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pearlywritings · 1 month

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A slip of the tongue

synopsis: as smart as Alhaitham is, sometimes he blurts out things without thinking twice. It's good, however, that your husband knows when an apology is due, even though it doesn't mean you (and your friend) won't come up with something to pay him back with~

pairing and characters: Alhaitham x fem!reader

tw: established relationship (marriage), little hurt/instant comfort, a bit suggestive, Kaveh is lowkey couple's marriage counselor

word count: 3.7k+ words

a/n: wow, finally releasing this one out of the basement!

Your cheek starts hurting from how long the knuckles of your fist have been digging into it. Fingertips drum on your knee, as legs stay crossed and stare fixed on the figure before you, sitting on the chair across the table and not taking the eyes off of the book pages. The most infuriating part of it? The figure is talking.

"...and so you should be prepared for Rajkumar's endless questions. He might not have any relation to Haravatat or languages at all, but he has a bone to pick with me, so being my wife puts you in a position to attack. And you know how annoying it is to converse with an idiot."

Yeah, probably as much as hearing what you are already aware of. You love your husband, you truly do, but sometimes the urge to smack the back of his head and tell him to shut up is too tempting.

All you said was that you were a little nervous and mentioned that tomorrow is indeed one of the most important days for you. After all, you are going to defend your second thesis, one you spent years to complete and pass all sorts of verification, reviews and censorship. Having the Scribe as your husband had both its perks and drawbacks in the process - he could easily push your work forward to the necessary people in charge of all the mentioned above stages of approbation, but then the fact he was your spouse put a label on you for those who were aware, and it said “Needs to be examined more thoroughly”. Though come to think of it, it’s pretty illogical.

Fortunately you never had troubles with that - after all your brain was in place, and both topics of your first and now current papers were innovative. Moreso, many of your Haravatat professors agree on your academic success and some of them expressed their hope to see you in the role of their colleague in the future.

But it’s for the future. First you need to become the Dastur, and for that you need to defend your thesis in the present. You have absolutely everything ready, no one knows your topic better than you are (maybe only Alhaitham can come close, since he read and reread it multiple times, helping with editing and providing impartial perspective), and years at the Akademyia taught you how to withstand the piercing eyes and prickling words of the jury. You will be fine.

Or you thought so, before just one phrase of yours started this whole exchange that is now happening in your kitchen.

“...and remember the part in the third chapter we discussed with you. This will be the one they’ll claw at, since it’s a turning point in a whole theory and I heard some of them already criticizing it,” the male hums, turning another page, eyes scanning the words written on a yellowed from time piece of paper. This seems the last comment of his, as he falls silent, reaching for the cup of coffee you’ve made him - in the process of which you were short-sighted to voice your concern.

When a minute passes and you do not answer anyhow to any of the valuable advice he’s just given you, Alhaitham lowers his book and stares at you. You keep drumming your fingers on your knee, eyes boring into him and almost unblinking, and it’s not hard for such an observant man to notice a barely-veiled displeasure in your tired eyes and a scowl.

"You know you could've just said you are worried about tomorrow too, and leave it at that?"

Alhaitham blinks, hand frozen in the middle of lowering the mug back on the table. He is holding your gaze and you can practically see the thoughts running through his mind, he is clearly contemplating how to answer your bold statement.

“Why would I be worried?” He finally answers with a question on your own, putting the mug on the flat surface. “It’s just a thesis defense, and if you get rid of your nervousness you’ll see that you already have the Dastur title in your pocket. Tomorrow is just a formality for you.”

“So you are not coming to watch me tomorrow?” Your scowl and frown deepens, fingers stopping abusing your knee and curling in a fist instead. Your husband sighs, marking the page with a bookmark you’ve made for him and closing the volume he’s been on for the past week. Then his captivating eyes are back on you.

“Scribe isn’t required to attend. Besides-”

“Yeah, yeah, you know my work enough to not hear anything new in my presentation,” you interrupt him and he can clearly hear rising anger in your voice that wasn’t there before. It actually manages to shut him up. “As my husband, as my support, are you going to come?”

The man feels a twinge of guilt in his heart. He always prided himself of his intelligence and attentiveness, yet just now he failed to assume what exactly you expected of his presence. Of course he’d want to give you a peace of mind by being there, but it seems he is too used to uttering the same phrase every single time someone asks him to come, that it was out faster than he had a moment to think it over properly.

He sees a bit too late how your face drops when he doesn’t give you an answer immediately - it looks like his pause appeared to be hesitance to you. He slightly panics when you lower your gaze and move to uncross your legs to stand up, having an almost iron grip on the back of the chair.

“Wait- Dear, I will come,” at that your eyes flicker at him, with doubt on display in your beautiful orbs. “I promise, I’ll be there.”

“I thought you didn’t like to be around idiots the whole day,” you huff, crossing your arms, reminding him of how unflattering his words towards some of his colleagues were. You do not mean to act childish, but tomorrow is really important to you, and obviously you’d want to have your husband be there to share it with you.

Alhaitham puts the book aside and stands up as well, rounding the table and coming closer to you. His fingers deftly touch your elbow, and you will yourself not to jerk it, some annoyance still bubbling in your system.

“That is correct. However, you are not one of them,” he murmurs, caressing your arm. You huff again, but this time your posture is more relaxed. “Besides, all you need is to be confident, and if my presence can assure you that, then I’ll be more than happy to be there for you.”

You give him a long stare. Your drilling eyes to his bewitching ones, searching for the truth in the greenish depths, while he stands still, waiting patiently, expecting your verdict silently. It’s as your frown softens, he knows you’ve found what you’ve been looking for in this kind of staring contest.

“Maybe just as quick you are switching from fuming to forgiving,” his palms are warm as they slide up your arms, featherly resting on your shoulders. Your smile widens a little and you meet him in the middle when he leans to press his forehead to yours.

“Oh Archons, Alhaitham…” You shake your head with a small smile and the man feels relief washing over him. You are no longer mad at him. At least, it seems so. That is definitely good. “We’ve been married for years and it still surprises me how you can be a jerk - affectionately - one moment, and a completely sweet guy another.”

“Yeah, yeah… But to your credit you were quick to fix your attitude, and as long as it’s sincere, I am grateful.”

Or rather realizing when an apology is due.

“It is sincere,” he says with emphasis. “You know I am not the one to change my mind lightly.

You hum, content with his answer. Yet, a mischievous glint finds its place in your eyes.

“Even though you are forgiven, I am still complaining to Kaveh about the mean and heartless husband of mine.”

“Don’t worry, he won’t be glaring at you murderously. Much.”

“Of course you are,” he rolls his eyes, but you know it’s playful. He knows it too, and the shift in the mood is apparent, and he is thankful for its course to the positive destination. “I guess it’s deserved.”

Alhaitham only sighs at your giggles. He could care less of what the blond architect would say about him, so he’ll survive some annoyed buzzing from the senior, and if the little exchange which is about to occur makes you happy - he doesn’t mind. Plus it will be good for you to take your mind off of tomorrow.

“I’ll trust you on that,” he finally says, slowly leaning back. You smile, patting the back of his hand still resting on your shoulder in reassurance. With a promise to collect you from your ‘girlish talk’ (you swat his shoulder at that) in a couple of hours, your husband helps you to make a new pot of tea. It’s quite ironic that this one is gonna be emptied while he’s the main focus of the conversation.

Minutes later, when you leave the kitchen with a tray, Alhaitham can faintly hear the knocks on the other end of the house, and the door opening not a minute later, the voice of the man you two have been housing for months coming clear and concerned. Kaveh remained your friend even when he and Alhaitham got in a horrible fight over their beliefs and you were partially the reason why the Haravatat graduate was convinced to let the blonde stay. Though loud, flamboyant and snarky, there is some perks of having him around - even if the architect always complains how he didn’t sign up to be a marriage counselor, he’s never let you or your husband be in a conflict for long (fortunately it happened really rarely), being your shoulder to tear up on or begrudgingly becoming an ear to be talked of by the other man and the foot that would kick Alhaitham into action or the hand that would gently nudge you in the right direction.

Or, just like tonight, simply be ‘your girl’ to chat with.

Alhaitham, as promised, lets you be for a couple of hours, meanwhile busying himself with his book. To outsiders this scene may appear weird and paint the Scribe in an awful light as a husband - but it is just like that with this man. And the strange dynamic the three of you have while staying under one roof: a wife, a husband and their… loquacious canary-like-therapist.

Only when it’s close to the time you usually go to sleep, does he also end up before the door of Kaveh’s temporary room, and firmly knocks three times.

“What?” Unsurprisingly it's the blonde’s voice, and by the tone of it he is pissed. The ash-haired male chooses to ignore him.

“Darling, let’s go to bed,” he calls for you softly.

Alhaitham hears shuffling and muffled curses the architect surely prepared for him and some short, but incomprehensible conversation happening between you two. Not a moment later though, the door opens revealing your face, and your husband can’t help but feel extra weight lifted off his shoulders. No line reappeared between your eyebrows, no pout and no distress is written on your face. Quite the contrary, when your eyes meet, you give him the same warm smile you graced him with back in the kitchen.

“Sure, let’s go. It’s quite late already and we need to wake up early tomorrow,” you hum, exiting the room. Through the gap Alhaitham spots Kaveh sitting over some blueprints with two mugs on the table and a chair placed on the opposite side of the fine piece of furniture. When the architect lifts his eyes to glare at him, the Scribe slams the door closed. To your bedroom you returned with arms linked.

The silence of your shared space is comforting and is only disturbed by your light steps and rustle of changed clothes. The Scribe glances at you every two minutes, still a tiny bit concerned about that animatic exchange you had back in the kitchen.

“You know I will come, right?” The man suddenly asks you, as you’re fluffing the pillows. Your eyes slightly widen for a brief moment, so quickly that he almost misses it, but then they soften again as you chuckle.

“Yes, I know, dear. Sorry I reacted the way I did initially. It seems I really was pent up after all.”

“I could tell. You looked like you could bite my head o- ow!” He gasps when you throw your pillow into his face, which he catches at the last second.

“Oh, shut it, or I might get mad again,” but there is no anger in your eyes, only hardly veiled mischief. He drops your weapon of choice back onto bed and raises his hands in defense.

“Okay, okay, point taken. Any way I can make it up to you?”

At that your eyes strangely glint, and the scholar can’t place his finger on what exactly feels off about it. But it does.

“Actually you can. I’d like you to wake me up when you do, and let me use the shower first.”

And that’s it? Well, odd, but not disturbingly odd. Surely you wouldn’t go as far as to play some pranks on him by mixing something in his shampoo - you are way too intelligent for that. Also not one for revenge.

“Of course. I will wake you when I do so myself, and let you use the bathroom first.”

Even if the mornings are not Alhaitham’s forte, he still opens his eyes disgustingly early, so sleeping for a bit more while you are at your morning routine sounds nice. Not as nice as doing it with you in his arms, but still quite nice.

“Thank you, dear. Now, if you are going to read-”

“Not tonight. You need sleep,” to that you smile warmly, crawling under the blankets, which he is quick to follow. You do not deny his embrace, and willingly scoot closer, extending an arm to put around his waist, as he does the same. Nor you turn away from a kiss he places on your forehead, pecking his chin in response.

“Good night, Alhaitham.”

“Good night, Y/n.”

True to his word, your husband pulls you out of the dreamland just moments later after exiting it himself. Cerulean eyes drink in your sleepy face contorting in displeasure, arms reaching over your head, and body arching in a morning stretch. He can’t help himself, leaning close and pressing a kiss just above the hem of your chemise, relishing the feeling of your heart thumping against his lips. You yawn, reaching a hand into his hair, but your breath hitches, when his mouth is suddenly on your throat, peppering it with soft pecks.

“Mmm… If you are trying to make up for yesterday you are a bit late,” your groggy voice is so adorable to the man. With you he tends to forget how to rationalize things. Yesterday was one of the times when his ‘Alhaitham for anyone else but his wife’ slipped into his interaction with you, the behavior he’s been trying for years to suppress when it comes to you. Now he knows he should’ve acted differently, and regrets his unique way of trying to give you reassurance. If only he-

“Are you overthinking again?”

Your question makes him emerge back to reality. Eyes meet, and his heart skips a beat when you smile at him. Archons, you are beautiful.

“You know I am joking? Yesterday was yesterday, and you are already making it up to me, right?”

Words can’t describe how much he loves you, and at this moment he feels like he’ll never be able to express it fully.

“Right. Shower is all yours. Also,” he leans in again, placing a kiss on the corner of your mouth, “good morning.”

Your smile gets wider and you wrap your arms around his frame to kiss his cheek.

“Morning, Haitham.”

With you gone to the shower, the man buries himself in your pillow, inhaling the lingering scent. Sometimes he thinks he doesn’t deserve you. Your husband is intelligent enough to evaluate his own deeds and behavior, so he knows he is far from perfect to be someone’s partner. Yet, here you are, loving and accepting all his flaws - not without some complaint, but you are trying.

He might come off as arrogant to some people, but in arguments with you, he can tell when it’s his fault and not blame you for giving him a cold shoulder and requesting some space. He might look like he doesn’t care, but he cares for you, for your well-being, for your likes and dislikes, for your opinion, carefully storing all this valuable information in his brain, to show how much you mean to him. He is aware he has a long road ahead of him to get rid of all of his annoying conversing habits, but he is willing to keep trying for you. He seems to not show gratitude to anyone, but he is so grateful that you remain by his side, going as far as telling him you are proud to be his wife.

He wants you to know that it’s mutual.

That being said, Alhaitham is a smart man, but when he himself exits the bathroom after his shower time, his brain is reduced to just one thought.

You are absolutely gorgeous.

His gaze is chained to your pretty fingers, rolling the long, dark green stocking up your left leg. His throat bobs, when the elastic hem of it snaps against your skin, squeezing the flesh of your thigh a little. Then you take the second one, elegantly lifting the other leg and repeating the taunting process, but this time he is here to watch it from the beginning to the very end.

You happily hum, observing your work, and, satisfied, get on your feet, adjusting the band of your panties a little. Archons, you are wearing a matching set of the richest green shade. Lace leaves little to imagination, as his eyes flicker up to your chest, noting the pretty, natural swell of it and the outline of your nipples, and then down, as you turn around and bend to grab the shirt from the bed, demonstrating to him your ass and thighs.

His hand almost reaches out to touch you, to get a hold of the round globe, to sink his lithe fingers in your flesh. After all, your husband is not above earthly pleasures.

But your voice snaps him out of it.

"My love, if you keep standing like this in the middle of the room with just a towel on and no intention to dress, you might be late for breakfast," you chide him not even turning around and throw on the shirt, hiding the bra and some of the lower half, yet still leaving a bit of an appetizing view for an eye.

Alhaitham wills himself to tear the almost burning gaze away from you and redirect it to his own clothes, already prepared and neatly hanging on a chair. You mischievously smile as he takes a step to move past your figure. He's kept alarmingly silent and you are dying to know what reaction he has for your little plan.

The man has just a second to react when you abruptly turn around and stumble into him. Big palms instantly grab your hips to steady you against his chest, and the heart quickens at the feeling of soft lace under his fingertips, peeking from beneath the hem of the shirt he accidentally crumpled in the process. Your hands on his chest are so warm, put out just in time to catch yourself, and Alhaitham finds himself thinking of how would've it felt if your chests collided - maybe the thin material of the only layer of clothes you have on paired with some flimsy bra would not make any difference from direct skin to skin contact?

"Ah, sorry, 'haithy," you sheepishly smile up at him, eyes soft and staring innocently, "Are you alright? I haven't heard you speak ever since you left for the shower…"

Archons, please, don't let his voice betray him.

"I'm," he quickly clears his throat, "alright. Was just about to start dressing."

You hum, pushing onto his pectorals to move away and continue with your own - though slightly changed - routine, but strong fingers flex, keeping you in place by the sheer hold on your hips. You look at him inquiringly, ignoring how the very tips of his thumbs just barely slip under the thin material of your panties to caress your hip bones. It's almost an absentminded action.

"What's with this lingerie?" He finally drops the question swirling on his tongue ever since he first laid his eyes on the tantalizing sight. It's hard to hold back a smirk - you admit you were a bit doubtful if it'd actually grab your husband's attention. Who knew the stoic man was into it…

"Oh, this?" Nonchalantly you tug on the collar of your shirt and Alhaitham sharply inhales upon catching a glimpse of your barely covered breast again. "Do not worry, habibi, it is not to seduce you," he is not that sure about it.

Taking his hands in yours, you pry them off of your body and put them back to his sides, gracing his waist just above the towel with your touch. He shivers.

"I know it's different from what I usually wear, especially to work," you admit, turning around again, to grab the robes of the Akademyia's scholar. "But I really-really loved this one I purchased a couple of weeks ago on that outing with the girls. I feel so beautiful in it," fuck, you are. "And today is a special day. Want to have some confidence, you know?"

And as the rest of your body disappears under the long article of clothing, Alhaitham is finally aware of what this whole thing is about.

It's going to be an agonizingly endless day, where the only thing he can do is watch.

#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #alhaitham x reader #alhaitham x fem!reader #alhaitham #genshin impact fluff

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citruscitrushope · 1 month

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Why Ken Shiraishi is Still Written OK (aka why Vivid BAD SQUAD will never surpass RAD WEEKEND, and why that's a good thing)

An essay I wrote in someone's Twitter DMs as we discussed their belief that Ken's writing has been becoming out of character ever since On Your Feet, and my attempt to present a counter-argument that turned into an analysis of VBS stories up to this point.

1,089 words, warnings for swearing, spoilers, and the fact that this is barely formatted like an essay at all but was just a ramble I thought I gave some good points in and wanted to share.

So bro is openly going against the things that made rw what it was ("ok Toya make all the songs" <- that is not what happened with radder)" and I doubt bro would be full on ignoring it (nor clpl full on ignoring it seeing as they have all of the group's full stories planned from the beginning) and I personally theorize that it's to emphasize the four's strengths as well as to make them come face to face with their weaknesses to grow stronger (I think concerto is the most obvious case of this). Nagi's goal with rw wasn't to make something to be surpassed, it was to pass radder's dream to the next generation to reach the heights they couldn't (i.e. worldwide popularity) and I very much feel like the vbs story has enough backing them going in that direction (Toya's wl chapter, what I've seen of radder flashbacks, even Ken's whole reason for opening weekend garage).

For context, the preceding conversation was about how Ken has been going against a lot of his initial things (Running weekend garage to help the next generation, helping them not work as hard, etc), how he knew Taiga was gonna tell vbs the truth of RAD WEEKEND and that he should first but he didn't, and then how he's been overworking the kids and going against the team effort rw was by radder

Again, clpl kinda suck at writing vbs sometimes but dammit they ain't bad at foreshadowing, they teased Nagi stuff for a year or two before lutf and stuff after all. Plus they've never had a sudden decline with a character, it took two years for Mafuyu's mom to fully be revealed as bad, and even with Taiga that was a solid year. (Now what they do do a lot of are sudden "redemption arcs", sure the Otori brothers' was decent but all the times they've tired to have Shinodad or Toya's dad grow as people has been so bad like bro some people are just shit).

