t underestimatehim.

-Everybody loves him: teachers, professors, other parents,grannies at the park…He smiles and they swoon.

KasamatsuYukio

-Grumpy Dad that actually is softer than the partner.He’s the strict one and wants his children to grow up as honest, brave andgood-willed, but he’s an undeniable soft spot for them. They’re his treasure.

-None of his children, and the children of theirfriends, wants to make him mad. Never. He doesn’t raise his voice nor he loseshis temper with them, but the stern glare of disapproval is enough to make themtremble. He uses sharp, cold, simple words to scold them and they’re are supereffective.

-His quick smile as he ruffles their hair, however, it’sso shiny and warm that fills them with pride and desire to do their best.

-He’s supportive in a silent way, protective from afarand he trusts them with all his heart. He gets really angry when they lie,since he prefers an honest and direct confrontation.

-All the women of the neighborhood have a crush on himand praises how a good father he is. He doesn.t notice and he’s polite to themanyway, thing that makes them go even crazier over Kasamatsu. Some Husband Material.

MoriyamaYoshitaka

-The father that wants to be Cool but isn’t. He trieshis best for the children but results into being a bit goofy. (His childrenlove him the same, even if they can be exasperated by his antics)

-He’s usually very chill but if he discovers his princessor prince has a suitor, he’s going to lose his head. No way in hell theydeserve him/her.

- He’s the one going shopping with them, to check howthey want to dress to go out. He’s not to over-protective but about some thingshe wants to educate them well. He learns how to paint nails and do make-up forthem, so that they don.t exaggerate or go out too trashy.

-Gets sulky and depressed easily after a fight or ifthey ask him to stop “trying to look young”.

Aomine Daiki

-The Chill Dad that actually isn’t chill at all. He’sconfident that his children will grow smart and strong and likes to leave themfree to choose and live wildly, however inside he freaks out a lot. And not onlyinside.

-For example, he lets them free to roam in the woodsduring holidays as much as they want, but then spends time looking out from thewindows. If they’re not home for dinner in time, he immediately dashes out tosearch for them. He’s the one who treats bruises and cuts. He goes to pick themup at night when they’re out with friends.

He literally freaked out the day the first was born.He was so scared to pick them up, afraid to crush or let them fall. For thefirst weeks, whenever he had them in his arms he wouldn’t move of an inch. Thenhe slowly got used to it and got confident in his abilities as father. (Toomuch, seeing how high he would throw them in the air. But he’s never let themfall once)

-He teaches them how to play basketball but neverforces them into it. He’s the first one who hates being forced to do something,so he restrains himself and lets them choose the club. He also teaches them thebasics of street-fighting and self-defense.

-Not good with words, but if necessary he’s going tohave the talk with them about whatever problem they have. It.s going to begoof, harsh but not rude, clear and concise. Maybe while walking, out of nowhere.

-He’s still harsh, cursing and short-tempered, but withhis children mellows a lot. Other dads are intimidated by him: he wins every competitionat festivals and it’s hella competitive. Funny thing? The other children,classmates or friends of his, actually loves him a lot and after the first meetingthey do not fear him anymore. In the end, he trains an entire team ofbasketball chicks.

-He smacks them on the head when misbehaving.

Imayoshi Shoichi

-The ultimate Chill Dad. Except from serious injuriesor behavioral problems, he never loses his composure.

-The majority thinks he doesn’t care much about hischildren just because he seems a bit cold or doesn’t fuss over them. Wrong. Heknows everything about them, everything. He doesn’t need them to talk, he can seeit from the way they act or their facial expressions. A silent, but attentiveobserver.

-When they were little, he read them fables or otherbooks before bedtime. He’s also the one checking their homework and helpingwith the studies.

-When he.s mad, he just needs a cold glare and a wordto make them apologize and reflect on what they have done. Really scary.

-Sudden manifestations of affection embarrass andthrow him off, but deep down he loves them.

Haizaki Shougo(He’s always difficult because I don.t find him a good character.However, I’ll give him a second chance and imagine that growing up he’s becomea better person)

-Still harsh and short-tempered, very brusque. He’shard and strict with his children because he doesn’t want them to become as hewas.

-However, he likes to spoil them when they don’texpect it, just to watch how they brighten up.

-He hates meeting other parents or teachers, so hetries to avoid it as much as he can. If he has to, he tries to behave becausehe doesn’t want to put the children in a difficult situation, but it’s verydifficult when he’s being judged so evidently.

-Unexpectedly, he loves cuddling with them beforebedtime. Their presence is soothing for him.

HanamiyaMakoto (same for Haizaki)

-It’s not easy for him to be a father, be he tries. Hetries hard. And he wants them to be better than he had been.

-Most difficult thing? Teaching them how to be honestand correct and at the same time how to be smart and able to survive in thisworld, especially because it’s still hard for him too.

