#just the way this information is said at some points makes me kind of. eh. :

[yuwuta]

PEOPLE TOLD ME ABOUT THE FLAMES, I COULDN’T SEE THROUGH THE SMOKE — MEGUMI FUSHIGURO

cw some kind of college au/boarding school au? this used to be for rodeo station and now just... exists on its own, friends to lovers, megumi has toji and satoru as father figures so are we surprised that he’s a bully and doesn’t really grow out of that phase… anyway, apologies to muta and miwa, 1.3k words

Nobara makes a poor effort to stifle her laughter as Kokichi stomps up to stand in front of you, hair and clothes drenched in chocolate milk, shoes sloshing with each step, and the bandage on the side of his cheek peeling from the wetness.

When you look up at him, you’re unimpressed, and unsurprised, so you resume annotating your lecture notes as if you weren’t interrupted. If Kokichi wanted to stand in a puddle of dripping milk, then so be it—you should have finished your notes yesterday, and you couldn’t get through your other tasks without catching up first.

“Look, I already said I was sorry. I shouldn’t have kept bothering you for your number when you’d already said no,” Kokichi starts, wiping dripping milk from his chin, “Now, will you please call off your guard dog.”

You don’t reply immediately, focused on finishing the last paragraph of the page, much to Kokichi’s dismay, and Nobara’s amusement. He huffs at your silence, frustrated and humiliated, but there’s nothing for him to say or do until you respond. Maybe that’s something he should have considered when he kept trying to talk to you in class. Still, even now, you’re not ignoring Kokichi to embarrass him or string him along; you just want to finish your godforsaken anthropology homework.

“You seem to be under the impression that I can make Megumi start or stop doing anything,” you sigh, put your highlighter down, and tiredly look up at Kokichi, “But I regret to inform you that you’re wrong.”

Kokichi’s nose scrunches in disbelief, an angered hand coming to wave in front of his face, but his dripping clothes result in splashes to his face—and further laughter from Nobara. He sighs out of frustration, trying to put away his pride, but Nobara’s giggling and your nonchalant attitude are really making it difficult for him to take this in stride.

“Okay, you’re fucking with me—and I deserve it, alright? But, Todo already gave me a fucking lecture, Mai won’t look at me, and Megumi is going to rip and stain every single shirt I own at this point.” 

“That sounds like your problem,” Nobara snickers, rolling her eyes when Kokichi gives her a glare. 

“I'd love to help, Muta, but this is out of my control,” you loll, capping your marker, “Maybe try apologizing to Megumi instead of dripping chocolate milk over notes and shoes.”

“Eh? The hell am I apologizing to him for?” 

“You’re the one who pissed him off—how should I know?” you sigh, sliding your pens and markers into your bag, and closing your folder. 

Nobara pipes in to taunt, “You’d better figure it out soon, though. I hear they’re serving spaghetti tomorrow, and that definitely stains.” 

You swear you hear Kokichi growl, but it only makes Nobara laugh harder. The two of them together is a bad combination—Kokichi is easily aggravated, and Nobara easily aggravates. You’re certain that if Megumi weren’t already on his ass, Nobara would have stepped in to bully him just for the fun of it.

Still, you’d rather not have to testify on either of their behalf, so you bid Kokichi a goodbye, offering him your best advice about cleaning milk stains out of white shirts, and drag Nobara by the arm before she can make another quick quip to finally make him snap. 

She’s still laughing at Kokichi’s expense all the way back to your dorm, “As much as I like seeing Megumi pummel Muta, he’s definitely gonna get written up, at the very least, if he keeps it up. Just tell him you’re not mad about it anymore, and he’ll piss off.” 

You stuff your hands into your pockets, “I don’t control megumi. I didn’t tell him to egg Muta’s car, and pour milk all over him. ” 

“Like hell you don’t,” Nobara scoffs, “Kokichi was right about one thing—Megumi’s a doberman on a leash and you’re his owner.” 

“I didn’t even tell him that Kokichi kept asking for my number. I’m pretty sure Todo told Yuuji, and Yuuji told Megumi.”

“Yeah, that’s almost worse,” Nobara huffs, “He’s just moved to protect you out of undying loyalty—it must be nice to have a knight in shining armor. Does he call you ‘my liege,’ when you’re alone? He might as well bow down and kiss your shoes with the way he worships the ground you walk on.”

You know Nobara is teasing. The rhetoric that you have influence on Megumi isn’t new to you, but it’s always confusing for you to hear. You’ve known Megumi since grade school, and one thing you’re certain of is that he does things of his own conviction, and when he’s decided something, there’s little anybody can do to convince him otherwise. He’s the true definition of steadfast, and sometimes you wonder if his beliefs have inadvertently made him gain masochistic tendencies, because you’ve seen Megumi suffer in pain just to prove a point. 

“Megumi’s his own person, and he’s not easily influenced,” you chuckle, “If anything, he’s more of an attack dog—he bites whenever he sees something he doesn’t like.”

“In any case, he’s your dog,” Nobara shrugs. She pauses for a moment, skipping to catch up to you with a scrunch to her face, “I change my mind though, he’s definitely not scary enough to be a doberman. What are the puffy ones—the really small ones that yap a bunch?” 

“Pomeranians?”

She lights up—“Yeah, that’s way more fitting! Plus, he’s got spiky hair like those little mutts, a really bratty, spoiled one too. Gojo probably kept him in his Birkin as a kid.” 

You giggle as Nobara searches for an image to compare to one of Megumi. She goes as far as to make a collage and send it in your group chat for approval, instantly getting a rave reaction from Yuuji, and predictably, no response from Megumi.

Nobara walks you back halfway to your dorm, leaving you on your own to head to the gym to meet up with Yuuji. When you get back to your room, you’re not surprised to already see Megumi inside, sitting snugly on your worn-in couch with a book in hand. It’s Wednesday, so he only had morning classes, and prefers to spend his afternoon studying in solace, usually taking advantage of your larger, empty room to get his work done. He gives you a small wave, enraptured in his reading, and you know better than to try and disturb him, so you take your place on the opposite side of the couch with the remainder of your notes in hand, finally having the peace and quiet to finish your annotations. 

Megumi finishes his chapter before you’re done, but he waits for you, quietly scrolling on his phone so as not to interrupt you. You don’t face him when you speak, keeping your eyes on your notes, and simply stating, “Kokichi apologized.”

You hear him hum. you know he’s looking at you, but you don’t meet his gaze, and do your best to bite back a smile before he asks, “You forgive him?”

You finish your annotations with a final asterisk at the bottom of your page, so you cap the marker, and finally turn to face Megumi. He doesn’t ask a second time, even as you silently observe him, even if your smile is confusing to him.

“I wasn’t ever really upset,” you explain, “It was annoying, but he wasn’t harassing me or anything.” 

He hums again, but it’s not agreeing. “Tsumiki is gonna get mad if you get suspended.” 

Megumi calls your bluff with his hum this time, and you sigh. Tsumiki won’t get mad, because Megumi would never get suspended, not as long as Gojo is around as headmaster.

Megumi turns his body inward, raising an arm to rest his elbow against the cushion of the couch. He lolls his head to rest against his palm, cheek squished, and almost mischievous glimmer in his eye. In this light, you see Nobara’s argument—with sleep-tousled hair and expectant eyes, Megumi looks an awful lot like a puppy waiting for a command. 

It’s cute, until you realize that Megumi is awaiting your command. Is he?—why would he, he’s never been known to listen, and yet, you’re tempted to see if you truly do have him on some proverbial leash, like everyone else seems to believe.

“Megumi,” you call, softly, “He’s learned his lesson, and I’m fine, alright? Leave him alone.”  

Megumi blinks slowly. His features soften, only for a moment, before he’s turned away from you to pick up his book again. He doesn’t respond verbally, doesn’t touch on the topic for the rest of the evening that you both spend studying in your room, but the following day, you walk past Kokichi and Miwa heading into their chemistry lab, and notice a distinct lack of milk or food residue on his clothing or in his hair, so there isn’t anything more to be said.

Megumi is waiting outside of your lecture hall after your last class of the day, offering you a carton of strawberry milk—unopened, and un-thrown. You accept it, reaching up to ruffle his hair as a thank you, and you’re surprised when you feel him move into your touch. He dips his head down a bit further, gently knocking it against yours before straightening up with a sly smile. He nods his head, wordlessly, and turns towards your dorm, ready to walk you back. 

You follow, dazed, as you stab the straw into your milk. You’re a half-step behind Megumi, head clouded with confusing new daydreams about the boy in front of you, and now you can’t help but to wonder if you’re the one left to follow Megumi’s whim, or if he’s just pulling you by his own leash. 

#jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jjk fluff #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jujutsu kaisen smut #megumi fushiguro x reader #megumi x reader #megumi smut #megumi fluff #jjk imagines #jjk scenarios #gojo x reader #toji x reader #toji smut #jjk fake texts #jjk smau

[moonshynecybin]

you cantttt just say rosquez feminization and not elaborate…. penny for your thoughts

shout out to @lestelledreams who sent me another ask like this but tumblr ATE my response when i tried to post it. luckily i draft in notes app…okay so it would be easier to list thoughts i DONT have about rosquez feminization… under the cut bc we do in fact get a lil nasty here

so i’ve talked a bit about some of the non-racing oriented things marc does for his body like his hot girl routine (laser hair removal. skin creams. slutty workout videos) like my girl enjoys being SMOOTH he enjoys being conventionally SEXY (personally. bush til i die but whatever live your truth marc) and the first time he’s doing it as. okay i’m famous and photographed all the time AND around my hot older crush/idol who has fucked more people than i’ve ever even met in my lifetime… like a little insecure part of marc is like this is what vale wants… and one thing about my man marc is he will COMMIT. so he waxes himself hairless the entire time they are fucking the first from 2013-2015 (and beyond) and frankly vale would like him either way but MARC gets off on it so hard… making himself pretty for vale… and maybe vale says something like that in the moment, just like mindless dirty talk about how good he looks how he made himself all pretty like a girl, and marc jolts like he’s been electrocuted and whines and comes right then even though vale had like JUST got inside him… and he’s curled around vale panting eyes shining leg hitched around vale’s hip asking him to keep going and it’s SO clear he liked whatever that was a LOT.

so vale uh. catalogs that information. and starts to test some hypotheses #olditalianmeninSTEM by which i mean the next time marc is blowing him he curls his hand into marc’s hair and tugs a little until marc looks him in the eye and vale just sends it like they’re whipping 310km/hr around the track— like breathless mischievous confidence… starts feeding him a stream of dirty talk, calling him gorgeous telling him nasty stuff about his tits riding that lovely edge of complimentary and degrading and getting sooo gender about it, and he watches marc’s eyelashes flutter and his hand on vale’s hip tightens and then marc like. literally chokes himself on valentino’s dick he’s clearly so so into it and vale feels crazyyyyyyy… SORRY..

and then it’s onnnnn baby it is. using the feminine forms of italian endearments in bed. playing with his tits. losing the condom. weird roleplay where they laugh so much. it is delightfully horny and slightly goofy gender transgression that they are both SO obsessed with… like the sex whiplashes through tonal dissonance it is simultaneously the most intense thing they’ve ever felt and like. lethally campy. at one point they are BOTH the baby girls bc they love being hot and are not serious people

that being said it culminates with vale just like. buying disgustingly expensive neon yellow designer lingerie and leaving it in marc’s motorhome with a lil note that has like. a dumbass turtle doodle on it instead of his signature. like something very silly and valentino. and then they have the WORLD’S most insane sex about it where vale says all kind of nasty stuff about marc being his best girl and spits in his mouth and tries to get him pregnant. hashtag catholic weirdo moments. crucially it is never formally discussed until like. genuinely ten years later when vale is like impish nervous smile WE REALLY SHOULD HAVE TALKED ABOUT THAT EH? and marc’s like ? best sex of my life? wdym?

#i love them they’re like one big red flag. NOT the racing kind… #PLEASE know. i am a lover and haver of body hair this is just what i think would go on in their brains vis a vis their perceptions of gender #and marc’s deep commitment to being smooth all over like a dolphin #callie speaks #motogp #rosquez #asks

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers CHAOS LINEAGE ー Laito [15]

Monologue

Standing in front of the deep abyss,

a howling wind blows.

These lands are a closed space,

cut off from everything else by a cliff.

There is no exit anywhere.

Now that we have run out of time,

the only fate which lies ahead of us...

is one where we are caught and pulled apart.

As we are confronted with said reality,

it brings along an unbearable sense of hopelessnessーー

ー The scene starts by the border of the World

Yui: ( We have run out of options. )

( This was the last shot we had at escaping this place. )

Laito: These lands are blocked off by magic. I guess someone threw us in here for their own personal enjoyment.

Even by my standards, that’s just messed up.

Yui: Yeah...

Manipulating our memories, making us fight each other...For what purpose exactly...?

Laito: I don’t know. It frustrates me how little information we have. Butーー 

I just don’t want to be separated from you, no matter what. I don’t want someone else to steal you from me.

Yui: ...! I don’t want to leave you either...

( But even so, we don’t have any more time. With no way out, I know that eventually we’ll get caught. )

Laito: Do you want to keep running away until one of our pursuers catches us then? Inside this closed off world.

Yui: Eh...?

Laito: Ultimately, I will be declared a traitor and killed. While you will be taken away.

But want to keep on fighting till the bitter end...?

Yui: Laito-kun...

Selection

→ Let’s run away together!  (♡)

Yui: Let’s run away together. I don’t want to become separated from you ever again...

Laito: I see. I’m happy to hear those words from you.

But I’m pretty sure we’ll be pulled apart either way once we’re caught. I doubt I’ll be killed on the spot. 