Plus vbs' story has been slower than most of the other units until this current arc (hell they took the longest to end their first arc), slow building blocks to surpassing RAD WEEKEND. So for this current arc to have them saying "our next event will surpass them" so suddenly just doesn't add up. It has to be a red herring. And again, Taiga's been this game's only true betrayal arc, others have been characters going from neutral to bad (Mafumom, one-off characters) or ones meant to be bad that eventually become allies to their respective groups (Arata, Iori, Otori brothers). Taiga going from an explicit ally to an enemy is an outlier, and I've noticed that they usually won't repeat plots and stuff in this game (well outside of Smile of a Dreamer and Our Happy Ending but I think that was on purpose).

I highly doubt that vbs' ending will involve them surpassing RAD WEEKEND, they're probably the only group who's initial goal hadn't changed over time (L/n "I wanna be with my friends again" -> "We wanna be pros that touch others with music". WxS "Let's save this stage" -> "let's travel the world to make our dreams come true" n25 "i need to save mafuyu" -> "she's seemingly saved but shits still tucked"). Even MMJ's which has seemed to always be "Let's be idols and give hope to others" has had steps to go through, it wasn't instantly "Let's perform in the dome" it was "Let's be idols" -> "let's do a live show" -> "let's do a solo show" -> "let's perform in the dome". VBS hasn't been like that, it's always been "let's surpass RAD WEEKEND" and never been anything but that, so their progression has just been them saying "this'll get us closer to surpassing RAD WEEKEND" with little to actually show for it.

It's a lofty, impossible task, and I think Ken and Taiga know that, but they view it in different ways. Taiga sees it as "you'll never live up to it give up stop trying" while Ken's is "you'll never live up to it but that doesn't change that you're still talented performers". Even though how characters always compare each other to radder (An and Taiga seeing Nagi in Kohane, Taiga seeing Ken in Akito) , they're not radder, they'll never be them, and I feel like that's what the story wants to have them and the audience eventually realize. That's what Nagi wanted, right? To have the next generation do what she and the rest of radder couldn't, to keep singing and to be known around the world. They've already contrasted how both Taiga and Ken have attempted to keep Nagi's wishes alive before (i.e. the whole "Don't tell An until she's ready" thing), and Ken handled this better than Taiga but both weren't the best at it, and vbs had to find the strength themselves to keep going. Taiga did it in a brutal and dream-crushing way, while Ken's was gentler and more honest but came too late, and I feel that they wouldn't get rid of that contrast with Nagi's other dream. Taiga ran off and became famous overseas, but never fully processed his grief. Ken is encouraging the next generation, but still isn't doing it perfectly.

So I feel that Ken's plan is to show vbs *their* strengths. The ones only they have. Not in the context of reaching radder's level, but in reaching their own, and truly fulfilling Nagi's wish. He's not doing it perfectly, he's overworking them severely, but I highly doubt that this is purposeful. Again, I just don't think they'd make the dilf have a villain arc.

But nothing anyone has done in response to vbs's dream has been perfect. Even from the main story with akitoya and Kotarou sabotaging Kohane, to Arata in sbd, to Taiga to Arata in bfby, and then lutf is obvious. It's a messy tale of unprocessed grief and unfiltered dreams, things that can lead to both triumph and tragedy. But I truly can't see any malice in Ken's actions, or even Taiga's to an extent. While there obviously was some there, to him I assume it was to protect the legacy of his sister and to not tarnish her swansong.

I don't fully know where I was going with this but all in all I think Ken has good intentions albeit with unintentional extreme expectations, VBS was never meant to surpass RAD WEEKEND, and the vbs story's messy pacing lately is purposeful

#project sekai #vivid bad squad #ken shiraishi #mine ☆#if the person whose dms this in wants this taken down lmk and i'll do it

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lorre-verie · 1 year

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i NEED more recent neteyam content from you, the 5 stages of love thing was just- UGH mwah mwah i love it

can i request neteyam x reader where neteyam's jealous bc reader has been hanging out with other people? but please make the ending happy, i beg (im recovering from your aonung series antics 😭)

everything else is completely up to you i trust ur judgement so much 🥰

tysm anon AAAAA made me smile so much after reading this, i hope dearly that it doesn't disappoint!

“I will always love you.”

🗝 oneshot summary: seems you’ve been paying other people a whole lot more attention lately, and it’s making your dear boyfriend feel uneasy (jealous) inside. blablabla sweetie pie stuff happens, by the end of the night u two are cuddly lovey dovey again 💗

🌿 the lovely couple: neteyam x reader

📓 notes! - reader’s gender is not specified + no implications + no given name (used: [Y/N]) - takes place in the forest

🎞 word count: 2.3k

masterlist

“Yo bro!” Lo’ak waved towards his older brother, Neteyam’s hair whipping around with his head as he turned to see what Lo’ak wanted.

“What?”

He was in the middle of rebraiding his hair in his family’s marui, something he would’ve asked you to do if he could even find you in the first place.

Lately, you’d been really absorbed with developing your hunting skills, something he respected and never thought twice about, until now.

“Did you and [Y/N] break up?”

“What would even make you think such a thing like that?” He completely abandoned his delicate ministrations through his hair, looking at his brother like he was insane. But deep down inside, he kinda wondered if you did too.

He rarely saw you these days, except for those fleeting moments where you two would wave at each other when passing by, and whenever he visited your tent you were never there. If he asked your friends they would constantly say you were out hunting, and he dropped his attempts at trying to find you.

But seriously, hunting for almost the whole day for almost 3 weeks? There had to be SOMETHING else you’d been doing.

“I never see you together anymore. N’ I heard from their friends there’s someone called Akxyeì in the picture. But if you did, there’s no shame in it bro, it’s all goo—”

Neteyam kicked him out of the tent.

He huffed as he finished braiding his hair, not bothering to give it a last look before stomping out in search of you. Who the hell was Akxyeì??

Deep in his chest came a mixture of doubts and emotions regarding your relationship— had he not been showing you how much he loved you? How come you had to hang out with some other stupid dude? What if it was even worse, what if you were beginning to lose your interest in him? He would die without you, honestly.

Or what if it was even worse, what if this Akxyeì character manipulated you into falling for him? He didn’t know whether what he was feeling was anger or sadness. But I’ll sum it up for you.

Envy.

Everyone stared at him as he stormed into the forest, the expression on his face taut and unreadable. The gossipping elders immediately got into their little groups, discussing what could possibly happen to the two of you in great interest.

Not mud nor rain stopped him from tracking you, crouching along the forest floor, sniffing through the strong smell of rain in order to pick up your scent. The moment he found it, he bit back a growl; an unfamiliar scent was there with you.

He placed his hand on his forehead, taking deep breaths before heading in the direction you were supposed to be, reaching what the omaticayans dubbed the ‘lovers lake.’ He frowned remembering the nickname.

Lo and behold, his love was crouched under a large leaf just near the opposite edge of the lake, a lovely smile on your face, like always, as you looked at the rain splashing in puddles on the dirt in front of you.

Just the sight of you made his heart soar. But his mood quickly plummeted back down once he saw a na’vi boy crouched down behind you, also laughing at the predicament you were both in.

He had half a mind to take his bow and shoot him in the crotch to ensure he wouldn’t ever be able to clone himself, but he had to bite back the urge. Instead, he resorted to letting out a heavy sigh.

Just then, you looked up, eyes meeting with his as he stood far across the lake. A pang of guilt ran down your body, but it wasn’t like you were doing anything wrong, right? So then why did your heart drop fifty feet into the ground?

Akxyeì’s laughter stopped once he saw the deathly stare Neteyam was giving him, which your boyfriend was satisfied with. But not satisfied enough.

He turned his back on you both, disappearing into the thin fog that was starting to cloud the forest.

“..I have to go.” you whispered to Akxyeì, before diving head first into the lake to catch up with Neteyam.

The only thing you thought about besides holding your breath was how angry Neteyam must’ve been with you. He totally misunderstood the situation, and it pained your heart to think of what he was thinking right now. You had to explain yourself as soon as possible.

You frantically searched through the camp, your heart racing with worry and fear. Light pitter patters of rain land on your face, causing you to wipe it every few seconds in order to be able to see. You called out Neteyam's name in every spot imaginable, even his own family’s marui, but he wasn’t there.

As you made your way from tent to tent, you couldn’t help but feel a sinking feeling of worry weighing down on your shoulders.

You checked the hunting groups, but Neteyam was nowhere to be seen. You asked the elders if they had seen him, but they claimed to not know anything.

You were drenched from head to toe from your swim earlier, and the wind didn’t make it any better, shivers threatening to stop your search. The nosy elders murmured harshly at the sight of you this way, according to them you always seemed so put together.

You finally make your way back to your own tent, hoping that maybe he might have gone there. Although it was unlikely, it was the only spot in camp you hadn’t checked. But as you pushed aside the flap, you were met with your empty home, no sign of your boyfriend anywhere.

Panic began to set in as you realised that he was truly gone. You sat down, fingers pressed to your lips as you took in a deep breath, thinking of all the possible places he could be.

He wasn’t anywhere in camp, so that would have to mean he was still out in the forest. But where? You couldn’t possibly—

Ah.

He might be at you guys' spot.

You hadn’t been there in what felt like years. It was where he asked to be your boyfriend. It was so silly of him; a smile crept up on your face as you hopped up through the trees, reminiscing the day.

You were both admiring the night sky together, counting the stars, and he suddenly whispered, “Can I be your boyfriend?”

Even now, he denies ever uttering those words, claiming it was a figment of your imagination, and that you heard what you wanted to hear. But you remembered vividly the way he nearly fell off the trunk of the tree when you said yes.

The grass underneath you turned into soft clumps of moss as you continued, the rain slowly stopping as eclipse took over the sky. Finally, you reached the two intertwining trees, standing underneath the archway.

You didn’t have time to look up before you heard his voice among the cricketing insects.

“[Y/N].” he said, his voice as low as a sigh, your ears flattening once you heard the utter distress from his throat.

You said nothing, instead climbing up the slanted tree, crouching and setting aside the leaves covering your view.

And there he was, in all his glory.

Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan.

His feet dangled over the edge of the tree trunk, his hands planted firmly at his sides. He was hunched over, staring blankly at the ground at which you stood before.

“Neteyam—” you were barely able to finish saying his name before he interrupted you.

“Did I do something?” he croaked out, his gaze fixed downwards.

“What?” you blinked. What was he saying?

“Of course not,” you said softly, sitting on a spot on the tree just inches from him, you looking directly at his crestfallen face.

A tear ran down his cheek, reflected by the lights of the stars in the night. He wiped it away quickly, now looking to his left, so that you were met with only the back of his head.

Your heart dropped at the sound of his sniffles. “Neteyam, Akxyeì is just a friend,” you started, trying to formulate the best way to try and explain the situation to him and then beg for his forgiveness.

“It’s not about that.” he sucked in a breath in attempt to calm himself down.

“Why have you been avoiding me?”

Your heart felt like it was splitting into two.

You’d constantly been reassuring yourself that you weren’t avoiding him, you were just hanging out with your own separate group of friends, but in truth you basically had been.

“I’m not avoiding you,” you paused, sighing as you faced the fact that you were going to have to be truly honest with him about your feelings now.

“I just…wanted to be seen.”

At those words, he turned towards you, eyes glistening with tears. “Wh…What do you mean by that?”

“With them, I feel like what I always wanted to be— A strong, brave warrior with talent. With them, I feel like I can just truly be myself, and I don’t have to hold back.”

He looked at you, beckoning you to go on.

Your eyes flickered down, unable to meet his eyes as you continued, “Sometimes when I’m out with you I feel like I have to keep up appearances. You’re the next olo’eyktan, the next leader for our people, and I feel like I’m always in your shadow.”

“I get comments from the elders like, “How is it dating the next in line for Olo’eyktan???”” you mocked their shrill voices with a face as you quoted their exact words, the corner of your boyfriend’s lips twitching up in amusement.

“So..I don’t know. When I finally was seen as a leader myself, with Akxyeì and the others, it felt like I was…free. Free from the expectations that other people put on me.” you bit your lip, imagining how selfish you must’ve sounded to him right now.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Neteyam part his lips slightly.

“..I never knew you felt that way,” he half whispered, looking down at his hand and yours, suddenly aching to intertwine your fingers together.

“It’s..not that I didn’t like being with you, you make me so happy,” you let a small smile appear on your face, “It’s just that it makes me feel worse about myself when people only care that I’m your partner. They don’t see me.”

“So…that’s why I’ve been hanging out with my other friends,” the air felt awkward after you finished, and you felt like you had to add on to your words so that the atmosphere didn’t feel so..empty.

“ I’m sorry I didn’t tell you anything before.”

“.....So I take it you’re still in love with me?”

You looked up at his totally unserious response, slightly baffled. He had a childishly wide grin on his face. The tears from earlier had already dried up, leaving no trace behind.

Your mouth was open in surprise of his lighthearted reaction. Had he even heard anything you just said?

“Just so you know, Akxyeì is totally not more attractive than me,” he pushed on, determined to see one thing and one thing only.

Your beautiful smile.

And his not-so-cunning ploy worked, as a little grin made its way up onto your face.

He placed his hand on top of yours, slightly gripping your fingers. “But in all seriousness, I’m sorry too.”

His mesmerising eyes were widened ever so slightly, as if he was trying to take in more of the sight of you.

“For what?” you mouthed, the volume of your words barely above a hum.

“For not noticing how you felt. I’m supposed to be good at gauging other people’s emotions–” he sighed, before you stopped him mid sentence with one of your fingers to his lips.

“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you anything. I was worried you’d feel even more pressured with having to worry about me too, besides everything else already going on,” you tilted your head downwards, glancing once more at the barely illuminated bark you sat on..

You wanted to tell him more, to explain further, but the doe look in his eyes as he gently took your finger off his mouth with his free hand told you he’d already understood everything.

He flipped your hand around, placing a soft kiss on your wrist, maintaining full eye contact with you as he did it. The motion sent butterflies raging frantically in your stomach, the thrill causing you to blush slightly.

“So. Tell me more about your friends.” he smirked, knowing the full extent of his charm and what it did to you.

You breathed out, nodding before sitting directly next to him, your hips touching his. You began to recite to him all the fun little adventures you had with your hunting group, and the stupid things Akxyeì would get himself into.

You couldn’t help but smirk a little bit whenever you felt Neteyam’s hand tighten its grip around yours whenever you mentioned the other boy.

“And then, one other time- Teyam?” you felt his head weigh on your shoulder. Was he…asleep?

A small pause followed as you stopped talking, and you just froze completely before narrowing your eyes.

“..You aren’t asleep, are you?” you rolled your eyes, feeling a chuckle vibrate on your shoulder from his throat.

You always knew how to read him, and he found it amusing that you were the only person he could never fool. It just added onto his everlasting appreciation for you.

You watched him as he pulled his head up off your shoulder, smiling as he looked at your face with such fondness that it made you feel weightless.

“I love you, [Y/N].”

masterlist

aw how sweet 😊 isn’t that so sweet?? i'm so sorry if this genuinely sucked ass cause i have no clue how to write sweet stuff..but thank u so much for your req anon! thank u all for 500+ followers, it truly means so much to me guys 😭🙏

i hope you guys enjoyed this! as always, thank u for stopping by my blog 💗💚

much love, lorre.

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dduane · 6 months

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It's all about the Light

People were commenting yesterday about the surprisingly photographic quality of this image, so I want to deal with some of those inquiries here.

First, though, since the main character's clothes were a mess in that one—as I was beginning the process of tweaking about six different things at once in that set—I wanted to redo the render with that problem fixed. So here we have Freelorn back in the "dress casual" he'd have been wearing in court that morning, in this soon-to-be-published work, when the magpie first becomes an issue.

The first question most people seem to have had about this lighting setup is: "How did you do that?" And in all honesty, even after backing out to have a look at the set as a whole, I'm still not entirely sure how I did it...except that over time and multiple uses, more and more light sources of various kinds got hooked into that set. Tl:dr; I got lucky. (shrug) ...A more detailed discussion, with wider images of the set, is over here.

The first time I got lucky that way was in this shot. Just a joke render: a take on the concept "short king". "Hey," I thought, "I've got a king sitting around here, and he's short.* Let's emphasize how short. For fun."

(I wound up rendering that shot several times, over several posts, as a diagnostic. I'm nothing if not persistent about establishing for certain that I have no idea exactly why something's happening.) :)

...And then after a while another opportunity for a joke came up, in a meme-based mode, and who was I to pass up such a thing? Especially when all I had to do was change some positions a little.

(caption: "We lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship." ...Yeah, did they ever.) :)

In any case, you'd best believe that I went out of my way to preserve the original file/version of that set, so as not to accidentally mess up that overall lighting effect; and then occasionally used duplicates of it to stage other work, including the topmost image on this post, and various others that followed it.

Like this one, more an atmosphere piece than anything else, in which the man sitting in the Throne is having a bad day—

—and this one, of the very first time he sits in that chair, preparing to do justice on the surviving leaders of an army of people who the day before were trying to kill not just him but everybody he loves.

(ETA: noting a minor eye problem with the above: something technical. Will do another render and put it up in the morning.)

...Anyway, I've been meaning for some while to put aside the time for serious work on the Throne's textures.** Partly it's just a desire to have it look nice. But also, this isn't just some fancy chair; at least not to the people whose rulers sit in it. It's been intimately associated with the descendants of a demigod for hundreds of years—in fact, no one's really sure how many centuries. And popular opinion in Arlen has it that the Throne's routine adjacence to even quite dilute divinity has over time elevated it beyond mere furniturehood: has, indeed, caused it to become sensitive about whether the person who sits in it is in fact entitled to be there at all. (Not least because, sooner or later, bad things tend to happen to those who aren't.)

So in illustrations the Throne ought to look like a good solid artifact that's been around for a while and has picked up some patina. But it should also look like it's been well cared for, and have something of an air of venerability. (sigh) Still working on that. —Anyway, the current textures have always been temporary measures, unsatisfactory to a greater or lesser degree. I look forward to creating ones that better reflect what I see in my head... though that's a matter for a different and more technical post.

As to those questions:

@megatraven Is that fucking blender?

No, it's Daz Studio. I have to deal with Blender more than I like to at the moment (for example, I need to create new steps for that set in Blender shortly), and it drives me around the bend. But I've been working with Daz long enough now to have acquired at least some expertise, even though sometimes I have less idea about why things are working (or not) than I'd like.

@fyeahnix #tumblr brain rot is so strong I thought this was some AU take of that Jack Frost twink from Guardians

Oh. No, nothing to do with him. This character is the one around whom most of the drama of my first fantasy series has crystalllzed out. Freelorn started out more than forty years ago as kind of a romantically-inclined jerk with a love of lost causes and a recurring sporadic inability to think practicalities through. But he's been improving. :)

Anyway, thanks again to everybody who commented kindly about the good look of the images. The light: it's all about the Light. :)

*Lorn's probably about 5'9". Dusty's around 6'2" or a bit taller. (In that second image, definitely taller, as the boots that go with that outfit are riding boots and have significant heels.)

**And also the tapestries directly behind the Throne.

#Middle Kingdoms meta #the Throne of Arlen #Freelorn #small king #digital art #Daz Studio

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alexturne · 7 months

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I'm having a lot of thoughts and idk if I've fully thought it all out, but I needed to get it down and try to work out how I feel about it all..