-He’s surprisingly protective of his children’sdreams. He wants them to achieve them to any cost and supports them as much ashe can.

-He’s an awful tease, about everything. His childrenare afraid to bring their friends at home, knowing they won’t be spared.

-Too cunning to not notice something, but usuallyprefers his children coming and talking to him. If it doesn’t happen, he throwsin the conversations remarks and allusions to let them understand he knows andis waiting.

-He checks the homework and goes to talk with teacherswhen needed. He has them wrapped around his fingers.

#kuroko no basket #knb #kise ryouta #Kasamatsu Yukio #Aomine Daiki #Moriyama Yoshitaka #imayoshi shoichi #haizaki shougo #hanamiya makoto #dad headcanons #father headcanons #dad #father #children #Kasamatsu Is Some Husband Material #Aomine is cute #Kise likes playing #always conflicted with Haizaki and Hanamiya

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jenniferfaye34 · 4 years

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#Giveaway + Excerpt ~ Kronicles of Korthlundia by Jamie Marchant... #books #fantasy #readers

GENRE: Epic Fantasy

“Magic, love, hate, torture, heroes, and a story that will never stop blowing your mind!” Cheree~For Love of Books

The three volumes of The Kronicles of Korthlundia plus The Ghost in Exile: A Korthlundian Kronicle brought together for one low price. In addition to the novels, the collection features several bonus short stories, previously available only to members of my readers’ club.

The Goddess’s Choice--In a world where the corrupt church hides the truth about magic, the fate of the joined kingdom falls on the shoulders of two young people from opposite ends of the social hierarchy.

Crown Princess Samantha’s life begins to fall apart when she starts seeing strange colors around her potential suitors. She fears that she’s going insane--or worse that she’s defying the Goddess’s will. Robrek is a lowly farm boy with incredible magical powers. He has been biding his time waiting to get revenge on those who call him a demon.

Thrown together by chance, they must overcome their differences to fight their common enemy Duke Argblutal, who, with dark magic, is slowly poisoning the king’s mind and turning him against his own daughter. Time is running out for those chosen by the Goddess to prevent the power mad duke from usurping the throne and plunging the joined kingdoms into civil war.

The Soul Stone-- A match made by the goddess is threatened by an Ancient Evil.

As Samantha and Robrek prepare for their marriage and coronation, they are met with opposition on all sides. Not all believe that the peasant sorcerer is worthy to be king, and the young couple must perform delicate political maneuvers to prevent the joined kingdoms from breaking apart.

As the church splits over opposition to their union, an unseen force is poised to release an ancient evil that was last defeated a thousand years ago. When the Soul Stone is broken free of its bonds, all life in its path succumbs to its power. How much will the new royal couple have to sacrifice to free the joined kingdoms of its evil?

The Ghost in Exile—A special Kronicle outside of the series that tells the story of Darhour. The novel takes place at the same time as The Soul Stone. The Ghost is going to hell. Not even the goddess can forgive his sins: assassin, oath-breaker, traitor (an affair with the queen earned him that title). No one can ever learn the princess is his daughter. To keep this secret, he flees to the land that turned him from a simple stable groom into an infamous killer.

His mission now? To find evildoers and take them to hell with him. But when an impulsive act of heroism saddles him with a damsel who refuses to be distressed, her resilience forces him to question why he really ran from his daughter.

The Shattered Throne-- Queen Samantha’s spirit brightens as the festival of renewal approaches. The Ancient Evil that drained life from the land has been destroyed, and life is returning to the joined kingdoms. The birth of her heir gives her even more reason to celebrate. But a coup orchestrated by the unlikely alliance between a freedom-loving count and a fanatical church shatters both her plans and the ancient throne itself.

With her infant daughter missing and death and destruction spreading, Samantha finds herself faced with an impossible choice: save her daughter or her people. Already torn between a mother’s love and her duties as a queen, Samantha learns that an even greater danger threatens: the goddess herself is fading. What sacrifices will Samantha have to make to stop an evil god from taking Sulis’s place?

BUY LINK:

Kindle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

At bedtime, Alvabane sat at her dressing table brushing her long hair. It had once been a bright, rich red, but it had dulled with age and was now mostly grey with only a few strands of color to remind her of what once had been. It seemed a metaphor for her life—small flashes of color to remind her of her once bright purpose.

One of those flashes, Erick, set her nightly goblet of fortified wine next to her hand. She needed the strong alcohol to dull the pain of her joints so she could sleep. She turned to thank him, but the words died on her lips as she saw the reproach in his eyes. Alvabane turned back to her mirror. Tonight was the night of the new moon. She should have been preparing to perform the rites of the dark gods, not preparing for bed. “They have forgotten us,” Alvabane said. “The Soul Stone does not live.”