I can only imagine that you’ll be the only thing on my mind once I’m chained up inside my cell.

Yui: No way...

→ There’s no point (🖤)

Yui: There’s no point in doing that...You’ve realized as well, haven’t you? Eventually they’ll find us...

Laito: I see. I honestly thought that the idea of eloping together sounded kind of romantic.

Then...I suppose we simply have to make up our resolve.

Yui: ...

Laito: I hope I can at least stay by your side until the moment I take my final breath.

Yui: Until you take your final breath...?

( Actually... )

ー Yui recalls his words from earlier

Laito: If we were to fall down there, I’m pretty sure it’d be game over, even for us Vampires...

ー The flashback ends

Yui: ( If he were to fall from here, even Laito-kun... )

Laito: What’s wrong? 

Yui: Hey...If you’re going to dieーー 

I want you to take me with you.

Laito: ...Eh? 

Yui: If the only other option is to be separated, then I’d much rather just stay together till the very end.

Yui:  With how steep this cliff is, even a Vampire like you wouldn’t survive a fall from here, right?

Laito: Aah...That’s what you mean, huh?

Yui: If there’s truly no other options left, then I want to stay with you at the very least...

-> BRANCH: EUPHORIA ENDING

The game does not tell you if you are in the Euphoria or the Labyrinth branch. In the Euphoria version of this chapter, this is what Laito’s first line after the branch looks like:

飛び降り...か。悲恋の主人公達としては悪くない結末なんじゃないかな。

Laito: You want to jump down...huh? I guess that wouldn’t be a bad way for us to end our tragic love story. 

Yui: Eh...? 

Laito: If that’s what you want, I’ll even drag you down to Hell with me. 

I actually won’t let go with you...You’re fine with that, right?

Yui: Of course!

Laito: Okay. ...Thank you, Yui-chan.

In that case...Let’s go together.

ー The scene shifts to the entrance hall of the Violet Manor

Kou: What is going on, for real!? I can’t believe the others suddenly stormed us like that!

I thought they were locked up in the dungeon!?

Azusa: I-I don’t know either...!

Ruki: You must be very confident to chit-chat about trivial matters in front of the enemy.

Kou: Why do we have to fight with this guy out of all people? ーー Kuh...

Azusa: Kou? What’s wrong...!?

ー Kou gets a dizzy spell

Kou: For some reason...I’m incredibly dizzy...Guh...

*Thud* 

Kou: Uu...What’s going on...? There’s several images...flashing through my head...Aaah...!

Azusa: Kou!? Kou, hang in there!!

Ruki: What’s this? I do not know what kind of act you’re putting up here, but you better not believe you’ll be able to catch me with it.

*Cling* 

Azusa: Ruki...san...! Stop, please! Don’t hurt Kou!

You can cut me down as many times as you want, okay...?

Ruki: Such ridiculous brotherly love. Rest assured, neither of you will make it out alive.

Azusa: No way...

Kou: ...Wait...Ruki-kun...

Azusa: Eh...?

Ruki: Hah...?

Kou: Why are you...pointing your sword at us...?

Can’t you tell who we are? ...Ruki-kun...

Ruki: Such nonsenseーー

ー Ruki starts to remember as well

Ruki: ...What is this...?

*SCENE SHIFT*

Subaru: Damnit! What happened to their fuckin’ plan, huh!?

The situation won’t hold for much longer!

Shuu: Haah...What a drag. I’d like to get this over with soon.

Subaru: As you wish!  I’ll crush you real quick!

Reiji: What are you doing, Shuu!? Hurry up and take care of them.

Shuu: No need to tell me.

Subaru: Two against one, huh? Fuck...!

*Woosh* 

Ayato: Woah there! Mr. Sleepyhead! I’ll take you on instead!

Subaru: Wha...!? 

Shuu: Haah? You’re from the Orange House...Why are you helping out the enemy?

Kanato: You still haven’t remembered? As the oldest of the family, the two of them act cocky all the time, yet you haven’t even grasped the situation?

Honestly, I am beyond disappointed.

Subaru: N-No...Explain it to me as well. Why would you two...?

Ayato: Shut up, we can do that later! We still don’t quite get what’s goin’ on either after all.

Subaru: Haah?

Kanato: I believe it was probably Laito. Also her blood. That is what helped us remember. 

Fake brothers and a pointless war. You better believe I am not letting myself get caught up in such a mess and die as a result.

Ayato: I don’t know what that guy’s plans are but...

If he ran away with Chichinashi, I’m sure he has somethin’ in mind.

In that case, I’ll hang on until then!

*CLING*

Shuu: Kuh...!

ー The scene shifts back to the cliff

Yui: ( You really can’t see the bottom. I guess this is what you’d call the ‘pits of Hell’? (1) )

Are you...sure? If we dive down, we’ll most definitely...

Laito: You’re the one who brought it up though. Getting cold feet now?

Yui: No! That’s not it, but...

Laito: I want to be with youーー

...Until the bitter end, no, for eternity.

I’ll be there with you no matter what happensーー So let’s go together.

Yui: ...Yeah...

Monologue

Grabbing hold of each other’s hand,

we stood by the edge of the abyss.

In front of our eyes,

stretched an endless, bottomless pit.

If we took even one step forward,

we’d fall straight down.

However...

Even though I was standing on the verge of death,

my mind felt at peace.

Laito-kun is right there besides me. 

The joy from being able to go together,

surpassed the fear of death.

We looked at each other one last time,

exchanging a tight embrace.

And then,

we dove into the abyssーー

Laito: Yui-chan...Let’s go together.

Yui: Yeah...!

*Rustle*

Yui: Ugh...ーー

( The wind pressure is intense...Almost as if my whole body is being ripped apart... )

*Woosh*

Yui: Kyahーー

ーー Ah.

( Swept away by wind...I’m drifting apart from Laito-kunーー )

Laito: No!

*Rustle*

Yui: ...Laito-kun...

Laito: I refuse...to let go of you...

Don’t worry...As long as we’re together, there’s nothing to be afraid of...

Yui: Yeah...I know...!

*Rustle* 

Yui: ( I don’t care how or where. From here on out, we’ll be together foreverーー )

*Twinkle*

ー The screen fades to white

Yui: ( Eh...? )

( The strong gust of wind from earlier is gone. )

Laito: ...Is this... a light?

Yui: Look at the sky...The landscape is slowly fading away.

Is this what dying is like...?

Laito: Good question. I’ve never experienced death before, so I can’t say for sure but...

It’s very pretty...

Yui: ...Yeah...

( The orbs of light are steadily increasing. My consciousness...is growing faint... )

[EUPHORIA END]

-> BRANCH: LABYRINTH ENDING

The game does not tell you if you are in the Euphoria or the Labyrinth branch. In the Labyrinth version of this chapter, this is what Yui’s first line after the branch looks like:

一緒に飛び降りよう。それで、終わらせよう。

Yui: Let’s jump together. And put an end to it.

I don’t want anyone else pulling us apart.

Laito: ...I can’t believe you’d come to that conclusion...You must truly feel like there’s no other option left, huh?

But I feel the same way. If there is no way back, I want to stay with you till the bitter end.

Even if that means choosing death.

Hey, Yui-chan...Will you die alongside me?

Yui: ( If we stay here under the current circumstances, I won’t be able to stay together with Laito-kun. In which case...I know my answer. )

...Yeah, of course.

Laito: I’m glad. I was worried what I’d do if you were to turn me down.

Yui: As if I’d ever do that?

Laito: Right.

Well then...Let’s hold hands, and go together?

Yui: Yeah...

*Rustle*

*Woosh*

Yui: ( We’re going to...jump down from here. )

( Even though I’m the one who brought it up...I’m a little scared... )

Yui: Laito-kun...Don’t let go of my hand, okay?

Laito: ...Yeah. I won’t let go, no matter what happens.

Yui: Thanks.

Laito: Well then, off we go? So we can be together forever.

ー They jump off the cliff

Yui: Ugh...ーー

( The wind pressure is intense...Almost as if my whole body is being ripped apart... )

( Oh no...I’m going to let go of his hand...! )

*Rustle*

Yui: ( Ahーー )

Laito-kun...!

Laito: ...Shootーー!

Yui: ( He let...go. )

( His hand is...moving further and further away... )

( ーー No! I don’t want to fall alone!! )

( Even though we promised to be together... )

( And that we’d be together until we both take our final breaths... )

( He said he wouldn’t let go, no matter whatーー )

( ...You...liar... )

[LABYRINTH END]

Translation notes

(1) 奈落 or ‘naraku’ is the Japanese word for the Buddhist concept of ‘Hell’, being ‘Naraka’. 

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #laito sakamaki #chaos lineage #diabolik lovers translation #cllaito15

[thesovereignsring-if]

Elizabeth Olsen, Serena Williams, Jennifer Lawrence, Celine Dion, Zendaya, Michael Jordan, and Robin Williams might remind you that younger children can have huge potential for success! I totally get that MC has been denied opportunities and sheltered so they start out on the back foot. But to be honest I’m not interested in playing as someone whose background is only used as a simple pass/fail and will give no flavor text. To be blunt I don’t want to perpetually play as the most useless person in the room. I think it’s a cool concept to have others actions/reputations hang over the MC, but I don’t want my MCs actions to have no consequence. Even if it’s just a MC who was super friendly to everyone and the party privately feeling frustrated when a noble is cold to them or being eh if they are more aloof. I’m not trying to say that eldest kids or middle children aren’t successful; anyone can be successful if they have the willpower and luck.

— a probably overly triggered youngest sibling who carries their fam

Hi anon.

You come across as a little combative in this ask, at least in my point of view, so forgive me if that is not the case, but it will colour the tone of my response.

If this is your way of telling me your expectations of the game, then I do not appreciate your phrasing and the tone of writing in doing so. In the future, I would prefer something more gentler or polite. Had not included your last line about being triggered and perhaps are acting emotionally, I would have deleted and ignored it completely. You are allowed to be honest and blunt, I welcome it, but your writing prose in this instance makes you sound aggressive, rude and accusatory and I do not like that.

Now onto what I think are your concerns:

The whole point of the game is that main character's agency allows for the change in the Empire. The MC's choices are important and they are game changing and consequential. I promised that on the game's very first post. I would not have made it an IF if that were not the case. It would take less effort to write a book.

There is no doubt that younger siblings can be successful. If I did not believe that, then I would not have made the MC the youngest child who can ascend the throne despite all the cards stacked against them.

In the original ask that I was responding too was in regards to any established preconceptions of the MC as of Chapter 1. I never said that being the youngest meant they could not rise above their siblings. I decided that considering the circumstances of their station or birth and past family history, there are preconceptions about the MC that will eclipse who the MC actually is as a person. And that preconception colours the MC's reputation to the rest of the world.

Birth order does not beget success. But using your example above, I can also say that some of those people are successful because of the efforts/privileges of the people that came before them. That they were born in better socio-economic circumstances than others, that their parents made the right connections/knew the right people, that they were born into the right family, the right coloured race, so on and so forth. Some of it might be true, some of it might not. But that doesn't matter if I believe it's true. It's a preconception that I have. This is what I am talking about when I mean there are preconceptions are being held against the MC no matter what they do.

This is only Chapter 1. Everything has to start somewhere and I made the informed decision to have all MC(s) start on this controlled platform because when there are too many variables in place, things become out of hand. This story is already too complex with multiple layers of nuances that must be juggled.

If you want your MC to be independent and ascend the throne. That is a choice that I allow players to make. There will be consequences. There will always be consequences. I will punish you for being cruel. I will punish you for being kind. You cannot make everyone happy. You can only do what you think is right. You can be as selfish or selfless as you want.

But I will say this as a warning: If my response to that original ask triggered you, then you will not enjoy the beginning of Chapter 1. Prior to drafting this response, I had just finished writing a group of scenes involving a character that is more of asshole than Eirik. He will humiliate you and look down on you for things out of your control and you will not be able to respond properly because he will be right.

Have a nice day.

#answered asks #tsr #sorry if this is too negative #or if i'm being too sensitive #but I prefer people to be polite and not aggressive in the asks okay? #but I will always welcome funny asks #I try my best to answer every ask in my inbox #Very long I'm sorry. #MC

[lemmilemura]

it’s ur girl pine back with another request that’s secretly an unfinished draft from my notes app

okay so the reader is friends with maeve, and one day she invites them to a party (specifically one that jake hosts, this is important) (no it’s not i just like drama)

but the reader is kind of put off by the idea since they don’t really like parties. but yk it’s just this one time and maeve seems like she really wants them to go with her so they decide to get a little more information on it so they can be prepared (idk i honestly didnt think about why they ask questions but just go along with it 😭) so they ask maeve who’s gonna be there. she says smthn like “eh idk, jake, probably the rest of his group, me obviously, and simon” (reader hasn’t met simon yet, but they know who he is, they also don’t think AT is as bad as everyone makes it out to be) (very odd take but were gonna roll with it). and so when the reader eventually goes, them and simon eventually get like alone together and he starts conversation with them (prob says like “hey, are you y/n? i think maeve has mentioned you a few times.” or something)

IM SORRY THIS IS SUCH A LONG REQ BUT YEAH!! also you can decide what happens after simon and the reader are alone together, im thinking the reader like kind of realizes ‘oh shit this guys kind of fine’ in the like 30 minutes they talk to each other BUT YOU CAN CHANGE IT HOWEVER YOU WANT🫡 (also sorry this isn’t as good as my others it was kind of rushed)

At this point, you should just become my source of ideas xD Because truth be told I am running out and you always have great ones, Pine!!!!!🌲(I tried looking for a ferret emoji too, but I didn’t find one, so now you’re just 🌲 hope that’s okay)

All kept gender-neutral Based on the show

 "I’m really not sure, Maeve. I mean, I brely know anyone at Bayview, let alone Jake." Maeve was trying to convince me to go with her to a party hosted by a guy at her school. We didn’t go to the same school and I didn’t know anyone, besides Maeve and that one Simon guy, but only because he has an app or something that people are making way bigger a deal than it should be. "Oh c’mon! For all I know, you barely leave the house! I mean, if nobody knows you, that’s even better! No way for you to embarrass yourself. Pleeeease just come with I beg you."