I genuinely don't think this whole "discourse" is what's happening. I'm sure they just really wanted to do the whole bit with the strings and that's all.

Nothing to do with Alex and Miles being less close than they once were. Nothing to do with their relationship being less profound than it has always been. They're super important people in each other's lives and there comes a point when you've been that for someone for so long that it no longer requires constant reconfirmation. Their friendship is so solid, so deeply rooted within them both, that they don't need to perform together to assure themselves that they're good. There's no question. They're friends, and they always will be, no matter how much time passes, they'll always be there for each other. I have no doubt about that.

And they asked Miles to come along, they knew they could count on him to make it and do an amazing show, even on short notice. And Miles was there watching, having fun, riding the high of his own show, and I bet it doesn't hurt him the slightest bit not playing 505 with them. And neither does Alex not joining him for a tlsp track. And it's just very fun to watch Miles do such a great job on such a massive stage and to watch Alex (maybe) send some inside jokes his way, and definitely acknowledge his presence more than he has for any other opening act.

Miles has enjoyed playing a couple of the more Miles centric tlsp tunes during the last year at his own shows, and he probably just took them off the setlist when they figured out they wouldn't have the time/energy to rehearse and work it all out. And to not lead anyone on and create false hope that Alex might show up. It's been a long time since they've done it. And Alex is the sort of guy who has probably forgotten his own lyrics, and would require more time and brain capacity to practice to get it in order. Or something else that is perfectly reasonable.

Like, I'm all for delusions but I guess I'm just saying that I don't think it's that deep. They're friends. Close friends. Very important to each other. (Maybe more if that's how you choose to view it). And I bet they don't even think about the shows in the same terms as we do, every little thing doesn't matter as much to them as it does to us. Not everything is a "sign" and there are so many pragmatic and logistical reasons that play into a tour like this that we know nothing about.

I bet Alex is exhausted, excited for the tour to be over and to get to go home and rest, I know I would be! Even if he has loved every bit of it, I would be completely worn out and just ready to go home. But I bet they were also so excited to have the strings and they wanted to really have them shine during the set. It was their show. The Monkey's show, and they finally had the chance to let the vision they had for the album come to life. What an amazing end of the tour.

I won't get too much into why they haven't utilized the strings sooner, because they obviously could've and I don't get why they didn't, and maybe they could've skipped the strings on 505 and had Miles up for it instead. It would've been incredible. So much potential. A lot of fans would've been pleased bout that, and I know they'd enjoy it and have fun playing together too.

But they didn't, and even if I would love to know the actual reason, I'm choosing to let it go and assume there is a very logical and reasonable explanation, and not some big dramatic fallout going on. I can be disappointed about not seeing them, but I don't think it "means" anything in the grander scheme of things.

Miles could've played with them (assuming he doesn't for the last one either), and I won't get into that discussion too much either, because ofc they could have done it together, but so many things had to work out and maybe Miles just wanted to do his own thing. Maybe they never got around to having the conversation, maybe something entirely different happened. We don't know.

And yes ofc I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see them together, I won't deny it. I would've loved it, both as a fan of their music and performances and as a tiny little happy milex lover, my shipper and fic writer heart would've been so so pleased about it. But we didn't get it this time around, and that doesn't mean that their friendship is over or that they hate each other or that they're not close anymore or that they don't love each other anymore. And it doesn't mean that we won't ever see them play together again.

I think they would love to perform together again, but I would assume they also have so many other things they love to do too. So many other things that require their energy. Even together, but also just their personal dreams and wants in life.

They're both into the idea of tlsp being back someday, but as it has always been with them, tlsp will return when the time is right, when it happens naturally. That's the beauty of it. It's something that just happens and that's why they both love and enjoy it so much, I think. It's about freedom and spontaneity, it's without boundaries, it can't be planned or controlled, it's a beautiful chaos between two close friends who love to make music together, and who are incredibly talented at it. But they're also artists who have other ambitions. Other projects they love.

And their friendship doesn't depend on tlsp releasing new music. It is a product of their beautiful friendship, but the friendship came first. Them not writing together right now actually says absolutely nothing about the current state of their friendship. Which we have seen signs of being as healthy and strong as ever, if a bit more private than it used to be. And that's fine. They're super private people, and honestly I would have much more reason to worry for their friendship if they suddenly started posting about it all the time and parading each other around. They're not like that and they never will be and that's fine.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Yes, they're being dumbasses - both the band and our dear milex boys, throughout the whole tour - with not utilizing the strings earlier on the tour, not playing more of The Car on the setlist, not skipping more of AM, not taking advantage of ALL THAT POTENTIAL. They could've done the strings for Glastonbury, it would've been perfect. They could've easily included Miles in a few more gigs (it was sooooo lovely when they did), these last ones in particular, and it would've been so beautiful and meaningful and they would've had so much fun with it - they could've made so many better decisions than they did. The whole tour came with some question marks. We can all agree on that. They're being stupid and they seem to not always think very far ahead, and sometimes forget to use their brains, and I assume that's why they end up not having time to rehearse and work things out sooner, and that is honestly just so dumb of them. They could be doing so much more and I hope some things will improve next time.

But either way - the tour is over and I've loved every second of it.

The new album is super gorgeous and it finally got the string section it deserved. What an amazing finish to the tour. I sincerely hope they will be bringing a lot of The Car back next time around.

Deeply in my own heart I wish we would see Alex and Miles on stage together again soon, but at the same time, I wish Miles the very best with his own work, he truly deserves all the success in the world. And I hope Alex will get some well-earned rest and time off. I hope he will go free of paparazzi and find peace and quiet after this insanely taxing year, and I hope he finds bunches and bunches of inspiration for new songs. I hope tlsp will be back sooner rather than later and I hope they're happy.

I've loved getting to follow the tour, I've loved being on here freaking out with you guys, and I will miss getting to see their little faces everyday. Truly.

But I think it's so well deserved for them to take a break and I hope they will be back soon.

#this is so rambly and maybe ill backtrack later if my thoughts and feelings change #but i feel like its good to try and be reasonable about it all #and try to see it from their perspective #just to keep our own hearts calm too #assuming he doesn't join for the last show either #judt trying to clear my own head #arctic monkeys

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junk-story · 1 month

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Interview: Ongaku to Hito and Sakurai Atsushi - Ichikawa Tetsushi x Kanemitsu Hiroshi, Part I

This interview is on pages 52-57 of the magazine. Footnotes are included in numbered parentheses and can be found at the bottom. Part II of this interview can be found here.

~~~~~~~

From the establishment of the magazine in 1993 to the present day, we are proud to say that, in the 356 releases of Ongaku to Hito, Sakurai Atsushi had the highest number of appearances. Including things like live reports and columns, the count of appearances is close to 130 times. We feel that it’s probable that this number will never be beaten by anyone else. Now, you may be asking why a person such as Sakurai Atsushi was so loved by Ongaku to Hito’s editorial department for such a long time. And, why he, too, responded to us as he did. The first editor-in-chief, Ichikawa, who came to see the incomplete Sakurai of the 20th Century, and the third editor-in-chief, Kanemitsu, who saw the process of his expressive style come to completion in the 21st century, discuss together what Sakurai Atsushi was to Ongaku to Hito.

Kanemitsu: When was the first time you met Sakurai-san?

Ichikawa: When I was working as editor-in-chief in Nagoya for Town Magazine. I was working as the Western music critic, but it was a town magazine, so I thought we needed to do Japanese music as well.

Kanemitsu: It was right when the first Band Boom(1) was going on, right?

Ichikawa: Right. And at that time, there was an older promoter from Victor’s Nagoya Sales Office that had come to do this over-the-top promotion of these new bands. I had no interest in them, but the way he made his sales pitch was very skilled. He was like, ‘Even though they have this sort of gaudy visual style, the melody is like a tulip.” (wry laugh)

Kanemitsu: (laughs) It certainly had that scent to it in the early days.

Ichikawa: At the time of their debut, Sakurai Atsushi didn’t really have the basics down of being a vocalist yet, but then, don’t Japanese people love the sound of a natural bass voice with a slightly sweet quality to it? However, behind that, there were a lot of strange wailing guitars, and I ended up taking an interest in them; I decided to do an interview with them, and the ones who came were Sakurai and Hoshino.

Kanemitsu: The person who was playing the weird guitar wasn’t there! (laughs)

Ichikawa: Moreover, even though they came with their hair standing up and in their full stage gear, no matter what I asked the two of them, they would only nod their heads shyly in agreement; it was a situation where they were like a “fleet of silence”. That overwhelming difference was so funny.

Kanemitsu: And the next time was in Tokyo?

Ichikawa: At Rocking on Japan. After interviewing Imai, I was kidnapped by Roppongi’s BOO!WHO?WOO!, and that was where I drank for the first time with Sakurai. For the following month’s issue, we had planned to do it with Sakurai and Anii, but on the day of the interview, we received communication that Sakurai’s mother had suddenly passed away and he wanted to hurry back home to Gunma, so in Sakurai’s place, Imai was to do the interview. When I went to the scene of the interview, feeling sympathetic for the whole situation, for some reason, Sakurai was there.

Kanemitsu: What?

Ichikawa: I asked him, “What’s the matter?(2)” and he said, “I thought I should come to properly greet you and ask you to please excuse me [for missing the interview].”

Kanemitsu: A good person who really respects the social hierarchy.

Ichikawa: It’s a good story, right? (laughs) Even though this man is this sort of flashy frontman, he doesn’t talk much and acts seriously.(3)

Kanemitsu: I really think so too.

Ichikawa: And then, as early as the next issue, Sakurai did a 20,000 character interview.

Kanemitsu: …for the No Blood, No Tears magazine.

Ichikawa: Wahahaha. As you might expect, I suppose I couldn’t touch on anything regarding his mother. When we sat down and had a thorough discussion, he was bad at speaking, but trying with all his might to do it. What came from that was how his adolescence was a rather empty(4) time.

Kanemitsu: After he graduated from high school, he went to work in a factory, correct?

Ichikawa: Yes, that. At a car factory, the job he did was screwing parts together as they came through, but it was like he agonized over it, thinking, “…why am I continuing to do something like this?” That sort of difficult-to-express feeling can really pull the heartstrings of readers, I think.

Kanemitsu. That became the heart of Sakurai’s lyrics.

Ichikawa: Yeah. That’s where it begins, you know, the “What am I?” series. Understanding that there is something there, but not being able to explain it well. So it can only be written as lyrics and sung. In search of an escape, an endless journey of self-discovery began.

Kanemitsu: Interviews became Sakurai-san’s therapy.

Ichikawa: I was his therapist, or, like his infinite hitting partner for wondering about things to himself. At the interview location, through talking with me, he would organize his thoughts and then verbalize them. It was like this repeatedly. And we couldn’t google information like we can now, and in the first place, there wouldn’t be an answer anywhere even if we did google it. So we ended up with lyrics like “Namida ukabete Deca-dance (eng: “deca-dance with tears in my eyes”) in Maboroshi no Miyako, and the kids that listened to it wrote us letters while crying, asking, “What kind of dance is this?!” (wry laugh)

Kanemitsu: The fans, readers, and even he himself didn’t understand.

Ichikawa: I think it was just that, even if you couldn’t comprehend it, the emptiness that Sakurai carried drew everyone to him. Like something a person instinctively sympathizes with deeply.

Kanemitsu: At that time, Ongaku to Hito was laying the groundwork for the beginning of an idea to materialize for him.

Ichikawa: Ultimately. (laughs) However, I think he also perhaps didn’t completely understand it.

Kanemitsu: Agreed. Sakurai-san himself tried reading [Charles] Baudelaire’s “The Flowers of Evil” and said he was frustrated by the second page. (laughs)

Ichikawa: That’s right. But, I think he had this indulgence of, “I’m good in the darkness, the emptiness in me is obvious.” So I called Sakurai Atsushi, “The Appeal of Self-Deprecation.” That’s because the lyrics written by the Sakurai Atsushi of the 20th century had these desperate contents of “I’m no good, no good, I’m NO GOOD” all throughout them.

Kanemitsu: But in Kurutta Taiyou, using the sun as a motif, I think he became able to view himself from a bird’s-eye view. And his mother’s existence is at the root of him.

Ichikawa: That complexity is the foundation of Sakurai’s work, right? But he couldn’t use it consciously as a technique. Making Kurutta Taiyou, I think even he could probably see and noticed that. And so then, when a year passed and he was face to face with the new release’s lyrics, he was back to square one again. Every time, he ended up returning back to the source.

Kanemitsu: It never became like, “I wrote this before, so I should do it like this next time”, did it?

Ichikawa: Right. Other musicians are more carefree when writing their lyrics, aren’t they? Once they’ve fallen into their own style, the only discussion is about if they should update it. Kanemitsu: When writing lyrics, do you always have to face yourself, or –

Ichikawa: You can’t escape it. On the other hand, that sort of work has some troublesome aspects to it, so I can’t dislike someone for not doing it. (wry laugh)

Kanemitsu: Meaning?

Ichikawa: The Sakurai Atsushi of the 20th century, and I think this could also be said for all of BUCK-TICK, had no progress - in a good way. Thanks to Imai’s desire for “wanting to put out strange sounds”, there was change every time, but in the lyrics, it was three steps forward and three steps back repeatedly. Because they’d make an album, go on tour, and all the time after that, the 5 of them spent drinking.

Kanemitsu: 365 days of the same cycle repeatedly. (laughs) There was an extremely low amount of [external] input, so there ended up being an absolute need for them to do the work to re-examine themselves.

Ichikawa: This continued the entire time. But, there can be no mistake that this shaped Sakurai’s unique lyrics’ worldview. One always ends up going back to the basics. It was a moratorium, in a good sense.

Kanemitsu: But they didn’t run away.

Ichikawa: That’s because Sakurai was a kind man. He knew better than anyone what would happen if he ran away. So no matter how driven into a corner he was, the one thing he would never sacrifice was the band.

Kanemitsu: I see.

Ichikawa: His rare charm was that the self-indulgent Sakurai Atsushi and the Sakurai Atsushi who took stoicism to its limit both existed together. So this troubled him, and he wanted to run away, but he didn’t. He faced things stoically, so this troubling feeling of wanting to run away is reflected in his lyrics.

Kanemitsu: In the 21st century, he began to act that part consciously. Taking himself to the limit and despairing that he was no good, no good. He would not face the lyrics while exhausted, but instead deepened his expression of them through the premise of acting them out.

Ichikawa: It may have been a shock, but in short, their material elevated(5). Really, because they were able to turn their work into art, we can grasp now how they were able to bring forth a decadent rock masterpiece like 21st Cherry Boy. Although that kind of dark decadence is seen as a negative, they established it as an excellent form of entertainment, which is fantastic. When I listened to that, I wondered, “Why has Sakurai made a breakthrough to this point?” What did you make of that?

~~~~~~~

Footnotes:

(1) This refers to the period of time in the late '70s-’80s where the sort of distinct, Japanese-but-Western-but-neither-but-both style of bands were increasing in popularity and number. Bands like BUCK-TICK came out of this boom. (2) In the sense of like, “What are you doing here?” (3) This can also mean “genuine”. I think both words suit the context, and I’m not sure which meaning he intends. (4) “Empty” here is in a negative context - an emptiness of meaning, fulfillment. (5) “Elevated” here is a word I don’t think translates well into English. This word, in chemistry, also means “to sublimate” - like when something goes from a solid state to a gaseous state, without passing through the liquid state first. I think it’s helpful to imagine this in the use of “elevating” here, too - a sudden, jolting step up from where things were before.

This made sense as a logical cutoff point because the interview slowly starts turning to Kanemitsu's experience in the 21st century with Sakurai from here. I'll include Ichikawa's question at the start of Part II, just to keep things clear.

#buck tick #sakurai atsushi #ongaku to hito #buck-tick #quartz translates

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flowerandblood · 1 year

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The White Flame (Part 1)

[modern! rockstar • Aemond Targaryen x fem!reader]

[warnings: sexual tension, drugs, angst, swearing, fluff]

[description: Aemond is the bassist of the band whose leader and vocalist is his brother. The whole band decides to use the marketing and design help of their guitarist's friend. The story is an interweaving of domination, desire and slowly burning feeling.]

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Next chapters: Masterlist

_____

"The White Flame" - the name of their band - was Aegon's idea. Ever since he started taking singing lessons he always knew he wanted to start a band. Although Aemond didn't believe in this venture, he gave in to him when he said one day that he had found a guitarist and a drummer. Their house was big, so the first rehearsals took place in their garage.

Aemond loved the bass guitar, its low sound, the way it was always in the back carrying the whole song on its weight, giving it that nice quivering feeling in your chest when it played on stage. Cregan as a drummer was very lively and energetic, he could improvise very well and bring a lot to the whole composition, adding to its expression.

Mathylda, whom they simply called "Momo", was a great guitarist and had a very interesting way of applying makeup. Often blue butterflies were pinned into her short black hair, her make-up was wide and bright, passing through all the colors of blue. She dressed all in black, and despite the glasses that made her look like a nerd, she had a rock star vibe about her.

They managed to get an agent who arranged their first concerts in small clubs. Slowly, they began to receive more and more offers, and after two years they played almost every weekend. Mathylda said that they needed someone to care for their marketing, someone who would run their social media, design logos and gadgets, and promote their style.

"My friend is great at these kind ot things, I can ask her if she would like to help us." She said one day, referring to the girl who would come to their concerts sometimes and then have drinks with Momo at the bar.

She didn't talk to them much, seeing that the boys often disappeared with the girls in some corners, snorted something or just drank. Sometimes, however, she and Mathylda would come over to exchange a few words. One day she was talking to Aegon while eating marshmallows shaped like litte rabbits heads.

"Actually, you yourself look like a bunny." He once said drunk. She laughed and asked if he thought she had rabbit teeth. He said he meant her bun.

Indeed, she often combed her long hair so that part of her front hair was wrapped at the back of her head in a small bun, fastened with a colored terry, which she could tie on demand without even thinking about it. Aemond wondered how she did it that she didn't even look at herself in the mirror, and that the bun always looked perfect.

From then on, Aegon always called her "Bunny", and it stayed that way. Sometimes they used an abbreviation and just called her "Bun." Compared to them, she was very colorful, joyful and, above all, sober.

She had had drinks with Mathylda of course, but Aemond had never seen her drunk enough to gibber or cajole. She talked a lot and was always discussing something with Cregan or Aegon.

She often wore sweatshirts or sweaters in bright, pastel colors, sometimes with a character from a fairy tale. For example, she had a "Adventures of the Gummi Bears" hoodie that Aegon loved. For some reason he called her "Gummi Bunny" back then, to the dismay of everyone, including her.

Although her choice of clothing might seem childish, she always paired it with high-waisted trousers or mid-thigh skirts with high wool socks, which emphasized her slim figure and nice proportions. Aemond found himself staring at her legs a lot when she was wearing a short skirt.

When Momo suggested that Bunny handle their marketing, everyone was comfortable with the idea. Sometimes she would show them her designs and illustrations, and they were all impressed.

Aemond never commented on what she was doing, but he thought she did have talent. Once everything was settled, Bunny came over to them after one of the rehearsals with her laptop and sketchbook. She wanted to show them some designs for their new logo.