Erick made a mewing sound, reminding her what he’d sacrificed to serve her and the dark gods. She herself had cut his tongue from his mouth when he came to her as a ten-year-old child. He had surrendered it stoically.

“Do you think you have sacrificed more than I?” She turned to face him. “I performed the rites faithfully every new moon for decades. And for what, I ask you? The power of the Stone remains trapped behind the shield the demon Armunn created from his own soul. That shield can’t be destroyed. The Soul Stone won’t live again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

Jamie began writing stories about the man from Mars when she was six, and she never remembers wanting to be anything other than a writer. Everyone told her she needed a back up plan, so she pursued a Ph.D. in American literature, which she received in 1998. She started teaching writing and literature at Auburn University. One day in the midst of writing a piece of literary criticism, she realized she’d put her true passion on the backburner and neglected her muse. The literary article went into the trash, and she began the book that was to become The Goddess’s Choice, which was published in April 2012. Her other novels include The Soul Stone, The Ghost in Exile, The Shattered Throne, and The Bull Riding Witch. In addition, she has published a novella, Demons in the Big Easy, and a collection of short stories, Blood Cursed and Other Tales of the Fantastic. Her short fiction has also appeared in the anthologies Urban Fantasy, Of Dragons & Magic: Tales of the Lost Worlds, and Waiting for a Kiss. She claims she writes about the fantastic . . . and the tortured soul. Her poor characters have hard lives. She lives in Auburn, Alabama, with her husband and five cats, which (or so she’s been told) officially makes her a cat lady. She still teaches writing and literature at Auburn University. She is the mother of a grown son.

Website/Blog: http://jamie-marchant.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Marchant-Author/164706710298768

Twitter: @JamieMarchantSF

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5258855.Jamie_Marchant

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY:

Jamie Marchant will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Kronicles of Korthlundia #Jamie Marchant #fantasy #Goddess Fish Promotions #Hearts & Scribbles

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 3/4/19

ACCA 13-Territory Inspection Department, Vol. 6 | By Natsume Ono | Yen Press – And so, ACCA ends as it began, with endless discussions between relatively stoic middle-aged people. This is pretty much the definition of Natsume Ono’s career, so no complaints here. Things work out. Being the leader of a revolution is the last thing that Jean wants, and it’s amusing to see how he’s theoretically promised something to every single territory without actually promising anything. Moreover, ACCA manages to threaten the new ruler without actually removing him, and there are hints that he’ll be nicer—to Jean’s sister if no one else. Six volumes seems like the exact length for this series, and I’m happy to have read it, even when it was intensely talky. – Sean Gaffney

The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 10 | By Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – It’s a new direction for The Ancient Magus’ Bride, as Chise is off to attend the alchemist college. The alchemists want to study Chise in hopes of creating an artificial sleigh beggy substitute and in return she gets to audit classes for free. I liked that her primary goal is learning how to help people without sacrificing herself (with the side goal of thus keeping Elias from undertaking any more the-ends-justify-the-means efforts to save her) and also potentially find cures for the two curses now afflicting her arm. Many new characters are introduced, Chise is reminded that she’s “really bad at dealing with people and school,” and the church realizes that Elias’ observer has been lax and prepares to send out someone different. I’m enjoying this arc so far and remain very glad I got caught up on this series when I did! – Michelle Smith

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 13 | By Ryoko Fukuyama | VIZ Media – Yuzu’s back and just in time for In No Hurry to participate in the Tokyo Sailing concert series. The only problem is that Nino is “catastrophically terrible” in rehearsals, which she attributes to having nothing left to yearn for now that she and Momo have finally gotten together. A lot of angst ensues, culminating in a performance where Nino seems unconcerned that she’s damaging her voice, convincing the two main guys in her life that she’s planning on giving up singing. Yuzu seems poised to try to reign her in by joining her on vocals—this would be a huge development—buuuuut then we end the main story to make way for a bonus story that is fine, I guess (it does have a cute cat), but not what I wanted to be reading. This series is still occasionally infuriating, but I guess I’m hooked now. – Michelle Smith

Barakamon, Vol. 17 | By Satsuki Yoshino | Yen Press – Hiroshi’s absence is felt here, mostly as he does NOT call home all the time or immediately return. Hilariously, Handa tries to fix things by dying his hair blond and doing incredibly bad Hiroshi impressions. The bulk of the humor in this book, though, comes from the arrival of a two-person documentary team, here to videotape the countryside but not really prepared for the sheer presence of most of the cast, (and also having tremendous trouble not flirting shamelessly with each other, something everyone picks up on). Barakamon is wrapping up next volume, and that seems about right—this volume seems to be dragging things out a bit, and most of the main plot points have been wrapped up. – Sean Gaffney