In the end, it took a few more minutes, but she did manage to convince me. The days leading up to the party, she kept talking about it, telling me about all of the people I'd probably see. She kept bringing up Janae, I was convinced she had a thing for her, and Simon. The day of the party, though, I was considering just telling her I was sick, I wasn't really feeling like it'd go well. But I still decided to go, I said 'fuck it' and went.

Though, after only a few minutes, I had already lost Maeve. Great. I was alone at a party at someones house who I did not know, with people I didn't know. The kitchen always seemed like a good palce to go, especially when most people were outside by the pool. Also in the kitchen you can get drinks, just water to be honest, but sometimes that's really all you need. I find an unused cup and just get some water from the tap.

Suddenly, this guy walked in, and my god he was hot. Like goddamn what god or demon did his parents make a deal with to make him that attractive? I’m not even kidding, he was just that good looking. I damn near choked on my water, I had to turn around and face away from him out of embarrassment. He didn’t say anything, maybe he didn’t even notice me. He walk around like he owned the place, he knew where everything was, every cup, drink. Maybe he’s Jake’s brother or something. Or maybe that is Jake? I thought.

He suddenly seemed to notice me. "You’re new." He simply stated. I nodded, trying to stay calm. "Maeve invited me." I replied. He raised an eyebrow, making him only more attractive for some reason. "That mean you’re (Y/N)?" He asked. Holy shit hot guy knows my name. Stay cool, stay calm, you’ve got this. I nodded. "Funnily enough, I dragged her here. ‘m Simon."

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? THAT’S SIMON? MAEVE WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME HE WAS HOT?

I tried my best to stay calm and not let my shock come through. I took another sip of my drink, hoping it would help. "You don't go to Bayview, do you?" He asked. Again I just shook my head. He looked me up and down, making me even more flustered, somehow. "Shame." He said, and just... walked off. Just liek that. This man flustered me to my core and walked off like it was nothing.

Honestly I don't remember much of the rest of the party, I was really just trying to calm down, also half debating if I should switch schools. Genuinely. Luckily, Maeve soon (maybe, I do not know how long it was) came back and we decided to leave.

"So, how was it?" Maeve asked. I grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her. "WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THAT SIMON’S HOT? THAT IS A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW!" Maeve only laughed at my reaction. "Okay, while I do agree, he is good looking, he can be a pain in the ass sometimes." I must admit my face did betray me in that moment. I found that out because Maeve gave me a look, then started laughing again.

#one of us is lying #oouil #simon kelleher #oouil tv show #oneshot

[ejzah]

An Error in Judgment, Part 4

***

Hour two into their surveillance, and Deeks had started to get a little antsy. He was used to camping our for hours at a time on surveillance duty, but usually he had the wonderful distraction of Kensi, and his back wasn’t burning like he was being bitten by an army of fire ants.

He tried to discreetly rub against the car seat, as he watched for Tom Nelson, a suspect linked with the suspicious death of a former marine. Right now, he could use something a little more hands on to keep his mind off his worries, and the relentless discomfort of his healing burns.

“So be real with me, when did you really grow your hair out?” Sam asked unexpectedly, his upper lip lifted in a smirk that shows his dimples. “Because there’s no way you served as a public defender or made it through the police academy with that.” He pointed at Deeks’ hair, curled slightly around his ears and over his forehead.

Sam had been making an effort to keep the conversation going, which Deeks appreciated.

“Hate to disappoint you man, but I did,” Deeks said with an answering smirk. He shrugged. “When I interviewed with the LA court of law, they were willing to overlook my…eccentricities given my excellent academic record and their desperate need for public defenders. For the academy I trimmed it up a little, but I figured out how to slick it back enough that I could squeeze by. Then I moved into undercover work pretty quickly, where these kinds of looks are viewed as an asset and not a hindrance.”

Sam snorted, shaking his head. “Only you, Deeks.”

“You think Kilbride would like me better if I cut my hair?” he mused. He shared a glance with Sam, who looked doubtful. “Yeah, didn’t think so,” Deeks sighed.

“Like I said before, it’ll come with time. Kilbride just has to see you for who you really are.”

“Eh, well I wasn’t really counting on it.”

The bitterness returned in full force as he turned back to focus on the empty street before them. The talk about his hair had brought up memories of every other time he’d been mistreated because he didn’t fit with someone’s expectations. This situation was different in a way because Kensi was involved and Kilbride was accusing them of misconduct.

He was drawn from his thoughts by the arrival of a rickety gray sedan.

“Hey, I see some movement,” he said, sitting up as the car pulled up to the opposite curb. A short man with sandy brown hair emerged. “Yep, that’s our guy.”

Together, he and Sam slid out of the car, pulling their badges as they approached Nelson.

“NCIS,” Sam announced when they were a few feet in front of him. Nelson froze for a second in panic, and Deeks saw him the decision in his eyes a moment before he ran.

“Idiot,” Sam muttered as they took off after Nelson, Deeks following him down a tight alleyway while Sam cut to the left. As they emerged on the other side, Deeks leapt into the air, landing on Nelson’s back. They rolled several times over the rough gravel, Nelson struggling to grasp a gun at his waist as they came to a stop.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Sam called out, his shadow appearing over them a moment before he came into view, gun aimed directly at Nelson’s head. Growling under his breath, Nelson stilled, and Deeks cuffed him.

Sam helped pull the man to his feet, informing him of his rights as they

dragged him to the Challenger and secured him inside.

As he started to walk back to the passenger side, Sam stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder, his brows furrowed. “Deeks, your back is bleeding.”

***

A/N: Deeks angst and whump is my favorite flavor. Is that a weird thing to say?

#ncis la fanfiction #marty deeks #Sam #mild angst #Deeks whump #Kilbride is the villain of this story #an error in judgment #part 4 #ejzah fanfiction

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

"I thought you didn’t like cats?" For Peter & Lucian? (Aka time for dog jokes again?)

Lucian must really love Peter a lot in order to put up with his nonsense.

Part of that new vamp Peter au I've got going on.

Warning: post-vampire hunting, blood drinking

On with the fic!

--

Lucian kept glancing over his shoulder and Peter finally had enough of it because Lucian kept telling him it was nothing. "What is it? Are we being followed? What's your all-powerful nose smellin' that my adorable bat nose can't? Picked up somethin' interestin'?"

He sniffed the air. "Cause all I'm smellin' right now is this nasty ass alley with whatever... festering things are in it. And pizza, but I think that's from some place nearby."

"You need to really develop your sense of smell to find specific scents, Peter." Lucian informed him. "I can't keep being the one doing it."

"Eh. Anyway, what's up? Are we being followed? Did someone survive?" Peter asked, looking down the alley.

"No, they were all taken care of, we didn't leave any of the vampires alive. But we have been followed since we left the building." Lucian then pointed at the end, towards a corner. "By her."

Peter raised an eyebrow, then squinted a bit, and finally noticed what Lucian was talking about. Peeking around the corner was a tiny black head of a cat. Then he heard the little thing meow.

They watched as the little black cat came trotting down the wet, smelly alley before stopping a few feet away. She watched them carefully, little ears flicking. Peter took note that she was one of those cats that had the long fangs, the kind that poked out and you could see the tips.

"Aww, she's like a Halloween decoration." Peter smirked as he watched her stretch, arching her back like those scared cat props you see in people's windows and yards.

"Yes, and she's been trailing us this whole time, for some reason." Lucian sighed.

"Really? Come here, cutie." Peter said, getting down to a squat and removing his backpack, pulling out a water bottle full of blood. He shook it up, hoping it would be a bit more liquid-y that way, then poured a bit into the cap. "Think she'll like a taste of pig's blood?

"I don't know, Peter. I'm not sure if cats even like- oh." They watched as the kitty cat approached, sniffed the cap, and lapped at the blood.

"Aww, like a much more adorable vampire. Could put some fake wings on you, you'd be adorable!"

"No." Lucian said instantly and Peter looked up at him, pouting.

"I didn't even say anythin'!"

"You just... you have this tone in your voice, like when you tell me about something you found online and suddenly it's at the front desk in just a day or two. You're impulsively interested in taking her home."

Peter stuck his tongue out at him and decided to give the kitty attention instead. He grinned when she nuzzled at his hand, purring. Poor thing looked so thin, had she been in that building when the vampires took it over? Had they prevented her from hunting mice or whatever?

He watched as she slipped away from him and moved to rub herself all over Lucian's legs, purring even louder. He could see Lucian looking down at her, and looking very much like he was trying not to smile.

Peter smirked. "I thought you didn’t like cats?"

Whatever hint of a smile that was there was suddenly gone. "It's not that I don't like cats, most animals know to fear- oh, you're making a dog joke again, aren't you?"

"HA! You finally caught one of 'em! I've made at least six this evening!" Peter put the cap back on his bottle and stood up. "What do we do with her?"

"She probably has a home."

"I don't think so, if she followed us from the nest, I think her home used to be that building. And we kinda... set a lot of the inside on fire burnin' bodies."

Lucian looked at him, giving him a hard look and Peter leaned down, picking her up. "Just a few days, okay? Until we can get her to a shelter or somethin'?" Peter asked. "Look at her, she's so cute and sweet, and she looks like a little vampire!"

The lycan looked at the cat, who was currently now nuzzling Peter's face and trying to slip into his hoodie, which made him laugh. Lucian sighed. "Just until you can bring her to a shelter."

"Cool! Thank you, babe!" He gave Lucian a kiss before looking at the cat. "Now, what to name you..."

"No, don't name her, then you'll want to keep her."

"She needs a name!"

"Cats do not always need them, it is their way."

"Meh, you're not fun, she's gettin' one despite your nonsense."

--

I dunno if they'll keep her, but Peter wants to name her after a famous vampire lady.

#john's drabbles #lucian x peter vincent

[wvbaandtheboys]

Power-Up!! (A Punch-Out!! Fanfiction)

Little Mac receives a strange present from the mysterious Mr. Dream, supposedly to help him improve and become even better than he was before. Though both the boy wonder and his best friend, Birdie/Peter are skeptical of the consequences, Mac wishes to fulfill that burning curiosity of his. And it appears that he may have bitten off more than he can chew… (Oh! Content warning for gore. Also, if you don’t like reading transformation stuff, I’mma need you to either click off or proceed with caution. Either way, enjoy!)

“Once we get this operation going, you’ll be stronger than you could ever imagine.”

Mr. Dream’s words echoed back into Mac’s mind.

The young boxer unexpectedly was pulled out of a conversation with his trusted friend, Birdie, for an impromptu meeting with Mr. Dream, the spokesperson for the Dreamland Program and close associate of the WVBA. It wasn’t the most surprising thing to him after the fact, though. The man had scheduled a couple meetings here and there for the next month at the WVBA with Mac to set him up on what he called an “experimental routine.”

The details of this said routine were pretty vague. Mac asked a whole handful of questions to try and educate himself on just what he was getting himself into, but Mr. Dream barely gave out anything. In fact, it was almost like he was teasing the young boxer with potential bullet points, only to brush it off with a pearly smile and a variation of “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Mac had previously discussed possibilities of career-enhancing factors with Mr. Dream before. Though Mac never really thought personally that he needed such things, as he was pretty much content with where he was in terms of rank, the idea of something that would potentially make him even better than he was before admittedly piqued his young curiosity.

His curiosity was only further roused by Mr. Dream’s enthusiasm about the entire operation.

The normally calm and collected enigma of a man showed some degree of excitement towards Mac’s new “carefully adjusted” schedule. Though certainly sly in keeping the intricate details of the product he was going to give the boxer unknown, Mr. Dream was encouraging of Mac to “experience the look before the leap.” However, he was abundant in instructions with where and how the young boxer should handle what he received.

Nearing the end of their chat, Mr. Dream gave Mac a small plastic bottle with a green bottle cap. Inside the bottle was a somewhat opaque, baby blue liquid. The appearance wasn’t at all concerning, in fact it just looked like a regular fizzy drink to Mac. However, the man informed Mac quite insistently that he should not let anyone else drink it. It was for him, and only him.

Those words stuck with Mac as he made his way back to the locker room where Peter was. “Hey-a, Macky! What’s that ya got there?” The blonde haired boy asked, flashing a bright smile at his best friend. “Oh, uh… Mr. Dream gave me this and… told me to try it.” He showed Peter the bottle. Abruptly, as though a flip switched in his head, Peter’s happy-go-lucky expression turned stern. “...He told you to drink that?” Even his voice changed to become more serious than a moment ago. “Uh… yeah…” Mac already got a bad feeling based on Peter’s reaction. It felt like he had a brotherly sense for when something was probably bad for Mac. And he had been right before a couple times.

It was kind of unsettling how intense Peter’s stare was as he seemed to weigh his own thoughts in his mind, thinking of what to say. “...Birdie?” Mac waved a hand in front of his face just to try and get him to blink. “Eh.” He blinked. Thank goodness. “...Mac. I-I don’t think you should drink that. Do you even know what’s in it?” Mac shook his head. Peter’s expression hardened. “So you don’t know what it’s made of or worse, what it’ll do to you. That’s even more reason to not try it.”