“I decided that a classic typographic solution would be the best. Your music refers to classic rock, so I went the way of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or AC/DC.” She said calmly, unfolding the pages. Aemond was surprised that she had done her homework. Her designs referenced the typography of the 60's and 70's, making the inscription "The White Flame" look retro.

Everyone loved the direction she was going. After a lively discussion, they came to the conclusion that the most interesting design was the one in which the L was a flame, with the rest of the thick, serifed letters.

Bunny suggested that if she could, she would stay with them while they practiced and start making a logo on the laptop so she could consult with them on changes. Nobody had any objections to that.

After a few weeks, the logo was ready. Bunny one day brought everyone stickers with it on it, saying it was a cool and inexpensive gadget and that they could use some t-shirts and bags too. She also took care of their social media. One day she brought her little purple Instax and said she wanted to take some cool retro pictures of them.

She took one of the photos of Aemond from hiding, standing to the side. Aemond stood against a completely black background, his eyes narrowed in concentration, a cigarette in his mouth. His sleeve with a large tattoo peeked out from under his black T-shirt, his white hair, bright face and black&white guitar contrasted with the whole setting.

Bunny approached him with excitement, saying that it was one of the best pictures and that it turned out great. As she stood next to him, he smelled her scent, some pleasant floral perfume. He just grunted, exhaling smoke through his nose, tilting his head to the side so as not to blow on her.

After concerts, there were always at least a few girls waiting for autographs at their door. Usually half of them wanted to fuck. Aegon took advantage of this every time and went to the toilet with them. Cregan didn't, at least not right away, but sometimes he gave his phone number to girls he liked.

Aemond only fucked the most desperate ones. It excited him to think that he could give them everything they wanted, give them hope and leave them with nothing. He wondered, what they expected?

However, he felt uneasy when, after one such action, he left the men's room with one of the girls, who was quickly adjusting her skirt, and Bunny was waiting on the other side, apparently waiting for the women's room.

The look she gave him was not one of reproach or disgust. She looked like he was physically hurting her. She lowered her gaze as he turned and walked away, deciding that he didn't have to explain anything to her.

During one of the rehearsals, she sat on their couch. She'd been working on her laptop for a few hours now and took off her shoes, putting her hunched legs together.

Aemond involuntarily, sitting in the armchair next to her, tuning his guitar, looked at her legs dressed in high, cream socks to the middle of the thighs. She was wearing a big, long, light-colored, long-sleeved Gryffindor sweatshirt and shorts. That's why she looked like she was wearing nothing underneath.

Aemond felt a tightness in his pants at the thought of being between those thighs. He wondered if she would moan sweetly under him as he fucked her, if she would be wet and tight for him. He looked away, clenching his jaw, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth.

He looked up at her in surprise when he saw her put the laptop aside, walked over to him and leaned her hip against his armchair, showing him one of the sketches on a piece of paper she must have done earlier.

“Aegon once proposed to decorate your guitars. I already have a project for Momo, but I decided to do something different for you.” She said calmly, a note of satisfaction and pride in her voice. Aemond looked at her drawing. It accurately reproduced his bass guitar.

In her illustration, a black and white dragon with claws, drawn in a sharp, simplistic style, was eating its own tail as it curled around the shape of the instrument. Aemond took the cigarette from his mouth and flicked the smoke onto the ashtray, that was on the small table beside him.

"I like it." He spoke briefly and to the point.

A few days later, he, Momo and Bunny drove their guitars to the printing house. At first, Momo and Bunny were going to go there alone and get his guitar too, but he told them that if he saw even a scratch on it, he would kill them. Frightened that something might escape their attention, they simply told him to come with them.

They went in and explained that they had come to print the guitars with the designs Bunny had sent them earlier. Bunny frowned as they showed her the stickers that would then be welded into the fabric and secured.

"Why is the print resolution so poor?" She asked, looking at the man in surprise. The man shrugged.

"Perhaps you sent such a project." He said dismissively. Bunny frowned.

"I have sent you a high resolution file." She said coldly. The man sighed and checked everything on the computer again. He pursed his lips as he realized she was right. She raised her eyebrows, obviously expecting an apology.

"After all, since you play on stage, you won't be able to see pixels from a distance anyway." He said calmly. Bunny opened her mouth, nervous, but before she could say anything, Aemond walked over to her, took the sheet of paper with the sticker, and tore it up in front of them. He tossed it on his desk, staring at him with a stony face.

"Nobody's gonna put this pixelated shit on my guitar. Print it again because you're getting on my nerves already, mate." He said low, his voice making the man look at him with wide eyes. He clenched his jaw and wordlessly turned the machine back on. He must have changed something, because this time the printouts looked perfect.

Aemond watched carefully as he pasted the design onto his guitar. Bunny and Momo looked at them with amusement as they saw the man's hands shaking. When it was over, they left the printing house, quite satisfied with the end result.

"I'll drive you to your home." He said calmly, and the girls looked at each other, surprised, apparently not expecting such a kind heart from him. They both sat in the back, talking about nutrition, how frustrated the guy was and his nonsensical remarks.

First on the way was Momo's house. As she said goodbye and closed the door behind her, Aemond drove on. The silence fell between them. He looked in his mirror and saw in the reflection that their eyes met. They turned immediately.

Aemond considered stopping somewhere in some small, empty street for a while to just fuck her on his back seat. He thought after a moment that he would probably just scare her. Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I have something for you." She said shyly, smiling warmly. He looked from the road to her face in the mirror, surprised. "Aegon told me you recently had a birthday. But I didn't have the courage to give it to you in front of everyone." She said, looking down at her lap.

Aemond swallowed softly, completely bewildered. He didn't like celebrating birthdays, and he didn't like missed gifts. He stared straight ahead, saying nothing.

He glanced in the mirror again, hearing her rummage through her white suede backpack. He parked in front of her house when he heard her lean over him, her elbows between the two front seats, her head close to his face.

She held an envelope in her hand, it was not sealed. Aemond reached inside, without even asking her if he could see what was inside, and pulled out a few sheets. After a while he realized they were tattoo designs.

“Aegon told me you want to make a new one, but you need a good design. That you wish it had a dagger on it that belonged to your great-great-grandfather. He took a picture of him for me and I came up with several versions. I tought you might like one of them." She said softly with a smile, her gaze warm and sincere.

He looked at her, their faces millimeters apart. He wanted to fuck her, kiss her long neck, listen to her soft moans. He wondered if he saw it in his gaze, because she shivered and swallowed softly, her lips parting slightly.

He looked at her lips, then back at her eyes. They leaned against each other's foreheads, and she sighed softly, as if in relief. She smiled at him. He thought she was going to kiss him, but she pulled away, zipped up her backpack, and left the car without a word, her legs trembling slightly.

He watched her as she walked into her house and didn't even look back at him. He felt his entire jaw clench with desire. He squeezed his eye shut, swallowed hard, and started the engine, driving out of her driveway with a squeal of tires.

_____

Let me know what do you think and if you want a series form that! If you want to be tagged, leave a comment below. ♥

@zenka69 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff

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pikahlua · 1 year

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Winner Stage-Left, or: Did you know any MHA character’s position in the frame is a spoiler?

(Subtitle: Who’s gonna stop me from converting other old Discord conversations into meta? You? YOU? Doubtful.)

Honestly it’s just embarrassing that I haven’t made this post yet.

I’ve talked before about horizontal and vertical design on the faces of MHA characters, but there’s another visual trick that’s ever-so-present in MHA--nay, in all of shounen manga and anime--that deserves at least a cursory discussion. Ever since I was a wee tyke, I noticed an odd tendency in anime to always place the winner of a fight (or...children’s card game) on the right of the screen. I never thought anything of it for a long time, but a few years ago a friend mentioned something about it to me in passing. This friend was very unfamiliar with anime but had somehow heard something about this phenomenon and its potential origins. Naturally, I had to look into it.

The research I did wasn’t as conclusive as I would have liked, but I did discover something about the topic. What I discovered was that in traditional forms of Japanese theater such as kabuki and noh, stage-left is considered a superior position to stage-right. Someone of a superior ranking to the other would stand stage-left. Sometimes this “superiority” would be as simple as social ranking or whatever.

But then you have various anime with confrontation via martial arts or sports or fights where "stage-left" can take on a different meaning.

As we explore this concept as presented in MHA, I would like to start with this back cover of tankoban #33.

For clarity’s sake, note that Izuku is looking towards the right of the page while Katsuki is looking to the left side. Stage-left is determined by looking to the left of an actor when they stand on stage and face the audience (in other words, from the audience’s perspective, stage-left is to the right). Izuku and Katsuki in the above page are facing each other, and so on-screen Izuku would be standing stage-right and Katsuki would be standing stage-left.

But what does it all mean?

(It means Katsuki is the hero in this moment.)

I wrote above that in anime confrontations "stage-left" can take on a new meaning. Specifically, the concept of what "superior ranking" is can be played with. We end up with the story’s hero often being stage-left. Or sometimes this positioning is broadcasting who will be the winner of the match. Go watch an older anime like Dragonball Z or Yugioh and take note of each match-up: who is standing on the left and who is on the right? Then guess who wins the match. The statistics are pretty clear on this: stage-left is most often (if not always) the winner.

But in many of these older anime, the positioning of the characters remains the same for the entire match. That’s not the case with MHA; Horikoshi loves to change up who is standing where throughout a match (or dialogue, if you will), so it’s important to pay attention to what’s happening when positions get swapped around.

With regards to the above image and the events of Deku vs Class 1-A, consider who is positioned where and when. Just think about these images:

Here in chapter 319, Izuku is stage-left. The depiction is supposed to prime us to believe he is stronger than Class 1-A, which technically he is--in a contest of each individual’s strength.

But then if you read chapter 320, you'll find that once the action starts, Class 1-A is almost always standing stage-left of Izuku, specifically when they're trying to talk him down.

The whole ice ramp chase sequence in chapter 321 shows Izuku fleeing towards stage-right while the others are stage-left and chase after him.

And then you have this moment, where Iida passes Izuku just to get more stage-right of him. This is an interesting way to play with the “winner” side of the stage. In order to save Izuku, Iida is elevating him from the self-destructive “Symbol of Peace" back into Izuku Midoriya their classmate. Izuku, their friend and one piece of class 1-A, is meant to be the “hero” they wish to save, not the loner Deku whom Izuku tried to become.

And then we get to think about what this staging means in the apology.

Katsuki stands stage-left, which we’d expect him to do as the forecast "winner." But this is such an interesting take on staging because Katsuki is essentially debasing himself by bowing to Izuku with his apology--but it’s in order to win, in order to get Izuku back, in order to achieve his goal of saving Izuku. It's almost paradoxical, but it's basically broadcasting to us the reading audience whom we should be cheering for: Katsuki.

This isn’t the first time MHA has played with positioning like this. The sports festival is one of my favorite examples. If you look at how the anime depicts the match-ups and who wins each match, the matches can be listed in stage-right vs stage-left format (bold names are the winners):

Midoriya vs Shinsou Todoroki vs Sero Kaminari vs Ibara Iida vs Hatsume Ashido vs Aoyama Yaoyorozu vs Tokoyami Kirishima vs Tetsutetsu (draw) Uraraka vs Bakugou

Tetsutetsu vs Kirishima (arm-wrestle tiebreaker)

Midoriya vs Todoroki Ibara vs Iida Ashido vs Tokoyami Kirishima vs Bakugou

Iida vs Todoroki Tokoyami vs Bakugou

Bakugou vs Todoroki

And if we take a closer look at the anomalous stage-right winners:

Midoriya vs Shinsou ends with Midoriya's victory, but Shinsou is portrayed as the hero we should sympathize with in the end. Thus, he wins the attention of Aizawa and the audience enough to give him a shot at the hero course, which fulfills his original goal in competing.

Todoroki vs Sero ends with Todoroki's victory, but the end is perceived by Midoriya as "sad," and the audience ends up cheering for Sero when it's all over. Todoroki is still a captive of his hatred for his father, and in that sense he is the loser.

Iida vs Hatsume ends with Iida's win on a technicality. Hatsume clearly has control over the entire match and only loses because she wants to, and even then only after she presents all the gadgets she wanted to, which achieves her goal in competing.

Ashido vs Aoyama can be considered an outlier with Ashido's win until we remember Aoyama as the unwitting traitor may have actually wanted to lose? Either that or this fight is meant as a joke to subvert our expectations because of Mineta's call to see Ashido's underwear at the start. Either way, even if Ashido starts on stage-right, she actually swings her way over to stage-left for her surprise victory at the end.

And then we have Bakugou vs Todoroki, which actually becomes Todoroki vs Bakugou as soon as the story makes it clear to us that Torodoki is wavering on whether or not he'll use his fire. Bakugou switches over to stage-left before the end, and the final non-clash keeps him there, even if that's not how he wants things to play out (he certainly would have a hard time considering himself the “winner.”)

Another one worth rewatching while keeping this positioning phenomenon in mind is absolutely “Deku vs Kacchan, Part 2.” Holy shit, they swap places so damn often, and it's always about what they're saying or doing in the moment.

What’s wild is how in the manga, this sequence is played with Katsuki stage-right...

...but in the anime he’s played as stage-left.

And just think about how that affects the portrayal. In the manga version, is Katsuki being portrayed as a victim who needs saving by hero (stage-left) Izuku? Is Katsuki’s despair the trial for the hero to overcome? In the anime version, is Katsuki’s anxiety meant to be relatable and sympathetic for the audience? Is Izuku’s ignorance of Katsuki’s true feelings the obstacle for hero (stage-left) Katsuki to overcome?

Stage-left is even played with when the boys are airing their grievances! Whoever is speaking gets to occupy the hero spot:

And of course there’s my favorite example from this face-off: the ending where stage-right Katsuki, refusing to lose, grabs Izuku's sleeve and forcefully switches them around to pin Izuku from stage-left.

We have a winner!

These examples, of course, are not the entire list. Read the chapters or watch the episode and count how many times they swap places. It puts that whole sequence in the anime where the camera swoops around the boys as they clash in the sky into a whole new perspective (like the story-boarders just gave up on all the position swaps and pulled out the 3-D graphics in protest.)

So give it a shot next time you read/watch MHA and see if you notice these positions. I obviously pay the most attention to the ones with Izuku and Katsuki (their stage positions get played around with a lot). Consider the first anime opening when they're drawn in one positioning as kids but swap when they hit middle school. And the creek flashback scene? Izuku offers his hand to Katsuki from stage-left. And in the PLW arc? Izuku vs Tomura in the sky? Izuku starts out stage-left, but they swap when Izuku goes feral and Katsuki starts panicking. Katsuki saves Izuku by traveling from stage-left. In the final panel of chapter 285, we see Katsuki still positioned stage-left as he’s stabbed, which highlights his heroism.

Oh, and here’s the new part I’m adding that wasn’t in the Discord conversation that spawned this meta: Katsuki vs TomurAFO. I just find it so telling wherever Katsuki is positioned.

Chapter 359: Katsuki is portrayed as stage-left.

Chapter 360: Katsuki is forced stage-right by TomurAFO...

...but the heroes pluck Katsuki back into stage-left...

...where he stays.

Chapter 362: Katsuki attacks from stage-left and continues to circle around TomurAFO to stage-left.

Katsuki is depicted as stage-left as he meets All Might’s vestige...

...but as soon as he expresses his desire for an autograph, he unexpectedly moves to stage-right...

...and takes a fatal blow.

Talk about a visual plot twist!

(I also happen to think Tomura’s positioning throughout this arc is very curious, and I will continue to pay attention to it.)

Have fun with the new lens!

#my hero academia manga spoilers #final showdown spoilers #meta #izuku midoriya #katsuki bakugou #tenya iida #shouto todoroki #for reference to potentially use in analyses later #just wanted to give y'all SOMETHING yanno?

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lifewillalwaysbe-lavieenrose · 18 days

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GUYS!! I saw Les Mis! In Munich!!!

Let's recap!

The Cast:

Daniel Gutmann as Javert. He was incredible. Definitely my personal highlight. Everytime he sang his voice just ROARED. And he was menacing holy shit. Aggggggh I'm normal about him

Barbara Obermeier as Eponine. When I first heard her sing in Act 1, I knew she was gonna kill it in Act 2. And she did.

Merlin Farcel aka Enjolras. His voice was so perfect I LOVED all the high notes, BUT:

The beard. Sorry, but in my world Enjolras doesn't have a beard. Plus, it makes him look like Peter Maffay

Madame Thenardier was PERFECT (I don't remember who played her that night😭) She was so funny and the audience really loved her.

The Music:

At first, I felt a bit underwhelmed by the orchestra. To be fair, I listened to the 10th anniversary recording SO much, that I really got used to that grand orchestra sound.

There was an electric guitar and at one point an electric bass when Javert sang, which I really loved.

During Master of the House/ Beggars at the Feast you could really see the orchestra bopping their heads and having fun and that made me very happy

I really loved the brass section, they really stood out (That French Hurn during On My Own????!)

The Costumes:

I don't know why, but the Les Amis were wearing these caps all the time. I have never seen a production with them in it. Is this a historically accurate thing?? I didn't really like them, they looked very plastic/shiny and fell out of place

I cannot find a picture but in the beginning of Act 1 Valjean wore a pink vest and then a purple coat which both looked very cheap and which I both didn't like (maybe it was because of the light? The colors felt very unnatural)

Eponine's outfit. At first I thought it didn't look shabby enough. But it looks so badass I'll let it pass

Why don't you let Enjolras wear his red vest??

What is Marius wearing? Goofy boy

Big Mad Hatter vibes from Thenardier. I loved his and the Patron Minettes outifits, they looked very edgy

This is perfect. Perfect. I only wished he had undone his hair for Javert's Suicide (he did, but only for the last 10 seconds)

The Stage:

The stage had a turning middle and stairs that could be moved around, similar like in Hamilton.

They did a cool transition with young Cosette walking up the stairs and old Cosette walking down

Also, they had some cool staging with buildings moving around for Stars. But I feel like there was almost a bit too much happening in the background for this song.

I don't know why they didn't have the Barricades turn and show Enjolras hang upside down. It's such a cool/tragic moment!

During the Barricade scenes, the stage sometimes felt a bit empty. I mean, there were always like 15 people standing around. Maybe the Barricades were to small/not high enough

Empty chairs at empty tables. Where were the empty chairs and empty tables??

In Everyday/A Heart Full of Love Reprise single leaves started falling down on the stage (Like Valjean entering the Fall/Winter of his life) I loved that.

Also, the parallel of Marius learning to walk again using a cane, and Valjean loosing his ability to walk using a cane. I never noticed this before!

There are SO many cool things about the staging I could talk about here. But I want to mention some other topics as well:

The "Spirit" of the Show:

There wasn't a single French flag to be seen. Some red ones, but no French flags.

In the trailer, the director said he wanted to create a more universal setting, speaking to everyone in the audience

I think that's a great sentiment but like. Everyone has French names. There were titles above the stage telling us the year and locations (Places in France) of the events. The title of the show is French.

So I think adding the flags (aka a bit more French nationalism?) would have seemed a lot more convincing for the cause of the students and the whole spirit of the show

But maybe this also has to do with the show being in German? I don't know and I'd really like to discuss it. Maybe someone here made a similar experience seeing it in another language

And last, but MOST importantly:

What about Valvert and Enjoltaire?