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 6 | By Ukami |Yen Press – The last half of this volume of Gabriel Dropout deals with the school trip, and has some good laughs, including two times where I literally laughed out loud (both involve Gabriel). Which is good, because that’s the main reason anyone is reading this series. The characters are not really here to develop, even as we introduce more of them. Another human girl gets a spotlight here, trying to make friends with Mei despite her being a devil and also really shy. Raphiel gets to snark, Vignette gets to overplan, Satanichia gets to do her “evil ojou” impersonation… everything is present and correct. Should you still read this series? Yes. It’s funny. It’s not deep, but I always smile at the end of it. – Sean Gaffney

Hatsu*Haru, Vol. 5 | By Shizuki Fujisawa | Yen Press – If a direct confession doesn’t work, well, try the forceful kiss again, I guess? Really, a lot of Hatsu*Haru revolves around how bad Kai is at being a cool shoujo lead, and I don’t expect this to end well for him. Meanwhile, Riko’s crush is finally married, so she can theoretically move on—though most of this volume is about how moving on is hard. And in a blow to my shipper heart, Ayumi and Takaya are faking a relationship in order to try to get Kai and Riko together… but don’t actually seem to have any sublimated feelings for each other. Darn. Ah well, the manga is still young. Till then, please enjoy teens being really emotional and awkward about romance. – Sean Gaffney

In/Spectre, Vol. 9 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – Again we get two stories in this volume, one shorter and one long. The short one shows us Kotoko in high school, being asked to join a mystery club that’s about to be dissolved and in her spare time figuring out that the club is more about a forbidden romance than any actual mystery, though I was amused at “spoiling” a mystery that isn’t a spoiler in the first place. The longer story is more serious, about a young woman with a deadly past that… is not being brought up by the media, and about Kotoko and Kuro solving the mystery and also revealing a lot to us about lucky cat statues. There’s less of Kotoko being silly and horny in this one, but the stories are fun. – Sean Gaffney

NE NE NE | By Shizuku Totono and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – The opening scene of NE NE NE shows the wedding between Koyuki and Shin, an arranged marriage in which the groom is twenty years older than his teenaged wife. While this premise certainly had the potential to enter into somewhat questionable territory, the manga is actually quite charming and sweet. I’m not sure that I was ever entirely convinced by the difference in Koyuki and Shin’s ages based on how they were portrayed as individuals, but I did enjoy seeing their relationship naturally deepen over the course of the volume. Of the two leads Shin is the more fully-developed character—he at least gets a backstory while almost nothing is known about Koyuki beyond the fact that she desperately wants to be a good wife. But even so, they’re adorable, both together and on their own. With an additional dash of humor and magic, NE NE NE is a delight. – Ash Brown

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 2 | By Aki Irie | VIZ Media – The opening chapter of this volume pissed me off righteously, as it involves teen-version Ran hanging out with Otaro the creeper and telling him, “You’d better not touch me” only for him to immediately glomp her. Actual quote from my notes: “THIS FUCKER DOES NOT LISTEN AT ALL. I WANT TO KICK HIM INTO THE SUN.” He promises he’s got “lots more” in store for her, but thankfully her new magic teacher arrives and the story moves on to deadly magical insects (one comes thiiiiiis close to killing Otaro but, sadly, he survives), magical training, and classmates who have crushes on Jin and Ran. I vastly prefer Ran’s age-appropriate love interest, Hibi, and sincerely hope having a friend her own age inspires her to stay away from Otaro. At least Jin is on to his womanizing ways. – Michelle Smith

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 2 | By Aki Irie | Viz Media – The good news is that all the reasons that I enjoyed the first volume are here again. Ran is a delight, I also like her brother (and his maybe relationship with a new girl whose looks and personality remind me of Hinata Hyuuga), the bug subplot is creepy but also drives the story forward well, and the art is absolutely gorgeous. The bad news is that the main thing I didn’t like about the fist volume is also here: Otaro, the sleazy older guy from the first volume, is back and still trying to get into Ran’s pants. Even if she weren’t really a young girl using magical shoes, he’d still be the absolute worst, something the manga artist knows—they show him being reprehensible. Maybe he’ll die in the next book? Nah, I’m not that lucky. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 5 | By Maybe | Yen Press – I was prepared to meet the fifth Ring Princess in this book, which we do (she’s on the cover, in case you hadn’t guessed). It’s the rest of the book that took me by surprise. Things go very bad very fast, and all of our main harem end up being shunted back to Earth in order to save them from the encroaching doom. This is… annoying given that Satou and the Ring Princesses’ sole purpose is to save the world from encroaching doom. It does mean we get to see cute things like shopping for clothes and going to libraries. It’s also fortuitous, as the fifth princess was on Earth all along. Will we be headed back next volume? And will Satou ever manage to go all the way with Hime? Honestly, I suspect no, but this is still fun to read. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

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