Mac could see where he was coming from. He had to admit that he had his own moderate suspicions, especially since the whole conversation lacked details. Though he took Peter’s concerns into consideration alongside his own, he was curious. Oh-so curious of what this little drink could do to make him stronger.

Call him naive, but his young mind just ran rampant with thoughts. He spun the bottle around in his hands, inspecting it from every possible angle like a scientist. There was nothing conspicuous about the bottle nor the liquid within it, but he did it anyway.

“...I-I know. I know. But… I… still wanna know what it’ll do.” Mac’s eyebrows furrowed as he gripped the bottle in his hand. He pinched two fingers around the cap, but made no motion to twist it. “Mac, stop. D-Don’t do it. Please.” Peter reached out his hand, but thought better of the situation and took it back. The growing tension of decision lingered in the air, uncomfortable and somewhat suffocating.

Even Mac felt it. Especially Mac. He was mostly indifferent, but common sense somewhat weighed in. Peter was right: who knew what this thing would do to him once he drank it? It could either help him, hurt him… or even.. worse. It got pretty bad thinking about it.

The tension only grew worse as Mac’s fingers tightened around the cap, slightly moving in a twisting motion. He opened up the bottle and brought the rim to his nose, sniffing at the liquid. The drink smelled pleasantly of citrus, the mild burn of carbonation hitting his nostrils.

“W-Wait, wait. Mac.” Peter stammered. “Huh?” Mac raised a brow. “…If you really wanna find out what it does… I-I can try it for you.” Internally, Mac was pretty touched by that. Whenever Peter sensed that Mac still wanted to act in a situation he didn’t exactly think was safe, he’d offer a solution to solve it himself. As rowdy and haphazard as Mac seemed with little regard for his own well-being at times, he could always appreciate his best friend looking out for him.

But keeping in mind Mr. Dream’s instructions, he started to feel a little worried.

“…Mr. Dream said I’m not supposed to let anyone else drink it, Peter. I don’t think I should do that anyways.” Peter’s eyes widened a bit, looking more annoyed at Mr. Dream’s frankly seedy nature in the situation more than anything. “You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me…” Mac didn’t want Peter to try it. Yeah, he was a little anxious now to try it himself despite his biting-the-bullet curiosity, but he honestly couldn’t let Peter try it on good conscience. What if something happened to him? What if it hurt him? He wouldn’t forgive himself easily if things went south. Not with Peter.

Mac thought of a compromise. It wasn’t fully satisfactory, but it was the best he had. If he really wanted to fulfill his quest to find out what this drink did, he had to convince Peter.

“Alright, alright. Here, I’ll cut you a deal.” Peter raised an eyebrow a little suspiciously, but he slowly nodded his head. “…Okay. I’m all ears.”

“I’ll drink a little. Not a lot, just maybe…” Mac measured with his fingers a length between just underneath the rim of the bottle to the first ridge. “This much. And then, we’ll wait a bit. If I feel anything bad, and I mean anything at all, I’ll put it down! If I feel just fine, then we can keep it going bit by bit. That way, you can keep an eye on me. Sounds good to you?”

That curious part of Mac hoped that he was convincing enough to at least allow the first part of the agreement to happen. The other boy’s expression remained fixed for a couple seconds, then changed to one of deep thought. For what was probably about two minutes, his face stayed like that. Finally, at the end of that time, it slowly changed to still uncertain, but leaning towards compliance. “You promise me you’ll stop if it happens?...” He inclined his head towards Mac with a tilt, clearly a little hesitant.

“I promise!” Mac nodded.

“...Alright. Deal.”

The young scrapper couldn’t help but give a little grin. He felt pretty clever for a moment about his negotiation skills. He was probably giving himself a bit too much credit, though.

Mac put the rim up to his lips, and drank the amount he specified. It tasted great, just like a lime soda. It was even kind of chilled like a fresh bottle of pop. “Huh. Not bad!” He sat down on one of the benches, nodding his head with a delighted hum. “How do you feel?” Peter sat down next to him, coming across as a little anxious in his tone. “Nothin’ yet. Let’s see.”

The two waited in silence for about five minutes.

“Anything?” Peter asked. “Eh… nope.” Mac shook his head. Peter had to admit that he felt a bit of relief at that, but his guard was still very much up. “...Okay.” He slowly nodded his head. Despite both of them being varyingly worried for valid reasons, Mac didn’t really like seeing Peter worked up like that.

“Hey, Pete. Ease up!” The young boxer chuckled as he wrapped an arm around him, rubbing his shoulder. “C’mon, we got a deal, remember? I won’t con ya outta it, promise!” Peter was barely affected by this reassurance, no matter how genuine it was. And while yes, it did bother Mac, he couldn’t be too upset. After all, he had not only gone back on a few of his promises before, but had been mistaken over the safety of particular scenarios. But he was more sure of himself this time around.

Confidently, Mac took another sip of the drink, and waited another couple of minutes.

Nothing.

“...Huh. …I’m starting to think we were worryin’ for nothin’.” The boy remarked as he propped a leg up on the bench. The bottle was halfway finished, and he felt no different than when he hadn’t drank anything. Well, Mac didn’t know what he was expecting, but he was anticipating something rather than seemingly nothing at all. It was kind of a let down, if he was being honest.

A couple minutes later, he had drunk the last of the bottle’s contents without incident. In fact, he felt kind of refreshed after the matter. “Well, Peter? I’m alright.” Mac turned to his friend a bit smugly. “Seems like you were worryin’ for nothin this time around, huh?” Peter sighed lightly, and nodded his head. “...I just didn’t really trust that bottle. I still don’t.” Mac’s grin faded. Peter was really taking this hard.

“...Yeah, I didn’t think you would. But, look!” Mac stood from the bench, pacing round in front of Peter with a confident strut. “See? I’m just fine! Ain’t nothin’ gonna stop Lil’ Mac!” Really, he was mostly doing this to try and amuse his friend. To try and get him to cheer him up. But Mac was also relieved that he was okay. No matter how cocky he felt at that moment, or slightly disappointed by the lack of anything happening, he was grateful nothing happened.

“...Hm.” Peter cracked the tiniest smile. Though he was relieved, he was barely paying attention. Deep down, he was still worried. Something could still happen. That thought clouded his head, sending him into yet another pit of deep thought.

“...Though, it’s pretty weird. Why’d he make such a big deal about this little thing?” Mac held the bottle in a hand still, scanning it over. He then carelessly threw it aside then put his arms up in a stretching motion. “Welp, that happened! What do you say we get some fresh air?”

A loud thud rang out into the locker room.

Peter perked up, and took a glance around. The thud was so jarring that he thought something heavy had fallen out of place, like a locker or a ceiling tile. It wouldn’t have been too shocking. This stadium was slowly falling apart after all, and the WVBA were barely paying any mind to it.

The lockers stood upright. The ceiling was intact. So then, what fell?

He turned back to Mac.

“...Mac?”

He looked down.

The boy was nearly stiff on the ground. Mac was laying on his stomach with his head facing Peter. The expression on his face was haunting. Mac’s eyes were wide, pupils dilated and trembling. His entire body was soaked in droplets of sweat, raining down his skin.

Streams of tears beaded down from his eyes. Drool rolled down from his open mouth to his chin, then to the ground as his chest rose and fell with his strained, ragged breathing. He audibly, yet softly gurgled, unable to form words.

His limbs and neck twitched erratically. Disturbingly enough, it almost looked like his muscles were… rolling. It was even visible just beneath his skin, causing moving lumps to surface for a few moments before disappearing again. He was in such a gnarly amount of agony that it was nearly unbearable to even breathe.

Peter’s heart dropped. “MAC!”

Every bit of calmness he had left him the moment he fully realized Mac had collapsed. His body practically flung itself off the bench and onto the ground, as he held onto his friend’s crumpled form with trembling hands. “W-WHAT’S GOING ON?! PLEASE, T-TALK TO ME!” Mac was affected by Peter’s touch, flipping onto his back with a loud whimper. Almost as though just being touched brought him even more pain.

The other boy’s hands shot up into the air, startled by the reaction. “I’M SO SORRY-!” He felt truly terrible about making him feel even worse. But his entire body was running on so much adrenaline that he could hardly think straight, let alone control his actions. What thoughts were coherent were circling a mile a minute, screaming in his head to help Mac. Just help him.

Meanwhile, Mac was still in intense pain. The initial tidal wave of hurt had passed, which made it a bit bearable, but it still felt like hell on Earth. He felt his muscles flexing, extending and contracting, rolling underneath his skin. His bones felt like they were creaking, making any sort of movement nigh impossible because of the sheer electrifying sensation of pain it would cause. His heart was racing in his chest, almost feeling like it was going to break his rib cage if it didn’t break itself first.

It felt like his body was actively trying to crumble itself into pieces.

Dread clouded Mac’s thoughts. He could only think, as he continued to suffer and his close friend watched, if this was going to kill him. If he was going to just die in front of Peter. No. No… he couldn’t die. This would have been such a foolish and easily avoidable way to die! But the pain he was going through felt like it was killing him. Making his thoughts decay to mush, his vision to a vignetted lens of the world around him.

Why didn’t he listen to Peter?... Why didn’t he refuse the damn bottle?!

Why did he stand there, and tell Peter everything was going to be okay when he also had a feeling that it wouldn’t be?!

Oh…

This was it… wasn’t it?...

Suddenly, a flash of red came over Mac’s eyes. And his dread melted into something else.

Rage.

A distinct rage began to boil in him, unprecedented and rapidly rising. The excruciating pain ravaging the young scrapper’s body became insignificant as this newfound emotion continued to rise more and more, contorting his terrified expression into one of unbridled anger. Confusion turned into intent, becoming clear in his throbbing head. He gnashed his teeth, wave after wave of heat washing over him, making him hot to the touch.

Peter could only sit there in slack jawed awe. He hadn’t the faintest idea what was going on. Just a couple moments ago, Mac was twitching and sobbing in agony with the fear of God in his eyes. But now, he was practically giving Peter a death stare. Peter’s jaw moved to try and form words, but he was rendered near speechless in the presence of such blazing fury.

“...W… What’s going o-”

Mac’s left arm gave a particularly violent twitch-

CRACK!

Pain surged through Peter’s jaw before he went flying backwards. His back met the floor before his head did with a harsh thud, his legs landing hung over the bench they were sitting on a few minutes ago. The taste of metal saturated his tongue, causing him to turn his head and abruptly cough. The floor beside him became splattered with blood. His eyes went wide. Mac… Mac just punched him.

That was no regular punch. No punch from Mac of all people should have knocked him backwards. That swing… It was filled with strength that was unfathomable for someone small like Mac. It was physically impossible for his body to possess.

Peter heard Mac grunt jarringly. Through his dazed vision, he saw the silhouette of Mac, who was now on his hands and knees, breathing hoarsely. Those unnerving cramping motions in his muscles still occurred visibly. Mac suddenly grunted again, but curled inwards as if something were happening to him. Something much worse.

The stunned Peter could only watch as Mac began to change. …To grow. His fairly well built body bulged and shifted, as Mac thrashed and jerked round erratically as if he were trying to stifle expressing anything during this clearly painful transformation. He was near silent, only the sound of his breathing hitching as he continued to morph. His arms were twice, no, thrice the size they used to be after the fact, the same growth happening to the rest of his body.

At the end of the horrific scene, Mac barely looked the same. His now longer hair hung in unkempt spikes, hulking muscles moving with the rise and fall of his chest. His gray tank top had been shredded in the process, laying in tatters of fabric on the ground. For what felt like an eternity, Mac sat there idly. As if he were drinking in what he had just experienced. What he became.

Peter finally garnered the courage to say something.

“...Mac…? W… What… happened to you…?”

Mac jolted, giving yet another grunt as his head turned upwards. Then, slowly, he turned to face Peter. His features had become rather defined, with noticeable cheekbones, a larger nose and thicker eyebrows that made his eyes look a bit smaller than usual. It was Mac but… He looked nothing like himself. He seemed caught off guard by Peter’s state, moving back the slightest inch with a surprised expression. But, as if a switch flipped in his head, the aggression from earlier returned.

Something about the way this new form’s expression changed to express rage was different, however. What was it? Maybe it was the way his eyebrows furrowed so deeply, his eyes gazing at Peter with nothing but disdain. Maybe, it was the way that his nose scrunched as he bared his teeth at Peter. Or perhaps… it was the near animalistic, low and vibrating growl that sounded from his throat. The snarl that followed as he turned his body towards Peter.

Maybe it was all of those combined.

In any case, Peter could only compare how he felt in this situation to how a hare would feel staring down a ravenous wolf.

Helpless.

“...M-Mac…?”

Peter felt a cold shock down his back. His hands began to tremble once more, traveling up his arms to the rest of his body. He couldn’t stop shaking. He… He was afraid. Terrified of what Mac would do to him.

Mac’s body inclined backwards like some sort of animal about to pounce. The growling only grew louder, reaching a fever pitch moments before he launched himself at Peter with a bone-chilling roar, and grabbed his ankles with a vice-like grip.

Poor Peter stood no chance against Mac’s newfound strength. With relative ease, he was swung up from where he stood and slammed against the wall of the locker room. The harsh and loud impact knocked any scream that he could have given to alert anyone out of him. His already limp form then fell to the ground and was promptly pinned beneath the giant’s overwhelming weight.

With yet another roar, Mac began to mindlessly beat his best friend. Just pummeling his body with that rage fueled adrenaline, either unable or unwilling to stop. The sounds he belted out were just as startling. Guttural screaming, snarling, and growling rang out non-stop as he continued the vicious beating.

The swing of a door practically being swung off its hinges was faintly audible in Peter’s near delirious state. “VHAT IZ GOING ON IN HERE?!” Wait… was that… Von Kaiser’s voice…? Had someone finally heard the commotion…?!