In the Confrontation, Javert and Valjean got really close to each other. And I mean fighting each other and then stopping just to sing directly into each other's faces.

Instead of running infront of the court in Who Am I, Valjean just goes to Javert and rips his shirt open? Okay, go off I guess

In Drink with Me, we have a platonic forehead touch between Enjolras and Grantaire. Sadly, that's all I noticed between them 😔

Also, the fact that Grantaire is supposed to be ugly/shabby/a drinker/a sceptic got totally lost, which really takes away from his character.

Conclusion:

All the actors were good, some of them were FANTASTIC. I'd watch it again just for the guy playing Javert, if I could. God, he was SO GOOD

The music was all it should be, maybe a bit too reserved (but again, this might be because I am so used to the 10th anniversary concert)

I really loved some costumes and I also really disliked some

The staging was great, some choices confused me (flags, barricades etc.)

Would I watch it again?

Absolutely!

To be clear, some of the things here might sound more negative than I actually mean. It's just that I have watched SO many different productions online, that I fixated on all the great performances and how I think they should be done. Of course everyone has different opinions here.

Okay thanks for reading if you made it here. Have a great day!

#les mis #les misérables #les mis munich #münchen #valvert #enjoltaire

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yannaryartside · 7 days

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ANALYSIS OF THE PORTRAYAL OF DEPRESSION THROUGH MICHAEL BEARZATTO

Why does this character mean so much to me as someone who was once suicidal

tw underneath: talks about self-arming/self-deprecating thoughts and substance abuse, particularly the last section that also will repeat the tw.

Disclaimer: This is about how I think Michael is one of the most helpful portrayals of depression I have seen and how I think it would have helped me, even though he died. The show is about healing from losing someone in this tragic way, but for me and my friends, the part that explores this character also means a lot.

A little about the importance of depiction of suicide and depression in media. You can skip this if it came from the character analysis; this is just to illustrate the characters that helped when I was going through it. See you at part 1.

When I was in my late teens, I entered a dark period in my life, with insomnia, depression, and memory lapses. It was primarily due to the emotional dread and trauma I got from having a narcissistic parent, being an autistic girl (not diagnosed back then), and the impending quarter-life crisis. I had no support group or emotional intelligence to deal with it all; I only got into therapy years before it all passed. That was until I met the girls that are, to this day, my two best friends, probably the only family I have ever known: V and E. V was going through a hardcore case of harassment in her school, and E had been neglected by her mother her whole life, only to definitely being abandoned by her recently at the time. We didn't know it by the time we met, but we would all hit the suicidal stages in our struggles with depression, even after we became friends.

We met in a Christian youth group we didn't want to be in. But in this space, we formed a friendship that will become our refuge from the world, our support, and the place to share our common interest in becoming writers. In the end, more than in the church we were attending, we found the courage to fight our demons in the pieces of fiction we were consuming. Because we could relate to those characters and their struggles. They seemed real to us. When I introduced them to the Bear last year, we discussed the things that the show got right when talking about Mickey.

Part 1: The portrayal of his loneliness

The inciting incident of the show is Michaeel's death. Still, there is a lot of discussion on how he was isolating himself long before that, and you could say the story of Carmy that we know today officially begins the day Michael cast him out of the restaurant. Which makes you think about why he did that.

Things that Michael was afraid of, that made him isolate himself:

For Carmy to see him act recklessly: now, we know Carmy saw Michael's explosive behavior before ("Fishes" and multiple family/staff anecdotes), but maybe he was starting to be afraid of not controlling his reactions or being aware of them. Was he having memory lapses? Was he afraid of losing his temper and hurting Carmy? The drugs could have dragged him to the point of not even recognizing himself.

Was Michael afraid of not being able to carry on the dream they had as kids? Was he buying on the idea that he was a failure and would never amount to anything good?

In addition to the previous reasons, I think Carmy's admiration was what he was the most afraid to lose. Most people have speculated that Carmy and Michael have an age difference of 10-12 years, and their father abandoned them, so Michael was the closest thing Carmy ever had to a father. This is one of the reasons Carmy idolized Miachel so much. Michael cannot even give Carmy a concrete answer in 'Fishes' about the restaurant's future and has emotional breakdowns afterward at the thought of disappointing him. It is even implied (by Richies look when Michael wraps himself in the blanket), that after that conversation, Michael may have consumed drugs. His behavior also becomes more erratic after this moment, losing track of stories he has told before and erupting in violence at the dinner table.

Part 2: The portrayal of hiding

Disclaimer: I can only speak of this thinking of my own family and the families of my friends who were depressed/suicidal like me.

Michael was already doing everything he could to hide his addiction, but I think Carmy was afraid of seeing the signs. Understandably so. People already mentioned that Michael was using, but Carmy never believed them. He was not thinking of Michael as his brother but as his parent. Because Michael was the only "parent" he could emotionally rely on. We can all have clouded vision by fear. Particularly if we are struggling and deeply emotionally wounded. There is no mention of someone else doing anything about it. Even his best friend, Richie, never confronted Michael about his addiction. Michael was the pillar of emotional security to everyone around him. They may even be afraid that confronting him will make things worse. God, after seeing "Fishes," I kinda understood why Michael didn't bring up anything to that environment; not only was everyone fucked up in their own way, but as Carmy said it "When you don't know what are you feeling, asking somebody else how they are feeling seems insane." I wonder how much Michael cared about his own feelings. That is something messed up to say, but is also true.

Part 3: The portrayal of Michael's responsibility.

Thoughts on the "what could have you done" scene. tw of suicidal thoughts particularly apply here.

I love that , when Richie said

"I wish I had done more," Carmy instantly replies 'What could you have done?"

It is essential to talk about suicide prevention while also understanding that nobody has control over your life or your life except yourself. A whole team of supporting, emotionally intelligent people may not have been enough to save Michael. The family is the environment when other genetic factors built it up, but nobody else pulled the trigger.

It is not like people cared more about their happiness than Michael's life; that is never the case. They all wanted to see, but no one is responsible for Mickey's death except himself. The thoughts of "what could I have done" to help him will just prolong a guilt that has no solution. When I was suicidal, I wouldn't have blamed anybody. There were people involved in my unhappiness, even aggressors, but I was the one who would have given up. Even Carmy tried to blame people for Michael’s death, Nat even blamed the restaurant.

I knew it was my responsibility to seek help or not. Finding ways to help my friends was difficult even if I knew them well and their situations. It is difficult to talk about, even if you want help. When my mom found out, years after the worst of it had passed, she would swear that she didn't see signs, but that is such a complicated topic. In the end, my friends and I just kept going. We all want to be the heroes of our own stories, but depending on the stories we tell ourselves, we may end our own chance to fight for ourselves.

Saying "they were afraid to see," is not the same as assigning blame, and I am sure the show will come to a point of having this conversation. It is probable that people tried to help Mickey or that he sought help himself at some point; it is very difficult to actually comprehend suicidal thoughts, more so if the person struggling with them is someone you love. Most of the people surrounding Mickey never would have imagined that he would die the way he did. Probably because that is the way Michael wanted it, even if he also wanted help, even if he dreamed about someone noticing. Because I dreamed of people noticing.

Part 4: The importance of a mirror

In the end, maybe he was more afraid of being found (ashamed, lost) than how much he wanted to be found (saved). He may have thought that all of his desperation/demons were more powerful than him. I once thought similarly, so I can relate to it. Adding the element of addiction makes it all more difficult. The show is about people dealing with the lost of Mickey, but this character made me revise a part of myself that I once wanted to keep in the past, afraid of looking at that darkness, which will prevent me from healing from it, even if the desperate thoughts that once made me suicidal are lone gone. Moreover I think Storer has chosen to show us so much flashbacks of Michael so we also can see the elements that broke him, in the context of knowing his tragic ending.

We get to know of much he meant to people, how much he shaped Carmy for better or worse. I was particularly touched by the fact that even when Nat found love in Pete and Carmy found purpose in cooking, Michael was likely never able to find fulfillment, or worse, if he ever found things that made him happy, he left them behind to keep the restaurant out of family responsibility, he may have thought that was the only thing valuable about himself.

We don’t know what things pushed him to the edge, but we know, as people that value the lives of our loved ones, that those things were based on lies, the lies he had learned about himself. The show made an effort of showing us those lies, the “you are not worth anything” and “you have no future” statements, the implied abuse, the addiction, the beliefs that all those lies could overpower him. We can see the good person that was hidden under that pile shit. The love he felt, the dreams he had. We get to imagine the future he could have.

We know, has people that have dreams of their own, that can feel love for this fictional character and can relate to him in some way, or just out of simple empathy, we wanted him to live too.

That is the most helpful way to depict suicide/depression, at least is the type of portrayal that has helped me the most. Don’t paint over it with thoughts and prayers, let me see it, in someone else struggling with it, I can see clues of the lies I once believed too, let me put myself in the shoes of this person that may be as broken as I am, and because I see the good and value in him, I can start to see the value and good of myself that my depression was forcing me to ignore.

I don’t know how a person that is currently going through depression will think of Mickey, but I think it at least will validate the things that break us in the context of what came to break him. Even if he died, because we wanted him to live, it may give us courage to fight our own demos.

About the future of Carmy.

There is abuse, addiction, emotional neglect, and many other things that caused the trauma they all carry in different ways, but since Carmy is probably gonna struggle with depression, self-deprecating, and even suicidal thoughts next season, I wonder if the characters are gonna reflect more on the ways they can support him, instead of latching to their damaging ways of thinking, that have hurt them all. This show is about healing, so I am happy to think Carmy will find solace in his support system.

Edit: I edited this post, changing actually the whole approach, because I wanted to choose my words carefully, maybe provide other writers on why characters like this are important. Thank you for reading.

#i don't talk about this topic much on the internet so i will tag this as responsibly as i can please let me know if i am missing something #healing from abuse #michael #michael berzatto #the bear #carmy berzatto #the bear fx #the bear meta #carmen berzatto #carmy the bear #richie #richie jerimovich #I really do not want this on the self harm tag on tumbrl I hate it so much so I am just happy with the people of this fandom reading it #healing from depression

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osiris-iii-bc · 2 months

Text

Cocoon [Papa Emeritus III x Cardinal Copia -Non related- OS]

Just me practicing fluff (and embarrassed at the moment). Born to be a ficlet, died as a whole one shot. Am I really surprised? If you enjoy old men softly making out, that’s the place for you. A very special thanks to @van-goghs-smoking-skull for the amazing beta assistance done on this text ❤️‍🔥

Rating: smut, slash, sex, domestic fluff, oral sex, anal sex, anal fingering, porn with plot, porn with feeling, romance, nsfw, established relationship, soft Dom!Terzo, Sub!Copia, Copia is an expert housewife, Terzo is… Terzo.

Pairing: Cardinal Copia x Papa Emeritus III (non related)

Words: 4.314

Summary: Just Papa Emeritus III and Cardinal Copia enjoying some alone time in their new residence after a long tour. Work outside, cuddles in.

>> AO3, Wattpad or down here 👇🏻

It had been several months since Copia had issued the ultimatum in that small tour bus kitchen.

"We need a house.", he burst out suddenly, flicking his cigarette into the plastic ashtray almost with relief.

"I don't recall us sleeping under bridges." Terzo lifted his gaze from the newspaper and fixed it on Copia, raising his eyebrows so he could look over his reading glasses. Then, without a word more, he returned to the newspaper with renewed interest.

"Terzo?"

"Copia... why do you want another house?" He put down the newspaper, conceding to him the attention he clearly demanded. Out of the window, Ghouls and roadies were preparing the stage for the soundcheck.

"I want a house," he emphasized. "But a real house. Our own house."

Terzo lifted the newspaper again, this time more interested and thoughtful. "A house?" he asked. "An entire house? Just for the two of us?"

Copia nodded vigorously. Not that Terzo was surprised; after all, it wasn't the first time they had planned something like this. Usually, it was just idle talk that ended up going nowhere. "The time is ripe." claimed Copia.

Terzo was Papa, it was his right to demand the purchase of a new property, and Copia certainly wouldn't let that opportunity slip away. As the years passed, they both started feeling the natural need men often desire after a life well-lived: an equally well-deserved rest, made of simple things and good company -. perhaps a book to read in front of a fireplace at night, instead of the wild parties they started to lack energy for.

"You're the Papa," he had insisted, swirling the spoon in the coffee cup he had prepared. That was a point he never stressed enough. "We said we would do it when you became Papa."

"Yes, but... let's take things slowly." Terzo had restrained. "The Church already owns other residences, and we should discuss it with Imperator, the others-"

"You're the Papa. You can and you will.", he retorted, sticking to his point. Then, he raised a finger, reconsidering, "No, wait, I'll tell Imperator. She trusts me more than you."

Terzo gave him one last resigned look, "You really have no tact, you know?"

And so it was that, a few months later, while Copia was busy with the real estate agent discussing the tranquility of the area and the good condition of the house, Terzo preferred to wander through the rooms alone, already imagining what their own house could look like. He could already see Copia fully immersed in the role of interior designer, choosing all the furniture and colors to decorate their little kingdom. He envisioned scenes of unusual everyday life, like a breakfast prepared together or a night spent close in their bed, in their room, without pressure and without restrictions.

Convincing Imperator that the pontiff was growing old and tired and needed a secluded residence to recover after the long tours where he could relax in privacy and silence, had been moderately easy. If Terzo had assisted in their meeting, he wouldn't have spoken to him for a whole day for having used his age again to justify his requests. After all, he wasn't that much older than him. And if he tried to bring up that bothersome rumor about him dying his hair to cover the white roots, it would have been even more catastrophic. Nobody seemed to believe his explanation that he was just reviving the color.

However, it had worked, and the end always justifies the means, right?

The house was well-ventilated, bright, and spacious, made comfortable by the warm tones of wood. Perhaps it was a bit too large for just two people, but they would certainly find enough space for parties or some star-like indulgence, such as a game room or a personalized gym, giving a purpose to that couple of spare rooms.

The completely glass structure overlooking the garden, which initially seemed like a small greenhouse, was actually a bathroom, complete with a large bathtub and a shower prominently displayed for "true lovers of privacy," as Terzo sarcastically remarked.

How could one not love a house with the toilet on display?

If Copia hadn't come back to him reporting the long-awaited positive outcome, he probably would have been the one begging him to buy it.

Copia waited for Terzo's return like a loyal dog awaits its human, with his nose up in the air behind the door.

He had been there for days, accompanied by a group of Siblings, to prepare the house and ensure that Papa had everything he needed for those well-deserved days of rest after such a demanding tour. It was the perfect excuse to be the first person he would see upon his return, and it had been even easier sending away all the collaborators before his arrival. Papa will be very tired and not inclined to have people around, of course… Inventing problems to find solutions had been one of the skills that brought him to the highest ranks of the Clergy, after all.

While following him during a few stops of the European tour was a relatively easy task, the American leg was a far more complicated matter. His services were needed more at the Ministry than in Papa's entourage, so the Cardinal had spent those weeks of excited expectation planning every detail, meticulously creating their little nest. He had required a surprising quantity of scented candles and soft pillows for the sofa, for evenings spent curled up together sharing tender moments—or indulging in carnal sins, depending on the mood. He had also needed a complete assortment of creams and toiletries to meet both of their shower routines, bottles of wine to celebrate his return… just the basics to make the night, or the morning, or whenever they pleased, comfortable enough to take all the time and freedom to make love wherever they wanted, without the usual furtive glances toward the door, anxious that someone might knock at any moment, especially at the most inconvenient times. Pots and pans were there for when they would wake up in the morning, hungry and inspired for a late breakfast. The food storage he had arranged would have probably been enough for a whole month, but he wanted to be prepared for any request the Papa might have had during those days...

Then, the metallic sound of the engine moving and tires running over the gravel had distracted him from that daydreaming.

He observed the black car pulling into the driveway from the window, and it felt like that day, many years ago, when Cardinal Terzo had irradiated him with his presumptuous aura at their first meeting, already feeling like the star he had become years after; hard not to fall for his raven hair and cumbersome personality.

First his shoe appeared from the bottom of the car door, landing on the gravel of the walkway, then his hair emerged at the top of it, and as he fully stepped out of the car, his entire figure materialized, pausing just long enough to adjust his coat against the gentle breeze that tousled his hair. He promptly slicked it back with a natural gesture so familiar to the Cardinal.

His more casual attire made him look less like a cult leader and more like a strange type of business man. For as much as Copia loved his casual look, there was nothing that could save him from the shivers he felt at black masses, where his vestments made him look like a divinity manifesting on the pulpit.

Terzo finally saw him at the door, the glimmer of a smile moved his lips. It was such a rare thing to see him smile.

The Cardinal efficiently grabbed two of his bags, just to speed up the unpacking process; he dismissed the driver and assistants and finally closed the door behind them.

"Home, finally." Terzo sighed, relieved. He slid off his gloves and looked around, curious about what the Cardinal had prepared for him. It was a strange sensation not to hear the constant murmur of the Ministry residents or find himself surrounded by Clergy figures and Siblings of Sin, finally feeling the trappings of the rockstar fading away as he entered the driveway.

"How are you?" Copia helped him take off his coat, in that respectful way that still betrayed an unnecessary professionalism, a hard-to-break habit.

"Hungry, If I have to be honest."

"Oh, great, I have prepared an asso-" But he soon felt something stopping his steps and his words. It was Terzo's arm, grabbing him by the waist, pulling him back against his body. "Where are you going?" and only in that moment did they share a proper kiss, in that way Terzo had to just reassure him that, though time had passed, his passion had never faded with it.

He had to credit Copia for the merit of that idea. He had managed to create a sense of family that they had never been able to experience before.

Living at the Ministry was both an honor and a burden; it had been their home for the larger part of their lives, but as time passed, they found themselves craving silence and the absence of obligations hanging over their heads. They longed for something that could make them feel like individuals and not just replaceable parts of something bigger.

The topic of work was only touched in view of some imminent commitment when Terzo was on break; this evening is no different, aside from the adventures Terzo had brought with him during those nearly three months of uninterrupted touring, shared along with a bottle of good wine. For the rest of the time, they were just simple men or, at least, for a small part of the year they could allow themselves the illusion of being so.

Copia had tried to say something deep on the matter, but Terzo had silenced him with his lips, tasting the intense flavor of wine in his mouth. There was no need to overthink, not that night. "We have an inauguration to celebrate." Terzo breathed on his freshly kissed lips, his arm still tightly around his shoulders.

They then rose from the couch where they had settled after a lavish dinner —cooked by Copia, as Terzo's hands were perfect everywhere except on the stove— to roll into their bed without clothes and without even closing the door, because they could.

On the way to the bedroom, Terzo spared no compliments for anything they encountered along their path, gradually freeing Copia from his cassock, starting with the belt, then the tunic, the shirt underneath, all while taking every opportunity to praise the choice of plants, the arrangement of books, the positioning of chairs, so meticulously studied in every detail! He alternated sweet comments with sweet kisses on his skin as he uncovered it.

Maybe a bit too sweet for his standards…

Copia stopped to take a good, suspicious look at him. "Why do I have a feeling that you are about to ask me for a favor?"