“EVERYONE, COME! QUICKLY!” He heard the old German man yell to what was supposedly the other boxers. Immediately, two more voices joined the mix.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?! IS THAT MAC?!”

That was Super Macho Man. No doubt about that.

“AND H-HE’S ATTACKING PETER! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!”

And that was Don Flamenco.

In the span of two seconds, both Don and Kaiser had their arms around Mac’s biceps, trying to pry him off. It barely did anything. Both men struggled to even slightly move his arms. Though they did have an effect, Peter kept getting heavy punches to the abdomen and face. “OY, MACHO MAN! GET OVER HERE AND BE USEFUL FOR ONCE!” Don yelled to Macho.

“W-WHAT?! I-I’M NOT TOUCHING HIM WHEN HE’S LIKE THAT! I DON’T HAVE A DEATH WISH!” Macho argued back. “Y TE DARÉ UNA SI SIGUES JODIENDO, GILIPOLLAS. ¡VEN AQUÍ AHORA!” Don hissed aloud in Spanish. Upon hearing this, Macho gave a loud groan. “ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!” Peter saw the larger boxer’s arms wrap around Mac’s neck in some sort of headlock, with Macho arching his back with as much effort as possible to move him backwards. “COME ON, KID! GET OFFA HIM ALREADY!”

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN’ ON HERE?!” Yet another boxer’s voice rang out into the room. Macho turned his head in the midst of the struggle. “DUDE! DON’T JUST STAND THERE AND GAWK! USE THOSE FREAKIN’ BEAR MUSCLES AND HELP ME OUT HERE!” “ON IT!” Bear muscles…? That voice definitely belonged to Bear Hugger, then.

Even with the combined strength of two lightweights and two heavyweights pulling against him, it still wasn’t enough to overpower the hulking Mac who just became further provoked by the resistance. He jerked around with what wiggle room he had, trying to throw them off of him. In light of this, all the boxers only held on tighter.

Just one more ought to do it.

“WHAT THE-?!” One more voice came in. “SANDMAN! Terrific timin’! Give us a hand here, wontcha?!” Sandman? Oh, this should work! The last boxer was quick to join the group, pulling as hard as he could. Inch by inch, Mac began to be pulled back, until…

CRASH!

Mac was finally yanked backwards and landed on the floor. All the boxers collectively worked together to hold him down, despite the savage thrashing he was trying to do, still making those horrid animalistic sounds. Kaiser glanced back to the barely conscious Peter, and his eyes went wide. “D-Do you zhink you can hold him?!”

“Y-Yeah! We got ‘im good! Go check on Pete!”

The boxer got up and jogged over to the injured boy, kneeling beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder. “…Mein Gott…” It was horrific, the damage done to poor Peter’s body. His stomach and chest were basically painted with splotches of sickly, dark purple. Blood was even coming out from some of the wounds. His face was the worse part. His cheeks were inflamed to a disturbing degree, one of his eyes swollen shut with the other almost looking as if it were going to do the same. Blood splattered the bridge of his nose and from his lips, still running.

“…P-Peter. Can you hear me…?” Peter blinked the decent eye to say yes, as he didn’t have the strength to speak or move anything. Every single part of his body felt like it was on fire, burning and stinging with near excruciating pain. This was the worst beating he had ever received in his life.

Kaiser, though thoroughly horrified, kept a level head and nodded. “I-I’m… going to get you to ze medical bay, okay? You’re going to be alright, my friend. I promise you zat.” That made Peter feel just a little better in this horrible situation. He was terrified that he was going to get the crap beaten out of him and nobody would know. Thank goodness they came to save him.

However, the injuries proved to be too much for Peter to remain conscious. In a matter of seconds after receiving reassurance, his world turned black.

#punch out!! #punch out wii #super punch out #little mac #punch out bear hugger #super macho man #mr sandman punch out #don flamenco #von kaiser #my writing #giga mac

[thequeenofthewinter]

Fic Friday

Hello fine gentlepeople of TESblr! 'tis I, Winter, peddling off my fic again as it is Friday, and I have updated.

In a review by the lovely @oblivions-dawn it is: "Excellent . . . Emotional . . . Effervescent . . . . . . Yes"

The author herself describes it as, "Politics, some boats, emotions, and metaphors. Please someone take this chapter away from me so I don't add any more to it."

A random person I found on the street has said, "Eh? Who are you, and why are you bothering me while I am eating my lunch?"

So, there you have it! Reviews are generally positive! Go read it now!

Rating: E (canon-typical violence, explicit content, check the tags)

Genre: Romance, action, adventure, drama

Pairing: Dahlia Wintersnow (OC Dragonborn)/Ulfric Stormcloak

Link to AO3: An Invincible Summer

Snippet:

While the news is no surprise to Lydia, this is the first time Dahlia has opened up to her personally. It is only logical for gossip like this to spread quickly, especially with Dahlia and Ulfric’s frequent visits to a small grave which bears no name—only a sad inscription. Loose tongues and morbid curiosity did the rest of the work to assure that it has been publicized across the population. How else would Elisif been able to hit Dahlia where it hurts the most?

Both Dahlia and Ulfric had expected it to catch up to them at some point in time; however, at least on her part, Dahlia did not expect the cruelty which came with it—the speculations, the rumors, and the pointed digging. For the most part, she has tried to ignore it as best she can while finding solace in Ulfric’s arms. But, no matter how much she runs and tries and ignore it, it always come back to her, haunting her like the hazy nightmares which leave mentally and physically tired, even if she refuses to show it. 

Slowly, Dahlia is learning better than to expect kindness from any but those who are closest to her. She’ll shut herself away and patch up all the exposed holes on her leaking ship if she must to preserve herself.

Lydia smiles at her sadly as Dahlia looks at her with uncertainty in her gaze. She isn’t sure what hurts her more: the fact that her friends has been suffering with this information and the weight of it for weeks or that she thinks that she would judge her for it. 

“It’s okay, Dahlia.” Her housecarl sighs, “I mean—no, it isn’t okay. That isn’t what I meant. What I mean is that you’re safe here, and I know you wouldn’t ever intentionally do anything to hurt anyone, and it’s not your fault and—“

Tears make their way down Dahlia’s face. How long had it been since she had spoken to Lydia? And how long has she been holding this in and putting on a brave face for the rest of the world?

“I—if we are talking about technical blame, it is my fault. I was the one who—”

Lydia stops her yet again. She has heard so many versions of what had happened: Dahlia sacrificed their child to Sithis to bring Ulfric back, she dabbles in necromancy, she speaks to Talos directly—that she can make a pretty good guess at what actually happened, but with better results. “You didn’t know, and you had a choice. One that is unspeakable, impossible, and one that no one should ever have to make. They don’t understand you, and they are not you. Only Akatosh can judge you, and it seems to me he has deemed you worthy, so you should forgive yourself.”

For a moment, all she does is blink. Dahlia isn’t sure what she expected, but it should not have been anything less than this. Lydia’s own thoughts echo Ulfric’s.

I cannot pretend to know what you felt, and I was not the one in your shoes. I cannot tell you what was right and wrong, and while it hurts me just as much as it hurts you, I would have made the exact same choice if I had been in your situation. We can try again when you’re ready.

And isn’t that what life is all about? There is pain, but there is joy. Darkness and light. Winter and Summer. You cannot have balance without both. Fus ro dah. You will push the world harder than it pushes back. Now is when she should push because after the rain is when the plants start their new growth.

#skyrim #skyrim fanfiction #ulfric stormcloak #ulfric x dragonborn #dahlia wintersnow #who I guess has actually been Dahlia Stormcloak for two chapters now #winter writes #fic friday #tw: pregnancy loss

[aokozaki]

sorry I'm just. kinda wondering how many other tumblr users share the traumatic experience of feeling in mortal danger at the hands of their parents. but also way too anxious to make a poll asking this. so I'm doing this instead. or I did do. ack.

...um, anyway, I didn't think that hard about it, sorry. no one is obligated to answer... so, sorry... to all of them

Sorry if I came across as harsh anon. And I'm very sorry that happened to you. I hope you're in better circumstances now.

Unfortunately, it's a hard question to pose over the internet, especially anonymously. I don't know you, and you don't know me. Even if it wasn't via anon, a question that heavy is a very difficult opener to handle.

I'm glad you're sincere, and not as I feared just fishing for information, but people are gonna be put on edge if you approach them with that first thing. And some people aren't going to be as skeptical as me, but like I said you've suddenly dumped a very heavy question on their lap.

Like I said, I wish you well! But internet strangers aren't the best outlet for this kind of thing. I understand the need to connect with people over shared sorrows, and I'm glad you understand you didn't think that need through very well.

I'm going a bit in circles here I think, but point is, no harm done long-term, eh? No worries.

[eolewyn1010]

Dragging Frankenstein - Chapter 20, part 2

Second half of the chapter that is, at least for me, the highlight of the book; we left off at the Creature's confrontation of Victor about destroying the unfinished Distressing Damsel.

And then the slave speech. What even is this. I don’t know what to do with this. The sheer fucking hubris which he has picked up from Victor and now tries (and fails!) to turn against him. Finally, the assumption of his own superiority, declaring himself Victor’s master and, in extension of that, humanity as a whole his destined slaves, proving Victor’s fears right after all.

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: 14

That’s for his emerging Übermensch mentality.

With the Creature setting himself above Victor, he has completed his Lucifer character arc. Interestingly, he fails to take up where Victor left off; all things considered, now would have been a good time for the Creature himself to start playing God and repair the almost-complete ladymonster using Victor’s notes. He sure is clever enough for that, and he would have some time for it while Victor is out having himself a little angstfest. The fact that he doesn’t even try leads me to the conclusion that the Distressing Damsel was more of a character test for Victor, a plot device for the Creature to escalate the conflict.

On a merrier note, “you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension”? XD Okay? Don’t be condescending then?

Gawd, these guys are terrible. My last shred of sympathy for the Creature has finally vanished, and for once I feel a tiny bit of admiration for Victor’s thought process and taking a moral stance. Fine work, Shelley.

Oh, and the infamous “I shall be with you on your wedding night.” Well, first off – let’s be honest, this sounds like a threat of the sexual kind. DAS GAY: 33

INCEST VIBES: 15

Then, Victor gets one of those, too, bc he actually thinks he’s in a place to threaten the Creature. “closed with him in mortal strife”, eh? DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR: 15

And finally, his imagination can’t get him any further than to his wedding night being “the hour I should die”. Not like, y’know, the Creature has promised to make you miserable by destroying all you ever loved. Nah, IT’S ALL ABOUT ME: 23

Back to form. Whew, I was floundering for a second there!

…I have to give him another, because he does think of Elizabeth – in terms of her mourning for him. IT’S ALL ABOUT ME: 24

We reach a point where Victor not only fantasizes of being wretched and alone for the rest of his life, feeling isolated from the rest of humanity, but also falls asleep in the grass. Huh, they really have switched roles.

A letter from the boyfriend who’s missing him dearly! Henry, my sweetie! DAS GAY: 34

Oh, good, he does tidy up the laboratory.

…throw the parts into the sea?? Are you kidding me, you dumbass? Can’t you cremate them decently? Ugh, gross.

“I felt as if I was about the commission of a dreadful crime.” Once again, Victor fails to acknowledge that he has, in fact, committed numerous crimes. And tossing rotting corpse bits into the sea, bits that presumably originated from Christian people who thought their body safe in sacred ground, is at the very least defiling graves. (Also, gross.)

The travel across the Irish Sea is just confusing, tbh, and I only really got it when the text outright said he had reached Ireland.

“As I was in a state of extreme debility” …aren’t you always? You just got lost at sea instead of doing the simpler, and way more thorough, stake burial.

“Fortunately I had money with me.” ??? WHY? Do you always take money with you when you go out to destroy the evidence of your crimes?

Thesaurus syndrome strikes again (at least I had to look up “promontory”, sue me; it’s not my mother tongue), and then, finally, some clear information. And someone who snaps at Victor, and makes him indignant at the bad manners. If Henry weren’t dead, I could find this funny.

Not to forget, his bitchy attitude (“instead of offering me any assistance”, “inhospitably” and so on) gets him one for the I SO PRIVILEGED: 11

Get offa that high horse, will you?

Why does he think they should be friendly to him, anyway? They’re Irish, and for all they know, he might well be an Englishman. Granted, this is about 50 years before the Great Famine, but weren’t the English already getting all over the country and helping themselves to all of the land?

And from here on out, it's all downhill. Okay, factually, it was all downhill since Victor decided to play God, but the next few chapters are mainly dedicated to me hating him with all my heart. I'll try to spice it up with a little bit of character analysis regarding his similarities with the Creature, but there is the one or other capslock tantrum on the horizon. Our protagonist got one golden moment here, then continues to be the literal worst. Charming.

#Frankenstein #personal opinions #disclaimer: this is just for shits and giggles

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN ー Laito Dark [07]

CHAPTER MASTERLIST

ー The scene starts in Yui’s bedroom

Yui: I’m so thankful to Reiji-san for what he did...

( I nearly said something horrible to Laito-kun again... )

( It might already be too late but...I want to be able to understand and accept him, even if nobody else does. )

( While he might have overcome them, his emotional scars from the past have not vanished. )

( Up until now, I’ve only ever seen Laito-kun’s outer facade rather than trying to figure out what goes on inside his mind. )

( However, I love him and treasure him more than anything or anyone else. )

Yui: ...I love him, huh? 

( Do I really though...? Now that I think about it... )

( I do think it was his fragile side which I fell for...Although he might get upset if I were to admit that. )

( That’s why I want to protect him...and support him...Be there for him at all times. )

*TIMESKIP*

ー Yui wakes up to the sound of footsteps

Yui: ーー Hm...?