"Because I am actually about to do it." Terzo moved his chin to indicate something beyond the bed, "The wardrobe. I may need half of yours. Or a new one."

Copia rubbed his face with his hand, smiling faintly "Or a whole dressing room… How could I underestimate your vanity."

"Don't rush, we have time. It must have been tiring planning all this, ordering stuff, choosing the colors of the curtains…" he kissed him, sucking his lips lightly before a last, soft lip touch, "looks like you need a break too."

"There is only one task missing from the list…" and with a gentle pressure on his chest, he flipped positions, finding himself knelt on the bed, "Let me take care of you." As he always had, by the way. Sometimes you can't get rid of your profession even in the most intimate moment, and taking care of Papa was the best job Copia may have ever dreamt of.

He freed Terzo's arms from the shirt, pulling off one arm at time in a deliberate slow way, then kissed the back of his hand, like he had seen Terzo do countless times. He then placed it on his chest so that he could caress him; an excuse for Terzo to quickly reach to his back and pull him closer, enough to kiss his navel by lifting a bit on his elbow.

"Have you practiced while I was away?", his hand still on the Cardinal's back.

"I learned from the best teacher."

Copia leaned towards him, but Terzo swiftly met his lips halfway, as if waiting for Copia to bow down to meet him was too much wasted time.

Then, he quickly ran his hands down his stomach and a little below, to reach and unbuckle the button of Papa's trousers, hearing him hiss when his fingers lightly traveled along his hardening length, in an accidental caress, while unzipping them all the way down. The Cardinal hadn't even slid them midway through his legs yet when he - literally - rubbed his face in the middle of them, impatient, inhaling that scent he had waited so long to smell again. He breathed him in through his boxers, letting his tongue taste the fabric and the damp skin beneath it. Terzo's breath trembled, his neck extended until his head touched the wood of the bed frame behind it while holding onto Copia's hair like he was on the edge of a ravine, about to fall, inviting him to press more against his bulge, even if there was no need to.

The Cardinal didn't have to move away that much to slide down that last barrier between his lips and the pontiff's bare skin; in fact, he rested his lips and chin on the soft trail of hair that marked the way from his navel to the warm flesh he just uncovered, keeping his eyes gazing up to Terzo's.

The pontiff could only breathe out an honest 'Oh…' for that long awaited freedom.

Copia kissed the sides of that growing erection the way he used to kiss his neck, with the same devotion, lips sucking his skin with generous smacks at every suction; his curious tongue, a wet serpent licking all the way from base to top and down again, after twirling on his dripping tip, in an obscene display of desire.

"Don't torture me, Cardinal…"

It sounded like a prayer; he just knew how Copia could go on for hours with just kissing and teasing laps. Terzo's lips fell open, swallowing a weak moan when he saw his glans pressed between Copia's lips, his voice surprisingly high pitched.

The Cardinal's tongue showed up to caress his head once more, before Terzo let go of a liberating sigh when he got swallowed whole by Copia's warm throat, sucking him in and out a few times.

"I want to suck you off in every single room of this house, on every surface, at every hour of day and night…" Copia breathed out on his tense skin, finally dropping the glamor he loved to cover himself with.

A shadow of a weak smirk moved the corner of Terzo's lips up, meanwhile stroking his hair gently. They had now lost their elegant hairstyle, and it was a rarity only Terzo could brag, to see him disheveled like that. "Looks like you already have plans for my retirement."

"Oh, it involves some of my favorite activities."

"Can I have a little spoiler?"

Copia took his time to give a last, long goodbye kiss to his cock, before kneeling on the bed to finally take off his own trousers, and the underwear soon after, revealing a vigorous erection he couldn't help but leisurely stroke a couple of times.

Their body shape was similar but with details that made them unique. Where Terzo was still lean and agile, even though smoothed with time, Copia was a bit more muscular, although less defined, but only because he was a bit more filled out than him, his waist and shoulders slightly wider.

The years had softened the meat on his belly, the same way age had done with Copia's. When kneeling, the muscle of the Cardinal's legs contracted, showing up in a fascinating hump. Terzo loved to touch them, feeling them stiff under his palm.

Papa's hand was wrapped around his leg at that very moment, caressing it from behind. He pulled back when Copia sat on his heels, spread thighs, leaning back enough to disclose his most private part - well, not so private to Terzo. He guided his hand down, lower than his sex, until he reached for his entrance, teasing himself with his fingers; his erection rested stiff on his belly.

Terzo fixed on his focused expression while he prepared for him, framed by the hair now freely falling at the sides of his face and on his eyes, giving him an unusual, youthful look; he could see his face contort in a different way as deeper his fingers disappeared inside him. He loved the way pleasure manifested on his face, so limpid and readable. The urge to ravish him and be the source of those blissful expressions was aching between his thighs.

"No, wait…", he said, unsurprisingly, looking at him tilting his head back, moaning for that self-given pleasure; he had just started to move his hips against his own hand. "Turn."

The sweetest of orders.

Before Copia could give him his back, they shared a deep but soft kiss that tasted like trust and stable habits. The hand on the Cardinal's back, sliding between his shoulder blades and down on his lower back, was a gentle request to lower the shoulders a bit more and arch better for him. Since he was already there, he squeezed his butt on his way to his entrance, more like a slap than a caress. He pressed lightly, testing his resistance, finding easy permission to fill him with one finger and, with a bit of work, a second one too.

With no rush, no need to impress anyone, a sequence of smooth movements they had learnt with time and practice.

"I must admit…" Copia tried to say, "That the event of your retirement would be -oh! Not that dreadful to me…"

Terzo flicked his eyes down at him for a moment, then twisted his fingers inside him. Copia exploded in a harsh groan. "I thought you wanted to keep the work outside." Then, another twist, to which he added a generous stroke on the base of his cock, squeezing it to a point Copia must have felt uncomfortable, by the way he cried again, "I could consider these words a betrayal."

"Will you punish me, your Unholiness?" Copia's tone was cracked by panting and struggling, but slightly hopeful.

Terzo took his time to ponder the possibility. "No." He simply declared; and that was his punishment.

He cruelly kissed Copia on his back, between his shoulder blades, before finally positioning behind him. He spat on his dick and rubbed it against the Cardinals distended entrance, pressing in slowly. Copia let his legs part wider, patiently waiting for Terzo to fill him, squirming and clinging to the bedsheets when he finally did; his mouth fell open, alternating mute moans and irregular panting, hardly breathing with the side of his face pressed on the mattress.

Almost fully leaning over his back, enveloping him from behind, Terzo started to stroke his cock to grant him every kind of relief he desperately carved, indulging on the head of his erection, so wet with precum, easily stroked by the ring of his fingers speeding the rhythm around it. The faster he trusted in him, the faster he stroked his cock, as if it was his own.

"All for me…" Copia managed to say with what was left of his breath "Can-can you imagine? This everyday…fucking me everyday…"

That was easy to imagine, especially while he was actually fucking him, eyes closed, gripping those hips made just for him, until they had reached the climax almost together, groaning as if it were a release.

Copia loved to hear his voice change in those moments; it looked like he had a whole set of tones only audible while he was experiencing pleasure. His voice went down at least an octave, relaxed, almost tired, a raspy sound that rebounded in his chest and down through his thighs, especially when he got to hear that voice - broken and needy - heavy breathing curses and filth straight in his ear, animalistic and coarse, like his last groan suppressed on the skin of his shoulder.

Sweaty and breathless, Terzo had collapsed onto Copia's body, who had caught his breath and then uttered those words, seemingly out of nowhere. Because in those moments, Copia tapped into the poetic vein that he usually infused into his passionate sermons.

He said, "In a way, we are luckier than regular people because they have serenity right under their noses and are never happy. We have to struggle to reach even a bit of peace, but at least we know how to be. We really understand the value of it."

Terzo hadn't said anything because, even if he wanted to find the right words to reply, he wouldn't have found them. So, they stayed silent for a while, then Copia resumed talking because he just couldn't keep his mouth shut for five straight minutes anyway.

If there was a spectrum in how the mind works, Terzo and Copia would stand on the opposite sides.

Terzo, the pragmatic mind, was a man of action. He approached life with an impetuous attitude, even if his actions were often far from agreeable.

Copia, on the other hand, was immersed in theory. Talking with him meant exploring the infinite chambers of his mind. There was no question how he found himself most comfortable between the walls of a library, engrossed in the pages of philosophy or historical books or indulging in deep conversations with the elder members of the Clergy. Terzo often described his way of getting lost in his thought with the "well" metaphor he himself had invented: inside Copia's head there was a well he descended every time he got silent when exploring a certain concept, chasing every idea and possibility with his little wooden bucket, sitting at the bottom of it; then, all of a sudden, he’d emerge with the product of his reflection, which never failed to enrich the dynamic of their contrasting relationship.

"...And you know that some butterflies live on average from a few hours to a week? Some even longer, but it doesn't matter because they still don't last long... Anyway, in those few days, they manage to live a complete life. Have you ever thought that when we're together, even just for ten minutes, it's like we have everything we need to live a whole life? In a week that we spend in this house, alone, it's like we truly live another life, in which nothing is missing... don't you think?"

But Terzo didn't respond even then. Copia had always been curious about nature and animals, he had probably been fascinated by one of his last readings. He didn't even realize that it was a genuine question until Copia repeated it to him, but he still didn't answer. Not that he didn't want to, but he didn't feel the need to respond. It was nice that Copia said it, and it was nice to listen to it... It was nice that those words hung suspended between them, and that was enough.

That was how they had fallen asleep, and how they had woken up. Or at least, that's how Terzo had woken up, with that sense of serenity and complete life running through his veins..

Then they got up to prepare breakfast, and... Terzo's phone rang.

Copia patiently waited for him to pick it up, gazing at him as he rolled his eyes at whatever name was on the screen, then walked out to the patio to respond. He observed Terzo pacing up and down the perimeter of the platform through the windows before greeting him with a resentful, "We said no work while we're here." when he returned.

Terzo sighed, "I know, but unfortunately, my phone's signal still reaches here."

"... Mars would have been a better choice, then."

Terzo looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "For what?"

"For the two of us. I'm pretty sure there's no signal there." Copia replied. He then attempted to take a bite of a cookie, which he had probably soaked in milk for too long, as half of it fell back into the cup just as he tried to bite into it.

Terzo didn't know it, but that morning, Copia woke up thinking about how they had ended up in that house. It was something that, in a way, reassured him, reflecting on how their relationship had solidified over the years. He was somewhat curious to know if Mars was still an alternative to consider or if what they had was more than enough.

Anyway, Terzo chuckled, amused, getting up to place his coffee cup in the sink while still emptying its contents. Copia, after staring at the half-cookie still between his fingers with disappointment, had finally given up, tossing it back into the cup.

"You've let the conversations with Primo go to your head..."

And he was right. Because there was no reason to go to Mars when everything they needed was in their little life in their little cocoon. A life within a life, which found its release only in a few days of complete serenity within those walls of pale orange, the dark gray roof, and windows with white wood.

Just a few days, but enough for a complete existence. Just like butterflies.

#ghost band #the band ghost fanfiction #papa emeritus iii #cardinal copia #copiiia #terzo x copia #copia #terzo #fluff #c3

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narftasticficrequests · 5 months

Note

Since we're in December now, how about Brinky + watching a cheesy hallmark Christmas movie?

The daily newspaper was becoming all too familiar to Brain. The ridiculous political schlock, while amusing to read about initially, grew uninteresting and bland at a rapid pace as the days passed. Weather forecasts were muddled by their repetitiveness; nothing ever really changed in the patterns of temperature or climate. Even the advertisements were mundane and monotonous, not offering any form of eye-catching spectacle to intrigue the senses. Life just seemed like it was at a standstill.

That applied to world domination as well. The megalomaniac had spent a substantial amount of time pondering about creating a new plan, but none would come to him. Every time he thought he had an idea, it would slip away just as quickly, fading into the recesses of his thoughts. Brain didn’t understand why tonight his usually active mind was so blank, but it was likely because of recent events he didn’t want to discuss in detail.

Safe to say, four nights ago, his whole life flipped upside-down. Pinky had confessed to having a crush on Brain, right in the middle of one of their schemes. Brain had been so astonished at his friend’s assertion that he ended up fumbling the final stage of his plan, which led to both mice ending up in a pile of rubble. While they were unharmed, Pinky had been distraught, thinking that his admission had ruined everything. Brain convinced Pinky that all was great and, yes, he even conceded to reciprocating Pinky’s affections. They became official, by a kiss. Not just a simple peck. A full on, no mistaking it, kiss on the lips. Everything was so surreal in how it panned out.

This was not Brain’s cup of tea. At all. Having a partner of somewhat romantic interest was entirely new. He didn’t know how to react, especially after their first kiss. Brain ended up saying very little the evening afterward, though Pinky seemed to have a hunch that he was okay, but a little uncertain about everything.

And that was very accurate.

It also likely explained why he was struggling to focus on world conquest, something he was usually so ardent about.

Brain wouldn’t usually be caught dead reading the newspaper, but over the past few days, it had basically become a routine for him to spend at least an hour reading through each article. He admitted, though, that the paper was starting to become a bore.

By the time he’d reached the political section, his brain was already off in other places, still trying to put together a feasible plan. He groaned a tad at a story about Congress and governors, rolling his tired eyes for what felt like the tenth time that day. Why did everything in politics need to be discussed, especially when it was something so ridiculously mindless and unimportant?

Brain was just about to flip the page to what was definitely going to be another unappealing celebrity story, when he heard the familiar hum of a certain blue-eyed mouse. He held his breath, fully expecting his friend to burst into song again or do some other obnoxious activity as a way of encouraging him to get back to planning. He was surprised when he was met with a content and relaxed Pinky, who just seemed to be minding his own business, not paying much attention to Brain’s predicament in the slightest.

“Hello, Brain! Narf! What’cha doing? Something super-duper smart as usual?” Pinky chirped, a vivid and eager smile on his face. Brain sighed; this was what Pinky said and acted like when he wanted something.

He glanced up from staring at the newspaper, trying to look and sound as irked as he possible could. “What do you want, Pinky?”

The taller mouse’s grin only grew more as he began toying around with his tail, the slightest hint of pink forming on his cheeks. “Ohhhh, nothing!” He giggled a little, before biting back a smirk.

Brain put the newspaper down, raising an eyebrow in complete suspicion. “Are you sure? You seem quite eager to inform me of something you desire. So, what is it? And please make it quick.”

“Haha Brain, you got me! Poit!” Pinky skipped closer to where Brain was sitting, touching his shoulder briefly. “I was kinda wondering if maybe, instead of taking over the world tonight, you’d wanna…uhm…watch a movie with me?” Pinky’s cheeks were now a light shade of red, a bashful smile accenting his anxious state.

Brain felt his face heat up when Pinky touched him gently, but that feeling was replaced immediately with bewilderment at Pinky’s question. “What?” he asked, eyes widening. Was he hearing his partner properly?

Pinky’s excited expression faltered, fading into one of uncertainty. “Yeah, Brain. I was hoping that you’d want to watch a fun little movie with me. Maybe, take the night off since you’ve been soooo quiet and des-con-bub-uleted recently. I thought you’d like it. Troz.”

The megalomaniacal mouse shook his head, rubbing his temples in attempt to process this information. A movie? Over world domination? What a preposterous idea! “Pinky, we cannot simply just ignore the prospect of world conquest! Especially for something as idiotic as a film. I have plans I need to enact; just go watch whatever movie you want by yourself and don’t bother me with nonsense!”

Brain felt a little contrite for being so harsh on Pinky, especially since he didn’t actually have a plan to put into effect. But he needed to say…really anything to deter his friend from spending time with him. He still wasn’t used to the fact that they were boyfriends non-platonic partners now.

Pinky got close to Brain, holding his paws gently and mustering up the best pouty eyes he could. “Come on, tonight’s special! Please, I’ll make sure it’s extra fun-fun silly-willy for you and then tomorrow we can go back to doing what we do every night! Zort! Please, Brain? For me?” He even whimpered ever so quietly.

Brain’s face turned a light pink when he felt Pinky’s fingers interlace with his. It didn’t help that his partner’s blue eyes seemed to grow in size (and adorableness). He groaned; how was Pinky so good at convincing him to do the most humdrum and childish things imaginable? He supposed that just one night not taking over the world wouldn’t hurt too much. Besides, it’s not like he had an idea of how to do it currently. Also, he desperately wanted to avoid another Pinky meltdown.

He gave Pinky’s paws a gentle squeeze before answering him. “I suppose that one night of not taking over the world might not be so bad. Alright Pinky, we may watch whatever movie you claim is so important, but just for tonight.”

The lanky mouse cheered, pulling Brain into an embrace. Brain felt immensely uncomfortable, but the sound of Pinky’s heartbeat made his face flush a dark shade of red. He didn’t even bother to reprimand his companion, even after he was put down; his mind was already off in other places.

“Oh, Brain! I have the perfect movie for us to watch! I know you’ll looooooove it! Poit!” Pinky pressed his nose to Brain’s, nuzzling it gently.

Brain was certain that Pinky could see how dark his cheeks were. He chose not to dwell on that though. “Let’s get this over and done with,” he deadpanned, crossing his fingers that this wouldn’t take too much time. He was extremely tired.

Pinky grabbed Brain’s hand, guiding him over to the T.V in a more secluded portion of the room. This hand holding thing was still sort of new to him, so he felt slightly uneasy at the affection he was receiving while they walked. But seeing Pinky’s excitement was somewhat soothing to Brain, his partner’s ever-present cheer being endearing to the pink-eyed mouse.

Pinky clapped happily when they reached the area where the T.V was. “Ta-da! Narf!! D’you like it, Brain?”

Brain didn’t respond initially, his chest tightening when he saw the little setup his friend had made for them. The T.V was where it had always been, but in front of it was a large pile of mouse-sized pillows and blankets, all of which looked handmade. Heightening the comfortable atmosphere was a large collection of snacks; Brain couldn’t help but smirk a little seeing Pinky had collected some of his favorite treats.

“Why, Pinky. I’m-I’m touched,” he spoke breathlessly, the utter shock at seeing such a personal display of such care from his partner proving so stupendous to him. Brain felt…loved. Very much loved. In ways he’d never dreamed of.

Pinky beamed. “I knew you’d just love it! I got all your favorite little morsels to munch on and I made it super comfortable for you so that you wouldn’t feel all squirmy and grumpy-growly.”

Brain walked over to the pillows, sitting down gingerly. He was surprised at how comfortable the setup was, sighing as he felt his body sink a little. “These pillows have excellent lower back support.” The shorter mouse allowed himself to relax. “Did you make them yourself?”

“Yes, I did!” Pinky gestured to himself, puffing out his chest in pride. “I spend all week making these! Zort! Ever since I found the movie, I want to watch tonight on the guide thingy, I kinda planned this whole thing out. Including making only the bestest blankets and pillows for my bestest friend and now boyfriend!”

Brain flushed at Pinky’s admittedly sweet gesture. Why was Pinky so kind, so generous with everything? What had he done to deserve all this?

Oh great, now he was becoming soft.

Wanting to shift from the emotionally vapid conversation, Brain moved focus away from Pinky’s pillows and placed it on what film they’d be watching. “So, my friend. What movie shall we be viewing, and will I need to go get some Aspirin to be able to withstand it?”