( I must have dozed off at some point...What time is it right now...? )

( Only six in the morning, huh? ...It’s awfully noisy downstairs though...Even though everyone should be quietly slumbering away at this hour... )

I wonder if something happened...?

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yui: ...What’s wrong? You’ve all gathered together...

Laito: Nfu~ You’ve woken up as well? Sorry for the noise. 

Yui: Did something happen? 

Ayato: That bastard Richter got murdered. 

Yui: Eh!? Richter-san!? 

Laito: Exactly. Seems like someone did him in on his way back from our manor yesterday night.

Kanato: Apparently they found his corpse stabbed on the peak of Kaminashi Tower. Now that’s a rather fascinating way to kill someone, I must say. Fufufu...

Yui: No way...Who could have done it?

Laito: Hmー I’m not sure but maybe he had a fight with one of his buddies? 

I really had the feeling that he came here yesterday to get information out of me. 

Perhaps he was deemed utterly useless after he went to report back following his defeat, so they just got rid of him?

ーー By the Vampire who was roaming around this manor very recently, for example? 

Subaru: ...Hah!? Hold up, you bastard...You knew it was a Vampire who went in and out of our house back then!? 

Laito: Eh? You didn’t notice? 

Subaru: Aah!? Are you makin’ fun of me!?

*THUD*

Laito: Huh? So the others didn’t realize either? 

Shuu: We could sense that someone got in but not that it was a Vampire specifically...

Laito: Hmー I was convinced you were all aware but simply decided to ignore the matter.

Yui: And you believe that this Vampire and Richter-san might have been working together and plotting something? 

Laito: Well, it’s all just speculation. But I suppose it would have been easy for them to understand each other as fellow Vampires. 

Reiji: I see...I suppose we could try asking the Familiar who went to take a look at the murder scene. 

*Flap flap flap* 

Reiji: ーー Could you sense the presence of a Demon in the vicinity of Kaminashi Tower? 

*Flap flap flap* 

Laito: ーー See? I knew it.

Yui: What did they say?

Laito: They sensed two Vampires: Uncle and one other person.

Yui: Then your prediction might actually be correct...

Laito: Well, we still don’t know where this Vampire came from.

ーー Come on, go and investigate the case a bit more. 

While you’re at it, would you please collect Uncle’s corpse as well? Although he might be nothing but a pile of ashes by this point. 

*Flap flap flap*

Yui: ( I wonder who this person could be...? It’s kind of scary... )

Shuu: Haah, what a pain...Although I feared this would happen sooner or later...

Kanato: What do you mean?

Shuu: Just think about it. That idiot over there has been doing an incredibly poor job at governing our clan...

So who do you think would be the most satisfied with the current situation? 

Laito: Well, I suppose it’d be the Vampires themselves. 

Kanato: I see, it all makes sense now.

Subaru: In the Demon World there’s constant fighting over sovereignty and territory...While over here you’re at risk of gettin’ murdered by your own kind...What a shitstorm. 

Laito: Good grief, I’d gladly give away these Powers to anyone who wants them. 

So I wonder why they won’t just come straight to me to ask for them? 

Ayato: I mean, you usually wouldn’t expect to be handed them for free, right?

Laito: Nfu~ I thought I made it very clear that I don’t adhere to logic. 

I guess the people just don’t know me well enough~? Right, Bitch-chan? 

*Rustle* 

Yui: Eh...!? Wellーー 

( What kind of answer should I give him...? )

Selection

→ You can’t blame them (❦)

Yui: You can’t blame them. There aren’t many people who can understand you. 

Laito: Well, I guess so? Not even you truly understand me, do you? 

Yui: I...do. 

Laito: Heeh, do you really? 

Yui: ...Well, I love you after all..

Laito: ...!

Kanato: Haah...

Ayato: Fuck thisー

Shuu: Could you guys get a room please? 

Yui: I-I’m sorry...

Laito: Nfufu~ I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a little sappy? 

Yui: ( ...He’s treating it like some kind of kink...Haah... )

→ I understand you 

Yui: ...I understand you? 

Laito: Heehー ...That’s kind of annoying.

Yui: Eh!?

Laito: Just look at that smug look on your face. Makes me want to crush it with my very own hand...Perhaps I should give it a try? 

*Rustle* 

Yui: C-Cut it out...!

Laito: Oh come on, don’t be like that~ It might open a whole new world of excitement to you, who knows?

Yui: I’ll kindly pass!

Laito: Really? Such a shame. 

Yui: ( Haah, I figured a straightforward approach might be most effective but...It’s tricky. )

Ayato: Anyway, dude, you’d seriously just give away your Powers if somebody were to ask for them!? 

Laito: Hmー I guess it’d depend on the person. I wouldn’t go as far as to give them to someone I dislike?

Ah! Right! I guess this would be as good of an opportunity as ever to give them to you, Ayato-kun? 

Ayato: Haah!?

Laito: Say, you think that’s a good idea as well, don’t you, Bitch-chan? 

Yui: ...If that’s what you want, I don’t see the problem? 

Ayato: Oi, oi, Chichinashi. I can’t believe you’re takin’ this guy’s side as weーー

Shuu: ...You say that now, but do you even know how you’re supposed to pass your Powers down to someone else?

Laito: No idea~ Do you know, perhaps? 

Shuu: I don’t. But it shouldn’t be something you can just easily toss around from one person to another. 

Laito: Well, I’m sure it’s not...

At this rate, who knows how many more annoyances will come our way just like Uncle did...

So I want to just hand them over to someone as soon as I can. 

Honestly, I don’t even mind if they come with the intention to kill me, so if only they would just hurry up a little~

Ayato: ...You sound pretty happy saying that? 

Laito: Why of course! We’re Vampires after all. 

Death is celebrated as a joyous occasion...Remember? 

Yui: ( Laito-kun... )

Monologue

I am sure those are his true feelings (本心). 

That’s how I felt about it. 

‘If I could, I would give them to someone elseーー’ 

no matter how wonderful or amazing those Powers might be,

and regardless of their immense force,

I am positive that is what Laito-kun would say,

That is just how deeply,

Laito-kun despises Karlheinz-san. 

He will reject (否定する) anything which belonged to that man. 

I decided to stay quiet and watch, exactly because I realized that. 

However, I wonder why? 

I just felt so incredibly sad. 

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #laito sakamaki #lost eden #diabolik lovers translation #lelaitodark7

[automatonkisser]

hey pal, i dont remember if i sent you an ask already??? so just in case here; bloody gary, milk, and heat death of the universe ice coffee for shapesmith :v?

hehe u did, so i'm going to answer all of these!! :]

Bloody Gary: What "incorrect quotes"-type conversation best describes you and your F/O?

ooh i've actually played around with an incorrect quotes generator a while ago and got some i really liked!! :D

Heat Death of the Universe Iced Coffee: What's a small quirk or behavior your F/O has that you go absolutely hog wild over every time?

i really love how expressive they are, both in the way they move & emote!!! i really hope that's something that gets picked up in the animated series somehow, like i imagine him to always move in a somewhat exaggerated way, like he's always got a bit of that Roger Rabbit feel to him lmao. not to the point where it feels jarring, but i think it'd be fun if he just...was animated a bit more cartoony than the others, if that makes sense. they are just a silly guy <3

ALSO, another thing i've talked about before that's really really sweet to me is that he...kinda seems to enjoy casual physical touch :') i'm mostly basing this on two instances of him putting his hand on people's shoulder in the comic while taking to them which. i know that's kind of nothing but it has lead to me headcanoning him as someone who's just very prone to these kind of casual little touches (while staying respectful of people's boundaries of course) and probably also enjoys people doing the same to him....also ky's head probably exploded the first time he placed a hand on their arm while talking to them

Milk: If, before you engaged with your F/O's source, someone had told you that you'd get super attached to that character, would you have believed them? Why or why not?

i'm. pretty sure i wouldn't have, because i honestly didn't pay that much attention to them during my first time reading the volumes he appeared in dsjkhskj 💀 i mean, MAYBE if someone had given me all the information there's to know about them because he does check a few boxes when it comes to the type (or one type, at least) of characters i like, but?? i still have to admit that he was just kinda unremarkable to me when he first appeared, i actually skimmed over a lot of his scenes and had to go back to reread them later once i became...more interested in them....i was also actually way more interested in another character from their source before my brain started focusing on them and fully expected to f/o said character which. obviously did not end up happening. so like, overall i guess it's definitely not like i would have been appalled by the idea of becoming attached to him, but it would've been hard for me to believe that i'd love him as much as i do now because my first reaction was basically just "...eh"? falling in love with them was definitely a very unexpected (but welcome) turn of events for me lmao

Corpse Reviver: Do you notice any specific categories, types, or trends with your F/Os? What are they?

Hfjfjf honestly i would love to know if anyone notices a type because it's...really hard for me to pin down. i guess when it comes down to it, i really like characters who are just sort of. nice and silly??? even if it's hidden behind a though/serious exterior sometimes....also characters who are very passionate about something i guess!!! i think all in all in just like characters that feel, hm, safe to me i guess?? as in, i think about them when i need someone to comfort me and i feel like i'd genuinely have fun being with them and like i wouldn't have to pretend to be someone else around them, like they'd actually love me for me and even encourage me to be myself and do the things i love - like, characters who inspire me in some way and make me feel more comfortable going out of my comfort zone?? i think at this point in my life i tend to gravitate towards characters who reflect traits that i'd actually love in a real life partner, which. i guess sounds very basic as far as types go?? but that's probably the closest i get to describing it jdjdjd

Beeps and Boops: Regardless of the type of media your F/O is actually from, if you could render your self ship's story as any form of media (a book, a movie, a game, etc.) what would it be?

definitely a comic!!!! i'm actually envisioning parts of it in my head constantly augh....i wish i had the time and energy necessary to actually create it </3

Tax on the Beach: Describe (or post a picture if you want) your favorite moment from your F/O in their source! Why is that your favorite?

i already answered this but i'm just gonna add another moment i really like......

honestly i don't have anything profound to say i'm just kinda obsessed with this hkjfhf

#thank yooou <3 #long post #parasite mention #r: shapesmith 👽 #letters 💌

[mystery-moose]

BOOKS: The Three-Body Problem!

Sometimes I read books! This time I read The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu!

This was an odd read! As a whole? I think this is a wildly interesting science fiction novel to unpack, and I’m excited to read the sequels!

As a single novel, with prose and dialogue and what-all? Eh! It’s kinda stiff and really expository (and I’m accounting for the translation here!) plus some characters get lost or go entirely unmentioned after a certain point, and there’s worldbuilding stuff that raises more questions than answers. It kinda feels like it suffers from problems of serialized fiction, in some ways, which makes sense since that’s how it was initially published. It introduces threads and characters and then quickly drops them when it doesn’t need them, or throws out a concept just to use it as a plot device and for nothing else.

That being said? Yo this novel’s got some STUFF to SAY, and that counts for a LOT.

(I liked it and would recommend it! If you want to read more detailed thoughts, hey, spoilers, wow!)

The opening is maybe my favorite part, or the part I feel is the strongest. We’re thrust into this depiction of the Cultural Revolution in China in the ‘60s, and we see and feel the trauma that this causes through the eyes of our protagonist, Ye Wenjie. It’s bloody and ugly and, more than anything, stupid! The depiction of the infighting between various Red Guard factions, the way they cling to ideology over reason or rationality or even basic sense, the way the young are driven to murder and madness in the name of some greater cause, echoes throughout the rest of the novel in some really fundamental ways.

But once we get past that opening and meet our other point of view character, Wang Miao, the story kind of loses momentum and the prose takes a bit of a hit. I give some significant leeway for translation, of course, but the sort of dialogue and conversations that Wang Miao has are often stiff and expository, and the transitions between scenes or chapters the same way. Sometimes I lost track of what time of day it was, or what day of the week it was, or how much time had passed in just a single paragraph. This made reading through the second act of the book, at least the non-flashback sections, a bit of a chore.

There are interesting threads to follow at least — the mystery of the countdown that appears only for Wang, the cold war that the world governments are starting to fight against the ETO, the nature of the ETO itself, why this other society of scientists wants him to halt his nanomaterial research… there’s a lot of cool mysteries to wonder about, and those hooked me to keep reading even through the occasional stilted conversation about some scientific concept or another.

The virtual reality game and v-suits and such were a sudden leap I had to simply accept to proceed, but their introduction felt kind of wild! I understand both textually and thematically why they exist — the concept of a virtual reality, one that can be authored and controlled and show only what it wants to show, is in conversation with the rest of the authorities in the novel attempting to control and manipulate information for their own goals. It also gives us a window into the history of Trisolaris, as it’s eventually revealed that we’re being shown an abridged form of their development. That being said… I dunno, anytime you just throw haptic-feedback full-dive VR suits into your setting, I immediately have a million questions! I guess it does more good than harm to the narrative, but it is maybe one too many flavors in the broth, metaphorically speaking.

Not every concept is awkward inserted, though. I appreciated learning how Ye Wenjie learned how to send a signal that could be heard by interstellar civilizations, and how she managed to do it basically under the nose of her command. I appreciated how there were political considerations to this as well — the symbolism of shooting a signal at the sun, when the sun is often used to represent Mao and socialism. Even after the Cultural Revolution had “ended,” there were still political considerations and aftereffects that lingered and caused needless complications.