Pinky burst out laughing at Brain’s “joke”. “Aspirin! Poit! Genius, Brain!” He wiped tears from his eyes. “Oh, and we’ll be watching a Christmas movie! Doesn’t that sound just splendiferous?”

Great. A Christmas flick? The inanest drivel known to man and mouse kind? How wonderful.

“Which Christmas movie?” He prepared to hear an obvious answer, something like Rudolph or A Christmas Story or, God forbid that horrendous live-action Grinch movie with Jim Carrey. The mere thought of watching that movie again made Brain shudder.

Pinky pranced over to the remote, clicking the power button. “It’s a brand-new movie called Our First Christmas! Ooooo! Sounds romantic!” Pinky batted his eyes a little and did a twirl as he flipped through channels. “Doesn’t it sound romantic, Brainy?”

The pink-eyed mouse perked up a little at that notion. A romantic Christmas movie? That was even worse than those creepy Who’s that looked like they’d come straight from the uncanny valley. “Listen, I appreciate this admittedly benevolent deed you’ve done for me. But romantic movies aren’t really my forte…”

“Fiddley-posh!” Pinky loudly interrupted. “This movie is perfect, Brain! Besides, the title is so exciting, especially since it’s our first Christmas as a happy couple too!” His tail formed into the shape of a heart as he proclaimed this statement.

Brain felt his entire face turn a slight hint of pink; even the tips of his ears felt warm. “I guess that is true.” He tried to say something more, but he became tongue-tied. He couldn’t force the words out. He became a flustered mess as he kept pondering more and more. Pinky was the only thing to linger on his mind. The tints in his cheeks and ears deepened in color quickly.

He was only brought out of his flustered spiral when he heard frustrated grunts from his companion. “Where is it?” Pinky repeatedly complained as he jumped from channel to channel, growing increasingly more irritated. “Brain, darling! Which number is The Hallmark Channel again? The movie airs in two minutes! Troz!”

The megalomaniac froze. The Hallmark Channel? By far, the most preposterous, ludicrous, overly sappy, mind-numbingly saccharine, and repetitive thing on this planet? With the cheesiest romance Christmas movies of all time that no one talked about? This was going to be a painful evening.

“Never mind, I found it!” Pinky jumped up and down excitedly, selecting The Hallmark Channel which was currently running advertisements. He then danced over to where Brain was sitting, plopping down next to him with a louder-than-it-needed-to-be thud. “Are you ready for the movie, Brain?”

“Pinky, I really don’t think that this is a good idea.” Brain looked at his partner, trying his best to seem assertive. “The Hallmark Channel isn’t exactly known for creating the most complex content. It mostly consists of bland romantic comedies and the dumbest holiday trite that no one over the age of five would find interesting. Maybe I should just go back to…”

Brain was silenced when Pinky planted a small peck on his head, causing him to stop dead in his rant. He felt his mind cloud and a light blush to return to his face. “I know your big ol’ chubby head doesn’t usually like this stuff, but I thought watching a movie with you would be fun and endlightning” Pinky held Brain’s paw softly, using his other paw to trace around Brain’s knuckles. “Please, stay. I prepared all your favorite snacks.”

Brain felt his annoyance alleviate out, mostly because of Pinky touching his hand so lightly and that Brain had an idea that Pinky had kissed his head just to shut him up. He also briefly glanced at the snacks, taking extra time to observe the popcorn. It was extra salted, just how he liked it. And there were mini pretzels. Brain couldn’t help but be appreciative. Pinky had really taken everything into consideration.

“Fine, Pinky. I’ll stay for a little while. If only to get a slight kick out of viewing a mediocre film with you.” He saw Pinky’s face light up. Brain couldn’t help but allow a small smile to form on his lips. “And yes, I’ll enjoy your concessions as well.”

Pinky squealed in delight. “Hoorah! Egad, I’m sooooo excited I could just burst! Narf!” He pulled the shorter mouse closer and began nuzzling his nose again. “I knooow we’re going to have the bestest time!”

“I have an idea too.” Brain sarcastically remarked. But before he could say anything more, Pinky pulled away from him and pointed to the T.V.

“It’s starting, Brain!!”

He directed his attention to the screen in front of him, preparing himself for the numb experience that was going to unfold. Brain also grabbed the popcorn and placed it between himself and Pinky, slightly hoping that they would share (and accidently touch fingers). Pinky seemed to be preoccupied with chocolate covered raisins already; still Brain held onto his notion.

At first, things went exactly like Brain anticipated. A beautiful blonde-haired woman and her muscular new boyfriend were strolling down a snow-ridden sidewalk hand in hand. A typical opening scene for a romantic movie. Pinky seemed to be enjoying it though.

“Brain, doesn’t this remind you of when we held hands for the first time?”

The pink-eyed mouse snuck a quick look at his partner, his eyes and smile radiating seductiveness rather than playful intrigue. Brain bit his lip, trying not to start sputtering nonsense right then and there. “I suppose so, Pinky.” He quickly re-focused on the movie, his entire face turning pink.

The next few scenes were just as trope-y as it could get. The new couple talked about their shared interests, kissed a few times, and drama with the woman’s sister arriving at her front door arose. Brain chuckled quite a bit at the boyfriend’s hokey acting skills and when the sister started bawling, he couldn’t help but snicker a little at her horrific “crying.” Pinky, meanwhile, took everything seriously, commenting on every little drama that occurred. He even expressed his sadness at the sister’s predicament, getting slightly teary eyed. Brain groaned; it wasn’t that sad.

Occasionally, Brain would find himself reaching into the bowl for popcorn, only to be met with Pinky’s fingers. It seemed that every time he went for a snack, Pinky would already be there. He supposed it was just impeccable timing, but it soon grew clear to him that Pinky was intentionally sticking his hand into the bowl just to brush against Brain’s paw. They’d even held hands in the bowl for a good minute or two, until Brain took the now empty dish away to discourage any more intimacy. How could it have taken him so long to realize that Pinky was actively trying to push these tender moments into fruition?

Whenever a romantic scene occurred in the movie, Pinky got all giddy and he swooned a little, jumping and shaking about. He always made sure to mention about how the moment reminded him of Brain and their relationship. Brain couldn’t help but agree with his companion, as much as he didn’t want to.

An hour into the movie, while the couple were going through an extremely tedious dialogue scene on a park bench, Brain felt Pinky grab his handmade blanket and place it on both of them. He admitted that it was starting to get a little cold and that the blanket was extremely soft. Any trace of him being freezing was quickly extinguished, replaced with a calming heat. He allowed himself to sigh quietly, a sense of content washing over him. Things couldn’t get any better than this.

At least, that’s what he thought.

Pinky’s slender arms wrapped around Brain’s waist, the two now being even closer than before. Their hips were pressed together, their warmth now shared indefinitely. Brain felt his heart race and his thoughts grow foggy as his friend held him tightly. He even sensed that Pinky’s tail had wrapped around his, a common thing that he did while sleeping, and something Brain only picked up on after Pinky had apparently been doing this for years. Brain’s face went completely red from the proximity to his partner and his eyes widened in pleasant surprise.

He momentarily turned away from the film to glance upward at Pinky, paying special concentration to his features. His azure eyes, that gentle smile he never seemed to lose, the faint tint of pink on his cheeks. It was all so charming to Brain, so extraordinary. Even a little attractive in his perspective. Pinky was flawless to him. In every way, shape, and form.

Brain detected a lovestruck smile forming on his face, but for once, he didn’t pay any mind to it. All he could do at the moment was stare at the mouse he loved tolerated most, a fluttery sensation in his chest forming rapidly. He was only deterred from his gazing when Pinky looked straight at him, blue eyes meeting pink. Pinky smiled brightly. Brain felt exceptionally embarrassed for gaping so intently, his entire body heating up as he hastily turned away, hoping that nothing more would be said and that his face would change back to its normal color.

“Troz! Hehe, Brain. You don’t need to hide from me!” Pinky pulled Brain into a side hug, to which Brain didn’t even care that it was overwhelming. He was far too flustered.

“I don’t mind that you were staring at me. Really, I don’t! It’s so very sweet! Reminds me of when I used to do that to you all those years ago!” Pinky teasingly touched Brain’s nose, sighing once in nostalgic glee. “And may I just say, you look absolutely gorgeous tonight, darling!”

“As do you, my friend.”

Their paws met. Brain’s mind was addled with flowery nonsense, his heart beating so loud that he was certain Pinky could hear it. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do, but as Pinky’s expression seemed to glow, he felt satisfied by just sitting in silence with his lover. After a while, Brain felt Pinky’s grasp on him tighten, as if he didn’t want to let him go.

“Brain.” Pinky spoke quietly, his voice in a near whisper.

“Yes, Pinky?” Brain held his breath.

“I love you. Narf!”

The world seemed to stand still. Even the sounds of the movie playing went silent, replacing by a ringing in his ears.

Brain wasn’t sure if he heard Pinky right. “Pardon?”

“I love you, Brain. I know we’ve only been a couple for not long, but I’ve wanted to say that for a long time.” Pinky’s face turned a deep shade of red, un-linking their paws as he waved his around frantically. “You don’t have to say it back, just wanted to let you know! We can go back to watching the silly-willy movie…”

Brain placed a paw over Pinky’s mouth, stopping him from speaking any more. His mind was racing, and he wasn’t sure if he was thinking straight, but he needed to say something.

“I do too.”

“Hmm. What was that?”

He felt humid. The words he wanted to say just would not form properly. “I…uh…I… mmh…I…lo-lo…”

“You love me? Really, Brain?”

He breathed a sigh of relief. He still couldn’t say those three little words himself, but at least he’d implied it. “Yes, dearest Pinky. What you said was accurate to my feelings for you. For the most part”

Pinky swooned, almost crushing Brain in an extremely tight cuddle. “Oh, this is the happiest of days! Zort! I could just scream! I won’t but I totally would!”

The megalomaniac pushed away from his partner, his emotions all askew and his excitement piqued. Surely his face could not get any redder. A sudden wave of joy rushed through him, penetrating his previously hardened mindset. He glanced at the T.V, the cheesy movie still playing despite him not paying much notice to it anymore. He saw the couple, still on that same park bench holding each other close, spouting the most contrived dialogue of all time.

“Harrison.”

“Yes, Cynthia?”

“You are the light in my life. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Of course, we’re together. That’s all that matters in the grand scheme of things.”

“I really mean it, babe. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

The lovers kissed passionately; while it wasn’t the first time they’d smooched in the film, this one was the only one that hit Brain differently. Perhaps it was the emotional conversation he’d just shared with Pinky, or his mind was mush now due to all the affection, but something about seeing the couple kiss made him want to do that.

With Pinky.

He turned away from the T.V, finding himself once again peering into his partner’s sky-blue gaze. Brain was nervous. More than he’d ever been before. He inhaled deeply before grasping Pinky’s cheeks, soaking up their warmth. “I apologize in advance for this, Pinky.”

The taller mouse looked confused. “For what?”

Brain pushed himself forward, pressing his lips against Pinky’s. He instantly felt his entire body go warm as he and Pinky were almost entirely together, their chests aligning perfectly. Brain felt Pinky’s paws on his back, holding him and rubbing his fur. Their lips moved in sync. He closed his eyes, sinking into the kiss.

Pinky gasped, the unusual brashness of Brain taking him by complete shock. His senses heightened as their kiss continued; it was even longer than their first! Brain was the best kisser ever! And his lips were so soft and cloud-like. Pinky moaned, holding Brain snugly.

The two parted for air, Brain a huffing mess and Pinky even more so. “Egaaaaaad!” Pinky sounded awestruck. “Wooooooooow, Brain! That was amazing! You’re amazing! Troz!”

Brain played with the fur on Pinky’s chest, his face tomato red. “I appreciate your sincere comments, dear. I’m not very confident in my…romance skills. And I’m still new to this whole…being non-platonic thing.” The rush was astounding. Brain immediately wanted more. “But…uh…would you want to…to…uhm….” He gestured to their lips.

“Kiss again?” Pinky blurted out. “You mean it?”

Brain nodded, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

The lanky mouse giggled fervently. “You don’t have to ask, silly! Narf! We’re happier-than-happy boyfriends! You don’t ever have to ask!”

Brain was thankful that Pinky was so considerate of him. “You’re not messing with me, right? I’d hate to make you feel uncomfortable in this relationship.”

“Nope! I love kissing you, Brain! It makes me feel gooshy and tingly. Like I can do anything! I want to kiss you every minute of every day!”

He was going to explode. His ears pinned back as a starstruck buzz worked its way through him. Brain wanted to faint, sob, and scream all at the same time. “Pinky, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would have to concur with your statement. Kissing you is…an otherworldly experience. And I wish to do it often as well.”

And with that sentiment, their lips met again. Pinky’s paws worked their way up to Brain’s cheeks, which lifted at the touch. Brain held Pinky stringently by the waist, pushing their bodies closer. Pinky hummed contently as Brain deepened the kiss, their lips pressing together more. Brain blushed exponentially at Pinky’s noises, his heart hammering against his chest quite audibly. It was utter bliss. He wanted to hold Pinky and never let go. He loved him. Way more than he could admit.

It was only when Brain pulled away that he realized how tired he was. All this kissing had really drained his energy. Sleep was lingering on his mind, though he wasn’t near the sponge bed.

Pinky was laughing profusely, his charming smile making Brain feel remarkably lucky that he was all his. The pink-eyed mouse sighed, choosing to rest his head on Pinky’s lap, snuggling into the blanket. He took a deep breath, inhaling Pinky’s scent; he smelled like vanilla. And warmth. He began stroking the fur on his partner’s leg as his eyelids grew heavy. He didn’t even worry that his actions might be perceived as odd.

Pinky’s breath hitched as he felt Brain’s gentle touch, a tingly sensation engulfing his body. He began petting Brain’s big chubby head; he was amazed at how fluffy it was.

“Pinky,” Brain sleepily droned, pressing a tender kiss to his companion’s thigh. “Promise me that you’ll stay with me until the end. I care about you more than you’ll ever realize.”

Pinky looked like he was on an adrenaline rush. “Oh, Brain! I love you too. I love you so much!”

The shorter mouse allowed himself to smile, closing his eyes as he felt completely surrounded by his lover. Perfect. His life was perfect. His partner boyfriend was perfect. He couldn’t ask for anything else.

****************

Pinky was enamored. Completely and totally transfixed by the mouse he now called boyfriend. He was beautiful. His soft nose, blushy cheeks, and chubby head were so cute. His pink eyes that looked like the most colorful flowers, his crooked tail that was fun to touch. Brain filled his every waking thought with a magical love sensation that left him breathless. And as Brain was lying down in his lap, his tiny breaths ruffling the fur on his leg, Pinky couldn’t help but love him more.

But as much as he regretted looking away from his sweeter-than-sweet lover, Pinky wanted to finish watching the movie. He snuck in a quick loving glance at Brain’s precious scrunched up face, before diverting his gaze fully.

He directed his attention back to the T.V, the beautiful couple drawing him in with all their lovey-dovey goodness. They were holding hands now! And strolling with ice cream! In the cold! It was so romantic! He could basically imagine him and Brian doing that. Like a date! It would be so amazing!

“Brain, do you ever, maybe want to go to the park and get some ice cream? Poit! Just like in the movie! We can get your favorite flavors and stroll and kiss again under the trees and…”

He stopped in his tracks when he heard Brain’s quiet snoring, meaning he was sound asleep. He was making those funny whistling sounds through his nose, the ones Pinky absolutely adored. Brain was still even holding onto a little chunk of his fur, clinging to it like he couldn’t let go. Pinky happily smiled, his heart going all pittery-pattery.

“Sleep well, love,” Pinky whispered quietly to Brain, planting a tiny peck on his little nose. Brain grunted and shifted a little before he rested both his paws on Pinky again, causing the blue-eyed mouse to coo at Brain’s adorableness.

Pinky faced the T.V again; there was still a good 45 minutes left in the film! He was anticipating the rest of the movie, especially the drama and kissing! Before he could fully get invested though, he rested a hand on Brain’s head, petting it once more. Pinky saw Brain’s face soften out, a small smile present and a light pink dusting his cheeks. Pinky purred in glee. Brain was so cute when he was sleeping!

Sure, the movie was wonderful, but it was only half as wonderful as his Brain.

And that was something Pinky was certain of.

#pinky and the brain #animaniacs #brinky #patb #sorry this took so long! I came up with a concept and it just escalated from there!#this is over 4000 words what have i done?#first time posting my writing in 6 months! yay!!#i hope that this is good enough! im really proud of this #fic request #fanfiction #animaniacs fanfiction

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takaratic · 1 year

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What are some of your headcanons for either huntric or in general?

AAA thank u for asking!!!

i’m still coming up with some as days pass!! but i’ll gladly list out the ones i have right now! also, forgive me if this is more of a story-ish thing?? 😭😭 i got carried away SHJXGX

before dating – friendship/crushing

Hunter and Edric met while helping rebuild the Boiling Isles!!

they slowly got to know each other and became friends. since most of Hexsquad had already befriended Ed long before, Hunter felt like it was his turn now yk?2!2?

Hexsquad + Ed and Em + occasionally some others like to have sleepovers weekly on each saturday, they happen in either the Blight Manor or Camila’s house. in these sleepovers all of em would bond, especially Hunter and Edric.

they would ramble about wild magic to each other and how interesting it is

as their friendship grew stronger and closer; one of them starts to fall for the other. it starts as harmless butterflies in their stomachs and small blushes, those developed into full fledged feelings for the other boy as a year or two passes by (making them both 17-18 if your curious).

↓ drabble !!

let’s say Hunter was the one who fell for Ed: once he realized the way he felt, he would try his best to push it under the rug; denying its existence and not wanting to acknowledge it. he begged the Titan for it to be admiration instead of romance in the early stages of realizing, he didn’t want those confusing feelings to get in the way of their friendship, so he started to avoid seeing or interacting with the boy; not speaking when he was in the same room, avoiding all and any eye contact with him, leaving the room if he was alone with Ed.

his behavior became more obvious as months passed, causing Edric to worry about his friend. finally, he got enough courage to talk to Hunter about it.

they sat down on the couch at night while the others were fast asleep and discussed what happened, Hunter would try his best to work around questions about his feelings; focusing on Ed’s instead. it kept going like this until Edric said it out loud,

“ do you like me? in that way. ”

those words made the other teen silent, the silence becoming uncomfortable and almost unbearable. Hunter swallowed thickly before breaking the deafening silence,

“ i.. think so. yes, yes i do. ”

the shaky words pierced through Edric, carving holes for his thoughts about Hunter and how he saw him now. the situation made his heart jump out from his ribcage once he heard it all come out so gently. almost immediately reality sunk when he processed his answer, he bit his lip nervously. his hand trailed off to Hunter’s, locking their pinkies together.

“ i think i do too. ”

Hunter felt all his muscles relax, he felt a wave of relief wash over his whole body as he heard his words.

they sat on the couch—slightly nervous, mostly relieved. Edric’s face slowly turned to Hunter, his expression was pure bliss with slight anticipation, he brought himself in close proximity to the other boy, his head tilted to the right slightly as he inched closer and closer.

“ is this okay? ”

Hunter nodded—almost eager. his full focus was on Edric and his honey-coated voice that was speaking softly into his pointed ears: asking for confirmation to kiss him.