Speaking of complications, the ETO! I loved how that organization broke down into factions, one devoted to mankind’s extinction and the other out to “redeem” mankind by saving the Trisolaran people, objects of their worship. I loved how you could understand, solely through the text of the novel and the events depicted, why people would give up on humanity as a whole, why they would become disillusioned both with capitalism and Maoist socialism, and why they would yearn for an outside force to save/destroy them. And I loved the nature of the aliens themselves! I loved that we never saw them, not really, only got the basics of their lives and societal structure. But how similar they were, or felt, to the Cultural Revolution idea, of devoting themselves to a single idea and how that devotion robbed them of compassion or emotion. And then how they send their supercomputers ahead to “lock” human science down, robbing us of our ability to know and advance, in much the same way the Cultural Revolution killed Ye’s father for daring to teach the science that came before him, even if it did not come from China, even if it was (by some strange rubric) “reactionary” science.

I also want to single out the sequence of Ye Wenjie living in the village outside of Red Coast, where she gave birth. The brief moment of happiness she has, the view of humanity that she gets from the hunters and farmers and their wives, the community that helps her and respects her. That was a beautiful little moment, and it did a great job making us understand her perspective, see the beauty that she saw, and wish that she would change her mind from the course she’d set. But of course she didn’t, couldn’t, because she could still see the deforestation, the injustices of the Red Guard, and saw no future in which humanity could allow its own beauty to flourish. That was a well-executed piece of tragedy!

The meeting with her father’s murderers was similarly impactful! How each of them had suffered from the Cultural Revolution, been punished and made miserable in their own way by the society and culture that had created them and drove them to what they did… that was handled with a great deal of nuance and understanding, both of the characters and of the circumstances that create tragedies like her father’s murder. And her mother! Oh, pushing her mother away because she refuses to take her own responsibility for what happened to her husband… absolutely tragic, but also absolutely understandable.

The ending is a bit abrupt, and does feel a bit unfinished, ending largely with the long expository sequence on Trisolaris where we see the alien’s plan (as deduced through the communications they kept with the Adventists). The building of the single-proton supercomputers created some extremely cool images, and was (I presume) based on a lot of very interesting and likely plausible science. The proton that unfolded into a giant eye that attempted to destroy them was probably my favorite part! Especially how it’s almost immediately dismissed as impossible to ethically untangle destroying sentient civilizations that are so alien they exist outside of our dimension, but they still spread that around as propaganda because it is useful to deaden the emotional response their people have to destroying other civilizations to preserve their own.

The themes of the novel feel so tangled up — history, science, knowledge, government, authority, propaganda, humanism — and yet they all hang together, all seem to be asking the same questions, pointing towards the same problems of power and authority and a lack of compassion, both on an individual level and a societal one. The book cares a lot about science, about what is “true” and “real” that cannot and should not be denied by any authority just because it goes against their ideology or is inconvenient. But it also goes to great pains to illustrate that even the most fundamental laws of our reality can be obscured by greater powers, that none of us are immune to propaganda, and that only unfiltered, uncontrolled knowledge can give us the truth that we need to make informed decisions about reality and the world we live in.

And it ends on a message of… if not hope, then a lack of despair! We’ve tried forever to eradicate bugs, and yet bugs persist. We each possess the ability to kill dozens, hundreds, thousands with the tools at hand, to protect crops or disease or annoyance, and despite everything, they persist. Resistance, then, is necessary, moral, righteous, even so woefully outmatched — because no matter how hard they try, they cannot defeat everyone.

I read a bit of the postscript the author wrote for the English edition, and despite their protestations that this is not a work about our contemporary world, that ending couldn’t feel more political to me.

#the three body problem #books #man what a wild novel #i don't care what mr. cixin liu says #this is an extremely political work #i knew that from the opening page tbh!

[ruershrimo]

genshin impact x reader: the inventor and their traveller, part 5- the plot thickens?

features kazuha

warnings: no not really except that this is not proofread but I don’t think that counts as a tw?

notes: ehe. I was dead for a while but now I’ve been resurrected

taglist: @apyrose

series masterlist

“You know, although I really wanted to come along, I honestly didn’t expect my father to let me travel with you, much less so quickly,” you mentioned as you took another step forward on the route to Inazuma City. “I hope my little brother won’t cry about me leaving, though.”

“Mhm,” tomo concurred, his cat meowing along as it poked its adorable, minute head out of tomo’s clothes.

Noticing the little feline fellow with alabaster fur and whiskers, you started, “By the way, tomo-”

“Hm?”

“What’s his name?”

“Whose name?”

“The cat’s,”

“Oh, it’s a she, not a he,” he tittered as you resisted the urge to castigate him.

“Her name’s tama,” kazuha responded, his voice echoing his placidity.

“Oh, I see,” you smiled before bending down to wave at tama. “Tama, hello.”

She gave an endearing purr in response.

You halted in your steps. “May I pet her?” you requested, your eyes fixated on Tama.

“Sure.”

Your fingers slightly quivered as they hesitantly came in contact with tama’s soft fur before your palms wrapped themselves around her before you brought her face up to meet yours.

“No need to be nervous,” kazuha reminded you, placing his hand on your shoulder.

“O-oh, right- I’m just worried that I’ll hurt her or anything,” you stuttered, cautiously holding her. She seemed so fragile in your hands, as if she was like how your little brother was as a baby. You cradled her like you did for your brother those years ago, but unlike before, you felt a twinge of apprehension and nostalgia as a response to her nuzzling up to your wrist. You didn’t feel as pure or untainted as when you caressed your younger brother’s hairless head as he bawled continuously (at least, not after that incident).

“Do you want to hold her until we get to the city?” tomo inquired.

Somewhat bashfully, you returned, “Yes.” You didn’t wish to hurt her but you knew that you liked tama. Why would you ever dislike anything that reminds you of your little brother?

With trembling hands, you kept tama in your grasp for the rest of the trip to the city.

You stepped foot in Inazuma City as you gazed at the sprawling sakura petals of perfect pinks and purples of all kinds. Serenity reverberated throughout the city, a stark contrast to the actual state of the country (this fact enthralled you). Though the two seemed equal in size, the amount of people roaming the streets of Inazuma City was scarce compared to Liyue Harbour, and the innocent young children who played around the city were as happy as one could be. It seemed just like Liyue Harbour, and yet, it seemed so different than your home, as if it had a certain essence to it that kept it unique, something that discreetly displayed that this city was akin to a peaceful cedar tree in a violent storm, inching closer to being struck and torn down by force with every passing moment.

“Wait, make sure you hide your visions!” you cautiously warned, your voice in a hushed tone and halting your team in your tracks.

They did as you said, ever so secretly, before you continued to explore the streets.

“Oh, look! Some kimonos,” you noticed, pointing to the floral-patterned fabrics that were hung out on display, tama still in your arms. Tomo had strayed off to visit a food stall. “My mother likes these.”

“Ah, that’s ogura mio’s shop,” kazuha informed you.

“Ogura mio? Who’s that?”

“The lady in the kimono, over there- wait, you don’t know ogura mio?”

“I mean, I’ve never been here before, so-!”

“For all of your life, you’ve only been holed up in Higi Village?” kazuha questioned you, concerned.

“Uhm…” you hesitated for a moment’s respite, desperately digging into the depths of your head in order to seek a desired answer. For all of your life, the only means of attaining knowledge was from the various book collections on the shelf next to your father’s working desk. From this, you learned of everything that made up your vast library of erudition from the unbound education that the books bequeathed to you. Though you would concur learning the fundamentals of nearly everything from mere books was no ordinary feat, you still felt an inkling of embarrassment that clung firmly to your conscience whenever you thought of how you had only been in two different areas your whole life. Although you were exposed to books, you truly knew nothing of the actual world around you. Was it self-imposed containment or a fear of being restricted from fantasy and jejune juvenility? “Kind of.”

“Ah…”

It seemed that you had branded the speech-smart poet speechless.

“Oh, hello!” the lady in the rosy flowery kimono called out, waving, presumably, in your direction.

“Uh, hello,” you greeted in reply. Her sudden geniality took you aback.

“Would you like to join my sewing class? There’s no banner or poster for it yet, but I’m sure that you’ll like it,” she offered. The banner materials were actually supposed to come in yesterday…”

“A-ah, are you ogura mio?” you probed.

“Yes, I’m the owner of this little shop here. Anyway, would you like to join?”

“No, I’ll pass,” you denied, slightly guilty. You didn’t hold the best memories of sewing after trying it 13 years ago-

“Look, I sewed the clothes! Now 哥哥 won’t have to do it by himself!” you jubilated, holding your handiwork up for your mother to be able to look at it with your tiny little arms. Though it seemed even more tattered than before due to your patchwork, you had put in all of your best efforts into sewing it back together with your mother’s extra fabric. “See?”

Your brother stifled a long bout of laughter once you held it up, a little nod to how horrible the sewing was before your mother reprimand him with a hand gesture telling him to cease his laughter and a conspicuous scowl across her face. She placed her palm on her head, attempting to pat it. “Now, it’s the most awful sewing I’ve ever seen, love, but don’t wor-!”

“Both of you don’t like it?” you almost sobbed, the tears in the corners of your eyes blocking your peripheral vision. You had spent hours on it, as atrocious as it looked. Your gaze travelled around the room, searching for your father to comfort you and take care of you.

“Oh, don’t cry-!”

“But you won’t deny it,” you sniffled with a shaky voice, your lip trembling. You placed your work on the floor before you sprinted to your father’s room, your safe haven.

“Is everything alright?” your father whispered, his voice weary and considerate as he peered up from his work.

“Papa, they don’t like my sewing,” you whimpered, your hands rubbing against your watery eyes.

“Oh, I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm behind it, dear.”

“But 哥哥 laughed at me, and mama said it was bad!” you cried.

He got off his seat and carried you to his desk, clearly exhausted. “Well, would you like to read some books for now? You don’t need to cry,” he shushed you gently.

“Okay, papa,” you expressed.

-and you weren’t going to consider dabbling in sewing once again any time soon.

“Oh, but it’ll be fun!” she smiled. “I can teach you how to make it a nice past-time hobby!”

“Ah- no.”

“I presume it would probably do all three of us some good if we were to go to her class,” kazuha grinned at you, his ruby eyes as bright as always and his voice as lullaby-like as a young mother’s to her beloved first child. The tranquil look in his eyes seemed to thaw your icy fears of cumbersome recurrences with its warmth like a hearth in a home secluded deep in a wintery forest. It seemed as if he understood you just like before. Prior to you realising it, your eyes were caught in his like the heat of a fireplace in a warm Mondstadtian room. He took his hand in yours and held it up by your palm, effectively causing you to virtually jolt away from him (but you didn’t, because maybe you enjoyed holding his hand). “…right?”

“R-right,” you stammered, feeling sweaty all of a sudden as you gulped, snapping yourself back to reality. What were you thinking?

“Alright, then! A class with one couple tomorrow, is that alright with you two?”

“C-couple? Ah, no,” you stuttered, your heated condition only worsening and becoming more noticeable to kazuha and ogura mio. Why did that one part of you loathe you so much today? “Also, it’s three people… wait, let me check-!” you dashed off to meet tomo, finding this the perfect opportunity to escape the next few mortifying moments.

“Wait! Is it alright if I ask you to do me a little favour?” she requested as you stopped in your tracks.

“Uh, sure, anything.”

“Well, the poster materials were supposed to come in yesterday, but it hasn’t arrived yet,” she began, resting her face on her open palm. “I fear that some ronin stole it, but I can’t leave this shop and all of the other people who signed up for the class are untrained people in the neighbourhood who I personally know. You seem like travellers, so I take it that you at least know basic self-defence.”

“I see. Well, we’ll try our best, but only kazuha and tomo know how to fight,” you replied, slightly hesitant. (But what could you do to deny a request from somebody who seemed as kind as her?)

“Who are tomo and kazuha?”

Abashed, you realised that you hadn’t introduced you and your travel buddies to her, and you promptly did so afterward before she gave you other details on the poster’s materials.

“Wait, one question- are there any magnetic materials included?”

“So, that’s just what I think we should do, to help her,” you explained. “Byakko Plain should be where it is now, judging by the schedule that ogura mio gave us.”

“Are you sure? Ronin don’t just negotiate nicely, you know,” tomo opined.

“I mean, we shouldn’t really try to initiate any violence so I don’t think we have any other choices.”

“We can come up with some elaborate scheme to force them into giving it back,” kazuha jested.

“Nah, too much hard work. Plus, if we tried to do something like acting, tomo would have to save us all in the end.”

“So, we go to Byakko Plain and then we offer them inventions in exchange for super expensive stuff?”

“Uh, now that I think about it…” kazuha started. “The plan really isn’t the most tactful or pragmatic.”

“Oh please, don’t stress on the inventions part, tomo. Inventions are all I have besides basic necessities, and I can only give them the prototypes because I can’t give my scrap materials or any of my completed ones.” You frowned and pressed your fingers to your temple. “And kazuha, uh…”

“Why don’t we just fight and get him to give the stuff to us?” tomo suggested his voice in a slightly deadpanned tone.

“Well, I mean- the two of you can’t be the only people fighting- what if you’re outnumbered and get hurt? I don’t want to be the only person in the whole group being a deadweight.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be a deadweight if we fight,” kazuha reassured you with the same pools of eyes that you were met with earlier that day. “We’ll be just fine, and you can even provide us with any external assistance if we were to fight them.”

“Alright, fine,” you sighed in defeat, acquiescing. “You two win, but you’ll have to fight.”

“Okay then, so when are we going?”

“Probably now…?” Your voice tilted at the end, shifting to a higher pitch as if to form an inquiry.

The three of you then made your excursion to Byakko Plain, the ambience just like expected and the air crisp. The grass, a lighter shade of what you were used to in Higi Village, danced and crunched along to the wind blown by the movements of your feet and legs.

“I have a magne-searcher here,” you stated, bringing out the searcher from your satchel before passing one to each of them. “This can help us look for magnets, so we can find them easily.”

“Woah, this feels really high-tech! Do detectives use these?” tomo’s voice sprinkled with childlike wonder as he circled his hand around the handle. You wished you could still have that, for a moment, but you brushed your yearning off.

After a full search on Byakko Plain with the magne-searcher that resulted in no finds for the stolen materials, you guessed that the thief must have already secured his treasure.

“Well, if the materials were supposed to arrive in Inazuma City by yesterday, the thief might have only recently secured it, so maybe they may still be here. Let’s try to find them-!”

“Wait, are you here to investigate the stolen materials?” a man in shaggy clothes called out, his attire the normal clothes of a Konda Villager. His breath was frantic and his eyes had clusters of carmine in them.

“Yes, and who are you-?”

“I was a witness! I was walking yesterday night and found a ronin- uh, I couldn’t see his face- attacking a bunch of people before he grabbed their cargo! I recognised the logo of the materials as one from the Yashiro Commission, so I think it might be related to something happening in Inazuma City,” he panted. “I was in Byakko Plain when it happened, so now I’ve been investigating the whole area- it seems like he’s everywhere and also nowhere at the same time, as if I can feel him but he’s just never there!”

“Okay, mister. I think that ronin may be the thief in the case that we’re investigating as well,” you voiced. “Thanks for the information!”

“Okay, I think the thief should be near here,” you pointed to a random spot in the grass. Near it, there was nothing except a few ancient, fatigued trees.

“Yes, I think so as well. The wind’s whispering knows of nature’s wisdom, and the wind foretells that this is where nature has been disgraced by this crime’s perpetrator,” kazuha mused, his hand resting on his chin and his eyes closed. He sounded crazy to you at that moment, but you didn’t mind.

A thief who has so quickly and swiftly gotten and secured what they have stolen would want to avoid violence. It’s likely they would want to hide themselves after securing what they have stolen, you deduced in your head. They would want to keep themself as hidden and protected as possible, even if they were able to fight as that is not a thief’s objective, so it may be that they might be here for now- where they can be hidden from the residents of Konda Village or any hilichurls who might possibly find them- for this exact reason. There’s no bodies of water near this spot too- maybe this was done to avoid any villagers who wanted water from finding them. The only things near this place are trees and these are trees that can’t house anymore animals in them, which further prevents the materials from any sort of danger. To add to that, there are no ronin of any sort in sight, although many of them live here. To avoid suspicion, if I were a thief, I’d probably try to avoid any of my other members unless I was planning to- with the help of others- immediately ambush anyone who could catch me- and I’ve already established that they probably don’t wish to initiate violence. If they may still attack us anyway without any other aid from their associates, they must either be a lethal opponent in battle who didn’t want to start any battle but is not completely against it or a flat-out narcissist who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Plus, there aren’t many random spots like these that hit all of the criteria for thief’s temporary hiding place, not even in Higi Village, so I don’t think it’s good to expect these spots in an area near Konda Village and Inazuma City like Byakko Plain either. Furthermore, anyone like the guy we met probably wouldn’t suspect that a place like this is a thief’s hiding place.

“But wait, we might be dealing with somebody dangerous here- either that, or they don’t want to initiate violence,” you concluded.

“Woah, I feel like I’m dealing with two geniuses here,” tomo spoke, breaking the seriousness of deduction. Or maybe you’re just an idiot, you thought. “Either that, or you two are just making this up- I mean, isn’t this just some random spot-!”

“You can come out now!” you yelled.

“So you’ve found me,” a husky voice spoke.

“Who are you?” you responded, turning your head back.

Suddenly, at the speed of unrestricted light, a sword charged at your being, before another deflected it.

“Kazuha!” you cried. What if he gets hurt?, you panicked.

“Wait, hold on. I’ll help too!”

“Tomo?”

“You’ve finally gotten some friends, I know! But I’m sorry, ‘cause you won’t have any after I’m done with this!” he roared in the midst of the continuous clanging of swords. His face was obscured, but from his clothing you could tell he was a member of the ronin.

“What-?”

Wait, “finally”? Does he know me? If he knows me, is he attacking them so he can taunt me into going into battle?

“You’re a lot like your brother, y’know? He just waited and let others fight for him like a little coward!”

He knows 哥哥? Wait, I need to press him more. I have to ensure that he keeps talking so that I can get more information. But kazuha and tomo…

Perhaps I can keep talking so that he gets a distraction, and then kazuha and tomo can really strike!

“My brother’s not a coward! Nobody in my family is!”

”Oh, come on! The whole family’s pathetic!” he claimed. You had to prevent your emotions from disquieting your thought process. “The mother, the father, the son, and now the second kid!” He didn’t talk about 弟弟, so he probably only knows 哥哥 and I. But I need to be quick- he’s already distracted, so now kazuha and tomo can strike! They’re already struggling while he looks so calm-

“Oh yeah? Well, would a coward do this?”

You reached into your satchel, rummaging through it before your fingers took notice of your maybe-searcher. Luckily, you still had about five more, which would enable you to toss it at him-

The sweat on your hands felt like it could fill an ocean at that moment as your hands shook violently.

I can’t be the scared little kid I was anymore. I’m not going to let another person get away from me.

Not like last time.

Kazuha, tomo, I’m going to help-!

“Ugh!” a husky scream tore through the swords’ cacophony of collision, the magne-searcher crashing to the ground before you noticed kazuha’s blade knocking the ronin’s into the air.

“Kazuha! Tomo! Are you two alright?”

You rushed to the two, inspecting them to reassure yourself. Fortunately, they were both unscathed. Sighing in relief, you embraced them tightly, almost squeezing them.

“Thank you for helping us,” kazuha choked. “He was an adroit opponent.”

“Wait, let’s tie him up first so that he doesn’t escape. We still need the materials!”

“Ah, where is he-? Oh, a note!” you discovered. It wasn’t there before, so maybe it’s something that that ronin just wrote. Dear celestia, we let our guard down! How can we get the materials now?

“We should see what is written on it,” kazuha grabbed the conspicuous paper from the earth’s grasp. “It might have been written by our thief.”

On the note, in tiny, virtually ilegible handwriting, read:

The materials are all in the ground at that spot you picked. If they aren’t, you’re an idiot. I just put this note here for you to find out why, but anyway, I was watching you and your friends, so I found out you messed up my plans- but eh, it was you, so it was a good thing in the end! I was pretty good at riling you up, right? Anyway, just get the materials. But you want to be an inventor, huh? That’s not a lot like your brother, but you two are almost the exact same, it’s almost creepy sometimes.

P.S.: say hi to Mr Takashi for me.

“What the…?” a murmur of confusion came from you.

“Does he know you? Do you know him?”

“No, but that’s not the weird part. The ink isn’t fresh, so he must have written it a while before, unless it’s special ink which the ronin can’t really afford,” you contemplated. “He said he has been watching us, so I guess that makes sense- and he also said that we should say hi to a mr takashi, so if it all clicks out then mr takashi should be the guy we met before finding the ronin. Also, he said that his plans got ruined because of us… yep, I think it’s safe to conclude that he knows all of this because he was watching us.”

“And he was watching us because of you, I think,” tomo added, causing you to feel a slight speck of guilt. “But it’s nothing that we can’t handle, right? We’ll be fine, especially with two geniuses here!”

“I agree, though most of the credit here can be attributed to you, don’t you think?” kazuha darted his eyes at you, his blood-coloured gaze entwining with yours once again.

“M-me-?” suddenly, you were undeniably embarrassed. Or caught off-guard? …or bashful? You didn’t know. “A-anyway, we’re getting off-topic here. I think I might actually know this guy- something to do with my brother- but let’s not talk about that for now. Let’s just go get the treasure and thank that mr takashi, okay?”

“Okay, commander genius!” tomo grinned cheekily as he did a faux-salute, causing kazuha to giggle.

“So you found him? That’s good,” the man exhaled, finally calm.

“…so he told us to greet you on his behal-!”

“Whatever that man says, I don’t really want to hear it right now. He was a thief!”

“By the way, sir-”

“Hm?”

“Are you a mr takashi?”

“Oh, right!” he facepalmed, almost returning to his previous frantic state. “I forgot to introduce myself,” his cheeks flushed red. “Yes. I’m mr takashi. A-and you?”

You then introduced you and the team to him before he halted the antsy scratching of his neck. “Wait, your name sounds familiar, but I can’t really place my finger on it,” he remarked.

“Well then,” you paused. “You can just call me the inventor.”

The day after the eventful one before it, you were met with your obstacle for the day: ogura mio’s sewing class.

“Now, this is a running stitch! Could everyone try to replicate what I just did with the sewing kits on your table, please? You can ask me if you have any problems with it!”

You tried your level best to emulate her impeccable skill (it was just a simple running stitch, but you weren’t good at sewing, okay?) but your attempts were futile as you realised that you were the only one in the class who desperately struggled to perform simple tasks like poking the fabric with the needle while your fingers were able to come out of that endeavour unscathed.

Anxiously, you raised your hand like a shy school student, your palm only meeting your cheek.

“Yes?”

“I’m- uhm, struggling with this, miss ogura-”

“Just call me mio, dear.”

“I’m struggling with this,” you choked out, your voice faltering. “Please help.”

You felt as if this would be a new start. Travelling with them even made you explore the world out of your inventions, after all, so what could some sewing do to hurt you now?

The other students besides kazuha and tomo sniggered as you presented your failures to mio, though you tuned them out (but to no avail).

It seemed as if you were back in the vicious cycle.

You didn’t have your father to rely on anymore, but you would be fine.

That was what you had promised him. That you would be fine.

Even if you were pathetic and weak and mentally fragile, you would learn to change, you told yourself at that moment. Kazuha and tomo were here, and they would always be here for you to fall back on them, but sometimes you had to learn to be on your own. You could do things on your own now, after all. Kazuha was there, and so was tomo. You could do things on your own, just like how you helped the two.

“Let me see, know… ah, this looks alright. You just have to do this, see?” she entwined her fingers with yours, guiding you through making a simple running stitch. Gasping, you felt a great sense of achievement pour over you, as if you had finally done something.

“Can I try doing it by myself now, please?” you beamed like a little child.

“Of course!”

You did as she had done with you before, poking the fabric with the needle and letting the thread move up and down. Once you did it a few times, a running stitch was made.

“I did it!”

And there it was, that soothing of your younger self once again.

I peer from these threads

And notice their happiness

Is this “something more”?

#kazuha x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin kazuha x reader #kaedehara kazuha x reader #ruer writes #kazuha #the inventor and their traveller

[xplrvibes]

thank you for your genuine answer! i’ve been finding hard to communicate with the fandom because people are either hating the situation or eating it up so it’s always both opposite extremes. a lot of people say stas is hated but from what i’ve seen, especially on twitter and instagram, she’s actually more loved than kat? she gets drowned in compliments, people worship her, they kiss her ass and hype her up for the most mediocre or mundane things (and i don’t mean that as hate) ever, some even call her “bestie” and have constant interactions with her. you did bring up shea being in group chats (i only recently found out about that while getting in the tea loop but didn’t pay a lot of attention to that particular fact) and it now is making me wonder, giving the similarities and another fact i just found out (stas willingly sharing personal information abt the group, such as their location), if stas isn’t on group chats as well, but ones that are more lowkey and with people that kiss her ass? it could make sense, but i digress.

i’m just finding this weird overall, like it started out of nowhere and now both of them are making this bigger and bigger and bigger by only posting each other and so on? like doesn’t that feel… weird to you, in a way? their posts have always been more “group” focused, group pictures, etc and now all of a sudden we’re being slammed left and right with those two only?

Of course!

There are a lot of extreme reactions to this whole situation, and let's be honest- it's all down to Colby. Stas is involved with Colby in a way that is supposedly "open to interpretation." That's a hair trigger for a good chunk of the fandom, lol.

Stas does get some pretty polarizing things said about her a result- I've seen some brutal hate, thanks to her association with Colby, and I've seen some idolization that they could build churches around. Some of that love stems from the fans that just really, really, really want to see Colby in a wedding tux lol, but some of it does stem from how she treats the fans themselves. She engages with them quite a bit, encourages them...and I said it the other day, but that's a BIG thing with the social media stans. They are looking for someone to see them, and for someone who they can connect to. They're almost looking for a supportive older sibling type, and they're finding it in the most random of social media types- Stas included.

I know she is indirectly the reason that some of their whereabouts have been leaked, which is not cool and is something that snc should definitely deal with at some point. I don't know if she is active in any gc's, but I wouldn't be surprised. I'm hoping she isn't pulling a Shea and giving out private information that isn't hers to give out- and honestly, I don't think she is, because that information would've been leaked by now (if there is one thing I've learned about fandoms over the years, its that nobody can keep a secret lmao)....but who knows, at this point.

As far as her and Colby posting a lot of content of the two of them...eh. They do spend 90% of their days hanging out with Kat and Sam, who are an actual couple who have been together for like 300 years now. They're bound to be spending a lot more time paired off together as a result of that. 🤷‍♀️

I do think they know people enjoy Stas and Colby content, that it gets people talking, and so they aren't shy about posting content of the two of them together anymore, for that reason. That would be totally fine, except when they step over the line, throw gasoline on a fire on purpose, get everyone all in a tizzy, and then skidaddle. That's where they lose me in this whole thing.

Amber and Colby, imo, have perfected the whole "posting content that playfully encourages the shipping while simultaneously making sure everyone knows its all in good fun and not to be taken seriously or used to start fandom wars or get everyone all riled up" thing. That's the kind of pot stirring I can appreciate.

#asks