“ yes. ”

and with that, Edric intertwined their lips, closing the gap that was separating them. Ed’s hands grabbed onto Hunter’s shirt; tugging at its collar to pull him closer.

a few moments passed, now Hunter’s fingers were tangled in basil-colored hair as he continued to kiss the other. they both pulled away to catch a breath. both of the boys were panting, sharing a few giggles as they savoured this special moment.

that was. A LOT. HAHSGAHS moving onto the other hcs :D

early stages of their relationship

these dudes are awkward, nerdy, silly and gay as FUCK!!

they blush so hard at the mere thought of each other.

Ed likes to paint Hunter’s nails. it’s real guys

Hunter borrows Ed’s headband when his hair grows longer and isn’t slicked back + it’s to keep that unruly strand of hair out of the way >:D

whenever one of them is nervous, they grab onto the other’s pinky for comfort. ue ue i’m not crying, you are 🥹

Edric likes to tie Hunter’s hair in stupid ways and shower him with cheesy compliments after, causing Hunter to blush and tell him to “shut up” jokingly YEJFGSHXG

whenever Hunter’s bored he would go visit Ed or text him to come over and they’d cuddle for hours, not getting up unless it’s urgent :') /vvpos

Alador was surprised by their relationship at first but quickly became supportive RAHH!! supportive dad 🙏

they have matching pfps on penstagram omg.

when Hunter would have nightmares while sleeping next to his bf, Ed would comfort him and reassure him until he fell back asleep in his arms. 😞💝

Hunter made them both wolf characters (gawd hes a furry! 😰) and doodles them being cute on the daily

they spend most of their days together, just hanging out and cuddling. aaughhh!!! GAY PEOPLE!!!!! 😕❤️

Hunter’s extra protective over his bf (real)

they exchange wild magic knowledge with each other and take notes about it!!!! writing said notes in a notebook labeled as ‘E + H’s Wild Magic Studies n stuff’ <33

Hunter has a hard time expressing his feelings and translating them into words but Edric manages to understand him nonetheless 🫶

they occasionally show each other’s scars/birthmarks and ramble about them, explaining their cause and origin if they knew about it.

more farther in their relationship

even though they’ve been dating for 2-3 years now, they’re still behaving like how they were when they were teenagers; nervous, flustered, flirty and IN LOVE!!!!! all though, they’re more chill with affection now and don’t react as intensely as they used to

Ed forces Hunter into doing facial masks and a full skincare routine from time to time, Hunter doesn’t want to admit that he enjoys it though 🫶🫶

Edric used to wear a black star earring and gave it to Hunter on their 1 year anniversary 😕❤️

they give each other morning kisses oh. my. lawd 😓

if Edric ever got sick, Hunter would forcefully put him onto their bed and make sure the only thing he does that day is sleep, eat, drink and take medicine. this dude adores his bf so so so so much, his bf does as well 🦧

Ed likes to bring Hunter lunch when he’s at work ARGHH!!! <333

Hunter constantly gets scars on his fingers and hands due to being a palismen carver, this caused Edric to reach out to his sister, asking her for basic healing magic tips so he could heal his scars HRMDHZJXH

they still do sleepovers with Em + other Hexsquad members but not as often 🫶

they use their free time to practice and study more wild magic together at times raghhhhh <3

my mind’s still a bit blank for their relationship when they’re older 😭😭 with time i’ll probably gain more hcs tho!

thank you for reading!! ^_^ again, tysm for asking, anon, i love answering asks! <33

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theflyingfeeling · 8 months

Note

Aaaaaaa OlliAllu crushing on each other aaaaaaa 🥺💖💕

I wanna know everything about the timeline! 😍

Thanks for asking!! My favourite topic!! 🥺

So just as a disclaimer: the following is based on nothing much but my vivid & delusional imagination (except that it's all totally true and real 😌)

Behold,

💖 The Olli/Allu Love Story Timeline* 💖

(*according to theflyingfeeling / this is gospel truth okay don't fight me)

Pre-Aleksi-joining-the-band / Timebomb -> becoming friends 👨🏼‍🤝‍👨🏻

So I imagine that before Aleksi joined the band, he and Olli were friendly but maybe not super close (or as close as Aleksi may have been to Joel/Joonas/Niko). They respected each other as musicians and, as time passed, figured the other is a pretty cool dude to hang out with and fun to play shows with 🤝 By the time Aleksi joined the band, they were already good friends 😌

(I love how from the very beginning it was not unusual to spot them next to each other in pictures (yes yes I know about their team short/team tall arrangement in pictures, humour me a little here though)

Can we also cry about this (irrelevant to Olli/Allu (unless Olli wrote this)):

"our lovely friend" 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

2021: UMK / Eurovision / post-Eurovision -> developing the crush 💕

They started working on Dark Side pretty much right/around when Aleksi first joined the band, right? By then they all, including Olli, had spent more and more time with Aleksi in the studio as well as on stage before he officially joined the band. During the UMK/Eurovision project, however, they were suddenly working together way more intensely (especially after winning UMK), so I like to think that was when their friendship deepened and they found out just how much they have in common (e.g. all their nerdy mutual interests). They probably started to chat more just the two of them (in the UMK video 15 facts about Blind Channel, Aleksi mentioned calling Olli (and always catching him biking lol)) and sort of just drifted towards each other so that they were frequently seen together (the screencap on the right is taken seconds before they stop to stare each other in the eyes, sorry I don't have a gif of that) 💕

(and no I haven't done extensive research on how much more often they were spotted together in comparison to how often they were spotted with other band members just sshhhhhh it's not like this is a doctoral thesis)

If I recall correctly, they also did some interviews together, at least this one where they look like they had just woken up from a nap with lots of cuddles (and maybe even some shy kisses for fun (because sometimes good friends make out for the lols, right??), I mean come on, they look so soft 🥺💓

They also sat (and partied) next to each other during the finale, and shared that one looooooooong hug I mean COME OOOOOON they don't want to let go of each other 😭

Of course, we cannot forget about the tipsy/drunken cuddles during that interview (and in the hotel room a bit later, source: I just know it in my heart) 💞

(remember also the other, less known drunk interview that showed Olli staring at Aleksi dreamily 🥺)

I think around this time they also got a bit flirty with each other for the first time? At least if one is to interpret the way Olli "mocks" (lovingly <3) how Aleksi says his middle name in the hotel room IG stream they did (and of course we're going to interpret the heck out of that, that's why I'm writing this whole thing for 😌 (I still crack up at Niko's "I thought it was Mattson" every time though lol))

Another highlight from 2021 was obviously the moments they shared in the Posse shower stall we have been discussing lately, which show exactly how comfortable they are with each other 😩

Also, I can't remember for sure and I can't find the ask for reference, but was it the summer of 2021 when Aleksi had to miss a show (because he was sick or something?), and reportedly Olli had been all quiet and gloomy that day, to the point that Niko pointed it out on stage during their show, telling the audience (jokingly) that they're sorta worried about Olli because he has barely said a word all day? I remember talking about this with someone and they had videos/pictures/?? about it too, but until I have some actual evidence of this, you're just gonna have to take my word of it 😌 In any case, it goes to show how much they meant to each other already back then 😭

To conclude, I think the year 2021 was the year they slowly developed their (mutual) crush, but without fully realising what was happening. There were some cheeky cuddles (perhaps even sleepy/drunken kisses) and friendly teasing which was totally NOT flirting although it totally was, they weren't just ready to admit it and butterflies in the stomach that they tried to ignore; they're fairly certain they like each other platonically and nothing more, even though they can't help but smile a little more brightly when they get a text from each other and they miss each other a little too much when they're apart... 💕

Spring/summer 2022: the US tour / the EU tour / the summer (tour) -> getting together 💞

Let's start off with this poor-quality gif I just made, for no particular reason except that I want y'all to look at how cute they are 🥰

According to Niko (source: just trust me alright, I think he said it on twitter but naturally I can't find anything rn), as I'm sure many of you know by now, during the US tour Olli and Aleksi were often the last ones awake in the tour bus, drinking Mountain Dew and chatting away about nerdy stuff. I think this is when they really grew closer and I can easily imagine that around this time the first thoughts of "what if..." entered their minds 😳

Maybe they sometimes ended up just staring into each others eyes lovingly, before realising neither has said anything for a while (and it was sort of awkward when they did realise, but they just laughed it off), or maybe there were accidental/absentminded touches; maybe they both just felt so warm and cozy in each other's company, and even though they were both getting a little sleepy, they kept on talking for a few more moments because they weren't ready to let go of the moment and "burst the bubble". Maybe they were joking around and being low-key flirty, and when they finally went to bed, they'd be going out of their minds in their bunkbeds, trying not to think about all that too hard.

I like to think that eventually they got more daring, sat more closer to each other, and suddenly the small touches weren't accidental anymore. They could have an entire conversation with Aleksi's hand on Olli's thigh or vice versa and it would feel so nice and so natural 💞 There may have been a few kisses too, just for fun and because the vibes are right, and maaaaaaybe they don't really talk about it that much, but they definitely can't wait to try that again somewhere a bit more private 👀

Speaking of which, we also know that they roomed together at least once ("Little Man asked first"), and by some inexplicable coincidence, the two of them were the only ones in the band who got ill during the tour? Huh, that's strange 🤔😌 So I have a reason to believe the US tour was when they first got together, even if they thought they were just fooling around back then 🥰

(can't think of anything in particular to say about the EU tour in the spring, but we can look at these pictures nevertheless 💗_💗)

and then 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭

Getting emotional receiving the gold records in Ruisrock, hugging each other the first thing because who else would they hug, what more prove do you even need to see how much these two love each other 😭

We also know that in the summer 2022 Olli stayed at Aleksi's when he was in Helsinki (not sure if this happened every time he was in the capital but there were a few occasions), I think they were spotted grocery shopping together or something? They also participated in this interview together, providing us moments such as

1) the two of them sitting tightly in Aleksi's (?) car,

2) hearing that they had spent the night together watching old tour videos,

3) Olli commenting on Aleksi's outfit ("I warned you..." = he had been looking at Aleksi's dick through his pants 🥰 (at least I assume it's about the romper that showed the outline of his peepee? he says "last summer" but I don't think his outfit in the 2021 summer tour was as controversial? it was literally just a black t-shirt (with a white long-sleeve underneath sometimes) and black trousers, so I assume he means "the summer that has passed" (the interview took place in August))

4) Olli's surprise when Aleksi says he, too, would like to collaborate with Skrillex and Aleksi teasing Olli about "having thought about Skrillex last night" (don't worry Aleksi, I'm sure he was thinking more about you than Skrillex 🥺)

To sum up, in the first half of the year 2022, they got together for the first time and formed a special kinda bond, slowly falling in deep, soft love 🥺💕

Autumn 2022: the EU headline tour, the London & LA song-writing camps -> honeymoon time 💖

...yeah, I wonder what happened during the EU headline tour 😳

(they fucked. a lot. rough. this is the truth.)

...and before they left for the honeymoon song-writing camp, they did the cutest thing that any two humans have ever done in the history of the universe 😭

I mean 😭😭😭😭 are y'all still crying about this?! because I never stopped 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 you can just imagine them grocery shopping for studio snacks together and they spot this card (I do wonder what the picture on the front is) and have this grand idea and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa the giggles when they wrote the card and gave it to daddy!Johnny AAAAAAAAAAA I'm going to explode if I think about how unbelieavably cute it all is, is this not something you do with a very special bro of yours?! I cannot handle it 🥺💕

In London they went on a date on Olli's birthday (yes I have decided the others weren't there 😌) and Aleksi took the most boyfriend picture of him because they're boyfriends in love 🥺

In LA we know they shared the bed (source: you can't prove they didn't!!) and looked very very soft and boyfriends; in conclusion, they were on a honeymoon 💖

2023: boyfriends boyfriending 💓💞💕💖💗

And yeah, that sort of brings us to this year and the way they are now, so cute and sweet and boyfriend and touching each other for no reason thinking they're being discreet and playfighting and giggling at each other's joke like they're the most hilarious person that ever lived and smiling sweetly when they see the other has replied to their text and being so fucking cute in Aleksi's twitch streams without Olli even physically being there and getting engaged for real and just 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Of course there are soooooooooo many moments over the years that I also want to mention but can't really pinpoint in the timeline, such as all the clothes/accessory-sharing and adopting each other's style (cuffed jeans and tucked-in shirts) and the wine drinking while listening to soft music and cuddling in meet-and-greet pictures and looking so happy about it too and in general always sitting/standing next to each other in pictures ("but they don't always--" YES they do always, don't even fight me about this 😤), the evidence is right there in front of your own two eyeballs if only you choose to see it and live like a king the way we do here in the Olli/Allu Delulu Land ✨

Finally, let me do a random photo dump to further illustrate my point if you're not yet convinced for some reason (and to reach the 30 pictures per post limit) 💖

(sorry for no sources, if this is the reason I go to jail I'm going happily)

#this is absolutely ridiculous and super messy but i had a great time compiling this 🥰#''boss? yeah hi just calling in to tell ya i'm quitting to become a full-time olli/allu enthusiast. yeah it's gonna consume my whole life''#although i feel like literally anyone would've done this better than me lol i must have forgotten so much stuff 😭#so when i say 'don't fight me' i'm kidding pls point out any details i should have included 👉👈#now on to answer some more fun asks 😏#........for christmas i wish to be normal about things for change 💀#ollixallu #answered asks #sparfloxacin #anon asks #catboyolli

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danwhobrowses · 5 months

Text

One Piece Chapter 1101 - Initial Thoughts

So we're back again for more Kuma backstory

Was starting to think we had gone on an impromptu break but alas TCB was just a little late. We've passed the 1100 mark but there's still more story to tell, so let's see how it goes.

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release

Colorspread is for the Vegapunks, plus Vega Force 01, Oda again with his surprise colours didn't expect the mecha to be so blue

Oh also the SJ cover page was Luffy snowboarding which is cool looking

And Luffy is where we kick back off with, but still past time Luffy

Kuma observes from afar Luffy training his Gomu Gomu no Axe

But he's not the only one, Dragon is also nearby, which is probably why Kuma was there

Sir just go interact with your child dammit!

Kuma does note Dragon's familiarity with the island, as well as noting his observation of Luffy nearby living outside the Goa Kingdom

Dragon however seems to take this as a threat, noting Kuma'll have to kill him to keep discussing it, a child is a parent's weak point

Kuma immediately drops the subject because he's not that kinda guy

Buuuuuuut he does go and have a closer look at Monkey D. Luffy

A 16 year old Luffy has been saving the Gomu Gomu no Axe for a particular moment where he'd need to protect a crewmate from an enemy, fitting since it was used against Arlong

The Den Den Mushi causes Kuma to quickly paw out of sight, but Luffy's intuition did in fact sense someone nearby

Kuma's orders from the government involve taking out a raider ship that stole from merchants

But Kuma doesn't kill them, instead taking their wounded and having them return what they stole

True to his word he still writes to Bonney, and Bonney continues to wait by the mailbox for them

Oh you bitch, I know exactly what you're doing with those letters...

Alpha gets the letter and a news coo, but only slots the newspaper

10 letters a month and they're all shredded and discarded

Bonney has been training up her DF though, able to use the Distorted Future powers to make herself stronger

But Conney has been wise to have her hide her powers from Alpha

Also I did not have Jenga confirmed canon on my One Piece bingo card

To maintain the charade too, Alpha gives Bonney a placebo, but even then gotta make it as bitter as possible

Back at Lab 08 much of Egghead is starting to take shape, Punk Records has been made and just needs to be sent to the sky

Punk Hazard was supposed to be like Egghead, y'know before Caesar nuked it and then Aokiji and Akainu decided to duke it out there

Vegapunk's brain slicing is done too, probably easier for Oda to draw, but Kuma is in for the final stages of his operation, and Stussy is also there to attend

Stussy seems to feel that as a clone she doesn't have free will, which Vegapunk refutes, though tbf CP0 don't tend to have free will either Guernica had a whole lament about it when stabbed by Drake

It seems that while the final process is permanent, it's not instant, and Kuma will have about a year of remnant free will

So Kuma decides to write more to Bonney

Didn't even post the letter he sent for her birthday like do you have a heart?

Bonney's 9th birthday involves an extra giant pizza, but when the party winds down a child still misses her father

Kuma has also been quietly aiding the Revolutionaries, despite his bargain

Dragon is forced to respect his silence in this matter, since he's unaware that Kuma is literally risking the deal he made with Saturn by assisting the army

And Bonney does indeed get healed, the scales disappear from her face and she's free to go outside

Except, Alpha is not letting it happen

She claims that Bonney needs to be under supervision until she's 10, but Bonney remember Vegapunk saying she'd be fine after a year

A plan is to be put in motion; Conney knows they're government, having heard them let it slip, but they are missing a lot of information, and they feel like this is why Bonney received no letters

An escort is prepared for Bonney to take the fishermen friends and sail the seas, seek out her father in spite of the government

And the wiliness of Conney pays off, since when 'Conney' is allowed to leave the church, Alpha is none the wiser

There's a bittersweet energy to the fact that the first time Bonney gets to feel the warmth of the sun is when she has to escape being a hostage and a bargaining chip to search for her father

Alpha of course catches on eventually, since Conney can't transform like Bonney can

Their ship is like a pizza too XD

God woman just let it go!

Alpha's literally Geppo-ing to try and catch Bonney, threatening to beat up a child

Bonney thinks back to a memory of her father explaining what Nika looked like, the only information was that his body was rubbery and limitless in a fight

and with Distorted Future, Bonney unleashes her own kind of Nika punch to slap that bitch in the water

News of Bonney's escape will make her a pirate, and in turn, Kuma's origin becomes Bonney's

Annnnnd a break next week, he's earned it this time

It was a nice chapter again, there was a lot of bittersweet elements given that we have the hindsight to know this doesn't go as happily as made out. But the story helps elevate Bonney's character as much as it does Kuma, she's literally just trying to find her father.

It makes me wonder about previous events too, Akainu seemed very concerned about Bonney's escape but that's kinda unlike him for Absolute Justice, plus does that mean we're going to cover how she escaped that? I could see the flashback continuing a single chapter more but I can also see it stopping there, maybe Oda wants to end the year on something big instead?

Still the government had to be additional additional assholes about everything, it's always more than just the pound of flesh they ask for. I mean you could easily just have let her have the letters! I wonder if the memory paw will have had all of Kuma's memories writing them? Maybe Bonney saw them through that?

There's of course intrigue in knowing that Kuma knew about Luffy before Thriller Bark, he sensed something about him it seems, wonder if there's anything to elaborate on that. Because despite being two great characters the only time they ever really interacted was perhaps the worst few weeks of Luffy's life from Sabaody to Marineford. It's also still miffing how Dragon seems to be present but not present y'know? Like I'd say pick a lane but maybe this is just apples and trees (since we know Garp's parenting wasn't much about presence).

But yeah Conney MVP of this chapter with the clever trick, also fuck that bitch Alpha hope she drowned.

#one piece #one piece spoilers #op spoilers #egghead island arc #future island arc #dr vegapunk #bartholomew kuma #monkey d. luffy #monkey d. dragon #jewelry bonney #world government #stussy

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